Rivers of Tears for Israel’s Fallen Soldiers: Shmuley Boteach, Algemeiner, May 1, 2017
Erdogan Tests Trump with Attack on Syrian Kurds: Al-Monitor, Apr. 30, 2017
Timeline of Relations Between Hamas and Israel: Rory Jones, Wall Street Journal, May 1, 2017
A Holocaust Denier at the White House: Dr. Edy Cohen, BESA, May 3, 2017
WEEKLY QUOTES
“The State of Israel is a miracle of history – in its rebirth and in its tremendous achievements. This miracle and these achievements are also especially notable given our ongoing resilience in the test of fire and blood. We stand as a fortified wall against our enemies. We do not show weakness. We do not loosen our grip from the weapons in our hands because we know that this is the only way to push back the thickets of evil that refuse to accept our existence. This is the only way we will achieve peace with those of our neighbors who want peace.” — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israelis bowed their heads as the siren wailed on Sunday to remember the men and women who died during active duty or were killed in terror attacks. Since 1860, when the first Jewish neighborhood was established outside Jerusalem’s Old City walls, 23,544 men and women have died while serving in the security services of Israel and the pre-state Jewish community. (Prime Minister’s Office, Apr. 30, 2017)
“Even now, after this miserable vote, this blue and white flag is flying high above the Temple Mount and throughout Israel’s eternal capital city, Jerusalem, waving in the wind, saying to all ‘here we are, and we are here to stay…Voting against a nation on its Independence Day in a despicable attempt to ‘manufacture’ history, using ‘fake accusations’ and ‘fake history,’ it is a new low, even by UNESCO standards.” — Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO Carmel Shama-Hacohen. The UN’s cultural body on Tuesday passed the latest in a series of resolutions that ignore the Jewish connection to Jerusalem. The vote, which coincided with Israel’s Independence Day, passed with 22 countries in favor, 23 abstentions, 10 opposed, and the representatives of three countries absent. The 10 countries that voted against the resolution were the US, UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Greece, Paraguay, Ukraine, Togo, and Germany. Shama-Hacohen also hailed the opposition by 10 countries as an “incredible diplomatic feat” for the Jewish state, as the “support for Israel nearly doubled and spread to Africa, South America and Eastern Europe.” (Times of Israel, May 2, 2017)
“Israel lost the vote today, but it did score a small moral victory: despite reported fears that Germany’s negotiations with the Palestinians would erode support, Israel in the end won more votes than ever before, including from major democracies like the U.S., Britain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands…The Palestinians at UNESCO are hemorrhaging support for their ritual anti-Israel resolution: last April they had 33 yes votes, then in October it was down to 24, and today it’s down to 22. The no votes increased substantially from 6 to 10…And once again, India—an increasingly important friend and ally of Israel—has voted to abstain, showing that its recent break from decades of lockstep voting with the Arab states is now a fixed policy.” — Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. The resolution on Jerusalem, despite a passing mention of “the three monotheistic religions,” ignores Jewish and Christian religious and historical ties to the city. “Founded in 1945 to combat the doctrine of the inequality of men and races, UNESCO today has sadly become a serial perpetrator of inequality,” said Neuer. (UNWatch, May 2, 2017)
“The document gives us a chance to connect with the outside world…To the world, our message is: Hamas is not radical. We are a pragmatic and civilized movement. We do not hate the Jews. We only fight who occupies our lands and kills our people.”— Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman. Released by Hamas just days before its chief rival, PA leader Mahmoud Abbas, was to meet President Trump, a new document of principles for the group accepts at least a provisional Palestinian state — though it still does not formally recognize Israel. With its statement, Hamas is trying to offer a more mainstream-friendly version of its vision for the Palestinian cause, and to gain ground against Abbas, whose influence is growing more tenuous. “Hamas does not wage a struggle against the Jews because they are Jewish, but wages a struggle against the Zionists who occupy Palestine,” the new document states. (New York Times, May 1, 2017)
