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The Vatican, Palestinian Statehood and International Law: Louis René Beres, The Hill, May 15, 2015
Egypt’s Institutionalized Persecution of Coptic Christians: Raymond Ibrahim, Breaking Israel News, May 6, 2015
China, Russia Celebrate the Dawn of the Un-American Century: Beni Avni, New York Post, May 14, 2015
Everything Is Awesome, Mideast Edition: Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2015
WEEKLY QUOTES
“This is a very difficult challenge. On the one hand I am a strong supporter of Israel and the connection between the United States and Israel. Israel has legitimate security concerns. There is no doubt about it. And what is also true is that I am deeply committed to a Palestinian state,” — U.S. President Barack Obama, in an interview with Al-Arabiya. Obama was asked about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and he did not express a great deal of optimism on the prospect of reaching a peace deal in the near future. “What I think at this point realistically we can do, is to try to rebuild trust, not through a big overarching deal, which I don’t think is probably possible in the next year given the make up of the Netanyahu government and the challenges of Abbas [PA President Mahmoud Abbas]. Obama called for relieving humanitarian suffering in Gaza and promoting job opportunities in the territories as ways to slowly build trust between the parties. Through this trust building “the logic of a two-state solution will reassert itself,” Obama said. “We worked very hard, but frankly, the politics inside of Israel and the politics among the Palestinians as well made it very difficult for each side to trust each other enough to make that leap.” (Jerusalem Post, May 16, 2015)
“In any case, the sense of encouraging a commitment to peace was very clear and I believe that the very gift of the symbol of an angel of peace was made by the pope with this intention as well as previous presentations of the same gift to presidents, not only to Abbas,” — Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi. The question whether Pope Francis called PA President Mahmoud Abbas an “angel of peace” when they met on Saturday continued to reverberate, with Israeli officials saying the Vatican denied this is how the pope characterized Abbas. Francis met with Abbas at the Vatican and presented him with a large bronze medallion representing the angel of peace, one of his customary gifts to visiting presidents. According to a reporter representing several news agencies at the meeting, the Argentinean pontiff – speaking in Italian – received Abbas at the papal apartments and said the medallion was an appropriate gift because “you are a bit of an angel of peace.” There were conflicting reports whether the pope urged Abbas to be an “angel of peace” or if he had described him as such. Vatican spokesman Lombardi said he had not heard the remarks himself and had nothing to add to the words attributed to the pope by the pool reporter. “It is clear that there was no intention to offend anyone,” Lombardi said. (Jerusalem Post, May 19, 2015)
“It’s a big deal because the Pope is the spiritual leader of hundreds of millions of Christians…Christians are being murdered all over the Middle East but what is important for him is the particular recognition of Palestine,” —Eytan Gilboa of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. The latest decision by the Vatican to sign a treaty with the state of “Palestine”, concerning the Holy See’s activities in the Palestinian Authority, came before a weekend meeting between the Pope and Mahmoud Abbas. At the UN, the Vatican and “Palestine” are both considered non-member observer states. “Israel has only three cards it can use with the Palestinians – giving up territory, international recognition, and the release of Palestinian prisoners,” Gilboa said. “But if they get the recognition without any negotiations, what motivation do they have to negotiate with Israel?” (Jerusalem Post, May 17, 2015)
“We, the Jews, brought the idea of the dignity of man to civilization…And we will make sure that the dignity of man will be expressed in this, our one and only state,” —Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Calling Ethiopian immigrants “flesh of our flesh, equal among equals,” Netanyahu said Sunday there is no place for racism and discrimination in Israeli society. “We will fight with all our strength against those unacceptable phenomena,” he said of racism and discrimination at an annual ceremony at Mt. Herzl commemorating Ethiopian Jews who died while trying to make their way to Israel. “We will uproot this from our lives. We will turn it into something inferior, despicable.” The prime minister’s comments came just two weeks after protests by Ethiopian-Israelis against discrimination rocked the country. (Jerusalem Post, May 17, 2015)
