Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, December 30, 2013

2013 sees Jordan go from coddling Hamas to spurning it

In January, Jordan's king was publicly trying to mainstream Hamas to the world. At the World Economic Forum he claimed that Hamas was "more open than ever" to dialogue with Israel, and a few days afterwards he claimed that Hamas accepted a two-state solution.

Of course, Hamas immediately and vehemently denied both reports, but it shows that King Abdullah was trying to mainstream Hamas as it was being propped up by Egypt and actively supplanting the PA diplomatically.

Things are quite different today.

The chairman of Jordan's Foreign Affairs Committee in its parliament said that Jordan has no intention to normalize relations with Hamas, and that its political leader Khaled Meshal was unwelcome in the kingdom.

In January, moderate Arab states were afraid that Islamists would ride the Arab Spring wave and take over all of the Middle East, so acting in a conciliatory way seemed to be a wise move to stay alive politically. Now, after Egypt's popular coup, the Islamists are the ones running scared and being marginalized again - as they were in the 20th century.

Reverberations echo widely.

Too bad that same lesson is not being learned in the West as far as Shiite fundamentalism is concerned.

12/30 Links Pt1: Hamas calls Abbas Illegitimate, 20 Threats by Iranian Leaders Against Israel in 2013

From Ian:

Football Jihad: The media misses the key point over Anelka's antisemitic gesture

However, most reports avoid the background on the antisemitic French 'comedian' and holocaust denier Dieudonne M’bala M’bala** (see, e.g. here and here). He is the one who invented ‘la quenelle', and he has a string of convictions in French courts for antisemitism, including just last week being found guilty of incitement to hatred and racial discrimination - a conviction which apparently triggered Anelka's response. Hence, not a single report has pointed out the curious nature of the 'defence' used by Anelka (and his club) that he was 'only making a dedication to his comedian friend'. On that basis any public figure doing a Nazi salute could justify it by claiming it is only a dedication to their friend Adolf Hitler for the unjust treatment he got from the media.

The Guardian whitewashes antisemitism of Nicolas Anelka pal, Dieudonné

The Guardian stands alone in whitewashing the “comedian’s” clear record of anti-Jewish rhetoric – another antisemitic sin of omission at the “liberal” broadsheet which has, by now, achieved a well-earned reputation for such curious moral blind spots.

French NBA star Tony Parker also panned for Nazi-like salute

“As a leading sports figure on both sides of the Atlantic, Parker has a special moral obligation to disassociate himself from a gesture that the government of France has identified as anti-Semitic,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Wiesenthal Center’s told the website Algemeiner.

More after the jump.

Saudi gift to Lebanese army :The beginning of a game-changer

From WSJ:

Saudi Arabia pledged $3 billion to bolster Lebanon's armed forces, in a challenge to the Iranian-allied Hezbollah militia's decadeslong status as Lebanon's main power broker and security force.

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman revealed the Saudi gift on Lebanese national television Sunday, calling it the largest aid package ever to the country's defense bodies. The Saudi pledge compares with Lebanon's 2012 defense budget, which the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute put at $1.7 billion.

Lebanon would use the Saudi grant to buy "newer and more modern weapons," from France, said Mr. Sleiman, an independent who has become increasingly critical of Hezbollah. It followed what he called "decades of unsuccessful efforts" to build a credible Lebanese national defense force.

As a direct challenge to Hezbollah, the Saudi gift—and the Lebanese president's acceptance—has potential to change the balance of power in Lebanon and the region. It also threatens to raise sectarian and political tensions further in a region already made volatile by the three-year, heavily sectarian civil war next door in Syria.

This is a huge story for a number of reasons.

First of all, it is a power play by Saudi Arabia against Iran. Lebanon was considered a lost cause because of Hezbollah's military dominance and the West's lack of engagement in Syria. This gift instantly creates a powerful foil to the Iran/Hezbollah military axis in Lebanon and Syria.

