Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Mahmoud Abbas' offensive Christmas message

Much has been written about Mahmoud Abbas referring to Jesus as "Palestinian" in a Christmas address. But the rest of his Christmas message is no less offensive, as he attempts to use the Christian holy day as an excuse to extensively bash Israel.

Here is the entire message:

Palestine, the Holy Land, extends its warmest seasonal greetings to the peoples of the world on the holy occasion of the birth of Jesus Christ, peace be upon him.

In Bethlehem, more than 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ was born; a Palestinian messenger who would become a guiding light for millions around the world. As we Palestinians strive for our freedom two millennia later, we do our best to follow his example. We work with hope, seeking justice, in order to achieve a lasting peace.

We celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem under occupation. Decades of attempts may have changed Palestine’s landscape, but not its identity. We remain steadfast on our land, our cultural and national identity as strong as ever. This Christmas Eve, our hearts and prayers will be with the millions who are being denied their right to worship in their homeland.

We are thinking of our people in Gaza, trapped under siege, and of those who are prevented from worshipping in Bethlehem. Our hearts and prayers are with the people of Al Dbayeh Refugee Camp in Beirut, along with all of our Palestinian refugees- Christians and Muslims uprooted from their hometowns in 1948 and who, since that time, have suffered the vicissitudes of a forced exile.

Our prayers are with the churches and mosques of Jerusalem which remind the world of the Arab identity of our occupied capital. We pray for the people of Beit Jala and particularly we pray that the 58 Palestinian Christian families of Cremisan have strength in their peaceful struggle against the annexation Wall, which is stealing their land and dooming their future. We reassure them that their struggle goes beyond the borders of Palestine: their prayers and actions have prompted many world leaders to raise the Cremisan issue in our meetings. Israel has been pressured on this issue and many other issues raised through civil society campaigns, a very good example of the merits of non-violent resistance.

On this occasion, we are reminded of the sad fact that more Bethlehemites will be lighting their candles in Santiago de Chile, Chicago, San Pedro de Sula, Melbourne and Toronto than those in Bethlehem. To them we say that Bethlehem is their town and Palestine is their country. We will continue working tirelessly to give them the freedom to decide where to spend Christmas

Christians are not a minority here: they are an integral part of the Palestinian people. Orthodox, Catholics, Armenians, Assyrians, Lutherans, Anglicans, Copts, Melkites, Protestants and others are all part of the rich mosaic of this free, sovereign, democratic and pluralistic Palestine we aspire to have and as established in our declaration of independence and draft constitution.

As we begin preparations for the visit of H.H. Pope Francis next year, we call upon pilgrims from all over the world to come and experience Palestine and our Holy Sites. We hope the visit of H.H. Pope Francis will be a good opportunity for Christians from all over the world to become closer to their sisters and brothers in Palestine, and for His Holiness to spread the message of justice and peace for the Palestinians, as for all peoples of the world.

We are in the middle of a negotiations process with Israel, and we are committed to bring a just peace to the region, including ending the occupation of the Holy Land with the establishment of a fully independent and sovereign Palestinian State on the 1967 border with East Jerusalem as its capital.

This year we celebrate Christmas with the Nativity Church inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, being renovated under my auspices and with work coordinated by a Presidential committee working closely with heads of Churches on the matter. I call upon our friends worldwide to contribute to the restoration of this holy place.

On behalf of a people struggling for justice that will lead to peace, we remember the birth of Jesus Christ in a humble grotto in Bethlehem. His message, for us, as for millions around the world remains as pertinent as ever. “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill”. This is a message of hope for our people’s daily struggle, from the child that was born here over 2000 years ago.

Abbas also talked about the impending release of more murderous terrorists - at the Church of the Nativity.

Don't Christians find Abbas' nauseating attempts to hijack the holiday for his own political purposes to be hugely offensive? Why is there no outcry about this cynical and sickening politicization of Christmas?

Netanyahu's Christmas message

12/24 Links Pt2: Haaretz’s Holocaust Revisionism, Molhem Barakat: From AQ Reject to Reuters

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Kerry’s oh-so-’90s security nonsense

Like his supporters, US Secretary of State John Kerry has apparently been asleep for the past 20 years.
Kerry has proffered us security arrangements, which he claims will protect Israel from aggression for the long haul. They will do this, he argues, despite the fact that his plan denies the Jewish state physically defensible borders in the framework of a peace deal with the PLO.
There are several serious problems with Kerry’s arrangements. But in the context of Kerry’s repeated claims that his commitment to Israel’s security is unqualified, their most glaring flaws are rooted in their disregard for all the lessons we have learned over the past two decades.

Elliott Abrams: No closer to peace

Two recent articles are reminders that he is unlikely to succeed. In the first, the Arab League says it rejects a continued Israeli troop presence on the eastern border of a future state of Palestine, a proposal Palestinians say was floated by the U.S. earlier this month. Arab League chief Nabil Al-Arabi said Saturday no peace deal would work with Israeli presence in a Palestinian state.
Why is this critical? Because Palestinian president Abbas is hiding behind the Arab League, as the second article shows: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas informed the Arab League about the upcoming proposal, saying it would contain U.S. suggestions regarding the borders of the future Palestinian state, Mohammad Sbeih, secretary-general of Palestinian affairs at the Arab League, said. Abbas told the League that "once he receives the American proposal he will not respond but will present it to Arab nations to make a joint decision."

US plan said to include dismantling all Jordan Valley settlements

The proposals, discussed by US Secretary of State John Kerry with Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on his recent visits here, infuriated Abbas, who last week went over Kerry’s head and wrote a letter of protest to US President Barack Obama about his concerns.
According to the Army Radio report, the Kerry plan provides for a massively upgraded border fence along the border between the West Bank and Jordan, with the IDF maintaining sole responsibility for the border for the first 10 years of a peace agreement. After that, border authority would be shared in some as-yet unfinalized constellation between Israel and the PA.

Report: Abbas Will Oppose Official Recognition of Jewish State

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas presented his terms for the acceptance of a U.S.-backed framework agreement with Israel to the Arab League over the weekend in Cairo, Ma’an News Agency reported on Monday. Among Abbas’ conditions, there is to be no recognition of Israel as a Jewish State.
Ma’an’s source is Muhammad Sabih, Palestinian Affairs Representative to the Arab League.

Israel Archives document: Mossad trained Mandela

Israel State Archives has published a 50-year-old letter from the Mossad claiming it unknowingly offered paramilitary training to a young Nelson Mandela, along with documents illustrating the Jewish state's sympathy for the anti-apartheid struggle in the 1960s.
The release of the documents on the State Archives' website in the wake of Mandela's death appear to be aimed at blunting criticism of the close alliance Israel later developed with South Africa's apartheid rulers.

