Palestine Today reports that in the wake of the Hamas/Fatah agreement, Hamas' "Al Aqsa TV" is now resuming broadcasts from Ramallah.
That station is known for showing blatantly anti-semitic shows as well as the famous "Pioneers of Tomorrow" children's show inciting hate against Israel. I once made a humorous video about that show:
Here's MEMRI's page for the station you you can see the fine quality of Hamas Terror TV for yourself.
Mahmoud Abbas is responsible for thousands of Syrian Palestinian deaths
The Action Group for Palestinians in Syria now count 2,771 Palestinians killed since the start of the Syrian civil war. 100 were killed in March alone.
Many of them could have been saved if it wasn't for the deep desire by Arabs to destroy Israel - and a conscious decision by "leader" Mahmoud Abbas.
In January 2013, Mahmoud Abbas bragged that he chose to let the Palestinians die rather than enter his territories.
Abbas said this in Arabic, without any shame. Because his audience knows that the real purpose of the "right to return" is to destroy the Jewish state, and has nothing to do with "Palestinian rights."
Since the Yarmouk crisis escalated in recent weeks with ISIS taking over part of the camp, the Arab world and the media have shone a small spotlight on the area where so many Palestinian Arabs have been living. But they won't say anything about how Abbas had the chance to save them, and probably still can.
The Action Group for Palestinians in Syria is an offshoot of the Palestinian Return Centre. The major NGO dedicated to helping Palestinians subscrines to the same twisted, sickening philosophy that Mahmoud Abbas does - they only want to save them if they remain useful pawns to destroy Israel.
We have heard nothing negative about this outrageous statement by Mahmoud Abbas from Amnesty International, Oxfam or Human Rights Watch. In fact, those groups purposefully misinterpret international law to justify Abbas' contention that there is a legal "right to return" for Palestinians - and their own antipathy towards Israel ensure that they will not disagree with Abbas' perverted morality that it is better for Palestinians to die than to give up a "right" that is literally nonexistent and that was created for the sole purpose of destroying Israel. (UN resolution 194 deliberately does not call it a "right" and the UN itself interpreted the resolution far more narrowly than Israel haters do today.)
It is scandalous that Mahmoud Abbas has not been called out for his despicable words that sealed the death sentence for thousands. And the silence from "human rights" organizations speaks volumes about their real desire to save lives when their pet Palestinians literally and explicitly prefer to see their people die.
Many of them could have been saved if it wasn't for the deep desire by Arabs to destroy Israel - and a conscious decision by "leader" Mahmoud Abbas.
In January 2013, Mahmoud Abbas bragged that he chose to let the Palestinians die rather than enter his territories.
Abbas told a group of Egyptian journalists in Cairo late Wednesday that Ban contacted Israel on his behalf.
Abbas said Ban was told Israel "agreed to the return of those refugees to Gaza and the West Bank, but on condition that each refugee ... sign a statement that he doesn't have the right of return (to Israel)."
"So we rejected that and said it's better they die in Syria than give up their right of return," Abbas told the group.
Abbas said this in Arabic, without any shame. Because his audience knows that the real purpose of the "right to return" is to destroy the Jewish state, and has nothing to do with "Palestinian rights."
Since the Yarmouk crisis escalated in recent weeks with ISIS taking over part of the camp, the Arab world and the media have shone a small spotlight on the area where so many Palestinian Arabs have been living. But they won't say anything about how Abbas had the chance to save them, and probably still can.
The Action Group for Palestinians in Syria is an offshoot of the Palestinian Return Centre. The major NGO dedicated to helping Palestinians subscrines to the same twisted, sickening philosophy that Mahmoud Abbas does - they only want to save them if they remain useful pawns to destroy Israel.
We have heard nothing negative about this outrageous statement by Mahmoud Abbas from Amnesty International, Oxfam or Human Rights Watch. In fact, those groups purposefully misinterpret international law to justify Abbas' contention that there is a legal "right to return" for Palestinians - and their own antipathy towards Israel ensure that they will not disagree with Abbas' perverted morality that it is better for Palestinians to die than to give up a "right" that is literally nonexistent and that was created for the sole purpose of destroying Israel. (UN resolution 194 deliberately does not call it a "right" and the UN itself interpreted the resolution far more narrowly than Israel haters do today.)
It is scandalous that Mahmoud Abbas has not been called out for his despicable words that sealed the death sentence for thousands. And the silence from "human rights" organizations speaks volumes about their real desire to save lives when their pet Palestinians literally and explicitly prefer to see their people die.
Egyptian Waqf cleric says Jews jealous of how peaceful Muslims are
Sheikh Abdul Khaliq Oteify, of the Egyptian Waqf, says Jews are jealous of Muslims.The reason?
Because Muslims "spread peace among themselves."
The learned sheikh spoke on an Egyptian satellite channel about how the Prophet Mohammed asked all Muslims to love each other. Jews, he said, are jealous at such an idea that no other people ever thought of before.
(h/t Ibn Boutros)
05/01 Links Pt1: Glick: The Marshall Islands’ cautionary tale; The Appalling Mr. Zarif
From Ian:
Caroline Glick: The Marshall Islands’ cautionary tale
Father and IDF unit ramp up Nepal search for last missing Israeli
Nepalese Boy in Recovery at IDF field hospital
Israel Pledges to Rebuild Entire Nepalese Village, Chabad Feeds 2,000 in a Day
Netanyahu Thanks India’s Modi for Help With Nepal Earthquake Relief Efforts
Biden: Critics of Iran nuclear deal ‘don’t get it’
Caroline Glick: The Marshall Islands’ cautionary tale
Obama claims that he wishes to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. But as we see from his willingness to allow Iran to become a nuclear threshold state while running wild in the Straits of Hormuz, committing mass slaughter in Syria, building an empire that includes Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, and threatening its Arab neighbors and Israel, the purpose of the administration’s negotiations with Iran is not to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power.Sarah Honig: Thanks, but ‘no,’ Joe!
The purpose of the negotiations is to build an American-Iranian alliance on Iran’s terms.
So, too, Obama says his goal is to advance the cause of peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
But his pressure and hostility toward Israel does nothing to achieve this goal. The goal of a policy of acting with hostility toward Israel is not to promote peace. It is to distance the US from Israel and align America’s Israel policy with Europe’s preternaturally hostile treatment of the Jewish state.
Three days after a ship sailing under their flag was seized by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, citizens of the Marshall Islands discovered that their decision to place their security in America’s hands is no longer the safe bet they thought it was 29 years ago.
Anyone who entertains the belief that Israel will gain diplomatic acceptance or even a respite from American pressure if it makes concessions to the Palestinians is similarly making a high risk gamble.
So it’s thanks but ‘no,’ Joe.IDF hospital in Nepal treats over 200, search resumes for Or Asraf
We Israelis are capable as no other to take care of ourselves. However, we’re often wary of using the force at our disposal. We’re deterred by our role as the universal killjoy who provokes international displeasure. When the world courted Saddam, we destroyed his nuclear reactor and were roundly condemned for our good deed. Invariably the world seeks to restrain us and rescue the villains – like Tehran’s ayatollahs at the present time.
Superpowers who want to preempt a nuclear Iran or to resolve the Palestinian conflict, need only abstain from appeasing genocidal enemies who bay for our blood – not send troops.
Biden himself could benefit from recalling Begin’s unfazed response to his senatorial temper tantrum of 33 years ago:
“Don’t threaten us with cutting off your aid. It will not work. I am not a Jew with trembling knees. I am a proud Jew with 3,700 years of civilized history. Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our country. We paid for it. We fought for it. We died for it. We will stand by our principles. We will defend them. And, when necessary, we will die for them again, with or without your aid.”
The Israeli field hospital in Nepal has treated over 200 patients since opening its doors Wednesday morning, with medical staff performing several complicated surgeries on wounded victims of Saturday’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake and doctors delivering three babies so far.
According to a statement released by the Foreign Ministry, 246 people were received at the IDF field hospital where doctors performed some 15 life-saving surgeries. Israeli medical staff were also assisting in local Nepalese hospitals, primarily in surgical departments, the ministry said.
Over 250 doctors and rescue personnel were part of an IDF delegation that arrived Tuesday in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, in the wake of Saturday’s earthquake that devastated large swaths of the mountainous country.
The Israeli group — the second largest in manpower of any international aid team after India — set up the field hospital with 60 beds, including an obstetrics department, and was operating in coordination with the local army hospital.
In Israel on Friday, 150 Nepalese agriculture students at Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee held a ceremony to commemorate their countrymen and women who died in the earthquake, Israel Radio reported. The ceremony was attended by the Nepalese ambassador to Israel and college staff. Several of the students have not yet been able to make contact with their families in Nepal since the natural disaster hit, according to the report.
Father and IDF unit ramp up Nepal search for last missing Israeli
Rescuers and the father of the last Israeli unaccounted for in Nepal stepped up their search for Or Asraf Thursday morning, five days after the trekker and IDF veteran went missing in the wake of a devastating earthquake.IDF Humanitarian Mission Treats Patients in Nepal
Though there have been reports by Israelis in Nepal who saw Asraf approximately an hour after the initial 7.8-magnitude quake in the Langtang region, the Operation Protective Edge veteran has not been heard from since.
