The West keeps pretending that Arabs will drop "right of return"

Al Quds has an article that should be required reading for Western diplomats written by former senior PLO diplomat Ali Kazak.

The Kazak mentions how John Kerry has reportedly told Israel that "Israel is a Jewish state and that the U.S. position is that the Palestinian refugees should return to a future Palestinian state."

He also mentions how French President Francois Hollande asked Abbas to be "flexible" about the mythical "right of return" in negotiations.

Kazak mocks Hollande's statement about "France's commitment to the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people" while asking for concessions on the "right" of return, saying that the right to destroy Israel demographically via this imaginary right is "at the core of the basic rights of the Palestinian people."

For many paragraphs afterwards he writes about the importance of "return" and how children are taught that they come from Haifa and Acre and will one day go back.

Western diplomats simply don't get it. They think that the Palestinian Arabs want a state and that if they are given one then the other demands are negotiable. But they need to actually read the words of the Palestinian Arabs and not see them through Western eyes. They do not want a state, and they have never wanted a state - they only want to destroy the Jewish state. As this article does, they will couch this desire in terms of "human rights" and "core values" and "principles" but their demand is the denial of the Jewish right to self-determination.

A state is not the goal - it is a means to the end of a Jewish state.

This was the case in 1920 when they demanded that Palestine be a part of Syria forever. This was the case in 1947 when they rejected the UN partition resolution. This was the case in 1964 when the PLO's founding charter explicitly excluded the West Bank and Gaza from its demands for a Palestinian "homeland." This was the case in 1974 when Arafat created the "phased plan" to destroy Israel - a plan that is completely consistent with the Oslo process. It was the case in 1988 when Arafat declared "independence" and emphasized the "right of return" while fooling the West into believing that he implicitly accepts Israel's right to exist by mentioning - but not accepting - UNSC resolution 242. And it is the case today when Abbas brags about how he has not changed his position one iota from Arafat's 1988 position and when the PLO says that they would not offer citizenship to "refugees" in any state beyond the Green Line.

When will the West start actually believing what Arabs say to each other rather than the words they say to the West? Because over the decades, their words in Arabic have usually been the ones that have been proven true.

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New meme: "Takfiri-Zionists"

We've seen before that Hezbollah likes to pretend that the Islamist Sunni groups fighting it in Syria are allied with Israel, but this latest pronouncement from them looks like they are trying to start a meme.

Moussavi

The Lebanon's Hezbollah Resistance Movement vowed to curb what it called Takfiri-Zionist attacks against the resistance party and the Lebanese Army.

“We assure our people ... that we will continue to respond against these brutal (Takfiri) forces and their ongoing aggression will be destroyed through the pillar of the national strategy,” Lebanese Parliamentarian from Hezbollah Hussein Moussavi said in a Thursday statement, Al-Alam reported.

Moussavi said both Hezbollah and the Lebanese Army are the target of Israeli-backed Takfiri groups.

“The ‘Army, People, Resistance’ (formula) is now the target of Takfiri-Zionists,” he said.

“What happened in recent days, from the assassination of (Hezbollah) commander Hassan Lakkis to suicide bombings on Army checkpoints in Sidon all the way to the bloody bombing in Labweh in the Northern Bekaa, confirm that the Zionists and Takfiri groups are two sides of the same coin,” he added.

Moussavi said Hezbollah deems those attacks an “aggressive decision and an extension of the war imposed on Syria and its environs.”

"This war," he continued "has been approved by the Zionist and Takfiris together."

They repeat it over and over again, so it must be at least partly true, right? I mean, that's pretty much thought process that make so many idiots think Israel is an "apartheid" state, right?

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Head of HRW partner organization labeled a terrorist by Treasury Dept

Last week, the US Treasury Department added two people to their terrorist list:

The U.S. Department of Treasury today imposed sanctions on two al-Qa'ida supporters based in Qatar and Yemen. Abd al-Rahman bin 'Umayr al-Nu'aymi (Nu'aymi) and `Abd al-Wahhab Muhammad `Abd al-Rahman al-Humayqani (Humayqani) were named as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13224. Nu'aymi was designated for providing financial support to al-Qa'ida, Asbat al-Ansar, al-Qa'ida in Iraq, and al-Shabaab, and Humayqani was designated for providing financial support to and acting on behalf of al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Nu'aymi is a Qatar-based terrorist financier and facilitator who has provided money and material support and conveyed communications to al-Qa'ida and its affiliates in Syria, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen for more than a decade. He was considered among the most prominent Qatar-based supporters of Iraqi Sunni extremists..... Both Nu'aymi and Humayqani are at the center of global support networks that fund and facilitate terrorism.

In 2013, Nu'aymi ordered the transfer of nearly $600,000 to al-Qa'ida via al-Qa'ida's representative in Syria, Abu-Khalid al-Suri, and intended to transfer nearly $50,000 more.

Nu'aymi has facilitated significant financial support to al-Qa'ida in Iraq, and served as an interlocutor between al-Qa'ida in Iraq leaders and Qatar-based donors. Nu'aymi reportedly oversaw the transfer of over $2 million per month to al-Qa'ida in Iraq for a period of time. He also served as an interlocutor between these Qatari nationals and al-Qa'ida in Iraq leaders. Between 2003 and 2004, Nu'aymi provided support to the Iraqi insurgency more broadly and served as a conduit for their broadcast materials to media outlets.

Nu'aymi as of mid-2012 provided approximately $250,000 to two U.S.-designated al-Shabaab figures, Mukhtar Robow and Sheikh Hassan Aweys Ali, the latter of whom is also designated by the United Nations (UN). Also in 2012, Nuaymi provided financial support to a charity headed by Yemen-based Abd al-Wahhab Muhammad 'Abd al-Rahman al-Humayqani, who channeled funding to AQAP.

But Nu'aymi also had another job - he was the head of a human rights group!

As Eli Lake at The Daily Beast writes:

Most of the world knows Abdul Rahman Omeir al-Naimi as a Qatari history professor and human-rights activist. The Swiss-based organization he founded, known as al-Karama from the Arab word for dignity, has worked closely with the United Nations and American human rights groups, most notably Human Rights Watch.

...Human Rights Watch has joined forces with al-Karama in campaigns to free political prisoners in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.

In an interview Thursday, Mourad Dhina, the executive director of al-Karama, said the news about his group’s founder and the head of its board came as a shock. “This is not good news for us,” he said.

