Thursday, August 03, 2017
PMW: Abbas' Presidential Guard: "Water freedom with blood of Palestine`s sons"
Palestinian leaders have portrayed the last few weeks of Palestinian riots and protests against Israel's enhanced security measures at the Temple Mount as a "battle for the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem." When Israel ultimately removed its metal detectors and cameras, it was portrayed by Palestinians as a "victory," yet the PA warned it was only one of more "rounds of battle."
Celebrating this "victory," and possibly expecting future "wins" for Palestinians, the PA's Presidential Guards posted this comment, glorifying the sacrifice of "the blood of Palestine's sons" for "freedom":
"A people like the people of Palestine that has watered the freedom with the blood of its sons can only win #Yasser_Arafat" [Facebook page of the PA Presidential Guard, July 31, 2017]
Palestinian Media Watch has shown that PA and Fatah leaders are fond of the imagery of "watering Palestine with blood," and at times almost worship the "blood of Martyrs" who have "died for Palestine," as was the case during the wave of Palestinian terror attacks in 2015-2016.
The image posted with the PA Presidential Guards' endorsement of "watering with blood" shows a picture of Yasser Arafat overlaid with the colors of the Palestinian flag together with the PA map of "Palestine" that presents all of Israel as "Palestine" together with the PA areas, painted in the colors of the Palestinian flag. This designates Palestinian sovereignty over the entire area. As PMW has documented, the denial of Israel's right to exist is a consistent message of the PA.
UNRWA Jordan staff page celebrates Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli civilians. "You became Gaza. Allahu Akbar." https://t.co/6qAaeOl8r3 pic.twitter.com/eGzwG0IMc4— UN Watch (@UNWatch) August 2, 2017
US video against PLO state a huge hit in Israel
A 5.5-minute video in which Middle East strategy analyst Mark Langfan explains the dangers on the "two state solution" has become a viral hit in Israel, more than three years after it originally aired on CBN.Hebrew Subtitles - Langfan on Stakelbeck The Watchman -- Part 1
After being featured in November on a Facebook page created by grassroots Zionist activists called Kol Ha'am ("The People's Voice"), the Hebrew-subtitled clip has garnered 367,000 views to date, which – combined with its views elsewhere on social media, puts it at a total of about 500,000 total views, most of them from Israelis.
In terms of views per population, this would be the equivalent of 33 million views for a video targeting the US audience. It is currently shooting up at over 20,000 views per day.
In the video, Langfan, a New York-based attorney, pro-Israel activist and media analyst appears on Erick Stakelbeck's show, "The Watchman", to clarify what could – and probably would – happen, if Israel were ever to allow Palestinian statehood in Judea and Samaria.
Using a three dimensional map of Israel, a few pieces of colored Plexiglas and a lot of old-fashioned common sense – Langfan demonstrates the ease with which Arab control of the mountainous Biblical heartland would place 70% of Israel's Jewish populace and 80% of its industrial base within the range of truck-based chemical weapons of mass destruction.
The Temple Mount Crisis Ended Trump's Palestinian Honeymoon
Although Trump was known as a longtime staunch supporter of Israel, after his election in November, the Palestinians were encouraged by his expressed desire to mediate a final-status peace deal. They were relieved when he slowly but surely walked back some of his previous pro-Israel positions — for instance when he urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “hold back on settlements for a little bit” and when he delayed indefinitely the relocation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.Erekat 'surprised' by Kushner's skepticism about peace plan
The Palestinians’ strategy seemed to be a mix of magnanimity and flattery. Recognizing that his special envoy, Jason Greenblatt, was going to great lengths to show the administration’s intention to approach the conflict evenhandedly, Ramallah opted to go along with Trump. On his visit to Israel, moreover, Trump openly contradicted Netanyahu’s assertion that Abbas was no peace partner, going off-script in his final speech at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem to assert, “I am telling you… the Palestinians are ready to reach for peace.”
In that spirit of trying to stay on the administration’s good side, the Palestinians largely kept quiet as Trump became the first sitting US president to visit the Western Wall, and even, subsequently, when the White House allowed Israel to start work on the first new West Bank settlement in decades.
The first clear sign of Palestinian bitterness appeared in early July, when senior Palestine Liberation Organization official Hanan Ashrawi accused Nikki Haley, Trump’s envoy to the United Nations, of an “obsessive and targeted campaign of intimidation and threats” against Palestinians and their supporters.
Since then, the Palestinians appear to have abandoned their initial praise-the-president-and-hope-for-the-best strategy, and increasingly unvarnished criticism of the administration is being expressed.
