List of latest murderers to be released for "peace" and their victims

Releasing murderers in the name of peace is truly one of the most bizarre acts that any sovereign nation has ever done.

This is mostly taken from The Jewish Press, translating a document from Israel Prison Service, a list of terrorists slated to be released this week and the names of their victims. For some I added links or other details of the terror acts and the victims.

Terrorist	Terror Attack	Arrest Date	Residence
Ahmed Farid Muhamed Shachada	Murdered a suspect collaborator with Israel	2/16/1984	Ramallah
Muhamed Ahmed Abed El-Hamid Tos	Murdered Zalman Abuknick, Michael Cohen, Meir Ben Yair, Edna Harari, and Moti Suissa	10/6/1985	Hebron
Muhamed Aadel Hassan Daud	Murdered Ofra and Tal Moses with a firebomb on their car	12/8/1987	Kalkilya
Juma Ibrahim Juma Adam	Murdered Rachel Weiss, her 3 children, and a soldier David Delarosa with a firebomb thrown at a bus	10/31/1988	Ramallah
Mahmoud Salam Saliman Abu Harbish	Murdered Rachel Weiss, her 3 children, and a soldier David Delarosa with a firebomb thrown at a bus	11/3/1988	Jericho
Ibrahim Lufi Chalmi Taktok	Murdered IDF soldier Binyamin Meisner	3/3/1989	Shechem
Bilal Ibrahim Mustafa Damra	Murdered Frederich Rosenfeld , 48, a New York native, stabbed while hiking near the Ariel settlement	6/20/1989	Salafit
Raid Muhmad Sharif Saadi		1/23/1991	Jenin
Hosni Fara Ahmed Swalcha	Murdered Baruch Heisler and wounded others on Bus 66 in Ramat gan	12/2/1990	Shechem
Muhamed Ahmed Mahmoud Sabar		1/23/1991	Jenin
Fars Ahmed Muhamed Barud	Murdered Mordechai Roitman and wounded 3 others in a furniture store in Hadera	3/23/1991	Gaza
Faisal Mustafa Mahmoud Abu El-Rab	Murdered IDF soldier Yoram Cohen	9/25/1991	Jenin
Jamal Haled Ibrahim Abu Muchsan	Stabbed to death Shlomo Yichye (76) in Kadima.A gardener, the father of six was stabbed to death during the Sukkot holiday	10/4/1991	Jenin
Muhamed Ata Mahmoud Muamar	Murdered Israel Prize winner Professor Menachem Stern in the Valley of the Cross in Jerusalem	2/24/1992	Beit Lechem
Naaman Yussef Ahmed Shalbi	Murdered two Druze citizens: Jamal Hasson and Mofid Canaan	5/7/1992	Jenin
Adnan Muhamed Yusef Affendi	Injured two youths: Yaniv Shacham and Dan Rotokovitch in Jerusalem. Was saved from lynch by Hareidi woman.	5/13/1992	Beit Lechem
Diaa Zacharia Shaker Al-Faluji	Murdered Amatzia Ben-Haim in a Ganei Tal hot house	10/12/1992/td>	Gaza
Mahmoud Fauzi Salma Falena	Murdered Yehudit Ostron in Dolev with a roadside bomb. 8 others injured in the attack	11/29/1992	Ramallah
Nasser Abdullah Abed Al-Hamid Abu Sror	Murdered Shabak agent:Haim Nachmani	1/4/1993	Beit Lechem
Mahmoud Jamal Hassan Abu Sror	Murdered Shabak agent:Haim Nachmani	1/5/1993	Beit Lechem
Osama Haled Camel Silawi	PLO-Fatah commander in Jenin. Trained the murderers of Moti Biton	2/16/1993	Jenin
Muhamed Mustafa Ahmed Afana	Murdered Sara Sharon in Holon. The mother of seven was stabbed on Yogev 4. Street in Holon on January 20, 1993.	4/1/1993	Ramallah
Ramadan Muhamed Odeh Yaakub	Murdered Sara Sharon in Holon	4/19/1993	Ramallah
Aiman Muhamed Anis Jeradat	Murdered 2 Israeli Druze and collaberators with Israel	4/24/1992	Jenin
Ahmed Awad Ali Camil	Murdered 5 Israelis and 50 Palestinians. Commander of Black Panther terrorist group.	9/29/1993	Jenin
Saeed Rashdie Muhamed Tamimi	Murdered Haim Mizrachi while he was buying eggs outside the Beit El	11/9/1993	Ramallah
Ala A-din Fahami Fahad Al-Karki		12/18/1993	Hebron
Nasser Fauzi Mustafa Barhom	Murdered Morris Edri, his employer, in a store in Netanya	12/22/1993	Tul Karem
Mahmoud Muhamed Redwan Salamon		5/6/1994	Gaza
Ibrahim Faiz Mahmoud Abu Ali		10/8/1994	Gaza

