Hezbollah, Iran continue targeting Jewish civilians

From YNet:

While Jerusalem and Washington are trying to convince the European Union to add Hezbollah to terror black list, a Cyprus trial might help bring about this change.

Six months after the arrest of Hossam Taleb Yaacoub, 24-year-old Lebanese who holds both Lebanese and Swedish passports, Yaacoub has admitted in court to membership in the Hezbollah, and gave information regarding his communications with his handler, the use of code words, and European activities of the Shiite organization, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

Upon his arrest, the assumption was that Yaacoub intended to carry out a terror attack against Israeli targets in Cyprus. He denied this, but admitted that his handlers ordered him to look for Kosher restaurants in Limassol. In addition, he said that he was sent by the Hezbollah to other areas in which there were great Israeli and Jewish presences, such as Antalya and Amsterdam.

And from Ha'aretz:

Nigerian security forces uncovered an Iranian terror cell that was allegedly planning to launch attacks against Israeli and American targets in the city of Lagos, Nigerian authorities said Wednesday.

Three members of the cell were arrested by security forces. The leader, Abdullahi Berende, a 50-year-old Shiite Muslim Nigerian citizen, was arrested on December 12, 2012, after six months of surveillance. Two other members - Sulaiman Saka and Saheed Adewumi - were also arrested. The fourth member of the terror cell, Benyamin Yosuf, managed to escape.

The spokeswoman of the Nigerian police said Wednesday that the cell was planning to carry out an attack on the offices of USAID, as well as on the offices of the Israeli container shipping company ZIM, and on the Chabad house in the city of Lagos, which is considered the financial capital of Nigeria.

According to the police spokeswoman, the members of the cell were scouting and collecting information for a future attack. She said that the leader of the cell photographed the Chabad house in Lagos himself and sent the photos to his Iranian handlers.

The investigation by Nigerian security forces revealed that Berende traveled to Iran for the first time in 2006 to study in the university. He returned to Iran in 2011 and underwent training there in assembling explosive devices. Berende received $30 thousand from his Iranian handlers in order to carry out the attacks.

Berende admitted in his interrogation to traveling to Iran on several occasions, in order to meet with Iranians known for their involvement in a worldwide terror network.

Given that Hezbollah is simply one of Iran's military wings, what more does the EU need to know to outlaw the group?

(h/t YM, Benny)

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"Settlements are an expression of our connection to this land" - EoZ interview with Yossi Kuperwasser pt. 1

Yossi Kuperwasser, the Director of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs in the Prime Minister's Office, says that Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria "are an expression of our connection to this land."

In part one of an exclusive interview with EoZ, Kuperwasser discussed the purpose of his ministry and the importance of fighting attempts to delegitimize Israel.

He described his office as working on topics such as explaining Israel's position to politicians and pundits, and to try to get world leaders to pressure the Palestinian leadership to return to the negotiating table, to give only a couple of examples.

Kuperwasser stated that the top priorities of his ministry are the Iranian threat, the Palestinian issue, and to develop a "national security concept" that extends the idea of national security beyond the old paradigm of military defense to include social aspects of Israel's security.

When asked about how Israel's settlement policy fits in with strategic affairs, Kuperwasser defended them as "another expression of the Jewish people coming back to their ancestral homeland." He also defended them on security grounds, while admitting that not all of the communities help security.

On the other hand, Kuperwasser did admit that there are other people who claim the land and that Israel has shown time and time again a willingness to compromise for peace. Unfortunately, the Palestinian Arab side has not embraced the idea of two states for two peoples living side by side in peace.

I followed up by asking him how to answer the European claim that Israel has no right to continue building homes in the area. He answered that, firstly, the new homes are only being built on land that is already within defined Jewish communities. Secondly, there is a need for natural growth.

"Once we reach an agreement with the Palestinians...the settlements are one of the topics" to be discussed in a final status agreement, he noted, but until then there is no reason to stop building within them - only the legal ones.

Furthermore, during  years of negotiations with the Palestinian Arabs, the idea of a settlement freeze was never a requirement.

Beyond that, Kuperwasser asserts, what he wants to convince the Europeans and other Westerners is that without a Palestinian Arab culture of peace there is nothing to talk about. Peace is not being held up by settlements, but by the inability of Palestinian Arabs to accept the right of Jews to their own land and their continuous incitement against Israel.  This is what he wants the world to understand.

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Hamantashen - by Pillsbury

Only in Israel:

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Wednesday Links Part 2

From Ian:

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Human rights group adopts Hamas' version of Gaza offensive, claims Israel

A total of 14 missile strikes, some seemingly delivered by drones and, including four, according to HRW, that “appeared to involve fixed-wing aircraft dropping aerial bombs,” have been highlighted in the investigation as being of concern. But looking at Israel’s operation as a whole, the questions still remaining over the 14 strikes -- into one of the most crowded civilian zones on the planet -- suggest that in not less than 1,486 cases Israel did seek to ensure that the overwhelming majority of targets – equating, according to HRW’s own figures, to more than 99 percent -- were indeed carefully selected. They suggest, too, that the selection of targets was to ensure there was a minimal loss of Palestinian civilian casualties.

Honest Reporting: PLO Wants to Roll Back the Clock
Good grief: Everything Areikat’s asking for now was on the table at Taba 2001.

And what’s the progress Areikat refers to? The Palestinians broke off the Taba talks, the second intifada raged on, Yasser Arafat was replaced by Mahmoud Abbas and his do-nothing doctrine. Israel withdrew from Gaza and Hamas simply took over and continued firing rockets. The PLO all but bailed out of Oslo with its unilateral statehood bid.
Progess? What progress?
If Taba is good enough for the Palestinians now, why wasn’t it good enough then?

Is territorial discontinuity a real obstacle?
Territorial division between Gaza and the West Bank is not an obstacle to the creation of a Palestinian state.

GEOGRAPHICALLY, THERE are five kinds of states: contiguous, with a homogeneous territory (such as Germany and Brazil); prolonged, with an extended territory in latitude or longitude (like Chile or Mozambique); irregular (like Greece); perforated, with sovereign states within its territory (like Italy with San Marino and South Africa with Lesotho and Swaziland); and fragmented, with a discontinuous territory interrupted by seas or by other states.
Among fragmented states are Russia (with Kaliningrad in European territory), the US (with Alaska), Denmark, Philippines and Japan (with archipelagos), Malaysia and Oman.

Douglas Murray: A model of diversity
There’s nothing quite like diversity. Take Manchester. It has a large Muslim population and a lot of gays. What could possibly go wrong?

Last week Manchester University’s Student Union played host to the ‘Global Aspirations of Women Society’. This appears to be a front group of the extremists of Hizb ut-Tahrir and therefore by no means does what it says on the tin.
Anyhow – as the university’s student newspaper puts it:
‘A speaker at a Students’ Union affiliated society workshop said that homosexuals would be executed in an ideal Islamic state, describing the practice of two men kissing as an “atrocity.”
1st year Middle Eastern studies student Colin Cortbus attended a public meeting at the Students’ Union last Wednesday 13th February organised by Global Aspirations and asked the chairperson of the meeting whether “in the Islamic society in which you strive for,” they would “feel comfortable, personally and morally, to kill a gay man.”