Asraf’s father Patrick and members of his son’s unit — the Golani Brigade’s elite Egoz unit — traveled to Nepal Wednesday night to assist in the search, as Nepali officials raised the death toll from the earthquake to nearly 5,500.
Hilik Magnus, the head of Magnus International Search and Rescue, said that one of his team leaders in Nepal, Amit Rubin, is heading a rescue operation to find Asraf.
The team believes, based on Asraf’s itinerary and the time of the earthquake, that he is within a four-kilometer range of Bamboo, a village in the Langtang Valley at approximately 2,000 meters elevation.
As of today, April 30, 2015, the IDF field hospital in Nepal has treated more than 200 patients. We will continue to do everything in our power to save as many lives as possible.
Nepalese Boy in Recovery at IDF field hospital
The story behind the 15-year-old Nepalese boy who's in recovery after miraculously surviving for 5 days in the rubble.
Israel Pledges to Rebuild Entire Nepalese Village, Chabad Feeds 2,000 in a Day
Israel has pledged to fully rebuild an entire village in Nepal as part of its long-term relief efforts following the devastating earthquake in that country, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced Thursday.Chabad Emissaries Doing ‘Extraordinary’ Work in Nepal Rescue Efforts
“After consulting with various departments in the Foreign Ministry, we decided to adopt a village in Nepal, to assist with its reconstruction and to do our utmost to help people who have really found themselves in a difficult situation,” Lieberman said in a briefing at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, The Times of Israel reported.
The foreign ministry said it will work with the Nepalese government to select a village and to assist in clearing the area as well as rebuilding the infrastructure and houses there.
“We, the professional staff, will start to work after the dust has settled and it’ll be possible to talk with Nepali authorities about the location of the village and the matter of the reconstruction,” said the foreign ministry’s director-general, Nissim Ben-Sheetrit.
Israeli rescue units are continuing to search for Or Asraf, the last Israeli citizen who is unaccounted for in Nepal. Rescuers believe that Asraf was hiking at the time of the earthquake. Dozens of Israelis have been rescued from remote regions of Nepal over the last few days.
Meanwhile, Chabad-Lubavitch of Nepal said it prepared 2,000 meals for Nepalis in need on Wednesday alone. Additionally, the Chabad emissary in the region, Rabbi Chezky Lifshitz, led a helicopter mission to rescue stranded Israelis.
Having sent their children to the safety of Israel, Chani and Chezki Lifshitz, the Chabad emissaries based in Kathmandu, have stayed behind to continue spearheading recovery efforts in light of the massive earthquake that hit Nepal on April 25.Nepalese Man Thanks Israel in Hebrew for Saving his Mom
Rabbi Chezki Lifshitz traveled by helicopter on Wednesday, helping to rescue 25 stranded Israelis who were stuck without food, water, or electricity in remote villages of Nepal. The Chabad House of Thamel Kathmandu is also bringing food to Nepalese refugee camps.
The Chabad House has been working to track down stranded Israelis, keeping the Chabad House Thamel Kathmandu Facebook page updated with reports for worried families. They are also making sure that hot meals are available for those Israeli trekkers returning.
One Nepalese man, who first went to work in Israel ten years ago and returned just around a year ago, gave his heartfelt thanks for the efforts of the Jewish state, speaking in Hebrew in a clip released by the IDF Spokesperson Unit on Thursday.Nepalese Man Thanks Israel in Hebrew
"Israel is a country like my father, it takes care of me and loves me, the people are all good," he said in fluent Hebrew.
Recalling the massive earthquake last Saturday, he said, "I thought we're all dead." His mother broke her leg in the disaster, and he was unable to take her to the local hospitals because there was simply no room given the large numbers of wounded.
After hearing an Israeli team was being sent to help, he said, "I felt 'Israel is helping us, we'll be okay then,' that's how I feel."
"I came here today very happy, and my mother's leg is okay," the man added. "I can say to all of the IDF, all of the people here who came to help, thank you very much."
In the video he can then be seen speaking to an Israeli doctor about his mother's leg, before telling another doctor as he bandages her leg how he worked in Tel Aviv and later in Netanya, noting it was "excellent" in Israel.
The message, in Hebrew, can be seen below.
Netanyahu Thanks India’s Modi for Help With Nepal Earthquake Relief Efforts
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Thursday for India’s efforts to aid those affected by the recent deadly earthquake in Nepal.Most Americans think Obama should back Israel, but minority says he does
According to a statement from Netanyahu’s office, the Israeli leader specifically thanked Modi for providing helicopters to help rescue Israelis, and for allowing Israeli relief planes to safely land in India. Netanyahu also sent his condolences to the Indian victims of the earthquake and their families.
Netanyahu also said heightened efforts were under way to find Israeli hiker Or Asraf, who has been out of contact since the earthquake, and thanked Modi for aiding in the search.
The two prime ministers also spoke about expanding and strengthening ties between India and Israel, continuing initiatives launched in their September, 2014 meeting in New York.
Modi later thanked Netanyahu for his call. “My gratitude to PM Netanyahu for his kind words on India’s relief and rescue efforts in Nepal including help extended to Israeli nationals,” he wrote on Twitter.
The overwhelming majority of Americans believes the US president should be a “strong supporter” of Israel, but only 38 percent believe President Barack Obama to be one, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this week.ICC Weighing Prosecuting PA for War Crimes
According to the poll, 67% of the public feel the president should be strongly supportive of Israel, while 20% said he should not be. Forty-eight percent of the respondents said Obama is not a strong supporter – a number that has increased from 42% in April 2010.
The telephone poll, which asked 1,353 eligible voters questions about a wide range of issues – from Iran to Congress to same-sex marriages – was conducted from April 16 to April 21. It has a +/- 2.7% margin of error.
Seventy-seven percent of respondents aged 55 and above said that the president should support Israel, while only 57% of those between 18 and 34 were of that mind.
The answer to that question also varies greatly among the parties, with 87% of the Republicans believing this should be the position of the US president, and only 56% of the Democrats holding that opinion.
The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has said she is weighing opening war crimes investigations into Palestinians as well as Israelis after the Palestinian Authority (PA) joined the tribunal's jurisdiction last month, according to AFP.Washington seeks ‘genuine’ Israeli commitment to 2 states
Fatou Bensouda rejected Israeli fears of bias by the court, promising to consider the evidence "independently and impartially without fear or favor," in an interview published by Haaretz on Friday.
"We will of course look into the alleged crimes committed by all sides to the conflict. I have made this clear to both Israeli and Palestinian officials," she claimed.
Bensouda said that so far her deliberations were still at a preliminary stage and no investigation had been opened into anyone from either side.
"At this stage we are not investigating, as a decision on whether to open an investigation in the situation of Palestine has not been made," she said.
The Obama administration expects a commitment to the two-state solution from the next Israeli government and from the Palestinian Authority, National Security Adviser Susan Rice said.Israel faults Arab neighbors for stalling on nuke-free zone
“President Obama has made clear that we need to take a hard look at our approach to the conflict, and that resolving it is in the national security interest of the United States,” Rice said Wednesday at the annual meeting of the Arab American Institute.
“We look to the next Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority to demonstrate — through policies and actions — a genuine commitment to a two-state solution,” she said.
Obama administration officials have said they will “reevaluate” their approach to advancing peace in the wake of comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the eve of his reelection last month in which he appeared to count out a two-state solution.
Israel’s statement said it has been willing to meet with its neighbors toward setting an agenda for talks on a Middle East nuclear-free zone, but that after five rounds of consultations with some of its Arab neighbors in Switzerland between October 2013 and June 2014, the other states discontinued the talks.Netanyahu: Don’t Repeat Nuclear Mistakes of North Korea
The statement notes that the consultations were “the first direct engagement between Israel and its neighbors on this issue in over 20 years.”
Israel “responded positively” to invitations by a Finnish facilitator in October and January of this year for a sixth round of consultations, but they were postponed several times and didn’t take place, the statement said.
“This strident opposition to conduct a direct dialogue with Israel … underlines and reinforces the mistrust and suspicion between the states in the region,” it says. “Ultimately, it is difficult to understand how any disarmament, arms control and regional security issues can be addressed without any direct dialogue between the regional states, as the Group of Arab States suggests.”
Israel’s statement doesn’t explain what specific issues got in the way of continuing the talks, but it calls for dialogue “without external auspices that do not emanate from the region.”
It appears that world powers are closer than ever to a nuclear deal with Iran, which U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry described to the UN on Monday as a “good, comprehensive deal.” Kerry said that the deal “will make the entire world safer.”Matt Lee Hits State Dept on Iran: If You Only Cheat on Some Hands, The Casino Still Kicks You Out
On Wednesday, while hosting South Korean Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Hwang Woo-yea, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he was concerned about the deal, and cited North Korea’s nuclear history.
“We have a great deal to learn from each other and be inspired by each other,” Netanyahu said in regard to South Korean-Israeli relations. “But we also heed the example of the negotiations with North Korea, the nuclear negotiations,” said the Israeli prime minister.
“It was said that the inspections would prevent proliferation. It was said then that they would moderate North Korea’s aggressive behavior,” said Netanyahu. He also noted that there were expectations that North Korea would eventually integrate into the family of nations following negotiations.
