Weekly Quotes
“Hamas found that being in government caused huge damage to the movement, and therefore it has changed its policy. Hamas is re-evaluating its choices and and resetting its priorities. Being in government was a burden on Hamas, a burden on the image of Hamas, a burden on its resistance enterprise.”—Hamas lawmaker Yehya Mussa, to the Associated Press, confirming recent reports that Hamas is considering withdrawing its participation from future governments in Gaza. Other Hamas officials told the AP that the idea has grown popular and is supported by Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal. The move is apparently aimed at avoiding global isolation. (Jerusalem Post, June 9.)
“The president’s decision to adopt a policy of accommodation, using the political objectives and code-words of those who wish to drive Israel into the sea, affirms the administration’s radicalism in its headlong flight from the legacy of U.S. presidents from Truman to Bush, and is leading Israel and the Western democracies toward ever increasing danger. We first need to acknowledge that 20 years of trying to negotiate peace with evil regimes and organizations dedicated to the destruction of Israel, and in many cases our own destruction, has been a failure, and the time has come to clearly and decisively take the offensive against them.”—Former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, in an address to the Republican Jewish Coalition, attributing Israel’s present-day vulnerability in part to the Western failure to confront terrorism, a failure he said has been exacerbated by Obama administration policies of what he described as accommodation. Gingrich also affirmed that “Israel has every right as a sovereign, free nation to choose its own capital and we should respect that choice. As President, on my first day in office, I would issue an executive order directing the U.S. embassy in Israel to be moved to Jerusalem as provided for in the legislation I introduced in 1995.” (JTA, June 13.)
“A lattice of corrugated iron Star of Davids marks Afghanistan's only working synagogue, a white-washed, two-story building tucked into a sidestreet in the center of Kabul. Kebabs, carpets and flowers are served and sold on the ground floor of the synagogue, which has been transformed into businesses over the last 18 months by the country's sole remaining Jew, who lives upstairs in a small pink room. Cafe manager Sayed Ahmad is unfazed by his small cafe's history, where Kabul's hundreds-strong Jewish community once gathered for prayers.… ‘Some of my customers know this is the synagogue and know about the Jew upstairs, but they don't care and neither do I.… I pray my way and he prays his way. I see him as a friend, someone to spend time with,” [Ahmad said].… Zebulon Simentov, who chose to stay behind when his wife and children emigrated to Israel, has been known to conduct services in the upstairs of the synagogue for visiting Jews even though he is not a rabbi.… Simentov traces his ancestors to the western Afghan city of Herat, the cradle of Afghanistan's Jewish civilization, which he still visits sometimes. But after 2,000 years, the community there has died out.… In Kabul, Simentov spends most of his time in his small room, where Hebrew calendars look down on a small red sofa bed and a mahogany table laden with silver bowls of almonds and Sabbath candles. The last Afghan Jew is well liked, known simply as 'Yehud.…'“—Excerpts from a Jerusalem Post article, entitled “In Kabul’s only synagogue, Afghan merchants set up shop,” describing the life of Afghanistan’s last remaining Jew, Zebulon Simentov. (Haaretz, June 6.)
“Mysteriously, the Office of the President has requested that a video…of the Maccabeats singing group performing for President Barack Obama at a reception in the White House in honor of American Jewish Heritage Month…be removed from the Matzav.com website.… It is not clear, though, why the Office of the President found the harmless, innocuous video of the Jewish acapella choir performing to President Obama's applause problematic.… The ugly suspicion that Obama does not want anything ‘too Jewish’ associated with himself to reach Arab eyes inevitably suggests itself.”—Excerpts from an American Thinker article entitled The Jewish Video Obama Doesn’t Want On the Web, describing the U.S. president’s request to Matzav.com to remove a video from its website of a Jewish group performing at the White House. (American Thinker, June 2.)
