Media-ocrity of the Week
“Welcome to Jerusalem, capital of the future State of Palestine.”—Head of the French Consulate in Jerusalem, Frédéric Desagneaux, at a conference on French-Palestinian relations, proclaiming Jerusalem as the sole capital of a future Palestinian state. According to French-language online news outlet JSS, which broke the story, Consul-General Desagneaux also bears the title of Ambassador of France in Palestine. (Jerusalem Post, February 6.)
Weekly Quotes
“We need to understand we have got a regime based in Tehran that is a gross violator of human rights; that is based on an extreme fundamentalist version of its particular religion; that makes threats to its neighbours; and, that is clearly and unequivocally moving towards, not just the production of nuclear weapons, but the acquisition of delivery systems for nuclear weapons. This is a very dangerous situation.”—Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, describing Iran’s quest to develop nuclear weapons as “a grave threat to peace and security.” (National Post, February 3.)
“The Iranians have nearly 100 kg of uranium enriched to a level of 20%.…”—Head of the IDF’s Directorate of Military Intelligence, Major General Aviv Kochavi, in a rare public appearance at the IDC conference in Herzliya, announcing that Iran has amassed a stockpile of enriched uranium sufficient for the construction of four nuclear bombs. Kochavi also referred to the growing abundance of precise weapons in the Middle East, saying “Approximately 200,000 rockets and missiles threaten Israel.… In southern Lebanon, [for example], nearly every tenth house has a missile launch station.” (Independent Media Review and Analysis, February 2.)
“Some Iranian officials—probably including supreme leader Ali Khamenei—have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States.…”—US Director of National Intelligence, James R. Clapper, testifying before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, confirming that Iran “continues to support proxies and surrogates abroad” that are increasingly capable of launching terrorist attacks against U.S. targets. Clapper cited last year’s discovery of a plot by Iranian officials to kill a Saudi diplomat in Washington as evidence of Tehran’s growing threat to the U.S. (Washington Times, January 31.)
“We will support and help any nations, any groups fighting against the Zionist regime across the world, and we are not afraid of declaring this. The Zionist regime is a true cancer tumor on this region that should be cut off. And it definitely will be cut off.”—Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during a Friday prayer lecture at Tehran University, affirming that Iran will support any entity seeking to harm Israel. (Washington Post, February 3.)
“We, the people in Israel, are a peaceful nation and not an enemy, or the ‘little Satan’ as we are described by the Iranian regime. For 32 years, the regime has poisoned its people against Israel. We are here to tell the truth.”—Shay Amir, Iranian-Israeli CEO of Radio RADISIN, a private Farsi-language radio station based in Tel Aviv that airs Iranian music, poetry and current affairs shows aiming to foster peace between the Israeli and Iranian people. RADISIN broadcasts 24 hours a day via the Internet, satellite and cable TV, reaching an estimated 100,000 listeners daily, including an undisclosed number from Iran. Some 100,000 Jews of Iranian descent live in Israel today. An estimated 25,000 Jews still live in Iran. (Associated Press, February 7.)
“In recent weeks, I and several world leaders have made serious efforts to advance peace. If President Abbas moves to implement what was signed [February 6] in Doha, he will abandon the path of peace and join forces with the enemies of peace. Hamas is an enemy of peace. It’s an Iranian backed terror organization committed to Israel’s destruction.… President Abbas, you can’t have it both ways. It’s either a pact with Hamas or peace with Israel.… You can’t have them both.”—Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, denouncing PA President and Fatah Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ reconciliation with Hamas, an agreement that paves the way for the incorporation of the terrorist organization into official Palestinian politics. (Israeli Prime Minister’s Office Website, February 6.)
“The Palestinian people maintain their right to all forms of resistance, and we are committed to armed resistance…to confront the enemy [Israel].…”—Izzat al-Rishq, a member Hamas’ Political Bureau, reinforcing Hamas’ ongoing commitment to terrorism. (Independent Media Review and Analysis, February 6.)
“Since the accord emphasized establishment of peace in the region and unfortunately Israel has not implemented it, the treaty should be revised.”—Spokesman for Egypt’s “liberal” Wafd Party, Mohamed Mostafa Shardi, claiming “Israel has never been committed to the [1979 Israel-Egypt peace] treaty,” and stressing the necessity of revising the accords. (Independent Media Review and Analysis, February 4.)
