Contents: Weekly Quotes | Short Takes | On Topic Links
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Media-ocrity of the Week
$10.5 million, including an annual salary of $1 million is the pay package Mark Thompson, formerly director general of the BBC, will receive as the newly hired New York Times CEO. Thompson stands to make as much as $4.5 million from his signing bonus, $2 million in annual incentives and $3 million in long-term incentives.
Thompson, 55, received $976,000 in total compensation for his most recent year at the BBC [which] under his leadership eliminated jobs and moved some offices and production outside London to save money.
Times Co.’s union workers…expressed discontent over the exit package offered to its previous CEO, Janet Robinson. She received $23 million, on top of her $1 million base salary. The compensation included $4.5 million in consulting fees.
The publisher still faces contentious negotiations with the Newspaper Guild of New York, which represents almost 1,100 employees at the Times newspaper, who have been working without a contract for more than a year. (New York Post, Aug. 18, 2012)
[Emphasis added; and this from the newspaper of record which pushes President Obama’s line that the Republicans favour the “One Percenters”!!–Ed.]
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Weekly Quotes
"The Palestinian Authority is a despotic government riddled with corruption,"—Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in a letter to the foreign ministers of the Middle East Quartet members. "This pattern of behavior has led to criticism even within his own constituency. Due to Abbas' weak standing and his policy of not renewing the [peace] negotiations, which is an obstacle to peace, the time has come to consider a creative solution, to think 'outside the box,' in order to strengthen the Palestinian leadership.…Despite Mr. Abbas' delays, general elections in the PA should be held, and a new, legitimate, hopefully realistic Palestinian leadership should be elected," Lieberman stressed. In response Abbas' spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said that Lieberman's letter is "creating a state of violence and instability…an incitement to murder and violence, and seen as interference in internal Palestinian affairs."(Ha’aretz, August 22, 2012) [For the complete letter see our On Topic links below.—Ed.]
“The prime minister agrees that Abu Mazen Abbas creates difficulties in negotiations,”—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [in a] statement [in response to Lieberman’s letter], but “Israel does not intervene in internal politics in other places.”…“The Foreign Minister’s letter does not represent the position of the prime minister or that of the government.” (Jewish Press, August 22, 2012)
“the fire, set by a criminal under the eyes of the Israeli Occupation Authorities, was the first [attack] in a series aiming to demolish al-Aksa mosque and build the alleged Temple in order to uproot its citizens, Judaize it and eternalize its occupation.”—Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority president in a statement Tuesday, marking the 43rd anniversary of an attempt by deranged Australian Christian Denis Michael Rohan to set fire to al-Aksa mosque.…[A]ll Israeli excavation work in Jerusalem, and tunnels underneath the mosque, “will not undermine the fact that the city will forever be Arabic, Islamic and Christian.” (Jerusalem Post, August 22, 2012)
“scenarios in which Israel faces all out war would be very difficult to deal with…We are preparing to face a real crisis.”—Stanley Fischer, Governor of the Bank of Israel to Channel 2’s Ulpan Shlishi, adding that the foremost responsibility of any country is the security of its citizens and that if there is a need to spend more on defense, “then that simply is what will have to done.” (Jerusalem Post, August 20, 2012)
"This latest development in Hof Saale, Germany, is yet another grave affront to religious freedom and underlines the urgent need for the German government to expedite the process of ensuring that the fundamental rights of minority communities are protected."—Moscow Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, The head of the Conference of European Rabbis, upon hearing of the charges brought against Rabbi David Goldberg, a mohel and resident of Hof, who was charged with “committing bodily harm” for performing a ritual circumcision. (JTA, August 22, 2012)
“The Egyptian regime did more economic damage to Israel by violating its contract on natural gas shipments than any other Arab regime in the history of the country, because Israel had to spend billions of dollars replacing that lost fuel. That is why Israeli taxes are going up and social spending must decline. The US government did not lift a finger to help.”—Barry Rubin, Director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center in Herzliya, Israel. (Jerusalem Post, August 22, 2012)
“We can change the face of Israel.” Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary-general hinting…that Hezbollah now has nuclear weapons. He said his group could turn the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israelis “to real hell” by launching precision-guided missiles. “We all know that the Islamic republic [of Iran]’s response will be very great and thunderous if it is targeted by Israel,” he said. (New York Post, August 18, 2012)
“civilized society, so it seems, is so numbed by violence that it has lost its gift to be disgusted by evil.”—Judea Pearl father of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and president of the Daniel Pearl Foundation, which he co-founded with his family in February 2002 "to continue Daniel's life-work of dialogue and understanding and to address the root causes of his tragedy." (The Daniel Pearl Foundation)