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12/28 Links: How the Zionist-Left Prolongs the Arab-Israel Conflict, BDS group uses Anne Frank

From Ian:

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How the Zionist-Left Prolongs the Arab-Israel Conflict

The Zionist-Left is responsible, at least in part, for prolonging the long Arab war against the Jews of the Middle East. It is also responsible, at least in part, for encouraging the movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel (BDS) and for encouraging rising European hostility toward the Jewish state, if not toward Jews, more generally.
This is, of course, not their intention and many would scoff at the very notion without giving it any actual consideration. Nonetheless, the Zionist-Left, through refusing to see past the Oslo Delusion, through giving credence to hysterical, toxic, and largely false Arab claims of Jewish wrong-doing, and through demonizing Jews who choose to live within the Jewish heartland of Judaea and Samaria, have provided cover and encouragement to the enemies of the State of Israel, and thus the enemies of the Jewish people. (h/t Bob Knot)

Shavit vs. Jabotinsky

He is wrong. What we, as Zionists, are obligated to do is to create and maintain our Jewish state while doing as little harm to the Arabs as possible. Especially compared to other nationalisms — particularly Arab nationalism — we have done so. The Zionist leadership did what was necessary to create the state, and despite what anti-Zionist revisionist historians say, did not engage in mass murder (as Arabs did whenever possible). Certainly some Arabs were expelled from their homes, mostly — as in the case of Lydda — because of the conflict they were engaged in. Shavit’s feelings of guilt are inappropriate.
And we do not “owe them” a state. In fact, because a Palestinian Arab state in Judea and Samaria is simply incompatible with the continued existence of the Jewish state — a result of military realities and Arab and Muslim intentions — we are obligated to oppose such a state. (h/t NormanF)

Goucher College channels Daniel Patrick Moynihan in denouncing anti-Israel academic boycott

Many of the statements issued are eloquent and forceful, but this one from Goucher College in Towson, Maryland stands out for its clarity in pointing out the pernicious absurdity of the boycott.
Goucher is not an Institutional Member of the ASA.
Some of the language is reminiscent of Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s denunciation of the notorious “Zionism is Racism” U.N. Resolution. I have to think the similarity of language was intentional.

Trinity College profs issue letter supporting Israel boycott, but less than 10% sign

Supporters of the boycott are trying to rally faculty, a tactic we can expect to see at other institutions.
But that rally cry appears to have failed miserably as the highy-pejorative “Open Letter” was signed by less than 10% of the approximately 250 faculty members. Only one of the signatories was outside the Social Sciences and Humanities.

Why Israel’s security barrier matters: a harrowing story often forgotten

On December 18th 2010, Kay Wilson and her Christian, American friend Kristine Luken were hiking through a forest outside Beit Shemesh in Israel, around 15 miles away from Bethlehem, and 20 miles away from Jerusalem.
Wilson, a British-born Israeli tour guide, would never have thought that on that very day, she would witness her friend being murdered in front of her own eyes, and come terrifyingly close to death herself. But that is precisely what happened, after the pair were set upon by two Palestinian terrorists, Ayad Fasafa and Kifah Ghanimat.
The pair, who had crossed into Israel illegally, using an area in which Israel’s security barrier was incomplete, plunged a butcher’s knife into Wilson’s chest 13 times before leaving for dead. Wilson witnessed the last cries of her friend, Luken, as she was killed just metres away.

Stand With Us: An open letter to St. James’ Church at Christmas

Dear Pastor Winkett and St. James Church staff,
What a mean-spirited, one-sided and divisive stunt you chose to politicise your church with this Christmas.
In an ideal world there would be no walls.
In an ideal world there would also be no suicide bombers – radical Islamist Palestinians who hate the Jews that live close to them so much that they are willing to indiscriminately kill them and others – be it in a shopping centre, disco, pizza restaurant or if they are sitting at their Passover Seder. (h/t Bob Knot)

Tear down the Zionist apartheid Thames Barrier: A brave statement by the St John’s Church Leicester Square (Satire)

While the St James’ Church in Piccadilly has constructed a replica of the Zionist apartheid wall in solidarity with our Palestinian brethren at Christmas time, we at the St John’s Church Leicester Square are delighted to unveil an even more impressive act of solidarity: a life-size replica of the hated, apartheid Zionist Thames Barrier. As everybody is aware, the Thames Barrier was erected by the so-called “British Government” of Margaret Thatcher (but under direct Zionist control) 30 years ago. The British Zionists laughingly claim that the Thames Barrier is a ‘security’ barrier to protect London from flooding during high tides. But everybody knows that the barrier was built specifically to fence in the entire Muslim population of Europe. This includes some 285 million Palestinian refugees who form the remnant of the 250 million Palestinians brutally massacred by the Zionists in one day alone in 1967***.

