Murderers are Released; Pollard Continues to Languish

The shameless hypocrisy and its underlying message are clear.

Rabbi Menachem Brod

The author is a senior rabbi from Kfar Chabad, Israel. He is the spokesman of the Chabad youth movement center Tze'irei Agudas Chabad in Israel and the editor of the nationally distributed Chabad weekly Sichat Hashavua. He is also the official Chabad spokesman in the Israeli media.

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There is no forgiveness for passing classified information to help Israel...but Jewish blood is cheap.
The American administration, which claims it does not interfere in "the decisions of the justice system”, successfully pressured the Israeli government to demonstrate complete contempt towards the decisions of Israel’s justice system and to ignore fundamental principles of law by releasing the unrepentant murderers of innocent men, women and children from Israel’s prisons.

The US Ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, recently declared that the release of Jonathan Pollard from prison should not be expected any time soon.

I Used to Hope for a Two-State Solution

Don James, Bridges for Peace

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is familiar to almost everyone; some would say much too familiar, as it seems incessant and intractable.  For many who have an opinion on the matter, a “two state solution” seems to be the obvious, if elusive, direction to look.
I became interested in the modern situation of the Jewish people and, therefore, this conflict, in 1998.  Until recently, I have accepted the common wisdom that the only way forward was “two states for two peoples”.  What changed my mind?

NYT Blames Israel for Deaths of Two Lion Cubs

Leo Rennert

Add one more naqba, catastrophe, to Palestinian victimhood, courtesy of the New York Times. And one more opportunity to bash Israel. 

In its Nov. 22 edition, the Times runs a two-column headline that reads: "2 Lions, Their Birth Hailed by Gaza, Die Within Days." 

According to correspondent Fares Akram reporting from the Gaza Strip, the birth of two lion cubs at a Gaza zoo was hailed by Hamas rulers as "a triumph over the proverbial hardship of life in this Palestinian coastal enclave." The cubs became "symbols of resistance."

Our ‘Sucker’s Deal’ with Iran

Charles Krauthammer

A president desperate to change the subject and a secretary of state desperate to make a name for himself are reportedly on the verge of an “interim” nuclear agreement with Iran. France called it a “sucker’s deal.” France was being charitable.

The only reason Iran has come to the table after a decade of contemptuous stonewalling is that economic sanctions have cut so deeply — Iran’s currency has collapsed, inflation is rampant — that the regime fears a threat to its very survival.

Nothing else could move it to negotiate. Regime survival is the only thing the mullahs value above nuclear weapons. And yet precisely at the point of maximum leverage, President Obama is offering relief in a deal that is absurdly asymmetric: The West would weaken sanctions in exchange for cosmetic changes that do absolutely nothing to weaken Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.

Op-Ed: The Most Deadly Middle East Conflict is Shia vs.Sunni

The Shi'ite-Sunni conflict is the most deadly and unsolvable conflict in the MIddle East and it is between Muslims. It is, for example, the basis for the great hostility between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Dr. Mordechai Kedar

Dr. Mordechai Kedar is a senior lecturer in the Department of Arabic at Bar-Ilan University. He served in IDF Military Intelligence for 25 years, specializing in Arab political discourse, Arab mass media, Islamic groups and the Syrian domestic arena.

In the past, there have been attempts to mediate and reconcile the two streams of Islam, but the all-out war being conducted in Syria for the past three years has shuffled all the cards.

This week, on the tenth of the month of Muharram, the first month of the Hijri calendar, is Ashura, which at first was akin to the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, occurring on a similar date. However, over the years, this day has become a memorial day for Hussein bin Ali, leader of the Shi'ite sect, who was executed by the army of the Sunni regime in southern Iraq in the year 680 CE, 1333 years ago.
He was decapitated and his head was ceremoniously brought to Damascus as proof that the deed had been carried out. Caliph Yazid bin Muawiyah placed Hussein's head on his table and left it there for a month, so that all could see the fate that befalls a rebel and would be deterred from behaving as he did.
The fact that Hussein was the grandson of Mohammad the prophet of Islam did not prevent the caliph from treating Hussein's head in this manner.

