“UNESCO strongly deplores and condemns the reproduction of such inflammatory statements in a magazine associated with UNESCO’s name and mission and will not provide any further support to the publication in question.”

DECEMBER 23, 2011 UNESCOPRESS -  UNESCO’s attention has been drawn to the February 2011 issue of the Palestinian children’s magazine Zayzafouna. This magazine is published by an NGO of the same name under the patronage of the Palestinian National Commission for UNESCO, which is the national body set up by the Palestinian Authority to facilitate its work with the Organization. The February issue features a story written by a 10-year-old girl in which Hitler is quoted by her as stating that he “killed [the Jews] so you would all know that they are a nation who wreak havoc on Earth”. While UNESCO upholds freedom of expression as an integral part of its mandate, the inclusion in this publication of a statement that may be interpreted as an apology of the holocaust is contrary to UNESCO’s constitutional mandate and values. It is totally unacceptable.

UNESCO supported the publication of three issues of the Zayzafouna Magazine six months after the February 2011 issue. The support was provided for these issues following agreement with the editors that they would focus on building greater appreciation amongst Palestinians for their heritage and culture. They were to open the way for positive dialogue aimed at overcoming the consequences of the Middle East conflict, and to fight against stereotypes that may be conducive to violence. It was UNESCO’s intention to foster a positive view of Palestinian heritage based on the values of tolerance and UNESCO’s mandate of building peace in the minds of men and women. This vision guides all of UNESCO’s activities, and we urge all partners to work in this direction.

UNESCO is shocked and dismayed by the content of the February issue, and has requested more detailed information and clarification from the editors of the magazine and the Palestinian Authority.

UNESCO strongly deplores and condemns the reproduction of such inflammatory statements in a magazine associated with UNESCO’s name and mission and will not provide any further support to the publication in question.

The Organization, which is deeply committed to the development and promotion of education about the Holocaust, disassociates itself from any statement that is counter to its founding principles and goal of building tolerance in the full respect for human rights and human dignity.

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Admin staff member oversees ballot boxes in Ismailia. (Daily News Egypt photo / Hassan Ibrahim)

A Weekly Round-Up of News for December 16, 2011. 

Settlers attack Israeli army base

Gulf Times, Qatar - Radical Jewish settlers attacked an army base and staged protests in a closed military zone on the Jordan border overnight, sparking a sharp condemnation yesterday from the Israeli premier. In the early hours of yesterday morning, around 50 settlers forced their way onto a key army base in the northern West Bank and vandalised military vehicles there following rumours troops were about to evacuate settlement outposts, the military said. Several hours earlier, some 30 settlers broke into a Christian baptismal site in a closed military zone along the Jordanian border to stage a protest.  Both incidents were swiftly condemned by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who ordered the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) “to act aggressively” against anyone attacking Israeli troops. “This incident must be completely condemned. The security forces need to concentrate on defending our citizens and not on such outrageous lawbreaking,” he said in a statement. An army statement said the early-morning attack had targeted the Ephraim base near the northern town of Qalqilya. “Overnight, approximately 50 rightwing activists infiltrated the Ephraim regional division headquarters, set fire to tyres and damaged vehicles with stones, bottles of point and by placing nails on the road,” it said.

Hamas’ Gaza anniversary draws tens of thousands

Kuwait Times – Tens of thousands of Gazans turned out yesterday for an anniversary rally of the ruling Hamas, a demonstration of strength for the Islamic militant movement ahead of Palestinian general elections tentatively set for the spring. The annual rally has become an increasingly elaborate exercise in stagecraft since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 following internal fighting with forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The crowd faced a huge stage in the shape of a ship, meant to symbolize the Palestinian journey of return to all the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, including what is now Israel. A large replica of Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque, built on the ruins of the biblical Jewish Temples, served as a backdrop. “Oh, Jerusalem, we are coming,” read one of the banners. Hamas’ prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, arrived as a band rallied the crowd in a chant of “We will not recognize Israel. A boy dressed in a Hamas military uniform greeted him, and a young girl in a white dress and green Hamas bandanna handed him a flower and Hamas and Palestinian flags. Speakers blasted chants of “God is the greatest.” Addressing the crowd, Haniyeh called for continued armed struggle against Israel. “We affirm that armed resistance is our strategic option and the only way to liberate our land, from the sea to the river,” he said. “God willing, Hamas will lead the people … to the uprising until we liberate Palestine, all of Palestine.

Iran lawmakers pass Syria free trade bill

Gulf News, UAE –  Iran’s parliament on Tuesday passed a bill for a free trade agreement with Syria in a show of support for President Bashar Al Assad’s regime beset by protests and international pressure. The bill provides for free trade between Iran and Syria within the next five years, according to Iranian state television. Both countries are subject to international sanctions on their economies.  The bill was introduced into parliament as an emergency procedure by Iran’s government. Allaedin Boroujerdi said the proposed pact was “a firm response” to the United States and its allies “investing billions of dollars to change the political structure of the Syrian government”. Syria is Iran’s main ally in the Middle East. Iranian officials, however, have recently criticised repression by Syrian security forces against pro-democracy protesters that has killed more than 5,000 people according to a UN estimate.