UN Watch: Timeline: Democracies denounce UN’s Richard Falk for racism
U.S. condemns UN's Richard Falk stooping to "new low", demands his resignation

MS. PSAKI: Well, let me very clear here. We condemn and completely reject Richard Falk’s latest outrageous statements made during an interview with Russia Today. The Administration has repeatedly condemned in the strongest terms his despicable and deeply offensive comments, particularly his anti-Semitic blog postings, his endorsement of 9/11 conspiracy theories, and more recently, his deplorable statements with regard to the terrorist attacks in Boston. His most recent remarks, however, represent a new low. We do not support his mandate or his work, which has been one-sided and biased, nor do we believe he should continue to serve as independent UN rapporteur, and we reiterate our calls for him to step down from this role.

Haaretz’s Holocaust Revisionism

A new level of vileness has been reached in the pages of Haaretz. It has already published work extremely critical of the State of Israel–even running columnists that support boycotting the state. But regardless of one’s opinions on the Palestinian issue, the paper has now shown that it exists in a world entirely divorced from any Jewish consensus, and cannot claim the title of loyal opposition. It has crossed all prior bounds of decency and published a criticism of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, calling it a “myth,” and accusing its heroes of being responsible for the ultimate liquidation of the Ghetto. Despite disagreements on diplomatic, territorial, and religious issues, the memory of the Holocaust–its heroes and victims–had been the great unifying porch in post-War Jewish consciousness. Now the Holocaust is fair game too.

Bennett: Haaretz is Anti-Jewish

“In recent months Haaretz has been running an organized and precise campaign against the Jewish identity of Israel,” Bennett wrote. “Various groups, in conjunction with Haaretz, have been leading the battle. They have had articles that deny the connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, and others against visits by students to Jewish sites.”

Why is The New York Times Silent When Hamas Says to Harvest the Skulls of the Jews?

• Hamas TV tells Palestinians it is an "act of worship" to "harvest the skulls of the Jews," and the Times is silent.
• A Hamas official publicly declares it the duty of every Muslim to wage Jihad "to annihilate" the Jews of Israel, and the Times is silent.
• Hamas TV reenacts deadly stabbing and shooting of Jews, boasting of thousands of lethal attacks and vowing "this will never stop," and the Times is silent.
The New York Times, the self-proclaimed "paper of record," habitually ignores genocidal anti-Jewish rhetoric.

Media’s Lexicon Poisons Public Perceptions of Israel

Given Israel’s undeniable historical and legal claims to Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem, it is offensive to state that Jews who live there are in “settlements,” while Arabs live in nearby “neighborhoods, towns, and villages.”
Israel was not “created and founded,” as though artificially and out-of-the-blue, in the 1948 period, while India, Pakistan, Syria, and Lebanon “won their independence” in that same period. The 1948 war was a partition-rejecting multi-nation Arab invasion for Israel’s destruction, not the media’s “war that followed Israel’s creation.” That war created a greater number of rarely media-mentioned Middle Eastern Jewish refugees who were forced from vast Muslim lands that they had lived in for centuries before Mohamed.

Guess which British journalist re-tweeted Gilad Atzmon?

If you’re entertaining the notion that Bar-Hillel’s re-tweet of Atzmon did not in fact ‘imply endorsement’, consider that Atzmon’s post (The Milibands, The BBC and The Proloteriat, Oct. 13) included passages which are quite consistent with Bar-Hillel’s own complaints about the stifling of debate about Israel.

PSC patron’s Christmas smear of Israel promoted on multiple BBC platforms

As for Dalrymple’s claim of those same Christians being pressured by the Israeli government, the simple fact that the vast majority do not live under Israeli rule is enough to demonstrate the absurdity of that assertion, but of course many members of the BBC audiences listening to or reading Dalrymple’s piece will not be aware of its geo-political background. Neither will they be aware of Israel’s annual efforts to facilitate Christmas celebrations for the Palestinian Christians from the Gaza Strip and the PA controlled areas.
However, Dalrymple’s baseless smear does not come out of the blue. Although the BBC describes him merely as “a writer and historian”, Dalrymple is also a patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and a patron of Sabeel who has a long history of anti-Israel activism under his belt, including propaganda diatribes at the Guardian and participation in the BDS-supporting ‘PalFest’.

Molhem Barakat: From Al-Qaida Reject to Reuters

Barakat tried to join Al-Qaida. After learning of the photographer’s death, Hannah Lucinda Smith wrote that Barakat was the subject of her story, My Friend, the Aspiring Suicide Bomber.
Smith adds that when Barakat began working as a photographer, he wanted to work with her. (“I refused, because I didn’t want the responsibility of an eager seventeen year old with no war zone training and little experience on my shoulders.”)

Why Do Human Rights Groups Punish Access?

Human-rights groups are an important component of civil society, even if the best-known groups—Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International, Human Rights First, and various United Nations offshoots—corrupt their mission by conflating human rights with politics.
As corrosive a trend among human-rights organizations is their punishment of access. Simply put, the more open a society is to its critics, and the more access it grants outside observers, however tendentious they might be, the more human-rights organizations condemn them relative to societies which engage in large-scale abuse but slam the door to outside observers.

Kanye West wants to take back 'ignorant compliment' about Jews

He told the Chicago-based radio station B96 on Thursday that he was unaware his comment comparing Jews and Blacks would be so ill-received, adding that it was taken the wrong way.
“I thought I was giving a compliment, but if anything it came off more ignorant,” he said. “I don’t know how being told you have money is an insult.”

CareFusion invests $100 million in Caesarea Medical Electronics

American medical tech company CareFusion has that it will invest $100 million for a 40 percent minority stake in Caesarea Medical Electronics(CME), Israel’s infusion pump systems manufacturer.
CME designs, manufactures and markets a range of infusion and syringe pumps as well as related accessories and disposable administration sets for both home care and hospital settings.

AirMule successfully completes series of automated test flights

All unmanned aerial vehicles have a futuristic feel to them, but if you want something that looks like it came straight out of a science fiction film, you can’t beat a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft.
The AirMule, an unmanned VTOL developed by Israeli company Tactical Robotics, certainly fits that bill, and it recently achieved a milestone by completing several fully automated test flights. According to the company, the flights involved “take-offs, flights to and from a specified location and landing back at its point of origination.” Full mission demonstrations are scheduled for next year.

Spanish city opening museum on its ‘forgotten’ Jews

The Palace of the Forgotten, as the museum is called, is scheduled to open on Jan. 2. It is housed inside the Santa Ines palace located in Albaicin — a neighborhood in the southern city’s old center where many Jews used to live before 1492, when they were forced to convert to Christianity or flee.
The museum contains Judaica artifacts as well as archaeological findings such as ceramic utensils, furniture, artworks and other valuables recovered from Jewish homes. The artifacts were donated to the museum by the Crespo Lopez family, according to a report Dec. 19 by the news site Grenadaimedia.com.

