Suicide terrorist who killed 21 receives "highest honor" from Palestine Committee of Arab Lawyers Union

Union is observer at UNESCO,

in consultative status with ECOSOC

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=7625

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

[Al-Ayyam, Oct. 14, 2012]

Female Palestinian suicide bomber Hanadi Jaradat, who killed 21 Israelis and injured more than 50, has been chosen worthy of "the highest honor" by the Palestine Committee of the Arab Lawyers Union. The Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam reported earlier this week that the Arab Lawyers Union had "created the 'Martyr Hanadi Jaradat plaque of honor,'" which a delegation presented during a visit to Jaradat's family.

Hanadi Jaradat was working as a lawyer when she carried out a suicide terrorist attack in a restaurant in Haifa in 2003.

A university’s negative view of the Jewish state

http://www.thejewishadvocate.com//news/2012-10-19/Charles_Jacobs/

 

 

 

Charles Jacobs

 

Richard Cravatts’ new book, “Genocidal Liberalism: The University’s Jihad Against Israel and the Jews,” concludes that across America, “it is the academics who lead the charge against Israel.” This seems confirmed by our experience at Northeastern University (NEU), where anti-Israel (and anti-Semitic) professors have taught hundreds if not thousands of America’s future leaders a negative and at times demonic view of the Jewish state and its supporters.

 

Apart from the damage this does to American support for Israel, it can also create a hostile climate on campus for Jews. Indeed, the Jewish students who appear on our NEU videos (www.shameonneu.com) complain that they feel culturally and ethnically assaulted in some classes.

"The Levy Report"

From where I sit, this is the news of the day. 

 

Back in January Prime Minister Netanyahu appointed a committee -- consisting of former Israeli Supreme Court justice Edmund Levy, former deputy president of the Tel Aviv District Court Tchia Shapira, and former Foreign Ministry legal adviser and expert in international law Alan Baker -- to examine the status of Israeli building in Judea and Samaria.

 

That report was released on July 8.  It offered both conclusions and recommendations.

Amnesty hosts yet another anti-Israel Headbanger ...

Jonathan Hoffman

http://www.thejc.com/blogs/jonathan-hoffman/how-does-shamnestys-kate-all...
Readers will be well aware of how Amnesty in London - under the inspiration of its Campaigns Director Kristyan Benedict - offers a platform to every anti-Israel headbanger in the universe. The latest - tonight - was Itay Epshtein of ICAHD (Israel Committee Against House Demolitions).

Prior to the meeting NGO Monitor issued a Press Release entitled "ICAHD and Amnesty-UK Team Up To Abuse Human Rights":

http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article/icahd_and_amnesty_uk_team_up_to_abuse...
From Epshtein we got the utter fiction that in 1949 Israel pursued an "Evict and Judaise" policy. Another fiction was that Canada supports Israel "because it has problems with its own indigenous minority" (the aboriginal Canadians).

“Jenin Jenin” – What Really Happened?

 http://www.idfblog.com/2012/10/15/jenin-jenin-operation-defensive-shield/

Dr. David Zangen is a 50-year-old Pediatric Endocrinology specialist at the Hadasa Ein-Karem hospital in Jerusalem. He finished his reserve service five years ago, but still volunteers to serve during emergencies. In 2002, he was called in to take part in Operation Defensive Shield in the Jenin Refugee Camp and was stationed with the Armored Corps 5th Brigade. In that time, he was faced with life-and-death decisions concerning the lives of his friends. Today, he agreed to share his experience from the operation — and how he stood up against the lies told about it.

Dr. David Zangen today.

Where did you serve during Operation Defensive Shield?
I was called to join my reserves brigade during the operation in the Jenin Refugee Camp, which is where the deadliest terror attacks came from.

The government decided to start Operation Defensive Shield due to the incessant suicide bombings in Israel. Jenin was home to the most dangerous terrorists. They knew about the operation and booby-trapped the area of the camp before we arrived. We also knew about their readiness and were prepared for a difficult battle.

Hillary Clinton is the New Baghdad Bob

Daniel Greenfield

No need to worry guys, the Arab Spring is working just fine. Just listen to Hillary Clinton’s speech from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (via Jihad Watch) packed with absurdities like these.

For the United States, supporting democratic transitions is not a matter of idealism. It is a strategic necessity.

It might be more of a strategic necessity for China and Russia, considering that the democratic transition replaced allies with Islamist enemies. It’s obviously a strategic necessity for Huma Abedin and her friends. But it’s a strategic disaster for us.

And we will not return to the false choice between freedom and stability. And we will not pull back our support for emerging democracies when the going gets rough. That would be a costly strategic mistake that would, I believe, undermine both our interests and our values.

How would abandoning Islamists be a betrayal of either our interests or our values?
Do our interests lie with the Muslim Brotherhood? Do our values? Do Hillary Clinton’s values or interests align with movements that call for the destruction of Israel and oppose a woman or non-Muslim running Egypt.

