Friday, October 11, 2013
What Russia’s Mideast Rise Means for Israel
Although Israel has attempted to stay out of the Syrian civil war, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren told The Jerusalem Post in mid-September that the Jewish state “always wanted Bashar Assad to go” and “always preferred the bad guys who weren’t backed by Iran to the bad guys who were backed by Iran.”Historical IDF tweet sends oil soaring
Despite Assad’s ties to Iran and to Hezbollah, Trenin told JNS.org that Russia may actually be more concerned with the growth of Sunni extremism, particularly in Chechnya in the north Caucasus mountains, where Russia has been fighting Al-Qaeda-linked extremists such as the Caucasus Emirate for decades.
In fact, Russia may not have a stellar reputation in other parts of the Middle East. Arab Gulf leaders have historically criticized Russia’s policies in Chechnya and are distrustful of Russian ties with Shi’a Iran.
Russia is using its involvement in the Middle East to uphold “the world order based on national sovereignty and the U.N. Security Council’s supremacy in matters of the use of force, checking Islamist extremism, and achieving equality in Russia’s own relations with the United States,” Trenin said.
The tweet reported on Israeli bombing raids on Syrian airports to stop Soviet weapons transfers and carried the hashtag #YomKippur73, intended to clue readers in that this was part of a series of messages by the IDF commemorating the war.Lt. Colonel discusses motivations of women and children suicide bombers
Instead, international Brent traders misread the tweet as a clue that oil would soon become scarcer, and began buying, sending the price from $110.40 a barrel to $111.50, according to Reuters.
Berko also described the scope of child involvement in terrorist attacks.Abbas’ UN speech contradicts his “refugee” history
“There are instances of recruiters waiting for children right out of school. They would just go after students like drug dealers,” she said. “I spoke with a 15-year-old boy in prison, and you could tell he had been beaten and abused.”
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas recently spoke in the UN (Sept. 26, 2013) and claimed:Fatah Official: Israel Should be ‘Removed’ From Region if Peace Agreement Not Reached
"I am personally one of the victims of the Nakba (i.e., "the catastrophe," Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel), among the hundreds of thousands of my people uprooted in 1948 from our beautiful world and thrown into exile."However, Palestinian Media Watch documented that earlier this year, when describing why he and other Arabs in 1948 left Abbas' town of birth, Safed, a mixed Jewish Arab town, Abbas did not say that he and other Arabs were "thrown into exile," but explained that they left on their own out of fear. He stated that in 1929, there had been a "most severe" massacre of Jews in the cities of Safed and Hebron, and that Arab residents of Safed feared the Jews would take revenge. Accordingly, Abbas explained, they left Safed on their own, "overcome with this fear," and "it caused them to begin to leave the city in a disorderly manner."
In an interview with i24 News, Fatah official Jibril Rajoub said that if Israel doesn’t reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians it should be “removed” from the region.UN Watch: "Israel Violates Syrian Human Rights," Arabs Tell UN
“Peace is not a Palestinian interest, it’s an international interest, and the interest of the world is to put an end to this struggle. I think it’s also an Israeli interest – Israelis should decide whether they are part of the Middle East or an alien body. If Israel is an alien body it should be removed,” he said.
At the UNHRC's "Hate Israel Day," Syria, Egypt and Pakistan for the Islamic States accused Israel of violating the human rights of Syrians. Attacks by Islamic terrorists in Kenya and Pakistan were ignored. UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer asked why.Arrests in Al Bireh prompt BBC mention of Psagot attack
This report once again underscores the all too prevalent phenomenon of ‘last-first’ reporting – as seen so often in relation to missile attacks from the Gaza Strip which are frequently ignored unless Israel takes action, and with subsequent reports focusing on the Israeli response rather than the cause of that response.Another Week, Another Example of Bias at The New York Times
This report also of course prompts the question of whether BBC audiences would have found out about the incident in Psagot at all if no arrests had later been made, as well as raising the issue of an editorial process which apparently only finds an attack on a child newsworthy when it comes as context to an Israeli action involving Palestinians.
