Israel Daily News Stream 04/23/2012
April 23, 2012 16:23 by Pesach BensonIranian Atomic Urgency
• Washington Post: A UN document prepared by the Institute for Science and International Security (pdf format) lays waste to the idea that a religious fatwa prevents Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
“According to Ayatollah Khamenei, this was the only way to secure the very essence of the Islamic Revolution from the schemes of its enemies . . . and to prepare it for the emergence of Imam Mahdi,” states the IAEA document, which was obtained by the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington-based nonprofit group that analyzes nuclear weapons programs. In Shiite Islam, “Imam Mahdi” is the prophesied 12th Imam who will purge the world of evil in humanity’s last days.
Khamenei allegedly embraced the idea of an Iranian nuclear arsenal that would “serve Iran as a deterrent in the hands of God’s soldiers,” the IAEA memo states.
The words attributed to Khamenei in the memo stand in contrast with the Iranian leader’s speech in which he declared the use of nuclear weapons to be “haraam,” or a great sin, and prohibited.
See also Tehran Seeks to Deceive US With Non-Existent Anti-Nuclear Weapons Fatwa.
• The Times of Israel picks up on a series of videos (watch 1 and 2) about Israel’s moral and legal right to attack Iran that has gone viral.
• AP: Iran disconnected the internet from the nation’s main oil export terminal after the Kharg Island facility was attacked by hackers.
Arab Spring Winter
• Egypt cancels natural gas deal with Israel, Jerusalem shrugs. AFP writes:
The unilateral cancellation of the deal is not a good sign, and we hope that this dispute will be resolved like any other commercial dispute, without taking it to the political realm,” he said.
• The IDF’s gearing up for next month’s Naqba Day. The Jerusalem Post says the army’s putting special emphasis on securing the border with Syria. And for good reason. Last year’s Naqba Day was a low-budget propaganda coup for Assad.
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
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m
7:08 pm
Apr 23, 2012
60 minutes is an anti Israel slice of excrement. What that piece of shit implied is that the plight of Christian palis is due to ISRAEL. This is utter tripe of course. The problem for ANY Christians OR Jews in the holy land is due to arab MUSLIM terrorists …. period.
What the wonderful 60 minute piece (of shit) managed to do was to OMIT the fact that if it were not SPECIFICALLY for Jews and Israel, there WOULD NOT BE ONE SHRED OF JUDAEO-CHRISTIAN PRESENCE IN THE ENTIRE REGION. – details, details.
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Anthony Dayton
8:33 pm
Apr 23, 2012
This is the letter I sent to 60 Minutes. I suggest that is where you want to post your thoughts:
There was nothing objective about Bob Simon’s piece on the reasons why Palestinians are leaving the Holy Land. The report mentions but heavily discounts that the wall and the circuitous trip to Jerusalem are the result of Israel defending itself from Palestinian, Muslim suicide bombers, finding only sympathy for the Palestinians who are affected. There was no mention of ambulances being used to transport both weapons and bombers, for example. In all of the West bank, Simon couldn’t find even one Christian who was mugged or threatened by a Muslim? Actually, perhaps he couldn’t because enough reports have shown that they are afraid of retribution, which Simon could have uncovered and reported had he chosen. Similarly, Simon interviews the Israeli ambassador, nicely skewering him. His distaste for the man is palpable right from the start. But a balanced report would have at least found and interviewed someone from the Palestinian government, asking why it is that Israel guarantees safety in all religious institutions, and why Christians are not fleeing from Israeli cities, or how he thinks the course of peace – so that the wall might one day come down – is served by airing TV shows that teach hatred of Israel to young, Muslim children, and perhaps Christian Arab children as well.
The Kairos document and the priest who authored it were likely incredibly influential in creating anger to Israel, to most anyone watching the segment. Here is a Christian priest himself who holds Israel responsible for his people’s problems. Surely it must be so. A real investigative reporter would have featured some of the content of the Kairos document, such as the part that spews hatred of Israel as being “evil,” and uses Palestinian terminology, accusing Israel of the Nachba and occupying, not the west bank, but all of the lands that are Israel. A balanced interview would have asked how someone who thought like that could be considered a valid interlocutor. Likely, a balanced episode wouldn’t have even interviewed and presented a Kairos priest.
If this was serious, objective journalism, a balanced report might have had as an expert guest, Raymond Ibrahim, a Christian scholar from the Middle East who writes constantly about the Muslim threat to Christians across the Middle East, including Palestine/West Bank. And I seriously recommend him to CBS and especially Bob Simon who should be forced to read and interview Mr. Ibrahim.
I’d also like to refer Mr. Simon and 60 Minutes to the following:
- Bethlehem’s Persecuted Christians at online.wsj.com
- More recently, Muslim Perecution of Christians at frontpagemag.com/2012
And finally, “Palestine: Muslim Persecution of Christians” on YouTube, submitted by CBN news. Anyone other than Mr. Simon would have to ask why a Christian news agency would report something like this on YouTube if the Kairos document were valid. It is the answer to Mr. Simon’s incredibly snide remark that Israel should remember that the United States, Israel’s supporter and benefactor, is a Christian nation, a not very subtly warning to Israel not to “piss off” Christians in the United States. Or else! What arrogance on his part, and by extension, 60 Minutes and CBS news, to speak for the American government and the entire Christian population. Well, the Christians at CBN think otherwise, and someone needs to have Mr. Simon and 60 Minutes watch their clip on YouTube.
These are just a few of the many items that give Mr. Simon’s report the Big Lie. 60 Minutes, you really need to keep him away from the Middle East, and for the sake of decency, honest journalism, and the well-being -never mind of Israel, but of those Christians Mr. Simon’s purports to care about, you need to revisit the topic on another episode, and air it before this piece of propaganda and hate becomes the WORD, because this segment was spoken by a false prophet.
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m
9:20 pm
Apr 23, 2012
Thanks for the info. I’ll check out the links.
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Ernest
1:06 am
Apr 24, 2012
Great Article. Well put, and very comprehensive. Takes all, or most, arguments, out
of those pro-Arab journalists’ sails. What I want to add and point out is the timing of this 60 minutes report: the purpose is to incite against Israel as many Christians as possible – Christians who usually vote Republican and have traditionally stood by Israel in good times and bad – in the run-up to the Presidential elections. Coincidence, oh Democratic-leaning media ? Coincidence, my foot.
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michael redhill
4:11 am
Apr 24, 2012
As a child I went to a Cattholic boarding school and have all my life lived among Christians. They have kept silent during these absurd attacks on Israel which is the ONLY country in the Middle East which doesnt persecute Christians . Their silence should make them ashamed of themselves. Perhaps it is because they have ‘form’ themselves.
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