“In the last meeting I brought a big map, like the size of this whole
table,” recalls Olmert. “With colors for all the regions that go over to
us and the reverse. We would receive 6.3%, they would get 5.8%, but
they also get a safe passage in a tunnel between Gaza and the West Bank
that was the equivalent in territory of the remaining half percent.
Territories that were considered no-man’s-land before 1967 would be
divided 50-50. Ariel would stay with us, and a network of tunnels would
go under the Trans Samaria Highway to ease the passage of Palestinians
in that area. Similarly for the areas of A-Zaim and Hizmeh, since I was
insisting on E-1. There would be a tunnel that would enable Palestinians
to have quick passage between Bethlehem and Ramallah, despite our
control over the territory, and so their territorial contiguity would
not be impaired.”
“At the same time, I gave Abbas territories in the Beit Sh’ean Valley,
next to Tirat Zvi, not far from Afula, in the area of Lachish, in the
area of Katna (next to Har Adar), the northern Judean desert and the
area around the Gaza Strip. I completely gave up on having an Israeli
presence in the Jordan Valley. That was because I could protect the line
of the Jordan River through an international military force on the
other side of the Jordan RIver. There was no opposition on the
Palestinian side to our having a presence in warning stations along the
mountain range.”
Among the other concessions Olmert proposed were the ceding control of
the Temple Mount to an international administration (consisting of the
United Stastes, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Palestine) and allowing
5000 Palestinians to be repatriated to Israel. The report is consistent
- though more detailed than previous reporting on the negotiations.
Ethan Bronner citing Olmert's memoirs and an interview with the ex-Prime
Minister reported a similar account in 2011.
Isacharoff observes regarding Olmert's plan to cede the Jordan Valley to the Palestinians.
Today, such an offer, particularly as it relates to the Jordan Valley,
is all but inconceivable. Given the chaos that has swept the Middle East
since that potentially historic night in September 2008 – with security
now deteriorating or having collapsed in every country bordering Israel
– Olmert’s offer contains elements that are now simply incompatible
with fundamental Israeli interests.
The observation is interesting because in contrasts with an op-ed Olmert wrote for the New York Times in September, 2011, Peace - now or never, regarding the Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations.
We Israelis simply do not have the luxury of spending more time
postponing a solution. A further delay will only help extremists on both
sides who seek to sabotage any prospect of a peaceful, negotiated
two-state solution.
Moreover, the Arab Spring has changed the Middle East, and unpredictable
developments in the region, such as the recent attack on Israel’s
embassy in Cairo, could easily explode into widespread chaos. It is
therefore in Israel’s strategic interest to cement existing peace
agreements with its neighbors, Egypt and Jordan.
Isacharoff's observation refutes Olmert's claim. The uncertainty in the
Middle East makes the risks of concessions greater. More generally, the
Palestinian Authority's weakness means that any concessions Israel makes
have to assume that Hamas could well come to power in the not too
distant future.
The mother told reporters she was hesitant about coming to Israel
because it is an enemy country to Syria but also said the only thing
that mattered for her was having the opportunity to save her daughter’s
life.
...
“We kept taking her to doctors and to the hospital but nothing could be
done for her,” the mother said. “She couldn’t run and play like other
children and she was very sick most of the time.”
Dr. Lior Sasson, one of the physicians to volunteer with the SACH
medical team, said the child was in grave condition when she arrived in
Israel and would not have survived much longer. “Without the surgery,
she could have died within a few months, maybe even weeks,” he said.
Since 1995, Save a Child's Heart (SACH) has treated more than 3,000
children suffering from congenital and rheumatic heart disease aging
from infancy to 18 years of age from the “four corners of the Earth” -
45 countries where adequate medical care is unavailable.
Approximately 50% of the children are from the Palestinian Authority,
Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Morocco; more than 30% are from Africa; and the
remaining are from Asia, Eastern Europe and the Americas.
Israel is regularly condemned in some venues as a racist state.
Organizations like Save a Child's Heart show that the claim is
absolutely false.
One major question raised by the IRS scandal is where these ideas
came from. At least as far as Jewish groups go, the IRS scrutiny is not a
fluke. That is not to suggest it was ordered by the White House – that
is highly unlikely. At the same time, it certainly does not come out of
the blue. The past several years have seen a concerted campaign in the
mainstream liberal press to bring the IRS down upon certain pro-Israel
groups, particularly those that support activities in the West Bank (or
the Territories Formerly Occupied By Jordan).
For example, in 2009 David Ignatius had a story in the Washington Post, A Tax Break Fuels Middle East Friction.
“Critics of Israeli settlements question why American taxpayers are
supporting indirectly, through the exempt contributions, a process that
the government condemns,” he wrote. The Guardian in 2009 also had a piece calling for IRS action.
In 2010, the New York Times continued the theme
with a massive, expose-style front page story, which concluded that
while such tax breaks do not seem to be exactly illegal, it creates :a
surprising juxtaposition: As the American government seeks to end the
four-decade Jewish settlement enterprise and foster a Palestinian state
in the West Bank, the American Treasury helps sustain the settlements
through tax breaks on donations to support them.” The article then tried
to raise questions about whether such groups really satisfied U.S.
tax-deductible requirements, suggesting the IRS should look into them.
The activities the supported, the Times article suggests, were illegal
and extremist.
Picking up the gauntlet, J Street called on the IRS to “probe” groups that support settlements, despite there being no apparent violation of tax laws involved.
And last year, an op-ed in the Times
by Peter Beinart argued that “we should push to end Internal Revenue
Service policies that allow Americans to make tax-deductible gifts to
settler charities.”
This is just a sampling: the notion that right wing Jewish groups
should be “probed” by the IRS because they do not line up with President
Obama’s (former?) absolutist anti-settlement policy is not a new one.
All the organs of intelligent opinion agreed that some generally right
wing Jewish groups need to be dealt with by the IRS because they
contradict government policy, not because of any evidence of tax fraud.
And surely IRS bosses read the Post and the Times; it may even be their
“absolute truth” as Times editor Jill Abramson memorably put it.
BDS'ers: 'Without international support, Israel would cease to exist'
Still believe that BDS is only about stopping the 'occupation' of Judea and Samaria? Maybe this video will convince you otherwise. Watch what the guy says between 0:32 and 0:40 of this video.
Haaretz is heartbroken. With all of his other faults, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid was outed by the New York Times this week for not being a two-stater.
Did you think the new politician is a politician without ideology?
