03/11 Links Pt1: AP's Botched Investigation into Gaza Deaths; BDSers Riot at Col. Kemp Speech

From Ian:

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How the AP Botched Its Investigation of Civilian Deaths in the Israel-Hamas War

Publications, aggregation sites and broadcast outlets picking up the AP probe ranged from the New York Times to the Drudge Report and Al Jazeera America, from the Washington Post to ABC News (The AP provided subscribers with two versions of the article, a roughly 2,250-word story and one about half that size). The U.K.’s Daily Mail and The Independent both ran the piece, no doubt reinforcing the British public’s already dim view of Israel. Even Stars and Stripes, the newspaper for U.S. Armed Forces, ran the AP “exclusive.” The wide pickup was a coup for the oldest and most ubiquitous of wire services, which operates in more than 280 locations worldwide and counts 1,400 U.S. daily newspapers among his members, plus thousands of TV and radio broadcast members.
There is just one problem. The AP’s exclusive investigation was botched in just about every imaginable way.
We conducted an investigation of the AP investigation. We (the authors) have formed a nonprofit investigative project, The Mideast Reporter, that is going to do a lot of that kind of thing. We found that the news agency reached faulty conclusions based on selective information, cherry-picked quotes, and above all its “painstaking” survey was fundamentally flawed, and was set into motion by slanted, politically biased non-governmental organizations.
Some of it is Journalism 101 stuff, such as failing to write accurate headlines and failing to fully and fairly quote a principal source on a crucial issue. A lead photograph simultaneously exploited a 6-year-old child while inadequately identifying his father—a Hamas commander—as a “Hamas policeman.” And correcting captions violating its ethics rules only after we brought the issue to the AP’s attention—but limiting those corrections to an archive not usually accessed by the public, rather than the articles themselves.
A video segment, released concurrently, was even worse, and was structured almost as a kind of multimedia argument for bringing Israel to the International Criminal Court for war crimes, using as its principal source a fervent critic of Israel.
In its reporting, the AP disregarded its own code of ethics, as well as the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics.

Riot at Sydney University

The lecture was being given by retired British military officer Colonel Richard Kemp, a world-renowned expert on armed conflict, the Middle East and a prolific media commentator,
Colonel Kemp had been invited by the University to speak on “Ethical Dilemmas of Military Tactics” and “Dealing with non-state armed groups,” in light of Australia’s military engagement with non-state actors, including ISIS.
Kemp began his talk with a brief explanation of his career and a joke about England’s cricket loss to Bangladesh on Monday. He went on to discuss non-state militant groups in Ireland and Afghanistan and the obligations of soldiers when engaging with civilians and civilian groups. Before he could go into any detail or discuss any other issues, he was interrupted by over a dozen students bursting into the lecture hall screaming “Richard Kemp, you can’t hide, you support genocide.”
A demonstrator with a megaphone drowned out any attempts by the moderator to get the lecture back on track. Protestors wrestled with security guards who had asked them to leave and were then forced to remove them. Protestors stood on chairs, began to push students and shout loudly at those who objected to their behaviour.
Professor Jake Lynch, the director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPACS) and an ardent opponent of Israel, shouted in the faces of students, including at a senior officer of the Jewish student union. He then proceeded to stand on chairs and film attendees. Lynch screamed that attempts to remove the protestors was a violent attack on freedom of speech by security guards. When another academic suggested that he ask a question, Lynch responded that was not what this is about, only later opting to ask a question when invited by the Colonel.
One student commented that Kemp “hadn’t even mentioned Israel or Palestine” in the time he had to talk. Another student mentioned that she did not have strong views on either side of this issue, was studying international relations and had come expecting a talk, not an ambush.