American Jewry’s Cherished Values

Caroline Glick 

Originally published in The Jerusalem Post.
Decades ago, the sociographer Milton Himmelfarb coined the aphorism that “American Jews earn like Episcopalians and vote like Puerto Ricans.” And his words ring as true today as ever. Surveys show that roughly 70 percent of American Jews intend to cast their ballots for President Barack Obama’s reelection next month.

Himmelfarb’s quip indicated that American Jews abjure their economic interests in favor of their liberal values. Certainly it is true that for American Jews to vote for Obama next month they must act against their economic interests.

MB Chief Calls for ‘Holy Jihad' Against Israel

STEVE EMERSON 

The head of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood called for Muslims to "raise the flag of Jihad in the way of God" to liberate Jerusalem. In a statement issued Thursday in Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper, Mohammed Badie said negotiations are pointless.

Golan Heights Report Part of a Smear Campaign, Says Hotovely

MK Tzipi Hotovely accuses Yediot Achronot newspaper of running a smear campaign against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

By Elad Benari

MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) on Sunday accused the Yediot Achronot daily newspaper of running a political campaign against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Yediot Achronot, once Israel’s most read newspaper, has fallen to second place in popularity since the free daily newspaper Yisrael Hayom entered the market. Yisrael Hayom is owned by Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson, a close friend of Netanyahu, and has a clear pro-Netanyahu stance. In an attempt to fight Yisrael Hayom’s popularity, Yediot Achronot has taken a very strong anti-Netanyahu stance.

Mona Eltahawy Still Has No Clue How the First Amendment Works

Daniel Greenfield

Mona Eltahawy recently became an American citizen. Maybe that accounts for her inability to process the First Amendment. But it’s not that simple. Reading her latest Al-Guardian rant is like an excursion into the mind of a literate but completely immature 5-year-old. Her only real theme is, “But I wanna. And I’m right!”

For those just joining us on the #Savages bus and subway tour, Mona Eltahawy vandalized a pro-Israel ad run by Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs. Except according to her, she wasn’t attacking free speech but expressing her own free speech. It’s kind of how a three-year-old thinks that drawing on a wall with crayons is artistic expression. Adults are supposed to be smarter than that. Mona Eltahawy isn’t.

Hamas govt: Salafists can apply for official status

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) – The Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip will not 
oppose the establishment of any new political party as long as the process 
is carried out according to Palestinian law, an interior ministry spokesman 
said Saturday.
 
Islam Shahwan asserted in a statement that freedom of expression and the 
right to establish political parties and other organizations is guaranteed 
for everybody.

What’s Really Going On at Rafah?

 http://gazatvnews.com/2012/10/whats-really-going-on-at-rafah/

When it comes to understanding the complicated realities of the Gaza Strip, the Rafah Crossing ranks among the greatest sources of confusion: Many people know it is the main gateway in and out of the blockaded Palestinian territory, and that it is frequently closed. But other details are fuzzy. Many are likely unaware that even when the crossing is supposedly “open”, it is still closed to large segments of the population – both the Palestinian residents of Gaza and others.

The government of the newly elected Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi and Hamas leaders were scheduled to meet mid-September to discuss border security and easing of passage through the Rafah Crossing, according to press reports. The outcome remains to be seen, but so far successive Egyptian governments have adopted the Israeli principles governing the Crossing, even though Israel itself no longer manages it. Simply put, those principles are that, only Gaza Palestinians listed in the Israeli-controlled population registry are permitted to use the crossing. Visitors and non-resident Palestinians – even Palestinians from the West Bank – are still forbidden from entering Gaza, and this includes the spouses of resident Palestinians. Moreover, most young males face great difficulty in passing in or out and are often denied permission outright by Egyptian authorities.

Pushback against growing anti-Muslim sentiment in America results in more anti-Muslim sentiment

Faced with a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment and a well-funded campaign to educate people about ‘jihad’ and its savage proponents around the world, a coalition of Left Wing and Muslim faith groups say they will circulate a new pamphlet on frequently asked questions about Islam and U.S. Muslims to elected officials across the United States. 

http://www.barenakedislam.com/2012/10/12/pushback-against-growing-anti-muslim-sentiment-in-america-results-in-more-anti-muslim-sentiment/

(WOW! A pamphlet! Oh, that’ll erase the images of Muslims burning American flags, killing ambassadors, and blowing people up around the world)

IPS NEWS The initiative, (What is the truth about American Muslims?) which coincides with the appearance in subway stations in New York City and Washington of pro-Israel ads equating the Jewish state with “civilised man” and “Jihad” with “savages”, is designed to rebut the notion that Muslims pose a threat to U.S. values and way of life. (Even though they do?)

Several people in New York have been arrested for putting “RACIST” stickers on the these ‘savage’ ads.

Palestine: Great expectations that founded in fiction

David Singer – a prominent lawyer and international affairs expert from Sydney, Australia 
 

 “Israeli novelist David Grossman is working with Algerian writer Boualem Sansal to launch a writers’ drive for world peace at the World Forum For Democracy in Strasbourg this week.

Their initiative is reportedly supported by some of the most respected names in literature including Claudio Magris, Antonio Lobo Antunes and Liao Yiwu.The Forum brings together reformers and global leaders to identify democratic responses to the economic, social and political challenges which affect societies today.

