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Saturday, April 07, 2018

04/07 Links: US slams Gaza leaders who send children to border, ‘knowing they may be killed’; Explosives hurled at IDF troops guarding Jewish worshipers in Nablus

From Ian:
US blocks Arab-led UN call for independent probe of Gaza protests
The United States for a second week in a row blocked a UN Security Council statement supporting the right of Palestinians to “demonstrate peacefully” and endorsing Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call for an independent investigation into deadly protests in Gaza.

Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour told reporters at UN headquarters in New York on Friday evening that 14 of the 15 council nations agreed to the statement, but the United States, Israel’s closest ally, objected.

Mansour called the US rejection “very irresponsible,” saying it gave Israel “the green light to continue with their onslaught against the civilian population” in Gaza.

In response, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said the council “should condemn Hamas, which uses children as human shields while risking their lives, and must call for the end of these provocations which only increase the violence and tensions.”

Tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered along the Gaza border on Friday, burning tires and throwing firebombs and rocks at Israeli soldiers, who responded with tear gas and live fire, the army and witnesses said, as Palestinians held a second “March of Return” protest.

Mansour said that nine Gaza civilians were killed and over 1,000 wounded in the clashes, and again urged the UN Security Council to demand an independent investigation into the deaths.

He told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York that one child was among the dead and a large number of children were injured, at least 48 according to one report. He said his information came from the Hamas-run Health Ministry and Red Crescent officials in Gaza.
Haley Touts Israel and Cuba Policies: ‘Leading From Behind Is Over’
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley spoke at Duke University Thursday and credited the Trump administration with strengthening American leadership role at the U.N.

She criticized previous administrations for being too deferential to international opinion, saying she is not hesitant to resist the majority at the U.N. She described how the U.N.’s Security Council and Human Rights Council regularly single out Israel but leave authoritarian regimes alone.

"Soon after coming to the U.N. last year, we decided we weren’t going to silently accept that anymore. Israel is our great friend," Haley said to applause. "And Israel is a lonely voice for democracy and human dignity in the Middle East."

"We’ve made these changes to have the back of our friend and ally Israel, absolutely, but we’re also sending the message that the era of the United States leading from behind is over," she added.


US slams Gaza leaders who send children to border, ‘knowing they may be killed’
The White House on Thursday called on Palestinians to engage in solely peaceful protests and stay at least 500 meters from Gaza’s border with Israel, on the eve of fresh demonstrations supported by Gaza’s Hamas terrorist rulers along the border.

While the UN issued a warning to Israel to use “extreme caution” in facing the mass protests, US President Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt put the onus squarely on Palestinians.

Greenblatt said protesters “should remain outside the 500-meter buffer zone; and should not approach the border fence in any way or any location.”

He added, in a statement: “We condemn leaders and protestors who call for violence or who send protestors — including children — to the fence, knowing that they may be injured or killed. Instead, we call for a renewed focus by all parties on finding solutions to the dire humanitarian challenges facing Gazans.”

Earlier on Thursday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged Israel to exercise “extreme caution,” and to allow Palestinians to protest peacefully along the border.

“I particularly urge Israel to exercise extreme caution with the use of force in order to avoid casualties. Civilians must be able to exercise their right to demonstrate peacefully,” Guterres said in a statement.

Explosives hurled at IDF troops guarding Jewish worshipers in Nablus
A Palestinian hurled explosives at Israeli soldiers protecting a crowd of Jewish worshipers in the West Bank city of Nablus overnight Wednesday-Thursday, causing no injuries or damage, the army said.

A thousand Jewish worshipers flocked in the early hours of Thursday to Joseph’s Tomb for Passover prayers under military escort.

In a statement, the military said that before the worshipers entered the site, observations indicated “suspicious activity” in addition to the explosives that were hurled. Soldiers arrested three suspects and found weapons, including rifle magazines, bullets and a knife on a nearby roof.

The worshipers, who included the head of the Shomron Regional Council Yossi Dagan, prayed, sang and danced at Joseph’s Tomb, believed to be the burial site of the biblical figure.





