Ayala Shapira still in life-threatening condition after firebomb attack
Ayala Shapira, the 11-year-old Israeli girl who was seriously hurt in a firebomb attack in the West Bank on Thursday evening, was still in life-threatening condition in the hospital on Saturday evening.The New Anti-Semitism in 2014: A Year in Review!
However Shapira, who suffered third-degree burns over much of her body and face in the attack, has successfully undergone the first of a series of operations, said doctors at Sheba Medical Center, where she is being treated in the intensive care unit.
Security forces on Friday arrested two Palestinians in connection to the firebomb attack. One is suspected of having thrown the Molotov cocktail. The other is suspected of assisting him. Another 10 Palestinians from the Palestinian village Azzun, near the site of the incident, were detained in the sweep.
When it comes to chronicling the “Oldest Hatred”, stories abound. 2014 was no different, and in a sense, was even more heavily loaded with statements, events, tragedies and even death, than the previous year. All seems to indicate that Anti-Semitism is on the rise globally AND exponentially, in frequency AND intensity. A review of the main anti-Semitic acts that punctuated this last year will suffice to make your Judeo/Christian hair rise on your head.Partners in protest: The anti-Israel, cop-bash link
One of the great under-told stories of the anti-police turmoil after the Michael Brown and Eric Garner grand-jury decisions is the instigating role played by anti-Israel activists.IDF saves Palestinian baby after he suffers heart attack
What, you ask, does anti-Israel activism have to do with the reaction to the Ferguson and New York City decisions?
Well, to understand that, you first need to understand the pathology behind the anti-Israel movement — particularly the Boycott Divest and Sanctions crowd.
This movement has a problem: Despite decades of anti-Israel propaganda, particularly on campuses, Israel remains more popular than ever in the US as a whole
But there are pockets of American society where anti-Israel rhetoric, which frequently borders on or crosses into anti-Semitism, has a receptive audience. One such place is among radical racial-grievance activists.
Racial divisions are fomented and exploited by the BDS movement, with phrases such as “settler colonialism” and “brown bodies” thrown around to give superficial intellectual cover.
A Palestinian baby’s life was saved after he collapsed at a Jordanian border crossing and was evacuated by IDF helicopter to a Jerusalem hospital.
The six-month-old infant was believed to have suffered a heart attack on Saturday morning while traveling with his family from their home in the West Bank to receive medial treatment in the Hashemite Kingdom, according to a Ynet report.
His condition prompted medics on the Allenby Bridge to request a medical air evacuation by the IDF.
Remembering a Druze Hero of Israel, Witnessing His Family’s Pride
On Nov. 18th, Zidan, a Druze traffic police officer – who wasn’t wearing a bullet-proof vest or other protective armor – charged the Jerusalem synagogue where terrorists were slaughtering worshipers with guns and meat cleavers. Zidan was not called to the scene. He heard of the incident over his police radio, voluntarily rushed to the house of worship, and engaged the terrorists in a gun-battle that drew them away from their butchery. He saved many Jewish lives, and he ultimately paid with his own – when one of the terrorists shot Zidan in the head.Alan Dershowitz: Hard Leftists Are as Guilty of Censorship as North Korea’s Dictator
I was in Israel during the Saif Family “shiva” – the Druze also observe seven days of mourning for a departed loved one - and on the final night, I drove though a torrential downpour (great for Israel, treacherous for driving) to the far-north village of Yanuch-Jat to offer my condolences. Probably because of the weather, I was the only non-family member present, which offered me the special honor of spending a couple of hours talking with a group of extraordinary human beings.
When I told Zidan’s father that his son was recognized as a hero not only in Israel but even in New York, he began to cry. When I gave Zidan’s five-month old daughter the priestly blessing, Zidan’s 21-year-old widow, Rinal, began to cry as well. At the end of my visit, I was escorted into the “family room,” where the walls were adorned with the photographs of departed family members. “This one,” pointed Zidan’s father, “served in the Golani Brigades, and that one died in combat fighting for Israel…” He beamed with pride as he recounted his family’s and the Druze community’s courageous sacrifices for the Jewish State. When I left, Zidan’s father and brothers asked me to return with my family. As an incentive, they promised to slaughter a goat in honor of the occasion. I pointed out the kashut challenges, so he offered to prepare the animal according to my specifications, and we settled on bringing our families together at a kosher restaurant.
