Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

6% of PA budget pays terrorists and their families

I've been reporting this for years, but finally Israeli journalists have added up the numbers.

Despite the Palestinian Authority’s financial hardships, it spends tens of millions of shekels each month paying salaries to prisoners held in Israeli jails for security offenses and acts of terrorism against Israel — including mass murderers — and last year Prime Minister Salam Fayyad tripled their monthly pay. The PA also pays monthly stipends to the families of suicide bombers.

Payments are made not only to members of Fatah, the political faction of PA President Mahmoud Abbas, but also to those of his bitter Islamist rivals from Hamas, and other factions.

As of May 2011, the PA spent NIS 18 million ($4.5 million) per month on compensating Palestinian inmates in Israeli prisons and a further NIS 26 million ($6.5 million) on payments to families of suicide bombers. In all, such payments cost the PA some 6 percent of its overall budget, Israel’s Channel 2 news reported on Monday night, citing documentation signed by Fayyad.

The PA also makes payments to Israeli Arabs jailed for security offenses against Israel, the report said.

Starting in 2003, Palestinian law mandated the dispensation of a monthly salary of NIS 1,000 ($250) to security detainees sentenced to up to five years in prison. The longer the sentence, the higher the pay. An inmate serving a life sentence was paid NIS 4,000 ($1,000) per month.

An amendment of the law in January 2011 enacted by Fayyad increased the salaries by up to 300%, Channel 2 reported.

A prisoner sentenced up to three years in prison now receives a base salary of NIS 1,400 per month, and for 3-5 years that rate increases to NIS 2,000, the report said. A NIS 300 bonus is added for a wife, and NIS 50 per child.

According to the Channel 2 report, the PA-funded salaries are an equal opportunity benefit; members of Fatah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad all receive them.

Prisoners’ salaries also increase based on how many years they have served. Abdullah Barghouti, a Hamas bomb-maker who was sentenced in 2004 to 67 life terms for orchestrating the killings of 67 Israelis, receives a monthly stipend of NIS 4,000. In less than a year that figure will rise to NIS 6,000 ($1,500).

Another major Hamas terrorist figure, Abbas al-Sayyeed, convicted of planning the 2002 Park Hotel massacre, in which 30 Israeli civilians were killed as they sat down for a Passover meal, is paid NIS 12,000 ($3,000) per month.

Prisoners who have sat more than 30 years in Israeli prison receive NIS 12,000 per month.

The original Channel 2 report adds that prisoners who are married get an extra 300 shekels every month, plus 50 shekels per month per child.

Again, this has been known for years, but I have never seen the Western donors to the PA - who claim that their funds are being spent transparently - ever ask a single question about this. Even when the PA is sliding deeper and deeper into debt and asking for more and more money.

Perhaps it is time to send this article to members of the EU parliament and US members of Congress.

And while people are looking, I once found evidence that as much as $600 million of the PA budget actually goes to pay for security in Gaza - meaning Hamas terrorist salaries. This dwarfs the amount paid to prisoners and terrorist families. Where's the transparency there?

PA, Suha using Arafat story to distract world from their own crimes

From Der Spiegel:

During a recent studio interview with al-Jazeera, a choked-up Suha Arafat demanded an investigation. Now, sitting in her living room, where a portrait of Arafat hangs on the wall, she feels she is finally approaching her goal. "I am very confident," she says, "that the entire case will reach a positive end in very little time and that we will finally learn the truth." This is not wishful thinking, she adds, noting that there are reasons for being so optimistic.

Since polonium-210 has a half-life of 138 days, things need to proceed quickly. Therefore, Arafat's body will be examined in the coming weeks, believes Saad Djebbar, one of Suha Arafat's lawyers in Paris. In a television interview, he said that the French legal system has jurisdiction because the murder began in the Palestinian territories and ended in France. He then added the curious sentence that Suha Arafat wants to prevent the Palestinian Authority from obstructing the investigation.

This is a charge that enrages Tawfik Tirawi, Arafat's former intelligence chief, because it is also directed against him. For the last two years, Tirawi has headed the official Palestinian commission charged with investigating the cause of Arafat's death. Since the scandal involving possible polonium poisoning erupted, he has been repeatedly forced to explain why it was al-Jazeera, rather than him, that came up with the idea of taking a closer look at Arafat's underwear.

As Tirawi sees it, it was just an accident that al-Jazeera discovered the last missing piece of the puzzle. He claims that his commission has tirelessly investigated the case, but that its activities have been secret because such things are obviously kept out of the public gaze. Although he is either unwilling or unable to discuss the commission's findings, he will say that it has been quite successful.

A previous PA investigation headed by a former aide to Arafat concluded that it was thallium poisoning, although it is unclear how official that was..

