Wednesday, February 11, 2015
An Administration With a Blind Spot About Anti-Semitism
President Obama’s recent interview with Vox included an astonishing characterization of one of the most notorious recent terror attacks. As he did in his initial reaction to the assault on a kosher deli in Paris, the president did not call it an act of anti-Semitism or say that those slaughtered were singled out for murder because they were Jews. Even worse, he told Vox that those responsible for the attack on the Hyper Cacher had decided to “randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a Paris deli.” The day after such a glaring misstatement of fact, one might expect the White House to walk back this remark in some way. But, instead, both White House spokesman Josh Earnest and State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki doubled down on the president’s tortured logic in a stunning display of Orwellian doubletalk. Instead of just a president with a blind spot about anti-Semitism that comes out when he is interviewed, it is now clear that the United States has an administration with a blind spot about anti-Semitism.State Dept Doubles Down on Obama Claim That Kosher Deli Attack Was 'Random'
To have made such a statement once might be just a gaffe. To do it twice revealed that the president has a blind spot about anti-Semitism that somehow prevents him from either admitting that the incident was anti-Semitic or condemning it as an incident in which Jews were targeted. But today we learned that this is not just a rhetorical tic. It is now official U.S. policy to claim that when Islamist murderers go into a kosher deli looking for Jews to kill, they are not targeting Jews or acting out of religious bias.
Earnest ‘s insistence that the Hyper Cacher was not chosen by the terrorists because of the likelihood that it would be filled with Jews shopping for the Sabbath is mind-boggling. So, too, is Psaki’s belief that calling it an act of anti-Semitism is a question so complex that only the local French authorities investigating the crime can know for sure.
Why the adamant refusal to label an unambiguous act of anti-Semitism what it is?
WH Spends 7 Minutes Defending Obama Downplaying Terrorism, Calling Kosher Deli Attack ‘Random’
In a heated back and forth between Karl and Earnest, Karl mentioned the president’s use of the word “random” when discussing the terrorist attack on the Kosher deli in Paris that happened in January. Earnest blamed the media for focusing on the word and said that there were other, non-Jewish people in the deli.WH Spends 7 Minutes Defending Obama Downplaying Terrorism, Calling Kosher Deli Attack 'Random'
Ed Henry asked whether the Islamic State’s burning of the Jordanian pilot was media hype. Earnest brought up the coalition of 60 members but made no mention as to whether it was media hype.
“The president has succeeded in leveraging the influence of the United States of America, to build this coalition and even to get countries in the region to fly alongside American military air pilots as carrying out air strikes against (Islamic State) targets,” said Earnest.
Administration Turns Obama Anti-Semitism Gaffe Into Epic Blunder
What makes this so bizarre is that it is not — or at least, was not — administration policy to deny the anti-Semitic character of the obviously anti-Semitic attack on Hyper Cache. In the wake of the attack, the State Department called it a “cowardly anti-Semitic assault.” A few weeks ago, an administration statement denounced “Anti-Semitic attacks like the recent terrorist attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris.” Chief of Staff Denis McDonough called the attacks “the latest in a series of very troubling incidents in Europe and around the world that reflect a rising tide of anti-Semitism.” And the administration has spoken forcefully on the general trend of rising anti-Semitism in Europe.
If Earnest and Psaki are to be taken at their word, the Obama administration is no longer willing to identify the attack on a kosher supermarket as anti-Semitic. Conceivably they have changed the administration’s position on the fly in order to avoid admitting that the president misspoke, turning a gaffe into an official line. More likely (following the general rule that one should not attribute to venality that which can be explained by incompetence) they both failed to anticipate the question and tried to bluff their way through with disastrous results.
