[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 02/25 Links Pt1: Does Abbas want his legacy to be the third intifada?; EU, Qatar and Turkey

From Ian:

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The US has been Committed to Land for Peace since 1948

The Arab League has instructed its members to deny citizenship to Palestinian Arab refugees (or their descendants) “to avoid dissolution of their identity and protect their right to return to their homeland.”
The Arab League forbade any Arab country from accepting these refugees or settling them in normal housing, preferring to leave them in squalid camps.
Even after the Oslo Accords, in the 'West Bank' and Gaza under full jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, the refugees continued to be confined to camps — despite the millions of UNWRA and international relief dollars which poured into PA coffers specifically for this purpose.
Two years after UNGA Res. 194, the GA passed Resolution 393 (Dec. 1950). Article 4 states that “the reintegration of the refugees into the economic life of the Near east, either by repatriation or resettlement, is essential in preparation for the time when international assistance is no longer available, and for the realization of conditions of peace and stability in the region.” It also called for the creation of a “reintegration fund” in Article 5.
But this resolution would undermine the “right of return” so no one talks about it.

Does Mahmoud Abbas want his legacy to be the third intifada?

If you were President Abbas and you knew that you couldn’t bring peace to your people, would you want to be remembered as the impotent corrupt leader of the PA, or would you erase your past and become known as the leader of the glorious third intifada? All of this may be moot as the Palestinian Authority may not be able to dictate events. As the Jerusalem Post reported: “The army has told the government that at any given moment the Palestinian Authority can collapse...
In one of the scenarios that the IDF presented, a small localized security incident, like an altercation between settlers and Palestinians, or the throwing of a Molotov cocktail could quickly escalate to rioting in the Galilee and the Triangle area. With the weakened Palestinian Authority a situation like this is liable to lead to terrorist organizations taking control of the West Bank.”
What should America do? Understand that the chaos of the Middle East and the weakness of the PA make this an inopportune time for final status negotiations.
America’s goal should be to convince Abbas not to start a third intifada and to help the Palestinians build the foundations of a future democracy, with rule of law, tolerance, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech.
In short, America should lead conflict management, not impose solutions where none exist.

EU, Qatar and Turkey

Meanwhile, Qatar's TV channel, Al-Jazeera, regularly incites terrorism against Egyptian President el-Sisi's pro-Western regime. El-Sisi's heroic pro-Western stance is apparently unreciprocated: the U.S. State Department just hosted an official meeting for his arch-enemy, the Muslim Brotherhood, father of Hamas, while Al Jazeera -- in Arabic -- encourages terrorist attacks in Egypt and Sinai Peninsula by the Muslim Brotherhood, and preaches the destruction of Israel, non-stop.
It was Al-Jazeera that created the "Arab Spring" by twisting a story about a Tunisian fruit-seller, who set himself on fire because he could not get a work permit, into a story of Tunisian oppression. The station ran the story again and again, whipping up Tunisians to overthrow their secular leaders and bring in Islamist leaders. To the Tunisians' credit, like the Egyptians, after a few years of Islamist rule, they also threw the Islamist leaders out.
Recently, Al-Jazeera has been broadcasting a "documentary" series glorifying Hamas and the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, its military-terrorist wing. The entire series is devoted to idealizing Islamist terrorism and encouraging mass-casualty terrorist attacks against Jews, in the name of radical Islamist ideology.
One of the stars of the series is the Palestinian arch-terrorist, Abd al-Karim al-Hanini, who was released from prison in Israel and found a safe haven in Qatar. He explains how to construct explosives from agricultural substances, such as chemical fertilizer and sulfur; how to fill an empty gas balloon with the explosives, and how to detonate the bomb mechanically, electronically or with a suicide-bomber (shaheed), in order to kill as many Israelis as possible.
Al-Hanini boasts about his terrorist activities killing Israeli civilians and soldiers, and details tactics that mujahideen will use in their jihadi "inner struggles," and presumably also their outer ones. These tactics can be used as blueprints by future terrorists. The series can easily be viewed by all intelligence agencies in the world, but so far no one has tried to prevent it from being broadcast -- or has even criticized Qatar for broadcasting it.
No one has even tried to prevent Qatar's participation in a global anti-terrorism forum.

