Thursday, November 13, 2014
JPost Editorial: Agenda of death
The violence is not driven by an attempt to improve the lives of Palestinians. The desire to revenge the deaths of Gazans killed in this summer’s Operation Protective Edge and the police’s killing of Kheir a-Din Hamdan in Kafr Kana last Friday is part of the equation. But the underlying source of the terrorism – which also precipitated this summer’s Gaza operation – is a violently reactionary Islamic triumphalism that says non-Muslims – particularly Zionists – are vile interlopers in a consecrated land.UN- and EU-funded Al-Quds University honors murderer
This applies to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount – the center of the unrest – as well as to Tel Aviv, as Aloni’s brutal murder demonstrates. The Palestinian offensive should not be seen in isolation from Islamic State’s bloody jihad, as Ynet’s Ron Ben-Yishai observed.
Suicide bombings, the second intifada and the victory of Hamas in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council elections soured Israelis on the prospects of negotiating peaceful cooperation with their Palestinian neighbors.
The present wave of attacks is reinforcing this pessimism.
Israelis want to believe in dialogue, but the Palestinian religious fanatics getting behind the wheel or grabbing hold of a knife have a different agenda altogether.
Four days after Palestinian terrorist Ibrahim Al-Akari killed two and injured more than 13 Israelis in Jerusalem, the UN- and EU-funded Al-Quds University honored him by naming a tournament after him.Mordechai Kedar: An Intifada of Arab Disappointment - with Themselves
Dr. Ahmad Al-Khawaja, in charge of the Physical Education Faculty of the Al-Quds University, which organized the tournament, explained that:
"The Martyr (Shahid) Ibrahim Al-Akari Tournament... it was a national activity held in honor and appreciation of the soul of the heroic Martyr Ibrahim Al-Akari." [Al-Ayyam, Nov. 11, 2014]
In July 2013, the UN announced a donation of €2.4 million (close to 3 million US dollars) from the EU and UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) to Al-Quds University, the aim of which would be to "contribute to the development and protection of Palestinian cultural heritage in the old city of Jerusalem." [UNDP website, July 2, 2013 and Al-Quds University website, accessed Nov. 12, 2014]
One of the most important characteristics of a nation is a strong feeling of unity that allows its people to achieve the goals that it deems important. A people with a strong and unified national identity is able to put aside personal, political, ideological and sectorial differences so that its citizens can work together to succeed in reaching a goal that is important and significant to all of them.
Real leaders sense the people's will to unite for the sake of a national cause and can overcome the differences between them; if they do not, they will be replaced by others who are better than they, who know what the priorities are when there is a crucial national objective at stake. A people with a strong feeling of unity can handle a democratic country that does not fear differences of opinion and changes in government, because these do not degenerate into violence and therefore do not endanger its existence.
In contrast, a nation with a weak and fragile identity has chronic disputes that spill over into rhetorical violence and violent acts between its different sectors, with very little cooperation occurring between them. Different sectors feel threatened by each other leading to serious distrust. The nation's symbols are not strong enough to unite its population groups, each of which has goals differing from the other. This kind of nation will invent an external enemy in the hope that the war against it will unify the people for the sake of a higher interest, a war. This kind of nation raises the question of whether its citizens have enough of a feeling of commonality to keep them together and allow them to form a nation-state.
JCPA: The Hidden Hand of ISIS and Its Impact on Palestinian Escalation
In recent months the State of Israel has been facing what military jargon terms “popular terrorist activity,” characterized by violent disturbances in the al-Aqsa Mosque compound; Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem; the West Bank and Arab towns within Israel; attempts to lynch Jews entering Arab towns; attacks on vehicles with stones and fire bombs and of late – a wave of vehicular murders and fatal stabbing attacks.Yehuda Glick: First Photo after Shooting
This recent outbreak of Palestinian violence resembling an intifada (popular uprising), i.e. wide-spread acts of violence coupled with terrorist attacks (including within Israel’s sovereign territory), has taken place against the backdrop of Hamas’ recurring attempts to ignite an intifada in the West Bank and topple the Palestinian Authority, as well as unrelenting incitement on the part of the Palestinian Authority and its full support of “popular terrorism.” The violence has the complete backing of the Fatah movement whose military wing officially returned in July to “armed struggle,” i.e. perpetration of terrorist attacks with firearms. Palestinian leadership also foments violence in response to Jewish activists’ demand to realize the right of Jews to pray on the Temple Mount.
