[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 03/23 Links Pt1: Vindictive Obama punishing Israel for reelecting Netanyahu; US boycotts UNHRC ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Isi Leibler: Vindictive Obama punishing Israel for reelecting Netanyahu

Prior to the election, US President Barack Obama had already signaled his malicious intent by appointing Robert Malley, known for his hostility to Israel, as White House coordinator for the Middle East, and designated White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough as keynote speaker at the anti-Israel J Street Conference. Still smarting over Netanyahu’s address to Congress and having failed to bring about his downfall, Obama was clearly devastated by his spectacular electoral victory.
But in light of the fact that the electorate in the only democratic country in the region extended a clear vote of confidence in Netanyahu, it is anticipated that Israel’s long-standing ally – which purports to support democracy – will accept the will of the people in good faith.
Besides, an analysis of the votes indicates Netanyahu’s victory was anything but a lurch to the far Right. It was a vindication of the center-right, with the most radical party failing to meet the threshold and the other two more conservative parties being reduced from 25 to 13 seats.
Nevertheless, the US administration effectively declared war against Netanyahu. Obama grasped two remarks made by Netanyahu, somewhat out of context at the height of the election fever, to justify a veiled threat that the US would “reassess” relations with Israel, hinting that the US would punish Israel by failing to exercise its veto to protect Israel at the UN Security Council.
Netanyahu was condemned as a racist because, in an effort to jolt his supporters to vote, he drew attention to the massive effort funded from overseas to transport Arab voters to vote for the Joint Arab List, which includes supporters of Hamas and terrorism.

The Religious Dogma of Palestinian Statehood

In an unintentional but significant slip of the tongue, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters that “it has been the policy of the United States for more than 20 years that a two-state solution is the goal…”
Actually, the first U.S. president to endorse a Palestinian state was George W. Bush, in 2002 -that is, thirteen years ago. So what does Earnest have in mind when he says “more than 20 years”? Apparently he’s referring to the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, which was 22 years ago.
But wait a minute – the Oslo Accords said nothing about a Palestinian state. In fact, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin went out of his way at the time to emphasize that the accords did not create a Palestinian state, but rather would create an experimental period in which we would see whether or not the Palestinians were genuinely ready to live in peace with Israel.
Now Josh Earnest appears to be confirming what many of us suspected all along: that the White House and the State Department were never really interested in testing the Palestinian Arabs, but wanted to use the Oslo process as a way to bring about a Palestinian state no matter what.
The Oslo process proved to be a complete failure, because the Palestinian Authority violated it with impunity. The PA sponsored mass violence against Israel (anybody remember the Second Intifada?). The PA organized massive arms smuggling operations (anybody remember the tons of weapons aboard the Palestinian ship, the Karine A, that Israel captured in 2002?). The PA sheltered fugitive terrorists, failed to disarm or outlaw terrorist groups, and refused to extradite terrorists to Israel. It educated an entire generation of Palestinian school children to hate Israel and glorify terrorism, and it relentlessly promoted anti-Israel and anti-Jewish incitement.

UN Palestinian Diplomat Refuses to Renounce Hamas

While at the same time not recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, Mansour pushed for a two-state solution.
"We are seeking peaceful, legal methods to seek accountability, to address these issues, and to fight for the right for the causes of the Palestinian people," Mansour insisted. He added, "Whether through the security council, which we have been blocked often, or through legitimate International Criminal Court or the International Court of Justice."
Mansour believes that Palestine is being "punished" for seeking a resolution and feels the message received is "go and fight." But, he assures, "We don't want to fight."
"We don't want to be like other states around us," Mansour charged.
Todd interjected, "If you don't want to do that, then are you going to renounce your partnership with Hamas?" Here is the rest of the conversation:

UN Palestinian Diplomat Refuses to Renounce Hamas

Resetting the Mideast Peace Process

Prime Minister Netanyahu activated a cacophony of global clucking and groaning by his statement late in the election campaign that he no longer viewed establishment of a Palestinian state as a realistic or possible path to peace in the near term. There would be no Israeli territorial withdrawals during his tenure, he said.
While Netanyahu made these hawkish comments in the context of a last-ditch attempt to draw voters to Likud from the hard right, they nevertheless probably faithfully represent Netanyahu’s worldview and assessment of the situation.
Netanyahu, like most Israelis, would prefer a two-state solution in order to bring clarity of borders, stability, and quality of life to Israelis and Palestinians. However, given the track record of Palestinian leaders who have consistently rejected good-faith and far-reaching Israeli peace offers, most Israelis do not believe that a realistic compromise with the Palestinians is in the offing. Two thirds of Israelis no longer see Mahmoud Abbas as a partner for peace, according to all polls.
Moreover, under current circumstances Israeli withdrawals would likely lead to establishment of a second “Hamastan” in the West Bank (or worse, an ISIS type regime) – not to a stable and peaceful reality.
So Netanyahu is accurately tapping into a mainstream, dominant Israeli mindset that is realistic and cautious. Indeed, if you factor out Israeli Arab and Haredi voters, one in every three Israeli voters opted for Likud.

UN Watch: Today is Hate Israel Day at the UN – March 23, 2015

Today is Hate Israel Day at the U.N., a feature of every regular session, held in September, March and June, of the 47-nation Human Rights Council.
While all 193 countries of the world are addressed under Agenda Item 4, “Human rights situations requiring the world’s attention,” only Israel gets its own special treatment, under Agenda Item 7, “Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories .”
There will be 0 reports on gross and systematic human rights abuses by countries (many of them members of the UNHRC) like China, Cuba, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkey and Venezuela.
Yet tomorrow’s debate will see the presentation of seven reports targeting Israel:

US joins Israel in boycotting UNHRC session to protest Agenda Item 7

The United States on Monday joined Israel in boycotting the United Nations Human Rights Council debate Monday on Israeli violations of human rights in the Palestinian territories.
The UNHRC is mandated at every session to use Agenda Item 7 for a debate on this matter. There is no such mandate to repeatedly censure any other country.
Since taking office, US President Barack Obama has made eliminating Agenda Item 7 one of his policy objectives.
In the last few years most Western countries, including the US, have refrained from taking the floor during the debate, leaving Middle Eastern and African countries to voice the bulk of the protests on Israeli violations.
Most Western countries have instead preferred to make statements under Agenda Item 4, which discusses human rights violations of all countries.
On Monday Reuters reported that the US was absent from the UNHRC as a sign of Obama’s displeasure with Israel.
The Foreign Ministry denied that report and told reporters that a US spokesman from Geneva had confirmed that the US absence was indeed to protest Agenda Item 7.

UNHRC investigator: Israel likely ‘deliberately’ targeted civilian homes in Gaza war

A report charging that Israel apparently “deliberately” targeted civilian homes will be presented Monday to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva by its special investigator Makarim Wibisono.
Is is part of a general debate the UNHRC will hold on Israeli violations of human rights during its 28th session.
The day will open with a short initial oral report from the controversial Commission of Inquiry into the Gaza war, which is made up of a two-member investigatory team, headed by former New York Supreme Court judge Mary McGowan Davis.
She and Senegalese legal expert Doudou Diene have looked at human rights violations in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem from June 13 to the end of Operation Protective Edge last summer.
The commission had been due to present a written report on the matter, but at the last minute asked for a delay until the June session.
Instead, it will update the UNHRC on their work, with statements that are not expected to last more then 15 minutes.

Democracy is beautiful - but only when I win

You should have seen them, the representatives of the media, on the sets of their respective channels. Most were hoping to announce some of the best news of their careers: the fall of the hawk, Benjamin Netanyahu. With the exit polls, showing a tie between Likud and the Zionist Union, some faces started changing color. They had desperately fought for an unlikely coalition chaired by Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni, but as the hours passed, the real results confirmed the victory of the right against all odds, especially the ones given it by the media. And the comments became contemptuous, aggressive, sometimes outrageous, especially on Channels 2 and 10, which had given so much in service of the sacred cause.
The sky had suddenly fallen on a whole microcosm mobilized to bring down Netanyahu: the (secretly funded) army of the V-15 organization, the cast of retired generals, artists and media circles, in short, all those who thought they were in tune with "the people", or worse, their legitimate representatives. But the people taught them a lesson, to the point that Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy echoed Yossi Sarid’s famous reaction after the reelection of Menachem Begin in 1981: "We must change the people." This kind of thinking can only come from leftists. History is rife with examples of how the exclusive champions of tolerance, law, democracy, equality and justice are often those who react unscrupulously when these values collide with their political ideology or interests of the moment.
Democracy is the will of the people. It is not divided. It is not admirable when you win and detestable when you lose. The people are not wise and lucid when they vote according to your wishes and suddenly stupid or suicidal when they don’t follow your direction. A writer who spoke at a left-wing rally three weeks ago refused to comment on Netanyahu’s victory. But before he hung up on the journalist who asked him for his reaction, he just said: "I have nothing to say to a people who chose to commit suicide." A university professor wrote on his Facebook page that "voting right was a sign of a mental disability". An Israeli actress called Netanyahu’s voters "Neanderthals" and advised them to commit suicide "because only death would save them from themselves." And this campaign reached downright surrealism on social networks when leftist voters, disappointed with the result, urged people to stop giving money to charities. The reason? Netanyahu achieved impressive results among less well-off Israelis - meaning that the disadvantaged do not live so badly since they re-elected Netanyahu.