The administration is already cleaning up its cleanup:
Yes, Obama Thinks the Paris Kosher Market Attack Was Anti-Semitic
Now, a charitable reading of the president’s words suggests he was speaking colloquially and did not intend to downplay the anti-Semitic nature of the attack. By “randomly shoot a bunch of folks,” Obama did not mean that the establishment was chosen haphazardly–it was targeted because it was Jewish–but rather that the individual victims were just those who had the misfortune to be inside it at the time. Similarly, the president’s use of the word “deli” could be argued to connote a Jewish establishment, at least to an American audience. In other words, Obama did not aim to elide the attack’s anti-Semitism, he just expressed himself poorly.Joel Pollak: If the Holocaust Happened Today, Obama Would Deny It
It would have been easy enough for the president’s spokespeople to clarify these points today and correct his imprecision. But instead, they did just the opposite, and initially doubled down on the more literal, uncharitable interpretation of Obama’s words. Thus, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that “There were people other than just Jews who were in that deli.” And State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki–when asked, “does the administration really believe that the victims of this attack were not singled out because they were of a particular faith?”–dodged by saying, “they were not all victims of one background or one nationality” (they were all Jews) and “I don’t think we’re going to speak on behalf of French authorities and what they believe was the situation at play here” (the French authorities were the first people to label the attack anti-Semitic).
Are the spokespeople’s statements a reflection of a darker, more troubling view inside the White House, one that refuses to acknowledge the reality of anti-Semitism in Europe? Not quite. As Hanlon’s Razor says, “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” In this case, what we are seeing is not so much an apologia for anti-Semitism as an apologia for Obama. The president’s team has never been good at admitting his missteps, particularly when it comes to the rhetoric for which he is held in such esteem. This has led Obama’s spokespeople to offer tortured defenses of his least defensible statements, like when he dismissed ISIS as the mere “JV team” of terrorism. In this case, rather than simply admit their boss had erred, Earnest and Psaki tried to reparse his words into something palatable and ended up saying something foolish. Or, as New York‘s Jonathan Chait wryly put it, “Obama fumbles anti-Semitism question, teammates scoop up ball and run into the wrong endzone.”
On Tuesday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest attempted to argue that Obama had in fact been correct about the Paris attack, because the victims of the shooting had not been selected by name.French group slams Obama for calling market attack ‘random’
The same day, State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki declined to say whether the attack in the supermarket had been against Jews, saying that determination was in the hands of French authorities.
The killer, in fact, told a local television station that he had chosen the supermarket as his target because he wanted to kill Jews. In the anti-terror protests that followed, Parisians carried signed saying, “Je suis juif” (I am a Jew) alongside signs reading “Je suis Charlie Hebdo,” referring to the satirical newspaper that had been targeted by murderous Islamist terrorists earlier that same week for mocking Mohammed.
Obama declined to attend that protest, despite the presence of other world leaders.
Holocaust denialists claim Jews were not murdered 70 years ago. The Obama administration denies attacks on Jews today.
Sammy Ghozlan, founder of the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, or BNVCA, and a former police commissioner, spoke out against Obama’s assertion Wednesday in an interview with JTA.ADL seeks answers on ‘clouded’ US response to Paris attack
Ghozlan was reacting to an interview Obama gave earlier this week to Vox.com, in which he said: “It is entirely legitimate for the American people to be deeply concerned when you’ve got a bunch of violent, vicious zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris.”
Obama was referring to the slaying of four on Jan. 9 at a kosher supermarket near Paris by Amedy Coulibaly, a jihadist who told a journalist that he was there to kill Jews and who a day earlier killed a police officer near a Jewish school before fleeing the scene.
Coulibaly “did not commit his crimes randomly. They were premeditated,” Ghozlan said, adding that “by not naming the assailants as Islamists, Obama is cynically ignoring reality.”
“Rather than clarifying the president’s comment in the interview, your answer to the question further clouded the issue,” Foxman told Earnest in his letter. ADL’s concern, he said was “further heightened” by Psaki’s answer because she “did not refer to the murders as an anti-Semitic attack.”#randomjewishlivesmatter
Both spokesmen later said on Twitter that the attack was anti-Semitic, something that a number of top officials, including Obama, have said multiple times since the attack.
Foxman downplayed the Vox interview, saying Obama’s view that the attack was anti-Semitic had been made “very clear” in a statement last month that the president made on the occasion of a UN forum on anti-Semitism.
