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
The Syrian Immigration Cul-De-Sac: Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, Nov. 26, 2015
Europe’s Welcome Sign to Terrorists: Ronald K. Noble, New York Times, Nov. 19, 2015
Is Obama Too Busy Eyeing a Plum Post-Presidential Gig?: Barbara Kay & Robert Cutler, National Post, Nov. 17, 2015
10 Things to Know about the UN Partition Vote of November 29, 1947: Amb. Alan Baker. JCPA, Nov. 29, 2015
WEEKLY QUOTES
“It’s important for the world to see that we’re ready to talk…On the other hand, we have no illusions about Abu Mazen (Abbas). Incitement plays a central role in (fostering) terrorism and Abu Mazen must stop his incitement.” — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu and PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday had an unplanned meet-up on the sidelines of the Paris climate change conference, shaking hands for the first time in five years. Netanyahu said later that it was merely an act of “protocol” since they happened to be standing close to each other. The Prime Minister has accused Abbas of inciting against Israel, and lying about ostensible Israeli plans to change arrangements at the Temple Mount, and thus of playing a role in encouraging the ongoing wave of Palestinian terror attacks on Israelis. (Times of Israel, Nov. 30, 2015)
“The problem is not the tragedy we witnessed … The problem is much deeper. We observe … that the current Turkish leadership over a significant number of years has been pursuing a deliberate policy of supporting the ‘Islamization’ of their country.” — Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking a day after Turkey shot down one of Moscow’s jets. Putin also approved sanctions against Turkey in the aftermath of its downing of a Russian warplane. The decree includes a ban on some goods and forbids extensions of labor contracts for Turks working in Russia. It also calls for ending chartered flights from Russia to Turkey and for Russian tourism companies to stop selling vacation packages that would include a stay in Turkey. (Jerusalem Post, Nov. 25, 2015 & New York Times, Nov. 28, 2015)
“Syria is a dead state, and Israel must understand this and prepare accordingly…[Syrian President Bashar] Assad’s grip on the country is faltering, it is a land without rule.” — Amos Gilad, the director of the political-security division in the Israeli Defense Ministry and a former senior Military Intelligence official. With swathes of Syria falling into the hands of opposition forces, including jihadist groups, Assad has increasingly relied on support from allies Iran, Hezbollah and Russia. Russia is currently conducting air strikes in Syria that, while ostensibly targeting I.S., have also attacked Assad’s Western-backed foes. (Times of Israel, Nov. 28, 2015)
“Aleppo is by far the most devastated thing any of us have ever seen…I call it Stalingrad…You have large urban areas that are just gone. They are flattened, to all intents and purposes.” — Lars Bromley, analyst for the U.N. Institute for Training and Research. In the northern city of Aleppo, one of Syria’s major cities, more than 14,000 buildings have been damaged or destroyed, mostly in airstrikes conducted by the Syrian government, according to satellite imagery studied by the UN. Other major cities are almost as bad, and there are countless smaller communities, unmapped and unmonitored, that have also been pulverized by the war. (Washington Post, Nov. 13, 2015)
“We’re operating in Syria from time to time in order to stop the country from becoming a front against Israel…We’re operating against another terror front that Iran is trying to build in the Golan, and in order to thwart the transfer of particularly deadly weapons from Syria to Lebanon. We will continue doing this.” — Prime Minister Netanyahu. This is the first time an Israeli official has declared that Israel does indeed hold military operations where Assad’s forces, different rebel groups, Hezbollah and Iran are all fighting. (Ynet, Dec. 1, 2015)
“[T]he oppressed people of Palestine…have experienced the worst kind of terrorism for the last sixty years. If the people of Europe have now taken refuge in their homes for a few days and refrain from being present in busy places- it is decades that a Palestinian family is not secure even in its own home from the Zionist regime’s death and destruction machinery. What kind of atrocious violence today is comparable to that of the settlement constructions of the Zionists regime?” — Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei called terrorism “our common worry” and added “the Islamic world has been the victim of terror and brutality to a larger extent territorially, to greater amount quantitatively and for a longer period in terms of time.” It is reportedly Khamenei’s first public comments on the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris. The Iranian government had previously condemned the attacks. (Jerusalem Post, Nov. 30, 2015)
