Wednesday’s “News in Review” Round-Up

WEEKLY QUOTES

“Recently, hardly a day passes without us running into diktats or threats of resignation, or ultimatums and such, as ministers attack the government and its prime minister,” —Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting. “I hope that we will be able to return to proper conduct. This is what the public expects of us because only thus is it possible to run the country, and if not, we will draw conclusions,” he added. Netanyahu lashed out angrily after his finance minister, Yair Lapid, the leader of the Yesh Atid party, publicly accused him of playing “petty politics” while ignoring weighty issues such as the budget and Israel’s foreign relations, in the latest of a series of rancorous exchanges. (National Post, Nov. 30, 2014)

“We will never recognize the Jewishness of the state of Israel,” —Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, at an emergency session of the Arab League in Cairo. His remarks came following a week of intense debate among Israeli politicians about a Knesset bill which would enshrine Israel’s status as a Jewish state in law. Abbas added that “return to negotiations is possible if Israel agrees to a full freeze of settlement [construction], including Jerusalem, release of the fourth group of long-term prisoners, and setting a timetable for negotiations which will begin with setting borders.” (Times of Israel, Nov. 29, 2014)

“Here, in the State of Israel, the Jewish people have achieved their self-determination in a democratic state that guarantees equal rights for all its peoples, all its citizens, regardless of race, religion or sex,” —Prime Minister Netanyahu. “It is indeed a tragedy that so many of our Palestinian neighbors still repudiate the basic facts of history. They deny the more than 3,000-year-old connection between the people of Israel and the Land of Israel,” he said. “Just last weekend…Abbas reiterated that he would never recognize the legitimacy of the Jewish people’s right to a nation-state,” he said. What was especially “peculiar” about those comments, Netanyahu added, was that Abbas made them on November 29th, the anniversary of the day 67 years earlier when the UN called for the establishment of a Jewish state. “Peace cannot be based on such hypocrisy,” he added. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 1, 2014)

“Hamas is unsatisfied with the current arrangement. They had hoped that the fig leaf of PA oversight would herald the flood of hundreds of millions in reconstruction funds,” —Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “However, funds are not flowing. The international community is concerned about diversion and leakage into Hamas coffers. This has all prompted Hamas to dispense with the charade that the latest Palestinian government was forged on a common political vision,” Schanzer added. Where does that leave us? “We are back to where we have always been: Gaza and West Bank under two separate regimes, raising long-term questions about the viability of a Palestinian state, not to mention a two-state solution.” Hamas announced on Sunday that the unity government established with Fatah over the summer has ended. Abbas said earlier that Hamas is completely responsible for Gaza, and not the joint Fatah-Hamas unity government. He also said that he will not negotiate over land with Israel, and accused Israel of holding secret negotiations with Hamas. (Washington Post, Dec. 2, 2014 & Jerusalem Post, Nov. 30, 2014)

“Given our vast maritime borders and the enemy’s huge investments in this area, our armed forces should continuously improve their (combat) readiness, irrespective of political calculations,” —Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “Peacetime offers great opportunities for our armed forces to … build up on preemptive capacities,” said Khamenei. With Khamenei’s blessing, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani launched a diplomatic initiative to resolve a twelve-year nuclear dispute, hoping to save his country from global sanctions. Tehran and six world powers missed a November deadline for a deal, extending it for another seven months. (Yahoo News, Nov. 30, 2014)  

“The threats to Israel right now have never been greater, and now is a time when we do not need leaders who simply speak empty words of support for Israel,” —U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, at a Christians United for Israel (CUFI) event. “We need leaders who will stand and act. Now, more than ever, is a time to strengthen the unshakable alliance and friendship America has with the nation of Israel,” he added. Cruz highlighted the danger of nuclear weapons as a threat to Israel. The senator called upon the Obama administration to stand up to the Iranian nuclear program stating that under no circumstances should Iran be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. (Jerusalem Post, Nov. 24, 2014) 

“Over the last two years the relationship between Chuck Hagel and myself has been open, genuine and very friendly, and characterizes the special relationship between the Israeli and American security establishments,” — Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon. Ya’alon reacted to US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s departure by calling him a “true friend of Israel.” Ya’alon, who met Hagel in Washington last month during a trip during on which he was snubbed by the White House, said that the US was Israel’s greatest friend and a source of “strategic support.” (Jerusalem Post, Nov. 24, 2014)  

“I think he’s a very good man. I think he’s been very good on defense acquisition and some other programs…I just hope that he realizes that if he takes the job, he will not have influence, just as his three predecessors didn’t, on national security policy. As long as he understands that, then so be it,”—Sen. John McCain, the incoming chairman of the Armed Services Committee. McCain was referring to Ashton Carter, Chuck Hagel’s former No. 2, whom President Obama is expected to nominate as the new Secretary of Defense. (PJ Media, Dec. 2, 2014)

