Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Gazans protest Hamas over electricity, Hamas blocks reporters, media blames Israel

Dozens of Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Monday held demonstrations for the third straight day to protest the coastal enclave's ongoing power crisis.
In the southern city of Rafah, protesters called for the resignation of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah's government over the crisis.
Meanwhile, in central Gaza, residents of the Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps set tires alight in a demonstration held in front of Gaza's sole power station.
Hamas said that participants burnt photos of President Mahmoud Abbas, before the movement's police force dispersed the protest.
Local Fatah officials later "praised" the demonstration in posts on Facebook, but said they were "surprised" that pictures of Abbas and Hamdallah had been burnt.
The officials accused members of Hamas' military branch, al-Qassam Brigades, for burning the photos, and said: "We stood up against them."

It appears that the protesters were not behind the burining of photos of Abbas - but Hamas was.

Because PCHR says that Hamas has been quashing anti-Hamas demonstrations over the electricity shortage last Saturday and even confiscating reporters' cameras, memory cards and cars. It appears that Hamas realized that it could not stop the protests so instead they are trying to co-opt them and turn them into anti-Fatah protests - or at least tell people that the protests are anti-Fatah.

On September 1, the Egyptian power line into Gaza was damaged. I don't know if it was repaired yet.

But meanwhile, Ma'an cannot resist blaming Israel for the fuel shortage, by publishing bald-faced lies:

The plant requires 550,000 liters of fuel per day to produce at capacity, the energy authority says, although it has rarely been able to reach that amount, mostly due to the Israeli blockade which has limited fuel imports since 2007.

No, Israel doesn't limit fuel to Gaza at all. As long as people pay, Israel pumps it over. The shortages is from arguments between Fatah and Hamas over taxes and funding.

In fact, Israel might do more to alleviate Gaza's power crisis:

Meanwhile, Israel is considering a plan proposed by Qatar to supply Gaza with natural gas. The plan would see Israel laying a new pipeline from Ashdod, where gas from the offshore Tamar field enters the country, to the power station in the Gaza Strip, located only a handful of kilometers to the south.

The Gaza station, which currently can supply electricity for just eight hours each day, would be converted to work with the natural gas, expanding its output dramatically. The station was also damaged in an IAF strike during last summer’s war between Israel and Hamas. The IDF said that the station was not deliberately targeted.

According to the proposal by Muhammad al-Ahmadi, the head of Qatar’s committee for rehabilitating Gaza, the Gulf state would pay NIS 38.6 million ($10 million) toward infrastructure costs such as laying the pipeline. The gas itself would be paid for by the Palestinian Authority and private Palestinian funders under its auspices.

Ahmadi has also begun talks with private Israeli solar power companies to construct solar power fields in Israeli territory to produce 100 megawatts for Gaza’s use.

Yes, Israel cooperating with Qatar, an ally of Hamas, to help Gazans get electricity.

Doesn't exactly fit the meme of how Israel is trying to hurt innocent Gazans, does it?

Shana tova!

I wish all of you a happy and sweet New Year. May we all be written in the Book of Life, and enjoy a year of health, a year of prosperity, a year of joy, a year of peace, and a year of security.

I will not be blogging until Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

09/13 links: "America will pay the price for Obama’s Iran deal ‘victory’"; Rosh Hashana messages from Rouhani, Obama, Cameron, Bibi

Some links by EoZ.

Let us keep Ian in our prayers this Rosh Hashana. (I don't know details on why he has not been available for the past few days but something major clearly happened.)

America will pay the price for Obama’s Iran deal ‘victory’

The word “disconnect” is the appropriate way to describe the chasm between America’s government and its citizens. We all have our favorite examples, but none can match the events of last week.
On the eve of the 14th anniversary of the worst attack ever against our nation, President Obama celebrated a nuclear pact with Iran, an Islamic theocracy whose leader calls the United States “Satan” and joins crowds in chanting “Death to America.”
A mere 21 percent of the American public supports the deal and a bipartisan majority of the Senate opposes it. Yet the filibuster rule blocked the Senate from defeating it, allowing Obama to hail the “historic step forward.”
His “victory” is a disconnect that will live in infamy.