“Israel destroyed the only Palestinian airport, built with our money [European grants]. As a result, we have no other option but to go through Israeli security, even though we don’t want to go to Israel.… We call on our elected representatives and our governments during the following months to ensure that we shall be normally and properly treated on our arrival in Ben Gurion airport.…”—Excerpts from a statement released on the bienvenuepalestine.com website, posted by the organizers of an upcoming mass “fly-in” to Ben Gurion airport, in which 500 pro-Palestinian activists will simultaneously converge on Israel to encourage the “remov[al of ] the blockade from the entire land of Palestine.” (Jerusalem Post, June 3.)
“Apart from what appears now to be a clear intent to produce more 20 percent enriched uranium than Iran needs to make fuel for its one and only research reactor, it also represents yet another chapter in the changing Iranian narrative regarding why this underground facility was built.”—U.S. envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Glyn Davies, condemning Iran’s plans to triple its production of higher-grade uranium at a covert facility in a mountain bunker in Fordow, calling the move the “most recent brazen example of [Tehran’s] deepening non-compliance” with international obligations. Iran disclosed the existence of Fordow, near the clerical city of Qom, in September 2009, after Western intelligence obtained evidence of covert nuclear work. (Jerusalem Post, June 9.)
“He went to his lord as a martyr, he who terrorized America while alive and terrorized it while dead. Allah willing, Sheik Osama bin Laden will remain as a terror and fear that pursues America and Israel and their Crusader allies and corrupt agents. His famous oath, Allah willing, will continue to keep them awake: you will not dream of security until we live it as a reality and until you leave the lands of the Muslims.”—Al-Qaeda deputy Ayman AlZawahri, in a videotaped message posted online,eulogizing Osama bin laden and affirming that the terrorist network will continue its campaign of violence despite the killing of its leader. Zawahri described bi Laden as a “giving, happy and moral man.” (National Post, June 9.)
Short Takes
U.S. TO VETO PALESTINIAN STATEHOOD BID IN UNSC—(Jerusalem) Chief Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat has said that the U.S. will veto the request to recognize Palestinian statehood in the UN Security Council in September. In an interview will the Al-Ayyam newspaper, Erakat stated that during his recent trip to the US, both Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and senior Obama adviser Dennis Ross reiterated that negotiations were the Palestinians’ only option. Erekat stated that the Palestinians would only agree to peace talks if Israel agrees to a two-state solution based on pre-1967 lines with land swaps and stops all construction in settlements, including east Jerusalem. (Jerusalem Post, June 9.)
U.S. SENATORS OPPOSE ISRAEL RETURN TO 1967 LINES—(Jerusalem) U.S. senators have proposed a resolution opposing any Israeli withdrawal to 1967 lines, dealing a symbolic blow to President Barack Obama’s efforts to renew peace talks. “It is contrary to United States policy and national security to have the borders of Israel return to the armistice lines that existed on June 4, 1967,” read the text introduced by Senators Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, and Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut Independent. The resolution, which already enjoys the support of some 30 other senators, including Democrats, says US policy aims to “support and facilitate Israel in maintaining defensible borders.” Last month, President Barack Obama broke with long-standing U.S. policy, and assumed the Palestinian position of supporting a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders. (Ynet News, June 10.)
TWO PALESTINIANS INDICTED IN FOGEL MURDERS—(Jerusalem) Two Palestinians have been indicted in the murder of five members of the Fogel family from the West Bank settlement of Itamar. Amjad Awad, 19, who worked as a laborer in Israel, and Hakim Awad 18, a high school student, were indicted in a West Bank military court for the murders of Udi Fogel, 36, Ruth Fogel, 35, and their children Yoav, 11, Elad, 4, and Hadas, 3 months. The men reportedly confessed to the March 11 murder, and military prosecutors say there is forensic evidence linking them to the scene of the crime, including DNA samples and fingerprints. “I’m proud of what I did,” Amjad Awad said just minutes before the hearing. “I don’t regret what I did, even if it means I’m sentenced to death.” (JTA, June 5.)