Anti-Israel Amsterdam boycott group uses Anne Frank for Avatar

I guess nothing surprises me anymore about the anti-Israel Boycott Divest and Sanctions movement.
So I’ll just put this out there.
A Twitter account using the @BDSAmsterdam name uses Anne Frank for its Avatar, dressed in an Arab Keffiyeh and apparently has been doing so for quite some time.

Report: Kerry to mull freeing Pollard as condition for Palestinian prisoners release

US Secretary of State John Kerry has reportedly agreed to consider the Israeli request to release Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard as a condition to the release of the remaining 52 Palestinian terrorists, including Israeli-Arabs, Channel 10 reported on Friday, quoting Israeli officials.
Israel has agreed to release 104 Palestinian security prisoners with blood on their hands in four phases as a part of a deal to restart peace talks with the Palestinian Authority. Half of these prisoners have already been released in two groups of 26 in August and October.

Israelis in Poll: Don’t Release Palestinian Convicts Until Pollard is Released

More than half of Israeli Jews—52.4 percent—believe Israel should condition the release of Palestinian prisoners on the U.S. freeing imprisoned Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, according to a new Israel Hayom poll.

Obama Admin to IDF Generals: Stop Being So Concerned About Israel’s Security

After a prominent retired Israeli general spoke out against IDF withdrawal from the Jordan Valley, Israeli media reported that the Obama administration’s head envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, Martin Indyk, convened a meeting of Israeli security officials. He pressured them to drop their objections to the plan and make media appearances in support of it to help sell a skeptical Israeli public on the benefits of a reduction in security.

Israeli Arab Political Party’s Facebook Page Airs Released Terrorist’s Call to Kidnap IDF Soldiers

Samer al-Issawi, a Palestinian-Arab who was released this week from an Israeli prison after a prolonged hunger strike, received a hero’s welcome not only from the Palestinian Authority but also on the Facebook page of the Israeli Arab political party Hadash.
As reported by Israeli daily Ma’ariv on Friday, the Hadash Facebook page posted an excerpt from an interview that al-Issawi conducted with the Hamas terrorist group’s Al-Aqsa Television. During the exchange, al-Issawi called for the kidnapping of Israelis.

Letter to the UN Security Council – will it do anything?

An admirable letter from the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations, Ron Proser.
Which I doubt will do anything. I’m sure everyone agrees.The title is purely a rhetorical question.
Israeli envoy to UN urges Security Council to condemn attacks, decries lack of condemnation from Palestinian leadership.

Defense Minister: Hamas has Changed the Rules

Abu Latif, a Bedouin resident of Rahat in the Negev, was shot as he worked at fixing the security fence between Israel and Gaza.
"I came to comfort the family and the people of Rahat over the heavy loss,” said Yaalon. “We are sorry and pained. I did not know Salah personally but I heard what a dedicated worker he was and what he managed to accomplish in his life.”
"This is the first time that a sniper from Gaza fires at workers on the other side of the fence,” he told the grieving family. “We thought there were 'game rules,' according to which you do not fire at civilians who work near the fence. Until now, they did not fire at civilians, and we will have to think what to do, if someone has changed the rules.”

Slain Defense Ministry employee's family to sue Channel 2

The Abu Latyef family, who lost their son Salah Shukri Abu Latyef, 22, in a shooting on the Gaza border December 24, while he was working as a Defense Ministry employee fixing the Gaza border fence, announced Saturday their intention to sue Channel 2.
Khaled Abu Latyef, cousin of the late Salah Shukri Abu Latyef, told 'The Post' that a Channel 2 reporter had tarnished the name of the deceased, claiming that his uncle was a battalion commander in Hamas, despite the fact that all the cousins ​​on both his father and mother's side are residents and natives of Rahat in Israel and the family has no contact directly or indirectly with Hamas.

Iraq Changes Prayer Direction: Karbala, Not Mecca

Iraq's rising violence and concerns of an all-out sectarian war appears set to flare up even further, as Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki recently ordered Muslim prayers to be directed to the Shi'ite holy city Karbala, instead of Mecca.
Karabala is where Imam Al-Hussein, a Shi'ite "martyr" who refused to surrender the Islamic Caliphate to Sunni leaders, was killed in 680 CE. The city houses his mausoleum, and Al-Maliki's statements came at a memorial to Hussein, who was also Muslim prophet Mohammed's grandson.

Sephardic Group Cautiously Praises Iraqi Government for Recognizing Jewish History

The Sephardic group Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa (JIMENA) cautiously praised the Iraqi government for its recognition of the Jewish community’s role in the country’s history, but still has serious reservations about the government’s claim to the Iraqi Jewish Archive.
In a recent religious ceremony attended by Iraq’s ambassador to the U.S., 49 fragments of a Torah scroll that were part of the Iraqi Jewish Archive collection were buried in accordance with Jewish tradition at the New Montefiore Cemetery in West Babylon, NY.

