Israel Matzav

Too good not to share: Ted Cruz sworn in

Heh (Hat Tip: Jack W).

Labels: Al Gore, Barack Hussein Obama, Hillary Clinton, humor, Nancy Pelosi, Obamacare, Ted Cruz, US presidential campaign 2016

What a shock: Newsweek reporter who accused Israel of 'unprecedented spying' 'has a history'

What a surprise. Jeff Stein, the Newsweek reporter who accused Israel of 'unprecedented spying' on the US - including a claim that an Israeli agent was caught in an air conditioning duct at Jerusalem's King David Hotel (pictured) - 'has a history' of anti-Israel activity.

Last year, in his blog SpyTalk, Stein commented on the potential nomination of then-Congresswoman Jane Harman to head the CIA: “Congress is already Israeli-occupied territory. The last thing Washington needs is to cede another settlement in Langley.” The idea that Israel or Jews control or occupy the American government is common trope of anti-Semites.

The problem with Stein’s reporting isn’t limited to his own judgments, but also his choice of sources. One source he used is Philip Giraldi. Giraldi is a writer for the Council for the National Interest, a Washington-based anti-Israel organization. In one of his recent analyses, Giraldi referred to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie as an “Israel-firster,” adopting the language of those who consider supporters of Israel to be suspect of disloyalty to the U.S.

Another source for Stein is a website, the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep). The website describes one of sections the “Israel Lobby Archive” as documenting “one of the most harmful forces driving policy formulation in the U.S. political process.”

Stein, in his own words and his choice of sources, shows himself to be not merely a critic of Israel but someone who believes that support for Israel is inimical to the interests of the United States.

For those wondering about the air conditioning duct story, the hotel manager assures us that a cat could not fit in there.

Labels: Al Gore, Amos Yadlin, anti-Israel media bias, Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Edward Snowden, Jonathan Pollard, spying

Steinitz blasts Newsweek accusations

Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.

Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz has blasted reports in Newsweek accusing Israel of spying on the United States, and has asked who is seeking to harm relations between the two countries.

Media reports surfaced last week that Israel’s intelligence operations in the US are “unrivaled and unseemly,” extending to surveillance of senior White House officials.

...

Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz, who holds the intelligence portfolio in the Netanyahu government, accused “someone of trying to maliciously and intentionally harm relations between Israel and the United States.”

Steinitz “unequivocally” denied the report, featured in Newsweek magazine, as having “no basis” in fact.

But the initial report was followed by one that detailed alleged US efforts to “cover up” Israel’s spying on then vice president Al Gore in 1998. It claimed that the US Secret Service caught an Israeli “agent” in an air duct in the process of bugging the vice president’s hotel room.

Since National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked classified documents on American intelligence tactics, President Barack Obama has suggested that the US spies on its allies – with the tacit understanding being that the practice is mutual.

Publicly, Obama has drawn the line at spying on foreign leaders, after revelations that the US had tapped the cellphone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. But the US president has said that foreign allies would conduct greater surveillance if they had the capability to do so.

...

Former Military Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin also dismissed the allegations.
“Israel is certainly not spying in the United States,” Yadlin said. “This is a former Military Intelligence head telling you this. If you bring all of the past Military Intelligence chiefs from the past 29 years, since the of [the arrest of Jonathan] Pollard, or the past heads of the Mossad, they will tell you the same .”

Yadlin said he expects the leaders of the US intelligence community to address the American public in response to the report, and to “either say that this is baseless, or present facts.”

You don't think the Obama administration would cook up something like this to cover for the fact that they have spied on every country in the world, do you?

Labels: Al Gore, Amos Yadlin, Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Edward Snowden, Jonathan Pollard, spying, Yuval Steinitz

Al-Jazeera starts US broadcasts with Jew-hating conspiracy theorist Stephen Walt

Al-Jazeera started broadcasting in the United States on Tuesday, and its first guest was Jew-hating conspiracy theorist Stephen Walt.

Walt rose to prominence as co-author of a conspiracy book about Jewish manipulation of American foreign policy and has been referred to by prominent liberal journalist Jeffrey Goldberg as someone who “makes his living scapegoating Jews.”

It wasn't exactly a hard-hitting interview either.

Let's go to the videotape.

In the meantime, al-Jazeera has sued AT&T for refusing to carry al-Jazeera on its network.

Al Jazeera America has filed a lawsuit against AT&T over its refusal to carry the new cable news network.

Late Monday, the cable provider dropped Current, which switched over to Al Jazeera at 3 p.m. ET on Tuesday, meaning U-verse subscribers had no access to the new channel.

...

In a statement, AT&T told The Times that it had not yet seen the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Delaware Chancery court.

"As a result of our inability to come to terms on a new agreement and due to certain breaches of the existing agreement, we have decided not to carry Current TV on U-verse," AT&T said in its statement.

Al Jazeera America is part of the global Doha-based news organization financed by the royal family of Qatar. In the United States, AJAM is available in about 49 million of more than 100 million cable homes via Comcast DISH Network, DirecTV and FiOS.

It is not available on Time Warner Cable, which dropped Current when it was sold to Al Jazeera America's parent company. Al Jazeera executives are currently in negotiations to regain carriage on Time Warner Cable systems, but those negotiations are likely taking a backseat to the operator's heated disagreement with CBS.

Current was sold to al-Jazeera by former US Vice President Al Gore. Gore thinks they're a great station.

Labels: Al Gore, al-Jazeera, conspiracy theories, Stephen Walt

Incredible video: Gore lauds al-Jazeera's integrity and reporting

Al Gore went on CNN Sunday morning and sang the praises of al-Jazeera for its integrity, great reporting, etc.

Let's go to the videotape.

Unbelievable.

Labels: Al Gore, al-Jazeera