Contents: Weekly Quotes | Short Takes
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Bibi's Right: Palestinian Rejectionism Threatens Peace: Gil Troy, The Daily Beast, May 3, 2013
Barkat: Let the Palestinians Rename Ramallah as ‘Jerusalem’: David Horovitz, Times of Israel, May 7, 2013
Between East And West: Jerusalem’s No-Man’s Land: Aviva and Shmuel Bar-Am, Times of Israel, May 8, 2013
“That kind of thinking [that as long as Israel insists on sovereignty throughout the city, there’s no chance for a peace] will get us nowhere. It will get us to a dead end, to a bad deal… The answer is no separation of the city [of Jerusalem]… If the world pushes us there, it’s just a matter of time before things will fall apart. It will not bring [us] closer [to] a resolution or a better relationship with our neighbors. There is no doubt in my mind. It will get much, much worse.” — Nir Barkat, Mayor of Jerusalem, in an interview with The Times of Israel on the occasion of Jerusalem Day [May8]. Barkat further suggested that if the Palestinians wanted a capital in Jerusalem they could rename Ramallah “Jerusalem” or “northern Jerusalem.” (The Times of Israel, May 7, 2013)
"We see in this mirror [Jerusalem] the face of our country and Zionism. Jerusalem is split by many different groups with great gaps between them. All the identities and conflicts come together in Jerusalem. I love Jerusalem, not just because of its meaning over generations and my identity as a Jew. I love Jerusalem because it reflects Israeli society. Jerusalem reflects the fragility of Israeli society." — MK Reuven Rivlin (Likud Beytenu), former speaker of the Knesset, in his address to the Knesset plenum on the occasion of Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) marking the re-unification of the city following the Israeli victory in the 1967 Six Day War. (Jerusalem Post, May 8, 2013)
"[First prime minister David] Ben-Gurion was told to give up on Jerusalem [in the 1948 War] and save the rest of the country, but he refused and sent 28,000 soldiers to Jerusalem. He succeeded and Jerusalem was saved. His decision wasn't rational, but Jerusalem doesn't work rationally…Jerusalem will be united forever; there is no other Jerusalem." — Naftali Bennet, Jerusalem Affairs Minister, in his address to the Knesset plenum on the occasion of Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) marking the re-unification of the city following the Israeli victory in the 1967 Six Day War. (Jerusalem Post, May 8, 2013)
“The root of the conflict isn’t territorial. It began way before 1967. The Palestinians’ failure to accept the state of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people is the root of the conflict. If we reach a peace agreement, I want to know that the conflict won’t continue – that the Palestinians won’t come later with more demands. Until the Palestinians recognize our right to exist as a national state, no matter what the borders, and until they declare that the conflict is over, there will not be peace. Unless these things happen, even if we reach an agreement, it will serve to keep the conflict going by other means.” — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in response to recent apparent softening of the so-called Arab Peace Proposal to involve the swapping of small areas of land between Israel and a future Palestinian state, in any final agreement. (The Daily Beast, May 3, 2013)
“Seventy years ago we could only plead, only beg to be saved. Today we have a state of our own, an army of our own. We need not beg to be saved, we can defend ourselves.” — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during a tour of the Jewish Refugees Museum in Shanghai [China], located in the heart of the Honkgou District where some 18,000 Jews found refuge during World War II. his recent visit to China. Netanyahu was commemorating “the great kindness of the people of Shanghai, and this quarter, for our people. And we shall never forget it.” (Jerusalem Post, May 5, 2013)
“Critics of Israel like to emphasize that most Palestinians are suffering while most Israelis are living well. Then why don’t the Palestinians make bolder moves for peace, and why is the onus repeatedly placed on Israel? Always claiming you are the victim when you have had other options is not convincing. It is time for Palestinians and their supporters to take responsibility for their continuing statelessness….”— Gil Troy, historian, in an opinion piece in the The Daily Beast (The Daily Beast, May 3, 2013)
