Wednesday’s “News in Review” Round-Up

Download a pdf version of today’s Isranet Daily Briefing.pdf

On Topic Links 

A Maori Woman Stands With Israel (Video): Youtube, Aug. 10, 2014                                                                          

Netanyahu Addresses the Foreign Press on Hamas Atrocities (Video): Jewish Press, Aug. 17, 2014  

Islamic Funeral: I See Dead People … Move (Video): Youtube, Aug. 14, 2014

Across Time and Death: Iran and the ISIS Challenge: Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall, JCPA, Aug. 18, 2014

James Foley Went Looking to Support Terrorists in Syria, Instead They Cut Off His Head: Daniel Greenfield, Frontpage, Aug. 19, 2014

“On August 20, 1940 Winston Churchill, Great Britain’s new Prime Minister, addressing Parliament as the desperate Battle of Britain continued, with the final victory of the RAF over the Luftwaffe’s assault against  England still in the balance, said of Fighter Command, “Never on the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few”.  This speech, which rallied the British nation facing a Nazi cross-channel invasion should the Battle have been lost, is directly applicable today to the valiant soldiers and pilots of the Israel Defense Forces. With an attention to civilian casualties, at the risks of their own increased losses, unknown in the annals of Western warfare, the IDF is defending Israel from the Hamas terrorists’ sustained rocket and tunnel assault on the civilian population.  Let us salute our brave Israeli infantry, tankers, fighter-pilots and Iron Dome personnel who, subject to an unbelievable wave of viciously unbalanced media and “international community” blindness and hypocrisy, are bravely and indefatigably defending Israel and the Jewish people.  Once again, never have so many owed so much to so few; and once again, in the face of Hamas’ genocidal antisemitic campaign, we Jews repeat, “Never again!”,  —CIJR Director Prof. Frederick Krantz, from an Address to the Jewish People, Montreal, August 20, 2014

“The Cairo talks were based on an agreed premise of a total cessation of hostilities,” —Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev. “When Hamas breaks the cease-fire, they also break the premise for the Cairo talks. Accordingly, the Israeli team has been called back as a result of today’s rocket fire,” said Regev, adding: “This is the 11^th Ceasefire that Hamas has either rejected or violated.”  An Egyptian effort to broker an end to a month-long war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip appeared to collapse Tuesday after Israel walked out on the talks in response to a barrage of Palestinian rocket fire. (Huffington Post, National Post, Aug. 19, 2014)

“I hope that it is clear now that the policy of ‘quiet will be met with quiet’ means that Hamas is the one that takes the initiative and the one that decides when, where, and how many rockets it fires on Israeli civilians, while we are making do with reacting. Even if our reaction is a strong one, it is still a reaction,” —Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, in a Facebook post titled “Bring Hamas to submission.” Liberman implicitly criticized Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, accusing him of surrendering the initiative to Hamas in the wake of the collapse of the latest cease-fire in the South. “Hamas has control over the intensity of the fighting and it fires whenever it is convenient for it to interrupt the daily routine of Israeli civilians, particularly those living in the South,” the foreign minister wrote. “The proposals we have heard thus far whereby there is no deal, no agreement, and no unequivocal commitment by the Palestinians to halt their fire means that we are in for a war of attrition, which is something that the State of Israel cannot be dragged into…We are also hearing proposals from certain politicians who advocate unilateral steps,” Liberman said. “These politicians are suffering from memory lapse, as I would like to remind you that a unilateral measure known as ‘disengagement,’ which has already been carried out in Gaza, has yielded the results for which we are paying today.” (Jerusalem Post, Aug. 20, 2014)

“I can assure you now, that business as usual will be no more. Status quo no more,” —Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian negotiator, from his office in Ramallah. “If the international community, the Camerons, the Kerrys, the Fabiuses of this earth – after these massacres that have been committed against the Palestinians – will just tell the Palestinians and Israelis, ‘we invite you back to negotiate’ – this is not going to happen,” Erekat added. Erekat, one of the key architects of the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and Palestine, issued the ultimatum to the international community during ceasefire negotiations in Cairo last week. Erekat revealed that Palestine intends to become a member of the International Criminal Court “this month”, in a bid to hold Israel accountable for possible war crimes committed in Gaza. “We believe that Israel as an occupying power has no right to bombard an area that it occupies like Gaza with missiles, with F15s, F16s,[and] Apaches. We believe that these are the war crimes”, he said, adding: “I want the Israelis to defend themselves in the ICC – and not to say that they are defending themselves with missiles, massacring women and children.” (Telegraph, Aug. 15, 2014)