“Democracy…is worse than sleeping with your mother,” Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram’s apparent leader, in an August video sermon. A wave of attacks across northern Nigeria, including two on Monday — a suicide bombing at a market and an assault on security facilities — showed that the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram remained able to strike at will in the region, especially against civilian targets. The most recent attacks attributed to the group occurred in Maiduguri and Damaturu, state capitals in the northeast. Boko Haram, which has its roots in the area, has struck those cities repeatedly over the past five years. The attacks followed a bombing on Friday in a central mosque in Kano, the principal city of northern Nigeria; 120 people were killed in that attack. It was not clear yet on Monday evening how many people were killed in Maiduguri, where women detonated suicide bombs in the city’s biggest market. A similar bombing by two women last Tuesday killed at least 45 people. (Wall Street Journal, Nov. 28 & New York Times, Dec. 1, 2014)

“It is essential that all citizens—Muslim, Jewish and Christian—both in the provision and practice of the law, enjoy the same rights and respect the same duties,” —Pope Francis, at the start of a three-day visit to Turkey. “Interreligious and intercultural dialogue can make an important contribution to [peace], so that there will be an end to all forms of fundamentalism and terrorism,” the pope added. Relations between Christians and Muslims have come under strain in recent months amid violence against Christians by Islamic extremists in Syria and Iraq, with some critics saying Islamic leaders haven’t denounced the atrocities strongly enough. (Wall Street Journal, Nov. 28, 2014)

“We encounter a general impression of weariness and aging, of a Europe that is now a ‘grandmother,’ no longer fertile and vibrant,” —Pope Francis, in an address to the European Parliament, the first pontifical visit to the body since a 1988 trip by St. John Paul II. The pope warned that the EU has strayed from the principles of “peace and fellowship” that inspired its founders after the Second World War, citing the region’s treatment of migrants, soaring youth unemployment rates and “uncontrolled consumerism.” The pope’s harshest words were for Europe’s immigration policy. So far this year, more than 3,000 migrants have died attempting to reach Italian shores in rickety boats. Meanwhile, European leaders—often buffeted by strong anti-immigrant popular sentiment—have struggled to assemble a robust, unified response. Anti-immigrant riots have erupted in recent days in Rome’s poor peripheral neighborhoods. “We cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a vast cemetery,” the pope said, warning that Europe’s failure to integrate immigrants risks contributing to slave labor and continuing social tensions. (Wall Street Journal, Nov. 25, 2014)

“A thing that distinguished Mike professionally is that he thought he had to know things. He came up in a generation that thought to know the theater you have to know the theater. They read. He read, all his life. He knew the canon—his Chekhov, Ibsen and Molière, his Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams and Tom Stoppard,” —Peggy Noonan, reflecting on Mike Nichols, the great film and stage director who died last week at 83. Noonan continued: “He learned his stuff in part for the sheer pleasure of learning, but in part because you have to know what has been said and thought and given to the world, you have to know what’s a cliché to be lost and what’s an ever-present truth to be resurrected or enlarged upon. Mrs. Robinson was, in fact, Phaedra. He knew, said a friend, that “every great story is a tremor from those dynamics that stretch back way over time.” To make great art you have to know great art. And so his learned, highly cultivated mind. He dropped out of the University of Chicago and sought to teach himself through great books and smart people. Great writers and directors have to start as great readers or it won’t work, nothing needed from the past will be brought into the future, and art will become thinner, less deep, less meaningful and so, amazingly, less fun, less moving and true. The makers of American culture should return to this old style, which isn’t really old and yet is being lost.” (Wall Street Journal, Nov. 29, 2014)

SHORT TAKES

KNESSET VOTES TO DISSOLVE; NEW ELECTIONS CALLED FOR MARCH 17 (Jerusalem)—  Knesset members voted overwhelmingly in favor of dissolving the current Knesset in a preliminary vote on Wednesday. Eighty-four MKs supported the measure, none opposed it, and one Knesset member abstained. Prime Minister Netanyahu on Tuesday launched a fierce assault on his coalition partners ministers Yair Lapid and Tzipi Livni, accused them of attempting a “putsch” to oust him, fired them both, and announced that he would dissolve his government ahead of early elections. Members of the Yesh Atid party tendered their resignations from the cabinet shortly thereafter. Netanyahu said that the situation in the cabinet was such that it was “impossible” for him to lead the country. (Times of Israel, Dec. 3, 2014)