“For me, this is the best place on Earth and the most beautiful…The Iranian people do not hate Israel just like the Israeli people do not hate Iran.” — Exiled Iranian poet Payam Feili. Feili arrived in Israel on Sunday to launch the Hebrew version of his new book “Three Reasons” and to attend the premier of an Israeli-produced adaptation of the work. The openly gay 30-year-old has been living in Turkey for over a year, having been forced into exile from Iran after numerous arrests, threats, censorship and run-ins with the Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. The poet has been known for his support of Israel’s people and society, including the country’s relative openness to homosexuality in a region where gays are frequently persecuted. This year, Feili published a Hebrew translation of his book, “I Will Grow and Bear Fruit … Figs,” the work’s first non-Persian release. (Times of Israel, Dec. 1, 2015)
“…They (refugees) come from cultures where hatred of Jews and intolerance are an integral part…Don’t just think about the Jews, think about the equality between men and women, or dealing with homosexuals.” — President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany Josef Schuster. Schuster favors limiting the number of refugees the country welcomes, but has elicited unprecedented criticism, mostly from the community itself. While some applauded his “pragmatic view of the facts,” others were appalled by the idea that the most prominent leader of the German Jewish community is aligning himself with the likes of Pegida and other right-wing parties. (I24, Nov. 26, 2015)
“The question is this: do we work with our allies to degrade and destroy this threat and do we go after these terrorists in their heartlands, from where they are plotting to kill British people? Or do we sit back and wait for them to attack us?” — British Prime Minister David Cameron, appealing to lawmakers Wednesday to authorize the British military to take part in airstrikes in Syria. Cameron also says the British government will now refer to I.S. as Daesh. Britain had previously used the acronym ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). Cameron told lawmakers in the House of Commons that he was making the change “because frankly this evil death cult is neither a true representation of Islam nor is it a state.” (CBC, Dec. 2, 2015)
“It has nothing to do with Islam; it has everything to do with criminality, with terror, with abuse, with psychopathism — I mean, you name it.” — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, to the staff of the U.S. embassy in Paris about the latest terrorist attacks in that city. (Times of Israel, Nov. 19, 2015)
“Nearly four centuries after the Mayflower set sail, the world is still full of pilgrims – men and women who want nothing more than the chance for a safer, better future for themselves and their families.” — U.S. President Barack Obama. Obama urged Americans to show generosity to Syrian refugees in his Thanksgiving message on Thursday, reminding them that the Pilgrims who came to America in 1620 were themselves fleeing persecution. Obama’s plan to accept 10,000 refugees from Syria became a lightning rod for political criticism after attacks killed 130 people in Paris two weeks ago. Since the Paris attacks, Americans now identify terrorism as the most important problem facing the country, Reuters-Ipsos polling shows. (Huffington Post, Nov. 26, 2015)
SHORT TAKES
ISRAEL SUSPENDS EU CONTACT OVER PEACE PROCESS (Jerusalem) — Israel stepped up its battle with the EU over its decision to label products from the settlements, with Netanyahu suspending diplomatic contacts regarding the Middle East peace process pending completion of a “reassessment” by the Foreign Ministry. Israel will continue to have diplomatic contacts with individual EU countries but not with EU institutions. The guidelines provide member states with legal instructions as to the placement of consumer labels on products from the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights to inform consumers that they are not “made in Israel.” (Jerusalem Post, Nov. 29, 2015)
EU REACHES DEAL WITH TURKEY ON MIGRATION (Brussels) — The EU on Sunday agreed with Turkey’s government for Ankara to take steps to cut the flow of migrants into Europe in exchange for EU cash and help with its bid to join the 28-nation bloc. Under the agreement, Turkey would increase patrols in the Aegean Sea and on the land borders with Greece and Bulgaria, as well as crack down on human-trafficking gangs. Turkey also agreed to implement an agreement to take back migrants whose asylum claims are denied by EU countries. In exchange, EU leaders pledged to provide an “initial” €3 billion ($3.19 billion) to Turkey to help it handle the more than two million refugees in the country. (Wall Street Journal, Nov. 29, 2015)