Ancient Jewish Texts Found in Afghanistan to Debut Next Week

Professor Hagai Ben-Shammai, academic director of the National Library spoke to Arutz Sheva Monday about the event, and revealed that thousands of texts were found in the genizah - some dating back to the first century CE. The National Library has managed to acquire 29 texts for archival purposes.
Most of the texts were written in Ancient Persian or Arabic, and consist of legal and commercial documents, according to the Professor. The documents appeared to have belonged to a small group of people.

Israel Daily Picture: A Special Feature for Our Christian Readers
-- Christmas in the Holy Land 100+ Years Ago

Most of the photographs on this page were taken by the American Colony Photographic Department before and after World War I when the British captured Palestine after 400 years of Ottoman rule. Other pictures are from collections at Chatham University and the Irish Catholic Church.

Stunning Jerusalem snow sculptures

The snow is almost all melted in Jerusalem, although there are some leftover piles here and there.

The Jerusalem Municipality held a snow sculpture contest last weekend, inviting people to submit their best work on their Facebook page. And the entries range from whimsical to stunning.

Enjoy:

By the way, I stumbled onto this while trying to figure out how to pay a Jerusalem parking ticket online.

Fatah plans 3 day celebration of terror to mark next prisoner release

Israel's third release of terrorists - in exchange for "peace" talks - is scheduled for December 29.

The peace-loving Palestinian Authority will turn the terrorist release into a three-day celebration of terrorism, since January 1 is the 49th anniversary of Fatah's first terror attack in January 1965 and is therefore the official anniversary of Fatah itself even though the organization is several years older.

A Fatah Central Committee member, Mahmoud Aloul, said that the event will celebrate "war heroes and martyrs."

He added, "We assure the continuation of the Palestinian revolution in the face of the occupier."

What "occupied" land was Fatah trying to "liberate" in 1965 again?

12/24 Links Pt1: IAF attacks Gaza targets in response to murder of IDF employee

From Ian:

The academic boycott of Israel is the hill to fight on

The BDS movement went too far this time. Its position on academic boycotts is indefensible.
The supporters of academic BDS have exposed themselves as the threat to civil society they are. It’s easy to laugh when they do flash mobs outside coffee shops and in grocery stores and call for the boycott of hummus. It’s not so easy to laugh when they shout down speakers.
It creates spontaneous outrage when they use academic organizations as political tools and easily cast aside the academic freedom of everyone in their desire to damage Israel.
BDS charged up the wrong hill.

Israel and the Disparity Between Academia and Commerce

So why the disparity between the worlds of commerce and academia?
I submit that academics have the luxury of operating in theory, while those in business have the burden of applying theory to real world problems. In other words, idealism as opposed to realism. When I conferred with some of my business associates as to why Israel is consistently denigrated on campuses but lauded on Wall Street, they concurred. In short, they felt that academia is not accountable, in the succeed versus fail sense of the word, while commerce most definitely is.

The ASA boycott: Academic freedom for me, but not for thee

Seeming to give credence to Orwell’s wry observation that “there are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them,” the fatuous members of the American Studies Association (ASA) passed a December 15th resolution to institute an academic boycott against Israeli universities. Admitting that the organization consciously made the decision to ignore the academic transgressions of universities in any number of other totalitarian, oppressive countries which stifle dissent and imprison errant professors, and which might actually deserve to be censured, ASA president Curtis Marez, a University of California at San Diego associate professor of ethnic studies, said “that many nations, including many of Israel’s neighbors, are generally judged to have human-rights records that are worse than Israel’s, or comparable.” Nevertheless, he contended, his tendentious organization would focus solely on Israeli institutions, since, as he stated quite tellingly and disingenuously, “One has to start somewhere.”

WaPo: Dozens of U.S. universities reject academic boycott of Israel

Dozens of American colleges and universities are rejecting an academic boycott of Israeli universities recently approved by the academic American Studies Association, the nation’s oldest and largest association devoted to the interdisciplinary study of American culture and history. And a few schools said they are withdrawing from the organization.

Kenyon College withdrawing from American Studies Assoc over Israel boycott (Update – Indiana too)

The List of Universities rejecting academic boycott of Israel is growing rapidly. These two announcements are significant because they involve withdrawals of Institutional Membership, not just condemnation. This makes four universities (Penn State Harrisburg, Brandeis, Kenyon, Indiana) who are withdrawing membership, plus several others (Willamette, Hamilton, Northwestern, Tufts) who deny being Institutional Members even though listed.

IAF attacks Gaza targets in response to shooting of Defense Ministry employee

A civilian employee of the Defense Ministry was killed by a Palestinian gun attack on the Gaza - Israel border on Tuesday. He was identified as Salah Shukri Abu Latyef, 22, from Rahat.
The IAF attacked targets in Gaza in response for the shooting, striking two Hamas training camps, Reuters quoted witnesses as saying.
Army sources confirmed that the cross-border shooting on the border with northern Gaza resulted in one injured man. He was airlifted to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba where he later succumbed to his wounds. Latyef was a tractor driver carrying out work on the Gaza border fence.

Policeman stabbed near Jerusalem in apparent terror attack

An Israeli police officer was stabbed in the back on Monday near the West Bank settlement of Adam, north of Jerusalem.
The 30-year-old man was moderately injured and taken to a Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Hospital for treatment with the knife still in his back. According to Channel 2, the officer and his partner were directing traffic at a busy intersection where an accident had taken place.

The terrorist threat

The nation went through a collective state of déjà vu on Sunday. Suddenly we were all thrown back to a time when terrorist bombings were an outrageously common occurrence on our buses, on our streets and in our cafes. It could have been the mid- 1990s when Israel had embarked on the Oslo Accord, and terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad were registering their displeasure with the PLO’s purported capitulation to “the Zionist entity” by staging indiscriminate murderous attacks on men, women and children. Or it could have been the early 2000s, when Palestinians launched the bloody second intifada, supposedly out of frustration with a stalled peace process.
Once again Israeli citizens are being asked by police and military officers to be alert, like passenger David Pappo, whose initiative on Sunday prevented what could have been a deadly bombing in Bat Yam. Pappo was the one who first raised suspicions regarding an unclaimed bag which turned out to be a bomb. Pappo was also instrumental in evacuating the bus before the bomb was detonated.

B'tselem 'Human Rights' Cameraman Convicted for Rock-Throwing

The Arab youth told the soldier when he was arrested that he was just a cameraman for B'tselem and had nothing to do with the rock throwing.
According to the Mida report, the youth repeatedly claimed that he had only come to the location because “B'tselem told me there were human rights [violations] there.” At one point, however, he let out that “B'tselem know that I go there every week to throw rocks... to take pictures.”
The judge determined that the single slip by the youth would not have sufficed for convicting him, were it not for the fact that she also found the soldiers' testimonies “clear and coherent” while the youth's was “patently unclear... confused, full of contradictions and strange turns in almost every sentence...”

