Contents: | Weekly Quotes | Short Takes | On Topic Links
The US Betrayal of Kurdistan Is a Warning Sign for Israel: Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Mordechai Kedar, BESA, Nov. 22, 2017
From Tehran to Quneitra: Iran’s ‘Land Bridge’ is Almost Complete: Jonathan Spyer, Breaking Israel News, Nov. 21, 2017
Russia-Iran-Turkey Meeting is Message to US: Seth J. Frantzman, Jerusalem Post, Nov. 19, 2017
Here's Where Laurier Can Stick Their Apology to Lindsay Shepherd: Christie Blatchford, National Post, Nov. 21, 2017
WEEKLY QUOTES
"We have played a major role in the fight against [Islamic State], but it seems … some people have forgotten this." — Falah Mustafa Bakir, foreign minister in the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG). Bakir is calling on Canada to intervene in a growing conflict between the Kurds and Baghdad. "I believe the international community has a responsibility…this instability will provide room for terrorism and extremism to expand. [It] would lead to another wave of displacement and migration, and affect … energy supplies." Bakir accuses Baghdad of seeking to dismantle the KRG. "We have lost territory and lost control of oil fields…What we are asking [is that] our partners around the world be actively engaged to ensure that there will be an immediate permanent ceasefire, no use of force, no military advances, withdrawal and reduction of forces," Bakir said. He hopes Canada will one day resume its military advice to the Kurds. "We want our partners in the free world to look at what Kurdistan wants. We want to build a democracy and live in peace," he said. (Globe & Mail, Nov. 17, 2017)
“We have ties that are indeed partly covert with many Muslim and Arab countries, and usually [we are] the party that is not ashamed… It’s the other side that is interested in keeping the ties quiet. With us, usually, there is no problem, but we respect the other side’s wish, when ties are developing, whether it’s with Saudi Arabia or with other Arab countries or other Muslim countries, and there is much more…[but] we keep it secret.” — Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz. Israel has maintained covert contact with Saudi Arabia regarding Iran and other areas of common interest, Steinitz revealed. Steinitz’s comments mark the first official disclosure of the Jewish state’s developing ties with Riyadh. Last week, Israel co-sponsored a draft resolution against Syria that was submitted by Saudi Arabia at the UN Human Rights Council. Israel’s co-sponsoring of the Saudi resolution came a week after the Foreign Ministry reportedly instructed its envoys to launch a global diplomatic campaign against Iran and Hezbollah, and in support of Saudi Arabia and its allies. (Breaking Israel News, Nov. 21, 2017)
"Today with God's guidance and the resistance of people in the region we can say that this evil has either been lifted from the head of the people or has been reduced…Of course the remnants will continue but the foundation and roots have been destroyed." — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Rouhani declared the end of I.S., while Major General Qassem Soleimani, a senior commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards, thanked the "thousands of martyrs" killed in operations organised by Iran to defeat I.S. in Syria and Iraq. The Syrian conflict has entered a new phase with the capture at the weekend by government forces and their allies of Albu Kamal, the last significant town in Syria held by I.S., where Soleimani was pictured by Iranian media last week. In his address on Tuesday, Rouhani accused the U. S. and Israel of supporting Islamic State. (Globe & Mail, Nov. 21, 2017)
“It is a norm now that the civilians are being targeted everywhere…and the international silence that follows such atrocities has become a norm as well.” — Shady al-Mahmoud, an activist from Atarib, Syria. A resurgence of deadly attacks by pro-government forces in de-escalation zones in Syria, including an airstrike on a busy marketplace that killed more than 50 people, is undermining an agreement portrayed by its sponsors as a crucial step toward ending the six-and-a-half-year civil war. But siege and bombardment tactics, mostly by the Syrian government against rebel-held areas, have continued despite the Astana accord, named for the Kazakh capital, where it was struck. (New York Times, Nov. 18, 2017)