.... The signs were there for some observers that al-Naimi may be an extremist, particularly when it comes to women. A 2007 U.S. cable first disclosed by WikiLeaks described him as an “Islamist hardliner” who was “critical of women taking up public leadership positions.” On Thursday, Gulf News reported al-Naimi was arrested in 2009 for opposing co-education at Qatari universities.

Is anyone surprised? So-called "human rights" organizations do not have any of the transparency or follow any of the methodologies that they demand from others. They are remarkably opaque as to how they write their reports and who they trust for partnering or to give them information.

We know that they decide what they want to say before they bother doing any research. They hire incompetent "experts." They act more like activists than like objective fact-finders. They ignore facts if they contradict their lies.

So why should it be surprising if they sometimes partner with people who share their goals who happen also to be terrorists?

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

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12/21 Links: The Left against Zion, Mossad trained Mandela, NSA Targeted Bibi, ASA developments

From Ian:

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Caroline Glick: The Left against Zion

The rejection of Israel is not a natural component of leftist dogma. It’s just that for the past decade, the smart money and the rising power on the Left has been with those who oppose Israel’s existence as a strong, independent Jewish state.
While the ASA and its comrades are on the fringes of academia, they are not fringe voices on the Left. The Left has embraced the cause of Israel’s destruction. And its financial power has made it difficult for pro-Israel Democrats to act on their convictions, and those of their voters.
The combination of an exodus of supporters of Israel – Jews and non-Jews alike – from the Left and from the Democratic Party on the one hand, and generous funding for pro-Israel Democratic candidates on the other, can change the equation.

Dieudonné hacker: 'Jews need to stop turning the other cheek'

In an exclusive interview, man who hacked controversial French comedian's website explains motives
The website of French comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala was hacked, in what was dubbed by some as Dieudoleaks. The hacker has posted nearly 10,000 names, emails and postal addresses of subscribers to Dieudonné's newsletter, customers of his online store or "quenelleurs" ["quenelle" is an upside-down Nazi salute, coined by Dieudonné, which has become identified with disaffected youth in the French suburbs]. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

Will Zionist-trained Mandela now fall out of favour with hypocrite Left?

The revelation that Nelson Mandela was trained by the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad in 1962 will no doubt bring rise to cognitive dissonance in the most hard-line, anti-Israel campaigners around the world.
But spare a moment to think how hard it will be for them to now urge the boycotting of Israel, and hurl words like “apartheid state” around when indeed it was the Zionists that trained the man who ended apartheid: Mandela.
Will Lefties and self-haters now boycott Madiba? Will his face adorn their placards, branded with the words, “traitor” and “ZioNazi?”
Somehow, I think not.

Holocaust Denial In Iran: Iranian Website Claims Holocaust Photos Are Forgeries

On November 26, 2013, the website Mashregh News, which is close to Iranian security circles, published a post titled "A Taste Of Holocaust Falsity + Photos," while noting that it was originally posted November 19, 2013 on the blog Shonood blog ir, which is written by Iranian journalist and filmmaker Mehran Mozoon, a supporter of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
The post presents what it alleges are Holocaust photos that are well known in the West, and says that they are doctored, comparing them to what it claims are the original photos. For example, it shows a photo of men placing an emaciated corpse into a crematorium, and compares it to the alleged original, which does not include the corpse, and which it claims was actually taken in the Soviet Union and has no connection to Jews or Nazi Germany.

Rozen: ‘Jewish Senators’ Hold Sway on Iran Debate

Rozen, a former reporter for Politico and current reporter for the Middle East news site Al Monitor, got in a Twitter spat Thursday evening with a prominent American Jewish community official after he criticized her for suggesting that the Jewish religious affiliation of some senators influences their policymaking decisions on Iran.
Rozen was criticized for her remarks by a number of Twitter observers, who said they are reminiscent of the longstanding anti-Semitic trope that Jews have dual loyalties.
This is the second time in recent weeks that Rozen has deleted tweets after coming under fire for controversial comments about American Jews and Israel.

US and UK spied on Olmert, Netanyahu and Barak

The New York Times, The Guardian and Der Spiegel reported Friday that Olmert, as well as then-defense minister Ehud Barak, were among more than 1,000 high-profile targets of surveillance in more than 60 countries; the documents were dated between 2008 and 2011. Israel’s Ynet added that the surveillance extended to email intercepts at Netanyahu’s office when he took over from Olmert as prime minister in March, 2009.

Spy-target Netanyahu uses ‘gestures’ and ‘codes’ in sensitive discussions

Netanyahu has no computer in his office, does not use email, and does not maintain a private phone, Channel 2 reported.
More dramatically, when discussing especially sensitive issues even at his home, Netanyahu and guests sometimes resort to “gestures” rather than speech, because of concerns that they are being listened to, Channel 10 reported.
It added that Netanyahu conducts his most sensitive discussions in the offices of the Mossad intelligence service, because only there is he confident that he is safe from listening devices.

Oren calls on US Congress to quell movement to boycott Israel academically

"Laws could be passed withholding federal or state funding from any academic program that knowingly blacklisted Israeli scholars or institutions or cooperated with associations that did," Oren argued.
"While an organization like ASA might prefer punishing Israel to receiving government funds, other academic bodies—including universities—most likely will not. At the very least, lawmakers on the local and national level can go on record expressing their unequivocal opposition to such boycotts," he added.

Israeli Universities: American Studies Boycott Targets ‘Breakthroughs That Benefit Humankind’

In an advertisement appearing in the New York Times on Dec. 20, the American arms of seven Israeli universities said that the American Studies Association’s (ASA) boycott of Israel targets an academic community that“achieves breakthroughs that benefit humankind.”
“Preventing scholars who live in a pluralistic democracy from participating in the global academic community is reprehensible,” the ad said.
The ad noted achievements of Israeli universities including: Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s development of the Exelon drug for the treatment of Alzheimer’s and dementia; Tel Aviv University’s development of BioPetroClean, an environmentally friendly technology for cleaning oil spills in seas; Technion-Israel Institute of Technology’s development of Velcade, an new cancer drug; University of Haifa’s identification of the gene capable of increasing the protein content of wheat, contributing to the fight against world hunger; the Weizmann Institute of Science’s development of the multiple sclerosis drugs, Copaxone and Rebif; and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev’s work towards developing a cure for diabetes. The Open University of Israel, meanwhile, “makes it possible for all Israelis from all walks of life to achieve their full potential through higher education,” said the ad.