Not only Suha Arafat, but also many Palestinians in Ramallah see things differently. They believe that Palestinian Authority officials never made any real effort to solve the mystery surrounding his death. The first investigative commission was dissolved six months after Arafat's death and only reappointed in 2010.

In all of this, the Palestinians had good cause for looking into things more closely. After all, the French clinic's 558-page report on the death of their national hero raises more questions than it provides answers. For example, why did Suha Arafat refuse to allow a liver biopsy to be taken? Why didn't anyone demand that an autopsy be conducted? How can it be that even the best doctors in France didn't find the cause of this strange infection, which caused blood to coagulate and led to a stroke? Could it be that the French government wants to keep the cause of death secret?

Moreover, why is there so much missing in the report, and why does it seem like "someone has played around with it," as Avi Issacharoff, a reporter with the Israeli daily Haaretz, says? Likewise, he also finds it somewhat odd that he, an Israeli journalist, was the only one to publish the secret French medical report, rather than Suha Arafat or the Palestinian Authority.

Suha Arafat says she is driven by the search for the truth. But it might also have something to do with the fact that, in addition to being widely despised in Ramallah, she has also fallen into disfavor in France and Tunisia, where she is under investigation for suspicious cash flows and corruption. There is also the persistent rumor that she had a hand in the disappearance of $300 million (€240 million) after Arafat's death. In any case, it would certainly seem opportune for her to now assume the role of the widow avenging her husband's death in the name of the Palestinian people.

Enthusiasm for the investigation is more tempered in Ramallah, partly because some people there suspect al-Jazeera of wanting to help topple Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. But, of course, Palestinian officials also realize that they can take advantage of the search for Arafat's alleged murderer. At the moment, there are no peace talks with Israel, the economy is in a slump and there continue to be deep divisions between Hamas and Fatah, the rival Palestinian groupings ruling the Gaza Strip and West Bank, respectively. Under these circumstances, it would be a perfect time to have news of a poisoned martyr to deflect from the political deadlock and disorientation.

For these reasons, the debate might say more about the Palestinians' situation today than about Arafat's death. "To this day, we have avoided accusing Israel of being responsible for Arafat's death," says Nimr Hamad, Abbas' political adviser. "But if we find polonium in his body, it is 99.9 percent certain that it was Israel. That would help us because it proves that Israel doesn't want peace."

That highlighted phrase is an out-and-out lie. In 2005, a PLO ambassador accused Israel of killing Arafat with secret laser device.

In 2006, the PA accused Israel of murdering Arafat, without any disclaimers. (Hamas was the head of the PA at the time but Fatah welcomed the announcement.)

Children are taught (and music videos sung on official PA TV insist) that Jews killed Jesus - and Arafat.

And, of course, the commissions that have been set up by Palestinian Arab officials to determine the cause of Arafat's death have all assumed from the outset that he was murdered.

(h/t Ricardo)

Latest freakout for Muslims: Bar Mitzvahs at the Kotel!

Well, it only took 45 years, but the Al Aqsa Heritage Foundation has discovered that many Jewish 13-year old boys have their Bar Mitzvah ceremonies at the Kotel.

And, as usual, they are freaking out. (The autotranslation is pretty funny so I left some of the bizarre translations in.)

The Aqsa Heritage Foundation released a statement Monday, 9/3/2012 saying that the Israeli occupation invents new ways to Judaize monuments and the Islamic Waqf in Jerusalem and the area around the Al Aqsa Mosque.

Recently, they have increased the so-called "biblical baptism at the Wailing Wall" offering a free ceremony for Jewish youth from all over the country and funded directly from the Office of Israeli Prime Minister. The "Aqsa Foundation" said that such events are intended to Judaize the most important monuments directly linked to the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the Wailing Wall, and asserted that the Wailing Wall is an integral part of the al-Aqsa mosque.

According to "Aqsa Foundation" monitors there have been many recent concerts that are held in the Buraq, under the title "puberty concerts at the Wailing Wall", or what might be called "biblical baptism at the Wailing Wall" for free. They set up concerts of adulthood for young Jews from all regions, from Jerusalem and beyond, where they are organizing a private bus carrying family members, including young Jews celebrating by reaching 13 years, to outside the Mughrabi Gate where they hold dances and songs and biblical hymns, and then to be admitted to the area of Buraq beside the Wailing Wall, and are "baptized in Torah" and carry a "travel Torah - the Tanach" and dance at the squares and then admitted to the synagogue adjacent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The costs of this "baptism" are taken care by the so-called "fund to maintain the legacy of the Western Wall" - a government-owned company directly subordinate to the office of the Israeli Prime Minister, which is being promoted through a special website, including explanations for the ceremony, video clips and a photo album.

The photos they are using to illustrate this terrible trend comes from a private tour guide who specializes in Kotel Bar Mitzvahs.