More recently, radical anti-Israel students tried to get SodaStream products banned from Harvard dining halls, because they were offended by the “micro-aggression” represented by the location of the company’s factory beyond Israel’s Green Line. So instead of simply not drinking the product themselves, they tried to prevent everyone else from drinking it or even seeing its name!Erekat: UNSC to vote Monday on draft demanding Israeli withdrawal from West Bank
Hard-left students, and even some on the soft left, have tried to ban sexist jokes and offensive classroom discussion on university campuses. Speech codes on many campuses are designed to prevent students from being offended by the comments of others.
The National Office of Amnesty International recently rescinded an invitation I had received from the Columbia University branch of the organization because they were offended by some of my views. And several universities, including Brandeis, rescinded offers of honorary degrees from proposed recipients because some students regarded their views as offensive. Other deserving candidates have been passed over for fear of offending some.
We live in an age in which censoring material that is deemed offensive by some is becoming widely accepted, especially among young people on the left.
The Palestinian Authority’s top peace negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said on Friday that Ramallah will submit its draft resolution to the UN Security Council demanding an end to the Israeli presence in the West Bank this coming Monday.An unstoppable avalanche toward Palestinian statehood?
Erekat said that the draft resolution has been altered and amended. The final draft has yet to be released for public consumption.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas threatened on Tuesday to sever all ties with Israel if the statehood resolution presented to the UN Security Council last week did not receive approval.
Palestine’s ostensible statehood raises some other questions, said Kontorovich, who is currently also a senior fellow at Kohelet, a Jerusalem-based think tank.Another terror attack on Israelis ignored by BBC News
“They’re acting in an incoherent way,” he said about the Palestinian leadership. “A state means something, it’s not just an idea. Being a state means having a territory with a government that exercises control. It can’t be under occupation. Because being occupied means you’re not in control.”
In historical precedents, new countries came into being by getting rid of foreign rule. Israel, for instance, was declared only after the British Mandate ended. “Before that, it would have been a joke,” Kontorovich said. An Arab state of Palestine would be the first new “state” that still is occupied at time of its inception, he said.
“The Palestinians want to have best of both worlds. They want to have a foreign ministry and embassies across the world, give out passports and pass laws, and at the same time complain that they’re dispossessed and controlled by Israel.”
The absence of any BBC reporting on this terror attack joins the growing list of incidents the corporation has elected to ignore. Since the beginning of this month alone, those unreported incidents have included a stabbing attack at a supermarket in Mishor Adumim, an acid attack on children on Route 60, a missile attack from the Gaza Strip and a sniper attack near Kissufim.The ongoing search for Arabic-language outrage at the men with the meat-cleavers and knives
If we are perhaps tempted to attribute the BBC’s failure to report this attempt to burn Israelis alive in their car to the fact that the attack occurred during the Christmas holiday season – which presumably falls into the same category as the BBC’s “smaller operation at the weekend when fewer stories are covered” – then it is worth noting that all the articles circled in green on the screenshot below showing the website’s Middle East page as it appeared later on in the afternoon of December 26th were added on the same day that the attack near Ma’ale Shomron took place.
In the long and bitter history of Arab, and in particular Arab Islamist, murderous hatred of their Jewish neighbours, the cold-blooded killings on the morning of November 18, 2014 of four Jewish men at prayer in the Kehilat Bnei Torah synagogue in Jerusalem, along with a non-Jewish security officer who died trying to subdue the frenzied attackers, stand out.No Xmas spirit at West Bank protests
This is not because the Har Nof Synagogue attack exacted an unusually large number of innocent victims: tragically, there have been many Arab terrorist attacks that killed and injured more people at a single time.
For many, the idea of an attack by men brandishing butcher knives, axes and a gun on unarmed individuals wrapped in prayer shawls, quietly swaying in their daily worship, will make concrete a horror that will have seemed incomprehensible. That horror is magnified by the evident clarity that accompanies the published Palestinian Arab reactions. If there is some ongoing process of moral doubt and profound soul-searching in their ranks, it's impossibly hard to find.
