Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, July 01, 2013

An assassination in the Sinai

Anonymous gunmen killed Brigadier General Mohamed Hani, an inspector for the Interior Ministry in North Sinai governorate, on Saturday afternoon, a statement for the ministry said.

Three gunmen in a four-wheel vehicle assailed the victim with a barrage of bullets from automatic machine guns, while he was inspecting checkpoints in Arish, the capital of Egypt's tumultuous North Sinai governorate.

Security forces have intensified their efforts to track down the perpetrators, the statement said.

A police captain was killed in an armed confrontation with outlaws in Arish earlier this month. Preliminary police reports said he may have been assassinated by jihadi gunmen operating in the lawless region.

In a followup story, Shorouk News quotes Hani's brother as saying that Hani "was always saying that the Jews, when they were in the Sinai, were more merciful than the jihadists."

7/01 Links Part 1: Fools Rush In Where Statesmen Fear to Tread and Syrian Rebel Thanks Israel!

From Ian:

Barry Rubin: Fools Rush In Where Statesmen Fear to Tread

What the heck is the U.S. line on Egypt? To support the elected repressive, anti-American, anti-Christian, antisemitic, anti-woman, anti-gay regime which cannot even decide on taking billions of dollars from international banks which would never be paid back?
Unhappiness is when you know that Iran’s regime is smarter than the U.S. government.
Maximum unhappiness means knowing that Iran's, the Muslim Brotherhood's, al-Qaida’s, and Turkey's leaders are smarter than America's.

David Horovitz: Why ‘a little more work’ won’t do it, Mr. Kerry

In a region where instability is now the norm pretty much everywhere bar Israel, and where Iran has thus far outmaneuvered the West as it speeds toward a nuclear weapons capability, this is a pretty discouraging time for a tiny country to be contemplating high-risk territorial compromise — especially when Hamas’s quickfire violent takeover from Fatah of Gaza in 2007 constituted a profoundly worrying precedent for what might occur were Israel to withdraw from the West Bank.
Kerry’s unfathomable enthusiasm notwithstanding, there are no short cuts. The only source of potentially justifiable optimism lies in a process of changed atmosphere and changed attitudes — a gradual process — in a Middle East, moreover, where Iran has been successfully faced down and relative moderates consequently emboldened.

Israeli official: Kerry disappointed in Abbas

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is disappointed in the conduct of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a senior Israeli diplomatic official said on Sunday after Kerry departed Israel following his latest attempt to renew Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Before taking off from Ben-Gurion International Airport, Kerry promised to return soon and announced that two of his aides would remain in Israel to work on bridging remaining differences that are preventing the resumption of negotiations.
A senior Israeli diplomatic official said that "most of the American pressure is directed at [Abbas] right now."

Kerry vs. Palestinian obstinacy

We are nowhere close to meaningful negotiations. There have been past cases in which a U.S. secretary of state came to the region and Israel agreed to give up, before negotiations, inalienable assets and this led to the hardening of the other side's positions. One should remember the willingness of the governments of Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Barak to hand the Golan Heights over to the regime of Hafez Assad.
Israel's representatives and advocates around the world now have the chance to again show who the real obstacle to peace is. The reality, following the recent round of shuttle diplomacy, speaks for itself.

Honest Reporting: Get Your Head Around This

Writing about US Secretary of State John Kerry’s latest Middle East visit, Harriet Sherwood of The Guardian includes the following sentence:

Israel says it is willing to negotiate without preconditions, but has so far refused to meet Palestinian demands.
I’m still trying to get my head around this. Does it even make sense?

Guardian photo caption runs interference for ‘Hamas Jihad Camp’, again.

So, according to the Observer caption, Hamas-run camps merely reinforce “awareness of the conflict with Israel.” As such language would leave the impression that children are merely receiving educational instruction on the political dynamics of the “conflict”, here are some photos from the camps, which (as reported on multiple new sites), are clearly military in nature.

