Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

9/17 Links Part 1: Bibi's Red Line, UN Confirms Sarin, Iranian Pres. 'it's all a Zionist Plot'

From Ian:

Analysis: Obama's Learning Curve Meets Bibi's Red Line

With Obama's policies in Egypt and Syria exploding in his face, his Cairo Speech dreams of a new Middle East devolving into an Islamist chaos, and Iranian “engagement” taking the form of threats against his family, Obama may also be more aware, somewhere deep inside his political persona, of the seriousness of the threats Israel faces. Possibly, his original antipathy for Israel and Netanyahu may have been tempered by the reality of living in the White House for almost five years.
The upcoming UNGA is a moment of great historic drama. Binyamin Netanyahu can be expected to be in top form. All of his warnings over the years have materialized. The danger of WMDs in the hands of rogue states have been demonstrated for the world to see, in Youtube videos of dead children lying in rows. Last year – the feeling was that while Netanyahu drew his red line, Obama had probably flipped the channel on his TV set. This year, however, Obama has also drawn a red line, and has had to try to defend it.
Perhaps, at last, Netanyahu's red line has met Obama's foreign policy learning curve, in which case there is room for very cautious optimism. This time, perhaps, the meeting between the two leaders will not involve snubs and public rebukes, but take place in an atmosphere that is conducive to understandings that can truly deter Iran and Russia from continuing their game of nuclear chicken with the US and Israel.

Khaled Abu Toameh: King Abdullah Says No To Hamas

Jordan's King Abdullah has turned down a request from Hamas to re-open its offices in his country, according to informed sources in Amman.
The sources said that Qatar, one of the few Arab countries that continue to support Hamas, recently asked King Abdullah to allow Hamas to resume its activities in the kingdom.
The Jordanians banned Hamas in 1999 and stripped some of the Islamist movement's leaders, including Khaled Mashal, of their Jordanian citizenship.

One dead, dozens wounded in overnight clashes in Jenin

A wanted terrorist was killed and dozens were injured in clashes that erupted in the West Bank town of Jenin overnight Tuesday after an attempt to arrest the man was met with violent resistance, the IDF said Tuesday.
The soldiers encountered “a violent riot” as “Palestinians hurled rocks, Molotov cocktails and improvised grenades at security forces who responded with riot dispersal means… Feeling an imminent threat to their lives, the soldiers returned fire toward the lower extremities of main instigators,” the IDF said.

Russia training Palestinian women to be paratroopers

The Palestinian Authority revealed on Monday that Russia has been training Palestinian women as paratroopers.
The PA security forces published a number of photos showing the women by trained by Russian experts.
This is the first time that Palestinian women are trained as paratroopers.
The PA does not have any planes or helicopters.

Ninety-Five Percent of Palestinian Government Workers Stage Strike

Palestinian media is reporting that a massive government strike which occurred yesterday may escalate and expand in the coming weeks. Yesterday 95% of Palestinian government workers launched a one-day strike, after their union chief called on them to do so.
The union is promising that next week it’ll be a two-day strike.

Isi Leibler: Putin’s Russia now a force in the Middle East

With the passage of days, weeks and months, interest in controlling his stockpiles will wane and the possibility of taking action will be effectively forestalled.
There will be no consequences to Assad’s actions, since Russia endorsed and the US capitulated to his demand that an agreement eschew any mention of reverting to military action should he renege on the deal.
In orchestrating his maneuvers in Syria, Putin has demonstrated not only his support of Syria and Iran, but his ability to stand up and deliver on behalf of his allies. Putin achieved regional hegemony through Russia’s alliance with a broad Shi’ite arc that encompasses Iran, Syria and Lebanon, and is likely to include Iraq.

Elliott Abrams: The Syria deal

Nevertheless the deal with Russia does not punish Syrian President Bashar Assad or strike a blow at the regime; it merely says "don't do it again." So the lesson for dictators who commit atrocities is that you can use chemical weapons 10 or 15 times, and then you may be asked to give them up. Period. It's like telling an ax murderer that his punishment is to give up his ax -- or to promise to give up the ax and promise that he has no more axes hidden anywhere else.
The Syrian regime, and Iran, and Hezbollah, and Russia, seem very pleased with this diplomatic achievement. But why should we be?

UN report cites ‘convincing’ evidence sarin used in Syria

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented the UN inspectors’ report to a closed meeting of the UN Security Council before its release.
“This is a war crime and a grave violation of … international law,” Ban told the council in remarks distributed to the press. “The results are overwhelming and indisputable. The facts speak for themselves. … The international community has a responsibility to hold the perpetrators accountable and to ensure that chemical weapons never re-emerge as an instrument of warfare.”

Cameron: I wanted to act in Syria because of the lessons of the Holocaust

British Prime Minister David Cameron, who two weeks ago lost a vote in Parliament calling for military intervention in Syria, said he had wanted to act because of the lessons of the Holocaust.
“The horror of the Holocaust is unique but the lessons we learn from it are absolutely applicable right across our society at home and abroad. In particular, the lesson of not standing by,” he told 500 guests at an appeal dinner marking the 25th anniversary of the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) Monday night.

Four Reasons the Syria Deal Could Fall Apart

The framework agreement contains a series of deadlines and requirements that could slip in the face of a government that has long been secretive about its arsenal and resistant to international inspections. Complicating the picture is the 2 1/2-year-old civil war, which will make it difficult, if not impossible, for international inspectors to do their work.
Here are some of the deadlines laid out in the framework agreement Saturday between Messrs. Kerry and Lavrov and what could go wrong with them:

Assad’s biological weapons absent from US-Russia deal

There is “not a word” about biological weapons in the agreement that US Secretary of State John Kerry discussed with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday, Channel 10 news said.
Assad has two biological weapons bases, one of them subterranean and a second in a coastal location, producing anthrax and other agents, the report said

Turkish warplanes shoot down Syrian helicopter

Turkey scrambled two F-16 jets along the border between its southern Hatay province and Syria after warning the Mi-17 helicopter it was approaching Turkish airspace shortly before 14:30 (1130 GMT), the military said in a statement.
Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said a warplane shot down the helicopter after it ventured up to 2 km into Turkey near the border town of Yayladagi. "It was repeatedly warned by our air defense elements," he said.

