Monday, August 10, 2015
Ugliness: Iran deal supporters call Schumer a greedy, disloyal Jew
Ever since the White House leaked Thursday night that Sen. Chuck Schumer would be coming out against the Iran deal, the progressive movement has foamed at the mouth with vitriol directed Schumer’s way.What 29 top US scientists don’t know
Much of it is just the plain old progressive vitriol of the MoveOn.org, Daily Kos and netroots types. Schumer is a warmonger, wants war, loves war, and so on.
Obama set up that argument when he claimed that Republicans were making common cause with hardline Iranians — even though Obama clinched the deal with hardline Iranians who are laughing all the way to the bank and an internationally-authorized nuclear enrichment program.
Obama set up the disloyalty argument, and it’s no surprise that it’s being used against Democrats who don’t support the deal, particularly Jewish Democrats like Schumer.
That dual loyalty charge — often expressed in terms of being an “Israel firster” — is an old anti-Semitic line of attack, as we explored in detail in a prior post, GreenStar boycott group trainer hurls “Israel-firster” slur at Schumer.
The dual loyalty charge is almost exclusively made against Jewish supporters of Israel. You rarely hear it used against American Christians who support Israel.
As The Tablet magazine reports, given the various dog whistles put out by the Obama administration, it’s no wonder these type of accusations are resurfacing.
Schumer long has been a target of that charge by the anti-Israel boycott movement and anti-Zionist progressive websites.
Now it is on overdrive. (h/t fizziks)
The recent letter of support sent to President Obama for his Iran deal secured last month – signed by 29 scientists, including Nobel laureates – was obviously well-timed to lend firmer scientific backing to what many regard as a severely flawed nuclear deal. This is an impressive group of individuals, with achievements that speak for themselves, and their opinions obviously matter. Yet, the very fact of their scientific achievements does not mean that their assessments of the deal are correct. Indeed, their collective judgment of the Iran deal must be assessed on its merits. And in this regard, unfortunately, more than anything else, the contents of the letter echo the well-known talking points of the Obama administration, and suffer from some of the same deficiencies.Indonesia grants Israeli athlete visa, ending standoff
If this highly respected group of scientists is not aware, for example, that the 24-day cap on Iran’s ability to delay an investigation into a facility suspected of supporting clandestine activities could actually be much longer than that, why would we attribute any more authority to this letter than to other sources making similar arguments to support the deal? If the group had scrutinized paragraphs 75-76 in the Access section – that are not about science, but rather politics – they would have seen that Iran’s ability to play for time regarding inspections of suspicious military facilities begins when the IAEA first submits its concerns, and waits for Iran’s clarification. The 24-day count begins only after that, if and when the IAEA makes a request for access; but the preliminary phase has no time limit.
And there are additional dangerous ambiguities in the deal. There are holes and loopholes and flaws that Iran can abuse for its purposes. So when one assesses the deal, the scientific aspects are certainly important, but that is not where the assessment ends. Rather, there is a need to consider the history of dealing with Iran, and the experience gained thereby. Iran has shown its determination not only to hold on to its vast nuclear infrastructure and breakout capability, but continues its highly aggressive attitude toward the US and the Middle East. Moreover, Iran has over the years perfected tactics of playing for time, and has made it very clear that it will not tolerate inspections at its military sites where suspicions are that it has worked on a military nuclear capability. If pressed on inspections in the coming years, Iran will most likely continue to evade and play for time, and the deal dangerously provides ample room for Iran to do so.
Indonesia granted an Israeli badminton player a visa to enter the country and compete in the world championships in Jakarta after a months-long standoff, Israel’s national Olympic committee said Monday.
The Olympic Committee of Israel said Misha Zilberman, 26, had been cleared to enter Indonesia — the world’s most populous Muslim country — after being repeatedly denied a visa because he is Israeli.
OCI secretary general Gili Lustig said Zilberman had been waiting in Singapore for two weeks after making an initial visa application six months ago. He said the Badminton World Federation intervened to ensure Zilberman could secure a visa.
