Saturday, November 23, 2013
Caroline Glick: A vastly changed Middle East
“As a result of the regional upheavals, tribal, sectarian, and ethnic identities have become more pronounced than ever, which may well lead to a change in the borders drawn by the colonial powers a century ago that have since been preserved by Arab autocrats.”Sarah Honig: Why die for Danzig (Israel)?
Guzansky and Striem explained, “The iron-fisted Arab rulers were an artificial glue of sorts, holding together different, sometimes hostile sects in an attempt to form a single nation state.
Now, the de facto changes in the Middle East map could cause far-reaching geopolitical shifts affecting alliance formations and even the global energy market.”
There’s every reason to assume that US President Barack Obama has never heard of the pre-WWII demagogic question “Why die for Danzig?” The same can be as safely assumed regarding his Secretary of State John Kerry.Melanie Phillip: It’s 1938 all over again
Oddly enough, however, their policy appears to draw inspiration from the same ideological wellspring that gave the world the above rhetorical tease. (h/t Norman F)
The rationale being offered by US officials in background briefings is no less jaw-dropping. This is how it goes. Measures to stop Iran from making the nuclear bomb will make the regime even more determined to make the bomb. So it’s smart not actually to stop Iran making the bomb. But not stopping it making the bomb, allowing the centrifuges to spin and enrichment to continue, also means it will make the bomb. So it’s win-win for Iran. World loses.JCPA Dr Jacques Gauthier The Jewish Claim to Jerusalem: The Case Under International Law
How’s that hope’n’change thingy working out for you right now?
We are indeed now facing the unthinkable. Not just that Iran is on the verge of being allowed to proceed to nuclear capability. The really unthinkable reality is that the enemies of the civilised world are not just to be found in Tehran. They are also in London, Brussels and Washington DC.
Open to interpretation
As UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer noted on the group’s site, “by the end of its annual legislative session next month, the General Assembly will have adopted a total of 22 resolutions condemning Israel – and only four on the rest of the world combined.”Group: UN Body Bars Jews from Entering Palestinian Meeting
That’s not to say that the UN doesn’t care about the Jews. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Auschwitz this week, where he paid tribute to the victims of the Holocaust.
Perhaps dead Jews go down better than those alive and kicking.
“I have been following the U.N. for 30 years and this is the first time that the United Nations secretariat is barring access of a pro-Israel officially accredited U.N. NGO from a publicly-advertised open U.N. meeting,” Bayefsky said.BBC correspondent reports Israeli strike on Gaza that never happened
Bayefsky expressed a similar sentiment in follow up letter sent on Wednesday to the U.N.’s Feltman.
“As a senior U.N. official you are announcing that countries which do not recognize the self-determination of the Jewish people, embodied in the state of Israel, have a veto over the attendance at a U.N. meeting of a Jewish organization and its representative that are committed to the self-determination of the Jewish people (and to combating the anti-Semitism inherent in its denial),” she wrote in the letter.
On November 19th, Rushdi Abu Alouf, a correspondent in the BBC’s Gaza office, sent this tweet (below) informing his 3,000+ followers that there had been an “air raid” on Gaza city, in the Gaza strip.When Palestinians Violate the Boycott of Israel
Abu Alouf’s Twitter bio lists him as a “#Palestinian journalist based in #Gaza , work for the #BBC“.
But BBC Watch reports that unfortunately for Abu Alouf and the BBC, there was no such air strike, and the tweet was either knowing propaganda by the BBC’s Palestinian producer, or a heinous violation of the simple principle of fact checking.
The injuries cited by Abu Alouf – and one fatality - were caused by an accidental explosion and had nothing at all to do with Israel, as verified by the Ma’an News Agency.
But when people are calling for a boycott of a country that is not even being boycotted by those it allegedly oppresses? There is something very very wrong with such a movement. And something even more wrong with promoting only one side of it to impressionable students in the name of academic freedom.Daphne Anson: Stop Hurting Israel: American pro-Israel group opens a petition
With the slogan "While Israel is negotiating peace ... Europe is hurting Israel," an American pro-Israel organisation has opened a petition, to which as many signatories as possible are obviously sought. Site: Stop Hurting IsraelFrench Left Party adopts BDS policy
A small leftist party in France announced that it is aligning itself with the international campaign to boycott Israel and Israeli products.‘If Israel is Forced to Stand Alone, Israel Will Stand Alone’
“The national bureau of the Left Party has convened on Nov. 16 and decided to engage the Left Party in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign,” read a statement placed this week on the party’s website.
So far, the U.S. statements have not caused Iran to reduce its march to a bomb, and it has flagrantly refused to alter its course. It has treated the U.S. as a paper tiger. So why should anyone think that the direction of present negotiations offers any chance of success? In this posture, the negotiations appear to be a path to war.Iran reportedly claiming world has recognized its ‘right to enrich uranium’
There is only one way for the U.S. to convince Iran and others it is serious in its statements: that is, the path it followed recently in Syria. After it was established that Syria used chemical weapons in the present civil war, the U.S. issued an ultimatum backed with the threat of immediate attack on Syria with a request for Congressional support of the U.S. threat. Syria backed down and accepted the ultimatum.
