According to Palestine Press Agency, today is the first day of Gaza exporting strawberries and cherry tomatoes to the European market for the season.
Some of the goods, which will be sent through the Kerem Shalom crossing, will be using a Palestinian Arab company - "Harvest Export" to handle all the export paperwork and logistics. As far as I know, up until now the Gaza crops have all gone through Israeli exporters.
Interestingly, the Harvest website notes with pride that "Palestinian farmers learn from long-term relationships with their Israeli counterparts in the use of modern agricultural techniques and methods."
The export season was supposed to start two weeks ago - but Islamic Jihad decided to shoot mortars to the Kerem Shalom crossing, forcing it to be closed, despite Israeli efforts to keep humanitarian aid flowing.
Gaza farm officials estimate that they lost some half a million shekels because of the fighting, selling strawberries internally for 5 shekels/kg instead of getting 25 shekels/kg in Europe.
Maybe they can sue Islamic Jihad for their shortfall? Certainly the judicial system in Gaza will treat them fairly, no?
Anti-Israel pseudo-intellectual Juan Cole wrote a typically stupid article for Arab American News last week, with some howling lies like "In fact, Israel has refused to cease colonizing and stealing Palestinian land long enough to engage in fruitful negotiations with them" (besides the absurd language, Israel did cease building for ten months, and the PLO refused to negotiate until month 10, and then only under tremendous pressure and only cosmetically. Oh, and the PLO only added this precondition around 2007.)
One of his points, however, seem to place the professor in the same company as anti-semites:
Israeli hawks represent their war of aggression as in ‘self-defense.’ But the UK Israeli chief rabbi admitted on camera that that the Gaza attack actually ‘had something to do with Iran.’
First of all, let's get the pesky facts out of the way. The Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, thought he was off the air on BBC Radio - not televised - when the presenter asked him about his opinion of the fighting in Gaza, and he answered "‘I think it’s got to do with Iran, actually" before he was told he was still on live.
Sacks is not Israeli. He was born in London. He is not a member of the Israeli government, and as far as I know he doesn't advise them nor is he privy to their own discussions.
But let us put aside Cole's lack of basic knowledge, and see what he is really trying to say.
Juan Cole apparently believes that a Chief Rabbi must be a member of the Elders of Zion, and his offhand statement - almost certainly regarding the arming of Hamas and Islamic Jihad with medium-range Iranian rockets - was not merely conjecture from thousands of miles away from Israel, but an admission of how the other Elders of the Jewish people are really thinking in our super-secret discussions.
Cole cannot distinguish between Israeli politicians - and a British Jewish religious figure.
What kind of twisted, bigoted thinking would cause someone to make such an assumption that all worldwide Jewry is speaking with the same ("hawkish") voice?
The rest of Cole's essay also betrays a bizarre, paranoid, conspiracy-theorist way of thinking. For example, he says "the military action against the people of Gaza is a diversion tactic; the real goal is Greater Israel, an assertion of Israeli sovereignty over all the territory once held by the British Mandate of Palestine." Really? Israel started a mini-war to divert the world's attention from settlements? I would have thought that Syria was doing a better job at that.
I guess those scheming Jews were bombing Gaza just to divert attention from the West Bank, and they also have secret meetings with chief rabbis who stupidly reveal their plans, which have something to do with Iran and not the settlements.
I know it is all very confusing. You need a third-rate academic like Juan Cole, who believes in conspiracy theories where Jews control everything, to explain it all.
"Abbas insisted, citing UNGA’s 1949 resolution 194 (rejected by all Arab states at the time), on the legally baseless so-called ‘right of return’ of Palestinian refugees of the 1948-9 war and their millions of descendants to Israel, which would end Israel as a Jewish state.
The horrid irony is that Abbas’ cause fits the lurid description he applied to Israel. His Fatah party still calls in its Constitution for the destruction of Israel (Article 13) and the use of terrorism as an essential element in the struggle to achieve that goal (Article 19). Indeed, Fatah’s emblem depicts the whole of Israel re-labelled ‘Palestine,’ flanked by images of a Kalashnikov rifle and arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat. Hamas, which controls Gaza, a portion of the territory Abbas is claiming or statehood, calls in its Charter for the destruction of Israel (Article 15) and the murder of Jews (Article 7)."