Government Approves Rock-Proof Window Funding

The government on Monday allocated money for the installation of rock-proof windows on vehicles belonging to residents of Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria. The protective windows, known as migun, will be again available to all residents for free, with the cost underwritten by the government. The program will cost the state NIS 1.25 million, the government said.

In first, Sderot train chugs into rocket-protected station

The first train arrived in Sderot from Tel Aviv on Tuesday morning, pulling into a rocket-proof station and marking the end of a years-long project to extend Israel’s rail network to the poor, missile-battered desert town located less than a mile from the Gaza border.
“In the annals of Sderot, this will be remembered as the end of one era and the beginning of another, more promising one,” Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi said in a statement. The new rail line will bring young families from the center of the country seeking “quality housing at a sane price, a high quality of life in a pastoral setting, an all-in-one package accessible to everywhere,” he said.

YouTube blocks PMW video exposing Fatah threats to kill Israelis

Now, YouTube has decided to block PMW's Hebrew version of this video, claiming the video violates YouTube's "policy on depiction of harmful activities."
The irony is that while YouTube removed the video from PMW's YouTube account - where PMW exposed the incitement to murder - YouTube has not removed it from the Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades account in Arabic. It still remains on Fatah's YouTube account, where it is intended as incitement to murder.

Massive Drug Lab Uncovered in PA Controlled Territories

Israeli police exposed a massive drug lab in Tulkarm, a city in the Palestinian Authority controlled territories.
Early Friday morning, a large force of Israeli policemen and soldiers surrounded a house in the city, and after entering discovered a large marijuana production plant. The drugs were to be distributed in the Sharon area in Israel. The lab was run by Arab residents of Taiba.

Israel to Abbas: No, Jesus was not a Palestinian

“We celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem under occupation,” Abbas wrote. “This Christmas Eve, our hearts and prayers will be with the millions who are being denied their right to worship in their homeland.” He called the security barrier an “annexation Wall, which is stealing [Palestinians'] land and dooming their future.”
These rather unfriendly statements are “not exactly in the spirit of Christmas,” Palmor, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said cynically. “Maybe he needs a hug from Santa?”

Iran's "Treaty of Hudaybiyya in Geneva"

In reflections on the deal with Iran, one particular Islamic theological construct has been largely neglected: The treaty of Hudaibiyya. During March 628 AD, the prophet Muhammad marched his army on Mecca, the stronghold of his polytheistic opponents. Muhammad realized his forces were at that time not likely to achieve victory, and the Meccans had no appetite for war. The two parties thus agreed on a ten-year armistice. However, when Muhammad thought his forces were strong enough to crush the Meccans, he unilaterally broke the truce and conquered Mecca. Although possibly not the first time in history a truce was broken, the significance of Hudaibiyya in Islamic teachings is that, as the prophet was chosen and protected by Allah himself, and is therefore the "perfect man" without flaw, all of his actions are commendable, mandatory and to be emulated -- treaties are made to be broken.

Iran ayatollah tops Jewish slur list

The Simon Wiesenthal Center put Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the head of its “Top Ten Anti-Semitic and Anti-Israel List” for comments he made about the Jewish state.
The top ten list cites Khamenei’s reference to Israel as the “rabid dog of the region,” whose leaders “look like beasts and cannot be called human,” as well as his continued genocidal threats against the Jewish state, the center said in a statement on Monday. The full list is to be published on December 30.

Senate Leader Moves to Speed Vote on New Sanctions Legislation Amid Iranian Boasts of Negotiations Victory

The comments came a day after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif boasted that Iran could quickly restart enrichment to 20 percent – thereby reviving debate over asymmetries in the JPA that have Tehran merely “freezing” parts of its program while the West reduces sanctions – and amid a potential showdown between the Obama administration and Congress.
A bipartisan group of 26 senators on Thursday unveiled legislation that would impose sanctions on Iran if it cheated during the JPA’s six-month negotiating period or if it failed to put its atomic program beyond use for weaponization at the end of that period. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Friday filed a procedure that would allow him to bypass bringing the bill to the floor through committees, and potentially allowing the full body to vote on the legislation as soon as next month:

Islamist rebels said to forcibly convert Syrian Druze

Al-Qaeda fighters in Syria forced residents of 14 Druze villages located in an isolated area to convert to Islam, The Times of Israel was told Monday.
The villagers, from the northern Syrian province of Idlib, were forced by members of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, known as ISIL or ISIS, to announce that they had accepted the Islamic faith, according to Syrian opposition sources.

Bombing at Egypt police station kills 12, wounds 134

A powerful explosion believed to be caused by a car bomb ripped through a police headquarters in a Nile Delta city north of Cairo early on Tuesday, killing 12 people and wounding more than 100, leaving scores buried under the rubble.
The country’s interim government accused the Muslim Brotherhood of orchestrating the attack, branding it a “terrorist organization.”

Corruption Scandal Rocking Turkey Engulfs Bank Known for Iran Sanctions-Busting

A corruption probe involving some of Turkey’s top figures has engulfed officials at a Turkish bank long linked to Iranian sanctions-busting schemes, adding a potential international dimension to a scandal that was already threatening to destabilize the country’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.
The probe has pitted rival Islamist camps against each other, with the AKP squaring off against followers of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. The cleric’s followers are influential across Turkey’s state and non-state institutions, and Erdogan has accused the camp of waging a “dirty operation” over recent days as police and prosecutors intensified anti-corruption investigations targeting AKP-linked political and economic elites. Erdogan and his allies have for their part responded by sacking a number of top judicial and police officials.

Muslim Brotherhood Channel Finds Home in Turkey

The Rabaa radio channel, a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated channel, went on-air in Turkey on Friday, Dec. 21. The channel is named for Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiyyah Square, where hundreds of Egyptians died in August during protests against Morsi’s ouster. The four-fingered “Rabaa” hand signal has become the symbol of those opposing the overthrow of Morsi.
One of the first to publicize the four-fingered pro-Morsi salute was Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan, just a week after the violent protests.

What does Jesus have in common with Palestinian Arab terrorists?

AP reports that PA president Mahmoud Abbas has referred to Jesus as a "Palestinian" messenger of hope.

This puts Jesus in interesting company.

Abbas also recently honored Abu Jihad, responsible for 125 deaths, as a "Palestinian" hero.

He has also called dozens of convicted murderers released from Israeli prisons "heroic."

Abbas has also praised the mastermind of the 1972 Olympics massacre. And the terror leader of the DFLP.

And the infamous Mufti of Jerusalem.

What would Jesus say?

Israel: the Partner-Up Nation?

From Forbes:

The truth is that to become the #2 startup ecosystem in the world after Silicon Valley, it’s taken a complicated calculus of educational, societal, and entrepreneurial influences to make Israel the economy it is.

One thing that can’t be underestimated is the young country’s experience and roots in creating international partnerships — cooperation that share and learn from the best Israel and the world can provide to help collaborate and accelerate progress internationally.

