Tuesday, June 09, 2015
UN Agency Spokesman Goes Wild on Twitter to Defend Denial
Chris Gunness, spokesperson for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which deals with Palestinian refugees, denied last week that UNRWA had handed weapons to Hamas during last summer’s Gaza war. He then blocked critics on Twitter who had questioned his denial.PMW: Antisemitic Sheikh defends his blood libel
Gunness also responded to critics by tweeting a graphic photograph of a maimed Palestinian child, and by accusing UN human rights critic Anne Bayefsky of “racism” for her criticism.
The controversy erupted at a panel discussion last week, held to commemorate the 65th anniversary of UNRWA. Bayefsky asked Gunness to respond to the recent report on UNRWA’s role in the Gaza war by the UN Secretary-General’s Board of Inquiry.
The report noted that when weapons were found stored in UNRWA schools–to use the schools and the children human shields against Israel–the agency handed them to “local authorities” and gave contradictory statements to the press.
“So what’s UNRWA’s response to the Secretary-General’s finding that UNRWA actively contributed to the commission of war crimes during the Gaza war?” she asked.
Palestinian Media Watch's exposure of Sheikh Khaled Al-Mughrabi's Antisemitic lesson at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, triggered international response. The Wiesenthal Center publically condemned it, urging King Abdullah of Jordan and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to denounce the hate speech and ban the Sheikh [The Jerusalem Post, June 4, 2015]. In response, in a subsequent lesson in the mosque, this past Friday, Al-Mughrabi defended and even added to the Antisemitism he had disseminated.Phyllis Chesler: As ISIS Brutalizes Women, a Pathetic Feminist Silence
Last week, Al-Mughrabi taught the medieval blood libel that Jews use the blood of non-Jewish children to make Passover matzah bread. He also charged that Jews were behind the 9-11 attacks and that they slaughter their own relatives as sacrifices to Satan, as part of their activities in the Freemasons.
In his subsequent lesson, Sheikh Al-Mughrabi defended his Antisemitic teachings. He categorized them as "advice" to the Jews - "the Children of Israel" - who he was trying to "save" from "Hell," implying that by exposing to the world that the Jews make matzah by murdering children, the Jews will improve their behavior. He added that it is not only Jews who Muslims try to save from Hell, as Muslims may give advice to a "Jew or Christian or Buddhist" in order "to save him from the fire of Hell":
What is going on?
Feminists are, typically, leftists who view "Amerika" and white Christian men as their most dangerous enemies, while remaining silent about Islamist barbarians such as ISIS.
Feminists strongly criticize Christianity and Judaism, but they're strangely reluctant to oppose Islam — as if doing so would be "racist." They fail to understand that a religion is a belief or an ideology, not a skin color.
The new pseudo-feminists are more concerned with racism than with sexism, and disproportionately focused on Western imperialism, colonialism and capitalism than on Islam's long and ongoing history of imperialism, colonialism, anti-black racism, slavery, forced conversion and gender and religious apartheid.
And why? They are terrified of being seen as "politically incorrect" and then demonized and shunned for it.
The Middle East and Western Africa are burning; Iran is raping female civilians and torturing political prisoners; the Pakistani Taliban are shooting young girls in the head for trying to get an education and disfiguring them with acid if their veils are askew — and yet, NOW passed no resolution opposing this.
Twenty-first century feminists need to oppose misogynistic, totalitarian movements. They need to reassess the global threats to liberty, and rekindle our original passion for universal justice and freedom.
RAND’s Ridiculous Assumptions on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
The RAND corporation released a report that is making tremendous waves, particularly among those who lean leftward. The news reports say RAND claims that Israelis and Palestinians could be $174 billion dollars richer in 10 years, if only a Palestinian State were created.10 Things Wrong with the RAND Report
But the report doesn’t actually say that.
(Note: I use the terms “Palestinians” and “West Bank” only as a reference back to the content of the report.)
Unfortunately, for all the noise, no one seems to have actually read the report (and admittedly, RAND saved their most truthful and important caveats to the very end), thus misunderstanding what basic premises and assumptions RAND relied on, what conditions were assumed, what they completely ignored and what objective the RAND report authors actually want to achieve.
The report is very specifically only talking about the economic benefits (primarily to the Palestinians) if a hypothetical, Utopian two-state solution at peace with Israel were achieved.
But the report is based on impossible assumptions and wishful thinking that doesn’t coincide with any reality we live in or any historical precedent we’ve experienced.