Boycotting the Boycotters

As I sit here in Israel and read about the boycott by the American Studies Association of Israeli academic institutions because of the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians, I wonder if they are referring to the same country in which I currently live. (h/t AlexandreM)

Association of American Universities rejects Israel boycott

The list of universities rejecting and denouncing the anti-Israel boycott resolution of the American Studies Association is growing rapidly.
In a statement signed by its Executive Committee, the Association of American Universities has stated its opposition to the boycott. ASA quickly is becoming a pariah in the academic community.

Boston U. President rejects Israel academic boycott

Robert A. Brown, President of Boston University, will be issing a formal statement rejecting the Amercian Studies Association’s anti-Israeli academic boycott. The statement is not yet posted on BU’s website, but was obtained by Legal Insurrection and confirmed with the President’s office.
President Brown, however, is deferring the decision on withdrawal of Institutional Membership to the American and New England Studies Department on grounds of the academic freedom of that department.

Willamette rejects Israel boycott, denies being Institutional Member of American Studies Assoc

Willamette University joins an increasing number of universities rejecting the anti-Israel academic boycott, but in a twist, denies having any knowledge as to why ASA lists it as an Institutional Member.
Update: Hamilton also denies being Institutional Member // Update No. 2: Northwestern denies being Institutional Member too

US calls for UN’s Falk to step down… again

A day after Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird called for the immediate removal of the Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the US condemned Richard Falk’s statement that Israel had “genocidal intents.”
Although State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki blasted Falk’s statements as “despicable and deeply offensive,” the US stopped short of echoing Canada’s calls for Falk to be fired.

IDF soldiers wound Palestinian trying to plant bomb along Gaza-Israel fence

A Palestinian was wounded on Saturday after he and others approached the Gaza-Israel security barrier in an attempt to plant an explosive device.
An IDF unit was dispatched to the area and soldiers fired at the legs of one of the suspects, striking and injuring him. The suspects then fled the area.The incident occurred on the border with southern Gaza.

PA backtracks on ‘don’t boycott Israel’ comments

The Palestinian diplomatic mission in South Africa released a statement Friday, saying that it does support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, and claiming that PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s comments stating the contrary were “taken out of context and misconstrued” by the media and “members of the Israeli lobby.”

When will the Western media grasp the self-inflicted Palestinian energy crisis?

Even the EU’s own auditors recognise it is a scandal that cannot go on. According to a BBC report, the European Union (EU) still funds Gaza’s non-working civil servants – a full seven years after Hamas won power and placed them on ‘gardening leave’. Needless to say, the pro-Palestinian BBC report makes much of the poverty and hardship being suffered in Gaza today, and thus the on-going need for foreign aid. What the report doesn’t say however is that the misery of the Gaza Palestinians is entirely self-inflicted. Not least as billions in natural gas revenue lies just offshore.
It is estimated that Gaza has an offshore natural gas energy resource worth around $4 billion.
While the massive gas discoveries off Israel are proving to be world class, Gazans could well be looking to their own energy good fortune and a bright future. Yet abject poverty and hopelessness prevails. The standard explanation by many Arabs and the liberal Western media is to depict the Palestinians as in a permanent state of Israeli-inflicted victimhood. The truth is that Gaza is the poster child for all that is wrong with Islamism, as exemplified by Gaza’s governing party, Hamas.

Nasrallah Vows to ‘Punish’ Israel Over Death of Top Operative

Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary-general, blamed Israel for the assassination of his top operative Hassan al-Laqqis last month and vowed to “punish” Israel for the killing.
“All evidence indicates that Israel is behind the assassination,” Nasrallah said Friday in a televised tribute to al-Laqqis, the Jerusalem Post reported.
“If the Israelis think… that Hezbollah is busy and that Israel will not pay the price, I say to them today, ‘You are wrong,’” Nasrallah added.

2 Egyptian soldiers killed in clashes with 'Supporters of Jerusalem' terror group

The two soldiers, both conscripts, died when a gunbattle broke out after the troops came under fire, the army said in a statement. It said the operation was continuing and armed helicopters had been deployed.
Security sources said the militants involved in the gunbattle were members of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which means "Supporters of Jerusalem".

Vienna Philharmonic strips ex-Nazis of honors

The famed Vienna Philharmonic orchestra has quietly stripped six former senior Nazi officials of honors awarded them — a late act of contrition for its embrace of the Hitler era that included purging Jewish members from its ranks.
The decision was divulged to The Associated Press by an orchestra member on Friday and confirmed by historian Oliver Rathkolb.

US Senate c'tee passes bipartisan US-Israel energy bill

The United States Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday passed a bipartisan bill that aims to bolster collaborations between Israel and the US on energy issues.
Led by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana), alongside Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the United States-Israel Energy Cooperation Enhancement Bill hopes to foster partnerships on developing resources such as natural gas and alternative fuels, on academic, business and governmental levels.
Landrieu and her colleagues introduced the bill in September, at which time she argued that the US is "uniquely qualified to lead the effort to help Israel develop" its new-found hydrocarbon resources. Her region of America – the Gulf Coast – has one of the most advanced offshore drilling industries in the world.

‘Bubble tech’ start-up closes deal with huge UK water concern

Israel’s Mapal Green Energy this week closed a deal with Britain’s largest water provider, Thames Water, to provide its bubble aeration technology water purification system for use in municipal and regional water supply systems. In the first stage of the deal, Mapal will set up a purification system in the city of Chesham, north of London. Later on, Thames Water will have the option of adding more Mapal systems to its network, as the water provider moves forward in its long-term project of replacing old and outmoded purification systems.

1000 French teens arrive for weeklong tour

Amid an unprecedented rise in French immigration to Israel, 1,000 French high school seniors on Thursday arrived in Israel to take part in a weeklong tour of the country organized by the Jewish Agency.
During a gala celebration held Thursday night in Jerusalem’s International Convention Center, agency Chairman Natan Sharansky told the French Jewish teens participating in Bac Bleu Blanc (“Seniors in Blue and White”) that France’s roughly half a million Jews are “leading a new wave of aliyah [immigration] to Israel.”

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Israel hates Christmas? Not quite.

On Friday I showed that an article in the Independent, by Mira Bar Hillel, was filled with lies and misinformation.

