The Attorney General’s Office announced on Monday that the authors of the book Torat Hamelech, which says it is permissible in some situations to kill non-Jews according to Jewish law, will not be indicted. Investigations against rabbis who gave their approbation to the book will also be closed.
The book, published in 2009, was written by Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira and Rabbi Yosef Elitzur of the Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. It provides an analysis of the Jewish laws regarding the permissibility or otherwise of killing non-Jews during times of war and peace, and was condemned as racist by many pluralistic groups who claimed it incited violence and racism against Arabs and other minorities in Israel.
The book’s publication in 2009 sparked a huge public outcry, which also saw Israel’s two most respected rabbis, Sephardi Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef and leader of the non-Hassidic Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox community Rabbi Shalom Yosef Elyashiv come out in public opposition to the publication of the Torat Hamelech.
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein said that the investigation was being closed because there is not enough evidence that the book was published with the intention to incite racism. Weinstein wrote that the Torat Hamelech is written in a general manner and does not call for violence.
According to the A-G, works pertaining to rulings on religious law or publications of religious sources should not be dealt with in criminal proceedings in order to preserve freedom of religion.
In addition, Weinstein said that it was hard to assert that the book permits individuals to act, rather than a ruling authority.
I do not own and have not read the book, but I suspect strongly that most of what it does is cite Chapter and Verse from Maimonides' Mishneh Torah.
The current round of negotiations between the world powers and Iran is "not working," a senior Israeli official said Monday, adding that after two meetings there is "not an iota of evidence indicating the Iranians are in any way serious about curbing their nuclear program."
Israel was briefed by a senior American team over the weekend about what happened at last week's talks in Baghdad, and the official said what the international community put on the table "is less than what is needed, and even those minimal demands were rejected by the Iranians."
According to the official, the Iranians have succeeded in changing the world's demands. "In the previous rounds of talks, when Iran was only enriching uranium up to three percent, the world's demand was for a full halt to enrichment. Now that they are enriching up to 20% there are those in the world saying they are able to accept a certain amount of enrichment," he said.
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Israel, the official said, was "skeptical in the extreme" about the current talks, and said the Iranians have bought themselves two months to move their nuclear ambitions forward – five weeks from the first meeting in Istanbul on April 14 to last week's session in Baghdad, and now another three weeks between that meeting and the next one scheduled for June 19 in Moscow.
"They are successfully playing for time," the official said.
Netanyahu, in a meeting with senators Mark Udall (D-CO), Richard Burr (R-NC), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) said the Iranians were playing "nuclear chess." Tehran, he said, might decide to sacrifice a pawn – i.e. give some concessions – in order to "keep their king," which is defined in Jerusalem as Iran keeping its nuclear program intact.
If this is where we are in September, I think Israel will do something to force the issue.
A Turkish high criminal court has unanimously accepted an indictment seeking life sentences for four former Israeli military commanders over their alleged involvement in the 2010 killing of nine Turks on a Gaza-bound aid ship, Turkish newspaper Today's Zaman and the Andalou Agency reported Monday.
The indictment seeks nine counts of aggravated life imprisonment for former IDF chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Gabi Ashkenazi, OC Israel Navy V.-Adm. Eliezer Marom, former Military Intelligence head Amos Yadlin and former IAF intelligence head Brig.-Gen. Avishai Levy.
Former IDF chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Gabi Ashkenazi said Monday that he hoped common sense would prevail, in response to reports that a Turkish high criminal court had unanimously accepted an indictment seeking life sentences for him and three others over the 2010 Mavi Marmara raid. He also expressed hope that Turkey would reestablish diplomatic ties with Israel.
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"From the beginning of the affair, I appeared before every forum, sometimes on my own, to defend IDF soldiers who performed their job out in the field on behalf of Israel," Ashkenazi said. "If the price of what I did is not being able to visit Turkey - I am willing to pay that price."
Diplomatic sources stressed Wednesday that no official information had been received about an announcement by Turkey that it planned to indict former IDF commanders over the Marmara affair, but said "If it's true, this won't bring us to a good place. We will need to weigh our steps."
"We also have ways to bother them in the international arena. If this is the path they want, we also know what to do. They have plenty of Achilles' heels. We don't want escalation, but if this is the game – we'll play," the sources said.
#BDSFail : Protesters fail to disrupt HaBimah's Merchant of Venice
At the Globe Theatre in London Monday night, a production of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice by Israel's HaBimah theater company came off without a hitch.
Habimah appeared at London’s world famous Globe Theater on Monday despite protests and after anti-Israel activists failed to persuade organizers to cancel their performance in an international festival celebrating William Shakespeare’s work.
Israel’s national theater was performing a Hebrew version of William Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice on Monday and Tuesday. Both performances are sold out.
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The Globe Theater refused to heed to calls to cancel the performances and last week it stepped up security in anticipation of any disturbances.
A letter was sent to ticket holders of the sold out performances asking people not to bring bags and to arrive early and expect “extensive” searches.
“Please be aware that the Globe reserves the right to refuse admission to anyone we have reason to believe may cause a disruption. Any objects or material which could be used in disrupting the performance will be deemed prohibited items,” the letter said.
The man and woman, who are both in their 30s, met on a dating website. After some months they decided to turn a new leaf in their lives, get married and raise together their children from previous marriages.
Yet six months after the marriage, the woman discovered that the husband continued to correspond with other women on the dating websites and on Facebook and decided to divorce him.
At court, the woman accused the husband of causing the marriage to fail. “He had physiological problems in bed,” she told judges. “He refused to take pills, drank alcohol and smoked pot.”
The woman also charged that for a long time the husband avoided looking for work, instead spending long hours in front of the computer. The husband for his part claimed that his wife refused to have marital relations with him.
“She would not shower, and had telephone conversations with another man,” he claimed.
Attorney Amir Zvulun, who represented the woman, presented the rabbinical court with extremely suggestive correspondence from the man to other women on Facebook to prove that he was unfaithful to his wife.
Rabbinical court judges said the husband’s response to the wife’s accusations proved that he admitted to what he did. His claim that he was not caught “with his pants down” was rejected by the court.
The judges ruled that the husband caused the failure of the marriage and in a precedent setting ruling ordered him to pay damages.
On Saturday, in the Syrian town of Houla, 108 people were murdered by forces belonging to President Assad (although he is trying to blame al-Qaeda), including 32 children.