Biden: Critics of Iran nuclear deal ‘don’t get it’
Vice President Joe Biden tacitly criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday night for his opposition to the emerging Iranian nuclear deal, saying that those who say that the deal will “pave Iran’s path to a bomb… don’t get it.”Biden on War with Iran: If Required, It Will Happen
At the same time, the vice president defended Israel’s right to be worried about its security, stressing that “the notion that Israel is too concerned is preposterous.”
Biden spoke at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s annual gala dinner, devoting his entire address to the administration’s negotiations toward an agreement between Iran and the P5+1 member states ahead of a June 30 deadline. The sides reached a framework agreement in late March, but no text was signed or finalized, and there are major discrepancies over what was agreed, including over the process of sanctions relief.
US Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday the United States is willing to go to war to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, as he defended the deal being hammered out with Iran over its nuclear weapons program.The Appalling Mr. Zarif
"As we pursue this deal, we’re also deepening our cooperation with Israel and our other regional partners," he said as he addressed the 30th anniversary dinner of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“There’s nothing simple, minimal or predictable about a war with Iran,” he added, but “if required, it will happen. It is a risk that we may yet have to take should Iran rush to a bomb.”
Biden’s warning may be the most direct public threat made by any US administration of war against Iran in case it pursues a nuclear weapon.
I don’t find the Iranian foreign minister a “diplomatic charmer” at all. His demeanor at NYU was arrogant, insulting, bullying, unrepentant. David Ignatius of the Washington Post sat there like a semi-conscious mummy as Zarif ordered Congress around, declared that all sanctions will be lifted immediately upon the conclusion of any deal, warned that “people” should be “worrying about the U.S. violating its obligations and us snapping back,” refused to accept culpability for spreading disorder in the Middle East, wouldn’t say if U.N. inspectors will have access to Iranian military sites, said Iran has no intention of speaking to the Jewish State, accused the Washington Post (Ignatius’ paper) of running a “publicity campaign” on behalf of one of its reporters held prisoner in Iran, and took every opportunity to fling sarcasm and insult and enmity toward Netanyahu, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, and America in general. No wonder John Kerry’s a fan.NYU Students Celebrate 1,000 Hangings in Iran
What made Zarif’s appearance all the more nauseating was his pretense of moral standing. He has none. His lecture to the United States took place as his regime held a container ship it had seized in international waters, and as evidence emerged of Iranian violations of U.N. sanctions. It is the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and its proxies such as Hezbollah and the Houthis and other Shiite militias that are fomenting and exploiting sectarian conflict in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq. Iran’s human rights record is abysmal. Since Zarif returned to government in the administration of Hassan Rouhani, there has been a “surge” in executions in Iran. “The authorities restricted freedoms of expression, association, and assembly, arresting, detaining, and prosecuting in unfair trials minority and women’s rights activists, journalists, human rights defenders, and others who voiced dissent” say the right-wing extremists at Amnesty International, whose most recent report catalogues the torture and cruel and unusual punishments of the Iranian regime.
In addition to David Ignatius’ colleague Jason Rezaian, the Iranian authorities hold captive American citizens Saeed Abedini, a pastor, and Amir Hekmati, a Marine. General David Petraeus says Iranian-backed militias are “the foremost threat to Iraq’s long-term stability.” Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska explains how Iran supplies Explosively Formed Projectiles (EFPs) to these militias, which have mutilated and killed U.S. soldiers. Last year Zarif’s true boss, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, posted on Twitter his 9-point plan to eliminate Israel.
The scene outside New York University (NYU) on Wednesday morning was of a celebratory and sarcastic nature. A “massive party” is taking place to bring awareness to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s recent milestone of 1,000 hangings in the just the past 18 months.Boycott Movement Against Iranian Goods Gaining Traction in Arab World
Your party host, David Keyes, Executive Director of Advancing Human Rights (AHR), a nonprofit human rights advocacy group, has set up the carnival atmosphere this morning to coincide with Iranian Foreign Minister M. Javad Zarif’s speech this morning at NYU.
“We’ll be symbolically renaming the cross-streets where the foreign minister will speak, ‘Majid Tavakoli Plaza’ in honor of the jailed Iranian student leader and ‘Jason Rezaian Plaza’ in honor of the jailed Washington Post writer,” Keyes explained in an email.
Adding to the mocking nature of the protest, AHR has festooned the area with balloons and Iranian flags. An ice cream truck, live music, and signs that read “Free political prisoners! Free ice cream!” and “Hang in there!” are part of the dark humor.
“If anyone deserves to be humiliated and punked, it is a regime that hangs gays, murders poets and tortures bloggers,” said Keyes. “Satire is a profoundly powerful tool against dictators as we saw with North Korea’s hysterical response to The Interview. Tyrants silence and jail satirists because they fear them.”
The confrontation between some Arab states and Iran has now inspired a popular boycott against Iranian goods by Arab activists, Al Jazeera reported on Thursday.US Navy to Accompany US-Flagged Ships Through Straits of Hormuz
Political tensions have been at an all-time high recently over Iran’s perceived hegemonic desires in the region, which include its support for Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen.
But now, according to the report, private Arab citizens have entered the fray and are planning to combat Iran economically by calling on fellow Arabs to “boycott Iranian goods.”
These activists have been promoting their boycott through the internet and on social media, particularly on Twitter with the hashtag, translated from Arabic, “#Campaign_to_Boycott_Iranian_Products.”
So far, the message has been retweeted 19,000 times in Qatar alone, which boasted the highest number of retweets among its citizens, according to Al Jazeera. Online users listed various Iranian products to be boycotted and publicized the symbol indicating a product of Iranian origin.
The U.S. Navy will start accompanying U.S.-flagged vessels through the Straits of Hormuz over concerns that Iran could try to seize the ships, a U.S. defense official said on Thursday.Iran to release seized Danish ship after ‘debt settled’
The announcement came two days after a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel was seized by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
While the U.S. maintains a naval presence in the area, with a massive military base in the Persian Gulf island nation of Bahrain, the new plan would have U.S. flagged vessels always within eyeshot.
A defense official told Reuters that the plan to accompany ships through the narrow straits between Oman on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula and Iran would last for a limited time.
Iran will release a cargo vessel chartered by Danish shipping group A.P. Moeller-Maersk as soon as the company settles a debt stemming from a long-running business dispute, the Iranian embassy in Denmark said Thursday.Iran Steps Up Covert Action in Latin America
“Iranian authorities reiterate that there has been absolutely no political or security intentions or considerations behind the incident,” the statement said.
“The seizure of the ship was solely an enforcement of a judicial court ruling resulting from a commercial dispute between two private parties,” it added.
Maersk said it was told by the Iranian Ports and Maritime Organization at a meeting Wednesday that an Iranian court had ordered it to pay $3.6 million (3.2 million euros) in compensation in the case.
The Iranian government is significantly boosting its presence and resources in Latin America, posing a national security threat to the region, according to a group of U.S. and Latin American officials who met earlier this week in Florida to discuss Iran’s covert actions.Special Event to Mark Hamas Kidnap-Murder of 3 Israeli Teens on June 3
While Iran has long had a foothold in the Western hemisphere, these officials warned that the Islamic Republic has invested significant resources into its Latin American operations in a bid to increase its sway in the region.
Iran’s growing influence in the region—and its effort to exert influence over governments there—has fostered pressing security concerns as the Iranians inch closer to the United States’ southern border, according to these U.S. officials and Latin American leaders, who met for several days this week at a summit organized by the Israel Allies Foundation (IAF).
“It is troubling in some of the briefings we get, particularly on the classified side, to see Iranian influence in Latin America,” Rep. Ron DeSantis (R., Fla.), a member of the House Committee of Foreign Affairs, told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview. “A lot of these [Latin American officials] share the concern.”
“It’s a security risk for all of us,” DeSantis said.
In slightly over a month, at least one million Jews will mark a horrifying event that became the straw that broke the camel’s back in Israel, igniting another war on terror in Gaza.Police Ban Yehuda Glick on Temple Mount because He Is ‘Dangerous’
June 3 corresponds with the date on the Hebrew calendar that marks the abduction of Eyal Yifrach, 19, Naftali Frenkel, 16, and Gilad Sha’ar, 16.
The event is being organized by the families of the three boys, together with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and the Gesher organization.
The three families also recently celebrated the launching of the Jerusalem Unity Prize, to be awarded for the first time on June 3 as well.
Together with the Jerusalem municipality, Gesher and Israel President Reuven Rivlin, the three families celebrated the launch of the Jerusalem Unity Prize several months ago. It is intended to commemorate and further the Jewish unity that was seen when the entire nation of Israel came together to pray and help search for the missing boys.
Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick, who was critically wounded in an assassination attempt last year, applied to the Jerusalem Court this week to overturn a police order barring him from the Temple Mount because he is ” a dangerous man.”Israeli Arab soccer team honoring fugitive MK alleged to have spied for Hezbollah
Glick said he would be willing to ascend the holy site in a wheelchair and with his hands tied.
He has confounded police for years because of his mild and non-violent manner during his visits and attempted visits to the Temple Mount, where Arabs always are on hand to throw rocks at him and force him and his police escort off the holy site.
A Jerusalem Arab shot Glick at close range last October at the Begin Center, and not at the Temple Mount or even in the Old City, a fact that gave Glick’s lawyer an opportunity to unmask the police department’s argument that he is “dangerous”.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said that soccer club Ahi Nazareth should be disqualified from playing in Wednesday evening's State Cup semifinal match against Maccabi Tel Aviv amid the team's plans to hold a ceremony honoring fugitive former Balad MK Azmi Bishara.Arab Joint List Chairman Meets with Arch-Terrorist Barghouti
The ceremony shows that Ahi Nazareth "is not worthy of representing the state of Israel in any tournament," Liberman said.
