PA President Mahmoud Abbas Presents His Views on the Right of Return

http://www.memri.org/clip_transcript/en/3634.htm
For video
http://www.memri.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/3634.htm
 
Following are excerpts from an interview given by PA President Mahmoud Abbas to Israeli Channel 2 on November 2, 2012, and an interview with Al-Hayat TV
a day later.
 
Channel 2 (Israel), November 2, 2012:
 
Mahmoud Abbas: As long as I am here, in this office, there will be no third, armed, Intifada. Never. We don't want to use terror. We don't want to use force. We don't want to use weapons.
[...]
 
Interviewer: You are originally from Safed.
 
Mahmoud Abbas: From Safed, yes.
 
Interviewer: Do you wish to go there?
 
Mahmoud Abbas: Of course. I want to see Safed.
 
Interviewer: To visit or to live?
 
Mahmoud Abbas: No, no. I want to visit with somebody else who is sitting with us now. I visited Safed before once. But I want to see Safed. It's myright to see it. But not to live there.

"Christians in the Middle East"

I want to begin by switching gears today, to consider an important, and much neglected issue.  Last Thursday night, a symposium -- co-sponsored by B'nai Brith World Center, the Menachem Begin Center and the Ecumenical Theological Research Fraternity in Jerusalem -- was held on "The Present and Future of Christians in the Middle East."

 

That Christians in Muslim and Arab countries in this region have it very difficult was hardly news to me.  But this symposium provided a broader context and some significant information.

The Broader Implications of the Petraeus Resignation: Personal Behavior and Public Office

Barry Rubin On November 11

Genral Petraeus was the hero of the winning surge in Iraq. But he also has the distinction of becoming America’s first Politically Correct field commander. His strategy in Afghanistan was in line with that of the Obama Administration by putting the emphasis on winning Muslim hearts and minds as a higher priority than military victories or even at times the safety of American soldiers. There’s a reason why President Barack Obama made him CIA director.

Leaving aside the question of the resignation’s relationship to the Benghazi debacle, in some ways, his fall is more discouraging than the election results. Don’t these powerful people feel that their duty is more important than their personal self-aggrandizement or pleasure? We should remember, too, that Petraeus’s predecessor in Afghanistan was brought down because of some incautious things said in a magazine interview.

FBI Source: Petraeus Case Held Until After Election to Not Hurt Obama Politically

• Mdeleine Morgenstern

Outgoing CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus’ resignation over an extramarital affair was reportedly held until after Tuesday’s election to avoid “potential embarrassment” for President Barack Obama, according to Newsmax.
FBI agents learned of the affair while monitoring Petraeus’ emails out of concern that the woman, Petraeus biographer Paula Broadwell, may have had access to his personal account, the Associated Press reported.
But an FBI source told Ronald Kessler, the author and journalist who broke the Secret Service prostitution scandal, that rather than having Petraeus resign immediately, the decision was made to hold it until after the election for political purposes:

The Party of Victory

Caroline Glick

 

Next to the American people themselves, Israel is no doubt the biggest immediate loser in the U.S. presidential election. President Obama's foreign policy is predicated on the false notion that the U.S. and Israel themselves are the principal causes of the Islamic world's antipathy toward them. Consequently, Obama has cultivated the anti-American, genocidally anti-Jewish Muslim Brotherhood and facilitated the Brotherhood's takeover of Egypt and Tunisia and its gains in strength throughout the Middle East. In addition, Obama has appeased Iran's Islamist regime and has enabled it to reach the cusp of nuclear capability.

Obama's policy of relying on the United Nations has placed Israel's diplomatic viability at risk as the Palestinians and the international Left that supports and feeds on their cause use the U.N. to delegitimize Israel's right to exist. Finally, Obama's animosity toward Israel has strengthened the hand of anti-Israel forces within the Democratic party. In the coming years, Israel will become an increasingly partisan issue in American politics.

Election over, Obama and UK to fully back Islamic terrorists in Syria

November 9, 2012 by creeping 

via Obama re-election signals new phase in Syria war – Yahoo! News.

ZAATARI, Jordan (AP) — Western efforts to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad shifted dramatically Wednesday, with Britain announcing it will deal directly with rebel military leaders and Turkey saying NATO members have discussed using Patriot missiles to protect a safe zone inside Syria.

The developments came within hours of Barack Obama’s re-election, with U.S. allies anticipating a new, bolder approach from the American president to end the deadlocked civil war that has killed more than 36,000 people since an uprising against Assad began in March 2011.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, visiting a camp Wednesday for Syrian refugees in Jordan, said the U.S., Britain and other allies should do more to “shape the opposition” into a coherent force and open channels of communication directly with rebel military commanders.

Obama and Netanyahu: Round two

President Barack Obama is starting a second term in which he will be free from re-election concerns and the restricting pressure of lobbies, but he really wants to leave his mark, namely in the Middle East. But at what cost to Israel? The next prime minister of Israel will be up against a strong American president determined to spearhead a new world order and achieve stability in the region.

Shlomo Cesana

A reset? President Barack Obama escorting Prime Minister Netanyahu to his car after their 2010 meeting at the White House. [Archive] | Photo credit: AP

U.S. President Barack Obama's victory will be sealed when he is sworn in as president for a second time on Jan. 21 next year. This will be one day before the general elections in Israel, in which, according to all the forecasts, Benjamin Netanyahu will also win another term, his third as prime minister. A second round, and both parties are coming back with a fresh mandate. The American president's second term is seemingly one without too much obligation. The president no longer needs to ingratiate himself with the voters to ensure another term. The various lobbies will have far less impact and the president is free to prove that, through hard work, he can go down in the annals of his country's history as a leader of the free world, with a meaningful foreign policy.

