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Sunday, September 28, 2014

09/28 Links: Radical Islam, Israel and Agitprop; Abbas is the problem, not the solution

From Ian:

Radical Islam, Israel and Agitprop
Many Europeans who would laugh at the idea of negotiating with ISIS or al-Qaeda say that Israel should negotiate with Hamas.
Almost nobody sees that the invention of the "Palestinian people" has transformed millions of Arabs into a genocidal weapon to be used against the Israelis, and even, as in Europe recently, the Jews. Transforming people into a genocidal weapon is a barbaric act.
Israel was urged to find ways to coexist peacefully with people who did not want to co-exist with it. Terrorism against Israel fast became acceptable: a "good" terrorism.
Hamas's stated aim is the destruction of Israel. Its stated way to achieve this aim is terror attacks, called "armed struggle" by Hamas leaders. To this day the Palestinian Authority has not ceased praising and promoting terrorism.
If hatred of Israel is increasing in the U.S., it is largely confined to academics and other extreme radical circles, many of which are funding or receiving funding from Soviet-style agitprop organizations. Journalists are recruited to disseminate descriptions of "facts" as if they were real facts. Pseudo-historians rewrote the history of the Middle East. The falsified version of history replaced history.
Netanyahu headed to NY to counter 'slander and lies' after Abbas, Rouhani UN speeches
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu heads to the United States on Sunday to battle Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and Palestinian unilateralism, when he addresses the UN General Assembly in New York and meets with US President Barack Obama in Washington.
“After the Iranian president’s deceptive speech and [PA President Mahmoud Abbas] Abu Mazen’s incitement, I will tell the truth about Israel’s citizens to the entire world,” Netanyahu said on Saturday night. “In my UN General Assembly speech and in all of my meetings I will represent the citizens of Israel and will – on their behalf – refute the slander and lies directed at our country.”
Netanyahu is to address the General Assembly on Monday and meet with Obama on Wednesday.
Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office said Abbas’s speech was not that of a man who seeks peace.
“It’s a speech that is full of incitement and lies,” the sources said.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, who also is heading to the UN General Assembly, accused Abbas of engaging in political terrorism against the State of Israel and warned that, as long as Abbas is president, it would not be possible to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Abbas does not want and can not be a partner to a logical diplomatic settlement,” Liberman said.
Abbas is the problem, not the solution
Netanyahu must not return to paying protection money to the enemy in Ramallah, in the form of the release of terrorists, a freeze on Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria or aiding the reconstruction of Gaza. If, God forbid, Netanyahu is tempted by the reckless advice from the Left, he could lose his support from the Right. Likud ministers will refuse to publicly back him if he is suspected of marching down the foolish Oslo path, and the heads of Habayit Hayehudi and Yisraeli Beytenu will continue to bash him for not toppling Hamas.
If it becomes clear that Netanyahu's diplomatic horizon is what the Left and many media outlets hope it will be, the disappointed Right will not fall in love with Netanyahu again and he could pay a heavy political price. But if Netanyahu wants to improve the country's situation, he must mold the diplomatic horizon in line with his promises and advance Israel's interests. As I see it, he must, first and foremost, deny the theoretical connection between peace and a Palestinian state, as these are a contradiction in terms.
The Zionist vision, not "peace," must be Israel's top priority. The government should focus on gathering the Jewish people in their homeland, which would increase the chances of true peace.
Abbas has ended the peace process
There is no doubt that at this point, Abbas has abandoned the path of negotiations. He strives to impose some sort of solution on Israel, and he fails to understand that the tumultuous developments in the Arab world, including the conflict between Ramallah and the Gaza Strip, have plunged the Palestinian stock to a new low.
Many in the world still subscribe to Abbas' criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, especially when it comes to settlement construction during the peace talks, but the Palestinians' demands no longer seem as poignant given Abbas' refusal to hold earnest negotiations.
The majority of Israelis who subscribe to the two-state solution would probably allege that Netanyahu's insistence to forge ahead with construction outside the main settlement blocs has made it difficult of the Palestinians. I would also hedge that Netanyahu is not keen to pursue the two-state solution, but that no longer matters, since Abbas has beat him to the punch by debunking it.



