Wednesday, April 09, 2014
Why Did Kerry Lie About Israeli Blame?
As the New York Times reports:Welcome to Pallywood. Land Day Edition
"Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that Israel’s announcement of 700 new apartments for Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem precipitated the bitter impasse in peace negotiations last week between Israel and the Palestinians.
While Mr. Kerry said both sides bore responsibility for “unhelpful” actions, he noted that the publication of tenders for housing units came four days after a deadline passed for Israel to release Palestinian prisoners and complicated Israel’s own deliberations over whether to extend the talks.
“Poof, that was the moment,” Mr. Kerry said in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee."
Poof? To say that this evaluation of the situation is disingenuous would be the understatement of the century. Kerry knows very well that the negotiations were doomed once the Palestinians refused to sign on to the framework for future talks he suggested even though it centered them on the 1967 lines that they demand as the basis for borders. Why? Because Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas wouldn’t say the two little words —“Jewish state”—that would make it clear he intended to end the conflict. Since the talks began last year after Abbas insisted on the release of terrorist murderers in order to get them back to the table, the Palestinians haven’t budged an inch on a single issue. (h/t Norman F)
Welcome to Pallywood.Elliott Abrams: U.S.: The Great Problem That Needs to be Solved
The star of our show, filmed on "Land day", March 30, is a rather large Palestinian woman. While the men surround her, cameras ready, she attacks an Israeli officer. There is nothing spontaneous about this- its completely planned and staged.
She tries to steal a weapon from the young officer
Eventually, she provokes a reaction, and is pepper sprayed. This was her goal.
This photo, by AP photographer Sebastian Scheiner was captioned " A Palestinian woman reacts after Israeli border police officers sprayed pepper spray during a demonstration marking the Land Day at the Damascus gate in Jerusalem's old city, Sunday, March 30, 2014"
Deliberately, or through negligence AP missed a whole lot of context there, giving free reign for the propagandists to talk about the brutality of Israel
At the White House the U.S. Administration still says "All options are on the table, and don't underestimate the president."
The only thing I can reply is, "I travel in the Middle East a fair amount, and talk to Arabs as well as Israelis. I think it's fair to say that from Morocco to Iran, there is not one single person who believes that." I don't think he has any real allies abroad. If you asked that question a year ago the White House used to say, "Erdogan." They don't say, "Erdogan" any more.
There are so many intractable problems and no intimation that Hamas is prepared to move on any of those. What do Kerry and his friends really see that gives them any optimism in this area? I think the only variable in his view is "me". "I'm John Kerry. I can do this," which is ludicrous.
And there is a lot more to be said about Iran. What is clear is that they are revving up. They are moving from the first generation to second generation centrifuges, which are much more efficient and productive. They are moving more materiel underground. They are attempting the plutonium route as well as the uranium route. And presumably they are working on a warhead. Of course, they can have a bomb without making the announcement and they can make the announcement without having a bomb.
Reagan came on the scene and with peace through strength -- three words, clarified and explained to Americans what American foreign policy stands for.
Jerusalem is not up for grabs
Finally, the partition of Jerusalem is simply a bad idea when the prevailing zeitgeist dictates uniting cities such as Berlin, Belfast or Nicosia. Why should Jerusalem be different? Jews have held a majority in the city for the past 150 years, while Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim political entity.The evil of banality - when blaming Israel becomes commonplace
Moreover, the Arab minority in the city has shown its preference for living under Israeli rule, as many have moved to the Israeli side of the security barrier being built around Jerusalem. Polls show clearly that a large majority of Jerusalem Arabs oppose being subject to Palestinian rule. Their choice is reasonable, as Jerusalem offers the quality of life of a modern Western city, while only a few kilometers away, a Third World standard of living, chaos and religious intolerance are the norm. An undivided Jerusalem is the best guarantee for a better life for all Jerusalemites.
In sum, the unreasonable Palestinian demand for dividing Jerusalem is an obstacle for a better future.
Similarly, I distinguish between the Boycott Israel crowd’s anti-Israel intent and the Blame Israel First crowd’s anti-Israel effects. The Boycotters diabolically mask harsh animus against the Jewish people with human rights rhetoric. Most Blame Israel Firsters are simply sloppily following a Western trend that excuses Palestinian sins.Netanyahu: Abbas Moved on UN in Midst of Extensive Talks
Nevertheless, treating Israel as the problem is convenient albeit false, as PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s actions in sabotaging the peace process this week confirmed. But with his people cast as the innocent Jesus to the dastardly collective Jew, Abbas knows he can appear blameless.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday revealed that extensive efforts to extend Israeli-Palestinian peace talks were in progress when Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas announced – in what the Associated Press described as a “hastily convened” press conference – that he would be turning to the United Nations and seeking to ascend to 15 international treaties as the “State of Palestine.”Netanyahu suspends state contact with PA
Observers have since speculated that the gambit was a rushed effort to ward off rivals seeking to exploit popular discontent against Abbas, who is currently serving the tenth year of an original four year elected term and had years ago maneuvered out the top Palestinian technocrat charged with bolstering the West Bank economy.