Report: Half of Syria's Hospitals Destroyed or Damaged

According to a report by The Telegraph, an open letter published by the world's leading general medical journal, The Lancet, claimed Syrian rebels are largely to blame for the disintegration of the country's medical infrastructure.
"Systematic assaults on medical professionals, facilities and patients are breaking Syria's health-care system and making it nearly impossible for civilians to receive essential medical services," the letter said.

Study: Syria rebellion ‘dominated’ by al-Qaida and Islamic jihadists

The Telegraph received an advance copy of defense consultancy IHS Jane’s new report, which is due to be published later this week. It estimates that around 100,000 fighters are currently battling the Assad regime in Syria, but that they have splintered into as many as 1,000 separate factions.
One in ten rebels, including thousands of foreigners, have aligned themselves with powerful international terrorist groups, most linked directly to al-Qaida.
Around 30,000 to 35,000 more agree with that worldview, but focus largely on establishing an Islamic caliphate in Syria instead of actively seeking ways to spread the conflict beyond its borders.

Meet the ‘moderate’ Syrian sheikh young think tanker wants us to adopt

The State Department-funded Syrian Emergency Task Force and Elizabeth O’Bagy backed an anti-Semitic, anti-Shiite imam for presidency of the Syrian rebels.
O’Bagy ran into trouble earlier this month after The Daily Caller revealed her dual role as a pundit urging war on the Assad regime in Syria and a paid contractor for the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), a pro-rebel front group. But while she still held a position at a connected Washington, DC think tank, O’Bagy strongly supported the anti-Semitic, anti-Shiite Sheikh Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib for a leadership position in an imaginary conquered Syria.

Netanyahu to meet Obama, urge more pressure on Iran

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to meet with US President Barack Obama in Washington DC later this month, ahead of his scheduled address at the UN General Assembly in New York, and will urge a stepping up of pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear drive.
“In a week and a half, I will go to the United Nations General Assembly, and before that I will meet with President Obama. I intend to focus on stopping Iranian nuclear program. Really stopping the nuclear program,” Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting Tuesday.

Report: Iran set to shut down nuclear site in deal with West

Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, is willing to shut down a key nuclear site believed to be central in the Islamic Republic’s uranium enrichment program in exchange for a lifting of economic sanctions that have crippled the country’s financial sector, according to a report which appeared in the prestigious German weekly Der Spiegel.
According to intelligence sources who spoke with the newspaper, Rouhani is willing to allow Western inspectors to oversee the removal of centrifuges from the secretive Fordo plant. Rouhani may even announce the offer and delve further into details during his appearance before the United Nations General Assembly at the end of the month.

Iranian President: “Clear to All of Us” That Western Moves Against Syria Part of Globe-Spanning Pro-Israel Conspiracy

Today he explained, according to Iranian and Western media sources, that Iran’s interests in Syria are grounded in the fact that it is at the center of a global conspiracy to boost Zionist control. Iran’s state-controlled Fars news agency described Rouhani’s speech, which was given to what the outlet describes as “ranking commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)”:

Egyptian Military Storms Islamist Held Village

Egyptian security forces stormed Delga, an Islamist-controlled village in central Egypt that had been the scene of some of the worst anti-Christian violence in Egypt.
According to reports, Egyptian soldiers and police entered Delga in the Minya province just after dawn, firing tear gas and searching for suspects,AFP reported. Security forces had arrested 56 terrorists by Monday afternoon.

Egypt Air Force Jets in Northern Sinai

Egyptian Air Force jets were seen circling Tuesday in the skies of northern Sinai, over the area of Sheikh Zwaid, according to Voice of Israel public radio. Sounds of explosions were heard as the Egyptian military continued its anti-terrorist operations against Islamist militias.
Egyptian military jets are not allowed in Sinai according to the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty of 1979. However, Israel has allowed the Egyptian military to operate in northern Sinai recently, in order to root out the terrorist infrastructure that had formed there.

Egypt to Re-open Rafiah for Special Cases, Say PA Sources

The Egyptians notified the PA that the crossing would operate four hours a day to allow patients and students to leave. The move came in response to a request by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the sources said.
The Rafiah crossing has been closed for security reasons ever since the Egyptian army started a crackdown against terrorists in the Sinai peninsula.
Ma’an reported that Abbas on Monday telephoned the chief of the Egyptian intelligence, Maj-Gen. Muhammad Tuhami, and requested that the crossing be opened to allow students and humanitarian cases to leave Gaza.

Muslims now get up to 19,884 women in Paradise

Or, how to discard your wife for a series of beautiful virgins:

Following are excerpts from a lecture delivered by Saudi cleric Muhammad Ali Shanqiti, which was posted on the Internet on March 23, 2013.

Muhammad Ali Shanqiti: Every Muslim man gets at least two black-eyed virgins in Paradise. Each virgin comes with 70 servants girls. You are permitted [to have sex] with the virgins as well as the servant girls. For every woman from this world who enters Paradise, you get 70 black-eyed virgins.

There are four types of women in Paradise. First, there are the women of this world who enter Paradise. Each one comes with 70 black-eyed virgins. The second type of woman in Paradise is the black-eyed virgin. Each comes with 70 servant girls. These servant girls are the third type. Sorry, there are only three types of women in Paradise.
[…]
If you get married in this world, then [in Paradise], you get your wife from this world, along with 70 black-eyed virgins with whom you are allowed to have sex, and each of these 70 virgins comes with 70 servant girls.

So how many women do you get? That's the minimum.

Now, let's assume that you are married to four wives, each of whom comes with 70 black-eyed virgins, and each virgin comes with 70 servant girls… How many does it come to? God help you.
[…]
Your reunion [with your wife] lasts for 70 earthly years. When the 70 years are about to come to an end, another black-eyed virgin calls to you from above: "Oh servant of Allah, don't we get a piece of you?"

