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The Yale
Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism YIISA SEMINAR SERIES ANTISEMITISM IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE On March 29, James Woolsey, former CIA Director 1993-1995 and Chair of Freedom House, will speak on "Energy, Security and the Long War of the 21st Century." This seminar will be held in Linsly-Chittenden, 63 High Street, room 101. On April 12, Ruth Wisse, Professor of Comparative Literature, Martin Peretz Professor Yiddish Literature, Harvard University, will speak on "Why Antisemitism Succeeds." This seminar will be held in Linsly-Chittenden, 63 High Street, room 101. Please see the seminar website for the Spring semester schedule. Please note that many of our seminars this semester will be held in room 101 at Linsly-Chittenden. REPORTS The Totalitarianism of Jihadist Islamism and its Challenge to Europe and to Islam (Journal of Totalitarian Movements and Politics of Religion) Professor Bassam Tibi, University of Gottingen and our YIISA speaker on March 1, writes in this article how in contemporary Islamism - to be distinguished from Islam - one finds two features united: a totalitarian movement combined with a political religion. Click here to read The Rationality of the Islamic Radical Suicide Attack Phenomenon (ICT- Institute for Counter-Terrorism) Dr. Boaz Ganor writes…”There are many debates amongst scholars regarding the reason for the increase in the phenomenon of suicide attacks in the past decade and many answers can be given…but the simple answer to this question is--because it works. It is effective and very beneficial from the point of view of the terrorist organizations…” Click here to read Iran is Building “Hamastan” in Gaza (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Hamas Prime Minister Haniyeh does not speak from the parliament. Rather, he makes his declarations from the mosque every Friday. The head of the government preaching from the mosque creates the image of a new caliphate being built inside Gaza. Click here to read Is Israel the Problem? (Commentary) Amir Taheri looks at the two key analytical assumptions…first, that the Arab-Israeli conflict was the issue, the Ur-issue, of Middle Eastern politics and, second, that all the other issues in the region were inextricably linked to it. He looks at the conflicts of 22 other states in the greater Middle East--none of the states in the region enjoys fully defined or internationally recognized borders. Click here to read YOUTUBE Students Protesting in Iran against Ahmadinejad Click here to view ARTICLES OF INTEREST In Europe Matthais Kuentzel Replies to University of Leeds Statement on Cancellation of His Lecture (Scholars for Peace in the Middle East) Last week's sudden cancellation of Dr. Matthias Kuentzel's invited lecture at the University of Leeds has prompted a number of newspaper reports, letters of inquiry from academics and others from around the world and official letters and statements of Leeds University. Click here to read Professor Matthais Kuentzel is Banned from Leeds University (Engage Online) Matthais Kuentzel, a German author and political scientist who specializes in the threat of Islamists, has had his talk cancelled at Leeds University. The paper he was to deliver, “Hitler’s Legacy: Islamic Antisemitism in the Middle East” was the same paper he delivered for the YIISA program at Yale on Nov. 30, 2006. Click here to read Academic: Extremism Debate Is Being Stifled (Telegraph) In a follow up to his talk being cancelled, Dr. Küntzel says, "It is a worrying trend. If I say something which is not positive about a particular brand of Islam, the imposition is that I am inciting hatred of every Muslim. I am very concerned about this - it is an attack on academic freedom. We are seeing it more and more, particularly in the UK." Click here to read University is Accused of Censoring anti-Semitic Islam Lecture (Times) The University of Leeds was accused of infringing free speech last night when it cancelled a lecture on “Islamic anti-Semitism” by a German academic. Click here to read Jews Against Zionism are Rejected from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (Engage Online) David Hirsh, YIISA visiting fellow, writes on the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) in the UK rejection of Jews Against Zionism because they dared to stand up against open anti-Semitism within the movement. They came to the PSC conference with two motions arguing that those who push Holocaust denial and open anti-Semitism should be excluded from the PSC. Their motions were almost unanimously defeated. Click here to read The Biased Broadcasting Corporation (NY Times) In this op-ed, Frank H. Stewart discusses the issues of the anti-Western Arabic-language television stations that dominate the Persian Gulf in light of the new Arabic television service that BBC World Service plans to start this fall. Click here to read Al-Qaida Gets Fake Papers as Home Offices Issues 10,000 Passports to Fraudsters (Guardian) An estimated 10,000 British passports were issued after fraudulent applications in the space of a year - and al-Qaida terrorists have successfully faked applications, the Home Office admitted today. Click here to read The Genocide before the Holocaust (Ha'aretz) Although the new German television series “The Jews - Story of a Nation” leaves out important aspects of Jewish culture and history, it features exceptional frankness and a certain understanding of national psychology in addition to “docu-drama” reconstructions of historical events by actors. Click here to read Germans Worried over Growing Denial of Israel’s Right to Exist (Ha’aretz) At the annual European-Israel dialogue held in Berlin last weekend, the growing delegitimization of Israel in recent years was raised in every session of the conference. This year in particular, Merkel said, in light of the threats emanating from Iran, it is important to emphasize that Germany supports Israel and that protecting Israel's right to exist will continue to stand at the center of Germany's foreign policy. Click here to read Report: France Urged Israel to Hit Syria (Jerusalem Post) Army Radio reported that French President Jacques Chirac told Israel via a secret channel at the start of the war in Lebanon that France would support an Israeli assault on Syria, it was reported on Sunday. Click here to read Le Pen Springs to Life (Guardian) Despite the taboo to show support for the National Front in large parts of France and understatement of the far-right in the polls, Jean-Marie Le Pen secured the signatures of 500 mayors and elected officials needed to support his presidential candidacy. Click here to read French Jews Flock to Area (Miami Herald) French Jews living in South Florida told The Miami Herald that hostility from Islamic militants in France after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States spurred them to leave. A growing call among the French Jewish community is that they be accepted in the US as refugees due to the deteriorating situation regarding antisemitism in France. Click here to read The Near East Aid to Palestinian Rose in 2006 Despite an Embargo (New York Times) The International Monetary Fund and the United Nations say the Palestinians received $1.2 billion in aid and budgetary support in 2006, about $300 per capita, compared with $1 billion in 2005. While the United States and the European Union have led the boycott, they, too, provided more aid to the Palestinians in 2006 than 2005. Washington increased its aid to $468 million in 2006, from $400 million in 2005. Click here to read U.S. and Israel Disagree on Palestinian Contacts (NY Times) The first fractures surfaced in the Israeli and American approaches to the new Palestinian unity government, with Israel’s cabinet voting overwhelmingly to boycott it, while the United States Consulate in Jerusalem refused to rule out contacts with some moderate Palestinians who are now serving as ministers. This adds to the sense that the new unity government has created potential openings with the West, raising the possibility of a resumption of direct international aid and damaging Israeli efforts to maintain a solid boycott. Click here to read UN Chief Expresses Reservations about New Palestinian Authority Government (Jerusalem Post) UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed "disappointment" with the new Palestinian Authority unity government. “They have not clearly stated they will abide by these three principles," he said, referring to the Quartet's demands that the new government recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept previous agreements.” Click here to read Straight Talk on Palestine (Wall Street Journal) Op-Ed by Khaled Abu Toameh…”The speeches delivered by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his new Hamas partner, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, at Saturday's parliamentary session show that the Palestinians are determined instead to continue their strategy of double-talk.” Click here to read Rice’s Mideast Minefield (Washington Post) Condoleezza Rice is trying to broker the creation of a Palestinian state even if she has to differ with the Israelis to do it. Click here to read Children of the Palestinian Intifada: The Lost Generation (Herald Tribune) Their worried parents call them the lost generation of Palestine: its most radical, most accepting of violence, and most despairing. Click here to read The Trouble with Apartheid Analogy (Business Day- South Africa) Last month at Brandeis, Jimmy Carter used a fake Nelson Mandela letter to justify comparing South African apartheid to Israel. The author of the letter, Arjan El Fassed, runs an anti-Israel website called The Electronic Intifada. El-Fassad has admitted that he made the whole thing up, but the Mandela letter has now entered the anti-Israel canon alongside countless other fictions. Click here to read Abbas Has Become Hamas (YNet) In an opinion piece, Professor Uzi Arad states that the new Palestinian national unity government's platform points to a significant political escalation in the Palestinian struggle against Israel. If Israel does not deal with this challenge, international isolation of the Palestinians enforced until now is likely to end and even lead to renewal of diplomatic ties between several countries and the newly established government Click here to read Move Seen Complicating Rice's Middle East Effort (Washington Post) The prospect of the Palestinian unity government has driven a wedge between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the