PA BANS JOURNALISTS FROM REPORTING HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES—(Jerusalem) The Palestinian Authority has banned Palestinian journalists from reporting about the findings of The Independent Commission for Human Rights [ICHR], an organization that monitors human rights abuses by the PA (and Hamas).In its annual report, ICHR said that Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were subjected last year to an “almost systematic campaign” of human rights abuses by the Palestinian leadership. Palestinian journalist Mustafa Ibrahim affirmed that “assaults on journalists and censorship and restrictions on freedom of expression are still a dreadful nightmare [in the West Bank]. Journalists avoid covering events out of fear of being targeted or arrested by [Palestinian] security forces.” Mustafa said that many journalists were assaulted “physically and morally” and had their cameras destroyed and confiscated by members of the PA security forces while carrying out their duties. (Jerusalem post, June 8.)
RESEARCHER: IRAN CAN PRODUCE NUKE WITHIN 2 MONTHS—(Jerusalem) According to RAND Corporation researcher Gregory S. Jones, the Iranian regime is closer than ever to creating a nuclear bomb; at its current rate of uranium enrichment, Tehran could have enough for its first bomb within eight weeks. In his report, Jones claims that despite reports of setbacks in its nuclear program, the only recourse the U.S. has to stop Tehran from acquiring a bomb is military action, which, according to Jones, would require deploying forces on the ground as airstrikes would be insufficient. The researcher based his report on recent findings by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), published two weeks ago. (Ynet News, June 6.)
IRAN CAUGHT 10 TIMES TRYING TO SEND ARMS TO TERRORISTS—(Jerusalem) According to a United Nations report, Iran has been caught 10 times in recent years attempting to transfer weaponry to terrorists throughout the Middle East. The report was submitted three weeks ago to the Security Council by a UN group of experts that monitors compliance with UN sanctions imposed on Iran. The report documents all ten cases of arms smuggling, including the case of the Victoria cargo ship, which was stopped by the Israeli Navy earlier this year carrying arms for Hamas. The report further reveals that Iran test fired two of its most advanced long-range missiles—the Shihab 3 and the Sajil—in February. Tal Inbar, head of the Space Research Center at the Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies, said the missile tests were significant since Iran was making efforts to hide its ballistic missile program, raising suspicions about the nature of the program and its connection to the Islamic Republic’s illicit nuclear drive. (Jerusalem Post, June 10.)
OFER SHIPS TRANSFERRED ARMS TO ISRAELI FORCES IN IRAN—(Jerusalem) Just days after the United States accused Sammy Ofer’s Israeli company of breaching sanctions by selling an oil tanker to Iran and aiding in financing Iran’s nuclear program, Britain’s Sunday Times has reported that the Ofer cargo ships that docked in Iran were used by Israeli commando teams in reconnaissance missions against Iran’s secret nuclear sites. The report claims that the ships may also have carried Blackhawk helicopters which were hidden in modified containers. Sammy Ofer, 89, who passed away over the weekend, will be laid to rest at the Trumpeldor cemetery in Tel Aviv on Sunday. (Ynet News, June 5.)
EGYPT’S MUBARAK TO GO ON TRIAL IN AUGUST—(Cairo) Facing mounting pressure to prosecute former president Hosni Mubarak promptly, Egyptian officials have announced that he will go on trial August 3 on suspicion of conspiring in the fatal shooting of protesters. Some Egyptians have reacted to the news with skepticism, pointing to stalled cases of other prominent officials charged, and to the fact that Mubarak’s trial date will coincide with the beginning of Ramadan, a period of religious observance in the Muslim world during which little business is conducted. Mubarak, 83, has been detained at a hospital in the Sinai resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh since early April. The deposed leader could be sentenced to death if convicted of playing a role in the killing of demonstrators. (Washington Post, June 2.)