Daphne Anson: Demonstration In Melbourne Against Geert Wilders (video)

Organised by Students For Palestine, and with the comrades from Socialist Alliance inevitably participating, here's a demo in the Melbourne suburb of Somerton on 19 February against the appearance of anti-Islamist campaigner Geert Wilders at a public meeting organised by the Q Society.

BBC Watch: “Significant strands of thought” at the BBC

As we have noted here before, Abdel Bari Atwan – the Gaza-born editor of the London-based Arabic language newspaper ‘Al Quds Al Arabi’- is a regular guest on several BBC programmes on both radio and television, despite his frequent voicing of often frankly offensive opinions.
Readers will probably not be surprised to learn that Atwan is now promoting the notion that:
“… the French military intervention in Mali is designed not only to protect its own interests in the region but to benefit Israel.”

Kerry to bypass Israel in first Middle East trip
Newly instated US secretary of state to visit key American regional allies, but will wait to accompany Obama to Jerusalem

Secretary of State John Kerry will make his first official trip overseas next week, a jam-packed travel agenda that includes meetings in nine nations across Europe and the Middle East.

Report: Hagel Said Israel Headed Toward Apartheid, Netanyahu a ‘Radical’

“I am sitting in a lecture by Chuck Hagel at Rutgers,” Wagner wrote in the email. “He basically said that Israel has violated every UN resolution since 1967, that Israel has violated its agreements with the quartet, that it was risking becoming an apartheid state if it didn’t allow the Palestinians to form a state. He said that the settlements were getting close to the point where a contiguous Palestinian state would be impossible.”
“He said that he [thought] that Netanyahu was a radical and that even [former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi] Livni, who was hard nosed thought he was too radical and so wouldn’t join in a coalition [government] with him. … He said that Hamas has to be brought in to any peace negotiation,” Wagner wrote.

Supporter of Iranian dictatorship brought Chuck Hagel to Rutgers University for 2007 speech

A pro-Hezbollah, pro-Hamas candidate for the Iranian presidency, a man linked to Iranian-controlled front groups, brought former Republican Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel to speak at Rutgers University in 2007, according to another professor on campus.
Hooshang Amirahmadi, who led Rutgers’ Center for Middle Eastern Studies when Hagel came to campus, is the founder and president of the American-Iranian Council. He arranged for Hagel’s speech on March 2, 2007, the faculty source told The Daily Caller.

Study finds sharp rise in anti-Semitic attacks in France
614 incidents in 2012 represent a 58 percent increase over the previous year says SPCJ report

“2012 has been a year of unprecedented violence against Jews in France,” according to the report, which referenced the shooting murders of a rabbi and three Jewish children on March 19 by an Islamist radical at a Jewish school in Toulouse.

Why Jews should stand against Christian oppression
Of all the countries in the Middle East, only in Israel is the Christian population growing and flourishing.

So why should I as a Jew care about the fate of Christians? Firstly, having been victims for thousands of years it is our obligation to care and reach out to victims of discrimination, religious intolerance and extremism. Secondly, it is our responsibility to stand up for religious freedom and specially for those moderate and tolerant values promoted by most of these Christian minority groups. Moreover, Christians are rediscovering their Hebraic roots and are strong supporters of Israel, as they see its rebirth as the actualization of the biblical prophesies and of their divine mission to assist with the return of Jews to their promised land.
It is incumbent on my people to ensure that at least in the area where there is Jewish suzerainty, discrimination against Christians does not occur, and I have satisfied myself that of all the countries in the Middle East, only in Israel is the Christian population growing and flourishing.
(The writer is the chairman of the South African Zionist Foundation)

American superstar Alicia Keys to make Israel debut
One of the leading musical artists of the last 10 years will arrive in Israel for the 1st time on the birthday of her country.

American superstar Alicia Keys, one of the leading musical artists of the last 10 years, will be arriving in Israel for the first time on the birthday of her country – July 4th.
The winner of 14 Grammys will perform at the Nokia Center as part of her Set the World on Fire tour in support of her new album, Girl on Fire. Keys most recent highprofile appearances were at last month’s Super Bowl where she sang the National Anthem, and at this month’s Grammy Awards where she performed a duet with Maroon 5’s Adam Levine.

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Wednesday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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Michael Oren blasts 60 Minutes' Iron Dome segment
On his personal Facebook page, Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, blasted the segment.

60 Minutes was right: The Iron Dome missile defense system does not take lives, it saves lives. But 60 Minutes missed the true connection between Iron Dome and settlements: Israel was compelled to build Iron Dome after it uprooted 21 Israeli settlements from the Gaza Strip and Hamas took over Gaza and used it to launch thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians. Israel and the Obama Administration, together, call for the immediate resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians, without preconditions, to discuss all the core issues–borders, security, mutual recognition – leading to a solution based on two states for two peoples. We deeply appreciate American support for the Iron Dome system, which gives Israel the time and space to make peace, if the Palestinians wish to do so.

The Truth About Hamas’ Smuggling Tunnels
A senior Israeli Defense Force officer, speaking exclusively to the Investigative Project on Terrorism on condition of anonymity, explained why that continues.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Paul Hirschson suggested that the idea that the tunnels were kept open for tax collection doesn’t necessarily make sense. “Hamas runs the Gaza Strip,” he said. “They could quite easily impose a tax system on goods coming across the border with Egypt. If Hamas were to get a deal with the Egyptians to pass goods on top of the border rather than under it, they could tax the goods as much as they want. But there are things going through the tunnels that wouldn’t be allowed by the Egyptians anyway, such as drugs trafficking, human trafficking, and of course, arms trafficking.”
Gerald Steinberg, president of the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor and a professor of political studies at Israel’s Bar Ilan University is the author of ‘NGOs, Human Rights, and Political Warfare in the Arab-Israel Conflict.’ Steinberg has no doubt as to what is behind Hamas’ tunnel strategy.
“The Hamas leadership thrives on conflict and of portraying the situation in Gaza as one of Palestinian suffering. It is created for the Palestinian leadership by playing the victim card strongly and has been assisted in that by the NGO network and by the UN human rights frameworks all working together. They will always exaggerate claims that they cannot import basic materials, while at the same time seeking to downplay changes that will actually benefit the population. There is always a careful play off that Hamas does between allowing materials in [to Gaza] and playing the victim card.”

Female Drivers Escape Arab Ambush
Jewish women escape PA gang’s carjacking attempts.

Palestinian Authority resident criminal gangs continue to target Israeli drivers for theft, and women travelling alone in particular. Two women escaped attempted carjackings at the last minute on Monday evening.

Man suspected of throwing acid on 15-year-old girl
Nazareth resident charged with attacking teen, who refused a relative’s marriage proposal

The Nazareth Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday remanded into custody a 50-year-old resident of the northern city who is suspected of throwing acid in the face of a 15-year-old girl.

