Wednesday’s “News in Review” Round-Up

Weekly Quotes

 

“Iran, which is behind these attacks, is the greatest exporter of terrorism in the world.… The countries of the world must condemn these acts and draw a red line against Iranian aggression…[and] on the Iranian nuclear program.… This aggression, if not stopped, will eventually spread.”—Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, blaming Iran for Monday’s attacks against Israeli diplomatic missions in New Delhi, India and Tbilisi, Georgia, as well as Tuesday’s attack in Bagkhok, Thailand, and reiterating that Israel will “use a strong arm” against international terrorism emanating from Tehran. (Jerusalem Post, February 13 & 15.)

 

“The scourge of terrorism is an affront to the entire international community. Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured personnel…and their loved ones.”—US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “condemn[ing] in the strongest possible terms” the terrorist attacks perpetrated against Israeli targets in India, Georgia, and Thailand. India’s Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna also expressed “shock” over the attacks, and in a phone call with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman promised to make all efforts to find those responsible. For his part, Lieberman affirmed that “no Israel diplomat anywhere in the world will be deterred by terrorism.” (Jerusalem Post, February 13.)

 

“Israel perpetrated the terror actions to launch psychological warfare against Iran.”—Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, claiming that Israel committed this week’s attacks against its own citizens in order to “tarnish Iran’s friendly ties with the host countries,” and denying any Iranian or Hezbollah involvement. (Jerusalem Post, February 13.)

 

“For anyone who had any illusions as to the extremist nature of Hamas, I would hope this would serve as a wake-up call. The leadership of Iran and the leadership of Hamas share the same extremist goals. In many ways, Hamas is Iran’s proxy.”—Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, condemning last week’s official visit to Iran by Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh. During his trip, which included meetings with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Haniyeh asserted, “[The] gun is our only response to [the] Zionist regime. In time, we have come to understand that we can obtain our goals only through fighting and armed resistance and no compromise should be made with the enemy.” (NY Times, February 10 & Jerusalem Post, February 13.)

 

“We are very concerned to see that other American Jewish organizations have not issued statements condemning the Fatah/Hamas unity deal, a vicious alliance that clearly indicates that Abbas and the Fatah/PA have no qualms at uniting in government with a genocidal terrorist organization. At a minimum, these organizations should be condemning this development, which demonstrates starkly the falsity of the Fatah /PA as a peace partner for Israel and conspicuously exposes the true face of the PA’s goals and ideology, which has always been—whether under Arafat or Abbas—to destroy Israel and murder its Jewish population. Jews are never again to be the Jews of silence. Our painful history teaches us that.”—Zionist Organization of America President, Morton A. Klein, expressing regret that major American Jewish organizations have not publicly condemned the Fatah/Hamas reconciliation agreement, and “respectfully urg[ing] them to do so without delay.” (Independent Media Review and Analysis, February 9.)

 

“The failure of the Security Council to agree on firm collective action appears to have emboldened the Syrian government to launch an all-out assault in an effort to crush dissent with overwhelming force.”—UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, denouncing the UN Security Council’s inability to reach an agreement on a resolution against the ongoing violence in Syria. According to Pillay, more than 300 people have been killed in the last two weeks by government forces in the restive city of Homs; at least 400 children have been killed in Syria since last March; and cities across Syria have been blockaded, leading to a “humanitarian crisis.” (Jerusalem Post, February 13.)

 

“Wounded Syria still bleeds day after day, while the butcher [Bashar Assad], son of the butcher [Hafez Assad], is not deterred to stop. But the resistance of our people in Syria despite all the pain, sacrifice and bloodshed escalates and grows… If we want freedom, we must be liberated from this regime. If we want justice, we must retaliate against this regime.…”—Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, in a video entitled “Onwards, Lions of Syria,” calling on Syrians to “retaliate against [Bashar Assad’s] regime [and to] continue [their] revolt and anger.…” Zawahri’s public statement in support of Syria’s rebel forces raises further concern over the nature and allegiance of Syria’s opposition. (Jerusalem Post, February 13.)

