Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Turkey suspends all financial dealings with Syria

Turkey will suspend all financial dealings with Syria and freeze Syrian government assets as part of sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad’s government, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Wednesday.

Davutoglu also told a news conference that Turkey, once a close friend of Damascus, would block the delivery of all weapons and military equipment to Damascus as part of measures aimed at persuading Assad to end a violent crackdown against pro-democracy protesters, according to Reuters.

Turkey’s move follows in the wake of sanctions announced by the Arab league. Davutoglu also said a cooperation agreement with Syria was being suspended until there was a new government in place.

“Until a legitimate government which is at peace with its people is in charge in Syria, the mechanism of the High Level of Strategic Cooperation has been suspended,” Davutoglu said, adding Assad’s government had come “to the end of the road.”

A dozen ministers from both countries convene a few times a year to discuss joint projects under the high-level strategic council mechanism, according to AFP.

Davutoglu underlined that Turkey would not take any measures that would harm Syrian people and said the government would contemplate “additional measures” according to the steps to be taken by the Syrian administration.

Davutoglu on Tuesday said that Turkey did not want to consider a military option for intervention in Syria but that it was ready for any scenario.

I believe that this is going much further than US and EU sanctions.

Which puts Turkey at the forefront of the world community acting against Assad - and, indirectly, against Iran.

Iran for its part warned Turkey against acting so Zionist.

Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani, during a press conference on Wednesday, advised Islamic countries not to play in the ground that extra-regional powers have prepared against Syria.

He said, “We expect Islamic countries not to allow those who hold a grudge against Syria for its resistance against the Zionist regime to take advantage of the situation.”

He also advised Turkey not to play the game, which has been designed by “others.”

Kristallnacht in Highland Park, NJ (UPDATE: Arrest, video)

I am still piecing things together, but it appears that about five Jewish owned stores were vandalized last night in the heavily Orthodox Jewish community of Highland Park, NJ.

Someone threw stones through the windows of a pizza shop, two Judaica stores, a kosher restaurant and a Jewish-owned hardware store.

More photos here.

I am also told that someone threw a brick through the windows of Rutgers Hillel, only a couple of miles away in New Brunswick, yesterday.*

A Facebook comment alleges "Someone also got verbally attacked last night at Dunkin [Donuts, also kosher.] He threatened a second Kristalnacht."

Yesterday was the anniversary of the 1947 UN Partition Vote to create a Jewish state in Palestine.

From what I can tell, there are other stores in between the ones that were hit that were untouched.

So far no news media has covered this, I'm only getting stuff from Facebook and email.

UPDATE: A statement from the Highland Park, NJ police:

The Highland Park Police Department would like to advise you about the reported incidents of vandalism that occurred overnight on Raritan Ave.

Detectives are actively investigating these incidents and are in contact with and coordinating efforts with other law enforcement agencies that may be able to expedite the investigation.

We are currently gathering and reviewing information that may lead us to a suspect. We cannot be more specific because we do not want to jeopardize the investigation.

We would also like to briefly address the fear that these are acts motivated by anti-Semitism or that these are bias crimes. The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office has been notified, but it is too soon to reach a conclusion.

All of our officers are aware of the sensitivity of this situation and we will make every effort with patrols and surveillance to keep everyone safe. We would like to encourage you to communicate with your congregants and urge them to avoid speculation which could lead to unnecessary anxiety.

Here is a map of where the vandalism occurred. All of the stores are Jewish or owned by Jews. There are plenty of other stores in between.

I think it is a bias crime.

Algemeiner has more.

UPDATE 2: There were apparently also attacks at two other locations in New Brunswick yesterday - from what I understand, at the Rutgers Chabad house and at an Israeli-owned falafel place.

*According to Tablet, Rutgers Hillel was attacked on Saturday night. But the window at Maoz, the falafel shop in New Brunswick, was shattered (I believe) yesterday. I am told the Chabad was vandalized early Sunday as well.

UPDATE 3: Voz iz Neias reports:

A 52 year old New Brunswick man has been placed under arrest and charged with five counts of criminal mischief after smashing the windows of five Jewish owned businesses in Highland Park.

Richard Green of Bayard Street was arrested this afternoon in New Brunswick. No determination has been made yet if the incident will be considered a bias crime and an ongoing investigation will determine if Green was responsible for other acts of criminal mischief that have occurred in the past few days.

According to Highland Park mayor Stephen Nolan, Green has been sent for a psychiatric evaluation.

