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Contents: | Weekly Quotes | Short Takes | On Topic Links
Argentina and the Nisman Probe: Jerusalem Post, Feb. 28, 2016
Israel’s Options in a Chaotic Middle East: Yossi Klein Halevi, Wall Street Journal,,Feb. 26, 2016
BDS and the New Anti-Semitism: Robert Horenstein, Jerusalem Post, Dec. 24, 2015
Top 10 Jewish Moments of Oscar History: Seth Rogovoy, Ha’aretz, Feb. 29, 2016
WEEKLY QUOTES
“I know this: If it doesn’t work, the potential is there that Syria will be utterly destroyed…The fact is that we need to make certain that we are exploring and exhausting every option of diplomatic resolution.” — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Violence significantly decreased in northern and western Syria on Saturday, the first day of a truce brokered by the U.S. and Russia, even amid reports of scattered violations, including incidents of bombing, shelling and at least one aerial attack. The U.S. and Russia have invested considerable political capital in the truce, although it has not been formally signed by either the Syrian government or its opponents. It is the first such attempt since a UN-brokered truce in April 2012 that broke down within hours. (New York Times, Feb. 26, 2016 & New York Times, Feb. 27)
“There is a low prospect that this will work, because there are spoilers on both sides, there are opposition groups that won’t respect the cease-fire, and we can’t trust the Russians will limit their military action to specific terrorist groups.” — Philip H. Gordon, one of President Obama’s top Middle East advisers until last year. Gordon noted that the cessation of hostilities agreement may “effectively start to develop into a de facto partition of the country, whereby different ethnic groups control the regions they are currently holding.” That is what worries the Israelis, who see a Syrian-Russian-Iranian axis developing on their border. (New York Times, Feb. 26, 2016)
“The Syrians used military grade chemical weapons and lately have been using materials, chlorine, against civilians, including in these very days, after the supposed ceasefire, dropping barrels of chlorine on civilians.” — Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon. Israel said on Tuesday that Syrian government forces have used chemical weapons against civilians since the start of a ceasefire aimed at preparing the way for an end to the five-year civil war. The truce has been dogged by opposition charges of non-compliance by Damascus – something President Bashar Assad has denied. It does not apply to missions against jihadist rebels. A fact-finding mission of the global chemical weapons watchdog (OPCW) concluded in 2014 that the use of chlorine gas has been “systematic” in the Syrian civil war, even after the country surrendered its stockpile of toxic weapons. (Jerusalem Post, Mar. 1, 2016)
“It is incomprehensible for the UN on one day to lament the regime’s killing and wounding of hundreds of thousands of Syrians…and to then hand this gift of false legitimacy to the mass murderer Bashar al-Assad.” — UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer. The United Nations last week re-elected Syria’s ambassador to a top spot on its Special Committee on Decolonization. The panel — set up in 1960 to to oppose “subjugation, domination and exploitation” re-elected Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari of Syria as rapporteur. The decolonization panel also made Venezuela its chairman and Cuba a vice-chair, despite the horrific human-rights records of both regimes. Neuer says the move will let Assad portray itself as a “human-rights arbiter.” (New York Post, Feb. 26, 2016)
“Today I am among you to say to you, frankly and bravely, that the government has left its people struggling against death, fear, hunger, unemployment, occupation, a struggling economy, a security crisis, bad services and a big political crisis.” — Moktada al-Sadr, Iraqi cleric and political provocateur, addressing a crowd in Baghdad. The time is ripe for demagogues again in Iraq, where the public is seething with anger over corruption, a grinding war and a collapse in oil prices that has shaken the economy. Sadr and his fearsome militia were once a primary enemy of the United States. In seizing a chance on Friday to return to the political spotlight, he positioned himself as a nationalist in the face of Iran’s growing role in Iraqi affairs, and as a source of aid for a weak prime minister. (New York Times, Feb. 26, 2016)
“I have been very impressed with what (Microsoft Israel) have done in the past 25 years, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with in the next 25.” — Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft. Gates virtually joined over 2,000 people at the Microsoft Israel R&D Center’s annual Think Next event in Tel Aviv. In a rare public comment on the value of Microsoft Israel’s work in helping make the company what it is, Gates said that Israeli developments tech areas like analytics and security were “improving the world.” The center, he said, “started in 1991, when some of the Israeli engineers at Microsoft wanted to return home but continue working at Microsoft. We decided to open the center – it was our first one outside the US – and I think the technology they have produced over the years more than justifies our decision.” (Times of Israel, Feb. 25, 2016)