Did you know that in Massachusetts alone, Israeli companies doing business there have generated over $6.2 billion in 2013 and employ 6700 people in the state? Thats’s according to a new study by the New England – Israel Business Council. That’s almost 3x the revenue these firms were generating just 3 years ago...

With the help of NYC’s outgoing Mayor Bloomberg and dubbed Cornell NYC Tech, Cornell has launched a 2 year MA degree in connective media in conjunction with the Technion. Graduates will receive degrees from both prestigious institutions (not unlike the Kellogg School of Management’s program with Israel’s Tel Aviv University).

The program, like others of its kind, was developed to address the need for tech talent in New York City as the City’s financial and media world evolve along with the technology that shapes them. The future campus, to be set on Roosevelt Island, is no less ambitious.

...A recent study showed that Israel is still trending up as the U.S.’s #3 innovation partner, right behind Switzerland and Canada. So, as Israel, the Startup Nation, grows into its big-boy, Scale-up Nation shoes, other nations looking for its secret sauce can look directly to its partnering ability for guidance. Israel’s technology and startup ecosystem have both benefited from and created global partnerships that work to support growth in Israeli ingenuity on a global scale.

As one of the officials I spoke to yesterday mentioned to me, Israel's continued economic strength and growth is the most effective response to those who are trying to isolate the Jewish state diplomatically.

The world has no problem overlooking China's daily, gross violations of human rights - because of its huge economy. The EU happily ignores Moroccan and Turkish occupations of territory - because of economic benefits. And the same goes for dozens of other countries whose human rights records are horrendous but happily ignored by corporations and nations alike.

Look at it this way: Has official discrimination against women in virtually every Arab country ever been a factor in stopping Western nations from signing economic agreements? Just recently, France's prime minister visited Algeria to boost economic cooperation - despite its poor human rights record.

Economics drives diplomacy far more than the other way around. And that fact is what will secure Israel more than any piece of paper.

Arab media loves self-hating Jews

Whenever a Jew makes news for his or her anti-Zionist or antisemitic beliefs, the Arab media happily publishes it.

In only the last day:

A columnist in Al Ayam praises antisemite Uri Avnery for his defense of Islam's supposedly peaceful treatment of Jews through the centuries.
Another columnist in Al Khaleej (UAE) discusses Shlomo Sand's bizarre theses that the Jewish people and the Land of Israel are myths of recent origin. It also admiringly mentions Israel Shahak.
Al Mustaqbal praises Judith Butler for her anti-Zionist stance, saying that "anti-Zionism is the duty of every Jew."

There have also been recent favorable mentions of Max Blumenthal's latest anti-Israel screed.

I'm sure that all these Jews are very proud that their hate finds a willing audience and venues in the antisemitic Arab media.

33 reportedly killed in Lebanon; media yawns

From The Daily Star (Lebanon):

At least 32 Nusra Front gunmen were killed in east Lebanon in a weekend ambush sprung by Hezbollah fighters, a senior security source said Monday, adding that a member of the Lebanese group was also killed in ensuing fighting.

The ambush took place early Saturday in Wadi al-Jamala, on the outskirts of Nahle, a rugged mountainous area along the porous border between Lebanon and Syria, the source said.

The gunmen were making their way into Lebanon through an illegal border crossing, the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

The bodies of the slain Nusra Front fighters are in Hezbollah’s possession, the source added.

The clash was reported in other Lebanese media but not the casualty count.

But why should the mainstream media mention the spillover of Syria's civil war onto Lebanese territory? Can't be that important.

(h/t Eric L)

I always knew the UN had an aroma

UN vehicles can be seen all over Israel. Here are two in front of an Aroma coffee house.

12/23 Links Part 2: HR's 2013 Dishonest Reporting Awards, The Guardian mourns Pal anti-Semite

From Ian:

The 2013 Dishonest Reporting Awards

With the world watching Syria, Egypt, and Iran so closely in 2013, Israel was relatively less of a lightning rod for the international media.
Still, Israeli-Palestinian negotiators were nudged back to the peace table, and Benjamin Netanyahu spoke out against the shortcomings of Iranian nuclear diplomacy. US-Israel relations were strained by differences on both issues. Everything else was either just a detail, or simply paled in comparison to those bigger issues.
We thank our readers for sharing their thoughts on the year that was. Here are the 2013 Dishonest Reporting runners-up.

Douglas Murray: Anti-Fascists Caught Looking the Wrong Way?

UAF [Unite Against Fascism] are not alone in this. The group Hope not Hate appears to have set people up for targeting in exactly the way they claim "fascists" do.
Now that Adebolajo has been sentenced, perhaps UAF -- and other groups like it -- might give serious thought to how this situation came about. As should those politicians, including Prime Minister David Cameron, who are publicly associated with UAF as founding signatories.
The wider question, of course, is the more important: How is it that when violent fascism returned to Europe, the "anti-fascist" groups were all caught looking the other way?

Khaled Abu Toameh: Has Kerry Heard of the Palestinians' "Hitler"?

Abbas, it seems, has lost control not only over the Gaza Strip, but also his Fatah faction. The widespread support for "Hitler" [Jamal Abu al Rub] reflects the state of dissatisfaction with Abbas and his top aides. Some Palestinians see the recent events as the beginning of a mutiny against Abbas. The mounting tensions are an indicator of what awaits Abbas if and when he signs a deal with Israel.
What the U.S. seems not to understand is that a weak, divided and discredited Fatah will never be able to sign any agreement with Israel.
Even worse, Fatah's internal problems are good news for Hamas and the enemies of peace.

Listen to the Words of the Palestinians

The biggest failure in the American diplomatic quest to midwife the State of Palestine has been a failure to listen to the Palestinians, who don’t hide much. (One wag said that generally parties to a negotiation lie on the outside and tell the truth in private; the Palestinians, however, lie in private and tell the truth in public.) This is a failing not only of the present administration, but it is reaching a fever pitch as Secretary of State Kerry alternately cajoles and threatens the parties to accept his view of what the disposition of their conflict should entail.

Erekat: No direct talks with Israel in weeks

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Monday that there have been no direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians in several weeks and that the two sides were meeting separately with the Americans in efforts to advance negotiations.
“There have not been direct meetings for some time,” Erekat was quoted by Maariv as saying. “The meetings taking place now are between us [the Palestinians] and the Americans on the one hand, and the Israelis and the Americans on the other.”
Erekat also rejected a report Sunday that a framework agreement put forth by US Secretary of State John Kerry has been agreed to, stressing that the details were still under negotiation. (h/t Bob Knot)

Report: U.S. Will Present Framework Israel-PA Peace Agreement by End of Month

The United States intends to unveil a formal framework peace agreement to Israel and the Palestinian Authority by the end of the month, senior Arab League sources revealed to the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper. According to these sources, cited by Israeli daily Ma’ariv on Sunday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said during a meeting of the League held over the weekend in Cairo that the Americans are trying to salvage the talks between the parties through the framework agreement.