Here are ten things wrong with the RAND report:There can be no peace in Jordan until the world appreciates the country’s true ethnography
10) RAND endorses a Palestinian Apartheid State.
9) US financial aid to Israel is given out of largesse.
8) There exist 600,000 Palestinian Refugees who will “return from abroad” to Palestine.
7) 600,000 Palestinian Refugees will “return from abroad” to Palestine.
6) The Palestinians will develop and maintain the infrastructure needed for a Palestinian state.
5) The IDF can pull out of the West Bank and the Palestinian Authority will survive.
4) RAND’s view on Palestinian prisoners (terrorists) is immoral and financially incorrect.
3) Israel is restricting and limiting water access to the Palestinians.
2) Expelling Jews is critical for a Palestinian state and the only credible solution.
1) RAND assumes a Palestinian state would not want to destroy Israel.
Arab nationalism is dead. It lasted for 100 years and it has suddenly disappeared. In the former states of now war-torn Libya, Syria and Iraq, speaking Arabic now means nothing. However, being a member of a family, lineage or clan of either the Shia, Sunnis, Christians, Druze, Yazidi, Tuareg or Bedouin means everything. The “Arab League” is now totally dysfunctional.Comparing occupations
From Morocco to Malaysia, Islamic jihadis go from one place to another in support of recently created political entities like the Taliban, al-Qaida, or ISIL. Nations and their borders now count for nothing. Yet the new Pope has just recognized yet another Arab state, “Palestine.” Perhaps this is because he has critically misread how Arab entities really rise and fall.
Mudar Zahran is an Arab, Muslim, Palestinian Jordanian who has had to flee Jordan because he has told the truth to his fellow Arabs — that Jordan is a Palestinian State. In a recent article he has bluntly stated: “There is, in fact, almost nothing un-Palestinian about Jordan except for the royal family. Despite decades of official imposaition of a Bedouin image on the country, and even Bedouin accents on state television, the Palestinian identity is still the most dominant … to the point where the Jordanian capital, Amman, is the largest and most populated Palestinian city anywhere. Palestinians view it as a symbol of their economic success and ability to excel. Moreover, empowering a Palestinian statehood for Jordan has a well-founded and legally accepted grounding: The minute the minimum level of democracy is applied to Jordan, the Palestinian majority would, by right, take over the political momentum.”
The Jewish state of Israel lies west of the Jordan River and has sovereignty over that territory by historical and legal right. There is no “occupation.” If the Israeli government decides to give back some of this land in a territory-for-peace deal, it will have done so knowing it is sacrificing part of its historic homeland to hostile Islamic expansionists, not to “a people without a land,” for the Arabs of Palestine, that is the Palestinians, are a majority in Eastern Palestine.
The world has been living with a two-state solution for decades. No matter what the faux King of Jordan may say or do, his country and his people are not Jordanian. Jordan is what anthropologists call an “ethnographic fiction.” The majority of Jordanians are Palestinians living in Mandated Palestine. There can be no peace without the recognition of this simple ethnographic truth. The Pope should know this.
Israel is constantly being told that its control of Judea/Samaria is illegal and undemocratic. We are told that if we continue to hold this territory without making all the inhabitants citizens of Israel, then we are an apartheid state, which all decent people should shun, boycott, divest from and sanction.Dempsey: Israel, IDF have no greater friend on Earth than the US military
But what if I told you (as I was reminded yesterday by a correspondent) that there is another country that occupies territories which it (mostly) gained through conquest, and whose 4,065,516 inhabitants do not have a vote in the legislature and cannot vote for the president, but who still have to obey laws passed by the legislature, pay taxes, and be subject to military conscription?
The largest of these occupied territories has a nationalist movement, had an insurrection put down by force, and even engaged in terrorism against its occupier for nationalistic reasons.
Of course I am talking about the United States and its five inhabited ‘territories’, the largest of which is Puerto Rico.
Unlike the US, which invaded and seized Puerto Rico (along with Guam, Cuba and the Philippines) from Spain during the aggressive Spanish-American war, Israel has a legitimate right to Judea and Samaria based on the Palestine Mandate. Its victory in the defensive war of 1967 overthrew the illegal occupation of the area by Jordan, which invaded it in 1948.
Israel and the IDF have "no greater friend on the face of the Earth than the United States military," US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Gen. Martin Dempsey, told his counterpart in Israel on Tuesday.Ya'alon: I don't see a stable Israeli-Palestinian deal in my lifetime
Dempsey made the warm remarks after receiving a badge of appreciation from IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot at a ceremony held at IDF headquarters, at the Kirya in Tel Aviv.