Muslim Brotherhood stronghold sees possible vote split

The Daily News, Egypt –  Residents of Ismailia were divided between candidates of Islamist parties and those of the liberal Egyptian Bloc on Thursday, as the second day of elections witnessed a low turnout. Ismailia is considered the birthplace of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), where the founder of the group Hassan Al-Banna was born. However, many voters in the city, including in the neighborhoods of El-Hay El-Awal, El-Tani and El-Sheikh Zayed, voted for the more liberal Egyptian Bloc. “I voted for the Egyptian Bloc because they will deal with the people’s problems with efficiency, regardless of religion,” Radwa Mohamed, 22, told Daily News Egypt. Amira El-Ashry agreed, saying that people voted for the Egyptian Bloc in a bid to achieve some balance in the upcoming parliament. Results of the first round of elections showed sweeping gains for the Islamists, with the MB’s Freedom and Justice Party in the lead followed by the hardline Al-Nour Party. “The FJP will win a lot of seats anyway, so some people want to balance the scale by voting for the Egyptian Bloc,” El-Ashry said.

Falluja, Iraq celebrates the US withdrawal by burning American and Israel flags

Iraqinews.com –  Falluja, the largest city in west Iraq’s Anbar Province, has held a mass meeting, attended by delegations from different Iraqi provinces on Wednesday, for occasion of the impending withdrawal of the US forces from Iraq, during which they burnt the American and Israeli flags. “Falluja city had witnessed today two celebrations, the first in alHadra al-Mohammadiya Mosque at the city center and the second inside the Scientific & Cultural Gathering, attended by a number of religious clerics and cultural personalities,” Khalid Hmoud, a Falluja Cleric told IraqiNews.com news agency. The demonstration had witnessed reading of poems and verses, commemorating the victims who fell due to American attacks, whilst some of the demonstrators raised the previous Iraqi flag, with 3 stars and burnt American and Israeli flags, along with raising placards expressing their rejoice for the American withdrawal from Iraq, including “Falluja, the Spark of Resistance and Address of Liberation.” Falluja city, that had witnessed strong resistance against the US Army since Iraq’s occupation in 2003 and till 2008, when the Sahwas (Lightning) organizations controlled the whole of Anbar Province, is 60 km to the west of Ramadi, the center of Anbar Province, 110 km to the west of Baghdad.

More than 100 countries recognise Palestine as a state

The Jordan Times – After Iceland’s formal recognition of the Palestinian state on Thursday, at least 112 countries around the world have recognised Palestine, according to an AFP count. In Latin America, Uruguay and Peru joined the growing ranks of countries which recognised Palestine this year, with 12 out of the region’s 13 countries formally recognising it as a state. Only Colombia, a key ally of the United States in the region, has not followed that path. In Central America, the Palestinian state has been recognised by Cuba, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Salvador. Arab countries have also recognised Palestine, notably Syria in July of this year. In Europe, Iceland became one of the few Western European countries and NATO members to do so, joining the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta and Poland. Around 150 countries maintain diplomatic relations with the Palestinians in one form or another.

Pope’s peace message: more power to world’s young

The Daily Star, Lebanon – Benedict XVI called on the world’s political and educational leaders on Friday to empower the younger generations, which have been left feeling frustrated and powerless by the economic crisis. In his traditional message for World Peace Day on January 1, which was released on Friday, the pope calls on world leaders to “welcome and value” the young, who he encouraged to play their part in building a more “just” future. “In the year drawing to a close, a feeling of frustration caused by the economic crisis which has hit society, the world of work and the economy, has risen,” he says in his speech “Educating young people in justice and peace.” The head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, who attended the press conference on Friday, said the pope was thinking specifically of the world’s “Indignant” protesters. “A series of protests by young people in Europe, in Latin America, in the United State, revealed a pessimist outlook and despair in the face of the crisis,” he said, referring also to the youthful protesters of the Arab spring.

‘Inventing’ reasons to please Israel

Arab News, Saudi Arabia – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to crack down on Israeli “extremists” who in recent months have attacked mosques, most recently in Jerusalem. It would be a fine thing to believe what he says, except that Netanyahu himself leads a government that is one of the most extreme since Israel’s 1948 creation. The reality is that the views and attitude of the gang of settlers who have just been arrested and charged with these appalling and deliberately inflammatory crimes are merely a logical extension of the Eretz Israel (Greater Israel) policies that underpin Netanyahu’s Likud Party and his no-less radical coalition allies. He has refused to stop the expansion of illegal settlements on Palestinian land as a precondition to talks demanded by the Palestinians. Government spokesmen speak openly of the changing “facts on the ground.” Netanyahu is, therefore, sponsoring a further substantial theft of land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. As each of these ugly, fortress-like new settlements is completed, the Israeli government, like its predecessors, is offering extremely generous financial inducements to attract Israelis to go and live in them. How can a government that steals a neighbor’s land and gives it to its own people, possibly be surprised that these heavily-armed settlers, with their swaggering arrogance and utter contempt for anyone’s opinion but their own, should start to attack mosques, beat up Palestinians and behave like thugs? There is no substantive difference between the criminality of government-sponsored settlements on Palestinian land and the hate attacks on mosques, the torching of vehicles and the daubing of racist graffiti.

