Key question: will the PA take over the Rafah crossing?

The agreement signed by Hamas and Fatah to so much fanfare has very little in terms of details.

Here is everything it says about security forces:

[The two parties] emphasized the formation of the Higher Security Committee, which will report to the Palestinian President and be composed of professional officers to be determined by consensus.

Does this mean that the Hamas security forces will be subsumed by a joint security force? It doesn't look like it. It looks more like the days of Arafat where there were as many as seven competing security forces, each one playing against the other.

If there is to be a joint security force, then the PA will have to become involved in the Rafah crossing again. According to a 2005 agreement between the PA, EU and Israel, the EU would act as a third party to monitor all people and items that cross at Rafah.

Now that Egypt has indicated that it will open Rafah permanently, this means that it is more important than ever to have a third party presence there.

EUBAM issued a mild statement seemingly in the wake of Hamas/Fatah unity news:

On 26 April 2010, the Council reaffirmed the political importance of EUBAM Rafah and its continued support for the mission. It welcomed in particular the maintenance of the mission's operational capability as well as its reactivation plan, which would ensure a rapid resumption of its full activities in case of re-opening of the Rafah Crossing Point.

Rafah is the key test as to whether the Fatah/Hamas deal is anything more than a scam meant to fool the world ahead of the UN initiative for statehood in September. If they are serious, then the PA must adhere to its commitment with the EU to monitor Rafah in cooperation with Israel.

So far, the indications are quite the opposite. From the Guardian on Friday:

The Islamist organisation [Hamas] also said it would keep control of the Gaza Strip under the accord, which is expected to be formally signed by leaders of the two factions in Cairo next week.

If Hamas maintains its own separate security control of Gaza, this is just more proof that the "unity" agreement is a sham.

Why is Amnesty hosting a Hamas apologist? (Michael Weiss)

An op-ed in The Telegraph by Michael Weiss of Just Journalism:

When Amnesty International sacked the brilliant feminist Gita Sahgal for pointing out the obvious human rights bloomer in her organisation’s partnership with Moazzem Begg – a man who, the Telegraph reveals today, was once claimed by the US authorities to be “a confirmed member of al-Qaeda” – the official Amnesty explanation was that Begg was a swell guy. The unofficial rationale, I suspect, was that, as a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, he hated the Bush administration even more than Amnesty did.

But now Amnesty has taken the next step in its easy-breezy attitude towards religious fundamentalism. The celebrated NGO has cosied up to a Hamas-friendly magazine based in London known as Middle East Monitor Online (MEMO). On May 23, Amnesty’s Human Rights Action Centre will co-host what promises to be a ripping debate on “Complicity in Oppression: Does the Media Aid Israel?” The other co-hosts are MEMO and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

In case you aren’t familiar with the vagaries of British Islamism, let me provide a short course.

MEMO is run by one Dr Daud Abdullah, the deputy secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain and a signatory of the Istanbul Declaration. This gothic document states that it is the obligation of the “Islamic Nation” to “carry on jihad and Resistance” against Israel and to fight “by all means and ways” any “foreign warship” attempting to block arms smuggling to Hamas, which, last time I checked, was still a terrorist organisation according to EU and UK law.

Though it’s true that “all means and ways” could refer to a strongly worded Facebook campaign, try running those semantics by the Royal Navy, which blocks arms smuggling to Hamas.

MEMO has published some sterling contributions to the discourse of social justice in the Middle East. Take Khalid Amayreh, who in a MEMO essay entitled “Netanyahu’s Lebensraum” described all Israelis as “pathological liars from Eastern Europe, who lie as much as they breath oxygen”, an accusation which at the very least is unfair to the Sephardim.

Just last week, the MEMO website presented Sheikh Raed Salah’scontemplation on “The ‘Jewish state’ and us”. By “us”, Salah means a very select group, since his cod-history of Zionism argues that “Israel has never negotiated with the Palestinians”.  (MEMO thinks the Palestinian Authority, as led by Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad, is illegitimate because of its negotiations with Israel.)

More interesting than Salah’s history is his CV. He’s the leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel and an ex-con who did two years in the clink in Israel for raising money for Hamas. Salah thinks Jerusalem is the designated capital of the new Islamic caliphate and in 2007 he was charged with incitement to violence and racism for suggesting that Jews use the blood of gentile children to bake bread.

So who is coming to this wondrous festival on media tendentiousness? A cohort including former Guardian associate foreign editor Victoria Brittain and former BBC Middle East Correspondent Tim Llewellyn.

Here’s Llewellyn on the subject of veteran White House Arab-Israeli peace negotiator Denis Ross: “What a lovely Anglo-Saxon name! But Denis Ross is not just a Jew, he is a Zionist, a long-time Zionist… and now directs an Israeli-funded think tank in Washington. He is a Zionist propagandist.”

Can this really be the natural constituency of Amnesty International? Why not ring them up and ask: +44 (0) 20 7033 1500.

Amnesty would no doubt argue that the Human Rights Action Center is public space available for rent.

However, they state that "The rooms are open to the public and are available for hire by organisations working in the field of human rights and social justice."

Exactly how does the extremist MEMO, which is explicitly dedicated to disseminating pro-Islamic, pro-Palestinian Arab propaganda, get defined as such an organization?

I would love to see Hadassah or a similar Zionist organization try to book space at the HRAC, say for a conference on medical care for Ethiopian Jews in Israel, just to see what Amnesty would do.

Muslim artist in Tunisia paints Jews - respectfully

Al Jazeera has an article about Tahir Mamith, a Tunisian Muslim artists who specializes in painting Jews.

There are several thousand Jews remaining in Tunisia.

He specializes in paintings of Jews who are doing religious rites. A collection of his paintings were on exhibit in the Djerba synagogue that was the focus of the annual Lag B'Omer pilgrimage.

The turnout at this year's festival seems to have been much lower than last year, with the crowd being described in most articles as in the hundreds, as opposed to over two thousand last year.

Part of that may have been because of Israel's warnings of a potential for a terror attack during the event.

05/06 Links Pt1: Amb. Prosor: Radical Islamists are the new Nazis; Abbas is old, Hamas divided

From Ian:

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Dore Gold: New “Breaking the Silence” Report Maliciously Defames Israel

The Jerusalem Center recently published an extensive study of Operation Protective Edge entitled The Gaza War 2014: The War Israel Did Not Want and the Disaster It Averted. The book includes a chapter by Lt. Col. (res.) David Benjamin, who served in the IDF Military Advocate General’s Corps (MAG) as Chief Legal Advisor for the Gaza Strip. That chapter, along with other research in the book, shows how the IDF goes to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties and to comply with international law. The IDF investigates any incident that may involve violation of those rules.
An IDF Fact Finding Assessment Mechanism (FFAM) was set up and activated during Operation Protective Edge. The FFAM, headed by a major-general and composed of operational and legal experts, mostly reservists, began its work about two weeks into the operation. To date, around 100 incidents have been referred by the MAG for examination by the FFAM.
The organization Breaking the Silence recently alleged that testimonies it collected from anonymous Israeli soldiers showed that the IDF employed indiscriminate fire in Gaza that resulted in many Palestinian civilian casualties and widespread destruction.
As in previous cases, Breaking the Silence refuses to provide the names of these witnesses or to make them available to IDF investigators who are charged with investigating all accusations of army wrong-doing. Other NGOs often provide details of their cases, usually from the Palestinian perspective, so that the IDF Military Advocate General’s Corps (MAG) can investigate such incidents.
It is clear that Breaking the Silence is less interested in uncovering the facts and instead seeks to defame the State of Israel.

Israeli Ambassador Prosor Compares Radical Islamists to Nazis on Anniversary of WWII Ending

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor on Tuesday compared Islamic extremists to Nazi forces in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
“Freedom is once again under attack. The radical Islamists marching across the Middle East and North Africa are every bit as determined and dangerous as the Nazi forces that marched across Europe,” he said. “Seventy-five years ago men, women, and children were rounded up and murdered because of what they believed, where they came from, how they looked, and whom they loved.”
“The same crimes are taking place in the Middle East,” he added.
Prosor listed modern victims of such atrocities, including activists and political opponents, people hanged for their sexual preferences and Christians beheaded for their religious beliefs. He told the UNGA “evil is alive and well – and not just in the Middle East.” He urged the attendees to take action against the malice, saying, “Freedom is worth fighting for. Equality is worth fighting for. Democracy is worth fighting for.”

Prosor at UNGA: 70th Anniversary of the End of WWII


Former UK Cmdr.: UN, Foreign Governments ‘Deliberately’ Twisting Laws of Armed Conflict on Israel

Col. (ret.) Richard Kemp, former commander of the UK’s forces in Afghanistan, was one of the prominent participants at the conference.
Other international contributors included former IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Benny Gantz and former Deputy Chief of US Special Operations Command, Lt.-Gen. (ret.) David Fridovich, among other legal, military and counter-terrorism experts.
Kemp told the Tazpit News Agency that the United Nations, foreign governments and human rights organizations were “deliberately misunderstanding, and misrepresenting, international laws of armed conflict,” specifically referring to the law of proportionality.
“These organizations and governments are portraying Israel as breaking the laws of armed conflict, which according to my knowledge, they’re not,” Kemp contended.
Meanwhile, he continued, those very same bodies were not adequately holding Hamas responsible for their own clear violations, particularly regarding “human shields.”

Is it Time for a New Law of War?

Former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, who delivered the keynote address, said there were three wars with Hamas during his tenure at the head of the army. “Each campaign, we lost before we started, as far as the international community was concerned.”
The days of “the battlefield” – where fighting took place away from civilian areas – have effectively ended, he said. “We need to go back to when the laws of war were meant to limit the bad guys.”
Col. Richard Kemp, the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said the laws of engagement and proportionality should be widened to look at an army’s overall objective, rather than the narrow lens of a particular mission.
The current situation has become a strategic advantage for Hamas, he said, and the media was partly complicit in the situation.
The media, he said, places its emphasis on civilian deaths, not the use of human shields that endanger those civilians. Public discourse, he said, has to focus on the ones who use human shields.
“Hamas’s real objective to use human shields is not to protect its weapons,” he added. “It’s to get the human shields killed, to have Israel accused of killing civilians.”

Underlining US support from both parties, PM meets second bipartisan Congressional group

Amid concerns that Israel is increasingly becoming a partisan political issue in the US, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met for the second day in a row on Tuesday with a bipartisan congressional delegation and stressed that support for a strong Israel-US relationship crosses party lines.
“The support and the alliance with the United States is a foundation of our national security,” Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting in Jerusalem with the delegation, made up primarily of members of the House Homeland Security Committee.
“It’s a bipartisan position,” he added. “It’s also bipartisan here. I think there’s complete unanimity about the importance of the relationship with the United States.”
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the head of the committee, led the delegation, which arrived in Israel from a visit to Iraq.
McCaul also stressed the bipartisan nature of the relationship, saying on behalf of the delegation, “We don’t stand as Democrat, Republican; We stand as Americans in support of Israel, our strongest ally and friend in the region – a democracy, a true beacon of hope in the region.”
The other members of the delegation were Pete Sessions (R-Texas), Vern Buchanan (R-Florida), Bill Keating (D-Massachusetts), John Katko (R-New York), William Hurd (R-Texas), Barry Loudermilk (R-Georgia), and Kathleen Rice (D-New York).

