Bibi's Bar Ilan speech (video, text)

It starts at about 51:00 of this video:



JPost synopsizes:

There will be no peace with the Palestinians until they recognize the Jewish right to a homeland in Israel, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday night at Bar-Ilan University.

“A necessary condition to getting a true solution [to the Israeli-Palestinian] conflict was and remains clear as the sun: ending the refusal to recognize the right of the Jews to a homeland of their own in the land of their fathers,” he said. “That is the most important key to solving the conflict.”

Netanyahu’s words came at the start of a conference marking 20 years since the founding of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, the site of Netanyahu’s famous “Bar-Ilan speech” from four years ago where he stated his willingness for a two-state solution.

Those who anticipated that he might use the same venue to again break new ground on the Palestinian issue were disappointed.

Rather then present a “vision” speech of where he thought the negotiations with the Palestinians were headed, Netanyahu used the opportunity to emphasize that a Palestinian recognition of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people was a necessary condition to any agreement.

Since the first Arab attack on a home housing Jewish immigrants in Jaffa in 1921, the root of the conflict has not been the “occupation,” the “territories” or the settlements, but rather an Arab refusal to recognize the Jews’ right to a sovereign state in their historic homeland, he said.

Netanyahu said that the Arab revolutions of the past two years – which he called the most significant events in the region in 20 years – have laid to rest the “sacred cow” that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the heart of the instability in the Middle East.

Today, he said, it is “tough to say this without sounding absurd.”

It is now also the time, he said, to kill the “sacred cow” that the “occupation” was the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Netanyahu spent a number of minutes during his address, which lasted some 30 minutes, discussing the links of the head of the Palestinian national movement in the pre-state days – Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini – with the Nazis. He reminded his listeners that the mufti visited Adolf Hitler in 1941 and promised his aid in getting Muslims to enlist in the SS in the Balkan states, and in the Nazi propaganda efforts.

Husseini, he said, is still an admired figure among Palestinians.

“That is what needs to be uprooted,” he said.

Netanyahu brought up the mufti, however, more to refute comments Iranian President Hassan Rouhani made in New York two weeks ago than to slam the current Palestinian leadership.

During a television interview, Rouhani acknowledged Nazi crimes against Jews, though he would not use the word “Holocaust.”

Netanyahu pointed out that Rouhani then quickly pointed out that it was forbidden to let the Zionists exploit the Nazi crimes to oppress the Palestinians.

“Despite what Iranian representatives and others say,” the prime minister said, “Zionist leaders did not use the Holocaust to destroy the Palestinian national movement.

The opposite is true. The leader of the Palestinian movement at that time, Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini, is the one who preached and worked to carry out the Holocaust to destroy the Zionist movement.

“And it almost worked,” Netanyahu said. “European Jewry was destroyed, with the help of the mufti, but Zionism was not destroyed; Israel was established.”

The goal of Iran today was to control the Middle East and beyond, and to “destroy the State of Israel. That is not speculation, that is the goal,” he said.

Repeating arguments he made last week at the UN, Netanyahu dismissed the notion that Iran was merely seeking nuclear energy for peaceful means, saying that countries that want to harness nuclear energy for civilian needs do not insist on enriching uranium and building plutonium reactors, elements not needed for civilian nuclear purposes but only to build nuclear weapons.

“The international community’s position toward Iran needs to be: We are willing to come to a diplomatic solution – but only one that will dismantle from Iran its capabilities to develop nuclear weapons. That means no centrifuges for enriching uranium and no plutonium reactor,” he said.

(h/t Josh K)

UPDATE: Algemeiner had the transcript:

“I recently read a hundred-page book by a wonderful American historian who passed away nearly 50 years ago. His name was Will Durant and he wrote many books. He wrote an eleven volume history of civilization, but at the end of his life, he wrote a hundred-page book, The Lessons of History. You should read it. Every line is carved from the stone of truth, and I will give you the bad news and the good news. The bad news is that when you finish reading this book, you understand that in history, greater numbers rule. They matter. But here is the good news. On page 17, if I am not mistaken, he mentions that there may be exceptions to this rule and that through the unification of a cultural force, that’s what he called it, the odds could be overcome. He gives the State of Israel as an example of such an exception. I think that we have proven in the 65 years of Israel’s existence that we are exceptional, but we must continue to be so, also by preserving our spiritual foundations. Two weeks ago, archaeologists found a gold medallion near the Western Wall. The archaeologists dated it to the beginning of the seventh century and there is a menorah on the medallion – our national symbol. On one side, a Torah scroll and on the other a shofar. The entire Torah on one medallion and of course, this was after 2,000 years of Jewish existence in the Land of Israel. This existence has lasted for nearly 4,000 years. Apparently there is something special about this exception of ours, in our unique combination of our past heritage and the way that we look to the future with our full force and talents and I would even say genius. There is no doubt that this university is part of our national and international effort to preserve our heritage and of course combine it with the future.

I thank you for your invitation to speak here, on the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Begin-Sadat Center. Many things have happened to us during those years. On the political front, we signed a peace agreement with Jordan. During all that time, exactly 20 years, we have been conducting negotiations with the Palestinians, trying to achieve a peace agreement, and despite ups and downs during these two decades, we managed to maintain the peace accords with Egypt. This is not insignificant. However, without a doubt, the most significant developments in the Middle East during this entire period are those of the past few years, and they overshadow all the rest when taking a broad view. Two of these developments include the historic unrest taking place in the Arab world – unrest that is at its height and far from over if such a thing can actually end; and of course Iran’s ongoing efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Iran’s goal is to take over the entire Middle East and beyond, and to destroy the State of Israel. This is not speculation; this is their goal.

Israel and the United States agree that Iran must be prevented from arming itself with nuclear weapons. Just days ago, the Iranian president said at the UN that Iran is only interested in civilian nuclear power. That’s what he said.

I do not believe him, but anyone interested in examining his statement should ask the Iranian regime one simple question – if you only want peaceful nuclear energy, why do you insist on centrifuges to enrich uranium and on plutonium reactors? Neither of these things is necessary to produce peaceful nuclear energy. There is no need for them; however they are the essential components for producing fissile material for nuclear weapons. This must be understood – they are not needed at all for peaceful purposes. Seventeen countries, including some of the leading countries in the world – Canada, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Indonesia with a quarter of a million people – and many others produce nuclear energy without centrifuges, without plutonium reactors.

Only someone who wants to produce fissile material for nuclear bombs insists on these components – not only insists, but is willing to inflict great suffering on his people because this insistence involves sanctions and dictates by the Security Council. Why do they do this? Perhaps they are lacking energy resources? They have gas and oil. I mention natural gas on purpose because it is immediately available for industry and for everything else. The have so many resources that they can provide for the needs of considerable areas of the world for many years with what they have, certainly for the needs of their own country. Therefore, the international community should take the following position vis-à-vis Iran – we are ready to reach a diplomatic resolution, but only one that dismantles Iran’s ability to produce nuclear weapons. In other words, no centrifuges or enriched uranium, no plutonium reactor. As long as Iran does not dismantle its centrifuges and plutonium reactors, the sanctions must not be eased at all. On the contrary, they should be increased. The truth is simple, it is clear, it cuts like a razor through the fog they are trying to create. If their intentions are peaceful, they will agree. If they are not peaceful, they will not agree. But perhaps the formula should be put simply as follows: they dismantle, they receive; they don’t dismantle, they don’t receive. And this is a difficult struggle because it is human nature to hope, to believe, to try – we are willing to try but not to conduct an open experiment without criteria and certainly not without a realistic and clear-sighted view.

Parallel with the attempt to stop Iran’s nuclear armament and preserve the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, we are interested in bringing the conflict with the Palestinians to an end. Achieving a genuine and secure peace, with real security and not just on paper but on the ground – for us, our children, our grandchildren – this is the greatest wish of all citizens of Israel. In order to bring about an end to the conflict, the root of the conflict must be understood.

I bring this up because, in my opinion, in all the discussions regarding the conflict with the Palestinians, at least one thing has been achieved and that is that whoever believed that it was the core of the conflict in the Middle East – well, now it is difficult to say such a thing without sounding absurd. It is not the core of the conflict – not what is happening in Libya or Tunisia or Algeria or Egypt or Yemen or Syria or Iraq and so on and so forth. But for years they told us that the core of the conflict in the Middle East was the Palestinian matter and… how shall I put this? That sacred cow is one of the victims of the Arab revolution.

However, there is a second sacred cow in equal measure. When people are asked what the root of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is – since if you want to provide a solution or fix a certain problem, first you must correctly diagnose the illness. Well, when asked what the root of the conflict is, people usually have an answer at the ready: the occupation, the territories, the settlements and so on – it is all the same. Israel “taking control of the territories”, the area of Judea and Samaria after the Six Day War, the settlements – this is what sustains the conflict, this is what created the conflict for the most part. And I ask, is it really?

In my opinion, if one must choose a process by which the conflict started in actual fact, I would set the date at 1921 on the day on which the Palestinian Arabs attacked the immigration hostel in Jaffa.

