Israel’s Secret Operation to Recover the Watch of a Legendary Spy: Ronen Bergman, New York Times, July 5, 2018
Islamic Relief and Other Islamist Groups to Receive $23M: Tarek Fatah, Toronto Sun, July 3, 2018
Covering Up Robert Kennedy’s Palestinian Murderer: Stephen M. Flatow, Algemeiner, July 10, 2018
Reading, Writing and Jihad: Child Soldiers and a Lost Generation: Abigail R. Esman, IPT, July 11, 2018
WEEKLY QUOTES
“Poland was an exceptionally antisemitic country before the war…That is also the reason why the Germans put up these extermination camps in Poland…This whole law was a distorting law…The issue is a basic issue of memory and history. The Poles were right that the memory of the war was moving into directions which were not amenable to them and which were untrue. These were not ‘Polish death camps.’ On that point, they were right. On the fact that the Poles have participated in a huge way in the murder of Jews, they are wrong. And this history, even though it was discovered and established by a Polish-Jewish historian called Szymon Datner 50 years ago, was not known until a North American historian Jan Grabowski dug up the facts, and that happened in this century.”— Manfred Gerstenfeld. Gerstenfeld said the changes to the Polish “Holocaust Law” criminalizing discussion of Poland’s complicity in the murder of Jews during World War II made the law’s enactment “less of a defeat,” while Jewish groups hailed the decision as a victory for historical memory and free speech. The latest changes, which came in the wake of condemnation of the law, dropped all criminal penalties from the bill, effectively rendering it inoperative. (Algemeiner, June 27, 2018)
“From the moment this started small, they should have paid a heavy price,” — Former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Thursday, in reference to the usage of kite bombs and incendiary balloons by Palestinian terrorists in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Since this past April, kite bombs and incendiary balloons have caused extensive damage to agricultural fields and forests in southern Israel. “They burn us, so things should also burn for them. We should have long ago made them pay a price.” The humanitarian situation in Gaza, in Ya’alon’s view, should be managed with a carrot-and-stick approach. “We’re maneuvering to avoid reaching a crisis,” he said. “The responsibility belongs to Hamas, not us. There is no blockade, there is a security closure that has to be maintained. Hamas proves what we are supposed to understand. It is not interested in the 1967 lines, but rather Tel Aviv, Ashkelon and the ‘right of return.’ We must explain this to the world.” General Ya’alon is a Keynote speaker, along with Elliott Abrams, at the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research’s 30th Anniversary Gala in Montreal, taking place on Sunday, 14 Oct., 2018. (Walla, June 27, 2018)
“The problem I see, and where (our) difference lies, is that we must always remember and never forget that this is about human beings.” — German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters at a joint news conference after meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban in Berlin. Merkel described Hungary’s clamping down on asylum seekers moving across Europe’s open borders as “a problem.” Orban responded by saying: “Germany and Hungary see the world differently,” criticizing Merkel’s migration policy. While he expressed a willingness to talk, Orban said that his position hadn’t changed over the past three years. “We only know one solution: close the borders,” said Orban adding that if Europe offers support to refugees, it will be taken as an invitation. “If people can come, they will come,” said Orban. (The Toronto Star, July 5, 2018)
“We call on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to acknowledge the demonstrable failure of the world body when it comes to antisemitism, and to set forth an action plan that will mobilize key UN stakeholders, and in particular those within its human rights machinery, to exercise their responsibilities to condemn and confront bigotry, hatred or violence targeting Jews worldwide,” —UN Watch said on Monday, in a report it presented at a special event at the Knesset. The Geneva-based watchdog group accused the United Nations of failing to seriously combat antisemitism and in some cases, de-Judaize the Holocaust even though it is tasked with combating worldwide racism, xenophobia and discrimination. (Jerusalem Online, July 10, 2018)
