Lebanon has barred Palestinians from Syria for three weeks now

From IRIN:

Palestinian refugees fleeing the violence in Syria have been refused entry into Lebanon for three weeks now.

Since 6 August, according to Human Rights Watch, the Lebanese government has turned back Palestinians who had originally sought refuge in Syria when they were forced from their homes in 1948 and 1967, and are now fleeing once more with their descendants, this time from the conflict in Syria.

A source at the Lebanese General Security confirmed to IRIN the government is no longer letting Palestinians from Syria into Lebanon. Makram Malaeb, programme manager for the Syrian response at the Ministry of Social Affairs, said exceptions would be made for “humanitarian cases”.

According to the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, more than 92,000 Palestinians from Syria have already sought refuge in Lebanon, joining the 455,000 Palestinian refugees hosted in Lebanon before the Syrian crisis, largely in overcrowded slums that have often been hotbeds of unrest.

Once again, the people who discriminate against Palestinians the most are their Arab brethren. And practically no one is calling this what it is - apartheid by Arabs against Palestinians.

While the plight of these Palestinian Syrians is tragic, note the bias in the IRIN (UN) report: Palestinian Arabs were "forced from" their homes in Palestine, but are merely "fleeing" Syria. The terminology is exactly reversed from the truth, as most fled from Israel but are being forced from their homes in Syria.

Also, IRIN is parroting UNRWA's numbers of 455,000 Palestinian Arabs in Lebanon, when in fact a little-noted UNRWA report showed that this was a gross exaggeration and the real numbers are about 200,000 less. UNRWA collects money for 450,000 or so, but only supports 250,000, plus the 92,000 refugees that did make it into Lebanon before the gates were shut.

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No one seems to complain when Egypt acts like Israel

From Ma'an:

Egypt plans to impose a 500-meter buffer zone along its border with the Gaza Strip, a senior Egyptian military official said Sunday.

Egyptian residents living in Saladin, al-Barahmeh, Canada, Brazil, al-Sarsouriya and other neighborhoods close to the Gaza border have received eviction notices.

Homeowners who received eviction orders demonstrated against the decision and burned tires in protest.

Army bulldozers have also uprooted trees in the border area.

The army has demolished 13 homes in the al-Sarsouriya neighborhood where tunnel entrances were found.

An Egyptian military official told Ma'an that most cross-border tunnels with entrances in fields or open areas had been destroyed in a security campaign to stop smuggling. He said it was more difficult to locate tunnels that opened into houses.

This was the same kind of clearing operation that Israel was doing on its side of the Gaza border - and which was permitted by Oslo - when Rachel Corrie was killed.

The article continues:

Egypt's army spokesman Ahmad Mohammad said that forces have destroyed 343 smuggling tunnels. He said the Egyptian military has also prohibited fishing near the border to prevent smuggling via the sea.

Hamas said Friday that two Palestinian fishermen were wounded and five others arrested by the Egyptian navy off the coast of the Gaza Strip.

"Some Egyptian navy ships fired in the direction of Palestinian fishing boats near the Egyptian border off the coast of Rafah at dawn on Friday," the Hamas government's press agency reported.

"Two fishermen were wounded and five others arrested," said Hamas.

They were both taken to the hospital in Rafah, medical sources said, adding that their lives were not in danger.

Hamas described the incident as an "unjustified act," and called for those "detained to be freed."

Isn't it amazing that when Israel defends itself from Hamas terror and smuggling of weapons, it is violating the human rights of 1.6 million Gazans - but when Egypt does the exact same thing, it is simply defending itself? Indeed, Egypt goes beyond what Israel does (by not allowing people and goods to cross into Gaza via the official crossings) and there is near total silence from the so-called "pro-Palestinian" activists.

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Bashar Assad's grandfather's amazing 1936 letter to France

Arabic media has discovered an article written last year by Dr. Mordechai Kedar where he translated a letter co-written by Bashar Assad's grandfather, praising the Jews of Palestine and expressing fear of what would happen to an Alawite minority in an independent Syria ruled by Muslim fanatics.

The letter is amazing. As Kedar implies, the reason that the Alawite rulers of Syria are willing to fight to the last man to remain in power is because the alternative is that they would be exterminated - they understand the Muslim mentality of how they deal with minorities quite well.

Here's the letter, written in 1936, with Kedar's comments in brackets:

Dear Mr. Leon Blum, Prime Minister of France.

In light of the negotiations that are being conducted between France and Syria, we – the Alawite leaders in Syria- respectfully draw the following points to your attention and to that of your party (the Socialists):

1. The Alawite nation [sic] which has maintained its independence over the years by dint of much zeal and many casualties, is a nation which is different from the Muslim Sunni nation in its religious faith, in its customs and in its history. It has never happened that the Alawite nation [which lives in the mountains on the Western coast of Syria] was under the rule of the [Muslims]who rule the inland cities of the land.

2. The Alawite nation refuses to be annexed to Muslim Syria, because the Islamic religion is thought of as the official religion of the country, and the Alawite nation is thought of as heretical by the Islamic religion. Therefore we ask you to consider the dreadful and terrible fate that awaits the Alawites if they are forced to be annexed to Syria, when it will be free from the oversight of the Mandate, and it will be in their power to implement the laws that stem from its religion. [According to Islam, the idol-worshiping heretic has a choice to convert to Islam or be slaughtered.]

3. Awarding independence to Syria and cancelling the mandate would be a good example of socialist principles in Syria, but the meaning of full independence will be the control by a few Muslim families on the Alawite nation in Cilicia, in Askadron [the Alexandretta Strip that the French cut off from Syria and annexed to Turkey in 1939] and in the Ansariyya Mountains [the mountains in the western part of Syria, the topographical continuation of the Lebanon Mountains]. Even having a parliament and a constitutional government will not ensure personal freedom. This parliamentary control is only a facade, lacking any effective value, and the truth of the matter is that it will be controlled by religious fanaticism that will target the minorities. Do the leaders of France want the Muslims to control the Alawite nation and throw it into the bosom of misery?

