Wednesday’s “News in Review” Round-Up

On Topic Links 

 

Tokyo support rally for Israel (Video): Youtube, 2014

Lessons of the War in Gaza: Daniel Pipes, National Review, Aug. 9, 2014

Obama’s New Plan for Hamas: Caroline B. Glick, Jerusalem Post, Aug. 7, 2014

The Hillary Metamorphosis: Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal, Aug. 11, 2014

After Iraq: Surviving the Summer of Global Chaos: James Jay Carafano, National Interest, Aug. 10, 2014

Turkey’s New Sultan: Wall Street Journal, Aug. 12, 2014

 

                                                                                                                                 

“We must not blink and we must not allow for even the faintest impression that it pays off to fight against Israel,” —Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, on Monday, as indirect ceasefire talks were underway in Egypt. Hamas must not come out of this confrontation “feeling like terrorism pays off,” said Lieberman. “The current confrontation started when Hamas in Gaza gave the order to kidnap the three teens and murder them, following which it started launching rockets at civilian population in Israel,” Lieberman said in his first interview since the end of the ground incursion in Gaza. The foreign minister stressed that “if by the end of all of these events, Hamas gets what it wants, or even if there’s only a feeling that they got what they wanted, among the organization’s leaders and among the Palestinian public, what the other terror organizations surrounding us understand is that terror pays off and the price we’ll pay for it is heavy. We mustn’t allow that.” (Ynet News, Aug. 11, 2014)

 

“Great nations need organizing principles, and ‘Don’t do stupid stuff’ is not an organizing principle,” —Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic. Clinton, a probable Presidential candidate in 2016, outlined her foreign policy doctrine during the interview: “I think Israel did what it had to do to respond to the rockets…Israel has a right to defend itself. The steps Hamas has taken to embed rockets and command-and-control facilities and tunnel entrances in civilian areas, this makes a response by Israel difficult.” She continued, “There’s no doubt in my mind that Hamas initiated this conflict… So the ultimate responsibility has to rest on Hamas and the decisions it made.” (The Atlantic, Aug. 10, 2014)

“The US and the western countries have created a fake regime in Palestine to get rid of it and have supplied it with the most advanced weapons and are seeking to create an Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates,” —Salah al-Zawawi, the official Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) envoy to Iran, during a gathering in Tehran in support of Gaza on Tuesday.. Zawawi, whose organization dominates the PA headed by President Abbas, added “Israel’s annihilation has begun and the new generation in Iran will certainly witness our victory over Israel.” (Times of Israel, Aug. 13, 2014)

 

“It is a complete travesty of justice to invite one of the most outspoken critics of Israel to serve as its judge and jury. His selection is a disgraceful stain on the values that the UN claims to stand for,” —Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor, in a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the UNHRC appointment of William Schabas to chair the Gaza commission of inquiry. Schabas, a Canadian International law expert – known for his criticism of Israel – will head the UNHRC’s probe into Israel’s actions in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza in the last two months. “Yesterday the (UNHRC) set a new record for anti-Israel bias and proved once again, that it would be better named the “Human Wrongs Council,” Prosor wrote, adding “This is like inviting ISIS to chair the UN’s World Interfaith Harmony Week. The selection of William Schabas to chair the Gaza commission of inquiry is an utter farce. The only inquiry taking place should be an inquiry into how a vehemently anti-Israel chair was selected to lead a UN commission investigating Israel. Mr. Schabas’s agenda is clear. He has repeatedly called for the prosecution of Prime Minister Netanyahu and former President Shimon Peres…In light of his hate-fuelled rants, one doesn’t need to be a fortune teller to predict the outcome of any inquiry led by Mr. Schabas.” The commission has been tasked with identifying those responsible for “violations of international humanitarian law,” and with holding the violators accountable and ending their impunity. It’s expected to deliver its report to the UNHRC in March, 2015. (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Aug 12, 2014)

 

