Contents: Download today's Daily Briefing.pdf
Why Arabs Hate And Kill Palestinians: Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute, Dec. 26, 2012
Biblical claim to the land?: David Ha'ivri, Jerusalem Post, Dec. 26, 2012
Canada takes sides, not a world referee: Baird: Lee Berthiaume, Postmedia News, Dec. 22, 2012
"The Western Wall is not occupied territory, and I don't care what the United Nations says. We are living in the Jewish State and the capital of the Jewish state, for 3,000 years, has been Jerusalem. I want to say it clearly. We will build in Jerusalem because it’s our right."—Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in response to the international community's condemnation of prospective building plans for Jerusalem across the Green Line. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 22, 2012)
“Some people see Canada as being a great even-handed referee. Well, we’re not a referee. We have a side. The side is freedom. The side is human rights. The side is open economies. And I think that’s what people expect us to stand up for. We cannot be afraid to take difficult decisions for fear of consequences. We’ve taken a very hard line on Iran because the regime is inciting genocide. It’s an anti-Semitic regime that denies the Holocaust, which backs terrorism. I suppose if we kept quiet, some would think that would be better.” Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird during an interview with Postmedia News at Foreign Affairs headquarters in Ottawa. (Postmedia News, Dec. 22, 2012)
"This is a popular struggle. We still believe in all forms of the struggle. No one has removed the rifle from the equation. However, for us, the struggle is a means, and the end is freedom and independence."—Fatah Central Committee member, Jibril Rajoub. (Palestinian Media Watch, Nov. 5, 2012)
“After years of calling for peace, I decided that practicing peace is more important than talking about it. My visit is a message from the peaceful society of Egypt. We went through enough of violence and clashes and this situation has to end. We want to both live like human beings without violence, racism or walls. The main goal of my visit [to Israel] is to end my government’s monopoly on the peace process. Even If I fail, their [Egyptian government] feeling that there is a competitor will prompt them to work more seriously toward peace.”—Egyptian activist Maikel Nabil Sanad in a statement on his blog, according to an Al Arabiya report. Mr. Sanad spent ten months in military jails following Egypt’s revolution in early 2011 and is on a controversial visit to Israel. (Israel National News, Dec. 24, 2012)
“The economy is the basis of everything. Without services, boots, money, you cannot do anything. If the government cannot finance the army, they [soldiers] will simply go away.” —Samir Seifan, a prominent Syrian economist who fled last year commenting on the Syrian government’s serious depletion of currency reserves, speaking from Dubai. “Nobody is paying taxes. There is no fuel, and the electricity runs just a few hours a day. Everybody feels the government is going to fall.” —Abrahim Miro, a Syrian economist based in the Netherlands, who advises the opposition Syrian National Coalition. (Time World, Dec. , 2012)
"The ritual building at Tel Motza is an unusual and striking find, in light of the fact that there are hardly any remains of ritual buildings of the period in Judea at the time of the First Temple. The uniqueness of the structure is even more remarkable because of the vicinity of the site's proximity to the capital city of Jerusalem, which acted as the Kingdom's main sacred center at the time.” —Anna Eirikh, Dr. Hamoudi Khalaily and Shua Kisilevitz, directors of the excavation at Tel Moza, less than five miles west of Jerusalem, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority. The ritual building and a cache of sacred vessels date back approximately 2,750 years. (Times of Israel, Dec. 26, 2012)
“How silly it is to suggest that Jews not mention our biblical connection to the land of Shechem, Hebron and Jerusalem. If not for that connection, why would Jews have regathered from the nations here and not in Uganda? Could you imagine suggesting that America's patriots be advised not to mention the historic actions of those who threw tea in the sea and rebelled against the British?”—David Haivri, director of the Shomron Liaison Office, an NGO that works closely with the local government promoting public relations for the towns of the region, in a Ynet News op-ed. (Ynet News, Dec. 26 , 2012)
“The Palestinians have a long history of involving themselves in the internal affairs of Arab countries and later complaining when they fall victim to violence. They complain they are being killed but not saying why they keep getting into trouble. Palestinians are not always innocent victims. They bring tragedy on themselves and then want to blame everyone else but themselves.”—Khaled Abu Toameh, a Palestinian journalist based in Jerusalem. (Gatestone Institute, Dec. 26, 2012)
