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 On Topic Links

 

Book review: ‘Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War’ by Robert M. Gates: Greg Jaffe, Washington Post, Jan. 7, 2014

Two States For Two People? When Pigs Fly: Moshe Arens, Ha’aretz, Jan. 7, 2014

The High Price of Obama’s Mideast Peace Push: John Bolton, New York Post, Jan. 7, 2014

Why Al-Qaeda Keeps Coming Back: George Jonas, National Post, Jan. 8, 2014

The Failed Boycott Campaign Against Israel: Rex Murphy, National Post, Jan. 4, 2014

 

“As I sat there I thought: The president doesn’t trust his commander, can’t stand Karzai, doesn’t believe in his own strategy and doesn’t consider the war to be his. For him, it’s all about getting out.” — Robert M. Gates, U.S. Secretary of Defense from 2006-2011, recounting his thoughts during a tense 2011 meeting in the White House Situation Room with Obama and Gen. David H. Petraeus, then in charge of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Gates also served for 26 years in the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council, and under President George H. W. Bush as Director of Central Intelligence. (Washington Post, Jan. 7, 2013)

 

“I know that you’re committed to peace…I know that I’m committed to peace, but unfortunately, given the actions and words of Palestinian leaders, there’s growing doubt in Israel that the Palestinians are committed to peace.” — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry was in Israel, his tenth trip to the region, to negotiate a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. On Thursday, Mr. Netanyahu accused Mr. Abbas of embracing terrorists “as heroes.” “To glorify the murders of innocent women and men as heroes is an outrage…. How can he say that he stands against terrorism when he embraces the perpetrators of terrorism and glorifies them as heroes?” Mr. Netanyahu asked. “I’m wondering what a young Palestinian would think when he sees the leader of the Palestinian people embrace people who axed innocent men and women — axed their heads or blew them up or riddled them with bullets. What’s a young Palestinian supposed to think about the future? This is not the way to achieve peace.” (National Post, Jan. 3, 2013)

 

“Building Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem is a cancer.” — Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, on Tuesday, December 31, the day before U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was scheduled to arrive with another load of diplomatic muscle. His description upstages the United Nations, which calls 600,000 Jews in Judea, Samaria, and in eastern, southern and northern Jerusalem “illegal,” and outdoes President Barack Obama, who considers them “illegitimate.” “We will not remain patient as the settlement cancer spreads, especially in (east) Jerusalem, and we will use our right as a U.N. observer state by taking political, diplomatic and legal action to stop it,” Abbas said, in a speech in Ramallah to mark the 49th anniversary of the founding of the PLO’s Fatah party. (Jewish Press, Dec. 31, 2013)

            “I think we are witnessing a turning point, and it could be one of the worst in all our history.” — Elias Khoury, a Lebanese novelist and critic who lived through his own country’s 15-year civil war. “The West is not there, and we are in the hands of two regional powers, the Saudis and Iranians, each of which is fanatical in its own way. I don’t see how they can reach any entente, any rational solution.” The bloodshed that has engulfed Iraq, Lebanon and Syria in the past two weeks exposes something new and destabilizing: the emergence of a post-American Middle East in which, Khoury implied, no broker has the power, or the will, to contain the region’s sectarian hatreds.

            “It’s not in America’s interests to have troops in the middle of every conflict in the Middle East, or to be permanently involved in open-ended wars in the Middle East.” — Benjamin J. Rhodes, a White House deputy national security adviser, said in an email on Saturday. (New York Times, Jan. 4, 2014)

 

“Many of us predicted that the vacuum would be filled by America’s enemies and would emerge as a threat to U.S. national security interests.” — U.S. Senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham, two Republican critics of the Obama administration’s decision to withdraw all American troops from Iraq. Sunni militants, some members of the Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and some armed tribesmen angry with the government set off days of fighting when they took control of Falluja last week. On Tuesday fierce clashes erupted again, while government forces with tanks and heavy weapons circled the city, waiting for orders from Prime Minister al-Maliki. (New York Times, Jan. 5, 2013)

