[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 12/03 Links Pt1: ICRC: World holds Israel to legal double standard; Who needs Abbas' approval?

From Ian:

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ICRC: World holds Israel to legal double standard

The head of the International Red Cross in Israel and the Palestinian areas said Tuesday that the world was holding Israel to a double standard when it came to war crimes allegations.
Jacques De Maio was one of a number of non-Israeli officials speaking at an Institute for National Security Studies conference on the law of armed conflict in urban areas.
“Why is there so much more focus on Israel than on Syria [and] other places where many more civilians are dying?” the ICRC official asked rhetorically, pointing out that “in other ongoing wars, more civilians die in one week than in Israeli wars in a full year.”
While De Maio made that argument without using the phrase “war crimes” to refer to the IDF’s actions in this summer’s Gaza operation, he added that both Israel and Hamas “violated international law” during the fighting.
He also defended his dialogue with the IDF and Israel regarding its actions and the law of armed conflict. He said there had even been a petition to cancel his speech at the conference so he would not appear to be endorsing the IDF’s conduct during the summer operation.
But De Maio said the dialogue was not endorsement, as “we don’t endorse Israel, and when we talk to Hamas, the Taliban and other terrorists, we don’t endorse them, either.”
The ICRC official said that “our goal is to influence those fighting to be more humanitarian.”

Israel Should Get Its Retaliation In First

To defend itself while also bolstering the long-term interest of other liberal democracies engaged in the struggle against transnational terrorism, Israel should undertake a preemptive strike, both in the legal arena and in the court of public opinion. The facts and the law are on Israel’s side.

In this hostile international environment, knowledgeable Israelis are concerned about the March 2015 publication of the Schabas report. Either from lack of familiarity with the international laws of war or out of misplaced sympathy for the conventional view, some intellectuals here, including law professors, are tempted to conclude that Israel has few legal responses. They seem to believe that Israel should contritely accept the UNHRC's factual findings, legal conclusions, and practical recommendations and concentrate on damage control.

There is no chance that Netanyahu's government will adopt that approach, nor should it. Whether it will launch an offensive against the UNHRC’s kangaroo court is another question.

Here are five defective claims likely to inform the Schabas commission, and outlines of the replies that Israel should be honing for a preemptive strike in advance of the commission's forthcoming report.

Livni: We must join world in fight against terrorism

Speaking at the same INSS conference, IDF Advocate-General Maj.- Gen. Danny Efroni said there was no precedent for the extent to which Hamas systematically endangered civilians directly and indirectly as human shields during Operation Protective Edge this summer.
Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012 had a relatively extremely low civilian casualty toll, Efroni said, adding that he had warned in an article following the war that low casualties could not always be achieved because of Hamas’s tactics.
The IDF had to rework its tactics in real time due to Hamas tactics, even as Israel is at the forefront of Western nations in developing tools to comply with international law in urban environments, fighting against terrorists who intentionally endanger their own civilian populace, he said.
Efroni said that the army was internationally criticized – unfairly and for political reasons, in his opinion – for three aspects: the IDF’s striking of Hamas members’ private homes, the large cumulative number of civilian casualties, and the use of artillery in urban fighting.
Hamas members used their houses as command centers, in which they also gave orders regarding the firing of rockets at Israel, he said, adding that criticism of the IDF for hitting them would simply encourage Hamas to continue its illegal tactic.
Next, Efroni slammed the IDF’s critics for leaning hard on Israel, which at least tried to take precautions, as opposed to on Hamas, regarding the high civilian casualties.

Mother of synagogue terrorist praises her son who murdered five

Two days after two terrorists armed with guns, knives and axes entered a synagogue in Jerusalem and murdered four worshippers and a policeman, an Israeli Arab news site posted a video of the mother of one of the terrorists praising the murderers.
Both terrorists were killed by Israeli police who arrived at the scene of the attack. The day after the murders, mother of terrorist Uday Abu Jamal recited a poem honoring the killers while receiving guests in her mourning tent:
"How beautiful is your Martyrdom.
You have placed a crown [upon my head]...
O Ghassan and Uday,
who carried out the operation (i.e., murder of 5),
blessed be your hands and the tips of your fingers.
Blessed be the womb that bore you...
Yesterday [I gave] the most beautiful gift.
The Martyrs' blood was not spilled in vain. I am a Palestinian."

Mother of synagogue terrorist praises her son and his cousin who murdered 5


Caroline Glick: Sisi is not Mubarak

Israelis have argued this case for years to their Arab neighbors as well as to the Americans and other Western states. But for multiple reasons, no one has ever been willing to accept this basic, obvious reality.
As a consequence, everyone from the Americans to the Europeans to the Saudis long supported policies that empower jihadist forces against Israel.
Sisi became the first major leader to break with this consensus, as a result of actions Hamas took before and since his rise to power. He has brought Saudi Arabia and the UAE along on his intellectual journey.
And this reassessment has had a profound impact on regional realities generally and on Israel’s strategic posture specifically.
From Israel’s perspective, this is a watershed event.
The government must take every possible action, in economic and military spheres, to ensure that Sisi benefits from his actions.

Kerry on Knesset shake up: Whatever government forms should negotiate with Palestinians

US Secretary of State John Kerry said he hopes a new Israeli government will prove fruitful to negotiations, the first American comment on Israel's government crisis.
"We hope that whatever government is formed is a government that will – or whether there are elections, that those elections will produce -- the possibility of a government that can negotiate and move towards resolving the differences between Israelis and Palestinians, and obviously, the differences in the region," he said while speaking Tuesday at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
Kerry emphasized, however, that he does not want to get involved in Israel's internal politics.
"I simply don’t comment on the internal politics of any country, and certainly not of a change in personnel within the Government of Israel," Kerry said of the recent government shake up.
"We will continue to be supportive of our friend and our ally, the state of Israel."

Who needs Abbas' approval?

"We will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state," Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared at an Arab League foreign ministers' meeting over the weekend in Cairo.
This declaration, like others made by Arab and Palestinian leaders, was intended not only to undermine Israel's historical right to and international legitimacy as a Jewish state, but also to signal that the Palestinians are not ready to move forward with serious negotiations for a resolution to the conflict.
But Israel is not defined as a Jewish state by this or that Arab leader. It is defined as such by the international understandings and agreements that recognize the historic link between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, as our Declaration of Independence states. This is a link that the Palestinians have been denying for years.

Critics of French Vote on Palestinian Recognition Slam ‘Betrayal,’ Warn of Negative Repercussions for Jewish Community

The French parliament’s decision to vote for the recognition of a Palestinian state earlier today generated a variety of reactions, with many observers deeming the decision essentially meaningless while others protested what one activist called a “betrayal.”
Serge Cwajgenbaum, the secretary general of the European Jewish Congress (EJC,) said the vote was largely “toothless,” but expressed concern that “such votes can have negative consequences for the Middle East peace process because it can radicalize people, while pushing Palestinians to abandon the negotiating table in favor of seeking recognitions.”
Cwajgenbaum told the New York Times: “I can’t exclude the possibility that there can be repercussions of the vote on the Jewish community, as criticism of Israel can be construed by some extremists as an excuse for incitement against Jews.”

French Jew Burns ID Card in Protest Over Gov’t Vote to Recognize Palestinian State (VIDEO)

An enraged French Jew from Lyon on Tuesday set fire to his ID card in a dramatic protest over France’s National Assembly 339 – 151 vote to recognize a Palestinian state, the French JSS News reported.
“As you all know, France has just symbolically recognized a terrorist Palestinian state. I, then, in response to this bull****, and to reply to these incompetents, will symbolically burn my French identity,” Jérémy Yoni Ajzenberg, 26, said.
“F*** this incapable government that is in the image of the Eiffel Tower: static, with it’s legs apart!” said Ajzenberg, who plans to make aliyah (emigrate) to Israel in Feb. 2015.
Daniel Schwammenthal, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Transatlantic Institute in Brussels, told JNS.org about the vote that, “Europeans may have nothing but good intentions, but recognizing Palestine without the PA [Palestinian Authority] first achieving a settlement with Israel is ultimately misguided. It would be a setback for the quest for real peace and the establishment of a real Palestinian state.”

Sweden approves borders of ‘Palestine’ with Israel erased

Here is a picture of Hillevi Larsson. She is a Member of Parliament in Sweden’s extremist Social Democratic-led government.
She is happy because she has just received an award from the Palestinian Association of Malmö, Sweden, as thanks for her support for “Palestine”.
Malmö is famous for two things: (1) Mohammed is the most popular name for newborn boys, and (2) its Jews, who have been living there for almost 250 years, are being systematically hounded out of the city. One may or may not choose to draw conclusions from these parallel trends.

Belgian government to support Palestine recognition

The parties that make up Belgium’s federal government have agreed to recognize Palestinian statehood unilaterally, a Belgian daily reported Wednesday.
The four parties reached an agreement earlier this week and intend to submit a motion to parliament formulating support for recognition of Palestinian statehood, which the parties intend to pass and which the government is planning to implement, the Le Soir daily reported.
The text for the draft of the planned motion does not set a date for recognition, the report said. The paper quoted from the text as stating that recognition will happen “at a moment deemed appropriate.”

Palestine House board member portrays Jerusalem massacre as a “courageous and qualitative” operation

Dr. Nazih Khatatba, a board member of the Palestine House and an editor of Toronto-based Meshwar newspaper, keeps praising the attack, in which 4 rabbis and an Israeli policeman were murdered in a Jerusalem synagogue (November 18, 2014) by two Palestinian terrorists, armed with a handgun, an meat cleaver and a knife. Israeli Canadian and Toronto born Howie Rothman, was severely wounded after he was struck in the head and neck with a meat cleaver during this attack.
In his editorial titled “al-Quds Operation and the Quiet Intifada”, (Issue 118, November 28, 2014, page 5) Khatatba portrays the Jerusalem massacre as a “courageous and qualitative” operation and justifies the Palestinian recent wave of terrorist attacks aimed at Israeli targets.

Victim of West Bank hit-and-run succumbs to wounds

The Israeli man who was critically injured in a suspected hit-and-run terror attack at the Alon Junction died of his wounds Tuesday evening.
Sixty-eight-year-old Avi Ben Zion was being treated at Beilinson Hospital, where he died from severe head injuries he sustained during the incident on Monday.
Investigators are unsure if the event was an attempted robbery or a terror attack, and said that both possibilities were being investigated.
Ben Zion’s daughter Revital told Channel 10 News Tuesday she believed the incident was a terrorist attack. She claimed that if her father was being robbed, he would have calmly handed over his vehicle and wallet to the thieves, leaving the perpetrators with no reason to attack him.