 

“You, Ehud, have dealt with Israel’s problems for the past 50 years as a soldier, commander and statesman. Your contribution is great.… You’ve dedicated your life to Israel’s security.”—Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, at an event marking former PM and current Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s 70th birthday. (Ynet News, February 9.)

 

“In response to the use of an antisemitic slur by Raquel Rolnik,…NGO Monitor [has] demanded her immediate resignation. Rolnik utilized the term ‘Judaization’ to describe Israeli government housing policy in the Negev, Jerusalem, and the West Bank. NGO Monitor notes that the term originated with Arab rejectionists and has been promoted by fringe non-governmental organizations that falsely claim the mantle of human rights.”—Excerpt of an NGO Monitor press release, calling for the immediate dismissal of Raquel Rolnik, a United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing. According to Anne Herzberg, legal advisor for NGO Monitor, “‘Judaization’ is an anti-Jewish racist term which suggests that the presence of Jews is alien and unacceptable. This immoral rhetoric is part of the broader delegitimization campaign.…” (NGO Monitor February 13.)

 

“The sector is living in an unbearable situation of crime, murder, and robbery.… Over 40 percent of the sector says they are worried that someone will harm them in their village or town—that’s almost every other person. This is the Wild West, the Wild East, the Wild North, Wild South.”—Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, at a special Knesset committee meeting held to discuss rampant violence in Israel’s Arab sector. (Jerusalem Post, February 13.)

 

“We wanted for Mr. Obama himself to have these toys and know that Iranians don’t leave anyone’s requests unanswered. We made the ‘RQ’ in pink as it is Mr. Obama’s favourite colour.…”—Seyyed Saeed Hassan-pour, head of the cultural department of Iran’s Aaye Company, confirming the corporation has mockingly forwarded to Barack Obama a miniature model of the US RQ-170 Sentinel drone that was downed in Iran last December, following requests by the US President to have the real drone returned. The toy models hit the Iranian market last week, selling for 70,000 rials or approximately $4 each. (Reuters, February 9.)

 

“Dear friends, It’s been now more than a year, since October 2010, that members of PAJU (Palestinian & Jewish Unity) are demonstrating in front of shoe stores selling Israeli made shoes on Saint Denis Street in Montreal.  They started with a store called Le Marcheur owned by a courageous couple, M. Yves Archambault and his wife Mme Ginette Auger, who wouldn’t yield to blackmail. After a very public campaign against the PAJU thugs…the group decided to move across the street in front of a store called Naot, which is owned by another courageous couple from Toronto, Mr. and Mrs. Lissoos.… Contrary to what some people…would have us believe, this boycott and the struggle against it are far from over.… However, with the blessed participation and perseverance of our dear Quebecois friends from Les Amis Quebecois d’Israel and Amities Quebec-Israel, we are conducting a campaign which consists of counter demonstrations, media interaction and exploring the political and legal tracks so as to put an end to this disgrace.… One of the most important aspects of this effort is to give our full support to the struggling merchants and sustain them through a BuyCott Campaign. Please come numerous…to go shopping at the Naot store and the neighboring stores and give a hand to our friends. Let’s show our enemies that their actions will yield the exact opposite results of their stated aim: “To turn Saint Denis into an Israel Apartheid Free Zone.”—Jack Kincler, urging community members to support boycotted merchants on Montreal’s Saint Denis Street, subjected to a year-long campaign for selling of Israeli-made products.

 

Short Takes

 

ARRESTS MADE IN NEW DELHI, BANGKOK—(New York) Police in New Delhi have arrested five suspects in connection with Monday’s bombing attack against Israeli embassy personnel. Delhi police also identified the red motorcycle used to stick the bomb on the car carrying the wife of an Israeli Defense Ministry representative to India on her way to pick up her children from school. Meanwhile, two Iranian men have been arrested in Bangkok, Thailand in connection with Tuesday’s explosions in the capital and a third suspect who crossed the border to Malaysia was arrested in Kuala Lumpur. Israel’s ambassador to Thailand, Itzhak Shoham, has since confirmed that bombs found in the home of the suspects in the Bangkok bombings were similar to those used in the attacks on Israeli Embassy employees in New Delhi and Tiblisi. (JTA, February 15.)

