WEDNESDAY’S “NEWS IN REVIEW” ROUND-UP

 We welcome your comments to this and any other CIJR publication. Please address your response to:  Rob Coles, Publications Chairman, Canadian Institute for Jewish Research, PO Box 175, Station  H, Montreal QC H3G 2K7 – Tel: (514) 486-5544 – Fax:(514) 486-8284; E-mail: rob@isranet.wpsitie.com

 

 

On Topic Links

 

Jews Stood up to the U.S. Government 40 Years Ago, and Should Again on Iran: Natan Sharansky, Washington Post, July 24, 2015

The Iranian Nuclear Program and Regional Instablity: Dore Gold, Rubin Center, July 16, 2015

Turkey Uses ISIS as Excuse to Attack Kurds: Uzay Bulut, Gatestone Institute, July 26, 2015

For Erdogan, Turkish Assault is About Containing the Kurds as Much as Fighting Isil: Richard Spencer, Telegraph, July 25, 2015

 

“Former US special envoy to the Middle East Dennis Ross admitted in his 2004 book, The Missing Peace, that he advised then-president Bill Clinton against releasing Pollard in the framework of the 1998 Wye Accords negotiated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his first term … Ross argued that Pollard was simply far too valuable as a bargaining chip vis-à-vis Israel to be released cheaply. Ross thus furnished us with the definitive explanation for Pollard’s inexcusably drawn-out agony. Pollard has long suspected as much and had urged that he not be used as a “sweetener” to persuade Israel to agree to dangerous unilateral concessions…The very thought that Pollard would now be exploited to “sweeten” both Israeli opinion and that of American Jews on the Iran issue is morally repugnant in the extreme.” — Editorial (Jerusalem Post, July 28, 2015)
 

“I fear that what could happen is that, if Congress were to overturn it, our friends in Israel could actually wind up being more isolated. And more blamed. And we would lose Europe and China and Russia with respect to whatever military action we might have to take. Because we will have turned our backs on a very legitimate program that allows us to put their program to the test over the next few years.” — US Secretary of State John Kerry, warning that should Congress vote against the Iranian nuclear deal signed in Vienna, Israel could find itself more isolated in the international arena.  (Times of Israel, July 24, 2015) 

 

“The continued radical stances by the Canadian officials against Iran, specially under the present conditions, show that the Canadian government’s approach towards Iran lacks a logical rationale…By following the Zionist regime’s stances Canada’s conservative government is quickly moving towards a self-imposed isolation in the international community and even among its old allies.” — Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Marziyeh Afkham. Canada severed diplomatic relations with Iran in 2012, with its then-foreign minister John Baird citing the Tehran regime as “among the world’s worst violators of human rights.” Earlier this month, Canada’s Foreign Minister Rob Nicholson was decidedly reserved in his reaction to the nuclear accord reached with Tehran, saying his country would maintain its economic sanctions against Iran for the time being, even if other Western powers drop them. (Times of Israel, July 24, 2015)

 

“This president’s foreign policy is the most feckless in American history…He’s so naive he would trust the Iranians and he would take the Israelis and basically march them to the door of the oven.” —  Republican Mike Huckabee. Huckabee has faced broad criticism after likening the nuclear deal to “marching the Israelis to the door of the oven,” a reference to the Holocaust. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) criticized Huckabee for his remarks. National Director Jonathan A. Greenblatt said they were “completely out of line and unacceptable.”  (Fox News, July 27, 2015)

 

“Respected Mr. Huckabee: Nobody marches the Jews to ovens anymore…To this end we established the State of Israel and the IDF; and, if need be, we will know how to defend ourselves, by ourselves.” — Israeli Transportation Minister Israel Katz. Katz agreed that the Iran deal must not allow the “Iranian terrorism kingdom” to become a nuclear threshold state, but said that the comments by Huckabee were “wrong and unnecessary.” (Jerusalem Post, July 28, 2015)

 

