IDNS: Libyan Islamists Kill US Ambassador
September 12, 2012 16:55 by Pesach BensonIsrael and the Palestinians
Iraqi refugees at Lod Airport, 1951
• The Israeli press was all over yesterday’s conference on justice for Jewish refugees from Arab countries. A Jerusalem Post staff-ed commented:
But the time has come to raise consciousness – not, as Columbia University’s Edward Said professor of Arab studies Rashid Khalidi has claimed, as a part of an “insidious” plot to “cancel out the debt of Israel toward Palestinian refugees.”
Rather, recognition of certain historical facts and the scrapping of distorted narratives can be a form of therapy, a way of attaining true reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. Only when the Palestinian people acknowledge their own and the Arab nations’ complicity in their own displacement, as well as the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees, will true, lasting peace be attainable.
See Point of No Return‘s take on the conference and a related JCPA report.
• On the anniversary of the Gaza withdrawal Daniel Levy argues that Israeli leaders weren’t interested in peace, and that compromises were based on sinister motives. The narrative’s more befitting, say, Game of Thrones, but the NY Times gave it an op-ed soapbox anyway.
• R.I.P. One-State Solution. (And long live the three-state solution?)
• Worth reading: Dr. Steve Caplan, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, takes to The Guardian to debunk academic boycotts of Israel.
• Cairo reportedly agrees to host Hamas headquarters.
Palestinian Spring?
• As protests continued, some nervously sweating Fatah officials blame their problems on Israel, the US and foreign NGOs. The Jerusalem Post writes:
Jamal Nazzal, a Fatah spokesman and member of its revolutionary council, accused the US Administration of driving Palestinians toward chaos by imposing a “financial blockade” on the PA leadership. He also accused unmade non-governmental organizations [NGO's] of inciting Palestinians to carry out acts of chaos and vandalism in the West Bank.
Another Fatah spokesman, Osama Kawassmeh, said he saw a direct link between Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman’s recent attack on Abbas and the current crisis. He claimed that Israel was exerting pressure on Abbas and the PA leadership to foil the Palestinian struggle for independence and freedom.
Blame Israel and the West for popular Arab protests? We’ve seen that dance before . . .
• Haaretz: Israel to transfer NIS 250 million to PA.
• Experts who talked to the Times of Israel were pessimistic about the PA’s ability to contain public anger.
Arab Spring Winter
• If you’re wondering how photographer Tracey Shelton got her now-famous photos in Aleppo, she shared her story with CNN.
• Bloomberg News assesses the Syrian army. The conclusion ain’t good: it’s undermanned, forced to use heavier weapons, and unable to use all its hardware.
• Don’t worry Syria, Hugo Chavez wants to resolve your crisis.
• Where did the Arab Spring go wrong? asks a Christian Science Monitor staff-ed. Interesting answer:
One reason is that those who ignited the protests have since learned it is far easier to unite against tyranny than unite in favor of democratic values, such as respect for the opinions of others. Opposition leaders have too often split over egos, the role of Islam, the use of violence, or differing views of what democracy means.
Rest O’ the Roundup
• Worth reading: Douglas Murray (Wall Street Journal) deconstructs the EU’s notion that Hezbollah has distinct political and armed “wings.”
The EU is one of the few organizations in the world that still recognizes a difference between the “political” and “armed” wings of Hezbollah. This difference is not recognized in the U.S. or Canada, it is not recognized in Lebanon and it is certainly not recognized by Hezbollah itself.
The EU’s wall of separation is not only its own invention, it is a fiction with which European countries have some first-hand experience, and something they have suffered from in the past.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s the Conservative government in Britain had the long and painful task of trying to explain the unified nature of another terrorist group. When Irish Republican Army units were targeting British civilians and military personnel, numerous organizations were raising money for the IRA in the U.S. and elsewhere, in the same way that Hezbollah uses Europe as a support-base today. Certain charities were notorious for their claim that they were merely fundraising for a “political” as opposed to a “military” struggle. But in clear and specific cases the claim was false.
• King Abdullah to AFP: Israel’s trying to block Jordanian nuclear development. Israeli officials deny it.
• In the UK, a private screening of a separate Channel 4 film examining the historical record on Mohammed’s existence was cancelled amid threates of violence. More on that at the Daily Telegraph.
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.