“Every journalism school in the world should show its students a video clip of the moment when, on Nov. 11, a chirpy Polish state television reporter asks a man wearing a hat in the red-and-white national colours what it means to him to participate in this Warsaw march celebrating Poland's independence day. "It means," replies the middle-aged man, "to remove from power … [short dramatic pause] … Jewry!" Since Poland is governed by the right-wing populist-nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS), the obvious next question is: Who exactly do you have in mind as world Jewry's current representative in power? The party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski? The prime minister, Beata Szydlo? Or do you mean someone in power elsewhere: Donald Trump, for example, or Theresa May, or Mark Zuckerberg? Or the Jews on Mars? Effortlessly passing up this rare journalistic opportunity to interview an anti-Semite ready to speak openly to cameras, the flustered reporter turns to a nearby woman, asking what it means to be a patriot marching here today…Call yourself a journalist? Actually, he's a hack working for a public TV channel, TVP Info, now degraded into a PiS propaganda conduit, and he is desperately sticking to the party line that this is just one great, warm, patriotic pride parade. The clip is a brilliant, 58-second lesson in how not to be a journalist.” — Timothy Garton Ash. (Globe & Mail, Nov. 17, 2017)
“Anyone who attended university in the past few decades in the US and the West in general has been subjected to the cult of Noam Chomsky, “the world’s top public intellectual.” Generations have been misled and encouraged to take the word of one man on a variety of the world’s conflicts and problems without even an iota of critique. Chomsky has fed a myth that he, and some other public intellectuals, can possess instant expertise on almost any topic from Kosovo to Latin America, class struggle, the “Arab Spring” and lately, the Syrian civil war. In his constant pushing of faux expertise he has done tremendous damage to the world of intellectuals, perpetuating a kind of Orientalism that posits that Western intellectuals like himself should be the go-to experts on everything that happens in the world, and that local experts who might have spent a lifetime living and studying their own societies can be ignored. Ironically this feeds the very Western edifice Chomsky sought to critique, and manufactures the consent he ostensibly opposed.” — Seth J. Frantzman. (Jerusalem Post, Nov. 19, 2017)
“What (Lindsay Shepherd, a 22-year-old teaching assistant at Wilfrid Laurier University) sees are students and faculty who are shut down or censored if they don't toe the party line. What she sees are burgeoning enforcement apparatuses for speech and conduct that, in the name of "diversity" and "equity," sometimes make genuine academic inquiry all but impossible. What she sees are university leaders who are hostage to the righteous insanities of the day…Large parts of academic life – as well as of administration – have been captured by far-left groupthink. "The problem doesn't come from this one incident," Ms. Shepherd says. "It's also reflected in the classes I take. Basically, they're all about identity politics." — Margaret Wente. The head of Wilfrid Laurier University has officially apologized to Shepherd for a meeting where faculty members dressed her down for showing students a video clip of a debate involving controversial professor Jordan Peterson. Shepherd aired part of a 2016 debate on gender-neutral pronouns that had aired on Ontario’s public broadcaster, TVO. The debate included Peterson, who’s become famous for his opposition to being required to use such pronouns, describing them as an expression of a radical left-wing ideology. (Globe & Mail, Nov. 21, 2017)
“Why do Departments such as Gendered Violence Prevention and Support, Equity Offices, and their multifarious ilk slip so often into patterns of inquisition and censorship, of ruthless thought and speech control? Why do they seek to bully the few students who have the wisdom and bravery to occasionally test questions of moment, rather than slumbering on the bed of dogma and pretentious pseudo-scholarship as so many “studies” programs are? Finally, how long are the humanities programs of so many universities going to oblige the anti-intellectualism, heresy hunting, and ridiculous hyper-reactions of immature and overzealous students and their allies in faculty positions?” — Rex Murphy. (National Post, Nov. 17, 2017)
“So at the end of the day there are two reasons why I am here. One is that I love Israel and I love Israeli people and two is to make a principled stand against anyone who wants to censor and silence musicians…So really you could say in a way that the BDS made me play Israel.” — Australian singer-songwriter Nick Cave. The artist is popular in Israel and is set to perform a pair of nearly sold-out shows. Cave spoke about the pressure on artists by the movement that seeks to ostracize Israel by lobbying corporations, performers and academic institutions to sever ties with the Jewish state. He said record producer Brian Eno had asked him three years ago to sign a boycott list. “On a very intuitive level I did not want to sign that list, there was something that stunk to me about that list,” Cave said. He said it felt “cowardly” not to play in Israel. (Billboard, Nov. 20, 2017)
