Wednesday’s “News in Review” Round-Up

WEEKLY QUOTES

“For some time, Iran – via Hezbollah – has been trying to establish an additional terrorist front against us from the Golan Heights. We are taking strong and responsible action against this attempt,” —Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and other security officials met last week to determine Israel’s response to the attack by Iranian-backed Hezbollah on January 28 that killed two IDF soldiers and wounded seven others. “The Lebanese government and the Assad regime share responsibility for the consequences of the attacks emanating from their territories against the State of Israel. In all of these events, our mission is to defend the State of Israel. Our only consideration is the security of the State of Israel and its citizens,” Netanyahu emphasized. “Thus we have acted, and thus we will continue to act.” (Jewish Press, Jan. 28, 2015)

“Hezbollah, another Iranian proxy, is a brutal terrorist organization bent on the destruction of Israel. Canada fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself by itself,” — Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. Baird criticized the “destructive force” of Iran and accused it of working toward Israel’s annihilation.  “This is just another example of the threats Israel faces – from Gaza to Southern Lebanon and Syria – from all proxies funded, trained and materially supported by Iran. It illustrates the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran and the need for the international community to ensure that never becomes a reality,” Baird said. (Arutz Sheva, Jan. 29, 2015)

“My assumption is that they probably have tunnels [that lead] close to those communities located on the Lebanon border,” —IDF reservist colonel Kobi Marom, former head of the Hermon brigade. Israelis living close to the Lebanon and Syria borders have long feared attacks from Hezbollah missiles, but now they have a further cause for anxiety: the threat of assaults from underground. “Hizbollah used tunnels for many years against us, and the technology is there,” Col. Marom added. Following an Israeli strike on southern Syria earlier this month that killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander and six Hezbollah operatives, including the son of the dead Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, residents have been braced for possible attacks. Col Marom says Hezbollah have “technology to dig tunnels for hundreds of metres to the Israeli communities – it’s not a big deal.”  (Telegraph, Jan. 31, 2015)

“By exporting the technology of manufacturing missiles and other equipment, Iran helped countries such as Syria, Iraq, and Palestine as well as Lebanon’s Hezbollah to stand up to and ground the Zionist regime, the ISIL and other Takfiri groups,” —Commander of the Aerospace Division of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh. Hajizadeh said the IRGC’s Aerospace Division can now mass-produce different types of short- and medium-range missiles. In recent years, Iran has made major breakthroughs in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing key military hardware and systems. (Press TV, Feb. 3, 2015)

“I want the state to get revenge for my son’s blood through more executions of those people who follow this criminal group that shares nothing with Islam,” —Safi al-Kasaesbeh, father of the Jordanian pilot, Mouath al-Kasaesbeh, who was captured by Islamic State fighters in December when his F-16 warplane crashed over northeastern Syria. A video published online by Islamic State claims to show al-Kasasbeh being burned alive in a cage by the terrorist group. “Jordanians are demanding that the state and coalition take revenge with even more painful blows to destroy these criminals,” al-Kasaesbeh’s father said. Jordan hanged two Iraqi jihadists, one a woman, on Wednesday in response to al-Kasaesbeh’s execution. Islamic State had demanded the release of the woman, Sajida al-Rishawi, in exchange for a Japanese hostage whom it later beheaded. Sentenced to death for her role in a 2005 suicide bomb attack in Amman, Rishawi was executed at dawn. The Jordanian army has vowed to avenge the pilot’s death, and some analysts believe it could escalate its involvement in the campaign against Islamic State. (Yahoo News, Feb. 4, 2015)

“They burned our hearts, so let’s burn their dens, and their prisoners in our prisons,” — statement on a poster at a demonstration in Amman in response to al-Kasaesbeh’s execution. The Jordanian army has vowed to avenge the pilot’s death, and some analysts believe it could escalate its involvement in the campaign against Islamic State. (CNN, Feb. 4, 2015)

“I have received training on using weapons, especially rifles, and climbing on ropes, marching, shooting, ­rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. We also had practical training and got to shoot the Kalashnikovs…I wish I could join Qassam Brigades now. I want to fight Israel. I want to kick them out of our land. I am ready now,” —Ahmad Ismail, 16. More than 17,000 teenagers and young men, ages 15 to 21, mustered at a dozen camps over the past week in the Gaza Strip to climb ropes, practice close-order drills and fire Kalashnikov rifles, all of them pledging to defend the coastal enclave and ready to fight the next war against their Zionist enemies. For the first time, the Hamas military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, hosted the Gaza teens and young men for a week of training in the martial arts at previously off-limits Qassam bases. Military commanders for Hamas said the camps were designed to boost the Palestinian resistance and to give Gaza’s frustrated and unemployed youths a way to blow off steam — and shoot some guns. (Washington Post, Jan. 29, 2015) 