“In response to the Palestinian violation of their commitments under peace talks… Israel government ministers have been told to refrain from meeting their Palestinian counterparts,” an official told AFP, requesting anonymity.Palestinians: Israeli decision to cutback ties undermines efforts to revive peace talks
The order did not ban contact between the Defense Ministry and the PA, which would have hampered security cooperation in the West Bank, according to Israel news site Ynet on Wednesday. Peace negotiations are also unaffected, the site reported.
The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday accused Israel of harming the already deteriorating peace process by ordering government ministries to cease civilian and economic cooperation with the PA.PA UN envoy: Boycott Israeli settlements
The order excluded Defense Ministry cooperation with the Palestinians or Justice Minister Tzipi Livni's meetings with Palestinian negotiators.
"This decision undermines all international efforts ... to revive the negotiations, to proceed with a constructive solution to the challenges facing the peace process," said PA spokesman Ehab Bseiso.
Israeli and Palestinian officials cooperate on civilian issues such as the environment, water and energy, but Bseiso said this usually does not entail face-to-face meetings.
The Palestinian UN envoy urged the world Tuesday to boycott products from “illegal” Israeli settlements as part of a stepped up campaign to help a Palestinian state become independent.'No Arab Demographic Time Bomb,' Say Experts
Riyad Mansour told a UN meeting Tuesday that the Palestinians are ready and willing to resume US-mediated peace talks with Israel, which appeared in recent days to be headed for collapse, before they are scheduled to end on April 29.
At a packed Americans For a Safe Israel (AFSI) meeting that was held at AFSI National Chairman Mark Langfan's Manhattan home last Wednesday, former Ambassador Yoram Ettinger and Langfan debunked the "Arab demographic time bomb" claims used to pressure Israeli withdrawals.‘Al-Dura doctor’ Yehuda David announces presidential candidacy
"There is no machete at the throat of the Jewish state, there is no Arab demographic time bomb; there is in fact a very well documented Jewish demographic tail wind," argued Ettinger, noting the fallacy of claims asserting Israel must withdraw to the 1949 Armistice lines to maintain a Jewish majority.
Muhammad al-Dura was shot to death in the Gaza Strip in September 2000, becoming a symbol of the second intifada. Television station France 2 aired footage showing the 12-year-old and his father, Jamal al-Dura, caught in a crossfire between soldiers and terrorists at the Netzarim junction and claimed they were targeted by the IDF, but the report’s accuracy was widely called into question.Sign the Petition to Cut Salaries for Terrorists
Seven years later, David told Israeli and French media that he treated Jamal al-Dura in 1994 as a surgeon at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer and that the injuries Dura said he sustained from IDF fire were actually the result of a gang attack in 1992.
Dura sued David in France for libel and violating doctor-patient confidentiality, but the doctor won in an appeal in 2012.
“I said to myself, if I know the truth, I have to continue fighting until the end,” David said. “I couldn’t stand that Israel’s good name and that of our soldiers was sullied, especially as someone who still does reserve duty.
And what exactly had Muqdad Salah done to earn his jail time? He had helped beat a sleeping 78-year old Holocaust survivor, Israel Tenenbaum, to death.Terrorist Rocket Reportedly Lands Inside Gaza
But what was most shocking about this article was not the implied sympathy for a man who had committed such an unspeakable crime. It was the quiet acknowledgement that he had in fact been rewarded for his actions: by the time he was released, he had already received over $100,000 in payments from the Palestinian Authority.
Because while Salah’s story is horrifying, it isn’t unique. Every single Palestinian who is convicted of terrorism by Israel is automatically put on the PA payroll, with the worst offenders drawing a monthly salary of £2000. Mahmoud Abbas spends millions every single month on these payments – around 5 per cent of his total budget – and it’s our taxpayer money that enables him to do so.
Gaza terrorists fired a rocket at Israel on Wednesday but it apparently fell short of its mark, exploding inside the Hamas-enclave of Gaza.When You Finally Decide Who Killed Me And How, Don’t Wake Me By Yasser Arafat (satire)
The 'code red' siren was sounded in the Ashkelon Coast Council area; however reports of explosions or damage in Israel have not been received, with indications being that the lethal projectile never made it over into Israel.
Your need to see my death as the result of conspiracy rather than the natural course of things says more about you and your assumptions than about my actual death. I’m just as dead either way, of course; what matters here is your knee-jerk flinging of accusations at your culprit of choice.In Egypt, women still have a long way to go
The obvious main suspect would be Israel, but let’s face it: they didn’t need to be so underhanded as to actively kill me. All they had to do was keep me physically isolated and just wait. Which is probably what they did. As convenient as they might have thought it would be for me to drop dead, I’m just as useless to them dead or alive.