The writers – in their quest to end conflict and bring peace to the world – have naturally included the resolution of the “Israel – Palestine conflict” within their purview.

My Uncle’s Tale: The Trickiness of Fate and the Life of a Man

Barry Rubin On October 12, 2012

When I think about the strange twists and turns life takes, I’m reminded of the strange story of my great uncle Julius Lowenbein. Although fully true his story could have been written by O’Henry. Listen and hear it.

Gyula (Julius) Lowenbein was born on March 11, 1869, in a small Austro-Hungarian village now located on the western end of Slovakia just across the border from the Czech Republic.  At the age of 20 he went into the clothing business with partners in another town but either the business didn’t do well, the partners quarreled, or he had an itch to leave.  So in 1894 they wound up the business and he immigrated to New York, with a second-class ticket bought with his share from the sale.

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Will Encourage Egyptian President To Help Gaza Trade

The Chinese news agency is reporting that the  Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood  has promised to encourage Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to establish a free trade zone along Sinai’s border with the Gaza Strip. According to the report:

GAZA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) — Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood promised to encourage President Mohammed Morsi to establish a free trade zone along Sinai’s border with the Gaza Strip, a source from Palestinian Hamas movement said Wednesday. ‘The Brothers’ leaders promised us to intervene on Morsi’s personal level to remove the obstacles facing the creation of the zone,’ the source said. Hamas, an offshoot of the Brothers, has been controlling the Gaza Strip since 2007.

Sex and the Single Socialist

 Sultan Knish

Americans have been steadily losing rights in every area except the sexual. Freedom of speech and religion are on the decline, but the rights to have other people pay for your birth control and provide a space for your gay wedding are doing well.

Jewish leaders enraged over Obama appointment of anti-Semitic, Anti-Israel envoy to the OSCE conference

BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff



Jewish leaders expressed outrage Friday over the State Department’s praise for, and defense of, a controversial Muslim leader who has defended terrorist groups and suggested that Israel may have been responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Salam al-Marayati, founder of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), was picked to represent the United States government at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) annual 10-day human rights conference, the Human Dimension Implementation Meetings (HDIM).

Al-Marayati’s well-known anti-Israel bona fides prompted Jewish leaders and others to express outrage over the Obama administration’s selection.

Hezbollah Chief Financial Officer Defects to Israel

Daniel Greenfield 

Hussein Fahs, Hezbollah’s CFO and head of the organization’s communications network, has apparently fled to Israel along with 5 million dollars in Iranian money.

According to official Hezbollah sources, Fahs took with him maps, classified documents and a large sum of money. According to the report, seven women and one man are charged in absentia with collaborating with Israel, entering Israel illegally and obtaining Israeli citizenship.

Why would Fahs flee to Israel?

Southern Israel: Living on Rockets, Miracles, and the Iron Dome

Anav Silverman

Tazpit News Agency

Days and nights in southern Israel have been punctuated by a growing number of sirens and rocket explosions, with over 60 rockets striking Israeli cities and communities this past week. On Monday morning alone, 55 Qassam and mortar shells were fired from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. The rocket strikes damaged buildings, properties and a kibbutz petting zoo that is usually filled with children, but was empty because of the early morning hour.

Netivot home directly hit in Grad Rocket Attack two weeks ago. Photo Credit: Daniel Hagbi, Sderot Media Center Hamas and Islamic Jihad both claimed responsibility for the rocket strike, following an Israeli Air Force airstrike on Sunday that targeted global jihad terrorists operating in Gaza.

Settlers "interested in making peace" - positive report in official PA daily

Palestinian artist acknowledges

Jewish historical period in Jerusalem

on PA TV

  http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=7548

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

"Some settlers are 'interested in making peace' with the Palestinians," a rare headline stated in the official Palestinian Authority daily last week.

A reprint from Agence France-Presse, the article repeated the remarks of two Israelis who live in the West Bank. It described how a Palestinian obtained a building permit in the West Bank with the help of an Israeli man, Eliaz Cohen, who "as opposed to the vast majority of settlers, thinks that peace will be achieved through mutual recognition of each party's rights to the land itself."

Islamist Governments Say One Thing in Arabic, Another Thing in English

Daniel Greenfield

During his days of peace and terror, Arafat was often accused of saying one thing in Arabic to his people and another thing entirely to the Western media. This brand of doubletalk is common enough in the Middle East, but these days Islamists are discovering that the internet can expose their doubletalk almost as fast as both sides of their mouths can move.

When the Muslim Brotherhood called for protests against the US Embassy in Arabic while sending a reassuring message on Twitter in English, the US Embassy in Cairo boldly called them on it.

Honoring an anti-Semite?

Alan M. Dershowitz

At a time of increasing anti-Semitism in many parts of the world, it is deeply disturbing that the city of Clifton, N.J., — in the shadows of New York City — is considering naming a park after a virulent anti-Semite and racist named Chester Grabowski, who died in April.

At least one obituary of Grabowski earlier this year innocuously called him an "advocate for Polish-Americans." But the truth is much more troubling.

