Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Friday said his part is “effectively taking part in the consultations with the heads of the parliamentary blocs and the relevant officials with the aim of forming the (new) government.”
“We hope the final format for the premier and the government will emerge soon,” Qassem added.
Stressing that Hizbullah “will maintain its role in carrying people’s concerns and working for reform and combating corruption,” Qassem said his party’s “presence and representation will be effective in the government that will be formed.”
“It will be part of the coming government because it is part of this people,” he added.
The comments are withering:
You must be kidding, why haven't you fought corruption in the past if you care so much about the people. There will not be any room in the new government for any current or past political players....
No salvation for Lebanon until you remove your arms and don't behave as attack dogs for Iran radicals! This is what scared away investment and caused the exodus of all good paying foreign corporations.
It is a joke right??
so, iow, you are responsible to the non formation of government and you still want the same thing--obviously listening to anyone but iran is not listed as an option to you.
Do the world a favor and hang yourself with your own turban
Stressing that Hizbullah “will maintain its role in carrying people’s concerns and working for reform and combating corruption, looooool where are the Kizb drones out on this site to explain this joke?
Hezbollah (at the direction of Iran) is now wholeheartedly against the protests, and they are still claiming that Lebanon owes them for dragging the country into war:
The head of Hizbullah’s parliamentary bloc MP Mohammed Raad on Sunday stressed that his party “cannot be strong-armed” and that “fabricated battles” linked to the ongoing popular uprising in the country will not deviate Hizbullah’s attention from its main objectives.
“We share the goal of combating corruption, lifting immunity off corrupts and recovering stolen funds… with all the honest people who rose up and took to the streets… but we want others to respect our experience and realize that their movement is within the atmosphere provided to them by our martyrs, mujahideen and heroes,” Raad went on to say.
The Hizbullah lawmaker also warned the protest movement against “launching arbitrary accusations” or “hurling insults against icons, especially those related to the leadership of the purest, most honorable and noblest people.”
Meaning, don't insult Nasrallah or the Iranian mullahs. Or else.
That's how to ingratiate themselves with the people!
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There is, however, another reason why so many American Jews disdain Christian support. This is that they themselves have heavily bought into the secular approach to the world, which has replaced religion by mankind-centered ideologies.
This is particularly unfortunate since these universalist ideologies are inimical to Jewish principles, though many American Jews mistakenly think they embody the Jewish concept of tikkun olam, or the “repair of the world.”
They don’t realize, therefore, why intersectionality – the doctrine that links groups that consider themselves victims of the so-called white hetero-normative capitalist patriarchy – has made such an enemy of Israel and the Jewish people.
They don’t realize that through its animus against Jewish religious principles, seen as the basis of the oppressive power structure known as Western civilization, and against Zionism, seen as the ultimate ethnic colonialist enterprise of that civilization, secular liberal universalism entails a fundamental illiberalism, in addition to a deep intolerance towards biblically faithful Jews and Christians.
They don’t realize that this universalist creed they have made into a secular religion is taking an axe to the cultural virtues they themselves take for granted.
In this crisis for Western civilization, the tragedy for these Jews who don’t realize the importance of their own culture to that civilization is that they’re on the wrong side.
Did you think I’d complain that the world is silent in the face of the atrocities perpetuated by a purported refugee agency that acts like a terrorists’ hub? In fact, global silence would be a step up compared to the reality we’re in, because UNRWA has actually been supported by Western countries, along with Arab states. They are guilty by association. For us, this is yet another form of antisemitism, this time concealed under the guise of humanitarianism.
And now we are incensed. Last week it was announced that UNRWA Commissioner General Pierre Krahenbuhl had stepped aside following “allegations of misconduct,” pending investigation. While the nature of these allegations has not been made public, I am confident it is nothing to do with UNRWA’s many decades of supporting – even promoting – hatred, terrorism and violence. So why the outcry now?
When UNRWA support terrorism against Jews, the world is silent. When allegations of corruption come up, countries remove their funding from UNRWA and force the commissioner to step down.
The truth is that no matter what last week’s accusations relate to, it is a slap in the face to Israelis. It confirms what we have suspected all along: Our suffering does not matter. That of Palestinians, yes, but not ours. Misconduct results in consequences – stepping aside, an investigation – only when the victims are not Israeli.
Below is a list of basic changes that must be made in the UNWRA textbooks used in the Palestinian Authority.
2. Avoid Demonization of Israel and Jews
- Schoolbooks should not include pieces which virulently demonize Israel/Jews, or de-humanize them, or any description that goes beyond the presentation of Israel and/or the Jews as an ordinary adversary with its own rights, interests and positions. Jews should not be presented as enemies of Islam, as has been often done.
- It is desirable to add to the books the still non-existent material that deals with Israel and the Jews objectively (for example, pieces that talk about the Israeli government structure, economy, science and technology, the Hebrew culture, Jewish history, etc.), which might balance the enormous anti-Israeli critical material in the books.
- It is crucially important to stress in the books that, in spite of the conflict, the Jewish/Israeli individual is also a human being, apart from being an adversary, and should be treated accordingly.
- While dealing with the conflict, the PA schoolbooks studied at UNRWA schools should include also self-criticism (i.e., the rejection of proposals for a peaceful resolution of the conflict, massacre of unarmed Jewish neighbors, etc.)