Here is video from Fox NY:

Hamas didn't seem to get the "unity" memo

Hamas Gaza leader Mahmoud Zahar has again said that the heralded "unity" deal with Fatah is nothing more than smoke and mirrors.

Zahar pointedly said that the meeting between Abbas and Meshal in Cairo was not reconciliation, but a postponement of reconciliation.

He says that there is no way that the elections will be held in May because in the time beforehand there needs to be a provisional government set up and elections need to be organized, and Zahar says that this simply will not happen by May.

He claims that Fatah is arresting Hamas members, and that Abbas is dragging his feet because of the Israeli and US "veto" .

He also says that the Islamist takeover of the Arab Spring is an expression of natural historic forces and that American is experiencing decline.

Meanwhile, Hamas security forces stormed into Al Quds University, causing the administration to complain.

Within hours of the 1947 UN partition vote, Arabs massacred 7 Jews

On November 30, 1947, while Jews were still in the streets of Palestine celebrating the UN partition vote, Arabs murdered seven Jews.

Six of them were on a bus. Arabs threw grenades at an Egged bus traveling from Netanya to Jerusalem, and one exploded inside.

Devora Yaari was injured, and her husband Shalom rushed to her aid. He was shot dead in cold blood.

Shoshana Mizrahi Farhi, 22, was on her way to Jerusalem to get married. She was killed.

The other victims were Hirsh Starer, Mrs. Hanna Weiss, and Miss Haya Yisraeli.

Another Egged bus was attacked a half hour later, and Nechama Hacohen, a pathologist at Hadassah Hospital, was killed.

That same day, buses were fired upon in Haifa and Jerusalem as well, injuring one.

The Palestinian Arabs had been relatively quiet in the months leading up to the partition vote, hoping that a temporary lull in terrorism would convince the UN that they had no desire to destroy the Jewish community.

It didn't take long for them to return to their murderous ways.

In the coming days, there were many more fatal attacks on Jews, and Jews were chased out of their homes as well.

Muslim Brotherhood leads Egypt voting, Salafists in 2nd place

From Al Masry al Youm:

The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) is leading parliamentary polls across Egypt, according to early estimates Wednesday.

Egyptians cast their ballots Monday and Tuesday in the first round of parliamentary elections, held in nine governorates. Elections will continue over several phases into January.

With the backing of the Muslim Brotherhood and its ability to organize and mobilize supporters, many expected the FJP to dominate the polls.

In Luxor, where about 80 percent of ballots have been counted, FJP appears to lead the vote, closely followed by the Salafi Nour Party. The liberal Egyptian Bloc and moderate Wasat Party won far fewer votes in that governorate.

In Port Said, 70 percent of the votes have been counted... For the list-based candidacy seats, indicators show that the FJP leads, followed by the Nour, Free Egyptian and Wasat parties.

In Cairo's eighth constituency, which includes Dar al-Salam, Misr al-Qadeema, Sayeda Zeinab, Khalifa and Moqattam, ... The Salafi Nour Party and FJP lead the party list vote, with the Egyptian Bloc and Wafd trailing behind.

In Helwan, FJP leads for list-based candidacy seats while the Nour Party and the Egyptian Bloc and the Conservative Party are competing for second place.

In Assiut's first constituency, where 70 percent of votes have been counted, FJP leads, followed by Nour Party and the Egyptian Bloc. In the second constituency, FJP leads, followed by the Conservative Party....

In the Red Sea Governorate, FJP tops the polls, followed by the Egyptian Bloc and the Egyptian Citizen Party.

In Kafr al-Sheikh, Nour Party appears to lead the first constituency, followed by FJP and then the Wafd Party. In the second constituency, FJP leads, followed by Nour and then Egypt National and Wafd parties.

If the Muslim Brotherhood is correct in their claim that their FJP party is receiving some 40% of the vote, then it is possible that they would not need to rely on any secular parties to create a ruling coalition - the even more hard-line Salafists would seem to have enough votes to put them over 50%.

They are very keen on appearing moderate, so this might not be their first choice, but it is now a serious possibility, especially if the Salafists manage to get 15-20% - enough to make an unbreakable coalition.

Confirmed: "Students" at the British embassy were Iranian militia

From Amir Farshad Ebrahimi's blog; I have no way to confirm it:

According to the regime, the students stormed the embassy. But this guy is a Quds force officer, Karim Jalali, When he was there, it means Sepah was behind it with direct order of the supreme leader.

The Wall Street Journal adds:

The scenes outside the British embassy in Iran yesterday evoked Tehran, 1979. Young, bearded men forced their way in and briefly held six British employees.