ISRAEL SPURS WORK ON EGYPT BORDER FENCE—(Jerusalem) The Israeli Defense Ministry has vowed to increase the rate of building on the border fence between Israel and Egypt, in hopes of completing the barrier by 2012, a year ahead of schedule. Defense Ministry Director General Udi Shani recently toured the construction site and was told by officials in the field that since the project began infiltration of the border between Israel and Egypt has dropped by 50%. Work on the fence began in November, and 20 km have so far been erected; the fence will span a length of 215 km upon completion. (Ynet News, June 2.)
EGYPT STILL NOT SUPPLYING GAS TO ISRAEL—(Jerusalem) Egypt has not resumed supplying gas to Israel, despite a month ago repairing a pipeline that was attacked by terrorists.
Egypt’s oil minister said that the need to secure the pipeline against future attacks, not politics, were preventing the resumption of supplying gas to Israel; however, U.S. investors in the East Mediterranean Gas Co., which owns the pipeline, have taken legal steps against the Egyptian government to make sure that gas flow resumes. Selling gas to Israel has been unpopular on the Egyptian street since the opening of the pipeline in 2008, and deposed president Hosni Mubarak was often accused of giving Israel a sweetheart deal on the gas. Candidates to replace Mubarak as president have said they plan to renegotiate the gas supply contract with Israel. Egypt supplies Israel with more than 40 percent of its natural gas needs to produce electricity. (JTA, June 2.)
HEZBOLLAH DOMINATES NEW LEBANON GOVT—(Beirut) Nearly five months after his appointment, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has announced the formation of a 30-member cabinet in which Hezbollah and its allies hold 19 positions. Lebanon’s pro-Western opposition bloc, led by former premier Saad Hariri, has boycotted the new cabinet which it has slammed as a “Hezbollah government.” The government must now be approved by at least half of the members of Lebanon’s 128-seat parliament, in which the Hezbollah-led alliance has a small majority. The first head of state to congratulate Lebanon on the new government’s formation was Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. (Independent Media Review & Analysis, June 13.)
LIBYAN REBELS TO RECEIVE HUGE CASH INFUSION—(Abu Dhabi) Western and Middle Eastern countries have approved measures that will immediately send at least $1 billion to Libya’s opposition and promised much larger sums in the weeks ahead. The cash infusion came as the Obama administration took a step toward officially recognizing Libya’s main rebel group, with the State Department acknowledging the Transitional National Council (TNC) as “the legitimate interlocutor” for the Libyan people. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said talks are underway with the rebel council on how to navigate the transition to a new government after Gaddafi departs, signaling increased confidence among Western officials that the autocratic leader’s time is running out. (Washington Post, June 9.)
LANDSLIDE WIN FOR TURKEY'S GOVERNING PARTY—(Istanbul) Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has scored a landslide victory in parliamentary elections, but failed to gain enough seats to unilaterally rewrite the country’s constitution. Turkey’s constitution remains widely associated with an era of so-called “military tutelage,” in which Turkish governments were elected but had limited freedom to act, with the possibility of a further coup always present. Mr. Erdogan’s unrivalled position on Turkey’s political scene could create momentum for him to carry through his goal of redrafting the constitution, and also press to change Turkey into a Islamic presidential republic. (Wall Street Journal, June 13.)
SYNAGOGUE BOMBER'S EXTRADITION FROM CANADA APPROVED—(Jerusalem) An extradition order for Hassan Diab, the Lebanese-born Canadian professor accused of masterminding a deadly 1980 bombing outside of Paris’s Copernic Street Synagogue on the eve of Sukkhot, has been approved. Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger signed the order, which makes it possible for Diab to be transferred to France and tried for murder. Following the ruling, Diab issued a statement via his lawyer, saying he was not guilty and would appeal. Diab claims that his alleged involvement in the bombing is a case of mistaken identity. (Jerusalem Post, June 7.)