Bibi's Strategist: Obama Meddled More Than You Know

During elections Netanyahu warned that foreign funded NGOs were busing Arab voters en masse to increase their turnout and thereby harm the chances of a right-wing coalition. The statements led to a backlash, which Obama has also opined on.
But McLaughlin revealed there was indeed an effort "to organize the (Israeli) Arabs into one party and teach them about voter turnout."
"The State Department people in the end of January, early February, expedited visas for (Israeli) Arab leaders to come to the United States to learn how to vote," McLaughlin exposed.
He added, "there were people in the United States that were organizing them to vote in one party so they would help the left-of-center candidate, (Yitzhak) Herzog, that the Obama administration favored."
McLaughlin wasn't the only one warning about Obama's interference in the Israeli elections.
Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) told Fox News on Saturday that V15 was "running an ACORN, Obama Organizing for America-type campaign over there with the digital ads, the billboards, the phones. They were targeting Israeli voters."

McCain Rebukes Obama: 'Get Over Your Temper Tantrum, Mr. President'

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) blasted President Obama on CNN's State of the Union Sunday for his behavior during the reelection of Benjamin Netanyahu and pointed the president to the real threats looming throughout the Middle East.
"There was a free and fair democratic election," McCain said, "Get over your temper tantrum, Mr. President."
McCain was referring to the president's comments to The Huffington Post where he said he wants to "evaluate other options" because of Netanyahu's campaign promise that a Palestinian state would not happen during his prime ministership. In doing so, Obama believes he can help avoid a "chaotic" Middle East.
Directed at the president, McCain said, "The least of your problems is what Bibi Netanyahu said during an election campaign." He then listed what Obama should be worried about if he truly wants to abate chaos: Libya, ISIS everywhere, Iran backing Shia militias; Qasem Soleimani, responsible for moving thousands of copper-tipped IEDs into Iraq killing hundreds of American soldiers.
McCain was quick to remind that the president, through it all, has been praising the mullahs and their actions in the region. "This is one of the more Orwellian situations I have ever observed," McCain said.

McCain Rebukes Obama: 'Get Over Your Temper Tantrum, Mr. President'

McCain: Congress could defund UN if US backs Palestine bid

Responding to signals from the White House that the US could stop using its United Nations Security Council veto power to quash unilateral resolutions in support of Palestinian statehood, McCain, chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, warned Obama against such a move.
He said that if the US acquiesced to a UN resolution calling for a Palestinian state, and if it were approved at the UN, “the United States Congress would have to examine our funding for the United Nations.” Washington is the single biggest funder of the international body, but current legislation permits defunding of any UN body that recognizes Palestinian statehood.
“It would be a violation because of the president’s anger over a statement by the prime minister of Israel,” McCain explained. “It would contradict American policy for the last at least 10 presidents of the United States.”

