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Tuesday, Dec. 13 '16, י"ג בכסלו תשע"ז
HEADLINES:
1. 'WHY ON EARTH DID NETANYAHU OFFER TRUMP A PALESTINIAN STATE?'
2. IRAN, BOEING SIGN DEAL FOR 80 JETS
3. TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: HE WILL MOVE US EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM
4. ISRAELI ARCHEOLOGISTS RESTORE MARBLE SEAL OF OTTOMAN SULTAN
5. AS BDS RESOLUTIONS STALL, PRO-PALESTINIAN STUDENTS SHIFT TACTICS
6. WHO IS THE BEST SOLDIER IN THE WORLD?
7. REPORT: ISRAEL BOYCOTTING SWEDISH FOREIGN MINISTER
8. TRUMP WIN BUOYS HOPES FOR BUILDING IN JERUSALEM, YESHA
1. 'WHY ON EARTH DID NETANYAHU OFFER TRUMP A PALESTINIAN STATE?'
by Ido Ben Porat
Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan blasted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu over his comments in a 60 Minutes interview broadcast on Sunday, in which the Prime Minister called for President-elect Donald Trump's help in achieving a two-state solution.
In a letter to the Prime Minister on Monday, Dagan slammed what he described as Netanyahu's capitulation to demands not made by an administration not yet even sworn into office.
On Sunday, Netanyahu told 60 Minutes that he remained committed to the two-state solution, and hoped the Trump administration would assist in achieving it.
"I'm willing to negotiate with [the Palestinian Authority] at any moment," said Netanyahu. "I haven't reversed my position. I've said, 'Look, we will solve this because we want two nation states at peace and with the proper security arrangements.' Two states for two peoples…. that's where I'm focused."
"I'd like to have President Trump, when he gets into the White House, help me work on that. I'd like to see if the Arab states can help me achieve that. It's a new reality. A new possibility."
Dagan, a supporter of Trump in the recent election, questioned the logic behind Netanyahu's dovish turn.
"These comments were made right after the Republican Party itself removed the two-state solution from its own party platform," said Dagan, "as a gesture to the State of Israel."
"I can't begin to understand why the leader of the national camp would place himself to the left of the US government and offer them what they haven't even asked for."
Such statements, Dagan added, were not merely counterproductive, but could be seriously damaging to Israel in the long run, worsening an already precarious geopolitical position.
"These comments at this time could potentially be very dangerous for the State of Israel…it could bring political disaster and cause us to miss a historic opportunity."
2. IRAN, BOEING SIGN DEAL FOR 80 JETS
by Hillel Fendel
Boeing will supply Iran with no fewer than 80 commercial jet liners over the next ten years, beginning in 2018.
The Israel Hayom newspaper reports that though the deal signals commercial normalization between Iran and the U.S., Iran's military is actually threatening to cause a possible military clash with the U.S. Iran's Defense Minister Hussein Dehghan, speaking at security affairs conference in Tehran recently, said that the chances of a serious armed conflict with the U.S. in the Persian Gulf have grown following the election of Donald Trump.
The deal between Chicago-based Boeing and IranAir, valued at $16.6 billion, includes 50 737 jets and 30 of the 777 model. The U.S. Treasury Department gave the OK to Boeing to negotiate the deal with Iran three months ago. The US House of Representatives passed a bill in November seeking to block the sale of the jets to Iran. The bill has not been passed by the Senate.
At the same time, Reuters quoted an Iranian source as saying that an even larger deal is likely to be announced in the coming days with the European consortium Airbus, headquartered in Toulouse, France. The deal is set to include 118 commercial jets.
3. TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: HE WILL MOVE US EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM
by Gary Willig
President-elect Donald Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, confirmed that Trump intends to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Speaking with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on his Monday morning show, Conway said that moving the embassy to Jerusalem "is very big priority for this president-elect, Donald Trump."
