News from the year 2063

NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 28, 2063 (CNN/AP/HUFFPO) - The 168th General Assembly Tuesday adopted a resolution, declaring the years 2064-2163 as the "International Century of Solidarity with the Palestinian People."

Co-sponsored by more than 150 countries, the resolution received 212 votes in favor, 7 against and 12 abstained earlier in the day as the GA wrapped up its annual discussion on the Palestinian question, which began on Monday.

"The world has ignored the plight of Palestinians long enough," declared Mahmoud al-Haurani, the Palestine ambassador to the UN and currently president of the body.

In total, the UN passed 19 resolutions condemning Israel.

One resolution condemned the regime for Judaizing the ancient Palestinian metropolis of Tel-al-Bib by renaming it Tel Aviv in 1910.

Another condemnation was for Israel allowing its citizens to drink wine on Passover within 2 kilometers of any Muslims. This was described as an "unspeakable crime of apartheid and intolerance."

A third resolution condemned Israel for for downing 13 nuclear warheads that were shot from Iran, Turkey and Ireland. They were downed with Israel's Laser Missile Defense System but the missile fragments crashed in deserts or the Mediterranean, causing nuclear radiation to leak and harming the environment.

The "International Century of Solidarity with the Palestinian People"  resolution called for all efforts to promote the realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self-determination and to force Israel to allow all Palestinian Arab refugees to return to their homes in Palestine. It also calls for the human right to massacre any Israelis living in those homes, or in the area if the home itself no longer existed.

There are now some 63 million Palestinian Arab refugees throughout the Middle East. According to UNRWA statistics, every single one of them insist to return to the lush Palestinian fields of their ancestors so they can harvest olives.

The Arab nations that agreed to host them for the past 115 years graciously continue to keep their Palestinian population in camps in order to ensure that they don't forget their humble roots. In 2032, the Arab League asked Jordan to strip all Palestinians of their citizenship so as not to cause jealously from the refugees living in Sinaigaza, Greater Syria and the Saudi Gulf bloc. "Equal rights for all refugees!" was the slogan Saudi prince Bandari coined for the popular initiative.

Last week, UNRWA asked for an additional $800 million because the number of Palestinian refugees have, for the first time, doubled the number of all other refugees in the world combined.

As is traditional, when the Israeli ambassador to the UN asked to respond to the condemnations, he was bombarded with hundreds of shoes, thoughtfully provided by the UN and donated from nations around the globe.

The annual discussion of the Palestine question was briefly interrupted by news of the breakout of a new nuclear war between India and Greater Pakistan, in which millions were incinerated. After a moment of silence, a discussion of Israelis violating the 2056 ban on tourism ads continued. The Third Subcommittee on Cultural Theft of the Palestinian People noted that any mention of any scientific achievement or archaeological discovery by Israelis in the holosphere is indistinguishable from an advertisement. The subcommittee recommended that Israeli Jews be banned from all social media in case they say anything that is not negative about their regime.

A resolution on the issue is expected to be drafted and passed in May during the annual International Month of Commemorating the Holocaust of the Palestinian People.

Tourism to Israel reached record numbers last year. Since many of the tourists were religious Christians, petitions have been circulating on college campuses to ban the Bible for being too Zionist.

Last year, the UN Human Rights Council deplored Israeli President Semoli's description of Israel as a "beautiful country" in an interview, passing six non-binding resolutions of their own declaring it illegal to refer to Israel as anything other than "the ugly apartheid Zionist regime, may it be blotted out soon."

(see here)

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Dubai will host World Expo in 2020. Will Israel be allowed to exhibit?

From Al Arabiya:

The sky above the world's tallest building was this evening illuminated by fireworks as Dubai was named host city of the Expo 2020.

The city, part of the United Arab Emirates, fought off competition from Brazil, Turkey and Russia in its much-hyped bid to run the exhibition.

Fireworks popped around Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, as the announcement was made thousands of kilometres away in Paris.

Dubai is now expected to spend billions of dollars preparing for the World Expo, according to industry estimates.

Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashed al-Maktoum promised that the event would “astonish” the world.

“Dubai #Expo2020 will breathe new life into the ancient role of the Middle East as a melting pot for cultures and creativity,” Sheikh Mohammed tweeted.

Foreign government officials also welcomed the news. “Congratulations to #Dubai for winning #Expo2020. We know you will do a fantastic job. #Mabruk!” tweeted the British Foreign Secretary William Hague.

Will there be an Israel exhibit?

Given that Dubai routinely bans Israelis from entering the country (except for high-profile sporting events that would threaten to boycott the country otherwise,) this could be an interesting test of its supposed tolerance.

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No, Israel did not join the UNHRC

From Arutz-7:

Israel to Join United Nations Human Rights Council

Israel has been accepted to join the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Maariv reported Thursday. The international body infamous for condemning the Jewish state will now add it to the list of 9 Western states.

The move is a complete about-face for the UNHRC, which in its 5-year history has condemned Israel over 46 times - more than any other nation in the world.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his national security advisor Yaakov Amidror have set two requirements as preconditions for the resumption of cooperation with the Council.

The first is that European Union states agree to boycott the council meetings which are held under the anti-Israel Agenda Item 7 mandate, alongside the U.S., Canada and Australia.

Agenda Item 7 states that the UNHRC must discuss Israel's alleged human rights violations each and every time the council convenes, regardless on what is occuring in other countries in the Middle East or around the world.

The EU has agreed to boycott the meetings at the next 2 UNHRC conventions. In the future, it could only participate in Agenda Item 7 discussions if there is a complete consensus over the issues at stake among every EU member state.

Maariv notes that is a near-impossibility. As such, those meetings have been effectively stripped of their Western representation - removing their efficacy as springboards for anti-Israel activity by Arab states.

The second condition is that Israel be accepted as part of the Western bloc in the UNHRC. Until now, Israel has not been assigned to any specific category, preventing it from taking effective action and singling it out even more. If not, Netanyahu has threatened to withdraw Israeli involvement from the UNHRC permanently.

Western member states have reportedly declared that they are making an attempt to quell differences among them and embrace Israel as a member state.

Maariv's analysts attribute the sudden change to increased tensions over nuclear weapons in Iran and North Korea as well as the upcoming Syria talks in Geneva later this year.

The UNHRC has expressed concern that a permanent Israeli withdrawal will not only encourage these countries to withdraw themselves as well - taking them off the international radar - but also reduce the relevancy of the Council in general as a result.

Israel will now be able to vote on UNHRC issues, including the selection of other member states, and defend itself against the claims brought against it. Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Aharon ("Roni") Leshno-Yaar will be sent to renew Israel's presence on the Council, and is expected to join by the end of 2013.

It appears that Arutz-7 misunderstood what happened. (It further appears that Palestine News Network reads Arutz-7, as it reports this as well.)

The UNHRC has 47 members, each elected to three year terms.

The elections for 2014 already occurred on November 12:

The General Assembly today elected 14 States to serve on the Human Rights Council, the United Nations body responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe.

Those elected were Algeria, China, Cuba, France, Maldives, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, United Kingdom and Viet Nam. All would serve three-year terms beginning on 1 January 2014.

The 14 outgoing members were Angola, Ecuador, Guatemala, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Poland, Qatar, Republic of Moldova, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand and Uganda. In accordance with Assembly resolution 60/251, those Member States were eligible for immediate re-election except those who had served two consecutive terms, namely, Angola and Qatar.

The 14 members were elected according to the following pattern: four seats for African States, four seats for Asia-Pacific States, two seats for Eastern European States, two seats for Latin American and Caribbean States, and two seats for Western European and other States.

So what happened yesterday?

As the Arutz-7 article noted, Israel was not a member of any regional group according to UNHRC groupings. Neyanyahu insisted to become a member of the "Western European and Others" group in order to agree to continue to cooperate with the UNHRC. Maariv reports correctly that the "Western European and Others" group decided (over the objections of Iceland, Ireland and Turkey) to allow Israel to join that group because of Israel's threats to permanently withdraw from cooperating with the UNHRC otherwise.

Israel is now a little less disenfranchised at the UNHRC. It is not a member.

Now that Israel belongs to a regional group, it is eligible to become a member of the actual UNHRC. It is unclear that even the Western Europeans, who routinely vote against Israel in UN resolutions, would vote to give Israel a rotating membership any time soon.

