Palestinian Officials Warn Israel of Retaliation If Netanyahu Re-elected

Palestinian officials have warned they will take retaliatory steps, including joining the International Criminal Court (ICC), if Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is re-elected in a general election due next month.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Photo: AFP

By Robert Tait in Jerusalem

They have also raised the possibility of mass demonstrations, encouraging international sanctions against Israel and ending the security co-ordination with the Israeli military that has kept the West Bank largely quiet since the end of the Palestinian intifada in 2005.

The warning is a counterattack against a flurry of announcements from Mr Netanyahu's government that it intends to build new settlements consisting of more than 6,000 homes in east Jerusalem and the West Bank on land the Palestinians want as part of a future state.

Shas worries it will be excluded from next government

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he prefers a Likud member as housing and construction minister, rather than a Shas member, as at present • Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef: Our man worked day and night; the Likud ministers before him just sat at home and smoked water pipes.

Yehuda Shlezinger

Netanyahu's words on Saturday make a second term as Housing and Construction Minister look less likely for MK Ariel Atias (Shas). | Photo credit: Oren Nachson

The Shas party was displeased with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement on Saturday that he would prefer having a Likud member as housing and construction minister in the next government, a position held in the current government by Shas MK Ariel Atias.

Netanyahu's statement caused some in Shas to worry that the party would be excluded from a future coalition.

Obama's carbon copy

 Prof. Abraham Ben-Zvi

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry's appointment as U.S. secretary of state, soon to be officially authorized following certain approval in the Senate, assures us that for the foreseeable future U.S. foreign policy will still be determined in the White House.

In contrast to previous powerful and influential secretaries of state such as Henry Kissinger, who profoundly affected the international arena, Kerry will, like his predecessor Hillary Clinton, play the role of expert implementer of policy rather than inspired architect with a vision of his own.

Indeed, all signs show that the main criterion for the appointment is not creativity, initiative or original thinking, but the fact that Kerry's authentic liberal worldview is almost completely in line with that of President Barack Obama. 

PM: Why does Abbas serially refuse to enter negotiations?

TOVAH LAZAROFF

 

In separate interviews aired simultaneously on Channel 10 and 2, Netanyahu says he will continue building in J'lem "because it is our right," says recent moves are response to PA status upgrade at UN, not connected to elections.

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said he did not know if he could make peace with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in an interview with Channel 2, aired in full on Saturday night. "When Abu Mazen (Abbas) embraces Hamas and calls for reconciliation with Hamas, allows for Hamas demonstrations [in the West Bank] that call for Israel's destruction, I ask myself is he a partner for peace."

The next time someone claims that Israel is engaging in " Ethnic Cleansing ", just show them this

Syria: "Our first goal is to get rid of Assad. Then we want a state where the Quran is the only source of law."

 Jihad Watch

They want to make Syria a Sharia state, which means no alcohol or tobacco, or "immoral" movies and TV shows. No one seems to be offering any other vision of Sharia, despite claims in the West that it is so multifarious as to defy easy characterization.

"Jabhat Al Nusra's new Syria," by Balint Szlanko for The National, December 15 (thanks to Lachlan):

The man wearing the balaclava had eyes that never stopped smiling. Reclining on a pillow in an otherwise empty room, this burly, 41-year-old commander of Jabhat Al Nusra - the most fearsome jihadi group in Syria - exuded an almost disturbing calm, in marked contrast to the loud, chatty air that often characterises more mainstream groups of the Free Syrian Army.

The man, who calls himself Sheikh Abu Ahmed and said he was the military commander of Jabhat Al Nusra in the Hasakah governorate of eastern Syria, spoke to The National in the north-eastern town of Ras el Ayn, where fighting between Islamist rebels and the Kurdish PYD party has killed dozens of militants in recent weeks.
Dressed in plain clothes, Abu Ahmed outlined his group's vision for a new Syria.
"Our first goal is to get rid of Assad. Then we want a state where the Quran is the only source of law," he said. "Sharia is the right path for all humanity - all other laws make people unhappy."

Beit Ezra in Hebron

David Wilder

Beit Ezra in Hebron

Following the Six-Day War in 1967, past residents of the Old City in Jerusalem who had been expelled during the War of Independence in 1948 asked for, and were granted a meeting with then Defense Minister Moshe Dayan. They requested permission to return to their homes and property in the Old City, confiscated and occupied by Jordan. Dayan consented, and, as a result, Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter today flourishes.

Simultaneously, past Hebron inhabitants, who had been expelled in 1929, and again in 1936, requested a similar meeting with Dayan, in order to return to their homes in the recently liberated city of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs. Dayan refused to meet them

.

So I heard from Hebron residents, some of whom no longer alive, years ago.

“The Lion of Justice” by Don Morris and Michael Toro reveals a nightmare scenario of a terrorist attack on California’s economy

 

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(PR NewsChannel) /  SAN FRANCISCO 

"The Lion of Justice" by Don Morris and Michael Toro

“The Lion of Justice” (ISBN 1463663692), a novel by Don Morris and Michael Toro, describes Islamic terrorists intent on spreading chaos with an attack in the San Francisco area and the efforts of an American-Muslim undercover law enforcement officer to stop them at any cost.

Jake Hakam and his team must hurry to discover the nature of the attack so that they can stop it, but the roots of the plan go deeper than they imagine. Sleeper cells have spent the last two decades infiltrating law enforcement, academia, government and local businesses, waiting for the signal from their sheik to strike. The local chief of police is too bogged down in procedure to do anything to help Hakam, leaving him and his small team on their own in fighting the coming destruction.

Joe Kaufman

 
The slogan, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” can be heard regularly from the shores of the Gaza Strip, emanating from members of terrorist groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The river represents the Jordan River, and the sea is the Mediterranean – both sides of Israel. Essentially, this means the destruction of Israel.