"He made it very clear during the campaign, Hugh, and as president-elect I've heard him repeat it several times privately, if not publicly." she continued.
Congress passed a law in 1995 mandating that the US embassy be moved to Israel. The law included a waiver allowing the the President to postpone the move. Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama have all exercised this waiver throughout their presidencies, despite promises to move the embassy.
Conway implied that it was a mistake for past presidents not to move the embassy. "It is something that our friend in Israel, a great friend in the Middle East, would appreciate and something that a lot of Jewish-Americans have expressed their preference for," she said. "It is a great move. It is an easy move to do based on how much he talked about that in the debates and in the sound bites."
David Friedman, one of Trump's advisers on Israel, had previously stated that Trump intended to move the US embassy to Jerusalem.
4. ISRAELI ARCHEOLOGISTS RESTORE MARBLE SEAL OF OTTOMAN SULTAN
by Shlomo Vile
Visitors to Jaffa will now be able to see the original seal of Sultan Abd al-Hamid II on the Jaffa Clock Tower. The tower stands at the northern entrance of Jaffa, the ancient city next to Tel Aviv.
The tower dates to 1903 and was built to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Abd al-Hamid II. It is one of more than 100 such towers built for the occasion throughout the Ottoman Empire. Al-Hamid ruled from 1876 to 1909 and was known for his despotic rule and for the widespread pogroms and government-sanctioned massacres of Armenians and Bulgarians that occurred under his reign. He was the last of the Sultans to exert effective autocratic control over the disintegrating empire.
Over the last year, the tower has undergone considerable conservation measures, sponsored by the Tel-Aviv municipality and under the supervision of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
"During the course of the work, it became apparent that the original marble seal (tughra) bearing the symbol of Sultan Hamid Abdul II was in a poor state of preservation," the Authority said.
The seal was one of four on the structure and the only one that has survived the passage of time. In 2001, three glass replicas of the seal were installed to take the place of the three marble plaques that did not survive.
"Conservators at the IAA, who examined the last original marble seal remaining on the tower, determined that its critical condition required that it be saved," the IAA continued, "hence, it was detached from the wall using chisels and transferred to the conservation laboratory in Jerusalem."
There, conservator Mark Avrahami, performed the reinforcement and restoration work, including a new support for the seal, which had faded completely, and was accentuated utilizing pigments. Upon completion of the work, the marble plaque was returned to its original location two weeks ago.
The seal, or tughra, as it's known, is a calligraphic seal that was affixed to all official documents and correspondence under the Ottomans. The Sultan's tughra was also stamped on the coins minted during his reign.
5. AS BDS RESOLUTIONS STALL, PRO-PALESTINIAN STUDENTS SHIFT TACTICS
by Ben Sales
NEW YORK (JTA) -- When Northwestern University's student Senate passed a resolution in February 2015 asking the university to divest from six corporations they said contributed to the violation of Palestinians' human rights, freshman Ross Krasner was hurt and surprised.
The rhetoric of the measure, portraying Israel as an oppressor, was more extreme than what he had expected. Krasner decided to become more involved with the campus pro-Israel group, Wildcats for Israel, and became its president that May.
A year and a half later, he feels confident the university won't heed the resolution's divestment call, and Krasner has shifted his extracurricular focus on campus -- serving as a student senator, a forum where he can advocate for a range of causes he supports, including but not limited to Israel.
"We knew the whole time the university wasn't going to divest," said Krasner, now a junior. "Because it passed, it's never going to be brought up again." Anti-Israel activists, he said, have "lost their rallying cry. They've lost their thing to mobilize around."
The vote by Northwestern's Associated Student Government Senate was one of three huge campus victories scored by the BDS movement -- which aims to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel -- within two weeks in February 2015. It was preceded by similar votes in the University of California Student Association, representing all U.C. students across the state, and in Stanford University's Undergraduate Senate.
