Pages

Sunday, June 16, 2013

6/16 Links: Iranian Election, Morsi breaks with Syria, Prof. Newman OBE and White Night Tel Aviv

From Ian:

Netanyahu on Iran elections: ‘Let’s not delude ourselves’
“Let us not delude ourselves,” Netanyahu said. “The international community must not become caught up in wishes and be tempted to relax the pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear program. It must be remembered that the Iranian ruler, at the outset, disqualified candidates who did not fit his extremist outlook and from among those whose candidacies he allowed was elected the candidate who was seen as less identified with the regime, who still defines the State of Israel [in an address last year] as ‘the great Zionist Satan.’”
Iran votes for change, but new president will have a hard time delivering
In his public speeches, Rowhani — himself a conservative Shiite cleric –promised Iranians change both domestically and abroad. But Israeli experts on Iran said on Saturday that with no control over foreign policy and with the country’s economic situation dependent to a great extent on international decisions, the new president has precious little leeway.
Expert: Israel Faces 100,000 Cyber Attacks Each Day
Professor Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Yitzchak Ben-Yisrael told Arutz Sheva that threats have become increasingly sophisticated as defenses have done the same.
Israel faces roughly 100,000 cyber attacks per day, he revealed, and during wartime that number jumps to one million.
Ben-Yisrael discussed Israel’s unique experience on the front lines of the cyber war, and the ways in which Israel can share with the world.
Honest Reporting: BBC Burns Rubber to Promote Palestinian Gripes
The BBC fails to explain that Adnan Husseini’s title is just that – a title and nothing else. The PA has no authority in Jerusalem and his title is designed specifically to promote the myth of a Palestinian Jerusalem.
This writer’s family stood on the Jerusalem streets watching the Formula 1 event. While taking photos of the cars, they didn’t take photos of the crowds of Arabs standing next to them. Why? Because it didn’t seem unusual to Israelis used to mixing with Palestinian Arabs in Jerusalem.
CAMERA: IHT Corrects Palestine Terminology
The erroneous June 8 item had stated:
”....The Austrian-born photographer immigrated to the Palestine Authority in the 1920s.”
CAMERA Prompts Financial Times Corrections on Curfews, Air Strikes
The erroneous photo caption referring to Ramallah air strikes has been removed (see below for screen shot of the online article as it now appears), as has as the reference to non-existent curfews in eastern Jerusalem.
Israel, US, Mull Raids on '18 Chemical Targets' in Syria
One scenario would be the sudden removal of Assad from the scene, the magazine said. “That would prompt the allies to launch operations on the estimated 18 depots and other sites where WMDs are stored,” Israei military and intelligence officials said.
“Search and destroy operations would also be launched if the weapons appeared to be about to fall into the hands of the rebels, which include Islamist extremists aligned with al-Qaeda.”
Clerics call for ‘jihad’ in Syria
Influential Sunni clerics from several Arab states including Saudi Arabia and Egypt have called for ‘Jihad’ against the regime in Syria. "We must undertake jihad to help our brothers in Syria by sending them money and arms, and providing all aid to save the Syrian people from this sectarian regime," they said in a statement at the end of a gathering in Cairo. "The flagrant aggression of the Iranian regime, of Hezbollah and of their sectarian allies in Syria amounts to a declaration of war against Islam and Muslims." Lebanon's Iran-backed Shia movement has been fighting alongside the forces of President Bashar Al-Assad, a member of the Alawite offshoot of Shiaism, against Syria's rebels.
Morsi cuts Egypt's Syria ties, backs no-fly zone
He also warned Assad's allies in the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shi'ite militia Hezbollah to pull back from fighting in Syria.
"We stand against Hezbollah in its aggression against the Syrian people," Morsi said. "Hezbollah must leave Syria - these are serious words. There is no space or place for Hezbollah in Syria."
Erdogan Goes to War; Police Wound Hundreds, Attack Drivers
Turkish police went to war against protesters Saturday night, using rubber bullets and tear gas to clear thousands from Taksim Square and on pedestrians trying to cross a foot bridge, where drivers also suffered the effects of the gas.
Hundreds of people, including motorists, were injured, while official government statements claimed the number of wounded was 44.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had issued an ultimatum to the protesters to leave Taksim Square in favor of a pro-Erdogan rally scheduled for Sunday.
Outraged Paris Jews Protest Arab Suicide Bomber Exhibit
One photo depicts a proud mother in her home waving a photo of her terrorist son who murdered 19 victims in a 2002 attack on a bus in Jerusalem. Next to another, a caption explains all the individuals in the photo are "martyrs" since they died "as a result of the Israeli occupation."
"This is unacceptable," stated Roger Cukierman, president of CRIF, the largest Jewish organization that fights anti-Semitism in France. "You have the right to be shocked an apology for terrorists is made in the heart of Paris – and to think this is a state-funded museum.
"There must be more vigilance," he added. "One minute France is fighting terrorists in Mali, and then celebrating the same ones here."
Dutch lawmaker who called for sanctions on Israel resigns
Last month Bonis, who before her entry to Labor in 2010 served as ambassador to Syria for four years, said that her “patience for Israel was running out” because of what she described as Israel’s “failure” to meet international norms.
German neo-Nazis submit anti-Israel legislation
This alliance between the Greens and the far Right to promote blatant double standards is a huge stain on Germany’s moral standing,” Prof. Gerald Steinberg, head the Jerusalem–based group NGO Monitor, told The Jerusalem Post on Friday.
“Duplicitous product labeling is the thin wedge of the BDS [Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment] movement, and central to the Durban strategy of political warfare and demonization that targets Israel,” Steinberg, a political scientist at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, added.
Seeing things as they were — there’s an Israeli app for that
Visitors to Israel’s many archaeological sites are often told to come equipped with a camera, and an imagination. The camera is to take photos of themselves and their companions at these famous sites — and the imagination is supposed to help them visualize what many of the faded, ancient, and time-worn places looked like during their heyday.
Israeli professor to get award from Queen Elizabeth
Buckingham Palace announced Saturday that an Israeli professor is among the more than 1,000 people being presented an award by Queen Elizabeth as part of her Birthday Honours list.
Professor David Newman, Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, will receive the award for his promotion of the academic partnership between Britain and Israel. He has been a leading advocate of the academic partnership between the countries, and a key campaigner against the British academic boycott of Israel.
White Night Tel Aviv 2013