Still Stunned at Trump’s Win? It’s All in the Numbers: Clifford Orwin, Globe & Mail, Dec. 12, 2016
As Turkey Cracks Down, Kurdish Mayors Pack Bags for Jail: Rod Nordland, New York Times, Dec. 10, 2016
Russia’s Buildup in Kaliningrad to Test Donald Trump on NATO: Nathan Hodge, Wall Street Journal, Dec. 9, 2016
The Real Battle for Mosul Begins When Islamic State is Defeated: Zheger Hassan, Globe & Mail, Dec. 12, 2016
WEEKLY QUOTES
“I know Donald Trump. I know him very well…His attitude, his support for Israel is clear. He feels very warmly about the Jewish state…and about Jewish people. There is no question about that… We [Israel] had differences of opinion with President Obama…the most well-known, of course, is Iran…Suppose we had the greatest of personal chemistry. You think I wouldn’t stand up against the Iran deal if I thought, as I did, that it endangers the existence of Israel? Of course, I would.” — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 10, 2016)
“The United States of America has embassies in all of the world’s capitals with the exception of Israel…moving the embassy to the capital of the Jewish people, to Jerusalem, is a straightforward, standard thing to do.” — Jerusalem’s Mayor Nir Barkat. Barkat said that he is confident U.S. President-elect Trump will move the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a break in US policy that is sure to anger Palestinians, who claim the eastern sector of the city for their future capital. Barkat spoke a day after Trump’s spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway said that he is determined to move the embassy to Jerusalem when he takes office. (Times of Israel, Dec. 14, 2016)
“We really have to stand up to Iran…The Iranians have to know that the US is not going to tolerate any violations of the nuclear deal, and they will be held to account. Terrorists tend to probe for weakness, and if they believe the West is weak…then they will exploit it. If they run into strength and resistance, then they will adjust accordingly…This is not just in regard to the nuclear weapons program, but also their ballistic-missile systems; their undermining regimes in the region; their threats against Israel; their sympathy for Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist groups; and their aggressive behavior towards US ships and personnel.” — Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. (Algemeiner, Dec. 13, 2016)
“Here's another reason for (U.S. Secretary of State John) Kerry and J Street to worry. Speaking at the Jewish Media Summit in Jerusalem Dec. 4, Member of Knesset Michael Oren said that the election of Donald Trump “spells the end of the two-state solution.” Oren is not some extremist. He is the widely respected former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., a representative of the moderate Kulanu Party, and himself a supporter of Palestinian statehood (with certain limitations). It's time to read the writing on the wall: Palestinian statehood is an idea whose time has passed.” — Stephen M. Flatow (JNS, Dec. 7, 2016)
“Ambassador Bolton was the final speaker of the (OJC-Jewish Chamber Press Conference to Support Israel at the UN), utilizing his impeccable diplomatic pedigree to sound the alarm about the “very far reaching repercussions” that would result from a US abandonment of Israel at the UN. He pointed to the bipartisan US consensus for nearly half a century that a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict cannot be imposed by other countries. “It is a fiction that a resolution across First Avenue will lead to lasting peace,” he said. The ambassador and other speakers then took questions from the audience, and expounded in greater detail how virulently anti-Semitic and anti-Israel Mahmoud Abbas and other “moderate” Palestinian leaders, not to mention Hamas, are – making it all the more dangerous if statehood gains momentum at this moment.” — Eliran Aharon (Arutz Sheva, Dec. 12, 2016)
"Today, the world public opinion is faced with this strong argument that the Zionist regime has never been after peace, and this argument and reasoning should be used to show that there is no way, but jihad and resistance for the Palestinians against the usurper regime." — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, at a meeting with the leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shallah in Tehran. Rouhani said that Israel and its supporters have paved the ground for terrorists in the region to make them forget the Palestinian issue. (Fars News Agency, Dec. 13, 2016)
