Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Abbas to Shin Bet Chief: If You Deduct Terrorists’ Salaries We’ll Cut Security Coordination
“The moment Israel cuts the salaries of the terrorists, we will cancel the security coordination,” Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told Shin Bet Director Nadav Argaman, Kan, Israel’s Public Broadcasting Corporation, reported on Monday.
According to the report, the two met last week in Abbas’s home, a day or two before a Grad rocket from Gaza hit a home in Beersheba.
The talks dealt with the need for calm, but also the PLO conference next week, which is expected to yield resolutions against Hamas, Israel and the US.
Argaman reportedly sought to soften Abbas’s position and make sure he did not go too far with anti-Israel actions, including the cancellation of the Paris Economic Agreement, the security coordination and the recognition of Israel.
“The Palestinians claim that ‘we are 25 years after Oslo, on what base do the IDF forces enter the Palestinian cities in Area A?,” Argaman explained, suggesting the other side is complaining, “Whom do you coordinate with when you enter Area A and Area B? You enter whenever you want and do not ask permission.”
Last month, Abbas said in a meeting with Peace Now officials that he met regularly with the Shin Bet chief, and that they agree on 99% of the issues relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Paying to slay Jews is “social welfare” (says Palestinian UN rep)
Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian 'Support' for Saudi Arabia
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas did not wait for Saudi Arabia to admit that Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in its consulate in Turkey. Days before the Saudi announcement, Abbas decided that he and the Palestinians have "absolute confidence" in King Salman bin Abdel Aziz and this son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
As Abbas was busy praising the Saudis for their "justice, values and principles," the London-based Action Group for Palestinians of Syria issued a statement in which it accused the Saudi authorities of preventing Palestinian refugees from entering the kingdom.
"Palestinian refugees fleeing war-ravaged Syria have been denied access into Saudi territories," the group said. It pointed out that the Saudi ban excluded Palestinians heading to the kingdom to perform the Islamic hajj, or pilgrimage. The group also pointed out that Palestinians who fled Syria to Saudi Arabia "have been shorn of their right to visas, education, and health care, among other vital services." Saudi Arabia, the group added, "continues to opt for a closed-door immigration policy regarding Palestinian refugees seeking asylum in its territories."
This is only one example of Saudi discrimination against the Palestinians. The group's announcement was published on the same day that Abbas was heaping praise on the Saudi leaders.
In a statement issued by his office on October 14, Abbas, who described himself as the "President of the State of Palestine," said he "appreciated the positions of Saudi Arabia, a country that has always stood, and continued to do so, on the side of our just cause and the rights of our people." The statement quoted Abbas as expressing "absolute confidence" in the Saudi monarch and his son and said that "Palestine has always stood next to Saudi Arabia, and will continue to do so."
This announcement of blind support for the Saudi king and crown prince came as the international community was still demanding answers from the Saudi government concerning the disappearance of Khashoggi.
Al-Aqsa Mosque Address by Sheikh Abu Mus'ab Al-Hadra: Bin Salman Stupid; Saudis Cannot Even Carry Out an Assassination Professionally pic.twitter.com/gCjVJFqNTp
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) October 23, 2018
PMW: PA: North Korea and Palestinians are victims of US
According to the Palestinian Authority, both the Palestinian people and North Korea are victims of the United States. PA Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad Al-Malki brought a letter of greetings for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un from PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, when he held high level meetings recently with North Korean leaders. Al-Malki said the letter expressed:
"A message of solidarity with the North Korean people in similar circumstances, in which international pressure is being applied to our two peoples by the US."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 9, 2018]
The Korean leader added in turn that the connection between North Korean leaders and the PA leaders is "a connection between comrades in arms":
"[Kim Yong Dae] emphasized that the connection between the two states is a historical connection, which the eternal presidents [of North Korea] Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il established with Martyr [PA] President Yasser Arafat and with His Honor [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas. He added that on this firm basis the connection has developed uninterrupted over the years, as this is a connection between comrades in arms, who have shared experience over the years."
