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Contents: Weekly Quotes | Short Takes | On Topic Links
Britain: "Rape Jihad" Against Children: Soeren Kern, Gatestone Institute, July 11, 2013
Israel Leads the World in Blindness Prevention: Abigail Klein Leichman, Israel 21C, July 16, 2013
US Outraged After Israel Backs Out of Terror Suit: Shimon Shiffer, Ynet News, July 15, 2013
‘Kaptain Sunshine’ Swoops in to Save Israel’s Electric Cars: Karin Kloosterman Israel 21C, July 15, 2013
“We will not accept any external dictates regarding our borders. That issue will be decided only in direct negotiations between the sides….As Israel’s prime minister, I will not allow hundreds of thousands of Israelis living in Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights and our united capital of Jerusalem to be harmed. [This is] an attempt to force on Israel the final borders through economic pressure rather than through negotiations. It hardens the Palestinian positions, it causes Israelis to lose confidence in the impartiality of Europe. I think for years the Europeans have been whining about the fact that the Americans are not involved enough. Now that they are involved, this action actually undermines the American effort. It undermines the negotiations.” — Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in a statement on Tuesday [July 16] slamming the new EU guidelines preventing grants to Israeli entities beyond the Green Line, and in an interview with Germany’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper. (Jerusalem Post, July 17, 2013)
“The ultimate result will be tighter and deeper relations between Israel and North America; and Israel and Asia; but fewer and fewer agreements and contacts and exchanges with the EU. It’s not that Israel will decree a boycott but the European attitude shows us how they feel about us. They will lose influence and presence in Israel gradually.” — a senior Israeli official in response to the directive of the European Union (EU) to all of its 28 member states that forbids any form of cooperation, including funding, scholarships, and research grants, to any Israelis residing in areas that Israel acquired in 1967, meaning the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. (National Post, July 17, 2013)
“They’re not there yet. They’re getting closer. They [Iran] should be — they should understand that they are not going to be allowed to cross it. I won’t wait until it’s too late….We have our eyes fixed on Iran. They have to know that we’re serious.” — Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, to Bob Schieffer, the host of the CBS News program ‘Face the Nation’. (Tablet Magazine, July 15, 2013)
"Time is running out. We have only a few months. The danger is a global one, which will change the face of history. Iran could have hundreds of atomic bombs and hundreds of long-range missiles. The danger is many times bigger than North Korea." — Yuval Steinitz, Israel's Minister for Strategic Affairs, in a warning he sent out to the public last week published in the Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv. (Gatestone Institute, July 17, 2013)
“Netanyahu truly managed to budge the world [to take action against Iran]. But this success is not enough. Therefore Netanyahu now faces a Ben-Gurion-type dilemma. The question he faces is similar to the question that faced Ben-Gurion in May 1948 and the question that Levi Eshkol faced in May 1967….As prime minister of a sovereign state, Netanyahu has the responsibility to defend the country. When the country is a Jewish state with a painful and tragic history – the responsibility is even greater and heavier…Defending Israel is not an option – it’s a duty.” — Michael Oren, outgoing Israeli ambassador to the United States, in an interview with the Times of Israel. (Times of Israel, July 11, 2013)
"The problem for the majority of the people of Israel is not [the Jews'] absence from Temple Mount. First we need to adjoin the 'state of Tel Aviv' to the 'state of Jerusalem.' When the Temple Mount is viewed by most of Israeli society as a dividing, rather than unifying, issue, there is no point in talking to that society about it….We refuse to destroy the State of Israel and create bad blood with the Arab residents who live here. Anyone who claims to have a different answer is a false prophet. [Yet] any man who has a conscience and believes in democracy cannot remain quiet when Jews are being arrested for praying on the Mount. That is an injustice on the most basic moral level. Every democrat and every rabbi must come out and say that it is unfathomable that in a country that has made freedom of religion its goal, Jews will be banned from expressing their religious beliefs." — Rabbi David Stav, a prominent candidate to become the next Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, at a recent seminar, held by the Menachem Begin Heritage Center, to discuss the question: Is the Temple Mount ours? (Israel Hayom, July 17, 2013)