Minister: France May Ban Anti-Semitic Comedian Dieudonne

France is considering banning performances by a black comedian whose shows have repeatedly insulted the memory of Holocaust victims and could threaten public order, Interior Minister Manuel Valls said on Friday.
He said his ministry is studying legal ways to ban shows by Dieudonne M’bala M’bala, a comedian repeatedly fined for hate speech who ran in the 2009 European Parliament elections at the head of an “Anti-Zionist List” including far-right activists.

Premier League - Anelka accused of anti-semitism after 'quenelle' gesture

Frenchman Anelka, 34, celebrated his first of two goals in the 3-3 draw by apparently making a gesture known as the ‘quenelle’ in France, where it can have anti-semitic connotations. It is made by touching the right shoulder with the left hand, keeping the right arm pointed downwards.
Anelka could face punishment if his actions can be shown to be offensive, insulting, abusive or political. (h/t Kramerica)

Group of 38 Bnei Menashe arrives in Israel

A total of 38 Indian citizens from the Bnei Menashe community made aliya Thursday, the first cohort to arrive since the Knesset approved another wave of immigration for the group.
The immigrants are to spend the next several months in a private absorption center run by the Shavei Israel organization, which arranged and funded their aliya. All of the immigrants are from the outlying Indian state of Mizoram, and 18 of them are 18-years-old or younger.

Israeli Companies Traded On US Exchanges Stand Out With Gains Exceeding 200 Percent

For years, Israeli technical talent has been treated like a farm team by major industry players. Behemoths like Hewlett Packard, Intel and Microsoft opened Israeli subsidiaries and picked off choice companies. Now, as more Israeli companies find their footing in the public markets, ordinary investors are seeking to profit from Israeli expertise in math, science and software.
Roughly half of the Israeli companies listed on the AMEX, NASDAQ and NYSE stock exchanges are poised to close out 2013 with gains of 30 percent or higher. The value of nine companies more than doubled, three tripled, one quadrupled and one microcap specializing in digital identity solutions increased a whopping 3,000 percent.

Person of the year in the Syrian crisis: Israeli health care professionals

This week saw Israel deliver vital medical services to Syrian patient number 200. Last month, a twenty-year-old Syrian refugee gave birth to a boy in the Rebecca Seiff Hospital in Safed, making the baby’s delivery the first Syrian refugee birth in an Israeli medical facility.
The biggest winner of 2013 was not one individual; rather a group of health care professionals in northern Israel from Ziv Medical Center in Safed and Sieff hospital who cared for wounded Syrians.
The endless misery unfolding in Syria has produced few moments of optimism.

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Ottoman officer, living in Haifa, painted a newly-uncovered mural

From Hurriyet Daily News:

Locals in Haifa have discovered a large painting dating back from World War I in a nuts store in the coastal Israeli city.

The 10-meter-wide and three-meter-high painting, which covers the entire wall, depicts an air attack by the British army against the Ottoman army during World War I.

The painting was revealed by a university student who had come to the store for shopping. Seeing a miniature soldier’s head beneath the peeled-off plaster on the wall, the student called a friend who is an expert on wall paintings. The expert went to the store the following day to examine the wall and said a bigger painting could be concealed beneath the plaster.

The university student, the expert and Haifa History Club member Eli Liran obtained permission from the store’s owner to begin peeling off the plaster on the wall.

After a long and detailed work, the painting by an Ottoman soldier was finally revealed.

Dozens of miniatures depicting Turkish warplanes bombing British planes or dead and wounded Turkish soldiers being carried on stretchers were found. Below the painting was the signature of the painter, “Edip Kemal,” and the words “Hotel Zahara Syria.”

Speaking about the issue, Liran said: “We have examined a Hebrew newspaper from this era and found out that Edip Kemal was an Ottoman officer of Transcaucasian origin. He went to Damascus with the Ottoman army, which lost the war and withdrew to Damascus, but he returned to Jerusalem in 1933 and then to Haifa. He operated this nuts store as a boxing club.

Here is the Turkish news report:



Edip Kemal was not the only Turk who moved to Palestine - or even to Haifa -  after World War I. I found this clip from The Palestine Bulletin from July 1926:

So...are these non-Arab Muslims who lived in Palestine now considered "Palestinians"?

(h/t DM)

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Exclusive: Columbia U joins the chorus denouncing the ASA boycott of Israel

This was received from a faculty member at Columbia University. It is planned to be posted at the Columbia website later today or tomorrow.