The PA reaffirmed its historical friendship a few weeks ago with the human rights violating North Korean leader, when Abbas again initiated contact with Kim Jong-un and congratulated him on the anniversary of the establishment of the Korean Workers' Party:
Israel Should be Uprooting Gaza’s Jew-hatred
Israel’s ethical policies have tied the hands of IDF to effectively perform its most fundamental task: defeating Israel’s enemies who are deliberately embedded in civilian areas. Israel has moved from problem solving to problem management. Undeniably, Gaza constitutes a complex security challenge for Israel. However, this does not mean that “mowing the lawn” is Israel’s only option in Gaza. Critics have warned that toppling Hamas would be costly and that it would eventually be replaced with another Gaza regime equally hostile towards Israel.Gaza official: Hamas and Fatah have turned our people into beggars
Israel’s Gaza policy has been to prevent Hamas from importing advanced weaponry. However, Gaza rockets and other weapons are merely tools. Jerusalem has largely ignored to address the fundamental Gaza challenge: a vast infrastructure of lethal Jew-hatred on Israel’s doorstep. Gazans are not born Jew-haters. They are products of a sustained Nazi-style brainwash by a Hamas regime bent on Israel’s destruction.
Liberals in Israel and abroad have often sarcastically noted that Israel cannot expect its neighbors to become Zionists. Demonization of neighbors are as old as human history. Countries like France, Germany and Britain used to be bitter enemies. Hitler’s Nazi ideology unleashed the Second World War. It was the denazification of Germany that ultimately ended it and secured European peace.
Israel cannot enforce peace on its hostile neighbors. However, the Jewish state can substantially improve its security situation by focusing on removing the ideological evil weed that sustains the conflict. Israel must deny a safe haven to its enemies hiding behind civilians. This requires untying IDF’s hands to defeat Israel’s enemies in the military and civilian battlefields.
As long as children in Gaza and Ramallah are taught to hate and murder Jews, the conflict will continue with no end in sight. Instead of passively waiting for her neighbors to embrace peace, Israel should actively use military and non-military tools, preparing the ground for future peace by winning the war to end all war.
The leaders of Hamas and Fatah have failed their people and have turned them into “beggars and street vendors who can hardly earn a living,” senior Hamas official Ahmed Yousef said on Monday.Ministers believe lightning strike at fault in Gaza rocket that hit Beersheba
Yousef, who previously served as a senior adviser to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, made his remarks in an article he published on the Palestinian Donia Al-Watan website.
The article was published in response to a statement made by PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat in which he called on Hamas to implement previous reconciliation agreements it had signed with the ruling Fatah faction.
The Egyptian delegation, headed by Ahmed Abdel Khaleq, head of the “Palestinian Portfolio” in Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, held a series of meetings in the past few days with Hamas and Fatah officials. The delegation also held talks with Israeli security officials in Jerusalem.
The delegation returned to the Gaza Strip on Monday and immediately held lengthy talks with Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yehya Sinwar.
Sources close to Hamas said they did not rule out the possibility that the head of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, Kamel Abbas, may visit the Gaza Strip, Ramallah and Jerusalem this week as part of his effort to secure a truce and end the Hamas-Fatah rift.
Israeli officials now definitively believe that the launch of two rockets from the Gaza Strip last week, one of which hit a house and nearly started a major round of hostilities, was accidental.IDF: Gazan tried to get arrested by entering Israel with knife to escape Strip
A report in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily Tuesday said that the high-level security cabinet has accepted the explanation that the launch of two Grad rockets from the Strip early last Wednesday morning was caused by lightning.
“It would not have been right to go to war over the weather,” an unnamed minister told the paper.
Asked about the report, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked told Israel Radio that while she could not confirm that the weather was the cause, “based on what we know, Hamas did not mean to shoot the rockets.”