Several Palestinians taking part in Friday’s weekly protests against the security fence in Bil’in, near the West Bank town of Ramallah, apparently decided to inject some holiday flavor into the proceedings this time.How the IDF is training the next generation for urban warfare
A number of individuals wearing Santa Claus costumes and sporting gas masks (to shield themselves from tear gas) were photographed Friday hurling rocks at Israeli security forces.
A series of photographs seemed to show one of the protesters catapulting a tear gas canister at Israeli troops. Britain’s Daily Mail headlined a prominent article on the incident: “Bad Santa: Palestinian dressed in Father Christmas costume throws tear gas at Israeli security forces in Jerusalem.”
Wherever the next conflict breaks out, chances are the IDF’s ground forces will have to deal with an enemy that moves on foot, appears and vanishes quickly, is armed with deadly shoulder-held missiles and operates in an urban setting, filled with noncombatants.Iranian Army Twitter Account, Iranian Army-Affiliated Blog Report: IRGC Troops At Lebanon-Israel Border
The Jerusalem Post spoke to three commanders of Ground Forces Command training centers, to gain a glimpse into how the IDF is preparing the next generation of combat soldiers for this difficult and evolving challenge.
Col. Barak Cohen, commander of the Combat Intelligence Collection training center at Sayarim training base in the southern Negev, described a far-reaching process of “adjusting all of our programs to new threats.
The Combat Intelligence Collection Corps places units in the field to collect a range of visual intelligence and maintain advanced electronic sensors that feed into control centers.
On December 25, 2015, a Twitter account affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) (@IRGCnetwork) tweeted that IRGC soldiers are at the Lebanon-Israel border: "IRGC soldiers of the Islamic Republic are at the border of occupied Palestine." The tweet included photos of soldiers, with their faces obscured.Islamic State fighters are moving ever closer towards Israel
Previously, on December 17, 2014, a blog affiliated with the Iranian Army (newss.blog.ir) published the same photos with the soldiers' faces unobscured, and several other photos, noting that they were taken in southern Lebanon in the Beqaa and Baalbeq region. The blog post was titled: "We are arriving... near the Mother of Corruption, the accursed Israel; soon we will pass over their bodies, Allah willing." The photos' date imprint, October 24, 2014, can be seen in these photos, and the original captions state "Uploaded @ Military.ir."
It should be noted that the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, which is affiliated with Hizbullah, reported on October 8, 2014 that Hizbullah fighters were again operating in the region south of the Litani River, in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
This means, from Israel’s point of view, that while its presence close to the border is a matter of long-term concern, in the immediate future the al-Qaida franchise’s attentions are largely turned elsewhere.Mashaal in Turkey: We hope to liberate Palestine with you
Such calculations could not be safely made regarding Islamic State, which by contrast works only for its own benefit.
Its sudden push into Iraq in June and then August show the extent to which it is able to abruptly change direction, catching its opponents by surprise. The record of Islamic State against other rebel groups thus far has been one of near uninterrupted success.
Conversely, it is now being halted in its eastern advances by the US and its allies. But neither the US Air Force nor the Kurdish ground fighters are present further south and west, so there is a clear strategic logic to the current direction of Islamic State activity.
As Islamic State loses ground further east, it seeks to recoup its losses elsewhere; this trend is bringing jihadists closer, toward the borders of both Israel and Jordan. It may be presumed this fact is not lost on Israeli defense planners – hence the reports of increased activity by Military Intelligence collection units and reinforcement of the military presence on the Golan Heights.
The single war now raging in Syria, Iraq and increasingly Lebanon, is moving closer – toward Israel.
During a speech to officials and supporters of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, Mashaal congratulated the people of Turkey “for having [Prime Minister Ahmet] Davutoğlu and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan” as heads of state, adding that “a strong Turkey means a strong Palestine … Inshallah, God is with us and with you on the road to victory.”Hamas Working to Emulate IDF Surveillance Technology, Techniques (VIDEO)
“Inshallah we will liberate Palestine and Jerusalem again in the future,” Mashaal said.