“... Abbas has not created a state. He has not yet changed the legal status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. If he actually declared a state and sought to place the entire West Bank under Palestinian jurisdiction, then Israel would have to respond forcefully and immediately annex vital areas like IDF security zones, settlement blocs, and points of national-religious significance to the Jewish people. For now, Israel will have to take measured steps to deter Abbas from going further down the path of unilateralism.”
"No wonder the outcome was met by the loud applause of a room full of the representatives of dictators and thugs (the majority of U.N. members are not full democracies), and NGO/“civil society” hacks who had been brought in by the U.N. Division for Palestinian Rights. (A letter of Division Director Wolfgang Grieger states that he had personally reserved at least 100 spots in the gallery.) Sitting in the gallery myself, I noticed that during Abbas’s lengthy speech the outbursts of clapping across the gallery would commence before the translation of Arabic sentences into other languages had finished. It was an exercise in what one might call Benghazi-style spontaneity. The only question that remains, therefore, is this. Now that decades of Palestinian intransigence and belligerence have been richly rewarded by the U.N. majority, how soon will Palestinians start targeting and harming Israeli Jews with impunity again?"
"So long as Palestinian nationalism is based on the negation of Israel rather than a positive vision for themselves, peace is impossible. While the UN vote won’t change much of anything on the ground, there should be no mistake about the basic continuity between the Arab positions of 1947 and today."
"...Abbas is threatening not to come back to the negotiating table, which would debunk these supporters’ claims that the UN move would be good for the peace process. They may be tempted to push Netanyahu to accept Abbas’s preconditions–but that is the reason for the impasse in the first place. And they shouldn’t forget the can of worms they opened when they supported preconditions last time: every time Netanyahu appeared willing to consider preconditions, Abbas added to them, because the preconditions are designed to disrupt and prevent negotiations, not enable them."
"He told Ramallah-based media outlet Al-Ayyam that Palestinian rights to the land on pre-1967 borders was proven at the UN General Assembly on Thursday, and that nobody can build on that land at will."
"That the Czechs sided with Israel and the United States demonstrates the importance that Prague attaches to the transatlantic alliance, as it was willing to buck its fellow EU members and side with Washington on a controversial issue. The vote also shows the affinity that the Czech Republic has long felt for Israel, an affinity that dates at least from the visit that Tomas Masaryk, the first President of independent Czechoslovakia, made to Palestine in 1927, "
“Of course they care. Passionately. They are, if anything, political creatures. Did they not kick a god-awful fuss over news magnate Rupert Murdoch’s stirring defense of Israel during the latest Gazan round?
Did they not let him have it? Is that apathy? Did they not rush to pillory Murdoch for asking on Twitter: “Why is Jewish owned press so consistently anti-Israel in every crisis?”
Wow, they came out punching! It wasn’t the actual negligible matter of Israel’s ongoing struggle which stirred them. Siding with Israel or welcoming Murdoch’s warm support of Israel wasn’t what aroused their emotions. Nor were they moved by the issue of anti-Israeli media bias. Far from it. This is just the sort of preoccupation that leaves them cold and consistently condescending."
"This time around, the media has been more circumspect about civilian casualty claims. Nevertheless there are still examples where the figures provided by PCHR and others are simply reported without qualification. Just like in 2009, it will take time for the terrorist connections to emerge of some of those described as civilians or not labeled. And similar to what happened in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead, when an accurate picture of the fatalities finally does emerge, the media will mostly have moved on. Still, it is important to establish accurate casualty figures for the historical record to rebut future accusations."
"Palestinians in the West Bank have greater longevity (and other favorable health metrics) than the majority of the world's population and yet have been among the largest recipients of humanitarian aid in the world for two decades."
“In fact, the Muslim population of Jerusalem increased roughly 5 fold from 1967 (when Israel unified the city) to 2009, from 58,000 to over 278,000, while the Jewish population increased by a factor of only 2.8, from 196,000 to 480,000.”
"Pro-palestinian "Allah-u-Akbar" Christmas choir, Leftists demonstrating for "Global intifada", t-shirts promoting sharia 'Only God can judge me', flags with machine guns and hand grenade and red socialist flags -- and stoning of secular law's representatives. As usual: No arrests..."
"Omissions of certain articles, such as bans on slavery or promises to adhere to international rights treaties, were equally worrying to critics of the new draft, who pulled out from the panel before the vote. Isn’t it ironic, that the first black man in the Oval Office has helped bring to an end the ban on trading African slaves in Egypt?"