Envoy to Washington defends Netanyahu’s 2-state comments

In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Dermer said that Netanyahu “didn’t say what the president and others seem to suggest he is saying,” arguing that interpretations of Netanyahu’s preelection statements in the US did not convey the meaning or intent of his comments. “The prime minister is not against a two-state solution with a demilitarized Palestinian state. He has not retracted his vision that he laid out at Bar-Ilan in 2009,” he emphasized.
In comments over the weekend before last Tuesday’s elections, Netanyahu appeared to repudiate his support for a two-state solution, in an apparent last-ditch appeal to settlers and other hard-right voters. Although the prime minister backtracked in interviews after his reelection, reiterating a commitment in principle to a “sustainable, peaceful two-state solution,” US President Barack Obama told The Huffington Post Saturday that his administration is now operating under the assumption that Netanyahu does not envision the creation of a Palestinian state.
But Dermer argued that Netanyahu had framed his comments in light of recent changes to regional geopolitics that made a peace deal difficult or even impossible under current conditions. He listed the growing instability on Israel’s borders, particularly with the ascent of the Islamic State in parts of Syria “eighteen miles from Israel’s borders,” as well as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s nearly year-long ostensible unity government with Hamas.
“What Israel believes has to happen now is that President Abbas needs to break his alliance with Hamas and come back to serious negotiations with Israel,” Dermer elaborated. The peace process, he said, collapsed not because of Israel, but because Abbas had “joined up with Hamas.”

Israel: Beware of Obama

First he comes for the banks and health care, uses the IRS to go after critics, politicizes the Justice Department, spies on journalists, tries to curb religious freedom, slashes the military, throws open the borders, doubles the debt and nationalizes the Internet.
He lies to the public, ignores the Constitution, inflames race relations and urges Latinos to punish Republican “enemies.” He abandons our allies, appeases tyrants, coddles adversaries and uses the Crusades as an excuse for inaction as Islamist terrorists slaughter their way across the Mideast.
Now he’s coming for Israel.
Barack Obama’s promise to transform America was too modest. He is transforming the whole world before our eyes. Do you see it yet?
Against the backdrop of the tsunami of trouble he has unleashed, Obama’s pledge to “reassess” America’s relationship with Israel cannot be taken lightly. Already paving the way for an Iranian nuke, he is hinting he’ll also let the other anti-Semites at Turtle Bay have their way. That could mean American support for punitive Security Council resolutions or for Palestinian statehood initiatives. It could mean both, or something worse.(h/t Bob Knot)

Former Envoys Say Obama’s ‘Childish’ Attacks on Israel ‘Cause Significant Strategic Harm’

Two former Israeli ambassadors to the United States, Michael Oren and Danny Ayalon, have responded to the criticism directed by the Obama Administration against Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu, calling the comments a strategic threat to Israel, and intentionally intended to deepen the rift with the Jewish state.
Immediately after the results of Israel’s elections were announced on Tuesday revealing that Netanyahu’s Likud had won 30 seats and looked set to form the next government, the Obama Administration began harshly criticizing the Prime Minister and Israel. White House and State Department spokesmen said that Netanyahu’s alleged “reversal on a two-state solution,” would be followed by a re-evaluation of the US-Israel relationship, and the United States’ defense of Israel at the United Nations. The Administration also harshly criticized comments that Netanyahu had made about Israeli Arabs “coming out in droves” to vote for his opponents.
Oren, the immediate past Israeli Ambassador to Washington and the current No. 4 on Israel’s Kulanu party’s list, said the White House’s harsh statements against Netanyahu pose a serious strategic threat to Israel’s international standing.
Oren said that “the shared democratic values between us and the United States are the pillars of the relationship between our two countries, and because of that, Obama’s words cause significant strategic harm” to Israel, referring to the Obama Administration’s accusation that Prime Minister Netanyahu engaged in “race baiting” on the eve of elections to win more votes for his Likud Party.

Dershowitz Rips Obama on Iran: Couldn't 'Negotiate a One-month Lease'

Famed defense attorney and retired Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz ripped President Barack Obama in an address to a conference of pro-Israel activists in Los Angeles on Saturday evening. Dershowitz, who backed Obama in both the 2008 and 2012 elections, expressed strong disappointment with President Obama’s recent treatment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as the weak negotiating posture of the Obama administration in talks with Iran.
“I wouldn’t hire this administration to negotiate a one-month lease for me,” Dershowitz said.
He also called Obama “undiplomatic,” “petulant,” and “juvenile,” according to Noah Pollak of the Emergency Committee for Israel, which has run ads in political races that target Obama’s weak policies on Israel and national security in general.

