Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, October 11, 2013

John Kerry lauds Malaysia as modern, innovative and multi-faith model

AFP reports:

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry lauded Malaysia Friday as a modern, innovative and multi-faith model for the world, heaping praise on a country the United States regards as a valuable Muslim ally.

On the final day of a curtailed Asian tour in which he has filled in for U.S. President Barack Obama, Kerry said Malaysia’s young people were an inspiration for the Arab Spring.

“Here in Malaysia, people of different heritages have been in conversation for a long time,” Kerry said in a speech to mainly young entrepreneurs in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

He cited the symbolism of Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers - the world’s tallest twin skyscrapers - having blended modern engineering, traditional Muslim design, Malaysian vision, a U.S. architect and Asian builders.

“Together, they... are a soaring reminder that Malaysia is much more than a marketplace. It is a human and economic mosaic - and it is a model for the world,” Kerry said.

The National Post, last year:

In Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, politicians and civil servants devote a surprising amount of time to thinking about Israel, 7,612 km away. Sometimes they appear to be obsessed by it. Malaysia has never had a dispute with Israel, but the government encourages the citizens to hate Israel and also to hate Jews whether they are Israelis or not.

Few Malaysians have laid eyes on a Jew; the tiny Jewish community emigrated decades ago. Nevertheless, Malaysia has become an example of a phenomenon called “Anti-Semitism without Jews.” Last March, for instance, the Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Department sent out an official sermon to be read in all mosques, stating that “Muslims must understand Jews are the main enemy to Muslims as proven by their egotistical behaviour and murders performed by them.” About 60% of Malaysians are Muslim.

In Kuala Lumpur, it’s routine to blame the Jews for everything from economic failures to the bad press Malaysia gets in foreign (“Jewish-owned”) newspapers.

The leaders of the country assume that Jews and Israelis deserve to be humiliated as often as possible. In 1984, the New York Philharmonic cancelled a visit because the Malaysian information minister demanded that a composition by Ernest Bloch, an American Jewish composer who died in 1959, be eliminated from their program. In 1992, an Israeli football player with the Liverpool team was refused permission to play in Malaysia; the team cancelled the visit. The government banned Schindler’s List, calling it anti-German and pro-Jewish propaganda. The same government later decided it could be shown if seven scenes were cut. Steven Spielberg refused, so the government removed all his films from Malaysia’s screens.

In 2003, the prime minister’s political party gave delegates to the United Malays National Organization copies of Henry Ford’s anti-Semitic book from the 1920s, The International Jew, a favourite of Hitler, translated into Bahasa Malay.

I'm not bringing this up to make Kerry look stupid. I'm mentioning it because, as we've seen by the refusal so far of HRW and Amnesty to condemn the "Khaybar" TV series, the people in the West who should be in the forefront of condemning Muslim and Arab antisemitism have abdicated that responsibility.

Muslim antisemitism is a given, or it is justified as a natural response to Israel's policies (or existence,) or whatever.

The problem is that by not expecting Muslims to live up to the same standards that are expected of everyone else, the West is enabling this attitude.

Arab and Muslim antisemitism is not anomalous - it is mainstream. And part of the reason is because Westerners tend to look the other way.

Muslims and Arabs aren't children. They aren't brain damaged. Like everyone else, they will act the way they are expected to act. And the only way to make them change their attitudes is by shaming them, by forcing them to face consequences for their actions. Nothing will ever change by us dismissing the uglier aspects of Muslim and Arab culture as just "one of those things."

Former Meretz member shocked at college hatred of Israel

A must read in Times of Israel by Hen Mazzig:

As a young Israeli who had just completed five years of service in the IDF, I looked forward to my new job educating people in the Pacific Northwest about Israel. I was shocked, however, by the anti-Israel bigotry and hostility I encountered, especially in the greater Seattle area, Oregon, and Berkeley. I had been very liberal, a member of the leftist Zionist party, Meretz, but the anti-Semitism and hatred for Israel that I have seen in the U.S. has changed my outlook personally and politically.

This year, from January through May, I went to college campuses, high schools, and churches to tell people about the history of modern Israel, about my experience growing up in the Jewish state, and about my family. ...

When I served as a soldier in the West Bank, I got used to having ugly things said to me, but nothing prepared me for the misinformation, demonization of Israel, and the gut-wrenching, anti-Israel, anti-Semitic hostility expressed by many students, professors, church members, and even some high school students right here in the Pacific Northwest.

I was further shocked by how unaware the organized Jewish community is and how little they are actually doing to counter this rising anti-Semitism, which motivated me to write this article.

...To give you a taste of the viciousness of the BDS attacks, let me cite just a few of the many shocking experiences I have had. At a BDS event in Portland, a professor from a Seattle university told the assembled crowd that the Jews of Israel have no national rights and should be forced out of the country. When I asked, “Where do you want them to go?” she calmly answered, “I don’t care. I don’t care if they don’t have any place else to go. They should not be there.” When I responded that she was calling for ethnic cleansing, both she and her supporters denied it. And during a presentation in Seattle, I spoke about my longing for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. When I was done, a woman in her 60’s stood up and yelled at me, “You are worse than the Nazis. You are just like the Nazi youth!” A number of times I was repeatedly accused of being a killer, though I have never hurt anyone in my life. On other occasions, anti-Israel activists called me a rapist. The claims go beyond being absurd – in one case, a professor asked me if I knew how many Palestinians have been raped by IDF forces. I answered that as far as I knew, none. She triumphantly responded that I was right, because, she said, “You IDF soldiers don’t rape Palestinians because Israelis are so racist and disgusted by them that you won’t touch them.”

Such irrational accusations are symptomatic of dangerous anti-Semitism. Yet, alarmingly, most mainstream American Jews are completely oblivious to this ugly movement and the threat it poses. They seem to be asleep, unaware that this anti-Jewish bigotry is peddled on campuses, by speakers in high schools, churches, and communities, and is often deceptively camouflaged in the rhetoric of human rights.

...My experiences in America have changed me. I never expected to encounter such hatred and lies. I never believed that such anti-Semitism still existed, especially in the U.S. I never knew that the battlefield was not just Gaza, the West Bank, and hostile Middle Eastern countries wanting to destroy Israel and kill our citizens and soldiers. It is also here in America, where a battle must be waged against prejudice and lies.

I implore American Jews: do more.

10/11 Links Part 1: Chemical Weapons Inspectors Win Peace Prize, Iran's True Face

From Ian:

'A Bad Deal is Worse than No Deal', Says Netanyahu

In excerpts of an interview with the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published in advance and quoted by AFP, he called for sanctions on the Tehran regime to be stepped up rather than eased.
"A bad deal is worse than no deal," the prime minister was quoted as saying.
Iran "will ask for a partial lifting of sanctions for cosmetic concessions that would leave them with the ability to have a nuclear weapons capability," Netanyahu told the German newspaper.

Netanyahu to Britain: Iran must stop calling for destruction of Israel

While the message was similar to the one he communicated in the US, he did frame it around distinctly European points of reference.
For example, Netanyahu referred to a picture in his office of Winston Churchill, and recalled what Churchill said about arming the Nazis.
“He said don’t let the Nazis arm themselves,” Netanyahu said. “Don’t let an implacable, radical regime have awesome power. And he was right, and there is a lesson to be learned here.”