But the website they are referring to is, I think, this one from the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. I don't believe it is funded by the Prime Minister's office.

This press release is being propagated all over the Arabic media, from Egypt to the UAE.

The very idea of Jews doing strange puberty rituals in front of the Kotel with singing, dancing and Torahs apparently strikes a nerve.

Monday links

From Ian:

The Guardian Batsheva dance group: my deep shame at this bigoted festival protest

The Israeli contemporary dance company's performance had hundreds of shouting protesters outside and was continually disrupted
“A group of Scottish writers headed by Scotland's national poet Liz Lochhead (who has also taken government money on occasion) even wrote to the press calling for a cultural boycott of all Israeli companies and artists. This was what was effectively being imposed on the rest of us by the pickets outside.
I felt personally deeply ashamed and upset that these renowned international artists who were visiting the EIF were unable to perform their show in peace.“

The Dangers of Accepting Iran as a Nuclear Threshold State by Dore Gold

"For all these reasons, letting Iran reach the status of a nuclear threshold power is a big mistake. In January 2012, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Congress that the U.S. objected to Iranian nuclear weapons capabilities and not just to the production of the weapons themselves. But how is the U.S. translating that position into practical policy, especially when it comes to the use of force, when it becomes clear to the White House that diplomacy has reached a dead end?"

Gantz cautions Iran: IDF can hit any place, anytime

IDF chief of staff responds to threats to "wipe Israel off the map," says IDF ready for any scenario; Barak: Map of Middle East changing before our eyes, Israel must be prepared.

Channel 4 history of Islam sparks flood of complaints and presenter Tom Holland subjected to torrent of abusive tweets

Tom Holland responds to the programme's critics

The history of Islam is not off-limits

For instance, Holland spent a lot of his programme in Jerusalem – a city of relative unimportance in Islam. Many establishing shots were presented of Israel’s security fence and CCTV cameras in the centre of the old city. But what Holland at no point mentioned was why he had not gone to film in another city which – mistakenly or otherwise – is far more important in Islam: Mecca. The reason is that Holland is not a Muslim and so is not only unable to film in Mecca but also is not allowed to go there. I think this is quite an important point and though I waited for it to be made, it never was. Holland simply refrained from saying why, throughout his programme, he was stuck in the countries he could travel in freely (Israel and Jordan).

‘Jumah at the DNC’ Speaker: ‘Muslims Visited America Prior to Columbus’ & ‘It Was a Muslim’ Who Guided Him to the ‘New World’

After a year without an envoy, Morsi’s Egypt sends new ambassador to Israel

Anchor dons hijab for 1st time on Egypt state TV

Concern raised that the move represents a further shift towards Islamism under the newly-empowered Muslim Brotherhood.

Hamas to boost military presence at Sinai border

Gaza government pledges to track down militants

Hamas official says Egypt, not Iran, should mediate unity

Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Denies Comments on Postponing Statehood Bid

For Southern Israel, Start of School is Start of ‘Rocket Season’

“We will not give them the satisfaction of disrupting the new school year,” said Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council Head Alon Schuster. “Most of the education and public buildings in the council are fortified, including the new high school that will be inaugurated today.”

IDF Blog: IDF Veterans on the 2012 Israeli Paralympic Team
Israel Defense Forces on Instagram

FT Field of dreams: Israel’s natural gas

After decades of importing every drop of fuel, Israel has struck it rich, uncovering vast reserves of natural gas in the Mediterranean

Also:
Bombs stored in Gaza homes explode (CHA)

Egypt's sexual harassment of women 'epidemic' (BBC)

"If the girls were dressed respectably, no-one would touch them," one of them said. "It's the way girls dress that makes guys come on to them. The girls came wanting it - even women in niqab."

One of his friends told me the boys were not to blame, and that there was a difference between women who wore loose niqabs and tight ones.

A woman who wore a tight niqab was up for it, he added.

Anti-semitism in the new Egypt (Telegraph)

The other side of the Torah (TOI)

In January 2011, a pair of unique objects turned up in the ancient university town of Tübingen, Germany, when a Christian theology instructor and his wife bought a new apartment, occupied by an elderly, reclusive man. Shortly after the purchase, the man died, and his possessions fell into the hands of the new owners. Among these possessions were two original oil paintings depicting a uniformed Nazi German soldier and his wife.

On removing the paintings from the walls, the new owners discovered that these likenesses were painted on the back of sections of Torah scrolls. The texts of the scrolls were perfectly legible. One could clearly read from Sefer Shemot, parshiyot Ki Tissa and Vayakhel (Exodus 34:9-35:16), and from parshiyot Vayakhel and Pekudei (Exodus 37:13-39:6).

