Who will endorse Palestine?

How will Germany vote? What about Japan? Ynet maps out global interests ahead of Palestinian UN bid

Ynetnews
by Ronen Medzini

On September 20th, the Palestinian Authority will submit its statehood bid at the United Nations General Assembly; the process will culminate with the UN's 193 member states voting on recognizing a Palestinian state. What can we expect at the vote?

Officials in Jerusalem presume that should a vote indeed take place, the Palestinians will win an automatic majority thanks to the guaranteed support of the 116 "non aligned" states," which tend to vote as a bloc and promote joint interests. Hence, Foreign Ministry officials are focusing their efforts at what they refer to as the "moral majority," that is, large, influential states – this list includes the 27 members of the European Union, global powers, and several other key states.
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Column One: Glenn Beck’s revealing visit

In general, Israeli media responded to Beck’s visit either as a non-event, or distorted who Beck is and what he is trying to do

The Jerusalem Post
by Caroline B. Glick

American media superstar Glenn Beck’s visit to Israel this week was a revealing and remarkable event. It revealed what it takes to be a friend of Israel. And it revealed the causes of Israel’s difficulty in telling its enemies from its friends.

Many world leaders, opinion-shapers and other notables protest enduring friendship with Israel. From Washington to London, Paris to Spain, policy- makers and other luminaries preface all their remarks to Jewish audiences with such statements. Once their declarations are complete – and often without taking a breath – they proceed to denounce Israel’s policies and to deny its basic rights.

US President Barack Obama exemplifies this practice. Obama always begins his statements on Israel by proclaiming his enduring friendship for Israel. Then he tells us to deny Jewish property rights, accept indefensible borders, or desist from defending ourselves from aggression.
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Arab Spring for Dummies

Last year, Israel had three stable borders and one unstable border. Now that the Arab Spring has turned into Terror Summer, those numbers have flipped around. Israel’s border with Egypt has become as troubled as the Lebanese border. And the Syrian border is following close behind.

FrontPage Magazine
by Daniel Greenfield

Obama had thought to use the Arab Spring as the linchpin of his reelection campaign, tying the unrest that brought down Mubarak to his Cairo speech. But the ugly turn of events in the region has him distancing himself from events instead.
The Arab Spring did not become the Soft Power alternative to the Bush Doctrine that his advisers expected it to be. Instead the economic protests exploited by State Department backed activists are sliding formerly pro-American countries into the Islamist camp. Read more »

With Glenn Beck by the Temple’s Walls | Rubin Reports

Glenn Beck’s program in Israel went off without a hitch, ending in a rally on the southern side of the Old City of Jerusalem. About 1000 people were in attendance, mostly Americans (contrary to the media coverage, a number of the Americans were Jews not Evangelicals) who’d come to Jerusalem at Beck’s urging, but with a sprinkling of Israelis, including a fair proportion of Orthodox Jews.

With the Old City walls to his right and in front of him, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque looming quite close, Beck handled himself with a mixture of audaciousness toward his enemies and sensitivity toward his friends. He announced a global movement, to be headquartered in Texas, to encourage average people to act against injustice, though the details of its scope and goals weren’t clear. Since you won’t get any real coverage in the media, here is the full text of the speech. Read more »

More by Barry Rubin:

 JPost | Beck gets it right when it comes to the big picture issues

As Jews, and Israelis most of all, should know, to be falsely reviled is not proof of being wrong or evil.

Having studied the Middle East professionally for 35 years, and with a PhD in Middle East history, let me make it perfectly clear: Glenn Beck, who is holding several rallies in Israel this week, has a better grasp of Middle East politics than most Western experts, as well as some Western leaders. Read more »

Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood threatens Israel's ambassador: "Zionist envoy, leave Egypt or die" | Jihad Watch

More glories of the Arab Spring from the genocide-minded, Nazi-loving Egyptian demonstrators. "‘Zionist Envoy, Leave Egypt or Die,' Demonstrators Demand," by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu for Israel National News, August 23 (thanks to all who sent this in):

[...] “Revolution,” cried out Muslim Brotherhood activists. “Revolution is stronger than the Zionist attackers. The entire Egyptian people are Hamas.”
One hostile placard threatened that the ambassador must “get out [of Egypt] or die here.”

The demonstrators also proclaimed, “Oh Zionist traitor, blood and fire are between you and us.“ They charged that “Zionists mock us with calls for peace, and their principles offend Muslim [sic].”..."

Source: Jihad Watch

Beck Announces Global Movement to Defend Israel

Jews have human rights, too

Until Palestinians recognize this, we will never have peace.

JPost
by Roz Rothstein and Roberta Seid

The recent coordinated terrorist attacks on Israel and the latest poll of Palestinian public opinion offer insight into why Middle East peace remains so elusive: The Palestinian public is simply unwilling to recognize the human rights of Jews.

Consider Palestinians’ reactions to the grisly coordinated attacks against Israel last Thursday. Terrorists assaulted travelers and soldiers in the South with gunfire, mortars, anti-tank missiles and two suicide bombers. Eight civilians – including two kindergarten teachers and their husbands who were going to vacation in Eilat – and two soldiers were murdered; 30 were wounded. A four-year-old and a sevenyear- old child were among those hurt.

Officials from Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, denied direct responsibility, but praised the coordinated attack. Hamas websites and some websites associated with Fatah, the political group that governs the West Bank, celebrated the assault.
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Egyptians plan million-man rally against Israel | Ynetnews

Facebook groups call for mass protest outside Israeli embassy in Cairo, as protesters demand ambassador be expelled, embassy be closed.