The ceremony followed a guard of honor held by the IDF for Dempsey.
"I am greatly honored to host your visit to Israel. Your loyalty, friendship, and personal commitment to our security has inspired us," Eisenkot told Dempsey.
"Under your leadership, the cooperation between our militaries has become more powerful," Eisenkot added.
Dempsey responded by saying, "I'm so honored to accept this award. And I accept it on behalf of all of the men and women who had the privilege of serving side by side with the men and women of the IDF."
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon on Tuesday expressed cynicism in regard to the Middle East peace process, saying he did not see a stable deal between Israel and the Palestinians happening in his lifetime.Obama’s Chicago Roots Help Explain His Unfathomable Israel Policy
Speaking at the annual IDC Conference in Herzliya, Ya'alon said Palestinian refusal to compromise has been made clear.
According to Ya'alon, Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state was a central challenge to reaching a peace deal. He also noted previous peace offers under past Israeli prime ministers that the Palestinians did not accept, indicating that the situation would not change in the near future.
"We offered a framework deal on the basis of the Clinton parameters, and the Palestinians walked away from the process," he said of the latest round of peace negotiations that broke down last April.
Ya'alon underlined however, that Israel does not seek to rule the Palestinians, rather that they need to resolve their internal disputes and decide if autonomy will emanate out of the West Bank, Gaza or a unity government.
Turning to Iran, Ya'alon said that despite international sanctions aiming to curb the Islamic Republic's possible nuclear ambitions, Tehran continues to meddle in terrorist activities across the Middle East, including in Gaza.
From the time he stepped foot in Chicago, Jewish liberals such as former congressman and federal judge Abner Mikva and longtime Democratic powerbroker and chairman of the Federal Communications Commission under President Kennedy, Newton Minow, took great interest in young Barack’s future. These accomplished and respectable men may have brought Obama to the Seder table, but his Jewish identity and understanding of the Jewish people would not be shaped by them or longtime Chicago pro-Israel standard bearers and machine Democrats such as Congressman Sidney Yates or Chicago Alderman Berny Stone. Obama would develop his understanding of American Jewry from the next generation of Chicago Democrats. And their notion of supporting Israel was more about political rhetoric than personal responsibility.Obama Admin Defends Meeting with Group That 'Slanders' Israel
Enter the queen of progressive politics and Jewish liberalism in Illinois, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, commonly known in the pro-Israel community as “J Street Jan.”
Ms. Schakowsky is responsible for Barack Obama being president.
One presidential election cycle removed, State Senator Obama was regarded as a joke, and the definition of chutzpah in mainstream Democratic circles and certainly in the African American community. His failed effort in 2000 to defeat longtime incumbent congressman Bobby Rush in the Democratic primary still left a bad taste in the mouth of many outside his loyal progressive Jewish base.
In a statement to Haaretz, an unnamed State Department official defended the meeting with the anti-Israel group. "Officers from the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor met with a representative from the Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence,” said the official. "The State Department regularly meets with a broad array of political and civil society organizations from various countries worldwide."Supreme Court Denies 'Jerusalem, Israel' in Passports; Roberts Slams Majority
"U.S. Government officials met with Breaking the Silence, as we routinely meet with a range of actors from official and non-official international groups, including from civil society,” an unnamed Obama administration official told Haaretz.
According to Foundation for Middle East Peace president Matt Duss, fact that the Obama administration held two meetings with the group indicates that it has an open door to the administration. Haaretz reports:
The founder of the pro-Israel group NGO-Monitor, Gerald Steinberg, told TheBlaze Sunday that the administration giving credibility to Breaking the Silence "is another blow to Israeli perceptions of the U.S."
"The rhetoric of support from President Obama and other officials is undermined when they give credence to these fringe groups that tour the world on European money to demonize Israel and attack Israeli democracy," said Steinberg.
In a blistering dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts argued that recognition was not the issue, but rather the ability of U.S. citizens to identify their birthplace. The majority, he said, twisted itself into knots to avoid implicating what a foreign observer might think of a U.S. passport.Yesterday I was informed that I am not a resident of Israel
The result was that “the Court takes the perilous step–for the first time in our history–of allowing the President to defy an Act of Congress [the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 2002] in the field of foreign affairs.”
In his own dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia argued that the presidential power to recognize foreign states is not clearly exclusive. Like Chief Justice Roberts, he argues that recognition is not the issue, and observes that the plaintiff just wanted the ability to list his own birthplace as “Israel,” not to require that others do so.