"Israel can attack many targets in Syria, but according to foreign reports it chooses quality targets, such as the Fateh-110 missile, as well as the SA-17 and Yakhont missiles, which can fall into the hands of extremist elements. [The attacks in Syria] are clean in that they do not leave fingerprints and are conducted in a way that does not allow the Syrians to photograph the plane or ship which attacked, and in a way that does not push (President Bashar) Assad into a corner….The American leaks (regarding alleged Israeli operations in Syria) are problematic and concerning." — Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Giora Eiland, former Israel National Security Council head, commenting on reports leaked by U.S. intelligence, that Israel had allegedly been responsible for blasts that destroyed a shipment of Russian Yakhont anti-ship missiles destined for the Assad regime. (Ynet News, July 17, 2013)
“Twenty percent of the undergraduates at the Technion are Arab Muslims and seeing how they were thriving is very different from even the privileged women in Saudi Arabia. There is a different climate. I don’t feel in Israel that women are under siege or unequal or victims, but that is a strong feeling in the Muslim world. They aren’t fully empowered and they aren’t equal. I found Israel very refreshing. I did not find it in any way oppressive.” — Qanta Ahmed is a Muslim physician, author, and British citizen, in a recent interview with United With Israel. (United With Israel, July 17, 2013)
“Israelis have developed an immunity to “Armageddon” BDS scenarios. That is why official calls from both “family and friends” to the Israeli public to hurry up and concede additional territory vital to its national rights and security because “more boycotts are on the way” will not only fail to advance the peace process, they will inadvertently help Israelis’ adversaries destroy it.” — Dan Diker, a Foreign Policy Fellow of the Jerusalem Center for Public affairs and former Secretary General of the World Jewish Congress, in an opinion piece in the Jerusalem Post. (Jerusalem Post, July 16, 2013)
"Honestly, no one ever dreamt we would reach this situation of concentration of authorities and senior positions in the hands of one person. The President [Mahmoud Abbas] today is the President of everything that has to do with the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause. He is the president of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the State of Palestine and the Palestinian Authority. He is the president of the Fatah movement and general leader of the [security] Forces. And as the legislative council is now suspended, he issues laws and has practically replaced the council." — Sufian Abu Zaida, a well-known Palestinian nationalist who worked closely with Yasser Arafat and sits on the Fatah Revolutionary Council. (Wall Street Journal, July 15, 2013)
“…For all its presumed importance, the Palestinian saga has gotten awfully boring, hasn't it? The grievances that remain unchanged, a cast of characters that never alters, the same schematics, the clichés that were shopworn decades ago….The region is moving tumultuously forward. Israel is dynamic, threatened, divided, innovative, evolving. Egypt careens between revolution and restoration. Lebanon is on the brink, Iran is on the march, Syria is in its agony. America is beating a retreat. Only the Palestinians remain trapped in ideological amber. How long can the world be expected to keep staring at this four-million-year-old mosquito?” — Bret Stephens, in an op-ed column in the Wall Street Journal. (Wall Street Journal, July 15, 2013)
“What are our friends in the West waiting for? For Iran and Hezbollah to kill all the Syrian people? Soon there will be no Free Syrian Army to arm. The Islamic groups will take control of everything, and this is not in the interests of Britain.” — Gen. Salim Idris, the commander of the insurgent Free Syrian Army, responding, in an interview published in The Daily Telegraph, to reports that the UK is retreating from its intention to provide small arms to the Syrian rebels. (New York Times, July 17, 2013)
“If they [Islamists] are declaring Islamic emirates, why can the Kurds not form their own government? It would be moderate, democratic and non-fanatic, and benefit regional and international interests.” — Alan Semo, a Democratic Union Party (PYD) spokesman, to Al-Monitor, amidst reports suggesting that the Democratic Union Party (PYD) affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and close to the Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG), wants to form a transitional Kurdish administration in Kurdish-controlled enclaves [of Syria] within three months and hold elections within six months to form a local Kurdish government in Syria.. (Al-Monitor, July 17, 2013)
