Wednesday, December 03, 2014
ICRC: World holds Israel to legal double standard
The head of the International Red Cross in Israel and the Palestinian areas said Tuesday that the world was holding Israel to a double standard when it came to war crimes allegations.Israel Should Get Its Retaliation In First
Jacques De Maio was one of a number of non-Israeli officials speaking at an Institute for National Security Studies conference on the law of armed conflict in urban areas.
“Why is there so much more focus on Israel than on Syria [and] other places where many more civilians are dying?” the ICRC official asked rhetorically, pointing out that “in other ongoing wars, more civilians die in one week than in Israeli wars in a full year.”
While De Maio made that argument without using the phrase “war crimes” to refer to the IDF’s actions in this summer’s Gaza operation, he added that both Israel and Hamas “violated international law” during the fighting.
He also defended his dialogue with the IDF and Israel regarding its actions and the law of armed conflict. He said there had even been a petition to cancel his speech at the conference so he would not appear to be endorsing the IDF’s conduct during the summer operation.
But De Maio said the dialogue was not endorsement, as “we don’t endorse Israel, and when we talk to Hamas, the Taliban and other terrorists, we don’t endorse them, either.”
The ICRC official said that “our goal is to influence those fighting to be more humanitarian.”
To defend itself while also bolstering the long-term interest of other liberal democracies engaged in the struggle against transnational terrorism, Israel should undertake a preemptive strike, both in the legal arena and in the court of public opinion. The facts and the law are on Israel’s side.Livni: We must join world in fight against terrorism
In this hostile international environment, knowledgeable Israelis are concerned about the March 2015 publication of the Schabas report. Either from lack of familiarity with the international laws of war or out of misplaced sympathy for the conventional view, some intellectuals here, including law professors, are tempted to conclude that Israel has few legal responses. They seem to believe that Israel should contritely accept the UNHRC's factual findings, legal conclusions, and practical recommendations and concentrate on damage control.There is no chance that Netanyahu's government will adopt that approach, nor should it. Whether it will launch an offensive against the UNHRC’s kangaroo court is another question.Here are five defective claims likely to inform the Schabas commission, and outlines of the replies that Israel should be honing for a preemptive strike in advance of the commission's forthcoming report.
Speaking at the same INSS conference, IDF Advocate-General Maj.- Gen. Danny Efroni said there was no precedent for the extent to which Hamas systematically endangered civilians directly and indirectly as human shields during Operation Protective Edge this summer.
Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012 had a relatively extremely low civilian casualty toll, Efroni said, adding that he had warned in an article following the war that low casualties could not always be achieved because of Hamas’s tactics.
The IDF had to rework its tactics in real time due to Hamas tactics, even as Israel is at the forefront of Western nations in developing tools to comply with international law in urban environments, fighting against terrorists who intentionally endanger their own civilian populace, he said.
Efroni said that the army was internationally criticized – unfairly and for political reasons, in his opinion – for three aspects: the IDF’s striking of Hamas members’ private homes, the large cumulative number of civilian casualties, and the use of artillery in urban fighting.
Hamas members used their houses as command centers, in which they also gave orders regarding the firing of rockets at Israel, he said, adding that criticism of the IDF for hitting them would simply encourage Hamas to continue its illegal tactic.
Next, Efroni slammed the IDF’s critics for leaning hard on Israel, which at least tried to take precautions, as opposed to on Hamas, regarding the high civilian casualties.
Mother of synagogue terrorist praises her son who murdered five
Two days after two terrorists armed with guns, knives and axes entered a synagogue in Jerusalem and murdered four worshippers and a policeman, an Israeli Arab news site posted a video of the mother of one of the terrorists praising the murderers.Mother of synagogue terrorist praises her son and his cousin who murdered 5
Both terrorists were killed by Israeli police who arrived at the scene of the attack. The day after the murders, mother of terrorist Uday Abu Jamal recited a poem honoring the killers while receiving guests in her mourning tent:
"How beautiful is your Martyrdom.
You have placed a crown [upon my head]...
O Ghassan and Uday,
who carried out the operation (i.e., murder of 5),
blessed be your hands and the tips of your fingers.
Blessed be the womb that bore you...
Yesterday [I gave] the most beautiful gift.
