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Saturday, November 29, 2014

11/29 Links: Abbas: Palestinians will never recognize Israel as Jewish state; Is CAIR a Terror Group?

From Ian:

Stand With Us: StandWithUs Pro-Israel Ads On TriMet in Portland Begin November 26, 2014
For the third time in three years, StandWithUs (SWU) is placing pro-Israel ads on TriMet buses to counter anti-Israel ad campaigns. Beginning November 26, two different StandWithUs ads are on 17 buses running on the same routes and for at least the same four-week duration as the anti-Israel ones.
SWU, an international Israel education organization with a Northwest regional office in Seattle, also countered similar ads on Portland light rail and buses in 2012 and 2013.
One StandWithUs bus ad shows that the Palestinians have said "NO" to Israel's peace offers and territorial compromises since 1937. The other StandWithUs bus ad shows a Palestinian and Israeli boy hugging, juxtaposed with an Israeli transit bus blown apart by a suicide bombing, with the words: "Say NO to Palestinian War Crimes," and reminds viewers that Israel needs a partner for peace. The ads direct viewers to www.sayyestopeace.org to learn more.
These SWU ads counter anti-Israel ads placed by The Seattle Mideast Awareness campaign (SeaMAC), Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights, and Jewish Voice for Peace - Portland, which accused Israel of war crimes and implied that US tax dollars are being used to support apartheid.
Ad
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Isi Leibler: Coping with religiously inspired terrorism
This latest escalation of incitement is yet another extension of the hatred against Jews ‎inculcated among the Arabs but which accelerated after the Oslo accords. Yasser Arafat and ‎then Abbas have effectively brainwashed generations of Arabs -- from kindergarten age on -- into ‎fanatically hating Jews and sanctifying as "martyrs" those willing to sacrifice their lives and gain ‎paradise by killing them. ‎
The Palestinians have, in fact, been molded into a criminal society adopting a culture of death ‎only comparable to the Nazis who, once in power, also brainwashed Germans into committing ‎barbaric crimes. And those, including Jews, who morally equate this monstrous society with ‎Israel because the Jewish state like any country also includes deviants and degenerates, are ‎making obscene analogies.‎
Every level of Israeli society, from the leadership to the media and down to the man in the ‎street, reacts with shock, horror, disgust and condemnation against our deviants. Contrast this ‎to the public display, not merely in Gaza but also in Ramallah, Bethlehem and Nablus, as ‎Palestinians celebrated the most recent horror their "martyrs" had inflicted on Jews praying in ‎a synagogue. ‎
Daniel Pipes: Is CAIR a Terror Group?
We who follow the Islamist movement fell off our collective chair on Nov. 15 when the news came that the United Arab Emirates' ministerial cabinet had listed the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as one of 83 proscribed terrorist organizations, up there with the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS.
This came as a surprise because the UAE authorities themselves have a record of promoting Islamism; because CAIR has a history of raising funds in the UAE; and because the UAE embassy in Washington had previously praised CAIR.
On reflection, however, the listing makes sense for, in recent years, the Islamist movement has gravely fractured. Sunnis fight Shi'is; advocates of violence struggle against those working within the system; modernizers do battle against those trying to return to the seventh century; and monarchists confront republicans.
This last divide concerns us here. After decades of working closely with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and its related institutions, the Persian Gulf monarchies (with the single, striking exception of Qatar) have come to see the MB complex of institutions as a threat to their existence. The Saudi, Emirati, Kuwaiti, and Bahraini rulers now view politicians like Mohamed Morsi of Egypt as their enemies, as they do Hamas and its progeny – including CAIR.



Khaled Abu Toameh: Arab League to present draft Palestinian statehood bid to UN Security Council
Arab foreign ministers decided on Saturday to support the Palestinian Authority’s plan to seek a UN Security Council resolution calling for a full Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.
The decision came following a meeting of the ministers in Cairo to discuss the latest developments in the region and PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s plan to seek a Security Council resolution that sets a timeline for Israel’s pullout and the creation of a Palestinian state.
Arab League chief Nabil al-Araby said Jordan would present the draft, which would include PA demands for a withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines, to the Security Council within days.
However, they said that they would continue to hold consultations with all members of the Security Council, as well as various international parties to win their backing for the proposed resolution.
Abba said that if he does not receive answers from Israel regarding his demand to resume the peace talks on the basis of the pre-1967 lines by the end of today, he would proceed with his statehood bid at the Security Council and join international organizations and treaties, including the International Criminal Court.
Abbas warned that if the Palestinian move at the Security Council is thwarted, “we would move toward defining our relations with Israel by halting security coordination and asking the occupation to assume its responsibilities [toward the Palestinian population].”
Abbas: Palestinians will never recognize Israel as Jewish state
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday that the Palestinians would never recognize Israel as a Jewish state, and accused Israel of establishing an apartheid government.