The rockets were fired from Gaza shortly after 3:30 a.m. One exploded outside a home in the southern city of Beersheba, causing significant damage to the building but no injuries as mother Miri Tamano inside had rushed her three sons to a bomb shelter before the projectile hit.
A Palestinian man who crossed into Israel from the Gaza Strip on Monday was deliberately trying to be arrested in order to remain in Israel, the military said Tuesday.More context-free ‘Great Return March’ publicity from the BBC
The Gazan man was spotted by troops as he breached the security fence in the southern Strip on Monday afternoon. He was arrested shortly after entering Israeli territory. A knife was found on the ground nearby, the army said.
The man was taken into custody in order to determine why he crossed into Israel.
“An investigation by security forces determined that the suspect who breached the security fence in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday intended to be caught and moved to Israel,” the army said in a statement.
The suspect also admitted bringing the knife into Israel from Gaza and tossing it aside before his capture.
The video is composed of commentary from its protagonist and background information from the BBC.Don't use Temple Mount to placate Jordan
BBC: “The Grenade Collector”
Ahmed: “I made this flower-pot. These flowers that you see, represent life. We say – we are planting life from death.”
BBC: “This is the border between Gaza and Israel. Palestinians have been protesting since March 2018 in support of the declared right of return for Palestinian refugees. Human rights groups accuse Israeli troops of using excessive force. Israel says its troops have only opened fire in self-defence. Ahmed Abu Ataya collects the remnants of the tear-gas canisters.”
Ahmed: “I’m Ahmed Abu Ataya. I’m 48 years old.”
BBC: “Ahmed takes the debris home.”
Ahmed: “This is a tear-gas grenade. It’s the biggest type of grenade dropped by the army of the Occupation [Israel], on the Gaza protesters. I made crutches. These represent the wounded Palestinians. I made prayer beads. It’s true that they are dangerous. But I make myself do this to prevent others from getting hurt. I open the grenade, fix it, and I deactivate the fuse. We are people who love life more than death.”
BBC: “A few weeks later, Ahmed was shot in the knee during a protest. He was treated in hospital, and is now home with his family.”
As we see this video fails to provide viewers with any significant background information concerning the violent rioting deliberately initiated, facilitated and executed by Palestinian terror factions in the Gaza Strip which is now in its seventh month. BBC audiences hear nothing of the attacks on Israeli security personnel using real grenades, guns and IEDs, the breaches of the border fence or the arson attacks that have destroyed thousands of acres of farmland and nature reserves in Israel. Neither are they told that the aim of the so-called ‘right of return’ touted by the organisers of this violence is to eradicate the Jewish state.
Notably, many of the additional outlets which have similarly promoted Abu Ataya and his family are Hamas linked outfits such as MEMO and Palinfo.
A kind of balance has been achieved recently that entails comparative boons for the Jewish side: More Jewish visitors are being allowed onto the Mount and into Jordan, an Israeli-Jordanian mechanism exists to discuss issues such as the number of Muslim Waqf officials employed at the site, and both countries are taking action against radical elements.Bethlehem after Oslo: Terror Spiked in Israel’s Absence
Any agreement by Israel to Jordan's repeated demand for a fifth minaret on the Mount or to anything that affects the "quota" of Jewish visitors allowed onto the site comprises yet another attack on Israel's already limited sovereignty over the Mount. As part of the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan, Israel gave Jordan authority over other Arab countries on the Mount. With all sympathy for the distress of the Israeli farmers who have worked land leased from Jordan, and they have certainly taken brutal hits, the Temple Mount is not a currency to be used to convince the Jordanians to rethink their position. Israel's reported military and economic cooperation with Jordan are in Jordan's interest no less than Israel's, and possibly more so. Jordan consumes enormous quantities of natural gas from Israel, and the Jordanian army conducts maneuvers with France, Britain, and the United States.
All this is sufficient to anchor the negotiations between Israel and Jordan, leaving the Temple Mount out of it.
Back in 1967, Israel made too big a concession on the Temple Mount, when it agreed to prohibit Jews from praying there.
