Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

From the #BDSFail Desk (Zvi)

From Zvi:

BDS continues to fail daily. In this edition, BDS fails miserably in Mexico, at CERN, in Cyprus, in Poland, in Germany and in Tanzania. And it might even fail humiliatingly in Norway in the near future; we shall see.

Israel guest of honor at Mexican book fair (Haaretz)

The book fair, known as the FIL (from its Spanish name, Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara), is a major showcase for the literature and culture of the world's Spanish speakers. It's the biggest event of its kind in Latin America, with 1,900 publishers representing 42 countries and thousands more exhibitors.In recent years the fair, which runs through December 8, has attracted an average of 600,000 visitors.Starting in 1993, the fair's organizers have each year honored a different city, state country or culture; honorees have included Quebec (2003), Catalonian culture (2004), Los Angeles (2009) and Germany (2011). Now it's Israel's turn. In addition to the events at the fair itself - including an Israeli film festival, an Israeli culinary fair and a headline event in the main auditorium each evening - Israel-related events will be held throughout the city for the duration of the festival.In explaining their decision to honor Israel this year, the fair's organizers cited Israel's "dynamic and solid" publishing industry, which releases around 7,000 titles in Hebrew each year.

Israel joins CERN (jpost)

Israel will become a full member of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), following the passage of a Knesset bill Monday night giving Israeli researchers at CERN the same rights as diplomats.

Cyprus and Israel sign standardization deal (Cyprus Mail)

German trade union leader opposes WB boycott (Times of Israel)

“As long as I am head of this organization, there will never be a resolution that says ‘Don’t buy from Jews,’ ” said Sommer, 61, chair of the Federation of German Trade Unions, accepting the Arno Lustiger Award at the third annual German-Israel Congress on Sunday.

Poland, Israel sign scientific cooperation agreement (jpost)

Dar es Salam Water and Sewerage Co. signs deal with Israeli water company to curb water losses (The Guardian via IPPMedia)

Norway coalition partner seeks to end arms export ban to Israel (defensenews.com)

The right-wing Høyre Party heads the administration, but the Progress Party (FrP), the conservative Høyre’s junior coalition partner, is pushing to remove Norway’s munitions/weapons ban on Israel as part of a broader policy to support the arms export industry.Høyre has yet to confirm if it is willing to contemplate lifting the ban, having won the recent parliamentary elections on a trade and foreign policy framework that includes fresh measures to expand Norway’s arms exports, but which made no mention of easing arms export restrictions on Israel.

Other News Items

Israel finds germ-killing protein, could yield new antibiotics (haaretz)

A group of Israeli researchers has succeeded in isolating a protein that kills bacteria, in what is a first step toward developing a substitute for antibiotics. The substance isolated by a Tel Aviv University team prevents bacteria from dividing, thus destroying them and combatting infections. “In the future, a new antibiotic can be produced from this protein,” according to the researchers who published their findings on Monday in the journal, “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”

Ahmed Tibi demands that Israel protect Israeli Arabs in Ukraine (jpost)

I'm moderately surprised that Tibi spoke up, but of course he's using it to create an issue with Israeli Jews - claiming that Israeli media, which have in fact published multiple stories about this, are somehow ignoring it because it is about Arabs. Of course, the Israeli Arabs who were interviewed the other day said that both they and Israeli Jews in the area felt threatened. So Tibi and company are basically squeezing multiple hysterical lies into one accusation. They don't keep their lies entirely coordinated, either... .

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein responded that he had contacted the Ukrainian government and was promised that the heads of the national and Odessa district police were investigating the matter.

Israel quietly treats Syria war victims (FT)

Freely visible earlier, but now behind a paywall

11/13 Links Pt2: Kristallnacht as a political instrument, Updates on IDF's Philippine Rescue Mission

From Ian:

Kristallnacht as a political instrument

This year, as has often occurred in the past, some Kristallnacht memorial meetings in Europe were abused as political instruments rather than serving to memorialize Jewish victims.
Memorial-day manipulation in Germany goes back many years. In 1969 on the date marking Kristallnacht, an anarchist-leftist group painted graffiti on Jewish memorials stating, “Shalom and Napalm” or “El Fatah.” Additionally, a firebomb was thrown at the Jewish community center in Berlin. The leftist groups’ common perception was that “Jews who were expelled by fascism became fascists themselves, who in collaboration with American capitalism, want to annihilate the Palestinian people.”

Dialogue junkie priest dons a Palestinian scarf for the Kristallnacht memorial, can’t fathom the fury he raised

Sometimes you simply don’t know if you should cry or laugh. Or just cringe… Apparently this is what happens to the brain of people who have sniffed too much of the dialogue glue…

UN Watch: Black Day for Human Rights: Worst Abusers Sweep Top UN Rights Posts -- France 24

What the Falk is King’s College London doing inviting a 9/11 truther?

In a rather quiet corner of the Strand lies King’s College London’s (KCL) rather elegant baroque style campus. On Monday, this beautiful complex was host to a rather ugly personality. Richard Falk, a notable member of the United Nations’ Human Rights’ Council and Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories, was invited by the University itself to give a lecture on ‘state crime.’
It was compulsory for certain undergraduate law students, and while advertised as a leading international jurist, Falk is nothing more than a rabid conspiracy theorist.

Al Jazeera delivered Arafat’s gym bag to Swiss scientists

As well as the polonium naturally produced by Arafat’s body, much of the evidence used by the Swiss scientists was from Arafat’s clothes as found in a gym bag.
And how did that gym bag get to Switzerland? Al Jazeera explains:

Suha Arafat stated that the bag was kept in safely custody for the past eight years, primarily with her lawyer and in a safe room on the fourth floor of a building in Paris. She did not elaborate on the precise address. She stated that it was kept there until it was retrieved in late January 2012 for Clayton Swisher to deliver to the Swiss laboratory.

Satire: George Galloway “reveals” who really killed Yasser Arafat

DISCLAIMER: Before the lawyers get their ledgers out, let’s be very clear… this is obviously a parody. In no way does this website of any of its staff, authors, or owners believe that George Galloway was responsible for the murder of Yasser Arafat. The video below is strictly satire.
Now that that’s taken care of… watch this hilarious video of the anti-Israel Member of Parliament George Galloway reveal who “really” killed Yasser Arafat…

CIF Watch: Jewish Daily Forward ‘Top 50′ list includes “journalist” who promotes antisemitism

As we’ve demonstrated continually, it is not at all an exaggeration to characterize Greenwald’s hostility to Israel (and the U.S.) as similar to the hate rhetoric of Islamist extremists – a fact which may in part explain Greenwald’s defense of Hamas, Hezbollah and even, on at least one occasion, an American Al Qaeda operative.
Additionally, to get a sense of The Jewish Daily Forward’s ideological airbrush of Greenwald – employing the Guardian tactic of characterizing commentators who engage in antisemitism as merely “critical of Israel” – here is a collection passages from his columns which ‘deal with Jews in a critical way‘.

Another thinly-veiled BBC accusation of war crimes

Finally, Abualouf presents a thinly veiled insinuation of a war crime having been carried out by Israel by using third party characterisations of the partial blockade as ‘collective punishment’. Naturally, he refrains from naming the “human rights groups” he ostensibly cites or from informing BBC audiences of the political motivations behind those unproven accusations.

Why we need to talk about the BBC’s promotion of Middle East conspiracy theories

Members of the media in general would do well at this point to devote some thought to the subject of the trickle-down effects of irresponsible, inaccurate coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict as a catalyst for increased antisemitism both in Europe and beyond.
But another of the BBC’s public purposes – going under the title of “sustaining citizenship and civil society” – obliges BBC management in particular to consider this subject very seriously, with its recent amplification of Arafat-related conspiracy theories (by no means limited to the programme in which David Aaronovitch took part) being a good place to start.

