Lawsuits in Egypt to cut off electricity to Gaza - and to expel the US Ambassador

Today, an Egyptian court may decide whether the country should continue to provide electricity to Gaza.

The First Circuit Court of Administrative Justice of the Egyptian State Council, headed by Judge Abdul Majid , will rule today on a lawsuit filed by lawyer Reza Albarakaoy, which called for a court ruling to stop the Egyptian export of electricity to the Gaza Strip.

The lawsuit says that Egypt exports electricity to the Gaza Strip at a time when the Egyptians suffer from outages of electricity themselves, and disregards the needs of the Egyptian people themselves.

The suit adds that the production of electricity in Egypt is very expensive because it uses large quantities of Egyptian natural gas in the process of producing electricity, which requires the need to provide electricity to the Egyptian people, and take advantage of it rather than exported to the outside and the people in greatest need, in short supply.

Egypt provides about 28 MW of electricity to Gaza. Israel provides about 125 MW.

According to the web page of the law firm bringing the lawsuit, they also sued to close all Gaza smuggling tunnels, to stop Al Jazeera from broadcasting in Egypt, and to stop the sale of land in the Sinai - out of fear that Palestinian Arabs might buy it and use it as an "alternative homeland."

Another lawsuit being brought demands the expulsion of the US ambassador to Egypt for "violating Egyptian sovereignty through the provision of the U.S. Embassy financial and political support for the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi groups."

Read More

8/20 Links Part 1: Obama Appeasement Will Result in Disaster, Ban's about-face on UN bias

From Ian:

---

Prosor: Israel Won't Stand By as Assad Fires Mortars

Prosor sent a letter of complaint to the Security Council after the latest incident on Saturday, when the Israeli army fired into Syria after shells from the neighboring country hit the Israeli side of the Golan Heights. The Israeli attack demolished a Syrian military position.
Israel, wrote Prosor in his letter, will not stand idly by while "Assad’s terrorist regime fires mortars at Israeli citizens."
Prosor stressed in the complaint the "blatant violation on Syria’s part of the disengagement agreement of 1974." He added, "Israel has sent repeated warnings and warned the Security Council that such provocations will not be accepted by Israel. It should not be expected Israel will stand by while the terrorist regime of Assad rains down mortar shells on Israeli citizens."

In reversal, Ban says Israel does not face bias at UN

On Friday, Ban told Israeli students in Jerusalem that Israel “has been weighed down by criticism and suffered from bias — and sometimes even discrimination” at the UN.
But asked by a reporter at UN headquarters in New York on Monday if he believed “there was discrimination against Israel” and what he “intend[s] to do about it,” he said he did not believe there was discrimination, but also insisted Israel should not face bias at the organization.
“No, I don’t think there is discrimination against Israel at the United Nations,” Ban replied, according to an official UN transcript of the conversation.

Victory: Swiss parliament declares U.N. nomination of Jean Ziegler “inappropriate”

UN Watch applauded the Swiss parliament today for declaring the U.N. nomination of Jean Ziegler — co-founder, co-manager, and 2002 recipient of the Muammar Gaddafi Human Rights Prize — “inappropriate.”
The parliament called on Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter to cancel the nomination.

Samantha Power Blasts Re-election of Swiss Critic of Israel

Power took to Twitter to denounce Jean Ziegler, a former sociology professor and former Social Democrat member of the Swiss parliament, the report said.
“Indeed, Dr. Ziegler is unfit for continued service” at the UN Human Rights Council, Power wrote last week.
In her denunciation of Ziegler, she took on a 79-year-old fixture at the UN who has praised Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and Cuba’s Fidel Castro, while accusing Israel of human rights abuses.

Isi Leibler: Obama appeasement will result in disaster

As anticipated, the Arab Spring has devolved into a bloody nightmare that has engulfed Egypt, leaving Israel surrounded by a sea of violence and barbarism with no prospect of stability on the horizon.
Yet while hundreds of people are being brutally killed daily, the international community remains obsessed with condemning Israel for allowing the construction of homes in the Jewish suburbs of east Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the disproportionate levels of energy and passion invested by US Secretary of State John Kerry and other Western leaders in the Israeli-Palestinian imbroglio can only be described as surrealistic.

‘Back Egypt or risk peace talks,’ says Israeli official to US

The unnamed Israeli source spoke to the newspaper’s Middle East correspondent Charles Levinson, telling him that Washington must back the Egyptian military or ”good luck with your peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians,” — a conversation the reporter recounted on Wall Street Journal Live.
“The Israeli position Saudi and Egypt have historically and still today played very crucial roles in supporting negotiations, in giving the Palestinians the support they need to stay in negotiations, to make concessions,” Levinson said of the conversation.

US reportedly secretly suspends aid to Egypt

Washington has refrained from calling the July 3 ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi a coup but has nevertheless secretly decided to temporarily halt aid, without publicly announcing it.
“The decision was we’re going to avoid saying it was a coup, but to stay on the safe side of the law, we are going to act as if the designation has been made for now,” the Daily Beast quoted one administration official as saying. “By not announcing the decision, it gives the administration the flexibility to reverse it.”

Portrait of a Cairo Liberal as a Military Backer

In Cairo Friday morning, before the midday call to prayer and an afternoon of protest marches that resolved in violence, chaos, and the overnight siege of a mosque, I jumped into a taxi and slipped across the Nile into the quiet, semi-suburban neighborhood of Dokki. I was there to meet with Mohammed Aboul-Ghar, a seventy-three-year-old academic and politician who has been a leading figure in Egypt’s liberal establishment, and now represents one of the most confounding elements of the country’s current crisis: the wholesale alignment of old-guard liberals with the military.

Qatar’s Risky Overreach in Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Beyond

Morsi came to power in a democratic election, but misinterpreted the meaning of democracy. He and his Muslim Brotherhood backers – primarily Qatar – appeared to believe that having won the election, they could run the country according to their decree, not according to democratic principles as the majority had expected. A series of draconian laws, a spiralling economic crisis, and a feeling on the Egyptian street that the Muslim Brotherhood was paid handsomely by foreign forces, spurred street protests of historic proportions, prompting the military to intervene.
With Morsi gone, Qatar suddenly became “persona non grata” in Egypt.
Qatar sought to extend its influence and Muslim Brotherhood-inspired view of how countries like Egypt, Syria, Libya, and others should be. Qatar was also playing a power-game against Saudi Arabia, another hugely wealthy regional power whose vision of an even more strictly Islamist way of life for Muslims drove a wedge between the two parties.

Muslim Brotherhood supreme leader detained

The arrest of Mohammed Badie marks a serious setback for the heart of the Islamist movement, which had risen to power after the fall of president Hosni Mubarak in 2011, only to see its fortunes fall with the ouster of president Mohammed Morsi in early July.