“When you don’t call things by their real name, you always get in trouble. And this administration, so fearful of being accused of Islamophobia, is refusing to make any link to radical Islam from the recent explosions of violence against civilians (most of them Muslims) by Boko Haram in Nigeria, by the Taliban in Pakistan, by Al Qaeda in Paris and by jihadists in Yemen and Iraq. We’ve entered the theater of the absurd,” — New York Times editorialist Thomas L. Friedman. (New York Times, Jan. 20, 2015)  

SHORT TAKES

JOHN BAIRD RESIGNS AS CANADIAN FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER (Ottawa) —  John Baird has resigned from cabinet and announced he will not seek re-election. “I will miss this place very much, and many of the people in it on all sides,” Baird told the House of Commons Tuesday, adding “but the time has come for me to start a new chapter in my life.” Baird has filled several cabinet roles, including Treasury Board president, Environment Minister, Transport Minister and Government House Leader. He served as a Member of Provincial Parliament in Ontario before making the jump to federal politics in 2006.  He was named Foreign Affairs Minister in May 2011. Baird has a job lined up in the private sector, as well as some corporate boards, sources said. (CTV News, Feb. 3, 2015)

HEAD OF UN’S GAZA PROBE RESIGNS (Geneva) —  Canadian law professor William Schabas, who was appointed to head the UN committee tasked with probing Israel’s alleged “war crimes” during last summer’s Operation Protective Edge, announced Monday he was stepping down. Schabas cited Israeli allegations of bias due to consultancy work he did for the PLO as the reason for his resignation. Schabas is well-known for his bias against Israel. Speaking in a 2013 panel, Schabas clearly revealed his great eagerness to bring about the prosecution of Israel over its actions in Gaza. Israel’s UN Ambassador Ron Prosor compared appointing Schabas to head the inquiry to “choosing Count Dracula to run a blood bank.” For his part, Schabas has denied being anti-Israel. (Arutz Sheva, Feb. 3, 2015)

MARY MCGOWAN DAVIS TO HEAD UNHRC GAZA PROBE (Geneva) — Former New York Supreme Court Judge Mary McGowan Davis will replace William Schabas as the head of the United Nations Human Rights Council Gaza probe. The three member commission of inquiry appointed in August had included Schabas, McGowan Davis and Senegalese legal expert Doudou Diene.  The committee is wrapping up its investigation into Israeli and Hamas actions during their conflict in the summer of 2014, and plans to present the report to the UNHRC on March 23. McGowan Davis also served on a 2010 three person panel to monitor Israeli and Palestinian compliance with the UNHRC’s Goldstone Report, which probed human rights violations during the IDF’s incursion into Gaza in January 2009, known as Operation Cast Lead. (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 3, 2015)

TERROR ATTACKS IN SINAI PENINSULA KILL AT LEAST THIRTY (Cairo) —  Jihadists affiliated with the Islamic State launched four separate attacks in the northern Sinai Peninsula, involving mortars and car bombs that targeted military and police sites. At least thirty people were killed, including several civilians. The attacks were reportedly carried out by Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, a Sinai-based terror group that swore allegiance to Islamic State last year. The Egyptian army responded to the attack by starting wide offensives throughout the northern Sinai, using Apache helicopters and drones to target terrorist hideouts. (Algemeiner, Feb. 1, 2015)

EGYPT RULES HAMAS ARMED WING A TERROR GROUP (Cairo) — An Egyptian court has ruled that Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, is a terror organization. Since the Egyptian military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, the authorities have accused the Hamas of aiding jihadists who have increased their attacks on security forces in the Sinai Peninsula. Following the ouster, the Egyptian president also cracked down on Hamas, destroying hundreds of tunnels into and out of the blockaded Gaza Strip and keeping the Rafah border crossing tightly monitored and often closed. (Times of Israel, Jan. 31, 2015)

ISLAMIC STATE LAUNCHES OFFENSIVE OUTSIDE KIRKUK (Baghdad) — Islamic State launched their biggest offensive yet outside Kurdish-controlled Kirkuk and tried to penetrate the city itself, part of a spate of brazen attacks by the extremist group against Kurdish forces across Iraq on Friday. A senior Kurdish commander was among at least six Kurdish forces killed in the surprise attack just after midnight outside the northern Iraqi city. As fighting raged outside the city, fighters from Islamic State tried to break into the Kirkuk Palace Hotel after detonating a car bomb in front of the hotel.. By Friday afternoon, the Kurdish forces re-seized key villages and roads leading to oil infrastructure in the city. (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 30, 2015)