You were wrong. Lapid’s ideology is peace without dividing Jerusalem, a
diplomatic agreement without Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and
the two-state solution without freezing construction in the settlements.
Lapid’s plan is to wait a good few years and then some until the
permanent borders are drawn up, and in the meantime to give benefits to
Israelis who move to the settlements. Regarding Jerusalem and the
Palestinians, Ehud Olmert’s good friend turns out to be an exact copy of
Benjamin Netanyahu; when it comes to the settlers, Tommy Lapid’s son is
far to the right of Netanyahu.
The
fundamental interview in the New York Times proves that the man who
inherited Kadima’s place in the center of the political map is not a man
of the political center. Just like in economics, in politics he is the
same: Lapid is a conservative in a t-shirt. What he is proposing for
Israel is not left and is not center, but a new and cool right wing.
It
is good that Lapid is finally speaking his truth. What was murky during
the election campaign has been made clear. What was blurred since the
government was formed, has been clarified. The cat has been let out of
the bag. It is reasonable to assume that the Finance Minister’s new
positioning as the leader of the new right will benefit him politically.
It will strengthen his power of attraction with the nationalistic part
of the political map. Both Avigdor Lieberman’s voters and Lieberman’s
values can be found in Yesh Atid, a more elegant home than the old home
of Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel is our Home). If he acts wisely, the new
icon of right-wing Tel Aviv can swallow Jerusalem’s veteran right-wing
camp too, as he offers Israel a great vision of handsome
neo-conservatism.
But
the political significance of Lapid’s words is clear: They block the
path to a peace agreement and do not allow a unilateral move. They
restrain the Finance Minister and bind Netanyahu − and turn the
government into a government of the old, new and extreme right. The
celebrity who came to change things did not really intend on changing
the status quo in Judea and Samaria. The star who promised to cut the
budget of the settlement enterprise is now about to send the settlements
billions. While he waits for an undefined peace that will never arrive,
the brother of Naftali Bennett is ready to promote Bennett’s dream of a
million settlers. Without intending to do so and without being aware of
it, Lapid is about to bury once and for all the idea of dividing up the
land of Israel.
Saudi textbooks teach how to chop hands and feet, how to exterminate Jews
Textbooks paid for by the Saudi government teach high school students how to cut off thieves' hands and feet in compliance with Islamic Sharia law. They also teach the students that Jews should be exterminated and that homosexuals should be put to death.
Barbaric textbooks handed out in Saudi Arabian schools teach children how to cut off a thief's hands and feet under Sharia law, it has emerged.
The shocking books, paid for and printed by the Saudi government, also tell teenagers that Jews need to be exterminated and homosexuals should be 'put to death'.
Recent editions were obtained by the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington, D.C.....
The books were published and handed out to 9th and 10th-graders despite Saudi Arabia's promises to clean up textbooks in the kingdom.
...
The textbooks were printed for the 2010-2011 academic year and translated from Arabic by the institute.
In one, for ninth-graders, students are taught the annihilation of the Jewish people is imperative.
One text reads in part: 'The hour (of judgment) will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them. There is a Jew behind me come and kill him.'
I don't know why anyone should be shocked. I'd bet that the same textbooks are used throughout the Arab world, including among the 'Palestinians.' We already know that they're used in Britain (see also here)and the United States. Then again, the 'Palestinians' have their own textbooks....
Locals told Ma’an that the fisherman, named as Hamed Salah, 30, was pulling in fish when the three-meter shark attacked him.
Hamed was taken to the emergency room at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Medics said he lost two fingers on his left hand.
Gaza
fishermen in March snared a similarly large shark, prompting locals to
crowd the shore taking pictures. The shark was brought onto land and
sent to the Khan Younis fish market to be sold for 20 shekels ($5.41) a
kilo.
The head of the Palestinian fishing union Mahfouth
al-Kabariti told Ma'an that fishermen usually catch sharks around two
meters in length, but rarely larger.
Waiting for the 'Palestinians' to blame the Mossad in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1....
Google and Facebook in bidding war for Israeli startup
Google and Facebook are in a bidding war for Waze, an Israeli startup that uses information from online
communities to improve driving directions.
Waze is fielding expressions of interest from multiple
parties and is seeking more than $1 billion, said one of the
people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are
private. The Palo Alto, California-based startup might also
remain independent, instead seeking to raise a round of venture
capital financing, the people said.
...
Facebook, based in Menlo Park, California, has held talks
to buy Waze for as much as $1 billion, two people familiar with
the matter said earlier this month.
Google, based in Mountain View, California, and other large
tech companies have approached Waze about a possible deal since
the Facebook talks became public, the people said.
None of the bidders is close to clinching a deal and the
talks may fall apart, they said. Waze may also walk away from
the discussions and use more venture backing to expand its
mapping program, which has more than 40 million users.
...
Waze’s investors include Redmond, Washington-based
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), people said. Waze raised $30 million in 2011 in
a funding round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Hong
Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s Horizons Ventures Hong Kong.
Earlier investors include Magma Venture Partners and Vertex
Venture Capital in Israel and BlueRun Ventures in Silicon
Valley.
Julie Mossler, a spokeswoman for Waze, declined to comment
yesterday.
Just a reminder that I represent companies like this one. No, unfortunately, not this particular company.
US Secretary of State John FN Kerry has brought some new ideas with him on his current Middle East trip. Like this one....
United States Secretary of State John Kerry has reportedly proposed
that Israel freeze construction east of the 1949 armistice line if it
wants to hold talks with the Palestinian Authority.
Kerry met Thursday with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
It was not clear if Netanyahu responded favorably to Kerry’s
suggestion of a new construction freeze. Israel formerly froze
construction for several months in an attempt to bring the PA back to
the negotiating table. The PA agreed to talks shortly before the freeze
ended, but refused to continue meeting when the construction ban was not
renewed.
Netanyahu has reportedly put a stop to new construction
in Judea and Samaria (Shomron), but has not issued a public ban on
construction, and has not stopped construction for Israelis in
Jerusalem.
What an original, creative idea....
It doesn't matter whether Netanyahu is foolish enough to accept it. Abu Bluff won't anyway.
It is also not clear if PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has accepted Kerry’s
proposal. Since the last construction freeze Abbas has announced other
demands that he considers preconditions to talks with Israel.
The Foreign Secretary of the country that did more than any other to prevent the State of Israel from being established at all is now claiming that the reason that Brits don't much care for Israelis is because of those darned 'settlements.' As if the average bloke in Birmingham or Liverpool can even find Beit El, Ariel or Haifa on a map. They're all 'settlements' as far as he's concerned.
