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| Wednesday, Nov 30 '11, Kislev 4, 5772 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1. ‘Mysterious Explosion Damaged Iranian Nuclear Site’
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu  The explosion earlier this week that Iran said was at a uranium enrichment site actually damaged a nuclear plant and was far from accidental, The London Times reported Wednesday. The newspaper quoted Israeli intelligence officials as saying that satellite photos revealed extensive damage from the explosion at Isfahan, near Tehran. The Israeli sources, so far unconfirmed, added that smoke was seen pouring out from a conversion plant and that it was clear that the blast was not accidental. The government-controlled Fars News Agency had claimed that the explosion was caused by a military exercise, after having initially denied any incident took place. Two week ago, an explosion at a military base that killed a top general and 16 others also resulted in extensive damage, according to published satellite images. The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security told The New York Times, “It was pretty amazing to see that the entire facility was destroyed. There were only a few buildings left standing.” The institute’s report author Paul Brannan added that his sources indicated the explosion occurred during work that was supposed to be “a major milestone in the development of a new missile.” One of the casualties was Gen. Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, founder of Iran’s missile program, and the explosion appeared to take place at a missile base.
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2. Cabinet Approves Release of Funds for PA
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu  The Security Cabinet Wednesday approved unfreezing tax revenues collected for the Palestinian Authority despite PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ unilateral moves to win United Nations recognition. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu explained Tuesday he has reversed his position because Abbas has shown diplomatic “calm” since his failed bid for full membership in the United Nations and his successful attempt to win membership on the UNESCO agency. However, as recently as Tuesday Abbas said the decision to apply to join the United Nations “is our legitimate right” based on the 1947 U.N. resolution to form a Jewish and an Arab state in the region. The Arab world immediately rejected the decision and launched a war that it hoped would annihilate Israel. Freezing tax revenues was considered diplomatic retaliation for the bid for U.N. membership, a blatant violation of the Oslo Accords that calls on the Palestinian Authority and Israel not to stage any unilateral moves. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was adamantly against handing over the money, which amounts to approximately $100 million a month in taxes that Israel collects for the PA on goods at crossings along the security fence. He said he would not break up the coalition government over the issue. Lieberman was the only Cabinet minister against unfreezing the funds. Israel has been under international pressure to free the money, particularly after American-backed PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s statements earlier this week that the Palestinian Authority might fall apart without the funds.
Tags: Israel ,Palestinian Authority
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3. Netanyahu Visits Eilat's Infiltration Neighborhood
by Elad Benari  Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made a surprise visit on Tuesday evening to the Ye’elim neighborhood in Eilat. The neighborhood has been suffering from illegal infiltrators from Africa who enter Israel through its border with Egypt and then proceed to the southern tourist city. Recent statistics showed that infiltrations of Africans into Israel reached a dizzying pace, with approximately 950 people infiltrating from Sinai through the Egyptian border in the first week of November alone. The infiltrations grow month by month, but the Population and Immigration Authority has said that it cannot prevent the infiltrators from going to urban areas and being employed illegally, because they do not have a facility in which to keep them until possible deportation. Tens of thousands have remained in Israel, which often does not deport them and instead allows them to remain in the country. In one incident last May, dozens of Sudanese and Eritrean infiltrators entered Eilat in the wee hours of the morning and began knocking on doors, seeking food and water. During his visit to the Ye’elim neighborhood, Netanyahu met with infiltrators and asked them how they entered Israel and what was the purpose of their arrival. He later spoke with local residents, who complained about the problems created by the infiltrators, and assured them that “in less than a year we plan to complete the construction of the fence on the southern border, which will significantly reduce infiltrators’ ability to enter the country.” Earlier, Netanyahu spoke at a lawyers’ conference taking place in Eilat, where he said that the infiltrators from Africa arrive looking for employment and are not refugees. “Despite the global turmoil that requires us to act responsibly when it comes to economics, there will be a budget increase to complete the fence in less than a year,” Netanyahu told the conference participants. “I’ve been in the area three times already in order to inspect the progress of the construction.” During his visit with Eilat’s residents, Netanyahu was accompanied by Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, Justice Ministry Director-General Dr. Guy Rotkoff and Eilat Mayor Meir Yitzhak Halevi.