“Yasser Arafat had made a decision to launch the Intifada. Immediately after the failure of the Camp David [negotiations], I met him in Paris upon his return, in July 2001 [sic]. Camp David has failed, and he said to me: “You should remain in Paris.” I asked him why, and he said: “Because I am going to start an Intifada. They want me to betray the Palestinian cause. They want me to give up on our principles, and I will not do so. I do not want Zahwa’s friends in the future to say that Yasser Arafat abandoned the Palestinian cause and principles. I might be martyred, but I shall bequeath our historical heritage to Zahwa and to the children of Palestine.” —Suha Arafat, Yasser Arafat’s widow on Dubai TV. (MEMRI, Dec. 16, 2012
"Jesus is a Palestinian; the self-sacrificing Yasser Arafat is a Palestinian; Mahmoud Abbas, the messenger of peace on earth, is a Palestinian. How great is this nation of the holy Trinity!"—official PA daily op-ed. (Palestinian Media Watch, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 30, 2012)
"The Palestinian nation is rooted in this land since the Canaanites and the Jebusites. The Arab presence – Christian and Islamic – on this land is uninterrupted. Jesus is a Palestinian par excellence."—Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories. (Palestinian Media Watch, PA TV (Fatah), Nov. 30, 2012)
"In the birthplace of Christianity, we have seen over the years that the Christmas holiday has been reduced to snowmen and bells." —Pastor Steven Khoury of Holy Land Missions, the ministry behind putting up a 1200 square foot sign which reads: “"Jesus born to die and rose again. Invite him into your heart so you might live – Merry Christmas". Under growing pressure to remove the billboard in Manger Square, hee added, "The essential message of the holiday season has been taken away for fear of what the dominant factors in Bethlehem would say." (Eder of Ziyon, Dec. 21, 2012)
ISRAELI FIRM PRESENTS BREAST CANCER CURE—(Tel Aviv) IceCure Medical has developed a revolutionary system allowing patients to be treated without surgery thanks to a technique that destroys tumors by turning them into ball of ice. Doctors have begun treating women suffering from breast cancer, in trials, using a super-cooled needle tip to repeatedly freeze then defrost tumors, which has the ultimate effect of killing the harmful tissue. The technique can be completed in about 15 minutes, and provides an alternative to surgery. The device has already been approved for use in the United States, with IceCure hoping for European approval next year. (Ynet News, Dec. 20, 2012)
DISSIDENT EGYPTIAN BLOGGER LAUNCHES PEACE MISSION TO ISRAEL —(Geneva) As reported today by the New York Times, Maikel Nabil, one of Egypt’s most famous human rights dissidents and democracy bloggers — a former political prisoner who is also his country’s most outspoken supporter of peace with Israel — has arrived in Jerusalem on a peace-building mission, where he will deliver university lectures, meet with leading public figures and peace activists, and visit the Palestinian territories. Mr. Nabil’s trip is organized by UN Watch." (UN Watch, Dec. 23, 2012)
STUDY: CHRISTIANITY 'CLOSE TO EXTINCTION' IN MIDDLE EAST—(London) Christianity faces being wiped out of the “biblical heartlands” in the Middle East because of mounting persecution of worshippers, according to a new report. The study warns that Christians suffer greater hostility across the world than any other religious group. And it claims politicians have been “blind” to the extent of violence faced by Christians in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The most common threat to Christians abroad is militant Islam, it says, claiming that oppression in Muslim countries is often ignored because of a fear that criticism will be seen as “racism”. The report, by the think tank Civitas, says: “It is generally accepted that many faith-based groups face discrimination or persecution to some degree. A far less widely grasped fact is that Christians are targeted more than any other body of believers.” (The Telegraph, Dec. 23, 2012)
ISRAEL TO JOIN NATO OPS DESPITE TURKEY TENSION—(Washington) Israel has received approval to participate in NATO activities in 2013 that had been held up amid tensions with Turkey. The officials said the approval had come as Turkey’s request that NATO station Patriot missile batteries along its border with Syria was granted, leading them to assess that NATO was using the deployment as leverage to induce Ankara to thaw its relations with Israel. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 23, 2012)
CONGRESS TO OBAMA: TIME TO PUNISH ARABS FOR BLOWING UP OSLO AND BLOWING OFF THE US—(Washington) A bi-partisan majority of congressional members sent a letter to U.S. President Barak Obama late last week. In the letter, the members insist that the time has come for this U.S. government to hold the Arab Palestinian leadership responsible for their bald refusal to comply with repeated requests from the United States government to refrain from seeking an enhanced status at the United Nations General Assembly, as is required of the Arabs under the Oslo Agreements under which it is bound. The PLO pledged in the Oslo Agreements that it would take no unilateral actions to change the status of the disputed territories and Gaza. (Jewish Press, Dec. 25, 2012)