“They’ve got to get this done because the wolf’s at the door,” —U.S. President Barack Obama. Obama hailed the recapture of Mosul dam Monday as a “major step forward” as a barrage of U.S. airstrikes helped Kurdish and Iraqi forces score the biggest victory of its counteroffensive against the Islamic State militants. “We’ve got a national security interest in making sure our people are protected and in making sure that a savage group that seems willing to slaughter people for no rhyme or reason other than they have not kowtowed — that a group like that is contained because ultimately it can pose a threat to us,” Obama told reporters. Islamic extremists captured the Mosul dam on Aug. 7. Had the dam on the Tigris River had been breached it could have had catastrophic consequences and endangered American Embassy personnel in Baghdad. (Globe & Mail, Aug. 18, 2014)

“The people of Amerli are reaching the end of their strength and the Islamic State’s jackals are waiting for their chance to overrun the town,” —Michael Knights, who has visited the town and describes it now as a “hellish cauldron where 12,000 people are being starved and bombed by ISIS.” Amerli is only 180 kilometres north of Baghdad and the Iraqi army is only 30 km away, but it is powerless in the face of the terrorists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS), said Mr. Knights. U.S. airstrikes could save the town, but America has taken no action. “By the U.S. lifting its little finger, two or three drone strikes are going to save 12,000 people, that’s what makes what is happening there so uniquely dreadful,” he said in an interview. In an article for Foreign Policy magazine, the specialist in the military and security affairs of Iraq, Iran, and the Persian Gulf states added, “This is Iraq’s other humanitarian crisis, the one no one seems to care about.” (National Post, Aug. 15, 2014)

“Beheading Shias is a beautiful thing,” —Tweet from June on a Twitter account believed to belong to Mohamed Shirdon, a young Calgary man who is believed to have been killed in Iraq fighting for ISIS. It’s unclear when he joined the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham but in an ISIS video that surfaced four months ago, Shirdon can be seen burning his Canadian passport and threatening Canada and the United States. Shirdon is one of several Calgary men who went overseas to fight for extremist groups in recent years. In January Calgarian Damian Clairmont died in Syria after converted to Islam following a suicide attempt. In November 2013 Pakistani-Canadian Salman Ashfrafi was blamed for a suicide bombing that killed 19 Iraqis. (National Post, Aug. 15, 2014)  

“It’s a continuation of a trend that has quite a history, and not merely with Proulx but with other radio commentators in Quebec over the last several years,” —Ira Robinson, CIJR Academic Fellow and interim director of the Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies at Concordia University. Prof. Robinson said he has seen a trend for the past six years or so where Quebec radio commentators have increasingly been giving airtime to people with controversial views. “There’s a sort of discourse in francophone Quebec where this sort of thing comes forth. Quebec is the kind of place where these controversial issues are discussed much more openly than in English Canada,” Mr. Robinson said. (National Post, Aug. 13, 2014) 

Contents

PALESTINIANS SAY ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE TARGETS TOP HAMAS COMMANDER IN GAZA (Gaza) —Palestinians on Wednesday accused Israel of attempting to assassinate the top Hamas military commander in the Gaza Strip, killing his wife and child, a day after negotiations for a permanent truce broke down amid renewed rocket fire from Gaza and retaliatory strikes by Israel. Hamas said the Israeli missile strike targeted its top commander, Mohammed Deif, and “opened the gates to hell.” The Israeli F-16 attack hit the Gaza City home of Mohammed Yassin Dalu, reportedly the head of the Hamas rocket division. It is not clear whether either Deif or Dalu survived this attack. Dalu was the target of an Israeli strike on his home in November 2012 that killed 12 people, including four of his children. The shadowy Deif is reported to be the mastermind behind extensive tunnel networks in Gaza. Israeli officials say he has waged terrorist campaigns and an asymmetric war against Israel for decades, and he has survived repeated Israeli attempts to assassinate him, earning him the moniker “the cat with nine lives.” (Washington Post, Aug. 20, 2014)