Many Jews were killed in this attack, including the well-known writer Y.H. Brenner. This attack was directed against Jewish immigration. My grandfather arrived in Jaffa, at that same hostel, the year before, as did many others. Clearly this attack was not about territory or settlements; it was against Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel. Later there were more attacks: In 1929, the ancient Jewish community in Hebron was brutally slaughtered. It had existed there nearly uninterrupted for close to 4,000 years. After that, there were attacks in ’36, in ’39 – what they called unrest. These were repeated and methodical attacks against the Jewish community in Israel. Later on there was the Partition Plan of 1947, wherein it was proposed that there be an Arab state – they didn’t say Palestinian state, but rather Arab state – and a Jewish state. The Jews agreed, the Arabs refused. Because the matter was not at that time, nor is it today, the question of a Palestinian state, but rather was and remains, unfortunately, the Jewish state. And even before 1967, for 19 years, they had us in a chokehold; there was a stranglehold around us with the sole goal of uprooting us, of extinguishing our lives. What was that about? There were no territories then either. There was no occupation, unless Tel Aviv is occupied and Jaffa is occupied. There were no settlements for 46 years, from 1921 to 1967, nearly half a century. We were excoriated by the Arab public unrelated to settlements, unrelated to what is presented as the historic heart of the struggle. I say these things because I can – well, so it ended there, but later everything changed. Later on, events developed as they developed. We withdrew from Gaza, every last centimeter. We uprooted communities and the attacks against us continued – approximately 10,000 missiles were fired at us from Gazan territory, from territories from which we withdrew. And when we ask those who launch the missiles and those who stand behind them: why do you fire at Jews? They say: in order to free Palestine. And what is Palestine? Judea and Samaria? No. Of course, they are part of it, but they say: Beer Sheva and Ashkelon, Majdal and Acre and Jaffa. Fine, those who say such things belong to Hamas or Islamic Jihad, but the more moderate elements in Judea and Samaria, the Palestinian Authority – it is true that they do not engage in terror and this is an important distinction. They do not engage in terror, but when they are asked to say: Well, do you recognize? Not in Judea and Samaria, not in the West Bank, but are you ready finally to recognize the Jewish state? They answer: We are prepared to recognize the Israeli people; we are ready to recognize Israel. I say, that is not the question I am asking: are you prepared to recognize the Jewish state, the nation state of the Jewish people? And the answer so far has been no. Why not?

During my speech here four years ago, I said that the solution is a demilitarized Palestinian state. The reason for demilitarization is clear to everyone in light of our experience – true and ongoing demilitarization with very clear security arrangements and no international forces. But a Jewish state – recognize the Jewish state. Why are you not willing to recognize the Jewish state? We are willing to recognize your nation state, and that is at great cost – it involves territories, our ancestral lands, which is not insignificant. And I say this as well – this is a very difficult thing. But you need to make a series of concessions too and the first concession is to give up your dream of the right of return. We will not be satisfied with recognition of the Israeli people or of some kind of binational state which will later be flooded by refugees. This is the nation state of the Jewish people. If they want, Jews immigrate to this country. Palestinian Arabs, if they want, will go there. Recognize the Jewish state. As long as you refuse to do so, there will never be peace. Recognize our right to live here in our own sovereign state, our nation state – only then will peace be possible.

I emphasize this here – this is an essential condition. There are other conditions important for concluding the negotiations – not for conducting negotiations, but for concluding them, but I mention this because the political process with the Palestinians involves resolving complicated problems. It will be deemed successful only if it is built on the foundations of truth, the truth of the present and historic truth and unfortunately, the truth that is under constant attack from our enemies and opponents. They try to undermine the ancient connection of our people with the Land of Israel and obfuscate the basic facts of the conflict between us and the Palestinians in the 20th century.

For example, several days ago, I heard Iran’s representative half-heartedly comment on the Nazi crimes – it is difficult for them to say Holocaust – but immediately he added vigorously that one shouldn’t allow the Zionists to take advantage of the Nazi crimes, i.e. the Holocaust, in order to harm the Palestinians. Iran’s representatives repeat time and again the familiar trope that the Holocaust occurred without any connection to the Palestinian question and only later the Zionist leaders came along and made use of the Holocaust to repress the Palestinians. Well, what are the facts? The undisputed leader of the Palestinian national movement in the first half of the 20th century was Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini. The Mufti was the living sprit behind those same attacks I described, from 1921 in Jaffa through the Second World War. All this is known, but here are some facts about the Mufti’s activities that are less well known:

On November 28, 1941, the Mufti flew to Berlin and met with Hitler. He expressed to Hitler his readiness to cooperate with Germany in any way. And he did so – both by recruiting Muslim fighters to join the ranks of the S.S. in the Balkans and by broadcasting propaganda for the Nazis.

Here is a typical example of the propaganda broadcast by the Mufti in 1942. I quote, “If England is defeated and its allies overwhelmed, it will provide a final solution to the Jewish question, which in our mind is the greatest danger”. Between 1942 and 1944, he worked from his base in Berlin and tried to prevent Jews from being saved – in Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, Croatia – countries which, despite being enslaved to Hitler, allowed the Jews to escape to the Land of Israel and other places. The Mufti protested to the Nazis that they hadn’t provided enough resources to prevent the escape of the refugee Jews from the Balkans. In his testimony at the Nuremberg Trials on August 6, 1947, the German commander Wilhelm Melchers said, “The Mufti made his protests known everywhere, in the Bureau of the Foreign Minister and the State Minister and in other headquarters of the S.S.” On May 13, 1943, for example, the Mufti submitted a letter to the Nazi Foreign Minister Ribbentrop in which he objected to the understandings Germany made which allowed for the deportation of 4,000 Jewish children from Bulgaria. He asked to see, “everyone,” and I quote, “everyone wiped out”.

Eichmann’s deputy, Dieter Wisliceny, provided the following chilling testimony at Nuremberg: “The Mufti played a role in the decision to destroy the Jews of Europe. The importance of his role cannot be ignored. The Mufti repeatedly proposed to the authorities with whom he was in contact, first and foremost Hitler, Ribbentrop and Himmler, to destroy the European Jews. He saw in that an appropriate solution to the Palestinian question”. Wisliceny even provided hearsay evidence that the Mufti was directly involved in the Final Solution. “The Mufti was one of the initiators of the methodical destruction of the Jews of Europe and was a partner and consultant to Eichmann and Hitler on how to execute the plan. He was one of Eichmann’s best friends and constantly pushed him to speed up the destruction. With my own ears,” he said, “I heard him say that he visited the gas chambers of Auschwitz anonymously in the company of Eichmann”.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As opposed to the things being said by Iran’s representatives and others, the Zionist leaders did not use the Holocaust to destroy the Palestinian national movement. On the contrary, the most senior Palestinian leader at the time, the Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini preached and acted to implement the Holocaust in order to destroy the Zionist movement. It almost worked. European Jewry was indeed wiped out, in part because of the Mufti’s efforts, but Zionism was not wiped out and the State of Israel was established.

I mention these things here because these roots, this poisonous tumor, must be uprooted. The Mufti is still an admired figure in the Palestinian national movement. Go look at websites, go to schools, look at schoolbooks. This is the tumor that must be removed, this is the root of the conflict, this is what keeps it alive and the root of the conflict was and remains that which has been repeated for over 90 years – the profound objection by the hard core of Palestinians to the right of the Jewish people to its own country in the Land of Israel. In order for the current process to be significant, in order for it to have a real chance for success, it is essential that we finally hear from the Palestinian leadership that it recognizes the right of the Jewish people to its own country, the State of Israel. I very much hope that it will happen so that we can move toward a real resolution of the conflict.

There are many other subjects that we will of course have to resolve during the negotiations. First and foremost, there must be a real and sustainable solution to Israel’s security needs in the unstable and dangerous region in which live, because even if we do achieve this recognition, after years of incitement that still continues, we have no assurance that this recognition will filter down into all levels of Palestinian society and that is why we need very solid security arrangements, so that we will be able to defend the peace and defend ourselves if the peace is violated. This is a realistic and responsible approach, one that is ready to move forward but not blindly.

This reminds me of another issue. I think an essential condition for reaching a genuine resolution clearly was and remains the reversal of the refusal to recognize the right of the Jews to a nation state of their own in the land of their ancestors and this too is the most important key to resolving the conflict, recognition of this right.

I believe in the power of the people of Israel and I believe in the power of the State of Israel. What we have accomplished over the last 65 years is indeed wondrous. Today we mark 40 years since the Yom Kippur War. In the ensuing 40 years, the population of Israel has increased two-and-a-half fold. Israel’s GNP has increased 25 times. That is like taking 25 economies of the State of Israel and placing them side by side. We can mark achievements in all fields – in immigrant absorption, immigration, technology, freeing up the economy, developing the Negev and the Galilee, in the cyber city we are building in Beer Sheva, in the biotech city which will be established now in Safed, which is rising before our very eyes.

These are tremendous things. We did not wait for our neighbors in order to develop our country. We continue to do so. There is a connection between the two things – as long as we continue to grow our power, as long as we fortify our country, as long as we build our economy, as long as we strengthen our society, as long as we are strong – there is a chance that this change will also occur among our neighbors. We cannot give up on this – it is essential for safeguarding our future and ensuring our safety.

Thank you.”

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The latest Zio-Bio-weapon: Settler Feces!

Hilarity from Palestine National News:

Israel Uses Settler Feces as Bio-Warfare

ISRAELI SOLDIERS USE FECES TO ATTACK HUNDREDS OF VILLAGERS AND PEACEFUL PROTESTERS OUTSIDE THE WEST BANK VILLAGE OF NABI SALEH.

Muki Najaer / PNN Exclusive

Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) uses feces of Israeli residents and settlers as a form of bio-warfare against Palestinian farmers in the villages of Wadi Fuqeen and Nahaleen. Additionally, the Israeli army has developed a large vehicle for spraying sewage waste and feces at Palestinian protestors and homes, reportedly, in the towns of Abu Dis, Aizariah, Bil’in and Nabi Saleh.

Spraying sewage waste has become so common a weapon used by the Israeli Army that the combination of sewage water, feces, and human urine has been named “skunk”. B'Tselem reports that ‘skunk’ and the vehicle used to disperse it, have been added to Israel's armory for crowd control.

On 3 June of this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that the wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) js present in sewage samples collected from Israel. Additionally, human feces contain endless forms of bacterial and biological contaminants. Given this information, the intentional use of sewage waste against Palestinians qualifies as bio-warfare.

...Locals in the village of Abu Dis reported on September 25 that Israeli Occupation Force officials drove a large vehicle containing feces around main streets, and sprayed the sewage water ‘everywhere’ and on everything.

Locals reported, “It entered the houses and the kids’ rooms – and it didn’t clear like teargas does. It hung around in the fabric inside houses and made everyone fear for their health.” They added, “Rumors of possible viruses are going around.”

A similar story of intentional sewage spraying is reported to have occurred in the nearby town of Aizariah on September 20. In March of this year, Middle East Monitor reported that Israeli forces sprayed Palestinian homes in the village of Nabi Saleh as a punishment for organizing weekly protests against the Apartheid Wall.

