Wednesday’s “News in Review” Round-Up

Download a pdf version of today’s Isranet Daily Briefing.pdf

 

 On Topic Links

 

Paris “Day of Anger” Demonstrations (Video): Youtube, Jan. 27, 2014

Islamists in Egypt Want to Turn Back the Clock: Nabil Esamil, Montreal Gazette, Jan. 28, 2014

The Sick Middle East: Daniel Pipes, Washington Times, Jan. 23, 2014

International Holocaust Remembrance Day’s Fatal Flaw: Caroline Glick, Jerusalem Post, Jan. 27, 2014

 

“Although there are internal disagreements in Iran, there is no dispute in the regime about developing nuclear weapons and the goal of wiping Israel off the map.” —Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at a conference of the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. “This agreement merely set Iran back six weeks — no more — according to our assessments, in relation to its previous position, so that the test, as to denying Iran the ability to manufacture nuclear weapons, has been and remains the permanent agreement, if such [a deal] can indeed be achieved,” Netanyahu said. The next round of international nuclear negotiations with Iran is expected to be held in New York next month. (Times of Israel, Jan. 28, 2014)

 

“Let me be clear…if this Congress sends me a new sanctions bill now that threatens to derail these talks, I will veto it.” —U.S. President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union speech Tuesday. He added, “for the sake of our national security…we must give diplomacy a chance to succeed.” The speech marked the first time Obama personally threatened to veto sanctions legislation against Iran. Senior White House aides have issued similar veto threats since the end of December, when Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Robert Menendez, a Democrat, introduced the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013. The bill— which would trigger new sanctions tools against Iran should negotiations fail to reach a comprehensive agreement in twelve months time— has since garnered 59 public cosponsors in the upper chamber across party lines. (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 29, 2014)  

 

“Nothing will be stopped or dismantled in Iran’s nuclear program (and Iran will) press ahead with its current activities.” — Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi. He added that “we have fundamental disagreements with the US on different issues, including human rights, Palestine, hegemony, and so on…If they want to continue or restore sanctions on Iran under other excuses, it means they are violating the agreement,” Araqchi said.                                                                

           “In the past years, the Zionists have always tried to use Iran’s peaceful nuclear program as a pretext for diverting the attention of world public opinion and governments from their crimes in Palestine.”  — Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani reiterated on Tuesday, in a meeting with former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, that his country’s nuclear program is peaceful. (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 28, 2014)

 

“Anyone who says he wants to keep the settlers in a Palestinian state is really saying he does not want a Palestinian state.” — chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat declared. “No settler will be permitted to stay in a Palestinian state, not one, because the settlements are illegal and the presence of settlers on occupied lands is illegal,” Erekat added. This week, sources close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sparked controversy when they announced that in any future Palestinian state, Israel would insist that Israelis living in Judea and Samaria be allowed to remain under Palestinian control if they should choose to. (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 27, 2014)  

 

“[Mr. Bennett’s] presence in the coalition, coupled with that of the Likud hawks, ensures that Netanyahu can only advance alone.” —Ofer Zalzburg, an analyst at the International Crisis Group. Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett is among a growing number of Israeli parliament leaders seeking to turn pessimism about the peace process into opposition to a Palestinian state. Mr. Bennett says giving sovereignty to Palestinians is a recipe for a “failed state,” and an existential threat to Israel.     

        “There’s no perfect solution. Get out of that.” — Naftali Bennett, referring to Mr. Kerry’s approach. “By shooting for perfection, you get disaster,” he added. When it comes to a Palestinian state and control over Jerusalem, Bennett is unbending, urging Mr. Netanyahu to rebuff Mr. Kerry’s efforts. “With all due respect to Washington, D.C., America has been around … for 220 years or so years … . Jerusalem has been our capital for 3,000 years and it’s going to be our capital for eternity,” he said. (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 28, 2014)

 

“As long as they [the Palestinian Authority] educate 3-year-old children at ceremonies to wear explosives belts and when Israel doesn’t appear on their maps, there is no prospect for peace.” —Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon at a security conference at Tel Aviv University. Addressing the unrest in the Arab world, Ya’alon said neither the optimistic term Arab Spring nor the negative term Islamic winter is appropriate. “A new geopolitical division has been created in the Middle East,” Ya’alon said. “A Shi’ite axis [of power] has been created, driven by Iran, and it’s receiving support from Russia. That’s a significant force. It is facing a Sunni axis that views the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat, and [this axis] includes Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, but doesn’t include Turkey and Qatar, which constitute a third, smaller axis that supports the Brotherhood and the [Hamas] government in Gaza…The Sunni bloc has mutual enemies coming from both sides — Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaida — and a connection with the United States. These are mutual interests that we share, too…The United States is steering clear of regions of conflict and is no longer enamored over being the world’s policeman, but it has become the only superpower. There is no superpower that threatens to step into its shoes, even if it is facing challenges from Russia and China. The United States has decided to stay away. It has disengaged from Iraq, which is now under Iranian hegemony.”  (Ha’aretz, Jan. 28, 2014)

