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Prepared for the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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To contact the Presidents Conference: click here In-Depth Issues:
Jerusalem Should Stay Entirely Under Israeli Control - U.S. National Survey (Israel Project)
Saudi Arabia's Top Cleric Denies Inviting Israelis to Interreligious Talks (Jerusalem Post)
Arab Rights Groups Slam Saudi Death Fatwa - Andrew Hammond (Reuters)
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a nonbinding resolution Tuesday urging the U.S. government to ensure that the rights of Jewish refugees from Arab lands be recognized in any final peace deal between Israel and the Arabs. (JTA) See also U.S. Congress Recognizes Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries for First Time - Shlomo Shamir According to the unprecedented resolution, U.S. officials involved in Middle East peace negotiations which also reference the Palestinian refugee question are to "also include a similarly explicit reference to the resolution of the issue of Jewish refugees from Arab countries." "Jewish refugees outnumbered Palestinian refugees, and their forced exile from Arab lands must not be omitted from public discussion on the peace process," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY). (Ha'aretz) See also The Palestinian Refugee Issue: Rhetoric vs. Reality - Sidney Zabludoff Number of Jewish refugees in 1948 and following years: close to 1,000,000. Number of Palestinian refugees in 1948: 550,000, plus 100,000 (net) in 1967. Jewish refugees' assets lost in Middle East and North Africa: $6 billion. Palestinian refugees' assets lost: $3.9 billion (in 2007 dollars). The writer is an international economist who has worked on numerous economic issues at the CIA, White House, and Treasury, as well as issues of restitution of assets stolen by the Nazis. (Jewish Political Studies Review) Roadside bombings of American troops in Iraq were occurring with unnerving regularity when military investigators made a disturbing discovery: American-made computer circuits sold to a trading company in the United Arab Emirates had turned up in the bomb detonators. Last year the Bush administration cited the diversion of the computer circuits to Iran, and eventually Iraq, as proof that the UAE was failing to prevent American technology from slipping into the wrong hands, and it is unclear that much has changed. Administration officials said aircraft parts, specialized metals and gas detectors that have a potential military use had also moved through Dubai, one of the emirates, to Iran, Syria or Pakistan. As many as 400,000 Iranians live in the emirates, many of them traders who track down goods in the sprawling consumer bazaar of Dubai and then re-export them to Iran, at times ignoring UN trade sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program and a broader U.S. embargo. "This was a huge sieve," said Lisa A. Prager, a former top Commerce export control official. "Almost nothing that said it was going to UAE was staying in UAE." (New York Times) Muslim and Western nations clashed at the UN on Tuesday after a measure backed by Islamic countries added monitoring religious prejudice to the duties of the UN investigator on freedom of opinion and expression, responsible for reporting on repressive governments' restriction of free speech. The change sponsored by Egypt and Pakistan now requires him to also report acts that constitute "abuse of the right of freedom of expression." The change was seen as a move against forms of expression that have offended Muslims, such as cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The U.S., Canada and some European countries said the measure could curtail freedom of expression and help dictatorial regimes block dissenting views. "The resolution adopted attempts to legitimize the criminalization of expression," said U.S. Ambassador Warren W. Tichenor. (AP) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Intelligence officers told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday that Hizbullah "is growing stronger on all levels, improving its systems, its units and is receiving a great deal of weapons and missiles for medium and long distances. Hizbullah is readying itself for an escalation that may break out in the North as a result of an operation against Israel." "Hizbullah is operating in southern Lebanon [south of the Litani river], mostly in the villages, in secret and in civilian garb." (Ha'aretz) A Hamas gunman was arrested in Egypt for plotting to assassinate a senior Fatah official who was visiting the country, the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat reported Tuesday. Egyptian sources said that at the time of his arrest, Ayman Nufel was in possession of an automatic assault rifle and explosives. (Ynet News) Two people were wounded Tuesday when Palestinians in Gaza fired a mortar shell at Kibbutz Netiv Ha'asara. The mortar shell also damaged a building and a power line. (Ha'aretz) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
In 2006, Israel came under attack from the Lebanese-based terror group Hizbullah. Its leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, is on record as saying: "If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew. Notice, I do not say the Israeli." Anti-Semitism is finding new allies, making new connections, gathering new force. Learned magazines devote thousands of words to the pernicious nature of Jewish influence on Western governments, and senior commentators then celebrate the delicious courage of this novel argument. Academics, without apparently being conscious of the irony, argue for a boycott of Israeli thinkers in the name of freedom. It is one of the grave distempers of our times, this prejudice towards the Jewish people, their nation and their collective identity. And one of the tasks of our times is its exposure, its combating and its defeat. (Times-UK) Less than 24 hours after the "Fitna" (strife) documentary was posted on the Internet, one third of the Dutch population had seen it. The film, made by Geert Wilders, addresses extreme violence, incitement and hatred emanating from the Muslim world. The movie's strength is the cumulative effect of mass murders, incitement and hatred all shown within a few minutes and all resulting from the same worldview. Where it goes radically wrong is by suggesting that the Koran must necessarily lead to these crimes and that all Islam is violent. Its reprehensible exaggeration makes Wilders and the movie an easy target for criticism, creating a heyday for appeasers and deniers. He has squandered part of his unique opportunity to expose the Muslim violence issue effectively and concisely worldwide. The writer directs the Post-Holocaust and Anti-Semitism project at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. (Jerusalem Post) Observations: IDF: World Health Organization Report "Completely Wrong" - Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post)
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