Forced from Damascus, Hamas establishing itself in Turkey

Hamas set up its so-called West Bank and Jerusalem Headquarters in Istanbul immediately following the organization's expulsion from Damascus in 2011. In 2013, Hamas underwent restructuring, and the organization expanded the activities of the Turkey-based headquarters, headed by Salah Al-Arouri, who was deported from Israel in the past. Among others, under him now in Turkey are 20 militants released as part of the Gilad Shalit deal, including the likes of Zaher Jabarin and Jihad Yarmur, who were involved in the murder of soldier Nachshon Wachsman.
The headquarters in Turkey is engaged in part in locating West Bank and Gaza Strip residents who are studying in Turkey, Jordan, Syria and other Arab countries, with efforts also being made to recruit students from among the Israeli Arab population.
The students undergo initial screening in Jordan and Turkey; and since Jordan does not allow Hamas activists to undergo military training on its soil, the recruits are sent to the headquarters in Istanbul, where they receive security clearances and are sent for military training just outside the city – under the watchful eye of Turkish intelligence officials.
The recruits, hundreds every year, are trained in the use of light weapons, bomb-making and covert operations, and are then sent for additional training in Syria. From there, they go the West Bank to engage in terror activities and establish clandestine terror cells.

Jewish 'Settlements': If not Illegal, What are They?

This public unoccupied land was never owned by a Muslim Palestinian state, since no Muslim Palestinian state ever existed. Four hundred years prior to the end of World War I in 1917 this land was occupied and owned by the Ottoman empire; then between 1917-1948 it was controlled by the British, and following the 1948 war between Israel and the Arab states, the kingdom of Jordan occupied — and, I must say, illegally absorbed — the same territory.
An Arab Palestinian authority has never owned public land in Judea and Samaria, (a.k.a. the West Bank) or the Gaza strip. The Jews were the only legitimate local resident owners before the Roman Empire’s conquest of the land. After the Romans drove the Jews out of Israel and renamed the territory, the only owners were foreign imperialists who took control of Palestine after defeating a former imperialist occupier.
Public unoccupied land in Judea and Samaria had never been in possession of a Palestinian Arab authority or government. Israel captured the land from its illegal possessor, the Jordanian Hashemite kingdom, in a defensive war.
In the absence of peace between Israel and any Palestinian authority, it has been Israel’s legally justified right to maintain its sovereignty over these territories, develop and settle them, as long as the Israeli government has not deported or displaced the original residents. Accordingly, Palestinian Arabs were able to challenge the Israeli government concerning land use and ownership and that several of these challenges were successful. Consequently, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the Israeli government to reverse position and hand the land over to its rightful owners whenever it found such land grab illegal or unjust.

Israel reportedly planning 48,000 new homes in West Bank

Israel is planning on constructing some 48,000 new housing units in Israeli West Bank settlements, according to leaked transcripts involving government officials published by an Israeli daily Tuesday.
The new units, which do not count some 15,000 new homes planned for East Jerusalem, would make up nearly 1/6th of the 279,000 tenders for units across the country, according to Yedioth Ahronoth, which cited conversations between officials in the Housing and Finance ministries.
The report, which could not be independently verified, comes amid growing international pressure to cease construction in settlements and amid country-wide housing crisis that is compacted by rising real estate costs and a dearth of accommodation opportunities — particularly for first home buyers.