According to Israel’s Channel 2 news, Iranian participants in the talks claim the P5+1 nations have now recognized Iran’s “right to enrich uranium” — a major concession that Israel has warned would essentially legitimize the rogue Iranian nuclear program.Rouhani to the West: Ignore Israel, Sign a Deal
As world powers and Iran continued talks in Geneva in hopes of reaching a deal about Iran’s nuclear program, Iran’s president on Friday called on the West to ignore Israel and reach a deal with his country.On 50th Anniversary of JFK Death, Iran’s PressTV Blames Israel
"The world powers should reach an independent decision that is disconnected from Israel’s position," President Hassan Rouhani tweeted.
As Israel pushes for the world to halt Iran’s nuclear program, Iran’s state-controlled PressTV pushed back on Friday, mendaciously linking Israel’s efforts to become a nuclear power with the assassination of John F. Kennedy, ahead of the 50th anniversary of his death today.Syria’s Christians Flee Kidnappings, Rape, Executions
“Israel and its global Zionist crime syndicate were major players if not THE main player in the JFK assassination,” PressTV columnist Dr. Kevin Barrett wrote.
Running from assault, abduction, and assassination at the hands of jihadists and FSA rebels, Syria’s ancient Christian community fears a religious pogrom is set to erupt.Ignoring the biggest massacre of Syrian Christians so far
Traumatized by what they have endured inside Syria and fearful for their future, Christians fleeing the 32-month-long civil war say the persecution of Christians is worsening in rebel-held territories in the country’s north—and that the kidnapping, rape and executions of Christians aren’t just being carried out by jihadist groups, but also by other Sunni Muslim rebels, including those affiliated with the Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA).
The worst massacre of Christians in Syria so far -- complete with mass graves, tortured-to-death women and children, and destroyed churches -- recently took place at the hands of the U.S.-supported jihadi “rebels”; and the U.S. government and its “mainstream media” mouthpieces are, as usual, silent (that is, when not actively trying to minimize matters).Egypt expels Turkish ambassador, scales back relations
The massacre took place in Sadad, an ancient Syriac Orthodox Christian habitation, so old as to be mentioned in the Old Testament.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said the Turkish envoy has been considered persona non grata and is being asked to leave the country because of what it described as Ankara’s continued “interference” in Egyptian affairs. It said it will scale back its diplomatic relations with Turkey to the level of charge d’affaires.Pakistani doctor who helped U.S. find bin Laden charged with murder
Shakil Afridi, hailed as a hero by U.S. officials, was arrested after U.S. soldiers killed bin Laden in May 2011 in a secret raid that outraged Pakistan and plunged relations between the strategic partners to a new low.Moroccan Jewish leader: Bills to outlaw contact with Israel will fail
Friday's murder charge, relating to the death of a patient eight years ago, dims Afridi's chances of going free and could further sour ties with the United States.
Joel Rubinfeld, a co-chairman of the European Jewish Parliament, condemned the bills as “a threat which could reverse Morocco’s extraordinary openness to Israel. The radicalism these bills reflect must not be allowed to gain the upper hand.”Nuremberg transcript donated to Holocaust Museum
Human rights groups this week denounced the planned legislation, including one Moroccan-based organization that called it “inhuman, anti-constitutional and antidemocratic” and suggested it was “influenced by Nazi tendencies.”
Harold Burson covered the trials in 1945 and 1946 for the American Forces Network. He wrote extensive scripts for on-air announcers who were broadcasting to U.S. soldiers in Europe and to the English-speaking population in Germany during the first Nuremberg trial.French court bans anti-Semitic book in rare ruling
Burson, now 92, delivered his collection of 40 scripts to curators Tuesday. The broadcast recordings have been lost. After the war years, Burson went on to create the large public relations firm Burson-Marsteller.
The court in Bobigny, near Paris, last week handed down a blanket ban on the publication and dissemination of one book, “The Anthology of Quotes against Jews, Judaism and Zionism” by Paul-Eric Blanrue.Mapi Pharma patents new MS, pain-relief drugs
The court said the book contained “incitement to racial hatred” and “denials of genocide,” which are illegal in France. Blanrue’s 321-page book contains “hundreds of anti-Semitic statements by well-known figures throughout the ages,” according to the news agency AFP.
Only three years after going into business in Ness Ziona, Israel, Mapi Pharma has won US patents for two promising drugs in its pipeline – a slow-release form of glatiramer acetate for treating multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms just once a month; and a new pill, Tapentadol, for relief of moderate-to-severe acute pain.‘Innovation Index’ puts a number to Israel’s tech prowess
“We believe in two to three years they could be in the final stage of development, and about three years to market,” says Mapi Pharma president and CEO Ehud Marom.
The project has something for everybody, said Ann Liebschutz, one of the index’s architects. It will show Israeli entrepreneurs, American investors, and government officials from both countries that the US is still the best destination (for partnering, sales, or exits) for an Israeli start-up to set its sights on, despite very tempting offers from the Far East and Europe. For American companies, especially mid-size and smaller ones, the index will highlight Israel’s strength as a tech partner, seeking to encourage US businesses to further embrace Israeli tech companies and to partner with them.