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SFSU Palestinian student group sells a terrorist T-shirt (poster)

From the San Francisco State University General Union of Palestinian Students Facebook page, on sale for $20:

War is peace, black is white, and a person hijacking and blowing up a a plane is not a terrorist.

Here is my quick response.

It is a little sad that such an obvious truth isn't so obvious for so many people.

(h/t Anarcho-Zionist)

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11/27 Links Pt2: Israeli leftist enjoys being hit by Arab rocks, The Most Nonsensical Attack on Israel

From Ian:

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Israeli leftist enjoys being hit by Arab rocks

It’s always amusing to read the articles on the leftist Jewish website, 972MAG. Amusing, oftentimes sad to see the submissiveness of Israeli Jews to the extent that it becomes “self-hate”. Yesterday, I discovered an example of this that would, too, be amusing if it were not sad.
Daniel Seidemann, a leftist Israeli activist, was hit by a rock on Saturday and required stitches in his head. He wrote a ‘sentitive response’ on social media that was republished by 972MAG in a sympathetic way. Please read below and tell me if you find Daniel’s reflection on being hit by a rock as courageous, or extraordinarily delusional.

Barry Rubin: Blumenthal: Slanderer of Israel, Son of Hillary Clinton’s Former Aide

Max Blumenthal, whose father, Sidney Blumenthal, served in the White House under Hillary Clinton, has authored a book that can only be called anti-Semitic. It has been promoted by the Nation and other radicals in a campaign of false domination that is a fantasy.
If it hadn’t been written by a “Jew,” it would be judged “neo-Nazi.” (h/t Norman F)

New America Foundation Under Fire for Hosting Event for Anti-Israel Book

The prominent liberal think tank is hosting a Dec. 4 book discussion for Goliath, written by anti-Zionist activist Max Blumenthal. The book accuses Israel of fascism and includes chapter titles comparing the Jewish state to the Nazi regime, including “The Concentration Camp” and “The Night of Broken Glass.”
The controversial tome has drawn criticism from progressives. Nation columnist Eric Alterman, who wrote that it “could have been published by the Hamas Book-of-the-Month Club (if it existed).”
Pro-Israel Democrat Alan Dershowitz recently blasted the book, calling Blumenthal “an extremist bigot whose greatest appeal is to anti-Semites and others who apply a double standard to the Jewish state.”

That "moment of clarity" at the UN over Israel

Instead of naming and shaming dictatorial and authoritarian leaders, the Human Rights Council gives them diplomatic cover for their crimes. The Saudi ambassador to the UN, for instance, bragged that the, “Kingdom’s election to the Human Rights Council for the third time in a row is yet another confirmation of its pioneering role in the council and the service of human rights.”
When the interpreter made her hot mic comments, the video shows the UN Committee’s Secretary commenting rather sheepishly: “I understand there was a problem with interpretation.”
Wrong. For once, the UN’s core shortcomings were correctly translated into plain English.

The Most Nonsensical Attack on Israel (Yet)

It’s more than just the Bibi Derangement Syndrome that makes even rational liberals lose their grip on reality when Benjamin Netanyahu is involved. It’s a propensity on the part of some news organizations to erase the line between the news and editorial pages and go on the attack any time Israeli officials have the temerity to speak up for their country’s interests.
And yet, today’s Times piece is something of a landmark achievement. It gets everything wrong: the history of the peace process, the Iran deal, international law. There is not a word that redeems the paper’s decision to publish this assault on reason.

CAMERA: Uranium enrichment and Israeli settlements

The newspaper deployed its Jerusalem bureau chief, Jodi Rudoren, to come up with a new offensive. Having already used up her cache of pejorative labels (“strident,” “stubborn,” “shrill” ) on the Israeli prime minister, Rudoren resorts to inanely equating the continued enrichment of uranium with the establishment of Israeli homes in the West Bank, suggesting that this somehow constitutes Israeli hypocrisy. The resulting column illuminates the Times’ readiness to forgo logic in its eagerness to put forth any kind of condemnation of Israel, quickly and often.

CiF Watch prompts correction to extremely misleading Livni quote at ‘Comment is Free’

Here’s the incomplete quote used by Brull:

Livni knows perfectly well why Israel builds settlements. In another candid moment, she explained that “the Israel policy is to take more and more land day after day and that at the end of the day we’ll say that it is impossible we already have the land and cannot create the state.”

Now, here’s the full quote which, as you’ll see, indicates that Livni was certainly NOT admitting that “Israeli policy is to take more and more land” in order to prevent a new Palestinian state from being created, but was merely characterizing what she believed was the Palestinian view on settlements:

The Telegraph’s 14 weaselly words about the power of ‘the lobby’

Then, after citing statements by UK Foreign Minister William Hague and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry he interprets as dismissive of Israeli concerns, he writes the following:

If ones takes Israel’s public position at face value, however, it is hard not to ask how it got itself into a position where its wishes could be ignored by its closest ally, the United States (an ally that according to popular opinion its Washington lobbies have in their pockets).
One answer might be the extraordinary, prickly, combative persona of Mr Netanyahu.

Of course, there is another answer to the question of why the American president didn’t take Israel’s concerns about the deal into consideration that Spencer didn’t explore: the possibility that the narrative suggesting that ‘pro-Israel lobbies have the U.S. government “in their pockets” has no foundation in reality, and represents the kind of crude, simplifying hypotheses fancied by weak minds, conspiracists and bigots who can’t grapple with the complexities of the world.

EU, Israel Reach "Compromise" on Science vs. Settlements

Critics of the deal say it amounts to a de facto EU boycott of Israeli institutions.
Indeed, the deal means that Ariel University, which is based in the West Bank, will not be eligible for EU grant money. It remains unclear how the deal will affect Hebrew University in Jerusalem, a leading research university, which has dormitories in an east Jerusalem neighborhood.
Netanyahu has been under pressure from Israel's academic and research community to find a way to join Horizon 2020, which they say is essential to preserving Israel's status as a high-tech powerhouse.

Jerusalem and EU agree on formula that allows Israel to join Horizon 2020 project

Israel and the European Union found a way on Tuesday to agree to disagree while continuing to cooperate, reaching an understanding making Israel’s participation in the EU’s flagship R&D program Horizon 2020 possible.
Israeli officials said a compromise was found regarding the settlement guidelines issue, whereby both sides could keep their positions but continue to work together on the 80 billion euro science and innovation program.
According to the compromise, Israel would write explicitly in an appendix to the agreement that it does not accept the guidelines, while the EU will write that the guidelines reflect European policy.

South African MP refutes Israeli apartheid lie

Speaking with The CJN in advance of his lectures, Rev. Meshoe, who is on leave as a South African MP, said he planned to talk about the “seven acts of Parliament that formed the basis of apartheid. And I argue that without those acts of Parliament, there is no apartheid.
“It is improper and wrong and for anyone to make the suggestion that Israeli is an apartheid state when there is no such acts of Parliament in Israel, no segregation based on race.”

The double-pronged threat to European Jewry

While the forces of cultural assimilation Wasserstein perceived continue to weaken European Jewish communities, a revival of hostility toward Jews on the continent – which he did not foresee – could very well deliver the coup de grace. It takes two forms: one, coming from the streets, is unapologetically anti-Semitic; the other, ostensibly high-minded, emanates from the elites.

French Jews too afraid to put kids in public school

Anti-Semitism “affects Jewish families very seriously and is the main reason there are so few Jewish children in public schools,” Roger Cukierman, president of the CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish communities, said Tuesday during a symposium on anti-Semitism at the European Parliament. “Most of them go to Jewish or Christian private schools.”

Zionist Leader’s Skepticism on Truman Administration Vindicated by New Documents

Two previously unpublished documents, recently located by this author at the Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem, appear to vindicate Silver’s view, at least to some extent. The documents suggest that Major-General Harry Vaughan, a senior aide to President Truman, privately harbored extremely negative views of Jews and Zionism.
Vaughan was a longtime friend and important influence on Truman, although his role in Palestine policy is not widely known. He is not even mentioned in most books about American Zionism or America-Israel relations.

