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WEDNESDAY’S “NEWS IN REVIEW” ROUND-UP

Contents:  Weekly Quotes |  Short Takes

 

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On Topic Links

 

MKs Decry US Demand To Free Terrorists As Gesture: Yuval Bagno, Jerusalem Post, Apr. 24, 2013
Hepatitis B No Match For Sci-gen’s New Vaccine: Abigail Klein Leichman, Israel 21c, Apr. 18, 2013
Israel At the Dawn of a New Age: Michael Ordman, Israpundit, Apr. 23, 2013

 

 

 

 

“Zionism is nothing more – but also nothing less – than the Jewish People’s sense of origin and destination in the land linked eternally with its name. It is also the instrument whereby the Jewish nation seeks an authentic fulfillment of itself.”Former foreign minister Abba Eban, quoted by Sofa Landver in “Aliya – the Revolution Has Just Begun” in the Jerusalem Post. (Jerusalem Post, Apr. 17, 2013)

“After 2,000 years of bitter exile, Zionism – the national expression of the Jewish people gave voice and shape to a dream that never left the Jewish conscience: the return of world Jewry to its ancestral homeland. It is quite simply breathtaking to behold what people like Theodor Herzl, Eliezer Ben- Yehuda and Chaim Weizmann accomplished against all odds. It’s simply a miracle to behold.
   Seventy years ago, my grandfather left Canada to fight the Nazis in the Second World War. I’m deeply influenced by his contribution to combating an evil which sought to exterminate the Jewish people…that moment in history when the Devil almost drove a stake through the heart of humanity.
   The heavy spirit, the knotted stomach, and the paralysis of shock I felt as I learned details of the horrors of the Nazi era have been ingrained in my soul; they shook me to my core and have become part of my DNA….
   Yes, the horrors of the Holocaust are behind [us], but the hatred that caused it, has cast itself in a new form,…it targets the Jewish state. That Israel is still the subject of hatred is deeply disturbing and one of the forces that drives my support for the Jewish State.
In choosing not to stand idly by as the age-old hatred of the Jewish people has been transferred to the “collective Jew,” I have been speaking up against the new anti-Semitism that is so pervasive today….
   Canada will not accept the attempt to judge Israel by a different standard than any other state, we will not passively observe the effort to delegitimize and isolate it within the international community, nor will we stay silent while the Jewish state is attacked for defending its territory or its people. Canada stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel.” Foreign Minister John Baird, in a speech to the Jewish National Fund’s annual Negev Dinner, at the National Gallery in Ottawa in Nov. 2012. (Full text of speech)

 

"I particularly say to the families of people who were lost in the [Mavi Marmara] incident: We understand these tragedies completely and we sympathize with them….I have just been through the week of Boston and I have deep feelings for what happens when you have violence and something happens and you lose people that are near and dear to you. It affects a community, it affects a country."  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, at a press conference in Istanbul on Sunday [Apr. 21], speaking of the Turks killed on the Mavi Marmara after they attacked Israeli soldiers attempting to board the ship, which was trying to break Israel’s legal blockade of Gaza in 2010. (Jerusalem Post, April 22, 2013

 

U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry's Moral Equivalency Tour (Jewish Press)

 

 

"As long as Tel Aviv has the compliant ear of the American political establishment, those who wish for peace and justice in the world should not rest easy."Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories, in remarks implying that the Boston terror attack was a justified response to Israel’s supposed influence on U.S. policies in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.

