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Contents: | Weekly Quotes | Short Takes | On Topic Links
Jihad in Orlando: Wall Street Journal, June 12, 2016
Israeli Resilience: Jerusalem Post, June 12, 2016
Brexit and the Jewish Question: Melanie Phillips, Jerusalem Post, Apr. 27, 2016
In Britain, Anti-Semitism Endures: George F. Will, Washington Post, June 10, 2016
WEEKLY QUOTES
"Because our leaders are weak, I said this was going to happen – and it is only going to get worse…I am trying to save lives and prevent the next terrorist attack. We can't afford to be politically correct anymore." — Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee. Trump has said that President Barack Obama should “resign in disgrace” for failing to call the Orlando massacre "Islamic terrorism". “Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism," Trump wrote on Twitter, "I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!” A gunman, Omar Mateen, 29, who claimed allegiance to I.S., killed 49 people and wounded 53 more when he opened fire in a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Sunday. It was the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Mateen was killed in a shootout with the police. He was a U.S. citizen whose parents were from Afghanistan. (Telegraph, 12 June, 2016)
"Today, as Americans, we grieve the brutal murder, a horrific massacre, of dozens of innocent people…We pray for their families, who are grasping for answers with broken hearts. We stand with the people of Orlando, who have endured a terrible attack on their city…Although it's still early in the investigation, we know enough to say that this was an act of terror and an act of hate, and as Americans we are united in grief, in outrage and in resolve to defend our people.” — U.S. President Barack Obama. (Telegraph, June 12, 2016)
"And from my perspective, it matters what we do, not what we say. It matters that we got Bin Laden, not what name we called him…But if (Trump) is somehow suggesting I don't call this for what it is, he hasn't been listening. I have clearly said we face terrorist enemies who use Islam to justify slaughtering people. We have to stop them and we will. We have to defeat radical jihadist terrorism, and we will." — U.S. Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Clinton broke from President Obama in referring to the terrorist attack as "radical Islamism," countering Trump's accusations that both she and Obama are weak on tackling terrorist threats. The U.S. cannot, on the other hand, she added, "demonize, demagogue and declare war on an entire religion." Clinton also said she could assure Americans that she is equally committed to fighting Islamic extremism as well as protecting law-abiding Muslims. (Politico, June 13, 2016)
“The worst thing you can do is engage in trying to point fingers at one group or one form of sectarianism or another or one division or another. Those are not the values of our country…What we need to do is to bring people together and work to forever prevent this kind of hate and terror from playing out as it has so horribly in the last day.” — Secretary of State John Kerry, after the Orlando terrorist attack. (Breitbart, June 13, 2016)
“…Some thoughts on the attack in Orlando: As usual, politicians, police, the press, prosecutors, and professors went into diversion mode, doing what they could do ignore the Islamist elephant in the room. Meaningless debates over whether the attack constitutes terrorism, whether it is a hate crime, and whether it has foreign connections dominate the discussion, while Omar Mateen’s obvious motives are almost ignored. It’s time for the authorities to focus on Islamism as the problem, rather than bizarrely insisting Islam has nothing to do with it. France leads the way: Muslims working at the main Paris airport have been investigated, with radicals weeded out. U.S. security agencies should do similarly.” — Daniel Pipes. (Middle East Forum, June 13, 2016)
“(Islam prohibits many activities), but "that does not mean that we have to go ahead and attack every bar because we are against drinking, every supposedly, grocery store because we are against the porks and eating that. Go ahead and attack all kind of areas that it is against our religion. No. We have to live with the people and we have to dialogue only and talk. We are not allowed to take arms against anyone." — Abu Nahidian, of Virginia's Manassas Mosque, comparing gays to drunks and people who eat pork. Nahidian spoke at a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) a news conference to condemn the bloodshed in Orlando. Nahidian is an odd representative for an event aimed at enhancing the image of Muslims in America. He maintained close ties with Iran, and during a 2010 anti-Israel rally in Washington he insisted the 9/11 attacks were "not done by Muslims. It is done by the plot of the Zionists in order to justify to occupy the land of the Muslims… They plot and they scheme and no doubt God is plotting and scheming against them too." (IPT, June 14, 2016)