Presidents of both parties have resisted efforts by Congress to acknowledge Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem–even West Jerusalem, which is firmly outside the “Green Line” that served as a boundary between Israel and the Jordanian-held West Bank now claimed by Palestinians as the basis for a future state. Whether moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, or allowing “Jerusalem, Israel” to be listed in passports, presidents of both parties have defied Congress.
Yesterday I was informed that I am not a resident of Israel, as I previously believed. Six Supreme Court Justices from the United States informed me that, as far as they were concerned, I am a resident of Jerusalem, Full Stop. Or Jerusalem, Earth. What has been universally regarded as the capital of the Jewish homeland for 67 (and over 3,000) years is suddenly in no man's land, a casualty of those who would rather see this city as part of a political agenda, instead of a home to thousands of Israelis.Time to be honest about Israel's capital
And so Jerusalem, which is the home of the Knesset and the Supreme Court, and the city mentioned in Torah almost 700 times and never once in the Koran, is apparently not to be considered the capital of the Jewish State. Because they say so. And so, please G-d, when I have children who will hopefully be born in some hospital in undisputed and US-sanctioned West Jerusalem, and I apply for an American passport (because I still love and appreciate the country of my birth), those children with be from "Jerusalem, the Universe." "Jerusalem, Nowhere." "Jerusalem, We are too scared of World Opinion to be honest and say it's Israel."
To me, this is a real tragedy. It has negated what our ancestors died for, in Jewish history and in the history of this State. And if I'm honest, it's an act of defiance against our own self-determination. We are being told that the United States is denying our right to choose our own capital. The cabinet is ostensibly saying that, so as not to offend the minority, you must gravely insult the majority. This whole debacle does nothing but weaken the Jewish claim to this city, and perhaps that is the point.
Perhaps there is an unsaid goal that if people say Jerusalem isn't really part of Israel, it will make it so. And the army of anti-Zionists and anti-Semites worldwide is jubilant at this public slight. Just looking at the comments sections of the various articles about this case will give you a glimpse into the international damage this is causing to a people that suffers one assault after another.
The court was right in saying the executive should have wide latitude on foreign policy. That, however, doesn't mean the U.S. stance should remain unchanged. America looks foolish, tying itself in knots with a convoluted, illogical policy.US Jewish groups slam administration’s ‘hypocritical’ view on Jerusalem
This is despite the fact that a better, more reasonable approach is available.
Jerusalem was under Ottoman rule until 1917; then British rule until 1948. In 1948, when the British left, the Jews kept the newer, western side of the city, and Jordan captured the east. In 1967, Israel captured the eastern section and reunified Jerusalem.
Fast forward to recent years, and Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have focused on whether eastern neighborhoods, taken by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War, would be placed under Palestinian sovereignty to become the capital of a new state.
But U.S. policy should reflect the fact that the western side of the city is not in play, because the only people who reject Israeli sovereignty over the west are those who reject Israel's right to exist. Why, then, does Washington not acknowledge that western Jerusalem, at the very least, is Israel's capital?
A long list of major American Jewish organizations, many of which had filed amicus briefs supporting the inclusion of the word “Israel” on passports for US citizens born in Jerusalem, expressed dismay at Monday’s Supreme Court ruling that American citizens born in Jerusalem may only list their birthplace as Jerusalem, rather than as Jerusalem, Israel.The Supreme Court Decision on Jerusalem Lets Obama Ignore Reality
The ruling affirmed that the president holds the power to grant formal recognition to a foreign nation and that Congress cannot pass a law directing the State Department how to record the place of birth of a child born to American parents abroad. The original case was brought by the parents of now-13-year-old Menachem Zivotofsky, in an effort to have “Israel” appear on their Jerusalem-born son’s US passport.
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, an umbrella group representing 51 organizations, issued a statement saying that the organization’s leaders were “deeply concerned” by the ruling.
“We do not believe that Jerusalem-born American citizens having Israel on their passport would impinge on future negotiations or compromise the role of the United States,” argued Chairman Stephen Greenberg and Executive Vice Chairman and CEO Malcolm Hoenlein. “Tens of thousands of Americans are affected by this decision.”
