Wednesday’s “News in Review” Round-Up

Media-ocrities of the Week

 

“We won’t agree to recognize something called the Jewish state.”—Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in an interview with Lebanon’s An-Nahhar, reiterating his refusal ever to recognize Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people, and threatening that unless “new ideas” are presented to revive the peace process, the Palestinians again “will go to the United Nations to extract a seat for ‘Palestine’ as a non-member state.” (Jerusalem Post, May 24.)

 

“The [rebirth of Israel constitutes the] greatest theft in history…the most criminal act that humanity has ever seen…[the establishment of a] fascist state upon the ruins of the Palestinian people, which has suffered the greatest and ugliest ethnic cleansing known to modern history. We remember you, all of Palestine. You are present within us…until we return to you, oh Haifa, Acre, and Jaffa.… All the temporary ones [Israelis] will go away.… May their independence collapse, and may Palestine come back to life.”—Excerpt of a May 15 article in the official Palestinian Authority daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, commemorating the founding of the modern state of Israel as a “Nakba”—catastrophe—and reiterating the Palestinian leadership’s commitment to eradicating the Jewish state. (Palestinian Media Watch, May 24.)

 

“Hundreds organized a sit-in…to protest the planting of fake Jewish graves south of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem.… Protesters expressed anger at the deliberate falsification of the Arab-Islamic and Christian history of the city of Jerusalem.… Deputy Head of [Hamas], Sheikh Kamal Al-Khatib, said that occupation authorities seek to steal the land’s history and the geography [by] convincing the world that Jerusalem [has] contain[ed] Jewish graves for hundreds of years.…”—Excerpt of an article published in Al Qassam, the media outlet of Hamas’ armed wing, claiming Israel is “trying to legitimize its presence [in Jerusalem] by planting fake graves to show that it is the land of Jews.” (Independent Media Review and Analysis, May 29.)

 

Weekly Quotes

 

“We will maintain intensive contacts with our Iranian counterparts to prepare a further meeting in Moscow.”—European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, following two days of fruitless nuclear negotiations between world powers and Iran in Baghdad, announcing that both sides have committed to meeting again in Moscow on June 18-19. Despite not reaching any formal agreements in Baghdad, which followed an earlier round of unsuccessful talks in Istanbul in April, Ashton justified the decision to continue the diplomatic track by invoking “Iran’s readiness to address the issue of 20 percent [uranium] enrichment.” (Reuters, May 24.)

 

“We have no reason to cede on 20 percent.”—Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, rejecting the possibility of halting uranium enrichment to 20% purity. He also indicated that Iran would not abide by a second key Western demand, granting the International Atomic Energy Agency access to the Parchin military site—at which the IAEA suspects Iran of engaging in nuclear weapons development—as “reasons and document[ation] have still not been presented by the agency to convince [Tehran] to give permission for this visit.” (Jerusalem Post, May 27.)

 

“As we lay the groundwork for these talks, we will keep up the pressure as part of our dual-track approach. All of our sanctions will remain in place and continue to move forward during this period.”—U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, announcing there will be no easing of sanctions against Iran prior to next month’s talks in Moscow. (Reuters, May 24.)

 

“This approach of pressure concurrent with negotiations will never work. These countries should not enter negotiations with such illusions and misinterpretations.”—Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast, warning Western countries that pressuring Tehran with sanctions while engaged in nuclear talks will jeopardize chances of reaching an agreement. (Reuters, May 29.)

 

“Israel is blessed to be a nation possessing superior technology. These achievements of ours open up all kinds of possibilities.”—Israeli Vice Premier Moshe Ya’alon, in what Israeli media is interpreting as an insinuation to Israel’s involvement in the creation of the “Flame” computer virus, the latest piece of malicious software to attack Iranian installations. Dubbed “the ultimate spy,” Flame is the third major cyber weapon directed against Iran, after Stuxnet in 2010 and more recently its data-stealing cousin Duqu. (Jerusalem Post, May 29.)

 

“This is not an imaginary fixation of mine or anyone else’s. You can hear it directly from the leaders of the Iranian regime, and you can see the actual steps they are taking to create the weapons of mass destruction for that end. That is what is similar between today and previous ages where the hatred of the Jews permeated parts of humanity. [The difference, however,] is that today we have a state to protect ourselves.…”—Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, imploring the international community to take at face value the genocidal threats against Israel emanating from Iran, while reassuring the Jewish people that the existence of the State of Israel has “transformed the Jewish condition. For generations we were totally helpless against this kind of incitement, hatred and violence. Today we are not helpless.” (Jerusalem Post, May 25.)