IDNS: Libyan Islamists Kill US Ambassador | Blogs about Israel aggregation
7:44 pm
Sep 12, 2012
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jeb stuart
7:49 pm
Sep 12, 2012
If US Israeli relations are “frayed”, because and only because of Obama’s leadership or lack thereof, where does our relationship with Libya stand? What has Hillary/Obama admonitions to develop more democratic traits in the Arab Spring add up to? Islamic winter and murder.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
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Mark
8:40 pm
Sep 12, 2012
Americans are as delusional as they have been during the last decades. Using “political correctness” mode they talking about advancement of “democracy” among those zombies who are cannibals and totally uncivilized underdeveloped boneheads. The only thing they recognized is the whip. American apologetic policies only amplified their thirst for blood. We see it all the time without any exception.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
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Leonard
9:41 pm
Sep 12, 2012
Enough of this political correctness. 99% of the world Muslem make it bad for the rest of them.
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H.Laddie Schnaiberg
10:32 pm
Sep 12, 2012
I grieve about the deaths of the U.S Ambassador and the diplomats in Libya. It is important to remember that the current Libyan government, made up the rebels who fought and defeated Quaddaffi, are very thankful to the U.S. for its help in the revolution and would nothing to hurt or harm any American. The persons who did the killing are extremists and did not represent the current Libyan government. The Libyan government will locate these extremist and bring them to justice. When 241 American servicemen were killed by terrorists in Beirut, during Reagan’s presidency, no one claimed about Ronald Reagan’s “lack of leadership”. Obama is not any different from Ronald Reagan.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Barry
12:31 am
Sep 13, 2012
Sure he is. Everything about Reagan screamed “peace through strength”. Everything about Obama screams “weakness through appeasement”. The reason the Iranian hostages were released when they were was the fear that Reagan invoked. Just like the weakness that Obama invoked brought such bold action by our enemies in commemoration of their brothers’ victory on 9/11. How do you know that most of the rebels are grateful for our help? Because of the drivel coming out of this administration? Or because you know the rebels so well? Those people have their own agendas, beliefs and prejudices and they don’t conform with our sensibilities or morals regardless of how Obama pretends they do.
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H.Laddie Schnaiberg
3:50 am
Sep 13, 2012
It is unfortunate that the other writers show only hatred. Stop blaming all the Muslims for the attack in Libya. The attack was done by terrorists who represent at most 1% of the million and half Muslims in this world. The American population numbers 311 million The vast majority are fine citizens and are not delusional. The middle east was civilized long before America, and the majority of that population is not a zombie, cannibal and uncivilized bonehead.If you watched the news tonight, you heard the President of Libya express his profound sadness. He also said that the Late Ambassador was his tennis partner. The Torah says,”Respect the Stranger in your Midst”. This can only bring peace.
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Barry
5:22 am
Sep 13, 2012
Do you pull all this crap out of thin air? You attempt to pass your own fantasies as fact & you blindly support Obama regardless of what he does or how ineptly he does it; I’m sure to you, he didn’t snub Netanyahu at all. Too busy I guess. You even know how most Libyans feel toward us. You must be an Arab whisperer! The Mid-East is full of people who hate us. They hate Americans, Israelis, Jews, Christians and they kill them often! You see truth as hatred, fact as inconvenient & surely, disapproval of Obama’s policies as racist. You seem to be able to justify anything our enemies do and believe anything they’ll say. If anyone disapproves of their barbarism you consider THEM hateful. Dream on
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Natan Nota
5:34 am
Sep 13, 2012
First of all, there are 1.5 BILLION Muslims, not 1.5 million. This means that if 1% are evil, we’re talking 15,000,000, and personally, I believe its a much higher number. The USA supported the overthrow of the previous Libyan Government, just as it supported the overthrow of Mubarak…and 33 years ago supported the overthrow of the Shah of Iran. What do they have in common? The governments that replaced them were much worse in their behavior and their treatment of Americans and minorities.
You need to focus very clearly on what Iran is doing. Its government is doing exactly what Hitler did: break every rule and openly threaten others. History repeats itself. Beware.
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Barry
5:35 am
Sep 13, 2012
Mr Schnaiberg, just noticed it was you again. I’d like to point out that the last article you commented on, you misrepresented Obama’s aid numbers as fact. I checked them and posted the correction. Today I see that your “census” produced a figure showing a maximum of 1% of Muslims as being terrorists. How is one to take you seriously when you invent such numbers and pass them as fact? Even if it were fact, that’s a hell of a lot of terrorists! Everyone’s opinions are valid, but not when attempting to disguise them as fact. Open a book, read an article (not written by your favorite Cool-Aid dispensing political fiction writers) or research some of what you spew here. It would be refreshing.
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