Friday, May 01, 2015
Caroline Glick: The Marshall Islands’ cautionary tale
Obama claims that he wishes to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. But as we see from his willingness to allow Iran to become a nuclear threshold state while running wild in the Straits of Hormuz, committing mass slaughter in Syria, building an empire that includes Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, and threatening its Arab neighbors and Israel, the purpose of the administration’s negotiations with Iran is not to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power.Sarah Honig: Thanks, but ‘no,’ Joe!
The purpose of the negotiations is to build an American-Iranian alliance on Iran’s terms.
So, too, Obama says his goal is to advance the cause of peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
But his pressure and hostility toward Israel does nothing to achieve this goal. The goal of a policy of acting with hostility toward Israel is not to promote peace. It is to distance the US from Israel and align America’s Israel policy with Europe’s preternaturally hostile treatment of the Jewish state.
Three days after a ship sailing under their flag was seized by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, citizens of the Marshall Islands discovered that their decision to place their security in America’s hands is no longer the safe bet they thought it was 29 years ago.
Anyone who entertains the belief that Israel will gain diplomatic acceptance or even a respite from American pressure if it makes concessions to the Palestinians is similarly making a high risk gamble.
So it’s thanks but ‘no,’ Joe.IDF hospital in Nepal treats over 200, search resumes for Or Asraf
We Israelis are capable as no other to take care of ourselves. However, we’re often wary of using the force at our disposal. We’re deterred by our role as the universal killjoy who provokes international displeasure. When the world courted Saddam, we destroyed his nuclear reactor and were roundly condemned for our good deed. Invariably the world seeks to restrain us and rescue the villains – like Tehran’s ayatollahs at the present time.
Superpowers who want to preempt a nuclear Iran or to resolve the Palestinian conflict, need only abstain from appeasing genocidal enemies who bay for our blood – not send troops.
Biden himself could benefit from recalling Begin’s unfazed response to his senatorial temper tantrum of 33 years ago:
“Don’t threaten us with cutting off your aid. It will not work. I am not a Jew with trembling knees. I am a proud Jew with 3,700 years of civilized history. Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our country. We paid for it. We fought for it. We died for it. We will stand by our principles. We will defend them. And, when necessary, we will die for them again, with or without your aid.”
The Israeli field hospital in Nepal has treated over 200 patients since opening its doors Wednesday morning, with medical staff performing several complicated surgeries on wounded victims of Saturday’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake and doctors delivering three babies so far.
According to a statement released by the Foreign Ministry, 246 people were received at the IDF field hospital where doctors performed some 15 life-saving surgeries. Israeli medical staff were also assisting in local Nepalese hospitals, primarily in surgical departments, the ministry said.
Over 250 doctors and rescue personnel were part of an IDF delegation that arrived Tuesday in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, in the wake of Saturday’s earthquake that devastated large swaths of the mountainous country.
The Israeli group — the second largest in manpower of any international aid team after India — set up the field hospital with 60 beds, including an obstetrics department, and was operating in coordination with the local army hospital.
In Israel on Friday, 150 Nepalese agriculture students at Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee held a ceremony to commemorate their countrymen and women who died in the earthquake, Israel Radio reported. The ceremony was attended by the Nepalese ambassador to Israel and college staff. Several of the students have not yet been able to make contact with their families in Nepal since the natural disaster hit, according to the report.
Father and IDF unit ramp up Nepal search for last missing Israeli
Rescuers and the father of the last Israeli unaccounted for in Nepal stepped up their search for Or Asraf Thursday morning, five days after the trekker and IDF veteran went missing in the wake of a devastating earthquake.IDF Humanitarian Mission Treats Patients in Nepal
Though there have been reports by Israelis in Nepal who saw Asraf approximately an hour after the initial 7.8-magnitude quake in the Langtang region, the Operation Protective Edge veteran has not been heard from since.
Asraf’s father Patrick and members of his son’s unit — the Golani Brigade’s elite Egoz unit — traveled to Nepal Wednesday night to assist in the search, as Nepali officials raised the death toll from the earthquake to nearly 5,500.
Hilik Magnus, the head of Magnus International Search and Rescue, said that one of his team leaders in Nepal, Amit Rubin, is heading a rescue operation to find Asraf.
The team believes, based on Asraf’s itinerary and the time of the earthquake, that he is within a four-kilometer range of Bamboo, a village in the Langtang Valley at approximately 2,000 meters elevation.