In show of military might, Israel drills long-range air force attack

In a display of muscle-flexing to Tehran ahead of nuclear talks between Iran and world powers, Israel made a rare announcement Thursday that its air force had conducted a series of drills in which fighter aircraft practiced midair refueling and a simulated strike on a distant target.
A video, unprecedentedly uploaded to YouTube by the IDF Thursday, shows F-15 and F-16 fighter jets refueling midair over the water. It was published shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to a series of European TV interviewers, warning the EU not to ease sanctions against Iran. “When a murderous regime engages in soft diplomacy and uses calming words of peace, but nevertheless continues to acquire immense power — it must be stopped, immediately,” Netanyahu said.

Dore Gold: Iran's first 'charm offensive'

The first Iranian charm offensive required two parties to succeed: Iranians who skillfully employed a campaign of deception and gullible commentators in the West, who took at face value what the Iranians said. It can only be hoped that this time, with Rouhani's charm offensive, this dangerous combination will not reappear, leading the U.S. and its allies to repeat the errors in interpreting Iranian intentions, that were committed in the earliest days of Khomeini's rule.

Iranian liberal attacks pro-Rouhani propaganda of the Guardian’s Saeed Kamali-Dehghan

Rouhani was nominated by Saeed Kamali-Dehghan, who has served as one of the paper’s chief promoters of the lie that the new Iranian president is a “moderate” despite Rouhani’s involvement in terror attacks abroad and his role in crushing the pro-democracy movement at home.
Responding to the Guardian readers’ poll was a liberal Iranian blogger (currently living in London) named Potkin Azarmehr (whose blog serves as a platform for the voice of secular pro-democracy activists) who argued that the nomination of Rouhani evokes, for many liberal Iranians, memories of Ayatollah Khalkhali of Iran’s ‘Soviet puppet‘ Communist Party (Tudeh) after the 1979 revolution.

Iran cancels annual anti-Zionism conference

As part of an apparent effort to rebrand the Islamic Republic in post-Ahmadinejad times, the New Horizon Conference, scheduled to take place in November, was cancelled by the Foreign Ministry, reported The Telegraph.
Hardliners in Iran blasted the decision, which they see as another concession on the part of the new government. Iran’s recently elected president, Hassan Rouhani, has made a concerted effort to put a new face on the regime in Tehran. This after eight years of his Holocaust-denying predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Iran FM on Hypocrisy of Personally Using Banned Facebook and Twitter: “That’s Life”

When asked why some top Iranian officials use Facebook and Twitter despite the regime banning access to the platforms, Vaezi tersely responded “you should ask them.”
As it happens someone has asked one of Iran’s top officials exactly that. David Keyes, executive director of Advancing Human Rights, last month pressed Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif on the topic. The Western-education Zarif, who maintains a verified Twitter account as well as a Facebook page, has been broadly described as one of the more nuanced and moderate members of Iranian president Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet. Zarif’s response to Keyes was somewhat less than nuanced:

Internal Conflict, Not Mossad, Suspected in Death of Iranian Scientist

When a key Iranian scientist was gunned down last week, many observers figured Israeli spy agency Mossad had struck again. But new signs point to deadly intrigue within the rogue nation’s fractious leadership.

Italy conference exposes 'Iran's true face'

It was meant to be a conference dubbed “The New Face of Iran – the opportunities for dialogue opening before an international audience during the days of President Rohani.”
The Italian Institute for Asia and the Mediterranean Basin arranged a formal event on Tuesday at the Italian Parliament in Rome, sponsored by the Iranian embassy in Italy. The institute invited the public to participate and sent invitations to media representatives. An Italian citizen working at the Israeli Embassy also registered for the event.
Having realized that the embassy worker had confirmed his attendance at the conference, the Iranian ambassador to Italy, Jahanbakhsh Mozaffari, said he would not attend that event, if the worker would be present. He requested that his attendance be blocked.

Hamas Leader to Visit Tehran

Khaled Mashaal, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, will visit Iran soon, the movement confirmed on Thursday, according to Kol Yisrael radio.
Hamas used to be heavily backed by Iran but the relations between the Islamic Republic and the terror group have been strained for the past two years because of the civil war in Syria.

Cutbacks in U.N. Food Assistance Set Off Outcry in Gaza

Hundreds of women and children protested cutbacks in a United Nations food-assistance program on Wednesday, the latest in a growing backlash by Palestinian refugees and their offspring in this forlorn coastal strip against the agency that for decades has provided them with nutrition, education and health services.
“People are getting poorer, and the agency’s directors nurture bellies,” they chanted outside the locked gates of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. “We are under siege!”

Chemical arms watchdog wins Nobel Peace Prize

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for its efforts to stop the chemical warfare that has haunted the world from Hitler’s gas chambers to the battlefields of Syria.
Based in The Hague, Netherlands, the OPCW was formed in 1997 to enforce the Chemical Weapons Convention, the first international treaty to outlaw an entire class of weapons.

Security Council authorizes UN chief’s Syria plan

International inspectors have so far visited three sites linked to Syria’s chemical weapons program, a spokesman said Thursday, as the team races to destroy the country’s stockpile and delivery systems amid a raging civil war.

US raked over the coals by Arab media over its approach to Syria's chemical weapons disposal

The Arab media report that some Arab governments are irate about US Secretary of State John Kerry’s statement on Monday – that he was “very pleased” that experts had begun the process of dismantling Syria’s chemical weapons.
Sunni Arab states, particularly from the Gulf, were already upset with US President Barack Obama’s decision not to enforce his own red line and attack Syria.

Saudi Arabia Bails on US; Forms Own Rebel Alliance in Syria

Before deciding to bankroll a new Sunni rebel alliance, Bandar flew secretly to Moscow to speak directly to Putin in the hope of getting him to stop propping up Assad. According to the UPI report, Bandar offered to write a check for $15 billion of Russian arms and to prevent Saudi opposition to Russia's natural gas deals. Putin didn't bite. Bandar also moved to knock rival Qatar out of the picture -- possibly to the extent of having taken a hand in the out-of-nowhere abdication of Qatar's emir, Sheik Hamad, in favor of his more malleable son, Sheik Tamin bin Hamad al-Thani.

Rights group accuses Syrian rebels of war crimes

The August 4 attacks on unarmed civilians in more than a dozen villages in the coastal province of Latakia were systematic and could even amount to a crime against humanity, Human Rights Watch said in a 105-page report based on a visit to the area a month later.
Witnesses said rebels went house to house, in some cases executing entire families and in other cases killing men and taking women and children hostages. The villagers belong to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam which forms the backbone of President Bashar Assad’s regime — and which Sunni Muslim extremists consider heretics.

Senior Israeli Official: Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty Will Outlive Cuts in U.S. Military Aid to Egypt

According to the Israeli official, a group of Gulf states, led by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, have offered between $12 billion and $15 billion in unrestricted aid to Egypt’s military rulers. As well as to support stability in the broader region, the two heavyweight donors are seen acting to counter Qatar, which has been financially supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.
“The Saudis don’t want Islamists in power in Egypt, or anywhere,” he said, describing a theological arms race being played out in mosque building across Europe, where Saudi Wahabi Islam vies for more new pulpits to counter the Qatari support of venues for Muslim Brotherhood preachers, and in Syria, where the two countries are supporting rival rebel groups seeking to overthrow Bashar Al-Assad’s regime.