EU Slams Gaza for Executions of 'Collaborators'

The EU mission in Jerusalem and Ramallah on Sunday condemned the recent execution of two Palestinian Authority Arabs in Gaza by Hamas authorities, a statement quoted by the Ma’an news agency read.
"The de facto authorities in Gaza should refrain from carrying out any executions of prisoners and comply with the de facto moratorium on executions put in place by the Palestinian Authority, pending abolition of the death penalty in line with the global trend," the statement said, according to Ma’an.

Activists storm Muslim Brotherhood HQ as protests continue

Protesters stormed and ransacked the Cairo headquarters of President Mohammed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood group early Monday, in an attack that could spark more violence as demonstrators gear up for a second day of mass rallies aimed at forcing the Islamist leader from power.
Organizers of the protests, meanwhile, gave Morsi until 5 p.m. on Tuesday to step down and called on the police and the military to clearly state their support for what the protest movement called the popular will.

Turmoil grips Egypt as four ministers quit Morsi government

Youths hurl firebombs and rocks while storming building; 16 dead, nearly 800 hurt since anti-Morsi protests began; president refuses to bow to pressure for his resignation.

We have no beef with Israel, Syrian Islamist rebel group says

Earlier in June, an unnamed spokesperson for a Syrian rebel group operating near the Turkish border told Israel Radio that his group “hopes for peace and security with Israel after the downfall of the Assad regime,” but that it doesn’t want Israel to interfere in the revolution.
The best weapon Israel can grant the rebels is its recognition of the justness of their cause, the Syrian rebel told correspondent Eran Singer.
Horan, in his conversation with The Times of Israel, went so far as to offer rare praise for Israel’s efforts to provide medical assistance for Syrians injured near the border with Israel in clashes between Assad forces and rebels.

Saudi Arabia Jails Seven for Facebook Activism

The eastern sector has seen a number of demonstrations by minority Shi’ites over alleged government discrimination and negligence since the region-wide Arab Spring uprisings two years ago.
“Sending people off to years in prison for peaceful Facebook posts sends a strong message that there’s no safe way to speak out in Saudi Arabia, even on online social networks,” HRW deputy Middle East director Joe Stork said in the statement.

BREAKING: Egyptian army gives 48 hour ultimatum to Brotherhood, political forces

From Al Ahram:

The armed forces are giving all political forces 48 hours as a last chance to solve the ongoing problems, or else the armed forces will have to announce a new roadmap for the future, and will enforce certain measures with the help of all factions including the youth, without excluding anyone.

The statement was read out on Egyptian state TV.

Things are getting interesting.

BBC adds:

In his pre-recorded statement broadcast on state television on Monday evening, the head of the armed forces described the protests as an "unprecedented" expression of the popular will.

But Gen Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the army would not get involved in politics or government.

I think they just did.

The New Yorker can't distinguish between zombies and Arabs, between zombie walls and the Kotel

I would say that there is a decent correlation between zombies and terrorists. They both want to kill you in gruesome ways, and they are both the kinds of people, or former people, you want to keep as far away from you as possible.

But to The New Yorker reviewer Hendrik Hertzberg, World War Z is equating zombies - and Palestinian Arabs. Even though the basic plot of the Jerusalem part of the movie shows the exact opposite.

What do the Israelis do? They build a wall. But they’re basically humane, civilized people, so in Jerusalem, where we join them, they keep a gate open to let in the as-yet-uninfected un-undead—Palestinian Arabs, by the look of them. All goes well until some Palestinians already in the city start singing too lustily, and the massed zombies, also seemingly Palestinian, decide that they want in, too. (Zombies are attracted by loud noises.) This leads to the most remarked-upon scene in the film, which takes place at what resembles the Western Wall. The scrambling West Bank zombies just keep coming, climbing on top of one another until they form a giant ex-human pyramid, a siege engine of the undead, stacking up and spilling over the barrier. We are left to infer that everything probably would have still been O.K. if only the gates had been kept shut.

In the movie, the Israelis distinguish between Palestinian Arabs and zombies. In real life, the Israelis distinguish between Palestinian Arabs and terrorists.