Legal Scholar: Iran’s Seizure of Cargo Ship a “Flagrant Breach of International Law”

The seizure of the ship Maersk Tigris by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) last week was a “flagrant breach of international law,” Northwestern University law professor Eugene Kontorovich wrote Sunday in The Washington Post.
Iran has claimed that the ship was seized in order to settle a lien against the Maersk shipping line imposed by an Iranian court. Kontorovich noted that although there is a doctrine of seizing a “sister ship” to satisfy a claim, the case of the Maersk Tigris is not governed by that doctrine, since such seizures are only allowed when the ship is in port.
Iran’s claims clearly do not satisfy any version of the “sister ship” rule. The Tigris is owned by Oak Tree Capital, and merely chartered by Maersk. The Iranian court judgement is apparently against Maersk itself, regarding the operation of a vessel with totally different owners. Instead, they are at most “associated ships.” Such vessels cannot be arrested under the Brussels Convention, or apparently under Iranian maritime law. To be sure, many countries now apply modern corporate veil-piercing doctrines to allow the attachment of vessels with a common “real” owner, but again, the common party here appears to only be the time-charterer.
The discussion of sister ships is quite arcane, and ultimately besides the point. The arrest of vessels applies typically to those that have come into port. There is no right to arrest for prior or collateral obligations during an innocent passage through territorial waters. That is, in waters where ships have an international right to transit – such as the Gulf – they may not be molested at all by coastal states for the enforcement of outstanding maritime liens.

Iran Threatens to Sell Ship it Seized

The official Iranian state media Press TV on Tuesday announced that the Islamic regime is threatening to sell the Maersk Tigris cargo ship it fired at and seized in an international shipping lane last Tuesday, unless a massive fine is paid by the ship's owners.
The report claimed the ship was seized due to an unspecified shipping dispute with the Danish Maersk shipping line, listing Hamid-Reza Jahanian as the managing director of Pars Tala'eyeh Oil Products Company as the Iranian party to the dispute.
Jahanian threatened that the ship and its cargo are to be sold unless Maersk pays a whopping $10 million fine, which he claims constitute "losses" his company suffered for some unlisted reason.
He said the ship will be released "upon the payment of the amount."
The paper noted that Maersk officials have demanded to see the court documents on the alleged dispute which Iran says spurred its breach of international maritime law, adding that meetings between Maersk and Iranian officials made little progress.

Iran Claims Navy Chased Away US Warship, Planes in Gulf of Aden

Iran’s semi-official state news agencies claimed on Tuesday that an Iranian destroyer chased off a U.S. warship and two reconnaissance aircraft that approached Islamic Republic flagged vessels in the strategic Gulf of Aden.
According to the reports, two US P-3C Orion maritime surveillance planes and a USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) destroyer were forced to turn around after the Iranian destroyer, Alborz 72, issued warnings for them to change course and keep at least five miles from the Iranian Navy’s 34th fleet, which was stationed in the area.
Colonel Mostafa Tajeddini, the commander of the 34th fleet, commented that his ships are “duty-bound to monitor any foreign warships in international waters as well as anything that would threaten Iran’s national interests.”
Iranian news website Mehr claimed that the Iranian destroyer initiated the hostile move against the U.S. warship after it “approached several Iranian warships in a provocative move, ignoring the internationally set 5-mile standard distance from Iran’s 34th fleet of warships deployed in the Gulf of Aden.”

Khamenei rejects nuclear talks 'under shadow of' military threat

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Tehran would not take part in nuclear talks if threatened with military force, state television said, as Iran and world powers try to meet a June 30 deadline for a final deal.
"Holding nuclear talks (with major powers) under shadow of threat is unacceptable for Iran ... Our nation will not accept it ... Military threats will not help the talks," Khamenei was quoted as saying by Iran's English language Press TV.
"Recently two US officials threatened to take military action against Iran. What does negotiation mean under the shadow of threat," he said. He gave no further details on the threats.
Khamenei repeated his cautious support for the nuclear talks, saying that the country's "red lines" should be respected by the Iranian negotiators.
"Our negotiators should continue the talks with respect to our red lines. They should not accept any imposition, humiliation and threat," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.

Nuclear Experts: Emerging Deal Does Not Account for Iran’s Supply of Enriched Uranium

Leading nuclear experts have raised concerns that the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was agreed to last month between the P5+1 nations and Iran, do not account for Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium (LEU).
David Albright, the executive director of the Institute for Science and International Security, and Serena Kelleher-Vergantini, a research analyst at the think tank, wrote in a paper published Monday that Iran has converted all of its 20% LEU in the form of gas, but since the LEU still exists in other forms, it could easily be reconverted to its gaseous form, significantly reducing Iran’s breakout time. Specifically, the paper refers to the 46 kilograms of 20% LEU in the form of an oxide powder.

 Did IAF strike military targets in Sudan?

Foreign warplanes struck a number of targets in the Khartoum area in central Sudan overnight Tuesday, the London-based news outlet al-Araby al-Jadeed reported.
Several Arab media outlets attributed the airstrikes to Israel, which did not comment on the reports. The Israeli military has reportedly carried out several strikes in Sudan in recent years as part of an effort to combat the flow of weapons from Iran to the Gaza Strip.
The targets of Tuesday night's reported strikes were said to include a Scud missile factory, a rocket storage site and a convoy.
Witnesses reported hearing explosions and secondary blasts.
There were also reports that the Sudanese forces fired anti-aircraft weapons at the attacking aircraft.

Report: Sudan shoots down Israeli drone

Following reports of explosions and a military attack in Sudan early Wednesday morning, Arab media cited the Sudanese army as saying it shot down an Israeli drone in the Valley of the Prophet area north of the capital Khartoum.
A spokesman for the Sudanese army denied reports that a target was hit, adding that the military identified a suspicious object in its airspace and intercepted it.
Colonel Alsoarmi Khaled Saad told Sky News in Arabic that army anti-aircraft defense missile systems intercepted a "flying object similar in appearance to a plane or a missile," in Omdurman.
Before dawn on Wednesday, Arab media said explosions heard in Khartoum were caused by an attack which was carried out by a "foreign entity."

Court sentences Jerusalem gas leak bomber to 30 years in prison

A three-judge panel of the Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday sentenced the infamous man who caused nine gas leaks to try to cause explosions to 30 years in prison.
Aziz Awisat was convicted of nine attempted murder crimes by his signature attempted gas leak attacks and one additional attempted murder crime from when he attacked a Haredi man with an axe in 2012, but only succeeded in badly wounding him.
The Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office submitted an indictment against Awisat, a 49-year-old resident of the southeastern Jebal Mukaber neighborhood, regarding his terror activities in March 2014.
Awisat was also accused of aiding the enemy in wartime. He first considered carrying out terrorist operations and assisting Israeli enemies in 2012.
Awisat was motivated to perpetrate the attacks as “revenge for Israeli acts against the Aksa Mosque, IDF operations against Gaza and harm to Islam.”

Haifa Rethinks Funding for Arab Theater Glorifying Terrorist

The Haifa city council decided on Tuesday to establish a committee to consider anew the municipal funding for the Arab Al Midan Theater in the city, after it put on a play portraying the life of one of the Arab terrorists who mutilated and murdered IDF soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984.
Every year the Al Midan Theater receives more than a million shekels (over $250,000) from the Haifa municipality. The request to remove that support was submitted by Haifa Councilman Shai Blumenthal (Jewish Home).
Family members of Tamam took part in the council meeting, which aside from council members included members of the municipality's cultural department.
Until a decision is made by the newly formed committee, no additional funds will be transferred to the theater.
The 19-year-old Tamam was abducted and murdered by Arab terrorists from Baka al-Gharbiya as he hitched a ride with them on his way to the town of Havatzelet Hasharon. The abduction didn't occur in Judea or Samaria, but rather in the coastal region between Haifa and Tel Aviv.
After holding him captive for several days the terrorists murdered Tamam by mutilation, gouging out his eyes before cutting off parts of his body starting with his genitals and then shooting him. They were a cell of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) terror group.

High Court ruling paves way for demolition of unauthorized Palestinian village

On Monday, the High Court rejected that request, adding that it understood that an alternative living solution was available for the residents of the village.
“It is unusual for the state to oppose a temporary restraining order in this way,” said Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for Human Rights. “It heightens our suspicion that they have an intent to demolish Sussiya before there is an actual court hearing on the case.”
The attorney for the village, Quamar Mishirqi-Assad, explained that the state wants the village to relocate from its present location near the Sussiya settlement in Area C of the West Bank to land that is closer to Area B, which is under the civil control of the Palestinian Authority.
The village is located on land for which the villagers claim ownership, but they lack the proper permits to build structures, even the temporary ones, on the land.
The latest round of the village’s three-decade battle with the IDF began in 2012 when the civil administration reissued demolition orders against the village but did not carry them out.
The non-governmental group Regavim, which fights against illegal Palestinian and Israeli Arab construction, petitioned the High Court to force the state to carry out the demolition orders.

IDF Imposes Comfort Zone Around Gaza (satire)

Israeli efforts to prevent the infiltration of Palestinian fighters from the Gaza Strip intensified Wednesday with the creation of a comfort zone surrounding the coastal territory.
Residents of communities in the Gaza Belt region reported military activity in areas abutting the border fence, and an IDF spokesman confirmed that the army had established a comfort zone to help curb or eliminate attempts by terrorists to cross into Israel. As such, said the spokesman, residents of the Gaza Strip would now feel secure only when still ensconced in its familiar environs, and militants would therefore be that much less likely to try digging tunnels or swimming into Israel to kidnap and murder.
Infiltration has become a major concern for Gaza Belt residents and the military alike. Tunnels extending for hundreds of meters into Israel were discovered before and during the conflict with Hamas last summer, and although no civilian casualties resulted from several Hamas attacks using those passages, they have had a pasting psychological impact on inhabitants of the communities surrounding Gaza and on military planning. Hamas also made at least one attempt to attack with frogmen from the Mediterranean. While the IDF assures citizens it is prepared to counter the infiltration threat, military and local leaders agree a preventive, rather than deterrent, measure will be more effective in combating the menace.