Hamas Tries To Fool Israel And The West With New Ceasefire Proposal

There are several problems with the Hamas proposal and the assumption that Hamas has become more moderated and has altered its stance on reaching an agreement with Israel.
Only last week, Western Journalism reported that Hamas is preparing for a new round of conflict with Israel, building new tunnels under the Israel-Gaza border and replenishing its rocket arsenal.
A closer look at the Hamas document that was given to Blair reveals that it contained inflammatory language and false claims about Israel. The document speaks of the continuous Judaization of Jerusalem and claims that Israel attacks the el-Aksa mosque on the Temple Mount and maintains a suffocating blockade on the Gaza Strip.
The document furthermore contained profound untruths about Hamas’ ideology. Hamas does not cherish the respect for human rights nor does it believe in “a positive dialogue between different civilizations with no recourse to violence or oppression,” as the proposal claims.
Hamas has murdered thousands of Israelis and Palestinians since its founding and pursued the same aggressive Islamist agenda as Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. Article 7 in the Hamas charter calls for the genocide of Jews and underlines the universal character of its jihad that must result in Islamic world domination.
Hamas did not indicate that it would be willing to annul its charter, and that explains why the organization uses the word tahdiyyah when it speaks about a ceasefire.

Palestinian Authority Sheltering Paris Terror Suspect

The French government recently issued arrest warrants for three Palestinian terrorists involved in an earlier attack on a Jewish restaurant in Paris—and one of them is being sheltered by the Palestinian Authority (PA). That earlier attack should be of particular interest to the United States government, since two American citizens were among the victims.
On August 9, 1982, Palestinian terrorists firing submachine guns and hurling hand grenades attacked lunchtime diners at the Jo Goldenberg Restaurant, in the Jewish quarter of Paris. Six people were murdered, 22 wounded. Among the fatalities were two women from Chicago: 66-year-old Grace Cutler and 31-year-old Ann Van Zanten, a curator at the Chicago Historical Society.
If the names Grace Cutler and Ann Van Zanten are not familiar to you, don’t be surprised. They are among the more than 100 Americans who have been murdered by Palestinian terrorists since the 1960s but have been almost completely forgotten. They are not even mentioned on the U.S. State Department’s website, where rewards are offered for information leading to the capture of killers of Americans abroad.
Sadly, the State Department has never shown any serious interest in bringing Palestinian killers to justice. Evidently it fears that putting such terrorists behind bars in America would anger the PA and create a crisis in American-Palestinian relations. And so justice remains trampled in the dust.

Malley’s Rise and Obama’s Blame-Israel Policy

Thus, putting Malley in a position of influence isn’t merely harmful symbolism as was the case with the 2008 campaign. Rather, by putting him in charge of the Middle East desk at the NSC, the administration is ensuring that any effort to promote the peace process will be predicated solely on pressure on Israel to make concessions on security and its rights while the Palestinians will not be expected to do anything.
That doesn’t sound very different from the American role during the collapse of Secretary of State John Kerry’s peace initiative. Despite Abbas blowing up the talks by signing a unity pact with Hamas and ditching the talks to go to the United Nations in violation of the PA’s Oslo commitments to gain recognition for the Palestinians, President Obama still blamed it all on Israel. But now that Malley’s role is even more defined there will be no doubt that U.S. policy will be focused exclusively on pressuring Israel. Rather than it being Israel that lacks real faith in a fair two-state solution, with Malley helping to run our Middle East policy it will be the U.S. that will be undermining the admittedly slim hopes for an end to the conflict.
But Malley’s appointment isn’t merely another indication of the president’s antipathy for Israel’s government. It is also a gesture of contempt for pro-Israel Democrats that defended Obama’s bona fides on Israel in both 2008 and 2012. As the president uses his final two years in office to hammer Israel and further undermines the minimal chances for peace by giving the Palestinians license to stonewall negotiations, those friends of Israel would voted for the president should remember how they were suckered.
Even more importantly, as Americans view the drama of the Middle East over the course of the last 22 months of the Obama presidency, they would do well to remember that in an administration that will be consistently blaming Israel for the lack of peace (whether it is led by Benjamin Netanyahu or Isaac Herzog) the person whispering these conclusions in the president’s ear is the same guy that was offering alibis for a terrorist murderer like Yasir Arafat.

