Israel has barred a UNESCO team that is 'investigating' whether the Cave of the Patriarchs (Me'oras HaMachpeila) should become a 'protected' World Heritage site from visiting the site or the city.
Hebron’s Old City, including the Tomb of the Patriarchs, is one of the
35 sites the World Heritage Committee plans to consider for inscription
on the World Heritage List when it meets in Krakow, Poland from July
2-12.
The Palestinian Authority has fast tracked the inscription process by claiming that the site is endangered.
Since UNESCO recognized Palestine as a member state in 2011, the
Palestinian Authority has similarly fast tracked inscription of two
other sites on the list of World Heritage in Danger. This includes the
Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage Route in Bethlehem in 2012 and
the ancient terraces of Battir (2014).
The International Council
on Monuments and Sites, a professional body, which investigates
nomination requests and provides recommendations for inscription on the
list of World Heritage in Danger had recommended that both nominations
go through the normal process after making field visits to both sites.
This
time Israel has rejected its request to make a field visit to Hebron,
this includes a refusal to grant entry visas to Israel for the group,
Shama HaCohen said.
The 21-member World Heritage Committee
rejected the ICOMOS conclusions not to place the Church of the Nativity
and the terrace of Battir on its endangered list, Shama HaCohen said.
Therefore,
it’s “a shame to waste the time and money” of the ICOMOS committee
whose recommendations are otherwise typically adhered to with regard to
the inscription process, Shama HaCohen said.
“Israel won’t take
part in and won’t legitimize any Palestinian political moves under the
guise of culture and heritage,” Shama HaCohen said.
UNESCO - and all UN agencies - should be barred from Israel altogether. The only reason they come here is to try to destroy us.
3 'Palestinians' arrested for visiting Israeli Sukkah... by 'Palestinian Authority'
Moadim l'simcha - a happy holiday, and pithka tava - a good note - to all of you as it's Hoshana Rabba night.
On Thursday evening, three 'Palestinians' were arrested for visiting an Israeli Sukkah.
Let's go to the videotape.
Sorry, but no, that was not the 'Palestinian' arrested for visiting an Israeli Sukkah. Here's the real story.
The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) security forces arrested three
Palestinian Arabs from the Gush Etzion area who “dared” to visit the sukkah of Oded Revivi, mayor of the town of Efrat.
Channel 2 News reported on Thursday evening that the Arabs
who were arrested were questioned over allegations they met with
"baby-killers", an apparent reference to General Nitzan Alon, the head
of the IDF's Operations Directorate, and the Shai District Police
Commander, who were also guests in the same sukkah.
Revivi said on Thursday evening, “Yesterday we sat in the sukkah -
Jews and Muslims. We ate, drank and talked about common themes and our
hope for a better neighborhood and for peace. Today the PA summoned some
of the Muslim guests for questioning.
“All those who pressure the Israeli government to enter a peace
process with the Palestinian Authority should be reminded that they
behave in a way that does the opposite of encouraging peace with their
Jewish neighbors,” continued Revivi. “An authority which names squares
after suicide bombers and summons for questioning citizens who drink
coffee and talk about peace with their Jewish neighbors is not one that
promotes peace.
“I salute my neighbors who were not afraid to come to our sukkah
yesterday, to talk about peace, who asked to be photographed and to show
the world that they are brave enough to stand up for peace,” he
stressed.
Indeed. But none of that will stop President Hussein Obama from trying to give them their 'state' before he leaves office. Post on that coming soon.
Abu Mazen earns praise for plan to attend Peres funeral, but Fatah says he's 'destined for hell' and Hamas calls for 'days of rage'
'Moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud AbbasAbu Mazen is drawing praise from the Israeli Left for his plan to attend Shimon Peres' funeral. Peres was the man who brought the 'Palestinians' in from the cold.
But Israel's Arab MK's are being criticized for ignoring Peres' death, while Abu Mazen's Fatah faction has described Peres as 'destined for hell' and his Hamas rivals are calling for 'days of rage' in response to Peres' death.
This is the second link from the above paragraph.
On the day after former Israeli
President Shimon Peres passed away, Fatah demonized Peres as a murderer
about to enter Hell. In a cartoon on Fatah's official Facebook page
(shown above) Peres is shown trembling and handcuffed as the Grim Reaper
shows or reads to Peres from an English language scroll the long list
of "crimes" that the PA-Fatah accuse Peres of committing. In the
background flames are seen, representing the fires of Hell that,
according to Fatah, are awaiting Peres.