In Houla, the videos show that some of the civilian victims—with pieces of their bodies missing—were probably nonspecific, by which I mean that, as in all wars, they were simply killed because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the men who pressed the “fire” buttons on the artillery piece, or on the tank that fired the shells that ripped them apart, meant them no specific harm, per se, as individuals. Others, though, seem to show the telltale traces of up-close murders—the result of guns pressed against people’s heads and fired, and of knives drawn deeply across throats.
These latter victims, who include some of Houla’s dead children, are the most troubling of the deaths that are occurring in Syria today. They raise the question of whether there is any kind of peace plan, at this point, that is viable, at least in the minds of the actors in the conflict. That is why Houla is such a watershed event (and why the regime is claiming it is a set-up, to make it look bad).
In this kind of a war, which involves one community—the minority Alawites, who rule the country, and fear extinction at the hands of the much more sizeable Sunni community (including residents of Houla)—the killers just keep on doing their work, whatever their politicians say.
Ban Ki-moon has said that there is no U.N. “Plan B” in Syria. Plan A, to sum it up roughly, relies upon goodwill and a change of heart on the part of the Assad regime and the rebels fighting it. The thing is: What does one do when men become capable of cutting the throat of a small child?
Indeed, what does one do when men become capable of slashing the throat of a small child? For example, what does one do when men become capable of slashing the throat of a three-month old baby? Goodwill and change don't seem likely, do they?
Iran and Hezbullah targeted diplomats in 7 countries over 13 months... and Jews
The Washington Post has connected the dots between attempts on the lives of diplomats - American and Middle Eastern, including Israelis - in seven countries over 13 months. According to the report, Iran and Hezbullah are behind all of them (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).
The threat, many details of which were never made public, appeared to recede after Azerbaijani authorities rounded up nearly two dozen people in waves of arrests early this year. Precisely who ordered the hits, and why, was never conclusively determined. But U.S. and Middle Eastern officials now see the attempts as part of a broader campaign by Iran-linked operatives to kill foreign diplomats in at least seven countries over a span of 13 months. The targets have included two Saudi officials, a half-dozen Israelis and — in the Azerbaijan case — several Americans, the officials say.
In recent weeks, investigators working in four countries have amassed new evidence tying the disparate assassination attempts to one another and linking all of them to either Iran-backed Hezbollah militants or operatives based inside Iran, according to U.S. and Middle Eastern security officials. An official report last month summarizing the evidence cited phone records, forensic tests, coordinated travel arrangements and even cellphone SIM cards purchased in Iran and used by several of the would-be assailants, said two officials who have seen the six-page document.
Strikingly, the officials noted, the attempts halted abruptly in early spring, at a time when Iran began to shift its tone after weeks of bellicose anti-Western rhetoric and threats to shut down vital shipping lanes. In March, Iranian officials formally accepted a proposal to resume negotiations with six world powers on proposals to curb its nuclear program.
“There appears to have been a deliberate attempt to calm things down ahead of the talks,” said a Western diplomat briefed on the assassination plots, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the intelligence. “What happens if the talks fail — that’s anyone’s guess.”
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The most recent threat came to light after a foreign spy agency intercepted electronic messages that appeared to describe plans to move weapons and explosives from Iran into Azerbaijan. Some of the messages were traced to an Azerbaijani national named Balagardash Dashdev, a man with an extensive criminal background and, according to a Middle East investigator involved in the case, deep ties to a network of intelligence operatives and militant groups based inside Iran.
Working from inside Iran, officials said, Dashdev in late October began coordinating the shipment of explosives, weapons and cash to Azerbaijani contacts, including relatives and former criminal associates. As U.S. and Middle Eastern intelligence deepened their surveillance, they began to discern what the Middle Eastern investigator described as a “jumble of overlapping plans,” some specifically aimed at Azerbaijan’s small Jewish community and others targeting diplomats and foreign-owned businesses in Baku, the country’s sprawling capital on the Caspian Sea.
During the late fall and early winter, the weapons were smuggled into the country along with at least 10 Iranian nationals recruited to help carry out the plot, U.S. and Middle Eastern officials said.
The Azerbaijani participants had been paid a cash advance and were beginning to conduct surveillance on a list of targets — including a Jewish elementary school, a U.S.-owned fast-food restaurant, an oil company office and “other objects in Baku,” according to a brief statement issued by the Azerbaijani government after a series of raids in which about two dozen alleged accomplices were arrested between January and early March.
The Obama administration acknowledged in March that the U.S. Embassy may have been among the intended targets. But in the months since then, the suspects under questioning revealed extensive details about the “other objects in Baku” that had been on the target list, confirming that the would-be assassins intended to go beyond attacks on buildings.
“They were going after individuals,” said the former State Department official who worked closely with the embassy in Baku. “They had names [of employees]. And they were interested in family members, too.”
The alleged plot leader, Dashdev, would tell investigators that the planned attacks were intended as revenge for the deaths of the Iranian nuclear scientists, attacks that Iran has publicly linked to Israel and the United States. Iran vehemently denied involvement in any assassination plot inside Azerbaijan, and the Iranian Embassy in Baku suggested in a statement that the plot was fiction.
The Obama administration is attempting to tiptoe between the raindrops on this one. They are trying not to accuse the Iranians. But the truth should be told. Iran is behind much of the terrorism in the world. And it's time for the West to do something about it.
Michael Ben Ari exposing Knesset hypocrisy on illegal immigration
National Union MK Michael Ben Ari is planning to expose the hypocrisy of Israel's Left by inviting 100 illegal immigrants from the poor neighborhoods of South Tel Aviv to spend a yom kef (a day of pleasure) at the Knesset.
The National Union MK, who previously made headlines by bringing 40 Sudanese and Eritrean nationals who illegally entered the country to a swimming pool in a wealthy Tel Aviv neighborhood last summer, wrote a letter to Knesset Director-General Dan Landau asking to exercise his right as a parliamentarian to bring visitors to the Knesset.
“I turn to you in the name of residents of [poor] neighborhoods in south Tel Aviv that are bruised and abused,” Ben-Ari wrote. “As a mark of identification with these neighborhoods, I decided to invite 100 illegal infiltrators to the Knesset for an entire day.”
Ben-Ari plans to bring the migrants to the MK cafeteria, which is closed to most Knesset visitors, as well as to committee meetings. He also asked Landau to save them seats in the area of the plenum mezzanine saved for honored guests.
According to the National Union MK, hosting such a day is important for two reasons.
First, MKs will have a chance to meet migrants up close, without mediators, and “feel a little of what residents of neighborhoods invaded by illegal infiltrators feel.”