“Hamas is attempting to fool the world, but it will not succeed…Daily, Hamas leaders call for genocide of all Jews and the destruction of Israel…They dig terror tunnels and have launched thousands upon thousands of missiles at Israeli civilians. Schools and mosques run by Hamas teach children that Jews are apes and pigs. This is the real Hamas.” — David Keyes, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Netanyahu. Israel preempted Hamas’s new amendment to its charter, saying that it still adheres to genocidal policies. The five-page policy document adopts seemingly more moderate language in hopes of helping the terror group break out of its international isolation. It does not, however, formally replace the group’s fiery 1987 founding charter, which calls for Israel’s destruction and is packed with antisemitic language. (Times of Israel, May 1, 2017)
“Not even one mind (will be changed in Israel)…Nobody will be affected by this.” — Yossi Kuperwasser, a retired Israeli brigadier general who led the army’s research arm. In Israel, which has fought three wars with Hamas since 2008, the new Hamas document was greeted with skepticism. Kuperwasser called it a “sugarcoating” of old positions that did not renounce Hamas’s original charter and did not recognize Israel’s right to exist. He did say, however, that it could be problematic for Abbas because the PA and Hamas platforms appear to be growing closer. (New York Times, May 1, 2017)
“Kim Jong-un is an ally of Assad. From North Korea, through Iran, to Syria and Hezbollah… We’re just ahead of a new era of accurate missile and unconventional weapons in the hands irrational people.” — Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Relations between North Korea and Israel just took a turn for the worse after Lieberman called North Korea’s regime “a crazy and radical group”. Lieberman said North Korea’s intent was to “undermine global stability.” He referred to the leader, Kim Jong-un, as “the madman from North Korea”. (Breaking Israel News, Apr. 30, 2017)
“Our consistent message is to mercilessly punish those who offend the dignity of our leadership…We warn Israel to think twice about the implications of its defamation campaign against us…Israel is the only illegal possessor of nuclear weapons that enjoys the support of the United States, but Israel is attacking North Korea for possessing nuclear weapons.” — Statement from North Korea’s Foreign Ministry. On Saturday, North Korea responded to Lieberman’s comments, calling the Defense Minister’s statements “rash and malicious”. North Korea also said it is “fully supporting the struggle of the Palestinian people… [of] establishing of an independent state with Kuds (Jerusalem) as its capital…It is the steadfast will and spirit of the service personnel and people of the DPRK to give merciless, thousand-fold punishment to whoever dares hurt the dignity of its supreme leadership,” the statement threatened. (Breaking Israel News, Apr. 30, 2017)
“As religious leaders, we are called, therefore, to unmask the violence that masquerades as purported sanctity…We have an obligation to denounce violations of human dignity and human rights, to expose attempts to justify every form of hatred in the name of religion, and to condemn these attempts as idolatrous caricatures of God.” — Pope Francis, on a papal mission to Egypt. The papal visit came at a critical time for Egypt, a country caught up in intensifying terrorist attacks, particularly against Christians. Francis said that more attention needed to be paid to educating the young “to counter effectively the barbarity of those who foment hatred and violence” and warned that “evil only gives rise to more evil, and violence to more violence.” (New York Times, Apr. 28, 2017)
“If the Muslim Brotherhood were still around, where would we be?…We were saved by the skin of our teeth. The Christians and the Muslims, Sisi saved us all.” — Antonios Aziz Mina, a Coptic Catholic bishop of Giza. Mina called the pope’s visit a blessing that showed solidarity with Egypt’s Christians, especially those killed in recent months by Islamists. But the bishop showed similar deference to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who has cracked down on civil rights and dissent in Egypt, often with the support of the country’s Christian leaders. (New York Times, Apr. 29, 2017)
“Congress should deny funding to institutions with policies that violate free-speech rights. Such legislation would hold universities to their own professed fundamental principles. While institutions frequently cite the importance of “diversity and inclusion,” in practice they aim at producing students who look different but think alike. Opponents of free speech on campus conflate speech with violence, and physical safety with emotional comfort. Students who take offense at speech claim to be the victims of harassment or “bias incidents.” Rather than challenge students’ notions that they are entitled to be “safe” from offense, administrators validate this behavior by establishing elaborate “bias reporting systems.” A FIRE survey of such systems uncovered one incident at Ohio State University in which students shared a meme comparing Hillary Clinton to Hitler. That prompted a mandatory dormitory floor meeting to discuss the “triggering” event.” — Harvey Silverglate. (Wall Street Journal, Apr. 30, 2017)