But nearly two years after the BDS three-peat, the wave seems to have receded. Of about a dozen BDS resolutions passed since November 2015, only two or three have come at major universities. A BDS resolution at the University of Michigan failed three weeks ago.
Perhaps most significant, not one university has actually divested from Israel or companies targeted for doing business in Judea and Samaria. After its College Council passed a divestment resolution in April, the University of Chicago released a statement saying an Israel boycott "would only diminish the University's distinctive contribution."
Hillel International President Eric Fingerhut told JTA that the organization has reached out personally to university presidents to lobby them against BDS and has found open ears.
"We have been in touch with university leaders, trustees and administrators to help them oppose, to help them understand why any kind of academic boycott or divestment would be the wrong thing to do," he said. "They've all agreed with that position."
Kenneth Waltzer, executive director of the Academic Engagement Network, a 350-member group of university faculty who oppose BDS, said divestment is a nonstarter for many university boards of trustees because it would violate their commitment to invest funds in a way that would best serve the school. There is not enough consensus on divestment, he said, for it to override concerns of fiduciary responsibility.
"University presidents are responsible," said Waltzer, an emeritus history professor at Michigan State University. "Students can get as excited as they want for a particular issue. They don't have a responsibility for where it goes. Do we want to cut off all our ties with Israel? It's a much more complicated issue."
National pro-Israel groups have invested millions of dollars in fighting BDS since 2010. In June 2015, Sheldon Adelson, the casino mogul, Jewish philanthropist and Republican megadonor, raised a reported $20 million at a summit launching a new group to fight BDS on campus. That same month, the Israeli government pledged some $25 million in anti-BDS funding over 10 years. In soliciting the money, leaders of national organizations portrayed BDS movements as the central threat to Israel on campus.
Pro-Israel groups now believe the threat has shifted as BDS has failed to make concrete gains in terms of divestment. They say that anti-Israel groups have pivoted from pushing divestment resolutions to protesting, and in some cases disrupting, pro-Israel events and speakers on campus.
But Ben Lorber, campus coordinator for the pro-BDS Jewish Voice for Peace, said divestment resolutions and protests at events serve the same purpose: sparking conversation about Palestinian rights. He predicted that BDS resolutions would re-emerge next semester with the approach of the 50th anniversary of the Six-Day War between Israel and Arab states, as a result of which Judea and Samaria came under Israeli control.
"The larger goal is to educate the community as a whole," Lorber said. "Divestment is so effective because it gets the whole campus talking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and looking into these issues. Students are continuing to exercise their free-speech rights to protest injustice on campus and in the world around them."
Wendel Rubinstein, a 2016 University of Chicago graduate who campaigned for divestment, said that BDS activism may have scaled back as students -- especially following the election of Donald Trump -- are refocusing their efforts on demonstrating on behalf of immigrants and vulnerable minorities.
"I think what students have been focused on this year, especially in light of the election results, is building coalitions and solidarity," Rubinstein said. "There's not an actual campaign to push a specific initiative right now" on pressuring the university to divest from Israel.
Last month, more than a year and a half after its student divestment vote, Northwestern announced the establishment of an Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility. The committee will advise the university on how to vote at shareholder meetings, and will include four student representatives among its 10 voting members.
Krasner is concerned that anti-Israel students will be appointed to the committee, but still isn't worried that his school will divest from Israel. More troubling to him is the marginalizing of pro-Israel students in campus social justice movements -- something he has experienced.
Last year, when students at the University of Missouri were protesting issues of racial injustice on their campus, Krasner co-wrote a resolution supporting the protests as a Northwestern student senator. But he was pressured to withdraw his name from the resolution, he said, after a senator supporting the campus African-American student group, as well as the campus Students for Justice in Palestine, objected to his pro-Israel activism.
Krasner called the incident "a very hurtful thing that happened to me."
