"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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