Friday, December 27, 2013

  • Friday, December 27, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon

Exclusive: Columbia U joins the chorus denouncing the ASA boycott of Israel

This was received from a faculty member at Columbia University. It is planned to be posted at the Columbia website later today or tomorrow.

I have made my opposition to academic boycotts of Israel emphatically clear over the years, most prominently in my 2007 letter that was signed by some 400 of my fellow college and university presidents speaking out against the British University and College Union's boycott of Israeli scholars and universities. I stand by that statement today when considering the recent vote by the American Studies Association for just such a boycott. To be sure, it is entirely appropriate for our campuses to provide a forum for discussion and debate about the policies of any government, including our own. But the ASA's vote runs counter to this essential academic and political freedom and, taken to its logical conclusion, would necessarily result in boycotts of fellow scholars and peer institutions from many nations around the world. I reject the ASA's position which would compromise an essential value of universities in an increasingly global society-and we look forward to continuing to Columbia's long history of engagement with our peers from Israel.

- Lee C. Bollinger, President, Columbia University

Columbia now joins dozens of other universities who have denounced the ASA boycott.

The latest list from Avi Mayer:

The following is a list of institutions whose presidents or chancellors have publicly rejected the academic boycott of Israel in recent days. The Executive Committee of the Association of American Universities, which represents 62 top institutions in the U.S. and Canada, has also expressed its strong opposition to the boycott, as has the American Association of University Professors, which counts more than 48,000 members.
In addition, the following institutions’ American Studies programs have withdrawn their membership in the American Studies Association (ASA) following last week’s boycott vote:
Furthermore, the following institutions have flatly denied being institutional members of the ASA, though the organization lists them as such:
There have also been lots of articles denouncing the ASA.

I'm wondering if any universities, at all, will publicly side with the ASA.

Egyptian banner calls to kill all Jews in Egypt

Seen on Twitter, from a Facebook posting:
This is in response to the bombing that killed 16 on Tuesday morning.

Think about this for a second: Someone in Mansour went to a print shop and paid to create a large anti-semitic banner (or the print-shop owner did it himself.). It then took considerable effort to hang the sign in a public street. It was that important for someone or some group to put out a public antisemitic message in Egypt.

Jews are always the scapegoats. Although in modern times it is more fashionable to use the Jewish state to fill that role.



12/27 Links: NYTs Dishonest Reporting, Sabeel Hosts Falk, Atzmon rages against Bugs Bunny