J Street's hour has arrived

From PJM's Tatler:

Today, J Street executive director Jeremy Ben-Ami sent an email to supporters with the subject line "ASTOUNDING."

All 49 House incumbents endorsed by the PAC were re-elected. All seven of the J Street Senate candidates were elected, including Democrats Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin, Martin Heinrich in New Mexico, and Tim Kaine in Virginia.

J Street's challengers and candidates for open seats were elected in 13 out of 15 races. Ben-Ami noted that the PAC adds one more and gets to its touted victory total if Ami Bera holds on to his razor-thin lead over Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.).

What do we do now?

http://israel-commentary.org/?

Dear Reader,

Watching last night’s returns, conservative commentators talked mournfully about how America is a changed country—demographically, culturally, and most of all morally. Because of these changes, we are no longer the country we have always been.
We don’t buy it. Yes, America is a divided country. But half of the people are holding fast to traditional values and voting no to policies that are leading to bankruptcy at home and defeat abroad. To believe, moreover, that the other half has turned its back forever on our national ideals and national greatness would be to sell them and America short.
It would also be selling short those of us who are willing to take the fight to the left to defend this country; it would be to give up on our ability to change minds with the power of our ideas.

What lies ahead is not only an opportunity to change the course on which we are headed but a solemn obligation to our children and to ourselves. We must educate more Americans about the threats to our liberty at home and abroad. That is what the Freedom Center has always done; it is not only our mission but our reason for being. It is what we intend to do—now more than ever.

Post-Election Musings in the wake of Obama’s Victory

Isi Leibler
November 8, 2012http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=4338

Being in the US this week during the elections has truly been a remarkable experience and roller coaster. The outcome is that, for better or for worse, the American people have determined that President Barack Obama will serve a second four year term as leader of the Western world.

 

Aside from Americans, this will probably impact more on us in Israel than any other nation because of our heavy reliance on US political and military support. But the die has been cast and everyone, including those of us who were deeply apprehensive about how a second term Obama would relate to us, must accept the verdict of the American people.

What Obama Should Have Done in the Last Four Years and Won't Do in the Next Four Years

Barry Rubin

Over and over again I’ve written about what President Barack Obama should do. Now the voters have given him a whole new chance. He could take it and change his policy. I don't believe he will do that but let me lay out both what he's been wrong and what he should do, just in case Obama is seeking a different approach.

What he did in the first and will do in the second term: Foster revolutionary Islamism in Egypt, the Gaza Strip, Syria, Tunisia, and Turkey.

What he should have done and should do now: Do what Franklin Rooosevelt did in 1941 and Harry Truman in 1947 and George Bush in 1990. Lead an international coalition that will systematically fight against a totalitarian enemy. Today, that means revolutionary Islamism. The loose coalition should include Europe, anti-Islamist Arab regimes (Morocco, Algeria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf Arab states) and pro-democratic opposition movements (Turkey, Lebanon, Iran, and Syria).

The Enemy of my Enemy in Damascus

Shoshana Bryen 

A reminder to the administration, no matter who is running it: the enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend.  The friend of my friend is not necessarily my friend.  And the friend of my enemy is not necessarily my enemy, but he may be not by my friend, either.
Bashar Assad, for example, is Iran's puppet, Hezb'allah's patron, Israel's nemesis, Hamas's erstwhile landlord, and his people's tyrant.  He is the enemy of the Muslim Brotherhood -- our (former?) enemy.  And he has a mixed relationship with al-Qaeda, permitting it to infiltrate Iraq to kill Americans, Shiites, and non-compliant Sunnis, but now finding it joining the jihadis against him.

Pray for America Then Fasten Your Seat Belts The Next Four Years Are Going to Be a Bumpy Flight

Yid With Lid

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
-The Gods of the Copybook Headings-Rudyard Kipling

During the 2008 campaign, I explained to my friend and teacher Professor Barry Rubin, that people will not realize what Barack Obama was all about until he is elected but by then it will be too late. By the end of 2009 Rubin (a traditional liberal) was agreeing with me that the presidency of Barack Obama was turning into a disaster.

Today America chose to reelect Barack Obama for another term as President and just as I said four years ago, I believe that America will now learn about the real Barack Obama, the one who never has to worry about getting voter approval, satisfying campaign donors.  This Obama will be more radical then he has ever been before.

One Thousand and One Articles Later: Why Obama Should be Voted Out of Office Today‏

Barry Rubin

For four years now--yes, I started before he was actually inaugurated--I have been chronicling the disastrous policies of President Barack Obama on the Middle East. I may have written as many as 1000 articles that deal with aspects of this issue. In the tradition of Scheherazade, perhaps the greatest of Middle Eastern story-tellers, that makes this my 1001th story.

And now the day has come when it will be decided if he will have the same period of time once again to do more damage, to help destroy more lives, create tens of thousands of refugees, and lay the basis for new wars.

I have written about how this administration has supported the bad guys--with guns and diplomatic help--in Syria, those who want to turn the country into an anti-American Islamic republic. Of how the nation's leaders believe that helping just about every Islamist group except al-Qaida is a great idea because they will be moderate and good friends of America.

The choice

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER

Government grows in size and power as the individual shrinks into dependency. Until the tipping point where dependency becomes the new norm – as it is in Europe.

Photo: REUTERS

WASHINGTON – “Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not.” That was Barack Obama in 2008. And he was right. Reagan was an ideological inflection point, ending a 50-year liberal ascendancy and beginning a 30-year conservative ascendancy.

It is common for one party to take control and enact its ideological agenda. Ascendancy, however, occurs only when the opposition inevitably regains power and then proceeds to accept the basic premises of the preceding revolution.

