Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, August 19, 2013

Iranian general threatens US, Israel; says nuke negotiations won't change policy

Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said on Monday that U.S. and Zionist forces in the region are militarily “within the area of action of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

He also said, “It is surprising that certain U.S. officials are still talking about military threats against Iran and simplistically believe that such threats can affect Iranian political strategists.

“The strategic mistake of the United States is that they have not realized that the carrot and stick approach is now outdated.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Jazayeri said that the major policies of the Islamic Republic would not be affected by nuclear talks or negotiations about other issues.

He added that the United States can only get closer to Iran if it apologizes to the great Iranian nation and drops its hostile stance.

In other words, "Keep acting like suckers, America."

8/19 Links Part 1: World Wide Terror Threat, Why Obama needs al-Sisi, Echoes of Black September

From Ian:

Terrorists ‘aim to hit Israeli, Jewish targets worldwide’ in coming weeks

Israeli and Jewish targets all over the world are likely to be sought out by terrorist organizations in the coming weeks, the Israeli government’s Counter-Terrorism Bureau warned in strikingly strident tones on Monday, listing dozens of countries where it said it had “concrete” indications of a terrorist threat.
It cited concerns about terrorist acts timed to coincide with the forthcoming Rosh Hashana (New Year), Yom Kippur and Succot festivals, and also said that the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US was likely to be “a favored period” for al-Qaeda and other global jihadist groups to attempt to carry out acts of terrorism.

Israeli travel advisory takes Turkey off vacation destination list

The advisory, issued every year before the High Holidays and Passover when Israelis travel abroad in droves, grouped Turkey together with Azerbaijan, Nigeria and Kenya as countries where there are continuous potential threats, and where non-vital travel should be avoided.

Al-Qaeda said plotting attack on European trains

According to the report, which cited unnamed sources in the US National Security Agency, top-ranking members of the Islamic terror group recently participated in a conference call in which various methods of attacking railways in Europe were extensively discussed, including planting bombs in tunnels or on the trains themselves and sabotaging train tracks and electrical systems.
Reportedly, in response, German authorities have stepped up security and surveillance on the country’s national rail system.

Why Obama needs al-Sisi

Obama cannot publicly declare that he wants the Egyptian army, which has been an ally of Washington for decades, to defeat the Muslim Brotherhood, a movement which produced quite a few terrorists, including current al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri. Therefore, he is refusing to call the ouster of Islmist President Morsi a "military coup" – as it should be – and stresses that while Morsi was elected democratically, he ran Egypt according to the interests of the Muslim Brotherhood, rather than according to the interests of the general public.
Addressing the issue publicly for the first time on Thursday, Obama did try to play down the long-standing friendship between Washington and the Egyptian army, which is based on US interests: An open Suez Canal; open airspace for American logistical flights; preservation of the peace with Israel and the war on terror in Sinai and Gaza.

Al Sisi: We won't Kneel in the Face of Violence

The commander of the armed forces, Gen Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, warned that his troops will not stand by silently in the face of violence. "Whoever imagines violence will make the state and Egyptians kneel must reconsider; we will never be silent in the face of the destruction of the country," he said in a statement posted on Facebook.
He also said, however, that his message to Morsi supporters was that there was "room for everyone in Egypt" and the military had no intention to seize power.

Egypt on Brink of Hell – Analysis

Dr. Mordechai Kedar, a renowned Middle East expert from Bar Ilan University, thinks Egypt could turn into “hell” if Islamists smuggle in weapons from Libya, Sudan and Sinai, and use them against the security forces.
The military in Egypt decided to depose Mohammed Morsi, who was elected president by a razor-thin majority of 50.7%, after it saw how Islamist leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan “neutered” the military in Turkey.

Joel Pollak: Egypt: Echoes of Black September

"Black September" became a potent symbol for Palestinians as the PLO carried out revenge attacks around the world--including the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. In addition, the PLO relocated its forces to Lebanon, where it quickly became a force for instability, terror, and destruction.
Yet King Hussein preserved the most pro-American regime in the Arab world--one that not only has a free trade agreement with the U.S., but a somewhat freer (albeit less innovative) economy than Israel and a relatively warm peace treaty with Israel as well. Few would dispute that the status quo is better than PLO rule would have been.

Hosni Mubarak to be freed in days, officials say

The officials said there were no longer any grounds to hold the 85-year-old former autocrat because of the expiration of a two-year legal limit for holding an individual in custody pending a final verdict.
His lawyer predicted that he would be released by the end of the week, once corruption charges against him were cleared.
The former president is still being held on another corruption charge but the attorney, Fareed El Deeb, was confident that this charge would also be dropped within days, Reuters quoted him as saying.

Egypt’s Genocide recognition call politically motivated

“For us, it is naturally important for an Arab country like Egypt to acknowledge and condemn the Armenian Genocide, given especially that the Armenians have played an essential role in the history of Egypt. But on the other hand, the selection of timing gives grounds for concerns a little bit, especially in the context of these regional political re-arrangements,” he told Tert.am.