ISRAEL CALLS POLISH BAN ON RITUAL SLAUGHTER 'TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE' — (Jeruslaem) Israel on Monday slammed the Polish parliament's decision to uphold a ban on ritual slaughter (shechita), issuing a rare statement criticizing the decision of a foreign, democratic parliament. "Israel is disappointed in the decision of the Polish Parliament to forbid an important religious ritual which has been common practice among millions of Jews since ancient times," the statement read. "The Parliament's decision to reject a bill allowing kosher slaughter in Poland is totally unacceptable." On Friday a government sponsored bill aimed at legalizing the practice of shechita, Hebrew for ritual slaughter, was shot down in the Sejm in a vote of 222 to 178. Such slaughter has been illegal in Poland since January. The result of the vote came as a shock to leaders of the country’s Jewish community and elicited strong responses from the community worldwide. Farmers also protested before last week’s vote. Prior to the cessation of shechita, Poland exported nearly half a billion Euros annually of Kosher and Hallal meats throughout Europe. (Jerusalem Post, July 15, 2013)
US INTEL: IRAN'S LONG-RANGE ROCKETS COULD REACH AMERICA BY 2015 — (Washington) A new report by National Air and Space Intelligence Center states that Iran has ambitious ballistic missile and space launch development programs and continues to attempt to increase the range, lethality, and accuracy of its ballistic missile force. Iran could develop and test an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States by 2015, a new U.S. intelligence report released and declassified for publication on Friday has determined. The report, the Foreign Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat Assessment, was prepared by the National Air and Space Intelligence Center with significant contributions from the Defense Intelligence Agency Missile and Space Intelligence Center and the Office of Naval Intelligence. The report's authors could not determine how many ICBM's the Iranians currently possess. (Israel Hayom, July 12, 2013)
PORTUGAL BECOMES 2ND COUNTRY, AFTER ISRAEL, WITH A JEWISH LAW OF RETURN — (Lisbon) Until 2009, right-wing Portuguese politician Jose Ribeiro e Castro didn’t have much interest in the expulsion of his country’s Jewish community in the 16th century. That changed once Ribeiro e Castro opened a Facebook account. Online, the 60-year-old lawmaker and journalist connected to several Sephardic Jews, descendants of a once robust Jewish community numbering in the hundreds of thousands, many of whom were forced into exile in 1536 during the Portuguese Inquisition. Eventually the encounters morphed into a commitment to rectify a historic injustice. For Ribeiro e Castro, correcting the injustice meant spearheading a bill to naturalize the Jewish descendants of expelled Jews, a measure that unanimously passed the Portuguese parliament in April and went on the books last week, making Portugal the only country besides Israel with a Jewish law of return. (Times of Israel, July 12, 2013)
U.S. SAYS ISRAEL AIRSTRIKE TARGETED MISSILES THAT RUSSIA SOLD TO SYRIA — (Washington) Israel carried out an air attack in Syria this month that targeted advanced antiship cruise missiles sold to the Syria government by Russia, American officials said Saturday. The officials, who declined to be identified because they were discussing intelligence reports, said the attack occurred July 5 near Latakia, Syria’s principal port city. The target was a type of missile called the Yakhont, they said. The Russian-made weapon has been a particular worry for the Pentagon because it expanded Syria’s ability to threaten Western ships that could be used to transport supplies to the Syrian opposition, enforce a shipping embargo or support a possible no-flight zone. The missile also represented a threat to Israel’s naval forces and raised concerns that it might be provided to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia that has joined the war on the side of the Syrian government. (New York Times, July 13, 2013)
IN THE WAKE OF MORSI'S FALL, SINAI IS BECOMING EVEN MORE DANGEROUS — (El Arish, Sinai) Islamist fighters from Gaza allied to Mr Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood are said to have formed a vanguard in Sinai in the hope of deterring the Egyptian army from blockading the Palestinian enclave from the west, as it did under President Hosni Mubarak before he was ousted two years ago. It may now offer a haven in Sinai to defiant Muslim Brothers in the wake of Mr Morsi’s downfall. “Those who sprayed Morsi with water will be sprayed with blood,” says a Brotherhood leader. Jihadist groups, spotting the vacuum, have been roaming the ungoverned wastelands of Sinai for some time. A leading Algerian jihadist has declared that Sinai will not be peaceful until Mr Morsi returns to office. As turmoil grips much of the rest of Egypt, an array of malcontents is converging on the peninsula. (Economist-UK, July 13, 2013)
