[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 06/02 Links Pt1: PLO Prepares to Face Israeli Lawsuits at ICC; Saudi Arabia's First Gaylord Party ~ EoZ

From Ian:

UN Watch to Appeal to 54-Nation Body to Overturn NGO Status for Hamas Front

UN Watch announced that it will contest yesterday’s “incomprehensible” decision by a UN committee to recommend NGO status for a group intimately linked to the Hamas terrorist organization, by appealing for it to be overturned by the 54-nation ECOSOC when it meets in July to consider the application.
At UN headquarters in New York yesterday, the 19-nation Committee on NGOs yesterday voted in favor of the application by the Palestinian Return Centre, a Hamas affiliate in Europe, by a vote of 12 to 3.
Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by the European Union, Canada, Israel, Japan, and the United States, and, its armed wing is designated a terrorist organization by Australia and the United Kingdom.
Voting for the Hamas-linked group were committee members China, Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, Nicaragua, South Africa, Sudan, Azerbaijan, Guinea, Turkey, Pakistan and Mauritania.
The USA, Uruguay and Israel opposed the application, while India, Russia and Greece abstained. Burundi was absent.

Gold: World media misled by Hamas version of summer war

Last summer’s war with Hamas in Gaza presented a case of dueling narratives that Israel is still fighting to this day, ambassador Dore Gold told a press briefing at his Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs think tank on Monday.
Gold, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will be temporarily leaving his post as the head of the JCPA as he assumes his role as the director-general of the Foreign Ministry.
“Part of Israel’s challenge in all these conflicts is when ideas and conclusions are asserted even though they can’t be checked, they become the lingua franca on the nature of the conflict,” he explained.
As an example, he cited unchecked figures from officials, such as then-UN commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay’s assertion that 74 percent of the casualties in the Gaza Strip were civilians.
“You can’t blame the whole UN. It’s one official who decided to go public with a figure that can’t possibly be true,” Gold said, adding that it was impossible to verify such a claim while the war raged and it could only be checked once the dust settled.

Trailer Forthcoming Explosive “War Crimes In Gaza” Documentary

Pierre has said this is now coming very soon! Some top names are interviewed in there such as Col Richard Kemp and Matti Freedman. Pierre Rehov has a long history of making excellent documentaries and I became aware of him after he made the Road to Jenin.

War Crimes In GAZA

'German magazine manufactured diplomatic crisis with Israel'

Israel’s embassy in Berlin and the Foreign Ministry vehemently denied a German Der Spiegel article alleging that Israel’s air traffic authority denied German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s plane permission to fly through its airspace during a trip to the Middle East in May because he snubbed a visit to Israel.
”With regret we take note of the news item in the new Spiegel edition,” Adi Farjon, the spokeswoman for Israel’s embassy in Berlin, wrote to The Jerusalem Post. “Although the flight route of the foreign minister was presented correctly, the described reasons for a change of flight route is completely unfounded. Flight routes to Israel and over Israel are determined by Israel’s air authority and dependent on many factors; political considerations, however, do not play a role.”
“The named reason is therefore not comprehensible,” Farjon added. “At the time that Foreign Minister Steinmeier travelled to Lebanon and Jordan, our Foreign Ministry was already preparing the Israel trip of the foreign minister long before the flight question to the Israeli air traffic authorities.”
Ulrich Sahm, a veteran German journalist in Israel, asserted in a Monday article that Spiegel manufactured the crisis between Israel and Steinmeier.
“Spiegel’s contention is astonishing, because at that time it was already known that Steinmeier would be coming to Israel in two weeks to receive an honorary doctorate at Hebrew University,” wrote Sahm, a prominent German journalist in the German-language website Israelnetz. The article’s title states: "Spiegel invents annoyance between Israel and Germany."