The Palestinian leader was speaking in Cairo at an emergency session of the Arab League with foreign ministers from around the Arab world. His remarks came following a week of intense debate among Israeli politicians about a Knesset bill which would enshrine Israel’s status as a Jewish state in law.
“We will never recognize the Jewishness of the state of Israel,” Abbas was quoted by Channel 10 saying. The news outlet also reported that Abbas threatened to terminate all security cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank unless peace negotiations are revived. Talks collapsed in April, and Israel will not resume them so long as Abbas is partnered with the Hamas terror group in a Palestinian unity government.
Arab League Refuses to Recognize Israel as Jewish State
The Arab foreign ministers also announced Saturday their "categorical rejection of recognizing Israel as a Jewish state," the statement said.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has demanded that Abbas, whose Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) recognized Israel in a 1993 accord, affirm the country as a "Jewish state."
The debate over Israel's national identity rose again to relevance this month in light of the proposed Jewish State law, which seeks to enshrine in law Israel’s being a Jewish state.
Jordanians Protest Against 'Dangerous' Jewish State Law
Hundreds of Jordanians on Friday joined a rally organized by the Muslim Brotherhood to denounce Israeli plans to enshrine in law the country's status as the national Jewish homeland.
An estimated 1,500 protesters set off from the Husseini mosque in downtown Amman holding up signs saying "Al-Aqsa is in danger", according to AFP.
"There is a greater danger today, and that is the Jewish state draft law," Hamzeh Mansur, the former head of the Brotherhood's Islamic Action Front party, told the protesters.
"Where is Jordan's custodianship over Jerusalem and where is the promised Palestinian state?" he asked.
Why I Will Vote Against France’s Resolution to Recognize Palestine
Israel is a democracy, the only one in the region, and represents a strong culture of compromise and strength through unity. And this democracy learned how to resist rockets but more importantly, how to reply to gusts of anti-Zionism (and blatant anti-Semitism.)
The hatred towards Jews always grows during a crisis.
The hatred against Israel is enormous.
Shouldn’t the place of France be next to the scapegoat, the minority, the besieged and the democratic?
At least as much as the Palestinian people who legitimately wish to live in peace with recognized boundaries with a legitimate, stable, and democratic government.
This is the reason why I will not vote for this resolution which forgets essential matters.
Because the recognition of a Palestinian state should not occur before there is a partner for peace.
Because we should not recognize a group of leaders that support terrorism.
Because recognizing a Palestinian state goes against the Oslo Accords – a treaty signed by both sides.
Voting yes will only increase extremism and terrorism.
By passing this resolution we are risking the igniting of a fire that could burn the whole region.
I will vote no. Let’s not damage peace.
Palestinian shot by IDF near Gaza border fence
IDF soldiers fired on a Palestinian on Saturday after he approached the border fence in the northern Gaza Strip. Palestinian reports said the 16-year-old was in serious condition.
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According to a report by the Ynet news site, the soldiers fired at the teen’s legs after he didn’t respond to calls to stop and identify himself.
The IDF spokesperson’s unit said that earlier on Saturday three Palestinians approached the security fence in the northern Gaza Strip. The troops fired warning shots but the suspects refused to comply, so the soldiers fired at the lower extremities of one Palestinian, confirming a hit.
Union-led BDS Campaign at University of California Accused of ‘Discrimination’ as December 4 Vote Nears
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists at the University of California will seek to escalate their campaign against Israel’s existence next week, with a union chapter representing 13,000 mainly graduate workers scheduled to vote on a resolution on whether they should join the “global BDS movement.”
Members of United Automobile Workers 2865, a union comprised principally of teaching assistants at nine University of California campuses, will be presented with a ballot paper this Thursday, December 4, asking whether they should “join the global movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, until such time as Israel has complied with international law and respected the rights of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinian citizens of Israel, and all Palestinians refugees and exiles.”
The wording of the resolution, which centers on the so-called “right of return” for the descendants of Palestinian refugees of the 1948 war – code for the elimination of Israel as a sovereign state – is consistent with the declarations of BDS movement leaders like Omar Barghouti, a Tel Aviv University graduate student who has proclaimed that the BDS movement opposes “a Jewish state in any part of Palestine… [only] a sellout Palestinian would accept a Jewish state in Palestine.”
The foundation for the resolution was laid in July, at the height of Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, when the UAW 2865 Joint Council declared its intention “to support our Palestinian counterparts.”
According to informedgrads.org, a group of union members opposed to the BDS motion, the Joint Council has demonstrated utter contempt for basic democratic procedures. UAW 2865 is, the group says, “already sponsoring BDS and anti-Israel activities without waiting for the vote,” engaging in such activities as attending and endorsing anti-Israel demonstrations, including the violent blockade of Israeli ships docking at the port in Oakland. Additionally, around $50,000 of union money has already been spent on promoting the BDS campaign, prompting informedgrads.org to protest at the “redirecting of political capital that should be used to push our university administrators to improve our working conditions.”