Why Should WAPO's Eugene Robinson Care? It's Only A Few Million Dead Jews

According to the passive/aggressive tome by Washington Post Columnist Eugene Robinson entitled "Netanyahu goes beyond bluster on Iran," Benjamin Netanyahu's speech wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. He examined some of the Israeli Premier's prose from the standpoint of the progressive advocate he is, while ignoring the most important part of Netanyahu's argument: based on the deal being negotiated, millions of people will be placed in mortal danger.
Robinson started his piece by insulting Elie Wiesel, describing him as a pawn who was taken advantage of by the evil Netanyahu:
The worst moment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, at least for me, came when he used Elie Wiesel, a great moral hero, as a Hollywood-style prop.
Presidents giving State of the Union addresses have the right to tug at our heartstrings by saluting honored guests in the gallery. Foreign leaders taking advantage of partisan invitations do not.”
Hollywood-style prop? I suppose it was fine when President Obama handed out lab coats to the people in attendance when he was selling Obamacare. Or the other countless times our dear leader has shamelessly used people as props.
Except this time it wasn't a prop. If Mr. Robinson had done his homework, he might have realized that it was Elie Wiesel who famously said, “Trust the threats of your enemies over the promises of your friends." Wiesel supported Bibi's speech because like the Prime Minister, he is a Jew who knows Iran is trying to embark on a new genocide of the Jewish people: first the ones in Israel, then all the citizens of the United States, the Great Satan, including its Jews.

Jordan king: Palestinian peace deal needed to defeat IS (not satire)

Abdullah told the European Parliament that the battle against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria was “first and foremost” a fight for Muslim nations to carry out.
Jordan has stepped up its role in the US-led coalition against IS after the group burned to death a captured Jordanian military pilot in a grisly video released last month.
But Abdullah said the root problem was the world’s failure to “defend Palestinian rights.”
“This failure sends a dangerous message,” he said.
“And it has given the extremists a powerful rallying cry. They exploit the injustices and the lingering conflict, to build legitimacy and recruit foreign fighters across Europe and the world.”
He added: “How can we fight the ideological battle, if we do not chart the way forward towards Palestinian-Israeli peace?”

Following UK’s Palestine Vote, Israel to Recognize Scotland (satire)

Following the vote by the UK’s Parliament to recognize the State of Palestine this past October, the Israeli Knesset has voted to officially recognize Scotland as a state (whether they want independence or not) and demand British occupation of the territory end immediately.
“The British have denied the Scots their freedom for too long,” Israel’s chubby Foreign Minister said in a press conference. “Braveheart came out in what, 1995? So it’s been at least 20 years now. And they were wearing really old-looking clothes so it might have actually been much, much longer.”
While Israel publically claimed the move was unrelated to the UK’s vote on Palestine, several officials privately admitted the decision to recognize Scotland was a direct response.
“To be honest, none of us really give a shit about Scotland one way or the other and we were a little hesitant to recognize it, since that William Wallace guy was apparently a real anti-Semite,” said one senior official on the condition of anonymity. “We were going to recognize the Falkland Islands, but none of us knew how to spell it and we couldn’t find it anywhere on a map of Europe.”

The Tower Editor: U.S. Mideast Allies Trying to Prevent a “Mind-Bogglingly Bad Deal” with Iran

In an interview with Erin Burnett on CNN yesterday, David Hazony, editor of The Tower, said that the success of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before Congress last week shouldn’t be measured in electoral terms, but rather in diplomatic terms. By this measure, Hazony said, Netanyahu “made his case exceptionally well.”
I’m not sure that the bump in the polls that you see is really statistically all that significant. … In Israel it’s a very tight race and I think that inside of Israel I think that he showed the capacity, the gravitas to represent Israel’s needs on Iran in a powerful way. What’s important to remember though is that as we look at it as a political act we also simultaneously look at it as an act of substance, as an actual effort by a political leader to advance the interests of his country. And in this, I think he made his case exceptionally well. There’s a deal that’s out there … for years we’ve been hearing that the American position is that no deal is better than a bad deal, and what Netanyahu is claiming is that this is transparently a bad deal, it’s mind-bogglingly a bad deal and that anybody who says that Netanyahu is offering no alternative is essentially saying that a bad deal is better than no deal.
In response to a question about the number of centrifuges Iran will reportedly be allowed under the deal being negotiated, Hazony pointed out that Iran would be agreeing to a deal that would give it the capacity to build a nuclear weapon, not support a civilian nuclear program.

