Wednesday Links Part 2

From Ian:

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Syrian Refugees Quietly Treated by Israel while UN Makes Latest ‘Parody of Itself’

The script reads like this: Israel treats wounded Syrian refugees in its own hospitals. Syria produces a report alleging an “acute shortage of primary and tertiary health care services” in the Golan Heights region. A United Nations agency, citing the Syrian report rather than acknowledging Israel’s actions, condemns Israel.
On the surface, this storyline contains several plot twists, but it is not surprising for Dr. Daniel Pipes, president and founder of the Middle East Forum.

Alan Dershowitz: Syria Shows Why Israel Must Remain Strong

The hatred directed against Jews in general and Israel in particular by Israel’s enemies is far more malignant than the animosity between Sunni and Shia Muslims or between Muslim and Christian Arabs. It is taught in schools, preached in mosques and repeated in the media. There would be no mercy shown. Israeli armies would not be allowed to surrender and be repatriated, as the Egyptian army was when it was trapped in Sinai at the end of the 1973 war.
Israeli civilians would be targeted as they already have been by Hamas and Hezbollah rockets fired in the direction of large population centers. The goal of the first war against Israel, as expressed by one of its leaders, was “this will be a war of extermination.” The desire for revenge has only grown over the course of further warfare and more defeats.

Radical Islam Arrives in Ramallah by Khaled Abu Toameh

Palestinian Authority officials have not offered an explanation as to why Hizb-ut-Tahrir, whose members are frequently targeted by Palestinian security forces in the West Bank, was given permission to hold a rally in favor of jihad [holy war] against Israel.
Some Palestinians, however, said that the decision to allow the fundamentalists to hold a rally in Ramallah was aimed at sending a message to Kerry about the challenges and threats facing the Palestinian Authority.
The Palestinian Authority leadership, according to this theory, is using the Muslim radicals to scare Western donors into continuing, or perhaps increasing, their financial aid to the Palestinian government in the West Bank.

PA Arabs Fete 'New Mahdi," Establishment of Calpihate

Thousands of PA Arabs participated in a mass rally in Ramallah earlier this week calling for the establishment of the Muslim Caliphate – the worldwide Islamist government that will “bring the coming of the Mahdi.” the Muslim messiah.

Muslim Zionist, Christian Arab Explain Islamic Hatred of Israel

Two Zionist, one a Pakistani Muslim and the other an Egyptian Christian Reverend, explained to Arutz Sheva why “anti-Zionist” has become the new code word for anti-Semitism in the Muslim world.
History shows that Muslim anti-Semitism predated the state of Israel, Zionist Muslim Kasim Hafeez said. However, he explained, it is now called anti-Zionism because the term has become acceptable in the Western world.

Belgian lawmaker tramples Israeli flag at pro-Assad rally

A Belgian lawmaker trampled the Israeli flag at a support rally for Hezbollah and Syrian President Bashar Assad held in front of Israel’s embassy in Brussels.
Laurent Louis, an independent member of the lower house of Belgium’s Federal Parliament, posed for pictures while standing on an Israeli flag on June 2.

"The Jeu de Paume Honours Killers Of Jews"

The Jeu de Paume a well known museum in the world subsidized by The French Ministry of Culture has since May 28 to September 1, 2013 offered visitors, an exhibition of Palestinian photographer Ahlam Shibli.
This "Phantom home" exhibition consists of 68 photographs of portraits of Palestinian terrorists, all members of the brigades of Al Aqsa Martyrs, ranked terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union

Arabs, Not Jews, Worst-Hit by EU Labeling Scheme

The labeling of products made by Jews in Judea and Samaria would damage Israel, a report by the Foreign Ministry said – but it would damage PA Arabs even more.
According to the report, some 22,500 PA Arabs are employed inside Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria. These Arabs are among the highest paid laborers in the PA. The report said that on average, PA Arabs working in Jewish-owned business in Judea and Samaria earned 88% more than those working in Arab towns. In addition, they have social rights, including health benefits and pension rights, that are usually unavailable to PA Arabs.

Bi-Partisan Call: Move US Embassy to J’slm, but Obama Renews Waiver

On Tuesday, June 4, a bi-partisan congressional call went out for the United States government to move its Embassy from Tel Aviv, to the capital of Israel, in Jerusalem.
The call went out from the congressional Israel Allies Caucus at an event marking Israel Reunification Day, the day in 1967 that Jerusalem was reunified as the result of Israel’s defeat of the Jordanian army. Israel acquired the land by defeating Jordan which attacked Israel as part of the 1967 war, despite Israel’s repeated pleas to Jordan to stay out of the hostilities.

Ray LaHood's son sentenced to jail in Egypt in absentia over pro-democracy dispute

The son of U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood was among 16 Americans sentenced to jail in absentia by a court in Egypt Tuesday, part of a diplomatic dispute over the activities and funding of U.S.-backed pro-democracy groups.
Sam LaHood was given a five-year sentence and fined 1,000 Egyptian pounds ($143).