Khaled Meshaal, the global head of Hamas, stated something similar, when he made his historic visit to Gaza this month. He said, “Palestine is ours from the river to the sea and from the south to the north.” Just one week previous to that, the leader of another Islamist group, Cyrus McGoldrick, repeated the slogan on Facebook and Twitter. Except he did not state it from the Middle East, he made it from the United States.

McGoldrick is the Civil Rights Manager and spokesman for the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations or CAIR-New York. The national organization of CAIR was founded in June 1994 as a part of the umbrella group created by then-global Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook. [Today, Marzook is the number two leader under Meshaal.] As well, CAIR was named a party to Hamas financing by the U.S. Justice Department for two federal trials against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF). CAIR had asked people to donate money to the terrorist HLF charity via CAIR’s national website.

The postponed Iranian crisis

 Dore Gold

At the end of October, Defense Minister Ehud Barak gave a revealing interview to London's Daily Telegraph in which he explained why the urgency around the Iranian issue had changed. Iran was still progressing toward its goal of obtaining nuclear weapons. Israel was still concerned with Iran's stock of 20 percent enriched uranium that could be converted very quickly to weapons-grade uranium.

But during the course of 2012, Tehran took nearly 40% of its 20%-uranium stock and converted it into fuel rods, which could not be used for nuclear weapons. Theoretically, the Iranians could convert the fuel rods back into 20% uranium and enrich the product to weapons grade fuel, but that would take time. This startling information was not classified intelligence that Barak disclosed to the British newspaper, for it could also be found by carefully reading International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports. 

Using Children as Weapons

Nonie Darwish

If these are not abuses of the human rights of the child, what is?

In the Middle East, children are being used by the adults who should be caring for them to turn them into jihadist weapons to conquer the world -- sometimes with bombs strapped onto them to kill their perceived enemies. Children are given gun training to learn how to kill Jews, and are told that dying for the sake of jihad is the highest honor and the only guarantee to go to heaven. If these are not abuses of the human rights of the child, what is? In the elementary school we attended in Gaza, the political and cultural agenda of the Arab world was pushed down our throats in effectively every subject.

Rights group hammers Israel for journalists’ deaths in Gaza

http://www.timesofisrael.com/rights-group-hammers-israel-for-journalists-deaths-in-gaza/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli army attacks on journalists and media facilities in the Gaza Strip during last month’s military operation violated the laws of war, Human Rights Watch said in a release Thursday.
Two Palestinian cameramen were killed and at least 10 media personnel were wounded in the offensive, which was launched after weeks of rocket attacks on Israel.

The Israeli government has said each of the targets was a legitimate military objective.

In its statement, the New York-based rights group said it found no support for that claim.

“Just because Israel says a journalist was a fighter or a TV station was a command center does not make it so,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, the group’s Mideast director.

For the record: Netanyahu: "All Israeli Governments Have Built in Jerusalem"

Construction of 2,612 homes in East Jerusalem approved amid international condemnation

By Raphael Ahren and Gabe Fisher

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to Asian ambassadors to Israel at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, on Wednesday, December 19 (photo credit: Uri Lenz /Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday reiterated Israel’s right to build in the eastern neighborhoods of Jerusalem, notwithstanding global outcries. Speaking to ambassadors of Asian and Pacific countries on the balcony of Jerusalem’s King David Hotel, overlooking the walls of the Old City, Netanyahu asked them to look down at the city and contemplate international demands that Israel stop building there.

“The walls of Jerusalem that you see behind us represent the capital of the Jewish people for 3,000 years,” said Netanyahu. “All Israeli governments have built in Jerusalem. We’re not going to change that. That’s a natural thing.”

“I want you to ask any of you to imagine that you would limit construction in your own capital. It doesn’t make sense… we are committed to our capital; we’re committed to peace; and we’re going to build in Jerusalem for all its residents. This is something that has been done by all previous governments; this is something that my government will continue to do,” Netanyahu told the envoys of China, India, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Australia, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka.

Al Qaeda Grows as Assad Forces Shell Civilians Across Syria

Chana Ya'ar

As the Assad regime becomes increasingly desperate, its forces are starting to shell civilians in every major city across the country.

Troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are attacking civilians and rebel forces alike around Hama, Homs and Aleppo, according to a report issued Wednesday by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Nearly 50,000 people have died since the savage civil war began in March 2011, with a simple scrawled grafitti message of protest by a teen on a wall in Dera'a. 

European-funded Palestinian NGO glorifies plane hijackings, terror, and hatred of Israel and the US

Poem read by hosts of youth program on PA TV
funded by the EU, the World Bank, Switzerland, Denmark,
the Netherlands and Sweden

"Expect us always,
expect us where least expected.
We're in every airport, and in every ticket...
A small rifle in the hand of a small boy
can kill the big one."

 http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=8219

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Two teenage hosts on the Palestinian Authority TV program for youth Speak Up, co-produced with the Palestinian NGO PYALARA, chose to read aloud a poem that glorified plane hijackings and threatened Israel and the United States:

"People of Israel, don't get caught up in arrogance,
the hands of the clock will surely come round...
Expect us always, expect us where least expected.
We're in every airport, and in every ticket.
We emerge in Rome and in Zurich from under the rock...
Our men arrive without warning, with the fury of thunder and the pounding of rain.
They come in the Prophet's robe and with Omar's sword (Muslim conqueror).
Remember, always remember that America, important as it is, is not Allah the Almighty and Omnipotent, and that America with all its strength will not stop the birds from flying.
A small rifle in the hand of a small boy can kill the big one."

