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Tuesday, August 3, 2010
JFNA Briefing: Israel and Lebanon Clash on Northern Border
Breaking news: Massive exchange of fire on Lebanese border
| Dead, wounded in massive skirmish on Lebanon border Explosions rock northern border Tuesday as IDF clashes with Lebanese forces; at least four Lebanese reportedly killed; Northern residents in Israel report major blasts, UNIFIL urges both sides to show restraint. [more] |
Monday, August 2, 2010
Eilat, Aqaba targeted by rockets; 1 dead in Jordan
My #1 son is currently in Eilat, Israel, a location targeted by terrorist rockets early Monday morning. He reports that another group on his trip heard the rockets, but that everyone is safe.//Mark Finkelstein
Rockets fired toward Israel, kill one person in Jordan
August 2, 2010 By ARON HELLER AND MARK LAVIE. The Associated Press
JERUSALEM - A string of rockets was fired early Monday toward the Israeli resort city of Eilat, and one hit in neighboring Jordan, killing one person and wounding four, officials in the two countries said.
The rockets appeared to have been fired from the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, an Israeli police spokesman said, though Egypt denied the claim.
It was the second such attack this year.
http://www.newsday.com/news/world/rockets-fired-toward-israel-kill-one-person-in-jordan-1.2167644
Issacharoff: World Jihad targeting Jordan and Egypt, not just Israel
World Jihad targeting Jordan and Egypt, not just Israel
Concern over possible missile strikes or major terror attacks has spurred the Jordanians to closer security collaboration with Israel.
By Avi Issacharoff 8/3/10 http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/mess-report/mess-report-world-jihad-targeting-jordan-and-egypt-not-just-israel-1.305616
A Jordanian citizen was killed and three others were wounded by Grad rockets fired on Monday from Egyptian territory at the Gulf of Eilat and Aqaba. One rocket struck open space north of Eilat, three struck Aqaba's hotel area, one rocket apparently landed in the sea and one landed in Sinai.
On an Army Radio show on Monday morning, the presenter, a well-known comic, ridiculed the rocket launchers for having bad aim and mistakenly hitting Aqaba. But the perpetrators, apparently members of the group known as Global Jihad, intended to hit Aqaba no less than Eilat. They consider the Hashemite kingdom to be as legitimate a target as Israel, if not more so.
Aqaba has become an attractive destination for European, American and even Israeli tourists in recent years, and is an important source of income for Jordan. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in new hotels in the area, which is what makes it attractive to terrorists.
This is not the first time Aqaba has appeared on the map of Islamic terror. As recently as April, two Grad rockets were fired at Eilat and Aqaba, causing no injuries. Jordan itself has had several serious terror attacks, the most deadly of which was in Amman, when three suicide bombers blew themselves up simultaneously in a hotel, killing almost 60 people.
Concern over possible missile strikes or major terror attacks has spurred the Jordanians to closer security collaboration with Israel, despite this past year's rift between the Israeli government and the Jordanian monarchy. Throughout this period, the parties have continued coordinating on security matters; the information on more than one occasion thwarted an attack on Israeli or Jordanian soil. It seems that quite a few people in Israel are unaware that they owe their lives to Jordanian security forces.
The authorities haven't determined from where the Grads were launched. Israeli sources think they were fired from Sinai, a charge the Egyptians have roundly denied. The Egyptians say this couldn't happen when Egyptian security forces are so effectively deployed in Sinai. But Sinai was and still is a hotbed for Global Jihad. Weapons are being smuggled from Sinai into Gaza, including Grad missiles. Some of these missiles presumably remain in Sinai, waiting to be launched.
