06/03 Links Pt1: Britain’s student union refused to boycott ISIS, yet passed motion boycotting Israel.

From Ian:

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Netanyahu pans UK students for boycotting Israel but not IS

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit back at the UK’s National Union of Students hours after it passed a motion to boycott Israel, calling the group hypocritical for singling out the Jewish state while it rejected an earlier motion to condemn the Islamic State group.
“They boycott Israel but they refuse to boycott ISIS. That tells you everything you want to know about the BDS movement. They condemn Israel and do not condemn ISIS; they condemn themselves,” Netanyahu said Wednesday, using acronyms for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and Islamic State, the radical terror group that has established a self-styled caliphate in Syria and Iraq.
“Israel has an exemplary democracy. We have academic freedom, press freedom, human rights. ISIS tramples human rights to the dust,” he said in remarks delivered alongside visiting Canadian Foreign Minister Robert Nicholson.
“It burns people alive in cages and the national student groups in Britain refuse to boycott ISIS and have boycotted Israel. It tells you everything you want to know about the BDS movement,” he said.
Netanyahu also took a swipe at Turkey and Iran for working to legitimize Hamas, the terror group that rules the Gaza Strip, at the United Nations.
“At the same time, in the UN, we’ve seen Turkey and Iran vote to give Hamas affiliate status – Hamas. Hamas fires rockets on our cities while hiding behind Palestinian civilians, hiding behind Palestinian children. It tells you about international hypocrisy a lot,” Netanyahu said, referring to a United Nation decision to support the Palestinian Return Center, which Israel alleges is linked to the Gaza Strip’s Hamas leaders.

Britain’s student union votes to boycott Israel

The NUC is the UK’s umbrella student organization for some 600 higher education institutions representing 7 million students.
The motion “condemns Israeli military presence in the West Bank and Gaza,” and calls on students to “co-ordinate a nationwide student day of action to commemorate UN Palestine Solidarity Day on 29 November,” the Jewish Chronicle reported.
“Justice for Palestine” also included amendment 518a, a provision proposed by the student union of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London formally aligning the student organization with the BDS initiative. After a heated debate, 19 Executive Council members voted in favor of the provision, 14 against and one abstained.
The Jewish Chronicle reported that the vote took place through a secret ballot, and was originally scheduled to take place at the NUC’s annual conference in April, but was postponed until June due to lack of time to debate the issue.
An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the decision had “little practical implications, since this body has already voiced anti-Israel opinions in the past.”
“Instead of expressing hatred, British students would benefit from studying history and understanding that the distance between conveying hate language and prejudice to committing despicable crimes is not that great,” the spokesperson said.
In the wake of the vote, the British Government restated its firm opposition to calls to boycott Israel.
In a statement, the deputy British ambassador to Israel, Dr. Rob Dixon, said: “We are deeply committed to promoting the UK’s trade and business ties with Israel, as part the flourishing partnership between the two countries. The reality is one of rapidly strengthening links between British and Israeli universities in science and academic cooperation.
“As David Cameron has said, the UK Government will never allow those who want to boycott Israel to shut down 60 years worth of vibrant exchange and partnership that does so much to make both our countries stronger,” the statement added.

'It's not politically correct to be anti-Semitic, but it's super-in to be anti-Israel'

The boycott, divestment and sanctions movement is the new anti-Semitism and wants to destroy Israel, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said Wednesday, in response to a motion to the agenda from coalition and opposition MKs calling to fight those who seek to delegitimize Israel.
The discussion was marked by shouting matches over whether BDS is an anti-Israel and anti-Semitic movement or simply seeks to bring an end to Israel's presence in areas liberated in 1967.
"BDS opposes Israel as the Jewish state. It wants to blacken us and destroy us as a Jewish and democratic state," Shaked explained. "The boycotters don't talk about Judea and Samaria, they talk about the state of Israel."
According to Shaked "it's not politically correct to be anti-Semitic today, but it's super-in to be anti-Israel," and as such, "people used to delegitimize the Jews and now they do it to our state."
"BDS is anti-Semitism in new clothes," she added.
Shaked called to fight back against BDS and "boycott the boycotters" and listed the many government ministries, including hers, that are taking part in the efforts to fight delegitimization, bringing MK Bassel Ghattas (Joint List) to interject: "It won't work."
"Israel will continue to be a light unto the nations," Shaked vowed.

Britain’s student union refused to boycott ISIS, yet passed motion boycotting Israel. #BeyondParody

The NUS executive council passed a motion put forward by the School of Oriental and African Studies students union just yesterday to boycott Israel, and voted to align themselves with the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaign – a movement whose leaders explicitly call for the end of the Jewish state.
(NUS has previously passed resolutions condemning UKIP and former Education Minister David Lammy)
Per Foxton, it seems clear that the ‘progressive’ student leaders at NUS who were concerned that condemning ISIS (the most barbaric movement on the planet) would stigmatize Muslims, yet evidently were unburdened by fears that their decision to single out the only Jewish state (and the only progressive democracy in the Mid-East) would stoke antisemitism – racism against Jews which reached record levels in the UK in 2014.
Though NUS’s boycott motion will have little if any effect on Israel, the impact on British Jews – the overwhelming majority of whom identify strongly with the Jewish state – may be significant. Such stunningly hypocritical campaigns which single out Israel – and only Israel – for condemnation are in effect telling Jews that they identify with a morally odious movement, an association which places them on the wrong side of history.
As we’ve argued previously, the moral distinction between the statements “Zionists are our misfortune” and “Jews are our misfortune” is increasingly meaningless, insofar as the lives of actual Jews are concerned.