Border police find pipe bombs in car after high-speed chase

Security forces uncovered three pipe bombs in a car in Abu Dis, a Palestinian town on the outskirts of Jerusalem, on Wednesday after officers noticed three vehicles driving at excessively high speeds, Border Police said Wednesday.
While patrolling the Abu Dis area at around 1 a.m., Border Police were alerted by another security unit about an explosive that was thrown in their direction while driving on a small security road directly next to the security barrier.
After the alert, Border Police officers were quickly able to identify the direction from which the explosive came. Then, officers noticed three vehicles driving wildly and at very high speeds on the road nearby.
They began in pursuit of the suspicious vehicles, shortly afterward finding one of the vehicles had lost control and crashed into an electric pole.

Hebrew University Students' 'Lives are in Danger'

A Knesset Committee on Tuesday discussed the threat of terrorist attacks felt by Jewish students at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
The Knesset Committee on Public Complaints, headed by MK Adi Kol (Yesh Atid), heard testimony from students who say they feel that “their lives are in danger.”
Hebrew University's Mount Scopus campus is located adjacent to several Arab neighborhoods, and is connected to French Hill, where Arab residents have recently rented apartments. In addition, many of the students commute to their studies via the light rail, which in recent months has seen countless attacks by Arab assailants, culminating in several car attacks on rail stations by Arab terrorists.
“Many students have filed complaints about this,” said Kol. “Security in the Mount Scopus area is not good, to say the least, and students are expecting the security establishment to take action to ensure their safety. Many students also say they have complained to the University, which has not been sufficiently responsive.”

Deadly Attacks Spur New Wave of Online Palestinian Incitement

As high-profile terrorist attacks escalate in Israel, particularly around the Jerusalem area, a new Palestinian Arab video uploaded to YouTube last week shows the idolization of terrorism and propaganda fueling the current wave of attacks.
In the video, one Arab terrorist wrapped in a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flag and with a hand grenade strapped on his belt can be seen passing out handguns, knives, swords and hatchets to six other terrorists.
The terrorists then stand in front of the security barrier in either Judea or Samaria and bearing their weapons in a menacing stance in a clear call for attacks, as a threatening song in Arabic is heard in the background with the following lyrics:

Steinitz Gaffe? 'Large Scale Intel Effort to Deny Iran Nukes'

Minister of Intelligence Yuval Steinitz (Likud) let slip during a speech from the Knesset podium Wednesday that Israel is engaged in “a sensitive, large scale intelligence effort to deny Iran nuclear weapons.”
Steinitz was responding to a no-confidence bill submitted by Labor head MK Yitzhak Herzog, and extolling the leadership abilities of the government under Binyamin Netanyahu.
Israel prides itself on leading the international effort to curb Iran's nuclear weapons program. In addition, it is generally speculated that the Jewish state is also engaged in covert operations against Iran, and the Mossad has been credited with numerous assassinations and acts of sabotage in that context. However, Israel's policy has always been not to talk openly about these matters.
Steinitz's statement may have been a gaffe, or an intentional slip as part of an effort to boost the image of Likud under Prime Minister Netanyahu as able guardians of Israel's security.

Electronic Warfare Battalion officer: We are in a race against time

The IDF’s offensive Electronic Warfare Battalion is in a “race against time” against Israel’s enemies, a senior officer told The Jerusalem Post.
The race is between the battalion, which is tasked with disrupting command and control and communications capabilities, and the terrorist organizations and enemy states that are upgrading their equipment continuously.
“We saw our good capabilities in action during Operation Protective Edge,” the officer said last week. “Between wars, there is a race against time – a technological race. The other side swaps or upgrades its equipment. We have to follow these changes. After we complete an operation, we can’t rely on the assumption that nothing is changing.”
The battalion is under the direct command of the IDF General Staff.
“We are an independent unit, and we possess everything we need to function in an emergency. We also have our own training base, where cadets come to after basic training,” the officer said, noting with pride that some 40 percent of battalion members are female. “If artillery gunners fire shells, we fire electrons to assist our forces. Our unit is fully combat.”

PreOccupied Territory: Is It Time To Take Down The Sukkah Yet? (satire)

Judaism is usually pretty specific about when to do what. All you have to do is look in a book or two and you have your answer. So I’m finding it both troubling and confusing that no one seems to know when you’re supposed to take down the sukkah.
My teachers were pretty clear on when you have to put it up: it has to be ready in time for the fifteenth of Tishrei. No problem. Mine was already decorated even before Yom Kippur. So the preparation part I got down. What troubles and confuses me is that no one has been able to tell me when I’m supposed to have the thing cleared away – and then, once I find that out, I have to figure out what I’m supposed to do with the pieces. Do we let them rot, like other stuff that gets left over in a Shmittah year? Is it supposed to be used as fuel for burning the chametz before Pesach? I’m at a loss here.
Usually, Jewish law is very particular about when something starts and ends. Everyone knows about starting Shabbat before sunset on Friday, and what time it ends on Saturday night. The first Mishna in the whole corpus of Rabbinic literature introduces both the start time and end time for reciting the nighttime Shma. But when it comes to a deadline for putting away the sukkah, suddenly the Rabbis are silent. What am I missing?

Ya'alon: Hamas has no interest in escalating the situation

"At the present time Hamas has no interest in escalating the situation, due to the heavy price it paid during Operation Protective Edge," Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said Tuesday during a meeting with his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Moranes, in Tel Aviv.
"For quite some time now the Middle East has been unstable,and there is no way to stabilize it in the foreseeable future," Ya'alon said.
The defense minister said the Hamas terrorist organization was headquartered in "Gaza and Istanbul. It is unbelievable that a NATO member is hosting the headquarters of a terrorist organization on its soil. We prevented a coup planned by Hamas, among other places from its base in Turkey, against [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas]."

Hamas Rocket Test Shows Prep for Next War

Gaza's Hamas terrorist leaders on Wednesday apparently celebrated the disbanding of the Knesset coalition by launching a missile test, in another threatening show of force indicating the group's preparations for yet another terror war on Israel.
Three rockets were fired into the Mediterranean Sea by Hamas according to IDF sources, who said the launches were identified from the Tel Katifa region, reports Channel 10.
The area from which the rockets were fired was a Jewish community before the 2005 Disengagement plan forcefully expelled all Jews from Gaza, paving the way for Hamas's takeover of the region.

ISIS flyer in Gaza threatens 18 writers, PA condemns

An Islamic State (ISIS) flyer circulating on social networks has warned 18 writers and poets against criticizing Islam, noting that ''apostates will be punished''. In Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority (PA)replied by condemning the intimidation of Palestinian intellectuals, saying that the threats constitute a serious precedent. Hamas has instead played down the incident. Gaza's interior minister, Yiad Bazam, denied that ISIS operates in any form in the Gaza Strip and that the threats are - in his opinion - nothing more than ''pranks''. 'He ensured, nevertheless, that the enclave's secret services were closely watching the situation. The threats to intellectuals came after a similar text (signed by men claiming to be ISIS members) in recent days telling women in Gaza that they would not be allowed to walk in the streets starting next week if not covered in full Islamic veils.

Arab Spring Illusions Are Dead. Good.

Unfortunately, there was never a real constituency of any size in Egypt for liberal democracy. The choices there were always going to be between a stable, if authoritarian military government and one run by Islamists. Had the latter prevailed, Egypt would not only have been less free than under the military but it would have helped further destabilize the region and aided the efforts of Islamist terror groups like Hamas, which was allied with the Brotherhood.
Sadly, the Obama administration’s inconsistent and ultimately feckless policies alienated both Sisi and the Egyptians who blame it for the rise of the Brotherhood. It will take a long time before the U.S. will win back their trust. But the key question facing the region is whether Islamist groups like ISIS will overrun regimes that while neither democratic nor free, at least represent a bulwark against the tide of extremism and violence. That makes it absolutely essential that the U.S. continue to support governments like that led by Sisi and to assist them in the general effort to combat the wave of Islamist extremism sweeping across the region.
Which also means that both liberals and neoconservatives alike must put aside their illusions as well as their hopes about democracy promotion in the Middle East. The war against Islamism must be fought and eventually won first before we will be able to return to that discussion about the Arab world, if then. Those who cannot grasp this reality are being obtuse, not principled.

A Weekend of Failures for Egypt’s Islamist Opposition

Within hours of the court’s decision demonstrators arrived on Tahrir Square in Cairo, the birthplace of the 2011 revolution that toppled the Mubarak regime. Liberal opponents of Mubarak were joined by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. Shortly after the arrival of the Islamists, police used water cannon and tear gas, driving the protesters into side streets.
24 hours earlier, on Friday, Egyptian security forces were able to stop the “Islamic revolution” planned by the Salafi activists and supported by the Muslim Brotherhood. This planned wave of protests was designed to attack the regime of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and strengthen the worsening position of Islamists in the country.
Hours before these protests, security forces arrested 89 Muslim Brotherhood members for inciting violence. According to the state-run news agency MENA, security forces also defused seven bombs in different governorates around Egypt.

Egypt prosecutor to appeal dropping of Mubarak charges

Egypt’s public prosecutor said Tuesday it would appeal a court ruling that dropped a murder charge against ex-president Hosni Mubarak over the deaths of protesters during the country’s 2011 uprising.
“The prosecutor general has decided to appeal,” it said in a statement, after a Cairo court on Saturday ordered the dropping of murder and corruption charges against Mubarak, who ruled for three decades until being driven from office and is serving a three-year sentence in a separate graft case.

Egyptian court sentences 188 people to death

The 188 were charged over the killing of 11 policemen last year in Kerdasa, a restive town west of Cairo considered a militant stronghold. The attack, which saw the policemen’s bodies mutilated, is considered one of the country’s grisliest assaults on security forces.
The defendants also were accused of attempting to kill 10 more policemen, damaging a police station, setting police cars on fire and possessing heavy weapons.
The attack happened on the same day that security forces brutally cleared two protest camps of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi’s supporters, killing hundreds. Protesters were demanding the reinstatement of Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood group.
Some 22,000 people have been arrested since Morsi’s ouster, including most of the Brotherhood’s top leaders, as well as large numbers of others swept up by police during pro-Morsi protests.