“Under international law, William Schabas is obliged to [excuse] himself because his repeated calls to indict Israeli leaders obviously gives rise to actual bias or the appearance thereof,” —UN Watch’s executive-director Hillel Neuer. (Jerusalem Post, Aug. 11, 2014)

 

“Why does the government of this country (Israel) think that the world will be impervious to this macabre genocide that is being committed today against the Palestinian people?” —Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who also described Israel’s offensive in Gaza as a “new, repugnant form of fascism.” Castro made his comments in a column published Tuesday in the Granma newspaper, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, titled “Palestinian Holocaust in Gaza.” Castro, 87, ruled Cuba from 1959 until 2006, when he handed over power to his brother Raul. Cuba broke diplomatic relations with Israel in 1973 after the Yom Kippur War. (Times of Israel, Aug. 6, 2014)

 

“Today, we are facing a grave constitutional breach and we have appealed and we have the proof that we are the largest bloc,” — incumbent Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Iraq’s president snubbed Maliki by picking another politician to form the next government, setting up a fierce political power struggle, even as the country battles extremists in the north and west. Haider al-Ibadi, the deputy speaker of parliament from al-Maliki’s Shiite Dawa party, was selected by Iraqi President Fouad Massoum to be the new prime minister. But al-Maliki, who has been in power for eight years, defiantly rejected al-Ibadi’s nomination as prime minister. In a speech after midnight Sunday, he accused Massoum of blocking his reappointment as prime minister and carrying out “a coup against the constitution and the political process.” (AP, Aug. 12, 2014)

 

“There are Arabs to the west of us, Arabs to the east and south of us,” —Sardar Barpiri, 35, a refugee from ISIS terror sheltering in the dark halls of the Yazidis’ holiest temple, the shrine of Sheikh Adi. “They are killing us, all of us. Whether it’s Islam or whatever, they just want to kill us.” As they gathered on their holiest shrine on Tuesday afternoon, Sinjar’s surviving Yazidis had one topic of conversation: how to get out of Iraq, leaving their homeland and its temples for ever. (Telegraph, Aug. 12, 2014)

 

“The planes attack positions they think are strategic but this is not how we operate. We are trained for guerrilla street war,” —an ISIS fighter, who told Reuters by telephone the U.S. air strikes on Iraq would have “no impact on us…God is with us and our promise is heaven. When we are promised heaven, do you think death will stop us?” The first US air strike on Friday saw two 500lb (227kg) bombs dropped on IS artillery being used against forces defending Irbil. Late on Friday, the Pentagon confirmed a second wave of attacks. It said drones and fighter jets attacked a mortar position and a seven-vehicle convoy carrying fighters also threatening Irbil. (BBC, Aug. 9, 2014)

 

“…Just when Americans thought they could stop trying to figure out the difference between Sunnis and Shiites, we’re in a new war in Iraq with some bad “folks,” as the president might say, whose name we’re still fuzzy on. We never know what we’re getting into over there, and this time we can’t even agree what to call the enemy. All we know is that a barbaric force is pillaging so swiftly and brutally across the Middle East that it seems like some mutated virus from a sci-fi film…The United States has taken military action in Iraq during at least 17 of the last 24 years, the ultimate mission creep in a country smaller than Texas on the other side of the world. What better symbol of the Middle East quicksand than the fact that Navy planes took off for their rescue mission — two years after Obama declared the war in Iraq over — from the George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea?… Some fellow Democrats are fretting that the pull of Iraq will be too strong, after Obama spokesman Josh Earnest said, “The president has not laid out a specific end date.” Iraq, after all, is a country that seems to have a malignant magnetism for our leaders,” —Maureen Dowd. (New York Times, Aug. 9, 2014)  

 

Contents

 