Report: Obama May Reveal Understandings Reached with Israel, PA

President Barack Obama will not support an independent Palestinian diplomatic initiative to declare a state, but may try to advance a joint American-European initiative for a two-state solution, according to Israel's Channel 1 television.
The American-European initiative, which is to be presented to the UN Security Council, will provide the “contours” of any future agreement, according to the report, which cited sources in the Obama administration. The plan will not include a timetable, but will join Resolutions 242 and 338 as blueprints for a peace deal that the international community favors.
Israel is reportedly opposed to this idea.
The US is also reportedly considering revealing the understandings that Secretary of State John Kerry reached in his talks with Israel and the Palestinian Authority. These will serve as guidelines for future negotiations.
Obama warned Friday that the White House was "evaluating its options" on the Arab-Israeli conflict, and specifically regarding the US's commitment to veto unilateral Palestinian moves at the UN.

Analysis: The ball is now in the Iranian court

French diplomacy refuses for the moment to back down from objections to a rushed agreement with Iran. Over the past few weeks, Paris has been leading a tougher stance on negotiations with Iran, compared with the official US positions.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius even called back his negotiating team this Thursday from Lausanne in Switzerland, to review the European positions.
Secretary of State John Kerry affirmed Saturday in a meeting at London’s Heathrow Airport with his European peers that the world powers are “united” in their negotiating positions. The foreign ministers issued a joint statement, declaring that “substantial progress has been made in key areas although there are still important issues on which no agreement has yet been possible.”
But the statement makes no explicit reference to sanctions, which apparently constitutes the main point of divergence between the US and Europe. France has been insisting that the situation is much more complex than the Americans are portraying it to be, with fundamental disagreements between Paris and Washington over the guidelines for a political framework agreement due to be signed March 31; especially on lifting the sanctions, but not only.

Israeli officials in France for last-ditch bid to sway Iran talks

Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz flew to France on Sunday to try to influence the next round of talks on a deal over Iran’s nuclear program, his spokesman said.
Steinitz was “on a mission from Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] for a short visit to Europe in an attempt to influence the details of the emerging agreement on the Iran nuclear issue,” a statement from Eyal Basson said.
Steinitz traveled to the French capital with National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen for a closed-door diplomatic blitz to convince mediators to harden their positions on Iran, even at the expense of a breakdown in negotiations, Israeli media reported.
Steinitz was expected to meet French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and members of the French negotiating team in the Iran talks, the Haaretz daily reported.

Ayatollah: Iran nuke talks 'fraudulent'

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, tweeted his outrage Saturday over talks with the U.S. over his nation’s nuclear weapons research.
“We reject fraudulent offer of reaching w #Iran first than lifting sanctions,” Khamenei tweeted. “Lifting sanctions is a part of deal, not its outcome.”
“#US sanctions are ineffective,” he continued. “Threatening to sanction or military action won’t scare #Iran-ians. God backs Iranian nation’s resistance.”
The Ayatollah’s remarks come amid a break in negotiations between Tehran and the West that began Friday. Secretary of State John Kerry noted “substantial progress” in bargaining Saturday but said a deal is not done yet.
Khamenei refuted Kerry’s comments Saturday. The Ayatollah said his people would not accept U.S “bullying” during the talks.
“#Iran prefers to stand on its own,” he tweeted. “US seeks regional instability & dismantlement of Islamic awakening by arming terrorist groups. #ISIS”
“They falsely claim to support ppl of #Iran while via economy they seek to deprive Iranian nation of security which is unique in West Asia,” he added.

Iranian Leader Khamenei: Death to America; Obama Is Trying to Turn Our People against the Regime
In an address in Tehran on March 21, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei responded to the crowds' chants of "Death to America" by saying: "Death to America, of course, because America is the principal element behind this pressure [i.e., the economic sanctions]." Khamenei said that Obama had said "some dishonest things" in his Nowruz address and that the American goal was "to turn the [Iranian] people against the system." The address was broadcast on the Iranian news channel IRINN.