Steinitz questioned why support of Israel among the British public is
"much less" than in the other Anglo Saxon democracies the US, Canada
and Australia. "When you think that all four are Anglo-Saxon
democracies, why should people in America, Australia or Canada have
different relations to or appreciations of the minuscule Jewish state
than the people of Britain," the minister queried, adding that this
difference may be reflected in the British Foreign Office and British
government policy.
In response, Hague told Sky News that
"Israel has lost some of its support in Britain and in other European
countries over time - this is something I've often pointed out to
Israeli leaders - because of settlement activity, which we condemn."
The
British foreign secretary added, "We strongly disagree with settlements
on occupied land. Israel is a country we work with in many ways but we
do disapprove of settlements."
Here's an indication of just how obsessed with Israel Mr. Hague is: He's currently in Israel and Reuters' Dan Williams reports that Hague claims he spends 70% of his time on the Middle East. I wonder how much attention he pays to Europe. Maybe if Hague and his ilk weren't so obsessed with Israel and paid more attention to what goes on in their own backyard, Israel wouldn't be such an object of hate for Britons.
In both Jerusalem and Ramallah on Thursday, US Secretary of State John FN Kerry called on both Israelis and 'Palestinians' to 'compromise for peace.'
“Our hope is that the leaders in
both Israel and the Palestinian Authority will find a way to compromise,” Kerry
told President Shimon Peres.
...
Kerry
responded, “It’s not me, Mr. President. It’s really a question of whether
Israel and the Palestinians make the choices.”
But the 'Palestinians' gave their answer to Kerry three times in the last two weeks (May 10, May 14 and May 21) - most recently on Tuesday - via this video broadcast on official, government controlled 'Palestinian Authority.' Television.
Each text appeared on the screen with pictures of mostly unidentified
old buildings, implying that they, like Jaffa mentioned in the last
statement, are inside "Palestine" and that the PA is claiming them.
Also significant are the political messages that the PA will neither agree to a truce nor compromise.
Maybe Mr. Kerry thinks that Israeli prosperity is stopping the 'Palestinians' from compromising too.... For the record, Jaffa is part of Tel Aviv....
UPDATE 10:25 AM
Almost forgot to mention this.... When Kerry arrived in Ramallah on Thursday, dozens of 'Palestinians' demonstrated outside Abu Bluff's office protesting US 'bias' in favor of Israel. Rumors that the protests were orchestrated by George Soros and J Street could not be confirmed.
Oh my: Op-ed in London pan-Arabic daily calls Obama 'weakest American President evah'
Remember when President Hussein Obama was supposed to improve the way that the Arab-Muslim world viewed the United States? Well, that one isn't going too well.... The Arab-Muslim world is now calling Obama the 'weakest American President evah.' And they're right. This is from a MEMRI translation of an op-ed in Tuesday's edition of the London pan-Arabic daily al-Sharq al-Awswat.
Al-Zaydi wrote that Obama's handling of the Syrian crisis had
proven his failure as president, showing him as completely lacking in
leadership ability, hesitant and diffident, and overall the weakest
president in the history of the United States. He added that it is
because of these failings that Obama allowed the crisis in Syria to
escalate to the current situation, and that it is he who "caused the
wound to become deeper and the bloodshed to continue." He also stated
that Obama's hesitant and failed leadership in the Middle East, and
especially in Syria, had laid the groundwork for the development of
extremism and sectarian violence greater than those of Al-Qaeda.
This column by Al-Zaydi joins a series of recent articles in the
Saudi press that attacked America's policy on Syria following the
American-Russian agreement to hold an international conference at which a
political solution to the Syrian crisis will be sought....Baina Al-Mulhim, a columnist for the government daily Al-Riyadh,
asked whether the U.S. had "sold out the Syrian revolution," and wrote:
"The crisis of the Syrian revolution changed with the appointment of
[John] Kerry as U.S. secretary of state. Kerry is known as a friend of
Bashar Al-Assad… and now he is traveling around the world trying to save
Assad's regime and to eliminate the so-called 'Al-Qaeda in Syria'…"[2] Tariq Alhomayed, the former editor of Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, wrote that Obama's hesitancy was increasing the bloodshed and the extremism and allowing Russia to play a role in the region.[3]
The following are translated excerpts from Al-Zaydi's column:[4]
"The problem of U.S. President Barack Obama can be summed up in a
single word: hesitation. The man is short-sighted, confused and
diffident. It seems that the gist of his policy is disagreeing with
every position of his predecessor, George W. Bush, and that is
quarrelsomeness, not policy.
"This assessment of Obama's policy is not voiced only by his
Republican rivals in the U.S., or by those who hate some [aspects] of
his global [foreign] policy, but also by some proponents of his own
school of thought, like the well-known American author David Ignatius,
who recently wrote a critique of the Obama administration's policy that
was not confined to foreign [policy] affairs... Summarizing the
problematic aspects of Obama's conduct, he said that the public is more
afraid of a weak administration than a strong one!
"We are not talking [only] about harsh critics of this
administration, inside or outside the U.S. This is apparent from a
recent article by Lebanese-American writer Fuad 'Ajami, who slammed
Obama for his feebleness, his lack of leadership, and his inability to
take bold decisions under difficult circumstances, especially when it
comes to his position on the Syrian catastrophe. Nor is it only
Republicans who attack [Obama]. [Criticism is also voiced] by people who
were overjoyed by the arrival [in the White House] of a black Harvard
graduate with African and Islamic roots, the son of Hussein Obama. [They
expected him] to have a better understanding of the Islamic and Arab
societies and their nature. But eventually, as the helplessness of the
international community [to address the situation] in Syria increased
due to the [conduct of] the U.S. and Obama, it became apparent that this
man is unable to lead and that he hides his failure and ignorance
behind a lot of hypothetical talk about red, green and purple lines..."
British Prime Minister David Cameron called the beheading of a British soldier by the thuggish Muslim convert pictured above a 'betrayal of Islam.' Really?
"This was not
just an attack on Britain and on the British way of life, it was also a betrayal
of Islam and of the Muslim communities who give so much to our country. There is
nothing in Islam that justifies this truly dreadful act."
The British
Muslim community had been quick to condemn the attack, but Muslim leaders
speaking to the British media cautioned the British government against being
quick to brand the killing a terror attack. The appeal apparently fell on deaf
ears.
"This country will be absolutely resolute in its stand against
violent extremism and terror," Cameron said, on the steps of his Downing Street
residence. "We will never give in to terror or terrorism in any of its forms."