No more Turkish soaps in Cairo

Maybe Turkey’s prime minister will learn to keep his mouth shut about the goings-on in Cairo, now that the Egyptians have decided to hit back where it (melodramatically) hurts most — the Turkish soap opera industry.
Days after Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for putting Egypt’s military leaders on trial for the violence that has swept the country over the last week, several Egyptian television channels have decided to boycott a number of popular Turkish dramas and soap operas.

25 police executed after northern Sinai ambush

Suspected militants on Monday ambushed two mini-buses carrying off-duty policemen in Egypt’s northern Sinai, killing 25 of them execution-style and wounding two, security officials said.
The militants forced the two vehicles to stop, ordered the policemen out and forced them to lie on the ground before they shot them to death, the officials said.

Dozens of Egyptian Brotherhood members killed in jailbreak as army warns against violence

Some 38 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood died on Sunday in an incident at an Egyptian prison, security and legal sources said, giving conflicting versions of the deaths.
The Interior Ministry did not immediately confirm the death toll, but said in a statement that a number of detainees had tried to escape from a prison on the outskirts of Cairo and had taken a police officer hostage.

In Egyptian village, Christian shops marked ahead of church attack

On June 30, when millions of Egyptians took to the streets to protest against now ousted President Mohamed Morsi, residents of Al Nazla marked Christian homes and shops with red graffiti, vowing to protect Morsi's electoral legitimacy with “blood.”
Relations between Christians and Muslims in the village, which had worsened since Morsi's election in 2012, grew even more tense as Islamists spread rumors that it was Christians who were behind the protests against Morsi and his ouster by the military on July 3.

3 Nuns Paraded like 'Prisoners of War;' 2 Christians Killed; 58 Churches, Properties Attacked in Egypt

Islamists burned down a Christian school, paraded three nuns on the streets like "prisoners of war," and sexually abused two other female staff even as at least 58 attacks on Christians and their property were reported across Egypt over the last four days. At least two Christians have died in the attacks.

Cairo Cracks Down on Al Jazeera Channel

The military interim government in Cairo is cracking down on a key adversary – satellite news network Al Jazeera, which is widely seen as being biased in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood.
“The Cabinet has assigned competent authorities to assess the legal status of the Al Jazeera satellite channel, accusing it of threatening stability and national security,” local media said, according to a report on the Egypt Independent Sunday.

Report: Hezbollah's Top Syria Commander Killed

Arab media reported Sunday that a senior Hezbollah terror leader was killed in recent days in a battle with Syrian opposition forces. The battle occurred in the Damascus area.
The reports did not identify the terrorist, but in recent days Hezbollah-affiliated news outlets showed images of the funeral of senior Hezbollah commander Ali Hossam Nasser. The funeral took place in the area of Nabatiya in south Lebanon. Nasser is considered the supreme commander of Hezbollah forces in Syria.

Israeli officials: Iran talks do only one thing – give Tehran more time

The only thing talks between Iran and the world’s powers have achieved until now is buy Tehran more time, Israeli officials said Sunday, following EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton’s comment that the P5+1 group is eager to restart the talks.
“We are skeptical in the extreme,” one official said of a new round of talks. He said there was no hope the talks would help “unless the Iranians feel the pressure is being upgraded.”

Catherine Ashton plans meeting with new Iranian foreign minister

Catherine Ashton’s office said the 28-nation bloc’s top diplomat called Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday to congratulate him on his appointment.
Ashton says she and the nations negotiating with Iran on the nuclear issue — the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany — are looking forward to engaging with Tehran’s new negotiating team as soon as it is appointed to find a diplomatic solution.

Australian Sheik to Obama: Oh Enemy of Allah, You Will Be Trampled upon by Pure Muslim Feet

“Listen, oh Obama, oh enemy of Allah, you who kiss the shoes and feet of the Jews. Listen! The day will come when you are trampled upon by the pure feet of the Muslims.”

BBC corrects article saying Rouhani only opposes "occupation"

On August 2, I noted that the BBC was whitewashing a quote from "moderate" Iranian president Rouhani, pretending that he was only against the "occupation":

As I wrote then,

While it appears that Rouhani used the word "occupation," the BBC is - seemingly purposefully - misleading its readers into believing that he is only talking about the hated "occupation" but has no problem with Israel. Iran, of course, considers all of Israel to be "occupied" so this terminology in the headline and subhead is deceptive - and seemingly purposefully so.

Simon, who brought the article to my attention, wrote to the BBC:

The story refers to President Rouhani making threatening comments regarding
Israel. In mentioning Rouhani's use of the term "occupied", the story does
not make it clear how this term would be interpreted in Farsi.

In English, "Israeli occupation" commonly refers to the West Bank and Gaza
Strip. In Farsi, "Israeli Occupation" refers to the State of Israel itself,
as well as the West Bank and Gaza.

By falling to draw this distinction, the article misleads readers,
insinuating that Rouhani is merely threatening Israel's continuing
occupation. In reality, he issued a threat against an entire nation.

Thus, the article is factually inaccurate.