I have made my opposition to academic boycotts of Israel emphatically clear over the years, most prominently in my 2007 letter that was signed by some 400 of my fellow college and university presidents speaking out against the British University and College Union's boycott of Israeli scholars and universities. I stand by that statement today when considering the recent vote by the American Studies Association for just such a boycott. To be sure, it is entirely appropriate for our campuses to provide a forum for discussion and debate about the policies of any government, including our own. But the ASA's vote runs counter to this essential academic and political freedom and, taken to its logical conclusion, would necessarily result in boycotts of fellow scholars and peer institutions from many nations around the world. I reject the ASA's position which would compromise an essential value of universities in an increasingly global society-and we look forward to continuing to Columbia's long history of engagement with our peers from Israel.

- Lee C. Bollinger, President, Columbia University

Columbia now joins dozens of other universities who have denounced the ASA boycott.

The latest list from Avi Mayer:

The following is a list of institutions whose presidents or chancellors have publicly rejected the academic boycott of Israel in recent days. The Executive Committee of the Association of American Universities, which represents 62 top institutions in the U.S. and Canada, has also expressed its strong opposition to the boycott, as has the American Association of University Professors, which counts more than 48,000 members.

• American University (President Cornelius M. Kerwin)
• Birmingham Southern College (President Charles C. Krulak)
• Boston University (President Robert A. Brown)
• Bowdoin College (President Barry Mills)
• Brandeis University (President Frederick M. Lawrence)
• Brown University (President Christina Hull Paxton)
• Case Western Reserve University (President Barbara R. Snyder)
• Cornell University (President David Skorton)
• Dickinson College (President Nancy Roseman)
• Duke University (President Richard H. Brodhead)
• Florida International University (President Mark B. Rosenberg)
• George Washington University (President Steven Knapp)
• Hamilton College (President Joan Hinde Stewart)
• Harvard University (President Drew Gilpin Faust)
• Haverford College (President Daniel Weiss)
• Indiana University (President Michael McRobbie)
• Johns Hopkins University (President Ronald Joel Daniels)
• Kenyon College (President Sean M. Decatur)
• Lehigh University (President Alice P. Gast)
• Michigan State University (President Lou Anna K. Simon)
• Middlebury College (President Ron Liebowitz)
• New York University (President John Sexton)
• Northwestern University (President Morton O. Schapiro)
• Ohio State University (President Joseph A. Alutto)
• Princeton University (President Christopher L. Eisgruber)
• Purdue University (President Mitch Daniels)
• Rhode Island College (President Nancy Carriuolo)
• Rutgers University (President Robert Barchi)
• Smith College (President Kathleen McCartney)
• Stanford University (President John L. Hennessy)
• Trinity College (President James F. Jones, Jr.)
• Tufts University (President Anthony P. Monaco)
• Tulane University (President Scott S. Cowen)
• University of Alabama (Chancellor Robert E. Witt)
• University of California, Irvine (Chancellor Michael V. Drake)
• University of California, San Diego (Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla)
• University of Chicago (President Robert J. Zimmer)
• University of Cincinnati (President Santa J. Ono)
• University of Connecticut (President Susan Herbst)
• University of Delaware (President Patrick T. Harker)
• University of Kansas (Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little)
• University of Maryland, Baltimore County (President Freeman Hrabowski)
• University of Maryland, College Park (President Wallace D. Loh)
• University of Miami (President Donna E. Shalala)
• University of Michigan (President Mary Sue Coleman)
• University of Pennsylvania (President Amy Gutmann)
• University of Pittsburgh (Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg)
• University of Southern California (President C. L. Max Nikias)
• University of Texas, Austin (President William C. Powers)
• Washington University in St. Louis (Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton)
• Wesleyan University (President Michael S. Roth)
• Willamette University (President Stephen Thorsett)
• Yale University (President Peter Salovey)
• Yeshiva University (President Richard M. Joel)

In addition, the following institutions’ American Studies programs have withdrawn their membership in the American Studies Association (ASA) following last week’s boycott vote:

• Brandeis University
• Indiana University
• Kenyon College
• Penn State Harrisburg

Furthermore, the following institutions have flatly denied being institutional members of the ASA, though the organization lists them as such:

• Brown University
• Hamilton College
• Northwestern University
• Temple University
• Trinity College
• Tufts University
• University of Alabama
• University of Southern California
• Willamette University

There have also been lots of articles denouncing the ASA.

I'm wondering if any universities, at all, will publicly side with the ASA.

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Egyptian banner calls to kill all Jews in Egypt

Seen on Twitter, from a Facebook posting:

Anti-Semitic fascist sign in #Mansoura reads "Extermination of MB sons of Zionists & #Egypt's Jews is an obligation" pic.twitter.com/6OMZt9lsPm
— Salma (@ablasalma) December 25, 2013

This is in response to the bombing that killed 16 on Tuesday morning.

