Egypt's siege of Gaza continues

From Ma'an:

Egyptian authorities kept the Rafah crossing with Gaza closed for a fourth consecutive day on Saturday.

There have been frequent closures of the terminal in recent weeks due to political unrest in Egypt and violence in the Sinai peninsula.

The Palestinian Authority ambassador to Egypt, Barakat al-Farra, urged Gazan students enrolled in Egyptian universities to send their details to the embassy in Cairo so that arrangements can be made to obtain special permits to allow students to cross into Egypt.

The ambassador told Ma'an that his team will contact Egyptian universities to try to delay examinations for Palestinian students who are not able to cross into the country.

This being Ma'an, they have to throw in some anti-Israel lies as well:

The crossing is the only way most Palestinians in Gaza can enter or leave the territory. Israel imposes an air and sea blockade on the enclave, and its border is closed to Palestinians.

Well, in July Israel allowed 4002 people through Erez, including 1000 patients and family members plus many businessmen (34% of total, although I don't know how many of those live in Gaza. Many certainly do, though.)

It seems likely that more Gazans crossed Erez Shalom in August than crossed Rafah.

Still don't see any anti-Egypt flotillas, though. Funny, that.

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Big Bad Wolf IDF blows poor Arabs' houses down: report

A real headline in the official PA WAFA news agency:

Wind Caused by Israeli Helicopter Blows Away Homes in Jordan Valley

Wind caused by landing Israeli military helicopters Thursday blew away three Palestinian canvas tents used as homes in an area in the Jordan Valley, according to witnesses.

They said the Israeli helicopters landed in the middle of an area where Palestinian herders reside causing three tents to be blown away due to the wind caused by the helicopter blades, displacing three families who were left without shelter.

"I'll huff, and I'll puff..."

Even though this happened on Thursday, not even the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) or B'Tselem have bothered mentioning this on their site, perhaps because they know quite well that a high percentage of Arab stories are completely bogus, and they'll only publicize those that have at least a tiny grain of truth.

The only major site to republish this "news" is, of course, Mondoweiss, since their editorial policy is "if it is anti-Israel, it requires no fact-checking."

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9/14 Links: Poll-Obama Unable to Handle Iran, Ban Ki-moon-UN has Failed Syria, Gas Pipeline to Turkey

From Ian:

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Israeli Poll: After Syria, Jewish State Can’t Trust Obama on Iran

In a new Israel Hayom poll, a majority of Israeli Jews—66.7 percent—characterized U.S. President Barack Obama’s handling of the Syria crisis as “not successful.” Meanwhile, 65.3 percent said that given Obama’s conduct regarding Syria, he would not be able to successfully deal with the Iran nuclear program.
A plurality of Israeli Jews—49.7 percent—said Obama’s decision to delay a military strike against Syria was wrong, while 32.8 percent said he made the right choice.

Karl Vick’s Latest Dispatch From Jerusalem is Just Laughable

According to Vick, Israel then fell in love with President Obama. He is now “being hailed as a model of principled resolve, a Churchillian figure,” he claims.
“Rather than focusing on what Obama could not do — line up anywhere near a Congressional majority for a military strike — Israelis focused on what he did: Use the consistent threat of military force to extract a promise from Syria and its most powerful patron, Russia, to remove tons of chemical weapons from Israel’s northern border,” Vick writes.
Unashamedly, the backup for his grand pronouncement on the consensus, mood and ultimate “verdict” of “Israelis” amounts to a series of handpicked opinion quotations from a total of two notoriously left wing Israeli newspapers.

Mark Steyn: American Ineffectualism

Every American ally is cringing with embarrassment at the amateurishness of the last month.
For generations, eminent New York Times wordsmiths have swooned over foreign strongmen, from Walter Duranty’s Pulitzer-winning paeans to the Stalinist utopia to Thomas L. Friedman’s more recent effusions to the “enlightened” Chinese Politburo. So it was inevitable that the cash-strapped Times would eventually figure it might as well eliminate the middle man and hire the enlightened strongman direct. Hence Vladimir Putin’s impressive debut on the op-ed page this week.

Guardian publishes essay on Oslo by one-stater who blames Jews for antisemitism

The 20 year history of Oslo, Shlaim claims in his CiF essay, has vindicated Edward Said’s characterization of the agreement “an instrument of Palestinian surrender, a Palestinian Versailles”, and predicts that “as long as Netanyahu remains in power, it is a safe bet that no breakthrough will be achieved in the new round of talks.”
Shlaim, it should be noted, perfectly represents the Guardian’s institutional hostility to Zionism, as the Oxford affiliated new Israeli historian (who’s been roundly criticized for his shoddy research) has characterized Zionism as the greatest single threat to Jews, blaming Israeli Jewish behavior for the upsurge of anti-Semitism throughout the world.

United Nations' Syria chemical weapons report "overwhelming," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says

The secretary-general said it was a "failure" that the U.N. couldn't resolve the ongoing conflict, a statement that sent some shock waves around the corridors of U.N. headquarters.
"It's an incredible situation that the Security Council has not been able to adopt any single resolution, even humanitarian, even humanitarian issues, not to mention political and security issues," said Ban. "They are divided. I am very much troubled by this. This is failure by the United Nations."

Obama amenable to toothless Syria resolution, say officials

Senior White House officials said Friday that President Barack Obama may be open to a UN resolution to secure Syria’s chemical weapons that does not include the threat of military force for failing to abide by the agreement.
The officials say Obama retains the authority to launch a strike, but Russia is expected to veto a resolution that includes a military trigger.
The officials also outlined for the first time a timetable for negotiations with Russia over Syria’s chemical weapons. The officials say they will know within a few weeks whether that effort has the necessary traction.

Syrian opposition: Don’t let Assad stall while he keeps on killing

Syria’s main opposition group in exile was “deeply skeptical” Friday about Damascus signing an international treaty banning the production and use of chemical weapons, saying a U.N. resolution was needed to enforce compliance.
Syrian President Bashar Assad told Russian TV that his government would start submitting data on its chemical weapons stockpile a month after signing the convention.

Thriving Nazi Memorabilia Auction Business Highlights ‘Perversity’ of Collectors, ADL’s Foxman Says

The twisted niche entered the mainstream in the U.S. when Bill Panagopulos’s auction house, Alexander Auctions, then located in Stamford, Connecticut, sold journals written by concentration camp doctor Josef Mengele during his exile in South America. Now Panagopulos has resurfaced, this time near Washington D.C, and his business is doing better than ever.
Abraham Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League and a Holocaust survivor, told The Algemeiner, “Nazi memorabilia is best understood in context, and we would prefer to see it permanently housed in a museum on the Holocaust.”