“If you can diplomatically and peacefully resolve the nuclear issue in a way that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon…we believe that will lead to a much more stable region.” —Ben Rhodes, Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser. Rhodes also contends that with a deal “there will be no need to see [a] regional arms race.” (Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2015)
“Our president, Barack Obama, has said over and over that Ali Khamenei, the “supreme leader” of Iran, has issued a “fatwa” that prohibits Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Okay. Then what are we negotiating about? He’s the supreme leader, isn’t he? In recent days, Mojtaba Zolnour, Khamenei’s deputy representative to the Revolutionary Guards, has declared, “The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has divine permission to destroy Israel. The noble Koran permits the Islamic Republic of Iran to destroy Israel.” Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, quoted these words in a speech delivered at a ceremony commemorating V-E Day. For some reason, he’s interested. Maybe Iran intends to destroy Israel with BB guns — Bibi guns — and not nukes? Maybe Iran has divine permission to destroy Israel, but declines? “Thanks, Allah, all the same.” I really think that Obama should be straight with us about Iran’s intentions — if, in fact, he is clear on them himself,” — Jay Nordlinger (National Review, May 15, 2015)
“Newsweek…recently reported that the largest individual donor to the Clinton Foundation is a shady Ukrainian billionaire who profits off of trade with Iran and may be in violation of U.S. sanctions. Here’s the revealing first sentence of Newsweek’s story: “Enemies of Hillary Clinton waiting to discredit her bid for the White House are likely to seize on news that one of the biggest benefactors to the Clinton Foundation has been trading with Iran.” Why on earth should such a story be focused not on the scandalous news itself but on whether Hillary Clinton’s supposed “enemies” would use it to discredit her? If she has, in fact, done something wrong or unseemly or inappropriate by taking this money—well, then, she deserves to be discredited,” —Editorial (Weekly Standard, May 18, 2015)
“If your goal is killing Abu Sayyaf then our goal is killing Obama and the worshippers of the cross. We have attacks coming against you,” — An Islamic State terrorist, on Twitter. On May 15, the elite U.S. Army’s Delta Force commandos killed a leader of I.S. in a raid in Syria. The team, based in Iraq, killed abu Sayyaf and captured his wife, Umm Sayyaf. They also freed a Yezidi woman who had allegedly been held by the couple as a slave. Sayyaf was believed to be directly involved in many I.S. military activities and funding. (Jewish Press, May 16, 2015)
“This is cultural and human genocide…The only Christians that remain in the Plain of Nineveh are those who are held as hostages,” —Sister Diana Momeka of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine of Siena. Momeka said I.S.’ plan is to “evacuate the land of Christians and wipe the earth clean of any evidence that we ever existed.” The nun recounted the surge of I.S. terrorists into Iraq, recalling that last June, I.S., “overran one city and town after another, giving the Christians of the region three choices: convert to Islam, pay a tribute . . . to ISIS, or leave their cities . . . with nothing more than the clothes on their back…As this horror spread throughout the Nineveh Plain, by Aug. 6, 2014, Nineveh was emptied of Christians, and sadly, for the first time since the seventh century A.D., no church bells rang for Mass in the Plain of Nineveh.” Sister Diana pleaded with lawmakers that “we, as Christians, do not want or deserve to leave or be forced out of our country any more than you would want to leave or be forced out of yours…But the current persecution that our community is facing is the most brutal in our history,” she said. (Newsmax, May 13, 2015)
“Jerusalem won’t be divided again…It won’t go back to being a frontier or a border town…It doesn’t mean that there are no problems, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t tasks [ahead of us]. There is a lot to perfect, and a lot to improve, but we will not go backwards,” —Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, in a Knesset speech marking Jerusalem Day, which was on Sunday. Netanyahu vowed that Jerusalem would never be split in any peace deal with the Palestinians, and said construction throughout the capital would continue, despite international criticism. Netanyahu said that, with regard to Jerusalem, “I have a clear position — we build in Jerusalem. We don’t build to clash with the international community, we do this responsibly and judiciously because this is our natural right,” he continued. Israel on Sunday marked the 48th anniversary of the capture of East Jerusalem and the Old City, including the religiously significant Old City and the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, during the 1967 Six Day War. (Times of Israel, May 18, 2015)
