Dear Family & Friends,

Saddest story today: Beautiful little angel, Adele Biton died today at 4 years old, 2 years after being attacked by Arab Muslims with rocks. Rocks kill people, people. In half her life, for the last 2 years, she had only 6 months free (but frail & vulnerable) to live outside the hospital that tried to rehabilitate her body & brain. When will Israel institute the death penalty for capital crimes against civilians, especially Terror crimes, especially those who attack our children? The deterrence needed for prevention of Terror should include:

1. Immediate eviction of the Terrorist’s family from their home.

2. Immediate expulsion of the Terrorist’s family into another Arab Muslim country.

3. Renovation of said home(s) to be used by incoming Jewish families.

4. Removal from families of Terrorists of all Israeli blue ID cards, free Health Insurance, & other Israel State benefits.

[Please send me your suggestions for additional penalties intended as deterrence for future Terror.]

BTW: My incoming Email address of gail@winstonglobal.org has not been working this week – again. I may not have received your mail to me. If it was vital, please resend to: winston@winstonglobal.org.

Please have a wonderful night, beautiful day. Snow is coming here perhaps by Thursday. Prepare.

All the very best, Gail/Geula/Savta/Savta Raba/Mom

Read our Website for information & enjoyment: WinstonIsraelInsight.com

1.Women-in-Green Sovereignty Journal #5 & Oz veGaon Preserve

2.Ayatollah Khamenei Sends Secret ‘Love Letter’ to Obama

3.Americans Back Bibi over Obama! by Batya Medad

4.IRAN’S MILITIAS ARE TAKING OVER IRAQ’S ARMY

5.Iran’s Peace Letter from a Poison Pen By Eli Lake

6.Iran’s Ayatollah Sends New Letter to Obama Amid Nuclear Talks

7.Obama, Israel’s elections are about Iran by Prof. Efraim Inbar

8.The battle for the Golan by Prof. Eyal Zisser

9.A Personal Reflection on MK Uri Orbach z’l

10.The good guys give hope & promise for the possibility of better days coming by Arlene Kushner

11. Nobelist Elie Wiesel to Attend Netanyahu Speech

12.Copenhagen terrorist identity released

13. Jewish Guard Killed at Synagogue Prevented Mass Casualties

14.European Rabbi Says EU Leaders ‘Bury their Heads in the Sand’

15. Wounded Soldier Who Wrapped Himself in an Israeli Flag

16.Israel’s Diplomatic Victory in the UN

17.Were You Witness to a War Crime at Ben Gurion Airport?

18. Left-wing media trying to split the Right, Netanyahu says

19.ISIS Beheads Coptic Christians in Libya

20.THE SHAMRAK REPORT: BY STEVE SHAMRAK

THIS JUST IN: Tragic Death of 4 yr old Adele Biton, Road Terror Victim By: Hana Levi Julian Arutz Sheva IsraelNationalNews.com Feb. 17, 2015

Little 4-year-old Adele Biton has died, two years after a road terror attack left her in critical condition; she had 6 months free of hospitals before passing away.

Adele Biton, road terror victim, passed away Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015. Photo Credit: Courtesy

She was just four years old, but little Adele Biton has changed lives around the world.

When her story first hit the headlines, many more people – including Jews – had no idea that Arab rock-throwing was really “road terror,” another form of murder.

Adele’s mother Adva was driving with her three young daughters on Route 5 in Samaria in the West Bank when Palestinian Authority Arabs attacked her family as they passed, hurling rocks at the car.

All four were wounded – three moderately injured – after the car swerved off the road & collided with an oncoming truck. Two-year-old Adele was trapped in her car seat & was in critical condition. Her mother, who drove the car, also was trapped. Firefighters worked tirelessly to rescue them all.

Adele was rushed to Rabin Medical Center in Petach Tikvah but soon was transferred to the intensive care unit at the adjacent Schneider Children’s Hospital. For 18 months she underwent one operation after another, & then finally, in August 2014, the little girl was allowed to go home.

For six months she was free – fragile, but free.

Half a year later, her condition again began to deteriorate as the neurological injuries she suffered in the attack continued to complicate her life medically. “Every little thing that adds stress makes a huge difference,” her mother explained.

Adele caught pneumonia & returned this morning to the intensive care unit at Schneider Children’s Hospital where once more, the staff began the fight for her life.

This time, 4-year-old Adele Biton a”h slipped away.

May her memory be blessed, may her blood be avenged.

For Adele is not the first to die as the victim of road terror, the attackers using rocks as ammunition, their own arms as murder weapons of choice.

Those who attacked her family were a gang of five Palestinian Authority Arab teens ages 16 & 17 from the Samaria Arab village of Haras. The confessed to their “mission” under interrogation by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), the ISA said in a statement after arresting the members of the teen terror cell.

Sadly, there have been others.

Asher Palmer, 24, was the son of American immigrants to Israel when he & his baby son Yonaton were murdered on September 23, 2011 – but the case was initially not as clear.

Law enforcement first believed Asher lost control of his vehicle near the Judean city of Kiryat Arba due to a motor vehicle accident. First responders told them plainly – & showed them the evidence (three rocks, include one stained with blood) – that the accident was due to a terror attack.

Within days the security assessment changed & two Palestinian Authority Arabs were arrested & charged in connection with the attack. Both proudly confessed to the murders. A third who witnessed the attack & stole Asher’s wallet & handgun from his body was also convicted of theft.

In that month of September 2011 alone, 498 incidents of rock attacks were recorded by the IDF.

The Palestinian Authority strives to glorify those who maim & murder Jews & Israelis, & especially honors those who succeed in terror attacks against citizens of the Jewish State. The PA even pays monthly salaries to those who are convicted on charges of terrorism & incarcerated in Israeli jails for such crimes. The longer the sentence, the higher the salaries, which are indirectly — & perhaps inadvertently — supported by the international community which provides financing to the PA government without mandating that it reform such practices.

Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said in response to the news of Adele Biton’s passing, “There are no words… Any people whose heroes are the murderers of children will never have a state.”

About the Author: Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication & Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press & senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org & other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.

Death of 4 yr old Adele Biton, Rock Terror Victim

I never send out fund-raising requests but, as a former head of Chicago’s Women in Green this project deals with ALL those I care about & which you see in my GW Diaries….especially SOVEREIGNTY! from the River to the Sea. So, I urgently recommend that you consider responding favorably to this request!

1.Women-in-Green Sovereignty Journal #5 & Oz veGaon Preserve

Emergency Fundraising Operation

Less than a month remains before the elections & no one knows how the political map will look on the day after the elections. The danger that a Leftist government would be formed, supported by a large & powerful Arab party that would be more influential than ever, lurks just around the corner. In order to prevent such a scenario, we must determine facts in our consciousness as well as on the ground.

* In our consciousness

The Sovereignty Journal, issue no. 5 must go to print before the elections in order to prevent those who are interested in doing so to hide the political matter under a social, economic cover. It is our duty & our privilege to raise the issue of the Land of Israel to the top of the agenda.

The journal is already prepared & it has interviews, reports & articles that are of supreme importance. All that remains now is for you to help us raise the funds to print it & distribute it throughout the Land.

* On the Ground – Oz veGaon

Thank G-d, with your donations, the Oz veGaon Nature Preserve has been outfitted for the winter & has become a bustling jewel of a site for hundreds of youth who soak up a love of the Land of Israel at the site & build up their bodies by working the ground & training in self-defense.

Along with the young generation, adults in masses also come to the place & take part in the weekly lectures that we organize, hold celebrations or any other family outing.

The expenses & costs are tremendous: there is development work, setting up tents, purchasing trailers, electricity, water, sewage, hasbara, 24/7 guard duty, security equipment, organizing events & lectures & transportation. All of these cost a great deal of money.

There is still much work to be done & we must progress & already start preparing for the approaching summer!!!

Our entire interest in developing the preserve is another layer of our efforts in saving the Land of Israel.

To remind you, despite the proximity of this forest to Gush Etzion Junction, it had been in Arab hands for many years. The village of Bayt Fajjar is located at a distance of one & a half kilometers from there & our presence in the forest is essential. These days, the Gush Etzion Council is making efforts to sort out the status of the site with the Building & Urban Planning Department. Our success in this nationalist-Zionist task depends on the masses of Israelis who came, who come now & will come to the place in the future. The more people who can come to the place & hold events there, the greater the chances of successfully arranging the permits with the various authorities.

The projects that we must promote urgently around Oz veGaon are:

* Paving the floor to allow events to be held

* Preparations for an RV park, for people to rent caravans for the summer

* Setting up shaded areas

* Building more picnic tables, benches & playground equipment for children, in order to extend the area of our holding in the forest

In order to realize these urgent tasks – printing issue no. 5 of the Sovereignty Journal & distributing it all over the country before the elections & development & preparation of Oz veGaon – we must raise in the next few days at least $150,000.

We turn to all of you, dear partners, & ask you to make this possible.

You can dedicate your donation to loved ones (in accordance with the size of donation).

Details for US tax deductible donations can be found by clicking here: http://www.womeningreen.org/help

Please pass on this email to your family & friends. Thank you.

Yehudit Katsover & Nadia Matar www.womeningreen.org

Women in Green’s Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/NashimBeYarok/videos?view=0

Women For Israel’s Tomorrow (Women in Green) POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel mailto:wfit2@womeningreen.org http://www.womeningreen.org For online donations to Women in Green: http://www.razoo.com/story/Women-In-Green

Women-in-Green Sovereignty Journal #5 & Oz veGaon Preserve

2.Ayatollah Khamenei Sends Secret ‘Love Letter’ to Obama

Iran is courting Obama with a passionate desire to eliminate the Islamic State. Will Obama jilt Khamenei?