British Jewish Group Knocks Campaign Criticizing Israeli Medical Treatment of Palestinians

Great Britain’s largest Jewish representative body on Friday criticized a campaign in England that focuses on the negative impact of security precautions on Palestinian patients seeking to enter Israel for medical treatment.
The Zionist Federation said the campaign launched by Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) last week was done so “without providing any necessary context, or mentioning that thousands [of Palestinians] are admitted (to Israel for treatment) every year.”

Pro-Israel New Yorkers Hold Symbolic UJA-Federation Check Burning

On Thursday evening, September 12, a group of between 50 and 75 staunchly pro-Israel New Yorkers attended the latest effort to publicly expose what they are calling Donor Fraud in the institutional Jewish community.
Their campaign is called, “Close Your Wallets,” and they are hoping to encourage Jews to withhold their donations to Jewish institutions until specific guidelines regarding the use of that money are adopted.
The loosely organized group whose leader is Richard Allen, head of JCC Watch, has been gathering outside Jewish institutions on a regular basis for several years. They do this in an effort to draw attention to the use by large Jewish institutions of Jewish charitable donations to support anti-Israel activities and anti-Israel individuals.

Turcas Petrol Proposes 470 KM, $2.5 Billion Pipeline to Connect Israel’s Leviathan Gas Well to Turkey

Turkish pipeline operator Turcas Petrol has proposed to develop and construct a $2.5 Billion, 470 km pipeline to connect the country to Israel’s Leviathan natural gas platform, Israel’s Globes business daily reported on Friday.
Speaking at an international energy conference held in Paphos, Cyprus, on Thursday, Matthew Bruyza, a senior executive at Turcas Petrol and a former U.S. diplomat, said the pipeline could transport 16 billion cubic meters of gas from Leviathan to the southern Turkish ports of Cekisan or Mersin.
Bruyza said the pipeline would be an attractive venture, despite the political risks arising from the strained relations between Israel and Turkey. He said, “Our company and other companies are prepared to take the risk on themselves if the venture is hurt or even torpedoed by political developments.”

Study shows Yom Kippur’s empty roads make for cleaner air

Few, if any, Israelis drive their cars on Yom Kippur, especially in large cities. For those not attending services in synagogue, the preferred method of transportation is biking (many of those bike riders aren’t eating; recent polls show that close to 60% of Israelis fast on the Day of Atonement). The bottom line is that the biggest source of air pollution, the exhaust generated by vehicles, disappears for the day.
According to Levy’s study, the impact on pollution levels is almost immediate. Levels of nitrogen oxide (the building block of smog) drop by 83–98% at different sites in the Tel Aviv area, ozone levels fall significantly, and nitrogen dioxide levels fall as well. The research takes 15 years’ worth of pollution data and analyzes it in order to come to its conclusions.

The Jewish Hunger Games – Released in Time for Yom Kippur! (VIDEO)

The Jewish Hunger Games: Kvetching Fire, a spoof of The Hunger Games, posted to YouTube Thursday by actor Jonathan Rudnitsky, follows Katniss Everstein, Peeta Hummus/Effie Trinketson and more as they try to overcome their temptation to…eat.
On its surface this may seem a trivial challenge, but just tell that to a Jew. As the lead character—whose male companion tells her, “It’s only 24 hours of fasting, it can’t be that bad,”—says,”You don’t get it, you’re a gentile.”

US customs warns Sukkot travelers their etrogs face inspection

U.S. authorities’ new travel guidelines for Sukkot allow passengers to bring the traditional “four species” on board airplanes, but customs regulations warn travelers that their etrogs (citron fruit) face inspection and that European willow twigs are banned.
“TSA’s screening procedures do not prohibit the carrying of the four plants used during Sukkot – a palm branch, myrtle twigs, willow twigs, and a citron – in airports, through or security checkpoints, or on airplanes,” the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement, noting the dates of this year’s Sukkot holiday, from Sept. 18-25. The TSA notice noted that all passengers undergo security screening at checkpoints.

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G'mar chatima tovah 5774 - גמר חתימה טובה

I will slightly update my Yom Kippur message of previous years:

Since a high percentage of my traffic is from people asking about the phrase "G'mar Chatima Tova," here is its translation:

Literally: A good final sealing
Idiomatically: May you be inscribed (in the Book of Life) for Good

I unconditionally forgive anyone who may have wronged me during this year, and I ask forgiveness for anyone I may have wronged as well.

Specifically (as enumerated in previous years, courtesy of The Muqata from a few years back):

• If you sent me email and I didn't reply, or didn't get back to you in a timely fashion -- I apologize. It is sometimes hard for me to answer everyone as I get busier, but I am sorry.
• If you sent me a story and I didn't publish it or worse, didn't give you a hat tip for the story -- I'm sorry. (I sometimes get multiple tips for the same story and I usually credit the first one I saw, which is not always the earliest. And I cannot publish all the stories I am sent, although I try to place appropriate ones in the linkdumps, or tweet them. Whether I like it or not, I am an editor, as well as a writer, graphic designer, video producer, layout editor....so I really can't post everything.)
• If you requested help from me and I wasn't able to provide it -- I'm sorry.
• I apologize if I posted without the proper attribution, with the wrong attribution, or without attribution at all.
• I'm sorry if any of my posts offended you personally.

May this be a year of life, peace, prosperity, happiness and security.

I wish all of my readers who observe Yom Kippur an easy and meaningful fast.

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9/13 Links Part 2: Oslo 20 Years on, 20 Hottest Startups in Israel, Yom Kippur 100 Years Ago.

From Ian:

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Caroline Glick: Israel’s 20-year nightmare

Our media outlets run a constant stream of post-Zionist propaganda that has reduced our elected representatives’ field of action to the size of a postage stamp. They ignore knowledgeable, well-spoken representatives of the majority. They regularly invite cognitively and aesthetically challenged nationalists to their studios to embarrass into silence the majority of viewers who share their opinions. Zionists are hired to high-profile but powerless positions to make the public feel uncomfortable about complaining that its views have no voice in the media.
Today the Obama administration plumbs the depths of strategic dysfunction. The Arab world empowers the most dangerous elements in country after country. The European Union treats Israel as a greater international outlaw than Iran, North Korea or Syria. Anti-Israel indoctrination is the norm on university campuses throughout the Western world. A generation is coming of age that has never heard the truth about the Jewish state.
To contend with all this, the single-most important step Israel must take is to end our 20- year nightmare with the PLO. As long as it continues, we will remain incapable of defending ourselves.