So Mr. President, I can go on and on and on however you are now not acknowledging what the world knows, that Anti-Semitism is on the rise.Jewish ‘Scandal’ Star Joshua Malina Slams Obama for Calling Paris Terror Attack ‘Random’
The ultimate insult to the lives who were targeted at the KOSHER DELI in France is to not even acknowledge who killed them and why. Why Mr. President? They were not random they were targeted because they are Jews.
The world knows it, our enemies know it. It seems that your way of handling problems is to either diminish them, demean them or ignore them.
It is not terrorism, it is “work place violence”.
It is not anti-Semitism it is “Random acts of violence”.
IT is not Radical Islam it is “violent extremists “.
Well Mr. President, let me be blunt. YOU ARE THE PROBLEM.
Jewish Scandal star Joshua Malina blasted President Barack Obama on Monday for suggesting that the Jan. 9 Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket attack in Paris was a random act of terror.3 in 4 Israelis don’t trust Obama to keep Iran from nukes
“‘Random?’ Islamic jihadists targeting Jews at a kosher market is ‘random?’” Malina, 49, asked on Twitter, adding, “Umm..seems like it would be better described as ‘specific.’”
The Times of Israel addressed these issues in its new survey, conducted last week among a representative sample of 824 Israeli adults who indicated that they were very likely or somewhat likely to vote in the upcoming Knesset elections. The survey found Israeli voters have an increasingly negative perception of Obama, and decreasing faith in him to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons.Majority of Israelis Think PM Should Cancel Congress Speech
Asked whether they trust the US president to ensure Iran not get the bomb, an overwhelming 72% do not, compared to 64% in our January 2014 survey.
Israeli voters give Obama a 33% favorable and 59% unfavorable rating, The Times of Israel’s survey also shows. Still, the president’s favorable and unfavorable ratings (33%/59%) aren’t much worse than those of several of Israel’s politicians such as Moshe Kahlon (45%/32%), Netanyahu (41%/54%), Isaac Herzog (38%/43%), or Naftali Bennett (38%/52%). Obama is on par with Yair Lapid’s current rating of 34% favorable and 59% unfavorable, and has a better perception than Tzipi Livni (29%/64%) and Avigdor Liberman (31%/61%).
As Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu begins to re-think the format of his upcoming speech before the United States Congress, Israeli voters weigh in on that controversial speech.Staying firm on speech, PM admits ‘profound disagreement’ with US
According to a survey conducted by Army Radio and market research agency Millward Brown, a majority of respondents believe Netanyahu has no need to travel to Washington.
However, an overwhelming majority said the trip to the US and the speech there would not affect their vote for looming Israeli elections on March 17.
47 percent of respondents said the Prime Minister should cancel the speech, opposed to 34% who say he ought to go despite pressure within Israel and from abroad. 19 percent abstained.
Acknowledging “a profound disagreement with the United States administration and the rest of the P5+1 over the offer that has been made to Iran,” Netanyahu added, “I intend to speak about this issue before the March 24th deadline and I intend to speak in the US Congress because Congress might have an important role on a nuclear deal with Iran.”Mystery Shrouds J Street Claim That ’84 Percent’ of US Jews Back Obama Over Iran
The March 24 deadline refers to a Congressional vote on the Iran sanctions deal, which comes a week ahead of the March 31 deadline of international negotiations with Iran.
Netanyahu was invited to speak before American lawmakers by Republican House Majority Leader John Boehner, but the invitation was criticized by the White House as a “violation of protocol.”
The prime minister has since faced widespread criticism for accepting the invitation.
J Street’s Communications Director, Jessica Rosenblum, merely deepened the confusion while trying to clarify it. “The prime minister is personally popular with American Jews. The difference here is that they have deep concerns about the policies he’s pursuing,” she told the Christian Science Monitor. Rosenblum made no attempt to reconcile Netanyahu’s personal popularity among American Jews with the assertion that the vast majority of them reject his position on the main security threat Israel currently faces.Inside V15’s ground game to unseat Netanyahu
Moreover, a small line of text underneath the ’84 percent’ claim – “strong support for progress made by P5+1″ – indicates that respondents were asked an entirely different question, meaning that J Street’s claim that the vast majority of American Jews reject Netanyahu’s stance contains a heavy dollop of spin.
