Forty questions for the international media in Gaza

Reprinted with the permission of the author from the (excellent) British “Harry’s place” blog.

1. Have you or any of your colleagues been intimidated by Hamas?
2. Do you feel restricted in your ability to ‘say what you see’ in Gaza?
3. How do you feel about the Spanish journalist who said Hamas would kill any journalist if they filmed rocket fire?
4. Has Hamas pressured you to delete anything you have published?
5. Has Hamas ever threatened to take your phone, laptop or camera?
6. Has Hamas ever taken the phone, laptop or camera of a colleague in Gaza?
7. Have you seen Hamas fighters in Gaza?
8. If yes, why have you not directly reported Hamas fighting activity when you are eye-witnesses in Gaza, but rather indirectly reported about what the IDF says they Hamas has done?
9. Are you scared to publish photos of Hamas operatives on your Twitter page, or broadcast images of Hamas fighting and aggression on your news channel?
10. Have you published any photos of terrorists launching rockets in Gaza? If so, are these images being turned down by your newspaper or broadcaster?
11. Have you thought of interviewing the traumatised residents of southern Israel?
12. When Israeli authorities say that most of the dead in Gaza are terrorists, and Hamas says most of the dead in Gaza are civilians, how do you differentiate?
13. When Hamas Health Ministry statistics contradict Hamas’ own propaganda and reveal that mostly men of fighting age have died so far in Gaza, does it give you pause for thought?
14. Is an underage armed terrorist still counted as a terrorist or a child when killed? Or both? Do you explain to your readers how this is possible?
15. Have you put to Hamas spokespersons that firing rockets from civilian areas in a war situation will draw return fire and lead to the death of civilians?
16. Nick Casey of the Wall Street Journal tweeted: “you have to wonder with the shelling, how patients at Shifa hospital feel as Hamas uses it as a safe place to see media.” Never mind wondering; did you ask any patients how they feel?
17. And how do you feel about the fact that Casey subsequently deleted his tweet?
18. Russia Today journalist Harry Fear mentioned rocket-launching sites near his hotel. Have you noticed any terrorists or terror bases near your hotel?
19. How do you feel about Fear’s expulsion from Gaza, for tweeting about the rocket launches from civilian areas? Are you worried that you might also be expelled from Gaza?
20. Did you see any Hamas terror personnel inside Al-Shifa hospital?
21. Have you interviewed a Hamas spokesperson inside Al-Shifa?
22. Have you seen any rocket-launching sites in or around the vicinity of a hospital?
23. Have you interviewed hospital staff or patients as to how they feel about their buildings being used for terror activity?
24. Hamas’ command and control bunker is underneath Al Shifa hospital. Is this worth reporting? Have you asked to gain access to it, so you can interview Hamas commanders?
25. French newspaper Liberation reported that Hamas’ Al Qassam offices are next to the emergency room at Shifa hospital, before deleting the article. Was the reporter right to delete the article, and will the information appear in the media at some point still?
26. When the missile hit Al-Shati hospital where children were killed, did you see Hamas operatives collecting the debris of the fallen Palestinian rocket, as Gabriel Barbati reported? Did Barbati pick up on something you missed?
27. Barbati prefaced his tweet by writing “Out of Gaza, far from Hamas retaliation.” Will you also report differently about Gaza when you are out of Gaza, far from Hamas retaliation?
28. Can live journalism by reporters who are scared of retaliation from the authorities they are reporting about really count as pure journalism, or is journalism in that context fundamentally compromised?
29. Have you seen or heard evidence of Hamas using civilians as human shields, by forcing or “encouraging” them to stay inside or enter into a building that has received a knock on the roof?
30. Have you seen or heard evidence of Hamas storing weapons inside schools, houses, flats, mosques or hospitals?
31. Have you interviewed Gazan residents to find out if they have – or know someone who has – a tunnel dug underneath their house? How do they feel about this?
32. Have you tried to interview any of the parents of the 160 Palestinian children who died building the terror tunnels?
33. Have you asked Hamas spokespersons why they are setting out to murder children by firing rockets towards civilian populations?
34. Have you interviewed any UNRWA officials about why Hamas are storing weapons in their schools, and how the weapons got there?
35. Are you currently investigating how Hamas rockets ended up in UNRWA schools?
36. Are you currently investigating why UNRWA returned rockets to Hamas and their police force?
37. When Hamas breaks a ceasefire with Israel – as it has done 6 times – how easy is it to report on this from Gaza?
38. Is there any anti-Hamas sentiment in Gaza, and how is it expressed?
39. Were you aware that Hamas chose to execute dozens of anti-war protesters in Gaza, and did you not consider this to be worth
reporting?
40. Is international media reporting from Gaza free from pressure and intimidation, or is there a real problem – and if so, how will you address it?

The 4 Stages of Islamic Conquest

STAGE 1: INFILTRATION

Muslims begin moving to non-Muslim countries in increasing numbers and the beginning of cultural conflicts are visible, though often subtle.

• First migration wave to non-Muslim “host” country.
• Appeal for humanitarian tolerance from the host society.
• Attempts to portray Islam as a peaceful & Muslims as victims of misunderstanding and racism (even though Islam is not a ‘race’).
• High Muslim birth rate in host country increase Muslim population.
• Mosques used to spread Islam and dislike of host country & culture.
• Calls to criminalize “Islamophobia” as a hate crime.
• Threatened legal action for perceived discrimination.
• Offers of “interfaith dialogue” to indoctrinate non-Muslims.

How many nations are suffering from Islamic infiltration? One? A handful? Nearly every nation? The Islamic ‘leadership” of the Muslim Brotherhood and others wish to dissolve each nation’s sovereignty and replace it with the global imposition of Islamic sharia law. Sharia law, based on the koran, sira and hadith, condemns liberty and forbids equality and is inconsistent with the laws of all Western nations. As the author and historian Serge Trifkovic states:
“The refusal of the Western elite class to protect their nations from jihadist infiltration is the biggest betrayal in history.”

STAGE 2:   CONSOLIDATION OF POWER

Muslim immigrants and host country converts continue demands for accommodation in employment, education, social services, financing and courts.

• Proselytizing increases; Establishment and Recruitment of Jihadi cells.
• Efforts to convert alienated segments of the population to Islam.
• Revisionist efforts to Islamize history.
• Efforts to destroy historic evidence that reveal true Islamism.
• Increased anti-western propaganda and psychological warfare.
• Efforts to recruit allies who share similar goals (communists, anarchists).
• Attempts to indoctrinate children to Islamist viewpoint.
• Increased efforts to intimidate, silence and eliminate non-Muslims.
• Efforts to introduce blasphemy and hate laws in order to silence critics.
• Continued focus on enlarging Muslim population by increasing Muslim births and immigration.
• Use of charities to recruit supporters and fund jihad.
• Covert efforts to bring about the destruction of host society from within.
• Development of Muslim political base in non-Muslim host society.
• Islamic Financial networks fund political growth, acquisition of land.
• Highly visible assassination of critics aimed to intimidate opposition.
• Tolerance of non-Muslims diminishes.
• Greater demands to adopt strict Islamic conduct.
• Clandestine amassing of weapons and explosives in hidden locations.
• Overt disregard/rejection of non-Muslim society’s legal system, culture.
• Efforts to undermine and destroy power base of non-Muslim religions including and especially Jews and Christians.

Is there a pattern here? Theo van Gogh is murdered in the Netherlands for ‘insulting’ Islam; the Organization of the Islamic Conference demands ‘anti-blasphemy’ laws through the United Nations; France is set afire regularly by ‘youths’ (read Muslims); the rise of (dis-) honor killings…holocaust denial…anti-Semitism…deception re the tenets of Islam; hatred toward Christians and Jews and Hindus and Buddhists.  The pattern for all to see is the rise of Islamic intolerance and the covert/cultural jihad to remake host societies into sharia-compliant worlds – to remove host sovereignty and replace it with Islamic sharia law.  Sharia law that condemns earthly liberty and individual freedom, that forbids equality among faiths and between the sexes, that rejects the concept of nations outside the global house of Islam, that of dar al-Islam.

STAGE 3: OPEN WAR w/ LEADERSHIP & CULTURE

Open violence to impose Sharia law and associated cultural restrictions; rejection of host government, subjugation of other religions and customs.

