Wednesday’s “News in Review” Round-Up

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 On Topic Links

 

UN Agency Promotes Palestinian Agenda: Asaf Romirowsky: Canadian Jewish News, Oct. 25, 2013

 

 

 

“I am Dr. Mohammed Morsi, the president of the republic. I am here by force and against my will. The coup is a crime and treason…This is not my court. This court, with all due respect, doesn’t have jurisdiction over the president. There is a military coup in this country. The leaders of this coup must be brought to trial according to the constitution.”—  Former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi speaking at his trial in Cairo that began on Monday, Nov. 4. (Associated Press, Nov. 4, 2013)

 

“His entrance to the caged dock led to an immediate breakdown of order, with pro-Brotherhood lawyers rising to greet him and chanting “Morsi is our president”. The other defendants shouted the popular revolutionary slogan “Down, down with the military regime!” applauded and embraced him.”—  Richard Spencer reporting from Morsi’s trial in Cairo on Monday (The Telegraph, Nov. 4, 2013)

 

“It was no contest…Morsi’s antics in the courtroom made him look like a student prankster, not a former president— Hisham Kassem, a long-time civil-rights advocate and founding publisher of the Al Masry al-Youm newspaper, speaking with reporters at Morsi’s trial (Globe & Mail, Nov. 4, 2013).

 

Israel is an “illegitimate and bastard” regime and the US alliance with Israel an alleged “indulgence…The Americans have the highest indulgence toward the Zionists…and they have to. But we don’t share such indulgence[s].“­­— Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, further referring to the US as a “smiling enemy” who is not to be trusted for leaving the option of a US and Israeli strike on Iran on the table in the event of continued nuclear weapons development. (Arutz Sheva, Nov. 3, 2013)

 

“Fighting the global arrogance and hostile policies of America is the symbol of our national solidarity…It’s not death to American people, but it’s against a portion of Americans who support oppressive policies in the world. If we say ‘death to America,’ it is death to megalomania. ‘Death to America’ means death to think tanks that work for the destruction of nations.”— Saeed Jalili, speaking at an anti-U.S. rally in Tehran, Iran on Monday, Nov. 4. Jalili lost to Rouhani in the Iranian Presidential election in June. (Associated Press, Nov. 4, 2013)

 

“Iran is continuing to try and arm itself with nuclear weapons; it has not changed its goal – the method maybe, but not the goal – and it has not changed its ideology”— Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting, saying Iran was “openly and directly” calling for Israel’s destruction. He pointed out that Monday, Nov. 4, 2013 is the 34th anniversary of the seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran, a day celebrated in Iran as “Death to America Day.” “This makes it clear that pressure on the Iranian regime must be continued,” Netanyahu said. “The pressure has brought them to the negotiating table. I am convinced that if the pressure is maintained and not relaxed, Iran will dismantle its military nuclear capabilities, and if the pressure is relaxed, Iran will advance toward this goal. We are committed to ensuring that it does not reach its realization.” (Jerusalem Post, Nov. 3, 2013)

 

“The West must stop dictating their solutions,”— Mohammed Zarif, Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, told French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in Paris Tuesday evening, when asked if Tehran was ready to hand over its stockpile of enriched uranium. “Let’s seek mutually acceptable solutions that keep the Iranian program as transparent as possible and help ensure it remains peaceful.” He also highlighted an atmosphere of distrust between Tehran and the West that, he claimed, has poisoned previous diplomatic efforts. “We have already defined from our perspective what the common objective is: An Iranian nuclear project, including enrichment, which remains exclusively peaceful,” (Wall Street Journal, Nov. 6, 2013)

 

 “The United States believes that the U.S.-Egypt partnership is going to be strongest when Egypt is represented by an inclusive, democratically-elected, civilian government based on rule of law, fundamental freedoms, and an open and competitive economy,” — John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State, speaking at a news conference with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy. (Associated Press, Nov. 3, 2013)

 

“Syria is definitely an issue where American policy has been wrong. That’s my opinion. That is also the opinion of much of the public in Arab countries. How you fix that is by showing that you can correct it. If Obama supports Kerry on the Palestinian issue and we get an agreement between Israel and Palestine — that will be something for President Obama to take credit for. If he can convince the Iranians to stop building a nuclear weapon, that will be something he can show the rest of us. The Palestinian issue is the core issue.”— Saudi Arabia’s Prince Turki, former chief of intelligence and brother of the foreign minister, speaking with Lally Weymouth of the Washington Post (Washington Post, Nov., 4, 2013)

 

“I didn’t expect to see that in Syria…It’s not accurate to say this is Somalia, but this is a critical situation…We have a middle-income country that is transforming itself into something a lot more like Somalia.”— Dr. Annie Sparrow, an assistant professor and pediatrician at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, who examined Syrian refugee children in Lebanon and was shocked to find many underweight for their height and age.

