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Contents: | Weekly Quotes | Short Takes | On Topic Links
MEDIA-OCRITY OF THE WEEK: “Nothing excuses terrorism. I condemn it categorically. It is inconceivable, though, that security measures alone will stop the violence. As I warned the Security Council last week, Palestinian frustration and grievances are growing under the weight of nearly a half-century of occupation. Ignoring this won’t make it disappear. No one can deny that the everyday reality of occupation provokes anger and despair, which are major drivers of violence and extremism and undermine any hope of a negotiated two-state solution.” — UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, responding to criticism over his previous comments at a session of the UN Security Council. In connection with the wave of deadly Palestinian terror attacks, Ban had said that it was “human nature to react to occupation.” (New York Times, Jan. 31, 2016)
What to do About Iran?: Sheryl Saperia, National Post, Jan. 28, 2016
Syria Talks Are Complicated by Competing Opposition Groups: Karen Zraick, New York Times, Jan. 29, 2016
Germany’s Migrant Deportation Plan: “Political Charade”: Soeren Kern, Gatestone Institute, Feb. 1, 2016
The Eichmann Letter and Ban Ki-Moon: Rabbi Benjamin Blech, Aish, Jan. 30, 2016
WEEKLY QUOTES
“Yes, it is outrageous that Ban Ki Moon essentially called terror attacks a natural result of “occupation,”… But that wasn’t the strangest part of the speech. The title of Ban Ki-Moon’s talk was “Secretary-General’s remarks to the Security Council on the Situation in the Middle East.” There were 52 paragraphs in the speech … Of those 52, three were about Lebanon. Two referred to Syria – one about refugees and one about the Golan. The entire rest of the speech was about Israel and the Palestinians. The Secretary General of the UN gives an overview of the Middle East without mentioning Syrian atrocities, without mentioning Iraqi instability, without even mentioning ISIS. Nothing about Iran. Nothing about Saudi Arabia, which is killing more civilians in Yemen than Israel did in Gaza. Nothing about Egypt or Libya. Not a word about Kurds. On the contrary – Ban Ki Moon implied that if only Israel would just give some more concessions, then the rest of the region would be inspired to make peace…The word “obsession” hardly does justice to the single-minded Israel fetish at the UN.” — Elder of Ziyon (Jewish Press, Jan. 28, 2016)
“Assad has made clear that they’re not going [to Geneva] to negotiate, they’re going to listen. His advisers are now saying that the real negotiations are going to take place on the battlefield …Russia’s entry into the war has made all the difference in the world. The regime was in a weak position before, now it’s in a strong position.” — Joshua Landis, a Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma. A delegation from Syria’s main opposition group arrived in Geneva on Saturday to join U.N.-mediated peace talks. Russian air strikes on Syria have killed nearly 1,400 civilians since Moscow started its aerial campaign nearly four months ago, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said on Saturday. More than 250,000 people have been killed, and millions more have fled, since the outbreak of fighting in early 2011. (Globe & Mail, Jan. 28, 2016)
“Today, we are dealing with the son of al-Qaeda…If we don’t get the next piece right – the next piece is not the military piece, it’s that political piece – we will be dealing with the grandson of al-Qaeda.” — Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan. Sajjan said the U.S.-led coalition risks paving the way for another generation of conflict with jihadis if it can’t shrink the appeal of I.S. “Regrettably, in Iraq, a stick is needed,” he said. “But that stick will only buy you time to figure out the real problem.” Sajjan said coalition forces need to identify and address the “original grievance” in the region that helps build support for I.S. “Find me a crisis of this magnitude, where coalitions need to be put together, I will find you a grievance which started it all.” The Liberal plan will likely see Canada expand military training beyond Kurdish Iraq to include Baghdad government forces. The plan to pull jet fighters from the battle, in keeping with a campaign promise, is taking place over the objections of Canada’s allies. (Globe & Mail, Jan. 29, 2016)
“We all know, all of us, that Da’esh is, in fact, nothing more than a mixture of killers, of kidnappers, of criminals, of thugs, of adventurers, of smugglers, of thieves…And they are also, above all, apostates – people who have hijacked a great religion and lie about its real meaning and lie about its purpose and deceived people in order to fight for their purposes.” — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in Rome after talks with members of the anti-I.S. coalition. Kerry’s use of the word “apostates” is unusual, given the controversy in Islam surrounding a Muslim declaring another Muslim to be apostate, a practice known as takfirism. I.S. itself regularly denounces its Muslim foes as apostates – to the extent that Shi’ites like the Assad regime, Iran and its Hezbollah proxy use the term takfir to describe the terrorists. (CNS, Feb. 3, 2016)