Muslim Brotherhood memo blesses Egyptian church burnings

A memo posted on the Facebook page of a local office of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party obtained by the Investigative Project on Terrorism shows a clear call to incitement against Egypt's Coptic Christian population, giving its blessing to the burning of churches.
Over 40 Coptic churches have been burned by Muslim Brotherhood supporters since the Egyptian police cleared demonstrators protesting the overthrow of former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on Tuesday. Brotherhood supporters also reportedly blocked the road between Cairo and Aswan in southern Egypt looking for Copts, taking seven Copts hostage Thursday. They were later released after a ransom of 150,000 Egyptian pounds, roughly $21,500, was paid.

Looters ransack Egyptian antiques museum and snatch priceless artefacts

According to a statement made by the Ministry of Antiquities, the museum, in the Upper Egyptian city of Minya, was allegedly broken into and some artifacts were damaged and stolen on Thursday evening.
The ministry’s official statement accused Muslim Brotherhood supporters of breaking into the museum.
It not yet clear what is missing - a list is being compiled to ensure the artefacts are not smuggled out the country.

MK Zoabi: Al-Sisi must be overthrown

Like rest of world, Arab Knesset members breathlessly follow events in Egypt, do not like what they see. ‘Muslim Brotherhood will not disappear," said MK Zahalka. ‘Blood on streets will be downfall of regime’

Photo of Friendly Embrace Between Senior Egyptian and Israeli Security Officials Sparks Online Furor

The photograph, first uploaded to Facebook on August 13, 2013, was taken from the cover of a United Nations Director General’s report from 2011. The Facebook page, titled “Brotherhood Intelligence Agency (ASA),” has a large following of 151,000 “likes” and, according to Israel’s Channel 2, was created by Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.
The post condemned the “apparent coordination between the parties, Egypt and Israel,” which it said was “completely contrary to common logic and health.” It called for the purge of “traitors” from within the Egyptian Army and claimed that “we (the Muslim Brotherhood) are the only ones who can do it,” according to Channel 2′s translation.

Analyst: Mideast Gas a Chance for U.S. to Break with Turkey

The natural gas fields in the Mediterranean provide the United States with an opportunity to break with Turkey, according to Seth Cropsey, formerly the deputy undersecretary of the Navy in the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations.
“Politics and alliances in the eastern Mediterranean are shifting, and the region’s security framework is splintering,” Cropsey wrote Monday in PJ Media. “The region is now divided as much within the Muslim world as between it and the non-Muslim states.”

Read More

So what the hell was Erdogan talking about?

This news is all over Israeli and Jewish news media today; here's the version from JTA:

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israel was behind last month’s military coup in Egypt.

Erdogan told a meeting of the provincial chairs of his ruling Justice and Development, or AKP, party that he has evidence that Israel was involved in the July 3 overthrow of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, the Turkish Hurriyet news service reported.

“Who is behind this? Israel. We have evidence,” the prime minister said, according to Hurriyet.

He cited as proof a statement by a French intellectual he identified as Jewish, who told the Israeli justice minister during a visit to France before Egypt’s 2011 elections, “The Muslim Brotherhood will not be in power even if they win the elections. Because democracy is not the ballot box,” Hurriyet reported.

Who is this "French Jewish intellectual"?

Almost certainly it is Bernard-Henri Lévy, the rock-star philosopher of France.

Here is what he wrote in the Huffington Post after the Egyptian elections:

Let's not tell ourselves any stories.

The Muslim Brotherhood, whose candidate just won the presidential election in Egypt, is not a democratic organization.

They were not at Tahrir Square, in Cairo, at the beginning of the revolution.

Engaged in a curious game where, as long as they were left free to do their (economic, financial and other) trafficking, the army had already handed over an entire part of the prerogatives (concerning health and education, for example) that are normally those of a State, they began by doing everything they could to curb the movement.

I remember, on February 20th, at their headquarters in El-Malek El-Saleh street, an edifying encounter with Saad Al-Hoseiny, a member of the strategic leadership of the Brotherhood, whose attitude towards the insurgent peoples' demands for rights and liberty was, to say the least, one of prudence, if not ambivalence or even hostility.

Worse, we can never be reminded enough that the organization whose pale apparatchik is in the process of acceding to the leadership of the largest Arab nation was born in the late '20s as a totalitarian sect, inspired by Naziism, one whose founder, Hassan Al-Banna, never neglected an occasion to inscribe Adolf Hitler after Saladin, Abu Bakr or Abdelaziz al-Saoud in the lineage of "reformers" whose "patience, firmness, wisdom and obstination" had guided humanity.

...Scarcely more than a quarter of registered voters adhere to the president-elect's supposedly "moderate" Islamism.

Better still, there exists today in Egypt a huge "modern party" that, though certainly divided and rife with contradictions, consists of half of the electorate.

Or, even better put, it means that a battle is engaged where there will be, on one side, as usual, the military-Islamist bloc, and on the other, this formerly unheard of bloc that, though disorganized, has not renounced the spirit and the hope of the Tahrir Commune, and no one knows what the outcome of this battle will be.

Revolutions are not events but processes. These processes are long, conflictual, fraught with sudden leaps forward and discouraging retreats. But nothing says that things will not happen in Egypt at this dawn of the 21st century as they have in other great countries, heirs of immense civilizations that have taken time to give birth to their respective futures -- France, for example, where we had to pass through the Terror, the counter-Terror, two Empires and a Commune crushed in blood before we saw the birth of the Republic, or these countries that have emerged from a long communist coma and are groping towards a democracy whose first stage will have been the return to power, at the voting booth, of this or that Communist Party, or, worse, the appearance of a chimera named Putin, synonym of crimes that are right in line with those of the red czars of the last century.

Will we regret the fall of the Wall because of the war in Chechnya? 1789 and the glorious Gironde because of the massacres of September? No, of course not. And that is why the sombre lesson coming, these days, from Cairo does not make me regret the breath of spring of Tahrir. The promise is still alive. The struggle continues.

Levy's antipathy towards the Islamists is obvious, and almost certainly Erdogan is twisting his words (not to mention that the idea that a conversation between Levy and an Israeli official is an absurd proof of Israeli actions) but Levy believes that revolutions are not one-time moments but a continuous, time-consuming process,  and that the process includes elections but is not exclusive to them.

Indeed, he seems to be almost prophetic about the current events in Egypt in this June 2012 article.

Read More

Israeli export markets: #1 - US. #2 - UK. #3 - Turkey

From Haaretz:

Exports to the United States, Israel's largest export market, totaled $5.4 billion in the first half this year, an increase of 9% over the same period last year, according to figures provided by the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute. Pharmaceuticals were a major source of this growth, though exports still grew by 4% when pharmaceuticals are excluded.

Israel’s top export destinations in the first half of 2013 were the United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey, China, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and France. ...

