Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, March 06, 2014

03/06 Links Pt1: Israel hopes missile-ship intercept will expose Iran; Op. averted threat to millions

From Ian:

Israel hopes missile-ship intercept will expose Iran

From the statements of officials, like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said a secondary goal of the interception had been to expose Iran’s true face, it seems the operation was about more than stopping missiles, it was about painting Iran and Hamas in as harsh a light as possible, not unlike was done to Yasser Arafat in 2002, after the Karine-A arms shipment was uncovered.
Maj. Gen. (res) Amos Yadlin, the former head of military intelligence, called the intelligence work, the operational capacity and the decision-making that went into the raid “fantastic,” noting on Army Radio Wednesday that thousands of ships sail across the Red Sea daily and that it would be “embarrassing” had Israeli troops intercepted an innocent vessel in international waters.

IDF intercepts deadly Iranian arms shipment in Red Sea

There’s more. There’s a sense in which various national policies colluded to suffer these arms to be shipped from Iran, and quite possibly – absent the alertness of Israeli intelligence and the IDF – to get to Gaza.
First of all, Syria manufactures these weapons as a modified version based on China’s WS-1 MLRS. China began exporting missile and rocket technology to Syria in the late 1980s, shortly before Syria first began manufacturing the M-302. China is now Syria’s largest trading partner, although Syria’s largest arms suppliers are Russia, Iran, and Belarus, which together provide 89% of Syria’s foreign-sourced weaponry.
The official flow of arms traffic may be a bit misleading today, as some Chinese arms, like the C802 anti-ship cruise missile, make their way into Syria via Iran. The M-302 has been manufactured in Syria long enough, however, that the “proliferation” occurred some time ago, and directly. (The U.S. in fact imposed sanctions on computer and other IT sales to China because of Beijing’s arms sales to Syria in the 1980s and 1990s. The sanctions were later relaxed under Bill Clinton.)
The Iran connection highlights another global facet of the arms-to-terrorists problem. Iraq and Sudan are serving as conduits for Iran’s arms exports (and now for an attempted Syrian-Iranian export to Hamas). Egypt’s uncertain control of the Sinai Peninsula is another key piece of the arms route. It’s worth reiterating that Iran is prohibited by UN Security Council Resolution 1737 (2006) from exporting arms.

Behind the Scenes: IDF Mission to Stop Iranian Terror

NYT: Palestinian intransigence is Israel's fault

Any relationship between New York Times editorials about Israel and reality is purely coincidental.

In remarkably blunt comments, Mr. Obama said that he had not heard a persuasive case for how Israel survives both as a democracy and a Jewish state absent a negotiated two-state solution, since in Israel and the West Bank “there are going to be more Palestinians, not fewer Palestinians, as time goes on.”

Funny - I was not aware that Israel was negotiating against the creation of a Palestinian Arab state. Every single detail about Israeli negotiations since 2000 showed that they agree with having such a state, but disagree over borders, "refugees," Jerusalem and so forth. Any Palestinian Arab state, no matter what the borders, would end the "demographic problem." So why are people who supposedly care about peace keep pretending that Israel is against a two-state solution and using this nonsensical argument?

He also warned that given Israel’s aggressive settlement construction — 2,534 housing units were begun in 2013 compared with 1,133 the previous year — Palestinians may soon decide that a contiguous state is impossible and America’s ability to help manage the consequences will be limited.

Can anyone at the NYT give us an estimate of much land was taken from Palestinian Arabs for these 2,534 housing units? My estimate is that it is approximately zero square meters, give or take zero. Virtually all of the housing built since 1990 has been within existing settlement blocs. The fact that the NYT doesn't know these basic facts shows just how ignorant it is.

But here comes the doozy:

Negotiators have largely kept silent on details of the talks. But there are fears that the principles might tilt toward Israel, which would mean the final negotiations simply won’t get off the ground.

In the universe inhabited by the New York Times, Palestinian Arab intransigence is not only expected - it is blamed on Israel! PalArab red lines are sacrosanct; Israel's are meant to be destroyed by US negotiators. Any negotiation that does not result in Israel's total capitulation to Palestinian Arab demands is unfairly tilted towards Israel.

This is the answer to the first question. The NYT isn't interested in a two-state solution. No, the Times wants Israel to surrender every single negotiating point, because Israel is assumed a priori to be in the wrong while Palestinian Arab demands that have nothing to do with them having their own independent state are righteous.