The Long, Partisan Journalism Career of Sid ‘Vicious’ Blumenthal

If Hillary Clinton becomes president of the United States, she will undoubtedly bring with her to the White House her long-time trusted aide, confidant, and spinmeister, journalist Sidney Blumenthal. Blumenthal served in Bill Clinton’s White House as a special advisor, and was recently a staff member at the Clinton Foundation.
Perhaps the most noteworthy revelation coming out of Hillary Clinton’s e-mails from the time she was secretary of state is what they show about her relationship with Blumenthal. The New York Times report summarized it well:
In 2011 and 2012, Hillary Rodham Clinton received at least 25 memos about Libya from Sidney Blumenthal, a friend and confidant who at the time was employed by the Clinton Foundation. The memos, written in the style of intelligence cables, make up about a third of the almost 900 pages of emails related to Libya that Mrs. Clinton said she kept on the personal email account she used exclusively as secretary of state. Some of Mr. Blumenthal’s memos appeared to be based on reports supplied by American contractors he was advising as they sought to do business in Libya. Mr. Blumenthal also appeared to be gathering information from anonymous Libyan and Western officials and local news media reports.
Blumenthal was also one of the first to tell her that, according to Libyan officials, the Benghazi attacks were prompted by the obscure film Innocence of Muslims. A “’senior security officer’ had told Libya’s president,” the Times reported, “that Blumenthal reported that the attacks on that day were inspired by what many devout Libyan [s] viewed as a sacrilegious internet video.” Blumenthal added: “Some of the Libyan officials believe that the entire demonstration was organized as a cover for the attack.”
As we know, Hillary decided to go with the first version.
To those of us who have had contact with and are familiar with Blumenthal’s reporting, there is no doubt that he is incapable of being non-partisan or objective. Blumenthal always saw himself as a partisan fighter in the war against what Hillary Clinton famously called “the great right-wing conspiracy” — a term suggested to her by none other than Blumenthal.

PM says nuclear deal paves way for atom bombs, will fill Iran's coffers to fund more mischief

Hours before US President Barack Obama will tell the Israeli public in an interview on Channel 2 that the emerging deal with Iran is in the best interests of its security, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the deal and said Israel must “first and foremost” rely on itself.
Netanyahu, speaking at the Home Command headquarters in the midst of a nationwide drill simulating conflict on multiple fronts, said the challenges facing Israel, including the threat of rocket and missile fire, are “piling up.”
Most of the missiles and rockets aimed at Israel have been supplied by Iran, he said. “When speaking of Israelis' security I rely first and foremost on ourselves, and proof of this is the agreement emerging between the world powers and Iran,” he said.
Not only will that deal “pave the way for Iran to atom bombs,” he said, but it will also give it an injection of billions of dollars.
“With that money it can continue to arm our enemies with high trajectory weapons and other arms, and also arm its war and terror machine, which is acting against us and the Middle East, and which is much more dangerous than Islamic State's terror machine, which is also dangerous,” Netanyahu said.

Diplomatic Activism Won't Bring Israeli-Palestinian Peace

The Europeans have decided that the Arab-Israeli conflict in the Holy Land, over a hundred years long, must finally end. High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini recently came to Israel to convey the EU's impatience with the impasse in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. France intends to bring the matter to the U.N. Security Council to set an 18-month deadline on the resolution of the conflict.
The European intentions are laudable, but seem to be removed from the Middle Eastern reality. While partition of the Land of Israel between the Jews and the Arabs living in this small part of the world is desirable, the Palestinian national movement has proven to be the wrong partner to implement partition and is largely responsible for the failure of the two-state solution.
The Palestinian national movement seems unable to reach a historic compromise with the Zionist movement as it still seeks control over the Temple Mount, a "right of return" for Palestinian refugees, and the complete absence of any Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria. The Palestinian media and education system perpetuate the conflict by inciting against Jews and their link to the Land of Israel. Indeed, the gap in positions between Israelis and Palestinians is extremely large and cannot be bridged overnight. It is totally unrealistic to expect an agreement on final status issues in the near future.