Violence Plagues Sinai: Egyptian Commander Survives Attack, Military HQ Bombed

Egypt’s state-run MENA reported that General Said Abdel-Karim and at least three other soldiers were wounded by a bomb placed on the highway linking Al-Qusaima and Al-Housna in central Sinai on Thursday.
In the northern town of Rafah, assailants exchanged fire with security forces at a military intelligence headquarters, MENA reported. At Al-Arish, in the North, unidentified assailants opened fire on an armored personnel carrier and a security checkpoint. Israel’s Walla news said Israeli Border Police closed the Sinai crossing of Nizzana after shooting on the Egyptian side of the border.

4 Egyptian Security Men Killed by Car Bomb

They said the bomber slowly approached the checkpoint, waited for soldiers and policemen to start searching the car before he blew himself and his vehicle up. Five other people were wounded.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy declared Wednesday that the country's army would act against targets in Gaza, if necessary. Military sources pointed out that a list of targets in the Hamas-ruled area has been put together.

Egyptian TV Host: Our Enemy Is Israel for All Eternity

Top Lebanon Official: Hezbollah Trying To Create Underwater Drilling Crisis To Open New “Front With Israel”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea today slammed Hezbollah for trying to use purported threats to energy resources near the country’s coast as a pretext for generating tensions with Israel.
Caretaker Energy Minister Gebran Bassil, a politician from the Hezbollah-allied Free Patriotic Movement, has begun a process by which energy companies will bid to explore and eventually exploit contested maritime ‘blocks’ near the Israeli-Lebanese border. The move is a de facto claim of sovereignty over the contested territory, and – per the Israeli daily financial newspaper Globes – Israel will be forced to respond:

Canada: Mosque Mural 'Encourages Jihad'

Reformists from the Canadian Muslim community published a petition in which they called on the mayor of Toronto to remove the mural, because of the meaning of the quoted verse. They said that terrorist Islamist groups like Al Qaeda, the Taliban and the Pakistani army use the same verse to indoctrinate their fighters.
Tarek Fatah writes in the Toronto Sun that according to Quran scholars, the verse, “assistance from Allah is near and the quick victory assured,” is a blessing from Allah to Muslims who are about to achieve a victory against non-Muslims and conquer enemy territory. “This brings us to the question," he continues, "what is the enemy that the mural in Toronto wants the Muslims to fight against? Where is the non-Arab land that this mural wishes Muslims will conquer and be victorious in? Could it be Canada?”

Abbas says "No peace without Jerusalem as capital of Palestine"

The PA's official WAFA news agency writes that Mahmoud Abbas has stated "I will not compromise on the 1967 borders as the border for our Palestinian state, there is no peace without Jerusalem as its capital."

I have yet to see a single journalist, columnist or politician ask him the simple question, "Why?"

Why is this a pre-requisite for peace? Why is a city that was ignored by Arabs for centuries suddenly so critical that peace is held hostage to it? Why, practically, can Ramallah not serve as a capital of a state, which it is effectively doing now?

The Jews accepted, reluctantly, the 1947 partition plan where Jerusalem was to be an international city. They didn't want to lose Jerusalem, but it was more important to have a land that Jews could flee to when they are persecuted, and it was promised (ha!) that Jerusalem would still have open access to all. They were people who were desperate to achieve their national aspirations and were willing to sacrifice, very dearly, their very souls for the chance.

Palestinian Arabs, on the other hand, don't seem to be very desperate. There is no sense of urgency for their supposed aspirations for a state. Instead of reluctantly accepting compromises that would lead to a state, they pile on ultimatum after ultimatum, threat after threat, if their maximal demands aren't met.

By saying "no peace" without dividing Jerusalem, Abbas is threatening terrorism if he doesn't get his demands.

This is not how people who want a nation act.

It is how crime-lords act.

Followup: What media covered Egypt's killing two Palestinian Arabs on a boat?

Last month, I reported that Egypt fired on a boat of Syrian refugees, killing two Palestinian Arabs in cold blood.

The next day I noted that the world media completely ignored the story.

Since then, I see that the Anna Lindh Foundation reported the news:

Over the past month, Egypt has witnessed a rapid increase in illegal emigration attempts by Syrian and Palestinian residents due to a rise in anti-foreigner sentiment after the army ousted Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi, with some media accusing them of being Brotherhood supporters and participating in pro-Morsi sit-ins that were dispersed in a bloody August military crackdown.

There are 512 refugees currently being detained in Alexandria police stations, which are not equipped to deal with large numbers including women, children, the elderly, the injured and the sick, human rights lawyer Mahinour El-Masry told Al Ahram.

Most of the detainees are not prosecuted but deported to Turkey, Lebanon or Syria. Those registered with the UNHCR are taken to Cairo, the lawyer explained. Palestinian refugees who fled Syria face the worst fate.

They are deported back to Syria via Lebanon, El-Masry said, because there is no UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) office in Egypt. The last Palestinians deported to Syria after arrival in Beirut were arrested at the Damascus airport, he said.

France's Observer followed up:

According to refugees interviewed by FRANCE 24, as well as Egyptian human rights activists, the coast guard ordered the boat to turn around, but the captain, an Egyptian, refused to do so. They then opened fire, killing two of the refugees, a man and a woman. Witnesses among the refugees said the woman was shot in the back three times. According to a statement from the Egyptian authorities, the coast guard fired in the air, and the bullets accidentally hit the victims.

The boat’s passengers included numerous Palestinians who had fled Syria.

[A Palestinian Arab woman from Damascus said: ]
"When the coast guard approached and started shooting, everyone panicked. We didn’t understand why they were shooting; none of us were armed, and there were children on board! We refused to leave the boat, and tried to call Egyptian media outlets; a few journalists were there when the boat arrived at the port, but the soldiers wouldn’t let them talk to us. We were forced to get off the boat and were promised we wouldn’t be jailed, but then they locked us up in the detention centre. We’ve been here for three days now and don’t know when we’ll be let out. Everyone here is traumatised. We feel like we aren’t safe anywhere."

Finally, Salon mentioned it in a larger story of how Palestinian Arabs fleeing Syria are being screwed by their loving Arab brethren:

Palestinian Syrians in Egypt are caught in a particular legal limbo: UNHCR cannot register them because as Palestinians they fall under UNRWA’s jurisdiction. But UNRWA does not have a mandate to work in Egypt, so this population is left with little recourse.

It is truly bizarre that two refugee agencies, UNHCR and UNRWA, with different mandates, have to work with two separate refugee populations fleeing the same conflict, both insisting that they cannot help any of the other agency's refugees.

When will the world wake up and demand that Arab discrimination against Palestinian Arabs must stop, and insist that they be given the same rights in the Arab world as every other Arab? It's only been 65 years, and yet the Arabs - colluding with the Palestinian Arab leaders themselves - like the situation just as it is, with an ever-increasing "refugee" population that cannot be absorbed and naturalized, by law, into Arab countries.

This is the reason why so many Palestinian Arabs are risking their lives to travel in unsafe boats to Italy and the rest of Europe. They know they are being shafted, but the world prefers to blame Israel rather than work to solve the problem with their fellow Arabs.

Saudi Arabia keeps ban on women driving

From Al Arabiya:

The Saudi Shura (Consultative) Council on Thursday rejected a move by three female members to put the ban on women driving up for discussion.

The Council, which counts 30 women among its 150 members, rejected a move by one female member to raise the issue during a discussion on Thursday of transport ministry matters, the official SPA news agency reported.