Feting Jerusalem

As we mark the 46th anniversary of the outbreak of the Six Day War, it is fitting to be humbled by the tremendous challenges we face and the obstacles to peace that remain to be overcome. But we should also be proud of our tremendous achievements.
Today, 46 years after reunification, Jerusalem is Israel’s largest city with a population of over 800,000. Once referred to by writer Cynthia Ozick as a “phoenix city” with a “history of histories” where “no one is a stranger” – Jerusalem has never before in its long life flourished so astoundingly.
Never have so many Jews lived in Jerusalem in relative harmony and security alongside a diverse non-Jewish population. And never before have the religious rights of all been so carefully protected.
Israelis are rightly wary of endangering all this.

Apple to Inaugurate High School Development Center in Northern Israel

Apple Inc. will inaugurate the first entrepreneurship development center of its kind at a High School in Hadera next week, Globes is reporting.
The center at Amal High School was established with the collaboration of the Ministry of Education. The students will learn application development and marketing and will develop iOS-based apps for iPads and iPhones. Apple will provide instructors to train the center’s teachers and students.

'Extinct' Frog Appears in Israel

The first amphibian to have been officially declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has been rediscovered in the north of Israel after some 60 years and turns out to be a unique “living fossil,” without close relatives among other living frogs, according to researchers at Hebrew University.
The Hula painted frog was catalogued within the Discoglossus group when it was first discovered in the Hula Valley of Israel in the early 1940s. The frog was thought to have disappeared following the drying up of the Hula Lake at the end of the 1950s, and was declared extinct by the IUCN in 1996. As a result, the opportunity to discover more about this species’ history, biology and ecology was thought to have disappeared. (h/t Phil)

From a Hamas prisoner to a globetrotting Israel emissary

Former Hamas captive Gilad Shalit has been receiving rock star receptions around the world as the United Israel Appeal’s (UIA) newest fundraiser.
Filling reception halls from Buenos Aires to Melbourne, the former tank gunner, who spent five years in captivity in Gaza after being abducted in 2006, is now an effective crowd drawer, raising millions for the state by sharing his story with Jewish audiences, Channel 2 reported Tuesday.

Anne Frank’s tree now grows in Boston

A sapling taken from Anne Frank’s solace-giving chestnut tree put roots down in the heart of Boston on Tuesday.
More than 200 community members and schoolchildren gathered in a corner of historic Boston Common to witness the ceremonial planting of one of eleven saplings taken from the tree in 2009. At the time of its demise in 2010, the white horse chestnut tree located behind Anne Frank’s “Secret Annex” was more than 170 years old.

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Joke of the day: PLO says they support Kerry plan (ElderToon)

From Ma'an:

No one loses more than the Palestinians if US Secretary of State John Kerry's efforts to restart peace talks fail, the PLO's top negotiator said Tuesday.

"The failure of Kerry's peace plan is not an option. Everyone who believes in two states should help Kerry to succeed," Saeb Erekat told reporters in the West Bank a day after Kerry issued a stark warning to Israel and the Palestinians to resume long-stalled talks.

Look how interested the PLO is in negotiating all of a sudden! Just a couple of small caveats:

In another joke, Abbas yet again threatens to dissolve the PA if he doesn't get what he demands.

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Wednesday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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Riots in Turkey and Tens of Thousands Dead in Syria, Caused by West Bank Settlements

If this is the beginning of another Middle East revolution, one wonders what the new map of the Middle East will look like even 2 years from now. Amazing how times change – only five years ago, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asked Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan to mediate peace negotiations with Syria. That wouldn’t have ended well – and today, reports indicate that up to 100,000 people have been slaughtered in Syria.
For the sake of peace, many say Israel should offer concessions to Assad in Syria who has killed tens of thousands of his own people. They also say that Israel should be more conciliatory towards Turkey, where the police force abuses fellow citizens regularly.
These people talk foolishly of Israeli settlements, or Israel’s “aggressive nature in the Middle East” that leads to violence. Could it be something else? Pigs can’t fly, and the Israelis are not the people who bring violence to the Middle East.

Fatah Central Committee member urges destruction of Israel, advocates turning a blind-eye to terrorists

Watch as a representative of Israel's so-called "partner for peace" Fatah, calls for the end of Israel, and for the Palestinian people to turn a blind eye to terrorist attacks on the Jewish State.

Soft BBC portrait of new PA prime minister

The BBC also chooses to ignore the fact that under Hamdallah’s presidency, students at An Najar University staged an exhibition glorifying suicide bombers in September 2001 (described by the BBC at the time as an “art show” in a report placed in its website’s ”entertainment: arts” section) which included a gory representation of the Sbarro pizza restaurant where fifteen civilians – many of them women and children – had been murdered only six weeks previously.

Abbas threatens to dismantle PA if talks don’t start

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to dismantle the PA should US Secretary of State John Kerry fail to “salvage the peace process,” a senior PA official said Tuesday.

PMW: Compilation of 5 versions of a Palestinian song presenting Israeli cities as part of "Palestine"

Five church schools in Gaza face closure after Hamas order

Five schools in Gaza – two Catholic and three Christian – face closure if the Hamas government follows through on an order forbidding co-educational institutions, according to the director general of Latin Patriarchate Schools in Palestine and Israel.

France, Britain confirm sarin gas used in Syria

France said Tuesday it has confirmed that the nerve gas sarin was used “multiple times and in a localized way” in Syria, including at least once by the regime. It was the most specific claim by any Western power about chemical weapons attacks in the 27-month-old conflict.
Britain later said that tests it conducted on samples taken from Syria also were positive for sarin.