Islamic State Stronghold In Iraq Swamped With Water-Borne Disease

The Islamic State (IS/ISIS/ISIL) is struggling with a severe shortage of clean water and basic medicinal necessities in the city of Mosul, Iraq, where the terror group remains under control. Furthermore, a new water-borne disease has emerged, creating the potential for plague-like conditions for its citizenry, AFP reports.
While the Islamic State trumpets a better life under its rule, what’s happening in Mosul has become a PR disaster for the jihadi outfit. Residents have reported that the city’s water treatment center is not working consistently, largely due to the constant battles in the area.
“The biggest and most dangerous problem now is because of our harsh circumstances and the absence of services,” said resident Abu Ali to AFP. He added that some residences have tried to resolve the water contamination problem by digging wells of their own. He said that some residences often go without for up to one week.

Batsh*t Crazy Conspiracy Theory Of The Day

This might just be the most ridiculous thing you read all day.
Courtesy of Press TV (naturally):
The United States and Israel are run by “Zionist psychopaths” who are recruiting and training “mind-controlled killers” to “set the Middle East on fire,” says a political activist in Wyoming.
The leader of ISIL, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, “is an Israeli actor trained by both CIA and Mossad” to lead a terrorist organization that “only attacks Muslims, not the US or Israel,” said J Bruce Campbell, a member of the American Defense Party, a non-voting political action party dedicated to ending the Zionist power structure in the US.

Iranian Currency in Sharp Decline as Oil Prices Plummet

Dropping oil prices are taking a toll on Iran’s economy. Last week many Iranians rushed to sell their local currency holdings out of fear for their savings, the Al-Arab newspaper reported on Tuesday. This prompted a loss of more than 10% of the rial’s value in one week.
Currently, one American dollar is trading for 35,600 rials. The ISNA Iranian news agency reported that this decline is exceptionally high in comparison to last year, and is the sharpest decline in the currency’s value since President Hassan Rouhani was elected.
The drop in oil prices has offset economic gains that Iran has realized due to sanctions relief. According to Bloomberg News, Iranian oil is now selling at about $100 a barrel, well below the $136 a barrel that Iran needs to break even on their government spending. The Financial Times reported in October that “Iran’s economy also grew 4.6 per cent in the three months to August 22 compared with the same period of 2013, while the currency market has also been stabilised.” Notably, inflation fell from 40% to 21% over the course of Rouhani’s first year in office.

Are Declining Oil Prices Iran's Achilles Heel?

The official reason given for OPEC's decision to maintain oil production and absorb the price decline is that it wants to maintain market share in the face of aggressive non-OPEC producers. But, Saudi Arabia, the dominant member of OPEC, is deeply concerned with the Iranian nuclear program. Its influence was clearly felt. Like its smaller oil-rich Arab Gulf state neighbors, Saudi Arabia can absorb the revenue decline from lower prices.
Iran will have a more difficult time. Especially if it insists on devoting billions to its nuclear project. Its government budget is heavily dependent on the revenue generated from high oil prices. Oil prices have declined by nearly 40 percent over the last six months.
The unexpected decline in worldwide oil demand may have put an end to Iran's winning streak. As Robert Burns wrote in 1786, "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men often go awry." Here's hoping Burns was right.

Two Killed in Car Bomb Explosion Near Home of Iran’s Ambassador in Yemen

A car bomb exploded Wednesday near the home of Iran’s ambassador to Yemen, killing two people amid a Shiite power grab in the impoverished Arab country believed to be supported by the Islamic Republic.
Iran’s ambassador to Yemen, Hossein Niknam, was not at home when the bomb exploded at the residence in the capital, Sanaa, killing a security guard and his son, security officials said. The blast heavily damaged several nearby buildings and punched a hole into the residence. An Iranian flag later lay on the debris.

Iranian cleric: Albert Einstein was Shiite Muslim

An Iranian cleric claims that the Albert Einstein, the great 20th century scientist who developed the Theory of Relativity, was a Shiitie Muslim, Israel Radio reported on Saturday.
The report cites a video by Ayatolla Mahadavi Kani, described as the head of the Assembly of Experts in the Islamic Republic of Iran, who says that there are documents proving the Jewish scientist embraced Shiite Islam and was an avid follower of Ja'far Al-Sadiq, an eighth-century Shi'i imam.
In the video, Kani quotes Einstein as saying that when he heard about the ascension of the prophet Mohammed, "a process which was faster than the speed of light," he realized "this is the very same relativity movement that Einstein had understood."

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Posted By Ian to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 12/03/2014 12:00:00 PM

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[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] Hamas takes credit for bringing down Israeli government!

The "Palestinian Mujahideen Movement," another name for Hamas, claims that Israel's call to hold early elections is proof of the effectiveness of the "resistance" in "confronting the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip for 51 days."

Hamas spokesman Salim Atallah issued a statement on Wednesday saying that "the overwhelming evidence that emerged after the end of the aggression on Gaza confirms that effective option in dealing with the enemy is resistance."

Yet more evidence that Palestinians have the emotional maturity of toddlers who are certain that the entire world revolves around them.



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Posted By Elder of Ziyon to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 12/03/2014 10:00:00 AM

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[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] Is this newsworthy? Gaza hospital workers are on strike, emergency declared

Gaza hospital cleaners have gone on strike this morning for at least the third time since September because they haven't been paid since the "unity"  government was announced.

They struck for three days in September and three more days in November, and today started a new strike that is open-ended

The Gaza health ministry declared an emergency, because without these hospital workers they cannot schedule surgeries. It also affects the care of hundreds of people on dialysis, intensive care and pediatrics wards.

Even though this is a legitimate health crisis, the hundreds of reporters in and around Gaza are simply not interested in writing any articles about this for Western audiences.

During wartime, the news media are filled with human interest stories of ordinary Gazans facing trials and troubles. Injured patients are interviewed multiple times. Statistics are published and Gaza remains the top story for weeks.

But when Gaza hospital patients are in clear danger - a danger that can be solved with the help of a little publicity to urge funding for hospital workers instead of, say, the families of terrorists - the story is simply not covered by the huge press corps.

The bias is clear. A health crisis in Gaza is only important if there is a way to blame Jews. Otherwise, editors and reporters and management of news media outlets really don[t give a damn about the lives of Gazans.

In retrospect, this story proves that the tearjerker articles of the summer were not meant to get news consumers to care about Gazans. If the media cared about Gazans, this would be a story.

No, the stories of the summer were meant to get the world to hate Israel.

And no amount of justifications from news editors about their coverage can erase the simple fact that human interest stories of Palestinians are only important if somehow there is an Israeli angle. Corruption, infighting, incitement, and stories like these aren't interesting to the media if they cannot blame Israel.

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Posted By Elder of Ziyon to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 12/03/2014 08:00:00 AM

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[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] Gaza cement being diverted to black market - and taxed by Hamas

You know how all the cement that is being imported to Gaza is supposed to be used only for specific international projects? How the UN says it created a mechanism ensuring that the cement will not be diverted?

Yesterday, Gaza journalist Hazem Balousha tweeted this:

Yesterday, 600 tons of cement were sent into Gaza. Assuming that Balousha is telling the truth, here's where some of it ended up.

The other big news in the Palestinian Arab press is the Ministry of Finance in Gaza, controlled by Hamas, has started taxing every ton of cement a fee of 20 shekels. The PA denounced the move but there are reports that customs agents in Gaza are imposing the tax, and as a result the shipments of cement today have been suspended as a result.

These articles also make clear that cement that is supposed to be earmarked for specific projects have already been diverted, as they talk about cement traders and private buyers who are selling and buying cement. The UN mechanism to control the distribution of cement is clearly failing.

And this almost certainly means that Hamas is using this new cement to rebuild its terror tunnels. 



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Posted By Elder of Ziyon to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 12/03/2014 05:41:00 AM

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[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] Playing soccer on the Temple Mount is OK. Complaining about it, though...

According to this Facebook post, a young Jewish man visiting the Temple Mount saw some Muslims respectfully using the holiest site on Earth as a soccer stadium. He asked the police to do something about it, since Israel's Supreme Court has said that such sports are limited to very specific places.

So the police jumped to action - and escorted the whiny Jew off of the Temple Mount.

Post by ‎ארנון סגל‎.

(h/t Bob Knot)




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Posted By Elder of Ziyon to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 12/02/2014 08:00:00 PM

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[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 12/02 Links Pt2: Respected journalists expose bias against Israel; Jon Stewart's Betrayal of Israel

From Ian:

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Missing Peace: Respected journalists expose media bias against Israel

Let's move to Abeer Ayyoub, who (NYT correspondent Judy) Rudoren also praised (in November 2012, during Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza) as her "wonderful fixer/journalist." At that time, Ayyoub was getting reporting credit on stories written by Rudoren, even as she (like Akram) served as a consultant at the Israel-viperous Human Rights Watch.
Ayyoub no longer reports for the Times, but earlier this year she stated publicly that she has been boycotting all Israeli products for three years, which would cover her period at the Times.
In a Facebook post on July 29th, Ayyoub parroted the Hamas line. She said she was asked in an interview "why Palestinians in Gaza are not feeling angry because of Hamas using the building materials for their tunnels and not for building houses and schools." Her response was straight-up Hamas propaganda. "My answer was: why people in Israel [sic] won't feel angry about Israeli government spending more money on enhancing its army instead of raising the level of education and health there? More importantly, why the U.S. wouldn't save the money it supports the Israeli army with for sheltering its [America's] thousands of homeless there in the U.S." It went on like this. She never really answered the question, but it was plain: Hamas diverting cement from kindergartens to terror tunnels was fine with her.
It gets worse.
In a particularly vile Facebook post on August 3rd, she attacked "so-called journalists" who "posted stuff and gave interviews that they left because they were threatened by Hamas to be kicked outta [sic] country if they don't report what Hamas wants." While excoriating those brave journalists, she defended Hamas. But she went beyond that. Using the term "we," she actually implied that she was complicit in the cover-up of Hamas launching sites: (h/t Elder of Lobby)

Blacklisting of pro-Israel watchdog organization NGO Monitor by the Associated Press

