How to Build Middle East Peace: Moshe Yaalon, Foreign Affairs, Jan., 2017
A Mosque Shooting Quebeckers Must Never Forget: Konrad Yakabuski, Globe & Mail, Jan. 30, 2017
Smoking Out Islamists via Extreme Vetting: Daniel Pipes, Middle East Quarterly, Spring, 2017
Trump’s Populist Manifesto: Editorial, Wall Street Journal, Jan. 20, 2017
WEEKLY QUOTES
“The Holocaust, thank God, is behind us…but the hatred and intolerance that drove it is not. Anti-Semitism, which is the world’s oldest hatred, is experiencing a revival in the enlightened West… Yet, as disturbing as this is, the greatest danger that we face, of the hatred for the Jewish people and the Jewish state, comes from the East. It comes from Iran. It comes from the ayatollah regime that is fanning these flames and calling outright for the destruction of the Jewish state… We cannot and will not be silent in the face of Iran’s stated aim of destroying Israel…But we also know that the issue is not merely the Jewish state or the Jewish people. Because we’ve seen that this hatred, when it goes unchecked, spreads around the world, and in fact, in many ways, that is what is happening… The regime that spawned the Holocaust ended up in the dustbin of history. That’s a lesson for Iran. It’s a lesson to every enemy of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.” — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the International Holocaust Remembrance Day event at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. (Jewish Press, Jan. 27, 2017)
"Politicians and military leaders sound increasingly belligerent and defence doctrines more dangerous. Commentators and TV personalities are joining the bellicose chorus. It all looks as if the world is preparing for war." — Mikhail Gorbachev. The former Soviet leader has warned that a new arms race means "the nuclear threat once again seems real." Gorbachev issued a stark warning of a world where weapons of mass destruction were becoming cheaper and more readily available. “Money is easily found for sophisticated weapons whose destructive power is comparable to that of the weapons of mass destruction; for submarines whose single salvo is capable of devastating half a continent; for missile defence systems that undermine strategic stability,” he wrote in Time Magazine. Gorbachev's dire warning came a day after the Doomsday Clock, which symbolises the current threat of global annihilation, was moved 30 seconds closer to midnight. Last week U.S. President Donald J. Trump admitted receiving the nuclear codes was a "very sobering moment" as well as being "very, very, very scary". (Huffington Post, Jan. 19, 2017)
“The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while…I want you to quote this…The media here is the opposition party. They don’t understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States.” — Chief White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon. Just days after Trump spoke of a “running war’’ with the media, Bannon argued that news organizations had been “humiliated” by the election outcome. Bannon delivered a broad indictment of the news media as being biased against Trump and out of touch with the American public. Bannon mostly referred to the “elite” or “mainstream” media, but he cited The New York Times and The Washington Post by name. “The paper of record for our beloved republic, The New York Times, should be absolutely ashamed and humiliated,” Bannon said. “They got it 100 percent wrong.” (New York Times, Jan. 26, 2017)
“For those who don’t have our back, we’re taking names—we will make points to respond to that accordingly…Everything that’s working, we’re going to make it better; everything that’s not working, we’re going to try and fix; and anything that seems to be obsolete and not necessary, we’re going to do away with.” — Nikki Haley, the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Haley arrived with a posture and message that startled many U.N. officials and diplomats and signaled a shift of policy: The U.S., she said, would collect names and respond to countries opposing American interests, and would “do away” with U.N. programs it deems obsolete. Diplomats said her “tone was tough” and that she projected views more in keeping with the new administration’s pledge to upend and overhaul all things policy, from trade deals to refugee regulations and U.N. programs. (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 27, 2017)