Thus, Republicans railed for 20 years against the New Deal. Yet when they regained the White House in 1953, they kept the New Deal intact.

And when Nixon followed LBJ’s Great Society – liberalism’s second wave – he didn’t repeal it. He actually expanded it. Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency, gave teeth to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and institutionalized affirmative action – major adornments of contemporary liberalism.

Obama’s Iran Nuke Deal Sells Out Israel

Daniel Greenfield

In October there were some early reports that the Obama Administration had reached a nuclear deal with Iran. It was a given that such a deal would involve Iran buying time to leverage its nuclear capabilities while making a show of backing away from its weapons program under an easily falsifiable inspection regime.

But it now looks as if Reza Kahlili’s original report was correct. A top Iranian official claims that the Islamic regime is suspending Uranium enrichment as a “goodwill gesture”.

 

Obviously Iran doesn’t do freebies. A goodwill gesture means that an agreement has been reached, officially or unofficially, and the home of international Shiite terror, is giving Obama the treat at the time when he needs it most, before we find out what the real bill is. And the real bill is the US recognition of Iran’s “nuclear rights”, an end to all sanctions and foreign aid.

Politicians Promise to Help Israel: Will It Be Too Little, Too Late?

Steve Feldman

"If Israel is attacked" is a phrase heard often by mostly well-meaning politicians from both American parties when they are out on the campaign trail, or even while holding office, to express their intent to come to the aid of the Jewish state. 

But as anyone who both follows current events and has any semblance of logic knows, not only is the phrase trite, but it reveals a certain unfamiliarity with the Middle East today and is even dangerous as pertains to Iran.

First: "If Israel is attacked" implies a future scenario.  But those who keep abreast of the goings-on in Israel know that Israel is and has been under attack all year (and earlier) by Palestinian-Arabs residing in the Gaza Strip.  Thus far this year, the Palestinian-Arabs have fired more than 800 rockets and mortar rounds at Israeli civilian areas.

Pakistan: Historic Church Burned Down by Muslims

Saman Ataurehman  •  November 5, 2012

The attackers brought kerosine oil and guns. The security provided was not enough to stop the armed men.

On September 21, 2012 a mob of several hundred Muslim men attacked a church compound in the city of Mardan, near Khyber Paktunkhwa.

The church, built in the 1900s, was burned while Muslims were protesting a film that carried material reportedly objectionable to Islam.

Peres phones Abbas, as PM urges him to hold talks

TOVAH LAZAROFF

11/05/2012

Netanyahu says he is ready to return to negotiations with PA "today"; Olmert says Gov’t has bolstered Hamas and weakened PA.

Photo: Wikicommons
 

President Shimon Peres called his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, on Sunday, as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and right-wing politicians continued to criticize Abbas’s plea for renewed negotiations based on the pre-1967 lines.
Both former prime minister Ehud Olmert and former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, who each negotiated with Abbas, confirmed that his comments to Channel 2 on Friday night, were consistent with what he had told them during their talks.

The truth about “the occupation” and “the settlements”

Ted Belman (originally posted in 2010)

The pro-Palestinian propaganda machine has succeeded in stigmatizing the Israeli occupation and the settlements. Time and again we hear about the “brutal occupation” and the “illegal settlements”. We rarely hear the truth in opposition to these lies.

Occupation
Israel is accused of occupying the West Bank and Gaza. In fact these territories are described as “The occupied Palestinian territories.” Not only are they not occupied in a legal sense, but also they are not “Palestinian” lands in a sovereign sense..
The Fourth Geneva Convention (FGC) is a treaty between signatory states that are called High Contracting Parties (HCP). It regulates the obligations of one HCP who occupies the land of another HCP. It defines the terms “Occupying Power” and “Occupied State”. Thus this convention does not apply to the territories because they were not the land of any HCP. They have never been the land of an HCP. Prior to 1967, Jordon was in occupation of these territories, just as Israel is currently in occupation. Jordanian sovereignty over these lands was never recognized and ultimately Jordan relinquished any claims she claimed to have over these lands. The FGC was never applied when Jordan occupied the land and it shouldn’t be applied now that Israel does.

Into The Fray: If you are Jewish...

By MARTIN SHERMAN

 

Israel aside, the unquestioning, almost Pavlovian, support US Jews give Obama is inconsistent with their values and incompatible with their welfare.

 

Kevin Lamarque / Reuters 

 

 

What liberals believe needs to be changed or discarded — and apologized for to other nations — is precisely what conservatives are dedicated to preserving, reinvigorating and proudly defending against attack. American Jewry surely belongs with the conservatives rather than the liberals. For the social, political and moral system that liberals wish to transform is the very system in and through which Jews found a home such as they had never discovered in all their forced wanderings throughout the centuries over the face of the earth. – Norman Podhoretz, Why Are Jews Liberals? September 10, 2009

READINESS FOR THE JOB

C. Givon - Nov. 3,2012

As every professional knows, academics studies having been passed, there is a required period of practical experience before one is permitted to enter the real world.

Graduates in the field of education, law, medicine, and other professions must then continue their training in rigorous internships to qualify for the responsibilities of public service. This is a feature of a society that constantly aspires to improve – for the benefit of humanity.

"The Last Effort"

Likely my last major communication on the issue of the US election.  And this one with a very specific focus.

 

On Friday, in the Jerusalem Post, Alan Dershowitz had a major piece called, "The case for Obama's reelection."  It was so rife with distortions, I could not let it pass.  It read to me like a campaign document, not a serious analysis of how the president has conducted himself.

