Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, August 17, 2015

08/17 Links Pt2: IDF plans for possible Syria operation; Why is there LGBT silence on Iran?

From Ian:

IDF plans for possible Syria operation as jihadist, Hezbollah threats mount

The Israeli military is preparing for a possible ground operation on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights in the event of sustained rocket strikes or coordinated terror attacks against Israel either by Sunni jihadists or Hezbollah operatives.
The number of Islamists flooding into the area close to the border with Israel has the IDF on high alert, Channel 2 reported Sunday, adding that the military held a large-scale drill last week simulating a possible advance into Syria and the evacuation of Israeli civilians from border communities.
According to a Channel 10 report Sunday, the drill included preparation for a scenario in which Islamist forces launch a sophisticated, multi-pronged attack on Israeli troops, similar to attacks against Egyptian security forces in Sinai in recent months.
The IDF is also planning for a possible Hezbollah offensive directed by Iran, with an IDF source saying that hundreds of Hezbollah members are present in the Golan, and that Tehran has been behind several recent attacks against Israel. Israeli officials have routinely raised concerns over the presence of Iranian and Hezbollah fighters using positions in the Syrian Golan, partially held by rebel forces, to attack Israel.
“It’s clear that Iran is behind all of the terror attacks here [in the Golan] in the past two years,” the IDF officer said Sunday during a briefing with reporters. “The Iranians are using the border – they establish units – whether it’s [Jihad] Mughniyeh, [Samir] Kuntar, and more – to carry out [the attacks].”

Iran׳s Al Quds Force builds forward command near Israeli border, but war isn't on the horizon

On Sunday the IDF gave Israeli military reporters a tour in the area of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights and later there was a briefing with senior commanders in the Northern Command. As is usually the case with such briefings, facts and assessments were presented. They were rather routine. There certainly was not anything dramatic in the IDF's comments that suggested a change, an increased state of preparedness or higher level of alert.
But to drive 200 km. from Tel Aviv in each direction and to go a whole day without filing news? No way. So after the tour and the briefings, journalists were filmed in a fighting stance with the northern Golan Heights border fence in the background, delivering reports on an IDF plan for a ground attack in Syria.
Indeed, this possibility was also brought up, but it was a marginal piece in a presentation of a number of hypothetical scenarios.
Imagine the response from media, politicians or the public if the chief of staff or another senior army official would say that the IDF has no plan and is not prepared for the worst case scenario. Of course the IDF prepares for every possibility, even the most difficult. This is the role of the commanders: to prepare the IDF for every situation, scenario or eventuality.
However, the few sentences uttered by the officers giving the briefing about the possibility of the IDF taking control of territory in Syria, and even conquering a village or two on the border, were on the margins of what was said. These sentences were intended to explain that this is only one scenario that was practiced in a wide-ranging exercise that was carried out recently by the IDF's 210th Regional Bashan Division to prepare for a situation in which one of the terror groups, like the Nusra Front or Islamic State would try to break through the Golan border to attack IDF soldiers in the way that the Sinai Province of the Islamic State (formerly known as Ansar Bayit al-Maqdes) are doing against the Egyptian army.

Video: IDF Kills Iran-Sponsored Golan Terrorists

The IDF published video Sunday of an incident from last month in which it eliminated terrorists who infiltrated the northern Israeli Golan Heights from Syria. The terrorists, who set off on their mission from the village of Hadr in Syria, intended to plant powerful bombs and set them off against the IDF.
A senior military source in the Northern Command said that Iran was involved in all the recent terror attacks in the Golan. “The Iranians are behind all of the attacks and attempted attacks,” he said. “In the internecine fighting between them, [the battling forces in Syria] are also using chemical weapons, and we take this into account.”
“When one gazes deep into Syria from the peak of the Hermon,” the officer added, “one does not see a Syrian state anymore. Assad's grip on the ground is gradually weakening, and yet, there are still many forces loyal to the regime, including 180,000 in the regular army, and another 60,000 defending communities, 15,000 militiamen and about 5,000 Hezbollah men.”
"All these have turned Syria into a terror arena and the IDF treats it as such. The IDF understands that any small terror attack can cause the relatively quiet situation to deteriorate into war, and that is why scenarios are constantly being drilled.”

Egypt opens Rafah for a few days. Erez gets no headlines.

AP reports:

Egypt has opened its border with the Gaza Strip for the first time in two months.

The Rafah border crossing opened Monday for four days, allowing Palestinians to travel in both directions. Crossing director Khaled al-Shaer says some 20,000 people have applied to exit. Gazans seeking medical care and students are among those expected to cross.

Rafah is Gaza's only gateway to the outside world with no Israeli control. Egypt has kept it mostly closed since the militant Hamas group seized control of the coastal strip in 2007. The closure worsened after Egypt's military ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood member, in 2013. Hamas is an offshoot of the Brotherhood.