Ominously, there is also a “hidden hand” at work directly impacting events throughout the Middle East and the Palestinian arena.
Temple activist Yehuda Glick posed Thursday for his first photo since he was shot point blank by a would-be assassin two weeks ago. He is seen in the photo with his wife, Yafi.From Field Trip to Nightmare: Kids Injured as Israeli Arabs Stone Religious School Outing
"Praise G-d, Yehuda's condition continues to improve,” Yafi told the press. “We are experiencing miracles every day and we see, before our very eyes, how the prayers and powers from the entire nation of Israel reach us. A great thank you is sent to you from me, from the family and from Yehuda, of course.”
Yafi asked that people continue to pray for Yehuda (Yehuda Yehoshua ben Ita Brenda) but refrain from coming to the hospital, since the medical staff feel that it is not yet time for that.
Several Israeli sixth-graders and instructors on a school field trip in the Galilee were injured when they came under a hail of stones hurled by Arab teenagers, Israel’s NRG News reported Wednesday.Arab Terrorist Tried to Pose as Israeli Hitchhiker
During a nature hike to the Arbel Cliffs overlooking the Sea of Galilee, the 16 to 17-year-olds, from Kfar Manda in the western Galilee, pelted the group of 10 and 11-year-olds from Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, injuring several pupils and teachers, and hitting one of the kids in the head.
“The students were crying on the bus; there is no doubt that they are traumatized,” school officials said, and noted that at least one member of the group required hospitalization for their injuries.
“During the descent [from the cliff], the group of female students sat down for a break. Suddenly stones started flying,” in the words of one teacher.
An Arab terrorist who police nabbed on Wednesday before he could stab a Jew posed as a hitchhiker but gave away his disguise when he stumbled in Hebrew as a Jewish driver offered him a ride.IDF soldier reports attempted kidnapping
The Jewish driver notified police of the suspicious “hitchhiker,” and officers arrived at the bus stop near the Jewish community of Dolev in Samaria. After a quick search, they discovered he was carrying a knife and a screwdriver.
He confessed to police that he was planning to ride to stab Jews on his way Jerusalem.
In Hebron, a man in his 20 raised the suspicion of Border Police officers at the Cave of the Patriarchs, where stabbing attempts are frequent.
An IDF soldier reported that two people he described as Arabs tried to kidnap him Thursday at the Sha’ar Hanegev Junction near Sderot.Synagogue Firebombed in Northern Israel as Violence Persists
According to the soldier, the two men offered him a ride and when he refused, they tried to pull him into the car forcefully, Israel Radio reported.
The attempted kidnappers managed to grab the soldier’s bag and drove off with it before discarding it a short time later.
Sderot Police opened an investigation into the incident.
A historic synagogue that dates back to the 18th century and is located in an Arab town in northern Israel was firebombed with a Molotov cocktail on Wednesday as the recent spate of violence throughout the Jewish state persists.Netanyahu hails Canadian parliament shooting hero
The synagogue had just been renovated this year in an indicator of positive interfaith relations in the area, The Times of Israel reported.
The Canadian sergeant-at-arms hailed as a hero for shooting the gunman who stormed Canada's parliament last month visited the Knesset on Wednesday -- and got a hero's welcome there as well.
Kevin Vickers, in Israel for a security conference, met with his counterparts in the Knesset Guard and with MKs. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also met Vickers and praised him for saving lives with his quick actions.
