February 2013

On Mistaking Mohamed Mursi For His Mask by Raymond Stock

February 2013
"You know, when it comes to Egypt, I think, had it not been for the leadership we showed, you might have seen a different outcome there." — President Barack Obama, "60 Minutes," January 27, 2013

Is Iran Trying to Start Another War? by Stephen Bryen and Shoshana Bryen

January 31, 2013
The next questions should be "who is pulling Israel into the quagmire that Lebanon and Syria have become, and why?"

Israeli jets struck something Tuesday night; Wednesday's guessing game has been, "what was it?"

Britain's Little Anti-Semitism Problem by Douglas Murray

January 28, 2013
How bad must things get before people notice that their country has an anti-Semitism problem?

How bad must things get before people notice that their country has an anti-Semitism problem?

Three striking stories from recent days go some way to demonstrating that though Britain may not admit it, we have a problem.

Oxford University and Churches in Europe Champion a Purveyor of Fraud by Lee Kaplan

January 31, 2013
Next time, the lies may be about any of us, or simply our right to speak the truth in public without being accused of denying rights to the very same people who plot to take them away from us.

Anna Baltzer, of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, who was exposed here at Gatestone Institute as lying about her background, is apparently still appearing in a debate Oxford University in the UK today, January 31st, as originally scheduled, after having spoken yesterday at the University of Sussex where she promoted the boycotting of, and divesting from, Israel.

Kurdistan: The Next Flashpoint Between Turkey, Iraq, and the Syrian Revolt Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah,

August 5, 2012
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, right, holds joint news conference with Massoud Barzani, left, leader of Iraq’s Kurdish region, on Oct. 21, 2007

The Roman Policy of Colonizing and Hellenizing the Land of Israel / Dr.Rivka Shpak Lissak

TRANSLATED TO ENGLISH BY DAFNA O'NEILL

Introduction
Zeev Safrai and Gedalyahu Alon pointed out the significant growth in population and settlement and rapid urbanization during the Roman period. This urbanization process and population growth were not the result of a development policy, but rather resulted from a colonization policy and the increase in foreign settlement in the Land of Israel during the first and second centuries CE.

Anti-Semitism: an everyday phenomenon in Germany

Feb.2 2013
As Germany marks 80 years since the Nazis came to power, German Jews still have to put up with anti-Semitism. Has calling Jews names and telling mean jokes become socially acceptable?

The young people's laughter echoes among the slabs of granite with the words engraved, admonishing the visitor never to forget the dead of the Holocaust.

It is drafty and gloomy in the Cologne synagogue foyer as Ilana Gluz fumbles for the light switch, shivering. Suddenly, someone turns on music downstairs and sounds of a fast-paced pop song boom up the stairwell.

New Hijab Controversies Looming in Europe by Soeren Kern

February 1, 2013
A member of the Kuwaiti delegation of the UN Human Rights Council, Malik Al-Wazzan, said France should revoke the ban [on full-face Islamic veils] to "protect the human rights in discrimination and inequalities toward foreigners and those with different beliefs." This comes as the Kuwaiti Parliament considers a draft law banning the construction of churches.

Palestinians' Nazi-Style Youth Movement Prepares for Jihad by Khaled Abu Toameh

February 1, 2013
More disturbing is that only a few of the dozens of Western-funded human rights organizations that operate in the Gaza Strip have raised their voice against Hamas's abuse of children. Even the United Nations Children's Fund [UNICEF], which was created to work for children's rights, their survival, development and protection, has yet to condemn Hamas for recruiting school children to its military apparatus.

Thousands of Palestinian schoolchildren have been receiving military training in the Gaza Strip to prepare them for jihad against Israel.

Egypt, 2012: The Year In Fatwas by Raymond Ibrahim

January 31, 2013
In previous decades in Egypt, the fatwas, or legal decrees issued by learned Muslims and based on Sharia law, revolved around questions like proper prayer, when and where women should wear the hijab, and if smoking was forbidden or permissible.

That was then.