“…Under no circumstances shall we recognize Israel and the United States saying east Jerusalem is annexed…The agreements signed with Israel will be dead, because Netanyahu decided to kill it…So he will be responsible for paying the salaries of teachers, doctors, garbage collection in the West Bank, the entirety of the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. The authority cannot be sustained – it will be destroyed, because he is destroying it.” — Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator for the PA. The PLO has settled on a plan to counter Trump should he choose to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Erekat said the PLO would first revoke its 1993 decision to recognize the State of Israel. The PLO would ask the UN General Assembly to suspend Israeli membership in the chamber “until it abides by international law.” The Palestinians are a non-member observer state at the UN. “The Palestinians at that moment, with no two-state solution – no possibility for a Palestinian state – they will demand equal rights, equal citizenship with Israel,” he said. “We will be trying to accommodate ourselves in the one-state reality that was created by… settlements.” The PA has been working with Jordanian officials to dissuade Trump from proceeding with the embassy move. (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 26, 2017)
“In the face of this widely advertised bureaucracy of terror, the Trump administration should suspend all further aid to the Palestinian Authority. Not another dollar should flow until measures are adopted to assure that no more people are slain because American aid enabled the Palestinian Authority to confidently promise compensation for killing. Congress has already introduced the vehicle to do this, a bill in the name of Taylor Force. If passed into law, it would condition aid on the secretary of state’s certification that the Palestinian Authority has ended its legal sanction of terrorist financing. Without such a commitment, and strong due diligence by the State Department to ensure that it is honored, American funding of the Palestinian Authority should cease.” — David Aufhauser and Sander Gerber. (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 27, 2017)
“A wall protects…All you have to do is ask Israel. They were having a total disaster coming across and they had a wall. It’s 99.9 percent stoppage.” — President Trump, invoking Israel’s “wall” as a model for the barrier he has vowed to build along the United States’ border with Mexico. His wall, he says, will keep out illegal immigrants who bring drugs and crime into America. It is not immediately clear which “wall” Trump was referring to. Israel has built fences along its borders with Egypt; along its northern border with Lebanon; and along its boundary with the Gaza Strip. But Israel’s best-known barrier is the one built along and inside Judea and Samaria after a surge of terrorist attacks. It was intended to regulate Palestinian movement into Israel. (New York Times, Jan. 27, 2017)
“For the first time we have a president of whom people ask, with equanimity, each night at dinner tables: “What nutty thing did he say today?” No one has to explain who “he” is. Amazingly, we’re getting used to this. So is the world… And here is the important political point: Democrats don’t have a playbook for this. They have a playbook to use against normal Republicans: You’re cold, greedy, racist, sexist elitists who hate the little guy. They don’t have a playbook to use against a political figure like Mr. Trump yet, because he jumbles all the categories. Democrats will wobble around, see what works. For now they’ll stick with saying he’s scary, unstable, right-wing. It’s going to take them a while to develop a playbook against an independent populist, some of whose advisers hate Republicans more than they do.” — Peggy Noonan. (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 26, 2017)
“The great engagement promised by Obama with the Muslim world really meant a disengagement with the Middle East. American troops would be greatly reduced in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States would “lead from behind” on the Arab Spring, and would make a deal to lift sanctions on Iran. The great withdrawal would remove the American finger from the Islamic eye. What Obama did not see, or chose to ignore, is that an American vacuum would be filled by someone. By early in Obama’s second term, it was clear that the candidates were ISIL on the Sunni side, and Iran, together with its allies in Moscow and Damascus, on the Shia side. The price of disengagement in Iraq was the rise of ISIL. The price for a deal with Iran was allowing Assad and Putin to brutally seize control of Syria. Obama willingly paid both prices. The most haunting failure of Obama’s engagement with the Islamic world is that so many are desperately trying to leave it… On the whole, Muslims are less secure, less free and less welcomed after eight years of Obama. It’s not all his fault, but it does mean that his central religion-and-politics realignment failed to improve the lives of actual Muslims.” — Father Raymond J. de Souza. (National Post, Jan. 23, 2017)
