Wednesday’s “News in Review” Round-Up

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

 

On Topic Links

 

Dangerous Unity: Elliot Abrams, Weekly Standard, June, 2014

Pragmatism, Obama and the Bergdahl Swap: Caroline B. Glick, Jerusalem Post, June 10, 2014

When a President Goes Rogue: George Will, Washington Post, June 4, 2014

The Return of Al-Qaeda: David Ignatius, Washington Post, June 10, 2014

Let It Bleed: Roger Cohen, New York Times, June 9, 2014

 

 

“As a Canadian, reflecting on this achievement I can feel, we can feel, only two emotions that are usually not reckoned together: fierce pride and the deepest humility,” —Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, at Friday’s Bi-National Ceremony of Remembrance marking the 70th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy in France. Harper reflected further on the Canadian contribution to the Normandy invasion in 1944: “Who were these men? What kept them going? Why did they do what they did? They came from all walks of life, from every part of our great country. They were young, some still in their teens. And, as their British hosts found, they were boisterous and enthusiastic. But, they were united in a common cause. They wanted to see Europe free…The Veterans of D-Day are the embodiment of the values of our country. For we are a peaceful country. We have never been driven by any dream of conquest, nor any blind hatred. Then as now, Canadians understood why peacemakers are said to be blessed. But the men who landed here a lifetime ago also understood that a curse rests upon the person who, reluctant to fight for good, denies the very existence of evil. Peace has no merit if the cost is oppression. So they took up arms, these and a million other Canadians – men and women – who put on the uniform and beat their ploughshares into swords. It is the Canadian way to stand with like-minded allies for what is good, right and just.”  (Office of the Prime Minister of Canada, June 6, 2014)

 

“The 1988 Hamas Charter explicitly commits the Palestinian terror group to murdering Jews. Thanks to the formation this week of an interim government uniting Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, which the U.S. supports to the tune of more than $400 million a year, the American taxpayer may soon become an indirect party to that enterprise,” —Wall Street Journal editorial, in response to last week’s announcement of an agreement uniting the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. According to the editorial “The question is whether the U.S. government will continue to fund the PA now that Mr. Abbas has cast his lot with a State Department-designated foreign terrorist organization. U.S. law prohibits dispensing taxpayer money to any Palestinian entity over which Hamas exercises “undue influence…Nobody should count on the aging and calculating Mr. Abbas to exercise meaningful control over Hamas’s arsenal, much less its behavior. And nobody should count on the Obama Administration to apply meaningful penalties to the PA for joining forces with Hamas and flouting its obligations toward Israel. That leaves Congress, which can block funding to the Palestinians until they prove capable of governing themselves as something other than a terrorist enterprise.” (Wall Street Journal, June 6, 2014)

 

“Palestinians must choose between peace with Israel as a Jewish state and a marriage with Hamas, a terrorist organization,” —U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat, told a gathering of the American Jewish Committee in New Jersey, adding that the marriage “will have severe consequences…US law is explicit on this,” he added. “We will not provide assistance to a Palestinian government in which Hamas has a role and exercises ‘undue influence.'” Last week, hours after a reconciliation government was formed in a ceremony in Ramallah, the State Department declared its intent to continue aid to the PA, noting that the new cabinet retained many of the same technocratic officials unaffiliated with either party. The US position on Hamas remains unchanged, the Obama administration added: US officials say they will continue monitoring the actions of the new government, which has vowed to recognize Israel, renounce violence and uphold all previous agreements with the Israeli state. Financial assistance to the PA from the US, which amounts to roughly $500 million, has already been appropriated by Congress for the current fiscal year. Roughly $200 million in direct budgetary assistance has yet to be obligated; the State Department, traditionally, notifies the direction of these funds to Congress before a transfer. “I say this can only have a very short window,” said Menendez. “Whatever its alleged role, Hamas will wield power and influence, and Hamas, under our law, is a terrorist organization opposed to a two-state agreement and supported by Iran.” (Jerusalem Post, June 10, 2014)