EXCLUSIVE: How Israeli Intelligence Is Updating Its Knowledge of Syria’s Missile Arsenal

Israel has taken the opportunity to watch, study, and analyze the performance of the Syrian missiles. Among the most important discoveries is the detection and observation of the Scud D missile, which has a separating (detachable) warhead with cluster bombs. Israeli intelligence officials knew about the existence of this missile for at least ten years, and even got some information about it from Turkish counterparts when relations between the two countries were better. Israel is now updating its knowledge on its own.

MEMRI: Egyptian Blooper: Politicians, Unaware They Are on Air, Threaten Ethiopia over Dam Construction VIDEO

Signature campaign on Egyptian streets tests Morsi

Thousands of volunteers are hitting the pavement around Egypt, on streets, in metro stations, even in hospitals, passing out black-and-white forms to whoever will take them. The goal: To collect millions of signatures on a petition calling for the removal of Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

Thousands of Iranians chant to end dictatorship

Tens of thousands of Iranians chanted for the downfall of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, branding him a “dictator,” as they attended the funeral of a religious leader who opposed the current regime.
The protest took place during the funeral of Ayatollah Jalaluddin Taheri, who died at the age of 87 and was buried in Isfahan on Sunday. Taheri was known for openly opposing the Tehran government and its hardline religious leaders.

Diplomats say Iran nuclear reactor damaged by quake

Diplomats say countries monitoring Iran’s nuclear program have picked up information that the country’s only power-producing nuclear reactor was damaged by one or more recent earthquakes.
Two diplomats say long cracks have appeared in at least one section of the structure.

Wife of Imprisoned Iranian-American Pastor Pleas Before UN Human Rights Council

The wife of imprisoned Iranian-American Pastor Saeed Abedini, Naghmeh, made an impassioned plea for the release of her husband before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.

Claire Berlinski: Erdoğan Over the Edge

So no, the unrest roiling Turkey is not about Gezi Park, though it would have been poetic if it had been: the park was once an Armenian cemetery, appropriated by the government and transformed into a barracks after the Armenians “abandoned” it. The protests are about authoritarianism, plain and simple. What will happen now is anyone’s guess. The demonstrators are disorganized, and while they know what they don’t want, they aren’t sure what they do want. (h/t Silke)

Daniel Pipes: The good news in Turkey

This is excellent news. Turkey has been heading in the wrong direction under the AKP. Although a democracy, the AKP government has jailed more journalists than any other state in the world. Although secular, it has with growing urgency imposed arrays of Islamist regulations, including last week's rushed limitation on alcohol as well as warnings against public displays of affection.

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PA Foreign Affairs ministry calls J'lem light show "explicit call to religious war"

The fourth annual Jerusalem Festival of Light starts tonight, and I wish I was in Israel to see it!

Not everyone is happy about this, of course. In fact, according to the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, it is nothing less than Israel's bid to start a regional war.

Al Jazeera (Arabic) reports:

Palestinians protested strongly on Tuesday ahead of planned Israeli celebrations in the municipality of Jerusalem scheduled tomorrow in the eastern part of the city to commemorate the occupation of the West Bank in 1967.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the organization of the festival called "Lights" in the vicinity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the old city tomorrow is "an explicit call to a religious war in the region as a whole."

The ministry warned, in a press release, the risk of grabbing the Al Aqsa Mosque and dividing it [between Muslims and Jews] temporally and spatially, in the wake of extremist Jewish organizations in Jerusalem yesterday calling to pray at the holy mosque.

The ministry assigned full responsibility to the Israeli government for the activities practiced by extremists against Islamic places of worship and Christianity, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in particular.

The PA foreign ministry's website is not functional and shows a default Linux test page, so I couldn't verify this with them directly.  (They are also running an outdated version of Apache, if any Israeli hacker is looking for an easy target...)

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What's Thomas Friedman smoking?

Today's fantasy of a better world, courtesy of Thomas Friedman:

With these iron-fisted leaders being toppled — and true, multisectarian democracies with effective governments yet to emerge in their place — Israel is potentially facing decades of unstable or no governments surrounding it. Only Jordan offers Israel a normal border. In the hinterlands beyond, Israel is looking at dysfunctional states that are either imploding (like Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Bahrain and Libya) or exploding (like Syria).

But here’s what’s worse: These iron-fisted leaders not only suppressed various political forces in their societies but also badly ignored their schools, environments, women’s empowerment and population explosions. Today, all these bills are coming due just when their governments are least able to handle them.

Therefore, the overarching theme for Israeli strategy in the coming years must be “resiliency” — how to maintain a relatively secure environment and thriving economy in a collapsing region.

So far, so good.

But then his 1990s-think takes over:

In my view, that makes resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more important than ever for three reasons: 1) to reverse the trend of international delegitimization closing in on Israel; 2) to disconnect Israel as much as possible from the regional conflicts around it; and 3) to offer a model.