US offers to guard Jordan Valley, Palestinians say

The London-based pan-Arab daily A-Sharq al-Awsat on Monday quoted Palestinian sources to the effect that the Americans had changed their position, moving closer to Palestinian demands in the face of stiff Palestinian resistance to the idea of a continued IDF presence on the border.

NGO Monitor: ´Tis the Season 2013: How Anti-Israel NGOs Manipulate Christmas

These organizations often use offensive and inflammatory rhetoric in Christmas carols, holiday messages and cards, nativity scenes, and other items. This year, verses and prayers that promote anti-Israel themes are prominent, polarizing Jewish-Christian relations and exacerbating an already complex and violent conflict.
The abuse of Christmas messages is part of a broad international campaign to introduce political warfare against Israel into churches. As seen in NGO Monitor’s “BDS in the Pews” project, Palestinian Christian NGOs, such as Sabeel and Kairos Palestine, provide the theological and ideological frameworks for these attacks.

Abbas, PLO lash Israel in Christmas messages

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas released a Christmas greeting Monday, calling Jesus a “Palestinian messenger” and implying that Israel persecutes Christians.
“As we Palestinians strive for our freedom two millennia later,” he wrote in a statement, “we do our best to follow his example. We work with hope, seeking justice, in order to achieve a lasting peace.”

Honest Reporting: PLO Claims Jesus Was Palestinian

And what would happen today if a Jewish boy like Jesus decided to enter Palestinian-controlled areas? Most likely he’d have to lead his donkey through a hail of stones being thrown at him on the road.
The video itself is the usual Palestinian narrative of victim-hood and Israeli oppression. But when it comes to co-opting Jesus Christ, claiming him to be a Palestinian for their own propaganda, it’s clear just how far the Palestinians are prepared to go to distort history and religion for their cause.

Irish4Israel – A Year in Review newsletter

2013 has been a hugely busy year for Irish4Israel. As a group we started 2013 with less than 2,000 ‘Likes’ on Facebook.
On the 17th of January the Cork Poetry week hosted Lyor Shternberg, in keeping with our belief in supporting Israeli cultural events, we promoted the event and saw a large crowd turn out to hear Lyor’s lovely poetry.
January 20th saw Trocaire cancel their anti-Israel school literature and this was thanks to the very many of you who contacted Trocaire to raise your objection to their one sided propaganda for schools.

Sussex Friends of Israel counter the BDS

This chance meeting was to be the start of a gutsy, determined, non-denominational pro-Israel group, ‘Sussex Friends of Israel’, whose members counter the BDS actions of the Brighton and Hove PSC – Palestinian Solidarity Campaign in all weathers. Snow, sleet, hail and rain. Disgusted by the boycott, the two men decided they would go back to their communities to form a plan of action.
The group (which later became Sussex Friends of Israel) grew rapidly. People of all denominations in Brighton were made aware of the EcoStream boycott and many started to turn out every week to counter the BDS.

Crude stereotyping of ‘expansionist’ Israelis in BBC 3 comedy show

A BBC Three comedy show called ‘The Revolution Will Be Televised’ (made by Hat Trick Productions) is described on the BBC website as a:
Apparently having run out of “politicians, multinationals and tax-shy corporations”, episode 6 of season two of the programme (available here in the UK only on BBC iPlayer), which was broadcast on December 15th and 19th, turned to other subject matter.
The segment billed in the programme blurb as “The Israeli Embassy is expanding, no planning permission required” opens with an animated sequence which suggests bringing up “the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” at dinner parties,

Guardian mourns Eyad Sarraj, a Palestinian who once asked: Are Jews evil by nature?

What exactly does it take to disqualify a Palestinian from being canonized as a liberal human rights activist by the Guardian Left? This question came to mind when reading a Guardian obituary for Eyad Sarraj, who died recently at Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem where he was being treated for cancer.
The obit was written by the Guardian’s former associate foreign editor Victoria Brittain, a Palestine Solidarity Campaign patron who recently penned a spirited defense at ‘Comment is Free’ of radical Islamist preacher (and suspected al-Qaeda operative) Abu Qatada.

Hamas-Repping, ‘Certified Self-Loathing’ Jewish Lawyer Indicted Over $3M in Income

Stanley L. Cohen, a Manhattan based Jewish lawyer who made a name for himself representing members of terror groups, has been charged in a Manhattan court for wire fraud and for failing to report more than $3 million in income, the New York Post reported.
Cohen, whose clients have included Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzook and Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law, faces up to 20 years jail-time. He also currently faces similar charges made last year in a Syracuse court.
On his Twitter account Cohen refers to himself as a “Certified Selfloathing’ Jew” and an “AntiZionist.”

Vandals desecrate Russian synagogue with pig’s head

Representatives of the Jewish community of the city, which is located 600 miles west of Baku, Azerbaijan, found the pig’s head at the entrance to their synagogue on December 20. They believe the perpetrators are also responsible for English-language graffiti on the building’s external wall, which read: “Happy Tu B’Shevat, Jewish Pigs.”

Syria’s ‘destroyed’ ancient synagogue is still intact

Contrary to a flurry of reports, the 2,000-year-old Jobar Synagogue in Damascus has not been destroyed during the Syrian civil war, and is now being guarded by locals, The Times of Israel was told on Sunday. A photograph was provided that appeared to confirm that the synagogue interior is largely intact.
Despite reports that valuable artifacts from the synagogue, including its Torah scrolls, were being held hostage by an Islamist extremist rebel group, the objects are actually being held in safekeeping after being removed from the building, The Times of Israel was also told, although there was no way to independently verify this.

David Mamet Developing a Miniseries for Fox

David Mamet is working on a miniseries for Fox, Variety reports. He's signed a deal to develop a seven-part limited series based on the seven deadly sins, and he would write at least three episodes, including writing and directing the first installment. There are no firm plot details yet, but apparently "the themes invoked by the seven deadly sins will serve as a backdrop of a series of interconnected stories [that] reflect on the human condition," which is both encouraging (sounds cool!) and confusing (but not at all like something that would air on Fox!).

Cyprus likely partner as Israel mulls gas exports, but Turkey beckons

Israel is studying its options for exporting its natural gas riches in the eastern Mediterranean, but instability in neighboring Egypt and friction with former ally Turkey are blocking possible undersea pipeline links with them to take the gas to Europe.
That leaves a joint export operation with neighboring Cyprus, which will be the next big offshore gas producer in the region, looking like the frontrunner -- for now, at least, because war-divided Cyprus lies at the center of a long and seemingly intractable dispute with Turkey.