Long-time readers will recall that I've relied on NGO Monitor's work in the past. Indeed, one of the most consequential "scoops" I've had as a blogger, that Human Rights Watch Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson fundraised among rich Saudi Arabians with a pledge to use the money to counter pro-Israel forces in the West, came from NGO Monitor. My blog post on this, reprinted at the Wall Street Journal's website, set off a controversy about HRW's anti-Israel bias that has yet to fully recede (and assuredly won't until someone less maniacally anti-Israel than Whitson and her boss Kenneth Roth is in charge).
More generally, Steinberg and NGO Monitor are huge players in the debate over the role NGOs play in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and has been particularly effective in revealing how many NGOs in both Israel and the territories that are hostile to Israel's existence receive the bulk of their funding from European governments, creating significant controversy in Israel and Europe. I've been following NGO Monitor for years, and have yet to see the organization tell any lies or make any significant errors, which is much more than one can say for, e.g., Human Rights Watch and other anti-Israel organizations routinely relied upon by the media as objective sources. I've also met Steinberg and worked with his staff; they are professional, dedicated, and, based on my conversations with them, quite moderate in terms of the Israeli political spectrum.
Given all this, it's hard to come up with an innocent explanation for the AP banning its reporters from talking to Steinberg, assuming Friedman is correct. There are many possible non-innocent explanations, and none of them reflect well on the AP and how it covers the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Jon Stewart's Betrayal of Israel

As for Israel and Gaza, "Stewart"'s position has crystallized long ago, and it is a one of studied moral equivalence. For each Palestinian atrocity (upon which "Stewart" usually glosses over anyway) he finds a reason to apportion equal blame to Israel, and since Israel is stronger and enjoys this "great American leeway," Israel usually comes out as the guilty party.
"Stewart"'s moral failure to condemn Hamas and defend Israel has nothing to do with his fickle Judaism and everything to do with his liberal dogma, which simply cannot stomach the fact that people in the Middle East can be guilty of anything. It is always the white man's fault, and in this case – Israel's. During one of his previous interviews, "Stewart" had no problem with his host Jonathan Dekel, another specimen of the same sort, denigrating Israeli democracy. Stewart never uttered a bad word about the Palestinians.
"Stewart" is correct on one thing. The Jews who "helped" the Nazis did so because, in their mortal peril, they'd abandoned their moral principles for the glimmer of hope of personal survival. "Stewart" – a pampered, self-centered, deluded king of his world – is nothing like those wretches in his attacks on the Jewish state and its defenders.
He is incomparably worse.

Karen Armstrong is wrong, wrong, wrong on Bill Maher

Salon asked, "How direct is the link between colonial policies in the Middle East and a terrorist attack in New York or London?" And Armstrong answered, "When I saw the towers fall on September 11, one of the many, many thoughts that went through my head was, 'We helped to do this.'"
Salon asked Armstrong about the October 3 episode of "Real Time with Bill Maher." Armstrong responded "It fills me with despair, because this is the sort of talk that led to the concentration camps in Europe."
Salon asked "Is Islamophobia today comparable to anti-Semitism?" and Armstrong answered that Islamophobia is "deeply enshrined in Western culture. It goes right back to the Crusades … We've recoiled, quite rightly, from our anti-Semitism, but we still have not recoiled from our Islamophobia."
I fear that casual readers – if there are any left – might stumble across Armstrong's words and think, "Wow. This lady is a scholar. There must be something to what she just said. Bill Maher and Sam Harris are comparable to Nazis, and if we don't suppress criticism of Islam, we'll have another Holocaust on our hands, with Muslims as victims."

AP Accused of Bias Against Israel

The Associated Press is pushing back against charges leveled by one of its former Israel-based reporters that the global news agency is systematically biased against Israel and specifically makes editorial choices meant to portray the Jewish state in negative terms.
The AP on Monday vehemently denied these charges when approached by the Washington Free Beacon and claimed that Friedman has been promulgating "distortions, half-truths, and inaccuracies" about the news outlet.
Friedman's "suggestion of AP bias against Israel is false," Paul Colford, the AP's director of media relations, told the Free Beacon in a statement.
"It is misleading and disingenuous to selectively pick examples of our work to promote narrow viewpoints," Colford said. "The AP is proud of its staff on both sides of the border for producing a broad, independent, and comprehensive report in such adverse conditions."
Asked specifically to address the charge that AP reporters were ordered not to speak to NGO Monitor or Steinberg, Colford called the claim "demonstrably false."

Quartet envoy Blair: Overcoming differences of faith key to resolving Mideast political issues

Blair said that he believed that crossing the boundaries of faith is the central question of the region and that if this can be achieved the political problems will also be resolved.
In welcoming Blair to the Presidential Residence, Rivlin said "you are a good friend despite some differences of opinion from time to time."
It was Rivlin who initially raised the faith issue, saying that although Israel has no war against Islam, there are unfortunately extremists on both sides who think that there is a war between Jews and Muslims.
"This is the homeland of the Jewish people and everyone born here," said Rivlin indicating the inclusiveness of all minority groups whose members are Israeli by birth. "We are destined to live together and you are doing so much to bring us to a reasonable way of thinking of how to find a way to live together in peace and with open borders," he told Blair in reference to finding a solution to the conflict with the Palestinians.
Rivlin said that he wanted to emphasize appreciation Blair's efforts for the people of Gaza "who are being held hostage by Hamas."

Shmuley Boteach: The Fierce Battle for Israel on Western College Campuses

Islam is disgraced not only by those who murder in its name but by educated and lost souls who dignify terror with grievance.
The Dalai Lama has been under brutal Chinese occupation since 1950 and he has never become a monster.
As to the charges that the Palestinians live under Israeli occupation, the West Bank was illegally occupied by Jordan in 1948 yet no one ever complained of an occupation. Israel has tried since its creation to make peace with Arab states and has endangered its security with repeated territorial concessions that were met with nothing but terror attacks.
What we learned from Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 is that should Israel withdraw from Judea and Samaria – which is not occupied but disputed – it would lead immediately to the creation of another terrorist state run by Hamas. Israel would be sandwiched between two terror launching pads intent on its total destruction.

How to fight the academic boycott more effectively

The boycott is yet another derivative of the successful Arab propaganda to push the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to the center of the international stage. This debate distracts attention from the huge and ever-increasing criminality in many parts of the Arab world.
Arab academics may play a role in the anti-Israeli boycott on some campuses, but it is the Left, however – including sometimes Jews or Israelis – who provide its main power. There are other factors at play, though. This was explained by Curtis Marez, the former president of the American Studies Association (ASA), which supports the anti-Israel boycott. He was reported to have said that many other countries, including some in the Middle East, have a human rights record comparable or worse than that of Israel. Marez added that, "One has to start somewhere." He mentioned that Palestinian civil-society groups had asked his organization to boycott Israel and no similar requests had been made by groups in other countries.
So far, the boycott battle has been run according to classic lines. The anti-Israeli boycotters attack, and afterward, some pro-Israeli professors oppose the move.
Depending on the local situation and on the support often given by Jewish grassroots bodies, one of the sides wins. The majority of scholars often does not participate in the vote. This was the case with the ASA boycott vote.

Honest Reporting: Attacking Israel with Images from the Holocaust

BDS Supporters will stop at nothing.
On Voice of Israel Radio, HR's Yarden Frankl blasts the photo of Auschwitz victims holding superimposed BDS signs. Enemies of Israel have no problem misusing images from the Holocaust to demonize the country.
But the media are supposed to be impartial and do a better job portraying Israel. So why is anti-Israel media bias so prevalent? What can be done to combat it?

The Great Jewish American Liberal Academic Anti-Anti-Zionist Freak-Out

The weaknesses of the boycott campaign are, in fact, so glaring that it has had little success in imposing its agenda on universities. Notably, the Modern Language Association, a much bigger and more influential group than the American Studies Association, declined to pursue an anti-Israel resolution this summer. Samuel and Carol Edelman offer some statistics in their contribution to the book: "In the 2013-14 academic year, 15 divestment resolutions were introduced in universities in the U.S. Of these, only two passed." Where such resolutions are adopted, it is usually by student governments with no power to affect university policy; of the six campuses where BDS resolutions passed in 2012-13, "not one … boycotted, divested, or sanctioned Israel."
If this is so, the question then becomes, why are the contributors to The Case Against Academic Boycotts of Israel so concerned about the issue? The answer is suggested by the Edelmans' title, "When Failure Succeeds": Even when BDS resolutions are inconsequential, they can succeed in changing the parameters of discussion about Israel and Zionism. "What BDS did not fail at," the Edelmans write, "was weeks, months, and even years of constant attacks against Israel, portraying it as a pariah nation, an occupier, a human rights violator, a racist nation, and a denier of Palestinian rights. That is significant."

UK Parliamentarians Push for Sanctions Against Israel

George Galloway, an MP from the far left Respect Party and a committed supporter of both Hamas and Hezbollah, said the situation in Jerusalem was turning to crisis and would overshadow the "erupting sore" of Gaza.
Former Middle East Minister Alistair Burt called on Mr Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to meet and "physically stand together and say 'no more'" in order to stop the spiral of violence. He said it was a time for "bravery and courage" from the men.
He said Israel needed to realize the "reality" of the fall-out from the conflict in Gaza in the summer and acknowledge the changing view of world opinion.
His fellow Conservative MPs Robert Halfon and Matthew Offord were among those who defended Israel.

Dudley Council drops motion to boycott Israel

Interestingly, the seven UK Independence Party councillors on Dudley Council, its third-largest grouping, also planned to oppose the motion.
Its leader, Paul Brothwood, described the motion as "an affront to good community relations" that goes far beyond even what the PA has called for.
He added: "The local Labor Party seem to be caring more about the West Bank then the West Midlands. They are being narrow and divisive. In reality this motion is unworkable, as the council would need to throw out most computers, most modern phones, a quarter of NHS generic drugs and all their latest scanners."
Brothwood also claimed that the move was "almost certainly illegal," suggesting it "transgresses the council's legal responsibility to seek best value in its procurement policies and introduces discriminatory conditions which may result in the borough receiving poorer value for money than it might otherwise receive. Also, it is highly likely that it breaches equal opportunities legislation because it discriminates against suppliers on the grounds of nationality."