Israelly Cool: Exclusive Interview With Shmuel Waldman, Plaintiff in PLO Terror Trial

Yesterday was a day of tremendous joy. That was when we got the amazing news of the landmark victory by ten American families against the PLO and the PA. A U.S. court slammed the PA and PLO with a judgment of $655.5m for wrongful death damages incurred in terror attacks. According to the Jerusalem Post, this figure represents a tripling penalty of the $218.5m verdict, arrived at according to the anti-terrorism laws that govern the case.
But while my friends and I were exchanging ecstatic mazal tovs online, the reaction of at least one of the plaintiffs, Shmuel Waldman, was more subdued. Waldman had his leg blown apart in a shooting in Jerusalem in 2002. The shooting not only shattered his tibia but left him with “difficulties in every area of his life.”
Shmuel and his Israeli-born wife Henna had been married just six months at the time their lives were changed forever by terror. They were just young people in their 20’s, full of hope and optimism, excited at the prospect of living, learning, and raising a family in Eretz HaKodesh [the Holy Land].
When the opportunity to interview Waldman came up, I knew only that he was a plaintiff in the trial. Rather than read someone else’s take on the story, I had Shmuel tell it to me in his own words.
What emerged was a picture of a fellow Jew who loved Eretz Yisroel with all his heart, who had confronted death and beaten it, but not without a cost: first and foremost, his ability to stay in Israel. That is the part of this interview that grabs at the heartstrings: the realization that winning a judgment like this is not a bit like winning the lottery.

NGO Monitor: NGO silence on PLO terror verdict

This decision marks an important milestone in holding Palestinian terrorists and officials accountable for their campaign of atrocities against civilians. It also has unmasked a political and ideological agenda advanced by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) active in the Arab-Israeli conflict, belying their claims of promoting universal human rights and ending impunity. The case was aimed at providing redress and compensation for victims of human rights violations.
One would expect human rights and international justice NGOs and activists, who have campaigned on these issues for decades, to support the trial and rejoice at the jury’s decision.
Instead, the international and Israeli human rights network has been virtually absent. Since the verdict was announced on Monday afternoon, the leaders of this movement, including HRW’s Ken Roth, Reed Brody and Sarah Leah Whitson; Amnesty International; the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR); and many Israeli NGOs like B’Tselem (current and former directors Hagai Elad and Jessica Montell), Gisha and Breaking the Silence have said next to nothing.
In fact, when news of the verdict broke, and although many of them were active on social media such as Twitter at the time, they ignored it completely.

Palestinians vow to fight landmark US ruling in terror suit

The ruling does not bode well for the Palestinian Authority, which is already struggling to handle a major financial crisis that has been exacerbated by Israel’s freezing of millions of dollars of tax revenues as a punishment for the ICC move.
Even before the ruling Washington had expressed concern that the crisis could lead to the collapse of the Authority.
But it remains a question whether the Palestinian leadership will have to pay the damages.
Israeli lawyer Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, who represented the victims, said she would leave no stone unturned in forcing them to pay and would target Palestinian assets in both the United States and Israel.
But senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi told reporters in Ramallah: “We cannot pay. We do not have this money.”
She expressed confidence that as long as the Authority cooperated with the US justice system, it would not have its American assets seized.
She also admitted that the ruling had come at a very bad time.

Amnesty urges halting arms to Israel, others guilty of 'mass atrocities'

The London-based organization also called on the five members of the UN Security Council - the US, China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom - to renounce their veto power to block resolutions against countries that have committed war crimes.
“This could be a game-changer for the international community and the tools it has at its disposal to help protect civilian lives,” Shetty said.
“By renouncing their veto rights the five permanent members of the Security Council would give the UN more scope to take action to protect civilians when lives are at grave risk and send a powerful signal to perpetrators that the world will not sit idly by while mass atrocities take place,” said Shetty.
The Foreign Ministry had no comment on the report. But the group, NGO Monitor, charged that Amnesty's call to halt arms sales and shipments to Israel denied the right of the Jewish State to self-defense.
The report did not mention the munitions that were brought to Israel to save the lives of its citizens, such as the Iron Dome anti-missile system, NGO Monitor said.
Nor did Amnesty condemn Hamas for its illegal and systematic placement of weapons in hospitals, mosques, and homes in Gaza, NGO Monitor charged.
“Unfortunately, many Amnesty officials and 'researchers' are so deeply involved in promoting the narrative of Palestinian victimhood and Israeli guilt, and remain blind to the requirements of universal human rights,” NGO Monitor said.