 

“We are sick and tired of wars in Falluja.” — Mohamed Hameed, a 35-year-old resident of the city. “Every time, we think this is the end of the battles. We want to live a normal life. We have had enough wars in the previous years, and we saw Al Qaeda, the Americans and the Iraqi Army destroying our city.” Mr. Hameed added: “Today when I leave my home I cry. I see the flags of Al Qaeda again; I see damaged buildings. I see masked men with guns. It’s like walking into Falluja of 2005. I remember all those bad days and ask myself, what was the fighting about then? Why did so many Iraqis and Americans die for this city? Now we are in the same situation.” (New York Times, Jan. 7, 2013)

 

            “Israel is my country, and I want to defend it.” — Henry Zaher, an 18-year-old Christian from the village of Reineh who was visiting Nazareth. “The Jewish state is good for us.”

            “Many Christians think like me, but they keep silent.” — Rev. Gabriel Naddaf, who backs greater Christian integration into the Jewish state. “They are simply too afraid.” In his home in Nazareth, overlooking the fertile hills of the Galilee, the 40-year-old former spokesman of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem is tall and charismatic, dressed in a spotless black cassock. “Israel is my country.” he says. “We enjoy the Israeli democracy and have to respect it and fight for it…we were dragged into a conflict that wasn’t ours…Israel takes care of us, and if not Israel, who will defend us? We love this country, and we see the army as a first step in becoming more integrated with the state.”

           “We are not mercenaries.” — Shadi Khaloul, a spokesperson for the new Forum for Drafting the Christian Community, which aims to increase the number of Christians joining the IDF. “We want to defend this country together with the Jews. We see what is happening these days to Christians around us—in Iraq, Syria and Egypt.” Khaloul also served as a captain in an IDF paratrooper brigade. (Wall Street Journal, Dec. 27, 2013)

 

“In life, everything is a question of alternatives. If the alternatives are a European boycott, or rockets from Nablus, Jenin and Ramallah on our strategic front, and on Ben-Gurion International Airport — then indeed a European boycott is preferable.” — Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon. (Israel Hayom, Jan. 6, 2013)

 

“…is it not now the case that the group proposing the boycott, the American Studies Association, is far more tarnished and isolated than the academic institutions it was asking the whole world to shun? If anyone deserves to be boycotted, it’s the ASA itself.” — Rex Murphy (National Post, Jan. 4, 2013)

 

“Let’s assume—and we’ve no reason to assume otherwise—that the ASA’s council members are sincere in their outrage, that they believe—as they state repeatedly in their statement—that U.S. financial and military support for Israel is a key engine of the occupation, and that they wish to stand strong against American and Israeli colonialism alike. If they truly believe all that, why not start at home? A bit of morbid math, for example, will reveal that Israel has killed, according to Israeli human rights organization B’Tzelem, 6,722 Palestinians between September of 2000 and October of 2013, while in Iraq alone, the United States Army may have claimed the lives of more than half a million civilians. It’s hardly an anomaly: Even America’s fiercest defenders have to admit that while striving to live up to its promise as earth’s last best hope, this great nation has, on occasion, succumbed to greed, bloodlust, bigotry, and other serious ills. If the ASA is boycotting colonial powers, then it must boycott America, too—a move that would have even greater symbolic effect, since it would be done by an American organization of scholars employed by American universities and dedicated to American studies.” — Liel Leibovitz (Tablet, Dec. 5, 2013)

 

“The release of Jonathan Pollard, is a national matter, all the Knesset members including the Arab ones agree, it is the only issue on which we have consensus.” — Knesset Member Nachman Shai, a Labor party legislator. MK Shai and MK Ayelet Shaked, who head the legislative caucus to free Jonathan Pollard, presented President Shimon Peres on Wednesday, January 1, with a petition signed by 106 MKs calling for the release of Jonathan Pollard. (Jewish Press, Jan. 1, 2014)

 