The Martyrs' blood was not spilled in vain. I am a Palestinian."
Caroline Glick: Sisi is not Mubarak
Israelis have argued this case for years to their Arab neighbors as well as to the Americans and other Western states. But for multiple reasons, no one has ever been willing to accept this basic, obvious reality.Kerry on Knesset shake up: Whatever government forms should negotiate with Palestinians
As a consequence, everyone from the Americans to the Europeans to the Saudis long supported policies that empower jihadist forces against Israel.
Sisi became the first major leader to break with this consensus, as a result of actions Hamas took before and since his rise to power. He has brought Saudi Arabia and the UAE along on his intellectual journey.
And this reassessment has had a profound impact on regional realities generally and on Israel’s strategic posture specifically.
From Israel’s perspective, this is a watershed event.
The government must take every possible action, in economic and military spheres, to ensure that Sisi benefits from his actions.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said he hopes a new Israeli government will prove fruitful to negotiations, the first American comment on Israel's government crisis.Who needs Abbas' approval?
"We hope that whatever government is formed is a government that will – or whether there are elections, that those elections will produce -- the possibility of a government that can negotiate and move towards resolving the differences between Israelis and Palestinians, and obviously, the differences in the region," he said while speaking Tuesday at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
Kerry emphasized, however, that he does not want to get involved in Israel's internal politics.
"I simply don’t comment on the internal politics of any country, and certainly not of a change in personnel within the Government of Israel," Kerry said of the recent government shake up.
"We will continue to be supportive of our friend and our ally, the state of Israel."
"We will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state," Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared at an Arab League foreign ministers' meeting over the weekend in Cairo.Critics of French Vote on Palestinian Recognition Slam ‘Betrayal,’ Warn of Negative Repercussions for Jewish Community
This declaration, like others made by Arab and Palestinian leaders, was intended not only to undermine Israel's historical right to and international legitimacy as a Jewish state, but also to signal that the Palestinians are not ready to move forward with serious negotiations for a resolution to the conflict.
But Israel is not defined as a Jewish state by this or that Arab leader. It is defined as such by the international understandings and agreements that recognize the historic link between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, as our Declaration of Independence states. This is a link that the Palestinians have been denying for years.
The French parliament’s decision to vote for the recognition of a Palestinian state earlier today generated a variety of reactions, with many observers deeming the decision essentially meaningless while others protested what one activist called a “betrayal.”French Jew Burns ID Card in Protest Over Gov’t Vote to Recognize Palestinian State (VIDEO)
Serge Cwajgenbaum, the secretary general of the European Jewish Congress (EJC,) said the vote was largely “toothless,” but expressed concern that “such votes can have negative consequences for the Middle East peace process because it can radicalize people, while pushing Palestinians to abandon the negotiating table in favor of seeking recognitions.”
Cwajgenbaum told the New York Times: “I can’t exclude the possibility that there can be repercussions of the vote on the Jewish community, as criticism of Israel can be construed by some extremists as an excuse for incitement against Jews.”
An enraged French Jew from Lyon on Tuesday set fire to his ID card in a dramatic protest over France’s National Assembly 339 – 151 vote to recognize a Palestinian state, the French JSS News reported.Sweden approves borders of ‘Palestine’ with Israel erased
“As you all know, France has just symbolically recognized a terrorist Palestinian state. I, then, in response to this bull****, and to reply to these incompetents, will symbolically burn my French identity,” Jérémy Yoni Ajzenberg, 26, said.
“F*** this incapable government that is in the image of the Eiffel Tower: static, with it’s legs apart!” said Ajzenberg, who plans to make aliyah (emigrate) to Israel in Feb. 2015.
Daniel Schwammenthal, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Transatlantic Institute in Brussels, told JNS.org about the vote that, “Europeans may have nothing but good intentions, but recognizing Palestine without the PA [Palestinian Authority] first achieving a settlement with Israel is ultimately misguided. It would be a setback for the quest for real peace and the establishment of a real Palestinian state.”
Here is a picture of Hillevi Larsson. She is a Member of Parliament in Sweden’s extremist Social Democratic-led government.Belgian government to support Palestine recognition
She is happy because she has just received an award from the Palestinian Association of Malmö, Sweden, as thanks for her support for “Palestine”.