Israeli exports to the UK reached $1.7 billion in the first half of 2013, a 15% increase over the same period the year before. The jump in exports to the British market occurred almost entirely in the pharmaceutical sector, which constitutes some 60% of total Israeli exports to that country, according to the institute’s analysis.

While the U.S. and the UK retained their previous spots in the export rankings, Turkey jumped three places, from sixth to third, on the list this year. Exports to the Turkish market rose a whopping 56% in the first half of this year, compared to last, totaling $1.2 billion. According to the institute's analysis, the growth in exports to Turkey was due to a doubling of chemical and refined petroleum product exports, from $465 million in the first half of 2012 to $915 million in the first half of this year. ...

According to a separate article last month, Turkey is also still a market for military exports:

The head of SIBAT spoke about the crisis with Turkey and said that "defense exports to Turkey were never halted, and are weighed according to the interests of the State of Israel. The relationship that existed in recent years didn't continue, but if you look at the numbers – defense exports to Turkey were not zero." He says that although "most of it was composed of continuing contracts and past contracts, there are now requests for new transactions that we are examining."

Time for BDS to protest Turkey for buying Zionist goods.

Read More

Why aren't any Rachel Corries flying to Egypt?

Palestine Press Agency reports that there was a new round of tunnel destruction on the Egyptian border with Gaza.

Five tunnels, including those for smuggling of building materials and food, were dynamited, with white smoke visible from the explosions. The Egyptian army also flooded the tunnels with water.

The army also destroyed a house, apparently because it either hid the entrance or was used otherwise in the tunnel trade.

Which makes one wonder - how come there are no Rachel Corries bravely flying to Egypt to protect the houses of Rafah and the tunnel trade to Gaza? Where are the brave activists willing to use their bodies to protect Gazans from losing their lifeline (and Egyptians from becoming homeless)? How come no hordes of human shields from ISM to help their friends in Gaza from the Egyptian army who are placing them under siege? Where are the protests at Rafah for the closing of the crossing? For that matter, where are the filmmakers documenting Egypt's destruction of the tunnels and the cruel actions of the Egyptian army? Is Evergreen College offering college credit for students who want to travel to Egypt to protest? Where are the.................

I'm sorry. I couldn't finish the paragraph because I was laughing too hard. Brave protesters are only "brave" when confronting the ruthless, evil, inhuman IDF. They are more than willing to put themselves in danger when they believe that there is no danger.

They seem to lose their principles when the principles have any potential cost.

Read More

Israel-hating Canadian filmmaker arrested in Egypt on way to Gaza

From Realscreen.com:

Toronto-based documentary maker John Greyson (pictured) has been arrested in Egypt, according to multiple international reports.

Greyson, whose doc Fig Trees won a Teddy Award for Best Documentary at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival, was arrested on Friday (August 16), along with Tarek Loubani, an Ontario-based emergency room doctor.

The pair were in Egypt en route to Gaza, with Greyson exploring the possibility of making a documentary on the work Loubani was to undertake. With the border crossing closed, the two men became stranded in Egypt.

Caitlin Workman, a spokesperson for the department of foreign affairs, told the Toronto Star that the government was aware of the arrests. “The embassy in Cairo is in contact with local authorities and we are prepared to provide consular assistance,” she said.

According to the CBC, Justin Podur – a professor at York University, where Greyson also teaches – informs that he has received word from the two men and that they are both okay for the time being.

The Toronto Palestine Film Festival (TPFF) today issued a notice expressing concern for the safety of the two men; Greyson is a TPFF advisory board member.

“Canadian and Egyptian authorities should be aware of Professor Greyson’s and Dr. Loubani’s dedication to humanitarian work in their fields,” the TPFF stated. “In addition to being an admired university professor and award-winning filmmaker, Professor Greyson has played an integral role in the festival as an advisor for the last five years, providing us with invaluable programming guidance and support.

“Professor Greyson has used his skill, art and reputation to spotlight human rights issues in Canada and abroad, including the plight of Palestinians.”

In addition to winning a Berlinale award in 2009, Greyson also drew attention that year when he withdrew his short documentary Covered from the Toronto International Film Festival, in protest of the festival’s inaugural City to City Spotlight being on the city of Tel Aviv.

Greyson's letter to the Toronto International Film Festival shows how much he hates Israel and how easily he lies about it:

This past year has also seen: the devastating Gaza massacre of eight months ago, resulting in over 1000 civilian deaths; the election of a Prime Minister accused of war crimes; the aggressive extension of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands; the accelerated destruction of Palestinian homes and orchards; the viral growth of the totalitarian security wall, and the further enshrining of the check-point system. Such state policies have led diverse figures such as John Berger, Jimmy Carter, and Bishop Desmond Tutu to characterize this 'brand' as apartheid. Your TIFF program book may describe Tel Aviv as a "vibrant young city... of beaches, cafes and cultural ferment... that celebrates its diversity," but it's also been called "a kind of alter-Gaza, the smiling face of Israeli apartheid" (Naomi Klein) and "the only city in the west without Arab residents" (Tel Aviv filmmaker Udi Aloni).

To my mind, this isn't the right year to celebrate Brand Israel, or to demonstrate an ostrich-like indifference to the realities (cinematic and otherwise) of the region, or to pointedly ignore the international economic boycott campaign against Israel. Launched by Palestinian NGO's in 2005, and since joined by thousands inside and outside Israel, the campaign is seen as the last hope for forcing Israel to comply with international law. By ignoring this boycott, TIFF has emphatically taken sides --and in the process, forced every filmmaker and audience member who opposes the occupation to cross a type of picket line.

A group of celebrities including Jerry Seinfeld, Sacha Baron Cohen, Natalie Portman, Jason Alexander and Lisa Kudrow, slammed Greyson's position. The usual Israel bashers like Alice Walker, Ken Loach and David Byrne expressed support. So did Jane Fonda, who later changed her mind.

Rafah has been closed by Egypt, and it is possible that Egyptian authorities are suspicious that anyone who tries to travel to Gaza is a supporter of Hamas. In this case, they are probably right.

(h/t Josh, Russell)

Read More

To the Forward, Israel is inherently evil

The Forward has a truly disgusting article by Lisa Goldman, entitled "Feel-Good Stories Obscure Ugly Mideast Truths."

Excerpts:

The Israeli government invests considerable effort in promoting its image in the foreign media. It’s called “hasbara,” which comes from the Hebrew root “to explain.” Israelis tend to be patriotic, with many believing their country is unfairly vilified in the foreign media. And so they embrace hasbara as a legitimate corrective measure. But for critics of Israel, even those who do not speak Hebrew, hasbara means official lies and spin designed to divert attention away from the military occupation of the West Bank and the settlers.

The Government Press Office, which provides journalists with press cards and keeps them informed of media events, contributes to the hasbara effort by sending out emails with carefully crafted pitches about human interest stories. Usually, these stories are meant to be both heartwarming and counter-intuitive — the kind that people post on Facebook with a comment about restoring one’s faith in human nature....