“In Gaza, we received a base for Hamas terrorism adjacent to our territory…Unfortunately, transferring control over and responsibility for Gaza to the Palestinians not only did not set us on the path to peace, it enhanced the arming of terrorist organizations. Our obligation is to at least learn the necessary lessons from this episode.” — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu attacked former prime minister Ariel Sharon’s 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip at a memorial ceremony marking two years since Sharon’s death. Netanyahu, who quit Sharon’s government to protest the withdrawal, said leaving the Gaza Strip did not achieve Sharon’s goals of bringing about security and peace. Netanyahu said one of the lessons was that any land Israel leaves in the future must be demilitarized. (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 29, 2016)
“The State of Israel was established against all odds when it was surrounded by enemies and wilderness. We transformed it into a strong, morally just, progressive and democratic state with human rights, justice and the pursuit of peace. We evolved into a start-up nation. Today, Israel contributes to the world and has the most advanced agriculture, the most advanced medicine and incomparable technology.” — Shimon Peres, Israel’s ninth president, addressing the South African-Jewish community’s gala Salute to Israel Sunday. Supporters of the BDS movement, which is very active in South Africa, staged a protest demonstration outside the Intercontinental Hotel where Peres was staying and where the gala was held. Thanks to the heavy police presence, efforts to disrupt the Salute to Israel were thwarted. Peres, who was the keynote speaker at the event, declared in his opening remarks: “No threat or attempt to harm us or the State of Israel will prevent me from standing on this stage, here in South Africa and to fight the just war of the State of Israel.” Peres also addressed the claims by protesters outside the hotel that Israel is an “apartheid state” because of the way it treats Palestinians. Peres insisted that there is not a single word in Israeli law that discriminates against people for reasons of creed, color, ethnicity or nationality. “Apartheid was racism,” he said, “and in Israel, racism is a crime.” (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 29, 2016)
(If Israel was attacked), “100% I’d come to their defense. 100%. Now, you know that under the Iran deal… if Israel ends up attacks Iran because they’re — they see they’re doing the nuclear, or if it’s the other way around, we have to fight with Iran. By the way, that’s not happening, folks. I don’t care. Deals are meant to be broken in some cases, all right?” — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Trump was asked about his comments that he would be “neutral” in the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and whether he sees “that Israel is the victim in this?” Trump said that he does and that he’s “a great friend of Israel.” (Breitbart, Feb. 23, 2016)
SHORT TAKES
CLINTON, TRUMP SCORE BIG WINS ON SUPER TUESDAY (Washington) — Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton took a big leap toward clinching their parties’ nomination for the US presidential election, soundly defeating rivals in a slew of Super Tuesday primaries. Trump weathered a barrage of attacks from fellow Republicans to win in seven of 11 states. Clinton also racked up seven wins. She trounced rival Sen. Bernie Sanders across a host of southern US states — Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas — winning big among African-American voters and reversing a 2008 primary loss in Virginia. Clinton also claimed Massachusetts, in a close race. Sanders notched wins in his home state of Vermont, Oklahoma, Colorado and in Minnesota. But he now trails heavily. (Breitbart, Mar. 2, 2016)
LOST ISRAELI TROOPS STRAY INTO CAMP, SPARKING BLOODY CLASHES (Qalandiya) — Two Israeli soldiers said to be using a traffic app mistakenly entered a refugee camp in the West Bank Monday night, sparking clashes that killed one Palestinian and wounded 15 people. The two soldiers travelling in a jeep entered the Qalandiya refugee camp and were targeted with rocks and Molotov cocktails, Israeli officials said. Israeli reinforcements were then deployed to the camp between Jerusalem and Ramallah to rescue them, provoking further clashes that lasted hours. The two soldiers were later rescued unharmed. Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said the soldiers “apparently used Waze,” the Israeli-developed navigation app now owned by Google. (Yahoo, Mar. 1, 2016)