If the Arabs are trying to convince the Jews that giving up
land will bring Israel peace, they are doing a poor job of it. Unilateral land
for peace moves by Israel have been disastrous. The unilateral withdrawal of
Israeli troops from Southern Lebanon in 2000, with nothing gained in return,
strengthened the terror group Hezbollah, essentially collapsed Israel’s ally
the South Lebanon Army, and did not bring peace with Lebanon or their de facto
rulers Syria. Rocket attacks in the North continued and cross border attacks,
including attempted kidnappings, amplified until 2006 when a war lead to a
strong response on the side of Israel that served as a deterrent.
Gaza was always considered a
quagmire for Israel and most Israelis were tired of sending their children to
serve in the dangerous enclave. Many questioned Israel’s reason for being
there. In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in the hopes that it
would serve as a model for transitioning territory to the Palestinian
Authority, short of a peace agreement. Israel uprooted 10,000 Jews and even
left the Palestinians housing and a commercial greenhouse. It was a huge
victory for the peace camp in Israel, who were certain that land is all it took
to end the conflict. At the very least, it would earn Israel capital in the
international arena. The Palestinians promptly destroyed the greenhouse and
Israel’s South has not enjoyed a moments peace ever since. In addition, the
international goodwill the peace camp was sure to follow never materialized. It
seemed, in fact, that Israel was punished for the move. Two years later, there
was a bloody coop in Gaza and the terror group Hamas gained power. The
situation continues to deteriorate. Hamas is strengthened. Residents of the
south in Israel endure thousands of rockets with little recourse. Unilateral
land for peace has been a disaster.
But, what about bilateral land for peace? Surely that has
worked. Look at Egypt. In 1979, Israel and Egypt agreed to an historic peace
agreement. In exchange for peace, Israel gave Egypt the Sinai peninsula,
captured in the 1967 war. By 1982, Israel completed a withdrawal from the
entire peninsula, uprooting Jewish communities, and handing the keys to Egypt.
On the surface it seems like a success. Before 1979, Israel and Egypt fought in
four wars (1948, 1956, 1967, 1972), in addition to constant skirmishes. Since
1979, there have been no wars. The problem is that the peace has been cold.
Incitement against Israel and Jews in Egypt, often sponsored by the government,
continues. Most Egyptians do not accept Israel’s right to exist and by
extension the peace agreement. The Sinai has become a hotbed of Islamist
activity, with ISIS establishing a stronghold in the peninsula. Hamas has
established smuggling tunnels into Sinai used to bring in weapons and materials
to attack Israel and shoot rockets. There have been concerns from Israel that
the peace could collapse. In 2008, Egypt conducted war game exercises against
an imaginary Israel. At no time was the concern more acute than when Mohamed
Morsi, a member of the extremist group the Muslim Brotherhood, an ally of
Hamas, won the presidency of Egypt. If not for his overthrow a year later, it
not hard to speculate that the peace would have fallen apart. It’s possible
that Egypt’s largest motivator for maintaining the peace is the $1.3 billion in
military aid that they receive from the United States. If that were ever to
disappear, would peace persist?
And so we come to Naharayim. It was suppose to be the
model of coexistence between the Jews and Arabs. On the heels of the first Oslo
Accords, Israel and Jordan signed a peace agreement in 1994. It was suppose to
usher in a Pax Romana in the Middle East. Israel and Jordan, two bitter enemies
to that point, no longer had any territorial disputes. Jordan has ceded their
claim to the West Bank, which they occupied in 1948 and then lost in 1967, to
the Palestinians. With peace between Israel and the PLO, rebranded the
Palestinian Authority, seemingly imminent, King Hussein and Israeli president Ezer
Weizman shook hands near Eilat and the future seemed bright. That Hezbollah was
still launching rockets into Northern Israel while the agreement was being
signed seemed like a temporary problem.
Between Israel and Jordan lies an area called the Jordan
Valley. Israel’s connection to the Jordan Valley is both historic but more
importantly strategic. It is strategic because it offers a natural barrier
between Israel and Jordan (and by extension other Arab countries to the East)
and a strong defensive position. In the Jordan Valley is a small town called
Naharayim, which in Hebrew means two rivers, because it is the junction between
the Jordan River and the Yarmouk River. The land was purchased by a Jew named
Pinhas Rutenberg, a staunch Zionist, who established the Palestine Electric
Corporation and began building hyroelectic power plants to modernize Mandatory
Palestine. One of those plants was located on the land that he would call
Naharayim.
The problem with Naharayim is that even though it was
legally bought by Jews and inhabited by Jews, it was on the other side of the
Jordan river, the Jordanian side. The river forms a natural border between the
two countries. So, when Israel and Jordan signed their historic peace
agreement, Israel decided in good faith to give this small piece of land to
Jordan. Land...for peace. However, there was an obstacle. Jews - Israelis -
were living on the land for over 70 years. They had built kibbutizim, working
farms, and made a living off the land. For several generations of Jews, it was
the only home they knew. This was not in the West Bank but rather Northern
Israel near Tiberias, one of the four holy cities in Judaism. Not wanting to
displace the Jewish residents, Israel agreed to give up the land and Jordan
agreed to lease the land back to Israel for 25 years, with an understanding
that the lease would be renewed in perpetuity. It was the model of cooperation.