Think about this for a second: Someone in Mansour went to a print shop and paid to create a large anti-semitic banner (or the print-shop owner did it himself.). It then took considerable effort to hang the sign in a public street. It was that important for someone or some group to put out a public antisemitic message in Egypt.

Jews are always the scapegoats. Although in modern times it is more fashionable to use the Jewish state to fill that role.

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12/27 Links: NYTs Dishonest Reporting, Sabeel Hosts Falk, Atzmon rages against Bugs Bunny

From Ian:

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Khaled Abu Toameh: What the Palestinians and Arabs Think of Kerry's New Ideas

In an interview with Voice of Palestine radio, Abed Rabbo continued his unprecedented criticism of both Kerry and his proposals. "Washington does not have the right to determine where our borders would be," he declared. "We won't allow Israel to slice off any parts of our land. If the Americans want, they can give Israel parts of California and Washington. This land belongs to the Palestinians."
The Arab League's rejection of Kerry's ideas not only complicates his efforts to achieve a deal between Palestinians and Israelis, but also ties Abbas's hands. It is hard to see how Abbas would be able to retract his position now that the Arab League has also rejected Kerry's ideas.
Kerry will now have to launch a new diplomatic campaign to convince the Arab League to change its position. And for the Arab countries to do that really would take a miracle.

A Year of Biased Reporting: Why the New York Times Won

When HonestReporting readers were asked to choose the “winner” of the 2013 Dishonest Reporting Award, the prevailing displeasure was best summed up in a one-line email:
“The NY Times bludgeoned Israel all year.”
Much of the resentment focused on the paper’s op-ed section. A steady parade of commentaries disdainfully dismissing Click here for the runner up Dishonest Reporting Awards Israel’s Iranian anxieties certainly cemented the Gray Lady‘s award in the latter part of 2013. This wasn’t surprising. HonestReporting’s long-term study of the Times’s opinion section found similar problems in 2012.
But the NY Times built up a bona fide case to win this award even without the issue of op-eds.

’Tis the season to bash Israel

This is an ugly attempt to apply replacement theology (in which Christians are said to have superseded the Jews in a covenant with G-d) to the Palestinian assault on Israel. In Abbas’s reversed and warped world, the Jewish and Christian Jesus has been replaced by a Palestinian Christ, and Christianity is under attack by the Jews, not by the Arabs and Muslims.
Few Christian leaders, and no prominent Western journalists, publicly took Abbas to task for arrogating Jesus to Palestinian propaganda.
Turning the other cheek, they apparently thought, alas, that challenging Abbas just wouldn’t be in the Christmas spirit of justice, peace, charity and love.
Unfortunately, Abbas’s perverse and perfidious statement is in keeping with the Palestinian Authority’s ongoing denial of Jewish history and rights in the historic Land of Israel. It doesn’t augur well for the peace process.

American Studies Association Members Defend Israel Boycott by Citing Anti-Semitic 9/11 Truther

It appears no one told the American Studies Association that when attempting to fend off accusations of bigotry, it’s best not to cite a bigot.
In a sign that the organization is feeling the heat from outside opprobrium, the ASA’s Caucus on Academic and Community Activism has posted a defense of its Israel boycott. The statement offers tacit acknowledgment of the fact that over 40 universities–including almost the entire Ivy League–have condemned the ASA’s action. In response, the ASA Caucus lists other academics who have endorsed the boycott and calls for supporters to renew their membership or join the ASA. Unfortunately for those attempting to exonerate the ASA from charges of prejudicial treatment of the Jewish state, one of the six scholars the ASA Caucus cites is Richard Falk, a known 9/11 truther and promoter of anti-Semitism.
By day, Falk serves as the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territories, where his support for the terrorist group Hamas has been so blatant that the Palestinian Authority tried to get him fired. The United States and Canada have also called for him to be dismissed, and he has been censured by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. But Falk’s most objectionable conduct has actually taken place outside the U.N.’s halls.

Sabeel Hosts 9/11 truther Richard Falk

What does a promoter of antisemitism, a shill for terrorists and a conspiracy theorist do when his UN position expires?
Apparently, he goes on a speaking tour for Sabeel

Academic boycotters don’t want done unto them what they did unto Israelis

Professor Lynch has been in a public battle with the Coalition since May, when then opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said a Coalition government would ensure “no grants of taxpayers’ funds are provided to individuals or organisations which actively support the BDS campaign”.
Professor Lynch’s support for BDS became headline news last year when he boycotted Israeli academic Dan Avnon, refusing to help the Hebrew University academic with his application for a Sir Zelman Cowen fellowship.
This year Professor Lynch submitted an application to the federally funded ARC for $290,000 to study the work of journalists in South Africa, Nepal, Australia and Britain.
The ARC recently rejected his application. “It could be, of course, that it was simply adjudged not quite good enough by the assessors,” Professor Lynch told The Australian. “But the Bishop statement, and the earlier evidence that AusAID … improperly took my support for BDS into account, leaves me with suspicions that this has happened with the ARC too….

