Austerity for Europe – Increased EU Aid for the PalestiniansThe Commentator Amidst Europe’s worst economic crisis in recent memory, the European Parliament (EP) has just decided to raise Europe’s aid to the Palestinians by €100 million – 30 percent more than previous years. At the end of tough negotiations among the European Union’s institutions over the 2012 budget, the EP somehow made room for an additional €18 billion over the €129 billion cap imposed by expenditures-wary EU member states. Among the additional line items is that extra €100 million for the Palestinians. An extra €100 million may not seem like that much compared to an overall budget of €147 billion for 2012, but it cannot be ignored that this is money the EU does not have. Moreover, the EU is pledging taxpayer money at a time when the only guarantee it will be spent responsibly has just disappeared. The EU budget decision was sealed just days before a highly anticipated summit between... UNESCO elects Syria to human rights committeesUN Watch calls on UNESCO to reverse the decision Vote slammed by UNESCO director herself & Canada’s Foreign Minister GENEVA, Nov. 23 – UN Watch today called on UNESCO’s executive board, which includes the US, France, the UK and other Western democracies, to reverse its unanimous election of Syria to a pair of committees – one dealing directly with human rights issues – even as the Bashar al-Assad regime maintains its campaign of violence against its own citizens. The Arab group at UNESCO nominated Syria for the spots, and though the 58-member board approved the pick by consensus on Nov. 11, the agency has not yet posted the results on its website. Syria’s election came just a day before the League of Arab States moved to suspend Syrian membership of that body. “The Arab League’s suspension of Syria is stripped of any meaning when its member states elevate Syria to UN human rights committes,” says Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based... Arab Spring will just bring upon Islamist dictatorshipsA wave of Islamic rule, with all it entails, is sweeping across the Arab world. It will replace secular dictatorships with Islamic ones. By Moshe Arens, ISRAEL HAYOM The United Nations Development Programme’s 2002 Arab Human Development Report stated that “deeply rooted shortcomings” existed in Arab countries. In other other words, Arab societies were sick. According to the report, this sickness was reflected in the lack of “respect for human rights and freedoms,” the status of Arab women, and the poor state of “knowledge acquisition and its effective utilization.” The follow-up report in 2003 stated: “True democracy is absent and desperately needed. The educational system is severely retarded; schools produce ignorant young men and women. Most of the intellectuals] realize, even if they deny it, that most of what was said in the most recent Arab Human Development Report is true.” So if you were thinking that the... And for your viewing pleasure• Where’s UNIFIL?The international community cannot credibly feign ignorance of the incontestable evidence of turbulence brewing in Lebanon. The latest flip-flops concern the reported explosion in a Hezbollah munitions depot at one of its South Lebanon strongholds. The incident is now being denied outrightly by the terrorist organization. This despite reliable independent reports of a massive blast. No sooner did the booms rock the cache’s vicinity than accusations were hurled blaming Israel for the explosion. Tall tales were spun about an Israeli drone that Hezbollah claimed it downed two weeks earlier and which allegedly tipped IDF intelligence to the rocket-supply base’s location. None of that, however, mattered much a mere one day later, when the fanciful stories were replaced by an equally implausible denial that anything at all had occurred. An official Hezbollah communiqué now contends there was no explosion whatever. Nevertheless, Hezbollah cordoned off the area... Will Turkey seek raprochment with the KurdsThe NYT recently reviewed the Turkish/Kurdish conflict and said, Turkey and its Kurdish citizens have a long and acrimonious history. For decades, the central government, bent on a strict assimilation policy, cracked down on Kurds for expressions of their cultural identity, such as reading publications in Kurdish or listening to Kurdish music. That set the stage for an armed uprising that began in 1984, when the P.K.K. effectively declared war on the state. Since then, more than 40,000 people have been killed in a series of militant attacks and government reprisals that drove hundreds of thousands of Kurds from rural villages. Turkey, the United States and the European Union designated the P.K.K. a terrorist group. In recent years, the government — in an attempt to join the European Union — has made some concessions to the Kurds, but promised constitutional changes have yet to be made, and many people remain wary.
Now that Turkey under Erdogan has abandoned... Why is the PM Blocking Supreme Court Democratization?Minister Meridor has a Supreme Court obsession. Why is Bibi following him? He certainly knows the truth. Likud Minister Dan Meridor has been leading the fierce opposition to several Supreme Court-related bills that have recently been proposed in the Knesset by his Likud colleagues. These have included a few bills that, according to their proponents, would move Israel’s Supreme Court (The High Court) toward a more democratic process of justice, including modifications to the justice selection process. Once selected to the High Court, these esteemed men and women remain in their positions, health permitting, until retirement. Do we really want to allow them unlimited power? Among a variety of restrictions, the proposed legislation would mandate Knesset committee approval of each appointment to the court. Meridor, now backed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, has vehemently opposed such bills,... Israel should get off the fence in Syria
Yishai Fleisher, YNET However, the greatest opportunity to curb Iran’s ambitions is sitting on the world’s doorstep. The potential upcoming fall of the Syrian regime opens the door for Israel to finally gain greater regional stability and for the world to begin throwing off the yoke of Iranian fear. Syria is the long arm of Iran, its striking force. From within Syria’s borders the powerful terror/political groups Hezbollah and Hamas suckle the poison milk of armament, training, and Jihad inculcation in relative safety. Syria provides the key overland route between Iran and Lebanon which has served as a conduit for the transfer of massive... MB and Tawanti, a marriage of convenienceIn another major Haaretz article, Egypt’s military council and Muslim Brotherhood hijacked the revolution, Avi Issacharoff explains In any event, there have been disagreements between the military council and the Brotherhood over the document of principles. Tantawi and his group, albeit late in the day, understood that the movement is likely to garner 40 percent or more of the seats in the two houses of parliament. Furthermore, to block possible Islamist legislation, the council tried, by means of the document of principles, to ensure the army’s status as an independent body. However, this unilateral move by the council, combined with the far-reaching interpretation the Brotherhood gave one of the clauses in the document (out of concern that the council was trying to entrench Egypt’s secular identity ) prompted the movement to give Tantawi an ultimatum: Revise the document or we’ll stage a major demonstration. That demonstration was held exactly a... Will Israel pre-emptively strike a major blow in GazaAmir Oren, HAARETZ, in a major article, speculates Israel’s leadership talks about the inevitability of another operation in Gaza, and even warns, as Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Benny Gantz put it this week, of this being a “painful” action. (Painful to whom? Gantz is likely to regret this phraseology should Israeli civilian areas be shelled in some standoff with Hamas.) As it turns out, a decision about the date of this operation (since it appears a decision in favor of the operation has already been reached ), depends on a number of factors – intelligence assessment of likely targets, the weather, the readiness levels of regular and reserve troops and, last but not least, the situation in Egypt. In a nutshell, here’s what they’re equivocating about: Should Israel make haste, and take action while Tantawi and his officers remain in power? On one side of the equation, the next... |
Monday, 28 November 2011
Ted Belman
Jerusalem, Israel
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