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COMMENT

By Alan Simons

DECEMBER 06, 2011 – This week, Jeff King, President of International Christian Concern (ICC), issued the following statement:

You might not know it from TV or your newspaper. But make no mistake about it. We’re at war. On one side are Marxist leaders as well as Muslim and Hindu fanatics who play upon ignorance and prejudice to turn ordinary people into violent mobs bent on murder and destruction.  The other side? That would be those who choose to follow Christ in persecuted areas. And while radical Hindus pose life and death problems for Christians in India, the greater threat comes from Islamist militants financed by the oil wealth of the Middle East. These fanatics are intent on wiping out Christianity in their homelands – where it has existed for two thousand years…  Why do these militants hate Christianity so much? Because they fear it. They see Christ’s message of love, peace and social justice spreading throughout the world and into “their” territory…  It is the polar opposite of everything they preach and it drives them mad with hate…  

Click on image

According to Metropolitan Hilarion, who heads up the Russian Orthodox Church’s Foreign Relations Department, “About 100 million Christians worldwide are suffering persecution and thousands die in religious conflicts. The biggest number of persecutions against Christians is taking place in the countries of Africa and the Middle East.”

Persecution.org, just six days into this month, state that a Christian leader was shot dead in Pakistan. An Islamic extremist group in Indonesia has demanded the demolition of five churches. Iraqi Islamic extremists attacked Christian-owned shops and properties. And in recent weeks, the Islamist terror group Boko Haram has destroyed at least eleven churches and killed over 150 Christians in Nigeria.

Obama has “refused to highlight Christian suffering”

There’s more. Examiner.com reported this past weekend, “Since the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime, more than half of Iraq’s Christian population [originally between 1.2 to 1.4 million] has been forced by targeted violence to seek refuge abroad or to live away from their homes as internally displaced people.”

They added:

“While President Barack Obama visited India, he was careful not to mention the ongoing persecution of Christians in that predominately Hindu nation. Few Americans know about the growing violence against Christians in places like India today and U.S. political leaders fail to address the brutality and persecution Indian Christians are enduring.

“According to James S. Robbins in a Washington Times editorial, U.S. President Barack Obama has ‘refused to highlight Christian suffering, even while being widely outspoken about much less compelling cases of purported discrimination against Muslims.’

“Among the cases noted in the State Department report is that of Maher el-Gohary, an Egyptian Christian convert from Islam who is being persecuted for his beliefs. More than a year ago, his then-15-year-old daughter, Dina, wrote an emotional appeal to Mr. Obama asking him to use his influence to save her father. There was no response.” (Washington Times editorial, 12/22/10)

“‘It’s time for Christians in the United States to help in protecting their brothers and sisters overseas,’ says political strategist and Christian Mike Baker.”

Which brings me to ask myself why am I telling you all of this. Simply put; if Christian society continues their downward spiral in not protecting their own people, what support can we, as Jews, honestly expect to receive from them in the future?

As we approach the Christmas season, I would like to say this to my Christian friends. We Jews no longer suffer from being the victim. You, it would seem, have openly acquired the role from us with gusto! To quote Simon Wiesenthal: “For your benefit, learn from our tragedy. It is not a written law that the next victims must be Jews.”

(Photo credit: Egypt- Bosnewslife)

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By Alan Simons

NOVEMBER 17, 2011  - Rachid Ghannouchi, who has been quoted as ”embracing humanist Islam,” is the co-founder of the Ennahda Movement, the largest political party in Tunisia. Three weeks ago he praised the Tunisian people for having rebelled. He urged them to continue what he called “this blessed revolution and to preserve it and to peruse equality, democracy and justice.” It was reported at the time that Ghannouchi presented himself as the defender of individual freedom and worker’s and women’s rights.

Five days ago, Ennahda’s general secretary, Hamadi Jebali, named as the party’s candidate for prime minister and reported in Western media as a “man of compromise and the moderate face of Tunisia’s Ennahda Islamist party,”  invited Hamas representative, Houda Naim to join him at a rally in the Tunisian resort city of Sousse for a “divine moment in a new state and in, hopefully, a 6th caliphate.”

Issam Chelbi, representing the secular PDP party called the speech “very dangerous.” “This is what we feared,” he said.

If that wasn’t enough, Jebali went one step further. “The liberation of Tunisia will, Allah willing, bring about the liberation of Jerusalem.”

Both Ghannouchi and Jebali share a hatred of Israel, as pointed out yesterday by IPT News:

The Arab Spring “will achieve positive results on the path to the Palestinian cause and threaten the extinction of Israel,” Party leader and ideologue Rashid Ghannounshi said in a May interview with the Al Arab Qatari website. “The liberation of Palestine from Israeli occupation represents the biggest challenge facing the Umma [Muslim nation] and the Umma cannot have existence in light of the Israeli occupation.”

Further, in the same interview, Ghannouchi said: “I give you the good news that the Arab region will get rid of the bacillus [bacteria] of Israel. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the leader of Hamas, [who died in 2004] said that Israel will disappear by the year 2027. I say that this date may be too far away, and Israel may disappear before this.”

There’s a well-known Yiddish expression: Nor naronim farlozn zikh oyf nisim. (Only fools rely on miracles).

Click on the following image to watch how Ghannouchi gives his meaning to Tunisia’s “blessed revolution.” 

Click on this image

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(Photo credit: Euronews)
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NOVEMBER 16, 2011 – A selection of news from various Arab media sources.