“Today (November 19) we mark 40 years to the historic visit of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in Jerusalem and Israel. President Sadat took a bold step, he came to the Knesset; he came to Israel. He was welcomed by the entire nation. Since then, the peace treaty with Egypt has survived despite its ups and down. Today, Egypt and Israel, as well as other countries, are on one side of the barricade in a stubborn struggle against the terror of radical Islam in its various fronts. This contributes significantly to the security of Israel. And I hope that in the future it will also contribute to the expansion of the circle of peace.” — Prime Minister Netanyahu. (Jewish Press, Nov. 19, 2017)
SHORT TAKES
PA’S ABBAS FREEZES CONTACTS WITH WASHINGTON (Washington) — PA leader Mahmoud Abbas ordered representatives in the Palestine Liberation Organization to freeze all contacts with the U.S. The move came in response to a decision by the U.S. not to permit the PLO to keep its bureau open in Washington due to a violation by the PA of a 2015 Congressional mandate prohibiting any unilateral move against Israel. Abbas announced to the UN this past September that the PLO had “called on the International Criminal Court, as is our right, to open an investigation and to prosecute Israeli officials” over the development of Jewish communities in the West Bank. (Jewish Press, Nov. 21, 2017)
ASSAD AND PUTIN MEET, AS RUSSIA PUSHES TO END SYRIAN WAR (Sochi) — Thanking Russia for the military intervention he credited for “saving Syria,” President Assad met with Putin amid preparations for new talks aimed at ending the civil war. Assad’s visit to the Russian town of Sochi was made public on Tuesday, a day before a summit meeting there for the leaders of Iran, Turkey and Russia, who have taken a prominent role in diplomacy with Syria while the U.S. has put Assad’s fate on the back burner. Parallel Russian- and American-led campaigns against I.S. have largely shattered the group’s territorial self-declared caliphate. But a solution to the underlying conflict — which began after Assad’s forces cracked down on political protests — has remained elusive. (New York Times, Nov. 21, 2017)
NATO APOLOGIZES TO TURKEY OVER REPORTS ERDOGAN SHOWN AS FOE (Ankara) — NATO’s secretary-general apologized to Turkey over military exercises in Norway during which Turkey’s founding leader, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and the current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, were reportedly depicted as “enemies.” Erdogan said Turkey withdrew 40 of its soldiers participating in the drills at NATO’s Joint Warfare Centre in Stavanger, Norway, in protest of the incident and criticized the alliance. Details of the incident were sketchy. Erdogan said Ataturk’s picture and his own name were featured on an “enemy chart” during the drills. (Washington Post, Nov. 17, 2017)
NIGERIA MOSQUE TARGETED IN SUICIDE BOMBING (Abuja) — A suicide bomber set off explosives on Tuesday during prayers in a small, crowded mosque in Nigeria in a deadly attack that comes amid a raft of similar assaults on rural communities in the region. A spokesman for the police in Adamawa State, where the attack took place, said at least 50 people had been killed. Other officials could not confirm the death toll but blamed Boko Haram for the blast. Boko Haram, a radical Islamist group that has waged war for the past eight years in Nigeria and in neighboring countries, has dispatched suicide bombers in a wave of attacks in the past year on mosques, checkpoints, markets and even camps for some of the nearly two million people uprooted from their homes because of the conflict. (New York Times, Nov. 21, 2017)
CANADA WANTS TO ‘REINTEGRATE’ RETURNING I.S. FIGHTERS (Ottawa) — The Canadian government has pledged to “reintegrate” Canadian-born I.S. fighters who want to leave the Islamic terror group and return to Canada, Prime Minister Trudeau said. Admitting that the return of I.S. fighters “may have security implications,” Trudeau promised the former terrorists would be monitored, but added, “We are also there to help them to let go of that terrorist ideology.” About 180 Canadian citizens traveled to the Middle East to join I.S. Most have been killed in fighting, but about 60 have returned. So far, only two have been prosecuted under Canada’s anti-terrorism act. (Breaking Israel News, Nov. 21, 2017)
