Normalization alert: Hamas talks to IDF (on Twitter)

Today on Twitter, Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades terror group responded to a tweet by IDF spokesman Peter Lerner:

Hamas addressed Lerner directly, meaning that Hamas initiated talks with the Zionist enemy!

This sounds like the dreaded "normalization" to me.

(This isn't the first time this has happened, but it is always funny to see people who choose a 7th century mentality trying to use 21st century tools.)

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Three separate attacks on Jews in Djerba in September

From Magharebia:

The Tunisian island of Djerba has a centuries-old reputation for religious tolerance and diversity. The island is home to the Ghriba Synagogue, the oldest in Africa, as well as 18 other synagogues, two Christian churches and dozens of mosques. But recent incidents have undermined the atmosphere of peaceful co-existence, with Jewish residents worried about a deteriorating security situation.

Magharebia sat down with Yamina Thabet, president of the Tunisian Association for the Defence of Minorities, to discuss the situation and learn just how residents of Djerba are standing up to extremists.

Magharebia: Is there an organised campaign against religious minorities or are the recent attacks isolated incidents?

Thabet: The incidents started more than three weeks ago when the Hebrew school in Djerba was attacked by two people who broke down the school's gate while the children were in the inner yard. It should be noted that one of the men was carrying a sharp object to use for violent purposes.

The men attacked the school's synagogue and a confrontation ensued with a citizen of the Jewish faith who had come to take his son home; he tried to calm the assailants down but was attacked by one of them. He told me they made him fear for his life, especially since the other person was waving the sharp object he was holding. After the struggle with the Jewish Tunisian citizen had caused the attackers to break off, he filed a report with the security forces station and outlined the details of the incident to the officers who took down the complaint.

Once he realised the incident was not being handled seriously, the plaintiff informed the police that the school had a video recording system used to capture everything that happens on its premises and could prove what had happened. He warned that the school would publish that video on social networks. The security forces then asked for a copy of the footage and received it; however, none of the suspects were detained and no real action was taken against the attackers.

Furthermore, one of them continued to harass and terrorise citizens of the Jewish faith, physically attacking two girls on the last day of the Jewish holiday of Succoth. He took advantage of the fact that the men were in synagogue. He charged at the Egalitarian Women's Council riding a motorcycle, kicking one girl down to the ground with his foot and beating another one up after having kicked her.

We therefore consider these aggressions a systematic campaign implementing a shameful persecution against Jewish citizens that is encouraged by a hidden force aiming to force them out of their country.

Magharebia: How did the island's residents react to these transgressions?

Thabet: We have encountered disapproval on the part of the Muslim residents of the island. They have conveyed to us their condemnation of these acts, which to them are strange and inconceivable, especially the official authorities' idleness in handling this sensitive issue which violates the basic rights of Tunisian citizens.

Magharebia: And how have politicians dealt with this issue?

Thabet: We have witnessed all components of the political scene resorting to bickering and status wars and neglecting citizens' most basic issues. As a rule, political forces should pay attention and be aware of what is happening in the depth of society, because the foundations of a democratic society are rooted in the social basis and the elite cannot diminish it to mere stances in passing. Some Jewish citizens in Djerba even told me they were fed up with the rituals of political pilgrimage of certain governmental figures for a photo opportunity in festivities, as if they were in a nature reserve or some endangered species.

Yamina Thabet is adamant about protecting the Jews of Djerba, as you can see from this press conference she called on this same topic -which MEMRI translated:

I have never seen an Arab defend Jews this passionately.

The bad news is that these incidents, nearly a month ago, had not been reported in English (outside MEMRI) that I could find until today. (There were some French reports.)

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Qatar refuses to show Israeli flag at swimming championships (updated x2)

Israeli swimmer Amit Ivri won the silver in the Swimming World Cup being held in Doha today.

But unlike with her competitors, the graphic that shows the flags of the countries of the swimmers for Ivri was blank:

A glitch, perhaps?

Not quite. Fellow Israeli swimmer Gal Nevo's flag was also blanked out in the computer graphic:

It is unclear who is responsible for the graphics. Israeli MK Yoel Razvozov said he will file a complaint with the Olympic Committee and the head of FINA, the International Swimming Federation.

(h/t Avi  Mayer)


UPDATE: Commenter Bob Knot found the video of the men's 100m medley final, and Gal Nevo's flag is visible in that broadcast at least:

He also found another YouTube member who says that on the broadcast he was watching, they didn't even bother to show the contests that had Israelis in them.

UPDATE 2: There was another flag incident as well.

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10/21 Links Pt2: Roger Cohen’s Times Tirades, Return of Judean date palms, Mobile Solar for Phones

From Ian:

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Islam, Not Nazism, Motivated Hajj Amin el-Hussini, Part 1

During 1938, a booklet Muhammad Sabri edited, "Islam, Judentum, Bolschewismus (Islam, Jewry, Bolshevism)", was published in Berlin by Junker-Duennhaupt [Dünnhaupt]. Sabri’s booklet included Hajj Amin el-Husseini’s 1937 declaration—also deemed by some as a “fatwa” (an Islamic religious ruling)—appealing to the worldwide Muslim umma. El-Husseini’s declaration was extracted and reprinted, separately, by the Nazi regime as "Islam und Judentum (Islam and Jewry)", and distributed to Muslim SS units in Bosnia, Croatia, and the Soviet Union.

Islam, Not Nazism was the Mufti's Motivation: Part 2

The numerous salient examples of Islam’s canonical Jew-hatred punctuating Hajj Amin el-Husseini’s 1937 declaration validated Perlmann’s concise overarching assessment of these foundational Islamic sources, and their tragic application across space and time, into the modern era.
El-Husseini’s promulgation of jihad and canonical Islamic Jew-hatred in pursuit of the destruction of Palestinian Jewry, and later, the nascent Jewish State of Israel, has reverberated across the ensuing decades.

