Monday, December 11, 2017
Explosion Rocks Major Manhattan Transport Hub, One Suspect in Custody
An explosion rocked New York’s Port Authority Bus Terminal, one of the city’s busiest commuter hubs, on Monday morning and police said one suspect was injured and in custody, with three other injuries reported.Douglas Murray: President Trump: The Courage to Act
Police were not yet identifying the device used. Local television channel WABC cited police sources as saying a possible pipe bomb detonated in a passageway below ground and WPIX cited sources as saying a man with a “possible second device” has been detained in the subway tunnel.
The fire department tweeted there were four injuries, all non-life threatening. One of the injured was a Port Authority police officer.
The bus terminal was temporarily closed, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in a Twitter statement.
A large swathe of midtown Manhattan was closed to traffic, between 45th Street to 40th Street and 7th Avenue to 9th Avenue, police said. Subway trains were bypassing the Times Square station, the city’s busiest.
“There was a stampede up the stairs to get out,” said Diego Fernandez, one of the commuters at Port Authority. “Everybody was scared and running and shouting.”
President Trump's announcement on the status of Jerusalem last week was both historic and commendable. Historic because it is the first time that an American president has not just acknowledged that the Israeli capital is Jerusalem but decided to act on that acknowledgement. Commendable for breaking a deceitful trend and accepting what will remain the reality on the ground in every imaginable future scenario. As many people have pointed out in recent days, there is not one prospective peace deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians in which Tel Aviv becomes the capital of the Jewish state.Firebombing Jewish Children in Sweden
Yet, the Palestinian leadership, much of the mainstream media, academia and the global diplomatic community take another view. They believe that the American president should have continued with the fairy tale and should never have said "That the United States recognises Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel and that the United States Embassy to Israel will be relocated to Jerusalem as soon as practicable." They claim that this is not a simple recognition of reality and not simply the American President granting the State of Israel the same right every other nation on the planet has -- which is to have their capital where they like. Such forces claim that this is a "provocative" move. Amply demonstrating the illogic of this position, the first thing the Turkish Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan did after the American president made his announcement was to threaten a suspension of Turkish relations with Israel.
The reaction around the world in recent days has been a reminder of the one central truth of the whole conflict. Those who cannot accept that Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel tend to be exactly the same as those who cannot accept the State of Israel. Consider the expert whom the BBC's flagship current affairs programme Newsnight chose to bring on to receive soft-ball questions on this issue. Dr. Ghada Karmi, from the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, a notorious opponent of Israel, was inevitably given the sort of respectful interview style that Newsnight presenters generally reserve for when they are interviewing Madonna or some other mega-star they cannot believe their luck at having gotten to speak with.
It is not just European Jewish leaders who, in such cases, feel driven to draw a sharp distinction between European Jews and the Jewish state. In an interview with Expressen, Jonas Ransgård, a member of the Gothenburg city council, lamented the fact that "Jews in Sweden are held responsible for what Israel thinks is right or wrong." Such remarks, of course, imply:Red Crescent drives Arab rioters
1. that Swedish Jews, being Swedes, are surely too sensible and humane to agree in any large numbers with Israeli (or pro-Israeli) policies or actions, and
2. that Israel, by virtue of its supposedly provocative behavior, is at least indirectly responsible for anti-Jewish attacks in Europe.
If the firebombing of the Gothenburg synagogue was motivated by Trump's decision on Jerusalem, it was not the only notable response to that decision in Sweden this weekend. On Friday night, an anti-Trump rally in Malmö drew about 200 people, many of whom shouted anti-Jewish remarks and threatened to "shoot the Jews." On Saturday, anti-Trump protesters marched in Stockholm and set fire to the Israeli flag. A search through the major Swedish online media did not yield any details about the ethnic or religious backgrounds of the participants in any of these incidents.
What, sadly, is hardly ever acknowledged by Europe's establishment media is that Jews -- and Israel, the only openly pluralistic country in the Middle East -- are under constant assault by Western European leaders, citizens, and (especially) so-called "new Europeans," as well as by the governments of no fewer than 21 Arab and Muslim countries in the Middle East.
