Wednesday’s “News in Review” Round-Up

“I believe that the enduring alliance between the State of Israel and the United States of America is more than a strategic alliance: It is a force for good in the world.”—U.S. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney in a foreign policy address in Jerusalem. In the speech, he also said, pointedly: “We cannot stand silent as those who seek to undermine Israel voice their criticisms. And we certainly should not join in that criticism. Diplomatic distance in public between our nations emboldens Israel’s adversaries.” (Jerusalem Post, Aug. 1, 2012)
 

‘‘As you come here and you see the GDP per capita, for instance, in Israel which is about $21,000 dollars, [actually $31,400, Ed.] and compare that with the GDP per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority, which is more like $10,000 per capita, [actually $2,900, Ed.] you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality,’’…”And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, I recognize the power of at least culture and a few other things.”—Mitt Romney at a fundraiser on his recent visit to Israel, much to the great chagrin of  Saeb Erekat, , a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who replied, ‘‘It is a racist statement and this man doesn’t realize that the Palestinian economy cannot reach its potential because there is an Israeli occupation.’’ (Israel Hayom & Boston Globe, July 30 & 31, 2012)

“He [the Israeli] has stolen my culture, turned it into technology, burned my customs and traditions, and taken what I have, leaving me devoid of initiative.”—Ibrahim Al-Fani, an official at the Al-Quds Institute of Research and Documentation, in an interview on PA TV in December 2010,We must put together a cultural team and prevail over the Israelis in disseminating [our] culture, for they have no culture. You know that the Hebrew language is not [really] the Hebrew language, since it is taken from Aramaic. All the universities in the world know this. They stole the Aramaic language and codified it, and it became Hebrew. (cited in Israel Hayom, July 31, 2012)

“Right now the Iranian regime believes that the international community does not have the will to stop its nuclear program. This must change, and it must change quickly because time to resolve this issue peacefully is running out.”—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem with visiting Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at his side. “We will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. Period …We will exert all options.” In an apparent nod to Netanyahu’s call for the U.S. to. couple sanctions with a more credible threat of military action. Panetta added that “We have to exhaust every option, every effort, before we resort to military action.” At the same time, Panetta made clear [that] Israel—and Israel alone—has the right to decide if and when to strike Iran if it believes its security is threatened, “We respect Israel’s sovereignty and their independence. And their effort to decide what is in their national security interest is something that must be left up to the Israelis,”(Wall Street Journal, Aug. 1, 2012)

“The [Syrian] government controls nothing any more, except through shelling and artillery,”—Abu Abdul Jabr  a bearded rebel leader and former interior decorator “They can make a massacre but that is it. He said he believed the fight for Aleppo would be finished by the end of Ramadan, the holy fasting month, in mid-August. “We have the resolution to fight. It means with us one month on the streets is equivalent to five years in military services. The troops don’t have the strength to match us and are defecting whenever they can.” (National Post, Aug. 1, 2012)

“I am looking forward to exerting our best efforts to get the Middle East peace process back to its right track in order to achieve security and stability for all peoples of the region, including (the) Israeli people.”—Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi Tuesday in a letter Israel said it had received.  Morsi’s spokesman Yasser Ali told Reuters “The letter that the media reported to have been sent from President Mursi to Israel was fake. President Mursi has not sent anything to Israel,”. An official from Peres’s office said the letter was authentic. “It was received by the Egyptian ambassador and handed over (to Peres’s office). The denial was to be expected, given the letter’s high publicity in Israeli and Egyptian media,” the official said (Boston Globe, July 30, 2012)
 

 “Israel is not a victim, and even when civilians are killed, the occupying Israeli policy is to blame.”—MK Haneen Zoabi (Balad) told Channel 10. Zoabi said on Thursday that Israeli policy was responsible for the terrorist attack that killed five Israelis in Bulgaria on July 18 “If there was no occupation, no repression and no blockade, then this wouldn’t have happened,” she said during an interview at Haifa’s Gordon College of Education. (Jerusalem Post, July 27, 2012)

“We carry a message of peace to the world.”—Mohamed Morsi in his inauguration speech as President-elect of Egypt, emphasizing “the state of Egypt’s commitment to international treaties and agreements.” Encouraging as these statements may be, the Post notes Morsi, as a candidate from the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, may have some difficulty reconciling them with the tenets of the Muslim Brotherhood, as set forth by Mustafa Mashhur, Muslim Brotherhood leader from 1996 to 2002, in his book Jihad is the Way. In it he defines Israel and Israelis as “the criminal, thieving gangs of Zion,” and says “that the problems of the Islamic world, such as Palestine… are not issues of territories and nations, but of faith and religion. They are problems of Islam and the Muslims, and they can be resolved neither by negotiation nor by recognizing the enemy’s right to the Islamic land he stole.” (Jerusalem Post, July 31, 2012

“There’s a different leader in Syria now,” she explained. “Many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he is a reformer.” Secretary of State HilaryClinton’s comments, from March 27, 2011, in response to CBS’s Bob Schieffer on why the U.S. was prepared to intervene against Moammar Gadhafi but not against Assad:  She “clarified” her comments a few days later when she said: “I referenced the opinions of others. That was not speaking either for myself or for the administration.” (Wall Street Journal, July 23, 2012)