“They [Israel] say they want to stay in the Jordan Valley for 40 years…With 40 years in the Jordan Valley there will be no solution. They say they need the Jordan Valley to protect themselves against the Iranian threat or whoever comes from the eastern border.”— Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, saying Israel’s claims that it wants to retain control over the Jordan Valley for security reasons is a lie. He reiterated his refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, and his view that Israel wants to retain a presence in the Jordan Valley for economic, and not security reasons. “[I]t is a matter of investment. The Israelis gain an annual profit of $620 million from the Jordan Valley. So the claim that they want to protect their eastern border from Iran and others is all lies.” (Jerusalem Post, Nov. 4, 2013)

 

 “I think we should no longer think of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, but Palestinian settlements in Israel.”— Danny Danon, Israeli Deputy Defense Minister, said in an interview. Danon, recently elected to head the central committee of the Likud party, imagines an archipelago of Palestinian cities — Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah and Hebron — as Arab islands in an Israeli sea. “The Jewish people are not settlers in the West Bank, but Israel will make the Palestinians settlers and Jordan will be the one taking control over Palestinians and that’s it”. (Washington Post, Nov. 5, 2013)

 

“It’s quite different than what I thought it was…It’s a modern, dynamic, positive society that has its difficulties, but is extremely forward-oriented,”— Université de Montréal rector Guy Breton said after returning from a 10-day trip to Israel attempting to build academic connections between Canada and Israel “It was interesting to see the real mosaic that is Israel,” said Breton, “In this small environment, I saw groups that are extremely different living next to each other peacefully…It was inspiring, especially nowadays.” (Montreal Gazette, Nov. 1, 2013)

Contents

 

 

NO DEAL ON SYRIAN PEACE TALKS DATE— (Geneva) After a rocky day of U.N.-brokered talks, the United States and Russia failed to agree on a date to bring Syria’s warring sides back to the negotiating table, and the two powers remained divided Tuesday over what role Iran should play in a hoped-for Geneva peace conference. The U.N.-Arab League’s top envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, told reporters at the end of the talks involving the U.S., Russia and other nations that the impasse did not mean all hopes of resuming negotiations were dashed. Another round of U.S.-Russian talks on arranging a second peace conference in this city is planned for Nov. 25. (Associated Press, Nov. 5, 2013)

 

KERRY TRIES TO STEADY WAVERING ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE TALKS— (Jerusalem) U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry tried Wednesday to steady wavering peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, amid visible cracks in the three-month-old negotiations. Both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned this week of growing tensions in the closed-door discussions between negotiating teams that have taken increasingly public potshots at each other in recent days. Speaking before a three-hour session with Kerry on Wednesday morning, Netanyahu charged the Palestinians with “incitements [and] continuing to create artificial crises, continuing to . . . run away from the historic decisions that are needed to make a genuine peace.” “There are always difficulties, always tensions,” Kerry said before his meeting with Netanyahu.  I am very confident of our ability to work through them, that is why I am here.” (Washington Post, Nov. 6, 2013)

 

ISRAEL, IRAN, ARABS ATTENDED SAME MEETING ON NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT— (Geneva) Iran, Israel and Arab states took part in a recent meeting about prospects for an international conference on banning nuclear weapons in the Middle East, diplomats said Tuesday. The Oct. 21-22 meeting in the Swiss village of Glion near Montreux was a rare gathering of regional adversaries. Various envoys set out their national positions, but Israel had no direct communication with Iranian and Arab delegates, an Israeli official told Reuters. A U.S. official told The Wall Street Journal it wasn’t insignificant that Finnish Foreign Ministry Under-Secretary of State Jaakko Laajava, the diplomat trying to organize the conference, succeeded in getting Arab, Iranian and Israeli officials into the same room. (Wall Street Journal, Nov. 5, 2013)

 