Seth Frantzman: Great Return March Palestinian protest




Showing their true colors in Gaza
Its week two of six weeks of Hamas terror. Thousands are amassed at the border with Israel. And the Palestinians show their true colors, again and again.

Great March of Return, Gaza

A swastika flag flies along with Palestinian flags in Gaza. The descendants of the Grand Mufti al Amin al-Husseini have spoken, and their intentions are clear.

This photo is illustrative of the entire march. A father brings a young child to a war zone, showing complete disregard for his safety. Perhaps he is using him as a human shield, knowing Israel would not willingly hurt a child.

The father wears a mask for protection against the acrid smoke of the tire fires set throughout Gaza. The child does not. The heartrending and cavalier disregard for this childs well meaning is a microcosm of life in Gaza under Hamas. Life is cheap. Children are expendable. And those you should trust to ensure your physical and emotional well being have baser intentions. (h/t Elder of Lobby)


Media reporting on mass Hamas attack on Israel's border
Probably the most dishonest reporting yet, which is saying something

Example: Sky News thinks not enough Israelis have died to justify self-defence:



Palestinians: Abbas Targets Hamas, Then Condemns Israel for Targeting Hamas
Here is the situation: Abbas is arresting and torturing Palestinians on suspicion of being affiliated with Hamas at the same time that he is criticizing Israel for killing or arresting members of Hamas.

Mahmoud Abbas and his government actually owe Israel a massive debt of thanks for targeting their enemies -- the same enemies they just accused of trying to assassinate Abbas' prime minister in the Gaza Strip last month.

Abbas, of course, knows the truth: that Hamas is sending Palestinians to be killed and disabled near the border with Israel just to be able to hold up dead Palestinian babies with which to blame Israel in front of the press.

Abbas, however, is not only hypocrite, he is a coward. He knows it is safer for him to turn the heat falsely against Israel -- the same Israel that is propping up his regime in the West Bank and ensuring that Hamas does not drag him to the center of Ramallah and hang him as a traitor.
Amid fears of fresh Gaza fighting, Hamas issues rare call for calm
Hamas on Thursday urged Palestinians to “maintain the peacefulness” of the mass protests scheduled to take place along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, issuing a rare call for calm as both sides geared up for fresh violence Friday.

A statement issued by Hamas’s internal security apparatus also urged Palestinians to avoid friction with the Israel Defense Forces during the protests, which are part of the so-called March of Return orchestrated by the terror group and other Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip.

The statement was the first time that Hamas, a terror group which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, has called on Palestinians to avoid friction with IDF soldiers. Last week’s protest was also billed as a peaceful demonstration, but quickly devolved into violent and deadly confrontations between troops and Gaza protesters.

The appeal to avoid friction with the IDF is seen as a call to Palestinians not to go too close to the security fence, where they are at risk of being shot at by IDF snipers.

It could also be interpreted as a call to Palestinians to refrain from engaging in violent actions, such as throwing stones and rocks at IDF soldiers.


Hamas is destroying Gaza


Report: Egypt, Saudi Arabia urge Hamas to end 'Great March of Return' protests
Both Saudi Arabia and Egypt have called on militant organization Hamas to end the annual weekly protests it is holding for the "Great March of Return," according to an Egyptian source.

An Egyptian Foreign Ministry official was anonymously quoted as saying that, in exchange for halting the protests, Egypt would ensure that the Rafah border crossing, which Egypt controls, would be regularly opened. The source said that the agreement had come under the direction of the Saudis.

"The situation in the Gaza Strip is nearing an explosion towards anyone blockading it," the source said, "and therefore there is a fear that Palestinian anger will turn towards Egypt in the coming weeks."

The source also added that Saudi and Egyptian officials had opened contacts with Hamas leaders to urge calm in Gaza.

The London-based Al Hayat newspaper reported that an Egyptian delegation was being sent to Gaza to meet with the Hamas leadership, and one source told the paper that the head of Egypt's General Intelligence Service, General Abbas Kamel, had been tasked by Saudi Arabia to send a team to "neutralize the explosive situation."
EU says Gaza deaths ‘raise serious questions about Israel’s use of force’
The European Union on Saturday said the deaths of Palestinian protesters in violence along the Gaza border a day earlier “raise serious questions about proportionate use of force” by Israel.

