June 2011

NGOs VS. Israel / Ben Dror Yemini

May 30, 2011
On January 5, 2011, after months of heated public debate, the Israeli Knesset established a parliamentary committee of inquiry to probe foreign funding of Israeli nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) involved in the international Israel delegitimization campaign.[1] Was this a draconian, McCarthyist encroachment on the freedom of press as claimed by left-wing groups and politicians, or a legitimate attempt by a besieged democracy to fend off hostile intervention in its internal affairs as argued by the legislation's proponents?

International Obsession

Prof. B.Rubin on President Obama, Islam and the Middle East

May 31, 2011
Article NO. One:Obama's "Muslim Problem"
The idea that President Barack Obama is secretly a Muslim is ridiculous. (And don’t write me disagreeing because there’s no proof.)

BUT this red herring has blocked a serious discussion of what is Obama’s attitude toward Islam. As so often happens regarding the Middle East and Islam, people spend their time and passions focusing on the wrong issue.

I think two points can be made reasonably:

Who Are the So- Called Palestinian Refugees in Gaza / DR.Rivka Shpak Lissak

Arab- Palestinian Refugees from the Southern Coast of Palestine (from Jaffa to Gaza)
June 1, 2011
Prof. Efraim Karsh, in his article, "How Many Palestinian Arabs Refugees Were There," Middle East Forum, April, 2011, brought listS of refugees from the different districts of British Mandate Palestine:
His list for the Jaffa District includes between 120,690 to 125,300 refugees.
His list for the Gaza district (which included parts of today Israel and parts of the Gaza Strip), included 58,850 – 61,400 refugees.

Farhud Memories: Bagdad's 1941 Slaughter of the Jews / Sarah Ehrlich

Reporter, Witness
On 1 June 1941, a Nazi-inspired pogrom erupted in Baghdad, bringing to an end more than two millennia of peaceful existence for the city's Jewish minority. Some Jewish children witnessed the bloodshed, and retain vivid memories 70 years later.

Steve Acre witnessed the bravery of his Muslim landlord from a palm tree Heskel Haddad, an 11-year-old boy was finishing a festive meal and preparing to celebrate the Jewish festival of Shavuot, oblivious to the angry mob that was about to take over the city.

West Dunbartonshire Councillor Responds to Israel Boycott Furore / Ray Cook

31 May 2011
The Scottish councillor at the centre of the furore caused by recent reports that, as part of its Israel boycott, it was banning books by Israeli authors, has issued an unprecedented video on his website, refuting these claims.

Cllr McColl also described personal abuse that he had received by phone and email and on Twitter.

He also described as ridiculous a blog which may have been mine, and certainly contained the information which I posted on Sunday.

Antisemitism: It's Back Big Time and Nobody in Power (really ) Care / Prof.B.Rubin

June 2 2011
A reliable source in Finland reports that the speaker of parliament, Ben Zyskowicz, was attacked by a man shouting antisemitic slogans in Helsinki, June 1. He is a popular politician and the only Jewish member of parliament. Zyskowicz refused to press charges saying that going to court in such matters is futile.

This event in a relatively small, far-away country about which people know little will not make international news. But it isn't an isolated incident.

West Dunbartonshire Boycott - Part Two / Ray Cook

West Dunbartonshire motion shows that the Left prefer terrorists to democracies
02 Jun 2011
If you’ve been following my previous posts you will know that West Dunbartonshire Council passed a resolution/motion in 2009, during Operation Cast Lead, to boycott ALL goods from Israel.

This week the story was news again and has unleashed a Twitter tirade, emails and phone calls as well as blog articles and now online newspaper articles.

CNN Poll Shows Highest Support for Israel / Prof.B.Rubin

CNN Poll Shows Highest Support for Israel; Lowest for Palestinians in History
03 Jun 2011
According to a new CNN Poll Americans sympathize more with Israelis than Palestinians by 67 to 16%. Sympathy with Israel is up from 60% in 2009. While 65% says the U.S. should not take either side in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, 35% say the U.S. should take Israel's side while just 1% favors backing the Palestinians.

The Strategic Significance of Damascus / Jonathan Spyer

May 16, 2011
Jonathan Spyer is a senior research fellow at the Global Research in International Affairs Center in Israel, a columnist for the Jerusalem Post, and author most recently of The Transforming Fire: The Rise of the Israel-Islamist Conflict (Continuum, 2011). On May 16, he addressed the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia on the strategic significance of Syria in the context of Arab uprisings.

