Wednesday’s “News in Review” Round-Up

Media-ocrity of the Week: “Parliaments across Europe — in Britain, Spain, France, Ireland and now the European Parliament — are acting to preserve the prospect of peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians. They seek recognition of Palestine on the basis of the 1967 borders as a contribution to a negotiated peace, not a substitute for it….The status quo is bad and getting worse. Europe condemns Hamas rocket fire into Israel, Israeli strikes against United Nations buildings in Gaza, and recent murders in Jerusalem. All are crimes against humanity…Recognition of the Palestinian state is a step toward an equitable negotiated solution. The alternative is the stuff of nightmares: discrimination, violence, revenge and retaliation. The one-state outcome, which is where Israel is headed, would mean subjugation and violence inside that state. In that scenario, the result would be a descent into tragedy. To preserve its identity, its principles and world repute, Israel needs Palestine just as much as the Palestinians do,” —Vincent Fean, Britain’s consul- general in Jerusalem from 2010 to 2014. On Tuesday, EU lawmakers stopped short of proposing a joint motion urging EU members to recognize a state of Palestine, settling instead on a compromise resolution that peace talks should progress.  (New York Times, Dec. 14, 2014)

WEEKLY QUOTES

“Canada has conveyed its deep concerns and has communicated clearly that it will neither attend this conference nor lend it any credibility,” —Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, criticizing the convening of the Fourth Geneva Convention set to take place on Wednesday in Geneva. The meeting is expected to take up various aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Baird’s statement continued:  “Canada is deeply disappointed by the convening of this one-sided and politicized conference, which serves only to single out one country, Israel, for criticism. Canada has complete faith in the strength of the rule of law in Israel, and we believe the Israelis are capable of investigating matters surrounding the events that took place in Gaza in the summer of 2014. This conference risks undermining the integrity and credibility of the Geneva Conventions and the neutrality of their application. Such a misguided approach will neither serve the cause of peace nor bring the parties closer to a negotiated settlement.” Jerusalem is expecting the meeting – only the third time the signatories have met since 1949 – will be unabashedly one-sided against Israel. Israel’s efforts to get Western democracies to boycott the meeting have largely failed, as only the US, Canada and Australia have said they will do so. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 17, 2014)

“In Geneva they call for the investigation of Israel for war crimes while in Luxemburg the EU court removed Hamas from the terror list. Hamas that has committed countless war crimes and countless terror attacks,” —Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu criticized the “staggering examples of European hypocrisy,” that were exhibited Wednesday in the EU decision to remove Hamas from the terror blacklist. He referenced the Holocaust, saying that, “It seems that too many in Europe, on whose soil 6 million Jews were slaughtered, have learned nothing. But we in Israel, have learned. “We’ll continue to defend our people and our state against the forces of terror and tyranny and hypocrisy,” Netanyahu said. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 17, 2014)

“Hamas is trying to build terrorism infrastructure in Judea and Samaria that will carry out attacks in different forms, and we must work aggressively and determinately against this,” —Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon. Hamas branches in Gaza and in Istanbul, Turkey, are seeking to orchestrate terrorist attacks in the West Bank, Ya’alon said during a tour of the IDF’s Central Command. Ya’alon held an evaluation meeting with Central Command senior officers, and praised them for their “important and impressive” work in thwarting terrorism together with the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency). “The Palestinians prefer to act against us unilaterally in international bodies in order to harm Israel’s legitimacy, but the harsh incitement in social media and institutionalized media by Palestinian Authority senior members leads to a series of incidents and lone terrorists,” the defense minister stated. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 14, 2014)

“I would have dug a hole for him, throw him there and then close the hole,” —Mohammed Abu Jamal, referring to his son, one of the two terrorists who brutally murdered four Jewish while they were praying at a Har Nof synagogue. “I am a man of peace” Abu Jamal told Army Radio. The father’s comments were in stark contrast to those of his wife. Both mothers of the terrorists Uday and Ghassan Abu Jamal, who were cousins, demanded that Israel return their son’s bodies after they carried out the gruesome murders that shocked Israel and the world. (Jewish Press, Dec. 14, 2014)