"They pointed to the bottles of alcohol behind the bar, then one of them told me in Arabic: 'You should be ashamed of yourself serving alcohol in the Ramadan period.'" — A waitress in Nice, France, who was allegedly attacked by a pair of Muslim men for serving alcohol during Ramadan. Muslims mark the holy month of Ramadan with fasting and abstain from drinking, smoking and sex from dawn to dusk. She said one of the men also told her: "If I was God, I would hang you." She responded: "You're not God to judge me." That's when one man allegedly called her a "whore" and slapped her face, knocking her to the ground and giving her a black eye. "I didn't think that in France, the country of liberty, you could be attacked for that," she told U.K. media. (Toronto Sun, June 9, 2016)
“Not selecting the F-35 will set off a chain of events that will see hundreds of millions of investment dollars lost, and high-tech jobs leaving Canada…It is doubtful that any other procurement would provide the same industrial benefits.” — Canadian JSF Industrial Group. The gloves came off Thursday after a group of companies involved in the F-35 project blasted the Super Hornet, and warned the Liberals that Canada’s aerospace industry will be permanently hamstrung if the government doesn’t stick with the stealth fighter. However, the Liberal government and Boeing Co., the company that makes the Super Hornet, have pushed back, saying not buying the F-35 won’t be the end of the world — or the end of Canada’s aerospace industry. The back-and-forth over potential jobs losses represents the latest front in the battle for a new fighter jet after reports that the Liberals are looking to buy Super Hornets without a competition. (National Post , June 9, 2016)
“The tension these motions create go completely against the values of a university…This ruling (ensures that McGill) will not be held hostage by vocal minorities and that its students’ society will represent and stand up for the rights of all students.” — Political science and history student Zev Macklin. The days of polarizing debates at McGill University surrounding the BDS movement may be over after a judicial committee of the student association unanimously decided that motions in support of BDS violate the student constitution. In a reference on the legality of BDS motions, the judicial board of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) came to the “inescapable conclusion” that “any motion that specifically targets one nation and compels SSMU to actively campaign against that country, such as the BDS motion, is unconstitutional.” (Montreal Gazette, June 7, 2016)
“A small group can change the world…I think if I had a message, it’s not to remain indifferent. Stand up against injustice! Make sure that every day you do something to advance the cause of justice. I have hope that at the end of the day, the struggle for justice and human rights will be won.” — Canadian legal expert Prof. Irwin Cotler. Cotler spoke on behalf of activists around the world “putting their lives on the line in the struggle for democracy and human rights and freedom.” Cotler, who has been nominated by Prof. Alan Dershowitz for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, was one of six recipients of honorary doctoral degrees conferred by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev at a ceremony during the university’s 46th Board of Governors meeting last week. (Jerusalem Post, June 8, 2016)
“As a kid, I was bullied – for being Jewish…This was upsetting, but compared to what my parents and grandparents had faced, it felt tame. Because we truly believed that anti-Semitism was fading. And we were wrong. Over the last two years, nearly 20,000 Jews have left Europe to find higher ground. And earlier this year, I was at the Israeli embassy when President Obama stated the sad truth. He said: ‘We must confront the reality that around the world, anti-Semitism is on the rise. We cannot deny it.’” — Filmmaker Steven Spielberg. Spielberg told recent Harvard graduates that the world “is full of monsters” espousing “racism, homophobia, ethnic hatred, class hatred” and “religious hatred.” The 69-year-old creator of award-winning films like “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan,” and the Indiana Jones series, also spoke about his Shoah Foundation. The foundation has taken video testimonies of over 53,000 Holocaust survivors and witnesses in 63 countries since he founded it in 1994, he said. (Ha’aretz, May 29, 2016)
SHORT TAKES