Over two weeks later, the BBC responded:

We have reviewed the article in question and agree with the interpretation that Hassan Rouhani's remarks were aimed at the State of Israel. We have amended the story accordingly and added a footnote explaining the correction.

Here is the article now with the correction:

Getting the truth out there is hard work, and while correcting an article that no one is reading any more is not ideal, it at least helps ensure that similar problems are not repeated in the future.

Congratulations, we have achieved peace. Don't ruin it with a "peace plan."

Today, the Israeli-Arab conflict is the least violent it has ever been.

This year, only one Israeli has been killed in a terror attack. Less than 15 Palestinian Arabs have been killed (B'Tselem says 11, and OCHA-OPT says 13), most of whom were involved in rock or firebomb attacks.

The lowest number of Israeli deaths in any year since 1948 has been six (2009 and 1982) according to this chart.

While this isn't the year with the lowest Palestinian Arab casualty count (1999 had only 8 deaths), it is the second-lowest since 1987.

In other words, this is (so far) shaping up to be the least-violent year since the beginning of the first intifada and quite probably since the founding of modern Israel in 1948.

We have achieved just about the best we can ever hope to achieve. Things were far worse in the years before the State of Israel was reborn, they were worse in the 1950s with the fedayeen attacks and the 1960s with the "commando" attacks and the 1970s with the more modern terrorist attacks. During all of those periods, Israel responded quite furiously, so both sides lost many people.

This is what peace looks like. The status quo is not perfect, but compared to everything else in the past hundred years, it is damn good. Call it a detente, call it a standoff, it doesn't matter - Arabs and Israelis have come close to stopping killing each other.

Even in Gaza, Israeli policies have made Hamas and Islamic Jihad think twice about shooting rockets into Israel. Rocket fire hasn't ended but life is getting close to normal in Israeli communities in the Negev.

And as long as there is no aggression against Israel, Israel is helping make the lives of Palestinian Arabs get better and better. As I noted recently, some 28% of the money being paid to West Bank Arabs is coming from Israeli employers. The Israelis are granting more work permits, paying better wages (roughly double what Palestinian Arabs are paying,) with better benefits.

At least some of this can be credited to Netanyahu with his much derided concept of "economic peace" as a basis for real peace moving forward.

If you want to compare the situation against perfection, which is the standard tool in the anti-Israel playbook, yes, things fall short. But if you want to compare the situation against any other time period, the situation is the best it has ever been - and possibly the best it ever can be. Compared to the rest of the region, Israel's peace is even more striking.

Why is there peace now? Very simply, because the leaders of the Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza (as well as Hizballah in Lebanon) have a lot to lose by fomenting violence. That is the key to peace - creating a situation where the downside of attacks is much greater than the upside of what could be accomplished by violence. Choosing violence (on a macro level) has nothing to do with "justice" or "rights" or anything like that - it is a simple cost/benefit analysis of what can be gained versus what can be lost.

Is this year an anomaly? I don't think so. While there is certainly an element of luck involved, the fact is that the situation makes it more "expensive" to attack Israel than to keep still. Of course one cannot predict the future perfectly - if Hamas comes up with a new way to kidnap an Israeli it seems likely they will try it out; if Hamas gets into a fight with Salafist groups then they might shoot more rockets over, if Islamic Jihad gets Iranian money while Hamas is hung out to dry, things might change drastically in Gaza. But for the foreseeable future, calm is in everyone's interest.

And "peace" isn't. The idea of a new push in the long moribund "peace process" is being pushed from the outside, not from the parties themselves.

What would be the real-life consequences if there was a "peace agreement," no matter what its parameters?

Just this month, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs crossed into Israel -visiting the beach, shopping - during Ramadan, without incident. If the "peace process" is successful, that will be an international border and crossing will be much more difficult in Ramadans to come.

Today, tens of thousands of Palestinian Arabs work, happily, for Israeli employers, with decent wages. If "peace" would break out, this would all but disappear and the PA economy would be in even worse shape than it is today.

Palestinian Arab exports to the West would be more difficult.

And, without a doubt, the terror groups who find the idea of formal peace with Israel to be anathema will work overtime to prove their relevance - by shooting rockets and planning suicide bombings, to reclaim their former glory.

Peace will not bring friendship. Anyone who believes that only has to look at how Egypt and Jordan regard their peace treaties with Israel. They have been respecting the treaties but they have not stopped their incitement; arguably in recent years anti-Zionism and antisemitism in those two countries has gotten worse.

Unless you are wedded to the idea of an impossible peace where Israel and the PLO are allied, you should realize that today, we have real peace.

After any agreement is signed, we will see more deaths on both sides, guaranteed.

Efforts should not be put into a fantasy peace plan. Instead, we need a dose of realism. The factors that can destabilize the current peace are the ones that need to be neutralized.

This means doing real work to integrate Palestinian Arabs into Arab countries as full citizens. This means working towards a Syria that is neither Assad nor Al Qaeda, but one that gives its people hope and weakens both Hizballah and Iran. This means a policy that truly supports liberal, democratic forces in Egypt and Tunisia and elsewhere. It means working towards a Middle East that resembles more closely the de facto peace currently enjoyed by Israel and Palestinian Arabs, where the cost of war is much higher than the status quo.