 

“We took this action [to expel Syrian chargé d’affaires Zuheir Jabbour] in response to the massacre in the village of Houla—an absolutely indefensible, vile, despicable massacre against innocent children and women, shot at point-blank range by regime thugs, the shabiha, and aided and abetted by the Iranians, who were actually bragging about it over the weekend.”—US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, “holding the Syrian government responsible” for last Friday’s slaughter of more than 100 civilians in the Syrian town of Houla. [The deputy head of Iran’s Quds Force publicly confirmed on Saturday the Islamic Republic’s role in training and assisting the Syrian forces which perpetrated the Houla assault—Ed.] (Wall Street Journal, May 30.)

 

“We palpably feel the Zionist regime’s hand in Syria’s internal developments. Any crime committed [in Syria] can be traced back to the regime’s hirelings.”—Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast, blaming Israel for the Houla massacre. (Independent Media Review and Analysis, May 29.)

 

“We believe consideration in the Security Council of any new measures to influence the situation now would be premature.”—Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov, describing Sunday’s nonbinding UN Security Council statement condemning the carnage in Houla as a “strong enough signal to Syria,” while reiterating Russia’s “categorical opposition to any external intervention in the Syrian conflict.” (Wall Street Journal, May 30.)

 

“These walls built by Israel along the border with Palestine and Lebanon [and Egypt—Ed.] show that the project of ‘Greater Israel’ is over.”—Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, commemorating on Liberation Day the IDF’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000, and calling Israel’s construction of walls along three of its borders a testament to the victory of armed “resistance groups.” (Jerusalem Post, May 25.)

 

“Israel is our closest friend and democratic ally in the Middle East. Adding Israel to the Visa Waiver Program will boost business, tourism, and job creation here in the U.S. and enhance cultural ties between our two nations.”—U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), after introducing in conjunction with Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) the Visa Waiver for Israel Act, legislation which if approved will allow Israeli nationals to enter the US as temporary visitors for tourism or business for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa. (JTA, May 22.)

 

“Sebag has been under threat for years and has bodyguards assigned to him.”—Israeli police spokesman Eran Shaked, after a bomb was discovered and successfully defused near the parking space of Nahariya mayor Jacky Sebag. (Jerusalem Post, May 21.)

 

“We contend that modern anti-Semitism lives in the disproportionate criticism Israel receives, and the refusal to accept its right to exist. The world cannot take the words of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran as mere rhetoric and risk appeasing these malicious actors in the same way the world appeased the Nazis.… Under our prime minister, and under this foreign minister, Canada will stand with the Jewish state and people as they struggle to protect their very right to exist.”—Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird, reinforcing the steadfast support of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government for the Jewish state. (Huffington Post, May 24.)

 

“I do not struggle with the question of whether it was worth it or not. A person’s life, any person’s life, is more valuable than anything.”—Nadav Ben-Yehuda, 24, an Israeli mountain climber who saved the life of his Turkish friend during an excursion on Everest. For his heroics, Ben-Yehuda will next month receive a Presidential Medal of Honor from Shimon Peres. (Ynet News, May 28.)

 

Short Takes

 

GAP STILL EXISTS BETWEEN ISRAEL, U.S. OVER IRAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM—(Jerusalem) Senior Israeli officials reportedly have expressed dissatisfaction to US counterparts over what they consider non-satisfactory demands made by world powers to Iran during last week’s nuclear talks in Baghdad. According to one source, “The Iranians arrived at the Baghdad talks to gain time.… They have given nothing up to this point…but gained weeks to continue their nuclear program.” The statement came a day after a US delegation, headed by U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, arrived in Israel to brief a contingent which included Defense Minister Ehud Barak about the Baghdad negotiations. Following the meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu conveyed disappointment, saying “It was expected that the world powers would ask Iran to stop all enrichment in light of the [country’s] serial violations. Instead, they are lowering their demands.” Netanyahu then reiterated Israel’s long-standing position: that Iran stop all uranium enrichment, ship its existing stockpiles outside the country, and dismantle the underground nuclear facility near Qom. (Haaretz, May 28 & Wall Street Journal, May 30.)