U.S. TO DEPLOY ABOUT 200 MORE SPECIAL FORCES TO IRAQ AND SYRIA (Washington) — The U.S. said on Tuesday it was deploying a new force of special operations troops to Iraq to conduct raids against I.S. there and in neighbouring Syria, in a ratcheting up of Washington’s campaign against the group. U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter said the deployment of the new “specialized expeditionary targeting force” was being carried out in coordination with Iraq’s government and would aid Iraqi government security forces and Kurdish Peshmerga forces. While the force is expected to number only about 200, its creation marks the latest stepping up of U.S. military pressure on I.S. while also exposing U.S. forces to greater risk, something Obama has done only sparingly. The force is separate from a previously announced deployment of up to 50 U.S. special operations troops in Syria to co-ordinate on the ground with U.S.-backed rebels fighting in the civil war. (CBC, Dec. 1, 2015)
RUSSIAN JET ENTERS ISRAELI AIR SPACE, BUT ISN’T SHOT DOWN (Tel Aviv) — A Russian jet recently penetrated Israeli air space but was not shot down thanks to an open communication system between the two countries, Israel’s defense minister said Sunday. Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said the plane entered about a mile into Israeli air space by “mistake” and immediately turned around back to Syria when the Russians were notified. For two months, Russia has been carrying out airstrikes to support Assad. Yaalon said that after Russia announced its air campaign in Syria, Netanyahu, along with his military chief of staff, met with Putin. He said Israel later opened a channel for coordination with Russia “to prevent misunderstandings.” (New York Daily News, Nov. 29, 2015)
‘RUSSIANS IN SYRIA DON’T PREVENT ISRAELI ATTACKS,’ EXPERT SAYS (Jerusalem) — A leading Israeli expert on Syria said that Russia’s increasing military presence in the country would not prevent Israel from attacking it to defend itself. “The arrival of the Russians does not prevent Israel from carrying out attacks,” said Prof. Eyal Zisser, an expert on Syria from the Moshe Dayan Center. Previous foreign press reports about Israel attacking Syria took place also after the Russian’s began increasing their military intervention in the country, he noted. Regarding the latest reported attack by Israel against Hezbollah targets in the area around Qalamoun Saturday, Zisser responded that he does not know whether these latest Syrian reports are accurate, but noted that usually when there are attacks, there tends to be intensive media reports in Syria and Lebanon about them. “That didn’t happen in this case,” he said, adding that this adds doubt to the veracity of the reports. (Jerusalem Post, Nov. 30, 2015)
I.S. TIGHTENS GRIP ON LIBYAN STRONGHOLD OF SIRTE (Tripoli) — Even as foreign powers step up pressure against I.S. in Syria and Iraq, the group has expanded in Libya and established a new base close to Europe where it can generate oil revenue and plot terror attacks. Since announcing its presence in Sirte, the city on Libya’s Mediterranean coast has become the first that the group governs outside of Syria and Iraq. Its presence there has grown over the past year from 200 eager fighters to a roughly 5,000-strong contingent which includes administrators and financiers. The group has exploited the deep divisions in Libya, which has two rival governments, to create this new stronghold of violent religious extremism just across the Mediterranean Sea from Italy. (Wall Street Journal, Nov. 29, 2015)
FORMER HEAD OF IDF INTELLIGENCE: ISIS IS MUCH LESS DANGEROUS THAN IRAN (Jerusalem) — Former head of IDF intelligence Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin said, “Islamic State is much less dangerous than the Islamic Republican of Iran,” in comments to his Institute of National Security Studies conference on the aftermath of the Iran nuclear deal. Yadlin explained that he “still thinks [an Iranian nuclear bomb] is the biggest potential threat to Israel” and expressed concern that now that the deal has moved forward it “is off the public agenda” and the “governments and the media are thinking more about Islamic State, Russia and Turkey.” The former IDF intelligence chief stated that the deal had made Iran “more aggressive in Syria.” Iran is “sending more advanced weapons to Hezbollah,” as well as causing greater nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 1, 2015)