The crossing has been opened for a total of just 15 days this year.

Here is a graph, from the Gisha NGO, showing how many people have been able to cross Rafah in recent months:

For comparison, here is Gisha's chart of only exits through the Erez crossing to Israel - the real number of crossings would be roughly double:

Notice the largest category of people allowed to exit - merchants. A class of people who are simply not allowed through the Rafah border to Egypt.

Who is treating Gaza like a prison - Israelis who are allowing thousands of people to leave every week, or Egypt which goes months without allowing a single person to cross?

In related news, Israel's generosity in allowing materials into Gaza doesn't go unpunished. As TOI reports:

Israeli authorities intercepted a shipment of fiberglass incoming from Egypt earlier this month they say was intended for use by terror groups in the Gaza Strip to build rockets, officials said Monday.

Tax workers at the Nitzana crossing between Egypt and Israel became suspicious of the shipment, which was ordered by a Gaza-based importer and labeled as containing clothes and materials.

After opening the shipment for a closer look, tax officials discovered the rolls of fiberglass hidden inside.

“Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are taking advantage of every means possible in their attempts to rebuild,” the Shin Bet said in the statement. “Even smuggling basic materials for the terror industry by hiding them in humanitarian equipment.”

The tax authority said that last week it also stopped a shipment of fiberglass at the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel into Gaza that was labeled as containing school equipment.

Wikipedia says in its entry on Al Azhar University in Egypt that "Jewish philosopher Maimonides delivered lectures on medicine and astronomy there during the time of Saladin."

The source given is volume 13 of the Muqarnas journal. It is not available online for free, but it can be found is in this article by Nasser Rabbat.

I cannot find any Jewish sources for this assertion. I did find it mentioned in passing in this Arabic article. (People also claim that Maimonides lectured at the University of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, Morocco.)

Does anyone know the source for this? It doesn't seem to be too far-fetched but it could easily be a Muslim legend.

08/17 Links Pt1: Boycott of US Jew Matisyahu proves BDS is anti-Semitic; The J Street paradox

From Ian:

Douglas Murray: The New Racists: Jew Hate

If you had thought that the only qualification needed is to excel at your chosen art form and then see if you can gather audiences, you were wrong. That is not enough anymore -- certainly not if you are Jewish.
The treatment of the reggae star Matisyahu is something new. For Matisyahu is not an Israeli -- he is an American. For a while, only Israeli Jews were made pariahs among the nations because of an unresolved border dispute involving their country. Now it is Jews born anywhere else in the world who can be targeted in the same way. They are singling out Jews -- Jews and only Jews.
Habima performers were insulted and vilified while on stage at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, trying to perform "The Merchant of Venice." None of the protesters seemed to see the irony of vilifying Jews on stage during that of all plays.
Spain has its own border issues. Perhaps Spanish performers should henceforth be quizzed about their political attitudes before they are allowed to perform abroad? Maybe the rest of the world should demand that all artists from Spain sign a statement or make a video supporting Catalan independence if they are to be allowed to perform in public?
Only one country and one geopolitical question is addressed in this way. Turkish artists are nowhere in the world asked to condemn their country's illegal occupation of Northern Cyprus -- an occupation, lasting more than four decades, of half an EU member state.
Their singling out of Jews, wherever they are from, makes their racist motivation abundantly clear. If the Rototom Sunsplash festival wants to take part in this racist BDS fever then it is them -- and not Jews -- whom the world must make into pariahs.

Foreign Ministry: Spanish festival's boycott of US Jew Matisyahu proves BDS is anti-Semitic

If you plan on going to the Sunsplash Rototom Reggae Festival in Spain this week, you better not speak the language of the Hebrewman. If you do, they might kick you out.
The festival’s cancellation of a scheduled August 22 appearance by Jewish-American reggae artist Matisyahu – under pressure from Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists – unmasks the anti-Semitic nature of that movement, a Foreign Ministry representative said Sunday.
“We always said that BDS was not connected to the Palestinian issue or the settlements but was nothing more than Jew hatred,” spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said.
“And this demonstrates that.”
Matisyahu, Nahshon stressed, is not Israeli.