Why Iran Won the Last Middle East Conflict

HERBERT LONDON December 19, 2012

Although the truce between Gaza and Israel didn't lead to an unequivocal result, Israeli officials said they destroyed most rocket launchers and Gazan leaders maintain the settlement means they resisted the Israeli offensive and have been emboldened by their relative success. Is there a victor in this struggle?

Despite the ambiguity and competing claims, there is a victor: Iran. Admittedly the rockets destroyed by the Israeli Iron Dome were Iranian made, but the Iranians deployed marginal, inaccurate Fajr 5 missiles in order to learn how to avoid anti-missile defenses. Moreover, this was a test for a class of missiles; their more sophisticated hardware remained at home for another day.

The Islamization of The ACLU

creeping

Americans might as well be living under Islamic blasphemy laws, yet the nation’s champion of free speech — the ACLU — is AWOL. That’s because it’s now largely run by Muslims.

The ACLU usually stands up strong for First Amendment rights. Not in the case of the Muhammad movie.

The ACLU’s executive director failed to release an official statement condemning the outrageous efforts of the White House to deep-six the film, including pressuring YouTube to remove its trailer from the Web.

Amnesty International, in contrast, asserted that any Muslim hurt over the film “should not be used as a justification to curtail core freedoms or justify potential government repression.”

Iraq: One Year After Withdrawal

Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
The American Spectator
December 18, 2012

http://www.meforum.org/3406/iraq-after-withdrawal

One year after the completion of the pullout of American troops from Iraq, what are the main issues affecting the country today?
Russian Arms Scandal and Corruption: On October 9, Iraq announced the signing of a $4.2 billion arms contract with Russia. Commentators took this deal to be a sign of waning U.S. influence in Iraq since the deal — had it gone through — would have drastically reduced Iraqi dependence on American arms supplies.
Thus, when it was announced on November 10 that the deal was scrapped over concerns of corruption, these same commentators (e.g. Michael Weiss) surmised that the cancellation must have somehow been due to U.S. pressure.
This sentiment was fueled by the BBC's quoting of a Russian analyst — Igor Korotchenko — at the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of World Arms Trade. For he speculated: "As far as talk about corruption is concerned, I think it's a smokescreen. I believe this is just a pretext and the true reason is Washington applying pressure on Baghdad."

Chuck Hagel's Jewish Problem -

The would-be secretary of defense has some curious views.

• By BRET STEPHENS

Prejudice—like cooking, wine-tasting and other consummations—has an olfactory element. When Chuck Hagel, the former GOP senator from Nebraska who is now a front-runner to be the next secretary of Defense, carries on about how "the Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here," the odor is especially ripe.
Ripe because a "Jewish lobby," as far as I'm aware, doesn't exist. No lesser authorities on the subject than John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, authors of "The Israel Lobby," have insisted the term Jewish lobby is "inaccurate and misleading, both because the [Israel] lobby includes non-Jews like Christian Zionists and because many Jewish Americans do not support the hard-line policies favored by its most powerful elements."

"More Harsh Realities"

Can't cover it all; that would be an impossibility. But it's essential to report sufficiently so that my readers understand what's going on here, and have the facts to speak on Israel's behalf.

 

The Shin Bet, working with the police, have uncovered a Hamas cell in northern Jerusalem -- in the Arab neighborhoods of Shuafat and Ras Hamis.  They have been indicted in a Jerusalem court, charged with arson and aggravated assault that includes attacks with firebombs.

Obama Cabinet Picks Bode Poorly For U.S.-Israeli Relations

Ari Lieberman 
On December 17, 2012

In March 2012 during a discussion about U.S.-NATO missile defense, President Obama informed his Russian counterpart, President Medvedev that he needed some “space” and would have more “flexibility” after his election. Medvedev, understanding the obvious implication gleefully responded, “I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.” The conversation, meant for Medvedev’s ears only, was picked up on open microphones and administration spinmeisters immediately went into high gear sputtering  nonsense explanations that were accepted without reservation by an adoring and pliant media.

But those of us who know the nuts and bolts of Obama and his past affiliations with less than savory characters were indeed worried over his gaffe. Former Bush Press Secretary and media consultant Ari Fleischer asked Obama’s then deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter whether Obama would be asking the Arabs for “space” presumably to deal with Israel, post-election.  Cutter ducked the question.

Chuck Hagel for Defense Secretary - Bring it On!

 caroline glick

Many in the American Jewish community are aghast to discover that President Obama is planning to appoint former Senator Chuck Hagel to serve as Defense Secretary. If you want the skinny on how Hagel has come to be known as one of the few ferociously anti-Israel senators in the past generation, Carl from Jerusalem at Israel Matzav provides it.

Meantime, all I can say is I don't understand how anyone can possibly be surprised. Shortly after word came out that Hagel is the frontrunner for the nomination, I read a quaint little blog post written by a conservative leaning commentator voicing her belief that Obama wouldn't want to risk his relations with Israel's supporters by appointing Hagel. But as Powerline pointed out today, this is the entire point of the nomination. Obama isn't stupid. He picks fights he thinks he can win. He hasn't always been right about those fights. He picked fights with Netanyahu thinking he could win, and he lost some of those. 

But he is right to think he can win the Hagel fight. The Republican Senators aren't going to get into a fight with Obama about his DOD appointee, especially given that it's one of their fellow senators, even though many of them hate him. The Democrats are certainly not going to oppose him. 

Obama expected to nominate anti-Israel Hagel as secretary of defense

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/12/16/278358/antiisraeli-in-obama-pentagon-chief-list/

 

US President Barack Obama is expected to nominate former Senator Chuck Hagel, an outspoken critic of Israel, as the next Pentagon chief.

The White House Counsel's office has reportedly completed Hagel’s vetting process after Obama discussed the position with the former Republican Nebraska Senator on December 4, The Politico news organization reported.