The Christian Science Monitor also quoted Dylan Williams, J Street director of government affairs, as saying, “I don’t think Jewish Americans are different from where the general American population is on this.” However, a recent Gallup poll pointed towards the polar opposite conclusion, with 84 percent of respondents having a “mostly unfavorable” or “very unfavorable” view of Iran.
J Street is currently running an aggressive campaign opposing Netanyahu’s forthcoming address to the US Congress, using the hashtag #Bibidoesn’tspeakforme. A petition being run by the organization goes so far as to describe Israel’s ambassador in Washington, Ron Dermer, as the envoy of Netanyahu, and not the State of Israel.
The offense was compounded by a screenshot which showed that among the petition’s signatories were Nazi leaders “Adolf Hitler” and “Rudolf Hess,” as well as the American black nationalist leader “Malcolm X.”
Dweck had hoped for polling to reveal left-wing strongholds in the country’s poor and peripheral regions. But V15’s statistical analysis shows that most center-left voters live along Israel’s largely secular and affluent Mediterranean coast, specifically in the Tel Aviv and Haifa metropolitan areas.Mika’s Roots Are Showing
“It’s very frustrating for someone that believes in socialist values because the center-left identifies with the poor, and it turns out that the power base is middle class and up,” he said.
On Monday, Larry gathered some 30 potential volunteers at V15’s Tel Aviv headquarters for an information session. One wall of the room was emblazoned with graffiti reading “Victory 2015.” Another wall showed a map of Tel Aviv divided into precincts. Outside hung a poster with the words “On March 17, we’re just switching” covering Netanyahu’s face.
The meeting opened with attendees saying why they wanted a new government. Their answers reflected the broad tent that V15 is trying to pitch. Some wanted a renewed peace process. One woman hoped for “maybe, maybe, maybe an apartment.” Others had lost faith in Netanyahu as a leader.
“I want a change in the state in many ways generally,” said Avner Avidan, 37, who returned to Tel Aviv after six years in Australia. “I want the right-wing parties and the extreme right to leave the government. I want to see the most left-wing government possible come in.”
So back to The Morning Joe, and Mika B. Is she a chip off the old Zbig block?Scarborough goes off on Mika
Oh yes. Absolutely. No doubt about it. Watch and see.
Luckily, Joe Scarborough is in excellent “Come At Me Bro” form. He’s got the stones to say the truth and he isn’t going to let Mika B. cut him off while he’s saying it. Hint: the end is priceless. He begs Democrats to boycott Bibi’s speech. I love it.
Muslim Brotherhood: White House Official Met Us at State Department
A Muslim Brotherhood member who recently was hosted at the State Department along with several of the Islamist group’s key allies now claims that a White House official also was present in that meeting, according to recent remarks.Police: 2 Sydney men planned ‘imminent’ terror attack
Abdel Mawgoud al-Dardery, a Brotherhood member and former Egyptian parliamentarian, was in the United States late last month along with a delegation of fellow Brotherhood leaders and allies.
The Brotherhood-aligned delegation caused an international stir after the Washington Free Beacon revealed that it had been hosted for a meeting with several State Department officials.
Another member of the group, a Brotherhood-aligned judge in Egypt, posed for a picture while at Foggy Bottom in which he held up the Islamic group’s notorious four-finger Rabia symbol.
While the State Department initially misled reporters about the meeting, it was eventually forced to admit that several Obama administration officials—including a deputy assistant secretary for democracy, human rights, and labor—and State Department officials met with the delegation.
Al-Dardery now claims that in addition to these State Department representatives, a member of the White House also participated in the sit-down.
Two Sydney men were charged on Wednesday with planning to launch an imminent terrorist attack, after police seized a homemade flag associated with the Islamic State group, a machete and a hunting knife in a counterterrorism raid.Include Israel at ‘Countering Violent Extremism Summit’
The men, aged 24 and 25, would have carried out the attack on Tuesday if they had not been arrested that day in the raid in the Sydney suburb of Fairfield, New South Wales state Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn told reporters.