When I read a recent New York Times article about wounded Syrian children receiving treatment in Israeli hospitals, I posted it to my Facebook with a cynical comment: “So the Government Press Office sends an email to journalists in Israel, telling them about this ‘quiet’ story of Israeli hospitals treating Syrian wounded. Shhh…. We want to be modest about this. So don’t make too much noise and please don’t reveal the identities of the people who benefit from our generosity, because their own people might shun or hurt them. Just for seeking help for their children. Can you imagine? And the media obediently report this story, because who can resist cute Jewish and Arab kids getting treated in the same hospital…. And then the foreign ministry sends links to the articles to all the journalists they have on their global email lists. And voila. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you do hasbara.”

My friend Gal Beckerman read the comment and decided to look into the matter, emailing Isabel Kershner, who wrote the article, and the New York Times’s Jerusalem bureau chief, Jodi Rudoren. And it turns out that I was wrong. They discovered the story on their own, and in fact the army tried to prevent them from covering it.

So does this reporter ask forgiveness for falsely accusing Israel of pushing this story when it didn't? No! The Forward looks for the higher truth:

Gal’s conclusion — and I agree with him — is that the Israeli government’s relentless focus on hasbara efforts has tainted the way we report and consume news from that country. For partisan observers, news reports are judged not for their veracity and newsworthiness, but for how they present Israel. Far too often this is parsed according to binary clichés: Israel is presented either as the evil occupier or a light unto the nations.

But I would take Gal’s observation one step further. By reporting the Israel-Palestine story with an emotional subtext rather than some intellectual detachment, we are perpetuating a discourse that is disconnected from reality. Hasbara diverts attention from the very painful and difficult issues that must be addressed. It is much easier to smile at Arab and Jewish children sharing a hospital ward than to address the tough issues, like a military occupation that does not seem likely to end in our lifetime.

You see, according to The "Jewish" Daily Forward, any story that humanizes Israel - even when it was found by reporters doing their jobs, and against Israeli wishes - doesn't reflect the "reality." Who decides what reality is? Why, it is Lisa Goldman and Gal Beckerman and The Forward, of course!

Goldman has no compunction about humanizing Palestinian Arabs, as her articles attest.

On Friday afternoons in Nabi Salih, it starts like this. A few Israeli and foreign activists arrive at the village around noon, gathering at the home of Bassam Tamimi. His door is open, so there is no need to knock. Inside, villagers and visitors socialize, use the washroom and help themselves from the huge spread of homemade food laid out on the kitchen table. Bassam’s children run between the guests’ legs; and Sameeh, a neighbour from Jaffa, picks one of them up and tickles him. The atmosphere is relaxed, jovial and friendly. Most of these people see one another every Friday, under the same circumstances.

Bassam’s mother (or perhaps mother-in-law) sits on one of the chairs, her legs pulled up in a near-squat, observing the visitors through half-blind eyes. She looks like a Palestinian grandmother out of central casting, with her long white veil, embroidered traditional dress, deeply wrinkled face and thin, arthritic hands. I greet her by clasping one of them and muttering something in mangled Arabic. She responds by telling me to eat – a word I understand because the Arabic and Hebrew roots are the same (AKL), and also because that’s what grandmothers tend to do, the world over – urge you to eat.

After we have eaten and drunk our tea, Bassam says, “So, shall we start?”

No "emotional subtext" here, about the wonderful Tamimi family that also happened to produce a woman who blew up a pizza shop.

Oh, I'm sorry. The rule at the Forward (and the pretty indistinguishable +972 that Goldman also writes for) is that humanizing Arabs is quality journalism. Humanizng Israelis is evil hasbara.

Even when it is perfectly true! Even when it was not a story that the Israelis wanted to publicize!

Goldman doesn't feel manipulated at all by eating lunch with the Tamimis. Her journalistic antennae are retracted because of the nice grandmother feeding her and the cute kids being tickled. How could a great journalist like Lisa feel manipulated when she is asked to visit a loving family home before the protest?

No, even though the Tamimi story is hand-fed to her, literally, by the protesters themselves, they are human. Zionist Israelis who seem human are the ones you have to check and double check to ensure that there is a dark side somewhere that you can report.

The conclusion is that The Forward believes that Israel is inherently evil. Those are the only facts that can fit its editorial policy. Anything that contradicts that narrative makes reporters not just feel conflicted, but angry. Because they already knew the truth before the story that makes Israelis look like decent people comes out. That is an unacceptable distraction from their own one-dimensional analysis of the situation.

Beyond that, we can see how bad a reporter Goldman is. In the earlier part of the article she describes how she feels "manipulated" when she covers a story that the Israeli government tips her (and other journalists) off about. So what is stopping her from digging deeper? Moreover, what is stopping her from looking to find out if there are similar "feel-good" human interest stories that are not pushed by the government?

That's crazy talk! To Goldman and The Forward, Israeli cruelty is the only story, and everything else is a distraction, to be ignored or downplayed or belittled or cynically dismissed.

The Forward's motto might as well be "Truth above all - unless we are uncomfortable with it."

Read More

Illustration of synagogue on Temple Mount freaking out Arab newspapers

There have been a bunch of articles over the past day throughout the Arab world claiming that there has been some sort of official approval to build a small synagogue on the Temple Mount, mostly because of this illustration that is on some Israeli sites showing what one might look like (bottom center, click to enlarge):

Of course, there has been no approval of anything, even though many dedicated Jews would love to see it happen. But whenever there is a whiff of an idea that Jews should be permitted to worship at their holiest place, hypersensitive Arabs go crazy, with officials falling all over themselves to denounce the supposed plans and to enforce the religious apartheid system that exists on the Mount.

Note that even in this supposed plan, the synagogue would not displace any Muslims, being placed in the large open plaza on the southern part of the Mount.

Read More

8/19 Links Part 2: Palestinians Blame Everyone But Themselves, A BDS Fail, Israeli 'super plants' !

From Ian:

---

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians Accuse Peace Negotiators of Treason

If Palestinian children are condemned for playing football with Israelis, why should it be acceptable for Erekat to be talking with Livni?
Palestinian Authority leaders can only blame themselves for the growing opposition to the peace talks with Israel. Palestinian leaders have simply not prepared their people for peace. These leaders have, instead, delegitimized Israel to a point where it has become a "crime" for any Palestinian to be photographed talking to, or negotiating with, any Israeli.

PA officials accuse US of 'deception and misinformation' in peace talks

According to the newspaper, some of the Palestinian officials accused Washington of “deception and misinformation” in order to keep the PA at the negotiating table with Israel.
The officials also expressed concern that the US would dupe the PA into accepting a state with provisional borders, the newspaper said.
It quoted Abbas as telling the officials: “I have told the US administration 10 times, and I’m ready to tell them again, that we won’t accept any solution that contradicts the Palestinian vision.”