It said the issue was “irrelevant” to the discussions and “not within the transport ministry’s remit.”

In the past few days, rights groups have been posting videos of Saudi women illegally driving in the kingdom:

Apparent terror attack in Jordan Valley; Israeli man killed (update)

Ha'aretz has the story:

An Israeli civilian was killed in an apparent terror attack outside his place of residence in the Jordan Valley on Thursday night. A woman who was with him was moderately wounded, but managed to escape and contact police.

The woman said she was asleep with her husband when they heard strange noises originating from outside their house. When they went out to investigate, they were attacked by Palestinians wielding iron rods and axes.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene. IDF forces are sweeping the area.

The woman was evacuated to Haemek Medical Center in Afula.

Horrific.

UPDATE: Details came out:

Retired IDF Colonel Seraya Ofer, 61, was murdered in a suspected terror attack outside his home in the northern Jordan Valley early Friday. The man's wife, Monique Omer, told security forces her husband was bludgeoned to death by two Palestinians wielding iron bars and axes.

IDF forces detained five Palestinian suspects while combing the area.

Omer said that at around 1 am she and her husband heard suspicious noises outside their home in the northern Jordan Valley community of Brosh Habika. The man was attacked by the Palestinians as he stepped outside to investigate, she said.

The wife, who witnessed the scene from the widow and fled the house, apparently phoned an acquaintance, who contacted the police while the woman was crawling through the bushes. During her escape the woman tripped and sustained cuts from a barbed wire fence.

Monique made it to a nearby road and stopped a passing car for help. She was evacuated to the Emek Medical Center in light to moderate condition at around 3 am.

She reportedly told paramedics, "Don't worry about me; go to him (her husband), save him."

In the hospital Monique said her husband "was a military man for a long time; an amazing man, amazing father, amazing grandfather and amazing husband. There is no one who did not love him or connect with him. How they managed to do this to him, I do not know. They surprised him. I don't know."

10/10 Links Pt2: An Israeli Soldier to American Jews: wake up!, StandWithUs Posters In Vancouver

From Ian:

An Israeli Soldier to American Jews: wake up!

My experiences in America have changed me. I never expected to encounter such hatred and lies. I never believed that such anti-Semitism still existed, especially in the U.S. I never knew that the battlefield was not just Gaza, the West Bank, and hostile Middle Eastern countries wanting to destroy Israel and kill our citizens and soldiers. It is also here in America, where a battle must be waged against prejudice and lies.
I implore American Jews: do more.
Israel cannot fight this big battle alone. If you are affiliated with a Jewish organization, let it know you want it to actively, openly and unequivocally oppose the BDS campaign and those who support it. Inform yourself, your friends and families, by visiting websites of organizations like StandWithUs, Jewish Virtual Library, AIPAC, AJC and others that will update you and provide information about BDS and anti-Semitism.

Standwithus to Place Pro-Israel Posters in Vancouver Skytrain Stations

StandWithUs will display two different posters. One depicts Jewish loss of land from Biblical times to the present by juxtaposing a map of the ancient Jewish kingdom circa 1000 BCE, a map of the land designated as the Jewish homeland by the League of Nations in 1920, and a map of the much smaller Israel of today. The second ad, with pictures of Israeli and Canadian children waving their national flags, celebrates the shared values and freedom both countries enjoy.

Circumcision won’t be banned in Europe, officials say

Responding to President Shimon Peres’s recent personal appeal, Thorbjorn Jagland said there were no “legal provisions regarding the practice of circumcision of young boys for religious reasons.”
“Nothing in the body of our legally binding standards would lead us to put on equal footing the issue of female genital mutilation and the circumcision of young boys for religious reasons,” Jagland wrote in his letter to Peres.
“I understand the reaction of many people, specifically from the Jewish and Muslim communities, to the Resolution,” he emphasized.

10 Ignored Facts of Moslem and Jewish Populations in Israel (h/t Daphne Anson)

This hajj, Muslims need to ask questions about exploitation

But if Muslims feel aggrieved about human rights abuses and hajj, then perhaps they ought to take a look at what is happening under the shadow of the heavy machinery surrounding Mecca, for the skyscrapers and shopping malls of Islam's holiest city are not being built by pixies.
This week, the Guardian highlighted the abuse and exploitation of migrant workers who are preparing Qatar for the World Cup in 2022. Similar scrutiny should also be applied to the projects under way in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, although these have traditionally tended to excite more indignation over the demolition of buildings with historic and religious significance than the erosion of rights of the workers razing mountains. It is a good thing there is more awareness about Islam's heritage and the need to preserve it. A natural extension of this activism and discussion are questions about the people shaping Mecca: who are they, and what are their living and working conditions like?

MI5 Chief Warns British Public of Terror Threat

Making his first speech as the Head of Britain's intelligence Agency, MI5, Andrew Parker says there are thousands of Islamic extremists living in the UK who see the British public as a valid target for attack.
According to a BBC report, the new head of MI5, also said Islamic terror had become more complicated to track than ever before.

Canadian Muslims Protest "Honor Killing" Label As Racist

Are they willfully misleading? Or are Canadian Muslims who are fighting federal funding to investigate honor violence in the Muslim (and other) communities simply naïve victims of the same propaganda used routinely to explain away the religio-culturally-based murders of Muslim women?

Greek PM calls ties with Israel ‘strategic, long term’

Netanyahu, during his meeting with Samaras, praised the Greeks for taking a tough stand against the neo-fascist Golden Dawn Party and arresting six of the party’s MPs following a public furor over the murder of an anti-fascist rapper by a Golden Dawn member.
In a joint appearance with Samaras after their meeting, Netanyahu said he wanted to commend his government for its “resolute opposition to neo- Nazism, anti-Semitism and racism. You have taken important steps, courageous steps that demonstrate clearly that Greece is a land of tolerance and freedom.”

New Director of Israel On Campus Coalition Vows to Empower Jewish Students

Students need the tools to address the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement “before, during, and after a BDS campaign comes to campus,” he says.
“We’ve got to prevent anti-Israel forces from making inroads with campus leaders,” Baime says. “We’ve got to deny Israel’s detractors the opportunity to set the parameters of the campus conversation about Israel, and at the same time, we’ve got to fortify the confidence of the pro-Israel members of the campus community. Because in my view, the greatest threat of BDS is the erosion of confidence of the pro-Israel students and others on campus.”

'Alarming' Anti-Israel Campaign On Rutgers Campus

Some 1,000 students at Rutgers New Brunswick campus woke up to an alarming eviction notice, informing the students to vacate within 3 days time or have their belongings destroyed.
The Rutgers New Brunswick chapter of "Students for Justice in Palestine" (SJP) posted the eviction notices on Sunday evening on the residence hall doors on all five campuses as part of a campaign called "The Palestinian-style eviction movement."
The movement originated at New York University and has trickled across the nation, said Rutgers SJP President Aman Sharifi, and that this same campaign was demonstrated at schools including Harvard University, Florida Atlantic University and the University of California, Berkeley.

