By Barry Rubin

The port of Oktyabrsk is situated on the left bank of the Bug River, 58 km. north of the entry to the Black Sea. Close to the city of Nikolayev, this anonymous Ukrainian port could not seem further from the strife-torn Middle East.

Yet in the last year, Oktyabrsk has played a key role in the international structure that enables the survival of the Assad dictatorship in Syria. It is the main point from which ships bearing the Russian arms that underwrite the Assad regime’s survival set off undisturbed on their journey to the Syrian coast.

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by Nidra Poller*

The play within the play

In October 2011 an extraordinary opportunity to apprehend the ill-defined “Middle East” conflict was offered in the form of a play within the play. Discourse was disabled by flesh and blood images acting out the drama with exquisite unity and perfect casting. Playing the role of Israel, Gilad Shalit, courageous survivor of five years of unspeakable deprivation, emerged frail, pale but gloriously resistant. The little that we know of the conditions of his imprisonment is already too much. Kidnapped at the age of 19 near the Kerem Shalom crossing in Israel (two IDF soldiers were killed in the cross-border attack), held in some sort of dungeon, starved of human company, starved of daylight, undernourished, not even given eyeglasses with which to see the ugly contours of his constricted world, Gilad stood before us, a miraculous survivor. The celestial light of dignity suffused his flesh and bones with metaphysical force.

What decent human being would not have misgivings about the release, in exchange for Shalit, of 1027 murderers, thieves, and thugs determined to use their liberation as a license to renew the persecution of Israeli Jews? And who could not feel, seeing the first images of Gilad roughly handled by Hamas and Egyptian intermediaries, that no price was too dear for the release of one single human being from the tomb in which he was jailed and left to slowly extinguish like a flame without oxygen.

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A briefing by Michael Rubin*

Michael Rubin, a former editor of the Middle East Quarterly, is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior lecturer at the Naval Postgraduate School. He formerly served as a political adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq and has written extensively about Iranian history and politics. He is the author of Into the Shadows: Radical Vigilantes in Khatami’s Iran (2001) and the co-author of Eternal Iran (2005). On March 19, Rubin addressed the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia about the efficacy of sanctions on Iran as well as the prospect and logistics of an Israeli strike.

Can sanctions against the Iranian regime be effective? Michael Rubin addressed this question by citing Tehran’s former nuclear negotiator, who revealed that previous suspensions of Iranian nuclear enrichment had merely been temporary ploys aimed at ameliorating international pressure and preventing a UN consensus on sanctions. Rubin argued that Iran’s bleak current economic outlook is due not to sanctions but to the regime’s mismanagement of the economy.

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Thanks to HonestReporting, you can easily speak your mind to the UN and sign the “We demand the dismissal of Khulood Badawi” petition (click on this link):

Dear Head of UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),

We, the undersigned, demand that the UN immediately terminate its association with Khulood Badawi, an employee at the OCHA.

Badawi has proven unreliable as a source of information by using her Twitter account to spread false and harmful information about Israel. She has refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing or apologize for spreading propaganda. It is inappropriate for a UN employee to engage in political activism and the UN must disassociate itself from her immediately.

SIGN THE PETITION

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A UN “media official,” one Khulood Badawi, paid by U.S. and European taxpayers, has blatantly spread lies about Israel. This “official” (liar and inciter of violence) tried to pawn off a photo on Twitter which showed a poor Palestinian girl allegedly injured in an Israeli airstrike, while in reality, the girl was hurt “by falling off a swing.” This picture, taken in 2006 by Reuters, had already been used to smear Israel, but Reuters retracted and apologized for this misinformation. The facts were uncovered by HonestReporting (here and here). Her UN agency’s, “own website espouses that ‘humanitarian actors must not take sides in hostilities or engage in controversies of a political, racial, religious or ideological nature.’”

TAKE ACTION NOW: Write to the UN and urge it to summarily dismiss Badawi. You can use this sample text: “Ms. Khulood Badawi must be immediately dismissed from employment at the UN. She has acted in an unethical manner, possibly inciting violence, and committed libel against the nation of Israel. She falsely tweeted an image of a 2006 Reuters photo of a Palestinian girl who died in a playground or car accident, not as a result of anything done by Israel. This type of conduct violates all professional and civilized standards. The UN, claiming to represent all world nations, must be held to the highest of standards.” But I urge you to use your own words and keep it civil. Click on this link to send your message:

http://www.un.org/en/contactus/contactform.asp

Click here for more information.

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Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of all the bigots constantly slandering or committing libel against Israel. Common sense people know that the United Nations (UN) is a constant source of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment (same thing), but it is still disturbing to find that another UN “media official,” one Khulood Badawi, paid by U.S. and European taxpayers, blatantly spreads lies about Israel. This “official” (liar and inciter of violence) tried to pawn off a photo on Twitter which showed a poor Palestinian girl allegedly injured in an Israeli airstrike, while in reality, the girl was hurt “by falling off a swing.” This picture, taken in 2006 by Reuters, had already been used to smear Israel, but Reuters retracted and apologized for this misinformation. From HonestReporting (here and here):

Two photos tweeted in the past 24 hours, both allegedly depicting the results of Israeli air strikes in Gaza in recent days, have been proven false.