 

Alan Dershowitz is a big name and highly respected in many quarters -- thus likely to be believed in what he writes.  And so, I offer this as a counter to anyone who may have seen Dershowitz's piece -- either in the JPost or in other venues where it may have appeared -- and feels inclined to accept his word on the issues.  I will do this briefly, touching on main points he attempted to make:

West Bank: What the West is Funding

Khaled Abu Toameh

Harb said that the decision to summon him for questioning was in the context of the Palestinian Authority leadership's campaign to intimidate Palestinian writers and journalists and stop them from discussing internal issues. International human rights groups and countries that fund and support Abbas's authority have yet to sound their voices. Failing to hold the Palestinian Authority accountable will only drive more Palestinians into the arms of Hamas and other radical forces.

The Palestinian Authority leadership in the West Bank has come up with a new method to silence its Palestinian critics.
From now on, any Palestinian writer or journalist who dares to criticize Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his policies or demand an end to corruption will be accused of "belittling the dignity of the state."
Since the beginning of this year, at least 10 Palestinian journalists, bloggers and political opponents have been detained by various Palestinian Authority security services for writing about corruption and criticizing the Palestinian leadership.

Dems Tap Radical Islamists for Cash

STEVEN EMERSON AND JOHN ROSSOMANDO
IPT News


http://www.investigativeproject.org/3792/dems-tap-radical-islamists-for-cash

The Investigative Project on Terrorism has learned that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi headlined a Democratic Party fundraiser with leaders of Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood front groups in May of this year.

The invitation-only fundraiser was sponsored by Reps. Keith Ellison, D-Minn.; Andre Carson, D-Ind.; and Steve Israel, D-N.Y., chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and took place on the evening of May 16, 2012, at the W Hotel in Washington D.C.

In attendance were about 20 members of a Syrian dissident group and 10 officials representing Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas front groups. Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) Executive Director Nihad Awad was perhaps the most prominent attendee and played a key role in organizing the event.

Rabin's last Knesset speech

Dore Gold

This week Israel marked the 17th anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. At various events, there were speakers who recalled their personal relationship with the late prime minister in order to determine what his legacy was.

But Rabin actually detailed how he envisioned the future borders of the State of Israel, in his last Knesset address, which was delivered exactly one month before he was killed. Looking back and reading the speech is an eerie exercise, for although he had no idea what would happen to him in a few weeks, he nonetheless appeared to be leaving a political will to the citizens of Israel. 

Why Israel Hasn’t Struck Iran—Yet

P. David Hornik

For those, like me, who scour media reports hoping to discern what’s really going on regarding Iran, Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak’s interview this week to Britain’s The Telegraph is like striking gold.

Last summer, speculation about a possible Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear program was at fever pitch, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu appeared genuinely at the end of his tether in public appearances and statements. A stream of top U.S. political and defense officials came to Israel in what seemed a last pitch to talk Jerusalem out of it.
As we now know, nothing happened. Netanyahu, addressing the UN General Assembly at the end of September, gave a totally new timeline, saying Iran’s nuclear development wouldn’t reach the “red line” until the spring or summer of 2013.

Benghazi Consulate Held Emergency Meeting Before Attack Warning of the Danger

Daniel Greenfield


Forget Woodward and Bernstein. Benghazigate has one man at the center. An unflagging Regional Security Officer named Eric Nordstrom who kept warning that the consulate was in danger and whose testimony levered open the lies that the media and its Obama team pushed over the ashes of Benghazi.

The U.S. Mission in Benghazi convened an “emergency meeting” less than a month before the assault that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, because Al Qaeda had training camps in Benghazi and the consulate could not defend against a “coordinated attack,” according to a classified cable reviewed by Fox News.

TV Host Refuses to Back Down After Calling Israel a “Cancer”

Simon Plosker
 
On Tuesday 23 October, Irish broadcaster Vincent Browne referred to Israel as a “cancer” during his live show on TV3 channel’s Tonight With Vincent Brown.
In a discussion on the recent televised US presidential foreign policy debate between Republican challenger Mitt Romney and Democrat President Barack Obama, Browne lamented that Israel had barely been mentioned, stating:

Israel is the cancer in foreign affairs. It polarizes the Islamic community of the world against the rest of the world.

Unless you deal with the problem of Israel and the Palestinians in that part of the world, there’s going to be conflict and disharmony. It’s a massive injustice — they stole the land from the Arabs.

US withdraws support from Syrian National Council

Rick Moran

 

Despite this move being long overdue, it is not a good sign that the administration understands the Islamist dynamic in the Syrian opposition. This means that any attempt to bring together members of the opposition will almost certainly result in an even more dangerous coalition that would be hazardous to American interests.

Haaretz identified the problem last month:

The Islamists' Need to Feel Wronged

Nonie Darwish

As "the true focus behind jihad…. is to defend, not destroy", the Muslim world is constantly looking for excuses to confirm the need to feel wronged to justify attacks on American and Western interests. The US should by now have understood that because Islamic anger and terror are always on the search for these excuses, one must never fall for them. The Islamists do not want co-existence; they want surrender.

When the truth finally came out that three loyal Americans and the American Ambassador had been murdered in Benghazi, Libya, on 9/11/12 as the result of a calculated terror attack and not, as the White House had been insisting for two weeks, a YouTube video made privately by an American and released months earlier, the President abruptly changed his discredited story, and surreally tried to slip the world into believing he had called that attack an act of terror all along.

It must be difficult for any American administration to deal with aggressors in the Muslim world; so far it has been treating them as if they were immature, spoiled children who must be given their way.

Obama's Libya Fail Brings More Conflict

A.M. Mora y Leon

Right under the radar of news of Hurricane Sandy and the election itself, Hillary Clinton is in Algiers, trying to coax Algeria into a planned military action in Mali to hose out al Qaida's latest nest.