Mia Farrow and UN Watch Condemn Election of Genocidal Sudan as Vice-President of Major UN Human Rights Body

fEB.2 2013
By acclamation, the U.N. elected Sudan this week as vice-president of its 54-member Economic and Social Council, a principal U.N. organ that regulates human rights groups, oversees U.N. women’s rights bodies, and adopts resolutions on subjects ranging from Internet freedom to female genital mutilation. Disappointingly, the U.S. did not object, nor did the European Union. But film star Mia Farrow and UN Watch did speak out: Click for more.

Dictators condemn Israel for not allowing them to condemn Israel

The Czech Republic and the Arab World by Michael Curtis

January 31, 2013
Czechoslovakia was the only democratic country in Central Europe in the 1930's, as Israel is the only democratic country in the Middle East today. By its vote in United Nations, the Czechs have made it clear that the Arab world should not be appeased; that the appalling Western mistake in 1938 – of trying to appease Hitler by giving him the Sudetentland to Hitler, must not be repeated by giving Israel the Arabs.

Why David Ward’s remarks about Israel and the Holocaust are mainstream / Ray Cook

Posted: 26 Jan 2013
David Ward MP is in a spot of bother with the Liberal Democrats.
On the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day in the UK he chose to make the following slanderous comparison between Israeli Jews and Nazi Germany:

” [he was] “saddened that the Jews, who suffered unbelievable levels of persecution during the Holocaust, could within a few years of liberation from the death camps be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians in the new State of Israel and continue to do so on a daily basis in the West Bank and Gaza”.

Ma’an removes Antisemitic article following PMW's exposure by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Jan. 31, 2013
Following Palestinian Media Watch's exposure yesterday of a venomous Antisemitic article published by the independent Palestinian Ma'an News Agency, Ma'an removed the article from its website.

Ma'an's administration wrote that it removed the article "because it contains incorrect information and hateful content that are unjustified and which do not in any way represent the opinion of Ma'an or its editorial policies." (See full statement below.)

Among others, the Antisemitic article included the following statements:

Open Letter to Glenn Greenwald Regarding Brooklyn College by Alan M. Dershowitz

February 2, 2013
It is crystal clear that the political science department 's co-sponsorship and endorsement of these extremist speakers does constitute an endorsement of BDS. The best proof is that they have refused to endorse anti-BDS events or even pro-Israel speakers who advocate the two state solution and an end to the settlements. If you can't see through the charade of the political science department 's claim of neutrality, then you don't deserve to be a journalist.

Dear Mr. Greenwald:

Before I respond to your questions I have two questions for you:

Does Brooklyn College pass the "shoe on the other foot" test? by Alan M. Dershowitz

February 3, 2013
The chairman of the political science department, a radical leftist, would be complaining that his academic freedom is being denied by these departments officially endorsing positions with which he disagrees. The president of the college, known for her feminist views, would not likely remain silent in the face of an official departmental endorsement of the right to life.

Muslim Persecution of Christians: November, 2012 "The presence of a church here will offend us" by Raymond Ibrahim

February 1, 2013
A Christian Eritrean refugee, held hostage by Bedouin traffickers for three months in the Sinai, was given five days to raise $25,000 or face illegal organ harvesting of his kidney.

Reports of Christian persecution by Muslims around the world during the month of November include (but are not limited to) the following accounts. They are listed by form of persecution, and in country alphabetical order, not necessarily according to severity:

Church Attacks

Western Leftists Back Islamists; Arab Counterparts Are Their Victims By Barry Rubin

January 27, 2013
OH! pleasant exercise of hope and joy!
For mighty were the auxiliars which then stood
Upon our side, we who were strong in love!
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very heaven!–Oh! times,
In which the meager, stale, forbidding ways
Of custom, law, and statute, took at once
The attraction of a country in romance!
–William Wordsworth, Poem on the French Revolution, 1789By Barry Rubin

The Distribution of the Urban Hellenist Population throughout the Land of Israel under Roman Occupation (63 BCE – 324 CE) / Dr.Rivka Shpak Lissak

Translated to English by Dafna O'neill
Rome turned the land of Israel into a Hellenist country by spreading 30 poleis and also military cities throughout the country. Under Roman occupation a network of poleis and military colonies was established and expanded throughout the Land of Israel, on the basis of a similar network built during the Hellenist occupation. Roman roads were laid to connect the cities and the military colonies to ensure that the Roman army could move around the country freely.