Abbas woos his home crowd, alienates Israel, ‘fires’ the US
So who was the intended recipient of Abbas’s speech? Was it a message to President Barack Obama that Abbas would no longer follow Washington’s expectations, reinforcing his refusal in March to endorse Secretary Kerry’s framework for a permanent accord, presaging the collapse of the negotiations just weeks later? The dismissal of the utility of previous negotiations — together with Abbas’s implied message that Washington had failed to secure Israeli good behavior, notably on settlements, during the talks — certainly sounded like a “you’re fired” order to the US negotiators.
And the angry US response, issued by State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki, demonstrated that the message had reached its desired recipient.
But Abbas’s barbs were aimed further afield than Washington, too. His Iran-style turning of Israel from a legitimate state into the entity-that-must-not-be-named — as well as the references to Palestinian revolution and, of course, fedayeen — was focused on two other audiences.
The genocide, war crimes, resource theft and colonialism accusations against Israel were red meat for Palestinian domestic consumption. Abbas was plainly intent on not coming off as too moderate and thus helping Hamas — with its summer war victory claims — into a stronger position on the Palestinian street.
Abbas’ United Nations Speech Throws Obama under the Bus
Mahmoud Abbas roared into the United Nations Friday with an incendiary speech against Israel that re-buried – again – the American-led “peace process,” cast Israel as a war criminal and managed to provoke a hasty and unusually angry American response that smacked his rhetoric as “provocative.”
The Palestinian Authority chairman, who carried out a brilliant world-wide diplomatic campaign against Israel after he took power following Yasser Arafat’s death in 2004, has been hell-bent on self-destruction ever since it was clear to him that he could not hijack the so-called peace process to put an end to Israel as a Jewish state.
His speech, which called Israel “genocidal,” was a statement that the Obama can go fly a kite while he relies solely on the pro-Arab U.N. General Assembly to reach his objective. Abbas’ diplomatic Kamikaze operation somewhat parallels the Arab world’s wars against Israel in 1949 and 1967. They circled the wagons and poised for a victory, but then saw blood in their eyes and banked on total annihilation of the Zionists.
David Horovitz: Since Abbas is no partner, Israel should help try to produce one
We didn’t need Mahmoud Abbas’s ghastly “genocide” speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday to make plain that this is a man with whom Israel cannot reach viable terms for co-existence and a two-state solution.
His unleashing of incendiary false accusations before the watching world was particularly despicable, but this was only the worst in a long series of vicious speeches calculated to exacerbate the hostility to the very fact of Israel’s existence among his own people, across the region, and indeed worldwide.
More substantively, while not personally fostering terrorism, Abbas has long since proved disinclined to counter the uncompromising narrative that his late and unlamented predecessor Yasser Arafat bequeathed the Palestinians — namely, that there was no Jewish temple in Jerusalem, and that the Jewish people thus have no sovereign legitimacy here. Under his rule, as under Arafat’s, most aspects of normalized relations with Israel and Israelis are discouraged, and Palestinian media routinely demonizes and delegitimizes Israel.
At the negotiating table, moreover, Abbas has proved himself a serial rejectionist.
‘Technicalities’ delay Abbas’s West Bank pullout resolution
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas didn’t submit a resolution to the UN Security Council seeking a three-year timetable for an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank due to unspecified “technicalities,” a Palestinian source told Israel Radio Saturday.
On Tuesday, the Palestinian leader had said he intended to propose to the council a three-year deadline for an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territories on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. The resolution was to be submitted to the Council immediately after Abbas’s speech Friday at the UN, he told reporters.
According to Israel Radio reporter Gal Berger, the Palestinian source said Saturday that the UN’s Arab nation bloc, which is backing Abbas’s bid, was still formulating the final draft of the proposal, adding that the PA president would most probably submit the resolution to the Security Council within the next two weeks.