So much so, that they built a park near by called the “Island of Peace”. It was
suppose to usher in a new era of coexistence in the region. Both Jews and
Arabs, Israelis and Jordanians, could enjoy the park. Land...for peace. But
like so many things in life, things aren’t always at as they seem.
If the peace with Egypt was cold, the peace with Jordan
was freezing. Incitement against Jews and Israel in Jordan continued. Not only
could antisemitism be found in Jordanian media and schools, but in the
Jordanian parliament itself. For example, Jordanian MP Yahya al-Saud supported
terrorism against Israel, not uncommon in the parliament, but even publically
called to “liberate our holy places from the plundering Jews”. Another MP,
Khalil Attieh, went on Jordanian TV and railed, “It is an honor to incite
against the Jews. It is a great accomplishment to provoke and incense them.” He
also publically called Jews “descendants of apes and pigs” and stated “Hating
the Jews is a great honor for me and it makes me walk with my head high because
they are worthy of hatred...They are not decent people. Any man of honor should
hate the Jews.” These are not isolated incidents. They often praise terror
attacks against Israel in the parliament, including the Har Nof synagogue
massacre in Jerusalem, where terrorists killed 5 worshipers with axes, knives,
and gun. They have also blocked the extradition from Jordan to the United
States of Ahlam Tamimi, the woman who helped carry out the Sbarro Massacre in
2001 at a pizzeria in Jerusalem where 16 were murdered, including eight
children 18 or younger (two of which were toddlers aged 2 and 4). She often
goes on Jordanian television laughing and praising her roll in the murders,
saying “I admit that I was a bit disappointed, because I had hoped for a larger
toll.”
But through all that incitement, the Island of Peace
persisted as a symbol of cooperation. That is until 1997, three years after its
creation, when a group of Jewish school girls aged 13 and 14 were on a school
trip to visit this historic park - the park of peace. On that day, there was no
peace. A Jordanian soldier named Ahmed Daqamseh decided he wanted to kill some
Jews, went to the park now part of Jordan with no Israeli protection, and
started shooting the children. He killed seven girls and wounded six others.
Reviled by some, a hero to others, he was sent to prison in Jordan unrepentant,
proud of what he did. His mother telling Al Jazeera, “I am proud of my son, and
I hold my head high. My son did a heroic deed.” Why did he go to jail in
Jordan? Because, the land has been handed over to Jordan three years earlier.
It was no longer under Israeli jurisdiction. You would think that for the
murder of seven children and near murder of six others one would spend more
than ten years in jail, but the calls to release this national hero started in
the Jordanian parliament shortly after his imprisonment. In 2017 he was
release, not quietly, but with great fanfare. There were parades on the street.
People handed out candy. The symbol of coexistence became the symbol of hate. A
memorial exists to this day for those seven young girls. There are no parades
for them. Only a lifetime misery for the families. No one hands out candy, only
tears.
This brings us to 2019, the
twenty-fifth anniversary of the historic peace agreement between Israel and
Jordan, and the expiration of the twenty-five year lease to the Jewish farmers
who live near the Island of Peace park, and who make a living from it - the
automatic lease renewal in perpetuity. Except, it never happened. Jordan
decided that they did not want to renew the lease. They stated that they never
meant to renew in perpetuity. The problem is, they didn’t even renew it once. Jewish farmers be damned. On
November 10th, Jordan took back possession of the land. Jews who
live and work there, some for multiple generations, on land bought by their
ancestors, have an uncertain future. Even if the Jordanian government agrees to
let them stay, how long will that last? When will they finally tell then to get
lost once and for all? That is the problem with “Land for Peace”. Land is
tangible and peace is intangible. Once you hand over the land the other side
possesses it. You possess nothing in return. If the peace gets broken, the land
does not get returned. Here is the land, but where is the peace? It’s a
cautionary tale for the Israelis. I support a peaceful resolution between the
two ethnic groups, Jews and Arabs, that share the tiny strip of land between
the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. I’ve even supported land for peace.
But it’s become increasingly harder to argue with those that say it doesn’t
work. Israel’s neighbors are not helping with the argument. How can you
convince an Israeli that exchanging land for peace will work or that it is the
best solution when it has been so ineffective until now. It’s becoming apparent
that for peace to work, something tangible has to be exchanged for something
tangible.
Disclaimer: This article is meant to highlight the potential pitfalls of theoretical, asymmetric land for peace deals only. It is not intended to criticize any peace deals Israel has signed with her neighbors nor oppose any future peace agreements. The author believes in negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians without preconditions.
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Yahya al-Saud, chairman of the Palestine Committee in the first chamber of the Jordanian parliament, called on his government not to comply with any US pressure demanding the extradition of the mass murdering terrorist Ahlam al-Tamimi.
This was in the wake of the revelation that the US officially stating that its extradition treaty with Jordan is valid, referencing Tamimi.
"The Jordanian government must preserve its citizens, and America should not play the role of an international policeman, but should align itself with the peace camp rather than the darkness camp," al-Saud said. (Peace and darkness rhyme in Arabic.)
"I think from my point of view and from the point of view of the Jordanian street, that the United States is a partner in the occupation," he said.
Al-Saud added that "Ahlam has been tried and released, she may not be tried twice, knowing that she did not commit a crime, and what she has done was the right to defend her homeland."