Secondly, it shows that Saudi Arabia has decided to partially fill the vacuum being left by the current US hands-off policy in the Middle East (except, of course, "peace process" in which the White House has seemingly embraced the bizarre and discredited concept of "linkage.") Since no one can rely on America anymore in the Middle East, the Gulf countries are deciding to take matters into their own hands.

Thirdly, it shows that money can be just as important for power politics as military might. Saudi Arabia has cash, and now it is showing that it is willing to use it.

Fourthly, it might actually give a chance for the Lebanese army sometime in the future to enforce UNSC 1701 which is meant to disarm Hezbollah. This won't happen anytime soon; the Lebanese understandably have no stomach for another civil war, but Lebanon now has a chance to re-assert its sovereignty over its Iranian-controlled south.

The psychological effect of this move can be seen almost immediately:

The Lebanese army opened anti-aircraft fire on Monday at Syrian warplanes that hovered the eastern border town of Arsal.

According to state-run National News Agency, the Syrian warplanes prompted the Lebanese army to respond after it raided Khirbet Daoud, which lies in the Eastern Mountain Range in an area adjacent to the barren mountains of the town of Arsal.

LBCI reported that Syrian warplanes hit the area with three rockets.

It was the first time since the outbreak of the Syria's conflict three years ago that the Lebanese military took action to prevent Syrian warplanes from violating its airspace.

Would this have happened before the announcement of the aid? It seems unlikely.

As US influence fades, the pieces are moving and alliances are shifting into what will probably be a complicated balance of Shiite, Sunni moderate, Sunni radical and Israeli spheres of influence in the region. Russia and some EU countries will probably want to be involved to some extent as well., and there are plenty of wildcards like Turkey. The sheer number of possible moves makes every specific move far more significant - and potentially dangerous - than during the era of US hegemony.

The biggest loser is the US, and its missteps in the region will take decades to repair, if ever.

The truth about fishing in Gaza

One of the most-mentioned anti-Israel topics is how Israel, by enforcing a six nautical mile sea blockade on Gaza, is stopping Gazans from being able to catch the fish that is so critical to their food supply. We are told that the best fish are past the six-mile zone and Israel is trying to starve Gazans. A new report from PCHR reportedly claims says that Gaza fishermen income has gone down 85% because of Israeli restrictions.

As usual, the truth is a bit different.

In fact, the entire Mediterranean has seen a marked downturn in the number of fish available. The main reason is simple - overfishing.

Traditionally, most fish have been caught within one mile of shore. Overfishing and bottom-trawling have turned large parts of the Mediterranean into virtual deserts, as the fishing methods used smooth out the natural spots for fish to lay eggs. After mature fish disappear from an ecosystem, overfishinggoes after the young fish and further disrupt the ability to naturally restock.

In Gaza, the number of fishermen are not regulated and thousands of boats are engaged in destroying the fishing ecosystem.

In other words, the reason that the fish supply in Gaza is so low is because Gaza fishermen are depleting the supply much faster than they can be replenished. This has nothing to do with Israel and it is a problem throughout the region.

Gaza has an additional problem in that raw sewage is being poured into the sea, which also destroys fish.

NGO bias against Israel ensures that they will ignore the actual biological facts about the Mediterranean and instead blame Israel, as always. The irony is that a smart fishing policy could, over years, help bring biodiversity - and fish - back to the coast of Gaza. But instead, these NGOs who could be helping find a solution are instead trying to ensure that the few fish remaining will disappear altogether - a very real prospect - because they would rather blame Israel than help fix the real underlying problem.

There is another unreported angle to this story. Israel is helping keep Gaza supplied with fish.

A fish farm in Gaza

Israel has pioneered the creation of fish farms in the desert. In Gaza, Israel has lent expertise and other help with building fish farms - farms that now supply some 30-40% of Gaza's fish, according to COGAT officials I spoke with. Some of the fish farms have cameras operated remotely by Israelis so they can watch and ensure that the proper processes are being used. This is a necessary move to ensure an adequate fish supply in the absence of any sane fishing policy by Hamas.

