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	<title>FrontPage Magazine &#187; Knesset</title>
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	<item>
		<title>Arab Israeli Politician Praises Terrorism</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/ronn-torossian/arab-israeli-politician-praises-terrorism/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=arab-israeli-politician-praises-terrorism</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Dec 2014 05:30:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ronn Torossian]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hanin Zoabi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Knesset]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestinian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=248287</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Hamas representative in the Israeli Knesset.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="color: #232323;"><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/w2-haneenzoabi-061614.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-248288" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/w2-haneenzoabi-061614.jpg" alt="w2-haneenzoabi-061614" width="346" height="280" /></a>In yet another story which the world&#8217;s mainstream media will ignore, an Israeli Arab Knesset member complained to the police about a right-wing Likud Knesset member, <span style="color: #1255cc;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nQWtVow1Lw">Danny Danon</a>,</span> making a video condemning her. <span style="color: #1255cc;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWKoFle57L8">Watch the video here</a></span></p>
<p style="color: #232323;"><span style="color: #1255cc;"><a href="http://www.truthrevolt.org/commentary/torossian-treason-israeli-knesset">The Arab MK, Hanin Zoabi</a>,</span> openly opposes the State of Israel, supports Hamas, and a few months ago published an article on Hamas&#8217;s website encouraging an Islamist uprising against the Jewish state, encouraging Arab countries to help stoke a &#8220;popular uprising&#8221; against Israel, halt security coordination with the Palestinian Authority (PA) police in Judea and Samaria, and lay siege to the region. She put the word &#8220;Israel&#8221; in quotation marks throughout the article, and said: [. . .] we must besiege &#8216;Israel&#8217; instead of negotiating with it.&#8221;  Zoabi has said Israel has “no right to a normal life” and Israel should &#8220;thank her&#8221; for allowing Jews to live in the Jewish State.</p>
<p style="color: #232323;">Recently, she defended the kidnapping of three Israeli teens, stating that the abduction was a &#8220;legitimate&#8221; way to &#8220;fight the occupation.&#8221; She has met Hamas officials, calls the Jewish State a racist notion, and has walked out of the Knesset during the singing of the national anthem.  This woman has made statements claiming that the <a href="http://www.truthrevolt.org/israel-revolt/torossian-pray-israel-defense-forces"><span style="color: #0066cc;">Israel Defense Forces</span></a> are a greater danger than the possibility of Iranian nuclear weapons, and denied that Palestinians kidnapping Israeli civilians are terrorists.</p>
<p style="color: #232323;">However, she complained that Danon was committing incitement for releasing a video where he is depicted as a sheriff who locks her up for supporting terrorists.  Zoabi complains about incitement?  As Danon rightfully said in response, &#8220;A person who serves as the Hamas representative in the Israeli Knesset should be sitting in jail and not preaching on the subject of incitement and freedom of expression.&#8221;</p>
<p style="color: #232323;">Imagine a member of Congress praising Al-Qaeda? Absurd.  Yet, worldwide Israel is spoken of terribly.  The emperor has no clothes.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>.</b></p>
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		<title>Preventing an Israeli Fifth Column</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/charles-bybelezer/preventing-an-israeli-fifth-column/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=preventing-an-israeli-fifth-column</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 23 Jul 2014 04:46:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Bybelezer]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Arab]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gaza]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hamas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IDF]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Knesset]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestinian]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=236880</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The disturbing statements of Arab-Israeli politicians -- who operate freely in the Knesset. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/haneen-zoabi.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-236881" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/haneen-zoabi.jpg" alt="haneen-zoabi" width="273" height="205" /></a>As IDF troops were preparing to enter the Gaza Strip, with the goal of stopping incessant rocket fire on Israeli cities and neutralizing the threat caused by Hamas’ extensive tunnel infrastructure, Balad MK Haneen Zoabi penned an op-ed for the Hamas-affiliated <i>felesteen</i> news site imploring Palestinians to “besiege” the Jewish state (which she referred to throughout her article as ‘Israel,’ in quotations).</p>
<p>“‘Israel’ will in no way eliminate Hamas, the motives for the resistance or the motives for [pursuing] liberation,” she wrote. Zoabi justified Hamas’ attacks on Israeli civilians as a means to ending the “soft occupation” on the Strip.</p>
<p>In response, Hamas spokesman Husam Bardan praised Zoabi as a “Palestinian patriot worthy of the respect of our people.” He expressed hope that other Israeli-Arab politicians would follow her lead.</p>
<p>And indeed they have.</p>
<p>One day after the launch of Operation Protective Edge, MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta’al) accused the IDF of “committing war crimes in Gaza, including blowing up houses and killing entire families intentionally.”</p>
<p>During the same Knesset plenum, his fellow MK Ibrahim Sarsour read aloud the names of Palestinians who had been “murdered by IDF soldiers,” a scene bearing an eerie resemblance to the Yad Vashem exhibit in which the names of those who perished in the Holocaust are recited.</p>
<p>Arab MK Masud Gnaim, also from Tibi’s party, accused Israel of perpetrating a “massacre” in the Strip.</p>
<p>These outbursts parallel the Israeli-Arab leadership’s collective response to the recent kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens.</p>
<p>Zoabi again was front and center, describing the abductors not as terrorists, but rather as beleaguered people “forced to use these means until Israel will wake up a little.” When pressed in an interview whether she was openly siding with the kidnappers, Zoabi responded: “I’m surprised you’re still walking around freely.”</p>