The Gaza Flotillas:Some Ground Rules before Setting Out / Alan Baker

5 June 2011
An ostensibly civilian, humanitarian flotilla was employed in May 2010 to demonstratively breach the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza coast. This flotilla was organized by the Turkish IHH, which has extensive links to extreme Islamic terror groups. Provoking a confrontation with Israel continues to be the primary aim.

Brainswashing of Young Palestinians by religous leaders

http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=bnzg0nO-Dqc

Tree Amazing Stories / Prof.B.Rubin

Three Amazing Stories (From Today) That Teach Us: Never Overestimate the Competence of the Media

First, almost all of the major news media has reported about the confrontation between Israeli forces and people who tried to cross Israel’s border as part of a demonstration designed to help wipe that country off the map. But what’s their source? None of them has first-hand information. So in fact all their data came from the Syrian propaganda organs.

The Palestinian Attack on Israeli Borders: Part of the Plan to Eliminate the Jewish State / DR.Rivka Shpak Lissak

Part One
June 6 2011
The decision of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and the Western Bank to demonstrate along Israel's borders and the attempts to break through the border fences into Israel is a new stage in the efforts to put an end to the Jewish state.

The stages:

Turkey 's Regime :Openly Antisemitic, Allied with Iran, Anti - Americam / Propf.B.Rubin

Monday, June 6, 2011
Turkey's Regime: Openly Antisemitic, Allied with Iran, Anti-American...And Glorified in the Western Media
Why is it that Anthony Shadid, the same New York Times reporter who has constantly whitewashed Syria and Hizballah now writing a glowing portrait of Turkey's Islamist Prime Minister Recep Erdogan on the verge of Turkey's June 12 election?

The Difference between How the BBC Reports Tripoli and Gaza / Ray Cook

Let’s see the difference between how the BBC reports Tripoli and Gaza
06 Jun 2011
I’ve just seen a very carefully balanced piece of reporting from Wyre Davis on the BBC news.

Reporting from Tripoli in Libya, he and other reporters were taken to a hospital where they were presented with the sight of a baby girl in a serious condition.

The ‘uncle’ of the girl told reporters, with some clumsy prompting, that the girl’s injuries were as a result of enemy bombing and this was an example of how Nato protects civilians.

False Information on the Israel- Palestinian Conflict in a New Times Article / Prof.B.Rubin

June 7, 2011
How A New York Times Article Tells You Everything You Need to Know About the Israel-Palestinian Conflict By Being Full of False Information

I don't mean to keep picking on the New York Times but the problem is that the New York Times keeps picking on Israel. As usual, I have saved the truly funny treat for the end.

Syria pays Syrians to demonstrate on Israeli Border

http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,...

President Assad pays Syrians and Palestinians 1,000 $ a person who will demonstrate against Israel on the Syrian - Israeli border. The family of those who will be killed - 10,000$ were promised.

San Remo, 1920 - Recognize of Palestine the Homeland of Jews

http://new.ba-bamail.co.il:80/View.aspx?emailid=8681&memberid=633833

The Palestinian Attack on Israeli Borders: Part Two / DR.Rivka Shpak Lissak

Part two

Stage Four, 1993 – 2010: The Great Deception is revealed

The PA did not really want to end the conflict and make peace with Israel.
First, the PA never kept its promise to stop terror.
Second, the PA never changed its covenant, calling to eliminate the Jewish state, as agreed at Oslo.
Third, the PA under Arafat rejected a fair peace agreement proposed by President Clinton and Prime Minister Barak at the Camp David summit (2000) and started an Intifada, a campaign of terror against Israeli civilians..

How the Pro- Israeli Policy of Canad's Conservative Government May Be Moving Jewish Voters from Left to Right / Prof. Paul C.Merkley

Jewish Political Studies Review 23:1-2 (Spring 2011)
Reversing the Poles: How the Pro-Israeli Policy of Canada's Conservative Government May Be Moving Jewish Voters from Left to Right

The Lessons of the Six - Day War / David Harris

June 8,2011
This week marks the 44th anniversary of the Six-Day War. The history of that war -- and the lessons of it -- resonate to this day, all the more so against the backdrop of unfolding events in the region.

Mention the word "history" and it can trigger a roll of the eyes.

Add "Middle East" to the equation and folks might start running for the hills, unwilling to get caught up in the seemingly bottomless pit of details and disputes.

