Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, June 20, 2013

New UN anti-Israel report even slams Jewish circumcision!

A United Nations human rights body accused Israeli forces on Thursday of mistreating Palestinian children, including by torturing those in custody and using others as human shields.

From what I can gather, the UN committee did no original research on this report, but instead relied on anti-Israel NGOs like Adalah and DCI. It is filled with unfounded rumors and long discredited arguments.

But if you doubt for a minute that this is anything but a hatchet job aimed at Israel, here is one section of this report that has nothing to do with Palestinian Arabs:

Harmful practices
41. The Committee expresses concern about reported short and long-term complications arising from some traditional male circumcision practices.

42. The Committee recommends that the State party undertake a study on the short and long-term complications of male circumcision.

Sure - a Jewish religious rite that has been taking place for thousands of years is suddenly a concern for the UN which calls for a "study" to see whether hundreds of generations of Jews have complications.

Perhaps they are referring to the practice of metzitzah b'peh, which has been marginalized in recent years after reports of health issues, but their recommendation indicates that the UN is taking aim at Jewish circumcision altogether - and only Jewish circumcision! The committee has no such recommendations for the Palestinian Authority or Hamas to study complications that result from Muslim circumcision.

A quick search through the UN domain finds a number of criticisms of female "circumcision" and many plaudits for male circumcision as a means of controlling AIDS, but at least at first glance I could not find a single negative mention of male circumcision - except here.

It is hard to escape the conclusion that the UN has crossed the line from virulent anti-Zionism into real anti-semitism.

COSATU dicks: "Penis infections preferable to safe Israeli medical devices"

From BDLive:

THE Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has taken its anti-Israeli campaign a notch higher, threatening to boycott the use of the newly approved PrePex circumcising device, which it says is made in the Jewish state.

The introduction of PrePex — a nonsurgical circumcising device given the green light by the World Health Organisation — was announced this week during the sixth South African Aids Conference taking place in Durban.

The device was described as cheap, safe and easy to use and would replace the controversial Malaysian-made Tara KLamp during the government’s medical male circumcision campaign.

The Department of Health said the PrePex would be rolled out across the country in the next few months.

HIV/AIDS activist organisations such as the Treatment Action Campaign have given PrePex a nod of approval saying it is much safer than the Tara KLamp, which is widely used in KwaZulu-Natal’s health facilities to circumcise men as a way of reducing their chances of contracting HIV.

But Cosatu on Wednesday signalled it would be a spanner in the works for the PrePex’s introduction. The federation’s spokesman Patrick Craven said while it was behind the government’s drive to circumcise men to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, the federation would not relent on its longstanding call to boycott all Israeli-made products.

Mr Craven said the federation would call for a similar device to be made in South Africa.

"The point is not whether this device (PrePex) is the best or not. What we are saying is that there should be a wholesale boycott of all products from Israel, including this one. We cannot have exceptions," he said.

The existing Tara KLamp has caused serious problems, with some 21% of men using it in trials reporting damage to their penis and bleeding, 32% getting infections and 37% reporting complications. Health officials have been complaining about that device for years. Officials have described it as a "horror."

Some horrific photos of damaged penises from the Tara KLamp can be seen linked here. This is what Cosatu prefers.

The Israeli PrePex device, on the other hand, has been clinically tested to be highly effective even compared to surgical circumcision:

The PrePex device, manufactured by the Israeli company Circ MedTech, works by using an elastic band that compresses the foreskin against a rigid plastic ring that is placed on the inside of the penis's foreskin. The elastic band cuts off the blood supply to the foreskin, which becomes harder, loses sensation and dries out. According to a technical expert from the US government's Office of the Global Aids Co-ordinator (the president's fund headquarters), Dr Jason Reed, the process is similar to that of an umbilical cord clamp.

"Once the foreskin has 'died', a client returns a week later to have the device removed and the hardened skin is then easily cut away," he said.

Although a local analgesic ointment is applied when the inner ring is inserted beneath the foreskin, no local anaesthesia – and thus no needles – are required, as with surgical circumcisions. And because live tissue is not cut, a sterile environment and stitches are not needed. There is usually no bleeding and research studies have shown that pain levels are comparable with, or in some cases lower than, those involving surgical circumcisions.

A study conducted in Rwanda last year found that the PrePex procedure could be performed in one-fifth of the time (three minutes) of an average surgical procedure (15 to 30 minutes). The study also found that most participants using the PrePex device were able to return to work within three hours after the device had been put on, whereas those undergoing surgical circumcisions often needed a few days to recover. Another Rwandan study has shown that the PrePex procedure can be carried out by "low-cadre nurses", unlike surgical circumcisions, which require skilled surgeons or surgical nurses.

Reed said: "Most African countries have a shortage of healthcare providers with surgical skills, particularly doctors, which makes it challenging to perform high volumes of surgical circumcisions. A medical device that would eliminate the need for such constrained resources could help to speed up the process greatly."

Yes, Cosatu prefers that tens of thousands of men be exposed to penis infections, bleeding and pain instead of using a safe Israeli product that could help stem AIDS and other problems in Africa.

Do you think any of them will volunteer to use the Tara KLamp to show their commitment to their sacred anti-Israel cause?

There is no better example of Israel Derangement Syndrome than this. In fact, it is probably a good idea to tweet all the BDS idiots and ask them straight out if they agree with Cosatu here, and believe that the danger to thousands of men's penises (and, indeed, public health) is a small price to pay to avoid using an Israeli product.

(h/t IAcquisitive)

This article is from Addustour, a major newspaper in Jordan, written by columnist Rashad Abu Daoud.

How I wish that that moment in Davos never happened. How I wish we hadn’t been fooled by Erdogan’s “heroic” deed when he insulted Shimon Peres, threw his papers away and left the podium at the convention. Because we Arabs are hungry for honor, we applauded the man and granted him the Arab citizenship in our hearts which are thirsty for glory. Just like when we were fond of the "CheGuevara-ishness" of Chavez when he stood up against Zionism and supported Palestine . But the man died of cancer, like others died… by poison. [Possible reference to Arafat?] It seems that the pure ones die and the filthy ones spread corruption in history as a service for Zionism.

