Wednesday’s “News in Review” Round-Up

MEDIA-OCRITY OF THE WEEK: “As the international community observes Palestinian Prisoners Day on 17 April, the World Council of Churches resolutely confirms our solidarity with the nearly 5000 Palestinian men, women and children languishing in Israeli prisons. As people of faith, we are called to pray for, visit and tend to the needs of all prisoners, no matter the reason for their detention. For Israel and Palestine, prisoners have taken on even greater significance than in the past. We were disappointed when the Government of Israel cancelled the scheduled release of prisoners who were in Israeli jails even before the Oslo Agreement of 1993. In addition to disrupting an already fragile negotiations process, this move deepened heartache for many families, relatives, friends and, indeed, the entire Palestinian people.” —Statement by Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, General Secretary for the World Council of Churches, an organization whose members include most Christian churches. (Oikoumene.org, Apr. 17, 2014)

WEEKLY QUOTES

“Our basic position is that we hope Russia and Ukraine will find a way as quickly as possible to normalize relations, and find a way to talks, and to solve all the problems peacefully,” —Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, stating that Israel intended to refrain from taking a firm position on the Ukrainian crisis, saying there is “no lack” of problems with which to contend in the Middle East. Liberman added that “we will support all efforts to solve this issue in the fastest way possible, without confrontation or friction.” Israel has tried to remain out of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, not taking public sides with Ukraine and the U.S. in the matter, out of concern that this would anger Moscow and redound negatively on Israel’s security concerns in the region, specifically Syria and Iran. This position has raised some eyebrows in Washington, with State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki saying last week the U.S. was surprised Israel did not participate in a UN General Assembly vote on the matter last month. (Jerusalem Post, Apr. 22, 2014)

“…Obama’s consequences haven’t even been inconsequential; they’ve had the opposite of their intended effect. Rather than send the Ukrainians weapons or useful intelligence, we sent them a bunch of MREs (“Meals Ready to Eat”). And even that we were unwilling to do in too provocative a way. We didn’t use Air Force cargo-planes, but rather sent the snacks in by civilian trucks. Meanwhile, pleas from allies to deploy more assets to Poland and other front-line NATO states were rebuffed by the White House. On April 12, the Wall Street Journal reported that the White House was still weighing requests from the Ukrainian government for other supplies such as “medical kits, uniforms, boots and military socks.” Call me crazy, but I doubt the response will be, “Comrades! Call it off! We can’t take the chance that the Ukrainians will have warm, dry feet when we invade Kiev!” — Jonah Goldberg (National Review, Apr. 18, 2014)

“I said this morning that Abbas must choose between peace with Israel and the unity agreement with Hamas, a murderous terror organization that calls for the destruction of Israel,” —Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in response to a unity accord signed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party and Hamas. Netanyahu added that “Abu Mazen [Abbas] could have chosen peace with Israel instead of peace with a murderous terror organization. Tonight, while talks are ongoing to extend peace talks, he chose Hamas … He who chooses Hamas does not want peace.” Under the agreement signed Wednesday, the factions are to form a unity government in five weeks, according to reports citing Palestinian officials. Fatah and Hamas representatives met from Tuesday to early Wednesday morning in Gaza. (JTA, Apr. 23, 2014) 

“No Palestinian is speaking of an initiative to dismantle the Palestinian Authority,” —Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat. “But Israel’s actions have annulled all the legal, political, security, economic and operations aspects of the prerogatives of the Palestinian Authority,” Erakat added, responding to threats made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday that if peace talks fail he may dismantle the Palestinian Authority and hand over responsibility for 2.5 million of his people to Israel. Mr. Abbas told a group of visiting Israeli reporters that their country’s policies had left his West Bank government powerless and that if it continues its path he will “let it come and run this authority.” (National Post, Apr. 22, 2014)