WJC President Condemns Cancellation of Matisyahu Concert

World Jewish Congress (WJC) President Ronald S. Lauder on Sunday expressed “outrage” and “utter bewilderment” at news that a music festival in Spain had disinvited American Jewish musician Matisyahu for failing to sign a pro-Palestinian declaration.
“This is a clear instance of anti-Semitism, and nothing else,” Lauder said in a statement, urging Spanish authorities “to condemn this sad incident and to take appropriate action those responsible for it.”
“Matisyahu is an American Jew. More importantly, like everybody else in a free and democratic society, he not only has a right to express his views – whether you agree with them or not — but he also has every right not to have the repugnant views of the festival organizers imposed on him. He is a musician who has been denied the opportunity to play his planned gig at a European reggae festival purely because he is Jewish and because he refuses to side with the vicious and bigoted BDS movement,” Lauder said.
“And to the people of Spain, I say this: Being a ‘Zionist’ and supporting Israel has nothing to do with supporting apartheid. Rather, it is about supporting democracy, the rule of law, freedom, openness and diversity,” he continued.
“The Rototom Sunsplash festival benefits from financial support from public authorities. I very much hope that they will convey a clear message to the organizers that either they re-invite Matisyahu and apologize for their outrageous behavior, or they pay back that financial aid, because anti-Semitism and racism must not be rewarded by public support – not in Spain, and not anywhere else,” added Lauder.

Another small victory

I have previously mentioned Ghassan Daghlas, the person paid by the Palestinian Authority to make up lies about Jewish settlers.

I counted over 200 times that Daghlas was quoted by the Ma'an news agency alone, without the slightest effort to verify his absurd, and often debunked, claims.

I often commented on Ma'an about how his claims are never accompanied with any actual evidence, no photos or videos corroborating them.

Today, Ma'an wrote about another absurd claim from Daghlas - but with a difference:

NABLUS (Ma’an) -- An Israeli settler on Sunday reportedly ran over a Palestinian teen in Yatma village in southern Nablus, a local monitor of settlement activity told Ma'an.
Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settler activities in the northern West Bank, said that an Israeli settler ran over Muhammad Mustafa Najjar, 19, and then fled the scene.
Daghlas added that the teen, who was moderately injured, was taken to Rafidia hospital in Nablus.

For the first time that I've ever seen in Ma'an, a claim by Ghassan Daghlas is not accepted as absolute fact, but is now "alleged."

And as usual, the facts don't support the allegations. As David Ha'Ivri wrote in the comments:

The report is a bit strange. The main road has not been through Yitma in years. Would be odd to see Jewish drivers driving on the roads in Yitma.

Clearly an Arab ran over the teen and an opportunity was seized to blame the eternal bogeymen, the "settlers."

We'll see if this is just an anomaly or if Ma'an is actually ever so slightly raising its journalistic standards.

From Times of London (paywalled):

A senior employee of Amnesty International has undeclared private links to men alleged to be key players in a secretive network of global Islamists, The Times can reveal.

The charity was unaware that the husband of its director of faith and human rights featured in documents released after a criminal trial at which connections were revealed between British supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and Arab Islamists accused of plotting to overthrow a Gulf state.

Yasmin Hussein was also linked to a Yorkshire-based aid agency that was banned by Israel for its alleged funding of Hamas terrorism; and criticised by colleagues for holding a private meeting with a Muslim Brotherhood government official during an Amnesty mission to Egypt, and staying overnight at his family’s home.

Ms Hussein, 51, was until recently the charity’s head of international advocacy and among its leading voices at the UN, where the organisation seeks to operate a strict policy of not siding with any government or political party.

Amnesty staff are asked to declare any links that may generate a real or perceived conflict of interest with its independence and impartiality.

The Brotherhood is banned as a terrorist organisation in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but not in Britain. An inquiry into its role and influence in this country was ordered by David Cameron last year. The findings have yet to be published.

Ms Hussein, who is understood to receive a salary of more than £90,000, told The Times that she had “never had any association whatsoever with . . . the Muslim Brotherhood”.

Her husband, Wael Musabbeh, was one of several alleged British Islamists, none of them defendants, named in documents released after a 2013 trial in the UAE that led to the jailing of more than 60 Emirati citizens who were tried for conspiracy and sedition.

Mr Musabbeh, 54, and a Bradford community trust of which both he and Ms Hussein were directors, were said by the authorities to be part of a complex financial and ideological network in which the UK and Ireland served as important hubs, linking the Brotherhood to its group in UAE.

Amnesty, which challenged the fairness of the trial, said it knew in 2013 of documents alleging links between the defendants and British individuals and organisations, including Mr Musabbeh and the Bradford trust, but did not realise there was any connection to Ms Hussein, to whom he has been married for 20 years, because it did not know until recently that he was her husband.

Mr Musabbeh said he had no connection to the Brotherhood, was not an Islamist and was unaware of having played any role in the UAE case.

In a separate incident in 2012, Amnesty staff alerted senior management after Ms Hussein held a private meeting in Egypt with a member of the Muslim Brotherhood government, shared an evening meal with his family and stayed overnight in their home.

Ms Hussein said she was not aware that any concerns were raised about her unofficial meeting with Adly al-Qazzaz, a ministerial education adviser who was blamed by a teachers’ union for instigating the “Brotherhoodisation” of Egypt’s education system.