"This terrorist attack proved once again that Islamic extremist terrorism knows no borders," Netanyahu said. "Israel and Canada will continue to fight the forces of global terrorism."
Pirates Attempt to Hijack Israeli Cargo Ship At Sea
One of the ZIM shipping company's cargo ships was attacked by pirates Wednesday afternoon in the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, adjacent to Somalia.Bennett Cancels Grant for Israeli Film Billed as 'Palestinian'
Security guards stationed aboard the transport ship repelled the attack by the group of pirates who attempted to abduct the ship while in the middle of open waters.
The incident occurred as the Israeli ship made its way from East Asia back to Israel. The ship sailed into an ambush when two pirate ships snuck up alongside the ZIM vessel, and the pirates attempted to get on board and take control of the ship.
Quick defensive action by the ship's security guards prevented the pirates from overtaking the ship. After while, the pirates gave up and retreated.
The strait of Bab el Mandeb, which links the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in the Indian Ocean, is considered to be a dangerous area, filled with extensive pirate gangs who hope to take ships hostage and hold them for ransom.
Director Suha Arraf was ordered to return a grant of 600,000 shekel ($157,115) she received from the Economics Ministry for the production of the film 'Villa Touma,' on Wednesday, after introducing the film at international film festivals as being from "Palestine."State Dept Refuses Visa Extension for Israeli NBA Player as Obama Announces Doubling Chinese Student Visas
The decision to retract the grant money was made by the Economics Ministry, under the close supervision of Economics Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) and the director of the Small Business Agency, Ran Kiviti. Both determined that Arraf had violated the terms of the grant in declaring the film as "Palestinian."
Arraf will be required to return the money within the next several days, but will be given the option to spread the debt out over time to avoid collection proceedings being filed against her.
Even as he defiantly moves to unilaterally grant legal status to millions of people inside the U.S. illegally, President Obama's State Department is making sure that such special favors are not meant for everyone.The State Department’s unexplained refusal to extend a valid P1 visa currently held by an Israeli basketball player has prevented the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Indiana Pacers from signing him.Netanyahu: Bill to Ban Free Newspapers ‘Shames the Knesset’
Gal Mekel's waiver from the Dallas Mavericks was part of a deal to free up space on the Mavericks while helping the Pacers sign a desperately needed point guard for their injury-ravaged roster.
ESPN.com reported that Mekel was flown to Boston to meet up with the Pacers last Wednesday, but Indiana was forced to back out of the deal after the State Department refused to renew his visa.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted legislation seeking to outlaw free newspapers in Israel, walking out of Wednesday’s preliminary vote on the bill.1980 Paris Bombing Suspect Awaits Extradition Ruling
The Israeli Knesset came out in favor of a bill intended to shut down the free newspaper Israel Hayom. Netanyahu said the 43-23 vote (with nine abstentions) “shames the Knesset,” according to footage by Knesset Channel television cameras.
Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz told the Knesset, “Those who today support the closing of a newspaper are causing fundamental harm to Israeli democracy.”
The bill, proposed by MK Eitan Cabel (Labor), would ban daily newspapers in Israel whose business model includes free distribution to the general public. That is the model behind the success of Israel Hayom, the country’s most widely read daily newspaper.
A university professor accused of the deadly 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue will learn Thursday whether Canada's Supreme Court will hear his final plea to avoid extradition to France, AFP reports Wednesday.Police unsure of motives behind burned West Bank mosque
Canada's highest court is expected to decide Thursday morning whether it will hear Hassan Diab's appeal of a lower court ruling and a government order to extradite him.
The 60-year-old Diab, who has been under house arrest for most of the past six years, has been ordered to be held ahead of the announcement, his lawyer Donald Bayne confirmed to AFP.
He reportedly spent Tuesday evening with family, friends and supporters at his Ottawa area home as the clock runs on his legal maneuverings.
The 1980 bombing was the first fatal attack against the French Jewish community since the Nazi occupation in World War II. It left four dead and 40 wounded.