“The fact the US administration did not declare the final goal of the peace process is to achieve two states on the basis of the 1967 borders, and its silence regarding the intensification of Israeli colonial settlement activities, are interpreted by the Israeli government as an opportunity to destroy the two-state solution and replace it with one state with two systems,” top Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat charged Tuesday.
The PA’s chief negotiator was “surprised” by a recent comments made by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner expressing doubt about the prospects for peace between Israel and the PA.Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Stokes Temple Mount Conspiracy Theories at Islamic Summit
On Tuesday, Wired released a transcript of Kushner speaking in a closed conversation, during which he expressed doubt about the possibility of reaching a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
“What do we offer that's unique?” he asked. “ I don’t know … I’m sure everyone that’s tried this has been unique in some ways, but again we’re trying to follow very logically. We're thinking about what the right end state is, and we’re trying to work with the parties very quietly to see if there's a solution. And there may be no solution, but it’s one of the problem sets that the president asked us to focus on. So we’re going to focus on it and try to come to the right conclusion in the near future,” Kushner said.
In an interview with the New York Times published on Wednesday, senior PA official Saeb Erekat, who has represented the PA in talks with Israel for roughly a quarter of a century, said that he had spoken with Kushner “more than once” and had held at least 19 meetings with US officials since February. He reportedly expressed surprise at Kushner’s comments, “not least because Mr. Kushner had emphasized how serious Mr. Trump was about seeking” a peace agreement, and noted that US officials have said “many times that they are not against two states.”
Any hopes that Israel’s leaders might have entertained of a reduction in Palestinian incitement over the Temple Mount were swiftly dashed this week by the Palestinian Authority’s foreign minister, who gave a speech that once again stoked conspiracy theories across the Muslim world about Israel’s ultimate aims for the Jerusalem holy site.15 more arrested on suspicion of instigating Temple Mount riots
Addressing a meeting of the foreign ministers of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states in Istanbul on Tuesday, Riyad al-Maliki warned that Palestinians were preparing themselves for a new round of “nasty” actions by Israel at the Temple Mount — revered by Jews as the location of the First and Second Temples, and considered by Muslims to be Islam’s third-holiest site, as it houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Recent efforts by Israeli authorities to install metal detectors and other security equipment at the Temple Mount — following the July 14 murder of two Israeli policemen at an entrance to the site — were abruptly withdrawn in the face of a wave of Palestinian violence. Al-Maliki described the Israeli move as a “small victory in the long battle for freedom.”
“We know that (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu is not going to accept defeat and he will try again and again with different methods and different means to impose his own status-quo over the Haram al-Sharif (Temple Mount) and al-Quds (Jerusalem),” al-Maliki said. “We have to be prepared for the next round which could come very soon and could be very nasty.”
The meeting’s host, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, called on the OIC nations to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of an independent state of Palestine.
As part of ongoing security operations since clashes broke out some three weeks ago, police arrested overnight Wednesday a further 15 men suspected of playing key roles in recent violent demonstrations against Israeli security measures at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.Palestinian Media: Jews Desecrated a Muslim Site by Visiting Western Wall on Tisha B’Av
Officers and border guards, equipped with arrest warrants, raided homes in East Jerusalem and detained the suspects for questioning, police said in a statement.
Raids took place in A Tur, Beit Hanina, Wadi Joz and Ras Al Amoud.
The detainees are suspected of taking part in riots and endangering lives, the statement said.
Following questioning they will be brought before a court to have their detention extended.
The official news agency of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Wafa, said Jews visiting the Western Wall during Tuesday’s Tisha B’Av fast “desecrated” a Muslim holy site.Jordanian king donates $1.4 million to Waqf after Temple Mount fight
“Last night, thousands of settlers desecrated the Plaza of Al-Buraq Wall, the western wall of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and held a festive event, prayers and Talmudic ceremonies on the occasion of what is called the Ninth of Av according to the Hebrew calendar, or the so-called Destruction of the Temple,” Wafa reported, using the Arabic name for the Western Wall and describing the Jewish holy site as part of the mosque situated on the Temple Mount compound.
Wafa added, “The settlers hurried to arrive to the Old City of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) in a number of processions, characterized by improper behavior, which was protected by occupation forces (Israeli security), until they reached the Al-Buraq Plaza. The imaginary-temple groups announced the organization of a large procession from one of the gates of the Old City.”
The PA media outlet’s claim that the Western Wall and Temple Mount are exclusively Muslim holy sites marks the latest example of what legal experts have described as “narrative warfare” against Israel and Jews.