Douglas Murray Islamists Target Islamists

At the prompting of the chair, Ayaan Hirsi Ali mentioned something about the terrible threats to her life which have existed ever since she started to speak out against the fundamentalists in Islam. The audience were clearly reminded what a brave and extraordinary woman she was; you could feel them warming ever more to her. The other side must have sensed the same and in a fatal moment -- for their argument, that is -- one of them pointed out that they had al-Qaeda and other death threats on their heads too. Even though, strangely, the audience applauded, the other side, in revealing this truth, had fallen into a trap that no one had even intended to set. If everybody on each side of the debate -- those arguing Islam is indeed a religion of peace as well as those arguing that it is not -- had these death-threats hanging over them, then why were we even debating the matter? As I recall, once this was pointed out, a sort of collective groan of realization went up in the hall and the debate was over.

Turkey: A House Divided

However, there is, in the EU report, no mention of the campaign of vilification led by the Prime Minister against the protesters, or reprisals against public employees who supported or took part in the protests; also, measures taken to prevent the recurrence of mass protests, such as tightened security on university campuses, no education loans for students who take part in demonstrations and a ban on chanting political slogans at football matches.
Not only the demonstrators themselves have been targeted but also the international media, which Prime Minister Erdoğan has accused of being part of an international conspiracy to destabilize Turkey. The "interest rate lobby" and "the Jewish diaspora" have also been blamed.

Roger Cohen’s Times Tirades

Nowhere in Cohen’s analysis can one find mention of the recent wave of Palestinian terrorist attacks as a possible deterrent to peace. In late September two Israeli soldiers were murdered. Then an Israeli nine-year-old was shot in the neck outside her home in the settlement of Psagot. The Facebook page of Fatah, the organization chaired by Palestinian Authority President Abbas, praised the child’s attacker as “the sharpshooter of Palestine” who had also killed one of the Israeli soldiers in Hebron. The terrorist “left a manly signature . . . as he tells the tale of those who love the homeland.”
But Roger Cohen’s incessant harping on Netanyahu, and blithe avoidance of Palestinian terrorism, fits comfortably into New York Times policy: All the news hostile to Israel that fits we print.

Temple Mount Reopened to Jews and Arab Soccer Game Halted (Video)

In what is an unusual response, after the Jewish visitors complained to the police about the Arabs playing soccer on the Temple Mount, which is both illegal and disrespectful, the police actually confiscated the ball, and stopped the game. At best, the Arabs simply ignore the police, and at worst, the the police simply let the soccer games continue unabated, despite the court order forbidding this disrespect on the Judaism’s holiest site.

NGO Monitor: German Funding for Political Advocacy NGOs Active in the Arab-Israeli Conflict

In contrast to the moral objectives, the funding supports radical organizations that oppose peace, and promote demonization, biased boycott movements as part of political warfare, and in some cases blatant antisemitism. Millions of euros originating with German taxpayers are provided annually to these NGOs. Funding frameworks include powerful political foundations associated with German political parties, which often seek to impose their ideologies and objectives on Israelis and Palestinians, as well as direct funding from the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and other branches.

Group Appeals University of California Ruling; Says ‘Discriminatory Double Standard’ Against Jewish Students is Anti-Semitic

She asked the board to weigh its “willingness to invoke federal law so forcefully and immediately to protect African American students at UC San Diego from a hostile environment with racial harassment allegations” with its “unwillingness to consider the longstanding, pervasive and well-documented harassment of Jewish students at UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, and UC Santa Cruz.”
She described the contrast as “a discriminatory double standard against Jewish students that is antisemitic in effect if not in intent,” and demanded that her claim be reopened for appeal.

Israel protests EU poster claiming ethnic cleansing of Bedouin

“Stop Prawer-Begin Plan, no ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Bedouin” read the poster seen at a conference October 17 in Brussels organized by the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, the European Parliament’s second largest bloc, on the Bedouin Arab minority in Israel.
The Israeli ambassador to the European Union, David Walzer, termed the poster “unacceptable” in a letter he sent to the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, who is a member of the Socialists and Democrats group.
“Europeans and Israelis are fully aware of the possible consequences of the irresponsible use of such words,” Walzer wrote.

Israel to Modernize Allenby Terminal on Jordan Border to Expedite Exports

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet today approved a plan to modernize the Allenby Terminal on the country’s border with Jordan. The new infrastructure and a modern X-Ray machine will speed up the crossing process, the government said.
The new X-ray scanning system will be installed and operated at the border crossing by Israel. The machine, itself, was donated by the Dutch government following a survey of Palestinian businesses that identified upgrading the system as a way to expand exports to Jordan by a third.

For Syrian refugees in Jordan, aid from Israel comes in a whisper

The help that Israel can give these refugees, the IsraAid volunteers and the director of the international aid organization both say, trickles in bag by bag, donation by donation. And if Israel’s involvement in Jordan is going to change political perceptions, they add, it’s going to happen in the same slow way.
“It’s not like we come in here and go, ‘We’re from Israel!,’” says the director of the IsraAid’s partnering organization. “You keep your mouth shut and you do the work. And maybe they will ask some questions after the fact, because actions speak much louder than words.”

Italian Tenor Andrea Bocelli: Israel Left a Very Powerful Impression on Me

Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, the best-selling classical musician of all time, said, writing in the Daily Mail on Sunday, that of all the stops in a long career of world tours, Israel was one of his favorites, .
“Places in the world I have especially enjoyed include Israel, which left a very powerful impression on me,” he wrote in the Mail ahead of the release this week of his latest album, “Love In Portofino.”

Israel’s Insuline, Johnson & Johnson to Test Market Device for Diabetics in Germany

Israeli medical device developer Insuline Medical Ltd. will test market a tool to improve the rate of insulin absorption for diabetics, through a marketing partnership with Johnson & Johnson unit LifeScan, Inc. that will start in Germany, Israel’s Globes business daily reported.

Nova Lumos Solar Lets People Pay With Phone and $20 Down

Nova Lumos, a new clean tech startup from Israel, has devised a mobile-based solar energy program for developing countries that produces clean electricity for less than it costs to purchase kerosene. What makes the project special, and really exciting, is that the company allows users to pay for it in some payments administered through the cell phone.
While1.5 billion people lack access to electricity, according to Nova Lumos, mobile phones have penetrated almost every corner of the globe. And in Africa especially, it has become common practice to conduct all kinds of business through cell phones.