Bishara founded Balad and was an MK in the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th Knessets.
He fled Israel in 2007 while under investigation for passing information to Hezbollah during the previous year’s Second Lebanon War. He currently resides in Doha, where he is the director of a think tank and is reportedly close to Qatar’s royal family, a major sponsor of Hamas.
"There is no place in the State Cup for a team that identifies with a traitor who fled the country, and thanks him and thanks a country [Qatar] that funds terror against Israel," Liberman said. (h/t Bob Knot)
Chairman of the Arab Joint List MK Ayman Odeh visited Palestinian Arab arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti on Thursday, ostensibly to discuss politics.Three Flotillas Scheduled for Gaza This Summer
Barghouti is currently serving five life sentences in Israeli prison for his role in planning suicide terror attacks, and is widely believed to have masterminded the second intifada which claimed thousands of Israeli lives from 2000 to 2005. He has continued inciting terrorism from his jail cell.
"I met with Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, who is sitting for 12 consecutive years in jail, and before that was imprisoned for ten years," Odeh wrote on Facebook.
"The meeting was exciting: we exchanged impressions and experiences, and the conversation with the leader included talk about political positions."
Odeh compared Barghouti to South African peace leader Nelson Mandela, who led the state to dismantle the regime of racial segregation - perpetuating the common misconception that Israel practices "apartheid."
Anti-Israel groups are preparing once again this year to "break the naval blockade of Israel on Gaza," i.e. the transport and import restrictions Israel imposes to prevent terrorists from transferring weapons and ammunition to Islamist terrorists in the region.PMW: PA assaults democracy
The coordinator for the International Committee to Lift the Siege on Gaza, Zahar Birawi, told Hamas's Palestine newspaper on Thursday that there will be at least three flotillas during the summer months, a la the Mavi Marmara "Freedom Flotilla" fiasco in 2010.
Meetings will be held in Greece on June 16 and 17 to work out the logistics, but the exact dates of departure will not be publicly announced to prevent Israel from taking preventative measures.
One of the boats will include former Tunisian President Muncef Marzouki, he added.
In student elections last week at Birzeit University, the biggest university in the West Bank, the Hamas-affiliated student list defeated the Fatah-affiliated list.Hamas Says Palestinian Authority Afraid of Elections Because They Know They Will Lose
Following the elections, the independent Palestinian news agency Wattan reported that Hamas sources charged that the PA Preventive Security Force and the Intelligence Service carried out “a massive wave of arrests among the ranks of the Islamic Bloc (Hamas) activists in several West Bank universities.” The sources said that the arrests “targeted the Islamic Bloc activists in Birzeit University and in Palestine Polytechnic University, as well as students from An-Najah University in Nablus and Al-Quds University in Abu Dis.” [Wattan News Agency, April 28, 2015]
Member of Hamas' leadership Hossam Badran was quoted as saying that the arrests of Hamas students “demonstrates the extent of the PA’s shock after the failure of its mode of operation, which is based on coordination with the occupation (i.e., Israel) and the repression of liberties.”
The independent Palestinian news agency Ma’an noted the importance of the elections at Birzeit University:
“In the absence of regular national elections, university elections are seen as important indicators of public opinion by political commentators in Palestine, and Birzeit is considered to be the most important campus in the yearly political contests.” [Ma’an, April 23, 2015]
Gaza-based terror group Hamas lashed out at the Palestinian Authority on Thursday, saying that the PA opposes the operation of the “democratic process” because it knows Hamas would end up winning much broader public support, Israel’s NRG news website reported.Hezbollah Working to Conceal Significant Losses in Syrian Civil War
Hamas also attacked the PA for arresting West Bank activists affiliated with the Islamist group, saying the detentions were carried out because the PA fears Hamas’ popularity.
In recent elections at Bir Zeit University and the Polytechnic University in Hebron, which is ruled by the PA, Hamas-affiliated student groups achieved significant victories over their Fatah and PLO-affiliated rivals. After the results emerged, Hamas’ spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, condemned the arrests of activists saying “Hamas is stronger than all the plots to eradicate it.” Hamas also called for similar elections at every Palestinian university.
In its election victory at Bir Zeit, the Hamas-affiliated Islamist Bloc won 26 seats, against 19 for the bloc associated with Fatah.
Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah has devised a strategy to conceal its losses in the ongoing Syrian civil war as it fights alongside its ally Bashar al-Assad, Lebanon’s NOW News reported.Lebanese Harshly Criticize Hezbollah For Deaths of Child Soldiers in Syria
Officially, no numbers have been released of Hezbollah’s casualties in fighting rebel and Sunni Islamist forces attempting to unseat the Syrian president. Despite becoming progressively more open about the nature and extent of its involvement in Syria’s civil war, the number of its casualties are still a closely-guarded Hezbollah secret.
According to the report, in the 2013 battle of Al-Qusayr – in which Assad’s forces and Hezbollah attempted to capture villages in the Golan Heights near the border with Israel — Hezbollah lost 130 fighters, the same number that Hezbollah claims were killed in action against Israel during the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
Its extended campaign in Qalamoun in southern Syria incurred Hezbollah a further 400 casualties. The battle in that region is still raging a full two years after it was launched. Some sources told NOW that Hezbollah has lost about 1,000 fighters in Qalamoun.
Lebanese officials condemned Hezbollah’s use of child soldiers in Syrian civil war after the Lebanon-based terrorist organization announced the death of a 15-year-old boy “during his observing the obligation of jihad.”Turkish gov't officials stay away from Israel Independence Day event in Ankara
Announcements of this kind published by the Iran-sponsored militia usually relate to the organization’s fighters killed while fighting in Syria, and therefore it is believed that the boy was killed while fighting to support embattled Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad beyond Lebanese borders.
The child’s funeral was held in Beirut with the participation of Hezbollah officials. According to other reports, this teen was not the only child soldier in Hezbollah’s ranks to have been killed fighting in Syria: Dozens of Hezbollah members recently killed in Syria are under the age of 18.
Lebanese Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi, one of the strongest opponents of Hezbollah in Lebanon, said that the situation reminded him of the last days of Hitler’s Nazi regime, when he used minors as soldiers.
An Independence Day celebration hosted by the Israeli Embassy at a hotel in Ankara on Wednesday was attended by the US Ambassador John Bass, but not by Turkish government officials, a sign that five years after the Mavi Marmara incident, formal relations between the two states are showing no sign of improvement.US envoy hits back at Ankara mayor: ‘We’re all blonde’
The event was covered in the Turkish press, which emphasized that Ankara did not send any government representative, and that journalists attending were subject to a rigorous security search, something that put a number of them off.
The reports also stressed that the Turkish and Israeli flags flew side-by-side in the ballroom of the Swissotel.
Turkey downgraded ties with Israel following the 2010 Gaza flotilla incident, and expelled its ambassador in September 2011.
The US ambassador to Turkey on Friday hit back at sexist remarks by Ankara’s maverick mayor to the US State Department spokeswoman in unusual style, posting a picture of himself with blond hair.
Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek, a close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had on Wednesday fired off an extraordinary diatribe on Twitter over the Baltimore rioting, telling the US State Department acting spokeswoman Marie Harf to “come on blonde, answer now.”
“Where are you stupid blonde, who accused Turkish police of using disproportionate force?” he added, referring to US criticism of the harsh response by Turkish police to demonstrations.
Harf herself had refused to rise to the bait of the comments, saying in Washington: “I really don’t think I’m going to dignify them with a response.”
But US ambassador to Turkey John Bass took to Instagram to make his response, posting a picture of himself with his normally brown hair turned blond.
Egypt: "No comment" on Bin Laden's death
From Al Moslim, translated by Translating Jihad:
(h/t Silke)
The Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil 'Arabi said that he "had no comment" on the killing of al-Qa'ida leader Osama bin Laden at the hands of American forces in Pakistan. He sufficed himself with stressing that his country was opposed to "all forms of violence."Being an "ally" ain't what it used to be.
Al-'Arabi said to reporters right after meeting with his British counterpart William Hague in Cairo: "Concerning the announcement of the death of bin Laden, Egypt is against all forms of violence, and the Egyptian government has no comment." ...
(h/t Silke)
Anti-Israel activists at Ahava UK convicted
From TheJC:
Richard Millett's blog has much more, including this priceless piece after the defendants claimed to have no money:
(h/t Samson)
Four activists who chained themselves to concrete block inside the London branch of Israel cosmetics shop Ahava were illegally trespassing, a judge has ruled.
All four defendants, who have been conditionally discharged, argued the store was committing "war crimes" by selling products from an Israeli settlement, Mitzpe Shalem, in the West Bank. They plan to appeal the verdict.
But District Judge Ian Baker said at Highbury Magistrates' Court that although he had "considerable hesitancy" in calling Ahava's business legal, it had never been proved to be illegal in the UK.
He said: "Until such time as Ahava UK Ltd is prosecuted and defence arguments herein properly tested, I can do no more that accept it is trading lawfully."