“If there is peace in Syria and Isil is defeated in Iraq, we expect you to return to your homelands, with the knowledge of what you have received from us…The numbers need to be reduced further and must not rise again, especially not in the spring.” — German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Merkel has warned asylum seekers that they are only in Germany temporarily and cannot stay long-term. Merkel sought to reassure German voters that her government had the refugee crisis under control after a record 1.1 million asylum seekers arrived last year. The message was in marked contrast to her previous “open-door” refugee policy, and her earlier slogan of “We can do it”. (Telegraph, Jan. 31, 2016)
“We must be honest enough to admit that more than 70 years after the Shoah, antisemitism is still alive in our ‘civilized’ European Union.” — Federica Mogherini, EU foreign affairs representative. Dozens of Holocaust survivors lit candles at Auschwitz last week, exactly 71 years after the Soviet army liberated the death camp that has become the most powerful symbol of the human suffering inflicted by Nazi Germany during World War II. The commemoration at the former death camp in Poland, an area under Nazi occupation during the war, was part of the UN-designated International Remembrance Day. Jewish immigration to Israel from Western Europe grew last year due to a rise in antisemitic attacks. Most — nearly 8,000 — were from France, where Islamist attacks have destroyed the sense of security previously felt by Europe’s largest Jewish population. (National Post, Jan. 27, 2016)
“On this day, we pay tribute to the memory of the millions of victims murdered during the Holocaust. We honour those who survived atrocities at the hands of the Nazi regime, and welcome their courageous stories of hope and perseverance. The Holocaust is a stark reminder of the dangers and risks of allowing hate, prejudice, and discrimination to spread unchallenged. It also reminds us that silence must never be an option when humanity is threatened. As we pause to educate ourselves and our families on the bitter lessons of the Holocaust, we also strengthen our resolve to work with domestic and international partners to continue defending human rights and condemning intolerance.” — Official statement released by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. Trudeau’s statement caused a storm on social media for its omission of Jews in reference to the Nazi genocide. Indeed, Trudeau’s very short statement mentions the Holocaust, the Nazis and the danger of allowing hatred to spread, but hides the identity of the victims. (Algemeiner, Jan. 28, 2016)
“…We must confront the reality that around the world, antisemitism is on the rise. We cannot deny it…An attack on any faith is an attack on all of our faiths…When voices around the world veer from criticism of a particular Israeli policy to an unjust denial of Israel’s right to exist, when Israel faces terrorism, we stand up forcefully and proudly in defense of our ally, in defense of our friend, in defense of the Jewish state of Israel…America’s commitment to Israel’s security remains, now and forever, unshakable. And I’ve said this before — it would be a fundamental moral failing if America broke that bond.” — U.S. President Barack Obama, during a ceremony at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, where he took part in the first Righteous Among Nations awards banquet held in the U.S. Obama praised the efforts of Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds, who — while being held captive by the Germans — rallied other U.S. captives to issue the declaration “we are all Jews” after his captors ordered Jewish prisoners to report. The declaration helped save lives of his fellow prisoners. “I cannot imagine a greater expression of Christianity than to say, I, too, am a Jew,” Obama said. (Washington Post, Jan. 28, 2016)
“If someone on my staff did what she did, you know what would happen? …They would be fired, and they would be prosecuted.” — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a Republican Presidential candidate. The State Department on Friday said for the first time that “top secret” material had been sent through Hillary Clinton’s private computer server, and that it would not make public 22 of her emails because they contained highly classified information. The department announced that 18 emails exchanged between Clinton and Obama would also be withheld, citing the longstanding practice of preserving presidential communications for future release. (New York Times, Jan. 29, 2016)