SHORT TAKES
ISRAEL SLAMS U.S. FOR ALLEGEDLY ALLOWING IRAN TO VIOLATE SANCTIONS (Jerusalem) — A senior Israeli official took a swipe at Washington on Tuesday over Iran’s purchase of second-hand civilian aircraft, saying the acquisition violated US sanctions and went ahead despite a tip-off from Israel. Iranian Transport Minister Abbas Akhoondi was quoted as saying Tehran bought fifteen used commercial planes in the last three months. A long-standing ban on the export of aircraft spare parts to Iran was eased under an interim nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers in late 2013, but the US sanctions regime continues to restrict sales of planes. (Jerusalem Post, May 19, 2015)
ISRAEL SUSPENDS SEGREGATED BUS PLAN (Jerusalem) — Prime Minister Netanyahu suspended new bus travel and checkpoint regulations for Palestinian laborers only hours after they were imposed to an outcry by critics accusing Israel of racial segregation. The “transit point program” that began early on Wednesday would have required Palestinians laborers in Israel to return to the occupied West Bank at the end of the workday via one of four checkpoints, where they would be registered. They would have needed to use Palestinian-only buses to get there. Israeli civil liberties groups objected, as did Palestinian officials and Israeli legislators, including several from Netanyahu’s Likud party and the leader of the opposition, Isaac Herzog of Zionist Union. (Forward, May 20, 2015)
PALESTINIAN DRIVER WHO RAMMED ISRAELI POLICE OFFICERS SHOT DEAD (Jerusalem) —A Palestinian driver who rammed his car into a group of Border Patrol officers in eastern Jerusalem was shot and killed by Israeli police. Two officers were moderately injured in the Wednesday morning attack in the Arab neighborhood of A-Tor, near the Mount of Olives. The driver, 30, reportedly was shot as he tried to back his SUV over the downed officers, a man and a woman both in their 20s. They were taken to Jerusalem-area hospitals. Last week, four Israelis, three of them students, were injured at a traffic junction in the West Bank when a Palestinian driver from nearby Hebron rammed his car into them. The driver confessed to intentionally carrying out the attack. (JTA, May 20, 2015)
HAMAS CELL IN HEBRON PLANNING ATTACKS IN ISRAEL UNCOVERED BY PA (Jerusalem) — Palestinian security forces near the West Bank city of Hebron uncovered and arrested several members of a Hamas terror cell Friday. The report said that the five-man cell was in the early stages of preparing explosives meant for attacks inside Israel. Palestinian security forces were tipped off to the Hamas cell after receiving a call that people were preparing explosive devices inside an apartment. Since the kidnapping and subsequent murders of three Israeli teenagers in the southern West Bank last June, there has been a rise in the number of Hamas activists arrested by the army, with hundreds now behind bars. (I24, May 16, 2015)
FIFA CHIEF PROPOSES HOLDING ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN ‘PEACE MATCH’ (Jerusalem) — Prime Minister Netanyahu said Tuesday Israel would consider “certain” measures to help Palestinian soccer after Palestinian officials asked to get the Israeli association thrown out of world governing body FIFA. FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who is on a visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories, said “a match for peace” would take place between the two sides in the wake of the spat. Blatter said Netanyahu would attend the game. “Palestine,” which has been a member of FIFA since 1998, wants the world body to bar Israel from international competition to punish restrictions it places on the movement of Palestinian players. It also opposes the participation in the Israeli league of five clubs located in Jewish settlements in the Disputed Territories. (I24, May 19, 2015)
PARIS JEW SAVAGELY BEATEN IN ANTISEMITIC ATTACK (Paris) — In the latest attack in a string of anti-Semitic incidents in Paris, a young Jewish teen was violently assaulted outside of the Buttes Chaumont Park on Friday, May 15. The 16-year-old boy, who was wearing a Kippa at the time, was attacked while returning to his home to prepare for Shabbat dinner. He was then approached by four men, described as looking North African and between the ages of 17-20. The men robbed him, took his shoes, and shattered his phone into the ground. During the assault, two of the attackers held the victim down while a third repeatedly delivered blows to his body and head, injuring one of his eyes severely. (Arutz Sheva, May 18, 2015)