'We're not terrorists, and we'll behead any infidel who says we are.'
Cameron doesn't get it. It's not a betrayal of Islam. Murdering infidels is what Islam is all about.
Sounds like he and US Secretary of State John FN Kerry (see previous post) were trained at the same school for morons. And I thought Kerry was French....
Moron alert: Kerry claims Israeli prosperity prevents sense of urgency about peace
So now will the Obama administration attempt to destroy Israel's economy so that we gain a greater sense of urgency about peaceour need to commit suicide? What an unbelievable statement from US Secretary of State John FN Kerry:
Israelis’ “sense of security” prevents them
from feeling sufficient urgency to resume peace talks with the
Palestinians, US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Jerusalem
Thursday, warning of fast-approaching “challenges” that required a
change of approach for the Jewish State.
“I think there is an opportunity [for
peace], but for many reasons it’s not on the tips of everyone’s tongue,”
Kerry told reporters before entering a meeting with President Shimon
Peres. “People in Israel aren’t waking up every day and wondering if
tomorrow there will be peace because there is a sense of security and a
sense of accomplishment and of prosperity.”
However, the chief US diplomat warned that the situation might not stay as stable.
“Over the horizon… one can see the challenges”
that make it important “to resolve this at this moment, when there is a
willingness for people to look for a way” to achieve an agreement,
Kerry said.
Dude.... Your friends the 'Palestinians' won't even to come to the table unless we make a downpayment on and agree in advance to commit suicide.... And you say that there is a 'willingness of people to look for a way to achieve an agreement'? Who might those people be other than Israelis?
Since then, the current government has proposed instituting measures that propose to prevent those who don't hold down jobs from benefiting from Israel's welfare state. Those measures are specifically targeted at Haredim. The government is now telling the Haredim, 'you must find jobs.'
With the secular employment market largely closed to Haredim (been there and done that), the government is now targeting the one possible source of employment for Haredim - Haredi-run businesses - with a discriminatory crackdown to make sure that they don't pick up the slack (Hat Tip: Aryeh Z).
In a document leaked to the media,
YWN-ISRAEL has learned that the compliance unit of the Ministry of
Economic Affairs has ordered a crackdown on chareidi businesses. The
directive, entitled “Directives- Initiated activity in the chareidi
community – May 2013″ is signed by Ms. Ravit Tichover, who heads the
unit. The directive calls for an inspection to determine compliance to
labor laws in chareidi businesses and mosdos chinuch.
The inspections will be May 26, 2013 until May 30, 2013. Inspectors
from the unit will be assigned lists of businesses and mosdos, based on
the number of employees. The inspectors will be looking out for
violations such as law governing overtime, providing employees with
adequate breaks, payment of minimum wage, payment of pension and other
mandated benefits, as well as deductions and many other matters
pertaining to employee rights.
While some will applaud the inspections, which seek to safeguard
employee rights and benefits under Israel’s labor laws, others will
question why businesses are being selected by affiliation with the
chareidi tzibur as opposed to a general inspection of businesses and
mosdos.
Not to mention payments 'off the books.'
Look, it's no secret that a lot of people here get paid 'off the books.' But it's not just the Haredim. I recall with some pride the day that daughter #1, child #1 came home from Hebrew University - which is about as secular as an Israeli university outside of Haifa or Beersheva gets - and announced that among all her friends, she was the only one whose parents weren't cheating on their income taxes....
We've heard a lot of noise over the past week about Britain, France and Germany - key countries in the European Union - finally being willing to ban Hezbullah as a designated terror organization. But only the 'military wing.' That's outrageous, says Benny Weinthal.
In short, Hezbollah is a monolithic terror entity. There is simply no
prudent way to take a cookie-cutter approach to its so-called political
and military wings. This is why the United States, Canada, Israel, and
the Netherlands have listed Hezbollah’s entire apparatus as a terror
entity. Separating Hezbollah into military and political wings, in fact,
sparked objection from one of the few voices in Europe that strongly
supports outlawing Hezbolla, British member of
parliament Michael McCann, who vehemently opposed the half-hearted listing in the House of Commons in early May.
“While
the last [British] government proscribed Hezbollah’s military wing, its
significant role in Lebanese politics is the often cited reason for why
the U.K. has not gone further and proscribed the whole organization,
which even its own leader says operates under a single command. The
misplaced belief that Hezbollah’s politicians are legitimate and
independent from its deadly terrorism is also behind the EU’s inaction,”
McCann said.
Europe being Europe, the major powers have
retreated to a stance of appeasement at a moment when Hezbollah is on
the ropes. The organization has suffered major combatant losses in its
bloody campaign to aid Syria’s Bashar Assad; the Washington Postreported that Syrian “opposition groups say that at least 28 Hezbollah members were among 90 people killed since Sunday.”
Their lifeline from Iran is being squeezed, too: David Cohen, the U.S. undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, recently said
that “the sanctions on Iran are hurting Iran’s ability to support its
militias and malign activity around the world. It’s affecting their
ability to support Hezbollah for instance . . .”
European
powers refuse to confront the interplay between Hezbollah and its chief
financial sponsor, Iran’s radical clerical regime....
Back
to Europe: The vast network of Hezbollah operations in Europe is best
seen in Germany. The European Foundation for Democracy published a 2009
report titled ”Hizbullah’s Fund-raising Organization in Germany,”
showing that Orphans Project Lebanon
(Waisenkinderprojekt Libanon e.V.), situated in Göttingen, is “the
German branch of a Hizbullah suborganization” which “promotes suicide
bombings” and aims to obliterate Israel. This Hezbollah “charity” still
operates today.
Years of European inaction against Hezbollah were
part of the porous counterterrorism strategy that permitted Hezbollah
operatives to blow up an Israeli tour bus in Burgas, Bulgaria, last
July. That Hezbollah-Iran joint operation killed five Israelis and a
Bulgarian national, and injured 32 Israelis.
Related interview with Hezbullah #2, Naim Qassem, denying the military/political distinction, here.
It seems that some people are having buyer's remorse over Yair Lapid.
The sign says "Whoever voted for Yair Lapid should say poor." (The last word is a play on words - the same word when spelled one way means 'poor' and when spelled another way means 'me').
Meet Jen Psaki, President Obama's new State Department spokeswoman, and a woman who will make you long for the comparatively non-partisan Victoria Nuland.
How
did she get the job? How else does one get a job in this
administration? As payback for service done not for the nation but for
the career and image of Barack Obama.