That was a huge mistake, but it is spilled milk now. The least we should do today is to explain to the world how inconceivable it was for Israel to make such a concession, which is unprecedented in interreligious relations anywhere in the world. We certainly shouldn't make things worse.
Bethlehem is only several hundred meters from southern Jerusalem. On December 21, 1995, Israel officially handed Bethlehem over to Palestinian rule.Khashoggi disliked Israel, but his brutal murder puts Jerusalem in tough spot
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin rejected the request of the city’s Christian mayor, Elias Freij, who urged him to refrain from handing over the city to the Palestinian Authority because he was concerned about the fate of the Christians in Bethlehem. Today, Christians comprise only 20% of the city’s population.
Israeli security forces have entered Bethlehem repeatedly since September 2000. Before the IDF and Israel Security Agency (ISA) entered Bethlehem, Jerusalem was struck by waves of terror emanating from the Palestinian-controlled city that killed and wounded hundreds of Israelis.
When the Palestinians had exclusive responsibility for security in Bethlehem, Palestinian snipers sat on the rooftops and shot at soldiers and Jewish visitors to Rachel’s Tomb.
As a result of its restored freedom of operation in Bethlehem, Israel thwarted a plot to assassinate then-Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in 2014, along with major suicide bombings planned for Jerusalem. Mortars were discovered, and the infrastructure for manufacturing rockets intended to strike Jerusalem was dismantled.
What happened in Bethlehem after the Oslo Peace Accords was representative of the other districts in the Palestinian Authority. In the 15 years that preceded the Oslo Accords, 270 Israelis were murdered by Palestinians. During the 15 years that followed the accords, close to 1,500 Israelis were killed.
Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist who was brutally murdered in Istanbul earlier this month, was not fond of Israel, to say the least.US Jewish journalist dies months after alleged racist attack left him in coma
“The Jews are without history in Palestine. Therefore, they invented the Wailing Wall, which is a Mamluk structure,” he tweeted in 2015.
Khashoggi also opposed Saudi Arabia’s covert cooperation with Israel, arguing that Riyadh did not need it and that any ties with the the Jewish state would unnecessarily tarnish his country’s reputation in the wider Arab world, according to Professor Joshua Teitelbaum, an expert on Saudi Arabia at Bar-Ilan University who knew Khashoggi well.
“He wasn’t a friend of Israel, but he had no problems meeting with and speaking to Israelis,” recalled Teitelbaum, who last saw the slain writer last year, when they had coffee at the sidelines of a conference on the Middle East in Washington.
In one of his last public appearances, Khashoggi, who had ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, confirmed that Riyadh had grown closer to Jerusalem. But he added that the kingdom had “backtracked on some of the more recent pro-Israeli positions it has taken,” according to Middle East Monitor, which hosted him at a conference in London less than a week before he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where he met his death.
Khashoggi’s cruel murder, and the regime’s amateurish attempts to cover it up, caused immeasurable damage to the international prestige of Saudi Arabia and its de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
An American Jewish journalist and paramedic has died, five months after he was assaulted in an apparent racially motivated attack and left in a vegetative state.Kushner: US has 'made a lot of progress' on Mideast peace plan
Jerry Wolkowitz, 56, was allegedly attacked by 25-year-old Jamil Hubbard in May outside his home in Freehold, New Jersey. Hubbard beat him and dragged him into a parking lot, where he ran him over with his car before stealing Wolkowitz’s vehicle and fleeing.
Hubbard was arrested shortly after the attack and told authorities he had assaulted Wolkowitz because he was a white man. He was indicted for attempted murder, armed robbery and several other charges.
Wolkowitz was rushed to a hospital where he was kept on life support until his death late last week.
Wolkowitz had worked for many years as a freelance photographer for the Asbury Park Press and also as an EMT.