(h/t Josh)

Egyptian Jewish community sort of denies Alexandria High Holiday story

Last Thursday, I quoted the Point of No Return blog as saying that Egyptian authorities had canceled Rosh Hashanah services in Alexandria this year for "security reasons."

The story got picked up in Egyptian media.

Now, the Egyptian Jewish community is denying the story - sort of. Let's sort it out:

BBC Arabic says they say they will have services, but...

We already postponed the issue of inviting some visitors to join us during prayers, but we certainly we will establish our celebrations, where we will celebrate the High Holidays here with our small community we hold dear.

We have already postponed inviting visitors to offer prayers during the Jewish New Year (this year), and we hope that the situation improves and becomes more stable. It is known to the whole world that we are in the midst of a transition, and security measures are still being arranged, police are still working to achieve security and safety on the streets again, and no doubt that the necessary safety for all Egyptians, and our dear visitors.

The decision to postpone inviting visitors is a decision taken by the community alone, and is not imposed by the authorities as falsely claimed in the press.

JPost adds:

Yousef Gaon, the caretaker of the Eliahou Hanavi Synagogue, was quoted by a Jewish official as saying services will be held at the 180-year-old house of worship this year albeit without an ordained rabbi or cantor.

"The only difference is a rabbi and cantor who usually lead the services were denied entry to the country," the official, who is in close contact with the remaining Jews in the country, told The Jerusalem Post.

"Gaon said he would lead the services together with other members of the community. Prayers at the synagogue in Cairo will be held as usual. The rabbi who flies in every year was given a visa."

The official asked to remain anonymous not to jeopardize ties with Egyptian authorities.

Let's add a detail from Chabad:

Two weeks ago, the Rabbi of the Jewish Community in Alexandria, Egypt, Rabbi Avraham Nino-Dayan, contacted Chabad.info with a request to send Bochurim [young men] for Tishrei to help with a Minyan in the city which has had close to 2,000 years of continous Jewish presence.

After much hard work we were able to convince some Bochurim to go there, and discussions were taking place about the dates for the flights.

At the last moment, the Egyptian government decided to cancel the trip and notified the Jewish community that "for security reasons" they will not allow Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services at the "Eliyahu Hanavi" synagogue, the last functioning synagogue in Egypt.

And one more fact from Al Masry al Youm to complete the picture:

The number of Jews in Alexandria is 18 women and 4 men, most of them elderly, all between their seventies and nineties, and most live in senior homes, some of them in their apartments with their aides, and for most of these, their children and grandchildren are living abroad.

Now it becomes a little clearer.

For the first time in some 2000 years, Alexandria will not have a minyan (quorum) for Rosh Hashanah. Their recent practice of importing people to help make the minyan will not occur this year because of the security situation in Egypt. Whether this was an explicit decision by Egyptian authorities or because of fear from the Egyptian Jewish community is not really the issue - the fact is that the Egyptian government will not protect any Jews who wish to visit as they have every year.

The community statement saying that services will be held is disingenuous, because Rosh Hashanah services without a minyan - even in a synagogue as beautiful and historic as the Eliyahu HaNavi shul - is not much better than doing it at home. (Of course, they are afraid to say this explicitly.) Critical parts of the service cannot be done without the requisite ten men. Whether they are being barred explicitly or implicitly, the reason is because Egypt cannot guarantee the safety of Jewish visitors.

Because Egyptians would lynch them.

1500 year old Jewish town found near Beersheva

The Israel Antiquities Authority announced yesterday the discovery of a Jewish town near Beersheva that flourished in the 6th century CE.

Archaeologists uncovered two ritual baths and two public buildings with platforms on the Jerusalem-facing walls, indicating that they were either synagogues or Talmud schools.

It appears that the town was evacuated around the time of the Muslim invasion.

Indeed, it seems that the land of Israel had a significant - if not majority - Jewish population for centuries after the Roman conquest until the Muslim hordes came.

An aerial view of the town:

And some of the excavations:

(h/t The Muqata)

Franklin Lamb is quite a liar (updated)

A couple of years ago I noted that a Beirut-based writer named Franklin Lamb, an apparent Hezbollah groupie, publicized a "secret CIA report" that claimed that Israel would not exist in twenty years.

He added (on Iran's PressTV):

Lamb with former Hezbollah spiritual leader Fadlallah

The study, which has been made available only to a certain number of individuals, further forecasts the return of all Palestinian refugees to the occupied territories, and the exodus of two million Israeli - who would move to the US in the next fifteen years.

The study is fictional, but his report ended up all over the crazy Left websites anyway. (The JC interviewed a number of Capitol Hill experts and all agreed it was false. Lamb claimed that he had proof, but never supplied it to TheJC.)

The supposed report appeared more to be Iranian wishful thinking than anything that was sourced in the US.