Between one tragedy and another one, let us return to that little booklet, full of poison, which disappeared from the Arab markets, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”. Despite all that has been said about it and the attempts to cast doubt about its authenticity, what has been going on in the world, specifically in our Arab homeland and its surroundings, seems like an implementation of what’s in the Protocols to the letter.

Basically the Jews see themselves as “God’s Chosen People”, and the other peoples are nothing but nations divided into groups and classes, that should be exploited to serve the Chosen People.

More specifically, exploiting some goys to serve the Jews, after influencing them through methods which have been known to the Jews - and known about the Jews - for 3,000 years. The methods consist of money, media and women. They are the first ones who invented the stock exchange in the global economy, the first ones to create the cinema and to establish media companies. As for women – they reproduced the personality of Salome, who tempted the Emperor so that he brought her the head of Prophet Yahya – St. John the Baptist – on a silver plate [St. John the Baptist is holy for Muslims as well, under the name “Yahya”].

There is much contemporary evidence. Those who want details should read what was written about them in the global literature. Perhaps “Shylock” by Shakespeare is the best example of usury in history. Although Shylock is a Shakespearean character, but the most famous English poet didn’t invent the idea of usury – it is a Jewish custom. European society suffered at their hands for ages. It was through money that they tempted Balfour to grant them a national homeland in Palestine.

Modern times witness advanced implementations of the Protocols. Raisa, Gorbachev’s wife, the Gorbachev who destroyed half the world and handed it to the other half in order to upset the global balance, and the wife of an Arab president who was murdered on the podium of a military ceremony [Sadat, presumably], and what is said about many influential women in the world now is that they are Jewish or gentiles who were exploited in the service of the Zionist enterprise. And let’s not forget the anti-semitism which is attached to anyone who is bold enough to question the “God’s Chosen People” ideal!

We see in our times people also entangled in the same service [i.e. in the service of Zionism]. Recep Tayep Erdogan is an example. They [i.e. the Jews] gave him a role which is way too big for his size, in order to exploit him afterwards in the role he is supposed to play in the scheme to sow civil strife, the scheme that is being carried out right now in the Arab homeland. Otherwise how is it possible that Ataturk's republic is over and the military's rule, which lasted 70 years is finished just like that, in a moment, through the so-called democracy? And how could the Islamists of Turkey, after all these years, turn from reticent oppositionists to rulers who don't shy away from marketing ideas, which they know full well that are not suitable for Turkish society?

Erdogan already played a dubious role in the beginning of his rule, when he mediated between Syria and America. We said that the man is honest in standing by a geographical neighbor and brother in religion and history. But in no time he turned his back on history, religion and geography and put Turkey in one basket with Israel and America, naturally under the banner of democracy, of which we have actually not seen anything but the fragmentation of the Arab countries along sectarian, class and political lines.

Today Erdogan is falling into the same pit that he dug for Syria . There you have Turkey on its way towards a rift, which will turn into a tool of destruction, so the Turks are going to yearn for the days of the military [rule].

If you think that Abu Daoud is some crackpot writing for a fringe newspaper, his CV lists that besides this newspaper column ("Constitution") he has been the managing editor of the Khaleej Times, assistant managing editor of Basma magazine in Jordan, editorial director of the Journal magazine (Saudi Arabia,), and author of several books.

Oh, and the antisemite is a Palestinian Arab, born in Nablus but educated in Damascus.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

Dave Barry in Israel

From JPost:

“We’re doing the Disney World version of Israel,” Dave Barry says as he sits down in an overstuffed chair in the lobby of Jerusalem’s Inbal Hotel.

Speaking with The Jerusalem Post on the final evening of his first trip to the region, the Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist and best-selling author says that he is “loving” his time in the Middle East.

The son of a Presbyterian minister, Barry cheerfully admits that while he is “not a Jew myself,” he has had been called to the Torah several times in the Reform congregation to which he belongs, adding with a laugh that he is working his way up to performing a circumcision.

“My wife is [Jewish],” he explains, noting that their trip, organized through Temple Judea of Coral Gables, Florida, is in honor of his daughter, who recently had her bat mitzva.

Upon landing in Tel Aviv, he was immediately struck by the fact that the city is “a lot like Miami, right down to the fact that nobody is speaking English.”

“This is going to sound like a very stupid thing to say,” he cautions, “but [Israel is] more Middle Eastern than I expected.

"All the Jews I know, they are all from New York and New Jersey and I thought it would be kind of like that, except over here with guns and there are actually a lot of Jews over here that are not from New York or New Jersey.”

“Apparently, there is another source of Jews that no one had told me about,” he jests.

After receiving briefings on the political situation in Israel and the various regional tensions, Barry says that he “ came out of it more firmly convinced than ever that there will never ever be” peace.

“There will never be peace in this hotel in Jerusalem, let alone the Middle East,” he states.

“Since we’ve been here,” he says, his synagogue trip has run into “a group here from up the coast, like Boca, and there is already tension. It’s building; there could be fighting. There could be rioting in the Inbal.”

His blog has some funny stuff, including how phallic the YMCA building in Jerusalem looks.

He also visited the Golan and the Dead Sea, among other places.

Barry once wrote "Palestinian and Israeli leaders finally recover the Road Map to Peace, only to discover that, while they were looking for it, the Lug Nuts of Mutual Interest came off the Front Left Wheel of Accommodation, causing the Sport Utility Vehicle of Progress to crash into the Ditch of Despair.”

(h/t Gidon)

6/19 Links Part 2: Alan Baker on Preconditions, Rocket Attack and The Lost Music of the Holocaust

From Ian:

The Religious War in the Middle East

Given the ongoing chaos in the Middle East and the collapse of the artificial Arab states based on the Sykes-Picot Agreement, the proposal of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for the creation of a new Palestinian state and a joint Palestinian, Jordanian and Israeli policing mechanism in the Jordan Valley seems like a pipe dream. That sort of suggestion, disconnected from reality, clearly indicates a dangerous lack of awareness concerning the Middle East past, present and future, a kind of Lawrence of Arabia optimism and romanticism which allows him to ignore the emergence of the increasing militant Islamic aggression toward Israel and the West. All that is left is to hope that somewhere in Washington people are really paying attention and preparing to deploy for the real, first priority inevitable battle against Iran and its satellites, with their capabilities dramatically to influence world peace.