While the haters love to charge Israel with arbitrarily and capriciously destroying Gaza's fish supply, the truth is quite different.

A violent video to celebrate Fatah's terror anniversary

As I've mentioned before, January 1 is the 49th anniversary of Fatah's first terror attack. No one seems to know the anniversary of Fatah's founding - Fatah terrorism is all any Arab cares to celebrate.

In honor of the occasion, a Palestinian Arab singer created this video highlighting - what else? - Fatah militarism and violence.

The lyrics are nothing special:

I’m proud of the sons of Fatah/The coat of arms of which is the keffiyeh/with the olive branch and gun/I’ll protect the homeland with weapons in my hand
Our weapons are Abu Mazen and strong will/loving you streams in my veins...
We’ve learned from the old man (i.e. Arafat) what is freedom/How to sacrifice all that is dear to us and not to give up on the cause
Abu Ammar (i.e. Arafat) taught us what is freedom/How to sacrifice all that is dear to us and not to give up on the cause
We’re proud of this Fatah salute/greeting/May Allah protect you of fedayeen brothers/....Whatever happens, you are our identity...

But the visuals show the importance of violence for the culture of Fatah.

I like the tiny nod to Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) among the dozens of video clips of Arafat while calling him a "weapon."

Also the shooting at the ground is a nice touch.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

19,200 new immigrants to Israel this year

From Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

According to data compiled by The Jewish Agency for Israel and the Israel Ministry of Immigration and Absorption, some 19,200 immigrants arrived in Israel in 2013, a modest increase from the 18,940 who arrived in 2012.

2013 saw an overall increase of 35% in Aliyah from western Europe, with the arrival of 4,390 immigrants this year as opposed to 3,258 in 2012. The most dramatic increase was noted in Aliyah from France, which saw the arrival of 3,120 immigrants as opposed to 1,916 last year thanks to the Israel experience programs for French Jewish youth and Aliyah encouragement efforts amongst the French Jewish community. 2013 also saw the arrival of some 3,000 immigrants from North America, and 1,240 immigrants from Latin America in 2013 - a 34% increase over last year's 926.

The largest group of immigrants to Israel in 2013 came from the former Soviet Union and numbered 7,520 as well as 270 immigrants came from eastern Europe.

An increase in Aliyah in 2013 was noted elsewhere, as well: 265 immigrants came from Oceania (primarily Australia and New Zealand), a 46% increase over the 182 who came in 2012, and 204 immigrants came to Israel from South Africa, a 19% increase over last year's 172. 245 immigrants came to Israel from Middle Eastern countries in 2013, a 4% increase over last year's 236. 74 came from Turkey, similar to the number in 2012.

Aliyah from Ethiopia was down 44% due to the conclusion of Operation Dove's Wings, which brought the remainder of those who have been deemed eligible to immigrate to Israel and which saw the arrival of 1,360 immigrants this year, compared to 2,432 last year.

Another striking characteristic of this year's Aliyah is its youth: Some 60% of immigrants to Israel in 2013 were under the age of 35, including 37% between the ages of 18 and 34. This year also saw an increase in the number of young immigrants who participated in unique Ministry of Immigration and Absorption and Jewish Agency programs aimed at easing their integration into Israeli society.

Like last year, a majority of the immigrants to Israel in 2013 were female (some 10,000, compared to 9,000 male immigrants). The oldest immigrant was a 103-year-old man from the United States and the youngest was five weeks old, also from the United States.

Thousands of those who arrived in 2013 are professionals and graduates of academic programs in the humanities, social sciences, life sciences, and exact sciences, and more than 700 are doctors and other healthcare professionals. Many have joined special Ministry of Immigration and Absorption and Jewish Agency programs for university graduates.

Jerusalem saw the arrival of the largest group of immigrants in 2013, some 2,400 in total. Tel Aviv received some 1,650 immigrants, a 20% increase over last year's 1,373.