A video that was seized in the raid showed one of the men making threats, though Burn declined to detail exactly what was said. Prime Minister Tony Abbott later told Parliament that the video depicted one of the suspects kneeling in front of the Islamic State flag with the knife and machete while making a statement in Arabic.
Asked whether they were planning a beheading, Burn replied, “We don’t really know what act they were going to commit.”
“What we are going to allege is consistent with the IS messaging,” she said, using an abbreviation for the Islamic State group. “We believe that the men were potentially going to harm somebody, maybe even kill somebody, and potentially using one of the items that we identified and recovered yesterday, potentially a knife.”
On February 18, President Barack Obama will host a summit on “Countering Violent Extremism.” The summit, the White House says, will build on its earlier report, “Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States.” In theory, such a summit could be important—or as important as any diplomatic powwow can be. But, once again, rather than lead, President Obama appears willing to follow.Former UN Chief Kofi Annan Blames US for Rise of ISIS
During the previous incarnation of Obama’s “Global Counter Terrorism Forum,” the president acquiesced to Arab and Turkish demands that he exclude Israel. Just as Mary Robinson, while serving as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, transformed her flagship “World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance” into a platform celebrating racism, racial discrimination, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia, so too did Obama transform a counter terrorism forum into a celebration of those states most responsible for Islamist terror.
Unless he stands firm—and overcomes his apparent personal antipathy toward the Jewish state to ensure that Israel has a seat at the table—Obama will simply be affirming the success of violent extremism and furthering it rather than countering it.
Kofi Annan, who served as secretary-general of the United Nations when the group overwhelmingly supported the 2003 U.S. war in Iraq, claimed at the Munich Security Conference that the United States is to blame for the creation of the Islamic State (ISIS).Abbas Promises to Revive Peace Talks with Israel
Annan also asserted that he was always in opposition to the Iraq war.
“The folly of that fateful decision was compounded by post-invasion decisions. The wholesale disbandment of the security forces, among other measures poured hundreds of thousands of trained and disgruntled soldiers and policemen onto the streets,” said Annan of the post-invasion strategy.
“The ensuing chaos has proved an ideal breeding ground for the Sunni radical groups that have now coalesced around the Islamic State label,” he further stated.
Mr. Annan said that combating the ISIS problem requires a long-term strategy, claiming that “there are no quick fixes or easy solutions,” reports Rudaw.
Another factor for regional instability was the Arab-Israeli conflict, added the former UN chief.
Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas torpedoed the last "peace talks" with Israel by forming a unity partnership with Hamas, and is currently pursuing a unilateral International Criminal Court (ICC) lawsuit against Israel in breach of the 1993 Oslo Accords that formed his PA.Sweden Announces Aid Package to 'Palestine'
But according to Abbas he will work to revive the talks with Israel, in statements made on Tuesday during a visit to Stockholm in Sweden, reports The Associated Press.
During his Swedish press conference Abbas avoided questions about how to end the conflict with Israel or curb the terrorism of his unity partner Hamas - Abbas is himself head of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Fatah terrorist organizations, and Fatah took part in Hamas's latest terror war.
Abbas's term in elected office ended in January, 2009, but poking at his rival "unity partner" Hamas that ousted Fatah from Gaza in 2005, Abbas said the Palestinian Arabs must be able to pick "who should lead them and if they accept violence or not."
Sweden announced a multi-million-euro aid package for the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Tuesday as PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas made his first visit to Stockholm since 2009.'Hezbollah planned to assassinate Olmert as revenge for hit on arch-terrorist Mughniyeh'
Prime Minister Stefan Loefven stressed that his country’s recognition of “Palestine” back in October, when it became the first major Western European country to do so, came with responsibilities.
"According to us Palestine is now a state. Our expectations of Palestine and their leadership will therefore increase," Loefven told reporters during Abbas' visit to Stockholm, according to the AFP news agency.
"There is no contradiction between keeping good relations with Palestine and keeping good relations with Israel," Loefven added.