Alan Baker: Preconditions have no basis in law or fact

Nowhere in the history of the peace process negotiations is there any commitment to the “1967 borders.”
The opposite is in fact the case. All the agreements between Israel and the PLO, as well as the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, base themselves in their preambular paragraphs on the call by the international community, in UN Security Council resolution 242 of 1967, for “secure and recognized boundaries.”
Together with Egypt and Jordan, in their respective peace treaties with Israel, the Palestinian leadership in all its agreements with Israel has repeatedly committed and agreed to this formula, which basically means that the pre-1967 military Armistice Demarcation Lines – never intended to become borders – as well as any other pre-1949 lines, would be replaced by agreed-upon borders answering the Security Council criteria of being secure and recognized.

Blair: Israel's security is also security for Western world

Israel's security is also our security, in the whole of the Western world," Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the President's Conference opening plenary panel with President Shimon Peres and Rahman Emanuel, Blair said that it is worth trying to solve Israeli Palestinian conflict, as it is important for Israel's security as well as the security of the "whole of the Western world."

Clinton Admits 'No Perfect Solutions' in Israel-PA Conflict

Former President Bill Clinton told participants at Israel’s Fifth annual Presidential Conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday, "There are no perfect solutions to the Israel-Palestine conflict."

PA Terror Rocket Attack Explodes in Gaza

An early morning attack intended for southern Israel following President Shimon Peres’s birthday bash fizzled with at least one – and possibly two -- of the rockets intended to kill Jewish civilians exploding instead inside Gaza. A total of three rockets were fired overnight, security officials said.
The third rocket reportedly landed on the Israeli side of the border in an open area, but no property damage was reported, and no one was physically injured, according to Israel state radio.

IDF Nabs PA Police who Murdered Young Jew at Holy Site

Israeli soldiers have arrested three Palestinian Authority police officers-turned-terrorists, who shot to death a young Jewish father as he returned from praying at the tomb of the Biblical Patriarch Joseph in Samaria (Shomron).
Arab media outlets reported the arrests in May, but the news was only officially confirmed by Israeli sources Wednesday after the removal of a gag order.

'Machsom Watch Shares IDF Weakness with the Enemy'

The Samaria Residents’ Council has filed a police complaint against the group.
Machsom Watch sends activists to watch IDF soldiers at checkpoints in Judea and Samaria. The group has been accused of harassing soldiers and of valuing convenience for Arab residents of Judea and Samaria over preventing terrorism. In one incident, Machsom Watch activists told soldiers to release an Arab teen who turned out to be an armed terrorist.

Jews Attacked in Jerusalem Say ‘This Will End in Murder!’

The two men stopped to call police, and immediately were set upon by dozens of Arab youth and men who began hitting them mercilessly.
The Jews managed to flee to a nearby junction, where their attackers gave up on pursuing them.

IDF general: Palestinians aiding US peace drive

The Palestinian administration in the West Bank has tried to help the latest US peacemaking drive by quietly cutting off funds for grassroots campaigners against Israel's occupation of the territory, a senior Israeli general said on Tuesday.

Spanish Gov't Funding Anti-Israel NGOs, Finds New Report

The report finds that between 2009 and 2011, approximately €15 million in Spanish government and regional funds were transferred to political advocacy NGOs promoting the boycott-divestment-sanctions (BDS) campaigns. Of these, €5 million were transferred to Israeli and Palestinian Authority-based NGOs, and €10 million were transferred to Spanish NGOs.
Among the groups that received the funding were, according to NGO Monitor: The radical Popular Struggle Coordination Committee whose "resistance" activities often become violent confrontations.

ADL: Alice Walker ‘unabashedly infected with anti-Semitism’

The book, which was published two months ago, features 12 essays in a section titled “On Palestine,” making up a quarter of the book, that are “rife with comparisons of Israelis to Nazis, denigrations of Judaism and Jews, and statements suggesting that Israel should cease to exist as a Jewish state,” the ADL said in a statement. “Walker’s book also attempts to justify terrorism against Israeli civilians, claiming that the ‘oppressed’ Palestinians should not be blamed for carrying out suicide bombings.”

On the road to recovering Spain’s Jewish roots

A conference titled “Zamora Jewish Life: History and Re-encounters,” will take place in early July, organized by Jesus Jambrina of Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Jambrina, who created the documentary Zamora Sefardi, believes the city may have been the greatest center of Jewish learning in Spain as the time of the expulsion decree drew near.

'Lost Music' of Holocaust Comes Alive Once Again

Nicholas Biniaz-Harris is a young American classical pianist who is more at home performing Bach, Beethoven and Rachmaninoff than the obscure works of Nazi concentration camp inmates.
But as the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, the 17-year-old Washingtonian felt a special attachment to the variations on a Polish patriotic theme that Leon Kaczmarek put together in Dachau during World War II.

El Al Tests Anti-Missile Defense System for Passenger Aircraft (VIDEO)

According to the website Defense-Update.com: “The system comprises a fiber-laser based DIRCM housed in a sealed turret for maximized reliability. A missile warning system provides the initial detection of incoming threats. When a threatening missile is detected, the warning is passed to the DIRCM that then directs a thermal tracker to acquire and track the threat. A powerful laser beam is then fired accurately at the missile causing it to be deflected away from the aircraft.”

Israel made Marvell more ‘marvelous,’ says co-founder

You’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger fan of Israel in the high-tech world than Weili Dai, co-founder of Marvell Technologies. With good reason: Israel has helped make the company she runs with her husband Sehat Sutardja and brother in-law, Pantas Sutardja, into one of the most important tech companies in the world. “No matter what device you open up, you are bound to find Marvell chips,” she told the Times of Israel in an interview — and the technology for many of those chips was developed in Israel.

It's such a shame when crazed Islamists hate each other

From Reuters:

Hamas said on Wednesday its relations with financial backer Iran have suffered as a result of the Islamist group’s support of rebels battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a long-time Iranian ally.

Hamas was also once an Assad ally but last year endorsed the revolt against him in a shift that deprived the Syrian leader of an important Sunni Muslim supporter in the Arab world.