Zilberman was scheduled to fly from Singapore to Jakarta on Monday accompanied by his mother, also a badminton player, as well as the CEO of the Badminton World Federation, Lustig said. Zilberman is set to compete on Tuesday.
Lustig said the visa delay had prevented Zilberman from properly training for the championships.
“But for us it’s a big victory that he will be there,” Lustig said. “Now he’s an ambassador for Israeli sport.”
JPost Editorial: Room for debate
It’s difficult to decide which was the most incendiary of US President Barack Obama’s comments during his speech last week at American University in defense of his Iran deal – also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).Dear Ben Rhodes at the White House: How Bush Sr Reacted to Anti-Semitism
Was it his attempt to equate America’s Republican Party with the fundamentalist Shi’ite mullahs running the Islamic Republic? That is essentially what the US president did when he claimed Iranian fanatics opposed to the deal were “making common cause with the Republican caucus.”
The US president’s attempt to transform the JCPOA into a partisan issue, however, has failed miserably.
A number of key Jewish Democrats in Congress have said they will oppose the Iran deal. US Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) is the most senior Jewish member of Congress to declare his intention to oppose the deal. Congressman Eliot Engel (D-New York) also declared his opposition to the agreement. Engel joins four other Democratic lawmakers from New York House of Representatives who are opposed.
Perhaps the most caustic barb was Obama’s claim that there are no plausible arguments against the JCPOA. Opposition is not about substance, claimed Obama, but about “knee-jerk partisanship,” about the same sort of warmongering that went on before America’s invasion of Iraq. Yet, Obama chooses to forget that it is his own leadership style that has contributed so much to this very same “knee-jerk partisanship” that characterizes debate about nearly every important foreign or domestic policy decision throughout his two terms as president.
Jewish leaders in the United States were concerned then over the nastiness and innuendos those debates sparked — “dog whistles,” as they are referred to now — messages heard and amplified by anti-Semites. During the AWACS debate, the “attack” command was given when the “Begin or Reagan” dual loyalty canard was issued.Opposing Iran deal ‘is not meddling in US affairs,’ Israeli official insists
The New York Times refers to President George H.W. Bush going public during the 1991 fight over housing loan guarantees for Israel, when he said he was just “one lonely little guy” going up against a thousand lobbyists on Capitol Hill. The Times doesn’t report on the statement’s repercussions: a new wave of anti-Semitism was unleashed, and the President requested a meeting with leaders of the Jewish community.
In preparation, I provided the Chairwoman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Shoshana Cardin, with the text of a speech given by Vice President Bush to Yeshiva University in 1985. In it, he defended American Jews against the charge of dual loyalty and upheld their right and duty to lobby the government. When she showed it to the President in 1991, he was somewhat taken aback, she told me.
There was no official Israeli reaction to the Obama interview, however, with diplomatic sources in Jerusalem quoted as saying that Netanyahu had no desire to cause further friction in relations.Ben-Dror Yemini: 'Jewish power' is an illusion
In the CNN interview, when it was put it to Obama that Netanyahu has “injected himself forcefully” into the debate in Washington over the deal, the president said, “right.”
Asked whether this was appropriate, the president responded: “I’ll let you ask Prime Minister Netanyahu that question if he gives you an interview,” then added: “I don’t recall a similar example.”
Earlier Monday, Dore Gold, the Foreign Ministry director general and a confidant of Netanyahu, defended the prime minister’s approach.
“We are looking at what the implications of the deal are,” he told Army Radio. “The prime minister has … a duty to warn the US public and the world of the implications of the deal.”
As an example, Gold pointed to the cash that will flow into Iran as internationally imposed sanctions are lifted in the wake of the deal.
He argued that in there would be “$150 billion added to the Iranian coffers and from there transferred to the terror organizations surrounding Israel like Hamas and Hezbollah and groups in Syria.”
Israel, he said, wants to highlight such ramifications of the deal in the hope that “in the internal debate in Congress and in the international debate between the US and its allies, they will raise these matters.”
Gold asserted that Israel’s push against the deal within the US is an acceptable strategy. He noted that he had heard that deputy foreign ministers from Germany, Britain and France had also gone to Washington, where they spoke to congressmen about the deal.