What is the cause of the Shi'ite-Sunni conflict? Why the terrible cruelty that has been characteristic of this conflict even until today?

The story begins in the year 632, the moment that Muhammad died. Immediately upon his death the struggle began over who would succeed to the most powerful position in Islam - the office of Caliph, Muhammad's replacement and the leader of Islam.

Israel is Weird and Wonderful

Michael Ordman

 In this topsy-turvy world, it is common to find positive news about the Jewish State in most unusual circumstances. 

Something weird happened at the United Nations General Assembly last week. Someone spoke the truth.  Due to a faulty open microphone, an interpreter broadcast to everyone her inability to understand why there were 10 resolutions concerning Israel when there was so much else happening in the world.  And then guilty laughter broke out from the delegates. (Watch this before Youtube removes it)

Egypt: Brotherhood students attempt to storm Al-Azhar

Mohamed Abdu Hassanein

At least two killed and 40 injured in Wednesday's protests, according to medical sources

Protesters shout slogans against the military and interior ministry, while gesturing with four fingers in front of riot police after blocking Al-Nasr street in front of Al-Azhar University headquarters at Cairo’s Nasr City district on November 19, 2013. (Reuters)

Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—Egypt’s security forces dispersed a demonstration by students affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood who attempted to storm the Al-Azhar institute in southern Cairo on Wednesday.

The police also evacuated Tahrir Square following violent clashes with pro-Brotherhood protesters.

At least two people were killed and 40 others injured when the police dispersed protesters who were commemorating the civil unrest and clashes with the security forces in 2011 which left dozens of protesters dead, medical sources informed Asharq Al-Awsat.

Top Economist Says Lapid Lied, Israel a ‘Paradise for Oligarchs’

Former Accountant General says centralization robs Israelis of purchasing power, puts country’s future at risk.

By Maayana Miskin

Yaron Zelicha

Israel news photo: Flash 90

 

Centralization in Israel’s economy not only robs many citizens of their purchasing power, but puts the country’s economic future at risk, economist and former Accountant General Yaron Zelicha warned, speaking this week at the Real Estate Conference in Eilat.

Zelicha told Arutz Sheva, “Speaking from my modest experience and knowledge, what I think needs to be done… I think the Israeli economy is a paradise for oligarchs and for the wealthy and for swindlers who are going around and are essentially robbing the public of its purchasing power.”

“And the purchasing power of the middle class and lower class is a national asset,” he added. “That is what can save us from being the country with the most poverty and inequality in the western world.”

Addressing the conference, Zelicha called for a “new economic policy,” and slammed Finance Minister Yair Lapid.

Official: Shtayyeh will not return to negotiations team

Published yesterday (updated)

(MaanImages/file)

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Palestinian negotiator Mohammad Shtayyeh will not return for future peace negotiation sessions with Israel, a Palestinian official said Thursday.

A Palestinian official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Ma'an that Shtayyeh will definitely not be returning to the negotiations team after resigning last week.

Another Palestine Liberation Organization official will replace Shtayyeh and join Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat in a negotiation session scheduled for next week, the official said.

Op-Ed: The Case for the Death Penalty for Terrorists in Israel

Kerry calls out Israel's own weakness. Arabs have little reason to expect that law will be enforced and crime duly punished.

Att'y Joseph M. Sabag

The writer is an attorney and Zionist activist residing in Florida.

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Shock and outrage have resonated through the pro-Israel world after a thinly-veiled threat was directed at Israel by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry last week. As part of the Obama Administration’s ongoing effort to strong-arm Israel into coughing up harmful concessions to the Palestinian Authority, Kerry warned that if the present negotiations fail Israel will face an “intifada” – the Arabic expression for a violent terrorist uprising.

Traditionally, it has been the tactic of the Arabs to combine the threat of violence with diplomacy. The outrage in this instance stems from the sorry sight of the United States likewise stooping to the low level of threatening the lives of innocent Israeli civilians, in the name of “peace” no less. The danger, of course, is that the U.S. has now irresponsibly provided a motive and justification for an eruption of Arab violence.