Fatah official warns of violence if prisoners aren’t freed
Kadoura Fares says no one wants a third intifada, but events may ‘get out of hand’ if a Palestinian held in Israeli jail dies

IDF trains for potential clashes with Hezbollah
Engineering Corps reconnaissance soldiers train in subterranean warfare as preparation for possible clash with Hezbollah.

Reconnaissance soldiers from the the IDF’s Engineering Corps recently completed an intensive series of subterranean warfare drills to prepare them for a potential clash with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah has placed its command and control centers in underground bunkers, and dug a maze of tunnels where commanders, fighters and weaponry can be placed out of sight of the Israel Air Force.
Soldiers from the reconnaissance platoon of the Assaf Engineering Brigade underwent month-long exercises simulating complex terrain fighting, much of which involved dense forests. A week of training was dedicated to combat in tunnels.

The Triple Threat to Egyptian Press Freedom
The Muslim Brotherhood, an intrusive state bureaucracy, and a dangerously deflated economy all endanger the country's newly-open media environment.

As the Arab uprisings continue, war and state repression aren't the only threats to free expression. Egypt in the last week saw two other factors impinging on the independent media: bad finances and malignant bureaucracy. They pose a potent threat that could drastically worsen the dimming prospects for a transition away from authoritarianism.
Meanwhile, the dismal values of the Muslim Brotherhood's media commissioners have driven out the editor of Al Ahram Online, an odd bright spot of breaking news and dissenting journalism that thrived, in English, within the otherwise moribund state publishing conglomerate. Ahram Online's editor Hani Shukrallah is a secular leftist with Christian origins. He was forced into early retirement by the new Ahram supervisors put in place by the Muslim Brotherhood. Shukrallah believes it's a purely political decision, and spoke out only after his salary was cut and his chosen successor passed over. "The object of course is humiliation," he wrote in a Facebook note. "Fools! I have something immeasurably more precious: my dignity and self-respect. What do you have?" So far, his successor hasn't been named and his staff continues its impressive work. A Muslim Brotherhood loyalist has already been put in charge of Ahram's daily Arabic edition, and prospects don't look good for the independent editorial line of Ahram Online in English.

99% of Americans consider Iranian nukes a threat
North Korean nuclear program also widely preceived as ‘critical threat,’ poll finds; Republicans fear Islamism more than do Democrats

The Gallup poll found that 99 percent of Americans believe the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program is a threat “to the vital interests of the United States in the next 10 years,” with 83% saying it was a “critical threat” and another 16% saying it was an “important, [but] not critical” one. Just 1% declined to say it was at least an important threat.

Ahmadinejad threat to cancel Iranian poll

IRANIAN President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned that he could scrap this year's presidential election, threatening to drag the Islamic Republic into a constitutional crisis as he attempts to retain power.
With months to go until Iranians vote for his successor in June, Mr Ahmadinejad has reignited his bitter power struggle with Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader.

Syria ‘mulled killing Vatican ambassador’
Intelligence chief said to have proposed assassination after Archbishop Zenari criticized international silence on civil war

A top Syrian intelligence official planned to assassinate the Vatican’s ambassador to Syria following his outspoken criticism of the Bashar Assad regime late last week, a Saudi news website reported on Tuesday.
Archbishop Mario Zenari told Vatican radio on February 15 that he was saddened by the silence of the international community in the face of the bloodshed in Syria.
“We are walking over the blood of the victims,” said Zenari, while the international community has “washed its hands of the Syrian conflict.”

Greece's Golden Dawn: Holocaust Memorial Day 'Unacceptable'
Greece's neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party has denounced the country's decision to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, calling it “unacceptable.”

Golden Dawn MP Ioannis Lagos lashed out at the country's education and interior ministers over new regulations requiring state institutions and schools to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, in commemoration of the over six million murdered at the hands of the Nazis.

Swiss mayoral candidate ‘pro-Hamas, pro-Iran’
Media in Switzerland accuse Green Party politician of anti-Semitism, denying Israel's right to exist.

Swiss Jewish leaders and the Simon Wiesenthal Center sharply criticized MP Geri Müller, a Green Party politician running for mayor of Baden, because he supports close ties with Hamas and engages in pro-Iranian regime activities.

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The importance of the lexicographic war (Zvi)

From Zvi, commenting on my post about the bizarre word "spacio-cide" where I wrote that "Creating a ridiculous anti-Israel word (much like "pinkwashing" or "homonationalism") is apparently the newest trend among pseudo-academics":

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In each of these areas, Israelis have actually made a compelling case, and these attempts to create buzzwords are part of a frantic defensive play by Israel-haters. The latter are "throwing things against the wall in the hope that something will stick."

On the other hand, advocates for Israel need to understand what these people are doing. Terminology is important. Simply giving something a name can make it appear real, even if it's 100% nonsense. "Pinkwashing" is 100% crap, but the fact that a name has been created allows Israel-haters to talk about it as though it were a real phenomenon. This is one of the reasons why it is very important to stop blindly using the terminology created by Israel's enemies; that terminology was created in order to instill hatred.

On the other hand, very real phenomena that have no name are hard to talk about, requiring lots and lots of words. It is important to name concepts so that they can be more readily communicated.< br />

It is also important to prevent anti-Semites from hijacking terminology (such as "anti-Semitism") and trying to either destroy its meaning or hijack its emotional impact for their own malicious purposes.

Terminology matters. If a person is a terrorist, call them a terrorist, not a militant or an activist. If a person publishes anti-Semitic screeds, call him an anti-Semite and be prepared to defend your claim vigorously. If nonsense terms are made up ("pinkwashing", "spacio-cide"), then respond with mocking derision (but always be 100% truthful). When bigoted morons write pseudoacademic papers that wrap ludicrous claims in pseudoacademic terminology, they should be exposed as the third-rate hacks and frauds that they are.

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90 days since the last rocket from Gaza to Israel

It has now been 90 days since any rocket has been shot from Gaza into Israel,which is unprecedented.

Guess what happens to the lives of Gazans when Hamas prevents rocket fire?

From Ma'an:

Israel has informed the Palestinian borders and crossings department in Ramallah that more improvements will be introduced on Gaza borders, says official.

Nathmi Muhanna, chief of the borders and crossings department told Ma’an Tuesday that Israel decided to allow entry of new empty domestic gas cylinders into the Gaza Strip. He highlighted that since several years shipping new gas cylinders to Gaza was banned. He also mentioned that 125 new cars would be allowed every week instead of 100.

The Israeli authorities agreed as well to install a new phone and internet line from Israel to the Gaza Strip.

According to Muhanna, four new fuel trucks and two new gas trucks will be shipped to Gaza.

The European Union will fund expansion of Gaza’s Kerem Shalom crossing increasing its capacity to 500 truckloads per day, chief of the Palestinian borders and crossings department Nathmi Muhanna said Tuesday.

Speaking to a Ma’an, Muhanna explained that new gates, new roads would be built as well as a waiting parking near the crossing.

I'm sure that the two stories are completely unrelated. After all, we know from the media and NGOs that Israel is only interested in collective punishment against poor starving Gazans, and the Palestinian Arab media has told us for years that "resistance" is the only way for anything to be accomplished.

It must be one of those evil Zionist plots.

