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
Contents: | Weekly Quotes | Short Takes | On Topic Links
Ken Livingstone Takes British Politics to New Lows: Rex Murphy, National Post, Apr. 29, 2016
How Many Molenbeeks in France?: Yves Mamou, Gatestone Institute, May 3, 2016
Flooded With Migrants, Germany Struggles to Integrate Them: Alison Smale, New York Times, Apr. 27, 2016
The "Two State Solution": Irony and Truth: Louis René Beres, Gatestone Institute, Apr. 27, 2016
WEEKLY QUOTES
“It’s bizarre to hear mortars in the distance when there are kids playing basketball outside the window of my office…But people try to be normal, to be alive. When your coping mechanism is swamped, it makes you insensitive to things that people in the West would look on with horror. They get used to it — and that’s the scary thing.” — Valter Gros, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Aleppo. Four years of war has hardened hearts in Aleppo, a divided city and, for the past week, the scene of merciless fighting. A fragile truce, brokered by the U.S. and Russia, has crumbled in Syria, leading to the worst violence in months. No one is quite sure how many of Aleppo’s prewar population of two million people are left. Many have already fled to Europe, Lebanon or other parts of Syria. Any escalation in fighting brings the potential for a “humanitarian disaster,” warned Gros. “It’s very heavy these days,” he said. “Everyone feels it in different ways.” (New York Times, Apr. 30, 2016)
“In short, the violence is soaring back to the levels we saw prior to the cessation of hostilities. There are deeply disturbing reports of military buildups indicating preparations for a lethal escalation.” — Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Al Hussein said the latest fighting in Syria showed a “monstrous disregard for civilian lives by all parties to the conflict.” In a statement, Zeid urged the sides to step back from a return to all-out war. More than 200 people have been killed in eight days of mounting violence in and around Aleppo, including 15 at the Malla Khan mosque hit by rebel rockets and another 10 from the government warplanes. (Toronto Star, Apr. 29, 2016)
“What’s happening in Aleppo is a massacre…The city is being set ablaze.” — Bebars Meshaal, head of the Aleppo branch of a rescue group known as the White Helmets. (Wall Street Journal, Apr. 29, 2016)
"If Israel would have annexed Aleppo, it would have been safe today, like the Golan. Aleppo's citizens would have been better off living under occupation than living under ruins." — Naidm Koteich, a well-known Lebanese political analyst. Israel took the Golan Heights during the 1967 Six Day War, and in 1981 extended Israeli law to the region, thereby de facto annexing it. Koteich's comment came shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel would never renounce the Golan, infuriating Syrian politicians. (Jerusalem Post, May 1, 2016)
“The question is why are so many Palestinian children being dispatched to murder Israelis…The answer is they are being brainwashed by their leaders.” — Emmanuel Nahshon, spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry. The number of incarcerated Palestinian minors surged during a wave of violence that has killed about 30 Israelis in the last seven months. Assaf Liberati, a spokesman for the prison service, said the number of Palestinian prisoners under 18 more than doubled, to 430 from 170 before the stabbings, shootings and vehicular attacks began on Oct. 1. Of them, 103 were 16 or younger, up from 32. Nahshon, said that “the severity of the crimes” and “their often ideologically motivated nature creates a unique set of demands from the criminal-justice system.” (New York Times, Apr. 29, 2016)
“America engages in tricks and practices deceit…They write on paper that banks can cooperate with Iran, but in practice they promote Iranophobia so that no one trades with Iran…American officials say that sanctions are still in place so that foreign investors get scared and do not come.” — Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Anger is building in Iran after a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court allowing relatives of victims of a 1983 bombing to sue Tehran for $2 billion in compensation from frozen Iranian funds. The decision opens a path for more than a thousand relatives of Marines killed in the 1983 bombing of their barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, an attack that Iran has been held responsible for. Iranian officials have repeatedly denied responsibility, however, and they accuse the U.S. of using the pretext of an attack to steal money that is rightfully theirs. (New York Times, Apr. 27, 2016)