Hamas representative addresses Tunisian political rally

Tunisia Live – Tunisian Islamist party Ennahda invited Houda Naïm, a Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council based in Gaza, to speak at a rally in Sousse, a coastal Tunisian city, this past Sunday. The event marked the first time in known memory a member of Hamas has addressed the Tunisian public. Naïm praised the victory of the Tunisian people in establishing democracy, and stated her hope that the “liberation” of Tunisia would lead to the liberation of Palestine. The event also saw a speech from Ennahda’s general secretary Hammadi Jebali, recently proposed by the party to be the new Prime Minister of Tunisia. Jebali declared that the occasion was “a divine moment in a new state, and in, hopefully, a 6th caliphate,” referring to the historical system of Islamic monarchies. The tone of this last comment is in sharp contrast to many of the party’s public statements, where it has denied any intention of instituting Sharia or Islamic law in the nascent democracy. The general secretary also echoed Naïm’s words, stating, “The liberation of Tunisia will, God willing, bring about the liberation of Jerusalem.”

ElBaradei warns of new revolution in Egypt

Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egypt – Prominent presidential hopeful Mohamed ElBaradei on Tuesday renewed warnings that a “revolution of the hungry” could occur in Egypt if the country remained unstable. ElBaradei’s words came during an interview with Tunisia’s Al-Shorouk Daily. Nine months after the 25 January revolution first began, Egypt’s old constitution is still ruling the country, noted ElBaradei, adding that the country suffers from a fabricated, unjustified polarization between civil and religious forces. He said that Deputy Prime Minister Ali al-Selmy’s constitutional principles’ document comes at a time that Egyptian society is consumed by fear that it will not be fully represented in the new constitution. “We didn’t adopt the right path during the transition period,” he said. There are two issues that the Egyptian people are wary of, namely the state’s civil nature and the role of religion in the political system, he added. ElBaradei expects that Selmy will amend the document to contain the emerging crisis. “I’m not surprised that the Tunisian Nahda Party won a majority in the constituent council, and I think Islamic parties in Egypt will get a good percentage of seats in parliament,” he said. “We have to define what type of Islam we’re talking about, the Islam of bin Laden, Sheikha Housnia… or Erdogan?” “We’ve mismanaged so many issues that we’ve become enemies of ourselves,” he added.

PLO to drop land swap formula from talks

Gulf News, UAE – Ramallah: The Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) announced on Monday that it will very soon drop the “land swap” formula, which the it branded as a grave mistake that was included in any agreement with Israel. Speaking to Gulf News, Tayseer Khalid, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, said that the formula was only mere talk by Israelis and mediators. “We have never signed an agreement with Israel, which states any shape of land swap formula,” he added. “Land swap formula is a heresay in the track of negotiations,” he said. The Palestinians should have reached agreements on the borders and arranged for the withdrawal of Israeli troops and handled the other core issues before the land swap formula is addressed, he said. “It is time for this mistake to get corrected,” he stressed. Khalid also said the PLO believes that the recent setback at the UN Security Council was not the end of the road for the leadership and that other moves are on the PLO agenda. “We will seek a non-member state status for Palestine at the UN General Assembly as per the European proposal (Sarkozy Plan),” he said… “The PLO totally rejects all the conciliatory formulas offered by the Mideast Quartet, where there is no room even to consider them,” he said. The Quartet is proposing conciliatory formulas including a Palestinian recognition of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people in exchange for a construction freeze in the West Bank colonies.

Egyptian Shiite theoretician to launch party

Asharq Al-Awsat- Egyptian Shiite theoretician, Dr Ahmad Rasim al-Nafis, has denied that the political party he is seeking to form would be sectarian or would aim at spreading Shiism in Egypt, emphasizing that the Al-Tahrir party will be political and civilian. “We are Egyptian Muslims,” he said. “We are proud of our Islam and our Egyptianness. We are proud of our position in the community.” Al-Nafis, who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat by telephone from Beirut, stressed that he would strive to apply Islamic law and its precepts, providing that this was not done “in the Taliban manner.” He hoped that Egyptian relations with Iran would rise to the level of relations with Israel. “Egypt’s security,” he said, “is related to Iran’s security.”

Britain to press for more sanctions on Iran

Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) – Britain is to press for further sanctions against Iran in a bid to prevent it developing nuclear weapons, peers were told Tuesday. British Foreign Office Minister Lord Howell said a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency indicated Iran had worked on developing nuclear weapons and some of the work was continuing. At question time he urged Iran to take the “necessary steps to assure the international community that it is not pursuing a military nuclear programme”.  And he warned Britain would be pressing for “strong action” when the agency’s board of governors meets later this week.

Lebanese cabinet in disarray over Lebanon’s stance in Arab League vote on Syria

The Daily Star, Lebanon – Lebanon’s vote against the Arab League’s decision to suspend Syria’s participation in the League’s meetings seems to have thrown the Cabinet into disarray with some ministers complaining that they were not notified of the controversial Lebanese stance taken by Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour. “We want to know who took this decision [voting against the Arab League’s decision to isolate Syria] and on what basis?” Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi told The Daily Star Monday night. He said that since the government’s well-known position was to dissociate Lebanon from the developments of the seven-month popular uprising in Syria, it was surprising to see Lebanon voting against the Arab League’s decision. “Regardless of whether the Lebanese stance [at the Arab League] was correct or not, this stance has sparked a heated debate in the country,” Aridi added.