French judges end investigation into Arafat’s death

French judges re-examining the evidence surrounding the 2004 death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat have concluded their investigations, the prosecutors office in the Paris suburb of Nanterre said Tuesday.
“The judges have closed their dossier and it was sent to the prosecutor on April 30,” he said.
The prosecutor now has three months to prepare his submissions on whether to dismiss the case or put it forward to court.
In the meantime interested parties can produce written depositions. However if, as is currently the case, there is no defendant’s name attached to the proceedings, the case is likely to be dismissed. (h/t Bob Knot)

France urges Palestinian restraint after concluding investigation into Arafat's death

France is urging the Palestinian Authority to exercise restraint and not issue the death penalty against whomever is implicated in the death of Yasser Arafat after officials concluded an investigation into the late Palestinian leader's death on Wednesday.
"We received a message from France 20 days ago asking us not to issue a death penalty against anyone who might be convicted of assassinating Arafat," said Tawfik al-Tirawi, head of Fatah's investigation commission into Arafat's death.
Earlier this week, results of the preliminary investigation concluded by French officials in 2012 - in response to a request filed by Arafat's widow Suha - were sent to prosecutors in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. The prosecutor's office now has three months to either close the case or take it to court.
In October of 2004, Yasser Arafat fell violently ill and died two weeks later at a Paris military hospital at the age of 75. The medical report published after Arafat’s death listed the immediate cause as a massive brain hemorrhage resulting from an infection, according to JTA.

Abbas is old, Hamas divided: Who will lead Palestinians?

While Palestinians of all stripes have long criticized Israel for many of their problems, and still do, they have become increasingly critical of their own leaders and institutions.
Across both the occupied West Bank and the cordoned-off Gaza Strip, Palestinians are demanding stronger leadership and an end to the PA’s Fatah-Hamas divide. Since 2007, the internal divisions have undermined their national cause at home and abroad. They have weakened their hand at the negotiating table with the US and Israel, stymied Gaza reconstruction, and left the PA’s democratic muscle atrophied.
But even as these demands are articulated, the options for alternative leadership are few.
Aruri, like two-thirds of Palestinians, says the PA must end security coordination with Israel. Some 86 percent want the PA to push the International Criminal Court (ICC) to punish Israel for settlement expansion, and nearly half support a return to armed uprising, according to a late March poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) headed by Khalil Shikaki.

Palestinians’ Unpaid Electric Bills in the West Bank Thicken Tension With Israel

Elsewhere in the West Bank, the Israel Electric Corporation sells power to Palestinian municipalities and distribution companies, but, Mr. Milhem said, Israel holds the Palestinian Authority broadly responsible for payment. The World Bank found that some municipalities collected customers’ payments but used them to offset general expenses rather than passing them on to the Israelis.
Mr. Milhem said his agency had recently begun conducting municipal audits and cracking down on the companies. But he said the agency was unable even to determine how much Palestinians owed because many meters were in areas where Israel forbids Palestinian officials to work, something that Galit Globus, a lawyer for Israel Electric, denied.
The greatest scofflaws are the residents of refugee camps like Tulkarm, where Fisal Sallameh, a local leader, said a 2012 effort to settle the debts failed.
Residents of the camp are too poor to pay, Mr. Sallameh said, and they see electricity as the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority, which the refugees widely despise. “Let those dirt bags pay for us” is a common refrain, he said.
For more than a decade, the Palestinian Authority has essentially been paying at least part of the bills, as Israel deducts $12 million to $17 million from each month’s tax transfer of more than $100 million to pay down the electric debt. Mr. Milhem said there was an informal procedure in which the Palestinians were told how much was being subtracted and why.

Hardships for Palestinians in Gaza Set to Increase

The Islamist Hamas, which controls the densely populated Gaza Strip, has added another burden to the lives of residents of Gaza with the introduction of new import taxes on items considered non-essential. The announcement has local merchants fuming, with some threatening to cease imports into Gaza altogether.
Over 400 items will be affected, including a variety of crops, meat, fruits, vegetables, clothing and electronics. Most of the items are imports from Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
“The purpose of the law is to ease the suffering of the poor in the Gaza Strip,” said Ahmad Abu Halbiya, a member of Hamas’s parliamentary block who passed the new tax. “We’ll collapse as a society in Gaza if we do not impose these taxes. It’s not much but it will benefit the citizens of Gaza – especially the security police who need money for cars.” Abu Halbiya said that flour and medicines, as essential goods, would be exempt from the tax.
Abu Halbiya acknowledged that Hamas’s 40,000 employees will be the main recipients of the new tax revenue.
The new tax was drafted after members of parliament studied the basic needs of the people of Gaza, said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesperson. Abu Zuhri justified the decision by saying that “The civil servants of Gaza haven’t received regular salaries in over a year. The Strip cannot function without civil servants, who are the pillar of every state.” The tax will be brought in gradually so as to not overly burden Gazans, starting at around 1% and eventually increasing to 10%.

5 Senior Hezbollah Field Commanders Killed in Qalamoun Battle

The Battle of Qalamoun began yesterday, leaving dozens killed on both sides, in fighting between Hezbollah vs. Jabhat al-Nusra forces and the Syrian Free Army, according to Arab sources.
Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah, talked about this upcoming, strategically important battle at the beginning of the year.
Qalamoun is located along the Syrian-Lebanon border.
During the battle between Hezbollah terrorists and Syrian Jabhat al-Nusra forces on Tuesday, 5 senior Hezbollah field commanders were killed.

Nasrallah: Downfall of Assad would mean fall of Hezbollah

Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime must be preserved, as its collapse would mean the end of Hezbollah and the “axis of resistance,” the Lebanese movement’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has said, according to a Lebanese paper close to the Islamic group.
He went on to assert that Assad would not be overthrown, but that it would not be possible for his forces to recover control over all of Syria.
Nasrallah was speaking on Thursday night during a meeting with Free Patriotic Movement party head Michel Aoun, a Christian leader and former Lebanese army chief allied with Hezbollah, Al-Akhbar reported on Tuesday.
The Shi’ite “resistance axis” of Iran, Hezbollah and Syria has been fighting against a Sunni-dominated opposition including jihadists such as Nusra Front and Islamic State.

Hezbollah Recruiting Children as Young as Eight as Its Next Generation of Terrorists

The terrorist organization Hezbollah has begun recruiting children as young as eight to join the Mahdi Scouts, which prepares boys to become armed jihadists when they grow up. The scouts number some 50,000 members ranging in age from 8 to 18 and has branches in areas such as Beirut and south Lebanon, according to the Lebanese newspaper Al-Janubiya.
According to the Lebanese newspaper,
The Mahdi Scouts constitute a main element to the military body of Hezbollah, as the majority of the scouts’ members engage in jihadi work after the age of 16. At this age, the members get into their first military course called ‘combat literacy,’ in which teens recognize the principles knowledge of the weapon, and how to shoot at fixed targets.
They then get intensive summer courses, and after two years, these youngsters graduate as experienced fighters in various types of weapons and are ready to get engaged in the bloodiest battles at the orders of the Secretary General of Hezbollah. All this is in preparation for the real battles when they reach adulthood.

Citing U.S. “Fecklessness,” WaPo Editors Call for Urgent Leadership in Syria

Citing the current “fecklessness” of American policy towards Syria, which has led to the defection of moderate rebels to extremist factions and the growing military assertiveness of Saudi Arabia and Turkey, a staff editorial in The Washington Post called for an American-protected safe zone to allow moderate opposition leaders and rebels to organize within Syrian territory.
One consequence of this fecklessness has been the defection of Syrian fighters to jihadist groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra, which is affiliated with al-Qaeda. Another has been the apparent decision by Saudi Arabia’s new leadership to join with Turkey in providing new support to rebel groups, rather than continuing to wait for U.S. leadership. The rebel advances in northern Syria have been made by a coalition including Jabhat al-Nusra and more moderate factions. Though the Islamists say they will not impose their rule on the captured provincial capital, Idlib, they offer a unpalatable political alternative for the majority of Syrians and for the West.
Many military experts don’t think the Assad regime is near collapse, though such wartime judgments are necessarily uncertain. Yet it’s clear that a moderate and credible alternative is desperately needed. One big reason previous U.S. efforts to foster one have failed is that it has been impossible for civilian opposition leaders to base themselves and organize inside the country. That’s why a U.S.-backed safe zone, along with an expanded military training program, is needed: not to intervene in the civil war but to make an acceptable solution to it possible. A continued refusal by Mr. Obama to act will only increase the chance that as the Assad regime loses ground, that held by terrorists will expand.

Hollande Admits France Breached Syrian Weapons Embargo

French President Francois Hollande admitted to delivering weapons to Syrian rebels in 2012 despite an embargo, according to a new book coming out in France this month.
"We began when we were certain they would end up in the right hands. For the lethal weapons it was our services who delivered them," Hollande told author Xavier Panon in an interview in May last year, reports AFP.
The book by the journalist specializing in diplomatic and military issues, is entitled "In the corridors of French diplomacy."
Panon wrote that France delivered canons, machine guns, rocket launchers and anti-tank missiles to the rebels fighting Bashar Al-Assad's regime in an uprising that has turned into all-out civil war and drawn in thousands of foreign jihadists.
Over 220,000 people are said to have been killed in the fighting over the years.
Panon said the weapons delivered in the second half of 2012 were aimed at aiding the rebellion as opposed to having a decisive effect on changing the course of the conflict.
At the time an European embargo on weapons was in place since June 2011. It was lifted in May 2013.

Turkey's Obsessive Fantasy

The idea that there are crypto-Jews or secret friends of Israel is increasingly popular with Muslims who are waging political, ideological and sectarian wars among themselves.
To put it in simpler words, Davutoglu, Turkey's Prime Minister, wants Israel to be harmed.
The Turkish Prime Minister clearly admits that without Egypt's control over the border and destruction of smuggling tunnels, the Palestinians will smuggle arms into Gaza to commit acts of terror against Israel.
In a saner part of the world, Davutoglu (and therefore Turkey) could be accused of openly sponsoring terrorism.

200 Pakistanis Honor Garland Shooters as ‘Martyrs of Islam’

In Pakistan Tuesday, around 200 Muslims held a gathering to honor the jihadis who attempted to carry out a terror attack against a free speech event on Sunday in Garland, Texas.
The terrorists, Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi (the latter of whom has Pakistani roots), attempted to storm a “Draw Muhammad” event promoting free speech, just as it was ending, in order to inflict maximum damage. However, the AK47-armed suspects failed in their jihad when a Garland police officer neutralized them with his sidearm.
In Peshawar, Pakistan, a cleric named Pir Mohammad Chishti led an absentia funeral service for Simpson and Soofi. He said that the two were “the real heroes of Islam and we must be proud of their courage, NBC News reports.
Russia Today posted a video on YouTube showing demonstrators from the rally holding a sign that read, “We Strongly Condemn The Blasphemous Event Organized By PAMELA GELLER Under AFDI.” Geller’s organization, the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), hosted the “Draw Muhammad” free speech event.