(I also understand that the singing in the movie that attracts the zombies is by both Jews and Arabs, although I haven't seen it. But when your ideological blinders are as rigid as Hendrik Hertzberg's, you cannot be bothered to notice such things.)

This liberal reviewer cannot tell the difference between Palestinians, zombies and terrorists! In his zeal to demonize Israel, he does the exact same thing he is unjustly accusing Israel of! (His line about keeping the gates shut seems to mean the movie is saying that Israel should not allow Arabs into Israel altogether, the exact opposite of the message that Israel distinguishes between good guys and bad guys, a skill that Hertzberg apparently cannot even fathom.)

Of course, he also has a hard time distinguishing between a defensive anti-zombie wall and one of the holiest sites in Judaism, so his ability to make fine distinctions seems to be defective altogether. Perhaps he thinks, like UNESCO, that the Kotel is a separation barrier meant to keep the Jewish quarter and other Jerusalem quarters separate.

Here's some help for you, Hendrick:

One more time:

Anti-zombie wall:

Holy site:

Still can't figure it out, Hendrick? Well, given how incredibly stupid your article is, I'm not too surprised.

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

Kuwait MPs: "We would buy Israeli equipment and love them for it"

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from interviews with Kuwaiti members of parliament, which aired on Al-Adala TV via the Internet on June 18-25, 2013:

MP Nabil Al-Fadhl: If the security of Kuwait requires the purchase of Israeli equipment, I will do so, and I will love the Israelis for it. It is permitted to deal with anyone for the sake of Kuwait's security.

Interviewer: Even with Israelis?

MP Nabil Al-Fadhl: I will buy it from whoever is selling.

Interviewer: But these are the Zionists...

MP Nabil Al-Fadhl: So what? We're talking about my country's security. How exactly did the Muslims benefit us, when our Arab neighbor [Iraq] invaded our country? I am willing to buy equipment from Israel to protect my country from its Arab and Muslim neighbor.
[...]
Hammad Al-Dosari: The shari'a permits us to have dealings with the Israelites. We follow the example of the Prophet Muhammad, who died while his shield was mortgaged with a Jew.

Interviewer: Some people have criticized you for saying this.

Hammad Al-Dosari: Because they are ignorant about the sharia. I tell you that the Prophet Muhammad had dealings [with the Jews]. You criticize me?! Go criticize the Prophet Muhammad. A Muslim does not talk. He obeys the instructions of the Prophet Muhammad.
[...]

A divorce as a microcosm of Egypt

From Albawaba:

A 31-year-old Egyptian woman that works as an Arabic language teacher filed for divorce in Cairo, the Arabic news site 7th Day reports.

According to the publication, the duo had numerous disagreements over the course of eight months about President Mohamed Morsi. The arguments eventually led the 35-year-old husband to physically hit his wife, 7th Day reported.

All in all, the marriage lasted for 12 years, and the couple sought counselling from family members in an attempt to save the marriage.

The woman told the media that her husband is “stubborn and will not stop his support for Morsi.” The wife added that she cannot accept such a man to be her husband.

Meanwhile, the husband said the arguments were a frequent occurrence and that his wife is “insane for going to court.” He also said his wife makes negative comments on “every decision Morsi makes” and that she “only listens for bad news on channels that do not tell the truth.”

Splitting Egypt might end up being the only solution in the end as well.

Good news/bad news from the UK Board of Deputies

From TheJC.com:

British shoppers will be encouraged to buy Israeli products next week as part of an initiative to counter boycott campaigns.

Dates, fruit, olives and wines are expected to be among the items that Israel supporters add to their shopping trolleys and baskets.

It is hoped that Buy Israeli Goods Week, starting on Monday, will nullify the efforts of anti-Israel activists who are expected to lobby Sainsbury’s next month in an attempt to see Israeli products removed from the chain’s stores.

