WEDNESDAY’S “NEWS IN REVIEW” ROUND-UP

Contents: | Weekly Quotes | Short Takes   | On Topic Links

On Topic Links

Chanukah Guide for the Perplexed, 2017: Yoram Ettinger, Ettinger Report, Dec. 8, 2017

Trump Administration Right to Not Buy Traditional Pieties About Middle East: Bret Stephens, New York Times, Dec. 11, 2017

On Jerusalem, Trump Finally Reveals Hard Truths About Mideast 'Peace': Editorial, National Post, Dec. 8, 2017

A Kuwaiti Writer Just Shocked the Entire Middle East on Live TV: Israel Video Network, Nov. 27, 2017

“As you know, there’s a 1995 law in the United States that requires the United States to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to relocate our embassy…So the president, after many, many reaffirmations by our Senate, including as recently as this past summer — the vote, I think, was 90 to none with 10 abstentions — the president is simply carrying out the will of the American people…The reality is Israel’s government, its courts, its prime minister’s office is all in Jerusalem today, so it is just an acknowledgment of what is the reality on the ground.” — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Tillerson added Trump had “also affirmed our support for a two-state solution if that’s what the parties believe they are ready to agree. And he also made a statement regarding the final status of Jerusalem is something that is left for the parties to negotiate.” (Algemeiner, Dec. 8, 2017)

"We will not be moving Canada's embassy to Jerusalem…Canada has a long-standing policy on the Mideast. We need to work towards a two-state solution through direct negotiations. That is why we will continue to engage constructively and substantively in the region and with our partners and friends around the world." — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Canada’s official policy is that "the status of Jerusalem can be resolved only as part of a general settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli dispute," according to the Department of Global Affairs. "Canada does not recognize Israel's unilateral annexation of East Jerusalem." Canada was one of only 33 countries that voted for the UN resolution that led to the establishment of Israel and Ottawa recognized the state shortly afterward. The Canadian embassy opened in Tel Aviv in 1953. In 1979, then-Prime Minister Joe Clark announced he would move Canada's embassy to Jerusalem but abandoned the decision after a backlash. (Globe & Mail, Dec. 8, 2017)

“This is clearly a decision which is counter-productive.” — NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. Canada is walking a tightrope after President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to move the United States embassy from Tel Aviv to the contested holy city. Foreign affairs critic Hélène Laverdière urged Canada to condemn the announcement. “This is a devastating day for those who believe in peace, justice and security in the Middle East,” she said. Conservatives, usually outspoken in their support for Israel, were conspicuously quiet on the issue last week. (National Post, Dec. 6, 2017)

"While there are two parties in this conflict, they are not on a level playing field…One is an occupying power, the other is an occupied people…One party builds illegal settlements…One party puts a seige on Gaza… One party takes over the water resources and farmlands of the other…One of the parties engages in forced displacement. Bolivia opposes the unilateral decision of the United States to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel." — Bolivian Amb. Sacha Llorenti. In an emergency meeting convened by the UN Security Council on the crisis prompted by Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as capital, the U.S. stood isolated as other members condemned the decision. Llorenti is known for his outspoken support of the Palestinians, having debated the issue at the U.N. wearing a Keffiyah: a black-and-white scarf that is a symbol of Palestinian resistance. (Telesur, Dec. 8, 2017)

"The American decision is an aggression on our people and a war on our sanctuaries…We want the uprising to last and continue to let Trump and the occupation regret this decision." — Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Haniyeh told his supporters "to be ready for any orders." (Politico, Dec. 7, 2017)

"[T]hose who think they own #Jerusalem better know that tomorrow they won't be able to hide behind trees." — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan invoked a Muslim hadith commonly used terrorists to sanction killing Jews, days after Trump proclaimed Jerusalem to be Israel's capital. The Turkish leader has employed sharp rhetoric against Israel almost daily in the wake of Trump’s announcement. Erdogan also described Israel as a “state of occupation” that used “terror” against the Palestinians. On Friday, protesters in Istanbul chanted slogans including, "Jerusalem is ours and will remain so!" and "Down with America" and "Down with Israel." (Times of Israel, Dec. 10, 2017)

“I am not used to receiving lectures about morality from a leader who bombs Kurdish villagers in his native Turkey, who jails journalists, who helps Iran get around international sanctions, and who helps terrorists, including in Gaza, kill innocent people.” — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu’s comments came after Erdogan vowed to use “all means to fight” against the US recognition of Jerusalem as the country’s capital. (Times of Israel, Dec. 10, 2017)