The administration thinks being upheld on this point is good for America because it allows it to continue maintaining the fiction that Jerusalem isn’t part of Israel. The bizarre refusal of the U.S. to formally acknowledge that even West Jerusalem — that section that has always been part of Israel since May 1948 — is part of the Jewish state also makes peace less likely. The administration or any of its predecessors could have simply moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem even if they insisted that the eastern part was not part of Israel. But they have all refused, making it even more difficult for Palestinians to recognize Israel’s legitimacy.Palestinians: US court ruling on Jerusalem passports sends a message to Israeli 'occupier'
Reversing that stand would be unpopular in the Arab and Muslim world. This fiction enables the Palestinians to go on insisting that Israel give up the portions of the city that were illegally occupied by Jordan between 1948-1967. The presumption is that once peace is achieved between Israel and the Palestinians, including, at least according to President Obama, a re-partition of the city, the U.S. might have a more realistic policy about Jerusalem. What’s wrong with that seemingly position is that so long as the U.S. is encouraging the Palestinians to think they can have all of that portion of Israel’s capital as part of that state — including mostly 40-year-old neighborhoods where hundreds of thousands of Jews live — they’ll never come to terms with the fact that they are going to have to accept a compromise and leave those people in place and allow the city to remain united.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Obama, more than any other president since 1967 has encouraged this delusion by treating these Jewish neighborhoods as being as offensive to him, and the Jews who live there as just as liable to be thrown out of their homes as the most remote West Bank settlement. That broke new and even more dangerous ground on the issue and made a resolution on Jerusalem even less likely to happen in the foreseeable future.
Obama can celebrate the court’s dubious endorsement of his power to deny reality in Jerusalem, but no one should be under the impression that this is good for peace. All the Supreme Court decision on Jerusalem has done is to reinforce the president’s worst instincts that reflexively always cause him to prefer his fantasies about Jerusalem and the rest of the region to reality and common sense.
Palestinian Authority chief negotiator Saeb Erekat lauded Monday's ruling, saying it will send a message to the Israeli government that "Jerusalem is an occupied territory."PreOccupied Territory: SCOTUS Upholds Presidential Prerogative To Conduct Crappy Foreign Policy (satire)
The court's decision served as a major blow to more than a decade of efforts to bolster Jerusalem's status under American law as an undisputed part of Israel.
Erekat added that the top American court's ruling highlighted "that the Israeli decision to annex Jerusalem to be settlements, to dictate the results of negotiations before they begin by demolishing homes, by expelling Palestinians, fait accompli policies, is not going to lead anywhere."
"It's a total violation of international law," he added.
Meanwhile, Nabil Abu Rdaineh, spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas, hailed the "important decision" that he said runs in accordance with UN resolutions.
"This is a clear message that Israel occupies east Jerusalem as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip," he charged.
With its ruling the Court cleared the way for the Obama administration to subject its State Department and White House spokespeople to embarrassing press conferences and question-and-answer sessions regarding its policy on Jerusalem, which is completely under Israeli sovereignty and Israel considers its capital. Already, a State Department spokesman has had to reiterate a wishy-washy avoidance of AP correspondent Matt Lee’s simple question as to what the US considers Israel’s capital, and what country it considers Jerusalem to be part of.Prosor: Arab Chaos Good for Israel at the UN
The lack of clarity on Jerusalem, which applies even to the western sections Israel secured in its 1948 War of Independence, composes one element of a larger crappy foreign policy that is the Executive branch’s domain. Larger components of the lousy policy include the betrayal of US allies along the Arabian Peninsula by all but allowing Iran to develop nuclear weapons, and the ancillary effect of that betrayal as an increase in the number of countries that will pursue atomic weapons technology as a result. Also contributing to the sewer-worthy policy are Obama’s refusal to do anything about Syran President Basher Assad’s use of chemical weapons in defiance of Obama’s own specific red lines, and his administration’s wimpy response to Russian aggression in Ukraine.
“The Constitution in in Article II has always been interpreted to mean that the president, not the legislature, controls foreign policy,” wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy in the decision. “While the framers may have intended for the president to follow a consistent, or at least constructive, foreign policy is neither here nor there, since the language of the Constitution unequivocally supports presidential authority even under the current circumstances, in which the president would likely achieve better results by personally dunking the heads of all foreign ambassadors in an unflushed White House toilet.”
While the UN continues to focus its condemnations against the Jewish state at a disproportionate ratio, according to Israeli Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor the Middle East is changing, and that will work to Israel's advantage at the UN.Poll: 71% Believe World Has Bias Against Israel
Speaking on Tuesday at the final day of the Herzliya Conference, Prosor said the incessant invective directed against Israel at the UN is nothing less than "daily terror."
"No matter what your political views, there is a process of demonization and delegitimization that exists at the UN," he said.