The Hamas leader was introduced to the crowd gathered in the conservative Konya Province in central Anatolia for the annual event by Davutoglu himself. His speech was frequently interrupted by supporters shouting “down with Israel!” and “God is great!”
“A democratic, stable and developed Turkey is a source of power for all Muslims,” Mashaal went on, adding “I greet all the brave people who claim Jerusalem … Our flag is the symbol of all the oppressed in the world.”
At the beginning of August, during the height of Protective Edge, the IDF arrested dozens of Hamas fighters, who were intensively questioned by Shin Bet and police interrogators.Report: Nasrallah is pushing for Hamas reconciliation with Syria and Iran
Among the revelations from the detainees was that Hamas has set up land and sea commando and sabotage units similar to the IDF’s elite, and combat engineering units of the Golani and Givati brigades.
The terrorists also told interrogators that Hamas has established dozens of lookout posts, meant to monitor the activities of army units along the Gaza Strip and within it, with a major goal to sound an alarm when an IDF invasion of Gaza is imminent.
“At first, Hamas only referred to the units as ‘patrols,’ one Hamas source said. In the past two years, however, the units were upgraded to more professional standards, and were equipped with sophisticated devices to track the IDF forces.”
Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah is reportedly mediating between Hamas on the one hand and Iran and Syria on the other in order to patch up the alliance that has been damaged due to the war in Syria.Hezbollah Leader: Assad Remaining President of Syria “is a Red Line”
The reconciliation efforts were reported on Saturday in the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir.
According to a senior official, Nasrallah is playing a key role in the mediation effort which is also being encouraged by Tehran, that is planning to invite Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khaled Mashaal to the Iranian capital.
Hezbollah insists that its ally, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, will remain in power. In a message delivered to Russia, the Shiite terror organization made clear that it does not agree that anyone, even from the Alawite sect, should replace the current President as part of any possible solution to the Syrian conflict.Assad orders Christmas Day strike on Islamic State territory
The Lebanese newspaper “Al-Akhbar” reported (Arabic link) Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah recently said to the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “is a red line.” The two met a few weeks ago in Beirut.
Sources close to Hezbollah told the paper that Nasrallah emphasized to the Russian diplomat that his organization is not only trying to protect Syria against “terrorism,” but also to protect Bashar al-Assad. “Any solution must include leaving the President in his post,” Nasrallah said.
Forces loyal to embattled Syrian president Bashar Assad have engaged in a bombardment of territory under the control of Islamic State militants over the last 48 hours, killing roughly 40 people, according to local reports.US stockpiles matériel ahead of major anti-IS offensive in Iraq
Syrian Army helicopters used barrel bombs - barrels packed with explosives and metal shards, with no precision mechanism— to strike the areas of al-Bab and Qabaseen on Christmas Day and overnight.
Early reports did not clarify how many of the deceased were members of the Islamic State, a terrorist organization holding territory throughout eastern Syria and northern Iraq.
The United States has condemned Assad's use of barrel bombs throughout the war; the bombs are typically thrown out the back of helicopters without aim, thus making them an indiscriminate weapon, often dropped on heavily populated civilian areas.
The US military has slowly been stockpiling equipment and gear coming out of the war in Afghanistan in a Kuwait depot, ultimately destined for Iraq ahead of a possible spring offensive against the Islamic State.Iran tests suicide drone in military drill
The warehouse in Kuwait’s Shuhaiba port houses over 3,000 mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles and electronic gear, according to the news site US News.
“From June to December, we’ve worked a lot on moving items into Kuwait,” said US Air Force Maj. Gen. Rowayne “Wayne” Schatz, the director of operations and plans for US Transportation Command. “The army is holding the gear there, and it has room to hold it, as the mission fleshes out,” he told US News.
The US-led coalition is reportedly planning a major operation this spring aimed at helping Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga forces retake land conquered by the Islamic State in a blitz that started in June.
Gen. Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, the army’s chief commander of ground forces, described the unmanned aircraft as a “mobile bomb,” according to state media, which said the aerial device is designed to strike air, ground and naval targets.Iran FM Demands End to All Sanctions, Offers No Nuke Concessions in Return
He did not provide the name of the drone. The conservative Kayhan daily referred to it as the Yasir, while an online news website called it the Raad. Officials could not be reached for comment.