“Five Broken Cameras didn’t win the World Documentary competition at last month’s Sundance Film Festival, losing out to another anti-Israel film. But it has garnered plenty of international attention, including two awards at Amsterdam’s International Documentary Film Festival and a glowing write-up in the New York Times. The film, according to the Sundance synopsis, documents what happened after the West Bank village of Bil’in ‘famously chose nonviolent resistance’ against Israel’s security fence: ‘an escalating struggle as olive trees are bulldozed, lives are lost, and a wall is built to segregate burgeoning Israeli settlements.…’ In short, another tale of good Palestinians versus evil Israelis. You have to persevere to the end of the Times piece to find another angle to Palestinian filmmaker Emad Burnat’s story: ‘In late 2008, he accidently drove a truck into the separation barrier and was badly injured. A Palestinian ambulance arrived at the same time as Israeli soldiers, who saw what bad shape he was in and took him to an Israeli hospital. “If I had been taken to a Palestinian hospital,” Mr. Burnat said, “I probably wouldn’t have survived”.…’ Burnat is alive today to win prizes for a film about evil Israeli soldiers…because those same evil Israeli soldiers saved his life four years earlier. And this is not an irrelevancy; it epitomizes the flaw in the ‘good Palestinians versus evil Israelis’ trope: As anyone who makes any effort to discover the facts quickly learns, Israelis all too often refuse to play the part assigned to them.…”—Evelyn Gordon, in “How ‘Evil Israeli Soldiers’ Saved an Anti-Israel Filmmaker’s Life.” (Contentions, January 31.)
“I just recently visited Kibbutz Sasa, the home of Plasan. Plasan met the call to help protect American soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan when they were able to surge the production of up-armor kits for Humvees and for mine-resistant vehicles. These armor kits were critical in saving the lives of thousands of US soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen when they faced the threat of IEDs and RPG attacks.”—US Ambassador to Israel, Daniel Shapiro, praising Kibbutz Sasa’s Plasan factory, which produces advanced armor technologies used in the majority of the US military’s vehicles. (Ynet News, February 2.)
“This is the expression of a journey that we have taken from being a developing nation born in adversity to becoming a developed nation, a member of the OECD and now a full member of the UNDP as a representative of the West.”—Israel’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Haim Waxman, praising Israel’s first ever election to the executive board of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), a top UN organization that supports health, welfare, and women empowerment projects in 177 nations. (Jerusalem Post, February 2.)
“Over the last few weeks one very special new arrival has been settling down in Israel: The oldest woman to make aliyah in the last few years, maybe ever, 97-year-old Maria Bertha Holskon has come home.”—Ofer Petersburg, describing Maria Bertha Holskon’s emigration to Israel at the tender age of 97. According to Mrs. Holskon, the secret to a long life is “Loving people and making them love you; giving unconditionally without expecting anything in return; never stop exercising; smile a lot and offer help to anyone in need of assistance.” (Ynet News, January 31.)
Short Takes
FATAH, HAMAS AGREE TO FORM UNITY GOVERNMENT—(Jerusalem) Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas have agreed to form a unified Palestinian government headed by Palestinian Authority President and Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas. Following a meeting in Qatar, Palestinian officials also confirmed that Abbas would assume the role of prime minister, replacing Western-backed Salam Fayyad. According to Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal, “both Fatah and Hamas are serious [about] healing the wounds and ending the chapter of division and reinforcing and accomplishing reconciliation.” He said the purpose of unity was moving forward “to resist the enemy [Israel] and achieve our national goals.” For his part, Abbas promised that “this effort will be implemented in the shortest time possible.” The interim government, once formed, will prepare for elections in which Hamas will participate. [see Israeli PM Netanyahu’s comment on this on Pg. 2—Ed.] (Jerusalem Post, February 6.)
U.N. NUCLEAR INSPECTORS’ VISIT TO IRAN IS A FAILURE, WEST SAYS—(Dubai) According to the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, last month’s three-day mission by international nuclear inspectors to Tehran failed to address the West’s key concerns. The IAEA confirmed that Iranian officials had not answered questions raised by the agency in an incriminating report issued in November, which cited evidence that strongly suggested Iran was working on technologies to turn its nuclear fuel into working weapons and warheads. In this respect, IAEA inspectors reported that during their visit Iran prevented a visit to a military site where the agency believes experiments on weapons technology are being carried out, and also withheld access to Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, an academic who is widely believed to be in charge of important elements of the suspected weaponization program. One senior American official described the mission as “foot-dragging at best and a disaster at worst.” (NY Times, February 3.)
REPORT: TOP IRAN MILITARY OFFICIAL AIDING ASSAD’S CRACKDOWN—(Jerusalem) According to the National Syrian Council, a high-ranking Iranian military official is actively aiding Syrian President Bashar Assad in suppressing popular unrest throughout the country. Kassam Salimani, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s special Quds Force, has reportedly arrived in Syria and taken up post in the country’s “war room.” The room, populated by Assad himself, along with leading government and military figures, allegedly manages army maneuvers against opposition forces. Sources claim that Salimani’s presence serves as an indication that Assad is planning to wage all out war against the rebel city of Homs. (Haaretz, February 6.)
U.S. WITHDRAWS DIPLOMATS FROM SYRIA—(Washington) The Obama administration has shut the U.S. embassy in Syria after repeated requests for additional security were rebuffed by President Bashar Assad’s government. “The recent surge in violence…has raised serious concerns that our embassy is not sufficiently protected from armed attack,” the State Department said in a statement. State also confirmed that U.S. Ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, will maintain his position based out of Washington and will focus on working with Syria’s opposition to ensure an eventual political transition inside the country. The U.S. decision comes two days after Russia and China vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution that sought to end Assad’s 10-month crackdown on anti-regime protests, estimated to have killed at least 6,000 people. (Wall Street Journal, February 6.)