She pretended that Israelis wanted to ban Christmas trees, based on a year-old news story where a single person made such a call.

Indeed, the Jerusalem municipality distributes free Christmas trees to anyone who wants one.

And this weekend I saw this on the cover of an Israeli entertainment magazine, noting where anyone can find notable Christmas activities in Jerusalem this week:

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12/20 Links: PA Event Honors Terrorists and Glorifies Murder, Why the Palestinians keep losing

From Ian:

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Why the Palestinians keep losing

The following axioms of Palestinian Arab behavior guarantee that Israel will have little to worry about from them for the foreseeable future:
1. Honor is more important than life, and lost honor can’t be recovered except by violence.
2. It is always more important to hurt Jews than to help Arabs.
3. It is always a high priority for Arabs to hate other Arabs.
I thought hard about posting this. What if they take my advice? I can’t imagine that they will, though. They have been screwing themselves since the 1920′s; why should they stop now? (h/t NormanF)

‘Palestinian group carried out Lockerbie bombing’

Twenty-five years after Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, with the loss of all 259 passengers and crew and 11 people on the ground, a former senior member of the Israeli security establishment said he was certain the bombing was carried out by Ahmed Jibril’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.
The Israeli source, who spoke to The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity, said Israel was “listening in” during the months prior to the December 21, 1988 bombing on preparations for what “we thought was a plan to target an Israeli plane” and that it was “clear that Jibril prepared the operation.”
The comments came ahead of Saturday’s 25th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack ever carried out on British territory, and the worst terror attack on American civilians with the exception of 9/11. The anniversary is prompting another slew of conspiracy theories as to who was responsible.

Alan Dershowitz: Is singling out Israel for boycotts anti-Semitic?

There are those who claim that the BDS movement against Israel cannot be anti-Semitic, because it is directed at a country and not at individuals. But by treating Israel as the Jew among nations – singling it out for condemnation when others are far worse by any relevant standard – the advocates of BDS are simply expanding the notion of anti-Semitism beyond the individual to the nation state of the Jewish people. When Nazis condemned “Jewish physics,” “Jewish art” and “Jewish business practices,” they too claimed that they were focusing on Jewish institutions rather than Jewish individuals. That defense won’t work. Treating the Jew among nations precisely the way classic anti-Semites have treated the Jewish people is simply a new adaptation of the oldest of prejudices.
So let the world condemn those who single out the nation state of the Jewish people for the application of a double standard. Let the world understand that bigotry is bigotry whether directed against the Jew among nations or the Jew within nations.

Europe's love-hate relationship with Israel?

Britain, for example, is pushing for closer commercial, academic and research ties with Israel all the time, yet simultaneously condemns “illegal settlements” and “breaches of international law”.
Anti-Israel political mutterings in Whitehall, however, are trumped by the need for economic growth -- with a view to a national election in 2015.
Even the Palestinians have come out in opposition to BDS campaigns. They are happy for settlement produce to be boycotted, but as long as Israel supplies construction materials for the new Palestinian city being built and as long as Israeli Shekels are coming into the Palestinian economy please don’t rock the boat, Mr BDS.
Europe will continue to both love and hate Israel. BDS claims will continue to fuel a degree of underlying anti-Semitism. But as long as Israel continues to outshine the rest of the world technologically, European trade and commerce will continue to beat a path to her door in search of the economic benefits she brings and the brains she has to offer.

Members Flee Academic Group Boycotting Israel, May Form New Group

In an exchange between Penn State’s Bronner and Prof. William A. Jacobson of Cornell Law School, Bronner hinted that alternative organizations for serious scholars in the discipline who want to concentrate on American Studies rather than contemporary politics may be forming.
The loss of membership and the launching of a competitor association, along with the legal challenge to the ASA’s tax-exempt status, may be the only real legacy of the ASA’s boycott of Israel.

University unions in shock move to boycott themselves (satire)

In a shock move America’s largest union of university professors – the Council of Research and Academic Professionals (CRAP) which along with the American Studies Society (ASS), had recently voted in favour of an academic boycott of Israel, has voted to extend the boycott to America and hence will be boycotting itself.
Over 80% of the Union’s members took part in the vote, with a massive 13 voting in favour and only 11 voting against. This came after an impassioned plea by CRAP member Professor Angela Ayers-Davis who said:
(h/t Bob Knot)

Jewish Group ‘Appalled’ by Huffington Post Article, SWC Says it Paints Jews as Warmongers

Both the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) and the American Jewish Committee (AJC) criticized the article, headlined “Saboteur Sen. Launching War Push,” which featured a picture of New Jersey’s Senator Robert Menendez addressing pro-Israel lobby the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
In the article, the publication attacked Senate leaders who backed a bill which calls for new sanctions against Iran in response to the country’s nuclear program. The bill threatens “to push the United States toward war with Iran,” the paper claimed.

David Ward, MP sponsors almost comical anti-Israel motion in House of Commons

The following motion, sponsored by Israel hater Jeremy Corbyn and David Ward (whose animosity towards Jews, and not merely Israelis, is well documented) and signed by 41 other MPs (including George Galloway), in the House of Commons is an almost comical example of the anti-Israel double standards often employed by a vocal minority of British politicians.
It seems that Ward and Corbyn woke up in the morning, and shuffled off to Westminster determined to convince their fellow MPs that Israel – which, per Freedom House, ”enjoys the freest press in the region” – urgently needed to be condemned for their record on press freedom.

Un Watch: Australia condemns UN official’s ‘disgraceful’ comments on Israel

UN Watch applauds Australia for joining Canada in condemning the “disgraceful” comments this week by UN official Richard Falk. Australian Ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma stated on Twitter (see below) that he was “appalled” by Falk’s comments calling Israel “genocidal.” But the PLO defended Falk today.

PA promotes murder as positive act at cultural event

At a Palestinian Authority event under the auspices of Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, with the participation of the Minister of Culture, the Palestinian Authority portrayed murder as a positive act.
The event started with PA Minister of Culture Anwar Abu Aisha honoring a number of released terrorist murderers by inviting them on stage and awarding them PA plaques of honor. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA uses cultural events to honor terrorists.