It looks like Lamb is going back to his 2009 playbook.

A paper entitled “Preparing For A Post Israel Middle East”, an 82-page analysis that concludes that the American national interest in fundamentally at odds with that of Zionist Israel. The authors conclude that Israel is currently the greatest threat to US national interests because its nature and actions prevent normal US relations with Arab and Muslim countries and, to a growing degree, the wider international community.

The study was commissioned by the US Intelligence Community comprising 16 American intelligence agencies with an annual budget in excess of $ 70 billion. The IC includes the Departments of the Navy, Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Defense Intelligence Agency, Departments of Energy, Homeland Security, State, Treasure, Drug Enforcement Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security Agency, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency commissioned the study.

Look how specific he is being! 82 pages! 16 intelligence agencies! And he goes through 15 points of the memo, all of which align very nicely with, again, Iran's view of Israel.

In fact, he even says:

[The report] notes Iran as an example of a country and people that have much in common and whose citizens have a real interest in enjoy [sic] bilateral associations (here an apparent reference to Israel and its US lobby) not determined by the wishes of other countries and their agents.

No wonder Lamb is a frequent guest and columnist on Iran's PressTV!

I have a sneaking suspicion that his resume there is padded, though. I can find no mention of him outside his own writings - no association with the many colleges he claims to have taught at, for example.

If you are going to lie, Lamb knows, you go all in. You make it very detailed, with specific quotes and dates. If you sound authoritative, most people won't bother checking.

Another great example of his lying style comes from this May article where he wrote:

During a late June 1982 meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Begin, Reagan was handed a note from George Shultz. Based on the information he had in hand, Reagan directly told Begin that the US had reliable information than Israel was using American weapons against civilians in Lebanon.

At this point according to Reagan, Begin became very agitated.

He lowered his glasses and while glaring at Reagan and shaking his index finger said, “Mr. President, Israel has never and would never use American weapons against civilians and to claim otherwise is a blood libel against every Jew, everywhere.”

Following their meeting Reagan told Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger, as reported by Weinberger and by various biographers of Reagan that “I did not know what the term “blood libel” meant, but I know that the man looked me straight in the eyes and lied to me.”

It sounds so convincing - and indeed there was friction between the US and Israel over the alleged use of cluster bombs in Lebanon - but, again, these quotes simply cannot be found anywhere besides the writings of Franklin Lamb. Nothing in Reagan's autobiography, nothing in Caspar Weinberger's memoirs - zilch.

(Update: And as commenter Mrzee points out - George Schulz was not yet Secretary of State in June 1982! He entered office the following month, after Reagan met Begin.)

But when you are in the employ of your Iranian/Hezbollah masters, telling the truth is not exactly one of the top criteria for the job.

UPDATE: Lori Lowenthal Marcus at the Jewish Press has a photo of Lamb with another of his heroes, child-murderer Samir Kuntar:

They look so happy together!

UPDATE 2: I found out much more about Lamb. He's a convicted criminal. What a surprise.

Infographic: Mahmoud Abbas' Political Empire

People don't quite get the relationship between Fatah, the PLO and the PA. Here it is in a nutshell, and one man controls them all:

Democracy, Palestinian Arab style!

US throwing Israel under a bus?

This report from YNet, if true, is really bad news:

The United States has indirectly informed Iran, via two European nations, that it would not back an Israeli strike against the country's nuclear facilities, as long as Tehran refrains from attacking American interests in the Persian Gulf, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday.

According to the report, Washington used covert back-channels in Europe to clarify that the US does not intend to back Israel in a strike that may spark a regional conflict.

In return, Washington reportedly expects Iran to steer clear of strategic American assets in the Persian Gulf, such as military bases and aircraft carriers.

Israeli officials reported an unprecedented low in the two nations' defense ties, which stems from the Obama administration's desire to warn Israel against mounting an uncoordinated attack on Iran.

This comes on the heels of the US' very public scaling back of a joint military exercise with Israel:

The United States has reduced the size of a joint military exercise with Israel that was originally billed as being of unprecedented size, TIME Magazine reported Friday, citing "well-placed sources in both countries." The reduction, although officially attributed to budgetary restrictions, the scaling back of the exercise was put into the context of Washington's opposition to a military attack on Iran's nuclear program.

The annual exercise, Austere Challenge 12, was originally slated to include some 5,000 US troops, according to TIME. Instead, the United States will send anywhere between 1,200 and 1,500 troops, TIME reported.

Washington will still send the Patriot missile defense systems it planned to, but the crews that man them will not arrive, TIME reported.

And that in turn came while US General Martin Dempsey said he doesn't want to be "complicit" with an Israeli strike on Iran.