Shmuley Boteach: Britain’s bizarre and dishonorable National Union of Students

In October of 2014, a Kurdish student watching the displacement of 400,000 Kurds after the siege of Kobani teamed up with Daniel Cooper to put forth a motion condemning ISIS atrocities and supporting the Kurdish, Iraqi, and Syrian people. In a Student Union that condemns white gay men and skincare products, the world’s foremost terrorist organization seemed to deserve a mention. Shockingly, though, students union members led by Malia Bouattia staged what the Daily Mail described as a “rebellion” and defeated the motion. Get this — they did so because it was considered “Islamophobic.” Let me repeat. Britain’s National Union of Students refrained from condemning ISIS, one of the world’s foremost murderers of innocent Muslims, because they considered it Islamophobic.
As if it couldn’t get more shocking, just this past month, the NUS passed a resolution announcing that it would be working to repeal the UK government’s Counter-Terrorism and Security Act “alongside civil liberties groups including CAGE.” You might not know what CAGE is, but you should. CAGE is officially a Muslim-rights organization, but they’re actually one of the world’s most famous defenders of Islamist terrorism. Asim Qureshi, CAGE’s director, rose to national fame when he publicly defended Mohamed Emwazi — or as he’s better known: Jihadi John. Speaking at a press conference, he referred to ISIS’ decapitator-in-chief as “such a beautiful young man,” adding that the murderer was “extremely kind, extremely gentle, and the most humble young person I ever knew.” When I heard of Emwazi’s brutal beheadings of James Foley, Steven Sotloff, David Haines, Alan Henning, Peter Kassig, Haruna Yukawa, Kenji Goto, and 21 Syrian soldiers, many words came to mind. “Kind and gentle” were not among them. With regard to Emwazi’s having turned into the world’s most famous murderer, Qureshi of course blamed the English government for treating the young man like an “outsider.”
Even after people all across the UK condemned the CAGE director for his appalling praise of a terrorist and justification for his atrocities, he still didn’t learn his lesson. As a guest on the BBC show “This Week,” Qureshi was confronted about the teachings of Islamic scholar Haitham al-Haddad, whom he’d referred to as his mentor. Among these teachings were genital mutilation, domestic violence, the stoning of adulterous women, and of course, the claim that the Jews are descendants of pigs. The CAGE director refused to condemn any of those beliefs, saying repeatedly “I’m not a theologian.”
This is the man the NUS is willing, even proud, to work with.
Which brings us to the latest NUS shocker: the boycott of Israel.

Abbas: 'Jordan and Palestine are One People in Two States'

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has described Jordanian and Palestinian Arabs as "one people living in two states," during a meeting with the head of the Jordan Football Association on Tuesday.
Abbas met JFA head Prince Ali Ibn al-Hussein in Amman, to discuss last week's FIFA congress vote in which the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) dropped a motion to expel Israel.
The Jordanians are reportedly angry that the PA did not vote for their preferred candidate for FIFA President, and there are calls in Jordan to strip PFA head and senior PA leader Jibril Rajoub of his Jordanian citizenship.
Bethlehem-based Maan News cited the Jordanian al-Ghad newspaper as saying that Abbas arrived in Jordan from Doha along with several other senior PA officials, including its intelligence chief Majid Faraj.
The Arabic-language Al-Quds news outlet directly quoted Abbas, who it said "stressed that the relationship between Jordan and Palestine is the relationship of 'one people living in two states,' adding that this relationship will not be affected by anything."
Abbas may well live to regret his offhand comments. (h/t Yoel)

David Horovitz: No, Mr. President, you don’t fully understand our fears

You know full well that the Jewish state and its people want nothing more than to live in peace and tranquility alongside their neighbors. After all, as you yourself highlighted in the interview, the biggest applause you got when you spoke to Israeli students in Jerusalem came when you declared, “I know that the people of Israel care about those Palestinian children.”
What you so evidently haven’t fully internalized, however, is the extent to which we Israelis in the middle ground — the non-zealots, the ones who don’t want to annex the West Bank and subvert our democracy, and who don’t want a single binational entity between the river and the sea that puts an end to Jewish statehood — have been battered by recent history, and continue to be battered by the events unfolding all around us.
You seek to assure us that this deal with Iran is in our own best interests when we know that Iran — which almost daily calls for our destruction — will paint any agreement as a victory and a vindication, and will utilize that ostensible victory to step up its efforts to harm us, via terrorism and via its proxy armies in Lebanon and Gaza, while also continuing to do its utmost to cheat and bully its way to the bomb. We know that the deal will cement this bleakest of regimes in power in Tehran, and that it was your negotiators who blinked, who never forced the regime to choose between survival and its nuclear program, when the financial leverage was available to impose that choice.
You implore us, again and again, to give more thought to the plight of the Palestinians, to turn away from leadership — in the seemingly ever-present shape of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — that peddles the politics of fear, and instead to choose the path of optimism and opportunity. But Israel just elected Netanyahu again, ignoring your entreaties, because the evidence of danger outweighed the evidence upon which to build hope. And here’s the irony, Mr. President: Your policies and your rhetoric haven’t helped.