...protesters continue to demonstrate outside the embassy for the fifth day in a row. They called out "Expel the ambassador immediately". Others gathered outside the ambassador's Cairo residence and called fellow citizens to join them in order to "force the ambassador to leave Egypt".
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Glenn Beck Restoring Courage

Should Israel Welcome Glenn Beck's Support? Hudson New York | by Alan M. Dershowitz

All decent people, whether on the left or the right, should support Israel's right to exist as the democratic nation state of the Jewish people. All decent people should support Israel's right to defend its civilians from terrorist attacks. All reasonable people should favor a just peace that assures Israel's ability to thrive in a dangerous neighborhood and to defend its borders.

These issues should not divide decent people along ideological or political lines. Israel's existence and right to defend itself should be bipartisan issues, not only in the United States, but in all democratic countries of the world.

The reality, however, is very different. The Jewish state is demonized by the hard left in America, by virtually the entire left in much of Europe, and by most of the left and right in Ireland, Norway and Sweden. Its right to exist is denied by a high proportion of Arabs and Muslims, and most of the Arab and Muslim nations do not have diplomatic relations with Israel.

In many circles, anti-Zionism easily morphs into anti-Semitism, and in some countries Jews are afraid to walk the streets wearing any clothing or symbols that identify them as Jewish.

The general assembly of the United Nations has become the world's new Der Sturmer, whose podium hosts, and many of whose audience members cheer, virulent anti-Semites such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Read more »

Australia pulls out of Durban conference | The Australian

AUSTRALIA has pulled out of the United Nations Durban conference to combat racism on grounds that it would likely to be a repeat of the initial racist and anti-semitic event. Read more »

Australia now is part of the anti-Durban camp, which includes Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, Israel, the United States, and the Czech Republic.

New Cypriot FM makes Israel 2nd port of call | JPost

This will be Kozakou-Marcoullis’s second trip since becoming foreign minister, her first being a trip to Greece some 12 days ago.

New Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis will visit Israel on Wednesday, less than three weeks after taking over her new post, in what is widely viewed as a sign of the importance Cyprus now attributes to ties with Israel. Read more »

Israeli energy talks ‘very serious’ | Cyprus mail
The two governments would also discuss Turkey’s warning to Cyprus not to go ahead with plans to explore and drill for natural gas.
In recent weeks, the Turkish leadership has warned Cyprus against making any moves that might ignore the rights of Turkish Cypriots, saying that if gas exploration goes ahead, it will take “appropriate measures”. Read more »

Is Terrorism Against Israel Really More Justified Than Terrorism Against Norway? Hudson New York | by Alan M. Dershowitz

In a recent interview, Norway's Ambassador to Israel has suggested that Hamas terrorism against Israel is more justified than the recent terrorist attack against Norway.

His reasoning is that, "We Norwegians consider the occupation to be the cause of the terror against Israel." In other words terrorism against Israeli citizens is the fault of Israel. The terrorism against Norway, on the other hand, was based on "an ideology that said that Norway, particularly the Labor Party, is foregoing Norwegian culture." It is hard to imagine that he would make such a provocative statement without express approval from the Norwegian government.

I can't remember many other examples of so much nonsense compressed in such short an interview. First of all, terrorism against Israel began well before there was any "occupation". The first major terrorist attack against Jews who had long lived in Jerusalem and Hebron began in 1929, when the leader of the Palestinian people, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, ordered a religiously-motivated terrorist attack that killed hundreds of religious Jews-many old, some quite young. Terrorism against Jews continued through the 1930s. Once Israel was established as a state, but well before it captured the West Bank, terrorism became the primary means of attacking Israel across the Jordanian, Egyptian and Lebanese borders. If the occupation is the cause of the terror against Israel, what was the cause of all the terror that preceded any occupation? Read more »

Jon Voight compares Palestinian terrorists to Nazis | JPost

At J'lem Holocaust event organized Glenn Beck, Oscar-winning American actor praises Israel, condemns terror attacks.

Oscar-winning American actor Jon Voight slammed Palestinian terrorism Monday, at a Jerusalem event about the Holocaust organized by broadcaster Glenn Beck.

Voight, who is not Jewish, praised Israel and the Jewish people in his speech. He made reference to suicide bombings and to the March 11 slayings of the Fogel family in Itamar. Read more »

First 'Restoring Courage' Event in Caesarea

Beck: We are entering the age of the miracles of God
JPost | By Jonah Mandel

US media personality opens four-day Restoring Courage rally in Caesarea; 2,000 Christians, mostly Americans, fly in especially for Beck’s event.

The solutions to the problems of our times are not within the reach of political leaders, rather divinity, US pundit Glenn Beck told nearly 3,000 enthusiastic followers in the Caesarea Amphitheater on Sunday night, at the opening event of his four-day Restoring Courage rally.

“I’ve spent the last few years trying to find solutions for what is happening in the world,” he said on the backdrop of the pillars of the grand stage. “While there may not be a political solution, the good news is the God of Abraham ain’t running for office,” he said to loud applause. “Be not afraid, know who he is, know his face, know that he is a God of covenants and miracles. We are leaving the age of man-made miracles of spacecraft, and we are entering the age of the miracles of God.” Read more »

Egyptian protesters promise to destroy Israel

92-Year-Old Palestinian Woman: Palestinians Should Massacre Jews Like We Massacred Them in Hebron