Even dovish Ha'aretz' Chemi Shalev slammed that remark, saying that effectively the US was goading Israel into a unilateral strike:

If I didn’t know any better I would assume that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey is trying to goad Israel into attacking Iran. Otherwise, why would he go to such great lengths to try and persuade them that Israel is on its own and can rely only on itself?

Because that is the net effect of Dempsey’s statements in London last week, especially his yet-to-be-properly-explained use of the word “complicit” as in "I don't want to be complicit if they [Israel] choose to do it.” Complicit? As in what – war crimes?

Even if one accepts the validity of Dempsey’s assertion that an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would “delay and not destroy” Iran’s nuclear program, and even if one understands the need for him to spell out the Administration’s belief that such an attack would “thwart” the “international coalition” – whatever that means – his use of the word “complicit” is somewhere on the scale between unfortunate and way out of line. And to make matters worse, despite the days that have passed, it has yet to be explained or retracted or apologized for, as the Wall Street Journal correctly pointed out in its Friday editorial.

[O]ver the past few days, the [Israeli] public has been bombarded by discouraging news that cannot but harden its attitude. After the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report that confirmed Israel’s worst fears about Tehran’s accelerated nuclear drive; after the disappointing pilgrimage of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and other world leaders to Tehran, and the ludicrous endorsement of Iran’s “peaceful” nuclear programs by the 120 members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM); after the reports of the U.S. decision to scale down, for whatever reason, its participation in the joint Austere Challenge 12 military exercise; after all of these blows, Dempsey’s spiteful choice of word was a virtual coup de grace. The much-abused cliché “the whole world is against us” was driven home, as was Hillel’s guidance – mistakenly attributed in the GOP platform to their own elder, Ronald Reagan – “if I am not for myself, who will be?”

Perhaps Dempsey suffers from the same chronic misunderstanding of Israeli public opinion that afflicts many others in the Administration, including the White House. Administration officials have possibly misinterpreted the superficial newspaper headlines that “most Israelis are opposed to an attack on Iran”. Perhaps they mistakenly believe that by upping the ante and maintaining the pressure, they are strengthening the hand of those opposed to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s efforts to convince the Israeli cabinet that time has run out. Perhaps they are paying too much attention to pundits in both countries who claim that the U.S. needs to “bare its teeth” in order to get its point across.

If so, they are misreading the situation. Most Israelis, in fact, are not opposed to a military attack on Iran at all. Most Israelis are convinced, in fact, rightly or wrongly, that military force is the only way that the Iranian nuclear drive can be stopped. The number of Israelis who support an Israeli attack now together with those who prefer an American attack later combine to form an overwhelming and unassailable majority.

But most Israelis are rightly afraid of the consequences, especially if they decide to go it alone. And they know full well that the U.S. will do a much better job. So as long as they believe that there is an outside chance that the U.S. might carry out the task, or at least lend its formidable hand to an Israeli strike, they are willing to give more time to diplomacy and sanctions. As long as they believe that when push comes to shove, the U.S. will “have Israel’s back”, as President Obama has promised, they will continue to press Netanyahu and his cabinet to accommodate the Administration and to give peace a chance, if Washington really insists.

Dempsey’s harsh language may very well be understood by Israeli decision makers as a shot across the bow that cannot be ignored, but the popular interpretation will be that Israel cannot rely on the U.S. and needs to take matters into its own hands.

If President Obama wishes to dissociate himself from his army commander’s tone, explicitly or not, his upcoming speech at the Democratic National Convention provides a good and possibly last opportunity. If he continues to maintain his excessively low profile, as he has until now, many Israelis will be persuaded that he too does not wish to be “complicit”, and that Israel must take its fate into its own hands, before it’s too late.

And this is from the WSJ article mentioned:

The irony for the Administration is that its head-in-the-sand performance is why many Israeli decision-makers believe they had better strike sooner than later. Not only is there waning confidence that Mr. Obama is prepared to take military action on his own, but there's also a fear that a re-elected President Obama will take a much harsher line on an Israeli attack than he would before the first Tuesday in November.

If Gen. Dempsey or Administration officials really wanted to avert an Israeli strike, they would seek to reassure Jerusalem that the U.S. is under no illusions about the mullahs' nuclear goals—or about their proximity to achieving them. They're doing the opposite.

Since coming to office, Obama Administration policy toward Israel has alternated between animus and incompetence. We don't know what motivated Gen. Dempsey's outburst, but a President who really had Israel's back would publicly contradict it.

Indeed, it appears that the administration is remarkably tone-deaf in understanding how Israelis think and how to reassure them. Nothing symbolizes this more than sending Patriot missile systems to Israel- without sending the support teams necessary to man them.

Finally, even AP realizes that Iran's public statements against developing nuclear weapons doesn't preclude them building them except for the last screw.