 

IRAN CUTS OIL TO EUROPE, ANNOUNCES NUCLEAR ADVANCES—(Tehran) Responding to European Union sanctions on its banking and energy sectors, Iran has cut oil exports to Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Greece and Portugal. The cutoff was declared after a live Iranian state television broadcast featuring President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a white lab coat and prominent portraits of Iran’s recently slain nuclear scientists. Ahmadinejad announced that Iran has started loading fuel rods into a nuclear reactor in Tehran; completed the development of a new line of carbon fiber centrifuges which enriches uranium at an increased rate; and launched operations at a recently completed underground nuclear complex in Fordow. Ahmadinejad claimed the projects adhere to Iran’s nuclear slogan: “nuclear energy for all, nuclear weapons for none.” (Washington Post, February 15.)

 

KHAMENEI STRATEGIST: ‘IRAN MUST ATTACK ISRAEL BY 2014’—(Jerusalem) Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s strategy specialist, Alireza Forghani, has outlined the reasons why, “In the name of Allah, Iran must attack Israel by 2014.” In a document published on the Farsi website Alef, Forghani called the Jewish state a “cancerous tumor for the Middle East” and proceeded to provide legal and religious justification for the annihilation of Israel and the Jewish people. “Every Muslim,” he wrote, “is obliged to…[carry out] defensive jihad” against Israel, as the Jews “want to gain domination over the Muslims and kill them.” The document details a “concise description of mid- and long-range ballistic missiles that can target territories of this regional cancerous tumor” and destroy Israel in “less than nine minutes.” (Jerusalem Post, February 9.)

 

SENATORS URGE OBAMA TO MAKE IRANIAN NUCLEAR ‘CAPABILITY’ A RED LINE—(Washington) A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has drafted a resolution calling on the Obama administration to make an Iranian “nuclear-weapons capability” a red line. The non-binding resolution, introduced by Sens. Robert Casey (D-Pa.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), “urges the President to reaffirm the unacceptability of an Iran with nuclear-weapons capability and to oppose any policy that would rely on containment as an option in response to the Iranian nuclear threat.” According to recent reports, Israel and the United States differ over what should trigger a military strike on Iran: the acquisition of a nuclear weapon, allegedly the American red line, or the capability to build and deliver such a weapon, the alleged Israeli red line. (JTA, February 8.)

 

PARDO PROBED US REACTION TO UNILATERAL IRAN STRIKE—(Jerusalem) According to Newsweek, Mossad chief Tamir Pardo’s recent visit to Washington, DC aimed to discover how the US would react were Israel to unilaterally attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. The report, citing an unnamed source, claims Pardo asked if the U.S. was ready to bomb Iran, and if not, “What does it mean if [Israel] does it anyway?” The report also claims that following US President Barack Obama’s call last year for the 1967 borders to be the basis of peace talks with Palestinians, for four months “Israel stopped sharing a significant amount of information with Washington regarding its own military preparations” over the Iran nuclear issue. Despite resuming information sharing, Newsweek suggests that Israel still withholds a “top layer of information” on Iran. (Jerusalem Post, February 13.)

 

ARAB LEAGUE SEEKS U.N. PEACE FORCE FOR SYRIA—(Cairo) The Arab League has officially cut diplomatic ties to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, and is calling on the United Nations to create a peacekeeping force for Syria. The Security Council, however, is unlikely to approve any mission to Syria that includes armed force, as Russia and China would likely veto such a resolution. Nonetheless, analysts believe the move could convince some Arab states, many of whom are keen to oust Assad from power to undermine the regional influence of his ally Iran, to step up support for the opposition. (Wall Street Journal, February 13.)

