Awesome: I've been blocked by Steve Salaita UPDATED
I am sure that many of you remember Steven Salaita, the professor whose
offer of a tenured position at the University of Illinois was withdrawn
after the trustees discovered his Jew-hatred. The University was eventually censured by the American Association of University Professors, and Salaita landed at the American University in Beirut.
Earlier today, Salaita tweeted this (which I can no longer see, but if someone wants to send me a screen cap, I'll add it to this post without disclosing who you are),
and I responded with this:
Another anti-Semitic moron speaks up. So glad there's free speech in Lebanon. https://t.co/3hmE2NpQEN
UNESCO's World Heritage Committee is meeting now, and despite insistence by Lebanon and Cuba that its resolution denying the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount be adopted by 'consensus,' there is going to be a secret ballot due to the insistence of Tanzania and Croatia.
Developing....
UPDATE 11:32 AM
Voting has just concluded @UNESCO World Heritage Committee on Palestinian-Jordanian Jerusalem resolution. Now counting the secret ballots. pic.twitter.com/aOXyeqX8kz
You won't believe who's helping in the search for Ron Arad
It's been nearly thirty years since Israeli navigator Ron Arad was shot down over Lebanon, taken hostage, apparently murdered and 'disappeared.' Now, Iran and Hezbullah have expressed an interest in solving the mystery of Arad's whereabouts.
According to a report by Yediot Ahronot, over the past year,
Israel has been in contact with Hezbollah, via a Western intermediary,
in an effort to finally solve the mystery of Arad’s fate.
The Shi’ite terror group reportedly expressed optimism regarding the
prospects of uncovering the details of Arad’s captivity, noting progress
in recent months. They added, however, that locating Arad’s remains has
been hampered by changes over the years to the landscape.
“They [the sources within Hezbollah] said that the land in the area
where Arad was buried has moved and been changed since it happened [his
burial].”
“They’re continuing their efforts and are confident that they will succeed in the end to locate his grave.”
Aside from Hezbollah, Israeli investigators have also received –
again, via a Western intermediary – cooperation from Iranian officials.
Dr. Ronen Bergman explained Iran’s interest in solving the Arad
mystery, writing that the Islamic regime has sought clues regarding its
own captives – four Iranian diplomats who disappeared in Lebanon in
1982. The Iranian regime had accused Israel of being behind the
abduction of the four, and claimed they were still alive in Israeli
captivity.
In 2004, Israel revealed to Iran – through German negotiators, who
passed the material on to Hezbollah – information regarding the
kidnapping, torture, and execution of the four diplomats by members of a
Phalangist Christian militia. Despite the revelation, says, Bergman,
Iranian officials have sought additional details of the abductions and
the location of the four.
In 2005 and 2006, Hezbollah officials ramped up their efforts to
gather details on the Arad’s abduction, contacting Iran’s Revolutionary
Guard and Lebanon’s intel agencies.
Hezbollah also conducted digs around possible burial sites, revealing
human remains which were then forwarded to Israel for DNA testing. In
each case, however, the results were negative.
But the Iranians may well know where Arad's remains are.
Amir Teherani, An Iranian journalist living abroad with ties to some
factions within the Iranian government, claimed the chairman of the
Iranian parliament has offered to finally settle accounts regarding Ron
Arad and the missing Iranian officials, proposing a swap of the remains.
Teherani added that in May, Israeli and Iranian representatives held
extensive negotiations in Cyprus. Senior Israeli and Iranian officials,
he claimed, took part in the talks.
...
In the late 1980s Arad was handed over to Hezbollah, before being
transferred to Iranian forces. By the mid-1990s Arad, reportedly
suffering from an illness, was refused medical treatment, and died in
captivity. Israeli investigators believed Arad death occurred sometime
between 1993 – after the last sign of life was produced – and 1997.
It would only be decent for Arad's family to have closure.
In 1936, the Olympics were held in Nazi Germany, to Hitler's delight, until Jesse Owens, a black man, walked away with four gold medals.
In 1972, when 'Palestinian' terrorists murdered 11 Israeli athletes in Munich, while the hostage drama was being played out and thereafter, IOC Chairman Avery Brundage famously insisted that 'the games must go on.' It took 40 years afterward for the 11 murdered Israelis to even be memorialized at the Games, and even that was in a side ceremony and not at the main stadium. For more than 40 years, the IOC has gone out of its way to cover up what actually happened on September 6, 1972. On Wednesday, there was finally a proper memorial ceremony for the Munich 11 - 44 years later - albeit not at the opening ceremony where it would have been watched by a huge worldwide audience.
What happened on Friday pales by comparison, but nevertheless shows that the 'Olympic spirit' is as big a fraud as ever. The Lebanese Olympic team prevented members of the Israeli Olympic team from boarding a bus at the Olympic village, because... well they're Israelis. And it goes without saying that there were no consequences to the Lebanese team.
“I kept on insisting that we board the bus and
said that if the Lebanese did not want to board as well they are
welcome to leave,” Udi Gal, the Israeli sailing team trainer, wrote in a
Facebook post Friday.