Such concerns, the EU said in a statement, “must be addressed.”

The EU said that “Reports by the Israeli Defense Forces about throwing of stones and firebombs against their positions and attempts to cross the fence into Israel must also be clarified.”

The statement called on all sides to exercise “utmost restraint,” and stressed that “The priority now must be to avoid any further escalation and loss of life.”

It urged Palestinian factions to “engage seriously to allow the Palestinian Authority to resume its full responsibilities in Gaza, which is crucial for improving the situation of the people in Gaza,” adding that “The EU stands ready to continue to support this process with all the instruments at its disposal.”

On Friday night the US blocked a UN Security Council statement supporting the right of Palestinians to “demonstrate peacefully” and endorsing Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call for an independent investigation into the deadly protests in Gaza.
Hundreds march in Israeli Arab town in support of Gaza protests
Some 1,500 people took part in a demonstration in the Israeli-Arab town of Sakhnin Saturday in solidarity with the people of the Gaza Strip.

Protesters included Arab Knesset members as well as journalists, the Ynet new site reported. Demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and held pictures of journalist Yasser Murtaja, who was shot and killed during Friday’s “March of Return” in the Strip. Murtaja reportedly died from a gunshot wound he sustained while filming in an area engulfed in thick black smoke caused by protesters setting tires on fire.

Five other Palestinian journalists wearing identifying clothing were reportedly shot during the violent demonstration, as tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered along the Gaza border. Protesters burned tires and threw firebombs, explosives, and rocks at Israeli soldiers, who responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, and in some cases live fire.

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Hamas organizers were trying to use protesters as a diversion to “open up the fence and then to insert terrorists into Israel.” Conricus said snipers were used “sparingly” and only against those that posed a “significant threat.”

Arab journalist Wadia Awawdeh said the media casualties were proof that the IDF was acting in an unlawful manner on the border. He called on his “Israeli colleagues to raise their voices and protest the harm to their Palestinian colleagues…It is a human, moral, and ethical obligation.”
Palestinian journalist union says 6 reporters shot by Israel in Gaza
Six Palestinian journalists were shot and wounded by the Israeli army during clashes Friday between demonstrators and troops on the Gaza border, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said.

The union said the six were shot despite wearing clothes clearly identifying themselves as journalists, adding it held Israel “fully accountable for this crime.”

None of the injuries were life threatening, but the union called for those responsible to be held accountable.

An Israeli army spokeswoman had no immediate comment on the statement.

The Gaza Center for Media Freedom, which defends Palestinian journalists, called on the international community to intervene to protect its journalists.
Media watchdog accuses Israel of ‘deliberate shooting’ of journalists in Gaza
Reporters Without Borders on Saturday accused the Israeli army of the “deliberate shooting” of journalists in Gaza after a week of bloodshed by the border.

Nine people were killed in the latest unrest, including Yasser Murtaja, a journalist with the Gaza-based Ain Media agency who died from his wounds after being shot, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said.

“Palestinian photographer Yasser Mourtaja was wearing a vest marked ‘Press’: he was obviously the victim of an intentional shot,” said Christophe Deloire, the Secretary General of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), on Twitter.

“RSF condemns absolutely the deliberate shooting of journalists by the Israeli army.”

Murtaja reportedly died from a gunshot wound he sustained while filming Friday in an area engulfed in thick black smoke caused by protesters setting tires on fire.
Palestinians Pretty Sure Marching Will Work This Time (satire)
Following last week’s “March of Return” in Gaza, Palestinians say they are almost positive that this time marching, burning tires, and throwing rocks will pressure Israel to concede to their demands.

One protester explained, “Both my father and grandfather marched and threw rocks before me, and I proudly carry on this 70-year tradition. But, I am happy to say that I truly believe that this is the last year. Inshallah, 2018 will be the year that throwing rocks over the border fence will convince the Israeli Government to end their military occupation and allow all seven million Palestinians to return to Palestine.”