“Mr. Prime Minister, we are especially concerned about one particular party, [Jobbik, the third-largest party in Hungary]. Through its anti-Semitism, its hostility to the Roma [Gypsies], and its paranoid rantings at the outside world, Jobbik is dragging the good name of Hungary through the mud. When Hungarian Jews are attacked by fanatics, they should be able to count on the unequivocal support of their government and of their authorities. It is the authorities that must stop this before it even begins.” — Ronald Lauder President of the World Jewish Congress in his introduction of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, at the start of the WJC’s annual general meeting being held this year [May 5] in Budapest to highlight growing antisemitism in Hungary. (Jerusalem Post, May 6, 2013)
[Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban] “did not address any recent anti-Semitic or racist incidents in the country, nor did he provide sufficient reassurance that a clear line has been drawn between his government and the far-Right fringe” during a speech he gave before the WJC 2013 plenum in Budapest on Sunday. “Actions speak louder than words, no matter how well intended they are.” [Orban] “did not confront the true nature of the problem: the threat posed by the anti- Semites in general and by the extreme-Right Jobbik party in particular.” — World Jewish Congress statement following Hungarian Prime Minister’s address to the WJC plenum May 5. (Jerusalem Post, May 6, 2013)
"I expect more of the 'shadow war' we're already seeing – soft targets, tourists – and targeting senior current or former Israeli officials [by Hizbullah]….It's already happening, and it will happen even more." — Matthew Levitt, a former counterterrorism adviser and analyst at the U.S. Treasury Department and the FBI commenting on possible retaliation for recent airstrikes in Syria attributed to Israel. (Washington Post, May 7, 2013)
“The purpose of the future agreement with the Palestinians is to prevent the eventuality of a bi-national state and to guarantee stability and security. It’s not about a Palestinian state. It’s about a Jewish state. Israel] has to make sure that, at the end of the negotiations … there is recognition for our nation state.” — Prime Minister Benjamin, speaking to senior Israeli Foreign Ministry officials in his capacity as acting foreign minister. (Globe and Mail, May 1, 2013)
"I swear that if we had a nuke, we'd have used it [against Israel] this very morning." — Jibril Rajoub, the Deputy Secretary of the Fatah Central Committee and Chairman of the PA Olympic Committee in an interview with Lebanese TV channel Al-Mayadeen. Rajoub also expressed the view that negotiations are held because the Palestinians lack military strength. (Palestinian Media Watch, May 2,, 2013)
“This is the last generation where young people can hear the stories directly from survivors [of the Holocaust] in the places that they unfolded. Ten years from now you won’t be able to go to the camp with a survivor that was there. This is the last window we have.” — Eli Rubenstein, who runs two tours a year to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp for Canadian students, including the Canadian wing of the global March of the Living project.(National Post, May 6, 2013)
“We are abhorred by the violence that the Syrian government is inflicting against its own people. But (we’re) more increasingly alarmed by the amount of radical jihadists who are making it into Syria and infesting part of the opposition. This causes us great concern.” — Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird on CTV’s Question Period program Sunday [May 5]. “I can’t confirm what’s happened,” he said, referring to Israeli air strikes on weapons depots near Damascus, “but obviously it’s in all of our interests that Hezbollah doesn’t get control of heavy weapons. They’re an international terrorist organization who have targeted women and children in civilian populations and have threatened en masse to come and support Assad and his war against the Syrian people.” (National Post, May 5, 2013)
"Excluding women from public spaces is a crime that cannot be accepted. Women in Israel will not sit in the back of buses, will participate in ceremonies and their voice will be heard on the radio and in the army. I believe that implementing and enforcing the recommendations will help stop the outbreak of discrimination against women in public spaces. We cannot abandon women's rights in Israel, and cannot accept harming their equal status." — Tzipi Livni, Israel’s Justice Minister, after instructing her office to draft a bill criminalizing gender-based discrimination.