"The singer, who is touring to promote her new album "Havoc and Bright Lights," is also being targeted by followers on Facebook and Twitter. One fan, responding to the comments about her Israel performance, wrote: "Please don't be bullied by the anti Israel sentiment. Go to Israel and see for yourself."
"KRAKOW — The first Polish film to portray the country’s gentiles committing crimes against their Jewish neighbors has hit movie theaters, generating both enthusiastic praise and threats of violence against one of the stars."
'Shoah' Director to be Honored at International Berlin Film Fest
French filmmaker, known for 1985 documentary "Shoah", will be honored with lifetime achievement award at Berlin International Film Festival.
Israel Daily Picture: A Collection of 150-Year-Old Pictures of Jerusalem
"Many of the photos were taken from the British Ordinance Survey of Jerusalem of 1865 led by Captain Charles W. Wilson. He and Captain Charles Warren led extensive archaeological excavations near the Temple Mount ("Wilson's Arch" and "Warren's Shaft" are well-known to visitors to Jerusalem)."
At approximately 08:00 (November 17th) , Israeli warplanes attacked a number of 3 young men in al-Maghazi refugee camp, killing them: Ali Abdul Halim al-Manaama, 24; Ussama Mousa Abdul Jawad, 27; and Ashraf Hassan Darwish, 22.
PCHR does not identify them as "militants," but all three were terrorists.
The obituary for Darwish explains that he joined the Qassam Brigades in 2007, after attending UNRWA schools. Here he is:
The other two have not yet been memorialized at the Qassam site, but Qassam Brigades memorial posters for them have already been published:
Manaama
Jawad
And another:
At approximately 19:50, Israeli warplanes attacked a number of young men who were sitting near a house belonging to Ahmed Mohammed Jaddou Abu Jalal, 43, a member of an armed group, in al-Maghazi refugee camp. He was killed together with 3 civilians, including his brother: Amjad Mohammed Jaddou Abu Jalal, 33 .
Amjad was no civilian. His obituary at the Al Qassam site notes he joined the terror group in 2005, where is is praised for firing Qassam rockets and mortars at "settlements," as well as for working on weapons tunnels and for fighting during Cast Lead.
In Saturday's Daf Yomi, the Talmud explains various laws that center around various types of jewelry and the Sabbath. One of those items mentioned is called a "City of Gold," which is a piece of gold jewelry that Jewish women would wear that is shaped to represent Jerusalem.
What is the meaning of: With a city of gold? Rabba bar bar Ĥana said that Rabbi Yoĥanan said: Jerusalem of Gold, a gold tiara engraved with a depiction of the city of Jerusalem, like the one that Rabbi Akiva made for his wife.
Rabbi Akiva, who lived just after the destruction of the Second Temple, was one of the greatest of the tannaim [Mishnaic rabbis.] Unlettered until the age of 40, Akiva was encouraged by his wife Rachel to devote himself to the study of Torah. After years of study under the tutelage of Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, Yehoshua ben Hanania and others, he returned with thousands of students and established his own academy in Bene Brak.
The "city of gold" ornament that Rabbi Akiva made for his wife is mentioned several times throughout the Talmud. The Gemara relates that when they lived in abject poverty they resided in a hayloft. When he saw that the hay got into his wife’s hair, Rabbi Akiva told her that if he ever became wealthy he would make her a "city of gold" ornament. Eventually, he kept his promise. In the Jerusalem Talmud, it is told that the wife of the Nasi, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, complained to him that she does not have so expensive an ornament. He asked her: Would you have done for me what Rabbi Akiva’s wife did for him? Rabbi Akiva’s wife sold the braids of her hair so that he could study Torah and she earned that ornament.
According to the descriptions of the Sages, the "city of gold" was a tiara on which the form of a city and its walls were depicted in gold. The Jerusalem of Gold specifically depicted the walls of Jerusalem. Apparently, this ornament was quite expensive and only a very limited number of aristocratic women wore it.
Jewish women were adorning themselves with jewelry depicting their love for Jerusalem some six centuries before Islam was born (and probably earlier than that.)
Just something to keep in mind as people show anger at Jews building houses in the suburbs of that same city today.
The leader of the Tunisian Islamist party that rose to power after the first Arab Spring uprising last year said this week that Islamist movements would eventually emerge triumphant throughout the Arab world after a difficult transition period.