Malmö is famous for two things: (1) Mohammed is the most popular name for newborn boys, and (2) its Jews, who have been living there for almost 250 years, are being systematically hounded out of the city. One may or may not choose to draw conclusions from these parallel trends.
The parties that make up Belgium’s federal government have agreed to recognize Palestinian statehood unilaterally, a Belgian daily reported Wednesday.Palestine House board member portrays Jerusalem massacre as a “courageous and qualitative” operation
The four parties reached an agreement earlier this week and intend to submit a motion to parliament formulating support for recognition of Palestinian statehood, which the parties intend to pass and which the government is planning to implement, the Le Soir daily reported.
The text for the draft of the planned motion does not set a date for recognition, the report said. The paper quoted from the text as stating that recognition will happen “at a moment deemed appropriate.”
Dr. Nazih Khatatba, a board member of the Palestine House and an editor of Toronto-based Meshwar newspaper, keeps praising the attack, in which 4 rabbis and an Israeli policeman were murdered in a Jerusalem synagogue (November 18, 2014) by two Palestinian terrorists, armed with a handgun, an meat cleaver and a knife. Israeli Canadian and Toronto born Howie Rothman, was severely wounded after he was struck in the head and neck with a meat cleaver during this attack.Victim of West Bank hit-and-run succumbs to wounds
In his editorial titled “al-Quds Operation and the Quiet Intifada”, (Issue 118, November 28, 2014, page 5) Khatatba portrays the Jerusalem massacre as a “courageous and qualitative” operation and justifies the Palestinian recent wave of terrorist attacks aimed at Israeli targets.
The Israeli man who was critically injured in a suspected hit-and-run terror attack at the Alon Junction died of his wounds Tuesday evening.Border police find pipe bombs in car after high-speed chase
Sixty-eight-year-old Avi Ben Zion was being treated at Beilinson Hospital, where he died from severe head injuries he sustained during the incident on Monday.
Investigators are unsure if the event was an attempted robbery or a terror attack, and said that both possibilities were being investigated.
Ben Zion’s daughter Revital told Channel 10 News Tuesday she believed the incident was a terrorist attack. She claimed that if her father was being robbed, he would have calmly handed over his vehicle and wallet to the thieves, leaving the perpetrators with no reason to attack him.
Security forces uncovered three pipe bombs in a car in Abu Dis, a Palestinian town on the outskirts of Jerusalem, on Wednesday after officers noticed three vehicles driving at excessively high speeds, Border Police said Wednesday.Hebrew University Students' 'Lives are in Danger'
While patrolling the Abu Dis area at around 1 a.m., Border Police were alerted by another security unit about an explosive that was thrown in their direction while driving on a small security road directly next to the security barrier.
After the alert, Border Police officers were quickly able to identify the direction from which the explosive came. Then, officers noticed three vehicles driving wildly and at very high speeds on the road nearby.
They began in pursuit of the suspicious vehicles, shortly afterward finding one of the vehicles had lost control and crashed into an electric pole.
A Knesset Committee on Tuesday discussed the threat of terrorist attacks felt by Jewish students at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.Deadly Attacks Spur New Wave of Online Palestinian Incitement
The Knesset Committee on Public Complaints, headed by MK Adi Kol (Yesh Atid), heard testimony from students who say they feel that “their lives are in danger.”
Hebrew University's Mount Scopus campus is located adjacent to several Arab neighborhoods, and is connected to French Hill, where Arab residents have recently rented apartments. In addition, many of the students commute to their studies via the light rail, which in recent months has seen countless attacks by Arab assailants, culminating in several car attacks on rail stations by Arab terrorists.
“Many students have filed complaints about this,” said Kol. “Security in the Mount Scopus area is not good, to say the least, and students are expecting the security establishment to take action to ensure their safety. Many students also say they have complained to the University, which has not been sufficiently responsive.”
As high-profile terrorist attacks escalate in Israel, particularly around the Jerusalem area, a new Palestinian Arab video uploaded to YouTube last week shows the idolization of terrorism and propaganda fueling the current wave of attacks.
In the video, one Arab terrorist wrapped in a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flag and with a hand grenade strapped on his belt can be seen passing out handguns, knives, swords and hatchets to six other terrorists.