Block the Boat Seattle: Hoax in process
Yes, there is another Block the boat protest at the port of Seattle scheduled for Nov. 29, at 4pm, and yes, they are promoting this action with that universal symbol of brotherhood and good will, the Molotov cocktail.
The Zim Djibouti is currently anchored in Washington along with several other container vessels.
They are not delayed by any protesters- they are waiting for their turn, based on the posted schedule for unloading at the Port of Tacoma. That's right, Tacoma, not Seattle at 5pm Nov. 29.
According to the Block the Boat organizers, they are meeting at the port of Seattle at 4pm, yet the object of their affections, the Zim Djibouti isn't due into the Port of Seattle until Dec.1. So why is Block the boat asking people to meet in Seattle and not Tacoma?
What we are seeing is the genesis of the Block the Boat hoax.
IsraellyCool: So I Glorified An Axe Murderer
Remember when Rolling Stone magazine turned the Boston Marathon bomber into a rock star with a cover picture and the whole world went nuts?
Haaretz calls that a “Wednesday”.
Here are the pictures Haaretz used to illustrate a story of the family of the Har Nof Synagogue Massacre’s perpetrators in the last 8 hours:
Just pulls the heartstrings doesn’t it?
What if the New York Times gave us a touching story about 9/11 perpetrator Mohamed Atta’s family barely a week after the attack?
Do they expect us to feel bad?
Let me be loud and clear about this, Haaretz.
I don’t care what happens to the terrorists’ remains. I don’t care what happens to their families who supported their actions. Stop trying to make other people care.
Kevin Connolly’s cameo of a ‘popular’, ‘forgiving’ terrorist on BBC Radio 4
The incident Connolly describes occurred on November 10th and the terrorist did not just ‘stab’ his random victim Almog Shiloni – who, notably, remains unnamed in Connolly’s account – but killed him. Connolly continues:
“Suddenly the weapons are cars or knives – not guns or bombs – and the attacks appear spontaneous: the acts of individuals, not organisations. Israel’s intelligence services are struggling.”
Not for the first time we see the BBC erasing from audience view the fact that among the terrorists who perpetrated the attacks in recent weeks have been several members of known terrorist organisations, some of which have claimed responsibility for the attacks. Listeners then hear Connolly say:
“That young Palestinian was Nur Abu Hashem, a jobbing painter and decorator who often came from his home at Nablus in the occupied West Bank to work without papers in Israel.”
The terrorist is actually called Nur al-Din Abu Hashaya and his entry into Israel was illegal: a fact which Connolly’s euphemistic presentation does not make adequately clear. Neither does Connolly bother to inform listeners that Nablus (Schem) has been under the control of the Palestinian Authority for almost two decades – since December 12th 1995 – under the terms of the Oslo Accords.
BBC WS promotes Hamas claim of “normal right” to carry out terror attacks
Of course there has been no claim made that either Jordan or Turkey as countries were involved in training the terrorist cell, but that training by Hamas terrorists took place in Jordan, Turkey, Syria and the Gaza Strip. But as is the case with the rest of Hamdan’s falsehoods, that one too went unchallenged, meaning that BBC audiences worldwide were misled on that issue as well as by the claim that there is no terror in Israel and that terrorism is a “normal right” under “international law”.
Notably, recent BBC reports on terror-related arrests in the UK have not included promotion of the notion of a “normal right” to murder British citizens. BBC audiences and politicians would of course be unlikely to accept that sort of framing of domestic terror stories but – as we have noted here on numerous occasions – a double standard continues to be employed by the BBC when it comes to reporting terrorism in Israel.
Severe Rains In Gaza May Mean Terror Tunnels Are Flooded
The UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA on Thursday evening declared a state of emergency in Gaza City amid massive rains that have shut down normal life in the city, Ma’an reported. This could also mean damage to the hundreds of underground tunnels that are still being dug fastidiously by Hamas, in preparation for the next war.
Thursday marks the fourth straight day of unusually heavy rain across the region, causing temperatures to dip across the coastal region.
In early November, the Egyptian army launched a program to destroy newly discovered hundreds of tunnels leading from Gaza into the Sinai, which had been used by Gaza jihadists to attack Egyptian security forces. In only a matter of days, the Egyptians cleared 10,000 residents from about 800 homes along the strip’s southern border, to erect an 8-mile buffer where anyone entering would be shot without a warning.
Unlike Israel, the Egyptians can be decisive on fighting terrorism, and they don’t catch international flak for it, either. (h/t Alexi)
Egypt’s Mubarak acquitted of murder, graft charges
The court also acquitted five of his top security commanders of the murder charges. Judge Mahmud Kamel al-Rashidi said Mubarak, the commanders, including the former interior minister Habib al-Adly, were “innocent.”