“Father God, please, keep this awakening going.” — U.S. Presidential candidate Ted Cruz. The Texas Senator won the Iowa Republican caucuses, in the first vote of the US presidential campaign. Cruz took 26% of the Republican vote, beating his rival, the frontrunner Donald Trump, and Marco Rubio. (Washington Post, Feb. 2, 2016)
“The (Obama) administration got caught up in the Arab Spring. They misread it pretty badly. There were no institutions to support the kind of reform efforts that the street demonstrators were calling for in the overthrow of these authoritarian governments.” Worse, it sent a message to friendly regimes facing potential instability: “If you have demonstrations in your capital, the U.S. will throw you under the bus. So it disconcerted the Saudis and all our Arab allies.” — Former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates. In a Wall Street Journal interview, Gates mentioned that, along with the entire Obama national-security team, he opposed the president’s insistence that Hosni Mubarak of Egypt step down. The White House was also unwise, he adds, to publicly insist that Bashar Assad must go after the Syrian uprising. “I don’t think presidents should commit to things that they have no idea how to make happen,” he says. (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 29, 2016)
SHORT TAKES
POLICEWOMAN KILLED, SECOND BADLY HURT IN JERUSALEM ATTACK (Jerusalem) — One policewoman was killed and a second badly wounded when three Palestinians shot and stabbed them outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City on Wednesday. The terrorists arrived at the scene armed with apparently locally fabricated “Carl Gustav” rifles, knives and two pipe bombs, police said. Hadar Cohen, 19, was rushed to a hospital in critical condition with multiple wounds to her upper body. She died several hours later. The second policewoman, with serious injuries, was not identified. A third victim, identified only as a 20-year-old Israeli, was very lightly wounded and treated at the scene. In a statement, Hamas congratulated the “unique and heroic operation.” (Times of Israel, Feb. 4, 2016)
HAMAS CONFIRMS DEATH OF TWO OPERATIVES IN TUNNEL COLLAPSE (Gaza) — Hamas officials confirmed the death of two operatives in a terror tunnel collapse. Eight others were reported missing after the underground passageway caved in. The incident is the second time in recent weeks that a tunnel collapsed with Hamas figures inside. Last week, seven Hamas men were killed when a tunnel collapsed close to the Gaza Strip’s eastern border with Israel. That collapse occurred as a result of heavy rain. Mosques across Gaza mourned those killed, calling them “Martyrs of the Preparation,” a reference to their work digging tunnels used to attack Israel. (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 3, 2016)
I.S. BOMBINGS NEAR SYRIA SHIITE SHRINE KILL 71 (Damascus)—Bombings claimed by I.S. killed 71 people and wounded dozens more on Sunday near a revered Shiite shrine outside the Syrian capital Damascus. The blasts, which came as the UN’s Syria envoy struggled to convene fresh peace talks in Geneva from which I.S. is excluded, tore a massive crater in the road, overturning and mangling cars and a bus and shattering windows. Sayyida Zeinab, south of Damascus, contains the grave of a granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammed and is particularly revered as a pilgrimage site by Shiite Muslims. It has continued to attract pilgrims from Syria and beyond, particularly Shiites from Iran, Lebanon, and Iraq, throughout Syria’s nearly five-year brutal conflict. (Yahoo, Jan. 31, 2016)
IRAN DRONE BUZZES AMERICAN AIRCRAFT CARRIER (Tehran) — Iran flew a surveillance drone over a U.S. aircraft carrier and took “precise” photographs of it as part of an ongoing naval drill. Cmdr. Kevin Stephens, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, said an unarmed Iranian drone flew near the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and “directly over” the USS Harry S. Truman on Jan. 12 as the vessels were in international waters in the Persian Gulf. He said the drone “posed no danger to the ship” as the unmanned aircraft was unarmed. The reported drone overflight comes after a series of naval incidents between Iran and the U.S. in the Persian Gulf, including test rocket fire by Iran and its brief capture of American sailors who strayed into its territorial waters. (New York Post, Jan. 29, 2016)
IRAN AWARDS MEDALS TO TROOPS WHO ‘CAPTURED’ US SAILORS (Tehran) — Iran’s supreme leader has awarded medals to five members of the Iranian Navy whom he said “captured intruding” U.S. Navy sailors during a tense incident in January. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei awarded medals to Admiral Ali Fadavi, the head of the navy of the Revolutionary Guards, and four commanders who seized the two U.S. Navy vessels. In January, Iran captured the ten sailors whose boats “misnavigated” into Iranian waters, according to Defense Secretary Ash Carter. Though the sailors were released the following day, Iran released video of the sailors being captured, detained and apologizing for the incursion. The sailors were attempting to navigate from Kuwait to Bahrain when they crossed into Iranian waters. (Fox, Feb. 1, 2016)