The “Candy” the Mullahs Gave to Obama

What if the US Congress votes on a deal that does not really exist because the Iranian side has no intention of even acknowledging it as a legally binding contract?Unless he is a prisoner of his fantasies, Obama is surely aware that the way Tehran regards the deal is diametrically different from his.
In Tehran, the ruling elite see the deal as a piece of candy to keep Obama happy with himself, without committing Iran to any definite course of action. To them, the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan for Action (JCPOA), which Obama is peddling as “the chance of a lifetime”, is nothing but a wish list to be used a la carte. They have not even bothered with providing an official Persian translation of the text.
The Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei sees the JCPOA as nothing but a proposal to be examined, improved, amended or even rejected by “competent authorities.”
In other words, he sees the whole thing as the first step, not the culmination of 13 years of negotiations.
President Hassan Rouhani goes further.
He claims that the JCPOA is nothing but a “political document”, not a legal one. He has opposed its approval by the Islamic Majlis, Iran’s ersatz parliament, under articles 77 and 125 of the Constitution. His reason is that as long as JCPOA has no legal status in Iran, the Islamic government could apply or not apply its provisions a la carte. However, if ratified by the Majlis in the form of an Act of Parliament, it would become Iranian law, its implementation obligatory.

Top Craziest Tweets From Khamenei This Summer

It's been a wild summer with @Khamenei_ir trying to score a deal with America, but some of his tweets make us wonder why the world isn’t freaking out over this bad deal.

For years I thought that the only reasonable solution to the ongoing Arab war against the Jews was the two-state solution. A single state solution, we were told, would either undermine Israel as a democratic state or it would undermine Israel as a Jewish state. Israel could be Jewish, democratic, or with boundaries from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, but it could not be all three at once.

Those who insist upon this formulation - and I was one for years - are raising reasonable concerns, but there is one thing that proponents of the two-state solution seem never to take into account: the Arabs do not want it. For almost one hundred years the Palestinian-Arabs have absolutely refused to share the land and tell us on a daily basis that they will never accept Jewish sovereignty on a bit of "historic Palestine."

There must come a point when we understand that no means no.

There must come a time when we take them at their word. This being the case, Israel must act unilaterally because there is simply no other choice. This should not be considered a burden. It should be considered liberating. Most of my readers will know that Palestinian-Arab dictator Mahmoud Abbas is, yet again, threatening to quit. Well, I hope he does quit and I sincerely hope that after he does so Israel rips up the Oslo accords and henceforth refuses to acknowledge the PA, the PLO, Fatah, and Hamas. It is absolutely pointless in negotiating with, or cooperating with, any of these groups because they are dishonest, utterly corrupt, and filled with the spirit of malice toward the Jewish people.

The Jews in Israel should not have to live with such violent and toxic hatred in their midst, coming from the children of the people who forced us into second and third-class non-citizenship for thirteen hundred years. The Jews are no longer dhimmis in that part of the world - and are thus no longer required to ride mules, rather than horses - and the Arabs don't like it.

Well, I say, too bad.

The Land of Israel is the land of the Jewish people and has been for almost four thousand years, and that includes today's boundaries of Judea and Samaria. We are willing to share, but no one is going to tell me that Judea is Arab rather than Jewish.

This being the case, I have argued in recent years that Israel should declare its final borders, remove the IDF to behind those borders, and - as we say - toss the keys over the shoulder. I have usually been careful, however, not to advocate for the single-state solution. I am not Israeli and believe that it should entirely be up to the Israelis to make that determination.

I still believe so.

However, I am becoming less and less convinced that a single state that includes Judea and Samaria, and the eastern section of Jerusalem, cannot be both Jewish and democratic. What many on the hard-left would argue is that if Israel were to claim sovereignty over the ancient Jewish lands of Judea and Samaria then it is under an obligation to give the entire Arab population in those regions fulls rights to the franchise. They believe, of course, that doing so would threaten the Jewish character of the state, which is precisely what they want to begin with.

But this is false.