“In the name of Allah, and all praise is due to Allah. Peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions. And thereafter: Note to the Philippine government and to the Canadian government: The lesson is clear. John Ridsdel has been beheaded. Now there are three remaining captives here. If you procrastinate once again the negotiations, we will behead this all anytime.” — Masked captor in an Abu Sayyaf video. Abu Sayyaf, the Islamist terrorist group based in the southwestern part of the Philippines, reportedly released a new video, showing three hostages, including Canadian Robert Hall. The three are shown pleading for government intervention after the murder of their fellow captive, Canadian hostage John Ridsdel. (National Post, May 3, 2016)
“It was once common for Canada to send military and police assets overseas to assist – the aid to Jamaica in raiding an airplane with Canadians on board in 2009 is one example – but that appears to no longer be happening. In the case of the Philippines hostages, a crisis-management team at Global Affairs Canada has been liaising with its Filipino counterparts, as it should. However, it doesn’t appear that RCMP specialists in this sort of situation have been deployed. Diplomatic liaison is fine, but direct-action options are sometimes required. It is important to remember that sovereign nations hold responsibility for handling hostage incidents on their own territory. That accepted, Canada should press forcefully for an invitation to participate with our own assets in support of our own citizens. In areas of instability, such as Iraq and several African nations, we should consider the option of not waiting for an invitation to employ Canadian assets. It all comes down to the willingness of our government to use its “influence” to get us invited or to take our own action, if necessary.” — George Petrolekas. Petrolekas served with the military in Bosnia, Afghanistan and NATO and is a fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. (Globe & Mail, May 3, 2016)
"Instead of setting up another ridiculous investigative committee, Jeremy Corbyn should look in the mirror and be ashamed of the anti-Semitic spirit and moral slump into which the Labor party entered under his leadership.” — Israeli Labor party MK Itzik Shmuli. Shmuli called on the leader of his UK sister party Jeremy Corbyn to resign amid reports that the party secretly suspended an additional 50 members for antisemitic and racist rhetoric. One, Ilyas Aziz, a Labor councilor in Nottingham, was suspended for 2014 Facebook posts saying that Israel should be relocated to the US. The other, Salim Mulla, a former mayor of Blackburn, was also suspended for calling to relocate Israel to the US, as well as for saying that Israel was behind Islamic State. According to the report, Corbyn seemed to acknowledge for the first time that there appears to be an issue within his party, while at the same time insisting that the problem was not a big one. (Jerusalem Post, May 3, 2016)
“Corbyn needs to take advantage of this opportunity if he wants to solve the problem of anti-Semitism in the Labor Party and now is a good time to start…Reconsider your statement that Hamas and Hezbollah are your friends.” — British Prime Minister David Cameron. Cameron attacked the UK Labor Party leader, calling upon him to retract his statement that Hamas and Hezbollah are his friends. “Hamas and Hezbollah believe in murdering Jews not only in Israel but throughout the world,” Cameron said. (Jerusalem Online, May 4, 2016)
“The attack in Brussels was prefigured by another, three days earlier, on Istanbul’s busiest street… Turkish authorities first blamed the PKK, by reflex, and then blamed a Turkish-born member of ISIS. The attack was quickly overshadowed in the Western media by the attack on Belgium, but it should not have been. They were related. Both were attacks on what ISIS calls the gray zone: places where Muslims have not yet been forced to choose sides. The world today, ISIS claims, is divided into two camps, that of kufr, or unbelief, and that of Islam. In between lies the gray zone, inhabited by those who call themselves Muslims yet fail to join ISIS. It is, they say, a state of hypocrisy. ISIS’s attacks on Europe are designed to destroy the gray zone, making it impossible to be a Muslim in the West. Its attacks in the Islamic world are designed to prove the local governments incapable of controlling the chaos. In both places, the attacks are designed to prepare the public for a power grab by a force that can restore order. The ordering force will be ISIS itself, or a government that makes life intolerable for ordinary Muslims, forcing them to leave the gray zone and flee to ISIS-controlled territory.” — Claire Berlinski (National Review, Apr. 25, 2016)
“All the people in the Czech Republic and in other countries see what happened in Molenbeek.” — Lubomir Zaoralek, the foreign minister of the Czech Republic, referring to the Brussels borough where many of those involved in the attacks in Paris and in Brussels grew up. Zaoralek cited the city to explain why his and other Eastern European countries had steadfastly resisted a plan by the EU to spread Syrian and other Muslim refugees around the Continent under a quota system. (New York Times, Apr. 19, 2016)