Extinct tree grows anew from ancient jar of seeds unearthed by archaeologists

For thousands of years, Judean date palm trees were one of the most recognizable and welcome sights for people living in the Middle East -- widely cultivated throughout the region for their sweet fruit, and for the cool shade they offered from the blazing desert sun.

Microsoft moving to larger Haifa premises

Microsoft Israel already rents about 5,000 square meters of office space at Matam, and will move to the new premises when they are ready. The new eight-floor building will have 12,000 square meters of office space and 5,000 square meters of underground space. It is scheduled to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2014. PwC Israel Kesselman & Kesselman has also rented 1,500 square meters in the building.

US Holocaust Museum plans for a future without survivors

In part to expand its donor base, the museum launched a 20th anniversary campaign at the start of 2013. A key goal has been to develop plans for the years ahead, as the survivor population dwindles and the Holocaust recedes into history.
“The museum is set to double its collection during the next ten years,” Bloomfield said. “We’re building a new collection and conservation center, and strengthening our role as a global institution. The private support we get shows survivors that we are here to tell their story.”

Israel Daily Picture: The Walls & Gates of Jerusalem, Jaffa Gate -- More Pictures from the Emory University Collection, Part 4

William Seward (Abraham Lincoln's secretary of state) wrote in 1871 that the population of the Old City was 16,000, comprised of 8,000 Jews, 4,000 Mohammedans, and 4,000 Christians.
Two major architectural changes in the Jaffa Gate in 1898 and 1908 help historians date the early photographs of the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem. The first was the breaching of the wall in 1898 to permit German Emperor Wilhelm II to ride into the Old City without dismounting and with his escort of carriages. To built the roadway, a moat -- visible in pre-1898 photos -- had to be filled in.

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Report: UNRWA to cut food aid to 60,000 Gaza families

Al Hayat reports that UNRWA is planning to cut the free food it provides to Gazans by about one third over the next six months, reducing the number of welfare recipients from 180,000 families (900,000 people) to 120,000 families.

The move is necessary, according to the report, because of UNRWA's budget crisis and the refusal of Arab countries to pay their pledges.

The report claims that UNRWA has already created lists of families that will not be getting food. The criteria include families that own cars,TVs, refrigerators and microwave ovens. Also in their calculations are whether there are other NGOs in the area that can fill the gap.

The cuts reportedly will come in two phases.

Rumors like this in the past have been vehemently denied by UNRWA, but even slight cuts in services inevitably result in riots.

UNRWA, of course, is an organization whose main purpose is to perpetuate the "refugee" problem rather than solve it. Since there is no mechanism in UNRWA for people to go off its rolls, the  organization will remain responsible for an ever-increasing number of people, forever. Yet its international funding will not grow forever, meaning that unless it changes its definition of "refugee" to be more in line with the standard definition used everywhere else in the world, and unless it resumes the efforts it used to exert in the 1950s to actually help these people integrate into their host countries rather than teach them dependency, the problem will only continue to get worse.

Maybe a first step would be for UNRWA to stop teaching generations of Palestinian Arabs that they will "return" to Israel, which is a major part of UNRWA's school curricula, which can be seen on the web today Telling them the truth can prepare the next generation for self-sufficiency and to shame the Arab world to accept them as citizens rather than discriminate against them.

Telling the truth is apparently also against UNRWA policy.

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Gaza terrorists start PR campaign for terror tunnels

A couple of days ago, Ma'an had an interesting headline: "Israeli army sends Gazans threatening voice messages."

Was the IDF warning them of an imminent bombing campaign? Did it threaten them with shutting down imports and exports?

No, not quite. The "threatening messages" were nothing of the sort:

Dozens of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip received voice messages on their telephones from the Israeli army telling them not to go near any Hamas sites.

Mohammad Yousef, a resident of Gaza, said that he received a voice message from someone who identified themselves as being a member of the Israeli armed forces, warning him not to go near any Hamas sites.

The voice message said, "Hamas is digging terrorist tunnels instead of working on development and building hospitals and schools to serve the needs of its citizens. You should avoid such acts and report them to ensure your safety."

How do the terror organizations respond? Why, by trying to get Gazans to support tunnels to kidnap Israelis!

Palestine Today has a long feature interview with the mother of one of the terrorists who were killed during the Gilad Shalit kidnapping, and she says how much she longs for more such kidnappings so that terrorists in Israeli prison will be sent home.

Hamas itself admitted that it built the tunnels for kidnapping and Ismail Haniyeh said in his speech Saturday that such operations to free prisoners were a top priority for Hamas.

These competing messages provide an interesting contrast. Israel is assuming that Gazans are normal people who want to live their lives in dignity. Hamas and Islamic Jihad assume that Gazans are bloodthirsty terror supporters. Each is acting accordingly.

Which group is racist in their opinions of Gazans?

Of course, you don't have to be Gazan to automatically support Hamas building tunnels....

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10/21 Links Pt1: PA Min Praises Hamas founder Yassin, Hamas holds Peace Veto, Iran's Endgame

From Ian:

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Former Shin Bet head warns of ‘Palestinian Spring’

Diskin also called for Israel’s neighbors to be given an active role in the negotiations with the Palestinians.
“We must bring in Egypt and Jordan to the early stages of the negotiation process. Their entrance into this story will give [Palestinian President Mahmoud] Abbas legitimacy to make critical decisions.”

Desperate Hamas

On Saturday, Haniyeh called on Arabs and Muslims to prepare for what he referred to as “the great al-Aksa intifada” against Israel. Apparently speaking out of a sense of desperation, Haniyeh resorted to the tried and true tactic of Arab leaders of redirecting frustration at Israel.
Haniyeh blamed the Jewish state for taking advantage of the peace talks to Judaize Jerusalem and the Aksa Mosque and warned that Israel would not be able to bear the “fire and rage” that could erupt as a result of its “crimes” against Jerusalem and the mosque.
As the government continues to work toward a negotiated peace agreement with the PA, we must also be wary of a Hamas that is becoming increasingly isolated and desperate and therefore increasingly more dangerous.