“Our relations with Iran were affected both on the political and the financial levels,” said Ghazi Hamad, deputy minister of foreign affairs in the Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip.

Hamad declined to provide any figures for the amount of aid Hamas receives from Iran or give details of any cutbacks, other than to say “it did not get to the point of boycott [from Tehran].”

“We have stood by the Syrian people and we have backed the demands of the revolution,” Hamad told reporters, saying those positions had led to a worsening of ties with Tehran.

A diplomatic source in the region said Iran has provided Hamas with up to $20 million a month to help pay the salaries of nearly half of 50,000 Gaza government employees.

Hamad said Hamas was still meeting its payroll and “had lots of other sources” for money. But he added: “Things are not easy... and we are trying to overcome the problem.”

“We are with Hezbollah in their resistance against Israel but we are not in favor of their position in Syria,” Hamad said.

The rift between Sunni and Shiites, which was always there, is really out in the open with the Syria war.

And not only that, but jihadists are also breaking with "moderate" Islamists in light of the Arab pseudo-spring, as this hilarious MEMRI video shows:

Following are excerpts from interviews with Nabil Naeem, a former leader in the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which aired on Al-Mayadeen TV on May 30, 2013, and on Al-Arabiya TV on May 31.

Al-Mayadeen TV, May 30, 2013:

Nabil Naeem: As the former leader of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and as someone who spent many years in Afghanistan with Dr. Ayman [Al-Zawahiri] in the war against the Russians, I would like to give the following piece of advice to the fighters in Syria: After 15 years of fighting in Afghanistan, the shari'a has not been instated and an Islamic caliphate has not been established. The slogan for which you are being mobilized is false, because you will not instate the shari'a.

Has the United States donned the veil? Do you really think it will instate the shari'a in Syria? Has Obama converted to Islam? Is he about to establish the caliphate in Syria? You are being used as instruments in their colonialist designs. When the war is over and you are no longer needed, they will do to you what they did to us – you will either be killed or sent back to prison.
[…]
The U.S. spread the word around the world – and the idiotic Arabs and Muslims bought it – that post-Saddam Hussein Iraq would be heaven on Earth. Take a look at Iraq today. Has the shari'a been implemented in Iraq? Has a caliphate been implemented there? Has democracy been established in Iraq, for that matter? Today, the Iraqi people long for the days of Saddam Hussein.
[…]
Interviewer: Whether the Muslim Brotherhood or the Salafis are in power in Egypt, the peace accords with Israel will remain intact…

Nabil Naeem: These accords will be honored more than in the days of Mubarak. Hosni Mubarak had a military upbringing. He was familiar with Egyptian national security and the threats to it. But those [Muslim Brotherhood members] are a bunch of moronic amateurs, who will succumb to things that even Mubarak refused to accept.

I have been following Hamas from day one. Their slogan was the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea. We used to laugh about this and say that they are fooling people. It has gotten to the point that Hamas is now protecting the peace with Israel. Whenever people would fire a rocket at Israel, Yasser Arafat would lock them up for one month and then set them free. Hamas kills them.

Interviewer: Are you convinced that Egypt should have a peace treaty with Israel now?

Nabil Naeem: Yes, of course. Allah does not require anyone to do more than he is capable of. The truth is that the Arabs are incapable of fighting Israel. How can the Egyptian people fight, when they have nothing to eat?

[…]

Al-Arabiya TV, May 31, 2013:

Nabil Naeem: We have always known that the Muslim Brotherhood would not grant liberties to anyone. This is a dictatorial organization raised on Fascism, and on the rejection of other people's opinions. How can they possibly grant us liberties? They can't give what they don't have. In order for the culture of the Muslim Brotherhood to change, this entire generation and the next must come to an end. We are looking at 30 or 40 years of Fascism and dictatorship.

US gives $123 million to UNRWA

From UNRWA's website:

The United States announced a new contribution of US$123 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which will enable the Agency to continue its work serving a population of some five million registered Palestine refugees in the region. This latest donation brings the total U.S. contribution to UNRWA in 2013 to US$ 244.5 million.

US$ 75 million will go towards the General Fund, which supports core activities in education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement and microfinance.

“On behalf of UNRWA, I would like to thank the United States for this generous contribution today. The U.S. has assisted the Agency for several decades as a major bilateral donor. Its commitment to Palestine refugees is crucial to maintaining regional stability and supporting health, education and other programmes that UNRWA offers to this disadvantaged community. Despite the difficult economic situation worldwide, the U.S. has proven once again that it is dedicated to the development of Palestine refugee potential,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Filippo Grandi.

The donation from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration includes an additional US$ 37 million earmarked for the Agency's Emergency Appeal in Gaza and the West Bank, US$ 10 million for the construction and equipment of three schools and two health centres in Gaza and US$ 1 million for relief work in Nahr el-Bared camp in Lebanon.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kelly Clements reaffirmed the United States support for UNRWA services, saying: “The United States has been proud to work with UNRWA for many years. We remain committed to supporting their efforts to help Palestinian refugees receive the services that they need.”

Yes, the US has donated money to the only refugee agency on Earth that guarantees that next year there will be more "refugees" than there were this year.

And until the US pressures UNRWA to adopt a cessation clause in line with the UNHCR's, where citizens of a country (Jordan) are not eligible for UNRWA services and where descendants do not automatically receive refugee status, and where people who live in the boundaries of British Mandate Palestine would no longer be considered "refugees," American taxpayers will continue to pay for this useless, bloated organization whose sole purpose nowadays is to expand the "refugee" problem, not to eliminate it.

(By way of contrast , in 2012, the total cash donated to UNRWA by all Arab states was less than $16M, of which Saudi Arabia gave $12M.)

6/19 Links Part 1: Totten on Rouhani, the Shi'ite 'full moon', Sex Jihad in Syria and The Standing Man

From Ian:

Michael Totten: Iran's New President is Lipstick on a Pig

So what do we have here in Iran? A man who barely won fifty percent of the vote in a rigged electoral system, who supports vicious repression of Iranian democracy activists as well as international terrorist organizations, who opposes Middle East peace, and who freely admits to deceiving Western diplomats about his country’s nuclear program to buy time.
There is nothing encouraging here whatsoever, so don’t be a sucker.