Michele Flournoy, former defense undersecretary for policy, and Ashton Carter, deputy defense secretary are the other contenders for the post.

Exciting new program for tourists

General introduction:

This activity is geared to all tourists of any age who would like to learn about anti terrorism tactics. Experts in anti terrorism combat will teach how terrorism is fought, how to shoot a pistol and give hands on experience for all participants in shooting a weapon. All this can be experienced at the Gush Etzion, Caliber 3 Shooting Range located in Gush Etzion.

The Only Way to Stop a Gun is With a Gun

Sultan Knish

THE ONLY WAY TO STOP A MAN WITH A GUN IS WITH A GUN

America now has its second worst mass shooting. And it, as usual, accompanied by calls for gun control. It's no coincidence that we have had quite a few spree killings in such a short time. The lavish coverage of every shooting by the media encourages every shooter to think that he will be famous if he goes out and kills. And that is exactly what happens.

Our shooters are creatures of the media, not the NRA. A media that turns killers into celebrities and then warns that the only way to stop more shootings is by cracking down on firearms.

But no amount of media coverage ever stopped a man with a gun. It only encouraged him. It takes a gun to stop a man with a gun. That is the hard truth of human affairs. It is why we have a Second Amendment, it is why we have armies and police, and it is why people own guns.

Americans continue to sympathize far more with Israel

From Pew Research:

For decades, the public has sympathized with Israel over the Palestinians and that remains the case today. Overall, 50% say they sympathize more with Israel, compared with just 10% who say they sympathize more with the Palestinians; almost a quarter (23%) do not offer an opinion while 13% volunteer that they sympathize with neither side, and 4% say both.

Attitudes on this question have been stable over the past six years, after showing more volatility in the middle of the last decade.

There continue to be stark partisan differences in Middle East sympathies. Conservative Republicans maintain strong support for Israel with fully 75% saying they sympathize with Israel compared with just 2% who sympathize with the Palestinians. By contrast, liberal Democrats are much more divided: 33% sympathize more with Israel, 22% with the Palestinians. Independents sympathize more with Israel by a 47% to 13% margin.

Why Islamists always win in their own societies‏

Barry Rubin

I must quote extensively from a MEMRI analysis of the Egyptian referendum on the new constitution because it shows so vividly how politics are work in the Arabic-speaking world today, especially when voting is involved.

First, the analysis presents the pro-constitution camp that is the Islamists. They coordinate their efforts and launched:

“A massive joint campaign aimed at persuading the public to endorse the constitution. This campaign includes holding conferences and symposia across Egypt; training thousands of Muslim Brotherhood activists to promote the constitution, some of whom are even going door to door, according to reports; and also recruiting mosque preachers and satellite channels in the efforts to persuade the public. Especially prominent in this campaign are the attempts to appeal to the average citizen and to impress upon him the economic and social advantages of supporting the constitution.”

Now, what about the opposition to the Islamists, those who might be called moderates?

The E1 witch hunt

Zalman Shoval

The killing continues in Syria. There is genocide being committed in several places in Africa. There is chaos in Egypt. And still, the foreign ministers of 27 EU countries convened an emergency meeting in Brussels last week to discuss Israel's plan to build a few thousand housing units in Jerusalem and the E1 area, of all things. It is true that the international media, unlike some of the Israeli media, didn't even cover the meeting. But if there is anything that accentuates Europe's bias and detachment from reality (with the exception of a handful of righteous nations, like the Czech Republic and, in this case, also Germany), it is the persistent European disregard for the Palestinians' blatant breach of agreements and the exaggerated outrage over Israel's legitimate responses. 

A Formula for Smearing Israel

Leo Rennert

Here's Exhibit A of the Washington Post's -- and many other media outlet's -- method of slandering Israel.
You start with the Post's Dec. 12 headline: "Israel raids offices of 3 West Bank groups." For readers who just skim the headline and go on to other parts of the paper, the impression is clear: Israel using its muscle to intimidate Palestinians.
The article, with a Joel Greenberg by-line, sets a similar tone in the lead paragraph. Greenberg writes that Israeli soldiers raided the offices of three Palestinian "non-governmental organizations in downtown Ramallah, rifling files and seizing laptop computers in a rare sweep in the heart of the de facto capital of the Palestinian Authority." NGOs are usually cast in a positive light, so this reinforces the impression of heavy-handed Israeli action against do-good outfit -- and in the heart of "Palestine" no less. What chutzpah of the IDF!

Here Come "Biblical and Talmudic Rituals"

MyRightWord

 

In a statement on Wednesday, to "all the Arab and Islamic Nation", the Al-Aqsa Foundation called for a show of support for Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa through continuous activities that keep the Aqsa and Jerusalem present in conscience of the Ummah.  It

 ...also called on Jerusalemites to intensify their presence permanently in Al-Aqsa mosque to protect it from the Israeli violations and settlers’ attacks.
The Foundation noted that the Israeli occupation adopts quiet Judaization steps in the Aqsa Mosque and seeks to make Al-Aqsa mosque plazas public...The Foundation pointed out that 80 Israeli soldiers have broken into the mosque on Tuesday, in addition to Israeli intelligence elements.  The settler groups’ daily storming of the mosque, where they practice biblical and Talmudic rituals, came in light of a serious Israeli scheme to consider Al-Aqsa mosque’s yards as public yards. Al-Aqsa Foundation’s statement stressed that Al-Aqsa mosque and all its parts are only an Islamic sacred place of worship.

I just love those biblical and Talmudi rituals.