There is no successful model of democratic governance in the Arab world at present — the Islamists are all failing. But Israel, if it partnered with the current moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, has a chance to create a modern, economically thriving, democratic, secular state where Christians and Muslims would live side by side — next to Jews. That would be a hugely valuable example, especially at a time when the Arab world lacks anything like it. And the world for the most part would not begrudge Israel keeping its forces on the Jordan River — as will be necessary given the instability beyond — if it ceded most of the West Bank and Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.

Together, Israelis and Palestinians actually have the power to model what a decent, postauthoritarian, multireligious Arab state could look like. Nothing would address both people’s long-term strategic needs better.

Let's take these one at a time:

1) The delegitimization movement Friedman refers to is not interested in a peace agreement. They want the destruction of Israel. Their basic demands include the insistence that Israel be forced to accept millions of Arab faux-"refugees" and end the Jewish state. They already regard the PA as a sell-out for not restarting the intifada. This is a variation of the "if/then" fallacy that has been fashionable for decades, but is still around thanks to so-called "experts" like Friedman. In this case the fallacy is that the Israel-haters would be weakened by Israeli concessions, but in fact it is the opposite.

2) Friedman thinks that an Israel whose border is in constant threat of being taken over by Islamists would "disconnect" it from the regional conflicts around it? It would ensure that Israel is surrounded by them! Friedman's bizarre assumption that a Palestinian Arab state would be inoculated from the chaos surrounding it has no basis in reality. Like so many other pseudo-experts on the region, Friedman cannot distinguish between his wishful thinking and the cold reality - in this case, that "Palestine" would be a peaceful, democratic, secular state, inoculated from the Islamist Spring.

Oh, and don't forget Friedman's other "if-then" fallacy here - that the world would allow Israel to keep the Jordan Valley as a buffer if only it would offer the Palestinian Arabs a state. Wasn't that already offered and rejected? The result was nothing less than a six year-long war on Israeli civilians. Again, Friedman is stuck in the 1990s.

3) It takes an amazing amount of willful blindness to ignore Gaza's Hamastan, to ignore the fact that there haven't been elections for so long, to ignore the daily incitement in the PA media, to ignore the fact that the PA's last two prime ministers that the West loved so much were not elected and have no support from the people, and to ignore the daily vitriol between Hamas and Fatah. Friedman's eyes can shut tightly enough to allow an occasional "Sure, there are problems..." right before ignoring them.

The PA has now been around for nearly two decades. Every real accomplishment it has made so far wasn't from its own initiative but from Western pressure. On its own, it would devolve back into a fragmented, corrupt dictatorship that it never truly escaped.

Besides that -the Islamists are winning. To them, democracy and freedom  and human rights are not an end but a means. They are not remotely willing to give their political opponents the rights that they insist for themselves.

The hatred that Arabs have for Israel has nothing to do with "Palestine." Tom - Instead of relying on your Western-educated translators when you parachute into Egypt to pretend to do reporting, read their freaking newspapers in Arabic itself. Even the most liberal, secular Lebanese Christians despise Israel. The wealthy Arabs of Dubai, who don't really give a damn about Palestinians, all agree they hate Israel. Antisemitism - not anti-Zionism, but antisemitism - has been steadily increasing in Arabic media, especially in Egypt and the "new, improved" Iraq.

Their hate is not logical - it is pathological. And it is as much a part of Palestinian Arab society as it is in the fabric of the rest of the Arab world.

To even imagine that any Israeli actions could result in Israel being accepted by the Arabs is a breathtakingly stupid idea.

Luckily, usually Israel is smart enough not to make concessions based on what is literally a fantasy based on ignorance and dreams from deluded Pulitzer-winning "experts."

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Report: Qassam Brigades chooses to side with Hezbollah and Iran after all

Al Quds al Arabi, the London-based pan-Arab newspaper, reports that the "military wing of Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, has decided to re-align itself with Hezbollah and Iran after bitter infighting over the direction the group should take.

Iran has made no secret of its displeasure at Hamas public statements against the Assad regime in Syria.

Apparently, the recent visit to Gaza by popular preacher Yusuf Qaradawi, where he said that he wanted the West to support the Syrian rebels, upset the militant Hamas leadership.

The report says that Brigades wrote a letter to the political leadership of Hamas demanding an alliance with Hezbollah. In the letter, the Qassam leadership stated that liberation will come from arms, not money, a reference to the cash that Qatar has been giving Gaza.

Mahmoud al Zahar, hawkish Hamas leader, apparently supports this initiative.

The Al Quds sources hinted that a Hamas delegation is currently visiting Iran, including Marwan Issa, the commander of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, in the framework of strengthening the alliance between the movement and Iran.

The message stressed by the delegation is that the "resistance" and the ability to fire rockets into Tel Aviv in the recent war was thanks to the alliance with Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah, and not because of Arab money, referring to the financial support of Qatar.

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Miftah deliberately ignored PA incitement and delegitimization - and supported terrorists as heroes

Miftah, the Palestinian Arab NGO that has published a blood libel and has extolled terrorism (but deleted the offending articles when they were made public), has another initiative that has been dormant for a few years but is still very enlightening.

It is called the Media Monitoring Unit, and its goals are set forth as:

• Monitoring Palestinian Media.