In the anti-Semitic rhetoric, the American press in general and the New York Times in particular are noticeable features of the "Jewish power." There is one thing that can be said for certain about the New York Times: It is not pro-Israel. It is a power center which is equivalent at least to the Conference of Presidents, and probably much more.Iran Deal Backers Have a Bridge to Sell You
And in general, Israel's strongest critics are Jewish professors and journalists. The Jews are much more represented than their relative proportion in the population in the BDS campaign. So all the talks about "Jewish power" when it comes to automatic support for Israel are nonsense.
The public opinion in the US has indeed changed. Immediately after the agreement with Iran was signed, there was an absolute majority in favor of it – both in the general public and among the Jews. Now most Americans are against the agreement, and it turns out that most Jews are too. It didn't happen because of the "Jewish power." It happened because of Secretary of State John Kerry's embarrassing testimony to the Senate, and because more and more faults were exposed in the agreement.
If this trend continues, it won't be thanks to the successful campaign launched by Netanyahu or the Jewish lobby, but because of Obama's failed marketing. He is the one who crossed red lines, and he may pay the price.
In a blistering letter published by the New York Times last week, American Jewish leader Seymour Reich denounced Israel’s prime minister for interfering in America’s affairs by urging Congress to reject the Iran deal. Reich is a former chairman of the Presidents’ Conference and once headed the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Commission. Which means he should have known better.US envoy: Netanyahu won’t talk to us about day after deal
For the very same day that Reich’s letter appeared, diplomats from the five European and Asian countries involved in negotiating the deal were on Capitol Hill, urging Congress to accept the Iran deal. Will Seymour Reich now write a follow-up letter, accusing the European and Asian diplomats of interfering in America’s affairs? Don’t hold your breath.
In his August 7 letter, Reich argued that Netanyahu’s appeals to American Jewry and Congress have been “wholly inappropriate” because they “constituted an intrusion by a foreign leader into American domestic politics.”
Reich continued: “It’s up to the United States to make a decision on this deal on its merits.” Well, of course it is, and it will. Prime Minister Netanyahu is forcefully expressing his opinion as to the specific merits of the Iran deal, and Members of Congress will weigh his opinion along with the opinions of many others, and then decide. How can it be “inappropriate” for the prime minister of the country most endangered by the deal to express his opinion on it?
Dan Shapiro, the US ambassador to Israel, said Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been ignoring appeals to begin talks on ramped up security cooperation with the US based on the assumption that Congress will approve the nuclear deal with Iran.I was wrong about Schumer, and it feels so good
Shapiro proposed that current disagreements on the nuclear deal, which Israel strongly opposes, should not get in the way of planning for a future in the Middle East shaped by the agreement.
“So far, the prime minister is not prepared to hold talks,” he told Army Radio. “I think that the time has come. Why wait? I think he will decide to do it.”
Shapiro said he had informed Netanyahu that Israel can begin professional talks with the US to look at ways of improving the security cooperation between the countries, particularly vis-a-vis threats from Iran.
Never has being wrong felt so good, nor has a mistake been so worth celebrating.Webb Opposes Iran Nuclear Agreement: ‘I Think It’s a Bad Deal’
Chuck Schumer surprised me in all the best ways. His opposition to the terrible Iran nuke deal is breathtakingly bold and opens the door to actually defeating it. That would be one of the best things to happen to America, Israel and the civilized world in a very long time.
Let us count the ways Schumer’s decision matters.
First, because he is the next Senate Democratic leader, I expected him to follow a president from his party and the majority of his caucus. He may pay a price for breaking out of the political box, but he gives cover to other Dems to do the same.
Second, his timing. Schumer announced his decision only a day after Obama made an impassioned, partisan appeal. Any momentum Obama had was stopped by Schumer, who effectively rebuked the president’s shameless attempt to link Republicans to Iranian hardliners. That rancid argument is now dead.