Contrary to accusations by residents of the village, the incident did not coincide with previous “price tag” attack patterns, leading police to believe the mosque was not burned for ideological reasons, Channel 10 reported.Burning Koran: Inflammatory Photo Adds Fuel to the Flames
According to an unnamed police source, the incident occurred in the center of the village, unlike previous extremist attacks.
The source also added that no racist graffiti was found at the scene, conflicting earlier Palestinian news reports.
Israeli Police were unable to entirely rule out the option that this was a nationalist attack, as Palestinian authorities refused their entry to the village and did not allow them to conduct a wide-scale investigation.
Earlier, Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police were deployed near the entrance to Mughayir but that “disturbances in the area” were preventing them from opening an investigation.
The photo is not an accurate depiction of the scene as the photographer is no longer a passive observer. We’re not accusing any Palestinian of igniting a Koran after the initial fire. However, either a Palestinian villager has intentionally brought the already burning Koran to the photographer or the photographer himself has requested the active cooperation of those in the mosque to create the most emotive image possible.Barghouti Sentenced to Solitary Confinement for Incitement
In this case, emotive means (literally) inflammatory. Is this a case of a Palestinian photographer deliberately constructing a photo for propaganda purposes? If so, the Irish Times should reconsider its use.
And does the EPA have a policy of encouraging its photographers to take the most inflammatory photographs? Only days ago, HonestReporting drew attention to another EPA photo that appeared by virtue of a camera trick, to show an Israeli flag flying atop the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in what was also guaranteed to provoke Muslim ire.
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Arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti, who is serving several successive life sentences in Israeli prison, was transferred to solitary confinement Wednesday, following his attempts to inflame the situation in Judea and Samaria and encourage terrorism from behind prison walls.Guardian article suggests Yasser Arafat abandoned terrorism after 1990
The Israeli Prison System internal court sentenced him to seven days in solitary confinement and a fine of 300 shekels ($78.60) for incitement, violence and providing an interview to the media without permission.
Barghouti smuggled a letter out of jail for the tenth anniversary of the death of PLO leader Yasser Arafat, calling for an (official) "intifada" (i.e. campaign of terrorism) against Israel.
In the letter, he said that "choosing global and armed resistance" was being "faithful to Arafat's legacy, to his ideas and his principles for which tens of thousands died as martyrs."
However, the fact is that, though in 1988 he claimed to accept Israel’s right to exist and in 1993 shook hands with Yitzchak Rabin (inaugurating the Oslo Accords), Arafat continued to encourage and provide financial support to “groups directly under his command, such as the Tanzim and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade”.Palestinian Arabs Most Likely to Support ISIS, Poll Finds
The West largely took him at his word – his English word, that is. But, in Arabic, Arafat promised to continue using terrorism to “eliminate the state of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian state”.
The Arab group with the highest level of support for ISIS were Palestinians, with nearly a quarter (24%) of Palestinians polled viewed ISIS in a positive light.Terrorists Attack Egyptian Vessel in the Mediterranean
4% of Palestinians viewed ISIS as purely "Positive," in line with the average response rate of other Arab groups - only Saudi Arabia (5%) and Tunisia (7%) had higher percentages in that category. However, a full 20% viewed ISIS as "Positive to some extent" - well over the overall average of 7%. Additionally, even those Palestinians with negative views of ISIS were more ambivalent than other Arabs; just 36% held a wholly negative view of ISIS (compared to an average of 72%), and a further 36% were only "Negative to some extent" (compared to just 13% overall).
The results contradict Palestinian Authority claims that Palestinian Muslims are far more "moderate" than Muslims elsewhere.
The Egyptian government is fighting an Islamist militant insurgency that has killed scores of policemen and soldiers, but a maritime attack is unprecedented.Peru to charge Hezbollah man who eyed Israeli targets
An earlier report on the official MENA news agency reported that a naval vessel had been set alight in an exchange of fire with assailants about 70 kilometers (45 miles) from Egypt's shore.
The military said it was a "terrorist" attack.