The pro-Israel scheme — dubbed a “buycott” — has been co-ordinated by Stand With Us, the Zionist Federation, the Board of Deputies and the Fair Play Campaign Group.

Irene Naftalin, Stand With Us community director, said customers should tell supermarket staff “how much they value the opportunity to buy Israeli goods in their stores”.

ZF chairman Paul Charney said: “Sainsbury’s has so far resisted the boycotters’ call. We need to do everything possible to ensure this boycott attack fails completely.

This is a welcome move.

Unfortunately, I didn't see anything about this at the Board of Deputies of British Jews site, while I was looking but I did see that this organization had come out against Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer speaking in England!

It seems likely that their stance against Geller and Spencer, made before the Home Office decision, might have influenced it!

Here's what they wrote before the decision:

The Board of Deputies shares with the CST and American Jewish communal bodies including the Anti-Defamation League the very strong and longstanding concerns about the views of people like Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, who are planning to attend the Woolwich EDL march.

The Board’s Vice President Jonathan Arkush said: “Our community has no need of their presence here and they would be better advised to have nothing to do with the EDL.

“The Board considers their presence to be deeply unhelpful to community relations and would have no objection if they were not permitted to enter this country.”

After the decision, they reiterated their stance.

I agree wholeheartedly with Melanie Phillips, who wrote:

By banning from the country as extremists the American anti-jihadis Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller, the Home Secretary Teresa May has not only made herself look ridiculous but has sent the enemies of the United Kingdom the message that they have it on the run.

I do not support the approach taken by either Geller or Spencer to the problem of Islamic extremism. Both have endorsed groups such as the EDL and others which at best do not deal with the thuggish elements in their ranks and at worst are truly racist or xenophobic.

The result has been a serious blow to the credibility of these two writers, with particular damage being done to Spencer whose scholarship in itself is scrupulous. It has also split the defence against Islamic extremism, and handed a potent propaganda weapon to those who seek falsely to portray as bigoted extremists all who are engaged in the defence of the west against the Islamic jihad.

Nevertheless, the decision to ban this duo from Britain is unjustified, oppressive and comes perilously close to lining up the British government alongside those who wish to silence defenders of the west against the jihad, making a total mockery of Britain’s understanding of just who presents a danger to the state.

Neither Geller nor Spencer remotely presents such a danger. They intended to come to Britain to join an EDL rally in Woolwich, in the wake of the barbaric murder there of Drummer Lee Rigby by two Islamists last month.

Personally, I believe the EDL is not a respectable platform to join. Whether or not its rally is itself a threat to public order is, however, another issue. As far as is known, it is not being banned. It is only Geller and Spencer who have been banned from the country on the grounds that their presence is ‘not conducive to the public good’. The implication is that they will incite violence or disorder. But all the two of them do is criticise Islam, condemn jihadis and warn against the west’s failure to take seriously their machinations.

One may think they go too far, that some of their views are unpleasant or offensive or wrong; but that is surely no reason to ban them from the country. What on earth have we come to, after all, when the British Home Secretary is banning people on the basis that they criticise Islam and warn against jihadi violence? Is this not exactly the menacing argument mounted by Islamic extremists, that any condemnation of Islamic extremism is to be banned as ‘Islamophobic’?

Moreover, from the text of the Home Secretary’s letter to Spencer, it would appear that the reason for the the ban is that the British government is now telling people that certain interpretations of Islam are to be proscribed, even if they may be true – a truly terrifying and totalitarian development, and an open assault upon freedom of thought and expression, not to mention religious scholarship.

And if the argument is that any criticism of Islam may incite violence against Muslims, then by the same token Mrs May should ban all criticism of Israel -- on the much firmer grounds that there is a clearly demonstrated correlation between hate campaigns against Israel and attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions. Of course, that would be unthinkable. So why the double standard?

Read the whole thing.

While the Home Secretary deserves to be ridiculed for this decision, the Board of Deputies of British Jews acted unconscionably in pro-actively standing against free speech that happens to be critical of Islam. Its like they are trying so hard to be seen as moderate that they cannot even find the backbone to stand up for what is right even when it might ruffle a few feathers.