“Unlike other candidates for the presidency, war and aggression will not be my first instinct…A superpower understands that caution and restraint are really truly signs of strength.” — Republican Presidential front-runner Donald. J. Trump. Trump castigated President Obama and Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state and a possible opponent in the general election, for what he described as a string of missteps that have disillusioned the nation’s allies and emboldened its rivals. Trump pledged a major buildup of the military, the swift destruction of I.S. and the rejection of trade deals that he said tied the nation’s hands. But he also pointedly rejected the nation-building of the Bush administration, reminding his audience that he had opposed the Iraq war. (New York Times, Apr. 30, 2016)
“…Over the years, I’ve attended seders where I was inspired by the remarkable story told in the haggadah—a tale of a people who, sustained by fortitude and faith, escaped slavery and reached their freedom…The Book of Exodus recalls how the Pharaoh denied the Israelites the right to worship as they chose. Today, there are new threats to religious liberty and an alarming rise in anti-Semitism…International efforts to malign and isolate the Jewish people – like the alarming “BDS” movement – are gaining steam. We must confront these forces of intolerance…Protecting allies and partners like Israel is one of the most solemn duties of any Commander-in-Chief. Yet others in this race suggest we must remain “neutral” in order to negotiate. But Israel’s safety is simply non-negotiable…For the security of Israel and the world, we need America to remain a respected global leader, and be ready and able to block any international effort to isolate or attack Israel.” — Democratic Presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton. (Ha’aretz, Apr. 17, 2016)
"I would vote for sending Bill (Clinton) home, or maybe abroad…He's a tremendous politician, but the public needs to be really sure this is [Hillary's] race, not his. Or theirs." — New York Times columnist Gail Collins. (Washington Examiner, Apr. 26, 2016)
“(Trump) positioned himself to Hillary Clinton’s left on foreign policy—she is hawkish, too eager for assertions of U.S. military power, and has bad judgement. This will be the first time in modern history a Republican presidential candidate is to the left of the Democrat, and that will make things interesting. It reminded me of how Mr. Trump, in his insistence that he will not cut or add new limits to entitlement spending, could get to Mrs. Clinton’s left on that key domestic question, too. He certainly jumbles up the categories. Bobby Knight, introducing him at a rally in Evansville, Ind., on Thursday, said that Mr. Trump is not a Republican or a Democrat. The crowd seemed to like that a lot. Those conservative writers and thinkers who have for nine months warned the base that Mr. Trump is not a conservative should consider the idea that a large portion of the Republican base no longer sees itself as conservative, at least as that term has been defined the past 15 years by Washington writers and thinkers.” — Peggy Noonan (Wall Street Journal, Apr. 28, 2016)
SHORT TAKES
FBI THWARTS PLOT TO BOMB FLORIDA SYNAGOGUE (Miami) — A man’s planned explosive attack on a South Florida Jewish center was thwarted by the FBI through an undercover operation. James Medina made his initial appearance in federal court following his arrest last week in the alleged plot against the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center, which includes a synagogue, school and meeting halls. Medina is charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. Medina — a Muslim convert who said in court he also goes by James Muhammad — planned to bomb the center by placing a device under a car or throwing it over a wall. An FBI operative was used to provide Medina with a fake bomb, and he was arrested after accepting it on Friday near the Jewish center. (New York Post, May 3, 2016)
BOMBS KILL 14 IN BAGHDAD, INCLUDING PILGRIMS (Baghdad) — Three bombs went off in and around Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 14 people, including Shi’ite Muslim worshippers conducting an annual pilgrimage inside the capital. The largest blast, which I.S. said it was behind, came from a parked car bomb in Baghdad that killed 11 and wounded 30. At least a few of the casualties were pilgrims passing through the area on their way to the shrine of Imam Moussa al-Kadhim, a great-grandson of Prophet Mohammad who died in the 8th century. Monday’s blasts come as Iraq struggles to emerge from a political crisis over reforming its governing system which saw protesters hold an unprecedented sit-in over the weekend in Baghdad’s heavily-fortified Green Zone. (Globe & Mail, May 2, 2016)