The long-awaited Middle East peace plan promised by President Donald Trump's administration will enable Israelis to "have the security they want, and allow the Palestinian people to have the opportunity that they want, while respecting a lot of the bigger issues," senior White House adviser and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner said on Monday.Trump to Macron: ‘I Can be as Tough With Bibi as I Have Been With the Palestinians’
Kushner was speaking at a politics forum hosted by CNN.
He said that despite the perceived stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, "we've made a lot of progress … and the president's done a very good job of not allowing the old ways of thinking to constrain his actions."
Kushner has been tasked by Trump with leading the so-called "peace team," along with U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt. The team has repeatedly said that the plan will call for compromises but they will not dictate the terms of a peace accord.
The administration has repeatedly shot down reports on the nature of the pending peace plan, stressing that it has not been shared with anyone outside the administration. It has also said the plan will formally be unveiled only when both sides are ready.
US President Donald Trump told French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines at the annual UN General Assembly last month that he is ready to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into accepting the White House’s much-anticipated peace plan, four Western diplomats familiar with the meeting told Israel’s Channel 10 news.Yisrael Medad: Jordan, Part of Palestine
“According to the four Western diplomats, Macron told Trump he has the impression Netanyahu doesn’t really want to move on the peace process ‘because he loves the status quo.’ Trump said he was very close to reaching the same conclusion,” the outlet reported.
However, the French leader asked Trump why he mostly puts pressure on Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, to which Trump responded that he has done so because the Palestinians do not want to engage with the US “peace team.”
But Trump assured Macron that he would able to pressure Netanyahu, if necessary.
“I can be as tough with Bibi as I have been with the Palestinians,” he reportedly said.
The White House did not deny the Channel 10 account, saying, “the president believes that Prime Minister Netanyahu is committed to pursuing a comprehensive and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians.”
Let's quickly review basic geo-political history.Israel honors Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen, 'defender of Israel'
Is the country "Jordan" or, the "Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan" part of Palestine which, in my opinion, means that any resolution of the so-called "Palestinian Arab problem" need include in its geographical elements the participation of that country?
Two sources suggest yes.
One:
An area in the extreme north of Palestine, previously included in the territory of Syria, was transferred to Palestine, as from the 1st April 1924, in accordance with the terms of the Palestine-Syria Boundary Convention of 1920. This area contains twenty villages with a population of nearly 9,000. It includes Tel-el-Ivadi, the ancient Dan, and its inclusion has restored to Palestine her biblical boundaries “from Dan even unto Beersheba.”
Two:
Although Trans-Jordan is under an administration separate from that of Palestine, this Report would be incomplete without a summary, however brief, of events in that territory. It forms part of the same Mandatory Area; its Government is under the general superintendence of the High Commissioner for Palestine; it demands, indeed, no small share of his attention...
...When the war ended, Trans־Jordan found itself within the administrative area which had been entrusted to His Highness the Amir Faisal, the third son of King Hussein of the Hejaz; his capital was at Damascus. In July 1920, the Amir came into conflict with the French authorities, who exercise the Mandate for Syria, land left the country. At that moment Trans-Jordan was left politically derelict.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, touring Israel on one of her final overseas trips as a congresswoman, is being feted as one of the Jewish state’s best friends in Congress.Nigerian separatist leader admits he's in Israel, says owes life to Jewish state
Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1989, met Monday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A day earlier, at a Jewish National Fund ceremony, she planted a tree in her honor outside Jerusalem.
“I have said and I’ll say it again, we have never had a better defender of Israel and a better defender of the truth,” Netanyahu told Ros-Lehtinen.
She replied: “Mr. Prime Minister, it has been the joy of my professional life to be the advocate for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.”
Ros-Lehtinen, 66, raised Roman Catholic, is the granddaughter of Turkish Jews who had immigrated to Cuba. Her father, who opposed the communist takeover of the country, fled to the United States in 1960 when Ros-Lehtinen was 8, in 1960.
Elected to the Florida House from her Miami-area district in 1982, and then to the state Senate in 1986, she earned a reputation as a moderate Republican who fiercely opposed the Cuban regime.