“Those of us who believe that the nuclear agreement just signed between world powers and Iran is dangerously misguided are now compelled to criticize Israel’s best friend and ally, the government of the United States.” — Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky, in The Washington Post. Sharansky acknowledged that standing up against the White House in support of “what we think is right” for both Jews and the world, puts American Jewry at odds with the “power best able to protect us and promote stability.” Nevertheless, he said Jews must even risk giving the impression “that we somehow prefer war” rather than join those who believe “peace is on the horizon.” The human rights activist noted that the U.S. Jewish community similarly stood up to the White House forty years ago in a historic move that helped secure freedom for Soviet Jews at the time. (Algemeiner, July 26, 2015)

 

“This is the simple message that we should be sending to Iran: When Iran stands up and they chant, “Death to America,” all we need to say is, “You first!” — Allen West, former congressman and former U.S. Army combat paratrooper. Last week as President Obama was attending a fundraiser and a Broadway play in New York City, over 10,000 protesters poured into the streets of Times Square for a Stop Iran rally. Giving the most powerful and memorable speech of the night was Allen West, who excoriated the president for negotiating nuclear weapons with Iran while ignoring those dissenting voices gathered in the city in lieu of a night out. West quoted Alexander the Great when he said, “I would not fear an army of lions if they were led by a sheep, but I would fear an army of sheep if they were to be led by a lion.” West then added, “This great nation is a nation of lions that is currently being led by the greatest of sheep that we have ever seen in our 239 years of existence.” (Truth Revolt, July 23, 2015)

 

“Iran’s staggering execution toll for the first half of this year paints a sinister picture of the machinery of the state carrying out premeditated, judicially-sanctioned killings on a mass scale…If Iran’s authorities maintain this horrifying execution rate we are likely to see more than 1,000 state-sanctioned deaths by the year’s end.” —Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa program. The human rights group is concerned over the “staggering” increase of executions in the Islamic Republic of Iran this year, the group said in a statement published on Thursday. According to Amnesty, Iranian authorities are believed to have executed an “astonishing” 694 people between January 1 and July 15 this year. The group added that the “unprecedented spike in executions in the country,” was the equivalent of “executing more than three people per day…At this shocking pace, Iran is set to surpass the total number of executions in the country recorded by Amnesty International for the whole of last year,” the statement said. (Algemeiner, July 24, 2015)

 

“Sometimes, in some circumstances, we are forced to give up areas to move those forces to the areas that we want to hold on to…There is a lack of human resources…. Everything is available [for the army], but there is a shortfall in human capacity.” — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. In his first public speech in a year, Assad said the country’s civil war has resulted in depleted reserves of soldiers, and swathes of territory have been lost. Despite admitting to military setbacks, loss of territory and a shortage of troops, Assad said he is determined to win the war, which entered its fifth year in March. According to the BBC, the Syrian army previously had 300,000 troops, but around 80,000 have been killed in the war. The war in Syria has killed an estimated 230,000 people and wounded more than one million. Four million refugees have fled the country, while millions remain displaced inside Syria’s borders. (Newsweek, July 27, 2015)

 

“Genocidal intent can clearly be seen in Islamic State’s ideology and mission which is directed toward the creation of a global caliphate that has been purged of every man, woman, and child deemed to be an ‘unbeliever’ through either forced conversion or death…In Iraq, this has manifested most clearly in the insurgency’s actions against Christians and Yezidis. They have been killed, tortured, kidnapped, raped, sold into slavery, and forcibly removed from their territorial homeland.” —Former Congressman Frank Wolf, R-Va., in a letter to President Obama. Wolf, now a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the 21^st Century Wilberforce Initiative, a Christian human rights group, is calling on the U.S. government and the United Nations to declare the rampage a genocide. (IPT News, July 29, 2015)

 

Contents

 