A Hamas spokesperson told the Mideast Beast, “We believe that this is the year that marching, throwing stones, burning tires and getting shot will enable us to crush the Zionist-colonialist entity and convince all the Jews to return to Europe. If the past 70 years have taught us anything, it’s that we just need to keep trying the same thing but only with more conviction. Oh, and of course, we will do our best to stab the occasional Jew. That ought to do it.”

Israeli athletes banned from taekwondo championship in Tunisia
A court in Tunis has banned four Israeli athletes from competing at the taekwondo world junior championships after a group of activists opposed to normalization with Israel filed an urgent lawsuit.

The competition is being held in the Tunisian seaside resort of Hammamet from April 6-13.

A judicial official said the court rendered its decision earlier this week after the Tunisian group known as the National Commission for Supporting Arab Resistance and Opposing Normalization and Zionism sued the president of the Tunisian taekwondo federation, Ahmed Gaaloul.

Prosecutor’s spokesman Sofiane Selliti told The Associated Press that the court decision stipulates that Gaaboul can’t invite, or host, the four Israeli athletes — Dana Azran, Nicol Adamskt, Abishag Semberg and Tom Pashcousky — whose names were on the list of contestants.

Gaaloul told the AP in a phone interview that the athletes will not be invited because they did not complete the paperwork to enter the tournament.

The plaintiffs argued in their lawsuit, which was published by local media, that the athletes’ presence would clash with constitutional provisions and agreements signed by the Tunisian government. They argue that Tunisia has committed “to denouncing and refusing Zionist occupation and colonization, as well as boycotting and not dealing with the Zionist entity (…) in any way.”
Former Qatari prime minister: Israelis have a right to live in their land
Former Qatari prime minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani stated on Twitter Wednesday that Israelis have the right to live in their own land, as do the Palestinians. These statements came days after similar remarks by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

In a series of Arabic tweets about the state of Qatar in relation to its neighbors in the region, Hamad wrote, "...Israelis have a right to live in their land in peace and safety, this is my conviction. I've had this conviction for many long years, and I still do."

However, he also lamented that Qatar has "become a laughing stock that is blackmailed," and that it "wastes our money on ill-conceived agreements and by paying lobbies to influential countries." He went on to say that when discussing Israel's right to safety in its land with said influential countries, "We are timid in mentioning that the Palestinians have their rights as well."

Hamad also called on Qatari leaders to step up and repair ties with the region. "What we need now in our Gulf," he said, "is to advise each other and try to reform the severed ties between our peoples."

"We need," he continued, "one who will rise among us from the defeat and shame that our nation is experiencing. We are not interested in saying things just to impress others."

He concluded his tweets by saying that Qatar's situation has come about "because of a lack of strategy and clear belief in dealing with our disputes and in outlining a desired future for generations to come."
Howard Jacobson: ‘Jews know what antisemitism is and what it isn’t. To invent it would be a sacrilege’
The Israel-loathing that began to consume the left altered my sense of being Jewish in this country. Past slights – the odd teacher wondering if Jews controlled the Nobel prize committee, my tutor at university calling me Finklebaum one day and Goldfinger the next – had been as nothing. A panto. But suddenly no one was laughing. I didn’t walk the streets in fear. I didn’t think of emigrating. And I didn’t consider becoming less conspicuously Jewish. Thirteen years ago, my wife and I chose to be married in a religious Jewish ceremony, and I continue to proclaim my brand of otherwise largely non-observant Jewishness as zestfully as I ever have. I still think Britain is a fine country to be a Jew of any complexion in. But it is as though I now live in the shadow of an unseen enemy. There are people not far away who hate beyond reason an enterprise to which I am only tenuously connected, but connected nonetheless.

If I think back to moments of Jew-related tension I’ve experienced in the second half of my life, they have almost all been to do with Israel. There is no point in citing instances. They aren’t personal to me. And they are more to do with a changed atmosphere than deeds. You can say I’m the lucky one. Post the emergence of anti-Zionism as a faith, Jews have been attacked and, in some European countries, killed. So far, I have had only to tolerate the vituperation that trails my articles.