Jen Psaki first came to my attention back in 2007 when she zealously defended Barack Obama for attending a fundraiser
for his campaign held at the home of former NBA basketball player Allan
Houston, who has a history of espousing anti-Semitism -- a history that
drew the ire of the Anti-Defamation League,
American Jewish Congress and other groups. Among other statements,
Houston has said that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus,
"spit in his face and hit him with their fists." When the AJC and other
anti-discrimination groups asked that Obama return the money since he
was doing well with fundraising anyway and did not need to take money
from an anti-Semite, Psaki blithely dismissed their concerns and said Obama had no plans or intentions of returning the money.
Similar
concerns were raised when news surfaced that hedge fund billionaire
George Soros was playing a key role in Obama's campaign -- not only
personally and with his family skirting campaign financing rules to fund Obama,
but activating his fundraising network and empire of 5217 groups to
propel Obama into the Presidency. Soros is well-known as a bitter
critic of Israel who also funds a wide range of groups that oppose
Israel. Psakis' response
was, well, Psakian: "Mr. Soros is entitled to his opinions" (with the
obligatory statement that Obama and Soros disagree on Israel -- the same
defense offered when the close ties between Obama and Reverend Jeremiah
Wright Jr. became known.
'Human rights watch's vulture an expert in fiction
Peter Bouckaert, the 'human rights watch' official who was quoted prominently trashing Israel in a 'private' Facebook page conversation among a group called the Vultures, is an expert in fiction. Bouckaert wrote 'human rights watch's coverage of the Second Lebanon War in 2006, which in a prelude to the even more toxic 2009 Goldstone Report took uncorroborated testimony of Lebanese as absolute truth.
This was sent to me by email:
EXPERTS OR IDEOLOGUES?
PETER BOUCKAERT
NGO MonitorSeptember 08, 2009NGO Monitor Monograph Series
Peter Bouckaert, “Emergencies Director” for HRW,38
has a background in research in South Africa. His one-sided approach to
the Arab-Israeli context may be the result of drawing a false analogy
between the two very different conflict situations of South Africa and
Israel. Bouckaert worked at the Constitutional Litigation Unit of the
Legal Resources Centre in South Africa 1994-1995 and the South Africa
Department of Land Affairs 1996-1996. 39 He
holds a law degree from Stanford University and received a fellowship
at HRW after graduation in 1997. In his position, Bouckaert “is
responsible for coordinating [HRW’s] response to major wars and other
human rights crises.”40
An interview with Bouckaert described his “maverick style,” his “urgent
headline grabbing activism,” and, as with many other activists at HRW,
his anti-establishment approach (Case 2005).
Boukaert
has authored a number of tendentious op-eds directed exclusively at
Israel during and after the Second Lebanon War. An August 5, 2006
report from Tyre, For Israel, Innocent Civilians Are Fair Game,
claimed that “Time after time, Israel has hit civilian homes and cars
…killing dozens of people with no evidence of any military objective./My
notebook overflows with reports of civilian deaths…” (Bouckaert Aug.
5-6, 2006). Another op-ed inThe Guardian described the
“carnage in Qana” and Israel’s actions as “war crimes” (Bouckaert July
31, 2006). As noted below in the case study on the Lebanon War, HRW
amplified and distorted the events in Qana by publicizing a false
casualty figure and repeating claims of indiscriminate attacks.
Bouckaert also wrote HRW’s September 2007 report on the Second Lebanon War, Why They Died.
This pseudo-research publication followed HRW’s pattern of highly
selective analysis, unprofessional methodology, unverifiable
allegations, and grossly disproportionate criticism of Israel that
includes 122 pages on alleged Israeli abuses, and just 23 pages on
alleged abuses by Hezbollah. This report also reexamines and corrects
some of the most blatant errors in the case studies from HRW’s earlier
report, Fatal Strikes which Bouckaert co-authored (NGO Monitor Digest Oct. 1, 2007). For example, in Fatal Strikes an airstrike on Aitaroun on July 17 is presented as an example of the killing of civilians at a time when “Hezbollah was not operating in the area.” Yet in Why They Died,
the details are changed. Different witnesses report that “The night of
the attack, Hezbollah was firing from inside the village. …At 10:15 p.m., they were firing rockets from near our house. We heard the missiles going out.”41
Commenting
on Jenin in 2002, following the international campaign to accuse Israel
of a massacre and war crimes, Bouckaert alleged that “very serious
violations of the laws of war took place” and claimed that Israel
“clearly failed in [the] important obligation [to minimize suffering to
civilians] by causing the significant loss of civilian life and massive
damage to civilian property.” This assertion erased Israel’s decision to
send soldiers to fight house to house against terrorist infrastructure,
instead of relying on airstrikes, due to the civilian presence in
Jenin.
In the picture above, Mohamed al-Dura is seen in his role as the patron saint of Durban, the internationally coordinated political and economic campaign against the existence of a Jewish state.
US Senate votes unanimously to back Israel against Iran, House bill to 'perfect' sanctions has 340 co-sponsors
The American people's representatives in Washington have told President Hussein Obama that they are tired of his soft touch on Iran. On Wednesday, the Senate voted 99-0 to back Israel in the event that it is required to defend itself against Iran, while the House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously approved the Nuclear Iran Prevention Act of 2013.
The "Nuclear Iran Prevention Act of 2013" passed the House Foreign
Affairs Committee by a unanimous voice vote and is expected to easily
pass the full 435-member chamber, where it already has about 340
co-sponsors. A vote by the Republican-controlled House is likely within
the coming weeks.
The measure seeks to cut Iran's oil exports to
less than 500,000 barrels a day, limit Tehran's access to foreign
currency and expand the list of blacklisted sectors of Iran's economy.
Sponsors called it the strongest sanctions package ever against Iran's
nuclear program.
There is not yet a companion Senate bill to the House measure.
The
United States believes Iran is enriching uranium to levels that could
be used in nuclear weapons. Tehran says its nuclear program is intended
for producing power and medical supplies. Iran is already under
sanctions by the United Nations, the United States and the European
Union over the program.
Republican and Democratic US lawmakers
have both been pushing US President Barack Obama's administration to do
more to crack down on Iran's nuclear program.
...
A UN report showed on Wednesday that Iran was pressing ahead with
constructing a nuclear reactor that Western experts say could offer it a
second way of producing material for a nuclear bomb if it decides to
make one.
A bipartisan group of senators introduced separate
legislation earlier this month that would block Iran's access to
billions of dollars worth of foreign currency reserves.