By the way, Egypt had announced it would be expanding the Rafah crossing to permanently allow imports and exports to Gaza a while back. I haven't heard anything about that lately. Weird how the Islamist allies of Hamas have been so reluctant to help out their fellow Islamists.

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Newest pseudo-academic anti-Israel buzzword: "Spacio-cide"

If you need an example of how anti-Israel academics use the veneer of scholarship to target Israel, here's a good one by Sari Hanafi at the American University of Beirut:

This article argues that the Israeli colonial project is ‘spacio-cidal’ (as opposed to genocidal) in that it targets land for the purpose of rendering inevitable the ‘voluntary’ transfer of the Palestinian population primarily by targeting the space upon which the Palestinian people live. The spacio-cide is a deliberate ideology with unified rational, albeit dynamic process because it is in constant interaction with the emerging context and the actions of the Palestinian resistance. By describing and questioning different aspects of the military-judicial-civil apparatuses, this article examines how the realization of the spacio-cidal project becomes possible through a regime that deploys three principles, namely: the principle of colonization, the principle of separation, and the state of exception that mediates between these two seemingly contradictory principles.

In summary, Israel is evil, and therefore we must find a way to define everything it does as inherently evil and then explain it afterwards. The author has to admit that Israel isn't engaging in genocide - even academics can only stretch the truth so much - so he has to come up with a new, similarly-evil sounding construct.

But there is one simple way to prove that there is nothing academic about this paper, even without reading it. A real academic would choose an appropriate Latin root word to coin a new word. In this case, -cide means "killer" or "act of killing."

Can space be killed? Is Israel killing anyone even if it was wantonly confiscating land from Arabs?

By coining the word spacio-cide, Hanafi proves that he just wants to create anti-Israel propaganda by evoking the idea of Israel being a murderous regime.

The irony of course is that Palestinian Arabs living in Lebanon suffer from the inability to build anything outside of their hugely crowded camps that they are forced to live in, and now tens of thousands of Syrian Palestinians are being forced into those same camps rather than with the other Syrian refugees. But an Arab academic criticizing an Arab country is unlikely to advance very far in his career. Creating a ridiculous anti-Israel word (much like "pinkwashing" or "homonationalism") is apparently the newest trend among pseudo-academics.

(h/t Omri)

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Crazy busy in Israel

Not having time to blog is driving me nuts, but I have been simply too busy.

Today I visited the Negev to see first-hand the situation with the Bedouin and the land issue there. It is a very complicated story but I hope to make a video about that as soon as I can.

I have other videos to make beforehand, though. I met with CAMERA and interviewed one of their heads. I was also was interviewed by a new Israeli online magazine, Mida (I also interviewed them.)

I also visited Save a Child's Heart, an Israeli organization that helps children with heart problems worldwide. They get any patients from Africa and Arab countries, and work with whoever they can to improve local treatments. I videoed that visit as well.

Tonight (probably by the time this is posted) I am speaking to a group of Israelis about the blog and my thoughts on how Israel can win the information war. I hope to be able to record myself and put that presentation online.

I modestly think my skills as a journalist have been proven to be better than those of most paid print journalists. I hope to be able to show the same for video journalism. But since I don't have a team of editors, writers, or videographers, my final product will take little longer to get published. I hope you will find it worth it, because in the end I am doing this all for you!

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Tuesday Links Part 2

From Ian:

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Frum Law Prof’s Charming Legal Case for Israel
Kontorovich says, "international opinion is squarely against Israel, and if international law were a popularity contest, Israel would be voted off the island. But the whole point of international law is to buffer international politics, rather than serve them."

That’s why, Kontorovich explains, “when one looks at the actual international rules in question, it is hard to see how they apply. Moreover, when one sees how they are applied to identical cases, it becomes clear that the rules applied to Israel are not applied anywhere else. And this means they are not rules.”
When pressed to explain what exactly are the kinds of flawed legal charges aimed at Israel, he cites the usual ones of “illegal occupation,” and “illegal settlements.” But, he says, “when people see the text of the provisions Israel is supposed to have violated, they are shocked.”

Netanyahu Stresses Dangers of Iran and Syria
Netanyahu warns of the dangers from Iran and Syria, in a speech to the Jewish Agency Board of Governors.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned of the dangers posed by a nuclear Iran and by Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal, in a speech to the Jewish Agency Board of Governors on Monday.
In his speech Netanyahu referred several times to remarks made by Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky in a speech he gave before Netanyahu.
“So in addition to a piece of paper, we need actual security on the ground. This means that when we speak about our Palestinian neighbors, we must have a credibly, thoroughly demilitarized Palestinian state. We have to have that. Otherwise, we'll have a replication of what happened in Lebanon and in Gaza. And this is not a simple task. It requires very, very stringent conditions, and it requires very tough negotiations.

Bolder Acts of Agression as Arabs Ambush Jewish Drivers
A Pnei Kedem resident tells his harrowing ordeal of being ambushed by Arabs who ran towards his car with massive stones, smashing windows

Recent acts of aggression by Arabs towards Jews in various communities in Judea and Samaria have caused alarm among many residents, fearful that acts of violence such as stone throwing are making way for bolder moves intended on inflicting even more damage.
Incidences of violence such as stones being thrown and molotov cocktails being hurled at Jewish residents are reported daily, yet one resident of Pnei Kedem told Arutz Sheva that he experienced - and has heard numerous stories of - Arabs who no longer hide behind trees and throw stones but run out towards cars with clubs and bats in their hands, smashing windows and causing severe damage and injuries.

‘Unending Arab Harassment in Vineyards’ of Shilo Bloc
Jewish farmers in the Shilo bloc face “unending harassment” by local Arabs who uprooted 3,000 grapevines in the vineyard of Meshek Achya.

Jewish farmers in the Shilo bloc are facing a campaign of “unending harassment” by local Arabs who uprooted 3,000 grapevines Sunday night in a field belonging to Meshek Achya.
The vandals destroyed eight dunam (two acres) of vines in the vineyards, officials said, although the true extent of the damage did not become evident until the destruction was spotted on Monday morning.

PM Netanyahu Thanks Pope Ahead of Retirement
PM Netanyahu sent a letter to outgoing Pope Benedict XVI thanking him for his work on behalf of strengthening interfaith ties.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday sent a letter to outgoing Pope Benedict XVI thanking him for his work on behalf of strengthening interfaith ties, the premier's office said in a statement.
"In the name of the people of Israel, I would like to thank you for everything you did as pope for the strengthening of ties between Christians and Jews and between the Holy See and the Jewish state," he wrote, saying he wished the pontiff "long life, health and happiness."

Peres to give Obama Medal of Distinction
President will honor his American counterpart for standing with Israel ‘in times of crisis’

It is doubtful US President Barack Obama will rack up many tangible policy achievements during his upcoming Middle East trip. But if worse comes to worst, he won’t go home entirely empty-handed: President Shimon Peres on Monday announced that he will present his American counterpart with the Presidential Medal of Distinction during his March stay in Israel.
“It will be the first time in history that a serving president of the United States of America will receive an award of this kind from the president of the State of Israel,” the President’s Residence announced in a press release Monday afternoon — which makes sense, given the fact that the award was only created last year.