PM Netanyahu, “We were re-exposed to our enemies true face” and … Happy Chanukah

srael Ministry of Foreign Affaire
MFA Newsletter
Jerusalem, Israel
http://israel-commentary.org/?p=5374
Cabinet communique


Netanyahu: Yesterday we were re-exposed to our enemies’ true face. They have no intention of compromising with us; they want to destroy the state.
At the weekly Cabinet meeting today (Sunday, 9 December 2012):
1. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the following remarks:
“I would like to wish all of you, and the entire Jewish people, a happy Chanukah. Chanukah is one of our most important holidays. It shows our people’s latent ability to withstand greater forces and to overcome them, out of faith in the justice of our cause and the willingness to defend ourselves.
Of course, defending ourselves requires defense against the jelly doughnuts on the table. I suggest that we apply to them, or at least consider applying to them, the principle [regarding Chanukah candles] that we are not allowed to make use of them but only look at them, or cut down on their calories or make them smaller. In any case, Happy Chanukah!”
Prime Minister Netanyahu added:
“Yesterday we were re-exposed to our enemies’ true face. They have no intention of compromising with us; they want to destroy the state. They will fail, of course; in the annals of the history of our people, we – the Jewish people – have overcome such enemies.

A Holiday of Resistance

DANIEL GREENFIELD 

The first night of Chanukah marks the beginning of a holiday that for many of its celebrants has no identity, that celebrates 'celebration', with no thought to what it is celebrating. For many Americans, Chanukah appears to overlap with Christmas, but there is no similarity between the two other than the season. The more appropriate analogy is to the 4th of July overlaid with Thanksgiving, a celebration of divine aid in a military campaign against tyrannical oppression.

The overt militarism of the Chanukah story has made it an uncomfortable fit for many Jews who have found it easier to strip away its dangerous underlying message that a time comes when you must choose between the destruction of your culture and a war you can't win. In those dark days a war must be fought if the soul of the nation is to survive.

Letter to the Editor

Please consider the following letter for publication in the Register 
Citizen. I am currently in Israel, so if you need to contact me please 
use email or call my cell phone in Israel. To reach it from the US, the 
usual way is by dialing 011-972-50-869-5035. Thank you.
 
To the editor:
 
To partially respond to the cowardly hate-monger who repeatedly hides 
behind and misuses the anonymity of "Soundoff" to launch his 
error-filled diatribes against America's only real friend in the Middle 
East:
 
The Israeli flag has blue lines because its design was based on the 
tallit, the Jewish prayer shawl; the absurd claim that they represent 
the Tigris and Euphrates would be laughable if it has not been used to 
incite so much violence and hatred already.

Germany: Image of Islam 'Devastating'

Soeren Kern

The most sobering finding is that 46% of Turks say they hope that one day Germany will have more Muslims than Christians.

Germans are overwhelmingly mistrustful of Islam and Muslim immigration, according to a new research survey, which concludes that the image of Islam in Germany is "devastating."
The findings -- which corroborate the conclusions of other recent studies -- show a growing divide between ordinary Germans, who are concerned about the consequences of mass immigration from Muslim countries, and Germany's political elites, who are determined to build a "multicultural" society at any cost.
The 28-page study, "Fear of the East in the West" [Die Furcht vor dem Morgenland im Abendland], was produced by the Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Research, and was published by the center-right German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on November 21.

Hamas: Martyrdom death for Allah is ideal "We love death more than you love life" "You [Israel] scare us with what we love"

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=8094 

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

During Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense that aimed to destroy Hamas' terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, Hamas' TV propaganda included various ideological messages. Palestinian Media Watch documented one such message that promoted the killing of Jews as worship of Allah. Another ideological message promoted the Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood interpretation of Islamic tradition that places love of Martyrdom death for Allah - Shahada - above the desire for life. Addressing Israelis, Hamas' spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said:

"You [Israelis] think that we will be afraid of your killing policy and of these threats. We say to you: This policy is futile. Hamas leaders seek Martyrdom (i.e., death for Allah). You scare us with what we love (i.e., death)."

Click to view

The same spokesman presented Martyrdom death fighting Israel as the supreme achievement when he spoke of the head of Hamas' military wing, Ahmad Al-Ja'abari, who Israel killed at the outset of the conflict, stressing that death was his greatest aspiration:

"The commander, the great Martyr (Shahid) Al-Ja'abari, achieved his greatest aspirations (i.e., when killed by Israel)."

What is there to talk about with Hamas?

Boaz Bismuth

It is impossible to ignore the voices calling on Israel to negotiate with Hamas, even if there aren't very many of them. But it is also impossible to ignore the voices coming from Gaza, such as those heard over the weekend, calling for Israel to be wiped off the map. Hamas marked the 25th anniversary of its establishment this weekend and its' leaders message was clear: Hamas is the same Hamas, Palestine is the same Palestine and Zionists are the same Zionists. In Gaza, they have been preserving, with great success, the idea of the "old Middle East." There was no Hanukkah miracle in Gaza this weekend.

Rabbis Embracing Palestinian Statehood Won't Aid Peace

Shmuley Boteach

The New York Times has now devoted two major articles, including a page one feature, to a mostly boring story about Bnei Jeshurun synagogue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, whose Rabbis (J. Rolando Matalon, Marcelo R. Bronstein, and Felicia L. Sol) sent out an email in the wake of the UN vote to upgrade the Palestinians to observer status. 

The email stated, “The vote at the U.N. yesterday is a great moment for us as citizens of the world. This is an opportunity to celebrate the process that allows a nation to come forward and ask for recognition.”

Now, does any really care about a ridiculous email that was sent to a congregation? Does this merit national attention? How could a deeply misguided communal email like this have caused such a ruckus? After all, we all agree that Rabbis are entitled to their opinions, however wrong, and should not be silenced.
But, it turns out that when Rabbis criticize Israel or are seen to join the other side, it's big news.