Israel ranks 3rd largest US partner in science collaborations

The survey is based on four key indicators — government relationships, human capital, industry cooperation, and research and development synergy.
Switzerland ranked highest with 131.05 points, followed by Canada with a score of 100.50 – just marginally stronger than Israel’s year one base line 100 point ranking.

Israeli Study Introduces New Options For Brain Damage Treatment

Tel Aviv University (TAU) researchers and staff at the Assaf HaRofeh Medical Center in Tzrifin have found that high levels of oxygen in a pressurized atmosphere can significantly improve chronic brain damage.
After treatment, patients who sustained brain injuries from 20 years ago improved their cognitive and physical responses following the treatment, the study concludes.

Israel’s agriculture seeds taking root in Vietnam

An Israeli-Vietnamese agriculture research and development fund — and a free-trade agreement between the two countries — may be established soon, following a series of high-level visits in celebration of 20 years of diplomatic relations between Israel and Vietnam.
Itzik Ben-David, deputy director-general for foreign trade and international relations for Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture, tells ISRAEL21c that he and Shamir recently flew to the Southeast Asian country along with an Israeli agricultural business delegation led by Israel Export Institute CEO Ofer Sachs. It was the third time that an Israeli minister of agriculture has visited Vietnam since 2007.

Dutch Christian Zionists build mega-menorah

In a windswept parking lot near the North Sea shore, Klaas Zijlstra stands motionless as he admires his latest creation.
It’s the first time he is testing the 36-foot menorah he has spent weeks designing and building in the shape of a Star of David in his metal workshop in the northern tip of the Netherlands. Despite strong winds, the menorah holds, thanks in no small part to its 6-ton base.
This isn’t just any mega-menorah. For one thing, it may be the largest in all of Europe. For another, it’s the handiwork of a Protestant metal contractor, paid for by Christian Zionists and meant to be a sign of solidarity with the Jewish people.

Israel mourns the death of beloved musician Arik Einstein

Arik Einstein, the iconic Israeli musician whose songs were acclaimed as the soundtrack of a nation, will be buried in Tel Aviv Wednesday afternoon, after his sudden death Tuesday night at the age of 74.
Einstein was rushed to Ichilov hospital at around 10 p.m. Tuesday and died soon after of an aortic aneurysm, doctors said.

That Dylan video: How Israeli tech built it

Bob Dylan doesn’t do videos, at least not gimmicky MTV-type videos with dancers and little dramatic playlets. The closest Dylan has come in the past to music videos is footage from his concerts.
So it took a little effort to sell him on the idea of a music video for his classic “Like a Rolling Stone” — but even though the video produced by Israeli video tech company Interlude is as gimmicky as they come, “the Dylan team was extremely excited about the final video,” said Yoni Bloch, CEO of Interlude.fm, which created the video.
In fact, Bloch added, they’re even more excited “as the video has gone viral.”

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Chanukah video post #1: "Oils" and "All I Want for Thanksgiving Is Jews"

As I have done in the past, I will try to post a new Chanukah video every night of the holiday.

I must say, I am very unhappy with the quality of the videos I've seen so far this year, compared to previous years. But I'll try to find decent ones, or mercilessly rip apart the ones I don't like....

The Thanksgivnukah/Thansgivukkah/Chanksgiving theme is of course paramount this year for the first two nights.

Here's a pretty good one, "Oils":



This silly video is  another song parody.




Then again, it is better than my last year's A Very Hamas Chanukah.

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So this is what "historic Palestine" looked like

I mentioned last night about the Chatham University photo archive that is online.

One of their photos, from between 1880 and 1900, is not a photo at all, but a map - a map of Palestine:

But Mahmoud Abbas and countless so-called supporters of Palestinians tell us that "historic Palestine" looked like this (graphic created by the PLO:)

Isn't that strange? Why do Palestinian Arabs choose a map with borders created by Western imperialists less than a hundred years ago to define the "historic homeland" that they claim they have lived in for thousands of years?

Are they saying that the people who lived across the Jordan river in 1890 were not Palestinian  -even though they lived in what was known then as eastern Palestine?

Just a wild thought, but perhaps this is related to the fact that the PLO's 1964 charter - before "occupation" explicitly excluded the West Bank and Gaza from the areas it claimed for a homeland.

For fun, just imagine if the Jews had been defeated in 1948 and the land was divided up between Jordan and Egypt. Would there be any Palestinian Arab nationalism today?

And if you answer "yes," then why don't they claim the areas of today's Jordan that were indeed part of historic Palestine?

UPDATE: My Right Word beat me to this.

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11/27 Links Pt1: UN declares 2014 the year of demonizing Israel, Is the Iran deal really a deal at all?

From Ian:

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UN to name 2014 as 'International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People'

The United Nations decided on Tuesday to declare 2014 as the "International "Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People".
The UN adopted the draft resolution - in a 110-7 vote, with 56 member states abstaining - among five others that were blasted by Israel for promoting within the body antagonistic biases against the country.

PLO official: PA will join ICC if peace talks fail

If Israel continues to "impede peace talks," the Palestinian Authority will join more UN organizations, including the International Criminal Court, PLO official Nabil Shaath told Palestinian news agency Ma'an on Tuesday.
“There are 35 conventions that do not need approval to join, on top of them is the Rome Statuette,” Shaath said, referring to the 1998 treaty which established the ICC.

3 terror suspects killed by police, Shin Bet near Hebron

Three Palestinians suspected of planning to carry out terror attacks against Israeli civilians were killed Tuesday during a joint Shin Bet and Israel Police operation in the West Bank town of Yatta, south of Hebron, the army said. The operation marked a sharp departure from the disorganized, home-grown terror of recent weeks.
Two of the suspects, whom the army said were members of a “Salafist jihadi” group, were shot dead in their car after they refused to surrender themselves to security forces. They were carrying “explosive devices and 2 handguns,” the army said in a statement. A third man was killed in a gun battle “following a hot pursuit,” IDF spokesman Peter Lerner said.

Gazan captured inside Israel with grenade

A Palestinian man from Gaza was caught by security forces Tuesday morning inside Israeli territory with a fragmentation grenade in his possession, the IDF said.
The man crossed the border fence between Israel and Gaza, but was apprehended after a short manhunt near the Israeli kibbutz of Kfar Aza. He was taken for questioning. The infiltration marks the latest in a series of successful and attempted attacks from Gaza in recent months.

5 Israeli Arab teens charged with firebombing IDF base

Five teenagers from the Arab neighborhood of Issawiya in East Jerusalem were brought before the Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday and charged with throwing Molotov cocktails at an IDF base in the capital.
According to the indictment, the youths, all aged 14 or 15, were behind several attacks over the past few months on the Ofrit base and on vehicles leaving it to travel along a road that passes around the Hebrew University campus on Mount Scopus.

Arab IDF Soldier Gets Medal for Killing Terrorist

In October, an Arab terrorist drove a tractor into an IDF base near Ramallah trying to run over soldiers. Private G. and munitions officer Lt. Shachar Vaknin killed the terrorist.
Private G., a Christian Arab, prefers to not have his name mentioned, so he won’t have problems in the Arab village in northern Israel where he lives.

Douglas Murray: William Hague’s appeasement of Iran’s mullahs is a historic and terrible mistake

The mullahs did not come to Geneva because they wished to give up their capability. And they did not come to the table because after 34 years of revolutionary Islamic governance they have seen the error of their ways. They came because international sanctions were beginning to hurt. Those sanctions – which took years to put in place – have now fallen apart thanks to a few days of incompetent negotiating on the part of the P5+1 plus some simple common sense from Tehran. People tend to say at this stage that the Iranians are ‘master negotiators’. They aren’t especially. They are simply fortunate to be playing against Catherine Ashton and a generation of other weak and short-sighted American and British politicians.

Britain to Israel: Don't undermine Iran nuclear deal

As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly announces Israel is not bound to nuclear deal signed between world powers and Iran in Geneva, the West now cautions Netanyahu of carrying out an operation that would challenge the deal he dubbed "a historic mistake".
Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Monday that Israel should avoid taking any action that would undermine the interim nuclear agreement reached between Iran and world powers. (h/t MtTB)

Barry Rubin: How U.S Policy Is Betraying Not Only Israel, but also Sunni Arabs

But that's not all; consider what the U.S. has done to Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. It is probable that Iran is going to give Syria a victory in the civil war. The fact is that Iran, Hizballah, and the Syrian government are on one side, and Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey have been on the other side. But now, in essence, the U.S. has objectively sided with Iran, and that is one of the reasons that the Saudis are angry. Here is what the Saudi ambassador to England, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz, said:
"Appeasement hasn't worked in the past, and I don't think it will work in the 21st century," he was quoted as saying. "That is why the frustration really is toward the main players within the United Nations Security Council, that's their responsibility. And they will share also the blame, whatever deal comes out, they are responsible for it."