Fatah: Violent struggle is our right, according to UN resolution
Note: PA leaders and officials have legitimized Palestinian violence by quoting UN resolution 3236 which "recognizes the right of the Palestinian people to regain its rights by all means." The PA interprets"all means" as including violence against civilians, but has chosen to ignore the continuation of the resolution which states that the use of
"all means" should be "in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations..." The UN Charter prohibits targeting civilians, even in war. Chapter 1, Article 1, opens by saying that "international disputes" should be resolved "by peaceful means."


Analysis: Israel increasingly anxious over world's flexibility to nuclear Iran
As Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu departed to address the UN General Assembly in New York on Sunday, and to meet with US President Barack Obama, the fear in Israel was mounting with regard to the warming ties between Iran and the United States. Amid the struggle against Islamic State, there were more and more indications that the US and the Western powers were willing to relax their position regarding Iran's nuclear program. This impression became stronger following the reports that the US is coordinating with Iran in its aerial assaults on Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Israel is worried that the offers made to Iran in the negotiations over its nuclear program, which Iran has rejected as unsatisfactory, demonstrate the world powers' willingness to accept the Islamic Republic as a "threshold nuclear power" just a screws-turn away from possessing a nuclear bomb. Israel's anxiety was apparent on Wednesday when Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz revealed classified information with the permission of a military censor that is friendly to the government and more strict to the media. Steinitz revealed that Iran has used its Parchin military base as the site for secret tests of technology that could be used only for detonating a nuclear weapon.
Livni reportedly meets with clutch of Arab foreign ministers
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni last week reportedly attended a dinner in New York with foreign ministers and senior officials from a number of Arab nations, among them some that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel.
Livni, a former foreign minister, was in New York last Monday, officially to attend a formal event organized by former US president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who is expected to run for president in 2016.
However, according to Israeli news source Walla, following the event, she was invited to a small dinner of about 20 people that was closed to the media.
Among the attendees were Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby, Lebanese foreign minister Jubran Bassel, Egyptian foreign affairs minister Sameh Shukri, Jordan’s foreign minister, Nasser Judeh, Kuwaiti foreign minister, Sheikh Khaled al-Sabah and United Arab Emirates foreign minister Abdullah bin Zayed.
Netanyahu departs for US: I will tell truth about the IDF, the most moral army in the world
Netanyahu's visit to the United States looks to confront Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and Palestinian unilateralism. The prime minister will also meet with US President Barack Obama in Washington on Wednesday.
The prime minister's first scheduled engagement on the sidelines of the General Assembly will be with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The meeting will be the first between the two leaders as well as the first high profile meeting between an Israeli and Indian prime minister since Ariel Sharon visited New Delhi in 2003.
An Israeli government official stated on Sunday that "India and Israel have expanded cooperation throughout the years and this meeting demonstrates an increase in that cooperation and will also serve as a catalyst for future cooperation."
Sunday's meeting is being considered a positive turning point in Israeli-Indian relations since Modi was elected prime minister in 2014. (h/t MtTB)
Where in the World is Mohammed Zoabi?
Many of you who have been following the Muqata FB page know about the Israeli-Arab Zionist teenager, Mohammed Zoabi – who proudly expressed his support for Israel, and not only condemned the kidnapping of the 3 Jewish teens this summer (as opposed to his infamous cousin, MK Hanin Zoabi — the Hamas cheerleader in the Knesset), yet young Mohammed also threatened the terrorist kidnappers that they should return the kidnapped teens safe and sound if they knew what was good for them.
Mohammed was ultimately correct, and while the 3 teens were already murdered at the time unbeknownst to us all, — the terrorists who kidnapped and murdered the teens were all killed by the IDF.
Unfortunately, while Mohammad is a great example of loyalty, he received death threats and the police even uncovered a kidnapping plot against him — by his own relatives!
They planned to take him to a PA controlled city…for him to be “reprogrammed” and taught a lesson what happens when an Israeli Arab dares express loyalty to the State of Israel.
We reported all this while it was happening, and then Mohammed went underground for his own safety.
We respected his privacy…and kept him out of our newsfeed.
Today… in an article in Yisrael HaYom, we learn that not only has Mohammed gone underground — he has LEFT ISRAEL for his own safety.