Jordan’s king on Wednesday announced that he would donate 1 million Jordanian dinars ($1.4 million) to the Waqf Islamic Trust, which administers the Temple Mount compound in the Old City of Jerusalem.What moderate Arabs can't do
The money is seen as a major show of support for the Waqf, which led protests against Israeli security measures at the holy site last month, ramping up tensions between Israel and the Arab world.
The Waqf, a Jordan-based organization in charge of the Muslim holy sites on the Temple Mount, said that the money will go to the Islamic Museum in the compound and to a cash bonus of 300 dinar ($423) to each of the Waqf workers, the Hebrew media Ynet website reported.
The donation comes amid strained relations between Israel and Jordan after recent violent clashes sparked following the introduction by Israel of walk-through metal detectors — later removed — at the Jerusalem holy site. New security equipment was set up in the days after a terror attack on July 14 in which three Arab Israelis killed two Israeli policemen using guns that were smuggled onto the Temple Mount.
Many in the U.S. foreign policy establishment believe the influence of moderate Sunni Arab states that want to normalize relations with Israel can help to steer the Palestinians toward a two-state solution. But as the recent crisis over the Temple Mount demonstrates, instead of Jordan and its moderate monarch leading the Palestinians to be more reasonable, it was the Palestinian street - fueled by lies spread by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas - that forced Jordan to escalate the conflict.China urges support for new Israel-Palestinian peace plan
As long as the political culture of the Palestinians and the Arab and Muslim worlds is dominated by a belief in Israel's illegitimacy and hatred for Jews, even the best-intentioned Arab leaders will find themselves incapable of breaking free of this dynamic.
The toxicity of the rejectionist Palestinian ideology was far more powerful than Jordan's strategic interests or the desire of its ruler - and those of other moderate Arab governments - for peace. That's why the expectation that the Saudis, Jordan or Egypt can exert enough influence to force the Palestinians to make peace is so unrealistic.
China's U.N. ambassador urged the international community on Monday to support Chinese President Xi Jinping's new four-point proposal to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and establish an independent Palestinian state.UN Secretary-General Guterres set to visit Israel at end of August
Liu Jieyi said at a news conference that China's future diplomatic efforts will focus on trying to move toward a negotiated solution based on the four clauses.
Xi signaled China's increasing engagement in the Middle East when he met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Beijing two weeks ago and outlined the plan.
The four points include advancing the two-state solution based on the 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as the future Palestinian state's capital; upholding "the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security," immediately ending Israeli settlement building, taking immediate measures to prevent violence against civilians, and calling for an early resumption of peace talks; coordinating international efforts to put forward "peace-promoting measures that entail joint participation at an early date"; and promoting peace through development and cooperation between the Palestinians and Israel.
China views both Israel and the Palestinians as "important partners" in its "One Belt, One Road" initiative, a mammoth Chinese-funded push to develop transport routes including ports, railways and roads to expand trade in a vast arc of countries across Asia, Africa and Europe, the ambassador said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is scheduled to visit Israel at the end of the month for his first trip here since taking over from Ban Ki-moon on January 1.Cape Verde Pledges to No Longer Vote Against Israel at UN
While Ban made the first of his 12 visits to Israel in March 2007, within three months of taking office, Guterres’s visit comes after he has already taken nearly 40 official trips abroad, including eight trips to the region: to Iraq, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Kofi Annan, who preceded Ban as UN secretary-general, serving from 1997 to 2006, first visited Israel in an official capacity in March 1998, 15 months after taking office.
Guterres, who according to the Foreign Ministry is scheduled to be here August 27-29, is expected to couple his visit to Israel with one to the Palestinian Authority. He has also expressed interest in going to the Gaza Strip, though that segment of the trip has not yet been finalized. Ban visited Gaza four times during his 10-year tenure.
Guterres is expected to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman while in Israel, and PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.
Guterres is coming at a time when Israel has withheld some $9 million of its overall $47m. contribution to the UN to protest resolutions passed by UNESCO and the UN Human Rights Committee. This $47m. annual contribution includes $11m. for operational fees and $36m. for UN peacekeeping forces.
Cape Verde’s President Jorge Carlos Fonseca has announced that his country will no longer vote against Israel at the United Nations.Times of London journo tweets deceit about Israeli reaction to Saeb Erekat’s illness
“I welcome the decision of the president of Cape Verde,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement on Wednesday. “This is the result of intensive diplomatic activity between Israel and Africa.”