MEMRI: Arab Press Harshly Criticizes Obama Administration For Allying With Iran, Turning Its Back On Arab Friends, Leading Region To Disaster

Against the backdrop of the current U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations and the war on the Islamic State (ISIS), in recent weeks dozens of articles in the Arab press, and particularly in the Saudi press, have harshly criticized the Obama administration's policy in the region – especially its Iran policy, which they term "destructive", "idiotic", "dangerous" and "narrow-minded."
Expressing apprehension at the prospect of a U.S.-Iran nuclear agreement that would strengthen Iran at the expense of the Sunni countries, which are long-time U.S. allies, some writers stated that because President Obama seeks a nuclear agreement with Iran for his own personal glory, the cost of such an agreement does not matter to him. They wrote that Obama disregards Iran's actions, and is giving it and the organizations affiliated with it a free hand to operate in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Bahrain, and by doing so is allowing Iran to further expand in the region.
Some of the writers argued that the U.S. policy in Iraq and Syria that had given Iran freedom to operate in those countries had given rise to ISIS, since the U.S.-Iran alliance had humiliated the Sunni Arabs and created optimal hothouse conditions for the group to emerge.
One writer even called on the Arab countries and Turkey to confront the Obama administration, thwart its policy in the region, and come out strongly against any agreement it signs with Iran that does not absolutely prevent it from possessing nuclear weapons. Another speculated that the countries of the region could be better off finding someone else to rely on besides the U.S.

US-Style Early Warning System to Be Tested Monday

The Homefront Command is set to test its early warning system for attacks on Monday. Officials stressed that the tests had been scheduled “far in advance,” and were not being conducted in response to any specific situation.
The exercise will be conducted in a cities in central Israel, including Rosh Ha'ayin, Elad, Petah Tikva, Lod, Modi'in, Shoham, the southern Sharon region, and the Modi'in Belt area. Residents and workers should expect to sirens, IDF vehicles racing through the streets, and increased presence of police and soldiers around town.
In addition, for the first time, Israel will be activating its Emergency Warning System.
Like in the U.S., officials will break into broadcasts on radio stations serving the center of the country to make announcements on emergency procedures, situational updates, and other matters. Several web sites will also be “taken over” in this manner, presenting information about the emergency. In addition, a new cellphone messaging service will broadcast messages to all phone users within specific areas.

'IDF adjusting training of elite units to prepare for warfare in tunnels'

Following the prominence of Hamas infiltration tunnels in last summer's Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, the IDF is preparing for the possibility that in the next operation, part of the fighting will occur inside the tunnels themselves.
According to an exclusive Army Radio report on Monday, the training of elite IDF ground units is being revolutionized in order to prepare troops for fighting the tunnel threat.
As part of the change, elite units are undergoing different training and being provided with different equipment to deal with the potential threat.
Hundreds of millions of shekels are being invested in implementing the various plans initiated from the lessons learned in Operation Protective Edge.

Daughter Born to Terror Victim Netanel Arami; Murderers are Free

Moriya Arami, the widow of construction worker Netanel Arami who was murdered by Arab co-workers last September in a terrorist attack in which his rappelling ropes were cut, gave birth last Friday to a baby daughter.
Arami was murdered when his two rappelling ropes were cut, sending him falling to his death from a construction site in Petah Tikva. At the start, police claimed it was a "work accident," but evidence at the scene conclusively proved that he was murdered by Arab workers, who were found laughing at the site.
Police inaction and repeated allegations of a cover-up sparked public outcry and protests; the investigation is still ongoing, but the three main Arab suspects were released from police custody as "no legal justification was found" to keep them detained during the investigation.
Netanel's mother Miriam told Yedioth Aharonot that the birth was "joy mixed with sadness. Everything is mixed: crying that Netanel won't be able to hug his daughter who was born, along with crying for joy on the birth of the baby Efrat."

PreOccupied Territory: Elders Of Zion Invite Wrong Zoabi To Meeting (satire)

The secret cabal behind all of the world’s major affairs scrambled to perform damage control today after requesting the presence of firebrand Arab MK Hanin Zoabi at a clandestine planning meeting when they intended the invitation for Mohammed Zoabi, a teenage Arab Zionist. The two are distantly related.
For the March-April meeting of the Learned Elders of Zion, Central Israel Directorate, one of the developing projects required the presence of a pro-Israel Arab, who could be co-opted and exploited for the advancement of continued Jewish conquests in the region. However, a careless error by an assistant to one of the elders resulted in a gracious invitation to Ms. Zoabi instead of the 18-year-old Mohammed. Ms. Zoabi faced a storm of criticism last summer after refusing to categorize the abduction and murder of three Jewish teenagers as terrorism, and for repeatedly trying to undermine the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish state.
The assistant, identified only by the codename Shiksa, realized her error within minutes of sending the invitation, requiring a break-in to the Knesset member’s personal e-mail account to eliminate all traces of the message. However, the hackers charged with the task, codenamed Sheygetz and Shvartza, discovered Ms. Zoabi – or a secretary – had opened the message, necessitating a more elaborate, risky, and urgent mission to contain knowledge of the invitation, which also included detailed directions on the location of the clandestine facility where the meeting was to occur.