State Dept Describes Iran Deal as 'Nonbinding'


The Democrats’ Betrayal of Israel

President Obama was ready to agree to Iran’s primary demand: that sanctions be lifted immediately, even while Iran continued her ballistic missile and nuclear programs, aggression against her neighbors, and support for terrorism. If this deal is positive for the United States and the world, why were Obama and Secretary of State Kerry so desperate to stop Netanyahu from speaking about it? Why should a treaty so critical to world peace be negotiated in secret?
Thanks to Netanyahu’s speech, President Obama’s plan to sign a deal legitimizing -rather than dismantling – Iran’s nuclear program has been foiled. The speech revealed the terms of the deal Kerry had been negotiating with the Iranians behind closed doors. Kerry had planned to conclude the deal, and Obama to sign it, before revealing the terms to Congress and the American people. The Democrats will not long be able to delay House Majority leader Mitch McConnell’s request for a debate on the subject. The consequences of the Congress’ action or inaction on this issue are critical to Israel’s survival.
Despite the disrespect shown to Israel’s Prime Minister, many American Jews will continue to vote Democrat because their identity as liberals supersedes their identity as Jews. They prefer to believe that these identities are always in sync. The Democratic attempt to sabotage, and failing that to boycott, Netanyahu’s speech belies this self-delusion.
Those who boycotted the speech can no longer credibly call themselves “supporters of Israel” when their position is identical to those who are anti-Israel. Their behavior towards the Prime Minister of Israel represents an anti-Semitic double standard. They have not, nor would they ever, boycott any other head of state. The same holds true for liberal American Jews who continue to justify the actions of those Democrats and support them. How can Jews continue to back such politicians without losing all trace of Jewish pride and self-respect?

Clifford May: The ayatollah -- dying with a smile

The Lord works in mysterious ways. That sentence does not appear in the Quran. Nor, actually, is it found in the Bible. But in recent days it has probably occurred to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader.
On the one hand, he is reportedly suffering from cancer, an advanced stage. On the other hand, he is tantalizingly close to winning battles he has been fighting for over a quarter century since succeeding Aytollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the charismatic leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Most significant: His negotiators appear to be on the brink of concluding a deal with U.S. President Barack Obama, who will suspend economic sanctions without congressional input (although the most onerous sanctions can be terminated only by Congress) and, in effect, guarantee Iran the right to possess nuclear weapons in the not-too-distant future.
In exchange, he is not being required to dismantle his illicit nuclear weapons program or stop sponsoring terrorism. He is only being asked to slow-walk the program. What if he agrees and then violates the agreement and the Americans find out? I doubt that worries him.

Leak investigation halted amid concerns of exposing US-Israel actions against Iran

An investigation into a sensitive information leak has been stalled out of fears it could show evidence of a joint operation against Iran by the US and Israel, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
The investigation surrounds classified documents that were allegedly leaked to the New York Times by retired Marine Gen. James E. Cartwright concerning a supposed cyber operation by the two countries intended to cut off nuclear enrichment efforts by Iran.
According to the Washington Post report, proving a case could harm relations between the two countries if the US was to comply with investigation efforts and Israel was to refuse.

Former CIA Chief 'Uncomfortable' with Iran's Role in Iraq

Former CIA chief Michael Hayden said Tuesday he was "uncomfortable" with Iran's growing influence in Iraq, made especially evident by an offensive in Tikrit, reports the AFP news agency.
The city, which is the home town of former president Saddam Hussein, is the target of as assault led by Iraqi troops and Shiite militias backed by Tehran.
"I am made uncomfortable by the growing Iranian influence in Iraq. I am made uncomfortable by the fact that it looked like a Shia advance against a Sunni town," said Hayden, who headed the Central Intelligence Agency between 2006 and 2009.
"And the proof would be what happens if and when they retake Tikrit... How the militias act toward the local population," he added, during a roundtable on international intelligence sharing at the New America Foundation.
Hayden said the United States should not be sharing intelligence with the Iranians on Iraq, despite their shared desire to wipe out the Islamic State (ISIS) group.