Mubarak’s two sons, Alaa and Gamal, were also found not guilty of corruption charges related to the gas exports, in the same separate case.
Applause and cheers broke out in the court after the rulings were read, according to reports.
Mubarak, 86, was accused along with the five of involvement in the killing of hundreds of demonstrators during the 2011 revolt that ended his three-decade rule. An appeals court overturned an initial life sentence for Mubarak in 2012 on a technicality.
Pope Condemns 'Barbaric' ISIS Attacks
Just days after he called for “dialogue” with the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group, Pope Francis on Friday condemned the group and called for interfaith cooperation in order to combat it, Reuters reports.
The pope, who is visiting Turkey, said that "an extremist and fundamentalist group" had subjected entire communities in Turkey's southern neighbors to "barbaric violence simply because of their ethnic and religious identity."
Islamic State insurgents have persecuted Shiite Muslims, Christians and others who do not share their ultra-radical brand of Sunni Islam as they carved a self-declared caliphate out of swathes of Syria and Iraq.
After meeting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan the pope said it was lawful to stop an unjust aggressor but urged a concerted commitment to devote resources "not to weaponry, but to the other noble battles worthy of man -- the fight against hunger and sickness".
He called for inter-religious dialogue to end of all forms of fundamentalism and terrorism, and stressed the importance of freedom of religion and of expression.
Woman breakdances on Tehran subway
A video was uploaded to Facebook showing an Iranian woman breakdancing on a Tehran subway, flouting bans on dancing and women in public without their heads covered.
The clip was posted Tuesday on the site My Stealthy Freedom, a page where Iranian women upload pictures of themselves without hijabs, defying laws in the conservative Islamic country.
The woman in the video is seen dancing to the song “Salute” by the British group Little Mix.
Other female passengers look on.
The song encourages women to stand up for themselves.
In Montreal, Jews from France see a future for themselves
When Dan Charbit and his wife, Gaelle Hazan, moved to Montreal from Paris two summers ago, it was meant to be a temporary fix — a year-long attempt for Charbit to reboot his stalled career as a special-effects artist in Quebec’s thriving film and television industry. They agreed to fly home if the experiment failed.
Fourteen months after arriving in Canada, the couple has no desire to return to France. The 43-year-old Charbit, who won an Emmy earlier this year for work on the fourth season of the hit HBO show “Game of Thrones,” started a new job last month as a supervisor at Mokko, a Montreal-based special-effects studio serving the film and television industries. Hazan, 39, has found employment as a construction project manager.
Charbit and Hazan are part of a new wave of French Jews who have resettled in French-speaking Quebec, fleeing France’s dismal unemployment rate, which hit 10.5 percent in September, as well as the shock of anti-Semitism that has reverberated throughout the country in recent months and crested over the summer during waves of anti-Israel demonstrations.
France’s Jewish Community Protection Service reported 527 anti-Semitic incidents in the first half of 2014, compared with 276 in the same period last year. In recent months — and especially in the wake of the most recent Gaza war — there have been incidents of Jews being harassed, even physically assaulted, in the streets, and synagogues and Jewish-owned stores and restaurants being torched.
Oil, Gas Prices Dropping Rapidly Due to American Fracking Boom
Drivers paying less at the pump due to free-falling oil prices can thank the U.S. energy boom for generating shale oil – and weakening OPEC’s ability to keep the cost of a gallon of gas high.
In just a matter of months, the price of a barrel of oil has dropped from more than $100 to about $70, and gas is now cheaper than it has been in years. But a recent report conducted for the American Petroleum Institute claimed oil would cost twice as much as it does now if it weren’t for America’s fracking boom, which wrings oil and natural gas out of shale miles underground.
Former refusenik makes first visit to St. Petersburg since 1970
Yosef Mendelevitch, 67, is scheduled to speak Friday to approximately 350 participants of St. Petersburg’s fourth Limmud conference, the Jewish learning even organized by the Limmud FSU group.
Mendelevitch’s visit to St. Petersburg is his first since arriving here in 1970 from his native Riga, Latvia to carry out Operation Wedding, the code name given to the daring attempt by 12 Zionist activists to hijack a single-engine AN-2 airplane and fly it to Israel in defiance of the Soviet refusal to permit them to emigrate. The KGB arrested him and the other would-be hijackers before they could board the plane.
Mendelevitch, who along with Natan Sharansky was one of the most well-known “prisoners of Zion,” finally immigrated to Israel in 1981 shortly after his release from jail.
On Friday, Mendelevitch who was born in Riga and now lives in Jerusalem, visited the KGB building where he was held immediately after his capture.
UN Partition Plan
66 years today, on November 29 1947, the United Nations voted on establishing a Jewish State in Palestine