Not only that, but any appearance by the US that it might accept some of Israel's own demands as being reasonable - that it might pressure both sides to compromise - means, in the Times' bizarro world, that Palestinian intransigence is Israel's fault for having the gall to make demands to safeguard the security of the Jewish state.

It would be funny if the NYT was not still considered a mandatory religious text to be read every day for every self-respecting liberal, no matter how divorced from reality it is.

(h/t Yaacov Lozowick)

Egypt may revoke citizenship of 13,000 Palestinians

Ma'an reports:

Egyptian security services have started to collect information about thousands of Hamas members who were granted Egyptian citizenship during the rule of ousted president Mohamed Mursi, according to Egyptian media.

Egypt's Day Seven news website reported that Egyptian authorities plan revoke the citizenship of 13,757 Hamas members for being "affiliated to an offshoot of the terrorist group the Muslim Brotherhood."

Egyptian authorities are investigating whether Hamas members have been involved in what they describe as "terrorist attacks," adding that the prime minister has the right to revoke the citizenship of Hamas members without a court ruling if it is deemed that they endanger public security.

The Egyptian news site blamed Mursi for facilitating the entry of Hamas supporters into Egypt and granting them citizenship.

In 2011, Egypt started enforcing a law that children of Egyptian mothers may become citizens. Tens of thousands of Gazans eagerly applied, exposing the lies of UNRWA-and others that Palestinian Arabs do not desire to become citizens of any Arab state but would prefer to wait forever to "return."

How many Gazans became Egyptian citizens? About 13,000.

It seems highly unlikely that every single one of those is affiliated with Hamas. This means that Egypt is not planning merely to revoke citizenship of Hamas- (and Muslim Brotherhood-) members, but that of every Palestinian Arab who gained Egyptian citizenship!

While idiots loudly proclaim that if Israel is recognized by the PLO as a Jewish state then Israel would revoke the rights of Palestinian Arab citizens to live there, Egypt is considering doing exactly that today!

This proves once again that Palestinian Arabs - even those in the territories - are treated better under Israeli rule than they are under Arab rule.

This news follows Jordan also revoking citizenship of many of its Palestinian Arab citizens a couple of years ago.

One of the most under-reported stories in the Middle East is how much Arabs hate their Palestinian "brethren." Jordanian nationalists openly admit that they plan to expel all Palestinians if a Palestinian state is created. Lebanon places crushing restrictions on its Palestinian population. There are plenty of other examples.

But it is not in the interests of Palestinian Arabs to make a big deal out of this because they are dependent on these same Arabs for monetary and political support, and they cling to the fiction that Palestinians don't want citizenship in Arab countries. The West, wedded to the idea of "moderate Arabs, will not make this into an issue. "Pro-Palestinian activists" don't want to publicize this because it makes Israel look good by comparison, which is unacceptable. And of course no NGOs will bother to advocate for Palestinians abused by their fellow Arabs because there is no one willing to fund an unpopular cause like that. The money is available for demonizing Israel, not uncovering inconvenient truths about Arabs.

It will be most interesting to see the reaction of the PLO to this story - since they are against Palestinian Arabs becoming citizens in Arab countries to begin with, in order to redirect their suffering and hate towards Israel. I doubt that they will publicly criticize Egypt over abusing their people.

Which tells you a lot about how much the "Palestinian cause" is meant to help actual Palestinian Arabs.

BDSers write the most hypocritical petition in history

BDS supporters like Judith Butler have signed a petition "condemning censorship."

Really.

This open letter from Butler and Rashid Khalidi - which Haaretz published in full even though it is an online petition with a mere 150 signatures - contains the most hypocritical passages one is ever likely to see:

Whether one is for or against Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) as a means to change the current situation in Palestine-Israel, it is important to recognize that boycotts are internationally affirmed and constitutionally protected forms of political expression. As non-violent instruments to effect political change, boycotts cannot be outlawed without trampling on a constitutionally protected right to political speech. Those who support boycotts ought not to become subject to retaliation, surveillance, or censorship when they choose to express their political viewpoint, no matter how offensive that may be to those who disagree.