EXPLOSION KILLS DOZENS AT SHIITE MOSQUE IN PAKISTAN (Karachi) — An explosion ripped through a Shiite mosque in southern Pakistan during Friday prayer, killing at least 55 people and wounding at least 59 in an apparent suicide bombing. The bombing in Shikarpur, about 300 miles north of Karachi, was the country’s worst sectarian attack in months. It offered further proof that terrorists are spreading deeper into Sindh Province, into areas that had previously escaped the worst of Pakistan’s violence. Jundullah, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack. “Our target was the Shiite community,” said Fahad Marwat, a spokesman for the group. “They are our enemies.” (New York Times, Jan. 30, 2015)

SAUDIS BEHEAD THREE AS OBAMA VISITS (Riyadh) — A visit by President Obama did not dissuade officials in Saudi Arabia from carrying out three beheadings within hours of Obama’s meeting with new Saudi King Salman. The same day Obama arrived, the Saudis beheaded a man who reportedly confessed to smuggling drugs into the kingdom, another man who was convicted of incest, and a Pakistani was executed for trafficking heroin. The beheadings brought to four the number of men beheaded since King Salman assumed the throne on Jan. 23. Last year, there were 87 beheadings while King Abdullah, a U.S. ally, was on the throne. (Newsmax, Feb. 1, 2015)

MICHELLE OBAMA DIDN’T WEAR A HEADSCARF DURING SAUDI VISIT (Riyadh) —Joining President Obama for a condolence visit after the death of King Abdullah, Mrs. Obama arrived in Riyadh wearing long pants — but no headscarf. Under the kingdom’s strict dress code for women, Saudi females are required to wear a headscarf and loose, black robes in public. But covering one’s head is not required for foreigners. As a delegation of dozens of Saudi officials, all men, greeted the Obamas in Riyadh, some shook hands with Mrs. Obama. Others avoided a handshake but acknowledged the first lady with a nod as they passed by. Saudi Arabia imposes many restrictions on women on the strict interpretation of Islamic Shariah law. (National Post, Jan. 28, 2015)

NISMAN DRAFTED WARRANT TO ARREST PRESIDENT FERNANDEZ (Buenos Aires) — The federal prosecutor who died under suspicious circumstances in Argentina last month had drafted a warrant for the arrest of President Cristina Fernandez, the New York Times reported. The lead investigator into the 1994 terrorist bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, Alberto Nisman was found dead in his apartment just one day before he was set to appear in court. Nisman would have presented his findings in the probe had he lived, including a claim that Fernandez had conspired to derail his own investigation. The prosecutor had drafted the warrant for her arrest on suspicion of trying to protect Iranian officials from being implicated in the bombing. (Jewish Press, Feb. 4, 2015)

NISMAN BURIED IN SAME CEMETERY AS VICTIMS OF AMIA BOMBING (Buenos Aires) — Alberto Nisman was buried in the same section of the main Jewish cemetery in Buenos Aires as the victims in the 1994 AMIA bombing that he was investigating. On Thursday morning, a police escort led the funeral procession to the Tablada Jewish Cemetery. Nisman’s grave was located in the “Martyrs Section,” where the victims of the AMIA Jewish center attack are buried. Eighty-five people were killed in the Buenos Aires bombing; some are calling Nisman the 86th victim. (Times of Israel, Jan. 29, 2015)

V-15 ACTIVISTS IN ISRAEL COPY OBAMA’S 2008 ‘HOPE’ CAMPAIGN (Jerusalem) —Activists in Tel Aviv working for the “V15″ campaign to dump Prime Minister Netanyahu are delivering a message strangely similar to that of President Barack Obama when he campaigned in 2008. Hope. Change. They were the heart of Obama’s platform nearly seven years ago. The fingerprints of Jeremy Bird, Obama’s National Field Director, are all over the V15 campaign that he is helping to direct. V15, like the 2008 Obama election campaign, has one message, and that is “hope” for change, meaning getting rid of Netanyahu no matter who would take his place. (Jewish Press, Feb. 4, 2015)

DIVERSE ISRAELI ARAB POLITICAL FACTIONS JOIN FORCES (Jerusalem) — Facing an increased electoral threshold that threatens to bar small parties from Parliament, Israel’s Arab political factions announced the formation of a single ticket for the March elections. The move came after weeks of bitter negotiations among the parties and yields a list of somewhat strange bedfellows — Islamists, feminists, Palestinian nationalists and even a Jewish member of an Arab-dominated party with communist roots. Arabs make up 20 percent of the population of Israel, and their parties currently hold 11 of Parliament’s 120 seats. The new 3.25 percent threshold, up from 2 percent, puts individual Arab factions — along with other small parties — in danger of exclusion. (New York Times, Jan. 23, 2015)