Sarah Honig: Flat earth – 20 years on

The need to pay for our right to live is uniquely Jewish. We alone bear an onus to justify what’s self-evident and inalienable to any other people. Our obsession to perceive things from our enemies’ point of view is unparalleled.
The origins of Jewish guilt for burdening assailants and the compulsion to make amends are traceable to the penchant of every local medieval tyrant to oblige Jewish communities to pay exorbitantly for the privilege of not being slaughtered. Jews began to treat such levies as the way of the world.
That’s possibly why Israelis can’t conceive of their territory as inviolable as that of other nations – ones whose ancestral tribal thugs or robber barons managed to wrest given land holdings. Nobody doubts ordinary nations’ legitimacy or their continued tenure in their various grabbed real estate.
The Jewish state’s postulate, however, is that its existence is impermanent and its possessions are currency with which to haggle for reprieve. No other nation pays for its right to exist, buys time or seeks acceptance.
No nation would countenance such ignominy.
Even so, while we still smart from Oslo’s repercussions, our land-for-peace fanatics mulishly return to their discredited old habits. As with Flat-Earthers, hard evidence and reality checks don’t count.

20 years to Oslo

While the Oslo process failed to attain peace and security for Israel, it was conducive to a partition of the Land of Israel, relieving Israel of the Palestinian burden. Most Israelis have supported the traditional Zionist pro-partition position. They also supported the withdrawal from Gaza and the establishment of a security barrier that signal a desire to disengage from territories heavily populated by Arabs.
Israeli society paid dearly for the Oslo experiment. It can honestly say, "We tried to make peace with the Palestinians," which is a prerequisite for treating future armed conflict as a "no-choice" (ein breira) war. Such an attitude, prevalent during the Oslo years, has been central in forging great Israeli resilience to withstand protracted conflict, and an unwillingness to make dangerous concessions.

What's wrong with a Zionist lobby anyway?

Given that the Middle East conflict dominates world agendas, and has done for a long time, lobbies – pro, anti and powerful – are bound to be active volcanoes. In the American context everyone knows about the Israel lobby, AIPAC.
“There is a big bad lobby that distorts US foreign policy…way out of proportion to its actual support by the American public. But the offending lobby is not AIPAC but rather the Arab lobby, which opposes the Jewish state.” So wrote Mitchell Bard in a book titled, The Arab lobby: the invisible alliance…
Looking today at Barak Obama’s envoy John Kerry and his unequal treatment of the parties in the new peace process, at the way he forced Israel to make concessions and allowed the Palestinians to make demands, it’s not difficult to hazard which of the lobby groups wields the greater power in America – Jewish or Arab.
How they wield power is a different matter. An unhealthy lobby, Bard says, is one that tries with unlimited money to buy what it cannot win on the merits of its case… Which Bard views to be the distinguishing mark of the American Arab lobby.

Guardian’s latest report on MOU between Israel and NSA: What we don’t know

The Guardian published another NSA document today, this time about a Memorandum of Understanding between the NSA and Israel’s SIGINT agency, ISNU, that looks worrying.
If this sounds appalling, that is because several things here are not presented accurately in the Guardian’s story.
For starters, the MOU is dated, in some way, in March of 2009 (there is no date on the document and the Guardian does not say when it was drafted). It is only signed by an Israeli official, and not by any U.S. official, so we do not know if this is the final MOU that frames the intel sharing agreement. But there’s more: this past June, the Guardian reported that in July of 2009 the minimization procedures governing US person information were dramatically tightened.

Security forces gear up for Yom Kippur

In addition, the West Bank was placed under closure starting Thursday night, until Saturday evening when the Day of Atonement comes to an end.
In Jerusalem, forces were to spread out across the city, securing synagogues, the Western Wall, areas along the seamline and those prone to violent demonstrations, and set up roadblocks leading from the eastern part of the city. The police called on those riding bicycles around Jerusalem to use caution.

Revealed: How Terrorists Planned Jerusalem Mall Bombing

In order to put his plan into action, Rumana learned how to make bombs using guides he found on the internet, and worked to gather the chemical materials he would need. He turned one of the rooms of his house into a bomb-making lab.
He forged ties with three other Ramallah men, who helped him to gather the materials he needed, including potassium nitrate, glycerol, and ammonium nitrate.
Rumana attempted to prepare not only bombs, but also explosives for a rocket. He planned to create rockets for use against the nearby Israeli communities of Psagot and Beit El.

Burgas bombing suspects to go on trial in early 2014

Sotir Tsatsarov told reporters that an indictment should be ready in the first three months of next year.
Bulgaria has already identified the suspects as 32-year-old Meliad Farah, also known as Hussein Hussein, an Australian citizen, and 25-year-old Hassan El Hajj Hassan, a Canadian citizen, both of Lebanese origin.
The suicide bomber, who died on the spot in the bombing at Burgas Airport on the Black Sea coast, has not been identified.

Wiesenthal Center urges UN to press Olympic chief on pro-boycott stance

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is urging the United Nations to pressure the International Olympic Committee to force its newly elected president, Thomas Bach, to resign his position as head of a German organization that advocates boycotting Israeli products, Israel Radio reported late Thursday.
Bach, a former fencer who went on to head the German Olympic Committee, is considered a controversial figure due to his position as chairman of Ghorfa, the Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a body which supports boycotting Israeli-made products.
In a letter to the UN special advisor on sport, the head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s international relations department, Shimon Samuels, said that Bach’s support for boycotting Israeli products as well as his backing the IOC’s decision to refrain from officially commemorating the slain Israeli athletes from the 1972 Munich games creates a conflict of interest.

The 20 Hottest Startups in Israel

The Israeli startup scene needs little introduction. Tel Aviv is rapidly becoming one of the most innovative tech hubs on the planet, vying with London, New York and Berlin as Silicon Valley's second.
Big acquisitions, such as Waze to Google and Snaptu to Facebook, as well a upcoming IPO for Outbrain means Israeli startups are aspiring for big exits.
To find out more about the near 5,000 startups in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other emerging Israeli hubs, check out Mapped in Israel, a definitive, location-based guide. For now, here are our top 20 hottest Israeli startups.