The IOF is increasing its use of feces as a weapon of bio-warfare, annexation, and occupation.

The only true fact here is that the IDF uses a foul-smelling, but completely safe, liquid called "skunk" for riot control. Of course, it contains no feces, "settler" or otherwise. Details here.

(h/t Aryeh M)

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Bibi's speech was great, but just imagine...

...if Bibi had taken out an iPad and shown the General Assembly this video:



From Times of Israel:

In a video clip now gaining fresh attention as the international community seeks to assess his credibility, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani bragged on Iranian state television just four months ago that he and the regime utterly flouted a 2003 agreement with the IAEA in which it promised to suspend all uranium enrichment and certain other nuclear activities.

Rouhani, who was being interviewed by Iran’s state IRIB TV (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) on May 27, less than three weeks before he won the June 14 presidential elections, was provoked by the interviewer’s assertion that, as Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator in 2003-5, “everything was suspended” on the nuclear program under his watch.

Smiling but evidently highly irritated by the suggestion, Rouhani called it “a lie” that only “the illiterate” would believe, and said that “whoever is talking to you in your earpiece” was feeding false information. He proceeded to detail how Iran, in fact, had flagrantly breached the October 2003 “Tehran Declaration,” which he said “was supposed to outline how everything should be suspended.”

Although Iran issued a joint statement with visiting EU ministers in October 2003 setting out its pledged obligations under the Tehran Declaration, in practice, Rouhani said in the interview, “We did not let that happen!”

The interview, conducted by Hassan Abedini, was one in a series of shows in which the presidential candidates were questioned by the widely watched channel. The TV station is closely controlled by loyalists of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Rouhani clearly felt the imperative to underline that he was no Western pushover.

Far from honoring the commitment, in which Iran said “it has decided voluntarily to suspend all uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities,” Rouhani told the interviewer that all Iran did was merely suspend “ten centrifuges” in the Natanz enrichment facility. “And not a total suspension. Just reduced the yield.”

Unimpressed, interviewer Abedini asserted that work had been suspended at the UCF — the Uranium Enrichment Facility at Isfahan. Quite the contrary, Rouhani countered, detailing the completion of various phases of work at Isfahan under his watch in 2004 and 2005. He went on to state proudly that the Iranian heavy water reactor at Arak was also developed under his watch, in 2004.

“Do you know when we developed yellowcake? Winter 2004,” Rouhani went on. “Do you know when the number of centrifuges reached 3,000? Winter 2004.”

Incredulous at the notion that Iran had bowed to international pressure and halted nuclear activities in that period, Rouhani asked the interviewer, “We halted the nuclear program? We were the ones to complete it! We completed the technology.”

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Arabs are finding Jews everywhere!

An activist in Qena is calling for the Egyptian army to release records of how many Jewish converts to Islam joined the Egyptian army in the 1950s.

According to Zidane Alguenaúa, many Jews converted to Islam to join the army while the rest of Egypt's Jews were fleeing in the 1950s. Jews hadn't been allowed into the army even under King Farouk. Alguenua argues that a significant number of Egyptian military leaders are actually secret Jews and Zionist, who are attempting to fulfill Biblical prophecy by expanding Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates.

This is hardly the only rumor going around of ties from Egyptians to Jews.

Recently, the rumor that General Al Sisi is Jewish has expanded to indicate a whole bunch of connections between Sisi and a host of Zionists. The rumors were concentrated in the Arabic press (and were briefly mentioned in Wikipedia!) but the best English version comes from the fevered imagination of Kevin Barrett, a favorite columnist in Iran's PressTV, writing in Veterans Today:

Al-Sisi is almost certainly a Mossad agent. That means al-Sisi’s Egypt is not just a brutal, banana-republic-style dictatorship. It is Israeli-occupied territory: The newest and largest province of ever-expanding Greater Israel.

Al-Sisi’s uncle, Uri Sibagh (sometimes spelled as Sabbagh) served in the Jewish Defense League (Hamagein) from 1948 to 1950, made his aliyah to Israel, and became a bigwig in Ben Gurion’s political party, serving as the secretary of the Israeli Labor Party in Beersheba from 1968 to 1981. Uri’s sister – al-Sisi’s mother – presumably emigrated to Egypt on a mission from the Mossad. That mission culminated when the Mossad overthrew President Morsi and installed its agent al-Sisi in the coup d’état of July 3rd, 2013.

The implication: Al-Sisi has been a lifelong Mossad agent. His mission: infiltrate the highest levels of power in an Arab Muslim country.

Barrett somehow missed that Uri Sebag was also a Knesset member!

Lest you think that only Egyptian army bigwigs are Zionist stooges, Egyptians are noticing that the Muslim Brotherhood is expecting to riot during the Yom Kippur War celebrations tomorrow - which means, they say, the the Brotherhood is also on the Jews' side!

Now, that's the way to take over a country - take over both the government and the opposition! There's a yiddishe kop for you.

(h/t Matan)

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10/06 Links: 9 Year Old Girl Shot By Terrorist, US Special Forces Raid Libya and Somalia

From Ian:

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Nine-Year-Old Girl Shot in Terror Attack

A nine-year-old girl was seriously wounded in the neck Saturday evening in a shooting attack by one or more terrorists at Psagot, in the Binyamin region.
Magen David Adom paramedics were giving the girl first aid as IDF forces began combing the area. She was then evacuated to Shaarei Tzedek hospital with what was initially described as "a serious injury to her upper body." She was reportedly conscious.
Yoni Hacohen, a paramedic, told Arutz Sheva that she had been hit by a bullet that went clear through her neck.

Netanyahu: Palestinian incitement responsible for Psagot shooting

In remarks made at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, the premier called the incident "a heinous attack."
"This past year has been the quietest in over a decade, but lately we have noticed an increase in the number of terrorist attacks," Netanyahu said, pointing an accusatory finger at the Palestinian Authority.
"I must say that the Palestinian Authority cannot shirk its responsibility for these kinds of incidents as long as incitement there continues," the premier said. "The murderers must understand that this won't help them."

MKs: Abbas Talking Peace,but Allowing Terror

Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz warned that the attack does not bode well for diplomatic talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
“There’s an anomalous situation here where on the one hand, Abu Mazen [Abbas] talks about the diplomatic process, and on the other hand, groups that are affiliated with Fatah carry out terrorist attacks in Israel and Abu Mazen does nothing to prevent it,” he said.

US captures al-Qaida leader in Libya wanted for '98 US embassy bombings

US forces launched raids in Libya and Somalia on Saturday following the deadly attack on a Nairobi shopping mall last month, capturing a top al-Qaida figure wanted for the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, a US official said.
Senior al-Qaida figure Anas al Liby was seized in the raid in Libya, but no militant was captured in the raid on the Somali town of Barawe, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Alleged Iranian spy indicted by Israeli prosecutors

The indictment stated that over the course of 2012, Mansouri, 55 and with dual Iranian and Belgian citizenship, was recruited by Iran with the purpose of carrying out terror operations in Israel.
Mansouri had visited Israel three times in order to establish fictitious corporations in Israel to serve as cover for creating a terrorist infrastructure, which would include at least one more Iranian agent who was expected to come to Israel in the future, said the indictment.

MEMRI: Hamas Official Calls To Launch Rockets On Jerusalem In Response To Jews Praying In Al-Aqsa Courtyard

Following recent visits by Jews to the Temple Mount, especially during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, the head of the Hamas Refugee Affairs Department, Dr. 'Issam 'Adwan, published an article on a Hamas-affiliated website in which he urged his movement to launch rockets at Jewish targets in Jerusalem. He wrote that Jews praying in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa was an even worse act than their conquering or demolishing it, and therefore the response must be harsh. He urged Palestinians to prepare themselves and the Islamic nation for a victory battle over Al-Aqsa.

Police Bust Israeli-Arab Weapons Ring, 18 Arrests

Sixteen of those arrested are men in their 20s, and an additional two are minors, police said. Additional arrests are expected.
The suspects are accused of having smuggled weapons into Israel from Palestinian Authority-controlled territories in Judea and Samaria (Shomron). Kfar Kassem is a short distance from several PA-controlled Arab towns in Samaria.

155,312 Tons of Goods were Transferred from Israel to Gaza in
September

5,549 trucks carrying 155,312 tons of goods entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom Crossing in September. Among the goods were construction materials, medical equipment, food and livestock.

Egypt Releases 2 Canadians Detained Amid Cairo Clashes

Canada's Foreign Affairs department said late Saturday that two Canadians held without charges for the past several weeks in Egypt have been released from prison, the Associated Press reports.
Lynne Yelich, a Canadian minister of consular affairs, said Canada welcomes the decision to release John Greyson, a filmmaker and professor, and Dr. Tarek Loubani, a physician.

Egypt remembers Yom Kippur 1973

“Egypt braces to cross ‘October 6,’” reads the headline of independent Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, in an apparent allusion to the army’s October 6, 1973, crossing of the Suez Canal that marked the start of the war.
“The army vowed to continue sacrificing for the nation, while the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood planned to spoil the joy of Egyptians in their victory by taking to Tahrir Square and organizing processions against the armed forces in Cairo and the provinces,” reads the report.

PM to cabinet: Israel not opposed to diplomacy with Iran

Israel is not against diplomacy with Iran, but rather wants to ensure that negotiations with Iran will lead it to a halt of uranium enrichment, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the cabinet Sunday.
Netanyahu, in his first meeting with his cabinet since meting US President Barack Obama in Washington and saying a day later at the UN General Assembly last week that Israel would "stand alone" against Iran if need be, said he had a long, in-depth conversation with Obama about Iran and that they agree to the need to halt Iran's uranium enrichment.

New York Times Indicts Israeli Leader For Speech Exposing Iran

The New York Times editorial on the subject once again revealed the editors' consistently negative stance toward the Jewish state and its leader.
The Israeli leader's speech was labeled “aggressive,” “combative,” and “sarcastic.” Netanyahu, they wrote, “seems eager for a fight.”
The editorial warned the Israeli leader “and his supporters in Congress” that being “blinded by excessive distrust,” “exaggerat[ing] the threat” posed by Iran, trying to “block President Obama” and “sabotag[ing] the best chance to establish a new relationship” with Iran “could be disastrous.”