A Grad missile was fired at Ashkelon Friday, causing no injuries. Radical Islamist groups in Gaza could be behind both attacks. There are at least five groups identified with Al-Qaida or Global Jihad: Jaish al-Umma (army of the nation ), which first appeared in the Gaza Strip in June 2007, although it was officially established only two years ago; Jaish al-Islam (the army of Islam ) - a group associated with the Dughmush clan; and Jund Ansar Allah (army of the supporters of Allah ), which clashed with Hamas a year ago in Rafah, ending in Hamas killing 24 of its activists after the group declared an Islamic emirate in Gaza. This group was assisted by non-Palestinian Global Jihad activists; Jaish al-Momaminin (the army of the believers ); Al-Qaida Palestine, which took responsibility for the attack on the American school in Gaza; and Kataib al-Suyuf al-Haq al-Islamiyah (the brigades of the swords of Islamic justice ).
Global Jihad activists have come to the Gaza Strip, trained there, armed themselves and returned to Sinai to commit acts of terror against tourist targets in Sinai and elsewhere in Egypt. That may be the case this time as well.
Friday, July 30, 2010
TIP: Israel Hit by Rockets and Mortars; Attack Comes a Day after Arab League OKs Direct Peace Talks
Israel Hit by Rockets and Mortars
Attack Comes a Day after Arab League OKs Direct Peace Talks
Terrorists in 
Ashkelon, a port city of 125,000 people[2] along the southernmost portion of the Mediterranean,[3] is located seven miles (12 km) from
“Israel takes the firing on Ashkelon very seriously,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Friday. [5]
The Ashkelon attack occurred a day after the Arab League met in
Last weekend, terrorists in
Iran-backed Hamas’s Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades took credit for the
Terrorists in Hamas-controlled
That marks a significant decrease from the 7,000 rockets, mortars and missiles fired from Gaza since Israel withdrew all of its citizens and forces from the area in August 2005.[10]
---- The full Press Release from The Israel Project is online at http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=hsJPK0PIJpH&b=689705&ct=8549423
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Arab League endorses direct Israel-PA talks; Abbas wants guarantees of outcome
Palestinian President Abbas tells senior Arab officials convening in Cairo he refuses to enter direct peace talks without guarantees for independent state; Qatari FM says League agrees in principle to direct negotiations Roee Nahmias
Published: 07.29.10, ynetnews.com
Arab officials convening in Cairo began crucial talks with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas on Thursday to decide whether he will begin direct negotiations with Israel amid pressure from the United States.
Qatar's foreign minister said the Arab League has agreed in principle to direct Palestinian talks with Israel.
In his speech, Abbas told 13 foreign ministers from Arab countries representing the Arab League that he would not agree to direct talks without a guarantee for a Palestinian state based on pre-1967 war borders and an end to all settlement activity.
Asked if the league would back direct talks, Hamad ibn Jassem said: "Of course, there is agreement, but agreement over the principles of what will be discussed and the manner of the direct negotiations."
It would be up to Abbas to decide whether to hold talks, based on whatever conditions he sees fit, Jassem said.
The official Egyptian news agency MENA quoted the Palestinian leader as saying ahead of the meeting, "When I receive the demanded guarantees, which are the acceptance of the 1967 borders and an end to settlements... I will immediately enter negotiations."
Egypt said Wednesday it has received US assurances that may help in restarting direct peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel.
Krinsky: 8 Reasons Leftists Should be Pro-Israel
Israel continues to be the demon poster-child of the Left. The prime example of a repressive regime and abuser of human rights. On the Left, people became outraged and agitated over Israel more than over any other cause. Israel's supposed villainy will bring out protestors on cold, rainy days in a way no other issue can. Many of these people are earnest, but perhaps misled.
In most ways, my own politics tend to be Liberal-Left: I support single-payer, universal healthcare, I opposed the war in Iraq and the Bush-Cheney "imperial presidency," I even voted twice for Ralph Nader. However, like French philosopher Bernard Henri-Lévy, I differ on Israel and reject the demonization of Israel, whether at the United Nations, in the world media, or among American and European Leftists.