As of today, April 30, 2015, the IDF field hospital in Nepal has treated more than 200 patients. We will continue to do everything in our power to save as many lives as possible.
Nepalese Boy in Recovery at IDF field hospital
The story behind the 15-year-old Nepalese boy who's in recovery after miraculously surviving for 5 days in the rubble.
Israel Pledges to Rebuild Entire Nepalese Village, Chabad Feeds 2,000 in a Day
Israel has pledged to fully rebuild an entire village in Nepal as part of its long-term relief efforts following the devastating earthquake in that country, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced Thursday.Chabad Emissaries Doing ‘Extraordinary’ Work in Nepal Rescue Efforts
“After consulting with various departments in the Foreign Ministry, we decided to adopt a village in Nepal, to assist with its reconstruction and to do our utmost to help people who have really found themselves in a difficult situation,” Lieberman said in a briefing at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, The Times of Israel reported.
The foreign ministry said it will work with the Nepalese government to select a village and to assist in clearing the area as well as rebuilding the infrastructure and houses there.
“We, the professional staff, will start to work after the dust has settled and it’ll be possible to talk with Nepali authorities about the location of the village and the matter of the reconstruction,” said the foreign ministry’s director-general, Nissim Ben-Sheetrit.
Israeli rescue units are continuing to search for Or Asraf, the last Israeli citizen who is unaccounted for in Nepal. Rescuers believe that Asraf was hiking at the time of the earthquake. Dozens of Israelis have been rescued from remote regions of Nepal over the last few days.
Meanwhile, Chabad-Lubavitch of Nepal said it prepared 2,000 meals for Nepalis in need on Wednesday alone. Additionally, the Chabad emissary in the region, Rabbi Chezky Lifshitz, led a helicopter mission to rescue stranded Israelis.
Having sent their children to the safety of Israel, Chani and Chezki Lifshitz, the Chabad emissaries based in Kathmandu, have stayed behind to continue spearheading recovery efforts in light of the massive earthquake that hit Nepal on April 25.Nepalese Man Thanks Israel in Hebrew for Saving his Mom
Rabbi Chezki Lifshitz traveled by helicopter on Wednesday, helping to rescue 25 stranded Israelis who were stuck without food, water, or electricity in remote villages of Nepal. The Chabad House of Thamel Kathmandu is also bringing food to Nepalese refugee camps.
The Chabad House has been working to track down stranded Israelis, keeping the Chabad House Thamel Kathmandu Facebook page updated with reports for worried families. They are also making sure that hot meals are available for those Israeli trekkers returning.
One Nepalese man, who first went to work in Israel ten years ago and returned just around a year ago, gave his heartfelt thanks for the efforts of the Jewish state, speaking in Hebrew in a clip released by the IDF Spokesperson Unit on Thursday.Nepalese Man Thanks Israel in Hebrew
"Israel is a country like my father, it takes care of me and loves me, the people are all good," he said in fluent Hebrew.
Recalling the massive earthquake last Saturday, he said, "I thought we're all dead." His mother broke her leg in the disaster, and he was unable to take her to the local hospitals because there was simply no room given the large numbers of wounded.
After hearing an Israeli team was being sent to help, he said, "I felt 'Israel is helping us, we'll be okay then,' that's how I feel."
"I came here today very happy, and my mother's leg is okay," the man added. "I can say to all of the IDF, all of the people here who came to help, thank you very much."
In the video he can then be seen speaking to an Israeli doctor about his mother's leg, before telling another doctor as he bandages her leg how he worked in Tel Aviv and later in Netanya, noting it was "excellent" in Israel.
The message, in Hebrew, can be seen below.
Netanyahu Thanks India’s Modi for Help With Nepal Earthquake Relief Efforts
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Thursday for India’s efforts to aid those affected by the recent deadly earthquake in Nepal.Most Americans think Obama should back Israel, but minority says he does
According to a statement from Netanyahu’s office, the Israeli leader specifically thanked Modi for providing helicopters to help rescue Israelis, and for allowing Israeli relief planes to safely land in India. Netanyahu also sent his condolences to the Indian victims of the earthquake and their families.
Netanyahu also said heightened efforts were under way to find Israeli hiker Or Asraf, who has been out of contact since the earthquake, and thanked Modi for aiding in the search.
The two prime ministers also spoke about expanding and strengthening ties between India and Israel, continuing initiatives launched in their September, 2014 meeting in New York.