"I'm constantly learning about what it means to be an ally to marginalized communities," he said. "As someone who says, 'No, I don't support BDS,' it's a challenge I wasn't prepared for coming in."
6. WHO IS THE BEST SOLDIER IN THE WORLD?
by ILTV
[brightcove:2021987]
7. REPORT: ISRAEL BOYCOTTING SWEDISH FOREIGN MINISTER
by Elad Benari
Israel is boycotting Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom's upcoming visit to Israel due to her past anti-Israel statements, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Monday.
According to the report, Wallstrom will arrive in the region on Thursday, but will not meet Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who also serves as Foreign Minister, or any other Israeli minister.
The Swedish Minister reportedly sought to hold meetings with Netanyahu and other Cabinet ministers during her visit, and was told that their schedules do not allow for such meetings. Sources, however, told Yedioth Ahronoth that Wallstrom in fact is not welcomed in Israel.
The newspaper noted that, despite not having meetings scheduled with Israeli officials, the Swedish Foreign Minister decided to visit the region anyway and meet with Palestinian Authority (PA) officials.
Wallstrom has several times in the past caused an uproar in Israel with her statements. In 2014, then-Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman denounced Sweden's decision to recognize the PA as "the State of Palestine", saying that "relations in the Middle East are a lot more complex than the self-assembly furniture of IKEA".
Wallstrom later replied and said she would be "happy" to send Liberman some IKEA furniture "and he will also see that what you need to put that together is, first of all, a partner."
Following that incident, Wallstrom accused Israel of being "extremely aggressive" and accused the Jewish state of "irritating its allies".
In December of 2015, she attacked Israel again, claiming during a debate in parliament that Israel was "executing" without trial terrorists who carried out stabbing attacks in Israel.
Several weeks before that, the Swedish minister provoked a firestorm of criticism, when she appeared to blame the terrorist attacks in Paris on "Palestinian frustration" with Israel.
In January, shortly after Wallstrom's remarks, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely announced that Swedish officials are no longer welcome to visit Israel.
8. TRUMP WIN BUOYS HOPES FOR BUILDING IN JERUSALEM, YESHA
by Eliran Baruch
[youtube:2022004]
Jerusalem City Councilor and Israel Land Fund director Arieh King is in the US to raise money and build awareness for Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and east Jerusalem. Arutz Sheva spoke with King, and asked him about his work.
"People here are very optimistic because of the election results," said King. "Many people were afraid of another Democratic president, and now that Republicans are going to be running the White House and the Congress, people are more optimistic and more willing to participate. They're more willing now to put their money where we need it, in new Jewish communities in eastern Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria."
Regarding Amona, King said, "People here are very confused how it is that a right-wing government in Israel is going to demolish Jewish homes and evacuate a Jewish community. It's difficult and complicated to explain to people how come this is happening with Bibi Netanyahu as Prime Minister and Naftali Bennett in the government."
"I explain to them," said King, "that we have a Supreme Court and a Judicial System that is very leftist and is against Jewish settlement of Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem. It's not easy for Americans to understand this, that our systems are not the same."
"Nevertheless, Americans are very optimistic and are willing to get involved in redeeming the Land of Israel and establishing new Jewish places, and I hope that in the next year or two we will see a few changes and new areas of Jews settling, despite all the difficulties we're facing from the courts."
King also spoke about the difficult situation in Jerusalem. "As you know, In Jerusalem we are facing a disaster of tens of thousands of illegal Arab buildings. We in the municipality of Jerusalem, at least I, am trying to do everything I can to urge the mayor of Jerusalem to do something and to demolish all this illegal Arab construction that is happening every day on Jewish, municipal, and state land."
"For years, it was claimed that because of Obama, Israel could not demolish this illegal construction. I'm calling on the government and doing everything I can to convince the Mayor of Jerusalem to systematically destroy these illegal buildings, to approve Jews' building in eastern Jerusalem and to allow Jews to live everywhere we want in eastern Jerusalem."
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