Diplomatic bantam New Zealand takes on peace process

Israel has gotten used to fending off pressure from the United States and the European Union over the conflict with the Palestinians. But now it faces an unlikely country, New Zealand, which is set to join the chorus of those pushing for renewed negotiations and is strongly considering concrete steps to force a solution on Israel.
By all reckonings a minor player on the international stage, Wellington has been working on a draft for a United Nations Security Council resolution on the peace process. In January, New Zealand took up a seat on the council for the first time in 21 years, and it intends to make active use of its newly gained influence.
“They have thoughts about the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and might even have a Security Council resolution drawn up that they’re keeping in the drawer,” a Foreign Ministry official familiar with the issue told The Times of Israel this week.
A small and isolated nation that has no regional interests and not much historical baggage in the Middle East — as opposed to other players such as the US, Russia, Britain or France — Wellington is eager to offer an original contribution to solve the decades-old crisis.
“New Zealand thinks it can think outside the box,” the official said.

Dore Gold: Hamas Cannot Be a Peace Partner

A long-time foreign policy adviser of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday ruled out the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas as a potential peace partner for Israel.
"There is no question that Hamas is part of the jihadist universe," said Dore Gold, incoming director general of the foreign ministry and former ambassador to the United Nations.
"It is not a candidate to become a political partner," he told journalists as his conservative think-tank, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, unveiled a study of the 2014 war in Gaza, where Hamas is the de facto power.
Gold was named to the foreign ministry post last week by Netanyahu, who has retained the ministerial portfolio himself.
Last week, President Reuven Rivlin appeared to challenge a longstanding taboo on talks with Hamas, saying he would talk to anyone.

PLO Prepares to Face Israeli Lawsuits at ICC

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorist group's Palestinian National Council (PNC), tasked with managing ties with the International Criminal Court (ICC), is preparing to deal with lawsuits against Palestinian Arabs submitted by Israel at the ICC.
On April 1 the Palestinian Authority (PA) joined the ICC in The Hague in breach of the 1993 Oslo Accords which formed the PA, seeking to use the court to attack Israel and accuse it of "war crimes" - however, the move also opened up the PA and those living under it to lawsuits at the court, such as terrorists of the leading Fatah faction who fired rockets at Israeli citizens in Hamas's terror war last summer.
PNC member Mustafa Barghouti said that the Council's technical and professional groups have been ordered to do all they can to provide legal defense to every Palestinian Arab who is sued at the ICC.
The PLO has good reason to do so; Israeli NGO Shurat HaDin (Israel Law Center) last year submitted lawsuits against Hamas and PA leaders for war crimes committed during Operation Protective Edge, including Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal, PLO unity government Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, and senior Fatah members Jibril Rajoub and Majid Faraj.

Obama: 'We Have Put Our International Relationships on Very Strong Footing'

Never mind the world burning outside your window – President Obama thinks he’s been doing a terrific job on the international front. From the Associated Press:
President Barack Obama is offering a glimpse into how he would want history to judge his presidency by emphasizing the U.S. recovery, his health care law and his foreign policy. His summary was as much legacy building as it was a response to criticism of his tenure from the growing list of Republicans presidential candidates.
Obama was asked during a session with Southeast Asian leaders how he would want the world to remember him. He joked: “Fondly, I hope.”
Republicans seeking the presidential nomination have been especially critical of Obama’s foreign policy, arguing that the world is more dangerous now than when he took office.
Obama argued that his administration has brought new international respect for the U.S. “We have put our international relationships on very strong footing,” he said.
A “recovery” that just gave us a negative 0.7 percent contraction, a health care plan that hasn’t lived up to a single one of its promises – and is bidding to blow health insurance costs into orbit next year – and foreign policy that wiped out America’s influence in virtually every corner of the world, especially the Middle East, where the gains in Iraq were thrown away, and the group Obama misjudged as the “junior varsity league” of terrorism is sacking cities? What’s not to love? Hey, America is more popular in Cuba and Iran now, right?
In fairness, there is no politician on Earth who would answer this sort of “how will history judge you?” question by admitting he or she has been a dismal failure. Obama’s delusional posturing has a particularly dangerous component, however: he confuses popularity with respect. (h/t Yenta Press)