“I think [Paul] Ryan has that Reagan-like quality,”—veteran commentator Charles Krauthammer [who] compared Mr. Ryan to Ronald Reagan. Democrats [in 1980] figured [Reagan] would be easy to beat Mr. Krauthammer said on Fox News. Democrats “are now underestimating who they now have as an opponent.” On a tour of North Carolina on Sunday Mr. Ryan told [a] crowd, “We're at an inflection point in this country where the very idea of what America stands for is on the line. Every generation faces this test; this is our generation's test.” (Globe and Mail, August 13, 2012)
“It’s not a debate about whether the Messiah has come or is on his way,”— Ilana Dayan, television journalist, in an interview about her cousin Dani Dayan, leader of Israel’s settle movement and chairman of the Yesha Council. “He’s talking realpolitik, he’s talking rational, he’s talking cost-benefit analysis. He will try to engage in a civilized and always intriguing argument, and he will try to convince you that from the point of view of the Zionist enterprise even the status quo is better than any Peace Now fantasy.” To Mr. Dayan those who believe in a two-state solution are “either naïve or liars.” Mr. Dayan said, “I see a vision of everyone living normal lives here with a political situation that has to be unique.…There is no other example in history of a people dispersed for 2,000 years that comes back to its land and reclaims it. It’s a very peculiar situation and will need a peculiar solution.” (New York Times, August 18, 2012)
"What is happening now in…Syria…is the best proof of the ruin and desolation [that afflict] this land – except that this desolation, which is essentially a moral desolation, is not new. It is part of the character of this region, which has never been characterized by the virtues of modern civilization. The great scholar Ibn Khaldun [1332-1382] recognized this character a long time ago – [a character] that has always been incapable of embracing civilization.”—Dr. Salman Masalha in his call for a new cultural vision in the Arab world. "The way out of this bloody Arab whirlpool is obvious, and there is no need to reinvent the wheel. The Arab needs only to look at the world around him in order to clearly see the way. The Arabs urgently need to base their societies upon foundations that transcend the boundaries of religious, ethnic and tribal affiliations. Such a development can only be realized in civil states, which transcend all such affiliations. This does not mean non-affiliation; it only [means] building the social structure upon stronger foundations: those that underlie modern civilization. ” (MEMRI, August 21, 2012)
“The Syrian regime should be smashed fast. After hearing the refugees and their account of the massacres of the regime, Mr. Bashara al-Assad doesn’t deserve to be on this earth.”—French foreign minister,. Laurent Fabius, visiting a Syrian refugee camp on the Turkish border. (New York Times, August 18, 2012)
"Judges are a society that want cleansing. The judges will cleanse themselves, not me. I will just remove the immunity of judges who are corrupt."—Egypt's new minister of justice, Ahmed Mekki, [who] said purging courts of Mubarak-era jurists marks another step in Egypt's revolution. Before Egypt’s revolution, Mr. Mekki and his brother Mahmoud, whom Mr. Morsi (Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood president) appointed as his vice president, were strong advocates of judicial independence. Sameh Ashour, president of the Lawyer’s Syndicate, alleged that the Muslim Brotherhood wants power to “make decisions un challenged so thay can continue their campaign of terror against intellectuals and journalists.”(Wall Street Journal, August 18, 2012) (Top)
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Short Takes
GERMAN RABBI CHARGED FOR PERFORMING CIRCUMCISION—(Berlin) A rabbi in Bavaria has been slapped with criminal charges for “committing bodily harm”, in the first known case to arise from an anti-circumcision ruling in May. The charge against Rabbi David Goldberg, who is a mohel…means that the May decision in the state of Hesse has been applied in Bavaria, confirming the fears of Jewish leaders here that the local ruling would have a wider impact. Goldberg, 64, a Jerusalem native living in Hof Saale, Bavaria, told JTA he had not yet received a notice from the court. The charge was confirmed to the main Jewish newspaper of Germany, the Juedische Allgemeine Zeitung. The rabbi also said he did not know what act the charges could refer to, since he has not performed any circumcisions recently in Germany. "Only abroad: in Budapest, in the Czech Republic [and] in Italy," he said. (JTA, August 22, 2012)
A JEW, HIS DOG AND INSULTED MUSLIMS—(Toronto) Toronto police arrested a Jew… for not moving his “unclean” dog further away from Muslim women during an anti-Israel rally. Allan Eintoss showed up [with] his therapy-trained dog “Cupcake,” draped with an Israeli flag, to the annual Al Quds rally to register his disapproval of the celebration's call for destroying Israel. Eintoss refused a demand by a Muslim man that he move away because, they said, he was “not allowed to go near our women." As he walked away, another demonstrator punched him in his chest, prompting Eintoss to shove him back. Police stepped in and one officer blamed him for being so insensitive as to bring a dog to an Islamic rally, while other policemen promptly handcuffed him and carted him away on charges of incitement to riot and assault. The Muslim was neither arrested nor questioned. [Eintoss] was freed after agreeing to leave the area. [He] is considering legal action against the police by demanding a public inquiry into the arrest. (Israel National News Aug. 22, 2012)