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4. Eldad to Abdullah II: Jordan is Palestine or Exile
by Gavriel Queenann  The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee delayed a discussion entitled "Jordan is Palestine" citing the "sensitivity of the issue," according to MK Aryeh Eldad. Eldad, who called for the discussion, said "the discussion is relevant and more urgent than ever. The shocks and upheavals in the Middle East will not pass Jordan by." A long-time proponent of defining Jordan as the 'Palestinian state' over creating such an entity in Israel's biblical heartland, Eldad has pressed the government to abandon the bilateral track instituted by the Oslo Accords and pursue a separate diplomatic track with Jordan. Earlier this year King Abdullah II of Jordan rejected the long-held formula of the Hashemite monarchy that "Jordan is Palestine," saying "The so-called 'substitute homeland' exists only in the minds of the weak." Abdullah, responding to comments by Eldad, told reporters "the Jordanian option is an illusion. Jordan is Jordan, and Palestine is Palestine." Analysts say, despite Jordan's couching its opposition to the Jordan is Palestine formula in terms of support for the current bilateral peace track and “protecting the interests of Palestinians,” that Amman's motives are likely rooted in its own demographic and security concerns. Last week Abdullah said, "“A Fatah-Hamas joint platform of action, which may put an end to any prospect of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, would be viewed with great concern in Amman. The absence of any negotiations may drift into violent friction between Israel and the Palestinians with dire consequences for all concerned, Jordan included." Eldad earlier responded to Abdullah’s statements, saying "Abdullah knows full well that there is no other justification for Jordan and he is overwhelmed with fear of the masses in Amman today to do what they did Mubarak and Gaddafi." MK Eldad today recommended, "It is better Abdullah announce today that Jordan is the national homeland for the Palestinians – or else seek asylum in London." Sources close to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee told Arutz Sheva the government is concerned raising the issue for discussion at this time would sour already strained relations with Amman.
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5. UN Officials Show PA Spirit, Bash Israel
by Gavriel Queenann  The United Nations on Tuesday continued to demonstrate it is not an honest broker in the Israeli-Arab conflict as senior UN officials marked the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday that a Palestinian state was "long overdue," in an official statement released by his office. "The need to resolve this conflict has taken on greater urgency with the historic transformations taking place across the region," Ban said. Ban said a solution to the current impasse must be found that results in two states based on the 1967-lines with Jerusalem as their shared capital. The statement from Ban's office presupposes the maximalist demands of the Palestinian Authority as the only possible formula for a final status agreement. Ban praised the accomplishments of the Palestinian Authority, claiming that the Ramallah government is "institutionally ready to assume the responsibilities of statehood." He did not address the ongoing corruption probes that plague the government of PA prime minister Salam Fayyad or that the PA is dependent on foreign aid and on the verge of fiscal insolvency. Instead, Ban called on both sides to return to direct negotiations, while at the same time adopting PA rhetoric that Israeli construction in Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem constitute a "major obstacle to peace." Ban was not alone in his celebration of one-sided, anti-Israel rhetoric. Richard Falk, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on "the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967" condemned Israel as a rights violator and occupier. "Every year, on this International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, we are reminded of Israeli authorities’ invidious schemes to permanently empty Palestine of Palestinians. "This prolonged human catastrophe must be brought to an end once and for all," a statement said. UN observers note that even Falk's title at the world body presupposes the PA position from the outset, raising serious questions about how the United Nations can claim to be a neutral arbiter when it has demonstratively been co-opted by the Palestinian Liberation Organization's propaganda machine. Israel maintains territories captured from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War cannot be defined as “occupied” as they were never a part of a sovereign state. Rather, Jordan seized Judea and Samaria – and Egypt seized Gaza – when the Arab world sought to destroy Israel on the eve of the nascent Jewish state’s independence in 1948.
Tags: UN ,Anti-Semitism ,anti-Israel ,PLO ,Propaganda ,United Nations
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6. Prosor: The UN is a Rubber Stamp for the PA
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu  The United Nation’s automatic pro-Arab majority distorts history and makes the body a “rubber stamp for the Palestinian Authority," Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor charged Tuesday. “Instead of promoting peace, the U.N. perpetuates the conflict. All that is required to distort history is an automatic majority in the U.N. rather than accuracy of facts,” he said on the anniversary of the international body’s recognition of the State of Israel in 1947. In a direct contradiction of the historic vote 64 years ago, the United Nations now calls the day “Observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.” Against a tidal wave of pro-Palestinian Authority speeches Tuesday, Prosor pointed out, “U.N. Resolution 181 [in 1947] mentions the Jewish state no less than 25 times, but for 64 years the Palestinian leaders have not dared to use the term even once. The fact is that by 1967 Judea and Samaria were part of Jordan and Gaza was part of Egypt. The Arab world at the time did nothing to establish a Palestinian state.” Prosor, who was highly successful as Israel’s ambassador to Britain, also exposed the myth of “Palestinian refugees.” He stated, "The difference between the two distinct populations Arab and Jewish] [was – and still is – that Israel absorbed the refugees into our society. Our neighbors did not. "Refugee camps in Israel gave birth to thriving towns and cities. Refugee camps in Arab countries gave birth to more Palestinian refugees.”