4. The spirit of fanaticism and narrow-mindedness, whose roots are deep in the heart of the Arab Muslims toward all those who are not Muslim, is the spirit that continually feeds the Islamic religion, and therefore there is no hope that the situation will change. If the Mandate is cancelled, the danger of death and destruction will be a threat upon the minorities in Syria, even if the cancellation [of the Mandate] will decree freedom of thought and freedom of religion. Why, even today we see how the Muslim residents of Damascus force the Jews who live under their auspices to sign a document in which they are forbidden to send food to their Jewish brothers who are suffering from the disaster in Palestine [in the days of the great Arab rebellion], the situation of the Jews in Palestine being the strongest and most concrete proof of the importance of the religious problem among the Muslim Arabs toward anyone who does not belong to Islam. Those good Jews, who have brought to the Muslim Arabs civilization and peace, and have spread wealth and prosperity to the land of Palestine, have not hurt anyone and have not taken anything by force, and nevertheless the Muslims have declared holy war against them and have not hesitated to slaughter their children and their women despite the fact that England is in Palestine and France is in Syria. Therefore a black future awaits the Jews and the other minorities if the Mandate is cancelled and Muslim Syria is unified with Muslim Palestine. This union is the ultimate goal of the Muslim Arabs.

5. We appreciate your generosity of spirit in defending the Syrian people and your desire to realize their independence, but Syria at the present time is far from the lofty goal that you aspire for her, because she is still trapped in the spirit of religious feudalism. We do not think that the French government and the French socialist Party will agree to the Syrians’ independence, since its implementation will cause the subjugation of the Alawite nation, placing the Alawite minority in danger of death and destruction. It cannot be that you will agree to the (nationalist) Syrian request to annex the Alawite nation to Syria, because your lofty principles – if they support the idea of freedom – will not accept the situation in which one nation (the Muslims) try to stifle the freedom of another (the Alawite) by forcing its annexation.

6. You may see fit to assure the rights of the Alawites and other minorities in the wording of the treaty (The French-Syrian Treaty, which defines the relationships between the states), but we emphasize to you that contracts have no value in the Syrian Islamic mentality. We have seen this in the past, with the pact that England signed with Iraq, which forbade the Iraqis to slaughter the Assyrians and the Yazidis. The Alawite nation, which we, the undersigned, represent, cries out to the government of France and to the French Socialist Party, and requests them to ensure its freedom and independence within its small boundaries [an independent Alawite state]. The Alawite nation places its well-being in the hands of the French Socialist leaders, and is sure that it will find strong and dependable support for the nation which is a faithful friend, who has rendered to Francea great service, and now is under the threat of death and destruction.

[Signed by]:
Aziz Agha al-Hawash, Mahmud Agha Jadid, Mahmud Bek Jadid, Suleiman Asad [the grandfather of Bashar], Suleiman al-Murshid, Mahmud Suleiman al-Ahmad.

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9/01 Links: Netanyahu Warns Don't Test Israel’s Strength, Hamas Terror Attack on Jerusalem Foiled

From Ian:

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Hamas terror attack thwarted in Jerusalem

Two men, aged 22 and 25, have confessed to planning a terror attack in Jerusalem at the Mamilla Mall, near the Old City, police sources revealed on Sunday.
The men, who worked as cleaning staff at the mall, planned to use their access to plant a bomb in a trash can at the popular shopping center during the imminent Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) holiday season.
The men are residents of Shuafat and Ras Al-Amoud, two East Jerusalem neighborhoods, and therefore have blue Israeli identity cards, allowing them access to Jerusalem without going through the security check that most West Bank Palestinians must undergo.

Another ABC [Australia] fact-checking fail: Gaza and Breast Cancer

Why does the ABC continue to fail to adequately fact-check its stories about the Gaza Strip?
In July, I reported how the ABC uncritically parroted the easily disprovable tall tale by one of its guests that Gaza is devoid of birds, and AIJAC's Allon Lee reported Radio National host Phillip Adams' untruth about the population density in the Gaza Strip.
Now comes ABC reporter/producer Rania Zaydan's contribution. In her report for Newsline, "Charities raising breast cancer awareness in Gaza", Zaydan abandoned her critical faculties, offering up a story riddled with inaccuracies and baseless anti-Israel innuendo. (h/t EoZ)

Barry Rubin: So You're Going to Attack Israel with Chemical Weapons?

Of course it the bluff is called and if the aggressor added onto the attack, it would achieve far more damage to the attacker with no real benefit. Will such an operation contribute to Assad winning the civil war or surviving? Of course not.
So these threats should be laughed at--no matter that the threats must be prepared for carefully--and the response would be: You and what army?
But one can also ask this: In the face of such American behavior what possible credibility can be put on Obama Administration guarantees to Israel? Remember that the side Obama supports includes al-Qaida which is firing rockets into Israel even as America ponders an attack on the Syrian regime! For the first time America is objectively a co-belligerent with a force actively attacking Israel!

John Yoo: The Benefits Outweigh the Costs in Syria

To stand in the way of this pragmatic approach to international law, the White House has bound itself to a misreading of the U.N. Charter. As historian Marc Trachtenberg has shown, the U.S. delegation to the U.N. drafting conference did not understand the Charter to limit Washington’s freedom to use force. Senators, for example, were concerned that the new treaty prohibited the Monroe Doctrine. But in a May 1945 meeting, delegate John Foster Dulles said that “at no point would the member states give up their right to use force in all circumstances.” Under his logic, the United States could still wage war to advance the United Nations’ goal of maintaining world peace and security. Leo Pasvolsky, the key State Department official on the U.N. negotiations, confirmed that “there was certainly no statement in the text under which we would give up our right of independent action.” He later explained to the delegation that “if the Security Council fails to agree on an act, then the member state reserves the right to act for the maintenance of peace, justice, etc.”

Netanyahu warns enemies not to test Israel’s strength

Israel is “calm and confident” in the face of regional turmoil, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday at the weekly cabinet meeting.
Speaking hours after US President Barack Obama delayed a military strike at Syria pending a Congressional vote, Netanyahu declared that “Israel is calm and confident. Our citizens know that we are well prepared for any circumstance.”
He added: “The citizens also should be aware that our enemies have very good reasons not to test our strength and might. They know why.”

Samaria Prepares – Again – for Tel Aviv Refugees

In an emergency meeting held late last week in light of threats from Syria, the Samaria Regional Committee was instructed to prepare in case the region is asked to absorb Israelis from the Tel Aviv region.
Samaria (Shomron) could be used as a refuge in case of a chemical weapons attack from Syria. Military experts believe enemy armies will not target Israeli communities in Samaria due to the relatively high risk of missing and hitting an Arab city.

Israeli Politicians Slam America for Hesitation and Hypocrisy

He continued, “When the world is silent in the face of atrocities like in Syria, where one hundred thousand buried people are evidence of clear use of weapons of mass destruction, we see today as we face great danger, and question if no one in the world will stand by us, we can only protect ourselves.”
Bayit Yehudi MK and member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yoni Chetboun said, “Genocide in Syria needs to shake every person in the ‘free world.’ It is important to understand that without a surgical operation, weapons will remain in the hands of the insane.”