We are now witnessing accelerating efforts to curtail speech, to exercise censorship, and to carry out retaliatory action against individuals on the basis of their political views or associations, notably support for BDS. We ask cultural and educational institutions to have the courage and the principle to stand for, and safeguard, the very principles of free expression and the free exchange of ideas that make those institutions possible. This means refusing to accede to bullying, intimidation, and threats aimed at silencing speakers because of their actual or perceived political views. It also means refusing to impose a political litmus test on speakers and artists when they are invited to speak or show their work. We ask that educational and cultural institutions recommit themselves to upholding principles of open debate, and to remain venues for staging expressions of an array of views, including controversial ones. Only by refusing to become vehicles for censorship and slander, and rejecting blacklisting, intimidation, and discrimination against certain viewpoints, can these institutions live up to their purpose as centers of learning and culture.

People who openly advocate curtailing the free speech of Israeli academics - no matter how dovish; people deny the right of Israelis to speak or perform in any venue worldwide; people who threaten artists who want to freely perform in Israel; people who intimidate and attack audiences who want to go to Israeli cultural events; people whose very existence depends on censoring Israelis are claiming to be victims of "censorship." People who support shouting down pro-Israel speakers on campus, who interrupt performances by artists who happen to have been born in Israel, who insult and intimidate people who attempt to attend lectures and concerts - are whining about supposed limits to their free speech!

These "academics" don't even know what free speech means. Private institutions choosing not to allow specific people to speak is not an attack on free speech as long as they can find other venues.

Oh, and one of the signatories is Lisa Duggan, the ASA president-elect who creates academic conferences where pro-Israel voices are denied the ability to speak or even attend.

Hypocrisy doesn't even begin to describe this.

(h/t JW)

Yeshiva U hosting J-Street's Ben Ami for a panel discussion

A YU/Stern College event next week:

Jeremy Ben Ami, of course, believes that Israeli democracy is worthless when he doesn't agree with who they elected. Therefore, he created an organization whose main purpose is to pressure the US into forcing Israel to do what he believes is right, not what the people whose lives are on the line believe.

Let's take a trip down memory lane with J-Street.

In March 2011, one of J-Street's co-founders mused that perhaps Israel wasn't such a good idea after all if the Arabs keep rejecting it.

That same month Ben Ami whined that Netanyahu refused to meet him. Well, he refused to meet me last time I was in Israel (I was hoping for an interview), but I'm not crying about it.

J-Street, which calls itself "pro-Israel," does nothing to counter campus "Israel Apartheid Week." Instead, they make wishy washy statements like they “share the concerns ... about the continuation of the occupation,” it does not believe that “characterizing Israel as an apartheid state is either accurate or productive towards a solution.” They have no stated opposition to the demonization of the state they pretend they support.

In 2012, after Israel killed 16 Gaza terrorists, J-Street issued a statement of concern which called them "civilians." Why check facts when you can slam Israel?

Also in 2012,a J-Street representative admitted on video that they attract more non-Jews than Jews, but they want to change the Jewish community's opinion of Israel. In public, they claim to represent the Jewish community.

J-Street says it doesn't support BDS, but it happily invites BDS supporters to speak at its annual conferences.

Last year a J-Street sponsored tour of the territories stopped to pay homage to at Yasir Arafat's gravesite.

Yeshiva University's Zionist clubs should not be giving Ben-Ami any credibility, even when his poison is "balanced" by Ayalon and HaKohen.

There are plenty of liberal, Zionist Jews who fervently want a two-state solution, who would be quite appropriate for a panel discussion like this.

Ben Ami is not one of them.

03/05 Links Pt2: Chloe Valdary at AIPAC 2014; The Royal Tour of Israel with PM Netanyahu

From Ian:

The agony of moral defeat

The acting out and vitriolic language against Israel that so often defines campus anti-Israelism may make the activists feel good about themselves for striving for social justice, but, as journalist Khaled Abu Toameh has contended, these are hollow efforts, that “[i]nstead of investing money and efforts in organizing Israel Apartheid Week, for example, the self-described ‘pro-Palestinians’ could dispatch a delegation of teachers to Palestinian villages and refugee camps to teach young Palestinians English. Or they could send another delegation to the Gaza Strip to monitor human rights violations by the Hamas authorities and help Palestinian women confront Muslim fundamentalists who are trying to limit their role to cooking, raising children and looking after the needs of their husbands.” What was Abu Toameh’s conclusion about this misdirected effort to support the Palestinian cause? “What is happening on the U.S. campuses,” he wrote, “is not about supporting the Palestinians as much as it is about promoting hatred for the Jewish state. It is not really about ending the ‘occupation’ as much as it is about ending the existence of Israel . . ,” and “we should not be surprised if the next generation of jihadists comes not from the Gaza Strip or the mountains and mosques of Pakistan and Afghanistan, but from university campuses across the U.S.”