Rached al-Ghannouchi, whose Ennahda party governs with two junior leftist partners, said secular groups should join forces with Islamists to manage the first phase after autocratic rulers were removed.
But in the end, Islam will be the “reference point.”
“The Arab world is going through a transition phase which needs coalitions to govern, which brings together Islamist and secular trends,” Ghannouchi said in an interview during a trip to London where he spoke at Chatham House.
“These coalitions will lead to eventual rapprochement between the Islamists and the secularists.”
However, he added Islamists would have the upper hand.
“There’s a true way that Islam represents the common ground for everyone … Eventually Islam becomes a reference point for everyone,” he said.
"Media naturally gravitate toward dramatic and highly visual stories. Reports of 5.5 million Israelis gathered nightly in bomb shelters scarcely compete with the Palestinian father interviewed after losing his son. Both are, of course, newsworthy, but the first tells a more complete story while the second stirs emotions. This is precisely what Hamas wants. It seeks to instill a visceral disgust for any Israeli act of self-defense, even one taken after years of unprovoked aggression."
"The terrorists thought that hiding in a civilian building and using international journalists as human shields would ensure their safety. Once IDF Intelligence learned of their location, the IDF surgically targeted their hiding place. A direct hit was confirmed."
"The real question raised by Mr. Carr’s column is whether a station that is ideologically motivated and subsidized by a terrorist organization deserves the same treatment as CNN or The New York Times. Moreover, should a Hamas commander who painted the words “TV” on his car be considered a journalist?
Mr. Carr is quick to incriminate the Israel Defense Forces for targeting journalists, but he does not mention that terrorists are actively exploiting journalists as shields.Mr. Carr is worried about freedom of the press and rightly so. However, when terrorist organizations exploit reporters, either by posing as them or by hiding behind them, they are the immediate threat to freedom of the press.Such terrorists, who hold cameras and notebooks in their hands, are no different from their colleagues who fire rockets aimed at Israeli cities and cannot enjoy the rights and protection afforded to legitimate journalists."
"Prior to discovering the footage posted below, which shows the funeral of Ahmed, BBC Watch says they contacted the IDF who confirmed that he was a known terrorist. The blog also writes that the al-Qassam Brigades wrote of his death on their English-language website. Additionally, as you can see in the picture above, he is wrapped in a green Hamas flag at the funeral."
There's no reason for surprise that TA bus bomb suspect is Palestinian given citizenship under "family reunion."
"There was no reason for the shocked reactions in Israel following the disclosure that the suspected perpetrator of the bus bombing in Tel Aviv last week was a Palestinian Arab who had been granted Israeli citizenship to facilitate a “family reunion.”
The latest anti-terror arrest in the Hevron region unveiled a weapons storehouse in a private home.
"The IDF has been stepping up its fight against Hamas in Judea and Samaria (Shomron) in wake of the recent open battle with Hamas in Gaza. Earlier this week troops went to arrest a terror suspect in Hevron and ended up finding a weapons warehouse in a private home."
Well, it seems that they failed to mention one quite significant element of the UN resolution (which passed with 33 votes in favor, 13 against, 10 abstentions and one absent). Res. 181 not only called for the creation of a Jewish state, but the creation of an Arab one as well.
"CST’s 2011 Report on Antisemitic Discourse clearly demonstrates the Guardian’s continuing antisemitic sins of ‘commission and, just as dangerous, ‘omission’: their silence in the face of clear evidence of antisemitism when covering a story. "
"Such journalist activists – whether they’re at the Guardian or the BBC – are risking more than their own reputations. If Guardian and BBC editors continually allow their journalists to make such egregious errors with impunity, and report the news in a manner resembling political advocacy rather than professional journalism, whatever remaining credibility they may have will continue to erode."
"When you hear Arab accounts of so-called Israeli “massacres” and “bestiality,” remember that the Arab foes of Israel have perfected a modern literary motif known as “the Arab atrocity story” which usually turns out to be a contrived work of fiction."
"Syrian rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad have sent children into combat and used boys as young as 14 to transport weapons and supplies, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday."
"The Syrian government has shut down the internet across the country and cut mobile phone services in select areas as rebels and government troops waged fierce battles near the capital's airport. International airlines were forced to suspend flights."
FIFA to Rebuild Gaza Soccer Stadium Used Against Israel by Hamas
"The soccer association, Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), is pledging to rebuild the Gaza stadium that Israeli defense forces targeted after Hamas rockets were fired from it."
