Douglas Murray: Absolute moral squalor on display at a London church
It is utterly disgraceful that St James’ church has presented this partial view of Israel while ignoring the plight of their co-religionists. Here are some festivals we are very unlikely to see taking place at St. James’s Piccadilly anytime soon.Where Are the Other Replica Security Walls?
A festival set up to highlight the victims of suicide-bombings which murder Christians while leaving church in Pakistan.
An installation — ‘Borno Unwrapped’ — commemorating the 12 people killed last weekend (whilst ‘Bethlehem Unwrapped’ was going on) in two Christian villages in northeast Nigeria, including the eight Christians murdered by Islamists at a wedding reception in Tashan-Alede village.
A small event organised to condemn the savagery which led Islamists in Iraq to plant three bombs at churches and other Christian areas in Iraq on Christmas Day, and which murdered 37 people as they were celebrating the birth of Jesus
Here, then, is an instructive question: why is there no art installation decrying the EU's 'apartheid' security barriers on the Spain-Morocco border? What about the human rights of impoverished Moroccan and sub-Saharan African illegals, who surely deserve a temporary monument in a major capital city (and an accompanying festival) at least as much as jihadis determined to infiltrate Israel and murder innocent men, women and children, deserve one? Perhaps such a project will be next on the agenda for the baleful coterie of trendy British priests and fading, 'socially conscious' media figures currently assembled at St. James's Church.Human Rights Watch Should Rescind Reports
A list of security walls, barriers and fences around the world: (h/t Bob Knot)
What is truly reprehensible, however, is that given the questions now surfacing with regard to al-Karama, Human Rights Watch has not rescinded the reports in whose development it had partnered with al-Karama. Take the case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which last year successfully busted a coup plot by al-Islah, the local affiliation of the Muslim Brotherhood. Human Rights Watch condemned the UAE and accused it of torture in a study that it conducted in conjunction with al-Karama. Now it seems that its partner’s leader was committed not only in rhetoric but also fact to advancing al-Qaeda’s goals. Can HRW really, in hindsight, take seriously the group’s work which castigated a government which has cracked down on al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood? Frankly, it seems plausible that al-Karama’s leadership wanted to use HRW’s mantle to castigate those it saw as ideological enemies.
"Liberal" NGOs' blind eye to MidEast women's rights
The NGO Monitor Report discusses the issues concerning discrimination against women. It correctly blames Western human rights organizations, such as Amnesty and Human Rights Watch, for their lack of sustained advocacy on behalf of women's rights and for their refusal to give the question of women's rights the prominence it deserves.BBC silent on ‘Fatah Day’ celebrations
Instead of concentrating on issues of freedom and equality for Arab women, these human rights organizations eagerly pounce on alleged abuses of democratic nations -- the Western countries and the State of Israel.
Human rights activists have painted themselves as concerned with inequality in the Arab countries by focusing on relatively minor issues and bestowing excessive praise when minor reforms are put in place.
Notably, that “peace and co-existence” touted by the BBC is reflected neither in the stylised map which erases Israel completely or the gun barrel (for more information on Fatah logos, see here). Rifles also featured in an image chosen by PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erekat for his Facebook page on December 29th 2013.BBC ‘tidies up’ Fatah celebrations
And during his speech given at the official ‘Fatah Day’ event in Ramallah, PA president and head of Fatah Mahmoud Abbas took a leaf out of Ahmadinejad’s handbook, calling Israeli communities in Judea & Samaria and Jerusalem neighbourhoods “cancer”.
Among those terror leaders praised by Abbas were Hamas founders Ahmed Yassin and Abed Aziz al Rantissi as well as the founder of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Fathi Shiqaqi.Land/population swap idea is a non-starter
Notably absent over the past few days has been any BBC coverage of the rallies held by Fatah in PA-controlled areas earlier in the week. On January 3rd a rally was held in Nablus (Schem) and in the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, masked armed members of Fatah paraded through the streets undisturbed by PA security forces, as can be seen in this video.
Arabs like Zouabi are infuriated by the idea of land swaps, because it would exclude them from part of their ‘patrimony’ and keep it for Jews. They are opposed to partition, except as a temporary solution on the road to a unified Arab ‘Palestine’. The only acceptable Jewish state for them is no Jewish state.McCain: Netanyahu Has 'Serious Concerns' About Kerry's Plan
There is a fundamental asymmetry of objectives in the negotiations between Israel and the Arabs. Israel wants to end the conflict and is willing to give up much (way too much, in my opinion) in order to move toward a solution. The Arabs want to kick the Jews out of the territories, pump hostile ‘refugees’ into Israel, and replace the Jewish state with an Arab one. (h/t NormanF)
McCain is in Israel along with Republican Senators John Barrasso of Wyoming and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. The three met with Netanyahu on Friday afternoon.Hundreds of Palestinians protest Kerry's visit in Ramallah
"Prime Minister Netanyahu has serious, serious concerns about the plan as has been presented to him, whether it be on the ability of Israel to defend its borders or the reliability of a Palestinian state and their intentions," McCain told reporters after the meeting, according to the AFP news agency.