The four, who arrived in court dressed in casual T-shirts and supported by many pro-Palestinian activists, occupied Ahava in Covent Garden on two separate occasions last year. The protests by Matthew Richardson, 24, and Gwendolen Wilkinson, 20, were on October 2 2010 and by Christopher Osmond, 30, and Jessica Nero, 33, on November 22. All were convicted of aggravated trespass after a three day trial at Stratford Magistrates' Court last month.
The protesters lay on the floor and chained themselves to each other and a concrete bollard, until they were cut free by police, and the store was forced to close.
All four were ordered to pay £250 in costs. Both Mr Richardson and Ms Wilkinson argued they had no income, and Ms Wilkinson said she has no bank account in her name. After Judge Baker asked "how they keep body and soul together", Mr Richardson claimed he ate leftover food from supermarkets.
Judge Baker acknowledged the activists had trodden carefully in order to try to act legally but added: "Unfortunately, I don't agree with your analysis of the law."
He added: "The defendants cite financial reasons why they were unable to pursue judicial reviews or private prosecution that does not justify an unlawful course of trespass and disruption instead. The defendants are free to hold protests outside the shop. They are not free to act in the way they did on this occasion."
The four released a statement saying: "Today's judgement illustrates the complicity of the authorities in allowing companies to profit from the occupation. Throughout the trial neither the Judge nor the prosecution challenged the assertion that the settlements are illegal in international law."
Lawyers for the four were instructed by the law firm Irvine Thanvi Natas, whose partner Simon Natas is involved with Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights. Mr Natas said all four would appeal the verdict.
Richard Millett's blog has much more, including this priceless piece after the defendants claimed to have no money:
The judge did say that the defendants seemed to have found plenty of money to travel to “Palestine” on quite a few occasions though. One of the unemployed people answered that he cycled to get there!!!This verdict is in marked contrast to the absurd, unprofessional verdict by Judge Bathurst-Norman last year, which I posted about a few times.
(h/t Samson)
05/16 Links: Pope calls Abbas ‘angel of peace’; Jerusalem then and now: A journey in photos
From Ian:
Ben-Dror Yemini: The folly of the international community on the Palestinians
The Vatican Will Not Protect Christians By Recognizing ‘Palestine’
Ben-Dror Yemini: The folly of the international community on the Palestinians
Pushing both sides into a forced settlement will lead to disaster, and a Hamas takeover in the West Bank; meanhile, the outrage over Shaked is entirely misplaced.‘Nakba Day’ Footage Shows Riots in Jerusalem, Arabs Chanting ‘We Don’t Want Jews’
The formula is a familiar one: The more right-wing the government of Israel appears to the world, the easier it is for the anti-Israel campaigners to do their work. An increase in Israel in statements and incidents of an anti-Arab nature leads to a fall-off in support for Israel among Jewish students on US campuses, and the more organizations like Breaking the Silence and B'Tselem create the distorted impression that Israel is committing crimes on an ongoing basis, the easier it is for the BDS activists to tout their case.
The starting positions are problematic – not only due to the composition of the new Israeli government, but primarily in light of the geopolitical situation. The absurd thing is that under current circumstances, Israel's control over the territories is the lesser evil.
A hasty political settlement – to which the US administration and EU are leading, with the encouragement of a bunch of Israelis who support the Palestinian demand for unilateral recognition of statehood – would be a disaster for the Palestinians. A Hamas takeover would only be a matter of time.
This has nothing at all to do with the composition of the government. Isaac Herzog would encounter the same geopolitical situation; and Tzipi Livni, too, would encounter Palestinian opposition to any peace deal. After all, the Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert governments made very generous offers to Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas respectively – to no avail.
Arab residents of Jerusalem marched through the Israeli capital’s streets on Friday to mark “Nakba Day” — the Arabic name for the perceived catastrophe (nakba) of the creation of the Jewish state. Video footage of one demonstration showed the rioters chanting “We don’t want the Jews.”Pope calls Abbas ‘angel of peace’ during Vatican visit
In the video clip, a large group of Palestinian demonstrators is seen congregated across from the Ateret Cohanim Yeshiva in Jerusalem. The rioters begin throwing glass bottles at yeshiva students, simultaneously calling out, “We don’t want Jews,” “by our souls and by our blood, we will redeem Al-Aqsa,” and “Allahu Akbar.”
Many yeshiva students hid inside the school fearing the protesters outside, according to Israeli news portal 0404. One student told the website that Jerusalem’s Arab residents “do whatever they want here.”
“They do not fear anyone,” he said, expressing hope that “one day someone will wake up in our country and make it clear to them who is boss in this country, and to whom Jerusalem and the Temple Mount belong.”
Pope Francis praised Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as an “angel of peace” during a meeting at the Vatican.
Francis made the compliment Saturday during the traditional exchange of gifts at the end of an official audience in the Apostolic Palace. He presented Abbas with a medallion and explained that it represented the angel of peace “destroying the bad spirit of war.”
Francis said he thought the gift was appropriate since “you are an angel of peace.”
Abbas is in town for the canonization Sunday of two new saints from what was then Ottoman-ruled Palestine. It also comes days after the Vatican finalized a bilateral treaty with the “state of Palestine,” making explicit its recognition of Palestinian statehood.
Abbas, for his part, offered Francis relics of the two new saints. (h/t Bob Knot)
The Vatican Will Not Protect Christians By Recognizing ‘Palestine’
In Taibe, on the other side of Jerusalem, a Muslim mob set off on a matter of honor, yelling, “Burn the Crusaders,” and burned a statue of the Virgin Mary because a Muslim woman wanted to marry a Christian. She was beaten to death in an honor killing. He was jailed. The mob was not punished. The lesson was not lost.Obama: Deal with Palestinians not possible in coming year
As Christmas 2005 approached, taking note of the desperate situation of Christians living under Palestinian rule, the Vatican did a rare diplomatic about face and asked Israel to intervene to protect Christians. Father Artemio Vitores echoed these sentiments when he asked Israeli President Moshe Katsav to “help us keep Bethlehem.” But it was too late. The Oslo Accords put Bethlehem under the rule of Arafat and his thugs that had returned from Tunsia.
No doubt the Vatican feels that appeasing the Palestinian Authority will in some ways protect the remnant of the Christian community there in a time of grave peril. It will not. Christians, like Jews, are dhimmi, second class citizens under Sharia. The move will only emboldened the Palestinians to do what their culture instructs them to do, to reign triumphal over the infidel.
Bethlehem was once 90% Christian and 10% Muslim. Today it is precisely the reverse. If Jesus and his parents were to enter Bethlehem today, as a Jewish family seeking refuge, they would be lynched.
The Vatican, in an act of desperate diplomacy, has unwittingly put a down payment on the rope.
In a lengthy interview with news outlet Al-Arabiya on a number of challenges facing the Middle East, US President Barack Obama was asked about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and he did not express a great deal of optimism on the prospect of reaching a peace deal in the near future.Turkish Paper: Palestinian Cause Now ‘Much Less a Priority’ for Arab World
"This is a very difficult challenge. On the one hand I am a strong supporter of Israel and the connection between the United States and Israel. Israel has legitimate security concerns. There is no doubt about it. And what is also true is that I am deeply committed to a Palestinian state," Obama said.
The president recalled hearing of "the heartbreaking stories from Gaza" and the sense he hears when speaking to Palestinian students in the West Bank "that their world is shut off because of their circumstances."
"The only solution is a two state solution," Obama said.
"What I think at this point realistically we can do, is to try to rebuild trust, not through a big overarching deal, which I don't think is probably possible in the next year given the make up of the Netanyahu government and the challenges of Abbas [PA President Mahmoud Abbas].
Obama called for relieving humanitarian suffering in Gaza and promoting job opportunities in the territories as ways to slowly build trust between the parties.
Through this trust building "the logic of a two-state solution will reassert itself," Obama said.
The Palestinian cause is now “much less a priority” for the international community and Arab world, Turkish state media contended on Friday.Turkish Islamists exploit Palestine
The reason: “Observers argue that ongoing political upheaval in several Arab countries has largely shifted the focus away from the Arab-Israeli conflict.”
The article, published by Andalou Agency on the date Israel declared independence in 1948, which is also the day Palestinian commemorate what they view as the mass expulsion of Arabs from lands absorbed into the newly declared Jewish state, discusses how Arab calls for the “liberation of Palestine” have diminished greatly in the four years since the beginning of widespread political unrest in Arab countries.
“The Nakba’s 67th anniversary, however, comes as most ‘Arab Spring’ states remain embroiled in deadly political infighting and derailed democratic transition,” referring to the Arabic name for that perceived catastrophe (nakba) as well as the common moniker for the Arab uprisings that began in 2010 (the Arab Spring).
Just like Iran has been doing for years, political Islamists -- who finally seized power in the Turkish government significantly eroding constitutional checks and balances, causing the disintegration of the rule of law and curbing parliamentary democracy -- have done a great disservice to the Palestinian people by exploiting their plight for domestic and regional ambitions.Obama to mark Jewish heritage month at DC synagogue
The chief architect of Turkey's policy in the last decade in regards to Palestine has been Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who had served as foreign minister and chief foreign policy advisor to then prime minister and now President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Davutoğlu is a committed ideologue and a die-hard Islamist whose utopian perspective orbits around the supremacy of a Muslim Brotherhood-style international network of Islamists. With the blessings of his boss, Davutoğlu has worked hard in the case of Palestine to reclaim ground among radical voices that exploit public sensitivities to long-running injustices and the occupation Palestinian people have been suffering at the hands of Israeli oppression.