<p>She went so far as to endanger the life of her own relative, rejecting seventeen-year-old Mohammad Zoabi’s call for the three boys’ immediate release as “stupid” and “twisted.” (Mohammad subsequently received multiple death threats, necessitating a round-the-clock security detail.)</p>
<p>For her actions, Zoabi did not receive so much as a slap on the wrist; this, despite the fact that a police investigation determined that sufficient evidence exists for Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein to investigate her for incitement.</p>
<p>Never to be outdone, Tibi too weighed in, responding to the kidnapping by denouncing the IDF’s “shooting of civilians and demonstrators” during its recovery mission in the West Bank. Hadash MK Afo Agbaria, like Zoabi, referred to Hamas not as a terror group, but rather as a “liberation organization.”</p>
<p>Despite this overt hostility by Israeli-Arab leaders, the public nevertheless responded with shock when riots subsequently broke out last month against Operation Brother’s Keeper.</p>
<p>Residents of Umm el-Fahm, one of the country’s largest Arab cities, threw stones at police, called for additional hostage-taking and repeatedly chanted, “With spirit and blood, we will redeem you Palestine.”</p>
<p>Arab MK and Hadash chairman Muhammad Barakei, who was on hand, described the violence as a “protest against the brutality of the IDF and against [its] illegal arrests and unlawful activities in the territories.”</p>
<p>Balad chairman Jamal Zahalka hailed the riot as the implementation of “our right and duty to protest against Israeli crimes.” Balad’s secretary-general, Awad Abderfattah, called it a legitimate expression of support for Palestinian prisoners.</p>
<p>The radicalism that reared its ugly head in Umm el-Fahm is the direct result of years of government inaction, the refusal of Israeli-Jewish leaders to punish their Arab counterparts for their provocations.</p>
<p>The case of Umm el-Fahm is particularly revealing, given the city’s former mayor is Raed Salah, leader of the Islamic Movement’s Northern Branch, which is essentially the Muslim Brotherhood in Israel.</p>
<p>For decades, Salah was permitted to spew his anti-Israel invective with impunity. He urged young Arabs to wage war against Israel so they may die as martyrs, and accused Jews of “eating bread dipped in children’s blood.”</p>
<p>Salah was previously convicted of collaborating with, and raising millions of dollars for, Hamas, the Palestinian branch of the Brotherhood.</p>
<p>For his ongoing crimes, this past March Salah was given an eight-month prison sentence. Upon receiving the verdict, he affirmed: “Blessed is God—I got off cheap!”</p>
<p>Despite calls by Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman for the Umm el-Fahm rioters to “be treated as terrorists in the full sense of the word,” they, not unlike their leaders, will not be.</p>
<p>The reason is, partly, due to external pressure, given the international community’s pro-Arab disposition, and the influence of people like Meretz leader Zahava Gal-On, who accused Liberman of racism for attempting to hold to account those calling for Israel’s destruction.</p>
<p>The government’s failure to address the issue has allowed a virtual powder keg to form in the heart of the country. The volatility of the situation primarily accounts for the ongoing reluctance to take action against Israeli-Arab agitators, as doing so, at this late juncture, would have serious consequences.</p>
<p>This reality was reinforced by the widespread violence that erupted in the wake of the brutal murder of teenager Muhammad Abu Khdeir, a heinous crime that was in all likelihood a revenge killing by Jews.</p>
<p>But even before a motive could be determined, rioting broke out in Jerusalem and continued there for days. In the so-called Triangle communities, including Taibe and Tira, Arab residents burned tires and attacked security forces.</p>
<p>The violence extended from the country’s center all the way up to the north.</p>
<p>This past week saw similar outbreaks of violence against Operation Protective Edge. In Jerusalem, young Arabs threw Molotov cocktails at police in Isawiya, Shuafat and At-Tur. A rally attended by thousands in Nazareth, Israel’s largest Arab city, saw demonstrators hold up placards reading, “Israeli army commits genocide in Gaza,” while some 200 masked protestors threw stones at security forces.</p>
<p>In Haifa, over a thousand Israeli-Arabs clashed with police as they attempted to block roads into the city. For her involvement, Zoabi was arrested and taken away in handcuffs and fellow Balad MK Zahalka was lightly injured in the rioting.</p>
<p>Apologists seek to justify such rampant and violent anti-Israel actions by Arabs as the byproduct of inequality; however, this argument simply confuses cause and effect.</p>
<p>While racism indeed exists in Israel—as it does in every other country—the “plight” of Israeli-Arabs, like that of the Palestinians, is primarily of their own making.</p>
<p>Since Israel’s founding, Arab parties have refused to form part of any ruling coalition, at the obvious expense of a smaller slice of the government pie. Israeli-Arab leaders have also failed their constituencies miserably by incessantly demonizing Israel—historically within the context of the greater Arab-Israeli conflict and today in relation to the Palestinians—which effectively prevented Arabs from integrating into society.</p>
<p>By contrast, had Israeli-Arab leaders ever agreed to sit in the government—especially between the end of the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the start of the second intifada in 2000, when peace was formally made with both Egypt and Jordan and the Oslo Accords were signed with the PLO—they would have had much greater influence over the distribution of, and thus access to, state resources.</p>
<p>Had they shown even the slightest desire to embrace Israel as their own, their communities would almost certainly be far better off both socially and economically.</p>
<p>At the very least Israeli-Arabs would not be so openly disaffected.</p>
<p>Instead, Israel’s Arab leadership continues to maintain, and promote, rejectionist positions that view, and treat, the country as an abomination.</p>
<p>This reality was perfectly encapsulated by Tibi, when after being asked to quiet down during a recent Knesset debate by Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat, he responded: “You’ve been disturbing us since 1948,” suggesting Israel’s reestablishment was an affront to Arab sensibilities.</p>
<p>Increasingly commonplace, and explicit, opposition to Israel’s fundamental right to exist is not about to cease unless concerted action is counter-taken from the top-down; namely, by holding Arab leaders, especially parliamentarians, accountable for their anti-Israel incitement.</p>
<p>If sedition is otherwise permitted to continue unabated and without consequence, it will not be long before Israeli-Arabs become radicalized to such an extent that mini-Gazas begin popping up within a stone’s throw away from the country’s major population centers.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