What a tragedy that a brave Arab teenager has to flee Israel — the same revolting Palestinian terrorism that he spoke out against, has been used against him to silence his criticism of terrorism and his loyalty to the State of Israel.(h/t Yoel)
Palestinian with knife caught near Gaza border town
A security coordinator from a local community caught the Palestinian about seven kilometers from the Gaza border fence, which he is believed to have crossed near Kibbutz Nahal Oz.
According to Sdot Negev security coordinator Raphi Bibian, local security chiefs received an alert that there had been an infiltration from Gaza, and closed in on the intruder from three directions.
The Palestinian man surrendered without a fight.
Khaled Abu Toameh: PA: Hamas’s civilian workers to get wages from a third party
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah announced on Saturday that Hamas’s civilian employees might receive their salaries from a third international party.
Hamdallah did not name the party that is expected to pay the Hamas employees on a temporary basis. However, he said that the salaries would not be paid through his government.
Hamdallah told reporters during a visit to Nablus that Hamas has 54,000 employees in Gaza. “The government does not have money to pay them their salaries,” he said.
“We are facing a deficit in our budget, which will reach $600 million by the end of this year.”
Report: 3,000 PA Policemen to Join Gaza Security Forces
The plan has been approved in principle - not implemented in practice - sources said, noting that Israel, too, must agree for the policemen to be approved for travel between the PA and Gaza.
It is unclear whether the plan is a new proposal following the renewed unity pact, or simply a follow-up to declarations in May that would have seen 3,000 PA policemen join Gaza's security forces "on an interim basis."
A PA police presence may not increase the overall level of security in Gaza, especially after Fatah claimed that Hamas regularly refuses to let the PA govern there.
Hamas says it’s ready for more fighting, promises ‘surprises’
Hamas’s armed wing is ready for another round of fighting, a spokesman for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades said at a “victory” rally for the group recently.
The unnamed speaker promised the group would soon reveal “large surprises” related to the group’s 50-day military campaign with Israel over the summer, according to Israeli news source NRG.
“We are now more ready to start a new battle with the enemy and strike deep inside Israel,” the spokesman said at the Gaza rally, according to a statement released by the group Sunday. “Today we stand before a new equation against the occupation. Today, it’s blood for blood, shelling for shelling and destruction for destruction.
“Our soldiers didn’t leave the field when the battle ended. They stand at constant readiness developing responsive forces,” he said.
Hamas says it determines South’s security, not Netanyahu

Spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement published in the Palestinian Ma’an news agency that Netanyahu’s remarks this past week that he’d provide security to the inhabitants of the hard-hit Nazal Oz kibbutz are a “false display of power.”
“Hamas is the one who determines the security of Nahal Oz and the Gaza periphery, not Netanyahu,” Abu Zuhri said.
Iranian Army Aiding Palestinian Terrorists 'In the Field'
Iran's Deputy Chief of Staff has said that soldiers from the Islamic Republic were operating "in the field" together with Palestinian terrorist groups.
Speaking to a group of senior military officers in Tehran on Saturday, Major General Gholam Ali Rashid appraised the extensive support Iran was providing for its proxies throughout the region.
"Some of our commanders are in the field to give military advice to the Iraqi army, Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Palestinian resistance movement," he said, according to the semi-official Fars News.
Activist who urged killing Israelis nominated for top EU award
A group of over 50 European parliament members has nominated a controversial Egyptian activist for the prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, despite his having advocated the assassination of Israelis and political leaders in Egypt and calling for an end to the State of Israel.
Alaa Abdel Fattah, 32, an Egyptian blogger and political activist, was arrested numerous times by Egyptian authorities since the eruption of a popular revolution in the country in early 2011. Abdel Fattah, who boasts 626,000 followers on Twitter and 156,000 on Facebook, was released on bail September 15 after being charged with organizing an illegal protest in Cairo and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Abdel Fattah was nominated for the Sakharov Prize on September 23 along with rappers Mouad Belghouate (Morocco) and Ala Yaacoubi (Tunisia) by the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) Parliamentary Group, a left-wing group of 52 European parliament members representing 14 EU countries. The winner of the prize will be announced on October 16.