By: Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu The Jewish Press.com Published: February 15th, 2015

Luvvy-duvvies?

Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has sent a “secret letter” in response to President Barack Obama’s letter on its nuclear program & suggested Iran can be an American ally n the war against the Islamic State (ISIS).

Obama sent Khamenei a letter last October concerning languishing negotiations to restrict & inspect Iran’s nuclear development, which it insists is for peaceful purposes & which virtually everyone else except Russia, Syria & China admit is to obtain a nuclear warhead & aim it at Israel.

The American-led war on the ISIS has given Khamenei an opportunity to reply to the letter with an overture to help Washington defeat the terrorist army that controls large parts of Syria & Iraq & is recruiting eager jihadists throughout the world.

Khamenei’s letter was “respectful” but non-committal, The Wall Street Journal reported, quoting a diplomat.

Judging from Khamenei’s comments, he is not about to cave in to Western demands but is using as bait Iran’s fear of the ISIS. He knows, better than most Western leaders, that if the ISIS takes control of Iraq & Syria, Jordan is next in line, followed by other Middle East countries, including Iran.

Israel also would like to see the ISIS disappear, but Khamenei hasn’t sent any love letters to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, probably because the Prime Minister has not courted him.

About the Author: Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu is a graduate in journalism & economics from The George Washington University. He has worked as a cub reporter in rural Virginia & as senior copy editor for major Canadian metropolitan dailies. Tzvi wrote for Arutz Sheva for several years before joining the Jewish Press.

Ayatollah Khamenei Sends Secret ‘Love Letter’ to Obama

3.Americans Back Bibi over Obama! By: Batya Medad

The Jewish Press.com Published: February 15th, 2015 Latest update: February 14th, 2015

Netanyahu & Obama – a picture that won’t be taken next month when Obama will boycott the Prime Minister. Photo Credit: Avi Ohayon/Government Press Office/FLASH90

This is probably hard for the Israeli Left to accept, since they have been using United States President Barack Hussein Obama’s antipathy to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as a campaign platform trying to paint him as hated in America, therefore unfit to govern Israel, but American polls show that a majority of Americans think that Obama should mend his ways & mouth & meet with the Israeli leader. (Times of Israel)

A new poll released Wednesday suggests that while most Americans think it was inappropriate of Republican House Majority Leader John Boehner to invite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the US Congress on Iran next month — raising the ire of the White House — a majority believe President Barack Obama should meet with the Israeli leader nonetheless
Obama, with the confidence of his position as lame duck, nothing to lose has been showing more & more of his anti-Israel & lack of sensitivity to antisemitism.

Besides his unrestrained anger at Netanyahu’s acceptance of an invitation to speak to Congress, he incredulously (where was the staff to prep him?) referred to the terror attack in the Paris kosher supermarket in a way ignoring the facts that it was Muslims against Jews.

Obama, in describing terror threats during a lengthy interview with the news site Vox, said the American people were right to be concerned “when you’ve got a bunch of violent, vicious zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris.”
Administration officials at first defended Obama’s comments, with White House spokesman Josh Earnest saying that while the administration was aware of the “motivation” of the gunman, the president was making the point that those killed in the kosher supermarket “were not targeted by name.” (Israel Hayom)

What is happening with the slow-starting American Presidential campaign? There doesn’t seem to be anyone who can roll back the anti-Israel atmosphere in the highest government echelons there.

About the Author: Batya Medad blogs at Shiloh Musings.

Americans Back Bibi over Obama! By: Batya Medad

4.IRAN’S MILITIAS ARE TAKING OVER IRAQ’S ARMY

Very quickly, because I know it’s the Sunday of a long weekend for folks in the States.

On Friday the WSJ had a huge scoop about the half-decade exchange of letters between President Barack Obama & Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which included details of multiple letters sent by Khamenei. Reactions began getting filed over the weekend, & one of the first big ones – from Bloomberg View – just went live a few minutes ago. Both articles are pasted below.

The revelations come after a month of heightened debate over Iranian regional expansionism, triggered in part by Obama’s late December interview with NPR – in which the President said that Iran could take its place as a “very successful regional power” if it agreed to a nuke deal – through week’s fall of Yemen to Iran-backed Houthis. Underneath everything are two fundamental questions:

(1) Are the Iranians willing to give up their anti-Americanism, which is at the core of revolutionary Khomeinism; &

(2) Would such a detente advance US interests by stabilizing the Middle East, or would it set the region on fire?

Regarding question #1 – on whether Iran is even willing to boost ties – the WSJ description is somewhat arch:

The Iranian cleric wrote to Mr. Obama in recent weeks in response to an October presidential letter that raised the possibility of U.S.-Iranian cooperation in fighting Islamic State if a nuclear deal is secured, according to an Iranian diplomat. The supreme leader’s response was “respectful” but noncommittal, the diplomat said… Mr. Khamenei’s ambiguity about his willingness to strike a landmark deal has left U.S. officials waging little more than a guessing-game. This unsophisticated art mostly involves picking apart the supreme leader’s speeches to try to decipher his state of mind… “Khamenei has had a three-part approach toward the nuclear talks,” said Karim Sadjadpou, an Iran analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington think tank. “Support the negotiations, undermine the negotiations with impossible redlines, & prepare the country for a ‘resistance economy,’ which implies no deal.”

Regarding question #2 – on the effect that US-Iranian cooperation would have on the region – the Bloomberg View analysis is straightforward:

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sent a letter recently to President Barack Obama saying he was open to a more direct alliance against the Islamic State… [A]n alliance with Iran is a recipe for more war. Iran has been a partner of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as his troops continue to massacre his own people, causing a death toll conservatively estimated to be north of 129,000.

In Yemen, Iran-supported Houthi rebels drove the Obama administration this week to shudder its embassy & CIA station in Sana’a, setting back a crucial war against al-Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate. Iran-supported militias in Iraq threaten the Sunni Arab population, driving many potential Sunni allies into the arms of the terrorists. Iran’s participation in a coalition against Islamic State forces, while seemingly helpful, threatens to turn a fight against a terrorist group into a bloody, regional sectarian war.

The Bloomberg View piece is by Eli Lake, who just got back from Iraq after filing several stories about Iranian penetration into the country. Those articles can be read as context & background to today’s analysis. They live here: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-02-03/exclusive-iran-s-militias-are-taking-over-iraq-s-army & here: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-02-04/inside-iraq-s-iranian-backed-militias

IRAN’S MILITIAS ARE TAKING OVER IRAQ’S ARMY

5.Iran’s Peace Letter from a Poison Pen By Eli Lake

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-02-15/iran-s-peace-letter-to-obama-was-writtenwith-a-poison-pen Feb 15, 2015 10:29 AM EST
In case you haven’t heard, peace is about to break out in the Middle East.

I realize it doesn’t look like that from the headlines: The government just fell in Yemen; Islamic State forces are threatening U.S. Marines in Iraq’s Anbar Province; Hezb’Allah is vowing revenge against Israel for killing the son of one of their beloved mass murderers.

But then there is Iran. Thirty-six years after the Islamic Revolution, the mullahs may finally be warming up to the Great Satan. On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sent a letter recently to President Barack Obama saying he was open to a more direct alliance against the Islamic State, if negotiators could iron out a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program. Khamenei has even said publicly he was open to a deal. Secretary of State John Kerry has been meeting with his counterpart, Javad Zarif. The meetings! The channels! The back channels! Diplomacy!

It’s the kind of thing that gets the hearts of our Iran-watchers palpitating. Over the years, Iran has sent a string of envoys to meet with Westerners to explain that their country’s war against the U.S., Israel, Sunni monarchies, ethnic minorities, gays, journalists & dissidents is all a big misunderstanding. Deep down, many of Iran’s leaders just want peace, these emissaries say, but they always end up getting undermined by the hardliners. Now, the hardliner of all hardliners, the supreme leader himself, is talking about peace too. & he’s even suggesting an alliance against a common foe. Any day now, he will lead the crowd in chants of “Life to America!”

All of this is tempting. The U.S. has little to show for its on-again-off-again war against Iran, & the two nations’ interests should be aligned in the war on terrorism that began after Sept. 11, 2001. The Sunni Islamists of al-Qaeda & the Islamic State consider the Shiites who run Iran to be apostates of the true faith. Iran has been fighting them in Syria & now is fighting them in Iraq. Why can’t bygones be bygones?

But before declaring Iran’s president his generation’s Gorbachev, it’s worth considering some bad news. To start, Iran has had an opportunistic relationship with al-Qaeda over the years, despite the whole apostasy problem. A year ago, the Treasury Department laid a lot of this out in a designation about al-Qaeda’s network in Iran. Terrorist operatives based in Mashhad, near Iran’s border with Afghanistan, were allowed to facilitate the transfer of al-Qaeda fighters from Pakistan to Syria through Iranian territory. After 9/11, Osama bin Laden & his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, cut a deal with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps to allow family members to live in Iran while they moved from Afghanistan to Pakistan. Iran was also a key base in the last decade for al-Qaeda operatives such as Saif al-Adel, who was kept under a house arrest so loose he was able to write a semi-regular Internet column & help plan al-Qaeda’s war against the Iraqi government.

OK, opportunistic relationships can change. FDR & Stalin were allies against the Nazis, but after the Third Reich collapsed, the U.S. & the Soviet Union fought a cold war. Why can’t Iran & America be new allies in a war against the Islamic State? In many ways they already are.