“The bus driver opened the door, but this time
the head of the Lebanese delegation blocked the aisle and entrance. The
organizers wanted to avoid an international and physical incident and
sent us away to a different bus.”
So far, no official response on behalf of the
delegations was given regarding the incident. The Olympic organizing
committee has not yet offered any statement about the incident either.
Back home, the head of the Lebanese delegation is being hailed as a hero.
Saleem a-Haj Nacoula told Lebanese media that
the Israelis were “looking for trouble” as they insisted on boarding the
same bus when they had their own assigned transportation.
“There were more than 250 buses assigned to
transport delegations from the Olympics village to the ceremony. After
we boarded bus number 22, for the Lebanese delegation, I was surprised
to see the Israeli delegation approaching and trying to get on,” Nacoula
said.
“I told the bus driver to close the door but a
trainer who was with the Israelis prevented him from doing so. I had to
physically stand at the door and block him and the rest of the
delegation from boarding, knowing that some were trying to force their
way through and were looking for trouble,” he went on.
Nacoula alleged that the Israeli had their own
bus to take them. “Why did they want to board a bus with the Lebanese
delegation?”
“I stood at the door and told those responsible that we would not let them on the bus with us,” he said.
Members of the Israeli delegation were taken to the opening ceremony on other buses arranged through Olympics organizers.
Back home, Nacoula was praised in the press and on social media as a hero.
Maybe the reason the Israelis were looking to board the bus was that there were too many of them to fit on one bus.
For the 2016 Olympic Games, which officially opened on Friday, Israel
proudly showed off its largest delegation ever, with 47 athletes
competing in 17 categories. Israel’s delegation also includes 34 coaches
and about 25 support staff.
The Lebanese delegation consists of 9 athletes, and probably far fewer coaches and support staff than the Israelis have. The Lebanese did not need their own bus. This was nothing but pettiness (and worse). But it will go unpunished. Because the 'Olympic spirit' is a fraud.
How to stop 'Palestinian' and other Islamic terrorism
Greetings from the Holy City of Jerusalem. I am home.
There's been another terror attack this afternoon. An Israeli father and husband has been murdered, and the wife and mother and two children have been wounded near Otniel in the Hebron Hills. More on that in a bit, but I'd like to talk about something else that's been bothering me: How do we deal with terrorists?
I spoke with a cousin of mine while I was in Boston, and he had a great idea: If the terrorist lives through the attack, castrate and lobotomize him and return him to his family to deal with him for the rest of his life. If the terrorist dies, run his body through a meat grinder, mix it with ground pork, and return it to the family in a nice box for burial.
On September 30, 1985, a group of gunmen seized four Soviet diplomats
and embassy workers (Arkady Katkov, Valery Myrikov, Oleg Spirin, and
Nikolai Svirsky) in Beirut. During the kidnapping right outside the
embassy, Katkov was wounded in the leg.
The abductors called themselves "The Khaled Al-Walid Force" and the
"Islamic Liberation Organization". According to SVR (Foreign
Intelligence Service) Colonel Yuri Perfilyev, who at the time was the
KGG rezident (station chief) in Lebanon, the kidnapping was
orchestrated by infamous Hezbollah operative Imad "Hyena"Mugniyeh in
response to an offensive by Syria-backed leftist militias in the
Lebanese city of Tripoli. The Shiite radicals demanded that Moscow force
Damascus to suspend the Tripoli offensive and close its embassy in
Beirut. To demonstrate that they meant business, only two days after the
kidnapping, Mugniyeh murdered the wounded Katkov by riddling him with
machine gun bullets and left his body in a Beirut rubbish dump.
Perfilyev then met up with Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Fadlallah, then
spiritual leader of Lebanese Shiites and told him: "A great power cannot
wait forever. From waiting and observing, it can proceed to serious
action with unpredictable consequences". Met with silence from
Fadlallah, the KGB station chief spoke bluntly:
We aren't only talking about people in Beirut. I'm talking about Tehran
and Qom [Shiite holy city and the residence of Ayatollah Khomeini],
which is not that far from Russia's borders. Yes, Qom is very close to
us and a mistake in the launch of a missile could always happen. A
technical error, some kind of breakdown. They write about it all the
time. And God or Allah forbid if this happens with a live, armed
missile.
The visibly shaken Fadlallah responded after a moment of silence: "I
think everything will turn out well". Later, his closest advisor
"Hassan" (Nasrallah?) told Yuri Perfilyev that no one dared to talk to
the Grand Ayatollah in such a fashion.
But the ominous threat against one of the holy cities of Shiism was
only one prong in the Soviet strategy. According to Benny Morris, who
was Jerusalem Post's diplomatic correspondent at that time and
later became famous as a brilliant historian, in tandem with the
threats, the Soviets took sharper action:
[T]he KGB kidnapped a man they knew to be a close relative of a
prominent Hezbollah leader. They then castrated him and sent the severed
organs to the Hezbollah official, before dispatching the unfortunate
kinsman with a bullet in the brain.