 

IAEA: IRAN BOOSTING SENSITIVE NUCLEAR CAPACITY—(Vienna) According to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s latest quarterly report, Iran has raised its capacity to manufacture nuclear material by 50% by installing hundreds more uranium enrichment centrifuges at its underground Fordow facility. The UN nuclear watchdog also disclosed that inspectors recently found traces of uranium at the bunkered site refined to at least 27% purity—a higher level than previously reported (20%)—raising fears that the Islamic Republic is working towards enriching uranium to 90 percent, bomb-grade material. Moreover, the report revealed evidence of “extensive activities” at Iran’s Parchin military complex, access to which has repeatedly been denied to IAEA monitors. (Reuters, May 25.)

 

INT’L OUTCRY OVER SYRIA MASSACRE; 109 DEAD—(Jerusalem) Multiple voices within the international community have condemned last week’s massacre by Syrian government forces of at least 109 civilians, including dozens of women and children, in the village of Houla. Initially, activists reported that the Syrian army unleashed an artillery barrage on protestors; however, the UN human rights office has since revealed that most of the victims were summarily executed. The US, Canada, France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia and Turkey protested the killings by expelling Syrian envoys. Syrian state television blamed the attack on “terrorist” gangs. (Jerusalem Post, May 27 & Reuters, May 29.)

 

OFFICIAL EGYPT RESULTS PIT MURSI, SHAFIQ IN RUN-OFF; PROTESTORS TORCH SHAFIQ HQ—(Jerusalem) According to official results, Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Mursi has won the first round of Egypt’s presidential election and will face off against ex-air force chief Ahmed Shafiq in a run-off scheduled for June 16 and 17. In response, thousands of protestors torched Shafiq’s campaign headquarters, furious that the last prime minister to serve Hosni Mubarak had advanced to the final voting stage. Analysts had predicted that a Shafiq-Mursi run-off would spark outrage, leading to a ballot box struggle between a symbol of the military-based autocracy of the last six decades and one of the emerging Islamist movements. A new Egyptian president is scheduled to be sworn in by July 1. (Jerusalem Post, May 28 & Reuters, May 29.)

 

SAUDI KING VOWED TO OBTAIN NUCLEAR BOMB AFTER IRAN—(Jerusalem) Former senior U.S. diplomat Dennis Ross has revealed that Saudi King Abdullah explicitly warned the U.S. in 2009 that if Iran obtains nuclear weapons Saudi Arabia will seek to do so as well. According to Ross, during a meeting with Abdullah in April of that year the Saudi monarch vowed that “If they [Iran] get nuclear weapons, we will get nuclear weapons.” Ross’ direct quote of the Saudi king is the first public affirmation by a current or former US official of the Saudi position and of the threat of a Middle East nuclear arms race if Tehran acquires an atomic bomb. It follows comments in June 2011 by Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to Washington, warning that the existence of an Iranian bomb “would compel Saudi Arabia…to pursue policies [with] possibly dramatic consequences.” This past February, the London Times quoted a “senior Saudi official” as saying Riyadh would launch a “twin-track nuclear weapons program” should Tehran realize its nuclear ambitions. (Haaretz, May 30.)

 

TURKISH COURT INDICTS FOUR ISRAELI MILITARY LEADERS—(Jerusalem) A Turkish court has approved indictments against four senior Israeli military figures for their alleged involvement in the 2010 raid on the Mavi Marmara, in which nine Turkish nationals were killed trying to breach Israel’s legal blockade of Gaza. Istanbul’s Seventh Criminal Court unanimously accepted the 144-page indictment, which seeks multiple life sentences for former Israeli chief of staff, Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi; former naval forces commander, Vice Adm. Eliezer Marom; former military intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin; and former head of air force intelligence, Brig. Gen. Avishai Levy. One senior Israeli official responded to the indictments by saying the Turkish government had apparently decided to kill what was left of the diplomatic relationship between the two countries. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made “very clear” to IDF soldiers and officers that “the State of Israel will always stand at your side, everywhere and everyplace. You defended us, we will defend you.” (NY Times, May 28 & Jerusalem Post, May 29.)

 

US SENATE DISTINGUISHES BETWEEN PALESTINIAN REFUGEES AND DESCENDANTS—(Washington) The US Senate Appropriations Committee has approved language that differentiates between Palestinian refugees alive in 1948 and their descendants. The amendment to the foreign appropriations bill, initiated by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and passed last week, requires the State Department to determine and disclose within one year the number of people “whose place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who were displaced as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict; and who are descendants” of those people. According to a senior Senate aide involved in shaping the amendment, “This will have major implications for future [Israeli-Palestinian] negotiations over final status issues with regard to refugees,” as the new requirement, if heeded, would negate Palestinian efforts to leverage the “right of return” by aligning U.S. policy with Israel on the matter. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees estimates there are approximately 5 million Palestinians currently eligible for its services, whereas a mere 30,000 Palestinians would qualify under the stricter definition of refugee. (JTA, May 24.)