None of this is easy. But none of it is fantasy, either, which is what the "peace process" has been from the start.

Tamarod Gaza gaining steam; releases video slamming Hamas

I had mentioned the Tamarod Palestine Facebook group that was making Hamas so nervous.

That group was against both Hamas and Fatah. But Tamarod Gaza is only against Hamas, and they are growing, now with over 30,000 Facebook "Likes."

They are pushing for a major anti-Hamas rally in Gaza on November 11, and just released a video slamming Hamas for its actions.

The video says that Hamas practices "murder, torture, vandalism and bullying, bribery, smuggling, as if they were one of the gangs in the Middle Ages, but it's shameful shameful that they practice [these crimes] in the name of religion and the homeland and the resistance..."

The group misses the old Hamas, the one that fought only against Israel. "The Hamas of today is not the Hamas of Yassin," they say.

Tamarod Gaza's message ends by saying "All our options are open, but we disagree with you as to the choice of weapon. We are not raising arms against our brothers, but you are; we are after bloodshed but you are; we do not drag bodies in the streets, but you do; we will not kill children and men, women and young people, but you do; we do not demolish mosques, but you do; we understand Palestine and its people and their will, their pride and dignity but not you."

Hamas has said that Fatah is behind this group and has started a crackdown on suspected members.

Arabic media is off the deep end; impossible to puzzle out the real story anymore

Usually, one can figure out what is going on in an Arab country by reading the propaganda and spin on different sides of the story and boiling it down to something approximating truth.

Right now, for Egypt, this is impossible.

Rumors and pure hate are far more in evidence than actual facts. We are seeing possible Pallywood situations, such as this one where Al Jazeera apparently accidentally showed a fake dead person, who had no wound and then moved his leg:

But we have real Western reporters who have seen real deaths, without any doubt, of hundreds of MB members, so even if this one is fake, this video turns from Pallywood into - anti-MB propaganda.

Make no mistake - the Egyptian leadership and many other Egyptians loath the Muslim Brotherhood. Nothing says "hate" in Arabic like calling your opponents Jews. Here is a fake MB logo going around:

The Brotherhood is doing the same; I had mentioned the rumor that Sisi is really Jewish, and that is now being accepted as fact by Islamist websites without any skepticism.

Last month a rumor started that the Muslim Brotherhood met secretly in Islanbul to plan the next stages of their plan to take over Egypt again. The "leaked minutes" of the supposed meeting have gotten bigger and bigger over several weeks, until now the meeting is said to have determined to put women and children in the rallies, to hold demonstrations constantly to exhaust Egyptian security, to start a campaign of suicide bombings in Egypt, to encourage Hamas and Takfirist groups to fan throughout the Sinai and attack the Suez Canal, to earn a billion dollars from arms smuggling and then use those arms to destabilize Egypt.

While the MB is capable of doing this stuff, it is all fantasy from their opponents. Constant rumors in Egypt about Hamas attacks in the Sinai are similarly unlikely.

And this is the problem - one literally cannot believe a thing one reads in the Arabic media. Even Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya are being shown to be unreliable as they report on their side of the story above all.

This is the worst I have ever seen, even worse than the Shiite/Sunni media wars over the Syria situation.

Freedom Tower, now

It's been a while since I posted a photo of Lower Manhattan. Last time (I think) was two years ago, when the new World Trade Center was under construction.

Previously, as in 2008, I had done entire panoramas of the area.

Here is what the new World Trade Center looked like last week.You can see a number of new buildings built since 2008, making it a completely different skyline to what it was.

Daughter of SA activist talks about demonization of Israel

Esther Meshoe, daughter of conservative South African parliamentarian, Dr. Kenneth Meshoe, refutes false allegations of apartheid on the part of Israel.

((h/t IsraDocuMentalist)

El Al plane turns around for 11-year old cancer patient who lost passport

From The Daily Mail:

An Israeli airline – with the support of everyone on-board – turned around a plane to pick up an 11-year-old cancer patient.

All set to fly to New York August 7 to attend a camp for paediatric cancer patients, Inbar Chomsky, was taken off an El-Al Airlines flight after her passport went missing. Despite a frantic search by airline staff, passengers and the group Chomsky was travelling with, her passport was gone, flight attendants had no choice but to remove the sick girl.

Tears in their eyes, everyone said good bye to the devastated young girl after a half hour search aided by airline staff and passengers failed to turn up the girl’s passport, according to Haaretz.

‘El Al sadly called her mother to tell her that Inbar’s passport was lost and that the girl, who had been fighting illness so valiantly, would not be able to fly to Camp Simcha’ Rabbi Yaakov Pinsky, director of of the Israeli branch of Chai Lifeline wrote in Yeshiva World News. ‘What a horrible experience for an 11 year old girl.’

Minutes after the doors closed and the plane taxied away from the gate, a fellow camper looking through another girl’s backpack found Chomsky’s passport and told flight attendants, according to Haaretz.