"Search and rescue operations have evacuated five wounded servicemen to a military hospital... and there are still eight personnel lost and the search continues," it said in the statement.
The military said it destroyed "four boats used by the armed assailants, including terrorists, and arrested 32 people".
Peruvian authorities said on Monday that they would charge a Lebanese man arrested last month in Lima who confessed to being a member of Hezbollah and had been found with traces of explosives.Young Shiite Lebanese Politicians Criticize Hizbullah: It Does Not Represent the Majority of Shiites
Mohammed Amadar allegedly surveyed potential Jewish and Israel targets in the capital, but police did not say what charges would be pressed against him, Reuters reported. Amadar was apprehended by counter-terrorism police at the end of October.
Peruvian police director Jorge Flores told reporters that the man revealed he was working on behalf of the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah Accuses Israel of Assassinating Nuclear Scientists
Hezbollah has accused Israel of being directly involved with ISIS and the Syrian rebel forces, Syrian television reported Wednesday - claiming the Jewish state orchestrated the deaths of five nuclear technicians at a Syrian nuclear facility in Barzeh several days ago on behalf of the rebel forces.Iran-Backed Iraqi Shiite Militias “Just as Brutal” as ISIS
Hezbollah said that the deaths were the result of "Israel's actions as part of its ongoing support of the Zionist enemy in Syria," and that Israel "supports and helps radical Islamic groups in the country," according to translations provided by Channel 10.
All sides in the Syrian conflict regularly accuse each other of being "Zionists."
Last week, the AP reported that Shiite militias, backed by Hezbollah as well as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, “have abducted and killed scores of Sunni civilians with the tacit support of the Iraqi government.” Iran’s support of Shiite militias in Iraq contributed the violence that, according to the United Nations, claimed more than 5,500 lives from June until October of this year.Church Dedicated To Memory of 1.5 Million Christian Genocide Victims Demolished by Islamists
In ISIS: Can the West Win Without a Ground Game?, which was published in the October 2014 issue of The Tower Magazine, Jonathan Spyer cautioned that, given Iran’s influence in Syria and Iraq, there could be a high price to pay for defeating ISIS.
Islamist forces have blown up a church dedicated to the memory of the Armenian Genocide at the hands of the last Islamic Caliphate in 1915, burning the extensive library of manuscripts kept there and exhuming the bones of hundreds of victims interred there.Turkish nationalists assault US sailors in Istanbul
The priest responsible for the Der Zor memorial church, which stands on the site of a former concentration camp and burial ground for hundreds of thousands of dead, was given the opportunity to recognise Islamist forces as the legitimate government of northern Syria, or to have the church destroyed. After his principled refusal, the church was bombed by Islamist forces – first reported to be the Islamic State, but now thought to be al-Nusra, a cadet-branch of Al-Qaeda operating in Syria.
To complete the destruction of the site, the extensive archive of manuscripts and documents dating back to 1841 were burnt, and the bones of victims of the Armenian genocide were removed from the crypt and dumped by the side of the road, according to local reports. The church had already been bombed and damaged in 2012, but had gone some way toward recovery. The Foreign Minister of the Armenian state has called the September demolition a "horrible barbarity".
A group of Turkish ultra-nationalists attacked three US sailors on a crowded street in Istanbul on Wednesday, shouting "Yankee go home" and trying to pull hoods over their heads in an assault condemned by the US embassy.Turks Again Attack American Sailors
Video footage posted on the website of the ultra-nationalist Turkish Youth Union showed the attackers surrounding the sailors, calling them "murderers" and throwing orange paint at the men.
The attackers' actions were an apparent reference to an incident in Iraq in July 2003, when US forces detained a Turkish special forces unit, leading its members away for interrogation with hoods over their heads.
"Because we define you as murderers, as killers, we want you to get out of our land," one of the attackers says in English, before the group chases the soldiers down a street lining the Bosphorus on the edge of Istanbul's historic peninsula.