 

DOCTOR WHO HELPED U.S. FIND BIN LADEN GIVEN JAIL TERM—(Peshawar) Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani doctor who helped the Central Intelligence Agency uncover Osama bin Laden’s location, has been convicted of treason by a Pakistani tribal court and sentenced to 33 years in prison. In January, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta confirmed that the United States had been working with Afridi in the months before the raid on Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad. He said that the doctor had been running a hepatitis B vaccination program as a ruse to obtain DNA evidence from members of Bin Laden’s family, who were thought to be hiding in the city. Afridi’s fate has heightened tensions between Pakistan and the United States, at a time when the two countries are already at odds over reopening supply lines through Pakistan to Afghanistan. Last week, a US Senate panel voted 30-0 to cut aid to Pakistan by a symbolic $33-million, one million for each year of jail time handed to Afridi. (NY Times, May 23 & National Post, May 25.)

 

URI BLAU TO FACE AGGRAVATED ESPIONAGE CHARGE—(Jerusalem) Israel’s attorney-general has announced that Uri Blau, the Haaretz journalist who accepted and published classified IDF documents from former IDF OC Central Command secretary Anat Kamm, will stand trial on charges of aggravated espionage. Blau will be charged under Israel’s Penal Code, which stipulates that “if a person obtained, collected, prepared, recorded or kept secret information without authorization, but without intent to harm state security, he will face a maximum seven years in prison.” For her part, Kamm, now aged 22, is serving a four-and-a-half year prison term following her February plea-bargain conviction. (Jerusalem Post, May 30.)

 

OHIO MAN GETS SIX YEARS FOR PLOT TO SMUGGLE MONEY TO HEZBOLLAH—(Cleveland) An Ohio man has been sentenced to more than six years in federal prison after pleading guilty to planning to ship $200,000 to Hezbollah in Lebanon in order to target Israel. According to court records, Hor Akl, 39, a dual US-Lebanese citizen, began meeting with a man, an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in August 2009 over plans to smuggle money to Hezbollah by stuffing it inside a 2004 Chevrolet TrailBlazer and shipping the vehicle by container ship. Akl also told the informant he had previously smuggled $100,000 to Lebanon by hiding money in appliances. Hor’s wife, Amera, also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide support to a designated foreign terror group and is serving a 40-month prison sentence. (Reuters, May 21.)

 

IDF CENSORS VIDEO OF PALESTINIAN USING HUMAN SHIELD—(Jerusalem) The Israel Defense Forces has imposed an embargo on a video documenting a Palestinian terrorist using a woman as a human shield. The incident took place two weeks ago near the Gaza border, when seven Palestinians planting explosive devices north of Beit Lahia were intercepted by IDF soldiers. After the soldiers opened fire, one of the terrorists ran towards a group of farmers, grabbed a woman and used her as a shield until taking cover behind a building. According to an IDF spokesman, the video has been censored “for security reasons.” (Ynet News, May 27.)

 

WALLENBERG MONUMENT IN BUDAPEST DEFILED—(New York) Vandals have defiled a monument in Budapest to Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust. According to pictures published by Hungarian media, four or five severed pigs’ feet were strung on rope and affixed to the statue, one of them positioned by Wallenberg’s head. While a neutral Swedish diplomat in Budapest after the German occupation in 1944, Wallenberg issued Swedish travel documents—known as “Wallenberg passports”—to at least 20,000 Jews and also set up more than 30 safe houses for Jews. This year, the centenary of Wallenberg’s birth, is being marked in Hungary as Raoul Wallenberg Year. (JTA, May 23.)

 

CANNES CANCELS ANTI-SEMITIC FILM SCREENING—(New York) The Cannes film festival screening of “The Anti-Semite,” starring French comic Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala, has been cancelled. The film, produced by the Iranian Documentary and Experimental Film Center, pokes fun at the Auschwitz concentration camp and includes a cameo appearance by Robert Faurisson, a convicted Holocaust denier. Last month, Quebec’s largest concert promoter, Evenko, cancelled four Montreal shows by Dieudonne, who has been convicted of inciting hatred in France. (JTA, May 28.)