What happened next is virtually unheard of, especially post-9/11.

The plane’s pilots immediately stopped the plane, according to Haaretz, and after about 45 minutes were able to convince air traffic control to let them return to the gate to pick Chomsky up, Pinsky wrote.

Still overcoming her disappointment while at the gate with Elad Maimon, program director of the Israeli branch of Chai Lifeline, Chomsky and others watched in disbelief as the plane turned around, said Haaretz. 'The flight attendants could not believe their eyes,' Maimon told the paper. 'They told me they had never seen such a thing.'

‘Planes rarely return to the gate after departing, read an El Al statement, continuing that ‘after consulting with El Al crew on the plane and El Al staff at the airport the decision was made and the plane returned to pick up Inbar.’

Passengers cheered and cried, wrote Pinsky, saying they shared ‘Inbar’s happiness and excitement,’ and calling it ‘one of the greatest moments’ he has ever witnessed.

Located in the Catskill Mountains roughly two hours north of New York City, an area long-popular with Jewish tourists, Camp Simcha is a summer camp meant to uplift the spirits of children living with cancer and other similar medical problems, according to its website. Campers are medically supervised and take part in sports, carnivals, talent shows, helicopter rides and other activities.

Bayard Rustin and black civil rights leaders' support for Israel in the 1970s

As the US gets ready to mark the 50th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous March on Washington, it is a good time to remember one of the organizers of the march, one of King's colleagues, and an indefatigable supporter of civil rights, Bayard Rustin, who will be posthumously honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Rustin was not only a famous supporter of civil rights, but he also supported gay rights, was an outspoken opponent of antisemitism, and a staunch supporter of Israel. As the book "Bayard Rustin and the Civil Rights Movement" notes:

Rustin always wrote and spoke against anti-Semitism. In the summer of 1967, the SNCC Newsletter published a pro-Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), anti-Israel article, which Rustin was quick to denounce....

Rustin was a strong supporter of Israel. As in the SNCC Newsletter, black anti-Semitism often took the form of opposing Israel and supporting the PLO as representing victims of imperialistic "Zionism." Rustin, in contrast, saw the Jewish state as a social democratic island surrounded by theocratic dictatorships. In supporting Israel, he was supporting a cause important to most Jews and, by implication, showing that the much publicized anti-Semitic statements of black militants did not represent a broad black viewpoint. In June 1970, the A. Philip Randolph Institute ran a full-page ad in the New York Times, "An Appeal by Black Americans for United States Support to Israel." The ad expressed support for "the most democratic country in the Middle East." It was sympathetic to the plight of Arab refugees but argued that continued conflict did them more harm than good. In its last line, the text urged that the United States provide Israel "with the full number of jet aircraft it has requested."

This was an astonishing statement for someone who had once been a pacifist.

In his column, Rustin frequently spoke out for Israel. Here is his column about the Yom Kippur War:

Rustin was also the director of BASIC, the Black Americans to Support Israel Committee, which published this remarkable full page ad in the New York Times when the UN was about to vote on the infamous "Zionism is Racism" resolution. Here is the entire ad, with the notable African Americans who signed it (including Hank Aaron, Harry Belafonte, Vernon Jordan and others) formatted to you can read it here:

See also Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers and Gil Troy.

(h/t Faith M.)

8/18 Links: PA Radio - "One day" no Israel, Coptic Tragedy in Egypt, Sherlock in Jerusalem

From Ian:

Obama clogged up in the ‘heart of the Arab world’

In June 2009, President Barack Obama made a landmark speech setting out a new US policy toward the Middle East — and the world. To deliver it, the newly elected president traveled to Egypt, which his then-press secretary Robert Gibbs described as “a country that in many ways represents the heart of the Arab world.”
Four years later, the Cairo streets through which Obama traveled are burning. The past week’s violence in Egypt may finally push the US toward a conclusive decision — propping up or cutting off Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s military-controlled interim government.

Merkel: Anti-Semitism a threat to democracy in Europe

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said anti-Semitism and racism remain a threat to democracy in Europe almost 70 years after the end of World War II.
Merkel cited the ongoing trial of five alleged neo-Nazis over the killing of 10 people between 2000 and 2007, and the fact that Jewish schools and synagogues still require police protection, as evidence of the problem in Germany.

George Mason U. Student: “Jews had their golden age under Muslim rule”

With such iconic conservative luminaries like Walter E. Williams associated with George Mason University, one assumes students are generally well-informed and reasoned in their opinions.
So this video of one of its scholars from the school’s Students Against Israeli Apartheid group may be shocking:

College students shout down Israeli speaker then claim their free speech was violated

This is what we’ve come to.
A group of anti-Israel students showed up at a talk from an Israeli speaker, heckled and shouted him down, then claimed that their free speech rights were violated when the school disciplined them.
No wonder Florida Atlantic University ranks dead last for college life.