From Ian:
Khaled Abu Toameh: What the Palestinians and Arabs Think of Kerry's New Ideas
In an interview with Voice of Palestine radio, Abed Rabbo continued his unprecedented criticism of both Kerry and his proposals. "Washington does not have the right to determine where our borders would be," he declared. "We won't allow Israel to slice off any parts of our land. If the Americans want, they can give Israel parts of California and Washington. This land belongs to the Palestinians."
The Arab League's rejection of Kerry's ideas not only complicates his efforts to achieve a deal between Palestinians and Israelis, but also ties Abbas's hands. It is hard to see how Abbas would be able to retract his position now that the Arab League has also rejected Kerry's ideas.
Kerry will now have to launch a new diplomatic campaign to convince the Arab League to change its position. And for the Arab countries to do that really would take a miracle.
A Year of Biased Reporting: Why the New York Times Won
When HonestReporting readers were asked to choose the “winner” of the 2013 Dishonest Reporting Award, the prevailing displeasure was best summed up in a one-line email:
“The NY Times bludgeoned Israel all year.”
Much of the resentment focused on the paper’s op-ed section. A steady parade of commentaries disdainfully dismissing Click here for the runner up Dishonest Reporting Awards Israel’s Iranian anxieties certainly cemented the Gray Lady‘s award in the latter part of 2013. This wasn’t surprising. HonestReporting’s long-term study of the Times’s opinion section found similar problems in 2012.
But the NY Times built up a bona fide case to win this award even without the issue of op-eds.
’Tis the season to bash Israel
This is an ugly attempt to apply replacement theology (in which Christians are said to have superseded the Jews in a covenant with G-d) to the Palestinian assault on Israel. In Abbas’s reversed and warped world, the Jewish and Christian Jesus has been replaced by a Palestinian Christ, and Christianity is under attack by the Jews, not by the Arabs and Muslims.
Few Christian leaders, and no prominent Western journalists, publicly took Abbas to task for arrogating Jesus to Palestinian propaganda.
Turning the other cheek, they apparently thought, alas, that challenging Abbas just wouldn’t be in the Christmas spirit of justice, peace, charity and love.
Unfortunately, Abbas’s perverse and perfidious statement is in keeping with the Palestinian Authority’s ongoing denial of Jewish history and rights in the historic Land of Israel. It doesn’t augur well for the peace process.
American Studies Association Members Defend Israel Boycott by Citing Anti-Semitic 9/11 Truther
It appears no one told the American Studies Association that when attempting to fend off accusations of bigotry, it’s best not to cite a bigot.
In a sign that the organization is feeling the heat from outside opprobrium, the ASA’s Caucus on Academic and Community Activism has posted a defense of its Israel boycott. The statement offers tacit acknowledgment of the fact that over 40 universities–including almost the entire Ivy League–have condemned the ASA’s action. In response, the ASA Caucus lists other academics who have endorsed the boycott and calls for supporters to renew their membership or join the ASA. Unfortunately for those attempting to exonerate the ASA from charges of prejudicial treatment of the Jewish state, one of the six scholars the ASA Caucus cites is Richard Falk, a known 9/11 truther and promoter of anti-Semitism.
By day, Falk serves as the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territories, where his support for the terrorist group Hamas has been so blatant that the Palestinian Authority tried to get him fired. The United States and Canada have also called for him to be dismissed, and he has been censured by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. But Falk’s most objectionable conduct has actually taken place outside the U.N.’s halls.
Sabeel Hosts 9/11 truther Richard Falk
What does a promoter of antisemitism, a shill for terrorists and a conspiracy theorist do when his UN position expires?
Apparently, he goes on a speaking tour for Sabeel
Academic boycotters don’t want done unto them what they did unto Israelis
Professor Lynch has been in a public battle with the Coalition since May, when then opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said a Coalition government would ensure “no grants of taxpayers’ funds are provided to individuals or organisations which actively support the BDS campaign”.
Professor Lynch’s support for BDS became headline news last year when he boycotted Israeli academic Dan Avnon, refusing to help the Hebrew University academic with his application for a Sir Zelman Cowen fellowship.
This year Professor Lynch submitted an application to the federally funded ARC for $290,000 to study the work of journalists in South Africa, Nepal, Australia and Britain.
The ARC recently rejected his application. “It could be, of course, that it was simply adjudged not quite good enough by the assessors,” Professor Lynch told The Australian. “But the Bishop statement, and the earlier evidence that AusAID … improperly took my support for BDS into account, leaves me with suspicions that this has happened with the ARC too….
Non-settlement Israeli fruit exporter faces boycott pressure in Europe
Despite the fact that its executives insist that its products are from Israel proper, and not produced at settlements or on land over the Green Line, the demonstrators call for a general boycott of its goods.
The BDS movement promotes blanket boycotts of Israel, not just Israeli settlements, with the stated goal of ending the Israeli occupation of Arab lands and granting a “right of return” to all Palestinian refugees — a position that would mean an influx of millions to Israel, and the end of Israel as a predominantly Jewish state.
IAF strikes Gaza following second rocket fired at Israel in 24 hours
The Israel Air Force struck two targets in Gaza in response to rocket fire on southern Israel on Thursday. The targets struck were a weapons manufacturing site in central Gaza and a weapons storage site in the North of the Strip.
Two Palestinians were wounded by the air strikes, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The IDF also said the targets were struck accurately, adding that all planes returned to base safely.
Four times less BBC Online coverage of Arafat ‘not poisoned’ stories
Previously, two reports were published on the subject of the French findings and thirteen related articles appeared on the BBC News website’s Middle East page in a 48 hour period on the subject of the Swiss findings, nine of which also amplified the conspiracy theory surrounding Arafat’s death.
In other words, the BBC News website devoted over four times the number of articles to the coverage of findings interpreted as moderately supporting the theory that Arafat was poisoned than it did to the two other sets of findings which found that Arafat died of natural causes.
PA Says it Will Continue to Investigate Arafat's Death
The Palestinian Authority (PA) said Thursday it would continue its investigation into the death of its former chairman Yasser Arafat, even after a team of Russian forensic experts said that he died of "natural causes", and ruled out radiation poisoning as a cause of death.
"I can only say that there is already a decision to continue (the investigation)," the PA ambassador to Russia, Faed Mustafa, told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
Kerry concerned by Egypt crackdown on Muslim
Brotherhood
Kerry and Fahmy “agreed that there can be no place for violence in Egypt and that the Egyptian people deserve peace and calm,” Psaki said.
But the secretary of state also “underscored the need for an inclusive political process across the political spectrum that respects the fundamental human rights of all Egyptians in order to achieve political stability and democratic change.”
A US official told Reuters that Egypt was going “way too far” in the crackdown, adding that the Obama administration had no intention of taking any action against Cairo in response, or following suit in labeling the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.
Lebanese politician among at least 5 dead in Beirut bombing
Lebanon’s former finance minister Mohammed Chatah, an adviser to former prime minister Saad Hariri, was among the five people killed Friday in a large car bombing targeting his convoy in Beirut, Lebanese state media reported.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati called for an emergency cabinet meeting following the blast.
Huffington Post Serves as Promoter for Iranian Front Group
The Huffington Post not only never ran a news story revealing the shocking facts concerning Parsi and the NIAC, but it has published sixteen of Parsi’s articles since the Federal court’s September 2012 ruling (it’s been running his editorials since April 2012). And as HUFF-WATCH documented here, even after the court’s ruling, Huffington Post has continued enabling the NIAC to spew its pro-Iranian, anti-Israel propaganda.
On December 18, the Huffington Post gave Parsi the top spot on “blogger’s row” on its front page, a space normally reserved for Arianna Huffington, and her newspaper’s most prominent opinion writers.
The very next day, on December 19, Huffington Post published the inflammatory headline story alleging that Menendez and AIPAC were “saboteurs.”
How does one reconcile these acts and omissions with the public statements that Huffington has made about her “newspaper’s” journalistic integrity and principles?
Iran develops new generation of uranium centrifuges
Thursday’s announcement came following a push by a significant number of Iranian lawmakers to legislate the enrichment of uranium to 60 percent purity — 12 times the cap Iran agreed by Iran as part of a deal reached with the US and world powers in November.
At 60% pure uranium 235, Iran could quite quickly convert its stockpiles of enriched fissile material to weapons-grade uranium, a major concern of Israel and the United States. Iran contends, however, that its nuclear weapons program is exclusively for peaceful purposes.
No halt to executions while EU delegation visits Iran
The five-member delegation was led by the chairwoman of European Parliament's friendship delegation with Iran, Tarja Cronberg from Finnish Greens and included Cornelia Ernst, German communist; Isabelle Durant, Belgian Greens; Marietje Schaake, Dutch Liberals; and Josef Weidenholzer, Austrian Social Democrats.
During their Dec. 13-18 visit at least 38 death sentences were carried out official Iranian media sources said. This while many executions in prisons are conducted in secret and news of those is rarely released.
News that Bugs Bunny may be Jewish sends Gilad Atzmon into a rage
Writing at Veterans Today, an aggregator for conspiracy-oriented and right-wing extremist websites, Atzmon wrote the following:
I guess that when we talk about Hollywood’s indoctrination in the context of Jewish Power, we should feel free to refer to the Zionist outlet as well as the ‘noted Jewish cinematic historian’.
Of course, Atzmon’s response to Ben-Zvi’s article wouldn’t come as a surprise to readers of this blog. As we’ve noted previously, Atzmon is a prolific anti-Semite who has engaged in ‘Holocaust Revisionism’ while simultaneously arguing that, if Hitler’s genocide did occur as historians “claim”, the mass murder of six million Jews can at least partly be explained by Jews’ villainous behavior. On this latter note, he’s claimed that Hitler’s views about Jews may one day be vindicated.
Sweden has failed to condemn and act against all anti-Semitism
If we do not have politicians in Sweden who can admit the existence of obvious anti-Semitism and act against it where will it end? Are we now not able to act upon anti-Semitism and racism wherever it may be found and whatever the consequences are of doing so? Are we then still in Sweden? I do not believe so. I want the old Sweden back that firmly and consistently stands up against anti-Semitism and corrupt leaderships and I want a new Sweden that can really understand the situation Israel is in. I want a Sweden where our politicians can admit they have made a misstake funding the PA. That would be the Sweden I would be proud of. Now I can not be proud.
Israel’s Christian Population Continued to Rise in 2013
According to recent figures released by Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, there are roughly 161,000 Christians living in Israel, equaling about 2 percent of the population and an up from 158,000 in 2012.
Nearly 80 percent of these Christians are Arab, while the majority of the remaining 20 percent are largely from the former Soviet Union.
Muath from Hebron recovers after surgery, next to kids from Ghana, Gaza
“A child with a serious heart defect who isn’t treated is sentenced to death,” Berlowitz said, beaming with pride when he mentioned that, to date, SACH has treated and saved the lives of 3,300 children from 48 countries.
Of those, roughly half were Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, SACH Executive Director Simon Fisher said. He said the organization’s operations, including the Heart of the Matter project with the Palestinian Authority, has had a beneficial influence on Israel’s image among the Palestinians by facilitating day-to-day positive interactions.
Abu Danash told this reporter that his neighbors and family raised no objections when they heard his child was to receive treatment in Israel, because they knew medical care was better there and that the Israelis — the Jews — were helping them. He said that there were two different stories of Israeli-Palestinian interaction — one of intifada and violence, and the other of cooperation. He gave a strong indication he favored the latter.
  • Friday, December 27, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon

Saudi university displays model of Hamas rocket for "cultural festival"

Palestine Times reports that Islamic University of Medina in Saudi Arabia has displayed a model of Hamas' "M75" rocket at a "cultural festival" at the school.

The "Third Festival of Cultures and Peoples" started on December 17 and was organized by the Dean of Student Affairs at the Islamic University of Medina and featured a "Palestine" suite which saw a large crowd.

The festival sheds light on the cultures of the students of the Islamic University, who come from over 100 different countries.


This rocket, meant to kill Jewish civilians, is part of "Palestinian culture" - according to the Palestinian Arab students who organized this exhibit.
  • Friday, December 27, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon

Fifth anniversary of Hamas' forgotten declaration of war

From Ma'an, December 25, 2008:
The military wing affiliated to Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades released a statement on Thursday morning briefing the group's military activities over the first twenty four hours of an operation they called "Oil Stain" which started Wednesday morning.

According to the statement, a total of 87 shells have been fired at Israeli targets bordering the Gaza Strip including 54 mortar shells, 31 homemade projectiles which Hamas calls "Qassam", and two Soviet-made Grad missiles.

Al-Qassa Brigades threatened to enlarge the "Oil Stain" to get more thousands of Israelis "under fire". The group asserted that its fighters are "far greater than surrendering to Israeli threats and that they became much more prepared to counter Israeli aggression and to defend themselves than in the past."
This was Hamas' declaration of war - on Wednesday, December 24, 2008, three days before Israel launched Operation Cast Lead.

On Thursday, Hamas shot 7 Qassam rockets and 7 more mortars into Israel.

On Friday, Gaza terrorists shot some 25 mortars and rockets into Israel. One fell short and killed 2 Gaza girls.

For a full week, after Israel's counterattack, Hamas continued to refer to the war as Operation Oil Stain. Afterwards they changed it to "Battle of the Criterion."

But you will be hard pressed to find any mention of Hamas' declaration of war today, the fifth anniversary of Israel's response. (Wikipedia is one rare exception.)

Just like five years ago, today Israel is responding to attacks by Gaza on Israeli civilians. And just like then, the media is reporting Israel's response as if Israel initiated the fighting.

  • Friday, December 27, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon

Fatah sniper left Gaza for eye treatment to better shoot Jews

From YNet:
An indictment was filed Thursday with the Beersheba District Court against Muhammad Abu Amshah, a terror activist who planned a shooting attack in the Gaza Strip.

Abu Amshah, 32-year-old from Beit Hanoun, was given a humanitarian permit to leave the Gaza Strip in order to receive medical treatment in his eyes at a Ramallah hospital. However, in his Shin Bet interrogation, it became clear that the medical condition in his eyes was in the way of his scheme to shoot IDF forces patrolling along the Gaza Strip border fence.

The activist was arrested earlier this month by the Shin Bet and police upon leaving, as part of his permit, from the Erez Crossing to Ramallah. According to the Shin Bet, Abu Amshah admitted in his questioning that was intended to be a sniper within the framework of a planned attack by the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades against IDF forces near the Gaza border. He even underwent training exercises for the job. However an injury he sustained harmed his vision, and he planned to treat the injury prior to conducting the attack.
Note that he is a member of the Fatah terror group Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigades, not Hamas. Fatah in Gaza is not able to work independently because of Hamas restrictions so it seems more than plausible that his visits to Ramallah were not only to the hospital but to his commanders in Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah terror organization.

(h/t Yenta P)

  • Friday, December 27, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon

The bigotry and lies of St. James Church in Piccadilly

St. James Church in Piccadilly has spent a huge amount of time, money and effort for a naked anti-Israel stunt in central London:

St James’s Church, Piccadilly, in London’s West End has installed a life size 8 metre tall/30 metre long replica of Israel’s security wall in its courtyard as part of its Bethlehem Unwrapped festival. The replica wall is so vast that it obscures the Church itself.
The replica wall will be lit up at night and for the next twelve days of Christmas (until 5th January) a montage of images and slogans will be continuously projected onto it. Scenes include parts of London with a wall passing through it.
What you won’t see projected onto the replica wall are scenes of bombed out Israeli buses, hotels, pizza restaurants, bars and nightclubs that were ubiquitous in Israel before the wall.
Bethlehem Unwrapped has evening events with anti-Israel polemicists including comedians Jeremy Hardy and Ivor Dembina, musician Nigel Kennedy, columnists Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Mark Steel, Jeff Halper of Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and War On Want’s in-house poet Rafeef Ziadah.
The video that the church released reveals that the stunt took 8 months of planning and a "huge team of builders, designers, architects and scaffolders." And, of course, the narrator says that the wall is "surrounding" Bethlehem.