(Jerusalem Post, May 5, 2013)
TOP PA OFFICIAL: ISRAEL ‘IS OUR MAIN ENEMY— (Ramallah) A senior Palestinian official who played a central role in peace negotiations and starred in an advertising campaign assuring Israel that “I am your partner” in the search for a two-state solution, said in an interview that “resistance in all of its forms” remains the strategy of his party against Israel, and defined the Jewish state as “the main enemy” of Arabs and Muslims. Jibril Rajoub, deputy secretary general of Fatah’s Central Committee, head of the Palestinian Olympic committee and former director of the Preventive Security Force in the West Bank, told Lebanese TV channel Al-Mayadeen on May 1 that, for Fatah, “resistance to Israel remains on our agenda….I mean resistance in all of its forms,” he elaborated. “At this stage, we believe that popular resistance — with all that it entails — is effective and costly to the other side [Israel].” Rajoub said in the hour-long interview, which was highlighted by the watchdog group Palestinian Media Watch on Tuesday [May 7]. Times of Israel, May 8, 2013)
PROF. HAWKING TRIP NOT CANCELLED DUE TO ISRAEL BOYCOTT— (Cambridge, UK) New details about the cancellation of Professor Stephen Hawking's trip to Israel have emerged today after numerous news reports claiming that Prof. Hawking had chosen to boycott the State of Israel. The Guardian, which broke the story late last night [May 7], claimed that Hawking was due to boycott Israel after receiving an erroneous statement from the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP), apparently with Hawking's approval. The statement said that the move was "his independent decision to respect the boycott, based upon his knowledge of Palestine, and on the unanimous advice of his own academic contacts there". However, a Cambridge university spokesperson has confirmed to The Commentator that there was a "misunderstanding" this past weekend, and that Prof. Hawking had pulled out of the conference for medical reasons. Responding to an e-mail including an open letter to Prof. Hawking a University spokesman said: "Professor Hawking will not be attending the conference in Israel in June for health reasons – his doctors have advised against him flying." When asked for further information, the spokesperson confirmed that the BRICUP organisation had "assumed" Hawking's position on the matter, and that it was fundamentally untrue. (emphasis added – Ed.) (The Commentator, May 8, 2013)
JERUSALEM MUFTI DETAINED OVER TEMPLE MOUNT RIOTS — (Jerusalem) Police detained Jerusalem Mufti Sheikh Muhammad Hussein for questioning Wednesday morning over suspicions that he was involved in disturbances at the Temple Mount on Tuesday. Hussein was released without charge after some six hours, however police stated that the investigation against him was ongoing. Some fifteen Muslim worshipers threw chairs at security forces Tuesday, lightly injuring two police officers after they arrested an Arab youth who allegedly disturbed the peace and yelled at Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount. The detaining of Hussein came on the 46th Jerusalem Day, which commemorates the capital’s reunification in 1967 following the Six Day War. (Jerusalem Post. May 8, 2013)
HEZBOLLAH READY TO BACK PRESIDENT ASSAD IN SYRIAN WAR— (Beirut) The leader of Hezbollah has hinted he is ready support the Assad regime in the Syrian war. Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the powerful Lebanese Shiite militia, warned on Tuesday during a rare interview that Syria had 'real friends' who would not allow it 'to fall into the hands' of America, Israel and even Islamic extremists. His comments came after U.S. President Barack Obama that he was ready to up the game in Syria, following reports of chemical weapons allegedly used by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad fighters. Hezbollah has previously only sent small groups of fighters for battles with other Lebanese groups fighting in Syria but seems to have been provoked by Obama's comments into a stronger stance. (The Daily Mail, May 2, 2013)
DISGRUNTLED ARAB STATES LOOK TO STRIP CANADA OF UN AGENCY — (Ottawa)
Growing discontent among Arab nations over the Harper government’s pro-Israel stand is prompting joint talks on retaliation, with some eyeing a campaign to strip Canada of a major UN agency, the ICAO. The International Civil Aviation Organization, which sets international rules for airplane transportation, has been headquartered in Montreal since 1947, but Qatar is now bidding to relocate it to the Middle East in 2016, trying to muster votes from 115 countries to approve the move at a meeting this fall. Some Arab nations are now considering backing the bid as a potential focus for combined efforts to strike back at Canada for its stand on Palestinian issues. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s staunch support for Israel and close relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his vocal campaign last fall against the Palestinian bid for observer-state status at the UN, has long been viewed with dismay by some Arab nations. (The Globe and Mail, May. 02 2013)
MYSTERIOUS HEBREW STONE DEPICTS ARCHANGEL GABRIEL, CALLED A 'DEAD SEA SCROLL IN STONE' — (Jerusalem) An ancient limestone tablet covered with a mysterious Hebrew text that features the archangel Gabriel is at the center of a new exhibit in Jerusalem. The so-called Gabriel Stone, a meter (three-foot)-tall tablet said to have been found 13 years ago on the banks of the Dead Sea, features 87 lines of an unknown prophetic text dated as early as the first century BC, at the time of the Second Jewish Temple. "The Gabriel Stone is in a way a Dead Sea Scroll written on stone," said James Snyder, director of the Israel Museum. The writing dates to the same period, and uses the same tidy calligraphic Hebrew script, as some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of documents that include the earliest known surviving manuscripts of Hebrew Bible texts. (Fox News, Apr. 30, 2013)
PAIR LAUNCHES BID TO SAVE 42-YEAR-OLD CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS — (Toronto)
For as long as Rachel Singer and Alana Kayfetz can remember, the Canadian Jewish News has always been at the centre of many lively family debates. The 29-year-old friends are subscribers, like their parents and their parents’ parents. So when the pair learned last month that the 42-year-old paper intends to shutter its print and web operations at the end of June, it was a calling to perform the ultimate mitzvah. Ms. Singer, a digital media specialist at Rogers Publishing, and Ms. Kayfetz, a director of fundraising for a Toronto non-profit organization, have volunteered to try to save the paper, which they say performs a vital function in connecting the geographically scattered Jewish community in Canada. “I have always been very strongly tied to the community and I believe in the paper as an important connector, especially with the elderly community, who still rely on the printed copy,” said Ms. Singer. (National Post, May 8, 2013)
THE WORLD'S MUSLIMS: RELIGION, POLITICS AND SOCIETY— (Washinton, D.C.)