How sickening is that? Not only is al-Saud invoking "double jeopardy," but he is saying that Tamimi didn't commit a crime to begin with - she is a hero. Naturally, no Jordanian is publicly pushing back on this perverted thinking that celebrates the murder of 15 people.
The "double jeopardy" argument has been shown to be baseless in international law. International law specifies that someone may not be tried twice for the same crime in the same state. The US can prosecute Tamimi for her role in murdering two Americans and injuring four others.
The fact that this is being noticed in Jordan and is making some politicians nervous is a good sign. Arnold Roth, who has been tirelessly working to get justice for his murdered daughter Malki, has expressed frustration that US officials have not brought up this case when meeting Jordanian officials. The media attention now being given to this case in Jordan and Israel will make it harder for US politicians to ignore the issue.
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But if that was her point, then what did her tweet add to the original CNBC story, which already pointed out that Cooperman and Bloomberg were both billionaires?
As soon as Jews noticed the obvious dog-whistle, her defenders - including IfNotNow - all claimed no, of course she is only talking about billionaires, not nefarious Jewish billionaires.
Billionaires have class solidarity. If you're accusing a Black Muslim woman of antisemitism for pointing that out, you've got some stuff you need to work on.
And of course, David Duke likes Omar because he recognizes a fellow Jew-hater when he sees one.
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The Palestinian Solidarity Committee at Harvard University, a student organization that favors the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, has set its sights on Israel Trek.
Harvard’s Hillel sponsors Israel Trek, a student-led, student-organized spring break trip to Israel and the West Bank. Past participants speak of how the trip challenged their preconceived notions about Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One writes of his visit to Ramallah, where, at Fatah headquarters, his group heard “from a number of high-ranking [PLO] officials who discussed with us their views on the conflict, the state of affairs in Palestinian communities, and the prospects for peace going forward.” They had already met “members of the Knesset, a former Supreme Court justice, a prominent investigative journalist, and the spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
As this witness saw it, “our organizers truly strove to provide the broadest range of perspectives that they could” so that students could form their own judgments. Not that the student leaders weren’t Zionists. They evidently calculated that Israel’s reputation would benefit from the exchange of ideas.
Students who attend Israel Trek don’t necessarily emerge allies of Israel. Two participants wrote of their experience that they “had even more questions than we had before departing,” about, among other things, what a democracy is. On the question, “are you pro-Israel or pro-Palestine,” the students demur because they now think it “fails to acknowledge the deep nuances that complicate a conflict involving real people, each with their own experiences, politics, and pain.”
Those of us who are pro-Israel may find this a little too wishy-washy. We may find the students’ views of Fatah’s objectives naïve. But we can hardly, if we are also in favor of liberal education, object to a trip that dissolves a student’s sense of “Manichaean clarity.” Even a student who had done his best to understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by discussing it with friends and consuming news and opinion found this education no substitute for first-hand experience. He had, it turned out, “relied too heavily on external, and often biased outlets, both in favor and against Israel.”
Former Jordanian Health Minister Dr. Zaid Hamzeh said in an October 9, 2019 interview on A One TV (Jordan) that nations oftentimes only progress after having suffered for centuries and that future Arab generations must suffer before progressing. In addition, he said that he had supported Adolf Hitler during World War II like other Arabs, and recalled that in fourth grade his school had participated in demonstrations and chanted "Long live Abu Ali," which he said had been a reference to Hitler. Dr. Hamzeh said that the Arabs supported Hitler because he hated the Jews, although he added the Arabs have a general tendency to admire dictators.
"Was That Really The Reason, Or Was It Because We Arabs, By Nature... Love Dictators"
Interviewer: "Was that really the reason, or was it because we Arabs, by nature – and I don't have time to give a historical review... We love dictators."
Zaid Hamzeh: "No."
Interviewer: "Really?"
Zaid Hamzeh: "Nobody loves dictators, except for people who have been led astray, and I don't want to use..."
Interviewer: "We love people who kill and slaughter. We consider this to be a sign of manliness."
Zaid Hamzeh: "Unfortunately, many people do, but we shouldn't generalize."
Interviewer: "Right, not everybody..."
Zaid Hamzeh: "But with regard to dictators, you are right. We laud the dictator and wish he would come back. We want him to come riding in on a white horse and to liberate the land, while the people here are in a slumber or watching from the sideline."
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf were among the books featured at a book fair in Sharjah, UAE sponsored by The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Simon Wiesenthal Centre exposed the book fair on Thursday and the Centre’s Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, wrote a letter to UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, condemning the book fair.
“Sadly, the name of UNESCO is abused as appearing to be complicit in validating for young Arab readers, the bigoted stereotypes of Jews - as expounded by Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. This is particularly damning at a time of reconciliation between Gulf States and Israel, now facing common enemies,” Samuels wrote in a letter to Azoulay.
In the letter, Samuels added, “the organizers are known to carefully vet all titles on display for Islamophobia, but leave Jew-hatred in pride of place!”
Sharjah was declared UNESCO’s 2019 “World Book Capital of the Year,” as part of an initiative that was launched in 1996 “that seeks to encourage and promote publishing activities at the local and global levels by nominating for a one-year period the best city program aimed at promoting books,” according to the Sharjah World Book Capital website.