However, Prosor argued that with Iran pushing to expand its regional influence and obtain nuclear power, along with the threat of an unstable Syria in which Islamic State (ISIS) is running amok, several states at the UN are changing their tune.
"Saudi Arabia's interests, right now, overlap with the interests of the state of Israel," argued Prosor. "There is a rope around the neck of Saudi Arabia and others, and it's not connected to the Palestinian issue. We need to take advantage of it for our own purposes."
Another force of change at the UN is seen in the form of Israeli innovations, particularly those used to advance developing countries.
The majority of Israelis believe the international community imposes moral double-standards on Israel - and has a definitive bias against the Jewish state.In secret visit, CIA chief said to brief Netanyahu on Iran
According to a Peace Index survey of the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University (TAU) held in May, 71% of Israelis believe the world has a specific anti-Israel bias; 66.4% of Israelis believe Israel's international relations are "bad."
A minority of 3.2% of respondents believe that relations between Israel and other countries are "very good" and 30.5% believe relations are "quite good."
The survey, with 600 respondents, was published by Walla! News Tuesday morning.
Support for Judea-Samaria - at least from afar
The poll also revealed a split in public opinion regarding plans to separate public transport for Israelis and Palestinian Arabs living in Judea and Samaria, with 45.2% in favor of the plan - which was axed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu last month - and 46.5% opposing.
Regarding the issue of labeling products produced in Judea-Samaria around the world for boycott purposes, the poll revealed that Israelis refuse to buy into the campaign.
Just 10.5% stated they would refuse to buy products labeled as "settlement" products, whereas 75.7% would continue to buy products from over 1949 Armistice lines; 8.3% are unsure.
The director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, John Brennan, met with senior Israel officials last week during a classified trip to the country to discuss the emerging nuclear deal with Iran, the Haaretz daily reported Tuesday.IAEA Chief: Iran Probe Could Take 'Years and Years'
The report was sourced to two unnamed Israeli officials, and noted that Brennan had met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen, Military Intelligence head Herzl Halevi and other senior members of Israel’s intelligence community.
Along with Iran’s nuclear program and the emerging accord between Tehran and the world powers — a deadline for a long-term deal has been set for June 30 — the talks reportedly focused on Iranian activities in the region, presumably including its increasing involvement in Syria and its weapons transfers to Hezbollah.
Trailing Brennan, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey arrived in Israel Monday for high-level meetings with IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot as well as Netanayhu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.
Concluding that Iran's nuclear program is entirely peaceful will take "years and years", the head of the UN’s atomic watchdog said Monday, even if Iran and the six world powers sign an accord this month.Debate In Iran On Nuclear Negotiations, Civil Rights, View Of U.S., Eliminating Israel – Pragmatic Camp Rep: Who Authorized Iran To Eliminate Israel?Ideological Camp Rep: 'The Koran'
"I cannot say at this stage how long it will take (to make this assessment) but it is a matter of years at least. Not months, not weeks, but years. Years and years," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Yukiya Amano told reporters, according to the AFP news agency.
Amano said reaching this "broader conclusion" on Iran's nuclear program depended in large part on Tehran implementing the Additional Protocol of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, as some 120 countries have done.
Under a framework nuclear deal agreed by Iran and six world powers in April that is meant to be finalized by the end of this month, Iran undertook to provisionally apply the protocol.
Doing so will oblige Iran to submit a "very detailed declaration" of its nuclear facilities and to update this every three months, Amano said, according to AFP.
On May 11, 2015, the medical school in Qom, Iran hosted a debate on the nuclear negotiations, on the suppression of civil rights in Iran, on views of the U.S. in Iran,and on the issue of the elimination of Israel. The debate, between Mojtaba Zolnoor, who is Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's advisor in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and Prof. Sadegh Zibakalam of Tehran University ,who is affiliated with the reform movement and a supporter of the pragmatic camp led by Expediency Council head Hashemi Rafsanjani, largely reflected the power struggle between Iran's pragmatic and ideological camps.Palestinian official: United States created Islamic State
In the debate, Zibakalam claimed that the ideological camp was using the slogan "nuclear program" along with hostility towards the U.S. as means to control the country, after appropriating Iran's Islamic Revolution from the pragmatists and the reformists. He said that the ideological camp was suppressing individual rights and the civil society that the Iranian people had attempted to gain by means ofthe Revolution. Addressing Supreme Leader Khamenei and the IRGC, Zibakalam said that the West's objections to Iran's nuclear program are not because the West is against Iran progressing, but because the West fears that the program will lead to Iran producing a nuclear bomb – especially in light of calls by Khamenei and the IRGC to eliminate Israel.