Obama blinked first

Even though just two years ago the U.S. Navy joined the coalition to topple Moammar Gadhafi in Libya without prior congressional approval, this time Obama flinched from making an even more limited move in Syria. Given that Obama was not going to formally declare war (only Congress has the power to do so), there was no logic to his choice to voluntarily relinquish his powers as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Unlike the decision of another Democratic president, Lyndon B. Johnson, in 1968 to unilaterally halt the aerial bombardment of Vietnam after years of fighting, Obama decided to silence his guns before the first shot was even fired.
Even if Congress approves military action in Syria after it returns from recess, the whimpering message delivered on Saturday by Obama will resonate in Damascus, Tehran, Moscow and Beijing, and further hasten the end of the American era.

Obama’s (unwelcome) chance

Further,it is all but certain that some in Israel and abroad will argue that a massive US strike on Syria would be counterproductive as it will only boost those in Iran who view nuclear weapons as the ultimate guarantee against the “bullies of the world” threatening the Tehran regime. But they will be wrong. Irrespective of such Iranian calls, in the wake of a decisive American action in Syria, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would have to conclude that when the president of the United States vows that Iran will not have nuclear weapons, he actually means it.
As for Assad himself, he must conclude that the US response was his last warning – any future use of weapons of mass destruction would most assuredly spell the destruction of his regime.

Putin demands US present proof of Syria chemical weapons use

Putin also called the allegations against the Assad regime “utter nonsense.”
“While the Syrian army is on the offensive, saying that it is the Syrian government that used chemical weapons is utter nonsense,” he said.
Addressing US President Barack Obama as a Nobel Peace Laureate, Putin urged him to think “twice before making a decision on an operation in Syria.”

Rebels pan US delay in strike, say Assad emboldened

Opposition groups reacted negatively to news that the US would hold off on a strike against Syrian President Bashar Assad Saturday night, with some accusing US President Barack Obama’s of endangering them with his “backpedaling.”
“The death will continue in Syria because of the (failure of the) leadership of the United States to act decisively at this point,” Syrian National Council spokesperson Louay Safi said after the announcement, according to NBC News.

Syrian Officials Gloat: Obama Defeated Before War Began

Speaking to Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeem, Jamil said Obama “was defeated before the war began.”
America’s “muddled” position on airstrikes “has made a mockery of the U.S. administration all over the world,” he said, adding, “Previous administrations never cared about public opinion, Congress or allies.”
Jamil mocked the Syrian rebel fighters, who had hoped for a U.S. intervention that would weaken the Assad regime. “For them this popular saying applies: You brought us halfway to the water well, then abandoned us,” he taunted.

Syrian Media Releases List of Potential Targets in Israel

Specific targets labeled as "legitimate" for Syrian missile strikes included Israel's Dimona nuclear plant, petrochemical production plants in Haifa, Hazor military airbase, the Palmachim, Zala'im and Tzrifin military bases, Kalandia airport, and military and intelligence facilities in Turkey and Cyprus.

Weak world response on Syria boosts chance of strong Israeli action on Iran

The Iranians are carefully watching the world's response to the Syrian atrocities. If the response is not harsh enough, or swift enough, or serious enough, they may very well conclude that they would face a similar type of situation and read that as a green light to proceed with their nuclear program at full throttle speed.
The Israelis are also watching the world reaction. And Israel, too, may very well conclude that if the world's response is not harsh enough, or swift enough, or serious enough, then they too will feel that they have a green light to take action to stop the Iranians.
The lack of a strong international response in the face of rows and rows of gassed bodies wrapped eerily in white shrouds just 220 kilometers from Jerusalem might not compel Israel to take action against Assad, but it surely may compel it to think twice about relying on the world to rid it of the Iranian nuclear menace.

Suez Canal Authority says attack attempted on container ship

"One of the terrorist elements has carried out a failed attempt to affect the movement of ships in the Suez Canal by targeting one of the passing ships, Cosco Asia," Memish said in a statement about the Panama-flagged ship.
"The attempt failed completely and there was no damage to the ship or the containers it carried. The situation was dealt with strictly by the armed forces," he said, adding that the traffic of ships is moving normally. (h/t zvi)

Controversial Middle East ad pitched to TTC

An ad campaign about Israel and the Palestinian territories is being proposed to run on the Toronto Transit Commission.
The TTC says it will review whether to accept the advertising, submitted by a Montreal-based group called Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East.
The message is similar to a controversial ad campaign on Vancouver’s transit system from the Palestine Awareness Coalition, said Grace Batchoun, of the Montreal group.

Haldor Advanced Technologies Awarded Surgical Instrument Tracking and Management Agreement with Premier Healthcare Alliance

Premier, a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,900 U.S. hospitals and 100,000 other healthcare sites, awarded a three-year contract to Haldor Advanced Technologies to provide RFID enabled surgical instrument tracking and management solutions.
“We are honored to be have been selected by the Premier healthcare alliance as a new supplier partner”
Haldor’s real-time surgical instrument management solutions provide visibility into the location, status and condition of individual surgical instruments in operating rooms and sterile processing departments.

Israeli cyber security businesses poised to gain from Syrian crisis

The high-profile cyber attacks emanating from Syria may end up giving Israel’s economy a long-term boost by raising demand from its burgeoning cyber security sector.
Before the West could fire a single shot towards Damascus over the use of chemical weapons, the conflict claimed a fresh round of cyber victims when a group called the Syrian Electronic Army attacked The New York Times and Twitter’s servers on Tuesday.
Though not the first such attack by the group that supports Syrian President Bashar Assad, the timing as the world anticipated a US-led military operation, vaulted the hacking into international headlines.

Lingua.ly Transforms The Web Into A Language-Learning Opportunity

Thanks to a patent-pending natural language processing technique, Lingua.ly indexes texts on the web in Spanish, English, French, Hebrew and Arabic. After you’ve taken a few vocabulary quizzes and used the service for a little while, Lingua.ly will be able to recommend real texts for you based on the vocabulary you already know and the difficulty of the text.
Lingua.ly is a Chrome plug-in, so it’ll automatically prompt you to take new quizzes, personalized for you, as you browse the web. You can also use the plug-in to get recommendations for texts that are appropriate for your reading levels and mark up texts or browse Lingua.ly’s dictionary as you visit any site on the web.
Lingua.ly will remember the words you looked up and will start including those in your quizzes and base its reading recommendations on your knowledge. That’s definitely the strength of the service: it integrates with your daily web browsing habits and lets you learn new words as you go along.