What I would recommend, if Israel were to extend its authority onto the entirety of Judea and Samaria, is offering qualified local Arabs a pathway to Israeli citizenship. Qualification would require that any particular family or individual under consideration would have no known violent history toward Jewish people and no known history of incitement of hatred toward Jews or Israel.

Those who are not qualified for citizenship, that is, individuals or families with a history of either violence or incitement to violence would be ejected from the country. This is neither non-democratic, nor illiberal. The Jews are among the most persecuted and oppressed people in the history of the world. The Romans decimated our numbers two thousand years ago and the Europeans and Arabs have kept those numbers artificially low ever since. This being the case it is only common sense, if not basic human decency, for the Jews of Israel to protect their children by removing the threats to them.

This is no more non-democratic than throwing a rapist in prison.

As for the rest of the local Arab population in the annexed Jewish regions I recommend a pathway to full citizenship. Like pretty much everyone else in Israel they would be required, if they wish citizenship, to give two or three years of community service. If after that period the individual has shown himself to be free of malice toward either Jews or Israel then that individual should be offered the franchise.

This broad plan - and, yes, obviously, the "devil would be in the details" - would keep Israel Jewish on traditional Jewish land while remaining a democratic country.

Democracy, it should be noted, is never a perfect system in implementation, nor is it a suicide pact. There are always restrictions, which is why Puerto Ricans are denied the right to vote in US national elections. They are under American sovereignty, but they do not have full rights to American citizenship, yet no one sane is claiming that the United States in a non-democratic country.

Israel is in a very tough spot, however. It has a hostile American president who is about to turn an enemy country, Iran, into a nuclear regional power that will rearrange relationships and alliances throughout the region as the Sunni Arab states race to get their own nuclear weaponry. Zionism is undermined because if Zionism means anything it means that no longer will non-Jews get to determine whether Jewish people live or die.

The significance of Obama's deal with Iran from a Jewish perspective is that Obama has basically handed Zionism over to the ayatollahs. In two years or ten years they will decide the fate of the Jewish people, simply because Barack Obama is handing them the car keys.

In the mean time, Israel should solidify its position by declaring its final borders as it plans, and perhaps implements, its response to the Iran deal.


Michael Lumish is a blogger at the Israel Thrives blog as well as a regular contributor/blogger at Times of Israel and Jews Down Under.

Teacher passed UNRWA course in ethics - and posts terror pics on Facebook

In 2010, UNRWA put out a 52-page Request for Proposal seeking development of an e-learning course in Ethics and UNRWA Standards of Conduct.

Muhannad Alshatarat, an UNRWA teacher in Jordan, took this course in 2013. And he passed with flying colors!

The course impressed him so much that he posts pictures of Islamic Jihad terrorists on Facebook:

That course must be super-effective in teaching UNRWA employees how to think ethically.

Any journalists want to ask more than superficial questions about how UNRWA conducts itself when staffers show that they support violence and murder?

UPDATE: The photos have been removed but the Facebook page is still there.

Muslims planned to bomb Jews on Temple Mount today

From JPost:

A joint operation executed on Saturday night in east Jerusalem by Israeli Security Forces resulted in clashes on the Temple Mount Sunday morning, according to reports released by the Police Spokespersons unit.

In the late hours of Saturday evening, security forces conducted an operation searching for explosives thought to be hidden in east Jerusalem. Information gathered by the Shin Bet and police forces showed that several masked, Arab youths, who had escaped to the Temple Mount, were identified as the suspects.

Once the operation began, the suspects fled to al-Aksa mosque, setting up numerous road blocks using iron rods and wooden beams to avoid arrest and prevent the Temple Mount compound from being opened to visitors the next day.

As the situation unfolded, Israeli forces stormed the Temple Mount compound in a surprise attack early Sunday morning. The suspects responded by throwing dozens of rocks and setting off fireworks at the police forces.

After fierce clashes, police forces removed the barricades leading to the mosque and arrested the suspects. No injuries were reported and Jewish visitors and tourists we allowed to enter the Temple Mount as scheduled.