Defender of Israel Responds to Racist Attack

Today’s FrontPage Interview guest is Chloe Simone Valdary, a junior and international studies major at the University of New Orleans (UNO). In her short time on campus, Ms. Valdary has distinguished herself as a passionate defender of Israel and Zionism, creating the organization Allies of Israel, one of the lone pro-Israel groups at her university. Ms. Valdary is also the assistant director of special programs for the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel (ISBI) and blogs for Arutz Sheva and the Times of Israel. In addition to being featured by the Jewish Press, BET.com, Breitbart.com, the Jerusalem Post, among others, Algemeiner named Ms. Valdary one of the top 100 people positively affecting Jewish and Israeli life. Recently, Ms. Valdary’s advocacy has elicited the ire of anti-Israel activists, one of whom resorted to racist attacks against her.

At AIPAC, Student Activists Make Themselves Heard

The conference was an unequivocal display of support for the alliance between the United States and the State of Israel, and the list of speakers was typically impressive. Party leaders were joined by senior Senators John McCain and Robert Menendez and Secretary of State John Kerry - all of whom stressed the mutual benefits and shared moral values which underline the continued alliance between the two countries. From the Israeli side the list of dignitaries was no less impressive: from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to opposition leader Isaac Herzog, as well as a number of other Knesset Members including Economics Minister Naftali Bennett.
But in between the big names, Arutz Sheva took the time to speak to some of the 2,300 student activists who attended the event, many of them for the first time.
One such activist was Chloe Valdary, a student from New Orleans whose Declare Your Freedom initiative - launched just last year and set to take place for the second time later this month - is gaining ever more attention on US campuses.

Pro-Israel Activist Chloe Valdary @ AIPAC PC 2014

Egyptians feel threatened by history book about Egyptian Jews

Haaretz reports:

Fortuna Cassuto, a beautiful young woman from Alexandria, Egypt, worked as the house model at a prestigious fashion house. The plant made clothes for Queen Farida, the wife of King Farouk, as well as luxury lines for Egypt’s well to do.

...Thanks to her activity in the Zionist movement Hehalutz Hatzair, Cassuto met her future husband, from the Masri-Mishori family. They celebrated their engagement at a performance of the Palestine Symphony Orchestra conducted by Toscanini. In March 1946 they married in Alexandria’s Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue.

On the day the State of Israel was declared, May 14, 1948, Fortuna’s husband was arrested; she was pregnant at the time

...The story of the Masri-Mishori family appears in the new book “The Golden Age of the Jews from Egypt – Uprooting and Revival in Israel,“ edited by Ada Aharoni, who researches the history of Egyptian Jewry.

The book records the destruction of the Egyptian Jewish community through the stories of 73 Egyptian Jews, who were expelled from their homeland at the outbreak of the Israeli War of Independence.

...Another key figure in the book is Guido Asher, a star of the Egyptian national basketball team. Asher, born in 1916, began his career at the Alexandria sports club. He later became a star of the local Maccabi team and was invited to play for the Egyptian national team.

He was the pride of Egypt's Jews, was the best player on the team, and was showered with praise by the Egyptian press, wrote his son, Itzik Asher. He led the Egyptian team to victories in the European championships.

According to his son, Asher also sailed and rode a motorcycle; at 32 he was killed in a motorcycle accident. “Mourning in Egyptian sports: Basketball has lost a first-class player,” wrote a newspaper of the period.

The book sounds very interesting.

This book is mentioned in Egypt's Korabia website, but it assumes a dangerous motive for the book's release.

Here is how they describe this book:

Israel continues its attempts to steal Egyptian history through stories published about Jewish achievements that have occurred in Egypt and considered as part of the history, surprisingly .
A new book published in Israel under the name of "The Golden Age of the Jews from Egypt," talks about the tales of the Zionist people and their families during their presence in Egypt and before their migration, in order to demonstrate that Jews have had control over all areas of success in Egypt, artistically , socially and athletically.

The funny part was that last year an Egyptian filmmaker made a documentary about the Jews of Egypt that, by all accounts, was well received by most Egyptians (after it was first banned and then allowed.)

Israel's diplomats go on strike (update)

From the Israel Consulate of Philadelphia page:

Due to the work dispute of the Diplomats of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Israel there will be no consular services until further notice except life threatening situations and burials in Israel.