U.S. Giving PA $148M

Negotiations with Israel are paying off already for the Palestinian Authority (PA).
The United States' consul general in Jerusalem, Michael Ratney, signed an agreement Sunday with PA caretaker prime minister Rami Hamdallah, according to which the U.S. will pay the PA $148 million.

PLO charges Israel with ‘war crimes, anti-human, racist acts’

The PLO leaders said they would not accept a situation where the peace talks with Israel, which resumed recently, would become a “political cover for the implementation of the largest settlement project.”
They accused the government of working toward undermining “all prospects for peace.”
Referring to recent Israeli plans to build housing units in settlements and east Jerusalem neighborhoods, the PLO leaders said: “The PLO Executive Committee considers the unprecedented settler decisions which were announced by the occupation government as conclusive proof that Israel’s first and last option remains expansionism, Judaization and theft of Palestinian land, and not ending occupation and implementing the two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 borders.”

FresnoZionism: Fresno Zionism - Why I am important

I understand also that the US and EU were ‘furious’ that Israel’s Prime Minister recently announced that perhaps a thousand new homes for Jews would be built someday in places that they consider illegal or illegitimate. The argument is that this construction would create facts on the ground that would prejudice a future peace agreement. Of course, not a peep was heard a few months ago when Israel announced that it would build housing for Arabs in the same area. What else does this prove except that Jews are more important than Arabs?
Speaking of Arabs, Israel’s neighbors Egypt and Syria are presently displaying their truly shocking barbarism by engaging in vicious religious/ethnic civil wars, bombing, gassing, shooting and raping each other with abandon. The status quo in Israel is peaceful, and the economy — both of Israel and the Palestinian Authority — is excellent. So you would think that the focus would be elsewhere rather than Israel.

Policy on the run is certainly a recipe for electoral disaster.

[Australian] Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr’s announcement in the heat of an election campaign that Labor Party policy does not recognize the legal right of Jews to live in the West Bank – seems to have been hastily cobbled together without any serious discussion or consideration by the Labor Party.
Carr’s shock announcement has brought forth sharp criticism from peak Jewish organisations in Australia including the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) and the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) – as well as a blistering attack by Opposition Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop.

Israel treats record number of Syrians over weekend

Israel on Friday and Saturday allowed 15 Syrians into the country for medical treatment after they were seriously wounded in the civil war to Israel’s north. The number marks a new record for injured Syrians allowed into Israel.
Since February, well over 100 Syrian civilians have been admitted to Israeli hospitals for treatment. Many less serious cases have been treated by Israeli medical teams at an IDF field hospital in the Golan Heights. Israel has said it offers the care as an act of humanitarian assistance, while endeavoring to stay out of the Syrian war, in which an estimated 100,000 people have been killed since March 2011.

Syrian Islamist fighters reach border with Israel

Fighting in the town of Breiqa, situated on the 1974 ceasefire line between Syria and Israel, and just 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) from the Israeli agricultural village of Alonei Habashan, began in the early hours of Saturday.

Young Druze seek Israeli citizenship as Syrian crisis worsens

“It’s good for them in the Jewish state,” said Majdal Shams Mayor Dolann Abu Saleh, where approximately 100 Druze – some as young as 16 – have applied for Israeli citizenship, according to municipality spokesperson Neven Abu Saleh, the mayor’s sister.
And the increasing number of citizenship applications in the Golan Heights is also good for the Jewish state, according to Dr. Kedar who said more Israeli citizenship holders in the Golan Heights could help Israel’s claim to the territory.
“Why should the world act against the locals by forcing Israel to leave the Golan?” asked Dr. Kedar, referring to international organizations such as the United Nations who deem Israel’s presence in the Golan Heights illegal and have put pressure on Israel to withdraw.

JPost Editorial: Pollard’s appeal

Parole – even if the US government decides not to fight it in 2015, which is unlikely – would leave the balance of Pollard’s 45-year life sentence intact, and would not set him free.
On the contrary, parole would mean that for another 15 years (the balance of his sentence) the US would severely restrict his freedom of movement, travel, speech, employment and even domicile. He certainly would not be free to come home to Israel, the country to which he has devoted his life.
Any solution that does not free Pollard immediately, without restrictions, and allow him to come home to Israel only compounds the injustice and is a severe affront to Israel.

StandWithUs Campaign Runs Pro-Israel Ads in Response to Church in North Carolina

The Church of Reconciliation’s ad stated “Build peace with justice and equality. End U.S. military aid to Israel.” The ad “confuses and deceives the public,” said Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs.
“The ad’s words suggest that the U.S. should stop financial assistance to Israel, implying that only Israel is to blame for a lack of peace,” Rothstein said in a statement. “The message is deceptive, and uses velvet-gloved rhetoric to try to influence unsuspecting commuters who may not know the facts.”

Jews Downunder: Rally: Free Palestine – Boycott Max Brenner

I’ve been involved now close to 3 years with BDS actions and have seen their numbers diminishing rapidly. The first one in Parramatta involved a couple of hundred people. The noise from their screaming was deafening. Mind you, this was before the police knew what was in store for them and they were not more than a few metres from Max Brenner.
“And last, and by no means least, as the third photo shows, whilst this was going on outside Max Brenner’s chocolate shop, three Muslim girls, complete with hijabs, were sitting there drinking their hot chocolate !!!
THAT IS WHAT I CALL PRICELESS”

The Guardian’s perverse moral logic about terror bleeds onto their culture page

Yes, Israel’s security wall inspires Palestinian violence!
In Di Cintio’s warped political reality the consequences of homicidal attacks becomes the cause – an Orwellian logical inversion which befits the moral inversion between Jewish victim and Palestinian perpetrator that continues to define the politics of the Guardian Left.

Banner Tribute to Recently Deceased ‘Most Wanted’ Nazi Laszlo Csatary Displayed at Hungarian Soccer Match

A banner honoring the memory of recently deceased “most wanted” Nazi, Laszlo Csatary, was displayed at a Hungarian soccer match Saturday, earning sharp condemnation from prominent Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff. The banner which was held by fans of the Ferencvárosi TC soccer club read “In memoriam Csatary Laszlo.”
“My message to them is go back to the history of World War II and see where your hate took your predecessors and if that is what you support then we’ll know how to deal with you,” Zuroff said, in an interview with The Algemeiner.

Israel’s latest invention: Free hi-res aerial photos for all

WikiAir is more than just a collection of photos of pretty places; it’s a system of agreements to enable Wiki volunteers to take advantage of air travel in order to easily and cheaply take high-resolution photos of interesting and unique sites from the air.
Volunteer photographers hitch a ride with private planes and on short-range commercial flights that fly at lower altitudes, and take photos from the air using long-distance lenses. The photos are then uploaded to the WikiAir site as hi-res photos, where anyone can view or use them, within the parameters of the usage agreement common to most wikis (no cost to use for informational sites, educational use, and publications; attribution required).