Israel gives Intel’s two-in-one’s a big boost

Intel is feeling pressure from the changes in the market – especially from the iPad, which doesn’t use Intel components. In response, Intel has created a line of products that function as both tablets and laptops – with a lot of help from the company’s Jerusalem engineering team.
While “Intel Inside” is a term that applies to most of the desktop computers, servers, and laptops sold, it doesn’t apply to what has emerged as the most important market segment of computing today – the tablet market, in which Apple’s iPad reigns supreme. The iPad and many other tablets use processors made by ARM Holdings – and considering that tablets, and especially iPads, are outselling laptops, Intel has been feeling some pain from the current market situation.

Israel Daily Picture: If the Library of Congress Archives Was Our "Mother Lode," the University of California Museum of Photography Is the "Father Lode"

Today, we introduce you to the incredible collection of glass plates and film negatives in the University of California - Riverside Museum of Photography where many of their 250,000 stereoscopic plates and 100,000 negatives are now online. This posting is Part 1 of several future features.
Since the Library of Congress' American Colony collection served as our "mother lode" of photos, we refer to the UCR's immense collection as the "father lode." Indeed, many of the photographs found in other collections are but copies, often in poor condition, of the vintage pictures at UCR.

Mohammed Sabih, deputy secretary general for Palestinian affairs in the Arab League, went on an anti-Israel rant, stating that Israel is aggressively attacking Palestinian Arabs, it is digging tunnels under Muslim holy places in Jerusalem, it wants to divide the Al Aqsa Mosque into Jewish and Muslim parts as was done in Hebron with the Cave of the Patriarchs, it is committing aggression against the "Wailing Wall," it is "Judaizing" Jerusalem and falsifying history, and it is engaged in ethnic cleansing of Arabs, that it tortures Arab prisoners, and its actions prove that Israel does not want peace.

Pretty much what you would expect from the "moderates."

Sabih also stressed that the issue of Palestinian refugees is one of the core Palestinian principles and that the resolution of this issue will be only through UNGA Resolution 194, and that any attempt to avoid solving the problem by having millions of Arabs moving into Israel is rejected.

He said that the international community and Israel must realize that the solution to the refugee issue is an important basis for establishing peace in the region.

In other words, there can be no peace as long as a Jewish state exists.

Again, it is a shame that Western diplomats refuse to believe what these people say in Arabic.

12/23 Links Part 1: Israel Bomb Attack Thwarted by Vigilant Bus Driver, Turkey is Hamas's new Sponsor

From Ian:

Mainstreaming anti-Israelism

The New York Times, the mainstream voice of the American Left, published two articles this week on a boycott resolution passed by a little-known academic group -- the American Studies Association. The second of the two articles appeared on the front page of the paper, meaning that a resolution adopted by the votes of just over 800 members of the association was viewed as one of the top stories in the world that day.
Had the association refused to endorse such a boycott, the story would never have made the front page, and the results of the vote by the association's members would likely not even have been reported in The New York Times. The Times' breathless coverage, and eagerness to report on the symbolic blow to the Jewish state reflects a dismaying sign of the times in the United States -- hostility to Israel has become a signature issue for the Left.

The Answer to BDS is Jewish Power

I don’t point those facts to make the case that we shouldn’t be worried—we should be. There is no room for complacency in the face of a movement whose worldview is rooted in the struggle against Jewish sovereignty in much the same way that the Nazis saw the Jews, or the communists saw the bourgeoisie, as the ultimate enemy. But in fighting the academic boycott and BDS more generally, we should not lose awareness of the power we 21st-century Jews have, nor our ability to wield it.
Hence, let’s by all means ridicule the pretensions of the BDS movement to be a latter-day incarnation of the movement against apartheid in South Africa. Let’s not hesitate in pointing out its failures. At the same time, let’s not permit it to mushroom because we don’t think it’s a threat. Both Brandeis University and Penn State Harrisburg have pulled out of ASA since the boycott was announced, and we should push for a similar outcome in the case of similar initiatives. Much as some Jews are uncomfortable with acknowledging this reality, we have the power to harass, frustrate, and crush the BDS movement wherever it appears. Let us do so without mercy.

Top US academic association decries Israel boycott

The executive committee of the Association of American Universities, which consists of 60 leading US and Canadian universities including Harvard, Stanford, and Yale, released a statement Friday saying that boycotts violate “the academic freedom of Israeli scholars but also of American scholars who might be pressured to comply with it.”
The AAU said in its statement Friday that academic freedom should not be “abridged by political considerations.”
“Academic freedom is the freedom of university faculty responsibly to produce and disseminate knowledge through research, teaching, and service, without undue constraint,” the statement read. “American colleges and universities, as well as like institutions elsewhere, must stand as the first line of defense against attacks on academic freedom.”

List of Universities rejecting academic boycott of Israel

The universities and colleges below are confirmed to reject the academic boycott of Israel passed by the American Studies Association.
This list is based on positions expressed by the Presidents of such Universities or others in a position to state a university’s position (e.g., communications staff). We are aware of no university in the U.S. endorsing the boycott.

Indiana, Wash U. St. Louis, GWU, Northwestern, Cornell reject academic boycott of Israel

The list of Universities condemning the academic boycott of Israel passed by the American Studies Association and two smaller academic groups is growing.
New announcements are being made daily, although I expect a lull in new announcements as most universities are closed until after New Year’s Day.

Israel Bomb Attack Thwarted by Vigilant Bus Driver

The driver, Michael Yuger, was told by one of his passengers about a large suspicious black knapsack in the back of the number 240 bus he was driving. He immediately had all 15 passengers get off and alerted Israeli security forces.
The bomb exploded as a police sapper attempted to diffuse the device. A police officer was lightly injured and was taken to a nearby hospital.
The bus driver however, claims he is not a hero.
“One passenger saw wires and a big pot after he opened the bag to check it. We all got off. About ten minutes after discovering the knapsack the bomb went off,” he said.

Security forces search for suspects in Bat Yam bus bombing

The US government strongly condemned the bombing, saying “violent acts targeting civilians are deplorable.”
“We reaffirm our unshakable bond with Israel and our solidarity with the Israeli people,” read a State Department statement issued late Sunday.
President Shimon Peres phoned and thanked the bus driver and the passenger who discovered the explosive, saying their actions saved lives.
“The nation owes you a debt of gratitude and I would like to personally congratulate you for this act of bravery,” Peres told bus driver Michael Yoger.
Palestinian terror groups, meanwhile, praised Sunday’s attempted attack, but failed to take responsibility for the blast.

Rocket from Gaza falls near children’s bus stop

Police sappers early Monday morning collected the shards of a Kassam rocket that Palestinians earlier fired from the Gaza Strip at the Hof Ashkelon area.
The rocket was found several hours after it fell near a bus stop used by schoolchildren. There were no injuries in the attack, but the bus stop sustained light damage.

Syrian Mortar Shell Strikes Golan

A mortar shell fired from Syria exploded Monday morning in the Israeli Golan Heights, near Tel Fares. The shell blew up in empty territory, causing no casualties or damage.
An initial check indicates that the shell was not fired at Israel intentionally, but is part of the unintended “spillover” from the Syrian civil war.