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"Jewish Voice for Peace" supports hate speech

At the "Jewish Voice for Peace" anti-Israel site, they urge their fans to lobby to defeat Proposition 76:

The California Assembly is considering Resolution 76, which opens the door to condemning advocacy for Palestinian human rights in California campuses. Arab, Muslim and progressive students of all identities should not be in fear of censure, discipline or reputational smear for criticizing injustice and demanding Palestinian equal rights. Defend campus freedom of speech. Tell your legislator in Sacramento to vote NO on Resolution 76!

Does Proposition 76 curtail anyone's right to demand equal rights for Palestinian Arabs?

Not at all. It mentions multiple times how important freedom of speech is, and it really only seeks to stop hate speech on campus.

Here are operative parts of the latest draft:

Be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature recognizes the supreme importance of the right to freedom of speech , as protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, and its rightful place on college campuses as a mechanism for the sharing and discussion of diverse ideas and opinions, including those that challenge a person to consider the merits of his or her own positions; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature hereby condemns biased, hurtful, and dangerous speech intended to stoke fear and intimidation in its listeners speech that promotes discrimination based on a protected characteristic, such as race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, age, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation and identity, medical condition, or political activities or affiliations ; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature encourages public post-secondary institutions to ensure that they provide a safe, encouraging environment for exercising the right to freedom of speech and for the vibrant discussion of ideas and opinions from people of all walks of life; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.

Which means that the so-called Jewish Voice for Peace is saying that anti-Israel activists should have the right to stoke fear and intimidate Israelis, Zionists and Jews on campuses.

There is really no other way to read it. JVP cannot figure out a way to be "pro-Palestinian" without using thuggish, intimidation techniques - and they seek to protect their right to use hate speech to make their point.

Which tells us everything we need to know about JVP.

(h/t Nitzan, Ian)

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ElderToons: Obama shows his unique leadership skills

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"Zionist spy duck" arrested in Egypt (UPDATE: Stork)

Al Ahram reports:

Egypt’s police put a duck under arrest late Friday as a device was found attached to its feathers, fueling accusations that it might have been used for espionage, Al-Ahram Arabic-language news website reported.

According to Al-Ahram's Arabic site, a fisherman in the Nile River of Egypt’s southern governorate Qena caught the accused bird, which was among a group of five ducks waddling in the freshwater.

The fisherman became suspicious that the device on the duck's body could be used for spying, prompting him to hand over the bird to the Coalition of Arab Tribes in Qena, who in turn filed a police report.

An anonymous security official told Ahram Online on Saturday that security and environmental experts are currently examining the device in order to determine its intended purposes and whether or not the little bird has repeated national secrets to anyone.

The story was later updated to say it was a stork, not a duck.

Arabic media say that the stork is suspected of being in service of Israel, which - they say - has been known to spy on Turkey, Saudi Arabia and other countries using birds.

Qena's security head stated that the devices were not explosive.

It's about time I added a new creature to the canonical list of Zionist spy animals. Since that article we've added puffer fish, super-rhinoceroses, a spy vulture, and the Turkish spy bird.

(h/t Gidon)

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FIAT/IFTA justifies its caving to Dubai discrimination against Israelis

I reported on Friday that FIAT/IFTA, the International Federation of Television Archives, disinvited an Israeli director and nominee from its awards ceremony this year because it was taking place in Dubai, and the Dubai authorities bar Israelis.

FIAT/IFTA released a statement that pretty much proves that it is a spineless, craven organization.

Message from the President of FIAT/IFTA

Recently FIAT/IFTA has been involved in a political discussion both within and outside the network with respect to FIAT/IFTA Archive Achievements Awards; annually given to the best archival productions in the world.

Due to political tension in the region, one of the nominees this year, IBA TV and Mr. Bernstein, director of ‘Israel: A Home Movie’, is not able to attend this year’s World Conference.

FIAT/IFTA deeply regrets this.

Nevertheless, FIAT/IFTA wants to emphasize its independency. FIAT/IFTA is a professional federation, without political or religious connections. It is not in the position to be involved in political judgments, neither will we issue political statements, opinions and comments.

I8A TV’s and Mr. Bernstein’s work is respected by FIAT/IFTA. As his nomination for the Archive Achievements Awards will be respected. At the conference his work will be brought to the attention; and since he cannot attend the ceremony, FIAT/IFTA decided not to award a prize in this category when [if? - EoZ] his entry turns out to be the winning one. In that case, at next year’s conference in Europe, Mr. Bernstein will be invited to climb the stage and celebrate his work with the community.

Jan Muller, President of FIAT/IFTA.

And why exactly is the director "not able to attend?" A kid's basketball game, perhaps? A doctor's appointment?

IFTA claims to be demonstrating its "independency" by caving to the bigoted demands of its host. Is that what "independence" means nowadays?

If FIAT/IFTA were independent, they would fight for the integrity of their own awards. It would mean that they would fight for their members and nominees, no matter what nationality they are. It means that they would not silently scrap an award if it is won by someone the host country doesn't like. Independence doesn't mean allowing yourself to be stepped on.

If they were "independent" they wouldn't be beholden to the whims of Dubai, and they would tell their hosts that if they cannot perform their own ceremony in the way they desire, they will not be holding the awards in that country this year, and they will recommend fellow organizations to follow suit.

That would be acting independently.

This letter, on the other hand, shows that FIAT/IFTA has neither standards, nor morality, nor independence.

I remind FIAT/IFTA again of how the UAE responded when pressure forced them to allow an Israeli tennis player to compete:

The decision to issue the permit is in line with the UAE's commitment to a policy of permitting any individual to take part in international sports, cultural and economic events or activities being held in the country, without any limitation being placed on participation by citizens of any member country of the United Nations.

Here is all the ammunition FIAT/IFTA would have needed to force Dubai's hand.

The only way to change Dubai's behavior is to shame them, publicly, into doing the right thing. History shows that Dubai would have given in rather than face the possibility of being publicly outed as not quite as modern as it pretends to be in its travel ads.

FIAT/IFTA instead is quietly allowing Dubai to dictate how they run their own conference. And the excuse they are using is "independence!"

No, this isn't independence. It is the exact opposite.

I encourage you to write to the sponsors of the awards and the fellow nominees to withdraw support for this awards ceremony that is pandering to the ugliest sort of hate. I gave some of the contact information in my earlier post, which was picked up by JNS.

(The FIAT/IFTA message is almost impossible to find. You have to click here and then find the tiny words "Read this message from Jan Müller, President of FIAT/IFTA. ". The resulting pop-up is a graphic file, so there is no text that can be used to find it in search engines. It seems as if FIAT/IFTA is embarrassed that they were forced to even issue this statement. Thanks to Paul M at Harry's Place for transcribing it. H/T Sarah AB.)