You turn to her, and you see that she is more beautiful than the woman you are with. You ask her: "Who are you?" and she says: "I'm your virgin in Paradise. Allah told you about me, saying: 'There is more of them with Us'. I am one of the 'more'."

You leave that one and move on to the next. God help you…

You spend 70 years or so with her, and along comes the third, saying: "Oh servant of Allah, don't we get a piece of you?" You look at her, and she is even more beautiful than the one you are with.
[…]

Allah didn't think this one out all the way, though.

70 virgins x 70 servant girls for each wife comes out to 4900 servants, 70 virgins and one wife, or 4971 women total including the wife. Multiply by four wives to get 19,884 women. (MEMRI calculated wrong, forgetting to include the virgins. I'm not sure if the servant girls are virgins - they might be heavenly sluts.)

Anyway, at 70 years per woman, that is 1,391,880 years of sex.

This sounds like a lot, but we are talking eternity here, folks. Compared to "forever," a mere 1.3 million years is next to nothing. For 99.999999999999999999...% of eternity, poor Muslim men will have no one to nail under the benevolent eyes of Allah.

Will Allah allow the servant girls to attend to multiple men? That hardly sounds Islamic.

It must be that Allah, who knows best, is only telling Muslim men that they will have all these black-eyed virgins, but in fact he is sending them right to Hell to avoid the problems in the future when the women run out. I mean, Allah is not going to be happy with all the shoe-throwing and rioting that happens after 1.3 million years.

The story of the virgins and servants is meant to fool Muslim men. That's the only way this can work if Allah has infinite intelligence.

Muslims throw shoes, expel Fatah leader from Al Aqsa Mosque (video)

Today, Fatah leader Azzam al-Ahmad tried to visit the Al Aqsa Mosque - along with a Jordanian minister who was visiting.

However, he was treated as if he was a Jew.

Muslim worshipers and others pelted him with their shoes and expelled him from the area:

The protesters complained that he, and Fatah, was collaborating with Israel. Also they were said to be angry at an interview he made a few weeks ago where he said he would like to enter Gaza on back of an Egyptian tank.

I imagine that in the future, when Fatah officials visit the Temple Mount, they will need to bring security guards - just like the Jews. Or, if you follow the logic of certain Guardian writers, they should be forbidden from ever entering the Al Aqsa Mosque because it upsets other Muslims.

What this also teaches us is that the leaders of the Al Aqsa mosque are extremists. Even though they live on the West Bank. Shocking, I know, but the EU hasn't yet figured that out.

From Amnesty International:

Pakistani schoolgirl and education rights campaigner Malala Yousafzai and American singer, human rights and social justice activist Harry Belafonte were today jointly announced as the recipients of Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award for 2013.

...Roger Waters will make the presentation to Harry Belafonte accompanied by a special guest.

Yes, when Amnesty wanted to choose someone to present its highest honor, they chose someone who demonizes Jews and Israel.

Besides including the symbol of Judaism on an inflatable pig at numerous concerts, Waters recently specified how someone he disagreed with was Jewish, as if that is all that is needed to explain her odious (to him) actions.

Waters also consistently calls for the boycott of the only country in the region to respect basic human rights. For Palestinians. (As I've documented numerous times, the human rights record towards Palestinian by Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria are particularly odious.)

This is the person that Amnesty chooses to present a humanitarian award.

Belafonte definitely deserves to receive humanitarian awards. But he should refuse to accept any from Waters. You can tell him that on his Facebook page.

(h/t Yael)

Guardian columnist falls for the Muslim Diplomacy of Fear

The Guardian last Friday had a Comment Is Free piece by one Giles Fraser, where he warned of the dire consequences of allowing Jews to visit their holiest site:

An Israeli claim to Temple Mount would trigger unimaginable violence

The settler mentality is now increasingly focusing on what is politically the most explosive site on the planet

The orthodox position has long been that the Temple can only be rebuilt and sacrifices resumed when the Jewish messiah returns. There have been a few dissenting voices to this consensus – most notably, Maimonides – but since the foundation of the state of Israel, the idea of Jews returning to Temple Mount prior to the arrival of the messiah has been the obsession of a tiny minority. And mostly, like Sharon, driven by secular political rather that theological concerns. But as Israel continues its shift to the right, these dangerous voices are now entering the political mainstream. Back in March, the housing and construction minister Uri Ariel, who advocates the rebuilding of the Temple, visited the site as a "tourist". In April, Knesset member Miri Regev emphasised: "I do not understand why a Jew is not allowed to pray in the most sacred place for him – the Temple Mount." Religious services minister, Naftali Bennett, has announced he will work for legislation guaranteeing Jewish access. And the notoriously hardline Likud politician, settler and Knesset member Moshe Feiglin – who believes Israel ought to annex all of the West Bank and Gaza – stepped up the pressure on Binyamin Netanyahu in a speech in New York last week, calling on him to restore Jewish sovereignty over the site.

It would be hard to overstate how dangerous an idea this is. The vast majority of orthodox rabbis have reiterated their opposition to it. But the settler mentality is now increasingly focusing on what is politically the most explosive site on the planet. If they succeed, a billion Muslims worldwide would go ballistic.

Fraser is wrong on a number of levels.

While the haredi world is generally against visiting the Temple Mount, the consensus among modern Orthodox Jews is that (with proper preparation and caveats) it is certainly permissible to visit the site, as long as one stays away from areas that the actual Temple and the Holy of Holies was. It is certain that, for example, the Herodian extensions on the southern part of the Mount - including where the Al Aqsa Mosque was built - are nowhere near the Temple site.

He also seems unaware that Jews are visiting the Temple Mount virtually every day. Usually less than a hundred a day, but still a core of people visiting and some even praying - and the Muslims know it, document it, write lots of articles condemning it and sometimes they even start throwing stones and Molotov cocktails because of it.

But nothing apocalyptic has happened. The Jews return, and in general outside of grumbling nothing bad happens.