B’TSELEM’S GAZA WAR STATISTICS UNDER FIRE (Jerusalem) —Two organizations in Israel have cautioned against accepting casualty figures coming out of Gaza. Both the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Center and NGO Monitor criticized the verification methods of the left-wing human rights group B’Tselem for its claims of Gaza casualty numbers that were recently released for Operation Protective Edge. The Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor issued a report in which it concluded that “B’Tselem presents what it terms ‘initial’ and ‘preliminary’ data, but these are inherently unverifiable and based solely on information from Palestinian sources in Hamas-controlled Gaza.” NGO Monitor leveled criticism against B’Tselem for relying on the Hamas Health Ministry in Gaza as its “primary source for casualty claims,” asserting that “B’Tselem has no independent sources of information in Gaza…its only source of independent information is from telephone interviews with Gaza residents, whose claims cannot be verified.” (Jerusalem Post, Aug. 20, 2014)

ISRAEL LETS WOUNDED PALESTINIANS FLY FROM BEN-GURION TO TURKEY FOR MEDICAL AID (Tel Aviv) —On Wednesday Israel permitted 17 wounded Gazans to fly for medical help from Ben-Gurion Airport, which Hamas has targeted,   to Turkey, whose leader has likened Israel to the Nazis. The Foreign Ministry issued a statement Wednesday saying that a second group of 17 Palestinians wounded in the recent fighting will be flown to Turkey for medical treatment. Each patient will be accompanied by one family member. Following the announcement last week of a 72-hour cease-fire, Turkey’s foreign ministry – which along with its newly elected president Recep Tayyip Erdogan – have been vitriolic in their criticism of Israel, approached Jerusalem with a request to transfer wounded Palestinians from Gaza for treatment in Turkey. (Jerusalem Post, Aug. 20, 2014)

HAMAS IN WEST BANK ‘PLANNED TO TOPPLE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY’ (Ramallah) —A large-scale Hamas terrorist formation in the West Bank and Jerusalem planned to destabilize the region through a series of deadly terrorist attacks in Israel and then topple the Fatah-ruled Palestinian Authority, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said Monday. The Shin Bet announcement was a follow to a Jerusalem Post story regarding the indicting of Hamas’s West Bank leader, dozens of his operatives, and a massive plot to recreate Hamas’s West Bank infrastructure on August 7. The plot was orchestrated by overseas Hamas operatives headquartered in Turkey, and centered on a string of mass-casualty terrorist attacks on Israeli targets, the Shin Bet added. The end goal was to destabilize the Palestinian territories and use the instability to carry out a military coup, overthrowing the government of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. (Jerusalem Post, Aug. 18, 2014)

ISLAMIC STATE CLAIMS IT EXECUTED AMERICAN PHOTOJOURNALIST (Damascus) —The Islamic State claimed Tuesday to have beheaded an American photojournalist in retaliation for U.S. airstrikes in Iraq. A video posted on YouTube, later removed, purported to show the execution of James Foley after he recited a statement in which he called the U.S. government “my real killers.” A second prisoner, said to be Steven Joel Sotloff, like Foley an American journalist who disappeared while covering Syria’s civil war, then appears in the video. The masked executioner, speaking in English with what sounds like a British accent, identifies Sotloff and says that “the life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision.” Foley, 40, was working in Syria for the Boston-based news Web site Global­Post when he disappeared on Thanksgiving in 2012. (Washington Post, Aug. 20, 2014)

YAZIDI AND CHRISTIAN LEADERS TO UNITE IN GENEVA, DEMAND UNHRC ACTION (Geneva) —Breen Tahseen, an Iraqi diplomat whose father, Prince Tahseen Saeed Bek, is the leader of the Yazidi people, will join together with leaders from the Iraqi Christian community at a rally tomorrow in Geneva calling for the UN Human Rights Council to meet urgently on the destruction of minorities in Iraq. Organized by the Geneva-based non-governmental human rights group UN Watch, the rally will call on UN rights chief Navi Pillay to take action to convene an urgent session of the 47-nation council on the ISIS atrocities in Iraq against minorities, echoing a recent appeal by more than 20 MPs and human rights activists. UN Watch has also arranged for the Yazidi and Christian leaders to meet with key diplomatic figures in the UNHRC system. (UNWatch, Aug. 18, 2014)