Hidden Report Reveals How Iran Dodges Nuclear Watchdogs

Iran continues to evade U.N. sanctions on its nuclear program by changing its supply routes, erecting new front companies, and shopping the world for lower grade parts not explicitly prohibited by the U.N. Security Council, but still capable of contributing to the assembly of a nuclear power reactor. That's according to a "confidential" unpublished report by a U.N. Security Council panel monitoring sanctions on Iran, exclusively published by Turtle Bay.

Russia says Iran ready to stop 20-percent enrichment

Russia’s foreign minister said Tuesday that Iran was willing to halt its 20-percent enrichment of uranium, which has been a key concession sought in international negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

Quartet's Tony Blair: Nuclear Iran Worse Than Military Option

Quartet envoy Tony Blair told Presidential Conference participants Wednesday that facing the prospect of a military confrontation with Tehran is a better option than having to grapple with a nuclear Iran.
The former British prime minister said in his address to the conference participants in the fifth annual gathering in Jerusalem, "We should be determined to overcome the threat from Iran.

Book on President-Elect’s Tragedy Scandalizes Tehran

In 1992, when Rouhani was studying for his second degree (MPhil) at Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland, his son committed suicide. Rouhani was then 44 years old. Though he went on with his studies and life, completing his PhD at the university in 1999, his friends admit that he has never fully recovered for the tragic loss.
In his essay and subsequently in a broadcast by the Europe-based Radio Farda titled “In Search of Lost Children,” Nourizadeh published the strongly worded suicide note of the younger Rouhani. It was a Persian version of J’accuse aimed at the leading elite of the Islamic republic.

AIPAC urges caution on Rohani

In a memo to supporters, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee expressed deep suspicion of Iran's newly elected president, Hasan Rowhani, saying that he "has signaled no willingness to halt Iran's illicit nuclear program."

Richard Millett: British Labour MP: “No justice in Israeli legal system. Palestinian children found guilty on flimsy evidence.”

The report also criticises Israel’s welfare treatment of Palestinian child suspects. However, the evidence relied on by the nine lawyer committee is both mainly anonymous AND provided by organisations traditionally hostile to Israel like Breaking The Silence, Btselem and Defence for Children International Palestine, to name but a few.

Guardian’s David Hearst participates in discussion on the power of the Israel lobby

The meeting, on 12 June 2013, used a book by British Islamist, Ibrahim Hewitt, as the basis for discussion about the media’s approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict. The discussion, between Hewitt, ex-BBC Middle East correspondent Tim Llewellyn, and Guardian foreign leader writer David Hearst, was chaired by Mark McDonald, a founder of Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East.

Saudi role in Syria driven by fear of Shi'ite 'full moon'

Saudi Arabia's former intelligence chief, Prince Muqrin, once told American diplomats the Middle East's so-called Shi'ite Crescent where the Muslim sect holds sway was "becoming a full moon" as Iranian influence spread.

Kerry’s Syria attack plan said grounded by Pentagon

According to the report, during a meeting with high-ranking US Army officials, the secretary of state specifically demanded that the US Air Force target fields that were allegedly used to launch chemical weapons raids against rebel forces in the war-torn country.

'Exercise Eager Lion' War Games Active in Jordanian Desert

The 12-day war games, slated to end Thursday, was explained by a statement on the website of the U.S. Armed Forces Central Command as an opportunity to "promote cooperation and interoperability among participants," but appears clearly intended to send a warning to Jordan’s northern neighbor, Syria.

Report: French military training Syrian rebels

French military officials are training rebels fighting to bring down the Assad regime in the current Syrian conflict, according to a report by Army Radio.
The army-run radio station reported that French officers stationed in Jordan and Turkey are currently training the rebels in warfare tactics and weapons usage. Army Radio quoted "experts with access to the information" in their report.

Assad says Europe will 'pay price' if it arms rebels: newspaper

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has warned Europe in a German newspaper interview that it will "pay the price" if it follows Washington's lead and delivers arms to rebel forces, saying such a move would spread terrorism to the continent.
"If the Europeans deliver weapons, the backyard of Europe will become terrorist and Europe will pay the price for it," he said in an interview published on Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung's website on Monday.

Syrian pound tumbles as US plans to arm rebels

Many exchange shops closed in Damascus on Tuesday, fearing more chaos a day after the Syrian currency plunged to a new record low, reflecting growing fears in the capital following a U.S. decision to arm rebel groups fighting to topple President Bashar Assad’s regime.

The 'Sex Jihad'

News emerged a few weeks ago in Arabic media that yet another fatwa had called on practicing Muslim women to travel to Syria and offer their sexual services to the jihadis fighting to overthrow the secularist Assad government and install Islamic law. Reports attribute the fatwa to Saudi sheikh Muhammad al-'Arifi, who, along with other Muslim clerics earlier permitted jihadis to rape Syrian women.

Mohamed ElBaradei: Morsi Threatened to ‘Burn the Country’ if I Became Prime Minister

Leading Egyptian opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei said Tuesday that President Mohamed Morsi threatened to “burn the country” if he became prime minister.

Tayyip Erdoğan, "God's Gift to Turkey"

There is no doubt that the Almighty has bestowed upon the world a special gift.
We have ex-Libyan leader Colonel Mohammed Gaddafi's word for that: in November 2010 the Turkish prime minister was awarded with the Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights for "distinguished service to humanity."
During the award ceremony Prime Minister Erdoğan declared that Islamophobia was a crime against humanity and that Muslims come from a tradition that also regards anti-Semitism as a crime against humanity. At a meeting of the Alliance of Civilizations in March, however, he added Zionism to the list, together with fascism.

'Standing man' inspires Turkish protesters in Istanbul

A Turkish protester dubbed the "standing man" has led a vigil on Istanbul's Taksim Square days after the authorities evicted demonstrators.
Performance artist Erdem Gunduz stood silently for eight hours, facing a portrait of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern, secular Turkey.

Antisemitic "Khaybar" (video) to be followed with anti-Israel film.

MEMRI has some excerpts of the upcoming Ramadan antisemitic "Khaybar" miniseries showing Jews being deceitful, bloodthirsty and cowardly:.