But the atmosphere of which I speak is of a sort to which no group should be subjected. It manifests itself in habitual abuse on social media, the drowning out of any speech considered dissonant in universities, local councils and debating chambers, that cold-eyed contempt of which Jeremy Corbyn is master, and the undisguised assumption, within leftist politics, that when a Jew complains of antisemitism, he is lying. Most Jews know what antisemitism is and what it isn’t. Its history is written on the Jewish character in blood. To invent it where it is not would be a sacrilege.

The incantatory repetition of the charge that Jews cry antisemitism only in order to subvert criticism of Israel or discredit Corbyn is more than fatuous and lazy, and it is more than painful to those many Jews who own an old allegiance to the Labour party and who are not strangers to criticising Israel. It is the deepest imaginable insult. I cannot speak for all Jews, but a profound depression has taken hold of those I know. For myself, I feel I am back in that lightless swamp of medieval ignorance where the Jew who is the author of all humanity’s ills lies, cheats, cringes and dissembles. And this time there is no horse to punch.
Melanie Phillips: Waking up to this whole antisemitism thing
More than two weeks into the great row in Britain over Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and antisemitism, and one thing becomes steadily more clear: Everyone is ignoring the elephant in the room.

The revelations of widespread antisemitism in the party have plunged it into an existential crisis. Moderate Labour members opposed to Corbyn —hard-left friend to Hamas and all left-wing revolutionary causes — are aghast.

Yet few grasp the real nature of this crisis, which extends far beyond the British Labour Party. And that’s because few on the left are prepared to acknowledge the principal driver behind today’s antisemitism.

The bare details are bad enough. Corbyn has been exposed as belonging to at least five Facebook groups that are cesspools of antisemitism. Members have claimed that the Jews were behind Isis and 9/11, or that the Rothschilds control the world’s finances and other such paranoid theories.

The backwash from this revealed a tsunami of anti-Jewish insults, smears and libels by Labour supporters. Two Jewish Labour members of a north London borough council resigned, saying that overwhelming antisemitic abuse had made it impossible to be a Jewish Labour councillor.

Horrified Labour moderates say the party should expel antisemites and embark on an education program.

None of this would address the problem. These moderates have only just woken up to something that’s been poisoning left-wing discourse for at least three decades. Yet still they don’t get it. Still they won’t ask the key question: what in left-wing thinking has given rise to this obscenity?
Jeremy Corbyn’s Jewish Problem
Britain’s next prime minister might well be an anti-Semite. No one can say for certain whether Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn’s anti-Semitism is a sincerely held prejudice or merely a matter of electoral calculation: there are now more than ten times as many Muslims in Britain as Jews, and it therefore makes electoral sense to appeal more to Muslims than to Jews. But either way, his failure to condemn anti-Semitism in his own party, his penchant for consorting in friendly fashion with extremist anti-Zionists of genocidal instincts, and his defense of a mural depicting lupine Jewish bankers playing Monopoly on the backs of naked minorities are cause for anxiety among British Jews unknown since the rise—and thankfully swift fall—of Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British fascists in the 1930s.

In all the commentary about Corbyn’s anti-Semitism, real or feigned, no one seems to have noticed that anti-Semitism is perfectly logical for someone of Corbyn’s cast of mind. It has often been said that anti-Semitism is the socialism of fools; it would be more accurate to say that socialism is the anti-Semitism of intellectuals (at least in modern conditions). Anti-Semitism and socialism proceed along the same lines, using the same kind of presuppositions and evidence.

A few years ago, a survey appeared breaking down household wealth in Britain by religious affiliation, and Jews came first. For someone as suspicious of and hostile to wealth and the wealthy as Corbyn, whose fundamental economic idea is that money is the product of exploitation, and that equality of outcome is desirable, attainable, and just, it is only natural to suppose that both wealthy individuals and groups must have been up to no good, grabbing by illicit means a larger slice of the economic cake than is theirs, according to his own conception of justice. It is therefore perfectly reasonable, or at least in keeping, for him to be anti-Semitic: he hates none more than the independently successful.
JEWDAS AUCTIONING JEZZA’S ANTI-CAPITALIST BEETROOT
Jewdas has started an eBay auction for the ‘anti-capitalist beetroot‘ gifted to them by Jeremy Corbyn at the Seder this week.