(h/t O)

The strange case of the Palestine Sunbird (updated)

Gulf News has an exclusive:

The Palestine Wildlife Society, a signatory of the International Convention for the Protection of Birds, has urged the Palestinian President and Prime Minister to approve and officially announce the Palestine Sunbird as the national bird of the state of Palestine after the failure of a major Israeli international campaign to change the name of the bird.

According to Ebrahim Fawzi Awdah, who heads the Awareness Department of the society, the organisation had caused the failure of a major Israeli campaign to change the name of the bird from the Palestine Sunbird to the Orange Bird. “The bird’s name contains the name of Palestine and that was the reason for it being the subject of a major Israeli campaign aiming to change the official bird’s name,” he told Gulf News.

“The Israeli campaign targeting this bird which holds the name of Palestine had reached all the world institutions and bodies.”

“Now we need for a Palestinian move to officially recognise the Palestine Sunbird as the national bird of Palestine,” he stressed.

He explained that the bird was registered with world bodies with this name and that Israel had not been able to change the name. “We have successfully halted the Israeli campaign and the bird’s name cannot be changed for the sake of an Israeli demand which is based on the Israeli hatred for the name of Palestine,” said Awdah.

He said Israel fights the Palestinians environmentally and in all aspects of life and the Israeli occupation handles the Palestinians brutally and aggressively. He highlighted the importance of the Palestinian presence on international bodies to confront the Israeli campaigns to fight the state of Palestine. “Israelis are the enemies of the Palestinian natural life and environment,” he said.

“The Israelis have not been able to accomplish their goal and change the bird’s name with the international institutions,” he said. “We cannot however claim that we have won the confrontation unless the Palestinian Presidency and premiership approve and announce the bird as the national bird of Palestine,” he said. “Only then we will be victorious in our environmental confrontation with the Israelis.

Awdah said the Israelis would not give up their attempts to change the bird’s name but that there will be no chance for them to win.

Funny. I cannot find a single article, or webpage, about this supposed huge Israeli campaign to change the name of the bird.

If it was such a major international campaign, wouldn't someone have written about it?

I am trying to imagine the conversation as "Israel" approaches a world bird body:

"Hey, could you change the name of the Palestine Sunbird to 'Orange Bird?'"
"Um, why do you want us to do that?"
"Because we hate the word Palestine so we want to erase it from the world's consciousness."
"You do realize that the bird is blue, right?"
"Oh, sure. We just want to show how powerful we Zionists are by not only changing the name of the bird, but changing its color too!"

As far as Israeli hating animal names with the word "Palestine" in them, a quick trip to the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo finds that it lists in English the Palestine Gazelle and the Palestine Viper ("the most dangerous snake in Israel"). Why didn't they change the names there, where they have control over what to call these animals, if Israelis hate the word "Palestine" so much?

I suppose it is possible that some third grader wrote to some international organization, but I cannot find it plausible that there was any sort of Israeli campaign to change the name of the bird.

The projection given by Mr. Awdah in his description of Israelis is classic.

This great "victory" on the part of Palestine Wildlife Society seems to be on par with the many BDS fake victories.

(h/t Ash)

UPDATE: The source for the rumor seems to be this - from Haaretz in 2007 (h/t Dorith)

The Palestine sunbird, a small songbird known in Hebrew as tzufit, was almost crowned the national bird, but its English name kept it out of the running.

So Israel's reluctance to name the tzufit its national bird has morphed into a crazed Zionist demand to rename the bird in English!

Now, just imagine if Israel did choose the tzufit - then the Arabs would be complaining that Israel is stealing their national heritage!

UPDATE 2: Correspondent Stefano points me to the Encyclopedia of Life, which gives many names for this bird, indexed under "Northern Orange-tufted Sunbird."