US BANS FLIGHTS OVER SYRIA AS REPORT WARNS OF THREAT TO AIRLINERS (Damascus) —Armed groups in Syria have several hundred portable anti-aircraft missiles that could easily be diverted to extremists and used to destroy commercial planes, according to a new report by an international arms research group. The report was released a few hours after the Federal Aviation Administration issued a notice to US airlines banning all flights in Syrian airspace. Most American and other commercial airlines already have halted flights over and into Syria during the past three years of conflict between the Assad government and insurgents. Citing the threat of missile strikes, the FAA warned American carriers in May 2013 to avoid Syrian airspace, and on Monday this was stepped up to a total ban. (Guardian, Aug. 19, 2014)

PAKISTAN PROTESTERS MARCH ON PARLIAMENT (Islamabad) —The Pakistani government on Tuesday called in the army to protect government and diplomatic buildings in the capital, raising the stakes ahead of a showdown with protesters who want to topple Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and Muslim cleric Tahir ul Qadri led thousands of highly-charged followers to enter Islamabad’s Red Zone, which houses Parliament, the prime minister’s house and office, and numerous embassies and ministries. Mr. Khan announced that if Mr. Sharif doesn’t resign by Wednesday night he would take the protest to the prime minister’s house. Aides to Mr. Sharif and many opposition politicians privately say they are convinced that the protesters are secretly backed by the military, which has been at odds with the 14-month-old government over a range of issues, especially the prime minister’s determination to prosecute former army chief Pervez Musharraf for treason. Mr. Musharraf ousted Mr. Sharif’s last government in 1999 and ruled until 2008. (Wall Street Journal, Aug. 19, 2014)

UK SUPERMARKET SAINSBURY’S REMOVES KOSHER GOODS (London) — A Central London branch of Sainsbury’s, Britain’s third largest supermarket chain, removed UK-made kosher goods from their shelves this weekend in an apparent stand with ‘Free Gaza’ protesters. While the central Twitter account of the national chain denied that it was a protest, customers visiting the store have reported that staff claimed that the goods were being removed to coincide with anti-Israel protests. The news comes shortly after a report about anti-Israel protesters trashing a Tesco store in Birmingham. Sainsbury’s apologized on Monday for removing the kosher food, following an outpouring of outrage on social media. (Breitbart, Aug. 17, 2014)

WHITE HOUSE NOW SCRUTINIZING ISRAELI REQUESTS FOR AMMUNITION (Washington) —White House and State Department officials who were leading U.S. efforts to rein in Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip were caught off guard last month when they learned that the Israeli military had been quietly securing supplies of ammunition from the Pentagon without their approval. Since then the Obama administration has tightened its control on arms transfers to Israel. In addition, current and former American officials say, U.S.-Israel ties have been hurt by leaks that they believe were meant to undercut the administration’s standing by mischaracterizing its position and delay a cease-fire. The battles have driven U.S.-Israeli relations to the lowest point since President Barack Obama took office. (Wall Street Journal, Aug. 14, 2014)

ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS DEMAND END TO US MILITARY AID TO ISRAEL (Los Angeles) —Nearly a dozen anti-Israel protesters were arrested after having been removed from the Los Angeles, California office of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) on Monday afternoon, Aug. 18, according to a report in a far left website. The group included members of Jewish Voice for Peace and American Muslims for Palestine, as well as some clergy members. The protesters staged a sat-in Feinstein’s office and refused to move until their demand was met. They demanded a meeting with Feinstein because they want to prohibit any further U.S. military aid to Israel. Another group staged a sit-in against support for the measure at the senate office of another progressive California senator, Barbara Boxer, but that group was dispersed after a shorter period of time. Taher Herzallah, national campus coordinator with American Muslims for Palestine, is part of the team of activists and clergy who sat in at Feinstein’s office. Herzallah is also a community organizer with the California branch of the American Civil Liberties Union and was an intern with the California office of the Committee on American Islamic Relations. (Times of Israel, Aug. 19, 2014)

20,000 MARCH IN INDIA IN SHOW OF SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL (Kolkata) —In what is being called by organizers the biggest pro-Israel, anti-terrorist rally in recent years, an estimated 20,000 gathered in India on Saturday in a show of solidarity with Israel. Protesters holding pro-Israel banners marched through the streets of Kolkata, while community heads delivered speeches proclaiming Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas. “The destiny of both India and Israel as thriving democracies are intertwined. We both share the same values,” said rally organizer Tapan Ghosh. The August 16 event was organized by a political movement known as Hindu Samhati in memory of Gopal Mukhopadhyay, who, according to press material, is “a local hero who saved many innocent lives during the Great Calcutta Killing in 1946.” (Times of Israel, Aug. 17, 2014)

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