Playing ‘Hatikvah’ on a ‘Desert Island’
After 71 years, British writer Julie Burchill becomes the first guest to select Israel’s national anthem on high-profile BBC radio show

Last week, Burchill was featured on Britain’s longest-running radio show, Desert Island Discs. Guests on the program are asked to imagine that they are castaways, and then select eight musical tracks that they would take with them for entertainment, plus a luxury item. Burchill, a passionate philo-Semite who is writing a book about her love of Israel and the Jews, included the theme song from the “Exodus” movie, a pop song about the Hebrew language by Ehud Banai, and the Israeli national anthem, Hatikvah.

Congress, Jewish Leaders Gear Up for Iron Dome Tribute
Members of Congress to unite, along with leaders of the Jewish community, to pay tribute to the success of Iron Dome.

Democratic and Republican members of Congress are set to unite on February 27, along with prominent leaders of the Jewish community and Ambassador Michael Oren, to pay tribute to the success of the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, at a special event set to take place at the United States Senate.
The Iron Dome Tribute event, coordinated by The Friedlander Group, under the leadership of its CEO, Ezra Friedlander, is a unique opportunity for Jewish leaders to gather with members of Congress and celebrate a shared triumph, as the Iron Dome is one of the most tangible manifestations of the strong U.S.-Israel alliance.
"I believe that holding the event in Congress is a true expression of gratitude on behalf of the American Jewish community and those who value human life,” said Robert Rechnitz, Chairman of the Iron Dome Tribute.

Jordan, Israel, Negotiate Over Natural Gas Deal

Jordan and Israel are negotiating a gas deal, according to officials from the Jordanian government sources. Both countries have in the past faced numerous difficulties with unreliable supplies from Egypt.
Jordan’s Arab Potash Company (APC), one of the world’s largest potash producers, “is in contact with its Israeli counterpart through the American oil and gas firm Noble Energy to examine the possibility of importing gas,” Jordan’s Minister of Energy said in a statement, AFP reported Monday.
“The gas available in the Dead Sea area is a clean and inexpensive source of fuel and the company seeks to use it for its factories on the Dead Sea. But no agreement has been reached so far,” the minister said.

Israeli cookbook a star in Apple’s new ad campaign
Look and Cook, an app featuring recipes by Israeli chef Meir Adoni, is one reason you should buy an iPad, says Apple

It’s an achievement that belongs to an Israeli app, called Look and Cook, which features the recipes of Israeli gourmet chef Meir Adoni. Screenshots from the app have been plastered on billboards on highways, airports, malls, and city centers all across the US, along with the title “Mind Watering,” a phrase that evokes the term “mouth watering” as something the taste buds anticipate and desire.

Intel Doubles Israel Exports, Hopes to Manufacture Next Generation of Chips in the Country

Intel announced Sunday at an annual press conference that its exports from Israel rose to $4.6 billion last year. The total amount invested in the country in the last decade is $10.5 billion.
Intel Israel president Mooly Eden said the company accounted for 20 percent of Israel’s high-tech exports last year and 10 percent of its industrial exports, excluding diamonds. Intel Israel was responsible for a third of Israel’s exports to China. “Were it not for Intel’s improved performance last year, Israel’s high-tech exports would have fallen by 10 percent,” he said at the company’s annual press conference.

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What's missing from CNN-International's weather cities?

I was just watching CNN International and they have a brief worldwide city weather forecast. Naturally I wanted to see tomorrow's weather for Jerusalem.

No Jerusalem.

OK, I figured: I guess they choose Tel Aviv to represent Israel.

No Tel Aviv.

This seems to have been going on for years, as I found this 2008 video from CNN-I that shows the same cities as it shows now.



Tehran rates - presumably for the many Germans who travel there to skirt the international sanctions against Iran - but Israel doesn't quite make the cut.

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Tuesday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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Daniel Pipes: Futile Israeli Efforts to Win Ankara Back

The Government of Israel, we learned yesterday from a Turkish source, has delivered Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) equipment by ELTA, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries that gives military aircraft protection from electronic attacks. Not only will the AWACS planes, in the wording of the Today’s Zaman article, “greatly increase [the Turkish air force's] dominance over Turkey’s own airspace” but they will also be useful to it in the Syrian civil war and vis-à-vis “tensions with Israel and Greek Cyprus over the issue of gas drilling.”

The collapse of Al-Jazeera's credibility

According to an article that appeared in the German magazine Der Spiegel, many leading journalists and TV anchors have started to leave the channel in recent months. According to one of those that has recently left, the German based Aktham Sulimen, “Before the beginning of the Arab Spring, we were a voice for change...a platform for critics and political activists throughout the region. Now, Al-Jazeera has become a propaganda broadcaster.”
According to another Beirut based correspondent, “Al-Jazeera takes a clear position in every country from which it reports – not based on journalistic priorities, but rather on the interests of the Foreign Ministry of Qatar......In order to maintain my integrity as a reporter, I had to quit."

Thomas Donilon national security adviser to President Obama: Hezbollah Unmasked

The United States applauds those countries that have long recognized Hezbollah’s nefarious nature and that have already condemned the group for the attack in Burgas. Europe must now act collectively and respond resolutely to this attack within its borders by adding Hezbollah to the European Union’s terrorist list. That is the next step toward ensuring that Burgas is the last successful Hezbollah operation on European soil.

Bulgarian FM to EU colleagues: Sanction Hezbollah
Presenting evidence from Burgas bombing probe in Brussels, Nikolay Mladenov urges Europe to finally blacklist the Shiite group as a terror organization

A senior Bulgarian official on Monday called on the European Union to adopt harsher measures against Hezbollah in light of his country’s finding that the Lebanese Shiite group was responsible for a terror attack that killed five Israelis and a local bus driver in the coastal town of Burgas last summer.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of the EU’s foreign ministers in Brussels, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov implicitly but unmistakably urged the union to designate Hezbollah a terrorist group.
Asked whether the EU should blacklist Hezbollah, he responded: ”Given the fact that we’ve already made quite firm statements about where we believe the responsibility for that attack lies, I think the answer is quite obvious.”

BBC’s Jim Muir whitewashes Hizballah violations of 1701

By presenting a false picture of Hizballah’s violations of UN SC resolution 1701, Muir not only fails to fulfil his organisation’s stated aim of informing BBC audiences about the wider world and compromises the BBC’s obligation to accuracy, but he is also clearly giving oxygen to a specific political agenda which some of his mysterious “Western diplomat” sources (which, interestingly, apparently cannot be named, thereby denying the reader the ability to judge those opinions in context) seem very keen to promote. In doing that, Muir also severely compromises the BBC’s reputation as an ‘independent’ broadcaster.