The attack on the Gothenburg synagogue may have been immediately triggered by Trump's recognition of Israel's capital, but it is part of a pattern of persecution and savagery that has been in place, and that has been systematically ignored, denied or played down by the news media and public officials, ever since the Islamization of Western Europe began.
Haisam Hassanein: Arabs must accept Jerusalem’s status
On Wednesday, the Trump administration declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. It is the right decision and long overdue to repair the historical injustice and recognize the reality of many decades that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people. As God told Moses in the Koran, “O my people, enter the Holy Land which Allah has assigned to you.”Conrad Black: The Palestinians should take what they can get while they can
As an Arab American who grew up in the Middle East, I was taught from a young age that Jews have no right in Jerusalem and the whole of Israel is Arab land. Hence, I am astonished to hear some U.S. pundits objecting to Trump’s move on the grounds that it makes it less likely a Palestinian president will sign a document dividing Jerusalem or even acknowledging the Jewish right in the holy city.
It is also always puzzling to witness Arab officials lie about their acceptance of Jewish rights in Jerusalem. I was taught at school, mosque and on television that Jews have no historical claim to and no rights in the holy city.
As my Arab history teacher once said in middle school, “Jews do not belong or own one meter in Jerusalem.”
A clear recent example took place on Wednesday following Trump’s announcement: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stressed Muslim and Christian heritage in the holy city without mentioning anything related to Jewish rights.
All has changed in the Middle East. The Palestinians no longer benefit from the patronage of the Arab leaders to keep the pot boiling with Israel — they were happy to be cannon fodder, to prevent the improvement of the wretched settler camps or the resettlement of their inhabitants, as long as it made them personally rich and world famous. They could have had a Palestinian state any time in the last 40 years if they had been prepared to recognize the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state, its raison d’être. They preferred celebrity and violence and some of their leaders have called for a new Intifada this week; presumably, this time, the population will have the intelligence to resist the call — it’s not as if the last two Intifadas were a howling success. They have been abandoned by their former patrons and Israel is geometrically stronger than it was even 20 years ago, not at all isolated, and not threatened by Iraq and Syria.JCPA: Europe, Be a Fair Friend
The answer has been obvious since the Taba meetings in January 2001: the West bank becomes narrower and the Gaza Strip thicker and the Palestinians have a secure road between them. It isn’t Israel, which is primarily for the Jews, or Jordan, which is majority Palestinian but ruled by the Bedouins and the Hashemite kings, but it is a state, and with foreign assistance, which would be plentiful, and Palestinian tenacity, which is proverbial even by local standards, it would flourish. There are 198 countries in the world — not every newly created state can expect to be a Canada, Australia, or Brazil.
Donald Trump has recognized realities and done the Palestinians a favour, if they and their ancient terrorist leadership aren’t too punch-drunk to recognize the facts: the Palestinians were used and are no longer useful. Donald Trump is a realist and is not overly concerned with the American Jewish vote, which is now infested with Jew-hating Jews anyway. The Palestinians should take what they can get while they can get it.
Today, December 11, 2017, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and have breakfast with the foreign ministers of all 28 EU member states. Israel’s sentiments accompany him.Skeptical Netanyahu to EU on Palestinian state: Would it be Costa Rica or Yemen?
Today, the Jewish people, along with all people of goodwill, are commemorating an event that has finally given historical justice to an issue that is 3,000 years old: Jerusalem has been recognized by the United States as the State of Israel’s capital.
How many times have you, European officials, visited Israel and the shrines of the three monotheistic religions? Today, Israel diligently preserves the fragile status quo allowing freedom of religion to all faiths, despite ongoing attacks that predominantly target Jews and jeopardize the delicate balance in this sanctum sanctorum area of Jerusalem’s Old City.
The Palestinian narrative rejects the indivisible relationship between the Jewish People, its homeland, and its capital, Jerusalem. That unyielding rejection has led any peace process into a deadlock.
For years, the relationship between Europe and Israel has been strained. Europe tends to criticize Israel for simply defending itself against the continual threats and terrorist attacks it faces on all its borders and inside its cities. The EU has never recognized the dangers that Hamas and Hizbullah pose, as well as many other jihadist groups.