Bibi and Merkel Despise Each Other - but Only if You Read the Times

Leo Rennert

The New York Times, along with most other Western media, has kept up a drumbeat of criticism of Israel's decision to build 3,000 more housing units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, along with planning and zoning work on an area known as E-1 that links East Jerusalem and the nearby Jewish town of Maale Adumim, population 40,000.

So it comes as no surprise that the Times would eagerly await a summit in Berlin between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Dec. 5-6.  Germany disappointed Israel by abstaining from a U.N. vote to grant statehood recognition to "Palestine" -- instead of casting an outright "no" vote.  Merkel long has differed with Israel on settlements, and the summit was widely anticipated as an event dominated by this issue.

Stakelbeck Reporting from Israel

ERICK STAKELBECK December 7, 2012

If you've been following our work for the past three years, you know that when the Stakelbeck on Terror team goes international, we bring home the goods. From interviewing Al Qaeda-linked global terrorists and notorious Islamic radicals to exposing the Muslim Brotherhood network in Europe and the explosion (no pun intended) of sharia enclaves in Britain and Germany, when we go global, we go all out.

Forget sitting in an air-conditioned think tank inside the Beltway-there's no substitute for getting on the ground to give you an up-close, intimate look at what's really going on in the West's struggle against radical Islamists.

Hangin’ on rekaB Street: The Stupefaction of the West

Richard Landes  

I’d like to introduce a new term: rekaB Street. That’s Baker Street spelled backwards, and it represents the opposite of Sherlock Holmes’ approach: rather than notice the anomalies and detect evidence of criminal or shameful activity that people have deliberately tried to conceal, residents of rekaB Street systematically ignore any clues that violate the expectations/demands of their preconceived narrative, sweeping aside the anomalies and highlighting precisely what has been created to mislead. It is, in a sense, a process of stupefaction.
RekaB Street exists in many fields.
In a sense, Thomas Kuhn’s book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, focuses on the problem, in particular, on the resistance to anomalies that contradict the paradigm. He cites a study by Bruner and Postman about how the resistance to anomalies that violate expectations can be so strong that people can literally not see that a deck has some playing cards with red spades and black hearts. The authors note the psychological discomfort felt by people confronting these anomalies (which their minds literally do not want to see).

Britain's NHS: Not So Healthy

Samuel Westrop

Britain's nationalized health service has been funding a television station whose presenters preach hatred against Jews, women and the West. There will always be groups out there trying to destroy us, but does that mean we should be financially supporting their work?

Ramadan TV, a platform for Islamist hate-preachers, refers to NHS North East London & The City as one of its sponsors[1]. In response to a Freedom of Information request, it has emerged that the NHS funded the television channel to the tune of £3,200[2]. Contrary to the claims of the station, the NHS is quick to claim that it does "not sponsor Ramadan TV, but we work with them during this time to produce programmes with a health promotion message in an effective way to our target group"[3].

"Rights Spelled Clear"

As promised, a different sort of posting here: legal and historical background that is essential to understanding Jewish rights in the land. 

 

 

 

This review will be succinct, with links to informational sites for those who wish to know more. 

 

It is important to save and share this material, as it provides data critical for properly defending Israel.  Emphasis has been added to certain key phrases.

 

As always, I welcome serious questions.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

With the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, the Second Jewish Commonwealth came to an end.  From then until modern times, what had been Judah, and was renamed Palestina by the Romans, was only an appendage to one empire or another, never an independent country.

After the war: Notes from Israel

 Jihad Watch
One day after the end of hostilities in Gaza. I arrived in Israel. I made a few notes, which I am planning to publish on Jihad Watch. But first I think that our readers need to read my interview with Knesset member Faina Kirschenbaum, which covers the entire current problems of the Middle East.
Joseph Zaalishvili: Thank you, Ms. Kirshenbaum, for your time. A few days ago, Operation Pillar of Cloud ended. The terrorist organizations Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as well as Iranian authorities and major figures of the Islamic world claim that the last military operation proves the collapse of the Israeli Defence Force. In their view, the State of Israel cannot defend itself, and the ceasefire is supposedly proof of this.
Many political forces in Israel have criticized the government, saying that it was too early to end the military operation.

THE MYTH OF THE "OCCUPIED" TERRITORIES: SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

Professor Louis Rene Beres

April 6, 2002

NewsWithViews.com

The following article was written by Professor Beres in June 1992.

____________________________

Media references to territories administered by Israel since the June 1967 war now routinely describe them as "occupied." Yet, this description conveniently overlooks the pertinent history of these lands, especially the authentic Israeli claims supported by international law, the unwitting manner in which West Bank and Gaza fell into Israel's hands after sustained Arab aggression and the overwhelming security considerations involved. Contrary to widely disseminated but wholly erroneous allegations; a sovereign State of Palestine did not exist before 1967 or 1948; a State of Palestine was not promised by authoritative UN Security Council Resolution 242; indeed, a State of Palestine has never existed.

The Tunnels of Gaza

The tunnels of Gaza are a lifeline of the underground economy but also a death trap. For many Palestinians, they have come to symbolize ingenuity and the dream of mobility.

By James Verini

Photograph by Paolo Pellegrin

 

Editor’s note: As this issue went to press, the conflict in Gaza escalated. Hamas and other groups stepped up rocket fire on Israel, and the Israel Defense Forces launched an air and sea assault on Gaza, targeting the Hamas leadership and sites containing rockets and other weapons, along with civil government and media offices. Israel also extensively bombed the smuggling tunnels in Rafah.


For as long as they worked in the smuggling tunnels beneath the Gaza Strip, Samir and his brother Yussef suspected they might one day die in them. When Yussef did die, on a cold night in 2011, his end came much as they’d imagined it might, under a crushing hail of earth.