Why Can't Muslims Laugh at Mohammed?

In Mel Brooks' comedy History of the World Part I, Moses is shown descending from Mount Sinai with three stone tablets in hand. As he declares, "I give you the Fifteen Commandments," one falls and breaks, and Moses corrects himself, "er, Ten Commandments."
Jews, including the observant, find this funny rather than offensive. As we learned once again in Garland, Texas, Muslims do not laugh at jokes about Mohammed, the purported author of the Koran (as Moses is the author of the Torah). Two wannabe Jihadists with assault rifles and body armor were no match for an off-duty Texas traffic cop with a sidearm, but the incident might have turned into a massacre worse than the murder of the Charlie Hebdo staff in January.
Why do Jews as well as Christians–but not Muslims–laugh at jokes about the founders of their faiths?
The answer is that radically different deities are in question. Judaism begins with a covenant between God and human beings–Abraham and his descendants–that is a partnership in which God is normally, but not always, the senior partner. As Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks observes, the Jewish sages of antiquity envisioned Moses acting as a judge for God, permitting God to annul his earlier vow to destroy the Jewish people after the sin of the Golden Calf. This is unimaginable in Islam, just as unimaginable as the Christian God who humbles himself on the cross.

PA MP calls for giving medal to murderer of Jewish worshipper

Palestine Times reports that a Hamas MP in the West Bank has called for rewarding the policeman who shot and killed Ben-Yosef Livnat as he was returning from prayers at Joseph's Tomb in Shechem (Nablus.)

Sheikh Hamed Al-Betawi, MP for the "Change and Reform" party (Hamas), says that the killer should be released and he should received the Order of Pride Medal, apparently a top PA prize.

He also bitterly complained that PA negotiators were prepared to give the Jews rights to the Western Wall, which he insisted is purely Muslim.

Ken Roth of @HRW reveals his contempt for Israel again

A new tweet from Ken Roth of Human Rights Watch:

Israel should ensure it has no weapons and then let the ship into Gaza with humanitarian aid. http://t.co/elkOMKsQjZ pic.twitter.com/rGcvQM9x06

— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) May 13, 2015

The article he links to:

A trawler left Sweden on its way to break Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip 5,000 nautical miles away.

The Marianne of Gothenburg departed on Sunday evening and is the first ship in the Freedom Flotilla III to leave for Gaza, according to the website of the Ship to Gaza Sweden campaign.

The boat, which was purchased jointly by the Ship to Gaza Sweden and Ship to Gaza Norway, is carrying solar panels and medical equipment, according to Ship to Gaza Sweden, along with five crew members and eight passengers.

The Ship to Gaza organization is calling for an immediate end to the naval blockade of Gaza; opening of the Gaza Port; and secure passage for Palestinians between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Sweden officially recognized the state of Palestine last October.

Among the passengers are Israeli-born Swedish citizen Dror Feiler, a musician and spokesman of Ship to Gaza; Dr. Henry Ascher, a professor of public health and pediatrician; Lennart Berggren, a filmmaker; Maria Svensson, pro tem spokeswoman of the Feministiskt initiative; and Mikael Karlsson, chairman of Ship to Gaza Sweden.

The boat is named after Marianne Skoog, a veteran member of the Swedish Palestine Solidarity movement, who died in May 2014.

Roth is suggesting that Israel allow the ship into Gaza, just to allow the tiny amount of humanitarian aid to get in.

However, what he is really saying is that he wants Hamas to be able to import weapons via the sea.

Because Israel allows medical equipment, and yes, solar panels, into Gaza. In previous attempts to bring pathetic amounts of "aid" into Gaza, Israel offered to have the ships brought into an Israeli port from which the ships could have the goods unloaded and sent to Gaza - and the people on board refused.

Roth knows that the purpose of the ship is not to bring in aid, which is only limited by Israel for items that have a possible military dimension. The purpose of the ship is to end Israel's legal blockade of Gaza.

The people behind the movement say this explicitly, calling it "a peaceful, nonviolent action to break the ... blockade of the Gaza Strip" - not to bring in aid.

If Israel lets the ship through, the legality of the blockade - a legality that even the UN recognizes - becomes weaker, making it easier for Hamas to eventually import weapons via the sea.

Here is a brief list of criteria for a blockade to be legal:

In order to be legal, several conditions have to be fulfilled. The first is the requirement to give widespread notice when a blockade is applied and to make sure that any ship that is stopped knows that there is a blockade. Nowadays the problem of notification is much easier than in the past because of the great improvement in communications.

Another condition for the legality of a sea blockade is effectiveness. It is not enough simply to declare a blockade. It has to be enforced, otherwise it is not valid and legal.

According to a further condition, a blockade should not cut off an unrelated foreign state from access to the sea. In the case of Gaza, the blockade does not prevent Egypt from reaching the sea.

Furthermore, a blockade has to be based on equality: It must apply to everybody. Of course there is always the possibility that the blockading party may give special permission to certain neutral ships to go through, but these are exceptions.

A blockade has to permit the passage of humanitarian assistance if needed. However, the San Remo Manual includes two conditions (in Article 103): first, the blockading party may decide where and when and through which port the assistance should reach the coast. In addition, the state may require that a neutral organization on the coast should control the distribution of the items. For instance, in Gaza, does it reach the civilians or Hamas?

Finally, there is the condition that a state may not starve the civilian population (San Remo, Article 102). This conforms also to the general principles of the laws on armed conflict.

It is obvious that the Marianne of Gothenburg is not a humanitarian aid ship. It is a political statement. If Israel allows ships whose sole purpose is political to enter Gaza, then the blockade crumbles, because it is no longer enforced equally. By forcing the ships to land in Ashkelon and from there bringing the aid in, Israel is maintaining a blockade that is necessary for the safety of Israeli citizens from Hamas weapons.

Ken Roth, by pretending that the Marianne of Gothenburg is an aid ship, reveals yet again his loathing for Israel.

He shows that he wants the legal blockade of Gaza to be destroyed.

He shows that he supports people whose sole purpose is to destroy Israel, not to bring in aid to Gaza.

He shows that he shares the goals of these anti-Israel activists, wanting to use the facade of "humanitarian aid" as a lever to isolate Israel politically.

And he shows his hypocrisy, because this tweet shows that Roth's concern for the human rights of Israelis within range of Hamas weapons is nil.

Roth's tweet shows yet again what a contemptible person he is, under the guise of human rights.

Latest videos of antisemitic harassment - and soccer - on the Temple Mount

Here we see the army of screaming Muslim women following a group of peaceful Jews strolling on their holiest spot.

It is as pure a view of antisemitism as one can imagine, and the Muslims are very proud of them.

Only after the Jews exit the holy spot do they start singing. (I really want them to adapt a "Yibaneh Hamikdash" tune to "Allahu Akbar" and start dancing every time they hear the chants outside the Mount gates.)



This soccer game was filmed during Passover:

Dutch might ban ritual slaughter. Is circumcision next?

Holland is considering banning ritual slaughter. From AP:

One of Europe's first countries to allow Jews to practice their religion openly may soon pass a law banning centuries-old Jewish and Muslim traditions on the ritual slaughter of animals.

In the Netherlands, an unlikely alliance of an animal rights party and the xenophobic Freedom Party is spearheading support for the ban on kosher and halal slaughter methods that critics say inflict unacceptable suffering on animals.

The far right's embrace of the bill, which is expected to go to a parliamentary vote this month, is based mostly on its strident hostility toward the Dutch Muslim population. The Party for the Animals, the world's first such party to be elected to parliament, says humane treatment of animals trumps traditions of tolerance.

Jewish and Muslim groups call the initiative an affront to freedom of religion.

As in most western countries, Dutch law dictates that butchers must stun livestock — render it unconscious — before it can be slaughtered, to minimize the animals' pain and fear. But an exception is made for meat that must be prepared under ancient Jewish and Muslim dietary laws and practices. These demand that animals be slaughtered while still awake, by swiftly cutting the main arteries of their necks with razor-sharp knives.

What scientific studies exist that show that Jewish ritual slaughter is more painful than stunning animals before slaughtering them? I am not aware of any. What I am aware of is how Temple Grandin, possibly the world's foremost expert on animal pain during slaughter, has described when Jewish slaughter - shechita - is done correctly:

When shechitah was performed on each steer, I was amazed that the animal did not move. To find out if shechitah was really painless, I started holding the head of each animal with less and less pressure to see if it would move during shechitah. Even big bulls stayed still when the head holder was so loose they could have easily pulled their heads out....In the hands of the best shochets, the animal does not make a sound or flinch, and drops unconscious in eight to 10 seconds.

So the Ap article is correct: the push to ban ritual slaughter is not based on compassion for animals but on xenophobia for Muslims, which is spilling over into Jews.

In short, the proposed ban is an expression of pure bigotry.

And it is not stopping there. From the apparent success of the campaign against ritual slaughter, the xenophobes have now set their sights on circumcision. An op-ed in de Volkskrant, a major Dutch newspaper, argues that male circumcision is immoral and just as barbaric as stoning or female genital mutilation, and therefore should be outlawed.

Interestingly, the arguments again are not based on any scientific study that shows a negative effects from male circumcision. The arguments are:

- Boys circumcision is a medically futile act on a minor patient.
- Boys Circumcision violates the integrity of the body, the right to religious freedom and the right to autonomy of the child.
- Boys Circumcision is contrary to the rule that minors may only be subjected to medical procedures in cases of illness or changes, or if it can be convincingly demonstrated that the intervention in the interests of the child, such as vaccinations.
- Boys Circumcision has sometimes serious complications.

Of course, religious imperative to this writer does not override the lack of real negative consequences.

How can we prove that the writer is clearly anti-religion, rather than just advocating for the rights of male babies?

It is very simple. The exact same four points can be made about the practice of piercing the ears of young girls. It violates the integrity of the body, it violates the rights of children to make their own choices, and it sometimes has serious complications, including major infections. Yet can one conceive of a Dutch law to criminalize piercings?

In both the cases of the ritual slaughter and circumcision, people who are driven by xenophobia are hiding behind humanitarian rationales to push their agenda of hate. Otherwise, they would be far more interested in coming up with standards where religious rituals such as these can be made as safe and humane as possible.

This is one reason why Jews need to be careful about which far-right groups they associate with. Not all of them are this bad, of course. But some anti-Muslim groups are motivated more by irrational hate of anything associated with Islam rather than for justice and human rights. They can easily become as obsessed with Jews as they are with Muslims.