Interference by Iran is condemned

Gulf Daily News, Bahrain – Iran’s repeated interferences in Bahrain’s affairs was yesterday condemned by the Shura Council. It comes after the authorities foiled a terrorist plot and arrested five men in connection with the help of Qatari security services. Council secretary-general Abduljalil Al Tareef read out a statement at yesterday’s session that condemned the Iranian interference. He praised GCC co-operation that had uncovered a terror plot that would have caused chaos and disruption in Bahrain. ”Those with evil intentions have failed to achieve their goal of damaging the country by targeting active facilities and prominent figures as they have been arrested before they were able to commit their crime,” he said. “The men behind the foiled attempt were working with a foreign country to destabilise Bahrain and harm its peace and security. “They were not just looking to harm Bahrain, but the whole Gulf, and Qatar’s stance against them shows that the GCC is one and any threat to any member state is a threat to the six nations. “The council will come up with legislation that will help ensure Bahrain stays secure and that terror crimes are prevented and dealt with seriously.”

It is time for Assad to go

Arab News, Saudi Arabia – The Arab League has finally done what it should have months ago — suspending Syria and demanding international sanctions against the country. …Without doubt, the failure by both the Arabs and the international community to confront the regime emboldened it to continue and expand the carnage across the country. The civilian toll, according to the United Nations, topped 3,500 last week. It is almost certain to be much higher given the lack of transparency and total blackout of international media in Syria. It’s high time the world community stood up to the criminals in Damascus who have the blood of thousands of innocents on their hands. For the longer the world dithers in dealing with Damascus, the more innocents it will be guilty of sending to their deaths. Syria’s junta hasn’t merely lost all moral right to govern the country — if it ever had one — it must now face international justice for its crimes against humanity. Defying repeated appeals by the Arab and Muslim countries and rest of the world, the full might of the Syrian security forces has been used against the very people they are supposed to protect. This will not go on forever though. Syria’s moment of reckoning has nearly arrived and justice will catch up with all those soon who thought they could get away with murder. But then this is what many a mighty ruler in the neighborhood thought and look where they are today.

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Iran steps up its US PR campaign against America and Israel. Recruits US-based analysts.

November 14, 2011 –  Iranian Press TV reported today that, “Recent calls made at a US presidential debate to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program represent the interests of pro-Zionists, who dominate the US Congress.”

Referring to this past Saturday’s US presidential debate, where Republican presidential hopefuls stressed the need for stronger action against Iran’s nuclear programme,  Eleanor Ommani, co- founder of the American-Iranian Friendship Committee, in an interview with Press TV said,  “These words do not represent the majority sentiment of American people.” She said the “outrageous [comments] that in any other country would not be acceptable” were only allowed to be made because they came from the “far right, pro-Zionists, who dominate the US Congress.”

Washington’s aggressive rhetoric against Iran’s nuclear program is merely a diversion to enhance US officials’ own standing and to reinforce US capitalism, Ommani added. “It is really a cover. Both Obama, from the Democratic Party, and the Republicans are using Iran for two reasons: To bolster their own careers and at the same time strengthen US capitalism,” she said.

To hear the full story, click on the following image.

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Remembrance Day 2011. Isn’t time to reflect on our future?

By Alan Simons

NOVEMBER 11, 2011 – In June 2006, I reported that the Iranian Research and Technology Minister Mohammad M. Zahedi, during a visit to Indonesia, said his country was ready to cooperate with other Islamic countries in development of advanced technology, including nuclear technology.

“We are ready to cooperate with all Islamic countries on advanced technology, including nuclear because knowledge about nuclear power is also advanced technology,” Zahedi said during a visit to Indonesia’s Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).

Two years later, in June, 2008 I wrote that Tehran had offered to share its nuclear experience with Syria. The offer came from Iran’s ambassador to Syria, Sayyed Ahmed Moussavi. He cited July 2008 as the date for their officials to meet. As reported at the time by DEBKAfile’s military sources:

Iran’s willingness to defy its obligations under the non-proliferation treaty by offering a nuclear capability to Syria across the border from Israel brings Tehran’s threat to wipe Israel off the map much closer to home. It is a mark of contempt for Washington and the US-led Western sanctions.

Throughout November 2008, Iran continued on its quest to share its nuclear development by proposing Persian Gulf states form a consortium for developing nuclear power plants in the region.

The proposal was made by the head of the Iran Atomic Energy Organization, Reza Aqazadeh in his address to the opening session of the first International Seminar on Nuclear Power Plants, Environment and Sustainable Development, reported the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

Aqazadeh reportedly encouraged participants to the seminar to form a consortium to construct and develop light water nuclear power plants in the region.

“Iran is ready to provide very soon a comprehensive plan for the proposal if it were approved in generalities by the Persian Gulf littoral states,” Aqazadeh stressed.

My original article asked the following two questions:

1. What will America’s response be to all of this?

 In response I quoted Melanie Phillips, who had this to say at the time in the Spectator:

The Iranians are amongst the most shrewd and sophisticated strategists around. They can see that the election of Obama is a signal of American weakness. The question no-one can currently answer, however, is whether President Obama will now repudiate his history and turn through sheer force of circumstances into a centrist and war leader – which would be remarkable but by no means unprecedented  -  or will he remain true to his radical past.

2. How does Israel’s relationship with America fit into all of this?

Well, according to Phillips, “all the evidence to date suggests he [Obama] will throw Israel’s security under the bus while appeasing the enemies of the free world.”