 

“Nothing could be further from the truth.” —U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, at the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland on Friday, responding to claims that the U.S. was disengaging from the Middle East. On Iran’s nuclear program Kerry said that there was a reason the world has placed sanctions on Iran and that is why the nuclear deal reached with Iran “was not grounded in trusting but in testing.” Kerry said that the difficult part on the nuclear issue begins with the implementation of the nuclear deal. Iran now has the opportunity to prove wrong doubters who believe that it is pursuing nuclear weapons. (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 29, 2014)

 

“If (the US) want to leave Afghanistan, we bid them farewell and they can leave.” —Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday, adding that …Afghanistan has a 5000-year history where foreigners have come and gone. We have our own constitution, media, army and police and will be moving toward progress whether international forces stay here or not.” The U.S. had planned to keep up to 10,000 troops in the country to train local forces, but that prospect looks unlikely after Karzai said his country “bowed down to no one.” (The Australian, Jan. 27, 2014)

 

“There is no overall partnership.” — A European diplomat, commenting on the growing sense that Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai has no intention of signing a security agreement with NATO. Without an agreement, the Obama administration has said, it will pull American forces from Afghanistan when the NATO combat mission here ends this year. “We have some Afghan partners, and we have a lot of Afghans in the government who want us to leave. I think we’re all beginning to realize that.” (New York Times, Jan. 25, 2014)

 

 “He is simply adored here – I don’t think there’s another leader except Nasser who has so much support here.” —Maye Kassem, a professor of political science, comparing Egyptian army chief Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi with the popular Egyptian nationalist leader who headed Egypt from 1956-1970. “There are even chocolates wrapped with pictures of Sisi and his picture is shown everywhere,” added Kassem. Sisi, who has become a hero for many Egyptians, seems poised to become the next president even before announcing that he intends to run. Kassem said that Sisi is young and charismatic and offers the best chance for stability in Egypt. Under the previous Islamist government of Morsi, there were shortages of gas and electricity, crime went up, and many Egyptians no longer felt safe. She said that support for the Islamists among the middle class has plummeted. According to Kassem “the majority of Egyptians have never supported an ideology – they’ve supported competence…now we have gas, we have electricity and crime is down. That is what Egyptians want.” (Ynet News, Jan. 26, 2014)

 

 “I remain a supporter of economic cooperation and social interaction between a democratic Israel and Palestine. SodaStream is a company that is not only committed to the environment but to building a bridge to peace between Israel and Palestine, supporting neighbors working alongside each other, receiving equal pay, equal benefits and equal rights. That is what is happening in their Ma’ale Adumim factory every working day.” —Scarlett Johansson, American actress and brand ambassador of the Israeli company SodaStream. Her public comments were made after she came under fire for the endorsement deal — which was to include a TV ad screened during the Super Bowl — from the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Johansson added, “I believe in conscious consumerism and transparency and I trust that the consumer will make their own educated choice that is right for them.”(Times of Israel, Jan. 25, 2014)

 

“In effect, the continuing imprisonment of [Jonathan Pollard] long after he should have been pardoned on humanitarian grounds can only be read as an effort to intimidate American Jews. And, it is an intimidation that can only be based on an anti-Semitic stereotype about the Jewish community, one that we have seen confirmed in our public opinion polls over the years, the belief that American Jews are more loyal to Israel than to their own country, the United States…. Pollard stays in prison as a message to American Jews: don’t even think about doing what he did.” —Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, has charged that the continued refusal of American governments to free Jonathan Pollard for prison is a “vendetta’ against the entire American Jewish community. (Jewish Press, Jan. 27, 2014)

 

 “If you want to visit your relatives, you go to Tel Aviv or New York.” — Holocaust survivor David Frankel, a 77-year-old retired judge from Jerusalem, who was in Auschwitz this week for his fifth trip to the camp. “The only place I can visit is Auschwitz. I am going to unite with the memories of my relatives,” added Frankel. “They have no grave. I will say kaddish [the Jewish prayer of mourning] for them there.” Stewart Rahr, an eccentric Manhattan billionaire, paid more than $600,000 for two charter 737 planes to fly 64 Knesset members and 30 death-camp survivors from Tel Aviv to visit Auschwitz on Monday for a day of remembrance.                                                                                         

Issawi Frej, one of 12 Arab legislators in the Knesset, said he failed to convince the other 11 to join him for the trip: “I think they are making a mistake…this is not a Jewish issue. It is a human issue and affects all of us.” (New York Post, Jan. 26, 2014)

HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY MARKS 69 YEARS SINCE AUSCHWITZ LIBERATION (Birkenau) —A ceremony at the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial took place on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, established by the United Nations in memory of some 6 million Holocaust victims, and some 1.5 million victims of Auschwitz, who were mostly Jews. Some 20 survivors walked through the gate that bares the infamous “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work Makes You Free) sign and laid a wreath at the former camp’s Executions Wall, where the inmates, mainly Polish resistance members, were shot to death. (Daily News, Jan. 27, 2014)

 

HEINRICH HIMMLER’S LETTERS PUBLISHED (Tel Aviv) —A collection of letters, notes and photographs from Heinrich Himmler were published on Sunday, shedding light on the private life of the man who orchestrated the Holocaust. Spanning from Himmler’s courtship of his future wife in 1927 to just a few weeks before he committed suicide in 1945, the archive published by Die Welt is an unprecedented insight to the domestic relationship of the Nazi high command. In excerpts released by the German newspaper on Saturday night, some exchanges between Himmler and his wife Marga contain a chilling informality. In a July 1942 note to his wife, he wrote: “I am travelling to Auschwitz. Kisses. Your Heini.”  (Telegraph, Jan. 26, 2014)

 

SHIN BET, POLICE ARREST 16 HAMAS ACTIVISTS IN JERUSALEM (Jerusalem) — A group of 16 east Jerusalem residents was arrested by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and the Israel Police on suspicion of belonging to a Hamas cell operating in the capital’s eastern neighborhoods and the Temple Mount, the security service stated on Tuesday. The Shin Bet said the suspects include activists from the northern branch of the Israel Islamic Movement, who were involved with Hamas at the Temple Mount compound. The Shin Bet said that while investigating the cell they found that the Islamic Movement was operating educational courses on the Temple Mount and paying people to maintain a presence there, in order to “increase the tension and cause disturbances, especially during Jewish holidays.” They added that the courses were a major contributing factor to recent disturbances in the vicinity of the Mount. (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 28, 2014)

 

SYRIAN TALKS BREAK DOWN OVER FUTURE ROLE OF ASSAD (Geneva) — The first meeting meant to discuss the contentious issue of a Syrian transitional government broke up after less than an hour Monday following a tense session that one delegate described as “a dialogue of the deaf.” The Syrian government has said it will not discuss replacing President Bashar Assad. The opposition insists he must step down in favour of a transitional governing body with full executive powers that would lead the country until elections are held. United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi managed to get both sides to sit in the same room over the weekend to discuss humanitarian aid to besieged areas of the central city of Homs and a possible prisoner exchange. But the opposition said little progress has been achieved. (Montreal Gazette, Jan. 27, 2014)

 

ISRAELI OFFICIAL WARNS OF RISING JIHADI THREAT FROM SYRIA (Jerusalem) —A sharp increase in the number of al-Qaida linked fighters joining the fight against President Bashar Assad in Syria is threatening to spill over the borders and prompting the Jewish state to re-evaluate its policy of neutrality in the civil war next door, a senior Israeli intelligence official warned on Friday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because military regulations prevent him from releasing the information, claimed more than 30,000 al-Qaida linked fighters are active in Syria, a huge increase over previous Western estimates. (Algemeiner, Jan. 25, 2014)

 

CLASHES KILL 49 EGYPTIANS ON UPRISING’S ANNIVERSARY (Cairo) — Thousands of Egyptians celebrated the third anniversary of their revolt against autocracy on Saturday by holding a rally for the military leader who ousted the country’s first democratically elected president. Elsewhere, at least 49 people died in clashes with security forces at rival antigovernment protests organized by Islamists and left-leaning activists. In at least one case, the Islamists and liberals chanted against each other. But within as little as 15 minutes, riot police officers began firing tear-gas cannons and shooting guns into the air, swiftly dispersing the protests and leaving the day to the military leader, Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi. (New York Times, Jan. 25, 2014)

 

SINAI JIHADIST GROUP CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR EGYPTIAN ATTACKS (Cairo) —The Sinai-based jihadist group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, claimed responsibility in statement released on the internet for the assassination of a senior Egyptian Interior Ministry official outside his home in Cairo on Tuesday. On Wednesday, an army spokesman blamed the assassination of the official, and another of a policeman guarding a church on Tuesday on the Muslim Brotherhood. Meanwhile, Egypt will put an Australian, two Britons and a Dutchwoman on trial for aiding 16 Egyptian members of a “terrorist organization”, the public prosecutor said on Wednesday, describing the four as Al Jazeera correspondents. Al Jazeera’s Cairo offices have been closed since July 3 when they were raided by security forces hours after the army ousted president Mohamed Morsi following mass protests against him. (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 29, 2014)

 