Obama: Iran still at least a year from a bomb

Obama, in an interview with The Associated Press, acknowledged that American estimates are “more conservative” than those of the Israelis.
Obama also said the world must “test” whether Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is serious about resolving its nuclear dispute diplomatically.

Obama Insulted the Iranian People, Says Iran's Foreign Minister

Speaking to CNN, Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Obama should not have told Netanyahu that the military option to deal with Iran’s nuclear program remains on the table.
“I was rather disappointed that President Obama used language that was insulting to the Iranian people,” Zarif said in the interview, which will air Sunday and parts of which were released Saturday.

Iran arrests four men accused of trying to sabotage nuclear production site

The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, said officials had monitored and then arrested a "number of saboteurs" before they could carry out their plan.
"Four of these individuals were caught red-handed and their interrogations are ongoing," he said, according to the Mehr news agency on Sunday. He did not identify which nuclear site they were planning to
damage or when those detained were arrested.

‘Iran Forced Hezbollah to Fight in Syria’

Sheikh Subhi Al-Tufaili, a former secretary-general of Hezbollah, told the Lebanese TV channel Al-Mustaqbal, “Generally speaking, Hezbollah is firmly opposed to the war, but a decisive Iranian decision [forced] it to participate in it.”
Tufaili’s revelation was included in a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) on growing criticism of Hezbollah from within.

‘Hezbollah’s long-range missiles can carry chemical weapons’

Hezbollah is in possession of long-range missiles capable of carrying a chemical warhead, a Lebanese parliamentarian said according to a report Sunday.
Khaled Zaher, from the anti-Hezbollah al-Mustaqbal party, told the Saudi al-Watan newspaper that Syrian President Bashar Assad had transferred significant amounts of weaponry to Hezbollah, including the missiles. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps supervised the transfer of the weapons and helped build and design the launching pads in Lebanon, he said.

Report: Germany gave Syria ingredients for deadly gas in 2011

The chemicals involved – sodium fluoride, hydrofluoric acid and ammonium hydrogen fluoride – can be used to manufacture sarin, the deadly nerve gas used during the August 21 attack on the edge of Damascus, which killed more than 1,400 people, according to the US government.

Arid State of Nevada Seeks Help From Israeli Agricultural Experts

In a campaign to revitalize its barren terrain, Nevada is hoping to share best practices on water and crops with Israel.
The desert-heavy U.S. state’s governor, Brian Sandoval, is planning a trip to Israel’s Negev in October to learn more about indoor farming, and how using Israeli technology could rejuvenate Nevada’s lackluster farming industry.

From Uganda to Iron Dome: A Soldier’s Motivation to Protect Her Country

It was a historical night for the 150 soldiers who stood under the stars in the Old City of Jerusalem. Standing at the Kotel — called the Western Wall in English — the soldiers were swearing their allegiance to protect the people and the State of Israel. Many of the new IDF recruits, who serve as soldiers in the Air Defense Command, protect Israel’s civilians against attacks by operating the Iron Dome missile defense system.
One soldier in the unit, Pvt. Or Meidan, stands out amongst the new recruits. In 2011, Pvt. Meidan immigrated to Israel from Uganda with her family. “We were living at a kibbutz, Yad Mordechi, during operation Pillar of Defense,” she recalls of her first days in the country. “Rockets were flying near us every day from the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip.”

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75 years ago: 19 Jews, including 10 children, murdered in Tiberias

There was a terror attack yesterday in Psagot, where a nine year old girl was stabbed by an infiltator - and it looks like her scream might have saved her entire family.

But slaughtering entire families is not that unusual for Arabs.

From AP, October 3, 1938:

Here are details on the victims from the Palestine Post:

This is what an Arab-majority single state solution would look like. (Except in the case the Arab police would probably join in.)

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Egyptian media celebrating 1973 "victory" over "the Jews." Not Israel - "the Jews."

Today is the 40th anniversary of Egypt's surprise attack on Yom Kippur, 1973, and Egypt is celebrating.

But if you look at Egyptian media in Arabic, very often it says that this "victory" was over "the Jews" - not over Israel, or over Zionists.

While many of the articles only talk about the "glorious victory," without naming over whom, when the enemy is named, more often than not, they are called "the Jews."

This interview with an Egyptian general in El Balad  is peppered with referencs to "the Jews."

Vetogate, while discussing Muslim Brotherhood threats against the celebrations, notes that  it is a happy day because "this is a black day in the history of the Jews."

This interview with Sadat's sister at Al Mogaz mostly refers merely to "the enemy" but has a reference to the victory over "the Jews." Nothing about Zionists or Israel.

Al Masry al Youm incidentally talks bout the "victory over the Jews."

By the way, here is how Time magazine reported the end of the war that the Egyptians are wildly celebrating:

From a purely military viewpoint it was already clear that the Israelis had come breathtakingly close to a victory that would have matched their swift triumph in the Six-Day War. Despite the important advantages possessed this time by the refurbished Arab armies—the element of surprise, the early losses they inflicted, their easy penetration of the Bar-Lev Line along the east bank of the Suez Canal and Israeli bastions in the Golan Heights—the Israelis managed in scarcely more than two weeks to reverse the tide of battle and push the battlefronts into Syria and Egypt. At week's end the Israelis claimed that they had captured most of the city of Suez; their armies had fought to within 30 miles of Damascus and about 45 miles of Cairo.

Although the details were still obscured by censorship, the bridgehead made by an Israeli armored force across the southern sector of the canal may rank as the most brilliant military feat in the country's short but tempestuous history. In the end, Egypt may well have agreed to a ceasefire because it realized that to continue fighting would lead to another disaster.

Enlarging their bridgehead on the west bank of the Suez Canal (TIME, Oct. 29), Israeli forces last week proceeded to neutralize, both militarily and politically, the dug-in Egyptian forces on the east bank. With at least 20,000 men and 500 tanks at their disposal on the southern portion of the west bank, the Israelis cut the vital highway between Suez and Cairo, encircled and later captured most of the city of Suez and pushed on to the port of Adabiya. In the process, they trapped the Egyptian Third Army, which was still in position on the east bank of the canal.

The Egyptian public hardly realized what had happened. At the week's beginning, a mood of euphoria still persisted in Cairo. Many Egyptians initially resented the declaration of a ceasefire because they believed that it was cheating Egypt out of a clear-cut victory. In any case, full-scale fighting broke out again almost immediately. In the 24 hours that followed the ceasefire, the Israelis drastically improved their position on the west bank. They destroyed large numbers of missile and artillery sites and, most important, they isolated the Third Army, cutting it off from food for its 20,000 men and fuel for its 400 tanks. Time after time, the Egyptians fought ferociously to free themselves but failed.

By [Wednesday morning,] the Egyptian government fully realized to what extent it had blundered in underestimating the seriousness of the Israeli bridgehead on the west bank. But it was too late to change the course of battle; the Egyptian Third Army was, as Moshe Dayan put it, "technically blocked." In a particularly stinging gesture to the Egyptians, the Israelis announced that they would supply blood plasma to the Third Army, since the Egyptian government was incapable of doing so. The Israelis added that the encircled Arabs were in no immediate danger of dying from thirst or hunger.

... But already, hundreds of thirsty and hungry Egyptian soldiers were walking out of the harsh, blazing desert with their hands up and handkerchiefs waving. From their east-bank positions, the nearest fresh water was 100 miles away; the water conduit from the west was held by the Israelis, who seemed determined to supply them with water only in exchange for surrender. At best, the ones who held out could probably expect to go through what Gamal Abdel Nasser, as a young major, was forced to do in 1949: to await an armistice, after which, by joint agreement, they can walk through Israeli lines to safety.

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PalArabs again claim religious Jews cut down olive trees - on Shabbat

From Ma'an:

Extremist Jewish settlers chopped down more than 100 olive trees Saturday morning in Deir Sharaf village south of Nablus, a Palestinian official said.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settler activities in the northern West Bank, told Ma’an that settlers from Shave Shomron settlement stormed olive fields in the al-Ghazan neighborhood of Deir Sharaf and destroyed more than 100 trees. He highlighted that the attack came a few days before the olive harvest.

Shavei Shomron is a religious Zionist community, and the idea that they would cut down olive trees on Shabbat is ludicrous.

In these times when essentially everyone has a camera and even video camera on their mobile phones, why do we never see video of these olive trees being chopped down? It takes quite a while to cut down a single tree, let alone a hundred - Mr. Daghlas could have gotten thirty reporters there before they were done.

Then again, when the media uncritically parrots obvious lies, what incentive does any Arab have to tell the truth?

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The editorial malpractice of Roger Cohen

In what is perhaps his most remarkable feat, Roger Cohen's latest op-ed for the New York Times - where he critiques Binyamin Netanyahu's speech to the UN last week - gets everything wrong.

Even more remarkably, his main arguments are refuted by the contents of the speech itself. Which means that either Cohen didn't listen to or read the speech itself, or he consciously chose to lie about it.

Op-ed writers of course have more latitude than reporters do, but that latitude does not extend to simply making up facts.

Here we go:

Never has it been more difficult for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to convince the world that, as he put it in 2006: “It’s 1938. Iran is Germany.” He tried again at the United Nations this week. In a speech that strained for effect, he likened Iran to a 20th-century “radical regime” of “awesome power.” That would be the Third Reich.

Netanyahu:

The last century has taught us that when a radical regime with global ambitions gets awesome power, sooner or later, its appetite for aggression knows no bounds. That's the central lesson of the 20th century. Now, we cannot forget it.

Does Cohen disagree that Iran is a radical regime or does he disagree that that its acquisition of nuclear arms would give it "awesome power"?  Does he disagree that a nuclear-armed Iran would irrevocably alter the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East? Both of those facts are incontrovertible.

By any sane measure, Bibi is right and Cohen is wrong.

Among those who question this approach is David Harris, the executive director of the American Jewish Committee. Referring to the new Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, he wrote in the Israeli daily Haaretz that, “Simply implying, for instance, that anyone who sits down with Rouhani is a modern-day Neville Chamberlain or Édouard Daladier won’t do the trick. To the contrary, it will only give offense and alienate.”