“I love my Jewish brothers and sisters; love those people. Look at how people in Israel live, and [compare that to the] situation in the Arab world. Look at the condition of Palestinians in Arab countries, particularly in the Gulf States, where they are humiliated. I swear to God that if I were Palestinian, I would shake the hands of the Jews. The Jews are more honorable than all the Arab regimes.” — Saad Fayyed Salman al-Iraqi, an Iraqi Muslim who said he fled his country due to its volatile security situation. (Algemeiner, Jan. 31, 2017)
SHORT TAKES
MOSQUE SHOOTING SUSPECT CHARGED WITH SIX COUNTS OF MURDER (Quebec) — Alexandre Bissonnette, the 27-year-old man accused of opening fire on a Quebec City mosque, has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder. Bissonnette could later face terrorism-related charges, depending on the outcome of the ongoing investigation. Six men were killed and five people remain in hospital with injuries. Another man, Mohamed Belkhadir, was released after police confirmed he was a witness and not involved in the shooting. The suspect was "known to several activists for his pro-Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front in France, and anti-feminist positions…on social networks," according to Bienvenue aux réfugié.es. (CBC, Jan. 30, 2017)
HAIFA SHOOTING CONFIRMED AS TERROR ATTACK (Sana’a) — Investigators confirmed that a shooting attack in Haifa in January was in fact an act of terrorism targeting Jews. Indictments were issued on Monday for the terrorist and three other local Arabs who aided him before and after the attack. The attack left 47-year old Guy Kafri dead and wounded 48-year old Rabbi Yehiel Iluz. The terrorist has been identified as Mahmoud Shinawi. Authorities note that Shinawi has a record of antisemitic crimes, including setting a Jewish-owned car on fire during the 2006 Lebanon War. (Arutz Sheva, Jan. 30, 2017)
US NAVY SEAL KILLED, 3 INJURED IN RAID IN YEMEN (Sana’a) — A member of U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six was killed and three others were wounded in a raid against a group of senior Al Qaeda leaders in Yemen. A total of 14 fighters from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula were killed in the assault, and U.S. service members captured "information that will likely provide insight into the planning of future terror plots," according to the military. The raid on Al Qaeda headquarters was the first counterterrorism offensive under Trump aimed at gathering intelligence about the terrorist group. It was also first combat death under the new administration. (Fox News, Jan. 29, 2017)
IRAN LAUNCHES BALLISTIC MISSILE TEST IN VIOLATION OF UN RESOLUTION (Jerusalem) — US officials say that Iran has conducted a ballistic missile test in violation of the UN resolution put in place after the Iran nuclear deal. The test occurred outside Semnan, about 140 miles east of Tehran, on Sunday. The missile in question was the Khorramshahr medium-range ballistic missile, which the officials said flew 600 miles before exploding. During his campaign, Trump expressed his opposition to the nuclear deal reached last year between Iran and worlds powers. Trump has called the Iran nuclear deal one of the worst deals in history. (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 30, 2017)
POLICE BEGIN EVACUATION OF AMONA OUTPOST (Jerusalem) — Police entered the West Bank outpost of Amona, home to 40 families, Wednesday to evacuate the residents, ahead of its court-ordered demolition. According to a spokesperson, about 1,700 people were also on the site to support the residents and block the evacuation. At least 3,000 police officers were at the scene and began evacuating the outpost, police said. After over a decade of delays and legal wrangling, the High Court ruled in December 2014 that Amona, which lies east of Ramallah, was built on private Palestinian land and must be demolished. (Times of Israel, Feb. 1, 2017)
ISRAEL APPROVES CONSTRUCTION OF 153 MORE HOMES IN JERUSALEM (Jerusalem) — Israeli officials have given final approval to plans for another 153 new homes in the very crowded southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. Deputy Mayor Meir Turgeman said the approvals were in the pipeline for quite some time but were among those held up due to pressure from the Obama administration. Turgeman said as many as a total of 11,000 housing units could be approved in the coming months. This week Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman together announced the approval of construction plans for 2,500 housing units in Judea and Samaria. (Jewish Press, Jan. 26, 2017)