PA glorifies murder in play under auspices of Mahmoud Abbas

Abbas guards intervene in confrontation between senior Palestinians

Jamal Abu al-Rab, a parliamentarian, and Jibril Rajoub, a top Fatah official and a former major general in the security forces, were among VIPs at a Ramallah hotel, welcoming Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on a visit.
Abu al-Rab - a former militant leader from the Fatah-aligned al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the city of Jenin, widely known by the nom de guerre "Hitler" - slapped Rajoub in the face, witnesses said.
Al-Rab then fled and Rajoub summoned his armed guards to pursue him, said witnesses. Al-Rab sought refuge in the parliament building and Abbas's forces formed a cordon around it, sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Haniyeh Invites Abbas to Discuss Unity Government

Hamas’s Prime Minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, on Thursday invited Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to a meeting to discuss the formation of a unity government, reports the Ma’an news agency.
Abbas heads the Fatah movement, a longtime rival of Hamas. The two movements have been at odds since 2007, when Hamas violently took control of Gaza, setting up its own government there and cracking down on Fatah officials who reside in the territory.

Iran stages war games as nuclear talks resume

The Iranian Air Force was set to launch large-scale drills Friday, as part of “annual exercises aimed at testing indigenous air defense systems, improving the units’ combat readiness and displaying the country’s military might and achievement,” according to a report in Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency.
The drills involve “different types of interceptor fighters, bomber fighters, transport aircraft and reconnaissance planes,” the air force’s deputy commander, Brig.-Gen. Alireza Barkhor, told Fars.

White House vows to veto new Iran sanctions bill

If Iran sanctions legislation introduced Thursday were to pass Congressional hurdles, President Barack Obama would veto it, White House Spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. Speaking an hour after senators announced the bipartisan Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act, Carney slammed the legislation, describing it as potentially “damaging and destructive to the diplomatic effort.”

France Throws Doubt on Whether Iran Committed to Genuine Nuclear Concessions

"We have to implement honestly the first phase,” Mr. Fabius said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “Then my main concern is the second phase. It is unclear if the Iranians will accept to definitively abandon any capacity of getting a weapon or only agree to interrupt the nuclear program.”
Mr. Fabius played a central role in toughening terms of the first deal with Iran. His warning that world powers risked being drawn into a “fool’s game” by Iran nearly derailed the talks in November. Mr. Fabius said Western powers need to focus their efforts on how to deprive Iran of “breakout capacity,” the ability to restart a bomb-making program from dormant nuclear sites and make a quick dash to a weapon before world powers can react. “What is at stake is to ensure that there is no breakout capacity,” Mr. Fabius said.

'Iran has nuclear fuel reserve to last four years'

Iran has a reserve of nuclear fuel that would last four years, the head of the country's Atom Energy Organization said, as technical talks continued in Vienna Friday on the implementation of a deal meant to freeze the Islamic Republic's nuclear program for six months.
Ali Akbar Salehi stressed on Thursday that Tehran will not be losing anything in the November 24 interim deal, meant to allow a window to negotiate a permanent agreement in the nuclear dispute between Iran and world powers.

Iran Rejects UN Condemnation, Says it is 'Biased'

According to the report, Iran’s foreign ministry said that the resolution was biased.
The resolution, which was approved Wednesday with 86 votes in favor, expressed concern over serious ongoing abuses in Iran, but also acknowledged pledges by Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, on human rights issues such as eliminating discrimination against women and members of ethnic minorities and promoting freedom of expression and opinion.

UK Foreign Office Slams Khamenei’s Twitter Support for Holocaust Denier: ‘We Deplore the Tweet’

The UK Foreign Office slammed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei for offensive online behavior, with a harshly worded statement, after The Algemeiner on Tuesday published an article on the Twitter account believed to be run by his office, tweeting support for a noted French anti-Semite and Muslim convert, Roger Garaudy, whose books have been banned as hate speech.

Russia blocks UN action against Syria air attacks

Russia objected to a proposed UN Security Council statement expressing outrage at Syrian government airstrikes, especially this week’s indiscriminate use of heavy weapons in Aleppo that have killed more than 100 people, UN diplomats said Thursday.
The statement, proposed by the United States, required approval from all 15 council members.

Syria: Horrific Abuse in Secret Al Qaeda Prisons

Syrians are being tortured and killed in secret prisons run by an Al Qaeda affiliated group, Amnesty International has warned in its latest report.
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), which has seized control of territory in northern Syria, has reportedly committed horrific abuses in its prisons in the region.
Sources told Amnesty that some of those imprisoned by ISIS are as young as eight years old. Witnesses reported seeing teenagers being tortured, including a 14-year-old boy who was given 90 lashes during an interrogation.

German town strips Hitler of honorary citizenship

A Bavarian town council voted unanimously to strip Adolf Hitler of honorary citizenship bestowed 80 years ago, after an outcry prompted by their decision last week not to adopt a resolution denouncing the 1933 decision.
The issue came up after an archivist discovered documents showing both Hitler and the president who appointed him, Paul von Hindenburg, had been given honorary citizenship of Dietramszell.

Cologne museum to return Nazi-looted artwork

The city of Cologne agreed to return six valuable drawings looted by the Nazis from a Jewish art collector.
The drawings will be restituted from the Ludwig Museum to the heirs of Alfred Flechtheim, the German museum said Wednesday. They will remain on public display in the museum, according to Mel Urbach, one of the attorneys representing the heirs.

Israeli Medical Innovation Will Help Broken Bones Heal Faster

Israeli biotech firm Regencure is working on a special “wrapping paper” that, when applied to fractures, will hasten the process of healing, the NoCamels website reported Thursday.
The RegenCure product, the company says, consists of a strong, flexible membrane that can be shaped into any geometrical shape to provide complete containment of the damaged bone, preventing cells and soft tissue from penetrating but allowing fluids in, a process that the company says is crucial to the healing process.

Tour group to use Google Glass to broadcast Israel to friends abroad

What with school, work, and other commitments, not everyone can manage a trip to Israel. But with the arrival of Google Glass, anyone can take a virtual trip to the Jewish state.
In fact, that is exactly what is set to take place next week, as seven families arrive in Israel as part of a mission sponsored by the Jewish Federations of North America. The families hail from Seattle, New York, New Jersey and Washington, DC, and all will come equipped with Google Glass, the search company’s wearable computer that lets users interact with the web without the aid of a keyboard or mouse.
Using Glass, members of the mission will be able to broadcast their experience so those connected to them back home can share in their adventures.