ROCKET TARGETS SOUTH ISRAEL BEFORE TEMPORARY CEASE-FIRE DEADLINE (Jerusalem)— Rockets were fired from Gaza Wednesday night two-hours before the midnight deadline to Sunday’s 72-hour cease-fire, as the IDF enhanced its troop presence along the border preparing to once again wage war against Hamas in Gaza. One rocket launched by terrorists in the Gaza Strip struck open territory in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, the IDF confirmed. No damage or injuries were reported. (Jerusalem Post, Aug. 13, 2014)

 

TURKEY’S PREMIER IS PROCLAIMED WINNER OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION (Istanbul)— Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has led Turkey for more than a decade, is set to become the country’s first popularly elected president, apparently cruising to a victory on Sunday that positioned him to be the dominant political figure here for at least five more years. The news media declared the victory even though official results will not be published for several days. It came after the most tumultuous year of Erdogan’s tenure in national politics, when he was challenged by sweeping antigovernment protests and a corruption investigation focused on him and those around him. He has emerged not only as a survivor but as someone who, analysts predict, will look to expand his power from the office of the presidency. Erdogan took 52 percent of the vote. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, a former diplomat who was the candidate of the main secular and nationalist parties, received 38 percent. (New York Times, Aug. 10, 2014)

 

TURKISH AID GROUP THREATENING AGAIN TO SEND FLOTILLA TO GAZA (Istanbul) — The Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), which tried to send the Mavi Marmara in 2010 to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, said Monday it would send another flotilla to challenge the blockade. The organization – which Israel banned in 2008 because of its links to Hamas and then placed on its terrorist watch list in 2010 – said in an e-mailed statement that members of a “coalition” of pro-Palestinian activists from 12 countries had met in Istanbul over the weekend and decided to launch a convoy “in the shadow of the latest Israeli aggression on Gaza.” Nine Turks were killed on the Mavi Marmara in 2010 after IDF commandos, who boarded the ship to keep it from breaking the blockade, were attacked by those on board. (Jerusalem Post, Aug. 11, 2014)

 

IRAN ENDORSES AL-ABADI AS IRAQ’S NEW PM, SPURNING AL-MALIKI (Tehran) —Iran endorsed Iraq’s prime minister designate on Tuesday, striking a decisive blow against incumbent Nouri al-Maliki as a wide spectrum of domestic factions — and even his most loyal militia — also turned their backs on the country’s longtime leader. The Iranian leadership, which wields significant influence in Iraqi politics, joined a range of Iraqi political groups — including Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites — in backing Shiite politician Haider al-Abadi’s efforts to form a new government. The United States and many Iraqis see the creation of a new, more inclusive government as crucial to peeling away support for the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State. Maliki, a Shiite, had marginalized the country’s Sunni minority, pushing some to support the fighters. (Washington Post, Aug. 12, 2014)

 

ISIS OVERTAKES IRAQ’S LARGEST CHRISTIAN CITY (Qaraqosh) —Iraq’s largest Christian town has been overrun by the same Islamists who have gained a foothold in parts of eastern Syria and western and northern Iraq. The latest advance by ISIS has caused thousands of Christians in the city to flee, just as other minority groups targeted by ISIS have done, as well as Shiite Muslims. Qaraqosh is a historic Assyrian town of 50,000 people, approximately 20 miles southeast of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, where ISIS also has control. When ISIS took over Mosul, many residents from there had fled to Qaraqosh. In Mosul, ISIS issued an ultimatum to Christians living there: Convert to Islam, pay a fine or face “death by the sword.” (CNN, Aug. 8, 2014)

 

ISIS WAS TOO BRUTAL FOR OSAMA BIN LADEN, LETTER REVEALS (Islamabad) —The extremist Islamist group currently wreaking havoc in Iraq and Syria, which has prompted US airstrikes to prevent a potential genocide, was even too brutal for the mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Osama bin Laden. According to a report in the Daily Mail, among the items found in the Pakistan compound where the former al-Qaida leader was killed by US special forces in 2011, was a 21-page letter warning of the dangers of the Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS. In the letter, Bin Laden reportedly called for al-Qaida to sever all ties with the group due to its extreme brutality. He added that ISIS’s blatant disregard for civilian life was likely to damage the reputation of al-Qaida should the groups remain associated. The letter was not written by bin Laden himself, but by a senior al-Qaida official who worked in his service. (Jerusalem Post, Aug. 11, 2014)