Located off the western coast of Africa, Cape Verde was originally uninhabited until the Portuguese discovered and colonized its islands in the 15th century. Today the country — home to around 525,000 people, mainly of mixed Portuguese and African ancestry — is one of the most successful and stable countries in Africa.
According to Netanyahu, Cape Verde’s decision comes following a meeting with Fonseca on the sidelines of the Economic Community of West African States conference in Liberia in June.
While Cape Verde has generally voted against Israel in the past, it has abstained or been absent from some major anti-Israel votes, including the 2009 UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (also known as the Goldstone Report) and the 2011 UNESCO vote to accept the Palestinians as a member state.
The quote was from a New York Times article by Isabel Kershner about the illness of Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, who’s suffering from pulmonary fibrosis and in need of a lung transplant, mostly likely from Israel or the US. Here’s the paragraph:The Syrian Cease-Fire Deal Strengthens Iran and Threatens Israel
Many Israeli officials, people involved in the various rounds of failed negotiations and private citizens had called to wish him a speedy recovery and inquire if they could do anything to help, he said. But some of the messages aired on Israeli news sites were scathing, wishing Mr. Erekat a speedy death and mockingly decrying the possibility that he might be saved by the health system of the state he has disparaged….“A transplant? Forget it,” wrote one reader. “But cigarettes are on me.”
So, there were two elements of the paragraph Carlstrom could have highlighted: the fact that many Israeli officials wished Erekat well and asked if they could help, or the fact that some “messages” aired on Israeli news sites “wished him a speedy death”. He of course chose the latter.
However, if you open the link embedded in the NYT article, you’ll see that “messages” at “Israeli news sites” refers to the talk back section of Yedioth Ahronot beneath one article about Erekat’s health problems.
The U.S. and Russia implemented a cease-fire in a limited area of southern Syria last month; the two countries are reportedly in talks about how to de-escalate the conflict elsewhere. According to Yossi Kuperwasser, the agreement “tacitly gave legitimacy to the prolonged presence of Iranian and Iranian-backed forces” in much of Syria. Israel is concerned that further agreements will do the same—and that Tehran will begin using Syria as a conduit for sending arms, supplies, and troops to Hizballah. Kuperwasser points out other, even more troubling, consequences:US says 'grave' consequences if Syria's al-Qaida dominates Idlib province
Iran almost assuredly wants to turn Syria into an Iranian military base. It plans to build a naval base [on the coast], and may move ground forces, missiles, and maybe even aircraft there as well so that instead of threatening Israel from 1,300 kilometers away, Iranian forces could sit on Israel’s doorstep. This would bring about a dramatic change in the nature of the threat Israel is facing. In fact, Israel’s neighbor to the north would no longer be Syria but Iran, using a Syrian façade with impunity. . . .
The Iranians may [also] take advantage of their continuous presence in Syria . . . to make progress on Syrian territory in their nuclear program. Under the 2015 nuclear deal, the International Atomic Energy Agency can monitor nuclear activities in Iran, but has no authority to monitor Iranian activity abroad. . . . Iran may use [such] loopholes to conduct research and development of nuclear-related material in Syria.
As a reminder: ten years ago, Syria nearly completed a secret nuclear facility in Deir Ez-Zor with Iranian and North Korean assistance. The facility was destroyed [by Israel] in September 2007.
The United States warned a takeover of rebel-held northwestern Idlib province by Syrian jihadists linked to a former al-Qaida affiliate would have grave consequences and make it difficult to dissuade Russia from renewing bombing that recently stopped.Lebanese PM Saad Hariri Joins With Hezbollah to Con Donald Trump
In an online letter posted late on Wednesday, the top State Department official in charge of Syria policy, Michael Ratney, said the recent offensive by Hayat Tahrir al Sham, spearheaded by former al-Qaida offshoot Nusra Front, had cemented its grip on the province and put "the future of northern Syria in big danger."
"The north of Syria witnessed one of its biggest tragedies," said Ratney who was behind secret talks in Amman with Moscow over the ceasefire in southwest Syria announced by US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in July. It was the first such US-Russian effort under the Trump administration to end Syria's civil war.
"In the event of the hegemony of Nusra Front on Idlib, it would be difficult for the United States to convince the international parties not to take the necessary military measures," the top State Department diplomat said.
Mainly Islamist rebels swept through Idlib province in 2015, inflicting a string of defeats on the Syrian army until Russia stepped in to reverse the tide of the civil war in favor of President Bashar Assad.
Idlib province, the only Syrian province that is entirely under rebel control, has been a major target of Russian and Syrian aerial strikes that caused hundreds of civilians casualties.