In addition, Ben-Ari wrote, bringing migrants to the Knesset is a humanitarian gesture, as some MKs say they are impoverished and starving.
“I want to give a practical exam on pluralism and accepting others for MKs like Nitzan Horowitz and Ilan Gilon [of Meretz] who support leaving infiltrators in Israel,” the National Union MK said. “I’m interested to see if those MKs would take groups of infiltrators home, or if they think mercy and human rights only come at the expense of residents of poor neighborhoods.”
Britain's Channel 4 to show #MrandMrsAssad documentary blaming Assad's for killing
Britain's Channel 4 is going to show a documentary on Monday evening that blames Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma for the killing in Syria.
The programme shows intimate footage of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria and his wife Asma that helps explain why the West bought the idea they were true modernisers.
When Bashar took the reins of power after his father's death in 2000, the West was drawn into a hope and belief that Syria would be a new force for change in the Middle East. The Assads were seen as a glamorous couple with modern Western morals and values; he was hailed a reformer, she was the 'Rose of the Desert'.
Key leaders and figures in the West welcomed the young couple, convinced that the softly spoken London-trained ophthalmologist and his beautiful British-born former investment banker wife would bring reform and modernisation to a country that had been run by an iron-fisted dictator for nearly 30 years.
But it seems the West was duped. Instead of a transparent and progressive leadership, what has emerged during a year-long bloody uprising is evidence of the regime's gross systematic human rights abuses, including widespread killings and torture, while the Assads look on.
Defectors from Syrian intelligence and security agencies, used by the regime to crush the 14-month-long revolt, told Dispatches that Assad's cousin, Brigadier-General Atef Najib, issued "shoot-to-kill" orders against civilian protestors in Deraa, in April last year. "Kill quotas" were reportedly issued to snipers tasked with assassinating pro-democracy activists, the defectors told Channel 4.
Channel 4 said it is also alleged that Assad's brother Maher, a senior army commander, was among senior figures operating out of a secret command center in Deraa when orders were issued to contain a protest march by all means necessary. More than 100 civilians were shot dead. Maher is also accused of ordering the indiscriminate mass-punishment of the entire male population of a troublesome town, al-Moudamya, later the same month, according to the Dispatches investigation.
The Channel 4 documentary also will screen footage of Assad and his London-born wife, Asma, relaxing and joking together in 2009.
In it, the president says: "Every mistake (that) happens in this government, you are responsible, not somebody else. Not the minister. Not the prime minister. At the end you should be responsible."
The documentary also examines emails which, according to Channel 4, indicate that the Assads were aware of the arrest of individuals as part of the crackdown on anti-regime activists. In two separate cases, they appear to have personally intervened to secure the release of detainees.
For those of you who lived through the mid-'90's of the last century in Israel, please tell me that this doesn't sound familiar (Hat Tip: Bad Blue).
Worryingly, a US Dept of Homeland Security 'insider' recently told a Canadian paper that the Obama Administration is scheming (along with that heavily-politicized agency) to spark a Helter-Skelter-type race war in this country... only difference being it'll be the Bolshevik Boy Wonder -rather than Charlie- we'll be turning-to to lead us all 'Forward' through the ensuing apocalypse. Attempts at gun confiscation, curfews, and DHS checkpoints (they recently obtained the bulletproof booths) are what you can look forward to in this action-packed sequel to hopenchange.
Now that a reckless prosecutor in the Trayvon Martin case has the progressive Left's street muscle all fired up, perhaps DHS staging a faux-Obama-assassination attempt (as the informant purports they're planning to do) could trigger the widespread rioting and looting throughout major US cities that Obama needs to inflict martial law and cancel the November election. But Axelrod won't be leaving that to chance: the source also speaks of persistent rumors that Louis Farrakhan in on the CIA payroll, and that he'll be utilized in rabble-rousing masses of blacks and Muslims -in concert loyal Obama allies like the New Black Panthers- 'by any means necessary'.
Yeah, this particular DHS 'insider' reminds one of what you hear from the Ulsterman Report, which has delivered astounding revelations from a presidency in disarray over the last couple years. But interestingly, their anonymous 'White House Insider' recently said very similar things re pending US riots and subsequently cancelled elections, except the trigger in his view would be the likely Supreme Court defeat for ObamaCare, bringing a 'Summer of Healthcare Riots'.
For those who do not understand my reference to Rabin at the top of this post, one of the many pieces of speculation as to what really happened on the night of November 4, 1995 (given that the government has never offered an explanation for why assassin Yigal Amir was a consort of General Security Service agent Avishai Raviv, and yet he managed to pull the trigger) was that Rabin's assassination was staged in a bid to gain sympathy for him, and that Rabin was not supposed to die but the staging attempt went awry. A much fuller explanation is here.
Will Obama try to take a page out of Rabin's alleged book if he trails in the polls in late summer or early fall? Hmmm.
Renowned Turkish pianist to be prosecuted for 'insulting Islam' on Twitter
A world-renowned Turkish pianist faces prosecution for 'insulting Islam' as a result of tweets posted to his Twitter account (Hat Tip: Tuna T and Joshua I).
The state-run Anatolia news agency reported on Friday that an İstanbul court will decide whether to accept the proposed indictment against Fazıl Say, who has played piano with the New York Philharmonic, Berliner Symphoniker, Israel Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France and Tokyo Symphony.
The prosecutor accuses 42-year-old Say of inciting hatred and public enmity and insulting "religious values." Say, who has served as a culture ambassador for the European Union, allegedly mocked Islamic beliefs on Twitter.
Last month, Say sent controversial tweets questioning whether heaven in Islamic belief is like a brothel or pub because the Quran says there are rivers of drinks and houris, or very beautiful women, in heaven for those who commit good deeds while they are on earth.
I have been told that the tweets also included the following (translated from Turkish):
the tweet's translation is "is allah something you live for or kill for?...Every murderer, rapist, thief is a believer in allah. Is this not a paradox. I am an atheist and proud of it" This was has his tweet.
And Turkey's leader is Barack Hussein Obama's best friend forever. Is this where the US is heading as well?
Analysis of the International Atomic Energy Agency report on Iran’s nuclear program by the Institute for Science and International Security found that Tehran has 6,197 kg of light enriched (3.5 percent) uranium. That amount could yield five nuclear weapons if enriched to 95% purity.
The report noted that Iran’s average monthly enrichment of uranium has accelerated drastically since its last investigation in February, and that Iran is continuing to enrich its nuclear stock to 20% purity. The IAEA estimated that Iran has produced a total of 145.6 kg of 20% enriched uranium.