Advanced Technologies Park brings high-tech to the Negev

Beersheva’s new Advanced Technologies Park is being hailed as a defining moment for the high-tech industry as it stands to date. During the official inauguration, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who earlier this summer declared Beersheva the national cyber center — told the crowd gathered that “this is a day that will change the history of the State of Israel.”
Netanyahu, as well as leaders of the high-tech field, are on a mission to turn Beersheva into a Silicon Valley of Israel’s south. Earlier this summer, Netanyahu announced that IDF technology units will move to the city.

Sea of Galilee gets 600,000 fresh fish

The fish aren’t only expected to increase the lake’s biodiversity, but also to clear its waters of toxins originating in seaweed – the tilapias’ food source – and act as biofilters to balance out the lake’s ecosystem.
Tilapia are introduced en masse into the Sea of Galilee by the Agriculture Ministry each year.

Peres to honor Spielberg, Wiesel with annual award

The president’s office said Thursday that Spielberg will be recognized for his contribution to cinema and “his unique contribution to the memory of the Holocaust, to the State of Israel (and) to the Jewish people.”
The statement commended Spielberg for his work on Schindler’s List, “one of the most important films in the history of cinema.”
Wiesel, a world-renowned author, intellectual and Nobel laureate, survived the Holocaust and is being honored for his work commemorating it across the world, and especially in the US.

Israel Daily Picture: Yom Kippur 100 Years Ago -- Or More

For the 19 years that Jordan administered the Old City, 1948-1967, no Jews were permitted to pray at the Kotel.
The Library of Congress collection contains many pictures of Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall over the last 150 years.
After the 1967 war, the Western Wall plaza was enlarged and large areas of King Herod's wall have been exposed. Archaeologists have also uncovered major subterranean tunnels -- hundreds of meters long -- that are now open to visitors to Jerusalem.

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Photos from today's Islamic Jihad rally "to protect Jerusalem"

Today, Islamic Jihad held a demonstration against Israel allowing Jews to have anything to do with Jerusalem.

It does not look that big, compared to other previous rallies, although perhaps the venue was not as large.

The Hebrew says "We will sacrifice ourselves for Al Aqsa"

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9/13 Links Part 1: Egyptian Tanks Cross Gaza Border, Putin’s Trollpolitik, AQ Praises Boston Bombing

From Ian:

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Egypt Tanks Cross Gaza Border Fence

Two Egyptian army tanks have crossed an initial border fence leading to Gaza for the first time on Thursday, witnesses said.
The Hamas administration in Gaza neither confirmed nor denied the incursion, only commenting that no Egyptian tanks had actually entered the Gaza Strip itself.
Witnesses told the AFP news agency that two tanks "crossed the first Egyptian border fence along the corridor between Egypt and (Gaza), and drove along the road running next to the cement wall that Egypt built."
They said it was the "first time Egyptian tanks have been in this area, although they didn't cross into the area ruled by Hamas," adding that the soldiers on top of the tanks had masked faces.

Hamas gives landmines to Egyptian Islamists, trains them in planting car bombs

The Hamas Islamist group ruling Gaza has been teaching Egyptian Islamists how to plant bombs in cars, Egyptian state television said on Thursday.
Hamas also gave 400 landmines to Egyptian militant groups, said the television. Hamas is an offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.
Hamas rejected the allegations on Thursday.
"This is completely incorrect," said Fawzi Barhoum, spokesman for the Islamist group. He said that the report was an "attempt to demonize Hamas".

Prof. Gilboa: The Time to Decide is Now, Obama

Arutz Sheva met this week with Gilboa, the Director of the Center for International Communication at Bar-Ilan University, who has made it clear that "time is running out" for United States President Barak Obama to diplomatically handle the crisis in the Middle East.
"Everybody agrees that this is going to be the time for decision, otherwise, if nothing is going to be done, Iran will become a nuclear power. Obama has shown in the chemical weapons crisis in Syria that what he promises may not really become policy," Gilboa said.

Analysis: Syria chemical weapons proposal is Putin’s masterstroke

If, for whatever reason, the Syrians do choose to part with an appreciable fraction of their chemical weapons capability, President Vladmir Putin will be able to bask in an aura of statesmanship. It was he, after all, who proposed this path.
And if the Syrians prove recalcitrant and obstructive, no one will blame the Russian president – on the contrary. He has always denied that the regime used chemical weapons in the first place. Why would anyone think he would care whether they hand the weapons over or not? It will instead be seen as a further achievement for him, as the Americans squirm and try to justify why they are not returning to the path of military action, even though the will of the “international community” is being flouted.
Putin will be able to claim credit in the event of Syrian compliance, and in the event of Syrian defiance.

Vladimir Putin’s Trollpolitik

This is Putin just taunting Obama, speaking to the president as Obama used to speak to his predecessor. It’s difficult to know which part Obama will find most insulting. “The law is still the law” is a good one coming from the unreformed KGB gangster. The same goes for Putin’s plea for Obama to listen to his people. Then there is his professed concern for America’s allies, in which Putin suggests Obama is gambling with Israel’s safety.

7 Hypocritical, False and Misleading Statements in Vladamir Putin's NYT Op-ed

2. "A strike ... could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance."
Hypocrisy. Russia has been supplying Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with weapons and has been helping Iran with its nuclear program. Putin seems less concerned that these actions would destabilize the region and "throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance."

Syria Expert says 'Assad Can Potentially Win this War'

"There is a wide gap of the Russian proposal and what the United States is expecting of Russia and of Syria. The Americans are speaking of the destruction of chemical weapons, while the case for the Syrians and Russians, they are ready to declare that Syria has such weapons. It can end with no agreement and we can end up where we were a week ago."

Syria Joins Anti-Chemical Weapons Treaty, U.S. Unimpressed

State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters that the U.S. option to use military force remains on the table while discussions proceed with Russia on how to remove Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile.
Asked about Syria submitting a document to United Nations and seeking to join the agreement, Harf said, “The Chemical Weapons Convention is an important thing ... but that that would not be a substitute for working with us and the Russians to verify and ultimately destroy their stockpile.”

Report: Assad Scattering Chemical Weapons

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Bashar Al-Assad has begun scattering his massive stockpile of chemical weapons to as many as 50 different sites across the country.
The US newspaper claimed in a report Friday that a secretive military unit at the center of the Syrian chemical weapons program had been charged with moving the lethal stockpile, making it difficult for the international community to track. The newspaper cited US and Europeans intelligence agencies as saying: "Unit 450 is in charge of mixing and deploying chemical munitions, and it provides security at chemical sites."