The agricultural region had a respite since a Russian-Turkish brokered accord reached last May approved four de-escalation zones across Syria, among them one in Idlib province.
The Lebanese are playing up the idea of an LAF-ISIS showdown to get the Americans to pay up. But Lebanon is not only roping us in to become complicit in their potential coordination with Assad. It’s a lot worse than that. As the CSIS report advocates, the Lebanese are out to leverage U.S. political and military power, including the presence of U.S. Special Operations personnel in Lebanon—even raising all kinds of propositions, including that the LAF request direct U.S. military involvement on their side. Otherwise, the pitch goes, both ISIS and Hezbollah will win! And that would be America’s fault, of course.Netanyahu: No government has done more for settlers than mine
The ramifications of the Lebanese con game are as serious as they are vile, even aside from continuing the Obama-era redefining of the purpose of the aid, and re-writing UNSCR 1701 in support of a pro-Iran power configuration in Lebanon. The Lebanese are now asking the United States and the United Kingdom to increase their investment in Lebanon and to deploy more assets in the border area, effectively turning the U.S. military into the guardians of Iran’s logistical routes between its Lebanese and Syrian territories.
The Lebanese Big Con obviously also threatens Israel. Eastern Lebanon is the area through which Iran brings in arms to Hezbollah. As Hezbollah and the IRGC have dug in on both sides of the Lebanon-Syria border, turning a lot of the Syrian side into military positions, the area now serves as strategic depth for the group in any future war with Israel—and will most likely be another theater of war. As I noted last week, the Lebanese are leveraging U.S. investment in the LAF to constrain Israel in any future conflict: If Israel returns fire, it will be destroying military infrastructure and weapons paid for by the United States. Asking for the United States to increase its own direct deployment in Lebanon turns American servicemen into human shields to deter Israel.
The bottom line is simple: The Lebanese government, Hezbollah, and the LAF are running a con game together, and America is the mark.
Speaking at a cornerstone-laying ceremony for a new neighborhood in this ultra-Orthodox settlement south of Jerusalem on Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that his government has been doing everything in its power to address the problems faced by Israelis over the Green Line.Victim of Yavne Supermarket Terror Attack in Stable Condition, but Still Battling for Life
“There is no government that does more for the settlement [movement] in Israel than the one under my leadership,” he said to a crowd of some 100 people.
Netanyahu cited his chief of staff, Yoav Horowitz, who was in the Netiv Ha’avot illegal outpost hours earlier, speaking with residents of the neighborhood — in the settlement of Elazar — where 15 homes are slated to be demolished after the High Court of Justice ruled that they had been constructed on private Palestinian land.
The prime minister said he was looking to find solutions “within the framework of the law that would minimize the damage” for the residents of Elazar, which is in the Etzion bloc south of Jerusalem.
A man who was stabbed multiple times in a terror attack in a Yavne supermarket Wednesday is said to be in stable condition, but is continuing to battle for his life as doctors began performing more surgery Thursday morning.Employee stabbed in terror attack at Yavne supermarket
“He underwent surgery on a main artery and he has been been put on ventilation and has been anesthetized,” said a family member. “Everyone arrived from different places in the country: Haifa, Hadera, Jerusalem. It is extremely difficult for his wife and children who are (always) crying.”
During the night, IDF soldiers, the Shin Bet and Israel Border Police conducted operations in the Arab city of Yatta where the terrorist, 19-year-old Ismail Ibrahim Ismail abu Aram, lived.
Like his victim, abu Aram also worked in the Shufersal supermarket where he carried out the attack, and was arrested after trying to flee the scene.
Earlier, the IDF also entered his family home where soldiers confiscated various items belonging to the stabber. As they investigated members of his family, it emerged that abu Aram was, in all likelihood, a lone wolf terrorist who had no connection with any terror organizations.
Yatta is known for being particularly hostile and has become a breeding ground for terrorists planning to carry out attacks against Israeli security personnel and Israeli civilians.
Civilians who were on the scene subdued the attacker, with some of them kicking him while he was on the ground, calling on police to "Shoot him in the head!"
The victim, 42, was in critical condition after suffering stab wounds to his chest, neck and head. He was taken to the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, where he went into surgery. Three other employees were treated for shock.
"My wife and I were shopping. All of a sudden, a man with a backpack and an Arabic accent approached me and asked me if I worked there. I said no, and he kept walking," recounted Shlomo Brill, an eye-witness. "Ten minutes later, I heard screams from the checkout area. Everyone at the store went crazy. We thought it was a terror attack, we're all stressed out... the cashiers were screaming, the employees were shaking with fear."