JPost Editorial: Obama’s support for Israel

Since the beginning of his first administration in 2009, US President Barack Obama has faced an endless litany of baseless charges regarding everything from claims of animosity to Israel to even anti-Semitic attitudes. It is time to put such outrageous accusations to rest once and for all.
In recent weeks, Obama has made a concerted effort to reach out to Jews both in America and in Israel.
Last month, in an interview to The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, he expressed a deep identification with the Jewish state, connecting the Jews’ successful push for national self-determination in the wake of centuries of anti-Semitism that culminated in the Holocaust with African-Americans’ victorious campaign for human rights.
“There’s a direct line between supporting the right of the Jewish people to have a homeland and to feel safe and free of discrimination and persecution, and the right of African-Americans to vote and have equal protection under the law,” Obama said. In these comments, he rightly placed the Zionist movement where it belongs within the context of progressive and anti-imperialist post-World War II movements that sought to empower the subjugated and downtrodden.

Obama's unanswered questions

President Barack Obama sat down with Channel 2's Ilana Dayan last week for a captivating and intelligent interview that was broadcast in full on Tuesday night on Dayan's news magazine, "Uvda" ("Fact"). Obama showed that it is not only Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who knows how to run a campaign. Netanyahu is adept at pulling the heartstrings of the ordinary American; Obama, of the typical Israeli.
Obama was articulate and calculated. He went out of his way to show that he considers Israeli's security paramount; that the strategic alliance with Israel is ironclad, that he would never imperil the Jewish state. He became almost philosophical in talking about the relationships between peoples and states: the understandable role of fear in state decision-making against the need to leave enough room for hope. He said he understands the Israeli anxiety over its security against Iran's nuclear program and also against an increasingly powerful Palestinian-Arab world, although he could not quite understand why Israel is singularly focused on those fears.
It was clear from the start that this interview would be one big charm offensive and that his words would be "sweeter than honey." But even with the polite words, he showed he had a long list of accounts to settle. According to him, the emerging agreement with Iran will address Israeli fears; and if it is breached, the sanctions would automatically return; and that the concerns Netanyahu raised at the United Nations would be addressed by a final deal. But what if Obama is wrong? Or, to paraphrase Dayan's question: What if the first nuclear bomb hits Tel Aviv?
A particular difficulty emerged on the subject of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Obama believes Israel is losing its basic moral values and moving away from the national security doctrines that guided former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and Defense Minister Moshe Dayan. At the top of Obama's list of complaints is his lack of confidence in Netanyahu as the person to realize the principle of a two-state solution.
It is the first time that an American president has not been satisfied with just saying that an Israeli prime minister is in error, but also added that he does not believe him.

Jeffrey Goldberg: A Critique of Obama's Understanding of Israel

After I posted an interview with President Obama late last month, I received any number of interesting responses, but few were as comprehensive as that of Yossi Kuperwasser, a former Israeli general and intelligence expert who served until recently as director general of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs. Kuperwasser asked me if I would post some of his critique, and I said yes, happily, though I agree with only 46 percent of it. I’ll get to my disagreements another time. I just think that his viewpoint, which is more-or-less a mainstream Israeli viewpoint, deserves airing.
Does it make sense for Israel—in the face of an aggressive Iran, the rise of Islamic terror organizations across the Middle East, and the fragmentation of Arab states—to deliver strategic areas to the fragile and corrupt PA, just to see them fall to extremists?
Should Israel at this moment aid in the creation of a Palestinian state, half of which is already controlled by extremists who last summer rained down thousands of rockets on Israel, while its leaders urge their people to reject Israel as the sovereign nation-state of the Jewish people? Should it aid a movement that follows these five pillars: 1) There is no such thing as the Jewish people; 2) The Jews have no history of sovereignty in the land of Israel, so the Jewish state’s demise is inevitable and justified; 3) The struggle against Israel by all means is legitimate, and the means should be based simply on cost-benefit analysis; 4) The Jews in general, and Zionists in particular, are the worst creatures ever created; And 5) because the Palestinians are victims, they should not be held responsible or accountable for any obstacles they may throw up to peace?
In short, even though Israel, under Prime Minister Netanyahu, remains committed to the formula of “two states for two peoples, with mutual recognition,” the implementation of this idea at this point is irrelevant. The PA’s poor governance and the general turmoil in the Middle East render any establishment of a Palestinian state right now unviable. President Obama admitted as much, reluctantly, but continued to criticize Netanyahu instead of betraying his optimist paradigm. Netanyahu’s realism would stray too far from the path Obama, and other Western leaders, have set in front of them. But while Obama and the optimists offer their critiques, Netanyahu and the realists will be on the ground, living with the consequences the optimists have wrought. (H/T Olterigo)