In the 1980s, Europe developed the idea that it would weaken its relations with the Arab world if it showed sympathy and friendship to Israel. Objectively, this concept has come to an end. Europe: Israel’s fight for its survival and the survival of the Jewish people is also your battle.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cast doubt on the viability of a Palestinian state on Monday in a meeting with EU foreign ministers. Asked straight out whether he still supports a two-state solution, he responded by asking them whether such a state would be “Costa Rica or Yemen.”Netanyahu to EU: Most European countries will ultimately follow US on Jerusalem
Speaking to reporters on board his plane after the breakfast meeting, just before taking off from Brussels, he also said that the European nations “spoil” the Palestinians, while US President Donald Trump, in recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last week, “told them the truth.”
Netanyahu said he spoke with the foreign ministers of “almost all of the 28 EU member states” and that the conversation was “respectful from both sides.”
He said he told them that it was high time for a more realistic discussion about where the region is headed, and said the current turmoil in the Middle East is due to a battle between “modernity and early Medievalism.”
Netanyahu said he argued against two misconceptions: that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is at the heart of the region’s troubles, and that the settlements are at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “I asked them, ‘Does anybody believe in this?’” he reported. “The poor guy who set himself on fire in Tunisia, did he really care about whether Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] and I negotiate and reach an agreement?” he said.
Fending off widespread international criticism, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that recognizing Jerusalem as his country’s capital made peace possible, rather than distancing the prospect of an agreement with the Palestinians.France’s Macron Tells Netanyahu to Make ‘Courageous Gestures’ Toward Palestinians, Blasts Trump’s Jerusalem Move as ‘Dangerous Threat to Peace’
Netanyahu, as he arrived for talks with EU foreign ministers here, said the move last week by US President Donald Trump “doesn’t obviate peace; it makes peace possible, because recognizing reality is the substance of peace, it’s the foundation of peace.”
Standing next to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini at the headquarters of the European Union, he predicted that most countries on the continent would eventually recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move their embassies to the city.
“I believe that even though we don’t have an agreement yet, this is what will happen in the future,” Netanyahu said. “I believe that all, or most, of European countries will move their embassies to Jerusalem and recognize it as Israel’s capital and engage robustly with us, for security, prosperity and peace.”
By contrast, Mogherini reiterated the union’s principled opposition to a change in Jerusalem’s status before a comprehensive peace agreement.
French President Emmanuel Macron told Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday that he needed to make gestures to the Palestinians to break the impasse between the two sides.Netanyahu in Brussels: Recognizing Jerusalem as capital can promote peace
Netanyahu was in Paris ahead of a meeting with EU foreign ministers on Monday when they will try present a unified front after US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
While condemning all acts of terrorism against Israel, Macron said that he told Netanyahu that he was against Trump’s decision, which was a “dangerous threat to peace.”
“I asked Prime Minister Netanyahu to make some courageous gestures toward the Palestinians to get out of the current impasse,” he said, suggesting that a freeze of settlement construction could be a first step.
He reaffirmed that France believed that a two-state solution was the only viable option to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
European countries, like many nations, have criticized the Trump administration’s decision last week which reversed decades of US policy. Israel considers all of Jerusalem to be its capital, while the Palestinians want the eastern part of the city as capital of a future independent state.
Most countries have maintained the position that decisions about Jerusalem’s status should be left to future negotiations. The Trump administration argues that any future peace deal is likely to place Israel’s capital in Jerusalem, and old policies need to be abandoned to revive the moribund peace process.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the EU on Monday not to put forth a peace plan of its own, but rather to wait and see what the Americans will offer, and work on that.Dore Gol: The Evidence that Jerusalem Is Jewish
Netanyahu's comments came during comments he and EU Foreign Policy chief Federica Mogherini gave before a breakfast meeting with all 28 EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
The significant difference between Israel and the EU over the Jerusalem issue and US President Donald Trump's recognizing the city as Israel's capital were on clear display during the opening comments. In recent days there have been voices raised inside the EU saying as a result of objection to Trump’s move, the EU should take a more forceful role in the diplomatic process and initiate its own peace proposal.
“You know where the European Union stands,” Mogherini said to Netanyahu. “We believe that the only realistic solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine is based on two states with Jerusalem as the capital of both, the State of Israel and the State of Palestine along the 1967 lines. This is our consolidated position, and we will continue to respect the international consensus on Jerusalem until the final status of the whole city is resolved in direct negotiations between the parties.”