Equating those who want to visit the Temple Mount with a "settler mentality" is also condescending, to say the least. My visit to the Temple Mount earlier this year was because I wanted to have a rare opportunity to see Judaism's holiest spot for myself. Certainly, those who assert their rights to live in the land of their forefathers are more likely to be the types who want to assert their rights to visit their holiest place. Why are people who strive for their own human rights be considered inherently bad?

I doubt that Fraser is Jewish, but he seems to be strangely obsessed with the halachic ban on Jews ascending to the Mount. But shouldn't that be a right that Jews have - to decide to visit or not to visit based on their own beliefs and the evolving halachic thinking on the topic? The decision of whether Jews should be allowed access to their holiest site should not be left to Fraser or the Muslims or the EU or the UN, but based on simple fairness and freedom of religion. Isn't that what liberals believe?

Look at how Fraser describes what would happen if Jews would visit and pray at the Mount: "a billion Muslims worldwide would go ballistic." No, they won't. They will threaten to go ballistic, but the proper response to that is for Jews to assert their rights. Giving in to threats is not a strategy - it is surrender.

Fraser also seems unaware that the Muslims who threaten violence if Jews should be given more access also are against all non-Muslim visitors, of which there are thousands every month.Should those tourists also be banned because of Muslim threats? If the Guardian wants to pay for Fraser to report from the Temple Mount, will he take the principled position that he might anger Muslims and therefore refuse?

Finally, the best argument against Fraser's thesis comes from Muslims themselves. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry Monday made yet another condemnation of Jews visiting the Temple Mount, and warned about a supposed mass rally of Jews throughout Jerusalem during the upcoming Sukkot holiday. But one statement that the Ministry made was telling.

It said that the absence of Muslim reaction to Jews visiting the Mount has emboldened the Jews to continue to do so.

In other words, Jews have been visiting the Mount for years now. Little bad has happened. Now, Muslims are upset at themselves for not reacting strongly enough! Their actions have been nowhere near their fiery and inflammatory rhetoric.

Muslims have used threats of massive violence for over a century to force Westerners to cower in fear. Sometimes, they actually kill a few people. But their actions are rarely anywhere close to their rhetoric. Not once has there been a popular Muslim war against a Western nation based on perceived insults to Islam. But such a war has been threatened countless times.

Finally, I wonder what Fraser thought when the Mohammed cartoons were published. After all, the Muslims threatened mass violence, and several people were killed. Did he demand then that the Western freedoms of expression be curtailed in the face of Muslim threats? Thousand of Muslims indeed "went ballistic."

Luckily, Denmark in general supported freedom of expression then, and the furious Muslim reaction calmed down in only a few days. This was the proper reaction.

Shouldn't Muslim threats to Jewish freedom of religion - even if it is only a minority of Jews who feel they must ascend to their holiest site - be treated the exact same way?

Or are Jewish religious rights somehow inferior to the rights of Danish cartoonists?

So what's Free Gaza been up to?

It's been a while since we heard from the "Free Gaza" movement. Their last new article on their website was posted on May 31. So what's been going on? Have they finally run out of lies?

Well, not quite.Things have mostly fizzled on their website. There is nothing on the site about Egypt's closure of Rafah, for example.

But on Twitter they do mention Egypt's siege, with a twist::

http://t.co/sAUWGAgkOe Retweet until 100,000 have signed. As Israel outsources the blockade to Egypt, we must make a stand
— Free Gaza Movement (@freegazaorg) September 15, 2013

You see? Egypt is another Zionist pawn, doing Israel's bidding, according to these "human rights advocates."

Not surprisingly, they also happily tweeted Ian Lustick's rabidly anti-Israel piece in the NYT on Sunday.

9/16 Links Part 2: Ali Salim: Hatred of Jews, MKs-Tell Kerry Oslo is Dead, Bourdain in Jerusalem

From Ian:

Ali Salim: Hatred of Jews

The result is that we Muslims make the mistake of thinking Europeans really care about them, especially the Palestinians. We are wrong: Europeans simply hate the Jews more than they hate and fear us. The bitter truth is that the Europeans usually intervene in a crisis only if it gives them the opportunity for Jew-bashing. When hundreds of thousands, even millions, of Muslims are slaughtered – by other Muslims, such as the massacre in Syria and the recent upsurge of violence in Darfur – the apathetic European leadership does not lift a finger. At the same time, the European Union is obsessed with its need to condemn, sanction and boycott the Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. It does not even mention Syria, with its hundred thousand civilians murdered by the government and its millions of refugees, or the atrocities being committed in the Arab-Muslim world, the rapes of women and children, the beheadings and the wanton cruelty and murder, to say nothing of exploitation, discrimination, slavery and other crimes against humanity.
To my great sorrow, everywhere in the world where there are Muslims there is murder, mass bloodshed and terrorist attacks. We should leave the Jews alone, they are not responsible for our tragedies and hating them will not cure the nation of Islam or bring it successfully into the 21st century.

Jew Hatred Officially Backed by Belgium

Shockingly, in Belgium, history lessons about Nazism and the Holocaust are currently being used to infuse children with hatred against Israel.
The Belgian Ministry of Education funds an organization, the Special Committee for Remembrance Education (BCH), which provides teachers with ready-made templates for their history lessons. In its September issue, Joods Actueel, the largest Jewish magazine in Belgium, describes this educational material as "perverted." The so-called Remembrance Education, the magazine writes, "has degenerated into an instrument to infect youngsters with hatred of Israel and anti-Semitism."
One of the materials used is the cartoon "Never Again, Over Again." It equates the treatment of the Palestinians by the Israelis today with the treatment of the Jews by the Nazis in the 1930s and 40s.