In addition to presenting him with this grisly proof of their
seriousness, the KGB operatives also advised the Hezbollah leader
that they knew the indentities of other close relatives of his, and that
he could expect more such packages if the three Soviet diplomats were
not freed immediately.
Soon thereafter, the surviving three hostages were dropped off by the
Soviet embassy "from a late-model BMW that couldn't drive away fast
enough" and never again was a Soviet (diplomat or otherwise) kidnapped
in Lebanon. As Benny Morris put it: "This is the way the Soviets
operate. They do things - they don't talk. And this is the language the
Hezbollah understand." Not only Hezbollah, but ISIS and every other
Muslim terror group.
What could go wrong? Hezbullah has more rockets than all 27 NATO countries... combined
A report in the Weekly Standard indicates that the Hezbullah terror organization has more than 130,000 rockets in southern Lebanon - a number that exceeds the rockets held by all 27 NATO countries... combined.
Hezbollah currently has a stockpile of over 130,000 rockets, more
than the combined arsenal of all NATO countries, with the exception of
the United States. This number includes long-range rockets and M-600
ballistic missiles, which carry a high payload and would be able to
“wipe out a good chunk of Times Square and maim and kill people four
football fields away from the point of impact,” Stern noted. Hezbollah
also has approximately 100,000 short-range rockets trained on schools,
homes, and hospitals in northern Israel, which could potentially kill
hundreds of civilians.
“You don’t collect 130,000 missiles if you don’t intend to use them,”
said Matthew Levitt, an expert on counter-terrorism and intelligence at
the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Hezbollah’s positioning of this weaponry in civilian areas poses a
challenge to Israeli officers, added Geoff Corn, an international
military law expert at the South Texas College of Law in Houston. “After
exhausting all feasible efforts to reduce civilian risk, IDF commanders
must resolve the decisive question: Is the potential for civilian harm
excessive in comparison to the advantages the attack would provide? When
you talk of an M-600 in the hands of an enemy that targets vital
military assets or the civilian population—even if that apartment
building is full—launching the attack will be necessary to mitigate the
threat,” he explained.
That seems like a no-brainer. When it's our civilians or their civilians, it's pretty clear to this Israeli that the IDF must act to defend Israel's civilians, and damn the rest of the world for facilitating their doing this.
Israeli military officials in May 2015 told the New York Times
how Hezbollah has “moved most of its military infrastructure” in and
around Shiite villages, which “amounts to using the civilians as a human
shield.” A senior military official stated that Lebanese civilians are
“living in a military compound.” He told the Times: “We will
hit Hezbollah hard, while making every effort to limit civilian
casualties as much as we can…We do not intend to stand by helplessly in
the face of rocket attacks.” Stern, who was shown maps of the locations
of Hezbollah weapons, said that they are not only being stored in these
southern villages, but in Beirut itself.
Yaakov Amidror, Israel’s former national security advisor, met
with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the summer of 2013 and showed
him “detailed evidence of Hezbollah’s deadly arsenal and the fact that
it was strategically placed within densely populated civilian centers.”
When Amidror asked Ban what the Israelis should do, he “offered no
response and no suggestions.” Stern concluded his piece, “Nobody, it
seems, in times of peace is willing to offer Israel a constructive
suggestion on how to deal with an Iranian-backed terrorist organization
in possession of a massive arsenal on its northern border. But these
same organizations stand front and center to criticize Israel for acting
legally and proportionately for protecting its own citizens in
wartime.”
Article 28 of the 4th Geneva Convention of 1949 is simple and clear. It
says: " The presence of a protected person may not be used to render
certain points or areas immune from military operations." Hezbullah
violates this provision daily. It is due to Hezbullah's violations of
this provision that Lebanese civilians are being killed.
In an
article published on the Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal.com web
page over the weekend, Orde F. Kittrie, a professor of international law
at Arizona State University and who served in the Office of the Legal
Adviser at the U.S. State Department from 1993 to 2003, summarized the three-part test in determining whether Israeli actions violate the Geneva Convention:
International
law has three major prohibitions .... One forbids deliberate attacks on
civilians. Another prohibits hiding forces in civilian areas, thereby
turning civilians into "human shields." A third prohibition, the
proportionality restriction that Israel is accused of violating,
involves a complicated and controversial balancing test.
Ignoring
the fact that Israel has warned Lebanese citizens to flee the combat
zones dozens of times, given the manner in which Hezbullah has hidden
both itself and its weapons among civilians, it is impossible to assert,
let alone prove, that Israel is deliberately attacking civilians. But
it is clear that Hezbullah has turned what remains of Lebanon's civilian
population into human shields.
...