(h/t Metzada)

US reaction (and inaction) over Maersk Tigris sends a huge signal to Israel, Gulf Arabs

Map depicting the MV Maersk Tigris’ original path toward the UAE and diversion after being intercepted by the IRGCN. (Source: marinetraffic.com)

The best roundup of what happened yesterday in the Persian Gulf comes from the (Asia/Pacific) Diplomat site:

The shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz have long been highlighted as a potential flashpoint amid the simmering geopolitical tensions between the United States and Iran. Its waters are of particular geostrategic significance given that over a third of the world’s petroleum traded by sea passes through the region. Iran has repeatedly emphasized its dominance over the waters, threatening to blockade the strait in a time of crisis. Today, we saw an acute manifestation of Iran’s audacity when the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) seized and escorted the Marshall Islands-flagged MV Maersk Tigris, a shipping vessel belonging to Denmark’s A.P. Moller–Maersk Group and chartered by Singapore-based Rickmers Shipmanagement, toward the Iranian port at Bandar Abbas. The incident sparked a response by U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT), which ordered the USS Farragut, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that was 60 miles from the point of the Tigris’ interception, to respond to the vessel’s distress signal.

Saudi Arabia-backed, UAE-based Al Arabiya was among the first sources to break the news in English. It reported that Iran had fired warning shots (true) and seized a U.S.-flagged vessel (false). Nevertheless, the initial reports sparked considerable online panic at the prospect that the United States and Iran could be headed for a major confrontation. The report also noted that the crew of the ship numbered 34 and were American. Needless to say, U.S. citizens being held against their will by Iran hits a raw nerve for the United States given certain historical events. We’ve since learned, thanks to Reuters, that the Tigris’ has a crew of 24, most of whom hail “from Eastern Europe and Asia.” In the process of the seizure, the IRGCN fired across the bow of the ship. Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren told CNN that “the master was contacted and directed to proceed further into Iranian territorial waters. He declined and one of the IRGCN craft fired shots across the bridge of the Maersk Tigris.”

In the wake of the Tigris incident, CNN learned that a U.S.-flagged ship had been intercepted by the IRGCN – on Friday, April 24, four whole days before the Tigris incident. Reportedly, the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet issued a notice to commercial ships to exercise caution in the Persian Gulf and the Hormuz Strait following the incident.

The Marshall Islands isn’t normally a country whose name you’ll read at the center of a major international incident, but the fact that the Tigris was flagged with the country’s flag complicated the situation. After gaining independence from the United States in 1986, the Marshall Islands enjoys pseudo-protectorate status under the United States’ security umbrella. As per the Compact of Free Association governing the relationship between the United States and the Marshall Islands, the United States “has full authority and responsibility for security and defense matters in or relating to the Republic of the Marshall Islands.” The U.S. Defense Department’s lawyers have determined, however, that for the purposes of the Tigris‘ capture by the IRGCN, the U.S. has no obligation to respond or come to the defense of the Marshall Islands-flagged vessel. (Eli Lake and Josh Rogin have more on the Marshall Islands angle over at Bloomberg View.)

.@CBSDavidMartin "Pentagon lawyers have determined..US has no obligation to come to the defense of a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel at sea"
— Major Garrett (@MajorCBS) April 28, 2015

There is a flip side to the US agreement to defend the Marshall Islands - it is that the Marshall Islands cannot defend itself. As a State Department factsheet explains,

The United States has full authority and responsibility for security and defense of the Marshall Islands, and the Government of the Marshall Islands is obligated to refrain from taking actions that would be incompatible with these security and defense responsibilities.

 By relying on the US for its defense, it means that if attacked, the tiny country has no alternative means of defense.

Which means that when the Defense Department lawyers say that the Tigris does not fall under that agreement, the Marshall Islands has no recourse. On the contrary - the US would probably act to stop any move by the Marshall Islands to confront Iran militarily.

The symbolism cannot be lost on Israel and the Gulf countries who have been told for decades that the US will defend them against aggression. Here, the US has openly and swiftly signaled that in today's world, such defense is much more rhetoric than reality.

This is all besides the more general promise by the US to keep the shipping lanes to the Gulf open for all that seems to have been significantly weakened..

US allies are being told that they cannot rely on the US anymore and that any assertions to the contrary are just words. America will make noises, for sure - the USS Farragut is just that - but the US  message to its allies is much louder than the message that the destroyer is supposedly making to Iran.

Afternoon links

Human Rights Watch head Ken Roth tweeted "Ban Ki-Moon wrong on #Osama bin Laden: It's not "justice" for him to be killed even if justified; no trial, conviction.

Cluelessness defined: The National Jewish Democratic Council wrote, in response to the Fatah/Hamas unity agreement:

We are hopeful that President Obama will show continuing strong leadership; that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not see this as a reason to be deterred from presenting bold steps towards a lasting peace; and that this reported accord will put pressure on the most extreme elements of Palestinian society to lay down their weapons and end this generation’s old conflict.

YNet must-read op-ed by Manfred Gerstenfeld on the nypocrisy of world leaders praising Bin Laden's execution when they vilified Israel for doing the same to Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 2004.

Khaled Abu Toameh asks if Hamas will take over the PA.

A good (subscription-only) article by Noah Pollak about B'Tselem.

Ma'an lists the likely candidates for new PA PM.

Israel Matzav notes that the fawning Vogue story about the Assads of Syria has mysteriously disappeared from their website.

A new Israeli technology can help map archaeological treasures in 3D up to 150 meters underground.

(h/t Noah, Gerald)

Abbas joins despots in Russia to celebrate victory over Abbas' heroes

From Ma'an:

President Mahmoud Abbas was among up to 30 world leaders on Saturday to attend a huge military parade in Moscow commemorating Russia's 70th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany.

Victory Day unites Russians from all walks of life irrespective of political sympathies and huge crowds were expected to flood into central Moscow.

But the Kremlin parade has been overshadowed by the Ukraine crisis, with the West laying sanctions on Moscow over Russia's seizure of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

In what has been seen as punishment for the Kremlin's meddling in Ukraine, Western countries have been boycotting the May 9 festivities, and United States President Barack Obama has snubbed the festivities, as have the leaders of Russia's other key WWII allies Britain and France.

The most high-profile guests on the podium next to Russian President Vladimir Putin were Chinese leader Xi Jinping, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon, and India's President Pranab Mukherjee.

Other leaders in attendance included President Abbas, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, Raul Castro of Cuba, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Jacob Zuma of South Africa.

As I recently pointed out, Abbas considers the infamous Mufti of Jerusalem, who was a partner with Hitler in planning the genocide of Jews, a hero.

The irony of his celebrating the defeat of the Nazis when his political forebears were solidly pro-Nazi is lost on the world.

Real Breaking the Silence 4: Matan Katzman

From Facebook:

I'm breaking the silence. Here is my report, continuing an important initiative under the Hashtag #האמת_שלי (Hebrew for #My_Truth).
**
Beit Hanoun, the Gaza Strip, 2006. Operation "Autumn's Clouds". We're entering a home. At the entrance, we meet a man and his wife. We take them to a side room and offer them something to drink. We ask the man if he has anything to do with Hamas. "No, of course not, we have no connection to them." Then we ask if they have any weapons in their home. "No, of course not," he replies. The team stays at the house for a few hours. Before leaving it, soldiers who stayed in one of the rooms decide to move the couch, revealing an explosive device aimed at detonating armored vehicles. The man is safe and sound.
**
Beit Hanoun, the Gaza Strip, 2006. Operation "Autumn's Clouds". We are searching for weapons in the town center (Kasbah) and are advancing from one house to the other. In one of them, a middle-aged civilian man doesn’t feel well. Our medic, Roi, diagnoses possible heart problems. We halt the weapons search and advancing to other houses so that Roi can treat him. With the assistance of the man's daughter, a fluent English speaker, we call the Red Crescent and prolong our stay in his home, thereby exposing and endangering ourselves even further.
Shortly after we hear a powerful boom and shrapnel flies all around. An IDF team from an adjacent team operating nearby who has not received word that we are still providing emergency medical treatment to the man in the previous house accidentally activates a break-in device on the door of the home just a few meters from us. It is a miracle that nobody is injured.
**
Zaytoun neighborhood, the Gaza Strip, 2009. Operation Cast Lead”. My team is ordered to take control of an apartment building home to a prominent Hamas operative was living there with his family. The IDF could have easily bombed it from the air but we endanger ourselves and search the building by foot. On the second floor, in the in the parents bedroom there is a large clothes cabinet with a big mirror over it. In a compartment in the cabinet we find grenade launchers, mortar shells, hand guns, rifles, hand grenades, army vests, two-way radios, cell-phones and thousands of bullets.
In the backyard we find two rocket launchers nestled between the olive trees, likely where the sons of the Hamas operative play. In a corner of the yard is a suspicious hut, which, upon searching it, we identify as a factory for assembling rockets. The hut is filled with rockets, explosive devices, fertilizers used for preparing explosives and Arabic manuals for assembling and launching rockets - all this in a private home in which the operative lives with his wife and children. Though the IDF had strong suspicions about what we will find in the home, all of which – and more - ultimately proves to be true, the house is not bombed from the air. IDF soldiers – myself and my team – are dispatched to search the house, thereby minimalizing damage to property and Hamas.
**
I'm writing here after sitting and reading dozens of pages of anonymous testimonies given by "Breaking the Silence" which, like many other testimonies are out of context, lack proof, do not explain the complexities of war and ignore the reality of Hamas’ cynical use of civilians. They are simply ignorance and another opportunity to bash Israeli soldiers.
**
There are stories that are a thousand times more heroic than mine. I am not looking for, nor do I need, any attention. I'm doing this because I am proud of the IDF, I have full trust in the soldiers who fought beside me, and I believe in their high standard of morality. I refuse to allow a tiny, anonymous minority, to slander the IDF. I am aware of mistakes and errors conducted by soldiers in the battlefield. These cases represent a tiny fraction of Israeli soldiers. They are an exception and do not represent IDFs soldiers and officers – including myself - in any way.
**
It is about time we Israelis scrape off our cynicism and start telling our personal stories. “Breaking the Silence” does not tell my story. I recently had the chance to share my story in the U.S. on the StandWithUs Israeli Soldiers Tour. Israeli soldiers: share your story and add the hashtag #האמת_שלי #My_Truth.
**
In the picture: Entering the home of the Hamas terrorist that was not bombed from the air, Zaytoun, Gaza.

"Saudis attacking Houthis because Saud family is Jewish"

Syria-based DamPress has an article saying that the entire reason Saudi Arabia is attacking the Houthis in Yemen is to defend Jews.

The article is called "A war for Israel" by Ali Abboud.

The cartoon says "Jerusalem is that way!" as the Saudi fighter goes towards Yemen. (The words on the garment are a derogatory reference to the Saudi royal family.)

According to the article, the Saudi leaders know that Houthi slogan, "God is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, Damn the Jews, Power to Islam." The phrase that makes them upset is "Damn the Jews."

Abboud says that without understanding this "fact," one cannot explain why the Saudis are bombing the Houthis.