Canadian jury finds Tunisian, Palestinian guilty in plot to derail train

A Canadian jury on Friday found two men guilty of planning to derail a passenger train traveling between Canada and the United States in a plot intended to instill fear and force the two countries to withdraw troops from Muslim lands.
The case against Tunisian postdoctoral student Chiheb Esseghaier, 32, and Raed Jaser, 37, a permanent Canadian resident of Palestinian descent, relied heavily on intercepted conversations between them and an undercover FBI agent.
The agent posed as a wealthy businessman with radical views who could help pull off the train attack and other violent plots, including plans to target political leaders.
After 10 days of deliberations, Canadian media reported the jury found Esseghaier guilty on all five charges he faced and found Jaser guilty on three of the four charges he faced. Both were found guilty on the key charges of conspiring to murder and participating in a terrorist group.
The jury was deadlocked on the charge against Jaser of conspiring to damage transportation property with the intent to endanger safety.

PreOccupied Territory: I Hate The Stereotype Of Us Nazi-Loving Palestinians As Antisemitic By Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (satire)

Prejudice is a terrible thing, as I need not inform you. We all know what happens when we let our preconceived assumptions govern our reactions to others based not on the merits of their behavior, but on some generalization of the group to which the person seems to belong. Which is why I cannot stand the automatic assumption that just because we Palestinians admire what the Nazis did to the Jews and wish we could emulate Hitler, that somehow also paints us as antisemitic.
The Mufti of Jerusalem in the 1940’s, Haj-Amin al-Husseini, allied himself with Hitler and sent fighters to help the Nazis in Europe. He and his followers hoped the Wehrmacht would defeat the British in North Africa and conquer the British-controlled territory of Palestine, where local Arabs would help implement the Nazi Final Solution. They even practiced massacring Jews in Hebron long before the Nazis themselves came to power in Germany. We Palestinians raise every banner that Husseini did and vow allegiance to his declared aims, but all of a sudden that makes us antisemitic? What gives?
My own doctoral thesis questioned the scale and intensity of the so-called Holocaust. Just because minimizing, denying, and questioning the Holocaust is the hallmark of antisemites everywhere, you cannot simply assume I fall into that category. You have to look at the whole picture, not merely the part where I accuse the Jews collectively of orchestrating a hoax so they could manufacture international sympathy for their so-called plight and take over this land.

Turkish TV Station Airs Antisemitic ‘Protocols Sequel’ Echoing Rhetoric of President Erdogan

A Turkish news station aligned with the country’s ruling AKP party recently aired an antisemitic documentary entitled “The Mastermind,” Al-Monitor reported late last week.
The film, described by the publication as a sequel to “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” argued that Turkey had fallen victim to a “Mastermind,” which it identified as the Jews.
According to the report, the film echoed the rhetoric of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who several months ago voiced a theory that Turkey had fallen victim to a “Mastermind.” According to Al-Monitor, A Haber, the “news station” which aired the film, acts “like a propaganda outlet” for Erdogan and his AKP party.
The film claimed that the so-called Mastermind “rules the world, burns, destroys, starves, wages wars, organizes revolutions and coups, and establishes states within states.” It even featured libels about Jewish culture, and blamed the 2003 Iraq war on a Jewish search for the Ark of the Covenant.

Expert: The Pharaohs Discovered Australia, Egyptians Have Legal Rights There

During a recent TV debate on the destruction of antiquities by ISIS, Syrian political analyst Yahya Badr said that the Egyptian people was entitled to claim legal rights in Australia, since inscriptions in ancient hieroglyphics had been found near Sydney, indicating that the grandson of a pharoah had landed there. On the show, which aired on the Turkish TRT TV channel on March 6, Badr was introduced as owning the patent to mummy technology.