Amnesty International: ‘End Veto’ Protection of Israel ‘at UNSC’

In sections of its massive report devoted exclusively to Israel or to the Middle East and North Africa, AI casts Israel in the worst possible light, while minimizing or failing to mention altogether wrongful acts by its sworn enemies. Another article in the Jewishpress.com will address those sections.
In a gratuitously nasty swipe at Israel – and none similar appear against other nations – the AI report disparages Israeli reports, many of which have been substantiated elsewhere, that its enemies bear responsibility for much of the civilian harm inflicted on Israel’s enemies.
To wit, on page 199 of its Report:
Israeli authorities sought publicly to shift the blame for the large loss of life and wholesale destruction caused by the Israeli offensive in Gaza onto Hamas and Palestinian armed groups on the grounds that they fired rockets and other weapons from within or near civilian residential areas and concealed munitions in civilian buildings.

Iran opposition unveils ‘secret’ Tehran nuclear site

An exiled Iranian opposition group Tuesday accused Tehran of running a “secret” uranium enrichment site close to Tehran, which it said violated ongoing talks with global powers on a nuclear deal.
“Despite the Iranian regime’s claims that all of its enrichment activities are transparent … it has in fact been engaged in research and development with advanced centrifuges at a secret nuclear site called Lavizan-3,” said Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
He said the site was hidden in a military base in the northeastern suburbs of Tehran.
He presented to reporters a series of satellite images drawn from Google Maps which he said backed “this intelligence from highly placed sources within the Iranian regime as well as those involved in the nuclear weapons projects.”
The Lavizan-3 site was apparently constructed between 2004 and 2008 and has underground labs connected by a tunnel.

US Media Avoids Iran Opposition Group Exposure of Secret Nuclear Program

An opposition group in Iran was slated to reveal new information Tuesday morning about the presence of a top secret parallel nuclear program being carried out at a site called Lavizan-3.
But suddenly, after first announcing the upcoming news story and the presence of the blockbuster top secret parallel nuclear development program in Iran – the headlines vanished. The briefing by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) simply did not exist.
Instead, reports vanished about the upcoming news of the secret Iranian nuclear development program being carried on right under the very noses of the American and European negotiators while trying to reach a “good faith” agreement with Tehran.
They were replaced with headlines about “leaked cables” that reportedly showed Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Israel’s international Mossad intelligence agency “disagreed” about the extent of the Iranian nuclear threat.
Talk about the proverbial red herring.

Saudis ‘would let Israeli jets use their air space to attack Iran’

Saudi Arabia is prepared to let Israeli fighter jets use its airspace if it proves necessary to attack Iran’s nuclear program, an Israeli TV station reported Tuesday, highlighting growing ties in the shadow of Tehran’s nuclear drive.
Riyadh’s only condition is that Israel make some kind of progress in peace talks with the Palestinians, Channel 2 reported Tuesday, citing an unnamed senior European source.
“The Saudi authorities are completely coordinated with Israel on all matters related to Iran,” the European official in Brussels said.

Netanyahu Out-Trolls Obama; Rejects Democrats' Invite

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has turned down an invitation to meet with Senate Democrats, politely informing them that meeting with one party alone “could compound the misperception of partisanship regarding my upcoming visit,” according to Reuters. It is a response that reprises Democrats’ complaints about the speech Netanyahu is to deliver before a joint session of Congress on March 3–and turns their own arguments against them.
Democrats complained that the speech violated some heretofore unknown protocol, that it was too closely coordinated with the GOP, and that it made Israel into a partisan issue–as if their own party’s leftward drift was not the primary cause of that problem. Nominally pro-Israel Democrats like Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Dianne Feinstein of California likely saw a separate meeting with Netanyahu as a way to welcome him while putting their own spin on his upcoming visit and undermining the main event.
Netanyahu denied them that opportunity, and in so doing affirmed the will of the American electorate that chose the GOP to lead Congress, not a minority Democratic rump trying to split the difference between their radical president and reality.