The problem is: Iran really loves terrorism. Since 1979, it has used terrorism as a tool of statecraft like no other nation. In his testimony Thursday before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Nick Rasmussen, the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, said Iran & Hezb’Allah “remain committed to conducting terrorist activities worldwide & we are concerned their activities could either endanger or target U.S. & other Western interests.”

Iran’s leaders have been implicated in terrorist attacks in South America, Europe & the Middle East. The Justice Department in 2011 accused Iran of attempting to kill Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington at a popular Georgetown restaurant, Cafe Milano. For the Islamic Republic to give up its predilection for terror would require a cultural revolution inside its defense establishment. What would the Quds Force be without car bombers & kidnapping?

Some might argue that the 2013 election of President Hassan Rouhani, a supposed reformer, signifies just this kind of change. But there is little evidence he is opening up Iranian society. State executions of gays & arrests of dissidents continue. Even though Rouhani tweeted in 2013 a Jewish New Year message to his followers on Twitter, the regime remains steeped in ugly anti-Semitism. In response to the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris last month, a cultural center in Iran with close ties to the regime announced a Holocaust cartoon contest. Despite Rouhani’s campaign promises, the leaders of the country’s green movement, the people who took to the streets to protest the 2009 elections, remain under house arrest or brutal detention in the country’s prisons. If Iran is unwilling to stop terrorizing its own people, why should anyone think it will stop terrorizing the citizens of its historic enemies?

And this gets to the most important argument as to why an alliance with Iran is a recipe for more war. Iran has been a partner of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as his troops continue to massacre his own people, causing a death toll conservatively estimated to be north of 129,000. In Yemen, Iran-supported Houthi rebels drove the Obama administration this week to shudder its embassy & CIA station in Sana’a, setting back a crucial war against al-Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate. Iran-supported militias in Iraq threaten the Sunni Arab population, driving many potential Sunni allies into the arms of the terrorists. Iran’s participation in a coalition against Islamic State forces, while seemingly helpful, threatens to turn a fight against a terrorist group into a bloody, regional sectarian war.

It’s hard to know exactly what kind of deal, if any, will emerge from Iran’s nuclear negotiations in Geneva with the U.S. & other great powers. But if Obama believes he can purchase Iranian counter-terrorism cooperation with concessions on its nuclear program, he is paying Iran twice & getting very little in return.

It’s also possible that Khamenei’s messages have been lost in translation. With apologies to Mel Brooks, it could be that when Iran’s supreme leader said he wanted “peace,” he meant: a piece of Yemen, a piece of Iraq, a piece of Syria, a piece of Gaza, a piece of Lebanon. You get the picture.

Iran’s Peace Letter from a Poison Pen By Eli Lake

6.Iran’s Ayatollah Sends New Letter to Obama Amid Nuclear Talks

http://www.wsj.com/articles/irans-ayatollah-sends-new-letter-to-obama-amid-nuclear-talks-1423872638?ref=/home-page By Jay Solomon & Carol E. Lee Feb. 13, 2015 7:10 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON — Iran’s paramount political figure, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has responded to overtures from President Barack Obama seeking better relations by sending secret communications of his own to the White House.

The Iranian cleric wrote to Mr. Obama in recent weeks in response to an October presidential letter that raised the possibility of U.S.-Iranian cooperation in fighting Islamic State if a nuclear deal is secured, according to an Iranian diplomat. The supreme leader’s response was “respectful” but noncommittal, the diplomat said.

A senior White House official declined to confirm the existence of that letter. But it comes as the first details emerge about another letter Mr. Khamenei sent to the president early in his first term.

That letter outlined a string of abuses that in the supreme leader’s view the U.S. had committed against the Iranian people over the past 60 years, according to current & former U.S. officials who viewed the correspondence.

The White House official confirmed that the president received that letter in 2009, but declined to comment on the content of any presidential correspondence.

Neither the White House nor the Iranian government has officially confirmed any correspondence between the two. Iranian officials, in recent months, though, have told Tehran’s state media that some of Mr. Obama’s letters were answered, without specifying by whom.

“The letters of the American president have a history of some years, & in some instances, there have been responses to these letters,” said Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in November. He added that there were “contradictions” between policies laid out in the letters & U.S. actions, according to a translation of Mr. Shamkhani’s comments by Al Monitor, a Mideast-focused website.

Despite its airing of grievances, the first letter in many ways began in earnest the recent historic thaw after more than 30 years of frozen U.S.-Iranian ties, because Mr. Khamenei also didn’t rule out the possibility of accommodation with the U.S.

That omission—and the sheer fact of the letter itself—fueled initial White House hopes for some sort of breakthrough in relations on Mr. Obama’s watch.

“He left the door open,” said one former Obama administration official who saw the letter, the contents of which have never been reported.

That effort is now at a crossroads, with Mr. Obama saying this month that nuclear negotiations with Iran either yield a comprehensive agreement by March 31 or Washington will take steps, including possibly military action, to deny Tehran the capacity to build a nuclear bomb.

Congressional Republicans have invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress next month on Iran, setting off a political firestorm in Washington.

Iran says its program is purely peaceful.

Mr. Khamenei’s ambiguity about his willingness to strike a landmark deal has left U.S. officials waging little more than a guessing-game. This unsophisticated art mostly involves picking apart the supreme leader’s speeches to try to decipher his state of mind.

Mr. Obama has said that a breakdown in the negotiations could fuel further instability in the Middle East & undercut U.S. efforts to combat Islamic State militants in Iraq & Syria, whom Tehran is also fighting. He has also said Iran could use the end of diplomacy to “break out” & attempt to rapidly build the capacity to produce a nuclear weapon.

Into this mix, Mr. Khamenei has offered conflicting signals to the West.

Last weekend, he appeared to lend support to his nuclear negotiators, saying in a speech he agreed “with the progress in the work our statesmen have done.”

Many of Iran’s negotiators studied in the U.S., including Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, & are believed to support a rapprochement with Washington.

Still, Iran’s supreme leader also set down terms for an agreement in the speech, particularly concerning the pace at which Western sanctions on Iran would be removed, which would almost certainly be rejected by the White House & Congress, said U.S. officials.

Iranian President Hasan Rouhani speaks to the crowd during a ceremony marking the 36th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Tehran on Wednesday. Photo: European Pressphoto Agency

“I will agree with a deal if one is made, but I will not approve a bad deal,” Mr. Khamenei said in the speech. “No deal is better than any deal which contradicts national interests, a deal which humiliates the great Iranian nation.”

Mr. Obama believed previous U.S. overtures to the Islamic Republic failed because they had circumvented the supreme leader’s office, the country’s most powerful. He moved quickly to write Mr. Khamenei just weeks after taking office in 2009, according to U.S. officials.

In his written response, Mr. Khamenei complained of Washington’s long-ago military alliance with the late Persian monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, & its support for Saddam Hussein during Iraq’s eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s.

Some administration officials viewed the fact the Iranian cleric responded at all as a signal he might be willing to forge a compromise on the nuclear file. Neither he nor his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, had ever directly communicated with the U.S. since the 1979 Islamic revolution, said U.S. & Iranian officials.

Mr. Khamenei’s failure to reject outright the possibility of a compromise on the nuclear file also raised hopes. “You don’t know how important it is for the supreme leader of Iran to actually write a letter to the U.S.,” said a second former U.S. official briefed on the correspondence. “It’s a sign he recognizes the country.”

Other administration officials, including former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, were deeply skeptical. The two-term defense chief, in his book, “Duty,” released last year, briefly described an “exchange of letters” between Mr. Obama & Mr. Khamenei in the spring of 2009, but without offering any specifics.

He said he supported Mr. Obama’s correspondence “because I thought that when it failed—as I believed it would—we would be in a much stronger position to get approval of significantly stricter economic sanctions.”

Mr. Khamenei never responded to a second letter sent by Mr. Obama that year, according to U.S. & Iranian officials. Obama administration officials had accused Iran’s government of rigging the 2009 re-election of then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , a hard-liner.

The election of the more moderate Hasan Rouhani in mid-2013, however, breathed new life into the diplomatic process.

Mr. Obama spoke for 15 minutes by phone with Mr. Rouhani that year. & Secretary of State John Kerry & Mr. Zarif now have regular meetings on the nuclear agreement.

Mr. Obama, meanwhile, wrote another letter to Mr. Khamenei in October, raising the possibility of cooperation in fighting Islamic State, according to people briefed on the exchange.

In his latest response, Mr. Khamenei said improved relations could only be based on mutual trust, said the Iranian diplomat. The 75-year old Iranian leader received treatment for prostate cancer last September & briefly was hospitalized. But he is believed to have recovered & could seek to weaken Mr. Rouhani, & other more moderate Iranian leaders, if the diplomacy collapses.

“You could see a real escalation of tensions between the U.S. & Iran. It’s very dangerous for the Mideast,” said Vali Nasr, a former Obama administration official who now leads the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. “The moderates in Tehran could be effectively purged.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Khamenei has increasingly asserted himself into the nuclear diplomacy.

In July, he appeared to blindside his negotiators in Vienna by publicly stating Iran would need nearly 200,000 centrifuge machines to produce nuclear fuel in the coming years. The Obama administration has been trying to negotiate them below 5,000.

In his Feb. 8 speech, the supreme leader also said any agreement reached next month must include the complete dismantling of Western sanctions on Iran. U.S. negotiators have been discussing a phased repeal that could take years.

“The sanctions must literally be taken away from the hands of the enemy. The sanctions must be lifted,” Mr. Khamenei said. Iran experts worry Mr. Khamenei is demanding terms so high that they will sink the talks & underpin his narrative that the Americans can’t be trusted.

“Khamenei has had a three-part approach toward the nuclear talks,” said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington think tank. “Support the negotiations, undermine the negotiations with impossible redlines, & prepare the country for a ‘resistance economy,’ which implies no deal.”