In Search of the Real Barack Obama

Obviously, there was also frustration for me with a number of his answers. Let me put the Israel issue aside, because, as I’ve written, I probably share a lot of his analysis of Israel’s core dilemmas. To put it crudely, the basic split on Obama is this: Is he destroying Israel, or is Israel destroying Israel? I go more with the latter than the former at the moment. If you believe the former, you despise him. If you believe the latter, you can’t quite believe that a) Israel’s government is carrying out policies that will eventually lead to the country’s dissolution, or wholesale isolation; and b) that more Israelis don’t understand that an African-American president who speaks feelingly about the moral necessity of Zionism is a friend, not a foe. But we can talk about that later.
On Iran, I was happy to hear him say he owns this process.
It’s on him, and the fact that [Obama] recognizes that he will be blamed, even as a 75-year-old, if Iran gets a bomb, is actually reassuring.
But I also worry that he is unrealistic about aspects of the Iran deal, for a number of reasons — the way they will spend their money, his belief that his negotiators are dealing with rational people — rational in the way that you and I think of rationality — and so on. On Gulf issues, the hardest swallow is that he appeared to be warning Saudi Arabia of the consequences associated with gearing-up its own nuclear program, but he’s attempting to strike a deal with Iran that allows it, in essence, to maintain the infrastructure of a nuclear program. In other words, an ally is being treated more harshly, in this one way, than an adversary. Of course, his answer to this is that Saudi Arabia has America behind it, so it doesn’t need a nuclear program. Still, the optics are strange, and the unhappiness of certain Arab leaders is understandable.

Obama: 'I'm The Closest Thing to a Jew' to Ever Be President

On Tuesday, former Obama advisor David Axelrod informed an Israeli television channel that President Obama considers himself “the closet thing to a Jew that has ever sat in this office.” Obama’s deep and abiding connection to Jewish identity is obviously rooted in his ethnic background, connected to Jews via (?); his ideological ties to Jews, such as (?); and a profound connection with the state of Israel as evidenced by (?).
In actuality, Obama is about as Jewish as George Wallace was black.
But Obama spouted this drivel in order to whine about his treatment at the hands of commentators who, not having undergone full frontal lobotomies, can identify his animus for the Jewish state. “You know,” he allegedly told Axelrod, “I think I am the closest thing to a Jew that has ever sat in this office. For people to say that I am anti-Israel, or, even worse, anti-Semitic, it hurts.”
On the same day that President Obama’s former top advisor announced that Obama’s rabbinic degree could be expected in the mail any moment, he threatened Israel with abandonment at the United Nations. Obama then said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s realistic assessment of the status of negotiations – Netanyahu said there could be no deal to create a Palestinian state with the current leadership of the Palestinian Arabs – created a threat to the “credibility” of Israel.

Obama: Israel losing credibility because world doesn’t think it’s serious about peace

The president recalled a statement by Netanyahu made the day before national elections in March in which the Israeli leader declared that a Palestinian state would not be established during his term.
“Subsequently his statements have suggested that there is a possibility of a Palestinian state, but it has so many caveats, so many conditions, that it is not realistic to think that those conditions will be met anytime in the near future,” the president said.
“The danger is that Israel as a whole loses credibility,” Obama added. “Already the international community does not believe that Israel is serious about the two-state solution.”
When Netanyahu does talk about a diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, “we talk about peace in the abstract […] It’s always tomorrow, it’s always later,” Obama complained.
“Up until this point we have pushed away European efforts or other efforts against Israel at the UN,” he said. But “if in fact there is no prospect of a peace process, if nobody believes there is a peace process, then it becomes more difficult to argue with those who are concerned with settlement construction, those who are concerned about the current situation,” Obama said, intimating the US may no longer block resolutions criticizing Israel, but stopping short of announcing support for any concrete proposals.
Asked about his low popularity in Israel, Obama said there was a gap in communication between him and Israelis.
“There are a lot of filters between me and the Israelis,” he said, adding that Israelis were “not receiving” the president’s messages directly from him.
But he emphasized his commitment to Israel’s security.

The Judean People's Front: More Chutzpah from the Drone President

The same cannot be said of Obama's view of how Israel relates to Palestinian children:
I think it is true to Israel’s traditions and its values — its founding principles — that it has to care about those Palestinian kids. And when I was in Jerusalem and I spoke, the biggest applause that I got was when I spoke about those kids I had visited in Ramallah, and I said to a Israeli audience that it is profoundly Jewish, it is profoundly consistent with Israel’s traditions to care about them. And they agreed. So if that’s not translated into policy — if we’re not willing to take risks on behalf of those values — then those principles become empty words, and in fact, in my mind, it makes it more difficult for us to continue to promote those values when it comes to protecting Israel internationally.
This statement is utterly shocking, disgusting and offensive. The President of the country that is supposed to be Israel's greatest ally, is saying to a Jewish audience that he believes Israel doesn't care about Palestinian children and if it doesn't change this alleged callousness, if it doesn't take the "risks" that Obama outlines, then he threatens that the US will abandon Israel in the international community.
Perhaps Obama didn't care about children when a strike he ordered killed 21 kids in Yemen just a week after he accepted his Nobel Peace Prize? Or when on 12 December 2013, a drone attack in Yemen targeted a wedding party killing up to 15 civilians?