ILLINOIS LAWMAKERS PASS ANTI-BDS MEASURE (Chicago) —A bill that would bar state pension funds from including companies that participate in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel passed an Illinois State House of Representatives committee. The bill was unanimously approved last week by the Illinois State House of Representatives Executive Committee by a vote of 10-0 and will now move forward for a vote by the full chamber. The bill requires the state’s pension system to remove companies that boycott Israel from their portfolios. The bill, an amendment, is based on existing legislation, The Indiana and Tennessee state legislatures have both passed nonbinding resolutions opposing boycotts of Israel. (Forward, May 14, 2015)
GREENSTAR FOOD COOP REJECTS ISRAEL BOYCOTT (Ithaca, NY) —Activists from Ithaca Jewish Voice for Peace brought a referendum to the GreenStar Food Coop in Ithaca calling for a boycott of Israeli products. The effort was national, with Angela Davis (radical anti-Israel Prof.) and Medea Benjamin (Code Pink) lending their support. The effort was rejected unanimously by the GreenStar Council based on the NY State Human Rights law prohibition of boycotts based on national origin. A brief was submitted arguing that the boycott violated the NY Human Rights Law: NY Human Rights Law prohibits boycotts based on national origin: “It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice (i) for any person to discriminate against, boycott or blacklist, or to refuse to buy from, sell to or trade with, any person, because of the race, creed, color, national origin…” (Legal Insurrection, May 12, 2015)
OUSTED EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT SENTENCED TO DEATH (Cairo) — An Egyptian court sentenced ousted president Mohammed Morsi and more than 100 other people to death over a mass prison break during the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. Morsi was ousted by the military in July 2013 following days of mass street protests by Egyptians demanding that he be removed. Morsi’s successor, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, was the military chief at the time and led the ouster. El-Sissi ran for president last year and won the vote in a landslide. Morsi already is serving a 20-year sentence following his conviction on charges linked to the killing of protesters outside a Cairo presidential palace in 2012. Also sentenced to death with Morsi in the prison break case were a total of 105 defendants, including some 70 Palestinians. (CBC, May 16, 2015)
SUICIDE CAR BOMBING IN AFGHAN CAPITAL KILLS FOUR (Kabul) — A large suicide car bombing struck downtown Kabul on Tuesday, apparently targeting justice ministry employees and killing four people. Shortly after the blast, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. The bombing took place in the car park of the Justice Ministry. It was third large attack in the capital in the past week. The Taliban said they were behind an attack on a guesthouse last week that killed 14 people, including nine foreigners, and also a suicide car bombing this week that killed three people, among them two young girls and a British security contractor. The Taliban have also claimed responsibility for a series of recent attacks on judicial employees, including buses carrying workers of the attorney general’s office. (Yahoo News, May 19, 2015)
I.S. SEIZED ADVANTAGE IN ATTACK BY STRIKING DURING SANDSTORM (Ramadi) — Islamic State fighters used a sandstorm to help seize a critical military advantage in the terrorist group’s attack on the provincial Iraqi capital of Ramadi last week, helping to set in motion an assault that forced Iraqi security forces to flee. The sandstorm delayed U.S. warplanes and kept them from launching airstrikes to help the Iraqi forces, as the I.S. fighters evidently anticipated. The fighters used the time to carry out a series of car bombings followed by a wave of ground attacks in and around the city that eventually overwhelmed the American-backed Iraqi forces. The episode reveals the limitations in America’s formidable aerial arsenal and also the weaknesses in the Iraqi military’s ability to reinforce and resupply troops facing heavy attack. (New York Times, May 18, 2015)
I.S. SMUGGLING FIGHTERS INTO EUROPE POSING AS REFUGEES (Rome) — The Islamic State are smuggling fighters into the EU posing as refugees according to a Libyan government adviser. Thousands of North Africans have fled the fighting in their home countries to come to Europe. Most have entered the continent using people traffickers. The source claimed they included IS fighters, and the system was being used in a calculated way to bring forces across the Mediterranean sea. It has long been a stated aim of IS to land troops in Europe via refugee boats, but so far the EU has denied the existence of the problem. (Breitbart, May 17, 2015)