Arab media are reporting this quite a bit. The Arabs have a long history of trying to stop Jews coming home.

(h/t HaDaR)

$40 TRILLION dollars!

Back in 2008, I found a "study" that claimed that Israel had cost US taxpayers $3 trillion. Of course it was an absurd number, based on a bizarre estimate of how much oil prices went up since 1973 and blaming Israel for all of that.

Apparently, blaming Israel for costing the US $3 trillion is not nearly enough anymore. Some moron named Dr. Gideon Polya has gone from the merely crazy to batsh*t insane by now claiming that Israel has cost the US over $40 trillion!

For comparison, the annual US federal budget is about $3 trillion.

So how does this idiot come up with such an absurd number? Well, he takes the same $3 trillion number that had been estimated by the previous idiot, and adds $4-$ trillion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars which are of course Zionist wars, adds 0.7 trillion for the value of the lives of US servicemen who committed suicide since September 2001 (obviously Israel was behind 9/11), and then - to put icing on the cake - he claims that 15.6 million other Americans who died since 2001 are Israel's fault, and the value of their lives is $30 billion.

Polya helpfully adds, "This is an under-estimate because it does not consider the millions of preventable American deaths before 9-11 linked to Zionist subversion and perversion of America."

Just in case you don't get Polya's point, the name of this article is "American Holocaust."

Check out this brilliant analysis:

About 1.3 million Americans die preventably each year, the breakdown being as follows: 15,000 Americans are violently murdered annually; 21,000 avoidable under-5 year old US infant deaths annually; 21,000 US opiate drug-related deaths annually from US restoration and protection of the Taliban-destroyed Afghan opium industry; 30,000 Americans suicide annually, with 1 in 5 being US veterans; 31,000 gun-related US deaths annually; 33,000 Americans killed by motor vehicles each year; 45,000 US deaths annually from lack of medical insurance; 70,000 Americans die annually from air pollution (e.g. from coal burning, vehicle exhaust, carbon burning in general); 75,000 American alcohol-related deaths annually; 225,000 deaths per year in the US from iatrogenic (medical personnel-related) causes ; 300,000 Americans die from obesity-related causes; and 443,000 Americans die from smoking-related causes (roughly 1 in 5 of all deaths and 49,000 or about 10% from passive smoking) [13, 14]. Some qualifications can be offered e.g. it should be noted that some of these areas overlap e.g. homicides and suicides overlap with gun-related deaths, and smoking-related deaths would take a long time to stop after nationally legislated cessation of smoking.

This huge carnage of 15.6 million preventable American deaths since September 2001 must be seen in the context of a fiscal perversion outlined in section #1-3 above in which $8-10 trillion in roughly today’s dollars has been committed in this period by the Neocon American and Zionist Imperialist One Percenter American Establishment to the strategic interests of nuclear terrorist, democracy-by-genocide Apartheid Israel.

According to Polya, every American who died from disease or suicide or murder or pollution or alcohol or smoking or obesity since 9/11 has really died because of Israel. (His methodology of valuing their lives is also laughable, by the way - according to him, all these deaths actually saved America $30 billion. But logic is not Polya's strong suit.)

Naturally, this news has been reproduced by the Arab media.

Ma'an continues to publish unverified reports from Ghassan Daghlas

From Ma'an:

Israeli settlers attacked with stones dozens of Palestinian vehicles in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian official said Sunday.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settler activities in the northern West Bank, told Ma’an that the settlers pelted vehicles with stones and empty bottles smashing windshields of dozens of vehicles.

Hmmm..Ghassan Daghlas' name sounds familiar.

In February, he claimed that Israelis burned six Arab cars. It was a lie - they were burned by Arabs in a dispute and then evidence was fabricated to blame Israelis.

In October, he claimed that religious Israeli Jews cut down 100 olive trees - on Shabbat.