IDF BLOG: Hezbollah Under Nasrallah’s Rule: 21 Years of Terror

21 years ago, Hassan Nasrallah became the leader of Hezbollah. Under his leadership, Hezbollah has committed a stream of terror attacks on both Israeli and international soil and has killed numerous innocent civilians.
Here is our roundup of 21 years of Hezbollah activity under Nasrallah:

IDF said set to build field hospital on Syrian border
After 7 wounded Syrians allowed in on Saturday, military is preparing for onrush of refugees, and wants to treat the injured on Golan Heights frontier rather than inside Israel

According to the plan, reported by Channel 10 on Monday night, the makeshift hospital will be set up close to the border in the central Golan Heights or near the Quneitra border crossing with Syria. The logic behind the move, the report said, was for Israel to be prepared to meet further possible medical pleas from additional Syrian refugees without having to take them for treatment inside Israeli territory.
The IDF reportedly expects that after Saturday’s incident, Syrian refugees will flock to Israel for sanctuary from the bloody civil war that has wracked Syria for two years and claimed tens of thousands of lives.

UN war crimes list doesn't spare Syrian leadership
Gov't forces, rebels committing war crimes, including killings, torture, UN investigators say, recommending ICC prosecution.

Rebel forces fighting to topple Assad in the protracted and increasingly sectarian conflict have committed war crimes including murder, torture, hostage-taking and using children under age 15 in hostilities, the UN report said.
"They continue to endanger the civilian population by positioning military objectives inside civilian areas," it said, with rebel snipers causing "considerable civilian casualties".

Islamists 'Islamicize' Egyptian Singer With Female Caftan
Radical Islamists tried to 'islamicize' one of Egypt's best-loved cultural icons

Among the latest victims of the new Islamist atmosphere in Egypt is the “first lady of Arabic song,” Umm Kulthum, who is regarded as the greatest female Arabic singer of the 20th century, or perhaps ever. She had hundreds of hits and was responsible for integrating Western and Arabic singing and musical styles. It was around her style of singing that the large orchestras today identified with Arabic music, sometimes consisting of many dozens of musicians, were developed. She was also a pioneer in Arabic film, starring in dozens of movies in which she sang love songs. Nearly 30 years after her death in 1975, her records still sell in the millions annually.

While a ban is unlikely, Islamists have done what they apparently believe to be the next best thing – dressing Umm Kulthum in full female Arabic caftan, a “nikab.” The covering was placed on a statue of Umm Kulthum, in the Egyptian town of Mansoura. The incident apparently occurred over the weekend. Muslim Brotherhood supporters distributed photos over the Internet.

Amazon Fires ‘Neo-Nazi-Linked’ German Security Firm

The giant Internet retailer Amazon has fired its German security firm, HESS, following reports that security staff with alleged neo-Nazi ties treated temporary workers unfairly and with contempt.
The allegations surrounding the Hensel European Security Service (HESS) came to the surface in a documentary expose broadcast last week on the ARD German television channel.
The station filmed secret footage which reportedly showed the staff intimidating foreign workers. Living quarters of temporary staff members were photographed being regularly searched without warning, and the workers underwent body searches after breakfast to ensure they had not stolen rolls from the table.

Author accused of anti-Semitism nominated for Nobel
Critics claim Romanian writer Paul Goma has practiced Holocaust denial

JTA — A writer’s association in Moldova reportedly has nominated Paul Goma, a Romanian author accused of writing anti-Semitic texts, for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
“Paul Goma’s claims to fame is only by denying the Holocaust, falsifying historical facts and anti-Semitic attacks,” Iosif Belous, vice president of the East European Association of Former Prisoners of Ghettos and Concentration Camps, is quoted as saying on Enews.md, a news site from Moldova.

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Arabs pay for far more congressional cultural exchange trips than Israel

From the Washington Post:

U.S. lawmakers and their senior staff took more than 800 cultural exchange trips courtesy of foreign governments in the years from 2006 to 2011. The trips benefit from a broad exemption from ethics rules and most Capitol Hill employees never need to disclose their participation. This list shows trips listed on 130,000 pages of personal financial forms collected by Legistorm.com.

The list details everyone who went on every trip, but here is a detail of the map that accompanied the article of interest here:

It sure looks like the Israel Lobby is missing the boat, doesn't it? 

(h/t Robert)

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EoZNews: The Soccer Desecration Video

You asked for it...and here it is.



Taken from the Mount of Olives/Har HaZeitim.

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To CBS' Bob Simon, Israelis deserve to be blown up if settlements are built

Of course, he wouldn't characterize it this way, but how else can you explain this bizarre linkage he suggests?

The $270 million the U.S. has provided Israel to help build Iron Dome is in addition to the three billion dollars Israel gets annually from the U.S. in military aid. Palestinians complain that while all this U.S. support is being given to Israel, the Israeli government has repeatedly defied U.S. policy and approved the construction of new settlement blocks in the West Bank.

Bob Simon: The Americans have already given $270 million dollars.

Ehud Barak: More than this, I believe, along the, yeah.

Bob Simon: And they're promising just the Iron Dome another $660 million--

Ehud Barak: Yeah. Yeah. $680-- probably $211 might be given in the coming fiscal year.

Bob Simon: While the Americans are helping you so much in your defense. Israel goes on building settlements, which is exactly what the Americans don't want. How does that work, when you're asking America for help and doing exactly what the Americans don't want you to do?
....How does it work? I mean, right now, Israel has just announced the building of a gigantic settlement project. This is at the same time that the Americans are providing the money for Israel's most important defense system.

So if Israel builds settlements, Simon is saying, then the US should no longer help fund Iron Dome to save Israeli lives from rocket attacks.

Israelis in Ashkelon must die because the Knesset allows Jews to build houses in their historic homeland.

(h/t O)

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Monday Links Part 2

From Ian:

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Dore Gold: The Time for a Final Status Agreement Has Passed

In light of developments over the last few years, there has been a growing realization in Israel that the chances of reaching a complete final status agreement with the Palestinians are presently extremely small. This is not just an ideological position coming out of certain quarters in Israel, but it is also the professional view of practitioners who have been involved in the political process itself.
Last June in an interview in Haaretz, Professor Itamar Rabinovich, Israel’s former ambassador to Washington and head negotiator with Syria, reached this very conclusion. He added, as part of his proof of this point, that “the bold proposals” by former prime ministers Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert were not even responded to by the Palestinians. Looking back on Olmert’s far-reaching proposals, Mahmoud Abbas himself told The Washington Post on May 29, 2009 that the gaps between the parties were just too wide.

PA: Keep Jerusalem Runners Away from Mosque
The Palestinian Authority warned Israel not to use the Jerusalem Marathon as an attempt to “Judaize” the city

With the Jerusalem Marathon set to take place March 1, the Palestinian Authority is warning Israel not to use the race to “Judaize” the city, presenting it as a “unified capital of Israel,” said the chairman of the PLO's action committee, Ahmed Qureia. Qureia is also the head of the “Al-Aqsa Department” in the PA, and on Sunday he warned Israel to ensure that marathoners stay away from the Temple Mount, where the mosque is located.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: Getting the Apartheid-Israel equation right

The obscene comparison of Israel with apartheid South Africa also ignores the fact that Israel is the first country in the history of the world to airlift tens of thousands of black men, women, and children to become free and full citizens in its borders, as Israel did with Ethiopian Jews.
Indeed, the comparison of the Palestinians, rather than the Jews, to black South Africans, is unfortunate and misdirected. Whereas Black South Africans inspired the world with their decency and humane capacity for peaceful coexistence with their white brethren even after having been so grievously wronged, our Palestinians brothers have tragically embraced hatred, terror, and racism. Arab newspapers are filled with grotesque caricatures of ethnic characteristics of Jews. Innocent Palestinian youth are brainwashed by the likes of Hamas and Hezbollah to grow up and blow up Israeli buses. Nelson Mandela rose to become the foremost statesman of the world by preaching forgiveness and reconciliation. Yasser Arafat fathered international terrorism and then stole hundreds of millions of dollars from his own people who continue to live in abject poverty despite being the largest per capita recipients of international aid in the world.