The charity said it “examined and robustly interrogated concerns raised by colleagues”. Ms Hussein was subsequently told that her overnight stay with the al-Qazzaz family was inappropriate. She accepted that and promised that it would not happen again.

A long-serving employee said the charity had strict rules on overseas trips, adding: “For an Amnesty delegate to accept an invitation to stay at the residence of a government official is a serious breach of protocol.”

Mr al-Qazzaz’s son, Khaled al-Qazzaz, was the Brotherhood’s presidential secretary for foreign affairs. His daughter, Mona al-Qazzaz, was the official spokeswoman for the movement in the UK. Father and son were arrested in a crackdown that followed the toppling of the Islamist government in July 2013.

Ms Hussein said she had no knowledge of the senior Brotherhood positions held by members of the al-Qazzaz family. She was “a committed human rights activist”, was not an Islamist and was “vehemently opposed” to the raising of funds “by any organisation that supports terrorism”.

She said that her meeting with Mr al-Qazzaz had been a private one. She was studying for a doctorate and wanted to speak with a government education official “to encourage the synergies between human rights and educational planning”. Difficulties in booking a hotel led her to accept the room.

Amnesty said that, with the exception of the overnight stay, it “found no evidence to suggest any inappropriate links between Ms Hussein and the al-Qazzaz family”.

The charity said that Ms Hussein denied being a supporter of the Brotherhood and has told Amnesty that “any connections are purely circumstantial”. It said it did not believe that any of her alleged connections with Islamists represented a conflict of interest.

It added: “Amnesty International does, however, take very seriously any allegations that would call into question our impartiality and is therefore investigating the issues raised.”

That last part is hilarious. Amnesty's employees in the Middle East are hired because of their bias against Israel, not in spite of it.

For example, I reported that Amnesty campaigner Saleh Hijazi's Facebook profile picture was a photo of Leila Khaled, a PFLP terrorist and airline hijacker, while in 2012, his profile picture was a photo of Khader Adnan, a leader of the Islamic Jihad terror organization. In addition, NGO Monitor reports, while studying at Lawrence University in Wisconsin, Hijazi wrote his thesis on "Yasser Arafat: A Palestinian Prophet in the Formation of Palestinian National Identity." Amnesty doesn't seem too concerned.

Deborah Hyams, another Amnesty researcher responsible for reports on Israel, has had her bias against Israel documented:

In 2001, Hyams volunteered as a “human shield” in Beit Jala (near Bethlehem), to deter Israeli military responses to recurrent gunfire and mortars targeting Jewish civilians in Jerusalem.

Hyams employs demonizing language regarding Israel: In 2008, she was signatory to a letterclaiming Israel is “a state founded on terrorism, massacres and the dispossession of another people from their land.” Hyams also statedin 2002 that “[some] of Israel’s actions, all the way back to 1948, could be called ‘ethnic cleansing’.”

In a 2002 Washington Jewish Week article, "Hyams said that while she does not condone suicide bombings, she personally believes they 'are in response to the occupation.'" In another instance she defended violence stating "occupation is violence...and the consequence of this action must result in violence [against Israelis]."

Hyams has worked for some of the most radical political advocacy NGOs in the Arab-Israeli conflict, including the Alternative Information Center (AIC),Jews for Justice in Palestine and Israel (JPPI), Rachel Corrie Foundation, and Ma’an Network. Any of these affiliations should have been a red flag for Amnesty.

The idea that Amnesty takes the appearance of bias seriously, at least in the Middle East region, is a joke.

And which is worse - having a spouse with links that indicate bias, or direct evidence of bias from the employees' own statements?

(h/t Margie)

Bigot Chris Gunness assumes that Palestinians will start intifada if UNRWA schools are shut down

Chris Gunness, UNRWA's spokesperson, tweeted these on Friday:

The article he is referring to is here.

Gunness, trying to cajole the world into giving more and more funds to his agency, is using the threat that if the UNRWA schools don't start on time, then we can expect violence from the students - just as, he quotes an "expert," the deadly riots of 1936-9 and the First Intifada started with school (and other) strikes.

Think about that. The biggest supposed booster for Palestinian "refugee" rights believes that it is natural for Palestinian students to react to being idle with violence.

In 2007, tens of thousands of Israeli high school students were out of the classroom for two months during a prolonged teachers' strike.. Yet for some reason there were no riots, no increased violent crime statistics, no wild attacks on Arabs by the suddenly idle Israeli youth.

Yet Chris Gunness expects his UNRWA students - students that he brags learn concepts of human rights, respect and dignity - to turn violent if their school year is delayed. In fact, he expects it so much that he is threatening the world with the specter of Palestinian violence if they don't pay up!