Even Weakened Hamas Retains Peace Veto

The bottom line is that for all of the ridicule now being heaped on Hamas’ boasting; it retains a veto over peace. That means even if Abbas and Fatah were to transcend their origins in terrorism, something that highly unlikely, the Islamist tyrants of Gaza are still capable of overturning any movement toward a solution. That’s why Israel would do well to ignore any American pressure to make concessions on borders, Jerusalem or refugees that would be pocketed by Abbas but never reciprocated. Nor, given the recent developments in the P5+1 negotiations, should the Israelis assume that they could trade a Palestinian state for an American guarantee against a nuclear Iran. So long as Hamas remains in power in Gaza, no matter how bankrupt or precarious they might be, they are the guarantee that peace is not in the offing.

Iran vs. the West: Endgame?

Iran continues to strive for a regional hegemonic status. It wants to supplant the United States and make the most of its own military power and geostrategic position, along with its oil and gas reserves and the economic opportunities these offer to both the West and the East. Iran was a partner to the chemical-weapons deal that was reached in Syria; the nuclear umbrella Iran aims to provide to its allies is supposed to compensate for the loss. Iran also wields influence in Bahrain, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, countries where the United States and the West have political, economic, and military assets. Iran anticipates that nuclear weapons will buy it the sort of immunity from attack that North Korea now enjoys. It also seeks long-term stability so that it can promote its revolutionary objectives abroad (particularly in Bahrain but also in other areas with a Shiite population) and assume its place in the regional and international power equation as the one who sets the agenda and influences the reshaping of the Middle East in a way that counters and curbs U.S. influence.
In sum, Iran, which has hoodwinked the international community, is preparing a further campaign as it draws toward the final stages of its nuclear program. It needs an abatement of pressure so that it can complete the military components while maintaining the regime’s stability and promising relief for the economy. Rouhani, who previously succeeded as a negotiator to buy Iran the time required to complete the nuclear fuel cycle, now needs to traverse the last mile to the bomb. As president of Iran, he stands resolute and strong before a divided region and international community.

‘Comment is Free’: The West’s militarism inspired by “blind support for Israel”

So, the West’s failure to pursue diplomacy in the Middle East (in Syria, Iraq, Iran and Libya), and their adoption instead of an ethos of “total destruction of the enemy” is based, in large measure, on “blind support for…Israel.”
According to these ‘CiF’ contributors, Israel and its blind supporters in the West are in the ‘Roman destruction of Carthage’ camp.
Up to 110,000 have been killed in Arab on Arab violence in Syria since 2011, thousands of Iraqis continue to die as the result of Islamist inspired terror attacks which continue to ravage the country, and ‘Comment is Free’ contributors look around the region and see the ideological footprint of Zionism.
Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann is a Marxist ideologue – whose ‘special advisors‘ as UN president included Noam Chomsky and Richard Falk – so the extreme nature of the commentary he co-authored is not surprising. However, the licensing of such hateful anti-Zionist agitprop by ‘Comment is Free’ editors again demonstrates how the Guardian continues to make mockery of their claim to represent ‘liberal’ values.

Palestinian pulls knife on bus, no injuries

A Palestinian man pulled a knife on a public bus outside Jerusalem Sunday night, threatening passengers before hopping off the bus and fleeing.
Terrified passengers scrambled for cover as the man ran down the length of a bus trying to stab fellow travelers.
There were no injuries in the incident, but one ultra-Orthodox man said the attacker sliced off one of his sidelocks.

Palestinian Attempts to Stab Israeli Civilian on Bus near Bethlehem


PMW: PA minister: Hamas founder Yassin is role model for children

A senior Palestinian Authority minister has presented arch-terrorist and founder of Hamas, Ahmed Yassin, as a role model for Palestinians. In a Friday sermon recently broadcast on official PA TV, PA Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash stated that Yassin is an "exalted national Palestinian figure," an "icon," and that Palestinian children are taught about his "legacy, Jihad, actions, and morality."

Arab Journalists Demand that Hamas Stop Censoring Media

A group of journalists rallied in Ramallah on Sunday to launch a petition to reopen the Gaza bureaus of the Ma'an News Agency and the Al Arabiya network.
Ma’an reported that the petition states that the closure of the media offices violates Article 19 of the Palestinian Basic Law, which entitles the freedom of opinion, and Article 27, which allows anyone to operate a media outlet.

Hamas officially admits to digging tunnel under Israel-Gaza border

In a radio broadcast, Abu Obaida, a spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, said its members “dug the tunnel, they were responsible for it.”
He referred to the underground structure as the “Khan Younis tunnel,” adding that it was dug for the purpose of forcing Israel to release Palestinian prisoners, as it did two years ago in the prisoner exchange deal for Gilad Shalit in which 1,027 Palestinians were released from Israeli prisons.

Kibbutz Residents Say Living Near Hamas Tunnels on Gaza Border is Like ‘Russian Roulette’

Residents of southern Israel’s Kibbutz Ein HaShlosha compared living in the Western Negev, adjacent to Gaza and Khan Yunis, to “Russian roulette.” Life under regular falling shrapnel from Hamas rockets was recently made worse, they said, by the discovery revealed last week that they are living above a vast tunnel network dug out by the Gaza based terror group along the border.

PM: More than 100-fold increase in Iranian centrifuges since 2006

Iran has increased its number of centrifuges by over a hundredfold since 2006, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.
"Last week saw the start of an additional round of talks between the major powers and Iran," Netanyahu said at Sunday's cabinet meeting. "We must not forget that the Iranian regime has systematically misled the international community. In 2006, Iran had 167 centrifuges. Today, despite all the bans and all the promises, they have over 18,000 centrifuges, i.e., the number of centrifuges has increased over a hundredfold during the talks in which they have been called upon to halt the production of centrifuges related to enrichment."

Signs of rift between Israel and US over Iran

Over the weekend, US officials said the White House was debating whether to offer Iran the chance to recoup billions of dollars in frozen assets if it scales back its nuclear program. The plan would stop short of lifting sanctions, but could nonetheless provide Iran some relief.