 

“The elections are non-elections. A great big zero,” —U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, on a rare, unannounced visit to Lebanon, declaring Syria’s recent election “meaningless” adding it would have no impact on U.S. policy. President Bashar al-Assad won a reelection with 88.7 percent of the vote. The outcome of the vote did not come as a surprise and, in the absence of independent monitors or observers, was impossible to verify. But it gave Assad a third seven-year mandate to rule Syria, even as the rebellion against him rages on in many parts of the country. At a rushed news conference, Kerry did not address critical remarks by the recently resigned U.S. ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, who last week told two news organizations that he quit because U.S. policy in Syria is failing. (Washington Post, June 4, 2014)

 

“The media attention about my departure, however, misses the real point. What matters is that the regime of President Bashar al-Assad can drop barrel bombs on civilians and hold sham elections in parts of Damascus, but it can’t rid Syria of the terrorist groups now implanted in the ungoverned regions of eastern and central Syria,” — Robert S. Ford, a resident scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, and the U.S. ambassador to Syria from 2010 to 2014, in a New York Times op-ed.  Ford said the Obama administration should have done more to help moderate rebels sooner, to avert a situation in which Assad prevails in Damascus while extremists put down roots in areas beyond government control. He said he could no longer defend the existing policy, which consists of doing as little as possible to help the rebels while claiming that they are being helped. “Both Mr. Assad and the jihadists represent a challenge to the United States’ core interests. Mr. Assad heads a regime that is an affront to human decency, and his vicious tactics have caused a flood of refugees that could destabilize the region. Al Qaeda offshoots that joined the war now pose a potential threat to our security, as the directors of national intelligence and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have warned. These extremists enjoy a sanctuary from which they may mount attacks against Europe or the United States,” said Ford. He further noted that “I met Mr. Assad twice. He was suave, but three years after the peaceful protests started, his record of relying on horrific brutality to maintain power is clear. Moreover, his regime has a history of implicit cooperation with Al Qaeda, as we saw in Iraq. This is not a man with whom the United States should align itself.” (New York Times, June 10, 2014)

 

“We saw an opportunity and we seized it. And I make no apologies for that,” —U.S. President Barack Obama, during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron. Obama said he “absolutely makes no apologies” for seeking the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in a prisoner swap with the Taliban, vigorously defending an exchange that has caused a furor in the United States and has dogged the president on his European trip this week. When it comes to getting soldiers back from war, Obama said, “We don’t condition whether or not we make the effort to try to get them back.” He also said Bergdahl’s health had been deteriorating and “we were deeply concerned about it.” Bergdahl was released following a deal between the U.S. and the Taliban that was brokered by Qatar. Five Taliban detainees held in Guantanamo were released as part of the exchange. Republicans and Democrats have objected to the swap. Obama said his administration had discussed the possibility of such an exchange with members of Congress in the past. He did not, however, notify lawmakers in advance that he planned to release Guantanamo detainees. He is required to provide such notice 30 days ahead of a release. “Because of the nature of the folks that we were dealing with and the fragile nature of these negotiations, we felt it was important go ahead and do what we did,” Obama said. (Ha’aretz, June 5, 2014)

 

“There certainly was time to pick up the phone and call and say, ‘I know you all had concerns about this, we consulted in the past, we want you to know we have renewed these negotiations,'” —Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, claiming the Obama administration flouted U.S. law when it negotiated Sgt. Bowe Bergdahls’s exchange. Ms. Feinstein said she hasn’t heard evidence that Sgt. Bergdahl was in immediate medical danger that made it necessary to act without first consulting Congress. Ms. Feinstein said she and other key lawmakers were first briefed on the potential for a prisoner exchange in November 2011. She and other lawmakers subsequently sent a pair of classified letters, one to Mrs. Clinton and one to President Barack Obama, registering concerns with the potential exchange. “I strongly believe we should’ve been consulted, that the law should’ve been followed and I very much regret that was not the case,” she said. (Wall Street Journal, June 3, 2014)

