Thursday, January 09, 2014
Why do Leftists Attack the Only Liberal Country in the Middle East?
What is the most rightist doctrine in the world today? It has to be radical Islam. Islamists don’t allow women to go out of their houses alone, nor do they permit women to drive cars. Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by a member of Taliban for advocating education for girls, lists incident after incident describing the oppression of women in her book, “I Am Malala.”Unilateral Palestinian statehood — real threat or ‘big bluff’?
Radical Islamists are also ferociously anti-homosexual. Homosexuality is a capital offense in nine Muslim countries: Afghanistan, Iran, Mauritania, parts of Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
And so, leftists have decided to support ultra-rightists—radical Islamists. Radical Islamists hate Israel, and so groups like the ASA, and individuals like Sarah Schulman, have endorsed extreme anti-Israel policies—opposing Israel under all circumstances. Leftist groups that have passed BDS resolutions have never said that they would end their boycotts if Israel did X or Y or Z. The BDS Movement has no demands, and so its demands cannot be met.
According to Alan Baker, a former legal adviser to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the Palestinian threat of a unilateral statehood drive is absolutely nothing to be afraid of. “This is a big bluff; it’s just an empty threat,” he said. “So the Palestinians will go to the International Health Organization, the International Postal Union and the Civil Aviation Authority. So what? That won’t give them statehood. It won’t make a difference, because Israel is still sitting in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank], and any change can only come about as the result of a negotiation process.”Egypt top newspaper's weird "Zionist conspiracy" theory
And there is no cause to fear a Palestinian onslaught against Israel in international forums, averred Baker, a former Israeli ambassador to Canada, as such attacks have been going on for years. “There are 20 or so anti-Israel resolutions at the UN at any given moment, so how is this night different from any other night?”
Today, the most widely circulating Egyptian newspaper, Al-Ahram, has run a front-page report headlined in red and bold, ''Israeli conspiracy on Sinai's underground water.''
In a black bold lead, the report stresses that ''liberating Sinai and restoring its territories from Israeli occupation was not merely our dream; the dream was to develop this region to be our real exit from all economic troubles.''
However, the report claims, ''the ship of the state is always besieged with conspiracies.''
"Unsatisfied with their crimes in 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973 in Sinai, Palestine, and South Lebanon; Zionists brought Prosopis juliflora, a kind of Mesquite [shrub or tree] which is considered so dangerous, to Sinai.'' (h/t Bob Knot)
Middlebury American Studies Program: Israel boycott violates ASA’s Constitution and Mission
The President of Middlebury College issued one of the most stinging rebukes to the American Studies Association anti-Israel academic boycott: “the vote is a sad reflection of an extreme and hateful ideology of some members of the academy …. I urge others in the academic community to condemn the ASA boycott and reaffirm their support for academic freedom.”Sarah Lawrence joins schools against ASA boycott
Now the American Studies Program at Middlebury College has followed suit by issuing an Open Letter to ASA’s President and Executive Committee.
University president Karen Lawrence, in a statement released to The Times of Israel on Wednesday, wrote, “I oppose this boycott. Academic boycotts have the effect of stifling dialogue vital to academic freedom; indeed, Israeli academics themselves are crucial voices in debating the policies of their government. To declare their institutions barred from academic exchange unfairly curtails their academic freedom and limits the possibilities for dialogue to contribute to understanding, affect policy, and even change minds.”Universities Standing Strong For Academic Freedom and Against Bigotry (running list)
Sarah Lawrence College, a prestigious private liberal arts college in New York State, is the final university represented among the delegates to openly condemn the ASA boycott, which passed in early December and has since been the subject of a tidal wave of criticism. Her statement now means that all of the university provosts, who are part of a delegation sponsored by Project Interchange, an education project of the AJC, hail from universities who have publicly rejected the boycott.