In the end, the Turkish role that was long-cherished as a positive one and that came to be appreciated and recognized by Turkey's partners and allies including the transatlantic alliance, was eventually transformed into a negative one under the Davutoğlu-Erdoğan stewardship. Turkish Islamists' latent hostility towards President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Movement and keen interest in exploiting public frustration over the lack of political progress and lingering humiliation of the Palestinian people, has now stirred a backlash against Turkey. Gaza-ruler Hamas is obviously favored by the Islamist leaders as Hamas' political leader Khaled Meshaal frequently attends private dinners at Erdoğan's house, often shows up in Ankara unannounced and has been an enthusiastic campaigner at Davutoğlu's public rallies in Turkey to garner support for the Islamists.
US President Barack Obama will address a Washington congregation to mark Jewish American Heritage Month.Iranian Ayatollah: We ‘Will Never Allow’ Inspections of Nuke Sites
White House spokesman Eric Schultz, announcing the president’s schedule for next week, said that next Friday, May 22, Obama would speak at Adas Israel, a Conservative movement synagogue in the city’s northwest quadrant.
“On Friday, The president will travel to the congregation of Adas Israel, one of the largest congregations here in Washington, to deliver remarks in celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month, which recognizes contributions of Jewish Americans to American society and culture,” Schultz said Friday.
Obama’s visit would be during the daytime, and would not coincide with Sabbath eve services, an Adas congregant said.
Iran will never allow Western powers or the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect Tehran’s military sites as part of a final agreement with the P5+1 world powers, Iran’s Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahedi Kermani said Friday in an address to Tehran University students.Military Option Prevents War
Kermani has enormous influence in the country as Tehran’s Friday Prayers imam, and is appointed directly by the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
He said that the West, and particularly the United States, “are hallucinating” if they think that Iran would allow inspection of its military apparatus, according to Iran’s state-controlled Fars News agency.
Those who wish for Iran to recognize the State of Israel as part of a final agreement should “bury their dreams,” the Ayatollah added.
He told the crowd, “We tell Mr. Amano (IAEA director general), the westerners, and the U.S. that they should bury their dreams of recognition of Israel and also the inclusion to visit Iran’s military sites within the framework of nuclear agreement.”
The assertion that there are only two options in dealing with the rogue ayatollah regime — negotiation or a military option, which supposedly amounts to war — defies reality. Such an assertion is either mistaken or misleading.Iran will protect Palestinians, other 'oppressed' people in Middle East, Khamenei says
The threat of a limited surgical naval or air force bombing of critical nuclear installations, with no ground troops, would not amount to a war but it would deter the ayatollahs, possibly moderating their nature. If activated, it could permanently cripple their pursuit of nuclear capabilities. If necessary, strikes could be repeated from U.S. military bases in Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the Indian Ocean or from U.S. aircraft carriers.
Recent precedents demonstrate that there are many military options, dramatically short of war, that are critical to moderating the nature of rogue regimes and preventing war. On the other hand, the removal of a military option from the table while negotiating with rogue regimes whets their appetite and fuels war.
Iran will help oppressed people in the region, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday, days after Gulf Arab leaders met US President Barack Obama and expressed concern about Iranian expansionism.Fabricating the silence: Anonymous, selective, partial testimony and its deadly impact
Khamenei also denounced Saudi Arabia for its role leading a coalition of Sunni-ruled Arab states against Yemen's Houthi rebels, comparing it to the pagans who ruled the Arabian Peninsula before the advent of Islam in the seventh century.
His speech to a meeting of Iranian leaders and diplomats from the Muslim world, reported by the state news agency IRNA, brought the issues of political and religious legitimacy squarely into the struggle between the two regional powers.
"Yemen, Bahrain and Palestine are oppressed, and we protect oppressed people as much as we can," IRNA quoted him as saying.
"Those people who bring suffering to Yemeni families during sacred months are even worse than the ancient pagans of Mecca," he said at the event for the holiday of Lailat al-Miraj, when Islam says the Prophet Mohammad visited heaven and met Jesus, Abraham, Moses and other prophets.
Despite the severe shortcomings of the content, the shoddy methodology, the unabashed absence of independence or objectivity, and the egregious partisan-political agenda of the BtS people and their Gaza 2014 report, their allegations - chiefly about a "broad ethical failure" by the IDF resulting in many dead Palestinian Arabs - have been and continue to be taken seriously. They are currently echoing through some of the most impactful parts of the news media. They have been granted credibility in a way that - were the context, the setting, the geographical location different - simply could never have happened. Neither foreign aid nor the thoughtful media do such things... except when they do.FIFA head fears Israel vote could set dangerous precedent
Next month, to illustrate the point, an exhibition showcasing the BtS/Gaza "revelations" is due to take place at Zurich's Kulturhaus Helferei. The sponsors include the government of Switzerland the Zurich municipal authority. We find that astonishing. We are as much in favour of free and open discussion of ideas as the next blogger. But you can only apply that view to the Breaking the Silence people and their work-product once you manage to close your eyes and ears (and frankly your nose as well), ignore the show-stopping problems with the report itself, and pretend that there is a silence and that these brave souls are somehow breaking it. In reality, they are inventing it.
We wish those Swiss officials and those directors of the Rockefeller fund and those leaders of that Danish church were honest enough with themselves to understand this. A small cell of political activists, hiding behind context-free "testimony" by nameless people, pretending to be oppressed and reviled and deprived of a spotlight and a microphone by cruel, monolithic Israeli society are in reality free to publicize documented and verifiable allegations all day long without the smallest danger of paying a legal or moral or any other price (other than perhaps the danger of seeing their lavish funding from foreign sources dry up). Pick up any edition of the daily newspaper Haaretz to confirm that.
To paraphrase what the editors of the Italian newspaper Il Foglio wrote (in Italian) back in 2010, in reality the largest risk taken by the Breaking the Silence heroes is of arriving late at their Tel Aviv café.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter is worried that a dangerous precedent will be set if Palestine goes ahead and asks for a vote to suspend Israel at the annual Congress of soccer's governing body on May 29.Evidence Suggests Egyptian Prez Said Some Really Embarrassing Things
Blatter, who is standing for re-election at the Congress, said the dispute was "the biggest challenge" facing him as he comes to the end of his current mandate, and added that Israel had not broken any FIFA statutes.
The Palestine Football Association (PFA) has accused Israel of hampering its activities and restricting the movement of players between the Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Israel cites security concerns for the restrictions it imposes and the Israeli FA has argued that it has no control over security forces.
FIFA has been trying to broker a settlement for two years and Blatter confirmed that he would travel to the region again next week and meet Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Blatter said that if the Palestine proposal was approved, other nations could use football to air political grievances.
Analysis supports allegations the Egyptian president and his inner circle engaged in a series of embarrassing conversations, as revealed by leaked audio recordings.Egyptian court sentences former leader Morsi to death
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi and his top generals mocked Gulf allies, corrupted the judiciary and kept billion in private military accounts, if the leaks prove accurate, reports The New York Times.
No signs indicate the recordings were fabricated, according to reports submitted to British police. Sisi’s voice is recorded twice and his top general, Mamdouh Shaheen, is on another recording, writes The NYTimes.
Lawyers for ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi ordered the analysis by audio forensics firm J.P. French Associates. Morsi was ousted by the military in 2013. Sisi, formerly the minister of defense, ran for office and won in 2014. Recordings were purportedly taped during the year preceding Sisi’s election.
Leaks expose Sisi’s ambitions for a Hollywood-style image, saying he wants to be perceived as the man “on a nearly impossible mission,” while Egypt looms on the brink of disaster.
An Egyptian court sentenced ousted President Mohammed Morsi and over 100 others to death Saturday over a mass prison break during the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak and later brought Islamists to power for the first time in Egypt.Report: Gunmen shoot dead three Egyptian judges in Sinai
As is customary in passing capital punishment, Judge Shaaban el-Shami referred his death sentence on Morsi and others to the nation’s top Muslim theologian, or mufti, for his non-binding opinion. El-Shami set June 2 for the next hearing.
Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected leader, was ousted by the military in July 2013 following days of mass street protests by Egyptians demanding that he be removed because of his divisive policies. Morsi’s successor, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, was the military chief at the time and led the ouster. El-Sissi ran for president last year and won the vote in a landslide.
Also sentenced to death with Morsi in the prison break case were 105 defendants, most of them were tried and convicted in absentia. They include some 70 Palestinians. Those tried in absentia in Egypt receive automatic retrials once detained.
Gunmen shot and killed three Egyptian judges in Sinai on Saturday, AFP reported.Report: Egypt to buy S-300 air defense system from Russia
Earlier in the day an Egyptian court sought the death penalty for former president Mohamed Morsi and more than 100 other members of the Muslim Brotherhood in connection with a mass jail break in 2011.
It was unclear whether the events were linked and who was responsible for the Sinai attack.
Egypt is set to buy the S-300 missile defense system from Russia, a senior Israeli intelligence official told Reuters Wednesday, following an announcement from Moscow last month that it would deliver the advanced weapons system to Iran after lifting a ban on weapons sales to the Islamic Republic.Report: Hezbollah Rakes in Up to $100 Million Annually from Latin America
“If you speak about the S-300, they [Egypt] are buying this system,” the Israeli official said.