Likewise, official PA TV's "Israeli
affairs expert" spoke about Peres. The "expert," an Israeli Arab named
Fayez Abbas, described Peres as a man of war who should have been tried
in the International Criminal Court, and as "the greatest fraud in the
history of the Zionist movement." The essence of his message about Peres
was that he succeeded in deceiving the entire world when he talked
about peace:
The Hamas terror group urged Palestinians to hold a “Day of Rage” on
Friday, coinciding with the state funeral of former Israeli president
Shimon Peres, which will be held in Jerusalem on that day.
The call is meant to mark the one-year
anniversary of the beginning of a wave of terror attacks, including
stabbings and car-rammings throughout the West Bank and in Jerusalem,
that launched in September 2015.
Hamas’s call follows a Wednesday statement by the group’s spokesman in Gaza that expressed happiness at Peres’s death.
A spokesman for the group, Sami Abu Zuhri,
told AP on Wednesday that “the Palestinian people are very happy at the
passing of this criminal who caused their blood to shed.”
He added, “Shimon Peres was the last remaining
Israeli official who founded the occupation, and his death is the end
of a phase in the history of this occupation and the beginning of a new
phase of weakness.”
Meanwhile, Abu Mazen expressed sorrow over Peres' death... at least in English.
In a statement, Abbas said he has sent a condolence letter to Peres’s family expressing “sorrow and sympathy.”
He called Peres a partner in reaching a “peace
of the brave” with the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and prime
minister Yitzhak Rabin. The three men shared the 1994 Nobel Peace prize
for reaching the Oslo interim peace accord.
Abbas said Peres “exerted persistent efforts to reach a just peace from the Oslo agreement until the final moments of his life.”
Once again the 'Palestinian Authority' is speaking from both sides of its mouth.
The chickens of Western-backed 'Palestinian' intransigence come home to roost
The chickens created by years of Western-backed 'Palestinian' intransigence are coming home to roost.
In the 23 years since the 'Palestinian Authority' was created, we continually heard the claim that they had to be armed in order to be the only law enforcement authority in the 'Palestinian territories.' But the 'Palestinian Authority' never chose to assert control, instead allowing all kinds of lawless gangs to arm themselves and inflict terror on Israelis. Now, those armed gangs are turning their guns on the 'Palestinian Authority.' And like in Gaza in 2007, Abu Mazen is losing control.
Hours after his security officers lynched a detainee, Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas urged Palestinian businessmen living
abroad to support the Palestinian economy by investing in the
Palestinian territories. The Palestinian Authority (PA), he asserted,
was "working to provide security and safety to encourage investment."
According
to Abbas, "The Palestinian territories are living in a state of
security stability, which we are working to provide for residents and
investors alike by enforcing the rule of law and enhancing transparency
and accountability."
Funny that he never speaks that way in front of the 'international community.' And this time it's really a lie.
In his speech before the businessmen, Abbas neglected any reference
to the latest wave of "security chaos" in PA-controlled areas in the
West Bank, specifically Nablus, the largest Palestinian city.
Five Palestinians, including two PA police officers, were killed in
the worst scenes of internecine violence to hit the West Bank in recent
years. Abbas was either playing the businessmen for fools or hoping that
they share his deaf and blind state.
The violence in Nablus did not come as a surprise to those who have
been monitoring the situation in the West Bank in recent months.
In fact, scenes of lawlessness and "security chaos" have become part
of the norm in many Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps -- a
sign that the PA may be losing control to armed gangs and militias.
Palestinians refer to the situation as falatan amni, or "security chaos." An article published in Gatestone
in June referred to the growing instances of anarchy and lawlessness in
PA-controlled areas in the West Bank, first and foremost Nablus.
The chickens of years of Western-backed 'Palestinian' intransigence and weapons supplies are coming home to roost. And the 81-year old 'Abbas' - the 'moderate' hope of the Leftist West - may not last much longer.
The Palestinian Authority is now paying the price for harboring,
funding and inciting gang members and militiamen who until recently were
hailed by many Palestinians as "heroes" and "resistance fighters."
Unsurprisingly, most of these "outlaws" and "criminals" (as the PA
describes them) are affiliated in one way or another with Mahmoud
Abbas's Fatah faction.
Nablus, the so-called Mountain of Fire, is now threatening to turn
into a volcano that is set to erupt in the face of Abbas and his PA
government.
The situation in Nablus the past few days raises serious questions
about the ability of the PA to perform basic security measures and rein
in armed gangs and militiamen.
Moreover, the unprecedented violence has
further shattered Palestinian confidence in the PA and its leaders ahead
of the local and municipal elections, scheduled to take place on
October 8.
And guess who is stepping into the vacuum....
Hamas's dream of extending its control to the West Bank now seems more
realistic than ever. Under the current circumstances, Abbas would be
offering the West Bank to Hamas on a silver platter -- unless he wakes
up and realizes that he made a big mistake by authorizing the local and
municipal elections.