   "The United States completely rejects the provocative and offensive commentary by Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories, regarding the recent terrorist attack in Boston, Massachusetts. The U.S. had previously called for Falk's resignation for his numerous outrageous statements, and these comments underscore once more the absurdity of his service as a UN Special Rapporteur."Erin Pelton, the U.S. spokesman at the UN, in a statement responding to remarks Richard Falk. (Hindustan Times, Apr. 24, 2013)
 

"I decided not to participate so I would not sit with Jews on the same platform." Yousuf al-Qaradawi, chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars and one of the most important Sunni clerics in the world, explaining why he boycotted an interfaith conference hosted by the International Union in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday [Apr 23]. (Jerusalem Post, Apr. 24, 2013)

 

“After the capture of the second Boston bombing suspect, President Obama gave a Friday-night speech to praise private citizens and law-enforcement officials. He called the bombers “terrorists”.… To put it kindly, the president is stuck in deep denial. Shadow-boxing against the truth, he can’t bring himself to say “Muslim terrorists.” To do so would, in his mind, feed a stereotype and fuel innate American prejudice. So reality must be avoided and important facts omitted about the extraordinary events in Boston….Those who think Islam matters are regarded as bigots. Obama’s not fooling anybody except himself. The ties between terrorism and radical Islam won’t disappear because he refuses to see them.”Michael Goodwin in an op-ed article for the New York Post.(New York Post., Apr. 22, 2013)

 

“Israel will make the decision that Israel must make to protect itself, to defend itself.” U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, in Israel at the start of a week-long Middle East tour. (Associated Press, Apr. 22, 2013)

“It is clear the events we have seen over the past few days in Boston were an attempt to kill American citizens and terrorize a major American city. The accused perpetrators of these acts were not common criminals attempting to profit from a criminal enterprise, but terrorists trying to injure, maim, and kill innocent Americans. The suspect, based upon his actions, clearly is a good candidate for enemy-combatant status.”—U.S. Senators John McCain (Rep.-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (Rep.-SC) and Kelly Ayotte (Rep.-NH), and Rep. Peter King (Rep.) of Long Island, in a statement Sunday [Apr. 21]. (New York Post, Apr. 21)

 

“Executing prisoners in batches like this is obscene. It is like processing animals in a slaughterhouse. [Iraq’s judicial system is] too seriously flawed to warrant even a limited application of the death penalty, let alone dozens of executions at a time. The application of the death penalty in these circumstances is unconscionable, as any miscarriage of justice as a result of capital punishment cannot be undone.”—Navi Pillay, the United Nations human rights chief, in a statement released in Geneva on Friday [Apr. 19]

   “The Ministry of Justice had to carry out the punishment against those killers that have shed innocent Iraqi blood…[and would] continue to implement the measures of the judiciary against the terrorist murderers.”— Iraqi  Justice Minister Hasan al-Shammari, in a statement released after the [group of ] 21 prisoners, referred to by Ms. Pillay, were executed. There are reports that the Justice Ministry plans to execute about 150 in coming days — eclipsing the 129 prisoners executed last year, which was nearly double the 68 people hanged in 2011.
   “This statement [of Pillay’s] means nothing to us. The people that have been executed are criminals. The timing of the executions is up to the judiciary and government authorities, and they don’t have the right to interfere in our internal issues. Where were they when Saddam was killing hundreds of people each day? Now the human rights people are shedding their tears.”— Izzat al-Shahbandar, Iraqi  member of Parliament and a close aide to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. (New York Times, Apr. 20, 2013)

 

 “We urge the European Union and all partners who have not already done so to list Hezbollah as a terrorist entity and prosecute terrorist acts committed by this inhumane organization to the fullest possible extent. Canada is committed to fighting global terrorism and to holding perpetrators of terrorism — and those who provide them support — accountable for their actions. Preventing and countering violent extremism is a priority for Canada. We will not tolerate terrorist activity or those who support terrorist activity, at home or abroad.”Emma Welford, a spokeswoman for the Dep’t of Foreign Affairs, Canada. (National Post, Apr. 23, 2013)

 

“If a Palestinian suicide bomber kills several dozen Israeli teenagers in a Jerusalem restaurant, is that an act of terrorism or wartime retaliation against Israeli government policies and army actions?”a statement from the 10th edition of “The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography”, a much-criticized textbook used in a high school in Tenessee. (Washington Times, Apr. 23, 2013)

 

Top of Page

 

 

 

 