Isn't that about as bigoted as can be? Isn't there something wrong when the people who supposedly are defending the Palestinians assuming that they are naturally violent people - more violent than any other society faced with delays of the school year?

I pointed it out to him, even though he blocks me on Twitter:

So @ChrisGunness' opinion of Palestinians is that they cannot stop themselves from being violent if they are idle. Sounds vaguely bigoted.
— ElderOfZiyon (@elderofziyon) August 16, 2015

He apparently got the message. Gunness then removed.his tweet (cached here.)

Without apology, of course.

Gunness has been exposed as a person who believes, and banks on, the idea that Palestinians.are naturally immoral people.

He's not alone. This is the bigoted conceit of many so-called "progressives" who defend and justify Palestinian Arab terror and violence. It is never their responsibility - it is always a "natural response" to perceived provocations.

There is a further irony: There is little reason to associate the violent riots of 1936-39 and 1987-91 with school strikes to begin with. In 1936 there was a general Arab strike that was accompanied by deadly attacks on Jews, and the schools were affected by the general strike, but they were hardly the vanguard for the violence. In 1987 I see no specific mention of school strikes at the start of the intifada but even if they occurred they were not the leading issue for the outbreak of violence.

In other words, Gunness is exaggerating any propensity to violence by Palestinian Arab youth - youth who are in his own UNRWA schools.

Which makes him even more bigoted!

Elder gets results!

Earlier, I reported that MSN.com republished a virulently antisemitic article from Arab News. (Cached copy here.)

Soon after my post was published, the article was taken down.

I don't know if it was from people sending Microsoft the message or from my comment on the article.

But according to this cached copy from Bing, my comment was up for at least 10 hours, so chances are that you guys let Microsoft know and they acted in a hurry.

Every once in a while, a tiny victory against the tidal wave of lies and hate.

Palestinian Nurses for Terror

I came upon this photo:

The source was a Palestinian nursing message board, palnurse.com.

Looking a bit further at this site, one sees normal chats appropriate for nurses, asking advice from colleagues.

And also a healthy dose of terror support and anti-semitism.

This entry quotes Hitler approvingly on his opinion of Jews.

This thread is about "the wickedness of the Jews."

This one claims that Hamas pulled a fast one on the Jews by giving them a fake Gilad Shalit.

This one proudly points to videos of Jews running away from rocket attacks.

And this one details all the terrible attributes of Jews (thievery, murder, corruption, cowardice, hating Muslims, and so forth) and the nurses respond consistently with "Allah bless you" for such a wonderful post.

The contrast between how Israeli doctors treat all patients with respect and how Palestinian medical workers boast of their Jew-hatred cannot be clearer.

There is another entry about the wickedness of the Jews, using a fairly funny joke to supposedly illustrate it.

It seems the Church decided to make some cash by selling off guaranteed portions in Heaven. People paid exorbitant amounts to get their portions, especially if they had not led the most exemplary of lives.

A Jew approached the church officials and asked how much it would cost to buy Hell? The church thought he was crazy, but obliged him and sold Hell for a high price.

The Jew then showed his deed to Hell to all the people, who then said that if Jews owned all of the portions of Hell, then why should they have to pay so much to get into Heaven - they would get there by default! As a result the entire market for Heaven crashed.

The church, alarmed, was forced to buy back Hell from the Jew for many times the selling cost.

Yes, to Arabs, this joke is evidence of Jewish evil.

MSN publishes "Jews own and control the media" story

Here's the beginning of an article/letter in Arab News (English):

Extremist Jewish settlers murdered an 18-month-old Palestinian baby. The atrocity was hardly reported in the western media, which is owned and controlled by the Jews.

Just imagine had some Palestinians killed an Israeli baby, the Jewish media would have made it world’s top news headlines screaming for days how the “Islamist” terrorists forced Israel to rightly up the security and how it is important for Israel to have nukes. It would have led to an outcry in the UN by the trio world powers — the US, Britain and France.

Subsequently, the country would have used the death of the baby to carry out a collective punishment on the Palestinians.

The murder of the Palestinian baby, or for that matter massacres, are nothing new. The settlers and the Zionists have been programmed this way.

Palestinian babies were also murdered in 1948, when Menachem Begin first led the Jewish Stern and Lehi gangs into Der Yassin, a Palestinian village, where they murdered over 600 innocent, unarmed Palestinian, men, women, children and babies.

The same antisemitic "story" was picked up and published by - MSN.com.

I understand that stories get syndicated, but one would think that there would be some editorial control over which stories get chosen and which ignored.

This "story" was also picked up by Middle East/North Africa Financial Network.