Tit for tat: Iran accuses Abu Bluff of collaborating with the CIA, 'Palestinians' accuse Iran of 'serving the Zionist project'
Pass the popcorn!
The 'Palestinians' and Iran are nearly in open war.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Maryam
Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
(NCRI), an Iranian diaspora opposition group, met in Paris on Saturday,
renewing tensions between the Palestinian leadership and Iran.
Abbas
hosted Rajavi at his hotel in Paris and updated her on the latest
developments in the Palestinian territories and the Middle East,
according to Wafa, the official Palestinian Authority news site.
The following day, Tehran learned of the meeting and
accused President Abbas of working as a secret agent on behalf of the
United States government.
A top advisor to the Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Shiekh
al-Islam said, “That man [Abbas] is known to us and documents from the
US Embassy in Tehran revealed that he has been a collaborator with the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for a long time and his actions in
the past decades have proved that.”
Later in the evening, Wafa
published a press release from the Fatah Media and Culture
Commissariat, saying Iran, without mentioning its name, is carrying out
a campaign to undermine President Abbas and the Palestinian cause. “A
careful reading of advisor to the Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein
Sheikh al-Islam’s statements…have made clear to us of the horror that
many people are carrying out to serve the Zionist project through
organized campaigns against the president of the Palestinian people and
the Palestinian issue.”
The statement stated further that Iran
hopes to entrench division between Palestinians. “They have vied and
are still vying to destroy and ruin the Palestinian people, entrench
the division, and encourage internal conflict to gain political points,
nothing else. Their goals have nothing to do with Jerusalem or
justice,” it said.
The 'Palestinians' are trying to show they stand with the 'moderate' Sunni countries (Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan). Coincidentally, those are the same countries who have been ramping up ties with Israel. Hmmm.
'Palestinian' reporter forced into exile by the 'Palestinian Authority'
A young 'Palestinian' reporter says he's staying in Europe (he won't say where) out of fear that the 'Palestinian Authority' will arrest him and send him to jail on trumped up charges of 'spying for Israel' in a best case scenario.
Qaisi said that he has been targeted because of a video he published
with MEE last September which showed PA security forces beating
Palestinians in Bethlehem during a protest against Israeli settler
attacks on the Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem.
The video showed at least 10 security forces surrounding two teenage protesters who lay on the ground as officers kicked and beat them with batons.
The MEE footage was viewed over
60,000 times and it caused outrage as it spread across Arabic and
English media outlets in the region.
“It was the first time Palestinians could see on camera the PA beating their own people,” Qaisi said.
Public anger at the beatings led
to the PA forcing four senior officers into early retirement, including
Deputy Commander of the Bethlehem Area Issam Nabhan and Deputy Director
of Operations Shaher al-Qaisi.
Six lower ranking officers were sentenced to three months in prison and barred from promotion for one year.
PA
Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said at the time that the security
forces’ misconduct did “not reflect the policy of the Palestinian
government or the Palestinian security forces”.
However, soon after, Qaisi said, the security forces approached him about the abuse he had captured on camera. Initially, they wanted him to work for the Palestinian intelligence agency, but Qaisi refused.
“After
10 days they started interrogating me,” he said. “They told me I had
three options: be killed in a car accident, be found with guns in my
home, or be accused of being an Israeli spy.”
They'll stop behaving like this if only they get a 'Palestinian state'.... Right....
Israeli police kill terrorist who murdered 3 in Tel Aviv, 'Palestinian peace partners' declare him a martyr
Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.
Last Friday, a 'Palestinian' terrorist named Nashat Milhem opened fire on a Tel Aviv cafe murdering three people. (The number of people Milhem murdered has been corrected in this post).
This Friday, agents from Israel's General Security Service killed Milhem in a shootout in his hometown of Arara in Northern Israel.
Milhem was found in his hideout and was discovered after the Shin Bet
received information on his location on Friday, following an intensive
Shin Bet - Israel Police investigation that included many undercover
and overt operations to track him down.
The shooter tried to escape when he noticed security in the area, and
opened fire at security forces using the Spectre M4 Falcon sub-machine
gun in his possession, which he also used to murder his victims in Tel
Aviv the previous week, the Shin Bet stated.
The family has erected a mourner's tent in his memory.
That would be the same family whose head called for his son's arrest. The father was arrested anyway four days ago.
Hamas declared Nashat Milhem a 'martyr.' So did our 'peace partners' at the 'Palestinian Authority.' Until they figured out that he was an 'Israeli Arab.'
The PA Ministry of Health initially added Milhem, who is an Israeli
citizen, to its list of “martyrs” who were killed by Israelis during the
current wave of terrorism, which began in early October.