The core assumption in Secretary Kerry’s remark is that Israel lacks the self-respect and confidence to carry out justice, and shall instead willingly suffer some measure of Palestinian-Arab terrorism. Though Kerry is certainly seeking to prey upon it, this is a weakness of Israel’s own making.

ALERT: New Israel Fund poised to champion political change and progressive pride

Galvanized by right-wing onslaught, liberal group to adopt 'strategic changes' in Israel operations because 'social change no longer sufficient.'

By Chemi Shalev |

Young New Israel fund activists protested against violations to the freedom of expression in 2010.Photo by Flash 90

There’s been Black Pride, Gay Pride and even Jewish Pride, and now, it seems, the New Israel Fund (NIF) is poised to start pushing for one more self-empowering political movement that might very well be called Progressive Pride.

 

“You have every right to speak out for the Israel you want to see!” a new NIF video exclaimed at the annual NIF gala dinner held in Manhattan this week.

“There is no need to apologize for what you are: you are Jews and progressives,” Hillel Ben Sasson of the NIF–funded Molad Center for Renewal of Democracy exhorted. “When you go to Israel, you do not need to check your progressive values at the door.”

THE COUNTERFEIT ARABS

Victor Sharpe

They are the Arabs who call themselves Palestinians.

They are indistinguishable from those Arabs who live in the
surrounding artificial states such as Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia or
the other entities throughout the Middle East created by the colonial
powers, France and Britain. Both powers were victorious after the
Ottoman Turkish Empire lay defeated at the end of World War I.

Both of these European powers carved artificial borders across the
corpse of what had been Turkey’s empire in the Middle East, and both
France and Britain have left a resulting legacy of war and violence
ever since. One such territory, previously occupied by Ottoman Turkey
for 400 years, was the geographical entity known sometimes as
Palestine.

But there is no such thing as a Palestinian people; no such thing as a
Palestinian history; and no Palestinian language exists. There has
never been any independent, sovereign Palestinian state in all of
recorded history – let alone an Arab independent state of Palestine.

You will search in vain for Palestinian Arab coinage or Palestinian
Arab archaeological artefacts specifically related to any Palestinian
Arab king or ancient leader. But what you will find are coins,
pottery, ancient scrolls, all providing conclusive, empirical and
millennial evidence of Jewish civilization dotting the land known
correctly as Israel – not Palestine.

PA leader: US involved in murder of Arafat

Rajoub: "That fool known as [George] Bush...
gave [Israeli PM] Sharon the green light
to liquidate Yasser Arafat."

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=10127

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Last week, Palestinian Media Watch reported that the Palestinian Authority Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash said Jews had killed Yasser Arafat by poison, just as the Jews of the town of Khaibar had killed Islam's Prophet Muhammad. 

Now, senior PA and Fatah leader Jibril Rajoub has added that the US was involved in killing Arafat:

Deputy-Secretary of the Fatah Central Committee Jibril Rajoub:

"It's obvious that Israel wasn't alone [in poisoning Arafat]; the US was there. That fool known as [George] Bush took away Yasser Arafat's protection and gave [Israeli PM] Sharon the green light to liquidate Yasser Arafat."

[Official PA TV, Nov. 10, 2013]

Douglas Feith: Sanctions on Iran Won't Be Cranked Back Up

WSJ

President Obama wants Iran to suspend parts of its nuclear program in return for easing international economic sanctions. Critics contend that if the West strikes a deal along these lines, Iran could cheat far more easily than the rest of the world could reinstate tough sanctions. But Mr. Obama insists that relaxing sanctions is reversible: If the Iranians are "not following through," he recently told NBC News, "We can crank that dial back up."

Peace and arms-control agreements have a long history that warns against such assurances. Democratic countries have time and again failed to get what they bargained for with their undemocratic antagonists—and then found themselves unable or unwilling to enforce the bargain.

Hope you think this is important, too!‏

Today I called the White House switchboard (202-456-1111) and left a message for the President.  There is so much at stake and the talk of lessening the sanctions against Iran are absurd. 

 

We know that Iran is using the 'talk about sanctions' time to continue its progress toward a nuclear bomb.  There is absolutely no doubt about this.  That country has not been lying about its plan to wipe Western civilization off the face of the earth. 