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Outrageous anti-Israel article in The Independent

An unbelievable column from Mira Bar Hillel in The Independent:

The Prince of Wales has often spoken of aspiring, when he is King, to be known not as Defender of the (Anglican) Faith, but “Defender of Faiths”. His open attitude towards other religions has been established long enough for him not to need to worry of being accused of Islamophobia.

But recent events in the Middle East have forced him into an intervention he would have been happy to avoid.

“Christianity was, literally, born in the Middle East and we must not forget our Middle Eastern brothers and sisters in Christ”, he said at an interfaith gathering in Clarence House. And he urged Christians, Muslims and Jews to unite in “outrage” as he warned of the elimination of Christianity in much of the region in which it developed.

The problem is becoming especially acute in Syria and Iraq, where the West appears powerless to help beleaguered Christians. But is the Prince aware of what is happening in the actual places where Christ was born and grew up, and where international pressure could be very effective?

Oh boy - here it comes:

When I was in Israel a year ago there was talk of an passing urgent bylaw which would have criminalised the placing of anything resembling a Christmas Tree in or near restaurants or places of entertainment. This did not actually happen, but it is typical of the Jewish State’s attitude to Christians.

Someone proposed a law, it was defeated, and this is evidence of Jewish hate for Christians!

But now Mira needs to make it sound scientific:

In 2012 there were 125,000 Palestinian Christians in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem (excluding the West Bank and Gaza), or 2 per cent of Israel’s population, down from 8 per cent in 1946, just before the end of the British Mandate in 1947.

See her sleight of hand? She is comparing the Christian population as a proportion of the British Mandate areas - 8% in 1946 - to the percentage of Christians in the Green Line today! This makes it sound like Israel has decimated its Christian population by 75%!

The truth is that the Christian population of Israel has always been in the 2% range. This is the worst kind of misuse of statistics.

In that year, Christians made up 85 per cent of the population of Bethlehem, but by 1998 the figure had declined to 40 per cent. Most left for the lack of economic and educational opportunities, exacerbated by draconian Israeli travel restrictions, and the exodus continues.

The majority of Christians have left Bethlehem while it was under Arab rule, both Jordanian and Palestinian. But Bar Hillel blames only Israel, as if it treats Palestinian Christians differently than Palestinian Muslims in Bethlehem.

Bar Hillel goes on to say that Israel is threatening Christians in Nazareth, using bizarre evidence. Here's the truth:

A senior Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land says the Christian community is in danger of dying out in Nazareth, an Israeli Arab city where Christians believe Jesus spent his youth. Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo says many of Nazareth's minority Christians began emigrating more than a decade ago largely because of tensions with local Islamists who tried to build a mosque next to the city's main church. ....

The bishop says the main cause of that emigration is a campaign by Islamists to boost their political power in Nazareth at the expense of Christians and moderate Muslims.

Then, Bar Hillel talks about illegal African immigrants and implies that Israel persecutes them because so many are Christian!

In a sane world, such a column would be laughed out of the editor's office. But we live in a world where basic fact checking is nonexistent when the Jews are the ones who can look like racists.

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Egyptian MB members admit going to Gaza for weapons training

This video, from Egyptian newspaper Al Watan, has footage of Muslim Brotherhood members going through tunnels to Gaza last March, before the coup.

The interviews have some of them admitting that they went to Gaza for training in weapons and meeting Hamas officials. There is video, reportedly from Gaza, showing this training as well as their return from the tunnels last year.



No wonder Egyptian security was so keen in closing the tunnels.

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Egypt decides to finally release Qatari fuel for Gaza

In 2012, Qatar shipped 30 million liters of diesel to Egypt that was meant to run the Gaza power plant during a previous Hamas-engineered power crisis.

The fuel was held in Egyptian tanks, but Egypt kept delaying sending the fuel to Gaza (via Kerem Shalom.) Israel had no problem with transferring the fuel from Egypt, but Hamas refused to import fuel from Israel, causing the crisis.

Sound familiar?

Anyway, only about half that fuel ever reached Gaza.

Finally, Egypt says it will send the remaining fuel to Gaza - some 18 months later.

The funniest part is that the spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Badr Abdel-Ati, said "Egypt will always remain ready to provide all ways to support the Palestinian people." Fuel might be subsidized in Egypt but talk is even cheaper.

(One more tidbit from my visit to Kerem Shalom this week: It has been many months since Egypt shipped anything to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, which sits at the intersection of Gaza, Israel and Egypt. Since Israel is concerned for the safety of her people, the entrance from Egypt is blocked with large concrete barriers to stop any crazy suicide attack. However, I was told, it would only take a half hour to dismantle it if there was a need to bring in goods from Egypt again. Looks like this will actually happen, at least for this earmarked fuel.)

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Donkey Kong sighted in Jerusalem

At Ben Yehuda Street on Thursday night, people could play a huge Donkey Kong game that was projected on two walls of a building.

The old 8-bit sounds of the game were amplified as well.

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Rafah closed again. Gazans can't go to school. Will ASA boycott Egypt?

The Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt has been closed for seven consecutive days.

Egypt "promises" it will open Rafah up next week for a few days.

Here is the calendar of Rafah's closings since late October:

S	M	Tu	W	Th	F	S
Oct 27	28	29	30	31	Nov 1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Dec 1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28

Gisha's report from November gives some numbers:

Travel via Rafah Crossing has dropped dramatically, while there has been little change in travel through Erez. In November, 5,502 exits by Palestinians were recorded at Erez Crossing - a 7% drop from the number recorded in October. However, this figure still represents a 33% increase in the number of exits compared to the monthly average during the first half of 2013.

Rafah Crossing was closed for 20 days in November, 66% of the time. There was an 85% drop in the volume of travel, in both directions, compared to the monthly average during the first half of 2013. Travel in November was the lowest of the year.

Gisha is one of these NGOs that feels Israel is responsible for Egyptian human rights abuses:

On November 20, Gisha received the Defense Ministry's response to its request to allow Palestinians to travel via Erez, given reduced activity at Rafah. The Ministry of Defense rejected the request, stating that: "[C]urrent Israeli policy on travel by Gaza residents within the territory of the State of Israel satisfies the requirements of the law, including those of international law, and we see no room to introduce any arrangements in addition to those currently in effect".

I plan to get into the nitty gritty of Gisha's complaints against Israel's actions in Gaza in upcoming posts.