For decades, Grabowski published a newspaper in Clifton called The Post Eagle. In that newspaper, Grabowski repeatedly referred to Jews as "vermin," "animals" and "Christ killers."

"Back to Normal"

Well, this may be a slight exaggeration, as I'm not really sure what "normal" is here in Israel.  What I mean, of course, is that the last of the haggim (holidays) is over for this season here in Israel -- with the end coming outside of Israel at dark tonight.  And so I'm back to tracking events and writing... 

 

The happy news of last week is the stunning success of Romney in the first presidential campaign debate -- this one on domestic issues.  Almost to a person, commentators agreed that Romney won the day with his grasp of the facts and his dynamic style of presentation.  His message was simple: Mr. President, you have not delivered on what you promised.  In fact, things are worse than they were when you took office. A new approach is needed, and I am prepared to offer policies and programs that will truly make things better.    

CBS Reporter Lara Logan Rails Against ‘Major Lie' of Last Two Years in Candid Speech: Islamists Are Still Strong as Ever

October 8, 2012

LAURA WASHINGTON

LauraSWashington@aol.com

Last Modified: Oct 9, 2012 0

 

This was no ordinary rubber chicken affair. That was my reaction to the extraordinary keynoter at Tuesday’s Better Government Association annual luncheon.

Lara Logan, a correspondent for CBS’ “60 Minutes,” delivered a provocative speech to about 1,100 influentials from government, politics, media, and the legal and corporate arenas. Such downtown gatherings are a regular on Chicago’s networking circuit. (I am a member of the BGA’s Civic Leadership Committee, and the Chicago Sun-Times was a sponsor).

Her ominous and frightening message was gleaned from years of covering our wars in the Middle East. She arrived in Chicago on the heels of her Sept. 30 report, “The Longest War.” It examined the Afghanistan conflict and exposed the perils that still confront America, 11 years after 9/11.

Fatah: Palestinians have not abandoned armed struggle

KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Member of Fatah Central Committee Aloul says "no one has dropped armed resistance from his dictionary," points out Fatah political program has reaffirmed "resistance is legitimate right against occupation."

Photo: REUTERS/Ismail Zaydah

The Palestinians have not abandoned the option of armed struggle against Israel, a top Fatah official in the West Bank said on Monday.

Mahmoud Aloul, a member of the Fatah central committee and former Palestinian Authority governor of Nablus, said that although the Palestinians have agreed to launch a “popular resistance against occupation, no one has dropped the armed resistance from his dictionary.” Aloul’s comments were made during an interview with the private Watan TV station in the West Bank.

Is the Response to Totalitarianism More Totalitarianism?

Douglas Murray

The man's career was spent was spent whitewashing, minimizing, excusing and stooging for some of the worst crimes in human history. The system he supported [Communism] prevented many people from reaching even a quarter of the age he was fortunate enough to live to. Today the crimes of Nazism are reviled; can the same be said of its twin ideology?

The competition may be pretty intense, but if I were asked to name the single worst idea in the twentieth century it would be the one adopted by people who believed that the response to totalitarianism was totalitarianism. The twentieth century is littered with these people: those who became fascists because they were fearful of communists, or communists because they were fearful of fascists. Both had reason to fear the other, but both ended by propelling the other and in the process sucking nearly all air out of the decent center ground.

Libyan Parliament Blocks Muslim Brotherhood Takeover

That’s one the Brotherhood lost. Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur has been removed after repeatedly attempting to stock the government with Brotherhood appointees while ignoring the actual results of the election.

The General National Congress voted 125 versus 44 in favor of removing him as prime minister.

That’s pretty decisive. The entire attempt was hamfisted and lacked the Brotherhood’s usual subtlety. It was obvious that the Libyan Parliament was never going to accept a list this unbalanced and the lack of regional proportion was fatal in a country where tribal divisions are still behind the ongoing fighting.

But as I wrote yesterday, the Brotherhood plays the long game. It has the money and resources to pay out extensive bribes and it has the militias to spread violence and chaos.

The red line should go from Tehran to Ramallah

AMI AYALON

In his UN address, Netanyahu chose not to acknowledge the connection between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the effectiveness of an anti-Iran coalition.

Photo: Jason Reed / Reuters

Ostensibly, both Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas focused on separate subjects in their UN addresses: Netanyahu on the need to halt the Iranian nuclear program; Abbas on the need to end Israeli occupation and establish Palestinian statehood. However, neither drew the connection between the two supposedly separate issues they addressed – a link that would make progress on both issues more likely.

Both leaders described a grim picture that was just and true for each. But they did not lay the foundations for a road to a brighter future for their people, or for the Middle East.

Netanyahu and Abbas both addressed international and domestic audiences at the same time. Their subtext was that unless the international community intervenes, other drastic measures will be taken or violence may erupt.

Muslim Brotherhood’s War Propaganda Targets Israel

This is the kind of historical revisionism that eventually leads a country into a war.
Mohammed Badie, the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, who had previously claimed that it is every Muslim’s duty to wage war on Israel, got caught tinkering with history when he claimed that the Yom Kippur War was a “Great October Victory” that was won through Egyptians turning to Allah.