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8/31 Links: US Assessment on Syria CWs, Globalized Anti-Semitism, Egypt Fires on Gazan Fishermen

From Ian:

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A New Era of Anti-Semitism Is Here. Daniel Goldhagen Blames Globalization.

Nearly 20 years later, Goldhagen has broadened his scope in a new work. The Devil That Never Dies: The Rise and Threat of Global Antisemitism offers an in-depth look at anti-Semitism around the world. He argues that it’s an almost pathological prejudice that spans centuries and cultures and therefore is a uniquely destructive force that has redoubled its strength thanks to a new age of globalization and information-sharing. Goldhagen joins Vox Tablet host Sara Ivry to discuss why anti-Semitism is distinct from other forms of prejudice, how globalization has contributed to its resurgence, and what we can do to combat this scourge. [Running time: 29:40.]

Egypt Joins With Israel in Battling Gaza Terrorist 'Fishermen'

When Gaza terrorists try to run the blockade, IDF vessels fire at the Gaza ships, forcing them to remain inside the perimeter, eliciting loud complaints from the PA about how Israel is “shooting at innocent fishermen,” complaints that other Arab nations such as Egypt, join in with.
But with the unrest in Egypt and the attempts by Muslim Brotherhood Islamists – with whom Hamas is closely affiliated – the Egyptian army seems to have changed its tone. On Friday, the Ma'an News Agency in Gaza reported that Egyptian army vessels had fired at “fishermen” from Gaza, too. No details were given, but it appeared that the “fishermen” were on their way to Egyptian territorial waters.
Hamas did not comment on the “Egyptian aggression” against Gaza “fishermen,” as they generally do when Israel fires at Gaza Arabs on these ships.

Explosion near IDF patrol on Gaza border

An explosive device was detonated Friday near an IDF patrol jeep that was traveling close to the border fence with the Gaza Strip.
No soldiers were injured in the incident.
An IDF Spokesman said that the explosive device was likely detonated by a terrorist group while the army force took part in routine patrol activities.

IDF Chief Says Many Secret Operations Have Been Carried Out on Golan Front

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday met with the IDF General Staff forum, including Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz, who revealed that much defense work on Israel’s Golan front has been achieved away from “the cameras.”
While Jews around the world prepare for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, next week, Israelis are preparing for potential retaliation by Syria if the U.S. moves to punish the regime of President Bashar al-Assad for crossing President Obama’s “red line” by using chemical weapons.

What if Israel Had Left the Golan Heights?

Why didn’t we pursue the path Shiffer and his friends had advocated? Why didn’t we let the Golan Heights come under the control of the Assad family and forsake our security? Had a deal been signed with Assad, the bloody encounters of the Syrian civil war would have take place right above the Sea of Galilee; no Israeli/Jewish community would have been safe. Pro-Syrian sleeper cells would become active, too. This is all just common sense.
But the Left’s orthodoxy is still wedded to the dogma that the conflict with our enemies is mainly about territory. There are still many among us who accept this folly; they are awarded airtime and column inches. Jews have always had a knack for being the devil’s advocate.

U.S. Assessment on Syria’s Use of Chemical Weapons

The United States Government assesses with high confidence that the Syrian government carried out a chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs on August 21, 2013. We further assess that the regime used a nerve agent in the attack.
These all-source assessments are based on human, signals, and geospatial intelligence as well as a significant body of open source reporting. Our classified assessments have been shared with the U.S. Congress and key international partners. To protect sources and methods, we cannot publicly release all available intelligence - but what follows is an unclassified summary of the U.S. Intelligence Community's analysis of what took place.

Kerry: We know Assad killed 1,429 of his own people and we say, ‘Never again’

“The United States government now knows that at least 1,429 Syrians were killed in this attack, including at least 426 children. Even the first-responders, the doctors, nurses and medics who tried to save them, they became victims themselves. We saw them gasping for air, terrified that their own lives were in danger. This is the indiscriminate, inconceivable horror of chemical weapons. This is what Assad did to his own people,” said Kerry.
Kerry said, “history would judge us all extraordinarily harshly if we turned a blind eye to a dictator’s wanton use of weapons of mass destruction against all warnings, against all common understanding of decency, these things we do know.”

US intel knew Assad regime was preparing chemical attack 3 days in advance

An administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the report detailed Assad’s motivation in launching the attack on the 12 locations targeted last week. The regime had been focused on those neighborhoods and wanted to clear the area of opposition fighters. The US official said that pro-regime forces had exhausted their conventional options, and he emphasized that “the regime considers chemical weapons in its portfolio of military use. They do not see it as an extreme measure for extreme cases.”
US officials acknowledged that they had been surprised by the large and “indiscriminate” scale of last week’s attack, but said that they had signals and human intelligence as early as the Sunday before the assault. In contradiction to reports in recent days, another official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that there was “no indication” that the scale or targets of the attack were a mistake.

Analysis: Are Syrian and Iranian threats just bluster?

According to Karsh, Assad knows that the strikes will probably be limited, “so he speaks in a large voice, but he probably is already in a bunker, waiting for it to be done and over with.”
He says there may be a silver lining in a Western attack in that it could foreshadow one with Iran. Syria’s military may be better than Iran’s, and if the West is successful, it may show that attacking Iran might not be as difficult as previously assumed, he said.
On the other hand, should the attack go horribly wrong, it will drive the final nail in the West's willingness to confront Iran, an eventuality too dreadful to contemplate.

Indecision on Syria undermines Israeli confidence

While officially mum on the British decision not to participate in a strike against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, many Israeli policy makers are neither surprised nor disappointed — because “that’s what they expected,” the official said. It is now commonly accepted in Jerusalem that the international community’s assurances to stand with Israel in a possible future attack from neighboring Arab states or Iran are “based on hypocrisy,” he added.

As Syria strikes loom, Samatha Power's skills better suited to classroom than UN

NGO leaders, who celebrated Power’s appointment as U.N. ambassador, have never understood the practicality of that decision or the motivations of those who may or may not vote for a resolution to protect the vulnerable.
Too many members of the U.N. benefit from the status quo and won’t make decisions for purely altruistic reasons. Ambassador Power doesn’t understand this reality.
Power’s speeches, thus far, put forward purely intellectual arguments that are ignored by the very people we need to support us. This elitist strategy won’t work inside the U.N. Her academic style is bound to fail.