Modi later thanked Netanyahu for his call. “My gratitude to PM Netanyahu for his kind words on India’s relief and rescue efforts in Nepal including help extended to Israeli nationals,” he wrote on Twitter.
The overwhelming majority of Americans believes the US president should be a “strong supporter” of Israel, but only 38 percent believe President Barack Obama to be one, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this week.ICC Weighing Prosecuting PA for War Crimes
According to the poll, 67% of the public feel the president should be strongly supportive of Israel, while 20% said he should not be. Forty-eight percent of the respondents said Obama is not a strong supporter – a number that has increased from 42% in April 2010.
The telephone poll, which asked 1,353 eligible voters questions about a wide range of issues – from Iran to Congress to same-sex marriages – was conducted from April 16 to April 21. It has a +/- 2.7% margin of error.
Seventy-seven percent of respondents aged 55 and above said that the president should support Israel, while only 57% of those between 18 and 34 were of that mind.
The answer to that question also varies greatly among the parties, with 87% of the Republicans believing this should be the position of the US president, and only 56% of the Democrats holding that opinion.
The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has said she is weighing opening war crimes investigations into Palestinians as well as Israelis after the Palestinian Authority (PA) joined the tribunal's jurisdiction last month, according to AFP.Washington seeks ‘genuine’ Israeli commitment to 2 states
Fatou Bensouda rejected Israeli fears of bias by the court, promising to consider the evidence "independently and impartially without fear or favor," in an interview published by Haaretz on Friday.
"We will of course look into the alleged crimes committed by all sides to the conflict. I have made this clear to both Israeli and Palestinian officials," she claimed.
Bensouda said that so far her deliberations were still at a preliminary stage and no investigation had been opened into anyone from either side.
"At this stage we are not investigating, as a decision on whether to open an investigation in the situation of Palestine has not been made," she said.
The Obama administration expects a commitment to the two-state solution from the next Israeli government and from the Palestinian Authority, National Security Adviser Susan Rice said.Israel faults Arab neighbors for stalling on nuke-free zone
“President Obama has made clear that we need to take a hard look at our approach to the conflict, and that resolving it is in the national security interest of the United States,” Rice said Wednesday at the annual meeting of the Arab American Institute.
“We look to the next Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority to demonstrate — through policies and actions — a genuine commitment to a two-state solution,” she said.
Obama administration officials have said they will “reevaluate” their approach to advancing peace in the wake of comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the eve of his reelection last month in which he appeared to count out a two-state solution.
Israel’s statement said it has been willing to meet with its neighbors toward setting an agenda for talks on a Middle East nuclear-free zone, but that after five rounds of consultations with some of its Arab neighbors in Switzerland between October 2013 and June 2014, the other states discontinued the talks.Netanyahu: Don’t Repeat Nuclear Mistakes of North Korea
The statement notes that the consultations were “the first direct engagement between Israel and its neighbors on this issue in over 20 years.”
Israel “responded positively” to invitations by a Finnish facilitator in October and January of this year for a sixth round of consultations, but they were postponed several times and didn’t take place, the statement said.
“This strident opposition to conduct a direct dialogue with Israel … underlines and reinforces the mistrust and suspicion between the states in the region,” it says. “Ultimately, it is difficult to understand how any disarmament, arms control and regional security issues can be addressed without any direct dialogue between the regional states, as the Group of Arab States suggests.”
Israel’s statement doesn’t explain what specific issues got in the way of continuing the talks, but it calls for dialogue “without external auspices that do not emanate from the region.”
It appears that world powers are closer than ever to a nuclear deal with Iran, which U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry described to the UN on Monday as a “good, comprehensive deal.” Kerry said that the deal “will make the entire world safer.”Matt Lee Hits State Dept on Iran: If You Only Cheat on Some Hands, The Casino Still Kicks You Out
On Wednesday, while hosting South Korean Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Hwang Woo-yea, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he was concerned about the deal, and cited North Korea’s nuclear history.
“We have a great deal to learn from each other and be inspired by each other,” Netanyahu said in regard to South Korean-Israeli relations. “But we also heed the example of the negotiations with North Korea, the nuclear negotiations,” said the Israeli prime minister.
“It was said that the inspections would prevent proliferation. It was said then that they would moderate North Korea’s aggressive behavior,” said Netanyahu. He also noted that there were expectations that North Korea would eventually integrate into the family of nations following negotiations.