“Historically…progressive activists were the most absolutist defenders of free speech, while the more “conservative” elements of society flirted with various forms of censorship. After all, it was free expression, often exercised at great social and legal peril, that enabled once-radical causes —including prison reform, abolition and desegregation — to change society. In recent decades, however, the progressive left has seemingly abandoned this commitment to free speech in favor of speech codes and so-called safe spaces. Today many progressives argue that speech should be limited by who is doing the speaking. Corporations and politically active wealthy individuals, they say, speak “too much.” Meantime, speakers deemed to hold views that are likely to “offend,” or, as is now the rage on college campuses, to make listeners feel “unsafe,” face restrictions and sometimes violent attempts to silence them.” — Daniel Shuchman. (Wall Street Journal, Apr. 30, 2017)
“That most entrenched bastion of the progressive left, America’s great universities, has been swept by… well, one hardly knows what to call it. “Political correctness” is too old and doesn’t do it justice. It is a hysteria—a screeching, ignorant wave of sometimes violent intolerance for free speech. It is mortifying to see those who lead great universities cower in fear of it, attempt to placate it, instead of stopping it. When I see tapes of the protests and riots at schools like Berkeley, Middlebury, Claremont McKenna and Yale, it doesn’t have the feel of something that happens in politics. It has the special brew of malice and personal instability seen in the Salem witch trials. It sent me back to rereading Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible.” Heather Mac Donald danced with the devil! Charles Murray put the needle in the poppet! As in 17th-century Salem, the accusers have no proof of anything because they don’t know, read or comprehend anything. The cursing pols, the anathematizing abortion advocates, the screeching students—they are now the face of the progressive left. This is what America sees now as the face of the Democratic Party. It is a party blowing itself up whose only hope is that Donald Trump blows up first. He may not be lucky in all of his decisions or staffers, or in his own immaturities and dramas. But hand it to him a hundred days in: He’s lucky in his main foes.” — Peggy Noonan. (Wall Street Journal, Apr. 27, 2017)
“We join our Israeli friends and Jewish communities in Canada and around the world to celebrate the 69th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel. Canada was one of the first countries to officially recognize Israel, and we are proud to call Israel our partner and call Israelis our friends… while we celebrate Israel’s independence, we also reaffirm our commitment to fight anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. Israel and its people continue to face threats throughout the world, including here in Canada. We stand on guard against a resurgence of anti-Semitism, hate, and discrimination in all its forms. On this Independence Day, I am proud to renew Canada’s commitment to a safe and secure homeland for the Jewish people, and to a lasting peace between all peoples in the Middle East.” — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. (Prime Minister’s Office, May 2, 2017)
“My support for Israel ultimately won us more votes than it lost us…My support for Israel became more widely supported over time, to the extent that my successors are trying very carefully to avoid appearing to be shifting away from it.” — Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Speaking at a Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) gala dinner in New York, Harper noted that his record during his nearly decade-long stint as prime minister showed that anti-Israel media bias could be overcome and that average Canadians viewed Israel favorably. “The threats that Israel faces from jihadism and terrorism are the same ones that threaten all of us,” Harper warned. “Should Israel ever fall to such forces, those forces would only strengthen and would redouble their attacks on us.” He added: “Our support for Israel’s right to exist must be unconditional, our support for Israel’s right to self-defense must be unequivocal, and our refusal to single out Israel must be unbreakable.” (Algemeiner, May 1, 2017)
SHORT TAKES