“I still cannot believe it, but I have just been convicted because I asked a question about Moroccans…The Netherlands have become a sick country…I have a message for the judges who convicted me: You have restricted the freedom of speech of millions of Dutch and hence convicted everyone. No one trusts you anymore.” — Geert Wilders, the far-right politician who is seen as a likely contender to become Prime Minister when Dutch voters go to the polls next year. Wilders was convicted on Friday of inciting discrimination and of insulting a group for saying that the Netherlands would be safer with fewer Moroccans. The three-member judiciary panel found that Wilders, the leader of the Party for Freedom, violated Dutch law with his remarks on March 19, 2014, but it elected not to convict him of inciting hatred, and it imposed no punishment, rejecting the prosecutors’ request to fine him 5,000 euros, or about $5,300. (New York Times, Dec. 9, 2016)
“He said that he was supported by millions of people and therefore was not to blame of offending a group…It’s important to answer the question of whether he was guilty of this. That question is answered in our court system. We state that you cannot offend groups of people and discriminate against them.” — Chief Judge, Hendrik Steenhuis. In their ruling, the judges said that Wilders’s comments at the rally had contributed to the further polarization of Dutch society by using “nationality as an ethnic designation” and that mutual respect was imperative in the “pluralistic” Netherlands. Wilders took a page out of President-elect Trump’s playbook when he adopted the campaign slogan “Make the Netherlands Great Again” and attended the Republican convention in the U.S. Since the election of Trump, the Party for Freedom has been surging in the polls. (New York Times, Dec. 9, 2016)
“People started to hate their lives because of us…Everything we’ve done is for nothing, we lost everything…People have the right to take their children wherever they want, we can’t take them as hostages…We couldn’t meet the promises we made them.” — Zohair al-Shimali, a Syrian activist. After years of bombing and months under siege, Syrian rebels had lost more than three-quarters of their territory in eastern Aleppo by the end of last week, throwing thousands of civilians and fighters into chaos. Al-Shimali said he and others who had led street protests and later supported rebels had failed to deliver. He said that while some rebels were counseling “patience,” he was ready for any deal, either for rebels to leave in exchange for ending the bombing or to bus civilians out. (New York Times, Dec. 10, 2016)
“My only neighbor, my only aunt and uncle, my secretary, my maid, and even my right hand at work are going to the regime areas…They are neutral and just want to live and eat and drink, they don’t care about the revolution and religion. I feel like I lost a piece of me…I can’t stop crying.” — Dr. Farida, a Syrian gynecologist. As a turning point in the war approaches, countries like the U.S., which have long demanded that President Assad step down, are reduced to wrangling with Russia, Assad’s main backer, over how to protect or evacuate the civilians trapped in the enclave. Last month, proposed evacuation deals fell through and government forces began an all-out aerial and ground attack. At least 40,000 people have fled to government areas during the offensive, and others have fled deeper into rebel territory, fearing arrest on the other side. Now, Russia has declared that anyone who does not leave will be considered a terrorist and “destroyed.” (New York Times, Dec. 10, 2016)
“The battle of Aleppo has reached its end. It is just a matter of a small period of time, no more, no less…It’s a total collapse.” — Rami Abdulrahman, the pseudonym of the director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (National Post, Dec. 13, 2016)
“A doc in east Aleppo: ‘A farewell message: Remember that there was a city called Aleppo that the world erased from the map and history.’ ” — Activists in Aleppo are tweeting out their final, harrowing goodbyes. (National Post, Dec. 13, 2016)
“Erdogan’s real aim is to take Turkey out of the Western bloc, out of the civilized world, and to turn Turkey into a Middle Eastern country where he can continue to rule without any obstacles…He wants to turn Turkey into a country where there is no secularism and where people are divided along their ethnic identity and their beliefs. It is becoming a nation that faces internal conflict, just as we have seen in Iraq, Syria or Libya.” — Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the head of Turkey’s biggest opposition party, the Republican People’s Party, or CHP. Nearly a century after the Ottoman Empire gave way to today’s Turkish republic, a tectonic shift is under way. Under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s iron-fisted rule, Turkey is drifting away from its historic Western allies in perhaps one of the most significant geopolitical realignments of our age. (Wall Street Journal, Dec. 9, 2016)