 

Unfortunately, President Obama has shown his inability to understand the language of the Middle East - saying one thing and doing another.  The risks are too high to take a chance and we must believe Obama when he says that 'he was not informed' as has happened with the fiasco of Obamacare.  He has been informed about the heinous plan of the radical Islamist country's leadership and that cannot be denied!!!

OBAMA'S FIGHT WITH ISRAEL: THIS TIME IT'S SERIOUS

Robert Satloff

Politico

To view this item on our website, go to:
http://washin.st/1gY46mc

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New rifts in U.S.-Israeli cooperation could mean that time is running out for peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue.

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America and Israel are in uncharted waters. Just eight months since President Barack Obama visited Israel on the first foreign trip of his second term in an attempt to patch things up with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the two close allies are at odds once again -- this time over a proposed "first step" nuclear agreement with Iran. Washington and Jerusalem eventually will find a way to move beyond this titanic clash, but no kiss-and-make-up effort can erase the scars that will be left behind.

The current crisis is already one of the biggest U.S.-Israel blowups, ever -- and it could get worse before it gets better.

Illegal armed Fatah militia marches in Qalandia‏

Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA:  Here is how the independent Palestinian news agency, Maan, puts it:  "The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades are the military wing of Fatah, which is in control of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank."
 
That's right.  An illegal armed militia is the "military wing" of our "peace partners".
 
Hey Mr. Kerry.  When you come this week and feel like wagging your finger at someone, how about breaking new ground and saying something about Palestinian violations?  And what better place to start than expressing your disappointment seeing photos of a parade of an illegal armed militia - in particular an illegal armed militia of "peace partner" Mahmoud Abas' ruling Fatah!]

NBC’s Dr. Nancy Snyderman ‘In Awe’ of IDF Medics in Philippines

Aussie Dave

I’ve always been fascinated by how well the Israeli Defense Force, otherwise known as the IDF, delivers emergency response medical care in extremely poor conditions. My first experience with the IDF was in Haiti after the devastation of the earthquake there. They were remarkable then, triaging and treating patients in the midst of the devastation.

I wondered if they had found their way here — so we set off to find them. And when we did, it was in a place we least expected.
The IDF had selected Bogo, a small village on the northern island of Mactan, to establish its emergency response center. Bogo had been hard hit by the devastation but it hadn’t attracted as much attention as other towns. It was definitely off the beaten path.I knew we had found the IDF medical team as soon as we arrived at the hospital where they were working. A fence surrounded the grounds; soldiers were stationed at the entry and sharp shooters were visible from rooftops. Security is of paramount importance to the Israelis and they will survey potential sites for days to before one is selected.

Ben Gurion’s Legacy: Defiance of US Pressure

Yoram Ettinger
“Israel Hayom”
 

Upon the 40^th anniversary of Prime Minister Ben Gurion’s death, Israeli and American policy-makers should study the 1948 legacy of Israel’s Founding Father: Defiance of disproportionate US pressure forged Israel into a national security producer rather than a national security consumer, catapulted the Jewish state into the most productive US strategic ally, enhanced the long-term US-Israel mutually-beneficial ties (following short-term tension), and advanced the national security of both the US and Israel. 

On May 29, 1949, toward the end of Israel’s War of Independence, which consumed 6,000 Israeli lives (1% of the population!), the US Ambassador to Israel, James McDonald, delivered a scolding message from President Truman to Prime Minister Ben Gurion.  According to McDonald, Truman “interpreted Israel’s attitude [rejecting the land-for-peace principle; annexing West Jerusalem; refusing to absorb Arab refugees; pro-actively soliciting a massive Jewish ingathering] as dangerous to peace and as indicating disregard of the UN General Assembly resolutions of November 29, 1947 [the partition plan] and December 11, 1948 [refugees and internationalization of Jerusalem], reaffirming insistence that territorial compensation should be made [by Israel] for territory taken in excess of November 29 [40% beyond the partition plan!], and that tangible refugee concessions should be made [by Israel] now as essential, preliminary to any prospect for general settlement.