IN HUGE ISRAELI INTEL BREACH, US, UK HAVE SPIED ON IAF FOR 18 YEARS (Washington) — US and UK intelligence services have spied on the Israeli Air Force for at least 18 years, after cracking the IDF’s encryption system for communication between fighter jets, drones and army bases. The US and UK have reportedly used this access to monitor IDF operations in Gaza, watch for a potential Israeli strike on Iran, and keep tabs on the drone technology that Israel exports. Based on documents leaked by US intelligence whistle-blower Edward Snowden, which had previously been classified, the reports said the US and UK have for years been able to track the transmissions of Israeli aircraft, and effectively view images and videos broadcast to IDF commands during drone operations in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Israel’s northern border. (Times of Israel, Jan. 29, 2015)
FRANCE WILL RECOGNIZE PALESTINIAN STATE IF TALKS DEADLOCK PERSISTS (Paris) — France warned that it will recognize a Palestinian state if its imminent efforts to end the deadlock in peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians end without result. “France will engage in the coming weeks in the preparation of an international conference bringing together the parties and their main partners, American, European, Arab, notably to preserve and make happen the solution of two states,” Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said. Should efforts to breathe life into the moribund peace process fail, France would move to unilaterally recognize Palestine as a state, he said. (Times of Israel, Jan. 29, 2016)
SWEDEN TO DEPORT UP TO 80,000 REFUGEES (Stockholm) — Up to 80,000 refugees who arrived in Sweden last year will be expelled from the country over the next few years, the country’s interior minister said Thursday. Anders Ygeman, Swedish Minister for Home Affairs, said that since about 45 percent of asylum applications are currently rejected, the country must get ready to send back tens of thousands of the 163,000 who sought shelter in Sweden in 2015. “I think that it could be about 60,000 people, but it could also be up to 80,000,” Ygeman said. Germany and Sweden were the top destinations for asylum-seekers in Europe last year, with Sweden receiving one of the highest amounts of refugees per capita in the European Union. (Fox, Jan. 28, 2016)
EICHMANN PARDON REQUEST UNCOVERED (Jerusalem) — Adolf Eichmann, one of the main organizers of the Holocaust, requested a pardon from Israel’s president Yitzhak Ben-Zvi two days before was hanged to death, documents released in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day showed. Eichmann made the request after being found guilty of charges including crimes against the Jewish people and crimes against humanity. Among the other artifacts are Ben-Zvi’s letter rejecting Eichmann’s request and the pages on which chief prosecutor Hausner wrote the famous line invoking “six million accusers” in the trial. Eichmann was charged with facilitating and managing the logistics of mass deportation of Jews to ghettos and extermination camps during World War II. In 1960, he was captured in Argentina by the Mossad, found guilty of war crimes and hanged in Israel in 1962. (Ynet, Jan. 27, 2016)
LEVIATHAN’S FIRST DEAL SIGNED WITH ISRAELI-TURKISH CONSORTIUM (Istanbul) — The Leviathan natural gas field is launching its debut into the world of domestic production and foreign export, simultaneously. The mammoth natural gas field will supply two private companies with its natural resource in a new $1.3 billion contract signed with Edeltech Group and its Turkish partner, Zorlu Enerji. The partnership purchased six billion cubic meters of gas to be supplied over 18 years. The field is being developed and is controlled by Texas-based Noble Energy and Israel’s Delek Group. It is believed to contain approximately 22 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. (Jewish Press, Feb. 1, 2016)
MAJORITY OF ANTISEMITIC MATERIAL REMAINS ON SOCIAL MEDIA EVEN AFTER COMPLAINTS (New York) — Eighty percent of the content identified by a study on antisemitism across major Internet platforms remains on the Web today, the Online Hate Prevention Institute reported. This amounted to about 1,620 “unique items of social media content” reported by users as antisemitic. YouTube had the highest levels of antisemitic content, at 41 percent of the sample, followed by Twitter (36%) and then Facebook (23%). Facebook had the highest rate of removal of antisemitic content, taking down 37% of reported instances, which was followed by Twitter (22%) and then YouTube at just 8%. The study also indicated that YouTube and Twitter attract more hate content than Facebook. (Algemeiner, Jan. 28, 2016)