Echo Media, the production company behind "Khaybar," has announced that it is ready to start work on its next film.

Just as Khaybar uses a historical incident to push its explicitly antisemitic agenda, this film - entitled "Enough Humiliation" - uses the Arab uprisings as the hook to call for the destruction of Israel and the "liberation" of Jerusalem from Jewish control.

Echo Media head Mohsen Ali says that the film is meant to unite Arabs on the "issue of Jerusalem and the stolen land of Palestine." He added that he believes that the film will be an important milestone for the company as it capitalizes on the presumed success of the Khaybar miniseries.

Note that the name "Enough Humiliation" refers not to "the territories" but to the existence of Israel itself.

Human rights organizations have continued to ignore calls to denounce and condemn this mass incitement against Jews that will be seen and enjoyed by hundreds of millions.

My petition to HRW and Amnesty had reached over 1000 signatures. Every signature generates another email to those groups.

(If anyone wants to publicly deliver the petitions to Amnesty and HRW offices in their country, let me know so we can write a press release. Both have offices in midtown Manhattan but I can't publicly deliver them - any volunteers?)

Rohani's playbook is clear: Fool the West while buying time

Here's an interesting snippet from a New York Times report, February 8. 2004:

In part because of their desire to avoid another confrontation in the Middle East, Britain, France and Germany won American approval in October for a diplomatic initiative in which Iran agreed to suspend its enrichment activities at Natanz, which it maintains is a peaceful facility, and to accept additional inspection protocols.

Some American officials fear that compliance with that pledge may be slipping, and that, in any case, a confrontation over Natanz is virtually certain. ''The European deal may have postponed the reckoning, but unless the Iranians give up their program, it's not going to avoid the reckoning,'' said a senior American official.

Even many Europeans say they are not sure of Iran's intentions. A senior European envoy said that after a meeting recently with the leader of Iran's national security agency, Hassan Rohani, it was not clear whether Iran truly intended to end its weapon program or was simply playing for time.

''We are very suspicious of their intentions,'' he said, adding that it was often hard to tell even in meetings who was a reformer and who was a hard-line cleric.

Today, the Western media and even most politicians have almost unanimously declared this same Hassan Rohani to be a reformer, a moderate, someone the West can do business with!

On what do they base this? Well, on nothing, except that Rohani isn't as bombastic as Ahmadinejad.

Yoel noticed something notable in Rohani's press conference on Monday, that was not reported anywhere.

This "moderate reformer" stated that "If sanctions have any benefits, they will only benefit Israel. It has no benefits for others. We will make the enemy [Israel] understand that it has no option but to bow its head in front of the great Iranian nation and not wave its ax [at it]."

Are these the words of a moderate?

As TOI notes:

According to Ze’ev Maghen, an Iran scholar at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University and Jerusalem’s Shalem College, Rowhani is himself convinced of the necessity of an advanced nuclear weapons program, and interested in using soft language merely as a stalling tactic in best Iranian negotiating tradition.

“Rowhani is a dyed-in-the-wool Khomeinist and part of the consensus on Iranian nuclear energy, which is a code word for nuclear weapons,” Maghen told The Times of Israel on Monday. And “he is no friendlier on Israel than [outgoing President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad. The only difference between the two is one of style.”

A few months after the 2004 NYT article above, Rohani made a speech where he said:

If one day we are able to complete the fuel cycle and the world sees that it has no choice -- that we do possess the technology -- then the situation will be different. The world did not want Pakistan to have an atomic bomb or Brazil to have the fuel cycle, but Pakistan built its bomb and Brazil has its fuel cycle, and the world started to work with them. Our problem is that we have not achieved either one, but we are standing at the threshold.

Rohani has a track record of putting a smiling face on Iran's buying time to build a nuclear weapon. Now he has the best platform possible to do so.

And the Iranian regime is playing the Western world like a flute.

Gazans demand mobile provider to allow them free votes for Arab Idol

The conclusion of Arab Idol is coming up, and Palestinian singer Mohammed Assaf has reached the finals.

Gazans naturally want to vote for their native son, but they don't want to pay the mobile text messaging fees associated with it.

So they are protesting the mobile service provider!

Some claim that their text messages in support of Assaf are not getting delivered.

Naturally, a conspiracy theory is growing, that some unnamed Arab businessmen are colluding against Assaf's victory, for reasons that are unclear.

Meanwhile, PA president Mahmoud Abbas is not above personal lobbying of the judges in the program:

“I no longer know what to say,” Lebanese singer Raghib Allama, a member of the jury, told Assaf.”But I can sum it up like this—your voice is measured by a gold balance.”

Allama, one of the most popular singers in the Middle East, told Assaf that on his way to the studio for the Arab Idol programme on that day, he was called by President Abbas.

“President Abbas commended all the singers, the jury and MBC for this achievement….he asked me to look after you,” Allama told Assaf.

Wealthy Palestinian Arab businessmen are also stuffing the ballot boxes, with billionaire Munib Masri saying that everyone should get out the vote and saying that "dozens of businessmen have purchased and sent thousands of messages in support of the artist."

The finals are set for next week.

While Assaf is undeniably handsome and has a good voice, part of his appeal is also that he has sung songs that deny the existence of Israel.

EU audit finds €1 billion aid to Egypt is wasted

From FT.com:

The €1bn in EU aid supplied to Egypt over the past seven years has done little to achieve its stated aims of improving democracy and human rights in the country, according to a damning assessment by the bloc’s spending watchdog.

The European court of auditors found that the new Egyptian government that swept to power in the wake of popular uprisings in 2011 had – if anything – demonstrated even less interest than its predecessor in EU-sponsored programmes to foster civil society and protect the rights of women and minorities.

It also warned that Brussels was unable to track about 60 per cent of the aid money after it was transferred to Egyptian government coffers, raising concerns about widespread fraud and mismanagement.

“They do not fulfil the conditions at all – and nevertheless, the money is given,” said Karel Pinxten, the court of auditors official who oversaw the review, and is urging the EU to overhaul the policy.