The IAEA experts also found particles enriched up to 27% at the Fordo nuclear facility. That is higher than the 20% declared by Iran and closer to the weapons-grade material used in nuclear missiles.
The findings showed Iran is pressing ahead with its uranium enrichment despite UN resolutions calling on it to suspend the activity.
Yet the Obama administration continues its game of Chicken over an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
What Bob Simon doesn't want to hear about Christians in the Middle East
I am sure that many of you remember that horrible 60 Minutes segment done by Bob Simon last month, which was called Christians in the Holy Land. Simon probably does not know about, and does not want to know about, a Christian village named Taybeh in Samaria.
This is a village whose population is 100% Christian. It is surrounded by a number of Muslim villages, some of which are extremely hostile.
The number of Christians living in Taybeh is estimated at less than 2,000. Residents say that another 15,000 Taybeh villagers live in the US, Canada and Europe, as well as South America.
Over the past few years, the Christian residents of Taybeh have been living in constant fear of being attacked by their Muslim neighbors.
Such attacks, residents say, are not uncommon. They are more worried about intimidation and violence by Muslims than by Israel's security barrier or a checkpoint. And the reason why many of them are leaving is because they no longer feel safe in a village that is surrounded by thousands of hostile Muslims who relate to Christians as infidels and traitors.
Just last week, scores of Muslim men from surrounding villages, some of the men armed with pistols and clubs, attacked Taybeh.
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Palestinian Authority policemen who rushed to the village had to shoot into the air to drive back the Muslim attackers and prevent a slaughter.
The attack, residents said, came after a Muslim man tried to force his way into a graduation ceremony at a girls' school in Taybeh.
The man, who had not been invited to the ceremony, complained that Christians had assaulted him. Later that day, he and dozens of other Muslims stormed the village with the purpose of seeking revenge for the "humiliation."
Were it not for the quick intervention of the Palestinian security forces, the attackers would have set fire to a number of houses and vehicles and probably killed or wounded some Christians.
Palestinian government and police officials later demanded that the Christians dispatch a delegation to the nearby Muslim villages to apologize for "insulting" the Muslim man. To avoid further escalation, the heads of Taybeh complied.
Also at the request of the Palestinian government, residents of the village were requested not to talk to the media about the incident.
Even some of the leaders of the Christian community in the West Bank urged the Taybeh residents not to make a big fuss about the incident.
This was not the first time that Taybeh had come under attack. In September 2005, hundreds of Muslim men went on rampage in the village, torching homes and cars, and destroying a statue of the Virgin Mary, after learning that a Muslim woman had been romantically involved with a Christian businessman from the village.
The 30-year-old woman had been killed by her family.
Western journalists based in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv have refused to report about the most recent attack on Taybeh, most probably because the story does not have an "anti-Israel angle."
The verdict passed by the Minya Criminal Court on May 21 convicting 12 Copts to life imprisonment while acquitting eight accused Muslims in the same case, known as Abu Qurqas sedition, has caused widespread anger among the Copts. Georges Wahib of United Copts, who attended the court session, said that when judge Abdel Fattah Ahmed al-Sughayar pronounced the verdict at the court yesterday "there was complete silence, as it came as a shock to everyone, then cries of grief and wailing could be heard from the Coptic families with shouts of we are innocent, while the Muslim side broke out into jubilation and shouts of Allahu Akbar."
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The events of the case started on April 18, 2011 over a speed hump built in front of the residence of a wealthy Coptic lawyer, Alaa Reda Roushdi, which a minibus driver claimed was damaging cars. The fight that broke out led to the death of 2 Muslims, injury to 4 Copts, and the destruction and looting of Coptic-owned homes and businesses (AINA 4-26-2011).
Many rights groups criticized the verdict as being "unbelievable" and "extremely harsh" towards the Copts. All the Muslims defendants, "who torched at least 56 Coptic homes, as well as businesses and barns, were acquitted," said Wagdi Halfa, defense attorney of the Coptic victims, in an interview aired yesterday by Coptic TV Channel. He expressed his incomprehension at how Coptic lawyer Alaa Reda Roushdi, who was not even in Abou Qorqas during the events, and then kept under house arrest by the police for another three days, could get life imprisonment.
Adel Roushdi, younger brother of Alaa Roushdi said during the same TV interview that the Islamists wanted to get rid of his brother because of the parliamentary elections, where his brother was sure to win. He accused the police chief in Abou Qorqas of planning the whole episode.
But of course, Bob Simon and the rest of the Western media are only interested in blaming Israel and the Jews for the flight of Christians from the Middle East. They have their own agenda.
Senate Appropriations Committee approves change in definition of 'Palestinian refugees'
The United States Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a change to the way that 'Palestinian refugees' are defined. The change, which was initiated by Senator Mark Kirk (R-Il), would limit 'refugees' to the actual number still alive who left Israeli territory in 1948-49. That amounts to about 30,000 people as compared with the UNRWA count of 5,000,000.
This enormous disparity is explained by UNRWA decisions in 1965 and 1982 that extended the definition of “refugees” to include the children and grandchildren of displaced Palestinians. Today, UNRWA’s annual budget stands at approximately $600 million, of which $250 million is contributed by the United States. Overall, America has contributed $4.4 billion to the UN agency since its establishment in 1949.
If the US Senate Appropriations Committee has its way, this may significantly change. On Thursday, the committee approved language that would distinguish between Palestinian refugees alive in 1948 and their descendants. The Kirk amendment to the foreign operations appropriations bill requires the US State Department to report within a year how many people receive aid from UNRWA who were themselves displaced and how many of them are descendants of those people. The former number, estimated at around 30,000, would be used as the basis for formulating US policy on Palestinian refugee issues.
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The US State Department, which pledged an additional $10 million in UNRWA funding earlier this year, is also making noises opposing the measure. But Schanzer says “such grumblings will likely pale in comparison to the expected outcry in the West Bank, Gaza, and the Palestinian refugee camps in neighboring Arab countries.”
“The refugee narrative is a sacred one in Palestinian political culture. Palestinian leaders will not simply table it because Congress passes new legislation. Rather, it’s a fair bet they will mobilize. When UNRWA merely mulled a name change in July 2011, Palestinians organized protests and sit-ins. Proposing real changes to UNRWA could even prompt violence,” he says.
I'm not sure that the full Senate will pass this measure - in fact I'm surprised given its Democratic control that the Kirk amendment made it past the Appropriations Committee. But we can always hope, because if the Senate passes it, the House certainly will.