In July 2019, UNESCO published a blog post entitled “Addressing contemporary antisemitism: A global issue?”, in which the organization acknowledges that “antisemitism did not begin or end with the Holocaust.” It also stated that “antisemitic bigotry” was “no longer restricted to extremist circles,” in the modern world.
The former Labour MP Ian Austin, who resigned from the Party over antisemitism, has given a series of powerful interviews this morning condemning antisemitism in the Labour Party and announcing that he will not be seeking re-election.
Speaking on Sky News, Mr Austin, who is an honorary patron of Campaign Against Antisemitism, was asked if his decision to leave the Labour Party and stand down as an MP was “personal”. In response, he explained: “I joined the Labour Party as a teenager in Dudley. I was a councillor there in my twenties, I worked for the Party and for the Labour Government in my thirties, and I became an MP and a Government minister in my forties, so this has been my life. This has been my life.
“I can’t really believe it’s come to this,” he said, “but I’ve got to be honest with people: I think that Jeremy Corbyn is unfit to lead the Labour Party. I think he’s certainly unfit to lead the country.”
Asserting that only two individuals can be Prime Minister the day after the election, Mr Austin remarkably declared: “I’ve sadly come to the conclusion that it can’t be Jeremy Corbyn,” and endorsed the Conservative Party Leader instead.
Visibly emotional, Mr Austin pointed out that he “could just disappear off back to Dudley, never say a word, keep quiet — but I think people in politics have got to stand up and tell the truth and you’ve got to do what you think is right, however difficult it is.”
In support of his decision, Mr Austin asserted that Mr Corbyn and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, John McDonnell, have spent their careers in politics “working with, defending, supporting all types of extremists, including antisemites,” and backing genocidal antisemitic terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hizballah, whom Mr Corbyn has described as “friends”.
Mr Austin insisted that he has “thought about this long and hard,” and said: “But most shameful of all…you know under his [Mr Corbyn’s} leadership a political party with a proud record – a long history – fighting for equality, fighting racism, has become poisoned with anti-Jewish racism and it is a complete and utter disgrace, a complete disgrace.”
Just devastating! The heroic @IanAustin1965 on Sky News:
"@jeremycorbyn isn't fit to lead the @UKLabour. He isn't fit to lead the country. At every opportunity, he backs our country's enemies. I don't think he loves this country. I don't think he's a patriot." pic.twitter.com/SgjMY9zbKq
This is not true. It is a complete lie. I was appointed an unpaid trade envoy in July, along with 27 other MPs and peers from different parties, including Labour, to promote UK trade and exports John should withdraw this lie and apologise. https://t.co/HP8GLJTCJD
BBC Panorama is a finalist in the British Journalism Awards in the category of ‘Investigation’ for its programme titled “Is Labour Anti-Semitic?”, which explored antisemitism in the Labour Party.
The episode’s creators, John Ware, Leo Telling, Neil Grant and Rachel Jupp, have also been shortlisted in the ‘Politics Journalism’ category.
The programme, which was televised in July, showed former Labour Party employees speaking out publicly to reveal Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s personal meddling in disciplinary cases relating to antisemitism. The programme explained how senior Labour Party staffers, some of whom Campaign Against Antisemitism has known for years, used to run Labour’s disciplinary process independently, but soon after Mr Corbyn’s election as Party leader found themselves contending with his most senior aides, who were brazen in their efforts to subvert due process.
During the programme Labour’s press team made claims that the staffers featured had political axes to grind and lacked credibility, and it is understood that they and Mr Ware have now commenced libel proceedings against the Labour Party. The libel cases are being brought by Mark Lewis, a highly esteemed media lawyer who is also an honorary patron of Campaign Against Antisemitism.
The United States has rejected a claim by Jordan over its refusal to deport wanted Palestinian-Jordanian Hamas terrorist Ahlam Tamimi, as a Jordanian court ruled in 2017 that Amman’s extradition treaty with Washington is invalid, despite the U.S. State Department saying the opposite in a report published this week.
The report could lead to increased pressure by the White House on Jordan to extradite Tamimi to the United States, who helped organize the well-known suicide-bombing at a Sbarro pizzeria on Aug. 9, 2001, which killed 15 people, including two Americans, and injured about 130 others.
Tamimi, who planned the attack, has shown no remorse, saying she has “no regrets.”
She had been awarded $51,836 until she was released from prison, as part of a 2011 prisoner exchange that included Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit’s release from Hamas captivity, when she then escaped to Jordan.
Tamimi is on America’s “Most Wanted Terrorist” list, but the United States has been unable to secure her extradition as a 1995 extradition agreement was not ratified by Jordan’s government.
The UN’s Michael Lynk listed Manal Tamimi, Ahed’s mom, as a “human rights defender” but he was forced to delete her name after folks reminded him she supports murder of Jews she calls “vampire Zionists.” pic.twitter.com/Hkg0oRWGKx
When Aluma Mekaitan Guertzenstein tells me she’s married and pregnant, I burst into tears of joy.
I’ve been asked to update the stories of terrorism survivors, those I met in the years 2000 and 2005 when the horror of bus bombings, restaurant bombings and disco bombings aimed at young people was our daily reality in Israel. Thousands of Israelis were killed and maimed. Jerusalem, our real and symbolic capital, was the target of much of the terrorism. I’ve run into Aluma a few times over the years. Once she’d just gotten her driver’s license and was going to see which cars she could drive. I was glad she’d gone on with her life.