• Intentional efforts to undermine the host government & culture.
• Acts of barbarity to intimidate citizens and foster fear and submission.
• Open and covert efforts to cause economic collapse of the society.
• All opposition is challenged and either eradicated or silenced.
• Mass execution of non-Muslims.
• Widespread ethnic cleansing by Islamic militias.
• Rejection and defiance of host society secular laws or culture.
• Murder of “moderate” Muslim intellectuals who don’t support Islamization.
• Destruction of churches, synagogues and other non-Muslim institutions.
• Women are restricted further in accordance with Sharia law.
• Large-scale destruction of population, assassinations, bombings.
• Toppling of government and usurpation of political power.
• Imposition of Sharia law

The website www.thereligionofpeace.com keeps track of the number of violent jihad attacks as best it can. The site lists more than 14,000 attacks since September 2001. It is worth a visit. What is occurring, however, that is likely inestimable are events where muslims are bullied by other muslims for not being “muslim enough,” where non-Muslims are intimidated into doing or not doing what they desire, where remnant populations are in a death spiral simply for being non-muslim in a predominantly muslim area. Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists Animists and Atheists meet with death, property destruction or confiscation, forced conversion, rape, excessive taxation (the jizya), enslavement, riotous mobs and various other forms of islam (in-) justice at the hands of muslims in Sudan, Philippines, Kenya, Malaysia, India, etc.  And let us not forget ‘death to Apostates’ the world over.

STAGE 4: Totalitarian ISLAMIC “THEOCRACY”

Islam becomes the only religious-political-judicial-cultural ideology.

• Sharia becomes the “law of the land.
• All non-Islamic human rights cancelled.
• Enslavement and genocide of non-Muslim population.
• Freedom of speech and the press eradicated.
• All religions other than Islam are forbidden and destroyed.
• Destruction of all evidence of non-Muslim culture, populations and symbols in country (Buddhas, houses of worship, art, etc).

The House of Islam (“peace”), dar al-Islam, includes those nations that have submitted to Islamic rule, to the soul crushing, liberty-condemning, discriminatory law of Sharia. The rest of the world in in the House of War, dar al-harb, because it does not submit to Sharia, and exists in a state of rebellion or war with the will of ‘Allah.’ No non-Muslim state or its citizens are “innocent,” and remain viable targets of war for not believing in ‘Allah.’ The Christian, Jewish, Coptic, Hindu and Zoroastrian peoples of world have suffered under subjugation for centuries. The Dhimmi-esque are forbidden to construct houses of worship or repair existing ones, economically crippled by the heavy jizya (tax), socially humiliated, legally discriminated against, criminally targeted and generally kept in a permanent state of weakness, fear and vulnerability by Islamic governments.
It should be noted that forced conversions (Egypt) and slavery (Sudan) are still reported. Homosexuals have been hung in the public square in Iran. Young girls are married to old men. Apostates are threatened with death. “Honor” killings are routine. Women are legally second-class citizens, though Muslim males insist they are “treated better” than in the West. These more obvious manifestations may distract from some less obvious ones such as the lack of intellectual inquiry in science, narrow scope of writing, all but non-existent art and music, sexual use and abuse of youth and women, and the disregard for personal fulfillment, joy and wonder. Look into the eyes of a recently married 12 year old girl to see the consequence of the moral deprivation spawned by Islam.
The 4 Stages of Islamic Conquest is also available in pdf format for easy sharing as part of “Liberty vs Sharia“

I AM A JEW ~ אני יהודיאני יהודי

Written by an Israeli, by Dan Seforen נכתב ע"י ישראלי בשם דן ספורן

Our condition, in Israel , has never been better than it is now! Only the television and the media make people think that the end of the World is near.. Only 68 years ago, Jews were brought to death like sheep to slaughter. NO country, NO army. Only 65 years ago seven Arab countries declared war on little Israel , the Jewish State, Just a few hours after it was established.
המצב שלנו, בישראל, מעולם לא היה טוב יותר מאשר עכשיו!
רק הטלוויזיה והתקשורת גורמים לאנשים לחשוב שסוף העולם קרב.
רק לפני 68 שנים, יהודים הובאו למוות כצאן לטבח. ללא מדינה, ללא צבא.
רק לפני 65 שנים, 7 מדינות ערב הכריזו מלחמה על ישראל הקטנה, מדינת היהודים, רק כמה שעות לאחר היווסדה.

We were 650,000 Jews against the rest of the Arab world.
No IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) or Air Force. We were only a
Small group of stubborn people with nowhere to go.
היינו 650,000 יהודים כנגד שאר העולם הערבי.
ללא צה"ל (צבא הגנה לישראל) או חיל אוויר. היינו רק קבוצה קטנה של אנשים עקשנים עם שום מקום לאן ללכת.

Remember: Lebanon , Syria , Iraq , Jordan , Egypt , Libya , and
Saudi Arabia , they all attacked at once. The state that the
United Nations "gave" us was 65% desert. We started it from
Zero.
זכרו: לבנון, סוריה, עירק, ירדן, מצרים, לוב וערב הסעודית, כולם תקפו בעת ובעונה אחת.
המדינה שהאומות המאוחדות "נתנו" לנו הייתה 65% מדבר.
התחלנו את זה מאפס.

Only 45 years ago, we fought three of the strongest countries
In the Middle East , and we crushed them in the Six Day War.
רק לפני 45 שנים, נלחמנו נגד שלוש המדינות החזקות ביותר במזרח התיכון, וריסקנו אותם במלחמת ששת הימים.

Over the years we fought different coalitions of 20 Arab countries
With modern armies and with huge amounts of Russian-Soviet
Ammunition, and we still won.
במהלך השנים נלחמנו בקואליציות שונות של 20 מדינות ערב עם צבאות חדשניים וכמות עצומה של תחמושת רוסית – סובייטית, ועדיין ניצחנו.

Today we have a beautiful country, a powerful Army, a strong
Air Force, an adequate Navy and a thriving high tech industry.
Intel, Microsoft, and IBM have all developed their businesses
Here.
היום יש לנו מדינה יפיפייה, צבא רב עוצמה, חיל אוויר חזק, חיל ים הולם ותעשיית הי-טק משגשגת.
אינטל, מיקרוסופט, ו- I.B.M פיתחו כולם את עסקיהם כאן.

Our doctors have won important prizes in the medical
Development field.
הרופאים שלנו זכו בפרסים חשובים בתחום הפיתוח הרפואי.
We turned the desert into a prosperous land.
הפכנו את המדבר לאדמה פורחת ומשגשגת.
We sell oranges, flowers, and vegetables around the world.
אנחנו מוכרים תפוזים, פרחים וירקות בכל רחבי העולם.

We launched our own satellite! Three satellites at once! We
Are in good company; together with the USA (280 million
Residents), Russia (220 million residents), China (1.3
Billion residents) and Europe ( France , England and Germany
210 million residents), we are one of the only countries in the
World that have launched something into space!
שיגרנו את הלווין שלנו! שלושה לווינים בעת ובעונה אחת! אנחנו בחברה טובה: יחד עם ארה"ב (280 מיליון תושבים), רוסיה (220 מיליון תושבים), סין (1.2 ביליון תושבים) ואירופה (צרפת, אנגליה וגרמניה 35 מיליון תושבים), אנחנו אחת מהמדינות הבודדות בעולם ששיגרו משהו לחלל!

Israel today is among the few powerful countries that have
Nuclear technology & capabilities. ( We will never admit it,
But everyone knows.)
ישראל היום היא בין המדינות הבודדות החזקות, שהיא בעלת טכנולוגיה ויכולות גרעיניות. (אנחנו לעולם לא נודה בזה, אבל כולם יודעים).

To think that only 68 years ago we were disgraced and
Hopeless.
לחשוב שרק לפני 68 שנים היינו מבוישים וחסרי תקווה.
We crawled out from the burning crematoriums of Europe .
We won in all our wars. With a little bit of nothing we built
an empire. Who are "Khaled Mashal" (leader of Hamas) or "Hassan Nasrallah"
(leader of Hezbollah) trying to frighten us? They are amusing us.

זחלנו החוצה מהמשרפות הבוערות של אירופה.
ניצחנו בכל המלחמות שלנו. עם מעט מכלום בנינו אימפריה.
מי אלו חלאד משעל (מנהיג החמאס) או חסאן נסראללה (מנהיג החיזבאללה) המנסים להפחיד אותנו? הם משעשעים אותנו.
As we celebrate Independence Day, let's not forget what this
Holy day is all about; we overcame everything.
בזמן שאנחנו חוגגים את יום העצמאות, בואו לא נשכח מהי המהות של היום הקדוש הזה: התגברנו על הכל.