The terrorists then stand in front of the security barrier in either Judea or Samaria and bearing their weapons in a menacing stance in a clear call for attacks, as a threatening song in Arabic is heard in the background with the following lyrics:
Steinitz Gaffe? 'Large Scale Intel Effort to Deny Iran Nukes'
Minister of Intelligence Yuval Steinitz (Likud) let slip during a speech from the Knesset podium Wednesday that Israel is engaged in “a sensitive, large scale intelligence effort to deny Iran nuclear weapons.”Electronic Warfare Battalion officer: We are in a race against time
Steinitz was responding to a no-confidence bill submitted by Labor head MK Yitzhak Herzog, and extolling the leadership abilities of the government under Binyamin Netanyahu.
Israel prides itself on leading the international effort to curb Iran's nuclear weapons program. In addition, it is generally speculated that the Jewish state is also engaged in covert operations against Iran, and the Mossad has been credited with numerous assassinations and acts of sabotage in that context. However, Israel's policy has always been not to talk openly about these matters.
Steinitz's statement may have been a gaffe, or an intentional slip as part of an effort to boost the image of Likud under Prime Minister Netanyahu as able guardians of Israel's security.
The IDF’s offensive Electronic Warfare Battalion is in a “race against time” against Israel’s enemies, a senior officer told The Jerusalem Post.PreOccupied Territory: Is It Time To Take Down The Sukkah Yet? (satire)
The race is between the battalion, which is tasked with disrupting command and control and communications capabilities, and the terrorist organizations and enemy states that are upgrading their equipment continuously.
“We saw our good capabilities in action during Operation Protective Edge,” the officer said last week. “Between wars, there is a race against time – a technological race. The other side swaps or upgrades its equipment. We have to follow these changes. After we complete an operation, we can’t rely on the assumption that nothing is changing.”
The battalion is under the direct command of the IDF General Staff.
“We are an independent unit, and we possess everything we need to function in an emergency. We also have our own training base, where cadets come to after basic training,” the officer said, noting with pride that some 40 percent of battalion members are female. “If artillery gunners fire shells, we fire electrons to assist our forces. Our unit is fully combat.”
Judaism is usually pretty specific about when to do what. All you have to do is look in a book or two and you have your answer. So I’m finding it both troubling and confusing that no one seems to know when you’re supposed to take down the sukkah.Ya'alon: Hamas has no interest in escalating the situation
My teachers were pretty clear on when you have to put it up: it has to be ready in time for the fifteenth of Tishrei. No problem. Mine was already decorated even before Yom Kippur. So the preparation part I got down. What troubles and confuses me is that no one has been able to tell me when I’m supposed to have the thing cleared away – and then, once I find that out, I have to figure out what I’m supposed to do with the pieces. Do we let them rot, like other stuff that gets left over in a Shmittah year? Is it supposed to be used as fuel for burning the chametz before Pesach? I’m at a loss here.
Usually, Jewish law is very particular about when something starts and ends. Everyone knows about starting Shabbat before sunset on Friday, and what time it ends on Saturday night. The first Mishna in the whole corpus of Rabbinic literature introduces both the start time and end time for reciting the nighttime Shma. But when it comes to a deadline for putting away the sukkah, suddenly the Rabbis are silent. What am I missing?
"At the present time Hamas has no interest in escalating the situation, due to the heavy price it paid during Operation Protective Edge," Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said Tuesday during a meeting with his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Moranes, in Tel Aviv.Hamas Rocket Test Shows Prep for Next War
"For quite some time now the Middle East has been unstable,and there is no way to stabilize it in the foreseeable future," Ya'alon said.
The defense minister said the Hamas terrorist organization was headquartered in "Gaza and Istanbul. It is unbelievable that a NATO member is hosting the headquarters of a terrorist organization on its soil. We prevented a coup planned by Hamas, among other places from its base in Turkey, against [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas]."
Gaza's Hamas terrorist leaders on Wednesday apparently celebrated the disbanding of the Knesset coalition by launching a missile test, in another threatening show of force indicating the group's preparations for yet another terror war on Israel.ISIS flyer in Gaza threatens 18 writers, PA condemns
Three rockets were fired into the Mediterranean Sea by Hamas according to IDF sources, who said the launches were identified from the Tel Katifa region, reports Channel 10.