Elliott Abrams: Is the Iran deal really a deal at all?

There are many arguments today about the substance of the agreement between Iran and the P5+1. But there is a prior question: Is there really an agreement at all?
Looking at the text of the "agreement," the most striking thing is the conditional or aspirational language.
The Obama administration should clarify whether that is or is not the case, because the entire "agreement" can be hung up over that negotiation over implementation. The "agreement" does not appear to be binding on any party, which is convenient for the Obama administration in one way: No one can argue that it is a form of treaty that must be approved by the Senate.

Iran: Construction will continue at Arak nuclear site

The uncompleted heavy-water research reactor emerged as one of several crucial issues in negotiations in Geneva last week, when Iran agreed with six world powers to curb Tehran's nuclear program for six months in return for limited sanctions relief.
Iran said it would not make "any further advances of its activities" on the Arak reactor, according to text of the agreement.
"The capacity at the Arak site is not going to increase. It means no new nuclear fuel will be produced and no new installations will be installed, but construction will continue there," Zarif told parliament in translated comments broadcast on Iran's Press TV.

Iran nuclear deal 'loophole' may allow off-site reactor work

Sunday's agreement to curb Iran's nuclear program contains an apparent gap that could allow Tehran to build components off-site to install later in a nuclear reactor where it has promised to halt work, experts said.
They said any impact of the omission is likely to be small if Iran follows other undertakings in the interim accord, which is designed to restrain Tehran's nuclear program for six months in return for limited sanctions relief.

Iran rejects US’s ‘one-sided’ version of nuclear deal

Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday firmly criticized the White House for publishing what it said was a false version of the interim nuclear agreement reached early Sunday between Iran and the six world powers.
“What has been released by the website of the White House as a fact sheet is a one-sided interpretation of the agreed text in Geneva and some of the explanations and words in the sheet contradict the text of the Joint Plan of Action, and this fact sheet has unfortunately been translated and released in the name of the Geneva agreement by certain media, which is not true,” said a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman in Tehran, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

MEMRI: The Geneva Agreement: The Path To Historic Changes In The Middle East, Led By The U.S. Administration

Moreover, Iran will use its nuclear hegemony status, the legitimacy of its regime, and the hand that President Obama has extended to it in order to advance its status on the strategic and international level – but will not do this in cooperation with the U.S. This is because ideologically, Iran strives to change the global world order that is led by the U.S., and is seeking a status equal to or greater than that of today's superpowers.
Furthermore, this historic move by Obama will lead to regional instability. It will not assuage the existing tensions and conflicts; it will only inflame them, and this exacerbation will take the form of violent actions both in the region and outside it.

After Iran Nuclear Deal, White House Tries to Assuage Jewish Groups

The White House officials, according to Hoenlein, in some cases “indicated that these are issues they will address in the coming months and the next stage, and this is only an interim agreement, and we only learned yesterday that in fact [the agreement] doesn’t go into effect right now, it only goes into effect once the joint commission [to monitor the agreement’s implementation] is established, once the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) is able to verify that Iran is living up to its commitment.”
Hoenlein said that after the conference calls, Jewish leaders “understand [the deal] better, and that was the purpose.” Yet there is “every reason to be skeptical when you’re dealing with the Iranians,” he said.

Charles Krauthammer: Worst since Munich

Charles Krauthammer says he believes President Barack Obama’s deal with Iran is “the worst deal since Munich.”
“This is a sham from beginning to end. It’s the worst deal since Munich,” Krauthammer said on Fox News “Special Report” on Monday. “It’s really hard to watch the president and the secretary of state and not think how they cannot be embarrassed by this deal.”

Rouhani says Geneva nuclear deal increased Israel's isolation

“Many were trying to isolate Iran, but who is isolated today? Our enemies are in fact isolated,” the Iranian president said, according to Iran's PressTV.
While he did not mention Israel specifically, he used a language commonly used by Arab nations to describe it, speaking of "an illegitimate, occupier regime."

Senior Iranian MP: Israel’s ‘Unconcealed Rage’ Over Nuclear Deal Shows Success of Geneva Agreement

Speaking to reporters, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, chairman of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said Israeli officials “were unable to conceal their rage” over the deal.
FARS said “the anger of the Zionists (about the newly signed nuclear deal) shows the extent of the success of the Geneva agreement.”

Saudis angry after Obama turns both cheeks

The Sunni world is going crazy and the Shiite world is pinching itself in disbelief. Washington has in fact begun a retreat from the Middle East, but it could still change the balance of power in the region during the withdrawal. Obama, as was predicted at the start of his first term, is truly a magician. In accordance with his outlook, Obama has succeeded in turning the bad in our region into good, and the good into bad. Since Israel was first on the good side, that means it is actually now on the bad side.

Riyadh Makes Cautious Statement on Iran Deal as Saudi Newspaper Cartoons Ridicule Talks

The Saudi Arabian government broke its silence on the six-month deal to lift sanctions on the Iran regime reached at the weekend, with a terse statement after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday in Riyadh. Meanwhile, the country’s newspapers ridiculed the agreement in very critical political cartoons.

Egypt's Latest Fatwas from Salafis and Brotherhood

The study similarly revealed that some of these fatwas decreed that women who swim in the sea are committing "adultery" -- even if they wear a hijab: "The reason behind this particular fatwa, from their point of view, is that the sea is masculine [as with many other languages, Arabic nouns are gender specific, and "sea" is masculine], and when the water touches the woman's private parts she becomes an 'adulteress' and should be punished."
Moreover, "Some of these fatwas also forbade women from eating certain vegetables or even touching cucumbers or bananas," due to their phallic imagery, which may tempt women to deviate.

Pro-Morsi Egyptians to Picket Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC

A group of Egyptians sympathetic to former President Mohmamed Morsi are gearing up to stage a demonstration along the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade route in New York City, according to organizers.
Several hundred activists are expected to show up to the march, which is being called “Rabaa on Thanksgiving in Manhattan.”

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Syria is the first casualty of the Iranian nuclear deal

Michael Weiss of Now Lebanon has a very sobering analysis:

Much has been written about the technical points of the P5+1 interim agreement that authorized international sanctions relief in exchange for a slowdown (but not cessation or cancellation) of Iran’s nuclear program. Much attention has also been paid to the anatomy of the deal, with an intense focus on secret Oman-based negotiations the Obama administration held with the Iranians as early as eight months ago. However, the details about breakout capacity, inspections regimes, and the dollar amount of actual sanctions relief have distracted from the invisible rider on this accord, which is Western acquiescence to Iran’s gradual takeover of Syria.

As analysts Mike Doran and James Glassman have written, the six-month nuclear deal may now be used to retroactively explain President Obama’s seeming incoherence in responding to nearly three years of a grave humanitarian catastrophe. ....“Rather than merely being feckless,” Doran and Glassman write, “the administration may actually have a long-term plan, and this initial nuclear deal is only a tactic in a broader strategy. The overall aim is a strategic partnership with Iran because the administration sees that country as the only island of stability in a sea of chaos and violence.”

This is the direst assessment that can be made of the White House’s intentions at Geneva, and conclusions that derive therefrom are quite cynical. Yet there’s some evidence to support Doran and Glassman’s thesis.

For one thing, although the administration still clings to vaguely democratic talking points about supporting the Syrian opposition and demanding Assad’s removal from power, it has not prevented Iran’s inheritance of the regime’s security detail, the breathtaking extent of which has never once been publicly articulated or condemned by Obama....