MONTREAL TEENS SUSPECTED OF WANTING TO JOIN JIHADIST GROUPS HAVE PASSPORTS CONFISCATED (Montreal) — Ten young people suspected of wanting to join jihadist groups overseas were arrested last weekend at Montreal’s Trudeau Airport. No charges have been laid, the investigation is continuing and the young Montrealers have had their passports confiscated. The weekend arrests follow reports earlier this year that six young people from the Montreal area had left the country in mid-January and may have joined jihadist groups in the Middle East. A well-placed source confirmed the six people between 18 and 20 years old all went to Turkey, which is a well-known gateway to jihadists groups based in Syria and Iraq. (Montreal Gazette, May 20, 2015)
ISRAELI CABINET APPROVES PLANS TO UPGRADE WESTERN WALL PLAZA (Jerusalem) — Israel’s Cabinet approved a five-year plan to upgrade the Western Wall Plaza. During a special meeting on Tuesday, the Cabinet also approved several decisions “to strengthen the city of Jerusalem and prepare for the 50th anniversary of its unification,” according to a statement. Among the plans approved are the continuing development of the Western Wall Plaza and its tunnels, the preservation of archaeological finds, upgrading transportation infrastructure, and expanding educational activities for students and soldiers. A ministerial committee also has been established in order to prepare for the 50th anniversary of the unification of the city in 2017. (JTA, May 19, 2015)
ISRAEL INCREASINGLY ATTRACTIVE FOR CHINESE ACADEMICS & INVESTORS (Jerusalem) — East China New University and the University of Haifa this month launched a joint Israeli-Chinese research center in Shanghai—the first center of its kind and the latest testament to the growing alignment between the two countries. As part of the venture the research center will foster collaboration between Israeli and Chinese academics in the fields of computer science, mathematics, and more. On the economic front, China was Israeli’s fourth-most-popular destination for exports in the world, and the most popular among Asian countries. Chinese investments in Israel have grown to at least $4 billion in less than four years, while Chinese companies have been increasingly establishing infrastructure projects in Israel. (Algemeiner, May 13, 2015)
RAPOPORT TO BECOME OLDEST RECIPIENT OF DOCTORATE (Berlin) —Ingeborg Rapoport was 25 when she wrote her doctoral thesis, but she had to wait until last week to defend it before an academic committee—77 years later. Rapoport, a 102-year-old retired neonatologist who lives in Berlin, submitted her thesis to the University of Hamburg in 1938, five years after Hitler took power. Her topic was diphtheria, an infectious disease that was then a leading cause of death among children in the U.S. and Europe. “I was told I wasn’t permitted to take the oral examination,” she said. Academic authorities in Berlin cited “racial reasons” for the ban: Rapoport’s mother was Jewish. Officials marked her exam forms with a telltale yellow stripe and deemed her ineligible for academic advancement. The university has scheduled a ceremony in Hamburg on June 9, when she will become, by all available evidence, the oldest person ever to receive a doctoral degree. (Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2015)
The Vatican, Palestinian Statehood and International Law: Louis René Beres, The Hill, May 15, 2015—The Vatican has just concluded a treaty to recognize “Palestine” as an independent state. Nonetheless, under governing international law, primarily the 1934 Convention on the Rights and Duties of States (aka the Montevideo Convention), “Palestine” will still remain outside the community of separately sovereign states.
Egypt’s Institutionalized Persecution of Coptic Christians: Raymond Ibrahim, Breaking Israel News, May 6, 2015—In a 25-minute interview on Arabic satellite with Dr. Mona Roman, Coptic Christian Bishop Agathon fully exposed the plight of his Christian flock in Minya, Egypt—a region that has a large Coptic minority that is steadily under attack.
China, Russia Celebrate the Dawn of the Un-American Century: Beni Avni, New York Post, May 14, 2015 —Supposedly “isolated” Russia’s bromance with China flourishes. No wonder: Both countries appreciate power politics and scoff at America’s display of global weakness.
Everything Is Awesome, Mideast Edition: Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2015—Ben Rhodes, President Obama’s deputy national security adviser, has been offering a reassuring view of the Iranian nuclear deal in the face of some Arab skepticism.