I have already noted that Orde Kittrie wrote that the proportionality
test "involves a complicated and controversial balancing test." Kittrie
goes on to explain:
Geneva Convention Protocol I contains
one version of the proportionality test, the International Criminal
Court Statute another; neither is universally accepted. As a result, the
proportionality test is governed by "customary international law," an
amalgam of non-universal treaty law, court decisions, and how
influential nations actually behave. It does not hinge on the relative
number of casualties, or the force used, however, but on the intent of
the combatant. Under customary international law, proportionality
prohibits attacks expected to cause incidental death or injury to
civilians if this harm would, on balance, be excessive in relation to
the overall legitimate military accomplishment anticipated.
...
If Israel was mistaken and Hezbollah was not firing from or hiding amongst these civilians, the legality of its action is assessed by the proportionality test. [But we know from countless testimonies that Israel is not mistaken and that Hezbullah is firing from among civilians.
CiJ] Because the test is vague, there have been few, if any, cases
since World War II in which a soldier, commander or country has been
convicted of violating it. In the absence of guidance from the courts,
determining whether Israel's military has failed the proportionality
test depends on an assessment of what civilian casualties it expected,
what its overall military goals are, the context in which the country is
operating, and how the international community has in practice balanced
civilian risk against military goals. [There
is no way to attack a munitions depot hidden beneath a house and a
school without blowing up the house and the school. That would make any
attack in which the civilians have been warned to leave the house and
the school proportional per se. CiJ]
Israel did not expect civilian casualties; it warned civilians to leave Qana [and all areas south of the Litani at this point. CiJ]... The
law of war recognizes that mistakes are inevitable, and does not
criminalize soldiers who seek in good faith seek to avoid them.
Read the whole thing (it describes similar tactics adopted by Hezbullah on a lesser scale during the Second Lebanon War ten years ago).
In 1961, they knew how to solve the 'Palestinian problem'
Here's an amazing 1961 Atlantic piece (would the Atlantic even publish something like this today @JeffreyGoldberg) written by a woman I am told is Ernest Hemmingway's ex-wife (thanks @soccerdhg) who took a tour of eight 'Palestinian refugee camps' in 1961.
Here's the money quote (in more ways than one) (Hat Tip: @zlando).
On this warlike note, we left. My guide had seemed a sober contented
fellow until our little meeting, whereupon he sounded like a politician
running recklessly for office. He then astonished me again.
"It
can all be solved with money," he said. "Now the people have nothing in
their mouths but words, so they talk. Money fills the mouth too. If
every man got a thousand dollars for each member of his family, for
compensation to have lost his country, and he could be a citizen in any
Arab country he likes, he would not think of Palestine any more. Then he
could start a new life and be rich and happy. And those who really do
own something in Palestine must be paid for what they had there. But
those are not many. Most had nothing, only work."
It could - and probably still can - all be solved with money (although probably more today than 55 years ago). But of course no one - especially UNRWA - has any interest in solving it with money. And so, unlike any other refugees in the world, the 'Palestinians' continue to fester in camps... except for the ones who have escaped to the West.
Read the whole thing (I'm still reading it myself). And keep in mind that it was written six years BEFORE Israel 'occupied' the 'West Bank' and Gaza, so obviously that's not the problem.
Beirut barracks bomb preparer, Hariri assassination mastermind killed near Damascus
Israel may have been behind an explosion that killed Mustafa Badreddine, the Hezbullah commander who prepared the bombs for the US Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, and who is said to the mastermind of the assassination of Lebanese President Rafik al-Hariri in 2005, among other crimes. Badreddine was killed in a blast near the Damascus Airport a few days ago.
An initial report by Lebanon's al-Mayadeen TV said that Badreddine,
55, died in an Israeli air strike. But a later statement by Hezbollah on
al-Manar's website did not mention Israel.
Israeli media reported that the government refused to comment on whether it was involved in Badreddine's death.
Israel has been accused by Hezbollah of killing a number of its fighters in Syria since the conflict began.
The
group was established in the wake of the Israeli occupation of Lebanon
in the early 1980s, and has called for the "obliteration" of Israel.
A number of Twitter accounts supporting Syrian rebel groups and the
al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front say Badreddine was killed in a battle
in Khan Touman, southern Aleppo, rather than in Damascus.
Khan
Touman was captured by a coalition of groups including al-Nusra Front
last week and has been subject to heavy shelling in recent days.
No official sources have commented on the reports.
Born
in 1961, Badreddine is believed to have been a senior figure in
Hezbollah's military wing. He was a cousin and brother-in-law of Imad
Mughniyeh, who was the military wing's chief until his assassination by
car bomb in Damascus in 2008.
According to one report,
a Hezbollah member interrogated by the Canadian Security Intelligence
Service (CSIS), described Badreddine as "more dangerous" than Mughniyeh,
who was "his teacher in terrorism".
They are alleged to have
worked together on the October 1983 bombing of the US Marine Corps
barracks in Beirut that killed 241 personnel.
Badreddine is
reported to have sat on Hezbollah's Shura Council and served as an
adviser to the group's overall leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Badreddine was tried in absentia by the ongoing Special Tribunal for Lebanon, in The Hague, over the killing of Mr Hariri.