Times of Israel adds:

“Masked protesters who were inside the mosque threw stones and fireworks at police,” a police statement said. “Suspicious pipes that could be filled with homemade explosives were also found at the entry to the mosque.”

Police later confirmed that the objects were pipe bombs.

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said the discovery of pipe bombs at the al-Aqsa mosque “forces us to reconsider the arrangements for the Temple Mount.”

Here is video showing masked Arabs shooting firecrackers from within their "third holiest site."

Naturally, there will be statements today from the Muslim world condemning Jews for defending themselves.

09/12 links; Iran claims to have discovered uranium reserves; Israeli mini-scanner tells what's in food, drink or pills

Ian is still unavailable, so here are some links that crossed my desk over the past day:

Iranian media: New uranium reserves discovered in Iran

Iran has discovered an unexpectedly high reserve of uranium and will soon begin extracting the radioactive element at a new mine, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said on Saturday.
The comments cast doubt on previous assessments from some Western analysts who said the country had a low supply and would sooner or later need to import uranium, the raw material needed for its nuclear program.

"I cannot announce (the level of) Iran's uranium mine reserves. The important thing is that before aerial prospecting for uranium ores we were not too optimistic, but the new discoveries have made us confident about our reserves," Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

Why we should be wary of the Obama administration’s no-alternatives racket on Iran

Tune into a debate on the Iran nuclear threat in the United States and you’ll be sure to hear proponents of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) gleefully bemoan the lack of alternatives.
A congressional vote to block the deal (and override a White House veto) will encounter the “objection of the vast majority of the world,” U.S. President Barack Obama said in an Aug. 5 speech, thus making it harder to maintain the international sanctions that brought Iran to its knees. A vote to reject is therefore a “vote to allow Iran to get off scot-free, and to get all the sanctions relief” without “having to give up anything,” according to White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.
They have a point. It will surely be more difficult for us to rally international support for continued sanctions after rejecting the agreement than it would have been had Obama just walked away when it became clear the Iranians would not settle for a low-proliferation-risk civilian nuclear program. And our collective display of schizophrenia won’t make it any easier to convince them we mean business next time around.
But the Obama administration deliberately put us in this no-win situation. Like a general burning bridges behind his retreating army, it has been working to undermine the viability of the very alternatives it now insists are unviable.

Hamas hatred: New documentary shows Iranian-backed terror group indoctrinating kids

A new documentary grimly predicts the role Iran plays in financing terror organizations and the indoctrination of children at military summer camps in the Middle East will significantly increase as a result of the imminent release of huge sums of money to Tehran under the nuclear agreement endorsed by the Obama administration.
"Iran: Billions for Terror?" depicts children blowing up mock Israeli villages and parroting Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who is seen telling an adoring Iranian crowd, “The entire world – particularly the world of Islam – is duty-bound and obliged to help the Palestinian people with as many weapons as possible.”
Produced by the Center for Near East Policy Research (CNEPR) and filmed by a team of Arab reporters at various locations in Gaza this summer, one of the most disturbing aspects of the footage is the recent introduction of terror training for little girls. The Hamas summer camps mantra, “We will sacrifice our lives for the sake of Allah” is chanted over and over.

Germany 'took our Jews and gave us Arabs': French ex-minister

A former French minister stirred up controversy Friday after saying Germany "took our Jews and gave us Arabs" as France began taking some of the thousands of refugees arriving in Germany.
Patrick Devedjian, a right-winger who served in the governments of presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, made the remark at a press conference, but quickly tried to backtrack on social media.
"My humorous jest was misplaced," Devedjian wrote on his Twitter account, saying he regretted it all the more because he himself helps refugees in need.

Rosh Hashanah: Confronting the challenges of 5776

We must never take for granted that our generation is blessed to have a Jewish state. It requires little imagination to visualize what horrific conditions would face us in the absence of the state, which has empowered Jews for the first time since our dispersion. Any Jew is assured of haven in their Jewish homeland and we hope many more will make aliyah in the years to come. We pray that increasing numbers will do so out of a desire to live in their Jewish homeland rather than escaping persecution and discrimination.
So despite the fierce challenges confronting us, we should look to the future with optimism. Without detracting from the necessity of remaining alert and strong, we should dismiss the prophets of doom. We must continue to remind ourselves of the reality that we are indeed the most blessed generation of Jews since our exile 2,000 years ago. Much as we seek the friendship and support of other nations, we are fortified in the knowledge that today we independently determine our own future.