Iran’s Ayatollah Sends New Letter to Obama Amid Nuclear Talks

7.Obama, Israel’s elections are about Iran  by Prof. Efraim Inbar

Unfortunately, there are many sources of tension between the Obama administration & ?Netanyahu’s government. The main issue of discord is, of course Iran. Obama seeks an agreement ?with the Islamic Republic of Iran over its nuclear program that will ensure that, under his watch at least, ?Tehran does not get the bomb. The fact that Iran will maintain the capability to enrich uranium, & will ?not dismantle any of its nuclear installations, is simply swept under the rug as insignificant. Moreover, ?it seems that Obama considers Iran, as strange as it sounds, to be a strategic partner in the attempt to ?bring stability to a region beleaguered by chaos. ?

Consequently, the United States capitulates on the nuclear issue, & accepts a nuclear agreement ?with no conditions that might curtail Iran’s freedom of action. Taking over Yemen (and throwing ?American diplomats out of the country); carving a sphere of influence in Iraq; providing continuous ?support to the butcher in Damascus & strengthening Hezb’Allah?’s grip over Lebanon; engaging in ?subversion in Central Asia; & maintaining its terrorist apparatus: All these are now overlooked. In the ?Grand Bargain between the U.S. & Iran, Tehran gets all it wants, while Washington gets an Iranian ?promise not to go nuclear as long as Obama is in the White House. Having made no foreign policy ?achievements throughout his presidency, Obama, perhaps obsessively, now wants the relationship ?with Iran to serve as his foreign policy legacy. ?

This foolish behavior negatively affects America’s own position in the Middle East, as well as the ?national interests of its closest ally, Israel. Although Israel has never been close to his heart, Obama ?understands that Israeli concerns strike a sensitive chord with the American public. & this is precisely ?why he does not want Netanyahu to speak in the U.S. Congress. Obama fears that Netanyahu’s speech ?could become a catalyst for a public debate about his own dangerous policy toward Iran, publicity ?which can only be damaging for him. The last thing he needs is a gifted orator such as Netanyahu ?pointing out the glaring deficiencies in the American approach toward Iran. ?

And this is precisely why Netanyahu is determined to defy Obama’s wishes. The gravity of the Iranian ?threat is accepted by most Israelis, of varying political hues. As long as there is a chance, however ?slight, that an address to Congress will reinvigorate the public debate in the U.S. on Iran, & obstruct ?the administration’s attempt to sign a deal, Netanyahu feels compelled to make a heroic stand, against ?all odds, in an attempt to thwart the Iranian nuclear threat. Paradoxically, Obama’s efforts to prevent ?Netanyahu from visiting Washington, & to convince Congress members to boycott the session, only ?increase the interest in what Israel’s prime minister has to say. ?

Beyond the personal animosity & the vast difference in worldviews, Obama does not want ?Netanyahu around because he considers Israel’s prime minister a serious spoiler of his most important ?foreign policy initiative — an issue of true global scale. But it is not only in Washington that Obama ?considers Netanyahu to be unwelcome. He’d like to oust him from Jerusalem as well, & has made ?every effort to unseat Israel’s prime minister — & not for the first time. Once again we are witness to ?American intervention in Israeli elections, through expressing displeasure with Likud candidates, ?providing large-scale funding to an anti-Netanyahu campaign, & enlisting Jewish activists & donors.?

Obama does not want Netanyahu as prime minister of Israel even after a deal is signed with Iran. He ?has no desire to be exposed to Netanyahu’s continued criticism, realizing as he does that the ?proposed deal has many loopholes, & that Iranian violations of the agreement are probable. He also ?takes seriously Netanyahu’s statement that Israel is not bound by America’s unilateral agreements. In ?Obama’s view, a paranoid Netanyahu may still utilize the military option, & thereby destroy his only ?foreign policy “success.”?

And Obama is probably right on this point. Among the candidates for prime minister in the upcoming ?elections, only Netanyahu is passionate about Iran, & only Netanyahu would consider ordering the ?Israel Defense Forces to attack Iranian nuclear installations in defiance of the United States. While the election ?campaigns in Israel are focused more on personalities than on issues, the underlying theme of the ?elections is the Iranian threat. Netanyahu did not refrain from escalating the conflict with Iran in ?January 2015, & boldly authorized the attack beyond the Syrian border that killed an Iranian general. ?Under certain circumstances, he could go even further. This is the key issue that Israelis are being ?asked to decide in March 2015, & Obama is attempting to influence this decision.?

Efraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, is a professor of political studies at Bar-Ilan University & a Shillman/Ginsburg fellow at the Middle East Forum

Obama, Israel’s elections are about Iran by Prof. Efraim Inbar

8.The battle for the Golan  by Prof. Eyal Zisser

Less than a month after Israel, according to foreign reports, thwarted an attempt by Hezb’Allah to establish a stronghold on the Syrian side of the border in the Golan Heights, Hezb’Allah fighters have launched an offensive against Syrian rebel forces there, meaning that control of the border area could soon change hands.

In recent days, Hezb’Allah fighters, along with Assad regime troops, have been conducting a major assault against rebels in the border area. As of now, Hezb’Allah & the Assad regime have been able to retake a number of cities & villages, including on several strategic mounds that overlook the Israel-Syria border, as well as along the Damascus-Daraa road.

These developments have not fundamentally changed the course of the war in Syria. None of the sides — neither the regime nor the rebels — has the ability the defeat the other. Both sides are too weak, too bloodied & to exhausted to win a decisive victory. In the meantime, all they are doing is drawing blood from each other. Those who are paying the price are the citizens of Syria, or least those who still remain in their homes & on their lands. Assad relies primarily on support from the Alawite sect, & he is now scratching the bottom of the barrel in his efforts to recruit new fighters. The dispatch of a few thousand trained Hezb’Allah fighters may help Assad win some battles here & there, but it is not enough to bring about overall victory for him in the war.

Yet, the battle for the Golan area is of great importance — for the rebels, for Assad, for Hezb’Allah and, yes, for Israel. Last summer, the rebels took over most of the border area & pushed Assad regime forces off a majority of the mounds overlooking the Israeli side of the border. This sparked concern in Israel that the rebels, many of whom belong to Islamic extremist movements, such as the Nusra Front, would act against us, something which has yet to happen.

The takeover of the Golan area by the rebels also brought them closer to Damascus, placing the Syrian capital under serious threat. As a result of this, Hezb’Allah sent forces to try to oust the rebels from their newly-seized positions, like it did in Qusair in May 2013 & Kalmon Ridge in the spring of 2014.

The fact that the Assad regime is convinced the rebels are backed by Israel & Jordan & its belief that those two countries are trying to establish security buffer zones along their borders with Syria only reinforce the motivation of Assad & Hezb’Allah to retake the Golan area from the rebels. Thanks to Hezb’Allah’s help, it is very possible that Assad will reestablish control over the entire length of the Israel-Syria border. But as has been the case over the past four years, one victory or another by Assad or the rebels will not have any great significance on the rest of the fighting in Syria.

Israel has no apparent cause for alarm if Assad retakes the Quneitra crossing. Over the years, Assad was careful to keep the peace along the border. But while the voice is Assad’s, the hands are Nasrallah’s. Assad is now dependent on Iran & Hezb’Allah. So if the Syrian military returns to the border with Israel, the decision on whether to maintain quiet there will be Nasrallah’s, no less than Assad’s.

The battle for the Golan by Prof. Eyal Zisser

9.A Personal Reflection on MK Uri Orbach z’l, 2/17/15

Uri was a great representative for religious Zionism. He could get his message across without yelling, without insulting, without making someone feel uncomfortable – yet with a kindness & humor that was infectious & left you wanting to hear more. By: Jameel@Muqata Published: February 16th, 2015

MK Uri Orbach Photo Credit: Miriam Alster/FLASh90

Despite the title above, I never met Uri Orbach personally. I read his many books, read his children books to my children & laughed with my kids at his clever poems, rhymes, stories & wit, while we smiled at the outstanding illustrations from Shay Charka (who partnered with Orbach on many books). His books & newspaper articles for adults were witty, funny, introspective & always brought out a smile.

So how did I know him so well – in addition to his books & articles, he co-hosted “The Last Word” daily radio show on IDF radio. Uri was the right-leaning, kippa-wearing host & opposite him was the left-leaning, secular Irit Linor. Their cheerful daily banter on politics & religion was a breath of fresh air in Israel’s strident media – showing that 2 sides of the spectrum could intelligently disagree on issues of major importance with humor & respect. If you wanted to see how Israel’s diverse mosaic of citizens could get along with each other, Uri was a great representative for religious Zionism. He could get his message across without yelling, without insulting, without making someone feel uncomfortable – yet with a kindness & humor that was infectious & left you wanting to hear more.

I looked through my blog for tidbits about Uri from over the years & it brought a smile to my face (nor did it surprise me at all) that he was on the jury for deciding the great Efrat Cholent competition in 2011.

Uri entered politics & represented the “Bayit Yehudi” party & his background was a living example of the party; raised & educated with the values of religious Zionism, he attended the Nechalim religious high school & then the hesder Yeshiva in Kiryat Shmona (a 5 year program of yeshiva studies & IDF combat service).

Uri brought a unique value to the Knesset of togetherness that rarely exists in Israel’s spectrum. Orbach had no “bitter political enemies” in the Knesset, & while he had his direction, ideology & opinions, Orbach was a rare common denominator that all could agree upon – he was a mentsch, a leader, & a friend. Uri was a cabinet member in the current government responsible for senior citizen services & you can still hear his influence in the gently comical ads on the radio, advertising improved services for the elderly.