Even amid Syrian crisis, Kerry makes clear his eye still on Palestinian track

One Israeli official said that the Israeli-Palestinian talks were continuing even amid the Syrian crisis.
Energy and Water Minister Silvan Shalom on Sunday night questioned whether Abbas was a legitimate partner for peace.
“The world tells us to talk to Abbas, because he’s the best option. This is the Left’s craziest argument,” Shalom exclaimed at a Likud activists’ event he co-hosted in Tel Aviv.
“It means that the people who come after him are worse. If we give him land, then the next round of Palestinian leaders will shoot rockets at us.
“Obviously, we can’t do that,” he said.

Oslo Accords Debated, Not Celebrated, in Israel on 20th Anniversary

Parliamentarians from both Israel’s left and the right agree that the process has not yielded the results anyone would have hoped for, including the deaths of more than 1,000 Israelis and 3,000 Palestinians, and agree that the Israelis and Palestinians are more skeptical than ever about the prospects for a negotiated settlement.
Where Knesset members disagree is on whether the process was flawed from the outset, and on whether the principles that led to the signing of the interim peace agreement should still be applied. Consequently, the 20-year anniversary of the Oslo Accords—signed Sept. 13, 1993—is not a celebration the agreement’s outcome, but rather a debate on its merits.
“The main lesson is that the paradigm of the left, that land for peace will bring security to the region has failed, and this is the time to think clearly that we should not endorse a Palestinian state,” Member of Knesset and Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon (Likud) told JNS org.
Member of Knesset Hilik (Yehiel) Bar, Secretary General of the Labo

MKs Urge PM: Tell Kerry Oslo is Dead

In order to ensure that Netanyahu understands what is at stake – and how members of his government feel about it – sixteen coalition MKs on Sunday handed Netanyahu a message saying that he needed to make clear to Kerry Israel's opposition to further withdrawals and concessions to the PA.
“Twenty years after the terrible Oslo Accords, we call on the Prime Minister to present to the U.S. Secretary of State our clear position: Israel will not return to the 'Oslo Formula' of concessions for 'peace,' handing over parts of our homeland to the PA in exchange for a piece of paper,” the message said.

Livni 'Willing to Cede Control of Jordan Valley'

Daily newspaper Maariv quoted sources close to Netanyahu who said that Livni's positions differ from those of Netanyahu on the key issues of Jerusalem, eviction of Jewish communities and Israel's security arrangements in the Jordan Valley.
According to the report, Livni - who heads the left-wing Hatnua political party - is willing to pull out the IDF from the Jordan Valley which guards Israel's long eastern border, and let an international force take its place. Netanyahu vigorously opposes this, citing the region's crucial strategic importance.

Abbas: Meet Our Conditions, Then We Can Have Peace

In a speech on Sunday to graduates of a university in Jericho, Abbas also clarified that unless all of the PA’s demands are met, there will not be a peace agreement with Israel.
Abbas told the graduates that the eastern border of the State of Palestine along the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley will be with Jordan, thus essentially rejecting an Israeli demand for a special security arrangement in the Jordan Valley, that would allow IDF soldiers to remain in the region after the establishment of a Palestinian state.

PMW Abbas admits sending terrorists to kill Israelis (2005)
Abbas:"I demand [the release of] prisoners because they are human beings, who did what we, we, ordered them to do.

How Well Has the U.S. Responded to 9/11?

In that sense, America’s Islamist opponents in the Arab world are as implacable as the Palestinian groups opposed to Jews exercising the independence they demand for themselves. Disaster lies ahead for those who dignify imperial pretensions with a basis in justice.
We should note Palestinian statements of regret about events in New York and Washington, coupled with more ominous ones expressing the hope that the US (in the words of the local Palestinian mouthpiece) has “learnt its lesson” and will change course.
Winston Churchill once said there was no purpose in trying to sate a crocodile by feeding him on others. At the end, you face the crocodile compromised and friendless. That, however, is the “lesson” Westerners are again being invited to learn.

After 13 Years: Israel, PA Renew Agricultural Accords

Israel and the Palestinian Authority have agreed to renew the agricultural accords that were in place prior to the outbreak of the “Second Intifada” terror war in 2000.
Agricultural officials from both sides met and agreed to establish a regional center for economic and agricultural cooperation.
The initiative aims to improve food quality for the PA population, and to assist both Israel and the PA in fighting crop disease and infestation, both of which can easily cross man-made borders.

Going into elections, Merkel says support for Israel’s security 'part of Germany’s raison d’etre'

In an interview for the September 13 edition of the publication Jewish Voice from Germany, Merkel – when asked about the Iranian nuclear weapons threat directed at Israel – said, “That means that we’ll never be neutral and that Israel can be sure of our support when it comes to ensuring its security. That’s why I also said that Germany’s support for Israel’s security is part of our national ethos, our raison d’etre.”
She flatly rejected anti-Zionism as a legitimate position, saying, “For those who share my view that the Jews as a people have a right to self-determination, Zionism as a national movement of the Jewish people is the embodiment of this very right which its opponents want to deny.”

German Publisher Shuts Down Nazi Glorifying Magazine, SWC Questions Motive

A German publisher said Friday it would cease publication of a pulp magazine notorious for its heroic portrayals of Germans in World War II, The New York Times reported.
Simon Wiesenthal Center dean and founder Rabbi Marvin Hier, whose organization was instrumental in pressuring the Bauer Media Group to make the decision, welcomed the news but expressed skepticism over the publisher’s motives.
“The only reason that Bauer group made this decision is because if they didn’t the authorities would have,” he told The Algemeiner.

Monster Cartoon Violates German Press Council Code

In July, German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung’s anti-Semitic cartoon portrayed Israel as a ravenous monster, causing outrage. Protests from HonestReporting subscribers and other organizations led to an apology from the newspaper.
The American Jewish Committee’s Berlin office submitted an official complaint to the German Press Council that has now ruled on the issue. The AJC has announced that Süddeutsche Zeitung was in violation of the German Press Council’s code.

Future Refuse Derived Fuel plant to transform half of Gush Dan’s waste into fuel

Amid the aroma of garbage that still perfumes the air around the Hiriya Recycling Park, government officials and relevant executives laid the cornerstone for a refuse derived fuel plant that will eventually transform half of the Dan region’s waste into usable fuel.
“This is a project that is going to generate a whole revolution in the treatment of waste in the Dan area and the whole of Israel,” said Gila Oron, head of the Tel Aviv region at the Interior Ministry.