Former Israeli Official Says Obama’s ‘Optimistic’ Middle East Policy Will Lead to Disaster

A former Israeli official and chief of military intelligence slammed President Barack Obama’s recent take on the most pertinent issues facing Israeli security, saying his “optimists” policy would ultimately lead to calamity with the Palestinians and, more importantly, Iran.
“Obama is a remarkable proponent for the optimist approach — he fundamentally believes in human decency, and therefore in dialogue and engagement as the best way to overcome conflict,” wrote Yossi Kuperwasser, the former director general of Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry.
Obama “believes that humility and concessions can salve the wound, and Islamists can be convinced to accept a global civil society.”
But for realists such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or “those who face an existential threat, Obama’s argument sounds appalling.”
Kuperwasser — whose comments were a response to journalist Jeffrey Goldberg’s latest interview with Obama, as well as the president’s address at a Washington DC synagogue — said the fundamental divide between optimists and realists in Western, Judeo-Christian political thought underlined the personal conflict between the American and Israeli leaders.

Livni: Israel Has No Choice But to 'Toe Obama's Line'

The Israel-US Relations Lobby of the Knesset met Wednesday morning, to discuss the latest developments in the ongoing relationship between both countries. Among the participants in the event were former Israeli ambassador to the US and current Kulanu MK Michael Oren, and former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
According to Livni, Israelis are too quick to judge American stances on issues affecting their country. “Many Israelis think that they are 'okay,' and that the problems with the relationship with the U.S. stem from their side,” whether due to the American desire to impose a two-state solution, or other reasons.
But Israelis should give the U.S. more credit, said Livni. “I can tell you that – as former Foreign Minister – that every single major IDF mission begins with a phone call to the White House. Either we can be an isolated state fighting our enemies, or we can be an ally of the greatest power in the world and fight our enemies.”
One reason the Palestinian Authority has toughened its stances recently – demanding a full Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and most of Jerusalem as the price of avoiding charges at the International Court of Justice – is because “they understand Prime Minister Netanyahu's weak point – Israel's relationship with the world. If the U.S., for example, decides to change its policy of vetoing anti-Israel measures in the UN Security Council, where would we be?

Ambassador Power Seeks to Remove Israel From Draft UN List of Children’s Rights Violators

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power urged U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to remove Israel from the U.N.’s draft list of children’s rights violators, Foreign Policy reported on Monday, citing officials familiar with confidential discussions between both parties.
The soon-to-be-released U.N. document lists government forces, rebel movements, and terrorist organizations accused of violating children’s rights in the midst of conflict. Human Rights Watch has argued that Israel and Hamas should both be included on the list following last summer’s conflict in Gaza.
Ilan Goldenberg, a former member of the Obama administration’s Middle East team, said the president’s administration is trying to protect Israel in order to gain support in Congress regarding the Iranian nuclear deal.
“The target audience is Congress,” he said, according to Foreign Policy. “The Obama administration is not going to do anything to risk making members of Congress uncomfortable before a tough Iran vote.”

Palestinian NGO threatens Israel with lawsuit, denies Hamas ties

The British-based Palestinian Return Center on Tuesday threatened Israel's UN mission with legal action after the Jewish state accused it of having ties to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, an allegation the group said was false.
The Israeli accusations came after a United Nations committee that oversees non-governmental organizations voted to approve UN accreditation for the PRC, which Israel's mission said was not only linked to Hamas but promoted "anti-Israel propaganda in Europe."
"We announce that PRC is considering legal action against the Israeli delegation at the UN," the group said in a statement circulated to the 19-member UN Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations.
"Such allegations and defamation where we are described as terrorist and affiliated to Hamas are dangerous, baseless and will have negative ramifications on our work and members," the group added.
On Monday, the mission said Israel had banned the PRC in 2010 because of its ties to Hamas, labeling it "an organizational and coordinating wing of Hamas in Europe" with members that include senior Hamas officials.
The Israeli mission responded to the group's announcement by saying its statement still applied.

UN chief: UNRWA still exists because of ‘political failure’

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon used the 65th anniversary of the UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees to appeal Tuesday for an immediate resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and an end to unilateral actions “that erode trust.”
Ban told a UN conference marking the anniversary of the UN Relief and World Agency that UNRWA was never meant to exist for 65 years, but “it exists because of political failure.”
Hanan Ashrawi, the special representative of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said the refugee population now spans four generations and continues “to endure grave hardships and deprivation,” upheavals and successive conflicts.
Yet, she said, “despite enduring the longest occupation in modern history and despite nearly seven decades of exile endured by millions of Palestine refugees, their national identity remains strong and their conviction in the justness of their cause remains unwavering as they seek to realize their long-denied inalienable rights.”
Israel’s deputy ambassador David Roet accused UNRWA of having a pro-Palestinian political agenda which goes beyond the scope of its humanitarian mandate.
“If this politicization of the refugee issue was not enough, recently, UNRWA left no doubt about how deep its “political mission” goes. UNRWA’s spokesperson clearly stated that one of UNRWA’s goals is to validate the Palestinian narrative. I repeat — to validate the Palestinian narrative. Is ‘validating’ the Palestinian narrative within UNRWA’s mandate? Is this what funding for humanitarian assistance is intended for?” he asked.