Who can forget November 21, 2002? Aluma got up early, her mind full of numbers. A 17-year-old schoolgirl, she was determined to score high on the morning’s math test, as she boarded Egged bus No. 20 in Kiryat Menahem, a working-class neighborhood of Jerusalem where her family lived. Aluma hugged close her heavy school backpack packed with books and notebooks. Others were waiting at her stop on Mexico Street.
Among them was Na’el Abu Hilail, 23. He’d been driven into Jerusalem from El-Khader, south of Bethlehem, to this bus, deliberately chosen because by 7:15 a.m. it was always crowded with children going to school and office workers going to their jobs downtown. In his backpack were no books, but 5 kilograms of explosives packed with shrapnel. Standing near the driver where passengers lined up to pay, he pulled the switch. The windows were blown out of the bus. The roof was ripped off. The blast wave rolled through the enclosed space, tearing the junctures where air and tissue meet: ear, lung and the gut. Metal fragments flew through the bus. Passengers were thrown from their seats. Fifty passengers were seriously and critically injured. Eleven persons, four of them kids on their way to school, were murdered.
At first the count of dead was 12. But then a paramedic named Raphael, like the angel of healing, made a last check through the bus and saw a schoolgirl’s eyelids flicker.
Each week, my cousins Dina and Yair host students in their home from Sapir College in the Israeli city of Sderot. This week, the guests included students and my wife, myself, and our baby son. My wife and I had finally put our 1-year-old to sleep and were sipping soup when, suddenly, a sharp, oddly calm, almost robotic announcement came over loudspeakers. "Tzeva Adom - Code Red." We know we have 15 seconds to run to a bomb shelter as a rocket speeds towards us. This is not a test.
I run into our bedroom and scoop the sleeping baby out of his crib. Like a football player running downfield, I hold him under one arm and guide people down the hallway to the shelter with my other. We dive into the shelter and slam shut the heavy vault door just as the first blasts shake the walls and rattle the roof. Our sleepy 1-year-old claps his hands and screams, "Boom, boom."
Ten minutes later, we leave the shelter to sit around the table once again and pretend that things are normal. After a second barrage of rockets half an hour later, we decide to leave our son in the bomb shelter overnight with the other kids. At least we won't need to wake them up if more rockets are fired at us - as indeed they were at 2 a.m.
Today 3/11 A traveller bordering the Gaza Strip saw his children playing with a book, suspecting it was a booby trap called the police. The sappers found half a kilogram of TNT explosives and spray balls to increase the injuryhttps://t.co/4qku4GGntqpic.twitter.com/sfKd36QmN4
One of heavy metal’s biggest bands will be returning to Israel next year, for its first show in the Jewish state in 25 years.
On Thursday, the band Iron Maiden confirmed that it will be appearing in Tel Aviv next year for its first show in Israel in a quarter of a century.
Iron Maiden is slated to perform at Tel Aviv’s Bloomfield Stadium on May 30th, with Israeli heavy metal band Orphaned Land opening the show.
While many Israeli fans rejoiced, some Orthodox Jewish fans in Israel urged the band to reconsider the timing of the concert, which begins Saturday evening before the end of the Sabbath and a day after the Shavuot holiday.
A petition launched by Orthodox fans has called on the show’s promoters to push off the date of the concert.
“For the greater good of G-d and the Jewish people, please choose a day to play here that doesn't fall out on one of the forbidden times.”
Other fans took to the ‘Bring Iron Maiden to Israel’ group to organize a group Shabbat at a hotel in Tel Aviv near the venue, allowing religious fans to make it to the show after the end of the Sabbath (8:23 p.m.).
Aviva Fort, who previously covered the Israeli metal scene with ‘Metal Israel’, told Arutz Sheva concert promoters fail to realize that a growing number of rock and metal fans in Israel are religiously observant, assuming that the fan base is exclusively secular.
“The foreign-born religious population is only growing. Concert promoters and the rest of Israeli society need to deal with reality: Shabbat-observant people that move to Israel or study here don’t necessarily fall into the strict boxes delineated by Israeli society. Shutting out an entire sales market by not taking our needs into account is just not a smart financial move.”
The problem is compounded by the fact that the Friday before the concert is Shavuot, so any religious fan would have to be in a hotel for two days - and most religious Jews would want to be with their families on the holiday rather than in a Tel Aviv hotel.
Some people might think it is strange that religious Jews would be fans of heavy metal, but there are plenty of Jews who take Jewish law seriously and who also fully participate in secular society, including listening to the same music everyone else listens to.
The petition has little chance of making an impact; the band's full tour dates are published. However, there is a five day gap between the May 30 show in Tel Aviv and their next concert in Finland. If enough "frum" metalheads convince the promoters and band that there is money to be made by adding a second show, then, just maybe, they can pull it off. They just need to convince 30,000 Israelis to come to a second Sunday night show!
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Ahlam al-Tamimi is the proud Hamas terrorist who was integral to the 2001 bombing of the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem, killing 15 including 7 children and a pregnant woman.
Tamimi was one of the 1,207 prisoners released in the deal to free Gilad Shalit and she has lived freely in Jordan since then, publicly proud about her role in murdering Jewish children.
Malki Roth, 15, was one of the two American victims of the Sbarro massacre, and since then her parents Arnold and Frimet have been working tirelessly to see justice done to her murderer.