Why Today’s American Foreign Policy Is So Unrealistic By Barry Rubin

February 2, 2013
One of the main features of this misguided contemporary foreign policy debate is the corruption of the concept of Realism. In some ways, the school called Realism was simply a way of teaching principles long regarded as obvious in Europe to Americans, whose idealism about the world had both good and bad implications.

Why I’m not buying the Sunday Times This Week / Ray Cook

Feb 2 2013
03 Feb 2013 04:46 AM PST
Normally, by now, I am relaxing after a brisk walk to the local shops and reading my Sunday Times.

Recently, I was reading some old diaries and discovered that I was doing the Sunday Times crossword in 1969. I remember well when my association with that newspaper begun. They ran a series on the Kennedy assassination, something that has fascinated me all my life, and it began with that Sunday Times series of articles.

Islam and Islamism in the Modern World An interview with Daniel Pipes by Tom Bethell

February 2013
Daniel Pipes, one of our leading experts on Islam, established the Middle East Forum and became its head in 1994. He was born in 1949 and grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His father, Richard Pipes, was a professor of Russian history, now emeritus, at Harvard.

Israel refuses to participate in UN "human rights" farce / Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz

Editor's note:I don"t agree with Netanyahu's policy, but the UNHR IS A BIASED ORGANIZATION TOWARDS ISRAEL AND ISRAEL HAS NO CHANCE TO GET A FAIR TREATMENT.

Feb 1 2013
Israel has been making headlines recently for its failure to show-up to its "Universal Periodic Review ("UPR") session at the United Nations Human Rights Council ("HRC") and for refusing to cooperate with a recent "fact-finding mission" into settlements in the West Bank. As JTA reports:

No time to waste in Syria By Pinhas Inbari

04 February 2013
The reported Israeli military strike on a Syrian arms convoy destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon and the non-conventional weapons production center near Damascus has put the Jewish state in the midst of the Syrian conflict.

ABC interviews offer informed perspectives on Syria weapons strike / Ahron Shapiro

Feb 1 2013
In the aftermath of reports of an Israeli attack on a Syrian weapons convoy, ABC Radio carried two interviews on Friday worthy of special notice.

On Radio National's Breakfast program, Fran Kelly spoke with Israeli Channel 2's esteemed journalist and analyst Ehud Yaari, who of course recently visited Australia and spoke at an AIJAC function, video available here.

Hours later, on The World Today, Simon Santow interviewed former CIA operative Robert Baer.

(Listen or read the transcript here and read an extended transcript of unbroadcast extras here.)

Conspiracy Theories Triumphant in Turkey by Daniel Pipes

Feb 5, 2013
I wrote in The Hidden Hand, my 1996 book surveying conspiracy theories in the Middle East, that

Turkey and Israel stand out as the only two Middle Eastern countries where leaders are fully accountable to electorates, where the West is viewed more as an ally than as an enemy, and where conspiracy theories have a relatively minor role in public life. … Few mainstream politician, intellectual, or religious leaders [in Turkey] engage in conspiratorial thinking, which exists mostly at the fringes of polite society.

First They Came for Mila Kunis Ukraine's Anti-Semitism by Oleksandr Feldman

February 4, 2013
There is a growing trend wherein an anti-Semitic collection of hate-mongers are abusing the democratic Parliament of Ukraine to spew messages and incite violence in ways that we had hoped were relegated to the distant past.

Learning the Wrong Lessons from Ike (President Eisenhower) by Alexander H. Joffe

February 1, 2013
What is the proper balance between firmness and flexibility for U.S. policymakers when dealing with Middle Eastern politics? To what extent does history offer guidelines? The Washington Post's David Ignatius has reported that Chuck Hagel, nominated to be the next secretary of defense, has given President Obama and others copies of Eisenhower 1956, a book by David A. Nichols about the Suez Crisis of that year, and has endorsed the thirty-fourth president's hard line against Israel.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei mission "To set Israel on fire"/ Talia Katz

Feb 5 2013
The principle argument being made by opponents of strong action against Iran's nuclear program is that Iran is a "rational" actor, whose regime values survival above all else and a nuclear Iran can be contained just as the Soviet Union was during the Cold War.