Phone calls will not be answered.
We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Some of the consulate and embassy pages say nothing, some are more terse than this. The best explanation I've seen comes from the embassy in Madrid:

Due to the refusal of the Ministry of Finance of Israel to resolve the labor dispute at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israeli diplomats have renewed their labor measures pressure.

It is rare that the diplomatic service of a country is involved in a labor dispute. Out of our deep commitment to presenting Israel's interests abroad, international prestige and national security of Israel, we Israeli diplomats insist that our reasonable demands are met.

There will be no changes in this website until further notice. Regular updates will resume with a satisfactory resolution of the dispute.

I have not seen this in any news site yet as of this writing.

If I recall correctly, one of the previous strikes by MFA workers occurred during the push by the PLO to have an Arab Palestinian state recognized by many South American countries, and there was effectively no opposition by Israel because of their job action.

IMHO, Israeli diplomats are as important - or more so - than soldiers, and the idea of them going on a general strike is completely unacceptable although slowing down some personal consular services might be OK. The idea that no one is available to present Israel's case in every foreign country if needed is crazy.

(h/t Irene)

UPDATE: TOI did have the story:

Workers at the Foreign Ministry initiated a harsh new round of labor sanctions Tuesday, potentially jeopardizing visits of foreign dignitaries and planned trips abroad by Israeli officials.The strike, which has also temporarily suspended all consular services to Israelis abroad, came after months-long talks with the Finance Ministry broke down earlier in the week.

If no solution is found to the rekindled labor dispute, the strike could endanger the upcoming visits to Israel by British Prime Minister David Cameron and Pope Francis.

Oy.

(h/t Gabriel)

Hezbollah built an airport?

Ya Libnan reports:

Hezbollah built an airport between the areas of Iaat and Wardin outside Lebanon’s Baalbek in addition to warehouses and secret tunnels, a report in Al-Mustaqbal newspaper said Monday.

“Hezbollah has built what looks like an airport in an area between Iaat and Wardin in the Beqaa after having bought the land from a former municipality chief in the area,” the daily quoted a Western security report as saying.

The report added that Hezbollah began a few weeks ago to use new weapons and rockets in its military operations in Syria, such as “Mersad 1” and “Mersad 2” drones.

The source said that Hezbollah has set up warehouses and built secret tunnels under the supervision of Iranian professionals.

The daily also quoted the Western security source as saying that Hezbollah has recently moved advanced rockets and modern weapons to the Syrian region of Yabrud where it has been battling rebels.

Meanwhile, a security source told Al-Mustaqbal that the results of the investigations into the case of the drones flying over the residence of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea have revealed that these drones have taken off from Hezbollah’s airport

The Lebanese Forces said last month that Iranian-manufactured drones has been circling over Maarab.

Here is the most airport-looking thing I could find on a satellite image near Iaat, but zooming in you can see it has small buildings on the "runway."

It would be hard to hide an airport, and it is hard to know how reliable these "security sources" are.

03/05 Links Pt1: PA Calls Murderer of Children "a brave heroic fighter"; Obama’s Settlements Lie

From Ian:

Without getting personal, Netanyahu hits back at Obama

Publicly savaged by President Barack Obama for his settlement policies on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday opted for a firmly non-personal response in a warmly received address to the AIPAC conference here. He argued extensively for several positions directly at odds with those held by the president, but did so without the direct targeting that Obama had employed in his incendiary Bloomberg conversation published two days earlier.
Obama, in the lengthy interview with Jeffrey Goldberg that was released precisely as Netanyahu was flying in to meet with him, had chosen to assail the prime minister for overseeing “aggressive settlement construction,” indicated that Netanyahu’s positions on the Palestinian conflict were threatening Israel’s wellbeing, and warned that the US would find it increasingly difficult to defend Israel from the international consequences.
Netanyahu, having since joined the president in their latest public dialogue of the deaf at the White House on Monday, opted to tell AIPAC Tuesday morning that he had held “very good meetings” with Obama and other senior American leaders (the only time he named Obama in the speech), insisted that he was ready to conclude “a historic peace” with the Palestinians, and hailed the uniquely “precious alliance” between the United States and Israel.
He also chose to heap praise on Secretary of State John Kerry, who must have been deeply dismayed by the president’s decision to so openly question the policies of a prime minister he has spent months gradually trying to win over, cosset and reassure.