GERMAN COURT RULES KUWAIT AIRLINE IS ALLOWED TO BAN ISRAELIS (Berlin) — A German court ruled that Kuwait Airways had the right to refuse to carry an Israeli passenger due to his nationality, a verdict that Jewish groups said condoned antisemitism. The Frankfurt state court said the airline was merely respecting the laws of Kuwait, a country that does not recognize the state of Israel, and said it was not up to a German court to rule on Kuwaiti law. Germany's anti-discrimination law applies only in cases of discrimination on the basis of race, ethnic background or religion, not citizenship, it said. The lawyer for the plaintiff, who was denied boarding on a flight to Bangkok, said he would appeal. (Jerusalem Post, Nov. 16, 2017)
FRENCH PARTY EXPELS POLITICIAN OVER ANTISEMITIC TWEET (Paris) — The French politician at the center of a row over an antisemitic tweet was expelled from the country’s Socialist Party, hours after he found himself in a furious exchange with a presenter on an Israeli TV channel. Gérard Filoche — a member of the National Bureau of former President Hollande’s recently-ousted PS — sparked outrage across France with a tweet he posted promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories. The tweet showed French President Macron wearing a Nazi armband with the swastika altered to a dollar sign. Looming behind Macron were three prominent Jews — the economist Jacques Attali, the investor Patrick Drahi and the banker Jacob Rothschild — flanked by the U.S. and Israeli flags. Filoche added as a comment, “A dirty guy, as all the French people will know soon enough.” (Algemeiner, Nov. 20, 2017)
EDITOR OF YOUR WARD NEWS FACES HATE-RELATED CHARGES (Toronto) — The editor and the owner of a Toronto publication that vilifies Jews, women and other groups is facing hate speech charges, escalating a years-long battle that hinges on competing interpretations of free speech and hate-speech statutes. James Sears, editor of Your Ward News, and Leroy St. Germaine, the owner and publisher, have been charged with willful promotion of hatred against Jews and willful promotion of hatred against women. Police have been inundated with complaints about Your Ward News since March, 2015, when residents noticed the paper's content morph from eccentric but harmless political screeds into a publication focused on maligning women, Jews, Muslims and the LGBTQ community. (Globe & Mail, Nov. 15, 2017)
ISRAEL A FASCIST STATE? SO SAYS PROF. SHIRA ROBINSON (Washington) — According to George Washington University history professor Shira Robinson, Israel has “abandoned democracy,” and is rapidly descending into a fascist state. Robinson recently delivered this dire verdict during a lecture titled, “Past as Present: Reflections on the 70th Anniversary of 1948.” Robinson argued that Israel is experiencing not only “creeping fascistization,” but that the Jewish state has never been a democracy: “For Jews, the increasingly racist, far-right turn of the state is fueling … an existential debate of sorts over whether the current moment represents a tragic perversion of the Zionist dream or its ultimate realization.” She left no doubt that she believes the latter. (Algemeiner, Nov. 17, 2017)
BDS RESOLUTION DEFEATED AT UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND (Baltimore) — The Student Government Association (SGA) of the University of Maryland, College Park decided not to support a resolution that accused Israel of violations of human rights and which called for the University of Maryland, College Park to divest from a range of U.S. companies investing in Israel. The resolution was introduced by Students for Justice in Palestine. It eventually gathered over 200 signatures from students. In response, nine members of the faculty signed a statement in opposition: A second petition opposing the BDS resolution was signed by over 100 members of the faculty. (Times of Israel, Nov. 18, 2017)
20 FRENCH/EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTARIANS CANCEL TRIP TO ISRAEL (Paris) — Twenty French and European parliamentarians and French mayors who planned to arrive in Israel to show their support for imprisoned Arab terrorists, and specifically meet with convicted terrorist Marwan Barghouti, canceled their flight from France at the airport at the last minute. The anti-Israeli parliamentarians were informed that nine of their more prominent BDS-supporting members would be denied entry into Israel, so they made the group decision that none would go. Instead they decided they will hold a protest outside the Israeli Embassy in France on Sunday. (Jewish Press, Nov. 19, 2017)