Palestinian protesters on Friday condemned the latest efforts by US Secretary of State John Kerry to advance peace talks with Israel, using chants evoking the Arab uprisings and telling him to go home.Thwarted Israeli bus blast similar to Boston bombings
The bomb that tore through a Dan No. 240 bus in the central Israeli city of Bat Yam on December 22 was assembled in a pressure cooker and activated by cellphone, much like the devices that killed three people and wounded hundreds more during the Boston Marathon in April 2013, the Shin Bet investigation has revealed.Bat Yam Driver: What if they Release the Terrorists?
The internal security organization, after days of what it termed “intensive intelligence work,” managed to break the terror cell, arresting four Islamic Jihad operatives from Bethlehem and 10 other people, including at least one Bedouin citizen of Israel. A news blackout on the arrests was lifted late Thursday.
"I was very happy to hear that they were caught, but they’ll probably be released in two weeks, because we are constantly releasing murderers," Yoger told Channel 2 News on Friday.Palestinian girl attempts to stab Border Policeman
He noted that security forces risk their lives to locate and arrest terrorists, but their efforts are in vain, because soon after the suspects are placed on trial they are released.
"That diminishes the deterrent factor and it gives them a precedent for more attacks," stressed Yoger.
“Israel is continuing with the diplomatic process as though there’s no terror, while the Palestinians are continuing with the terror as though there’s no diplomatic process,” charged Economy Minister Naftali Bennett last week, on the heels of a thwarted bus bombing and a subsequent, unrelated, stabbing attack. (h/t Bob Knot)Prague residents look to oust Palestinian embassy
The mayor of the Suchdol district, where the Palestinian embassy complex is based, said he would lodge complaints with Czech authorities.Doctors Without Borders staffers nabbed in Syria
“We have lost trust in the diplomats,” Mayor Petr Hejl told The Associated Press Friday after receiving complaints from neighbors. “We feel deceived by them.”
The five staffers were taken “allegedly for questioning” from a Doctors Without Borders house in northern Syria, and have been out of contact since Thursday evening, said Michael Goldfarb, a spokesman for the aid group. He did not say whether the missing staffers had been taken by government forces or rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar Assad, and refused to give further details out of concern for the missing workers’ safety.The Muslim Brotherhood: Wolf not even in sheep’s clothing
With the Brotherhood and their supporters turning more violent, staging deadly attacks against the army and security forces as well as civilian targets, the interim regime had no choice but to ban the movement – as King Farouk, Nasser and Mubarak had done in their time – and declare it a terror organization.Death toll in latest Egypt clashes rises to 17
But the West is not ready to follow suit. The US and the EU, representing the so-called enlightened world, are turning their back on Egypt, though it is fighting their common enemy, radical Islam – thus tacitly encouraging the Brotherhood to keep up their fight.
The death toll from the latest violent clashes in Egypt between Islamist protesters and security forces has risen to 17, a security official said Saturday.Der Spiegel: “Droves of Western Business People Already Flocking to Tehran” in Expectation of Iran Sanctions Relief
Friday’s protests were the deadliest in months, coming less than two weeks ahead of a key referendum on an amended constitution.
Der Spiegel yesterday published analysis - headlined in part ”International Investors Flock to Tehran” – describing a scramble by companies and nations to re-enter Iran’s market in anticipation of the removal of sanctions. The paper quoted Daniel Bernbeck, head of the German-Iranian Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Tehran, characterizing the financial and economic opportunities potentially opening up as “chance of a century.”Iran Arrests Billionaire Who Helped Skirt Sanctions
The arrest several days ago of Iranian billionaire Babak Zanjani, who reportedly helped Iran skirt oil sanctions over the country's nuclear program, remains shrouded in mystery.More than a Gesture Behind Euro Jew-Hate
Zanjani, who has a net worth of around $13.8 billion, admitted to using a web of 60 companies in the UAE, Turkey and Malaysia to sell Iranian oil for the regime in a move to sidestep sanctions, reports Al Arabiya.
When people are having their pictures taken performing the quenelle in front of a Jewish school in Toulouse where Jews were massacred by a Muslim shooter, as has reportedly happened, France may have reached the tipping point where it is no longer safe for Jews. If Europe truly wishes to avoid the flight of the remnants of Jewry that has put down new roots there since 1945, it must recognize that its problem is mainstream Jew-hatred, not a rogue comedian. (h/t NormanF)Cyndi Lauper just wants to have fun…with Israeli music students
Before headlining a concert in Tel Aviv, music mogul Cyndi Lauper traded 1980's pop songs for Middle Eastern vibes at the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in Ramat HaSharon.Let there be more Stephen Harpers
Led by musician and teacher Yair Dalal, the class ensemble fuses together Middle Eastern and rock music at Israel’s largest, independent, professional school for contemporary music. (h/t Bob Knot)
If Israel wants more Stephen Harpers in this world, it needs to start studying what it is doing wrong, and understand the framing through which Harper looks at the State of Israel. Only then will we be able to reproduce this framing amongst other world leaders. Only then will we get more Stephen Harpers instead of getting more boycotts and sanctions against Israel.
Ever since the start of the Oslo peace process, the Foreign Affairs Ministry has stopped defending Israel. Instead, it started defending the two-state solution.