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An Islamic State (ISIS) flyer circulating on social networks has warned 18 writers and poets against criticizing Islam, noting that ''apostates will be punished''. In Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority (PA)replied by condemning the intimidation of Palestinian intellectuals, saying that the threats constitute a serious precedent. Hamas has instead played down the incident. Gaza's interior minister, Yiad Bazam, denied that ISIS operates in any form in the Gaza Strip and that the threats are - in his opinion - nothing more than ''pranks''. 'He ensured, nevertheless, that the enclave's secret services were closely watching the situation. The threats to intellectuals came after a similar text (signed by men claiming to be ISIS members) in recent days telling women in Gaza that they would not be allowed to walk in the streets starting next week if not covered in full Islamic veils.Arab Spring Illusions Are Dead. Good.
Unfortunately, there was never a real constituency of any size in Egypt for liberal democracy. The choices there were always going to be between a stable, if authoritarian military government and one run by Islamists. Had the latter prevailed, Egypt would not only have been less free than under the military but it would have helped further destabilize the region and aided the efforts of Islamist terror groups like Hamas, which was allied with the Brotherhood.A Weekend of Failures for Egypt’s Islamist Opposition
Sadly, the Obama administration’s inconsistent and ultimately feckless policies alienated both Sisi and the Egyptians who blame it for the rise of the Brotherhood. It will take a long time before the U.S. will win back their trust. But the key question facing the region is whether Islamist groups like ISIS will overrun regimes that while neither democratic nor free, at least represent a bulwark against the tide of extremism and violence. That makes it absolutely essential that the U.S. continue to support governments like that led by Sisi and to assist them in the general effort to combat the wave of Islamist extremism sweeping across the region.
Which also means that both liberals and neoconservatives alike must put aside their illusions as well as their hopes about democracy promotion in the Middle East. The war against Islamism must be fought and eventually won first before we will be able to return to that discussion about the Arab world, if then. Those who cannot grasp this reality are being obtuse, not principled.
Within hours of the court’s decision demonstrators arrived on Tahrir Square in Cairo, the birthplace of the 2011 revolution that toppled the Mubarak regime. Liberal opponents of Mubarak were joined by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. Shortly after the arrival of the Islamists, police used water cannon and tear gas, driving the protesters into side streets.Egypt prosecutor to appeal dropping of Mubarak charges
24 hours earlier, on Friday, Egyptian security forces were able to stop the “Islamic revolution” planned by the Salafi activists and supported by the Muslim Brotherhood. This planned wave of protests was designed to attack the regime of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and strengthen the worsening position of Islamists in the country.
Hours before these protests, security forces arrested 89 Muslim Brotherhood members for inciting violence. According to the state-run news agency MENA, security forces also defused seven bombs in different governorates around Egypt.
Egypt’s public prosecutor said Tuesday it would appeal a court ruling that dropped a murder charge against ex-president Hosni Mubarak over the deaths of protesters during the country’s 2011 uprising.Egyptian court sentences 188 people to death
“The prosecutor general has decided to appeal,” it said in a statement, after a Cairo court on Saturday ordered the dropping of murder and corruption charges against Mubarak, who ruled for three decades until being driven from office and is serving a three-year sentence in a separate graft case.
The 188 were charged over the killing of 11 policemen last year in Kerdasa, a restive town west of Cairo considered a militant stronghold. The attack, which saw the policemen’s bodies mutilated, is considered one of the country’s grisliest assaults on security forces.Islamic State Stronghold In Iraq Swamped With Water-Borne Disease
The defendants also were accused of attempting to kill 10 more policemen, damaging a police station, setting police cars on fire and possessing heavy weapons.
The attack happened on the same day that security forces brutally cleared two protest camps of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi’s supporters, killing hundreds. Protesters were demanding the reinstatement of Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood group.
Some 22,000 people have been arrested since Morsi’s ouster, including most of the Brotherhood’s top leaders, as well as large numbers of others swept up by police during pro-Morsi protests.