Biggest children’s book publisher erases Israel from map

“Thea Stilton and the Blue Scarab Hunt,” part of the popular Geronimo Stilton children’s series translated from Italian and published by Scholastic in 2012, tells the story of a group of investigative journalists involved in a treasure hunt in Egypt.
The story commences with a map of modern Egypt and its neighboring countries. While Sudan, Libya and Saudi Arabia appear clearly on the map, the territory of Israel is completely covered by Jordan, painted red. A line indicating the Israeli border with the Sinai Peninsula does appear in the book.

Man with knife arrested at Israeli embassy in Brussels

The man, a Belgian converted to Islam and who appeared to be mentally unstable, was stopped by security agents and later turned to the Belgian police for questioning.
A second man, of Iranian citizenship, was also arrested when he appeared to be monitoring activities around the embassy building located in Uccle, a Brussels municipality.

Fourth man arrested in suspected Sydney anti-Semitic attack

The 26-year-old appeared in court on Tuesday and was denied bail after being arrested the previous day. Among the charges are possessing a knife in a public place and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
He and three others are accused verbally abusing and physically beating four members of the Behar family and Shlomo Ben-Haiem, the educational emissary for the Jewish National Fund, on October 25.

Argentine Official Charged After Praising Hitler

The lead spokesman for the mayor of Argentina’s capital is facing criminal charges after saying Nazi leader Adolf Hitler "was a spectacular guy," a court source told AFP Tuesday.
The man, Ecuadoran-born Jaime Duran Barba, has been charged by federal prosecutor Guillermo Marijuan with voicing approval of a criminal act, the source told the news agency.

Philippine envoy thanks Israeli government, NGOs as aid and assistance continues

Philippine Ambassador to Israel Generoso D.G. Calonge expressed appreciation on Tuesday for the assistance Israel has offered to his storm-ravaged country, saying it made him “so happy.”
“I can’t describe the feeling right now... that my host country cares about our stricken people,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “I hope the people of Israel will maintain their attitude of people who are stricken with this crisis and who are on the losing end of natural disasters.”

Live Updates: #IDFinPhilippines Rescue Mission

In the wake of the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, the IDF is carrying out “Operation Islands of Hope”: A 150 member is set to leave for the Philippines today, November 13, 2013, in order to provide search & rescue, and medical services.
This post will provide updates as they become available. All times are Israeli time (GMT +2). Times are approximate.
For live tweets of Operation Islands of Hope, see: https://twitter.com/IDFrescue

Ban to become first UN chief to visit Auschwitz

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky announced that Ban will visit the camp on Monday “to pay tribute to the victims of the Holocaust and to stress the importance of the UN’s work for genocide prevention, tolerance and peace.”

DC intersection renamed for Bulgarian who saved Jews

A street intersection outside the Bulgarian Embassy in Washington was renamed Tuesday in honor of a lawmaker from that country who is credited with helping spare the lives of tens of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust.
The intersection in the city’s Dupont Circle neighborhood will now be known as Dimitar Peshev Plaza, a recognition approved by the D.C. Council following a campaign by Peshev’s supporters.

Israel May Become First Non-European Member of CERN Nuclear Research Facility

Located on the Swiss-French border, CERN is most famous for its 27-kilometer Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator, which scientists used to discover the famous Higgs Boson or “God particle” last year.
CERN’s governing council of 20 European nations will vote on Israel’s membership when it meets Dec. 12.

Israelis set Guinness record for donating hair to cancer patients

Zichron Menachem- the Israeli association for the support of children with cancer and their families – set a Guinness World Record for donating the most hair to cancer victims in a single day drive. Some 250 women – some of them cancer survivors – cut 53.1 kilograms (117 lbs) of their locks for wigs for cancer patients. The previous record was 48.7 kilograms (107 pounds).

Start-Up Nation: Israeli Hi-Tech Exits at $4 Billion So Far in 2013

The year 2013 has proven to be lucrative so far for high-tech and life sciences companies in Israel. According to Globes, 20 such companies at varying degrees of maturity have been sold for a total of $4 billion thus far.
Just as surprising, 2013 is not even a record year; 2006 holds that distinction, with $10.1 billion in exits. This year’s biggest winner was traffic app Waze, which sold to Google for nearly $1 billion.

StandWithUs Accomplishments

When are illegal settlements legal?

There are two kinds of settlements in Judea and Samaria: the ones that are legal under Israeli law, and the ones that are not.

The illegal settlements, often called "outposts" because they are often tiny, are, under international law - legal!

Let me explain.

The entire reason any settlements are considered "illegal" under international law is because of a tortured reading of the Fourth Geneva Conventions, Article 49, paragraph 6:

The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.

The argument that Jewish settlements are illegal comes from bizarre idea that people who choose voluntarily to live there are somehow being "transferred" by Israel. The arguments for that are very strained, to say the least. They are usually centered on how Israel supports the settlements it considers legal by building infrastructure or otherwise making life there any easier for its citizens, as if that fits the definition of "transfer."

But the people who choose to break Israeli law and build their own illegal settlements cannot by any stretch of interpreting Geneva be considered to be "transferred" - their decision to move is purely voluntary and not encouraged at all by the Israeli government.

Which means that these outposts that are illegal under Israeli law are legal under international law - no matter how you try to misinterpret Geneva Art. 49!

(This is all moot, despite all the NGOs that say that settlements violate Geneva. For an in-depth look at Article 49 and why it clearly doesn't apply to Jewish settlements, see here for the travaux préparatoires.)

Does the Jordan-Israel peace agreement give Jordan custodianship of the Temple Mount?

Jordanian newspapers today are reporting that Jordanian officials confirm that Jews have no right to pray on the Temple Mount, according to the Israel-Jordan peace treaty signed in 1994.

They were responding to members of Knesset who said that the treaty did not require any Jordanian approval for Jews to pray there.

Who is right?

Here is the text of the relevant article of the treaty, from Jordan's King Hussein website:

Article 9 - Places of Historical and Religious Significance and Interfaith Relations

1. Each Party will provide freedom of access to places of religious and historical significance.

2. In this regard, in accordance with the Washington Declaration, Israel respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem. When negotiations on the permanent status will take place, Israel will give high priority to the Jordanian historic role in these shrines.

3. The Parties will act together to promote interfaith relations among the three monotheistic religions, with the aim of working towards religious understanding, moral commitment, freedom of religious worship, and tolerance and peace.

Paragraph 1 makes it clear that nothing can prohibit Jews from visiting the Temple Mount, just as Muslims or Christians cannot be banned from the area either.

Paragraph 2 has two parts. The first is clearly not prescriptive; it is simply a statement that Israel "respects" Jordan's "special role" without saying what that role is. It does not give Jordan any power to create rules.

The second part is almost prescriptive but not quite; it uses the word "will" instead of the stronger "shall." It also doesn't define what it means to give "high priority" to Jordan's "historic role." If Israel is the party assigning priorities to Jordan's role, that means that Israel can override them. Most importantly, however, is that this sentence only refers to the time of permanent status negotiations (implying that Jordan will be a party to the talks) but it does not say that Jordan's role, whatever that is, is permanent.

Paragraph 3 explicitly calls for freedom of religious worship. This indicates that not only is Israel permitted to allow Jews to visit the Temple Mount and perhaps to allow them to pray, as the previous two paragraphs implied, but it enshrines the freedom for Jews to pray on their holiest site is. Banning such prayer would be a violation not only of human rights law but of this treaty itself.

