Fatah-Hamas collaboration on the rise after Abbas authorizes celebration
(JNS.org) Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is allowing Hamas to hold a festival in commemoration of its 25th anniversary, showing a clearer willingness by Fatah to collaborate with Hamas, Israel National News reported, citing the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency.
The festival will take place in the city of Nablus in Samaria next Thursday under the slogan of “statehood and victory.” This collaboration is a break from the ongoing dispute between Fatah and Hamas. In the wake of the UN’s decision to grant “Palestine” the status of a non-member state, Abbas is expected to use the renewed partnership between Fatah and Hamas to show that the Palestinian Authority can lead a unified country.
However, Hamas continues to officially declare its aim of destroying Israel. This is contrary to Fatah’s stated goal of negotiating with Israel on borders and the status of Jerusalem, although Abbas has also said that any negotiations with Israel must be based on Israel’s acceptance of Fatah’s territorial and political demands.
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Israeli ambassador to U.S. warns against chemically armed Hezbollah
(JNS.org) Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren said Sunday that if Syria transfers chemical weapons to terrorist organizations like Hezbollah, it would be a “game changer” and a “red line” for Israel.
“We are watching the situation very carefully. Syria has a very varied, deep chemical weapons program. It is geographically dispersed as well. Were those weapons to pass in to the wrong hands, Hezbollah’s hands, for example, that would be a game changer for us,” Oren said in an interview with Fox News.
He added, “Can you imagine Hezbollah, with its 70,000 rockets, could get its hands on chemical weapons? That could kill thousands of people.”
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Abbas to petition international court to stop E1 construction
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that his government will have no choice but to turn to the International Court of Justice in The Hague in an attempt to force Israel to stop construction in area E1 between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim and to transfer the tax money Israel traditionally has collected for the authority but has withheld since Abbas won U.N. nonmember state recognition on Nov. 29.
Speaking at a conference of Arab League foreign ministers in Doha, Qatar, Abbas said, “This [Israel’s intention to construct housing units in E1] is an illegal move, one which the international community must stop immediately. The move will bring about the end of the two-state vision. Such moves leave us with no choice.”
The upgraded status of “Palestine” as a nonmember state permits PA leaders to apply to UN organizations, such as the international court, for assistance.
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Syrian chemical weapons remain under Assad’s control as Israel monitors situation
(JNS.org) Syrian chemical weapons are still under the control of President Bashar al-Assad, contrary to reports saying Damascus could lose such arms in the chaos of civil war, Amos Gilad, head of the Defense Ministry Diplomatic-Security Bureau, said Sunday.
“As far as my assessment goes, the weapons are still secure and have not been moved, but we need to monitor this at every moment,” Gilad said, according to Israel Hayom. “Israel needs to monitor it, and it has been doing so.”
As Syria’s southern neighbor, Israel feels at risk from the deepening conflict and has said it would intervene to stop jihadi rebels or Lebanese Hezbollah terrorists from seizing Assad’s chemical weapons.
Echoing Gilad’s remarks that the regime is still in control of the weapons, Vice Prime Minister and Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya’alon told Israel Radio on Sunday, “On these matters, we have to be prepared to protect ourselves, by ourselves. … At this time, we see no sign that this weaponry is being pointed at us.”
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Human Rights Watch: Threats to destroy Israel ‘not incitement to genocide’
(JNS.org) At least one organization does not take Iran’s threats to wipe Israel off the map, coupled with the continued progress of its nuclear program and the terrorism of its surrogates, at face value.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Kenneth Roth, the executive director of George Soros-funded Human Rights Watch (HRC), wrote in an internal email, “Many of [Iran’s] statements are certainly reprehensible, but they are not incitement to genocide. No one has acted on them.”
Roth’s claim that Iran has not acted comes despite the fact that, according to the latest International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report, Iran’s work on the deep underground nuclear site of Fordo is nearly complete. The site now has the full nuclear capacity of 2,784 centrifuges.
Meanwhile, Iran-funded groups continue to terrorize Israel. Hamas recently prompted the war in Gaza by launching an onslaught of rockets—namely, Iranian-developed Fajr-5’s—at the Jewish state. Additionally, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah recently boasted that his group has the capability to hit Israeli targets “from Kiryat Shmona—and let the Israelis listen carefully—from Kiryat Shmona to Eilat,” representing Israel’s northernmost and southernmost points.
HRC’s Roth said, however, that Iran’s statements are not “incitement,” but rather “advocacy.” The distinction, according to Roth, is that with advocacy there is “time to dissuade—to rebut speech with speech—whereas in the case of incitement, the action being urged is so imminently connected to the speech in question that there is no time to dissuade.”
Roth’s position is controversial even within HRC itself, with Vice Chairman Sid Sheinberg writing in another internal email revealed by the Journal, “Sitting still while Iran claims a ‘justification to kill all Jews and annihilate Israel’… is a position unworthy of our great organization.”
*Exiled Hamas leader visits Gaza, promises continued jihad against Israel
(JNS.org) In a sign of increasing Hamas clout following Operation Pillar of Defense, long-time exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal visited Gaza as part of Hamas’s 25th anniversary celebrations on Dec 8.