“Al-Tamimi is an unrepentant terrorist who admitted to her role in a deadly terrorist bombing that injured and killed numerous innocent victims,” Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Mary McCord said at the time. “The charges unsealed today serve as a reminder that when terrorists target Americans anywhere in the world, we will never forget – and we will continue to seek to ensure that they are held accountable.”
Last year, for the first time, the US State Department annual Country Report on Terrorism mentioned al-Tamimi:
A U.S. criminal complaint was unsealed in March charging Ahlam Aref Ahmad Al-Tamimi, a Jordanian national in her mid-30s, with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against U.S. nationals outside the United States resulting in death. The charge is related to her participation in an August 9, 2001, suicide bomb attack at a restaurant in Jerusalem that killed 15 people, including two U.S. nationals. Four other U.S. nationals were among the approximately 122 others injured in the attack. Also unsealed was a warrant for Al-Tamimi’s arrest and an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint and arrest warrant. Jordan’s courts have ruled that their constitution forbids the extradition of Jordanian nationals.
The newly released Country Report on Terrorism 2018 includes a significant addition to the virtually identical text:
In 2018, Jordan continued to cite a court ruling that its constitution forbids the extradition of Jordanian nationals. The United States regards the extradition treaty as valid.
Those nine words hint that the current administration, unlike previous ones, might actually pressure Jordan publicly to extradite Tamimi to the US.
Article 21 (i) Political refugees shall not be extradited on account of their political beliefs or for their defence of liberty. (ii) Extradition of ordinary criminals shall be regulated by international agreements and laws.
Meaning that Jordanian justice system does not view a murderer of children as a criminal or terrorist, but rather as an innocent person being persecuted for her political beliefs.
Far more information is available at the This Ongoing War website maintained by the parents of Malki Roth.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Dahir Zidani, the owner of the Al Reda restaurant that has been in the news for not allowing patrons to speak Hebrew to his staff, is probably a bigot - but he is definitely a jerk.
He was interviewed by QudsN where he said that part of the reason that he bans Hebrew from being spoken is to push Arabic as a language of choice for Arabs like his workers, but the major reason is that Israelis are "barbaric:"
There is another issue, one that Israelis may understand better than others, because they know themselves, that they are insolent and messy, they are loud and boastful, they enter the restaurant arrogantly and in a condescending way, and we found that this way we could restrain them. The moment we speak to them in English, they become different people, they lower their voices, they speak politely, they behave nicer and they are more civilized, not as much as we would like them to be, but less barbaric than they were beforehand.
He also makes it cler that he doesn't consider himself an Israeli:
Can an Israeli impose his conditions and mood on a restaurant in France or in Africa or ask them to bill the account in Hebrew ?! of course not. So I submit the invoice in Arabic, and if someone wants to explain the details of the invoice, I am of course ready, but I provide it in Arabic.
The striking thing about the interview though is that Zidani has a vision for the relationship between a restaurant owner and the customers that is not exactly how most businesses are run:
This place is open to all people, but it is my place. Another point of view is who should determine the conditions of hospitality, is it the guest or the host ?! Or is this guest expecting that he can impose his conditions elsewhere as he tries to do with us ?! Or is this a reflection of the balance of power ?!
"The customer is always right" is not this guy's slogan. This is very clear when he or his manager respond to criticism on TripAdvisor:
The place seems to be strict about rules. We left with uncomfortable feeling that they had something against us and we got no reasonable explanation why we couldn't get our order. Try sodfeh or tashreen in the neighborhood. Time was midnight, place half empty , 4 of us, sat further away from smokers. Apparently our table was only for 3 people. Ordered drinks only. Waiter retuned explained take only for 3. We said we want to be close to window and further from smokers. 10 minutes another waiter came that the table can't hold food for 4, we explained we ordered only drinks. 10 minutes later same waiter came back and explained no way you stay on this take , we left wasting half an hour and perplexed about the true reason why we couldn't get our order.
Dear Mr Zipzib
you don't like smoke and smokers , you entered a smoker's place , !!!
you decided and insisted to take a table we did not give you !!! without respecting our rules and consideration !!!!
you can insist also not to understand why we did not and could not serve you under your conditions !
still I hope you can understand this : A table should not look comfortable only for client , it should be comfortable also for the next tables , it should be comfortable for the waiter to serve and it should be safe , safe , safe for clients !!!!
we would have explain that to you if you did move to the available alternative tables !
you exempted your self from thinking or worrying about these considerations , we cannot and we don't want to take this exemption to ourselves !!! we simply still have some respect to ourselves and to our place !!
hope you will reconsider you review !!!!??
The manager of this establishment was the rudest, most offensive and angry person I have come across in any so called restaurant.
If it had been my choice I would have immediately left.
The group I was part of were made to feel unwelcome, unruly (!) and unwanted.
The manager, or whoever was representing this business , was contemptuous and positively abusive in my honest opinion and showed our group not even the most basic respect never mind any remote shred of 'hospitality' whatsoever.
To list :initially a refusal to acknowledge the booking denying it existed
Negative attitude towards size of our group
Refusal to take orders instead offering 'shared plates' that did not take much account of vegetarian or vegan needs
Slamming down menus in front of us
Telling us to split into smaller tables because we were too loud..!!