Amb. Roet speaks at UNRWA's 65 anniversary conference

I wish I could sit here today and join in with the other speakers to simply thank UNRWA for all the humanitarian work it does, and leave it at that. However, as the saying goes, “face reality as it is, not as you wish it to be”. In reality, UNRWA has a political agenda which casts a long shadow over its humanitarian agenda.

European Leaders Demand Regime Change in Iran

Some 200 European officials are calling for Iran’s hardline Islamic government to be dissolved and for the country to allow international inspectors to take inventory of all Iranian sites suspected of housing an illicit nuclear weapons program, according to a letter sent to European Union (EU) Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini on Tuesday.
The delegation, comprised of 221 members of the European Parliament from 28 EU member states, slams Iran’s “destructive meddling” throughout the region and criticizes its human rights record, which is ranked among the worst in the world.
The delegation also backs regime change aimed to bring down Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his hardline inner circle of allies, according to the letter, which was spearheaded by Friends of a Free Iran (FoFI), a European Parliament group formed in 2003.
This regime change would include Iran becoming “a democratic pluralistic republic based on universal suffrage, freedom of expression, abolition of torture and death penalty, separation of church and state, a non-nuclear Iran, an independent judicial system, rights for minorities, peaceful coexistence in the region, gender equality and commitment to Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” the letter reads.

Harf: We’re All ‘Totally Perplexed’ by NYT Story on Iran’s Increased Nuclear Stockpile

Harf said that this is not a concern because Iran agreed to reduce their stockpile when the agreement gets implemented.
“What matters is that they [Iran] have committed already, and we said publicly to reducing their stockpile whenever this implemented 300 kilograms,” Harf said. “The notion that this is some big issue of concern of negotiation is more manufacturing a controversy than actual reality. Everyone who read that story this morning was totally perplexed by it.”
The Institute for Science and International Security analyzed the question of whether Iran could meet its obligations regarding 5 percent low enriched uranium, and authors David Albright and Serene Kelleher-Vergantini assessed that “Iran has fallen behind in its pledge to convert its newly produced LEU hexafluoride into oxide form. There are legitimate questions about whether Iran can produce all the requisite LEU oxide … By the end of June, in order to meet its commitment under the JPA, Iran must finish converting the 2,720 kg of LEU into oxide and introduce into the EUPP and convert into oxide, 1,106 kg of 3.5 percent LEU hexafluoride produced over the last several months (plus the few hundred kilograms of LEU to be produced in late May and June 2015). Thus, Iran has clearly fallen behind in its pledge under the JPA.”

Earnest: Remember, We Can See Iran Increase Its Nuclear Stockpile Thanks to Our Monitoring Measures

White House spokesman Josh Earnest looks on the bright side.
Pressed Tuesday by ABC’s Jonathan Karl about a New York Times report that Iran had increased its nuclear fuel stockpile 20 percent over the last 18 months of negotiations, Earnest reminded reporters the monitoring measures put in place were what allowed the U.S. to see Iran’s brazen behavior in broad daylight.
“But you don’t dispute their finding that they have a 20 percent increase in uranium fuel over what they had at the start of these negotiations?” Karl asked.
“Uh, no,” Earnest said.
“You’re not concerned about that, you don’t see this as a sign of Iran cheating or not complying?” Karl asked.
“In fact, the IAEA doesn’t see it that way either,” Earnest said. “I think first it’s important for us to note that the reason that we can verify the precise size of Iran’s nuclear uranium stockpile is because we do have these monitoring measures in place, and because of that monitoring we can verify their compliance with the agreement.”

Obama officials claim Iran's nuclear program rolled back by negotiations - SUPERcuts

President Obama and other administration officials claim Iran's nuclear program had been halted by negotiations, but new reports show Iran's nuclear stockpile has grown 20 percent over the past 18 months.

Bill Clinton’s foundation cashed in as Sweden lobbied Hillary on sanctions

Bill Clinton’s foundation set up a fundraising arm in Sweden that collected $26 million in donations at the same time that country was lobbying Hillary Rodham Clinton’s State Department to forgo sanctions that threatened its thriving business with Iran, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Washington Times.
The Swedish entity, called the William J. Clinton Foundation Insamlingsstiftelse, was never disclosed to or cleared by State Department ethics officials, even though one of its largest sources of donations was a Swedish government-sanctioned lottery.
As the money flowed to the foundation from Sweden, Mrs. Clinton’s team in Washington declined to blacklist any Swedish firms despite warnings from career officials at the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm that Sweden was growing its economic ties with Iran and potentially undercutting Western efforts to end Tehran’s rogue nuclear program, diplomatic cables show.