Campus Radicals Defeated

Last week Islamic radicals on Campus, successfully lobbied Facebook to pull down the Hamas on Campus Facebook Page. This new organization has succinctly made the connection between the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Hamas / The Muslim Brotherhood.
The Hamas On Campus video has being doing well on both Facebook and YouTube. The video provides numerous examples of Jewish students being intimidated by SJP and MSA radicals on US and Canadian campuses.
On what basis was it pulled down? Facebook did not say. There was no email explaining why it was removed, nor was there a suggested method of redress. It looked like the radicals had successfully silenced one of their critics – all the more ironic when so many radical or racist Facebook pages are allowed to gain support and promote hate.

A South African Christian Journalist Talks Up Israel Down Under

South African journalist Stan Goodenough, a committed Christian Zionist who tweets here, told a congregation at Queensland's Sunshine Coast yesterday that
'....Christians should be writing to Mr Abbott and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to applaud their pro-Israeli stance....
Mr Goodenough said Australia was right in arguing that Jewish settlements were not illegal under international law and that it should not formally recognise Palestine.
He was speaking on the Sunshine Coast as part of a tour of Australian churches where he is rallying support for Australian not to fold to international pressure. He has also spoken at Toowoomba.
History had shown those countries who has supported Israel had prospered while those who opposed it had been cursed, he said.
Mr Goodenough said the US' recent decline was evidence of the fact that it had waned in its support of the Jewish people, especially under President Barack Obama.
The long-time journalist in Israel said giving land to Palestine was akin to 'giving Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler'.

BDS Destroys Everything it Touches – The Case of UAW 2865

As long-time trackers of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions phenomenon know, BDS is an opportunistic virus ready to use whatever it learned the last time it infected (or was rejected) by a host organism when moving to a new target of opportunity.
Most recently, these new tactics are being followed to the letter by the BDSers who purport to represent the membership of United Automobile Workers (UAW) 2865 which, despite its name, is actually a union of 12,000 graduate student employees within the California education system.
Like many unions, UAW 2865 has been getting the short end of the stick in negotiations with the state and college administrations over the last couple of years. Partly, this reflects the weakening of unions generally (especially those that include very few active members – like a union of grad students). But another reason why they've been force to accept crappy contracts recently is that the union's leadership seems to have priorities that have nothing to do with bettering the lot of the membership.
Most notably, they have been pushing, participating in and spending union money on BDS activities, even before they receive the answer they're hoping for from the rigged vote they've scheduled for December 4th. And, not satisfied with the damage they have caused to date, they have done everything in their power to ensure a "Yes" vote will permanently wreck the organization by:

Students Refuse to be Singled Out by BDS at Concordia University

As a university student, I believe that we are all fully entitled to enjoy our university experience to its fullest extent. As free and equal individuals, I believe that we are all fully entitled to not feel singled out and essentially discriminated by the student body at our own university. We are all entitled to feel safe, welcomed, respected and represented. On behalf of the Jewish students who stand against the BDS movement, I want to say that we refuse to witness anti-semitism on our own campuses and we refuse to be singled out.
If the "yes" campaign wishes to make a difference, why not engage in positive dialogue with the different communities and clubs on campus, such as Israel on Campus? Instead of investing their resources and their attention into an international issue that the top leaders of the world have difficulty solving, why doesn't the CSU focus on enriching the lives and solving the problems of their own community at Concordia University? How about investing their precious time in building a functional website for their union?
For the reasons mentioned above, I ask all Concordians to stand against the BDS motion. Let's stay united and not divided.

Richard Silverstein Caught In Yet Another Lie

In a comment to one of his latest rants against Israel, DouchebloggerTM Richard Silverstein states categorically in the comments that an Israeli Jewish bus driver killed a palestinian boy.
Silverstein links to this report, which mentions only an Israeli bus driver, and nothing about him being Jewish (as the bottom commenter points out).
This is not a trivial point, considering the driver was an Israeli Arab!

NPR Continues Its Anti-Israel Bias

For the past several years, National Public Radio earned a reputation for anti-Israel bias--so much so that even some liberal supporters began mocking it as "National Palestinian Radio." That sad tradition continued Monday on NPR's Morning Edition, in a report about a debate in Israel over defining the country as a "Jewish state."
According to the short report, Israel's Arab minority, representing about 20% of the population "faces frequent discrimination." No further explanation or evidence was provided.
The fact is that Arabs in Israel face no legal discrimination at all--though NPR listeners with no specific knowledge of Israeli law would infer otherwise.

Oprah Targeted in Foiled Terror Bomb Plot

The Chicago studios of talk-show superstar Oprah Winfrey and the iconic "Sears Tower" (renamed Willis Tower) were the targets of a terrorist truck-bomb plot in 2009. But initially unbeknownst to federal authorities, two of the conspirators recently were arrested for unrelated state crimes in different parts of the country. The alleged bombers targeted Ms. Winfrey's Harpo Studios because they resented her popularity and power, while the tower was selected because of its obvious landmark status. The bomb plot itself, planned in 2009, was inspired by militant Islamist hatred of American military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to law enforcement and other sources interviewed by Judicial Watch.
Sources requested anonymity for fear of reprisal by terrorist bomb-plotter associates, as well as retaliation from embarrassed federal law enforcement agents who apparently mismanaged the subsequent counterterrorism case.
The alleged bomb plotters were based in El Paso, Texas and included two longtime friends and associates currently jailed for recent state crimes.

Lee Rigby Killer Says He's 'No Longer a Soldier of Allah' in Bid to Overturn Life Sentence

One of the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby, who murdered the soldier on the streets of London, is trying to wriggle out of his whole life sentence.
Michael Adebolajo was filmed ranting into a camera, the blood of his victim on his hands, saying:
"The only reason we have killed this man today is because Muslims are dying daily by British soldiers. And this British soldier is one … By Allah, we swear by the almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone. So what if we want to live by the Sharia in Muslim lands?"
But on Wednesday he is expected to renounce violence in order to lower the number of years he must spend behind bars, and claim he is 'no longer a Soldier of Allah'.

Liverpool star apologizes for apparent anti-Semitic social media post

Italian-born Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli apologized on Tuesday after uploading, and quickly deleting, a social media post, which contained potentially racist and anti-Semitic references.
The original post published on Monday features an image of the well-known Nintendo character Super Mario, which referenced Balotelli's on-pitch nickname, along with the words "Be like Mario, he's an Italian plumber, created by Japanese people, who speaks English and looks like a Mexican."
The soccer star said the Internet meme was initially created to spread a message of anti-racism, but garnered more attention especially for two extra lines at the bottom of the post: "jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a Jew."
On Tuesday, Balotelli took to Twitter to apologize, writing "I apologize if I've offended anyone. The post was meant to be anti-racist with humour. I now understand that out of context may have the opposite effect."

Eichmann's final barb: 'I hope that all of you will follow me'

Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann's last words, before he was hanged by Israel for war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against the Jewish people, were "I hope that all of you will follow me," the Israeli intelligence officer who accompanied him to the gallows said.
Rafi Eitan, who had commanded the operation to capture Eichmann in Argentina in 1960, told an Israeli TV documentary broadcast on Monday night that he was standing behind Eichmann at the gallows, at Ramle jail in 1962. "I accompanied him to the hanging. I saw him from the back. I did not speak with him at that moment," Eitan said.
Did Ecihmann say anything? the interviewer asked. "What he said was, 'I hope that all of you will follow me'," said Eitan.

Paris Jewish Community in Shock Over Rape, Home Invasion 'Because You Are Jews'

Three unknown assailants invaded the home of a Jewish couple in the Paris suburb of Créteil on Monday, raped the 19-year-old woman, and robbed the home, saying it was "because you are Jewish," local French media reported on Tuesday.
"The Jewish community is in shock over this," a journalist who covered the story told The Algemeiner. Noting the concern about the case, he said, "When I posted the story on my social networks – they went crazy from reshares," pointing out that "The article was read 16,207 times from 3PM to 8 PM… it's 36% of the total amount of page view for the last 20 hours."

51% of Israeli teens report facing anti-Semitic attacks online

The number of young Israelis attacked online for their nationality has risen sharply, a poll conducted by the Geocartographic Institute for the Anti-Defamation League shows. The poll questioned 500 Internet users aged 15 to 18.
More than half (51 percent) of respondents reported that they had been the targets of anti-Israeli attacks online in the past year, compared to 36 percent who said the same in 2013. Nearly two-thirds (61 percent) said that during and after Operation Protective Edge this summer, they experienced more anti-Semitic attacks than usual.
An overwhelming majority (83 percent) said they had been exposed to various types of anti-Semitism on social media, compared to 69 percent who said the same last year, and 20 percent said that they had been personally targeted by anti-Semitic attacks, compared to 13 percent who said the same in 2013.

World Bank training deal could bring Israeli tech to – Iran?

Israeli technology could end up in many countries the Jewish state doesn't currently have diplomatic relations with, as the World Bank adopts Israeli expertise in areas like cyber-security and agricultural technology.
Israel over the weekend signed a deal to become part of the World Bank's "Global Practices" program, which seeks to provide client countries with skills and resources to improve their economies – making it easier for them to address poverty and to pay off their loans.
As such, the Israeli technology could end up in some odd places. Currently, most countries in Africa, the Middle East, and many in Asia, are World Bank clients. Iran also has several outstanding loans, all made before 2005, when sanctions were placed on Tehran and new loans were denied. Iran suspended repayment of its loans at the time, but in 2013 decided to renew those repayments.

Alec Baldwin gives nod to YES in ad

Actor Alec Baldwin was paid $500,000 to star in a new commercial for Israel's YES satellite television, according to celebrity watcher Guy Pines.
The former "30 Rock" star shot the feature film-styled commercial in New York City as part of the company's advertising campaign promoting its new, video-streaming content to be launched soon.
Baldwin told the "Good Evening with Guy Pines" reporter that he was annoyed he didn't get brought to Israel to shoot the commercial.
"Why wasn't this shot in Israel?" asked Baldwin. "I want to come to Israel and I want to stay in a beautiful hotel."