Syrian rebel chief claims Assad gave Hezbollah nerve gas

According to a report Friday in Saudi Arabia’s al-Watan newspaper, Syrian National Coalition member Kamal al-Labwani said the rebels obtained documents and testimony from a defector from one of the Syrian government’s chemical weapons research centers that indicate Syrian President Bashar Assad transferred roughly one metric ton of VX nerve gas to its ally, Hezbollah.
Al-Labwani told al-Watan that he forwarded documentary proof of his claim to the US Embassy in Jordan and British intelligence in Doha. The al-Watan report could not be independently confirmed.

UN: Syria targets hospitals, denies healthcare as 'weapon of war'

Syrian government forces have deliberately targeted hospitals, attacked field hospitals with fighter jets and prevented the sick and wounded from receiving medical care, UN war crimes investigators said on Friday.
In a special report, they said that the forces of President Bashar Assad had waged a campaign using "the denial of medical care as a weapon of war", especially against people living in opposition-controlled areas.
"There is also evidence that some anti-government armed groups have attacked hospitals in certain areas," said the independent inquiry led by Brazilian expert Paulo Pinheiro.

Syrian Shells Land in Golan Heights as Israeli Hospitals Treat Victims of War

While there are no reports of injuries or damage resulting from the shells on Thursday, wounded Syrians continue being admitted for treatment in Israeli hospitals. Most recently, a Syrian man with a wound to his head, a one-year-old, and a 10-month old were admitted to Western Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya, according to the Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio.

U.S. Calls on Egypt to Cancel State of Emergency

The United States on Thursday once again called on Egypt's interim authorities to lift a state of emergency which has been in force since August. The call came after Cairo announced it would extend the state of emergency for two months.
"We remain opposed, as we have from the beginning, to the state of emergency. And we urge the interim government to end it immediately," State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters, according to the AFP news agency.

U.S. and Iran are edging toward direct talks

Signaling a possible thaw in long-frozen relations, the Obama administration and the new leadership in Iran are communicating about Syria and are moving behind the scenes toward direct talks that both governments hope can ease the escalating confrontation over Tehran's nuclear program.
President Obama reportedly reached out to Iran's relatively moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, through an exchange of letters in recent weeks. The pragmatist cleric is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 24, and after years of the United States cold-shouldering his ultraconservative predecessor, U.S. officials say it's possible they will meet with Rouhani on the sidelines.
Beyond that, U.S. and Iranian officials are tentatively laying the groundwork for potential face-to-face talks between the two governments, the first in the rancorous 34 years since radical students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and founded the Islamic theocracy. Diplomatic relations have been broken ever since.

U.S.: Iran Nuclear Developments Are 'Troubling'

Both the United States and the EU expressed hope that the election of Hassan Rouhani, who has been described by the West as a relative moderate, would lead to a softening of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear defiance.
At the same time, they also said Iran had continued to increase its nuclear capacity in recent months and that no progress had been made so far in a long-stalled UN investigation into suspected atomic bomb research by Iran, which denies any such activity.
They warned that they may seek diplomatic action against Iran at the next quarterly meeting of the 35-nation board of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in late November, if no progress has been achieved by then.

Iranian Media Lauds Humiliating Blow for U.S.

Iran's conservative press trumpeted as a "humiliating blow" the decision by its arch-foe the United States to put on hold plans for a military intervention in Syria following a surprise Russian initiative aimed at defusing the stand-off.
"By taking the Russian initiative seriously, Washington will send a signal to Tehran that it's willing to take risks and make compromises for peace," Reza Marashi of the National Iranian American Council, a Washington-based advocacy organisation, told the AFP news agency.

Erdogan vows to squelch efforts to 'create chaos' as police disperse protests

Riot police used tear gas to disperse pockets of anti-government demonstrators in several Turkish cities for a third night and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan vowed to stamp out what he described as efforts to "create chaos."
Officers backed by armored vehicles and water cannon played cat and mouse into the early hours of Friday with groups of youths in the streets of Kadikoy, on the Asian side of Istanbul, dismantling their makeshift barricades of garbage and rubble.
There were similar protests in Ankara and reports on social media of unrest in the Mediterranean coastal cities of Antalya and Antakya, but the troubles were not on the same scale as the weeks of rioting which rocked Turkey in June and July.

Taliban attacks US Consulate in Afghanistan

Taliban militants attacked the US Consulate in western Afghanistan on Friday morning, using a car bomb and guns to battle security forces just outside the compound in the city of Herat. It was not entirely clear whether any attackers managed to breach the facility, but at least two Afghans died, while the US said its personnel were all safe.
The attack, which also injured several people and wound up leaving five alleged militants dead, underscored the perilous security situation in Afghanistan, where US-led troops are reducing their presence ahead of a full withdrawal next year. The insurgent strikes are no longer concentrated in the country’s south and east, but occur with troubling frequency in the north and west, which have been the more peaceful areas in years past.

Al-Qaida calls for terror attacks in US to 'bleed America economically'

In his audio speech, Zawahri said Muslims should refuse to buy goods from America and its allies, as such spending only helped to fund US military action in Muslim lands. He added that Muslims should abandon the US dollar and replace it with the currency of nations that did not attack Muslims.
Zawahri spoke approvingly of one of the worst attacks on US soil since Sept. 11, 2001, the bombing of the Boston Marathon in April, which US authorities say was carried out by two ethnic Chechen Muslim brothers. The attack killed three people and injured 264.
Zawahri sought to paint the bombing as part of al-Qaida's violent transnational campaign of jihad or holy war against US interests, even if it was relatively small-scale.

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25% of Red Sea hotels in Egypt closed down

Egypt is heavily dependent on tourist dollars for its economy.

In other words, it is screwed.

Five hotels were shut down in Hurghada, and four others in Marsa Alam and Safaga on Tuesday, bringing the total number of hotels that have been closed in the Red Sea Governorate, due to the tourism recession, to 86 hotels out of 248 hotels.

As for the hotels that managed to stay open, the occupancy level has declined to 24 percent, making use of the domestic tourism, as well as the Czech Republic, whose administration decided to end its travel ban to Egypt.

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Dubai's police chief praises Jews, upsets Arabs

Remember Dahi Khalfan, the Dubai police chief who would go on TV every day talking about his investigation in the murder of Mahmoud Mabhouh?

During the investigation he said that he would not allow any Jews into the country (translated by English-language media as "Israelis.")

He also claimed that mixed-gender schools cause people to take up cross-dressing. 

Khalfan has also been a very vocal opponent of Islamism.