“The only realistic solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine is based on two states with Jerusalem as the capital of both…We believe it is in Israel’s interest, especially its security interest, to find a sustainable and comprehensible solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is why the European Union will increase its work…to relaunch the peace process, even if it seems [that these are] difficult times.” — EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini. On Monday, Netanyahu expressed confidence that most European countries will follow the precedent set by Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. “I believe that all or most of the European countries will move their embassies to Jerusalem, recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and engage robustly with us for security, prosperity and peace,” Netanyahu said ahead of a meeting with all 28 foreign ministers of EU member states. Mogherini, reiterated the bloc’s policy of only recognizing the status of Jerusalem following the outcome of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. (United With Israel, Dec. 12, 2017)

“We oppose all forms of anti-Semitism and xenophobia…it’s shameful when such open hatred of Jews is on display on the streets of German cities…Our laws on freedom of expression and assembly guarantee everyone a right to peaceful protest, but this right is no free pass for anti-Semitic atrocities, for incitement and violence.” — German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Merkel denounced the burning of Israeli flags by some 2,500 demonstrators who marched through Berlin’s Neukölln district and burned Israeli national flags to protest Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem. (Jewish Press, Dec. 12, 2017)

"Palestinian propaganda stubbornly refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, and also denies the Jewish presence in the Holy Land which has endured for millennia, as well as the Jews' deep historical connection to it. That's why it is high time for the West to understand the Palestinians' historical obscurantism as an obstacle to peace. If the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital makes the Palestinian leadership recognize the useless of their campaign to delegitimize Israel, it would be worth it for that reason alone." — Clemens Wergin, of Die Welt. (PJ Media, Dec. 7, 2017)

“I believe that there should be a modern state of Israel. I believe that it should be in Zion, in the biblical Land of Israel, with proper recognition of other peoples who live there. I believe that its capital is obviously Jerusalem. That is what Israel declares its capital to be, and generally we recognize the capitals that nation-states choose for themselves. I am sympathetic to the argument that after the wars of 1948 and 1967 it was wise not to prejudge the outcome of potential peace agreements by recognizing the status of Jerusalem. But it has been fifty years now since Jerusalem was united under Israeli sovereignty, Israel will always identify Jerusalem as its capital, and not recognizing those facts diplomatically has not evidently advanced the prospects for peace. So the recognition by the United States of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel strikes me as both defensible and anticlimactic.” — Father Raymond J. de Souza. (National Post, Dec. 6, 2017)

“Newsflash for the journalists: There’s nothing new on the Palestinian street. Palestinian threats of violence and walking out of any “peace process” is old, old news. Jerusalem is not on fire. Jerusalem is tense, and has long been so, because the Palestinians have not yet managed to come to terms with Israel’s right to exist. That is the real story. The Palestinians rage and rage and rage for only one reason: because Israel exists. Put that in a story and publish it.” — Bassam Tawil. (Gatestone Institute, Dec. 12, 2017)

“I welcome today’s decision by the United States to recognise as the capital of Israel, Jerusalem, whose name means “city of peace.” This recognition is an essential element in any lasting peace in the region. Unlike other guardians of the city, from the Romans to the Crusaders to Jordan between 1949 and 1967, Israel has protected the holy sites of all three Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam and guaranteed access to them. Today, Jerusalem remains one of the few places in the Middle East, where Jews, Christians and Muslims are able to pray in freedom, security and peace.

The sustained denial, in many parts of the world, of the Jewish connection with Jerusalem is dishonest, unacceptable and a key element in the refusal to recognise the Jewish people’s right to exist in the land of their origins. Mentioned over 660 times in the Hebrew Bible, Jerusalem was the beating heart of Jewish faith more than a thousand years before the birth of Christianity, and two-and-a-half millennia before the birth of Islam. Since then, though dispersed around the world, Jews never ceased to pray about Jerusalem, face Jerusalem, speak the language of Jerusalem, remember it at every wedding they celebrated, in every home they built, and at the high and holiest moments of the Jewish year.

Outside the United Nations building in New York is a wall bearing the famous words of Isaiah: "He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." Too often the nations of the world forget the words that immediately precede these: “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Those words, spoken twenty-seven centuries ago, remain the greatest of all prayers for peace, and they remain humanity’s best hope for peace in the Middle East and the world.” — Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.