CAMERA: 10 Things CNN Needs to Fix in "10 Things To Know"

"10 things to know before visiting Israel, the West Bank and Gaza" is CNN's Sept. 12 article by Matthew Teller meant to promote a broadcast this weekend called "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown," featuring the acclaimed author and chef on location in Israel and the West Bank. It is unfortunate that the piece, intended to educate about basic information on the region, is chock full of factual errors and distortions. CAMERA, in turn, presents the 10 things that CNN needs to fix in Teller's piece and the accompanying graphics and captions.

TV chef Bourdain reveals Jewish heritage during show in Israel

The show closes with Bourdain talking to Natan Galkowicz, proprietor of Mides Brazilian Restaurant in the Negev kibbutz Bror Hayil near the Gaza border, whose daughter Dana was killed in 2005 outside her home, three months before her wedding, by a mortar fired by Hamas.
“I know that my daughter was killed for no reason, and I know that people on the other side have been killed for no reason,” Galkowicz tells Bourdain. “Bottom line is, let’s stop with the suffering.” Trailer

Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown Season 2 - Jerusalem

Video: Arab attacking Jew, unprovoked, at medical clinic

From Arutz-7:

A Jewish man who came to see a doctor at a health clinic in an Arab town last week was viciously attacked by a local Arab for no apparent reason.

Security camera footage from the incident, at a health clinic in the northern village of Ibillin, shows the Jew sitting in the waiting room, minding his own business and not even looking at the Arab man.

The Arab man gets up, walks toward the Jew and punches him hard in the side of the head. The Jew falls writhing to the floor. Men who were present in the clinic escort the attacker to a seat in the room, and then help the Jewish man out of the room. No one seems overly perturbed.

The Jewish man was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Obviously, the Jew was provoking the Arab by daring to enter the clinic, which is one of the Top 100 Muslim Holy Places the village of Ibillin. It is clear as day that the Zionist Jewish settler (they are all settlers, remember) is at fault and the Arab was exhibiting a natural reaction to Zionist aggression.

You have to understand the first rule of the Israel haters: It is always Israel's fault. Once you internalize that message, you cannot go wrong.

If you want to have fun, link to this video at some Mondoweiss message thread and see how this rule is implemented in real time. (The smarter ones will say "Of course I condemn the attack, BUT you must understand [how it is justified anyway.]")

(h/t OBOZ}

PA, Egypt in war of words with Hamas

From Al Ahram:

Hamas denied Sunday accusations made by the Egyptian army's spokesman who said hand grenades bearing the stamp of the Palestinian Islamist group’s military wing were found in Sinai.

In a statement published on the information office website of the Islamic resistance movement, the group described the claims as “lies and fabrications.”

Earlier Sunday, the army's spokesman, Colonel Ahmed Ali, said that the military confiscated a number of munitions, including hand grenades bearing the stamp of the Ezzeddin Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military arm.

He also said in a press conference there was “cooperation between armed and terrorist organisations and their counterpart in the Gaza Strip.”

Similarly:

Palestinian Authority Ambassador to Egypt Barakat Al-Farra claimed on Sunday the Hamas Islamist group was “unable” to assess the Egyptian situation following president Mohamed Morsi’s ouster.

“Hamas is unable to see the situation correctly and has to review its policies regarding Egypt,” he said in an interview on Egyptian satellite channel Al-Hayat.

Al-Farra added that Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip since 2007, does not “represent the Palestinian people, it only represents itself.”

Seeking to deflate tensions with the Egyptian authorities, the Gaza government released a statement on Sunday saying that "the Palestinian people, and their political factions, stand at equal distance from all the [people of] Egypt." The statement elaborated that out of respected for the "will and sovereignty" of Egypt, it had not interfered in its affairs, rejecting accusations to the contrary against the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has its own accusations against Egypt:

Egyptian authorities refuse to allow entry for dozens of Palestinians arriving from various countries en route to Gaza Strip.

Egyptian security sources told the PIC that the authorities did not show any concern with the condition of those Palestinians, some of whom have residence permits in Egypt.

They said that the airport authorities would not allow them to enter Cairo without giving any reason.

The sources noted that some of those Palestinian citizens had spent several days at the deportation room in the airport, adding that the trapped Palestinians were dismayed at the maltreatment.

Hamas also responded to the PA statement, saying that it was "silly" does not deserve a response - but that the ambassador speaks only for Fatah and not the Palestinian people.

All of this Arab disunity wouldn't t be happening if Israel would just dismantle those settlements, of course. Everyone knows that "the occupation" is the source of all Middle East troubles.

Tottenham football fans defiantly chant "Yid Army" for their team

From the Daily Mail:

Tottenham are planning to ask their fans if they think the time has come to stop chanting the Y-word.

For years Tottenham, who have a strong Jewish following, have been on the receiving end of cruel anti-Semitic abuse from opposition fans.

In an act of defiance, some fans of the north London club have coined the word "Yid" themselves, and chants of "Yids", "Yid Army" and "Yiddos" are regularly sung on the home terraces at White Hart Lane.

Last Monday the Football Association (FA) issued a statement warning supporters that use of such words could result in either a banning order or even criminal prosecution.

Tottenham responded by saying they would consult with their fans on the matter, and it has now emerged they will do so in the form of a questionnaire that will be sent out to all season-ticket holders.

'There is a document that Spurs will be sending out to season-ticket holders in due course,' Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust (THST) chairman Darren Alexander said.

'It's a questionnaire, and basically what the club want to ascertain is do the fans think now is the right time to be stop using this identity.

'If that comes back and a clear majority of fans think: yes, now is the time, then we move forward and we will work actively with the club if they want us to and we will think about how is best to do that.'

Tottenham fans reacted defiantly to the FA's statement on Saturday as they chanted "Yid Army" and "We'll sing what we want" throughout the 2-0 win over Norwich.