Now a new report offers yet more evidence to doubt whether Iran's "rationality" is so obvious and assured. And the report concerns not the loud-mouthed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but the man everyone agrees has ultimate control over Iran's nuclear program, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Turkey Censors Its TV History? by Veli Sirin

February 4, 2013
While the Turkish public prosecutor has yet to initiate a legal case, the broadcaster has rushed into self-censorship, announcing that the production of its episodes will be shortened, and the series will come to an earlier conclusion than intended.

Losing the Battle with Islam? By Alan Caruba

Feb 5 2013
“Egypt, the largest Arab state, the second largest recipient of U.S. military aid, and our second most important ally in the Middle East, is now in the hands of a hostile regime—an elected one at that—which we continue to treat as a friendly one,” says Raymond Stock in a recent article published by the Middle East Forum.

Burgas findings reveal Australian involved and puts EU under pressure to ban Hezbollah / Sharyn Mittelman

Feb 6 2013
Following Bulgaria's findings that Hezbollah was involved in the 18 July 2012 terrorist attack in Burgas that killed six people - five Israeli tourists and a local Bulgarian bus driver, the European Union (EU) is now under increasing pressure to list Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation.

Air Strike in Syria - The Opening Move? by Yaakov Lappin

February 4, 2013
Proliferation of strategic weapons will not be tolerated, no matter what the price.

If, as international media reports say, Israel was indeed behind last week's air strikes in Syria, it can be assumed that the attack was the opening move in a longer-term strategy to contain quickly-developing threats emerging from Syria, as well as the broader Iran-Hezbollah axis.

Univerisy of California, at Davis: Jewish students threatened by Tammi Benjamin

Beb.6 2013
Dear Chancellor Katehi,
Thank you for your letters to us and our colleague Kenneth Marcus in response to our letter regarding the Dutton Hall "occupation" on November 19, 2012. We are pleased to hear your commitment to investigating the events we described and to providing a safe environment for all students to learn freely and practice their civil rights.

The takeover event is now in the past, but many members and supporters of the Jewish community are concerned about subsequent action and policy in the future. As a result, we do have a few follow-up questions:

"If They [Muslims] Had Gotten Rid of the Punishment for Apostasy, Islam Would Not Exist Today" by Nonie Darwish

February 5, 2013
The West refuses to be concerned; and when its citizens are concerned, they are suppressed. They are sued, assaulted, threatened with deportation and sometimes murdered.

The U.S. versus the 'Shi'ite Crescent'? by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi

February 5, 2013
Writing on his blog 'Karl reMarks', the prominent Lebanese blogger and Twitter user Karl Sharro complained of the 'decline of narrative' in 'Middle East expertise', lamenting the dominance of a 'cold analytical approach' towards events in the volatile region and the role of foreign powers therein. But is the concept of narrative and grand theory actually useful here?

Moynihan’s Moment: New Book Traces Late Senator’s Great Zionist Romance By Marty Peretz

Feb. 5, 2013
“The General Assembly is a mob scene, like the Durban conferences convened by the U.N. Human Rights Council and its equally mendacious predecessor...”

THE NEW YORK OBSERVER

Why is Argentina letting Iran examine the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires, a crime Hezbollah surely committed? By Lee Smith|

February 6, 2013
This July 18, 1994, file photo shows Argentinian rescue workers searching the remains of the AMIA headquarters in Buenos Aires.

Is Turkey Leaving the West? by Daniel Pipes

February 6, 2013
N.B.: Washington Times title: "Trading Europe for the Shanghai Five Turkey dissembles over joining the EU"

Recent steps taken by the Government of Turkey suggest it may be ready to ditch the NATO club of democracies for a Russian and Chinese gang of authoritarian states.

Here is the evidence:

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's logo (in Chinese and Russian).