“Only Jewish settlers would do this,” — Faraj al-Nassan, mayor of Mughayer, informing the Associated Press that Jews were to blame for a fire that severely damaged a mosque the town, not far from Ramallah. He neglected to mention any other possibility, including the actual one, the electrical malfunction of a space heater. Nassan made the statement to the AP, which dutifully reported it, and then the unverified rumor ossified firmly into fact, showing up in dozens of media sources throughout the world.  The day of the fire, the far-left Israeli paper Haaretz reported that local Arabs “claimed that the mosque had been set ablaze by arsonists from a nearby Jewish settlement.” Haaretz has since put out a story acknowledging the new evidence, “Mosque blaze was electrical fire, not arson, firefighters say.” (Jewish Press, Dec. 17, 2014)

“The TTP is ready for a long, long war against the U.S. puppet state of Pakistan,”— Jihad Yar Wazir, a Pakistani Taliban commander. “We are just displaced, but we are still in positions to attack wherever we want,” he said. The unprecedented slaughter Tuesday of more than 125 people, most of them children, at a school in Peshawar, Pakistan, shows in the most gruesome possible way that the Pakistani Taliban, known as the TTP, have not yet been defeated or brought under control by the Pakistani military’s recent offensives. Certainly that was the objective of the attack: the school is a private one run by the army for the children of soldiers. Yar Wazir justified the killings as fitting retribution. “The parents of the army school are army soldiers and they are behind the massive killing of our kids and indiscriminate bombing in North and South Waziristan,” which are the TTP strongholds. “To hurt them at their safe haven and homes—such an attack is perfect revenge.” Jihad Yar Wazir says the TTP (Tehrik-i-Taliban) has a long list of attacks that it will carry out in Pakistan against the security forces whose efforts to crush the group are supported by the United States. (Daily Beast, Dec. 16, 2014)

“…We’re not going to target Taliban simply by virtue of the fact that they’re Taliban. So being a member of the Taliban doesn’t — doesn’t mean that the United States is going to prosecute operations against you for that reason alone,” —Pentagon spokesman Admiral John Kirby. As the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan ends on Dec. 31, American troops will still conduct counter-terrorism operations, but only if the terrorists “directly threaten our people or our allies,” Kirby told reporters on Tuesday. Kirby said any member of the Taliban who “undertakes missions against us or our Afghan partners” will face a military response. Kirby noted that Afghanistan remains a “dangerous place…We just lost two soldiers over the weekend in an IED attack. And it doesn’t mean that between now and December 31st that U.S. troops won’t be involved in conventional combat with the Taliban. It very well could happen.” Two American soldiers were killed Friday in an IED blast in Parwan province, the first US forces to be killed in December, taking the death toll of US personnel in Afghanistan for the year to 55. (CNS News, Dec. 17, 2014)

“The EU should not [think it has the right] to intervene in the acts taken by the police and judiciary against the entities that jeopardize our national security. It should mind its own business,” —Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Erdoğan rejected criticism from the EU over a police operation targeting journalists and others on Sunday, saying that Turkey will deal with its own problems. “They cry press freedom, but [the raids] have nothing to do with it. … We have no concern about what the EU might say. Whether the EU accepts us as members or not, we have no such concern. Please keep your insights to yourself,” Erdoğan said in a speech. More than 20 people, including the editor-in-chief of the Zaman daily and the top executive of Samanyolu television, were detained on Sunday in a police operation that the main opposition leader said amounted to a “coup.” In a joint statement released on Sunday, two EU representatives said the crackdown on media outlets is an “unacceptable attack” against the freedom of the press. (Today’s Zaman, Dec. 15, 2014)