The Islamic State (IS/ISIS/ISIL) is struggling with a severe shortage of clean water and basic medicinal necessities in the city of Mosul, Iraq, where the terror group remains under control. Furthermore, a new water-borne disease has emerged, creating the potential for plague-like conditions for its citizenry, AFP reports.Batsh*t Crazy Conspiracy Theory Of The Day
While the Islamic State trumpets a better life under its rule, what’s happening in Mosul has become a PR disaster for the jihadi outfit. Residents have reported that the city’s water treatment center is not working consistently, largely due to the constant battles in the area.
“The biggest and most dangerous problem now is because of our harsh circumstances and the absence of services,” said resident Abu Ali to AFP. He added that some residences have tried to resolve the water contamination problem by digging wells of their own. He said that some residences often go without for up to one week.
This might just be the most ridiculous thing you read all day.Iranian Currency in Sharp Decline as Oil Prices Plummet
Courtesy of Press TV (naturally):
The United States and Israel are run by “Zionist psychopaths” who are recruiting and training “mind-controlled killers” to “set the Middle East on fire,” says a political activist in Wyoming.
The leader of ISIL, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, “is an Israeli actor trained by both CIA and Mossad” to lead a terrorist organization that “only attacks Muslims, not the US or Israel,” said J Bruce Campbell, a member of the American Defense Party, a non-voting political action party dedicated to ending the Zionist power structure in the US.
Dropping oil prices are taking a toll on Iran’s economy. Last week many Iranians rushed to sell their local currency holdings out of fear for their savings, the Al-Arab newspaper reported on Tuesday. This prompted a loss of more than 10% of the rial’s value in one week.Are Declining Oil Prices Iran's Achilles Heel?
Currently, one American dollar is trading for 35,600 rials. The ISNA Iranian news agency reported that this decline is exceptionally high in comparison to last year, and is the sharpest decline in the currency’s value since President Hassan Rouhani was elected.
The drop in oil prices has offset economic gains that Iran has realized due to sanctions relief. According to Bloomberg News, Iranian oil is now selling at about $100 a barrel, well below the $136 a barrel that Iran needs to break even on their government spending. The Financial Times reported in October that “Iran’s economy also grew 4.6 per cent in the three months to August 22 compared with the same period of 2013, while the currency market has also been stabilised.” Notably, inflation fell from 40% to 21% over the course of Rouhani’s first year in office.
The official reason given for OPEC's decision to maintain oil production and absorb the price decline is that it wants to maintain market share in the face of aggressive non-OPEC producers. But, Saudi Arabia, the dominant member of OPEC, is deeply concerned with the Iranian nuclear program. Its influence was clearly felt. Like its smaller oil-rich Arab Gulf state neighbors, Saudi Arabia can absorb the revenue decline from lower prices.Two Killed in Car Bomb Explosion Near Home of Iran’s Ambassador in Yemen
Iran will have a more difficult time. Especially if it insists on devoting billions to its nuclear project. Its government budget is heavily dependent on the revenue generated from high oil prices. Oil prices have declined by nearly 40 percent over the last six months.
The unexpected decline in worldwide oil demand may have put an end to Iran's winning streak. As Robert Burns wrote in 1786, "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men often go awry." Here's hoping Burns was right.
A car bomb exploded Wednesday near the home of Iran’s ambassador to Yemen, killing two people amid a Shiite power grab in the impoverished Arab country believed to be supported by the Islamic Republic.Iranian cleric: Albert Einstein was Shiite Muslim
Iran’s ambassador to Yemen, Hossein Niknam, was not at home when the bomb exploded at the residence in the capital, Sanaa, killing a security guard and his son, security officials said. The blast heavily damaged several nearby buildings and punched a hole into the residence. An Iranian flag later lay on the debris.
An Iranian cleric claims that the Albert Einstein, the great 20th century scientist who developed the Theory of Relativity, was a Shiitie Muslim, Israel Radio reported on Saturday.
The report cites a video by Ayatolla Mahadavi Kani, described as the head of the Assembly of Experts in the Islamic Republic of Iran, who says that there are documents proving the Jewish scientist embraced Shiite Islam and was an avid follower of Ja'far Al-Sadiq, an eighth-century Shi'i imam.
In the video, Kani quotes Einstein as saying that when he heard about the ascension of the prophet Mohammed, "a process which was faster than the speed of light," he realized "this is the very same relativity movement that Einstein had understood."