 

JEWISH CHILDREN TERRORIZED ON SYDNEY SCHOOL BUS (Sydney) —A school bus driving children home from three Jewish private schools in Sydney, Australia was boarded by eight drunk teens who proceeded to yell “Heil Hitler” and “Kill the Jews,” threatening to cut the children’s throats before disembarking, Australia’s Daily Telegraph reports. The disturbing incident was reported by Jacqui Blackburn, whose three children, ages 8, 10, and 12, were on the bus. The bus was carrying young children from Mount Sinai, Moriah College Primary School, and the Emanuel School in Bondi, a suburb of Sydney. This is the first such incident reported from Sydney, and is believed to be related to the war in Gaza—the men reportedly also said ‘Palestine must kill you Jews’ and ‘stop taking over Palestine.’ The suspects, five of whom have been arrested, were teenagers. (Tablet, Aug. 6, 2014)

 

JORDAN’S ARAB BANK ON TRIAL FOR FINANCING HAMAS (Amman) —Jordan’s largest bank is accused of providing services which allowed Hamas to carry attacks in Israel. The process of selecting a jury began Monday morning in a federal courtroom in Brooklyn in the first-ever civil trial of a financial institution accused of funneling money to terrorists. Arab Bank Plc, Jordan’s largest lender, faces a trial on claims brought under the Anti-Terrorism Act, which lets US citizens who are victims of terrorism sue supporters of attacks. Arab Bank, established in Jerusalem in 1930 and now based in Amman, Jordan, is accused by some 300 plaintiffs of providing banking and other services which allowed terrorist group Hamas to carry out 24 attacks in Israel from 2001 to 2004. (I24 News, Aug. 11, 2014)

 

HAMAS EXECUTES ONE OF ITS LEADERS – THEN BLAMES ISRAEL (Gaza) —Militiamen on Thursday dumped the bullet-riddled body of Ayman Taha, a former prominent Hamas figure, outside Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital. Sources in the Gaza Strip said on Thursday that Taha was executed because Hamas feared he might implicate some of its leaders in many corruption scandals. “The man knew too much about the senior leaders of Hamas,” said a veteran journalist living in Gaza City who had close ties with Taha. “Hamas leaders used to take him with them on their visits to different countries.” But what is even more interesting about the Taha affair is Hamas’s attempt to distance itself from any responsibility for his death. Shortly after Palestinian journalists reported the execution, Hamas published a brief statement “mourning” the death of Taha, who it claimed was “martyred” during an Israeli air strike on an apartment in Gaza City. Taha is not the only Palestinian to be killed by Hamas in the past few weeks. According to various reports, Hamas has executed several Palestinians on suspicion of “collaboration” with Israel since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip. (Gatestone Institute, Aug. 8, 2014)

 

UK MP GEORGE GALLOWAY DECLARES HIS DISTRICT “ISRAEL FREE ZONE” (Bradford, U.K.) — British MP George Galloway has declared the town of Bradford an “Israel free zone” on a video uploaded to YouTube. Galloway, who has represented the town since winning a by-election there is 2012, has said Bradford should boycott Israeli goods, academics and even tourists. In his speech he said: “We have declared Bradford an Israel free zone. We don’t want any Israeli goods. We don’t want any Israeli services. We don’t want any Israeli academics, coming to the university or the college. “We don’t even want any Israeli tourists to come to Bradford if any of them had thought of doing so. We reject this illegal, barbarous, savage state that calls itself Israel. And you have to do the same.” In protest to Galloway’s video, a small delegation of British Jews bravely made their way to Bradford’s Town Hall on Sunday, bearing Israeli flags and passports. (Arutz Sheva, Aug. 11, 2014) 