Top French Writer Pays Tribute to Slain Holocaust Survivor Mireille Knoll in Emotional Poem on National TV
One of France’s most popular writers this week published a poem to commemorate Mireille Knoll — the 85-year-old Holocaust survivor murdered in her Paris apartment on March 23 — that pulled no punches in its condemnation of the antisemitic bigotry behind her fate.

Novelist and film director Yann Moix read the poem out loud on the weekly edition of national TV show “On n’est pas couché” (“We’re not lying”) on Tuesday night. Moix — a winner of the prestigious Prix Goncourt for literature who co-hosts the show — told the audience that he had composed the verses in the dressing room before the filming, at one point fighting back tears as he read them to the studio audience.

In the poem, Moix referred to “velodromes” — a reminder that Mrs. Knoll survived the July 1942 deportation of French Jews forcibly gathered at the Vélodrome d’hiver, a bicycle stadium in Paris — before denouncing the “madness of Muslim Nazis” that claimed her life more than seven decades later:

Dear Madame,
Spared by fate at the time of the velodromes,
Snatched up by chance from German crimes,
Death would be waiting for you beyond the pogroms,
Hidden in the madness of Muslim Nazis.

You had escaped from this disgraceful roundup,
Perpetrated by France against a few French citizens,
Whose main crime, and whose striking fault,
Was to have the blood of this absent God.

And your people who were hated, hated since birth,
Know deep down that the stabbing of knives, used to cut you up,
Was nothing starting up again, but a hate fixed in ever-changing torturers.

Your people who were punished, punished for their essence,
Know deep in the night that this auto-da-fé,
Where you were burned alive is a burgeoning of the same evil,
Which long ago used to be endorsed.

And your people who were despised,
Despised for their science,
Know deep in their lives that the cremation,
Of a lonely Jewish woman in her old age,
Will forever bear the name of desecration.
France: Soon with No Jews?
French Jews see that what remains of the Jewish presence in France is being erased. They know that they have to hide their Jewishness and that even if they are street-wise and carefully lock their door, risks are everywhere. They also know that what happens to them does not interest the rest of the French population. The French National Assembly has 577 members. Only one of them tirelessly and courageously draws attention to what is happening: Meyer Habib. He represents the French living in the Middle East and was elected thanks to the support of the French Jews who now live in Israel but still have their citizenship. Without them, he would have no chance of being elected.

After the murder of Sarah Halimi, a tribute to her was organized in the street where she lived. Only Jews attended. They were welcomed with insults, and bottles thrown from the windows of buildings.

When Jewish institutions called for a silent march in memory of Mireille Knoll, more people came. Again, most were Jews. Gilles-William Goldnadel, president of Lawyers Without Borders, and the Knoll family's lawyer, said that Mireille Knoll's late husband had been a survivor of Auschwitz and their children had lived with the memory of the Holocaust constantly in their minds, and how "terrible" it must be for them to see their mother murdered and her body burned. One of Mireille Knoll's sons, Daniel, said that "Muslims must react".

French Muslim organizations condemned the murder, but not the Jew-hate.

A study conducted for Fondapol (Foundation for Political Innovation) in 2014 showed that 25% of the French population have anti-Semitic sentiments, and that among practicing Muslims, the proportion is 42%. According to the study, 28% of French Muslims are strictly hostile to the teaching of the Holocaust in schools. Many say that the Holocaust is a Jewish invention.
An Israeli's Message to Mark Zuckerberg
Jean Vercors made aliya from France some years ago. He will be familiar to regular readers of this blog, since he has had guest posts here before. This latest post of his is entitled
"An Open Letter to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook".

It's prompted me to add this link to a brand-new article by a non-Jewish Sorbonne scholar, the courageous and prescient Guy Millière, regarding the plight of French Jewry at the hands of hate-filled antisemites.