NETANYAHU TO CAIRO: GET THOSE TANKS OUT OF THE SINAI—(Jerusalem) After Egypt dispatched tanks into the northern Sinai area over the past few weeks, as part of its attempt to combat Islamist terror cells in the peninsula, the Prime Minister’s office has decided that this must stop. Netanyahu sent a sharp message to Cairo, via the White House, to withdraw the tanks immediately. Israel also requested that Egypt refrain from further dispatching military forces to the area without prior coordination.…American intervention was called upon after the closely aligned military and security coordination between [Israel & Egypt] was recently compromised. [A] senior Israeli source confirmed: “Israel is worried about the tanks in northern Sinai. This is an outright breach of the peace agreement.” One of Israel’s suspicions is that Egypt’s…actions against the terror cells would remain limited in scope. …[And] that Egypt would take advantage of the deviations from the peace agreement in order allow the armed forces to remain in the Sinai for an unlimited time, thus altering the agreement de facto. (Jewish Press, August 21, 2012)
IRANIAN WOMEN BANNED FROM MANY DEGREE PROGRAMS—(Tehran )In a move that has prompted a demand for a UN investigation by Iran's most celebrated human rights campaigner, the Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, 36 universities have announced that 77 BA and BSc courses in the coming academic year will be "single gender" and effectively exclusive to men. It follows years in which Iranian women students have outperformed men, a trend at odds with the traditional male-dominated outlook of the country's religious leaders. Women outnumbered men by three to two in passing this year's university entrance exam. (The Telegraph, August 20, 2012)
LEBANON CHARGES POLITICIAN WITH SYRIA-LINKED PLOT—(Beirut) Lebanon's Military Tribunal charged a prominent politician close to Syria and Hezbollah of conspiring to carry out terrorist attacks in Lebanon and plotting to assassinate politicians and religious figures in the country. The charges…named former Lebanese Information Minister Michel Samaha, who is considered a close ally of Syria, Iran and Hezbollah, as well as two Syrians: Chief of the Syrian National Security Bureau Gen. Ali Mamlouk and a Syrian army officer, Brig. Gen. Adnan. They allege that Mr. Samaha, working with Syrian officers, set up an armed group in Lebanon to distribute and plant bombs aimed at inciting sectarian unrest and targeting "the authority of the state and its civil and military institutions."…The tribunal also accused Mr. Samaha of transporting and storing explosives provided to him by Gens. Mamlouk and Adnan from Syria to Lebanon…[and that] the three men were working with the "intelligence ministry of a foreign country to undertake attacks in Lebanon." (Wall Street Journal, August 12, 2012)
TERROR THEME PARK, HEZBOLLAH’S ‘HOLY WAR’ HOMAGE—(Lebanon) Hezbollah terrorists have built a vast, multimillion-dollar “holy war” theme park, The Museum for Resistance Tourism, to teach children the glory of losing their lives fighting against Israel. Constructed in a former war zone in the southern Lebanon town of Mleeta, about 50 miles from Beirut, it features models of Hezbollah fighters, destroyed Israeli tanks and a “Martyrs Hill” garden, decorated with guns and missiles. Visitors begin their tour…with a seven-minute video history of Hezbollah, which… includes a welcoming speech from the Shiite group’s hard-line leader Hassan Nasrallah, saying, “We hope this tourist jihadi [holy war] center will be a first step toward preserving the history of our heroic resistance.” More than half a million people, including children, visited the park in the first three months after it opened in 2010. But as it stands, it looks like a prime target for Israeli bombers in the future war that both sides say is inevitable. (Reuters, New York Post, August 18, 2012)
IRAQ TOLL AT 93—(Baghdad) Attacks throughout Iraq this past Thursday killed at least 93 people –making it the second-deadliest day since US troops left in December…The aim seemed to be to undermine the Shiite-led government’s security measures on the eve of a holiday weekend.(New York Post, August 18, 2012)
INDO-ISRAEL FTA LIKELY BY MID-2013—(Hyderabad India) Indo-Israeli Free Trade Agreement is likely to be completed by the second quarter of 2013…. The FTA would facilitate doubling of the bi-lateral trade between the two countries from the current $ 5 billion over the next decade. The project envisages joint development of agriculture on the farm, technology and academic fronts…proposing to develop some 30 centres of excellence…by 2015, out of which two (one for vegetable and the other for fruits) have been set up in [the state of] Haryana. “After the programme was implemented in Haryana, the tomato yield in certain areas has increased from 14 tonnes a hectare to about 100 tonnes.” (The Hindu Business Line, July 30, 2012)
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC’ CALLS ISRAEL TRAIL ‘EPIC’—(Israel) National Geographic has included the Israel National Trail in its list of the world’s 20 most “epic trails.” The list’s author, Doug Schnitzspahn, calls the selected paths “the holy grails of trails across the world” and specifically describes the Israel Trail as one that “delves into the grand scale of biblical landscapes as well as the everyday lives of modern Israelis.” The Israel Trail was established by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel in 1995 and is more than 1,000 kilometers long, from Kibbutz Dan in the north to the SPNI’s Eilat Field School in the south. (Jerusalem Post, Aug. 13, 2012) (Top)