What are the odds that Obama vetoes legislation that drastically cuts the number of 'Palestinian refugees' receiving benefits from the United States during a US election year with the US economy in the toilet? Heh.
One of Haaretz's few sane writers, Ari Shavit has blasted President Obama for his policy on Iran. It's behind a paywall, but I managed to get the key portion, which is not what Haaretz shows you on their web page.
. . . the man sitting in the Oval Office is ignoring the possibility that his inaction will make the Middle East go nuclear and undermine the world order. He doesn't care that he might be responsible for losing the United States' superpower status and turning the 21st century into a century of nuclear chaos.
The dispassionate man from Chicago is proving every day what rare stuff he's made of. The president sees how the Iranians mock him - and does nothing. He sees radical Islam approaching the nuclear brink - and does not budge. With amazing courage Barack Obama watches the tsunami rolling toward America's shores - and smiles. . . .
He is staging a deceptive show of a deal with the Iranians, which will seem to dull the . . . threat. He is trying to make a fool of Jerusalem as Tehran is making a fool of him. The president is pushing Israel into a corner, but is hoping that Israel will accept its fate submissively. He is counting on Benjamin Netanyahu not to surprise him and ruin his election season. Never has the United States had such a gambler for a president. . . .
The international community and international public opinion are preoccupied with King Netanyahu these days - will he or won't he attack? But instead of focusing on a statesman who isn't supposed to save the world from Iran's nuclear program, it would be better to focus on the leader whose historic role is just that. In the past 40 months Barack Obama has been betraying his office. Will he wake up in the next four months, come to his senses and change his ways?
Quite an indictment given that appeared in Haaretz.
According to the report, all ministries and agencies must use only the Islamic calendar and the Arabic language.
Al Watan said the Saudi Interior Ministry believes that some ministries and agencies could “sometimes” use the Gregorian calendar when, for example, coordinating flight schedules with foreign airlines, but only on the condition that it is associated with the corresponding Hijri (Islamic) date.
Here is a useful calendar conversion chart for those of you planning to visit Saudi Arabia soon.
Wait a minute - I thought that the Saudis have to have a religious court declare the beginning of each month. Hmmm.
And by the way, if they don't use English, does that mean they'll stop coming to American universities?
IDF censors video showing 'Palestinian' use of human shield
The IDF has censored a video taken in the last two weeks which allegedly shows 'Palestinian' terrorists using a woman as a human shield.
The IDF imposed an embargo on a video allegedly documenting a Palestinian terrorist using a Palestinian woman as a human shield, Ynet discovered Sunday.
Footage taken by IDF cameras in the area clearly shows the terrorist holding the woman hostage, carying her as a barrier between himself and IDF forces.
The video documents an incident that took place two weeks ago, near the Gaza border: Seven Palestinians planting explosive devices north of Beit Lahia were intercepted by IDF soldiers. The soldiers opened fire, injuring some of the men.
The footage shows the terrorists running toward a group of farmers. Then, one of them grabbed a woman and carried her until taking cover behind a building.
Golani Brigade soldiers, who are currently deployed in the sector, and have had the opportunity to see the footage, said it was clear that the woman was forced to run with her assailant until he found cover.
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The IDF spokesman's unit said in response that, "The IDF uses the various means in its disposal to document its operational activities for purpose of debriefing, public diplomacy and possible criminal action.
"Nevertheless, for security reasons not all documented events are released for publication."
Why is the IDF afraid of exposing the practices of 'Palestinian' terrorists? And why are we risking soldiers' lives to take this kind of video if we are not going to use it?
'Palestinian': Syrian detention facilities are human slaughterhouses
A prominent 'Palestinian' writer who spent three weeks in detention in Syria describes Bashar al-Assad's detention facilities as 'human slaughterhouses.'
Salameh Kaileh, 56, a prominent Palestinian writer who was jailed in Syria for just under three weeks from April 24, described the detention facilities there as “human slaughterhouses” in an interview with the Associated Press.
“I felt I was going to die under the brutal, savage and continuous beating of the interrogators, who tied me to ropes hung from the ceiling,” said Kaileh.
He said security agents beat detainees with batons, crammed them into stinking cells and tied them to beds at night. “It was hell on earth,” Kaileh said after being released and deported to Jordan. He had bluish-red bruises on his legs, which he said were the result of beatings with wooden batons that were studded with pins and nails.
IDF investigating another incident in which revenant allegedly shot a 'Palestinian'
The IDF is investigating an incident in which a revenant allegedly shot a 'Palestinian' on Saturday. Here's raw video of part of the incident. This time you won't see the shooting.
Let's go to the videotape.
In case you're wondering, the soldier is shouting oofoo mipo (get out of here) in Hebrew. Here's more about the incident.
A man from the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar shot and wounded a Palestinian man on Saturday in a clash that began when a group of settlers set fire to fields belonging to a Palestinian village, officials said.
Residents said about 25 settlers, some of them carrying guns, set fire to wheat fields in the village of Orif, which is near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
Some villagers came out to extinguish the fire and clashed with the settlers, said Nablus official Kassan Daglas.
During the clash, a settler shot and wounded one Palestinian, the IDF said, adding that security forces were sent to the scene to break up the violence.
Sorry, but I don't buy this account. I have little doubt that the revenants of Yitzhar would shoot a 'Palestinian' in self-defense. What I don't buy about this incident is that I don't believe that the revenants started it. There is no way the Orthodox Jews of Yitzhar set fires anywhere on the Sabbath. Something happened before, the 'Palestinians' set the fires, or both. In the meantime, I haven't seen any responses from the revenants, which is not surprising given that the Sabbath was followed immediately by the holiday.
Adam Kredo reviews J Street's likes and dislikes in the US Congress. Guess whom they consider Public Enemy # 1. Yup, you guessed it, Representative Joe Walsh (R-Il).
Enemy number one on J Street’s political hit list is Rep. Joe Walsh (R., Ill.), a first-term legislator who has been among Israel’s chief defenders during his two-year tenure in the House.
Walsh attracted J Street’s ire earlier this month when he referred to the two-state solution as a sham and advocated for “one contiguous Israeli state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.”
His call led J Street to issue a red alert to its supporters calling for Walsh’s ouster from Congress this November.
“The policies endorsed by Representative Walsh are not pro-Israel and are not endorsed by the Israeli mainstream,” the group wrote in a press release. “It is time for the American Jewish community to call him out and make clear that he does not speak for us or for Israel’s democratic, Jewish future.”