EX-MI HEAD: IRAN HAS PASSED RED LINE(Jerusalem) Former Military Intelligence head, Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, said Tuesday that "Iran has already crossed Israel's new 'red line'" regarding nuclear weapons development. Yadlin, who is the Head of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), said that in the summer, Iran will reach a distance of one or two months between a decision and a bomb." That is, it will be able to build a nuclear bomb within a month or two of deciding to do so. "This is a breakthrough range that will make it very difficult to stop Iran, when it decides to have a bomb. Israel's new red line – a problematic definition in itself – enables Iran to build a wide nuclear infrastructure without crossing the line," he explained. "It enables other nuclear activities that are not included in the red line, and makes it possible to reach a bad agreement even without crossing the line that was set." (Arutz Sheva, Apr. 23, 2013)

ASSAD ATTACKED REBELS WITH NERVE GAS, TOP IDF ANALYST SAYS(Tel Aviv) The IDF’s top intelligence analyst said Tuesday that the army was quite certain that President Bashar Assad deployed chemical weapons against rebel forces in Syria on March 19. “To the best of our understanding the regime used lethal chemical weapons.” said Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, head of the Research and Analysis Division at the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate. Speaking at a security conference in Tel Aviv, Brun said further that based on the pictures of the victims — the size of their pupils, “and the foam coming out of their mouths” — the army believed that Assad’s troops had used the lethal nerve gas sarin as a weapon. Sarin, used by Saddam Hussein in aerial strikes against Iraqi Kurds in 1988 and in a Japan terror attack in 1995, is a nerve agent that cripples the respiratory system. It is hundreds of times more toxic than cyanide and is considered a weapon of mass destruction. (Times of Israel, Apr. 23, 2013)

 

AL-QAEDA PLOT AGAINST TORONTO PASSENGER TRAIN THWARTED(Toronto)
Canadian police have arrested two men accused of conspiring to carry out an "al-Qaeda supported" attack to derail a passenger train in the Greater Toronto Area, following a cross-border investigation that involved Canadian and American law enforcement. Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, of Montreal, and Raed Jaser, 35, from Toronto, have been charged with "conspiring to murder persons unknown for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a terrorist group."  RCMP Assistant Commissioner James Malizia said the two were getting "direction and guidance" from al-Qaeda elements in Iran. (CBC News-Canada, Apr. 22, 2013 )

 

U.S. REPORTEDLY ASKS CANADA TO JOIN MISSILE SHIELD (Ottawa) The United States has reportedly asked Canada to join an anti-ballistic missile shield, resurrecting a potentially thorny political issue in this country. The request comes amid heightened concerns over North Korea, which has been levelling bellicose rhetoric at the United States of late. On Sunday, a South Korean news agency reported that North Korea has moved two short-range missile launchers to its east coast, indicating preparations for a test launch, according to Reuters. A spokesman for Defence Minister Peter MacKay would neither confirm nor deny the report that the U.S. had approached Canada about participating in a missile-defence shield. (Postmedia News April 21, 2013)

 

PALESTINIAN MURDERER GETS TWO LIFE SENTENCES(Jerusalem) The Judea Military Court sentenced Waal al-Arjeh to two life sentences plus 58 years on Tuesday for the murder of Asher Palmer, 25, and his infant son, Yonatan, in 2011, killed when Arjeh threw a stone through the windshield of their car. "It was thrown from an oncoming vehicle that was traveling in the opposite direction," said the Palmer family's lawyer, Adrian Agassi, a former IDF military court judge. "At that velocity, it was like shooting a bullet." Arjeh, who had worked for the Palestinian Authority security forces, was the ringleader of a gang that developed this method of killing Jews, Agassi said. They had tried it many times before, and Arjeh had "carried out more attacks" after the deaths of Asher and Yonatan.  Asher's father, Michael Palmer, said that Asher and Yonatan's lives "were taken by people who did not know them, who had never even seen them, for the simple reason that they were Jews."  (Jerusalem Post, Apr. 23, 2013)