SYRIA SAYS ISRAELI MISSILE STRIKE NEAR DAMASCUS AIRPORT CONFIRMED (Damascus) — Several Israeli missiles hit a Syrian military position southwest of Damascus airport on Thursday, Syrian state media said. Meanwhile, a senior Syrian official threatened that his country would respond to the alleged Israeli strike on a Hezbollah-operated weapons hub near the Damascus airport. Earlier in the day, Syrian sources said the Israeli strike hit the site where regular supplies of weapons from Tehran are sent by cargo planes. The depot handles weapons that Tehran, a major regional ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, sends regularly by air. The strike came just days after Al Jazeera reported that the IDF struck a base belonging to a pro-Syrian militia near Quneitra. (Jerusalem Post, Apr. 27, 2017)
TURKISH JETS BOMB US-BACKED FORCES IN IRAQ, SYRIA (Ankara) — More than 30 U.S.-backed Syrian and Iraqi Kurdish fighters were killed in a series of airstrikes carried out by Turkish jets last week. Dozens of fighters were also wounded in the strikes. There were no U.S. troops among the fighters who were hit. The closest U.S. soldiers were about six miles from the site of the strikes. The Kurds were not warned in advance of Turkish airstrike. There are currently about 1,000 U.S. troops on the ground in Syria. In March, 400 Marines deployed to Syria as part of an artillery battery to support U.S.-backed troops fighting around Raqqa. (Fox News, Apr. 25, 2017)
TURKEY PURGES 4,000 OFFICIALS (Ankara) — Turkey expanded its crackdown on dissent and free expression over the weekend, purging nearly 4,000 public officials, blocking access to Wikipedia and banning television matchmaking shows. A total of 3,974 civil servants were fired from several ministries and judicial bodies, and 45 civil society groups and health clinics were shut down. Turkish internet users also woke up to find that they no longer had access to Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. The dismissals mean that an estimated 140,000 people have now been purged from the state and private sectors, and more than 1,500 civil groups closed, since a failed coup last year. (New York Times, Apr. 30, 2017)
LE PEN AIDE FIRED OVER HOLOCAUST COMMENTS (Paris) — The interim leader that Marine Le Pen chose to run her party while she ran for the presidency has been forced to step down because he praised a Holocaust denier and expressed doubt that the Nazis used poison gas to murder Jews. Jean-François Jalkh, who had been temporarily at the helm of her National Front, said in 2000 that Zyklon B, the gas used to kill millions of Jews during the Holocaust, would have been “impossible” to use in “mass exterminations.” Le Pen is one of two candidates to advance to the second round of the presidential race, and announced that she would step down as National Front leader to focus on defeating Emmanuel Macron, considered to be the favorite in the election on May 7. (New York Times, Apr. 28, 2017)
PA URGES HAMAS TOWARD UNITY (Jerusalem) — Palestinian officials in the West Bank urged Hamas to take concrete steps to reconcile with the Palestinian Authority, a day after Hamas issued a revised set of principles in which it dropped its longstanding call for the destruction of Israel. Israel has repeatedly highlighted the division between Hamas and the PA as proof that it doesn’t have a Palestinian partner for peace. Hamas rules the Gaza Strip, while the PA, which is dominated by Abbas’s more secular Fatah movement, governs the West Bank. In recent weeks, Abbas has put financial pressure on Hamas in an apparent attempt to show Trump that he understands the importance of bringing some semblance of unity to Palestinian government and politics. (Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2017)
IRAN AND U.S. DISCUSS ISSUE OF AMERICANS IMPRISONED BY TEHRAN (Tehran) — Iran said that it had discussed the issue of Americans with dual citizenship held in Iranian prisons during a meeting with the U.S. The discussion, during a meeting in Vienna on compliance with the Iran nuclear accord, was the first face-to-face exchange between Iran and the U.S. since Trump took office. At least four Americans of Iranian descent are known to be held in Iranian prisons on dubious charges. The U.S. has repeatedly called for the prisoners’ release. Iran regards them as its citizens, with none of the rights to diplomatic access afforded to foreigners arrested in the country. (New York Times, May 1, 2017)
IRANIAN-BORN MEDIA MOGUL FATALLY SHOT IN ISTANBUL (Istanbul) — An Iranian-born TV mogul who had run afoul of Iran’s government was fatally shot by masked gunmen in Istanbul, media reports said. The identities of the assailants were unknown. But Saeed Karimian, the director of GEM Group, a Persian-language media conglomerate, was reported killed along with his Kuwaiti business partner. It was a brazen assault in a major cosmopolitan city and raised questions about both the safety of Iranian news professionals abroad and law and order in Turkey’s largest metropolis. Reporters Without Borders, a press freedom watchdog, ranks Iran as one of the worst oppressors of journalists in the world. The motive behind the killings, however, remains unclear. (Washington Post, Apr. 30, 2017)