Israeli mini-scanner tells what's in food, drink or pills

An Israeli start-up has launched a pocket device which analyzes instantly the composition of food, drink, medication or other objects.
Consumer Physics says its SCiO tool sends data on the chemical makeup of a substance to the user's smartphone, where a variety of applications will present the results.
It is "the first molecular sensor that fits in the palm of your hand," says Dror Sharon, co-founder of the firm based in Hod Hasharon, near Tel Aviv.
Users will be able to see how many calories are in the burger on their plate, what is in their drink, or if that jacket is really leather

The State Department issues statement on UNRWA violations of neutrality

AP reporter Matt Lee tweeted this statement from the State Department:

The role United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) plays in providing critical humanitarian assistance to more than 5 million Palestinian refugees is indispensable. All sides must respect the humanitarian role of UNRWA. and we expect UNRWA personnel to observe the strictest decorum and uphold its stated policy of neutrality so that it can carry out its critical mandate.

Our commitment to overseeing UNRWA’s neutrality is long-standing. and the State Department takes its responsibility for oversight ot UNRWA very seriously. Our oversight is more than an annual checklist exercise; :the State Department closely engages with UNRWA throughout the course of the year on all facets of UNRWA‘s programs, including issues related to the neutrality of UNRWA staff, operations,. and facilities.

We are aware that the UNRWA is undertaking internal investigations into allegations that UNRWA staff posted discriminatory messages on social media accounts. We have asked UNRWAto keep the United States informed of the findings of its investigation.
For any additional details regarding the investigations. we refer you to UNRWA.

Clearly the research I've done (and that UN Watch publicized) is having an effect. which makes it even more interesting that UNRWA-USA is blocking me on Twitter.

Of course, UNRWA's internal investiagation will be a joke, and the State Department does not have the desire to really hold UNRWA's feet to the fire of fulfilling its mandate. This is all theatre that we've seen before - UNRWA will issue a statement that they take these thing seriously, maybe they will slap the wrists of some of the employees that I discovered with the worst antisemitic messages (the state Department pointedly does not mention the pro-terror Facebook posts that I discovered) and then everyone will breathe easier that the status quo has returned. The fundamental problems at UNRWA will not be solved.

But this is start.

UPDATE: There is as of yet nothing on the UNRWA site about this.

Rosh Hashanah music video rundown

Two people had the same idea:

If you are skeptical in only one direction, you aren't a skeptic

Famed atheist and self-avowed skeptic Richard Dawkins saw a completely fictional poster text and felt that it was believable enough to retweet it:

What followed was a discussion between antisemites who swore that the quotes were real and Jews who said they weren't. Dawkins followed up on one commenter:

@brianoflondon I only asked "What is this?" You have now told me your answer. Others have told me differently, so I'm still curious.
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) September 10, 2015

If Dawkins cared about the truth, he could have looked up my link to the definitive debunking and explanation of every major fake Talmud quote out there.

.@RichardDawkins The best rebuttal of fake Talmud quotes online is here: http://t.co/eb8PcwMEpW @FuzzyLucifer @brianoflondon
— ElderOfZiyon (@elderofziyon) September 10, 2015

As it is, he left his opinion on the matter ambiguous. Some say it is true, some say it isn't, the truth must be somewhere in between.

Which made me wonder - if skepticism is a good trait to have (and I believe it is,) then if Dawkins shows skepticism in only one direction, he is not really a skeptic. He is like everyone else - looking for evidence to buttress his already enshrined beliefs.

Which makes him no less dogmatic than his opponents.

If Dawkins is really "curious" he would have continued the discussion. There are certainly things in the Talmud that sound strange to modern ears and an open discussion on such topics would be fine. But in this case, the famous self-described skeptic did not show any evidence of skepticism when some random hater sent him fake quotes with a picture of a smiling rabbi-type supposedly teaching that crap.