Nearly every week, the New York Times provides another example of its bias against Israel. The most recent is Jodi Rudoren's Oct. 8th article about a group of Knesset members who met Palestinian president Abbas at his headquarters in Ramallah. The New York Times version of the meeting differs in many respects from other accounts in the media. Unlike others, Rudoren's article becomes a vehicle to denigrate Israel's leader, with the injection of editorial comments and opinion to portray him as an obstructionist compared to the Palestinian leader who is shown as a peacemaker.Presbyterian "Peacemakers" Go Off the Rails, Again
Things got so bad a while back that the organization was forced to take down its Facebook page because of some of the ugly cartoons that IPMN activists posted there. At one point, IPMN activist Noushin Framke encouraged Hamas – an anti-Semitic organization that seeks Israel's destruction – to hold onto kidnapped IDF Corporal Gilad Shalit until the Palestinians achieve right of return. She has also denied the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish state. Such statements are contrary to the IPMN's mandate to educate and inform members of the Presbyterian Church (USA) about the Arab-Israeli conflict.British Couple Horrified by Wedding Day Anti-Semitism Caught on Tape (VIDEO)
They are acts of demonization and defamation that incite hostility toward Israel, which seems to be the actual intent of the organization's leaders and activists.
A British couple was shocked to find that the videographer hired to capture their wedding for posterity spent the evening mocking guests and making anti-Semitic remarks, The Jewish Chronicle reports.IsraellyCool: Roger Waters Objects To Translation Of Interview With Israeli Journalist
Anthony Aurelius could be heard on the tape calling the bride “unattractive” and referring to guests as “f****** cows.” But the real tipping point came when he surmised, “I don’t think I blame Hitler” and referred to Jews as “the meanest people in the world,” adding, “there’s not a lot of niceness about them is there?”
Last month, I posted the English translation of an interview rock’n'roll BDShole Roger Waters had with an Israeli journalist.Jewish Student Union votes to deny membership to J Street U
Waters has now written a letter complaining about the translation, claiming it is a “serious distortion of the actual interview” he gave.
The campus Jewish Student Union voted Wednesday to deny membership to J Street U at Berkeley, a Jewish student political advocacy group on campus whose application to join the union also was denied two years ago after the group faced accusations of being anti-Israel.Report: Samsung Expresses Interest in Israeli Companies to Boost Mobile Division
The bylaws of the Jewish Student Union, an umbrella organization for Jewish student groups on campus, stipulate that a member organization must not host speakers who demonize Israel, said Jewish Student Union President Daphna Torbati.(h/t Daphne Anson)
The newspaper cites a Samsung document which mentions Israeli mobile search engine developer Everything.me as a possible target acquisition and video-chat app Rounds. The newspaper mentions specifically that acquiring Rounds would help Samsung compete with Apple’s FaceTime and Google’s Hangout.Natalie Portman in TA for her Oz film
Israeli-born actress Natalie Portman, 32, is in Tel Aviv working on pre-production for her film adaptation of “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” by acclaimed Israeli author Amos Oz.Prof. Warshel: PM Understood My Research in 1 Minute
According to Channel 10 TV show “Good Evening with Guy Pines,” Portman spent the past week with her husband, dancer Benjamin Millepied, and their son, Aleph, at the David Intercontinental Hotel in Tel Aviv. She also met with producers, including Ran Bergman, who recently produced “Looper,” starring Bruce Willis.
Despite this, said Prof. Warshel, he succeeded in explaining the gist of his research to Netanyahu “in one minute.”Italian cycling legend Gino Bartali honored by Yad Vashem
Netanyahu responded by saying that from now on, he would demand that his ministers, too, limit whatever statements they wish to make to one minute.
The clandestine World War II work of champion cyclist Gino Bartali was recognized Thursday when a ceremony was held in Jerusalem to mark his help in rescuing Jews in his native Italy.IDF Blog: “The Eye in the Sky at the Heart of the Action”: The Story of the Flying Camel Squadron
The ceremony was held at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem to induct Bartali into the prestigious garden of the Righteous Among the Nations for his work during the German occupation of Italy.
There was a popular phrase going around the Arab world in 1947,” Capt. H tells us. “They said: When Israel has an air force, camels will fly. Needless to say that when the first IAF squadron was founded in that same year, it was nicknamed the Flying Camel Squadron.”Israel Daily Picture: Seeing Double? A New Trove of Antique Pictures Uncovered at Emory University -- "Stereographic" Photos 100+ Years Old
The Flying Camel Squadron’s motto is: “The eye in the sky at the heart of the action.” The squadron has participated in every single one of Israel’s wars since the 1948 War of Independence, and is responsible for providing visual intelligence that has made the Israel Air Forces’ strike capabilities legendary.
The photography company of Underwood & Underwood specialized in publishing stereoscope collections, such as Palestine through the Stereoscope which was sold with a stereoscope, and 200 stereoscopic slides. The photos were taken in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the River Jordan, Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, and the Dead Sea between 1895 and 1904, and the accompanying tour book was published in 1914.