It is hard to succinctly summarize the life of someone who wrote so much, communicated via radio, TV, internet, newspapers, social media, & touched the lives of so many in Israel during his short lifetime of 54 years. I hope we can continue his legacy of finding some common ground between us to continue the dream of building the State of Israel, together.

May his memory be a blessing.

A Personal Reflection on MK Uri Orbach z’l, 2/17/15

10.The good guys give hope & promise for the possibility of better days coming. By Arlene Kushner 2/15/15

Many spirits were buoyed on Friday, when the news broke that Elie Wiesel had announced that he would be attending Netanyahu’s March 3rd address in Congress “on the catastrophic danger of a nuclear Iran.”

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, a close associate of Wiesel’s, announced that he would be placing full page ads in the NY Times & the Washington Post that would declare Wiesel’s intention of coming to Congress to hear Netanyahu, & would broadcast his invitation to Obama & others: “Will you join me in hearing the case for keeping weapons from those who preach death to Israel & America?”

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/191326#.VOC4opv9nIU

credit: failedmessiah All I am aware of at this point is that the NY Times ad did appear yesterday. You can see it here (with my thanks to Cheryl L.):

11.Nobelist Elie Wiesel to Attend Netanyahu Speech

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach announced today that the writer, political activist & Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, will attend Prime Minister Netanyahu’s congressional speech regarding Iran on March 3. A full-page advertisement declaring Mr. Wiesel’s intention to attend the controversial speech will appear in The New York Times on February 14^th to be followed by The Washington Post.

Signifying the urgent threat that a nuclear Iran portends for Israel & the rest of the world, Mr. Wiesel, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, directly addresses President Obama, Vice President Biden & distinguished members of Congress, & asks them to support Mr. Netanyahu’s right to call attention to the crisis. In the advertisement, Mr. Wiesel states, “As one who has seen the enemies of the Jewish people make good on threats to exterminate us, how can I remain silent?”

“I plead with you to put aside the politics that have obscured the critical decisions to be made. Surely it is within your power to find a solution that will permit Israel’s Prime Minister to deliver his urgent message. Will you join me in hearing the case for keeping weapons from those who preach death to Israel & America?”

“There are few personalities more respected & admired in the entire world than Professor Wiesel,” said Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, Executive Director of This World. “He represents a conscience of mankind. As someone who witnessed the devastating genocide of the Jews first hand, Professor Wiesel clearly understands the stakes of an Iranian nuclear power. He is the living face of the 6 million victims of the Holocaust.”

This is not the first time Mr. Wiesel has been involved in controversy or in an advertisement. Last summer, during the height of the Israel-Gaza conflagration, the London Times rejected a provocative ad featuring the Nobelist, citing concern for reader sensitivities. At the time, a Times representative told the media buyer for Jewish Values Network, “[The Times] [feels] that the opinion being expressed is too strong & too forcefully made & will cause concern amongst a significant number of Times readers.” The Guardian & other papers accepted the ad.

Meanwhile, the President himself is reported to have strong, warm feelings for Mr. Wiesel, having first met at Occidental College in California when Mr. Obama was a university student. In 2012, Mr. Wiesel told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that he & the president were collaborating on a book.

http://observer.com/2015/02/exclusive-nobelist-elie-wiesel-to-attend-netanyahu-speech/

In a situation that has become shamefully politicized & partisan, Wiesel brings attention back to the real issue – the dangers of Iran. Speaking as he has for decades on the horrors of the Holocaust, he is able to draw a direct line to what we face today. And, very importantly, he does it with a stature that is non-partisan.

Do I imagine that Obama is going to rush to join Wiesel in Congress to hear Bibi? Of course not. But I do have hope that this public action will take some of the wind out of the president’s political sails. It is clear that Obama has been going on about “protocol” & “elections campaigns” in order to distract from his major concern: Netanyahu’s challenge to the deal with Iran that is currently in the works. When it is pointed out by someone such as Wiesel that we are confronting a situation that is terrifying, hopefully it becomes just a tad more difficult for Obama to continue with the same obfuscation.

Governor Mike Huckabee & his wife are in town now; they will be leading a mission of some 250 people – many coming for the first time – who will be touring the country to learn about Israel’s heritage.

This morning, Governor Huckabee held a press conference. He has not yet announced that he will be running for president, but there is considerable reason to believe that this will be the case. & I see this to the good. As he addressed subjects of major concern for journalists today, he was very much on the mark:

We are, said the governor, in the midst of a crucial historical time, as we face the threat of radical Islam. This is a threat not just to Israel. Israel is the canary in the coal mine, but is not Iran’s ultimate target – a nuclear Iran would be a huge threat to the US & other nations.

We are not looking at a personal conflict between Obama & Netanyahu, but rather at the question of whether we trust Iran. The strategy of loosening sanctions is counterintuitive – there should be pressure put upon Iran now to bring it to the breaking point.

It is stupid to declare in advance what we are not going to do. Everything must be on the table. The government of Iran has no credibility – it’s like negotiating with a snake. America’s leading from behind has had disastrous consequences.

Governor Huckabee absolutely believes Netanyahu should speak in Congress. Speeches of power can have a great impact. & Netanyahu may be uniquely qualified to deliver that speech.

We should remain assured that there is strong Democratic support for Israel in Congress. Much of the partisan tension we are seeing now is anti-Boehner not anti-Israel.

Credit: The Guardian

Please see here another very cogent argument regarding the need to counter Obama as vigorously as possible with regard to Iran. This article – “Worse Than No Strategy” – is written by Clifford May, president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (emphasis added):

“It seems like only yesterday that President Obama was being criticized for having no strategy to counter the jihadi threat…

“Since then, a different perception has been taking root: Mr. Obama does indeed have a strategy – a ‘secret strategy,’ one that is alarmingly misguided.

“According to this theory, he believes that fighting terrorism requires accommodating the regime long recognized by the U.S. government as the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism: the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“He may also see the Islamic Republic not as a rival to the Islamic State but as a more moderate alternative — despite the fact that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, has repeatedly declared hostility toward America the foundation of the Islamic revolution. The president appears to believe that Sunni jihadis can be countered by Shia jihadis…

“Michael Doran, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, has not just speculated about Mr. Obama’s ‘secret strategy.’ He has painstakingly combed through the record & produced a 9,000-word report persuasively establishing that Mr. Obama, since early in his presidency, has been in pursuit of a ‘comprehensive agreement’ that would allow Iran to become what the president has called ‘a very successful regional power.’

“Understand what that means: Iran would be the hegemon of the Middle East….”

http://defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/may-clifford-d-worse-than-no-strategy/

Is it any wonder that Binyamin Netanyahu has refused to be dissuaded in his determination to address the US Congress on the issue of Iran?

You might also want to see “Anatomy of a Bad Iran Deal: A Preliminary Assessment,” by Dore Gold, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (emphasis added).

A key factor of concern here, as elsewhere is the number of centrifuges that Iran would be permitted to maintain.

“The numbers are important. In a scenario of ‘breakout,’ in which the Iranians race to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for their first atomic bomb, the number of centrifuges largely determines the amount of time the Iranians will need to accomplish this goal…

“Iran currently has 19,000 centrifuges, 9,000 of which are running & 10,000 that are installed but not operating. Israel’s position is that Iran should have zero centrifuges. The reason is that if Iran truly needs enriched uranium for civilian purposes, it could import enriched uranium as do roughly 15 other countries, such as Canada, Mexico, & Spain. The Israeli position is in line with six UN Security Council resolutions that were adopted between 2006 & 2010, with the support of Russia & China.

“…at the beginning of the current round of negotiations, the United States was demanding that Iran significantly reduce its stock of centrifuges to 1,500, but in doing so dropped the longstanding U.S. policy that Iran eliminate its centrifuges completely.

“…According to multiple press reports, Western negotiators have raised the ceiling for the number of centrifuges that Iran will be allowed to have: they have gone from 1,500 to 4,500, & they now appear to be ready to let the Iranians have 6,000 centrifuges.”

When other factors – such as the amount of enriched uranium Iran would be permitted to retain – Iran’s breakout time for producing enough weapons-grade uranium for an atomic bomb would be six months & possibly considerably less.

http://jcpa.org/anatomy-of-a-bad-iran-deal/

Last time it was Paris. This time Copenhagen. Terrifying, but not unexpected.

Early yesterday, a gunman shot into a café where a Swedish cartoonist, Lars Vilks, who had caricatured the Prophet Muhammad was speaking. Vilks body guards successfully whisked him away & he hid in a freezer (shades of Paris). Someone else inside the café – Finn Norgaard, 55, a film director, took a bullet & was killed.

Today, Dan Uzan, 37, a longtime security guard. & a Jew, was shot dead. Uzan was guarding a synagogue where a Bat Mitzvah celebration was taking place. According to reports, he was brought in after the café shooting.

The police have pursued & killed someone whom they say they believe was the perpetrator of both attacks. There has been official reluctance to identify him, but Danish media sources are saying it was Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, a man known by authorities & possessing a record of violence. He had been released from prison two weeks ago.

Could it possibly be, by any remote chance, that a politically correct aversion to fingering a Muslim is behind the police reluctance to officially reveal the terrorist’s identity?

The Danish are deeply distressed that this terrorism has come to their door. They are eager to express their horror, & their readiness to protect all citizens & keep life normal. Did you see pictures of flowers brought to the synagogue where the shooting took place?

Yet, the questions must be asked: Where next? And, what normal?

Prime Minister Netanyahu said that these attacks would continue & that the Jews should come home to Israel. One Danish leader of the Jewish community criticized this, saying that anti-Semitism is not a reason to leave.