The report suggests that the EU continues to fumble a decades-old effort to craft an effective policy to improve governance and generate economic growth in a vital region on its southern doorstep.
The most recent incarnation of the bloc’s so-called “neighbourhood policy” was unveiled in 2004 with the philosophy that Brussels would give more aid money to governments that delivered on reform and withhold it from those that did not.

The initiative gained greater urgency after the wave of popular uprisings that rocked north Africa and the Middle East two years ago, turning out authoritarian governments and opening the way for a new approach by the EU.

As the largest country in the Arab world and one of the EU’s biggest recipients of foreign aid, Egypt has been a particular priority. The EU has allocated about €1bn to Cairo between 2007 and 2013 – the period covered by the audit.

Yet the court of auditors found that the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, and the European external action service, its diplomatic service, “have not been able to manage EU support to improve governance in Egypt effectively,” according to a copy obtained by the Financial Times.

“The commission took quite a few initiatives. But taking initiatives is one thing – getting results is something else,” Mr Pinxten said.

He also noted the resistance to programmes to stamp out corruption and protect human rights shown by Hosni Mubarak, the long-time Egyptian ruler, as well as the current Islamist government led by Mohamed Morsi.

“It’s quite clear under the period of Mubarak but also now under Morsi, from the Egyptian side, there was not a high degree of willingness to go along with the commission. And that’s an understatement,” Mr Pinxten said.

A formal reply by the commission generally accepted the report’s findings but said it did not “take sufficiently into consideration the local political context” and argued more time was needed to see results.

Nonetheless, it acknowledged “an increased aversion towards civil society and human rights more broadly” in Egypt since the 2011 uprising.

The report is likely to spur a fresh debate about the merits of EU foreign aid – particularly at a time of budget cuts in Europe.

Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the European parliament, said the report showed the EU human rights policy to be “a joke” and demanded that the bloc be more forceful about suspending aid.

Aid by the US to Egypt dwarfs that from the EU. And the US is not obligated to send one cent! JPost noted last week:

At Friday’s State Department daily press briefing one reporter asked, “How much is the US obligated to provide to Egypt under the Camp David Accords?” Nothing at all, the spokesman responded a day later, obviously after consultation with Foggy Bottom policy makers.

“The United States is not obligated to provide assistance to Egypt. We provide assistance because it serves U.S. national interests in a crucial and volatile region.”

During his most recent trip to Cairo, Secretary of Sate John Kerry pledged another $250 million. In response to a reporter’s question, the department spokesman said it was all for economic stabilization and development and none was for military assistance.

So who lobbies for continued US aid to Egypt?

In part, Israel.

In prior years when Congress tried to link aid to Egypt to democratic reform and respect for human rights, some of the loudest objections came from the Israeli embassy in Washington, whose diplomats scurried to Capitol Hill to explain how vital that aid was to maintaining their peace treaty.

They weren’t overly concerned about Cairo’s abysmal human rights record, though they did want Washington to press for an end to anti-Israeli incitement in the Egyptian media.

US aid to Egypt is far more expansive than that from the EU, but it seems clear that much the money being sent by USAID is being wasted.

Two years ago, Egypt claimed to have rejected USAID money exactly because of the strings attached - that they require human rights and democracy to flourish. But they seem to still accept it, as nothing on the USAID site mentions any problem.

Perhaps the reason is that the Muslim Brotherhood considers all the Western money flowing indirectly into its coffers to be a jizya tax on the West.

Just last month, John Kerry pushed through an extension on military aid to Egypt with seemingly no conditions:

Discreetly, the US State Department renewed military aid to Egypt last month. The announcement was made only 7 June. The administration of Barack Obama avoided a public debate that would be embarrassing on the latter's support for the new political regime in Egypt, run by the Muslim Brotherhood.

US Secretary of State John Kerry used the exemption granted him by law to extend military assistance, despite the concerns of Washington on the new Egyptian regime's policy towards the establishment of a true democracy and respect of fundamental freedoms and human rights in Egypt.

On 9 May, Kerry sent Congress a memo informing it of his decision to extend $1.3 billion of annual military aid to Egypt, citing the need to protect the essential interests of the United States in the Middle East, namely the passage of warships in the Suez Canal, necessary to protect the oil-rich Gulf region against threats from Iran, the protection of the borders with Israel from infiltration by Islamic militants and weaponry, which enhances the security of the former against the threats of Islamic extremists in the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula.

At any rate, the EU audit proves that any Western money being sent as an incentive to improve human rights and democracy in Egypt is being thoroughly wasted. Just as importantly, it proves that the West is reluctant to reign in aid even when it is shown to be a waste - it is harder to stop a program than to start it. (Think about UNRWA, over sixty years after it was supposed to have disappeared.)

Will the EU do a similar audit on money sent to the PLO, directly and through NGOs?

(h/t Elliott E)

Barbra Streisand sings to Shimon Peres (video)

I'm not a big fan of hers, but people say Barbra Streisand's performance at the star-studded 90th birthday show for Shimon Peres was amazing:

UPDATE: Found a better video with not only "Avinu Malkeinu" but also "People."

6/18 Links Part 2: Quakers BDS Camp, IRS vs. Pro-Israel Groups and Oil for Peace

From Ian:

Pacifists at War

With their passion for peace, it may seem curious that leaders of the American Friends Service Committee, the organized political voice of the Quakers, would have dined with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinijad in New York five years ago. Then, last year, the Quaker Friends Fiduciary Corporation divested from Hewlett-Packard for providing technology consulting to the Israeli Navy. The AFSC website provides helpful hints for educating Americans about “Palestinian nonviolent resistance to Israeli occupation” and organizing lobbying efforts “to end/condition US military aid to Israel.” All else failing, they must be sure to boycott SodaStream refills, “which are manufactured within an Israeli settlement in occupied Palestinian territory” and even have the chutzpah to bear the label “Made in Israel.”
None of that sounds like fun, so the AFSC is inviting college students with suitably anti-Israel credentials to participate in a five-day summer training institute in pastoral upstate New York. There they will participate in an “intensive program” focusing on “what is happening in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories,” the better to develop Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions programs on their campuses.