1. The photo first tweeted by Khulood Badawi (@KhuloodBadawi) and later by Diana Alzeer (@ManaraRam), allegedly depicting a Palestinian girl killed by an Israeli air strike yesterday, was proven to have originated in 2006 and to have had nothing at all to do with Israeli action. This photo is now the top tweet for #Gaza, with over 300 retweets. It is completely false. …

Further research revealed that the photo was taken in 2006 by Reuters, and that the girl, initially thought to have been killed in an Israeli air strike, was injured by falling off a swing. When confronted with this information, Alzeer stated that the photo was taken last night and forwarded to the press that day. …

In fact, the photo was taken by Reuters on August 9, 2006. It was originally released with an incorrect caption, and then corrected a day later…

… Call on the UN to take the appropriate action by contacting the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs through its Contact page - http://www.unocha.org/contact …

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by Daniel Pipes*

Of all the issues that drive the Arab-Israeli conflict, none is more central, malign, primal, enduring, emotional, and complex than the status of those persons known as Palestine refugees.

The origins of this unique case, notes Nitza Nachmias of Tel Aviv University, goes back to Count Folke Bernadotte, the United Nations Security Council’s mediator. Referring to those Arabs who fled the British mandate of Palestine, he argued in 1948 that the UN had a “responsibility for their relief” because it was a UN decision, the establishment of Israel, that had made them refugees. However inaccurate his view, it still remains alive and potent and helps explain why the UN devotes unique attention to Palestine refugees pending their own state.

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by Phyllis Chesler

Jews and HIndus have both been victims of attempted extermination by Islamics. Of course, not all Muslims are terrorists. But today, most terrorists are Muslims. A speech to Hindu youth in Pune.

On January 8, 2012, I delivered a rather passionate speech in Pune, India via Skype. I was invited to do so by “Youth 4 Panun Kashmir.” The organizers were especially interested in my drawing parallels between Israel and India, Jews and Hindus both of whom have, historically, been genocidally exterminated and driven out of their holy places.

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By Gary Gerofsky

The obsession of the EU, the USA, the UN, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Russia and even the Vatican to interfere in Israel’s domestic and foreign policy reminds me of the treatment of a Big Brother who has failed to do right in his past and thinks that he can make amends by forcing little brother to make all the sacrifices that Big Brother never has and never will make to satisfy a guilty conscience.

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By Barry Rubin

What is the definition of insanity? Repeating the same behavior and expecting different results.

What is the definition of Middle East policy insanity? Intensifying the same behavior that has already failed and expecting a better result.

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By Fern Sidman

Speaking before an overflow audience at the Kingsway Jewish Center in Brooklyn on Tuesday evening November 1st, Helen Freedman, the executive director of Americans For A Safe Israel (AFSI) told those gathered at the Zionism Museum and Education Center that, “the current political climate in Israel demands our active concern and our concrete participation. As the government of Israel acquiesces to world pressure and maintains a timorous posture towards the Arabs, as UNESCO sanitizes the Palestinian Authority, we are witnessing an all out assault against the intrepid settler movement.”

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By Barry Rubin

Every day in the Middle East, terrible things take place. The worst are the material acts of violence and oppression. The second-worst are the lies and distortions of truth that help ensure things don’t get better. Every day in the West, the lies are echoed, amplified, and invented. This also helps ensure things don’t get better in the Middle East and that they do get worse in the West.

Now I’ve found, from the most unexpected place, a single sentence, an ancient proverb, that explains it all. It comes from the Navahos and it goes like this:

You cannot awaken someone who pretends to be sleeping.

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by Asaf Romirowsky*

Following the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas has attempted to convince the world and the international community that their quest for statehood is just. Moreover, he would like us to believe that this “state” is responsible and accountable and deserves to be part of the community of nations. Yet it is puzzling, to say the least, that simultaneously we are witnessing a significant escalation of violence under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority such as the latest attacks in the southern parts of Israel.

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by Phyllis Chesler

And now it seems as if I am standing still while the years quickly swirl round me like autumn leaves, like diamond snowflakes. As one ages, time seems to gather speed.

Paradoxically, this particular moment in history seems to be taking place in slow motion. It seems we have been here before — but really, it is always new, always happening as if for the first time.

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By Fern Sidman

In his much awaited speech before the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas officially asked the UN for recognition of a Palestinian state to rounds of applause, except for US Delegate Susan Rice and the Israeli delegation, in the automatically pro-Arab body.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, UN Ambassador Ron Prosor, and later Minister for Diaspora Affairs Yuli Edelstein, left the room.

Abbas started his speech by referring to Israel as “an occupying power who has committed ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, pushing them away from their ancestral homeland,” ignoring UN recognition of the state of Israel in 1948.

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