Two years ago, I wrote about an attack on American sailors at a port call in Turkey. At the time, some in the Pentagon tried to sweep the incident under the rug, all the better to maintain the fiction that Turkey wasn’t as anti-American as it has become. Well, it’s happened again. Just after Veteran’s Day, how sad it is to see a video like this. Turkish protestors have attacked American sailors from the USS Ross which had made a port call inside Turkey. The American sailors did everything right: they had dressed down to be surreptitious, they sought to avoid conflict, and they sought to leave the area when confronted, all to no avail.U.S. Servicemen Attacked by Turkish Nationalists in Istanbul
It’s time to recognize reality: Turkey may be a NATO member, but it is no ally. And while anti-NATO protests can happen in any NATO member, few members would tolerate violence or the targeting of individual American servicemen. The problem with Turkey, however, is that Turkey’s current regime has long promoted such anti-Americanism, as have other Turkish political parties, like the opposition National Movement Party (MHP) and even the left-leaning secularist Republican Peoples Party (CHP). There is an atmosphere of impunity inside Turkey that violence in pursuit of certain causes is acceptable (see my previous posts about the plight of Turkish women, in this regard).
So what should the United States do?
Good relations with Turkey more important than suspect’s release: Danish FM
Maintaining good relations with Turkey is more crucial for Denmark than the recent dispute between the countries that erupted after the release of the suspected shooter of a Danish writer, the country’s foreign minister has said.Israel Urges Turkey to Respect Cyprus's Right to Energy
“Good relations with Turkey are more important than the Hedegaard case,” Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard told Danish daily Berlingske, in reference to Lars Hedegaard, an outspoken critic of Islam whose suspected shooter was recently released in Turkey.
The release of the suspect has severely strained ties between the two countries since early October, with many Danish lawmakers and prominent figures pressuring the Copenhagen government to take harsh measures against Turkey.
Israel's foreign minister said Wednesday that Turkey must respect Cyprus's right to explore for natural gas and avoid sparking unnecessary tension in the region.Turkish tourism group aims to send 100,000 to Jerusalem
Avigdor Liberman said each country must respect the sovereign rights of their neighbor, adding that it was "extremely unnecessary" for Turkey to cause friction in a region already mired in conflict.
"We respect the integrity of Cyprus. We're sure that you have your exclusive rights to explore in your economic zone of the gas and oil reserves," he told reporters after talks with his Cypriot counterpart Ioannis Kasoulides.
With Israel finding large reserves of gas close to where Cyprus is drilling, the two countries are looking to cooperate on energy issues such as exporting Israeli gas.
Since October 20, a Turkish survey vessel has encroached Cyprus's exclusive economic zone off the island's southern coast, according to Nicosia.
A Turkish tourism association announced Sunday that it aims to send around 100,000 Turkish tourists to Israel in 2015 to promote peace.The absurdities of the alliance with Saudi Arabia
“One of the synonyms of tourism is peace. We want to make a contribution to maintaining peace in Jerusalem by increasing the number of tourists there,” the head of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB), Basaran Ulusoy, said, according to Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News.
Turkey has rebounded from a lull in 2012 to once again become a popular travel destination for Israeli tourists, despite chilly diplomatic relations between the two countries and generally negative feelings toward Israel among Turks.
According to Ulusoy, however, only between 10,000 and 15,000 Turks traveled to Jerusalem so far in 2014, but TÜRSAB hopes to jack that number up almost tenfold with Ankara’s help.
This is a place with no religious toleration for non-Muslims, an absolutist entity with no democratic institutions. And it beheads people.
It espouses an austere, puritanical and absolutist Islam, with incitements to jihad and conquest, and tries to export it to other countries.
Apostates from Islam, homosexuals, and blasphemers can face brutal persecution and death. Women are forbidden to drive or get jobs without permission from male relatives; all education is gender-specific.
Are we talking about the so-called Islamic State that now occupies large swaths of Iraq and Syria? No. We are referring to an America ally — the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