TURKEY URGED BY NATO TO SHOW RESTRAINT AGAINST KURDS (Ankara) — NATO urged Turkey to show restraint on Tuesday as its war against the Kurds in the far south-east showed signs of slipping out of control and damaging the US-led coalition’s fight against Islamic State. Turkey last week joined the coalition’s bombing raids on I.S. in northern Syria, as well as allowing US jets to use two of its air bases to stage its own raids. However, Turkish jets have also begun bombing bases of the outlawed PKK, the Kurdish guerrilla group, after it claimed responsibility for killing three police officers in Turkey last week. The PKK’s Syrian affiliate, the YPG, has been successfully fighting I.S. in Syria in co-ordination with US air strikes, so the Western allies fear that the gains from Turkey’s joining the raids on I.S. will be offset against the damage done to the Kurds. (Telegraph, July 29, 2015)

 

RIOTS AT TEMPLE MOUNT ON TISHA B’AV (Jerusalem) — On Sunday morning, dozens of Muslims rioted on the Temple Mount. They confronted the large police forces that had been deployed at the site in fear of clashes during the Tisha B’Av services. The rioters hurled stones, flares and an unidentified liquid substance at the police. The riots began after the Jerusalem Police collected information regarding masked young Arabs that hid inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount overnight. They gathered stones and prepared Molotov cocktails inside the mosque in order to confront the police and disrupt the Tisha B’Av services. (Jerusalem Online, July 26, 2015)

 

ARAB PARLIAMENT MEMBER DENIES JEWISH CLAIM TO TEMPLE MOUNT, SPARKING OUTRAGE (Jerusalem) — An Arab-Israeli parliament member drew criticism from Jewish Israelis on Monday when he claimed that Jews have no religious ties to the Temple Mount. The site of the long-destroyed ancient Jewish Temples and the current-day Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Temple Mount has long been a political and religious flashpoint. The remarks by Masud Ganaim of the Joint (Arab) List political party came a day after clashes between masked Muslim rioters and Israeli police marred the holy Jewish fast day of Tisha B’Av. Tensions were already simmering after an incident last week in which Muslim women cursed Jewish women on a visit to the Mount. One of the Jewish women shouted back, “Muhammad is a pig.” (Washington Post, July 27, 2015)

 

SEVERAL KILLED IN REPORTED ISRAELI STRIKE IN SYRIA (Damascus) — Several people were killed in a reported Israeli airstrike on a car in the Syrian Golan Heights near the border with Israel Wednesday. The three men killed were identified as members of militias affiliated with Iran, according to Lebanese media. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that five people were killed in the strike. Israeli officials have raised alarms over the presence of Iranian and Hezbollah fighters using positions in the Syrian Golan, partially held by rebel forces, to attack Israel. In January, Israel reportedly carried out an airstrike on a group of Iranian and Hezbollah fighters, killing six people, including Hezbollah commander Jihad Mughniyeh and an Iranian general. (Times of Israel, July 29, 2015)

 

AFGHAN INTELLIGENCE: TALIBAN LEADER MULLAH OMAR DEAD (Kabul) — Afghanistan’s main intelligence agency said Wednesday that the reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has been dead for more than two years. The one-eyed, secretive head of the Taliban and an al-Qaida ally led a bloody insurgency against U.S.-led forces after they toppled him from his rule in Afghanistan in 2001. He has not been seen in public since fleeing the invasion over the border into Pakistan. It was not immediately clear why his death was only being announced now. The confirmation comes two days before the Afghan government and the Taliban are to hold their second round of official peace talks in Pakistan. (New York Times, July 29, 2015)

 

BOKO HARAM: CHILD BOMBER HITS DAMATURU (Abuja) — A girl aged about ten has carried out a suicide bombing in north-eastern Nigeria, killing at least sixteen people. The attack took place near a crowded market in the city of Damaturu in Yobe state. About fifty people were wounded. No group has said it was behind the attack but Boko Haram have been blamed for similar bombings in recent months. Two female suicide bombers killed nine people in the city earlier in July. Yobe police said that the child detonated her explosives in a crowd of people being screened by security services before they were let into the market. In the previous attack on 17 July, two female bombers – one also aged about 10 – killed people waiting to say prayers for the Muslim festival of Eid. (BBC, July 26, 2015)

 