Erdogan says limited response not enough, wants Assad gone

A limited military response to the reported use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime is not enough, and any kind of intervention should aim to topple him, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said late Friday.
“It can’t be a 24 hours hit-and-run,” Erdogan told reporters at the presidential palace in Ankara. “What matters is stopping the bloodshed in Syria and weakening the regime to the point where it gives up.”

Syrian Opposition Says West Must Enable ‘Syrian People to Defend Themselves,’ Not Just Carry Out ‘Punitive Strikes’

“We are not asking for a punitive strike or for some show or slap in the face that lasts only for a day or two; rather, we want permanent protection for the Syrian people and the recognition of their rights to live,” As-Saleh said. “This calls primarily for enabling the Syrian people to defend themselves, preventing regime armament and forcing foreign invading troops – be they Iranian, Lebanese, or Iraqi – to withdraw from Syria.”
Western nations, including the United States, have threatened to strike Syria in response to its use of chemical weapons in an attack near Damascus last week that left hundreds of civilians dead. Syria and its backers in Moscow and Tehran have denied the allegations, placing blame on Syrian opposition forces.

Assad's brat 11-year-old kid reportedly goads US into attacking Syria in bizarre Facebook rant

The 11-year-old son of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Hafez, has reportedly goaded the US to strike Syria in a Facebook post.
"I just want them to attack soooo much," Hafez al-Assad allegedly wrote, "because I want them to make this huge attack of beginning something that they don't know the end of it."
Whether the profile is real or not has not been confirmed -- but The New York Times has put forward evidence backing its authenticity.

Will Iran fight to the last Lebanese?

All this does not mean that Hezbollah will do nothing if the Iranians ask the party to widen the Syrian conflict. On the contrary, it is almost certain that Hezbollah would – seeing Assad’s survival as part and parcel of its own survival. But the potential costs are higher than anything the party has faced in its history as a branch of Iran’s security and intelligence apparatus. This will make Hezbollah think twice before acting rashly, and may give Barack Obama the leeway he seeks for a limited military operation in Syria.
The question is whether all sides are good at reading the signals sent by the other. When the rockets start flying, cool judgment often goes. (h/t EoZ)

Syrians Charged in Deadly Lebanon Attacks

Five people, including a Syrian army captain, were charged on Friday over deadly attacks in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli a week ago, a judicial source told AFP.
Two Lebanese religious figures were also charged over the twin car bombs outside Sunni mosques on August 23, which killed more than 45 people in the bloodiest attack since Lebanon's 15-year civil war ended.

Egypt: 6 Dead in Clashes During Protests

At least six people were killed and 190 were wounded on Friday in Egypt as violent clashes erupted between supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi and security forces, the Health Ministry said, according to Al Arabiya.
The protests come after a relative lull following the arrests of many Muslim Brotherhood leaders. The Friday rallies were the movement's biggest show of defiance since clashes two weeks ago in which hundreds of protesters were killed."

Plenty of propaganda and indoctrination, but apparently one thing John Greyson didn't teach his students was how to make a decent movie

York University's anti-Israel fanatic John Greyson is currently in jail in Egypt for charges including helping the Muslim Brotherhood's terrorist activities.
A few of his students and colleagues at York produced a short video appeal for his release. In viewing it, in which they describe the things they learned from Greyson, it becomes apparent one thing he did not teach them was how to make a decent motion picture.

Miss Israel Pageant Finalist Gives Up Modeling Career to Serve in Israel’s Border Police

Zoe Russell, a 5’10″ blonde beauty, was a finalist in the Miss Israel Pageant not long ago, but instead of taking the more glamorous route a modeling career would afford her, she has chosen to serve in Israel’s Border Police.
Instead of an evening gown, her outfit includes “a heavy and cumbersome vest, dusty helmet, rifle and boots,” Israel’s Channel 2 reported, publishing a recent interview, including official photos of the border policewoman.
Of serving in the Border Police, Russell, 20, said, ”It’s another world, perhaps less glamorous and glitzy, but there is a lot of action, that causes the blood to flow hard. There are amazing warriors who see female combatants as equals, and, most importantly, I see my work as part of the national mission of safeguarding the security of the state and its citizens.”

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Great weekend read from Forbes

A month ago, Richard Behar wrote a cover story for Forbes talking about how, under the radar, Israeli and Palestinian Arab businessmen were cooperating and how this was bringing a type of peace to the region:

With official relations between Palestinians and Israelis still poisonous after a century of conflict, any constructive dialogue is newsworthy. But these aren’t security forces talking about joint military patrols, nor is this discussion connected to the sudden resumption of peace talks after a three-year stalemate. The group, brought together by Cisco Systems, is speaking their common language: tech management. Nearly 100 times over the past two years Israeli high-tech experts and Palestinian entrepreneurs have gotten together in the hope of making Israel’s “Startup Nation” economic miracle a cross-border affair. And it’s just one of dozens of business-driven dialogues quietly–in many cases secretly–proliferating across the Holy Land.

“The way to end this conflict is to create a very large middle class and be inclusive in how you go after it across all individuals, regardless of age, religion or gender,” says John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, the most actively involved American tech executive in a coordinated effort that includes de facto diplomats from the likes of Intel, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft. “If you can address those issues and you can get others involved, then you can have a shot at peace in the Middle East.”

Of course, there’s already billions of dollars’ worth of trade flowing between the West Bank and Israel, given their proximity and the latter’s border control over the former. Even in Gaza, whose leaders have a stated goal of destroying the Jewish state, commerce furtively passes back and forth on a massive scale. April’s Dead Sea meeting, however, represents something much more far-reaching and rarely discussed. Rather than just trading goods, hundreds of Israeli and Palestinians are becoming actual business partners and colleagues in startups that are slowly transforming the Palestinian economy, at least in the West Bank.

It’s not easy. Over the course of reporting this story FORBES interviewed scores of high-tech leaders on both sides of the border. Nearly all expressed fears and worries over how their comments would be perceived. (Many insisted on full anonymity; FORBES was granted access to the Dead Sea training session only on the condition that we keep its exact location a secret.) On the Palestinian side a large contingent myopically equates any collaboration with treachery, even if it strengthens the local economy (and especially if it’s perceived to strengthen Israel’s). While most in the Jewish state would view these partnerships positively, a sizable minority fear that Palestinians armed with the skills and technology that have driven Israel’s prosperity would use them against Israel in a future war.