Democratic presidential candidate Jim Webb said he was opposed to the Iran nuclear agreement being aggressively pushed by the Obama administration, telling Fox News on Sunday that “I think it’s a bad deal,” according to The Weekly Standard.Rubio to Iran Deal Supporters: You’ll Live With This Vote for the Rest of Your Life
Webb joins Republicans and a growing group of Democrats that have stated they oppose the agreement that President Obama has trumpeted as a “very good deal” to keep Iran from attaining a nuclear weapon. During his political push last week to garner enough support on Capitol Hill for the deal to survive, Obama compared Iranian hardliners who chant “Death to America” to the Republican caucus that has lined up against it.
However, key Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) announced he was also opposed to the deal last week, leading to a war of words with the White House that Webb said he found disheartening.
“I think we need to put country ahead of party,” Webb said. “It troubles me when I see all this debate about whether this is disloyalty to the president or to the Democratic Party, particularly with what Chuck Schumer has gone through. I think I’ve always done that. I think that’s what leadership really is, particularly in foreign policy.”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) advised his Democratic colleagues Monday to embrace “statesmanship, not partisanship” in their nuclear deal vote, saying a vote to approve the deal will dog them forever.Ted Cruz: States Should Impose Own Iran Sanctions
“I’ve been very clear with my Democratic colleagues: this is a vote that you will live with the rest of your life and the rest of your career and a decade from now,” Rubio said on “Fox & Friends.”
“When Iran has a long-range rocket that can reach the United States, you’ll have to explain why you voted to make that possible,” Rubio said.
An international ban on Iran’s development of ballistic missiles—weapons that can be fitted with a nuclear payload and launched at countries like the U.S. and Israel—will be lifted after eight years as part of the deal negotiated by President Obama.
Rubio encouraged supporters of the deal to follow the example of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), who last week joined a growing group of Democratic lawmakers opposed to the deal. The coalition of lawmakers in favor of the deal is so far composed entirely of Democrats.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told a town hall Sunday evening that U.S. states should continue their Iran sanctions–and impose new ones–to stop the Iranian regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon.What will happen if Congress says No to Iran Deal?
“I think that states should act and lead to do exactly that,” he said, speaking before a crowd of 750 near Birmingham, as reported by Roll Call.
Cruz cited the constitutional precedent set by his own litigation before the Supreme Court in Medellin v. Texas (2008), in which the Court held that international treaties do not trump state law unless accompanied by enabling federal legislation.
“[W]e ought to do everything we can to resist this … Iranian deal,” Cruz said, calling on the states to lead.
Both New York and California intend to retain their sanctions on Iran, according to legislators who spoke with Breitbart News. New York in particular maintains a blacklist of companies and individuals that are prevented from contracting with the State of New York.
If the deal falls, the sky won’t: there was no war before the deal and there won’t be without it. If Congress says no, then status quo sanctions will simply remain in place—Obama be damned—while we wait for Iran to come sulking back to negotiate, probably with a less accommodating president.Study: Iran Terror Funding Gets $4.8 Billion Boost Under Nuke Deal
It’s not unthinkable that Congress could even ratchet up harsher sanctions, and that Obama would have no choice but to bite his tongue and sign them, lest he come off a sore loser. Though the President has sprung like lightning to disassemble the P5+1 coalition, Congress still holds the glittering prize.
Iran desperately wants to be reconnected to the West’s international banking network, and wants its $150 billion assets that remain frozen in banks throughout the world. Congress can deny it this, even if America’s international partners ease up a bit. The US Congress is still the 800 pound gorilla in the world financial system.
And as Bret Stephens explained a month ago in The Wall Street Journal, there is still more financial leverage to be had:
“Then again, serious sanctions were only imposed on Iran in November 2011. They cut the country’s oil exports by half, shut off its banking system from the rest of the world, sent the rial into free fall and caused the inflation rate to soar to 60%. By October 2013 Iran was six months away from a severe balance-of-payments crisis, according to estimates by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. And that was only the first turn of the economic screw: Iran’s permitted oil exports could have been cut further; additional sanctions could have been imposed on the “charitable” foundations controlled by Iran’s political, military and clerical elite. Instead of turning the screw, Mr. Obama relieved the pressure the next month by signing on to the interim agreement now in force.”