We overcame the Greeks,
התגברנו על היוונים,
We overcame the Romans,
התגברנו על הרומאים,
We overcame the Spanish Inquisition,
התגברנו על האינקוויזיציה הספרדית,
We overcame the Russians pogroms,
התגברנו על הפוגרום הרוסי,
We overcame Hitler , we overcame Germany and overcame the
Holocaust,
התגברנו על היטלר, התגברנו על גרמניה והתגברנו על השואה,
We overcame the armies of seven countries.
התגברנו על הצבאות של 7 מדינות
Relax "chevray" (friends), we will overcome our current enemies.
הירגעו חבר'ה, אנחנו נתגבר גם על האויבים הנוכחים
Never mind where you look in human history. Think about it,
The Jewish nation, our condition has never been better than now.
So let's lift our heads up and remember
לא משנה לאן שנביט בהיסטוריה האנושית. תחשבו על זה, העם היהודי, מצבנו מעולם לא היה טוב יותר מאשר עכשיו.
אז בואו נישא ראשנו מעלה וזכרו:

Never mind which country or culture tries to harm us or erase us
From the world. We will still exist and persevere. Egypt ? Anyone
Know where the Egyptian empire disappeared to? The Greeks?
Alexander Macedon? The Romans? Is anyone speaking Latin
Today? The Third Reich? Did anyone hear news from them lately?
לא משנה איזו מדינה או תרבות מנסה לפגוע בנו או למחוק אותנו מהעולם. אנחנו עדיין קיימים ושמורים.
מצריים? מישהו יודע לאן האימפריה המצרית נעלמה? היוונים? אלכסנדר מוקדון? הרומאים? האם מישהו מדבר לטינית היום? הרייך השלישי? האם מישהו שמע חדשות מהם לאחרונה?
And look at us, the Bible nation – from slavery in Egypt , we are
Still here, still speaking the same language.
Exactly here, exactly now.
והסתכלו עלינו, העם התנ"כי – מעבדות במצרים, אנחנו עדיין כאן, עדיין מדברים את אותה השפה.
בדיוק כאן, בדיוק עכשיו.
Maybe The Arabs don't know it yet, but we are an eternal nation.
All the time that we will keep our identity, we will stay eternal.

אולי הערבים עדיין לא יודעים את זה, אבל אנחנו עם נצחי.
כל זמן שנשמור על זהותנו, נשאר נצחיים.
So, sorry that we are not worrying, complaining, crying, or fearing…
אז סליחה שאנחנו לא דואגים, מתלוננים, בוכים או פוחדים.....

Business here is beseder (fine). It can definitely be much better,
But it is still fine. Don't pay attention to the nonsense in the media- They will not tell you about our festivals here in Israel or about the People that continue living, going out, meeting friends.
העסקים כאן בסדר. זה בהחלט יכול להיות טוב יותר, אבל זה עדיין בסדר. אל תשימו לב לשטויות בתקשורת, הם לא יספרו לכם על החגיגות שלנו כאן בישראל או על האנשים שממשיכים לחיות, לצאת ולפגוש חברים.

Yes, sometimes morale is down, so what? This is only because we
Are mourning the dead while they are celebrating spilled blood. And This is the reason we will win after all
נכון, לפעמים המורל נמוך, אז מה? זה רק בגלל שאנו מבכים את המתים בזמן שהם חוגגים על דם שנשפך. וזו הסיבה לכך שאנו ננצח למרות הכל.

Please forward this post to all of your Jewish friends and non-Jewish friends Everywhere in the world. You are all part of our force to keep our existence.
בבקשה העבירו מייל זה לכל חבריכם היהודים, בכל מקום בעולם. כולכם חלק במאמץ שלנו לשמור את קיומנו.

This pody may help some of us lift our heads up and be
Proud to say:
מייל זה עשוי לעזור לחלק מאיתנו לשאת את ראשינו מעלה ולהיות גאים לומר:
I AM A JEW...and a proud one at that!

אני יהודי

DEAR FRIENDS:

By 

Judy S Shapiro

  SILENT OBAMA TO CONTINUE US MONEY TO EGYPT AS MB VOWS 'MARTYRDOM' IF MORSI NOT REINSTATED. WOMEN STILL RAPED BY MOBS OF muslim MEN AT CAIRO's TAHRIR. NUCLEAR IRAN: SINCE JUNE 14 ELECTIONS 61 PUBLICLY EXECUTED INCLUDING 6 WOMEN & A 15 YEAR OLD. NY JETS' aboushi AFFILIATED WITH ANTI SEMITIC & muslim TERROR ENTITIES.
About one month after
Son-Of-Islam's
re-election I opined that the US was (and still is) leaderless. Someone I know from high school days took umbrage with that and said that I should give him a chance, and that it was 'too early.' This, after 4 years of enduring constant missteps of a Community Organizing 'Celebrity' US Pres whos was and is all style and no substance.
She herself is not observant, but her children are so I patiently queried her abour Obama''s record on ISRAEL, and his extreme favorability toward anything and everything muslim. Her retort was that shimon peres likes him. And, my friends, that ended our conversation because, as you know Mr peres is more interested in getting mllions of dollars from donors for his peres 'Peace' Center and throwing lavish expensive birthday parties that last for weeks rather then assuring that ISRAEL's borders don't return to the AUSCHVITZ analogy where the sovereign democratic tiny yet powerful JEWISH Homeland's JEWs are not safe.
*Case in point:
What is happening in Egypt (Mitzrayim) vis-a-vis obama-darlings the muslim brotherhood and his delberate silence must cause all of us concern. It is another indication that obama is clueless, not only on the economy and healthcare, etc, but on how to prioritize and appropriately deal with Foreign Policy issues and crises. His approval of the MB was made by him to the entire world during the first 6 months of his first term when he singled them out and personally lauded them in his speech at Cairo University. By the way, lest one forgets: That was before his visit to Saudi where he did a full bow fom the waist to their amoral polygamous OIL RICH monarch who showered both he and
FLOTUS (First Lady-muchelle) with expensive diamond and gold jewels.
*Today an economist was appointed to temporarily head Egypt until elections
take place. Unemploment is escalating, and since morsi and the MB have been in charge, poverty, homelessnes, etc are at all time highs.
*Once again, the defiant violent terrorist MB told the world this afternoon that it will not accept the individual as they vowed to proceed with their own singular agenda of 'martyrdom' unless morsi is restorred to power,
*Son-Of-Islam
is continuing our $1.6 billion in aid to Mitzrayim.
However, he is breaking US law that says all aid must cease if there is a 'coup.'
*Another one for the KING-OF-DENIAL who won't say the word coup despite the fact that every other leader and the world affirms that. Per his pattern and MO, by not acknowleging something, it will magically go away.
*QUESTION
How has that 'strategy' worked for him over the years?
ANSWER
You know the answer, it has not.
More News
*Today a 'massive' carbomb exploded in a Hizbolla neighborhood in Lebanon.
*Major resignations at al-Jazeera over its reporters' coverage of Egypt. They were ordered to slant the coverage to PRO MB.
*61 have been executed publically in the NUCLEAR Iran since its June 14th election.
6 were women and one was a 15 year old boy.
^WAKE UP CALL
NY Jets football player Oday aboushi aligns himself with ANTI SEMITIC entities as well as muslim terror supporters.
King Solomon
'If you save one, it is like saving the
world.'
NO 'palestinian' state.
Their state=TransJordan
NO mosque at Ground Zero
WHAT ABOUT BENGHAZIGATE?
WHAT ABOUT DANIEL PEARL's muslim MURDERERS?
FREE JONATHAN POLLARD
AM YISROEL CHAI
A STRONG SECURE SAFE ISRAEL WILL AND MUST PREVAIL
SILENCE=COMPLICITY
STAY INFORMED
STAY VIGILANT

NEVER AGAIN

NEVER AGAIN

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 Bat Zion Susskind-Sacks

Dear Christian friends of Israel,
All I am asking, pleading for, is, please please those of you who support Israel and the Jewish people, please love us for what we are and not what you want to make us into. Let us live our lives according to the Jewish tradition and let us wait for OUR Maschiach. There are so few of us and we love our tradition so much. I cry every time I hear some of you try to tell us we are wrong, try to intimidate me by telling me I will go to hell if I do not accept your messiah. I respect you and your beliefs. I have never mocked you or your religion. Please please respect mine. Support me if you wish but please please do not steal our most precious tradition and our bruised Jewish souls.