AL-QAIDA-LINKED GROUP CLAIMS BEIRUT HEZBOLLAH BOMBING (Beirut) — A statement in the name of the al-Qaida-linked militant group Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility on Saturday for a suicide bombing in the Hezbollah stronghold of southern Beirut that killed at least five people two days ago. The purported ISIL claim, which also warned of further attacks, came in a statement responding to an offensive over the last two days against the group by rival forces in northern Syria in which dozens of people have been killed. If confirmed, it would be the first time that ISIL had claimed responsibility for an attack in Beirut, which has suffered a wave of bombings since last summer, mostly targeting Hezbollah and its allies. (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 4, 2013)

 

KERRY: U.S. WILL HELP IRAQ AGAINST AL-QAEDA, BUT NO TROOPS (Washington) — Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Sunday that the United States is ready to help Iraq in any way possible as that country began a major offensive to wrest control of two cities from al-Qaeda-linked militants. But he made it clear that no American troops would be sent in. Kerry described the militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, as “the most dangerous players” in the region. But as Iraqi forces launched airstrikes and clashed with the militants in western Anbar province on Sunday, Kerry said it was Iraq’s battle to fight. ISIS, formerly known as al-Qaeda in Iraq but renamed to reflect the group’s growing ambitions, has been extending its influence across Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. (Washington Post, Jan. 5, 2014)

 

IRAN OFFERS TO HELP IRAQ AGAINST AL-QAEDA (Tehran) — A senior Iranian military official says Iran is ready to help Iraq battle al-Qaeda “terrorists” in the neighboring country’s Sunni-dominated western Anbar province. Iraqi troops have been trying to dislodge fighters from the al-Qaeda group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant from two key cities the militants overran last week. Gen. Mohammad Hejazi, deputy chief-of-staff of Iran’s army, is quoted by Iranian media on Monday as saying the Islamic Republic can offer “military equipment and advisers” should Baghdad ask for it. Hejazi says: “Iraq is our friend.” He ruled out sending troops to Iraq. Fighting in Iraq’s Anbar province killed 22 soldiers and 12 civilians, along with an unknown number of militants on Sunday. Tehran is an ally of the Shiite-led government in Baghdad. (Washington Post, Jan. 6, 2014)

 

IRAQ CIVILIAN DEATH TOLL HIGHEST IN YEARS, FUELS AL QAEDA ‘RESURGENCE’ CONCERN (Baghdad) Violence in Iraq soared in 2013 to levels not seen in years, U.N. officials reported this week, stoking concerns that the country is descending into the kind of sectarian bloodshed that gripped the country before the U.S. troop surge. The United Nations said 7,818 civilians were killed in 2013, a return to 2008 levels. The startling figure follows warnings from lawmakers and analysts that the violence threatens to undo hard-fought gains by the United States. (Fox News, Jan. 2, 2013)

 

ISLAMIST LEADER IN SYRIA URGES END TO REBEL INFIGHTING (Aleppo) — The leader of an al-Qaeda-linked group urged rebels in Syria to end their infighting, saying their divisions only benefit President Bashar al-Assad. Al-Nusra Front head Abu Mohamed al-Jolani urged the groups to turn their attention to Assad’s troops on “the front lines,” according to an audio statement posted on YouTube. The Free Syrian Army, the main Western-backed rebel force, has clashed in northern Syria with another al-Qaeda-linked group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. At least 88 people died in fighting between opposition groups yesterday, bringing the toll from clashes since Jan. 3 to more than 350, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (Bloomberg, Jan. 8, 2014)

 

WATCHDOG BODY URGES SYRIA TO SPEED UP CHEMICAL HANDOVER (Amsterdam) — The world’s chemical weapons watchdog, which is overseeing the destruction of Syria’s toxic arsenal, called on the government of President Bashar al-Assad to pick up momentum in handing over the remaining chemicals. Syria missed a deadline to transport the most toxic substances out of the country by December 31, loading a first batch of chemicals onto a Danish cargo vessel on Tuesday, a week late. The Syrian government has until the end of March to hand over the so-called first priority chemicals, including around 20 tons of lethal mustard gas, and to the end of June to completely eliminate its chemical weapons program. (Reuters, Jan. 8, 2013) 