Wine Spectator selects Israeli wine in 'Best of 2014′

The Israeli wine community raised a glass to the Recanati Winery in the Hefer Valley for its placing on this year's prestigious list of Top 100 Wines in Wine Spectator magazine. The relatively inexpensive Cabernet Sauvignon ($17) from Israel could be found in the same list as $150 wines.
"A rich red, showing good power to the mineral-infused dried blackberry, dark plum and currant flavors. Engaging dried herbal notes emerge on the focused finish," the magazine's managing editor Kim Marcus wrote about the kosher bottle of Recanati Cabernet Sauvignon Galilee 2012.
"Each year, Wine Spectator editors survey the wines reviewed over the previous 12 months and select our Top 100, based on quality, value, availability and excitement. This annual list honors successful wineries, regions and vintages around the world," writes the magazine. Editors say they tasted 18,000 wines from across the globe before choosing this year's winners.
The red Israeli wine scored 90 and placed 93rd on the list. Recanati Winery is the second Israeli winery to break the high-status end-of-year list, following Yarden's achievement in 2008. (h/t Yoel)

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Posted By Ian to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 12/02/2014 06:00:00 PM

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[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] Abbas steps up attacks on Hamas, is Hamas reeling?

Firas Press reports that PA president Mahmoud Abbas has been insulting Hamas more and more lately.

He said that Hamas is merely a tool of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and takes its directions from them, implying that Hamas is not a Palestinian Arab movement at all.

Abbas also says that Khaled Meshal lied to him when he said that Hamas had nothing to do with the kidnap/murder of 3 Israeli teens last summer, when it was later revealed that Hamas in fact was behind the attack. He concluded that no one lies as much as Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The head of Hamas' rival Fatah terror organization is clearly attempting to shore up his support in Egypt, where the people hate the Muslim Brotherhood and support the army's crackdown on Gaza smuggling.

At the same time, Hamas says that the PA has been arresting Hamas members in the West Bank for political purposes, and has also summoned a number of Hamas reporters for questioning.

JCPA just released a paper claiming that Hamas is considering rethinking its policies in order to remain relevant and some Hamas leaders have even called for it to change its antisemitic charter and to avoid all violence for five years, although it is doubtful that Hamas would actually follow through.




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Posted By Elder of Ziyon to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 12/02/2014 04:00:00 PM

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[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] Egypt closes Rafah again, didn't let any Gazans out

From Ma'an:

Egyptian authorities closed the Rafah crossing with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday after it was open for two days to allow Palestinians stranded in Egypt to return home, a statement said.

The Palestinian department of borders and crossings said in a statement that 554 travelers were allowed to return to Gaza throughout the two days the crossing was open.

Rafah was only open for Palestinians entering Gaza via Egypt, and not vice versa.

Egypt also opened the crossing for two days last week, when some 500 stranded Palestinians were allowed to enter.

Before last Wednesday, the terminal had been closed for more than 30 consecutive days.

So Egypt only allowed Gazans back in, but didn't allow anyone to leave.

This also means that the "aid" convoys that Egypt used to regularly allow into Gaza, like Miles of Smiles, have been barred as well.

Egypt has real security concerns in the Sinai, and they have every right to close the border with Gaza. Everyone understands this and there is little criticism.

But Israel, whose citizens are directly threatened every day by Gaza leaders, does not seem to have the same benefits s Egypt concerning its much more liberal policies about imports, exports and people movement from and to Gaza.

The double standards continue...

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Posted By Elder of Ziyon to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 12/02/2014 02:00:00 PM

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[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 12/02 Links Pt1: PM: Palestinian failure to recognize Jewish links to Israel is a 'tragedy'

From Ian:

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PM: Palestinian failure to recognize Jewish links to Israel is a 'tragedy'

It is a “tragedy” that many Palestinians deny any Jewish connection to the Land of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday at the start of a meeting with visiting Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.
This marks the first ever visit to Israel by a Serbian prime minister.
“Here, in the State of Israel, the Jewish people have achieved their self-determination in a democratic state that guarantees equal rights for all its peoples, all its citizens, regardless of race, religion or sex,” Netanyahu said, as the debate over the Jewish State Bill seemed to animate part of his welcoming comments to Vucic.
“It is indeed a tragedy that so many of our Palestinian neighbors still repudiate the basic facts of history.
They deny the more than 3,000-year-old connection between the people of Israel and the Land of Israel,” he said.
Netanyahu bewailed what he said was the Palestinian denial of Israel’s right to national self-determination, even as they demand that right for themselves.

Students Urge Gov't: Recognize Abbas's Role in Munich Massacre

Israel must formally declare Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas responsible for the 1972 Munich massacre, the Students for Israel movement appealed to the Ministry of Defense Tuesday.
From September 5-6 1972, masked terrorists stormed the apartments where Israeli athletes were staying in the Olympic Village for the 1972 Munich games. The terrorists took the athletes as hostages and demanded the release of 200 Arabs from Israeli prisons.
After several tense hours, the terrorists killed the Israeli athletes. Nonetheless, the Games continued for several hours afterward.
Over the past several years, it has been revealed on multiple occasions that Abbas was closely linked to Munich mastermind Abu Daoud.
Abbas praised Abu Daoud in 2010, saying "he was one of the leading figures of Fatah and spent his life in resistance and sincere work as well as physical sacrifice for his people's just causes."
Later, attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of the Shurat Hadin Israel Law Center, has exposed that Abbas in fact provided the financing for the Munich attack.
But the State of Israel must formally recognize Abbas's role in financing the attack, Chairman of the Students for Israel movement Eliyahu Nissim stated Tuesday.

Israel's foreign affairs budget among lowest in West

Israel's investment in its foreign affairs apparatus is significantly lower than that of other OECD countries, MK Ronen Hoffman (Yesh Atid), who chairs the Foreign Policy and Public Diplomacy Subcommittee of the Knesset's powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, revealed on Monday.
According to the figures, Holland invests 4 percent of its budget in its foreign affairs deployment; Belgium invests 3.8 percent; Norway 2 percent; Turkey 0.9 percent; Greece 0.4 percent; and Israel, at the bottom of the list, invests a mere 0.38 percent of its national budget in its foreign affairs deployment abroad. On average, OECD countries invest five times more than Israel in their foreign affairs deployments.
The Foreign Ministry's total budget in Israel stands at an amount equal to only 3 percent of the country's defense budget, lower not only in comparison to Western countries but also to Iran (whose foreign affairs expenditure equals 8 percent of its defense budget) and Jordan (5 percent).
The Palestinian Authority maintains some 100 embassies and consulates worldwide, with a budget estimated at approximately 200 million shekels ($50.8 million). Israel, meanwhile, invests less than half that amount in its foreign affairs relations apparatus.

French lawmakers set for Palestine recognition vote

The motion is expected to sail through the lower house, and while it is non-binding, Paris has in the past already made known that it plans to recognize a Palestinian nation “when the time comes,” arguing that a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict logically implies recognition of Palestine.
As such, the vote will likely anger Israel — coming as it does after a similar resolution was approved by British lawmakers on October 13 and Spanish MPs on November 18, and after Sweden’s formal recognition of Palestine as a state on October 30.
The text introduced by the ruling Socialists “invites the French government to use the recognition of the state of Palestine as an instrument to gain a definitive resolution of the conflict.”
Last week, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told MPs the United Nations Security Council was working on a resolution to relaunch and conclude peace talks.

French Ambassador to Israel Reportedly in Affair With Daughter of PLO Terrorist

Patrick Maisonnave, the French ambassador to Israel, is reportedly in a relationship with the daughter of a high-level PLO terrorist, Issam Sartawi, who was later assassinated, the French-language JSS News reported Monday.
Maisonnave, according to the report, is close to Nadia Sartawi, the former director of International Relations and Protocol of the Palestinian Legislative Council (the Palestinian Assembly), and who was also in charge of economic negotiations for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Sartawi currently works for the ministry.
Her father, Issam, was the right hand man in Europe for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and played an important role in the attack against Israeli Jews at Munich Airport in 1970, according to Israel’s Ma’ariv newspaper.
On February 10, 1970, three terrorists attacked El Al passengers in a bus at the Munich Airport with guns and grenades, killing one passenger and wounding 11 others, according to the US State Department. The Action Organization for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack.

Abbas decides to go it alone

In his speech, Abbas cited no fewer than five conversations with Kerry since early September — either directly or through delegates — in which he said he had indicated his intention to move forward in the international arena. He said that Kerry repeatedly warned him against doing so.
During their last meeting in Amman on November 13, Abbas said, he placed an ultimatum on the table: If Israel recognized Palestine on the 1967 borders, stopped settlement construction, released the fourth group of pre-Oslo prisoners from jail, and reinstated area A as fully sovereign Palestinian territory (currently, the IDF carries out security missions in Palestinian cities on a daily basis), negotiations could resume. Otherwise, Abbas said, he would immediately turn to the Security Council and join a series of international treaties. The deadline for Israel’s response was set for Saturday, the date of the Arab League gathering.
Palestinians are headed for the Security Council, with or without America’s blessing, Abbas asserted in his speech. The US, like other Western states, is welcome to participate in drafting the UN Security Council appeal, he stressed. “We do not want to exclude anyone, and don’t want anyone outside the fold, especially not the US,” he said.

UN Security Council to consider ‘Palestine’ resolution

Palestinian representative Riyad Mansour said the text, being shepherded by France, is expected to lay out a timeframe for negotiations on a final peace deal and possibly a second deadline for Palestinian statehood.
“The French are moving more and more, trying to bring all the European colleagues together, and I think that eventually they will succeed,” Mansour told AFP.
The French-led European initiative is expected to be discussed in Brussels on Tuesday when US Secretary of State John Kerry holds talks with European ministers during a NATO meeting.
The position of the United States, which has repeatedly vetoed UN resolutions seen as pressuring Israel, will be crucial in deciding if the latest push at the United Nations stands a chance.

Sen. McCain: US Will Not Recognize a Palestinian State (VIDEO)

US Republican Senator John McCain (AZ) said in an television interview this week that the US would not follow a European wave of symbolic recognition of a Palestinian state, Israel’s NRG News reported on Monday.
The Republican majority leader in the Senate warned Euronews that regional “events had overtaken this issue; when we look at ISIS, when we look at Muslim extremism, when we look at those influences, which also influence the Palestinians.”
Noting that the charter and publicly stated aims of Hamas in Gaza were “part of the problem,” McCain went on to assert that the Iranian-backed Palestinian group is “committed to the destruction of Israel, and from time to time we see outbreaks of violence – and thank God for Iron Dome, because otherwise we would seen carnage in Israel.”

Israeli Teen Volunteers Preventing the Next Terror Attack?