ALBERTO NISMAN’S MURDER OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED (Buenos Aires) — Argentinean special prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was investigating the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires when he died, was the victim of a homicide, that country’s attorney general for criminal appeals Ricardo Sáenz declared last week. Media outlets in Argentina reported that this was the first time an official source had confirmed that the Jewish attorney, who was found shot in the head in his apartment in January 2015, was indeed murdered. According to Sáenz’s, no gunpowder residue was found on Nisman’s hands, proving that he did not fire the weapon in his hand and thus ruling out the previous verdict of suicide. Sáenz also presented evidence that Nisman’s body was moved after his death. (Ynet, Feb. 25, 2016)
I.S. CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIRD IRAQ BOMBING IN TWO DAYS (Baghdad) — Islamic State continued its bombing rampage in Iraq Monday claiming responsibility for an attack at a funeral that killed at least 38 people, in a new sign the terror group is resorting to mass attacks on civilians as it suffers battlefield setbacks. The suicide bombing unfolded one day after a double bombing in Baghdad killed 73 people. I.S. claimed responsibility for that attack as well. Monday’s bombing struck a funeral in Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. I.S. still controls much of northern and western Iraq, but has been driven back in recent months. The government recently declared the western city of Ramadi “fully liberated.” I.S. had captured the city last year. (Fox News, Feb. 29, 2016)
IRANIAN MODERATES WIN MAJORITY IN PARLIAMENT, CLERICAL BODY (Tehran) — Iranian reformists who support last year’s nuclear deal won the most seats in parliament and a clerical body charged with selecting the next supreme leader. Final results show that reformists, who favor expanded social freedoms and engagement with the West, and other backers of President Rouhani, won at least 85 seats. Moderate conservatives — who split with the hard-line camp and support the nuclear deal — won 73, giving the two camps together a majority over hard-liners in the 290-seat assembly. The parliament vote isn’t expected to herald large-scale change in Iran, and it’s unlikely that the winners will propose changes to reduce the role of Islam in government or law. The condition for them to run in the election was to remain loyal to the principles of the Islamic Republic. (New York Times, Feb. 29, 2016)
IRAN ORDERS COMPLETE WITHDRAWAL OF ITS MILITARY FORCES FROM SYRIA (Tehran) — Iran is set to withdraw its entire 2,500 member fighting force from Syria, according to Israel’s Channel 2 news. According to a report, the majority of the forces have already been evacuated from Syria. Iran’s forces were deployed to Syria to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime forces over the past two years. Iran’s forces have sustained around 160 fatalities including six senior officers, generals, and colonels, and over 300 injuries. Tehran, it added, will continue to support Hezbollah, which has been fighting alongside Syrian regime forces against local rebel groups. (I24, Feb. 28, 2016)
US APPEALS COURT: TERROR VICTIMS CAN SEIZE $9.4 MILLION OF IRAN FUNDS (Tehran) — Victims of a 1997 triple suicide bombing in Jerusalem have won a major US appeals court judgment involving an award of $9.4 million in damages. The Ninth Circuit Appellate Court, which handles appeals from California court decisions, handed down the judgment on Friday in favor of victims represented by Shurat Hadin’s Nitsana Darshan-Leitner in Israel, and by David Strachman of Rhode Island. The attack took place on Sept. 4, 1997, when terrorists set off explosives attached to their bodies as they wandered into a pedestrian mall, killing five Israelis and wounding scores more. In 2001, Shurat Hadin helped the American families of those wounded in the attacks to begin legal proceedings against Iran due to its sponsorship of Hamas, which claimed credit for the attack. (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 28, 2016)
CANADA HAS WELCOMED 25,000 SYRIAN REFUGEES (Ottawa) — On Saturday night the 25,000th Syrian refugee landed in Canada, completing the first phase of the federal government’s resettlement plan. Canadians have largely supported the federal government’s resettlement plans, despite security concerns around the tight timeline and resource-strained municipalities asking for a halt to arrivals. But a poll of 1,507 Canadians last month found 42 per cent wanted Canada to halt its intake immediately, 29 per cent wanted refugee numbers capped at 25,000 and just 29 per cent wanted to accept even more than 25,000. Next month, immigration minister John McCallum will publish an intake target of somewhere between 35,000 to 50,000 Syrians by the end of 2016. (National Post, Feb. 28, 2016)