two interlocutors on whom Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had rested her hopes for progress. Click here to read Cool Reception for Palestinian Government (Telegraph) The new Palestinian national unity government, comprising members of both Fatah and Hamas, was finally unveiled yesterday, but had a mixed reaction from the international community. Click here to read Cracks Appear in Palestinian Coalition (Washington Post) The appointment of a divisive Gaza strongman, Mohammed Dahlan, to a top security post is threatening the new Palestinian unity government just days after its inauguration. Click here to read Hamas Bunkers Down for 'fiercest' Gaza Conflict (Australian) Since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza 18 months ago, hundreds of Hamas fighters have gone to Iran for intensive military training sometimes lasting months, according to Shin Bet security service chief Yuval Diskin. Click here to read Quartet to Maintain Aid Embargo on PA Unity Gov't (Ha'aretz) World powers will continue an aid embargo against the Palestinian government but European officials said they were optimistic the new authority would ultimately meet conditions needed for it to be scrapped. Click here to read Melchoir: Alert Abbas to Palestinian Textbooks (Jerusalem Post) Melchior's statements at the Knesset followed a Palestinian Media Watch presentation showing Palestinian 12th grade textbooks teaching children in the PA that pursuing Israel's destruction was a religious duty. Click here to read For Gaza, a Question of Responsibility (Washington Post) The Israeli government is arguing in domestic courts that it no longer occupies the Gaza Strip, a designation that under international law holds the Jewish state responsible for the welfare of Gaza's 1.4 million Palestinians. Click here to read Hamas to al-Qaeda: Stop Baseless Accusations (YNet) After al-Zawahri delivered a eulogy for Hamas for the movements betrayal of Palestine, Hamas retorted, “We will not forsake a single grain of the sand of Palestine.” Click here to read Hezbollah Keeps Low Profile While Making Preparations (Toronto Star) UN soldiers report no sign of military activity near Israeli border, but villagers north of buffer zone say Shiite militia has returned to mountains. Click here to read Pulling Tehran's Purse Stings: Leveraging Sanctions and Market Forces to Alter Iranian Behavior (Washington Institute) A testimony ofInstitute senior fellow and director of the Stein Program on Terrorism, Intelligence, and Policy before a joint hearing of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade and Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia. Matthew Levitt discusses how the United States and the international community can raise the costs for Iran's continued defiance over suspension of its uranium enrichment program by applying military, diplomatic and financial tools. Click here to read New Face of Jihad Vows Attacks (NY Times) A new militant Islamic organization called Fatah al Islam, whose leader, a fugitive Palestinian named Shakir al-Abssi, has set up operations in a refugee camp outside Tripoli, Lebanon, where he is training fighters and spreading the ideology of Al Qaeda. Click here to read With Iranian Help, Hamas Forces Grow Faster than Fatah (Ha’aretz) With Iranian help, Hamas forces are expanding fast and getting more sophisticated weapons and training than do those under Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' control, according to the U.S. security coordinator. Click here to read Column One: As Syria Prepares for War (Jerusalem Post) Caroline Glick writes that Syria is using the smokescreen of protestations of interest in negotiating with Israel to divert attention away from its clear preparations for war and that Israeli leftists have pounced on them, rather than seeing these statements for the psychological warfare antics they are. Click here to read U.S., IDF Hold Joint Exercise on Response to Nuclear Attack (Ha'aretz) Israel and the United States are conducting a joint military exercise whose main goal, according to military officials in both countries, is to hone the allies' abilities to fend off missiles equipped with nuclear, biological or chemical warheads. Click here to read Israel UN To Open Permanent Probe on Israel (Jerusalem Post) United Nation's Human Rights Council is expected to place Israel under permanent investigation for its "violations" of international law in the territories - until such time as it withdraws to the pre-1967 border - according to Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch Click here to read Women’s Rights at the UN: Israel is the Only Violator (Eye on the UN) Anne Bayefsky writes about the UN Commission on the Status of Women identifying only one state as violating the rights of women today….Israel. Click here to read Bolton Admits Lebanon Truce Block (BBC-News) Former ambassador to the UN John Bolton told the BBC that before any ceasefire Washington wanted Israel to eliminate Hezbollah's military capability. Also in the BBC programme, several key players claim that, privately, there were Arab leaders who also wanted Israel to destroy Hezbollah. Click here to read The Middle East in General Iran to Hit back at US ‘kidnaps’ (Sunday Times) Iran is threatening to