The “brilliant victory” Badie added, “abolished the Zionist myth that its army was invincible.”

If your definition of a military victory is proving that a country that is a tiny fraction of your size isn’t invincible, then you’re really setting the bar low.

The Yom Kippur War was a surprise attack on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar with the Muslim side having twice as many troops and nevertheless took Four times as many casualties and lost Five times as many tanks in the greatest tank battles of the 20th Century.

The Professor’s Shoddy History

Berlin’s Jewish Museum gave Judith Butler and Germans permission to indulge dangerous political impulses

By James Kirchick

(Frank Rumpenhorst/EPA/Corbis)

On May 31, the city of Frankfurt announced that Berkeley professor Judith Butler would be feted with the Theodor W. Adorno prize, named after the late German Jewish philosopher who taught at the University of Frankfurt Am Main. Though she was ostensibly chosen for her academic work, lauded by the prize committee as “one of the key thinkers of our time,” many correctly inferred that the honor was bestowed, at least in part, because of the gender theorist’s outspoken political beliefs. Chief among these is a critique of “state violence” as being anywhere and everywhere wrong. And by Butler’s lights, no state is a worse offender than Israel.

PM, Barak 'see eye-to-eye' after meeting

POST.COM STAFF, LAHAV HARKOV

10/07/2012 

After public spat, Netanyahu and defense minister agree to cooperate in late-night meeting; FM, Herschkowitz call for elections.

  Photo: Ariel Harmoni / GPO

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak seemed to turn the page on their recent public bickering during a one-and-a-half-hour Saturday night meeting, saying that they had agreed to continue working together to overcome Israel's security threats.
In a statement following the meeting, Barak said that he and Netanyahu "see eye-to-eye" on every aspect of the Iranian threat, as well as "the relationship with the United States under the Prime Minister's leadership."

A Monumental Distortion Of History

Richard L. Cravatts

 

http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/front-page/a-monumental-distortion-of-history/2012/10/04/0/

Mahmoud Abbas

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas recently continued a long tradition of attempting to question a Jewish link to Jerusalem by expressing his mendacious notion that “Jerusalem’s identity is Arab, and the city’s and Christian holy sites must be protected from Israeli threats.”

The same scholar of history who wrote a doctoral dissertation that questioned the extent and truthfulness of the Holocaust was now making his own historical claim that there has never been a Jewish presence and history in the world’s holiest city.

Why the Muslim Brotherhood Takeover is Fizzling in Jordan

Islamists now control Egypt, Turkey and Tunisia and are contesting Syria. Jordan is fairly small by comparison, but it’s still part of the package as the Muslim Brotherhood would like to recreate a Greater Syria, combining Egypt and Syria, and adding Jordan to the package to crush Israel and then Lebanon, which has far too many Christians and Shiites in it for their liking.

But so far the Jordanian Arab Spring hasn’t taken off and the Muslim Brotherhood’s big show of force on Friday fizzled with a turnout of only 7,000 when the Brotherhood was predicting 50,000.

Palestinian Authority Rigging Courts

Khaled Abu Toameh

The Canadian Development Agency, with the help of the UN Development Program, has been funding new courthouses in the West Bank "to improve the Palestinians' access to justice." But justice can be achieved even if the judges, lawyers, prosecutors and defendants sit in a tent. Instead of investing in new buildings, it would be more helpful if the Canadians and the UN agency demanded that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his aides stop obstructing the work of the judges.

In an unprecedented move, Palestinian judges in the West Bank this week went on strike in protest against the Palestinian Authority's repeated attempts to meddle in the internal affairs of the judiciary system.

Profs. on Mideast Turmoil: Blame America, Israel, and Free Speech

Cinnamon Stillwell 
On October 5, 2012

In the wake of the al-Qaeda attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya on Sept. 11, 2012, the seizure of the American embassy in Cairo, Egypt, and the ensuing anti-American protests and riots throughout the Middle East—the latter ostensibly over an anti-Islam YouTube film trailer that originated in the U.S. months earlier—what do Middle East scholars have to say about the turmoil in the region?

As self-styled supporters of “academic freedom,” are they rushing to defend First Amendment rights instead of kowtowing to Muslim religious sensibilities? Are they denouncing the prospect of self-censorship rather than pushing YouTube to pull the “offending” video by claiming that it constitutes “hate speech?” Are they standing up for religious freedom instead of encouraging Americans to adhere to Sharia law-driven prohibitions on blasphemy? Are they putting aside their anti-Western biases and laying blame where it belongs instead of on America and Israel?

Egypt's Christians - Distraught and Displaced

Raymond Ibrahim
Special to IPT News
October 4, 2012
http://www.investigativeproject.org/3761/guest-column-egypt-christians-distraught

Reuters reported last week that "Most Christians living near Egypt's border with Israel [in the town of Rafah in Sinai] are fleeing their homes after Islamist militants made death threats and gunmen attacked a Coptic-owned shop." Photos of desecrated churches and Christian property show Arabic graffiti saying things like "don't come back" and "Islam is the truth."

Pulling out of Benghazi: These colors run scared

theoptimisticconservative 

Remember the slogan “These colors don’t run,” captioning the American flag?
Neither does al Qaeda.