LEBANON’S HARIRI TRIBUNAL HOPES FOR 2012 TRIAL—(Beirut) The UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon has announced its intent to begin the trial in absentia of four Hezbollah agents indicted over the killing of Lebanon’s former prime minister Rafik Hariri. Warrants for the arrest of the four men were issued by the tribunal last June, but Lebanese officials later told the court they had been unable to track the suspects down. Hezbollah has denied any role in Hariri’s 2005 assassination and said it would refuse to allow any of its members to be arrested. Hariri’s killing plunged Lebanon into a political crisis that culminated when Hezbollah brought down the government of Hariri’s son, Saad, in 2011. (Reuters, February 2.)
ISLAMISTS ADMIT LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE BOMB PLOT—(London) Four radical Islamists have admitted in court to plotting the bombing of the London Stock Exchange, the US Embassy in London and the home of London Mayor Boris Johnson in late 2010. Prosecutor Andrew Edis told London’s Woolwich Crown Court that the plan, foiled by police at an early stage, was to cause “terror, economic harm and disruption.” The defendants, all British nationals with Bangladeshi or Pakistani backgrounds, had been inspired by al-Qaida and the late radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, a US citizen who was killed last year in a CIA drone strike. The defendants will be sentenced next week. (Reuters, February 1.)
US CONFIRMS POSSIBLE RELEASE OF TALIBAN FROM GITMO—(Washington) U.S. intelligence officials have confirmed that the United States may release several prisoners from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay as an incentive to bring the Taliban to peace talks. Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper told Congress that no decision had been made on whether to trade the five Taliban prisoners, although neither he nor CIA Director David Petraeus disputed that the Obama administration is considering transferring the men to a third country. The prisoners proposed for transfer include detainees brought to Guantanamo during the initial weeks of the U.S. invasion that toppled the Taliban government in Afghanistan in 2001. At least one has been accused in the massacre of thousands of Shiite Muslims in Afghanistan. (Associated Press, January 31.)
FORMER GERMAN PRESIDENT TO HONOR ANTI-SEMITIC PASTOR—(Berlin) Roman Herzog, the president of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1994 to 1999, is slated to deliver a speech next week in honor of Reverend Mitri Raheb, a fiercely anti-Israel Palestinian Lutheran leader who has argued that Jews have no right to be present in Israel. The decision by Herzog and Media Control, a German NGO, to praise Raheb has sparked criticism from US and Israeli-based Jewish groups. According to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, “In speeches given to various religious symposia and church summits…Raheb [has] promoted a ‘Palestinian Theology’ that purports that Jews are not the Chosen People and therefore have no right to the Holy Land.” In a letter written to Herzog, Wiesenthal Center associate dean, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, urged the former president to cancel his appearance, as “Pastor Raheb consistently has used theological garb to cover an extremist political agenda to demonize the Jewish people.” (Jerusalem Post, February 6.)
JEWS SHIFT TOWARD GOP, SURVEY FINDS—(New York) According to new data released by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, Jewish support for the Republican Party has grown nationwide since US President Barack Obama’s election in 2008. Alan Cooperman, associate director for research at Pew, confirmed that “The increase among Jews is [also] greater than in the general public, and greater than the increase in number of other religious groups.” Specifically, the study found that Jews who support or lean Republican jumped from 20% in 2008 to 29% in 2011, whereas Jews who support or lean Democratic fell from 72% in 2008 to 65% in 2011. The findings could point to trouble for the Democrats in the 2012 presidential election, where both parties are counting on strong showings among Jewish voters. (Forward, February 3.)
ISRAEL AMONG WORLD’S MOST EDUCATED COUNTRIES—(Jerusalem) The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has placed Israel among the world’s most highly educated countries. According to the organization’s 2011 edition of “Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators,” 45% of Israelis posses a post-secondary degree, ranking ahead of countries such as Japan (44%), the US (41%), the UK (37%), and lagging only behind Canada (50%). Israel also took the OECD’s top spot in population change between 2000 and 2009, rising 19% over that span to 7.4 million. (Jerusalem Post, February 1.)
POLL: MOST ISRAELI JEWS KEEP KOSHER, PRACTICE SABBATH RITUALS—(New York) According to a survey conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute’s Guttman Center, more than four of every five Israeli Jews believe in G-d and three-quarters of Israeli Jews keep kosher. The study of 2,803 Israeli Jewish respondents also showed that 82 percent of Israeli Jews light Chanukah candles, 67 percent refrain from eating leaven on Passover, 68 percent fast on Yom Kippur, 66 percent light Sabbath candles and 60 percent say Kiddush on Friday night. (JTA, January 30.)
MADONNA TO LAUNCH WORLD TOUR IN ISRAEL—(Jerusalem) Madonna has announced that she will launch her upcoming world tour with a show on May 31 at Ramat Gan Stadium in Israel. The iconic singer has twice before performed in Israel, and often visits the country as part of her Kabbalah studies. (Jerusalem Post, February 5.)