According to this article, Israel is most concerned that a Houthi-dominated Yemen would close the Mandeb Strait between the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, so the Saudis are defending Israel from that possibility.

Why is Saudi Arabia so concerned over Israel? Not because they are Zionist.

It is because, you see, the Saudi royal family is really Jewish!

Jews who were fleeing persecution ended up in the Gulf and pretended to be Arabs, according to his version of the legend. They prayed with Muslims and buried their dead in Muslim cemeteries.

But those crafty Jews, who took over Arabia, created the Wahhabi faith in order to destroy Islam from within.

This idea  that the al-Saud family is really Jewish has been around for a long time.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

05/19 Links Pt1: PA accuses Israel of conducting “secret medical experiments” on prisoners

From Ian:

---

PMW: Israel conducts “secret medical experiments” on prisoners

One of the ways the Palestinian Authority demonizes Israel is by spreading libels. One such libel claims that Israel conducts medical experiments on Palestinian prisoners, poisons them and deliberately kills them.
Last month, the official PA daily stated that Israel carries out medical experiments and speculated that it “perhaps” poisons them as well:
“The occupation authorities conduct medical experiments on the prisoners, giving them medicines and perhaps poison.” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 12, 2015]
Director of the PLO Prisoners’ Affairs Commission and PA Parliament Member Issa Karake often reiterates this libel. Recently, after visiting a released prisoner, Karake stated that sick prisoners “are victims of severe crimes committed against prisoners in prisons, which expose them to deadly, chronic diseases resulting from secret medical experiments on their bodies, and their deliberate negligence.” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 31, 2015]
He has also claimed that:
“[Israeli] prisons have become the source of an epidemic, a source of death and a source of dissemination of diseases in the bodies of the prisoners.” [Official PA TV, April 13, 2015]
The official PA daily has claimed that Israeli prisons have a “system called ‘slow death’” to do away with prisoners, and has compared Israeli treatment to the medical experiments of Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, who experimented on Jews in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
“[There is] an entire system called 'slow death,' which the Israeli establishment uses against Palestinian prisoners, from the moment of their arrest until they are released... The 'experiments' stage is perhaps one of the most dangerous stages in the slow death of released prisoners, who suffer from diseases, which they contracted in prison. This way, the Israeli jailers attempt to imitate the German Nazis, who were the first to use prisoners as guinea pigs, for testing the weapons and the deadly drugs, which they developed. The Nazi German doctor, Josef Mengele, was the most famous among them." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 17, 2011]

JPost Editorial: Nonproliferation

A centerpiece of US President Barack Obama’s foreign policy agenda has been nonproliferation. But with Saudi Arabia more than just threatening to acquire nuclear capability “off the shelf” from Pakistan and with other Sunni states sure to follow, his dream of a nuclear-free planet seems more out of reach than ever.
Obama’s pursuit of nonproliferation goes back at least to his short tenure in the Senate. As a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, he traveled to Russia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine to inspect nuclear facilities and developed an idea of international diplomacy. It was at this time that he began talking about initiating conversations with Iran.
In 2009 Obama, in a speech in Prague, made sweeping promises proclaiming that the US has a “moral responsibility” to lead the world toward a nuclear-free reality.
The following year, the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) with Russia was signed.
But the New START treaty was marred by Russia’s unwillingness to cooperate. It was barely ratified and generated no additional nonproliferation deals.
Elsewhere, the nonproliferation cause seemed to be falling apart as well. Not only did North Korea – despite diplomatic efforts – obtain nuclear capability, it began spreading its know-how elsewhere.
Where diplomacy failed, however, the use of force provided remarkable results.

Netanyahu: Jerusalem won’t be divided again

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday vowed that Jerusalem would never be split in any peace deal with the Palestinians, and said construction throughout the capital would continue, despite international criticism.
In a Knesset speech marking Jerusalem Day, which was on Sunday, the prime minister goaded opposition leader Isaac Herzog to clarify his position vis-à-vis Jerusalem and concessions he would be willing to make to the Palestinians. The challenge prompted an angry response from Herzog, who maintained he would never divide Jerusalem, while accusing Netanyahu of calling its unified status into question.
“Jerusalem won’t be divided again,” Netanyahu said. “It won’t go back to being a frontier or a border town.”
The prime minister praised Israeli efforts to develop the capital, while conceding that “it doesn’t mean the unification is perfect.
“It doesn’t mean that there are no problems, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t tasks [ahead of us]. There is a lot to perfect, and a lot to improve, but we will not go backwards.”
Netanyahu said that, with regard to Jerusalem, “I have a clear position — we build in Jerusalem.

PA, Hamas Blast Netanyahu Over Comments on United Jerusalem

Later Monday, both the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Hamas movement slammed Netanyahu over his remarks, according to the IANS news agency.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, said in a press statement that Netanyahu's remarks contradict UN resolutions and violate international conventions.
"There will be no peace or settlement in the Middle East without having east Jerusalem as the capital of Palestinian state," Abu Rudeineh declared, according to IANS.
He also slammed earlier remarks made by an Israeli minister in Netanyahu's cabinet, who stated that the Jews would soon pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
"Such remarks will lead to a big fire that will be very hard to control either by the Arabs or the Muslims all over the world," warned Abu Rudeineh.
Meanwhile, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in an emailed press statement that Netanyahu's remarks that Jerusalem would not be divided "shows the failure of the so-called peace process".
"Talking about the resumption of the so-called peace talks with the Israeli occupation while these remarks are mad is like thirsty people looking for water in the desert," Abu Zuhri said, according to IANS.

Top Turkish Cleric Gormez: We Should Not Accept Jerusalem As the Capital of Anyone but the Muslims

In a sermon delivered at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on May 15 and posted on the Internet, Mehmet Gormez, President of the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs, said: "We should not accept that Jerusalem be the capital of anyone else. It is the capital city of the Muslims. We ask Allah to protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the aggressors."

The Vatican, Palestinian statehood and international law

Above all, Jerusalem must begin to argue vigorously against European Union guidelines, insisting that Palestine’s borders never be based upon pre-1967 lines. In the February 10, 2013 words of Israeli legal expert Ambassador Alan Baker: “The legality of the presence of Israel’s communities in the area [Judea and Samaria] stems from the historic, indigenous and legal rights of the Jewish people to settle in the area, granted pursuant to valid and binding international legal instruments, recognized and accepted by the international community.
These rights cannot be denied or placed in question.”
Accordingly, Jerusalem should finally affirm that Israeli settlement activity is entirely consistent with international law, and also that those jailed Palestinian terrorists who have murdered Israeli civilians will never be released as any so-called “good will gesture.” There is, in short, no defensible reason for Jerusalem to continue its participation in an asymmetrically suicidal diplomacy.
Promisingly, in this connection, the new coalition under Prime Minister Netanyahu is apt to acknowledge this conclusion, and to more vigorously contest any propagandistic Palestinian manipulations of the International Criminal Court.
Before a Palestinian state can be correctly declared, it will first have to satisfy all codified and customary criteria of governing international law. Neither the Vatican nor the European Union can permissibly justify any “end run” around this corpus of binding rules. Jurisprudentially, at least, the creation of Palestine can never be based upon a fully concocted hodgepodge of irrelevant and dangerous political arguments.

Motti Yogev: Annex PA, Give Arabs Limited Autonomy

MK Moti Yogev (Jewish Home) praised the appointment of Interior Minister Silvan Shalom (Likud) as the minister in charge of peace talks and US-Israel relations, stating that it is a fitting choice.
"Bearing in mind the numerous matters occupying the time of Prime Minister, it is good to appoint a minister who will address this issue, the formulation and the implementation of paths to security and coexistence between us and our neighbors, even between us and the US, the EU and the international community," Yogev stated to Arutz Sheva Tuesday.
However, Yogev explained that Shalom and the entire political system must change their stance on both Israel-Palestinian Authority (PA) and US-Israel issues, and formulate a solution different from those which have been suggested thus far.
"There has not been a Palestinian state and there will never be one, and this ridiculous slogan that has taken hold, should be shattered and replaced with a different plan," he said, apparently referring to the "two-state solution" slogan.

Top EU diplomat heads to Mideast to reboot peace talks

The European Union’s top diplomat said Monday that she’s going to the Mideast to try to revive the moribund peace process, and to challenge Israel and the Palestinians to share their ideas on how to break the deadlock.
Federica Mogherini, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, said, “I believe that one thing is clear to everybody in the region, that the status quo is not an option.”
“My very early visit has a political meaning,” Mogherini told a press conference, according to a Reuters report. She took over as the head of EU foreign policy last November, taking over for Catherine Ashton.
Mogherini was set to meet with both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during her two-day visit.

Follow Up, AP Correction on Pope's Disputed "Angel of Peace" Comment

The follow up articles examining the uncertainty of the Pope's remarks and the surrounding controversy include those by The New York Times ("Vatican Seeks to Quiet Uproar of Pope's 'Angel of Peace' Remark") and AFP ("Pope 'angel of peace' Abbas comment was encouragement: Vatican"). Reuters has also indicated that an article examining the disputed the statement is under way.
In addition, The Associated Press issued the following correction:
In a story May 16 about Pope Francis meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, The Associated Press erroneously omitted two words when quoting the pope. Francis told Abbas "you are a bit an angel of peace," not "you are an angel of peace." The original Italian quote was, "Lei e un po un angelo della pace."
In response to CAMERA query as to how the AP reached this new wording, we received the following statement from Paul Colford, Director of AP Media Relations:
AP Rome correspondent Nicole Winfield was in attendance and covered last week's exchange between Pope Francis and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
After others questioned AP's report that the pope said to Mr. Abbas, "you are an angel of peace," AP reviewed written notes and a videotape of the meeting that supported Winfield's English-language translation of the pope's remarks, except for the omission of two words, the Italian "un po," or "a bit."
A correction distributed by AP on Monday evening shows these two words within the pope's comment as it was originally reported by AP: "you are a bit an angel of peace."

Angering Pope Francis, Netanyahu to Address Cardinals on Recognition of Palestine (satire)

In a sign of growing tension between himself and Pope Francis, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday he will address the College of Cardinals regarding the Vatican’s recent recognition of the State of Palestine.
“While I have great respect for the office of the papacy, it’s my duty as the leader of the Jewish nation to prevent the Holy See from making a grave mistake,” Netanyahu said, insisting the speech was not political. “The Cardinals are the only ones who can stop this bad deal.”
Within the College of Cardinals, members appear divided on the Israeli leader’s snub of the head of the Vatican’s executive branch. Supporters of the pope said they would not attend the speech in protest, though they admitted they were looking forward to the extravagant post-speech ice cream social planned by the Israeli embassy. The pope’s opponents, however, said they were eager to hear from the Israeli premier and blamed Francis for the deteriorating relationship between Rome and Jerusalem.