“To the Jewish martyrs of the Vélodrome d’Hiver, we owe the truth about what happened 70 years ago,”—France’s President François Hollande said last Sunday at the site of the the Winter Velodrome arena from which Jews were deported in WWII, which was demolished long ago. “The truth is that the crime was committed in France, by France.” In publicly saying this, Hollande broke with his mentor and the hero of the French left, former French President François Mitterrand, who, refusing to acknowledge broad French responsibility for the operation said, in 1992 “Let us not ask for an accounting from the Republic.” (New York Times, July 29, 2012)

ISRAEL, PA REACH AGREEMENT ON TAXES AND TRANSFER OF GOODS—Several months of secret meetings between Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad resulted in an agreement reached on Tuesday evening that Steinitz hailed as “an important step in strengthening the economic ties between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.” This will help foster trade between Israel and the PA, as well as to help strengthen the Palestinian tax system and…its financial base. Additionally, the agreement will enable both sides to more effectively fight smuggling and tax evasion. “The new arrangements are part of our overall stated policy to support the Palestinian society and to strengthen their economy,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Fayyad said that the agreements “will help to strengthen the economic base of the Palestinian Authority…also improve the economic relations between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.” (Times of Israel, August 1, 2012)

ARCHIVES SHOW SOVIET MIDDLE EAST ROLE—Secret files from the former Soviet Union, known as the “Bukovsky archives” show that Cold War nuclear disarmament campaigns across Europe were largely funded by the Soviet bloc. “The money was channelled through communist parties or other pro-Soviet organizations. Baroness Catherine Ashton was the treasurer for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament from 1980 to 1982”. Highly secretive about its sources of funding, the CND refused to submit its accounts to independent audit. Finally forced to do so under enormous pressure, auditors discovered that 38 percent of their annual income was untraceable. “Will Howard, a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, was responsible for this part of the fund-raising.  Baroness Ashton is now the E.U. foreign policy chief, leading negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran. Whatever the outcome, we may surely thank the Kremlin for that, too.”
(Tablet, June 20, 2012)

GOLAN DRUSE MAN INDICTED FOR PASSING INFO TO SYRIA—A Druse resident of the Golan Heights was charged Monday with passing intelligence information on Israeli military positions to Syria. Earlier this month the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) arrested Dr. Iad Johary, who admitted that between 2005 and 2008 he was in touch with various Syrian intelligence operatives while he was studying medicine in Syria. The Shin Bet said Johary admitted to providing information about the locations of IDF bases in the North, IDF training areas in the Golan Heights, IDF patrols along the Syrian border and security measures at the Kuneitra crossing He also identified residents of the Golan Heights who opposed the Syrian regime. (Jerusalem Post, July 30, 2012)

MUSLIM BROTHERS PLOTTING OVERTHROW OF GULF STATES—Dubai’s chief of police has warned of an “international plot” to overthrow the governments of Gulf Arab countries, saying the region needs to be prepared to counter any threat from Islamist dissidents as well as Syria and Iran. “There’s an international plot against Gulf states in particular and Arab countries in general…This is preplanned to take over our fortunes,” Chief Dahi Khalfan told reporters …”The brothers and their governments in Damascus and North Africa have to know that the Gulf is a red line, not only for Iran but also for the Brothers as well.”

(Jeruslaem Post, July 26, 2012)

ISRAELI SURGEONS FIX LATVIAN BOY’S RIGHT HAND—Kyril, a 12-year-old boy from Latvia whose congenital defect made it impossible for him to eat, scratch or do anything else with his right hand, is now able to function normally and return home, thanks to surgeons at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. Kyril suffered from brachial plexus palsy, a defect that occurs in one in 3,000 to 5,000 births. The surgeon, Dr. Mark Edelman, head of the pediatric orthopedics department at Rambam, turned the boy’s wrist 65 degrees around and set it in its new location with six screws. (Jerusalem Post, July 30, 2012)

INDIA, US LEARNING FROM ISRAEL’S BORDER SECURITY—In August, a delegation from India will arrive to study the various technologies used by the IDF to secure the borders with the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Egypt, and which could be implemented as part of India’s own fence with Pakistan and Bangladesh. India is interested in beefing up its border security to prevent future incidents like the Mumbai attacks in 2008. Israel’s primary concern is with the growing number of terror attacks along the Egyptian border.  The US Department of Homeland Security is testing the ELM-2112 family of “persistent ground surveillance radars”, developed by Elta Systems, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries, and used by the IDF to detect intruders before they reach the border. Five different versions detect individuals at ranges from 300 m. up to 20 km., and vehicles at up to 40 km.  (Jerusalem Post, July 3, 2012

JEWISH GROUPS DEMAND ONTARIO BLOCK HATE RALLY—In an effort to stop an “anti-Semitic hate rally” from taking place on government land next month, two Canadian national Jewish organizations are lobbying Queen’s Park in Toronto. The International Day of Al-Quds, to be held on August 17 and 18, is a pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist day of protest initiated by Iran’s Grand Ayatollah in 1979. Events are planned for Toronto, Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver. “Speakers at last year’s Toronto event likened Israel to a cancer, waved yellow Hezbollah flags and hoisted images of Ayatollah Khomeini, the Iranian leader of the Islamic Revolution”. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs videotaped the protest and presented footage to Queen’s Park last month as evidence the group is spreading hate and shouldn’t have permission to protest there. (National Post, Aug. 1, 2012)