Wednesday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The Problem of Muslim Leadership

I've seen this before. A Muslim terrorist slays a non-Muslim citizen in the West, and representatives of the Muslim community rush to dissociate themselves and their faith from the horror. After British soldier Lee Rigby was hacked to death last week in Woolwich in south London, Julie Siddiqi, representing the Islamic Society of Britain, quickly stepped before the microphones to attest that all good Muslims were "sickened" by the attack, "just like everyone else."
This happens every time. Muslim men wearing suits and ties, or women wearing stylish headscarves, are sent out to reassure the world that these attacks have no place in real Islam, that they are aberrations and corruptions of the true faith.

Dutch school stalls Shoah memorial to avoid vandalism

Last week, the De Telegraaf daily reported that the school dropped the plan following objections by local residents who said a Holocaust plaque might not be acceptable to some members of Schilderswijk’s sizable Muslim population, but Brasjen said he was not aware of such objections.

Barry Rubin: Can the U.S. Government Buy Moderation in the Middle East? No!

Can the Obama Administration turn radicals into moderates with money?
Way back in 1979, shortly after the Iranian revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini said that people in the West didn't understand revolutionary Islamism. "They think," he explained, "the revolution is all about the price of watermelons. It isn't." In other words, this is an ideological cause not a money-making attempt where people can be bribed.

Netanyahu: We Anticipate a Deterioration

Israel is gearing up for a deterioration in the regional situation, with a growing number of new threats facing the Jewish state, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, the AFP news agency reports.
Netanyahu made the comments as he watched an exercise simulating the response to a chemical attack on a residential neighborhood in Jerusalem as part of an annual civil defense drill.

92nd St. Y to Embrace Another Israel Hater: Alice Walker

In addition to lots of other anti-Israel activity, Alice Walker was front and center with Roger Waters as the two of them attempted to block Carnegie Hall from hosting the Israeli Philharmonic in October, 2012. Now Alice Walker is scheduled to appear at the 92nd Street Y on Thursday, May 30.

Guardian provides PR for failing BDS campaign against EU football championship in Israel

Whilst this campaign, like so many other abysmal attempts to isolate Israel by the anti-Zionist left, will certainly fail, it’s important to contextualize BDS in all of its manifestations as the political derivative of various Arab (and Soviet) led boycotts which have been used for many decades as weapons in the war against Israel. In its modern incarnation BDS represents the main component of the “Durban strategy” – adopted by the NGO Forum of the UN’s Durban Conference (2001) – adopted by pro-Palestinian groups to completely isolate Israel by promoting economic, academic, cultural and even (as in this case) sporting boycotts of Israel.

CAMERA: Financial Times Fantasy Air Strikes in Ramallah

You don't need to live in Ramallah, or travel weekly to Gaza, Hebron, Nablus and Jerusalem, to know that there have been no air strikes in Ramallah -- random or otherwise -- in something like 10 years. And with all due respect to Hill, his "good perspective" does not stretch back that far. According to the article, he and his wife arrived in Israel in May 2012, moved on to Ramallah sometime later. A photo caption at the top of the article (see screen capture below) repeats the false claim that there are air strikes in Ramallah.

3-Year-Old Critically Wounded in Rock Attack Released from Hospital

Three-year-old Adelle Biton of the West Bank Jewish community of Yakir, who was critically wounded in an Arab rock attack two-and-a-half months ago near the city of Ariel, was released from Schneider Children’s Hospital in Petach Tikva on Sunday, Israel International News reported. According to the report, her life is no longer in danger, though she is only partially conscious.

Abbas’ Adviser Calls Israel-PA High-Tech Meeting ‘Unacceptable’

The adviser, Sabri Saydam, told the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency that Palestinian Authority companies should reconsider their participation and “give priority to Palestinian interests.”
He added that the companies should not act independently of the PA union of high-tech firms.
What could be wrong about Israeli and PA high-tech companies talking to each other, especially since officials from 11 high-tech companies, including Microsoft and Cisco, are to attend?

Hamas to Abbas: ‘Abducting soldiers is at the heart of our culture’

The kidnapping of IDF soldiers is at the heart of Palestinian culture, a military Hamas spokesman said on Tuesday, responding to a speech by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in which Abbas called such abductions alien to Palestinian norms.

Report: Obama Asks for Plan for No-Fly Zone Over Syria

The White House has asked the Pentagon to draw up plans for a no-fly zone inside Syria that would be enforced by the U.S. and other countries such as France and Great Britain, two administration officials told The Daily Beast on Tuesday.

Report: 'Solid Proof' of Assad's Chemical Weapons Use

Reporters working with the French paper Le Monde may have solid proof that chemical weapons were used in Syria. The reporters spent several weeks with rebels on the front lines of Syria’s bloody civil war, and returned with samples of weapons used by President Bashar Assad’s army.

Syrian rebels near Israel border stole UN’s armored trucks

A Syrian rebel group that twice abducted United Nations peacekeepers near the Israeli border in the past three months stole several UN vehicles, a UN Peacekeeping spokesperson acknowledged to The Times of Israel — including at least two sophisticated armored personnel carriers.
An Israeli expert warned that the sophisticated UN-marked vehicles could be used in surprise border attacks on IDF targets.

BBC trumpets Hizballah narrative of ‘resistance’

The move by EU countries to finally designate Hizballah as a terrorist organization is, of course, both necessary and long overdue. Whilst Jonathan Marcus’ analysis of the reasons behind that shift may be useful, the fact that he is apparently unable to avoid the temptation of adopting and promoting the terrorist organisation’s own narrative with regard to the euphemism of “resistance” does not enhance BBC audience’s understanding of Hizballah or the basis for its designation.

Nasrallah's worn out rhetoric

Now, as Assad, the Iranians and Hezbollah slaughter Syrians and Palestinians, Nasrallah has become a farce whose time is over. The Sunni Arabs expect the West to eliminate Iran, Assad and Nasrallah for them. Israel must not intervene because there is a good chance that this axis will crumble on its own.