New Israeli tendon helps athletes spring back into action

A promising new ligament implant from Israel is now entering the market, kicking months of recovery time off any current treatment.
Inspired by stents, the device is developed by the five-year-old Israeli company Tavor. The Knee-T-Nol implant is made from a metal and titanium alloy, Nitinol, and looks a little like a dart.

Israelis create 'super plants' that resist drought

A group of researchers in Israel have reportedly grown genetically engineered plants that can live longer and resist long periods without water and can yield more produce.
In what could be the solution to world food crisis, scientists from the Faculty of Biology at Technion University in Haifa have created what they call "super plants" by modifying a longevity hormone in the genes known as zytokinin.

A musical cure for African-American kidney disease?

The average American has about a one in eight chance of suffering from kidney disease, but for African-Americans, due to genetic factors, those odds are about three and a half times higher.
Now, in an unprecedented fundraising project for research on the issue by an Israeli institution, Haifa’s Rambam Hospital will be holding a gala entertainment event at the end of August featuring top African-American artists like Smokey Robinson, Natalie Cole (herself a kidney disease survivor), and a host of other black, Jewish and Israeli singers, actors, musicians, and more.

IDF Supreme Values: Human Life and Dignity

All human lives are worth saving – so the IDF teaches its soldiers. Israeli and Palestinian, Jew and non-Jew, soldier and civilian, in Israel and across the world. It doesn’t matter. When there is a person in need, the IDF will be there. Whether they are needed to provide emergency medical care, perform a daring rescue operation or evacuate survivors from under the rubble of a collapsed building – our soldiers will drop everything in order to save a life.
Why? The IDF’s code of ethics holds protecting human life and dignity as a supreme value. In the words of Sgt. Idan Ducach, who donated his bone marrow to save a young boy’s life, “if you save one life, its as if you saved an entire world.”

Saving Lives: IDF's Humanitarian Mission to Haiti 2010

Read More

Farsi translation of Walt/Mearsheimer praised in Iran

From Iran's Book News Agency:

The Persian rendition of 'The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy' has been unveiled in Tehran, Iran.

Penned by John J. Mearsheimer, the book was unveiled in a ceremony held in Tehran on August 18, 2013, in the presence of cultural and media scholars.

Praising the translation of the book in Parisian, Nader Talebzadeh, recognized Iranian documentary maker and journalist, asserted that the book is like an attractive movie right from the beginning until the end that can play a significant role in raising awareness about the role and nature of Zionist lobbies in the US’s politics and foreign approach.

Reza Montazami and Mehran Nasr have jointly translated the book in Persian.

Talebzadeh stressed the need for raising global awareness on the issue of Zionism, and stated that there is a lot of potential in various artistic fields to exploit the current anti-Zionistic atmosphere in the world to counter their influence.

He further added that there are numerous prominent figures in the world who have voiced readiness to run courses on the field in Iranian universities. Figures like Michael Jones and Kevin Bert, American analyst of Islamic issues, and Jerry D. Mason.

He further called on the government to work out plans and programs to make use of such a golden opportunity to disseminate knowledge about the negative influence of the Zionist lobby in the world.

Elsewhere in his speech, he posited the Islamic Revolution as a fantastic raiser of awareness about Zionist and the realist of the Zionist regime as well as its role in world and regional equations.

“One of the achievements of the Islamic Revolution was that it showed the world the real face of the Zionist regime,” he said. “The Islamic Revolution bestowed a spiritual understanding to the world of the Zionist activities and still continues to do so with Iran being the forerunner of the movement. Designation of the Quds Day by Imam Khomeini was a turning point in this regard and got the world to earnestly consider the issue.”

Maybe Walt and Mearsheimer can give free lectures in Iran on how Israel is the source of all evil in the world. I'm sure they'd get paid handsomely.

(My earlier articles showing that the claims in their book are ridiculous can be seen here and here with some other nice links here, here is Walt making a sick moral equivalence between Jewish settlers and those who murder them,  and this nice revelation of Walt's praising of the Qaddafi regime while taking a trip funded by the regime.)

Read More

Old video of Erdogan visiting Herzl's grave causing him embarrassment

The accusations in the Muslim and Arab world of political opponents being Jewish or Zionist continue.

A video of Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan visiting the grave of Theodor Herzl, founder of Zionism, apparently during a 2005 trip, is causing him embarrassment as it has resurfaced on a number of websites. To make matters worse, he is shown next to then-prime minister Ariel Sharon.



Towards the end we see Erdogan paying respects at the grave of a master terrorist in Ramallah, but that is not controversial at all.

Apparently, opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood are circulating this to discredit Erdogan's support for the Islamists.

Similarly, the statement that antisemitic preacher Yusuf Qaradawi made recently - that "even the Jews" never performed a massacre like the army in Egypt did last week - is now being spun as if Qaradawi was "praising the humanity of the Israeli Army"!

Photos of Qaradawi with Neturei Karta nutcases cannot be far behind.

Read More

Iranian general threatens US, Israel; says nuke negotiations won't change policy

From Tehran Times:

Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said on Monday that U.S. and Zionist forces in the region are militarily “within the area of action of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

He also said, “It is surprising that certain U.S. officials are still talking about military threats against Iran and simplistically believe that such threats can affect Iranian political strategists.

“The strategic mistake of the United States is that they have not realized that the carrot and stick approach is now outdated.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Jazayeri said that the major policies of the Islamic Republic would not be affected by nuclear talks or negotiations about other issues.

He added that the United States can only get closer to Iran if it apologizes to the great Iranian nation and drops its hostile stance.

In other words, "Keep acting like suckers, America."

Read More

8/19 Links Part 1: World Wide Terror Threat, Why Obama needs al-Sisi, Echoes of Black September

From Ian:

---

Terrorists ‘aim to hit Israeli, Jewish targets worldwide’ in coming weeks

Israeli and Jewish targets all over the world are likely to be sought out by terrorist organizations in the coming weeks, the Israeli government’s Counter-Terrorism Bureau warned in strikingly strident tones on Monday, listing dozens of countries where it said it had “concrete” indications of a terrorist threat.
It cited concerns about terrorist acts timed to coincide with the forthcoming Rosh Hashana (New Year), Yom Kippur and Succot festivals, and also said that the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US was likely to be “a favored period” for al-Qaeda and other global jihadist groups to attempt to carry out acts of terrorism.

Israeli travel advisory takes Turkey off vacation destination list

The advisory, issued every year before the High Holidays and Passover when Israelis travel abroad in droves, grouped Turkey together with Azerbaijan, Nigeria and Kenya as countries where there are continuous potential threats, and where non-vital travel should be avoided.