Updated 8:25 a.m. EST, 1/9. Current tally: 164Black State Senator: Academic Boycott of Israel Antisemitic
Pennsylvania state senator Anthony Williams (D-8) is condemning as anti-Semitic the American Studies Association’s recent decision to boycott Israeli academics. Williams introduced a resolution into the Pennsylvania legislature on Tuesday, Jan. 6, in which he calls out the ASA and calls on all colleges and universities in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania to reject antisemitism and refuse to participate in the ASA’s boycott of Israel.NGO threatens to sue US academic group which boycotts Israel
“I’ve been greatly disappointed by recent actions taken by people lauded as ‘scholars,’ and particularly offended by them as someone who fights for equal justice for all. The only glimmers of hope I’ve seen in this debacle are the rigorous and principled retorts and rebukes of the ASA boycott by academic leaders in our area, across Pennsylvania and across the country,” Williams said in a statement released to the public on Jan. 6.
Shurat Hadin - Israel Law Center on Thursday sent a letter to the ASA threatening to sue initiate a lawsuit on behalf of various Israeli academics, arguing that the ASA boycott violates both international, federal and state laws.'Kerry's plan for Jordan Valley withdrawal is ridiculous'
The distributed letter specifically mentioned a number of New York state laws against discrimination which make it unlawful discrimination "for any person to boycott or blacklist, or to refuse to buy from, sell to or trade with, or otherwise discriminate against any person, because of the race, creed, color, national origin."
In the closed forums in Jerusalem where details of the peace negotiations with the Palestinians are discussed, unprecedentedly harsh criticism of Kerry and his staff has been heard in recent weeks. For example, senior Israeli diplomatic officials have called Kerry's security plan for the Jordan Valley "ridiculous and unable to withstand the test of reality."Isi Leibler: An open letter to Secretary of State John Kerry
Diplomatic officials also said: "Kerry visits here a lot, but he does not display any understanding of what is happening here. The U.S. plans are superficial and not serious. There is no connection between what is said in public about the progress of the negotiations and what is actually happening. It seems that Kerry is just not in touch with reality. He is not an expert, to say the least, on the roots of the conflict, he does not know how to create real solutions and does not even demonstrate proficiency in reading maps that are presented to him."
Over the next week or so, you will be unveiling a U.S. proposal for a "framework agreement" between Israel and the Palestinian Authority as a prelude to a final status arrangement.PM won’t agree to even symbolic acceptance of Palestinian ‘right of return’
Before you do so, I encourage you to realistically consider the issues that gravely concern most Israelis, and to believe wholeheartedly that Israelis genuinely yearn for peace and will overwhelmingly endorse a plan that separates them from the Palestinians, provided their security is ensured.
Unfortunately, Mr. Secretary, you and the administration you represent are operating on premises that are misguided or false. President Barack Obama has deluded himself into believing that this conflict is essentially about real estate, an idea that has been disproved many times, most clearly when Palestinian Presidents Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas rebuffed Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert's offers to relinquish 95 percent of the territories formerly occupied by Jordan.
The comments came in response to Chinese news agency Xinhua’s report that US Secretary of State John Kerry proposed to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that he agree to Israel’s allowing into the country some 80,000 Palestinian refugees as part of a final peace agreement.Khaled Abu Toameh: Abbas, Abdullah agree to coordinate unified response to Kerry
According to the report, based on comments from a Palestinian official, this proposal was similar to one then-US president Bill Clinton offered at Camp David in 2000. The report said Abbas wanted to increase the number of Palestinians allowed into Israel to 200,000, and that this demand was under discussion. (h/t NormanF)
Abbas said after meeting with the Jordanian monarch in Amman that the two sides agreed on a united response to Kerry’s ideas.Palestinian Unity Progress Renews Focus on Palestinian Treaty Commitments
“Kerry is still presenting ideas and we are discussing them,” Abbas said. “He [Kerry] will come soon and we have ongoing meetings with his aides.”