He did the same here. And he claimed that settlers torched a car on a Shabbat here.

Once he claimed that Jews put up a poster in the middle of an Arab village calling to destroy a mosque. Yet for some reason he could not produce a photo of these posters.

In 2010 he claimed settlers uprooted 200 olive trees, and again the report was found to be false - although Jewish crops were burned at that time!

A quick search shows that Ma'an quotes Daghlas over 200 times since 2008, and yet I do not recall ever seeing a any independent evidence of any of his anti-Israel charges. Almost never are there photos of these alleged attacks, even though everyone has a camera on their cell phones nowadays.

But he is quoted, time and time again, uncritically, even though many of his accusations are proven lies.

The funniest part is that Ma'an illustrates some of his false accusations with photos of Arabs attacking Jews!

12/29 Links: Arafat and al-Jazeera: Manufacturing Trouble, International Scandal Checkmates Israel

From Ian:

Elliott Abrams Arafat and al-Jazeera: Manufacturing Trouble

The striking thing about the Swiss “investigation” is that it was inspired and financed by al-Jazeera. The report itself is on al-Jazeera stationery, and the opening lines reveal that the entire thing was invented by al-Jazeera. At al-Jazeera’s web site, here, huge amounts of attention are devoted to proving that Arafat was poisoned. There are an amazing 41 “news” stories and documents listed under the headline “Al Jazeera Investigates: Killing Arafat.”
The other teams were not bought and paid for by al-Jazeera and they reached the opposite conclusion. In fact this recent hullabaloo about how Arafat died represents not new science or new evidence, but an effort by al-Jazeera to create trouble. It is yet another proof that al-Jazeera continued to operate in 2013 without the restraints of a normal news medium and should not be regarded as one. The government of Qatar –which owns al-Jazeera– changed during this year; there is a new emir and some speculation that he will rein in Qatari foreign policy. Thus far he has not reined in al-Jazeera, and its pretensions to be a Middle Eastern version of CNN or BBC should be rejected. This entire Arafat/poisoning affair shows us that al-Jazeera continues to pursue political goals and to manufacture what it hopes to persuade us is “news.”

Palestinian refugees -- a reality check (part 2)

Who is responsible?
PLO Chairman and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas admitted that "Arab armies forced Palestinians to leave their homes" (Filastin A-Thawra, March 1976). On May 13, 2008, Al Ayyam, the second largest pro-Abbas Palestinian daily, claimed: "[In 1948] the Arab Liberation Army (ALA) told Palestinians to leave their houses and villages, and return a few days later, so the ALA can fulfill its mission."
The head of Britain's Middle East Office in Cairo, John Troutbeck, reported in June 1949: "Arab refugees speak with utmost bitterness of Egypt and other Arab states. They know who their enemies are. Their Arab brothers persuaded them unnecessarily to leave their homes." Sir Alan Cunningham, the last British high commissioner in Palestine, wrote on April 28, 1948 that the total evacuation was urged on the Haifa Arabs from higher Arab quarters. The U.S. consul-general in Haifa telegraphed on April 25, 1948 that "reportedly, Arab Higher Committee is ordering all Arabs to leave."

Palestine – International Scandal Checkmates Israel

The ultimate insult to individual Israeli competitors was the failure to list their country as “Israel” in the players’ biographies. Instead they were identified as citizens of “FIDE” – a place with no Capitol, area or population.
Palestinian competitors fared slightly better – players at least having their country identified as “Palestine” in their biographies – although that country too is listed without a Capitol, area or population.
One would be hard put to find a more blatant case of discrimination, racism and apartheid – – played out against children to boot.
What mindless morons representing Chess Federations in competing countries like America, Australia, England, Norway, Sweden, Canada and France allowed this farce to be perpetrated?

Palestinians: Is Abbas Being Asked to Sign His Death Warrant?