And Robert
Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a
sponsor of the resolution that passed on Wednesday, said after that vote
he was working on legislation for what he called "perfecting" sanctions
to fill loopholes in existing restrictions on Iran.
Okay, so the Senate vote is non-binding and only symbolic given that the President is the only one with the power to make war. And the Obama administration will undoubtedly try to water down the House bill when it gets to the Senate, may even consider having Obama veto it and will be lax in its enforcement. But given Benghazigate, the IRS and the threat of domestic terrorism in the US, does Obama want to, and can he, fight another battle on behalf of Iran?
Major-General Amir Eshel also said Israelis
should brace for a protracted and painful conflict should their forces
engage in combat with Hezbollah or its main backer, Iran.
"If Syria collapses tomorrow, we will need to take action to
prevent a strategic looting of advanced weaponry," he told the
Fisher Institute for Air & Space Studies near Tel Aviv.
"We have to be ready for any scenario, at a few hours'
notice," Eshel said.
He assumed fighting could escalate on to three fronts at
once and require the Israeli air force to employ "the full
spectrum of its might".
...
Beset by the more than two-year-old insurgency, Assad has
not retaliated for the air strikes.
But some Israeli experts
worry his forbearance could wear out - especially if he believes
new Russian-supplied air defences will let him fend off his
militarily superior foe.
Eshel said the most formidable of the Russian systems, the
S-300, was "on its way" to Syria and that Israel could not
afford to see its air superiority dented given what he predicted
would be the need to hit the other side intensively.
"If we want to prevail within a few days, we need to use a
lot of firepower, and quickly," he said. "Air superiority is
critical, and we must contend with a new generation of
capabilities."
'Human rights watch' official, AP and AFP reporters, trash Israel in private Facebook group
A 'human rights watch' official, and several foreign correspondents for AP and AFP, trashed Israel in a private Facebook group after the Israeli government released a report exposing Muhammad al-Dura's 'death' as a fraud.
A “secret” Facebook group of foreign correspondents and human rights
activists quickly devolved into an anti-Israel hate-fest on Tuesday
following the release of a new Israeli government report that cleared
the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of wrongdoing in the 2000 death of a
Palestinian boy.
The Israeli government report
contests the claim that the IDF killed a Palestinian boy, Muhammad
al-Durrah, in a famous 2000 incident in Gaza that helped ignite the
Second Intifada.
Journalists and activists mocked the report, attacked the IDF, and
claimed pro-Israel lobbyists were influencing the media coverage, in a
private Facebook group for foreign correspondents known as the “Vulture
Club.”
Peter Bouckaert, a senior official at Human Rights Watch, dismissed the report as “typical IDF lies.”
“As usual, it takes them a long time to really build up the falsehood,” wrote Bouckaert.
Bouckaert also blasted the New York Times for its coverage of the report.
“It really isn’t good journalism to write this up as if these are credible allegations when it is a pack of lies,” he wrote.
Correspondents from numerous outlets, including the Associated Press and the Agence France-Presse, also piled on.
According to my sources, Bouckaert was the direct supervisor of Marc Garlasco at 'human rights watch.' Garlasco was the organization's senior military analyst until he was suspended in September 2009 after his hobby of collecting Nazi memorabilia was uncovered by bloggers.
Read the whole thing. It includes a screen cap of the Facebook page in question.
The Vulture Club has about 3,500 members. It's not a small group.
In February, a prominent study funded by the US State Department concluded that Israeli and 'Palestinian' school textbooks were equally biased in their treatment of 'the other.' An exhaustive study in the Tower destroys that myth.
Despite the media presentation, however, something about the study,
and the media reports on it, didn’t ring true. As a product of more than
a decade of Israeli schools I can attest to the fact that the Israeli
public education system certainly has its share of problems. But of all
the issues—ranging from crowded classes to plummeting standards—one
thing I never encountered was ignorance or hatred of “the other side.”
Indeed, this is true of Israeli society in general. Even a surface-level
familiarity with Israeli culture and academics provides enough
information to know that the Palestinian perspective is represented in
the arts and media and factored into the Israeli political process and
legal system. Faced with a purportedly objective study that completely
contradicted my own experience with the Israel’s education system, I
felt compelled to examine the report in depth.
What I found isn’t pretty. The report is not only flawed, but also
dishonest. It systematically exaggerates the faults in Israeli textbooks
and downplays those found in the Palestinians’. Its methodology tends
to distort the raw data rather than analyze it, usually to the detriment
of the Israeli education system. Put simply, it makes every possible
effort to create the impression that Israeli and Palestinian attitudes
toward each other are the same, even when this is demonstrably
untrue—according to the study’s own research data. It is no surprise
that the State Department, which funded the study in its early phases,
has endorsed neither the composition of the committee nor the report’s
findings.
This is an important issue, not only because of the need for
scientific accuracy in such studies, but because the presentation of
“the other” in Palestinian and Israeli texts is an absolutely essential
topic. In many ways, it is the essential question in regard to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Are both sides building societies that can
sympathize, or even empathize, with “the other”? If so, it could mean
an (eventual) end to years of war. If not, then we may well be facing
decades of further violence and the absence of any lasting peace between
Israel and the Arab world.
Obama's embassy in Israel tries to pressure Israeli courts
It's been... for me personally... one of those days... which explains the lack of posts today....
The Obama administration has apparently decided that we are a banana republic whose citizenry requires their protection against our abusive court system. And that's all true. Except that they're protecting the side that needs no protection.
Obama's embassy in Israel showed up in court on Wednesday morning to 'gently persuade' the Israeli government not to legalize four 'outposts' in Judea and Samaria. And when it was over they smugly insisted that they weren't interfering in the judicial process. Right.....
“We do not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement
activity and oppose any efforts to legalize settlement outposts, which
would undermine peace efforts and would contradict Israeli commitments
and obligations,” US Embassy spokesman Geoff Anisman told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.
He added that the United States position on these points has been clear and has not changed.
Anisman
spoke in the aftermath of a High Court of Justice hearing on a Peace
Now petition demanding that the state enforce the law and demolish six
unauthorized West Bank outposts.
The state, however, has told the
court verbally and in writing that it intends to legalize four of them;
Givat Assaf, Ma’aleh Rehavam, Givat Ho-Roeh and Mitzpe Lachish.
A US embassy representative was at the hearing, but refused to speak to the press.
The
Legal Forum for the Land of Israel immediately condemned his presence
there, charging that it was a blatant US attempt to interfere with
Israel internal legal procedures.