Iran could be shaping its nuclear ambitions after Japan, which has the full scope of nuclear technology - including the presumed ability to produce warhead-grade material - but has stopped short of actually producing a weapon. It creates, in effect, a de facto nuclear power with all the parts but just not pieced together.

More than two years ago, Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani essentially embraced Tokyo's nuclear model during a visit to Japan that included a stop in Nagasaki, of the two cities destroyed by American atomic bombs World War II.

Larijani met with Japanese officials and praised the country's nuclear program as a symbol of a third path that dates back to the 1970s, when then Japanese Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata told reporters that Japan “certainly” could possess nuclear arms “but has not made them.”

The major difference, however, is Israel and other U.S. allies, such as Saudi Arabia. They would have to adapt to a huge balance-of-power shift with Iran on the doorstep of having nuclear arms.

Following Japan's path would allow Iran to push their nuclear technology to the limit while being able to claim it has adhered to its international pledge not to develop a bomb.

Yoel Guzansky, an Iranian affairs expert for Israel's Institute of National Security Studies, believes Iran could be adopting a Japan-style policy to reach a “nuclear threshold.”

“Israeli can't live with the uncertainty of a nuclear threshold state,” he said. “Iran could push over (to weapons capability) at any given moment.”

This is where Iran might seek seams in the unity of the West and its allies: Could some live with an almost-armed Iran rather than risk a war that could send oil prices skyrocketing and risk spilling conflict across the region?

This official Iranian ambiguity seems to be enough to split the West between those who see things clearly and those who want to keep their heads in the sand.

The tragedy is that the US, from all indications, seems to be moving to the latter category.

Shana Tova from the Technion (video)

Kippa "flashmob" in Germany against anti-semitism

The best story of the week.

From Berliner-Zeitung:

More than a hundred demonstrators protested against anti-Semitism in Charlottenburg. Most participants wore a yarmulke - the traditional Jewish head covering. The reason was the attack on a Berlin rabbi last Wednesday in the Schöneberg district of Berlin.

After the attack on a Berlin rabbi over a hundred people in Charlottenburg staged a spontaneous demonstration protesting against anti-Semitism. In the so-called flash mob participants moved silently from the Fasanenstraße to KaDeWe department store on the Kurfürstendamm. A majority of the protesters wore it the traditional Jewish head covering.

Police said they were notified of the event shortly beforehand. "But everything remained peaceful," said a spokesman. On Facebook, the organizers had called for the action. "We do not want people on our streets are attacked because they identify themselves as visibly Jewish," they wrote on their website.

Last Wednesday, the rabbi was in the Schöneberg district of Berlin surrounded by several young people, beaten and insulted.

Abba Eban and Ivory Soap

A funny exchange in the UN from the debates that led to Security Council Resolution 242:

Mr. DAOUDY (Syria): Day by day it becomes increasingly clear that that aggression was precisely calculated and planned in advance as if by a computer. The numerous statements of high-ranking Israel spokesmen, quoted on many occasions, confirm this, if ever confirmation be needed. But let me quote an illuminating paragraph concerning what transpired with regard to the total mobilization of Israel forces for the definite purpose of aggression. This is taken from a book entitled Six Days in June by Robert J. Donovan and the staff of the Los Angeles Times, which was written especially to glorify the so-called heroic deeds of Israel:

"Robert C. Toth, Los Angeles Times correspondent in Israel, was able to circumvent military censorship on the scope of the Israel mobilization before hostilities. To keep the extent of the call-up secret, Israel said it had undertaken 'partial mobilization'. Censors would pass no other phrase. Deep in a story on war preparations filed three days before the fighting began, Toth inserted the phrase, 'Israel's partial mobilization was Ivory-pure.' The story cleared. On the foreign desk in Los Angeles, editors quickly realized Toth was referring to the Ivory soap slogan--99 and 44/100ths per cent pure--and rewrote Toth's lead paragraph to say that Israel was 'fully mobilized'."
Thus any doubt which may still be entertained by anyone regarding the identity of the real aggressor is removed, even by sources sympathetic to the Israel point of view.

Mr. EBAN (Israel): It is very difficult for me to reply to the address of the Syrian representative without taking the level of this debate below the level that it has reached. I am a much less assiduous reader than he is of the Los Angeles Times, and I know very little about the qualities of Ivory soap. Nor do I feel that I have to analyse again the address of mine to which he took exception. I said what I said on Monday [1375th meeting], and I have noted the reports of what I have said throughout the world, and I am content that Israel's meaning is clear.

The Syrian representative began with a long and rather sinister description of the fact that Israel armed forces were mobilized in the first days of June. Of course the Cabinet of which I am a member ordered mobilization in the early days of June. Ninety thousand Egyptian troops in the Sinai; 45,000 poised on the Syrian heights; the entire Jordan army in order of battle; all surrounding airfields with operation orders about targets for attack; a complete naval blockade of our southern frontiers: if, in these conditions, Israel mobilized its forces for defense, this simply proves that the Israel Government was possessed of a normal sanity.