Why should they?  They’ve just won.  They have forced us out of Benghazi.  It did take multiple attacks over several months, and the gruesome torture and murder of our ambassador, to edge us out.  But the job is done now.  We’re running scared.
Instead of sticking with our commitment to a new Libya, one in which Americans have friendship and influence – one in which we can walk free, and so can Libyans – we have closed our post in Benghazi and drawn down our embassy staff in Tripoli to “essential” personnel only.  It will be of some interest to see how long it takes al Qaeda or other terrorist savages to attack us in Tripoli.

Muslim Riots Reach Europe: Part II

Soeren Kern

Abu Assad al-Almani asks Muslims in Germany to attack any German citizen who supports the film by "cutting their heads from their bodies and capturing it on film so that it is accessible to the public, so that the whole of Germany, and even the whole of Europe, knows that their criminal games will be thwarted by the sword of Islam."

Muslim protests over an American-made anti-Islamic YouTube film, Innocence of Muslims, have spread to more European cities. Muslim rioters had initially clashed with police in Belgium, Britain and France, but since then, protests have spread to Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Norway, Serbia and Switzerland.

UNRWA Resists Resettlement

Alexander H. Joffe
Middle East Quarterly
Fall 2012, pp. 11-25 (view PDF)

http://www.meforum.org/3350/unrwa-resettlement

The Palestinian refugee problem lies at the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict. But since the 1960s, the international institution charged with aiding the refugees, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), has resisted their resettlement in the Arab host countries. It has done so by shifting to an educational mission, devising expansive redefinitions of who a refugee is, and expanding its legal mandates to "protect" and represent refugees. As a result, a well-intended international relief effort has been progressively undone by the vagueness of its mandate, which allowed UNRWA to bend to the will of the U.N. General Assembly and be taken over by its own charges and by the bureaucratic imperative of institutional survival.

India: The Next Terrorist Insurgency

S.K. Bhattacharya  
October 3, 2012

Because terrorism works: The death of a U.S. Ambassador in Libya, after all, seemed sufficient to convince many Americans that they should flee the entire Islamic world.

Although so far India's Maoists have shown little interest in attracting global attention by attacking international targets, journalists who study their insurgency reckon that they need only be patient: The Naxals will figure it out soon enough. Then the journalists' careers as International Naxal Experts will be assured.

Why do the journalists reckon this? Because terrorism works: The death of a U.S. Ambassador in Libya, after all, seemed sufficient to convince many Americans that they should flee the entire Islamic world.

Op-Ed: The Wild Card: Arabs in Israel as a Hostage Population

They falsely accused us of expelling them in 1948, but now, the writer says, pushing the Arabs eastward is a viable solution - if necessary.

Dr. Mordechai Nisan

Dr. Mordechai Nisan, author and expert of the Arab-Israeli conflict, lectures on the Middle East at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Let us be forthright:

Israel is facing a life-and-death struggle against Muslim and Arab forces whose declared and intended goal is to destroy the Jewish State.

A unified pseudo-Islamic Caliphate alliance, as an indomitable Muslim ambition, could be closing in on Israel, uniting the Sunni states Egypt, Syria after Assad falls, and Saudi Arabia, along with Iraq and Turkey interlaced in the fold. Jordan’s place in this coalition remains unknown.

I’m Tired

GADI ADELMAN October 2, 2012

Thirty-one years is long time. Actually, it's far too long. This week will be my birthday and I won't be celebrating.

At the age of 51, I can only look back and wonder why, why things have gotten worse rather than better. I have been speaking, writing and teaching about terror, Islam, Sharia and counter-terror for 31 years.

With all the news surrounding the death of Ambassador Christopher Stevens in Libya, I have to start with the last death of an American Ambassador.

Although the last U.S. ambassador to die in the line of duty was Arnold Raphel, the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, it is unsure whether it was a terrorist act. He perished in a plane crash in 1988, along with the then president of Pakistan, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.

Wake Up, Jews!

Rabbi Aryeh Spero

No doubt, it's hard for people to give up their lifelong attachments and identity.  But there are moments in history when a turning point arrives, and those with eyes to see and ears to hear recognize it.  Many Jews have made political liberalism their religion and personal identity and the Democrat Party their unexamined home and comfort zone.  But everything changed early September.

After Abbas

Khaled Abu Toameh  •  October 2, 2012

"[Abbas's] resignation would actually be the most positive thing he has ever done for the Palestinians." — PLO representative.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas apparently believes that the Palestinians would not be able to survive for one day without him.

That must be why whenever he faces criticism from Palestinians, Abbas resorts to his old-new threat to resign.

Abbas is convinced that if he steps down -- as his critics and a growing number of Palestinians are demanding -- the Palestinian Authority will collapse and his people will face a new "nakba" [catastrophe].