Under the parameters of the deal, Iran will receive nearly $150 billion in sanctions relief and cash assets. Because the money comes with no strings attached, it is expected that Iran will spend the money to fund its global terrorism operation, as well as its defense sector.Firms linked to Revolutionary Guards to win sanctions relief under Iran deal
The cash windfall will allow Iran to put another $4.8 billion into its defense budget if current spending trends remain the same, according to a new study by the American Action Forum (AAF).
The study comes amid multiple reports indicating that Iran is building a series of new weaponized drones, missile defense shields, and other types of military hardware meant to deter an attack from Western forces in the region.
Iran is currently spending about 3.4 percent of its total public budget on defense, according to AAF, which used official documents published by Iran to conduct its study.
About 65 percent of the money budgeted for defense is spent on Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the elite paramilitary fighting force that is known to coordinate and conduct terror activities across the globe.
Dozens of companies tied to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, a military force commanding a powerful industrial empire with huge political influence, will win sanctions relief under a nuclear deal agreed with world powers.Iran Claims 60 Percent Rise in US Exports to Country in First Half of 2015
The development is likely to anger critics of the accord, not least in the United States and Israel, but may be welcomed by Iranians eager for Iran to reopen to the outside world. The IRGC will act for Western firms in many ways as a gatekeeper to some of the most lucrative areas of Iran's economy.
Such is the clout of companies with ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which sees itself as the defender of Iran's Islamic revolutionary ideals and bulwark against US influence, that their release from financial curbs could by itself help ease return of swathes of the economy to the mainstream of world trade.
The process is complex and will unfold in stages, with some firms obliged to wait eight years for sanctions relief and others who can expect no concession even then from Washington, a reflection of concerns over activities beyond Iran's borders.
Among the latter is the IRGC's construction arm Khatam al Anbia, controlling at least 812 affiliated companies worth billions of dollars and deemed by Washington "proliferators of weapons of mass destruction."
U.S. exports to Iran during the first six months of 2015 rose by 60 percent compared to the corresponding period last year, regime-aligned Iranian news agency Tasnim reported on Friday, citing “U.S. government data.”Nuke Deal to Increase LGBT Persecution in Iran, Tie Western Companies to Human Rights Abuses
According to the report, American trade in goods with Iran from January to June 2015 jumped to $140.5 million from $88 million a year earlier.
Additionally, Tasnim claimed, Iran’s ranking on the list of the U.S.’s top export destinations saw an improvement, rising from 138th to 113th in the first half of 2015.
However, the United States had not imported any goods from Iran, in both 2015 and 2014.
U.S.-Iranian trade has dramatically decreased over the past decade in the wake of Western sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear program.
The nuclear deal with Iran will empower a regime that has killed an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 gays and lesbians since 1979 and enable the increased persecution of sexual minorities in the Islamic Republic, Benjamin Weinthal, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, wrote in an analysis published Saturday at PinkNews.First openly gay UK ambassador ‘proud’ to be in Israel
European companies are flocking to Iran to sell “dual-use” equipment that can be used for military or civilian purposes.
The CEO of the Austrian crane manufacturer Palfinger AG said last week that Iran is a “promising market,” where there is a strong demand for cranes as there is no domestic production. After a human rights group in Vienna circulated a photograph of an Iranian man hanged using a Palfinger crane, a company spokesman walk-backed the CEO’s interest in re-entering that market.
Sadly, some prominent gays have profoundly misjudged the terror of Iran’s regime. The acclaimed American poet Allen Ginsberg regretted his initial support for the Islamic Revolution. In the 1980’s he said, “I shouldn’t have been marching against the shah of Iran because the mullahs have turned out to be a lot worse.” Ginsberg rejected the shah’s monarchy but later recognized the birth of religious fascism in Iran. He told the Progressive magazine in 1994, “They all want to eliminate or get rid of the alien, or the stranger, or the Jews, or the gays, or the Gypsies, or the artists, or whoever are their infidels. And they’re all willing to commit murder for it, whether Hitler or Stalin or Mao or the ayatollah…”
The US Congress is slated to vote on the Iran deal next month. Leading Democrats such as New York’s senior Senator Charles Schumer oppose the deal. Sadly, President Barack Obama has posited a false dichotomy between rejecting the deal and war. Even members of his administration disagree with his either-or formula. The next step is to renegotiate the agreement and secure better terms to halt the Iranian nuclear weapons program and stop the regime from killing members of its LGBT community.