California protesters block Israeli-owned ship
Anti-Israel protesters in Oakland, California prevented a Zim cargo ship from unloading its goods at the city's port, Israel Radio reported Sunday morning.
According to "Stop ZIM Action Committee" head Steve Zeltzer, the 200-some protestors waited at the port in day and night shifts in order to accomplish their goal.
American and Canadian BDS activists have been working since August to prevent Israeli cargo ships from docking at the ports of Oakland, Seattle and Vancouver, according to a report by Al Jazeera, also as part of a protest called "Block the Boat."
Dutch schools opt out of charity drive for anti-Israel groups
The schools of a Dutch town opted out of a charity campaign which municipal officials said collects funds for anti-Israeli groups.
All six schools in the town of Urk, located 20 miles northeast of Amsterdam, decided this year not to participate in a fundraising campaign organized by the Kinderpostzegels Association, the Omroep Flevoland broadcaster reported Thursday.
That day, a majority of members of the local council of Urk passed a motion calling for a boycott of the Kinderpostzegels initiative – a national drive in which children collect donations for what the association defines as “worthy causes” – because of reports that the money raised funds for anti-Israel activity.
“Through the Bible, we love Israel very much and we know that the Kinderpostzegels this time is used in a way in which the funds raised go to groups with anti-Israel causes and this is why we could not support the Kinderpostzegels this time,” said Jan Koffeman, the alderman who submitted the motion.
The Accusation of Pinkwashing: A Smokescreen for Hatred
While privileged gay activists who have never experienced homophobic violence in their lives indulge in hateful attacks against the only Jewish state, the rights of gay people in most of the world are ignored, and the attacks against them are minimized and hidden by the people who claim to care about them the most. In some countries, including Iran, Yemen, Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates (see 10 countries where homosexuality may be punished by death), homosexuality is punished by beatings, stoning, hanging, or other gruesome torture or killing, but so-called gay activists in the West close their eyes and parade against Israel.
Gay rights activists may celebrate hard-won battles if they wish, and many of them deserve to celebrate, but if they care about the rights of all humans on this planet (as opposed to only their own privileges), they must speak up about gay rights in Africa, in Arab countries, and in Muslim countries, and they must not let misplaced political correctness stand in their way. They must stop the childish demonization of the only country in the Middle East where the rights of gays are protected and promoted, and they must take up the difficult and not always pleasant task of advocating for gay rights in places where such advocacy is less fashionable but sorely needed.
CAMERA Prompts LA Times, Washington Post Corrections on 'Palestine' Terminology
CAMERA staff prompt corrections in both The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post regarding inaccurate usage of the term "Palestine." The Los Angeles Times obituary for Professor Gerald Larue, which also was published in The Post, incorrectly said that the archeologist participated in digs in "Palestine" in the 1960s.
While Dr. Larue participates in digs in both Israel and the West Bank, it is incorrect to say that he took part in a dig in "Palestine."
In the 1968s, Mr. Larue was the site excavator of Khirbet Mazraa, an archeological site near the Israeli coast south of Haifa, close to Tel Dor and Nachsholim. This piece of land is well within Israel's pre-1967 lines.
The Guardian Blames Israel For Starting Gaza War
In an editorial, “The Guardian view on the human, economic and political costs of the Gaza war,” the newspaper questions the veracity of Israel’s account of events leading to the deaths of two Palestinians responsible for the kidnapping and murder of the three Israeli teens earlier in the summer:
In the ensuing gun battle, the two men in the house were killed. Just deserts, some might say, if we assume the two were the guilty parties, and that the police had no alternative but to shoot back when they came under fire.
The editorial continues:
The full background to the crime may never be known, since the alleged perpetrators are now gone. But the evidence strongly suggests that the Israeli government’s claim that it had “unequivocal proof” that Hamas as an organisation was responsible was unjustified.