Any of the armed groups seeking to overthrow Mr Assad might have
sought to kill the man co-ordinating Hezbollah military activities.
However, suspicion is likely to fall on Israel, which fought a war
against Hezbollah in 2006.
Israel has been accused of killing
several of the group's leaders over the years, although it has never
officially confirmed its involvement.
Hezbollah military chief
Imad Mughniyeh was killed in a car bombing in Damascus in 2008 that US
intelligence officials said last year was a joint operation by the CIA
and Israel's Mossad spy agency.
In January 2015, a suspected Israeli air strike in the Syrian Golan Heights killed six Hezbollah fighters, including Mughniyeh's son Jihad, and an Iranian Revolutionary Guards general.
And in December, Hezbollah said one of its senior figures, Samir Qantar, was killed when missiles fired by Israeli jets struck a block of flats in Damascus.
Israel
has also reportedly conducted air strikes aimed at preventing advanced
weapons shipments from Iran from reaching Hezbollah via Syria.
The 'no comment' is Israel's standard operating policy, but if Israel is involved in this, you can bet the Obama administration will make sure everyone knows about it.
The Israel Project's Omri Ceren provides more background by email.
Organizationally Badreddine was "dual hatted," per Matt Levitt, a Washington Institute director and the scholar who literally wrote the book on Badreddine [c]. He was both the head of Hezbollah's external global terror operations and the head of all Hezbollah activities in Syria [d].
Badreddine killed so many different people in so many different places that it's not actually clear if the Israelis were the ones who got him [e]. Under interrogation by Canadian security officials, a Hezbollah member once reportedly described Badreddine as "more dangerous" than his predecessor and cousin Imad Mughniyah [f]. He was unpopular even inside Hezbollah: Levitt tweeted he was "rash, hot tempered, impetuous, even unstable," and "was very close [to] Nasrallah, but widely disliked within Hezbollah," and was "a philandering playboy, not particularly religious" [g][h][i].
A couple of timelines: 1st, Badreddine's terror activities going back decades, 2nd, how the U.S. Treasury designated him as a terrorist starting in 2012, though last month
Badreddine terror activities timeline
1980s - In October 1983 he prepared the bombs for the Beirut barracks bombings, which killed 241 U.S. and 58 French servicemen. The targets were separate American and French buildings [j]. In December 1983 he was part of the Iran-backed cell that launched seven attacks in one day in Kuwait, killing 6 and wounding almost 90. The targets were the American embassy, a residential building for American company Raytheon, the French embassy, the Kuwaiti airport, the Kuwait National Petroleum Company oil rig, and a Kuwaiti power station [k].
1990s - He helped establish and then he coordinated Hezbollah Unit 1800, which facilitated terror attacks against Israel from the West Bank and Gaza [l].
2000s - He helped establish and the he coordinated Hezbollah Unit 3800, which launched attacks in Iraq against American, British, and Sunni forces [m]. In 2005 he masterminded Hariri's assassination in Lebanon, which killed Hariri and 21 others.
2010s - He's been coordinating all Hezbollah activities in Syria.
U.S. sanctions and designations timeline
2012 - Treasury designated Badreddine pursuant to E.O. 13224, labeling him a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" [n]. The Treasury notice cited him for "providing support to Hizballah’s terrorist activities in the Middle East and around the world," assessed that he was currently "Hizballah's top militant commander," and noted that "the prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon charged Mustafa Badr Al-Din with the attack... that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 21 others."
2015 - Treasury piled on more sanctions, this time pursuant to E.O. 13582 [o]. The Treasury note assessed he was "responsible for Hizballah's military operations in Syria since 2011," having sat with Nasrallah during meetings in Damascus throughout 2011 before expanding his role.
April 2016 - Treasury tagged him again, this time under the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015, making him subject to secondary sanctions [p].
Badreddine's assassination could lead to war between Israel and Hezbullah.
Breaking: IAF jets hit weapons convoy on Syria-Lebanon border
Israeli Air Force jets have attacked a weapons convoy traveling along the Syrian-Lebanese border. The intended recipient of the weapons was Hezbullah.
The attack allegedly occurred on the Syrian-Lebanese border earlier
in the afternoon and struck a number of vital positions important to the
terror organization.
Citing Arab media reports, Channel 2 said
that the Israeli Air Force struck the weapons convoy near a Syrian
"rebel safe-haven" where Hezbollah militants were allegedly stationed.
If the reports are confirmed, it would not be Israel's first
military excursion into enemy territory to stop the transfer of weapons
to its arch nemesis Hezbollah.
Last month,
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged for the first time that
Israel has taken action dozens of times beyond the northern border to
prevent Hezbollah from attaining “game-changing” weaponry.”
Lebanese political analyst Nadim Koteich has spoken the truth about Aleppo: Its residents would be better off living under Israeli annexation like residents of the Golan Heights rather than living under the ruins of Assad's bombardment of Aleppo.
In a comment he wrote on his Twitter page, Koteich expressed dismay over the absence of an Israeli move to annex Aleppo.