China pressuring Jerusalem to stop assisting US terror funding lawsuit

Beijing is asking Netanyahu to stop testimony against the Bank of China allegedly allowing Iran to transfer funds to Islamic Jihad organizations for a 2006 Tel Aviv suicide terrorist bombing. 

Like BEBE should Listen to them?????

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

Beijing is pressuring Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to backtrack on a promise to help in a US terror funding lawsuit involving a Chinese bank’s alleged involvement in a 2006 Tel Aviv suicide bombing, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gives a speech during a gala dinner in Shanghai , May 6 – Photo: REUTERS

The Bank of China allegedly allowed Iran to deliver funding to terrorist organizations, including Islamic Jihad, that carried out an attack killing 16-year-old Daniel Wultz and 10 others at the Rosh Ha’ir shwarma restaurant near the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station.
Wultz’s parents are suing the BOC for its alleged part in the attack, a lawsuit that hinges on the testimony of a former Israeli intelligence official, scheduled to testify in a New York federal court in July.
The Journal quoted the plaintiffs as saying the official is expected to testify that at a 2005 meeting, Israeli officials told China that BOC accounts were being used to fund terrorist groups including Islamic Jihad, but they refused to close the accounts.

Related:

• NY Court sends 1st terror financing case to trial
• Cabinet advances economic ties with China

The Wultzes, however, said China is pressuring Netanyahu not to allow the official to testify, amid growing trade with China worth billions of dollars annually to the Israeli economy.
The paper cited a congressional staffer who has coordinated between the Wultzes and the government as saying the Prime Minister’s Office is undecided about giving the former intelligence official permission to testify, despite previous commitments to do so.
US Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida) wrote a letter to Netanyahu last week on behalf of the Wultzes, imploring him to allow the official to testify, according to the Journal.
“We are aware of mounting pressure by the BOC and other Chinese interests… to interfere with the US proceedings and the deposition,” she wrote, adding that by allowing the official to testify, Netanyahu would “reaffirm Israel’s solemn commitment to the victims of terror to ensure that justice be done.”
In May 2006, a US district court judge awarded the Wultz family $332 million in damages from Iran and Syria for providing material support for the attack that killed their son.
Daniel’s father, Yekutiel “Tuly” Wultz, who was seriously wounded in the attack; his mother, Sheryl; and his siblings Amanda and Abraham brought the civil lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, under powerful US anti-terrorism laws that permit American civilians to sue sovereign states that sponsor acts of terror.
According to the Journal, the Wultzes said that the Israeli government offered to share classified information for the lawsuit, including information on Bank of China accounts used to transfer funds to terror organizations.
“They asked us to do the lawsuit, and they said they’ll fully cooperate with us and give us anything we need to win,” Tuly Wultz told the Journal.
Netanyahu traveled to China in May in a trip geared toward increasing commerce between the countries. Israel and China engaged in some $8 billion in trade in 2011 – $6b. of which was Chinese exports to Israel – a number that the prime minister believes is just a fraction of the potential.
While in China he said repeatedly that Israel’s innovation and China’s production capabilities should make the two countries a perfect business match.
The Journal quoted an Israeli official as saying Israeli and Chinese officials discussed the Bank of China terror-funding case in April, prior to Netanyahu’s trip.
Herb Keinon contributed to this report.

View original Jerusalem Post publication at: http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Report-Beijing-pressuring-Netanyahu-to-drop-support-for-US-terror-funding-case-against-Bank-of-China-317363

Obama Middle East Policy: Wrong Team, Wrong Ideas

 By Barry Rubin June 7, 2013
In the Middle East, to paraphrase President Barack Obama’s mentor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the dodo birds are coming home to roost.
At this moment, the administration’s policy team consists of CIA director John Brennan, father of the “”moderate” Islamism-and-the-Muslim Brotherhood-are-good school; the Secretary of State John Kerry who thinks he is going to make Israel-Palestinian peace in one month;  the know-nothing Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel; the chilling ideologue Samantha Powers as UN ambassador; and the dupe of the Benghazi scandal Susan Rice rewarded by being made national security adviser.
Can things get any  more Alice in Wonderland? But what’s really happening in the region.
In Egypt, the country is falling into anti-Americanism and tyranny, the United States is embarking on a new policy in Syria that one can see won’t work. What is the solution? Simply to support moderate and anti-Islamist forces while opposing Islamists and terrorists. Except if you wait too long there will be no good forces left to help anymore.
Egypt first.  The Supreme Constitutional Court, the country’s highest court, has now ruled that the January 2012 Shura Council election for the upper house of parliament was unconstitutional. The same decision was rendered for the Islamist-dominated body that wrote the new Constitution. But the chief judge said that the Constitution was not annulled.
In short, there is total confusion. Indeed, it isn’t even clear that the new election for the lower house of Parliament will be held. Egypt is in maximal mess phase.