SOMALIA HOTEL TRUCK BOMB TOLL RISES TO FIFTEEN (Mogadishu) — The massive truck bomb that killed fifteen people, including a Kenyan diplomat, and wrecked Somalia’s premier hotel, the Jazeera, has stunned the capital and raised fears that the Islamic extremist al-Shabab are escalating their violence. The scene at the site was grisly, with the front sheared off of the five-story luxury hotel that once housed diplomats and visiting heads of state. The damage echoed the decades of conflict in Mogadishu that once left much of the city as rubble. Security officials link the attack to setbacks by al-Shabab in the field where they have been driven out of Mogadishu and strongholds in the countryside by combined African Union and Somali forces. (Washington Post, July 27, 2015)  

 

MILLIONS IN YEMEN ON THE BRINK OF STARVATION (Sana’a) — More than six million people in Yemen are on the verge of starvation, Oxfam warned, adding that months of war and a blockade were pushing an additional 25,000 people into hunger every day. One in two of Yemen’s people – nearly 13 million – are now struggling to find enough to eat. Nearly 4,000 people have been killed and more than 1.2 million displaced in a conflict between Houthi rebels and forces loyal to exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Oxfam said the number of hungry people had risen by 2.3 million to 12.9 million since March, when a Saudi-led coalition backing Hadi began bombarding the Houthis and imposed a blockade in a bid to cut off arms supplies. (Globe & Mail, July 28, 2015)

 

LAWYER URGES IRAN PRISON RELEASE FOR JOURNALIST (Teheran) — The lawyer for a Washington Post journalist facing trial in Iran on charges including espionage pressed for his immediate release from prison following the nuclear accord between Tehran and world powers. Her comments did not, however, include details of the next step in the closed-door proceedings against Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, who has been in Iranian custody for more than a year. He has denied all the allegations against him. Last week, President Obama said U.S. officials will not “relent” until Iran frees Rezaian and two other American citizens known to be detained there. Obama also demanded that Iran offer further information on the whereabouts of a former FBI agent who was last seen in that country in 2007. (Washington Post, July 28, 2015)

 

CANADA BUYS OWN IRON DOME (Ottawa) — Canada said  it will buy missile defense radars modeled after Israel’s Iron Dome from German defense contractor Rheinmetall. The defense ministry put the cost of the ten medium range radar systems at CAD $243.3 million. Canada’s Defense Minister Jason Kenney hailed the deal, saying the technology had proved useful for Israel. The ministry said the radar systems are “capable of detecting hostile indirect fire, locating the position of the enemy weapon and calculating the point of impact of a projectile, as well as simultaneously tracking multiple airborne threats.” The delivery of the radar systems is expected to begin in 2017. (Arutz Sheva, July 29, 2015)

 

GROUP CALLS FOR J STREET TO BE TOSSED OUT OF JEWISH COMMUNITY (Washington) — A prominent interfaith organization is calling for the ejection of the anti-Israel group J Street from the Jewish community due to its support for a recently inked nuclear accord with Iran. Just a week after the announcement of a nuclear deal with Iran, Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT) called out J Street for its connection to a range of shadowy organizations that are funding a major pro-Iran push. In April, when the framework of the agreement was announced, J Street jointly released a supportive statement with the pro-Tehran National Iranian-American Council (NIAC) and the Arab American Institute (AAI). Once the deal was struck, J Street undertook a multi-million dollar campaign to encourage American Jews to support the deal. (Washington Free Beacon, July 24, 2015)

 

STUDY: MOST JEWISH STUDENTS FACED HOSTILITIES ON NORTH AMERICAN CAMPUSES (New York) — Most Jewish undergraduates have encountered anti-Israel and/or anti-Semitic attitudes on campus, but they have not diminished their feelings of connection to Israel, a new study about anti-Semitism at North American universities found. According to the Brandeis University study, a few schools, among them Canadian universities and schools in the California state system, have “particularly high levels of hostility toward Jews or Israel.” The online survey of over 3,000 North American college students found that one-third of respondents reported having been verbally harassed during the past year because they were Jewish. (JTA, July 28, 2015)

 