Netanyahu responded by saying that the root of the conflict with the Palestinians is not territory, but rather a refusal by the Palestinians to recognize a nation state of the Jewish people within any boundary. “You see this in the the continual denial by the Palestinians of our right to exist as a Jewish state, and the denial of our history,” he said. “For 3,000 years Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people… Yet that connection is denied in UN forums, UNESCO and in laughable decisions that seek to deny history and historical truth.”
Netanyahu said that peace was based on recognizing reality.
On Sep. 5, 2017, Amb. Dore Gold presented 3,000 years of Jewish history in Jerusalem to the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies in London, England's oldest think tank. See his full presentation on "The Struggle for Jerusalem in International Diplomacy." At the Camp David summit in July 2000, under the Clinton administration, the PLO leader at the time Yasser Arafat, said, like so many others, there never was a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. There were also officials in his midst who said, on the record, "Go prove there was a Temple, let’s see the evidence." Well, What you have here is a stone, with a 2,000-year-old text, found next to the Temple Mount, it’s an original sign in ancient Greek, marking rules of entry to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Look at the Arch of Titus in Rome. Titus was the roman general who destroyed the temple and later became emperor of the Roman Empire. The arch shows Roman soldiers on parade, carrying the implements and ornaments of the burnt Temple. What better proof do you need of the destruction and the looting of the Temple?! All these artifacts, and many more like them, do not lie: We today did not come to Israel as foreign occupiers. We returned. We were here before, and now we came back.
Czech integrity
Among all the congratulations the president of the United States deserves, it is the modest declaration by the government of the Czech Republic recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel that warms the heart. I once thought that if it were possible to form a legal confederation between two countries that do not share a border and are on different continents, Israel and the Czech Republic would be the two countries to do so.Guatemalan officials to president: Move embassy to Jerusalem
First of all, there is the gaping, impossible-to-bridge difference between the Czech Republic and Germany. In Germany, a major news channel devoted 10 minutes of a 15-minute news broadcast to the horrible scandal caused by U.S. President Donald Trump. The anchor delved into why the American president had taken such an unreasonable step as recognizing Jerusalem: "Because of his evangelical supporters and 'rich donors.'" It seems that Germany hasn't changed. Anti-Semitism is like malaria; it doesn't go away.
In contrast to the attack from German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, the stance of Czech President Miloš Zeman shines brightly. The Czechs know what it is to be a small country sold out by a bunch of strong and hypocritical nations. We saw this Sunday in French President Emmanuel Macron's chilly reception for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Czech admiration of Israel in the post-communist era stems from rebellion. In Czechoslovakia in 1948 there was real admiration for the newly established State of Israel, and the assistance we received from the Czechs will forever be remembered by our people. That was followed by the dark days of the anti-Semitic Prague Trial. In 1967, popular admiration for Israel broke out again after the military victory of the Six-Day War, which is still being mourned by the rest of Europe and the Israeli and American Left. But not the Czechs.
Representatives from the Guatemalan Congress sent a letter to President Jimmy Morales on Friday asking him to relocate the country's embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The letter, signed by 10 elected officials, was also delivered to Yesh Atid MK Haim Jelin, who along with Kulanu MK Yifat Shasha-Biton visited the Guatemalan Congress last week as part of a Knesset delegation to the Central American country.Why the ‘Arab street’ didn’t just explode
"The foreign relations work by Israel's Knesset alongside the close ties [forged] with our counterparts in the Guatemalan parliament during our last visit have borne fruit. We all hope that additional members of parliament join the [signatories of the] letter and lead a wave of affection" encompassing the region, Jelin and Shasha-Biton said in a statement.
The letter followed a report in the Spanish-language Aurora Digital website on Sunday that Guatemalan Integration Director Sandra Hovel had expressed the country's support for U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Speaking at a meeting of Latin American foreign ministers, Hovel called Guatemala "an ally of the State of Israel."