Obama Assures Iran It Has Nothing to Fear

At this point, there is virtually no one in Israel or the United States who thinks it is remotely possible that the Obama administration would ever, under virtually any circumstances, use force against Iran. Though President Obama and his foreign policy team have always claimed that “all options,” including force, are always on the table in the event that Iran refuses to back down and seeks to produce a nuclear weapon, that is a threat that few took seriously. But President Obama has never been quite as explicit about this before as he was in an interview with Israel’s Channel 2 in which he reportedly said there is no military option to stop Iran. If Obama wanted to telegraph Iran that it could be as tough as it likes in the talks over the final text of the nuclear deal being negotiated this month this statement certainly did the job. Though they had little worry about Obama’s toughness or resolve, the ayatollahs will be pleased to note that the president no longer even bothers to pretend he is prepared to do whatever is necessary to stop Iran’s nuclear ambition.
According to the Times of Israel, Obama said:
“A military solution will not fix it. Even if the United States participates, it would temporarily slow down an Iranian nuclear program but it will not eliminate it.”
Though he continued to use rhetoric that left force as an option, the implicit threat of American action if a nuclear weapon were a possibility has lacked credibility since the president began his second term. Once he embarked upon secret back-channel talks in which, one by one, he abandoned his previous pledges about forcing Iran to shut down its program in concessions and virtually every other U.S. position on the issue, force was never a real possibility. The signing of a weak interim deal in November, 2013, and then the framework agreed upon this spring signaled the end of any idea that the U.S. was prepared to act. That is especially so because the current deal leaves Tehran in possession of its nuclear infrastructure and with no guarantees about inspections or the re-imposition of sanctions in the event the agreement collapsed. The current deal, even with so many crucial details left unspecified makes Iran a U.S. partner and, in effect, the centerpiece of a new U.S. Middle East policy that essentially sidelines traditional allies like Saudi Arabia and Israel that are directly threatened by Iran.

Obama: There is no military option to stop Iran

US President Barack Obama told Israeli television that the emerging deal between Iran and world powers is the only way to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons, and that “a military solution will not fix it.”
In an excerpt aired Monday on Channel 2 of an interview with veteran journalist Ilana Dayan, Obama said that military action against Iran would not deter its nuclear ambitions and that he could prove that a “verifiable” agreement with Iran was the best way forward.
“I can, I think, demonstrate, not based on any hope but on facts and evidence and analysis, that the best way to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon is a verifiable, tough agreement,” he said.
“A military solution will not fix it. Even if the United States participates, it would temporarily slow down an Iranian nuclear program but it will not eliminate it,” Obama added.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday rejected Obama’s comments, warning that the emerging deal would “pave the way” for Iran to attain a nuclear arsenal. He said the deal would also see Iran’s economy boosted and thus enable it to engage in further terrorist activity.

'Contrary to Obama's claims, Iran increased its nuclear fuel stockpiles'

Contrary to the Obama administration’s claims that Iran has frozen its nuclear program, international inspectors discovered recently that the Islamic Republic’s stockpile of nuclear fuel has increased by about 20 percent over the course of the last 18 months, The New York Times is reporting on Tuesday.
The news comes as the P5+1 powers and Iran seek to strike a final status accord with less than one month before the deadline.
The revelations have confounded Western officials who are unsure as to why the Iranians have increased their stockpiles during the course of the negotiations. According to The New York Times, analysts speculate that the Iranians may be seeking a contingency plan should the talks fail to produce an agreement. There is also the possibility that the Iranians have encountered technical problems that have rendered its enriched uranium unusable for weapons.
The bolstered stockpiles were first noticed by International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, according to the Times.
If accurate, it could prove to be another obstacle to the Obama administration’s efforts to convince a skeptical Congress to support a final nuclear agreement with Iran.

Russia to Start Construction On New Iranian Nuke Plant

Russia announced on Monday that it would start construction this year on a second nuclear plant in Iran, according to regional reports.
Russia’s Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation made the announcement early on Monday, stating that it will begin building a second nuclear power plant in Iran’s southern region later this year, according to Iran’s state-controlled Fars News Agency.
Meanwhile, an earthquake struck Monday morning near the site of Iran’s current nuclear power plant in Bushehr, near where the second plant will be built.
Iranian media outlets reported the quake as hitting a 4.4 magnitude with no injuries occurring as a result. Iran’s southern region is prone to such incidents.
Iranian officials announced in late 2014 that it had already begun the initial stages of construction on at least two nuclear plants in the region. In November, Tehran finalized a deal with Russia to aid in the construction of these plants.