It’s not? Not even when the handwriting is on the wall? Note the Israeli flag hung on the synagogue over the flowers.

I close here, then, with a piece on this issue – “After Copenhagen, What Next for Europe?” – written by David Harris, president of the American Jewish Committee. Says Harris (emphasis added):

“…after 15 years of engaging with European leaders to get their attention, help them understand what stares them in the face, & press for sustained action, I’m not quite ready to bet the family farm that the day after tomorrow will be all that different than the day before yesterday.

“Even so, I desperately want to believe that Europe, with all its dazzling achievements since the end of World War II, can still strengthen its resolve, stiffen its spine, & fully understand the stakes involved, however late in the day it is.”

A bit of wishful thinking, given present realities, but what he would wish for is instructive & worth noting. He calls for the following now:

[] …”quickly organize a high-level conference to discuss the rise in anti-Semitism…discuss & adopt a comprehensive plan of action, & then implement & monitor it.

[] “European leaders must understand, as French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has, that anti-Semitism is not only an attack on Jews, but also an assault on Europe & its values. The two cannot be separated.

[] “call a spade a spade. For many Europeans, there is no hesitation in identifying the source of anti-Semitism when it emanates from right-wing extremists. But when anti-Semitism, including deadly violence, springs from within a segment of the Muslim population, verbal acrobatics all too often come into play. If you can’t name the adversary, how can you effectively fight it?

[] “stop tying anti-Semitism to Islamophobia, as if the two are Siamese twins. AJC’s Brussels office has been trying for months to encourage a European Parliament hearing on anti-Semitism, only to be met with insistence that any such meeting include Islamophobia. Why this demand to join the two together, when the majority of incidents occurs against Jews, when Europe has a particularly ugly history of anti-Semitism, & when the principal attackers of Jews invoke their Islamic faith?

[] “recognize that we confront both a short- & long-term menace that won’t be overcome by even the most eloquent of speeches & the most symbolic of acts. Rather, it requires a full-court, sustained effort by individual governments (and, of course, by the EU) using the resources they have the capacity to mobilize, joined by the determined efforts of civil society.

[] “connect the lessons of the Holocaust to the present-day threat to the Jews. I’ve witnessed too many Holocaust-related events where murdered Jews are mourned — Jews who, tragically, cannot be brought back to life — but that totally ignore the current dangers to living Jews. A refusal to connect the two quite frankly empties these commemorations of much of their meaning & sincerity.

[] don’t apologize for European values of democracy, human dignity, openness, & pluralism….It’s high time to stand up in defense of these noble values & do everything possible to ensure that newcomers embrace them as well.

[] “it is important to understand that the jihadist barbarism which Europe is experiencing first-hand is not much different from what Israel has been facing for decades. Why, then, does Europe continue to try drawing a distinction, when, in reality none exists? The same jihadists who hate Europe detest Israel, & the same jihadists who wish for Israel’s annihilation aspire to no less for Europe as we know it.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-harris/after-copenhagen-what-nex_b_6688370.html

Right on! This is a reasonably comprehensive list of what’s wrong in Europe today, regarding anti-Semitism & radical Islam. Now…if only.

© Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner, functioning as an independent journalist. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.

If it is reproduced & emphasis is added, the fact that it has been added must be noted.

See my website at www.arlenefromisrael.info Contact Arlene at akushner18@gmail.com

The good guys give hope & promise for the possibility of better days coming. By Arlene Kushner

12.Copenhagen terrorist identity released by Yael Factor

‘Al Jazeera’ reports that the terrorist responsible for the terror attack in Copenhagen is Omar Alhamid Alhussein, a 22 years old, who was released from jail two weeks ago. Earlier the local police said that the terrorist was inspired by last month’s Paris terror attacks Feb 15, 2015, 04:00PM |

Omar Alhamid Alhussein

Omar Abed Alhamid Alhussein, 22, is the terrorist who perpetrated the two shooting attacks yesterday (Saturday) in Copenhagen, in which Dan Uzan was murdered – Al Jazeera reported tonight. According to the report, he was released from jail only two weeks ago.

Earlier today, Danish police said that the shooter, who was killed in a police shootout, was influenced by fundamental Islam propaganda. The police said Alhussein was inspired by the Islamic militant attack last month in ‘Charlie Hebdo’ magazine, in which 12 people were killed.

Suspect shot & killed Reuters

Danish police spokesman said that the assassin was known to the intelligence services, & it seems that his actions were not coordinated with others. Earlier it was reported that weapons & uniforms were found in his flat. Danish police is now checking whether Alhussein returned from terror activity in the Middle East.

Prime Minister laying wreath, today Reuters

“We are devastated; our thoughts are with the Jewish community”

Queen Margaret II reacted to the terror wave & said “this is a sad hour… my thoughts are with the director that was killed, & with the young guard of the Jewish community, who became targets to a criminal’s actions. I send my deep condolences to the families, & to the wounded policemen. It is important that we stand united in these horrible days & live up to Denmark’s values.”

Denmark’s PM, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, visited the attacked synagogue & laid a wreath. “We are devastated today. A man has lost his life here today. Our thoughts are with his family. Denmark’s thoughts today are with the Jewish community, which is a central part of our community.” Schmidt added that “we will do whatever we can to protect the Jewish community in our country.”

Dan Uzan Archive, Danish media

“Terror is no reason to immigrate to Israel”

This morning PM Netanyahu called on Jews everywhere in the world to make Aliya to Israel in light of the “Islamic wave in Europe.” Netanyahu’s words were criticized by Denmark’s chief rabbi, Yair Melchior, who said he was disappointed in Netanyahu’s call to come to Israel, because “terror is not a reason to immigrate to Israel.”

One of the casualties in the terror attack in Denmark is Dan Uzan, 36, who guarded the synagogue in which a Bat Mitzva took place with dozens of participants. Uzan is a son to an Israeli father & a Danish mother, who lived in Denmark. His death shocked the community.

Scene of the attack, last night Reuters

The first attack took place yesterday when the armed man opened fire at a gathering of freedom of speech activists. The target of the attack was a Swedish illustrator who in the past published a caricature mocking prophet Mohamed. The suspect fled the scene, & a few hours later, he arrived at the central synagogue in Copenhagen & shot Uzan to death – & wounded two other policemen guarding the event that took place in the building. In the early morning hours the police managed to kill the suspect.

13. Jewish Guard Killed at Synagogue Prevented Mass Casualties By: Jewish Press News Briefs Published: February 15th, 2015

11:30 AM The Jewish guard killed by a terrorist after midnight Saturday saved the deaths of countless Jews by his standing outside the synagogue & absorbing the lethal bullet in the head at the hands of the attacker at a Bat Mitzvah celebration.

The killer fled & did not enter the synagogue, according to Copenhagen Jewish leader Rabbi Yair Melchior.

The guard, a volunteer, was identified by the Israeli Foreign Ministry as Dan Uzan, 37, whose father is Israeli & mother is Danish.

Police also confirmed that the terrorist has been killed & that he also carried out Friday’s murder at a cafe.

“We assume that it’s the same culprit behind both incidents, & we also assume that the culprit that was shot by the police task force on Norreport station is the person behind both of these assassinations,” Chief police inspector Torben Molgaard Jensen said.

Police shot & killed the terrorist after a massive manhunt that included armored vehicles & helicopters.

8:07 AM The young Jewish man who was killed by the terrorist has been identified as the synagogue’s guard. There was a Bat Mitzvah happening at the Great Synagogue in Copenhagen at the time.

7:37 AM According to reports from Copenhagen, police surrounded the suspected terrorist & tried to arrest him. A shootout began, & the police killed him. No police were injured. The police had already been keeping the address where the terrorist was shot “under observation”.

7:20 AM Copenhagen police shoot dead the man believed to be the terrorist.

7:00 AM There are reports of gunfire exchanged between police & the terrorist near Nørrebro Station, 1 person was hit.

INITIAL REPORT

Hours after the terrorist attack on a Copenhagen cafe which left 1 man dead, & 3 injured, a gunman attacked a Copenhagen synagogue, after midnight.

The attack on the synagogue killed a civilian, & injured 2 policemen. The civilian is believed to have been a Jewish.

The Copenhagen train station has been evacuated following the synagogue attack & residents have been told to remain indoors.

The shooter, described as an athletic looking male with an automatic rifle, is still at large.

There are 7000 Jews living in Denmark, most in Copenhagen.

About the Author: JewishPress.com brings you the latest in Jewish news from around the world. Stay up to date by following up on Facebook & Twitter. Do you have something noteworthy to report? Submit your news story to us here.

Copenhagen terrorist identity released

14.European Rabbi Says EU Leaders ‘Bury their Heads in the Sand’

Rabbis & Jewish leaders soon will take self-defense courses to protect themselves against terrorists.

By: Jewish Press Staff

Published: February 15th, 2015

Screenshot of Copenhagen terrorist before police killed him. Photo Credit: Screenshot

European Jewish Association Rabbi Menachem Margolin said Sunday that European Union leaders have a tendency to “bury their heads in the sand” & demanded tighter security to protect Jews.

Speaking after the murder of a volunteer Jewish guard shot & killed by a terrorist at a synagogue Bar Mitzvah celebration, Rabbi Margolin added, “European leaders need to support us in fighting the battle on terror in our homeland.

“It is only because of the earlier shooting that took place in the Copenhagen cafe that police sent several officers to the synagogue, & they were able to return fire & chase the shooter.

“But the fact is that prior to the earlier incident, there were no police in the synagogue.”

Rabbi Margolin called on Muslim leaders across Europe to speak out against extremism.