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		<title>Meet Ruby Rivlin, Israel’s New Strong, Nationalistic President</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/ronn-torossian/meet-ruby-rivlin-israels-new-strong-nationalistic-president/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=meet-ruby-rivlin-israels-new-strong-nationalistic-president</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Jun 2014 04:30:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ronn Torossian]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Knesset]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[president]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ruby Rivlin]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=233724</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A new era of Israeli politics? ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/2197021463.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-233725" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/2197021463-450x260.jpg" alt="2197021463" width="296" height="171" /></a>On Tuesday afternoon, Israel elected a nationalist President &#8212; Likud Party Knesset Member Reuven (Ruby) Rivlin who defines himself in two ways: A man of Jerusalem and a student of Zionist prophet <a href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/ronn-torossian/zeev-jabotinsky-and-the-belgium-terror-attack/"><span style="color: #346f99;">Ze’ev Jabotinsky</span></a>.<i> </i>He is devoted to strengthening the entire land of Israel, including the settlements of Judea and Samaria and an opponent of the creation of a Palestinian Arab state.</p>
<p>Fitting with his long-standing history as a proud, <a href="http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/04/17/the-top-10-toughest-living-jews/"><span style="color: #346f99;">tough Jew</span></a>, Rivlin accepted the position as the 10<sup>th</sup> President of Israel and placed a skullcap on his head and recited a prayer from the Torah. He is respected, thought highly of and as a man born in Jerusalem, a descendant of great Rabbis. Israel’s President is largely a ceremonial position &#8212; but the world can expect to see a strong Israeli occupying the office of President.</p>
<p>Some highlights and comments worth noting:</p>
<p>Rivlin has noted on numerous occasions that “The heart of the dispute in our region is not just one of local territorial disputes,” but an &#8220;all-over Arab-Jewish dispute.”  He continued: “Only after we solve the Arab-Jewish conflict and can be confident that the Arab countries recognize Israel and our right to live here in security, can we address the conflict between ourselves and the Palestinians, with whom we are destined to live together.” “We will not, under any circumstances, allow the establishment of a neighboring state that will be a genuine threat on our existence.”</p>
<p>“We have returned to our homeland over the past 200 years in order to stay here. We want real peace, not fake, short-term ‘Peace Now,’ which is liable to be nothing more than an illusion.”</p>
<p>The man is a nationalist who stands strong – as he proclaimed when he was speaker of the Knesset in 2010, “We will not apologize for having liberated Hevron or building Jerusalem. We hereby declare for all to hear: This city will have its defenders! Even if there are those amongst us who have become weak, and who are replacing Zion with Uganda and wish to divide King David’s City – we will not sit by quietly when people come to try to divide this city.”“It is no coincidence that every additional Jewish home in the City of David, the Old City and elsewhere in Jerusalem, shakes the world to its foundations…. The blood of the Hadassah nurses [murdered by an Arab mob in Jerusalem in 1948] cries out from the mountains of Jerusalem. Who dares to divide the ever-united city!? It is the legacy of the fallen that from this mountain we will again take this oath: ‘If I forget thee, o Jerusalem, let my right hand wither.’”</p>
<p>In speeches to “settlers,” Rivlin notes, “You, my brothers, are pioneers.” Tellingly, Dani Dayan, representative of the residents of Judea and Samaria noted yesterday, “Ruby is a true friend of <a href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/ronn-torossian/judea-and-samaria-are-israel/"><span style="color: #346f99;">Judea and Samaria</span></a>, an honorable man whose election is a victory of the whole, beautiful and good land of Israel. “The State of Israel secured a nationalistic President, the scion to a family who built the land, who sees before him the right way to head, without forgetting the path of our fathers, the past and our history.”</p>
<p>Rivlin has said that if Jews cannot live safely in Hebron, neither should Arabs be able to live safely in nearby Abu Sneneh. “But when a playground becomes the murder site of a ten-month-old baby, diplomatic considerations must take a back seat to the need to protect our citizens&#8217; lives.&#8221;</p>
<p>When President Obama visited Jerusalem and spoke at the Convention Center rather than the Knesset, Rivlin said: “Three American presidents [Carter, Clinton and Bush] have spoken on the Knesset stage, as well [Egyptian President Anwar] Sadat and leaders from Europe. President Obama should speak to the people of Israel through its elected representatives.” He added, “President Obama decided not to visit the Knesset, a decision which is in bad taste….The Knesset is a symbol of Israeli sovereignty, and with all due respect to the president, it cannot be ignored.”</p>
<p>In a speech in the Knesset where he urged fellow Knesset members to not cede land, Rivlin said, “Don&#8217;t you realize that the moment we retreat from one of our fundamental beliefs and dreams, there will no longer be or remain the Zionist entity that we so much wanted to see as the sprouting of our Redemption?&#8221;</p>
<p>“We will not apologize – not for conquering Katamon or Jaffa or Tzfat, nor for liberating Hevron, and not for building Jerusalem our capital.”</p>
<p>World: Meet Ruby Rivlin.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
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		<title>Muslim MK Who Claimed House Doesn&#8217;t Have Electricity Because of Israel, Has Satellite Dish</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/muslim-mk-who-claimed-house-doesnt-have-electricity-because-of-israel-has-a-satellite-dish/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=muslim-mk-who-claimed-house-doesnt-have-electricity-because-of-israel-has-a-satellite-dish</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 23 Jan 2014 17:22:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Daniel Greenfield]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The Point]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ahmed tibi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[canadian prime minister stephen harper]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Knesset]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=217137</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[He not only has a satellite dish, the Muslim Brotherhood member also has two wives.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/tibi.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-217150" alt="tibi" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/tibi-450x302.jpg" width="450" height="302" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.israellycool.com/2012/06/19/ahmed-tibi-waste-of-space/">Ahmed Tibi is a clown</a>. Imagine Al Sharpton without the dignity and you have Tibi. Tibi&#8217;s main job in the Knesset, Israel&#8217;s parliament, is to randomly denounce Israel for being a racist state that discriminates against Arab Muslims.</p>