Meanwhile, what allegedly friendly country just sentenced the son of a U.S. cabinet official to five years in prison? Answer: Egypt, to the son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Crime: Supporting democracy. Four more Americans received the same sentence.
The Egyptian Islamist regime does not fear America nor does it show gratitude for President Obama’s help in its taking and consolidation of power. Offices were closed and prison sentences of up to five years—for 27 people–were meted out. Many of those charged fled the country. Among the groups closed were the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute.
Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States was “deeply concerned” but of course the Egyptian government knew America wouldn’t do anything except keep shipping in tear gas and provided financial and political support.
After getting into power in part due to U.S. help, the Egyptian court called the promotion of democracy a form of “soft imperialism.” Get it? They get into power by a vote and then that’s the end of free elections.
History shows, says the court’s verdict, that U.S. policies believes that its “interests as best served by totalitarian dictatorships and harmed by genuine democracies….The U.S.—fearing democracy ushered in by Egypt’s popular revolt—has used funding to take the revolution off its path.”
So even as the U.S. government supports the Egyptian revolt and regime, the ruling elite claims that it opposed them. Thus the pro-Muslim Brotherhood policy doesn’t win any influence or benefits since the Brotherhood accepts the help and then declares that America is its enemy.
Thus, for friendship toward America; how about peaceful intentions toward neighbors? Here we have possibly the most embarrassing open microphone scandal in history. The televising of a meeting held by President Muhammad Morsi allowed listeners to hear plans for military attacks on Ethiopia because of a dam that country is building on the Nile in order to generate electricity. Participants didn’t know the meeting was being aired on live state television.
Egyptian leaders discussed covert operations to destroy the dam or giving covert support to rebel groups. This gives some hints of what longer-term policy toward Israel might well be. Advocates of aggressive action included moderate politicians.
How about cultural news? Well the Culture Minister Alaa Abdel-Aziz has just installed an Islamist professor of Arabic literature by firing the head of Egypt’s National Library and Archives. Also fired were the heads of the opera house, book publishing, and fine arts sections of the ministry.
The ministry’s foreign relations’ director resigned in protest, saying that the minister was seeking to Islamize Egyptian culture and put religion in place of national identity.
What other trends are visible? How about the sentencing of a Christian lawyer to one year in prison and a fine for allegedly insulting God and the Quran? This is one of many such trials. The complaint was brought by Islamist lawyers. Previously, a Christian schoolteacher had been sentenced to six years for, among other things, allegedly insulting Morsi. Last December it was the turn of a Christian who posted a short film claimed to be derogatory to Islam and who was sentenced to three years. Two Christian children, aged nine and ten years old, were put in juvenile detention for allegedly tearing up a Koran.
But perhaps the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood supports “Arab Spring” type revolts elsewhere? No. Leaders asserted that the demonstrations against the Turkish Islamist government that have broken out on a grassroots’ level are in fact a war against Islam by showing that Islamist regimes have failed. It’s interesting that the Muslim Brotherhood considers the Turkish counterpart of being that kind of government while the U.S. government doesn’t.
So, opposing the spread of democracy, viewing the United States as an enemy, putting Islamist power as the highest value, oppressing Christians, and fundamentally transforming Egypt into an anti-American, anti-Christian, oppressive dictatorship. These are the hallmarks of contemporary Egypt. And there are scores of other examples that can be cited.
In Syria, reports Reuters on May 31 from Beirut, the Saudis have now clearly changed policy in line with the United States. The Saudi government is now frightened of its own support of radical Salafist Islamists in the rebel forces. They are pressuring Qatar to stop backing the hardliners though it is not clear how successful this effort is at present. Qatar has become the main backer of the Muslim Brotherhood financially.
The new policy is being influenced by military failures now that the Assad regime has more Russian, Iranian, and Hizballah backing. But it is also prompted by worries that Syria might be taken over by anti-American, anti-Saudi Islamist radicals. This concern was heightened by American observance of what was happening in rebel-held northern Syria. Another factor is the disorder in rebel ranks seen at the recent summit meeting in Turkey and the intransigence of the Muslim Brotherhood exile leadership to accept other forces into the direction of the battle.
At a critical moment when the United States and European Union were going to send arms directly, fear of the dominant Islamist forces—which also include a growing al-Qaida presence—is holding up this escalation. And without more arms the rebels cannot win.
This has led the United States from handing over $63 million dollars in promised aid to the rebels Syrian Opposition Coalition which is dominated by the Brotherhood.
U.S. policy is still in disorder but has now changed. Up to now, the Obama Administration has favored a rebel victory, disregarding the growth of Muslim Brotherhood, Salafist, and al-Qaida forces as well as worrisome signs of ethnic massacres. Amazingly enough, it backed a Muslim Brotherhood dominated group as the rebel leadership even when that organization kept out others!
Now, in theory, the Obama Administration is switching to support for moderates, the policy that this column has advocated for almost two years and had been disregarded. It is too late, however. The rebel groups have formed; they control much territory, ideological blocs have hardened; and there are relatively few moderates. Moreover, the Free Syrian Army controls few forces on the ground.
Note by the way that the domination of the rebels by the Islamists have kept Christians and Druze, as well as Alawites, on the regime’s side. That is more than 25 percent of the population. Another 15 percent, the Kurds, are in effect neutral seeking to maintain their autonomy won by their militia in the civil war. It is probably too later to change these positions
So the real alternatives of the Western states may be reduced to three:
–Withhold aid and live with a long-term civil war in which the Assad regime controls half the country while Russia, Iran, and Hizballah claim a partial victory.
–Give strong backing to rebel forces regardless of ideology and see Syria taken over by a radical Islamist government in which the Brotherhood rules, the Salafists operate freely, and al-Qaida establishes a strong base.
–Say that they are supporting moderate forces which have few soldiers and relatively little support within Syria. This policy won’t work but will look good. Meanwhile, Sunni Islamist radicals and a pro-Iran dictatorship batle for predominance.
The likely option is the last one.
Isn’t it time for the U.S. government, journalists, and academics to admit that they’ve been getting the Middle East all wrong? That they have often reversed the good and bad guys so that they have been backing the bad guys, anti-Americans, and even terrorists?  Haven’t the contradictions gotten to be so obvious that they cannot be denied any more?
American interests are with the rebels of Turkey and Iran; the moderate Muslim-Christian opposition in Lebanon, with Israel and the Kurds; with the real moderates in Egypt; with Jordan’s kingdom which small amounts of money would help enormously; and, yes, often even with the Gulf Arab states (except Qatar)  if  only given the American leadership they are begging for.
Western and American interests are not with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Tunisia, and Syria; not with the stealth Islamist regime in Turkey for which the Obama Administration just renewed a waiver on sanctions against Iran (!); not with the rejectionist Palestinian Authority, not with some “moderate Islamist” faction of the Iranian regime.
It is past time that this be recognized. But it is a task requiring a Churchill, not the churlish.

Netanyahu: Iran ups cyber attacks on Israeli computers

Netanyahu: Iran ups cyber attacks on Israeli computers

PM speaks at cyber-warfare conference, claims Israel has recently become target to 'non-stop' attacks on 'vital national systems' prompting defense establishment to search for 'digital Iron Dome'
Gilad Morag, Reuters


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran and its Palestinian and Lebanese allies on Sunday of carrying out "non-stop" cyber attacks on major computer systems in Israel. 

He gave no details on the number of attacks but said "vital national systems" had been targeted. Water, power and banking sites were also under threat, he added. The comments came hours after a Syrian hackers' group paraded the secret information it had allegedly obtained by means of a cyber attack on Haifa's water system some two weeks ago.

Related stories:

• Report: Syria cyber attacked Haifa's water system
• Hackers target Israeli websites
• Report: US traces cyber attack wave to Iran

 
"In the past few months, we have identified a significant increase in the scope of cyber attacks on Israel by Iran. These attacks are carried out directly by Iran and through its proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah ," he said, speaking at a conference on cyber warfare in Tel Aviv University.

 'Digital Iron Dome' (Photo: Benny Doutsh)
In regards to a solution, the prime minister said that "We aspire to set up a digital Iron Dome, to get a head start over our enemies in the never ending contest." Hence, he has asked the IDF's Cyber Unit "to come up with a proposal on how to export our cyber capabilities."

"Despite the non-stop attacks on us, you hear only about a few of them because we thwart most of them," he added.

Netanyahu established a national cyber directorate in 2011 charged with protecting Israel's computer systems from disruption.
Israel and the United States are widely believed to be behind a series of cyber attacks in recent years against an Iranian nuclear program they say is aimed at developing atomic weapons. Iran says its nuclear activities are peaceful.
Two months ago, Israel said it weathered a pro-Palestinian cyber attack campaign against government websites. Israeli officials said those attacks briefly disrupted several sites and security protocols were updated in response.

Are YOU Anit-Zionist???? Well then, this is the company you keep !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Arab Spring and the Israeli enemy

When I came across this article, I had to read it twice to be sure I was reading it correctly...
I was pleasantly surprised and inspired.    

 Abdulateef Al-Mulhim
Thirty-nine years ago, on Oct. 6, 1973, the third major war between the Arabs and Israel broke out. The war lasted only 20 days. The two sides were engaged in two other major wars, in 1948 and 1967.
The 1967 War lasted only six days. But, these three wars were not the only Arab-Israel confrontations. From the period of 1948 and to this day many confrontations have taken place. Some of them were small clashes and many of them were full-scale battles, but there were no major wars apart from the ones mentioned above. The Arab-Israeli conflict is the most complicated conflict the world ever experienced. On the anniversary of the 1973 War between the Arab and the Israelis, many people in the Arab world are beginning to ask many questions about the past, present and the future with regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The questions now are: What was the real cost of these wars to the Arab world and its people. And the harder question that no Arab national wants to ask is: What was the real cost for not recognizing Israel in 1948 and why didn’t the Arab states spend their assets on education, health care and the infrastructures instead of wars? But, the hardest question that no Arab national wants to hear is whether Israel is the real enemy of the Arab world and the Arab people.
I decided to write this article after I saw photos and reports about a starving child in Yemen, a burned ancient Aleppo souk in Syria, the under developed Sinai in Egypt, car bombs in Iraq and the destroyed buildings in Libya. The photos and the reports were shown on the Al-Arabiya network, which is the most watched and respected news outlet in the Middle East.
The common thing among all what I saw is that the destruction and the atrocities are not done by an outside enemy. The starvation, the killings and the destruction in these Arab countries are done by the same hands that are supposed to protect and build the unity of these countries and safeguard the people of these countries. So, the question now is that who is the real enemy of the Arab world?
The Arab world wasted hundreds of billions of dollars and lost tens of thousands of innocent lives fighting Israel, which they considered is their sworn enemy, an enemy whose existence they never recognized. The Arab world has many enemies and Israel should have been at the bottom of the list. The real enemies of the Arab world are corruption, lack of good education, lack of good health care, lack of freedom, lack of respect for the human lives and finally, the Arab world had many dictators who used the Arab-Israeli conflict to suppress their own people.
These dictators’ atrocities against their own people are far worse than all the full-scale Arab-Israeli wars.
In the past, we have talked about why some Israeli soldiers attack and mistreat Palestinians. Also, we saw Israeli planes and tanks attack various Arab countries. But, do these attacks match the current atrocities being committed by some Arab states against their own people.
In Syria, the atrocities are beyond anybody’s imaginations? And, isn’t the Iraqis are the ones who are destroying their own country? Wasn’t it Tunisia’s dictator who was able to steal 13 billion dollars from the poor Tunisians? And how can a child starve in Yemen if their land is the most fertile land in the world? Why would Iraqi brains leave Iraq in a country that makes 110 billion dollars from oil export? Why do the Lebanese fail to govern one of the tiniest countries in the world? And what made the Arab states start sinking into chaos?
On May 14, 1948 the state of Israel was declared. And just one day after that, on May 15, 1948 the Arabs declared war on Israel to get back Palestine. The war ended on March 10, 1949. It lasted for nine months, three weeks and two days. The Arabs lost the war and called this war Nakbah (catastrophic war). The Arabs gained nothing and thousands of Palestinians became refugees.
And on 1967, the Arabs led by Egypt under the rule of Gamal Abdul Nasser, went in war with Israel and lost more Palestinian land and made more Palestinian refugees who are now on the mercy of the countries that host them. The Arabs called this war Naksah (upset). The Arabs never admitted defeat in both wars and the Palestinian cause got more complicated. And now, with the never ending Arab Spring, the Arab world has no time for the Palestinians refugees or Palestinian cause, because many Arabs are refugees themselves and under constant attacks from their own forces. Syrians are leaving their own country, not because of the Israeli planes dropping bombs on them. It is the Syrian Air Force which is dropping the bombs. And now, Iraqi Arab Muslims, most intelligent brains, are leaving Iraq for the est. In Yemen, the world’s saddest human tragedy play is being written by the Yemenis. In Egypt, the people in Sinai are forgotten.
Finally, if many of the Arab states are in such disarray, then what happened to the Arabs’ sworn enemy (Israel)? Israel now has the most advanced research facilities, top universities and advanced infrastructure. Many Arabs don’t know that the life expectancy of the Palestinians living in Israel is far longer than many Arab states and they enjoy far better political and social freedom than many of their Arab brothers. Even the Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip enjoy more political and social rights than some places in the Arab World. Wasn’t one of the judges who sent a former Israeli president to jail is an Israeli-Palestinian?
The Arab Spring showed the world that the Palestinians are happier and in better situation than their Arab brothers who fought to liberate them from the Israelis. Now, it is time to stop the hatred and wars and start to create better living conditions for the future Arab generations.