“The goal of Palestinian resistance is not to establish ‘love’ with those who are responsible for the suffering of the Palestinian people,”—Students for Justice in Palestine said on Friday, in an article that was published by the University of California, Davis student paper California Aggie. The group admitted that it does not believe the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be resolved “so long as the State of Israel exists.” Rather, the essay said, “it is to completely dismantle those forces at play.” The piece was a response to a June op-ed written by the Aggies for Israel club, critiquing an anti-Israel protest against its “Choose Love” campaign. Last year, a new report by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs said SJP seeks to “to isolate, demonize, and ultimately destroy” Israel and even had backing from terror-affiliated groups. (Breitbart, July 10, 2018)
“We want an end to the occupation. We don’t want your flour, your wheat, or your aid.”— Abbas’ deputy chairman of Fatah, Mahmoud Al-Aloul said at a Fatah demonstration earlier this month. Abbas’s chairman announced that Palestinians don’t want US aid, because US is “forming an alliance” with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, “the Israeli enemy.” Al-Aloul went on to say: “Mahmoud Abbas has told him [Trump], and we are telling him, that America is not fit to be a sponsor of peace… This American Trump is forming an alliance with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, the Israeli enemy, who is sowing havoc and destruction over the land by expropriation and building settlements… We want freedom. We want independence,” in response to the passing of the Taylor Force Act in the US, in March 2018, which cuts almost all funding to the PA if it continues paying salaries to terrorists and allowances to their families. (Palestinian Media Watch, July 10, 2018)
“Once, the Palestinians fought with stones and slingshots, but today they are armed with missiles,”— Hossein Salami, the vice commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, recently gave a speech full of threats aimed directly at Israel, referring to the Palestinians as Iran’s main tool against their true enemy: the United States. “Today an international Islamic army has been formed in Syria, and the voices of the Muslims are heard near the Golan,” Salami said. “Orders are awaited, so that the custom of God vis-à-vis the eradication of the evil regime [Israel] will land and the life of this regime will be ended for good. The life of the Zionist regime was never in danger as it is now.” In his speech, Salami identified the Palestinians as Iran’s primary weapon against its enemies. “Iran invites the Muslims to jihad, and the spirit of jihad today breathes in the body of the Muslim nations. The young Muslims who care are proud of fighting the Zionists, the Americans, and their allies, and becoming a martyr is an honor for them. This is our main might.” (Breaking Israel News, July 9, 2018)
“Many countries in NATO, which we are expected to defend, are not only short of their current commitment of 2% (which is low). But are also delinquent for many years in payments that have not been made. Will they reimburse the U.S.?” —President Trump tweeted on Tuesday prior to the annual NATO summit set to take place today in Brussels. (Ottawa Citizen, July 11, 2018)
“America does not and will not have a better ally than Europe today” —European Council President Donald Tusk said, anticipating that U.S President Donald Trump may have designs sowing discord, delivering a stern warning to the American President. “Dear America, appreciate your allies. After all, you don’t have many” said Tusk. Trump rebutted: “Well we do have a lot of allies,” as he left the White House and boarded Marine One, “But we cannot be taken advantage of. We’re being taken advantage of by the European Union. We lost $151 billion last year on trade. And on top of that, we spend at least 70 percent for NATO. And, frankly, it helps them a lot more than it helps us. So we’ll see what happens. We have a long beautiful week.” (Montreal Gazette, July 11, 2018)
SHORT TAKES