Mr. DAOUDY (Syria): Apparently my reference to Robert J. Donovan's book called Six Days in June, which I have here in my hand, was not to the liking of the Foreign Minister of Israel. But that book was not written by an Arab, nor is it considered to be pro-Arab. That book, which is being sold in New York by the thousands, was written precisely to propagate the Israel point of view and is definitely a pro-Israel book. Naturally, the Israel authorities do not like the fact that the Los Angeles Times correspondent was able to convey to his paper, despite the Israel censorship, the fact that Israel had totally mobilized its troops while the Israel authorities were deceiving the world in stating that there was no mobilization whatsoever. Whether Mr. Eban reads the Los Angeles Times or not is beside the point. I can assure him that I have no special knowledge of Ivory soap or the slogans put out by the Ivory soap company. My stay in this country has been very short, and he should know better about these things in view of the fact that his stay has been much longer and he has very intimate and very valuable connections in this country.

Iran covers up Star of David at airport. Swastikas are OK, though.

Two years ago, I noted that Google Earth images of Mehrabad International Airport in Iran showed what appeared to be a Star of David on its roof:

Iranian media were aghast, claiming that Israeli engineers had built the building for the Shah and demanded that this hated symbol be removed.

More recent satellite images show that the star has indeed been covered up:

Another victory of the Islamic Republic over the Zionist enemy!

This mimics the similar brouhaha over dozens of six-pointed stars found on the dome in Revolution Square, in Tehran, which was similarly destroyed.

But while six-pointed stars associated with Judaism are anathema to Iranian leaders, other patterns - like this set of four swastikas at Islamic Azad University - don't seem to bother them so much:

Sunday links

From Ian:

Netanyahu: Time for world to set 'clear red lines' for Iran

PM says at cabinet meeting that sanctions hurting Iranian economy but not deterring Tehran's nuclear advance; decries lack of protest at "anti-Semitic rants" of Iranian leadership during NAM conference.
"I think that the truth must be told," Netanyahu continued. "The international community is not putting down a clear red line to Iran, and Iran is not seeing international determination to stop its nuclear program."
Until the Iranians see a clear red line and this determination, he said, they will not stop moving their nuclear program forward. "Iran cannot get a nuclear weapon," he declared.

J'lem puzzled by Dempsey comment on Iran strike

Dempsey said he did not want to be 'complicit' in strike; Israeli source says comment doesn't represent White House position.

The futility of relying on the international community By ISI LEIBLER

"Ultimately, the bottom line is that we must not succumb to pressures from those seeking to deter us from taking steps to thwart threats to our survival. Nor should we be tempted to rely on undertakings from other, “friendly” nations. We have learned from bitter experience, that when the chips are down we must rely on ourselves. As Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon recently stated “the righteous work may be done by others, but we have to prepare as if no one else will do it for us”.

German Jews slam Muslims for anti-Semitism

"After a Berlin rabbi and his young daughter were assaulted, the president of Germany’s Jewish community on Friday called on the country’s Muslim associations to tackle anti-Semitism within their communities and urged Jews to continue wearing kippot in public."

Photo fraud: CNN resurrects the Rachel Corrie libel

"Now, nine years later, with the Israeli court verdict, CNN still hasn’t learned its lesson. Due either to anti-Israel bias or to pure sloppiness, CNN continues to use the megaphone photos, promoting the libel of Israel intentionally murdering Americans."

MEMRI: British MP Galloway: I Support Bashar For The Reason I Supported Saddam (6 min)

Turkey's appeal for safe zone in Syria sputters

Jordan, UN appeal for $700 million to help deal with influx of Syrian refugees

Abu Hamza's son stole £70,000 of gems in armed smash and grab raid on jewellers

Hamza has seven children and in the past his relatives have been arrested for various offences.
Sons Hamza Mustafa Kamel, Mohamed Kamel Mostafa and Mohssin Ghailan were jailed in 2009 for their part in a £1million luxury car scam.

Imam held in blasphemy case after new testimony

ISLAMABAD: A blasphemy case took a bizarre turn here on Saturday when police arrested Khalid Jadoon, a prayer leader who had allegedly put some pages of the holy Quran among the burnt papers to strengthen the case against a Christian girl.

A high-tech bridge between London and Israel

The UK’s TexChange program will bring the spirit of the Start-Up Nation to UK investors and corporations
"Israel’s got the technology, and Britain has the markets — or at least access to them. Why not bring the two together, letting British companies get access to Israeli start-up technology, to bring new products and services to existing and new markets?"

Israeli water power that doesn’t give a dam