— This article is exclusive to Arab News.
almulhimnavy@hotmail.com

SO WHO PRACTICES APARTHEID ???????!!!!!!!!!

Lies

Will the citizens of Ireland perhaps continue to benefit, without compunction or moral crisis, from the work of the so-called apartheid state's great scientists? I would like to help, or better yet to raise the moral bar that the Republic of Ireland has for us Israelis. I believe that a boycott is a boycott, and if you are already taking such a measure, go all the way.

Yaakov Ahimeir..
Israel Hayom..
11 April '13..

The Irish teachers' union, comprising 14,000 teachers and university instructors, declared an academic boycott on Israel this week. Sadly, given Ireland's attitude toward Israel, the decision does not come as a surprise. Implementing this boycott would mean the end of all academic and research cooperation with Israel, something which seems natural as Ireland is the most hostile nation to Israel in Europe.

The reasoning provided by the thousands of educators was that Israel is an "apartheid state." Still, we wonder: Will our Irish boycotters be satisfied with a written declaration, though one that is unequivocally harsh? Will the citizens of Ireland perhaps continue to benefit, without compunction or moral crisis, from the work of the so-called apartheid state's great scientists? I would like to help, or better yet to raise the moral bar that the Republic of Ireland has for us Israelis. I believe that a boycott is a boycott, and if you are already taking such a measure, go all the way.

Why don't the Irish complete their scientific boycott and add the products of Israeli medical research? I call on all doctors in Ireland not to recommend Copaxone, used to treat multiple sclerosis, to their patients, as it was developed at Weizmann Institute by Professor Michael Sela and Professor Ruth Arnon, renowned scientists of the apartheid state. We can't have such apartheid exports reaching sick beds in Ireland. It would be a moral travesty. Or maybe the Irish should stop using Exelon, which slows the progression of Alzheimer's disease. That medication was developed by Professor Martha Rezin from the Jerusalem School of Pharmacy.


To be clear, we wish the residents of Ireland health and a long life, but we don't believe they should compromise their principles. So let's not leave out the Technion Institute of Technology either. The Irish should also boycott the treatment for Parkinson's disease that was developed there, Azilect, with credit also due to Teva and scientists Moussa Yodim and John Feinberg. We don't want to overload our Irish boycotters with information, but we also call on them to boycott the personal computer, which is run by a microprocessor developed at Intel in Israel.

Of course these are only a few of the discoveries that Israeli scientific research is responsible for. It is incumbent upon Ireland to boycott all of them, because the country's integrity is at stake. It must not sully itself by using any "despicable" products, even life-saving ones, that were developed in the apartheid state.

It's doubtful that Ireland will act on our recommendations. But that's because their boycott is rife with hypocrisy: Any Irish doctor who thinks that an Israeli-developed medication might save his patient's life will toss the boycott into the trash. And that's the case for every product made in Israel, which are the fruits of Israeli scientific research.

12 tribes circle symbols

Israel Always

Israel strikes back after cyberattack by Anonymous – UPI.com

Israel strikes back after cyberattack by Anonymous – UPI.com.

Published: April 9, 2013 at 2:43 PM

TEL AVIV, Israel,
April 9 (UPI) — Israel battled a widely touted cyberassault during the weekend, supposedly organized by the pro-Palestinian hacktivist group Anonymous, and unleashed retaliatory attacks against dozens of sites in Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia and North Africa.
Media reports said the attacks by a so-called Israeli “strike force” targeted sites where the cyberassaults had originated in what Anonymous had claimed would be “the largest Internet battle in the history of mankind.”
It was not clear whether the Israeli retaliation, which appears to have been extensive, involved elements of the new military cyber command the Defense Ministry has been putting together under a $320 million program announced in 2012.
But it would make sense for it to be involved in the weekend cyber conflict since the military says the Jewish state, which has reputedly played a major role in repeated high-powered cyberattacks on Iran’s nuclear program since 2009, is being increasingly targeted by its Muslim foes.
The military declined comment after the attack Sunday, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, an apparent follow-up to a blitz by Anonymous and its affiliates during Israel’s 8-day clash with Hamas in the Gaza Strip in November.
“It’s not a military matter,” a spokeswoman said.
As it happens, the much-hyped cyberattack, dubbed #opIsrael, and the threat to “wipe Israel off the map of the Internet” announced April 5 on YouTube appears to have been something of a fizzle.
The Bank of Israel and several government sites, including the Education Ministry, the Tax Authority and the Central Bureau of Statistics, were reported to have been briefly shut down or defaced.
Up to 100 other sites, mainly small businesses without security software, were also affected by what Anonymous called the “Hackintifada #Free Palestine,” a reference to Palestinian intifadas, or uprisings against Israeli occupation.
Government officials downplayed the impact of the assault. But security sources believe further attacks are likely, and these may be more damaging than Sunday’s attempted blitz and may aim for more strategic targets.
The retaliation to Sunday’s attacks by an “Israeli Elite Strike Force” appears to have been Israeli hackers acting on their own initiative.
But there have been growing signs that attacks by supposedly independent operators, such as the weekend cyber thrust against Israel, are in fact the work of state actors.
Such attacks, Oxford Analytica observed, “can have a disproportionate impact on international relations … for motives and aims subversive to international order.
“The greatest danger could emanate from a ‘catalytic’ cyber attack, whereby a dissatisfied party — for example, a militant group acting under cover of a third state — instigates conflict among two other states — say, the United States and China.
“The capacity of existing conflict management mechanisms to mitigate the risks of such an eventuality does not seem promising,” Oxford Analytica cautioned.
In recent months, Israel’s military has inaugurated a cyber-defense control center as the Jewish state grapples with a sharp increase in cyberattacks, most of them supposedly from archenemy Iran.
At the same time, Israel’s amassing a multibillion-dollar arsenal of electronic weapons to use against the Islamic Republic in a largely covert campaign, but which could come out of the shadows if Israel decides to launch pre-emptive strikes against Iran’s contentious nuclear program.
The United States worries about Chinese attacks on its financial and industrial infrastructure. But Israel’s focus is almost entirely on Iran.
The Jerusalem Post quoted a senior Israeli military source as saying there’s been a dramatic rise in cyberattacks on the digital infrastructure of the armed forces and Iran’s seen as the culprit.
“The world of attacks is changing rapidly,” he explained as the new center, two years in the planning, became operational in February.
“Few countries have this kind of defense ability,” he noted. “This is part of the military’s readiness to ensure continuity of conventional operations. This continuity is based on cybersecurity.”
Iran, on the receiving end of U.S. and Israel cyber operations, seems determined to enhance its offensive cyber capability, largely to deter the crippling 2009-10 cyber attacks on the uranium enrichment sector of its nuclear program using the Stuxnet worm.
In mid-2012, Western intelligence sources estimated Tehran had spent $1 billion to upgrade its cyber capabilities in less than two years

Netanyahu: I'm determined to end conflict with Palestinians

In meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and security arrangements are the first issues that must be discussed in negotiations • Kerry: Iran cannot and will not have a nuclear weapon.