By coincidence, earlier this week I created a poster in response to another poster of fake quotes, that time attacking Zionists, showing how idiotic it is to ascribe more validity to a quote just because someone made it into a graphic.

Bassem Tamimi, father of "Shirley Temper" and the leader of the weekly rock-throwing protests at Nabi Saleh, is going on a speaking tour of the US - and Amnesty International is one of his sponsors, along with many other anti-Israel organizations who pretend to support "peace."

Tamimi's "peace" includes slinging rocks at high speed towards the heads of Israeli soldiers. And he supports his own family throwing rocks.

Not only that, but Tamimi - who is related to some of the most notorious terrorists in history - have said explicitly that he is only against more traditional terrorism for strategic reasons, not because it is wrong.

Taking up arms wasn’t, for Bassem, a moral error so much as a strategic one. He and everyone else I spoke with in the village insisted they had the right to armed resistance; they just don’t think it works. Bassem could reel off a list of Nabi Saleh’s accomplishments. Of some — Nabi Saleh, he said, had more advanced degrees than any village — he was simply proud. Others — one of the first military actions after Oslo, the first woman to participate in a suicide attack — involved more complicated emotions.

In 1993, Bassem told me, his cousin Said Tamimi killed a settler near Ramallah. Eight years later, another villager, Ahlam Tamimi escorted a bomber to a Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem. Fifteen people were killed, eight of them minors. Ahlam, who now lives in exile in Jordan, and Said, who is in prison in Israel, remain much-loved in Nabi Saleh.

Tamimi himself is proud of them as well, just that he believes that blowing up Jews was not a smart move while Israel is strong enough to defend itself.

This person who condones terror, and who actively supprts some forms of violence, is being celebrated by "peace groups" such as Amnesty.

Which speaks volumes.

09/11 Links: Why does the Left care more about Islamophobia than antisemitism?; NYTimes charts "Jewish" opposition to Iran deal; 9/11 memorial in Israel

Ian could not do the linkdumps today.

US House of Representatives threaten legal action against Obama to stop Iran deal

In the US House, conservatives have begun pressing the case that Obama broke that law by not providing the texts of secret so-called "side deals" to the accord.

On Thursday the House passed a measure finding that the president violated the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, and that the 60-day review had therefore not begun.
Congressman Peter Roskam issued a legal challenge to Obama following the vote, demanding that the House get access to two "side agreements" negotiated between the US and Iran as part of the terms of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act.
"President Obama broke the very law he signed by failing to provide Congress with the Iran-IAEA side agreements," Roskam said. "Withholding these documents from the American people and their elected representatives completely discredits the transparent review process the administration was legally obligated to provide. In light of this vote, I believe the House should pursue legal action against the administration for its blatant disregard for the law."
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, John Boehner, said Thursday that the House will use "every tool at our disposal to stop, slow and delay' the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal."

Why does the left care more about Islamophobia than anti-Semitism?

Why do leftists care more about Muslims than they do about Jews? If that sounds confrontational, consider this: this week, the Met Police released the latest hate-crime figures for London. They show that offences against Jews have risen by 93% over the past year, while offences against Muslims have risen by 70%. And guess which story the BBC, Guardian and Independent, those voices of the British liberal conscience, have chosen to flag up? Yep, the 70% hike in Islamophobic attacks, not the nearly 100% hike in anti-Semitic offences.

The BBC’s headline is ‘Islamophobic crime in London “up by 70%”‘. The Guardian‘s is ‘Hate crimes against Muslims soar in London’. The Indie opts for ‘Hate crimes against Muslims in London “up by 70%”‘. What about the crimes against Jews? Sorry, no room for those. They aren’t mentioned. Whether as a result of how the cops chose to press-release their new figures or how editors chose to interpret them, or maybe a bit of both, someone down the line has taken the decision that a bashed-up or verbally abused Muslim is more newsworthy than a bashed-up or verbally abused Jew.