He also notes that "there's absolutely no official body issuing a list of "official" English names for birds or any other animal or plant! There is indeed an "International Code of Zoological Nomenclature" and an "International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature" but if you just have a look at their wikipedia pages you'll see these rules apply only to the scientific, latinized, names and not to the "common" names. In fact the binomial name of the Palestine sunbird is Cinnyris osea, with no mention of Palestine in it, and no "need" to change if for some crazy reason you're bothered by this name.

Perhaps the best part of the Encyclopedia of Life entry is that the bird is given two names in Arabic, one trusted and the other untrusted. The untrusted name translates to "Palestine sunbird." The trusted name is (according to Google) "Arabic Tamir."

Released prisoner sets himself on fire because his free terrorist benefits were late

From Ma'an:

A former prisoner sustained serious injuries Sunday after setting himself on fire in front of the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Finance to protest a delay in the receipt of benefits conferred to former prisoners, witnesses told Ma'an.

Wissam Bilal Khalil Marouf, 21, from the northern district of Tulkarem, suffered serious burns across his body, a medical report from the Palestine Medical Complex where he was treated read.

A medical source in Tulkarem said Marouf had been injured by Israeli forces, leaving him with a 30 percent mobility rate and speech difficulties.

Witnesses said people rushed to extinguish the fire.

Marouf was protesting the late payment of benefits to former prisoners in Israeli jails, and had brought his medical file with him as evidence for the ministry.

Paying welfare for prisoners and their families takes up 6% of the PA budget. And the money comes from - the West!

Just more evidence that Palestinian Arabs grow up believing they are entitled to free money and services forever. Going to Israeli prison is a guarantee for income the rest of your life - pretty good incentive to gravitate to terrorism.

When they don't get the amount they believe they deserve - whether it is from UNRWA, or the PA - they go crazy.

This is what happens when people cannot take responsibility for their own problems and raise their kids to blame Israel and the West for everything that goes wrong.

Syrian jihadists behead Catholic priest (link to video)

From Catholic Online:

VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) - The Vatican is confirming the death by beheading of Franciscan Father, Francois Murad, who was martyred by Syrian jihadists on June 23.

Below is the news release from the Vatican, via news.va.

On Sunday, June 23 the Syrian priest François Murad was killed in Gassanieh, in northern Syria, in the convent of the Custody of the Holy Land where he had taken refuge. This is confirmed by a statement of the Custos of the Holy Land sent to Fides Agency. The circumstances of the death are not fully understood. According to local sources, the monastery where Fr. Murad was staying was attacked by militants linked to the jihadi group Jabhat al-Nusra.

..This should make it clear to Christians around the world what jihadists are about. Make no mistake. Catholics and Christians around the globe are under dire threat, particularly from the spread of militant Islam. Until the threat is recognized and taken seriously, martyrdoms like this will continue.

We have a link to video provided via LiveLeak. We must warn you, the video is extremely graphic. We believe the first victim is Father Francois, and the second victim that is depicted is another person said to be a collaborator with the Assad regime.

The video CLEARLY depicts the beheadings of these victims. DO NOT follow the link unless you are over the age of 18, and are prepared to view content of this nature.

The video is so horrific I could not even finish watching it, and I am not going to embed it here. It shows the jihadists sawing off the heads of the victims with small knives.

And remember - these are the guys who we support.

Never has the phrase "lesser of two evils" been so apropos.

(h/t Yoel)

Arutz-7 reports on my petition to Amnesty, HRW to condemn Arab antisemitism

From Arutz-7:

A pro-Israel blogger has initiated a petition urging human rights groups to condemn an anti-Semitic mini-series due to air throughout the Arab world in July.

The Elder of Ziyon pro-Israel blogger delivered the petition to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International urging them to condemn the “Khaybar” mini-series, set to air during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

“The show will be on when most Egyptian families are staying at home for Ramadan doing nothing but watching TV,” Mina Rezkalla, a U.S.-based Egyptian activist told The Wall Street Journal. “The goal is completely outward anti-Semitism.”

The petition has already acquired over 1200 signatures from 47 countries [actually, nearly 1400 - EoZ].