The Yasir drone, first unveiled last year, can fly for up to 10 hours and carry out 360-degree imaging, officials said at the time. Western military analysts say the Yasir is a modified version of the American ScanEagle drone. Iran said in December 2012 that it had seized at least three Boeing-designed ScanEagle drones after they allegedly violated its airspace over the Persian Gulf.
Iran is believed to have produced its own remotely piloted suicide drone, the Raad-85, which is designed to crash into targets and set off its warhead.
Contrary to Zarif’s claim that the lifting of sanctions was not an “essential component of any agreement” but rather a step to be taken once Iran complies with the obligations specified in the Joint Plan of Actions (JPOA) and abides by its commitments to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).Saudi Arabia Grand Mufti: “Nothing Wrong” With Child Brides
In the past thirteen months since signing the JPOA Iran has continued to flout its international obligations that spurred the imposition of sanctions in the first place.
An op-ed written a few weeks ago by a researcher at the non-partisan Institute for Science and International Security observed that Iran has continued to procure illicit materials since signing the JPOA last year.
Saudi Arabia Grand Mufti Shaikh Abdul Aziz Al Shaikh announced there is “nothing wrong” with girls under the age of 15 getting married. This is a blow to human rights activists who hoped the strict Islamic country would at least set the minimum marriage age at 15.Pakistan’s only Jew seeks to preserve historic cemetery
“There is currently no intention to discuss the issue,” he said.
In 2011, Saudi Arabia’s Justice Ministry wanted to pass a law that set a minimum age to marry since many young girls are forced to marry much older men. Saudi Justice Minister Mohammed Al Issa said the issue came to light after “a surge in such weddings and growing criticism by local human rights groups.”
“The Ministry is studying a draft law to regulate the marriage of teenage girls…the marriage of under-age girls in the country is not a phenomenon yet as some claim… those who say this are wrong.” he said. “We are considering regulations in line with the Islamic Shariah to govern this kind of marriage.”
The only self-declared Jew in Pakistan is seeking to preserve Karachi’s disused and neglected Jewish cemetery, the Guardian reported on Friday.Hillel President Eric Fingerhut Assails ‘Organized, Global Effort to Delegitimize Israel’ on Campus (INTERVIEW)
Fishel Benkhald, the son of a Muslim father and Iranian Jewish mother and a resident of the city of 20 million people, told the British paper he’s proud to be Jewish, even though his Pakistani ID registers him as Muslim.
The cemetery, whose 300 remaining graves date to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, is at risk of encroachment from the surrounding Muslim graveyard.
Many of Pakistan’s Jewish community fled the country in 1947 with the partition of British India, and others left after the establishment of the state of Israel a year later.
“I want the government to recognize the Jews as a minority in Pakistan,” Benkhald told the paper.
Thus far Benkhald’s efforts to get government assistance in maintaining the century-old cemetery have yielded little success.
2014 is likely to be remembered as an annus horribilis for pro-Israel activists on university campuses across the United States.Max Blumenthal: ‘America Sniper’ Chris Kyle was just a popular mass murderer
According to a report by the Anti-Defamation League, there were more than 75 anti-Israel events held on campuses during the fall alone. Altogether, the ADL said, campus protests against Israel surged by 114 percent compared with 2013. Much of the vitriol was directed at Israel’s war on Hamas terrorists in Gaza over the summer, with the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement that targets Israel alone actively being promoted to students as the best vehicle to express their loathing of the Jewish state.
“This academic year we have seen an alarming uptick in anti-Israel sentiment and antisemitic behavior on campuses across the country, primarily fueled by student and faculty BDS activists,” Tammi Benjamin of the AMCHA Initiative, an advocacy group combating anti-Semitism on campus, told The Algemeiner. “What’s different now are the activists’ open calls for the elimination of the Jewish state, and their attempts to delegitimize and bully into silence anyone who stands up for Israel. As a result, Jewish students who identify with the Jewish state are facing an unprecedented wave of harassment and hostility.”