 

“I suggest to all Israelis who talk about all kinds of things not to even think that we have an alternative to our alliance with the US. The US is the one that prevents difficult situations for us in the international arena, supports us economically and with advanced weaponry. But not the US, nor anyone else, will replace Israel if there is a need to use force,” —Israeli National Security Council head Yaakov Amidror on Sunday. Saying that for the foreseeable future Israel did not have to worry about the “classic threats” of Arab armies attacking from all sides, its first and foremost threat was Iran’s desire to have nuclear weapons. “The Iranians understand that now is not the time to do this clearly, and they are working to create among the Americans the illusion that it will be possible to stop them at the last moment…but the truth must be told: they want nuclear weapons no less [than in the past]. Everything else is tactics in negotiations that were imposed on them,” Amidor said. “You need to be prepared to do things by yourself,” he said, in a clear reference to military action against Iran. Amidor further questioned the effectiveness of negotiating with Tehran: “The unwillingness of many in the world to use force is the reason that many people, including in the US, are willing to accept almost any agreement with Iran. For them the agreement itself is more important than the content, because it will do away with the need to use force. Using force for them is almost a sin. These people will never acknowledge that an agreement with Iran is bad, because then they would have to discuss a military option, which they are not really willing to use.” (Jerusalem Post, June 8, 2014)

 

 Contents

ISRAEL MPS ELECT REUVEN RIVLIN AS PRESIDENT (Jerusalem) —Rivlin, a former parliamentary speaker and Cabinet minister, defeated long-time legislator Meir Sheetrit, by 63 to 53 in a secret runoff ballot. He will succeed Shimon Peres, 90, who ends his seven-year term in July. The Israeli president occupies a largely ceremonial position and has no formal role in peace talks with the Palestinians. Rivlin, a member of the governing Likud party, will become Israel’s 10th president. (BBC, June 10, 2014)

 

ISRAEL CALLS FOR RETURN OF PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY FORCES IN GAZA (Jerusalem) —The Israeli government is seeking for a return of Palestinian Authority security forces under the command of PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza, and a dismantling of Hamas forces there. In a memo, sent by the Israeli Foreign Ministry on June 5, the ministry instructs Israeli ambassadors abroad to demand to foreign governments that Abbas live up to his pledge to follow the so-called Quartet principles of recognizing Israel, recognizing past agreements and renouncing violence. (Algemeiner, June 10, 2014)

 

THE U.S. HAS BEEN SPEAKING TO HAMAS FOR MORE THAN SIX MONTHS (Washington) —U.S. officials have been holding secret back-channel talks with Hamas over the last six months to discuss their role in the newly formed unity government, according to two senior diplomatic sources with direct knowledge of the talks. The meetings were held between U.S. intermediaries and Hamas’ leadership, which lives outside the Gaza Strip in third-party countries ranging from Egypt to Qatar and Jordan. Topics included the ceasefire agreement with Israel and the recently formed unity government between Hamas and Fatah. “It must be very clear they were not just speaking to Hamas in exile, but to our entire leadership,” said a senior Palestinian official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity as “the Americans made it clear these meetings should not be made public.” He added, “It should be of no great surprise that an American team was speaking to Hamas, there is dialogue with Hamas through most of the Western world.” (Buzzfeed, June 4, 2014)

 

HUNDREDS KILLED IN ‘MASSIVE’ BOKO HARAM ATTACK IN NORTHERN NIGERIA (Maiduguri) — Hundreds of people may have been killed in a suspected Boko Haram attack on four villages in northeast Nigeria. Some community leaders put the death toll in last Tuesday’s attacks in the Gwoza district of Borno state as high as 400 to 500, but there was no independent confirmation because of poor communications in the area. In one of the attacks, Christians shepherded into a church by armed men apparently for their safety died when those soldiers turned out to be Boko Haram fighters in disguise, who opened fire on the cowering crowd in their latest attack. The Islamist Boko Haram’s latest offensive came as it was reported Nigerian army officers have been convicted by courts martial for colluding with the al-Qaeda allied group, including providing them with weapons and secret intelligence. (Telegraph, June 5, 2014)