No standing O for Obama

Citing two anonymous high-ranking sources in DC, one Israeli, and one American, the paper maintains that the US State Department is furious with President Barack Obama for his interview with Jeffrey Goldberg on Sunday — a move they say was deliberately done behind Secretary of State John Kerry’s back and threatens to derail peace talks.
“The interview Obama gave, unbeknownst to Kerry, in which he launched a personal attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a way that departs from any acceptable formulation, undermines Kerry’s sincere efforts,” an unnamed official told the paper.
The second source stressed that Kerry’s primary concern regarding the interview is that it “damaged Netanyahu’s and the Israeli public’s trust in the US efforts [to broker a peace agreement].”

Obama’s Settlement Construction Lie

According to Obama, “we have seen more aggressive settlement construction over the last couple years than we’ve seen in a very long time.” But in reality, as a simple glance at the annual data published by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics reveals, there has been less settlement construction during Benjamin Netanyahu’s five years as Israeli premier (2009-13) than under any of his recent predecessors.
During those five years, housing starts in the settlements averaged 1,443 a year (all data is from the charts here, here and here plus this news report). That’s less than the 1,702 a year they averaged under Ehud Olmert in 2006-08, who is nevertheless internationally acclaimed as a peacemaker (having made the Palestinians an offer so generous that then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice couldn’t believe she was hearing it). It’s also less than the 1,652 per year they averaged under Ariel Sharon in 2001-05, who is similarly lauded internationally as a peacemaker (for having left Gaza); the fact that even Sharon out-built Netanyahu is particularly remarkable, because his term coincided with the second intifada, when demand for housing in the settlements plummeted. And it’s far less than under Ehud Barak, who is also internationally acclaimed as a peacemaker (for his generous offer at Camp David in 2000): One single year under Barak, 2000, produced more housing starts in the settlements (4,683) than the entire first four years of Netanyahu’s term (4,679).

After I posted my earlier story from an Egyptian newspaper claiming that anyone who ridicules the supposed AIDS cure devised by the Egyptian Army is actually following Protocol 6 of the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, I decided to see if any other Arab media has been pushing that classic antisemitic meme in the past few weeks.

Was there even a question?

Ma'an Arabic last month published a lengthy op-ed that went through the entire fake history of the Protocols, except, of course, the author was serious.

An Iraqi paper reported a bizarre story (really, rumor) that a convoy of 60 trucks from Jordan meant to supply al Qaeda terrorists in Syria mysteriously disappeared. However, it mentions that they were supporting the Jewish plot to expand Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates, as the Protocols says.

A Syrian government news site also went through the history of the Protocols and also accused Syrian rebels of adhering to the text.

Palestinian Arab Quds Press also has a lengthy description of the Protocols and the Israeli government is following them to a T.

During the same timeframe, there was not one article disputing the truth of the famous forgery.

Another Iranian arms ship intercepted

Haaretz reports:

Israeli naval forces on Wednesday intercepted an Iranian arms vessel carrying medium-range missiles in the Red Sea, about 930 miles from the Israeli coast. The shipment was headed for the Gaza Strip via Sudan.

Special forces from the Shayetet 13 (Flotilla 13) unit overpowered the cargo vessel named the KLOS C – which is registered in Panama – in the early morning hours. A search aboard the vessel uncovered dozens of 302mm rockets, which are manufactured in Syria and were fired into Israel by Hezbollah during the 2006 Second Lebanon War. The rockets have a range of about 100 kilometers.

"We have conclusive evidence that there were rockets on board the ship, and we have proof and can say with certainty that Iran is behind this operation," a senior Israel Defense Forces officer said.

The officer said that the rockets originated in Syria, were loaded onto airplanes at the Damascus airport from which they were transported to Iran. There they were boarded onto the cargo ship, which set sail about 10 days ago en route to a port in Sudan.

The IDF tracked the ship, saying it sailed north toward Iraq instead of heading directly toward the African country. The army believes that, in Iraq, the rockets were covered with cement bags in an attempt to disguise the shipment after which the vessel continued to sail toward Sudan.

Times of Israel says the rockets have a range of 200 km, not 100.

IDF video of the background:

IDF video (via Haaretz) of the weapons on the ship:

Iran has not been too friendly towards Hamas in the past year, so it seems likely that this shipment was not meant for Hamas - but for Islamic Jihad. Hamas is regularly criticized for being too peaceful, as both Fatah and more extreme terror groups like to point out that the "Islamic Resistance Movement" isn't doing very much resisting. (None of them pretend that the word "resistance "means anything other than violence.)

An Islamic Jihad rocket towards Ben Gurion Airport or Haifa would be a better recruiting tool than a hundred of their cheesy videos.