The attack was no impromptu happening. Police stood by, and Iranian state television broadcast events live. By some strange reflex, Western media insisted the attackers were "students." To Iranians who know better, they were the basij militia, the regime's first line of defense. These thugs were called out to brutally put down the 2009 Green Revolution, a genuine student-led uprising.

The assault was no doubt revenge for Britain's decision to impose financial sanctions in the wake of the recent U.N. report on Iran's nuclear-weapons program. Iran's parliament voted Monday to expel the British ambassador, MPs chanted "Death to Britain" and issued threats against the U.K. embassy. Twenty-four hours later, the basij arrived.

The episode is one more reminder that Iran is not the "status quo power" that many in the West imagine. It is a regime that flouts civilized norms and seeks to dominate its region and terrorize the U.S. and its allies.

Deutche Welle confirms:

Hamid Etemad (name changed), a lecturer at a university in Iran and an expert on international law said "such an act in blatant violation of international law would be unthinkable without getting a green light from the highest political decision-makers."

Omid Nouripour, foreign policy spokesman of Germany's opposition Green Party, agreed. Tuesday's event was an organized protest, Nouripour said. Forces involved in the brutal crackdown on the Iranian pro-democracy movement in 2009 were among the alleged demonstrators, he claimed.

(h/t Yoel, T34)

Isfahan explosion was at a uranium enrichment facility (UPDATE: no it wasn't)

From The Australian, originally at The Times of London:

AN IRANIAN nuclear facility has been hit by a huge explosion, the second such blast in a month, prompting speculation that Tehran's military and atomic sites are under attack.

Satellite imagery seen by The Times confirmed that a blast that rocked the city of Isfahan on Monday struck the uranium enrichment facility there, despite denials by Tehran.

Isfahan uranium enrichment site

The images clearly showed billowing smoke and destruction, negating Iranian claims yesterday that no such explosion had taken place. Israeli intelligence officials told The Times that there was "no doubt" that the blast struck the nuclear facilities at Isfahan and that it was "no accident".

The explosion at Iran's third-largest city came as satellite images emerged of the damage caused by one at a military base outside Tehran two weeks ago that killed about 30 members of the Revolutionary Guard, including General Hassan Moghaddam, the head of the Iranian missile defence program.

Iran claimed that the Tehran explosion occurred during testing on a new weapons system designed to strike at Israel. But several Israeli officials have confirmed that the blast was intentional and part of an effort to target Iran's nuclear weapons program.

On Monday, Isfahan residents reported a blast that shook tower blocks in the city at about 2.40pm and seeing a cloud of smoke rising over the nuclear facility on the edge of the city.

"This caused damage to the facilities in Isfahan, particularly to the elements we believe were involved in storage of raw materials," said one military intelligence source.

He would not confirm or deny Israel's involvement in the blast, instead saying that there were "many different parties looking to sabotage, stop or coerce Iran into stopping its nuclear weapons program".

Iran went into frantic denial yesterday as news of the explosion at Isfahan emerged. Alireza Zaker-Isfahani, the city's governor, claimed that the blast had been caused by a military exercise in the area but state-owned agencies in Tehran soon removed this story and issued a government denial that any explosion had taken place at all.

UPDATE: There is no uranium enrichment facility in Isfahan. See followup here.

(h/t Yoel)

Tom Friedman keeps pushing the fake "Fayyadism" movement

Thomas Friedman at the New York Times just can't learn.

Clueless Friedman

Israel has an Arab awakening in its own backyard in the person of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad of the Palestinian Authority. He’s been the most radical Arab leader of all. He is the first Palestinian leader to say: judge me on my performance in improving my peoples’ lives, not on my rhetoric. His focus has been on building institutions — including what Israelis admit is a security force that has helped to keep Israel peaceful — so Palestinians will be ready for a two-state solution. ...

Israel’s best defense is to strengthen Fayyadism — including giving Palestinian security services more areas of responsibility to increase their legitimacy and make clear that they are not the permanent custodians of Israel’s occupation. This would not only help stabilize Israel’s own backyard — and prevent another uprising that would spread like wildfire to the Arab world without the old dictators to hold it back — but would lay the foundation for a two-state solution and for better relations with the Arab peoples. Remember, those Arab peoples are going to have a lot more say in how they are ruled and with whom they have peace. In that context, Israel will be so much better off if it is seen as strengthening responsible and democratic Palestinian leaders.

I respect Fayyad. He is the only Palestinian Arab leader in history not to be tainted with terrorism. His thinking is Western. He is not corrupt, unlike the people around him (including, apparently, even the PA's Minister of Economy.)