Non-settlement Israeli fruit exporter faces boycott pressure in Europe

Despite the fact that its executives insist that its products are from Israel proper, and not produced at settlements or on land over the Green Line, the demonstrators call for a general boycott of its goods.
The BDS movement promotes blanket boycotts of Israel, not just Israeli settlements, with the stated goal of ending the Israeli occupation of Arab lands and granting a “right of return” to all Palestinian refugees — a position that would mean an influx of millions to Israel, and the end of Israel as a predominantly Jewish state.

IAF strikes Gaza following second rocket fired at Israel in 24 hours

The Israel Air Force struck two targets in Gaza in response to rocket fire on southern Israel on Thursday. The targets struck were a weapons manufacturing site in central Gaza and a weapons storage site in the North of the Strip.
Two Palestinians were wounded by the air strikes, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The IDF also said the targets were struck accurately, adding that all planes returned to base safely.

Four times less BBC Online coverage of Arafat ‘not poisoned’ stories

Previously, two reports were published on the subject of the French findings and thirteen related articles appeared on the BBC News website’s Middle East page in a 48 hour period on the subject of the Swiss findings, nine of which also amplified the conspiracy theory surrounding Arafat’s death.
In other words, the BBC News website devoted over four times the number of articles to the coverage of findings interpreted as moderately supporting the theory that Arafat was poisoned than it did to the two other sets of findings which found that Arafat died of natural causes.

PA Says it Will Continue to Investigate Arafat's Death

The Palestinian Authority (PA) said Thursday it would continue its investigation into the death of its former chairman Yasser Arafat, even after a team of Russian forensic experts said that he died of "natural causes", and ruled out radiation poisoning as a cause of death.
"I can only say that there is already a decision to continue (the investigation)," the PA ambassador to Russia, Faed Mustafa, told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

Kerry concerned by Egypt crackdown on Muslim
Brotherhood

Kerry and Fahmy “agreed that there can be no place for violence in Egypt and that the Egyptian people deserve peace and calm,” Psaki said.
But the secretary of state also “underscored the need for an inclusive political process across the political spectrum that respects the fundamental human rights of all Egyptians in order to achieve political stability and democratic change.”
A US official told Reuters that Egypt was going “way too far” in the crackdown, adding that the Obama administration had no intention of taking any action against Cairo in response, or following suit in labeling the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.

Lebanese politician among at least 5 dead in Beirut bombing

Lebanon’s former finance minister Mohammed Chatah, an adviser to former prime minister Saad Hariri, was among the five people killed Friday in a large car bombing targeting his convoy in Beirut, Lebanese state media reported.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati called for an emergency cabinet meeting following the blast.

Huffington Post Serves as Promoter for Iranian Front Group

The Huffington Post not only never ran a news story revealing the shocking facts concerning Parsi and the NIAC, but it has published sixteen of Parsi’s articles since the Federal court’s September 2012 ruling (it’s been running his editorials since April 2012). And as HUFF-WATCH documented here, even after the court’s ruling, Huffington Post has continued enabling the NIAC to spew its pro-Iranian, anti-Israel propaganda.
On December 18, the Huffington Post gave Parsi the top spot on “blogger’s row” on its front page, a space normally reserved for Arianna Huffington, and her newspaper’s most prominent opinion writers.
The very next day, on December 19, Huffington Post published the inflammatory headline story alleging that Menendez and AIPAC were “saboteurs.”
How does one reconcile these acts and omissions with the public statements that Huffington has made about her “newspaper’s” journalistic integrity and principles?

Iran develops new generation of uranium centrifuges

Thursday’s announcement came following a push by a significant number of Iranian lawmakers to legislate the enrichment of uranium to 60 percent purity — 12 times the cap Iran agreed by Iran as part of a deal reached with the US and world powers in November.
At 60% pure uranium 235, Iran could quite quickly convert its stockpiles of enriched fissile material to weapons-grade uranium, a major concern of Israel and the United States. Iran contends, however, that its nuclear weapons program is exclusively for peaceful purposes.

No halt to executions while EU delegation visits Iran

The five-member delegation was led by the chairwoman of European Parliament's friendship delegation with Iran, Tarja Cronberg from Finnish Greens and included Cornelia Ernst, German communist; Isabelle Durant, Belgian Greens; Marietje Schaake, Dutch Liberals; and Josef Weidenholzer, Austrian Social Democrats.
During their Dec. 13-18 visit at least 38 death sentences were carried out official Iranian media sources said. This while many executions in prisons are conducted in secret and news of those is rarely released.