Anti-Semitic Slurs by Morsi Protesters on the Temple Mount (VIDEO)

Another group chanted and accused Abdel Fattah el-Sisi guilty of treason and they questioned, "Are you a Jew or what?"
The pro-Morsi Muslims carried banners that said, "Sisi: hypocrite, traitor, working for the Jews," as well as, "Murderer, agent, traitor, criminal, butcher."
There were others in the crowd who compared Sisi to Adolf Hitler. Under the pictures of Hitler was written: "I killed the Jews for my people and for my flock." Under the picture of el-Sisi was written: "I killed the children of my people and my flock for the Jews."

PA radio: "One day" there will be no Israel

Radio announcer: "Greetings to all our listeners and happy holiday to you, our people in occupied Palestine (i.e., Israel), 1948 Palestine, the 1948 territories (i.e., Israel, created in 1948)... Greetings to our people in Acre, Nazareth, Tiberias, Haifa and Jaffa (all Israeli cities)... May your Palestinian identity be rooted in your hearts and minds. Allah willing, one day Palestine will be Palestine again!"
[Voice of Palestine (official PA radio), Aug. 8, 2013]

Hussein Aboubakr: Coptic tragedy in Egypt

There once lived a great Jewish community in Egypt that has been lost forever. Just as 80,000 Egyptian Jews were abused and fled, today Coptic Christians are facing similar religious persecution, yet they don’t have any other home country to turn to. Today, the world is preoccupied with the current political turmoil in Egypt, while ignoring the ongoing catastrophe faced by an indigenous Middle Eastern Coptic Christians. One of the churches burned by Muslim Brotherhood supporters, was the Prince Tadros Church in Al Minya – a 4th century church which contained ancient manuscripts on Orthodox theology. Is the West ready to accept such a loss? Are power and money more important than human life and history?

Egypt's Christians Attack Western Media Coverage

The Egyptian Coptic church has released a statement backing the country's military-backed government, and slamming the western media for its coverage of the violence in Egypt, which has killed more than 600 people.
Referring to perceived sympathy for the Muslim Brotherhood by western media outlets, the statement, translated by Al Arabiya, called on the West to "read objectively the facts of events, and not give international and political cover to these terrorists and bloody groups."

Tamarod movement calls on Egyptian government to cancel Camp David peace treaty

The Tamarod ("Rebellion") movement in Egypt has joined a campaign calling to stop US aid to Egypt, and to cancel the 1979 Camp David peace treaty with Israel, Daily News Egypt reported on Saturday.
The campaign is in response to "unacceptable" US interference in Egyptian political affairs, after US President Barack Obama decided to cancel a joint drill with the Egyptian military in response to the outbreak of violence in the country earlier this week.

Report: Israel Assured Egypt that U.S. Aid Won't be Cut

Israel has been pressuring the United States not to stop the military aid that it provides to Egypt, fearing the fate of the peace between the countries, the New York Times reported Saturday, citing diplomatic sources.
According to the report, Israel and Egyptian Defense Minister General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi have been in close contact throughout the latest crisis in Egypt. The diplomats told the New York Times that Israel assured Egypt it did not have to worry about the U.S. threat to cut its enormous aid package to that country.

American al-Qaida militant calls for attacks on US diplomats

Adam Gadahn, a California-born convert to Islam with a $1 million US price on his head, appealed to wealthy Muslims to offer militants rewards to kill ambassadors in the region, citing bounty set for killing the US ambassador to Yemen, Washington-based SITE monitoring group said.

IDF retaliates after mortars fired from Golan Heights

The IDF fired a Tamuz missile at a Syrian military post in the Golan Heights after several mortars were fired from the Syrian side of the border into Israel earlier Saturday.
According to the IDF, the missile destroyed a Syrian cannon which had fired artillery at Israel.

Iranian nuke chief says country’s nuclear program has 18,000 centrifuges

Tehran has a total of 18,000 centrifuges for uranium enrichment, Iran’s outgoing nuclear chief said Saturday. The number is higher by a third than is publicly known.
Uranium enrichment is a process that can be a pathway to making nuclear weapons.

Toronto marks anniversary of anti-Jewish violence

It was August 16, 1933, less than seven months after Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, and a Protestant youth team from St. Peter’s Church was playing against Harbord Collegiate, a mostly Jewish squad that included some players of Italian background.
Toronto, at that time, was dominated by its white, Protestant majority, and both Jews and Italian immigrants faced discrimination by the establishment. Like their American and European counterparts, Canadian Jews were restricted from certain professions and social clubs, and faced quotas at academic institutions. Signs in store windows and in the city’s Beaches neighborhood read “No Dogs or Jews Allowed,” and a “swastika club,” inspired by the new regime in Germany, was even parading its hatred on the shores of Lake Ontario, proudly bearing the symbol of Hitler’s aggressive new Reich.

Menachem Begin: His legacy, a century after his birth

Menachem Begin, Israel’s sixth prime minister, was born 100 years ago today. A century after his birth, and more than two decades after his death, it behooves us all, regardless of our political stripes, to take a moment and reflect on the profundity of his contribution to the Jewish people.
That claim will undoubtedly strike many as strange, since more than half a century after he helped rid Palestine of the British, Begin is still disparaged by many of the very same Jews who see in the American revolution a cause for genuine pride.