Since September of this year, there’s also been another not-so-hidden administration motive for ceding greater control of Syria to Iran: the US-Russia chemical weapons disarmament plan, which resulted in the first UN Security Council resolution passed on the Syria carnage while also re-legitimizing Assad as a necessary Western partner in overseeing the destruction of the regime’s stockpiles of nerve agents. The deadline set for full disarmament is well into next year, at which point Assad will almost certainly still be in power. To remove the stockpiles, either the regime or a third party will need to provide them with safe conduct out of the war-ravaged country on roads that are either in rebel hands or are constantly being interdicted by rebels. The chances of American forces being deployed to Damascus and Aleppo for this undertaking are slim to none. Nor is anyone stupid enough to believe that Jabhat al-Nusra or the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham will refrain from attacking dangerous convoys of toxins because of a piece of paper inked in New York. So built right into the chemical accord was a necessary, if unwritten, guarantee that the regime retain or regain control of major highway systems throughout the country. This clearly is not a job for the inept and depleted Syrian Army to carry out on its own. But, as the CIA and the White House surely know, it doesn’t do anything on its own anymore.

....Indeed, both Assad and Hezbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah welcomed the P5+1 nuclear deal, which they would not have done if they thought that it spelled a reduction of Iran’s footprint in Syria rather than an enlargement. On November 24, The New York Times also cited White House aides who said that Obama was amenable to the possibility of turning the deal into the “opening act in a more ambitious engagement with Iran that might give it a role in Syria, Afghanistan, and other trouble spots,” though the aides stipulated that this would “depend on factors that are out of America’s control, like moderates gaining on the ground in Iran.”

There are no moderates in the IRGC or Hezbollah, which already have an expansive role in Syria. Nor will “hardliners” in Iran, such as IRGC-Quds Force commander Qassem Suleimani, ever consent to abandoning Assad or the nation they consider just another province of Iran. The aides’ stipulation reads like a tacked-on rationalization for a fait accompli.

The much-delayed Geneva II conference on Syria, now scheduled for January 22, thus promises to be quite an interesting affair. So far, there are no firm commitments of attendance by any parties to the conflict, and the actual rebels on the ground – as opposed to their irrelevant spokespersons abroad – have said that whatever happens, they will not abide by a ceasefire during the talks. Meanwhile, Iran’s participation, we are now informed by the very administration that once ruled it out, will be contingent upon its acceptance of the 2012 Geneva Protocol, which would create a “transitional government” for Syria and which Washington putatively thinks will be headed by someone other than Bashar al-Assad. Iran has said no to the Protocol. I wonder what else it thinks it can get away with between now and January 22.

The mullahs’ nuclear program, we often forget, was always intended as a safeguard for their most valued foreign policy objective: the expansion of Khomeinism across the Middle East through the use of paramilitary proxies, terrorism, advanced weaponry, and sophisticated intelligence and counterintelligence operations. The idea behind this objective was to systematically weaken and undermine what had been, since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, a Pax Americana stitched together by a tenuous but surprisingly stable consortium of US allies, namely Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the other Gulf Arab Sunni-majority states. Without possessing so much as a single warhead, Iran has managed to achieve much of what it set out to do, as well as to negotiate itself a license to do even more in exchange for putting a few more weeks “on the clock” for its ability to build a warhead. This is nothing short of extraordinary. It’s also a great tragedy for Syria.

Read the whole thing.

I don't know if the Obama administration set out from the beginning with a plan to help strengthen Iran's role in the Middle East - after all, they did increase sanctions - but it is plausible that around the time of the secret negotiations earlier this year, such a thought began to gel.

Whether it was planned or not, Syria is even further screwed by this Iranian nuclear agreement, and Iran's geopolitical position  - which could have been fatally injured by a defeat of Assad in Syria - has now been strengthened immeasurably.

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"Jewish rabbis leading the jihad in Syria"

The accusations and counter-accusations Arabs hurl, accusing their opponents of being helped by Israel, gets old after a while. So sometimes they have to raise the stakes.

A nutty (and antisemitic) Iraqi pro-Shiite news site "Voice of Iraq"  has a new diatribe against  Sunni leaders. Excerpts:

Jewish rabbis are leading the jihad in Syria at the time of Arab decadence and cowardice, as Arabs have abandoned all titles of honor and dignity of the Arab and Islamic nation...they are handing their keys over free of charge to international Zionism. ... Events in Syria prove the Gulf Arab rush to compete for the satisfaction of their masters in the Israeli Knesset.

We hear from Netanyahu a call for a unification of the Arabs against Syria, Hezbollah and Iran to ignite a war that will burn the region and the world. Israel wants to sow discord and havoc in the region to fragment and weaken the Arabs. This is happening in Syria now with killing of sabotage and attacks.

There have been shuttle visits conducted by many of the political and military leaderships of the Gulf to Tel Aviv, especially after the heroic victories of the Syrian army against the armies of witches and sorcerers of mercenaries and after the breakthrough in the crisis with Syrian and Iranian détente with the United States.

Not only this, there is information that says a lot of the leaders of the so-called Syrian opposition and even Islamic ones go to Israel go kiss her to get all kinds of material and logistical support. Of course, all this support is conditional and under the control of the Mossad, who was recruited rabbis of the Israeli Knesset to issue fatwas to the chieftains of war and terrorism in the region and the world.

It is not strange to see and watch leaders of the Syrian rebels racing to gain a certificate of good conduct from Israel, but what is new is catching chieftains who claim to be advocates of the Islamic religion, but they are shown to be fornicators, not advocates. There are a lot of questions raised about the rush of these rebels and sheikhs towards Israel especially in recent times that made ​​them a laughing stock among nations time.

Did not Saudi Arabia undertake with Al-Qaradawi and sheikhs not to allow what they call the Mujahideen in Syria to attack Israel? Did they not and cheer their mercenaries during the Israeli shelling of some military sites in Syria? Did not terrorist groups send their wounded to Israel and declare from inside the Israeli hospital that they do not hold any hostility to Israel? Didn't the ousted Egyptian President Mursi and the Brotherhood describe Peres as their great friend?

I shouldn't reveal that the Shiites are also under control of the rabbis, and we make them write stuff like this to keep them fighting each other. Oops.

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Anti-Israel activists implicitly blame Israel for Gaza power problems

Here is a press release from the latest anti-Israel publicity stunt:

Join Gaza's Ark on November 30th as hundreds of Palestinian children sail mini-Arks from the port of Gaza out to sea. The event begins at 12:30PM Gaza Time, on Saturday November 30th, in the Port of Gaza, near Gaza's Ark. Representatives of different Palestinian civil society organizations will address the effects of the blockade on children in Gaza.

"You can help brighten a dark path. Lead the way and sail with the children of Gaza towards freedom." says Heba Hayek of Gaza, a member of Gaza's Ark committee.

This project is bringing attention to the devastating conditions for children living inside the Gaza Strip, as fuel to run their society and other essentials have been denied to them. The shortage has caused sewage pumps to stop working, spilling raw sewage onto the streets. Kids have to wade through contaminated muck on their way to school, and an outbreak of disease is just waiting to happen. Children can't study at night, because there is no electricity, and many of them are reading by candlelight.

Renowned linguist and political commentator Noam Chomsky adds:
'It was incredibly moving, and inspiring, to learn about the Mini Arks that are to sail from Gaza on November 30. The courage and heroism of the people of Gaza, enduring shocking crimes and torture, is one of the wonders of the age. I hope that the arks that the children are sending forth will at least reach the conscience of the world, and help bring these horrors to an end."

These Palestinian children are filled with hope and a desire to let the world know they have the right to freedom of movement. And we at Gaza's Ark are determined to help them.

This is really a fundraiser for the main event: "Gaza Ark," a real boat that will try to leave Gaza in March and fight "against the Israeli blockade."

Yet their press release tries to pull the heartstrings because of Gaza's power problems, which have nothing to do with Israel and everything to do with Egypt and internal Hamas-Fatah politics.

Sometimes, they are smart enough not lie explicitly. They know that decades of anti-Israel propaganda plus their own downplaying of any Arab responsibility for Palestinian Arab suffering will inevitably cause the ignorant people who read their literature to blame Israel anyway.

Which is, of course, their goal.

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Another photo of the Dome of the Rock in disrepair in the 1890s

Recently, Chatham University put online over a hundred lantern slides, hand colored, of scenes in the Middle East. Some have been shown on the Israel Daily Picture site.

Here is a photo of the Dome of the Rock from the 1890s:

As I've shown before, it is practically abandoned and overgrown with weeds. The fountain in the foreground is dry and damaged.