The first openly gay British ambassador presented his credentials to President Reuven Rivlin during an official ceremony in Jerusalem last week.Israeli stabbed in West Bank; Palestinian attacker shot dead by IDF
David Quarrey introduced his spouse, Aldo Oliver Henriquez, to Rivlin during the event at the President’s Residence.
Rivlin welcomed the ambassador, who took up his post in July, and told him of his hopes in using Quarrey’s diplomatic experience for confidence-building measures in the region.
“During your term here, we will celebrate the centenary of the Balfour Declaration, which perhaps marks the beginning of the diplomatic relations between Israel and Britain,” Rivlin told Quarrey referring to the November 1917 document in which the United Kingdom’s foreign secretary at the time, Arthur James Balfour, stated his government’s support for establishing a national homeland for Jews in Palestine.
An Israeli man was moderately wounded in a stabbing Sunday night in the West Bank. The Israel Defense Forces said that the man, aged 26, was set upon by a group of Palestinian assailants at a gas station on Route 443, near Modiin.Daughter Born to Parents of 3-Month-Old Terror Victim
The IDF said troops opened fire at one of the suspects in the group in order to prevent his escape. He was confirmed dead at the scene by Israeli medical personnel.
The Israeli fled the attack, arriving at a nearby checkpoint for help. He was taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem after Magen David Adom paramedics were called to the scene to provide initial treatment.
The other three men who carried out the attack fled the scene. Israeli security forces began searching the area for the rest of the assailants.
At the Bikur Cholim Hospital in central Jerusalem on Sunday a baby girl was born to the Braun family, whose three-month-old baby girl Chaya Zisel Braun was tragically murdered last October when she was run over by a car in a Hamas terror attack.2 Palestinians arrested for extorting Temple Mount visitors
The birth is particularly special given that the Brauns had waited many years to conceive Chaya Zisel, only to have her stolen from them so tragically soon after she war born.
"The Braun couple thanks the Holy One Blessed be He for everything, and particularly for the birth of their sweet daughter this morning," read an announcement from the hospital.
Braun was murdered when terrorist Abdelrahman Shaludi plowed his car into pedestrians at the Ammunition Hill light rail station in Jerusalem before being shot by security forces.
Aside from the baby, 22-year-old Karen Jemima Mosquera was also murdered in the attack. Mosquera was in Israel studying to complete her conversion, a process she embarked on after discovering she was descended from Conversos - Spanish Jews forcibly converted to Catholicism after 1492.
Two Palestinian men were arrested Monday for allegedly extorting Jewish visitors to the Western Wall by demanding protection money in exchange for watching their cars when they parked adjacent to the holy site.Islamic Waqf Authority Guard Arrested on Temple Mount
An Israel Police undercover operation exposed a ring of men from the nearby East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan who would regularly intimidate visitors.
According to police, after an undercover detective parked his car outside Dung Gate — the entrance to the Temple Mount which borders Silwan — he was approached by two young men who demanded money to watch over his car. When the officer refused, the suspects attacked him before attempting to flee on foot.
Two suspects, aged 20 and 17, were later apprehended by the officer and taken in for questioning.
In a new twist, a Waqf Islamic Authority security guard was arrested Monday morning in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount.Knesset Members Blast Jerusalem Police for ‘Total Failure’ in Providing Mount of Olives Security
Israeli security personnel were forced to use pepper spray to bring the situation under control.
The incident occurred when Israel Border Guard Police refused entry to a group of Arab minors at the Lions Gate on the grounds they were going to disturb the peace. Usually, it is Jews who are refused entry to the site on such grounds.
The Waqf Authority guard intervened and began to argue with the Israel Police officers.