Contents

DE KIRCHNER CHARGED WITH TREASON (Buenos Aires) — An Argentine judge called on Congress to strip former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of her immunity as a senator so she can be arrested after bringing charges of treason, aggravated concealment and obstruction against her. Fernandez is accused of trying to cover up Iran’s involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre, known as AMIA, in Buenos Aires in exchange for trade deals. The original case was brought by prosecutor Alberto Nisman who was found dead with a bullet in his head the day before he was scheduled to present his evidence to Congress. The AMIA attack killed 85 people and injured a further 150, making it the deadliest bombing in the country’s history. (National Post, Dec. 8, 2017)

NYC BOMBER ‘ANGRY OVER ISRAELI ACTIONS IN GAZA’ (New York) — Three people were injured when an explosive device strapped to Akayed Ullah detonated while he walked through the subway station underneath NYC’s Port Authority. Akayed, a Bangladeshi living in the US, was injured in the explosion. Former NYPD Commissioner Bratton said that the man was inspired by I.S. But according to authorities, the suspect said that he had set off the bomb because he was upset over Israeli actions in Gaza. Six weeks ago, Sayfullo Saipov, a Muslim for Uzbekistan, killed eight people and injured eleven when he plowed a truck through a walkway in Manhattan. (Breaking Israel News, Dec. 12, 2017)

THREE ARRESTED IN FIREBOMBING OF SWEDISH SYNAGOGUE (Goteborg) — Three people have been arrested for allegedly throwing firebombs at a synagogue in Goteborg, the second anti-Jewish attack in Sweden in two days. No one was injured in the attack during a youth event at the synagogue and the adjacent Jewish centre. Police said it is being investigated as an attempted arson. The attack took place after some 200 people rallied in the southern city of Malmo, yelling anti-Jewish slogans and waving Palestinian flags to protest Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem. (CTV, Dec. 10, 2017)

ISRAELI FLAG BURNED AT PRO-PALESTINIAN RALLY IN VANCOUVER (Vancouver) — Protesters took to the streets of downtown Vancouver to express their opposition to Trump’s Dec. 5 announcement. The protests were held in front of the U.S. consulate and the Vancouver Art Gallery. The protests were generally peaceful, but one counter-protester had his Israeli flag taken from him and destroyed by protesters. Similar anti-Israel protests took place around the world this weekend, including in London, New York and Toronto. (CJN, Dec. 11, 2017)

JORDAN'S PARLIAMENT TO REVIEW PEACE DEAL WITH ISRAEL (Amman) — The Jordanian parliament approved a proposal to establish a committee to reevaluate all formal ties with Israel, including the peace agreement. The Jordanian parliament’s decision does not necessarily mean that the peace accords with Israel will be annulled, noted Haaretz. Such a decision requires the approval of the government and the royal palace. A Jordanian political source said that the decision was undoubtedly symbolic of the rage in Jordan over Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem. (Arutz Sheva, Dec. 11, 2017)

U.S. WON’T LIST JERUSALEM AS ISRAEL’S CAPITAL ON OFFICIAL DOCS, PASSPORTS, MAPS (Washington) — The U.S. still will not formally recognize Jerusalem as being located in Israel on official documents, maps, and passports, despite Trump's announcement last week. State Department officials had difficulty stating that Jerusalem is located within Israel, instead trying to parse the issue as still subject to diplomatic negotiations. With regards to U.S. passports for Americans born in Jerusalem, there will be no formal change in policy on the matter. Americans born in Jerusalem still will not be able to list Israel as the birth nation on their passports. (Free Beacon, Dec. 8, 2017)

SHIN BET FOILS HAMAS HANUKKA KIDNAPPING ATTEMPT (Jerusalem) — Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) has foiled a Hamas kidnapping plot in the West Bank in an attempt use the hostage as a bargaining chip in negotiations to release Palestinians held in Israeli jails that was planned to take place on the Hanukka holiday. The cell, which operated from the village of Tel near Nablus, are accused of planning to kidnap an IDF soldier or Israeli citizen from a bus stop in one of the central junctions near Nablus. The cell was in contact with Omar Atzida, a Hamas military activist and a member of the Hamas headquarters in the Gaza Strip. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 13, 2017)

FOUNDING LEADER OF HAMAS ARRESTED (Ramallah) — Israeli troops arrested 32 Palestinians for suspected involvement in terror activities and violent rioting, as well as a senior Hamas figure, security forces said. Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a Hamas leader in the West Bank and one of the group’s founding members, was arrested in Ramallah. He is suspected of “involvement in promoting and advancing Hamas’s activities in the West Bank.” Yousef was recently released from administrative detention, and has been arrested many times in recent years. (Times of Israel, Dec. 13, 2017)