Yet for all the mutual suspicion, collaborate they do. Buoyed by training, investment or partnerships from Israelis or Israeli subsidiaries of American companies, more than 300 Palestinian technology firms now employ 4,500 people, FORBES estimates, up from just 23 firms in the six-year period leading up to 2000. More are on the way: There’s at least $100 million in venture cash from Israeli or Western sources either looking for deals or recently put to work in Palestinian or Israeli Arab startups (with the latter community, representing one-fifth of the country’s citizenry, increasingly agitating to get in on the action). Meanwhile, Chambers and his peers at U.S. technology giants have pushed their Israeli subsidiaries to outsource research and development projects to Palestinian startups or to hire local Arabs.

This is the real backdrop for the renewed peace talks lurching forward under the aegis of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Feckless politicians will invariably look to blame the other side for inaction. The private sector’s detente is delivering results right now, with the intention of creating enough interconnected prosperity to make a lasting peace in everyone’s economic self-interest.

This week Behar wrote a follow up, also lengthy and also important reading:

Why So Many Palestinian High-Tech Entrepreneurs Hate My FORBES Cover Story

Following publication, Bloomberg’s Jeffrey Goldberg, the most influential American columnist about the Middle East scene, tweeted: “John Chambers’ ideas for Middle East peace are at least as good as those of John Kerry.” Chambers rang me to say “how proud we all were” of the article, which he called a “signature piece” that he believes “captures many business leaders’ minds and their hearts and hopefully their pocketbooks – to realize that if they invest [in Palestinian IT sector], you can really make a difference.” He and the company put the FORBES link on their respective Facebook pages.

Another reader, going under the anonymous moniker RICHARDS1052, had a different take on things. “Typical lib Zio bullshit from Forbes,” he tweeted. [We all know who that is! -EoZ]

Virtually every Israeli who contacted me reacted positively.

But the vast majority of Palestinians who were featured by FORBES reacted with disappointment, upset, and sometimes fear or fury. Referring to it as a “political article,” several requested that the entire piece be removed before they would even discuss their feelings with me. (Sorry, that’s not an option.) Some worry that the story will harm their businesses by sparking retaliation from Arab extremists. One says he’s already seeing such a backlash. Only three Palestinians named in our reports spoke positively about them.

Read both articles to understand one of the real reasons there is no peace.

(h/t MtTB)

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8/30 Links Part 2: The Israeli Spring, BDS Bullies, The US Spies on Israel, Drought Proof Crops

From Ian:

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Caroline Glick: Obama’s bread and circuses

Iran achieved a strategic achievement by exposing the US as a paper tiger in Syria. With this accomplishment in hand, the Iranians will feel free to call Obama’s bluff on their nuclear weapons project. Obama’s “shot across the bow” response to Syria’s use of chemical weapons in a mass casualty attack signaled the Iranians that the US will not stop them from developing and deploying a nuclear arsenal.
Policy-makers and commentators who have insisted that we can trust Obama to keep his pledge to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons have based their view on an argument that now lies in tatters. They insisted that by pledging to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power, Obama staked his reputation on acting competently to prevent Iran from getting the bomb. To avoid losing face, they said, Obama will keep his pledge.
Obama’s behavior on Syria has rendered this position indefensible. Obama is perfectly content with shooting a couple of pot shots at empty government installations. As far as he is concerned, the conduct of air strikes in Syria is not about Syria, or Iran. They are not the target audience of the strikes. The target audience for US air strikes in Syria is the disengaged, uninformed American public.

The Israeli Spring

The Arab Spring has thrown Israel’s once-predictable adversaries into the chaotic state of a Sudan or Somalia. The old understandings between Jerusalem and the Assad and Mubarak kleptocracies seem in limbo.
Yet these tragic Arab revolutions swirling around Israel are paradoxically aiding it, both strategically and politically — well beyond just the erosion of conventional Arab military strength.
In terms of realpolitik, anti-Israeli authoritarians are fighting to the death against anti-Israeli insurgents and terrorists. Each is doing more damage to the other than Israel ever could — and in an unprecedented, grotesque fashion. Who now is gassing Arab innocents? Shooting Arab civilians in the streets? Rounding up and executing Arab civilians? Blowing up Arab houses? Answer: either Arab dictators or radical Islamists.

'They Told Us Israel was the Enemy - They Lied'

Muhammad Adnan, an opponent of the Syrian regime who is living in Turkey, spoke to Arutz Sheva's Yoni Kempinski about his concern for his remaining relatives in Syria and his hopes for an American strike against the Assad regime.
“My mother and my father are in Syria now,” Adnan said, adding that his family feels very concerned and vulnerable.
Adnan said that his family and other Syrians anticipate a Syrian intervention within 4 to 5 days.
“Assad lied to us, [saying that] the enemy is Israel and the Americans. But now, after 70 years, we know who the enemy is: the Assad family, Hezbollah, and Iran,” Adnan declared.

Israel prepares for possible cyber attack

Beyond the conventional battlefield, Israeli analysts say the cyber-battlefield is becoming increasingly important. This week, a group calling itself the Syrian Electronic Army hacked into the New York Times website and managed to take the site off-line for several hours. The Times said the Syrian Electronic Army is a group of hackers who support Syrian President Bashar Assad, and they had several times hacked into major media outlets.
Israeli firms are in the forefront of cyber-security. The IDF 's Unit 8200, the army’s surveillance and intelligence unit, is one of Israel’s most competitive and creative units. Israel has long known that the future battlefield will not be conventional, but digital.

Rival Palestinian factions Hamas, Fatah unite against Western attack on Syria

Abbas Zaki, a top Fatah official, said that his faction was strongly against Western intervention.
He warned that such a move would harm Arab national security.
“Targeting Syria would mean targeting all Arabs,” Zaki cautioned. “This would only benefit Israel.”

Daphne Anson: "You Are Fighting For The Soul Of The Church" Pro-Israel British Christians Are Told By Jewish Leader

Remember my post regarding the disturbing Israel-bashing high jinks brought to the Greenbelt festival at Cheltenham Racecourse last weekend by former diplomat Jeremy Moodey's NGO Embrace the Middle East?
Well, pro-Israel Christians have not allowed the demonisers to have it all their own way.
A Christian blogger went so far as to compare Embrace the Middle East's Israel-demonising board game "Occupation!" at the festival to the anti-Israel games played at their camp in Utoya by Anders Breivik's victims, adding:

JPost Editorial: Bullying tactics

When the artists being pressured to boycott Israel go public with these campaign of intimidation, nothing is left to the imagination. No longer can the BDS efforts be concealed as an ideological appeal from peace-loving activists – it is thuggery, bordering on criminality, and it reflects just how desperate their cause has become.
It is heartening that most performers do not fall victim to these bullying tactics and make their own decisions about performing in Israel. With Rihanna, Tom Jones and DJ superstar David Guetta all due here this fall, it is clear they are making the correct choice.