US national security advisor Rice says Netanyahu address 'destructive'

Susan Rice, US President Barack Obama's national security advisor, said on Tuesday night that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's acceptance of an invitation to address Congress next month is "destructive of the fabric of the relationship" between Israel and the United States.
"We've been fortunate that politics have not been injected into that relationship," Rice said to American journalist Charlie Rose.
But "what has happened over the last several weeks, by virtue of the invitation that was issued by the Speaker and the acceptance of it by Prime Minister Netanyahu on two weeks in advance of his election, is that on both sides, there has now been injected a degree of partisanship."
Those decisions from both men were "not only unfortunate," Rice continued, but "destructive."
"It's always been bipartisan," she said. "We need to keep it that way. We want it that way. I think Israel wants it that way. The American people want it that way. And when it becomes injected or infused with politics, that's a problem."

Israeli Opposition Leader Isaac Herzog Cancels AIPAC Conference Appearance

Zionist Union alliance head Isaac Herzog, the opposition leader in the Israeli Knesset and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stiffest competition in the country’s March 17 election, announced that he has canceled his scheduled appearance at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference next week in Washington, D.C.
“A few days ago, I told the AIPAC conference organizers that I was deeply sorry, but that I could not attend the conference at which I had been invited to deliver a speech. American Jewry is very important to me, but it is clear that replacing the Netanyahu government is just as important, and that is my primary mission these days,” Herzog told reporters in Jerusalem.
Herzog also criticized Netanyahu’s planned speech to a joint session of Congress about Iran on March 3.
“Netanyahu’s spin about who is going to Washington must stop,” Herzog said. “My firm position against a nuclear Iran is known by every Israeli and American, including the U.S. president, and I know how to voice it in a sharp, clear manner—from here (Israel), not from there.”

Why the Fake Story About the Mossad Contradicting Netanyahu?

The weaponization aspect of that report is significant particularly in light of the attention given the Mossad’s 2012 conclusions. At that time it wasn’t clear whether the Iranians were close to a bomb. Neither the U.S. nor Israel knows the answer to that question today either. But what we do know is that Netanyahu’s predictions about Iran’s capabilities were not only vindicated but may well become accepted by the West in the wake of President Obama’s proposal.
Thus at this moment, damaging Netanyahu’s credibility, even if it means shading the truth or inventing a contradiction when there is none, has become vital for those who believe confronting Iran over its nuclear program is a mistake. No matter how many brickbats are hurled at him by the media or how many tactical mistakes he and his staff may make as they are being outmaneuvered in Washington by the White House, the fact remains that Iran’s nuclear ambitions are a deadly threat to the security of the West and the moderate Arab nations as well as an existential challenge to Israel’s existence. But the president’s apologists will have to do better than a misleading Mossad story if they are to succeed in silencing the critics of Obama’s Iran appeasement.