The peace agreement certainly does not give Jordan any custodianship or powers over the Temple Mount. The best that can be said is that it demands Israel take Jordan's opinion into account, but Jordan has no veto power over how the holy sites are governed. Moreover, the third paragraph shows that freedom of worship is a critical principle to be upheld by both parties, which would naturally include freedom for Jews to worship.

In short, the Jordanians who claim that the treaty gives them the right to ban Jewish worship are not being truthful.

11/13 Links Pt1: Israeli Soldier Murdered on a Bus by an Arab, Bomb cost Iran $170B, Vive la France

From Ian:

Soldier, 19, stabbed to death in his sleep by Palestinian on bus

An Israeli soldier died after he was stabbed multiple times in the neck Wednesday morning by a Palestinian youth on a bus at the central bus station in Afula.
The soldier, 19-year-old Eden Atias of Nazareth Illit, was evacuated to the city’s Haemek Hospital. Doctors operated on him in an attempt to stabilize his condition but he succumbed to his injuries a few hours later.
Eyewitnesses said Atias was sleeping in his seat on the bus when he was attacked.

Likud hardliners call to stop peace talks after suspected terror attack

"The talks are deluding both the Israeli public and the Arabs," Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon said. "We must stop this predictable crash course immediately."
Danon also called to stop the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Deputy Transportation Minister Tzipi Hotovely said "the Palestinian Authority's well-oiled incitement system continues to claim victims."
"[PA President] Mahmoud Abbas has a tactic of indirectly harming Israel. Jews aren't killed by PA officials but by the 'Palestinian street,' which is fed each day by anti-Israel propaganda. We cannot continue talking peace while the PA is talking terror," Hotovely added.

Alan Baker: Kerry is mistaken on settlements

In fact, the express purpose of the permanent status negotiation continues to be to determine, by agreement, the status of the territory, to which Israel has a longstanding legitimate claim, backed by international legal and historic rights.
Notably, Israel is the only country in the 193 member UN General Assembly whose rights to sovereignty in the territory west of the Jordan river were twice affirmed last century, first as part of the Mandate for Palestine by the League of Nations and then by its successor organization, the United Nations, via its founding charter.

Secretary of fate

The second critical point related to Kerry’s comments concerns the low esteem in which he holds the Palestinians.
He did not suggest that failed peace talks might lead to Gandhi-like civil disobedience or mass fasting in protest; no, he suggested the one thing he associates with Palestinians: violence.
Secretary Kerry, like a dozen or so of his predecessors, will fail unless he holds the Palestinians to accepted international norms of behavior and treats Israel as an ally and not as a member of his protection racket. He might take some time to also explain to the Palestinian people that if they want an internationally recognized state, then violence against civilian targets is “illegitimate” and will not be tolerated.

Report: Netanyahu Played Arab Incitement Footage for Kerry (VIDEO)

The footage was from a classroom in Balata, near Nablus, and showed the teacher indoctrinating the students on “martyrdom” and echoing the claim that all of Israel belongs to Arabs. “Palestine is an Arab land from the River to the Sea,” she is seen saying. The phrase was repeated by the schoolchildren.

Aiming to calm critics, Netanyahu cancels massive settlement plan

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered plans for new settlement construction pulled back late Tuesday, saying the move to push forward tens of thousands of new units over the Green Line was a “meaningless step” that would create pointless tension with the international community.

Netanyahu: Gaza war caused 98% drop in rocket fire

In addition, Netanyahu said, Hamas was still stockpiling weapons and storing them in civilian areas.
“Hamas is manufacturing and storing missiles and rockets that are concentrated in residential buildings and aimed at Israeli citizens,” he said. “Israel will continue to strictly uphold international law, but will not sit on its hands while terrorists perpetrate two war crimes at the same time: They are prepared to fire at Israeli cities and are hiding behind civilians in the Gaza Strip. It is our full legal and moral right to direct fire that is as accurate as possible at those who fire indiscriminately at our people. The responsibility for any collateral damage that is liable to be caused to the residents of Gaza lies squarely on Hamas’s shoulders.”

Mufti: Jerusalem is 'Islamic'

He accuses Israel of trying to take over the mosque.
"The radical settlers continue the daily damage to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque,” Hussein wrote in a statement. “They burst into the territory of the Al Aqsa Mosque and pray in it.
"The city of Al Quds [Jerusalem – DH] has an Islamic character and the occupation will not be able to take away its character and identity, even if it continues commiting crimes and forging the facts.”

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian Authority police arrest Bethlehem journalist George Canawati

Palestinian Authority police on Sunday arrested Bethlehem journalist and broadcaster George Canawati on suspicion of “slander” and “insults.”
Canawati, director of Radio Bethlehem 2000, appeared on Monday in court with a black eye and torn shirt. He announced that he had gone on a hunger-strike in protest against his arrest and beating.
He complained that PA policemen physically assaulted him before and during his interrogation.

Single-minded Islamic Jihad grows in Gaza's shadows

Hamas, with robust political and military wings, rules the Gaza Strip and is clearly the senior Islamist party. Islamic Jihad has no ambition to govern, but it is quietly putting on muscle and has become the go-to group for both Iran and Syria.
This makes it increasingly dangerous for Israel and a possible threat for Hamas on the Palestinian militant landscape - although the group's exclusive focus on fighting the Jewish state means it is not challenging Hamas for control of Gaza.

Missing Peace: Experts: Netanyahu is right on Iran

History is a great teacher, but not everyone pays attention. In “The Guns at Last Light,” Rick Atkinson’s chronicle of World War II, the author recalls President Franklin Roosevelt’s view of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin following their meeting at Yalta in February 1945: “‘Stalin doesn’t want anything other than security for his country,’ the president said. ‘He won’t try to annex anything and will work for a world of democracy and peace.’”
Winston Churchill similarly misjudged Stalin, writes Atkinson, telling his war cabinet, “‘Stalin I’m sure means well to the world and Poland. … He will not embark on bad adventures.’ He added, ‘I don’t think I’m wrong about Stalin,’ whom he had called ‘that great and good man.’”
Times and dictators change, but human nature remains the same. Roosevelt and Churchill were wrong about Stalin and the Obama administration is wrong
about Iran.

Alan Dershowitz: Nuclear Peace With Iran In Our Time Is This Our Chamberlain Moment?

This is the time when the entire pro-Israel community must stand together in opposition to the deal being offered the Iranians—a deal which is bad for the United States, for the West, and for Israel. The Israeli people seem united in opposition to this bad deal. The American Congress is doubtful about the deal. This is not a liberal/conservative issue. Liberals who view military action as a last resort should oppose this deal, and conservatives who fear a nuclear Iran above all else should oppose this deal. Indeed all reasonable, thinking people should understand that weakening the sanctions against Iran without demanding that they dismantle their nuclear weapons program is a prescription for disaster. Have we learned nothing from North Korea and Neville Chamberlain?

Daniel Pipes: The silver lining of Obama's weak America

That the socialist French government of François Hollande just blocked a bad deal with Tehran, emerging as the hero of the Geneva negotiations, is on one level a huge surprise. But it also follows logically from the passivity of the Obama administration.
American foreign policy is in unprecedented free-fall, with a feckless and distracted White House barely paying attention to the outside world, and when it does, acting in an inconsistent, weak, and fantastical manner. If one were to discern something so grand as an Obama Doctrine, it would read: "Snub friends, coddle opponents, devalue American interests, seek consensus, and act unpredictably."