HAMAS TERROR ATTACK PLOT AT JERUSALEM SOCCER STADIUM THWARTED (Jerusalem)—  The Shin Bet and IDF thwarted a large-scale, transnational Hamas terrorism network that was preparing to carry out an array of deadly attacks against Israelis. The network planned to target the landmark Teddy soccer stadium in Jerusalem, the capital’s light rail system, car bombings, and kidnappings of Israelis in the West Bank and overseas. The nerve center of the network was situated in Hamas’s headquarters in Turkey. More than 30 Hamas members are under arrest, and the Shin Bet has seized two M-16 firearms, ammunition, and bomb-making equipment. (Jerusalem Post, Nov. 27, 2014)

IRAN-BACKED HACKERS TARGET AIRPORTS, CARRIERS: REPORT (Tehran)— Hackers working for Iran have targeted at least 50 companies and government organizations, including commercial airlines, looking for vulnerabilities that could be used in physical attacks, according to cyber-security firm Cylance Inc. The hackers infiltrated the computer systems of carriers and their contractors in Pakistan, the UAE and South Korea. They broke into the computers of suppliers responsible for aircraft maintenance, cargo loading and refueling, and stole credentials that could be used to impersonate workers. In the U.S., computers belonging to chemical and energy companies, defense contractors, universities and transportation providers were hacked in what Cylance dubbed Operation Cleaver. The report said the Iranian group is the same one that breached the U.S. Navy’s unclassified computer system in September 2013. (Bloomberg, Dec. 2, 2014)

IRANIAN JETS JOIN ALLIES IN THE FIGHT AGAINST ISLAMIC STATE IN IRAQ (Baghdad)— British, American and other allied forces are now fighting directly alongside Iran, according to new footage of the war in Iraq. An Iranian jet has been filmed for the first time bombing Islamic State positions during a battle for the town of Saadiya, north-east of Baghdad. U.S. Air Force jets have been flying missions over Iraq since August, and the RAF since September. Pentagon officials later confirmed that Iranian jets had taken part in bombing raids. Iranian advisers are known to have been embedded with the Iraqi army and militia forces fighting Islamic State. But this is the first proof that the Islamic Republic and the countries it famously termed the “Great and Little Satan” – America and Britain – are taking part in missions on the same side. (Telegraph, Dec. 2, 2014)

ISRAELI-CANADIAN SAYS ISIS KIDNAPPING REPORTS UNTRUE (Jerusalem)— After reports of her kidnapping by Islamic State surfaced, the Israeli-Canadian woman fighting the extremist group seemed to have relayed a message on social media reassuring of her well-being on Monday night. Rosenberg, 31, apparently posted on her Facebook that she was safe but had not been able to communicate with the outside world for safety reasons.  “Guys, I’m totally safe and secure…Ignore the reports I’ve been captured. Yalla, Acharai!,” read a message on her Facebook. On Sunday, Islamist websites – some of them known to be close to, or even serving as a front for, the terrorist organization – posted soon-disputed reports that Rosenberg had been captured during fierce battles with Kurdish fighters in unspecified areas. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 1, 2014)  

UNESCO SEEKS TO SAVE JEWISH SITES FROM ISLAMIC STATE (Paris)—  The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization plans to hold a special session in Paris to discuss ways to save Jewish heritage sites in Iraq from being destroyed by the Islamic State group. UNESCO recently announced an emergency plan to safeguard Iraq’s cultural heritage sites, following growing media reports that the jihadist terrorist group has been systematically destroying ancient sites. Other than the physical damage, one of the greatest concerns is that terrorists are plundering ancient sites and selling artifacts on the black market to fund their operations. (Israel Hayom, Dec. 1, 2014)

EGYPT COURT DROPS MURDER CHARGES AGAINST MUBARAK (Cairo)—  An Egyptian court dismissed murder charges against former President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday in the killing of hundreds of protesters by police in a 2011 uprising. The ruling, read by the judge presiding over a panel of jurists who were considering charges of culpability in the murder of the protesters, caps a nearly four-year process that led to the former president’s sentence of life in prison in 2012. The verdict was overturned on a technicality in 2013 and a retrial was ordered. Egypt held its first democratic presidential elections in June 2012, which Mohammed Morsi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, won. He was then ousted by the military in July 2013, following large street demonstrations denouncing his rule. (Wall Street Journal, Nov. 30, 2014)

EGYPT: CABINET APPROVES BROAD ANTITERRORISM BILL (Cairo)—  Egypt’s cabinet approved a draft antiterrorism law that would give the government blanket power to ban groups on charges ranging from harming national unity to disrupting public order. The authorities have cracked down on Islamist, secular and liberal opposition since the army toppled President Mohamed Morsi last year. The legislation would help entrench the crackdown in the criminal code by permitting the authorities to classify groups as “terrorist” according to a long list of offenses. (New York Times, Nov. 26, 2014)