Exactly what evidence does The Guardian possess that exonerates Hamas from responsibility for the murders of the three Israeli teens? None is offered. The Guardian then outlines its own interpretation of the course of events making sure to place the onus of responsibility for the conflict not on Hamas but on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government:
ISIS Destroys 1300-Year-Old Church, Oldest Islamic Shrine in Iraq
BBC Arabic reports that the terrorists of the Islamic State, in full control of the Iraqi city of Tikrit, have destroyed two of its most ancient religious sites: the 1300-year-old Assyrian Green Church and the ancient Forty Shrine mosque.
According to the Assyrian International News Agency, which translated the BBC's Arabic-language report, Islamic State terrorists surrounded both buildings with explosives and completely leveled them. The Assyrian Green Church is believed to have been built in 700 A.D. and was considered among the most elaborate and beautiful ancient Christian sites in Iraq. The Church, AINA notes, had been condemned to destruction in 1089 by the Muslim then-governor of the region but survived and was ultimately restored under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein.
The Forty Shrine mosque, AINA reports, was the "oldest Islamic religious shrine in Iraq." It, too, fell under the pressure of explosives, as well as the tombs surrounding the mosque itself, which AINA notes were believed to have held the remains of 40 comrades of the Prophet Muhammad. It is believed to be as old if not older than the Green Church.
Islamists attack students protesting ISIL at Istanbul University
One person was injured on Sept. 26 after a group of jihadist sympathizers attacked students who had opened a stand at Istanbul University to denounce the brutality of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
The masked attackers, who were filmed attacking with sticks studded with nails inside a foyer in one of the school’s buildings, were allegedly affiliated to the Muslim Youth organization.
One student was apparently injured in the head by a soda bottle allegedly hurled by the attackers.
The assailants, three of whom were reportedly detained after the attack, also tore down a pancard that said “ISIL, get out of the Middle East.”
Obama Now An Authority On What Is, Is Not Islam (satire)
The American president, who was born to a Muslim father but raised as a Protestant Christian, perceived a crucial point that had until now eluded the world’s nearly eight hundred million Muslims, say scholars. “It takes a special sharpness to be able to prove that the behaviors specifically endorsed in the Koran and Hadiths are not actually endorsed by the Koran and Hadiths,” says Eric Yoffe, who studies how religions change, or at least ought to. “Scholars of other religions have pursued similar paths to reform,” he noted.
Obama’s manifest expertise has even managed to transcend the Sunni-Shi’a rift that has persisted almost since the very birth of Islam. “We bow before brother Obama’s superior knowledge of Islamic texts, doctrine, custom, theology, and jurisprudence,” said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, one of the leading Shiite authorities, echoing an earlier statement by leading Sunni cleric Ayyam Ahdik of Tunisia. “Thank Allah, however, that the Great Satan has separation of religion and state, or we might actually have to reckon with Obama’s political pronouncements.”
Reaction in the US has been muted. “Well, his middle name is Hussein,” said Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly. “Shouldn’t that tell you everything you need to know?”
Sponsor Of Terrorism Welcomes Efforts To Fight Terrorism (satire)
The leader of a state deeply enmeshed in the support and arming of groups violently targeting civilian populations as a means of achieving political aims told visiting dignitaries today that he backs US-led efforts to combat groups violently targeting civilian populations as a means of achieving political aims.
President Basher Assad of Syria, who hosts the headquarters of various Palestinian terrorist organizations, told an Iraqi official that he welcomes any international operation to oppose terrorism. The president, whose government is currently involved in bloody civil war that has so far claimed nearly 200,000 lives and left millions homeless, considers the various rebel groups fighting its forces terrorists, even as his air force and army have used chemical weapons and indiscriminately targeted civilian areas for firebombing.
Saudi girl performs song wearing red lipstick and without a hijab, provokes social media backlash
A 12-year-old Saudi girl who performed on stage wearing red lipstick and without a hijab has provoked a fierce debate among Saudis on Twitter over the past week.
Jinna Al-Shammari was one of a group of children who performed a National Day song on September 23 in front of a male audience, including the Saudi Education Minister Prince Khalid Al-Faisal Al Saud. For the performance in the northwestern city of Ha’il, Al-Shammari wore a floor-length green robe, light makeup including lipstick, and had her hair down and uncovered.