Zero Hour: Israel Must Choose Between Attack and Enslavement

Regarding the legality of such an attack, if there is an imminent threat against another state, then a preemptive strike is technically lawful under the UN Charter.
Israel, like any other nation, is under no legal obligation to sit back passively and quietly await annihilation at the hands of a country that remains determined to destroy it.
Should Israel strike at Iran, the world will undoubtedly howl. Let it: this too shall pass. Guided by the rightness of its cause, Israel will be acting for the advancement of shared regional and global interests, which happen to dovetail with its own.

Netanyahu: Iran Being Given Legitimacy to Become Nuclear

"Israel prefers the diplomatic option over any other option. But we want a genuine diplomatic solution that dismantles Iran's military nuclear capabilities,” Netanyahu said in remarks at the Bloomberg Fuel Choices Summit.
“The proposal that was put on the table, the details of which we are familiar with, is a bad deal. It leaves Iran with nuclear capabilities for military objectives, and provides it with a significant easing of sanctions. The additional danger is that it gives Iran legitimacy to be a nuclear threshold state. That goes against the interest of the international community,” he stressed.

Iran's nuclear drive has cost $170 billion, say Israeli sources

Of the $170 billion price tag, $40 billion was "invested over the past 20 years in the construction and operation of nuclear infrastructure," the sources told AFP.
They said Iran had "lost $130 billion because of sanctions put in place since 2012," including $105 million linked to the oil sector and $25 billion to banking, trade and industry, development and investment.

Vive la France!

The P5+1 talks brought us perilously close to accepting a very bad deal. There was one nation, however, that refused, France. French Ambassador Laurent Fabius told French journalists, "We will not be part of a fool's deal."
Nature abhors a vacuum and France has swept in to fill the vacuum in moral leadership. Viva la France!

Obama uses nonexistent fatwa as basis for Iran talks

In September, the U.S. president told the U.N. that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "has issued a fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons," but it turns out no such edict exists. In 2012 Khamenei specifically said it was premature to rule on the matter.

How al-Qaida split the Syrian opposition

The Syrian-based branch, ISIS, unlike its main al-Qaida-linked rival, al-Nusra Front, is mainly comprised of non-Syrians and instead of fighting the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad directly, has focused its efforts on taking over areas already controlled by the multitude of rebel factions in the northern and eastern parts of Syria near Iraq and along the Turkish border.

IAF Syria Strike 'Hit Russian S-125 Missiles'

Satellite photos of the site, on Syria's northern Mediterranean coastline, prove that the alleged IAF strike targeted S-125s that were in the process of being upgraded from a less sophisticated system. The photos were taken a few hours before the site was hit, by a firm providing satellite services to the US defense system.

Russia negotiates its biggest arms deal with Egypt since the Cold War after Barack Obama cuts defence aid

Egypt is seeking as much as US$2 billion in Russian weaponry, including MiG-29 fighter planes, air-defence systems and anti-tank missiles, said Ruslan Pukhov, a member of the Russian Defence Ministry’s advisory board and head of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow.

"Vegan-washing" and the fanaticism of the far-Left

+972 has an unintentionally hypocritical article about tensions within Israel's vegan community.

A fanatic animal-rights activist named Gary Yourofsky is planning to speak about his passion in Ariel, which is of course in the "territories." +972 finds this hard to believe, because it is such a left-wing topic; how could he even think about speaking in a city that is deemed illegal by the international community?

His answer shocked the +972-niks:

“Since the ‘international community’ is comprised of violent, bloodthirsty thugs who terrorize billions of innocent animals every second of every minute of every hour of every day, the ‘international community’ can go to HELL,” he wrote back.

Responding to the core question of the Palestinian struggle and the call to boycott Israeli academia and the settlements, Yourofsky said he sees no point in caring about any human beings so long as animals that are being regularly slaughtered. “When people start eating sliced up Jew flesh, or seared Palestinian children in between two slices of bread with onions, pickles and mustard, then I’ll be concerned about the Middle East situation.”

The +972 author, Haggai Matar, tries to wrap his head around such thinking, and finally gets an answer. Another animal rights activist explains that Yourofsky is a "single issue activist" who is focused on animal rights above all. He is, simply, a fanatic. Some people can be so obsessed with a single topic that they can be understood, even if their resulting actions are unforgivable.

Matar then quotes far left anti-Zionist Aeyal Gross, in Haaretz (Hebrew), where he notes that recently Bibi Netanyahu made statements supporting animal rights during a cabinet meeting. It wasn't a policy statement, it wasn't a public speech, it was just a conversation during a meeting.

Gross is incensed at how such a disgusting person as Netanyahu could possibly advocate a liberal position on anything. It is like Gross, a "part vegetarian part vegan," is sickened that he could have anything in common with the prime minister of Israel.

So Aeyal Gross, who had previously railed against Israel's officially gay-friendly public stance, called this "vegan-washing" as a successor to the ridiculous term "pinkwashing."

What Haggai Matar is completely blind to is that while he is condescending towards single-issue activists for animal rights, he doesn't realize that his article, +972 magazine and his entire far-Left community is focused on a single issue as well: the evil of Israel, especially the"occupation."

To these fanatics - and they are no less fanatic than Gary Yourofsky - there is only one issue, Israel's supposedly horrible treatment of non-Jews. When they hear about Yourofsky speaking in Ariel, the first question they ask is "what about the occupation?" When they hear that a politician they don't like advocates a liberal position, they ask "what about the occupation?" When they see Israel sending aid to Haiti or the Phillipines, they ask "what about the occupation?"

To these far Left fanatics, the "occupation" and the fact of Israel's unique evil trumps all else. They see everything Israel does, whether it is a music festival or archaeology or scientific achievements or medical breakthroughs, as simply either proof of oppressing Palestinian Arabs or a scheme to distract the world from Israel's oppression of Palestinian Arabs. The only thing good about Israel, to these haters, is that there are so many people there that loathe Israel.

Like Yourofsky, they simply cannot hold two ideas in their heads at once. Because, to fanatics, the world can only be divided into those who see the world exactly their way and those who don't. There is no grey, no middle ground, nothing even orthogonal to their pet topic. Nothing else exists.

That's pretty much the definition of "fanatic."

(See also here and here for previous examples of this obsession among the anti-Zionist Israelis.)

(h/t Ruchie)

Gazans celebrate "victory" in Pillar of Defense anniversary

Yesterday was the first anniversary of the start of Operation Pillar of Defense, which Islamic Jihad called "Operation Blue Sky," and the group marked its "victory" with one of its ubiquitous parades through the streets of Gaza:

And, of course, the wookie:

John Kerry wrote letter supporting anti-Israel extremists in 2009 (update x2)

From Arutz-7:

John Kerry provided a signed letter of support to an extremely radical group of leftists and anti-Israel activists who were organizing a march on Gaza in 2009, revales Maariv's Ben-Dror Yemini. Members of the group eventually wound up on the 2010 Gaza flotilla that included the Mavi Marmara, on whose deck a bloody confrontation between Turkish terrorists and the IDF ended with 9 dead terrorists.

Yemini says that the Gaza Freedom March organizers included Ali Abunima and Omar Barghouti, leaders of the Israel boycott campaign, musician Roger Waters, and members of Code Pink, which he describes as a radical feminist anti-Israeli group. One of the Code Pink activists was Jody Evans, who had worked as a fundraiser in Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.

As they prepared to begin their journey to Gaza, members of the radical group tried to get support from leading US officials. One official who agreed to do this was then-Senator Kerry, who served as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee at the time.