"If
Israel would have annexed Aleppo, it would have been safe today, like
the Golan. Aleppo's citizens would have been better off living under
occupation than living under ruins," Koteich wrote.
Israel took the Golan Heights during the 1967 Six Day War, and
in 1981 extended Israeli law to the region, thereby de facto annexing
it.
Koteich's comment came shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu declared that Israel would never renounce the Golan,
infuriating Syrian politicians. Thus, many Syrian social media activists
began wrangling with Koteich for voicing pro-Israel opinion.
A
Twitter user affiliated with the Syrian opposition said: "the carnage in
Aleppo increases our hatred for Zionists, because without Israel, Assad
would have gone."
Moron. Whom does he think has been treating the Syrianwounded?
Koteich anchors DNA, a daily show broadcast on the Lebanese Future
Television Network. On his show, he tends to criticize Iran and its
involvement in Lebanon, calling Lebanon "a mafia state" controlled by
Hezbollah.
The northern Syrian city of Aleppo has been witnessing
endless bombardments by the Syrian air force in the last week, in a bid
to oust rebel factions from the city's outskirts. Since the city was
excluded from the truce forged by the American administration and Russia
on Friday, airstrikes continue hitting the city, causing hundreds of
civilian causalities.
All of Syria would have been better off annexed to Israel. But it's too late for that now.
Saudi Arabia cuts off assistance to Lebanese Armed Forces
In a move that was likely spurred by Lebanese support for Iranian activity in Syria, Saudi Arabia has cut off some $4 billion in support for the Lebanese Armed Forces.
The
surprise announcement, carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency,
comes as deeply divided Lebanon struggles to handle the fallout from
neighboring Syria's raging civil war. The Lebanese government declined
to immediately comment on the Saudi decision.
One deal involves Saudi Arabia paying $3 billion to buy French arms
for the Lebanese military. The other involves a $1 billion support deal
for the Lebanese police.
Saudi Arabia said it halted the deals because of recent Lebanese
positions "which are not in line with the brotherly relations between
the two countries." It did not elaborate.
However, it comes after Lebanese Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil
declined to support resolutions against Iran during two meetings of Arab
and Muslim foreign ministers.
Bassil is the president of the right-wing
Christian Free Patriotic Movement, which is one of the strongest allies
of the Iran-backed militant Hezbollah group in Lebanon.
Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia long has been suspicious of the
predominantly Shiite Iran, which supports Hezbollah and Syria's
embattled President Bashar Assad. Relations took a turn for the worse at
the start of the year, when Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shiite
cleric and protesters stormed Saudi diplomatic posts in Iran. That in
turn prompted Riyadh to cut diplomatic relations with Tehran.
The Lebanese army is generally seen as a unifying force in the
country, and draws its ranks from all of Lebanon's sects. However, it's
widely viewed as being much weaker than Hezbollah.
That almost makes this sound like a foolish move - the last thing the Saudis want to do is strengthen Hezbullah. On the other hand, the Lebanese Armed Forces are full of Shiite Hezbullah members.
Angela Merkel says it's not the time for a 'two-state solution'
Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel gets it: This is not the time for a 'two-state solution.'
Merkel, who in the past has insisted that the “two-state solution” is
the best way to end the conflict, appeared to signal at Tuesday’s
Government-to-Government meeting that she would turn down the pressure
on Israel to push for a diplomatic process with the Palestinian
Authority (PA).
"Now is not the time for a significant step
forward [in the two-state solution]," she said during a joint press
conference with Netanyahu in Berlin, according to i24news.
Nevertheless,
Merkel stressed that while substantial progress can't be achieved at
this time, "it is possible to make improvements in specific fields," and
promised Germany's help in doing so, particularly in the economic area.
Merkel’s
remarks echo recent statements by officials in the United States, who
admitted that President Barack Obama recognizes that reaching a
two-state solution before he leaves office is unlikely.
Similar
expressions have been sounded in Israel as well, where opposition
chairman Yitzhak Herzog has also admitted that the “two-state solution”
is not feasible at this time and has offered his own, alternative plan
for peace.
With Syria falling apart a few miles away and Lebanon under the control of the Iranian proxy Hezbullah, is the world finally starting to get it?
Report: IAF striking multiple Hezbullah targets in Syria, casualties reported
I have not seen this elsewhere, but thought I'd post it so that you all can keep an eye out for updates during the night. It's time for me to go to sleep (still a bit jet lagged - normally I try to return to Israel on Thursday night or Friday and then sleep it off over the Sabbath).
There are two tweets out there that claim that the IAF struck multiple Hezbullah targets in Syria about two hours ago and that casualties have been reported. Here they are:
DEVELOPING: Reports of Israeli air force striking multiple Hezbollah targets in Syria moments ago, details unknown as of now
Double suicide bombing in Hezbullah's Beirut stronghold (with video)
41 people were killed and over 200 wounded in a double suicide bombing in Beirut on Thursday afternoon. A third suicide bomber blew himself up before he could join the others.