“If they’re threatening, let them threaten. It doesn’t mean we have to panic and go into all of the implications,” —an official Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Someone who threatens to cut off their nose to spite their face should be thinking about the implications. We’re not going to fall into their trap and play their game,” the source added. Israeli officials see the idea of dismantling the PA as an empty threat being used to try to force Israeli concessions before the clock runs out on the nine months the parties agreed to allot to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to try to reach an Israeli-Palestinian framework agreement. In the last few weeks, the talks have centered simply on reaching a deal to continue negotiating past the April 29 deadline. (National Post, Apr. 22, 2014)

“We hear the same threats recycled again and again that if we don’t give him everything he wants, oy vey for us,” —Bayit Yehudi leader and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, dismissing the threat by PA President Abbas to dismantle the PA, saying Abbas had issued the same threat on six previous occasions. Bennet added: “What is he threatening? Dismantling an authority that incites for terrorism, violates the Oslo Accords, that pays stipends to murderers of Jews? Israel is stronger than his threats.” (Jerusalem Post, Apr. 22, 2014)

“…In another stage of the Passover celebrations, [the Jews] combined the preparation of matzas and the offering up of sacrifices with their enmity towards non-Jews, especially Christians, and mixed the blood of one of their victims into the matza … especially on Passover, Purim and circumcision rituals. They also used blood in acts of sorcery and witchcraft…” —article from the Egyptian magazine El Kibar by Firnas Hafzi, a supposed expert on Hebrew who also writes about fashion, beauty and health. The article breaks new ground in the classic Passover blood libel, recycling the historic medieval blood libels as fact and adding new accusations against Jews. Hafzi added that “as part of the efforts to deny [the Jewish crimes], Jewish Americans wrote stories about vampires in the 1970s, in order to disassociate themselves from the accusation of sucking human blood and deceive [the mechanisms of] justice. During that period they spent millions on Dracula films, in order to deceive world public opinion. They claimed that those who slaughter children and adults and suck their blood are lunatics and that all this has nothing to do with them and their religious rituals. On February 14, 1964, the [Egyptian] magazine Al-Musawwar published a story about vampires in Colombia after many [Colombian] children had been slaughtered to shed their blood. Neither the magazine nor the investigators in Colombia dreamed that the vampires might be Jews, rather than [people who] sell blood to hospitals…” Not surprisingly, out of hundreds of millions of Arabs, no one denounces these lies. (Elder of Ziyon, Apr. 18, 2014)

SHORT TAKES

UKRAINE RABBI CALLS ANTI-SEMITIC LEAFLET A POLITICAL HOAX (Donetsk)— A Ukrainian rabbi whose congregation was the target of an anti-Semitic leaflet that drew global media interest and condemnation from the US government believes it was a hoax and wants to put the matter to rest. But five days after the incident in the restive eastern city of Donetsk, Ukraine’s prime minister, anxious to maintain US support against Russia, issued a statement accusing Moscow and told a US TV channel he would find the “bastards” responsible. On Monday evening, Apr. 14, as Jews left a synagogue after a Passover service, masked men handed out fliers purported to be from pro-Russian separatists who seized the regional authority building in Donetsk and styled themselves as its government. In an echo of the Holocaust which devastated Ukraine’s Jews, it ordered all Jews to register with them or face deportation. Denis Pushilin, head of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic, said it was a fake, presumably by supporters of the Ukrainian government, that was meant to discredit his movement. (Jerusalem Post, Apr. 20, 2014)

EASTERN UKRAINE’S PRO-RUSSIAN ACTIVISTS STAND FAST (Kiev)— Pro-Russian activists in eastern Ukraine refused to vacate the government facilities they have occupied, defying a compromise agreement struck a day earlier by international powers, including Russia, that called on them to leave. Denis Pushilin, the leader of the uprising that calls itself the People’s Republic of Donetsk, said at a news conference Friday in the southeast Ukrainian city’s seized administration building that the activists wouldn’t exit until the new leaders in Kiev leave the government, which he said they have been occupying unlawfully since late February. The activists’ refusal seemed to undermine a deal reached Thursday in Geneva by Ukraine, Russia, the U.S. and the European Union, aimed at neutralizing a crisis that has plunged Ukraine into political and civil disarray and thrown Russia and the West into their deepest conflict since the end of the Soviet Union. (Wall Street Journal, Apr. 19, 2014)