MODERNIST ART HAUL, ‘LOOTED BY NAZIS’, RECOVERED BY GERMAN POLICE— (Munich) About 1,500 modernist masterpieces – thought to have been looted by the Nazis – have been confiscated from the flat of an 80-year-old man from Munich, in what is being described as the biggest artistic find of the postwar era. The artworks, discovered two years ago and unannounced since, which could be worth as much as €1bn (£860m), are said to include pieces by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, Paul Klee, Max Beckmann and Emil Nolde. They had been considered lost until now, according to a report in the German news weekly Focus. The works, which would originally have been confiscated as “degenerate art” by the Nazis or taken from Jewish collectors in the 1930s and 1940s, had made their way into the hands of a Nazi-era German art collector, Hildebrand Gurlitt. When Gurlitt died, the artworks were passed down to his son, Cornelius – all without the knowledge of the authorities. (Guardian, Nov. 4, 2013)

 

EGYPT ARRESTS BROTHERHOOD OFFICIAL AHEAD OF MORSI TRIAL— (Cairo) Egyptian police arrested one of the last senior figures of the Muslim Brotherhood who was still at large, days before the start of the trial of ousted President Mohammed Morsi of the once-powerful Islamist group. Essam El Erian, a spokesman long considered one of the Brotherhood’s more moderate leaders, will be charged with inciting violence against the state. The same accusation has been leveled against dozens of top-level Brotherhood officials since, amidst wide-spread popular protests against him, the military forced Mr. Morsi from power on July 3. (Wall Street Journal, Oct. 30, 2013)

 

EGYPT’S OUSTED PRESIDENT DEFIANT— (Cairo) Ousted President Mohammed Morsi, making his first appearance in court since being arrested, refused to wear a prison jumpsuit, entering the caged dock in a dark business suit as his co-defendants applauded. He defiantly questioned the legitimacy of the court and proclaimed himself still Egypt’s leader. His fellow Muslim Brotherhood members chanted, “Down with military rule!”, while some lawyers present shouted “Execute him! Execute him!”. Morsi’s long-awaited trial got off to a chaotic start Monday, and was quickly adjourned until Jan. 8. The dramatic first public appearance for Morsi since the July 3 military coup that removed him from power was meant to be a step toward due process. Instead, it highlighted the challenges facing Egypt’s interim authorities as they attempt to close a chapter of his presidency, while his Islamist supporters seek to disrupt the effort. (Associated Press, Nov. 4, 2013)

 

ISRAELI COURT CLEARS FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER OF FRAUD CHARGES

— (Jerusalem) Avigdor Lieberman, the former Israeli foreign minister who is among the nation’s most powerful and polarizing politicians, was unanimously acquitted Wednesday of corruption charges that have dogged him for more than a decade, a verdict with profound implications for Israel’s internal politics and its peace talks with the Palestinians. Mr. Lieberman, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union who lives in a West Bank settlement, a populist hard-liner who has alienated international diplomats with undiplomatic outbursts, has been both an important partner of and a sometime rival for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Freed of the burden of a 17-year criminal investigation, he is expected to quickly return to the foreign minister’s post and may challenge Mr. Netanyahu for leadership of Israel’s nationalist camp. (New York Times, Nov. 6, 2013)

 

CYPRUS RIDES A TROUBLED SEA OF OIL AND GAS OPPORTUNITY— (Nicosia)The republic of Cyprus has entered into the maelstrom of the world’s most volatile region, thanks to newfound gas and oil reserves, combined with an erratic Turkish foreign policy and a civil war in Syria. Even as leaders of this Mediterranean island show skill dealing with these novel threats and opportunities, they need support from a strong U.S. Navy, something not now available. Cypriot underwater gas and oil discoveries follow directly on those found earlier in Israeli seas adjacent to them and uncovered by the same American (Noble) and Israeli (Delek, Avner) companies. The current estimate of 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, as well as of some oil, has a value estimated at $800 billion, a huge sum for a small country in economic exigency whose current gross domestic product is a mere $24 billion. (Washington Times, Nov. 5, 2013)

 

DUTCH CHRISTIAN ZIONISTS TO UNVEIL ‘EUROPE’S LARGEST MENORAH’— (Amsterdam) Christian Zionists in the Netherlands are building what they believe will be Europe’s largest menorah as a Hanukkah gift to the country’s Jewish community. The Hanukkah candelabrum, or hanukkiyah, will be approximately 36 feet tall and made out of metal, Sara van Oordt of the Netherlands headquarters of the Christians for Israel organization, told JTA on Monday. It will be placed near the group’s offices in Nijkerk, 30 miles east of the Dutch capital. “We think that this is a good way to show our support and solidarity for the Jewish community worldwide,” van Oordt said.