08/16 Links: Matisyahu didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition; Arab Bank settles with victims of Hamas

From Ian:

Spanish fest cancels Matisyahu gig over refusal to endorse Palestinian state

The Rototom Sunsplash Reggae Festival called off the formerly Hasidic rapper’s August 22 show, with organizers saying Matisyahu had refused to comply with their demand to pen a statement or a video message backing “the Palestinians’ right to a state.”
Festival organizers were driven by intense pressure from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, the reports said. Artists scheduled to perform at the event threatened to cancel their appearances if Matisyahu were to perform because he was “seen to represent Israel.”
The organizers gave Matisyahu an ultimatum, telling him if he would “sign such a declaration [publicly affirming his support for the Palestinians, he] can perform,” according to Spanish daily, El Pais.
Although not Israeli, Matisyahu has visited and performed in the Jewish state multiple times.
In a statement on Facebook, Rototom organizers said that the move was linked to “the festival’s sensitivity to Palestine, its people and the occupation of its territory by Israel.”
The front page of the Valencia-based festival’s website features a two-and-a-half hour video on pro-Palestinian activists holding Palestinian flags and decrying Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip.
Local BDS activists welcomed the move after accusing the Jewish rapper of being a “Zionist” and “defending a state that practices apartheid and ethnic cleansing” on a link posted on his Facebook page. (h/t Yenta Press)

Arab Bank reaches settlement with US victims of Hamas attacks in Israel

Jordan’s Arab Bank settled a case with hundreds of plaintiffs that could be worth billions of dollars, ending the most dramatic terrorism finance case against a major bank in US history.
The settlement was confirmed Friday by Michael Elsner, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, and a spokesman for Arab Bank. Terms were not disclosed.
It comes nearly a year after the US New York jury found the $46 billion bank liable; four months after the bank lost a shot at a retrial; days before a damages trial was set to start; and 14 years after some of the terrorist attacks in question took place.
The highly public trial lasted five weeks and revisited some of Hamas’s worst attacks, including the August 2001 Sbarro suicide bombing in Jerusalem that killed or wounded 130, and a range of 24 other terrorist attacks during the second intifada.
A total of 297 plaintiffs who were injured or are family members of those murdered in the attacks that took place from 1998-2004, which were financed via Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah’s al-Shahid Foundation, sued the bank in 2004 for allowing itself to be used as a conduit for the terrorism funds.
The 10-year history of intense legal battles, included trying to get the bank’s “secret” client documents located in Jordan, Lebanon and Palestinian areas.
The US Supreme Court already had weighed in once pretrial and could have been asked to weigh in again post-trial, while the US State, Justice and Treasury departments fought over whether the US government should accede to Jordan’s requests to intervene in the case.
Jordan had claimed that Arab Bank, by far the country’s largest, was so crucial to the country’s economy that a multi-billion dollar judgment could lead to economic and political instability and devastation, possibly damaging crucial US-Jordan counter-terrorism cooperation.

David Horovitz: Obama’s Iran deal: A fight to a very bitter end

July 14, the day the P5+1 powers announced they’d finalized an agreement with Iran aimed at curbing its rogue nuclear program, may well turn out to have been the deal’s finest day. In the month since then, opponents of the accord have seen their prospect of blocking it in Congress rise from slim to, well, not quite so slim. Here are 12 insights into what began to a significant extent as a battle between President Barack Obama, chief advocate of the “best” and only deal, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leading opponent of the “stunning historic mistake,” and has now become a struggle between the president and an anguished chunk of his own Democratic Party’s legislators.
1. Flaws in the deal. What is most helping the deal’s opponents is elements of the deal itself. As American legislators have familiarized themselves with the small print, some have taken on board opponents’ protestations that the accord legitimizes Iran as a nuclear threshold state; that the inspection process of suspect sites is unworkable; that Iran is given leave to continue its R&D so that it can speedily break out to the bomb come the day; that the sanctions relief is premature and would be irreversible; and that the deal provides Iran with vast amounts of money that it will surely use to wreak more havoc in the region and sponsor terrorism worldwide.
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz actually volunteered this last concern in a webcast with American Jews Thursday that had been intended to alleviate opposition. “We are concerned about some possible escalation in their support for terrorism, meddling in the region in terms of stability,” Moniz said, unprompted. “Obviously Hezbollah terrorism is an example.”

Writing in Israel National News last week, Tova Dvorin tell us:

The Obama administration has asked a judge Monday to “carefully consider” the size of the bond demanded from the Palestinian Authority (PA) for its role orchestrating years of terror attacks against Israelis and Jews - directly interfering in a US court case.

In February, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) - the terror group behind the PA - was found liable to pay $218.5 million to victims of terror, a figure that was set to be tripled to $655.5 million according to the anti-terrorism laws under which the case was brought...

In a document entitled “Statement of Interest of the United States of America," the Obama administration expressed concerns over the payments hurting the PA's basic government services.

