Will Palestinian Move To Exploit ICC Against Israel Ruin Another International Institution?

The State Department has condemned the move by Abbas to sign the Rome Statute and open the way for going to the International Criminal Court:

"We strongly oppose #Palestinian action at the #ICC," per @statedept. "Counter-productive" and does nothing for statehood aspirations.
— Matt Lee (@APDiploWriter) December 31, 2014

---

#Palestinian move at #ICC "will badly damage atmosphere with the very people with whom they ultimately need to make peace," per @StateDept
— Matt Lee (@APDiploWriter) December 31, 2014

But there is more to this than just the Palestinian Arabs destroying the peace process.

Arlene Kushner on Obama and Iran -- And The Behind The Scenes Politicking Of Abbas's Resolution At The UN

From Arlene Kushner:
December 30, 2014

A Somber View

Very somber, my friends.  The situation in the world is not worrisome – it’s terrifying.  Consider:

In an interview with NPR, President Obama said that Iran could become a “very successful regional power” if it agrees to a nuclear deal.  He said things must move slowly but he wouldn’t entirely rule out the possibility of opening a US embassy in Tehran before his term ran out.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/obama-iran-could-be-a-very-successful-regional-power/

~~~~~~~~~~

WHAT?  There is nothing on the table in negotiations with Iran at the moment that is serious enough to prevent Iran’s nuclear advancement. The Iranians – a threat to the world – are running rings around an eager Obama.

Arlene Kushner on Hamas, And Signs of Trouble Down the Road

From Arlene Kushner:
December 24, 2014

Back to Work

The Chanukah week, which is now closing, was a blessing.  Now, invigorated, I see that it is time to return to the serious and painful matters that face us.

This posting will be brief because I’ve spent hours today working on the plans for the Legal Grounds Campaign, which will up and running in a short while. Those of us who are working on it are excited about what is in the planning.  My readers will be kept informed, as we progress.  Here I make mention of the fact that time is quite short for Americans to secure a tax deduction for 2014, for a donation to our work.  If you indeed would like to make such a gift, please, contact me without delay.

~~~~~~~~~~

Here I would like to focus on Hamas, as signs of trouble down the road with this group are strong.

Tarek Fatah: Muslims Must Save Islam from Islamists

The following by Tarek Fatah is reposted here with permission of the Middle East Forum:

Muslims Must Save Islam from Islamists

by Tarek Fatah
The Toronto Sun
December 16, 2014

http://www.meforum.org/4931/muslims-must-save-islam-from-islamists

Jihadists see Western-style education of the youth as a problem worth mass murdering for.

It seems there is no respite for the ordinary Muslim. Barely a day goes by when news of fresh atrocities by our coreligionists isn't in the headlines.

Most of the world's billion-plus Muslims wouldn't dream of killing in the name of Islam, but enough do to form a critical mass that has put us on a collision course with the rest of humanity.

The Sydney siege by an ISIS-inspired jihadist had barely ended when the horrific news of a Taliban massacre killing 140 children at a Pakistani school shocked the world.

It took place at an "Army Public School", inside a Pakistan cantonment on the edges of Peshawar. Many of the students who attended this elite school were the sons and daughters of Pakistan army officers.

Arlene Kushner on More Examples of the West Turning A Blind Eye Towards Palestinian Terrorism