Egyptian President Morsi Shows His Colors

Ashraf Ramelah

Historically, the Egyptian prison cell has been the incubator for monumental accomplishments, such as the formation of al-Qaeda and the current presidency of Egypt.  It has provided the necessary network, doctrine, and framework to spawn greater goals.  Perfect plans have been hatched and prepared in Egypt's prison blocks, allowing bad actors like Muhammad Morsi to plot their next moves.  Within a few days of Hosni Mubarak's confinement of Morsi to the Two Sahrawi branch of the Wadi el Natruon Penitentiary during Egypt's January 2011 uprising, Morsi broke out.  He was a pawn in the execution of the Muslim Brotherhood's long-awaited scheme to take over Egypt.

Muslims Destroyed 10,000 Books in American School

Remember this is about a movie trailer, it’s not about a destructive ideology that runs on hate. It’s about a movie. Just like the destruction of the Library of Alexandria was about a movie.

This marks the second week since the devastating attacks on the US Embassy and the American Cooperative School of Tunis (ACST), Tunisia, where I teach art and drama here in North Africa. We are still holding our breath.
Nowhere in our dreams did we imagine, all of us holed up in our homes, that the “peaceful protest” would turn ugly and migrate to our school, which is located across the highway from the embassy.

What Does Israel Do if Obama Is Reelected?

“Don’t Panic” -- Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

By Barry Rubin

I’m going to try to analyze what Israeli strategy might look like if Obama were to be reelected. I don’t want to write a partisan piece -- predicting every type of the most horrible disaster and open hatred from the White House -- but a serious analytical effort. This involves speculation, but policymakers have to develop the most likely scenarios in order to plan ahead.

Let me start, though, with a joke. An asteroid hits the ocean, producing a giant tidal wave so powerful that within an hour all land will be covered by water. Television networks put on a variety of politicians, alleged wise people, and religious figures to speak with the doomed population. The rabbi among them explains: “All I can say is that you have one hour to learn to breathe underwater.”

That is Israel’s mission. To survive a second Obama term brought on it by the American -- including a large majority of American Jewish -- voters.

CAIR Can Expel You ‘For Any Reason’

Daniel Pipes On October 1, 2012

This past Saturday, folks, was a big day for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Its “Leadership Conference & 18th Annual Banquet” at the Marriott Crystal Gateway Hotel in Arlington, Va. lasted from 9 am until past 10 pm.

Sadly, I missed the event. Not that I wouldn’t eagerly have plunked down my $199.00 for a ticket to hear Linda Sarsour, Nihad Awad, Siraj Wahhaj, Al Sharpton, and Dennis Kucinich. Even better, I could have learned CAIR’s “Strategies for Challenging Anti-Islam Legislation and Campaigns” from the horse’s mouth. However, this little clause stopped me short:

Morsy pledges support for Palestinians, Syrians

JPOST.COM STAFF

Speaking at Turkish JDP conference, Egypt's President says he will "lend a hand to people of Gaza;" denounces Syrian regime.

Photo: REUTERS

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsy pledged his support to the Palestinian and Syrian people on Sunday at the Turkish ruling party congress.

"We can never hesitate to lend a helping hand to the people of Gaza, our neighbors and brothers, as well as the people of the West Bank and all Palestinians everywhere,” Morsy told the general conference of the Justice and Development Party, the Egyptian Independent reported.

On the Syrian crisis, the Independent quoted Morsy as saying: "We will not settle down until the end of this bloodshed, until the will of the Syrian people to choose their leadership is met, and until current leaders who are unjust to their people and who shed their blood are removed."

Intervention Won't Save Syria

Gary C. Gambill
The National Interest

http://www.meforum.org/3347/syria-intervention

The death toll in Syria has reached a threshold where outside parties are entitled to use force to protect the civilian population. But those who would intervene in ostensible pursuit of this noble objective have an obligation to ensure that, on balance, the patient benefits from the procedure. Whereas former president Bill Clinton can claim with some justification that "the burning of villages and killing of innocents was history" after NATO's 1999 intervention in Kosovo, achieving a positive balance sheet in Syria will be extraordinarily difficult.

The Syrian conflict differs from other notable targets of humanitarian intervention in three critical respects. For starters, the constituency that has borne the brunt of appalling human-rights abuses is not an imperiled ethno-sectarian minority (such as Iraqi Kurds or Kosovo Albanians) or the population at large (as with Somalis in 1992). Instead, it is Syria's Sunni Arab majority that is suffering at the hands of an oppressive minoritarian regime.

"Season of Our Gladness"

That gladness does not, in any way, refer to the current political situation (it should only be).  It is, rather, a reference to the holiday of Sukkot, which begins tomorrow night and lasts for a week.  It is, truly, a joyous time, with gathering of family and friends to eat within the temporary walls of the festively decorated sukkah, and, most properly, sleeping there as well.  (More easily done in Israel than in colder climes, I know.)

Illegal migration from Africa continues to drop'

BEN HARTMAN

09/30/2012 

A total of 122 illegal migrants crossed Israel from Egypt compared with 2,000 during same time period last year, PIBA says.

Photo: reuters

A total of 122 illegal migrants crossed Israel’s southern border with Egypt since the beginning of September and were jailed at the Saharonim Prison facility in the Negev, the Interior Ministry’s Population, Immigration, and Borders Authority (PIBA) said Saturday.