retaliate in Europe for what it claims is a daring undercover operation by western intelligence services to kidnap senior officers in its Revolutionary Guard. According to Iranian sources, several officers have been abducted in the past three months and the United States has drawn up a list of other targets to be seized with the aim of destabilizing Tehran’s military command. Click here to read Syria Rejects UN Plan for Civilian Monitors on Border with Lebanon (Ha'aretz) Syrian authorities threatened to completely close its border with Lebanon if the United Nations executes its plan to deploy civilian monitors along the border in an effort to prevent weapons from being smuggled from Syria to Hezbollah. Click here to read Six Powers Agree on Sanctions for Iran (Washington Post) The U.N. Security Council's five major powers and Germany have agreed in principle to ban all Iranian arms exports and freeze the financial assets of 28 Iranian officials and institutions, including several commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Click here to read Ahmadinejad Intends to Attend UN Security Council (Jerusalem Post) "The president of Islamic Republic of Iran intends to attend a UN Security Council meeting to be held on Iran's nuclear case in order to defend the rights of the Iranian nation in exploiting peaceful nuclear energy," state TV quoted Iranian government spokesman. Click here to read What Was Once a Revolutionary Guard Is Now Just a Mafia (Forward) In this opinion piece, Mohsen Sazegara says Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has a corrupting influence on Iran’s army, police, media, industries, judiciary and government and that it is imperative that every effort now be made to contain its powers because its political and economic actions will ultimately lead to a serious crisis in the Middle East. Click here to read Egypt Says Would-be Hamas Suicide Bomber Arrested near Israeli Border (Ha'aretz) Egyptian authorities have detained a would-be Hamas suicide bomber after he left a mosque in the border city of El-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula as he was awaiting instructions to carry out a terrorist attack inside Israel. Click here to read Chavez Opposes Ahmadinejad on Israel (Jerusalem Post) Although Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has come out support of Iran's nuclear program as well as denouncing the summer's war in Lebanon, he said he opposed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahamadinejad’s call to "wipe Israel off the map." Click here to read UN: Ahmadinejad Can Speak before Nations' Sanctions Vote (Ha'aretz) The president of the UN Security Council said he had received no objections to a request from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak right before members vote on a resolution that would impose new sanctions on Tehran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment. Click here to read North America and Elsewhere Anti-Zionism: Mask for Antisemitism (Jerusalem Post) Criticizing Zionism has become a socially acceptable way to attack Jews, author A.B. Yehoshua told a gathering in New York City. Click here to read Howard University Head Blocks Divestiture from Israel (Jerusalem Post) In a letter to the American Jewish Committee, Howard University's president stressed his rejection of a faculty resolution calling on the school to become the first American institution of higher learning to divest from certain companies doing business with Israel. Click here to read Anti-Semitic Attacks in U.S. Decline for Second Year Running (Ha'aretz) According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the number of anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. dropped in 2006 for the second year in a row, reporting 12 percent less incidents of harassment, threats and assaults were recorded in 2006, but also eight percent more anti-Semitic acts of vandalism, Click here to read ADL: Anti-Jewish Acts Up in Connecticut (CBS) Incidents of vandalism or harassment aimed at Jews in Connecticut increased 35 percent last year, according to Anti-Defamation League's annual report on anti-Semitic incidents. Click here to read Anti-Semitism Reached an All Time High in Canada: B’Nai Brith (National Post) In 2006, there were 935 recorded incidents, a 12.9% increase over the previous year, the audit found. Anita Bromberg, legal counsel for the Jewish advocacy group, said that the numbers are only the tip of the iceberg because only a small minority of incidents are reported Click here to read Churchill Was Not an anti-Semite (YNet) The Churchill Center responds to accusations of Winston Churchill, a lifelong supporter of Zionism and the Jewish people, being an anti-Semite despite based on an alleged article of his, which is making the rounds on the internet. Click here to read NBC Slammed for Anti-Semitic Show (Jerusalem Post) The plot line of the February 27 installment of Law and Order: Criminal Intent, a fictional police drama broadcast across America on NBC, centers on a journalist who is poisoned after his girlfriend uncovers a foul-up by Israeli intelligence. Click here to read Poet Loses Free Speech Case (AP) An appeals court ruled Wednesday against a former New Jersey poet laureate who lost his job after suggesting Israel had advance knowledge of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Click here to read Controversial S. Korea Comic Book Pulled (NY Times) A South Korean publisher agreed Thursday to withdraw a best-selling children's book from stores after meeting with a prominent anti-Semitism watchdog group that accused the author of spreading messages echoing Nazi propaganda. Click here to read Quotes and Short Takes (Source, Canadian Institute for Jewish Research)