Another Attempt to Murder Free Speech in Denmark by Soeren Kern

February 6, 2013
"I live in a government safe house. I wear a bulletproof jacket. I have not walked the streets ... in more than seven years. [I am] imprisoned in my own country for the mere fact that I have spoken out against the enemies of the West." — Geert Wilders, MP, Netherlands

Lars Hedegaard, a well-known seventy-year-old free speech activist and critic of Islam, narrowly escaped a murder attempt on February 5 outside his home in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Muslim Persecution of Christians: December, 2012 by Raymond Ibrahim

February 6, 2013
"Siad Deserved to Die Because He Was Not Committed to the Islamic Religion."
Sweden: "Quite frankly we are at a loss why the Migration services [in Sweden] are so determined to deport [him]. People with weaker cases get permission to stay in Sweden, but not him."
— Attorney for Reza Jabbari, a convert to Christianity seeking asylum in Sweden. If the Swedes return him to Iran, he is likely to face imprisonment or be sentenced to death for apostasy.

Paying People to Hate You by Douglas Murray

February 7, 2013
I was asked to Brussels to address the matter of what the European Union to tackle anti-Semitism. The answer is easy: "Stop funding anti-Semites."

Jews Leave Brussels by David J. Rusin

Feb 6, 2013
Islamist Watch (IW) maintains an extensive archive of news items on nonviolent Islamism in the Western world. The complete collection can be found here; lists organized by topic are accessible on the right side of the IW homepage.

The following are some of the recent developments covered in the IW database:

A Jewish school's plight and Europe's new realities

The high cost of defending Israel by Alan M. Dershowitz

February 8, 2013
Whenever I speak in support of Israel or in criticism of its enemies, the dogs of defamation are unleashed against me. The attacks, all from the hard left, seemed coordinated, focusing on common ad hominem themes. They accuse me of being a plagiarist, a supporter of torture, a right wing Zio-fascist, a hypocrite, an opponent of the two-state solution and a supporter of Israel's settlement policies. All these allegations are demonstrably false but this does not seem to matter to those whose job it is to try to discredit me.

The Hamas-Egyptian Alliance by Khaled Abu Toameh

February 8, 2013
The collapse of the Mubarak regime has been a great blessing for Hamas, which has emerged as a major player. Now Hamas knows that it can always rely on Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood to stay in power and increase Hamas's influence.

Did Hamas dispatch 7,000 militiamen from the Gaza Strip to Egypt to protect President Mohamed Morsi, who is currently facing a popular uprising?

School Books - What they teach in the Palestinian school system

Intoduction
A new report was published recently claiming there is no uncitement in the PA school system. Learn the truth.

In 2006, the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Higher Education introduced new 12th grade schoolbooks written by Palestinian educators who were appointed by the Fatah leadership. PMW reviewed these books and found that they make no attempt to educate for peace or coexistence with Israel. Instead Israel's right to exist is adamantly denied and the Palestinian war against Israel is presented as an eternal religious battle for Islam.

U.N. agency removes anti-Israel tweeter from job

February 7, 2013
JERUSALEM (JTA) – A U.N. agency employee based in Jerusalem who tweeted an incendiary anti-Israel photo nearly a year ago was removed from her position.

Brooklyn College hosts BDS event, counter protest By MICHAEL WILNER

02/08/2013 03:05
Event goes ahead as planned despite uproar after college's political science department sponsors anti-Israel conference.
Palestinians call for a boycott

NEW YORK- Brooklyn College on Thursday evening hosted an event hosted by the Students for Justice in Palestine, during which two speakers, and dozens of their supporters, called for the boycott, divestment and sanctioning of the State of Israel.

Setting Back Arab-Israeli Peace by David Harris

Feb.7 2013
Introduction
El Pais invited AJC Executive Director David Harris to be a guest columnist. El Pais is Spain's most influential newspaper and is widely read in the Spanish-speaking world, including Latin America. This is David's fourth monthly column for El Pais.

Setting Back Arab-Israeli Peace by
To understand the root cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict, look no further than two recent sets of events.

First, there were the comments of two Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders.

Arab Moderation Is Murdered: An Assassination in Tunisia By Barry Rubin

Friday, February 8, 2013
"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph in the world is that good men do nothing." --Edmund Burke

And if the good men are murdered by the forces of political evil than they certainly cannot do anything. Hence, the outcome is assured.

Thus, the "Arab Spring" has just been murdered with bullets and hijacked amid bloodstains.