(JTA, Nov. 5, 2013)

 

U.S. OFFICIAL: ISRAEL HIT HEZBOLLAH-BOUND MISSLES IN SYRIA— (Washington)

Israel has remained tight-lipped over an alleged strike in Syria, an Obama administration official confirmed on Thursday that Israeli warplanes had in fact attacked an airbase in Latakia on Wednesday. The target was “missiles and related equipment” which the Israeli government assessed might be transferred to the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, the report said. A security official told AP that the attack occurred in the Syrian port city of Latakia and that the target was Russian-made SA-125 missiles. (Times of Israel, Oct. 31, 2013)

 

FIVE ISRAELI SOLDIERS HURT, FOUR PALESTINIAN GUNMEN KILLED AS IDF, HAMAS CLASH ON GAZA BORDER— (Jerusalem)  IDF soldiers who were carrying out work to destroy a tunnel built by Hamas for terrorism on the Israel-Gaza border came under fire from a Palestinian terrorist cell overnight Friday. The IDF stated that terrorists detonated an explosive device targeting the soldiers during the operation. The attack left five soldiers injured. One is suffering from serious injuries, one was moderately wounded and three soldiers were lightly hurt, an army source said. The wounded were airlifted to the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. In response to the attack, the IDF fired a shell at terror suspects in the nearby Gazan district of Khan Younis. One Palestinian gunman was killed and a second was wounded, according to Palestinian medical sources. (Jerusalem Post, Nov. 1, 2013)

 

LEADER OF PAKISTANI TALIBAN KILLED IN U.S. DRONE STRIKE, OFFICIALS SAY— (Islamabad) The chief of the Pakistani Taliban was killed by a U.S. drone strike on Friday, security sources and a senior Taliban commander said, in a major blow to the country’s most feared militant group. Hakimullah Mehsud was one of Pakistan’s most wanted men, with a $5-million (U.S.) bounty on his head. He led an increasingly violent insurgency from a secret hideout in North Waziristan, the Taliban’s mountainous stronghold on the Afghan border. “We confirm with great sorrow that our esteemed leader was martyred in a drone attack,” a senior Taliban commander said. (Globe & Mail, Nov. 2, 2013)

 

(New York) The ADL released the results of its new poll on anti-Semitism showing 12 percent of Americans harbor deeply entrenched anti-Semitic attitudes, a 3 percent decline since the League’s previous poll in 2011. “It is heartening that attitudes toward Jews have improved over the last few years and, historically, have declined significantly in America,” Foxman said, telling Newsmax that, however, “12 percent is still 40 million people.” The poll showed that 14 percent of Americans believe Jews have too much power in the U.S; 30 percent say American Jews are more loyal to Israel than to their own country; 19 percent believe Jews have too much power in the business world; 17 percent say Jews have too much control on Wall Street and 26 percent believe Jews were responsible for the death of Christ. (Newsmax, Nov. 1, 2013)

 

UN SAYS NEARLY 1,000 IRAQIS DIED IN OCTOBER AS ATTACKS RAGE— (Baghdad) Violence across Iraq killed nearly 1,000 people in October, the United Nations said Friday, as the world body’s representative there called on leaders to take bold action to stop the “current mayhem” gripping the country. Car bombings, shootings and other attacks have been on the rise all year, intensifying fears that widespread sectarian conflict again may overwhelm the country. Widespread chaos nearly tore the country apart in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein in 2003. (Associated Press, Nov. 1, 2013)

 

Contents

 

On Topic Links

 

UN Agency Promotes Palestinian Agenda: Scholar: Paul Lungren, Canadian Jewish News, Oct. 25, 2013—

It is pretty much accepted that around 650,000 to 700,000 Palestinians became refugees during and after creation of the State of Israel. Whether they left on their own or were pushed out remains an issue that’s hotly contested.

 

Rob Coles, Publications Editor, Canadian Institute for Jewish Research/L’institut Canadien de recherches sur le Judaïsme,   www.isranet.org Tel: (514) 486-5544 – Fax:(514) 486-8284. mailto:ber@isranet.wpsitie.com