KIDS’ BOOK ‘P IS FOR PALESTINE’ IS STIRRING UP OUTRAGE (New York) — A children’s book titled “P Is for Palestine” is infuriating some New York mothers — who charge that it’s nothing but antisemitic propaganda. The author, Golbarg Bashi, a Pace history professor, said that she “came up with the idea…after I couldn’t find a book about Palestine for children.’’ Her book, which features colorful illustrations of Palestinians, associates each letter of the alphabet with Palestinian culture: “A is for Arabic, my tongue, a language that’s the 4th biggest ever sung!” But some of the phrases are clearly anti-Israel. “I is for Intifada, Arabic for rising up for what is right, if you are a kid or grownup!” Intifada refers to the two Palestinian uprisings against Israel, in the ’80s and 2000s. (New York Post, Nov. 19, 2017)
BOSTON ISLAMIC SEMINARY IS TRAINING THE NEXT GENERATION OF EXTREMISTS (Boston) — New research has uncovered evidence of antisemitism among faculty members and guest speakers appointed by the Islamic Society of Boston to teach and promote its latest project: the Boston Islamic Seminary (BIS). Faculty listed on the BIS website include Yahia Abdul Rahman, who is described as an expert on “sharia-compliant” banking. Abdul Rahman has posted stories from “The Ugly Truth,” a website that describes itself as “intelligent ‘anti-Semitism’ for thinking Gentiles.” Elsewhere, Rahman has shared claims that any Muslim who fails to oppose Israel is no longer a Muslim, and is afflicted with a “Jewish heart.” Middle East Forum has uncovered several other examples. (Algemeiner, Nov. 17, 2017)
INDIA CANCELS DEAL FOR ISRAELI MISSILES: REPORTS (Delhi) — Indian media outlets reported that the country had scrapped a $500 million deal to buy anti-tank missiles from the Israeli Rafael weapons manufacturer in favor of developing missiles domestically. In response to the reports, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems said it had yet to be “officially informed of any changes” to the contract. The initial deal for the Spike missile was signed in 2014. According to Indian media, the reversal was made this week in order to protect the government’s Defense Research and Development Organization, which is working on creating its own anti-tank guided missile. (Times of Israel, Nov. 20, 2017)
DIMONA NUCLEAR REACTOR’S LIFE TO BE EXTENDED TO 2040 (Beersheba) — The State of Israel is working to extend the operating license and life of the Dimona nuclear reactor until 2040, according to a report in Ha’aretz. The reactor will then be 80-years-old. The Dimona reactor was built in the fifties and went live in 1964. It was originally supposed to run for forty years. It’s also the oldest reactor of its type still active in the world. (Jewish Press, Nov. 19, 2017)
MISS IRAQ CLARIFIES SHE DOESN’T SUPPORT ISRAELI GOVERNMENT (Baghdad) — Miss Israel Adar Gandelsman made a new friend during the Miss Universe beauty pageant: Miss Iraq Sarah Idan. The two even shared a picture of themselves together on Instagram. However, Idan quickly found herself in a difficult situation in light of the negative online feedback and harsh criticism she received. Idan ended up having to upload another post in order to clarify the picture: “My stance is not a political one and I don’t support the Israeli government or its agenda. We are just sending a message of unity and peace.” (Jerusalem Online, Nov. 15, 2017)
The US Betrayal of Kurdistan Is a Warning Sign for Israel: Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Mordechai Kedar, BESA, Nov. 22, 2017—The Kurdish people have an inalienable right to national self-determination, just like any other nation. The Kurds, who number some 30 million people, are the largest national group in the world to have no state of their own. The international community is obligated to see to it that they are done historic justice by supporting their dream of being a free nation in their own land.
From Tehran to Quneitra: Iran’s ‘Land Bridge’ is Almost Complete: Jonathan Spyer, Breaking Israel News, Nov. 21, 2017—In the east of Syria, the so-called race to Abu Kamal between the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces and the forces of Iran, the Assad regime and Russia appears to be close to conclusion – in the latter’s favor.
Russia-Iran-Turkey Meeting is Message to US: Seth J. Frantzman, Jerusalem Post, Nov. 19, 2017—Turkish, Russian and Iranian diplomats will meet in Antalya on Sunday in the run-up to a major get-together in Sochi on November 22. The meeting is supposed to focus on Syria, but its real purpose is part of a larger effort by Moscow to illustrate its influence in the region.
Here's Where Laurier Can Stick Their Apology to Lindsay Shepherd: Christie Blatchford, National Post, Nov. 21, 2017— Wilfrid Laurier University teaching assistant Lindsay Shepherd is undoubtedly a better human being than I am — and at 22, probably a more mature one — and may well accept the raft of apologies now coming her way, but I would tell them all to blow the mea culpas out their various bums.