As for Iran, the regional ambitions of Israel’s top enemy have ironically made it Israel’s unintentional benefactor. To the Arabs, yesteryear’s Israeli boogeyman now looks more like Caspar the Friendly Ghost. “Palestine” is so over . . .Sweden boosts security around synagogues after firebomb attack
And blame the Palestinians, not Israel, for their lack of statehood. Since the failed 1948 Arab assault on newly reborn Israel, the Palestinians have had literally dozens of opportunities for an advantageous peace. Yet even Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton — no friends to the blue-and-white flag — ended up frustrated as Palestinian leaders, on the cusp of peace time and again, decided that three-quarters of the pie was insufficient.
Inevitably, the pie got smaller over time — but the Palestinian leadership continued to profit from “occupied” status. Now it’s too late for anything that looks like a viable Palestinian state. It’s time we all faced that reality.
In Paris this weekend for talks with the French president, Israel’s plainspoken prime minister stated that Jerusalem always has been and always will be Israel’s capital, and that the city has never been the capital of any state but the Jewish state. Trump simply recognized that moral, practical and historical truth.
And lest any reader mistake this as a partisan paean to our president, let it be noted that I am not and never have been among the president’s fans. But Trump got this one right. The reflexive condemnation of his action by the usual suspects was indecent.
As for the long-term strategic effects: We don’t know. But we do know that the cherished “peace process” doesn’t even have zombie status.
Will there be more terrorism? Sure. As there would have been more terrorism, anyway. Terrorism isn’t about us, it’s about them.
If Arab leaders refuse to let the “Palestinian question” shape their policies, why should we allow it to deform ours?
A Central Asian proverb runs that “The dog may bark, but the caravan moves on.” The hounds of appeasement have barked for generations, but the Israeli caravan kept going, arriving at the only admirable (or even livable) state in the Middle East, an island of civilization amid vast deserts of barbarism.
Swedish police on Monday tightened security near Jewish sites following a fire attack on a synagogue at the weekend, which came in the wake of the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.Germany ‘ashamed’ over anti-Semitic protests against Israel
Masked assailants in Sweden’s second largest city, Gothenburg, hurled burning objects late Saturday at a synagogue where people were inside for an event.
The building did not catch fire and no one was hurt, but authorities took the incident seriously as it came days after US President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the Jewish state’s capital.
Trump’s announcements drew international condemnations and sparked angry protests in the Middle East.
Authorities have not revealed the attack’s motive.
The German government said Monday it was “ashamed” of weekend demonstrations against the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, which saw some protesters chant anti-Semitic slogans and torch Israeli flags.Erdogan: Jerusalem declaration makes US a ‘partner in bloodshed’
Government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters that although Berlin opposed the move by US President Donald Trump last week, it strongly condemned protests in German cities where “hatred” of Israel and Jews was expressed.
“At certain rallies over the weekend, slogans were chanted, Israeli flags were burned and slander against the state of Israel and Jews in general were spread which were shameful,” Seibert said.
“One has to be ashamed when hatred of Jews is put on display so openly on the streets of German cities.”
Seibert noted that Berlin had a “particular responsibility toward Israel and Jewish people in general” because Nazi Germany slaughtered six million Jews in the Holocaust.
He said that while Germany protected a constitutional right to free speech and assembly, that freedom did not cover incitement of racial hatred or violence.
“It is important that we continue to stand up to all of that,” he said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that Washington has become a “partner in bloodshed” thanks to US President Donald Trump’s decision last week to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.At massive rally, Hezbollah chief calls for ‘intifada’ over Jerusalem
“With its decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the United States has become a partner in this bloodshed,” Ergodan told a crowd at an Ankara event, according to Reuters. “The statement by President Trump does not bind us, nor does it bind Jerusalem.”
The swipe at Washington came amid a war of words between Turkey and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Trump’s announcement.
“It is not possible to take seriously the allegations and accusations made by a mentality which massacred thousands of Palestinians, turned the lands of the Palestinians into an open-air prison, in order to suppress its guilt,” Erdogan’s spokesperson Ibrahim Kalın said in the latest volley on Sunday.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called for Palestinians to launch a fresh “intifada” against Israel over the US recognition of Jerusalem at a massive rally in Beirut on Monday attended by thousands of the terror group’s supporters, saying Israel’s end was at hand.Senior Saudi prince condemns Trump's 'opportunistic' Jerusalem move
“We will never abandon Jerusalem,” Nasrallah told the crowd in an address beamed on a massive screen.