According to a Lebanese security official, the first suicide attacker
detonated his explosives' vest outside a Shiite Mosque, while the
second blew himself up inside a nearby bakery.
An apparent third suicide attacker was found dead, his legs blown off
while he still wore an intact explosives' belt, said the official,
speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. The
official speculated the third may have been killed from the explosion of
the second suicide attacker, as he was reportedly close to that blast.
The Al-Mayadeen TV also reported there was a third would-be suicide
attacker, describing him as a bearded young man who wore an explosives'
belt. The report said he was killed before he was able to detonate the
explosives.
Hospitals in southern Beirut were calling on people to donate blood
and appealed on residents not to gather at the hospital gates so that
ambulanced and emergency staff could work unhindered.
Shortly after the explosions, ambulances rushed to the area and
started evacuating the wounded and the dead as Lebanese troops and
Hezbollah gunmen cordoned the area, preventing anyone from getting
close.
"There is a massacre inside and we will not let you take photos," a
Hezbollah member screamed at an Associated Press photographer at the
scene.
That may explain why I could not find images of the attacks.
An hour later, ambulance sirens could still be heard in Beirut streets.
Hezbollah also called on people to leave all coffee shops in the
area, which are usually packed with people, and urged residents to
inform the group about any suspicious moves.
ISIS? Could be. As long as the Muslims are only killing each other, the world will not care, so pass the popcorn.
UNIFIL assisting Lebanese government investigation into alleged 'spying' by Israel
And you thought that UNIFIL's function was to keep the peace.
UNFIL has turned over to the Lebanes government a long-time employee who is accused of 'spying' for Israel, and has said that it will assist the Hezbullah-dominated Lebanese government's 'investigation.'
The Lebanese man who had worked in the UNIFIL
administration for over 20 years is among three people accused by
authorities of spying for Israel.
On Sunday, Lebanese authorities said they had arrested
the three suspects, a Syrian man and his Lebanese wife and a Lebanese
man.
But the Lebanese man "was in the UNIFIL compound when authorities requested him," UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti told AFP.
"We asked U.N. headquarters in New York to determine
whether immunity would be applied in his case, and the U.N. determined
that since the allegations were not related to his official functions,
immunity from legal proceedings would not apply," he added.
The man was taken into custody on Wednesday.
In an official statement, UNIFIL said Wednesday that it
“will continue to provide the assistance required to facilitate the
Government's investigations into the allegations.”
“UNIFIL considers it of the utmost importance that the
investigative and judicial process is conducted in accordance with the
international standards of justice, fairness and due process of law and
fully supports the Lebanese authorities in the effort,” it said.
“To this end, UNIFIL will continue to act in full
transparency, in coordination with the Lebanese authorities, and in
accordance with the long-established procedures and agreements,” it
added.
On Sunday, Lebanon's General Security service announced it had arrested a "spy network."
It accused the three suspects of gathering information on individuals and security and military targets.
It said the three also allegedly filmed "sensitive"
roads and other areas in south Lebanon "and sent the footage to their
employers to be used in later attacks."
Because the Lebanese 'justice' system is right up to UN standards of due process. And to think that the United States under Obama continues to contribute millions of dollars every year to this travesty.
Incredible: Steven Salaita blames Israel for Saudi Arabia crucifying teenager
I am sure many of you remember Steven Salaita, the professor who was denied a promised position at the University of Illinois when the university discovered he is an anti-Semite. He now holds the Edward Said Chair of American Studies at the American University in Beirut.
Look what he tweeted about two and a half hours ago.
@ExiledHeroine Let me guess: Maher said nothing about his beloved Israel's cozy relationship with the Saudi regime.
#ThanksObama Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif meets Hezbullah's Nasrallah in Beirut - UPDATED
Now that Iran doesn't have the United States to counterbalance it, the Mullahcracy is doing all the things it always wanted to do - like Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif meeting openly with Hezbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah for the first time since 2010. This is from the first link.
Sayyed Nasrallah received Dr. Zarif and the associating delegation,
said a statement released by Hezbollah Media Relations, adding that the
meeting was attended by the Iranian ambassador in Lebanon Mohammad
Fatahali.
Hezbollah S.G. and Zarif discussed latest developments in Lebanon and the region, the statement said.
The meeting also tackled efforts aimed at finding solutions to the
current crises in several countries, as well as the outcomes of the
nuclear agreement reached between Iran and the world powers last month
in Vienna, the statement added.
Actually, it's more like Lebanon is being treated as an Iranian vassal state. An impressive array of Lebanese politicians is lining up to meet with Zarif.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived in
Beirut on Tuesday, highlighting the importance of coordination among the
countries in the region to face challenges.
He said: “We hope that the nuclear deal will pave the way to opening a new chapter of ties between countries in the region.”
He made his remarks upon his arrival at Rafik Hariri International Airport on Tuesday afternoon.
He emphasized that his talks with Lebanese officials will tackle cooperation between Beirut and Tehran.