“It’s not the denial of genocide that is being perpetrated…but the denial of the existence of evil…The good is represented by the Chosen People, the Jewish people, and the principles and ideals which are an integral part of their inheritance.” — Lt. Col. Sargis Sangari, Chief Executive Officer of the Near East Center for Strategic Engagement. Lt. Col. Sangari weighed in on the atrocities being committed by I.S. against Assyrian Christians at the academic conference “Christian Genocide in the Middle East: Why is the World Silent?”, sponsored by the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research, at Toronto’s Beth Radom synagogue, November 20, 2016. (American Spectator, Dec. 8, 2016)
“If Christianity [in the Middle East] survives, it will not be because of any interest taken by Christians in our part of the world, but rather because the State of Israel, the people of Israel, and conscientious Jews everywhere are dedicated to saving it.” — Dr. Paul Merkley, Professor Emeritus of History at Carleton University and a CIJR Academic Fellow, at the “Christian Genocide in the Middle East” conference. (American Spectator, Dec. 8, 2016)
SHORT TAKES
ALEPPO CEASE-FIRE COLLAPSES, THREATENING EVACUATION PLANS (Aleppo) — A cease-fire deal between rebels and the Syrian government in Aleppo effectively collapsed on Wednesday, with fighter jets resuming deadly air raids over the opposition's enclave in the east of the city. The attacks threatened to scuttle plans to evacuate rebels and tens thousands of civilians out of harm's way, in what would seal the opposition's surrender of the city. Activists and fighters trapped in the opposition's last sliver of territory in Aleppo said pro-government forces had struck their district with dozens of rockets since mid-morning. It was not clear whether the planes were Syrian or Russian. (Fox News, Dec. 14, 2016)
I.S. RE-CAPTURES PALMYRA (Damascus) — IS re-occupied Palmyra, taking the ancient Syrian city from government troops after a year of setbacks in Syria and Iraq. In retaking Palmyra, the extremist group appeared to be taking advantage of the Syrian and Russian preoccupation with Aleppo, timing its attack to coincide with a government offensive to capture the last remaining opposition-held neighbourhoods. Palmyra, with its 2,000-year-old ruins, holds mostly symbolic meaning in the wider Syrian civil war, although its location gives it some strategic significance. I.S. had spent 10 months in Palmyra, during which they dynamited a number of temples and destroyed other artifacts. (CBC, Dec. 11, 2016)
ATTACK ON COPTIC CATHEDRAL IN CAIRO KILLS 25 (Cairo) — A bomb ripped through a section for women at Cairo’s main Coptic cathedral during Sunday Mass, killing at least 25 people and wounding 49, mostly women and children. The attack was the deadliest against Egypt’s Christian minority in years. Video from the blast site showed blood-smeared floors and shattered pews among the marble pillars at St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, the seat of Egypt’s Orthodox Christian church, where the blast occurred in a chapel adjacent to the main building. (New York Times, Dec. 11, 2016)
TURKEY IN FURY AFTER 44 KILLED IN BOMBING (Istanbul) — A twin bomb attack in Istanbul that killed at least 44 people following a football game has sent the nation into mourning, with thousands hitting the streets in protest. At least 30 of the victims of the attack, which targeted a police vehicle, were officers. Some 155 people were wounded in the attack near the Vodafone Arena Stadium, just minutes after some fans had left the facility. Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said “there is no doubt” that the attack was carried out by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). (Hurriyet News, Dec. 11, 2016)
NIGERIA SUICIDE ATTACK IN CROWDED MARKET KILLS DOZENS (Madagali) — Two female suicide bombers killed 45 people and wounded 33 others when they detonated their explosives in a crowded market in Nigeria's restive northeast. While there was no immediate claim of responsibility, the blasts bore all the hallmarks of Boko Haram, which regularly uses women and young girls to carry out suicide attacks in its seven-year insurgent campaign in the troubled region. (Telegraph, Dec. 10, 2016)