All of his adventures seem to have given him some grudgiing respect for Jews. On his Twitter account today, he wrote that Jews are more trustworthy in business than Arabs are. He said Arabs are cheaters and Jews are more credible.

Shortly afterwards, he tweeted that if it wasn't for Jews, Arabs would still be riding on mules and donkeys instead of cars and planes, which he seems to believe that Jews invented.

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Why did Muslims put a menorah on their coins?

The Saudi Arabian "Journal of Archaeology" has an article by an "expert" that claims to debunk the claim that the medallion recently found with a seven-branched menorah in Jerusalem has anything to do with Judaism.

The supposed scholar, named Abir Ziad, says that it is impossible that the find is Jewish - because there were no Jews in Jerusalem at the time.

You see, Ziad says, Titus banned Jews from Jerusalem in the year 70 CE and the ban remained in effect until Saladin revoked it in 1187.

This is of course news to every Western historian. There were only two times Jews were banned from Jerusalem: when Hadrian did it in 131 CE - a ban which was lifted during Emperor Julian's reign (361-363), and when Jordan banned Jews from the Old City from 1948-1967.

But expert Ziad has more proof. You see, all the mikvaot (ritual baths) that archaeologists have found in very high concentrations around the Temple Mount aren't Jewish at all - they are just ordinary baths. Apparently, Byzantines or someone established a Bathing District in Jerusalem very close to the Temple that never existed.

It is all an elaborate hoax, and all non-Muslim archaeologists are part of the conspiracy.

Beyond these absurd "proofs" - which prove nothing more than the fact that Muslim "scholarship is little more than a sham" - her next "proof" is worth a closer look.

She says that the menorah itself is not a Jewish symbol, and in fact some early Islamic Umayyad coins depict a branched candlestick along with the Islamic declaration of faith.

This is actually true:

So what is going on? Why did Muslims put what appears to be a menorah-type object on their coins?

Here's where it gets good.

Most of the candlesticks depicted have five branches, although apparently the earliest Islamic candlestick coins showed seven branches.

All of these coins were clearly patterned after Jewish coins from centuries earlier.

But there are some differences. As mentioned, most of them have five branches, not seven, and some claim that this was meant to represent the five pillars of Islam.

Notice the horizontal bar across the tops of the candlesticks (the medallion pictured above has that as well, but it is topped with flames.) Also, the base of the Islamic coins has two prongs, as opposed to the Jewish three-pronged base.

All of the "menorah" coins were minted in - Jerusalem.

The coin above says "Aliya, Madinet Bayit al-Maqdis" - meaning Aelia Capitolina, the Roman name for Jerusalem, and "City of the Holy Temple."

The Muslims knew quite well that the menorah symbolized Judaism, and that Jerusalem was the site of the Jewish Temple.

Their use of the menorah symbol was an attempt to co-opt the religious symbols of Judaism, but the symbolism of the golden Menorah in the Jewish Temples of Jerusalem was obvious to the designers as well as the people using the coins.

Other (real) scholars note that if you turn the Islamic coins upside down, the image resembles a dome - the Dome of the Rock.

The "base" of the menorah, with its two prongs,  slightly resembles a crescent. And apparently, in at least some of the coins, the writing is oriented for viewing it as a dome, not as a menorah.

According to this book, at least one other coin from the same era used a visual pun to show an image of an amphora (a type of jug used for ceremonial purposes) that, upside down resembled a poppy, another popular coin image.

It is very possible that the Islamic "menorah coins" of Jerusalem were specifically designed to show that the Jewish Temple, universally symbolized by the golden Menorah within, had been "overturned" by the Muslim Dome of the Rock that was deliberately built on that site! Muslims are particularly attuned to symbolism, and this would be a powerful symbol showing Judaism's holiest site replaced with a Muslim structure, with a mere turn of the coin.

The existence of these coins prove the exact opposite of what Abir Ziad claims. They prove that at the dawn of Islam, Jerusalem was universally understood by Muslims to be a Jewish city, housing the remains of the great Jewish Temple, and just as they deliberately built a structure on top of the Temple ruins to co-opt that site, they usurped the menorah symbol itself - and perhaps tried to symbolize their replacement of the Temple with the Dome on their coins!

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Google's very cool Israel offices

Russian-language site LoveOpium has a very nice photo gallery of Google's Tel Aviv offices: Check out the whole thing.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

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Latest #BDSFail: Morocco exporting etrogim to Israel

Hebrew and Arabic media are reporting that, for the first time, Morocco is exporting etrogim (citrons used during the upcoming holiday of Sukkot) to Israel.

According to some experts, the etrogim grown on Mount Atlas in Morocco are the closest one to the biblical "פרי עץ הדר" mentioned in the Torah. Spanish Jews prefer to use this strain of etrog.

The first shipment of 1500 etrogim have arrived, and apparently more are coming.

Also, there is no shortage of lulavim (palm fronds) also used for the holiday as there were last year, when Israel had to import them from Jordan. The entire supply of between 600,000 and 700,000 lulavim is being grown domestically this year.

Last year, Gaza farmers lost $1 million when Hamas forbade export of palm fronds to Israel. 

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9/12 Links Part 2: Oslo and Israel’s red lines, Holocaust relativists, The Jewish 'Bond Girl'

From Ian:

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Oslo and Israel’s red lines

We fight for the red lines at any price with all our might.
Before the Oslo Accord, the public was united behind indisputable red lines: we would not give up the Golan Heights or the Jordan Valley or move the 1967 Green Line.
Jerusalem and the return of refugees were not even up for discussion. Nor was negotiating with terrorists.
And yet every single one of these red lines was crossed over the last two decades; the debate centered instead on how high a price we would be willing to pay for each one.

Israel Urged to Make Further Concession to Help PA Economy

In a report published ahead of a September 23rd meeting in New York of donors to the PA, the IMF said the Palestinian Authority faced a budget deficit of $300 million (225 million euros) by the end of 2013.
"The PA's finances are not viable over the medium term if the current model of financing large deficits with unpredictable aid flows is maintained," the report said.
It predicted that Palestinian GDP growth would slow from 11 percent in 2011 and 5.9 percent in 2012 to 4.5 percent by the end of this year.

Islamic Group Denounces Jerusalem Discovery as 'Fake History'

Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu hailed the magnificent discovery as a testament "to the ancient Jewish presence and to the sanctity of the place," which he said was "as clear as the sun."
But in an official statement, the Waqf dismissed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's celebration of the finds as "an effort to dismiss the Arab and Islamic nature of the holy city."
“An immediate Arab and Muslim campaign is needed to stop the Israeli attempts to Judaise the holy city of Jerusalem,” the statement read.