One of the civilians who helped subdue the suspect recounted the incident: "I (heard) one of the employees call out 'stop him, stop him.' Another civilian tripped him, and then he and the employee neutralized the suspect. Police officers who arrived at the scene removed them but we still kept (hitting) him. We neutralized him some more until the cops handcuffed him."
The Making of a Terrorist
Such merciless stabbings of unassuming innocents in Israel are almost invariably perpetrated by young Palestinian men and women who view such barbarism against Israelis and Jews to be a noble cause. Palestinian children and teenagers are educated to dehumanize Israelis as the devil and glorify their murders. But the media rarely draws the direct line between the relentless indoctrination of Palestinian youth to murderous hate and the resulting terrorism.Jordan Confirms Attack on Guard, Reuters Conceals
Take, for example, the summer camps that Palestinian youth attend. Those who attend Fatah-run summer camp might attend the Dalal Mughrabi camp, named after one of the terrorists who perpetrated the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre, in which at least ten toddlers and children were killed. Palestinian Media Watch reports that, in addition, the PA has named 28 schools after terrorists and 3 after Nazi collaborators. These camps are regularly visited by PA officials who lionize the terrorist for whom the camp is named, encouraging campers to follow in their footsteps.
Hamas summer camps, for their part, have their youth play-acting at killing Israelis. For example, the closing ceremony at a camp in Gaza this year consisted of an elaborate performance enacting the murders of Israeli security officers on the Temple Mount and the violent takeover or "liberation" of the Al Aqsa mosque. The roles of Israeli soldiers and Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam fighters (Hamas terrorist arm) were played by campers in costumes with props. Watch the filmed camp closing performance translated by MEMRI.
The fact that multiple Jordanian eyewitnesses concur that Jawawdeh attacked the Israeli guard has not prevented Reuters from attributing the information only to Israel. Today, for example, in an article about an averted face-off between a Jordanian and an Israeli lawmaker ("Netanyahu calls off fistfight between Israeli, Jordanian lawmakers"), Reuters qualifies:Azaria appeals to IDF chief Eisenkot to lighten sentence
The July 23 shooting to death of two Jordanians by an Israeli embassy guard who said he was acting in self-defense has outraged Amman, stirred up pro-Palestinian sentiment in the kingdom and prompted U.S. mediation efforts.
In a July 28 article ("Jordanian protesters at Israeli embassy call for ending peace treaty"), Reuters likewise concealed the Jordanian finding that Jawawdeh attacked Moyal:
Israel said the guard had been defending himself after Jawawdeh assaulted him with a screwdriver in a "terrorist attack".
On July 27 ("Jordan's king demands Israel put guard on trial for killing Jordanians") as well Reuters attributed the information only to Israel, ignoring the Jordanian confirmation that Jawawdeh attacked the Israel:
Israel said the guard had been defending himself after Jawawdah attacked him with a screwdriver in a "terrorist attack".
CAMERA contacted Reuters about the failure to note that a Jordanian investigation found that the Jordanian worker attacked the Israel embassy guard, but the wire service stands by its reporting and continues to churn out the skewed account.
In contrast, the Associated Press has explicitly reported that Jordanian authorities confirmed that Jawawdeh attacked the Israeli:
Jordanian authorities have said the guard opened fire Sunday after a 16-year-old attacked him with a screw driver during a furniture delivery to the embassy.
Elor Azaria, the former combat medic convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison for killing an already “neutralized” terrorist, has appealed to IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot to lighten his sentence to community service, and has informed Eisenkot that he will not be filing an appeal to the High Court of Justice.Everything you need to know about the Lotar Counter-Terror School
Azaria, who did not express any regret for his actions in the letter, wrote that he wished “to clarify that if I had known in advance what became apparent in hindsight – that there was no explosive device on the body of the terrorist – I would not have shot.”
In his appeal to Eisenkot, Azaria wrote that his family has fallen apart and is unable to return to normal because of the case. “I am supposed to continue my life with a big stain” due to the manslaughter conviction, he continued.
“I ask that you accede to my request and to convert the prison sentence imposed on me to a sentence of community service. I want my life and my family’s life to return to normal, to rehabilitate my life and in order to mend the pieces,” his letter continued.
Underground warfare, tactical breaching, and robotics are just a few of the specializations that the Lotar Counter-Terror School teaches IDF soldiers. These instructors are responsible for training all IDF units in counter-terrorism. They are combat soldiers who train others and, if needed, take part in operational activities.