IDF to Shorten Warning Times for Incoming Rockets

Guidelines during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza gave a 15-second window to Gaza Belt residents to run to shelters in the event of a "Code Red" alarm - a short time to find safety.
But even 15 seconds is insufficient, a senior Home Front Command official revealed Wednesday - and during the next war, Gaza Belt residents may be instructed to live out of their shelters for the duration of the conflict.
A new directive is being discussed by the IDF's Gaza Division and the Command which, if passed, would update the radius for Gaza rockets, the official told Walla! News.
According to the new directive, Israelis living within 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) of the Hamas stronghold will be expected to live in or immediately next to protected areas - dramatically reversing a trend so far of warning times lengthening, not shortening, for Israelis in times of war.

IDF officer in Golan Heights lightly wounded by gunfire from Syria

An IDF officer was lightly wounded by a gunshot fired from Syria on Tuesday evening. The officer was treated at the scene in the northern Golan Heights and did not need to be evacuated from the scene.
The gunshot came from an area near Quinetra under the control of government troops.
The IDF did not give any special instructions to local residents of the area following the incident.
A military source said that the officer was part of the IDF Engineering Corps that was at the site to evacuate a bulldozer that was stuck. The officer was injured by shrapnel from a bullet that hit the bulldozer.

Passenger wounded in east Jerusalem bus attack; firebomb strikes Jewish home

A Tuesday rock attack on an Egged bus outside the Old City wounded a female passenger and a Jewish home was struck by a firebomb in northeastern Jerusalem the previous night, as sporadic violence continues to blight the capital.
Shortly after 12 p.m. on Tuesday, an Egged bus was struck by rocks near the Old City’s Dung Gate, shattering one of its windows and lightly wounding a female passenger, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
The bus pulled over at a safe location, where the woman was treated by Magen David Adom paramedics and subsequently transferred to an area hospital, Rosenfeld said.
Following a police search of the area, a 15-year-old Arab suspect was questioned and placed under arrest, he said.

'Israeli construction in West Bank settlements dropped by 52% in 2014'

Housing starts in settlements in 2014 dropped 52 percent compared to the previous year, according to Central Bureau of Statistics figures released Tuesday as the Likud and Bayit Yehudi parties vied for right-wing votes by showcasing their strong support for Judea and Samaria.
But when it comes to actual building within West Bank settlements, Netanyahu’s track record as prime minister in the past six years has been worse than that of the previous six years, when the country was led by Ariel Sharon and then by Ehud Olmert.
According to CBS data, housing starts in West Bank settlements were down by 19% when comparing the two periods, from 11,366 units between 2003 and 2008, to 9,216 between 2009 and 2014, during Netanyahu’s premiership. This data does not include construction in Jerusalem beyond the pre-1967 lines.
Netanyahu’s return to office in 2009, after having lost the premiership to Ehud Barak in 1998, started off strong in West Bank construction, with 1,963 housing starts. But the figure immediately plunged into its worst year in decades when the prime minister issued a 10-month moratorium on housing starts from November 2009 through September 2010.
The number of starts remained low until 2013, during the US-led peace process, when ground was broken for 2,829 homes. However, CBS data released Tuesday showed that in 2014, as the peace process fell apart, the number of starts plunged to 1,344, dropping by 52% over the previous year, compared to the countrywide dip of 7.9%.