Former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani stated that Iran believed it would come out the winner. “In a nuclear duel in the region, Israel may kill 100 million Muslims,” Rafsanjani said. “Muslims can sustain such casualties, knowing that, in exchange, there would be no Israel on the map.”

Rafsanjani expanded on this doomsday calculus in an oft-cited Friday prayer sermon in Tehran on December 14, 2001, noting “the use of a [single] nuclear bomb in Israel will leave nothing on the ground,” whereas an Israeli strike on Iran “will only damage the world of Islam.” Rafsanjani said that Israel would be “removed from the region and the world of Islam [as] extraneous matter,” and that “those who have gathered together in Israel would one day be dispersed again.”  This is not the language of mutually assured destruction or deterrence. This is the language of genocide.

Another Masada?

Timmerman added:

The clarity of Iran’s threats should not be dismissed as mere exaggeration or wishful thinking. A nuclear-ready Iran is likely to goad Israel into launching a pre-emptive attack, after it has dispersed its nuclear material to ensure that it survives the strike. If the regime feels threatened-from domestic dissent, or foreign attack-the risk of nuclear miscalculation is enormous.

Only one Iranian nuclear-tipped missile needs to penetrate Israel’s Arrow anti-missile defenses to devastate Israel’s highly concentrated population. Even a cowed Israeli leadership, deterred from pre-emptively attacking Iranian nuclear sites, can be expected to unleash its nuclear arsenal, in a tragic re-enactment of the Jewish defenders at Masada 2,000 years ago

Remembrance Day 2011. Isn’t time to reflect on our future?

(Photo credit: zvis.com)

UPDATE

NOVEMBER 15, 2011 - It was reported today by Reuters that “A senior Iranian official said on Tuesday that Tehran was willing to share its controversial nuclear technology with neighboring countries, suggesting it could help Turkey build an atomic power plant.”

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“We must remember that racism, madness and mayhem are not the norm from which we should be temporarily redeemed by an unexpected hero. They are an artificial and anti-human status quo created by people, institutions and actions. Our task is to fight the conditions that produce such evil, and we cannot do that when we glamorize heroes on the basis of fantasy. We must choose our own heroes on the basis of evidence, analysis and a firm belief that human dignity should be the norm, not a delightful surprise.”

- Dr. Wandia Njoya

Dr. Wandia Njoya

NOVEMBER 09, 2011 – On November 16, Paul Rusesabagina, on whom the Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda is based, will receive a human rights prize from the Lantos Foundation, named after former congressman Tom Lantos. The reward has been contested by survivors of the genocide against Tutsis, describing Rusesabagina in their petition as an “imposter without equal.”

“Since the release of the film, facts and survivor testimonies have been produced that challenge the glamorization of Rusesabagina. That makes the decision by the Lantos foundation surprising, and also not surprising.

“It is surprising because a foundation in honor of a survivor of Nazi labor camps and whose advisory board is chaired by Shimon Peres should appreciate the importance of truth in a matter as grave as genocide. But it is also not surprising in light of the racist attitude that presents African issues as lacking complexity. If  Hollywood says Rusesabagina is a hero, why question? Research? Verification? There’s no need: when it comes to Africa, the answers are obvious.

“Three years ago, I posted my reservations about the film in light of a critique in Alfred Ndahiro and Privat Rutazibwa’s book Hotel Rwanda: Or the genocide of Tutsis according to Hollywood. My basic argument was that Rusesabagina is not just an imposter; he is an imposed hero. The West chooses heroes for us on very anti-human criteria and then uses its media, awards and global networks to impose them on us…

“Paul Rusesabagina does not deserve the accolades he has received. Even if he did all the things that the film depicts him as doing, which I doubt, he owed it to humanity and to justice to do them. He may have spared the lives of Tutsis in the hotel, but he is not the one who gave them that life. It is Imana who gave them the life they still have, and the life that was taken away from so many others. And it is the Rwanda Patriotic Front, not unexpected heroes, which put an end to the madness. In fact, I suspect that the love for Rusesabagina is a means for Euro-America to mask its disbelief that it is Africans, not the UN or Euro-America, who decisively ended the slaughter by the Interahamwe.”

The full text of Dr. Njoya’s article can be read at:  An imposed hero

(Photo credit: lukestephens)

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“For your tomorrows we gave our todays.”

NOVEMBER 07, 2011 – November 11^th is Remembrance Day in Canada and also in many other Commonwealth countries. The history of the Jews in the Canadian military and of their exploits and experiences dispels the myth that Jews have not contributed their share in the Canadian Armed Forces. This includes the Boer War (1899-1902), WWI (1914-1918), WWII (1939-1945), and the Korean War (1950-1953), as well as in Canada’s current oversees missions and at home. We salute all of you.

During World War I, 38% of all Jewish males 21 years and over in Canada served in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces. 4.5% won decorations for bravery and distinguished military service, in comparison with 3.4% Canadian soldiers of all origins.

Saskatchewan Jews were among the first to volunteer during both World War I and II, and many lost their lives in the European trenches. The province honoured those who sacrificed their lives, including a number of Jewish heroes, by naming several lakes and mountains of the vast northern region after them.

We will remember them

For Canadian Jews, World War II was the Jewish community’s most sustained war effort ever. Out of a population of approximately 167,000 Jewish men, women and children, over 16,880 volunteered for active service in the army, air force, and navy. There were an additional 2,000 Jews who enlisted, but who did not declare their Jewish identity in order to avert danger if captured by the Nazi forces.  All of this at a time when Canada had the shameful reputation of being the only western country to completely close its doors to Jews fleeing Nazi persecution.