When Netanyahu’s staunchest supporters — the leaders of the American Jewish community — question his approach to Iran, the Israeli prime minister needs to stop calling Rouhani “a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” his favored epithet, and start worrying about crying wolf.

At no point in Bibi's speech did he even imply that the world shouldn't talk with Iran. Here is exactly what he said:

So here's what the international community must do. First, keep up the sanctions. If Iran advances its nuclear weapons program during negotiations, strengthen the sanctions.

Second, don't agree to a partial deal. A partial deal would lift international sanctions that have taken years to put in place in exchange for cosmetic concessions that will take only weeks for Iran to reverse. Third, lift the sanctions only when Iran fully dismantles its nuclear weapons program.

My friends,
The international community has Iran on the ropes. If you want to knockout Iran's nuclear weapons program peacefully, don't let up the pressure. Keep it up.

We all want to give diplomacy with Iran a chance to succeed. But when it comes to Iran, the greater the pressure, the greater the chance.

It is Cohen's fantasy that Bibi called for no talks with Iran. Cohen is wrong.

Now, what about David Harris? Did he find Bibi's speech to be problematic, as Cohen implies?

Harris' article was written on September 27. Bibi's speech was October 1.He wasn't condemning Bibi's speech, he was saying his worries about Bibi's possible approach.

Hours after Bibi spoke, Harris enthusiastically praised Bibi's speech, days before Cohen's piece:

AJC Executive Director David Harris praised the Israeli leader’s speech.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu delivered today a compelling clarion call for the entire world about Iran,” said Harris. “The stakes are very high, with no room for wishful or illusory thinking about Iran’s intentions. No one seeks confrontation for confrontation’s sake. But until the Iranian regime comes clean on its nuclear program and fully cooperates with the international community, maximum pressure is absolutely necessary. History’s lessons on this score could not be clearer.”

Cohen could have looked up Harris' comments before he wrote his column. Instead, he chose to misrepresent Harris' opinion written before the speech as if he was critiquing the speech. For this reason alone, Cohen should be fired.

Bibi and Harris are right, Cohen is wrong.

It is not just that the world has now heard from Netanyahu of the imminent danger of a nuclear-armed Iran for a very long time.

In Roger Cohen's world, apparently, getting sick of someone's warning about a threat than could affect literally billions of people gets old after a while. Best to ignore it. Cohen is wrong.

 It is not just that Israel has set countless “red lines” that proved permeable. 

Doing a New York Times search for the words "red line," "Netanyahu" "Iran" and "nuclear" finds nothing before Bibi's speech exactly one year ago. There has only been one red line. This speech showed that the entire reason Iran has not crossed the only red line Israel has set is because of sanctions. There have been no permeable "red lines." Cohen is lying.

 It is not just that the Islamic Republic has been an island of stability compared to its neighbors Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Ruthless dictatorships with strong leaders are generally stable. Syria and Egypt were stable for decades before their respective revolutions. Does that make them desirable? Cohen is wrong.

It is not just that, as Rouhani’s election shows, Iran is no Nazi-like totalitarian state with a single authority but an authoritarian regime subject to liberalizing and repressive waves.

Bibi answered the ridiculous claim that Rouhani's election proves liberalism in the very speech Cohen is attacking:

Presidents of Iran have come and gone. Some presidents were considered moderates, others hardliners. But they've all served that same unforgiving creed, that same unforgetting regime – that creed that is espoused and enforced by the real power in Iran, the dictator known in Iran as the Supreme Leader, first Ayatollah Khomeini and now Ayatollah Khamenei. President Rouhani, like the presidents who came before him is a loyal servant of the regime. He was one of only six candidates the regime permitted to run for office. Nearly 700 other candidates were rejected.

All major decisions in Iran are made by Khamanei. The president reports to the "Supreme Leader." Cohen knows this, and yet he chooses to ignore it. Cohen is wrong.

No, Netanyahu’s credibility issue is rooted in the distorted priorities evident in a speech that was Iran-heavy and Palestine-lite. The real challenge to Israel as a Jewish and democratic nation is the failure to achieve a two-state peace with the Palestinians and the prolongation of a West Bank occupation that leaves Israel overseeing millions of disenfranchised Palestinians. ...Iran has long been an effective distraction from the core dilemma of the Jewish state: Palestine. But global impatience with this diversionary strategy is running high.

But Israel, even with the Palestinian issue, is also an "island of stability compared to its neighbors" Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. Isn't that important in Cohen's worldview? It sure seemed that way only one paragraph ago.

Additionally, the world is quite  impatient with Palestinian Arabs who have been given every chance for peace since Oslo. Arabs are far more interested in Iran than in their Palestinian brethren. Cohen's idea that the Palestinian Arab issue is more important to Israel's future than Iran is fantasy. In other words, Cohen is wrong.

Iran has much to answer for. Rouhani’s “Iran poses absolutely no threat to the world or the region” is a preposterous statement. It has hidden aspects of its enrichment program. It has taken American and Israeli lives and attacked U.S. interests, through the Revolutionary Guards, Hezbollah and other arms of its security apparatus. It has placed odious Israel hatred and America-as-Satan at the core of its revolutionary ideology. President Obama is right to demand transparent, verifiable action for any deal.

What Iran has not done is make a bomb or even, in the view of Western intelligence services, decide to do so.

Here is a time-worn method where columnists pretend to briefly acknowledge another side to the story while sweeping it under the rug. But Bibi's speech gave in great detail the evidence that Iran is hell-bent on creating a military nuclear device as well as how Rouhani bragged about hiding the nuclear program from the West. While Iran may not have greenlighted the building of an actual nuclear device, it is clearly doing everything that would be necessary to build one quickly should it decide to. As David Albright of ISIS testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week:

If Iran decided to produce nuclear explosive materials today, it could use its gas centrifuge program to produce weapon-grade uranium (WGU). However, Iran’s fear of military strikes likely deters it at this time from producing WGU or nuclear weapons. However, if its centrifuge plants expand as currently planned, by the middle of 2014 these plants could have enough centrifuges to allow Iran to break out so quickly, namely rapidly produce WGU from its stocks of low enriched uranium, that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would likely not detect this breakout until after Iran had produced enough WGU for one or two nuclear weapons. ISIS calls this a “critical capability.”

If the Arak reactor operates, Iran could also create a plutonium pathway to nuclear weapons. This reactor can produce enough plutonium each year for one or two nuclear 2 weapons, heightening concerns that Iran aims to build nuclear weapons. Its operation would needlessly complicate negotiations and increase the risk of military strikes.

If Iran creates the ability to build a bomb in two weeks (the time between IAEA inspections,) the fact that it has not made a decision to build one becomes moot. At that point, nothing can be done to stop it. Cohen's bizarre idea that the two can be decoupled is fantasy, not fact. Cohen is wrong.

(There is plenty of other evidence that Iran's nuclear program is military, but that is outside the scope of this post.)

It is not in Israel’s interest to be a spoiler. Limited, highly monitored Iranian enrichment — accepted in principle by Obama but rejected by Netanyahu — is a far better outcome for Israel than going to war with Tehran. But, of course, any deal with Iran would also have to involve a change in the Iranian-American relationship. Israel does not believe that is in its interest, hence some of the bluster.

So, according to Cohen, Israel is more afraid of warm US-Iran relations than of being blown up. This is projection on Cohen's part, as this op-ed proves that it is Cohen who cares more about appearances than truth, and is more prone to make decisions based on bias than on facts. Cohen is wrong.

In this essay, Cohen is criticizing a speech that was never made and he cannot counter a single point - not one - that was actually in the speech. Which is why he resorts to lies.

In any sane world, Cohen should be ashamed to go out in public after writing such a thoroughly embarrassing article. In any sane world, the Times would let him go because of the danger Cohen's columns bring to its own rapidly sinking reputation.

This piece is not just wrong-headed. It is not just showing that Cohen's opinions are wrong. No, this essay shows that Roger Cohen is guilty of editorial malpractice; he is someone who consciously and willingly ignores facts and makes up his own just to support an unsupportable thesis. A doctor or lawyer or teacher who acted this unprofessionally would be unceremoniously fired after a performance like this. Op-ed writers can and should push their opinions, but they should not have the right to make up their own facts.

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10/05 Links: Bibi - Peace Talks Are Going Nowhere, UNESCO Passes 6 Anti-Israel Resolutions

From Ian:

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Netanyahu: The Peace Talks Are Going Nowhere

According to a report on Friday in the Maariv daily newspaper, Netanyahu made the comments in closed meetings with the heads of American Jewish organizations.
Netanyahu reportedly repeated his position and that he is ready for a historic compromise with the Palestinian Authority, but added that "the problem was, and still is, their refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.”
The Prime Minister, according to Maariv, also said that the Palestinian Authority’s ongoing incitement against Israel was another significant obstacle to the possibility of reaching an agreement.

IDF Officers: Rising Arab Violence in Jenin, Qalandiya, Balata, Hebron

Israel Defense Forces officers said three recent incidents of Arab unrest that had to be quelled by soldiers indicate an uptick in violence, mainly from the Jenin refugee camp, Qalandiya, Balata and Hebron, Israel’s Ma’ariv daily reported.
“We’ve seen a steady increase in the activity level of resistance forces in the villages and in the camps,” Lt. Col. Itamar Kohl, deputy commander of the Binyamin Brigade, told Ma’ariv. “The more time we remain in the field, the greater the likelihood of a popular local demonstration, what I call ‘temporary’ disturbance, unplanned without a specific focus that is known in advance.”

PA forces raid Jenin refugee camp, arrest Islamic Jihad members

According to reports, some 200 forces descended on the camp and blocked the exits, searching homes, including that of Bassem Al-Saadi, the head of Islamic Jihad in the West Bank. The raid was reported to be one of the Palestinian Authority’s biggest security operations in recent years, and highly unusual in terms of scale and area of operation.