However,
the ministry on Friday night removed Milhem’s name from the list. The
ministry explained that it documents the names of Palestinian “martyrs”
only in areas that fall under its jurisdiction, namely the West Bank,
Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.
However, the ministry did not
offer any explanation as to why another Israeli Arab, Muhanad al-Okabi,
is included in its list of “martyrs.” Al-Okabi, who carried out the
October 18 terror attack at the Beersheba Central Bus Station, appears
as number 31 on the PA ministry’s list of “martyrs.”
The
ministry defended the decision to remove Milhem’s name from its “list of
martyrs” by arguing that this does not mean that he is not entitled to
be characterized as a “martyr.”
A statement issued by the PA
ministry praised Milhem as “one of the most precious martyrs whose name
has been inscribed with his pure blood that watered our the soil of our
free land.”
The ministry dismissed criticism by many Palestinians
for excluding Milhem from the list, saying he is no difference between
him and any other Palestinian “martyr.”
“We are proud of our
Palestinian people in the 1948 lands,” the PA ministry said, referring
to Israel’s Arab citizens. “We are proud of their sacrifices and
achievements. No one can deny their belonging to their homeland,
Palestine.”
In other words, the 'Palestinian Authority' still loves him anyway.
It will be interesting to see how many 'Israeli Arab' politicians show up at the 'mourning tent' and how their Leftist supporters in Tel Aviv will react if they do.
Republican US Presidential candidate and real estate mogul Donald Trump
is strongly considering a visit to the Temple Mount when he comes to
Israel for the first time at the end of the month.
A source closely connected to organizing the trip to Israel confirmed to The Jerusalem Post
on Wednesday that Trump's staff is looking into the logistics of
visiting the holy site and point of conflict between Israel and the Arab
world.
The planned visit follows Trump's call for "a total and
complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our
country's representatives can figure out what is going on" in light of
"great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim
population."
Palestinians have often used Israeli politicians'
visits to the Mount as an excuse for violence, falsely claiming Israel
is changing the status quo.
The government maintains the status
quo, in that non-Muslims may visit, but not pray on the Temple Mount,
which is administered by the Jordanian Islamic Trust (Wakf). Jewish
visitors are often harassed at the holy site, and earlier this year, a
delegation of US Congressmen visiting the plaza also complained of harassment by Wakf guards.
Palestinian claims about the Temple Mount reached a fever pitch in
recent months, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
claiming Jews' feet defile the site, and contributed to sparking the
current wave of terrorism, during which police found explosives hidden
in the Al-Aksa Mosque on the Mount.
MK Taleb Abu Arrar (Joint
List) said of Trump's plan to visit the Temple Mount: "If Trump the
racist plans to visit Al-Aksa, the holiest place in the world for
Muslims, to harm the sensitivities of people against whom he incites, he
and Netanyahu will be responsible.
"Such a visit will set the whole region on fire, I am warning," Abu Arrar added.
Yes, but neither of those Congressmen (Bill Johnson (R-OH) and David McKinley (R-WV)) were a particular target for the Arab world, and they visited 'undercover.' Trump is very recognizable and is now a lightning rod for the Arab/Muslim world. While I believe it's wrong to allow only Muslims access to the Mount, I don't believe that Israel needs to give the 'Palestinians' an excuse for suicide bombings and murder by allowing Trump onto the Mount.
UNESCO chief blasts 'Palestinian' attempt to have Western Wall declared a Muslim holy site
As the 'Palestinians' decry Israel for supposed 'changes to the status quo' on the Temple Mount, they are attempting to create one of their own by orchestrating a UNESCO vote (you will recall that they are members of UNESCO - that's why the US hasn't paid dues in four years) declaring the Western Wall (pictured) to be an Islamic holy site. UNESCO director general Irina Bukova is not pleased, and blasted her own board today for bringing the matter to a vote.
“We all have responsibility to UNESCO’s mandate, to take decisions that
promote dialogue, tolerance and peace,” said Bokova. “This is especially
important for young people, who should be nurtured and educated for
peace.”
She issued her statement on Tuesday, in advance of
Wednesday’s highly publicized vote by UNESCO’s Executive Board in Paris
on a draft resolution, which “affirms that the Buraq Plaza [the Western
Wall] is an integral part of al-Aksa Mosque/al-Haram al-Sharif.”
A
statement put out by her office said that Bokova “appeals to the UNESCO
Executive Board to take decisions that do not further inflame tensions
on the ground and that encourage respect for the sanctity of the Holy
Sites.”
Her office added that the discussion “could be seen to
alter the status of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls, inscribed
on UNESCO’s World Heritage list, and that could further incite
tensions.”
The “protection of culture heritage should not be taken hostage, as this undermines UNESCO’s mandate and efforts,” Bokova said.