‘Anti-Semitic Elmo’ goes to jail

A man who gained notoriety for going on anti-Semitic rants while dressed in an Elmo muppet suit in New York was sentenced to a year in jail for trying to extort $2 million from the Girl Scouts, where he worked briefly on a computer project.
Dan Sandler, who has used the name Adam Sandler as well, showed no remorse for his crimes and said as much to Judge Robert Stolz as he was sentenced at the Manhattan Criminal Court, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Pope Francis Reiterates Desire to Visit Israel

During the meeting, after Edelstein urged Pope Francis to visit Israel, the pontiff emphatically replied, “I’ll come! I’ll come!” Edelstein also asked the pope to continue to combat anti-Semitism, the Jerusalem Post reported.
“There is still anti-Semitism in the world,” Edelstein said. “I ask you to use your influence to combat it.”

Top 10 incredible Israeli advances in vision

October 10 is World Sight Day – a perfect opportunity to present some of the amazing advances coming out of Israel for treating medical conditions of the eye and making life easier for people who are blind or visually disabled.
Ongoing research at Israeli universities is constantly testing new approaches, such as sensory substitution devices, or a substance in algae that improves vision in people with retinal disease.
Here are 10 of many Israeli innovations that are already, or someday will be, transforming the field of vision.

Israeli Technology a New Step in Finding a Parking Spot

Israeli developers have introduced the newest parking solution on the market.
Anagog, an Israeli location-based technology company, unveiled on Monday an automatic algorithm that can analyze and identify where and when a parking space will be available.
Unlike other services, Anagog company says the technology's automatic nature will update the user instead of the user having to update the system.

BrightSource takes solar thermal energy home to Israel

Some of the earliest pioneers of solar energy started in Israel 30 years ago with the company Luz. Luz went on to become Luz II, then BrightSource, which is now a US-based solar power company about to flip the switch on a massive 377-megawatt solar thermal farm in the California desert.
And at the start of 2014, the sun and stars will align and a dream will be coming true for Israeli solar pioneers and visionaries like BrightSource Israel CEO Israel Kroizer.

Fox buys Israeli TV series at French festival

The deal was made at the MIP Festival in France, an annual international television event for buying, selling, distribution and financing of media content, the Ynet news outlet reported Thursday.
“Malabi Express” was created by comedia Miki Geva, who also stars in the show. It follows the fate and fortunes of three Israelis who move to Brazil.

Israelis Star in Nobel Prizes, so Why Doesn’t BDS Boycott Them?

Intentionally or not, TIME magazine’s report did not note that two of the winners were Israeli citizens.
It is doubtful that TIME was suddenly being so pro-Israel that it wanted to bury the facts from the Boycott Israel movement, which includes academics in Britain and other countries in Europe as well some in Australia who want to punish for the supposed “occupation” Israel by breaking off ties with its universities.
That would mean the Israelis would not be able share research with them, but in this childish game, it is the anti-Zionists who would lose out. Perhaps they deserve their own punishment. If the BDS folks were intellectually honest, they would protest against the Nobel Prize judges for awarding professors from Israleli universities.

Nobel Prize Winner's 'Traumatic' Escape from the Nazis

Karplus was born into a Jewish family in Vienna in 1930 and narrowly escaped Austria when Germany took control of the country in 1938, he wrote in
a lengthy article in the Annual Review of Biophysics and Biomolecular Structure in 2006.
Karplus described how attitudes towards him and his family changed even before the Nazi takeover of Austria, and how two boys he and his brother had
considered their best friends began bullying them.

1926: Egyptian and Zionist teachers visit each other

This is what peace would look like. And only one side wants it.

From the Palestine Bulletin, April 13, 1926:

It's also the 40th anniversary of Austria capitulating to Arab terrorists over Schoenau

It isn't only the 40th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War.

The Schönau Castle, in Austria, used by the Austrian government as a transit camp for Russian Jews who had been permitted to leave Russia prior to emigrating to the West or to Israel.

In the words of Yehuda Avner:

[On September 28, 1973,] a train carrying Jews from communist Russia en route to Israel via Vienna was hijacked by two Arab terrorists at a railway crossing on the Austrian frontier. Seven Jews were taken hostage, among them a 73-year-old man, an ailing woman and a three-year-old child. The terrorists issued an ultimatum that unless the Austrian government instantly closed down Schoenau, the Jewish Agency's layover near Vienna where the emigres were processed before being flown on to Israel, not only would the hostages be killed, but Austria itself would become the target of violent retaliation. The Austrian cabinet hastily met and, led by chancellor Bruno Kreisky, capitulated. Kreisky announced that Schoenau would be closed forthwith, and the terrorists were hustled to the airport for safe passage to Libya. The entire Arab world could hardly contain its glee...

Some analysts believe that Israel's leaders were so preoccupied with the events in Austria that they were not focused on what was happening in Egypt and Syria.

Meir went to Europe in late September:

[Speaking to the Council of Europe] she said, "Since the Arab terrorists have failed in their ghastly efforts to wreak havoc in Israel, they have of late taken their atrocities against Israeli and Jewish targets into Europe, aided and abetted by Arab governments." This remark caused a fidgety buzz to drone around the packed chamber, and it seemed to deepen when she spoke bitterly about the 11 Israeli athletes kidnapped and murdered at the Munich Olympics the summer before, an outrage compounded by the German government's subsequent release of the surviving killers in return for the freeing of a hijacked Lufthansa plane and its passengers.

"Oh yes, I fully understand your feelings," said Golda cynically, arms folded as tight as a drawbridge. "I fully understand the feelings of a European prime minister saying, 'For God's sake, leave us out of this! Fight your own wars on your own turf. What do your enmities have to do with us? Leave us be!' And I can even understand" - this in a voice that had gone grimmer than ever - "why some governments might even decide that the only way to rid themselves of this insidious threat is to declare their countries out of bounds, if not to Jews generally then certainly to Israeli Jews, or Jews en route to Israel. It seems to me this is the moral choice which every European government has to make these days."

And then, chopping the air with balled fists, her face as granite as her eyes, she thundered, "European governments have no alternative but to decide what they are going to do. To every one which upholds the rule of law I suggest there is but only one answer - no deals with terrorists, no truck with terrorism. Any government which strikes a deal with these killers does so at its own peril. What happened in Vienna is that a democratic government, a European government, came to an agreement with terrorists. In so doing it has brought shame upon itself. In so doing it has breached a basic principle of the rule of law, the basic principle of the freedom of the movement of peoples - or should I just say the basic freedom of the movement of Jews fleeing Russia? Oh, what a victory for terrorism this is!"

THE ENSUING applause told Golda Meir that she had gotten her message across to a goodly portion of the European Council, so off she flew to Vienna. Ushered into the presence of the impeccably dressed, bespectacled, heavy-set man in his mid-60s whom she knew to be the son of a Viennese Jewish clothing manufacturer, she extended her hand, which he shook while rising with the merest sketch of a bow, but not budging from behind the solid protection of his desk.

"Please take a seat, Prime Minister Meir," he said formally. "Thank you Chancellor Kreisky," said Golda, settling into the chair opposite him, and placing her copious black leather handbag on the floor.

"I presume you know why I am here."

"I believe I do," answered Kreisky, whose body language bore all the signs of one who was not relishing this appointment.

"You and I have known each other for a long time," said Golda softly.

"We have," said the chancellor.

"And I know that, as a Jew, you have never displayed any interest in the Jewish state. Is that not correct?"

"That is correct. I have never made any secret of my belief that Zionism is not the solution to whatever problems the Jewish people might face."

"Which is all the more reason why we are grateful to your government for all that it has done to enable thousands of Jews to transit through Austria from the Soviet Union via Schoenau to Israel," said Golda diplomatically.