ISRAEL UNVEILS REMEMBRANCE HALL FOR FALLEN SOLDIERS (Jerusalem) — Israel’s Defense Ministry unveiled a Remembrance Hall for the country’s fallen soldiers for the first time ahead of Memorial Day. The site, located at the entrance to Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl national cemetery and next to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, is currently in the final stage of construction and is meant to commemorate every one of the more than 23,000 soldiers killed since before the establishment of the state. Visitors will descend a flight of broad stone steps into a corridor where video of soldiers from different eras, starting with the pre-IDF Palmach forces, are projected onto a wall. The site will first open to families of fallen soldiers on this year’s Memorial Day, May 1. (Times of Israel, Apr. 27, 2017)
ISRAELIS ON LUFTHANSA FLIGHT STAND FOR MEMORIAL DAY SIREN (Munich) — A group of Israelis on a Lufthansa flight on Sunday stood for a moment of silence on the Jewish state’s Memorial Day to honor the men and women who died during active duty or were killed in terror attacks. The group of Israelis on the flight — which was on its way from Marrakesh to Munich — stood in the aisle silently for one minute at 8:00 p.m. Israel time, when the siren marking the start of Memorial Day is heard in Israel. Last week, Israelis aboard an El Al flight from Tel Aviv to London also stood for a moment of silence at the time of the siren marking Holocaust Remembrance Day. (Times of Israel, May 1, 2017)
F-35 JETS STREAK OVER ISRAEL FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY (Jerusalem) — Israeli F-35 stealth fighter jets soared above cities throughout Israel on Tuesday for the country’s annual Independence Day flyover, marking the first time the public got a look at the Air Force’s state-of-the-art plane, considered the most advanced fighter in the world. The three F-35 planes flew over the southern city of Beersheba to the Tel Nof air base before proceeding to Jerusalem, where the jets grazed through the skies of the capital. From Jerusalem, the F-35s continued north to Haifa before flying south over Tel Aviv on their way back to their base in southern Israel. (Times of Israel, May 2, 2017)
ISRAEL'S POPULATION HITS 8.7 MILLION (Jerusalem) — On the eve of the 69th anniversary of Israel’s establishment, the country’s population is 8.68 million – more than 10 times what it was when the state was founded, in 1948. 74.7 percent (6.484 million) of Israel’s residents are Jewish, 20.8 percent (1.808 million) are Arab – both Muslim and Christian – while the remaining 4.5 percent (388,000) are non-Arab Christians, members of other religions or people of no religion. The population grew by 159,000 since last Independence Day, a 1.9 percent increase. In 1948 there were 11.5 million Jews in the world, 6 percent of whom lived in Israel. As of 2015 there were an estimated 14.41 million Jews around the world, 43 percent of whom lived in Israel. (Ha’aretz, Apr. 27, 2017)
Rivers of Tears for Israel’s Fallen Soldiers: Shmuley Boteach, Algemeiner, May 1, 2017—I did not cry upon my third visit to Auschwitz last week. My daughters did, but I didn’t. I can’t quite explain why. Perhaps it was because I cannot wrap my head around the magnitude of the tragedy of the Holocaust.
Erdogan Tests Trump with Attack on Syrian Kurds: Al-Monitor, Apr. 30, 2017 —In May 2016, we asked how long the United States and Turkey could keep up appearances of alliance and partnership in Syria, given differences over US backing for the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).
Timeline of Relations Between Hamas and Israel: Rory Jones, Wall Street Journal, May 1, 2017 —The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas dropped its longstanding call for Israel’s destruction in a revised charter unveiled Monday. Below is a timeline of key moments in relations between Hamas, Israel and other Palestinian factions.
A Holocaust Denier at the White House: Dr. Edy Cohen, BESA, May 3, 2017—Ironically enough, the upcoming White House meeting between Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas and US president Donald Trump will be held a short time after Holocaust Remembrance Day. It also comes soon after the president’s speech to the World Jewish Congress Plenary Assembly in New York, at which he said, among other things, that “We must stamp out prejudice and anti-Semitism” and called the Holocaust “the darkest chapter of human history.”