Israel replaced with Palestine on map in language class at SDSU

Sources told Team 10 the map was handed out by a professor on the second day of class in an Arabic language course. Sources said students were upset and unsure how to protest the erroneous map because they feared speaking out publicly could have a negative impact on their grades.
One student talked with Team 10, on the condition of anonymity.
"I don't really believe it was the right place for dialogue," the student said. "It is a language class, it's not a class about conflict."
Students gave the map to the non-profit, pro-Israel San Diego group, "Stand With Us."

Honest Reporting: How to Libel Israel: A Case Study

This incident also draws attention to the relationship between Oxfam and an anti-Israel hate site.
Thanks to the Internet, a story libeling Israel will remain in perpetuity to be recycled by anti-Israel activists who either ignore or have not seen a correction.
This is one reason that HonestReporting’s material is so important. It is critical that a counterpoint is also accessible online providing the truth and a rebuttal to the frequent accusations leveled against Israel. We hope that, ultimately, this very post from HonestReporting will also be present in a Google search the next time someone looks for the false story of how Israel denied the Palestinians of Gaza access to clean water.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper: Blaming the Jews, again

In the 1980s, Saddam Hussein used poison gas to murder thousands of Iraqi Kurds.
Simon Wiesenthal warned then that we would all pay a price for our silence in face of the tyrant’s crime against humanity. Imagine what the world would be like today if a coalition of the willing had punished Saddam, then and there for verified WMDs, but we didn’t. Now Assad has taken a page from Saddam’s mass-murder playbook.
Many of us believe that failure to act now could bring a wider and deadlier wider war later. But whatever the outcome – one thing is certain – they’ve already blamed the Jews.

Brendan O'Neill: The people milking the memory of the Holocaust to justify an airstrike on Syria are moral relativists and charlatans

Holocaust relativists don’t deny that the Holocaust took place; instead they unwittingly water down its historical uniqueness, its status as the greatest crime in history, by describing all sorts of modern-day, comparatively small-scale acts of war or barbarism as “Holocausts” too. Such inappropriate use of the H-word, usually as a form of moral blackmail to get people to support military action against some tinpot tyrant said to be “the new Hitler”, has the effect of making the Holocaust mundane, unexceptional, an event that happens again and again in human history. The only real beneficiaries of such relativism are the Nazis themselves, whose wickedness is implicitly diluted and diminished if we accept the idea that Holocausts like theirs happen all the time.
Scale-wise, try to get your head around this – Auschwitz was capable of exterminating five times as many Jews in one day as Syrians have been killed with chemical weapons in the whole Syrian conflict so far. And Auschwitz was operational for five years. And it was one of 11 death camps.

Shapiro: 'We Need To See A Future Without Terror'

U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro was among the participants at the JNF initiated 9/11 memorial ceremony outside of Jerusalem on Wednesday, in which he took the opportunity to promote the ongoing US-sponsored talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
"No one can understand our pain from the disaster like the Israelis who have experienced terrorist attacks. On this day we see the friendship between the U.S. and Israel," he said, adding: "We need to see a future without terror, but ...with peace; and for that, Israelis need to negotiate with the Palestinians in order to bring a solution - two states for two peoples."

MEMRI: Online Jihadis Celebrate 12th Anniversary Of 9/11

As in past years, online supporters of global jihad celebrated the 12th anniversary of Al-Qaeda's September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S., using the event for their propaganda efforts. They boasted of Al-Qaeda's success in striking the U.S., posting photos and videos of the attack, photos and biographies of the hijackers, quotes by Osama bin Laden, and the like.
The following are examples of these celebrations, from social media and jihadi forums.

BBC & Sky News Commentator Laments Loss of Syrian Chemical Weapons

It looks like Abdel Bari Atwan, the former editor-in-chief of Al-Quds Al-Arabi, and a regular commentator on BBC and Sky News, is continuing his advocacy of weapons of mass destruction.
Having stated in 2007 on Lebanese TV: “If the Iranian missiles strike Israel, by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight,” Bari Atwan is now coming out in favor of Syrian chemical weapons:

WSJ op-ed writer Elizabeth O’Bagy fired for resume lie

The Syria researcher whose Wall Street Journal op-ed piece was cited by Secretary of State John Kerry and Sen. John McCain during congressional hearings about the use of force has been fired from the Institute for the Study of War for lying about having a Ph.D., the group announced on Wednesday.
“The Institute for the Study of War has learned and confirmed that, contrary to her representations, Ms. Elizabeth O’Bagy does not in fact have a Ph.D. degree from Georgetown University,” the institute said in a statement. “ISW has accordingly terminated Ms. O’Bagy’s employment, effective immediately.”

Hezbollah’s global footprint

Hezbollah then expanded its operations further into the Middle East – Kuwait in particular – then Europe. In 1992 and 1994 Hezbollah truck bombs struck in Argentina, first hitting the Israeli embassy and then hitting the AMIA Jewish community center. In 1996, another large-scale attack was successful – this time targeting the Khobar Towers military housing at a base in Saudi Arabia.
Ironically, it would be another organization’s largescale suicide attack that, for a time, would change Hezbollah’s calculus; following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, Hezbollah’s operational attacks declined noticeably, but the networks were not abandoned, just refocused on fundraising and logistics. Networks in South America embedded themselves into global narcotics trafficking networks, shipping drugs to other Hezbollah agents across the Atlantic to West Africa along the tenth parallel, known to smugglers as “Highway 10.” From there drugs would travel to Europe and the Middle East, with the profits sent to Lebanon. In one case, Hezbollah agent Ayman Joumma was laundering as much as $200 million in drug money a month.

IDF Blog: What Lurks Beneath the Playgrounds of Southern Lebanon?


French soldiers face disciplinary action for anti-Semitic photo

Commenting on the actions of the French soldiers who were photographed in front of the synagogue a few weeks ago, Louisfert said Tuesday that they had been identified after being redeployed elsewhere as part of France’s Vigipirate anti-terrorist detachments stationed in urban areas. They posed for the photograph in front of the entrance door to the Beth David synagogue in the 16th arrondissement, or municipal district, of the French capital with their left hand placed on their right shoulder and their right hand extended over their right thigh.
Dubbed the “quenelle,” the gesture is the brainchild of the anti-Semitic comedian Dieudonne, who invented several anti-Semitic words and gestures seen to be too vague to violate France’s law forbidding hate speech and Holocaust denial. The quenelle is thought to echo the Nazi salute. Diedonne has also referred to the Holocaust as “Shoannanas” — a combination of the Hebrew word for the Nazi genocide against the Jews and the French word for pineapple.