But if Friedman thinks that Israel's backing Fayyad would help matters, he is out of touch.

From the perspective of the Arab street, especially the Islamists who are pivotal in Arab revolutions - and who are dominant in Gaza - Fayyad is more like Mubarak than like Egypt's Wael Ghonim.

Fayyad was never elected. Fayyad has very little popular backing, despite his attempts to gain some with a series of half-hearted photo-ops earlier this year. Fayyad has no political clout. And Fayyad's only hope to hold onto office is if and when the Hamas/Fatah unity sham remains the fake-smiling deadlock it appears to be.

Not only that, but if Israel is perceived as backing Fayyad, that would ensure his fall. How long has Friedman been covering the Middle East not to notice that the biggest insult an Arab can give another is "Zionist"? If Fayyad is perceived as a collaborator, his precarious career will end even sooner than it already will.

Friedman also pointedly ignores one other fact: Netanyahu was promoting much of what Friedman calls "Fayyadism" way before Friedman himself was. Israel always recognized the disconnect between Palestinian Arab leaders and their people, and as a result Israel has encouraged bottom-up reform based on helping the PA economy and institution building, helping Palestinian Arabs have better lives and a stake in their future. Fayyad deserves some credit for the improvement in the lives of West Bank Arabs over the past few years, but so does Netanyahu - an idea that is anathema to Friedman.

The Forward reveals that Stand With Us is - gasp! - right of center!

Here's another Forward expose, this one written by Nathan Guttman, where they find out that a pro-Israel organization is somewhat to the right of the Forward!

Shocking, I know:

[I]n a time characterized by burning debate among Jews regarding what it means to be pro-Israel, SWU’s stance has provoked some strong criticism. Those who claim to be Zionists and supporters of Israel while publicly criticizing its government’s policies towards the Palestinians, says Rothstein, are not supporters at all. For SWU, said [SWU founder Roz] Rothstein, supporting Israel means “respect[ing] the elected government of Israel.”

Rothstein rejects the claims of critics who say this constitutes a right-wing agenda. But a close look at SWU’s learning material and talking points reveals a right of center narrative on issues relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Rothstein said that SWU welcomes any pro-Israel view. But in an interview with the Forward she explained that she does not consider the dovish lobby J Street as pro-Israel because “they are lobbying this country to pressure the government of Israel to change its policy.”

StandWithUs has also been active in opposing West Coast communities hosting a speaking tour of Israeli soldiers who speak out against the occupation.

So in The Forward's view of the world, a rightist pro-Israel organization must accept the leftist narrative as equally valid - but where are the Forward articles demanding that J-Street allow Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria to speak at their events, or that left-wing Jewish groups not protest Israeli speakers on campus?

Apparently, The Forward's indignation goes only one way.

One of the oldest tricks in the media book is to hide the reporter's opinions behind a supposed "expert." We saw it in the last hit piece against Zionists we looked at from the Forward, and Guttman doesn't fail us here:

“I think their attitude does harm to Israel,” said Steven M. Cohen, Research Professor of Jewish Social Policy at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. “If we adopt a view that we support anything official Israel says then we’ll deprive Israel of the benefit of our good advice and discourage Jewish Americans from being involved in the discourse over Israel.”

Cohen, who has conducted extensive research into the opinions of American Jews on Israel, said that to win the PR war, “we need outspoken Zionists from all camps.” Cohen believes this discussion should include even representatives from the far left, as well as the right-wing Hilltop Youth settlers.

So Roz Rothstein has an opinion. Steven Cohen has his. The Forward makes clear which side they are on.

The only problem is that Steven Cohen's, and The Forward's, opinions are meant specifically to weaken Israeli democracy. The entire purpose of J-Street is to circumvent Israeli democracy by using outside money and outside pressure to, frankly, change the government to one that they find more palatable. Israeli electorate be damned.

I do not recall StandWithUs protesting against Israeli policy under Kadima, so StandWithUs is consistent in its support of the democratically elected Israeli government's decisions, no matter what its orientation.

Not to say that Jews outside Israel cannot make their opinions known, or that they cannot criticize Israel. But lobbying against the Israeli government is not merely expressing an opinion; it is an attempt to interfere with and undermine a democratically elected government.

Sorry, but that cannot be considered "pro-Israel" by any definition.

If Steven Cohen or any American Jewish leftist doesn't want Israel to be deprived of their "good advice" (as if they can advise anything that Israel's Left hasn't thought of) there is a simple solution that every Zionist, left or right, would wholeheartedly support: They can make Aliyah.