“We face threats, attacks and harassment every day. Hope is fading. Is it necessary for a ‘Hrant among us’ to be shot in order for the government, the opposition, civil society, our neighbors and jurists to see this?” —Mois Gabay, referring to the murder of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink in 2007. Many people from Turkey’s Jewish community are leaving the country after increased threats and attacks according to Gabay, a prominent businessman from the community. Gabay wrote about the situation for Turkish Jews in an article for the Istanbul-based Jewish newspaper Şalom. Gabay added that increasing numbers of Turkish Jews are making plans to move abroad with their families, feeling unsafe and under pressure in the country. “Around 37 percent of high school graduates from the Jewish community in Turkey prefer to go abroad for higher education … This number doubled this year compared to the previous years,” he wrote. (Hurriyet Daily News, Dec. 16, 2014)

SHORT TAKES

ISRAELI FAMILY TARGETED IN WEST BANK ACID ATTACK (Jerusalem) —A Palestinian man attacked an Israeli man and a family at a hitchhiking post south of Gush Etzion on Friday. Four girls ages eight to 10, a woman and a hitchhiker the family picked up all sustained light burns in the incident. A passerby who came to their rescue, shot and wounded the attacker in the leg. According to an initial IDF investigation, a Haredi man hitchhiking was picked up by a woman with four children in her vehicle. As the man entered the car, a 44-year-old Palestinian threw a bottle with an unknown acidic agent at them, causing burns to the man, woman and children. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 12, 2014)

SHIN BET THWARTS TERROR CELL PLANNING TEL AVIV SUICIDE BOMBING (Tel Aviv) — Security forces arrested several Palestinians during October and November on suspicion of planning to carry out a suicide bombing attack in the Tel Aviv region, the Shin Bet announced. The suspects include a woman from Jenin, named by security forces as Yasmin Sha’aban, and four residents of the Tulkarm area. “According to the plot that was hatched, Sha’aban was the designated suicide bomber. She was supposed to carry out the attack with an explosive vest hidden in her clothes while disguised as a pregnant Jewish woman,” the Shin Bet said. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 15, 2014)

TERRORISTS FIRE DOZENS OF SHOTS AT ISRAELI EMBASSY IN ATHENS (Athens) —Unknown attackers fired dozens of bullets at the facade of the Israeli embassy in Athens without causing any injury in a drive-by attack Friday. Police said bullet casings from an AK-47 assault rifle — a weapon favoured by Greek anarchist groups — were recovered outside the embassy. Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack, which occurred long before the building opened for business. Officials in Athens condemned the shooting, stressing it would not affect the country’s close ties with Israel. One year ago, a small left-wing terrorist group claimed responsibility for a similar gunfire attack outside the German ambassador’s residence in Athens, which caused no injury. (Globe & Mail, Dec. 11, 2014)

EU COURT TAKES HAMAS OFF TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS LIST (Brussels) — A top EU court has annulled the bloc’s decision to keep Hamas on a list of terrorist groups. The court said the move was technical and was not a reassessment of Hamas’ classification as a terrorist group. It said a funding freeze on the group would continue for the time being. Responding to the ruling Prime Minister Netanyahu said Hamas was a “murderous terrorist organisation” which should be put back on the list immediately. Israel, the US and several other nations have designated Hamas a terrorist organization due to its long record of attacks and its refusal to renounce violence. (BBC, Dec. 17, 2014)

PALESTINIANS TO PRESS UN STATEHOOD BID (Geneva) — The Palestinians will press ahead with a UN bid to boost their hopes of statehood, despite a warning that the US will block the move. The resolution calls for Palestinian statehood and a full Israeli withdrawal to the country’s pre-1967 lines within two years. Secretary of State John Kerry has held talks in Europe seeking to head off a crisis at the UN Security Council. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat reportedly told Kerry that if the US vetoed the resolution they would seek to join numerous UN and other international organizations en route to statehood. They include the International Criminal Court, another move opposed by the US which fears the Palestinians will seek to try Israeli officials for alleged war crimes. (Times of Israel, Dec. 17, 2014)