FBI TWICE PROBED ORLANDO GUNMAN (Orlando) — Omar Mateen, a U.S.-born son of Afghan immigrants, was already known to the FBI, which twice investigated him over hints of radical leanings before closing those cases as inconclusive. Federal agents are now trying to piece together how the 29-year-old Mateen became the gunman police say is responsible for the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. The night of the Orlando nightclub attack, Mateen called emergency services and proclaimed allegiance to I.S. Mateen’s call echoed FBI concerns about him in 2013, “when he made inflammatory remarks to co-workers alleging possible terrorist ties,” said an FBI official in Orlando. Mateen came under scrutiny again in 2014 over possible contacts with Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, a Florida man who traveled to Syria and carried out a suicide attack. (Wall Street Journal, June 13, 2016)
FRANCE TERRORIST LIVESTREAMS POLICEMAN’S KILLING ON FACEBOOK (Paris) — A man with links to Islamist terror groups who killed a French policeman and his partner on Monday night was said to have broadcast the attack live on social media. Larossi Abballa, 25, recorded the attack and posted it on Facebook Live, according to officials. In the 13-minute video Abballa could be seen stabbing the police commander and his partner to death outside their suburban Paris home as their three-year-old son watched. During the attack, Abballa reportedly turned to the camera and pledged allegiance to the leader of I.S., Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. (Times of Israel, June 14, 2016)
ISRAEL REVOKES RAMADAN PERMITS FOR PALESTINIANS AFTER TEL AVIV ATTACK (Tel Aviv) — Israel revoked 83,000 travel permits allowing Palestinians to enter the country and said it would send two more army battalions to the occupied West Bank a day after a Palestinian shooting spree killed four Israelis. No group claimed responsibility for the attack by two gunmen last week at a popular Tel Aviv food market. Relatives said the two men were cousins and identified them as Mohammad Makhamreh and Khalid Makhamreh. (Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2016)
SCHOLAR OF ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT BECOMES ITS VICTIM (Tel Aviv) — Dr. Michael Feige spent his career writing and lecturing about the effects of war and terrorism on the Israeli psyche. Feige, 58, a sociologist and anthropologist, was shot to death in the terror attack on Tel Aviv’s Sarona Market. Feige was a respected academic, serving as head of the Israel Studies Track in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and a member of the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. His book Settling in the Hearts: Jewish Fundamentalism in the Occupied Territories won the Shapiro Prize for Best Book from the Association of Israel Studies in 2010. (Ha’aretz, June 9, 2016)
SEVEN ARAB TERROR FUGITIVES CAPTURED IN JUDEA, SAMARIA (Jersusalem) — Israeli security forces captured seven terrorist fugitives Tuesday morning. The arrests were made in various locations throughout Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria. An IDF spokesperson said three of the suspects were allegedly members of the Hamas terrorist organization. Four of the suspects were accused of involvement in violence against civilians and security forces. All seven of the detainees have been transferred to security personnel for questioning. (Jewish Press, June 14, 2016)
KNESSET APPROVES SWEEPING ANTI-TERROR REFORMS (Jersusalem) — The Knesset passed into law sweeping anti-terror reforms, with 57 lawmakers in favor and 16 opposed. The legislation marks the first time penalties for terror attacks are enshrined into Israeli law. The law does not differentiate between Jews and Palestinians or soldiers and civilians. The law also outlines procedures to designate terror groups as such, seize their assets, and detention laws for terror suspects. In terms of sentencing, the general rule outlined in the legislation is that terrorists will receive double the jail time as perpetrators of those crimes without a terror motive, but no more than 25 years. (Times of Israel, June 15, 2016)
NETANYAHU: US DEFENSE AID WILL BE INCREASED, NOT CUT (Tel Aviv) — Shortly after the White House announced that it is against increasing the funding for Israel’s anti-missile defense program, Netanyahu clarified today that the US aid will not be cut. Netanyahu’s office added that “not only will the anti-missile defense aid not be cut but it will be increased.” The office also said that “this is an internal dispute between the Congress and the White House regarding the annual addition to the anti-missile defense program- and Prime Minister Netanyahu is acting to anchor this addition as part of the discussions regarding the aid agreement for the next 10 years.” (Jerusalem Online, June 15, 2016)