When they refused to allow the entry, he then tried to attack them, according to security sources. Israeli police immediately arrested the guard and defended themselves with pepper spray when he tried to attack them. (h/t Bob Knot)
Israeli lawmakers denounced security efforts at the Mount of Olives as a “total failure” after a recent tour of the iconic Jerusalem burial ground, Israel’s NRG reported on Sunday.OECD praises efforts to integrate Israeli Arabs
The report, from members of the Knesset’s Interior and Environment Committee, comes in the wake of a series of incidents where gravestones and shrines were vandalized and desecrated.
Committee Chairman MK David Amsalem blamed the local Jerusalem police department for the deterioration, saying, “If I were the District Commander I would not be sleeping at night. In this place, great people from Israel are buried, fallen IDF soldiers and great rabbis. This is the honor of the people of Israel.”
He added that he was tired of hearing that there were no funds available to increase security atop the Mount. He said he was, “ashamed as a citizen and as a Member of Knesset. We must press on this situation on the Mount until it becomes safe and open to those who wish to ascend it.”
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development praised Israel's economy in a recent report, noting that its economy "weathered the global financial crisis [of 2008-2009] better than most OECD countries," and commended it for keeping unemployment at "historically low levels."2 Golan Druze indicted for lynching wounded Syrians
Part of the report is dedicated to the integration of Israeli Arabs in the labor market and includes recommendations for the government.
According to the report, the seven government-run employment centers in the Arab community have been a success and are a "welcome development," in part because they help create a more skilled workforce that could climb the economic ladder.
"Skills are a key route out of poverty, but many disadvantaged groups in Israel have levels of skills attainment well below that of the mainstream Jewish population," the report noted. It added that for those centers to maximize their potential, an integrative approach must be adopted, calling on the government to "strengthen local policy cooperation and coordination by fostering partnerships that can effectively design and implement employment and skills strategies targeted at Arab-Israelis."
The June 22 incident saw a mob attack an ambulance carrying Halil and another Syrian man, Alah Shaban, who were being evacuated from a border crossing with Syria to an Israeli hospital. Both were suffering from minor gunshot wounds to their legs.Gaza's Smelly Dump 'A Security Concern' IDF Says
The mob, apparently believing Syrian jihadists were on board, blocked the ambulance’s path. The convoy, which included an IDF jeep, initially managed to escape to the nearby Jewish village of Neve Ativ, but dozens of armed Druze followed and overtook it.
After taking control of the ambulance, the mob dragged both of the injured through a broken window in the vehicle’s rear and onto the road.
According to the indictment, Salah repeatedly beat Halil on his upper body with a wooden plank as he lay defenseless on the ground. He then took a stone and smashed it into Halil’s hip.
At that point, Mahmoud allegedly hammered a rock into Halil’s head, fracturing his skull and causing his death. Shaban was gravely wounded in the incident.
A female IDF paramedic who tried to treat the two at the scene was obstructed from doing so. Ultimately, a group of soldiers arrived and extracted the two Syrians, who were both in serious condition. Halil was pronounced dead on the way to hospital. Two soldiers were also lightly injured in the incident.
Residents of the Gaza belt area – the Israeli towns near the Gaza border fence – are complaining of a new tactic Gazan Arabs are using to make their lives miserable.Hamas Tests Missile Upgrades, Vows 'Difficult Days'
With the failure of Gaza terrorists to penetrate Israel's Iron Dome defense system with their rockets, they have apparently resorted to “garbage terrorism,” bulking up a dump that was set up right next to the border fence – upwind of Israeli towns, which get the full brunt of the orders carried in their direction by westerly winds.
The IDF is treating the presence of the dump as a legitimate security threat, according to Yediot Aharonot, concerned that terrorists may hide in the piles of rubbish and spy on Israeli troop movements along the border fence road. Tons of Gaza waste are added to the dump on a daily basis.
The trash often sits out in the open for days at a time, and is turned into landfill only once every few days. Israeli health officials fear that Gaza-sourced vermin, which can easily slip through the fence, will thrive under the fetid conditions created by Gaza authorities during the hot weather.
Government officials have also expressed concern over the location of the dump and how it is being administered. So far, no operational plans to deal with it have been developed, sources said.