ISRAEL SLAMS IRELAND’S VOTE TO SUPPORT ‘PALESTINE’ (Jerusalem) — Israel’s Foreign Ministry accused the Irish parliament of “statements of hatred and anti-Semitism directed at Israel in a way which we have not heard before.” During debate on a resolution to recognize the Palestinian Authority as a sovereign independent country, some of the parliamentarians accused Israel of outright genocide. Foreign Minister Charlie Flanagan said his government was considering recognition of Palestinian Authority as a new country, as a possible means of pressuring both Israel and the Palestinian Authority back into final status talks for “peace.” Ireland’s lawmakers ultimately voted in favor of the non-binding resolution to support recognition of “Palestine.” (Jewish Press, Dec. 11, 2014)

RUSSIA RISKS SOVIET-STYLE COLLAPSE AS ROUBLE DEFENCE FAILS (Moscow) — Russia has lost control of its economy and may be forced to impose Soviet-style exchange controls after “shock and awe” action by the central bank failed to stem the collapse of the rouble. “The situation is critical,” said the central bank’s vice-chairman, Sergei Shvetsov. “What is happening is a nightmare that we could not even have imagined a year ago.” The currency crashed to 100 against the euro in the biggest one-day drop since the default crisis in 1998 as capital flight gathered pace, despite a drastic rise in interest rates to 17pc intended to crush speculators and show resolve. The US said it had no intention of easing pressure on Russia to halt the freefall. (Telegraph, Dec. 16, 2014)

GERMANS RISE UP AGAINST ISLAMIZATION (Dresden) —Thousands of German citizens have been taking to the streets to protest the growing “Islamization” of their country. The protests are part of a burgeoning grassroots movement made up of ordinary citizens who are calling for an end to runaway immigration and the spread of Islamic Sharia law in Germany. The latest protest took place in the eastern German city of Dresden when more than 10,000 people defied freezing temperatures to express their displeasure with Germany’s lenient asylum policies. Germany—which is facing an unprecedented influx of asylum seekers, including many from Muslim countries—is now the second most popular destination in the world for migrants, after the US. (Gatestone Institute, Dec. 13, 2014)

AUSTRIA CLOSES SAUDI-BACKED SCHOOL OVER ANTI-SEMITISM (Vienna) — Austrian authorities have ordered a Saudi-financed school to close due to allegations of anti-Jewish teachings and for failing to give the names of staff. The Saudi School in Vienna “is being investigated over suspicions of anti-Semitic teachings,” said Matias Meissner, a spokesman for Vienna’s Schools Board. The Arabic-language school with around 160 pupils opened around 10 years ago. The closure order comes as the government prepares changes to Austria’s century-old Islamic Law in an attempt to tackle extremism among the country’s Muslim minority. The amendments tighten rules on foreign financing of prayer houses and mosques and ban extremist symbols. (Arutz Sheva, Dec. 16, 2014)

WOMEN SOLD AS SEX SLAVES IN ISLAMIC STATE MARKETS: UN OFFICIAL (Geneva) — The situation for Syrian women has worsened at the hands of IS, said Valerie Amos, the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs. She described how girls as young as 12 are enslaved and sexually abused. “Women captured as slaves have been sold in markets in Raqqa. Some are sold to individual men. Others are kept by in rest houses and face multiple rapes by fighters returning from the battlefield,” Amos reported. Amos spoke harshly about the lack of progress since the Security Council laid out basic human rights demands that the Syrian government and opposition fighters must follow. Amos criticized the international community for becoming numb in the face of almost 200,000 deaths in Syria, with millions more injured and displaced. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 16, 2014)

CYBER ATTACKS CRIPPLED ADELSON’S CASINO FIRM (Las Vegas) — Hackers crippled the computer network of the giant Las Vegas Sands Corp, headed by billionaire Sheldon Adelson, to punish him for saying that Iran should be bombed if it cannot be stopped from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The attack occurred last February but was not publicized until recently. The hackers sent engineers scrambling to the casino floor underneath their offices to yank out network cords from computers. The hackers also hit websites and posted images of flames on one of Sands’ casinos, and warning “Encouraging the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction…is a Crime.” (Jewish Press, Dec. 12, 2014) 