Zolnoor said in response that the nuclear program was vital to preserving the independence of Iran's Islamic regime against the West, which he says aims to remove this regime. He also stressed that the Koran authorizes Iran to eliminate Israel.
A Fatah Central Committee member accused the US of creating the Islamic State terror group while speaking on a Syrian news show earlier this month.Rather than oust Hamas, Israel favors ‘cumulative deterrence’ in Gaza
Abbas Zaki, who was previously a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told Syrian News TV on June 2 the region is on a “destructive path” that was brought about by “the ‘constructive anarchy’ initiated by the US, which was, in fact, ‘destructive anarchy.'”
America has failed the Middle East, he went on, and now “the US is destroying itself by its own hand.”
Asked to clarify, Zaki explained, “They created IS, but cannot control it. Some countries that used to be American allies are now looking for a savior, because they realized that the administration cannot help them or make any agreement with them.”
The return of rocket fire on the Israeli south has illuminated the predicament of Hamas — trapped between Israel and Egypt; at war with the PA and the Salafists; torn between Saudi Arabia and Iran — and raised the question of whether Israel is one of the few regional actors keenly interested in preserving Hamas rule over Gaza.Hamas Official: Armed Resistance Against Israel is Not Negotiable
More to the point: Is it a strategy that holds water? Does it make sense to perpetuate the rule of a sworn and skilled enemy, or should Israel, a regional superpower, be using its strength to facilitate change?
A close look reveals that there is an array of options, and that the current Israeli leadership prefers, when plotting its course, to perpetuate the status quo, building a still-in-the-making “cumulative deterrence,” which aims, over time, to sap the Islamist enemy’s will to fight.
The first unused option, highlighted by the recent Salafist opposition to Hamas in Gaza, is to abandon the policy of military and economic containment of Hamas and plot for its overthrow. This is an attainable goal. But the likely results of such a move are very much in evidence all across the region — the chaos of west Iraq, Libya, Sinai, and the Golan Heights, areas all under the dubious control of Salafist groups.
Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar said that armed resistance against Israel is not negotiable, according to a report published on the Saudi-backed website Alresalah on Monday.Soccer player Gazza spooked by Gaza
Armed resistance is not a political issue that may be negotiated, said al-Zahhar in a meeting organized by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in Khan Younis City on Sunday to commemorate the day Jerusalem was occupied.
“It is neither a controversial, nor a negotiable issue; it is, rather, dogmatic fundamental cause in struggle with Israel,” said al-Zahhar, referring to armed resistance, pointing out that Israel has long sought to erase the Palestinian constants, concerning the Palestinian lands, Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Al-Zahhar stressed that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) refuses a Palestinian state within the 1967 or 1948 territories, saying “Our policy is Palestine, all of Palestine”. He explained that Palestine as a whole is a part of the Islamic dogma that is derived from the Holy Qura’an.
Despite reports of friction between Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), al-Zahhar said that the two groups enjoy “full coordination” in military matters.
Gascoigne was even ‘sectioned’ — detained under mental health legislation — by his family when he became convinced his phone had been hacked, but last month he was one of a number of British celebrities awarded legal damages in London’s High Court for phone hacking by Mirror Group Newspapers.Harsh Conditions Threaten Grades Of Inmates Taking Free College Courses (satire)
“I had a great career,” Gascoigne said Monday. “There’s been parts since I stopped playing that I’ve really enjoyed, and then I get knocked down again for no reason.
“Sometimes it’s got to the stage now where I hate Saturday nights, because jack shit knows what’s coming in the papers on Sunday.
“I tell you what was the worst one, the Gaza Strip. You know the term the Gaza Strip, remember that? That was murder for me. I’d be sitting there having a shave and that, and the news would come on ‘And the Gazza…’ and I’d be like ‘What’s that?!’ and I realized it was the Gaza Strip. I couldn’t wait for that to end.”
A recent tightening of rules in this military prison has made it difficult for inmates to focus properly on the free postsecondary education they receive, prisoners are complaining.Will Recep Erdoğan’s Turkish Election Defeat Save Democracy?
After an inmate gave an interview last week to a Hamas-run TV station using a cellular phone from inside a prison, Israeli authorities cracked down, and have taken measures to ensure no further breaches of imposed isolation take place. As a result of that and other restrictions, however, inmates note that they are having a hard time focusing properly on the lessons and coursework for the free university-level education that Israel provides.