The terrorists have taken over another country in Mali -- as they did with other failed states in Somalia and Afghanistan, but this one was probably preventable.

French officials set to exhume Arafat's body next month

A French official says criminal investigators from France will exhume Yasser Arafat’s remains next month to try to find out how the Palestinian leader died

by The Commentator

A French official has confirmed that investigators from France will exhume Yasser Arafat’s remains next month in an attempt to ascertain the cause of death of the former Palestinian leader died.

Egypt's "United States of Arabs"

Yaakov Lappin

Recent comments by the head of the Muslim Brotherhood [MB], the winner of the recent elections in Egypt, and others, provide yet another jolting reminder of the ruling party's plans for the Middle East.

With the presidency under its control, members of the MB apparently believe they must oversee a comprehensive process of Islamization of the Egyptian state and society, before they can turn their sights on their final goal, the creation of a pan-Islamic super-state that will encompass the region, and then wage war on Israel.

Civil War in Lebanon?

Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
The American Spectator
October 30, 2012

http://www.meforum.org/3368/lebanon-civil-war

Since the recent assassination of the head of intelligence -- Wissam al-Hassan, who was known to be aligned with the anti-Syrian March 14 alliance in Lebanese politics -- in Beirut, there has been much speculation that the internal conflict in Syria could re-ignite civil war in Lebanon.

Such a line of thought has been raised vis-à-vis Iraq too. Indeed, just as Shi'ite militants from Hezbollah, which is aligned with the pro-Syrian March 8 alliance in government, have been fighting to assist the Assad regime in Syria, so too have Shi'ite militants from Iraq's Badr Brigades and the Iranian-backed 'Special Groups' been heading across the border to fight against the rebels.

Target in Sudan: Arms shipment

Analysis: Iran missiles destroyed in attack on Khartoum 'factory' could have threatened Israeli ships, oil and gas drilling 

Israel Opinion 


All signs indicate that it was not an "arms factory" that was bombed in Sudan recently, but a huge shipment of advanced weapons and ammunition that was on its way from Iran to terror elements in Gaza. A reliable Western source says that even if a small number of these weapons systems would have reached the Hamas-ruled territory, they could have posed a major threat to Israel and the IDF. However, it appears that the shipment did not include chemical weapons or drones, as published by several media outlets around the world.

"Time Grows Short"

Until US election day, that is. 

 

I know some of my readers may be awaiting the megastorm Sandy and others may be into it already.  I wish all of you an easy time, without personal injury or damage to property and with uninterrupted electrical service.  You'll catch this when you can.

 

In the meantime, I want to begin by sharing a piece of mine that just went up on Frontpage Magazine.  It is election-oriented.  Former head of Mossad, Ephraim Halevy wrote a strange piece in the NYTimes, attempting to show that Obama is good for Israel by demonstrating that Republicans are not.  This line of thinking fails abysmally. In my article, I comment on his approach, and offer facts demonstrating that, in fact, Obama is the worst of presidents for Israel.

Palestinian Elections: Which Fatah Won?

Khaled Abu Toameh

Abbas does not have a mandate even from his own Fatah faction, to embark on any significant political move, such as signing a peace treaty with Israel or or applying for membership for a Palestinian State at the UN. Had Hamas participated in the elections, turnout would have been higher, and the Islamist movement would easily have defeated a divided Fatah. Instead of going to New York next month, Abbas should stay in Ramallah and work toward reuniting and reforming Fatah before his political rivals drive him out.

Fatah leaders were quick to declare victory in the October 20 local elections in the West Bank.

But the results of the vote for 93 municipal and village councils show that the vote was anything but a victory.

True, in some cities and villages, Fatah did win a majority of seats.
But this is not the same Fatah that Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas and the old guard leadership of the faction had backed.

Who Threw Israel Under the Bus?

Arlene Kushner

On October 23, the profoundly anti-Israel New York Times ran an op-ed by Ephraim Halevy – former head of Israel’s Mosad and national security advisor to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon – titled “Who Threw Israel Under the Bus?”

His thesis is that it has always been Republicans who have been bad for Israel; and he provides examples of how this has been the case.

I do not presume to know what motivated Halevy to write this badly biased piece, but what seems clear is that it requires a response, especially in the week before election day, when everything has become grist for the campaign mill.

 

The fact that three named Republicans were allegedly problematic for Israel says less than nothing about whether Romney would be, and certainly does not vindicate Obama.

One of the “problematic” Republicans Halevy fingers is Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush. Halevy’s attempt to assess Obama by looking at Bush’s record, rather than Obama’s, is rather foolish: Bush is bad, so ipso facto Obama is good.

Obama's Taqqiya Unravels

By Nonie Darwish
I have never entertained the idea that Obama was a Muslim and always believed he was a socialist. But Obama's behavior over the last four years regarding Islam has convinced me that Obama has a Socialist/Islamic centered worldview -- a combination that is not uncommon in many parts of the Muslim world.

Haredim to be drafted to Border Police under new program

The plan, which will begin before the next Knesset decides on a replacement of the expired Tal Law, will call 50 ultra-Orthodox men for service in the Border Police • New draftees said to be slated for service in the Judea region.

Yehuda Shlezinger

Haredim near the Tel Hashomer IDF Induction Center. [Illustrative] | Photo credit: Moshe Shai

A civilian service program aiming to draft ultra-Orthodox men of eligible age for military service into the Border Police is set to begin in the near future. A civil service official told Israel Hayom that 50 haredim (ultra-Orthodox) would be drafted into the service in the first stage of the plan.