Hezbollah sources told Arab media on Wednesday that the Lebanese Shi’ite organization planned to assassinate former prime minister Ehud Olmert as revenge for the death of arch-terrorist Imad Mughniyeh.Uruguay Detains Ten Suspected Syrian Refugees Using Fake Israeli Passports
Wednesday editions of the London-based Al-Arabi al-Jadid quoted “political sources in close contact with Hezbollah” as saying that the plan was in place to target Olmert, who as prime minister oversaw the month-long Second Lebanon War that was fought between the IDF and the Shi’ite group.
According to the report, the Olmert assassination plot was foiled by Mohammed Shurba, an alleged Israeli operative who managed to infiltrate the upper echelons of Hezbollah. Shurba is also credited for thwarting an alleged Hezbollah plan to bomb the Israeli embassy in Azerbaijan in 2009.
There is no independent confirmation of this report.
Multiple groups of people believed to be Syrian refugees have been detained and rejected from Montevideo, Uruguay, after using falsified Israeli passports to book their flights into the nation.Watch: Arabs Attack Jerusalem Kindergarten with Fireworks
This week, reports Spanish newswire EFE, ten individuals entered Carrasco International Airport in Montevideo using fake Israeli passports, traveling into Uruguay from Brazil. Authorities sought to verify their passports after Spanish authorities warned that they had seen similar cases of falsified Israeli passports in Europe. When interrogated by authorities, the group could not respond to English or Hebrew, leading authorities to suspect they were Syrian. The group consisted of seven women, two men, and a child. They were flown back into Brazil.
The group is the second in as many weeks stopped at the same airport with similarly counterfeit identification. Uruguay’s El Observador newspaper reports that authorities stopped a group of four Syrian citizens, also using false passports, at the capital’s airport. Those individuals were questioned by Israeli Mossad authorities, which have been working closely with the Uruguayan government on security issues for both the Israeli embassy and violent attacks against Jewish Uruguayans in particular.
Terrorist attacks in Jerusalem have faded into the background in recent weeks after an intense spate of high-profile attacks late last year, but in Ma'ale Hazeitim on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives in the east of the city, the daily terror continues unabated.Labor 'Submits to Arabs,' Pulls Support for Barring Zoabi
On Wednesday morning a gang of Arab terrorists descended upon the Jewish neighborhood's kindergarten, firing potentially lethal fireworks and hurling rocks at the institution.
The description of the video, which shows three security personnel eventually chasing off the rioters after a long period of unchecked assault, notes that the fireworks set off a fire adjacent to the kindergarten.
Regarding the fire, it was confirmed that the fireworks fired by the Arab rioters from the adjacent Ras el-Amud neighborhood set off a fire in the small field of greenery surrounding the kindergarten.
The "Zionist camp" unity party of Labor and Hatnua retraced its steps regarding support for the barring of openly pro-Hamas Arab MK Hanin Zoabi, after the Arab parties threatened they would not join a coalition formed by Labor.Illegal Arab Center Demolished in Samaria
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) had harsh words for the Labor party on Tuesday, writing on Facebook "it's not enough to call yourself 'the Zionist camp' - a true Zionist doesn't submit to the threats of the Arabs."
"The submission to threats from the Arab sector, which caused the heads of the 'Zionist camp' to retract their support for outlawing Hanin Zoabi from running for the Knesset, is a continuation of the dangerous deterioration by which public sources and institutions submit to Arab terror," charged Liberman.
After an extended legal battle, Civil Administration inspectors on Wednesday morning arrived at the road leading to Givon Hahadasha in Samaria just northwest of Jerusalem, where they demolished an illegal Arab commercial center that was built in breach of the law.IDF court lifts gag order on black-eye case of Palestinian girl
The center was put up in a region where building is forbidden and endangers motorists driving on the adjacent highway.
Two years ago, the Regavim movement for Jewish national property rights petitioned the High Court over the center, leading to an intermediate order obligating the Arab owner to cease construction until the legality was clarified.
Despite the order, and despite his obligations, the owner continued his illegal construction.
Four months ago, in a discussion of the petition, the High Court judges decided the incident constituted an extreme breach of the law and contempt of the court order, and therefore they ordered the Civil Administration to demolish the center.