In the Congress, Ros-Lehtinen added leadership on Israel issues to her portfolio. Her passion was foreign affairs, and many of the Israel-related positions she introduced later became orthodoxy not just for Republicans but also for many Democrats.
Missing pro-Biafran separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu gave a radio broadcast on Sunday saying he was in Israel, and indicating he owed his survival to the Jewish state.Jerusalem's Municipal Elections are Coming
Kanu, a former London estate agent, heads the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement and the outlawed pirate radio station Radio Biafra but has not been seen in public since September last year.
He maintains the Igbo people, who are in the majority in southeast Nigeria, are a lost tribe of Israel and it is his mission to lead them to the promised land of Biafra.
There had been fevered speculation that Kanu was in Israel after a video live-streamed on Friday via the Facebook accounts of his known associates appeared to show him praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, sparking questions over how he had managed to leave Nigeria.
Kanu is facing treason charges in his homeland and had been on bail at the time troops were deployed to his home city of Umuahia in Abia state, southeast Nigeria, in September 2017.
He then failed to show at his trial in the capital, Abuja, sparking speculation as to his whereabouts.
In Sunday’s broadcast on Radio Biafra, Kanu declared: “I’m in Israel”.
Jerusalem's city elections will be held on October 30th. You might ask yourself: Who can vote? Who can run? And what about Palestinians? Our new video explains.
Bill proposal: PA to pay terrorists' medical bills
The Ministry of Public Security presented new legislation on Tuesday proposing to impose costs of terrorists' medical expenses on the Palestinian Authority.Israel Releases Two Palestinian Authority Officials From Custody
The bill, which went up for discussions at the Knesset's Labor, Welfare and Health Committee, proposes to add a new clause to the National Health Insurance Law that would restrict medical care "for those who take part in terrorist activity" and exempt Israel from footing terrorists' medical bills.
"According to the policy change I am promoting, the damned terrorists should only receive the bare minimum required by international law. I am working towards reducing their conditions," said Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan.
"In this framework, I decided that it is inconceivable that the state pays for the medical expenses of terrorists who committed heinous acts of terror, and therefore I asked to correct this distortion of justice," he added.
Although the proposed amendment does not preclude medical treatment, which is required under international law, it does exempts Israel from funding terrorists' medical bills by allowing the deduction of medical expenses from regular tax payments Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, which uses these payments to provide terrorists with generous stipends.
The medical care in question is expensive and often includes complex surgeries and long-term hospitalizations.
Israel on Monday released two Palestinian Authority (PA) officials who were detained at the weekend, police said, but gave no further details on the case.
The two men who were taken into custody were Adnan Gheith, who holds the largely ceremonial post of Palestinian-appointed governor of Jerusalem, and Jihad Al-Faqeeh, the head of Palestinian intelligence in the city.
They were arrested on suspicion of aiding the abduction a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem, their lawyers said.
Gheith’s lawyer, Mohammed Mahmoud, said his client was ordered to stay away from Jerusalem, remain in home detention for seven days and pay a 20,000 shekel ($5,500) fine.
The official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, said PA President Mahmoud Abbas had spoken by phone to both men following their release.
According to a report on Israel’s Reshet 13 television, the Palestinian resident of Jerusalem abducted two weeks ago has both an Israeli identity card and US citizenship.
He was wanted by the Palestinian Authority, the report said, for helping sell property in Jerusalem’s Old City to Jewish buyers.
Friday Sermon at Khan Al-Ahmar on PA TV: Israeli Government Has Not Learned the Lessons from Nebuchadnezzar, Titus, and Hitler pic.twitter.com/clZ62ZlmI4
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) October 23, 2018
Egyptian Ambassador Rif'at Al-Ansari, Former Diplomat at Tel Aviv Embassy: 50,000-Strong Media "Watchdog" Serves Israeli Interests pic.twitter.com/KVNnhdsgTf
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) October 23, 2018
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