Biden: Critics of Iran nuclear deal ‘don’t get it’
Vice President Joe Biden tacitly criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday night for his opposition to the emerging Iranian nuclear deal, saying that those who say that the deal will “pave Iran’s path to a bomb… don’t get it.”Biden on War with Iran: If Required, It Will Happen
At the same time, the vice president defended Israel’s right to be worried about its security, stressing that “the notion that Israel is too concerned is preposterous.”
Biden spoke at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s annual gala dinner, devoting his entire address to the administration’s negotiations toward an agreement between Iran and the P5+1 member states ahead of a June 30 deadline. The sides reached a framework agreement in late March, but no text was signed or finalized, and there are major discrepancies over what was agreed, including over the process of sanctions relief.
US Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday the United States is willing to go to war to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, as he defended the deal being hammered out with Iran over its nuclear weapons program.The Appalling Mr. Zarif
"As we pursue this deal, we’re also deepening our cooperation with Israel and our other regional partners," he said as he addressed the 30th anniversary dinner of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“There’s nothing simple, minimal or predictable about a war with Iran,” he added, but “if required, it will happen. It is a risk that we may yet have to take should Iran rush to a bomb.”
Biden’s warning may be the most direct public threat made by any US administration of war against Iran in case it pursues a nuclear weapon.
I don’t find the Iranian foreign minister a “diplomatic charmer” at all. His demeanor at NYU was arrogant, insulting, bullying, unrepentant. David Ignatius of the Washington Post sat there like a semi-conscious mummy as Zarif ordered Congress around, declared that all sanctions will be lifted immediately upon the conclusion of any deal, warned that “people” should be “worrying about the U.S. violating its obligations and us snapping back,” refused to accept culpability for spreading disorder in the Middle East, wouldn’t say if U.N. inspectors will have access to Iranian military sites, said Iran has no intention of speaking to the Jewish State, accused the Washington Post (Ignatius’ paper) of running a “publicity campaign” on behalf of one of its reporters held prisoner in Iran, and took every opportunity to fling sarcasm and insult and enmity toward Netanyahu, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, and America in general. No wonder John Kerry’s a fan.NYU Students Celebrate 1,000 Hangings in Iran
What made Zarif’s appearance all the more nauseating was his pretense of moral standing. He has none. His lecture to the United States took place as his regime held a container ship it had seized in international waters, and as evidence emerged of Iranian violations of U.N. sanctions. It is the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and its proxies such as Hezbollah and the Houthis and other Shiite militias that are fomenting and exploiting sectarian conflict in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq. Iran’s human rights record is abysmal. Since Zarif returned to government in the administration of Hassan Rouhani, there has been a “surge” in executions in Iran. “The authorities restricted freedoms of expression, association, and assembly, arresting, detaining, and prosecuting in unfair trials minority and women’s rights activists, journalists, human rights defenders, and others who voiced dissent” say the right-wing extremists at Amnesty International, whose most recent report catalogues the torture and cruel and unusual punishments of the Iranian regime.
In addition to David Ignatius’ colleague Jason Rezaian, the Iranian authorities hold captive American citizens Saeed Abedini, a pastor, and Amir Hekmati, a Marine. General David Petraeus says Iranian-backed militias are “the foremost threat to Iraq’s long-term stability.” Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska explains how Iran supplies Explosively Formed Projectiles (EFPs) to these militias, which have mutilated and killed U.S. soldiers. Last year Zarif’s true boss, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, posted on Twitter his 9-point plan to eliminate Israel.
The scene outside New York University (NYU) on Wednesday morning was of a celebratory and sarcastic nature. A “massive party” is taking place to bring awareness to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s recent milestone of 1,000 hangings in the just the past 18 months.Boycott Movement Against Iranian Goods Gaining Traction in Arab World
Your party host, David Keyes, Executive Director of Advancing Human Rights (AHR), a nonprofit human rights advocacy group, has set up the carnival atmosphere this morning to coincide with Iranian Foreign Minister M. Javad Zarif’s speech this morning at NYU.
“We’ll be symbolically renaming the cross-streets where the foreign minister will speak, ‘Majid Tavakoli Plaza’ in honor of the jailed Iranian student leader and ‘Jason Rezaian Plaza’ in honor of the jailed Washington Post writer,” Keyes explained in an email.
Adding to the mocking nature of the protest, AHR has festooned the area with balloons and Iranian flags. An ice cream truck, live music, and signs that read “Free political prisoners! Free ice cream!” and “Hang in there!” are part of the dark humor.