The human rights groups “have publicly stated that anti-Semitism is a human rights issue, yet they have not once condemned the endemic and virulent Arab anti-Semitism that is seen daily by millions in the Arab media,” the petition states.

“However, the writer and director of the series make no secret of the fact that the point of the series is to demonize Jews from the time of Moses to today,” the petition continues. “In other words, the series is meant to incite Arabs to hate Jews. This is a quintessentially human rights issue and it is outrageous that Human Rights Watch and Amnesty have ignored this, as well as many other anti-Semitic broadcasts in Arabic-language media.

“Their condemnation can show the Arab broadcasters that such hatred is not acceptable and that Arab nations must be held to the same human rights standards as every other nation on Earth,” the petition adds.

Ramadan starts around July 7. According to one Arabic film site, "Khaybar" will start airing on July 15.

Amnesty and HRW have so far still ignored the tweets, emails and petition.

Here are some screen shots from recent Arabic news stories of the series:

This appears to be a Jew (in a tallit) about to behead someone.

Plotting their schemes, always with the menorah behind them

A scene in a synagogue, again men all wearing Tallitot (and another menorah in the back)

6/30 Links: Toameh The Truth About Abbas, 22 Mil Call for Morsi To Go

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: What the U.S. Does Not Want to Know About Abbas

As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pursues his efforts to revive the peace process in the Middle East, Palestinian officials in the West Bank are complaining that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is keeping them in the dark and refusing to brief them about his plans.
For these officials, Abbas's autocracy has turned the Palestinian Authority into a one-man show called Mahmoud Abbas.
President Abbas has become the president of everything related to the Palestinians and the Palestinian cause, complained Sufyan Abu Zayda, a senior representative of Abbas's Fatah faction. He is the head of the PLO, President of Palestine, President of the Palestinian Authority, head of Fatah, and commander of the Palestinian Authority security forces.
Moreover, in the absence of a functioning Palestinian parliament, Abbas has taken it upon himself to issue his own laws.

MK: McDonalds Franchise Owner 'Defeatist Leftist'

MK Miri Regev (Likud) attacked fast food chain McDonalds' Israel franchise owner, Omri Padan, for his decision to boycott the city of Ariel because it is located on what he sees as “occupied territory.”
"Mr. Padan established Peace Now,” she said on Channel 10 Saturday night. “He is a leftist, he is a defeatist, he cannot make such a hypocritical and ugly decision.”

Danon: ‘Many Arrests’ in Bethlehem Counter-Terror Ops

Terrorists have frequently attacked worshipers at the holy site – the burial place of the Biblical matriarch Rachel – located just minutes from Jerusalem. In some recent attacks terrorists have used makeshift grenades.
Danon revealed that new troops have been sent to the region to help prevent such attacks. A broad-based operation in the area has succeeded in reducing the frequency of terror assaults, he said.

American Jew killed in Egypt 'deeply cared about Middle East'

A young Egyptian by the name of Said Moslem recounted leaving Pochter, his friend, at the protest moments before he was stabbed.
"The reports suggesting that Andrew was involved in the protest are nothing but distorted lies," Moslem said. "He was merely standing and watching and taking notes for his school research. He was not involved in any way. He was murdered in cold blood."
According to Moslem, Pochter was even more careful than most at the protests, due to his Jewish background.

A replay of Mubarak’s twilight, this time with Morsi?

When the social protests first erupted in January 2011, the common belief was that the army would stand by president Mubarak and defend his regime. That was a mistaken assessment, and Tantawi’s decision not to intervene paved the way for the completion of the revolution. Now, it’s clear that the army does not stand behind Morsi, and is mainly concerned with protecting its own interests.
One year after his inauguration, the position of Egypt’s first elected president is thus as precarious as was Mubarak’s shortly before he fell, if not worse. The public on one hand, and the defense minister on the other, will determine, and fairly soon, whether Morsi’s fate will be any different.