News that Bugs Bunny may be Jewish sends Gilad Atzmon into a rage

Writing at Veterans Today, an aggregator for conspiracy-oriented and right-wing extremist websites, Atzmon wrote the following:

I guess that when we talk about Hollywood’s indoctrination in the context of Jewish Power, we should feel free to refer to the Zionist outlet as well as the ‘noted Jewish cinematic historian’.

Of course, Atzmon’s response to Ben-Zvi’s article wouldn’t come as a surprise to readers of this blog. As we’ve noted previously, Atzmon is a prolific anti-Semite who has engaged in ‘Holocaust Revisionism’ while simultaneously arguing that, if Hitler’s genocide did occur as historians “claim”, the mass murder of six million Jews can at least partly be explained by Jews’ villainous behavior. On this latter note, he’s claimed that Hitler’s views about Jews may one day be vindicated.

Sweden has failed to condemn and act against all anti-Semitism

If we do not have politicians in Sweden who can admit the existence of obvious anti-Semitism and act against it where will it end? Are we now not able to act upon anti-Semitism and racism wherever it may be found and whatever the consequences are of doing so? Are we then still in Sweden? I do not believe so. I want the old Sweden back that firmly and consistently stands up against anti-Semitism and corrupt leaderships and I want a new Sweden that can really understand the situation Israel is in. I want a Sweden where our politicians can admit they have made a misstake funding the PA. That would be the Sweden I would be proud of. Now I can not be proud.

Israel’s Christian Population Continued to Rise in 2013

According to recent figures released by Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, there are roughly 161,000 Christians living in Israel, equaling about 2 percent of the population and an up from 158,000 in 2012.
Nearly 80 percent of these Christians are Arab, while the majority of the remaining 20 percent are largely from the former Soviet Union.

Muath from Hebron recovers after surgery, next to kids from Ghana, Gaza

“A child with a serious heart defect who isn’t treated is sentenced to death,” Berlowitz said, beaming with pride when he mentioned that, to date, SACH has treated and saved the lives of 3,300 children from 48 countries.
Of those, roughly half were Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, SACH Executive Director Simon Fisher said. He said the organization’s operations, including the Heart of the Matter project with the Palestinian Authority, has had a beneficial influence on Israel’s image among the Palestinians by facilitating day-to-day positive interactions.
Abu Danash told this reporter that his neighbors and family raised no objections when they heard his child was to receive treatment in Israel, because they knew medical care was better there and that the Israelis — the Jews — were helping them. He said that there were two different stories of Israeli-Palestinian interaction — one of intifada and violence, and the other of cooperation. He gave a strong indication he favored the latter.

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Saudi university displays model of Hamas rocket for "cultural festival"

Palestine Times reports that Islamic University of Medina in Saudi Arabia has displayed a model of Hamas' "M75" rocket at a "cultural festival" at the school.

The "Third Festival of Cultures and Peoples" started on December 17 and was organized by the Dean of Student Affairs at the Islamic University of Medina and featured a "Palestine" suite which saw a large crowd.

The festival sheds light on the cultures of the students of the Islamic University, who come from over 100 different countries.

This rocket, meant to kill Jewish civilians, is part of "Palestinian culture" - according to the Palestinian Arab students who organized this exhibit.

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Fifth anniversary of Hamas' forgotten declaration of war

From Ma'an, December 25, 2008:

The military wing affiliated to Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades released a statement on Thursday morning briefing the group's military activities over the first twenty four hours of an operation they called "Oil Stain" which started Wednesday morning.

According to the statement, a total of 87 shells have been fired at Israeli targets bordering the Gaza Strip including 54 mortar shells, 31 homemade projectiles which Hamas calls "Qassam", and two Soviet-made Grad missiles.

Al-Qassa Brigades threatened to enlarge the "Oil Stain" to get more thousands of Israelis "under fire". The group asserted that its fighters are "far greater than surrendering to Israeli threats and that they became much more prepared to counter Israeli aggression and to defend themselves than in the past."

This was Hamas' declaration of war - on Wednesday, December 24, 2008, three days before Israel launched Operation Cast Lead.

On Thursday, Hamas shot 7 Qassam rockets and 7 more mortars into Israel.

On Friday, Gaza terrorists shot some 25 mortars and rockets into Israel. One fell short and killed 2 Gaza girls.

For a full week, after Israel's counterattack, Hamas continued to refer to the war as Operation Oil Stain. Afterwards they changed it to "Battle of the Criterion."

But you will be hard pressed to find any mention of Hamas' declaration of war today, the fifth anniversary of Israel's response. (Wikipedia is one rare exception.)

Just like five years ago, today Israel is responding to attacks by Gaza on Israeli civilians. And just like then, the media is reporting Israel's response as if Israel initiated the fighting.

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