Arab, Israeli diplomats said to hold secret powwow in Jordan

Israeli diplomats and representatives of several Arab states that don’t have formal relations with Israel met in Jordan for clandestine talks, Israel Radio reported Tuesday.
Envoys from the European Union and the United States also attended the meeting, which focused among other things on regional security cooperation should American influence in the Middle East diminish.
Some of the Sunni Arab diplomats expressed a desire to strengthen security ties between their governments and Israel, but said such cooperation would be contingent on advances in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the report said.
The countries in attendance were not named in the report.
A slew of recent reports indicate that covert ties exist between Israel and Gulf states because of their shared concern over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

How Did Clinton Conflict of Interest Schemes Work? Ask Sidney.

For the past two years, liberals have been laughing at Republican attempts to link Hillary Clinton to something incriminating or at least embarrassing about the Benghazi terror attack. But, as we saw with the issue of her emails that was uncovered by the investigatory efforts of the House special committee on Benghazi there is still plenty for her to be concerned about. Today, the latest shoe dropped in a depressing drip, drip, drip of scandal. As the New York Times reports, longtime Clinton family hit man Sidney Blumenthal was simultaneously advising Hillary on Libya during her time serving as secretary of state while also by employed by the Clinton Foundation and also working for other independent groups that were laying the groundwork for her presidential campaign. At best, this blatant conflict of interest raises questions, in the words of the Times, about the “blurry lines between business, politics and philanthropy that have enriched and vexed the Clintons and their inner circle for years.” At worst, it’s another sordid example of the corruption and bad judgment at the heart of the Clinton machine’s style of governing.
The Times goes on to detail the rather tangled web that Blumenthal and his associates wove. But the main questions we should be asking is what on earth was someone knee deep in a bizarre Libyan business scheme acting as an advisor to the secretary of state about a country with which he had previously had little to do.
Blumenthal was writing intelligence memos about Libya that were largely the product of the opinions of his business associates. Some of the memos he wrote made sense. Ambassador Chris Stevens, who would be murdered by terrorists in the Benghazi attack, shot others down. But whether or not they made sense, Clinton circulated them to her department as gospel, appended with notes praising their insight. But whether they were right or wrong, it is simply astonishing that someone who was on her family foundation payroll as well as working for other political outfits aimed at furthering her political future was put in a position where he could influence policy related to his business interests.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian Authority advances bid to file lawsuits against Israel at ICC

Authority has submitted an official request to the International Criminal Court to set a date to discuss the possibility of two war-crimes lawsuits against Israel, PA Foreign Minister Riad Malki said on Monday.
The Palestinians want the ICC to sue Israel for war crimes it claims were committed during last summer’s Operation Protective Edge and for Jewish building over the 1949 Armistice Line in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Malki, who is currently visiting Italy, told the Voice of Palestine radio station that he submitted the request to the ICC two days ago.
“I have submitted a request to the court to set a date for us to present the files of settlements and Israeli war crimes,” Malki said. “We’re now awaiting the court’s response. This could take place in mid-June.”
Malki said that, once the ICC sets a date, he would head to The Hague to follow up on the case. He said a special Palestinian committee has been entrusted with preparing the files that would be brought before the ICC.
“The procedures have begun and we will work seriously and professionally in accordance with a timeline,” he added.

Iran-backed jihadi threat is top priority for new government, Netanyahu says

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally presented his new cabinet at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on Tuesday, and vowed to put the fight against Islamist extremists at the top of his agenda.
“This government has been established at a time of great challenges and opportunities,” Netanyahu said. “Our first challenge is to ensure the security of Israel in the face of accumulating threats around us. Radical Islam is lapping at all our borders, nearly all in the form of factions and forces led by Iran and other radical elements.”
He said, however, that the country would seek to forge new alliances given the regional turmoil, hinting at Israel’s shared interests with Sunni states against Iran’s nuclear program.
“Many states in the area have joint interests with us and see eye to with us on the dangers. We will make every effort to translate that partnership into peace.”
Netanyahu added that Israel would seek “a responsible political settlement with the Palestinians.”

Sen. King: Iran Oversight Legislation Is Triumph of Policy over Partisanship

To that end, it’s very important that Congress has a productive and sensible say in approving or disapproving a deal. And in a rare triumph of thoughtful governing over partisan politics, the Senate overwhelmingly passed the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 earlier this month to make sure that responsible review can happen if a deal is reached. This bill would require that any final agreement with Iran be submitted to Congress for a 30-day review period before congressionally mandated sanctions on Iran could be waived or suspended by the president. A key element of the legislation is that the review would take place after any potential deal is reached with Iran, ensuring that any partisan gamesmanship doesn’t derail the ongoing negotiations.
I should note that the success of this bipartisan bill, which ended up passing the Senate by a vote of 98-1, did not happen overnight. I’ve been involved in the development of this legislation from the very beginning, when a bipartisan group of senators visited the Middle East back in January and began discussing the need for responsible congressional review of any deal. The group – which included me, Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., John McCain, R-Ariz., Tim Kaine, D-Va., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., – laid the groundwork for what eventually became the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act.

Sen. Graham: Emerging Iran Nuke Deal Unenforceable Unless Strengthened

In order to ensure that the emerging nuclear deal will effectively prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, the United States must insist on implementing eight principles to “achieve a sound, enforceable deal,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R – S.C) wrote in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal today.
Graham wrote that the principles he is proposing have strong bipartisan support and “largely reflect President Obama’s negotiating position at the start of the process.”
The eight principles outlined by Graham before any restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program should be lifted are: limiting Iran to enough enriched uranium to feed a single commercial reactor; shutting down all of Iran’s hidden and fortified nuclear facilities, including Fordow; allowing “anytime, anywhere” inspections of all Iranian military and non-military sites without allowing Iran a veto over inspections; ensuring sanctions relief is conditioned on certification of Iranian compliance by the International Atomic Energy Agency; creating a well-defined process to “snap back” sanctions in case Iran is caught cheating on an agreement; forbidding Iran from developing advanced centrifuges that could reduce its breakout time; removing all enriched uranium from Iran, other than what is needed for a single reactor; and certifying that Iran has changed its aggressive, destabilizing behavior.

US Must Ensure Israel Can Destroy Iran’s ‘Deeply Buried Nuclear Sites,’ Reps Say

The U.S. must provide Israel with 37,000 pound bunker-buster bombs to ensure the Jewish state has the means to “destroy Iran’s most deeply buried nuclear sites,” two congresspeople wrote on Monday.
“A longstanding component of America’s Iran policy has been a credible military threat to ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon … Providing Israel with a stronger capability to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities would help deter Iran from ever trying to break any [nuclear agreement] it may sign,” wrote representatives Grace Meng (D-Queens) and Lee Zeldin (R-LI) in an opinion piece for the New York Post.
The two called for the U.S. to boost Israel’s cache of bunker-busting bombs, which the representatives said no longer could destroy Iran’s most fortified nuclear sites, by providing the Jewish state with GBU-57 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs, alternately known at Massive Ordnance Penetrators or MOPs.
Iran has developed underground nuclear facilities, such as the one at Fordow, to shield its research and development activities from military threats, especially from the United States and Israel.

Israel slams US for allegedly allowing Iran to violate sanctions

A senior Israeli official took a swipe at Washington on Tuesday over Iran's purchase of second-hand civilian aircraft, saying the acquisition violated US sanctions and went ahead despite a tip-off from Israel.
Iranian Transport Minister Abbas Akhoondi was quoted on May 11 by the Iranian Students News Agency as saying Tehran bought 15 used commercial planes in the last three months. He did not say who sold them or how they had been acquired.
A long-standing ban on the export of aircraft spare parts to Iran was eased under an interim nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers in late 2013, but the US sanctions regime continues to restrict sales of planes.
"Israel learned from intelligence sources about this very significant breach of the sanctions in advance of it occurring," the Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
"We flagged the issue to the US administration," the official said. "Unfortunately, the deal still went through and there was no success in preventing it."

Ayatollah Khamenei: US is Enemy to Both Sunnis and Shias in the Middle East

The United States is the enemy of both Shia and Sunni Muslims, as well as the world’s main sponsor of terrorism, said Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
Khamenei, who made the remarks during a meeting with a number of Iranian officials and ambassadors of Islamic countries in Tehran, said that Washington was the main sponsor of terrorism in the world and the chief architect of terrorist groups, Hezbollah-affiliated Al Manar reported.
On the other hand, Iran “tackled terrorism, hit it in the face, bumped it in the head, and is going to do the same in the future,” he said.
Addressing the recent bill proposed by Congress in favor of arming Iraq’s Kurds and Sunni tribesmen, Khamenei asked rhetorically, “Are they really interested in the Sunnis?”

Khamenei adviser denies role in Buenos Aires bombing

An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader is dismissing accusations that he masterminded Argentina’s worst terrorist attack and says that he and the Islamic Republic are innocent.
Ali Akbar Velayati, who was foreign minister of Iran at the time of the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, is now an adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Former Iranian officials have been on an Interpol capture list for years, but Argentine prosecutors have never been able to question them. Iran has long denied any role in the unsolved bombing that left 85 people dead.
Velayati said in an interview with Argentina’s C5N TV channel broadcast late Monday that he is innocent of the accusation that he masterminded the attack, as is his country. “We believe that this is a baseless accusation, false — a lie.”
“Argentina is under the influence of Zionism and the United States,” he said.

Arab Sentenced to 8 Months in Prison for Incitement on Facebook

The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court sentenced Israeli Arab Sami Dais to 8 months in prison on Tuesday, for inciting and supporting terror on Facebook.
Dais, a resident of the neighborhood of A-Tur in Jerusalem, is accused of having published, among other things, a picture of a man dressed as an Orthodox Jew with guns aimed at his head and a knife and a gun over and above him with the caption: "Blood = blood! Kill them, death to settlers."
Several of the posts were made during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza; Dais's posts received many "likes" and "shares" from other users who spread the incitement.
On October 23, 2014, the day after one of the car attacks near the Jerusalem light rail which killed two people, Dais announced, "with dignity and pride, the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine announces the fall of the martyr Abdul Rahman Alslodi Shahid, who killed settlers in an attack in the French Hill neighborhood."
He also openly praised Hamas and the assassination attempt on Temple Mount prayer rights activist Yehuda Glick.

Israel holds Jordanian-Canadian national for alleged Hamas links

Israel has detained a Palestinian with dual Canadian-Jordanian citizenship suspected of links with the Hamas terrorist group, an Israeli security official told Reuters on Monday.
The official, who could not be named, said Ibrahim Siam, an auto parts dealer, was detained on May 5 at the Allenby Bridge as he tried to cross into Jordan from the West Bank.
Khalil Rezq, chairman of the Ramallah Chamber of Commerce, told Reuters that Siam had attended a business conference in Ramallah and accused Israel of "putting obstacles in the way of businessmen wanting to visit Palestine."
Jordanian and Canadian diplomats based in Israel confirmed to Reuters that Siam was being held. The Canadian diplomat said Siam was receiving consular assistance. Both declined to elaborate.