It is shocking, but not surprising, that in such a complex situation people such as the EU's Foreign Minister Catherine Ashton and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry are trying to force Israel to give up assets critical to its security. They are exerting their pressure in the wrong direction: they should instead campaign for citizenship for the Palestinians in the Arab countries, a quest that would quickly clear their heads of the nonsense of the "return;" stop the tide of money flowing into UNRWA and end the fiction of the "Palestinian refugees."
As the Arab countries -- relatively new artificial creations temporarily pasted together with the lies of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, disintegrate into their original warring tribes and sects -- Ashton, Kerry, et al are nevertheless trying to create yet another artificial state, "Palestine," which will quickly become another Islamist country, officially refusing, as a matter of policy, to recognize the State of Israel and seeking to destroy it.

Pollard’s fate unconnected to peace talks, insists US envoy

America’s envoy in Israel sought on Sunday to dampen hopes raised by news reports over the weekend according to which US Secretary of State John Kerry offered to arrange for the release of Israeli-American spy Jonathan Pollard from an American prison.
“I suggest we don’t believe every media report,” Ambassador Dan Shapiro said in a Hebrew-language interview with Army Radio Sunday morning. “There’s no direct link between Pollard and the [peace] negotiations or the prisoner release. These are different issues.”

German-Palestinian Researcher Said Dudin: MEMRI Involved in Sowing Anarchy in the Arab World

Said Dudin: Do you know that Qatari gas is not sold in The Hague, but on Tel Aviv's stock exchange? As for politics, it is the Zionist leaders who are leading the sweeping anarchy, which only the idiots call "revolution" or "Arab Spring." The Zionist leaders, and I'd like to specifically mention Bernard-Henri Lévy, the criminal swindler Elie Weisel, Haim Saban and his institutes... It is the Zionist leaders who lead this, and therefore, it is no coincidence that none of the forces behind this sweeping anarchy use the slogans of the Arabs' sovereignty over their natural resources.

MIT president rejects ASA academic boycott against Israel

"On Dec. 16, 2013, the American Studies Association (ASA) endorsed a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. MIT is not a member of the ASA and has no connection to this boycott," Reif said.
"The concept of an academic boycott is antithetical to MIT values. It fundamentally violates the principles of academic freedom that are central to the excellence of MIT and American higher education," he said.

State lawmakers battle Israel boycott by university organization American Studies Association

Two state lawmakers want to strip aid from universities whose faculty participate in academic organizations that urge a boycott against Israel.
Senate co-leader Jeffrey Klein (D-Bronx) and Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) plan to introduce a bill that would give colleges and universities in New York 30 days to withdraw their support from groups like the American Studies Association, which recently voted for such an academic boycott.

An open letter to West Brom caretaker manager Keith Downing

I was absolutely disgusted to read you have defended the clearly antisemitic gesture “la quenelle”, made by Nicolas Anelka, by saying Anelka’s gesture couldn’t be antisemitic because he was making the gesture on behalf of a comedian friend. The comedian in question is a person with a vile antisemitic history and links with the National Front and Islamist Groups. His name, Dieudonné M’bala M’bala.

Soccer Star Anelka Draws President Obama, Jay-Z and Beyoncé Into ‘Reverse Nazi Salute’ Controversy

French Muslim soccer star, Nicolas Anelka, has drawn President Obama, rapper Jay-Z and singer Beyoncé into a controversy surrounding his use on Saturday of a gesture that is widely considered to be anti-Semitic, and has been described as “the Nazi salute in reverse.”
Under heavy criticism for publicly using the gesture, after scoring a goal for British soccer club West Bromwich, the athlete tweeted a picture of Obama and the pop culture icons motioning in a way that may appear to be similar. However, a 2012 report from the time that the picture was taken said that the group was “brushing imaginary dirt off their shoulder” in “an obvious reference to the Jay-Z hit song” entitled “Dirt off Your Shoulder.” (h/t Jewess)

Netanyahu: Lebanese government, Hezbollah responsible for rockets

“We hold the Lebanese government responsible for firing that is carried out from within its territory,” Netanyahu said ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting, and noted that Hezbollah, by ”stationing thousands of missiles and rockets in apartments… is thus perpetrating two war crimes simultaneously. It is organizing the firing at civilians, just as it did today, and it is hiding behind civilians as human shields.”
The prime minister spoke after two Katyusha rockets fired from Lebanon landed west of the northern Galilee town of Kiryat Shmona. No one was wounded and there was no damage reported from the attack.