In the letter he provided, Kerry expresses his “strong support” for the “humanitarian” delegation and asks that “every courtesy” be given them. Yemini adds that Abunima and Evans showed the letter to Egyptian officials, who decided to prevent them from going on to Gaza anyway. Evans and fellow Code Pink activists eventually boarded the Free Gaza Flotilla.

Kerry should have known better, opines Yemini, after members of Code Pink met with Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2008. He asks, “How is it that a senior senator gave legitimacy to a group that was characterized by support for Hamas, support for Ahmadinejad, and deep hostility toward Israel and the US?”

Here is the letter where John Kerry refers to these anti-Israel agitators as "humanitarian" :

Code Pink, in its announcement asking for support for the Gaza Freedom March, said that the US was complicit in Israel's "crimes."

The anti-Israel agitators did not make it to Gaza. Egypt wouldn't let them go, despite Kerry's letter. They pretended they were martyrs themselves, some starting a hunger strike. Adam Shapiro (of Mondoweiss) noticed some nascent anti-Egypt protests in Cairo and had the audacity to believe that his group was responsible for that. Anti-Zionist Hedy Epstein, always trotted out because she is a pseudo-"Holocaust survivor," said "We're in a desperate situation here" - because her suitcase of crayons and paper would not make it into Gaza. The entire trip was an exercise in narcissism and slamming Israel, not about helping a single human being.

Yet John Kerry, in his position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, writing about this group of self-centered haters, said that "my staff has met with members of the group, and is impressed with their ability, dedication and commitment to the peace process."

(ht Ilya)

UPDATE: I didn't realize that this was reported back in 2010. Of course, at that time Kerry wasn't the Secretary of State. (h/t Bob K)

UPDATE 2: The State Department says that the implication here is wrong.

The letter from Sen. Kerry regarding the humanitarian mission in Israel and the Palestinian territories was a form letter that was auto-penned, a standard constituent mail that congressional members send out as common practice. The Massachusetts Senate office receives hundreds of requests each year for letters like this for constituents traveling to other countries.
Sen. Kerry never saw it, nor did senior staff see it. It was put together by his Boston office and would also not have involved senior staff members on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Moreover, the text of the letter has nothing to do with the flotilla incident or even Gaza.
It focuses purely on a humanitarian mission in Israel and the Palestinian territories in support of the peace process. Kerry’s staff would have provided the letter so that Massachusetts residents could receive meetings while they were in Israel and the Palestinian territories. That is all. And if it was used for anything else it was under false pretenses.
The two flotilla participants who the article says used the letter are both non-residents of Massachusetts. The letter specifically alludes to a Massachusetts delegation. Ali Abunimah lives in Chicago, Jodie Evans lives in California. None of these people had contact with Sen. Kerry’s office and if these people were carrying the letter, it was under false pretenses that are not the responsibility of Kerry’s senate office.

(h/t Bob K)

Kurds declare autonomous government in Syria

From Al Arabiya:

Following a series of military gains, Syrian Kurds in the northeast of the country announced on Tuesday the formation of a transitional autonomous government.

The latest declaration comes amid a general strengthening of Kurdish rights in neighboring Turkey, and increasing moves towards independence by Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region.

Long oppressed under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his father before him, Kurds view the civil war as an opportunity to gain the kind of autonomy enjoyed by their ethnic kin in neighboring Iraq.

The announcement was made after talks in the mostly-Kurdish town of Qamishli, and comes after Kurdish leaders announced plans to create the temporary government in July.

The transitional autonomous government involves the division of Syria’s Kurdish region into three areas, each with its own local assembly, as well as representatives to a regional executive body, AFP reported.

Tuesday’s statement detailed the “formation of a transitional civil administration for the area of Western Kurdistan-Syria.”
...
Kurdish regions of northern Syria have been administered by local Kurdish councils since forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad withdrew in the middle of 2012.

The redeployment was seen as a tactical move by the regime, one which freed up forces to battle rebels elsewhere, and encouraged the Kurds to avoid allying with the opposition.

More recently, Kurds have battled with jihadist groups keen to secure a wider corridor between Syria and Iraq to ensure more regular supplies and reinforcements.

Last month Kurdish forces seized control of a crucial border point with Iraq.

Fighting between the Kurdish militiamen and jihadists ostensibly battling to topple Assad has added another level of complexity to the civil war, which has claimed an estimated 120,000 lives since 2011.

Kurds represent about 15 percent of the Syrian population, and are mostly concentrated in the northern part of the country.

This is big.

And it can get even bigger if the Syrian Kurds decide to unite with the Iraqi Kurds, who also have an autonomous government. (Turkey's and Iran's Kurds are not in as good a position to make a bid for self-rule.)

11/12 Links Pt2: Anti-BDS Leftists, Kristallnacht’s shadow hangs over Europe, Belarus honors Begin

From Ian:

The BDS movement and the opportunistic exploitation of self-denying Jews

As I have argued elsewhere, there is little doubt that a Greater Palestine is the ultimate political objective of the international Campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel (BDS). Not surprisingly within the BDS movement, the opinions of the small minority of anti-Zionist Jews loom larger than life. For example, Federal Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon has claimed that "many Jewish communities support this work." In fact, no Jewish communities support the BDS. Similarly, the Mayor of Marrickville, Fiona Byrne, proudly cited support from the NSW Jews against the Occupation group which has about 10 members, and also claimed support from "a growing number of Jews from all over the world." In fact, the only organized Jewish community group in Marrickville, the Inner West Jewish Community and Friends Peace Alliance which is left-oriented and strongly supportive of a two-state solution, devoted considerable time and resources to opposing the Marrickville BDS proposal during the 2011 NSW State election campaign.
Similarly, BDS campaigner Professor Jake Lynch, head of Sydney University's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, has responded to accusations of discrimination against Israeli Jews by citing talks at the Centre by anti-Zionist Jews such as Ilan Pappe and Noam Chomsky as evidence of a non-racist policy. But Lynch is disingenuous in not acknowledging that virtually all the Jews hosted by the Centre have been fanatical anti-Zionists, and that the Centre has specifically excluded any pro-Israel Jews. (h/t Daphne Anson)

Gerald Steinberg - NGO Monitor: A still, small leftwing voice against BDS

The radical anti-Zionist Left also promotes what is euphemistically referred to as a “bi-national solution”, and invents legal arguments, such as a “right of return” for millions of Palestinian who claim refugee status. Both concepts have no substantive foundation, and are the equivalent of wiping Israel off the map.
This political warfare goes far beyond criticism of occupation and settlements, and debates on Israel’s policies on the complexities of borders, Palestinian terrorism, and security. In launching their campaign to counter the radical Left, Ameinu’s leaders recognize that the use of terms like apartheid, accompanied by systematic discrimination against the Jewish homeland, and boycott campaigns (BDS) are designed to roll back the clock to 1948 and delegitimize Israel, regardless of borders. As many Israelis have long known, this means that even with a peace agreement, the hatred and mass terror would continue, nullifying benefits from concessions required for a two-state solution.

Brooklyn College to Play Host to Another Anti-Israel Event

The City University of New York’s (CUNY) Brooklyn College is again provoking passions, playing host this week to an anti-Israel activist who many, citing his published writings, believe to be anti-Semitic.
Ben White, who describes himself as a writer, freelance journalist and researcher on his Twitter page, will give a talk Thursday, November 14th called “Israel: Apartheid not Democracy,” as part of a mini-tour of college campuses that will also include a stop at John Jay College in Manhattan. The event is to be hosted by the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

Breaking the Facade of Breaking the Silence

The pair hope to spark debate in the Israeli public, so they visit American college campuses? Israelis hoping to find the pairs' book in Hebrew should not waste their time. If the book, Our Harsh Logic, published by the American publisher Picador, exists in Hebrew, it has not left so much as a trace on the Internet. So much for sparking public debate among the Israeli public.