Walsh bristled at J Street’s attacks in a recent interview with the Free Beacon.
“For a group like J Street who only claims to be pro-Israel to go after me for being pro-Israel makes no sense,” Walsh said. “They hide under the cover of ‘pro-peace, pro-Israel,’ but they’re pro-Palestinian.”
Walsh went on to deem the group politically irrelevant.
“No one from the middle to the right takes them seriously,” he said. “They’re almost a joke. They’re extremely toxic and so loudly in your face to anyone who takes even a little bit of a pro-Israel stance.”
In a video that has since been scrubbed from the Internet, J Street’s vice president for campaigns admitted that the group has a small political constituency and explained that its ultimate goal is to “move Jews” farther to the left in order to place them more in line with J Street’s own views.
In addition to Walsh, J Street has targeted New Hampshire Reps. Charlie Bass (R) and Frank Guinta (R), who both possess stellar pro-Israel credentials.
Here's one place there's no boycott against Israeli products: The 'Palestinian Authority'
With South Africa and Denmark poised to being labeling 'settlement products' separately, it bears pointing out that there is one place where there are no boycotts against Israeli products: The 'Palestinian Authority.'
Brand names like Strauss, Tnuva, Osem, Elite, and other smaller Israeli brands are displayed in Hebrew and Arabic side by side in stores in Bethlehem. The names are even featured on the store signs and in the stores themselves.
"People love and buy Israeli products," says one Bethlehem minimarket owner. And while there are local dairies that sell their products in the Palestinian Authority, he says "lots of people prefer to buy Tnuva products simply because there is tighter supervision and they want to feel safe in what they buy.
"It has nothing to do with politics. When we buy a product from you (Israelis) we know it is under supervision and only made with fresh ingredients."
The Israeli goods are not only found at the local food markets in the PA. Imad Naama, who owns a cleaning and hygiene product warehouse, explains that there is no comparison between the quality of Israeli products and other brands.
"If my clients see that the product has Hebrew letters on it or if it says the product is from Israel, they are sure that it is better," he notes.
Naama said that during the period before the Second Intifada and before the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, products produced in Palestinian factories were marked in Hebrew and people were sure that was their place of origin.
After the Intifada broke out, manufacturers changed the inscription and removed the Hebrew so people refused to buy it, even though it was the exact same product. "They said they weren't willing to purchase it because it's what you call 'Arabic work'," he joked.
Faiz Hamadan and Khaled Saleima, stall owners at the market in Bethlehem said they had no political issue with selling Israeli made produce so long as it did not originate in the settlements.
"The Palestinian Authority patrols the stores and examines the country of origin of the inventory, no one here would sell anything that comes from settlement manufactories," they say.
"As long as the products come that come from Israel are inscribed in Arabic – it's fine and people will buy it."
The calls to boycott Israeli products have mainly permeated at the slogan level. On the ground there is no sweeping implementation of the boycott.
"We don't really have much of a choice as the Palestinian industry is not developed enough to compete with Israeli merchandise. There are things you can't buy unless they come from Israel since they aren't produced here, minimarket owners admit."
Turks claim Israel offered $6 million to settle Mavi Marmara
A Turkish lawyer claims that Israel offered $6 million last month to settle claims related to the Mavi Marmara takeover in May 2010, and that Turkey declined the offer.
Ramazan Ariturk, one of several lawyers representing 465 victims and victims' relatives, said that the Israeli government had made a proposal to him through an intermediary foreign ambassador in Ankara just over one month ago.
He said the money would have been paid to a Jewish foundation in Turkey for distribution, and been followed by a statement of "regret" for the raid by the Israeli government.
"I told the ambassador I did not think the offer was appropriate or moral and also discussed the issue with the victims and their friends and they also stated that they could not accept this," Ariturk said.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry agreed with his decision, saying Israel should have contacted it directly, he said.
Ariturk declined to disclose the nationality of the ambassador or reveal the name of the Jewish foundation to which the payment would have been made.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry could not be reached for immediate comment, while Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declined to comment.
While Regev would not comment, another Israeli government spokesman did:
However, a senior Israeli official who declined to be named said that Israel, having indicated last year that it was prepared to indemnify victims without accepting blame, had not renewed its offer.
"If the Islamic Republic was not present in Syria, the massacre of civilians would have been twice as bad," General Ismail Qa'ani, deputy-commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Qods Force, told Tehran's ISNA news agency.
Iran, he added, "Had physically and non-physically stopped the rebels from killing many more among the Syrian people."
This was a rare admission by an Iranian official that Tehran was truly aiding the Damascus regime.
The quote was later removed from ISNA's website.
Sunday's statement was particularly strident, as it followed the brutal killing of 92 people, including 32 children, in Houla, in the embattled province of Homs, by Damascus' forces.
Syria has denied that its troops were behind the massacre.
Meanwhile, Syria has denied permission for former 'Palestinian' foreign minister Nasser al-Kidwa to accompany former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on a mission to Damascus. Annan is the Arab League's envoy to Syria and al-Kidwa is his deputy. I wonder how much Arabic Annan speaks....
In any event, it appears to me that Ahmadinejad is worried that Hamas and Hezbullah are not going to take the hit for him in the event that he attacks Israel, and that they will try to stay out of the retaliation. Assad is much more reliable. Iran's support for Assad is the quid pro quo for participating in any retaliation against Israel, delivered in advance.
Speaking after two days of discussions between Iran and six world powers aimed at trying to defuse fears of a covert Iranian effort to develop nuclear bombs, the official added that looming additional sanctions were likely to raise pressure on Iran to seek an agreement ahead of a further round of talks in mid-June.
"These were difficult talks ... obviously we were far apart (at the start)," said the official, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the subject.
The official said a "significant difference" at the meeting was Iran's insistence that its right to enrich be recognized.
"Obviously (that) was not something we were prepared to do," the official said, echoing the US view that Iran does not automatically have this right under international law because, it argues, Iran is in violation of its obligations under counter-proliferation safeguards.
Continuing the Michael Jackson worldwide victory tour, the next round of talks is scheduled for June 18-19 in Moscow, giving Iran another month to continue its enrichment activities unimpeded.
On ABC's This Week on Sunday, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta described a US military option against Iran as being 'available.'
Let's go to the videotape. Panetta's comments on Iran start at the 14:21 mark and end at the 15:41 mark.
Note that he did not answer the question of whether Iran is trying to run out the clock (clearly they are), nor did he answer whether the once a month negotiations are enough.