• Research and advocacy activities aiming to reduce incitement, dehumanization and delegitimization of "the other"

• Educating the public to become more critical media consumers

• Fostering professionalism in the Palestinian media

In fact, Miftah teams with an Israeli organization, Keshev, an organization that monitors Israeli media from the Left. Keshev would look for bias and anti-Arab incitement in Israeli media and Miftah's unit would purportedly look for the same in Palestinian Arab media.

Miftah's part of the initiative seems to have only been active from 2008 to 2010, and some ten  reports were written and released during that time period.

Amazingly, during those two years, Miftah could not find a single example of anti-Israel or antisemitic incitement in Palestinian Arab media. No delegitimization! No dehumanization!

While a couple of the reports would imply that newspaper use of the word "martyr" to describe suicide bombers is not strictly accurate, Miftah never said that this glorification of terrorism in the media reaches the level of incitement. Moreover, the many cases of pure antisemitism and maps that erase Israel in the print and broadcast media - well documented by Palestinian Media Watch - are uniformly ignored, by the very unit that is supposedly meant to search for it and fight against it!

If a map of "Palestine" that erases Israel is not an example of delegitimization, then what is?

The steering committee of the Media Monitoring Unit included Hanan Ashrawi and Joharah Baker.

In what can only be considered a massive waste of Western money, this unit was funded by the EU and the Ford Foundation.

Even worse, in the cases that incitement was found and publicized by Israeli sources, Miftah would tend to deny that any incitement existed, and would defend the PA's honoring of terrorists. Here is Miftah's Joharah Baker in an official Miftah editorial, "Let Us Honor Our Own":

When Palestinians named a square after Dalal Al Mughrabi, a Palestinian fighter who was killed during a military operation against Israel in 1978, Israel was up in arms, claiming the Palestinians should not be allowed to name streets or squares after “terrorists.” Israeli watchdog groups and the Israeli government play on the fact that Palestinians have named streets after Abu Jihad (Khalil Al Wazir) and Yehya Ayash. The prisoner stipends are just the latest episode in the drama.

...Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are a whole other ballgame. These men and women are not imprisoned for stealing cars, or for selling drugs. They are there because they are resisting a belligerent military occupation of their land, which has oppressed them and their people for decades. The PA’s allocations to prisoners and their families is in no way an endorsement of “terrorism and violence” but rather a means of helping mostly young men and women and their families to resume a life that has been interrupted by an occupying authority. Any other country would have done the same.

Besides, countries should not interfere in the internal affairs of others. If the Palestinians want to name a street after one of their national heroes, regardless of how this person is perceived by Israel, that is their business.

Instead of promoting peace and fighting incitement, Miftah defends incitement and supports the terrorists as national heroes. (Notice how even Dalal Mughrabi, responsible for the deaths of 13 children, is considered a heroine by Miftah.)

If Mughrabi is a national hero, then Miftah can' t be too serious about being upset that newspapers refer to terrorists as "martyrs." Indeed, their objection to that is seen to be more from the perspective of accuracy rather than incitement and nationalistic support of terrorist acts.

The media review unit seems to have run out of funding. Considering that it spent more time obfuscating Palestinian Arab incitement and dehumanizing Israelis rather than exposing it, this is probably a good thing.

When will the remaining funders of this NGO that promotes incitement against "the other" realize that their money is being used for the exact opposite of what they intended?

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Hamas' reign of terror covered by - NPR!

A rare NPR piece that blames someone besides Israel for something in the Middle East:

Life was already grim in the Gaza Strip when fighting raged between Israel and Hamas last November. Then Khulud Badawi got unexpected bad news about her husband.

"I was at home when my son came in and said, 'Mom, they killed Dad.' I said, 'Who?' He said, 'Hamas.' I asked him, 'Where?' He said, 'Next to the gas station,'" she recalls.

Badawi's husband, Ribhi Badawi, was in prison in Gaza City. He was supposed to go to court that day for a final appeal of charges that he had collaborated with Israel against Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip.

But Ribhi Badawi was taken from prison and executed in public, along with five other inmates. They were all accused of being collaborators, or informants, working for Israel.

"In this case, what was remarkable was that these men were not executed in anything resembling legislative authority or the penal authority of the Hamas government, but by armed men," says Sarah Leah Whitson, who directs the Middle East division of Human Rights Watch.

Wow - how could that have happened?

Hamas, which has been in control of Gaza since 2007, has executed people judged to be collaborators. But in the six deaths last Nov. 20, the Hamas-run government said it was not responsible.

"What happened was against the law," Islam Shawan, a spokesman for Gaza's Interior Ministry, says. "We had a high-level committee investigate, and it handed down tough punishments to security officials who failed to do their jobs."

Shawan won't name names, give ranks or offer any other information, but he claims that four people working in the prison system were punished. One was fired, one was transferred, one was jailed and one lost any chance at promotions.

He has no progress to report on tracking down the people who actually did the killings, but he does claim progress in cracking down on collaboration.

This puzzle gets harder and harder to solve. I mean, Hamas says they are working to find the people responsible for the murders, and the murderers haven't yet been caught, so they must be very, very smart.

For some reason I am reminded of OJ Simpson and his "investigation" into the murderer of his wife.