NETANYAHU LIFTS BAN ON MKS VISITING TEMPLE MOUNT (Jerusalem) — Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that he will lift the ban on parliamentarians visiting the Temple Mount, three years after the government forbade them from entering the site due to security concerns. Netanyahu said that lawmakers could visit the Temple Mount once every three months, and this time, as opposed to a pilot held a year ago, ministers could also go to the site. In October 2015, the government barred MKs from going to Judaism’s most holy spot — the site of the biblical Temples — as part of an attempt to reduce tensions amid a wave of terror attacks against Israelis that was linked to the site, known to Arabs as Haram al-Sharif, which contains the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. (Times of Israel, July 3, 2018)
FOUR FEMALE SOLDIERS BECOME TANK COMMANDERS (Jerusalem) — Last month, the first four female tank commanders complete the Armored Corps’s tank commander’s course. The four armored combat soldiers underwent 16 weeks of training at the 460 Brigade and successfully completed the course. The pilot program to integrate female combatants in the Armored Corps began in July 2017, with the goal of examining whether and how women can be integrated as tank fighters. (Jewish Press, June 28, 2018)
HATE CRIMES TRIAL UNDER WAY FOR GERMAN-CANADIAN SIBLINGS (Munich) — The trial of two German-Canadian siblings for inciting hatred against Jews got under way in Munich, a week after one of the accused gave a Nazi salute during a speech at a public rally. Monika and Alfred Schaefer are facing charges stemming from a video in which Monika described the Holocaust as “the most persistent lie in all of history” and claimed that victims of Nazi death camps “were kept as healthy and as well-fed as possible.” Monika has been imprisoned in Germany since January of this year. On June 30, 2018, Alfred addressed a neo-Nazi rally in Nuremberg in advance of the trial, in which he stated, “It’s time to exterminate the kikes!” He then concluded the speech with a Nazi salute, drawing applause from the far-right crowd. (B’nai Brith, July 4, 2018)
TEL AVIV U. TO AWARD HONORARY DOCTORATE TO IRWIN COTLER (Montreal) — On the occasion of their 45th Anniversary Gala, Tel Aviv University President, Professor Joseph Klafter, will bestow the degree of Doctor Philosophiae Honoris Causa, on Professor Irwin Cotler. The Honourable Irwin Cotler, former Member of Parliament, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Professor Emeritus of Law at McGill University, and Founder and Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, is renowned for his expertise on international law and human rights law, having intervened in landmark Charter of Rights cases of free speech, freedom of religion, minority rights, peace law and war crimes. The ceremony will take place in Montreal, August 26. (National Post, July 1, 2018)
MEF ORGANIZES 25,000 STRONG PROTEST IN SUPPORT OF TOMMY ROBINSON; PLANS ADDITIONAL RALLIES (Philadelphia) — Tommy Robinson, the imprisoned English counter-Islamist activist, journalist, and book author, justifiably titled his autobiography Enemy of the State, for he has long been a target of the U.K. authorities impatient with his criticism of Islamism. The Middle East Forum (MEF) is helping Robinson in his moment of danger. It does so in the context of its Legal Project which since 2007 has defended activists, journalists, politicians, et al. who face harassment, fines, or imprisonment because of their views concerning Islamism and related topics. MEF is sponsoring and organizing the second “Free Tommy Robinson” gathering in London on July 14. (Middle East Forum, July 8, 2018)
NEO-NAZIS ASSAULT 2 PRO-ISRAEL ACTIVISTS IN SWEDEN (Stockholm) — Neo-Nazis in Sweden assaulted two pro-Israel activists on Thursday outside a pavilion set up by the Israel-Sweden Friendship Association. Dozens of members of the Nordic Resistance Movement gathered around the pavilion on the island of Gotland, south of Stockholm, for what they said was a “protest demonstration,” the Aftonbladet newspaper reported. One of the victims, Christina Toledano Asbrink, told the paper that the neo-Nazis tried to cover the pavilion’s Israeli flag with their banner. When she intervened, several men grabbed her and shook her violently before pushing her to the ground as other members of the Israel-Sweden Friendship Association began calling for police. The association set up its pavilion in Almedalen this week as part of Almedalen Week, an annual forum that gathers Sweden’s political, business and media elite together on a small corner of Gotland. This year is the event’s 50th anniversary. (Jewish Telegraph Agency, July 5, 2018)