If my fellow Leftists or even Liberals think that the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement will help bring an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as peace to the Middle East and harmony to the community of nations, they are sadly mistaken. There is a difference between criticism and demonization, and the campaign against Israel is of the latter type. Criticism, and there is much of it within Israel's own healthy democracy, can result in positive change. But the focused attempt to demonize Israel, not undertaken against any other nation, is aimed at delegitimizing Israel and undermining its very existence, as if the problems of the world were the fault of the Israelis -- the fault of the Jews -- and if they would only go away, all would be better.
Not only is this a sorry illusion, but this concerted assault on Israel itself betrays the principles of the Left.
Here, then, are 8 reasons Leftists should be Pro-Israel (or, at least, Pro-Peace rather than Anti-Israel):
1. Human Rights. The Left fights for human rights in the world. Even if one thinks Israel or its soldiers guilty of human rights violations (and I am not willing at the outset to grant this point), there is no international or historical comparison that could reasonably rank Israel among the worst criminals of the world or of history. Whether we look at the scale of the conflict, the numbers of lives lost, or the treatment of the press or of dissidents, there are far too many examples of bloodshed and persecution dwarfing anything done by Israel against the Palestinians over the last four decades since the Six Day War, when Israel was attacked by its neighbors. Even Arab treatment of Palestinians, such as in Jordan's Black September massacre, caused thousands of deaths, possibly more in 10 days than in four decades of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And how can we compare Israel to Mugabe's Zimbabwe, or the Chinese crackdown on Tibet and Tianneman? Or the disappearances and death squads of Latin America Square or the killing fields of Pol Pot? Let alone the genocide pursued by Hitler or Stalin's murderous reign? Let us be clear: genocide is the attempt to exterminate an entire people and culture; this is not what has happened to the Palestinians, and it is not the goal of Israeli policy. By contrast, the explicit aim of Hamas is to eliminate Israel. So, if we support human rights and oppose persecution, ought we not first to focus our efforts on the places where we find the worst situations? Can anyone rationally claim that among these places, let alone the most horrendous of all, is a small nation on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea?
2. Internationalism. Leftists tend to support internationalism. One would think that the United Nations would be the world body most dedicated to furthering this aim. But how is it that Israel, this small nation, has become such a central concern? From 2003-2010, there have been more than 900 human rights actions against Israel at the U.N.; the next closest is Sudan at just under 400. Israel is the only member of the U.N. to be excluded from any of the five regional groups. And should not all on the Left oppose the absurdity of the so-called Human Rights Council, whose members include such paragons of humanitarianism as China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Kyrgyzstan? How can Leftists stand silent when the Turkish Prime Minister denounces Israel for human rights crimes while then promising that the Kurds will "drown in their own blood," in a conflict with human rights abuses on both sides and tens of thousands individuals killed? If Gaza is not the ideal place to live, if the Gazans are suffering, nevertheless the photos in the New York Times and elsewhere and the testimony of reporters clearly demonstrate that Gazans are not starving, their store shelves are not empty, whether for food or consumer goods; as difficult as the situation may be, it is simply not the pinnacle of human rights disasters, and Israel is thus not deserving of international condemnation above all other nations in the world.
3. Peace. Leftists want peace. In the Middle East and elsewhere. The polls make clear that, overwhelmingly, Israelis desire peace with their neighbors; the difficult sacrifices, including the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza make this evident. Israelis are prepared for a secure, two-state solution, to live side-by-side in peace. Meanwhile, the stated goal of its enemies is to end its existence. A simple thought-experiment should make the matter starkly clear: If tomorrow Hamas and other Palestinian groups unilaterally put down their weapons, what would follow? Peace. If Israelis unilaterally put down their weapons, what would follow? Millions of dead or exiled Jews. Anyone on the Left who does not recognize this is living in denial. Leftists should support peace and not live in denial.