<p>Despite this discrimination, Tibi graduated from Hebrew University with a degree in medicine (that like so many Muslim terror agitators, he doesn&#8217;t use) and made it to Deputy Speaker.</p>
<p>So naturally he was going to<a href="http://muqata.blogspot.co.il/2014/01/lies-damn-lies-and-mk-dr-ahmed-tibi.html"> use Canadian PM Stephen Harper&#8217;s visit to</a> Israel to put on his usual show.</p>
<blockquote><p>MK Ahmed Tibi from the Ra&#8217;am (United Arab List) &#8211; Ta&#8217;al party interrupted Harper&#8217;s speech spewing protected-freedom-of-speech lies: Israel&#8217;s is an apartheid state and the like&#8230;culminating that his fellow Arab MK, Taleb Abu Arar doesn&#8217;t even have water or electricity in his village.</p>
<p>Not only does MK Taleb Abu Arar&#8217;s village (and personal home) have water, sewage, electricity, gas delivery, garbage removal, telephone/high speed internet infrastructure and free State sponsored education, but MK Taleb Abu Arar&#8217;s impoverished and apartheid home also has Satellite TV.</p></blockquote>
<p>Taleb Abu Arar not only has a satellite dish, <a href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/muslim-brotherhood-member-elected-to-israeli-parliament-cant-decide-which-wife-to-take-along/">the Muslim Brotherhood membe</a>r also has two wives. And is a member of Tibi&#8217;s party.</p>
<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/abu_arars_home1.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-217151" alt="abu_arars_home" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/abu_arars_home1.jpg" width="436" height="327" /></a></p>
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		<title>In G-D We Trust, Not the Media</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/ronn-torossian/in-g-d-we-trust-not-the-media/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=in-g-d-we-trust-not-the-media</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/ronn-torossian/in-g-d-we-trust-not-the-media/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Jun 2012 04:10:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ronn Torossian]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jerusalem]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Knesset]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Settlements]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=136186</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Lessons for Israel and the Jewish people. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: left;"><em><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/2781329487_ba20fd6005.gif"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-136193" title="2781329487_ba20fd6005" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/2781329487_ba20fd6005.gif" alt="" width="375" height="250" /></a>The following is a book excerpt from “For Immediate Release,” a best-selling PR Book by <a href="http://www.5wpr.com/">Ronn Torossian</a>, CEO of <a href="http://www.twitter.com/5wprjobs">5WPR</a>.</em></p>
<p>I lived in Israel for nearly two years after graduating from college. Along with two friends, I formed an organization called Yerushalayim Shelanu (Our Jerusalem). My two cofounders are today among the youngest members of the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) and rapidly rising political stars: Danny Danon (current deputy speaker of the Knesset) and Yoel Hasson (Kadima Member of Knesset). In 1997, one of the first activities we undertook was participating in an action where Jews moved into a home that had been purchased legally in an area of eastern Jerusalem.</p>
<p>The neighborhood’s construction provoked an international storm in September 1997 and the U.S. pressured Israel not to go ahead with the plan. The pressure was rebuffed by then (and current) prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and backed by then Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert. I conducted hundreds of worldwide media interviews at the homes of the new Jewish residents of the area. All of them were done as I held an Israeli flag, with the Temple Mount (where the recognizable Dome of the Rock is located) in the background. That way, no matter how reporters editorialized about this “disputed” area of Jerusalem, viewers could see just how close this territory was to the Jerusalem they recognized. No matter what the reporters said, the pictures didn’t lie. As of 2011, more than 70 Jewish families live there and conditions on the ground in that area of Jerusalem have changed, with Israeli schools, bus service to the Western Wall, and other benefits making the area connected to western Jerusalem.</p>
<p>This effort, while effective, was a drop in the bucket. Israel is a young country and it often learns things painfully. A justified cause is not enough to be right these days, either in politics or in business. Anyway, being right does not help you frame the debate nor does it keep you from being constantly on the defense. It’s not enough to simply convey a message—you need people to listen. Preparation for war includes a PR battle plan because PR is a crucial element of any war today.</p>
<p>Having worked with and for the Likud Party, the mayors of Jerusalem and of Tel Aviv, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel Ministry of Tourism, and a slew of other Israeli government officials and offices for many years, I know that Israel has so much rich history and many incredible attractions, from the Bible to its beaches. It needs to put them to use actively and to employ a comprehensive, systematic “PR machine” that generates regular positive content.</p>