“We are in great need of dialogue and cooperation to confront regional challenges,” added the foreign minister.
Earlier, media reports said that he will stress to
Lebanese officials that Tehran's stance towards Syria and Hizbullah has
not changed.
Diplomatic sources told al-Joumhouria daily that Zarif
will send a clear message to the parties claiming Iran will turn its
back on Syria and Hizbullah that Tehran continues to back its allies in
the region.
Many critics have said that a nuclear deal signed
between Iran and major powers in Vienna last month will lead to a change
in the Iranian stance.
During his two-day official visit, Zarif is scheduled to
meet with Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Tammam Salam, Foreign
Minister Jebran Bassil and Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
It was not clear if the Iranian Foreign Minister would also visit Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun in Rabieh.
Hussein Obama's dream come true - Iran is behaving like a regional power. What could go wrong? #ThanksObama.
The Iran nuclear deal presents an “historic opportunity” to combat
Israeli “threats,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah during a Tuesday meeting in Beirut,
Hezbollah’s al-Manar television station said Wednesday.
“Zarif said from Beirut that the nuclear
agreement between Tehran and the world powers created a historic
opportunity to [sic] for regional cooperation to fight extremism and
face threats posed by the Zionist entity,” al-Manar reported.
Along with the Syrian regime, the
Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah is funded by Iran. Hezbollah has
dispatched thousands of fighters to support embattled Syrian President
Bashar Assad in the country’s five-year civil war.
Ah yes, greetings from the 'Zionist entity'....
Zarif is headed for Damascus later today where they have quite a greeting waiting for him.
Rebels fired dozens of rockets at central Damascus on Wednesday, a
monitor and state media said, ahead of an expected visit to the Syrian
capital by Iran's foreign minister.
The bombardment killed at
least one person and injured more than 20 others, the Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights, a British-based monitor, said.
Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was expected to head for Damascus from
Beirut later in the day, according to Iranian state media. An Iranian
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said he would be discussing a new plan to
resolve the war.
I can think of one thing that might go a long way in 'resolving the war.' A well-aimed rebel rocket that kills both Assad and Zarif.
They're passing the popcorn - 'Palestinians' being ethnically cleansed
Khaled Abu Toameh reports that the 'Palestinians' are being ethnically cleansed, and instead of howling in protest, the 'international community' is passing the popcorn and watching.
The Palestinians in Iraq are now also paying a heavy price. Since
2003, the number of Palestinians there has dropped from 25,000 to 6,000.
Palestinian activists say the Iraqis are waging a campaign of ethnic
cleansing against the country's Palestinian population.
The activists say that since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime,
Shiite militias in Iraq have been systematically attacking and
intimidating the Palestinian population over the past decade, prompting
many to flee.
The Shiites, they say, are opposed to the presence of non-Iraqi
Sunnis, including the Palestinians, in their country -- especially in
the capital, Baghdad.
In addition, they say, many Sunnis in Iraq who had opposed Saddam
Hussein have also been waging war on the Palestinians, in retaliation
for their support for him.
Thamer Meshainesh, head of the League for Palestinians in Iraq, was quoted
a few days ago as saying that Palestinians were facing "unprecedented
violations" and "increasing assaults." He warned that Palestinians in
Iraq were being targeted by various militias as part of a systematic
policy to expel them from the country.
...
The Palestinians in Iraq are paying the price for meddling in the
internal affairs of the country. This is what also happened to
Palestinians in Syria, Lebanon and Libya. Palestinians often find
themselves involved, both directly and indirectly, in the rivalries that
take place inside Arab countries. And when the fire reaches them, they
start screaming for help, as is the case today in Iraq.
Is that why the 'international community' doesn't care - because the 'Palestinians' interfered in Iraqi affairs and therefore have it coming to them? Umm... no....
But what is most interesting is the complete indifference displayed
by international human rights organizations, the media and the
Palestinian Authority toward the mistreatment of Palestinians in Arab
countries.
The PA, whose leaders are busy inciting against Israel on a daily
basis, does not have time to care about its people in the Arab world. PA
leaders say they want to press "war crimes" charges against Israel with
the International Criminal Court because of last year's war with Hamas
and continued construction in West Bank settlements.
However, when it comes to ethnic cleansing and torture of
Palestinians in Arab countries such as Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, the
Palestinian Authority leadership chooses to look the other way.
Similarly, the international media seems to have forgotten that there
are tens of thousands of Palestinians living in various Arab countries.
The only Palestinians that Western journalists know and care about are
those living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
International journalists do not care about the Palestinians in the
Arab world because this is not a story that can be blamed on Israel. An
Arab killing or torturing an Arab is not an item worth publishing in a
major newspaper in the U.S., Canada or Britain. But when a Palestinian
in the West Bank complains against the Israeli authorities or Jewish
settlers, many Western journalists waste no time rushing to the scene to
cover this "major" development.
Some might call the differing attitude toward alleged 'Palestinian suffering' in Israel v. the Arab countries anti-Semitism.
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-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children 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