Shlomo Cesana, Daniel Siryoti and Israel Hayom Staff

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says his talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were "very productive." | Photo credit: AP

Will U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's visit help restart peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians? At a meeting with Kerry on Tuesday in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "I am determined not only to resume the peace process with the Palestinians, but to make a serious effort to end this conflict once and for all."

Netanyahu said his talks with Kerry about the peace process dealt with two key matters: Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and security arrangements. Israel wants to discuss these issues with the Palestinians and is demanding that the Palestinians present their positions on those matters.

Kerry told Netanyahu that the Palestinians want borders to be the first issue discussed and are demanding that Israel present a map of the borders of a future Palestinian state. Netanyahu said the issue must be left for the final stage of negotiations, as there are essential issues that need to be agreed upon first.

Kerry characterized his talks with Netanyahu as "extremely friendly" and "very productive."

"I think it's fair to say that we made progress, that we were pleased with the substance of the discussion and agreed, each of us, to do some homework," Kerry said.

Kerry said he and Netanyahu had discussed an initiative to promote Palestinian economic development, but emphasized that "whatever steps we take with respect to economics are in no way a substitute, but they are in addition to the political track. The political track is first and foremost; other things may happen to supplement it."

Palestinian officials in Ramallah told Israel Hayom on Tuesday that Kerry's meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday had produced positive progress toward the possibility of restarting peace negotiations with Israel. However, the Palestinian officials said that the peace plan that Kerry plans to present in the future is still clouded with uncertainty.

"Kerry came with much determination, willingness and goodwill," a senior official from Abbas' office told Israel Hayom. "He explained in his meeting with Abbas that he does not plan to impose timelines for resuming negotiations on the sides, but rather intends to focus first on building trust between the Israelis and Palestinians."

Netanyahu and Kerry also discussed Iran. Kerry reiterated to Netanyahu that the U.S. will not permit Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.

"Iran cannot have and will not have a nuclear weapon," Kerry said. "The United States of America has made it clear that we stand not just with Israel, but with the entire international community in making it clear that we are serious. We are open to negotiations, but not open-ended, endless negotiations. It cannot be used as an excuse for other efforts to try to break out with respect to a nuclear weapon. And we are well aware and coordinating very, very closely with respect to all of our assessments regarding that. But President [Barack] Obama doesn't bluff. He's made that very clear to me, and we hope the Iranians will come back to the table with a very serious proposal."

Netanyahu said that Iran must not be allowed to go nuclear.

"I think everybody understands that Iran has been running out the clock, has been using the talks to continue to advance its nuclear program," Netanyahu said. "We've just heard by Iranian state television about a new production facility for nuclear material and two new extraction sites. I think we also understand what it means for the world to have rogue states with nuclear weapons. Iran cannot be allowed to cross into that world. It cannot be allowed to continue its nuclear weapons program, and we must not allow it to continue to do so in defiance of the entire international community."

The next high-level American government official to visit Israel will be U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. Hagel will be in Israel April 21-23 and will hold talks with Defense Minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya'alon.

Ya'alon met with Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird on Tuesday. Ya'alon praised Canada for cutting off its diplomatic ties with Iran and for including Hezbollah on its list of terrorist groups.

President Shimon Peres met with Baird on Tuesday and said that Canada displayed courage by cutting off diplomatic ties with Iran.

Baird also met on Tuesday with Avigdor Lieberman, the chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Lieberman said that the latest round of talks between world powers and Iran signalled the West's acceptance of an Iranian nuclear bomb. Lieberman equated this with the West's past acceptance of both a nuclear North Korea and Adolf Hitler's 1938 invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Alan Dershowitz on Jimmy Carter’s Human Rights Award from Jewish Law School: “I Can’t Imagine A Worse Person to Honor for Conflict Resolution”

April 8, 2013 5:30 pm 40 comments

Author:

Zach Pontz

Former President Jimmy Carter. Photo: www.reddogreport.com.

The Cardozo School of Law, which is associated with Yeshiva University, has decided to honor former U.S. President Jimmy Carter with its annual “International Advocate for Peace” award on Wednesday. This has many alumni and other members of the Jewish community up in arms, not least of which is because of Carter’s penchant for labeling Israel an “apartheid state”  and his chumminess with Yasser Arafat and the current Hamas leadership. (For more of Carter’s activities in the region see here.)
“I can’t imagine a worse person to honor for conflict resolution. Here’s a man who has engendered conflict wherever he goes. He has encouraged terrorism by Hamas and Hezbollah. He was partly responsible for Yasser Arafat turning down the Clinton-Barak peace offer,” Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz told The Algemeiner in an interview. Dershowitz wrote about Carter in his book “The Case Against Israel’s Enemeies: Exposing Jimmy Carter and Others Who Stand in the Way of Peace.”
“He is significantly responsible for the second Intifada. If he had told Yasser Arafat to accept that deal we might be celebrating Palestinian statehood today,” Dershowitz added. “He just prefers terrorists to Israelis.”
Lori Lowenthal Marcus at the Jewish Press did some digging as to who, exactly, was responsible for deciding Carter should be this year’s honoree. “The law school administration has insisted – through a statement issued by a public relations firm – it was a choice made by the students. Sources have suggested the opposite is the case,” she writes.
It’s even up for debate as to whether or not the Dean of the Cardozo Law School Mathew Diller will be attending. Marcus reports that “some concerned individuals were told ‘on good assurance’ that neither Cardozo’s Dean Diller nor YU’s President Joel would be present at the award ceremony, and that they were completely uninvolved.”
But in a letter to some wealthy alumni Diller wrote that he hoped they would “plan to join me in welcoming the 39th President of the United States to the law school.”
Dershowitz doesn’t blame the school, however. “In my own opinion it was a dumb, dumb decision by a group of students who are either ignorant or ideologically associated with Jimmy Carter,” he said.
In any case, Israel or not, Dershowitz questions the wisdom of honoring an individual who, in general, doesn’t have the best track record where human rights are concerned.
“Carter during his presidency sat idly by while 2 million Cambodians were killed by Pol Pot. He has been bought and paid for by Saudi Extremists. His Carter Center stopped investigating human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia when he received payment from important and wealthy Saudi businessmen,” Dershowitz said. “He has used the word apartheid to describe Israel but he never used the word in reference to Saudi Arabia which practices gender apartheid, religious apartheid, sexual preference apartheid.”
If anything, Dershowitz argues, Carter has harmed efforts to make the world a more peaceful place. “Before Jimmy Carter came along human rights were neutral. You attacked the left, you attacked the right. You attacked who were the worst perpetrators. Not with Jimmy Carter. He never attacks the left. He never attacks the Arab or Muslim world. He has turned human rights essentially into human lefts and distorted the concept of human rights. Eleanore Roosevelt and real founders of the human rights movement are turning over in their graves.”
But Dershowitz thinks that Carter’s presence on campus this week should be used as a positive. Students should attend the ceremony “and in a dignified and respectful way show contempt for Jimmy Carter,” he said. “Students should know who they’re honoring. The response to bad speech is good speech. You don’t cancel the event you use it as an educational opportunity to teach people about the evil things that Jimmy Carter has done.”

Why Are Only Jews Referred to as Terrorists in the Media?