The Hamas terrorist organization on Monday morning conducted a rocket test in northern Gaza, firing a missile into the Mediterranean Sea as part of its domestic development of lethal projectiles.UNRWA Workers in Gaza Threaten to Rebel
Monday's rocket test comes a day after an Arab terrorist stabbed an Israeli at a gas station on Highway 443 northwest of Jerusalem, lightly wounding his victim before being shot dead by IDF forces.
Hamas welcomed the stabbing, saying in a statement on Monday that "difficult days await the occupation."
The missile latest test comes after terrorists in Gaza fired rockets at Israel on three separate occasions last week - last Friday night, last Thursday night, and last Saturday night.
Most of the rockets hit near the border area or fell within Gaza territory; in at least some cases a local group affiliated with Islamic State (ISIS) took credit for the attacks.
Suheil al-Hindi, Chairman of the Hamas-affiliated Arab Teachers Union of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) that serves "Palestinian refugees," has threatened a rebellion as UNRWA warns it will have to close schools due to a more than $100 million deficit.3 Dead in Terror Attacks at Istanbul Police Station, US Consulate
Al-Hindi outlined three possible scenarios if UNRWA does indeed cut its services, in an interview with the Hamas paper Al-Risalah.
The first possibility he described was that UNRWA workers would declare a work conflict and go on strike, handicapping all UNRWA services. However, he noted this step would first and foremost harm "Palestinian refugees."
Alternatively, the UNRWA decision might be openly rebelled against as UNRWA workers in Gaza open the schools independently, said al-Hindi.
A final option would be postponing the school year's start by a week or two.
Three people were killed and at least 10 others were wounded in a suicide bombing at a police station in Istanbul and a shootout at the U.S. Consulate in the city, both in the wee hours of Monday.Turkey Says Marxist Group Fired on US Consulate
The explosion ripped through the police station at about 1 am in the Sultanbeyli neighborhood in Istanbul, wounding three police officers and seven civilians, officials confirmed. One of the police officers is in critical condition. There is no information as yet about the deceased.
A nearby three-story building was also badly damaged and threatened to collapse. Other buildings in the area and approximately 20 vehicles were also damaged in the blast.
Just a few hours later, two attackers, a man and woman, opened fire outside the U.S. Consulate building in the Sariyer district. They both fled when police returned fire, according to CNN Turk.
The Turkish government on Monday blamed a radical Marxist group for a gun attack on the US consulate in Istanbul, an official told AFP.Report: Turkey bows to US pressure, expels top Hamas operative
"The attack on the consulate is linked with the DHKP-C," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, referring to the Revolutionary People's Liberation Front (DHKP-C) which claimed a 2013 suicide attack at the US embassy in Ankara.
The same official said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was behind a suicide attack on a police station in Istanbul that resulted in clashes that left three terrorists and one top police official dead.
Two gunmen opened fire on the US consulate Monday morning. The attackers fled when police shot back, broadcaster CNN Turk said, adding that there were no casualties.
The attack followed a bombing at a police station in Istanbul earlier on Monday, which left at least one officers dead and four injured. Three terrorists were also killed in the attack.
The Turkish government has bowed to American pressure and ordered a senior Hamas official whom Israel accuses of organizing terrorist attacks in the West Bank to leave the country, Channel 10 is reporting on Friday.
Salah Aruri, a top Hamas operative who was released from an Israeli prison a few years ago, is in charge of rebuilding the Hamas infrastructure in the West Bank a year after Israeli security forces dismantled it prior to the war in Gaza.
According to Channel 10, the Ankara government, which has been sympathetic to Islamist organizations like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, agreed to Aruri's ouster, which was one of the prerequisites for Turkey's entry into the Western coalition against the Islamic State.
In recent months, Israeli officials approached Turkey and, despite the bitter relations between the two countries, asked Ankara to crack down on Hamas operatives there.
The London-based Arab-language daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi quoted Hamas officials as denying an earlier Israeli report indicating that Aruri was asked to leave Turkey.
Aruri first came into the Israeli public's consciousness last year when he admitted that Hamas' armed wing, the Kassam Brigades, was behind the kidnapping and murder of Israeli teens Nafatli Fraenkel, Gil-Ad Shaer and Eyal Yifrah in the West Bank.
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