2,700 year old Hebrew inscription uncovered in City of David

Thousands of fragments of pottery, candles, ceramics and figurines dating to the end of the First Temple were discovered during archaeological excavations in the City of David in Jerusalem, located on a narrow spur south of the Temple Mount, surrounded on all sides by valleys, near the Gihon Spring and the Arab village of the Silwan.
The findings were discovered during excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority, the most important of which being a ceramic bowl with a partially-preserved Hebrew inscription, possibly containing the name of a Biblical figure.

Spaniards to Play Jewish Slaves in Upcoming Film 'Exodus'

Thousands of Spaniards in the depressed southern region of Andalusia lined up on Friday morning to play the role of slaves in film-maker Ridley Scott's Biblical epic "Exodus", hoping for a way out of unemployment, AFP reported.
In a region with unemployment at 35 percent, the prospect of work as an extra with a daily wage of 80 euros ($107) has sparked a rush in Almeria where casting is being held for the story of Moses and the Jewish exodus from Egypt to the promised land.

Benedict Cumberbatch voices new documentary on Jerusalem

He might be instantly recognizable as Sherlock Holmes in the critically acclaimed BBC remake about the famous London detective, but Benedict Cumberbatch has doffed his deerstalker to narrate a new documentary about Jerusalem.
The 45-minute film traces the history of the city, following three of its young residents - a Jew, a Christian and Muslim.

Nasrallah says he'll go to Syria to fight if necessary. Let's hope so!

Hizballah's leader Sayyed Nasrallah made another of his ramblling Friday speeches where he spouted about Israel, America, "Takfiris" and other groups that he is upset at this week, all the while pretending that he is defedning his beloved people of Lebanon that he is dragging into the Syrian war.

In reference to the massive car bomb in the Hezbollah-controlled section of Beirut last week, he said:

One of our responses to such explosions is: If we had 1000 fighters in Syria, they will become 2000, and if we had 5000, they will become 10 000, and if the battle with those terrorists required that I go with all Hezbollah to Syria, we will all go for the sake of Syria and its people, Lebanon and its people, Palestine and Al-Quds, and the central cause.

We put an end to the battle, and we set a time for this battle to end, and as we triumphed in all our wars with Israel, if you wanted us to enter a fierce battle with you, I assure to everyone that we will triumph against Takfiri terror. The cost of the battle will be high, but the least cost is being slaughtered like ewes and waiting for the murderers to come into our house.

Throughout the speech, as in this section, he tries to pretend that he is fighting Israel and defending Lebanon against Israel, claiming that all of the attacks against Hizballah are controlled by the "Zionists."

Meanwhile, Lebanese politicians are increasingly critical of Hizballah's adventurism:

Former Prime Minister and Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri blasted on Saturday Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s recent speech and said it threatened to further involve Lebanon in the Syria war.

“Nasrallah’s speech did not contribute to defusing tension in Lebanon on the contrary it served as an escalation of Lebanon’s involvement in the Syrian fire.” Hariri said adding: “Sedition is the essence of terrorism, and the most dangerous kind.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said Hezbollah’s participation in the Syrian war is not part of his agreement with the militant group and stressed that he is against any intervention outside the Lebanese territory.

“This is a private initiative for Hezbollah, there is no agreement between us and them in that matter. We are against any intervention outside the Lebanese territory,” Aoun said in an interview with Al-Hayat newspaper which was published on Saturday.

Hezbollah has been widely criticized by Lebanese and Arab leaders for supporting the Alawite-dominated Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad against the mostly Sunni Syrian rebels who are trying to overthrow the 40 year old dictatorship.

BBC will take out gratuitous reference to "Israeli apartheid" at Proms broadcast

From Al Arabiya:

The BBC is due to cut comments made by violinist Nigel Kennedy about “apartheid” in Israel when it broadcasts his concert, performed with Palestinian artists as part of the Proms musical festival, on British television channels next week.

The concert, held at London’s Royal Albert Hall last week, featured 17 musicians from the Palestine Strings, the troupe performed Vivaldi’s Four Seasons alongside Kennedy.
Kennedy likened the situation in Israel to apartheid in South Africa.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it’s a bit facile to say it but we all know from experiencing this night of music tonight that giving equality and getting rid of apartheid means there's a chance for amazing things to happen," said Kennedy.

The decision to cut Kennedy’s comment was made due to “editorial reasons,” they removed because of “the way it fitted in with the program, ” a BBC spokesperson told Al Arabiya English.

“Nigel’s comment to the audience at his late-night prom on August 8 will not be included in the deferred BBC 4 broadcast on August 23 because it does not fall within the editorial remit of the proms as a classical music festival.”

Kennedy dedicated his performance at the Proms to Palestinians, according to his introduction.

“The concert tonight is very emotional, because I am performing for people who are imprisoned, to give them two hours of fun and show them that the world has not forgotten about them,” he said.

Dressed in popular Palestinian garments, the players from the Palestinian orchestra played a specially-curated fusion of classical work with Arab and folk music alongside the celebrated violinist.