ISRAELI TROOPS COME UNDER MORTAR FIRE FROM GAZA (Tel Aviv) — Israeli troops came under mortar fire from Gaza while performing engineering work near the border fence. The Israel Defense Forces responded to the Wednesday morning attack by shelling Hamas-run military posts in Gaza, the IDF said. No Israeli soldiers were injured in the morning mortar attack; a second mortar was reported fired at troops on Wednesday afternoon. The Hamas military post fired on by Israel was damaged but there were no Palestinian casualties. The shelling on the border was the second attack in less than 24 hours. Israeli troops working near the border with northern Gaza on Tuesday afternoon came under gunfire. No troops were injured, the IDF said. (JTA, May 4, 2016)
ISRAEL SEIZES GAZA-BOUND CHEMICALS USED IN ROCKETS (Tel Aviv) — A shipment of salt set to cross into Gaza was discovered to contain four tons of hidden ammonium chloride, which is used to produce long-range rockets. The shipment was inspected at the Nitzana Crossing, which is used to transfer goods among Egypt, Israel and the PA. The sacks of ammonium chloride were discovered hidden within the salt. Four tons of ammonium chloride could have enabled the manufacture of hundreds of long-range rockets. Ammonium chloride is defined as a dual-use substance, and its passage into the Gaza Strip requires a permit because it can be used in the production of long-range rockets. The importer of the salt shipment is a resident of Gaza with ties to the military wing of Hamas. (JTA, May 3, 2016)
PALESTINIAN TEEN CONVICTED IN KILLING OF DAFNA MEIR (Jerusalem) — An IDF court on Tuesday convicted 16-year-old Palestinian Morad Bader Abdullah Adais of the killing of Israeli mother of six Dafna Meir. Adais was arrested in the West Bank village of Beit Amra on January 19, two days after he killed Meir in a nearby Jewish settlement. He confessed to the killing. He was indicted in February on charges of murdering the 38-year-old mother of four and foster mother of two in the entryway to her home, located just south of Hebron. Three of Meir’s children were home when she was killed, and one, 17-year-old Renana, gave security forces a description of the killer. (Times of Israel, May 3, 2016)
ISRAELI SOLDIERS CAPTURE THREE TERROR FUGITIVES (Tel Aviv) — Israeli security personnel captured three wanted terror suspects on Monday. The arrests took place during operations in Judea and Samaria. One of the suspects was taken into custody during an operation in the Arab village of Ein Umm a-Shrait, in the PA-controlled area of Samaria. A second fugitive was captured in the Arab town of Tzurif in Judea. Tzurif is known as a Hamas terrorist stronghold. The third suspect was arrested in the ancient Judean city of Hebron, whose population is today divided between Arabs and Jews, and where several terrorist groups maintain their regional headquarters. (Jewish Press, May 2, 2016)
GIANT AUSTRIAN BANK SHUTS DOWN BDS ACCOUNT (Vienna) — One of Austria’s largest companies – the Erste Group – closed a bank account held by BDS Austria. The BDS campaign targets the Jewish state with economic pressure to advance Palestinian interests. This is the second instance in which a European BDS bank account was closed due to stepped up measures to stop illicit or unsavory transactions. In February, the Post reported on the closure of the main German BDS bank account. DAB Bank Munich, owned by the massive French bank BNP Paribas, pulled the plug on an account held by the German BDS campaign. (Jerusalem Post, Apr. 30, 2016)
‘ISRAEL BOYCOTT HALTED SECURITY DEAL THAT COULD HAVE FOILED PARIS ATTACKS’ (Paris) — An alleged boycott of Israeli technology may have prevented an airport security deal offered to France after the deadly Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher attacks in January, 2015. Use of the Israeli terrorist-tracking technology could possibly have thwarted the subsequent I.S. terror attacks in Paris and Belgium. According to an Israeli security source, an Israeli security company offered the software to France’s main intelligence agency — software that could have helped flag the deadly IS terror cell that perpetrated the attacks in Paris last November and in Belgium last month. But the offer was rebuffed allegedly after an official made clear that Israeli technology could not be purchased, the source said. The agency did not officially state a reason for the rejection. (Times of Israel, Apr. 26, 2016)
TRUMP: ISRAEL SHOULD KEEP BUILDING SETTLEMENTS (New York) — Israel should keep building settlements in the West Bank, Republican front-runner Donald Trump said, linking construction to the continued rocket threat that Israel faces from the Gaza Strip and which has seen it drawn into three wars against Hamas-run Gaza. In an interview with the UK’s Daily Mail on Tuesday, Trump said there should be no pause in settlement construction, a position at odds with that of the Obama administration, which in 2009 encouraged Prime Minister Netanyahu to implement a freeze on new construction for 10 months in an effort to restart stalled peace talks with the Palestinians. (Times of Israel, May 4, 2016)