But Anisman said US
representatives often went to court proceedings and Knesset sessions as
part of their routine work to monitor Israeli activity. This is similar
to how US embassies in other countries operate, he said.
Really? Someone get Matthew Lee to show up at the State Department briefing today and ask whoever gives the briefing to name another country in which the United States shows up for court hearings. I will guarantee you that if there is such another country, it is not a member of the OECD and it is most certainly a third-world country. It almost certainly will not be a country that has an adversarial judicial system.
Peace Now Executive Director Yariv Oppenheimer said, however, that he
did not recall seeing a US representative at past hearing on the
outposts. He added that he has seen in the past European representatives
observe court hearing on human rights issues.
"I believe the
presence of an embassy representative was a message to the government
and not to the court, that the issue of the West Bank outposts is very
important to the US," Oppenheimer said.
As if we needed another reason to hate the New York Jets.... Their team now includes an Islamist 'Palestinian' named Oday Aboushi who is a prominent Jew-hater on social media.
Far from being an American dream, Oday Aboushi has exhibited this
exact type of extremism. He too has targeted Israel with his Twitter
account, one tweet even having anti-Semitic overtones. This past
January, he posted a photo depicting an old woman looking down while
three clearly Orthodox Jews talk to each other in the background. The
caption reads, “88 year-old Palestinian evicted from home in Jerusalem
by Israel authorities to make room 4 Orthodox Jews.”
The photo contains the logo of Middle East Monitor (MEM), an
anti-Zionist publication based in England. The picture has recently been
used in a smear campaign against Israel and her observant Jewish
citizens. Aboushi chose to be one of the smear merchants.
On April 19, one week before the NFL Draft, Aboushi wrote a tweet exalting a fundraising dinner
sponsored by Islamic Relief (IR), an organization with numerous ties to
terrorism. He wrote, “Beautiful NJ fundraiser event for the kids of
Palestine in refugee camps.” The affair was held in Hasbrouk Heights,
New Jersey and was titled, ‘A Night for Palestine.’
In May 2006, Israel labeled Islamic Relief a front for Hamas
after arresting the group’s Gaza program manager, Ayaz Ali, for
providing “funds and assistance to various Hamas institutions and
organizations.” Ali admitted that he had cooperated with local Hamas
operatives.
As well, in 1999, IR collected and sent more than $6 million
to Chechen rebels with ties to al-Qaeda. The same year, IR received
$50,000 from Human Concern International (HCI), a charity that the U.S.
Department of Treasury described as a “Bin Laden front.” Shortly after
the September 11 attacks, IR itself was investigated by the Treasury Department as a possible source of funding for al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.”
Besides Twitter, Oday Aboushi also has a Facebook account. Currently in the ‘Likes’ section of his Facebook page
is the imam of the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley (ICTV), Mohamed
Mabrouk. Mabrouk was previously the imam of the Islamic Society of
Greater Lansing (ISGL). Both of these mosques have ties to terrorism.
Last March, ICTV held a conference and banquet at the Anaheim Hilton, titled, ‘Muhammad (pbuh): The Prophet for Our Times.’
The event was co-sponsored by Islamic Relief. Among the speakers for
the function was the imam of Brooklyn’s al-Taqwa mosque, Siraj Wahhaj.
Wahhaj had previously been named by the U.S. government as an
“unindicted co-conspirator” for a trial dealing with the 1993 World
Trade Center bombing. Wahhaj had been linked to the bombmaker of the attack,
Clement Rodney Hampton-El, and during the trial, he was a character
witness for the spiritual leader of the attack, Omar Abdel Rahman, whom
Wahhaj has openly praised.
Four years ago, the Jets seemed to know who their fan base is.
In April 2009, the Jets front office contacted the NFL
to ask that the date of its home opener be moved, as it was going to
coincide with the Jewish high holiday of Rosh Hashanah. The team did the
right thing to complain on behalf of their Jewish fan base, and they
need to do the same in the case of their Islamist draft pick.
Well, yeah. Except that the Jets may figure that the three-day-a-year Jews who would go to synagogue on Rosh HaShannah and Yom Kippur would be pleased to show how liberal they are by embracing a creep like Aboushi.
Feiglin: Immoral for Israel to take US aid, US may not survive Obama
Likud MK Moshe Feiglin has told The New American that it's immoral for Israel to take US foreign aid. But many of you who like that statement may not like his reasoning.
“I’m totally against this [US foreign] aid [to
Israel],” Feiglin told The New American, a relatively unknown
publication affiliated with far-right American politics. “It cannot be
when, first of all, the Americans are standing in line like two or three
miles in the snow to get a job. To get any kind of aid from America
when, economically, we are in a much, much better position doesn’t look
moral to me.”
Furthermore, American aid “is not in our
favor, not economically, not militarily, not in any way,” the MK told
the magazine’s Alex Newman. (He gave the interview last month in the Knesset,
but it only appeared on Monday.) “This aid serves psychological
purposes, not anything else. We are talking about 1.5 percent of our
income, of what Israel is producing — we can definitely deal without
it.”
Since World War II, Israel is the largest
recipient of US foreign aid, having received a total of $118 billion,
most of it in the form of military assistance. Currently, Washington
supports Israel with about $3 billion per year.
Newman asked Feiglin about former Republican
presidential candidate Ron Paul’s argument that the US administration is
using the aid “to obtain leverage over the Israeli government when
Israel should be thinking about its own interests rather than what
Washington thinks.”
Feiglin responded, “I 100 percent agree.”
So is Feiglin a Ron Paul supporter? I think he'd say that's none of our business. On the other hand, he certainly doesn't have a lot of confidence in the Obama administration's stewardship of the American economy.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with
America — I’m more worried about America than about Israel,” he told the
magazine. “I know it sounds maybe a little bit crazy. However, we are a
nation of 3,300 years. We have our little ups and downs over our
history, but it seems like physically we are stronger than ever.
“History shows that big empires fall, and it
doesn’t look like America today is on the rise,” he continued. “So
there’s more — from my historical understanding — there’s more to worry
about now for America than about Israel. I think — and again, excuse me
for saying so — I think America needs Israel not any less than Israel
needs America.”
Feiglin said he is aware that his comments
sound “a bit funny” — though not because the world’s last remaining
superpower is also the world’s strongest economy, but because the US has
so many more inhabitants than Israel. “But even though I’m aware of the
numbers, I’m still saying what I’m saying because I think that Israel
carries moral weight, and also technological and strategic and
territorial weight, that is much bigger than its size.”