Ha'aretz's Apartheid Campaign Against Israel

Yishai Goldflam

Ha'aretz's Apartheid Campaign Against Israel

Amidst its financial hardships and declining Israeli readership, the Israeli daily, Ha’aretz, has upped its anti-Israel advocacy, engaging in a campaign to promote the apartheid canard about Israel. First, Akiva Eldar falsely alleged that the Israeli government had acknowledged Jews as the minority population residing between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, a claim he was forced to correct. Then Gideon Levy wrote an article bearing the sinister headline, "Survey: Most Israeli Jews support apartheid regime in Israel." The online versions in English and Hebrew were subsequently changed slightly. And the print edition’s English headline was "Survey: Most Israeli Jews advocate discrimination against Arabs."  This story was followed the next day by an article that attempted to solidify as fact supposed Jewish support for an apartheid regime, with the headline, "Arab MKs: Israeli Jews' support of apartheid is not surprising."

Bumps in the Road

Sultan Knish

BUMPS IN THE ROAD

Charles Woods, the father of murdered SEAL Tyrone Woods, has given several interviews and described meeting Obama and Hillary Clinton.

[Obama] when he came over to our little area, I could tell, he kind of just mumbled.  You know, “I’m sorry.” His face was looking at me, but his eyes were looking over my shoulder like he could not look me in the eye.  And it was not a sincere, “I’m really sorry” you know “that your son died.” It was a totally insincere, more of a whining type, “I’m sorry.” And it was like shaking hands with a dead fish.  It just didn’t feel right.

 And Hillary had something even better to offer him. "She did not appear to be one bit sincere at all.  She mentioned that thing about, “We’re going to have that person arrested and prosecuted that did the video."

Jordan's Next Leader?

Mudar Zahran

Al-Rantisi claims in his article that "The US government and its intelligence services will support the Muslim Brotherhood goals of coming to power." The Muslim Brotherhood dismissed Al-Rantisi's claims and sued him for damages. Nonetheless, Al-Rantisi stick by the claims he had made when questioned by Al Arabiyya.

It might be helpful now to start wondering what sort of ideas Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood, and its leader, Controller General Sheikh Hamam Sai'd, will advance if they seize power in Jordan -- possibly with the blessing and encouragement of the United States.
Sheikh Sai'd, of Palestinian origin, was elected to the leadership if Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood in 2008 by its hardline faction. They support a partnership with Hamas and the overthrow of Middle Eastern leaders who side with the United States.
The prominent Jordanian journalist, Osama Al-Rantisi, published an article on July 14, 2011, in the Jordanian daily newspaper, Al-ghad, in which he alleged that Sai'd had held a meeting in Turkey with "recently-retired officers from the CIA and the internal counter-intelligence and security agency, the MI5."

Outrage as UN Report Calls for Israel Boycott

Maayana Miskin

The United Nations official responsible for investigating Israel-PA affairs has openly expressed support for a boycott of all companies doing business with Israelis east of the 1949 armistice line.



In his latest report, UN special rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Richard Falk has called for a boycott on all companies tied to Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria.



Falk included “settlement expansion” as one of the reasons to boycott.



His statements have been severely condemned by Israel and its allies. Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird, quoted by the AFP news agency, called on Falk to “either withdraw this biased and disgraceful report – or resign from his position at the United Nations.”

Ex-Biden Aide: Obama and Biden are “Both Financially Illiterate.”

Daniel Greenfield


Obama told Leno that he’s bad at math and now we have independent confirmation of that. Still you have to be really financially illiterate to run annual trillion dollar deficits while running on a pledge to cut the deficit.

Author Jeff Connaughton, a Biden Senate staffer turned lobbyist, is by his own admission deeply disillusioned with the capital and embittered about his experience with the man who inspired him to enter politics.

“I came to D.C. a Democrat and left a plutocrat,” he confesses.

So did the entire Democratic Party. This is a tell-all book telling us things that we already know or could have easily guessed.

Adding another wild-card to the 2012 campaign’s final days, a former aide to Vice President Joe Biden has written a tell-all Washington memoir in which he lacerates the former Delaware senator as an “egomaniacal autocrat” who was “determined to manage his staff through fear.”

Not exactly a major surprise for anyone who saw Biden’s performance at the last debate. The man is a jackass and probably treats staffers almost as badly as Ralph Nader or Michael Moore, both of whom have left behind their own trail of horror stories.

President Obama and Biden, he writes, are “both financially illiterate.”

Again, not very surprising. And not just financially.

Sudan-Iran links under scrutiny after arms factory blast

Israel News

Did Israel try to sabotage a joint Iranian-Sudanese effort to manufacture military drones? A mysterious blast at a weapons factory in Khartoum continues to raise question marks. A diplomatic source told AFP that the factory had been involved in the production of drones. 

Meanwhile, foreign intelligence sources said Israel carried out an unmanned drone raid on a convoy south of Khartoum last month that destroyed 200 tons of munitions, including rockets, intended for Gaza.

"There was supposed to be an agreement between Sudan and Iran to produce some kind of non-conventional weapons," a diplomatic source told AFP on Thursday.

The source, asking not to be identified, said he was also told that the Yarmouk factory was involved in drone production.

"The Inside to Hamas"

Since midnight last night, no rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel, although there was one mortar shell.  This quiet is a result of a ceasefire brokered by Egypt.    

 

On Army Radio today, Amos Gilad -- head of the Diplomatic-Security Bureau of the Ministry of Defense -- said that Egyptian security forces have "a very impressive ability" to convey to the militants that it is in their "supreme interest not to attack."     

 

However, according to Arutz Sheva, there are reports coming in indicating that not all terror groups have agreed to the ceasefire and some reserve the right to fire on Israel.