Al Arabiya's headline calls this "censorship."

You can hear Kennedy's comment about "apartheid" starting at about 1:05, and it causes a 30 second ovation from the British audience:

The snippet of the video released so far by the BBC sounds like it was an interesting concert despite Kennedy's hate, as their version of Vivaldi's Four Seasons added some "Eastern" influence.

To my untrained ear, the violin that is meant to sound Arabic sounds surprisingly like Eastern European Jewish music as well.

Remember that two years ago, Israelis performing at the Proms were interrupted by protesters and the BBC broadcast was stopped.

As far as I can tell, no one called to boycott these young Palestinian Arab musicians, there were no heckles or yelling interrupting their performances, and there were no crowds outside yelling at attendees for supporting a group that represents those who celebrate murderers of Jews.

US State Dept. upset at Israel releasing murderer of an American

From Eli Lake at The Daily Beast:

For decades, the United States has urged foreign governments not to free prisoners who have killed Americans. But a man who murdered an American was freed this week by Israel in a prisoner-release deal encouraged by Secretary of State John Kerry.

Among those released Tuesday as an inducement to the Palestinian Authority to return to peace negotiations was Al-Haaj Othman Amar Mustafa, a Palestinian convicted in 1991 of killing Frederick Steven Rosenfeld, who the Philadelphia Inquirer at the time of his death reported was a former U.S. Marine and U.S. citizen.

Mustafa was sentenced by an Israeli military court to life after he and two other assailants murdered Rosenfeld in 1989, 21 years after the former Marine emigrated to Israel. According to an Associated Press account of Mustafa’s trial before a military court, Mustafa and two others met Rosenfeld as he was hiking near the settlement where he lived in Ariel. At first, the three men befriended Rosenfeld and even posed for a photo. “Minutes after the picture was taken, the three stabbed Rosenfeld and left him for dead, according to their confession,” the AP dispatch said.

Today Mustafa is a free man, one of 26 Palestinians released from Israeli jails on Tuesday, the first group of a total of 104 prisoners Israel has promised to free in exchange for Palestinian participation in a new peace process. The list of prisoners was negotiated with the Palestinian Authority, at the urging of Secretary Kerry.

Marie Harf, deputy spokesperson for the State Department, told The Daily Beast Thursday, “The State Department conveyed the administration’s concerns regarding the release of this prisoner to the government of Israel, while recognizing the victim was a dual national of Israel and the United States.”

Harf said the Israeli side “acknowledged our views, but it was ultimately their decision to determine which prisoners to release. This is a very difficult situation for all involved, and further highlights the importance of making these negotiations successful.”

Hold on.

The US Secretary of State pressured Israel into releasing 104 terrorists, the first batch of which contained only murderers and accomplices to murder. The position of the State Department's leader is clearly that releasing murderers is essential to the peace process (against all logic.)

But now that one of the victims is found to be American, this thought process is suddenly flawed?

“As I understand the facts, there are only two possibilities,” said Elliott Abrams, a deputy national security adviser in the George W. Bush administration and a scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations. “It was a very bad screwup by the State Department not to demand that he remain incarcerated or it is a silent change of policy. I believe the policy has always been that we oppose the release of anyone who has committed terrorism against Americans.”

Abrams pointed to U.S. public statements in 2005 after Germany freed Mohammed Ali Hammadi, a member of Hezbollah who participated in the murder of U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem during the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847. When Hammadi was released in 2005, a State Department spokesman said, “We’re going to make every effort to see that he stands trial in the United States for what he did and face justice.”

It isn't a change of policy - it was a mistake.

There is only one possible explanation.

The position of the State Department is that murderers of Americans must never be released, but murderers of Israelis must be released.

The US must never negotiate with terrorists, but Israel must.

The US must track down and attempt to arrest any terrorists who murdered Americans who do get released from prison, but Israel must promise not to do that.

In short, US policy is "Do as I say, even if it is the polar opposite of how I act."

You see, because it is for "peace."

PA TV praises translator of the "Protocols"

From Palestinian Media Watch:

Ajaj Nuwahid was born in Lebanon in 1897, then moved to Syria. After the French took over Syria he decided to move to Jerusalem to fight against the British rule over Palestine and the Zionist movement. He was friends with the antisemitic Mufti of Jerusalem. He also had a role in having Jordan occupy and illegally annex the West Bank, because Palestinian Arab nationalism wasn't really what he was interested in after all. He then moved to Amman and then back to Lebanon in 1959.

Since he lived in British Mandate Palestine in 1948, he was considered a "Palestinian refugee." However, since he moved back to his hometown, he might have successfully appealed to regain his Lebanese citizenship, as a number of "Palestinian refugees" managed to do in the 1950s.

His book about the Protocols of the Elders of Zion seems to have been more than just a translation, but indeed a full anti-semitic screed written in 1967 and expanding on the themes of the Russian forgery to apply them to modern Zionism. It has been through at least four editions.

The PA is praising, and claiming as one of their own, a full blown Jew-hater and inciter.

(h/t Ian)