Of the 16,880 who served, which constituted more than one-fifth of the entire Jewish male population in the country, 10,440 served in the army, 5,870 in the air force, and 570 in the navy. 1,971 Jewish soldiers received military awards. Over 420 were buried with the Star of David engraved on graves scattered in 125 cemeteries. Thousands returned home with serious physical and mental wounds.

On November 11, a monument will be unveiled in Toronto to honour Jewish members of the Canadian armed forces who died during World War I and II and the Korean War.

A website link provides the date of death and place of burial of many of Canada’s Jewish service men and women who died serving in the Canadian Armed Forces. The data was compiled by the Canadian Jewish Congress Charities Committee National Archives, Montréal.

In closing, we honour and pay our respects to all Canadians currently serving in Canada’s armed forces.

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(Photo credits: operationsupportjewsinthemilitary.com and Tyne Cot Cemetery, Belgium).

COMMENT

Janet Chernin, (Nova Scotia, Canada) says:

My aunt, Rose Jette Goodman was the first woman to die in active service in WWII – she was a section officer with the R.C.A.F. Please include her service and sacrifice in your archives. I have pictures and newspaper accounts.

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Are we all our brothers’ keepers?

NOVEMBER 02, 2011 – Last month, The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice announced that Rwandan Paul Rusesabagina will be the 2011 recipient of the Lantos Human Rights Prize. The formal presentation of the award will take place in Washington, DC on November 16, 2011.

According to the foundation, “Paul Rusesabagina is widely hailed as a hero of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. As a hotel manager during the time of the conflict, Rusesabagina was able to provide shelter to 1,268 people, both Hutus and Tutsis, ultimately saving them from certain death. His efforts were chronicled in the 2004 Academy Award nominated film Hotel Rwanda and his autobiography ‘An Ordinary Man.’ Today, Rusesabagina continues his efforts for truth, reconciliation and sustainable peace in Rwanda and the Great Lakes region of Africa through his work as President of the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation.”

Katrina Lantos Swett, President of the Lantos Foundation remarked, “We are so proud to award this year’s Lantos Prize to Paul Rusesabagina. I was raised on the idea that we are all our brothers’ keepers, and Paul is the living embodiment of that idea.”

It seems not all Rwandans share this view.  Léo Kabalisa, a Rwandan-Canadian school teacher, who managed to escape from Rwanda before the genocide began, lost his father, four brothers, twelve cousins and eight nieces during the genocide. Mr. Kabalisa is a respected and well-known advocate of human rights and is regularly interviewed by Canadian media on matters pertaining to Rwanda. In the past, he has also been a guest speaker at Toronto’s Holocaust Education Week.

Yesterday, in an emotional letter to the Lantos Foundation, Mr. Kabalisa decided to express his personal views about why Mr. Rusesabagina should not receive the 2011 Lantos Human Rights Prize. Here in part is what he had to say:

“After the genocide, my main concern has been that our people would be forgotten and their memory be erased. I worked with members of the Jewish Community through the Holocaust Center of Toronto Federation UJA and other organizations within the Jewish community to build a dialogue between survivors of the Holocaust and Tutsi genocide survivors. My aim was to support the education initiatives within the Jewish community and other Toronto-based organizations dedicated to the preservation of human rights in the hope that through building awareness and knowledge such atrocities could be prevented in the future. I have been invited to speak in schools, universities and have taken part in discussions which were broadcast on radio and on television over the years.

“Over the past few years I have been feeling that the world is betraying Rwanda again. We were betrayed when people were being butchered and the international community closed its eyes. Now, the genocide deniers have been given the public ear to practice revisionism and erase the genocide from history.

“I heard Paul Rusesabagina talking at York University [Toronto] a few years ago. He doesn’t deny completely the genocide, but he is the one who is promoting the theory of a double genocide which ironically turns the tables on the victims of the genocide… and casting deep shadows over the reality of their tragedy. When people like Rusesabagina are being recognized by the world as humanitarians without checking exactly who the person is, beyond the fictitious movie, shows how again the world does not care…”

Kabalisa adds:

“If Lantos would like to recognize people who helped our beloved ones survive, you can start by honouring General Roméo Dallaire, who stayed in Rwanda when his mandate was over. You can honour members of Médecins sans frontières, such as Dr. James Orbinski, who stayed at King Faisal Hospital to take care of the wounded. Among Hutus who protected Tutsis, I can name Damas Gisimba who saved more than 100 Tutsi using his own means, hiding them in his orphanage. These are just a few examples of many of the true heroes who deserve recognition.”

Kabalisa in his letter suggests the foundation go to Rwanda and talk to the people who live there about Rusesabagina and learn the truth. “Talk to Ibuka, the umbrella organization of the survivors of the genocide. Talk to the widows of AVEGA (the widows’ organization of Rwanda). Talk to the survivors of Hotel Mille Collines and learn more,” he says.

(Photo credit: indybay.org)

UPDATE!

NOVEMBER 08, 2011, (Columbus, OH) –  Genocide Survivors set to protest the upcoming Lantos Human Rights Prize to Paul Rusesabagina.