ANTI-ISRAEL STUDENTS SPREAD JEW HATRED AT MCMASTER (Toronto) — Anti-Israel students at McMaster University in Ontario have published multiple social media posts praising Adolf Hitler, demonizing Jews, and glorifying terrorists. Dozens of individuals affiliated with the campus group Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) published incendiary comments on Jews and Israel— among them the “openly anti-Semitic Mac SPHR students” Rawan Qaddoura and Esra Bengizi, watchdog group Canary Mission said. Qaddoura praised Hitler, tweeting in 2012, “I honestly wish I was born at the time of the second world war just to see the genius, Hitler, at work.” She doubled down on these sentiments in 2013: “everytime I read about Hitler, I fall in love all over again.” (Algemeiner, Dec. 12, 2017)

PUTIN LAUDS VICTORY OVER I.S. AND ANNOUNCES WITHDRAWALS (Damascus) — Russian President Vladimir Putin exhibited his growing diplomatic clout with a lightning tour through the Middle East on Monday, surprising Russian troops with his first visit to a Russian air base in Syria before skipping across the region to discuss bilateral ties in Cairo and Ankara. Along the way, he announced a withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria, presided over the signing of a $21 billion plan to build a nuclear power plant in Egypt, and called Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel “counterproductive” and “destabilizing.” (Washington Post, Dec. 11, 2017)

DRONE SHUTS DOWN BEN-GURION AIRPORT (Tel Aviv) — Flights in and out of Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport were shut down for 15 minutes around midnight on Tuesday, after an unauthorized drone entered the airport’s airspace. A drone collision with an airplane during takeoff or landing would be disastrous. The police are attempting to track down the drone’s operator. (Jewish Press, Dec. 13, 2017)

ISRAEL’S F-35 DECLARED OPERATIONAL (Jerusalem) — The Israeli Air Force declared its fleet of F-35 stealth fighter jets operational, just less than a year after receiving the first aircraft. The F-35 jets are known in Israel as the “Adir,” or mighty one. Israel received its first two F-35 fighter jets in late December 2016. The fifth-generation fighter jet has been lauded as a “game-changer” by the Israeli military, not only for its offensive and stealth capabilities, but for its ability to connect its systems with other aircraft and form an information-sharing network. Detractors, however, balk at the high price tag for the aircraft: approximately $100 million apiece. (Times of Israel, Dec. 6, 2017)

GERMANY: DEAD SEA SCROLLS DON’T BELONG TO ISRAEL (Berlin) — Israel has pulled out of a planned exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Frankfurt after the German government refused to guarantee their return if claimed by Palestinians or Jordanians. The exhibit was scheduled to open in 2019 at the The Frankfurt Bible Museum. In the past, other European nations, including Austria and the Netherlands, have issued “immunity from seizure” guarantees, making similar exhibitions possible. But as Qumran, the site of the scrolls’ original discovery, lies about a mile northwest of the Dead Sea in the Judean desert, the German government refuses to guarantee it will dismiss any future claims by Palestinians or Jordanians that the scrolls are Palestinian or Jordanian property. (Tablet, Dec. 4, 2017)

On Topic Links

Chanukah Guide for the Perplexed, 2017: Yoram Ettinger, Ettinger Report, Dec. 8, 2017 —In 175 BCE, the Seleucid Emperor Antiochus (IV) Epiphanies of Syria (1/3 of the disintegrated Greek Empire) wished to exterminate Judaism and forcibly convert Jews to Hellenism.  He suspected that the Jews were allies of his chief rival, Egypt. In 169 BCE, upon returning to Syria from a war against Egypt, he devastated Jerusalem, massacred Jews, forbade the practice of Judaism and desecrated the Temple.

Trump Administration Right to Not Buy Traditional Pieties About Middle East: Bret Stephens, New York Times, Dec. 11, 2017—If nothing else, Donald Trump’s recent decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital shows how disenthralled his administration is with traditional pieties about the Middle East. It’s about time.

On Jerusalem, Trump Finally Reveals Hard Truths About Mideast 'Peace': Editorial, National Post, Dec. 8, 2017 —The illusion that there is some progressing peace process in the Middle East has itself ironically become the latest impediment to peace. Smashing that illusion carries risks. But as the last five decades of violence between Palestinians and Israel make clear, so does indulging it.

A Kuwaiti Writer Just Shocked the Entire Middle East on Live TV: Israel Video Network, Nov. 27, 2017—This spokesman has woken up and smelled the coffee. He has chosen to put the facts clearly on the table. To say the least, he leaves his opponent speechless.