Here is a map of the separation barrier at bethlehem created by B'Tselem showing that the barrier (solid red line) does not come close to surrounding Bethlehem:


One of the supreme ironies of the St. James' description of the barrier is this:

The wall in our courtyard is a replica segment of the wall that surrounds Bethlehem. It is 8 metres tall because the real wall is 8 metres. It obscures the view of this historic church because that is what has happened to Bethlehem’s holy sites and historic places.
Indeed, there is a wall that obscures and virtually separates a holy place in Bethlehem - the Jewish holy place of Rachel's Tomb, which has been the scene of numerous terror attacks against Jewish pilgrims and worshipers.

Here is the detail of B'Tselem's map showing how Israel had to surround Judaism's third holiest shrine with what indeed is an ugly tall wall - because that was the only possible way to protect Jewish visitors:


Here is what Rachel's Tomb used to look like before 1995:



And here is what its entrance looks like today:


Not only have there been numerous attacks at Jews visiting Rachel's Tomb in the past - but hundreds of  attacks continue today!

St. James Church doesn't give a damn.

Rachel's Tomb is an undisputed Jewish holy site. But in the 1990s, Muslims made up a fairy tale that it is actually a Muslim shrine, a lie purely meant to erase Jewish claims to the site.

St. James Church doesn't give a damn.

Now, let's look at some other Jewish communities that are forced to be far more surrounded by the barrier in order to protect human lives, more lives that St. James' Church doesn't give a damn about:

Elkana and surrounding areas:


Tal Menashe and surrounding communities:


Not to mention the Jewish communities who are not protected by the security barrier and that must build their own fences to protect themselves from murderous Arab terrorists.

How come no Arab communities feel it is necessary build fences to protect themselves from Israeli attacks?

Yes, there is a besieged people in the Middle East. A people who must build often ugly fences and walls to protect themselves. Those people are not the Arabs of Bethlehem.

And the charitable people at St. James Church don't say a word when those people are attacked, bombed, shot at and killed.

The hypocrisy is nauseating..

A call to teach all Egyptian students about the Protocols of the Elders of Zion

A student leader in Egypt, Mohammed Jamal Kaht, has called for the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to be part of the official Egyptian high school curriculum. He also called for very Egyptian household to obtain a copy of the famous antisemitic work.

Why?

To realize the danger around us. Many are not aware that for mob rule over us is what is sought by our enemies and their dream is for our countries to fall, one behind the other, for their chance to destroy it, and plunder their wealth.

Do not think that Jews are only those who live in Palestine, but they are merely an interface for the groups whose secret aim is to control the world.

On May 20, 1920, the newspaper Times of London published an article on "The danger of the Jews", and the writer demanded every British citizen get a copy of the minutes of the meetings of the Jews called Protocols of the Elders of Zion, to realize the extent of the danger of Jews to Britain, and then decide - Is it possible to trust them?

Egypt is targeted with a new plot to overthrow it, and the deviant group and their agents in the region are being helped by young people who have never read the Protocols of Zion.
Just some more unchallenged Jew-hatred in the mainstream Egyptian media. Nothing to see here.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

  • Thursday, December 26, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon

"Palestine" threatens to join 63 international organizations if Jews build houses

PLO member Saeb Erekat has threatened that if Israel approves additional building in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, as has been rumored for next week, then the PLO will join 63 international organizations, including the International Criminal Court.

He said "We condemn this strongly and we would consider it as blowing up the peace process."

It has been pointed out that the ICC is not likely to want to rule on Jews building houses. Also, it appears that the PLO already had accepted the jurisdiction of the court in 2009, and its 2012 status as a non-voting member of the UN might mean that Erekat's main threat is baseless - it is already there.

I am wondering, however, what the other 62 organizations might be?

Well, it just so happens that Maldives is a member of exactly 63 international organizations. That list is probably a good approximation of the ones Erekat is referring to. Obviously the South Asia-specific organizations are not likely to be on Erekat's list, but the list does us an idea of what this threat actually is.

Get ready to tremble in fear:

1 World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)
2 Bureau International des Expositions (BIE)
3 Asia Pacific Central Security Depositary Group (A.G.C)
4 Multilateral Investment Gurantee Agency (MIGA)
5 South Asian Insuarance Regulators Forum
6 Commonwealth Parliamentarian Association (CPA)
7 Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI)
8 World Customs Organization (WCO) (Also called Customs Cooperation Council)
9 World Trade Organization (WTO)
10 Global Environment Facility (GEF)
11 UNEP / INFORTERRA Network
12 Asian Youth Council
13 Association of Management Development Institution in South Asia (AMDISA)
14 World Assembly of Youth
15 Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union
16 Commonwealth of Learning (COL)
17 International Textile and Clothing Bureau
18 International Organization for Folk Art (lOFA)
19 United Nations Industrial Development Organization(UNIDO)
20 Unified Hijree Calender Committee
21 Inter-governmental Organization for Marketing Information and Technical Advisory Services for Fishing Products in the Asia & Pacific Region (INFOFISH)
22 Asian Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
23 Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD)
24 Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation (CFTC)
25 International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL)
26 Airports Council International
27 Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development
28 South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)
29 International Finance Corporation (IFC)
30 Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP)
31 The Commonwealth: Full Membership
32 The Commonwealth: Special Membership
33 Asia Pacific Postal Union (APPU)
34 WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones
35 South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme (SACEP)
36 World Tourism Organization (WTO)
37 UN/Ad-Hoc Committee on the Indian Ocean
38 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
39 Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT)
40 Islamic Development Bank (IDB)
41 International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD)
42 Indian Ocean Fishery Commission (IOFC)
43 World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
44 Asian Development Bank (ADB)
45 International Development Association (IDA)
46 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank)
47 International Monetary Fund (lMF)
48 Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)
49 Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
50 Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)
51 International Civil Aviation Organization (lCAO)
52 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
53 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
54 United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF)
55 Universal Postal Union (UPU)
56 International Maritime Organization (lMO)
57 International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
58 World Health Organization (WHO)
59 United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
60 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
61 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
62 United Nations (UN)
63 Colombo Plan

PLO membership in most of these institutions is not likely to cause great concern (and it is already member of some.) When they try to politicize some of these - as they did with UNESCO - it could cause a backlash against them from Western countries who do not want to see these organizations turned into circuses.