 

PAKISTAN WEIGHS STRIKE AGAINST TALIBAN OVER AIRPORT ATTACK (Karachi) —The Pakistani Taliban’s deadly attack on a Karachi airport appears to have ended hopes for a peace deal, pushing the government closer to an army operation against the militant group’s strongholds. The group known formally as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for Sunday’s assault, which left 28 people dead. The TTP said the attack was in response to the Pakistani military’s recent airstrikes in the country’s North Waziristan region. “The government should be ready for more attacks like this,” said Shahidullah Shahid, a TTP spokesman. (Wall Street Journal, June 9, 2014)

 

MILITANTS OVERRUN IRAQ’S SECOND-LARGEST CITY (Mosul) — Islamist insurgents seized control of Iraq’s second-largest city on Tuesday in a brazen military operation that underscored the weakness of the central government across vast swaths of the country. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared a nationwide “state of maximum preparedness” after government forces fled Mosul in disarray following four days of fighting. He asked parliament to declare a state of emergency. But he didn’t say whether military forces were mobilizing to retake the city, 220 miles north of the capital, Baghdad. Mosul was captured by rebels from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS—a group that evolved from al Qaeda’s Iraq affiliate. The takeover of a major industrial and oil center and the main city in northern Iraq marked a major coup for a group that only months ago was operating in the country’s vast desert hinterlands. (Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2014)

 

BOMBS AGAINST KURDS, OTHER ATTACKS IN IRAQ KILL 40 (Baghdad) —A double bombing tore through Kurdish political party offices in northern Iraq in the deadliest of a series of attacks nationwide that killed at least 40 people. It was the second such assault in as many days. Nobody claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack. But an al-Qaida splinter group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for the previous double bombing Sunday against Kurdish offices in Jalula, northwest of Baghdad, killing 19 people. The group said in an online statement that the bombings in Jalula were in response to the detention of Muslim women by authorities in the self-rule Kurdish region in northern Iraq. Iraq is grappling with its worst surge in violence since the sectarian bloodletting of 2006 and 2007. (Washington Post, June 9, 2014)

 

SUICIDE BOMB HITS CONVOY OF AN AFGHAN CANDIDATE (Kabul)— A suicide bombing on Friday struck a convoy of vehicles carrying one of the candidates in Afghanistan’s presidential runoff election next week. The candidate, Abdullah Abdullah, escaped unharmed, but at least six other people were killed. It appeared to be the first direct attack on a presidential contender since the campaign began in January, Afghan officials said. Mr. Abdullah received the most votes in the first round of balloting in April, but not enough to avoid a runoff. He faces Ashraf Ghani, who received the second most votes, in the runoff election on June 14. The winner will succeed President Hamid Karzai in July. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack on Friday, but suspicion immediately fell on the Taliban and other Islamist insurgent groups in the country. (New York Times, June 6, 2014)

 

SYRIAN WAR AN “INCUBATOR” FOR TERRORISTS (Ottawa)— Canadian extremists fighting in Syria should be viewed as security risks when they come home but there is little the government can do to prevent them from leaving, Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney said in an interview Sunday. “At the end of the day, if it’s a Canadian who’s been radicalized and they choose to leave this country, there’s nothing we can do to stop them,” he said. “You can’t have police standing at the airport detaining them as they seek to leave the country.” Eighty ex-jihadists are now living in Canada, but the Canadian Security Intelligence Service declined to disclose how many of those were veterans of the Syrian conflict. (National Post, June 8, 2014)   

 