B’NAI BRITH CANADA, AUDIT OF ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS(Ottawa) In 2012, the League for Human Rights, B’nai Brith Canada documented 1,345 antisemitic incidents across Canada, representing a 3.7% increase over the 1,297 cases recorded in 2011. Canada has seen a steady upward progression in antisemitic incidents in the past decade. Taking a ten-year perspective, incidents have more than doubled from the 584 cases in 2003. Just over half the incidents (730) took place as usual in the province of Ontario, with the next largest number being in the province of Quebec (337). There were 1,013 cases of harassment, 319 of vandalism and 13 of violence. Studies of victim reporting patterns indicate that only about one-tenth to one-third of victims will file a report with either the police or a community advocacy organization such as the League. (Full Report)

 

HATE-CRIME STATS DEFLATE ‘ISLAMOPHOBIA’ MYTH(Washington)A detailed analysis of FBI statistics covering ten full calendar years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks reveals that, on a per capita basis, American Muslims, contrary to spin, have been subjected to hate crimes less often than other prominent minorities. From 2002 to 2011, Muslims are estimated to have suffered hate crimes at a frequency of 6.0 incidents per 100,000 per year – 10 percent lower than blacks (6.7), 48 percent lower than homosexuals and bisexuals (11.5), and 59 percent lower than Jews (14.8). Americans should keep these numbers in mind whenever Islamists attempt to silence critics by invoking Muslim victimhood.” (National Review, January 11, 2013)

 

'JORDAN OPENS SKIES FOR IAF DRONES FLYING TO SYRIA'(Amman, Jordan) Jordan has opened two corridors of its airspace to Israeli Air Force drones seeking to monitor the ongoing conflict in Syria, French daily Le Figaro reported on Sunday [Apr 21], citing a Western military source in the Middle East. Le Figaro quoted the military source as saying that the Israeli drones fly at night to avoid detection. The source added that "the Syrians have Russian air defense assets, but Israeli aircraft are difficult to detect and therefore virtually immune to anti-aircraft measures." According to the source, the unmanned aerial vehicles are carrying out surveillance, but "they are also armed and therefore can hit targets anywhere in Syria."  (Jerusalem Post, Apr. 22, 2013)

 

JORDAN MP EXPELLED FOR SHAKING HAND OF ISRAELI PRESIDENT(Amman, Jordan) Muhammad Esa al-Doima, a member of Jordan's moderate Islamic Al-Wasat Al-Islamiy party, was expelled from his faction this week after it was published that he visited Israel on Independence Day and shook President Shimon Peres' hand. Al-Dumia has denied the allegations, but media outlets in the Hashemite Kingdom reported Monday that his expulsion has been finalized. (Ynet News, Apr. 22, 2013)

 

US STEPS IN, STOPS PA GOING AFTER ISRAEL AT UNESCO(Geneva) Following US intervention, the Palestinian Authority has agreed to postpone five resolutions condemning Israel that they were to present to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) executive board in Paris, Israel Radio reported Wednesday. The resolutions would have condemned Israel's activity in the West Bank as well as its endangerment of Jerusalem's "Arab character", the radio said. As part of the agreement brokered by the US between the PA, Jordan and Israel, Israel has in return agreed to allow UNESCO experts to survey a number of sites in Jerusalem. Israel has also agreed to take part in UNESCO meetings about the Mugrabi Bridge, which runs from the Western Wall plaza to the Temple Mount and which has been a source of conflict between Israel and the Waqf Muslim religious trust.  (Jerusalem Post, Apr. 24, 2013)

 

SPAIN INTENDS TO OPEN A CONSULATE IN GAZA(Madrid) One of the central issues that will presumably accompany the upcoming visit to Israel by the foreign minister of Spain, José Manuel García-Margallo y Marfil, will be the minister’s curious, unprecedented and most irregular decision, dated March 14, 2013, to open a Spanish consulate in Gaza, accredited to the Hamas administration. Opening a consulate in Gaza is incompatible with the provisions of the 1995 Israeli- Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip (commonly known as “Oslo II”) under which the Palestinians are committed not to exercise powers and responsibilities in the sphere of foreign relations, and specifically not to permit the establishment of diplomatic or consular posts in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, or the appointment or admission of diplomatic or consular staff. (Jerusalem Post, Apr. 22, 2013)