12/26 Links Pt2: Druze MK- Israel offers full rights to all, Haaretz are Debasing the Warsaw Uprising.

From Ian:
Hamad Amar: Israel offers full rights to all
"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," former U.S. President John F. Kennedy famously said at his inaugural address in 1961. These immortal words, meant to inspire societal and national contribution, are completely lost on Arab Israeli leaders like Ahmad Tibi.
In his piece on The Hill's Congress blog, “Israel’s ‘Jim Crow’ treatment of Palestinians continues”, Tibi once again maligns and libels the country which he purports and is paid to serve, not only as a elected official, but also as the Deputy Speaker of Israel’s parliament.
Perhaps more than anyone else, Tibi represents all that is wrong with parts of the Israeli Arab leadership. Rather than encourage integration among our community, the community of Arabic-speaking Israeli citizens, Tibi supports segregation, calling for the complete ostracism of any Israeli Arab who volunteers for national civilian service. (Amar is a Druze citizen of Israel and deputy speaker of the Knesset.)
Isi Leibler: Debasing the Warsaw Ghetto uprising
Haaretz’s unprofessionalism is simply inexcusable.
In its zeal to undermine the core principles of Zionism, it has done irrevocable damage. The distortion of facts, and outright lies, have aided our enemies and confused our friends, including Jews living in the Diaspora with limited understanding of Jewish or Israeli history. The Gat article demonstrates to what depths Haaretz will sink, twisting the facts – even of Holocaust history – to provoke its readers and disallow them even the smallest measure of Jewish pride.
Freedom of the press allows Haaretz, like any newspaper in Israel, the right to publish what it deems fit. However, newspapers are dependent on readers and the rapidly diminishing number of Haaretz subscribers should do what is necessary and take the most effective steps to influence the publisher and editor to prevent the paper from serving as a launching pad for enemies of Israel and the Jewish people.
Crisis in South Sudan
Israel has been a supporter of the South Sudanese since before independence and has been keen to develop relations with the country. Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman illustrated that with a phone call to South Sudan Foreign Minister Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin on Tuesday, saying he hoped the conflict would end soon and that Israel was prepared to send humanitarian assistance.
American Jewish Committee Executive Director David Harris has expressed support for the UN’s robust response.
“The US and international community were essential to creating the conditions for South Sudan’s independence, and now will be critical to ending the bloodshed, and to stabilizing the country and setting it on a hopeful course,” said Harris. These responses by Israel and by Jewish leaders are a step in the right direction. It is essential that US President Barack Obama and other world leaders speak out about this issue. The world has a chance to show that the mistakes of the 1990s in ignoring genocide in Africa will not be repeated.
Human Rights Gets It Wrong
When the United Kingdom's Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, Sadiq Khan, personally intervened to stop Babar Ahmad's extradition, what, then, did that mean? Is that Khan believed Ahmad to be innocent? Or is it that this politician -- who will most likely, under the next government, be the minister in charge of the Ministry of Justice -- believed the United States of America's judicial system is so institutionally corrupt that it will imprison an innocent man? Now that Ahmad has pleaded guilty, what does Khan believe now?
Likewise, for the broadsheet newspaper editors who offered Ahmad column inches, and for the "human rights" groups who joined arms with extremist institutions in opposing Ahmad's extradition, what does Ahmad's guilty plea mean?
Will these self-proclaimed champions of liberalism, human rights, and habeas corpus also offer their time to Ahmad's victims -- the women and children slaughtered by the very Taliban fighters to whom Ahmad's supplied money and personnel?
The Samer Issawi Test
Palestinian prisoner Samer Issawi, released by Israeli authorities for the second time yesterday, is an important test case for journalists. His high profile case, helped along by his months-long on and off hunger strike as well as a concerted publicity campaign, has garnered international media attention, with journalists churning out detailed accounts about his medical condition and his releases.
Less predictable, however, is the manner in which media outlets cover his violent crimes which landed him in jail in the first place. Many media outlets downplay or entirely ignore the fact that he was imprisoned for attempted murder.
More ‘last-first’ reporting in BBC account of sniper attack on Gaza border
As has also been the case in prior BBC articles relating to recent violent incidents, no serious attempt is made in this report to inform readers of the context of escalating numbers of terror attacks and security incidents emanating from the Gaza Strip and in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria in recent months. By treating each of the random cases it does decide to report (usually those involving fatalities) as separate, unrelated incidents – and whilst ignoring many others – the BBC denies audiences a complete picture of the background of rising tensions in the region and the ability to understand Israeli reactions to incidents in their proper context.
The evening before Tuesday’s incident on the Gaza Strip border, a policeman directing traffic after a road accident was stabbed in the back by a Palestinian attacker near the community of Adam, north of Jerusalem. After surgery which included the removal of a damaged kidney, Rami Ravid’s condition improved. That incident was not reported by the BBC.
Netanyahu’s Office Disappointed That Abbas Has Not Condemned Recent Terror Attacks
On Tuesday, a 22- year-old Israeli working on the security fence surrounding the Gaza Strip was shot and killed by a sniper firing from within Gaza.
“We are disappointed that so far Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] has not condemned these acts as we would expect from someone who is supposed to be a partner in peace talks,” wrote spokesman Ofir Gendelman.
Mothers of terror victims go on offensive against impending Palestinian prisoner release
Sherri Mandell – whose 13-year-old son Koby was violently murdered in Tekoa in 2001 along with his friend Yosef Ish-Ran – said the upcoming release served as evidence that the nation had lost its moral compass and subjugated itself to American pressure.
“We’re living in a country with a lack of ethics and justice,” said Mandell with thinly veiled contempt. “We have succumbed to America’s demands, and they would never do this. Let them release prisoners from Guantanamo Bay if they want peace with Afghanistan!” She beseeched the public to inundate Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu with posts on his Facebook page to denounce the ongoing releases and prevent future episodes.
Canadian PM to Speak at the Knesset
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will speak at the Knesset during his upcoming visit to Israel, which will begin on January 20, Shalom Toronto reported on Wednesday.
Harper will lead a delegation of some 200 people, including Canadian journalists, the report said.
UK – BDS fail. BIG time
In spite of these BDS actions business is looking very good for SodaStream who announced that their profits have risen more than three-fold since 2009. The group booked sales of over $436 million last year, with net profit up 18 percent to $44 million.
Queen of the kitchen and TV cooking Loraine Pascale has sparked a monumental sales increase in the retro kitchen gadget the SodaStream.
The Baking Made Easy presenter declared ‘Oh yes, it’s official. Bubbles…are back’ on her twitter feed sending fans heading for the SodaStream website to snap up the latest must-have kitchen gadget.
Stylish soft drinks maker, SodaStream, has seen sales of its Source machine nearly double in the past week after Lorraine was the latest star to tweet about using the drinks maker.
Buffett Donates $10 Million to Haifa Hospital
The contribution was announced by Eitan Wertheimer, according to Globes business newspaper. Buffet paid the Wertheimer family $6 billion in 2006 and this past May for all of the shares of the Iscar toolmaking company, his first acquisition in Israel.
His closeness with the Wertheimers and his stated love of Israel as a pot of gold for investors now has paid off for Rambam.
easyJet to launch Tel Aviv-Paris route - report
Low-cost carrier easyJet plc (LSE:EZJ) will operate six weekly flights to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport starting in the summer, reports "Yediot Ahronot."
The route between Ben Gurion Airport and Paris will be the ninth European destination offered by easyJet. In recent weeks, the low cost carrier announced new routes to Milan, starting May, London Gatwick starting April and Berlin starting February.
3D-printed Cosyflex panties to debut in Israel
Tamar Giloh did not set out to commercialize a futuristic fabric made on a three-dimensional printer for pennies.
Though global makers of everything from swimwear to footwear are beating down the door to get access to her patented, stretchable Cosyflex material, Giloh began with a very simple quest to invent a better form of feminine protection.
Eli Ben Zaken, wine entrepreneur
Ben Zaken’s winery, Domaine du Castel, is located on a plot of land beneath his home on the moshav (cooperative village) of Ramat Raziel. It is there that the 69-year-old former restaurateur and his four adult sons have been producing some of the best wines in the country since 1983. These include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Petit Verdot.
But Ben Zaken does not see himself as a maverick in the industry. “I’m a hitchhiker,” he says.
Perhaps. Nevertheless, Ben Zaken was one of two Israelis to be honored with the French National Order of Agricultural Merit this year. The prestigious award was presented to Ben Zaken and Ben-Gurion University’s Professor Pedro Berliner at the French Embassy in Tel Aviv on November 27.
Israeli USB stick inventor bets on TV, medical devices
Israeli high-tech pioneer Dov Moran, whose company M-Systems invented the USB stick and expanded the use of flash memory that today drives most electronic devices, is turning his sights to television and medical equipment.
"We are at the beginning of a new era. We will be more computerised, better connected and healthier," said Moran, 58, considered a founding father of Israel's high-tech sector, one of the country's main growth drivers.
Netanyahu to hail Israeli cyber industry at World Economic Forum
Netanyahu will make a speech at a special session titled "Israel's Economy." The prime minister is expected, among other subjects, to discuss Israel's cyber industry, which is among the world's most advanced.
The Davos forum is considered one of the most important stages for global economic issues. Netanyahu is also expected to hold a series of meetings with other heads of state and CEOs of global companies to encourage investment in the Israeli high-tech industry, and in other fields as well.
Gilat awarded $129 million projects in South America
Gilat Satellite Networks, a leader in satellite networking technology, has been awarded two multi-year projects valued at $129-million in Colombia and Peru.
The Israeli company that makes equipment for sending and receiving satellite transmissions will provide Colombia’s Ministry of Information and Technology (MINTIC) Connectivity Division with deployment and connectivity services to rural communities and schools and will design, setup and implement a network as part of the Integracion Amazonica Loreto initiative in Peru.
USC digitally remasters Holocaust testimonial tapes
Eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust believed to be lost forever may soon be restored, according to experts at the University of Southern California’s Shoah Foundation.
The foundation, following the completion of a multi-year effort to digitize its archive of 52,000 Holocaust testimonies, is now beginning the process of digitally restoring the approximately 5 percent of tapes that it previously thought were irretrievable.
Between 1994 and 1999, the foundation’s staff interviewed tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors and eyewitnesses on analog tapes, which have since begun to degrade.
  • Thursday, December 26, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon

Muslim cleric calls Christians "the scum of the earth"

Who is going to tell him he is dressed like Santa Claus?
Tunisian cleric Adel Almi has called for his country's citizens not to celebrate Christmas, saying that it is forbidden for Muslims to take Christian or Jewish customs. He quoted the Quranic verse saying that Christians and Jews will not be satisfied until Muslims take their religion.

He added, "Islam teaches the world not to take on the outdated customs of the scum of the earth."

Adel Almi heads "The Association of Moderation Awareness and Reform."

He recently called for a Tunisian woman who posted topless photos on Facebook as a protest for women's rights to be stoned to death.

  • Thursday, December 26, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon

EoZ quarterly roundup



At this time of the year we are seeing lots of blogs and organizations asking for money. Somehow, the ones that hate Israel attract tens of thousands of dollars.

Juan Cole, the third-rate "academic" who simply makes things up, has already raised $25,000.

I recently noted that the antisemitic Mondoweiss site received $60,000 from a very shady yet respected anti-Zionist Ron Unz, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars to other anti-Zionists.

Somehow, those who hate Israel seem to be able to raise lots and lots of cash.

Isn't that supposed to be the Zionist specialty?

Meanwhile, EoZ keeps moving along, even without raising tens of thousands of dollars and a full time staff.

Both Honest Reporting and CAMERA listed the BBC defending their story about how Omar Mishrawi died as among the top ten biggest examples of media bias this year. I broke that story.

This quarter I also exposed Michael Bell's lies in the Globe and Mail, which prompted a correction. I demolished a Karl Vick article in Time magazine for his making up facts.

 I fisked the NYT. I showed Roger Cohen's bias yet again. And again. And Thomas Friedman's.

I continued to expose "fauxtography."

Media bias is only one of the many topics I cover, however. I also confront respected NGOs with evidence of their own anti-Israel bias.

I proved conclusively that Amnesty is biased against Israel, and my conversation with an Amnesty researcher confirmed it beyond a doubt.