ROMANIA BANS HOLOCAUST DENIAL, FASCIST SYMBOLS (Bucharest) — Romania’s president has signed into law legislation that punishes Holocaust denial and the promotion of the fascist Legionnaires’ Movement with prison sentences. The legislation also bans fascist, racist or xenophobic organizations and symbols, and promoting people guilty of crimes against humanity by up to three years in prison. About 280,000 Jews and 11,000 Roma, or Gypsies, were killed during the pro-fascist regime of Marshal Ion Antonescu. Romania has a few right-wing fringe groups such as Noua Dreapta, or New Right, which could be affected. Noua Dreapta’s followers closely adhere to the Romanian Orthodox Church and support Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the leader of the 1930s ultra-nationalist Iron Guard movement, which was active in Romania from 1927 to 1941. (Times of Israel, July 22, 2015)

 

MORE THAN 200 FRENCH JEWS ARRIVE IN ISRAEL AS NEW IMMIGRANTS (Jerusalem) — More than 20,000 French Jews have moved to Israel over the past five years, with a record of over 7,200 French Jews making aliyah in 2014. The coastal city of Netanya is the top destination for French immigrants to Israel, followed by Tel Aviv-Yafo, Jerusalem, Ashdod and Raanana. France has seen an 84 percent increase in antisemitic attacks recorded during the first quarter of 2015 over the corresponding period last year. The worst of the attacks this year occurred on Jan. 9, when an Islamist killed four Jewish shoppers at a kosher supermarket. (Jerusalem Post, July 29, 2015)

 

ISRAELI BASEBALL PLAYER SELECTED IN MLB DRAFT FOR 1ST TIME (San Diego) —On the mound, Dean Kremer looks just like any other top-rated baseball prospect, whipping 90 mph fastballs and snapping nasty curves. When the 19-year-old pitcher greets his teammates in the dugout after striking out the side, however, he is speaking Hebrew, not English. The 6-foot-2 Kremer is the golden boy of Israeli baseball, the first citizen to be selected in the major league draft. Though he was born and raised in Stockton, California, and is also a U.S. citizen, the son of Israeli parents identifies strongly as Israeli himself and spends his summers in the Jewish State. He’s the ace of Israel’s national team and the San Diego Padres selected him in the 38th round of the draft in June. (AP, July 22, 2015)

 

TEVA BUYS ALLERGAN GENERIC DRUG BUSINESS FOR $40.5B (Tel Aviv) — Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. said Monday it is purchasing Dublin-based Allergan PLC’s generic pharmaceuticals business for $40.5 billion, in what Israeli analysts called the largest-ever acquisition by an Israeli company. Word of the acquisition saw Teva shares shoot up 13 per cent in pre-opening trading on the Nasdaq. Trading in Teva shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange halted over the news of the sale. The Israeli pharmaceutical giant is the world’s largest generic drugmaker, Israel’s largest drug company,  and has long been a source of pride for Israelis. The company dates back to 1901, when its founders launched a small importer of medications. (CBC, July 27, 2015)

 

On Topic Links 

 

Jews Stood up to the U.S. Government 40 Years Ago, and Should Again on Iran: Natan Sharansky, Washington Post, July 24, 2015 —These days, like many Israelis and American Jews, I find myself in a precarious and painful situation.

The Iranian Nuclear Program and Regional Instablity: Dore Gold, Rubin Center, July 16, 2015 —I’ve been asked to speak about the Iranian nuclear program, at a conference dealing with regime collapse and sectarian war.  They seem to be separate subjects, but I’m going to try to merge them in my brief remarks.

Turkey Uses ISIS as Excuse to Attack Kurds: Uzay Bulut, Gatestone Institute, July 26, 2015 —Turkey’s government seems to be waging a new war against the Kurds, now struggling to get an internationally recognized political status in Syrian Kurdistan.

For Erdogan, Turkish Assault is About Containing the Kurds as Much as Fighting Isil: Richard Spencer, Telegraph, July 25, 2015 —Turkey’s decision to send fighter jets against Isil positions in Syria and open its Incirlik and Pirinçlik air bases to US jets is a step change in its involvement in the fight against militant jihad.