Missing Pace: Who is general al-Sisi and what will he do with Egypt

Egypt’s new de facto pharaoh, General Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, is a man of mystery. Is he an Islamist, or a nationalist? Is he a person of high principle, or a lowly opportunist? And in a land which has known five thousand years of mainly centralized, one-man rule, with limited experience of democracy, when have we seen his type before, and where will he lead the troubled, ancient nation now?

Egypt prime minister condemns attack on Copt wedding

Egypt’s interim prime minister condemned an attack outside a Cairo Coptic church that killed three people, including an 8-year-old girl, pledging police would do everything possible to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi said in a statement on Monday that the attack on Sunday night was a “callous and criminal act.”
He said such attacks will “not succeed in sowing divisions between the nation’s Muslims and Christians.”

Now we know why Netanyahu wouldn’t apologize for the Gaza flotilla raid

Ironically, we've now got another mystery: Why did the Turkish government out these Israeli spies? We can speculate -- revenge for the flotilla raid; to secure leverage with Israel or with Iran; perhaps simply a crude reminder that Turkish support for Israel doesn't come free -- but we don't really know. That unknowability is just part of how international relations works.

Did Saudi Arabia reject UN Security Council seat to uphold honor?

Brandon Friedman, a lecturer at Tel Aviv University and a researcher at its Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, told the Post that he believes the Saudis are registering their dissatisfaction at the UN for not stopping the slaughter of Sunni Arabs in Syria. The Saudis see things through the prism of the US-Russian agreement of non-intervention, he said.
“It is hard to overstate how upset the Saudis were with that decision,” Friedman said.

The Saudis: brave and moral or manipulative and self-serving?

The Saudi regime prefers operating behind the scenes, wielding influence in secret, away from the public eye. That is where its strength lies. A seat on the Security Council will place Saudi Arabia in the spotlight, and this, too, goes against the grain of their preference for wielding influence without exposing themselves. They have everything, and they have much to lose. Membership in the Security Council will not enhance their reputation and will only create friction with the countries of the world, a friction with which they are uncomfortable given their traditional and sectarian world view.
The culture of the Middle East plays an important role in the international arena. It’s important to learn it.

Stoning is good for your soul, says Canadian cleric

The sheikh explained that a Muslim who is sentenced to death by stoning under Sharia law actually benefits from this gruesome punishment as her soul is being purified even as the stones rain down on her sinful head.
It would possibly be funny if it were in a Monty Python movie. Almost, but not quite. There is no joke to be had in a medieval form of punishment like stoning. Nor should it be condoned.

In New Video, Al-Shabab Justifies Woolwich Attack, Urges Muslims In West To 'Make Their Choice Today,'

On October 17, 2013, the Somali Al-Qaeda-affiliated group Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen released an hour long video titled "Woolwich Attack: It's an Eye for an Eye." The video is about the May 22, 2013, Woolwich (London) attack in which British soldier Lee Rigby was murdered in daylight by two men. In the video, Al-Shabab portrays the attack as a logical response to the U.K.'s crimes against Muslims around the world. Al-Shabab urges Muslims living in the West to follow the footsteps of the Woolwich attack perpetrators, as well as the perpetrators of other attacks in the West, such as Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter; Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square bomber; and Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab, the "Underwear Bomber."

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Convoluted Ayatollah logic

I admit I am having problems parsing this article from Iran's Ahlul Bayt News Agency:

Ayatollah Sadr el Din Ghabanchi, Iraqi prayer leader in Najaf referred to the efforts of the Zionist regime to promote hostility between Islamic denominations with Shia Muslims stressing that regional allies of the Zionist regime have turned into enemies of Shia.

Zionists are promoting hostility between Sunnis and Shia, so therefore Shia is obligated to be hostile to Sunni. I think.

He warned against talks on prevention of Shia Islam in Algiers denouncing Salafi groups for the effort.

Salafi groups denouncing Shia groups are bad, but rules to stop Shia groups from denouncing Salafis are also bad.

Orator of Najaf city in Iraq added that Shia Islam, in the light of domestic crisis in the region has turned to the central issue when regional states, having accepted their failure against the Zionist regime, have risen against Shia Muslims.

It sounds like he is saying thatsince Sunni regimes have admitted defeat against Zionists, they have become pro-Zionist puppets.

Iraqi cleric added,” While efforts to spread intrigues among Muslims and fueling civil war continues in Islamic countries to secure interests of the Zionist regime, Israel is in in a situation of relative security.” And added,” This is while Zionist regime authorities announce Al Qaeda a minor threat but Shia Islam a major one.”

He said,” This is quite right because Al Qaeda is the brainchild of world arrogant powers and is supported by great powers of the world.”

I'm sure there is a logic there, but I think it ends at "Shia good. Everyone else bad. Unity good as long as it supports Shiites."

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Assad snipers target unborn babies (plus video)

From Times of London:

Pregnant women in Syria are being picked off by snipers in a sickening war game in which their unborn babies appear to be used for target practice, according to a British surgeon.

David Nott, who has just spent five weeks volunteering in a Syrian hospital, said that he and his despairing colleagues started to notice a disturbing pattern among the women and children who were being shot as they ran the daily gauntlet across a divided zone to buy food and supplies in a major city.

"One day it would be shots to the groin. The next, it would only be the left chest. The day after, we would see no chest wounds; they were all neck [wounds]," he said in an interview with The Times. "From the first patients that came in in the morning, you could almost tell what you would see for the rest of the day. It was a game. We heard the snipers were winning packets of cigarettes for hitting the correct number of targets."

He said local rumours suggested that the snipers were mercenaries from China and Azerbaijan, working for the Assad regime. This cannot be verified.

Mr Nott has been volunteering as an emergency surgeon in war zones in countries such as Bosnia, Libya, Chad, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo for the past 20 years. However, he said that Syria was the only place in which he had witnessed civilians, and in particular pregnant women, being targeted.

On one day, more than half a dozen pregnant women were caught in sniper fire. On another day, two consecutive patients were heavily pregnant women. Both survived but their babies were dead on arrival.