ISRAEL APPROVES PLAN TO TAKE IN 100 SYRIAN ORPHANS (Jerusalem) — Israel is taking in its first refugees from Syria’s six-year-long civil war. Last week, Israeli Minister of Interior Aryeh Deri approved an “outline” for a plan by which 100 Syrian children orphaned during the country’s ongoing civil war would receive temporary residency status in Israel. After four years, they could get permanent residency and bring family members from Syria to live with them. Israel has provided medical care to around 2,600 Syrians injured during the country’s conflict—which has killed around a half-million people and displaced 11 million more. (Tablet, Jan. 27, 2017)
B.C. SCHOOL RESCINDS BAN AGAINST ISRAELI STUDENT (Victoria) — Stav Daron, 27, an Israeli civil engineering student applied to take a course next fall at the Island School of Building Arts (ISBA) on British Columbia’s Gabriola Island. Patricia Rokosh, manager of school and student services, at first rejected Daron because he was Israeli, citing school policy. Rokosh said that although Israelis had attended in the past, the school was “not accepting applications from Israel… due to the conflict and illegal settlement activity in the region.” But hours after his story spread via news outlets, the school dropped the policy and said Daron would gladly be accepted by the school. (CJN, Feb. 1, 2017)
CAMPUS WATCHDOG DISCOVERS U. OF HOUSTON STUDENTS PRAISING HITLER (Houston) — A group of students from the University of Houston (UH) have been routinely expressing the desire to hurt or harass Jews in posts on social media, a covert campus watchdog group revealed. Canary Mission — which anonymously monitors anti-Israel and antisemitic activities on college campuses — has uncovered a “disturbing degree of hatred” among 12 UH students who have posted dozens of violent, racist messages directed at Jews and Israel. A number of these students are affiliated with UH’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Muslim Student Association (MSA) chapters, as well as with the BDS movement. (Algemeiner, Jan. 26, 2017)
NETANYAHU TO VISIT TRUMP FEB. 15 (Jerusalem) — Israeli Prime Netanyahu accepted the invitation officially extended by Trump to visit Washington. Press Secretary Sean Spicer announced earlier in the day at a briefing that Netanyahu would visit Trump in two weeks. The press secretary underscored the importance of the American relationship with its ally, Israel. Jordan’s King Abdullah II is currently in Washington for a state visit, and met with Vice President Mike Pence. The ruler of the Hashemite Kingdom is slated to meet with President Trump on Thursday. (Jewish Press, Jan. 31, 2017)
ANTI-ISRAEL CHANTS HEARD ACROSS COUNTRY AT PROTESTS AGAINST TRUMP (Washington) — Anti-Israel activists at a number of demonstrations across the US over the weekend appeared to co-opt protests against President Trump’s controversial travel ban executive order by leading chants of “From Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go!” Such chants were reportedly heard at airports in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago among other locations, as protesters rallied against the executive order, which imposes temporary travel restrictions on incomers from seven Middle Eastern nations — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. (Algemeiner, Jan. 30, 2017)
ALBRIGHT SAYS SHE'LL REGISTER AS MUSLIM (Washington) — Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright says she is ready to register as Muslim in a show of solidarity. Albright tweeted: "I was raised Catholic, became Episcopalian & found out later my family was Jewish. I stand ready to register as Muslim in #solidarity." Albright also tweeted that "America must remain open to people of all faiths & backgrounds." During his campaign, Trump proposed a temporary ban on foreign Muslims entering the U.S. and at one point suggested requiring Muslims already in the country to register. Albright served under President Bill Clinton. She didn't say where or how she would register as a Muslim. (Fox, Jan. 26, 2017)
WILDERS CALLED CRITICS OF EXECUTIVE ORDER “HYPOCRITES” (Amsterdam) — The Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders called critics of Trump’s executive order on refugees “hypocrites” for failing to protest against predominantly Muslim countries that ban Israeli passport holders. Wilders, whose rightist Party for Freedom has been leading in polls ahead of the March general elections, made the assertion about Trump’s order. Posting on Twitter a table showing 16 countries that allegedly do not allow in holders of Israeli passports, Wilders wrote: “So where were the protests and demonstrations of the left? #hypocrisy.” Of the 16 countries listed — all of them predominantly Muslim — 11 are Arab states. (JTA, Jan. 31, 2017)