“I don’t know what kind of threat Egypt looks at when they decide to buy it, but we don’t see Egypt as the enemy,” the official said, adding that he hoped relations with Cairo would continue to improve.
The alleged arms deal was not officially confirmed by Egypt or by Russia, but an official in Cairo nevertheless stated that Israel had nothing to fear in light of the reports.
“If we are getting such a thing, it’s because we’re looking east, not north,” the official told Reuters, apparently referring to Iran.
A new blockbuster report in Argentine news outlet Infobae claims that Hezbollah generates between $60 to $100 million dollars a year in illegal activities in Latin America, particularly in the Tri-Border area uniting Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. The piece echoes years of reporting warning that the Lebanese Shiite terrorist group has expanded its influence in the region.US House Unanimously Passes Tougher Sanctions Against Hezbollah
Infobae reports that the astronomical sum was revealed to them by “sources within French intelligence,” who calculated this based on the numerous businesses that Hezbollah members are involved in throughout the region, particularly drug and arms trafficking and money laundering. The report describes the Tri-Border region as Hezbollah’s “capital,” from which $10 million annually flow into Lebanon alone. If the capital had a “municipal building,” it would be the Galeria Page mall, which the outlet claims is “under the control of the Shiite militia” and used to launder illicit money through its sales.
In 2006, the United States Department of Treasury identified the Galeria Page’s owner, Muhammad Yusif Abdallah, as “a senior Hizballah leader in the TBA [Tri-Border Area] and an important contributor of funds to Hizballah, notably hosting a fundraiser for the terrorist group in the TBA in 2004.” The same press release described the mall as “serv[ing] as a source of fundraising for Hizballah in the TBA and is locally considered the central headquarters for Hizballah members in the TBA.”
The Infobae report claims this situation has not changed since 2006 but, rather, expanded. “Mosques, Islamic cultural centers, businesses and other organizations without apparent political ties unite hundreds of members, which in many cases are ‘used’ by the terrorist group” to generate funding, Infobae notes.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday unanimously passed the Hezbollah International Financial Prevention Act, which would enact tougher sanctions against the Lebanon-based and Iranian-funded Hezbollah terrorist organization.Khamenei Fights to the Last Drop Of Shiite Alawite Blood
The bill, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) and cosponsored by nine other members of Congress, would sanction foreign financial institutions that facilitate Hezbollah’s activities through actions such as providing significant financial services or money laundering for the terror group.
“Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terrorist group, poses a direct threat to American and Israeli security, dominates the Lebanese government, fights for the Syrian Assad regime, and possesses an arsenal of more than 100,000 rockets,” said the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which urged the Senate to also adopt the legislation.
So, while Khamenei preaches sobriety, piety, and planting trees, the ruling class of Iran are raking in billions of dollars in profits based on sowing bedlam and mayhem and instigating the murders of hundreds of thousands of Muslims Arabs and thousands of Jews throughout the world. There are two reasons the Iranian ruling class loves the sanctions: first they are developing a nuclear arsenal to create even more chaos, and second, they love the Iranian black-market they created which allows them to exploit their own people.US commandos kill senior IS commander in Syria raid
In an Islamic analog to George Orwell’s satire Animal Farm the ruling Iranians play the role of the pigs. First, the Iranian Revolutionaries say “All animals are equal”, or its equivalent, “All Muslims are equal.” Then, they proceed to the Orwellian “but some animals are more equal than others” by saying that “Some Muslims (i.e Shiites) are more equal than other Muslims.” Then they proceed to “Four legs good, two legs better!” by saying “Iranians good, Iranian Revolutionary Guard better!” In short, Khamenei’s Revolution is a fraud.
And where is President Obama, the erstwhile leader of the Free World? Obama is enabling this genocidal corrupt-to-the-core regime to acquire a nuclear weapons’ arsenal. Obama has to now baby-sit American-flagged ships through the Straits of Hormuz with US destroyers, so Iran won’t hijack them. But, Obama who can’t trust Iran not to hijack US-flagged ships in the Persian Gulf, is the very same Obama who is trusting Iran with a nuclear-weapons industrial infrastructure buried deep inside Iranian mountains.
Which bring us back to the question: Would Iran arm Assad with a nuclear bomb if Iran could? Assad has already murdered 300,000 Syrians. What’s another 300,000, or 1,000,000 Shiite or Sunni Syrians to Assad or Khamenei? Just a bunch of Animal Farm “4-legged animals.”
US commandos mounted a rare raid into eastern Syria overnight, killing a senior Islamic State commander in a firefight, capturing his wife and rescuing a Yazidi woman held as a slave, the Pentagon said Saturday.Turkey fighter jet shoots downs Syrian aircraft
Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced the raid, identifying the militant as Abu Sayyaf. He said no US forces were killed or injured in the operation.
A US-led coalition has been striking Islamic State militants in Syria since last year, but this is only the second time troops have carried out a ground raid. A previous operation was aimed at rescuing Americans held hostage by the group.
Syrian state media earlier reported that Syrian government forces killed at least 40 IS fighters, including a senior commander in charge of oil fields, in an attack Saturday on the country’s largest oil field — held by IS.
It identified the commander as Abu al-Teem al-Saudi. The name indicates he was a Saudi citizen.
The Turkish air force on Saturday shot down a Syrian military aircraft that violated the country’s airspace Saturday, Turkish media reported.ISIS Leader Pronounces: “Islam Religion of War, Islam is Not Religion of Peace”
Turkey scrambled F-16 fighter jets after the plane entered Turkish airspace twice, Hurriyet Daily News reported. The fighter aircraft fired two missiles at the Syrian aircraft, a Turkish military source told the news site.
It remained unclear what kind of Syrian aircraft entered Turkish airspace, but Syrian state TV reported that Turkey downed one of its surveillance drones.
Turkey’s NTV news station quoted eyewitnesses saying that the aircraft crashed on the Syrian side of the border.
“The area is currently being searched for the crashed aircraft,” a Turkish source told Hurriyet. “It would soon be seen if it was a plane or a helicopter.”
According to local witnesses, the Syrian craft crossed over the Dursunlu-Emek area in the country’s southern border province of Hatay.
ISIS released an audio message which it claims is from its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The message was posted on jihadist websites. The message urges all Muslims to carry guns and fight on behalf of the “caliphate.”Greek town wants Star of David off Holocaust memorial
The ISIS leader also had a veiled message for the last several U.S. presidents.
“O Muslims, Islam was never for a day the religion of peace. Islam is the religion of war,” the voice purporting to be Baghdadi said. He called upon Muslims around the world to either make their way to the Islamic State or “fight in his land, wherever that may be,” according to the news site Vocative.
Jewish groups were infuriated by a Greek town’s demand that the Star of David to be removed from a new Holocaust memorial or they will not permit its display.Jewish Groups Deplore Greek Demand to Remove Star of David From Holocaust Memorial
The American Jewish Committee said Friday that its partner body in Greece, the Central Board of Jewish Communities, reported that municipal authorities in the Greek port of Kavala had canceled a May 17 ceremony unveiling the memorial.
A Star of David is engraved into the monument. The authorities want the ancient Jewish symbol, which also features on the Israeli flag, removed before they allow the memorial’s display.
“How can it be that the eternal symbol of the Jewish people — the very symbol that the Nazis required Jews to wear in the death camps and ghettos of Europe during the Second World War — is deemed unfit for public display in Kavala?” AJC’s executive director, David Harris, said in a statement.
The memorial commemorates the 1,484 Jews in the northern city murdered by the Nazis.
Anti-Defamation League Executive Director Abraham H. Foxman, who is a Holocaust survivor, called the move “morally reprehensible.”French Jewish Woman Assaulted in Paris Suburb by 3 Men Shouting ‘Hitler Didn’t Finish His Work’
“Kavala’s Jews were killed because they were Jews, and the value of a monument is to make that fact demonstrably clear. The mayor and the City Council have insulted the memory of victims, the Greek Jewish community, and Jews around the world, and we join with the Greek Jewish community in voicing our outrage,” he said.
The monument in question memorializes the 1,484 Jews of Kavala who were exterminated during the Nazi occupation of Greece in World War II.
The monument was set to be unveiled when, just two days before, the mayor and a majority at the city council insisted on the removal of the image of a Star of David from the memorial.
Meanwhile, Greek Secretary General of the Ministry of Culture, Education, and Religious Affairs, Giorgos Kalantzis, said “‘As an Orthodox Christian, I feel deeply insulted by this issue, because it would be as if someone asked us to erase or modify for ‘aesthetic reasons’ the symbol of the cross on the tombs of our grandfathers executed by the Germans,” according to a statement released by the AJC.
The AJC called on Kavala’s city officials to “reconsider and reverse their appalling decision.”
Eighty-one percent of Greece’s Jewish population was murdered following Nazi occupation during WWII.
A French Jewish woman was assaulted by three men in an apparent antisemitic attack in the Paris suburb Sarcelles last Wednesday, the Algemeiner has learned.Escaping the Nazis, Rexingen’s Jews built new lives near the beach at Shavei Zion
The three assailants were of African origin and shouted “Hitler did not finish his work” and “dirty race” while assaulting the woman, according to a French antisemitism watchdog.
The victim said she was attacked after the son of one of the assailants threw a ball in her direction. The three men approached the woman to retrieve the ball when they began attacking her, according to the report.