The same happened last season after Peter Herbert, the head of the Society of Black Lawyers, threatened to report anyone using the phrase to the police.

Here is JN1's coverage:

I can't say I keep track of nutty soccer fan chants, but if Israel and the IDF didn't exist, is there any chance that any football fans would so proudly identify themselves as "Yids"?

Now, if Tottenham fans really want to go all they way, they should start yelling insults at the other teams - in Yiddish!

9/16 Links Part 1: Anti-Zionist Illusions, Col. Richard Kemp - Syria Plan ‘not realistic’

From Ian:

The Depravity of the Anti-Israeli Left

One is tempted to leave Ian Lustick’s Sunday op-ed “Two-State Illusion,” alone. Its stench is so overwhelming that one might expect it to harm Lustick’s cause without the need for commentary. But because Lustick is a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, one of our most prestigious universities, and because the New York Times has chosen to amplify his view, it is worth considering as a symptom of the depravity of the anti-Israeli left, as what passes for sober commentary in that crowd.

Two States and the Anti-Zionist Illusion

They also understand just how dishonest Lustick’s vision of a post-Zionist Middle East is. The professor claims Israel’s collapse will lead to an alliance between secular Palestinians and post-Zionist Jews (those Haaretz columnists) and others to build a secular democracy. He thinks the large percentage of Israelis whose families fled or were thrown out of Arab and Muslim countries (a refugee population that no one thinks to compensate for their losses) will come to think of themselves as Arabs. He also posits an alliance between anti-Zionist Haredim and Islamists. He claims Jews who want to live in the West Bank can be accommodated in the post-Zionist world. All this is nonsense.
Israeli Jews know the fate of non-Muslim minorities in the Arab and Muslim world. If Israel acknowledges that all Jews would be evacuated from a putative Palestinian state it is not because they agree with the Arab vision of a Judenrein entity but because even those on the left know the Jews there would last as long as the greenhouses left behind in Gaza in 2005. Those “Arab Jews” that Lustick thinks will be at home in the Greater Palestine he envisages know exactly what fate awaits them in a world where they are not protected by a Jewish army.

British Airways apologises over 'Palestinian Territories' marker over Israel on in-flight map

British Airways has apologised for displaying an in-flight map with the words “Palestinian Territories” covering part of Israel.
The image appears on flights between Heathrow and Israel and was brought to the airline’s attention by a Jewish passenger.
British Airways has contacted the manufacturer and requested that the reference be removed as soon as possible.

Jerusalem 'Sheshet HaYamim' Street in 'Palestine'?

While the representatives of Israel and the Palestinian Authority are negotiating intensely in order to draw the final borders, according to "Google Maps", it turns out that the map of Israel's permanent borders has already been plotted.
One user from Arutz Sheva was surprised to find the results on Google Maps for the Jerusalem street called "Sheshet HaYamim" (Six Day War) to be in "Palestine." The Jerusalem street, which is located near Ammunition Hill, was included in the liberated territories established during the Six Day War.
Below each mention of the street, including references as to the street intersections, the word "Palestine" appears prominently instead of Israel.

JPost Editorial: Israel and the Syria deal

It is too early to assess the implications for the Jewish state of an increasingly assertive Russia and a more hesitant US, particularly with regard to Iran.
Is the Russian-led agreement with the United States to do away with Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons good for the Jews?
Taken at face value, the deal appears to serve a major Israeli interest. Under the terms of the six-clause accord, Russia and the US will ensure that the tons of chemical weapons, meticulously gathered and stored by the late Syrian president Hafez Assad, will be located, dismantled and destroyed over the next eight months.

Ex-British army colonel to Post: Russian-US plan on Syria chemical weapons ‘not realistic’

Speaking to the Post by phone, Kemp, who also served in the UK’s Joint Intelligence Committee and Cabinet Office Briefing Room, said: “I think it’s extremely difficult to do something like this during an active conflict, during a war. I think it’ll take a very large amount of time, with a significant amount of military protection, so that the inspectors can be as safe as they can be. That aspect will present huge challenges. Which country, first of all, will provide the scientists who will take these risks and the military forces to back them up? It’s a very dangerous situation.”
Kemp observed that there is a wide variety of factions in Syria, including regime forces and jihadists, meaning that it would be difficult to send weapons inspectors to the country.
“Secondly, to get verification in this kind of situation, I would say, is impossible,” he stated. “It would be very easy for President Assad to hide or remove out of the country significant quantities of chemical weapons.

‘Netanyahu backed Russian chemical arms deal in call to Kerry’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US Secretary of State John Kerry last week that he should try to reach a deal with Russia to confiscate Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal as an alternative to a threatened US strike on the Assad regime, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
According to the report, Kerry called Netanyahu on September 11 and the Israeli leader told him that he didn’t think that Russia was bluffing about its plan for Syria.

Kerry, in Israel, says Syria deal ‘sets a marker’ for Iran

In comments aimed at his hosts, Kerry said the deal, if successful, “will have set a marker for the standard of behavior with respect to Iran and with respect to North Korea and any rogue state, [or] group that tries to reach for these kind of weapons.”...
Netanyahu thanked Kerry for his efforts to purge Syria of chemical weapons and linked the agreement with Syria to the ongoing campaign to curb Iran’s controversial nuclear program.
“We have been closely following – and support – your ongoing efforts to rid Syria of its chemical weapons,” Netanyahu said. “The Syrian regime must be stripped of all its chemical weapons, and that would make our entire region a lot safer.

Obama Says Iran ‘Shouldn’t Draw a Lesson’ From U.S. Handling of Syria Chemical Weapons Crisis

U.S. President Barack Obama warned Sunday that his country’s hesitation in carrying out a military strike against Syria has no bearing on how it will address Iran’s push for nuclear weapons.
“My suspicion is that the Iranians recognize they shouldn’t draw a lesson that we haven’t struck– to think we won’t strike Iran. On the other hand, what is– what– they should draw from this lesson is that there is the potential of resolving these issues diplomatically,” he told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in an interview.