There are still some tunnels from Egypt to Gaza that Egypt hasn't found, and Arabic media mentions rumors of terrorists paying Egyptian fishermen to transfer weapons to Gaza boats.

Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain recall ambassadors to Qatar

From Al Arabiya:

In a shock move, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday recalled their envoys to Qatar.

The three countries said the move was taken to "to protect their security and stability," a Saudi Press Agency statement said.

The trio also said that Qatar had not “committed to the principles” of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and said "Qatar has to take the appropriate steps to ensure the security of the GCC states."

They made the decision following what Gulf media described as a "stormy" late Tuesday meeting of foreign ministers from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh, according to Agence France-Presse.

GCC countries "have exerted massive efforts to contact Qatar on all levels to agree on a unified policy... to ensure non-interference, directly or indirectly, in the internal affairs of any member state," the statement said.

The nations have also asked Qatar, a backer of the Muslim Brotherhood movement that is banned in most Gulf states, "not to support any party aiming to threaten security and stability of any GCC member," it added, citing media campaigns against them in particular.

The statement stressed that despite the commitment of Qatar's emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to these principles during a mini-summit held in Riyadh in November with Kuwait's emir and the Saudi monarch, his country has failed to comply.

Qatar is not only a major benefactor for the Muslim Brotherhood, but it supports Hamas as well.

Another victim of Arab antipathy towards Qatar has been Al Jazeera. Egypt arrested three Al Jazeera employees last December, accusing them of "spreading false news and belonging to a terrorist group."

Egypt and the Gulf countries are treating Muslim Brotherhood style Islamism as an existential threat. This is the biggest story in the Middle East since the "Arab Spring," in fact it is a direct result of that.

When the semblance of unity is patched up again, this will all be blamed on Israel. After all, we learned only a few days ago that a UN report says that internal Arab divisions are primarily because of foreign interference, and the worst perpetrator of that interference is Israel, which has been thwarting Arab unity since before 1948. The only thing Arabs can unify around is, after all, how Israel is to blame for all their problems - including having no unity.

ASA's Lisa Duggan lies again about NYU anti-Israel conference

Liel Leibovitz has an article about the NYU ASA conference story (that I broke) in Tablet:

NYU professor Lisa Duggan—you may remember her as the president of the American Studies Association and a strong voice in support of the organization’s decision last year to boycott Israeli universities—asked that the conference be kept secret.

“PLEASE DO NOT post or circulate the flyer,” read her message. “We are trying to avoid press, protestors and public attention.”

Now, it’s one thing for a student organization like Hillel or private institutions like Jewish museums or high schools to decide that their intellectual horizons exclude those who do not share certain core beliefs. A university, however, does not have that privilege. It is—or should be—open to all ideas, to myriad points of view, to discussion, to dissent.

Because any attempt to seriously study human conduct is likely to stir up emotions and give rise to ideological barricades, our best universities have come up with policies to safeguard that sanctity of academic freedom in their midst. Title I of NYU’s own poignant faculty handbook puts it elegantly when it states that professors “should not introduce into their teaching controversial matter that has no relation to their subject,” and should at all times “exercise appropriate restraint” as well as “show respect for the opinions of others.”

The recent conference’s organizers did none of that. Forgoing any semblance of serious study, viable research, or honest attempts to understand the intricacies of the subject at hand, they turned their classroom into a seminary designed exclusively to cultivate hatred for one particular nation state and fashion this animosity into ruinous political action.

Hence the call to keep things secret: while academic institutions are, of course, never obliged to let members of the public into their hushed sanctuaries—that’s a privilege obtained by paying a hefty tuition—one should be very, very suspicious of any learned person who insists—against the long-standing and proud American tradition of free inquiry, against the common-sensical and democratic expectation that the university see itself as part of the community that supports and sustains it and not as a small and zealous sect apart—on conducting intellectual work under the cover of darkness.

The university should judge whether the organization of a discriminatory conference and the insistence that participants comply, Mafia-style, with a sort of academic Omerta meets its own standards. The rest of us are left with the less subtle and more tragic duty of witnessing the formerly solid tradition of intellectual freedom and debate melt into air.