She
has consulted with nations on the 58 member board to encourage them to
pursue constructive dialogue that promotes tolerance and mutual respect
such as outlined in the mandate of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Jerusalem is a city that is
holy for Jews, Christians and Muslim and it should be a place of
dialogue for all three faiths, she said.
Bokova called on “all
parties to ensure that cultural heritage, including religious, is
preserved and accessible to all and to resume dialogue in the spirit of
mutual understanding.”
The six-page draft resolution – submitted
by Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Kuwait, and the United Arab
Emirates on behalf of the Palestinian Authority broadly condemns Israeli
actions in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza.
At no point does
the resolution mention the Jewish historical connection to Jerusalem,
which dates back to biblical times. Nor does it reference the Temple
Mount or the Western Wall, which was part of the retaining wall King
Herod built for the Temple Mount more than 2,000 years ago. It also
relies solely on Arabic names for the holy sites on and around the
Temple Mount.
Israeli Ambassador to UNESCO Carmel Shama Hacohen
called the resolution “a total Islamization” of a site that is revered
by both Jews and Muslims.
Funny that we have not heard equally vehement opposition to this resolution from US President Hussein Obama, Secretary of State Kerry, UN Ambassador Power or National Security Council Chief Rice.
I wonder why the self-proclaimed 'most pro-Israel administration evah' has not come out against this. /sarc
While I don't agree with everything in this analysis, Udi Segal raises much cause for concern regarding the current situation involving the 'Palestinians.'
Another reason that Islamism has for the most part been halted in Judea
and Samaria can be traced to the fact that the Fatah movement is in a
fight for its very survival. It knows that failure would spell the end
for it, and Hamas would show it no mercy. When it comes to religious
fanaticism, the formula of “bad is good” applies.
This formula
is what guides the spread of radical Islamism. It is the source of
horror and shock that is generated by the specter of Shi’ite Islam as
represented by Iran and the Revolutionary Guards. The Islamic Republic
has spent a great deal of money financing terrorism as well as a costly
nuclear program.
The extremist Sunni organization, Islamic
State, took things a step further. Its actions dwarf the brutality of
the Al Quds Force. Even al-Qaida looks like a cute, cuddly teddy bear in
comparison. Have the people who have come under ISIS rule seen their
lives improve? The answer is no. Bad is good.
If we were to take a
peek at what is going on with our neighbors to the northeast, we are
left to wonder - is there anyone enjoying the situation in Syria now?
No. There is a brutal civil war there in which a quarter million people
have been butchered. As a country, Syria is in ruins. Its infrastructure
is crumbling. Its economy is in shambles. Its citizens are being
slaughtered, and those who survived are witnesses to acts that will stay
with them as personal and national traumas for generations to come.
Millions
have become refugees who have streamed into Jordan and Turkey. Now,
wretched and without any possessions, they knock on the doors of Europe.
Is this Arab pride? Is this Syrian courage? Hezbollah has lost 1,400
guerillas, more than one-tenth of its fighting force. ISIS is conquering
territory and losing some as well, bombing and being bombarded. Things
are bad, for everyone involved.
And this is precisely the goal.
For extremist Islam, bad is good. Only the destruction of the
foundations of contemporary Western culture and a return to the stone
age - in its simplest and historic meaning - will usher in the rule of
sharia, the austere form of Islam that was in effect 500 years ago. That
will pave the way for the establishment of the Islamic caliphate.
It
is quite an ambitious goal - taking apart the artificial entities
imposed by the West, including statehood, institutions of law and order,
economic structure, and norms of morality and regulations. The goal is
to destroy everything and wash it over with Islamism, some of whose
adherents believe is engaged in a war of armageddon.
This toxic
mix could easily merge with the rising tide of terror and rebellion
percolating in the Palestinian territories. With despair the dominant
theme, the Palestinians could decide to take everything apart. Even
Abbas, the serial threatener, is planning a provocation of his own by
announcing at the United Nations that he is handing back the keys to the
Palestinian Authority.
Read the whole thing. My own view is that this is the time to rule with an iron fist. That's why (as those who follow me on Twitter already know) I am all in favor of the new rules of engagement that allow the police and the IDF to shoot at stone throwers. The stone throwers are attempted murderers, and showing them mercy is a mistake. They are a deadly force and the law of proportionality requires responding to them with deadly force. Fortunately, the IDF has been able to shut much of the weapons flow to Judea and Samaria that led to the 'second intifada' 15 years ago, and there is no reason to let up now.
The Obama
administration urged a U.S. judge to "carefully consider" the
Palestinian Authority's financial condition in determining the size of
any bond it must post to appeal a jury's finding that it supported
terrorist attacks in Israel.
The U.S. Department of
Justice filed a notice of interest in the lawsuit in Manhattan federal
court late on Monday, after 10 American families in February won a $655
million verdict against the Palestine Liberation Organization and
Palestinian Authority.