Forcing the PLO to pay “a significant portion of its revenues would likely severely compromise the P.A.’s ability to operate as a governmental authority,” deputy Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken wrote.

It's hard to imagine that at this late date I am still capable of being disgusted by the Obama administration. Yet there it is. Just when I think that they can't sink even lower into the muck, we get stories like the one above.

So, the Obama administration is literally siding with the PA and the PLO over their American victims, despite an American court-ruling not in Palestinian-Arab favor. The word "shocking" comes to mind, although I am certain that many of you will not be shocked.

And the reason for this interference in the ruling of the court is because Obama is concerned that the PA will not be able to pay its bills? Well, he has a point. Supporting terrorism does not necessarily come cheaply. But if the PA cannot afford to pay its bills, whose fault is that?

{Oh, Israel's. Naturally. I forgot for a moment.}

We are to believe that the PA-PLO should be shielded by the President of the United States from having to suffer the predictable consequences of their own behavior? A behavior that includes the murder of American citizens? Or does Barack Obama honestly think that it is perpetually Jew hunting season in the Middle East? If the PA can't afford to post bond to the court perhaps they should rethink their rather counterproductive Jew Killing Policy.

But, in truth, would it really be an unfortunate thing if the PA collapsed? The EU and the US are bankrolling a gang of cutthroats who cry out for the genocide of the Jews, who despise the United States, and who name schools after murderers. We should not be in the business of promoting these people, we should be in the business of actively opposing them.

The PA is not quite as heinous as Hamas, but it is close enough, and neither are democratic organizations. Perhaps I am just old fashioned, and maybe my views on such matters are not nearly as sophisticated as our Genius in Chief's, but when I was growing up most people had the notion that one supports one's friends and opposes one's enemies. On a personal level we supported those who supported our well-being and values and opposed those who opposed them.

From a practical foreign policy standpoint what this means is that we should support the secular democracies and not support the non-democratic governments. Above all, we should not be giving financial aid to Islamist organizations, like the Muslim Brotherhood, because the Brotherhood oppresses women, oppresses gay people, and oppresses the Christian Copts. They would oppress Jews there, but there are no Jews there, having been ethnically-cleansed from almost the entire region by the hostile majority population in the middle of the last century.

The truth of the matter, of course, is that having chased the Jews out of land that we lived on for millennia, they now wish to chase Jews out our historical homeland entirely. There are many people out there - all evidence to the contrary - who honestly believe that the Palestinian National Movement is fundamentally grounded in social justice for the "indigenous Arab population," with two states for two peoples. This is a lie on numerous levels.

The first lie is that the Palestinian-Arabs are the indigenous people of Israel. They are not. As it reads on the right side of Israel Thrives, courtesy of the Elder, "Jews are from Judah, Arabs are from Arabia." The broad strokes of Jewish and Arab history in the Land of Israel are not in serious contention among western historians with professional credentials. They all acknowledge that Jews have lived in Judea and Samaria for at least three thousand years, but the Jewish presence predates written history and thereby floats back into the mists of time. Muhammad's armies conquered Jerusalem in 637 CE from the Byzantines, thus the Muslims are rather late to the game by thousands of years.

The Jews are the only living people who can make claims of indigeneity to Eretz Israel. Unless some Jebusites pop out of the ground, only the Jews can make that case.

The second lie is that the Palestinian-Arabs want a state for themselves in peace next to Israel. This is false. What the the Palestinian National Movement wants is the elimination of the Jewish National Movement. Palestinian-Arab national consciousness emerged as a significant social construct toward the end of the twentieth-century. It did so for the express purpose of undermining Jewish well-being on historically Jewish land. If they wanted a state for themselves they have a funny way of showing it, given that they have refused every single offer going back all the way to 1937, with the Peel Commission.

The third lie is that the Palestinian National Movement has any interest whatsoever in liberal notions of social justice. If by "social justice" one means random acts of senseless violence combined with a campaign to spread hatred toward Jews all around the world, then the PA is interested in social justice.

And, sadly, one must wonder if President Barack Obama shares that sense of "social justice"?

Given that he is willing to prop up both the PA and the PLO at the direct expense of their American victims, so it would seem.

Michael Lumish is a blogger at the Israel Thrives blog as well as a regular contributor/blogger at Times of Israel and Jews Down Under.

From Al Monitor:

On Aug. 1, Hamas’ women’s wing opened the all-female “First al-Quds Army camp” to prepare academically exceptional girls aged 12-18 for the liberation battle of Palestine.

This camp, which ended Aug. 10, is the first of its kind in the Gaza Strip, as Hamas has never organized a female training camp before. Around 1,000 girls attend the camp, which offered a special curriculum to resist the occupation taught by women affiliated with the Hamas movement. These women enjoy extensive military experience and know how to intellectually mobilize people against the occupation.