Still, major "human rights" NGOs are all but ignoring Egypt's role in limiting Gazans from being able to go to school or get medical treatment.

It's funny, because the American Studies Association falsely claims that Israel is stopping Palestinian Arabs from attending school and therefore (for some reason) Israeli universities must be punished. Yet here, Egypt is explicitly denying Palestinian Arabs from attending Egyptian schools that they were already accepted in, and there is not a word!

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12/19 Links Pt2: UK: Charities for Terrorists, Europe Turns Blind Eye to Anti-Semitism, Fire Falk

From Ian:

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Douglas Murray: UK: Charities for Terrorists

Bad charities use the "halo effect" as a kind of smokescreen. Sometimes -- as in questions of ethical investment -- there are questions about the input of the charity's trustees. On other occasions the abuses are so serious that they should really be a matter for the police.
To take just the most serious example, there are organizations that still enjoy all the tax and other advantages of charitable status in this country, but that are actually banned as terrorist entities in some of our nation's closet allies. Sometimes this is deliberate, sometimes accidental. Just recently it was revealed that money from UK charities may have been filtered to the Islamist terrorist group al-Shabaab. Such activities – covering a range of communities – are a national disgrace. Yet they continue.

Europe Turns Blind Eye to Anti-Semitism

The central part of OSCE's mission is the requirement for member states to collect information and monitor anti-Semitic incidents in their home states. Yet, in its most recent annual report for 2012, also released last month, only 27 of the 57 OSCE Member States submitted official statistics. Among the countries that did not submit the required official statistics include: France, Hungary, Greece, Russia and Belgium -- some of the very countries identified by FRA as having the highest levels of anti-Semitism.
Quite simply, without reliable data on anti-Semitic incidents, how can governments and Jewish communities properly assess levels of anti-Semitism or propose remedies?
With anti-Semitism in Europe having reached a level unprecedented since the end of the Holocaust, serious questions must be asked of the EU about its resolve to tackle this oldest and most enduring form of hatred, when it cannot even agree on how to define anti-Semitism or comply with the most elementary laws to help combat it.

Elliot Abrams: Fire Falk

The special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories of the United Nations Human Rights Council is an extremist named Richard Falk. Falk is an embarrassment to the council and the U.N. whose only activity is to use violent and extreme language to denounce Israel -- most recently for "a criminal intention that is genocidal."
Canada has denounced Falk for these remarks and Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird said this: "Canada completely rejects and condemns the appalling remarks made by Richard Falk, United Nations special rapporteur to the Palestinian territories, in which he accused Israel of 'genocidal' intentions.

UN Watch: PLO mocks Canada for calling on UN to fire Falk—even though it did the same in 2010, secret cable reveals

This morning it tweeted: “Canadian FM Baird says that UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk makes ‘anti-Semitic’ statements. Does Mr. Baird know that Mr. Falk is a Jew?”
Yet only three years ago it was the PLO itself which, as Wikileaks reveals, secretly asked the U.S. government for help in firing Falk. The “visibly upset” PLO delegate objected not only to Falk’s support for Hamas, but also to his penchant for Holocaust comparisons.

It’s About the Settlements, Stupid

The hold of traditional Muslim society on young Palestinian Arabs, especially young women, is deteriorating: as they gain access to secondary and tertiary education, young Arabs have fewer children and more careers. And the most effective agency for the emancipation of young Arab women is the settler movement. Ariel University across the so-called Green Line is full of young Muslim women in headscarves studying computer science, and the leaders of the Ariel community–Haredi Jews–work with local Arab leaders to recruit talented students.
There is a parallel to what I called the “peace of the aging” in Ireland. The Irish got older. The drunken IRA killers I met in Belfast in 1970 as a student journalist had no intention of making peace. They were having too much fun at war. By 1996, when former Sen. George Mitchell presided over the Good Friday Agreement that formally ended the low-intensity civil war in Northern Ireland, those who were left had families and mortgages.(h/t NormanF)

For first time, Palestinians back framework peace agreement

Erekat said that based on the July 29 start of negotiations, they are to end on April 29. “We are not talking about a peace treaty on the 29th of April. We are talking about a framework agreement,” he told journalists.
He described a framework deal as a comprehensive agreement that could be turned into a detailed peace treaty in six to 12 months.

Hamas Asks You to Buy a Dam in the Negev

Thus, rather than dismiss this story or laugh it off, serious observers of the Middle East ought to be paying more attention to it. Until Palestinian factions stop blaming Israel for the weather, purveyors of Jew hatred will continue to dominate their politics and keep alive false hope about Israel’s eventual destruction. Rather than worry about enticing Abbas back to the negotiating table where he will continue to prevaricate and try to avoid making a decision about ending the conflict or Fatah-Hamas unity, Kerry should realize that an Arab and Muslim world that is willing to believe such hateful nonsense is not likely to accept a Jewish state in their midst no matter where its borders are drawn. (h/t Bob Knot)

Murdered Israeli fails to evoke the Guardian’s sympathy

Whilst the report itself is relatively fair, it’s nonetheless troubling that in two stories devoted to an incident which clearly began when an Israeli soldiered was killed by a Lebanese soldier, neither the titles nor accompanying photos convey any information about the Israeli victim. Additionally, in looking back at prior Guardian reports on lethal Palestinian terror attacks over the past two years, we weren’t able to find even one which included a photo of the Israeli victim.
The Guardian’s failure to humanize Israeli victims of terror stands in stark contrast to their often fawning coverage of Palestinian terrorists and their families.

Dead Gaza BDS Advocate Sought Israeli Medical Care

Eyad El Sarraj, a prominent psychiatrist in the Gaza Strip, died on Wednesday, Dec. 18. El Sarraj was 70 years old. He died of complications from Leukemia.
Throughout his professional life, Sarraj was a fierce proponent of resistance to the “Israeli Occupation” and vigorously promoted boycotts of Israel. But when his health failed, Sarraj sought medical care in Israel. He died at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, where he had been receiving treatment for more than a month.

US, Germany Threaten IDF Not to Move Academies to Mt. Scopus

The United States and Germany have issued an ultimatum to the IDF, a report Thursday said: No American or German army officers will work with IDF training academies if the army goes ahead with plans to relocate them to Mount Scopus in Jerusalem.
The ultimatum could explain why Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced earlier this week that the plan to move them was to be delayed. Sources said that the IDF has begun looking for other sites for its military program as a result.
It should be noted that Mt. Scopus is under complete Israeli sovereignty, and has been since the state was declared in 1948. Mt. Scopus was assigned to the Jewish state as part of the 1947 UN Partition Plan, but was occupied by Jordan until the 1967 Six Day War, when it was liberated by Israel.