UNESCO passes six resolutions condemning Israel

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) passed six anti-Israel resolutions at the meeting of its executive committee in Paris on Friday, Israel Radio reported.
The organization condemned Israel for not fulfilling an agreement from April to allow a UNESCO delegation to inspect preservation and conservation work at 18 sites in the Old City – six synagogues, six mosques and six churches – in exchange for a Palestinian agreement to postpone five anti-Israel resolutions pending before UNESCO’s board meeting that month.
Israel canceled the UNESCO contingent's visit at the last minute in May, saying that the Palestinians had "politicized" the delegation.

Liberman on Iran: ‘Better to be alone and stay alive’

Former foreign minister Avigdor Liberman, who currently heads the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said Saturday that there’s not even a “quarter of a sign” that Iran has slowed its drive to acquire nuclear weapons.
“All international intelligence agencies are aware that nothing has changed,” he was quoted by Israel Radio saying.
“Israel is prepared to deal with the Iranian problem. Even if we stand alone. It’s better to be alone and stay alive rather than toe the line and go up in flames,” he added.

Top 5 Dumbest Roger Cohen Lines (This Week)

Cohen’s latest entry is about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to convince the world that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is the smiling face of a bad regime constitute a diversionary tactic to avoid making peace with the Palestinians. It’s not a new charge and there are plenty of people who’d agree that more could be done to enable the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. The problem here is that Cohen doesn’t seem to think Iran is a threat. And it’s very strange to watch his mind work across the page. Here are five examples of some head-scratchers.

In Depth: Iranian espionage plot uncovered by Shin Bet shows a new level of sophistication

This time, it appears that the recruitment and running of the agent was carried out by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's special operations unit (Quds Force), rather than by the Iranian intelligence agency.
Among other things, the role of the Quds Force is to execute terror attacks against Israel and additional targets in the West and in the Middle East. The significance of this is that Mansouri was not sent to Israel to spy and collect intelligence like his predecessors, but rather to establish an infrastructure to carry out terror attacks within Israel.

Slamming US and Israel, Khamenei raps aspects of Rouhani’s NY visit

Slamming the US as arrogant, dishonest, untrustworthy, and controlled by Zionists, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday that “some” aspects of President Hassan Rouhani’s trip to the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month were “not proper.”
“We support the diplomatic initiative of the government and attach importance to its activities in this trip,” Khamenei said, but he added that ”some of what happened in the New York trip was not proper” — an apparent reference to Rouhani’s historic phone conversation with US President Barack Obama.

Rouhani calls for 'time-bound' talks on nuclear program

Hassan Rouhani, president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, called for "time-bound" talks on its nuclear program with the West while harshly criticizing US interference in the Middle East in his first speech to the United Nations on Tuesday afternoon.
The speech was a resounding defense of the governing model of the Islamic Republic and a forceful rebuke of its detractors, with many veiled references to the "mistaken" policies of the United States, which has sanctioned Iran punishingly for continuing to develop a nuclear program.

US was so sure it was striking Syria it made ‘warning calls’ to Israel’s leaders

The phone calls, Israel’s Channel 2 news revealed Friday, were made shortly after Secretary of State John Kerry on August 31 had accused Bashar Assad’s regime of an August 21 chemical weapons attack that killed 1,429 Syrians. Israel’s leaders were told explicitly that the US would be taking punitive military action against the Assad regime within 24-48 hours.
The calls were made in accordance with the US promise to give Israel a warning ahead of such an attack, so that it could take steps to defend itself against any potential Syrian retaliation that might target the Jewish state.

Syria’s chemical weapons nexus

The bottom line is that even if Russia and Iran did not provide the sarin gas to Syria, their delivery systems are responsible for making it into an operational WMD.
The main achievement of the UN report on the August 21 chemical weapons attacks in Syria is not its indisputable conclusion that sarin nerve gas was used “on a relatively large scale.” It is the affirmation in a UN document of the de facto existence of a chemical weapons nexus comprising Syria, Russia and Iran, whose purpose is to support President Bashar Assad’s regime as the linchpin of regional resistance to the US and Israel.

Egypt: At Least 5 Dead in Cairo Clashes

At least five people were killed in Cairo on Friday, as thousands of supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi took to the streets nationwide, clashing with security forces.
Supporters of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, who have been protesting to re-install the ousted , clashed with police on the road leading to the pyramids in the suburb of Giza, reported Al Arabiya.

For Egypt’s crippled Muslim Brotherhood, protests part of survival strategy under crackdown

The Brotherhood’s long-term aim is to preserve the tight-knit, largely secretive structure of cadres, businesses and charities that made it a wealthy political powerhouse. Eventually, many Brotherhood members believe, the interim government will have to back down to ensure stability as it tackles Egypt’s multiple woes, particularly the struggling economy.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood vilifies the military

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has sharply criticized the military for ousting the country's Islamist president, comparing its rule to that of Adolf Hitler or Roman emperor Nero.
Thursday's criticism appears designed to whip up support for the Brotherhood and its planned rally on Sunday against the military and its popularly-backed July 3 coup that ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, a longtime leader of the group.

Fox International, Warner Bros Acquire Israeli TV Shows ‘False Flag’, ‘Girlfriends’ For U.S. Market

After the success of Showtime Network’s “Homeland,” based on Israeli series “Hatufim,” two more Israeli television programs have been acquired to be reproduced for U.S. audiences, Israel’s Globes business daily reported.
Globes said “Shkufim,” False Flags, and “Haverot,” Girlfriends, were bought by Fox International and Warner Brothers Studios, respectively.

Israeli Scientists Unveil Advances in Aerospace Medicine

A helmet allowing ground control to take over an aircraft should the pilot lose consciousness, an unmanned aerial vehicle evacuating wounded soldiers under fire without endangering lives, and a robotic dog that would assist combat soldiers with moving equipment and evacuating the wounded are among the innovations to be presented during the 61st annual International Congress of Aviation and Space Medicine at the Inbal Hotel in Jerusalem on Sunday.

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10/04 Links Pt 2: Hamas 'Charity' Operating in the UK, NGO Uses Blood Libel to Raise Funds

From Ian:

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UK Charity Commission Permits Hamas Charity

We should welcome, then, the promise by Shawcross that pro-terror organizations will no longer be free to employ the moral monopoly afforded by charitable status to shroud their extremist activities.
Unfortunately, however, charities accused of extremism do not appear to be concerned by any of the proposed changes. Interpal, for example, a leading British charity supported by a number of British politicians and cabinet members, is, in the United States, designated a terrorist organization. A comprehensive profile of Interpal, written by this author and published by the Gatestone Institute in January 2013, examined the charity's links to terrorist groups as well as its trustees and staff's expressed support for extremist ideas.

Children’s Rights Group Using a Blood Libel Against Israel to Raise Money

Clearly, there is some uncertainty over the circumstances surrounding the shot that tragically crippled Atta Sabah. Some reports indicate the shot was fired after Israeli soldiers saw a firebomb, others omit or discount this story.
But the story Karakashian told of a young boy being lured into place and then shot in cold blood just doesn’t stand up in light of what the UN and the PCHR report about what happened on May 21, 2013.
This raises a serious question: Is Defense for Children Palestine using a blood libel as a publicity tool?

Israel: European stance on circumcision ‘intolerable’

Israel denounced the Council of Europe for its recent anti-circumcision resolution Friday, calling on it to rescind its statements and warning that the resolution “fosters hate” and racism in Europe.
“Circumcision of male children is an ancient religious tradition of two important religions, Judaism and Islam, and it is also common among some Christian circles,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said in a statement Friday.

Israel to Run for Security Council Seat in 2019

Israel plans to run for a rotating seat on the UN Security Council for the first time ever for 2019-2020, its envoy said on Thursday.
"We're going all out to win," Ambassador Ron Prosor told the Reuters news agency, adding, "It's about time."

'We are not Arabs. We are Christians who speak Arabic'

It was no coincidence that Khalloul chose the Aramaic word for allies to describe his people. In his view, Israeli Christians are not mercenaries, as they might be perceived, but in fact allies. "We want to defend the holy land alongside the Jews," he insisted. He mentioned the Christians' support for the establishment of a national homeland for the Jews in the 1947 UNSCOP Committee. In a letter to the committee at the time, the Maronites rejected any reference to the land of Israel as Arab land.
Khalloul said further that global Christianity supported them, but refrained from making the support public because of the fact that Christians in the Middle East are hostages in the hands of Islamic forces.

American Analyst ‘Grateful’ for Dismissal of Libel Case Brought by Son of Mahmoud Abbas

American political analyst Jonathan Schanzer said he was “grateful” a judge had dismissed a libel case brought against him by Yasser Abbas, the son of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Schanzer, a political analyst and vice president of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, was sued for libel after he wrote an online opinion post for Foreign Policy magazine in June 2012 that called into question the legitimacy of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s two sons’ wealth.

Indonesia’s last synagogue, an intended heritage site, destroyed

Indonesia’s last synagogue has been destroyed, a Dutch news site reported.
Unidentified persons demolished the Beith Shalom synagogue in Surabaya on the island of Java to its foundations sometime earlier this year, according to a report on Indoweb.nl.
The synagogue has seen a number of anti-Israel protests staged in front of it and was sealed by Islamic hardliners sealed in 2009, according to the Jakarta Globe.

Head of Greece’s Golden Dawn party jailed

The head of Greece’s extremist right-wing Golden Dawn party was jailed early Thursday, pending trial on charges of running a criminal organization in an investigation into his party triggered by the killing of a left-wing rapper.
Nikos Michaloliakos, who is a sitting member of Parliament, was ordered remanded in custody in the early hours of Thursday morning, after overnight testimony that lasted for more than six hours.

Nazi Hunters Call on Dutch to Dissolve Gov't Advisory Body

The Simon Wiesenthal Center has written a letter to the Dutch Prime Minister asking him to disband a statutory government body that has called on the Netherlands to develop closer ties to the terrorist organization Hamas at the expense of Israel.
The letter to PM Mark Rutte condemns a report by the Advisory Council on International Affairs which calls for the Netherlands to distance itself from Israel and develop closer ties with Hamas. The Dutch Parliament is set to debate the report on October 8th.