TRIPLE BOMB BLASTS KILL 120 OUTSIDE NIGERIA MOSQUE  (Kano)—  Nigeria suffered one of its bloodiest terrorist attacks on Friday when three bombs exploded outside the Central Mosque in the northern city of Kano, killing at least 120 people. The assault was timed to coincide with Friday prayers and the blasts injured another 260 worshippers. No group has claimed responsibility, but the incident bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, a radical Islamist movement linked to al-Qaeda which has killed thousands of people in northern Nigeria and forced over a million to flee their homes. The Emir of Kano, Mohammad Sanusi II, often attends prayers at the Central Mosque. An outspoken opponent of Boko Haram, he may have been an intended target. However, the Emir was believed to be in Saudi Arabia on Friday. (Telegraph, Nov. 28, 2014)

SOMALI TERRORISTS AL-SHABAAB KILL 36 IN KENYA BORDER ATTACK (Nairobi)— Gunmen early Tuesday attacked a quarry in northern Kenya, killing 36 people they identified as Christian and prompting a high-level shake-up in Kenya’s security establishment. The strike—claimed by Somali Islamist group al-Shabaab and confirmed by the Kenyan government—marked the second major assault in the northern border region in less than two weeks. On Nov. 22, al-Shabaab hijacked a bus as it left the border town of Mandera and killed 28 of those aboard. The attacks have raised worries that Somali terrorists are out to exploit religious and ethnic tensions to destabilize what has become the economic hub of East Africa. (Wall Street Journal, Dec. 2, 2014)

FRENCH PARLIAMENT VOTES TO RECOGNIZE PALESTINIAN STATE (Paris)—  French lawmakers voted on Tuesday in favor of recognizing Palestine as a state, following similar moves in Britain, Spain and Sweden. The highly symbolic vote in the lower house National Assembly is not binding on French government policy but sparked criticism from Israel. MPs voted 339 to 151 in favor of the motion, which invites Paris to recognize the state of Palestine “as an instrument to gain a definitive resolution of the conflict.” Palestinians are seeking to achieve statehood in Gaza and the Israeli-held West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital. With little progress on reaching a settlement, they have been lobbying foreign powers for international recognition. (Times of Israel, Dec. 2, 2014)

RESULT OF CONCORDIA VOTE ON BDS SUSPENDED (Montreal)— The divisive campaign at Concordia University over whether the student council should endorse the BDS movement against Israel took an unexpected turn before the polls closed on the evening of Nov. 27. The ballots cast on that referendum question were sequestered on the order of the Concordia Student Union’s (CSU) chief electoral officer a few hours before the polls were to close. They were not counted, but rather “sealed and placed in a secure location” until an (unnamed) outside firm can offer a resolution that is “as objective as possible,” the electoral officer stated on his CSU CEO Facebook page. Controversy has surrounded the BDS question. The wording had been contested by both the “yes” and “no” committees, and three versions were presented to the more than 35,000 undergraduates eligible to vote. The final question was: “Do you approve of the CSU endorsing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel?” It was one of eight referendum questions, and the only one not directly concerned with student affairs. (Canadian Jewish News, Dec. 1, 2014)

HOUSE VOTES TO END SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS FOR SUSPECTED NAZIS (Washington)— House lawmakers unanimously voted on Tuesday to block Social Security benefits for suspected Nazi war criminals. The unusual bill came after The Associated Press reported in October that dozens of suspected Nazis expelled from the U.S. had collected millions of dollars in federal benefits. “If they agreed to go, or simply fled before deportation, they could keep their Social Security, according to interviews and internal government records,” the AP reported. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Sam Johnson, said the measure would close the loophole. (Washington Times, Dec. 2, 2014)

NAZI WAR CRIMINAL ALOIS BRUNNER ‘DIED IN SYRIA’ (Jerusalem)—  The chief investigator pursuing Alois Brunner, one of the world’s most wanted German Nazi war criminals, is “99% sure” that he died four years ago in Syria. “We cannot prove it forensically, but we are certain that is the case,” Nazi-hunter Efraim Zuroff said. SS captain Brunner, who would now be 102, is accused of deporting more than 128,000 Jews to death camps in WWII. Zuroff said new evidence revealed that Brunner was buried in an unknown location in Damascus around 2010 and was unrepentant of his crimes. “[Brunner] played a key role in the implementation of Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’ to murder Jews,” Zuroff said, “and was a monster.” In the 1950s Brunner is believed to have fled to Syria. He reportedly later served as an adviser to President Hafez al-Assad and is thought to have instructed his government on torture tactics. (BBC, Dec. 1, 2014)