In one case, a baby had a bullet in its brain. "The women were all shot through the uterus, so that must have been where they were aiming for. I can't even begin to tell you how awful it was. Usually, civilians are caught in the crossfire. This is the first time I've ever seen anything like this. This was deliberate. It was hell beyond hell."

Speaking between operations at his day job as a vascular surgeon at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Mr Nott estimated that up to 90 per cent of the people he treated were civilians. "I saw very few fighters." The surgeon, who also works at the Royal Marsden and St Mary's Hospital, London, spends at least a month a year volunteering in a conflict zone.

(h/t Yoel)

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Old, rich Saudis "temporarily marry" young Syrian girls in Jordan

An Israeli TV reporter got into the Za'atari Syrian refugee camp in Jordan and discovered that older Saudi men are taking advantage of girls as young as ten years old and their families.



The video shows a female "marriage broker" extolling the beauty of her virgin girls - the men only want virgins, and they want them young.

According to Palestine Press Agency's reporting of the story, for as little as $3000 the Saudis are "marrying" young girls, having their twisted ideas of "fun," and then divorcing the girls.

A 70 year old Saudi man married a 13 year old girl for a week. A ten year old girl complained on camera about marrying a 60 year old Saudi who beat her during their short "marriage."

The Za'atari camp has around 120,000residents, making it the fourth largest city in Jordan. Roughly half the residents are children.

The UNHCR head of the camp readily admits that the camp is filled with organized crime.

(h/t Yoel)

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EoZNews Video: Save a Child's Heart

Save a Child's Heart is one of those organizations whose very existence completely and thoroughly debunks the lies about Israel that haters make up and then parrot.

I didn't note this on the video, but keep in mind while you are watching it that the Wolfson Medical Center is not state of the art. It is actually pretty run down. It serves a poorer section of Israel around Holon. It didn't even have an MRI. Rooms were hurriedly converted to allow relatives of the children to stay overnight.

Yet even with all these limitations, the dedicated doctors and administration have built up an amazing organization that not only treats children from around the world for free (including from many Arab countries,) but also sends doctors all over the world to teach other doctors how to save lives.

It is remarkable.



By the way, SACH is one of the very few worthwhile causes in Israel that the EU Commission donates to.

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Jordanian band defies BDSers, tours Israel

From the Times of Oman:

This week, a Jordanian band went on a tour that included the Golan Heights, Nazareth, Haifa, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jerusalem. But the popular music group which is rated as one of the top five in the region faced a concerted social media and online attack as having participated in a politically unacceptable act.

The attack focused on the fact that the band members received visas from the Israeli embassy in Amman. They are accused of normalising with the Israelis. Entry into Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, Nazareth or Haifa is not possible without a visa.

The permits issues by the Palestinian Authority in coordination with and after the approval of the Israelis are valid only in West Bank cities like Bethlehem and Ramallah.

The band, Autostrad, identifies itself as "an Ammani world, reggae, funk band from Jordan". Fronted by lead singer Yazan Alrousan, Autostrad was formed in 2007 with guitarist Hamza Arnaout, keyboardist Wisam Qatawneh, bassist Avo Demerjian, saxophonist Bashar Abdelghani and drummer Burhan Ali.

The online and social media campaign was launched by a number of young Jordanians and Palestinians, including some who are citizens of Israel.

In an article published on a number of progressive sites, the writer says the band is welcome to Palestine only after it is liberated. A hashtag with "come after it is liberated" also went viral as attacks against the music group mushroomed.

Autostrad members reject the accusation of normalisation and insist that they are visiting their country upon invitation from credible Palestinian organisations and will sing to Palestinians and Syrians living under Israeli rule.

It's not like Autostrad loves Israel. Quite the contrary:

Arnaout was quoted on a website that getting a visa was the only option available.

"We are Jordanians and Palestinians and this is the only way we have to enter our homeland Palestine and no one can stop us from doing our work."

But this is a big loss for the "Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel" which defined this trip as breaking their rules for normalization.

Even the author of the piece, Daoud Kuttab, criticized PACBI:

After 65 years of Nakbeh and 46 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and Golan Heights, having a group of unelected individuals decide who is a patriot and who is a traitor does not serve the overall cause.

Ray Hanania made a similar point in Saudi Gazette, slamming the haters:

The extremists, who are a minority faction in our Arab community, step in and bully the mainstream Arabs into silence. Arabs are afraid to stand up to the extremists who often direct their hate and anger against Arabs even more than they do against Israel. So the mainstream Arabs remain silent. It’s better to not say anything, the moderates mistakenly conclude, than to stand up to the fanatics.

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PalArabs riot, police shoot tear gas, many arrested. In Jordan.

This story completely flew under the radar, and it wasn't covered at all by Jordan's state media.

From Ammon News, October 9:

Last Thursday, October 3rd, at approximately 7:00 p.m., a conflict occurred in Gaza Camp, eight kilometers outside of Jerash, between several residents of the camp and the adjacent Al Hadada neighborhood to the west.

The tribal altercation between the two parties escalated into a full lockdown of the area by Jordanian police in order to control the combatants. Eyewitnesses reported that Jordanian residents of Al Hadada vacated the area, the violence shifted between Jordanian police forces and Palestinian residents of Gaza Camp.

Camp residents threw rocks at the police and demanded that they cease their occupation of the main street, to which the police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. A number of stores and cars were looted and burned as a result of the initial clash. Fighting continued between police and residents, with the Jordanian Police forces employing tear gas and rubber bullets both on the main street and within residential areas until 4:00 a.m.

The police presence intensified on Friday morning with the addition of armed trucks and armed personal carriers. Local businesses were not permitted to open, and checkpoints were set up at the camp entrances, where officers did not allow those without ID cards to enter the camp.

Skirmishes between anti-riots police and residents of Gaza Camp resumed again at 12:15 p.m., nearly twelve hours after the original conflict between residents of Al Hadada and Gaza Camp had ended. An eyewitness said that the afternoon prayer at Abu Bakir mosque was interrupted by tear gas, and worshippers were driven the main street. At several times, police entered the residential streets with tear gas launchers, riot shields, and rubber bullets, engaging those who refused to go indoors.

