Monday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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PMW: Abbas honors murderer
Abbas and other senior PA officials honor prisoner Issa Abd Rabbo who murdered two students hiking near Jerusalem

Abbas' representative to murderer's mother: "The best of the Palestinian people's sons are in prison"
PA TV host to murderer's mother: "Your son is a fighter and a hero, and all prisoners are heroes"
In the past month, a number of senior Palestinian Authority officials including Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, and PA TV, have all honored murderer Issa Abd Rabbo.

CIF Watch: The Guardian’s continuing obsession with Mordechai Vanunu

Naturally, Vanunu is something of a cause celeb at the Guardian, which has published no less than 75 separate pieces (reports and commentary) on the convicted Israeli felon, including an official editorial lauding him, entitled “In Praise of…Mordechai Vanunu“.

BBC’s Wyre Davies Tweeting for illegal building

The restaurant was constructed without planning permission or the appropriate building permits and hence was the subject of a demolition order issued in 2005 and carried out in May 2012. The restaurant was then rebuilt – also illegally without the necessary planning permission or building permits. The restaurant’s owner/constructor was given the opportunity to appear before the planning committee of the Civil Administration. A second demolition order was issued and that was carried out on April 18th 2013. The electricity line to which Davies refers was also illegally connected.

France set to blacklist Hezbollah, politician vows

France is willing to add Hezbollah to the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations if a Bulgarian investigation into a terror attack there confirms that the Shiite group was indeed responsible, a leading French politician said while on a visit to Israel.

US security committee: Hezbollah could be in US

There may be Hezbollah terrorists living in America, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the US House Committee on Homeland Security, said on Sunday.
He said he was worried over the freedom of movement of terrorists in the wake of the twin bombings in Boston last week.

‘Israeli drones given leave to fly over Jordan’

Jordan has allowed Israel to fly military drones over the country en route to Syria in order to monitor the situation there and, should the need arise, target chemical weapons caches in the civil war-torn country, the French daily Le Figaro reported Monday.
King Abdullah II made the decision during US President Barack Obama’s visit to the region in March, the report said.

The Siege of Egypt's St. Mark Cathedral An Insider's Account by Raymond Ibrahim

Even the Western mainstream media recently came around to affirming that Egyptian security forces were involved in the attack on the cathedral. And, true to Ramzi's prediction, the only people to be arrested in connection with this latest assault on Christianity were the Christians themselves.

Egypt claims to uncover Israeli spy ring in Sinai

A total of nine Egyptians and Palestinians reportedly arrested for gathering information on behalf of Israel in the Sinai Peninsula.
Meanwhile, a Salafi official in the Gaza Strip was quoted in the newspaper A-Sharq al-Awsat saying the purpose of last Wednesday's rocket fire from Sinai into the southern Israeli city of Eilat was to harm the Hamas government in Gaza and the Morsi government in Egypt, which he claimed conspire with Israel.

Arab League condemns loan of Balfour Declaration to Israel

The Arab League has condemned the decision of the British National Library to loan the original Balfour Declaration document to Israel so it can be put on display at Independence Hall (where David Ben-Gurion declared the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948) in Tel Aviv.

Ikea pulls ad from Swedish anti-Semitic blog

Ikea has removed ads from a Swedish anti-Semitic blog and is investigating how its online advertisement banner came to be placed there.
“We have stopped all advertising for this package pending an investigation into what happened,” Sara Paulsson, a press officer for the Swedish home design and furniture giant told the local daily Aftonbladet on Saturday.

Record Turnout at Budapest Holocaust March Amid Rising Racism

A record 10,000 Hungarians took part Sunday in an annual march to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust, amid recent reports of increasing racism and anti-Semitism in the country.
Over 10,000 people, more than double the usual turnout, participated in the "March for Life", according to an AFP count, alongside government and opposition members, and the ambassadors of Israel and the United States.