I had online conversations with the ICRC's Middle East representative exposing the absurd definition of "occupation" that the organization has for Israel, and only Israel.

I also showed the hypocrisy and inconsistency of HRW and Amnesty in their support of the fictional "right of return" and how they ignore specific Middle East human rights issues that don't involve alleged Israeli violations.

Not to mention calling out UNRWA officials for their own bias and the UN itself for its hypocrisy.

And I wrote a whitepaper on how the EU is throwing millions of dollars away on Palestinian NGOs that do not adhere to the EU's own standards for peace.

That would be enough to make any journalist happy. But it is only the beginning of that I did this quarter, and what I do every quarter.

I went to Israel and exploded the biggest Gaza myth of all. (And others will follow.)

I exposed the anti-Israel curriculum being created for Irish schools and the many lies within (plus a poster.)

I also exposed far-left fanaticism and hypocrisy.

I started a project (which I need much more time for) to expose human rights issues in the Middle East that are being ignored by major HR NGOs.

Petitions that I had created about Arab antisemitisim, which human rights organizations ignore, were delivered to Amnesty and HRW.

I continued to create topical cartoons. I continued to make exclusive videos. I continued to make posters. I continued to demolish myths as fast as the other side makes them up. I continued to expose antisemitism, both from the Muslim world and the West.

And I must mention Ian's linkdumps, which are an astonishingly complete roundup of articles from around the Web that he posts daily.

I have been told that EoZ is an invaluable resource for people who need to find out the truth about what is going on in Israel and the Arab world - a truth that unfortunately is not being reported in the mainstream media.

If you agree, and you consider this blog required reading, please consider donating or paying for a subscription. Or, if you prefer, send an  Amazon(US) gift card which can be emailed to me.

Again, thanks for your support. Your retweets, Facebook "likes," links from other blogs and from sites such as Reddit as well as email forwards help spread the truth and combat the lies.

12/26 Links Pt1: Israeli journalists banned from Bethlehem, Are Erdoğan's Days Numbered?