(h/t D)

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Tuesday Links Part 2

From Ian:

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Church of Scotland Shreds Bible Canonizes Palestinian "Scripture," Flunks Exams

Thanks in part to immigration, for the first time since John Knox there are more worshipers on a Sunday in Roman Catholic churches than in the Kirk (Church of Scotland). The Church of Rome, despite its recent travails, retains the advantage that it would never publish a document that had not been vetted by serious theologians.
The State of Israel, on the other hand, is doing very well, thank you, and need not care two hoots what the Church of Scotland thinks about it. Israel's GDP is higher than Scotland's.

The Palestinian ‘Popular’ Violent ‘Resistance’

A new report from the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center shows how Abbas encourages the perpetration of steady low-level violence in the West Bank as part of his effort to stay in power. His calls for on-going “low-level” violence help him and the PLO to compete for Palestinian violence with the U.S.-designated terrorist Hamas organization.
Congress should inquire why this Administration is set on rewarding this violent group that also threatens the political stability of Jordan. Considering the bloody results of U.S. “tacit” support to other allegedly popular resistance movement in the region, such as the “reform” minded Muslim Brotherhood, it’s time we stop funding any violence advocating group, first and foremost with the PA. Additional U.S. support would only fuel more of the same. It’s time to acknowledge what the Palestinians have been telling us all along; they will not budge an inch unless they can –as the map hanging in Abbas’ office – and Arafat before him — shows, take over the Jewish state.

Abbas: PLO Charter Reflects What Palestinians Want

At an event marking the 49th anniversary of the PLO’s founding, Abbas (according to a translation by the Palestinian news agency Ma’an) declared that PLO founder Ahmad Shuqueiri “was asked to figure out what the Palestinians wanted, and he returned with the convention for the PLO.” In other words, according to Abbas, the PLO’s founding document is an accurate reflection of what Palestinians want. And lest anyone has forgotten the contents of that 1964 document, still available on the website of the PLO’s UN mission, here are a few choice quotes:

NPR Romanticizes Child's Attacker

Indicative of the sharp bias is the story’s focus. On the occasion of the release from intensive care of a Jewish child severely injured in a stone-throwing attack by Palestinians, NPR turns not to the dangers faced by Jews under threat from such lethal violence but to extensive, sympathetic treatment of the grievances of the Palestinian perpetrator, Tareq Hammed, and his mother. A brief introductory reference to the child, Adele Bitton, is followed by lengthy commentary devoted to the complaints of the Palestinians, to such things as Hammed being arrested late at night, soldiers shouting at, handcuffing and blindfolding him – and his not having time to change clothes. Hammed’s mother is given a platform to lament that she’d also been witness to her husband’s arrest by Israeli soldiers, the implication being not that father and son were two of a kind, assaulting the innocent, but that they were a family of courageous resistance fighters.

Experts Join Forces in New Book to Combat Online Hate

Two of the U.S’s leading experts on bigoted speech and the Internet have joined forces as authors of a new book that lays out a blueprint for governments, industry leaders and societies to take proactive steps to stem the tide of hate speech on the Internet.
Abraham H. Foxman, the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League and a longtime leader in the fight against anti-Semitism and bigotry, and Christopher Wolf, ADL Civil Rights Chair and one of the nation’s leading practitioners in the field of Internet and privacy law, outline the challenges posed by online hate and propose a series of solutions in their new book, Viral Hate: Containing Its Spread on the Internet.

German seminary to probe Nazi jokes claim

A Catholic seminary in Germany says it is investigating claims that trainee priests made anti-Semitic jokes, played far-right music and gave Nazi salutes.

Last of Boston Marathon bombing victims leaves hospital

A 29-year-old preschool teacher who lost most of her left leg in the Boston Marathon bombing left the hospital Monday, saying she was excited to head home to the Baltimore area so she could hug loved ones, eat steamed crabs and spend time with her students.
“I just want to sit on the floor with them and read them a story,” Erika Brannock said of students at Trinity Episcopal Children’s Center in Towson, Md.

Remembering the Way-to-Go War

The name “Six-Day Dar” instantly conjures up Israel’s lightning victory over Syria, Jordan and Egypt in 1967. However, if some citizens had had their way, Israelis could instead be marking the 46th anniversary of the War of the Boulders this week.
According to a report in Yedioth Ahronoth, there are several letters in the IDF archives at the Defense Ministry which propose various civilian suggestions for the name of the war.

Jewish community mourns passing of Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a ‘true friend’

The US Senate lost its oldest member, its last surviving WWII veteran, and one of its staunchest pro-Israel advocates early Monday morning with the death of 89-year-old Senator Frank Lautenberg.
Lautenberg succumbed to pneumonia at a New York hospital just after 4 a.m.

WHO approves Israeli-developed circumcision device

The World Health Organization approved an Israeli-developed non-surgical circumcision device that could soon be used throughout Africa to help control AIDS.
PrePex, a disposable and easy-to-use device made of rubber bands that obviates the need for anesthesia, stitches or a sterile setting, received WHO approval on Friday, The New York Times reported.

Israel still tops in tech, says start-up expert

There are many active high-tech scenes but few that are truly pioneering, according to a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who is on a mission to map, catalog, and analyze the world’s start-up ecosystems. And Israel, he says, is one of those few.
“True innovation is really rare,” Bowei Gai told The Times of Israel at the Israel-Asia Summit, held last month at the Peres Peace Center in Jaffa.