According to the Associated Press, Mashaal was greeted by a roaring crowd covered in Hamas’ green colors as he emerged onto the stage from a door built into a model of a rocket that was fired at Israel during the recent conflict. Additionally, some children were seen in the crowded dressed in military fatigues and carrying guns.
“We are not giving up any inch of Palestine. It will remain Islamic and Arab for us and nobody else. Jihad and armed resistance is the only way,” Mashaal told the Gaza crowd. “We cannot recognize Israel’s legitimacy.”
It was Mashaal’s first visit to the region since his family left the then Jordanian-controlled West Bank during the 1967 Six Day War.
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Journalist accused of anti-Israel bias to host ABC series on Israel
(JNS.org) ABC News has announced that controversial veteran correspondent reporter Christiane Amanpour will host an upcoming series on Israel, raising concerns within the pro-Israel community over media bias.
Titled “Back to the Beginning,” the series will follow Amanpour as she travels to Israel to “explore the powerful stories from Genesis to the Birth of Jesus.” According to ABC, Amanpour “wanted to investigate the roots of those stories that have created so much conflict.”
Amanpour, who currently serves as a CNN international news anchor, has been accused of anti-Israel bias in the past. In 2007, she hosted the CNN mini series “God’s Warriors,” in which her reporting drew heavy criticism from media watchdog groups such as CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) and Honest Reporting.
“Given Christiane Amanpour’s record of biased and factually shoddy coverage of Israel—particularly her reprehensible ‘God’s Warriors’ series for CNN—viewers, unfortunately, have good reason to expect the worst in the upcoming ABC broadcasts,” CAMERA Executive Director Andrea Levin told JNS.org.
The series will air as a two-part, four-hour special beginning on Dec. 21.
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Iran missile program not matching nuclear progress, report says
(JNS.org) Despite continuing progress on its nuclear program, Iran’s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program is facing a significant setback, says a report by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS).
According to the 66-page report, intelligence suggests that Iran is falling behind in critical aspects of the development of its ICBM program such as successful flight tests.
“It is increasingly uncertain whether Iran will be able to achieve an ICBM capability by 2015,” the CRS report said, according to Reuters.
In particular, the report noted that Iran is receiving substantially less financial support from Russia and China. Western countries have long been critical of Russian and Chinese support for Iran, as those countries have previously stymied efforts in the UN to enact stricter sanctions.
Iran’s ICBM program is a critical component of its overall nuclear strategy. In 2009, Iran began testing its Sajjil-2 solid fuel missile, which analysts feared could be used as a delivery vehicle for a future nuclear warhead.
The U.S. and Israel have been spending billions of dollars on the development of advanced missile defense systems due to the Iranian threat.
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Retiring senators question Obama’s Middle East policy
(JNS.org) U.S. Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ), both set to retire next month, criticized U.S. President Barack Obama for relying primarily on sanctions to try to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Both senators believe a stronger military threat should be clearly placed on the table. “We have to make sure our threat of military action… is credible to them [and] I’m still not sure it is,” Lieberman said at a discussion organized by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
“I think the Iranian are probably nervous, but not nervous enough,” Kyl said at the discussion.
The two senators said that while sanctions are having a strong effect on Iran, they are not having an impact on Iranian political and military leaders, who are mostly insulated from the effects of crippling the Iranian economy. “The sanctions have been unprecedented and are having an effect on the Iranian economy, but so far not an observable effect on the Iranian regime at all,” Lieberman said, adding that a nuclear Iran will change the balance of power in the Middle East and embolden terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas.
Lieberman also voiced concern about Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s increasingly authoritarian rule and his ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. If Morsi continues down this path, the Obama administration should not “have normal relations” with him, Lieberman said. In terms of the Obama administration’s policy regarding Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Lieberman called for greater support for Syrian dissidents and argued that “Assad is the number one friend of our number one enemy, Iran,” so his fall would “be a significant body blow to the regime in Tehran.”
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Sudan catches Israeli ‘spy bird’
(JNS.org) Sudanese officials caught what they now call an Israeli “spy bird.” The vulture was tagged with an Israeli GPS chip, labeled with “Israel Nature Service” and “Hebrew University, Jerusalem,” Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
Relations between Israel and Sudan have been tense since an airstrike destroyed a weapons manufacturing compound in Khartoum in October. Though Sudan blamed Israel, the Jewish state neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the bombing.
In fact, Israeli conservation officials often tag wild birds that visit Israel as part of their migration paths with GPS chips for ornithological study. The vulture caught in Sudan is capable of flying 600km a day. “This is a young vulture that was tagged, along with 100 others, in October. He has two wing bands and a German-made GPS chip,” said Ohad Hazofe, an ecologist with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
“This equipment can give out distance and altitude readings only. That’s the only way we knew something had happened to the bird—all of a sudden it stopped flying and started traveling on the ground,” he said.
Since the bird was caught, the opposition in Sudan has been quick to use the incident as a way to mock the Sudanese regime. “How is it possible that the regime was able to detect one vulture, but was unable to detect the jets that bombed the arms facility?” the country’s Justice and Equality Movement wrote on its website.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org