I once made a video showing a few of these photos of weeds across the area that is supposedly so sacred and used for pilgrimage:



But last year I found something even more damning - incontrovertible proof that Muslims only care about their "holy places" in Jerusalem when Jews are in control.

This photo and video shows how the same Dome of the Rock looked in the 1950s, under Jordanian rule. And it looks pretty much the same as it did in the 1890s. If anything, the Dome is in worse shape.

(h/t Irene)

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11/26 Links Pt2: Sir Tom Jones speaks out against BDS, Boston Mayor Declares ‘Thanksgivukkah’

From Ian:

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Stand With Us: Fmr Israel Amb to the US, Michael Oren addresses the StandWithUs-IDC Ambassadors Club


Khaled Abu Toameh: PLO "Resignations" and the Peace Process

The message that Erekat and the PLO officials are sending to the world is: "Hold us back from resigning or else there will be no peace process."
The "resignations" and threats to quit are also intended to send a message to the Palestinian public, which long ago lost confidence in the PLO negotiators' performance, that Erekat and his colleagues are playing tough with Israel.
PLO officials are apparently convinced that they can "fool all of the people all of the time." The next time the Americans and Europeans hear threats to resign from PLO officials, they need to react the same way as Palestinians do -- with a wide smile.
They also need to be reminded that Abbas and his predecessor, Arafat, also threatened to quit at least 20 times since the beginning of the peace process.

Almagor: Abbas in Knesset 'Dances on Blood of Terror Victims'

The parents also emphasize their dedication to protesting the move, insisting that if Mahmoud Abbas comes to the Knesset, "we will be there in the name of morality and justice."
"We will block him ourselves, with our bodies," the statement affirmed. "On the day he gets to Jerusalem, heaven forbid, we will be there to [physically] block the Knesset, just as we did with many other [demonstrators] when Arafat wanted to go to Jerusalem."
"If Mahmoud Abbas is received by the Knesset, it will be like dancing on the blood of the terror victims who were murdered by his people," the letter concludes.

PMW:Fatah publicizes threats to kidnap, kill and bomb Israelis

"We are preparing to kidnap Zionist soldiers," is part of a promise made by the terror organization Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades - the military wing of Fatah, and published in a video on Fatah's official "Main Page" on Facebook.
In the video, a masked terrorist sitting among dozens of rockets states that the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades is preparing to kidnap Israeli soldiers in order to "empty out the Zionist prisons." This is a warning that Fatah terrorists plan to follow the precedent set by Hamas, who kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and held him hostage for five years until Israel released over 1,000 terrorists including many murderers, to enable Shalit's release:
"We are preparing to kidnap Zionist soldiers to settle accounts with the Zionist enemy properly, in order to empty out the Zionist prisons." (h/t Ilya Fainshtein)

PA TV: US created the "War of Terror myth" to increase its interference in other nations' affairs VIDEO

Harvard Publication Prints Anti-Semitic Article

The Harvard Ichthus, a Christian journal, published an essay by a Jewish convert to Christianity called “Why Us?” which argues that the Jews have deserved their suffering of the past 2,000 years because of their role in the death of Jesus Christ.
“We, the Jews, collectively rejected God and hung Him up on the cross to die, and thus we deserved the punishments that were heaped on our heads over the last 2000 years,” the anonymous contributor wrote.

US College Sponsored Speakers: Israelis Kidnap, Torture Arab Children

There was an event at Haverford College on Sunday, Nov. 24, called “The Soldier and the Refusenik.” The two speakers who presented are traveling throughout the U.S. on a fundraising tour for their organization, Anarchists Against the Wall. That organization attacks not only the “Occupation,” but Israel’s very existence.
During Sunday’s program, students were told by Israel-critical Israelis such “facts” as:
- Israel uses the “West Bank” and Gaza as its own private lab where it experiments on Palestinian Arabs and then sells the weapons it perfects to the “worst dictators in the world, including the United States”

Sir Tom Jones speaks out against anti-Israel protesters

Now that the singer has performed his concerts, he has decided to speak out against the campaign which has seen musicians including Roger Waters, of Pink Floyd, Annie Lennox and Elvis Costello refuse to visit.
“I was in Israel two weeks ago, where a lot of singers won’t go,” says the entertainer, whose hits include It’s Not Unusual, Delilah and The Green, Green Grass of Home. “I don’t agree with that. I think entertainers should enter­tain. They should go wherever – there shouldn’t be any restrictions. I did two shows in Tel Aviv, and it was fantastic.”
Speaking at the annual dinner of Norwood, a charity supporting vulnerable children, families and people with learning disabilities, Sir Tom tells The Jewish News: “I wanted to go, because the Israeli people asked me. They would like me to sing, and I don’t see any problem in doing that. I don’t see why anyone would mix up the two things – entertainment and politics.”

Deep Purple returning to Israel

Two years after its last successful visit, veteran British rock band Deep Purple is returning to Israel this winter for one concert at Tel Aviv's Nokia Arena on February 22.
The band will arrive in Israel as part of its "The Best of Deep Purple" concert tour, which will include performances of its greatest hits as well as songs from its new album, "Now What?!" (h/t Yoel)

At last: an accurate and impartial BBC report on Syrian patients in Israel

On November 3rd the Israeli media gave extensive coverage to the story of a baby boy born to a Syrian mother in Tsfat’s Rifka Ziv hospital. On November 25th an article by the BBC Jerusalem Bureau’s Kevin Connolly on that specific case and on the general subject of Syrian patients treated in Israel appeared in the ‘Features & Analysis’ section of the BBC News website’s Middle East page. The report also includes filmed footage broadcast on BBC television news programmes.

This year’s 21 UNGA resolutions against Israel (4 on rest of world)

The four that do not concern Israel are: one on Syria, a regime that has murdered 120,000 of its own people, and one each on Iran, North Korea and Myanmar.
There were will be zero UNGA resolutions on gross and systematic abuses committed by China, Cuba, Egypt, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Zimbabwe, nor on many other major perpetrators of grave violations of human rights.

French Jewish immigration to Israel up by 49 percent

Through September, 2,185 French Jews have immigrated to Israel, compared to 1,469 immigrants during the same time frame in 2012, according to Jewish Agency for Israel figures. The number of immigrants who arrived from France to Israel during the whole of 2012 was 1,907.
Of the immigrants to Israel this year, 3,188 Jews arrived from Western Europe — a 26 percent increase from the same period last year.

Julie Bishop says Australia's shift on Israel UN resolutions is a bid for balance

Australia this month abstained from two UN General Assembly resolutions; one condemning the expansion of Jewish settlements and another calling for the Geneva Convention to apply in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Under Labor, Australia had supported the resolutions.
Ms Bishop said the shift “reflected the government's concern that Middle East resolutions should be balanced”.
“The government will not support resolutions which are one-sided and which pre-judge the outcome of final status negotiations between the two sides,” she said through a spokeswoman.

Almost 2/3 of anti-religious crimes in US targeted Jews in 2012

The ADL criticized the report as faulty, charging that the drop in incidents was due, at least in part, to the failure of many government bodies to properly report hate crimes.
“Due to a deeply disturbing trend of under-reporting and under-participation by law enforcement agencies, including more than a dozen of the largest agencies in the United States, the 2012 Hate Crime Statistics Act report is seriously flawed,” National Director Abraham Foxman said in a written statement.

Point of No Return: Jews were targets before Israel's creation

Three popular myths surround the 870,000 Jews who left Arab countries after Israel was born. The first is that they departed of their own free will. Second, if they did flee as refugees, it was because Arab states lashed out spontaneously against their Jewish citizens like a bull to a red rag (and who could blame them?). Third, the Arab states took revenge on their Jews for the plight of Arabs driven out of Palestine.

India Marks 5 Years since Mumbai Massacre

Victims and government ministers laid wreaths at a memorial in south Mumbai dedicated to police and security forces killed trying to stop the Islamist gunmen during 60 hours of carnage.
Ten terrorists arrived by sea on the evening of November 26, carrying out a massacre at the Jewish Chabad center, hotels, a railway station and a cafe as terrified civilians tried to escape the bloodbath.
Six Jews were murdered at the Chabad House: Chabad emissaries Rabbi Gabriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivky, who was five months pregnant; Rabbi Aryeh Leibush Teitelbaum, Rabbi Benzion Korman, Norma Shvartzblat Rabinovich and Yocheved Orpaz.