Legal Insurrection: VIDEO: Israel National Defense Drill

Sirens sound in Jerusalem and elsewhere.
On Sunday, May 31, 2015, I reported from Sderot, Israel, on the history of rocket and mortar fire from Gaza, and the extensive preparation of bomb shelters and emergency protocols: Israelis shelter in place near Gaza.
This week Israel is in a nationwide drill, testing sirens that will warn of incoming missiles and rockets. The drills have been implemented on the assumption that Hezbollah, Syria, and Hamas will be able to fire thousands per day.
Today two sirens were sounded. I was in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City when the 7:05 p.m. (local) siren sounded:
Speaking of the Jewish Quarter, the historical truth of the illegal conquest by Jordan and subsequent ethic cleansing of Jews is long down the memory hole.
But there is a sign to remind people:
The Old City, as usual, looked marvelous:

New PA TV Channel Incites Israel's Arabs

The Palestinian Authority is launching a television channel targeting Israel's 1.6 million Arab citizens, reported Haaretz and i24. Named F48 – short for Falastin 1948 (Palestine 1948) – the channel will reportedly air “mainly cultural and social affairs programs designed to forge a connection between the descendants of the Arabs who stayed in Israel after it was established in 1948 and those who left or were expelled.”
Arab extremist dreams of a war for annihilating Israel have always included a rebellion by Israel's Arab citizens. The channel appears to be intended for that purpose.
The last time Israeli Arabs rebelled openly on a large scale was in October of 2000, when they joined the terror war launched by the Palestinian Authority (PA), blocking important roads inside Israel. Recently, Bedouin in Israel's south launched massive, violent riots as well.
A rebellion by Israeli Arabs that accompanies an “intifada” in Judea and Samaria and rocket attacks by Hezbollah and Hamas is a nightmare scenario for Israel, and may be precisely what the PA channel's sponsors have in mind.

Rivlin: Without return of soldiers' remains, no help in Gaza reconstruction

Israel is ready to cooperate with the United Nations and the international community in rebuilding Gaza, but not before the two Israeli soldiers missing in action presumed dead, and held by Hamas are returned to Israel, President Reuven Rivlin told United Nations envoy to the Middle East Nickolay Mladenov on Wednesday.
At the beginning of the week, Rivlin had given an undertaking to the family of Lt. Hadar Goldin, that he would mention their son and St. Sgt Oren Shaul who both fought in Operation Preventive Edge and who have been pronounced dead by Israel’s military authorities. Their bodies have not been recovered, and the Goldin family asked Rivlin to raise the issue in all of his meetings with foreign dignitaries.
While making Israel’s cooperation with the reconstruction of Gaza conditional on the return of the remains of the two soldiers, Rivlin said that innocent Gazans are being held hostage by Hamas and that Israel understands this and that people must have jobs and be able to feed themselves.
However, he was worried that iron and cement supplies going into Gaza would fall into the wrong hands and be used to make rockets for attacks against Israel. Mladenov said that a monitoring system would be put in place to ensure that such deliveries reached their intended destination.

'In Gaza, you can't run from house to house, Hamas has booby trapped them'

A year after Operation Protective Edge, the Nahal infantry brigade's 931 battalion, which fought intensive, complex battles, in Gaza, is preparing itself for new challenges, and using some of its lessons combat with Hamas as a basis for new urban warfare training.
Lt.-Col Sharon Asman, Battalion Commander has headed the unit for two years, and is completing his term next month.
The fact that the battalion spent two years prior to the Gaza war training for combat in confined spaces enabled it to successfully meet its missions last summer, Asman said, paying tribute to the Nahal brigade's outgoing commander, Col. Uri Gurdin, and his predecessor, Brig.-Gen. Yehuda Fuchs, for enabling this training.
Still, "there are many things we did less well, and that we improved upon while in motion in combat. Like fighting in built up areas. When you're in the West Bank, you can go from house to house as fast as possible... in Gaza, Hamas studied us fairly well, and prepared many booby trapped homes. We can't run from house to house," Asman stated.
"We have adapted accordingly," he added, without going into details.

Cyprus: Hezbollah suspect was under surveillance before raid

A home in Cyprus where police seized five tons of a chemical compound that can be turned into an explosive had been kept under surveillance for some time before officers moved in, a government official said Wednesday.
Authorities put the Larnaca home in their sights after being tipped off, Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou told The Associated Press, without revealing the source.
Police are holding a 26-year-old Lebanese-Canadian man in connection with the seizure. He faces charges of conspiracy to commit a criminal offense and possession and transportation of explosives.
A security official told the AP that the suspect arrived in Cyprus on May 21st and that authorities are also searching for the man who owns the home, in connection with the case.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he isn’t authorized to discuss information involving security matters.
It’s unclear what use was intended for the cache of ammonium nitrate, which was stored in about 420 boxes.