Overtones of Antisemitism in York University Boycott

The Costcutter supermarket at the University of York has initiated a boycott of Israeli goods at the behest of the newly formed Palestinian Solidarity Society (PSS). The first product taken off the shelves was Jaffa oranges, a company that PSS has accused of profiting from production in settlements. However, customers are still able to buy Iranian pistachios, whose industry, unlike that of Jaffa oranges, actually has a close connection to the oppressive Iranian government.
Standforpeace, a Jewish-Muslim interfaith organization focused on countering extremism notes: “In 2000, Patrick Clawson from the Washington Institute, reported, ‘while he was president, [Hashemi] Rafsanjani shut down a magazine that had the temerity to publish a petition from the pistachio growers of the Rafsanjan region complaining about how his family had monopolized the trade to its profit.’ Two years later, Michael Rubin, writing in the Wall Street Journal, noted that ‘former President Hashemi Rafsanjani … controls more than 70% of Iran’s multimillion dollar pistachio trade.’ Unsurprisingly, Iranians often refer to Rafsanjani as the ‘King of Pistachios.’”

Isi Liebler: Candidly Speaking: Reviewing the case of Prisoner X
Anti-Israeli elements in Australia, supported by sections of the media, tried to exploit the situation in order to besmirch Israel’s image.

In response to questions, the Australian foreign minister did indicate that Australia would conduct further investigations but it was unclear whether this related to an apparent breakdown in communications between the Australian authorities and ASIO or to a broader level.
Anti-Israeli elements in Australia, supported by sections of the media, tried to exploit the situation in order to besmirch Israel’s image. One prominent anti-Zionist Jewish extremist, on Australia’s national radio, accused his fellow Jews of harboring dual loyalties and claimed that the Jewish school system was a breeding ground for brainwashing children to settle in Israel.

Contender for papacy accused of anti-Semitism
Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras has compared ‘Jewish controlled media’ to Hitler

JTA – In a letter to the editor of the Miami Herald, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz said that one of the leading candidates to replace Pope Benedict XVI is an anti-Semite.
Responding to a list published last week after the resignation of Benedict, which identified Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras as a possible successor to the current pope, Dershowitz wrote: “He has blamed the Jews for the scandal surrounding the sexual misconduct of priests toward young parishioners! He has argued that the Jews got even with the Catholic Church for its anti-Israel positions by arranging for the media — which they, of course, control, he said — to give disproportionate attention to the Vatican sex scandal. He then compared the Jewish controlled media with Hitler, because they are ‘protagonists of what I do not hesitate to define as a persecution against the church.’”

Israel fears for Tunisia's Jews
North African country's Jewish community suffering from wave of anti-Semitic attacks, including shattered gravestones, fiery protests and verbal violence. Israel urges world to intervene in crisis

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has instructed Israel's representatives abroad to ask the international community to pressure Tunisian government officials to safeguard the North African country's Jewish community, heritage and property.
The order was issued following fears for Tunisia's 2,000 Jews due to the hostile anti-Israel atmosphere in the country and anti-Semitic statements made by religious clerics.

The riddle of the Czech-Israeli alliance
The ranks of Israel’s staunch supporters in the European Union may be thinning, but Benjamin Netanyahu’s government can still count on a loyal champion: the Czech Republic.

As the European Commission braces for a crackdown down on Israeli settlement products, the Czech president-elect, the Cherub-faced social democrat Milos Zeman, declares unwavering support for a pre-emptive strike against Iran.
A mishap? Hardly.

IDF claims victory in Pillar of Defense social-media war
Social-media experts say official Israel effectively conveyed its narrative to unprecedented numbers

The eight-day conflict, which ended with an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire that has held for the three months since, saw six Israelis killed, about 170 Palestinians killed (120 of whom were engaged in terrorism, according to the IDF), Gaza rocket fire hitting as far north as Rishon Lezion, and the Iron Dome defense system intercepting 84% of the rockets at which it was fired. It also marked the first time Israel beat the Palestinians in hasbara — public diplomacy — said Sacha Dratwa, the IDF director of new media.
How does he know? “This was the first time the foreign media asked more questions about our Twitter activity than about our bombings in Gaza.”

Spy-tech used to inspect bell peppers
Advanced detection technique developed by US intelligence agencies guards Israeli consumers from hazardous substances in crops

A major Israeli agricultural conglomerate announced Sunday that it was using advanced detection techniques originally developed by the FBI and CIA to ensure its crop of bell peppers is free of dangerous pesticides, chemicals or bacteria.
Ein Yahav, which oversees 120 cooperative farms responsible annually for 34,000 tons of produce for the domestic and export markets, said the new technology can identify minute amounts of more than 300 types of hazardous substances, even if they are blended together, part of what the company said is a quest to provide “the maximum security technology allows” to the consumer.
The company uses a “minimal amount” of pesticides on its products and tests the soil, air and water on the farms it oversees for hazards, according to the Ein Yahav website.

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Where even the street signs teach history (correction)

Some of the street signs in Jerusalem explain the name of the street.

Nahum Lifschitz was an agricultural scientist who made contributions to the field of herbicides.

How many other countries in the region would honor someone like that?

UPDATE: I got the wrong Lifshitz. Commentary 101 in the comments notes that this one was a pioneer in the publishing industry. I didn't do the research properly I blame a severe lack of sleep :)

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Monday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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Douglas Murray: Blaming the Victim
Since when is criticizing Islam a crime? Since when was defending the rights of writers, journalists and artists to say, write and draw what they like a crime? You really do have to rub your eyes. These are not Saudi papers or the Tehran Daily News running these smears — they are allegedly "liberal" papers in an allegedly "liberal" country in an allegedly "liberal" democracy.

If someone carries out a terrorist attack, they worry: Is the attacker to blame or are the victims? When a country suffers an outrage, are the people who carried out that outrage to blame, or might it be the fault of the country which has been subjected to the assault?
After 9/11, there were infamous examples of people claiming that America had "brought it upon itself." The Cambridge classics professor, Mary Beard, writing in the London Review of Books, famously commented, "However tactfully you dress it up, the United States had it coming." People will remember the infamous Ward Churchill's claim that it was the people in the Twin Towers who were "little Eichmanns," not the people who flew the planes into those towers.
When whole countries get the blame for attacks on themselves it is bad enough. But infinitely worse – because there is none of the solidarity available with which a country can console itself – is when an individual is blamed for what has happened to him. In particular, when what happened was an attempt on his life – whether failed or "successful."
When the Dutch politician, Pim Fortuyn, was murdered just before the elections in 2002, it was claimed that he had "provoked" people. The same was said of Theo van Gogh when he was murdered on an Amsterdam street in 2004: people said that he had brought it upon himself or even, amazingly, planned his death this way.