Al-Qaeda said plotting attack on European trains

According to the report, which cited unnamed sources in the US National Security Agency, top-ranking members of the Islamic terror group recently participated in a conference call in which various methods of attacking railways in Europe were extensively discussed, including planting bombs in tunnels or on the trains themselves and sabotaging train tracks and electrical systems.
Reportedly, in response, German authorities have stepped up security and surveillance on the country’s national rail system.

Why Obama needs al-Sisi

Obama cannot publicly declare that he wants the Egyptian army, which has been an ally of Washington for decades, to defeat the Muslim Brotherhood, a movement which produced quite a few terrorists, including current al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri. Therefore, he is refusing to call the ouster of Islmist President Morsi a "military coup" – as it should be – and stresses that while Morsi was elected democratically, he ran Egypt according to the interests of the Muslim Brotherhood, rather than according to the interests of the general public.
Addressing the issue publicly for the first time on Thursday, Obama did try to play down the long-standing friendship between Washington and the Egyptian army, which is based on US interests: An open Suez Canal; open airspace for American logistical flights; preservation of the peace with Israel and the war on terror in Sinai and Gaza.

Al Sisi: We won't Kneel in the Face of Violence

The commander of the armed forces, Gen Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, warned that his troops will not stand by silently in the face of violence. "Whoever imagines violence will make the state and Egyptians kneel must reconsider; we will never be silent in the face of the destruction of the country," he said in a statement posted on Facebook.
He also said, however, that his message to Morsi supporters was that there was "room for everyone in Egypt" and the military had no intention to seize power.

Egypt on Brink of Hell – Analysis

Dr. Mordechai Kedar, a renowned Middle East expert from Bar Ilan University, thinks Egypt could turn into “hell” if Islamists smuggle in weapons from Libya, Sudan and Sinai, and use them against the security forces.
The military in Egypt decided to depose Mohammed Morsi, who was elected president by a razor-thin majority of 50.7%, after it saw how Islamist leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan “neutered” the military in Turkey.

Joel Pollak: Egypt: Echoes of Black September

"Black September" became a potent symbol for Palestinians as the PLO carried out revenge attacks around the world--including the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. In addition, the PLO relocated its forces to Lebanon, where it quickly became a force for instability, terror, and destruction.
Yet King Hussein preserved the most pro-American regime in the Arab world--one that not only has a free trade agreement with the U.S., but a somewhat freer (albeit less innovative) economy than Israel and a relatively warm peace treaty with Israel as well. Few would dispute that the status quo is better than PLO rule would have been.

Hosni Mubarak to be freed in days, officials say

The officials said there were no longer any grounds to hold the 85-year-old former autocrat because of the expiration of a two-year legal limit for holding an individual in custody pending a final verdict.
His lawyer predicted that he would be released by the end of the week, once corruption charges against him were cleared.
The former president is still being held on another corruption charge but the attorney, Fareed El Deeb, was confident that this charge would also be dropped within days, Reuters quoted him as saying.

Egypt’s Genocide recognition call politically motivated

“For us, it is naturally important for an Arab country like Egypt to acknowledge and condemn the Armenian Genocide, given especially that the Armenians have played an essential role in the history of Egypt. But on the other hand, the selection of timing gives grounds for concerns a little bit, especially in the context of these regional political re-arrangements,” he told Tert.am.

No more Turkish soaps in Cairo

Maybe Turkey’s prime minister will learn to keep his mouth shut about the goings-on in Cairo, now that the Egyptians have decided to hit back where it (melodramatically) hurts most — the Turkish soap opera industry.
Days after Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for putting Egypt’s military leaders on trial for the violence that has swept the country over the last week, several Egyptian television channels have decided to boycott a number of popular Turkish dramas and soap operas.

25 police executed after northern Sinai ambush

Suspected militants on Monday ambushed two mini-buses carrying off-duty policemen in Egypt’s northern Sinai, killing 25 of them execution-style and wounding two, security officials said.
The militants forced the two vehicles to stop, ordered the policemen out and forced them to lie on the ground before they shot them to death, the officials said.

Dozens of Egyptian Brotherhood members killed in jailbreak as army warns against violence

Some 38 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood died on Sunday in an incident at an Egyptian prison, security and legal sources said, giving conflicting versions of the deaths.
The Interior Ministry did not immediately confirm the death toll, but said in a statement that a number of detainees had tried to escape from a prison on the outskirts of Cairo and had taken a police officer hostage.

In Egyptian village, Christian shops marked ahead of church attack

On June 30, when millions of Egyptians took to the streets to protest against now ousted President Mohamed Morsi, residents of Al Nazla marked Christian homes and shops with red graffiti, vowing to protect Morsi's electoral legitimacy with “blood.”
Relations between Christians and Muslims in the village, which had worsened since Morsi's election in 2012, grew even more tense as Islamists spread rumors that it was Christians who were behind the protests against Morsi and his ouster by the military on July 3.

3 Nuns Paraded like 'Prisoners of War;' 2 Christians Killed; 58 Churches, Properties Attacked in Egypt

Islamists burned down a Christian school, paraded three nuns on the streets like "prisoners of war," and sexually abused two other female staff even as at least 58 attacks on Christians and their property were reported across Egypt over the last four days. At least two Christians have died in the attacks.

Cairo Cracks Down on Al Jazeera Channel

The military interim government in Cairo is cracking down on a key adversary – satellite news network Al Jazeera, which is widely seen as being biased in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood.
“The Cabinet has assigned competent authorities to assess the legal status of the Al Jazeera satellite channel, accusing it of threatening stability and national security,” local media said, according to a report on the Egypt Independent Sunday.

Report: Hezbollah's Top Syria Commander Killed

Arab media reported Sunday that a senior Hezbollah terror leader was killed in recent days in a battle with Syrian opposition forces. The battle occurred in the Damascus area.
The reports did not identify the terrorist, but in recent days Hezbollah-affiliated news outlets showed images of the funeral of senior Hezbollah commander Ali Hossam Nasser. The funeral took place in the area of Nabatiya in south Lebanon. Nasser is considered the supreme commander of Hezbollah forces in Syria.

Israeli officials: Iran talks do only one thing – give Tehran more time

The only thing talks between Iran and the world’s powers have achieved until now is buy Tehran more time, Israeli officials said Sunday, following EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton’s comment that the P5+1 group is eager to restart the talks.
“We are skeptical in the extreme,” one official said of a new round of talks. He said there was no hope the talks would help “unless the Iranians feel the pressure is being upgraded.”

Catherine Ashton plans meeting with new Iranian foreign minister

Catherine Ashton’s office said the 28-nation bloc’s top diplomat called Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday to congratulate him on his appointment.
Ashton says she and the nations negotiating with Iran on the nuclear issue — the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany — are looking forward to engaging with Tehran’s new negotiating team as soon as it is appointed to find a diplomatic solution.