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		<title>Netanyahu’s New Mega-Coalition</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/davidhornik/netanyahu%e2%80%99s-new-mega-coalition/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=netanyahu%25e2%2580%2599s-new-mega-coalition</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/davidhornik/netanyahu%e2%80%99s-new-mega-coalition/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 May 2012 04:53:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[P. David Hornik]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coalition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kadima]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Knesset]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Netanyahu]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=131636</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Israeli prime minister now has the strongest mandate possible to do whatever needs to be done for the country.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/netanyahu.gif"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-131638" title="netanyahu" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/netanyahu.gif" alt="" width="375" height="253" /></a>So Israel has a new mega-coalition of 94 out of 120 Knesset members. The news early Tuesday morning stunned a country that was already in elections mode for a presumed September 4 contest. No pundit foresaw the mega-coalition or had an inside track on it.</p>
<p>For both of the main protagonists in the deal—Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Kadima Party leader Shaul Mofaz—it makes eminent sense. While all polls showed Netanyahu easily emerging triumphant again from the putative elections, the deal saves him—and the country—the trouble and debilities of having to prepare for them, not to mention prolonged coalition negotiations once the results would have been in.</p>
<p>As for Mofaz—who wrested leadership of Kadima from Tzipi Livni in a primary less than two months ago—the polls showed his party plummeting, had elections been held, from its current 28 seats to about a dozen. While Kadima’s fate in the October 2013 (when Netanyahu’s four-year term runs out) elections will not necessarily be better, Mofaz—whom the deal makes deputy prime minister and member of the Forum of Eight (now nine) ministers, Israel’s highest policymaking body—gets a chance to make more of an impact on a public never particularly impressed with him.</p>
<p>But apart from Netanyahu and Mofaz, the deal—by creating a massive coalition immune to extortionate pressures by small parties—holds great potential for the country.</p>
<p>For two of Israel’s most intractable problems—refusal of military or national service by most of its growing ultra-Orthodox population, and dysfunctionalities of its parliamentary system—solutions are now eminently possible. In their joint press conference on Tuesday, Netanyahu and Mofaz pledged that the new coalition would tackle these issues without offering any specifics.</p>
<p>The problems are indeed complex. The draft exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox, which are contingent on yeshiva study, not only sow bitterness among the army-serving public but lead to large-scale unemployment among ultra-Orthodox men and a growing, worrisome <a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2010/05/14/israel%E2%80%99s-welfare-threat/">drain on the economy</a>. To date, ultra-Orthodox parties in fragile coalitions have prevented possible solutions. For the mega-coalition, though, the path appears clear to legislating some sort of mandatory service and remedying this longstanding malady.</p>
<p>This being linked, of course, to the issue of a parliamentary system that allows small parties of various—not just ultra-Orthodox—descriptions to proliferate and wield disproportionate influence. Again, the new coalition stands a real chance to cure the illness. Raising the electoral threshold and introducing regional elections are two often-mentioned ideas. Israel could emerge as a better-functioning, more representational democracy with much more stable governments.</p>
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		<title>Coming of Age Under Qassam Rockets</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/anav-silverman/coming-of-age-under-qassam-rockets/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=coming-of-age-under-qassam-rockets</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/anav-silverman/coming-of-age-under-qassam-rockets/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 18 May 2010 04:00:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Anav Silverman]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[advocacy tool]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[amir peretz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[AMIT]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Center]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[community]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Defense Minister Amir Peretz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gaza]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gaza conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[girls high school]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel--we]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[israeli youth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jacob Shrybman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Janet Lehr]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jerusalem]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Knesset]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New York]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Noam Bedein]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[painful reality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[production]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ptsd symptoms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Qassam Avenue]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reuven Rivlin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rocket]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rotem]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[school]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sderot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terror]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[theater]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[true life experiences]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[western Negev]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=60337</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Israeli girls relive their childhood terror on stage.  ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/anav.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-60339" title="anav" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/anav.jpg" alt="" width="375" height="258" /></a></p>
<p>JERUSALEM 11.5.10: With two months until the end of the school year, several students at the religious AMIT high school of Sderot found themselves fulfilling a lifelong dream.  Rotem Timsit and nine other Sderot girls, high school-aged actresses, who are part of <a href="http://sderotmedia.org.il/bin/content.cgi?ID=193&amp;q=3" target="_blank">Sderot Media Center&#8217;s Community Treatment Theater</a>, got to perform in the Knesset this past Tuesday.</p>