SAUDI ARABIA BLACKLISTS 12 HEZBOLLAH MEMBERS (Riyadh) — Saudi Arabia has widened its sanctions against the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terrorist group, adding 12 names to a blacklist of individuals and firms whose assets in the kingdom will be frozen. Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia has long been deeply suspicious of Hezbollah, a close ally of its regional rival Iran. Riyadh and its Gulf Arab allies have stepped up sanctions against the group since 2013 in retaliation for its intervention in the Syrian conflict in support of President Bashar Al-Assad. Hezbollah is heavily involved in the Syria fighting and has suffered a heavy number of casualties since joining the fight against rebels trying to oust Assad. (Arutz Sheva, Nov. 30, 2015)
PALESTINIAN POET SENTENCED TO DEATH IN SAUDI ARABIA FOR RENOUNCING ISLAM (Riyadh) — A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a Palestinian poet to death for apostasy, abandoning his Muslim faith. Ashraf Fayadh was detained by the country’s religious police in 2013, and then rearrested and tried in early 2014. The verdict of that court sentenced him to four years in prison and 800 lashes but after appeal another judge passed a death sentence on Fayadh. Saudi Arabia’s justice system is based on Sharia law and its judges are clerics from the kingdom’s ultra conservative Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam. In January liberal writer Raif Badawi was flogged 50 times after his sentencing to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for blasphemy last year, prompting an international outcry. Badawi remains in prison, but diplomats say he is unlikely to be flogged again. (Ha’aretz, Nov. 21, 2015)
PROMINENT HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST KILLED IN ATTACK IN TURKEY (Ankara) — A prominent lawyer and human rights defender, who faced a criminal charge for supporting Kurdish rebels, was killed Saturday in an attack in southeast Turkey. Tahir Elci was shot while he and other lawyers were making a press statement. It wasn’t immediately clear who was behind the attack and there were conflicting reports about what led to it. Interior Minister Efkan Ala said the assault was against police officers, and that Elci died in an ensuing clash. However, the Diyarbakir Bar Association said the lawyer, who was Kurdish, was the target of the attack. Elci, 49, was the head of the bar association in the mainly Kurdish city and a human rights activist. (Washington Times, Nov. 28, 2015)
ISRAEL DEVASTATING THE PALESTINIAN ENVIRONMENT, ABBAS TELLS CLIMATE SUMMIT (Paris) — PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday accused Israel of carrying out ecological attacks, and urged world leaders at the United Nations climate conference in Paris to protect the Palestinian environment from Israeli military policies. “Our resources are being usurped, our trees are being uprooted, our agriculture is being destroyed,” Abbas claimed, before urging world leaders to protect Palestinians from Israel. The PA leader, however, also called for renewed peace talks with Israel. Abbas said his government had made “great progress” in adopting climate change laws, but complained that “continued Israeli occupation and violation of international laws related to the environment” was a central challenge in their implementation. (Times of Israel, Nov. 30, 2015)
CNN POSTS MIDDLE EAST MAP THAT DOESN’T SHOW ISRAEL (New York) — CNN posted a map on its website that replaced Israel with “Palestina.” The map was posted Wednesday on the “Syria and the Middle East” section of the feature article “Beyond ISIS: 2016’s scariest geopolitical hot spots.” “Palestina” is a Spanish or Portuguese translation of Palestine. The image was taken from Getty Images’ iStock and is not a creation of CNN’s graphics team, according to the media watchdog HonestReporting. The graphic was later replaced with a photo of the aftermath of a Syrian airstrike in Aleppo. In January, veteran CNN anchor Jim Clancy resigned after a series of Twitter posts in which he mocked pro-Israel tweeters on a thread discussing the Charlie Hebdo massacre. (JTA, Nov. 26, 2015)
EX-CAMBRIDGE PROFESSOR BOYCOTTS 13-YEAR-OLD ISRAELI GIRL (London) — A 13-year-old Israeli student was turned down by a retired Jewish Cambridge University researcher after reaching out for help on a school assignment. Shachar Rabinovitz, a horse enthusiast from a kibbutz in northern Israel, sent an email to Dr. Marsha Levine, a Cambridge-educated academic and an expert on horse domestication. Rabinovitz asked for help on an assignment relevant to Levine’s field. Instead of receiving answers to her questions, Rabinovitz was met with criticism over the plight of Palestinians in Israel. “I’ll answer your questions when there is peace and justice for Palestinians in Palestine,” Levine wrote. She explained that she is a member of the organization Jews for Justice for Palestinians, and a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 1, 2015)