Israel helped design Intel's new Haswell processor

Intel Corporation (Nasdaq: INTC) has unveiled its fourth-generation microarchitecture-based Intel Core processor, codenamed Haswell, at the Computers expo in Taiwan. The new processors, designed for ultrabooks and tablets, were partly developed in Israel. The Haswell is manufactured by 22-nanometer process. Intel says that it extends work station's battery life by 50% compared with the third generation processors, which will give ultrabooks more than nine hours working time.

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Richard Falk freaks out on UN Watch in official UN report (updated)

Richard Falk, the terror-supporting and constantly lying UN special rapporteur who used to support Ayatollah Khomeini, who believes in bizarre 9/11 conspiracy theories and who has justified the Boston bombings as "retribution" has written the latest of his regular anti-Israel reports for the UN.

Hilariously, he goes way off topic in a crazed rant in the introduction to the document to attack UN Watch, which has meticulously documented his unsuitability for his position.

The Special Rapporteur wishes to raise another concern regarding the independence, credibility, and effectiveness of this mandate. Since the Special Rapporteur assumed this position, “UN Watch” – a “pro-Israel” lobbying organization accredited as an NGO to ECOSOC, has issued a series of defamatory attacks demeaning his character, repeatedly distorting his views on potentially inflammatory issues. This smear campaign has been carried out in numerous settings, including at the Human Rights Council, as well as university venues where the Special Rapporteur gives lectures in his personal capacity on subjects unrelated to the mandate. The lobby groups' smears have been sent to diplomats and United Nations officials, including the Secretary-General, who has apparently accepted the allegations at face value, issuing public criticism of the Special Rapporteur. It is disappointing that such irresponsible and dishonest attacks have been taken seriously, with no effort to seek the views of the Special Rapporteur or verify the accuracy of the allegations. To set the record straight, the Special Rapporteur proposes that UN Watch be investigated to determine whether it qualifies as an independent organization that operates in accord with its name and stated objectives, and is not indirectly sponsored by the Government of Israel and/or other “pro-Israel” lobbying groups affiliated with the Government, as well as whether its programme of work is of direct relevance to the aims and purposes of the United Nations.1 Even a superficial review of their website confirms their preoccupation with character assassination, and the absence of an organizational agenda that corresponds to its claim to exercise oversight over United Nations activities. Despite its efforts to discredit the Special Rapporteur, UN Watch has never offered substantive criticisms or entered into any serious discussion of the Special Rapporteur's reports. Such defamation of a special rapporteur is detrimental to the independence and substantive intention of any mandate. It diverts attention from the message to the messenger, and shifts public interest away from the need to protect human rights in contexts that have been identified by the Human Rights Council as of particular concern. The Special Rapporteur recommends that this issue be viewed in relation not only to his mandate, but also as a matter of principle relating to ensuring a responsible role for NGOs within the United Nations system. In like manner, it seems important to encourage a greater willingness on the part of senior United Nations officials to defend special rapporteurs subject to such diversionary attacks, or at the least, not to be complicit.

It looks like Falk is feeling the heat for his outrageous statements and he is lashing out. His crazed viewpoints on justifying even the most horrific terror acts are finally seeing the light of day, and Falk can no longer hide his ugliness from the very organization that gives him legitimacy. (Notably, even Human Rights Watch recently expelled Falk from one of its committees because of the embarrassment of being associated with him.)

He is a despicable man and it is nice to see that his world is crashing down around him.

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

UPDATE: To give an idea of Falk's sick mentality, in this very report he seems to care as much about the fate of rocket launchers meant to target Israeli civilians as is does about human beings:

[During Pillar of Defense,] on the Gazan side, casualties to police and militants were greatly reduced by avoiding targeted facilities and taking secure shelter, and damage to rocket launchers was reduced by greater mobility and use of underground launching sites. 

While it many be possible Falk was trying to say that Israel's stated aim of destroying the rocket infrastructure failed, it still sure looks as though Falk is praising Hamas for saving part of its weapons aimed at civilians! While this may be consistent with Falk's oft-stated claim that Hamas rockets are simply "resistance," it is hardly consistent with his standing as a human rights expert.

Unless, of course, he considers Israelis to be a little less human.

(h/t Bebe)

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IDF to re-enact Six Day War - on Twitter

Tomorrow is the 46th anniversary of the start of the Six Day War, and the IDF is starting a Twitter account minute-by-minute reconstruction of what happened.

Unfortunately, it is all in Hebrew, so far.

If you want to follow it anyway, the Twitter account is @IDF1967.

If you want to complain to the IDF to have it translated into English, just retweet this.

Alternatively, if you want to spend the next week translating the hundreds of tweets yourself in near real-time and you want to create an English-language Twitter account for that purpose, let me know and I'll publicize that. You can call it Naksa1967 or something like that. It can have the added bonus of upsetting people who are sorry that Israel won.