BBC News website parrots Guardian’s leaked cable spin

One really would think that by now the BBC should have learned to take the serial Israel-related journalistic ‘scoops’ produced by the Al Jazeera-Guardian duo with the appropriate bucket-load of salt. After all, the same partnership was responsible for the publication of the so-called ‘Palestine Papers’ in 2011 and the Al Jazeera employee behind those leaks also engineered the ridiculous ‘Arafat was poisoned’ story in 2013.
But no: the BBC has once again swallowed the latest Clayton Swisher creation promoted via Al Jazeera and the Guardian hook, line and sinker, producing its own version of the non-story in the form of an article published on the BBC News website’s Middle East page on February 23rd under the title “Israel PM ‘differed’ with Mossad on Iran, says report“.
Readers can study the leaked cable for themselves here. The spin put on it by the Guardian and Al Jazeera (and faithfully parroted by the BBC) is aimed at persuading the public that the Israeli prime minister deliberately misled the world with regard to Iran’s nuclear intentions in his 2012 speech at the UN and that statements in that cable from none other than the Israeli security services (a nice poetic touch) prove the point. Obviously, the timing of this leak needs to be viewed within the context of both the current stage of the P5+1 negotiations with Iran and PM Netanyahu’s upcoming speech to the US Congress next week – as this paragraph in the Guardian’s report indicates:

New Muslim Provocation: Al Aqsa BuffetIslamists offer a hearty breakfast for free to worshipers on the Temple Mount – in breach of the law.

Islamists have inaugurated a new and illegal breakfast buffet on the Temple Mount.
Jewish Temple organizations note that every morning, the Muslims have been laying out a hearty free breakfast buffet, in order to encourage as many Muslims as possible to come to Al Aqsa and oppose the Jewish presence there – a presence which has become more visible in recent years.
The breakfast is served on the inner side of the Western Wall, in breach of express Supreme Court rulings, note the organizations. However, “While authorities rigorously enforce the laws regarding the holy places in the external plaza of the Temple Mount Western Wall, on its inner side, the violations of the law only grow more numerous.”
The High Court decided, following a motion filed in 1993, that Muslims may only dine in the areas of the tree groves on the Temple Mount and not anywhere else. It noted that a person who defiles a holy place is committing a criminal offense, as is anyone who does something that offends the feelings of religious people toward that place.

IDF Installs Concrete Barriers Along Syrian Border

The IDF has placed concrete barriers along the Syrian border, Walla! News reports Tuesday, following the antitank missile attack from Hezbollah last month in the Golan Heights.
"Following the increase in threats to IDF soldiers patrolling the border, and for fear of similar events, it was decided to increase in various ways the security measures in the area, including placing concrete blocs," a senior military source stated.
On January 28, Major Yochai Kalengal and Sgt. Dor Chaim Nini were killed after Hezbollah terrorists shot between 4-6 antitank missiles into Israel, near Har Dov in the Golan Heights. The attack also injured six additional soldiers, and a Spanish UNIFIL peacekeeper was killed in retaliatory fire from Israel.

Report: General known as 'Libya's Sisi' set to meet Israeli officials in Amman

Former Libyan army general, Khalifa Haftar, who has set himself up as a warrior against Islamist militancy and who some also see as their savior, was planning to meet with Israeli officials on a visit in Amman, an Arab newspaper reported.
The London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported on Tuesday that informed sources said that Haftar secretly visited Egypt twice last week and received 400 different kinds of weapons for his forces in Libya.
Meanwhile, the president of Libya's elected parliament has proposed appointing Haftar as top military commander, parliament's spokesman said on Wednesday.
"Mr Aguila Saleh has proposed to appoint Haftar," spokesman Farraj Hashem told Reuters. "The House of Representatives supports this." He said the decree still needed to be signed by Saleh.

Israeli Memorial for Terror Victim Defaced With Swastika and PLO Flag

A swastika was painted overnight on the monument erected in memory of Rabbi Meir Chai, who was killed in a terrorist attack in 2009 between Einav and Shavei Shomron in the West Bank, Israel’s 0404 News reports.
The popular news website decried the lack of coverage of the hate crime, stating that no other news source or any public official or individual had mentioned anything about the attack, which saw the daubing of a large black swastika and a Palestinian flag on the monument. The attack also included the desecration of an Israeli flag that the perpetrators – presumed to be Palestinian Arabs – took the time to remove from its place.
Chai, a father of seven, was killed when Fatah gunmen opened fire on his vehicle as he traveled in the area of the monument. His killers were tracked down within 48 hours and were killed in a shootout with IDF forces.