ISRAELIS WERE BRUTALIZED, CASTRATED AT MUNICH OLYMPICS, WIDOWS REVEAL (Tel Aviv) — Family members of the victims of the massacre of 11 Israeli Olympians during the 1972 Games in Munich only learned the horrifying details of how they were treated 20 years later. The Israelis — athletes and coaches — were beaten and, in at least one case, castrated during the 20 hours that they were held by members of the Palestinian terror group Black September. Ilana Romano and Ankie Spitzer, widows of two of the Olympians, discussed the details of the cruelty of the treatment in interviews with the New York Times. They first viewed photos taken during the hostage siege in September 1992, at the home of their lawyer. Prior to that viewing, German authorities had denied that the photos and hundreds of pages of reports on the attack and the failed rescue attempt existed. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 1, 2015)
ISRAEL HOLDS MEMORIAL DAY IN HONOR OF JEWISH REFUGEES FROM ARAB COUNTRIES (Tel Aviv) — On Monday Israel commemorated of the expulsion of some 850,000 Jews from Arab and Muslim countries in the 20th century. A law was passed in 2014 designating November 30 as the official date of the annual commemoration of the expulsion of Jews from Islamic lands. The date has special significance since on Nov. 29, 1947 the UN General Assembly approved the partition of Palestine and the creation of a Jewish state, which was immediately and unanimously rejected by Arab nations. In the aftermath of the adoption of the partition plan, pogroms were perpetrated against Jews – on direct orders of the Arab League. Later, after Israel’s victory over Arab armies in the 1948 war, etched in the Palestinian collective memory as the Nakba (the Arabic for “catastrophe”), the expulsion was reframed as an act of retaliation for Israel’s military victory. (I24, Nov. 30, 2015)
ISRAEL AIMS TO RECREATE WINE THAT JESUS AND KING DAVID DRANK (Jerusalem) — Marawi, released last month by Recanati Winery, is the first wine commercially produced by Israel’s growing modern industry from indigenous grapes. It grew out of a groundbreaking project at Ariel University in the West Bank that aims to use DNA testing to identify — and recreate — ancient wines drunk by the likes of King David and Jesus Christ. Wine presses have been uncovered in Israel — and the West Bank — that date to biblical times. But winemaking was outlawed after Muslims conquered the holy land in the seventh century. When Baron Edmond de Rothschild, an early Zionist and scion of a famed Bordeaux winery, helped restart the local craft in the 1880s, he brought fruit from France. Today, Israel’s 350 wineries produce 65 million bottles a year. (New York Times, Nov. 29, 2015)
BARBARA KAY RELEASES FIRST NOVEL (Montreal) — National Post columnist and CIJR Academic Fellow Barbara Kay makes her first foray into fiction with the release of A Three-Day Event, a murder mystery underscored by sociopolitical tensions in a Quebec horse sport community. Loosely based on actual events faced by the Kay family, A Three-Day Event takes readers back to 1992, and the Eastern Townships of Quebec, where Le Centre Équestre de l’Estrie is playing host to a horse sport competition for Olympic hopefuls. (Provocateur, Nov. 30, 2015)
The Syrian Immigration Cul-De-Sac: Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, Nov. 26, 2015—The Syrian refugee debate has become a national embarrassment. It begins with a president, desperate to deflect attention from the collapse of his foreign policy, retreating to his one safe zone — ad hominem attacks on critics, this time for lack of compassion toward Syrian widows and orphans.
Europe’s Welcome Sign to Terrorists: Ronald K. Noble, New York Times, Nov. 19, 2015 —Europe’s open-border arrangement, which enables travel through 26 countries without passport checks or border controls, is effectively an international passport-free zone for terrorists to execute attacks on the Continent and make their escape.
Is Obama Too Busy Eyeing a Plum Post-Presidential Gig?: Barbara Kay & Robert Cutler, National Post, Nov. 17, 2015 —U.S. President Barack Obama characterized the terrorist acts in Paris last week as “an attack on all of humanity and the universal values we share.” But the terrorists and those whom they represent clearly do not share those values…
10 Things to Know about the UN Partition Vote of November 29, 1947: Amb. Alan Baker. JCPA, Nov. 29, 2015 —On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted in favor of a resolution1 which adopted the plan for the partition of Palestine recommended by the majority of the UN Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP). 33 states voted in favor of the resolution and 13 voted against. 10 states abstained.