“If anyone deserves to be humiliated and punked, it is a regime that hangs gays, murders poets and tortures bloggers,” said Keyes. “Satire is a profoundly powerful tool against dictators as we saw with North Korea’s hysterical response to The Interview. Tyrants silence and jail satirists because they fear them.”
The confrontation between some Arab states and Iran has now inspired a popular boycott against Iranian goods by Arab activists, Al Jazeera reported on Thursday.US Navy to Accompany US-Flagged Ships Through Straits of Hormuz
Political tensions have been at an all-time high recently over Iran’s perceived hegemonic desires in the region, which include its support for Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen.
But now, according to the report, private Arab citizens have entered the fray and are planning to combat Iran economically by calling on fellow Arabs to “boycott Iranian goods.”
These activists have been promoting their boycott through the internet and on social media, particularly on Twitter with the hashtag, translated from Arabic, “#Campaign_to_Boycott_Iranian_Products.”
So far, the message has been retweeted 19,000 times in Qatar alone, which boasted the highest number of retweets among its citizens, according to Al Jazeera. Online users listed various Iranian products to be boycotted and publicized the symbol indicating a product of Iranian origin.
The U.S. Navy will start accompanying U.S.-flagged vessels through the Straits of Hormuz over concerns that Iran could try to seize the ships, a U.S. defense official said on Thursday.Iran to release seized Danish ship after ‘debt settled’
The announcement came two days after a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel was seized by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
While the U.S. maintains a naval presence in the area, with a massive military base in the Persian Gulf island nation of Bahrain, the new plan would have U.S. flagged vessels always within eyeshot.
A defense official told Reuters that the plan to accompany ships through the narrow straits between Oman on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula and Iran would last for a limited time.
Iran will release a cargo vessel chartered by Danish shipping group A.P. Moeller-Maersk as soon as the company settles a debt stemming from a long-running business dispute, the Iranian embassy in Denmark said Thursday.Iran Steps Up Covert Action in Latin America
“Iranian authorities reiterate that there has been absolutely no political or security intentions or considerations behind the incident,” the statement said.
“The seizure of the ship was solely an enforcement of a judicial court ruling resulting from a commercial dispute between two private parties,” it added.
Maersk said it was told by the Iranian Ports and Maritime Organization at a meeting Wednesday that an Iranian court had ordered it to pay $3.6 million (3.2 million euros) in compensation in the case.
The Iranian government is significantly boosting its presence and resources in Latin America, posing a national security threat to the region, according to a group of U.S. and Latin American officials who met earlier this week in Florida to discuss Iran’s covert actions.Special Event to Mark Hamas Kidnap-Murder of 3 Israeli Teens on June 3
While Iran has long had a foothold in the Western hemisphere, these officials warned that the Islamic Republic has invested significant resources into its Latin American operations in a bid to increase its sway in the region.
Iran’s growing influence in the region—and its effort to exert influence over governments there—has fostered pressing security concerns as the Iranians inch closer to the United States’ southern border, according to these U.S. officials and Latin American leaders, who met for several days this week at a summit organized by the Israel Allies Foundation (IAF).
“It is troubling in some of the briefings we get, particularly on the classified side, to see Iranian influence in Latin America,” Rep. Ron DeSantis (R., Fla.), a member of the House Committee of Foreign Affairs, told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview. “A lot of these [Latin American officials] share the concern.”
“It’s a security risk for all of us,” DeSantis said.
In slightly over a month, at least one million Jews will mark a horrifying event that became the straw that broke the camel’s back in Israel, igniting another war on terror in Gaza.Police Ban Yehuda Glick on Temple Mount because He Is ‘Dangerous’
June 3 corresponds with the date on the Hebrew calendar that marks the abduction of Eyal Yifrach, 19, Naftali Frenkel, 16, and Gilad Sha’ar, 16.
The event is being organized by the families of the three boys, together with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and the Gesher organization.
The three families also recently celebrated the launching of the Jerusalem Unity Prize, to be awarded for the first time on June 3 as well.
Together with the Jerusalem municipality, Gesher and Israel President Reuven Rivlin, the three families celebrated the launch of the Jerusalem Unity Prize several months ago. It is intended to commemorate and further the Jewish unity that was seen when the entire nation of Israel came together to pray and help search for the missing boys.
Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick, who was critically wounded in an assassination attempt last year, applied to the Jerusalem Court this week to overturn a police order barring him from the Temple Mount because he is ” a dangerous man.”Israeli Arab soccer team honoring fugitive MK alleged to have spied for Hezbollah
Glick said he would be willing to ascend the holy site in a wheelchair and with his hands tied.
He has confounded police for years because of his mild and non-violent manner during his visits and attempted visits to the Temple Mount, where Arabs always are on hand to throw rocks at him and force him and his police escort off the holy site.
A Jerusalem Arab shot Glick at close range last October at the Begin Center, and not at the Temple Mount or even in the Old City, a fact that gave Glick’s lawyer an opportunity to unmask the police department’s argument that he is “dangerous”.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said that soccer club Ahi Nazareth should be disqualified from playing in Wednesday evening's State Cup semifinal match against Maccabi Tel Aviv amid the team's plans to hold a ceremony honoring fugitive former Balad MK Azmi Bishara.Arab Joint List Chairman Meets with Arch-Terrorist Barghouti
The ceremony shows that Ahi Nazareth "is not worthy of representing the state of Israel in any tournament," Liberman said.
Bishara founded Balad and was an MK in the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th Knessets.
He fled Israel in 2007 while under investigation for passing information to Hezbollah during the previous year’s Second Lebanon War. He currently resides in Doha, where he is the director of a think tank and is reportedly close to Qatar’s royal family, a major sponsor of Hamas.
"There is no place in the State Cup for a team that identifies with a traitor who fled the country, and thanks him and thanks a country [Qatar] that funds terror against Israel," Liberman said. (h/t Bob Knot)
Chairman of the Arab Joint List MK Ayman Odeh visited Palestinian Arab arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti on Thursday, ostensibly to discuss politics.Three Flotillas Scheduled for Gaza This Summer
Barghouti is currently serving five life sentences in Israeli prison for his role in planning suicide terror attacks, and is widely believed to have masterminded the second intifada which claimed thousands of Israeli lives from 2000 to 2005. He has continued inciting terrorism from his jail cell.
"I met with Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, who is sitting for 12 consecutive years in jail, and before that was imprisoned for ten years," Odeh wrote on Facebook.
"The meeting was exciting: we exchanged impressions and experiences, and the conversation with the leader included talk about political positions."
Odeh compared Barghouti to South African peace leader Nelson Mandela, who led the state to dismantle the regime of racial segregation - perpetuating the common misconception that Israel practices "apartheid."
Anti-Israel groups are preparing once again this year to "break the naval blockade of Israel on Gaza," i.e. the transport and import restrictions Israel imposes to prevent terrorists from transferring weapons and ammunition to Islamist terrorists in the region.PMW: PA assaults democracy
The coordinator for the International Committee to Lift the Siege on Gaza, Zahar Birawi, told Hamas's Palestine newspaper on Thursday that there will be at least three flotillas during the summer months, a la the Mavi Marmara "Freedom Flotilla" fiasco in 2010.
Meetings will be held in Greece on June 16 and 17 to work out the logistics, but the exact dates of departure will not be publicly announced to prevent Israel from taking preventative measures.
One of the boats will include former Tunisian President Muncef Marzouki, he added.
In student elections last week at Birzeit University, the biggest university in the West Bank, the Hamas-affiliated student list defeated the Fatah-affiliated list.Hamas Says Palestinian Authority Afraid of Elections Because They Know They Will Lose
Following the elections, the independent Palestinian news agency Wattan reported that Hamas sources charged that the PA Preventive Security Force and the Intelligence Service carried out “a massive wave of arrests among the ranks of the Islamic Bloc (Hamas) activists in several West Bank universities.” The sources said that the arrests “targeted the Islamic Bloc activists in Birzeit University and in Palestine Polytechnic University, as well as students from An-Najah University in Nablus and Al-Quds University in Abu Dis.” [Wattan News Agency, April 28, 2015]
Member of Hamas' leadership Hossam Badran was quoted as saying that the arrests of Hamas students “demonstrates the extent of the PA’s shock after the failure of its mode of operation, which is based on coordination with the occupation (i.e., Israel) and the repression of liberties.”