“The alarms were already sounded last August when a Jewish school in Copenhagen was stoned & sprayed with anti-Semitic graffiti,” said Rabbi Margolin. “We call on European Governments, as well as EU institutions, to heed our calls for the establishment of a Pan -European task force in order to increase security around Jewish institutions & enhance education against the rampant anti-Semitism.”

Rabbi Margolin noted that in the aftermath of this latest attack, the EJA’s planned seminar next week in Prague, at which dozens of rabbis & Jewish community leaders from across the continent will meet, will offer training in basic self-defense & first aid.

European Rabbi Says EU Leaders ‘Bury their Heads in the Sand’

Sergeant First Class Omri is known for wrapping himself in an Israeli flag as he arrived to a hospital to treat his wounds during Operation Protective Edge.

Feb 15, 2015, 01:33PM | Linda Lovitch

He was very excited as he prepared to receive a medal of honor for his bravery. “These seats are reserved for the commander & deputy commander of the unit,” he points out proudly.

As the operation began, Omri was working in Africa. “My commander told me that something was about to begin, “explains Omri.” Before I knew it, I was back in Israel & entering Gaza with my unit.” During a humanitarian ceasefire, Omri was with his unit in a building in the Khan Yunis refugee camp. “A member of the engineering unit & his vehicle had alighted on a bomb & was being fired upon by an RPG,” explains Omri. “We went out immediately to help him.” He & his fellow soldier Noam were ambushed.

When a grenade was thrown at them, Omri threw himself on Noam to shield him with his body. Someone then came out of a nearby building & started shooting at them. “We were both shot in the leg. I was losing a lot of blood & at some point, my body stopped functioning,” he added. When they arrived at the hospital, Noam was unconscious. Omri requested something very unconventional from the medics – an Israeli flag. “For me, the flag symbolizes our power, the strength. Even if we were wounded, we continue, others are still fighting in the field. Pride & Zionism are integral elements of this operation.” On the way to the ceremony, Omri stopped to visit his friend Noam who had just undergone his 5^th operation for his recovery.

He wanted to personally bring him an invitation. “I have a limited number, but you come before family,” said Omri. Noam was very touched by the gesture. “He knows I would take a bullet for him as he did for me,” says Noam, “Actually we got a full round of ammunition.” After the ceremony, Omri muses, “If taking a bullet is part of this process, I accept that. If I have to get shot in the other leg so that people can sleep well, I’m ready for that too.”

16.Israel’s Diplomatic Victory in the UN by Linda Lovitch

Through quiet & stealthy diplomatic channels, Israel succeeded in removing William Schabas as head of the UN Human Rights Council inquiry into Operation Protective Edge.

Feb 15, 2015, 01:21PM |

Although Schabas claims that he left of his own volition, Israel takes credit for his decision to leave. The Israeli ambassador to Geneva sent a formal complaint to the Human Rights Council of the UN.

He mentioned that Schabas had been paid as a consultant with the PLO organization two years ago, citing a conflict of interests. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman lauded Israeli diplomacy for exposing the “respected” lawyer who received money from the PLO. Schabas explained that the consultation was routine.

Schabas actually lied to the council. He was specifically asked if he had a connection, financial or otherwise to one of the sides & he answered, “No.” Prime Minister Netanyahu called the move proof of the “anti-Israel sentiments of this UN council.” The real question is how will this influence the report in the long run regarding possible war crimes during the operation? Not to mention the attitudes of the UN & the international community

Israel’s Diplomatic Victory in the UN by Linda Lovitch

17.Were You Witness to a War Crime at Ben Gurion Airport?

By: Jameel@Muqata Jerusalem OnLine.com Published: February 15th, 2015

Photo Credit: Shurat HaDIn

WERE YOU AT BEN GURION AIRPORT IN SUMMER 2014?

Please share & help Shurat HaDin find witnesses to a war crime!

From Shurat HaDin:

As part of our legal war on terror, we are now preparing a new case, & we need your help.

Here are the details:

American law recognizes assaulting & disrupting a civil airport as a war crime.

This law applies to any international airport where American citizens and/or American aircraft are affected by such attacks.

During Operation Protective Edge, terrorist organizations launched rockets from Gaza & aimed them at the Ben Gurion Airport in Israel.

As a result, many flights were canceled or postponed, & many people were forced to find protective shelters at the Ben Gurion Airport during the attacks.

In order to prosecute these terror organizations in the United States, we are seeking American citizens or passengers of a United States airline who:

1. Were present during a rocket attack upon the Airport & had to run & find cover in a protective space, & / or

2. Had their flight canceled following an attack.

In particular, we are looking for passengers who were on ‘Delta Airlines’ flight No. 468 on July 22, 2014 which was forced to land in Paris en route to Israel.

These are the dates the attacks took place: July 11-12, July 22 & 20 August 2014.

If you or someone you know were on any of these flights, or at the airport, please send us the details as soon as possible to: info@israellawcenter.org

– Please share this message to as many people as possible, so we can collect the most relevant evidence from appropriate witnesses.

That’s the way to fight against terrorism.

Were You Witness to a War Crime at Ben Gurion Airport?

18. Left-wing media trying to split the Right, Netanyahu says

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticizes Yedioth Ahronoth for trying to install the Left in power using false reports suggesting Likud, Habayit Hayehudi are at odds • MK Ofir Akunis: Left waging pathetic, brutal smear campaign against PM, Likud.

Mati Tuchfeld, Efrat Forsher, Shlomo Cesana & Yehuda Shlezinger

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo credit: AP

Habayit Hayehudi is facing growing pressure over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge not to include the leftist parties in the next government. The national religious party expressed concern over the growing number of members who have opted to leave Habayit Hayehudi in recent weeks, & Yedioth Ahronoth on Friday quoted a party insider allegedly blaming Netanyahu for it.

The accusation prompted Netanyahu to respond over the weekend, saying, “We have seen another attempt by Ynet & Yedioth Ahronoth to topple the Right & install the Left in power using yet another false story. The Left’s mouthpiece journalism seeks to portray an image of a split within the Right, to pit us against each other, to crown [Labor leader Isaac] Herzog & [Hatnuah leader Tzipi] Livni after the elections.

“Habayit Hayehudi will be a prominent partner in my next government, despite all those who would like to see two medium-size right-wing parties in the opposition & a radical leftist government in power.”

Some, however, seemed puzzled by Netanyahu’s comments.

“I suggest the prime minister try to expand the [rightist] bloc at the expense of the centrist parties rather than undermine his natural, rightist partner, Habayit Hayehudi,” MK Ayelet Shaked (Habayit Hayehudi) wrote in a post on her Facebook page.

Meanwhile, Deputy Environmental Protection Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud) dismissed Habayit Hayehudi’s claims that the party may be excluded from the government as a media spin. “We stated, right at the beginning of the election campaign, that Habayit Hayehudi would have a prominent place in the next government, & it will,” he said.

Herzog & Livni, he added, “are waging a pathetic & brutal smear campaign against the prime minister & the Likud, & there is no place for them in the next government.”

Meanwhile, the Likud campaign released two new videos over the weekend.

The first video depicts Islamic State group operatives, driving a car bearing the slogan “Anyone but Bibi,” looking for the road to Jerusalem. They ask another driver for directions, & he tells them to “take a left.” The image is followed by the slogan “The Left will capitulate to terrorism.”

Former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin criticized the video, asserting that Netanyahu had “lost all shame.” The Zionist Camp also criticized the video, saying, “Netanyahu is unrealistic to think we have forgotten his failures on security.”

In the second video, Netanyahu presents voters with his reasons for seeking the premiership.

Left-wing media trying to split the Right, Netanyahu says

19.ISIS Beheads Coptic Christians in Libya By Ben Ariel

Islamic State releases a video purportedly showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians the group captured in Libya.

Arutz Sheva IsraelNationalNews.com First Publish: 2/16/2015, 1:43 AM

ISIS flag Reuters

The Islamic State (ISIS) group released a video on Sunday purportedly showing the beheading of Egyptian Coptic Christians the group captured in Libya, reports AFP.

The footage released online shows handcuffed hostages wearing orange jumpsuits being beheaded by their black-suited captors on a seashore in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.

In the latest issue of the ISIS online propaganda magazine Dabiq, the group said 21 Egyptian hostages were being held, & pictures showed a similar background.

The video, titled “A message signed with blood to the nation of the cross”, has a scrolling caption in the first few seconds saying it is directed at “People of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian Church”.

Sunday’s video comes just days after ISIS released a video showing the gruesome burning alive of a Jordanian pilot it captured after his F-16 came down in Syria in December.

A spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry, Badr Abdelatty, confirmed to AFP in Cairo that 20 Egyptians had been kidnapped in two separate incidents in neighboring Libya.

He did not say when they were seized or specify their religious affiliation, but said seven Egyptians & 13 others abducted separately in Libya “are still being detained” by their captors.

In January, the ISIS affiliate in Libya, known as Ansar al-Sharia, kidnapped 13 Coptic Christians in Sirte. They were reportedly released several days later.

Libya is home to a large community of both Muslim & Coptic Egyptians, with most working in the construction sector.

The country has been plagued by instability & infighting since the toppling of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, & independent militias still control large part of Libya and regularly fight each other. Terrorist groups have taken advantage of the situation & are training fighters on Libyan soil.

Egypt evacuated its embassy in Tripoli & consulate in Benghazi last year after kidnappers seized Egypt’s cultural attaché & three other embassy diplomats

ISIS Beheads Coptic Christians in Libya By Ben Ariel

20.THE SHAMRAK REPORT: BY STEVE SHAMRAK WWW.SHAMRAK.COM

Left is still Delusional about Peace

by Shoula Romano Horing

While the Middle East is burning around us, the center-left political camp is still trying to convince Israeli voters that Israel can live in peace with its Arab neighbors & be embraced lovingly by the world.