Then there are my Palestinian rivals, people my widow Suha loves to blame for everything when she’s not blaming Israel and spending oodles of money I embezzled. I don’t blame her. It can be such a source of stress to have to decide between Manolo Blahnik and Prada every single day. Cut the girl some slack.
The causes for concern are many. Men hold an overwhelming near-lock on decision-making in politics, and activists say they are doing little to bring about equality. Violence against women in public space has grown over the past three years of turmoil since the 2011 ouster of autocrat Hosni Mubarak. And some activists say the increasingly repressive political climate is stifling chances for democratic reforms that would bring women’s rights.Egypt court sentences four gays to prison
An incident in March underlined how far activists say they still need to go to change public attitudes.
After a female student at Cairo University came under mass sexual assault by male students, the university’s president, Gaber Nassar, criticized her for the way she was dressed. A well-known TV presenter, Tamir Amin, went on a tirade on his show, saying the student was “dressed like a belly dancer.” She was wearing black pants, a long-sleeved pink shirt and a head-scarf.
A court in Egypt sentenced four men to up to eight years in prison on Monday for practicing homosexuality, a judicial official said.Egypt presidential hopeful would void treaty with Israel
Prosecutors had accused the men of holding "deviant parties" and dressing in women's clothes. Three were sentenced to eight years and the fourth to three years in prison.
Prosecutors have used a law banning "debauchery" to try homosexuals in the past.
Mortada Mansour, who announced his candidacy in the coming elections earlier this week, made the revelations during an interview with privately-owned Al-Hayah TV channel on Monday.Former Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Director: We Hid Information From IAEA
Mansour said if elected he would do away with the Camp David Peace Accord with Israel, which he called irrelevant, and the attendant annual $3 billion in US aid.
He said cutting off the aid would encourage Egyptians to enter the job market, according to an account of the interview in Egyptian daily al-Ahram.
In a March 17, 2014 interview with the Iranian daily Khorasan, former Atomic Energy Organization of Iran director Fereydoon Abbasi, who headed the agency under president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, revealed that over the years Iran had concealed from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) information on its nuclear program, on its activity at the heavy water reactor in Arak, and on the location and activity of its production workshops.Kerry pegs Iran's nuclear 'breakout' window at 2 months
The Arak reactor, which operates on the plutonium track, is one of the bones of contention in the negotiations between Iran and the 5+1 group.
In the interview, Abbasi claimed that Western intelligence agencies had successfully sabotaged Iran's nuclear program using information received from the IAEA, and that the source of this information was Iran's reports to the IAEA on the aims of its nuclear program and also reports by foreign firms that provided equipment to Iran. He said that this is why Iran had decided to conceal from the IAEA its purchasing programs as well as information about some of its activities at the Arak reactor.
At the hearing, he faced tough questions from lawmakers about negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. Asked whether a "breakout" window of up to a year was the negotiators' goal, Kerry responded: "I think it's public knowledge today that we're operating with a time period for a so-called breakout of about two months. That's been in the public domain. So six months to 12 months is -- I'm not saying that's what we'd settle for, but even that is significantly more."Former Israeli Naval Chief: Iran is Leading Weapons Smuggler in Middle East
The United States and five other world powers began a new round of talks with Iran in Vienna on Tuesday to try to reach a broad settlement over Iran's disputed nuclear program. Iran and the six powers agreed to an interim deal in November under which it curbed some uranium enrichment activities in return for limited relief from economic sanctions.
Kerry said such a "breakout" window did not mean Iran would have a warhead or other delivery system.
Vice Admiral Eliezer (Chiney) Marom spoke at the Jerusalem Post Annual Conference in New York:US says Iran’s choice of UN ambassador ‘not viable’
“Iran is leading the [weapons] smuggling industry in the Middle East,” Marom told participants at the Jerusalem Post Annual Conference in New York. “Iran is a very, very dangerous country.”
Marom added that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani “smiles at your face and lies” while his country continues to build its nuclear weapons program.
The United States said Tuesday it had told Iran the selection of a UN ambassador who is allegedly linked to the 1979 American embassy hostage crisis was “not viable.”World Bulletin: Turkey's IHH sends aid to Syria in name of Mavi Marmara ‘victims’
The disclosure from the White House came a day after the US Senate passed a resolution that would deny the diplomat, Hamid Aboutalebi, a US visa.
“The US government has informed the government of Iran that this potential selection is not viable,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
Food packages loaded onto trucks named after humanitarian activists killed on the Mavi Marmara ship in 2010, were distributed to Syrians on Sunday.
A branch of Turkey's Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) in Corum, in Turkey's Black Sea region, has been sending aid to Syria since the beginning of the crisis. The aid was also provided by the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association.
“Fifteen trucks, named by the Mavi Marmara martyrs’ names, delivered a hundred tons of food packages to Syrian civil war victims,” said IHH's Corum representative Selim Ozkabakci.
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