SENIOR HAMAS LEADER CALLS FOR THIRD INTIFADA—(Jerusalem) A senior Hamas leader Tuesday called for a third intifada and the resumption of suicide bombings against Israel. Ahmed Halabiyeh, director of the Jerusalem Department in Hamas, said that armed Palestinian groups, including Hamas, should initiate a confrontation with Israel over its plans to build new houses in Jerusalem and its suburbs. The Palestinians, he added, should resort to various methods of resistance, first and foremost "martyrdom operations in the heart of Israel." Abu Halabiyeh urged Palestinians to "ignite a third intifada to save the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem." (Jerusalem Report, Dec. 25, 2012)
IT'S OFFICIAL: ARIEL UNIVERSITY RECOGNIZED—(Ariel) Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed Central Command chief Nitzan Alon to officially recognize the Ariel University Center as a university, and a day after the change is already evident on the ground. The university has changed its logo as well as its signs which now read "Ariel University in Samaria." On Tuesday [Dec. 25], Alon signed the decree that upgraded the institution' status. Meanwhile, the Council of Presidents of Israeli Universities continues to try to torpedo the move. On Tuesday, it motioned the High Court of Justice to issue an interim order instructing the commander of IDF forces in Judea and Samaria not to recognize the university. (YNet News Dec. 25, 2012)
EGYPTIAN ARMY THWARTS ROCKET SMUGGLING TO GAZA—(Cairo) Armed Forces personnel in North Sinai, in cooperation with local Bedouins, foiled an attempt on Monday to smuggle 17 rockets to Gaza, the Egyptian state news agency MENA reported. A military source told the agency that the rockets are a French-made TDI model, caliber 68 mm, range three kilometers and can be used air to land or land to land. The Armed Forces have been engaged in an ongoing mission to secure the Sinai Peninsula and borders with Gaza and Israel, said MENA. (Israel National News, Dec. 25, 2012)
HIGH-RANKING SYRIAN GENERAL DEFECTS—(Damascus) Syria’s embattled leadership suffered a new setback on Wednesday with the publicly broadcast defection of its military police chief, the highest-ranking officer to abandon President Bashar al-Assad since the uprising against him began nearly two years ago. The defector, Maj. Gen. Abdul Azia Jassem al-Shallal, announced his move in a video broadcast by Al Arabiya, saying that he had taken the step because of what he called the Syrian military’s deviation from “its fundamental mission to protect the nation and transformation into gangs of killing and destruction.” There was some indication that he was now inside Turkey. (New York Times, Dec. 26, 2012)
ARAB NATIONS STILL RENEGING ON PLEDGES TO THE PA —(Jenin) Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Sunday criticized Arab states for evading their financial commitments to the PA. Arab countries have yet to follow through on a pledge in March to provide a financial safety net of $100 million monthly to the PA to mitigate Israeli sanctions, which were imposed in November. During a visit to Jenin, Fayyad called for an urgent Arab summit to address the PA's financial crisis. (Maan News Agency, Dec. 25, 2012)
Why Arabs Hate And Kill Palestinians: Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute, Dec. 26, 2012— The Arab League did not hold an emergency meeting to discuss what Palestinians describe as "massacres " against the refugees in a Syrian camp, home to more than 50,000 people. Those who meddle in the internal affairs of Arab countries should not be surprised when bombs start falling on their homes. Palestinians are not always innocent victims. They bring tragedy on themselves and then want to blame everyone else but themselves.
Biblical claim to the land?: David Ha'ivri, Jerusalem Post, Dec. 26, 2012—When I mention to my guests that the majority of the so called "settlers" in this region are secular Israelis, many ask "but why would seculars choose to live in the West Bank?" People have been taught by the media that it is only religious fanatics like myself who believe that this is part of Israel.
Canada takes sides, not a world referee: Baird: Lee Berthiaume, Postmedia News, Dec. 22, 2012—Canada is not an “even-handed referee” in the world and will be no more of an honest broker with those who support terrorism than it was with fascism and communism, says Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. In a wide-ranging end-of-year interview with Postmedia News on Friday, Baird said the federal government won’t tolerate excuses for those who engage in terrorist activities, and that Canada will continue supporting right over wrong.
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