ISRAEL ELECTED TO HEAD A PERMANENT UN COMMITTEE (Geneva) — For the first time ever, Israel was elected to head a permanent committee at the upcoming UN General Assembly, despite intense efforts by Arab and Muslim states to stop the nomination. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon was elected chairman of the GA’s Sixth Committee, which deals with legal issues. In the past, Israeli diplomats have presided over other, less prestigious committees at the UN and even co-chaired the GA, but never headed one of the GA’s six main committees. The Arab League convened diplomats from the countries planning to nominate Israel for the Sixth Committee chairmanship and informed them of the Arab world’s displeasure with the move. (Times of Israel, June 13, 2016)
CANADIAN HOSTAGE KILLED BY ABU SAYYAF MILITANTS IN PHILIPPINES (Tehran) — A Canadian being held hostage by a militant group in the Philippines has been killed. Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf had warned it would kill Robert Hall today if it didn't receive a ransom of some $8 million. Hall, from Calgary, had been held since Sept. 21, 2015, along with former executive and fellow Canadian John Ridsdel, who was killed by the group in April. Ridsdel and Hall were abducted from a seaside resort along with a Filipino woman and a Norwegian man. Prime Minister Trudeau last month urged fellow leaders to refuse to pay ransom for hostages. He said at the time that the Canadian flag should not be "a target when worn on a backpack around the world." (CBC, June 13, 2016)
CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR DETAINED IN IRAN (Tehran) — A Concordia University professor known for her research on women in Islamic societies is being detained in Iran’s notorious Evin prison. Homa Hoodfar was arrested after being interrogated by authorities, according to a statement. Hoodfar, 65, is being held in the same Tehran prison where Montreal photojournalist Zahra Kazemi was detained. Kazemi died in 2003 after being raped and tortured by Iranian officials. Hoodfar, who has citizenship with Canada, Ireland and Iran, is considered an international expert on the status of women in Islam. Her research has examined campaigns to stop the stoning of women. She was reportedly arrested by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, a group tasked with protecting Iran’s Islamic system, and has not had access to speak with her lawyer or her family living in Iran. (CTV, June 8, 2016)
COURT AWARDS IRAN’S NON-DIPLOMATIC ASSETS IN CANADA TO TERROR VICTIMS (Toronto) — The Iranian government lost a key court battle when an Ontario judge ordered Iran’s non-diplomatic assets in Canada to be handed over to victims of terrorist groups sponsored by Tehran. The long-awaited ruling dismissed every argument Iran’s lawyers had made at a trial held in Toronto, leaving Tehran financially responsible for the actions of the terrorists it has backed. Iran’s diplomatic buildings in Ottawa remain unaffected, but non-diplomatic properties and the contents of bank accounts were awarded to the victims of the Iranian-supported terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah. The $13-million case was the first challenge of the Justice for Victims of Terror Act. The 2012 law allows victims to collect damages from state sponsors of terror groups. (National Post, June 10, 2016)
BANGLADESH ARRESTS OVER 3,000 TO HALT ATTACKS (Dhaka) — More than 3,000 people, some of them known Islamist militants, have been arrested in a series of police raids intended to quell a wave of deadly machete attacks against bloggers, minorities and others, the police said Saturday. The roundup began last week after militants killed the wife of a police superintendent who had been investigating the machete attacks. Many citizens criticized the government for not taking action sooner against the militants, who have created a climate of terror since they began murdering secularist bloggers and others more than three years ago. Since 2013, bloggers, freethinkers, religious minorities, foreigners, gay activists, followers of more liberal strains of Islam and others have been killed in attacks carried out mostly by groups of young men wielding machetes. (New York Times, June 11, 2016)
PAKISTANI WOMAN BURNS DAUGHTER ALIVE FOR MARRYING FOR LOVE (Lahore) — A Pakistani woman was arrested Wednesday after dousing her daughter with kerosene and burning her alive, allegedly because the girl had defied her family to marry a man she was in love with, police said. A police official said the killing took place in the eastern city of Lahore and that the mother was arrested the same day. The suspect, Parveen Rafiq, has confessed to tying up her 18-year-old daughter Zeenat Rafiq to a cot after which, with the help of her son, Ahmar Rafiq, she poured the oil on the girl and set her ablaze, police said. Nearly 1,000 women are killed each year in so-called "honour killings" in Pakistan for allegedly violating conservative norms on love and marriage. (CTV, June 8, 2016)