IS Vows To Follow Islamic Tradition Of Capturing, Neglecting Jerusalem (satire)

Militarily and politically Daesh remains far from accomplishing such an objective, but admirers and followers find Al-Adnani’s pronouncement heartening. “I cannot wait for this dream to be fulfilled, that the Muslim Umma may once again take control of its third-holiest shrine and treat it as it should be treated: with a few months, maybe a year, of showcasing the place, followed by decades, even centuries, of letting it decay,” gushed Ali Moot of Jerusalem’s Old City, who has proudly but furtively flown the Daesh flag from the terrace of his second-floor home. “I pray it lasts for eternity, of course.”
Jerusalem’s history bears evidence of this repeating pattern, from the initial Islamic conquest in the seventh century CE to the relatively short-lived Jordanian occupation of 1948-1967. Umayyads, Abbasids, Seljuks, Fatimids, Mameluks, Ottomans, and other Muslim conquerors trumpeted the vanquishing of their foes at Jerusalem and their achievement in securing control of the holy city as nothing less than divine endorsement of their endeavors, an endorsement they acknowledged by investing briefly in rebuilding the fortifications and some institutions in the city, then forgetting about it until it became threatened or captured by other powers.
Apart from the prestige of returning Jerusalem to Muslim control, Daesh specifically objects to Israel’s continued investment in the infrastructure and civic life of the city. “As our forebears demonstrated, it is a violation of Islamic tradition to maintain the development and importance of Al-Quds beyond the initial years that follow conquest of the city,” explained Al-Adnani. “The Zionist pig-dogs have imposed an unnatural state of affairs on our third-holiest place, and we will not rest until we can sweep them away and once again make the city into the boondocks in keeping with the way Islamic tradition has always treated it,” he said.

Hamas Claims IDF Attempt to Foil Border Attack Road Failed

The Hamas journal Al-Risala claimed on Wednesday morning that the IDF unsuccessfully tried to prevent the terrorist organization's "military wing," the Al-Qassam Brigades, from continuing to pave an attack road adjacent to the security border.
Construction on the road - which is located a mere 250 meters (820 feet) from the border, reportedly began two weeks ago, with Hamas activists distributing photos of the paving taking place under Al-Qassam Brigades guard.
According to the Hamas mouthpiece as cited by Yedioth Aharonoth, four IDF military bulldozers and two cars crossed the border to the east of Rafah as the IDF conducted deterrent fire and drones flew over the area.
It should be noted that the original report about the road showed photos allegedly taken near Kibbutz Nahal Oz, which is located near northeast Gaza. Rafah, however, is in the southern tip of Gaza, bordering Sinai. One of the reports thus appears to be wrong, unless the road is being paved at both places at the same time.
The Hamas report went on to claim that Al-Qassam Brigades jeeps arrived in the region to secure its bulldozers against the IDF force, adding that IDF-owned civilian jeeps and army vehicles were stationed nearby.
Regarding the attack road, senior Hamas member Fathi Hamad said last Friday that the road is meant to be ready for "the moment to attack."

In Gaza, new taxes and price hikes foment discontent

The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip has instituted new taxes that will be used to pay the salaries of its administration officials, who number approximately 40,000.
Hamas, which declared the taxes under the heading “social solidarity,” decided to begin collecting them following a meeting of its parliament members who live in Gaza.
The new taxes, which include a 25 percent tariff on new cars, have led to higher prices, such as a 20% increase in the price of beef.
Commentators in Gaza say that the public is very frustrated with and disappointed in Hamas, mainly over its failure to rebuild the Strip.
The new taxes are also constantly changing. One tax that was instituted recently requires companies registered with the Economic Affairs Ministry in Gaza to pay approximately NIS 500 to have a Hamas representative participate in a company conference. Hamas charges another few hundred shekels to have the conference registered, and if it is postponed, the postponement is taxed as well.

Filmmaker: Islamic State is Closer to Israel than People Realize

In only four months, the Islamic State (IS) has captured territory larger than the country of Britain, a march unprecedented in modern history, according to journalist and documentary filmmaker Itai Anghel.
And IS fighters are closer to Israel than people think, he said. “I’m talking about the Peninsula of Sinai,” he said. “A large percentage of the Sinai calls itself IS. From the mainland of Egypt, they are afraid to go in.”
Anghel addressed the HonestReporting Mission on Tuesday to discuss how IS formed and how it operates. He learned the lessons firsthand reporting across Iraq and Syria, where he interviewed captured IS fighters as well as Kurdish soldiers, the only group that’s turned back the IS advance to date, among many others.
During one of his forays into Syria last year, news broke that a colleague of his, James Foley, had been captured and beheaded by IS. At the time, Anghel was only a mile away. He later interviewed a captured IS fighter who said he intentionally used dull knives for the beheadings he carried out to increase the pain. Anghel said he was forced to pause in the interview for a few minutes as he thought about the tragedy of his friend Foley.
Anghel said IS has every intention of pushing well beyond Syria and into Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel, also known as The Levant, with the goal of establishing a Caliphate in the entire region. The red line for Israel, he said, is the fall of Jordan to IS. “Once Jordan becomes IS, it becomes Israel’s problem,” he said.