8/09 Links Part 1: Tom Friedman's Incredible Blunders, An Interview with Irwin Cotler

From Ian:

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Sarah Honig: Judenfrei is fine and dandy

The fact that Abbas never neglects to emphasize that Israelis (which really means Jews) would be strictly banned from his state should signify how impossible any practicable and sincere peace is. Abbas, the world’s pampered darling, harbors no qualms about denying Israel any quid-pro-quo for what he demands of it.
Thus Abbas upbraids Netanyahu for “demanding recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. We have rejected, and will reject, this demand. We know what his intention is. He wants to undermine the Palestinian-Arab presence inside Israel and prevent the return of refugees.” In other words, rather than be accepted rightfully as a Jewish state, Israel is tolerated at most as a multinational temporary entity and candidate for impending Arabization. It wouldn’t be left in peace unless it submits meekly to said Arabization and the eradication of its Jewishness.

Canadian MP: Incitement is far worse than checkpoints

The last decade has witnessed the expanding delegitimization campaign against Israel in the field of international law. The interview with Professor Irwin Cotler, a Canadian member of parliament for the Liberal party, was conducted against the backdrop of the renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and the planned release of Palestinian prisoners -- subjects on which he has much to say.

After Egypt, Pointless to Negotiate With Iran

At this point, the only way Tehran will stop developing a nuclear weapon is if the regime is overthrown or if the U.S. or Israel take military action. But outside of empty rhetoric, Obama hasn’t given Tehran any reason to believe that he’s willing to use force.
If Obama would rather tolerate a nuclear Iran than support a military strike, he should say so. His current strategy seems to be to delay a decision until Tehran develops a bomb – at which point it will be too late to attack. This is bad policy. And it is unacceptable leadership.

Iran's Khamenei: Peace talks will force Palestinians to relinquish their rights

Khamenei said Friday that the renewed peace talks would "encourage the aggressors to increase their aggression and suppress the rightful resistance of the Palestinians," according to AFP.
The Iranian leader called on the Muslim world to be active in supporting the Palestinian cause and condemning Israel.
"The Muslim world must not back down from its support for Palestine, and it should condemn the oppressive action of fierce Zionist wolves and their international supporters," AFP quoted him as saying.

Israel and the Gulf states: It’s complicated

Perhaps ironically, the Arab Spring does not make easier for the Gulf states’ autocratic leaders to get closer to Israel again, experts say. For the first time in history, public opinion has become a determining factor of the Arab world’s political system, and the rulers in the Gulf will think twice before admitting any sort of engagement with the Zionist entity.
It’s not so much about the Gulf nations’ love for the Palestinians. “The leaders of the GCC states couldn’t care less about the 1967 borders,” said a Jerusalem source intimately familiar with GCC politics. “For all that matters to them, the Green Line could be somewhere between Ohio and Maryland. It is the conflict that bothers them, because it strengthens the radical forces in the region.”

The New York Times Tries to Smooth Over Tom Friedman's Incredible Blunders

On August 7, Times columnist Thomas Friedman argued that Israel needed to get on board with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's initiative to restart the peace process to head off increasing isolation of the Jewish state. To bolster his point he cited the alleged cancellation of a performance in Israel by Eric Burdon, former lead singer of the British rock group, the Animals. Friedman quotes the British newspaper, the Independent, as writing,
"but now Eric Burdon is not even turning up at all having deciding to withdraw from a planned concert in Israel."
Unfortunately, for Friedman, a week before his piece appeared, Burdon's performance in Israel took place without a hitch. Worse still, he didn't get the alleged quote from the Independent right.

Are Jews the most incompetent “ethnic cleansers” in the world?

Of course, debating the “question” of whether Israel is conducting a war of extermination against the Palestinians seems at first glance to be as productive as ‘arguing’ whether or not Jews are trying to take over the world. However, unlike the latter charge, which, no matter how hateful and irrational, is not really quantifiable, the former malicious smear – reflecting the “Israel as the new Nazis“ narrative which Richard Landes argues indicates (among other pathologies) a desire to be freed from Holocaust guilt – can be easily refuted by a few population statistics.
"The Palestinian population in the West Bank increased from 462,000 in 1949 to more than 2.5 million today.
In Gaza, the population increased from 82,000 in 1949 to 1.7 million today."
Additionally, to add further context:
"The number of Arabs killed (since 1920) in Arab-Israeli wars is less than the number of Arabs killed by Arabs in Syria alone since 2011."

NYT reports on Syrian patients in Israel: BBC still mum

We have mentioned the resounding BBC silence on the subject of wounded Syrian nationals receiving medical care in Israel on numerous occasions.
If perhaps one had thought that the reason for that silence was a lack of access to the story for the foreign media (although the Israeli press has been covering it diligently), then a recent report in the New York Times indicates that this is clearly not the case.

Zanzibar acid attack: British teenagers were 'targeted' and had been attacked before

Katie Gee and Kirstie Trup, both aged 18, had argued with a local shopkeeper days before two men on a moped threw acid in their faces and Katie had separately been attacked for singing during Ramadan.
One friend suggested they might have been singled out because they are Jewish, and local police said they wanted to speak a radical Islamic preacher who they believe may have inspired the attack. (h/t Serious Black)

‘Warning over Sinai terrorists prompted Eilat airport closure’

A warning from a senior Egyptian official, that terrorists in the Sinai armed with missiles planned to target Israel, reportedly prompted the closure Thursday of the airport in Eilat.
The high-level Egyptian military official said Salafi groups had come into possession of missiles with a range of 70 kilometers and intended to target the airport in the Israeli Red Sea resort town and other Israeli targets, the Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported Friday.

Wiesenthal Center calls for boycott of ‘Hitler wine’

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is urging wine distributors to boycott Italian wine-makers Vina Lunardelli for selling a line of Nazi and fascist branded wines
The company has created a cult following featuring labels portraying Adolph Hitler over Nazi slogans, including “Mein Fuehrer,” “Sieg Heil,” and “Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer.”

US auction house offers Schindler documents

An auction house is offering a collection of documents from Oskar Schindler, the German industrialist who saved more than 1,000 Jewish workers at his factories during World War II, including a letter he signed that paved the way for the rescue chronicled in the 1993 movie “Schindler’s List.”
The letter, dated Aug. 22, 1944, describes permission to move his enamelware factory, workers included, out of Krakow, Poland, to Czechoslovakia, a move that historians say allowed him to save the workers.

Kahneman to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

US President Barack Obama awarded Daniel Kahneman, a Princeton psychologist known for his application of psychology to economic analysis, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The White House release Thursday naming Kahneman and other recipients notes that the Princeton University scholar, who shared the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2002, escaped Nazi Europe and served in the Israeli army.