UKRAINE SEPARATISTS REPORTEDLY HOLDING AMERICAN-ISRAELI JOURNALIST (Kiev)— Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine said on Tuesday they were holding an American journalist in the city of Slaviansk and the online news site Vice News said it was trying to secure the safety of its reporter, Simon Ostrovsky. Journalists working in the area said Ostrovsky had been detained by gunmen on Monday and, unlike others taken with him, had not yet been released. The local separatist leader Vyacheslav Ponomarev told reporters on Tuesday that Ostrovsky is now working for pro-Russian, secessionist militia in Sloviansk. Ponomarev said Ostrovsky holds Israeli and American passports. (Jerusalem Post, Apr. 23, 2014)

LAPID THREATENING TO LEAVE NETANYAHU’S COALITION IF PEACE TALKS END (Jerusalem)— Yesh Atid will leave Prime Minister Netanyahu’s governing coalition if negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians end and there is no diplomatic process taking place, party leader Yair Lapid said in closed conversations Tuesday. Netanyahu’s coalition is facing threats from both Yesh Atid and Hatnua on the Left, if negotiations with the Palestinians end, and from Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett if Israeli-Arab prisoners are released in a deal to extend the talks. But Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman downplayed Bennett’s threats saying “there is no chance Bayit Yehudi will quit the coalition…don’t take Bennett’s threats too seriously.” (Jerusalem Post, Apr. 22, 2014)

SYRIA CHLORINE GAS ATTACK ALLEGED BY ACTIVISTS (Damascus)— Activists in Syria have published what they say is evidence of a chlorine gas attack by government forces. Footage posted online, which cannot be verified, shows medics trying to revive four young men suffering what appear to be symptoms of poisoning. A voice off-screen says the location is Harasta, just outside the capital Damascus. Use of chlorine as a weapon of war is banned and Syria committed to declaring and giving up its stocks last year. It is the fourth chemical weapons attack the opposition has alleged this month. Four days ago, activists said the Syrian government carried out another alleged chlorine attack north of the city of Hama. The Syrian government blamed the opposition. (BBC, Apr. 17, 2014)

HEZBOLLAH MEMBERS ARRESTED IN THAILAND ADMIT TO PLANNING ATTACK ON ISRAELI TOURISTS (Bangkok)— Two members of Hezbollah arrested several days ago in Thailand have admitted that they were planning to launch a terror attack against Israeli tourists in Bangkok. The men arrived in Bangkok on April 13, and police suspect they were planning to direct an attack on Israeli travelers during Passover. The two suspects are Daoud Farhat, a Lebanese national who also holds French citizenship, and Youssef Ayad, a Lebanese man who is a citizen of the Philippines. (Ha’aretz, Apr. 18, 2014)

NIGERIAN SCHOOL ATTACK LEAVES 234 GIRLS MISSING (Abuja)— About 234 girls are missing from the northeast Nigerian school attacked last week by Islamist extremists, significantly more than the 85 reported by education officials, parents told the state governor Monday. The higher figure emerged a week after the kidnappings when the governor of Borno state insisted that a military escort take him to the town where the attack occurred. Parents told the governor that officials did not listen to them when they tallied the number of missing children and the total reached 234. Security officials had warned Gov. Kashim Shettima that it was too dangerous for him to drive to Chibok, 80 miles from Maidu­guri, the capital of Borno and the birthplace of Boko Haram, the Islamist terrorist network blamed for the abductions. (Washington Post, Apr. 21, 2014)  