Annexation and Withdrawal: A Modest Proposal

Author:

Brandon Marlonhttp://www.algemeiner.com/2012/12/04/annexation-and-withdrawal-a-modest-proposal/

MenashhpalestineState of IsraelUNunited nationswest bankWithdrawal

Map of Ancient Israel

When is enough really enough? For the State of Israel, apparently, still not yet.

Israeli military occupation over the “West Bank” is a 45-year-old mistake and must now end with Israel’s official annexation of the Jewish heartland. There should also be a withdrawal, not from any land but from the United Nations.

For the sake of Jewish identity, heritage, and history – and of Israeli security and survivability – Israel should immediately assert sovereignty over Judea and Samaria (Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and west Menasheh), granting Palestinian Arabs the dignified options of permanent residency status or emigration with compensation.

Behind the Veil of Islamophobia

The murder of Shaima Alawadi isn’t a sign of increasing prejudice, but of writers’ credulousness

By Michael Moynihan


Less than a month after the controversial killing of African-American teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, Shaima Alawadi, a 32-year-old immigrant who fled her native Iraq in 1993, was found in her California home bludgeoned with a tire iron, breathing but barely alive. Next to her brutalized body was a terrifying letter: “Go back to your country you terrorist.” According to Alawadi’s 17-year-old daughter, Fatima, this wasn’t the first racist threat made against the family. A few weeks before the assault, a note left on the family’s car was blunt: “This is my country, go back to yours, terrorist.”

Slaughtering America's Golden Goose

Nonie Darwish

Immigrants in America are being told they must deny their appreciation of the capitalist system that brought them here in the first place. They are told to hate the white people; those who do not are shamed as traitors to their race. It is crushing to see an American leader talk about "redistribution of wealth" under the guise of "fairness." This kind of political talk is more suited to Haiti or Egypt, but never America. The U.S. government is on its way to becoming the nightmare totalitarian system from which we immigrants tried to escape.

If America opens its borders without restrictions, more than half the world's population will come here. It is America's capitalist system that is still a dream come true to many who are happy to leave their stagnant, dysfunctional economies, burdened with both class envy and the redistribution by government bureaucrats of hard-earned money. Many immigrants risked their lives to trade their substandard, government-run health insurance for life in America, where hard work is rewarded with a better standard of living for most of its people than anywhere ever before.

Murdoch’s cogent question

Sarah Honig

Who says many of the more upwardly mobile and thoroughly assimilated American Jews are at best dormant Jews? Who says they are estranged Jews, disdainfully detached from the Jewish collective? Who says they couldn’t care less about Jewish solidarity, to say nothing of Jewish national interests?
 

 Did they not rush to pillory Murdoch for asking on Twitter: “Why is Jewish owned press so consistently anti-Israel in every crisis?”
 

 But Murdoch, unawares, struck a raw nerve when he appeared to obliquely suggest the existence of Jewish-controlled media. Talk of Jewish control, potentially lending credence to canards about Jewish cabals, impacts directly on the standing of American Jews in American society. This, in contrast to Israel’s dispensable self-preservation, is something that can send them howling indignantly on the warpath.

Get out the candles!

David Wilder
December 04, 2012

The cards seem to be falling, almost as planned. Our Arab neighbors asked the international anti-Israel organization, otherwise known as the United Nations, for recognition in their efforts to delete Israel from the world map. They approached the number one warrior, General Assembly, who consulted with his Defense cabinet, the Security council, which vetoed the idea, realizing the negative consequences. So the General decided to go it alone. As such, palestine was created by General Assembly and his friends.

 Raymond Ibrahim

Note: I share this post to demonstrate the cultural war Israel faces every day-this kind of thinking  cannot be negotiated, it can only be defeated!

Originally published by the Gatestone Institute.
 
Missed in the West, Qaradawi made this declaration two years ago on his popular Arabic program, Al-Sharia wa Al-Haya (“Sharia and Life”), broadcast by al-Jazeera to an estimated audience of 60 million worldwide.

 

Towards the end of the show, the host asked Qaradawi what he thought about the fact that Sheikh Ahmad Hassoun, the grand mufti of Syria, had earlier said to an American delegation:  “If [Muslim prophet] Muhammad asked me to reject Christianity or Judaism, I would have rejected him.” Visibly agitated, Qaradawi erupted as follows:

Egyptian Government Forces Roller Hockey Team to Cancel Game Against Israel

 Daniel Greenfield


Muslim bigotry. It’s not just hateful, it’s also deeply petty.

The Egyptian national roller hockey team on Friday boycotted a world championship game against Israel, reportedly on orders of Sports Minister Amer Farouq, who said he didn’t recognize Israel as a state, Israel Sports 5 reported on Sunday.

Two Egyptian players informed the Israeli captain that their team would not show up and that the squad would forfeit the match. According to the players, Farouq called after the match was announced and threatened to pull funding for Egyptian roller hockey should the team take the rink against Israel. Farouq reportedly added that he did not recognize Israel as a state and therefore would not allow the competition to take place. 

MAPS: Projections of the Israeli offer at Camp David, the Israeli offer to Palestinians in December 2000, the Bridging Proposal of US President Clinton and the Israeli Offer of January 2001

http://www.mideastweb.org/lastmaps.htm

Beginning in July 2000, Palestinians and Israelis tried to negotiate a permanent peace settlement with active American help, first at Camp David, and in December of 2000 in Washington. The Israelis and Palestinians continued negotiations in January 2001 at Taba. Because no maps of offers  were published, various claims were made about what was offered. "Palestinian sources" published maps that supposedly showed that Israelis had offered non-contiguous "Bantustans" with US approval. Israelis claimed that PM Barak had made a "generous offer." In  Dennis Ross in "The Missing Peace, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2004, US negotiator Dennis Ross published maps that support the Israeli version.