“All Arab peoples must repeat with the Palestinian people: ‘We will be millions of martyrs to sacrifice for Jerusalem’,” he said, a pledge echoed in unison by the crowd numbering tens of thousands.
During the rally, Hezbollah supporters chanted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!” in protest over the US decision. Protesters marched through the Iran-backed terror group’s south Beirut bastion, carrying banners reading “Jerusalem, Eternal Capital of Palestine” and “Jerusalem is Ours.”
He charged that the move has left the US and Israel isolated against the rest of the world.
“Trump’s decision on al-Quds will be the beginning of the end of Israel,” he said, using the Arabic name for Jerusalem.
“If you hold on to al-Quds as the everlasting capital of Palestine, neither Trump nor anyone else can do anything other than that,” Nasrallah said. “The whole nation must stand in the face of this American threat.”
Former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal has criticized US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, in one of the sharpest reactions emanating from the US-allied kingdom.Labour MP Andy Slaughter at the Khaybar Hatred March
In a letter to Trump published in a Saudi newspaper on Monday, Prince Turki, a former ambassador to Washington who now holds no government office but remains influential, called the move a domestic political ploy which would stoke violence.
"Bloodshed and mayhem will definitely follow your opportunistic attempt to make electoral gain," Prince Turki wrote in a letter published in the Saudi newspaper al-Jazeera.
Trump reversed decades of US policy and veered from international consensus last week by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Most countries say the city's status must be left to negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
"Your action has emboldened the most extreme elements in the Israeli society ... because they take your action as a license to evict the Palestinians from their lands and subject them to an apartheid state," Prince Turki wrote.
"Your action has equally emboldened Iran and its terrorist minions to claim that they are the legitimate defenders of Palestinian rights," he added, referring to the kingdom's arch-foe Shi'ite Iran.
Labour MP Andy Slaughter is not one to miss a proper Israel hatred session with his Islamist and far left friends.MEMRI: Jordanian Writers Try To Quell Anger At U.S., Warn Against Targeting Americans
Sure enough, it appears that he spoke at Friday’s “Hands Off Jerusalem” demonstration in London.
As you know, an ugly crowd at the demonstration turned to chanting “Khaybar” to express their murderous hatred. Massacring Jews? Yay, bring it on! There were also “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” chants and that old favourite, “with our blood and our souls we sacrifice ourselves for you oh Palestine!”.
This comes as no surprise. Slaughter has long been close to the Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB), a Hamas front with a chilling record of promoting some of the very worst hate preachers. The PFB was one of the organisers of the demonstration on Friday.
U.S. President Donald Trump's December 6, 2017 announcement of American recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and of the planned move of the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv, sparked angry protests and marches in Jordan, the likes of which have not been seen in the country for a long time, both in terms of their scope and in terms of the hostility expressed towards the U.S. The American embassy in Amman was at the epicenter of the protests, leading the authorities to tighten security around it. In a demonstration held on December 7, pictures of Trump were burned and anti-U.S. slogans were chanted, including "America is the head of the serpent." In demonstrations held the following day several protesters were arrested for throwing stones at the embassy building. The participants in the protests, which were held across the country, also called to expel the U.S. ambassador from Amman, recall Jordan's ambassadors from the U.S. and Israel, sever diplomatic relations with the U.S. and boycott American goods, and sue Trump for inciting violence and hatred and violating U.N. resolutions.Media falsely discredit Trump on Jerusalem
The calls for protests came from left-wing and pan-Arab parties, professional syndicates, and even elements in the Jordanian regime, but primarily from the Islamic Action Front, the political branch of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood (MB). Speaking at a protest march organized by this party following Friday prayers at one of Amman's main mosques, the MB's general supervisor in Jordan, 'Abd Al-Hamid Thneibat, described Trump's announcement as a new, American Balfour Declaration, blunt and aggressive, that must be fought by every means. In an interview with Al-Jazeera, 'Abdallah Al-'Akayleh, chairman of the National Reform Coalition, of which the MB is a member, called for a sweeping Islamic intifada from Jakarta in the east to Morocco in the west, and for an intifada in Palestine from the river to the sea. He also urged Arab regimes to reconsider their relations with the U.S.