Australian Sheik to Obama: Oh Enemy of Allah, You Will Be Trampled upon by Pure Muslim Feet


“Listen, oh Obama, oh enemy of Allah, you who kiss the shoes and feet of the Jews. Listen! The day will come when you are trampled upon by the pure feet of the Muslims.”

Read More

BBC corrects article saying Rouhani only opposes "occupation"

On August 2, I noted that the BBC was whitewashing a quote from "moderate" Iranian president Rouhani, pretending that he was only against the "occupation":

As I wrote then,

While it appears that Rouhani used the word "occupation," the BBC is - seemingly purposefully - misleading its readers into believing that he is only talking about the hated "occupation" but has no problem with Israel. Iran, of course, considers all of Israel to be "occupied" so this terminology in the headline and subhead is deceptive - and seemingly purposefully so.

Simon, who brought the article to my attention, wrote to the BBC:

The story refers to President Rouhani making threatening comments regarding
Israel. In mentioning Rouhani's use of the term "occupied", the story does
not make it clear how this term would be interpreted in Farsi.

In English, "Israeli occupation" commonly refers to the West Bank and Gaza
Strip. In Farsi, "Israeli Occupation" refers to the State of Israel itself,
as well as the West Bank and Gaza.

By falling to draw this distinction, the article misleads readers,
insinuating that Rouhani is merely threatening Israel's continuing
occupation. In reality, he issued a threat against an entire nation.

Thus, the article is factually inaccurate.

Over two weeks later, the BBC responded:

We have reviewed the article in question and agree with the interpretation that Hassan Rouhani's remarks were aimed at the State of Israel. We have amended the story accordingly and added a footnote explaining the correction.

Here is the article now with the correction:

Getting the truth out there is hard work, and while correcting an article that no one is reading any more is not ideal, it at least helps ensure that similar problems are not repeated in the future.

Read More

Congratulations, we have achieved peace. Don't ruin it with a "peace plan."

Today, the Israeli-Arab conflict is the least violent it has ever been.

This year, only one Israeli has been killed in a terror attack. Less than 15 Palestinian Arabs have been killed (B'Tselem says 11, and OCHA-OPT says 13), most of whom were involved in rock or firebomb attacks.

The lowest number of Israeli deaths in any year since 1948 has been six (2009 and 1982) according to this chart.

While this isn't the year with the lowest Palestinian Arab casualty count (1999 had only 8 deaths), it is the second-lowest since 1987.

In other words, this is (so far) shaping up to be the least-violent year since the beginning of the first intifada and quite probably since the founding of modern Israel in 1948.

We have achieved just about the best we can ever hope to achieve. Things were far worse in the years before the State of Israel was reborn, they were worse in the 1950s with the fedayeen attacks and the 1960s with the "commando" attacks and the 1970s with the more modern terrorist attacks. During all of those periods, Israel responded quite furiously, so both sides lost many people.

This is what peace looks like. The status quo is not perfect, but compared to everything else in the past hundred years, it is damn good. Call it a detente, call it a standoff, it doesn't matter - Arabs and Israelis have come close to stopping killing each other.

Even in Gaza, Israeli policies have made Hamas and Islamic Jihad think twice about shooting rockets into Israel. Rocket fire hasn't ended but life is getting close to normal in Israeli communities in the Negev.

And as long as there is no aggression against Israel, Israel is helping make the lives of Palestinian Arabs get better and better. As I noted recently, some 28% of the money being paid to West Bank Arabs is coming from Israeli employers. The Israelis are granting more work permits, paying better wages (roughly double what Palestinian Arabs are paying,) with better benefits.

At least some of this can be credited to Netanyahu with his much derided concept of "economic peace" as a basis for real peace moving forward.

If you want to compare the situation against perfection, which is the standard tool in the anti-Israel playbook, yes, things fall short. But if you want to compare the situation against any other time period, the situation is the best it has ever been - and possibly the best it ever can be. Compared to the rest of the region, Israel's peace is even more striking.

Why is there peace now? Very simply, because the leaders of the Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza (as well as Hizballah in Lebanon) have a lot to lose by fomenting violence. That is the key to peace - creating a situation where the downside of attacks is much greater than the upside of what could be accomplished by violence. Choosing violence (on a macro level)  has nothing to do with "justice" or "rights" or anything like that - it is a simple cost/benefit analysis of what can be gained versus what can be lost.

Is this year an anomaly? I don't think so. While there is certainly an element of luck involved, the fact is that the situation makes it more "expensive" to attack Israel than to keep still. Of course one cannot predict the future perfectly - if Hamas comes up with a new way to kidnap an Israeli it seems likely they will try it out; if Hamas gets into a fight with Salafist groups then they might shoot more rockets over, if Islamic Jihad gets Iranian money while Hamas is hung out to dry, things might change drastically in Gaza. But for the foreseeable future, calm is in everyone's interest.

And "peace" isn't. The idea of a new push in the long moribund "peace process"  is being pushed from the outside, not from the parties themselves.

What would be the real-life consequences if there was a "peace agreement," no matter what its parameters?

Just this month, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs crossed into Israel -visiting the beach, shopping - during Ramadan, without incident. If the "peace process" is successful, that will be an international border and crossing will be much more difficult in Ramadans to come.

Today, tens of thousands of Palestinian Arabs work, happily, for Israeli employers, with decent wages. If "peace" would break out, this would all but disappear and the PA economy would be in even worse shape than it is today.

Palestinian Arab exports to the West would be more difficult.

And, without a doubt, the terror groups who find the idea of formal peace with Israel to be anathema will work overtime to prove their relevance - by shooting rockets and planning suicide bombings, to reclaim their former glory.

Peace will not bring friendship. Anyone who believes that only has to look at how Egypt and Jordan regard their peace treaties with Israel. They have been respecting the treaties but they have not stopped their incitement; arguably in recent years anti-Zionism and antisemitism in those two countries has gotten worse.

Unless you are wedded to the idea of an impossible peace where Israel and the PLO are allied, you should realize that today, we have real peace.

After any agreement is signed, we will see more deaths on both sides, guaranteed.

Efforts should not be put into a fantasy peace plan. Instead, we need a dose of realism. The factors that can destabilize the current peace are the ones that need to be neutralized.

This means doing real work to integrate Palestinian Arabs into Arab countries as full citizens. This means working towards a Syria that is neither Assad nor Al Qaeda, but one that gives its people hope and weakens both Hizballah and Iran. This means a policy that truly supports liberal, democratic forces in Egypt and Tunisia and elsewhere. It means working towards a Middle East that resembles more closely the de facto peace currently enjoyed by Israel and Palestinian Arabs, where the cost of war is much higher than the status quo.

None of this is easy. But none of it is fantasy, either, which is what the "peace process" has been from the start.

Read More