The IRS vs. Pro-Israel Groups

Applications of pro-Israel groups for tax-exempt status are routinely routed to an antiterrorism unit within the Internal Revenue Service for additional screening, according to the testimony of a Cincinnati-based IRS agent.
Asked whether Jewish or pro-Israel applications are treated differently from other applications, Gary Muthert told House Oversight Committee investigators that they are considered “specialty cases” and that “probably” all are sent to an IRS unit that examines groups for potential terrorist ties.

CAMERA: Misinforming Students on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

The word terrorism first appears in the timeline under the year 1988, when "Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat condemns all forms of terrorism and recognizes the state of Israel." The perpetrators of the Munich massacre are "Palestinian gunmen" and those who carried out the Entebbe hijacking are just "Palestinians."
The Oslo Accords, students are told, meant that "the two sides were no longer claiming that the other did not have the right to exist as a state of peoples on that land." Yet students are not informed about the Fatah Party Congress in 2009 where participants cheered as Palestinian Authority officials vowed to never recognize the Jewish State and reaffirmed their commitment to armed struggle. In addition, the messages emanating from Palestinian media, mosques and officials exhorting the public to oppose coexistence and to destroy Israel are ignored.

Women Plan March to Arab Town, ‘Enough Rock Terror’

The women will march under the banner, “Women Against Rocks.” Organizers noted that despite the slogan, men and children are invited, as well.
Marchers intend to enter Azoun itself. “We will let the Arabs know that there will be a response to rock terror, and we will make it clear to the IDF that the time has come to end this phenomenon,” they declared.

Terrorist Earns Hebrew U. Doctorate, Refuses to Shake Hands

A terrorist who served two prison terms for involvement in terrorism, including a plot to carry out a suicide bombing, has been awarded his doctorate in chemistry from Hebrew University, Maariv reports.
The terrorist is an Israeli citizen and a resident of eastern Jerusalem.
During the graduation ceremony in Hebrew University’s Har Hatzofim campus he refused to shake hands with Hebrew University President Professor Menachem Ben-Sasson. His name was read aloud at the ceremony and he was applauded by the crowd.

Kim Jong-un endorses Mein Kampf as guidebook for economic growth

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un handed copies of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf to a host of the country's top officials last January. The website New Focus International reported the controversial volume was printed especially in the format of a “hundred-copy book,” meaning a limited edition of banned books that have been published in secret for the consumption of members of the country's elite.

MEMRI: The AMIA Bombing Affair: Joint Investigative Committee Agreement Not Ratified By Iran

Following the signing of the MOU, a disagreement emerged between the two countries over the issue of whether Argentinean investigators would be allowed to interrogate the Iranian officials linked to the affair. While the Argentinean parliament did ratify the MOU, the Iranian Majlis began studying it at the end of February 2013, but to date still has not ratified it despite pressure from the Iranian Foreign Ministry. In statements, Majlis representatives and media circles warned against any move that could harm Iranian sovereignty.

Cisco CEO John Chambers in Israel again

Ahead of the visit, he said, "Israel is a global leader in innovation, and Cisco is proud of its longstanding commitment to the country. As we strengthen our partnership with Israel, I believe that together, we can promote change in the country and encourage sustainable growth and productivity, which will influence the region and all of Israel's people."

Israel Aerospace Industries signs foreign deals worth $100m

Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) (TASE: ARSP.B1) has signed new foreign contracts worth $100 million. The contracts include a $30 million contract to upgrade a special mission aircraft with the company's ELL-8232 electronic support measure/electronic intelligence (ESM/ELINT) system for tactical and strategic missions; two contracts to supply maritime patrol radar, worth $32 million; and communication intelligence systems.

Hava Nagila, Gangnam style

Now “Gangnam Style” fever has reached the local stage. The Embassy of the Republic of Korea, in cooperation with the country’s tourism and foreign ministries, held a “Gangnam Style” contest in Herzliya in which 12 Israeli teens competed, and 17-year-old Eva Kamun came out on top with her “Hava Nagila” performance.

Israeli college’s Clashers app brings music lovers together

It’s not every school that gets invited to the Microsoft Research Design Expo — in fact, only nine schools get invited, and this year, the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) is one of them. MSR Design Expo is one of the most exclusive computer design events in the world, so schools that get invited want to show off their best technology.

Bras, bees, and ‘oil for peace’ at Israeli agricultural event

International cooperation and advances in food production and agriculture not only have the potential to solve food shortages, they also have the potential to foster peace. Among the products available at the event was one called “Olives for Peace,” an organic olive oil package being marketed jointly by an Israeli farmer and a Palestinian farmer. Doron Akiva, an olive oil producer in Ezuz in southern Israel, has teamed up with Palestinian farmer Mohammad Joudeh of the village of Azzun, near Kalkilyeh in central Samaria.
The product consists of one package containing two separate bottles of olive oil produced by each farmer. “We don’t want to talk peace,” Doron said, “we want to make peace.” Olives for Peace may or may not achieve that goal, but if the show’s many attendees taking samples are any indication, the company has definitely mastered olive oil.

PalArab doctors attend Israeli medical expo

I guess they are not part of the "civil society" that is supposedly boycotting Israel.

Persons with a medical background from all over the world, and those interested in state of the art medical technological innovations, gathered this week in the colorful and impressive esthetically designed exhibition hall. Most of the participants were exhibiting advanced instrumentation that assists in innovative treatment methods, and what they all had in common was that they had come to update themselves on the most recent innovations which would constitute for all of them, a medical breakthrough in the not too distant future.

Among the many visitors who came from Japan, Germany, France, the USA, were also Palestinian medical personnel from Judea and Samaria who had been specially invited by the Civil Administration with the object of familiarizing themselves with the technological innovations in the medical field, to form an impression of the worldwide capabilities of the advanced equipment and also to try and bring the medical "spearhead" to the territories of Judea and Samaria. The Health Coordinator in the Civil Administration, Dalia Bassa said that "We invited the Palestinian medical people so that they could get exposure to a level of advanced medicine worldwide and would be able, as the need arises, to introduce the advanced instrumentation into the Palestinian market - into their clinics and hospitals, and thus enhance the medical treatment being provided currently to the Palestinian population in Judea and Samaria".

Israel believes that exhibitions and gatherings of this nature, will substantially strengthen the cooperation in the health sphere between the Israeli and Palestinian Health Ministries and therefore supports initiatives of this kind.