Norwegian youth leader seen encouraging anti-Semitic speech
"Aspiring Norwegian politician Khalid Haji Ahmed said he was only joking when he wished “best of luck eight times over” to activists who wrote on Facebook that they wished Adolf Hitler could kill more Jews."
Let’s stop demonizing Israel. The new analogy I invite Arabs to use can be rendered: “Israel Is a Sister.”
"As a researcher in cognitive linguistics and critical discourse analysis, I can say that the reason bad analogies are so dangerous is that they can constrain and direct our policies. The above analogy, for example, highlights that Israel is a killer of innocence, suppressing the fact that Hamas fires rockets at innocent Israeli civilians. Importantly, depicting Israel as a demon implies that there can be no peace with it. If this were the case, how can Egypt play the role of peace broker between Israel and Palestine?"
"Here's Councillor Richard Humphreys (Labour) speaking on 25 November at a pro-Israel rally in Dublin. While by no means unsympatheti to the Palestinians, he calls for a more balanced approach in Ireland to the Middle East situation, and pays tribute not only to Israel but to the Jewish presence in Ireland."
Al Arabiya reports on an Arab network that obtained a copy of an internal Iranian report that is very pessimistic about the situation there.
According to the report, Iranian officials privately admit the country is not in a good position to meet external challenges, especially with regard to Syria ansd the nuclear issue, although Tehran is trying to show a united front in the statements of its officials.
The report says Iran is currently facing the most serious crisis since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1980. According to the report, the cause of these concerns is the combination of economic mismanagement by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and severe sanctions imposed on Iran after failing to convince the world that its nuclear program has no military dimensions. The report added that this would lead to social unrest on a large scale in the country.
Iran faces major problems in securing imports of agricultural materials and food, as a result of tough sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe on the economy, including a ban on imports of Iranian oil and the prohibition of financial transactions and banking with Tehran.
The report says that the Iranian government is currently struggling to meet their need to import more than 10 million tons of wheat per month, and they have been forced to bring in stocks of lower-quality grain. Prominent Iranian leaders are also concerned of a potential government inability to pay the salaries of its staff, warning that this in particular would be a flashpoint to trigger demonstrations and unrest throughout the country.
Some senior officials hope the election of a new president in the next year will improve the situation, but this seems unlikely as long as the sanctions for Iran's refusal to comply with its nuclear obligations and to cease its enrichment activities continues.
The greatest impact of the sanctions on Iran came after the European Union's decision to stop importing Iranian oil from July, according to the report.
Al Mesryoon reports that The Grand Sheikh Mustafa Atfy an undersecretary of the Ministry of [Islamic] Endowments in Egypt, has called for a "jihad" to "liberate Jerusalem."
he said that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is sacred in Islam; it is not merely a historic or archaeological shrine, but a sacred Islamic place.
Al-Atfy added that Jerusalem is not just occupied, but a basic Islamic issue. He stressed that its "liberation from the hands of the usurper Jews" would affirm its sanctity and "jihad for the liberation of Jerusalem is an Islamic duty for every Muslim."
This is not only a preacher, but an Egyptian government official essentially calling for holy war against Israel.
Not that the mainstream media will be bothered by this one bit.
Palestinian Arab TV refused to show Israel's UN ambassador Ron Prosor's excellent response to Mahmoud Abbas' hate-filled speech at the UN yesterday, so it makes sense to ensure that it is widely available: Today I stand before you tall and proud because I represent the world’s one and only Jewish state. A state built in the Jewish people’s ancient homeland, with its eternal capital Jerusalem as its beating heart.
We are a nation with deep roots in the past and bright hopes for the future. We are a nation that values idealism, but acts with pragmatism. Israel is a nation that never hesitates to defend itself, but will always extend its hand for peace.
Peace is a central value of Israeli society. The bible calls on us:
“seek peace and pursue it.”
Peace fills our art and poetry. It is taught in our schools. It has been the goal of the Israeli people and every Israeli leader since Israel was re-established 64 years ago.
Israel’s Declaration of Independence states, “We extend our hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighborliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help…”
This week was the 35th anniversary of President Anwar Sadat’s historic visit to Jerusalem. In a speech just before that visit, President Sadat famously stood in the Egyptian parliament in Cairo and stated that he would go “to the ends of the earth” to make peace with Israel.