TUNISIA’S PROGRESSIVE CONSTITUTION FRUIT OF COMPROMISE BETWEEN ISLAMISTS AND OPPOSITION (Tunis) — After decades of dictatorship and two years of arguments and compromises, Tunisians finally have a new constitution laying the foundations for a new democracy. The document is groundbreaking as one of the most progressive constitutions in the Arab world — and for the fact that it got written at all. It passed late Sunday by 200 votes out of the 216 seats in the assembly of the Muslim Mediterranean country that inspired uprisings across the region after overthrowing a dictator in 2011. “This constitution, without being perfect, is one of consensus,” assembly speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar said after the vote. “We had today a new rendezvous with history to build a democracy founded on rights and equality.” The constitution enshrining freedom of religion and women’s rights took two years to finish. During that period, the country was battered by high unemployment, protests, terrorist attacks, political assassinations and politicians who seemed more interested in posturing than finishing the charter. (Montreal Gazette, Jan. 27, 2014)

 

PARIS ANTI-HOLLANDE MARCH TURNS INTO DAY OF HATRED OF JEWS (Paris) — A march through Paris against French President Francois Hollande ended with anti-Semitic chants and cries of support for an anti-Semitic comedian. At least 150 protesters were arrested in the “Day of Anger” demonstrations on Sunday. Nineteen police officers were injured in clashes with protesters, one seriously, and an estimated 17,000 protesters participated in the march. Protesters performed the quenelle, a gesture reminiscent of the Hitler salute that was invented by the anti-Semitic French comedian Dieudonne M’bala M’bala. They also called for freedom of speech on Dieudonne’s behalf. Anti-Semitic chants included “Jews go home” and “Jews, France is not your country.” (Jewish Press, Jan. 27, 2014)

 

ITALIAN OFFICIALS CONDEMN THREATS AGAINST JEWS (Rome) — Italy’s president has condemned threats against Rome’s Jewish community in recent days, including the delivery of packages containing pig heads, as a “miserable provocation”. President Giorgio Napolitano said Monday during Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations that recent insults to the Jewish community are “comparable only to the repugnant material in those packages.” Police on Monday said they have detained two men, ages 33 and 47, on suspicion of instigating racial hatred through anti-Semitic graffiti, including denial of the Holocaust, near the main judicial offices in Rome. Authorities say the men belong to different far-right groups. (Vancouver Sun, Jan. 27, 2014)

 

MUSLIM GROUP DEMANDS APOLOGY OVER ‘TERRORIST’ COMMENT (Ottawa) — A national Muslim organization is demanding Prime Minister Stephen Harper publish a retraction and apology on his government website for a chief spokesman’s comments that the group says linked it to terrorists. The National Council of Canadian Muslims, which is now challenging Mr. Harper to prove this allegation, has filed a notice of libel saying it intends to sue Mr. Harper and Prime Minister’s Office director of communications Jason MacDonald for comments he made earlier this month. On Jan. 18, the PMO spokesman, dismissing comments from the Muslim group about the makeup of Mr. Harper’s Middle East trip delegation, told Sun News: “We will not take seriously criticism from an organization with documented ties to a terrorist organization such as Hamas.” (Globe & Mail, Jan. 28, 2014) 

 

N.Y. ASSEMBLY BILL TO PUNISH COLLEGES SUPPORTING BDS (New York) — A bill introduced in the New York State Assembly would suspend funding to educational institutions which fund groups that boycott Israel. The legislation, introduced earlier this month by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and first reported by Mondoweiss, an anti-Zionist news site, would ban state funding to colleges which fund groups that boycott “in countries that host higher education institutions chartered by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York.” The bill, which currently has 48 sponsors out of 150 members, would cut funding to institutions that pay dues to groups such as the ASA or which subsidize travel to its conferences. (Jewish Press, Jan. 28, 2014)

 

On Topic Links

 

Paris “Day of Anger” Demonstrations (Video): Youtube, Jan. 27, 2014

Islamists in Egypt Want to Turn Back the Clock: Nabil Esamil, Montreal Gazette, Jan. 28, 2014—Ehab Lotayef’s commentary about the political situation in Egypt on the third anniversary of the uprising three years ago this week failed to make mention of recent acts of terrorism by Islamists in Cairo and other Egyptian cities

The Sick Middle East: Daniel Pipes, Washington Times, Jan. 23, 2014—The recent fall of Fallujah to an al Qaeda-linked group provides an unwelcome reminder of the American resources and lives devoted from 2004 to 2007 to control the city — all that effort expended and nothing to show for it.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day’s Fatal Flaw: Caroline Glick, Jerusalem Post, Jan. 27, 2014 —On the surface, it is very moving to see half of the members of Knesset at Auschwitz marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day. But in a larger sense, it is not at all clear why this is necessary.

 

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