Refusing to turn music down
Keeping people waiting interminally for drinks and food
Just plain nasty
There was obviously some deep seated resentment towards us that I could only guess at.
This person looked unclean,disheveled;
The place itself was dark, extremely dusty and practically empty apart from single men and one very young inappropriately dressed girl.
How I deeply deeply resented giving even one shekel of hard earned money to this company.
NO STARS
AVOID AVOID AVOID
DAZEI, General Manager at Alreda, responded to this review This review ( second of the same grope ) does not deserve any kind of respond !! I am so sorry I agreed to feed them , and I am most happy they and their friends promise to avoid my place !!!
The restaurant has no problem putting a Hebrew sign on its front. It is a warning that it is protected by a security system.
Apparently he considers thieves to be Hebrew speakers.
(ht Ibn Boutros)
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Anti-Zionism is a flourishing politics today on many university campuses and on parts of the left, and the standard response from many Jewish organisations and from most of the Jews I know is to call it the newest version of antisemitism. But anti-Zionism is a subject in itself. I take “Zionism” to mean a belief in the rightful existence of a Jewish state, nothing more. Anti-Zionism denies the rightfulness.
Most versions of anti-Zionism first appeared among the Jews. The first, and probably the oldest, takes Zionism to be a Jewish heresy. According to Orthodox doctrine, the return of the Jews to Zion and the establishment of a state will be the work of the Messiah in the days to come. Until then, Jews are required to accept their exile, defer to gentile rulers, and wait for divine deliverance. Political action is a usurpation of God’s prerogative.
“Waiting for the Messiah” has a left-wing version, which might be called “waiting for the revolution.” Jews (and other minorities) were often told that all their problems would be solved, and could only be solved, by the triumph of the proletariat. Many Jews took this to be an expression of hostility, a refusal to recognise the urgencies of their situation. But I don’t see antisemitism here, only ideological rigidity and moral insensitivity.
The second Jewish version of anti-Zionism was first proclaimed by the founders of Reform Judaism in nineteenth-century Germany. There is no Jewish people, they insisted, only a community of faith – men and women of the Mosaic persuasion. Jews could be good Germans (or good citizens of any state) since they were not a nation like the other nations and did not aspire to a state of their own. Zionism was perceived as a threat to these good Germans, since it suggested that they had an allegiance elsewhere.
Many leftists have adopted this denial of Jewish peoplehood, and then they go on to claim that a Jewish state must be a religious state, something like a Catholic or Lutheran or Muslim state – political formations that no leftist could support. But Reform Jews adopted this position knowing that most of their fellow Jews didn’t share it. They weren’t all looking for a homeland in the land of Israel, but even the Bundists, who hoped for autonomy in the Tsarist empire, were Jewish nationalists.
The early Reform Jews wanted to change the course and character of Jewish history; they weren’t ignorant of that history. Leftists who argue against Jewish peoplehood are, mostly, ignorant.
From the moment Omar Shakir stepped on Israeli soil, he had the same modus operandi he always did and even traveled to Bahrain to promote a FIFA ban on Israel. Bahrain denied him entrance to the country.
Last year, following the decision to cancel Shakir's visa, 15 human rights organizations, Including Israeli NGOs B'tselem and Breaking the Silence, called for the decision to be reversed.
"This decision only serves to partner Israel with a list of shady countries whose governments want to control the opinions, thoughts and actions of human beings, instead of protecting their right to free speech," the groups said.
Well, let's see: Canada banned former British MP and vehement Israel-hater George Galloway; France banned Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, considered by Sunni Muslims to be a prominent intellectual; Britain banned American anti-gay protester Fred Phelps and his daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper from entering the country, as well as Michael Savage, a far-right conservative radio host; the U.S. denied entry to Filipina human rights activist Liza Maza who intended to attend a conference on American activity in her country; and recently, both the U.S. and Britain banned the entrance of Omar Barghouti, the co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and Omar Shakir's ideological twin.
It's safe to assume that anti-Israeli elements will resume their usual drivel about damage to free speech, which is curious given that Shakir himself is an advocate of harming free speech.
In 2015, Shakir signed a petition calling for a ban on Muslims who dared accept the invitation of the Hartman Institute (on Jerusalem-based center for pluralistic Jewish thought and education) for an educational tour of Israel.
Every country has the right to deny entry to agitators, and there's no country in the world that would allow a person who denies its right to exist enter its borders. This is true of Israel as well.
In a front-page editorial, the British Jewish Chronicle implored UK citizens not to vote for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in the upcoming December 12 election, citing his long record of comments against Israel and failure to stamp out anti-Semitism within his opposition party.
“To all our fellow British citizens. This front page is addressed not to our usual readers — but to those who would not normally read the Jewish Chronicle. In other words, to non-Jews,” it read.
In its call for British nationals to take Jewish concerns into account on election day, the editorial cited a March poll showing that 87 percent of British Jews believe Corbyn to be anti-Semitic.
“There is racism on all sides of politics and it must be called out wherever it is found. History has forced our community to be able to spot extremism as it emerges — and Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader in 2015 is one such example,” it said, citing Corbyn’s past affiliation with members of Hamas and Hezbollah, his presence at a ceremony that honored the Palestinian terrorists behind the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre, his reaction to anti-Semitic statements by members of his party, and his 2018 comment that “Zionists” do not grasp “English irony.”
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Elder of Ziyon