The number refers only to those who were apprehended by Israeli authorities after crossing into the country. It represents a small drop from August, when some 199 were arrested. That said, the figure does represent a dramatic drop over the same period last year when 2,000 African migrants crossed into Israel.

Obama’s People Walk Out on Netanyahu, Stay for Ahmadinejad (VIDEO)

Susan Rice, Obama’s UN Ambassador, skipped out on Netanyahu’s speech due to that whole awkward, “Iran Nukes” thing, which her boss doesn’t care to hear about either, but the UN delegation earlier had stayed for Ahmadinejad’s rantings.
In keeping with Obama’s tradition of alienating allies and appeasing enemies…

Obama apologetic about boycotting Ahmadinejad's U.N. speech

Leo Rennert

As expected, the U.S. delegation boycotted Iranian President Ahmadinejad's speech at the UN General Assembly in New York.  But the reason given by the Obama administration for this gesture is, to say the least, perplexing.   Here's the official explanation, as related by Erin Pelton, the spokeswoman for the U.N. mission to the United Nations:

 "Over the last couple of days, we've seen Mr. Ahmadinejad once again use his trip to the U.N. not to address the legitimate aspirations of the Iranian people but to instead spout paranoid theories and repulsive slurs against Israel."

The Palestinian Authority's Policy of Duplicity

Khaled Abu Toameh

What on Earth do you have to do not to be considered an "ally" these days? Many Muslim countries complaining about "blasphemy" and "hurt feelings,' are themselves are rife with the vilest caricatures, programs, films and books — as the staple diet.

The offer by Pakistan's railways minister, Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, for suborning the murder of an American amateur film-maker, of $100,000 of his own money for a murder – despite his colleagues' attempts to distance themselves - only reminds us of what a mess of untruths and half-truths we allow to persist.

For instance, there is the one about Pakistan being our 'ally'. Britain and the United States give many millions of dollars a year in aid to that country. More is always expected and promised. By 2015 the UK's aid budget alone could have doubled in a few years, with the UK sending £446 million a year to the country. There are almost no justifications for this. Corruption remains rampant, as does poverty, indoctrination, anti-Western propaganda, and more.

"The Speeches"

It's the season of speeches at the UN.  As some of what has been going on coincided with my preparations for and observance of Yom Kippur, I will need to back-track a bit before moving forward.  And forward is where I truly want to go (see the last of this posting!).

Mass Rally Against 'Perilous' US Middle East Policy to be Held

A coalition of groups concerned over Iranian and Arab terrorism and Islamism, both Jewish and non-Jewish, is set to rally Thursday

By David Lev

First Publish: 9/27/2012, 9:49 AM

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu

AFP/Pool/File

A coalition of groups concerned over Iranian and Arab terrorism and Islamism, both Jewish and non-Jewish, will hold a protest Thursday afternoon in front of the Israeli Consulate in Manhattan, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks before the UN General Assembly. The mass rally, set for 12:30 PM, is sponsored by a host of groups, including Americans for a Safe Israel (AFSI), AMCHA, Coptics of Egypt, HRCARI, Mothers Against Terorism, NCJA, Strength to Strength, ZOA, and many more grass-roots organizations.

On the Boil: Obama, the Democrats and the Jews

Isi Leibler
September 27, 2012
http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=4280

The disproportionately high profile of American Jews in the Presidential election contest and the efforts invested by both candidates portraying themselves as supportive of the Jewish State has assumed surrealistic levels.

Shut down the disgrace

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Letters/Article.aspx?id=286259

Sir, – The leftist geographer who single-handedly built the politics department at Ben- Gurion University of the Negev into the worst anti-Israel indoctrination and propaganda center in the country is simply unable to find anything wrong with it (“Prof. David Newman defends BGU’s politics department against Council on Higher Education registration ban,” September 24).

In fact, he denies that the department is a totalitarian extremist advocacy center at all, saying that characterizing it as far-left is “just not based on reality.”

The New Israel Fund, Jewish Values and Atonement

Gerald Steinberg

In its September newsletter, the New Israel Fund (NIF) urged Israelis to examine their behavior (“cheshbon nefesh”), declaring “We have been telling you for some time about the upsurge in hatred and incitement in Israel…” But, in Jewish tradition, the processes of introspection and atonement for sins of commission and omission begin at home, including for the NIF.
As the most powerful political and social framework in Israel outside of the government, the NIF exerts major influence through its funding—providing millions of dollars every year to dozens of organizations.

A-Jad's charm offensive - Israel will be 'eliminated'

Rick Moran

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tried to put his best face forward in a series of interviews with American journalists prior to the opening of the UN General Assembly in New York. Unfortunately for him, he showed one too many faces.
Reuters:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday Israel has no roots in the Middle East and would be "eliminated," ignoring a U.N. warning to avoid incendiary rhetoric ahead of the annual General Assembly session.
Ahmadinejad also said he did not take seriously the threat that Israel could launch a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, denied sending arms to Syria, and alluded to Iran's threats to the life of British author Salman Rushdie.
The United States quickly dismissed the Iranian president's comments as "disgusting, offensive and outrageous."