By 10:30 p.m. Friday evening, the fighting mostly ceased. Eyewitnesses reported that the police limited their presence to the easternmost section of the camp, but continued to arrest those found out on the streets.

Police cordoned Gaza Camp by this past weekend lasted approximately forty hours. No casualties were confirmed, but many residents were injured by the officers' fire. The tear gas also caused a significant amount of discomfort as it spread inside residential homes throughout the day and a half long conflict. Spent canisters of tear gas found in the camp indicate that they were deployed after their expiration date.

Fire and damage was also inflicted upon the infrastructure and properties within the camp.
“Police cars have returned to the camp every day this week,” a source within the camp stated today. “They are still arresting more people.”

While only 14 arrests have been confirmed, residents have claimed at least 20 have been detained, with some estimates as high as 100. The current charges include assault of police officers and the destruction of property.

Here's video:



Apparently, no "pro-Palestinian human rights" groups bothered to go to the camp to act as human shields against the Jordanian occupiers.

Residents of the Gaza/Jerash camp are not citizens of Jordan. Although they have lived within Jordan's borders for over 45 years, they cannot become citizens, they cannot freely travel, and they are not tried in civilian but in military court, from which nine of them were released today after being held for over two weeks in custody.

There are two separate double standards here, both on how Jordan treats its Palestinian Arabs who originated from Gaza as well as how Jordanian police are not criticized by groups that pretend to be pro-Palestinian for their riot control methods.

But, as Meryl Yourish likes to say, it is Israel Double Standard Time, which occurs every day of the week that ends in a "y."

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Illegal Palestinian Christian houses to be destroyed, but there will be no headlines

Because they are in Lebanon.

From Now Lebanon:

A security forces unit is preparing to raid the Dbayeh Palestinian refugee camp and destroy around 20 illegal buildings, NOW learned on Saturday.

According to the report, the security forces are surrounding the camp with a number of bulldozers to destroy the two-story buildings.

Hamas’ representative in Lebanon Ali Baraka condemned the news, and warned that such a step could escalate the tension between security forces and the refugees in all camps in Lebanon.

“The camp’s residents called [Hamas] at midnight and asked for help,” Baraka told NOW.

“The Lebanese state does not ban buildings inside the camp. We can find two-story buildings in all camps, so why is the camp that is inhabited by Christian Palestinians targeted?”

Baraka also noted that the targeted buildings in the Dbayeh camp are located on land that belongs to the UNRWA.

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10/20 Links: Fatah - “All means of struggle until statehood”, Tall Tales about Arafat, Saudis Sulk

From Ian:

---

JPost Edtorial: Tall tales

Fatah co-founder Farouk Kaddoumi – who brands the two-state solution “just a temporary phase” – showed Al Jazeera TV in 2009 what he insisted were protocols of a three-way collusion by Abbas, Arafat’s longtime sidekick Muhammad Dahlan and then-prime minister Ariel Sharon to assassinate Arafat.
Unfortunately such slander is not the exception. It is a Palestinian norm. Fantastic convolutions of cloak and dagger canards do not bolster the cause of peace. Falsehoods negate peace.
Where the culture of mendacity reigns, trustworthy accords cannot grow. That is why recurrent twists in the Arafat assassination tale matter.

The Saudis are sulking

Despite its candid anger, Saudi Arabia cannot forgo its military partnership with the U.S. After seeing how the U.S. recently froze military aid to Egypt, the Saudis realized that, with Obama in power, anything is possible. It is preferable for Saudi Arabia to not publicly confront the U.S. on the U.N. stage. Rather, it should do so indirectly. There is much more Saudi Arabia can do to thwart the Iranian nuclear project. It may be that Saudi Arabia's open refusal of a Security Council seat is masking other behind-the-scenes moves, such as building a discrete and unnatural coalition. It is best that such things are done as far away from the spotlight as possible.

France suggests reforming veto power on Security Council

In light of the Security Council’s stalemate on Syria — Russia and China have repeatedly blocked resolutions calling for the use of force against the Bashar Assad regime — France has suggested reforming the mighty veto power of the body’s five permanent members: the US, UK, France, Russia, and China.

The world from here: Why Jordan relies on Israel to secure the Jordan Valley

Both the king and his closest advisers are also keenly aware that in the event of an Israeli withdrawal, the Jordan Valley could easily be transformed into the “Philadelphi Corridor” of the West Bank.
With the West Bank under prospective Palestinian control, jihadi groups from Iraq and Syria would be attracted to cross into Jordan and then to Palestinian territory. A common Palestinian-Jordanian border would also likely increase Palestinian irredentism towards the East Bank, which has been a major Jordanian concern since “Black September” in 1970, when Syrian-backed Palestinian insurgents threatened the Hashemite Kingdom.

CAMERA Prompts Ha'aretz Correction on Gaza Imports

CAMERA's Israel office has prompted a correction on an article in the Sept. 23 English print edition of Ha'aretz which had wrongly reported that Israel allowed concrete and steel to enter the Gaza Strip legally for the first time in six years.
Gili Cohen's inaccurate article, with the erroneous headline stating that "Cement enters Gaza Strip legally for first time in six years," appears below:

BBC’s “Obstacles to Peace” erases pre-1967 Jewish history in Jerusalem

It is, of course, bad enough that this one-sided political polemic has been allowed to stand on the website of an organization supposedly committed to accuracy and impartiality for well over six years. It is even worse that this misleading article and its accompanying ones in the same series are now being promoted by the BBC as additional reading for audience members seeking to learn more about the issues surrounding the talks between Israel and the PLO. That promotion comes in direct conflict with the constitutional basis according to which the BBC’s defined public purposes include building “a global understanding on international issues”.

Israel 'Knew about Terror Tunnel for a Year'

Daily newspaper Yediot Aharonot wrote Friday that Israel had known for over a year about the terror tunnel that Hamas was digging into its territory, but let Hamas leaders continue to pour resources into it.
"Sometimes, as part of the war of minds, [Israel] lets them invest money, wrack their brains, waste human resources, and only towards the end of the digging, does it hold up a stop sign," the paper's defence correspondent Alex Fishman wrote.