Who Is Against a Two - State Solution / Prof.Efraim Karsh

"Two states, living side by side in peace and security." This, in the words of President Barack Obama, is the solution to the century-long conflict between Jews and Palestinian Arabs in the Middle East. Washington is fully and determinedly on board. So are the Europeans. The UN and the "international community" vociferously agree. Successive governments of the state of Israel have shown their support for the idea. So far, there is—just as there has always been—only one holdout.

Reclaiming a Historical Truth / Prof.Efraim Karsh

Efraim Karsh
June 10, 2011
I agree with Shlomo Avineri, in his op-ed "Zionism does not need propaganda" (Haaretz English Edition, May 23), that the tragedy befalling the Palestinian Arabs in 1948 was exclusively of their own making, and that there is therefore "a grave moral defect in the Nakba discourse."

U.S Government Cheers as Turkey Goes Islamic and Anti - American / Prof. B.Rubin

June 10, 2011
Will 250 million people live under revolutionary Islamist regimes by the end of this year?

The Coming Crisis in the Middle East / Prof.B.Rubin

The gap between dominant Western perceptions of the Middle East and the region's reality is dangerously wide. While the "Arab Spring" is celebrated as an advance for moderation and democracy, in fact the advance is going to revolutionary Islamists. Developments in Turkey and Egypt especially threaten to plunge the Middle East back into an era of conflict, instability, and the worst threats to Western interests in decades.

UK Jewish Leaders Join Calls for Britain to Boycott Durban 3 / Justin Cohen

Jun 11, 2011
Britain this week came under renewed pressure to boycott an event marking the 10th anniversary of a notorious UN anti-racism conference after the US announced it would not take part and British Jewish leaders urged the UK to pull out.

The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly last December to hold a summit in New York this September, a decade after the UN event in Durban, South Africa, descended into an Israel-bashing forum.

The Tunisian Revolution Revisited / Jacques Neriah

June 12, 2011
Democracy does not seem to be closer in Tunisia today than it was four months ago, since the beginning of the so-called “Jasmine Revolution.” Instead it seems that Tunisia is in a stalemate, caught in moving sands, unable to stabilize and consolidate the domestic political scene.

Turkish's Elections: Last Exit before Toll / Prof. B.Rubin

10 Jun 2011
Note:: Because Turkey's election Sunday is of such huge importance, not only for Turkey but for the region as a whole, Western interests, Israel, and just about everybody, I asked a Turkish friend who is a keen observer of the situation to write a letter from Turkey. The author asked to be anonymous which I think makes perfect sense given what's going on in Turkey I have edited it very slightly for grammar and clarity.

Syrian Regime Flak Calls for Mass Murder: West Does Nothing / Prof. B.Rubin

June 12, 2011
Here is the real Middle East not the Fantasyland of the Obama Administration about President Bashar al-Asad as a reformer or the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. This is how things really work.

Taleb Ibrahim is a pro-regime propagandist frequently portrayed as a "political analyst" or some objective thinker in the international mass media. But speaking in Arabic he cuts loose, explaining that killing protestors is a duty because they are Israeli agents. Thus, those demonstrating against the government must be smashed, wiped out so a better future can be built for Syria.

Remarkable Israel / Daniel Pipes

June 13, 2011
Israel's military prowess – operational and technological alike – is renowned; but the Jewish state, population 7.7 million, is no less impressive in other areas too:

High technology: "Over the past two decades Israel has been transformed from a semisocialist backwater into a high-tech superpower. Adjust for population and Israel leads the world in the number of high-tech start-ups and the size of the venture-capital industry." ("Beyond the start-up nation," The Economist, December 29. 2010)

UN Pushes Ahead on Durban 3

June 13, 2011
The Bad News: UN pushes ahead on Durban III conference
The Good News: Human rights groups led by UN Watch to hold parallel conference, give voice to victims

GENEVA — Two weeks after the Obama administration announced it would boycott the upcoming UN racism conference known as “Durban III,” the world body adopted a resolution today detailing the program and speakers for the September 22 event in New York, to include UN chief Ban Ki-moon and top rights official Navi Pillay.

Lebanon's Islamic Stronghold / Hilel Khashan

Middle East Quarterly
Spring 2011, pp. 85-90 (view PDF)
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has apparently retained the hope of a military return to Lebanon from where he summarily withdrew in 2005 following the Rafiq Hariri assassination. In a 2008 interview with a Lebanese newspaper, he accused the northern city of Tripoli of becoming a base for Islamists who posed a direct threat to Syria's security.[1] More recently, Rifat Eid, head of Tripoli's Alawite Arab Democratic Party, described the city as the "Lebanese Kandahar."[2]

The Palestinian Leader Haj Amin Al - Husseini and Hitler / DR.Saul Bartal

Haj Amin Al – Husseini activities in Germany during the Second World War

Latine America: Iran's Springboard to Ameria's Backyard / Lt. Col. (ret. )Michael Segall

Ever since Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected in 2005, Iran has been working resolutely to establish a foothold in the Latin American countries - in the U.S.' backyard. The Iranian president's partners in promoting this policy are the presidents of Venezuela and Bolivia, who provide him with a springboard for activity in Latin America.