Senior IDF Officer: ‘Egyptians Have Made a Strategic Decision to Paralyze Hamas’

Israeli military officials surmise that that the deteriorating economic situation in Gaza, along with a chill setting in between Egypt and Hamas, has increased the deep sense of frustration and despair among Palestinians living in the area.
“The Egyptians have made a strategic decision to paralyze Hamas,” an IDF Southern Command officer said. “This tactic is what is causing the frustration [in Gaza].”

Turkey 'has Replaced Iran as Hamas's Sponsor'

Israel’s intelligence community has determined that Turkey has replaced Iran as the leading financial backer of Hamas since 2012, reports the World Tribune, citing unspecified “Israeli sources.”
The sources said the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has overseen the transfer of up to $250 million a year to Hamas, and particularly to its governing apparatus in Gaza.

Analysis: Why has Netanyahu been silent over NSA spying on Israel?

In the aftermath of revelations of the US National Security Agency (NSA) spying on Israeli prime ministers, why aren’t Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his predecessors Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak calling for heads to roll and a complete overhaul in US-Israel relations?
That was how German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and many other heads of state reacted when they learned that the NSA had spied on them.

US spying gives momentum to free Pollard effort

Politicians from across the political spectrum renewed their call for the United States to release Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard Sunday, following revelations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had spied on Israeli leaders.
The revelations gave momentum to the effort to encourage US President Barack Obama to commute Pollard’s life sentence to the 28 years he has served. But Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made a point of saying that Israel did not need an excuse to deal with Pollard’s release.

Palestinian sources: Gulf officials met Netanyahu in Israel

A delegation from a Persian Gulf country recently visited Israel to meet with Israeli officials, the Palestinian weekly al-Manar reported on Sunday. “Two-high rankings officials” were in Israel on December 10, the report said, citing Palestinian sources.
The report could not be independently verified by The Times of Israel.
The Gulf country that sent the delegation was not identified, although al-Manar speculated that it was Saudi Arabia, based on a report that Saudis and Israelis had met in Monaco the previous week. The sources alleged that, in Israel, the Saudi officials met with officials from the foreign and defense ministries, even meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself.

Experts: Rouhani Has Isolated Israel In Months

The cover story of Forbes Magazine's latest edition, summarizing the year 2013, focuses on the far-reaching influence of Rouhani's "charm offensive" on Israel in a mere matter of months.
Rouhani's historic nuclear deal is the highlight of his achievements presented in the article. In addition to cancelling Iranian isolation, the deal has led to a crisis in relations between the Islamic regime's greatest enemy, Israel, and Israel's main ally, the US.
The Israeli security and academic experts quoted in the article note that Iran's control of the international sphere comes at Israel's expense, which is taking Iran's place as an isolated country.

Nuclear talks suspended until after Christmas

Talks between Iran and six world powers over implementation of a recent nuclear deal will take a break until after Christmas, the Iranian negotiating team said Sunday night, after four days of negotiations.
The announcement came several hours after Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi warned that nuclear negotiations may require a “pause in the talks” due to a conflict of agreement on the technical terms of the deal.

Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon’s Party of God (REVIEW)

Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon’s Party of God, by Matthew Levitt The threat that Hezbollah poses, Levitt warns, is very real—and it is growing. “As tensions continue to mount over Iran’s nuclear program, Hezbollah’s strategic relationship with Iran—the role it has already played in Tehran’s shadow war with the West—gives officials worldwide ample cause of alarm.” Therein lies what is perhaps Hezbollah‘s most trenchant message; with the danger of a nuclear Iran looming ever larger on the horizon, Levitt’s book is a timely reminder of how dangerous and widespread the genie of Hezbollah truly is, and why there needs to be a concerted global effort to get it back into the bottle.

Concern grows in Lebanon over refugee camp linked to al Qaida

That means that in addition to wanting Syria to be ruled by radical Sunni interpretations of Islam, the camp is a breeding ground for those who believe that Shiites “are apostates that need to be destroyed,” Rahman said.
The Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah agrees, and its officials and security personnel have been quietly making the case that al Qaida-linked groups are using the long-standing tradition that Lebanese soldiers and police officers can’t enter the Palestinian refugee camps to make arrests in order to build a haven to conduct operations against Hezbollah in revenge for its open participation in fighting for the Syrian regime.

Jihadi Cleric Omar Bakri Defends Anti-Hizbullah, anti-Iran Suicide Bombings

Omar Bakri: Using the method of blowing oneself up for the sake of Allah is acceptable, so long as the target is legitimate. This is not about blowing oneself up. All groups, even non-Sunni ones, use [suicide] bombings.
With regard to the two young men [who committed the Beirut suicide attacks], I pray that Allah will accept them as martyrs and absolve their sins, and that He will also accept as martyrs those who were killed there by mistake.
People who want to ban martyrdom operations are trying to alter the religion of Allah.

While the world dithers, Syrians die

For Syrians, 2013 has brought death, destruction and devastation on an unprecedented scale. Indeed, Assad’s most recent aerial barrel-bomb assaults in Aleppo have even been described by activists themselves as being unprecedented. The indiscriminate air strikes this past week – which occurred amidst yet another upsurge in violence – were reported by Al-Jazeera to have caused more than 125 deaths, including many women and children.
At year’s end, Assad’s killing machine – and increasingly that of Jihadist rebels – will have resulted in at least 130 000 dead – with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimating that the real figure is actually much higher. As well, the number of internally displaced people now stands at 6.5 million and growing, while there are more than 2 million refugees – at least half of whom are children.

Red Cross: 500,000 Wounded in Syria

"At least half a million people have been wounded across the country and millions remain displaced and tens of thousands detained," ICRC chief Magne Barth said in a statement.
"The wounded are often not cared for properly and the chronically ill often do not receive the treatment they need," Barth added.

Deterioration In Turkey-Egypt Relations Due To Turkish PM Erdogan's Opposition To Egyptian President Mursi's Ouster

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, founder of the Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP), has consistently opposed Egyptian President Muhammad Mursi's July 3, 2013 ouster by Defense Minister 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi, branding it a military coup. Erdogan identifies with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB) movement and, in contrast to many leaders of Arab countries who backed Mursi's removal, supports the MB's call to restore Mursi to the presidency, and its argument that his removal came as part of a military coup against a democratically and legitimately elected government.

Arabic media are reporting that a rocket from Gaza landed in the sea off of Rafah's Egyptian coast on Sunday afternoon.

The rocket exploded some 300 meters from the coast.

Egyptian sources said that Hamas informed Egyptian intelligence that the rocket was being used for training exercises from the area of Tal al-Sultan and that it was mistakenly launched towards Egypt.

Hamas and other terror groups sometimes shoot test rockets towards the Mediterranean.