French FM: Nuclear Deal “Useless” Without Inspection of Military Sites

A nuclear deal with Iran is “useless” if it does not allow inspectors to check military sites, French Foerign Minister Laurent Fabius told (Google link) The Wall Street Journal today.
Fabius said if Tehran wanted to build a nuclear weapon in violation of an international agreement, it would inevitably do so at a military site or other secret facility.
“Therefore, if you say you cannot check any military site, then there is no [real] agreement,” he said.
Mr. Fabius said a potential accord should also specify how much time should be allowed between the request to inspect a site and access actually being granted to inspectors. “If it is too long a delay, they have enough time to change everything,” he said.

Iranians aim pens at West, Israel in anti-IS cartoon contest

Political cartoons have a long tradition in Iran, despite many restrictions in the staunchly conservative Islamic republic on taboo subjects such as the supreme leader, the clergy and military.
The competition called on cartoonists to submit drawings that reveal the “true nature” of IS as “no human being can turn a blind eye to the crimes” of the Sunni extremists.
Launched last week, the International Daesh Cartoon and Caricature Contest attracted 300 entries from more than 40 countries — including Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia and Morocco.
“We want to show the true heinous nature of Daesh,” said Masoud Shojai-Tabatabai, the chairman of the organizing committee, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

Iran’s School Textbooks: Can Congress Ignore Them?

Iranian school textbooks, such as The Qur’an and Life (Grade 12, p. 125) prepare Iranian children for the Ayatollahs’ sublime goal: the apocalyptic, horrifying, millenarian, military battle against the USA and other “arrogant oppressors of the world,” which are ostensibly led by “idolatrous devils.” While the “savior” – the infallible, immortal, divinely ordained and eventual global leader, the Mahdi – has not surfaced yet, Iranian children are taught that the battle is already raging throughout the world, awaiting their sacrifice.
School textbooks of Western democracies are the most authentic reflection of peoples’ values and worldview. School textbooks of tyrannies are the most authentic reflection of the nature and mission of the regimes.
Iranian school textbooks reflect the strategy and tactics of the Ayatollahs, much more authentically than speeches, interviews, diplomatic statements and conversations conducted by President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif. The latter have mastered the art of Quran-sanctioned Taqiyya – doubletalk and deception-based agreements, aimed at shielding the “believers” from the “disbelievers,” to be abrogated once conditions are ripe.
School textbooks are considered, by the Ayatollahs, a critical means to mobilize the youth, charting the roadmap to the final military victory over the infidel USA and the West. Hence, the crucial relevance of school textbooks to the Congressional debate on “the framework agreement with Iran” and on the clear and present threat of a nuclear threshold Iran to vital US interests.

Let Jason go!

At Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court last Tuesday, prosecutors began the trial of Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian. The charges: espionage, collaborating with hostile governments, and “propaganda against the establishment.”
Rezaian has been in custody for 315 days. Up until a few weeks ago, his family, friends and many supporters had no idea what he had been arrested for, because Iranian authorities had declined to say. Even when the news of the allegations finally came, it was provided sparingly by a lawyer whom Rezaian had not chosen and who has met with him only briefly.
The proceedings are off limits to the public. The charges have no basis in facts. After last week’s two-hour trial session, no indication was given when the court will reconvene on the case. If Rezaian is convicted on all counts he faces up to 20 years in jail. The judge, Abolghassem Salavati, is among a handful of judges who have handed down stiff sentences for alleged offenses by journalists, lawyers, activists and minority groups. Salavati regularly issues the toughest sentences of all, including the death penalty for anti-government protesters.
Rezaian has been held at the Evin Prison, which is notorious for the many executions and the abuse of political prisoners that take place there. His family says his health is failing and his morale is low. Rezaian’s wife, Yeganeh Salehi, who is an Iranian citizen and a reporter for The National, an English-language newspaper based in Abu Dhabi, was arrested along with Rezaian but released on bail. She faces prosecution for nothing more than reporting the truth.
The Committee to Protect Journalists’ year-end census counted 30 reporters in Iran’s jails, out of 221 worldwide.