The conviction was for throwing rocks, possession of a knife and attempted throwing rocks.Khaled Abu Toameh: 'Palestinian commission of inquiry identifies suspect who poisoned Arafat'
The IDF prosecution viewed the case as serious in that al-Khatib confessed to trying to throw rocks at moving vehicles on Route 60 near her village of Bitin and had expressed a desire to use the knife to stab a soldier.
But al-Khatib was not convicted of attempting to stab anyone, only of illegal knife possession, and the campaign supporting her has presented her as having been a benign rock thrower incapable in size and physique of being dangerous.
While al-Khatib confessed to the charges in open court in the presence of her parents and her legal team as part of a plea bargain, supporters have still presented her sentence as an example of an overbearing military justice system which unfairly turns young children, now a young girl, into criminals.
The Post has learned that the key departure point for the IDF prosecution was that al-Khatib was not convicted merely for generic stone-throwing or blocking a road, but that her attempted stone-throwing regarding moving vehicles presented a real danger, despite her age.
A Palestinian commission of inquiry has succeeded in identifying the suspect who poisoned Yasser Arafat, a senior Fatah official said on Tuesday.Khaled Abu Toameh: Majority of Palestinians favor halting security coordination with Israel, poll finds
Tawfik Tirawi, head of the commission who previously served as commander of the Palestinian Authority’s General Intelligence Service in the West Bank, told the Ma’an news agency that Israel was responsible for the death of Arafat in November 2004.
Tirawi did not reveal the identity of the suspect in the alleged poisoning of Arafat. The commission needs to conduct further investigations to verify its findings, he said.
“Israel is responsible for the death of Arafat, but we are searching for the person who was directly involved,” Tirawi said.
The poll, which was conducted by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, covered 1,000 Palestinian respondents and has a margin of error of three percent.IDF seizes Hamas weapons, terrorist finance in West Bank raids
The president of the center, Nabil Kukali, said that around 61% of respondents expressed support for ending security coordination between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. “It seems that this stance came as a response to the repeated Israeli procedures, practices and transgressions, such as retaining the Palestinian customs revenues and the refusal to transfer these funds to the Palestinian Authority,” he said. “This, in addition to the continuation of settlement construction, halt of the peace process, tightening the siege on the Gaza Strip, boosting the checkpoints and the continuation of intrusions and arrests.”
The poll also found that 60% of respondents oppose the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority. Palestinians fear that dissolving the authority would leave a national vacuum and result in chaos and lawlessness, Kukali explained.
The IDF and Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency launched an operation in Judea and Samaria overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday to seize illegal weapons and terrorist finances in the possession of Hamas.Rockets hit Jewish welfare center in Ukraine
The army said the assets seized in the raids enabled Hamas to "strengthen its grip on the territory" in the Palestinian territories.
During the operation, terrorist finances worth 45 thousand shekels were seized.
Kfir infantry soldiers from the Menashe territorial Brigade launched raids southwest of Jenin and uncovered large numbers of firearms, ammunition, and knives, the army added.
The army arrested six Palestinian suspects found to be in possession of weapons.
Two rockets hit the building housing a Jewish social welfare center in the eastern Ukraine city of Kramatorsk but did not explode.Jewish woman killed in Ukraine; rocket hits near synagogue
The nine-story building housing the Hesed social welfare center was hit Tuesday, according to a statement by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, or JDC, which supports the Hesed center’s activity. There were no injuries or casualties; the building was evacuated.
One rocket hit the roof and another landed in the backyard. The attack was part of a barrage that landed near the city center, killing 15 local residents, officials said. At least 63 people, including five children, were also wounded.
A Jewish woman was killed in the separatist stronghold of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine overnight, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
The woman, whose name has not yet been released, had worked in the city’s Jewish kindergarten, according to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, which provides aid to Jews in the war zone.
In a separate incident, a minibus was hit by rocket fire three hundred meters away from the Donetsk synagogue Wednesday morning during morning prayers. The Rabbi sent his congregants away from the synagogue for their protection.
Regular distribution of humanitarian aid at the synagogue will continue today, the community announced on its Facebook page, calling on people to pray for the victims.