"But the Schoenau transit camp has been a problem to us for some time," said Kreisky stonily.

"What sort of a problem?"

"For a start, it has always been an obvious terrorist target..."

Golda cut him off, and with a strong suggestion of reproach, said, "Mr. Kreisky, if you close down Schoenau, it will never end. Wherever Jews assemble in Europe for transit to Israel, they will be held to ransom by the terrorists."

"But why should Austria have to carry this burden alone?" countered Kreisky with bite. ....

THE CHANCELLOR settled his elbows on the desk, steepled his fingers, looked the woman directly in the eye, and said sanctimoniously, "Mrs. Meir, it is Austria's humanitarian duty to aid refugees from whatever country they come, but not when it puts Austria at risk. I shall never be responsible for any bloodshed on the soil of Austria."

"And is it also not a humanitarian duty not to succumb to terrorist blackmail, Herr Chancellor?"

Her words, sudden and raw and angry, were a declaration of war. What had begun as conflicting views between opponents was now a nasty cut-and-thrust duel between antagonists.

Kreisky shot back: "Austria is a small country, and unlike major powers, small countries have few options in dealing with the blackmail of terrorists."

"I disagree," seethed Golda. "There can be no deals with terrorism whatever the circumstances. What you have done is certain to encourage more hostage taking. You have betrayed the Jewish emigres."

The man's brows drew together in an affronted frown. "I cannot accept such language, Mrs. Meir. I cannot..."

"You have opened the door to terrorism, Herr Chancellor," the prime minister spat undeterred. "You have brought renewed shame on Austria. I've just come from the Council of Europe. They condemn your act almost to a man. Only the Arab world proclaims you their hero."

"Well, there is nothing I can do about that," said the Austrian in an expressionless voice, looking uncomfortably still. And then, with a hint of a shrug, "You and I belong to two different worlds."

"Indeed we do, Herr Kreisky," said Golda Meir in a voice cracked with sardonic Jewish weariness. "You and I belong to two very, very different worlds." And she rose, picked up her handbag, and made for the door.

As she did so an aide to the chancellor entered to say the press was gathered in an adjacent room awaiting a joint press conference. Golda shook her head. She asked herself, what was the point? Nothing she could say to the media could make any difference. Kreisky wanted to keep in the good books of the Arabs - it was as simple as that. So, she turned and hissed in Hebrew to her aides, "I have no intention of sharing a platform with that man. He can tell them what he wants. I'm going to the airport."

To him she said contemptuously, "I shall forgo the pleasure of a press conference. I have nothing to say to them. I'm going home," and she exited through a back stairway.

FIVE HOURS later she told the waiting Israeli press at Ben-Gurion Airport, "I think the best way of summing up in a nutshell the nature of my meeting with Chancellor Kreisky is to say this: He didn't even offer me a glass of water."

Golda Meir's visit with Kreisky was on October 2, only four days before the Yom Kippur War.

In December 1973, the Schönau Castle Jewish center was closed but the international outcry forced Austria to replace it with the Wöllersdorf National Association of the Red Cross of Lower Austria for refugees.

The best high school in Israel is - Druze! (updated)

From Ha'aretz:

A little way past Carmiel, in the central Galilee, you turn northward at the Rama intersection and continue straight for several kilometers until the right turn to Beit Jann. On the edge of Mount Meron, 150 kilometers from Tel Aviv, you will find Beit Jann High School, the best secondary school in Israel. Best, that is, at least according to the conventional standard of percentage of students who graduate with a bagrut ‏(matriculation‏) certificate. The school was at the center of much media hoopla earlier this month after it emerged that the Druze town of some 11,000 residents had ranked third in the nationwide rate of high school seniors eligible for a bagrut in the 2011-12 school year.

To achieve that, the school, Beit Jann’s only high school ‏(though some young people from the town attend school elsewhere‏), underwent a veritable revolution: According to data recently received by the school, their graduating seniors in June 2013 had a bagrut eligibility rate of 100 percent. In this, it bested schools from far more well-to-do communities in the Sharon and other central regions − including private schools that have admission requirements and charge high tuition fees.

Beit Jann, one of the poorest towns in Israel, whose residents are ranked in the second-lowest decile in terms of socio-economic level by the Central Bureau of Statistics, will again be declared one of the communities offering the best education.

As recently as 1999, the bagrut eligibility rate for Beit Jann’s high school graduates was a mere 13 percent − among the country’s lowest at the time. Since then it has gone up gradually every year. Although one can graduate high school without earning a bagrut certificate, this state-awarded certification is required if a student wants to apply for university. In the 2011-12 academic year, the bagrut eligibility rate at Druze schools reached 54.8 percent, higher than the nationwide average of 49.8 percent and similar to the eligibility rate at Jewish schools ‏(55.3 percent‏).

This sea change at Druze schools was generated by the veteran teachers, who were not replaced and received no outside reinforcements. The student populations, too, were in some cases made up of the same young people who had been attending these schools for years, and who had even failed in the past. The dropout rate also fell.

It is an amazing story, worth reading in full.

Over the past few years, Israel has increased its funding of Arab and Druze schools a great deal. But in the end the most important factor in a school's success is when the administration and the community demand excellence.

The whiners are the ones who will always be left behind. And they are the ones who prefer to blame Israel for everything rather than try to solve the problem.

(h/t Yoel)

UPDATE: The Wondering Israeli points out a followup Mida article about the school. It points out that the success was not from cheating on exams, as some assumed - because the school admins discovered cheating in the late 1990s, the bagrut percentages plunged from 50% to 12% when they cracked down, and that's when the school administration decided to start the innovative program to bring the scores up.

It also points out that Beit Jann High School cannot be considered one of the top schools based only on the percentage of students passing the bagrut, because that is a minimum standard - other Israeli schools have much more advanced programs, even if they have lower bagrut scores.

10/10 Links Pt1: Wishful thinking is not a strategy, Fatah Still Refuses to Recognize Jewish State

From Ian:

Douglas Murray: New Extremist Foxes Welcomed into U.S. Chicken Coop

And say hello again to two of the most appallingly over-promoted and sinister figures involved with the current U.S. government: Mohamed Elibiary and Dalia Mogahed.
Of course, you may not want to: as the terror goes on worldwide, and the situation around the globe slips continuously in the Islamists' general direction, there is a growing and terrific ennui among much of the West. Among much of the Western world, terrorists' marauding is another case of, "Oh, just that Islamism again." You say a person is not good? Well, we can't be bothered to find out. The very condition that so few people can raise themselves to be bothered is part of the problem: "The trouble with all the nice people I knew in Germany," the British author Stephen Spender wrote in his Berlin diary in the 1930s, "is that they were either tired or weak."
Thankfully there are a number of people who can still rouse themselves to point out how outrageous Western governments' hiring policies are these days -- as when Mohamed Elibiary was promoted to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Advisory Council. Yet despite these heroic individuals pointing out Elibiary's track record of support for Islamists worldwide, the appointment held -- and so it was that the U.S. government welcomed another fox into its chicken coop.