“We're not going to work with this government. This government does not recognize our existence, it does not recognize the (existing) treaties, and most important, does not in any way renounce terror... “Resistance” is terror. Nobody should get that wrong.”Miri Eisen, spokesperson for PM Ehud Olmert, calling upon the international community to boycott the new PA national unity government until it accepts the demands of the Quartet (comprised of the EU, U.S., U.N. and Russia) to recognize Israel’s right to exist, foreswear violence and accept previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements. “Israel expects the international community to stand firm in demanding the adoption of these three principles,” she added. (CanWest News, March 18; National Post, Mar. 16)“The new government, as it has been declared and presented, limits our ability to conduct a dialogue with…[President Abbas] and narrows the range of issues which we might have been able to discuss in the coming period.”Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, informing his Cabinet that the new Hamas-Fatah coalition government contained “very problematic elements” and that contact with PA President Abbaswould be limited. (National Post, Mar. 19) “We will continue our policy of not having contacts with members of foreign terrorist organizations…we remain committed to providing assistance to the Palestinian people…”Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm, spokesperson for the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, explaining that the United States will continue boycotting Hamas, while still giving aid to improve the lives of ordinary Palestinians. However, according to Schweitzer-Bluhm, the U.S. would not suspend contact with non-Hamas-affiliates within the new unity government but would “make individual decisions based on our evaluation of the situation.” (National Post, Mar. 19) “We would like to work as much as possible to see your country Syria recuperate the territory taken in 1967.”EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, at a joint press conference with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, indicating that the EU supports Syria’s goal of regaining the Golan Heights form Israel. Meanwhile, regarding relations with the new Palestinian unity governmentwhich has not complied with the Quartet’s three demands for recognitionSolana said: “As we have said many times, we are going to wait and see.” Norway, is a major aid donor to the Palestinian Authority and became the first Western country to lift sanctions against the new PA. Norway is not a member of the EU. (National Post, Mar. 16; Jerusalem Post, Mar. 14) Today the Iranian nation fully possess as the nuclear fuel cycle. If all of you gather and also invite your ancestors from hell, you will not be able to stop it.”Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, telling a crowd that the UN Security Council “has no legitimacy”, and calling its resolutions requiring Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program “torn paper”. Ahmadinejad has officially filed a request to address the United Nations and Iran has also applied to the U.S. State Department to give an entry visa to the Iranian president and 38 of his associates, so they can travel to New York, an American official said. (New York Post, Mar. 16) “Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had explained to the French in the past that Iran is the main one responsible for Hizbullah’s armament in Lebanon, while Chirac saw Syria as the primary one responsible for the matter. President Chirac saw Syria as directly responsible for the attempt to undermine the Lebanese regime. He saw them as directly responsible for the murder of (former Lebanese Prime Minister) Rafik Hariri and directly responsible for arming Hizbullah. Likewise, he saw Syria as the one giving Hizbullah orders on how to operate.”Former Israeli Ambassador to France Nissim Zvilli, in an interview with Israeli Army Radio, claiming that Chirac urged Israel to invade Syria during the Second Lebanon War. (Jerusalem Post, Mar. 18) “I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew, Daniel Pearl, in the city of Karachi, Pakistan. For those who would like to confirm, there are pictures of me on the internet holding his head.”Captured al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, confessing to a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that he was “responsible for the 9/11 operation form A to Z”, the Bali nightclub bombing, the 1993 World Trade Center attack, and a long list of other, thwarted plots. Mohammad, a former North Carolina engineering student, is the highest-ranking al Qaeda terrorist to be captured since the 9/11 attacks; only Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri are more senior. (National Post, March 16) “We have said more than once that the Saudi initiative is a matter which we would be ready to treat seriously and we have not altered our position. We hope very much that at the meeting of heads of Arab states to take place in Riyadh, the positive elements expressed in the Saudi initiative will be revalidated and will perhaps improve the chances of negotiation between us and the Palestinian Authority.”Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, explaining to his Cabinet on Sunday that Israel is following developments in the Arab world, and noting “positive developments” among moderate Arab countries, and therefore, Israel is open to discussing the 2002 Saudi peace initiative. Israel has stated for the record that there are, however, terms in the initiative that it will not accept: withdrawal from all territories captured in the 1967 Middle East war and the return of Palestinian refugees to what is now Israel. (Jerusalem Post, March 10; National Post, March 12) “In a speech Wednesday to a joint session of Congress, Jordan's King Abdullah made the remarkable claim that ‘the wellspring of regional division, the source of resentment and frustration far beyond, is the denial of justice and peace in Palestine.’ Solve that, he said, and ‘hope to our region's people’ could be restored… On Monday, 38 Iraqis were killed and 100 injured by a car bomb in downtown Baghdad. Apparently, King Abdullah would have us believe that the Sunni terrorists behind that massacre of their fellow Arabs were registering a protest against Israel's occupation of the West Bank. Perhaps he also thinks that the murder in 2005 of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri was a function of Israeli policies, and not of Syria's desire to dominate its neighbor. Ditto for the internecine fighting among Palestinians, repression in Egypt and al Qaeda's efforts to unseat the House of Saud.”Wall Street Journal editorial, lamenting the “blame Israel” mindset that plagues the Arab world. (WSJ, March 9) “Hamas went to a picnic with the U.S. Satan and his Saudi agent.”Al Qaeda’s second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri, accusing Hamas of serving U.S. interests by agreeing to “respect” past Palestinian accords with Israel in a Saudi-brokered deal with the U.S.-backed Fatah faction. “Hamas is undermining the minds and feelings of Muslims and says it will respect instead of comply… respect is higher than compliance,” Zawahri said. (National Post, Mar. 12) “Millions of women throughout the Islamic world are denied their just rights because of misogynist extremism within their faith. One hope for relieving their plight is the war on terrorbut the UN pays only lip service to that struggle.”National Post columnist Stewart Bell, writing on the importance of defending women’s rights. “The extent to which the defeat of the extremists targeted by the war on terror will benefit women is captured in the last will and testament of 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta, who stipulated that no woman be allowed to mourn him, attend his funeral or even go near his grave. He considered women that vile.” (National Post, Mar. 10) UN BODY PLANNING 4 NEW RESOLUTIONS AGAINST ISRAEL (Geneva)– The Human Rights Council is set to hear a report compiled by UN Special Rapporteur John Dugard that compares Israeli actions in the territories to that of the former apartheid system in South Africa. According to Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based organization that monitors UN human rights activities, this new session which started in Geneva on Monday and runs until April 5, will place Israel under permanent investigation for its "violations" of international law in the territoriesuntil such time as it withdraws to the pre-1967 border. The UN Human Rights Council was created in June to replace the Human Rights Commission, which was scrapped because of its inclusion of notorious human-rights violators and repeatedly singling out of Israel. But since its inception, the new 47-member bodywhich includes Cuba, Saudi Arabia and Chinahas continued to single out the Jewish State. It has issued eight anti-Israel resolutions, and the Islamic group is planning four more in the current session, this while no other country has been cited for human rights violations. It has also held three special sessions on Israel. (New York Times, March 11; Jer. Post, March 13) SAVIOUR OF JEWISH CHILDREN HONOURED(Poznan, Poland) Thousands of children imprisoned behind the walls of the Warsaw ghetto found salvation in the form of Irena Sendler, who smuggled them out in workmen’s bags or through the sewers, before taking them to safety and hiding them with friendly families around the city. On March 14, Sendler, now 97, was honored as a national heroine by the Polish parliament for saving 2,500 Jewish children during WWII. “Every child saved with my help is the justification of my existence on this Earth, and not a title to glory,” Sendler said in a letter, read out by Elzbieta Ficowska at the ceremony, who was six months old when she was saved from the ghetto by Sendler’s group. Sendler will be honored at Beth Shalom Emmanuel Temple in Montreal on May 27. (Daily Telegraph-UK, March 15) HUNGARY’S JEWISH LEADERS FEAR ATTACKS(Budapest) Leaders of Hungary’s Jewish community have called on the country’s