Writes Jean Vercors:
I have used Facebook for years as a platform to share my thoughts, comments and articles. I value that platform because of its global reach. It connected me to some of my friends in France, the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and many other countries. It is a window to the world to differing opinions by allowing me to see what my friends think and share on their walls.It gives me an outlet to speak my mind and to share my thoughts on topics ranging from domestic politics to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

However, I have observed that your social media has reached a point of violent antisemitism, at least for me, and I guess many other people too. I am appalled by Facebook’s insistence to allow this on social media. I cannot believe that a group that calls for the death of the Jews, your own people for that matter, does not violate Facebook’s “Community Standards.” Do you realize how dangerous your media has become allowing the antisemites of the world to vomit their hate on Israel with lies?

I am disgusted that Facebook not only calls this group socially acceptable, but it endangers the lives of our brothers, our families, our children, and more importantly, our people as a whole.
Top Iranian cleric warns Hezbollah can raze Haifa and Tel Aviv to the ground
A top Iranian cleric warned that Hezbollah now has powerful weapons and if Israel were to attack the Lebanese terror group, it could raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground.

Speaking to worshipers on Friday, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, an ultra-conservative and a key leader of the main weekly Muslim prayers, was responding to a report that said Israel viewed as increasingly likely a fresh conflict with the Iran-backed Hezbollah by the end of the year.

Khatami said Israel had already “tried its chance” in the past and was defeated, according to the Tasnim news agency, referring to the 2006 Second Lebanese War.

Hezbollah (then) turned the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa into “ghost towns” with its 70km-range missiles, he said, adding that Hezbollah is now much more powerful than before, according to Tasnim.

“If you want Haifa and Tel Aviv to be razed to the ground, you can try your chance once again,” the Iranian cleric said.

More than 4,000 missiles were fired at Israel during the 34-day 2006 war, prompting massive numbers of residents to flee their homes. The conflict left 163 Israeli soldiers and civilians dead. On the Lebanese side, there were more than 1,000 dead.
Haley: ‘The Iran Nuclear Deal Was Designed to Be Too Big to Fail’
Haley gave a lecture called "Confronting Today’s Global Governance Challenges" to an audience at Duke University, and she said the United States is entering a new era of leadership in dealing with Iran. She criticized the way the Obama administration negotiated the deal.

"The Iran nuclear deal was designed to be too big to fail. For years, not just the United States, but our allies in Europe have overlooked Iranian ballistic missile launches, support for terrorists, and the oppression of the Iranian people in order to preserve the nuclear deal," Haley said.

She said the architects of the nuclear deal argued that going to war was the only alternative to accepting the bad deal they negotiated. She said the Trump administration has rejected those premises.

"This administration has had the courage to challenge this false choice. We are working with our European allies to strengthen the agreement and hold the Iranian regime to account for its support of regional terrorism," Haley said. "The president has set a deadline of mid-May to determine our continued participation in the deal."

"Whether we stay in the nuclear deal or not, strengthening our approach to holding Iran accountable for its actions sends a powerful message to Iran," Haley added.


Iran Continues to Hide Past Nuclear Weapons Work
Iran continues to hide key work it undertook on nuclear weapons development while perfecting ballistic missile technology that could carry such a weapon, according to a new report from a senior Israeli military official that has fueled calls from Trump administration insiders and Congress to nix the deal ahead of a May deadline.

Significant flaws in the original nuclear deal reached by the Obama administration with Iran has enabled Iran's ballistic missile program and permitted the Islamic Republic to obfuscate ongoing work on nuclear enrichment and possible weaponization technologies, according to Jacob Nagel, the former head of Israel's National Security Council.

Loopholes in the original agreement have allowed Iran to continue working on advanced nuclear centrifuges that can enrich uranium—the key component in a nuclear weapon—at least 15 to 20 times faster than original models of these devices, according to Nagel, who is serving as a visiting fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, or FDD.
German FM vows ‘considerable efforts’ to protect Iran deal
Germany’s foreign minister said Thursday his government will exert “considerable efforts” to protect the Iran nuclear deal despite Berlin’s misgivings about Iran’s ballistic missiles program and its involvement in the Syria conflict.