Israel cuts power to West Bank cities for second time

For the second time this week, the Israel Electric Corporation briefly cut power to the West Bank cities of Nablus and Jenin Wednesday over an unpaid debt of NIS 1.9 billion ($482 million).
The state-owned electric company said the hour-long blackouts served as a warning over the outstanding bills accrued by Palestinian utility companies that buy electricity from Israel and distribute it to West Bank cities and towns.
The company said that Palestinian residents affected by the power outage Wednesday afternoon received advance warning of the move.

Despite ban, Israeli products still abound in Ramallah stores

A boycott imposed by Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement on Israel’s main food manufacturers may have officially taken effect on Wednesday, but just one mile away from the presidential palace here, vendors were noticeably unmoved.
Popular snacks like Osem’s Bamba peanut butter snacks and Elite’s Tapuchips potato chips stood on display, unabashed, outside grocery stores around al-Manara Square. Meanwhile, Strauss milky chocolate pudding and Tnuva yogurts were cooling in refrigerators at the back.
“The Israeli products sell better than the Arab ones and their quality is higher,” said Fawzi, 23, who operates the cash register in a small grocery on al-Nahda Street. Reluctant to divulge his real name for fear of reprisals, he was nevertheless unequivocal in his criticism of the new Palestinian policy.
“People aren’t convinced by the boycott,” he explained. “Most see it as a foolish game, a ploy to placate the public; not as a genuine patriotic move. If the PA sincerely wanted to boycott, it would have blocked the trucks from entering [the Palestinian territories] at the crossings.”

PA Negligence and Sheep Smuggling Cause Brucellosis Outbreak

A calamitous combination of negligence by Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's government in failing to provide vaccines, mixed with rampant smuggling from Israel, has apparently launched an outbreak of brucellosis among Arab residents of Judea and Samaria.
Brucellosis, also known as Bang's disease, is a highly contagious condition passing from animals to humans, and can be contracted by consuming unpasteurized milk or undercooked meat from infected animals, or contact with their secretions. It can cause life-long chronic symptoms such as profuse sweating, as well as joint and muscle pain.
An investigation by the Palestinian Arab Ma'an News Agency exposed that there has been a rapid spurt in brucellosis among Arab residents of the region controlled by the PA, which directly correlates to a failure by the PA to provide vaccines.
Over 401 Palestinian Arabs came down with the disease in 2014, a sharp increase from 243 the year before, and just 184 in 2012 and 179 in 2011, according to PA Ministry of Health figures.
Ma'an showed how PA Ministry of Agriculture documents proved the increase came precisely as the PA cut vaccines to the disease, with only 20,400 out of 90,000 sheep in the Shechem (Nablus) district given the vaccine in 2011.

Egyptian Pop Singer Accuses Obama Of Supporting ISIS And Hamas In New Song

Popular Egyptian singer Shaaban Abdel Rahim has released a new song accusing President Obama of supporting terrorist activities that are being carried out by the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL) and Palestinian terror group Hamas.
Rahim’s new song, which is in Arabic, minces no words in directly accusing President Obama of being the “man” of the two Sunni terrorist groups:
We don’t want anything from you Obama. Now the people of Egypt know that you are the man of ISIS and Hamas… You told us ‘as-salamu alaykum’ [peace be upon you] in Cairo and we believed you, but now we know that you where playing and the reality is that you wanted to divide us.
“Obama your trick is now clear,” he sings. “Go to Qatar and Turkey, your allies. God bless the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. They stood by us in our bad time.”

WATCH: Iranian cruise missiles blow up life-size replica of American aircraft carrier

Iran fired hundreds of missiles in a military drill on Wednesday, including two ballistic missiles which blew up an Iranian-built, life-size replica of a US aircraft carrier in the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian and Arab media outlets reported.
The model of the aircraft carrier was completely destroyed by the missiles, according to the reports.
Senior Iranian officials attended the exercise, including Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani and Revolutionary Guards commander, Gen. Ali Jafari.
An Iranian military helicopter fired two cruise missiles at the model of the US carrier in the course of the drill.