REPORT: ADELSON PLANS TO OPEN UP CASINO IN NORTH KOREA (Las Vegas) — Sheldon Adelson is looking to expand his business to North Korea, according to witnesses who heard the casino mogul himself say as much during a June Taglit-Birthright Israel event in Jerusalem. During his speech, Adelson, one of Birthright’s founders and main sponsors, said he was a veteran of the Korean war and that he hoped President Donald Trump would get “North and South Korea to finish the war.” Adelson, whose net worth is estimated at $43 billion, is the founder, Chairman, and CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corp, which operates resorts and casinos in Macau and Singapore in southeast Asia. Mr. Adelson was one of the main sponsors of President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. (Casino News Daily, July 8, 2018)
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FOCUSES ON HAMAS-CONTROLLED GAZA STRIP, WITH MIDEAST PEACE PLAN STALLED (Washington D.C) — With President Trump’s promised Middle East peace plan stalled, administration officials are focusing on improving conditions in the impoverished Gaza Strip — a move that could put political pressure on Palestinian leaders to come to the negotiating table. The larger peace proposal has been stymied by the Palestinian Authority, which would negotiate any settlement but remains incensed at Trump’s decision last year to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. A group of U.S. officials led by Jared Kushner came away from what had appeared to be a crucial trip to the region last month without breaking the impasse. That has led U.S. officials to consider options for an infusion of development aid into Gaza, a perennial trouble spot that is controlled by Palestinian Authority rival Hamas, in hopes of relieving the humanitarian crisis there. (The Washington Post, July 7, 2018)
SETTLER HOUSING CONSTRUCTION DROPS TO SIX-YEAR LOW UNDER TRUMP (Jerusalem) — West Bank settler building dropped to a six-year low in the first quarter of 2018, even though the Trump Administration has appeared to turn a blind eye to such construction. From January to March of this year, ground was broken on only 250 settler housing starts, according to data released Tuesday by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics. It’s the lowest recorded number in any single quarter since 2012, when there were 284 starts in the second quarter and 273 in the fourth. The drop is part of a downward spiral in settler housing starts since US President Donald Trump took office in January 2017. In his first year as president, there was a 47% drop in settler housing starts. In 2016, under the disapproving glare of the Obama Administration, the CBS recorded 3,066 settler starts. That number went down to 1,643 starts in 2017. (The Jerusalem Post, June 19, 2018)
INTEL CONSIDERING $9B ADDITIONAL INVESTMENT IN ISRAEL (Jerusalem) — Two months after Intel corp. approved a $5 billion investment in development of its fab in Kiryat Gat, Minister of Economy and Industry Eli Cohen today announced that the company was considering a $9 billion investment in Israel. Cohen was speaking at a conference of the Israel Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Eilat. Cohen stated, “We are encouraging top-level enterprises to go to the outlying areas. Intel’s $5 billion investment in Israel is a mark of respect and we are devising a plan for a $9 billion follow-up investment.” (Globes, July 3, 2018)
SYRIANS FLEE TOWARDS THE HOSPITALS OF ‘ENEMY’ ISRAEL (Jerusalem) — The 1974 Israeli-Syrian armistice includes a small empty area. Now, tens of thousands of people are coming — around 60,000 Syrians are said to be piling up along the Israeli border with hundreds of thousands on the move. The battle of Deraa, now won by Assad, and a little further north in Harah and Quneitra, where on Friday the rebels took the initiative, is uprooting the population from the south and forcing them into homelessness. Wounded and hungry, they have the misfortune of having Syria as their homeland. Calls for help come from those who are not only fleeing the brutal regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, but also Hezbollah and the Iranians who are sweeping without pity across their land, as they also seek shelter from last week’s Russian airstrikes. The world again says and does nothing; only Israeli pity remains. (Algemeiner, July 9, 2018)