Abbas said he was keen on coordinating positions with Jordan and briefing Abdullah on the latest developments surrounding the peace talks with Israel. (h/t Bob Knot)
A joint Fatah-Hamas Palestinian government risks complicating the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Hamas remains committed to the destruction of the Jewish state, and would likely impose severe restrictions on the degree to which any unity government could interact with – let alone recognize – Israel.Israel hits back twice after mortar volley from Gaza
The Israelis, however, have over the course of several decades made functionally irreversible territorial concessions in exchange for among other things recognition and a Palestinian renunciation of violence. Should the Palestinians pocket those concessions and establish a government that violates previous agreement, it is unclear whether to what extent Israeli negotiators would be positions to offer further concessions in exchange for Palestinian assurances.
Israeli planes hit Gaza in two separate sorties Thursday morning, hours after Palestinians shot three mortar rounds at IDF troops patrolling near the border fence.Iran Increases Aid to PFLP
All three shells exploded near the border fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip, in the southern Eshkol region. There were no injuries or damage.
The Israel Defense Forces said it hit a terror cell near Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip just before noon. There were no reports of injuries.
The relationship between the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Islamic Republic of Iran has gone from an impasse — when Iran was supporting Islamist movements in the Arab region during the past two decades — to Iran giving financial and logistical support for the PFLP’s political and military wings. The warming of ties has come as a result of Hamas moving away from Iran due to differing positions on the Syrian crisis.Shot Egypt Christian Dies After Hospitals Refuse Treatment
High-level PFLP sources at home and abroad revealed to Al-Monitor that Iran has resumed its financial and military support for the group in recent months in order to strengthen its alliance with the “Palestinian resistance forces” and not limit itself to only supporting Islamist movements such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
A young Coptic Christian man has died from gunshot injuries in Egypt's capital Cairo, after three local hospitals turned him away, Christians said Tuesday, January 6.Brotherhood-linked cleric 'forbids' voting in Egypt referendum
Ihab Ghattas, 23, reportedly died on New Year's Eve from a gunshot wound to the head because of “negligence” as the hospitals which refused to treat him, said Copts activist group Maspero Youth Union (MYU).
He was shot outside Mar Girgis (St George's) Church in the Ain Shams area of Cairo after celebrating mass by suspected supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, MYU said in published remarks.
Islamist supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi had already called for a boycott of the January 14-15 vote on a new constitution drawn up by the interim authorities since his July overthrow by the army amid mass protests.Iran nuclear talks hit snag on centrifuge research
But the Egyptian-born Qaradawi, who wields huge influence through his regular appearances on Al-Jazeera television from his base in Qatar, said that participation would go against Islam because it would mean colluding with a "sin."
The dispute over centrifuges highlighted the huge challenges facing Iran and the six powers in negotiating the precise terms of the Nov. 24 interim agreement. If they succeed, they plan to start talks on a long-term deal to resolve a more than decade-long dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.United Nations Literally Gives Up Trying to Count Syrian War Casualties
Among the issues to be resolved in political discussions due to begin in Geneva later this week is that of research and development of a new model of advanced nuclear centrifuge that Iran says it has installed, diplomats said on condition of anonymity.
The United Nations announced Tuesday that it was ceasing to update the death toll in Syria’s nearly three-year war because it can no longer reliably keep track of those killed by the conflict. The Associated Press noted that the last official figures, which were current as of July 2013, estimated that at least 100,000 people had perished.OPCW: Assad Dragging His Feet on Chemical Weapons Dismantlement
The Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has called on Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime to speed up its handover of its chemical weapons stockpile.Russia blocks UN statement on Aleppo strikes
"We are exhorting the Syrian government to intensify its efforts, so we can conclude the critical part of this mission absolutely as fast as the conditions allow," Michael Luhan, spokesman for the OPCW, said Wednesday, according to Reuters news agency.
Russia on Wednesday blocked a UN Security Council effort to denounce the Syrian government’s air strikes on rebels in the city of Aleppo with Scud missiles and barrel bombs that have killed some 700 civilians.
The British-sponsored draft press statement would not have been enforceable but it could have been a building block toward a later resolution.
A UN diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations were private, said Russia introduced amendments that watered it down so it had no meaningful impact on the situation in Aleppo. Britain could no longer support the draft language.
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