 

Sound like deja vu?  That's because it is. 

Jewish self hate

David Wilder
October 25, 2012

Jewish self hate

My job has all sorts of interesting facets to it. As spokesman I get to meet many different people. Yesterday, for example, I toured with a group from Sri Lanka. A couple of days earlier, with businessmen from Taiwan, and last week, a group of Koreans spent a few hours with me.

These groups came to see what Hebron is all about. Their questions were good and to the point. I think they enjoyed their tour of Hebron.

I also speak with ‘interfaith groups.’ These groups usually include Christians, Jews, and sometimes, also Muslims. They usually allocate about an hour with me which I divide into two segments. First we do a short tour of the Hebron Heritage Museum at Beit Hadassah, and then spend about forty five minutes of questions and answers. It’s clear to me that much of what I say we may disagree about, but this is an opportunity for such people to hear a representative from Hebron, telling it as we see it. I don’t live under illusions, thinking that they’ll reverse positions 180 degrees, but, then again, you never know.

My Country is Under Attack. Do You Care?

Arsen Ostrovsky

International Human Rights Lawyer

I'm angry.

You see, as most Americans were waking up this morning, and those in Europe and elsewhere around the world were going about their daily routines, here in Israel -- over one million people were running for cover from a hail of rockets being rained down by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza.

In the space of 24 hours, since Tuesday evening, 80 rockets have been fired on southern Israel. That's more than three rockets per hour. By the time I finish this article, odds are that count will have risen to 85 rockets.

Just to put things in context: one million Israelis is roughly 13 per cent of the population. Thirteen per cent of the U.S. population equates to about 40 million people.

A dozen Israelis have already been injured, with several of them seriously. The only reason more have not been hurt is because Israel has invested millions of dollars in bomb shelters and the Iron Dome defense system, while Hamas has invested millions of dollars in foreign aid in more rockets.

But here is why I'm angry.

I'm angry that in 2012, over 600 rockets have already been fired from Gaza with no end in sight. I'm angry that the world only notices when Israel undertakes its (sovereign) right to defend its citizens. Can you imagine if even one rocket was fired on Washington, London, Paris or Moscow? No nation on earth can, or should, tolerate such attacks on its people.

Israeli Official: Sudan is a 'Terrorist State'

David Lev

Israel hit back at Sudan Thursday, after Khartoum on Wednesday accused Israel of attacking a military installation in the country. A top Israeli defense official told Army Radio that Sudan was a terrorist state, and that its accusations that Israel engaged in terrorism against that country could not be taken seriously.

“Sudan is a dangerous terrorist state. To know exactly what happened (there), it will take some time to understand," said Amos Gilad, director of policy and political-military affairs at the Defense Ministry. "There are different versions of the Sudanese side, so there is no reason to go into details," Gilad responded to questions of Israeli involvement in the attack.

Arab Fears of Abandonment Could Threaten U.S. Interests

Evelyn Gordon, JINSA 
 
One of the most disturbing of many disturbing developments in the Middle East recently is the growing fear among America’s traditional Arab allies that Washington’s support can no longer be relied on.

Whether this fear has any valid basis is irrelevant. Last month, for instance, Reuters reported on two different conspiracy theories that are gaining currency among the Gulf states’ leadership: that America is plotting with the Muslim Brotherhood to replace existing Arab monarchies, and that it wants to create a Shi’ite-led government in Bahrain as a step toward rapprochement with Iran. Needless to say, both are nonsensical. But even if one deems the premise delusional, the consequences are very real – and highly detrimental to American interests.

"How Much Is Too Much?"

Today alone more than 70 rockets and mortar shells have been fired into southern Israel from Gaza, with the Iron Dome intercepting seven Grad Katyusha rockets headed for populated areas.

 

Five people have been injured, two -- Thai workers -- seriously. Others are suffering from shock.  Seven houses have been hit, with one damaged significantly.  Schools in the area are closed.

Obama and His Animus Toward Israel - Breitbart

www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/10/19/Obama-Israel

Revealed or unveiled: Obama and His Animus Toward Israel

 

by William Bigelow 19 Oct 2012

What does Barack Obama really think about Israel? The evidence makes it obvious; he has contempt for the Jewish State in every way, and his nurturing of Islamist takeovers around the Middle East only adds to the perception that the safety of Israel is not of concern to him.

As Caroline Glick has pointed out, supporters of Obama refer to several of Obama’s actions:

1.   He has given billions of dollars in military assistance

2.   He has gotten harsh sanctions against Iran passed by the UN Security Council 

3.   The US has supposedly increased its intelligence and military coordination with Israel

4.   Obama has opposed some anti-Israel resolutions at the UN

"And What Is There to Say?"

 

I had expected to write an analysis of last night's presidential debate today.  But I had trouble watching it, never mind figuring out what to say about it.

 

What is obvious is that Romney was advised to play it safe: not coming out against Obama too strongly, so as to appear "aggressive" or "war-like."  Undecided voters might be afraid of him if he were to be too "strong," might worry that he would lead the country into war.  So went the thinking, which is not exactly my thinking.

 

But this most decidedly does not make Obama a "winner," though some would have it as such.  For what counts in the end is the content of what was said.  That Romney may not have countered Obama as strongly as he might have in no way mitigates the hypocrisy and the wrongheadedness of Obama's statements.