4. Anti-Authoritarianism. Leftists oppose authoritarianism and dictatorship and instead support popular, democratic rule. Israel maintains a vibrant, parliamentary democracy, with a broad range of views represented, much more so than in the United States, for example. Indeed, Arabs parties and Communists have long had representatives voted into the Israeli Knesset. Can we imagine such representation, as well as the freedom of assembly and freedom of speech in Israel's Arab neighbors? In the Gaza ruled by Hamas? In Egypt or Syria or Saudi Arabia? By opposing Israel and supporting groups like Hamas, the Left is not supporting a liberation struggle but rather the effort to replace the Middle East's only democracy with yet another repressive dictatorship. Do Leftists really desire such an outcome? How can the one major effort to boycott, divest, and sanction be aimed at a democratic nation like this? As Bernard Henri-Levy has written at the Huffington Post of the "Confusion of an era when we combat democracies as though they were dictatorships or fascist States. This maelstrom of hatred and madness is about Israel. But it also concerns, as we should be well aware, some of the most precious things established in the movement of ideas in the last thirty years, especially on the left, and these are thus imperiled."
5. Human Dignity and Equality. The Left fights for the values of dignity and equality. Are these traits exemplified more by Israel or its neighbors? Look at how much Israelis value the life of a single soldier, in the willingness to trade hundreds of prisoners for one soldier, and even to trade prisoners to recover their dead for proper burial. Look at the rules of engagement of the Israeli Defense Forces, at how the IDF calls and leaflets civilians to warn them; does any other military do such a thing? In terms of equality and human rights, compare the state of women's and gay and lesbian rights in Israel with that in the rest of the Middle East. And in terms of human dignity, do people on the Left think so little of Palestinian dignity that they are willing to claim Palestinians have "no choice" but to turn themselves into homicidal-suicidal bombers to kill Israeli children? Can we not expect more of people? Treating Palestinians like helpless victims does less than recognize their human dignity.
6. Anti-Discrimination. Leftists oppose sexism, racism, and any similar sort of discrimination. And so, Leftists do or ought to oppose anti-Semitism in the same way. And yet, Leftists too often give a pass to anti-Semitism masked as anti-Zionism or anti-Israel sentiment. The playwright David Mamet has written in the Huffington Post as follows: "Yet most of the Western Press, European and American, pictures Israel as, somehow the aggressor, and the Israelis as somehow inhuman, and delighting in blood." As Mamet has elaborated in his book The Wicked Son: Anti-Semitism, Self-Hatred, and the Jews, this is nothing less than a reworking of the old Blood Libel against the Jews--except this time, instead of being accused of using non-Jewish blood to bake matzah, the Jews are accused of spilling blood for no reason other than gratuitous pleasure. Leftists ought to be vigilant in distinguishing between constructive criticism of Israel and dehumanizing caricatures of Jews.
7. Self-Defense. Only the most uncompromising pacifists oppose the right to self-defense, and certainly most Leftists uphold this right. At least when Palestinians are doing the defending. Why are Israelis exempt from this right? How many Leftists would sit idly by while rockets rained down on their towns and families, with their children traumatized? And if we said, oh, but people are only killed occasionally, would that minimize your commitment to protect your family? Only Jews are expected to lay down their weapons and offer their throats. How dare the Jews have the chutzpah to fight back?!
8. Progress. We want movement on Palestinian-Israeli and Arab-Israeli peacemaking. Yet, demonizing Israel, singling it out, as is done at the UN and on college campuses will do little to advance peace. We all know, have all known for decades the basic outlines of a peace settlement. The Israelis have been prepared for this and have prepared their citizens. The Left should be pressuring Palestinians to accept peace and to stop teaching their children that Jews are monsters after their blood. This sort of pressure might bring some progress.
It was long ago time for Leftists to tear down the poster that features Israel as the demon-child of human rights abuse and repression. It is time for Leftists to become outraged not over Israel, but over the distortions and demonization of Israel on college campuses and at the United Nations and throughout the media and politics. It is time for Leftists to reject the treatment of Israel as a pariah, or Jews as bloodthirsty murderers, and time instead to welcome Israel into the community of nations as a full member, subject to the same criticism and praise as any other nation.