SYDNEY TEEN WHO YELLED ‘KILL THE JEWS’ SENTENCED TO SHABBAT DINNER (Sydney) — One of five drunken youths arrested for terrorizing Jewish children on a school bus in Australia will visit the Sydney Jewish Museum as part of his punishment. The offender, who cannot be named because he is a minor, will also participate in a tolerance program run by the Jewish Board of Deputies, attend a Shabbat dinner, and read Primo Levi’s If This Is A Man and Elie Wiesel’s Night. In August, the five youths terrorized a bus in Sydney carrying Jewish students, with threats of slitting their throats and chants of “Kill the Jews” and “Heil Hitler.” (Times of Israel, Dec. 15, 2014)

ANCIENT ROCK ADDS EVIDENCE OF KING DAVID’S EXISTENCE (New York) — Dimly lit, the stone slab, or stele, doesn’t look particularly noteworthy, especially when compared to the more lavish sphinxes, jewelry and cauldrons one encounters en route to the room where it is installed. What’s significant about this stone — on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of its “Assyria to Iberia at the Dawn of the Classical Age” exhibit — is its inscription: “the earliest extra-biblical reference to the House of David.” As is to be expected with a rock nearly three millennia old, the slab is missing considerable portions. What is clear is that the Aram-Damascene king Hazael brags of having killed 70 kings, including of Israel and of the “House of David.” (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 16, 2014)

ALAN GROSS FREED FROM CUBAN JAIL (Havana) — American -Jewish aid worker Alan Gross has been released from Cuban prison after serving a five year sentence. Gross was freed in exchange for the release of three Cuban agents imprisoned in America. Gross, a subcontractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development who went to Cuba to help the Jewish community there access the Internet, received a 15-year prison sentence for what the Cuban government called “crimes against the state.” AP reports that Gross’ release is part of normalizing full diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba. The US will reportedly open an embassy in Havana in a few months. (Algemeiner, Dec. 17, 2014)

SOTLOFF’S PARENTS TO LIGHT PUBLIC MENORAH IN HIS MEMORY (Miami) — Arthur and Shirley Sotloff, the parents of Steven Sotloff, the journalist who was beheaded by a member of IS, will light a public menorah in Miami in his memory. “Steve was a proud Jew who always enjoyed the holidays,” his father said. “Chanukah is a time we commemorate the vanquishing of our enemies who tried to deprive us of our right to live with Torah,” he said. “The Maccabees fought for Judaism, and Steve fought for the values they endowed us with.” Sotloff, who grew up in Miami, was abducted in 2013, after crossing the Syrian border from Turkey. On Sept. 2, IS released a nearly three-minute video showing the beheading of Sotloff. It was revealed after his death that Sotloff, 31, held Israeli citizenship. Sotloff, a grandson of Holocaust survivors, made aliyah in 2005. (Jewish Press, Dec. 15, 2014)

IDF SOLDIERS CELEBRATE HANUKKAH WITH HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS (Tel Aviv) — More than a thousand released IDF soldiers visited the homes of about 500 Holocaust Survivors in Israel to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah. The soldiers brought Menorahs, candles, and sufganyot (jelly doughnuts) to the homes of the survivors. The soldiers also conducted Hanukkah parties at retirement homes all over Israel that house Holocaust survivors. Orit Margolis, 26, who served in the Engineering Corps, said that she feels a sense of duty. “It’s a special opportunity to meet with people who survived despite the impossible reality they experienced and it warms my heart to visit survivors and to learn from them,” said Margolis. She added that the younger generation bears the responsibility to “remember and pass on the stories of the survivors to the next generation.” (Ynet, Dec. 17, 2014)