From Ian:
Khaled Abu Toameh: No Christmas spirit in the West Bank: Israeli journalists banned from celebrations
The Palestinian Authority said on Tuesday that it expelled Israeli journalists who came to Bethlehem to cover Christmas celebrations.
The PA Ministry of Information said the decision was taken at the request of Palestinian journalists, who protested against the presence of their Israeli colleagues at Manger Square in the city.
The journalists who were kicked out of Bethlehem worked for Haaretz, i-24 News, Channel 1 and Arutz Sheva, the ministry said.
Palestinian journalists praised the PA police for ordering the Israelis out of the city.
Arafat died of natural causes, Russian experts say
The conclusion came was in line with findings by French experts who earlier this month ruled out the possibility that Arafat died of poisoning, as some had suspected.
“Yasser Arafat died not from the effects of radiation but of natural causes,” Vladimir Uiba, head of the Federal Medico-Biological Agency (FMBA), said according to the Russian Interfax news service. (Broken on EOZ first!)
Turkish Local Court Rejects Mavi Marmara Compensation Suit
A local Turkish court in the city of Kayseri rejected a compensation suit filed over the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, the Herriyet Daily News reported Wednesday.
Relatives of Furkan Doğan, one of the Turkish citizens killed in the raid, had requested 4 million Turkish Liras of compensation from Israel. However, the court rejected the claim, stating that Israel cannot be tried in a Turkish court.
Jerusalem plays down Turkish report that 'Mavi Marmara' compensation deal 'almost' complete
While there has been progress in talks to normalize relations with Turkey over the last few weeks, diplomatic officials stopped well short of confirming a Turkish newspaper report Wednesday that compensation talks between the countries over the Mavi Marmara incident were “nearly finalized.”
“There has been progress,” said one official informed of the talks, adding however that reports of an imminent deal were “premature.”
The daily Hurriyet quoted a Turkish diplomat Wednesday as saying that compensation talks for the Mavi Marmara have been “almost finalized” at a meeting last week in Istanbul.
None hurt after Kassam fired at Ashkelon area
Red alert sirens wailed through the region before the missile hit, for the second time this week.
The rocket came amid heightened tensions between Israel and the Palestinians following a string of attacks against Israeli civilians, police officers and soldiers, and Israeli retaliatory strikes against Gaza on Tuesday.
Earlier Wednesday, the IDF deployed an Iron Dome missile interception battery to the area near the southern cities of Beersheba and Sderot, and on Thursday put a third battery near Ashdod.
IDF commander: We know an attack from Gaza will involve multiple threats
Operating under the southern Gaza territorial division, the Company, established in 2003, is equipped with a range of heavy armored vehicles, such as D-9 armored bulldozers, armored personnel carriers, and drilling equipment.
Its members join infantry and armored units, and act as trailblazers for military forces, clearing paths in areas with bombs in them, exposing and destroying attack tunnels, and joining daily border patrols.
“We practiced all of the potential scenarios. We understand that if we come under attack, it will be a complex event involving multiple, combined threats, rather than one pinpoint attack,” Levi said. “We could be dealing with an explosives incident while coming under full attack from projectiles and gunfire. We could face an attempted kidnapping.”
Demonstration at Spot where Cop was Stabbed
Dozens of residents of the community of Adam, just north of Jerusalem, held a protest rally Tuesday night at Adam Roundabout, near the community of Adam, following the stabbing of a policeman there on Monday. The policeman, officer Rami Ravid, has lost a kidney as a result of the stabbing.
The head of the Binyamin Regional Council, Avi Roeh, said at the rally: “We call upon the government of Israel and the prime minister from here, to snap out of it and defeat the terrorism. This situation cannot go on. The government of Israel must bring back security to the residents.”
Gilad Shalit calls for release of Jonathan Pollard
Former captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit wrote in an open letter Wednesday that all Israelis should demand that the United States free jailed American-Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, joining 106 Knesset members in calling for his release after 28 years of incarceration.
“After Israel has released terrorists with blood on their hands as a gesture to the Palestinians, a return gesture is all that is being requested,” Shalit said in his open letter, published on Ynet.
Report: Hamas attack thwarted by Egyptian army
Egyptian security forces arrested "a Palestinian belonging to Hamas who illegally entered Egypt... in a car with North Sinai license plate," according to Ali.
He added that during interrogations, the suspect "confessed he planned to blow up (his car) in front of a strategic security building,"
Egypt's army says militants from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip have staged joint attacks with hardline Islamists in North Sinai, where the government has ramped up security operations after a surge of violence set off by deposed President Mohamed Morsi's ouster in July.
Explosion hits bus in Egyptian capital
Security officials said an explosion has hit a public bus in the Egyptian capital Cairo, wounding five people.
There were also unconfirmed reports of one death, according to Egyptian news site al-Ahram.
The officials said the blast went off Thursday morning as the bus passed through Cairo’s eastern Nasr City district. They said the cause was still uncertain but they suspected an explosive device was thrown at the bus or set nearby.
Pentagon to Israel: Sway Congress against Egypt cuts
An Israeli request to US legislators to restore all American military aid to Egypt was orchestrated at the behest of high-ranking US officials in the Pentagon and the US State Department.
According to a report in Maariv on Wednesday, the Israeli effort came about after US officials, including some who are close to US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, urged Jerusalem to help influence Congress against the cuts.
Former prime minister of Egypt arrested
Kandil was appointed prime minister in July 2012.
In July 2013 an appeals court endorsed a ruling that dismissed Kandil from office and sentenced him to a year in prison over a case concerning a state-owned textile company that was sold to a private investor. Morsi, who was president at the time, was removed by a military coup later the same day.
Obama Withdraws Egyptian Ambassador Nominee Under Pressure From Egypt Military
Sources familiar with the matter say that Robert Ford — the highly-respected, Arabic-speaking career diplomat and current ambassador to Syria — was withdrawn from consideration for the Cairo post after some representatives of Egypt’s military regime quietly indicated that they didn’t want him in the job because of his stated willingness to negotiate with some of Syria’s Islamist militants and political groups.
Israel tracks Syria's Western jihadis, worried about their return
Israel is working with allies abroad to track Westerners fighting in Syria, concerned that such militants could attack Israeli or Jewish targets once back home, a senior Israeli official said on Tuesday.
Of an estimated 10,000 foreign combatants among rebels battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, around 20 percent are from the West and that number is rising, the official said.
Syrian Jihadist Leader Targeted UN Workers
The leader of a powerful Al-Qaeda group fighting in Syria sought to kidnap United Nations workers and scrawled out plans for his aides to take over in the event of his death, The Associated Press (AP) reported on Wednesday.
The report is based on excerpts of letters obtained by the news agency. Iraqi intelligence officials offered AP the letters, as well as the first known photograph of the Al-Nusra Front leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani.
Barry Rubin: Obama Administration Iran Deal Cannot Work
For example, revolutionary Islamists do not make concessions. That is not the way they bargain. Islamist Iran will never stop seeking nuclear weapons; it will be patient about it. The real danger to the Iranian regime is economic collapse from sanctions, and the potential gain would be for Iran to achieve its true ambitions–mainly, a Shi'a bloc made of Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq; and the destruction of Israel, which won't work.
Egypt played it tough and will probably be the only Arab state that has gained anything. Nevertheless, the Egyptians have so lost confidence with the United States that they just signed a 2 million dollar agreement to buy weapons from Russia. This takes the world back almost 60 years, to 1955, when Egypt was a Soviet client and was buying all its arms from the Soviet Union. Egypt then managed to obtain Russian arms deals for money and yet a U.S. arms deal for free!
Steinitz: Sunni-Shi’ite nuke race will result if Iranian program isn’t stopped
If Iran remains a nuclear threshold state, there will be a Sunni- Shi’ite nuclear arms race, Intelligence and Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Wednesday.
Any agreement with world powers must dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, he continued at a conference on Regional Upheavals, held by the Israel and Middle East studies department at Ariel University.
“The Middle East has gone mad,” said Steinitz, adding that nobody had expected what has happened in the Middle East over the past few years.
Iranians draft bill to up enrichment to 60 percent
Iranian parliamentarians have proposed a bill to increase uranium enrichment to 60 percent in the event of new Western sanctions, the Iranian Press TV reported Wednesday. In addition to raising the enrichment level significantly, the draft, signed by 100 legislators, would resume activity at the Arak heavy water reactor.
“If the bill is approved, the government will be obliged to complete nuclear infrastructure at the Fordo and Natanz [enrichment facilities] if sanctions [against Iran] are ratcheted up, new sanctions are imposed, the country’s nuclear rights are violated and the Islamic Republic of Iran’s peaceful nuclear rights are ignored by members of the P5+1,” Seyyed Mehdi Mousavinejad, an Iranian lawmaker, said on Wednesday, according to Press TV.
Turkey: Are Erdoğan's Days Numbered?
Long-brewing political struggles within the ruling AK party have also surfaced. They boil down to two radically different views of Islam. In the first, Erdoğan's faction identifies and allies itself with the [Arab] Muslim Brotherhood. This faction was strongly supportive of the ousted Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood President Muhammad Morsi, and also of Syria's fundamentalists. In the second view, supporters of the Fethullah Gülen look down upon "Arab Islam." To them, "real" Islam is "the Islam of the Turks - meaning the people who live in Turkey, Central Asia, and Western China."
To the outsider, these differences might seem to be distinctions without differences: supporters of both views understandably want Islam to be a major part of the political order. But for Turks, these differences are seismic: the question is, do they belong to the Middle Eastern Arab and Muslim political camp, or do they belong to the wider Turkish world?
Erdogan replaces 10 ministers amid corruption scandal
Erdogan replaced Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan, Interior Minister Muammer Guler and Erdogan Bayraktar, the minister for the environment and urban planning. All three men’s sons were detained as part of the corruption investigation. They all deny any wrongdoing.
Erdogan also replaced the minister in charge of relations with the European Union, who was also been implicated in the scandal, but has not resigned.
In all, Erdogan replaced 10 ministers, including three who will contest mayoral elections in March.
Turkey requests Santa Claus’ bones from Pope
The Turkey-based Santa Claus Peace Council has said it has written a letter to Pope Francis, requesting the return of the bones of Saint Nicholas.
Council Chairman Muammer Karabulut said they were expecting Pope Francis to give a positive response to their request to have a meeting on the bones, which are currently in Bari, Italy.
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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 19 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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