Watch: Illegal EU Structure Demolished in Jerusalem

Early Tuesday morning, Israeli police demolished an illegally built structure a few hundred meters away from the Hebrew University campus on Mount Scopus which bore a European Union (EU) flag, according to rights group Regavim.
The structure was situated on state land which is zoned as a national park, it is one of five hundred built by the European Union on state land in and around Jerusalem,without any coordination with the Israeli authorities.
A recent report by Regavim highlighted this new EU policy of unilaterally building on behalf of the Palestinians in Jerusalem and Area C of Judea and Samaria (Shomron) to the detriment of Israel.
The Regavim report has subsequently been presented to the European Parliament by a number of concerned MEPs and awaits a hearing in the Foreign Policy Committee.
"After years of researching this new phenomena of illegal European settlements in and around Jerusalem, we praise the Jerusalem municipality for beginning to enforce the rule of law," Ari Briggs, international director of Regavim and one of the authors of the report, stated Tuesday. "We see this action as a direct consequence of the recent Regavim exposé on the subject and call on the government of Israel to find an immediate solution for the other 499 structures that we have identified as illegal EU settlements."

Watch: Arab Purim 'Pogrom' on Ancient Jerusalem Cemetery

While Arab assailants have long been desecrating the Mount of Olives Jewish cemetery in Jerusalem, said to be the oldest still-in-use cemetery in the world, shocking video footage reveals that for the Jewish holiday of Purim last Friday (in Jerusalem) they went farther than usual in trashing Jewish graves.
Jerusalem Councilman Arieh King on Tuesday posted video documenting the damage, which was filmed by Joshua Wander, a dual Israeli and American citizen who has run as a republican candidate for mayor of Pittsburgh.
The video reveals smashed headstones, some with the Hebrew writing clearly visible

‘My son was no spy,’ says father of Israeli slain by IS

The father of an Israeli national who was executed by the Islamic State hit back at claims that his son was a Mossad agent, instead claiming that he was killed for attempting to leave the terror group.
Said Musallam also vowed revenge on Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the afterlife, and said no Israeli authorities had contacted him over the video showing his son’s slaying
Musallam told AP he wished the same fate upon the family of Islamic State group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
“I will leave it to God and what happened to my son Muhammed I hope God will do the same for you, your sons and your family,” Musallam said in Arabic, addressing al-Baghdadi. “God knows that one day we’ll meet, whether in paradise or in hell, and we’ll settle the accounts.”

Liberman shrugs off Palestinian ICC threat over ax remark

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman on Tuesday brushed off Palestinian threats to haul him before an international court for proposing to behead Arab citizens disloyal to the state.
“I saw the Palestinian Authority will go to the International Criminal Court in the Hague over my remarks that we must act forcefully against our enemies and those who act against the State of Israel,” he wrote on Facebook.
The ICC is based in The Hague in the Netherlands.
“They will get an answer to that from me as defense minister,” he said, reflecting his aspirations for the powerful post after the March 17 general election.

PA Folds to Pressure, Calls for Electric Bill Payments

The brief power cut-off by the Israeli Electric Corporation (IEC) late last month apparently got the message through to the Palestinian Authority (PA), which has ignored its massive electric debt for years, as the PA government called for steps on the enormous sum it owes.
The PA government in Ramallah met on Tuesday, and "called on all residents to heed their electricity account payments to the conduction companies and the regional authorities, so that it will be possible to pay the debts to the Israeli company."
In making the public call, the PA noted it was taking the step "after the company (IEC - ed.) twice cut of the electricity two weeks ago to regions in Nablus (Shechem - ed.) and Jenin and threatened to cut it off again and expand to additional regions."
The PA owes over 1.8 billion shekels ($450 million) in electric debts, leading the IEC to cut electricity in the Jenin and Shechem regions on February 23 for 45 minutes, and on February 25 again for a brief period. A temporary settlement was reached between the IEC and the PA the following day.

Palestinians cancel natural gas deal with Israel

The Palestinians have withdrawn from a deal to buy natural gas from an Israeli offshore site amid concerns over development delays, the field’s operating companies reported on Wednesday.
Owners of the Leviathan field said that the Palestine Power Generation Company had canceled a $1.2 billion agreement, signed in 2014, to buy 4.75 billion cubic meters of gas over 20 years.
A key issue for the Palestinians was the failure of Leviathan’s owners to obtain approvals from the Israel Antitrust Authority for production, as well as other development holdups.