הסירנות עלולות להישמע בכל רגע #יוני67 vine.co/v/b3vPBaqWruv
— צה''ל בששת הימים (@IDF1967) June 3, 2013

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

UPDATE: Google Chrome users with the translate plug-in can see a reasonable translation in real time on the page. (h/t Clark)

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Tuesday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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US spills Israeli missile defense secrets

The US government has publicized classified information detailing the location, design and specifications of a launch site to be built from this summer for Israel’s new Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile system. The details, apparently spilled in error, appear to include highly sensitive information relevant to the struggle against Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
The material specifies, for instance, that the launch site must be completed by the end of next year, by which time, it says, Israel expects to have the Arrow 3 — a missile defense system crucial to Israel’s plans for countering an Iranian nuclear threat — operational.

Hamas man arrested for planning kidnapping, attacks

The Shin Bet emphasized that this incident is the latest in a series of Palestinians released in the Shalit deal returning to terrorist activities, and trying to free other militants. In March 2013, a Palestinian man was arrested for meeting with Amir Dukan, also released in the bargain, who offered him $60,000 to carry out an attack near Nablus.

IAEA Official Stepping Down Over Iran Enforcement Failures

The number two official at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was forced to step down over disagreements regarding Iran’s nuclear program with his boss, the Japanese Director General (DG) Yukiya Amano. Officially it was announced last month that the contract of the Belgian Herman Nackaerts would not be renewed after only three years as Deputy DG and head of the important Department of Safeguards.

U.N. Nuclear Watchdog: Iran Talks “Going Around In Circles,” Regime Has Sanitized Nuke Warhead Testing Facility

The IAEA has especially been seeking access to Iran’s military facility at Parchin, where Western intelligence agencies and U.N. officials believe that Tehran has conducted work relevant to the development of nuclear warheads. Iran has denied the agency access to the facility to such an extent that IAEA officials have been forced to resign over deadlocked talks. Amano today warned that being granted access now might be meaningless, after Iran spent years sanitizing the site:

Irwin Cotler: Int'l terrorists must be prosecuted, not placated

Argentina should demand that the Iranian gov't extradite suspects who have been formally charged in Argentina.
This June – in sham elections that are certain to be neither free nor fair – eight presidential candidates who have all been authorized to run by the Guardian Council of Iran will “contend” for the office currently held by the incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Indeed, the résumés of two candidates in particular stand out: Moshen Rezai and Ali Akbar Velayati have both been indicted by Argentinian authorities for their complicity in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Center in Argentina that left 85 dead and more than 300 injured.

Assad: “Arabs Have Forgotten… Real Enemy is Still Israel”

Analysts continue to unpack the implications of an interview given last week by Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad to Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV. On some issues – Assad was vague on whether advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missiles had yet been delivered from Russia to Syria. Regarding his desire to have the Arab world focus on Israel, rather than on the Syrian conflict which has now claimed some 100,000 lives, he was far more explicit.

UN rights team sees chemical weapons use in Syria

United Nations human rights investigators said Tuesday they had "reasonable grounds" to believe that limited amounts of chemical weapons had been used in Syria.
In their latest report, they said they had received allegations that Syrian government forces and rebels had used the banned weapons, but that most testimony related to their use by state forces.

4,000 Hezbollah fighters reach Aleppo, says Free Syrian Army

Over 4,000 fighters from the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah have reached the northern Syrian city of Aleppo as part of military preparations to retake the rebel-held city, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army told The Daily Star today.
“The number of Hezbollah members who have entered Aleppo has exceeded 4,000,” Louay Meqdad, the FSA spokesman, said.

Gulf States to Consider Measures Against Hizbullah

Gulf States will consider taking measures against Hizbullah if it continues its involvement in Syria’s civil war.
Arab Gulf States will consider taking measures against Hizbullah if the Shiite terror group continues its involvement in Syria’s civil war or interferes in Gulf Arab affairs, the head of their six-member bloc said on Sunday, according to Al Arabiya.

North Korea sends officers to aid Assad?

In another bizarre twist to Syria's tragic civil war, opposition forces are now claiming that officers from the North Korean army are aiding the fight against the rebels in an effort to bolster Bashar al-Assad.

Defense minister confirms field hospital operating on Syria border

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, in a wide-ranging presentation to a Knesset defense oversight committee, confirmed on Monday that Israel is operating a field hospital on the Syrian border and transferring severely wounded Syrian nationals to Israeli hospitals for treatment.
“Our policy is to help in humanitarian cases, and to that end we are operating a field hospital along the Syrian border,” Ya’alon told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. “In cases where there are badly wounded, we transfer them to Israeli hospitals. We have no intention of opening refugee camps.”

US to deploy Patriot missile battery in Jordan

The US intends to leave an advanced Patriot missile battery in Jordan after an upcoming international military exercise, an American military spokesman said Tuesday. During the regional exercise, dubbed Eager Lion, the American military also plans to use F-16 fighters, according to US Central Command spokesman Oscar Seara.

Jordan cracks down on online media, blocks 304 news sites

Jordan said Monday it blocked unlicensed news websites in a step toward regulating online media widely criticized by the government and readers for sensational reporting.

Reports: Turkish activist brain dead after police brutality

Turkish demonstrators have slammed the domestic and international media for failing to cover the recent wave of protests in Turkey.
While global news agencies are catching up with the situation on the ground in the country, the domestic news agencies are said to be largely ignoring the mass demonstrations and even, some say, the killing of Turkish human rights activist.

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