Israel's irrationality is our fault

Israel's actions in expanding settlements is a direct result of being maligned and bullied by the international community, writes Executive Editor Raheem Kassam

Britain diminishes in stature by maligning its ally in Israel

Raheem Kassam, Executive Editor

On 3 December 2012

Britain has a major problem and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is clearly tied up in knots about it.

On the one hand, you have a strong and legitimate will to solve the issue of Palestinian statehood. The problem isn't going away and last week's UN General Assembly vote cemented the fact that the international community wants, sooner rather than later, the Palestinian state to come into its own.

But in doing this in such a manner, decades of negotiations have effectively been defenestrated.

Many have argued that this is a good thing. After all, where have decades of negotiations led? Frankly, nowhere.

Dear Mr. Yehoshua, Hamas are Terrorists

letter to the famous leftist Israeli man of letters, who has asked Israel to strike a deal with Hamas.

MP Fiamma Nirenstein

Hon. Fiamma Nirenstein is the Vice-President of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Chair of the Committee for the Inquiry into Antisemitism in the Italian Chamber of Deputies

Il Giornale, November 27th, 2012, sent to ArutzSheva  in translation by the author

A. B. Yehoshua is a great author and a long standing friend of mine. Despite an old, very interesting book of his about Zionism, Bouli, as everyone calls him, is truly a Zionist, who only sees in politics what his highly talented artistic dreams point out for him; fiction rather than reality is his specialty.

So when yesterday, he asked Israel to strike a deal with Hamas on La Stampa, he repeated the same mistakes he’s made a thousand times in the conviction that in order to make peace with the Arabs just ask them, say please and give them a good gift - that would suffice.

For some strange reason the whole ideology factor totally eludes him, which in the case of Hamas is certainly of paramount importance. It’s not that Bibi Netanyahu, as Yeoshua likes to say, gave Hamas the title of “terror organization” rather than “foe”, shunning in this way any possible agreements: no, Hamas is a terrorist group as per the International declaration.

The Ironic Mahmoud Abbas

 MyRightWord

From his 'speech of triumph' in Ramallah:

"You have proof that you are stronger than the occupation, because you are Palestinians... stronger than the settlements, because you are Palestinians...One day, a young Palestinian will raise the Palestinian flag over Jerusalem,” he vowed, “the eternal capital of the state of Palestine!”

Ma'an has it as

East Jerusalem is now secured as the capital of the Palestinian state, he said,

Wafa's version:

Abbas affirmed that Jerusalem will always be the capital of Palestine and said that this recognition changes the situation on ground.

Op-Ed: GA Resolution for Pal. Statehood Lacks Legal Authority

 Eli E. Hertz
The United Nations General Assembly Resolution for limited Palestinian statehood lacks legal authority. Here is why.

A host of resolutions passed annually by the General Assembly are not legally binding documents by any measure.
One needs only to read Article 10 of the UN Charter:

“The General Assembly may discuss any questions or any matters within the scope of the present Charter or relating to the powers and functions of any organs provided for in the present Charter, and, except as provided in Article 12, may make recommendations to the Members of the United Nations or to the Security Council or to both on any such questions or matters” [italics by author].

"So-Far, So-Good"

Other obligations prevent me from reviewing background on our historical and legal rights to the land today.  But I do not want to let the day go by without an update on the "Abbas-UN" situation:

And as I write, it is, so-far, so-good, because I'm seeing no backtracking on Israeli government announcements.  The contrary, actually.

In several quarters the Israeli response to Abbas's move at the UN elicited surprise because just days ago a decision had been made -- which I wrote about -- to keep a low profile and wait and see how matters progressed. 

It seems clear to me that what turned the situation about was not the fact that Abbas went to the General Assembly, but the outrageous way in which he spoke about Israel from that podium.  It likely pushed a lot of buttons. (If you see Netanyahu's statement to the Cabinet, link below, he alludes to this.)

Netanyahu's New Shield: Yitzhak Rabin

MyRightWord 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today (Sunday, 2 December 2012), made the following remarks at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting:

"The response to the attack on Zionism and the State of Israel must reinforce and underscore the implementation of the settlement plan in all areas in which the Government decides regarding settlement.

These are not my words. These are the words of the government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and this is the language of the Cabinet's 1975 decision in the wake of the UN decision that equated Zionism with racism. Today we are building and we will continue to build in Jerusalem and in all areas that are on the map of the strategic interests of the State of Israel.

Expert: Israel Should Let the PA Collapse

by Elad Benari

First Publish: 12/2/2012

Prof Efraim Inbar

Yoni Kempinski

Israel should let the Palestinian Authority collapse, particularly in the wake of its unilateral statehood bid at the United Nations, says Professor Efraim Inbar.
Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA) at Bar-Ilan University, was interviewed by the Besheva Hebrew-language weekly this week. The interview was published several hours before the United Nations voted to upgrade the Palestinian Authority to a non-member observer state.
Besheva: Mahmoud Abbas is going to the UN to request the status of a non-member state. How do you view this move?
Inbar: "I'm not too upset by it. The Palestinian Authority is a fictional entity. It continues to exist only because of the IDF, and if we are not there, Hamas will take over take the place. I'm not sure it is right for us to continue to support the Palestinian Authority. We should let it fall apart. "

"On the Cusp"

Matters are just unfolding with regard to the UN vote on Palestinian state status, and almost certainly tomorrow will bring more.  Here I will provide an overview:

 

On Thursday, Abbas secured from the General Assembly precisely what I had written about -- the PLO delegation was voted the status of non-member observer status.  There were 138 states that supported the motion, nine that opposed and 41 that abstained. 

 

The legal consequences of this are minimal -- including with regard to the International Criminal Court (about which I'll have more to say soon).