<p>In front of a full house which included Knesset speaker and MK Reuven Rivlin, former Defense Minister Amir Peretz and other MKs, as well as students from Boyar High School of Jerusalem, the girls performed <em>Children of Qassam Avenue. </em>A theatrical production that tells the story of teenage girls growing under rocket fire, the play is based on the true life experiences of the Sderot girls, who spent a year undergoing drama therapy to overcome PTSD symptoms resulting from rocket terror. “This is more than just a play,” said Noam Bedein, director of Sderot Media Center. “The idea of this production is to inspire a change in perception of the Sderot-Gaza conflict. The past decade of rocket attacks, and the tremendous psychological damage done to a population of young children and teenagers, is often completely ignored or overlooked by mainstream media both in Israel and internationally.”</p>
<p>&#8220;The first place to begin this change of perception is in the Knesset,&#8221; said Bedein.  &#8220;We hope that our political leaders recognize the powerful advocacy tool we have established in this community theater concept. This is the only platform out there presenting Israel&#8217;s side of the Sderot-Gaza conflict through the voices of Israeli youth who have suffered from Gaza rocket attacks. &#8221;</p>
<p>Knesset Speaker, Reuven Rivlin who invited the Sderot girls to perform in the Knesset stated that he personally appreciated the girls coming to share their painful reality through the art of theater.</p>
<p>&#8220;This production is something that was able to draw us all into a reality that is foreign to most of us. The war that took place in Sderot and the western Negev felt like a war taking place in another country,&#8221; Rivlin stated. &#8220;The girls showed great talent in their performance but even more importantly they demonstrated to us what these Qassam rockets can do, that they are lethal and terrifying.&#8221;</p>
<p>Former Defense Minister Amir Peretz, himself a resident of Sderot, noted that the rocket terror could have impacted the girls in two different ways: &#8220;the situation could have led them to a complete breakdown or generated resilience and strength as demonstrated here today.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;This message of resilience is for the entire state of Israel&#8211;we must remember that Sderot, a city of working class citizens, was able to withstand a terrible test while demonstrating unique courage in the face of continued rocket attacks,&#8221; said Peretz.</p>
<p>Students of Boyar High School of Jerusalem who come from all over Israel, sat quietly during the entire performance, as many for the first time witnessed what life was like for fellow Israeli teenagers growing up in the rocket zone of Sderot and the western Negev. During the question-and-answer discussion after the performance, a Boyar student asked if any of the girls would remain in Sderot to raise their families and children. Sixteen-year old tenth grader, Rotem Timsit answered, &#8220;we still love our city and will continue to live in Sderot, and yes I can see myself raising my kids there.&#8221;</p>
<p>For Rotem, the performance in the Knesset was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, which she hopes will continue. &#8220;We came to share our story and show the rest of Israel and especially our political leaders how a decade of rocket terror, condensed in this one-hour show, will not drive us out of Sderot.&#8221;<em></em></p>
<p><em>Special thanks goes to Janet Lehr of New York for providing the funds for the Sderot Community Treatment Theater program. Sderot Media Center is currently looking for sponsors to continue the financial operation of the theater program.</em></p>
<p><em>Photo Credit: Jacob Shrybman, Sderot Media Center</em></p>
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		<title>Fighting the Goldstone Report</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/davidhornik/fighting-the-goldstone-report/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=fighting-the-goldstone-report</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/davidhornik/fighting-the-goldstone-report/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:04:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[P. David Hornik]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ban ki moon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Benjamin Netanyahu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blindness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[central aim]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[chief rabbi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[civilian infrastructure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Commission]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[course]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[democratic states]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ethan Bronner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[existential]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[front]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[General Assembly]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hamas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[human rights commission]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[human shields]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[infrastructure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[israeli army]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Justice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Knesset]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[military threats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mill]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[minister benjamin netanyahu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[missile]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[prime minister benjamin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[propaganda victory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rebuttal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[report]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Richard Goldstone]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[South Africa]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Trevor Norwitz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[un secretary general]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[victory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[war crimes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Warren Goldstein]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=47572</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Israeli army takes on a vicious UN libel.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-47573" title="Switzerland UN Gaza War Crimes" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/large_richard-goldstone-united-nations-gaza-war-crimes1.jpg" alt="Switzerland UN Gaza War Crimes" width="453" height="316" /></p>
<p>“There are three primary threats facing us today: the nuclear threat, the missile threat and what I call the Goldstone threat.”</p>