New biomed accelerator yields better dentures, obesity control

Using a wish list from medical professionals in Israel and the United States, participants in Israel’s first academic medical innovation accelerator have designed four unique products to vastly improve the delivery of healthcare.
The new Biodesign Innovation Program of the Hebrew University and Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem now seeks partners to further develop and commercialize these inventions, which include:

Archive of Jewish WWII Heroine Spy, Original ‘Bond Girl,’ Captures Renewed Interest at London Museum (VIDEO)

Born Krystyna Skarbek, in Poland, her Jewish mother was killed at a Nazi concentration camp, according to a report in the UK’s Daily Mail. After Poland fell to the Nazis, she enlisted with the British Army in ’Section D’ – for destruction – later called the Special Operations Executive (SOE), to run espionage, reconnaissance and sabotage missions in occupied territory. She was given the cover name of Christine Granville, which she adopted permanently after the war.
Her escapades, which include bombing bridges in France, escaping with a Polish officer from a Gestapo jail by convincing their jailers that she had tuberculosis by pretending to cough up blood (through biting her tongue), and rescuing her superior officer, and lover, from a Nazi field prison by running mental circles around his captives, earned her military honors, including an OBE, Croix de Guerre, George Medal and a Polish Patriot Shielf.

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Human trafficking in Israel has virtually disappeared

In the early 2000s, because of the porous borders with Egypt and organized crime from Russia and elsewhere, Israel was a prime destination for women being trafficked as prostitutes.

Now, the phenomenon has disappeared.

Al Monitor has an interview with David Tsur, chairman of the Subcommittee on Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in Knesset.

While it is shameful that it was such a serious problem, it is fairly incredible that Israel solved it so thoroughly and in such a short amount of time. In this case, some credit also has to go to the US State Department, whose policy on the issue is what woke Israel up.

Al-Monitor: Do you remember when you understood that Israel had become a destination for trafficking in women?

Tsur: On a personal level, I realized it after 2001, at one of my first meetings with the Americans on the topic of terror. I was then the head of the operational headquarters of the Ministry for Public Security. After one of the discussions, the representative of the State Department asked me what was happening with trafficking in women. I didn’t understand what he wanted, and I had no data on it. In response, he told me that he must bring it to my attention because our situation is not good, and that we’re on the same level as Sudan and Somalia. Of course, I was insulted and said it couldn’t be because we’re a democratic country.
In retrospect, of course he was right. When we began to study the subject, we understood that most of the women were brought from Russia, Ukraine and Moldova. Law-enforcement personnel in those countries were sometimes part of this food chain, and looked the other way in exchange for bribes. When we researched it in depth we found mafias that had sprung up in these regions.
Israel became a destination because of the arrival of criminal elements who established a foundation for trafficking here, and also because of the peaceful border with Egypt, which was then porous. The Bedouins, who became a link in the smuggling chain, understood that they could make a good living out of it. And so developed a phenomenon that bordered on slavery. Israel became a prime destination. We were busy then with the terror of the second intifada, and we didn’t notice what was happening under our noses.

​Al-Monitor: So we woke up only because of the Americans?

Tsur: If I were a seasoned and professional politician, I would say that the decision to act was not related to the Americans, but the reality was that without the whip of the State Department, we would not have taken serious steps. We understood that if we didn’t address the problem, aid funds would be stalled, and very quickly we would have a new center of criminal activity on our hands.

​Al-Monitor: So what did you do?

Tsur: When the US State Department reports put us on the blacklist in those first years, we understood the extent of the problem. At first it was placed in the jurisdiction of the central units in the police districts, and later an administrative body was created at the Ministry of Justice and the victims were treated a bit differently.
From the point of view of law-enforcement authorities, the women were prostitutes and were treated as part of the problem, not as victims who live in fear and don’t have enough to eat. We understood that if this had continued to be the approach, they would not agree to file complaints and testify and we would not be able to incriminate the traffickers. Simultaneously in 2006, the Knesset passed a draconian law against the traffickers, which set a 20-year jail sentence for a human-trafficking violation, and the message was very clear.
Women who filed complaints were treated at special shelters, where the state invested a lot of money in rehabilitation. Slowly, the phenomenon diminished. Of course, the closing of the border with Egypt helped a great deal with the disappearance of the problem. We handled it very aggressively, with cooperation among all law-enforcement agencies and the Ministry of Welfare.

Al-Monitor: In Israel 2013, there’s no longer trafficking in women?

Tsur: In the last three years, the phenomenon hardly exists. Actually, I can say that trafficking in women from Eastern Europe stopped entirely, and that it’s very rare to find a woman who was imported to Israel by a party or person. We know that according to the US State Department reports, the phenomenon of trafficking no longer exists in Israel. It disappeared. This was continuously verified by data and testimonies — not just data from the authorities, but also from external, critical parties.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

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Police promise no more soccer on Temple Mount!

Fantastic news from Arutz-7. We will see if it pans out:

Jews have long complained about the activities by Muslims on the Mount deemed inappropriate to a holy place, such as barbecues, picnics, and political demonstrations. One of the worst desecrations, say many Jews involved in the issue, are the soccer games that take place in the open areas of the mount, with the attendant cursing, fighting, and other unholy behavior. The High Court several years ago banned the practice, in response to several petitions – but police have never enforced the law.

That will now change, said Ahronovich.

Responding to a Knesset query filed last June by Feiglin, in the wake of an incident in which Jews grabbed a soccer ball being used for an illegal game, and gave it to police – who promptly returned it to the players – Ahronovich said that the police are obligated to uphold the law, and they will.

“The officers acted in contradiction to the law and their obligations,” Ahronovich said. “The query by MK Feiglin is definitely appropriate. Police will from now on conscientiously enforce the law, and I have ordered police commanders to do so. Police are already working through several channels that the sanctity of the site is preserved,” he added.

Mrs. Elder took video of one of the games last February:



It will be most interesting to hear the outrage from Muslims at not being allowed to treat their "third holiest site" as a playground.

But AP has already given them one excuse, saying that since there are no open spaces in the Old City, Muslim kids have no choice but to use it for soccer and volleyball and snowball fights.

But Jews walking and trying to pray there? That, you see, is "desecration."

(h/t OBoZ)

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