CANADA TO RETURN CITIZENSHIP TO WOULD-BE BEHEADER (Ottawa) — The Canadian government has submitted an amendment to the citizenship law which determines that citizenship will not be stripped from terrorists. In the previous Harper government, the law was modified granting the federal government the authority to negate the citizenship of those holding dual citizenship who were convicted of serious crimes, such as terrorism. According to the planned change in the law terrorist Zakaria Amara, a Jordanian who was raised in Saudi Arabia and Cyprus before immigrating to Canada, will receive his Canadian citizenship back. Amara is currently serving a life sentence for planning to detonate truck bombs in downtown Toronto and to behead the prime minister. The Al Qaeda inspired terror cell he founded was nabbed just before blowing up truck bombs in downtown Toronto in 2006. (Arutz Sheva, Feb. 28, 2016)
MCGILL STUDENTS REJECT CONTROVERSIAL BDS MOTION (Montreal) — In an online vote, 57 per cent (2,819) overturned the BDS motion adopted last Monday by the general assembly of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), while 43 per cent (2,119) supported it. Of the 5,286 votes cast, 6.6 per cent were abstentions. At the SSMU’s general assembly last Monday, students voted 512 to 347 in support of BDS. The motion called on McGill to divest itself of all investments linked to Israeli military operations or illegal settlements. It was the third time in 18 months that McGill students had introduced a vote on BDS. The same day the McGill student assembly approved the BDS motion, the Liberal government overwhelmingly condemned the BDS movement. (Montreal Gazette, Feb. 28, 2016)
SODASTREAM LAYS OFF LAST PALESTINIAN WORKERS AFTER PERMIT ROW (Jerusalem) — Israeli firm SodaStream laid off its last Palestinian workers and lashed out at the government for refusing to grant them work permits after it relocated from the West Bank to Israel. The company, which manufactures a device for making fizzy drinks at home, announced in late 2014 it was closing the West Bank plant following a boycott campaign. The plant, located in a West Bank settlement, closed in October, laying off more than 500 Palestinains, and then relocated inside Israel. The Israeli government refused to grant the 74 Palestinians work permits beyond the end of February, according to the company. (Ynet, Feb. 29, 2016)
LIKUD MK DEMANDING EXPULSION OF BDS FOUNDER (Jerusalem) — In advance of a pro-BDS conference that was held on Friday in Nazareth, MK Nava Boker (Likud) called on the Interior Minister to revoke the permanent residence of Omar Barghouti, the founding member of the BDS movement who was the keynote speaker at the conference. According to author and journalist Naomi Ragen, Barghouti is not “Palestinian”, having been born in Qatar and grown up in Egypt. He says he’s “Palestinian” because of his parents who supposedly fled their village in Judea and Samaria and today live in Jordan. He arrived in “Palestine” for the first time in 1993, with a degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University. He claims to be a Ph.D candidate in philosophy at Tel Aviv University. Barghouti has an Israeli residency by virtue of being married to an Israeli. (Jewish Press, Feb. 27, 2016)
LEAKED PLAN SHOWS GERMANY READY TO SHUT BORDER ON REFUGEES (Berlin) — Germany is threatening to close its borders to asylum-seekers in an attempt to persuade other governments to do more to solve the migrant crisis. While Chancellor Angela Merkel insists she wants to keep Europe’s borders open, plans leaked to a German newspaper Sunday suggest her government is drawing up measures to reinstate its own national controls. In what Welt am Sonntag called a “clear threat to the EU,” sources said Germany was considering turning away asylum-seekers at the border. Merkel has been leading negotiations for EU states to take in a fixed quota of Syrian refugees from Turkey in exchange for Turkish help reducing the flow of migrants into Europe. But she has faced growing opposition from a number of European countries that say they will not accept quotas. (National Post, Feb. 28, 2016)
PALESTINIAN FUGITIVE IN MYSTERY DEATH AT EMBASSY IN BULGARIA (Sofia) — A Palestinian wanted for a 1986 killing in Israel plunged to his death Friday from the Palestinian Embassy in Bulgaria, officials said. Palestinians immediately accused Israel of killing Omar Nayef Zayed, 52. Israel denied involvement and Bulgarian authorities said they had yet to determine whether he fell, jumped or was pushed from the building. Adding to the mystery, the death came hours after Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov returned from a visit to Israel and the PA, where he discussed a 2015 Israeli extradition request for Zayed with both the Israeli prime minister and Palestinian officials. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said Zayed was a member who stabbed a Jewish student to death in Jerusalem’s Old City 1986. He received a life sentence. (Washington Post, Feb. 26, 2016)