Camp director Rajaa al-Halabi told Al-Monitor, “The goal of the First al-Quds Army camp is to prepare girls for self-defense and for future battles against the occupation.”

Halabi explained that the camp focuses on the psychological education of girls, who participate voluntarily. Training includes how to raise a new generation that embraces the culture of liberation and fighting the occupation and strengthening participants’ sense of patriotism and interest in preserving Palestinian rights.

The group of girls that stood in a schoolyard in the neighborhood of Ramla, in central Gaza City, seemed passionate about learning military techniques, just like participants of the yearly “Pioneers of Liberation” camps for men and boys from age 7 to 60 organized by Hamas since 2013. The girls’ leader worked to organize them into military formation and teach them about the basic military march.

In addition to the Ramla camp, other camps are spread across Gaza, such as Tuffah and al-Daraj in central Gaza City and Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south. Ghada al-Abed, the head of the training program of the camps in Tuffah and al-Daraj, said that the camp in Ramla is just one of several camps all held in schools Aug. 1-10 to build the capacities of participants and enhance their sense of patriotism.

Abed told Al-Monitor, “These camps target girls who have a school average of over 95%, the elites of Palestinian female students,” aiming to train role models for other students.

She explained that one of the first skills these girls learn at the camps is the military march, which teaches them discipline and order. Then they carry out activities and exercises designed to strengthen the girls’ faith that Jerusalem — a matter of conflict between Jews and Muslims for many years — rightfully belongs of Muslims only, not Jews.

Wafaa al-Sharbassi, 16, told Al-Monitor, “I joined the First al-Quds Army camp, and I am proud to be part of it. These camps grow the seeds of love of the nation and teaches us about our Islamic sanctities that are being blatantly violated, such as Al-Aqsa Mosque. They also strengthen our rights to defend our presence and resist the Israeli occupation.”

She added, “This camp revived our hopes to create a female army to liberate Al-Aqsa from the occupation. We learn about weapons and how to handle them, and we are ready to go through intensive military training for this purpose.”

Hiba Abu al-Laban, 13, told Al-Monitor, “I joined the First al-Quds Army camp because I hope women can play a role in the future liberation battle. We were also exposed to the Israeli lies about Al-Aqsa Mosque, such as the existence of Jewish artifacts under the mosque, which would give [Israel] the pretext to violate the mosque’s foundation and structure and destroy it.”

Abed added that among the camp’s activities is the war-of-words game. In this game, the girls are divided into two groups, one Palestinian and the other Israeli. A war of words starts between them, as well as an argument about the right to Jerusalem. The simulation ends with victory by the Palestinian team, which may not necessarily reflect actual developments on the ground, but trains them to think that way.

It is against international law to recruit children for war.

We've previously reported on female fighters in Gaza. One can only guess how many of the "civilian women" killed in the Gaza war were really soldiers.

Here is video of the female terrorists:

Arabs upset at rebuilding of Tiferet Yisrael synagogue. Especially its dome.

There have been a flurry of Arabic articles lately denouncing the rebuilding of the Tiferet Yisrael synagogue (Nissan Beck shul) in the Jewish Quarter.

The synagogue, along with every other synagogue in the Old City, was destroyed by the Jordanians in 1948. Only one wall remained.

While its rebuilding was approved years ago, apparently construction has started.

The Mufti of Jerusalem issued a condemnation, claiming that the synagogue was being built on what used to be a Muslim chapel (in other reports, a school).

QPress has a video report about it, in context of the "Judaization" of Jerusalem, which features a Muslim man openly discussing the building plans near the site as Jewish students walk by and don't bother him.

Al Jazeera reports that Israsel only claims that there was a synagogue there beforehand, but it was really a Muslim site.

What really bothers them is that the dome on the top will dominate the Jerusalem skyline, higher than the Dome of the Rock or the Al Aqsa Mosque dome.

This was the major objection to the rebuilding of the beautiful Hurva synagogue a few years ago.

Here is a photo of the Jewish Quarter before 1948. Tiferet Yisrael is the domed building on the left, in this photo taken looking up from the Temple Mount.

Here's a video I made from high resolution aerial photos of Jerusalem in 1936 showing the Hurva and Tiferet Yisrael:

10-year old shot in head during wedding celebration in Nablus

Palestine Press Agency reports that a child and a young man were injured by celebratory gunfire in a wedding ceremony in Nablus Wednesday.

A ten-year old child was shot in the head with injuries described as serious. He was transferred to the Rafidia hospital.

The other victim, a young man, was shot in the foot.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights used to routinely track incidents like this under the category of "misuse of weapons" but I haven't seen any such reports in a number of years.

(A young man was killed in Hebron during his brother's wedding on Friday night, but not from gunshots - revelers dropped him to the ground while carrying him and he fell on his head.)