BOEING SEALS NEARLY $17 BILLION IRAN DEAL (New York) — Boeing clinched a deal to sell 80 jetliners to Iran, completing the first major agreement between a U.S. company and the Islamic Republic. Planned aircraft sales by Boeing and European rival Airbus to Iranian carrier Iran Air are among the most high-profile transactions signed since Iran and Western powers concluded a nuclear accord that removed sanctions on Tehran. U.S. officials cleared the way for Airbus and Boeing to start contract talks in September. Now, Western executives are trying to figure out whether Trump will step in to slow, or stop, the tentative approaches many companies have already made. (Wall Street Journal, Dec. 11, 2016)
MCCAIN SAYS PANEL TO PROBE IF RUSSIA HACKED U.S. (Washington) — Sen. John McCain says the Senate Armed Services Committee will go to work "immediately" to investigate allegations that hackers directed by Russia tried to interfere in the US Presidential election. The Arizona Republican says the effort will be led by GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and a Democratic co-chair. McCain also said ultimately he'd like the Senate to create a special committee to investigate the allegations. President-elect Donald Trump has dismissed the CIA's conclusion that Russia tried to drive his victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton. (Ynet, Dec. 11, 2016)
TRUMP TAPS TILLERSON TO LEAD STATE DEPARTMENT (Washington) —Trump announced he has settled on ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be Secretary of State. Trump said that as the nation’s top diplomat, Tillerson would be “a world-class leader” working on behalf of the American people. Tillerson, however, has close ties to Russia, and his selection sets up a potential Senate confirmation fight. Tillerson has connections with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And on Capitol Hill, leading Republicans have already expressed anxieties about Tillerson, as they contend with intelligence assessments saying Russia interfered with the US election to help Trump. (Times of Israel, Dec. 13, 2016)
MAY LAUDS ISRAEL, SLAMS BDS (London) — During an address to her Conservative Party’s Friends of Israel, British Prime Minister Theresa May lauded Israel as “a beacon of tolerance,” rebutted the “wrong” and “unacceptable” BDS movement, dug into the opposition Labour Party and its leader Jeremy Corbyn, and hailed the 99 year-old Balfour Declaration, a key moment in the establishment of a Jewish homeland, as “one of the most important letters in history.” Israel, she said, was a “crucial” element of its post-Brexit world stage, then hailed next year’s anniversary of the Balfour Declaration as a time to mark “with pride.” May, who became the British Prime Minister in July, also announced that Britain would be adopting a new definition of antisemitism. (Tablet, Dec. 13, 2016)
CORBYN ATTENDS LAUNCH OF ANTI-ISRAEL BOOK (London) —UK Labour Party’s Jeremy Corbyn — long dogged by accusations of antisemitism — met with the founder of an internationally renowned anti-Israel student group. According to watchdog group Canary Mission, Corbyn attended the London book signing of Dr. Hatem Bazian, senior lecturer at UC Berkeley and father of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). Pictures from the evening — hosted by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) as part of a promotion tour for Bazian’s new book, Palestine…It Is Something Colonial — show the two men posing together. SJP has been at the center of numerous controversies on US college campuses. A study found that “one of the strongest predictors of perceiving a hostile climate towards Israel and Jews is the presence of an active SJP group on campus.” (Algemeiner, Dec. 8, 2016)
"HATE SPACES" FILM EXPOSES CAMPUS INTOLERANCE (Boston) — A new documentary, "Hate Spaces," exposes the epidemic of campus intolerance favoring Muslims and anti-Israel activists over Jews and Israel supporters when it comes to free speech, academic freedom, and protection from abuse. "Hate Spaces" premiered Nov. 30 in New York, and will be screened at select locations around the country. The film's title refers to the concept of "safe spaces" that has been used to silence unpopular speech on universities around the United States. "Hate Spaces" attempts to explain how campuses became so hostile to Israel. The film notes that professors and administrators have only exacerbated the campus movement promoting BDS, through their indifference or open complicity with the movement's campus leaders and tactics. (IPT, Dec. 13, 2016)
