Ten years on, 9/11 Conspiracies still Rampant in the Middle East
September 5, 2011 | Tzvi Fleischer
Following the 2001 9/11 attacks, it was widely reported that, in the Middle East, conspiracy theories were rampant that the attacks were actually plots by the American government, the Israelis, or both. Ten years down the track, there is less reporting of such beliefs, but have they faded away through the passage of time and the give and take of debate?
Sadly, as recent polls make clear, the reality is very much the opposite…
UN Palmer Report – Blockade of Gaza is Legal
September 5, 2011 | Sharyn Mittelman
The United Nation’s “Palmer Report” into last year’s flotilla incident on the Mavi Marmara has vindicated Israel by finding that the naval blockade of the Gaza strip, including Israel’s right to enforce the blockade including in international waters is legal under international law and it has also rebutted many of the false assumptions that have been made about the flotilla incident.
The Palmer Report found:
“Israel faces a real threat to its security from militant groups in Gaza. The naval blockade was imposed as a legitimate security measure in order to prevent weapons from entering Gaza by sea and its implementation complied with the requirements of international law.”
The Palmer Report also urged that all future efforts to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza should be done “through established procedures and the designated land crossings in consultation with the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority”, discouraging future Gaza flotillas.
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PA spin on unsteady path to unilateral statehood
September 5, 2011 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
As reported by Al Jazeera, the US has begun a serious attempt to prevent the Palestinian unilateral statehood bid at the UN later this month. The Palestinian Authority, however, has remained steadfast and continued its refusal to back down.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that the US has launched an attempt to persuade the Palestinians not to seek statehood at the annual UN General Assembly meeting beginning on September 20.
“When it comes to going to the United Nations, I think the train has left the station,” Muhammad Shtayyeh, a member of Fatah’s central committee who is overseeing the UN bid, said on Sunday…
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Temple Denial
September 2, 2011 | Sharyn Mittelman
The phenomenon of ‘Temple Denial’ is a campaign led by Palestinian political leaders, religious figures, academics and journalists to delegitimise the Jewish historical connection with the area of Temple Mount and Western Wall in Jerusalem – which according to Jewish tradition is Judaism’s most holy sites.
It also attempts to increase the importance of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and even the Western Wall in Islam as part of the effort to make Jerusalem a Muslim city under Arab governance – and to deny the need for any Palestinian compromise on Jerusalem with Jewish religious and national rights. This trend even includes the removal of archaeological material from the Temple Mount without archaeological supervision (see blog post by Allon Lee).
Speaking truth to anti-Israel stupidity
September 2, 2011 | Allon Lee
Clearly piqued by the incessant anti-Israel bigotry, Dr. Denis MacEoin, a former lecturer in Islamic studies, has come out in a passionate defence of the Jewish state in a letter to the Edinburgh University Student’s Association committee and separately to the leader of the British Greens party over their support for BDS.
First up, MacEoin, who is not Jewish, expressed his outrage that his alma mater had passed a motion to boycott Israeli goods, services and people on the grounds that Israel is an apartheid regime.
He makes the case that Israel is not a perfect state but to compare it to Nazi Germany and Apartheid South Africa is not true “even as a metaphor”.
Media Week – Doug’s Diatribe; This is a Moderate?; Durban Planning
September 2, 2011 | Jamie Hyams
On the ABC TV panel show, “Q & A” (22/8), the conversation turned from Israel, to whether an Islamic country could achieve sufficient separation of church and state to become a true democracy. When the question was put to Labor Senator Doug Cameron, he replied, “Look, I think the issue of Israel and Palestine is huge in terms of trying to get world peace. I think Israel have had a massive amount of support from the world community over the years to establish the Israeli state but with that, I think, comes responsibility. And I don’t think it’s a beacon of democracy to have Operation Cast Lead. I don’t think it is a beacon of democracy to use phosphorous bombs on kids. I don’t think it is a beacon of democracy to be demolishing infrastructure in Palestine. So I just think we’ve got to get a bit of balance in this.” It appears Cameron was so eager to attack Israel, he didn’t care that it was irrelevant to the question.
Libya: The Rebels and their Prospects
September 2, 2011
This Update deals further with aftermath of the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime in Libya, and particularly the prospects for the rebel “Transitional National Council” (TNC) to effectively rule the country and establish the “pluralist democracy” they claim is their aim.
First up is former Middle East academic expert turned policy adviser Dr. Walid Phares, who makes a number of predictions; first that regardless of their policies, the new TNC rulers of Libya will face a lingering insurgency from pro-Gaddafi forces. But more importantly, he takes issue with the claim often heard that “we don’t know the rebels”, saying that we do know a lot about them, and while they are a mixed bag, the Islamist forces are the strongest and largest organised militia. He argues that they therefore pose a considerable threat of an Islamist takeover if liberal forces are not supported.
US Congress standing up to Palestinian UN bid
September 1, 2011 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
Haaretz has reported on a new bill being introduced into US Congress which would see US funding for the UN substantially reduced if the Palestinian UN statehood bid wins the upcoming vote.
A republican congresswoman introduced a bill on Tuesday, along with 57 co-sponsors, asking Congress to block U.S. funds for any United Nations entity that supports giving Palestine an elevated status at the UN.
The head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is also seeking to ban U.S. contributions to the UN Human Rights Council and an anti-racism conference seen as a platform for anti-Israel rhetoric…
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The blind spot empowering Palestinian rejectionism
September 1, 2011 | Allon Lee
In a hard-hitting analysis that raises some important reasons why the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has not been resolved, columnist David Warren in the Ottawa Citizen notes:
The Palestinians, so far as they are a people, have now a long history of being able to do things without consequences.
He compares this with how the world treats Israeli actions that are demonstrably undertaken in the cause of self-defence…
Is Iran abandoning Assad?
September 1, 2011 | Tzvi Fleischer
Is Iran starting to pull back from Syria’s Assad regime, its closest ally, as the unrest and bloodshed in Syria continues?
Ostensibly, there are some signs that Teheran is, at least verbally, starting to create a bit of distance from Damascus.
Firstly, Iran’s Foreign Minister publicly suggested Syria should meet the “legitimate demands” of the protestors. Then Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on television that “the [Syrian] people should have the right to elect and get their freedoms”…