The IAEA claims to have found uranium that was enriched to 27% - a higher grade than previously seen - near Iran's Fordow underground nuclear facility near the 'holy city' of Qom. As of Friday, the IAEA was attributing the higher grade uranium to a 'production error,' but has asked for clarification.
Nuclear bombs require uranium enriched to 90 percent, but much of the effort required to get there is already achieved once it reaches 20 percent concentration, shortening the time needed for any nuclear weapons "break-out."
One source said the higher level detected was believed to be within variation of the usual activity at the Fordow facility - where Iran is refining uranium to a fissile concentration of 20 percent - making clear it was not a big difference.
"It is not up there... towards nuclear weapons capability," the diplomat said. It could simply be a "production error" but the UN nuclear watchdog had asked Iran to clarify the issue.
...
Another diplomatic source said he had also heard of the find but it was unclear whether it would be included in an IAEA report due to be released to member states later on Friday. IAEA regularly inspects Fordow and other Iranian nuclear sites.
What if it was an error in the other direction and the concentration was actually supposed to be higher? What could go wrong?
A gutten zummer - a good summer to everyone (that's what we say after the Shavuoth holiday).
I'd like to remind you all that I have only one holiday day because I live in Israel and that's why I am back online tonight (okay, this post is being done on Friday afternoon before the holiday started, but that's how I get posts up immediately after the Sabbath or a holiday end).
Here's Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler for Friday, May 25.
There was a panoramic portrayal of Jerusalem, described as "the focus of Jewish prayers for 2,000 years" and the nucleus of new Jewish neighborhoods. Life emphasized that in its pre-1967 borders, Israel was "a tiny, parched, scarcely defensible toe-hold." The edition's opening photo shows a father embracing his Israeli-born daughter on an early "settlement," a testament to Israel's birthright to the land. Would a mainstream magazine depict the Jewish state like this today, during the week of its 64th birthday? Unlikely. Rather, readers would learn about Israel's overwhelming military might, brutal conduct in warfare and eroding democratic values—plus the Palestinians' plight and Israeli intransigence. The photographs would show not cool students and cutting-edge artists but soldiers at checkpoints and religious radicals.
In a nutshell, Oren explains:
It began with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat's 1974 speech to the U.N., when he received a standing ovation for equating Zionism with racism—a view the U.N. General Assembly endorsed the following year. It gained credibility on college campuses through anti-Israel courses and "Israel Apartheid Weeks." It burgeoned through the boycott of Israeli scholars, artists and athletes, and the embargo of Israeli products. It was perpetuated by journalists who published doctored photos and false Palestinian accounts of Israeli massacres.
The real answer is that Israel's global standing has been debased not despite the "peace process," but because of it. For 19 years Israel has clung to a policy of appeasement that has made it seem weak and irresolute -- a policy that successive Israeli governments have justified by denigrating Jewish rights to the land, while playing up the Palestinian narrative. Ehud Barak infamously said in 1998 that if he had been a Palestinian, he might have joined a terrorist group, and that "there is legitimacy for a Palestinian to fight." Were an American presidential hopeful to suggest that under other circumstances he could see himself becoming an al-Qaeda terrorist, his White House ambitions would instantly implode. But Barak's remarks didn't prevent him from becoming prime minister. With its embrace of the peace process, "Israel stopped defending its own claim to the West Bank and Gaza and instead increasingly endorsed the Palestinian claim," Israeli journalist Evelyn Gordon has written. "And with no competing narrative to challenge it any longer, the view of Israel as a thief, with all its attendant consequences, has gained unprecedented traction."
I understand Jacoby's answer, but it's not entirely convincing. During the past nineteen years, clearly statements like Ehud Barak's have fed or justified the growing anti-Israel sentiments we see in the media. But even before Oslo, there was plenty of bias. For example, in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Six Day War, Tom Brokaw hosted a special, Six Days Plus 20 Years: a Dream Is Dying on NBC.
In the United States, though, I'd take issue with Ambassador Oren's concerns. It's true that in certain segments of the opinion making community, there is a strong tendency to blame Israel first. Fortunately, that doesn't seem to have affected the American public as a whole. According to Gallup's latest country ratings 71 percent of Americans look at Israel favorably compared to 24 percent unfavorably. Israel is also viewed more favorably than the Palestinians by a rate of nearly four to one. Granted, without the biased coverage of Israel, I believe Israel's ratings would be even better, but in the United States the hostility of the media and academic elites has not had a major impact on Israel's image.
2) Brag about a pirate day
CAMERA noticed that Iran's boast of having saved an American ship from pirates was denied by the shipping company, but that CNN never published the denial.
So it's interesting to read The Lede blog from the New York Times and see the denial mentioned but ...
The Danish company that operates the ship, the Maersk Line, said its onboard guards repelled an attack from multiple pirate skiffs after the attackers opened fire on the vessel, the Maersk Texas. “Despite clear warning signals, the skiffs continued their direct line toward Maersk Texas and the embarked security team fired warning shots,” the company told the maritime news site gCaptain. “The pirates then fired upon Maersk Texas, and the security team returned fire per established U.S. Coast Guard rules of engagement.” But Iranian state media had a different interpretation of events on Thursday, crediting the safety of ship to a nearby Iranian naval warship. “An Iranian naval ship was patrolling the area when it received an S O S from the American cargo ship,” read a report on IRNA, the state-run news agency, that quoted Iran’s naval authorities. “Upon arrival of Iranian forces the pirates who had attacked the American ships aboard some speed boats had to flee the scene.”
"[D]ifferent interpretations?" One account is true and one is false. The next paragraph attempts to inject a little more uncertainty:
Lt. Cmdr. Mark Hankey, a spokesman for Combined Task Force 151, an international counterpiracy team off the coast of Africa, was unable to confirm Iran’s role in the episode, though he said such behavior would not be surprising. “If the Iranians responded to a mayday call, then that’s perfectly normal activity,” he told The Associated Press. But, he added, the nature of the episode was not certain. “It is not clear from the information available to date whether this was a piracy event,” he said.
So this source is quoted as saying that Iran may well have checked out the situation and that even at that it may not have a real instance of piracy. The Lede notes reasons that Iran might want to boast about having helped an American ship, but overall seems determined to explain away Iranian claims that seem exaggerated, if not false.