Obama's Ludicrous Proposal to Israel Unpacked / Prof.B.Rubin

June 14, 2011
Could President Barack Obama’s strategy possibly be more obvious to Israel? Not for the mass media, of course, but for Israel. Here’s a summary: Due to the Obama Administration’s ineptness, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is planning to ask the UN to give it unilateral independence in September. But rather than use its leverage against the PA–including pointing out that what it’s doing is contrary to every U.S.-guaranteed agreement that the PA signed with Israel during the last 18 years–the Obama Administration wants to use its leverage on Israel to force it to save Obama.

Speech of the President of the European Parliament before the Knesset

Jerusalem - Wednesday 15/06/2011
Dear Mr Speaker
Honourable Members of the Knesset,
Distinguished Guests,
It is a profound honour for me to address the Knesset today. I am here as President of the European Parliament, the only supranational assembly in the world to be directly elected, representing almost 500 million citizens from 27 Member States.

Turkish Elections / Prof.B.Rubin

13 Jun 2011
Voter Fraud?
Daniel Pipes wrote an article asking if the June 2011 election would be the last free and fair election in Turkey. But perhaps it was the first non-free one. I definitely cannot prove this but questions should be raised about government fraud. The questions revolve around the phenomenal and suspicious massive increase of voters and include the following points:

Turkish Military High Command Takes A Step Toward Islamism

The Obama Administration and the Muslim World / Gordon L.Bowen

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION'S OUTREACH TO THE MUSLIM WORLD AND MUSLIM ATTITUDES TOWARD TERRORISTS AND TERRORISM
Meria Journal,March 2011

Sri Lanka's Killing Fields - What Genocide Actually Looks Like / Ray Cook

Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields – what genocide actually looks like
15 Jun 2011
Comper with the Accusations against Israel

Last night Channel 4 screened what must be one of the most disturbing programme ever shown on British television.

It was shown after 11pm to minimise the chances that children would watch it.

The programme has been posted on the Channel 4oD website here.

This was a programme about the 2009 assault on the Tamil Tigers by the Sri Lankan army.

Power Dynamics Inside Hamas / Lt. Col. (ret. ) Jonathan D.Halevi

The Increasing Weight of the Gaza Leadership
The recent overt confrontation between Mahmoud al-Zahar, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Gaza, and Damascus-based Hamas political bureau leader Khaled Mashaal reflects underground currents feeding the tension within the Hamas leadership in Gaza and Syria.
Al-Zahar is demanding that Hamas-Gaza be given more weight in decision-making, while the Hamas leadership abroad contends that the center of power should remain outside of Palestine.

Arab Affairs: The Revolt at Yarmuk Refugee Camp / Zvi Mazel

06/17/2011
"Ya Bashar, ya Bashar, where, where are you? They massacred us under your eyes, where, where is the Syrian army, where are you?"
Talkbacks (1) While the eyes of the world were focused on the thousands of Palestinians trying to storm the Golan Heights on Friday, June 3 – “Naksa Day,” the day commemorating the defeat of the Arab armies in the Six Day War – scant attention was given to the developing drama inside the Yarmuk refugee camp on the outskirts of Damascus.

The Unbearable Lightness of Mainstream Thinking on Israel - Palestinian Issues / Prof.B.Rubin

June 19, 2011
Recently I appeared on a panel. I gave what I thought was a devastating and detailed analysis on why there wouldn’t be an Israel-Palestinian peace: the PA wasn’t ready Fatah was led by radicals; the Palestinian people hadn’t been prepared for peace (and had been prepared to see any compromise as treason); Hamas might take over or would use any PA compromises to attack and defeat its rival; there were too many problems with what would happen after a two-state solution was implemented.

The Syrian Revolt / Ahed Alhendi

17 Jun 2011
Twenty years ago, I was a school kid chanting with my peers, “Our leader forever, the father, Hafez Assad!” Back then, I could not have imagined that one day I would see his statues destroyed all over Syria by the people — a sight now common within the country.