Wishful thinking is not a strategy

A fundamental principle of foreign policy is that if you will an end, you must will the means to that end. To achieve a "big turn in foreign policy" requires more than wishful thinking, it requires a strategy. In this case, it might begin with the recognition that, throughout recorded history, there have been nations committed to acquiring power over others. Iran today is self-evidently such a nation. Is there a way to persuade Iran's rulers to constrain their ambitions?
Those who study Iran disagree on many points, but there is broad consensus on this: Consistent with Khomeini's teaching and practice, the regime has no higher priority than its own survival -- because without revolutionary leaders no "revolutionary dreams" can be realized.

Poll: Majority of Israelis believe US projecting weakness on Syria, Iran

Asked whether the US was projecting weakness on Iran, affirmative answers were given by 60% of Israelis, including 64% of Jewish respondents and 40% of Arab respondents. Only 22% of Israelis said the US was projecting power, including 20% of the Jewish respondents and 31% of the Arab respondents.
When asked the same question about Syria, the results were similar. Sixty three percent of Israelis said the US was projecting weakness. Among Jews, 66% answered affirmatively and 49% of Arab respondents said yes. Twenty three percent said the US was projecting power, including 22% of Jewish respondents and 28% of the Arabs surveyed.

IDF strikes Syrian target in response to shelling

The IDF fired a Tammuz missile Wednesday at a Syrian target across the northern border, in response to mortar shells from Syrian territory landing near an army position in the Golan Heights and injuring two soldiers.
According to the IDF, the target in Syria took a direct hit. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties on the Syrian side.

Knesset Members Thwart Anti-Israel Move at Geneva Meeting

Members of Knesset Meir Sheetrit (Hatnuah) and Aliza Lavie (Yesh Atid) were able to thwart an anti-Israel initiative promoted by Palestinian representatives at a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva this week.
The Palestinians tried to insert an “emergency motion” into the agenda that called for all parliaments to boycott Israel and condemned settlement construction, Israel Hayom reported.

Shock in Samaria: Israeli Leftists at Anti-Semitic Rally

Israeli leaders in Samaria were horrified to learn this week that Israeli leftists with the Yesh Din organization took part in an Arab celebration on the ruins of the Jewish community of Homesh.
During the celebration Jewish symbols at the site were replaced with PLO flags, and a banner was waved that depicted a man in religious Jewish garb with a spear through his mouth.

BBC Watch: Makeover by BBC’s Knell produces ‘conservative’ northern Islamic Movement

Knell’s efforts to persuade readers that the northern Islamic branch has a policy of confining itself to “the struggle for Palestinian independence at home” also seem distinctly bizarre in the context of the recent demonstrations the movement held in support of its parent movement in Egypt.
But it is Knell’s euphemistic description of the Islamic Movement as “conservative” and her failure to inform readers of its ideology, its activities and its Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood links which stand out most in this article. Her ‘makeover’ actively prevents BBC audiences from gaining any information or insight which might “[e]nhance UK audiences’ awareness and understanding of international issues” as defined in the BBC’s ‘Public Purposes’.

Fatah Spokesman Reiterates Refusal to Recognize Israel as Jewish State

The Sharjah-based Al Khaleej newspaper reported on Tuesday that the Fatah party of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas reiterated its rejection of the position of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that any peace deal must include the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state by the Palestinian Authority.
“This is the language of acquiescence and we won’t recognize Israel as a Jewish state,” Fatah spokesman Ahmed Assaf was quoted as saying. “Let Israel go to the United Nations and demand changing its name into the Jewish state.” If the objective behind Netanyahu’s speech is to ask the Palestinians to give up their rights, he added, “then we all refuse to give up our rights.”

Khaled Abu Toameh: PLO official: Palestinians 'seriously considering' declaring failure of peace talks

Hanna Amireh, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, said that this was one of the scenarios that were discussed during the last meeting of the Palestinian leadership.
Amireh accused Israel of seeking to “win time” and blame the Palestinians for the failure of the US-sponsored talks.

Mashaal: Stop Peace Talks, Start Armed Struggle

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal has called for an end to Palestinian Authority peace talks with Israel and for an armed struggle to “liberate Jerusalem”.
The Maariv daily newspaper quoted on Wednesday the comments that Mashaal made during a visit to Turkey.
"Hamas's military power is the only way to liberate Jerusalem," the head of the group’s political bureau was quoted as having said.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Hamas calls for meeting with Fatah to counter Israel’s ‘schemes’ on Jerusalem

Mashaal said in his speech that no Palestinian or Arab or Muslim leader is authorized or has a mandate to sign an agreement that “harms” Jerusalem and the holy sites.
“Protecting Jerusalem and the Aksa Mosque against Judaization, demolition and division should be a shared national goal,” he said.
Mashaal called for a decisive Palestinian, Arab and Islamic stance toward Jerusalem that rejects any concessions in the city.

We Gave Iran an Antique as a Token of Goodwill. Only Problem? It’s Fake

Not only is it a fake, it’s a bad fake. The saga of the griffin, from its production to its much-touted return to Iranian President Rouhani during his recent visit to New York, demonstrates how fakers of ancient art fool the gullible wealthy with the connivance of museums and scholars. More profoundly, it shows how ancient (or not so ancient) artifacts are made to carry cultural and diplomatic weight, in this case for a deeply problematic opening in relations between the United States and Iran.

Iranian Speaker: We Have a Surplus of Uranium

Iran's parliament denied on Wednesday remarks made by its speaker, according to which the country has a surplus of enriched uranium and plans to use this as a bargaining tool at nuclear talks.
The speaker, Ali Larijani, told The Associated Press in an interview the surplus uranium would be discussed with Western powers in the context of whether Iran will halt its enrichment of uranium to 20 percent.

US cuts hundreds of millions in aid to Egypt

While the State Department did not provide a dollar amount of what was being withheld, most of it is linked to military aid. In all, the US provides $1.5 billion in aid each year to Egypt.
Officials said the aid being withheld included 10 Apache helicopters at a cost of more than $500 million, M1A1 tank kits and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. The US also is withholding $260 million in cash assistance to the government until “credible progress” is made toward an inclusive government set up through free and fair elections. The US had already suspended the delivery of four F-16 fighter jets and canceled biennial US-Egyptian military exercises.

Egypt: US Aid Threats Won't Stop Us from 'Fighting Terror'

Egypt, government officials said Thursday, will “not be pressured” by the United States into changing its policies on how to deal with Islamist radicals. “Egypt will not submit to American pressure,” a government spokesperson said in the wake of an announcement by Washington that it would withhold some military assistance.

JPost Editorial: Egypt, US aid and Israel

Hundreds of billions of dollars have not cinched for the US the loyalty of Nouri al-Maliki’s regime in Iraq or Hamid Karzai’s regime in Afghanistan.
Money and aid and networking, it appears, do not buy influence.
Therefore, Israel should not be overly concerned with the prospect of the US cutting aid to Egypt.
As long as Cairo has an interest in maintaining good relations with Israel it will do so, regardless of US aid. If on the other hand for whatever reason Egypt’s leaders cease to see peace as important, the $1.5b. in aid will do little to stop the slide.

‘Arab Spring’ to Cost $800 Billion

The Arab Spring will cost Arab countries roughly $800 million, according to a report by Dubai-based economists with the banking giant HSBC.
Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Syria, where the Arab Spring uprisings led to leaders’ depositions or civil war, were, unsurprisingly, among the hardest-hit countries. Jordan, Lebanon and Bahrain were also estimated to have suffered serious financial losses due to political turmoil.