 

US PRESSURING EGYPTIAN ARMY NOT TO BACK AL-SISI IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION (Washington) — Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces convened earlier this week to discuss the possibility of nominating Defense Minister Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for president. The move came despite U.S. pressure to prevent the nomination of a military figure. A source told the Egyptian newspaper El-Watan that the Obama administration had carried out a campaign in the past few days in which intensive contacts took place with several Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait with the goal of getting them to pressure Egypt to nominate a non-military figure for president. The Gulf states rejected the American request. (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 3, 2014)

 

BAT YAM BUS BOMBERS CAPTURED (Tel Aviv) — The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) has lifted a gag order and revealed that security forces arrested 14 suspects, including four senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad members, in the bombing of a Bat Yam bus near Tel Aviv last month. Four Islamic Jihad terrorists are from Bethlehem, between Jerusalem and Gush Etzion, and Bedouin from the Negev with Israeli citizenship, were among others who were arrested. The investigation by the Shin Bet and the subsequent arrests foiled a second attack, which could have caused a disaster because security personnel found an additional 45 pounds of explosive near the home of one of the arrested terrorists. More arrests are expected. (Jewish Press, Jan. 2, 2014)

 

10,000 AFRICAN MIGRANTS STAGE JERUSALEM DEMONSTRATION (Jerusalem) — Protests by African migrants in Israel, unprecedented in their scope, continued for a fourth straight day Wednesday as about 10,000 people, many of whom came by bus from Tel Aviv, gathered at the Rose Garden in Jerusalem across from the Knesset. “We are refugees; we need protection,” they chanted. Organizers said more than 100 buses transported the protesters from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The migrants, mostly asylum-seekers from Eritrea and Sudan, are demanding official refugee status and are protesting the government’s policy of holding them for long periods in the new Holot detention facility in the Negev. (Times of Israel, Jan. 8, 2013)

 

PRAGUE NEIGHBOURHOOD WANTS PALESTINIAN EMBASSY REMOVED AFTER BLAST KILLS ENVOY (Prague) — Relations between Palestinians and the Czech Republic took a nosedive Friday after residents voiced concerns over the discovery of illegal weapons at the new Palestinian embassy complex, where a booby-trapped safe killed the ambassador. The mayor of the Suchdol district, where the Palestinian embassy complex is based, said he lodged complaints with Czech authorities. “We have lost trust in the diplomats,” Mayor Petr Hejl told The Associated Press on Friday after receiving complaints from neighbours. “We feel deceived by them.” Ambassador Jamal al-Jamal, 56, died Wednesday after an embassy safe exploded. The career diplomat had only started his posting in October. Police said they found unspecified illegal weapons in the new complex, which includes the embassy and the ambassador’s residence where the safe exploded. (Globe & Mail, Jan. 3, 2014)

 

FRENCH CITIES BAN COMEDIAN ACCUSED OF ANTISEMITISM (Paris) — Mayors of several French cities have lined up to ban the shows of a comedian the government accuses of insulting the memory of Holocaust victims and threatening public order with antisemitic jibes. Local authorities in Nantes barred the opening date in Dieudonne M’bala M’bala’s tour set for Thursday, hours after similar shows were banned by mayors in Marseilles, Bordeaux and Tours. The row is the latest upset to ties between France’s large Muslim and Jewish communities. It won international attention last week after former France striker Nicolas Anelka celebrated an English Premier League goal with a “quenelle” salute, popularised by Dieudonne, which critics say has a neo-Nazi connotation. (Irish Independent, Jan. 7, 2014)

 

MLA TO BAR PRO-ISRAEL CAMPUS GROUPS FROM CHICAGO CONFERENCE (Chicago) — The pro-Israel campus groups Hillel International and the Israel on Campus Coalition were denied the right to present a discussion at the January 9-12 Modern Language Association convention in Chicago. The annual event of the 30,000 strong professional association is seen as a possible precursor to an MLA academic boycott of Israel that would mirror recent boycotts by the American Studies Association and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association. MLA’s convention includes a roundtable discussion titled “Academic Boycotts: A Conversation about Israel and Palestine,” which will feature supporters, but no opponents, of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 6, 2014)