Sraya Ofer Met his Killers 2 Weeks before Murder

According to new information reported by Channel 2, the man brutally murdered outside his home in the Jordan Valley last week, Sraya Ofer, had encountered his Arab murderers two weeks earlier, when they approached his home. They aroused his suspicion in that encounter and he reported the license number of their car to police.

IDF wounds Palestinian attempting to infiltrate Negev town of Meitar

IDF forces opened fire on and wounded a Palestinian who was attempting to infiltrate into the village of Meitar in the Negev. The man was found sabotaging the fence in an apparent attempt to enter the community, the IDF said.
The forces fired warning shots at the suspect who was ultimately shot in the leg.

Socialist MEP from Belgium hold anti-Israel event over Beduin policy

The Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament on Thursday prevented an Israeli official from participating in panel discussion on the Israeli Beduin community, which degenerated into a anti-Israel hate festival, Israeli diplomats said.
Véronique De Keyser, a socialist MEP from Belgium, led the seminar sponsored by the group titled “Beduin in the Naqab/Negev: Dreams and Nightmare.”

Abbas: Reports are wrong — peace talks not at a dead end

Notwithstanding recent Israeli media reports, the Middle East peace talks are not at an impasse, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday.
“The negotiations are difficult, but they haven’t reached a dead end. They are still in the initial stage and we have enough time to further deal with the main issues that turn out to be difficult,” Abbas told German Deutsche Welle television. “Such things are being claimed, but we have not gotten into a dead end.”

PMW: Fatah - “All means of struggle until statehood”

Another Fatah posting also illustrated the use of violence as one of Fatah's "means." A picture showed a member of Fatah's military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, taking aim with a rifle, accompanied by the following text:

"The Al-Aqsa [Martyrs'] Brigades:
When they speak - they act;
When they promise - they fulfill;
and when they strike - they cause pain."

PA TV teaches children not to trust Jews


Archbishop Gets Award for Arming Terrorists

Melkite Archbishop Hillarion Capucci ran guns for the PLO in the 1970s. He got caught and was sentenced to 12 years in jail. He was released after serving a few years of his sentence. The Vatican, embarrassed by the presence of an Archbishop in an Israeli jail, secured his early release by promising that the Archbishop would not engage in any anti-Israel activism once he was out of jail. Capucci violated the terms of his release on a number of occasions, most recently participating in the so-called humanitarian flotilla into the Gaza Strip.

Again: Arabs Fly Nazi Flag Near Road

For at least the second time in five months, Arab residents of Beit Umar in the Palestinian Authority (PA) have placed a Nazi flag over a major thoroughfare where Jews pass in their vehicles.
Beit Umar is located between Halhoul and the Etzion Bloc, not far from Hevron.

Kidnapped Lebanese Pilgrims Released in Exchange for Pilots

Nine Lebanese pilgrims who were kidnapped by rebels in Syria 17 months ago arrived on Saturday in Beirut, after being freed in exchange for two Turkish pilots seized in Lebanon in August, reports Al Arabiya.

Let’s stop deluding ourselves about Turkey, says Liberman

Responding to Turkey’s accusation that Israel was behind a “media campaign” against Ankara over the exposure of an Israeli spy ring in Iran, as well as past accusations, Liberman said the claims were “baseless” and served as proof that Turkey under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan would never warm to Israel, despite the formal apology issued to Erdogan by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in March over the 2010 Mavi Marmara affair.
“My opposition to apologizing to Turkey is nothing new. I expressed it clearly before and after the fact,” Liberman said. “I thought, and explained, that it would not bring about improved relations between the two countries, but would only hurt Israel’s standing in the region and play into the hands of extremists in the Middle East — among them Turkey under the Islamist extremist Erdogan.”

State officials: Talks with Turkey 'stuck'

The Washington Post's report about Turkey's disclosure to Iran of an Israeli spy network might have failed to elicit an official Israeli response, but state officials admit that security relations with Ankara are extremely limited and went as far as saying that reconciliation talks surrounding the Marmara raid are "stuck."
"The Turks are destroying any attempt to reach understandings," an Israeli official close to the talks said. "They don't want to resolve this thing. It's completely stuck and despite President Obama's efforts, they don't want to move ahead at this point."
Nevertheless, he stressed that Ankara might decide to resolve the matter if it suited its interests.

MEMRI: Egyptian Poet Fatima Naoot: Egypt Was Conquered by the Arabs, Coptic Language Changed By Force


US quietly releasing $1.6B in Pakistan assistance

The U.S. has quietly decided to release more than $1.6 billion in military and economic aid to Pakistan that was suspended when relations between the two countries disintegrated over the covert raid that killed Usama bin Laden and deadly U.S. airstrikes against Pakistani soldiers.
Officials and congressional aides said ties have improved enough to allow the money to flow again.

Israel Defense Forces to Develop Drone Submarines, Market Expected to Reach $2 Billion

The department within Israel’s Ministry of Defense, tasked with developing next generation weaponry, MAFAT, is working on developing unmanned underwater vehicles, the market for which could exceed $2 billion by 2020, Israel’s Globes business daily reported, citing MAFAT aeronautics director Dr. Yuval Cohen.
UUVs include ROVs - remotely operated underwater vehicles that are operated by remote control – and AUVs - autonomous underwater vehicles which are fully robotic, submarine drones, where Israel’s ingenuity could add the most value. As with Israel’s leadership in developing flying drones, the Jewish state could be very successful in this industry as well, but operating in the deep sea adds another level of complexity.

Kennedy Was a Friend to American and Soviet Jews

The conventional community memory of Kennedy would be enough by itself. JFK overcame the legacy of his father, Joseph Kennedy, FDR’s notoriously appeasement-minded ambassador to Britain, to build a warm relationship with American Jews. As Warren Bass recounted a decade ago in his book Support Any Friend, the U.S.-Israel alliance took a big step forward with Kennedy’s approval of the sale of Hawk missiles to Israel.

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