Hobby Lobby Head Likes Jewish Prayer Books, Jewish Holidays Not So Much

OK. So the ironically named David Green doesn’t like bar mitzvah cards, Hanukkah, women, or the Jews. OR DOES HE? Because the plot thickens, dear readers. Turns out Green is the owner of one of the world’s largest collections of rare biblical texts and artifacts, including, most recently, a siddur reportedly dated to 840 C.E. This latest acquisition was announced on September 26 by Green’s son, Steve Green, amid much excitement. The younger conjectured that the siddur could be the “earliest connection today’s practicing Jews have to the roots of their modern-day rabbinic liturgy.”

National Library to digitize medieval manuscripts

National Library Judaica curator Aviad Stollman said it will be digitizing the Palatina Library’s collection of about 1,600 documents dating to the Middle Ages.
He said the collection includes rare illuminated manuscripts and one of the oldest existing copies of the Mishna, a central Jewish text.

Variety: Israel’s Major Export: TV Know-How

For several years, Israel has been at the forefront of countries exporting TV program content to the United States. Keshet, where Showtime’s “Homeland” has its roots, holds the lion’s share of responsibility.
Keshet holds 42% of the Israeli market share and boasts a prolific global distribution and production arm with U.K., Canadian and Australian outposts.
It’s a stamp that works across many cultures and has translated to successful programming on five continents. Keshet Intl. managing director Alon Shtruzman calls it “edgy mainstream,” comparing Keshet’s success to the local technology boom of the 1990s that was exported to Silicon Valley and earned Israel the nickname of “Start-Up Nation.”

Dexter, Hell on Wheels, Vampire Academy stars in Israel

A star-studded group of Hollywood actors and musicians are taking part in a cultural, historical and religious adventure across the Holy Land. America’s Voices in Israel is once again hosting a week-long tour of the country for the celebrities.
The contingent includes actress Lea Thompson (“Switched at Birth”, “Back to the Future”), C.S. Lee (“Dexter”), Vivian Bang (“Sullivan & Son”), Anson Mount (“Hell on Wheels”), music video director Howard Deutch, Zoey Deutch (who stars in “Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters”) and musician Madelyn Deutch.

Israeli-backed start-up unveils gas-producing plant

Like the alchemists of yore, a US company is seeking to convert a substance the world has a lot of — natural gas — into one it needs more of — gasoline.
Primus Green Energy, owned by the Israel Corporation, on Wednesday opened a plant to demonstrate the commercial viability of its grand plan: to convert millions of cubic feet of natural gas into hundreds of thousands of gallons of gasoline.

Repair work to begin at Auschwitz despite deficit

An international foundation established to preserve the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial in Poland has fallen short of its fundraising goal, but still plans to begin repair work there.
The site includes the barracks, gas chambers and other structures of the former death camp, where Germany’s Nazis killed some 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, during World War II.

Phone business revolution starts in Israel, says Alcatel-Lucent CEO

One of the world’s largest telecom companies is relying on Israel to restrategize and reformulate key parts of its business – and the technology developed in Israel by Alcatel-Lucent by its CloudBand team has turned out to be good enough to deploy worldwide.
CloudBand is Alcatel-Lucent’s implementation of Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) – the consolidation of carrier network functions across distributed industry standard servers, creating a cloud that telcos can use for standard and even advanced services. It’s where the telecom world is going, as far as Alcatel-Lucent CEO Michel Combes is concerned, and at a press conference in Alcatel-Lucent’s Israel headquarters in Kfar Sava, Combes outlined his vision of how NFV, and particularly CloudBand, will change the telecom world, and why Alcatel-Lucent, with the help of its Israeli CloudBand team.

Forbes: For Real Innovation, It's Not Silicon Valley But Silicon Wadi

Ask most people what they know about the state of Israel, and you’ll get some version of “War, violence, Holy Land, and bus bombs.” But amidst all the turmoil, real people are living real lives. They go to work, eat good food, love their children, and talk to their neighbors.
Oh, and they start businesses.
According to the Startup Genome Project, Tel Aviv, Israel — dubbed Silicon Wadi, which means valley in Hebrew — has the No. 2 startup ecosystem in the world. It has more startups per capita than anywhere else, and it has 61 companies on the NASDAQ. That’s more than Europe, Japan, Korea, and China combined!

Israel in 4K/Ultra HD

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Arab columnist describes Israel's nefarious plans to take over - Iraq

Columnist Atef in AlAnkabout describes in chilling detail - and no verifiable facts - exactly how Israel is taking over Iraq.

Iraqi refugees flooded Jordan and elsewhere, where the Mossad recruited hundreds of them because of their poverty. These people - students, workers and journalists - then return to Iraq to hatch the insidious plan.

These spies then spread immorality, prostitution and drugs throughout Iraq, ensnaring more poor Arabs in the Zionist web.  The proof is that there is now an alarming spread of drugs and AIDS in large cities in Iraq, so who else could possibly be responsible?

Israel has a number of motivations to take over the country. First of all, those Israelis still resent how the Scud missiles from 1991 turned Tel Aviv and Haifa into ghost towns for periods of time over a few weeks, and this is simple revenge.

Secondly, of course, is oil. Israel is trying to get its grubby hands on pure Arab oil, and Iraq is a perfect place to get it from. It is not apparent whether this part of the plan has been implemented.

Thirdly, Israel is trying to force millions of Palestinian Arabs to move to Iraq so they will no longer be wanting to move to Israel. The fact that Iraqis forced tens of thousands of Palestinian Arabs to flee after the gulf wars does not seem to upset this brilliant theory.

The Americans here are doing exactly what the British did in Palestine - using their muscle to ensure that Jews get what they want, a "deformed state" as Atef puts it.

It makes so much sense as long as you have a profound hatred of Jews and you have no ability to think logically.

But I repeat myself.

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100 years ago: The Beilis Trial

From Wikipedia:

Menahem Mendel Beilis, 1874 – July 7, 1934, (sometimes spelled Beiliss;[1] Russian: Менахем Мендель Бейлис, Yiddish: מנחם מענדל בייליס) was a Ukrainian Jew accused of ritual murder (see Blood libel) in Kiev in the Russian Empire in a notorious 1913 trial, known as the "Beilis trial" or "Beilis affair". The process sparked international criticism of the antisemitic policies of the Russian Empire.

On March 12, 1911 (under the old Russian calendar), a 13-year-old Ukrainian boy Andrei Yushchinsky disappeared on his way to school. Eight days later his mutilated body was discovered in a cave near the Zaitsev brick factory.

Beilis was arrested on July 21, 1911, after a lamplighter testified that the boy had been kidnapped by a Jew. A report submitted to the Tsar by the judiciary regarded Beilis as the murderer of Yushchinsky.

Beilis spent more than two years in prison awaiting trial. Meanwhile, a vicious antisemitic campaign was launched in the Russian press against the Jewish community, with accusations of the blood libel and ritual murder.

The Beilis trial took place in Kiev from September 25 through October 28, 1913. The prosecution was composed of the government's best lawyers. Professor Sikorsky of Kiev State University (father of Igor Sikorsky, the inventor of the helicopter), a medical psychologist, testified as an expert witness for the prosecution that in his opinion it was a case of ritual murder.

Beilis had a strong alibi that resulted, ironically, from his habit of working on the Jewish Sabbath. Yushchinsky was abducted on a Saturday morning, and Beilis was then at work, as confirmed by his Gentile co-workers in trial testimony. Receipt slips for the shipment of bricks, signed by Beilis that morning, were produced in evidence. The prosecution was forced to argue that Beilis could have ducked out for a few minutes, kidnapped Yushchinsky, and then returned to work.

One prosecution witness, presented as a religious expert in Judaic rituals, was a Catholic priest, Justinas Pranaitis from Tashkent, well known for his antisemitic 1892 work Talmud Unmasked. Pranaitis testified that the murder of Yushchinsky was a religious ritual, associating the murder of Yushchinsky with the blood libel, a hoax believed by many Russians at the time.

Beilis was represented by the most able counsels of the Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Kiev bars: Vasily Maklakov, Oscar Gruzenberg, N. Karabchevsky, A. Zarudny, and D. Grigorovitch-Barsky. Two prominent Russian professors, Troitsky and Kokovtzov, spoke on behalf of the defense in praise of Jewish values and exposed the falsehood of the accusations, while professor of Kiev Theological Seminary Orthodox Christian philosopher Alexander Glagolev affirmed that "the Law of Moses forbids spilling human blood and using any blood in general in food." The well-known and respected Rabbi of Moscow, Rabbi Mazeh, delivered a long, detailed speech quoting passages from the Torah, the Talmud and many other books to conclusively debunk the testimony of the prosecution "experts".

The lamplighter, on whose testimony the indictment of Beilis rested, confessed that he had been confused by the secret police.

Pranaitis' credibility rapidly evaporated when the defense demonstrated his ignorance of some simple Talmudic concepts and definitions, such as hullin, to the point where "many in the audience occasionally laughed out loud when he clearly became confused and couldn't even intelligibly answer some of the questions asked by my lawyer." A Tsarist secret police agent is quoted, reporting on Pranaitis' testimony, as saying:

Cross-examination of Pranaitis has weakened evidentiary value of his expert opinion, exposing lack of knowledge of texts, insufficient knowledge of Jewish literature. Because of amateurish knowledge and lack of resourcefulness, Pranaitis' expert opinion is of very low value. Professors Troitskij and Kokovtsev, who were interrogated today, gave conclusions which are exceptionally positive for the defence, praising doctrines of the Jewish religion, and not accepting even a possibility of a religious murder by Jews ... Vipper thinks that acquittal is possible.

The prosecution's case was further undermined after it had spent a great deal of effort to link the 13 wounds which Professor Sikorsky had discovered on a part of the murdered boy's body with the importance of the number thirteen in "Jewish ritual," only to have it revealed later that there were actually 14 wounds on that part of the body.

The chief prosecutor A.I. Vipper made antisemitic statements in his closing address. There are conflicting accounts of the 12 Christian jurors: seven were members of the notorious Union of the Russian People, also known as the Black Hundreds. There was no single representative of the intelligentsia in the jury. However after deliberating for several hours, the jury acquitted Beilis.