‘No Israeli airstrike in Lebanon,’ says Channel 2

Israel did not attack Lebanese territory on Tuesday, Channel 2’s Moshe Nussbaum reported Tuesday.
Lebanese media outlets had reported that Israeli jets had struck near the city of Brital, inflicting casualties, but the claims were quickly denied Tuesday.
According to Lebanese news site el-Nashra, there were multiple Lebanese injuries in two airstrikes near the towns of Brital and Arsal, near the Syrian border.
The Lebanese Daily Star also quoted a security source saying an airstrike had taken place.
However, Hezbollah’s al-Manar television network denied the accuracy of reports of Israeli airstrikes targeting Hezbollah near the border, but confirmed that Israeli planes had overflown the area on Tuesday and called the overflight a violation of Lebanese sovereignty.
The Daily Star later quoted Lebanese security sources denying any airstrikes took place.

And now fingerpointing and Apartheid

The Waqf guard fingers a Jew suspected of praying or perhaps reciting Psalms, quietly, individually (which the High Court for Justice permits), causing a policeman to follow up and point his finger too. A few days ago, the act of closing one’s eyes was a reason for the police to remove a Rosh Yeshiva from the compound.
I can’t stand when a Jew is singled out in such a demeaning manner.
Worse, in addition to the blatant segregation at the entrance whereby the police form two different lines, one for externally recognizable Jews, there is actually an apartheid practiced on the Temple Mount whereby drinking from water fountains there is denied to Jews (Hebrew). Grape juice has already been on the list of non-imbibles. Detailed here, on Sunday, a policeman instructed a Jewish visitor, Elisha Sandman
…that he may not drink water. “Naturally, it is a hot day today, I went to get a drink,” the man, Elishama Sandman, told Ynet. “When I came close to the faucets, the policeman stopped me and told me that I do not have permission to drink.” Sandman asked him if this was a new instruction and the policeman answered in the affirmative.
One can only hope that the appointment of a Temple Mount activist as the new Minister for Jerusalem Affairs – he has visited several times – will bring about a change, a much-needed change, one that is commensurate with the law.

Ya’alon: Hezbollah Arrest in Cyprus is Part of Iran-Backed European Terror Network

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon stated that last Friday’s arrest of a Hezbollah terrorist in Cyprus pointed to a large-scale terror campaign by the Iranian-backed terror group against Israeli targets in Europe, Reuters reported today.
Speaking to reporters, Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon described the suspect’s apartment as “a hideout, which according to what to what they (Cypriot authorities) are saying was being used by Hezbollah’s international terrorism network”.
Further citing what Israel had been told by Cyprus, Yaalon said the ammonium nitrate was intended for manufacturing bombs.
“These were apparently meant to be ready for attacks on us,” he said, referring to Israelis or Jews in Cyprus or elsewhere in Europe. He added that the explosives might also been intended for attacks against Western targets.

Israeli security sources cited in an earlier report published in The Jerusalem Post connected the dots:
Israel has been updated on the details of the arrest and the investigation. The arrest is “further evidence of deep Iranian involvement in international terrorism.
This is an international mechanism that the Iranians activate, with the intention of building and utilizing a terrorism infrastructure in Europe,” Israeli security sources said Saturday. “Hezbollah, the contractor, is funded by Iran, and its operatives are trained by Iranian experts. In this case, like in other cases, the head is in Tehran, the orchestration is Iranian, the funding is Iranian and the one that carries it out is Hezbollah.”

Gaza media: IDF detains Hamas members on fishing boat

The Israeli Navy on Monday intercepted a Palestinian fishing boat that repeatedly violated the Israeli restrictions on fishing off the Gaza Strip.
According to military officials, the interception was necessary after the boat made several attempts to go beyond the area in which fishing is allowed, despite warnings to its crew to stop. Eventually, after firing several warning shots in the air and in the water, Israeli troops fired at the boat itself, after which it was diverted to Ashdod port and its crew was taken in for questioning. A Dvora-class fast patrol boat escorted the boat along the way.
Media outlets in Gaza reported that in addition to being fired upon, the boat was raided by the Israeli Navy's elite commando unit, Shayetet 13, in the early hours. Only after the forces detained several Hamas members was the ship instructed to head to Ashdod, news outlets reported.