EGYPTIAN LEADERS FREEZE ASSETS OF MORSI BACKERS — (Cairo) Egypt’s new military-led government said Sunday [July 14] that it was freezing the assets of 14 Islamist allies of the ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, stepping up its pressure on his supporters to back down from their continuing public protests demanding his release and reinstatement. Officials associated with the military takeover say they want all factions, including the Islamists, to participate in forming a government and competing for a new Parliament. Among others, the asset freeze hit Khairat el-Shater, a millionaire businessman who is both the chief financier and the chief strategist of the Muslim Brotherhood, the main Islamist group backing Mr. Morsi. Because of Mr. Shater’s importance to the group, he was subjected to long years in prison and asset seizures under President Hosni Mubarak, and he sometimes handled the group’s negotiations with Mr. Mubarak’s government from inside his jail cell. (New York Times, July 14, 2013)
BRITAIN: "RAPE JIHAD" AGAINST CHILDREN — (London) A court in London has sentenced seven members of a Muslim child grooming gang based in Oxford to at least 95 years in prison for raping, torturing and trafficking British girls as young as 11. The high-profile trial was the latest in a rapidly growing list of grooming cases that are forcing politically correct Britons to confront the previously taboo subject of endemic sexual abuse of children by predatory Muslim paedophile gangs. The 18-week trial drew unwelcome attention to the sordid reality that police, social workers, teachers, neighbors, politicians and the media have for decades downplayed the severity of the crimes perpetrated against British children because they were afraid of being accused of "Islamophobia" or racism. According to government estimates that are believed to be "just the tip of the iceberg," at least 2,500 British children have so far been confirmed to be victims of grooming gangs, and another 20,000 children are at risk of sexual exploitation. At least 27 police forces are currently investigating 54 alleged child grooming gangs across England and Wales. (Gatestone Institue, July 11, 2013)
JEWS SUE POLICE FOR BARRING THEM FROM TEMPLE MOUNT ON TISHA B’AV — (Jeruslaem) Temple Mount activist groups are suing the police for tens of thousands of dollars in damages for “racist discrimination” after the law enforcement agency closed the holy site to hundreds of Jews on Tisha B’Av Tuesday [July 16]. The police had promised on Monday to open the site to Jews for limited visiting hours. Earlier on Monday, the police escorted Jews off the Temple Mount for the second time in five days after Muslims barged into the group and threatened them to leave. Activists who encourage Jews to ascend to the Holy site warned on Monday that the police would close the site. In response, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told the Jewish Press on Monday “it would be open as usual, depending on security.” Police usually allow Jews to visit the Temple Mount for approximately two hours, until 11 a.m. However, at 7 a.m. Tuesday, on the Tisha B’Av day that marks the mourning of the destruction of the First and Second Holy Temples, the police stated it would not be open to Jews and other religions – except Muslims. (Jewish Press, July 16th, 2013)
EGYPT'S 'ROAD NOT TAKEN' COULD HAVE SAVED MORSI — (Cairo/Paris) Mohamed Morsi might still be president of Egypt today if he had grasped a political deal brokered by the European Union with opposition parties in April. Under a compromise crafted in months of shuttle diplomacy by EU envoy Bernardino Leon, six secular opposition parties allied in the National Salvation Front would have recognized Morsi's legitimacy and agreed to participate in parliamentary elections they had threatened to boycott. In return, Morsi would have agreed to replace Prime Minister Hisham Kandil and five key ministers to form a technocratic national unity cabinet, to sack a disputed prosecutor general and to amend the election law to satisfy Egypt's constitutional court. Convinced that election victories gave them a sufficient basis to rule, Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood spurned the offer to bridge the most populous Arab nation's deep political divide. Less than three months later, the army overthrew him after mass anti-government protests. (Jerusalem Post, July 17, 2013)
IN EGYPT, THE 'DEEP STATE' RISES AGAIN — (Cairo) In the months before the military ousted President Mohammed Morsi, Egypt's top generals met regularly with opposition leaders.. The message: If the opposition could put enough protesters in the streets, the military would step in—and forcibly remove the president. "It was a simple question the opposition put to the military," said Ahmed Samih, who is close to several opposition attendees. "Will you be with us again?" The military said it would. Others familiar with the meetings described them similarly. By June 30, millions of Egyptians took to the streets, calling for Mr. Morsi to go. Three days later, the military unseated him. Suggestions that Mr. Morsi's overthrow was planned in advance, as opposed to an emergency response, have implications for U.S. aid. "If there was evidence this…was blatantly premeditated, then it would put more pressure to cut off aid on the [Obama] administration, which is currently trying to avoid having to label this a coup d'état," said Josh Stacher, a Kent State University political science professor and Egypt expert. (Wall Street Journal, July 12, 2013)