<p>So <a href="http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/PMSpeaks/speech40sigh231209.htm">said</a> Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a speech last month to the Knesset. In bracketing the “Goldstone threat” with two military threats, at least one of them existential, Netanyahu was not exaggerating. The report of the Goldstone Commission, led by South African jurist Richard Goldstone under the auspices of the notoriously anti-Israeli UN Human Rights Commission, was published in September 2009 and accuses Israel of committing war crimes in its January 2009 military campaign against Hamas in Gaza. The report thereby hands a major propaganda victory to Hamas and vindicates the terrorists’ strategy of using whole populations as human shields.</p>
<p>Among the best rebuttals to the report that have been published are those by Trevor Norwitz, a New York lawyer, who <a href="http://www.telfed.org.il/content/trevor-norwitzs-letter-richard-goldstone-response-gaza-report">called</a> it “an abominable travesty of justice,” and a much briefer one by Warren Goldstein, chief rabbi of South Africa, who <a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1255450652253&amp;pagename=JPArticle/ShowFull">called</a> it “a disgrace to the most basic notions of justice, equality and the rule of law.”</p>
<p>But the report’s grim impact continues. On the legal front, the UN General Assembly endorsed it in November (though democratic states either voted against or abstained), and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is set to refer it to the Security Council. On the terror front, the fact that Hezbollah is now <a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&amp;cid=1263147969888">storing</a> weapons in 160 Shiite villages in southern Lebanon shows how effective the human-shield strategy has become, and how hamstrung Israel will be in future antiterrorist warfare, if it fails to overcome the Goldstone libel.</p>
<p>The <em>New York Times </em><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/world/middleeast/24goldstone.html">reports</a> this week that the Israeli army is now preparing its own rebuttal to the report, and that “its central aim is to dispel the report’s harsh conclusion—that the death of noncombatants and destruction of civilian infrastructure were part of an official plan to terrorize the Palestinian population.” Although the rebuttal, which is soon to be submitted to UN officials, is supposed to be under wraps until then, correspondent Ethan Bronner quotes some statements by “officers involved in writing the report.”</p>
<p>One concerns a flour mill that, according to the Goldstone Report, “was hit by an airstrike, possibly by an F-16…for the purpose of denying sustenance to the civilian population.” But “the Israeli investigators say they have photographic proof that this is false, that the mill was accidentally hit by artillery in the course of a firefight with Hamas militiamen.”</p>
<p>Then there was a wastewater plant that, in the Goldstone Report’s telling, Israel subjected to a missile strike that was “deliberate and premeditated,” causing an inundation of raw sewage. Contrary to that charge, “the Israelis say they had nothing to do with that plant’s collapse and suggest that it may have been the result of Hamas explosives.”</p>
<p>More broadly, the Goldstone document states that Israel conducted “a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population….” Israel’s military advocate general, Maj. Gen. Avichai Mandelblit, told Bronner that “I have read every report, from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Arab League…. It is when you read these other reports and complaints that you realize how truly vicious the Goldstone report is. He made it look like we set out to go after the economic infrastructure and civilians, that it was intentional. It’s a vicious lie.”</p>
<p>Many things made the Goldstone Report possible: the UN’s Muslim/Third World majority that produces grotesque bodies like the Human Rights Commission (which sponsored the report); Goldstone’s own blindness or—since blindness is hard to believe as an explanation—cynical opportunism; and of course, decades of Western mainstream-media portrayals of Israel as an aggressor and Palestinians as victims.</p>
<p>On the plus side, the United States and other democracies have at least quietly supported Israel in resisting the report—which, they realize, is a victory for terror—and its implications. Israel’s chances of successfully making its case are not hopeless, but it will have to work hard.</p>
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		<title>John Bolton: Democracy Under Arrest &#8211; WSJ.com</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/jlaksin/john-bolton-democracy-under-arrest-wsj-com/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=john-bolton-democracy-under-arrest-wsj-com</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:10:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jacob Laksin]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Arrest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[arrest warrant]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Britain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[com]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[control]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Democracy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fades]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fallout]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[foreign minister tzipi livni]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=42090</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Universal jurisdiction&#8221; sounds like a term plucked from obscure international law journals, but it has pernicious and profoundly antidemocratic consequences in the real world. A British arrest warrant, issued over the weekend in London for former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni, shows precisely why. The warrant charged Ms. Livni—the current leader of the Knesset opposition—with [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Universal jurisdiction&#8221; sounds like a term plucked from obscure international law journals, but it has pernicious and profoundly antidemocratic consequences in the real world. A British arrest warrant, issued over the weekend in London for former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni, shows precisely why.</p>
<p>The warrant charged Ms. Livni—the current leader of the Knesset opposition—with war crimes allegedly committed by Israeli forces during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip last winter. Ms. Livni and other Israeli leaders have always staunchly defended their operation against Hamas, and the arrest warrant was withdrawn Monday when it became clear Ms. Livni would not be in Britain as previously scheduled. But the fallout from this misguided warrant will linger long after it fades from the headlines.</p>
<p>Universal jurisdiction originated centuries ago to deal with hostes humani generis (&#8220;the enemies of all mankind&#8221;) such as pirates or slavers, who were not under any state&#8217;s control but legitimately concerned them all. It has grown explosively in recent years, as self-styled human-rights advocates have pushed to criminalize national actions that they find offensive.</p>