‘NYTimes’ Lambasted for Charting Congressional ‘Jewish’ Opposition to Nuclear Deal

Jewish organizations slammed The New York Times on Thursday for publishing a chart listing the number of Jewish Congressional Democrats who oppose the Iran nuclear deal.
The chart divides the anti-deal Democrats in the House and Senate into columns, one of which is headed “Jewish?” Another is called “District and estimated Jewish population.”
According to the article in which it appeared, “Though more Jewish members of Congress support the deal than oppose it, the Democrats against the deal are more likely to be Jewish or represent Jewish constituencies.”
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, called the chart “a grotesque insult to the intelligence of those voting on the deal,” and warned against the connotations its publication evokes.

US, Israel near deal to produce David’s Sling missile shield

US Navy Vice Admiral James Syring, director of the Missile Defense Agency, said the US and Israel would soon sign a draft deal on the production of the jointly developed David’s Sling system, Reuters reported.
Robert Scher, assistant defense secretary for strategy, plans and capabilities, noted that Washington has provided Israel with $3 billion in funds for missile-defense programs since 2001.
David’s Sling, also known as Magic Wand, was designed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the US defense firm Raytheon to thwart rockets and missiles fired from 100-300 kilometers (62-186 miles) away.
The system successfully passed a series of trial runs in April, and the Israeli Air Force has already begun training operators for the array, which is expected to become operational next year.

A prayer for 5776 (Caroline Glick)

The Obama administration’s animosity toward Israel is part and parcel of the world view that brought it to support Gaddafi’s overthrow and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. So, too, the administration’s refusal to take action to overthrow the Assad regime or destroy Islamic State in Syria and Iraq on the one hand, and its facilitation of Iran’s rise to regional hegemony and nuclear empowerment on the other, is a clear indication that identity politics play a key role in determining the administration’s foreign policy.
But there is still reason to hope that things can change in America. The fact is that two-thirds of Americans oppose Obama’s nuclear pact with the mullahs and support Israel. Obama has only been able to promote his radical agenda by pretending it isn’t his agenda.
As Israel seeks to secure and advance its interests in the identity politics-riven West, we must understand that our ability to impact the views of the other side is limited. The moment a society embraces identity politics, its members become incapable of rationally pursuing their own interests.
And consequently, they are lost to Israel.
As far as securing our relations with the US is concerned, we must take every opportunity to strengthen those who fight against identity politics and for rationality and reasoned analysis of reality.
And while we pray for their success, we need to recognize that this is America’s fight to win or to lose. We cannot fight it for the American people.
And so, just as we build fences along our borders, we need to prepare for the worst in order to secure our survival.
Israel’s greatest strategic asset is our willingness to see things for what they are. It is my prayer for the coming year that our vision becomes ever sharper and that through our moral and strategic clarity we rally the Americans and other like-minded nations to our side in our fight for ourselves and for the noblest attributes of humanity.

Iranian Justice: Cartoonist to have 12-year Sentence Extended for Shaking Her Lawyer’s Hand

Iran’s treatment of artistic expression is, like its suppression of the free press, a violation of human rights intended to terrify its opponents into submission. Atena Farghadani, 29, was sentenced to almost thirteen years in prison in part for drawing this cartoon of certain members of the Iranian parliament:

The regime’s response to her satire has been quite harsh. The initial three month sentence was extended into a new set of charges after she wrote letters of protest to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, and drew new cartoons critical of her treatment in Evin prison. The new charges against her included were “insulting the Supreme Leader, the President, Members of Parliament, and the IRGC,” meaning the Revolutionary Guards Corps, and “assembly and collusion against national security.” The government hand-picked the judge they wanted to try the case, a man named Abolghassem Salavati who is known to hand down especially harsh sentences, including numerous executions.
Her lawyer, Mohammad Moghimi, has been arrested and is also facing parallel charges of an “illegitimate sexual relationship short of adultery” and “indecent conduct” for the handshake. By charging her lawyer as well as her, the regime sends a strong warning to any lawyers who might consider working on her case in the future. The detention may also prevent her lawyer from being able to submit an appeal within the mandatory deadline period, which would prevent her appeal from coming before a court that could reconsider the harsh sentence.