Hamas drones said to enter Egyptian airspace

Hamas drones reportedly flew out of the Gaza Strip and into Egyptian airspace above the Sinai Peninsula several times last week as the Egyptian army stood by helpless to prevent the incursions.
Egyptian radar picked up three drones flying out of the southern Gaza Strip on numerous occasions, the Egyptian Al Osboa newspaper reported. The unmanned aerial vehicles penetrated as far as El Arish and Sheikh Zuweid, some 50 kilometers from the Egypt-Gaza border.
Border forces opened fire on the drones but couldn’t hit them because they were flying at an altitude of 750 meters (2,250 feet), the report said. Under the terms of the 1979 peace deal with Israel, Egypt is not allowed to station any anti-aircraft weapons in the Sinai region, so its forces have been unable to prevent the Hamas activities.

Rabbinate Warns Gentile Blood For Matza Scarcer This Year (satire)

The source of the shortage remains a subject of hot dispute in the industry and government institutions involved. The Rabbinate itself attributes the situation to overzealous abduction and murder of Palestinian children by the IDF, which discovered a new method this winter of using liquefied and powdered Palestinian children’s bodies to efficiently melt snow and keep roads to West Bank settlements open. That practice, said the Rabbis, depleted stocks of Palestinian children from the villages and refugee camps in the Occupied Territories, and made matza manufacturers unable to abduct a sufficient number to meet consumer needs.
The army, however, denies the snow removal project has had any such effect on the limited availability of Palestinian children, instead noting that hundreds, if not thousands, of Palestinians were washed into the Mediterranean Sea when the dams surrounding the Gaza Strip were opened following recent torrential rains. The exact number of children who disappeared as a result is not known, but conservative estimates by the United Nations puts the figure at somewhere between four and five thousand, based on attendance records at UNRWA-run schools in the Gaza Strip. More generous assessments have the number at closer to 14,000, but the Hamas-run Ministry of Health balks at such inflated numbers and accuses those who promote them of purveying naked propaganda.

'America Softer on Islamist Terrorism than Egypt'

The recent U.S.-hosted Conference on Countering Violent Extremism that brought together the representatives of 60 nations in Washington "did not give birth to a global strategy on terror," states an article in the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram. It "served instead to underline differences between various points of view, especially those of Cairo and Washington."
As explained by political science professor Gamal Abdel-Gawad of the American University in Cairo, the disagreements between Egypt and the U.S. are stark. The Americans "still see political Islam as a present and legitimate player, not a synonym for extremism,” according to Abdel-Gawad.
Furthermore, the U.S. differentiates "between extremist Islamists and moderate Islamists, and believe that the moderates can be effectively integrated in politics as part of an acceptable political system… U.S. officials believe that the integration of political Islamic currents, including those suspected of extremism, in political life would be beneficial.”
Egypt, whose government has labeled the Muslim Brotherhood a terror group, and which faces terrorist threats in Sinai, neighboring Libya, and elsewhere, does not agree.

Qatar Elite Slandered on Egypt TV Channel: Homosexual, Lesbian, Whores, CIA and Mossad Agents

During a February 23, 2015 TV show on the Egyptian Sada Al-Balad TV channel, Egyptian journalist Nabil Sharaf Al-Din told the viewers that former Qatari prime minister Hamad bin Jassim was a homosexual and a CIA and Mossad agent, and that his daughter Salwa was a lesbian and a prostitute.

Egyptian TV Host Ahmed Moussa: The U.S., Turkey, and Qatar Constitute the Axis of Evil

In a February 16, 2015 address on the Egyptian Sada Al-Balad TV channel, TV host Ahmed Moussa said that the U.S., Turkey, and Qatar constituted the axis of evil, because they were countries that supported terrorism.

FIFA president calls on Iran to allow women into soccer stadiums

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has asked Iran to end its ban on women watching football matches, describing the situation as intolerable.
"When I traveled to Iran in November 2013, I was not only confronted with huge popular enthusiasm from football but also a law forbidding women from attending football matches," he wrote in FIFA's weekly magazine.
"I raised the topic at my meeting with the President of Iran Hassan Rouhani, and came away with the impression that this intolerable situation could change over the medium term.
"However, nothing has happened. A collective "stadium ban" still applies to women in Iran, despite the existence of a thriving women's football organization.
"This cannot continue. Hence, my appeal to the Iranian authorities; open the nation's football stadiums to women."