Jewish residents to raise their alert level ahead of the upcoming March 15 national holiday out of concern that right-wing extremists would use the occasion to stage anti-Semitic demonstrations, Eran Elbaz, the director of the Jewish Agency in Eastern Europe, said March 8. (Jerusalem Post, Mar. 8) FIVE QASSAM ROCKETS HIT SOUTH ISRAEL(Gaza) A day after the new Palestinian unity government was sworn in, terror organizations in Gaza signalled that they plan to continue firing rockets at Israel. After a relative period of calm, five Qassam rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip on March 18 in three different barrages. One of the rockets landed in Ashkelon’s southern industrial zone, near a strategic facility. The rest of the rockets landed south of Ashkelon and in open areas in the western Negev. There were no reports of injuries. The rockets were fired by members of the al-Quds Brigades, the Islamic Jihad’s military wing. (Ynet News, March 18) HAMAS MEMBERS TRAINING IN IRAN(Jerusalem) The Director of Shin Bet, Israel’s Security Agency, Yuval Diskin, was quoted March 13 as saying to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, that Hamas has sent hundreds of men to Iran for prolonged training periods. According to Member of Knesset Zvi Hendel, Diskin “is very concerned that in another two or three years, it will be very difficult to deal with the problem called the Gaza Strip.” Diskin also told the committee that 31 tons of explosive material has been smuggled into the Gaza Strip in the last year by terror groups and that the Palestinians are taking advantage of the relative calm and restraint shown by the Israel Defense Forces to bolster its arms and improve the range of its rocket fire. (Ha’aretz, March 13) HAMAS SNIPER ATTACKS ISRAELI CIVILIAN(Nahal Oz, Israel) A Palestinian sniper fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip on Monday, March 19, injuring Kobi Ohayon, a 42-year-old worker with Israel’s electric company. Hamas has claimed responsibility for the attack., which Israeli spokesmen said was proof that Israel could not conduct a dialogue with Hamas. (Ynet News, Mar. 19) GAZA GUNMEN FIRE ON UN CAR(Jerusalem) In what was apparently a kidnapping attempt, Palestinian gunmen on March 16 fired 44 bullets into the armoured car of the Gaza director of the UN refugee agency. John Ging was returning to Gaza from Israel through the Erez checkpoint in a white armoured car clearly marked with the UN insignia and flag, and accompanied by two other UN cars. The cars were blocked near Beit Hanun by a white Subaru from which three masked gunmen jumped out and began firing their weapons in the air. “They tried to force open the car, and when the driver began to pull out, they opened fire,” Ging said. No one was hurt. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Hamas-led government, Ghazi Hamad, said it had definite information about who kidnapped the BBC’s Gaza correspondent, Alan Johnston, on March 19. The kidnappers are believed to belong to a powerful Gaza clan that regularly engages in criminal activity (New York Times, March 14, 17) USAID FUNDS UNIVERSITIES WITH LINKS TO HAMAS (Washington, D.C.) The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has, over the years, given millions of dollars to two universities with links to Hamas. USAID gave $140,000 directly to the Hamas-controlled Islamic University in Gaza since 2004, while contributing millions of dollars through the American Near East Refugee Aid Program to build a high-tech facility for the school. USAID also gave $2.3 million last year to Al-Quds University, which, while not controlled by Hamas, still has student groups on campus that are affiliated with known terrorist organizations. Just last month Al-Quds University held a week-long festival to commemorate the man credited with designing the first suicide bomber belts. Since 2004, US law bans giving aid to organizations or individuals “involved in or advocating terrorist activity. (Washington Times, Mar. 5) SUSPECTED PALESTINIAN SUICIDE BOMBER CAUGHT(Cairo) A Palestinian arrested March 19 by Egyptian authorities was planning to carry out a suicide attack inside Israel. An Egyptian official, Capt. Muhammad Badr of the North Sinai Peninsula police unit, said the man had confessed to belonging to Hamas and to planning a suicide attack in Israel. Salah Adnan Saleh Abdel-Salam, was arrested after he left a mosque in the border city of el-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula. Meanwhile, on a helicopter ride to the Gaza border for a briefing and close-up look at Hamas’s fast-paced and unprecedented military build-up, PM Ehud Olmert was told that dozens of tunnels connect Rafah with the Sinai Desert. They are used daily to smuggle explosives and weaponry across the border and into PA territory. (Jer. Post, March 15, 19) SURVEY: ‘ISRAEL HAS NO RIGHT TO EXIST’(New York) A February survey of West Bank and Gaza Palestinians by the Near East Consulting firm found that 66 percent of respondents agreed that “Israel has no right to exist” and 51 percent said that “Hamas should maintain its position on the elimination of Israel.” (New York Post, March 18) Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism | ISPS | yiisa.program@yale.edu
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