Hamas tunnel may reach into Israel, MK warns

Gaza terror group Hamas is expanding its network of underground tunnels, including one that may reach into Israeli territory, lawmaker and former IDF commander Omer Bar-Lev said Sunday.
Bar-Lev, a Zionist Union MK who sits on the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon for their indecision and failure to act on thwarting the tunnel threat.
“Hamas has gone back to digging tunnels, and it is likely that at least one of them has even crossed the border fence, which is an affront to the State of Israel’s sovereignty,” Bar-Lev said at the opening session of the Israel Bar Association’s conference in Eilat Sunday night, according to a statement from his office.
Israel fought a 50-day war with Gaza-based fighters in July and August, aimed at stemming rocket fire and destroying a network of tunnels under the Gaza-Israel border fence.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian Authority continues crackdown on Hamas supporters

Palestinian Authority security forces continued their crackdown on Hamas supporters in the West Bank on Monday.
In the Hebron area, the PA General Intelligence Service arrested Anan al-Shahateet, a student at the Polytechnic University, and summoned for interrogation his colleague, Mohamed Rashaideh.
Meanwhile, the PA Preventive Security Service in Hebron arrested 15-year-old Mohamed al-Awawdah.
He is the fourth 10th-grade pupil to be taken into custody in recent days.
In Nablus, 37-year-old Majdi al-Qutub, who recently was arrested by PA security forces, was transferred to the hospital after suffering a health setback, sources close to Hamas in the city said. Two of his brothers, Said and Amjad, were Hamas members who were killed by the IDF during the second Intifada, they said.

Meet the new neighborhood terrorists in Gaza

As Islamic terrorist organizations throughout the Middle East sink to new levels of brutality, the Palestinian terror group Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis and launched thousands of rockets at the Jewish state, finds itself facing a threat to its rule in Gaza.
Over the last month, Islamic State-inspired jihadist groups in Gaza, who ironically argue that Hamas has been too lenient towards Israel and has failed to implement Islamic Sharia Law, have launched a campaign entailing both propaganda and physical attacks on Hamas.
A Salafi terror group that calls itself the “Supporters of the Islamic State in Jerusalem” recently threatened Hamas with a 72-hour ultimatum to release imprisoned Salafi extremists detained by Hamas or face attacks, after Hamas destroyed a mosque belonging to the group and arrested several of its members.
The Salafi jihadists followed up on their calls by launching mortar attacks on a Hamas base in southern Gaza and other attacks on Hamas security posts. Hamas has responded with a large crackdown, setting up checkpoints and deploying gunmen in Salafi strongholds.

Gaza police assault and arrest Al-Jazeera journalist

A Palestinian journalist covering a Turkish minister's visit to the Gaza Strip has accused Palestinian police of physically assaulting him on Sunday.
Muhammed Fayyad, a reporter for Al-Jeezera, told the Palestinian Journalists' Union that he was physically assaulted by multiple police officers at the Gazan Ministry of Endowments after asking why a plain-clothes security guard had shoved him while he took pictures of the minister's visit.
Fayyad added that he "was struck on the head by a police officer" as he was being taken out of the building, according to Palestinian news agency Ma'an.
Fayyad then went to the police station to file a formal complaint, yet was shocked to find that authorities had already issued an arrest order against him.
He was briefly taken to al-Shifa hospital before being formally arrested, complaining that he was beginning to feel the effects of his earlier assault.

PreOccupied Territory: Siblings Accuse Teen Who Cleans Room Of ‘Normalization’ (satire)

A local high-schooler has been ostracized by her brother and sister for tacitly endorsing their parents’ demands that the children of the family take care of themselves and contribute to the family’s collective welfare.
Ohr Dagan, 17, faces shunning and hostility from her fourteen-year-old brother Nir and 12-year-old sister Shahar, after removing the dirty laundry from the floor of her bedroom Sunday afternoon. The two siblings contend that their older sister’s activities serve to cement the unfair control that their parents exert, and that no behavior of any sort that condones such oppression may be tolerated.
Since then, Nir and Shahar have threatened Ohr with retribution, and have repeatedly denounced her engagement in any behavior that smacks of normalizing their parents’ illegal occupation of their children’s lives, even those activities that would directly benefit the three siblings. The anti-normalization faction of the Dagan children argues that sacrificing some comforts is crucial of they are to succeed in generating pressure on their parents to get out of their lives.
Parents Yaron and Tamar, both 40, consistently impose demands and oppressive rules on their children, such as curfews, refraining from destroying the house, and respecting each member of the household. The children bristle under the parental dictatorship, and have resolved to boycott their father and mother so as not to distract from the need to overthrow the imposed rule.

MEMRI: Christians In Lebanon,Fearing ISIS And Jabhat Al-Nusra

As jihadist organizations gain power in the Middle East, including in Lebanon, and especially after large areas of Syria and Iraq have fallen under the control of the Islamic State (ISIS), which is attempting to impose radical Islam there, the Christian and Druze minorities in Lebanon have begun to fear for their future and even for their lives. Several incidents that occurred recently in Lebanon have exacerbated this fear: in early August 2014, ISIS and Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN) invaded the border town of Irsalin northeastern Lebanon and abducted dozens of Lebanese soldiers and security officers there with the cooperation of Lebanese citizens and Syrian refugees. Later militants identified with ISIS and JN also attempted to raid the town of Brital, south of Irsal. Following the fighting between the Assad regime and the rebels in the Al-Qalamoun area in Syria, near Lebanon's eastern and northeastern border,there are reports that these organizations plan further incursions into Lebanon. Furthermore, in early October 2014, armed groups affiliated with ISIS and JN, assisted by Syrian refugees, clashed with the Lebanese army in Tripoli and other northern regions. According to Lebanese military sources, these armed clashes were part of a comprehensive plan by ISIS and JN to take over this region in order to create territorial continuity with the Al-Qalamoun area in western Syria.
In addition, over the past year pro-ISIS graffiti appeared near churches and Christian schools in various parts of Lebanon, threatening that the Islamic State is coming and Christians will be slaughtered.
Lebanon's minorities fear not only the encroachment of ISIS and JN on Lebanon's eastern border and the active support these organizations receive from extremist Sunni groups and Syrian refugees within the country;they also fear that the Syrian civil war will spill into Lebanon. The Christians’ concern is exacerbated by the weakness of the central government and the inability of the Lebanese army to protect them, and by their suspicion that no external element will come to their aid except perhaps by granting them immigration permits.

Iran 'Proud' of Hezbollah Progress in Qalamoun

Iran is 'proud' of the achievements of Hezbollah and the Syrian army in a series of recent battles in Qalamoun, an adviser close to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated Monday.
“We feel very proud as we have been watching in the last few days the new victories that the Lebanese resistance and Syrian army are achieving in Qalamoun,” Ali Akbar Velayati said, according to the Lebanese Daily Star. “This contributes to strengthening the axis of resistance not only in Lebanon and Syria, but in the whole region and worldwide.”
Velayati arrived in Lebanon on Sunday and was welcomed by Hezbollah MPs.
Hezbollah and Syrian forces killed 20 Al-Nusra terrorists last week, after seizing significant territory in and around Qalamoun. The Qalamoun region, which lies north of Damascus and runs along the Lebanese border.
Earlier this month, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed to oust rebels from the Qalamoun region, saying the situation "needs radical treatment" but without saying when the assault would start.

Assad, under pressure, may need his friends more than ever

Despite the setbacks for Assad, Western diplomats are cautious about forecasting the end of a leader who has consistently defied forecasts of his demise in the four-year-long war.
Indeed, Assad may have capitalized on the crisis to galvanize some foreign backing: "The regime's attempt to hold together the alliance behind Assad seems to have borne the desired fruit," one Western diplomat said.
But Assad has not been able to convince Western governments including the United States they should engage him as a partner in the fight against Islamic State. A US special forces raid against Islamic State in eastern Syria was carried out without consulting Damascus.
And a senior Israeli intelligence official offered a sobering assessment for Assad and his backers: "His regime is stable, but with many threats. I can tell you that he is not having freedom of movement in Syria, nor is his family. He's doing many, many problematic things in order to preserve the security and the question is how long it will stay like that. I cannot say anything about the time."

Syria Accuses Jordan of Training 'Terrorists'

Syria on Monday accused Jordan of training "terrorists" on its soil and urged the UN Security Council to force an end to Amman's backing of rebel groups, AFP reports.
The accusation came in a letter sent by the Jordanian foreign ministry to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the president of the UN Security Council, the official news agency SANA said.
The letter criticized the "public and systematic support provided by the kingdom of Jordan to terrorist groups, increasing the suffering of Syria's citizens because of crimes committed by these groups".
The letter alleges Jordan "provides logistical support to armed terrorist groups, including (Al-Qaeda affiliate) Al-Nusra Front", according to AFP.
It also accuses Jordan of having "set up terrorist training camps on its soil as well as operations centers to help these groups and facilitate the infiltration of thousands of terrorists a day (into Syria)."
Jordan is a leading supporter of the Syrian opposition, and this month the United States began training opposition fighters on Jordanian soil to fight the Islamic State group.
Syria's government refers to all those seeking Assad's ouster as "terrorists".

 JCPA: The Lessons of the Syrian Chemical Weapons Discovery

Implications for the Iranian Nuclear Deal
These developments and Western reactions carry ramifications that go beyond the Syrian context, with direct implications for the planned nuclear deal with Iran:
1. So long as the extent of supervision is dictated by the supervised party’s declarations regarding its facilities, and so long as that party’s intention is to retain prohibited capabilities, that party can conceal facilities or surreptitiously transfer assets to other sites relatively easily. In this context, Iran has made clear yet again that it refuses to allow unlimited access to its military facilities – or, implicitly, to its intelligence facilities and those of the Revolutionary Guard, which obviously could hide crucial components of the nuclear program.
2. The West’s intelligence capabilities are impressive but far from perfect, and sometimes they are not used at all so as not to reveal their existence. This is very plausibly how the Syrians were able to hide their chemical-weapons for so long – up to two years. It may well be, as some in the opposition claim, that in addition to the sites and the toxins we know of, there is still much else yet to be discovered. This would likely be the situation in Iran, too, in an agreement based on the Lausanne framework .
3. Once problematic information emerges, no matter how grave, the West makes no quick decision, let alone taking the required action. The lack of political will to be drawn into a conflict with the party under supervision leads to foot-dragging; the issue is sidelined and its importance downplayed. The chlorine-gas attacks on the Syrian population, for example, have become a humdrum matter that interests no one and is barely mentioned, let alone spurring a response.