“I’m trying to get a degree in Marxist political theory, but the new disciplinary regime is putting a damper on my studying schedule,” said Freel Oder, 29. Oder is serving two life sentences for his role in a Tel Aviv bus bombing in 2002 that left five Israelis dead, but he anticipates being released one day in a prisoner swap. “When I do get out – and it’s inevitable, given how hard Hamas is trying to kidnap soldiers – I need to be on top of my political and intellectual game. I can’t do that if my time in the prison library is limited to half an hour a day.”
International human rights organizations have decried the new restrictions. “We call on Israel to undo the oppressive new regulations, which infringe on the rights of the prisoners,” said Amnesty International spokesman Freeda Krimnalz.
While some diplomats may say that the elections prove that democracy can overcome autocracy, even if a new government forms — whether or not the AKP is part of it — optimism that the damage done by more than 12 years of one-party AKP rule can be overcome may be misplaced. On key issues of concern to the United States — for example, Turkey’s indirect and even direct support for radical Islamist terrorist groups in Syria — Erdoğan has delegated authority to organizations like the Turkish intelligence service (Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı, MİT) which do not answer to any democratic authority.Turkey's View of Israel
Erdoğan has also permanently altered the bureaucracy by maneuvering religious school graduates into key positions and even Turkey’s military, purged and cowed so that it is a shadow of its former self. Add into the mix a steady diet of anti-Americanism and conspiratorial incitement, and Turkey will remain one of the most anti-American countries on earth.
If the elections lead to gridlock and new elections, expect the would-be sultan to take his gloves off. There has been a bizarre undercurrent in recent weeks in Turkey threatening war with Syria. No one believes it, but it presents a useful excuse to suspend elections and rule by fiat. In new elections, he might also provoke extreme violence to keep the HDP below the threshold in any new election. Kurds will not believe the results should he do so, and tremendous violence would result, but if Erdoğan cannot rule without dissent, then he will be willing to send Turkey into the morass.
Turks are at the precipice. To suggest smooth sailing from here would be naivete of the same sort that brought us the “reset” with Russia, the notion that Bashar al-Assad was a reformer, or, for that matter, the idea that Iran could be a trusted partner.
A large number of the citizens of Turkey, a NATO member, see Israel and the United States as enemies.Palestinian Refugee Problem Solved, As Turkey’s President Builds $615 Million Housing Project in Ankara (satire)
A survey conducted recently in Turkey found that nearly half the country's citizens (42.6%) see Israel as the biggest security threat, followed by the United States (35.5%), and only then Syria (22.1%).
How do they visualize Israel, a country with which they have made several military and trade agreements, as being a security threat? Do they think Israel would ever invade Turkey? Bomb Turkey? Nuke Turkey? This view seems to be based on either religion-induced paranoia caused by Islamic anti-Semitism, or else their understanding of reality has been distorted Nazi-style by Turkish leaders and the media.
The problem is that the false myth of Israel's being an "occupier" and "troublemaker" has been indoctrinated into the minds of most Turkish children from their early years. Almost all of us -- including myself -- grew up with an extreme prejudice against Israel. The media's unethical coverage of the Israel/Palestine conflict -- including both the Islamist and Kemalist (secular nationalist) media -- seems to be the number one reason why people in Turkey have remained so misinformed and brainwashed about the issue.
Only the intensity of the prejudice changes according to what newspaper or TV channel you follow or what family raises you. Islamic anti-Semitism, even if we might not be aware of it, has a lot to do with this kind of upbringing.
A short scanning of Turkish newspapers and TV channels would also clearly show their continual hateful propaganda against Israel.
Single-handedly ending 67 years of statelessness for millions of Palestinians, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Monday that a $615 million palace in Ankara will be devoted exclusively to housing Palestinian refugees.
Erdogan’s announcement debunked months of news reports claiming that the building, 30 times the size of the White House, would instead be a lavish Presidential Palace with more than 1,150 rooms, all for Erdogan’s personal use. Erdogan waited until after Sunday’s parliamentary elections to make the announcement in order to avoid deriving any unfair political benefits from his generosity.
“While I am strongly committed to the Palestinian people’s well-being, I would never use the Palestinian issue for some kind of political gain,” Erdogan explained.
Erdogan will remain in the modest prime minister’s palace, though he asked the Turkish parliament to find $20 in the national budget so he could purchase a can of RAID to battle the building’s cockroach problem.
Erdogan, famous for his cool demeanor and tolerance towards the media and political opponents, spent the rest of the day Monday calling reporters to assure them there were no hard feelings about their critical coverage regarding the palace.
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