The Justice Department said the government "strongly supports" allowing terrorism victims to vindicate their interests in court.
Deputy
Secretary of State Antony Blinken nonetheless asked U.S. District Judge
George Daniels to "carefully consider" how requiring a
multimillion-dollar bond could affect the Palestinian Authority's
viability, given its delicate finances.
The
Palestinian Authority's collapse "would undermine several decades of
U.S. foreign policy and add a new destabilizing factor to the region,
compromising national security," Blinken said.
Kent
Yalowitz, the families' lawyer, said he was disappointed by the State
Department position. He said that if the Palestinian Authority "has
enough money to pay convicted terrorists, it has enough to pay the
judgment in this case."
...
In
February, jurors found the PLO and Palestinian Authority liable for six
shootings and bombings between 2002 and 2004 in the Jerusalem area,
which have been attributed to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Hamas.
Those attacks killed 33 people, including several U.S. citizens, and injured more than 450.
The jury awarded the families $218.5 million, a sum automatically tripled under a U.S. anti-terrorism law to $655.5 million.
The PLO and the Palestinian Authority want the judgment stayed pending appeal, with no requirement to post bond.
The
families counter that the defendants should deposit $30 million per
month with the court. At a July hearing, Daniels signaled he might
require a bond.
Leaving aside the obvious (maybe they should have thought of the possibility of being held accountable before they dispatched terrorists to attack Israelis), the 'Palestinian Authority' continues to pay 'salaries' to imprisoned terrorists, freed terrorists and the families of dead terrorists (whom they call 'martyrs') to this day. If they can do that, surely they can post a bond to ensure that their victims are also recompensed.
And if they cannot post a bond, let them pay the judgment.
The Obama administration should hang its head in shame over this one. But of course they won't.
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.
It's come to this: Obama siding with 'Palestinians' against US citizen terror victims
In a lawsuit brought by American terror victims, guess which side the Obama administration is taking. You guessed it... the 'Palestinian' side.
The lawsuit was filed over a series of bombings and shootings in or
around Jerusalem that killed dozens of US citizens during the second Palestinian intifada, a decade ago.
The case was delayed for years while Palestinian lawyers tried to
challenge the American court’s jurisdiction, but last February, the
families won a $218.5 million judgment after a seven-week trial in
Manhattan Federal Court. The jury found that the PLO and Palestinian
Authority were responsible for a string of attacks from 2001 to 2004
that killed 33 and injured hundreds.
Unfortunately for the cash-strapped Palestinians, a 1992 law requires
damages in cases such as these, to be tripled, with interest on the
award, pushing it to as much as $1.1 billion.
The judgment amounts to nearly a third of the Palestinian Authority’s annual operating budget.
Palestinian leadership say they are not responsible “for the actions
of individuals” who killed or wounded Americans, and are appealing the
decision.
The Obama administration has reportedly signaled that it will
intervene on behalf of the Palestinians in this case over US citizens.
Late last month, the Department of Justice, which had
previously not been involved in the 11-year-old case, informed the court
it was considering filing a “statement of interest” in the case by Aug.
10, but officials would not elaborate. A source said the Department of
Justice was working with the State Department on the matter.
“As the filing states, the United States is considering whether to
submit a Statement of Interest in the [Sokolow v. Palestine Liberation
Organization] matter,” a DOJ spokeswoman told FoxNews.com. “Any filing
would be made on behalf of the United States, not on behalf of any other
party.”
The Palestinian leadership would not have to pay the award unless it
is upheld on appeal, but U.S. District Judge George Daniels said he may
require the Palestinians to post bond while the case works its way
through the process to show “some meaningful demonstration that the
defendant is ready and willing to pay the judgment.”
“An administration which claims to be fighting terror is planning to weigh in favor of the terrorists,” Yalowitz told FoxNews.com.
“If our government actually came in favor of convicted terrorists, it
would be a really sorry statement about the way our government treats
terror.”
Hamas, which promotes political Islam, has
mounted occasional crackdowns on more radical groups that chafe at its
engagement with Abbas and truces with Israel. Such groups support the
broader struggle led by Islamic State and al Qaeda.
From
its seat in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian
cabinet deplored what it called Honnor's "execution".
"Hamas
must respect the law and civil rights," said the cabinet statement,
published by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa. "It must not
mess with the souls of people. It must cease abolishing security and
order and stop trespassing on the authorities of the government and the
judiciary."
If I were Abu Mazen, my reaction to Hamas and ISIS killing each other would be 'faster, faster....' Maybe I haven't been in the Middle East long enough. The rules here are apparently immutable.