German trade union leader opposes West Bank boycott

German trade union leader Michael Sommer vowed to stand up to unionists who want to boycott goods made in West Bank Jewish settlements.
“As long as I am head of this organization, there will never be a resolution that says ‘Don’t buy from Jews,’ ” said Sommer, 61, chair of the Federation of German Trade Unions, accepting the Arno Lustiger Award at the third annual German-Israel Congress on Sunday.

Kristallnacht’s Long Shadow Hangs Over Europe

The Nazi Holocaust was the quintessential example of humanity’s capacity for evil. Here are three points for gentile and Jew to reflect on this Kristallnacht.
First: If European leaders refuse to protect live Jews, they shouldn’t bother attending memorials for 6 million dead Jews.
Second: Stop de-Judaizing the Nazi Holocaust. Evil is not merely an abstract idea. The Nazis murdered Anne Frank and six million of her brethren for death only because she and they were Jews. Public memorials and teaching modules omitting this truth desecrate the dead.
Third:We Jews have to toughen up. Accepting the status quo in Europe is demeaning and only emboldens the bigots on the street and in the halls of Parliaments.

Anonymous fights Zionist 'apartheid' with a Twitter hashtag. Doesn't it know how stupid it looks?

This weekend the hacktivist collective Anonymous launched what it calls #OpBOYCOTTIsrael, a Twitter campaign aimed at encouraging "disinvestment" from Israeli goods. The manifesto for this operation, posted on Pastebin, says "Disinvestment works – the strategy played a potent role in dismantling apartheid in South Africa and it can work to dismantle Israeli apartheid in Palestine, too."
The plan – explained in excellent detail here by The Daily Dot – is to highlight the 729 barcode which identifies Israeli goods, and thus enable a boycott. Facetiously, I could suggest that therefore that Anonymous should stop using Intel processors (invented in Israel), removable hard drives (invented in Israel) and VOIP Internet calls (you guessed it, Israel).

West must stop appeasing efforts to ban criticism of Islam

It is no accident that the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states, "Congress shall make no law ...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." It is also no accident that there is no such absolute provision in the Arab and Islamic world.
On the contrary, for at least fifteen years a concerted effort has been made by Islamic organizations, particularly the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to prevent or limit criticism of Islam and the Prophet.

Pat Condell - How gay is Islam?

BBC changes fraud show trailer amid antisemitism concern

BBC producers have changed a trailer for a series about tax and benefit fraudsters following complaints that it could be seen as antisemitic.
The original trailer for Britain on the Fiddle featured the song “If I Were a Rich Man”, from Fiddler on the Roof, the 1960s film about Jews in a Russian shtetl.
Some viewers felt that the choice of music pandered to negative stereotypes about Jews and money.

Report: Jordan vetoes Israeli request to allow Jewish prayer on Temple Mount

The top Jordanian government official responsible for the custodianship of religious holy sites in Jerusalem is quoted in local press on Tuesday as saying that he is “adamantly opposed” to any Jewish worship atop the Temple Mount.
Abd Al-Nasser Nassar, who serves as Amman’s top legal adviser for Islamic and Christian property in Jerusalem, is quoted as telling the Jordanian daily al-Rad that his government rejected an Israeli request to allow for Jews to pray in a small, designated area atop the site.

Conference Urges Israel Advocates to Champion Judea and Samaria

US Secretary of State John Kerry drew fire from Israelis late last week, when he slammed Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria as "illegitimate". But an upcoming conference in New York City to challenge Jews in the Diaspora to do more to confront the delegimization of the "settlements" themselves.

Knesset committee discusses attacks on Israelis, others at Mount of Olives

One day after a yeshiva student was hospitalized following a rock-throwing attack while driving near the Mount of Olives – illustrating the ongoing pattern of violence endemic to the area – the Knesset Interior Committee met on Monday to discuss improving security there.
In east Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives is home to Judaism’s oldest cemetery, where four prophets, former prime minister Menachem Begin, Hebrew revivalist Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and leaders of revered rabbinical dynasties are buried. It is accessible only by driving through Palestinian neighborhoods.

Rafi Eitan says US told Israel that Pollard would only serve 10 years

Former cabinet minister Rafi Eitan, who was the intelligence officer who operated Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard in the mid-1980s, revealed Monday that he incriminated him because he was told Pollard would serve no more than 10 years in prison.
Speaking to Army Radio to mark Monday’s anniversary according to the Hebrew calendar of Pollard’s arrest in 1985, Eitan referred to secret understandings reached between the Israeli and US governments.

The truth about anti-Semitism in Germany

Two weeks ago German public television broadcast a film titled Anti-Semitism today – how hostile is Germany? 1.6 million people watched the 50-minute-documentary – not very many in a country of 82 million.
A few newspapers wrote about it, and not a single political leader commented on it.
Public outrage? Not at all.

Amazon’s Holocaust shame

In a letter to Amazon CEO Jeffrey Bezos, we appealed to Amazon’s sense of corporate responsibility, arguing that “no one should profit from the sale of such vile and offensive hate literature,” adding that “many Holocaust survivors are deeply offended by the fact that the world’s largest online retailer is making money from selling such material.”
Apparently, the company has chosen to ignore our campaign. As of this writing, those titles are still being sold on the site.

Israelis in Odessa: We're attacked by neo-Nazis

"I also know of about 12 Israeli students who were beaten. Yesterday I tried all day to get in contact with the Israeli embassy, and no one answered."
His description of the horror facing foreign students in the city continued: "These gangs threaten Arab-Israelis and Jews both, and in general all foreigners. Around the afternoon it's already dark, and then we can't leave the house anymore. The danger is greater for the girls. I haven't been to the local hospital because I don't feel safe there and I'm afraid." (h/t Zvi)

Neo-Nazis Rally in Kansas City on Kristallnacht Anniversary

A Neo-Nazi group rallied outside of a Kansas City, MO courthouse over the weekend and ripped up a tallit (Jewish prayer shawl) in front of hundreds of booing counter-protestors, Vocativ reports.
The National Socialist Movement allegedly rallied outside the courthouse in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht, a night of systemic pogroms against German Jews by the Nazi government and a historic marker signaling the beginning of the Holocaust. A video clip shows one Neo-Nazi ripping up the tallit behind a police barricade, to a chorus of boos and protests.

Last Jew in Afghanistan faces ruin as kebabs fail to sell

Zabulon Simintov always removes his kippah, the skullcap worn by Jewish men, before entering his cafe in a dilapidated building that also houses Afghanistan's last synagogue.
"Let me take off my cap, otherwise people will think something bad about me," Simintov said cheerfully as he descended grime-caked stairs to the ground-floor cafe.

Ministry: October a Record Month for Tourism

Israel set a tourism record last month, as 339,000 tourists entered the country in October 2013 – 14% more than a year earlier, and the highest single month number of entries in the country's history. This October broke the last record, set in 2010, by 4%, Tourism Ministry officials said Monday.