Israel’s Prime Minister at the time, Menachem Begin, welcomed President Sadat to Israel, and paved the way for peace. This morning Prime Minister Netanyahu stood at the Menachem Begin Center at said this about the resolution that you are about to vote on: ”Israel is prepared to live in peace with a Palestinian state, but for peace to endure, Israel’s security must be protected. The Palestinians must recognize the Jewish State and they must be prepared to end the conflict with Israel once and for all.
None of these vital interests, these vital interests of peace, none of them appear in the resolution that will be put forward before the General Assembly today and that is why Israel cannot accept it. The only way to achieve peace is through agreements that are reached by the parties and not through U.N. resolutions that completely ignore Israel’s vital security and national interests. And because this resolution is so one-sided, it doesn’t advance peace, it pushes it backwards.
As for the rights of Jewish people in this land, I have a simple message for those people gathered in the General Assembly today, no decision by the U.N. can break the 4000 year old bond between the people of Israel and the land of Israel.”
Mr. President,
The People of Israel wait for a Palestinian leader that is willing to follow in the path of President Sadat. The world waits for President Abbas to speak the truth that peace can only be achieved through negotiations by recognizing Israel as a Jewish State. It waits for him to tell them that peace must also address Israel’s security needs and end the conflict once and for all.
For as long as President Abbas prefers symbolism over reality, as long as he prefers to travel to New York for UN resolutions, rather than travel to Jerusalem for genuine dialogue, any hope of peace will be out of reach.
Mr. President,
Israel has always extended its hand for peace and will always extend its hand for peace. When we faced an Arab leader who wanted peace, we made peace. That was the case with Egypt. That was the case with Jordan.
Time and again, we have sought peace with the Palestinians. Time and again, we have been met by rejection of our offers, denial of our rights, and terrorism targeting our citizens.
President Abbas described today’s proceedings as “historic”. But the only thing historic about his speech is how much it ignored history.
The truth is that 65 years ago today, the United Nations voted to partition the British Mandate into two states: a Jewish state, and an Arab state. Two states for two peoples.
Israel accepted this plan. The Palestinians and Arab nations around us rejected it and launched a war of annihilation to throw the “Jews into the sea”.
The truth is that from 1948 until 1967, the West Bank was ruled by Jordan, and Gaza was ruled by Egypt. The Arab states did not lift a finger to create a Palestinian state. Instead they sought Israel’s destruction, and were joined by newly formed Palestinian terrorist organizations.
The truth is that at Camp David in 2000, and again at Annapolis in 2008, Israeli leaders made far-reaching offers for peace. Those offers were met by rejection, evasion, and even terrorism.
The truth is that to advance peace, in 2005 Israel dismantled entire communities and uprooted thousands of people from their homes in the Gaza Strip. And rather than use this opportunity to build a peaceful future, the Palestinians turned Gaza into an Iranian terror base, from which thousands of rockets were fired into Israeli cities. As we were reminded just last week, the area has been turned into a launching pad for rockets into Israeli cities, a haven for global terrorists, and an ammunition dump for Iranian weapons.
Time after time, the Palestinian leadership refused to accept responsibility. They refused to make the tough decisions for peace.
Israel remains committed to peace, but we will not establish another Iranian terror base in the heart of our country.
We need a peace that will ensure a secure future for Israel.
Three months ago, Israel’s Prime Minister stood in this very hall and extended his hand in peace to President Abbas. He reiterated that his goal was to create a solution of two-states for two-peoples—where a demilitarized Palestinian state will recognize Israel as a Jewish State.
That’s right. Two states for two peoples.
In fact, President Abbas, I did not hear you use the phrase “two states for two peoples” this afternoon. In fact, I have never heard you say the phrase “two states for two peoples”. Because the Palestinian leadership has never recognized that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people.
They have never been willing to accept what this very body recognized 65 years ago. Israel is the Jewish state.
In fact, today you asked the world to recognize a Palestinian state, but you still refuse to recognize the Jewish state.
Not only do you not recognize the Jewish state, you are also trying to erase Jewish history. This year, you even tried to erase the connection between the Jewish people and Jerusalem. You said that Jews were trying to alter the historic character of Jerusalem. You said that we are trying to “Judaize Jerusalem”.
President Abbas, the truth is that Jerusalem had a Jewish character long before most cities in the world had any character! Three thousand years ago King David ruled from Jerusalem and Jews have lived in Jerusalem ever since.
President Abbas, instead of revising history, it is time that you started making history by making peace with Israel.