Egyptian historian on normalizing relations with Israel: Egypt has to look out for its own interests, not for the 'Palestinians'
It wouldn't surprise me to see Egyptian President Abdelfatah al-Sisi try to normalize relations with Israel. For that matter, it wouldn't surprise me either if 'our friends, the Saudis' and the Gulf States did so as well. Countries don't have relations, they have interests. And it is clearly in the interest of all those who oppose both Iran and Islamism (the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic State et al) to join forces with Israel. That leaves the 'Palestinians' - the darlings of both Iran and the Islamists - out in the cold. Or at least it should.
And you thought it was only Hamas that had the military style Kindergarten graduations.
Here's a tweet from Israel Radio's Gal Berger with pictures from a Kindergarten graduation in Ein Arik, a village just outside Ramallah - 'Palestinian Authority' territory:
A senior official in Jerusalem said that the reason that the
minister's visa request was turned down was because he intended to pass
through Ben-Gurion International Airport for the purposes of visiting
the Palestinian Authority, rather than visiting Israel.
Another reason, the official said, was Nzimande's radically anti-Israel stance.
Nzimande is a communist who serves in the South
African parliament as a member of the ANC coalition. In the past he has
supported an academic boycott against Israel and on one occasion he
demanded the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to Pretoria.
Nzimande was invited to Ramallah by his Palestinian
counterpart to promote research collaboration between the University of
Johannesburg and Palestinian institutions in Palestine. He was due to
be there from April 25 – 29.
The minister responded harshly to the decision not
to give him a visa. "The Israeli government is trying to use all the
means at its disposal to hide its atrocities against the Palestinians
and to ensure that only the smallest number of people see what is really
happening in the land under its control," he told the South African
media.
Nzimande added that he would call on all higher
education institutions in his country to immediately freeze their
contacts with Israeli universities.
At this stage, Nzimande has not received the
support of South African President Jacob Zuma or that country's foreign
ministry. Until now, no government minister has come to his defense.
But the South African Communist party came to Nzimande's defense and that drew a strong reaction from Israel's Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman.
“The wild attacks by the South African Community Party against Israel
following our refusal to allow the higher education minister to pass
through Israel en route to the Palestinian Authority is hypocrisy,”
Liberman said.
“It was only a few days ago that a violent, racist
attack was perpetrated against foreigners in Johannesburg,” the foreign
minister said. “There was also vandalism and destruction of property.
The end result was many deaths and wounded.”
“As part of the
rioting, South African police fired rubber-coated bullets and stun
grenades at other migrants from neighboring African countries,” Liberman
said. “These events and others prove once again that South Africa
remains a country with serious problems of racism and violence.”
“That’s
why it would behoove the South African government and the Communist
Party to stop preaching morality and attacking Israel, which is a great
democracy that is exceptionally coping with threats and terrorist
elements while making maximal effort to preserve human rights and
international norms of behavior.”
If South Africa was forced to
contend with Israel’s security predicament, “blood would be awash in the
streets there,” Liberman said.
“In this light, it’s no surprise
that the Communist Party prefers the Palestinians over Israel,” he
said. “It is a case of like attracting like.”
I can think of some other politicians who think the same way as Nzimande. One of them is the President of the United States. But as I have said many times, no country is obligated to allow unfettered access to its borders. Certainly not Israel.
The Haaretz piece is another exercise in poisoning the well, but it does reveal
some bits of interesting information. The article claims that Obama’s
people, including Susan Rice, are refusing to meet with the Israeli
ambassador. But they’re rather enthusiastic about meeting with assorted
Israeli leftists.
...
Looking into the records of the entry permits reveals
that several heads of leftist Israeli not-for-profit groups also visited
the White House during 2014. At the end of October there was a visit by
the head of the Geneva Initiative group, Gadi Baltiansky, followed the
next day by a visit by the head of Friends of the Earth Gidon Bromberg.
They met separately with Maher Bitar, director of Israeli-Palestinian
affairs at the White House.
On December 2, left-wing activist Danny Zeidman, whose main interest
is problems related to Jerusalem, met with adviser Gordon. On December
9, attorney Michael Sfard from the Yesh Din human rights group, met NSC
Mideast adviser Lempert.
Those are understated descriptions.
Zeidman is with Ir Amim, a radical left-wing group fighting against the Jewish presence in Jerusalem. It gets its funding from the EU and George Soros.
An Ir Amim blog entry in the Huffington Post (April 27,
2010), appeals to the United States government to, “Threaten [Israel]
with severing diplomatic ties.”
And apparently Ir Amim is much closer to the White House than anyone thought.
According to Emily Schaeffer, a lawyer on Yesh Din’s
legal team, “Yesh Din was founded to use law as a tool to fight the
Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.”