The performance unleashed a storm on Twitter, with Saudi users of the social network creating a special hashtag— Al-Shammari’s name in Arabic — to express their views.
Some Saudis have accused al-Shammari of immodesty, while her supporters say she is just an innocent child who should be left alone.
Rocket fired at US embassy in Yemen
A rocket struck near the US Embassy in Yemen’s capital Sana’a on Saturday evening, and preliminary reports suggested that al-Qaeda was behind the attack.
The anti-tank weapon landed 200 meters from the building and injured at least two of Yemen’s special police who were guarding the complex, Reuters reported.
Yemen’s Al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sharia claimed responsibility for the attack, shortly after the mission said it was unlikely the target.
Yemeni Boy Leads "Death to America, Death to Israel" Chants in Houthi Demonstration
In this video-clip, posted on the Internet on September 26, a young Yemeni boy is seen leading the crowd in chants of "Allah Akbar! Death to America! Death to Israel!" The Houthi demonstrators, led by the boy, cry: "Curses upon the Jews, and victory for Islam."


British soccer team deletes Rosh Hashanah tweet after backlash
The Liverpool FC soccer team deleted a tweet wishing Jewish fans a happy new year over the weekend, after it caused a flood of anti-Semitic responses.
The British Premier League soccer team, which is known to send messages marking the holidays of various religious communities, tweeted the message “Liverpool FC would like to wish all our Jewish supporters around the world a happy new year. #RoshHashanah,” on Friday, the second day of Rosh Hashanah, but removed it hours later, the Guardian reported.
According to a spokesman, “due to a number of offensive comments that were attached to a tweet on the official LFC Twitter account, the tweet and comments have since been removed from the account.”
On Sunday the team’s official account tweeted that Liverpool “believes in the practice of religious freedom – we seek a world in which we can send good wishes to supporters without hateful responses.”
The team has some 3.22 million followers on Twitter.
The incident is being investigated by a UK police. (h/t MtTB)
Baltimoreans targeted in possible anti-Semitic attack
Three men in Baltimore were shot at with a BB gun near a Jewish school Thursday in what police are saying was a possible hate incident.
The shooter, described as possibly of Middle Eastern descent, yelled “Jews, Jews, Jews” while firing at the men, police said.
Police did not say if the targeted men were Jewish themselves but called the shooting, which occurred during the Rosh Hashanah holiday, a “bias incident.”
According to a JewishPress.com report, the shots were fired at a group of Orthodox Jews, some of whom were minors.
Rabbi Says Booted From Jackson, Mississippi Restaurant for Being Jewish
An American rabbi said that he was thrown out of a Jackson, Miss., restaurant on Tuesday after the person taking his order found out he was Jewish, the local Clarion-Ledger reported.
The victim, Rabbi Ted Riter of Beth Israel Congregation, recounted on Facebook what he said transpired when he went to Wraps in Maywood Mart for lunch and ordered a salad. According to Riter, a man he believed to be the owner asked him, “A full size or a Jewish size?”
When Riter asked for an explanation, the man said, “It’s small. Jews are cheap and small. Everybody knows that.”
Shocked by the comment, Riter responded, “Did you really just say that?” The man then asked him if he was Jewish. When Riter replied in the affirmative, he was told to leave the restaurant.
A T-shirt that monitors your heart
A novel electrocardiogram device built into a shirt could cut precious time off confirming a cardiac event needing immediate intervention.
The first product in the hWear line of smart-digital garments by Israel’s HealthWatch Technologies created a buzz at the recent annual meeting of the American Telemedicine Association and is expected to be marketed as an FDA Class II medical device by the end of 2014.
The fully washable hWear shirt is interwoven with a mixture of high-tech nylon threads and conducting fibers placed in the same locations where the 12-15 leads of an ECG machine would be attached to the body, explains Dr. Dov Rubin, vice president for marketing and business development.