The school is divided into different sections according to specialization:
Where the Fight Against Terror Begins
Man arrested for threatening Jerusalem gay pride marchers
With police enforcing tight security in the run-up to the annual Jerusalem gay price parade, a man was detained Thursday for posting threats online against participants. His arrest recalled an attack two years ago by a knife-wielding extremist, who stabbed a teenage girl to death at the same event.IsraellyCool: WATCH: Muslim Boy Strikes Israeli Soldier
The man, aged 33 and from the central region of the country, made the threats in a post to his Facebook page, police said in a statement.
Police did not immediately provide information about the nature of the threats.
After being questioned by officers at the police central investigations unit, a court released the suspect on condition that he stay out of Jerusalem until Friday, Channel 10 reported.
During the parade Thursday afternoon, a demonstration against it by the far-right Lehava organization will take place some distance from the march’s route, outside a tight police cordon.
Police have informed the group that their protest — headlined “Don’t give them children,” a reference to the recently reignited national debate about same-sex adoption in Israel — would be limited to 100 participants.
This video was posted on the Facebook group The Palestinian Information Center, which is based out of Gaza, and describes itself as “an independent Palestinian organization” that “aims to promote awareness about Palestine, the Palestinians and the Palestinian issue and to balance the often distorted picture presented in the mainstream media.”Israeli spy agency uncovers Gaza-Turkey-Hebron terror money trail
The caption to the video reads: “A brave #Palestinian youth smacks a heavily armed Israeli Occupier on the head this past Thursday at Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound!!!”
I have a better caption: “Muslim boy foolishly strikes an IDF soldier, who lets him be, despite the clear provocation”
Granted, the soldier seems to have his hands full with the crowd, but if we were the monsters this mob makes us out to be, he would have taken a shot at the kid, without thinking twice.
Of course, the lack of a response from the soldier is nothing new.
Heck, if that kid did that to a Hamashole or PA policeman, do you believe he would still be able to walk?
A Hamas money laundering ring which funnelled hundreds of thousands of dollars from officials Gaza to the West Bank city of Hebron via Turkey has been exposed, Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency cleared for publication on Thursday.'Hamas won't allow a desalination facility'
According to a statement by the Shin Bet internal security agency the complex money-laundering operation which began last year was uncovered in a joint operation by the Shin Bet, IDF and Israel Police who arrested five Hamas members in the West Bank and identified another operative in Turkey and another in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
The scheme was run by senior Hamas activist Muhammed Mahed Bader from Hebron who was arrested in June. Bader, a member of the Palestinian legislative council recruited two other Hamas activists from Hebron, Mus’ab al-Haslom and Taha Othman, who were sent to Turkey to act as couriers under the guise of business trips.
While in Turkey the two met with Hamas activist Haroun Nasser al-Din, another Hebron resident who was released from Israeli prison as part of the prisoner exchange deal for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Al-Haslom and two others, his brother Yusri Hashalom and Umar Kimari are said to have been in contact with Majed Jaba, a Hamas activist originally from Hebron but exiled to the Gaza Strip after having been released as part of the Shalit prisoner deal. Jaba is suspected of helping to facilitate the transfer of the funds.
According to the Shin Bet Haroun gave Haslom and Othman tens of thousands of dollars. The two purchased merchandise in Turkey and imported the goods via international shipping companies in Hebron and gave the money from the sales to Hamas operatives in Hebron, minus a commission.
The Palestinian Authority Wafa news agency claimed Hamas is hindering the construction of an enormous desalination plant southwest of the central Gazan city Deir al-Balah.10 Gaza soccer players barred from West Bank final, club says
Gaza Central Region Governor Abdullah Abu Samahdana called on the ruling Hamas-appointed committee, which functions as an independent government, to remove all obstacles to building the desalination plant.
In light of the severe shortage of drinking water in Gaza, this plant is of "strategical" importance, Samahdana said.
According to him, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas publicized an order instructing Gaza to allocate one hundred dunams (24.7 acres) west of the southern city Khan Yunis for an alternate power plant which will supply electricity to the desalination plant, regardless of whether the rest of the area has electricity.
However, he said, Hamas' Lands Authority refuses to implement Abbas' decision on the subject.
Israel has barred 10 Palestinian soccer players from traveling from Gaza to the West Bank to play in Friday’s Palestine Cup final second leg, their club said.Iran Falsely Claims That New U.S. Sanctions Violate Nuclear Deal
Shabab Rafah are 2-0 up against Ahli al-Khalil of Hebron from Tuesday’s first leg in Gaza City but only 15 members of their squad are being allowed to travel for the return leg, club president Khaled Kwaik told AFP.