The rest of the article is just smarmy, as the Forward brings facts about SWU that are perfectly ethical and above-board and paints them as vaguely underhanded:

SWU supporters also keep an eye on pro-Palestinian campus activists. In the case involving 11 students at University of California, Irvine, who interrupted a speech of Israeli ambassador Michael Oren, it was an SWU videotape of the protestors that led to their arrest.
...
Pro-Israel organizations usually take special care not be seen as operating on behalf of the Israeli government, since that would require their registration as foreign agents under the Foreign Agent Registration Act. StandWithUs stressed it did not receive any payment from the Israeli government for the Ayalon video or for any of its other activities. And Craig Holeman, an expert on U.S. lobbying laws, said it was unlikely federal law would require a group like SWU to register as a foreign agent. Holeman, a government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen, a citizen rights advocacy organization, said that a group focused on public education, as SWU is, and which does not receive funds from a foreign government, does not need to register as a foreign agent.

And who even intimated that SWU should register as a foreign agent to begin with? Why, Nathan Guttman of The Forward!

Stand With Us is probably the single best proponent for Israel in the US today. Unlike The Forward, SWU is unapologetically Zionist.

Which is the real reason the Forward writes such pieces of drivel to begin with. They are simply uncomfortable that some people love Israel without reservation.

So they must spare no effort in trying to rid the world of such proud Zionists, to assuage their own discomfort.

(Disclaimer: StandWithUs has used some of my posters/graphics in their materials and they have compensated me. And I can tell you Roz Rothstein has personally rejected quite a few of my posters for being too far to the right.)

Why would anyone think this is a hate crime?

From The Gothamist:

More details have emerged about the man who was stabbed on a Park Slope subway yesterday—while initial reports said that the incident occurred on the G train, the Daily News says it was an F train, and the spat began over some anti-Semitic comments.

Emil Benjamin, a loan broker from Bensonhurst, was on a southbound F train approaching the 4th Avenue/9th Street station around 10 p.m. Monday night when two men reportedly started taunting him, saying "You're nobody, you Jewish bastard." The men attacked, and Benjamin fought back, even as the doors opened and the fight carried over the platform. "They were on my from both sides," said Benjamin, who didn't even realize that he had been stabbed in the back and the thigh until his jeans were soaked with blood. He was taken to Lutheran Medical Center and has since been released.

Cops busted Rafael Padin, 22, and Jose Santos, 18, shortly after the attack, and charged them with assault. Padin, who left his knife on the platform after the attack, was also charged with criminal possession of a weapon. Police said they are not investigating the incident as a hate crime. Benjamin, for one, knows his verdict: "They are punks," he said of the attackers. "A real tough guy only needs his fists."

Other New York media didn't mention the "Jewish bastard" part.

(h/t Vandoren)

This is an interesting initiative to buy Israeli goods this week. It seems to be more like a Groupon-type site, along with some local deals (at least in the US.)

Nicely done, check it out!

Secularists, Salafists clash at Tunisia university

From AFP:

Hundreds of demonstrators calling for women to be allowed to wear the Muslim veil in class clashed with students at a university outside Tunis on Tuesday for the second day running.

Protesters wearing the veil and bearded men wearing the Muslim tunic shouted “God Is Great”, facing other students responding “Islamists, Go Home.”

The demonstration at the University of Manouba, west of Tunis, came a day after a group of Salafists disrupted classes there, demanding a stop to mixed-sex classes and for female students to wear full-face veils.

“A group of Salafists, dressed like Afghans, have been camped in front of my office since early afternoon,” Habib Kazdaghli, the dean of faculty at the University of Manuba, told AFP on Monday.

Tutors and union representatives voted at a general assembly on Tuesday to go on strike Thursday in protest at the incidents.

Several students and teaching staff said demonstrators were not enrolled at the university, and many were allegedly “agitators” from working-class neighbourhoods near the Manouba campus.

“This is not what the revolution was about,” one student said.

Two officials of the Islamist Ennahda party which swept to power in October 23 elections were involved in attempts to resolve the crisis.

Pro-headscarf demonstrators denied they were Salafists, a fundamentalist branch of Islam, and said they had not asked for mixed-sex classes to be stopped.

“We want two things: a prayer room inside the faculty and the right for girls wearing the headscarf to sit exams and attend classes,” said Anis Rezgui, a first-year student.

The article mixes up veils and headscarves. From an earlier Reuters article, I believe that it is only the veil that is banned at Tunisian universities.