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10/04 Links Pt 1: Netanyahu on Charlie Rose, Spike in Terror Attacks, More PA Incitement

From Ian:

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Caroline Glick: America and the good psychopaths

Obama wants to negotiate for the sake of negotiating. And he has taken the UN and the EU with him on this course.
It’s possible that Obama believes that these negotiations will transform Iran into a quasi-US ally like the Islamist regime in Turkey. That regime remains a member of NATO despite the fact that it threatens its neighbors with war, it represses its own citizens, and it refuses to support major US initiatives while undermining NATO operations.
Obama will never call Turkey out for its behavior or make Prime Minister Recep Erdogan pay a price for his bad faith. The myth of the US-Turkish alliance is more important to Obama than the substance of Turkey’s relationship with the United States.

Melanie Phillips: Obama is in la-la land over Iran

This was thought to be a warning to the US that Iran speaks with forked tongue. If so, the crudity of such a manoeuvre suggests a measure of desperation in Jerusalem.
Who can be surprised? Responsibility for stopping the Iranian genocide bomb rests with Obama — the man who helped put the Muslim Brotherhood into power in Egypt; the man who draws a moral equivalence between Israel and its Palestinian aggressors; and the man who is manufacturing an utterly spurious linkage between the Iranian nuclear threat and the Palestinian issue, presumably so he can blame Israel when Iran gets the bomb on his watch.

Kerry: Islamic Terrorists Only Want to Kill Us Because They Have No Jobs…

Study after study has shown that jihadis are wealthier and better educated than their peers. But we keep throwing money at the problem. The recipients, however, just think of it as jizya, the money that non-Muslims must pay the Muslims as per Qur’an 9:29, and continue waging jihad.

American Islamic Group Hiding Donations From Foreign Governments, Others

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is using a complex web of non-profit and corporate entities to keep millions of dollars in donations from foreign governments and other international donors from public disclosure, Washington’s Daily Caller reports.
“CAIR’s fundraising practices are constructed in a way that makes it impossible to trace large donations from overseas, including from foreign governments,” the story says.

September: Spike in Terror Attacks

There was a sharp rise in the number of terror attacks in Israel in September, compared to the previous month, according to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).
The Shin Bet summary for September counted 133 attacks, compared to 99 in August. Most of the attacks were in the Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria, where there were 104 attacks, compared to 68 in August.
Two soldiers were killed by Arab terrorists: Sgt. Tomer Hazan Hy”d was abducted and murdered, and First Sgt. Gal Kobi was killed by a sniper in Hevron.

Israel Hopes to Avoid Third Intifada Despite Palestinian Rhetoric, Violence

The IDF believes it can keep a lid on the violence due its strong presence on the ground in the West Bank, and Israel’s tight intelligence grip of the sector.
Israel’s firm control of the Jordan Valley, the security fence, and a level of consistent cooperation with Palestinian Authority security forces have all acted as stabilizing factors that prevent a significant deterioration.
But the risk of violence spiraling out of control remains. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Fatah-affiliated Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, and lone-wolf terrorists all have the potential to set in motion a series of attacks.

PMW: While Abbas talked peace at the UN

During the current peace talks, and on the same day Palestinian Authority Chairman Abbas asserted at the UN the Palestinians' goal of achieving peace, an Abbas representative and other PA and Fatah officials were busy honoring terrorist Abu Sukkar.
The PA and Fatah held a well-attended memorial in Ramallah for Ahmad Jabara Abu Sukkar who planned a bombing attack, using a refrigerator filled with explosives, that killed 15 Israelis and wounded over 60 in Jerusalem in 1975.

PM Netanyahu on Charlie Rose
Netanyahu talks Israeli settlements and peace with Palestinians


Netanyahu on Iran nuke ambitions evidence: "This is not a guesstimate"


The speech I want to hear from Netanyahu

Being intellectually honest means laying out the moral asymmetries between Israel and the Palestinians. The fact is that we recognize them, but they’re not willing yet to recognize our legitimate, historical rights in the Land of Israel. The fact is that Israel protects religious rights and minority rights in Israel for religions and peoples of the world, while the nascent Palestinian state already in place does not, and could very well be on its way to becoming yet another failed Arab state. The fact is that Israel proudly hosts 1.5 million Arab citizens, while the Palestinians demand a Judenrein, ethnically cleansed state in historic Judea and Samaria.

Inaccuracy and distortion in BBC report of Netanyahu’s UN speech

The article opens with a gross inaccuracy:
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned against working with the Iranian government.”
To ‘warn against’ is defined as “to advise someone against someone, something, or doing something”. “Warned against working with the Iranian government” would therefore be understood by any reasonable reader as meaning to advise not to work with the Iranian government.
In fact, a significant proportion of Netanyahu’s speech was devoted to the subject of safeguards which should be employed by the international community whilst negotiating with Iran.

JPost Editorial Party pooper

Not only does Netanyahu have the right to speak the truth in the face of misguided ideas and notions, he has a moral obligation, as leader of the Jewish state, to make this point as clear as possible in every international forum, including the UN General Assembly, even if he ruins the mood of optimism. It is, after all, in large part thanks to Netanyahu’s ceaseless diplomatic work – including threats that Israel will act alone militarily if necessary – that the US has been motivated to assemble a broad coalition of nations to adopt crippling sanctions against Iran.
As the economic situation worsens due to these sanctions, Iran may soon face the gritty question of regime change. Only this combined with a real military threat will ultimately convince Iran to abandon its nuclear program.

Iran's Rouhani Boasts: I Rejected Obama Five Times

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani told reporters on Wednesday that he turned down five requests from U.S. President Barack Obama to meet at the United Nations, according to Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency.

Bibi Speaks Rouhani's Language in BBC Persian Interview

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu mixed in a couple of expressions in Farsi, in an interview on BBC Persian Thursday aimed at the Iranian people.
Speaking with conviction, Netanyahu said: “I would welcome a genuine rapprochement, a genuine effort to stop the nuclear program, not a fake one, not harf-e pootch ['nonsense' in Farsi]. ”We are not sadeh-lowe ['suckers' in Farsi],” said the prime minister.
He said that if Iran develops nuclear weapons, it will not only threaten Israel and the United States, but spell slavery for the Iranian people themselves. The Iranian people “will never get rid of the tyranny” of the regime if it obtains nuclear weapons, he said.

Avigdor Lieberman: NY Times Editorial on Netanyahu as Delusional as 1938 Story on ‘Peace’ With Hitler

“Today, The New York Times attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his speech [Tuesday], saying he was inciting to war and thwarting chances of peace with Iran,” Lieberman wrote on his Facebook page. “In 1938 the very same New York Timesreported with excitement at the peace deal between Britain and Nazi Germany, over how Hitler got less than what he demanded. … How did this ‘peace deal’ sit with the Nazi dictator—we all know. So of course it is preferable to stand up for the State of Israel’s crucial interests, and [it is preferable] for The New York Times to attack you than it is to end up like Czechoslovakia in 1938.” (h/t Yoel)

Poll: Most Israelis Support Iran Strike

A majority of Israelis would support unilateral military action against Iran, according to a poll published Friday, after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said his government was ready to act alone.
Some 65.6 percent of 500 Jewish Israelis surveyed by the Israel Hayom newspaper said they would support military strikes to halt Iran's nuclear program, and 84 percent believed the Islamic republic had no intention of reining in its alleged drive to build a bomb.

Hamas: We're Avoiding Confrontation With Israel, But...

Abu Ubaida, the spokesman for Hamas’s military wing the Al-Qassam Brigades, said on Thursday that the terror organization is trying to avoid going to battle with Israel in order to avoid the consequences for Gaza residents.
At the same time, he said in a recorded message that the 'Hamas resistance' to Israel was in a better condition than ever before in Gaza, and that the group was ready for a confrontation if one is needed.

Elie Wiesel: Jewish Response to Syria Gas Attack Not Powerful Enough, Considering Gas Was Used by Nazis to Kill Jews

“Here I feel very bad about our own leadership,” said Wiesel, responding to a question from the event’s moderator Rabbi Shmuley Boteach who asked, “What do you think about Syria? should we punish Assad for gassing children? And for us Jews of course, gas has the worst possible connotation.”
“Jewish leadership, the moment we knew that they are using gas should have organized a mass demonstration of 500,000 people in the streets.

CIA ramping up covert training program for moderate Syrian rebels

The CIA is expanding a clandestine effort to train opposition fighters in Syria amid concern that moderate, U.S.-backed militias are rapidly losing ground in the country’s civil war, U.S. officials said.
But the CIA program is so minuscule that it is expected to produce only a few hundred trained fighters each month even after it is enlarged, a level that officials said will do little to bolster rebel forces that are being eclipsed by radical Islamists in the fight against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Assad warns Turkey of 'heavy price' for backing Syrian rebels

In an interview with Turkey's Halk TV due to be broadcast later on Friday, Assad called Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan "bigoted" and said Turkey was allowing terrorists to cross into Syria to attack the army and Syrian civilians.
"It is not possible to put terrorism in your pocket and use it as a card because it is like a scorpion which won't hesitate to sting you at the first opportunity," Assad said, according to a transcript published on Halk TV's website.

Assad: If People Object, I Won't Run for Re-election

Interviewed by Turkey's Halk TV, Assad stressed that if the Syrian people are not interested in his serving another term, he won't run.
Assad says “the picture will be clearer” in the next four to five months since Syria is going though “rapid” changes on the ground.

Syria: Rebels Seize Hundreds of Tanks

Eye witness testimonies and video footage point to a devastating blow for the Syrian army, as rebel forces claim to have captured 300 Syrian army tanks along with huge stores of ammunition.
Rebel forces have uploaded a clip to the YouTube channel presenting their control of an army base in the Rahm el Kalmon area, West of the capital Damascus.

Saudi jails, lashes “naked” dancers, reports say

A Saudi court has sentenced four men to up to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes for dancing "naked" in public, media reported on Thursday.
In a video posted on YouTube, several men appear dancing atop a vehicle in the ultra-conservative province of Qassim. None seemed naked.

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