One of the Most Remarkable Books About the Holocaust Was Just Published

“I think I can pinpoint exactly the hour and day when my childhood ended,” writes Slavko Goldstein near the beginning of 1941: The Year That Keeps Returning. The date was April 13, 1941, when Goldstein was 13 years old. That morning, he asked his father if he could go out to play with friends. His father, Ivo, was hesitant: Just two days earlier, German troops had marched unopposed into Croatia, and tanks were on the streets of their small city, Karlovac. But he gave his permission, and Slavko went off.
When he returned that afternoon, his father was gone: He was part of the first group of Karlovac citizens arrested by the new fascist regime. Ivo would never return home again, and by August he was dead, one of thousands of prisoners executed at the Jadovno camp that summer.

Israel hosts 4-nation warplane drill over Negev Desert

Israel began hosting its largest joint air force drill this week with pilots from the U.S., Italy and Greece over the skies of southern Israel.
The exercise, called Blue Flag, will take place in the airspace between central Gush Dan and the Negev Desert.

IAF Launches Largest International Military Exercise in Israel's History


Spotlight: From Iran to the IDF

"On television, Iran did not show good things about Israel, always only bad things," S. explained. "The government there does not like Israel, but the people themselves do not care. They just want to live well. People do not like that the government is investing a lot of money in the nuclear program."
S. says that since her childhood she wanted to move to Israel and join the IDF. "When I got to Israel they asked me to say my name to get an ID card. It was my first time ever using my Jewish name," she recalls. "For me it was a significant moment in my life."

After treating 2,600 patients, Israeli medical team leaves Philippines

The 148-person medical team vacated the IDF’s emergency field hospital in Bogo City on Monday after treating more than 2,600 patients, including 800 children. The team also conducted 52 surgeries and delivered 36 babies.
A European Union delegation replaced the IDF team, which left behind a range of medical supplies, including an X-ray machine and equipment for the delivery of newborns.

Meet the woman who coined the term ‘Thanksgivukkah’

At this point, it is tough to live in America and not know that Thanksgiving and Hanukkah fall on the same night this year. It is also tough to not know that this doesn’t usually happen. That popular wisdom has it we’ve got another 70,000 years to go before this comes up again. (Apparently popular wisdom is wrong.)
But a year ago, it wasn’t a cultural reference point. It was just an oddity Dana Reichman Gitell, a marketing specialist at Hebrew Senior Life in Massachusetts, had noticed on the calendar.

Nov. 28 Declared ‘Thanksgivukkah’ by Boston Mayor

In light of the once-in-a-lifetime convergence of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, Boston’s retiring Mayor Thomas Menino has declared Nov. 28 to be “Thanksgivukkah” in the city.

Israel Daily Picture: The Chatham Library Photo Treasures Part 3, Jerusalem, Holy to All Religions

We express our admiration and gratitude to the archivists at Chatham University for digitizing these hand-colored slides dating back to about 1890.
The picture of Robinson's Arch published above is the base of a massive arch built by King Herod. Archaeologists believe it was the anchor for a large bridge or staircase from the top of the Temple Mount.

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Cornell BDS group justifies hypocritically using Israeli web technology

Last week, the ZF and I discovered that a number of groups that push boycotts for Israel are using WiX, an Israeli web technology, on their websites.

One of those was Cornell University's "Students for Justice in Palestine." People on Twitter made fun of them for their obvious hypocrisy.

Finally, Cornell SJP came out with a long, nonsensical, convoluted justification for their BDS inconsistency; 1500 words of hilarious attempts to make themselves look a little less idiotic:

BDS is a tactic, not a principle, let alone a call for abstention. The charge that any contact with Israeli products negates the logic of BDS can only be made by people who do not understand what BDS actually is, how it’s worked in the past, or why Palestinian civil society is calling for it now.

The idea that supporters of BDS must avoid contact with anything Israeli not only misconstrues the nature of BDS, but also contorts the idea of politics in general. Politics is about making change in the world, not shying from contamination to keep oneself pure. GWF Hegel explored—and put to rest—the idea of the political subject whose only options were abstention and total withdrawal from action. He called it the “beautiful soul” syndrome. We do not strive to be beautiful souls, and we resist a view of politics that demands total abstention. In the words of Built to Spill, “I don’t like this air / But that doesn’t mean that I’ll stop breathing it.”

Those who call us hypocritical for not adhering to a rigid logic of separation simplistically insinuate that if one believes in boycotting Israel one must do it absolutely and deprive oneself of all the innovative benefits of the “Start-up Nation”; since one is opposed to Israel, one must not be in contact with anything Israeli. This separation in turn supports the misguided idea of two clear “sides” to the conflict. It is a troubling binary: on the one side, Israel, a plucky, can-do Zionist spirit, innovation, technology, modernity; on the other, Palestine, poverty, backwardness, violence.

The entire piece is filled with similar straw men.

So, who's right? Is BDS a call to boycott all Israeli products or not?

Well, let's look at the original 2005 source of the BDS call, from BDSMovement.net:

Boycotts target products and companies (Israeli and international) that profit from the violation of Palestinian rights, as well as Israeli sporting, cultural and academic institutions. Anyone can boycott Israeli goods, simply by making sure that they don’t buy produce made in Israel or by Israeli companies. Campaigners and groups call on consumers not to buy Israeli goods and on businesses not to buy or sell them.

Pretty explicit, isn't it? No nuance, no exceptions for nice web technologies. Nope - a blanket call to boycott Israeli produce and goods and businesses. It is the BDS movement that advocates the "beautiful soul" syndrome, in Hegelian terms (!!!)

Cornell  SJP doesn't support BDS as it is officially defined, because - well, because it would be an inconvenience. They like WiX. They want to boycott Israel, but they only want to ban products that they would never use anyway! They are so moral!

Actually, they admit:

Let us be clear: BDS is not abstention, nor an absolute moral principle.

There's an understatement for you!

Sorry, Cornell SJP. All that hand waving and attempts to change the subject in your very funny screed didn't prove that you aren't hypocrites.

Quite the opposite.

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Another great speech by Ron Prosor at the UN

This speech was given yesterday by Israel's ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor:

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John Fitzgerald Kennedy said, “The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie... but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.”

This is the third year that I am standing before this Assembly to address this agenda item and once again, I experience a sense of déjà vu as I listen to a distortion of history. The greatest legends of Greek mythology cannot rival the fables and fabrications that have come to be associated with this debate.

This debate may take place only once a year, but anti-Israel bias pervades the UN system all year round. In 2012, this Assembly found the time to pass 22 resolutions condemning Israel – compared with only four that single out other nations.

The worst human rights abusers receive a fraction of the condemnation that Israel – the only democracy in the Middle East - receives. These irresponsible actions have irreversible consequences. The states that rubberstamp the anti-Israel resolutions every year, have given the Palestinians a false sense of reality and fed their culture of victimhood.

It has only been one year since this assembly voted to change the Palestinian delegation’s status at the United Nations. To all those who voted in favor of that resolution, I ask the following: What exactly has changed?

Did the resolution give the Palestinian Authority control over Gaza? Not in the least. Gaza comprises forty percent of the territory that President Abbas claims to represent, but he hasn’t set foot in the area in six years. It seems to me that the Palestinian Authority has been asserting more control over some UN bodies than it does over the Gaza Strip. Since 2007, Gaza has been in the hands of Hamas, a terrorist organization that rains missiles on Israel’s civilians.

Did the resolution passed last year motivate the Palestinian Authority to finally hold elections? Not at all. Perhaps someone in this Assembly should remind the Palestinian Authority that its mandate expired in 2009 – and one election doesn’t mean you can rule forever.

At the same time I have to wonder, where are all the countries that claim to stand for democratic values? They are quick to cast judgment on Israel, but fall strangely silent when the Palestinians don’t cast votes.

Did the resolution passed last year inspire the Palestinian Authority to prepare their people for peace? Not in the least. Rather than teaching their children tolerance and mutual recognition, the Palestinian leadership continues to foster a culture of incitement.