ECG signals collected passively by the textile sensors are constantly analyzed for cardiac events such as arrhythmias and ischemia, via medical devices such as a Holter monitor or a Bluetooth unit snapped onto the side of the shirt. An alert to the patient’s and doctor’s smartphone is automatically generated if any of these are detected or if the wearer falls or is immobile for an unusual amount of time.
The game-changing aspect is that cardiac patients won’t have to be hooked up to a machine and covered with adhesives. Most importantly, if a patient blacks out or experiences chest pain, all the medical data showing what happened just before and just after has already been transmitted to the doctor.
Israelis test first targeted multi-drug cancer therapy
Delivering cancer-fighting drugs directly to malignant cells is the best way to fight the deadly disease, and Israeli scientists are working on a better way to do that — linking multiple drugs to a chemical engine that can drive them exactly where they need to go.
The process, so far proven only on mouse cells, uses tiny molecules called peptides to carry cancer drugs into specific cancer cells. In a study published in the European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, the scientists showed that the treatment can deliver two different drugs at once, killing leukemia cells while leaving healthy cells undamaged.
No targeted cancer therapy on the market can deliver more than one drug at once. The scientists say the experimental treatment also appears to be more targeted than existing types. With these advantages, they say, the treatment could make existing cancer drugs deadlier to cancers while at the same time reducing their side effects.
Clinical trials are at least two years away.
Israel ranks 11th in 2014 Global Wealth Report
Israel has been ranked 11th in the 2014 Global Wealth Report, composed by multinational financial services company Allianz. The report, which reviews the average financial assets per capita, in euros, across the world's 20 leading economies, was released over the weekend.
The Munich-based Allianz is an insurance and asset management giant, servicing over 83 million customers in more than 70 countries. The company's assets are estimated at $46 billion.
Switzerland topped the Global Wealth Report with net average financial assets per capita amounting to 146,540 euros ($185,873). The United States ranked second, with 119,570 euros ($151,664), and Belgium ranked third with 78,300 euros ($99,316) in net financial assets per capita.
The Netherlands ranked fourth, followed by Japan, Sweden, Taiwan, Canada, Singapore and Britain, which rounded up the top 10.
Israeli IPOs a bigger hit than much-heralded AliBaba
Over the past two months, Israeli IPOs have been the top three performing new stock issues on the NASDAQ exchange, leaving behind a bigger name from a much bigger country — China’s Alibaba. The three – MobilEye, ReWalk, and the latest, CyberArk – doubled or tripled in value from their initial strike price. CyberArk, an Israeli cyber-security firm, saw its shares nearly double by the end of its first trading day last Wednesday, and analysts applauded the performance of one of the first of the new Israeli cyber-security start-ups to go public.
CyberArk shares went on sale last Wednesday, September 24, at a strike price of $16, rising at one point during the day to over $32 a share, before settling back down to the $30 range. As of Friday, CyberArk shares were valued at $29.80 — 86% over the strike price.
The performance of the Israeli IPOs has been far better than that of the most heralded and anticipated initial public offering of the year – Chinese e-retailer Alibaba Group. Shares in Alibaba were offered on September 19 at $68, and rose on their first day about 30%, to $90.46. Since then, the stock has hovered at a level slightly below $90, as analysts cite investor fear of the prospects of China’s economy in the mid-term as an important factor in the relative lack of enthusiasm the Alibaba IPO generated.
Israel to Get the World's First Hover Cars Transport System By 2015
It's not quite as exciting as flying cars, but the city of Tel Aviv in Israel is currently testing out a new form of transport, whereby people can ride in two-man hover car vehicles travelling at high speeds in mid-air.
The system works by suspending streamlined, jet-like vehicles in mid-air from a Magnetic Levitation (Maglev) track, using state-of-the-art technology by California-based company skyTran, and the cars can potentially reach speeds of up to 240km/hr.
The initial test will see skyTran build a 500m-long track around the campus of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) by 2015, and if the trial is successful, the city of Tel Aviv wants to roll out a full commercial hover car transport system running through the city by the end of 2016.
Passengers will be able to use their smartphones to order a hover car, which will meet them at a specific station of their choice.