In a visit to Jordan, Heiko Maas called for a “firewall” between the nuclear deal and Iran’s other activities.

Under the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to curbs and inspections on its nuclear program in exchange for relief from years of crippling international sanctions.

US President Donald Trump has set a mid-May deadline to reach agreement with European nations to “fix” the agreement by toughening restrictions on Iran. The White House says the president will withdraw from the Obama-era accord if there’s no agreement on new punishments.

Trump wants to penalize Tehran for ballistic missiles, which weren’t part of the original deal. He also wants to expand access for international nuclear inspectors and prolong the limits on Iran’s nuclear activity, currently scheduled to expire in several years.
Iran hit by global cyber attack that left U.S. flag on screens
Hackers have attacked networks in a number of countries including data centres in Iran where they left the image of a U.S. flag on screens along with a warning “Don’t mess with our elections”, the Iranian IT ministry said on Saturday.

“The attack apparently affected 200,000 router switches across the world in a widespread attack, including 3,500 switches in our country,” the Communication and Information Technology Ministry said in a statement carried by Iran’s official news agency IRNA.

The statement said the attack, which hit internet service providers and cut off web access for subscribers, was made possible by a vulnerability in routers from Cisco (CSCO.O) which had earlier issued a warning and provided a patch that some firms had failed to install over the Iranian new year holiday.
Pro-Palestinian Students Criticized for Launching Campaign ‘Demonizing Israel’ on Passover, When Jewish Students Are Away From Campus
An anti-Zionist student group at the University of Pennsylvania has come under fire for launching a campaign “falsely demonizing Israel” during the holiday of Passover, when many Jewish students are away from campus.

Ariela Stein, a sophomore and fellow with the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, took aim at Penn Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) for holding its annual “Israeli Apartheid Week” — which seeks to build support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel — between April 4th and 7th.

The holiday of Passover started on March 30th and will end on April 7th, meaning many Jewish students were “unable to mobilize an effective response due to religious obligations,” Stein wrote in an editorial published Wednesday in The Daily Pennsylvanian student newspaper.

SJP’s campaign includes a display protesting Israel’s West Bank security barrier, which the Israeli government says was erected to stop suicide bombings and other Palestinian terrorist attacks, but Palestinians claim encroaches on land they seek for a future state. Other events include a film screening and a memorial for victims of the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip.

The memorial also includes a section commemorating rioters killed during recent Hamas-backed riots by the Gaza-Israel border, more than half of whom have been identified as members of terror groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The protesters’ affiliations were not mentioned by SJP.
Auschwitz lyric ignites uproar against German rap duo ahead of Echo awards
Germany's biggest music awards ceremony is set to take place on April 12, but this year's festivities have already been stained by an anti-Semitism controversy.

Rap duo Kollegah and Farid Bang are nominated for two awards including "Album of the Year" for the record "Jung, brutal, gut aussehend 3" ("Young, brutal, good looking 3").

Echo's organizers announced the nominations, which were based on the album's commercial success, in early March.

But Echo and the rappers, who are both Muslims, drew criticism after German daily Bild reported on an anti-Semitic lyric from one of the album's bonus songs.

The duo compared their muscle definition to the emaciated body of an Auschwitz inmate

Auschwitz comparison
In the song "0815" the duo sings: "My body is more defined than those of Auschwitz inmates."

Nazi Germany killed more than a million inmates, the majority of them Jews, at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during the World War II. Many were found starving and emaciated when they were freed at the end of the war.
Iraqi Man Granted Entry to Israel to Be With Infant Son Battling Life-Threatening Heart Defect
An Iraqi man was granted permission this week to enter Israel to be with his 11-month-old son who is being treated for a life-threatening cardiac condition at the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, the Hebrew news site Walla reported on Thursday.

The boy was brought to Israel — along with his mother — around two months ago by the Shevet Achim organization, which arranges medical care at Israeli hospitals for children with congenital heart defects from around the Middle East.

In the past month, the boy’s health deteriorated, and doctors believe he will likely not survive.

With the approval of Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, the boy’s father was flown to Israel, arriving on Thursday, so he could join his wife and son at this difficult time.

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