US-Russia deal a ‘victory,’ says Syrian minister

Syrian Reconciliation Minister Ali Haidar was the first Syrian official to refer to the deal, telling Russian news agency Ria Novosti that “on the one hand, it helps Syria come out of the crisis and, on the other, it helps avoid the war against Syria by depriving those who wanted to launch it of arguments to do so.”
He said it was “a victory for Syria, achieved thanks to our Russian friends.”

Saudi Daily: 'Chemical Weapons Smuggled to Hezbollah'

President Bashar Al-Assad has smuggled part of his chemical weapons arsenal to Hezbollah in a bid to evade international inspection, the Saudi newspaper Al Watan reported Monday.
The report quoted Syrian National Coalition member Kamal al-Labwani as claiming that: "The Syrian regime has transferred some of its chemical weapons arsenal to its ally Hezbollah aboard trucks used to transport vegetables."
The article published Monday, also included a claim that the Assad regime had covertly moved significant parts of its chemical weapons aboard Russian ships docked along the Syrian coastline.

Taking down Hezbollah

The London-based pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat reports that the recommendations were made during a meeting of GCC interior ministers and their advisers in Riyadh yesterday. The recommendations are aimed at not only preventing any “terror-related activities, but also to shut down Hezbollah’s sources of financing.” The list is seen as a followup to a GCC proposal issued in July 2012 to address Hezbollah’s actions.
Most notably, tiny Bahrain has been the main GCC member to take serious action against Hezbollah’s interests in the country, partially due to Hezbollah’s support of Bahraini Shiite dissidents. Other nations have grown increasingly upset by Hezbollah’s participation in the Syrian civil war on the side of the government.

Roadside bomb in Sinai hurts nine police recruits

Suspected Islamic militants set off a roadside bomb in the Sinai Peninsula as a bus full of police conscripts was driving by, wounding nine of them, Egyptian security officials said.
Monday’s ambush on the road outside the town of Rafah, on the border with the Gaza Strip, came amid a major counterinsurgency operation by Egypt’s military in the lawless desert region.

Egypt Continues Crackdown on Sinai Militants Near Gaza Border, Finds Anti-Aircraft Missiles and Motorized Paragliders

The army has destroyed 152 smuggling tunnels running from the Sinai into Gaza since June 30, he added.
On Saturday the Egyptian army discovered explosives under a border guard post in Rafah and later found a detonator 800 meters away, Reuters quoted Ali as saying.
Ali also said that during its recent operations the army seized weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles and motorized paragliders, which indicated an effort to develop new methods of attack.

Egyptian Government Defends Al Jazeera Ban

Sherif Shawki told the Wall Street Journal that Al Jazeera Egypt had "violated the law" by operating without the necessary permits. Despite not having the correct permits, the channel had been broadcasting in Egypt since the 2011 popular uprising which ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
Under Mubarak's regime Al Jazeera had been forbidden from broadcasting in Egypt. But the Qatari channel found a friend in the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, which rose to power in the aftermath of Mubarak's overthrow. Qatar is the leading sponsor of the Muslim Brotherhood movement worldwide, and a key supporter of the administration of the Brotherhood's successful presidential candidate Mohammed Morsi.

MEMRI: Editor of Al-Ahram: US Plans Russia Revolution, Supports Iran's Nukes, Provoked Pearl Harbor Attack

Increasingly sectarian protests rock Turkey

The latest street unrest shows the grievances that prompted tens of thousands to protest Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government in June have not faded. And his government has been hurt by those protests — for instance, losing the chance last week to host the 2020 Summer Olympics partly due to Turkey’s damaged international image.
But this round of demonstrations was sparked far from Istanbul and in a very different way — the death of 22-year-old Ahmet Atakan, who died under disputed circumstances following a protest Monday in the southern city of Antakya.

Quarterly appeal: Donate to EoZ!

Every three months, I ask for donations to the blog. (Doing this right after the Jewish holidays, when we are all inundated with requests for money, might not be too smart...)

This quarter was busy as usual.

Some of my articles started appearing in The Jewish Press giving the blog some more exposure.

I was mentioned or quoted in The Algemeiner, Arutz-7, The Jerusalem Post, The Blaze, FrontPage Mag, Commentary, Fox News and others mentioned or quoted me - some 55 times, by my count.

I spearheaded publicizing the dangers of the antisemitic "Khaybar" miniseries that was broadcast in the Arab world during Ramadan. That battle still goes on as we are partnering with others in reaching out to contact Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to ask why they have never, once, condemned or even acknowledged Arab antisemitism.

Other big stories that I broke or added crucial information was the Roger Waters inflatable pig with the Jewish symbol on it, Hamas mourning Helen Thomas, a film festival that excluded Israelis from attending, Bashar Assad's grandfather's letter (my most popular post this quarter,) and a UNRWA employee quoting Hitler on his social media sites - which prompted an investigation by UNRWA.

In addition, I was featured in a lengthy article on pro-Israel blogs in the current issue of The Jerusalem Report. (Not to mention that last quarter, I forgot to note that I was listed as one of the top 100 people influencing Jewish life at The Algemeiner.

I also continued to make cartoons, posters and other multimedia posts.

Also, co-blogger Ian has been doing a Herculean job putting together the daily linkdumps. It is very rare that he misses a story, and you should read his posts every day to know literally everything that I am not covering that has to do with the situation in Israel. (I share some of the donations with him - something that is not done by HuffPo, BuzzFeed or any of the other major blog sites that benefit from others' postings.)

I'm not aware of any primarily single-person blog, on any topic, that includes the variety of original articles, original research, news scoops, digging up obscure news items, original graphics and videos as this one.

Since this takes a great deal of time - and money - I am asking again for donations. You can click on one of the two PayPal buttons on the upper right of the blog page, or just click this button:

For those who don't like PayPal, I am always happy to accept Amazon(US) gift cards which can be emailed to me.

Thanks as always for your support, for being there and for publicizing my posts via Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and elsewhere. I really appreciate it!