The media has discredited President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital -falsely claiming the President has reversed nearly seven decades of American foreign policy. Trump’s decision has pitted America squarely against the United Nations.NBC News Host Tweets Support for the End of Israel
The New York Times led the pack declaring:
“President Trump on Wednesday formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing nearly seven decades of American foreign policy …”
Australia’s publicly-funded national broadcaster – the ABC - followed suit with this headline:
“Donald Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital, in reversal of decades of policy”
News outlets including Reuters, Financial Times, Iraqinews, Gulfnews, and Today parroted this false claim.
America’s policy on Jerusalem is actually laid out in “The Jerusalem Embassy Act 1995 (Act)” passed by the Senate (93–5) and the House (374–37) on 24 October 1995 – specifically highlighted by Trump when announcing his decision:
“In 1995, Congress adopted the Jerusalem Embassy Act, urging the federal government to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem and to recognize that that city -- and so importantly -- is Israel’s capital. This act passed Congress by an overwhelming bipartisan majority and was reaffirmed by a unanimous vote of the Senate only six months ago.”
MSNBC / NBC News reporter Ayman Mohyeldin tweets his thoughts on US President Trump’s declaration on recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the US Embassy there:Jerusalem Fallout: More Media Muckups
While he is today a host on MSNBC shows “The Breakdown” and “First Look,” it appears that Mohyeldin is currently reporting from Ramallah in the aftermath of the Trump announcement.
Look at it this way, as Israelis have pointed out, with the US embassy moving to Jerusalem, we are one step closer to a One-State Solution with democratic and equal rights for everyone. #SilverLining— Ayman Mohyeldin (@AymanM) December 5, 2017
That a journalist reporting from Israel and the disputed territories could tweet something of this nature is appalling on multiple levels.
Judging by his #SilverLining hashtag, Mohyeldin is expressing his support for a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Jewish Israelis aren’t opposed to a one-state solution due to a lack of interest in democratic and equal rights. To them, the one-state solution is unacceptable because:
The Nazi overtones in this illustration accompanying a Times of India staff editorial in the print edition made me shudder:The Toronto Star Allows False “Facts” on Jerusalem
Star of David embedded in US eagle with its claws around the Middle East. Did @timesofindia steal this image straight from a neo-Nazi site? Disgusting. pic.twitter.com/YPWaHZQcX8— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) December 10, 2017
• The London-based LBC radio blew it, insisting that Tel Aviv is Israel’s capital. This weekend, it was Andrew Pierce. (Last week, it was Shelagh Fogarty.)
It’s okay to say the world refuses to recognize Jerusalem’s capital status.
But insisting that Tel Aviv is Israel’s capital denies reality. Tel Aviv is no more Israel’s capital than Tiberias, Tulsa or Tokyo. Even Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai confirmed this years ago.
• In Sweden, firebombs were thrown at a synagogue following a demonstration against Trump’s Jerusalem declaration where protesters called to kill Jews. Unfortunately, CNN’s headline needed a little help.
In his opinion column entitled, “In favouring Israel, Trump puts it at risk” Toronto Star foreign affairs columnist Tony Burman expresses some extreme and unsupportable opinions while also misstating critical facts. While columnists are entitled to their opinions, re-writing reality is a simply a betrayal.History Channel Flunks Jerusalem 101
Burman flatly states:
The world didn’t allow an apartheid South Africa to survive in the final decades of the 20th century…nor will an apartheid Israel be allowed to endure in the 21st century.
Israel is not an apartheid state. Period.
Like any diverse, democratic nation (including Canada) Israel sometimes contends with issues of racial tension (in both directions). Yet (also like Canada) Israel demonstrates a great deal of peaceful and engaged co-existence as well.
However, with respect to the very definition of “apartheid” there is only one thing that matters: under Israeli law all citizens are equal.
For years, the Palestinians and their enablers have sought to rewrite Jerusalem’s history.
Among the claims we’ve seen over the years: there was never a Temple atop the Temple Mount, that Jews have no ties to Jerusalem, that the eastern half of the city was “traditionally Arab,” all come to mind.
Now the History Channel adds a new claim: While Tel Aviv is Israel’s “official capital,” Jerusalem is merely the “unofficial capital.”
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