Those missing include a striker and two of the club’s three goalkeepers.
“Banning the goalkeepers will negatively affect the team’s performance in the event of an injury to the (remaining) keeper,” Kwaik said.
There was no immediate comment from Israeli authorities on why they had prevented the 10 players from leaving Gaza through the Erez Crossing.
Despite the bans, the rare game between teams from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank will go ahead on Friday, the Palestinian Football Association said.
Iran is claiming that recent sanctions imposed on its ballistic missile program by the United States violate the 2015 nuclear deal, even though the administration of former President Barack Obama repeatedly stressed that the accord only freed Iran from nuclear-related sanctions, Reuters reported Tuesday.In Warning to Security Council, American UN Envoy Nikki Haley Highlights Ballistic Missile Danger, Growing Iranian Support for Terror
“Iran’s JCPOA supervisory body assessed the new U.S. sanctions and decided that they contradict parts of the nuclear deal,” Iran’s speaker of parliament, Ali Larijani, told the Tasnim news agency. Larijani added that Iran would take its complaint to the commission that monitors compliance with the deal, which is formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions (JCPOA).
Iranian media also reported that Tehran was planning on adopting retaliatory measures in response to the sanctions, which would be announced shortly to relevant ministries by President Hassan Rouhani.
On Friday, the United States Treasury Department designated six Iranian entities for their role in supporting Iran’s ballistic missile program. That day, the U.S. Senate also passed sanctions legislation targeting Russia, North Korea, and Iran with a veto-proof majority. President Donald Trump signed the sanctions bill into law on Wednesday.
Contrary to Iranian objections over the newly imposed sanctions, at a Senate hearing in July 2015, then Secretary of State John Kerry was emphatic that Iran agreed that the nuclear deal would not bar Washington from imposing and maintaining non-nuclear sanctions against it. He said:
Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, wrote on Wednesday to both the Security Council and the global intergovernmental organization’s secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, with a stark warning about Iran’s growing support for terrorist organizations, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon.Proposed Trip to Israel Causes Tensions Among Iranian Cast Members of ‘Shahs of Sunset’ (not satire)
“As long as we allow the Iranian regime to violate this Council’s prohibitions with impunity, it will be a source of weapons to terrorist groups that will only grow in volume and destructive capability,” Haley wrote. “The United States will continue to raise this issue of Iranian non-compliance with international obligations at every opportunity.”
Haley’s comments on the Tehran regime’s increased financing, training and political support for terrorist groups in the Middle East came as the US joined with the United Kingdom, France and Germany in condemning Iran’s July 27 launch of a satellite-carrying rocket into space. Iran’s action was, the four countries said, a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which calls on Iran not to undertake ballistic missile activity as part of its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal.
The US and its allies pointed out that if Iran’s Simorgh space launch vehicle was adapted as a ballistic missile, it would have the “range and payload capacity to carry a nuclear warhead.”
“The world must not allow Iran to act in defiance of the Security Council and its resolutions,” Haley said. “The United States will be vigilant in ensuring that Iran is held accountable for such behavior.”
Tensions flared on Sunday among the Iranian cast members of the Bravo reality series “Shahs of Sunset” regarding a proposed trip to Israel.
In the latest episode of the hit television series, Mike Shouhed, who is Jewish, tells fellow co-star Reza Farahan that a recent breakup has made him think about his family in Israel and the fact he has not visited the Jewish state in over ten years. The duo plan a trip to Israel and also convince their friends Mercedes “MJ” Javid and Destiney Rose to join them, but problems arise when they propose the idea to their other cast members.
“Will we be safe there?” Shervin Roohparvar, who is Muslim, asks. “Am I gonna be welcome? Am I gonna show up and people are going to spit at me? No one wants to go on vacation and feel unwelcome.” Golnesa “GG” Gharachedaghi, also Muslim, chimes in and says her biggest concern is that “[Israelis] don’t accept Muslims.”
Shouhed tries reassuring them that they should not be worried, and he tells the camera, “My family is amazing [and] they are very warm, they are going to welcome Shervin and Golnesh as if they are me. There is so much more to Israel than religion.”
Shortly after Farahan hosts a “Peace In The Middle East” Halloween party — in an effort to get his friends on board with the trip to Israel — and says the vacation would be about “peace, acceptance and respect.” However, Gharachedaghi remains against the trip and says, “It’s hard for me to wanna go…when their government says it’s alright with Iran being bombed.”