Attacks on Route 60 have become so commonplace that new measures to keep children safe on school buses have been enacted in at least one Samaria community, Arutz Sheva has learned Tuesday.
The education committee of Ma'ale Levona, in Binyamin, has begun a "Shuttle Guard" program to keep students safe on their way to school outside of their community, as well as strengthen a sense of responsibility, officials stated.
The project, overseen by Maale Levona police officer Yehuda Grossman, will see several students in grades 6-8 on every bus taking the children to school - not only to secure them in the event of a rock-throwing attack, look for suspicious objects, and monitor the driver's behavior, but also to "lead by example" in keeping them calm.
The child-to-teen ratio, if implemented, will be approximately 3:1.

Yehuda Glick Left Without Security Detail

Temple Mount rights activist Yehuda Glick's official security detail ended after he left Shaarei Tzedek hospital in Jerusalem - despite the attempt made on his life in October and the revelation recently of an additional attack planned against him.
Glick's friend and current acting bodyguard, Amir Ohana, spoke about the phenomenon to Arutz Sheva, stating Monday that a group of young men trained in self-defense have volunteered to guard Glick instead. But Ohana also slammed the police's lack of foresight in the decision.
"There is no question whether or not Yehuda is threatened," Ohana said. "Threats against him are on all the Palestinian websites, and proof of that is on Yehuda's body [wounds from the attack - ed.]."
"There is no better proof of this than his gunshot wounds," he added. "Glick is certainly threatened, so we dedicated a group of people to secure him."

How Israel Reacted to a Racist Attack on a Jewish-Arab School

On Saturday night, Jerusalem’s Hand-in-Hand school–a bilingual Jewish-Arab institution designed to foster coexistence among Israel’s youth–was torched by vandals in a racist attack. Two first grade classrooms were damaged, and one was completely burned. The arsonists also set fire to piles of Hebrew and Arabic schoolbooks and spray painted phrases like “there is no coexistence with cancer” on the walls. Sadly, such attacks have become more common in Israel as racial and political tensions rise. (The very next day, a Tel Aviv synagogue was vandalized, apparently by leftist partisans.) But while the bigots in Jerusalem staged their attack under the cover of night, in the light of day Israelis from across the spectrum mobilized in solidarity with the school and its students.
Education Minister Shai Piron, himself an educator and former yeshiva head, condemned the attack as “a violent, criminal and despicable incident.” It was aimed, he said, “at hurting and undermining Israel’s democratic foundations. The fact that it was an arson attack on an educational facility that advocates coexistence severely undermines the fabric of relations between Jews and Arabs. I urge the Israel Police to act immediately and bring to justice these despicable vile criminals.” One Tel Aviv school responded by cancelling their regular curriculum and devoting the day instead to discussing the attack on the coexistence school. Several other Jerusalem schools, both religious and secular, organized visits to Hand-in-Hand. Jerusalem’s HaPoel Katamon professional soccer team even came to play with the school’s first and second graders.

Settlers get 30 months in prison for arson in Palestinian village

Two Jewish settlers who admitted to setting fire to vehicles in the Palestinian village of Far'ata in the West Bank signed a plea bargain Sunday that will see them serving 30 months in prison.
The prosecution said that in light of the fact that the two men, Yehuda Landsberg and Yehuda Sabir, took responsibility for their actions, the two should receive "the minimum sentence" for their crime.
A third defendant, Binyamin Richter, claimed he was innocent and his trial will continue.

Report: Saudi Arabia mulls oil trade relations with Israel

After years during which Israel and Saudi Arabia have been rumored to have low-key commercial ties, the two nations may soon engage in open trade relations.
The Kuwaiti news agency KUNA on Tuesday quoted Saudi Petroleum Minister of Ali Al-Naimi as saying that as Riyadh is seeking to increase oil sales, it would be willing to sell oil to any country that wants to buy it, including Israel.
Speaking at a press conference held as part of an OPEC summit held in Vienna on Sunday, the minister said, "We do not hold a grudge against any nation and our leaders promote peace, religious tolerance and co-existence. His Majesty King Abdullah has always been a model for good relations between Saudi Arabia and other states -- and the Jewish state is no exception."
According to the report, Al-Naimi noted that for the most part, the Arab world acknowledges the Jewish state, and nothing is preventing his country from pursuing trade ties with Israel.

More Young Palestinians Try to Flee from Gaza to Israel

At least 12 such cases have occurred during the past two weeks. One youth was identified as Mahmoud Saleh, a young man from the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, who managed to penetrate the border fence before being intercepted and arrested by IDF soldiers.
Saleh’s father said that his 18-year-old son was unable to find work in the Gaza Strip and failed to earn any money for a long time. “Mahmoud left because of unemployment,” his mother confirms. One of Mahmoud’s younger brothers also tried to flee to Israel, but was quickly intercepted and released back to his family due to his young age.
“24” Arab news further reported that the number of cases of young Gazans who try to flee to Israel increased following Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip, which took place between July and August 2014. According to officials, more than 130 such cases have occurred since the end of the operation.

Brotherhood members in Jordan accused of planning attacks on Israelis

Jordanian security forces arrested 20 men on suspicion of forming a military wing and planning to smuggle arms into the West Bank to be used in terror attacks against Israelis, an Arab news channel reported this week.
The men, all members of the Muslim Brotherhood or Jordan’s engineers’ guild, were arrested after two of the 20 returned from a solidarity visit to the Gaza Strip where they received military training, according to Qatar-based al-Jazeera.
The satellite channel reported Sunday that the men attempted to train others in military operations to be carried out against Israelis in the West Bank.
They also collected money for the purchase of weapons to be smuggled into the West Bank, or bought in the Palestinian territory.

Report: Hezbollah intends maritime siege in next war

Hezbollah has a stock of advanced sea-to-sea missiles with which it intends to impose a maritime siege on Israel if the two sides enter another war, Lebanese media outlets reported on Monday.
According to the reports, Hezbollah apparently has an arsenal of sophisticated Russian-made Yakhont sea-to-sea missiles, which were recently transferred from Russia to Syria as part of an arms deal between the two countries. Moscow has also allegedly transferred more advanced S-300 anti-aircraft batteries to Syria. It is possible that some of these have been transferred to Hezbollah.
In the case of a war with Israel, the report said, Hezbollah intends to target Israeli and foreign vessels inside Israel's territorial waters.
One senior Hezbollah official said, "The organization has modern long-range missiles and advanced weapons systems that alter strategic balance between Israel and Hezbollah."

Hezbollah Expands Drug and Arms Trafficking Operations

In response to a growing list of casualties in Syria and a significant decrease in funding by Iran, the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah has expanded its involvement in illegal businesses including arms and drug trafficking.
According to a media investigation by conducted the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan (Arabic link), several senior Hezbollah members are suspected of involvement in financial corruption and drug trafficking operations, some of which are carried out from the southern suburbs of Beirut, where the Shiite terrorist organization has large influence and presence.
Hezbollah also holds substantial influence over Lebanon’s Al-Biqa valley, which is known for its “hashish agriculture.” The Shiite organization provides logistical services to drug traffickers operating in the area and often performs the trade itself, according to the Saudi newspaper.

Revealed: Britain's Secret Role in Halting ISIS Massacre in Lebanon

British forces have quietly constructed a series of strongholds all along the Lebanese border to halt the advance of ISIS further into the Levant. The terrorist had hoped to be able to boast of reaching the Mediterranean but hastily constructed watchtowers have already held them at bay, protecting the local Christian, Druze, Sunni and Shia population.
Tango 10, one of 12 watchtowers constructed from shipping containers and wire cages, has already deterred ISIS terrorists from taking the town of Ras Baalbek, home to a Christian community. It was built in just 17 days by a British team of former soldiers and engineers at a cost to the British of £150,000, the Telegraph has reported. More are planned.
Less than two weeks after its construction, the tower was instrumental in protecting the town from a large-scale attack by ISIL and Jabhat Al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda linked organisation. “When the invasion came, a line of vehicles split off and headed for Ras Baalbek,” one of the British team said. “Then they stopped and looked up at the watchtower and all its artillery waiting for them. They turned around.”
The towers punctuate the eastern border of Lebanon all the way from the northernmost area to around half way down the border line. They are carefully placed to create overlapping arcs of sight. “You can’t imagine what it was like when we got out here first,” one former officer told the Telegraph. “There were a few guys behind some tyres filled with rocks with a 50 cal [machine gun].”

Hezbollah’s Syria Problem

This much is clear: Hezbollah remains an immediate threat to Israel, even while it is bogged down in Syria. That much Nasrallah wants us all to know. To be sure, roadside border bombings will continue from time to time, and Hezbollah may even claim responsibility for some of these. But because of its desire to avoid opening a second front with Israel at the present time, the Hezbollah threat to Israel today is in some ways more acute oceans away—in places as far afield as Thailand and Peru—than it is along its northern borders.
There’s one looming unknown in the modern geopolitical environment, though, that could rapidly reshape and refocus Hezbollah’s strategy: If Israeli warplanes do at some point strike Iranian nuclear facilities, all bets are off. Hezbollah will surely shoot at least some of those “pinpoint” rockets at Israeli critical infrastructure, even as it continues to pick up the pace of Peru-style operations abroad. As for how committed and effective can Hezbollah be as a fighting force battling at Iran’s behest both Syrian rebels and the Israeli military at the same time? That is an open question, but it’s one that both Hezbollah and Iran are likely trying to answer fairly quickly.

US strategy on ISIS suffers series of weaknesses, study finds

The US strategy against Islamic State “suffers from a series of weaknesses,” a study by the Tel Aviv-based Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center found recently.
The center is a part of the Israeli Intelligence and Heritage Commemoration Center, which was founded in the 1980s by leading members of the Israeli intelligence community.
The report described goals in the American strategy as unrealistic.
“It is extremely difficult to destroy an organization with a Salafist-jihadi ideology such as ISIS [Islamic State].
There are limits to what military force can achieve against jihadi organizations in general and ISIS in particular. The local forces in Syria and Iraq that America is counting on are weak, and the coalition is heterogeneous, composed of countries with different interests and internal constraints that are liable to make it difficult for them to provide the United States with effective support,” the document said.

US military warned of possible Islamic State attacks at home

U.S. officials have warned military personnel that Islamic State forces may be planning attacks against them in the United States, ABC News reported on Monday.
A joint intelligence bulletin sent to law enforcement agencies by the FBI and the Homeland Security Department urged members of the U.S. military to erase from their social media accounts anything that would draw attention from "violent extremists," or reveal the identities of service members, the news network said.
ABC said the government indicated late Sunday it had obtained intelligence that Islamic State militants, who have taken over parts of Iraq and Syria with the intention of setting up a fundamentalist caliphate, were targeting the United States within its borders.
"The FBI recently received reporting indicating individuals overseas are spotting and assessing like-minded individuals who are willing and capable of conducting attacks against current and former U.S.-based members of the United States military," the bulletin said, according to a Reuters source.