Palestinian Media Watch will soon release a report documenting hundreds of examples of Palestinian incitement since the peace talks began. One such example is football teams named in honor of terrorists responsible for some of the deadliest attacks against Israelis. Instead of teaching kids to score goals, the Palestinian leadership’s goal is to glorify murderers.

Israel recently made the difficult decision to release 26 convicted murderers as part of its commitment to advancing the peace talks. Shortly after, the Palestinian Authority announced that each of these 26 terrorists would be rewarded with $50,000 and some will earn as much as Palestinian ministers. The motto of the PA’s pension plan seems to be ‘the more you slay, the more we pay.’

As the PA sings praises to murderers, the international community tunes out and mysteriously loses its voice. I wonder how taxpayers in London or Luxemburg would feel knowing that their tax dollars are being used to reward convicted murderers?

The Palestinian leadership has yet to learn an important lesson. You cannot abuse others and call yourself the abused. And you cannot claim your history is being denied, while denying the history of the Jewish nation.

In Gaza, Hamas is poisoning the hearts and minds of the next generation. They recently published a textbook for 55,000 high school students in which page after page denies Judaism's historical connection to the land of Israel and describes Zionism as racism. Textbooks should be for education, but Hamas uses them for provocation, indoctrination and escalation.

These are just the most recent examples of the incitement targeting the next generation. Terrorism does not begin with an attack on a bus or in a pizza parlor. It begins in classrooms, mosques, and day camps where Palestinian children are being taught prejudice instead of peace; terror instead of tolerance; and martyrdom instead of mutual understanding.

This incitement is having deadly consequences. Between 2011 and 2012, the number of Palestinian terror attacks against Israel doubled. So far in 2013, there have been 1,163 terror attacks against Israelis and dozens of attempted kidnappings.

Just over a week ago, Eden Atias, a 19-year-old Israeli soldier, was stabbed to death while sleeping on a passenger bus. Eden was the latest victim of the escalating terror attacks against Israelis. In September, 20 year-old Tomer Hazan was murdered, two soldiers were injured in an attack near Nablus, and a 9-year-old girl was stabbed while playing in her front yard. In October, four Israeli civilians were injured in a stabbing attack and Sraya Ofer was brutally beaten to death outside his home in the Jordan Rift Valley.

All those who claim to advance peace must remind the Palestinians that there are no shortcuts. Peace is not achieved by changing your nameplate at the UN; it isn’t achieved by unilateral actions or by passing a string of anti-Israel resolutions; and it won’t be achieved in Manhattan, mid-town east, but rather in the Middle East. So long as the Palestinian leadership chooses symbolism over pragmatism, it will be harder to achieve peace.

In a few days, on November 29, the United Nations will recognize the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Let me take a moment to remind this Assembly what really occurred on this day in history. On November 29 1947, the General Assembly adopted resolution 181, which came to be known as the Partition Plan. This resolution provided for the establishment of a Jewish state and an Arab state.

The Jews accepted huge compromises and gave up on dreams the Jewish people had carried for generations. But they welcomed the plan and joyously declared a new state in their ancient homeland. Chaim Weizmann, who later became the first president of the State of Israel, proclaimed: “It is now our primary task to establish relations of peace and harmony with our Arab neighbors.”

Rather than accept the partition plan, five surrounding Arab nations declared war on the newborn Jewish state. Their intentions were made clear by Azzam Pasha, Secretary-General of the Arab League, who said: “It will be a war of annihilation. It will be a momentous massacre in history that will be talked about like the massacres of the Mongols or the Crusades.”

The Arabs not only rejected the UN offer of a Palestinian state, they then declared war against the Jewish state. Since losing this war, the Arabs have perpetuated the Palestinian refugee problem and still have the audacity to demand solidarity.

Broadway may be down the street, but the real theater is here at the United Nations. In these halls, the Arab nations shine a spotlight on the Palestinian refugees, but back home in the Middle East, leave them in the dark. Since 1948, the Arab states refused to accept the Palestinian refugees into their societies, confined them to refugee camps, and passed discriminatory laws.

General Assembly resolution 181 passed in 1947 speaks of the creation of a “Jewish State” no fewer than 25 times. And yet today, 66 years later, have you heard Palestinian leaders utter the term ‘Jewish state’? Of course not.

Palestinian leaders call for an independent Palestinian state, but they insist that the Palestinian people return to the Jewish state. This is a euphemism for the destruction of the State of Israel and the single greatest hurdle to achieving peace.

Many in this room are convinced that the root of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the settlements. In fact, from the time that Israel gained its independence in 1948 until 1967, the West Bank was in Jordanian hands and Gaza was in Egyptian hands. Throughout this time, there was not a single settlement. Yet the Palestinians still sought our destruction.

Today, just 2% of the Israeli population lives in settlements, but they are blamed for 100% of the problems. The math simply doesn’t add up.

Israel is the ancient homeland of the Jewish people. It is the birthplace of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the land where Moses and Joshua led the Jewish people and King Solomon built the Jewish Temple.

Israel is the place where the bible tells us about David, who was made king and laid the cornerstone for his palace in Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the Jewish people. That is King David from Judea, not King David from the ‘West Bank’ – and certainly not King David from the so-called ‘occupied territories.’ After all, you can’t ‘occupy’ your own home.

For thousands of years, Jerusalem served as the capital of the Jewish people. Three thousand years ago, my ancestors walked the same streets that my children walk, spoke the same language that I speak, and prayed at the very same Temple Mount that Jews pray at every single day.

Yet all of these historical facts are brushed aside. Instead, in this Assembly all we hear are rants, rhetoric and biased resolutions. It doesn’t take a fortuneteller to predict the language in these resolutions. After all, the same text is copied and pasted each year – much of it dating back five decades. Yet country after country sees no problem in standing up and parroting propaganda. I’m reminded of President John F. Kennedy who said, “No matter how big the lie; repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as the truth.”

The resolutions being voted on today have no relationship to the facts on the ground. Just last week the UN adopted nine resolutions condemning Israel. One of these resolutions condemned Israel’s treatment of the Syrian people. Condemned Israel’s treatment of the Syrian people? It is inconceivable that while Israeli hospitals are treating the Syrians who escaped Assad’s massacre; the UN is denouncing Israel’s treatment of the Syrians.

If that weren’t enough, the GA will soon vote on another resolution calling on Israel to hand over the Golan Heights and its residents to Syria. It is nothing short of absurd for the UN to demand that even more civilians be subject to Assad’s brutality.

At the United Nations, there are countless resolutions that delegitimize and demonize Israel. Why don’t I ever hear anyone speak about all the good work Israel is doing for the Palestinians?

While the Palestinians are busy condemning Israel at the UN, Israel is busy supporting the Palestinian economy and developing their infrastructure. Today, more than 100,000 Palestinians earn their living in Israel, making up more than 10% of the Palestinian GDP. Israel is also building four electrical substations and providing more than 1,400 million gallons of clean water annually.

Palestinians receive world-class healthcare services in hospitals throughout the country. In the first half of 2013 alone, more than 94,000 Palestinians received treatment in Israeli hospitals.

And we continue to give, even as our goodwill is knowingly exploited. While the IDF uncovers one terror tunnel after another, the flow of consumer goods continues into Gaza uninterrupted. Each day, the state of Israel delivers 400 truckloads to the Palestinian people via the Keren Shalom Terminal.

George Orwell said, “In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

The truth is that Israel is not just speaking about peace; it is demonstrating its commitment every single day. Peace is a central value of Israeli society and it has been the goal of the Israeli people and every Israeli leader since our state was re-established 65 years ago.

We will not be deterred from this goal. Israel has always extended its hand for peace and it will continue to do so for our children and for our grandchildren. When we faced an Arab leader who wanted peace, we made peace. That was the case with Egypt and that was the case with Jordan. We are committed to negotiating with our Palestinian neighbors so that our two peoples can live side by side in peace, dignity and freedom.

I call on my colleagues in this Hall not to be distracted by unilateral efforts and biased resolutions. Remind the Palestinians to take responsibility and that the only way to reach a comprehensive peace deal is through hard work and direct negotiations.

Working together, we in this room call all make history by making peace. Working together, we can author a better future - one where our people can live in security, free from violence; where the horizon is bright with opportunity; and, where our children can live side by side in peace.

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