Gaza Salafist leader killed in gunfight with Hamas cops

The incident occurred in the northern Sheikh Radwan neighborhood with the Interior Ministry identifying the gunman as 27-year-old Yussef al-Hatar, a local leader of a group of Islamic extremists known as Salafists.
According to ministry spokesman Iyad Buzum, the security forces had gone to his home in the morning to arrest him for unspecified “illegal activities.”
But Hatar tried to flee, firing on the forces as he went. He tried to blow himself up with a suicide vest but was shot dead before it detonated, Buzum told AFP.
He had also “tried to booby-trap his house,” the spokesman said.
“Security forces barricaded the house and then intense clashes erupted,” witnesses told AFP, some of whom identified Hatar as being a member of a group affiliated with the Islamic State jihadist group.

ISIS Supporters in Gaza Claim They Launched Rocket on Israel

Islamic State (ISIS) supporters have claimed responsibility for the Grad rocket attack north of Be’er Sheva last week and have issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Hamas to halt its crackdown against them.
The Islamic Jihad originally said it was behind the missile attack, the first beyond the Gaza Belt area since the war against Hamas last summer.
It is not known if the ISIS cells in Gaza are directly linked to the parent organization, but the fact that they have claimed responsibility for the rocket attack indicates they are active are staging a propaganda campaign to attract more recruits.
They have not said what they will do if Hamas does not “withdraw the attacks” against them” in two days, but Hamas clearly is worried.

Erdogan’s Turkey Deports Palestinians to War-Torn Syria

Unprecedented: Turkish authorities deported nine Palestinian Syrian refugees to the north of Syria, who were arrested while trying to reach Greece.
According to one of the deportees, they had been arrested in the Turkish city of Izmir, where they were harassed by the security men. They were then deported by bus to a border camp, as they were told.
Suddenly, however, at the border the soldiers transferred them outside of the Turkish border, telling them they were forbidden from entering Turkish territory for a year.
The refugees stressed that the Turkish authorities did not give them any official document confirming the reason for deportation.
For their part, activists saw that this move constitutes a great threat to the lives of refugees owning to the acts of bombing and clashes in northern Syria, and noted this violated international law prohibiting the return of refugees to areas of conflict from which they fled.

PreOccupied Territory: Pallywood Executives Mull Reboot Of Blood Libel Franchise (satire)

Profitability aside, many factors go into studios’ decision to commission entirely new libels or to fall back on the blood libel formula. “The classic formula will always resonate to some degree,” acknowledges Edward Narwij, a Vice President at Al-Durra Films. “But there are enough outfits doing just that, more or less, and it’s better to have a little variety. You don’t have to stick to unleavened bread and Christian children. We’ve already had plenty of success casting IDF soldiers in the role of villain, and portraying wanton murder of Palestinian children and youths instead of some Jewish religious mumbo-jumbo.”
The phenomenon is by no means the exclusive province of the more established Pallywood production houses. A number of indie – short for indifada – studios specialize in adapting the blood libel cachet to current goings-on. “We just produced a ‘documentary’ detailing how Israel, under the guise of taking in Palestinians for medical treatment, takes their blood and body tissues without consent, then uses that blood and tissue to treat IDF soldiers wounded by the Resistance,” said Mustafa Farhud of Sabra and Shatila Films. “We also had a hand in the classic Jenin, Jenin, but I don’t want to overstate our role in that production,” he added.
Industry insiders say they understand the pull of proven franchises, but that endless reboots of the same basic story might eventually tire the audience, which in general cannot be bothered to distinguish between multiple iterations of the same story. “I would much prefer to see some creativity in developing new methods for manufacturing evidence of Israeli atrocities,” said film critic Leni Reifenstahl. “If not an entirely new kind of atrocity of which to accuse the Jews.”
“Who wants to see everybody marching in lock step?” she added.