IDF Blog: Rockets Fired from Lebanon at Israel, IDF Responds

Five rockets were fired this morning from Lebanon at Israel. The attack is an inexcusable and blatant violation of Israel’s sovereignty.
Residents of Israel’s north woke up this morning (December 29) to five rockets fired from Lebanon into Israel. One of the rockets landed west of Kiryat Shmona, an Israeli city near the Lebanese border. IDF forces responded with artillery fire toward the source of the launch.
At least five rockets were fired from Lebanon, with one confirmed explosion in Israel. The IDF is currently searching for evidence of others.

PLO Calls on Hamas to Cut Ties with the Muslim Brotherhood

Several leaders from various factions in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Saturday urged Hamas to dissociate itself from the Muslim Brotherhood, some calling the Egyptian organization a "terrorist group," according to the Ma’an news agency.

PA report: Chances of 3rd intifada 'very high'

A report compiled by the Palestinian Authority's security forces that was leaked to the media over the weekend, however, warned that chances of a third intifada are very high. The report recommended that the PA formulate contingency plans to combat the possibility that a violent uprising would erupt, so that it would not be "dragged after the street like in the Second Intifada."
The report details the various difficulties Palestinian security forces encounter while trying to thwart attack perpetrated by lone terrorists.

OPCW: Syrian Chemical Weapons Removal to Miss Deadline

The operation to destroy Syria's chemical weapons program will miss its December 31 deadline, Mail & Guardian reported Saturday.
Franz Krawinkler, head of logistics for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), confirmed to Austrian state television Saturday that bad weather has delayed the transport of crucial supplies for the mission.

Egypt: 5 killed as police clash with protesters

In at least seven southern provinces, security and local officials said that the authorities turned to armed civilians from anti-Islamist and pro-government families to provide support to security forces, help guard police stations and churches and confront pro-Morsi rallies.
One high-ranking Interior Ministry official said that this is part of a bigger deal between the security apparatus and the big clans in the south, the most conservative part of Egypt, which has a strong tradition both of inter-family feuding and of Islamist militancy.

Blast hits near military facility outside Cairo

Initial reports suggest that the Sunday explosion was caused by a hand grenade thrown at the building in Anshas, a village in Sharqiya province that houses a number of military facilities. The officials spoke anonymously in line with regulations.
Attacks on security targets have become frequent following the July 3 ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. A Sinai-based militant group has claimed responsibility for a Tuesday car bomb at a Nile Delta security headquarters that killed 16.

Report: Muslim Brotherhood signs pact with al-Qaeda

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood movement has signed a pact with the al-Qaeda-affiliated radical Salafi organization Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which claimed responsibility last week for a terror attack in the city of Mansoura, security sources told the London-based Arabic-language al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper.
According to the sources, the Muslim Brotherhood has an alliance with another al-Qaeda-affiliated organization. Meanwhile, senior Muslim Brotherhood member Ibrahim Al-Sayed said the Egyptian government's decision to declare the movement a terror organization was meaningless and would not harm the movement.

Israel’s ‘robot revolutionary’ wins top prize

The robot revolution is a lot more advanced than most people realize. While robots are (correctly) assumed to carry out the will of their masters via detailed programs inserted into their memories, at least one Israeli researcher has developed a method for robots to “think” on their own. Professor Gal Kaminka, of Bar-Ilan University’s Department of Computer Science and Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center is one of Israel’s, and the world’s, leading contributors to intelligent robotics – the science of using artificial intelligence to make robots “smarter” – and this week he was awarded the prestigious Landau Prize for Arts and Sciences in the robotics category for his outstanding contributions to the advancement of science.