ANCIENT ALEPPO SYNAGOGUE IN DANGER OF DESTRUCTION (Aleppo) — One of the oldest synagogues in the world is likely to become another fatality in the Syrian civil war, due to its proximity to the latest strikes on the city of Aleppo, where the ancient Jewish house of worship is situated. The heavy bombardment of the city by Russian- and Hezbollah-backed Assad regime forces puts any structure in the vicinity at risk. This is not the first time the synagogue has been in danger. In 2012 the building suffered from a number of direct hits during battles with the opposition. This caused the belief that the structure had been completely destroyed. But in 2014, reports emerged that the synagogue had survived the shelling. When the last Jewish family in Aleppo was smuggled out of Syria during 2105, the synagogue was all that remained of the Jewish presence in the city. (Algemeiner, Feb. 11, 2016)
LITHUANIAN TOWN PLANS TO NAME STREET AFTER PRIEST WHO ORGANIZED GANG THAT MURDERED JEWS (Vilnius) — The small town of Moletai, Lithuania, has come under fire for its announcement that it intends to name a street after Jonas Zvinys, a local priest accused of organizing a gang that murdered the city’s Jews in 1941. Lithuanian writer Ruta Vanagaite launched an investigation into Zvinys. Vanagaite said that after searching through KGB archives she discovered that the priest indeed set up the gang in question, one of whose leaders was his own brother, who would later confess to his role in the massacre. The failure to properly investigate the activities during the Holocaust of numerous postwar heroes of the anti-Soviet resistance in Lithuania has enabled the glorification of individuals who played a direct role in the mass murder of Lithuanian Jewry, and whose crimes during the Shoah should have automatically disqualified them from receiving state honors, he said. (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 28, 2016)
‘SON OF SAUL’ WINS OSCAR FOR BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM (Los Angeles) — “Son of Saul,” the Hungarian Holocaust drama from director Laszlo Nemes, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film on Sunday’s 88th Academy Awards. The win is the second straight for a Holocaust film in the category. In 2015, the Polish film “Ida,” about a young soon-to-be nun who learns her parents were Jews killed during the war, took home the best foreign film Oscar. Set in Auschwitz in 1944, “Son of Saul” tells the story of Saul Auslander, a Jewish inmate forced to escort his fellow prisoners to the gas chambers and help to dispose of their remains. The film already claimed the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Globe for best foreign film. (Times of Israel, Feb. 29, 2016)
IWO JIMA VETERANS HONOUR ANNIVERSARY OF FLAG RAISING (New York) — On February 23rd, 1945, five days into the battle for Iwo Jima, U.S. Marines raised the American flag over Mount Suribachi. 27 Medals of Honor were awarded for actions on Iwo Jima, the most of any battle in Marine Corps history. About 70,000 Marines fought on the island and nearly 7,000 were killed, according to the National WWII Museum. Angelo Ciotta, 90, a retired private first class, was present that day at Mount Suribachi, where the flag was raised during one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific theater. Ciotta, who was awarded the Purple Heart, was assigned to crawling up to the pillboxes and blowing them up. “People call us the living history of World War II,” he said, “but we did nothing more than what we were asked to do for our country.” (New York Times, Feb. 26, 2016)
Argentina and the Nisman Probe: Jerusalem Post, Feb. 28, 2016—A high-ranking legal official in Argentina has rekindled hope for justice regarding the mysterious death of Alberto Nisman, a Jewish prosecutor who had been investigating the 1994 bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires.
Israel’s Options in a Chaotic Middle East: Yossi Klein Halevi, Wall Street Journal,,Feb. 26, 2016—One recent morning, a Palestinian teenager stabbed a security guard at the light rail station minutes from my home in Jerusalem. About an hour later, I drove past the station and was astonished to see—nothing.
BDS and the New Anti-Semitism: Robert Horenstein, Jerusalem Post, Dec. 24, 2015—This past October, anti-Semitism reared its ugly head in my hometown. First, the Portland Human Rights Commission, an independent body appointed by the city council, endorsed a petition from the local Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) coalition calling on the city government to divest from four US companies “due to their serious human rights violations in the ongoing illegal and brutal Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.” A week later, a swastika was spray-painted on the side of our lone Sephardi synagogue.
Top 10 Jewish Moments of Oscar History: Seth Rogovoy, Ha’aretz, Feb. 29, 2016—As we all know, Jews control Hollywood, yeah, yeah, yeah, yadda, yadda, yadda. But that hasn’t stopped plenty of hosts and presenters at the Academy Awards over the years from poking fun at the notion, or from making the crowd and viewers uncomfortable with remarks bordering on the anti-Semitic.