 

LONDON TIMES REJECTS ELIE WIESEL ANTI-HAMAS ‘CHILD SACRIFICE’ AD (London) —The London Times refused to run an ad featuring Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel speaking out against Hamas’ use of children as human shields. The ad has run in The New York Times, Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, among other U.S. newspapers. The London Times refused the ad because “the opinion being expressed is too strong and too forcefully made and will cause concern amongst a significant number of Times readers,” according to a statement from a representative of the newspaper. Headlined “Jews rejected child sacrifice 3,500 years ago. Now it’s Hamas turn,” the ad began running last week. It reads, in part: “In my own lifetime, I have seen Jewish children thrown into the fire. And now I have seen Muslim children used as human shields, in both cases, by worshippers of death cults indistinguishable from that of the Molochites.” (Forward, Aug. 5, 2014)

 

GEORGE SOROS DUMPS SODASTREAM (New York) —Billionaire investor George Soros sold his stake in SodaStream, consisting of 550,000 shares. SodaStream, whose main factory is in the West Bank, is once again in the spotlight, but a spokesman for Soros refused to comment on the reason for the sale. The timing of the move led to speculation by Pro-Palestinian news agencies that Soros, either through pressure of conviction, was divesting from SodaStream for political reasons. SodaStream is a major employer of Palestinian Arabs, and provides them with wages equivalent to their Israeli counterparts as well as a mosque on the premises. With talk that Starbucks may purchase SodaStream, there are threats among BDS of massive boycotts of the most prominent coffee company. Omar Barghouti, a Palestinian activist and co-founder of the BDS movement told VICE: “If Starbucks partners with SodaStream, it will face an unprecedented boycott campaign against it in the Arab world, the U.S.,  and in many other countries…” (Jewish Business News, Aug. 10, 2014)

 

FIVE HAMAS TERRORISTS BLOW THEMSELVES UP IN ‘WORK ACCIDENT’ (Gaza) —Five Hamas terrorists were killed Thursday night when an explosive device they were building blew up in northern Gaza, Arab sources reported. Hamas prepared for the end of the ceasefire and ended up doing the dirty work for the IDF. (Jewish Press, Aug. 7, 2014)

 

 “OPERATION DORON” SERVES UP LOVE ON A PLATE (Haifa) —In 2012, during “Operation Pillar of Defense,” Doron Elbaz put out a call on Facebook to help feed hungry soldiers massing on the border with Gaza. Volunteers came down to Elbaz’s farm, a few hundred meters outside Moshav Maslul, to prepare meals in a pita. Ten jeeps traveled back and forth to deliver the food for the eight days of the operation. When “Operation Protective Edge” began this year, Elbaz took to Facebook again. The result overwhelmed him. Elbaz and his team of 250 volunteers are now preparing an astounding 35,000 meals a day. On any given day, 50,000 people associated with the war effort – including soldiers, police and medics – visit his makeshift camp for meals, toiletries or new underwear and socks. Volunteers offer massages, haircuts and shaves. And everything is free. While Elbaz’s operation doesn’t have official rabbinic supervision, a rabbi from Moshav Maslul comes twice a day to make sure everything is kosher. “Citizens of this beautiful country don’t work by the book,” Elbaz says. “We work with our hearts. It’s possible to do everything for free, as long as you have love.” (Israel 21c, Aug. 11, 2014)

 

Contents

 

On Topic Links

 

Tokyo support rally for Israel (Video): Youtube, 2014

Lessons of the War in Gaza: Daniel Pipes, National Review, Aug. 9, 2014

Obama’s New Plan for Hamas: Caroline B. Glick, Jerusalem Post, Aug. 7, 2014

The Hillary Metamorphosis: Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal, Aug. 11, 2014

After Iraq: Surviving the Summer of Global Chaos: James Jay Carafano, National Interest, Aug. 10, 2014

Turkey’s New Sultan: Wall Street Journal, Aug. 12, 2014