The Chief of Staff stressed that the IDF is aware of Syria’s numerous
attempts recently to smuggle in weapons and of Assad’s plans to expand
operations against Israel. “We will not allow the Golan Heights to
become a comfortable place for assault from Assad,” declared Lt. Gen.
Benny Gantz.
Lt. Gen. Gantz warned that “if Assad impairs the situation in the Golan
Heights, he will have to bear the consequences. I am not a litigious
person, but we need to know how to defend our Northern border under its
deteriorating reality.”
I'll admit that I was surprised to hear that any Israeli newspapers were accessible online in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. But one of them is no longer available. The Jerusalem Post is no longer accessible.
The conservative British-based news and opinion website—The Commentator—first drew attention to the disruption on Tuesday in a report headlined: Has Saudi Arabia blocked the Jerusalem Post? The article wrote a “A lecturer from Saudi Arabia has claimed that the country is blocking access to the Jerusalem Post website.”
The prominent Saudi blogger and journalist Ahmed Al Omran confirmed on his Twitter feed that the Post website “is blocked,” whilst Haaretz and Ynet are both accessible.
The writer of the Commentator article
Ahmed Abdel-Raheem is an Egyptian artist and a PhD student who works as
a lecturer at Al-Lith College for Girls, Um Al-Qura University, Saudi
Arabia, according to his byline on the website of the Commentator.
He wrote, "Over the past week I have tried to access the website of the newspaper the Jerusalem Post, but every time I click the link of the paper, I have received the message: 'Sorry, the requested page is unavailable.'"
It remains unclear why the Saudi government banned access to the Post’s website. Sara Miller, the managing Editor of Jpost.com, said: “Since the start of May, there has been an almost 100-percent drop in the number of visits to jpost.com from Saudi Arabia.
Up
until April 30, we were getting hundreds of visits from Saudi Arabia
every day, and now it is less than 10. There is clearly a demand for
news from the Jerusalem Post,
and it is a shame that the Saudi regime is proving yet again that it is
determined to stifle freedom of thought and expression among its own
population.”
Haaretz is a much more appropriate newspaper for the Saudi government anyway.... They agree on so much....
A South African talks about 'Palestinian' apartheid claims
Here's a talkback from YNet (sorry, I don't have a link) in which a South African talks about 'Palestinian' claims of apartheid (Hat Tip:: Herb G).
I'm
insulted. I'm extremly glad that this article come up in my google alert. I
grew up with apartheid here. and for the last year's I get angry because we
always hear apartheid in Palestine.
I started visiting Gaza
and west bank 7 years ago. ive even stayed in tel Aviv twice. the
Palestinians do not understand what apartheid is. after being in Palestine I saw
Palestinians in Israeli government. I saw over a million Palestinian living
in Israel
with rights. everything I learn when I was there was that there may be
discrimation but to say apartheid is a insult to us that lived with
apartheid. I was in west bank last November. I could not believe how much
west bank has prosper in the last 2 years. buildings being built. many
stores. shopping plaza. everyone dressing nicely. I still donate through
the UN for Palestine.
but I don't think I'm going to anymore. using apartheid for propaganda
purposes is an insult to us. the Palestinians do not know how good they
have it. the west bank is still better then where I live in pretoria. and muslims
in Israeli government is a big sign that show no apartheid. I'm tired of
being lied to. and most of my friends here after they visit west bank they
say the same thing. I'm sad, im angry the Palestinians lie about this. try
living in a real apartheid in 1980s south Africa. west bank is like
a heaven. and almost all Israelis I speak to want peace. almost no white
south African before would believe we were even allowed to walk on streets.
this Palestinian propaganda must stop, because if anyone with a open mind
come visit there, they would see prospering city with lots of buildings and
great dressed people. what Is funny is that in Israel I would see Muslim
amongst Israelis. but in Gaza
and Arab west bank, they would never allow Jewish people into their area.
I'm starting to believe apartheid is alive and well in Gaza and west bank since only one peoples
there. in Israel
it is diverse, with diverse people in government. apartheid is lie, and
disrespect to true apartheid victims.......thembi
Khader Abuassab is an unusual name – in fact, there is apparently only
one listed in the United States: he resides in Paterson, New Jersey.
Abuassab was the one who placed ads in Arabic newspapers about the
Palestinian American Day celebration and he texted invitations to
friends, community leaders, politicians and law enforcement officials.
According to Abuassab, South Paterson is known as “little Ramallah,” and
he felt it was important for the Arab Palestinian community to be
recognized much like any other local ethnic community.
...
So who is Abuassab?
According to a Feb. 2012 Press TV interview, Khader Abuassab has served on the Paterson Board of Education and has run for City Council.
In the spring of 2012, when an Associated Press series disclosed the practice by the New York Police Department of surveillance of Muslims
at businesses, universities and mosques in the greater New York area,
Khader Abuassab told Muslims not to cooperate with the authorities.
He
was indignant that Muslims, who are “an important part of Paterson’s
diverse community” had been “spied on or suspected.” He declared that
Muslim Americans “certainly don’t have to defend their citizenry to
anyone.”
...
In 2002 Khader Abuassab pled guilty
to having racked up more than $615,000 in credit card fraud, using 40
different credit cards to circumvent credit limits on the cards, and
then filing for bankruptcy to erase the debts. Abuassab admitted he had
not intended to pay for the things he charged.
In 2004, Abuassab was sentenced to 13 months in prison, with two
additional years of supervised release. In addition, Abuassab was
ordered by the federal district court judge in New Jersey to pay
$620,000 in restitution. No information was readily available about what
Abuassab had originally used the money for, and whether it had all been
paid back.
What is known is that after sentencing, Abuassab sought a delay of his incarceration date so that he could “travel to Mecca.” That request was denied by the government.
Gaza student union posts cartoon: 'Clean the world of Jews'
The cartoon above was posted on the website of the Gaza Student Union. The character is in the colors of a 'Palestinian' flag, he's throwing a Star of David in the garbage and the caption says "keep the world clean."
The cartoon uses a Star of David rather than an explicitly Israeli
symbol, indicating that it is meant to refer to Judaism or the Jewish
nation as a whole and not the state of Israel alone.
The student union in question is known as the Islamic Bloc – in
Arabic, al-Kutla al-Islamiya. It operates in high schools, universities
and other educational institutions in Gaza. Its primary purpose is to
teach the next generation about the importance of, in Hamas’ words,
freeing Palestine from the Israeli occupation.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-one years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 8 to 29 years and five grandchildren. Our eldest daughter and eldest son are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