The victim filed a complaint with local police shortly after the assault.
In 1937, just over 200 Jews resided in the German town of Rexingen. Some of them relocated as a group to Moshav Shavei Zion in the late 1930s — every other Jew there who couldn’t bring himself to leave his home, or had been too old or too ill to do so, perished in the Holocaust.US Electronic Payment Company Buys Israel’s Seergate
Jews had lived in Rexingen for over 400 years, first arriving in 1516 when the Knights of St. John – a Christian Order dating back to the 11th century – offered them protection. Most of the Jewish inhabitants were farmers or owned small businesses and the town boasted a variety of Jewish institutions.
For centuries, Rexingen’s Jews and Christians lived in peace and harmony. But in the 1930s, a swastika appeared on the four-meter tower that overlooked the village; Nazis paraded through the village, and the Nuremburg laws reared their ugly head.
We learned all this and more on a fascinating tour of Shavei Zion with moshav member and Archives Director, Judith Temime. She explained that almost half the Jews of Rexingen read the writing on the wall, and understood that they would have to leave their native country. But when they contacted organizations in England and Germany for assistance, it was suggested that they head for Uganda, or Costa Rica.
No way, they said – if we have to leave, it will be to settle in the land of our forefathers. And in 1937, with the help of a former German lawyer who had already immigrated to British-mandated Palestine, a small group was sent to check out the possibilities offered by the Jewish National Fund. In the end, they chose land near the beach in northern Palestine for what would become Moshav Shavei Zion.
The American electronic payment company MyECheck has bought Israeli company Seergate Ltd, which provides electronic payment solutions, for $3 million. The California-based company announced its acquisition of Seergate last week.Jerusalem then and now: A journey in photos
The U.S. company, a leader in electronic check solutions for online and mobile payments, bought 100% of Seergate stock, in exchange for 150,000,000 shares of MyECheck common stock or approximately $3 million.
Seergate was founded by Eldad Aharoni and Alicia Roisman Ismach in 2007 to make payments simple, secure, and convenient for financial institution customers. The Israeli company’s specialization in electronic payment services for banks will be integrated into MyECheck’s electronic payment systems, adding global electronic banking and payment capabilities to the U.S. company.
The Israeli corporation, whose headquarters are in Ra’anana, also has offices in Roswell, Georgia, and has provided its services to four U.S. banks.
Jerusalem Day commemorates the unification of the city in 1967 under Israeli sovereignty, when IDF soldiers liberated the Old City from Jordanian occupation.
Only then were Israelis able to return to the holiest place on earth for the Jewish people, the Western Wall, after 20 years during which they had been denied access to the site.
I decided to celebrate 48 years of the unification in a special way, by inviting you to join me on a journey through time in Jerusalem — a journey in photos.
Recently, a rare collection of photographs was unveiled by the U.S. Library of Congress, uncovering some stunning scenes from Jerusalem during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
If it looks like s**t and smells like s**t, it must be - Lauren Booth!
Lauren Booth, unhinged moonbat and unabashed terrorist supporter, has described what she considers clear proof that Israel killed both Juliano Mer Khamis and Vittorio Arrigoni:
After reading her whole diatribe, this is her only real shred of "proof" that Israel must be behind the murders: because of text that is under the Shahada, something Jihadi's "never do."
Here's the supposedly problematic flag from the video:
Five minutes of searching found this:
I don't read Arabic, but it looks like the bottom flag also contains the Muslim declaration of faith, if stylized differently. And there is text underneath, something that even newly-Muslim Lauren Booth knows is not done by real Muslims!
Well, she can always still rely on the "Gaza grapevine" for unassailable proof of her fevered fantasies.
The rest of her posting is equally stupid. Read it all to see how detached from reality the anti-Israel crowd is.
The headline ‘Italian peace activist killed by Palestinian extremists’ is an Israeli propagandists wet dream....Which brings us to timing of both Juliano and Vittorio’s murders. ...
It is no coincidence then that both Juliano and Vittorio should die within two weeks. Both, at the hands of unknown Palestinian ‘cells.’ As they say on children’s TV - tell us boys and girls what’s wrong with this picture?
Israel’s supporters will doubtless feel affronted at the assertion that Vittorio was murdered by those almost certainly in the pay of the Jewish State. But they can’t have their dark ops cake and eat it too. Not this time. Too many of us have our eyes open to the filthy tactics employed by Israel every time they come under intellectual attack. And there is no doubt that Israeli Apartheid is losing traction by the day.
As Hamas rounds up the perpetrators of this most recent, deadly crime, the Gaza grapevine is buzzing with the news that they will indeed be found to be, (as suspected from the get-go), Israeli collaborators.
Statements of denial from the ‘Salafis’ accused of the murder have already been issued.
So, who benefits from the killing of Vittorio Arrigoni? And what is the significance of the timing of his murder?
Well, if it smells like s***t and looks like s**t it almost certainly is - Israel.
Sure, the kidnappers’ video looked genuine at first. It had all the customary layout of the kind of ‘Jihadi’ videos that the tabloid press loves: the black flag of Islam, the Quranic verse in the introduction, footage of the kidnapped victim. But a small detail on the black flag, underneath the precious, Islamically untouchable phrase ‘There is No God, but God’ raises questions about the authenticity of the groups grasp on Islam. The extra words read something like “the Brigades of Muhammad Ibn Maslama.” This has been hard for experts to verify because the video is being systematically pulled off YouTube. But one thing is certain;
‘Jihadis’ never write ANYTHING on the flag besides La Ilaha Ila Allah.
After reading her whole diatribe, this is her only real shred of "proof" that Israel must be behind the murders: because of text that is under the Shahada, something Jihadi's "never do."
Here's the supposedly problematic flag from the video:
Five minutes of searching found this:
I don't read Arabic, but it looks like the bottom flag also contains the Muslim declaration of faith, if stylized differently. And there is text underneath, something that even newly-Muslim Lauren Booth knows is not done by real Muslims!
Well, she can always still rely on the "Gaza grapevine" for unassailable proof of her fevered fantasies.
The rest of her posting is equally stupid. Read it all to see how detached from reality the anti-Israel crowd is.
"Jews lie as easily as they breathe" - Egyptian newspaper
From an op-ed in the popular Egyptian newspaper Youm7 by Massad Ismail:Jews lie as easily as they breathe, a fact that we Arabs who live in our homelands since ancient times know well. We know the temperament and lies ranging from major lies like saying that God gave them the land of Palestine, causing them to kill much of the population of Arabs and forcing them out and setting up their own state, in preparation for their expansion to occupy Arab land from the Nile to the Euphrates.
And when the world discovered the extent of their ambitions symbolized in their flag, they discovered that some of their books increase the hatred of the world for them and expose their plans for corrupting the land, so they resorted to discredit these books and claim they were forged.
The Holocaust Memorial Museum of American writes about the book The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, sayingIt is the most notorious and widely distributed antisemitic publication of modern times. Its lies about Jews, which have been repeatedly discredited, continue to circulate today, especially on the Internet. The individuals and groups who have used the Protocols are all linked by a common purpose: to spread hatred of Jews.
The Protocols is entirely a work of fiction, intentionally written to blame Jews for a variety of ills. Those who distribute it claim that it documents a Jewish conspiracy to dominate the world. The conspiracy and its alleged leaders, the so-called Elders of Zion, never existed.
This is a lie of lies of the Jews, who want to cleanse their evil history with big lies like the Holocaust, [but the Protocols] exposes their desire for sovereignty over all human beings
The Auschwitz photo album
From Yad Vashem:
(h/t Daily Alert)
The Auschwitz Album is the only surviving visual evidence of the process of mass murder at Auschwitz-Birkenau. It is a unique document and was donated to Yad Vashem by Lilly Jacob-Zelmanovic Meier..
The photos were taken at the end of May or beginning of June 1944, either by Ernst Hofmann or by Bernhard Walter, two SS men whose task was to take ID photos and fingerprints of the inmates (not of the Jews who were sent directly to the gas chambers). The photos show the arrival of Hungarian Jews from Carpatho-Ruthenia. Many of them came from the Berehovo Ghetto, which itself was a collecting point for Jews from several other small towns.
Early summer 1944 was the apex of the deportation of Hungarian Jewry. For this purpose a special rail line was extended from the railway station outside the camp to a ramp inside Auschwitz. Many of the photos in the album were taken on the ramp. The Jews then went through a selection process, carried out by SS doctors and wardens. Those considered fit for work were sent into the camp, where they were registered, deloused and distributed to the barracks. The rest were sent to the gas chambers. They were gassed under the guise of a harmless shower, their bodies were cremated and the ashes were strewn in a nearby swamp. The Nazis not only ruthlessly exploited the labor of those they did not kill immediately, they also looted the belongings the Jews brought with them. Even gold fillings were extracted from the mouths of the dead by a special detachment of inmates. The personal effects the Jews brought with them were sorted by inmates and stored in an area referred to by the inmates as "Canada": the ultimate land of plenty.
The photos in the album show the entire process except for the killing itself
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| Women and children being taken to Crematoria IV and V by way of the BII sector of the camp. The elderly and the young children were almost always sent immediately to the gas chambers as they were deemed "unfit for work". |
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| Jews "unfit for work" and selected for death, shortly before being sent to the gas chambers. |