ISRAEL SEES RECORD NUMBER OF TOURISTS FOR FIRST HALF OF 2018 (Jerusalem) — Israel saw a record number of tourists in the first half of 2018, injecting billions of dollars of revenue into the Israeli economy. According to the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, from January to June 2018 about 2.1 million tourist entries were recorded—an increase of 19 percent over the same period in 2017 (1.74 million) and 26 percent more than in 2016. Since the beginning of the year, tourism has injected more than NIS 12 billion ($3.3 billion) into the Israeli economy. June also saw a continued rise in tourism, with 310,200 entries—2 percent more than June 2017. Revenue from tourism in June reached about NIS 1.66 billion ($457 billion). (Jewish News Syndicate, July 9, 2018)
CLAUDE LANZMANN, DIRECTOR OF DOCUMENTARY SHOAH, DIES AT 92 (Paris) — French Director Claude Lanzmann, whose 9½-hour masterpiece “Shoah” bore unflinching witness to the Holocaust through the testimonies of Jewish victims, German executioners and Polish bystanders, has died at the age of 92. Lanzmann was 59 when the movie, his second, came out in 1985. It defined the Holocaust for those who saw it, and defined him as a filmmaker. Lanzmann was born Nov. 27, 1925, in Paris, the child of French Jews. After his mother left in 1934 and the war broke out, Claude and his two siblings moved to a farm where their father timed his children as they practiced escaping to a shelter he had dug. (Times of Israel, July 5, 2018)
LETTER BY MARTIN LUTHER CALLING JEWS ‘DEVILS INCARNATE’ UP FOR AUCTION (Boston) — A letter written by German theologian Martin Luther that is critical of the Jews is up for sale at an auction house in Boston. RR Auction is selling the letter, dated September 1, 1543, and written in German to fellow German theologian Georg Buchholzer. Bidding on the letter began at $25,000, and stood at $94,948 as of Tuesday afternoon. The auction house estimates the item could be sold for more than $300,000 before bidding closes on Wednesday evening. The handwritten letter is being auctioned off along with more than 1,000 other items. (The Jerusalem Post, July 10, 2018)
ISRAELI LUNAR LANDING PLANNED FOR 2019 (Jerusalem) — An Israeli spacecraft will land on the moon early in 2019, the SpaceIL corporation announced Tuesday, in a mission which would make Israel the fourth country to make a lunar landing. The SpaceIL spacecraft will be launched from the United States on a Falcon 9 orbital launch vehicle, built by Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX. An Israeli spacecraft will land on the moon early in 2019, the SpaceIL Corporation announced Tuesday, in a mission which would make Israel the fourth country to make a lunar landing. The USSR, U.S., and China have landed unmanned vehicles in “soft landings” since 1966. The US remains the only country to have undertaken a manned mission to the moon, with six successful Apollo mission lunar landings from 1969 through 1972. (Arutz Sheva, July 10, 2018)
Israel’s Secret Operation to Recover the Watch of a Legendary Spy: Ronen Bergman, New York Times, July 5, 2018— The news came in a brief announcement on Thursday from the Israeli prime minister’s office: a watch belonging to a legendary Israeli spy had been recovered in a secret operation and brought back to Israel. The watch belonged to Eli Cohen, whose spying in Syria is credited with helping Israel to a quick victory in the 1967 war, long after he had been caught and executed by the Syrian government.
Islamic Relief and Other Islamist Groups to Receive $23M: Tarek Fatah, Toronto Sun, July 3, 2018— On the afternoon of June 27 while most of Canada was at work or watching the World Cup matches, a major funding announcement was made with little fanfare. Two groups with extremist and terror ties are listed among the recipients of the new funding: the National Council of Canadian Muslims and Islamic Relief.
Covering Up Robert Kennedy’s Palestinian Murderer: Stephen M. Flatow, Algemeiner, July 10, 2018— Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Robert F. Kennedy, is one of the best-known killers in American history. Yet two major television networks recently broadcast segments about the Kennedy assassination without mentioning his name at all.
Reading, Writing and Jihad: Child Soldiers and a Lost Generation: Abigail R. Esman, IPT, July 11, 2018— Are the children forced to fight in these jihadi wars dangerous warriors, to be kept from the community at all costs – or are they the victims, needing to be embraced? No one yet has determined the right answer. And so the cycle continues, and the crisis only grows.