German Jewish group calls for Roger Waters boycott

The Jewish community in Dusseldorf, Germany, is urging a boycott of an upcoming concert by former Pink Floyd band member Roger Waters, who is due to perform there on September 6.
The director of the Jewish Community in Duesseldorf, Michael Szentei-Heise, said in a statement Thursday that Waters was an “intellectual arsonist” whose stage act used “anti-Semitic and National Socialist” imagery.
In his show “The Wall,” based on the classic Pink Floyd album of the same name, Waters has used an inflatable pig featuring a Star of David which appears alongside other religious, political and corporate symbols, leading to charges of anti-Semitism.

Israel a Top Target for U.S. Spying, Leaked Documents Reveal

The Obama administration apparently views Israel as one of the top spying threats facing its intelligence services, according to leaked documents which were exposed Thursday.
A secret budget request obtained by The Washington Post from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden lumps Israel alongside U.S. foes Iran and Cuba as “key targets” for U.S. counterintelligence efforts.
According to The Hill, the document leaked by Snowden suggests that Israel does not believe U.S. assurances that its interests are aligned with Israel's on crucial issues such as Iran and peace talks with the Palestinian Authority.

The Massive New U.S. Investment in Palestinian Mortgages Is a Really Bad Idea

What larger story, then, do the new mortgages and loans tell us? Sadly, not a very cheerful one. As Americans recently learned only too well themselves, mortgages, when divorced from a robust economy in which people are able to make enough money to pay them back, have a tendency to make the ground tremble. Seemingly oblivious to the searing lessons of America’s costly flirtation with unaffordable mortgages, Palestinians have been gobbling up the stuff: Personal debt has more than doubled between 2008 and 2011 and spiked another 40 percent in 2012, with most of the increase due to home loans. Couple that with an economy that the International Monetary Fund labeled earlier this year as “increasingly precarious,” a massive budget deficit, and an unemployment rate that hovers at the 20 percent mark, and what you get is far from a sound investment.

PMW: Palestinian NGO sponsored by UN and EU - Israel uses drugs to "control" Jerusalem residents


What Happens in Askar Stays in Askar

Brief clashes broke out in Ramallah, as around 50 Palestinians protested the PA’s return to talks with Israel, a Ma’an report said.
But he added they were also protesting the fatal shooting of Amjad Odeh, 37, a Palestinian, during an arrest raid by PA forces in Askar refugee camp in Sh’chem on Tuesday.
It’s good marketing — you come to protest the cops killing a guy, you stay to protest the peace process.

Egypt’s Brotherhood ramps up calls for protests

The Muslim Brotherhood ramped up its calls Thursday for nationwide protests against Egypt’s military-backed government, while an Islamist ally of the ousted president spoke of an attempt to broker a deal before the “ship of the nation sinks.”
The Brotherhood’s call for mass protests and sit-ins Friday will test how much the fierce security crackdown has crippled the group and if they can still mobilize their base in the face of widespread public anger against them.

Egypt’s hidden war on women

Concealed within the opposition to the Morsi administration, cloaked within popular protests, a gender war is being waged in Egypt. Mob rape is being used as a tool of political repression within Egypt’s uprising. Vicious sexual assaults are being orchestrated to intimidate and humiliate women demonstrating in Tahrir Square and the presidential palace.
The identity of the organizers is unknown, and their affiliation can only be speculated on. Yet their message is unequivocal: These men are capitalizing on the protests to terrorize women into silence. They want to punish women protesters, and deter women from expressing public opinions, and they are using sexual violence to do it. It can be seen as retribution for women taking on leadership in Egypt’s revolution, and a desperate attempt of the male elites from the deposed regimes to maintain their dominance.

Egyptians Respond with Diplomatic, Economic Measures After Turkish PM Slams Top Cleric

Al-Tayeb, the Turkish premier declared, was “finished.” He went further, insisting that “history will curse Al-Azhar Imam as it cursed religious intellectuals in Turkey before,” an apparent reference to Turkish religious figures who collaborated with the country’s former military rulers.
In response, a spokesman for Egypt’s military-linked presidency denounced Erdogan as a man of “no religious culture.” For its part Al-Azhar responded with a condemnation, asserting that al-Tayeb was “t considered a symbol of Egyptians alone, but also occupies a lofty status in the Arab and Islamic worlds.” The university called for a formal retraction.

US says Iran unable to access oil money

The US government estimates about $1.5 billion of crude oil revenues is piling up in restricted foreign accounts every month now. Crude revenues overall averaged about $3.4 billion monthly in the first half of year, according to the assessment.
This means Iran is not able to either spend or repatriate about 44 percent of its crude oil income.

Shopping for security: Israel's startups are catching the eye of tech heavyweights

Why would multinationals think to go shopping in Israel altogether? Because, said Gadi Tirosh, a general partner at VC firm Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), multinationals already know Israel and are comfortable here. Many of them already have R&D facilities in Israel, and in a sort of virtuous cycle, they meet entrepreneurs and innovators who work in or with startups. (h/t Zvi)

‘Hibernating’ crops may be science’s cure for drought

Will crop loss due to drought become a thing of the past? Professor Shimon Gepstein, a Technion professor and president of Kinneret College in northern Israel, thinks it might. By adding some “youth hormone,” his team developed plants that essentially put themselves into a state of hibernation when they weren’t getting watered and halted their aging/wilting process until they started getting water again.
“They go into a ‘frozen’ state when they do not get water for a while, and return to full development when the water flow resumes,” said Geptstein. “There is no damage to the plant.”

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Israeli woman decisively wins judo world championship, weeps during Hatikva (video)

From Times of Israel:

Israeli judoka Yarden Gerbi sustained a string of decisive victories in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Thursday to become the first Israeli to ever win gold at a World Championships meet.

The 24-year-old, who has been enjoying a terrific year on the international circuit, won four straight bouts before beating out Clarisse Agbegnenou, the European champion, in the finals.

Gerbi competes in the 63-kilogram category. She emerged victorious from her match with Agbegnenou after pinning her opponent to the mat and executing a powerful choke hold with her legs.

As she stood on the podium, Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikva,” playing in the background, Gerbi was visibly moved.

“I’m so happy that it really ended this way,” she later told Ynet. “I had a great competition… Nothing can be better than this… I cried a little for my parents; they also cried.”

Gerbi literally caused her opponent to pass out, and all of her victories in this competition were just as one-sided.



Here she is during Hatikva (at about 2:00):



(h/t Jean, Ian)

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