DUBAI SECURITY CHIEF BACKS TRUMP IMMIGRATION ORDER (Dubai) — A prominent figure in the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) security apparatus is reportedly endorsing Trump's executive order temporarily banning citizens of seven predominately Muslim countries from entering the U.S. His country is not among the seven countries covered by the order. The UAE has cited security concerns for its own reluctance to admit Syrian refugees since the start of the civil war in 2011. After drawing criticism from human rights groups, UAE officials agreed in September to accept 15,000 Syrian refugees over a five-year period. According to a Rasmussen Reports national survey, 57 percent of “likely U.S. voters” also favored a temporary ban on refugees from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen for the next 90 days. Ten percent were undecided and 33 percent were opposed to the ban. (IPT, Jan. 31, 2017)
TRUMP’S HOLOCAUST DAY STATEMENT FAILS TO MENTION JEWS (Washington) —Trump issued a statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day Friday in which he vowed to combat the forces of evil but failed to mention Jews or antisemitism. “It is with a heavy heart and somber mind that we remember and honor the victims, survivors, heroes of the Holocaust,” Trump said. Trump vowed to safeguard the world from allowing an atrocity such as the Holocaust to repeat itself. Last year, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement that lacked any reference to Jews or antisemitism. This year, Trudeau avoided making that a tradition. “Today, on the 72nd anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, we remember the more than six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust and the countless other victims of Nazi brutality,” he said. (Times of Israel, Jan. 27, 2017)
ARTIST SHAMES HOLOCAUST SELFIE TAKERS WITH WEBSITE (Jerusalem) — The grandson of Holocaust survivors is shaming selfie-snappers for taking cheery photographs at a memorial to Europe’s 6 million slaughtered Jews. Shahak Shapira said he created the website “Yolocaust” — a play on words combining the social media hashtag Yolo, or “you only live once,” and Holocaust — after seeing thousands of happy photos, including people juggling and perfecting yoga poses, taken at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin. So the Germany-based Israeli artist chose 12 selfies and superimposed actual images of concentration camps into the backgrounds. “The controversy comes from the actions of the people. I’m just changing the scenery,” Shapira said. (New York Post, Jan. 20, 2017)
CHAGALL EXHIBITION IN MONTREAL FOCUSES ON HIS MUSIC (Montreal) — Featuring 340 works of art and a large selection of documentary works, including films, photographs and musical excerpts, “Chagall: Color and Music” is the biggest Canadian exhibition ever devoted to Marc Chagall (1887-1985). Organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts this large-scale multidisciplinary exhibition explores, for the first time, the importance of music for Chagall. Music was at the heart of Chagall’s art from the very beginning. Selected drawings and paintings give us a sense of the cultural and religious context of his childhood in White Russia (today Belarus), the role of song in the synagogue and the influence of his family members, several of whom were musicians. Paintings of the archetypal violinist demonstrate the importance of this figure in his work and the ubiquity of the violin itself, the instrument of the exodus, carried by the Jewish people as they fled or migrated. (Jewish Press, Jan. 30, 2017)
How to Build Middle East Peace: Moshe Yaalon, Foreign Affairs, Jan., 2017—Last May, I resigned from the Israeli government and parliament. I did so largely for reasons of domestic policy, including differences with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on issues such as respect for the rule of law and the independence of the Supreme Court. National policy toward the Palestinians was not central to my resignation, but it is no secret that I differed on that front as well with some in the government and the Knesset in which I served.
A Mosque Shooting Quebeckers Must Never Forget: Konrad Yakabuski, Globe & Mail, Jan. 30, 2017—Each Dec. 6, Quebec commemorates the 14 female engineering students killed in 1989 by a troubled young man with a gun. The tragedy – known as the École Polytechnique Massacre – remains ingrained in the collective consciousness as both a cowardly act of misogyny and a wake-up call.
Smoking Out Islamists via Extreme Vetting: Daniel Pipes, Middle East Quarterly, Spring, 2017—Donald Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 27 establishing radically new procedures to deal with foreigners who apply to enter the United States.
Trump’s Populist Manifesto: Editorial, Wall Street Journal, Jan. 20, 2017—Donald J. Trump took the oath of office Friday promising to be a President, well, like the Donald J. Trump of the last 18 months. His inaugural address was a full-throated populist manifesto against the political “establishment” that will cheer his voters. How this will translate into governing isn’t clear, but there’s no doubt Mr. Trump is charging head first into the fray.