ANTI-SEMITISM IN CHICAGO SCHOOL (Chicago) —Several eighth-graders at a Chicago public school were suspended as part of an investigation of antisemitic bullying via the online game Clash of Clans. The suspended students from Ogden International School of Chicago were identified as ringleaders and participants in the reported harassment of a 14-year-old Jewish student. The Jewish student told his mother several months ago that his classmates showed him photos of ovens and told him to get in, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. In recent weeks, the eighth-graders started a team for the online game called “Jew Incinerator.” “Heil! Throw Jews into ovens for a cause. We are a friendly group of racists with one goal — put all Jews into an army camp until disposed of,” the team’s introduction read. The students concluded the introduction with “Sieg! Heil!” — a Nazi salutation. (Ha’aretz, June 2, 2014)

 

AUSTRALIA WILL NO LONGER REFER TO JERUSALEM AS ‘OCCUPIED’ (Canberra) —Australia will no longer describe east Jerusalem as “occupied” territory, signaling a significant policy shift welcomed in Israel. “The description of east Jerusalem as ‘Occupied East Jerusalem’ is a term freighted with pejorative implications, which is neither appropriate nor useful,” Australia’s attorney-general said. “It should not and will not be the practice of the Australian government to describe areas of negotiations in such judgmental language,” he said. Australia’s policy shift on the settlements began soon after the election victory in September of Tony Abbott’s Liberal-National coalition. In November, the new government abstained on two anti-Israel resolutions at the UN – one to end all settlement activities, and another calling for compliance with the Geneva Convention – signaling it would no longer reflexively vote against Israel on settlement-related votes. (Jerusalem Post, June 5, 2014)

 

GERMANY EXTENDS HOLOCAUST PENSIONS FOR JEWISH GHETTO WORKERS (Berlin) —Germany’s Parliament has unanimously approved a measure extending pension payments for thousands of elderly Jews who were forced to work for the Nazis in ghettos. The Jewish Claims Conference, which helped negotiate the deal with the government, said the new deal passed Thursday means some 40,000 Holocaust survivors will soon be able to receive benefits back-dated to 1997. That’s the year Germany began recognizing work in ghettos as eligible for pension payments. Until now, recipients have only received payments backdated to four years from when they applied. During World War II, the Nazis made widespread use of Jews in ghettos as laborers in exchange for food or meager wages. (Ynet, June 5, 2014)

 

THE ROLLING STONES TAKE TEL AVIV (Tel Aviv) —Rock legends The Rolling Stones played to a crowd of over 40,000 fans at Tel Aviv’s Park Hayarkon at their first-ever performance in the Holy Land. Lead singer Mick Jagger greeted the crowd saying in Hebrew “Erev tov, hag Shavuot sameah,” which means “Good evening, Happy Shavuot.” The show’s starting time was pushed back in order to leave enough time for religiously observant fans to attend the concert after the Shavuot holiday. The Stones arrived in Israel on Monday night and band members visited the Western Wall and the ancient ruins of Caesarea before their Wednesday night show. (Jerusalem Post, June 4, 2014)

 

Contents

On Topic Links

 

Dangerous Unity: Elliot Abrams, Weekly Standard, June, 2014—The creation of a new Palestinian “national unity” government has raised a slew of questions in the United States. What should our policy be toward a government that has the support not only of the Fatah party but of the terrorist group Hamas as well? Should all aid to the Palestinians be suspended? 

Pragmatism, Obama and the Bergdahl Swap: Caroline B. Glick, Jerusalem Post, June 10, 2014—US President Barack Obama is an artist of political propaganda.

When a President Goes Rogue: George Will, Washington Post, June 4, 2014—What Winston Churchill said of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles — that he was a bull who carried his own china shop around with him — is true of Susan Rice, who is, to be polite, accident-prone .

The Return of Al-Qaeda: David Ignatius, Washington Post, June 10, 2014 —The capture Tuesday of Mosul, the hub of northern Iraq, by al-Qaeda-linked militants is an alarm bell that violent extremists are on the rise again in the Middle East.

Let It Bleed: Roger Cohen, New York Times, June 9, 2014—The Rolling Stones played Tel Aviv last week. It being Israel, this was a political event.

 

 

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