CLASHES RE-ERUPT IN SYRIA BETWEEN AL-QAEDA, KURDS — (Damascus) On July 16, clashes erupted between the Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG) and the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jahbat al-Nusra, killing at least four Jabhat al-Nusra fighters in the city of Ras al-Ain, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports. The fighting follows increased domination of opposition-controlled parts of Syria by armed groups affiliated with al-Qaeda, which claim they are planning to set up Islamic emirates. According to jihad expert Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, a Shillman-Ginsburg Fellow at the Middle East Forum who tracks jihad in Syria, the rumor that al-Qaeda affiliates such as the Islamic State of Greater Syria is planning to establish emirates is plausible. In an email to Al-Monitor, Tamimi wrote on July 16, “In towns such as Jarabulus, where ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) has control, ISIS has declared an 'emirate of Jarabulus,' for instance. (Al-Monitor, July 16, 2013)
ISRAELI MDs SAVE ETHIOPIAN BOY MAULED BY HYENA — (Nahariya) In mid-June, a nun from the Philippines who is also an anesthesiologist at Attat Hospital, [Attat, Ethiopia] called Dr. Rick Hodes, medical director of Ethiopia for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), and asked him to come see Abdulrazak, an eight-year old boy who, months ago, had survived a vicious attack by a wild hyena on his village, killing six and injuring 18. Hodes quickly understood that if Abdulrazak wasn’t treated properly, his wounds could become infected and he could die. Hodes set in motion a humanitarian operation that included Bedouin-Israeli diplomat Ishmail Khaldi, Israeli Ambassador to Ethiopia Belaynesh Zevadia, Friends of the Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya, the United Jewish Communities, the Jewish Agency, the JDC and the Israeli ministries of foreign affairs and health to bring Abdulrazak to Israel for proper medical treatment. “It’s a humanitarian effort. We’re helping a boy,” Barhoum, director-general of the Western Galilee Hospital, Nahariya, where the surgery to save the boy was carried out, told ISRAEL21c. “It is Israel’s nature to help whoever can be helped. I’m proud to be a part of this healthcare system that acts without hesitation to provide humanitarian aid internationally when we are able. This is an all-embracing mitzvah.” (Israel 21C, July 14, 2013)
US Outraged After Israel Backs Out of Terror Suit: Shimon Shiffer, Ynet News, July 15, 2013—Congress, White House angry at Israel for decision to back out of trial against Bank of China for involvement in laundering of money for Hamas, Islamic Jihad. The reason: China conditioned Netanyahu's state visit on Israeli promise not to testify in trial. Now, US threatening to subpoena Ambassador Oren.
Britain: "Rape Jihad" Against Children: Soeren Kern, Gatestone Institute, July 11, 2013—“As one police officer said to me, 'There isn't a town, village or hamlet in which children are not being sexually exploited.' We should start from the assumption that children are being sexually exploited right the way across the country." — Sue Berelowitz, Deputy Children's Commissioner for England
Israel Leads the World in Blindness Prevention: Abigail Klein Leichman, Israel 21C, July 16, 2013—Advances in prevention and treatment – and making them accessible – are credited with dropping rates of preventable blindness by more than half. A new study published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology shows that rates of preventable blindness in Israel have been cut by more than half over the last decade, from 33.8 cases of blindness per 100,000 residents in 1999 to 14.8 in 2010.
‘Kaptain Sunshine’ Swoops in to Save Israel’s Electric Cars: Karin Kloosterman Israel 21C, July 15, 2013—Yosef Abramowitz, “Kaptain Sunshine”, vehicle owners and investors banded together and purchased the rights and assets of the former Better Place. Last week, Abramowitz and his partners –– about 900 Israeli electric vehicle owners and drivers, and investors led by Canadian Henry Shiner –– were given court permission to purchase international IP rights and Israeli assets of the groundbreaking company formerly known as Better Place for about $12 million.
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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