I’ve watched the film depiction of the life of the late Chris Kyle, America’s deadliest sniper, Navy SEAL, and veterans advocate, twice. It is a gripping portrayal, but it is a portrayal nonetheless. While the screenplay perhaps lacks nuance, it is also a product of Hollywood and should be considered a truncated and dramatized version of one man’s life story.Free Speech Victory: 'Proud Savage' Mona Eltahawy Has to Pay Restitution In AFDI Ad Vandalism Case
The complexities of biography often elude filmmakers who are charged with creating dense and intricate portraits of a human being in 120 minutes. Nevertheless, the movie is quite enjoyable. The performances are stirring and the wartime themes, difficult as they are, are confronted tastefully.
Having seen the film, I feel qualified to write about it. That was not an obstacle for author and AlterNet Senior Writer Max Blumenthal who determined that it was a bright course of action to sharply criticize a film he had admittedly not seen simply because he detests its subject.
On September 25, 2012, CNN “journalist” Mona Eltahawy was arrested after spraying pink spray paint over one of my American Freedom Defense Initiative ads in the New York subway.A New Zeal for Israel
On Friday, she declared victory, tweeting: “My attorney @StanleyCohenLaw just wrote to tell me that my spray painting case has been dismissed in the interests of justice.#ProudSavage.” Not surprisingly, Eltahawy was lying: the case wasn’t dismissed outright “in the interests of justice”; rather, she has to perform community service and pay restitution. The judgment is a victory for AFDI and free speech.
As she vandalized the ad, Eltahawy also spray-painted my associate, Pamela Hall, and broke her glasses. Her vandalism caused an international brouhaha – her spray-painting made the front page of the New York Post and headlines in national and international newspapers. Tellingly, to defend her she hired the notorious Hamas lawyer, the anti-Semitic Jew Stanley Cohen. The Assistant District Attorney in charge of prosecuting the case told hall that what Eltahawy actually got was an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal, which means that the case will be dismissed in six months if she stays out of trouble. Although this is not a conviction, Eltahawy had to complete two days of community service and pay restitution of $794.60 to Hall for her broken glasses. Hall remarked: “Mona has thrown in the towel, giving up on her bogus claim to free speech, and finally agreed to do her community service as required for spraying graffiti in the subway.”
How will Israel survive? It’s a question many of us don’t like to admit we’re silently asking ourselves. Her future certainly won’t be secured by middle-aged, kosher food-eating, Yom Kippur-fasters like me.Nine Decades of Moses at the Movies
How then? Eight decades ago, FDR rolled out a New Deal. What Jews and Israel need now is a New Zeal.
Zealotry moves history – Israel itself was founded by zealots. Most of the thousands of young Jews like my grandparents who immigrated to the Land of Israel starting in the 19th century substituted the traditions and faith of their ancestors for Zionism: the movement to build a new Jewish State. It was a revolutionary faith that could only be realized by the most devoted of zealots.
And they succeeded wildly: in the face of relentless isolation and hostility, an old-new homeland improbably arose out of sand, rock, and swamp.But zealotry eventually subsides: with the mission of establishing Israel accomplished, the passion slowly ebbed and cynicism filled the void. Then, at some point during the 1970s, Jews of a certain persuasion began to pin the blame for the endless wars on Israel, with some even questioning the justice of the Zionist enterprise itself.
Hollywood has had its share of big-budget biblical flops, but until now, the Exodus narrative has not been among them. Studios have brought Moses to the big screen sparingly, but in ways that defined the image and character of Moses for each generation of audiences.In pictures: American astronaut photographs Israel from space on Christmas
The first biblical epic
In 1923, director Cecil B. DeMille left it to the American public to decide the subject of his next movie for Paramount.
DeMille received a letter from a mechanic who suggested he take on “The Ten Commandments.”
On a clear day on Christmas morning US astronaut Barry Wilmore took some pictures of Israel from the International Space Station resulting in some stunning snaps of the holy land.
The photos were posted on the station's Facebook page with the accompanying text:
Israel - completely clear - on Christmas morning from the International Space Station. Astronaut Barry Wilmore woke up early on Christmas to reflect upon the beauty of the Earth and snap some images to share with the world. (h/t Elder of Lobby)