 

NGO WORKERS COULD FACE 5 YEARS IN PRISON, EGYPTIAN JUDGES SAY—(Cairo) Egypt’s prime minister has confirmed that the government will not drop a criminal probe into U.S.-funded pro-democracy organizations, while Egyptian judges said the 43 defendants in the case, including 19 Americans, could face up to five years in prison. The judges, who in Egypt’s judicial system serve as the Western equivalent of prosecutors, accused the NGO workers of failing to pay taxes, illegally entering the country on tourist visas, and training political parties. The case has angered U.S. officials and prompted U.S. lawmakers to threaten to cut off aid to Egypt. Sam LaHood, son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, is one of the accused. (Washington Post, February 8.)

 

TURKS TORPEDO ISRAEL NAVY NATO PARTICIPATION—(Jerusalem) According to Israeli defense sources, Turkey has torpedoed a plan for Israel to contribute a Navy missile ship to NATO’s Operation Active Endeavor in the Mediterranean Sea, in what would have been the first time Israel actively participated in the Western military alliance’s operations. In 2010, Israel and NATO signed an agreement to pave the way for the ship’s participation, but a senior Israeli government official confirmed that “The Turks torpedoed the move and refused to allow one of our ships to join.” In similar news, the Turkish daily Today’s Zaman reported this week that Turkey also has gone “to great lengths in protracted negotiations with the US to secure guarantees that the data to be collected” by a NATO-backed missile defense system to be built on its territory “will not be shared with ally-turned-foe Israel and that Israel’s nemesis Iran will never be mentioned as a threat.” (Jerusalem Post, February 10 & 13.)

 

PROTESTERS KILLED IN SAUDI ARABIA—(New York) Security forces in Saudi Arabia have shot and killed 21-year-old Zuhair al-Said in the Eastern Province city of Qatif, the second fatal shooting in a week at protests by Shiite Muslims. After both shootings, the state-run Saudi Press Agency carried government statements claiming security forces were merely monitoring the gatherings when they came under fire, leading the officers to act in self-defense. Activists, however, said the protesters were unarmed, and an unverified video posted online seemed to corroborate the claim. Seven people have been killed in nearly a year of protests by the province’s Shiites, who say they are marginalized by Saudi Arabia’s majority-Sunni Muslim population. Saudi officials blame the unrest on foreign elements. (Wall Street Journal, February 11.)

 

SAUDI JOURNALIST FACES DEATH CALLS OVER TWEETS—(Riyadh) A young Saudi journalist is facing calls for his execution after tweeting remarks about the Prophet Muhammad. To mark the Prophet’s birthday last week, Hamza Kashgari, 23, tweeted, “I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don’t understand about you. I will not pray for you.” Despite Mr. Kashgari’s quick apology, a committee of the Kingdom’s top clerics nonetheless denounced him as an “apostate” and an “infidel,” and demanded Kashgari be tried in an Islamic court. Insulting the Prophet is considered blasphemous in Islam and is a crime punishable by death. (National Post, February 9.)

 

HUNGARIAN LEADER QUESTIONS HOLOCAUST, SLAMS ISRAEL—(New York) Marton Gyongyosi, deputy leader and foreign affairs spokesman for Hungary’s Jobbik Party, has questioned whether 400,000 Jews were killed or deported from Hungary during World War II, saying “It has become a fantastic business to jiggle around with the numbers.” In an interview with Britain’s Jewish Chronicle, Gyongyosi also alleged that Israel was founded by “terrorists” based on a “Nazi system based on racial hatred,” and that today “[Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor] Lieberman [is] no different than Goebbels. He is a pure Nazi.” With respect to Iran, the Jobbik leader called the country “extremely peaceful…unlike Israel which has declared wars on anything and everybody around it.” (JTA, February 5.)

 

TREBLINKA REMAINS OFF THE BLOCK—(Montreal) Following widespread denunciations, Montreal auctioneer Patrick Blaizel has decided not to seek bids for what he claims are the fossilized human remains of Holocaust victims of the Nazi death camp of Treblinka. Blaizel, owner of the Montreal Auction House, said he never intended to sell the objects. Montreal Chief Rabbi Benjamin Weiss is overseeing the proper burial of the remains next week. (Gazette, February 11.)