<p>via <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704398304574597913245752256.html">John Bolton: Democracy Under Arrest &#8211; WSJ.com</a>.</p>
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		<title>Syria’s Latest “Peace” Overture &#8211; by P. David Hornik</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/davidhornik/syria%e2%80%99s-latest-%e2%80%9cpeace%e2%80%9d-overture-by-p-david-hornik/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=syria%25e2%2580%2599s-latest-%25e2%2580%259cpeace%25e2%2580%259d-overture-by-p-david-hornik</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/davidhornik/syria%e2%80%99s-latest-%e2%80%9cpeace%e2%80%9d-overture-by-p-david-hornik/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:15:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[P. David Hornik]]></dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=41172</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hollow posturing from a terror-supporting, anti-Semitic regime.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41173" title="assad_1" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/assad_1.jpg" alt="assad_1" width="450" height="301" /></p>
<p>It’s happening yet again. Syria, while simultaneously <a href="http://www.meforum.org/2513/syria-islamist-terrorism">aiding and facilitating</a> anti-American, anti-Israeli, and general anti-Western terror, is again trying to prettify its image in the West by, among other things, conveying an interest in “peace talks with Israel.”</p>
<p>Not only that, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1133510.html">told</a> the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Knesset on Monday that Syria “is now willing to negotiate without preconditions”—meaning Damascus is no longer demanding, as in the past, that Israel concede the entire Golan Heights as a condition for starting talks in the first place.</p>
<p>Lest the excitement get unbearable, Netanyahu acknowledged that French president Nicolas Sarkozy had told him that “the Syrians…do not want to negotiate directly, only via a mediator. I replied to Sarkozy, ‘I prefer direct negotiations, but if the Syrians want mediation, you mediate.’”</p>
<p>Sarkozy, however, told Netanyahu that the Syrian choice of mediator was not himself, but Turkey—already a monkey wrench in the works?</p>
<p>Although Turkey mediated the latest round of indirect Israeli-Syrian “talks” in 2007 while Ehud Olmert was still Israeli prime minister, since then Turkey’s star has not shone brightly in Israeli skies. During the Gaza war, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan <a href="http://israelinsider.ning.com/profiles/blogs/crisis-in-turkish-relations-as">accused</a> Israel of “perpetrating inhuman actions [that] Allah will sooner or later punish,” further stoking anti-Semitic agitation against Turkey’s Jewish community. In October Turkey <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/10/11/turkey.israel.nato.drill/index.html">ousted</a> Israel from a planned NATO military exercise, prompting the United   States and Italy to withdraw as well. Israeli-Turkish relations are currently—at best—in rescue mode.</p>
<p>But for Israel’s left-wing daily <em>Haaretz</em>—which, on Tuesday, gave major billing to Netanyahu’s words about talks with Syria—such details are, as usual, nothing to dampen the “peace” palpitations. Also on Tuesday <em>Haaretz</em> ran an op-ed by Hebrew  University professor Elie Podeh <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1133517.html">complaining</a> that “On peace with Syria, Israeli leaders only talk the talk.” <em>Haaretz</em>, particularly its English website, is one of the main forces in the world propagating the notion that the Arab Middle East is seeking peace with Israel while Israel is the obstacle, and this op-ed fits squarely in that inglorious tradition.</p>
<p>“Making do with noises about peace has a number of advantages,” Podeh grouses.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;Psychologically, it gives our leaders, and perhaps some of our citizens, the feeling that Israel really wants peace, while the other side just talks about it…. different pretexts are given for not negotiating with Syrian President Bashar Assad: His government bankrolls terror attacks, it’s in a strategic alliance with Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas, all he wants is to dip his toes in the Kinneret [i.e., regain the eastern shore of Lake Kinneret for Syria], and so on.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>Without belittling the importance of these matters, it should be stressed that if Anwar Sadat’s positions had been scrutinized like this, there would have been no peace deal with Egypt….&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Well, not exactly. By 1977, when Sadat’s diplomatic overtures to Israel began, Egypt had already ended its alliance with the Soviet Union and was looking to realign with the West. A proper analogy would be Syria having <em>already</em> removed itself from the Iranian axis and <em>then</em> showing an interest in talks with Israel. But again, why look too closely at the truth.</p>
<p>If one did that, one might also want to check into this <a href="http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/sy_e003.htm">latest dispatch</a> by Israel’s Intelligence and Terrorism Information  Center, which reports that as recently as December 1, “Radio Damascus broadcast particularly offensive anti-Semitic propaganda employing <em>The Protocols of the Elders of Zion</em> and reviling Jewish religious figures.”</p>
<p>After setting forth the unlovely details, the ITIC notes that:</p>
<blockquote><p>The article is the rule rather than the exception in the Syrian media, which is generally characterized by strong anti-Israeli propaganda laced with blatant anti-Semitic themes [and is] subject to the strict supervision of the Syrian regime. Bashar Assad’s regime proclaims its desire for peace with Israel as a strategic choice, and has again suggested the renewal of negotiations with Israel (on Syria’s terms). However, the regime not only does not make the slightest effort to prepare Syrian public opinion for coexistence with Israel and the normalization of relations between the two countries, it consistently permits and even encourages strong anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic propaganda and incitement.</p></blockquote>
<p>Although one can’t expect Israel’s perennial peace inebriates to pay much mind to such things, one can expect better from Jerusalem. In fielding this latest transparently cynical “overture” from Assad, the highly image-conscious Netanyahu clearly sees another opportunity to disprove his own “hard-line” profile and build his credentials as a peace-seeker. He should not, at the same time, help Assad’s effort to get himself in the West’s wholly undeserved good graces.</p>
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