The independent Palestinian news agency Ma’an noted the importance of the elections at Birzeit University:
“In the absence of regular national elections, university elections are seen as important indicators of public opinion by political commentators in Palestine, and Birzeit is considered to be the most important campus in the yearly political contests.” [Ma’an, April 23, 2015]
Gaza-based terror group Hamas lashed out at the Palestinian Authority on Thursday, saying that the PA opposes the operation of the “democratic process” because it knows Hamas would end up winning much broader public support, Israel’s NRG news website reported.Hezbollah Working to Conceal Significant Losses in Syrian Civil War
Hamas also attacked the PA for arresting West Bank activists affiliated with the Islamist group, saying the detentions were carried out because the PA fears Hamas’ popularity.
In recent elections at Bir Zeit University and the Polytechnic University in Hebron, which is ruled by the PA, Hamas-affiliated student groups achieved significant victories over their Fatah and PLO-affiliated rivals. After the results emerged, Hamas’ spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, condemned the arrests of activists saying “Hamas is stronger than all the plots to eradicate it.” Hamas also called for similar elections at every Palestinian university.
In its election victory at Bir Zeit, the Hamas-affiliated Islamist Bloc won 26 seats, against 19 for the bloc associated with Fatah.
Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah has devised a strategy to conceal its losses in the ongoing Syrian civil war as it fights alongside its ally Bashar al-Assad, Lebanon’s NOW News reported.Lebanese Harshly Criticize Hezbollah For Deaths of Child Soldiers in Syria
Officially, no numbers have been released of Hezbollah’s casualties in fighting rebel and Sunni Islamist forces attempting to unseat the Syrian president. Despite becoming progressively more open about the nature and extent of its involvement in Syria’s civil war, the number of its casualties are still a closely-guarded Hezbollah secret.
According to the report, in the 2013 battle of Al-Qusayr – in which Assad’s forces and Hezbollah attempted to capture villages in the Golan Heights near the border with Israel — Hezbollah lost 130 fighters, the same number that Hezbollah claims were killed in action against Israel during the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
Its extended campaign in Qalamoun in southern Syria incurred Hezbollah a further 400 casualties. The battle in that region is still raging a full two years after it was launched. Some sources told NOW that Hezbollah has lost about 1,000 fighters in Qalamoun.
Lebanese officials condemned Hezbollah’s use of child soldiers in Syrian civil war after the Lebanon-based terrorist organization announced the death of a 15-year-old boy “during his observing the obligation of jihad.”Turkish gov't officials stay away from Israel Independence Day event in Ankara
Announcements of this kind published by the Iran-sponsored militia usually relate to the organization’s fighters killed while fighting in Syria, and therefore it is believed that the boy was killed while fighting to support embattled Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad beyond Lebanese borders.
The child’s funeral was held in Beirut with the participation of Hezbollah officials. According to other reports, this teen was not the only child soldier in Hezbollah’s ranks to have been killed fighting in Syria: Dozens of Hezbollah members recently killed in Syria are under the age of 18.
Lebanese Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi, one of the strongest opponents of Hezbollah in Lebanon, said that the situation reminded him of the last days of Hitler’s Nazi regime, when he used minors as soldiers.
An Independence Day celebration hosted by the Israeli Embassy at a hotel in Ankara on Wednesday was attended by the US Ambassador John Bass, but not by Turkish government officials, a sign that five years after the Mavi Marmara incident, formal relations between the two states are showing no sign of improvement.US envoy hits back at Ankara mayor: ‘We’re all blonde’
The event was covered in the Turkish press, which emphasized that Ankara did not send any government representative, and that journalists attending were subject to a rigorous security search, something that put a number of them off.
The reports also stressed that the Turkish and Israeli flags flew side-by-side in the ballroom of the Swissotel.
Turkey downgraded ties with Israel following the 2010 Gaza flotilla incident, and expelled its ambassador in September 2011.
The US ambassador to Turkey on Friday hit back at sexist remarks by Ankara’s maverick mayor to the US State Department spokeswoman in unusual style, posting a picture of himself with blond hair.
Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek, a close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had on Wednesday fired off an extraordinary diatribe on Twitter over the Baltimore rioting, telling the US State Department acting spokeswoman Marie Harf to “come on blonde, answer now.”
“Where are you stupid blonde, who accused Turkish police of using disproportionate force?” he added, referring to US criticism of the harsh response by Turkish police to demonstrations.
Harf herself had refused to rise to the bait of the comments, saying in Washington: “I really don’t think I’m going to dignify them with a response.”
But US ambassador to Turkey John Bass took to Instagram to make his response, posting a picture of himself with his normally brown hair turned blond.
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