ISRAEL GOES 'SUPER-TECH' WITH F-35 STEALTH FIGHTERS (Jerusalem) — Israel will receive its first F-35 stealth fighter jets, hailed as technological marvels whose helmets alone cost more than most people's homes but criticized for their price and initial flaws. Built by US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, the first two planes' arrival in Israel is being welcomed as a major event for the country's military as it seeks to maintain dominance in the turbulent Middle East. While a list of countries have ordered the planes, Israel will be the first with an operational F-35 squadron outside the U.S. Israel has given it the name "Adir" — which means "mighty" in Hebrew. (ENCA, Dec. 10, 2016)
JEWISH GROUPS DIVIDED OVER HANUKKAH PARTY AT TRUMP HOTEL (New York) — Several progressive Jewish groups are speaking out against their parent conference’s decision to hold a Hanukkah party at
Donald Trump’s new Washington, D.C. hotel. The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (CoP) is holding the party at the Trump International Hotel on December 14. The party has sparked a backlash among some member organizations who are upset over the partnership with Azerbaijan, a country with a record of human rights abuses, and the event’s venue, which some see as an endorsement of Trump. Eight groups, most of them left of center, responded that they are objecting to the party. Morton Klein, head of the Zionist Organization of America, blasted the groups speaking out against the venue as “far left wing extremists.” (The Hill, Dec. 10, 2016)
HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS SCORE VICTORY IN RECLAIMING STOLEN ART (New York) — A group of Holocaust survivors and their families notched a crucial victory as Congress approved legislation that would make it easier to reclaim art confiscated during World War II. The unanimous vote was the culmination of a bipartisan effort to help victims whose art was taken by the Nazis and their allies. The measure would loosen, and standardize across the country, the statute of limitations on claims for the return of looted art. Survivors and their families would have six years to make a claim after identifying pieces taken from them and proving their right to them. The legislation is considered a critical tool as Holocaust survivors and their heirs have faced a bureaucratic and legal tangle of governments, museums and collectors to recover art taken from them more than 70 years ago. (New York Times, Dec. 10, 2016)
HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR HONOURED BY ADOPTED HOME OF N.L. (St. John’s) — Philip Riteman survived Auschwitz and Dachau, but had nowhere to go after the Holocaust until pre-Confederation Newfoundland took him in. On Wednesday, seven decades after he arrived, he will be given the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador for his life's achievements, including his book Millions of Souls, which tells his story from the Second World War to his life in Canada's easternmost province. "For 40 years, I never spoke about it. Now I'm speaking out. I worry for the young generation…I want you people to know about what did happen. What human beings could do, and how low the human beings could go and do this. To men and women and children. Innocent," he said last year. (CBC, Dec. 13, 2016)
Still Stunned at Trump’s Win? It’s All in the Numbers: Clifford Orwin, Globe & Mail, Dec. 12, 2016 —Donald Trump’s victory was surprising and, to those of us who failed to predict it, downright abnormal. Yet sift through the still smouldering data and you’ll find an election that was in many respects quite normal.
As Turkey Cracks Down, Kurdish Mayors Pack Bags for Jail: Rod Nordland, New York Times, Dec. 10, 2016—When Kurdish officials here in Diyarbakir, the biggest Kurdish city in the world, say they’ve been “unavoidably detained,” it is not just an excuse for lateness. Even before I arrived, the co-mayors, Gultan Kisanak and Firat Anli, were jailed on terrorism charges that rights groups say are trumped up. Interviews in prison are not possible because, officially, foreign journalists are barred from the city.
Russia’s Buildup in Kaliningrad to Test Donald Trump on NATO: Nathan Hodge, Wall Street Journal, Dec. 9, 2016—Military maneuvering here in the Baltic region by Russia and NATO presents a challenge for President-elect Donald Trump and his commitment to America’s European allies. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization plans to station a multinational force on its eastern flank by May as a deterrent following Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine.
The Real Battle for Mosul Begins When Islamic State is Defeated: Zheger Hassan, Globe & Mail, Dec. 12, 2016 —Canada has been providing military support to the Kurdish Peshmerga in northern Iraq since August, 2014 by assisting, training and advising them against the Islamic State. It was no surprise, then, when Canada extended its commitment to include the liberation of Mosul.