Lisa Duggan replied in the comments:

The conference was not secret. It was a regular American Studies annual academic conference. These are not public events, they never have been. They are not debate formats either. I created an fb event by invite only, for professors and grad students in the area. Because the issue of Israel Palestine and the ASA's recent boycott vote was controversial, I knew that *this* conference might attract public attention, which we wanted to avoid--as we always do, for our annual conferences. There was no attempt to restrict the range of views of professors and students who wanted to attend. We just didn't want press, polemical blowhards, political organizations etc to disrupt the academic panels. ALL organizations on campus have events which are not "balanced" or open to the public, this is routine. Certainly zionist groups on campus have many such events. Nothing secret going on. We also do have public events, that ARE open to press and public. This just wasn't one of those. The idea that this was a "secret" conference is just ludicrous. A function of the attack culture around the issues. If the conference had been on US empire (with no supporters of empire present, and no press or public invited or wanted), it would have attracted zero attention, and would have been considered ordinary. Because it was ordinary.

First of all, as Liebovitz pointed out, there is a difference between an event sponsored by a student organization and one sponsored by an official university department, American Studies at NYU. Professor Duggan has a reading comprehension problem (Notice also that she chooses not to capitalize "zionist." And that in her invitation, she misspelled "protesters." Professors just can't seem to reach the standards expected of high school students nowadays.)

Secondly, even this paragraph contradicts itself. First she says that it was an invite-only conference, but then she says that there was no attempt to restrict the range of views of those who wanted to attend. Given that the speakers were obviously handpicked to give only one side of the story, is it conceivable that Duggan "invited" anyone who would disagree? But let's give hr a chance to name a single person she "invited" who does not share her crazed anti-Zionism. Just one, Lisa.

Of course, she can't - because she is lying when she says that this was a Facebook invite-only event. It was not a Facebook invitation, it was a Facebook photo-post, which encouraged all readers in her little circle to invite their friends - but not to publicize it to anyone outside that circle.

Here's the screen-shot that shows Duggan is a liar:

Of course, Duggan also doesn't mention that she took the post down as soon as I exposed her duplicity. If it was an invite-only event, that would not have been necessary.

Are there any consequences at a major university when one of their professors tries to hide their activities from critics, and then lies about it?

(h/t David L)

03/04 Links Pt2: First they came for Israel...; UAE airline supported by US bans Israel

From Ian:

Canada recognizes Jewish refugees expelled from Mideast, N. Africa

Canada on early Tuesday formally recognized the experience and status of Jewish refugees expelled from the Middle East and North Africa after Israel's founding.
More specifically, Canada accepted the recommendation of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development that "Canada officially recognize the experience of Jewish refugees who were displaced from states in the Middle East and North Africa after 1948."

In defence of Zionism

A letter to the editor of the Financial Times:
Sir, In response to Ralph Coury (Letters, February 22): there was a reason for the Jewish concept of Zionism that is often totally forgotten in the propaganda discourse that serves as informed discussion today. For almost 2,000 years the Jewish people have been pushed from pillar to post by the inhabitants of those countries they were forced to settle in following their eviction from their homeland in Palestine.
Jews were kept in the status of second- or third-class citizens by their mostly Christian hosts, exploited by them, forced into trades their Christian neighbours thought “un-Christian” and, if too successful, robbed, raped and dispossessed by the kings and queens they were forced to lend money to or work for, or by their neighbours, who were often appalled at the whole idea of Judaism.
To omit this fact in Professor Coury’s response to Zionism is to entirely misrepresent the mentality of those behind it. Certainly it drove those in Europe who, driven by compassion, pushed for a return of a Jewish presence in a homeland of their own, free from such oppression. This required the kind of clandestine behaviour that Prof Coury refers to, but displacement of people in history is nothing new.

Putting Mondoweiss in Context

Mondoweiss defines itself as "a news website devoted to covering American foreign policy in the Middle East, chiefly from a progressive Jewish direction" and claims, in Orwellian fashion, that its aim is "to publish a diversity of voices to promote dialogue on these important issues," although the only "diversity of views" on the site is the best method of destroying Israel.
According to its website, Mondoweiss has two editors (Philip Weiss and Adam Horowitz), two assistant editors, and an editor-at-large. Presumably they are not volunteer workers, and money certainly doesn't grow on trees, even for websites that are updated on a daily basis.
Mondoweiss states that its website "is part of the Center for Economic Research and Social Change," an ambiguously sinister-sounding body in north Chicago. Turning to its website, the Center (CERSC, as it is known) lists five "projects" which it supports. These are publishing the International Socialist Review; holding an annual conference which two years ago was termed "Socialism 2012"; hosting "We Are Many," another website "devoted to publishing radical and activist video and audio media," and funding Haymarket Books, a radical publishing firm.