Mr. President,
This resolution will not advance peace.
This resolution will not change the situation on the ground. It will not change the fact that the Palestinian Authority has no control over Gaza. That is forty percent of the territory he claims to represent!
President Abbas, you can’t even visit nearly half the territory of the state you claim to represent.
That territory is controlled by Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist organization that rains missiles on Israel’s civilians. This is the same Hamas that fired more than 1,300 rockets into the heart of Israel’s major cities this month.
This resolution will not confer statehood on the Palestinian Authority, which clearly fails to meet the criteria for statehood.
This resolution will not enable the Palestinians Authority to join international treaties, organizations, or conferences as a state.
This resolution cannot serve as an acceptable terms of reference for peace negotiations with Israel. Because this resolution says nothing about Israel’s security needs. It does not call on the Palestinians to recognize Israel as the Jewish State. It does not demand an end of conflict and a termination of all claims.
Let me tell you what this resolution does do.
This resolution violates a fundamental binding commitment. This is a commitment that many of the states here today were themselves witness to. It was a commitment that all outstanding issues in the peace process would only be resolved in direct negotiations.
This resolution sends a message that the international community is willing to turn a blind eye to peace agreements. For the people of Israel, it raises a simple question: why continue to make painful sacrifices for peace, in exchange for pieces of paper that the other side will not honor?
It will make a negotiated peace settlement less likely, as Palestinians continue to harden their positions and place further obstacles and preconditions to negotiations and peace.
And unfortunately, it will raise expectations that cannot be met, which has always proven to be a recipe for conflict and instability.
There is only one route to Palestinian statehood. And that route does not run through this chamber in New York. That route runs through direct negotiations between Jerusalem and Ramallah that will lead to a secure and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
There are no shortcuts. No quick fixes. No instant solutions. As President Obama, said in 2010, “Peace cannot be imposed from the outside.”
The real message of this resolution for the people of Israel is that the international community will turn a blind eye to violations of these agreements by the Palestinians.
Mr. President,
In submitting this resolution, the Palestinian leadership is once again making the wrong choice.
65 years ago the Palestinians could have chosen to live side-by-side with the Jewish State of Israel. 65 years ago they could have chosen to accept the solution of two states for two peoples. They rejected it then, and they are rejecting it again today.
The international community should not encourage this rejection. It should not encourage the Palestinian leadership to drive forward recklessly with both feet pressing down on the gas, no hands on the wheel, and no eyes on the road.
Instead it should encourage the Palestinians to enter into direct negotiations without preconditions in order to achieve an historic peace in which a demilitarized Palestinian state recognizes the Jewish state.
Mr. President,
Winston Churchill said, “The truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it … ignorance may deride it … malice may distort it … but there it is.”
The truth is that Israel wants peace, and the Palestinians are avoiding peace.
Those who are supporting the resolution today are not advancing peace. They are undermining peace.
The UN was founded to advance the cause of peace. Today the Palestinians are turning their back on peace. Don’t let history record that today the UN helped them along on their march of folly.
Hamas' military wing said one of its fighters was killed early Friday when remnants of Israeli weaponry from the latest Gaza assault exploded in the northern Gaza Strip.
Mustafa Ahmad Hijazi, 25, was killed in the explosion at a military site in Jabalia camp, the Al-Qassam Brigades said.
Eight other were wounded in the blast, including two in a serious condition, the group said.
On Thursday, an Al-Qassam fighter died of his wounds from the eight-day bombardment of the Gaza Strip. More than 170 Palestinians were killed in the assault which ended last Wednesday.
Ah, the old "leftover rocket" excuse.
Isn't it interesting that this supposedly unexploded Israeli ordnance killed an Al Qassam Brigades terrorist, and not a child at a playground?
Isn't it interesting that it was at a "military site" - where there are no doubt tons of Hamas weapons and explosives?
Inflating the number of people supposedly killed by Israel is good business - not just for Hamas but also for Israel-hating leftists.
During the past week I noted that both Robert Serry, the UN's envoy to the Middle East, and Richard Falk, United Nations Special Rapporteur, claimed that Hamas was ready to recognize Israel after a Palestinian Arab state was established.