QATAR CONVICTS WOMAN WHO REPORTED HER OWN RAPE (Doha) — A Dutch woman held in Qatar for nearly three months after telling police she had been raped there was released on after receiving a one-year suspended prison sentence. The 22-year-old woman was in the care of the Dutch Embassy after a brief court hearing in Doha. It wasn’t immediately clear what sentence was given to the man she accused of rape. The woman, on a vacation with a friend, went out for drinks at a hotel bar in the Qatari capital in March, the woman’s lawyer said. While at the bar, she believes someone “messed with her drink” and her memory became hazy, he said. She later awoke alone, her clothes torn and the victim of a rape. She was immediately detained after reporting the attack. (Global, June 14, 2016)
APPEAL FOR AMNESTY OF POLITICAL PRISONERS AS UNHRC CELEBRATES ANNIVERSARY (Geneva) — UN Watch today called on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and world leaders to endorse an appeal to all 47 member states of the UN Human Rights Council to issue an amnesty to release their political prisoners on the occasion of the Council’s 10th anniversary. Council members this year include China, Cuba, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela, Algeria, Burundi, Congo, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. The appeal will be read out at the Council, along with the names of 50 representatives of political prisoners and human rights organizations. Signatories include Ensaf Haidar, wife of Raif Badawi, a blogger and political prisoner in Saudi Arabia and Ti-Anna Wang, daughter of Wang Binzhang, a pro-democracy leader who is a political prisoner in China. (UNWatch, June 10, 2016)
BRITISH VOTERS LEANING LEAVE AS BREXIT REFERENDUM APPROACHES: POLLS (London) — After months of a "Brexit" looking like a long shot, the UK might be heading towards that option as the referendum on the country's membership in the EU approaches. But the margin between the two options on the June 23 referendum ballot — to "remain" a member of the EU or to "leave" it — is very close. The past 10 polls published in the UK have swung towards Leave. Throughout 2015, Remain was ahead very comfortably in the polls. But fears related to immigration, which spiked after the refugee and migrant crisis that struck Europe last fall, have had a great impact on public opinion and against continued membership in the EU. (CBC, June 7, 2016)
ARCHAEOLOGISTS RACE TO SAVE TREASURES FROM LOOTERS (Jerusalem) — Amir Ganor, the head of the robberies division for the Israeli antiquities authority, is investigating a remarkable cavern in the mountains above the Dead Sea, the Cave of Skulls. After arresting a crew of tomb robbers digging at the site, Ganor and a team of archaeologists launched an "emergency excavation" in May. The three-week dig, just now completed, is the largest, most complex and most intensive Israeli excavation in the desert in 60 years. The cave has yielded artifacts from the Neolithic period to the Copper Age. The cavern also might have been a hideout for rebels with the Bar Kochba Revolt against the Romans in A.D. 132 to 136. The cave might also hold the most sought-after treasure of all: more Dead Sea scrolls, fragments of words written on pieces of papyrus reed or skin parchment and preserved for 2,000 years in the dry desert air. (Washington Post, June 12, 2016)
Jihad in Orlando: Wall Street Journal, June 12, 2016— A young American Muslim pledging allegiance to Islamic State is now responsible for the largest mass shooting in U.S. history. Can we finally drop the illusion that the jihadist fires that burn in the Middle East don’t pose an urgent and deadly threat to the American homeland?
Israeli Resilience: Jerusalem Post, June 12, 2016 —It was in the wake of a savage terrorist attack at Tel Aviv’s Sarona Market that Israelis began the extended Shabbat-Shavuot weekend. On Wednesday, the nation reeled from the gruesome shootings perpetrated by two young Palestinian men from the Yatta, a town in the South Hebron Hills. On Thursday, the nation mourned the deaths of Mila Mishaev, 32, Ilana Naveh, 39, Ido Ben Ari, 42, and Michael Feige, 58.
Brexit and the Jewish Question: Melanie Phillips, Jerusalem Post, Apr. 27, 2016 —President Obama made a trip to Britain last week to persuade people to vote to remain in the European Union in the forthcoming referendum. The prime minister, David Cameron, has been panicking that the public might vote for “Brexit,” shorthand for Britain leaving the EU. So he thought Obama would help swing it.
In Britain, Anti-Semitism Endures: George F. Will, Washington Post, June 10, 2016— Of the fighting faiths that flourished during the ideologically drunk 20th century, anti-Semitism has been uniquely durable. It survives by mutating, even migrating across the political spectrum from the right to the left. Although most frequently found in European semi-fascist parties, anti-Semitism is growing in the fetid Petri dish of American academia and is staining Britain’s Labour Party.