For the ‘start-up nation,’ an Arab challenge

The Israeli government has also come to realize the importance of Arab high-tech. The Economics and Trade Ministry, headed by Naftali Bennett, has allocated NIS 414 million ($118 million) to the development of industrial zones in and around Arab cities. The ministry also reimburses employers for 30 percent of the salaries of Arab employees during their first three years of work.
Yet Rasem Natour, head of industry development in the Arab sector at the Ministry of Economy, said that Arab society still lacks an entrepreneurial spirit to match that of the Jewish majority.
“The initiative cannot come from the government,” he told The Times of Israel. “We need Arab entrepreneurship, which is sadly lacking.” (h/t Zvi)

Belarus Commemorates Former Israeli PM Begin With Statue, Releases Stamps Honoring Zionist Leaders

The statue marks the centenary of his birth and was placed in the town square next to the Jewish school Begin attended as a boy. The square was also the site where hundreds of Jews were rounded up by the Nazis before they were executed on the river Bug, among them his father.
The Belarussian mail service also published a set of stamps with portraits of Zionist leaders born in the country. Among them are: Prime Ministers Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, Presidents Chaim Weizmann, Zalman Shazar, and Shimon Peres.

After four days of stonewalling, Brandeis University commented on the Fascist-style display at an Islamic Jihad rally at its partner Al Quds University last week.

The Brandeis University community abhors the actions that took place on the Al-Quds University campus and condemns all acts that incite or encourage senseless violence.

We have been told that the events of November 5 at Al-Quds University were led from people outside the university and this was an unauthorized demonstration. The administration of Al-Quds University assures us that threat of violence implied by the demonstration are not acceptable on their campus and the University administration is conducting a full investigation.

I know that you share my outrage that demonstrations of this nature occur in any part of the world and particularly on a university campus, where they have no place whatsoever.

The only problem is that is not true.

As Tom Gross reports:

Palestinian students at Al-Quds University tell me that the rally was organized and attended by Al-Quds university students belonging to the Islamic Jihad faction of students at Al-Quds University, and held on campus with the full knowledge of the Al-Quds University administration, and the Brandeis statement is incorrect.

In addition, the photos show a very clearly organized event, with a huge printed backdrop with pictures of suicide bombers, a “red carpet” style Israeli flag walkway for all to trample on, seats carefully laid out for the audience, and a sun cover mounted over the seats to shield the audience from the sun.

The statement by the Brandeis president also ignores the previous two similar demonstrations held on campus so far this academic year by the Hamas student faction at Al-Quds. Will the Brandeis president call for the dismantling of the Islamic Jihad faction of students at Al-Quds University? Islamic Jihad, by their own admission, have killed civilians including children and babies and are listed by both the U.S. and EU as a terrorist group.
...
I am told further, having spoken to students at the university, that there is no such thing as an unauthorized demonstration at Al-Quds University, or indeed almost anywhere under Palestinian Authority control. The university has security guards at the gates that monitor everyone that comes into the university. You have to show student ID to get on to the campus. Last Tuesday's student-organized Islamic Jihad rally lasted between two and three hours and up to 1000 students attended or watched the rally for at least part of this time, according to students who were there.

And in the Al-Quds demonstration by the Hamas student faction a few weeks ago, vile literature was handed out, including leaflets comparing the Israeli campaign in Gaza to the Hiroshima nuclear bomb, and photos of suicide bombers were displayed.

Another organization designated by the West as a terrorist group, the PFLP, which also has a student faction at the university, also held a student rally a few weeks ago on the campus of Al-Quds.

I guess, to Brandeis, being "liberal" means cozying up to terrorists. It's chic.

PA: "Jews poisoned Arafat just like they poisoned Mohammed"

From Palestinian Media Watch:

In a recent sermon broadcast on official PA TV, the Palestinian Authority Minister of Religious Affairs compared Arafat's death to that of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, saying both were poisoned and murdered by Jews.

According to the Hadith (sayings and practices attributed to Islam's Prophet Muhammad), a Jewish woman in the Jewish town of Khaibar served Muhammad poisoned meat. On his deathbed three years later, Muhammad told his wife Aisha that the pain he was experiencing was caused by the poisoned meat that he was given by the Jews.

In his sermon, PA Minister of Religious Affairs Al-Habbash preached that Arafat was murdered in the same way as Muhammad, repeating three times that Muhammad died from poison given to him in Khaibar - a town known for being Jewish in Islamic tradition:

Yasser Arafat died a Martyr (Shahid) - we don't have the slightest doubt that they (i.e., the Jews/Israelis) killed him. One way or another, they killed him. Even Allah's Messenger [Muhammad] - they (i.e., the Jews) killed him with poison. When he was dying, he said to his wife Aisha: 'I feel the same pain I felt from the poison that I ate at Khaibar (Jewish village).' Poison that he ate at Khaibar. He continued to feel the pain until he died. 'I feel the same pain I felt from the poison that I ate at Khaibar.'

Be satisfied, oh mighty one, oh Martyr Arafat, that you were killed the same way Allah’s Messenger was killed... We have no doubt, and I don’t think there is a single one among us who has the slightest doubt that Arafat was killed. Deep inside we all know who killed him.”

How can he compare Arafat with Mohammed?

Arafat was into boys, while Mohammed was into girls.

For months, an organization called Tamarod Gaza has promised a massive anti-Hamas rally for November 11. It gathered media attention and Hamas was nervous with some arrests of some of the leaders ahead of time.

November 11 came and went, and nothing happened.

A regular weekly women's protest calling for the end to the division between Hamas and Fatah in a square in Gaza was broken up by Hamas which didn't allow people or vehicles to enter the area.

That was it.

Tamarod Gaza's Facebook page pretends that its non-protest was a success, saying "read between the lines" and it is better to bounce back after a fall than to lie there and be trampled.

Hamas is weaker than it has been at any time since it took over power in Gaza. It no longer has sponsorship from the Egyptian government. People are upset not only at the continued division but also at the inability to travel to Egypt and Hamas' holding Gazans hostage to get a better deal on fuel for the power plant. This was the perfect time to kick off a popular anti-Hamas movement and to put real pressure on the terror movement - and from all appearances, they chickened out.

11/12 Links Pt1: Kerry’s ME dream world, Hamas 2.0, Khamenei the Billionaire, Saudi Camel News

From Ian:

John Kerry’s Middle East dream world

To those outside the Kerry bubble, Egypt is ruled by a regime more repressive than any in decades, with a muzzled media and thousands of political prisoners. Syria is mired in an anarchic struggle whose most likely winners appear to be Assad and al-Qaeda , with neither inclined to negotiation. Israelis and Palestinians are further apart on the terms for a settlement than they were at the turn of the century. And the emerging conditions for a deal with Iran threaten to drive a wedge between the United States and some of its closest allies.
This raises the question: Does Kerry really believe his rhetoric? In fact, it appears he does, particularly on the Israeli-Palestinian account. Desperate for a legacy at the end of his long career, the former senator has convinced himself that a) the terms for a settlement are readily apparent and b) he has the political skills to convince Netanyahu and Abbas to accept them. Kerry, like President Obama, also is convinced that detente, if not a “grand bargain,” has all along been possible between the United States and Iran, if only the right people (like him) are at the table.

The Obama Administration is Spineless in the Middle East

Here, in a nutshell, are the principles driving the Obama Administration’s Middle East policy. Screw the Syrians. Don’t upset the Iranians. And stop those damn Israelis from wrecking Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations.
We are coming to the end of year marked by shameful climb-downs in the face of our enemies and utterly unreasonable demands made of our allies. In Syria, Obama temporarily toyed with the idea of launching air strikes against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, before being seduced by a Russian proposal to have that same regime dismantle its own weapons of mass destruction. There were lots of good reasons to attack Assad, for example his military reliance on the Iranian regime and the terrorists of Hezbollah, as well as the moral imperative of combating the sheer evil of chemical weapons, but Obama, buoyed by isolationists on right and left, placed his faith in Vladimir Putin instead.