Political Correctness Blamed for Hebrew U Violence

The Knesset's Internal Affairs and Environment Committee discussed the worrying situation at the Mount Scopus campus of Hebrew University, where students are exposed to daily harassment by local Arabs, who act with apparent impunity.

College Group Uses ‘Game Show’ to Dehumanize Israel

I attended “Battle of the Bulls” hosted by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of South Florida. In this game-show style competition, participants from seven student organizations were asked to answer highly skewed, dehumanizing questions about the state of Israel.
SJP said the purpose of this event was to educate students about the Israeli “occupation” in an entertaining manner. In actuality, this event did not educate, but rather spread blatant falsehoods to audience members.

Anti-Semitic attacks drive record levels of French aliyah

In an overcrowded conference room in the heart of Paris’ 14th arrondissement, a hundred French Jews are losing their patience.
They have gathered at the Paris office of the Jewish Agency for Israel for a lecture on immigrating to Israel, but the agency staff is running behind. Its 20 staffers are coping with a 57 percent jump in the number of French Jews moving to Israel over the last year and a surge of applications. In addition to four weekly public talks, they are struggling to finish 30 applicant interviews each day.

Growing anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish hatred in the Netherlands

This article discusses increasing anti-Jewish hatred in the Netherlands, in particular due to the growing Muslim immigrant population there. Though the Dutch government has been traditionally friendly to Israel and there has been proportionately less antisemitism there compared to in other European countries, shocking slanders appear about Israel in the mainstream Dutch media and there has also been an academic boycott of Israel. In addition, Dutch politicians have been afraid to address this rising antisemitism and anti-Jewish hatred for fear of losing the Muslim vote. As a result, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Jews to remain in the country, making the future of the Dutch Jewish community uncertain.

After six-year hiatus, Israeli planes to fly to Turkey again

The director of Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority, Giora Romm, on Tuesday signed a document with his Turkish counterpart at the end of bilateral talks that took place in Turkey, according to TheMarker business newspaper. Israeli airlines reportedly expect to resume landing in Turkish destinations starting next summer.
Israeli airlines had been unable to fly to any destination in Turkey since 2007 because Turkish authorities refused to cooperate with Israel’s special security requirements. With Tuesday’s agreements, a way has been found to sort out the disagreements, effectively enabling Israeli airlines to compete for the Tel Aviv-Istanbul and other lucrative routes, the paper reported.

Israel Set to Sign Lucrative Deal With India's Gujarat State

Israel will soon be signing a deal with the Indian state of Gujarat to develop an industrial investment fund, Israel's Consul General in Mumbai, Jonathan Miller, said in an interview with Indian media. India TV quoted Miller as saying that a memorandum of understanding to open the fund be signed with top Gutjarat officials soon.
"Gujarat is a business-oriented state and this MoU will help both Israeli and Gujarat-based companies in developing and strengthening the industrial relationship,” Miller was quoted as saying.

Canada, Israel And Switzerland Are America's Top Innovation Partners

In an attempt to quantify that transnational cooperation, the US-Israel Science & Technology Foundation (USISTF) has created a “U.S.-Israel Innovation Index” to measure bilateral research and development between the U.S. and other countries.
“We picked 16 countries that were geographically diverse, had links to US, and had strong innovative tech companies,” USISTF Executive Director Ann Liebschutz told me. “The Index measures cooperation between US and Israel as well as other countries.”

Scientists from Tel Aviv University take part in international space project

Prof. Shay Zucker – of the geophysics and atmospheric and planetary science department – who, with colleagues, will analyze data collected from the unmanned space ship. Zucker said that the “data that it will send back to Earth will be as accurate as determining the location from Earth of a grain of sand on the Moon with a millimeter’s accuracy.”
Gaia will carry a telescope and other equipment that will map with unprecedented accuracy more than a billion stars and receive a 3-D map of the Milky Way, the galaxy in which our solar system is located. The space vehicle was built by the European Space Agency at a cost of more than two billion euros.

Israeli aid workers airlifted from South Sudan

The workers, employees of IsraAID, “left with the UN yesterday and are on their way to Israel,” IsraAID director Shachar Zahavi told The Times of Israel on Thursday, adding that they were not harmed in the fighting.
The workers, along with members of other international NGOs, had been sheltered in a closed compound in the capital of Juba on Monday after a group of soldiers attempted to stage a coup d’etat.

IDF, PA Coordinate Christmas Merriment

IDF officials announced Wednesday that security restrictions will be relaxed during Christmas to allow Palestinian Authority residents who celebrate the holiday to enjoy the festivities, and to visit family in Israel.
The decision was coordinated with Palestinian Authority officials, PA security personnel, and representatives of various international bodies.

Philippines, Recovering From Typhoon, Honored by JDC for WWII Rescue Effort

Thanking one Asian country for its kindness towards Jews faced with annihilation 75 years ago and warning another not to even think about harming Israel, top Jewish officials at a Dec. 11 dinner wrapped up three days of meetings that marked the 100th anniversary of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC).
José L. Cuisía, Philippine ambassador to the United States, accepted the JDC’s Or L’Olam Award on behalf of his country for giving refuge to 1,305 Jews fleeing Nazi Germany during World War II. At the same event, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob “Jack” Lew—the highest-ranking Jew in the Obama administration—cautioned any CEO, general counsel or business executives to “think again” before trying to evade international sanctions against Iran or helping the Islamic Republic acquire nuclear weapons.

Israel Museum obtains world’s ‘first Jewish coin’

The coins, dated to the 5th and 4th centuries BCE when the region was controlled by the Persian Empire, constitute “the largest collection in the world of Persian-period coins.” The collection includes a number of previously unknown varieties, the museum said. Chief among the rare artifacts is a silver drachm, an ancient coin based upon the Greek drachma, which, in clearly legible Aramaic script, bears the word yehud, or Judea.
“It’s the earliest coin from the province of Judea,” the museum’s chief curator of archaeology, Haim Gitler, said in an interview with The Times of Israel, calling the 5th century silver drachm the “first Jewish coin.”

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