 

RELATIVES OF FLOTILLA RAID VICTIMS REJECT COMPENSATION FROM ISRAEL(Istanbul) Relatives of the nine people killed in Israel’s 2010 deadly raid on a Turkish-led flotilla to Gaza, said Saturday [Apr. 20] that they would reject the compensation promised by Israel until it fully removes restrictions on the movement of goods and people in Gaza. The relatives also said that they would not drop their lawsuits against Israelis involved in the raid, potentially complicating the Washington-brokered reconciliation between the two governments that began last month when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel called his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to apologize. “Compensation and apology had always been government demands, not ours,” said Nimet Akyuz, whose husband, Cengiz Akyuz, was among those killed. “At this stage, we are going to see how sensitive and sincere the government really is about Gaza, the Palestinian situation.” (New York Times, Apr. 21, 2013)

 

EGYPTIAN JUSTICE MINISTER STEPS DOWN (Cairo) Egypt’s justice minister, Ahmed Mekki, submitted his resignation Sunday [Apr. 21], in a move that signaled strong disapproval of the President’s handling of a prolonged showdown with the country’s judiciary. Mr. Mekki said that he wanted to leave office in part because of protests against him. Mr. Mekki, a pro-reform judge under the former regime of Hosni Mubarak, faces criticism from judges and activists who accuse him of siding with Mr. Morsi by keeping silent in the power struggle with the judiciary. Mr. Morsi’s Islamist backers recently accused Mr. Mekki of not doing enough to reform the justice system following the acquittals of former regime officials charged with corruption and nearly all policemen charged with killing protesters during the 2011 uprising. (National Post, Apr. 21 2013)

\

'ERDOGAN INTENT ON GAZA TRIP DESPITE US, PA WISHES'(Istanbul)Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not likely to postpone his trip to the Gaza Strip planned for late May, despite US Secretary of State John Kerry and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas having asked him to cancel or delay the visit.  Abbas visited Istanbul over the weekend to ask Erdogan to cancel his plans to visit Gaza. The PA believes that a visit by Erdogan to Gaza would deepen Palestinian divisions, said Azzam al- Ahmed, member of the Fatah Central Committee and a close adviser to Abbas. But on Monday Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said any request to prevent Erdogan’s trip was “objectionable….Only the Turkish government decides when and where the prime minister or any other Turkish official travels to.” Arinc told reporters. (Jerusalem Post, Apr. 22, 2013)

 

ISRAEL IS TOP CHOICE FOR TECH BY MULTINATIONALS(Tel Aviv) Over 250 multinational companies (MNC) have research and development centers in Israel, 80 of them Fortune 500 companies, with 66% being U.S. companies. During 2011, international tech companies bought out 83 Israeli start-ups, with the buyouts amounting to $5 billion. During the first half of 2012, there were 50 buyouts, at a total value of $3.5 billion (not including the purchase of NDS by Cisco).  Between 2002 and 2009, productivity by MNC units in Israeli grew by 121%, an average of 12% annually. This accounted for 15% of all business activity in Israel. (Times of Israel, Apr. 15, 2013)

 

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Mks Decry US Demand to Free Terrorists as Gesture: Yuval Bagno, Jerusalem Post, Apr. 24, 2013—Deputy Minister Ofir Akunis promises not to cave to US demands that Israel release terrorists as a goodwill gesture to the PA.

 

Hepatitis B no Match for Sci-gen’s New Vaccine: Abigail Klein Leichman, Israel 21c, Apr. 18, 2013—The world’s only third-generation inoculation against this widespread virus comes from an Israeli pharmaceutical company.
 

Israel at the Dawn of a New Age: Michael Ordman, Israpundit, Apr. 23, 2013—Israel is the world’s third most innovative country, according to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology survey of 61 experts from 20 countries.  Israel’s agricultural technology is starting to eliminate hunger in Africa, India and China. 

 

 

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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