US official confirms Iran is bombing Islamic State

On November 30 Al-Jazeera published the grainy video, which showed what looked to be an F-4 Phantom jet on a bombing run near the town of Sa’adiya near the Iran-Iraq border. The video was later taken down.
The clip generated speculation among military pundits as to which air force the plane was from, as only two countries in the region still operate Phantom jets — Turkey and Iran.
Turkey has been reluctant to provide direct military support for the coalition against IS, even though the jihadists, who have conquered large areas of Iraq and Syria, have also been attacking towns in the Syrian-Turkish border region.
That left only Iran as the source of the jet, a speculation heightened by the location of the incident, so close to the Iranian border. The airstrike seemed to be in support of a joint operation by Iraqi military and Kurdish peshmerga forces to retake the towns of Sa’adiya and Jawlala on November 25 near the Iranian border. It was Iraq’s largest offensive against the terrorist group since June.

Lebanon detains wife, son of Islamic State ‘caliph’

Lebanese forces have detained a wife and son of Islamic State group chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi near the Syrian border, security and military sources said on Tuesday.
“Military intelligence detained one of his wives, who was traveling with their son, near (Lebanese border town) Arsal 10 days ago,” a security source told AFP.
A military source confirmed the arrest and said the woman was a Syrian national, and her son was around 8 years old.
Lebanese daily As-Safir, which first reported the arrest, said it was carried out “in coordination with foreign intelligence agencies.”

Israeli-Canadian says ISIS kidnapping reports untrue: 'I'm totally safe and secure'

Rosenberg, 31, apparently posted on her Facebook that she was safe but had not been able to communicate with the outside world for safety reasons.
"Guys, I'm totally safe and secure. I don't have Internet access or any communication devices with me for my safety and security. I can't reply regularly and only happened to have a chance to log in and see these buklshit news stories. Ignore the reports I've been captured. Yalla, Acharai!," read a message on her Facebook.
Idris Nassan, a local official in the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani, said his people in the field reported that she had not been captured and dismissed it as propaganda.

John Bolton: Iran’s Pursuit of the Islamic Bomb Invites Copycats

Now that the negotiating “deadline” has been extended until June 2015, we should consider the broader global implications of Mr. Obama’s Iran policy. Other aspiring nuclear-weapons states have carefully followed the negotiations, drawing conclusions and making plans accordingly. Very shortly, the wider ripples of the talks will manifest themselves in two ways.
First, Iran’s near neighbors, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey, will almost certainly accelerate their nuclear activities, following a clear path to producing weapons. Second, North Korea, left to its own devices (and continuing progress on both weaponization and ballistic-missile development) these past six years, clearly sees a weak negotiating counterpart in Washington, and will try to achieve many of the same advantages Tehran is now harvesting.
The Middle Eastern conventional wisdom has long held that if Iran produced deliverable nuclear weapons, other states would follow inexorably. As then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in 2009, “A nuclear-armed Iran with a deliverable weapons system is going to spark an arms race in the Middle East and the greater region.” Saudi Arabia will move first. Indeed, the Saudis may already have “options” on existing Pakistani warheads, meaning that Riyadh would not need to build its own nuclear program, but could effectively become a nuclear power overnight. Egypt and Turkey would start farther behind, but they have already made initial efforts, such as Cairo’s 2013 nuclear deal with Moscow.

State-backed Iranian hackers targeted airlines, energy, defense companies, report says.

Iranian hackers have infiltrated major airlines, energy companies, and defense firms around the globe over the past two years in a campaign that could eventually cause physical damage, according to US cyber security firm Cylance.
The report comes as governments scramble to better understand the extent of Iran's cyber capabilities, which researchers say have grown rapidly as Tehran seeks to retaliate for Western cyber attacks on its nuclear program.
"We believe that if the operation is left to continue unabated, it is only a matter of time before the team impacts the world's physical safety," Cylance said in an 87-page report on the hacking campaign released on Tuesday.

Iran Unveils Advanced Military Hardware After Nuke Talks Fail

The new military hardware was widely publicized by Iranian military leaders following an order by Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei urging the country’s armed forces to step up their combat readiness despite an extension in nuclear talks with the West.
The Iranian Navy displayed a crop of new vessels equipped with cruise missiles and other rockets. Also unveiled were new attack helicopters “equipped with Iran’s latest home-grown torpedoes,” according to Iranian military leaders quoted by the country’s state-controlled press.
The show of force is likely meant to send a message to the United States and other Western nations following another failed round of talks over Iran’s contested nuclear weapons program.

Tehran Regime Warns Against ‘Frenzied Behavior’ as Saudi Oil Policies Punish Iranian Economy

Iranians awoke on Monday morning to a 30 percent increase in the price of bread – the most tangible consequence of an economy suspended between the twin pressures of falling oil prices and continuing international sanctions stemming from the Tehran regime’s failure to properly account for its nuclear program.
As a result, Iran’s currency, the rial, has declined dramatically in value. Currency traders reported on Monday that the rial fell by 7.25 percent against the US dollar, after last week’s failure to reach a final deal with international powers over Iran’s nuclear ambitions ended the regime’s hopes for an immediate lifting of sanctions.
In a sign that the regime is concerned by the large numbers of Iranians who spent the weekend trading their rials for foreign currency, Iran’s Economy Minister Ali Tayyebnia rushed to offer assurances of normality.
“There has been no fundamental change in the foreign exchange and the investment markets. We expect to create a stable situation in currency and investment markets,” Tayyebnia said, emphasizing that “people should not exhibit frenzied behavior.”

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Posted By Ian to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 12/02/2014 12:00:00 PM

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[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] If you can't join ISIS, at least you can kill Jews

From NYT:

French intelligence officials got in touch with the parents of a shy, 15-year-old Muslim girl in this depressed town in eastern France last May to convey some shocking news: Their daughter had become a frequent visitor to websites preaching jihad.

The parents asked the French authorities to take steps to block their child from leaving the country and took possession of her passport, according to local officials. In the months that followed, the girl showed no sign that she intended to head for Syria or Iraq. She took off her veil to go to school, as French law requires, and she spent her days close to her mother.

Then in October, she disappeared. The surveillance cameras in the Mulhouse airport, 50 miles from her home, showed her moving confidently and alone as she used her older sister’s passport to fly to Istanbul and then on to Gaziantep, a Turkish city known as the gateway to Syria for jihadists.

...Another 15-year-old girl, who was intercepted by French intelligence officers as she tried to go to Syria months ago, has since told the authorities that once her recruiters realized she was unlikely to be able to leave the country anytime soon, they began pressing her to strike at home against Jews. She told them she had begun looking for weapons and targets.

...The 15-year-old who told the authorities she was pressed to attack Jews in France said she had already picked a location and figured out how to arm herself before the police arrested her, according to Dounia Bouzar, an anthropologist who founded an anti-radicalization center in Paris.

Amazingly, her 15 years of being brought up under the religion of peace didn't stop her from eagerly wanting to kill random Jews.

(h/t Ronald)



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Posted By Elder of Ziyon to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 12/02/2014 11:00:00 AM

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[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] Palestinian human rights icon blasts UNRWA

From Bassam Eid in the Jerusalem Post:

We Palestinians can no longer deny our responsibility for the destiny of our people. For 26 years I have been devoting my life to the mission of defending human rights. I have seen wars and terror. I live in Jerusalem and was brought up in an United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) refugee camp in Shuafat, a refugee camp like 58 other UNRWA refugee camps created for the sole purpose of keep Palestinian Arab people in “temporary” conditions, for 65 years, under the false pretense and specious promise of the “right of return” to pre-1948 villages that do not exist.

As a proud Palestinian, I must take responsibility for what will happen to our people.

We can no longer deny our responsibility for the future of our people.

UNRWA, to continue its operation, depends on death and the visual suffering of five million Palestinians who continue to wallow in and around UNRWA facilities.

The more Palestinians suffer, the more power goes to UNRWA, which allows it to raise unchecked humanitarian funds and purchase munitions.

People ask: Why not abolish UNRWA? Well, this cannot be done.

The only agency that can abolish UNRWA is the UN General Assembly, which has never had the interests of the Palestinian people at heart. After all, the UN rakes in more than $1.2 billion a year as an “incentive” to continue our status as refugees.

People ask: Why not ask the donor nations to defund UNRWA? Do they not realize that a Western defunding of UNRWA would allow nations like Qatar to enter the vacuum, leaving the West with no leverage over UNRWA policy? The point is to influence donor nations to reform UNRWA and predicate future aid to UNRWA on reasonable conditions:

1. Audit all funds allocated to UNRWA, which operates with a $1.2b. budget.

2. Introduce UN High Commissioner for Refugees standards to UNRWA, to encourage permanent refugee settlement.

3. Cancel the UNRWA war curriculum, based on principles of jihad, martyrdom and right of return by force of arms.

4. Demand that UNRWA schools conform to the UNRWA slogan: “Peace Starts Here.”

5. Dismiss UNRWA employees affiliated with Hamas, defined by the donor nations to UNRWA as a terrorist entity.

It is therefore the responsibility of the Palestinian people to rebel against the arbitrary administration of UNRWA, which seeks to perpetuate our refugee status instead of helping our people to strive for a better future.

...In my opinion, it is essential to carry out a comprehensive investigation within the refugee camps throughout the entire Middle East, not only to ascertain the precise numbers of refugees, but also to understand what the Palestinian want for themselves, what they wish for, and what they believe they can reasonably expect.

In the eyes of the Palestinians, UNRWA acts a state with its own foreign policy.

And that foreign policy does not serve the best interests of the Palestinian refugees.

I’m saying this as a loyal Palestinian. I’m saying this because I am concerned about my people’s future.

These are all points that I have been making for years. But UNRWA will have a harder time ignoring Bassam Eid, who is founder and director of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group.

This article will be part of a special presentation to the British Parliament sponsored by the London-based Henry Jackson Society and the Jerusalem-based Center For Near East Policy Research.

(h/t EBoZ)



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Posted By Elder of Ziyon to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 12/02/2014 09:34:00 AM

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