Gang-raped Saudi woman sentenced to 200 lashes, 6-months in jail

A 28 year old Saudi woman has been sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in jail for indecency and speaking out to media about her subjection to a gang rape in 2006, Iranian PressTV reported Saturday.
The woman was, back in 2006, driven to a secluded area after entering the car of a student friend when she was 19 years old. There, she was raped by seven men, according to the report.
According to Saudi legislation, women must at all times be accompanied by a male family member in public. The victim was initially sentenced in court to 90 lashes for not adhering to this law; Her rapists were sentenced to five years in prison.
The sentence was appealed by the victim's lawyer. Yet instead of mitigating her sentence, the courts worsened it whilst banning her lawyer from the case and stripping him of his license under the claims that the woman committed the offense of speaking to media in addition to the indecency she was originally sentenced for, PressTV reported.

Saudi Historian Al-Saadoon: Women Share Responsibility If Raped by Foreign Taxi Drivers

In a follow up to a previous show, in which he said that for Western women, getting raped is not a cultural problem, Saudi historian Saleh Al-Saadoon claimed that his comments were falsely translated. Later on in the show he said that women who ride taxis driven by foreign drivers share the responsibility if they get raped.

Saudi Arabia becomes world’s biggest defense importer

Saudi Arabia has passed India to become the world’s biggest arms importer last year as concerns about Iran’s ambitions increase tensions in the Middle East. Meanwhile, Israel has dropped to the seventh slot among the top 10 arms exporters in the world, down from the sixth slot in 2014.
Saudi spending rose 54 percent to $6.5 billion last year, while India imported $5.8 billion, according to data released Sunday by IHS, a leading analyst of the global arms trade. Imports will increase 52 percent to $9.8 billion this year, accounting for $1 of every $7 spent globally, IHS estimated, based on planned deliveries.
“This is definitely unprecedented,” said Ben Moores, the report’s author. “You’re seeing political fractures across the region, and at the same time you’ve got oil, which allows countries to arm themselves, protect themselves and impose their will as to how they think the region should develop.”

Swedish minister invited to make speech to Arab League says she was BANNED by Saudi Arabia after criticising their human rights record

A Swedish minister has accused Saudi Arabia of banning her from giving a speech at a meeting of the Arab League after she previously criticised the kingdom's human rights record.
Sweden's foreign minister Margot Wallstroem has claimed that her criticism of Saudi Arabia over its treatment of blogger Raif Badawi resulted in her speech being cancelled at the meeting in Cairo.
Ms Wallstroem had been invited as an honorary guest to the Arab ministers' meeting in praise of her government's decision to recognise Palestine as a state.
However, an Arabic diplomat confirmed that Riyadh had stopped her from making her opening speech.
Ms Wallstroem said: 'The explanation we have been given is that Sweden has highlighted the situation for democracy and human rights and that is why they do not want me to speak. (h/t J_April)

Sweden cancels arms deal with Saudi Arabia over human rights

Sweden said on Tuesday it will cancel a defense agreement with Saudi Arabia worth billions of crowns to its industry after criticism of Riyadh's human rights record sparked a diplomatic row.
Sweden's Social Democrat-led government, which came to power in October last year, has focused its foreign policy on human rights. But its more vocal stance has put it at odds with industry - Sweden is the world's 12th biggest arms exporter - and the coalition government itself has been divided on whether to renew the Saudi Arabia deal.
"The decision on the Saudi agreement had been made some time ago," the newspaper Dagens Nyheter quoted Prime Minister Stefan Lofven as saying in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. "What has happened in recent days hasn't been decisive."
On Monday, Saudi Arabia blocked Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom from giving a speech to the League of Arab States in Cairo. A spokesman for Wallstrom said the decision stemmed from Sweden's criticism of Saudi Arabia's human rights record.