“On Wednesday, November 9th, 2011, survivors of the 1994 genocide against Tutsis in Rwanda and their supporters will gather in front of the offices of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice in Concord, New Hampshire to protest the upcoming presentation of the Lantos Human Rights prize to Paul Rusesabagina.

Survivors of the 1994 genocide against Tutsis in Rwanda were outraged to learn that the Lantos Foundation plans to award this year’s Lantos Human Rights prize to Paul Rusesabagina, a Rwandan, who was depicted in the 2004 Hollywood film, “Hotel Rwanda” as risking his life to save lives during the 1994 genocide. Genocide survivors have repeatedly said that Rusesabagina is nothing but a Hollywood-made hero, who has used the fame gained from the film to attempt to revise the historical account of the 1994 genocide. Survivors in Rwanda and abroad say that they are deeply troubled by Rusesabagina’s false narrative of the 1994 genocide as well as his alleged ties to the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a terrorist group based in the Democratic Republic of Congo and made up mainly of the masterminds of the 1994 Genocide.

A petition signed by over 2,105 survivors and their supporters, as well as letters from genocide survivors’ associations have already been sent to members of the Lantos Foundation calling on them to reconsider their decision to award Rusesabagina. The survivor groups remain confident that with thorough research on Paul Rusesabagina’s activities, the Lantos Foundation will realize that Rusesabagina does not deserve this noble human rights prize.

The Lantos Human Rights prize is named after Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor who served as a U.S Congressman. The award ceremony is scheduled to take place on the evening of November 16th, 2011 in Washington D.C.”

NOVEMBER 07, 2011, (Toronto)- Rusesabagina under pressure cancels visit to Canada 

As reported this afternoon by QMI, a Canadian news agency, “Activist Paul Rusesabagina, who inspired the hit movie Hotel Rwanda, has bowed to pressure and cancelled a visit to Winnipeg where he was to join former U.S. vice-president Al Gore and other dignitaries. Last week, members of Toronto’s Rwandan community called on the federal government to deny Rusesabagina entry into the country. Rusesabagina, 57, was scheduled to attend a youth empowerment event – a We Day celebration – on Nov. 23.  Some of the other guests include actress and UNICEF goodwill ambassador Mia Farrow, wheelchair hero Rick Hansen and former prime minister Paul Martin. The high-profile activist has been dogged by fellow Rwandans who accuse him of being a ‘genocide revisionist and denier.’

“John Ruku-Rwabyoma of the Rwandese Canadian Association of Greater Toronto and others accuse Rusesabagina of charging fees for sheltering fleeing Tutsis and moderate Hutus at the UN-protected Sabena Hotel des Mille Collines during the genocide. ‘We are very pleased and delighted that he is no longer coming to Canada,’ said Ruku-Rwabyoma. ‘The community is healing and they didn’t want him here.’

“Event publicist Tamara Kaftalovich told the association that Rusesabagina will not appear as scheduled at the Free the Children event in Winnipeg.”

Reader’s Comments

Shalangabo Ntwali (Rwanda) says:

Rusesabagina took over the hotel management long after people had begun taking refuge there. He was managing another hotel called Diplomate. Mille Collines was managed by Belgians who fled at the height of the genocide. Rusesabagina is said to have assumed the management of the hotel after seizing the keys from a young receptionist. He then started demanding money from the occupants forcing those without liquid cash to sign cheques and other related documents. How can a so-called hero of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide stand in front of people all over the world and promote the theory of a double genocide? Probably he is joining the group of genocide deniers! So how could Lantos Foundation provide an award to a such kind of a person?

Janvier (Rwanda) says:

Thanks to Leo Kabalisa and many thanks to jewishinfoNews for the space allocated to this article. If the Lantos Foundation is willingly or unwillingly giving the stage to the Tutsi genocide denier, I really wonder what a Shoah survivor will feel once he/she learns that a [Holocaust] survivor’s organisation is giving an award to a pro-Nazi activist. Time will tell.  

Sixbert (Rwanda) says:

I myself can’t imagine how people make themselves blind and ignore the truth that even every mountain and even one of thousand hills of Rwanda can prove. People saying the truth may be a minority of one, but the truth is/remains the truth. And an error will not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor will truth become error because nobody sees it, although the truth about Rusesabagina is obvious. Thanks a lot Mr. Leo Kabalisa and many thanks to the jewishinfoNews for publishing this.
Time will tell!

Yves (Scotland) says:

Thanks to Leo Kabalisa. Lantos Foundation should take time and investigate the issue; simple! Even three testimonies cannot be representative for more than one thousand survivors!

Sam Sussman (Canada) says:

It pained me to see that the Lantos Foundation did obviously not vet this application properly. Awards of this nature should be greeted seamlessly and with universal appreciation. This is not the case here. This reminds me of that great UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim.  Shame.  A shame.  

Willis Shalita (USA) says: 

Like the so-called international community ignored Rwanda in 1994, and a million Rwandans were slaughtered, the Lantos Foundation is ignoring pleas of thousands of Rwandan genocide survivors not to honour Rusesabagina. In essence, the Lantos Foundation is trivilaizing the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. Yet, all we have asked them to do is look into the truth of the matter: where is the evidence that Rusesabagina saved people? I wonder how they would feel if we trivialized the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, God forbid.

The opinions and comments presented in this editorial are not necessarily the views or opinions of jewishinfoNews, its editorial contributors, freelancers, associates or information providers. 

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