MANISCHEWITZ WINE POPULAR AMONG ASIAN AMERICANS (Los Angeles) — The quintessential kosher wine label Manischewitz that has long been regarded as a staple in Jewish household is now finding a place on the shelf among Asian Americans. The famously sweet concord grape wine has become more than a popular beverage used during Jewish holidays as it has gained a following among non-Jewish populations. A bottle of Manischewitz wine goes for $4.99 at the Los Angele area's Shun Fat Supermarket, which sells hundreds of bottles of the product to Chinese and Vietnamese customers every year. Constellation Brands, which has owned the Manischewitz winery since 1987, says the brand is the top-selling kosher wine in the United States. (Jerusalem Post, May 3, 2016)
MUSEUM OF JEWISH MONTREAL GETS A PHYSICAL SPACE (Montreal) — For six years now, the Museum of Jewish Montreal has been sharing the history and experience of the city’s Jewish community through online content, an oral history initiative and walking tours of Jewish neighbourhoods. The museum now has an actual physical home – in the Plateau, in the heart of Montreal’s historic Jewish core. Located on the main floor of 4040 St-Laurent Blvd. at Duluth Ave, the space housed garment factories for many years, when the needle trade was an integral component of the neighbourhood’s Jewish community. It’s not a traditional full gallery exhibition space but rather “stage one before we maybe go in that direction,” said the museum’s 32-year-old founder and director, Zev Moses. “Ultimately, it’s good to have our own space if we want to grow and become a permanent piece of the cultural landscape of Montreal.” A soft opening is planned for mid- or late May. (Montreal Gazette, Apr. 29, 2016)
FORMER AUSCHWITZ GUARD APOLOGIZES AT TRIAL (Berlin) — A 94-year-old former SS sergeant admitted in court Friday that he had served as an Auschwitz death camp guard, apologizing to Nazi Holocaust survivors looking on in a German courtroom. Reinhold Hanning told the court that he had never spoken about his wartime service in Auschwitz from January 1942 to June 1944 but wanted to use his trial as an opportunity to set the record straight. "I want to say that it disturbs me deeply that I was part of such a criminal organization," he said. "I am ashamed that I saw injustice and never did anything about it and I apologize for my actions. I am very, very sorry." Hanning is charged with 170,000 counts of accessory to murder on allegations that as a guard he helped the death camp function, so can legally be found guilty of accessory to murder. (CBC, Apr. 29, 2016)
HALF-BILLION SHEKELS TO GO TO HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS AND ELDERLY (Jerusalem) — Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon announced plans to increase annual financial support for Holocaust survivors and elderly welfare recipients by a half-billion shekels in advance of Holocaust Remembrance Day. The new plans will benefit 60,000 survivors living below the poverty line. “On Wednesday evening, we will enter Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), as we do every year,” Kahlon said. “As the years pass, we see a decrease in the number of Holocaust survivors in Israel. However, what is not decreasing is our desire to listen to their stories, which are an inseparable part of the country’s founding, as well as our desire to enable them to grow old with dignity” (Ynet, May 3, 2016)
Ken Livingstone Takes British Politics to New Lows: Rex Murphy, National Post, Apr. 29, 2016— Complaints about the tone of debate in the House of Commons are almost seasonal in their regularity. And they are justified. Some MPs imagine that since they lack eloquence, or the ability to articulate a rational argument, they can compensate with exhibitions of vulgarity or insult.
How Many Molenbeeks in France?: Yves Mamou, Gatestone Institute, May 3, 2016— Patrick Kanner, France's Minister for Urban Areas, was undoubtedly not planning to tell the truth on March 27. He was on the set of Europe 1 TV to emphasize the left's credo: Islamist terrorism is rooted in poverty and unemployment. But they asked one question again and again: "How many Molenbeeks are in France?"
Flooded With Migrants, Germany Struggles to Integrate Them: Alison Smale, New York Times, Apr. 27, 2016— If the urgent challenge for Germany last year was sheltering the hundreds of thousands of people who descended on the country almost at once seeking asylum, then this year’s task is to integrate them. But before that can happen, there is sifting to do. Lots of it.
The "Two State Solution": Irony and Truth: Louis René Beres, Gatestone Institute, Apr. 27, 2016— There is no lack of irony in the endless discussions of Israel and a Palestinian state. One oddly neglected example is the complete turnaround of former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres. Recognized today as perhaps the proudest Israeli champion of a "Two State Solution" — sometimes also referred to as a "Road Map to Peace in the Middle East" — Peres had originally considered Palestinian sovereignty to be an intolerable existential threat to Israel.