Syrian Druse could flee to Israel as Assad may abandon them to ISIS

Syrian Druse near the Israeli border are under threat from the Islamic State as the Assad regime withdraws its forces from the area, Druse sources told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
President Bashar Assad’s forces are weakening in Druse areas, including near the village of Hader, close to the border on the Golan Heights, Channel 1 reported on Sunday evening.
Israel is closely following developments in case Druse residents flee to Israel because of the jihadist threat.
Meanwhile, the heads of the Israeli Druse community raised their concerns for their brethren in Syria in meetings with senior Israeli security officials, according to the report.
Eyad Bos, a Druse who comes from the Golan village of Bukata, told the Post the Islamic State is approaching and preparing to attack the Syrian Druse city of Sweida, close to Jordan.

ISIS bans pigeon breeding since it's 'offensive to Islam'

ISIS clerics have banned pigeon breeding, which they say is an affront to Islam.
According to the Daily Mail, the jihadist organization that has taken over parts of Iraq and Syria believes that “the sight of birds’ genitals as they fly overhead is offensive to Islam.”
Anyone caught violating the new edict is in danger of being subjected to public flogging.
Earlier this year, there were reports that 15 young boys were arrested and at least three of them executed in eastern Iraq after they were found to be engaged in pigeon breeding.
ISIS terrorists justified the punishment by claiming that their pigeon breeding activities were distracting them from their worship.

At Gaza Flotilla Event, Turkish President Calls for Muslims to 'Hoist the Islamic Flag over Jerusalem'

Thousands of Muslim Turks marched this past weekend to observe the anniversary of the Israeli raid of a Gaza-bound Turkish flotilla in 2010, chanting, “Muslims, don’t sleep, protect your brothers!” Commemorating the event, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed longing for Muslims “to hoist the Islamic flag over Jerusalem again.”
The protesters flooded Istanbul this weekend to memorialize ten people killed in an Israeli attack on six Gaza-bound ships in 2010. Protests this Sunday began with prayers in a mosque and then continued with a bike tour of the European and Palestinian neighborhoods of Istanbul. Protesters waved Palestinian and Turkish flags and banners.
Throughout the day, protesters also held Muslim prayers in front of the Israeli ambassador’s house in the capital, Ankara.
Later in the evening, the mass of protesters reached the graveyard where the dead activists are buried. Reporters on the scene heard chants like, “Long live the Palestinian resistance!” and “Muslims, don’t sleep, protect your brothers!”
Turkish politicians are playing to the public’s anti-Israel sentiments to help their chances in upcoming parliamentary elections.
“Conquest is Mecca, conquest is Saladin, it’s to hoist the Islamic flag over Jerusalem again; conquest is the heritage of Mehmed II and conquest means forcing Turkey back on its feet,” Erdogan said in a speech on Saturday.

Human Rights Activist 'Punks' Saudi Arabia over Treatment of Gays

The Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission (SACM) held its annual celebration and job fair last month just outside Washington, D.C. The four-day event begun on May 22 was “designed to reward the graduates on the King Abdullah Scholarship Program (KASP) with the chance to both celebrate their success with their colleagues as well as search for jobs and meet top executives from leading companies and universities in Saudi Arabia.”
But in true American fashion, celebrations draw surprise guests. This year the Saudi royal family representatives and the 120 exhibitors had their party crashed by David Keyes, Executive Director of Advancing Human Rights, a nonprofit human rights advocacy group.
In an effort to bring awareness to the torture and murder of gays and lesbians in Saudi Arabia, Keyes set out to “punk the government of Saudi Arabia.”
“Saudi Arabia is one of the worst human rights violators in the world,” Keyes told the Salomon Center for American Jewish Thought. “Homosexuality is punishable by death. Gays are routinely lashed. Such treatment is utterly inexcusable. Free societies should not be silent in the face of such brutality.”
Earlier today, Keyes released a video of his trip from New York City to the Gaylord National Harbor Hotel in Maryland where the conference took place.