SUICIDE BOMBINGS, OTHER ATTACKS IN IRAQ KILL AT LEAST 33 PEOPLE (Baghdad) — Suicide bombings and other attacks across Iraq killed at least 33 people and wounded nearly 80 more on Monday, officials said, the latest in an uptick in violence as the country counts down to crucial parliament elections later this month. Over the past year, violence has surged in Iraq to levels unseen since 2008. The increase in deadly shootings and bombings has become the Shiite-led government’s most serious challenge as the nation prepares to head to the polls on April 30 — the first vote in Iraq since the U.S. army withdrawal in 2011. Monday’s deadliest attack took place south of Baghdad in the town of Suwayrah, where a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a police checkpoint, killing 12 people — five policemen and seven civilians. A police officer said 19 people were wounded in the attack. (Associated Press, Apr. 21, 2014)

‘MUSLIM MORALITY SQUADS’  TOOK STUDENTS’ EASTER EGGS, CHILDREN SAY (London) — Children who took Easter eggs to class allegedly had them confiscated by “Muslim morality squads” patrolling a school in Birmingham, England, according to press reports. The school is at the centre of an investigation into claims Islamic hardliners are attempting to infiltrate and run secular state schools in the city. At least six schools in the city have been implicated in a “Trojan Horse” plot by extremists to “Islamize” secular state education. This has included illegal segregation of students according to sex and discrimination against non-Muslims. Up to 20 more schools are also under investigation. (National Post, Apr. 21, 2014)

PAKISTAN LIBRARY RENAMED TO HONOR BIN LADEN (Islamabad)— A seminary for women in Pakistan renamed its library to honor the former al Qaeda leader whom they refer to as the “martyr” Osama bin Laden. The Jamia Hafsia seminary in which the library is located is headed by Imam Maulana Abdul Aziz, who is the imam of Islamabad’s mosque, Lal Masjid. “It is true that we have named the library after Osama bin Laden,” a source told AFP on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity. “He might be a terrorist for others but we do not consider him as a terrorist. For us he was a hero of Islam.” Bin Laden was the founder of al Qaeda, which claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, as well as other mass casualty attacks in places such as Egypt and Afghanistan. (Jewish Press, Apr. 18, 2014)

IDF ANNOUNCES DRAFT NOTICES TO CHRISTIAN ISRAELIS (Jerusalem)— The IDF has announced it will begin to send voluntary draft notices to all Christian Israelis, offering them the chance to enlist in Israel’s army. The move comes as part of the universal draft law that has required hareidi religious Jews to enter the military as well. A number of Christian groups and veterans have organized an initiative to increase the number of Israeli Christians who enlist in the nation’s armed forces. The initiative has caused a major controversy among Israeli Arabs, who see the effort as an attempt to divide and weaken the community, despite an increase in those who wish to serve in the IDF. Approximately 500 Israeli Christians are currently enlisted in National Service, and 100 are serving in the IDF. (Jewish Press, Apr. 22, 2014)

JACOB BIRNBAUM, CIVIL RIGHTS CHAMPION OF SOVIET JEWS, DIES AT 88 (New York)— Just as the civil rights movement began with students challenging segregation at lunch counters, the movement to free Soviet Jews began with students demonstrating at the Soviet Mission to the United Nations. That 1964 protest was the brainchild of Jacob Birnbaum, who devoted his life to campaigning for Jewish causes and who died at 88 on April 9 in Manhattan. His inspiration was to bring the tactics of the civil rights movement to improving the lives of Soviet Jews. “Jacob was the first to start the struggle,” said Natan Sharansky, the former Soviet dissident and Israeli politician, who announced the death. “This brought hundreds of thousands of Jews out to join him in the great struggle for Soviet Jewry, which made modern Exodus real.” The grass-roots movement Mr. Birnbaum started contributed to legislation that eventually helped liberalize Moscow’s emigration policies. President Ronald Reagan personally pressed the Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev on the issue. And ultimately, more than 1.5 million Soviet Jews were allowed to move to Israel and elsewhere. (New York Times, Apr. 20, 2014)