The Islamic State has released a 22-minutes video showing the burning alive of a Jordanian pilot who was trapped in a cage while being filmed. If these terrorists could do this to a fellow Arab-Muslim, imagine what Islamic Jihadists like Iran, Hezb’Allah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad & Fatah would do (to Jews in) the Jewish state.

But despite this harsh, horrific reality in the Middle East, Tzipi Livni & Isaac Herzog are still trying to convince Israeli voters that peace is possible for Israel in the Middle East.

The center-left political camp still argues that if Israel would only engage with or negotiate with its Arab enemies, & especially Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, there is a chance for peace. They argue that the roots of the conflict & the anti-Israeli & anti-Jewish terrorism & hatred are because of the so-called occupation, the settlements, the zealot settlers, the roadblocks, poverty & a sense of humiliation & hopelessness among the Arabs.

While the Middle East is burning around us, they minimize & dismiss the security threats in their election campaign & tell us to concentrate instead on the economy, social issues.

How much more bloodshed is necessary before Livni & Herzog & other leftists understand that even if Israel limited its territory only to the city of Tel Aviv, this would still not bring peace, but serve as a jumpstart & invitation for more terror?

Unfriendliest US Government to the Friendliest Nation!

An Israeli report claims the US administration has stopped updating Israel about developments in nuclear negotiations with Iran. Susan Rice, US President Obama’s National Security Advisor, has also reportedly announced she is cutting ties with her Israeli counterpart, Yossi Cohen.

Criminality of Islamic terror!

The slain gunman suspected in the deadly Copenhagen attacks, Omar El-Hussein, was a 22-year-old criminal who has been inspired to redeem himself by committing Islamic act of terror like the Charlie Hebdo massacre & Jewish shop in Paris.

Food for Thought by Steven Shamrak

Israel has no national direction & is facing a choice of three options:

#1 Destruction by enemies; #2 Continuation of the same ugly terror-infused existence, with or without a ‘Palestinian’ state; #3 Reunion of all Jewish land & letting enemy population go! Which option would you like Israel to choose?

European anti-Semites Finance Enemies of Israel!

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon to move forward with a plan to demolish some 400 PA structures illegally built in the West Bank with European funding. The order came shortly after an exposé in the Daily Mail claimed that the EU sank tens of millions of euros into homes which were not granted building permits. (Why did Netanyahu wait for the exposé?)

PA in a Search for more Money, giving Fake Promises

Abbas spoke in Stockholm, three months after Sweden became the first European Union member to recognize Palestinian statehood. He said that he will work to revive peace talks (he ended) with Israel , but skirted questions on how to end the conflict or tackle violence by the Islamic militant group Hamas. (Abbas is an illegitimate PA president. PA elections are long overdue. The last election was won by Hamas!)

Idiotic Galut Survival Instinct or Self-Hating Craziness?

More than 400 rabbis, members of Rabbis for Human Rights, have called on Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the demolition of PA illegally built constructions. (These so-called spiritual leaders must be ashamed!)

‘Ugly Nazi’ – Predictable as Always

When there was a recent Hezb’Allah attack that left two Israeli soldiers & a United Nations peace keeper dead, the international organization issued a statement. As the result of a week of consultations with the UNSC, said, “Members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the killing of a UNIFIL Spanish peace keeper which occurred in the context of fire exchanges along the Blue Line on 28 January 2015.” It didn’t mention the Hezb’Allah attack, nor did it acknowledge the Israeli Defense Force soldiers, who were killed & wounded.

Iran, Hamas Reconciliation

Iran has decided to renew its full financial sponsorship of the Hamas terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip. Iran also pledged to rearm Hamas, not only in the Gaza Strip but in Judea & Samaria . It is possible that routes used by Hezb’Allah to smuggle drugs from Lebanon into northern Israel will be used.

Do Let Islamists Leave the West

Mullah Abdul Rauf, a former Taliban commander & Guantanamo Bay detainee turned ISIS recruiter, was killed in a drone strike. Rauf & five others were killed, four of them Pakistani militants, said Mohammed Jan Rasoulya, the deputy governor of southern Helmand province. (They are not innocents who have succumbed to Islamic propaganda – they are West hating terrorists! Allow them all to leave & let them kill each other in Syria , Iraq, Afghanistan & elsewhere, & strike them hard whenever possible.)

Quote of the Week:

“The Palestinian Authority is in a very fragile state. If you do not restrain the growth of settlement building – the Oslo process will end, & with it the security coordination… we will reach despair & a reality of one state. I believe you (Israel) have a partner in Ramallah.” – Robert Serry, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, in a farewell speech – ‘Useless Nothing’ is still delusional & one-track minded! There is no more ‘Oslo process’! It expired almost 10 years ago when the PA refused to meet its commitments. Israel definitely has no peace partners in the region!

Journalistic Code of anti-Israel Dishonor!

by Matti Friedman, speech of former AP journalist.

I gradually began to be aware of certain malfunctions in the coverage of the Israel story – recurring omissions, recurring inflations, decisions made according to considerations that were not journalistic but political, we sought to hint or say outright that Israeli soldiers were war criminals, & every detail supporting that portrayal was to be seized upon.

But an Israeli peace offer & its rejection by the Palestinians didn’t suit OUR story. The bureau chief ordered both reporters to ignore the Olmert offer,

Neo-Nazi rallies at Palestinian universities or in Palestinian cities are not – I saw images of such rallies suppressed on more than one occasion. Jewish hatred of Arabs is a story. Arab hatred of Jews is not.

Our policy, for example, was not to mention the assertion in the Hamas founding charter that Jews were responsible for engineering both world wars & the Russian & French revolutions, despite the obvious insight this provides into the thinking of one of the most influential actors in the conflict.

100 houses in a West Bank settlement are a story, but 100 rockets smuggled into Gaza are not.

- The Hamas military buildup amid & under the civilian population of Gaza is not a story. But Israeli military action responding to that threat – that is a story,

- Israel’s responsibility for the deaths of civilians as a result – that’s a story. Hamas’s responsibility for those deaths is not

- Israel’s flaws were dissected & magnified, while the flaws of its enemies were purposely erased.

- Threats facing Israel were disregarded or even mocked as figments of the Israeli imagination,

- A fictional image of Israel & of its enemies was manufactured, polished, & propagated to devastating effect by inflating certain details, ignoring others, & presenting the result as an accurate picture of reality.

- The international press in Israel had become less an observer of the conflict than a player in it. It had moved away from careful explanation & toward a kind of political character assassination

- Something toxic is driving this – “Jews are troublemakers, a negative force in world events, & that if these people, as a collective, could somehow be made to vanish, we would all be better off”.

TRUTHS

- The occupation is not the conflict, which of course predates the occupation. It is a symptom of the conflict, a conflict that would remain even if the symptom were somehow solved.

- An end to the occupation will create a power vacuum that will be filled, as all power vacuums in the region have been, not by the forces of democracy & modernity, which in our region range from weak to negligible, but by the powerful & ruthless, by the extremists

- People observing this conflict from afar have been led to believe that Israel faces a simple choice between occupation & peace. That choice is fiction.

- The Palestinian choice, it is said, is between Israeli occupation & an independent democracy. That choice, too, is fiction

- The only group of people subject to a systematic boycott at present in the Western world is Jews, appearing now under the convenient euphemism “Israelis.”

- The only country that has its own “apartheid week” on campuses is the Jewish country.

- No one cares that, “The human costs of the Middle Eastern adventures of America & Britain in this century have been far higher, & far harder to explain, than anything Israel has ever done. They have involved occupations & the violence they unleashed continues.”

- The fashionable disgust for Israel among many in the West is not liberal but is selective, disproportionate & discriminatory

- The cult’s priesthood can be found among the activists, NGO experts & ideological journalists, who have turned coverage of this conflict into a catalogue of Jewish moral failings,

- Boycotts of Israel, & only of Israel , which are one of the cult’s most important practices, have significant support in the press, including among editors.

- Sympathy for Israel ‘s predicament is highly unpopular in the relevant social circles, & is something to be avoided by anyone wishing to be invited to the right dinner parties, or to be promoted.

- The events in Gaza this summer were portrayed not as a complicated war, but as a massacre of innocents. (Aggression of Hamas was down-graded or omitted. Systematic terrorizing of Jews prior the conflict is ignored)

- The Jew is the perennial scapegoat for all that is wrong with the world.

- As the journalist Charles Maurras wrote, approvingly, in 1911: “Everything seems impossible, or frighteningly difficult, without the providential arrival of anti-Semitism, through which all things fall into place & are simplified.”

- The global villain, as portrayed in newspapers & on TV, is none other than the Jewish soldier or the Jewish settler. They are the heirs to the Jewish banker or Jewish commissar of the past.

Dear Friends, this independent editorial has been published since 2001. It is not sponsored by or affiliated with any government or political party. The aim is to present Jewish point of view on Arab-Israel conflict, propagates & motivates Jewish people & our true friends to uphold ideals & inspirations of true Zionism – Jewish National independence movement.

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Recommend Reading: Modern History of Palestine in Maps; The Palestinian Mandate – Legalised Robbery; Ethnic Make Up of so-called Palestinians; Arab-Israel Conflict – Forgotten Facts!; Why Israel is Suspicious of United Nations?; The War on Terror – Containment Plan; The Sinai Option: Road to Permanent Peace!; Presented by www.shamrak.com