A new Pew Research Center survey of Muslims around the globe finds that most adherents of the world’s second-largest religion are deeply committed to their faith and want its teachings to shape not only their personal lives but also their societies and politics. In all but a handful of the 39 countries surveyed, a majority of Muslims say that Islam is the one true faith leading to eternal life in heaven and that belief in God is necessary to be a moral person. Many also think that their religious leaders should have at least some influence over political matters. And many express a desire for sharia – traditional Islamic law – to be recognized as the official law of their country. (Pew Research, April 30, 2013)
FRANCE THANKS SEPHARDIC JEWS FOR CHOCOLATE, 500 YEARS TOO LATE — (Paris) Were it not for the Jews, France’s trademark pain au chocolate wouldn’t exist. Fleeing the Inquisition, Portuguese Jews settled in nearby Bayonne in southwestern France in the early 16th century and established there the country’s first chocolate factories. The region’s residents quickly learnt the trade, and by the 17th century the Jews would be evicted again from what was by then France’s chocolate capital. Next week, however, as part of its annual Chocolate Days festival celebrating the city’s 500-year chocolate tradition, Bayonne will pay homage to these intrepid Sephardi Jewish chocolate pioneers, starting May 10. (Times of Israel, May 6, 2013)
PERES TO JORDAN: WE'LL HONOR AGREEMENTS ON HOLY SITES — (Jerusalem)
President Shimon Peres sent a calming message to Jordan on Wednesday, after the Jordanian parliament voted in favor of expelling the Israeli ambassador from Amman and recalling the Jordanian ambassador from Israel. Jordanian MPs decried Israel's decision to limit the entrance of Muslim worshippers to the Temple Mount on Tuesday [may 7] and to allow Jews to visit the compound on the occasion of Jerusalem Day [May 8] "Jerusalem is dear to us, the peace with Jordan is dear to us," the president said at a ceremony commemorating Jerusalem Day at Ammunition Hill.
Peres assured Jordan that Israel will honor its agreements with Jordan, and will ensure all worshipers from all religions could pray in their respective holy sites. "I want to say this loud and clear – we will respect all religions' holy places and will do everything to maintain [worshipers'] security," he said. (Jerusalem Post. May 8, 2013)
Bibi's Right: Palestinian Rejectionism Threatens Peace: Gil Troy, The Daily Beast, May 3, 2013—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is right, er, I mean correct. He recently reiterated his willingness to negotiate with the Palestinians—without preconditions—and identified the core problem. “Until the Palestinians recognize our right to exist as a national state, no matter what the borders, and until they declare that the conflict is over, there will not be peace,”
Barkat: Let the Palestinians Rename Ramallah as ‘Jerusalem’: David Horovitz, Times of Israel, May 7, 2013—Jerusalem’s mayor rules out any notion of Palestinian rule in the capital, slams Olmert’s peace offer as a ‘terrible mistake,’ and says it’s ‘ridiculous’ that Jews can’t pray on the Temple Mount
Between East And West: Jerusalem’s No-Man’s Land: Aviva and Shmuel Bar-Am, Times of Israel, May 8, 2013—In November of ’48, Moshe Dayan and his Jordanian counterpart Abdullah a-Tal marked up a map. They didn’t intend to divide the city in two
Ber Lazarus , Publications Editor Canadian Institute for Jewish Research /L'institut Canadien de recherches sur le Judaïsme www.isranet.org Tel: (514) 486-5544 Fax: (514) 486-82843
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