Israel in the News Jan/Feb 2012
Brotherhood: ‘Kill the Jews’
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood held a “kill the Jews” rally in Cairo in November. Thousands attended, promising to “one day kill all the Jews” and wage war against Jerusalem’s “Judaization.”
The rally was held on the anniversary of the 1947 UN partition plan that established the State of Israel and that was immediately followed by a pan- Arab war aimed at annihilating the newborn state.
The Brotherhood is suddenly promoting itself as a party that favors nonviolent rights for women, but it boasts its hatred of Jewish people and Israel. “The Muslim Brotherhood (is) very opportunistic. They don’t care about the Egyptian blood….They only care about taking power,” said Azza Kamal, a political activist.
IsraelNationalNews.com
Bribery at UN
Though there is little need to provide incentives for most nations to vote against Israel at the UN, some Arab states are nevertheless bribing countries that traditionally side with the Jewish state in order to make passage of anti- Israel resolutions more one-sided.
Johnson Toribiong, president of the Pacific island nation of Palau, told Israel’s Yediot Ahronot newspaper the United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently offered him $50 million to start voting against Israel.
“We told them, ‘Forget it. We will not vote against Israel for anything in the world,’” Toribiong said. Palau, Vanuatu, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and a number of other Pacific micro nations are firm supporters of Israel due to their strong Christian faith.
When the Solomon Islands, another Pacific island nation, suddenly began voting against Israel in 2009, many wondered why. Like other Christian island nations, they had always backed the Jewish state. Later it was discovered that Iran’s foreign ministry had bribed the impoverished Solomon Islands with a $200,000 check and technological aid.
www.israeltoday.co.il
Sarkozy: I stand with Israel
French President Nicolas Sarkozy told French Jews recently his country “is at the forefront of the struggle against the Iranian nuclear weapon” and reiterated his “commitment and his friendship” toward Israel. He made similar remarks earlier in 2011, saying, “If Israel’s existence will be threatened, France will not stand by and ignore it.”
Sarkozy also addressed the embarrassing incident in which he was caught calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “liar” in a conversation with U.S. President Barack Obama. He said his old friendship for Israel cannot be questioned and stressed that no French president has had such sympathy for Israel. Sarkozy spoke of “his relation of friendship and respect” with Netanyahu, even if there are “significant differences” between them.
He said the Palestinian Authority should recognize that Israel is the state of the Jewish people, start bilateral negotiations, accept Israel’s security constraints, and not take legal action against it.
IsraelNationalNews.com
Congressmen want probe
Ted Deutch (D-FL) and Steve Israel (D-NY) have asked for an investigation to determine if the Palestinian Authority (PA) is using U.S. aid for terrorists. They wrote to the Government Accountability Office following news reports that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has ordered homes be built for terrorists whom Israel freed in return for the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.
They also want to investigate whether Abbas is using U.S. Economic Support Funds for his unilateral move to win UN recognition for the PA, a violation of the Oslo Accords and the death knell of the U.S.-sponsored “peace process.”
Steve Israel said “We have a foreclosure crisis in the United States, and we’re struggling to keep American families in their homes. Now we learn that U.S. taxpayer dollars could be going to build homes for terrorists? This is outrageous. I’m asking for a full accounting of how U.S. funds are being used by the Palestinian Authority.”
IsraelNationalNews.com
Africans infiltrate
Africans have been infiltrating Israel at a dizzying pace through Israel’s border with Egypt. They then proceed to the southern tourist city of Eilat. Approximately 950 people infiltrated in the first week of November 2011 alone.
Tens of thousands have remained in Israel, which often does not deport them and allows them to remain in the country. In one incident in May 2011, dozens of Sudanese and Eritrean infiltrators entered Eilat in the wee hours of the morning and began knocking on doors, seeking food and water.
IsraelNationalNews.com
Jordan in trouble
Refugees from Iraq, the Palestinian Authority (PA), and Syria swarming across the borders to Jordan, along with the growing influence of the Muslim Brotherhood, threaten Jordan’s stability, researchers report. Also, America’s withdrawal from Iraq may cause anarchy there and increase the flow of Iraqi refugees to Jordan, a report said.
The violence in Syria already has spread across the Jordanian border. Syrian soldiers shot at a girl fleeing to Jordan in November 2011, and Jordanian forces rescued her. Jordanian soldiers also arrested a youth for allegedly helping Syrians buy arms; he died in jail, prompting street protests.
Another huge threat to King Abdullah is the prospect of a PA unity government that would restore Hamas’s status in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley. Jordan has a peace treaty with Israel.
IsraelNationalNews.com
Iran Revises Story of Esther, Labels Purim a Day of Mourning
On March 7 at sundown, Jewish people around the world will celebrate Purim, marking the deliverance of the Jews of the Persian Empire from extinction 2,300 years ago. In Iran, the center of the ancient Persian Empire, the date will be marked with mourning and anger.
For years Iran has been teaching schoolchildren that Purim marks the massacre of 75,000 Persians by the Jews under the command of Queen Esther. It is presented today as an ancient Iranian holocaust perpetrated by the Jews.
The Iranian version leaves out the part where Haman, the royal advisor, convinced the Persian king to sign a decree permitting the wholesale slaughter of all the Jews in the empire. When Esther revealed her Jewish background to the king and that Haman was tricking him, the king issued a second decree, allowing the Jews to defend themselves. By God’s grace, the Jewish people were largely spared, while their enemies were slaughtered.
Last year Iran went further than simply revising the biblical account. Iranian authorities decided to downgrade the status of the “Tomb of Esther and Mordecai the Jews” in the city of Hamadan in central Iran. The tomb had previously enjoyed the status of an official pilgrimage site.
Following the downgrading, the Iranian news agency Fars began pushing the idea that Esther and her cousin Mordecai were responsible for a massacre of Iranians and that their burial place had merely been tolerated until now. The Iranian news agency Mehr reported that, several weeks earlier, a group of 250 militant Iranian students gathered at the tomb and threatened to tear it down.
www.israeltoday.co.il
Muslims Beat Jewish Girl
Five Muslim Moroccan girls in Belgium beat a 13-year-old Jewish girl classmate at a sports training center, calling her a “dirty Jew” and telling her, “Return to your country.” The girl filed a complaint with police, reported Arutz-7.
Jewish legislator Viviane Teitelbaum of Brussels denounced the “silence” of political leaders and most of the news media concerning the attack. Arutz-7 said an umbrella group of Jewish organizations in Belgium expressed “shock” at the attack and asked for an immediate investigation. The group is considering filing a civil suit and said the Jewish community is “exasperated” by repeated attacks on Jews, 40,000 of whom live in Belgium.