They follow in the footsteps of Ethan Bronner of the NYT, Karl Vick of Time magazine, and a host of so-called Middle East "experts" who refuse to believe Hamas' leaders clear statements they speak in Arabic, and instead overlay their own biases and hopes on top of purposefully ambiguous statements made in English - specifically to fool the West.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh confirmed his support for any political achievement earned by the Palestinian people "on the road to grab the state." Haniyeh stressed in a statement received by "Palestine Today" on Thursday evening, 29/11/2012, that any political achievement must be "on the basis of lack of recognition of the occupier or compromise of our strategy and our principles, first and foremost the right of return."
Haniyeh's words correspond with what Hamas Political Bureau head Khaled Meshaal said previously, as he stressed the "need to be a move in the context of a vision and a national strategy keeps the principles and national rights, and based on the strength of our Palestinian people, especially the resistance."
Member of the political bureau of Hamas Ezzat Rishq earlier said that [the PLO should] go to the United Nations to get the label of observer State, but without giving up or compromising any inch of Palestinian land from the sea to the river. Rishq said: "We support any achievement won by our people and our Palestinian national cause in all forums so as to maintain the rights of our people."
It is really hard to misinterpret such clear statements. Yet clueless Westerners do it every single day. (And the people interviewing them are equally clueless to challenge them when they spew their nonsense.)
It's not like it is news that Palestinian Arabs talk deceptively in English and tell the truth in Arabic. Arafat did it for decades. But some people refuse to believe it - because they would prefer to bet Israel's existence on Arab lies.
From Ian: The EU should not be complicit in Abbas's mistake
The Palestinians are about to compound their 1947 UN blunder with yet another misstep at the world body. No EU country should be complicit in this mistake
"And how will violating past agreements encourage Israelis to trust Palestinians to abide by future agreements? The just-ended Hamas conflict underlined Israel’s dilemma, which in any future peace deal will have to give up territory and thus security."
“If the Palestinian Authority wishes to be regarded like a state, it must act as one,” he said. “That includes fulfilling all agreements. We will demand international guarantees from now on for any commitment the PA makes in any negotiations,” Ayalon said, considering the poor record the PA has had fulfilling previous agreements."
Defeat Hamas. There, I Said It.
We must drop the assumption that there is no way to vanquish Hamas. Terrorists have been defeated before.
"What cannot be allowed to continue is this defeatist assumption that vicious terrorism needs to be bought off, that there is no way militarily and politically to defeat our enemies, and that in even attempting to do so we are committing crimes as bad as they. The ghastly doctrine of moral equivalence that lurks in those assumptions is far more dangerous than any missile that Hamas can fire at Tel Aviv, or bus-bomb it can let off."
“If we really want to take an effective stand against extremism, we should not obsess over the extremists; rather, we should tackle those who facilitate, empower and legitimize extremism. The worst culprits are particular British Members of Parliament – elected officials whom we employ to safeguard our liberties and democratic rights but who betray these duties in favor of promoting the work of terror advocates. We have given terror and its apologists a platform, while we deny truth, reason and accountability a voice.”
Ha'aretz translators are at it again: downplaying Palestinian violence for the benefit of its English readers by wrongly translating the original Hebrew article, and even inserting false information that doesn't appear in the Hebrew.
"That the editors chose to run a partisan article indicting Israel and glorifying Palestinian smugglers while ignoring the malignant role played by smugglers in Iran/Hamas' war against Israel is disturbing because it indicates that accepted journalistic standards of accuracy and balance have no place at National Geographic."
"Sickeningly, McGreal allows Nizar and Jindal the space in his piece to excuse themselves as mere victims, the implication being that the real criminals were Smadga, Amselam, Scharf and Scharf’s unborn child who weren’t “civilians”.
"It is implausible that the BBC – having filmed and broadcast Ahmed Masharawi at his funeral wrapped in a Hamas flag – is unaware of the Masharawi family’s connections to Hamas – a terror organization proscribed by the British government and many others."
"In a strongly worded statement to the committee, Canada’s ambassador to the UN, Guillermo Rishchynski, condemned Iran’s discrimination against Christians, Jews and other religious minorities, but also noted the regime’s release of 130 political prisoners and its recent engagement with the UN Human Rights Committee."
"A 57-year-old Jewish woman was brutally stabbed to death and her body mutilated on Monday by Muslim attackers in the Iranian city of Isfahan, in what her family says was a religiously motivated crime related to a property dispute, Menashe Amir, an expert on Iranian Jewry who spoke with the victim’s family, has told The Times of Israel."
This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.
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Sunday, December 02, 2012
Elder of Ziyon