Tags: Prosor ,Israel ,United Nations ,Palestinian Authority
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7. Weinstein: Supreme Court a 'Court of Glory'
by Gavriel Queenann  Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu continued his staunch opposition to judicial reform in Israel by attempting to cloak himself with the authority of Likud founder Menachem Begin on Tuesday. “Begin said ‘There are judges in Jerusalem’, and I say ‘There will be independent judges in Jerusalem,’" Netanyahu proclaimed at a legal conference. "On my watch we will defend the independence of the High Court, which is essential for our existence here, no less than security or the economy," Netanyahu said, as he finds himself at odds with the rank and file of the Likud, who are pushing to reform Israel's courts. Netanyahu's statements were in reference to a proposed bill that would require prospective candidates for Israel's Supreme Court be vetted by a Knesset committee. Critics say Netanyahu's rhetoric amounts to scare tactics. They note the vetting of Supreme Court justices by the US Senate for over 230 years has not led to national collapse. Judicial reform they add, while very important, does not raise the same existential questions that defense and economic matters do. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein took responsibility for Netanyahu’s stance, telling the audience, "when the law that would institute a hearing [to vet prospective justices] came to my attention, I called the prime minister and told him this bill will not pass and must be eliminated now and immediately." Weinstein related that Netanyahu assured him the bill would not pass "he asked me not to worry, saying the law would be removed from the national agenda – and indeed it has been." Weinstein also refused to admit the possibility Israel’s judicial system had any need of reform. "Our court is a court glory, which for generations has been the brave guardian of the rule of law and civil rights. We must not hurt it." Critics of Israel’s current judicial appointment system say it allows the Supreme Court to self-elect its members – and has led to a court that does not reflect the broad range of views held by the Israeli populace. If the candidates were vetted and the choices reflected the majority in the Knesset, they say, the court could become increasingly representative of Israel’s populace with each election, while at present the court has retained an unchallenged leftist makeup dating to Israel's inception. On Sunday a bill seeking to institute the concept of locus standi – legal standing – in Israel’s courts was was killed in a ministerial committee after Netanyahu expressed his opposition to the bills and vowed to protect the court.
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8. Abbas Reaffirms UN Statehood Bid: It's Our Legitimate Right
by Elad Benari  Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas reaffirmed his bid for UN membership on Tuesday, saying it should complement peace negotiations, provided that Israel is prepared to negotiate on the basis of the 1949 armistice lines. According to a report by The Associated Press, Abbas said the PA’s decision to apply to join the United Nations “is our legitimate right” based on the 1947 UN resolution to form a Jewish and an Arab state in the region. He said, “We do not want and we do not seek to delegitimize Israel by applying for membership in the United Nations, but to delegitimize its settlement activities and the seizure of our occupied lands.” The remarks were made in a message sent by Abbas for the UN’s annual “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People”. The message was read by the PA’s UN observer Riyad Mansour. Abbas submitted the bid for membership to the UN Security Council in September, but the plan fell through when the PA could not secure the nine votes required for the bid to pass. The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) recently announced that it now plans to seek a non-member state status for Palestine at the UN General Assembly. Abbas said in his message on Tuesday that the sanctions imposed on the PA by Israel after it was accepted as a member in UNESCO were “unjust” and said, “Israel has no right to seize and confiscate the proceeds of the customs duties and tax revenues which belong to the Palestinian people.” He urged people around the world to support the PA’s quest to become a “free and sovereign state,” which he said would be democratic and peaceful with no discrimination on the basis of religion or race. This is contrary to previous statements made by PLO officials, Abbas included, that the Palestinian state would be “Judenrein” - Jew-free. Meanwhile, AP reported that Iceland’s parliament voted on Tuesday to recognize an independent Palestinian state. According to a statement posted on the parliament’s website, it had passed the motion, with 38 of 63 votes in favor of a resolution to recognize Palestine “as an independent and sovereign state” based on the 1949 armistice lines. The resolution also recognizes the PLO as the legal authority for the state and urges Israel and “Palestine” to reach a peace agreement, according to AP.
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