Some UNRWA Refugees Have Resettled

Emanuel Marx
Middle East Quarterly
Fall 2012, pp. 37-44 (view PDF)

http://www.meforum.org/3364/unrwa-refugees-resettled

The question whether the U.N. Relief and Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has successfully reintegrated Palestinian refugees into the normal life of the Middle East has long been a central bone of contention. Anxious to fend off criticism by the refugee population and by various political factions, UNRWA officials mince their words and disguise their actions in this regard.[1] UNRWA publications and documents tend to discuss reintegration without ever using the term as if the agency was not required by its original mandate to work for "the reintegration of the refugees into the economic life of the Near East, either by repatriation or resettlement."[2]

This evasiveness is not difficult to understand: If UNRWA has successfully reintegrated the refugees into the economies of the host countries and the region,[3] as it may have well done, what justification is there for its future existence? Indeed, since the huge labor force it has accumulated in the course of its work may never permit it to disband, UNRWA seems to be searching yet again for a new reintegrative task that would give it a new sense of purpose.

Dorothy Rabinowitz: The Unreality of the Past Four Years

DOROTHY RABINOWITZ

In the 1967 film "A Guide for the Married Man," a husband, played by a peerless Walter Matthau, is given lessons in ways to cheat on his wife safely. The most essential rule: "Deny! Deny! Deny!"—no matter what. In an instructive scene, he's shown a wife undone by shock, and screaming, with reason: She has just walked in on her husband making love to a glamorous stranger.

"What are you doing," she wails, "who is that woman?"
"What woman, where?" the husband serenely counters, as he and the tart in question get out of bed and calmly dress.

So the scene proceeds, with the distraught wife pointing to the woman she clearly sees before her, while her husband, unruffled, continues to look blankly at her, asking, "What woman?" Confused by her spouse's unblinking assurance, she gives up. Two minutes later she's asking him what he'd like for dinner.

For much of the past four years, the Obama administration's propensity for asserting views of reality wildly at odds with those evident to most rational citizens has looked increasingly like a page from that film script.

All administrations conceal, falsify and tell lies—this is understood—but there's no missing the distinctive quality of the prevaricating issuing from the White House in these four years.

"As Time Draws Near"

Tonight is the last presidential debate and two weeks from tomorrow comes the election.  Tensions are high and the sharing of credible information that impinges upon electoral choices becomes increasingly important. 

 

This is from the Investigative Project on Terrorism, founded and headed by Steve Emerson -- a most reliable and trustworthy source (emphasis added):

 

Credit: msnbc

 

"A year-long investigation by the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) has found that scores of known radical Islamists made hundreds of visits to the Obama White House, meeting with top administration officials.

"Court documents and other records have identified many of these visitors as belonging to groups serving as fronts for the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and other Islamic militant organizations.

Abbas's Epic Fail

Leo Rennert

If more evidence were needed that Mahmoud Abbas is bereft of any peacemaking credentials, look no further than the Oct. 20 Palestinian municipal elections, which resulted in a humiliating no-confidence vote for the leader of the Palestinian Authority.
Because of his duplicitous record on a two-state solution -- ruling it out when addressing his own people while peddling it to gullible Western leaders and mainstream media -- Abbas already had lost any credibility in the eyes of most Israelis. But the municipal elections in the West Bank have now stripped him of any remaining peacemaking credentials in the eyes of his own people.

Terrorists who killed 6 labeled "heroes" by PA TV in its annual praise of two terror attacks

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=7647

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

"The heroes of the Kfar Yuval operation," PA TV (Fatah), Oct. 10-12, 2010, Oct. 12, 2011, Oct. 11 and 13, 2012

"The heroes of the Misgav Am operation,"  PA TV (Fatah), Oct. 10-12, 2010, Oct. 12, 2011, Oct. 11 and 13, 2012

Again in 2012, Palestinian Authority TV chose to broadcast a tribute to terrorists who killed 6 Israelis in two terror attacks in 1975 and 1980.

On the 44th anniversary of the Palestinian Arab Front (formerly Arab Liberation Front), the organization responsible for the attacks, PA TV broadcast a clip showing two pictures of the terrorists who committed the killings, with captions that read "the heroes of the Kfar Yuval operation" and "the heroes of the Misgav Am operation."

Palestinian Media Watch reported on the PA TV clip when it was broadcast in 2010 and 2011.

After two-week delay, Palestinians to take SAT college admission tests Saturday

American exams had arrived during Jewish holidays, when Israeli customs offices were closed, causing holdup

 JERUSALEM (AP) — The US State Department said dozens of Palestinian students whose SAT exams were delayed because of Israeli customs will take the test this Saturday.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Wednesday that about 100 students in the West Bank will sit the exam this weekend.

“I’m happy to say that we have learned that this issue has now been resolved,” Nuland said.

"That Was Fast!"

And it's not OK. 

 

Last week I wrote that reports had been leaked that Prime Minister Netanyahu was going to bring the Levy Report, or some undefined parts of it, to the Cabinet today for acceptance.

 

But by Friday word was out that he would not be doing so after all.  That was because Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein was opposed. 

 

I will take a moment here to point out that Weinstein tilts left, and that he had made clear from the get-go that he was not enamored of the Levy Report.  As much as we would like to think that the law is the law, interpretation is often colored by political perspective.

Peace Envoy Brahimi Arrives in Damascus; Calls for Truce

BEIRUT — International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi arrived in the Syrian capital Damascus on Friday to try to broker a brief cease-fire in the war between President Bashar al-Assad and rebels, a U.N. spokesman said.

Brahimi, envoy for the United Nations and the Arab League, has been criss-crossing the region with the aim of convincing Assad's main backers and his foes to support a truce during the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha next week.

The U.N. spokesman in Damascus, Khaled al-Masri, told Reuters that Brahimi would meet Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem on Saturday morning. He did not say whether the envoy would meet Assad himself.

Despite positive words from the different backers of the warring factions, the task of securing even a temporary ceasefire appears daunting in an intensifying conflict in which more than 30,000 people have been killed.