Did Israel Really Assassinate Arafat?
July 5, 2012 16:50 by Pesach BensonIranian Atomic Urgency
• NY Times: With no interested buyers, 65 Iranian oil tankers aimlessly ply the Persian Gulf waters:
The unsold crude is being stored in what has been estimated to be two-thirds of the Iranian tanker fleet. Most of the ships are sailing in circles around the Persian Gulf as Iran tries to sell the mostly heavy crude at bargain-basement prices.
International oil experts estimate that Iran is now warehousing as much as 40 million barrels — roughly two weeks of production — on the tankers. An additional 10 million barrels are in storage on shore.
Arab Spring Winter
Ghatan Sleiba
• The BBC caught up with Ghatan Sleiba, the Syrian news anchor who defected to Turkey. The inside scoop on Assad’s propaganda machine is a disturbing story of reporters coaching interviewees, Baath party officials involved in content decisions, and gullible viewers.
“The Syrian nation is a simple nation. They believe whoever smiles at them on TV and they believe whoever cries. God help the Syrian nation.”
• UN Watch: Syria’s actively pursuing a seat on the UN’s Human Rights Council.
As part of the U.N.’s 53-nation Asian group, Syria’s candidacy would be virtually assured of victory due to the prevalent system of fixed slates, whereby regional groups orchestrate uncontested elections, naming only as many candidates as allotted seats.
That’s how non-democracies like China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia won their current seats, and how Pakistan and Venezuela are about to do the same.
• AFP: Switzerland suspends arms sales to the UAE after a journalist in Syria photographed rebels using Swiss grenades. If this is bringing on feelings of deja vu, that’s because last year, a journalist discovered crates of Swiss weapons in Libya.
• How can you not like Mohammed Morsi’s “open door” policy, as described by AFP? For days, hundreds of Egyptians have streamed to the presidential palace, taking their problems straight to the top.
Rest O’ the Roundup
• Former CIA chief James Woolsey pulls a reverse on Jonathan Pollard, saying he’s served enough time. His letter to the Wall Street Journal ends on this remarkable note:
For those hung up for some reason on the fact that he’s an American Jew, pretend he’s a Greek- or Korean- or Filipino-American and free him.
• WikiLeaks began releasing 2.5 million Syrian government emails. According to Haaretz, a preliminary look shows ties between Syria’s security apparatus and a subsidiary of an Italian firm providing secure communications equipment and training. The Guardian‘s live-blogging the dump. Big yawn.
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
Clicking “Unsubscribe instantly” on your mailing will remove you from the Israel Daily News Stream list, but not from your regular HonestReporting emails.
jeb stuart
8:17 pm
Jul 05, 2012
I think there is plenty of evidence that Arafat’s participation in the Oslo Peace Accords was undertaken in bad faith and whether or not Rabin had not been assassinated by an Israeli extremist would never have taken the path of peace unless it meant an end to Israel by negotiation, diplonmacy and the corruption of the UN. The legacy or myth of the Oslo Peace Accords and Arafts preserved false image is as much to preserve the democratic myth that peace was onbtainable and obstructionism is only perpetrated by the Israeli’s and that they have much more to give, a them Obama has set like millstone on Americans.
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jeb stuart
8:26 pm
Jul 05, 2012
I think there is plenty of evidence that Arafat’s participation in the Oslo Peace Accords was undertaken in bad faith and whether or not Rabin had not been assassinated by an Israeli extremist would never have taken the path of peace unless it meant an end to Israel by negotiation, diplonmacy and the corruption of the UN. The legacy or myth of the Oslo Peace Accords and Arafats preserved false image is as much to preserve the democratic myth that peace was obtainable, and Clinton the chief archtect. This is as much to preserve Clinton’s ,Democratic party,and Obama’s image as a successful peacemakers as Arafats , also by blaming Israel as obstructionist.
Redundancy, trouble with server,.
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Paul Tenenbaum
9:12 pm
Jul 05, 2012
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
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Harold G
1:28 am
Jul 06, 2012
Read the book Amatuer by Ed Klein, hardly a GOP zealot or right winger. His long chapter on the Jews and Israel is scary.
He is ruining this country, and will sell out Israel in a heartbeat. PM Netanyahu still dislikes
Obama, just publicly has to smile. There is no love lost between them. This has been confirmed
by a Congressman from my district that has had conversations with the PM.
By the way the name amatuer is given to Obama by Bill Clinton.
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SallyA
10:48 pm
Jul 05, 2012
Pesach- Can you check the veracity of this claim from the article about the Ramallah credit bubble:
“Israeli authorities deny the Palestinian Authority and therefore Palestinian mobile phone providers access to the high-tech 3G frequency, while granting it even to Jewish settlements.”
What’s the other side to this claim?
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Jeffrey Nakar
2:44 pm
Jul 06, 2012
Instead of seeing all the problems in the West Bank as being bound to continue “until the occupation ends.” perhaps they should be viewed as continuing until the Palestinians agree to negotiate and make peace.
Meanwhile, thanks to the generosity of the international community, not least Israel which built roads and universities and hospitals for the Palestinians in the 1970′s and 80′s when there were none, the Palestinians have benefitted from a huge boost in living standards during the years of occupation and now have the highest general standard of living in the Arab world.
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Did Israel Really Assassinate Arafat? | Blogs about Israel aggregation
4:48 pm
Jul 15, 2012
[...] Continued on Page 2 [...]
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dorothy
6:46 pm
Jul 18, 2012
And if they did, would u call that assasination or self defence? He always said he will throw the jews into the sea.
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Leonard KAHN
8:49 pm
Jul 19, 2012
The French doctors know what caused Arafats death and they are telling that he died of Aids
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jonathan
11:09 pm
Jul 19, 2012
really? Arms sold to the UAE wound up in the hands of terrorists? Who’d have thought that the world’s capital of weapons dealing would sell to to terrorists?
wow. How can the Swiss be so naive?
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