HuffPo Monitor: The Actual Truth about "Palestine"

There's a new video making its way around "debunking" Danny Ayalon's video that came out (wait for it) two years ago. As is usually the case with Palsbara, insults, ridicule, whining, the race card, and strawman arguments take the place of actual arguments. So Matt and I thought we would create a video debunking their debunking. Check it out below:

IsraellyCool: The “Real” Truth About Palestine: Sex Appeal, Lies and Videotape

My point here is not to criticize the women’s choice of profession (although their politics leaves a lot to be desired). It is to show that the organization that put together the video hired a couple of attractive actresses – neither of whom are actually “Palestinian” according to the definition of someone born here – in order to increase the appeal of the video. They even had one of them put on a fake accent, presumably to make her more appealing (in my opinion, it worked!)
None of this surprises me, given the level of authenticity of the arguments they put forward in the video.

Stuxnet, gone rogue, hit Russian nuke plant, space station

A Russian nuclear power plant was reportedly “badly infected” by the rogue Stuxnet virus, the same malware that reportedly disrupted Iran’s nuclear program several years ago. The virus then spread to the International Space Station via a Stuxnet-infected USB stick transported by Russian cosmonauts.
Speaking to journalists in Canberra, Australia, last week, Eugene Kaspersky, head of the anti-virus and cyber protection firm that bears his name, said he had been tipped off about the damage by a friend who works at the Russian plant.

Police Close Down Fatah Club in Jerusalem Neighborhood

The riot broke out after police attempted to close down a social club operated by the Fatah terror group. Institutions and offices operated by the Palestinian Authority or PA terror groups – of which Fatah is one – are not allowed to operate in Jerusalem, and police close down offices operated by Fatah and Hamas on a regular basis.
Police were alerted to the gathering a large group at the site, which turned out to be a memorial service for Yasser Arafat. As police entered the premises, Arabs began to riot, but police used anti-riot tactics to quell the riot.

Hamas, version 2.0?

While Hamas claims to have renounced suicide bombings, it is still committed to rabid anti-Zionism and to violently attacking the Jewish state and its people. Although the past months have been quiet on the Israel-Gaza border, that does not negate the recent Hamas plan to launch explosive laden drone attacks at Israeli towns and settlements (which was ironically foiled by local Palestinian Authority police officers in Hebron).
Yes, Hamas is changing. But this has more to do with realpolitik and less a reflection of any change in the desires and choices of its leadership. When we see its new “softer” face, turned towards Western media, in be an attempt to suggest more substantial policy changes, this is just a veneer. At its heart, Hamas remains as it always has been, the same violent Islamist group, committed to terror and violence. We would all do well to remember that, and not be taken in when we see the new “moderate” face of Hamas. There is no “Hamas 2.0”.

Egypt destroys smuggling tunnels on Gaza border

The closures are also affecting the general population, as the loss of fuel supplies through the tunnel has forced Gaza’s only power plant to shut down, causing power outages that last as long as 12 hours.
Egypt also has halted transfers of Qatari-funded fuel and frequently closed the Rafah border crossing because of militant attacks on Egyptian security forces in the lawless Sinai Peninsula.

In Depth: Iran's Khamenei controls vast financial empire worth some $95 billion

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei controls a business empire worth around $95 billion - a sum exceeding the value of his oil-rich nation's current annual petroleum exports - a six-month Reuters investigation shows.
The little-known organization, called Setad, is one of the keys to the Iranian leader's enduring power and now holds stakes in nearly every sector of Iranian industry, including finance, oil, telecommunications, the production of birth-control pills and even ostrich farming.
Setad has built its empire on the systematic seizure of thousands of properties belonging to ordinary Iranians - members of religious minorities, Shi'ite Muslims, business people and Iranians living abroad.

Iran FM snaps back at Kerry about talks’ failure

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday took to Twitter to strike back at his American counterpart, Secretary of State John Kerry, placing the blame on the world powers for the failure of nuclear talks to yield an agreement over the weekend.
“Mr. Secretary, was it Iran that gutted over half of US draft Thursday night? and publicly commented against it Friday morning?” he inquired via Twitter.

Human Rights Groups, Lawmakers Blast Iran For Abuse of Christian and Political Prisoners

The statement also described “torture during pre-trial detention and harsh sentences after extremely unfair trials” and stated that “the Iranian authorities are silently preparing the death of prisoners of conscience.”
It came on the same day as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that another 12 Iranian prisoners had been executed amid what the outlet described as “a surge in the use of the death penalty there.”

Britain revives ties with Iran, two years after embassy attack

Britain said on Monday it had revived diplomatic relations with Iran and appointed a non-resident charge d'affaires, two years after an angry mob ransacked the British embassy in Tehran.

MEMRI: Hizbullah MP: if Iran Continues to Stockpile Uranium, It Will Be Able to Produce a Nuclear Bomb

Moscow on the Nile

It appears el-Sissi's announcement was meant to lay the groundwork for the high-ranking Russian delegation set to arrive in Cairo this weekend. Russia and Egypt have been holding secret talks in recent months, with the goal of establishing a new strategic alliance in the area. Such an alliance would further weaken the U.S.'s sway in the area and give Russia a foothold in Egypt for the first time in 40 years.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy visited Moscow last month, and now the Russian foreign and defense minister will be arriving in Cairo. The Russian visit is historically significant; it is the first time high-ranking Russian officials will visit Cairo in official capacity since Former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat kicked out his Soviet advisers in the early 1970s.

Egypt Turning to Russia? Don’t Count On It

Saudi Prince Faisal al-Turki, in an interview in the Washington Post, decried the ineffectual nature of the American administration, but asked whether Russia could fill the gap, replied, “I don’t think Russia will ever fill the gap. [Russia's support of Syria] is costing the Russians the rest of the Muslim world. They are fighting on the wrong side.”
It is better to be the “ineffectual” United States than to be Russia “fighting on the wrong side.” The U.S. has more room to maneuver. This may be what prompted Secretary Kerry’s hasty and flowery addition of Cairo to his itinerary, but Arab skepticism about American intentions will not be overcome with mere words.

Egypt 'worst for women' out of 22 countries in Arab world

Iraq ranked second-worst after Egypt, followed by Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen.
The Comoros, where women hold 20% of ministerial positions, is followed at the top of the rankings by Oman, Kuwait, Jordan and Qatar.
The poll asked experts to assess factors such as violence against women, reproductive rights, treatment of women within the family and women's role in politics and the economy. (h/t NormanF)

Two Killed as Saudi Government Cracks Down on Illegal Workers

The latest deaths follow the killing of an Ethiopian immigrant on Wednesday. According to reports the man was shot dead by Saudi police as they moved in to clear illegal encampments set up by immigrants.
According to the BBC nearly one million foreigners are believed to have left the Gulf state in the last three months, from countries including Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, Nepal, Pakistan and Yemen.

Saudi Science Discovers Cancer Cure in Camel Urine Nano-Particles

While the Zionists sneer about all the Nobel Prizes won by Jews, Muslim science founded on the unerring Koran and Hadiths transmitted by the Angel Gabriel and occasionally Satan, to an illiterate desert bandit, is about to yield the greatest prize of them all.
A cure for the most dreaded of diseases where you might least expect it, but exactly where a Koran-literate Muslim would expect to find it. (h/t Elder of Lobby)
Covered by EoZ in 2009

Saudi Says First Camel Tests Positive for MERS Virus

The Saudi government said Monday that a camel has tested positive for MERS, in the first case of an animal infected with the coronavirus that has killed 64 people worldwide.
A camel owned by a person diagnosed with the disease had "tested positive in preliminary laboratory checks," the health ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.