Exposing false ‘martyrs’ as suicidal
In the US, students are taught that suicide bombers are equivalent to a soldier who jumps on a grenade to protect his comrades.

This view is not only dangerous – because it glorifies suicide attackers and thus encourages future recruits – but also factually wrong. I have spent more than three years studying interview transcripts, suicide notes, “martyrdom” videos, and witness statements, and have uncovered more than 130 examples of suicide terrorists with classic risk factors for conventional suicide. I have yet to come across even one suicide attacker driven purely by ideology and altruism.
Those who volunteer are generally overwhelmed by personal crises and looking to escape their lives. Those who are coerced are usually weak and broken souls who’d rather die than risk trying to withdraw or disobey.

Quick IDF Action Nets Arab Shooters
Two Arabs arrested after they fired shots at Migdal Oz in the Etzion Bloc.

A quick IDF operation led to the arrest of two Arabs who fired shots at the kibbutz (cooperative community) of Migdal Oz in the Etzion Bloc Saturday night.
The shots were fired from the nearby village of Bayt Fajar.
A military source told Arutz Sheva that the source of the gunfire was identified shortly after the shooting began, and that a force from the Nachshon Battalion of the Kfir Brigade, which was on routine assignment in the area, was alerted.

Syrian Druze call on community members to defect from army
Leaders also tell coreligionists living on the Golan Heights to keep noses out of Syria’s business

Leaders of the Druze community in Syria on Saturday called on Druze soldiers to leave the army of President Bashar Assad, claiming it has betrayed its defensive mission and has become a tool of destruction.
They also called on Druze living on the Golan Heights in Israel, who have traditionally backed the Assad leadership, to keep from mixing in the conflict, saying they are far from the action.

Rebels: 1,000 Hezbollah fighters invaded Syria
Fourteen Hezbollah men killed in past two days in battles over control of villages near Lebanon border

Hezbollah's involvement in the Syrian civil war continues to grow. Syria's main opposition group claimed Sunday that no less than 1,000 Hezbollah men have entered Syria in the past 24 hours.
"It's a coordinated ground invasion," the Free Syrian Army spokesman said. "Hezbollah has started a war against us."

Egyptian police publicly beat to death man suspected of killing officer

Officers and police personnel arrested and beat to death a man they accused of killing a colleague at the site of funeral for the fallen captain in the southern governorate of Beni Suef
Egyptian policemen beat to death in public a man they believed was the killer of a police officer who was shot on Saturday morning in the Upper Egypt governorate of Beni Suef, according to Ahram's Arabic news website reporter.

Soccer fans shut down Egyptian city
Port Said residents disrupt rail services, close government office

Thousands of soccer fans enforced a work stoppage Sunday in Egypt’s restive city of Port Said to protest government “injustices,” disrupting rail services and forcefully evicting workers from factories and provincial government offices.
Egypt’s president Mohammed Morsi had declared a state of emergency and 30-day curfew in Port Said and two other Suez Canal provinces following a wave of violence that left more than 50 people dead last month. The state of emergency is still in effect, though the curfew was reduced to only two hours after residents ignored it.

Iran lawmaker says Fordo plant will never be shut down
Offer for easing of sanctions in return for closing uranium enrichment site is a step ‘to help Zionist regime,’ parliament leader says

A senior Iranian politician said Tehran would never shut down the controversial Fordo nuclear facility Sunday, insisting demands that it do so were aimed at helping Israel.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, made the comments several days after reports surfaced that the US and other world powers would offer to ease sanctions in return for shuttering the heavily guarded uranium enrichment facility.

Iran confiscates Buddha statues to stop promotion of Buddhism

An Iranian newspaper is reporting that government authorities are confiscating Buddha statues from shops in Tehran to stop the promotion of Buddhism in the country.
Sunday’s report by the independent Arman daily quotes Saeed Jaberi Ansari, an official for the protection of Iran’s cultural heritage, as saying that authorities will not permit a specific belief to be promoted through such statues.

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EoZ News Video: A visit to the Temple Mount

Here is the first of what I plan to be a series of videos taken during my current trip to Israel.

Last Thursday, I ascended to the most sacred place in Judaism, the Temple Mount, with Yisrael Medad (author of the My Right Word blog.) He has been there hundreds of times and he showed me around, literally - we circled the Dome of the Rock while staying in areas that most Jewish authorities allow visiting.

The video, about 34 minutes long, is almost real-time, with perhaps two or three minutes edited out.

I overlaid a satellite image of the Mount at various parts of the video so you can see where we are walking.

I hope you enjoy it!

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Two pieces of good news from the Arab world

In general, anti-semitism is getting more apparent in the Arabic media that I am reading. But two recent stories counter that trend.

The first was reported in English last week, but not that widely:

Morocco’s Islamist Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane inaugurated the reopening of a historic synagogue in the city of Fez Wednesday, conveying the wish of Morocco’s King Muhammad VI that all the country’s synagogues be refurbished and serve as centers for cultural dialogue.

Benkirane, head of the Justice and Development party, wore the traditional Moroccan Fez and a white robe at the reopening ceremony of the seventeenth century Slat Al Fassiyine (Prayer of the Fesians) synagogue, where he read out a congratulatory message by King Muhammad VI, A-Sharq Al-Awsat reported.

From its peak of over 250,000 during the late 1940s, the Jewish community of Morocco has shrunk to less than 5,000 today. Most Jews left the country during the 1950s and 1960s following the establishment of Israel, with the remaining community members mostly concentrated in Casablanca.

According to local media, Benkirane conveyed the King’s praise for the historic influence of Jews in Moroccan culture and his commitment to protect Jewish freedom of religion.

The synagogue will serve as a cultural center focusing on interfaith dialogue.

While that last sentence gives reason to be a little cynical, given Islam's traditional misuse of the term "interfaith dialogue," the symbolism of an Islamist political leader dedicating a synagogue at the same time other Islamists in that country are railing against a film about Morocco's Jewish community of years past is striking. The decision to support this dedication ceremony is still causing some controversy.

This other article comes from an Arabic news source I had never heard of, Murasel (Reporter.) The domain name is registered in Romania, and its articles seem to be centered on Egypt.

Murasel has an article about the 117th anniversary of the publication of Theodor Herzl's "Der Judenstaat" which was a blueprint for the creation of a Jewish state. The title of the article is "The Jewish State: The book that became a reality."

I can see little hate in this article, which goes through Herzl's life and his part in the early mainstream Zionist movement. It does emphasize Herzl's willingness to have the state built in other places besides Israel, and it akes a passing mention that Israel was "set up at the expense of a peaceful Arab people stripped of their land and identity," but besides that the article seems more admiring towards the founder of Zionism than anything else, which is an astounding thing to see in Arabic.

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