Israeli Researchers Link Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, Proteins

Hebrew University research teams have found how bacteria can survive treatment with antibiotics - even when the strain is not inherently antibiotic-resistant.
The discovery, which was published this week in prestigious science journal Nature Communications, could possibly improve treatment methods for bacterial infections.

Plumbers in Portugal find 14th-century ritual bath

Jorge Alarcao, an archeologist who was called upon to study the structures, told the paper: “This could be the only discovery of its kind made in Portugal.”
The structures appear to be mikvahs, or ritual baths, predating the 14th century which were designed for Jewish women, according to Alarcao.
“It could be the most important archeological discovery made in Coimbra over the past 70 years,” Coimbra Mayor Manuel Machado told the paper.

Israel Daily Picture: Remarkable Pictures of Jewish Communities in the Middle East

Today, we present the UCR's vintage pictures of the Jews of Iraq. Suffering from pogroms, persecution, and confiscation of property, most of the Jews of Iraq left the country by 1951. The "Jews of Iraq" is Part 1 of a series that will include vintage pictures of Jews of Egypt, Syria and Turkey.

How Israelis and Palestinian Arabs think about a peace deal

The University of Maryland Anwar Sadat Center polled Israelis and Palestinian Arabs last month about their attitude towards a peace framework:

1. A sovereign Palestinian state would be established. The boundaries would generally be based on 1967 borders, but Israel would annex 3-4% of the West Bank that includes major settlement blocks with comparable land swaps to be negotiated.
2. Gaza and the West Bank would have a secure, unobstructed link, either in the form of a tunnel, highway or bridge.
3. For Jerusalem, Israel would have sovereignty over Jewish neighborhoods, while the new Palestinian state would have sovereignty over Arab
neighborhoods. The Walled City would be under a special regime that would include both international control, and Israeli and Palestinian participation.
4. Neither Israel nor the Palestinians would have military forces in the Palestinian state, but Palestinian Security Forces would handle internal security in the Palestinian State. International military forces, such as NATO forces possibly under American command, would be stationed along the Jordan River.
5. Palestinian refugees would be compensated for loss of property, would be allowed to return to the Palestinian state, with a limited number being allowed to return to Israel.
6. Palestinians would recognize Israel as a state of the Jewish people and of all its citizens.
7. Israel and Arab and Muslim states would establish full diplomatic relations and open trade.
8. Israel and the Palestinians state would explicitly agree to end the conflict and Palestinians would relinquish all claims pertaining to the conflict.

Here are the arguments that Israelis (including Arabs) found convincing in support of the plan:

And those against:

The arguments that PalArabs found convincing in support of the plan:

And against:

According to the survey, when both sides were asked if they would accept this plan assuming that the other side accepted it, both sides found it acceptable (63% for Israelis, 59% for Palestinian Arabs.)

There are some contradictory findings, though,. For example, most Palestinian Arabs said that they found it completely unacceptable if there is no full "right of return" and a majority of Israelis found such a "right" completely unacceptable.

It all makes perfect sense if you are schizophrenic.

Egypt's former Mufti Ali Gomaa, considered a moderate, has slammed the Muslim Brotherhood by comparing them to Jews. He said that just as Jews consider themselves to be the Chosen People, so do the members of the Brotherhood think they are better than other Muslims.

But Ibrahim Abaza, a leader of the Salafists in Egypt, said that the Muslim Brotherhood is even worse than the Jews are. You see, the jews are an external enemy and they don't influence Muslims to act contrary to their religion, but the Brotherhood is more dangerous to Islam than the Jews becsuse they are tearing Islam aparts from the inside, and contributing ignorance and stupidity and deviation of Islamic doctrine and deviant ideas among the people of Islam.

It feels so important to be the yardstick of evil for 1.5 billion people.