JVP TAKES CREDIT FOR FAKE ANTI-ISRAEL ‘NYT‘ (New York) Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) took credit for distributing thousands of fake and anti-Israel versions of The New York Times. The organization, which supports the BDS movement, said in a statement that it distributed 10,000 copies of the parody, which included such articles as “Congress to Debate US Aid to Israel” and an editorial, “Our New Editorial Policy: Rethinking Israel-Palestine.” Members of Jewish Voice for Peace New York and Jews Say No!, a New York City-based pro-Palestinian organization, created the paper to “point out how biased current reporting is on Israel and Palestine and to show what a paper that was fair and accurate could look like,” Alan Levine of Just Say No! said in a statement. (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 3, 2016)
ZAYNAB KHADR, SIBLING OF OMAR, DETAINED IN TURKEY (Istanbul) — Zaynab Khadr, the outspoken eldest child of Canada’s most notorious family, who has publicly praised Osama bin Laden and yearned for her own martyrdom, has been detained in Turkey. It is not clear whether she has been arrested or charged. A longtime advocate for her famous younger brother Omar during his detention by the U.S., Zaynab was born in Ottawa and spent her life moving among the hot spots of Middle Eastern extremism, from Kabul and Peshawar to Tehran and now Turkey. Zaynab became well known to Canadians after the arrest of Omar for the death of an American medic in 2002, and the death of her father in a firefight near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in 2003. (National Post, Feb. 2, 2016)
OBAMA PICKS MOSQUE WITH RADICAL ISLAMIC TIES FOR FIRST US VISIT (Baltimore) — In his first official visit to a US mosque on Wednesday, President Obama is set to appear at an institution whose leaders have a record of support for radical Islamic causes. The Islamic Society of Baltimore (ISB), Obama’s mosque of choice, has a history of imams and scholars who have endorsed jihad, suicide bombings, and terror financing. Among the causes which past leaders have championed publically are the Chechen jihad and Palestinian terror attacks. ISB’s former imam was active in a charity which was later revealed to be involved in financing terror organizations such as Hamas, the Taliban, and Osama bin Laden’s radical Islamic network. (Breaking Israel News, Feb. 4, 2016)
63% OF ISRAELIS RANK OBAMA ‘WORST FOR ISRAEL IN THE LAST 30 YEARS’ (Jerusalem) — A survey shows that Jewish Israelis rank Barack Obama as the “worst” U.S. president in relation to Israel in the last 30 years — 63% of Israelis put Obama in the “worst” category while 16% rated Jimmy Carter as the second “worst” president. 37% of respondents said that Bill Clinton was the best President in relation to Israel, followed by George W. Bush with 33%. The survey was conducted by Panels Politics in Tel Aviv. In a survey just before the 2012 presidential election, Panels Politics found that 47% of Jewish Israelis viewed Barack Obama as “pro-Palestinian; 24% said “neutral; and 21% said “pro-Israel.” In 2015, however, 60% of respondents said the Obama administration was “pro-Palestinian,” and only 9% said it was “pro-Israel.” (CNS, Feb. 1, 2016)
What to do About Iran?: Sheryl Saperia, National Post, Jan. 28, 2016 —Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion has confirmed his government’s intent to lift Canada’s sanctions against Iran, as the nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 world powers begins to be implemented. Yet the Canadian government has not released the details of this pending change of policy and the public remains largely uninformed about what is implied by the removal of sanctions.
Syria Talks Are Complicated by Competing Opposition Groups: Karen Zraick, New York Times, Jan. 29, 2016—The latest attempt to reach a negotiated end to the conflict in Syria was meant to include participation by armed opposition groups. But their representatives had still not fully committed to the negotiations when the government delegation arrived in Geneva on Friday for talks with the United Nations mediator, Staffan de Mistura.
Germany’s Migrant Deportation Plan: “Political Charade”: Soeren Kern, Gatestone Institute, Feb. 1, 2016—After three months of political infighting, Germany’s coalition government has announced new measures aimed at making it easier to deport migrants who are convicted of committing crimes. The measures emerged in response to voter outrage over the sexual assaults of hundreds of women by migrants in Cologne and other German cities on New Year’s Eve — and alleged attempts by the government and the news media to cover up the crimes.
The Eichmann Letter and Ban Ki-Moon: Rabbi Benjamin Blech, Aish, Jan. 30, 2016 —Two stories made the headlines this past week – and to my mind there is an ironic connection between them. The first is a revelation about one of the chief architects of the Holocaust. It was never disclosed until now but it serves as a remarkable and fascinating footnote to Israel’s execution of Adolf Eichmann for his unspeakable crimes against humanity and the Jewish people.