 

DOZENS OF UNIVERSITIES AND JEWISH GROUPS CONDEMN THE ANTISEMITIC ACADEMIC BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL (Washington) — In an encouraging turn of events after the membership of the American Studies Association (ASA) voted on December 15 to single out the Jewish nation by boycotting Israeli universities and scholars, dozens of universities and Jewish groups have spoken out against this antisemitic boycott. Four institutions have withdrawn from the ASA, and more than 90 American universities have so far released statements rejecting the decision to boycott Israeli academic institutions. (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 1, 2014)

 

ARAB GROUP LOSES FUNDING RULING (Toronto) — A government decision to stop funding the Canadian Arab Federation over concerns it appeared to support terrorist organizations and anti-Semitism has been upheld by the Federal Court. In dismissing an appeal launched by the Toronto-based pro-Palestinian lobby group, Justice Russel Zinn ruled the decision to not renew the $1-million in annual funding was reasonable. “All of the statements and actions raised by the Minister can, in my view, reasonably lead one to the view that CAF appears to support organizations that Canada has declared to be terrorist organizations and which are arguably anti-Semitic,” the judge wrote. Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, said the court judgment was “a vindication of common sense. Groups who express apparently hateful views or who defend terrorist organizations should not receive taxpayer funding, period. This is especially true for organizations charged with the integration of newcomers.” (National Post, Jan. 7, 2014)

 

AARON LIBERMAN MAKES “BIG TEN” HISTORY BY WEARING YARMULKE IN NORTHWESTERN’S LOSS (Chicago) — Northwestern U. forward Aaron Liberman played one minute Sunday in a 74-51 loss at Michigan and didn’t record a single statistic, but he still made a bit of Big Ten Conference history. Liberman, a 6-foot-10 freshman walk-on from Valley Torah High School in Los Angeles, became the first player in Big Ten history to wear a yarmulke in a game. Liberman is believed to be the only Orthodox Jew playing major college basketball, but he is not the first player to wear a yarmulke in a Division I game. The other player to do so was former Towson guard Tamir Goodman, who played in 2000 and 2001 and was nicknamed the “Jewish Jordan.” (Yahoo, Jan. 6, 2013)

 

On Topic Links

 

Book review: ‘Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War’ by Robert M. Gates: Greg Jaffe, Washington Post, Jan. 7, 2014— Maybe it was the time of year, just before the Christmas holidays. Maybe it was the setting — a bare-bones combat outpost in the violent mountains of eastern Afghanistan.

Two States For Two People? When Pigs Fly: Moshe Arens, Ha’aretz, Jan. 7, 2014 — John Kerry has arrived in the area once again and in his pocket is a framework agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority which he expects Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas to sign off on, sooner rather than later.

The High Price of Obama’s Mideast Peace Push: John Bolton, New York Post, Jan. 7, 2014 — The breaking news that al Qaeda has captured Fallujah and Ramadi raises the question whether America’s sacrifices in Iraq were made in vain.

Why Al-Qaeda Keeps Coming Back: George Jonas, National Post, Jan. 8, 2014 — Why are Al-Qaeda seeping back into Iraq? Because they can. Because they don’t fear the consequences. Because we Westerners prepared the ground for them.

The Failed Boycott Campaign Against Israel: Rex Murphy, National Post, Jan. 4, 2014 —When university professors, stewards of knowledge for the next generation of thinkers, propose to fence off all contact, all mental commerce, with others of their kind, they lose the right to be called professors.

 

Rob Coles, Publications Editor, Canadian Institute for Jewish Research/L’institut Canadien de recherches sur le Judaïsme,   www.isranet.org Tel: (514) 486-5544 – Fax:(514) 486-8284. mailto:ber@isranet.wpsitie.com