ISRAELI ARAB PARTIES MAY TIP SCALES IN BID TO DEFEAT NETANYAHU (Jerusalem) — Israel’s Arab parties, historically on the margins of the Jewish state’s politics, may hold the key to toppling Prime Minister Netanyahu. Polls before Israel’s March 17 election show the Labor-led Zionist Camp outpacing Likud in the race to lead Israel’s next coalition government. They also suggest Zionist Camp would need backing from Israeli Arab parties that generally don’t support the government and formed a joint ticket last week to try to bolster their parliamentary clout. Israeli media reported this month that Labor leader Isaac Herzog approached two Arab party leaders, Ra’am-Tal’s Ahmed Tibi and Hadash’s Mohammed Barakeh, about joining a government he’d lead or supporting it from the sidelines to create the critical mass needed to deny Netanyahu a fourth term. While neither confirmed the report, they didn’t rule out acting to block another Likud-headed coalition. (Bloomberg, Jan. 27, 2015)  

MONTREAL IMAM DENIED PERMIT FOR ISLAMIC CENTRE (Montreal) — The Islamic community centre that controversial imam Hamza Chaoui had hoped to open in east Montreal will not see the light of day. The Ashabeb Centre won’t be receiving its permit as long as it has ties with the imam, who in the past hasn’t been shy to share his thoughts on the fact that he thinks women shouldn’t be independent, and that he thinks Islam and democracy shouldn’t mix. After the violent events that happened in Ottawa, Sydney, Paris and in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, where Chaoui preached at the same mosque frequented by the man who ran over and killed Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, the city of Montreal insists it won’t be taking any chances. (Global News, Jan. 31, 2015)

PRO-PALESTINIAN STUDENTS HECKLE CAL-DAVIS OPPONENTS (Los Angeles) — Anti-Israel activists at the University of California Davis heckled Jewish students and shouted “Allahu Akbar” during a vote last week on a resolution endorsing a boycott of the Jewish state. The commotion erupted as pro-Israel students attempted to counter a student government resolution to divest from Israel. Activists waving Palestinian flags shouted at the Jewish and pro-Israel students as they left the meeting room ahead of an eight to two vote in favor of the divestment resolution. The vote was championed by the pro-Hamas group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). (Fox News, Feb. 3, 2015)

FRENCH SOLDIERS WOUNDED IN NICE JEWISH CENTRE ATTACK (Nice) — A man wielding a knife has attacked three soldiers patrolling outside a Jewish community centre in Nice, in the south of France. The soldiers were wounded and police said the assailant was captured. France has been on high alert since last month’s terror attacks in Paris by three Islamist gunmen, in which 17 people were killed. After the attacks, 10,500 soldiers were deployed outside sensitive sites including Jewish and Muslim centres as well as media buildings. The attacker has been named as Moussa Coulibaly, aged 30 and of Malian origin, but there appears to be no link with the Paris gunman Amedy Coulibaly, who killed four people in a Jewish supermarket in January. (BBC, Feb. 3, 2015)

GERMAN JUDGE RULES: ANTI-ZIONISM IS CODE FOR ANTISEMITISM (Berlin) — At the height of this summer’s Israel-Hamas conflict, Europe erupted with anti-Israel demonstrations. In a unprecedented case last week in Essen, German Judge Gauri Sastry convicted Taylan Can for incitement against an ethnic minority for events at a July anti-Israel demonstration. Born in Germany to a Turkish family, Can is well-known for his anti-Israel activism. At his Essen hearing Can was prosecuted for his use of the term “Zionist” as incitement against a minority. During the hearing, Can claimed he was not an antisemite and had nothing against the Jewish people but only against the Zionist state. In response, Judge Sastry said, “‘Zionist’ is the language of antisemites, the code for ‘Jew.’” Can was sentenced to three months’ probation and a fine of 200 Euros. (Times of Israel, Feb. 2, 2015)

CONDUCTOR DIES AFTER COLLAPSING ON STAGE (Geneva) — The Israeli conductor Israel Yinon collapsed during a youth concert at a Swiss university on Thursday evening and died. Yinon, 59, was conducting a performance of “An Alpine Symphony” by Richard Strauss as part of a music festival in Lucerne when he collapsed. Yinon, who was born and studied music in Israel, had performed widely as a guest conductor with international orchestras, specializing in reviving works of forgotten German composers who were forbidden under Hitler. For his first CD he released the first recording of the symphonic works of the Czech composer Viktor Ullmann, who died in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in 1944. (New York Times, Jan. 30, 2015)