Victor Davis Hansen would tell you that coordinating strategy with groups like Ir Amim and Yesh Din - which are very far from any type of Israeli consensus - is something that Obama does purposefully and as a matter of course.
But, in fact, there is a predictable pattern to Obama’s foreign
policy. The president has an adolescent, romantic view of professed
revolutionary societies and anti-Western poseurs — and of his own
ability uniquely to reach out and win them over. In the most superficial
sense, Obama demonstrates his empathy for supposedly revolutionary
figures of the non-Western world through gratuitous, often silly remarks
about Christianity and Western colonial excesses, past and present. He
apologizes with talk of our “own dark periods” and warns of past U.S.
“dictating”; he contextualizes; he ankle-bites the very culture he grew
up and thrived in, as if he can unapologetically and without guilt enjoy
the West’s largesse only by deriding its history and values.
In lieu of reading or speaking a foreign language, or knowing much about
geography (Austrians speak Austrian, the death camps were Polish, the
Indian Ocean Maldives are the politically correct name of the Falklands,
cities along the U.S. Atlantic Coast are Gulf ports, etc.), Obama
adopts, in the manner of a with-it English professor, hokey accentuation
to suggest an in-the-know fides anytime he refers to the Taliban,
Pakistan, or Teheran. Reminiscent of college naïfs with dorm-room
posters of Che Guevara, Obama mythologizes about the underappreciated
multicultural “Other” that did everything from fuel the Western
Renaissance and Enlightenment to critique Christian excesses during the
Inquisition. In truth, what he delivers is only a smoother and more
refined version of Al Sharpton’s incoherent historical riff on
“astrology” and “Greek homos.” Obama refuses to concede that Islam can
become a catalyst for radical killers and terrorists, and he has a
starry-eyed crush on those who strike anti-Western poses and have turned
their societies upside down on behalf of the proverbial people.
...
For Obama, in the struggle between the Palestinian Authority and
Israel, Israel is a Westernized colonial construct and a proponent of
Western neo-liberal capitalism. The PA and Hamas, in contrast, are seen
both as the downtrodden in need of community-organizing help and as
authentic peoples whose miseries are not self-induced and the wages of
tribalism, statism, autocracy, fundamentalism, misogyny, and
anti-Semitism, but rather the results of Israeli occupation,
colonialism, and imperialism. Obama may not articulate this publicly,
but these are the assumptions that explain his periodic blasts against
Netanyahu and his silence about the autocratic Palestinian Authority and
the murderous Hamas.
In such a landscape, the current Iranian talks make perfect sense. Obama
was in no mood in the spring of 2009 to vocally support a million,
pro-Western Iranian dissidents who took to the streets in anger over the
theocracy’s rigged elections, calling for transparency and human
rights. He snubbed them as if they were neoconservative democracy
zealots. In his eyes, their false consciousness did not allow them to
fully appreciate their own suffering at the hands of past American
imperialists. In Obama’s worldview, the Iranian mullahs came to power
through revolution and were thus far more authentic anti-Western
radicals, with whom only someone like Obama — prepped by the Harvard Law
Review, Chicago organizing, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s pulpit, and the
most liberal voting record during a brief stint in the U.S. Senate —
could empathize and negotiate. Why would Iranian idealists and democrats
be foolish enough to spoil Obama’s unique diplomatic gymnastics?
Traditional analyses deconstruct the Obama administration’s negotiations
over Iran’s nuclear program and are aghast at the naïveté — no stop to
ongoing uranium enrichment, no open or surprise inspections, no
conditions to be met before sanctions are scaled back, no prohibitions
against the marriage of nuclear-weapon technology and
intercontinental-missile development.
But that is to misunderstand the Obama worldview. He is less worried
about a nuclear Iran and what it will do to a mostly pro-Western Gulf or
Israel, or to other traditional U.S. interests, than about the
difficulties he faces in bringing Iran back into the family of nations
as an authentic revolutionary force that will school the West on
regional justice. (“There’s incredible talent and resources and
sophistication inside of Iran, and it would be a very successful
regional power that was also abiding by international norms and
international rules, and that would be good for everybody.”) Iran will
assume its natural revolutionary role as regional power broker in the
Middle East; and, almost alone, it is not beholden to any Western power.
In some sense, Obama views the rest of the world in the same way as he
views America: a rigged order in which the oppressed who speak truth to
power are systematically mischaracterized and alienated — and in need of
an empathetic voice on the side of overdue revolutionary accounting.
That's why he's meeting with the likes of Daniel Seidemann and Emily Schaeffer, while refusing to meet with Israel's Ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer. The sooner Israelis recognize that this is Obama's view of the world - and that it's not representative of the United States in general - the sooner the harmful hysteria over 'our strained relations with the United States' will die down.
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