Libyan prime minister released after brief abduction

Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zidan was freed from captivity just hours after gunmen abducted him Thursday at dawn from the hotel where he resides in the capital, Tripoli, according to the state news agency.
The brazen abduction — apparently in retaliation for the US special forces’ raid over the weekend that seized a Libyan al-Qaida suspect from the streets of Tripoli — reflected the deep chaos and lawlessness gripping Libya.

Crazed antisemitic rant on Kuwait TV

Everywhere you look, there are Joooooz!

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Kuwaiti scholar Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna, which aired on Al-Rai TV on September 30, 2013:

Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna: First of all, as a Muslim, I believe that [the Jews] are evil. It is not that evil is in their genes, but their cultural education is based upon the Talmud, which derides the goyim, or "the others." For them, even God is racist. Yahweh is the god of the Israelites alone. The word Elohim is barely mentioned, and Yahweh belongs to the Jews alone. Racism became part and parcel of this religion, or this people. The Jews became a separate people with its own religion. Incidentally, it is the only religion that does not proselytize.

Interviewer: Because they consider all the others to be Gentiles...

Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna: Right, they think the others will defile them if they join their religion. I am not saying that the Jews have evil in their genes. But it is remarkable that at least a quarter of the stories in the Koran are about the Israelites, or the Jews. Everything Allah warned us about through the story of Moses – how they slayed the prophets, and so on...

Interviewer: All contemporary studies deal with religious Jews, and not with the secular Jews who assimilated in Europe.

Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna: What is remarkable is that, secular or not, the Jews are racist. The founders of the so-called "Israel" – Weizmann and Ben-Gurion – were atheists. But if they had truly dissociated themselves from the religion, how come they were the most zealous about gathering the Jews, under Zionism? If you are truly an atheist, you should assimilate in your country – in Poland, Russia, or America. After all, religion does not interest you... The most zealous Jews are the atheists. This proves that it is a lie that they are atheist, even if they say they are.

Interviewer: As you said, even if they are secular, their racism and their upbringing shape their view of people.

Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna: I have written extensively about The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and about the writings of the late Dr. Abd Al-Wahhab Al-Massiri. I have seen the evidence provided by those who deny that The Protocols is genuine, and those who affirm that it is. If you compare the evidence of the deniers, like Dr. Abd Al-Wahhab Al-Massiri, with the evidence of the affirmers, the latter is stronger.

What is incredible is that those who deride the affirmers for believing that everything is a conspiracy and that the Jews are behind everything are themselves accusing Czarist Russia's secret services of a conspiracy.

Interviewer: They accuse the Russians of forging that book.

Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna: That's right.

[...]

I'm not saying that evil is in their genes. Allah created them with the same disposition as any other human being. However, the education that they impart to their children – based upon the Talmudic notions of contempt for others, killing others, practicing usury, and considering themselves superior – is what turned them into a people with hatred for the others.

[...]

You could say that the Jews are a group with a certain function. That is why then ran secret organizations and secret parties, and why they practiced prostitution, usury, and so on.

Interviewer: It is said that they are a closed group, forced to sink so low in Europe.

Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna: Take a look at the Armenians. They do not have organized prostitution. How come they did not form secret parties, like the Freemasons or the Illuminati?

Interviewer: Even though the Armenians were a persecuted minority...

Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna: The Armenians were not persecuted by the Ottomans. That's a lie. On the contrary, it was the Armenians who persecuted the Muslims of the Ottoman state. We should be talking about the Armenian massacre of the Muslims, not vide versa. I could talk for an entire show about that, backing it up with documents, and with the testimony of people sent by the League of Nations.

[...]

Who is not familiar with Charlie Chaplin? Mamduh 'Udwan mentions in his book that Charlie Chaplin is a Jew.

Interviewer: The book is titled The Judaization of Knowledge.

Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna: Yes. Sarah Bernhardt, the greatest actress in the history of France and Europe, was Jewish. Why is Madame Curie from Poland more famous than her husband? She became famous because she was Jewish, while her husband, who invented radium and uranium with her, was not. But Madam Curie, who was Jewish, became famous.

Interviewer: Philosopher Abd Al-Rahman Badawi in Vol. 3 of his encyclopedia of philosophy, sharply criticized Einstein, saying that the Jews had turned him into a legend. True, he was a scientist, but there was also an accumulated legacy.

Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna: Take, for example, Oppenheimer, who invented the nuclear bomb. A Bengali Muslim invented it along with him, but he didn't become famous. Everybody knows Oppenheimer as the "Father of the Nuclear Bomb."

When you check the writings of writers and journalists, you always see the Jews, because the media is controlled by Jewish companies, such as Rupert Murdoch, the owner of CNN. He is a Jew. Even Reuters... Do you know what Reuters'' full name was? Israel Reuters. That is Reuters – the most famous news agency in the world.

Interviewer: Do you think that Hitler, in his book Mein Kampf, was being unfair to the Jews when he wrote, in an entire chapter: "Wherever they are, the Jews are loyal only to their own groups, and they segregate themselves from the country where they live"?

Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna: That's true.

[...]

Off-the-wall crazy and obsessed with Jews.

But he doesn't think that Jewish traits are inherited. That makes him a moderate!

Jews visiting the Temple Mount this morning

Today, Jordan called on Israel to prevent Jews from ascending to the Temple Mount..

The Minister of State for Media Affairs and government spokesman Mohammad Al-Momani said that "the insistence of the Israeli occupation authorities to allow Jewish extremists to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque is a stirring of religious conflict and a flagrant challenge to the feelings of all Muslims."

He called for Israel to "prevent the entry of Jewish extremists to the Al-Aqsa Mosque to avoid provoking violence."

Momani also called on "the great powers and international organizations to move to take a firm stance against the schemes and practices of the Israeli occupation against the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy places."

"Israel's practices towards the holy places is rejected and condemned and contrary to international conventions and treaties," he added, saying calling for "Israel to stop its continuous violations of the holy city."

I have yet to find a single "human rights" organization that is willing to say that Jews have the right to peacefully visit their own holy places. HRW, Amnesty, Oxfam - nothing.

They talk about freedom of religion, but that doesn't seem to apply to everyone.

Probably because they don't want to be firebombed by the peaceful people who demand that Jewish holy places be Judenrein.

Meanwhile, the official news agency of Israel's "peace partner" complained that "Israeli fanatics along with members of the ruling Likud party Thursday carried out several provocative tours of Al-Aqsa Mosque, an Islamic holy place in Jerusalem’s Old City."

Video allegedly of Hezbollah killing wounded Syrians sparking outrage

From the Daily Star Lebanon:

A YouTube video purporting to show Hezbollah fighters shooting to death several wounded Syrians has sparked outrage on social media sites.

A spokesman said Hezbollah was preparing to issue a response to the video, but it had yet to do so when The Daily Star went to press.

The video, which is 1 minute and 40 seconds long, shows several men dressed in camouflage fatigues and sporting yellow ribbons on their shoulders. After they pull what appear to be several severely wounded men out of a van, they shoot them to death at point blank range. Some of the fighters use foul language as they execute the men, who are dressed in civilian clothing.

Speaking with a Lebanese accent, their commander then scolds his fighters for their comments, reminding them that their actions are religiously sanctioned and that they are killing the men “for the sake of God.”

The Daily Star was unable to independently confirm the authenticity of the video.

Opposition sources were divided over whether the incident took place recently in rural Damascus, or immediately after the fall of the town of Qusair in Homs province in June.