April 10, 2013 14:17 by Simon Plosker HonestReporting has long campaigned for the international media to call terrorism exactly what it is instead of using judgment-neutral terminology, such as “militants”,”extremists”, “fighters” or “gunmen.”
Yaakov “Jack” Teitel, a US-born Israeli resident of the West Bank was sentenced on Tuesday to two consecutive life terms in prison for murdering a Palestinian taxi driver in Jerusalem and a Palestinian shepherd near Hebron. He was also sentenced for other attacks including against a left-wing Israeli professor and messianic Jews. He also attacked a police station during a gay pride parade. These are only a few of Teitel’s terrorist and criminal activities.

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The Israeli media, including the JPost, YNet, and Times of Israel had no problem referring to him as a “Jewish terrorist” showing an impressive consistency in the use of language. They recognized that Teitel’s hate-filled ideologically and politically motivated ideology fits the definition of terrorism. This demonstrates that the use of the word “terrorism” or “terrorist” or “terror” does not have to be a loaded term applied only to Palestinians murdering Jews for religious or political motivations.
It’s just that the example of Teitel is, thankfully, extremely rare and certainly in contrast to the Palestinian side.
So having avoided referring to Palestinian terrorists as just that, how did the international media cover the story?
This from Sky News:

The Times of London also followed suit:

The LA Times and Reuters both referred to Teitel as having been “dubbed “The Jewish Terrorist” by the Israeli media” while the New York Times wrote that Teitel was “known as “The Jewish terrorist.”

But where is the consistency?

If the media is prepared to acknowledge the Israeli media’s usage of the term when applied to a Jewish terrorist, why then, are they still not prepared to apply it to Palestinian terrorists?

When it comes to consistency, it is difficult to match AFP’s long-standing aversion to labeling Palestinian terrorists as anything other than “militants” or “activists.” Bizarrely, AFP, in its coverage, refers to Teitel as a “religious activist.”

While the term “activist” is consistent with AFP’s approach, we have to ask if the wire service ever refers to religiously motivated Muslim terrorists as “religious activists” or is this term only reserved for Jews?

At least the Associated Press demonstrated consistency when it referred to Teitel as a “radical” and “extremist.”

To reiterate – the description of Yaakov Teitel as a “terrorist” is not the issue. What is disturbing, however, is the sudden acceptance of the term by some media as a legitimate reference to an Israeli Jew while avoiding it when referring to Palestinians or other Arabs involved in the murder of Jews. Isn’t it time for some consistency when it comes to the “T-word?”

Image: CC BY-SA HonestReporting.com, flickr/ryanbrunsvold, flickr/schoffer.

Sanctimonious Jewish bleeding hearts

Isi Leibler

I was somewhat taken aback by a letter released in the wake of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Israel, signed by 100 American Jews including a number of rabbis, communal leaders and academics, many, if not most of whom are politically inclined to the Left but regard themselves as committed Zionists. It urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "work closely" with Secretary of State John Kerry to "devise pragmatic initiatives, consistent with Israel's security needs, which would represent Israel's readiness to make painful territorial sacrifices for the sake of peace." The petition was orchestrated by the Israel Policy Forum, a declining left-wing Jewish group that is seeking to revive itself. It is the same organization that in 2005 provided the platform for former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to deliver his notorious speech justifying the disastrous Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. His deplorable statement — "We are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of defeating our enemies" — is likely to haunt him for the rest of his life. The Israel Policy Forum letter is by no means stylistically confrontational. It even congratulates Netanyahu for displaying "leadership" in his yet unfulfilled efforts to achieve a "rapprochement" with Turkey. It also praises Obama's visit to Israel and urges Netanyahu to respond to his call by "taking concrete confidence building steps designed to demonstrate Israel's commitment to a 'two states for two peoples' solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." Yet as I read and mulled over this letter, I became increasingly angered. Is it not somewhat of a chutzpah for American Jewish "leaders," especially those who consider themselves to be Zionists, to provide unsolicited advice to the Israeli prime minister, calling on him to make further "painful territorial sacrifices for peace"? Have we not made sacrifices? And have territorial compromises brought us any closer to peace? Are these American Jewish leaders not aware of the disastrous consequences of unilateral territorial concessions such as the Gaza disengagement? "Zionist" Diaspora activists would never have had the gall to publicly convey such public declarations to Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin or Menachem Begin. They would have been excoriated. One need only recollect Rabin's violent denunciation of certain right-wing American Israel Public Affairs Committee officials who dared question Israel's security policies when the Oslo Accords were instituted. Such remarks are particularly offensive coming from a group like the Israel Policy Forum, which the conservative Emergency Committee for Israel justly pointed out had "from the safety of America, in the past recommended trusting Arafat, dividing Jerusalem, surrendering the Golan Heights to Syria, and withdrawing from territory that today is controlled by Iranian-backed terrorist groups." To what purpose is the Israel Policy Forum now placing the onus on Israel to make concessions in advance of negotiations? Has not the Palestinian Authority continuously spurned Israeli government offers to negotiate without any preconditions?, Even Obama has now been obliged to tell Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that his tactic of seeking to extract concessions before negotiations were even in place was ludicrous and obliged him to endorse Israel's call to the Palestinians to negotiate without preconditions. How can these American Jews justify preaching to Israeli leaders concerning the virtues of peace? They must be aware that whatever their failings, Israelis who over successive generations with their families have or are serving in the Israel Defense Forces, do not require patronizing lectures from "friends" abroad concerning the virtues of peace and making sacrifices to achieve it. Perhaps the Israel Policy Forum seeks to pressure Netanyahu to renew or up the ante on the offers of Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert to the PA when they offered to cede 95 percent of the territories over the Green Line but were totally rebuffed by the Palestinians. The letter incorporates the usual ritual incantation to Palestinian leaders "to take similar constructive steps including a return to the negotiating table." Were the signatories aware that even disregarding Hamas, in recent years Abbas and the PA have not agreed to a single meaningful reciprocal concession? And that Abbas and other Palestinian leaders repeatedly reiterate that the disavowal of violence was based on pragmatic rather than moral grounds and frequently allude to reverting to the "armed struggle" if considered tactically advantageous? Besides, the deteriorating relationship with Gaza and the renewed launch of missiles against civilian targets makes meaningful negotiations with the PA — which proclaims its determination of reuniting with Hamas — an Alice in Wonderland absurdity. The timing of the Israel Policy Forum letter was undoubtedly designed to impact on Kerry's visit to the region. In the course of his visit to Israel, Obama made a series of highly positive statements regarding the U.S. commitment to Israel, as well as personally expressing unprecedented praise of Zionism. But at his address to a predominately left-wing student audience, he alluded to his earlier formula which, in terms of boundaries, paralleled the so-called Arab League peace initiative, originally orchestrated in 2002 by Saudi Arabia, which proposed a settlement based on the indefensible 1949 armistice lines and a return to Israel of the millions of descendants of so-called Arab refugees. It is rumored that Kerry is planning to promote this formulation which no responsible Israeli government could ever conceivably adopt and would be vehemently opposed by the vast majority of Israelis. One is therefore entitled to ask who would be the beneficiaries from such a letter. Clearly, especially as it emanates from purported Zionists, it exerts pressure exclusively on Israel. If concerned Jews genuinely sought to make a constructive contribution to the peace process, in lieu of writing letters to Netanyahu, they should send messages to Abbas (copying Kerry), demanding an end to the PA-sponsored anti-Semitic incitement which is virtually indistinguishable from that of Hamas and urge him to recognize the Jewish state. We are accustomed to demented anti-Israeli Jews and Israel Policy Forum or J Street apparatchiks seeking to exert pressure on the Israeli government to make further unilateral concessions. But we are surely entitled to expect Jewish activists, especially those who regard themselves as Zionists, to pause and reflect on the ramifications of endorsing letters promoting policies impinging on security to an Israeli government under siege politically and militarily from its adversaries. Such initiatives serve no purpose other than to weaken Israel's ability to negotiate and undermine its security. Were the signatories living in Israel and calling on their government to take "confidence-building measures," they would be acting within their legitimate democratic rights. But they would also be sharing the impact of such decisions on the security and lives of their families. We are entitled to expect Zionists not to behave like the naive "fellow travelers" who during the Cold War blindly endorsed communist peace petitions that ultimately only promoted the interests the Evil Empire. It is unethical and unconscionable for bleeding-heart American Zionist "friends" to display disrespect and intervene to thwart the policies determined by the democratically elected leaders of Israel or offer them patronizing advice on how best to ensure their security. Isi Leibler's website can be viewed at www.wordfromjerusalem.com. He may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com.