Arlene Kushner:
December 17, 2014

This Way and That

Some news a tad encouraging, and other news that’s nothing short of infuriating. Sometimes it’s hard to determine whether we have, on average, broken even.  Doesn’t look so here.

~~~~~~~~~~

But let’s put that aside from a moment, and attend to first things first.  It is Chanukah, and I want to share a video that is absolutely beautiful, in terms of tying together Chanukah and an understanding of who we are.

Charlie Harary is an inspirational speaker, whose videos are frequently used by Aish.  But never before have I seen one that is as brilliant and inspiring as this one. If you attend to nothing else in this posting, please do see this.  He touches on an essential truth of our uniqueness:

Anne Bayefsky: UN: Turning Back the Clock to Pre-1948 is the Real Endgame

For Immediate Release: December 17, 2014

Contact: info@humanrightsvoices.org Follow us on Twitter

UN: Turning Back the Clock to Pre-1948 is the Real Endgame This article by Anne Bayefsky originally appeared in the Jerusalem Post. Incitement against the Jewish state is directly related to the stabbings, raping and killing of Jews inside and outside of Israel. But doing something to stop it requires confronting a very troubling fact: the global epicenter for incitement is the "human rights" leviathan, the United Nations. From November 24, 2014 until December 5, 2014, UN human rights headquarters in Geneva mounted a public exhibit that was pure incitement. UN-driven antisemitism that takes the form of seeking to demonize, disable and ultimately destroy the Jewish state.

Middle East Quarterly Winter 2015: Gerald M. Steinberg: Europeans Fund Anti-Israel Libels

The following by Gerald M. Steinberg is reposted here with permission of the Middle East Forum:

Europeans Fund Anti-Israel Libels

by Gerald M. Steinberg
Middle East Quarterly
Winter 2015 (view PDF)

Designed and promoted as a vehicle for drawing attention to the Palestinian narrative of the 1948 war, Zochrot's iNakba app features an interactive map and photos of pre-1948 Arab villages and encourages the "right of return" narrative through crowd sourcing. The app was timed to coincide with Israel's sixty-sixth Independence Day (May 15).

In May 2014, Zochrot—a radical Israeli nongovernmental organization (NGO)—was the focus of widespread mainstream media coverage featuring itsiNakba mobile application (app). Articles on the app and Zochrot were published in The New York Times, The Washington Post,Haaretz, The Christian Science Monitor, Time Magazine, and several prominent blogs. Most, including The New York Times, promoted Zochrot's agenda while others, such as The Washington Post, included some criticism.

Middle East Quarterly Winter 2015: Shlomo Sand, The Arab's Darling

The following, by Shaul Bartal, is reposted here with permission of Middle East Forum:

Shlomo Sand, The Arabs' Darling

by Shaul Bartal
Middle East Quarterly
Winter 2015 (view PDF)

Sand's claim—that Jews never existed as a national group with a common origin in the Land of Israel/Palestine—has been disproved by scores of historical writings and archaeological discoveries. In 2008, archaeologists from the Hebrew University found five lines of text written in black ink on a shard of pottery dug up at Elah Fortress, or Khirbet Qeiyafa, in Israel. Carbon dating of artifacts found at the site indicates the Hebrew inscription was written about 3,000 years ago, predating the Dead Sea Scrolls by 1,000 years.

Jewish Israeli researchers whose books and writings achieve great appreciation among Arab communities in the Middle East are few and far between. Shlomo Sand is the exception. Since the initial publication of The Invention of the Jewish People five years ago,[1]every interview with the Tel Aviv University historian has achieved great popularity in Arab media. Headlines refer to his name endlessly though his theories are anything but new and have long been popular in the Arab world, just as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Mein Kampf have been widely distributed in the Arab language for many years.[2] In essence, Sand's book has become a plank of Palestinian and Arab propaganda, the purpose of which is to undermine the right of the Jewish people to its ancestral homeland.

Daniel Pipes on An Arab Prince Who (Almost) Denounces Islamism

The following by Daniel Pipes is reposted here with permission:

An Arab Prince Denounces Islamism

by Daniel Pipes
The Washington Times
December 10, 2014

http://www.danielpipes.org/15286/bahrain-islamists

In a remarkable but thus-far unnoticed address on Dec. 5, Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, the crown prince of Bahrain (an island kingdom in the Persian Gulf and home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet), candidly analyzed the Islamist enemy and suggested important ways to fight it.

Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa on Dec. 5, discussing the enemy's identity.

Arlene Kushner on Making Sense of Coming Israeli Elections

Arlene Kushner:
December 6, 2014

A Political Circus

Motzei Shabbat (After Shabbat)

It wouldn’t do, I suppose, for the political situation to have clarity for too long. Or for the news to simply be promising.  We’ve now entered the circus arena: the rumors are flying, predictions are contradictory, and some surprising alliances are being suggested as possible. All of this defeats clarity and considerably dampens optimism.

I will offer here only an overview, with a promise of more to come when it’s possible to make better sense of how matters will evolve.  In the few days since my last posting - announcing the firing of Livni and Lapid and the advent of elections – there have been news stories and opinion pieces about all of the following:

Arlene Kushner on Jewish Rights To Judea and Samaria ("West Bank")

From Arlene Kushner:
November 30, 2014

Jewish (and Other) Rights in the Land Today

Let us begin today by looking briefly at the historical situation that immediately followed Israel’s Declaration of Independence and the subsequent War of Independence.  At the end of the war, in 1949, armistice lines (ceasefire lines) were established.  They were similar to, but not exactly the same, as the lines within which the Jews had declared a state in 1948: Israel had gained a bit of territory.  Most significantly, Israel had secured the western part of Jerusalem.  (In the original UN proposal, Jerusalem was to be internationalized.)

 Credit: English-online

~~~~~~~~~~

These armistice lines – referred to as the Green Line - were the lines within which Israel remained until 1967. Egypt had taken Gaza, and Jordan had taken the remainder of Mandate Palestine – Judea and Samaria, dubbed “the West Bank” by Jordan.  Jordan, I will note, occupied this land illegally, for it was acquired in a war of aggression.

Daniel Pipes: Is CAIR a Terror Group?

The following by Daniel Pipes is reposted here with permission.

Is CAIR a Terror Group?

by Daniel Pipes
National Review Online
November 28, 2014

http://www.danielpipes.org/15220/cair-terror-group

We who follow the Islamist movement fell off our collective chair on Nov. 15 when the news came that the United Arab Emirates' ministerial cabinet had listed the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as one of 83 proscribed terrorist organizations, up there with the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS.

This came as a surprise because the UAE authorities themselves have a record of promoting Islamism; because CAIR has a history of raising funds in the UAE; and because the UAE embassy in Washington had previously praised CAIR.

On reflection, however, the listing makes sense for, in recent years, the Islamist movement has gravely fractured.