22 Million Call for Morsi's Ouster, Egypt Prepares for Protests

As Egypt prepares for a “million man protest” against President Mohammed Morsi on Sunday, the opposition Tamarod said that more than 22 million people have signed a petition demanding Morsi’s departure and a snap election.

MEMRI Clerics Express Joy over Murder of Four Shiites in Egypt

Turkey: As order is restored, fears of a witch hunt surface

As calm returns to the streets, the government’s focus has shifted to identifying the initiators of the protests. According to the Turkish daily Radikal, more than 5,000 people have been detained in connection to the demonstrations, with 85 of them awaiting trial.
Government officials have accused a number of artists, journalists and members of the business community of being part of a conspiracy to topple the government.

Police clash with protesters in Ankara, Istanbul

Thousands of protesters returned to Istanbul’s Taksim Square on Saturday, demanding justice for a demonstrator slain by police fire during demonstrations that have swept Turkey this month. Police later forced the protesters out of the square, pushing them back using their shields.
In the capital, Ankara, police fired tear gas and pressurized water to break up a similar protest by a group of about 200 people, the Dogan news agency reported.

As U.S. Mulls Increasing Assistance, Evidence Emerges that Lebanese Army Fought Alongside Hezbollah

Reporters on the ground spoke with Hezbollah fighters as well as eyewitnesses who confirmed the party’s combat role in Sidon. MP Bahia Hariri explained that Hezbollah occupied a hill facing her house. More information emerged on Wednesday in a report from Al-Mustaqbal’s correspondent in the city, which provided a detailed picture of Hezbollah’s deployment during the fighting. Published death notices of Hezbollah fighters killed in action in Sidon round up the body of evidence.

Daphne Anson: Anti-Israel, Pro-Iran Placards At South African Anti-Obama Demo (video)

Lebanese Canadian Bank to Pay $102 Million in Hizballah Laundering Case

Lebanese financial institutions tied to Hizballah wired over $300 million from Lebanon into the United States to buy and ship used cars to West Africa as part of a money laundering scheme, the complaint alleged. Profits from the car sales and narcotics were then funneled back to Lebanon through money laundering channels controlled by Hizballah, including LCB and two Lebanese exchange houses – the Hassan Ayash Exchange Company and Ellissa Holding – as well as their subsidiaries and affiliates. The lawsuit sought $480 million in civil money laundering penalties from the Lebanese financial entities.

Newly Appointed Greek Minister of Health Raises Jewish Concerns

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Friday expressed concern over the appointment of Adonis Georgiadis as Greece’s newly appointed Minister of Health, due to a history of troubling remarks about Jews and his public promotion of an anti-Semitic book.
According to reports, Mr. Georgiadis has said in the past that “all major banks belong to the Jews” and that “the Jewish Lobby” would determine the fate of Greece’s foreign debt.
He has also extensively promoted the anti-Semitic diatribe, "The Jews, the whole truth" written by Konstantinos Plevris, a prominent author and self-proclaimed anti-Semite.

Polish prosecutor: Swastika a symbol of prosperity

Two legal decisions have caused outrage among Jewish organizations and anti-fascists in Poland.
In the first case, a district prosecutor in the northern city of Bialystok announced that he does not intend to open an investigation after swastikas were discovered painted on electrical transformers, despite complaints lodged by locals. The prosecutor explained his decision saying that in different parts of the world, for example in parts of Asia, the swastika is not necessarily associated with fascism or the Nazi movement.

British Entrepreneur Moves Company to Israel for 3 Months, Recounts ‘Only in Israel’ Moments

British entrepreneur Daniel Abrahams decided to move his Internet start-up, MyCurrencyTransfer.com, from London to Tel Aviv for three months in April, telling the blog Displaced Nation: “We want to be immersed in one of the most dynamic and successful startup hubs in the world.”
Now nearing the end of his stay, Abrahams writes in the UK’s Telegraph newspaper “The culture, attitude and general mindset in Tel Aviv is utterly unique and unlike anything I’ve come across anywhere in the world.”