3) Fighting Kirk
In his dispatch over the political battle brewing between the State Department and Sen. Mark Kirk, Josh Rogin reports:
For the people involved in the issue on the ground, the distinction is not as important as the U.N. mission to feed and support these 5 million Palestinians. They see the Kirk amendment as part of a pattern of legislative moves against UNRWA in the U.S. Congress, including a drive to cut off U.S. funding by House Foreign Affairs Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). They also note that the drive to redefine how UNRWA classifies refugees is supported by Israeli President Bibi Netanyahu and a similar drive is led in the Israeli parliament by lawmaker Einat Wilf. "There are some individuals that believe if they unilaterally in America make changes, that will solve peace processes, and that's really naïve," one U.N. official said. "It has to be done by the parties involved, not the U.S. Congress."
There's a point that Rogin is missing here. The UNRWA isn't just about feeding Palestinian refugees, but about maintaining them (and their grievances against Israel.) So one of the effects of UNRWA is to expand the definition and thus the number of Palestinian refugees.
It is long past time that limits are set on the never-ending expansion of Palestinian refugees. A new proposal from Kirk therefore sets out a more precise series of definitions for American aid to UNRWA, to be specified in the Memorandum of Understanding with the organization. The draft amendment states that "a Palestinian refugee is defined as a person whose place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948, who was personally displaced as a result of the 1948 or 1967 Arab-Israeli conflicts, who currently does not reside in the West Bank or Gaza and who is not a citizen of any other state." Refugee status would therefore no longer be heritable, at least if UNRWA were to continue to receive U.S. funding. The amendment would also require the secretary of State to report to Congress about the notoriously slippery numbers of refugees and what measures the U.S. government is taking to ensure these limits are abided by.
According to Rogin, in addition to the State Department, Sen. Leahy and the government of Jordan oppose the Kirk amendment.
I'm actually glad Jacoby wrote that column and I think he makes a valid point.
Specially for Shavuoth, here's Shloime Dachs singing VaYichan Sham Yisrael Neged HaHar (And the Children of Israel encamped opposite Mount Sinai as one person with one heart).
Let's go to the videotape. More after the videotape.
Saturday night is the holiday of Shavuoth and because Shavuoth immediately follows the Sabbath, I will be offline from sundown on Friday until after sundown on Sunday (only one day of holiday here in Israel). Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameyach to all.
Wendy Sherman, the top US negotiator in Iran, is in Israel on Friday to reassure us of the United States' commitment to our safety.
Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman will "reaffirm our unshakeable commitment to Israel's security," according to a department statement.
Sherman arrived Friday morning, according to U.S. Embassy spokesman Kurt Hoyer.
Friday is the day that has been set for a blogburst in support of my friend Robert (Stacy) McCain, who has been in hiding since the beginning of this week, when he was threatened by convicted terrorist Brett Kimberlin (pictured above).
Who is Brett Kimberlin? Here's an introduction.
Let's go to the videotape.
There's a lot more on Kimberlin - and his ties to the Left and possible ties to the Obama administration - here (Hat Tip: Bad Blue). Here's what Kimberlin is up to. Most (maybe all - I don't know them all) of these bloggers are strong supporters of Israel.
The report, entitled 2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, stated that though the government has ceased the practice of immediately returning African asylum seekers arriving via Egypt, it "continued to deny many asylum seekers individual refugee status determinations, which impacted their ability to work or receive basic social services, including health care."
The reports says that Israeli law allows most asylum seekers access to temporary asylum, however, refers to complaints regarding accessibility to the system and reports of discrimination.
Citing United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) data, the report says that out of 4,603 new asylum applications submitted during 2011, the government rejected 3,692, approved one and, 6,412 remained pending.
The US also viewed negatively government officials' use of the term "infiltrators" to refer to asylum seekers, as well as officials who directly associations asylum seekers with the rise in crime, disease and terrorism. Interior Minister Eli Yishai was specifically flagged as an instigator.
Meanwhile, as the report was released, Yishai reiterated his views, telling channel 10 that "all infiltrators must be imprisoned, with no exceptions," and that the state must transmit a message to them all, that Israel does not accept them.
Just think: The United StatesObama administration wants Israel to be just like the United States, and have Hezbullah agents infiltrating as 'refugees' from Africa, just like the US has Hezbullah agents infiltrating from Mexico.
The report says that while Israel's laws "provide for the granting of temporary asylum and the government has established a system for providing temporary protection for most asylum seekers, there were complaints about the system’s accessibility and reports of discrimination."
The current laws, the report added, "Allow the Ministry of Interior to reject applications without appeal even at the registration stage, and exclude 'enemy nationals' from receiving asylum. The regulations fail to establish an independent appeal process."
You got that? The mean, bad Israelis exclude 'enemy nationals' (like 'Palestinians,' Syrians and Iranians) from receiving asylum. Oh the horror! /sarc
And look what everyone else gets:
While "recognized refugees receive social services, including access to the national healthcare system," the report noted that the government does not provide asylum seekers with public social benefits such as health insurance.
The report does, however, mention that in 2011 Israel granted temporary protection to refugees, primarily to Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers, and at times to asylum seekers from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, and Somalia.
They get access to the national healthcare system. Hello - we have socialized medicine here. So what does it mean to say that we don't provide them with health insurance? Many Israelis have no healthcare beyond the national healthcare system. Why isn't the State Department worried about them?
Sorry but this report is ridiculous. There's no reason Israel has to provide benefits that are going to encourage more people to come here illegally. Every country has the right to protect its own borders. And thank God our leadership does not include Obama.
More than three years after Israel inflicted widespread damage on the infrastructure of the Gaza Strip during Operation Cast Lead, an offensive aimed at curtailing relentless Hamas rocket fire into Israel, two Israeli companies won bids issued by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to construct water plants in Gaza, London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported Thursday.
Osama Kahil, deputy head of the Palestinian Contractors Union, told the daily that a number of Israeli companies have contacted contractors in Gaza offering them half of the bids’ revenue to execute the projects.
“It is unreasonable for the Israeli occupation to be rewarded for its destruction of Gaza’s economy,” Kahil told Al-Quds Al-Arabi. “It waged a relentless war on our livelihood, and now our markets are being opened to its companies.”
Kahil said his union sent letters to all contractors in Gaza, warning them against cooperation with Israeli companies.
“A sense of morality and patriotism will not allow anyone to cross these red lines,” he said. The Palestinian Engineers Association also declared that it would “legally and nationally pursue” members who work with Israel.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 7 to 28 years and four grandchildren. Our eldest daughter and eldest son are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has decided to close an investigation into the authors and the approbators of the book Torat HaMelech, which deals with when it is permissible for Jews to kill non-Jews under Jewish law. 