Iranian Missiles Sink Life-Size Model of U.S. Aircraft Carrier in Strait of Hormuz Navy Drill


Turkish government strikes down parliamentary request to investigate ISIS activity in Turkey

Turkey's ruling Islamist party, the AKP, has struck down a parliamentary motion to launch an official probe into Islamic State's activities inside Turkey, Hurriyet Daily News reported on Saturday.
Nazmi Gur, a deputy of the opposition's People's Democratic Party, who initially forwarded the motion, claimed that the government's rejection of the investigation is "a sign that the Turkish government still refrains from taking a clear position against ISIL (Islamic State)."
This request for an inquiry comes in light of multiple incidents that have raised suspicions regarding Turkey's relationship with the Islamic State group.

Former Miss Turkey faces prison for ‘insulting’ Erdogan

The lawyer for a model and former Miss Turkey says she could face up to two years in prison for social media posts that prosecutors have deemed to be critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Emre Telci said Wednesday an Istanbul prosecutor is demanding that Merve Buyuksarac be prosecuted on charges of insulting a public official. A court will decide whether to start proceedings.
Buyuksarac was detained last month for sharing a satirical poem on her Instagram account. She denies insulting Erdogan.
She becomes the latest figure to face trial for insulting Erdogan, amid fear the country is lurching toward authoritarian rule.

Jerusalem added to list of Turkey’s umrah locations

Turkey’s Directorate General for Religious Affairs (Diyanet) has included the al-Aqsa Mosque into the religious Umrah program that will be effective as of April 15.
One of the Muslim pilgrimages, the Umrah, which is not compulsory but is highly recommended for Muslims who can afford it, will also include the visiting of the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Israel.
The Diyanet said they had included the al-Aqsa Mosque into the Umrah trip due to the huge demand they received from citizens.
While the applications for the new program started on Feb. 24, the first group to visit al-Aqsa under the Umrah trip will fly from Istanbul. The citizens will stay three days in Jerusalem, four days in Medina and seven days in Mecca.
Officials from Diyanet said Israeli officials responded positively about the al-Aqsa visit, saying that as long as the Turkish citizens who want to visit al-Aqsa within the concept of Umrah receive a visa from Israel, they would be able to go.

Saudi Man Sentenced to Death for Ripping Koran, Cursing Muhammad

A Saudi court has sentenced a young man in his 20s to death for posting a video online that purportedly showed him ripping up a Koran and then striking it with a shoe before cursing Islam’s Muhammad, according to the Saudi Gazette.
In the article titled, “Apostate gets death sentence,” a source told the Saudi Gazette that “in the video, he cursed God, Prophet Muhammad and his daughter Fatimah and ripped a copy of the Holy Koran and hit it with a shoe.” The source added, “The death sentence was issued after his apostasy was proven.”
Last year, the man was arrested by the country’s Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
A sheikh at the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Islamic Affairs told the Saudi Gazette that apostasy “has existed since the age of the Prophet and there are multiple Koranic verses on it.

Boko Haram terrorists caught after disguising themselves as women... but not shaving their beards off

Beard-wearing militants belonging to West Africa's brutal Boko Haram Islamic terror organisation have been dressing as women in a hopeless attempt at avoiding the attention of security officials.
Nigerian defense forces liberating the town of Baga from jihadi control yesterday set up a cordon around the suburbs to help them catch any Boko Haram militants who had been unable to escape.
The security workers were shocked to come across several fleeing fighters trying to pass themselves off as females by putting on layers of colourful women's clothing - despite the fact they had refused to shave their thick jihadi beards.
The terrorists' attempts to pass themselves off as women were disclosed by Nigerian defense forces yesterday, following a huge operation to flush the militants out the town of Baga.

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Posted By Ian to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 2/25/2015 12:00:00 PM