Sarah Honig: The light from London
Already then, in Israel’s scariest neonatal hours, Britain played a proactive role in Arab plans to throw us into the sea.A story the BBC will not tell
The best-trained Arab army, the Jordanian Arab Legion, was established and organized on official orders from London by Maj.-Gen. Frederick G. Peake (a.k.a. Peake Pasha). In 1939, Peake was replaced by Lancashire-born Lt.-Gen. John Bagot Glubb (a.k.a. Glubb Pasha), who remained the legion’s commander until 1956. Glubb led the 1948 Arab Legion’s invasion of Israel and engineered the legion’s conquest of east Jerusalem, in direct contravention of the UN Partition Resolution.
British aircraft bombed and strafed Israel’s underdog fledgling forces. We won’t mention Britain’s pre-state refusal of asylum to desperate Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Europe nor Britain’s hunt on the high seas postwar for Holocaust survivors and their incarceration for years under appalling conditions in Cyprus prison camps.
On June 10th 1948 Mishmar HaYarden finally fell to the Syrian army. Fourteen of its defenders had been killed and the twenty-nine men and women who remained were taken prisoner by the Syrians. They remained prisoners of war for thirteen months until the Armistice Agreement was signed in 1949. Once released, they found that they had nowhere to return to: their village of 58 years had been razed to the ground by the Syrians.Saudis, Gulf states ‘unnerved by US pivot away from Middle East’
Mishmar HaYarden was eventually re-established as a moshav, some 2 km to the south-west of its original site. Tens of other communities were also depopulated during the War of Independence due to attacks by the invading armies from surrounding Arab countries, including those in Gush Etzion, some in the Negev and the Jordan Valley and several Jerusalem neighbourhoods. That aspect of the War of Independence is not mentioned in the BBC’s narrative of events.
The concern: America’s regional allies are reading clear signs of the superpower’s desire to disentangle itself from the region. Despite criticism, the US has done little to affect the course of battle in the Syrian civil war. And despite repeated requests from allies like Israel and Saudi Arabia, the Obama administration has declined to order military action to curtail Iran’s nuclear program, instead opting for continued diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis. Middle Eastern allies have also noted the administration’s much-discussed strategic “pivot” away from what many administration officials view as the distractions of the Middle East to the more geopolitically weighty issues related to the growing influence of China.Iran's Arak reactor looms in Israeli, Western view
Iran aims to start a reactor next year which the West fears could arm an atomic bomb. Israel, which has bombed such construction sites around the Middle East before, may try to stop the plant being completed.Boston, London, Paris attacks highlight al Qaeda shift in tactics
Intelligence agencies that have succeeded in thwarting many of al Qaeda's plans for spectacular attacks are struggling to combat the terror network's strategy of encouraging followers to keep to themselves, use off-the-shelf weapons and strike when they see an opportunity.Iraq uncovers al-Qaeda 'chemical weapons plot'
In recent weeks — at the Boston marathon, in the streets of London and in the shadow of one of Paris' most recognizable monuments — young men allegedly carried out attacks with little help, using inexpensive, widely available knives and explosives from everyday ingredients. In each of the attacks, suspects had previously been flagged to law enforcement and deemed not to be a priority.
The authorities in Iraq say they have uncovered an al-Qaeda plot to use chemical weapons, as well as to smuggle them to Europe and North America.PMW: Israeli cities misrepresented as "Palestine" in song on Arab Idol
Defence ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said five men had been arrested after military intelligence monitored their activities for three months.
Cities in Israel misrepresented as "Palestine" in PA TV - VIDEO
Iran Slashing Hamas Funding
The British Daily Telegraph reports that Hamas, which rules Gaza, is paying a heavy price in lost aid over its assistance to the rebels fighting Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Iran has made a meaningful cut in its aid to Hamas, which had previously reached amounts as large as 15 million Australian dollars per month.Russia Blocks Security Council Statement on Syria
Russia on Saturday blocked a United Nations Security Council declaration of alarm over the bloody siege of the Syrian town of al-Qusayr by Syrian troops and Hizbullah terrorists.Radical Qaradawi Calls for 'Jihad' Against Syria and Hizbullah
Radical Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi has called on Sunni Muslims to join the rebels fighting the Syrian regime, AFP reported on Saturday.MEMRI: Deputy Leader of Hizbullah Naim Qassem: Hizbullah Is Ready to Participate in Fighting in Golan VIDEO
Qaradawi lashed out at the Shiite terror group Hizbullah for sending its men to fight the mostly-Sunni insurgents in Syria.
Lawlessness, Blackouts Roil Egypt As U.S. Warns Against Pyramids Tourism
Lawlessness has become so endemic in Egypt that the U.S. Embassy this week warned Americans away from visiting the country’s famed pyramids. A academic teaching at the American University in Cairo received an email from the embassy warning of “aggressiveness [that] in some cases is closer to criminal conduct… with angry groups of individuals surrounding and pounding on [vehicles]… and in some cases attempting to open the vehicle’s doors.” The warning lined up with the professor’s observations:Egyptian legislature illegally elected, court rules
Egypt’s highest court ruled on Sunday that the nation’s Islamist-dominated legislature and constitutional panel were illegally elected, dealing a serious blow to the legal basis of the Islamists’ hold on power.Unprovoked Attack on Jews in Lyon
Anti-Semitism continues to plague France. According to local media outlets in Lyon, two Jewish residents of the city were attacked Saturday as they walked to a local synagogue.Netafim Wins 2013 Stockholm Industry Water Award
The two were attacked by three men of Arab origin in an unprovoked, sudden assault.
Netafim, the pioneer and global leader in drip and micro-irrigation technology and the world’s largest irrigation company, announced today it has been named the 2013 Stockholm Industry Water Award laureate. Netafim will receive the prestigious award at a World Water Week ceremony in Stockholm on September 3.The Israeli “Old Macdonald” carrot starring in Moscow markets
Russians fell in love with the Israeli big carrot “Uncle Moses”, which is the Hebrew term “Old Macdonald” the old farmer figure from the Israeli western Negev.