In a presentation on Monday evening to a private gathering at the Herzliya Conference, Mr.Baird, who is on his third visit to Israel, explained why the Harper government “believes so passionately in Israel’s right not only to exist, but to exist as a Jewish state and to live in peace and security.”

patrick martin

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK— From Tuesday’s Globe and Mail

Published Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 8:18PM EST

Last updated Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012 7:49AM EST

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty journeyed to the West Bank on Monday to beard the Palestinian lions in their den.

Over lunch with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, then later with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Foreign Minister Riad Maliki, the Ottawa tag-team went out of its way to impress upon the Palestinian leadership that it should abandon its efforts to obtain United Nations recognition and return to the negotiating table with Israel “without preconditions.”

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It was chutzpah of the highest order.

Adopting a harder line than any of Canada’s allies, Mr. Baird told Mr. Maliki, then repeated it in front of reporters, that it was “profoundly wrong” to take the case for Palestinian statehood to the United Nations, and it is far preferable to resume negotiations with Israel than insist that Israel halt settlement construction before resuming direct talks.

“Unilateral action by either side is not helpful,” Mr. Baird acknowledged in an apparent reference to new Israeli settlement construction. “But the two sides would be better off talking [to each other] rather than not talking.”

As for Hamas, many of whose members are being held in Israeli and Palestinian prisons, Mr. Baird said, “We have no interest in interacting with Hamas. It is a terrorist organization.”

Noting that Hamas is currently in reconciliation talks with Mr. Abbas’s Fatah movement, Mr. Baird set out certain steps Hamas would have to take should it seek Canadian recognition.

“You’re not a terrorist organization,” he said, “if you renounce terrorism … if you recognize the right of Israel to exist … if you support a Jewish homeland in the state of Israel … if you respect and honour peace treaties entered into with Israel.”

The list is in keeping with that set out by the Quartet – the diplomatic group of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations working to forge an Israeli-Palestinian peace. But it has one significant addition: the acceptance of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people, an addition that was carefully noted by Palestinian officials.

For his part, Mr. Maliki employed diplomatic language and described the discussions between him and Mr. Baird as “clear and frank.”

A Palestinian official later said they found Mr. Baird’s bluntness “refreshing.”

“There’s no mistaking where he stands,” the official said, somewhat admiringly.

One positive thing Mr. Baird did emphasize was how “incredibly thrilled” he was with the increase in security in the West Bank, a development that also benefits Israel.

Citing Canada’s assistance in training Palestinian judiciary, police, prosecutors and correction officers, he said, “Canada considers this money well spent.”

While Mr. Baird was making his case with the Palestinian Foreign Minister, Mr. Flaherty was meeting with Jihad al-Wazir, governor of the Palestinian Monetary Authority.

During his time in Israel this week, the Finance Minister is expected to explore ways in which the 15-year-old Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement can be expanded to include trade in services and investment, and its market access for goods improved.

In a presentation on Monday evening to a private gathering at the Herzliya Conference, Mr.Baird, who is on his third visit to Israel, explained why the Harper government “believes so passionately in Israel’s right not only to exist, but to exist as a Jewish state and to live in peace and security.”

In part, he said, it is because “the state of Israel embodies principles that Canada values and respects.”

“It is also, in no small measure,” he added, “because Canada recognizes the long and unbroken history of anti-Semitism.”

“Israel today,” he said, “is a country whose very existence is under attack, both literally and figuratively.”

“Whether it is rockets raining down on Israeli schools, or the constant barrage of rhetorical demonization, double standards and delegitimization, Israel is under attack.”

“The easy thing to do,” Mr. Baird said, “would be simply to go along with anti-Israeli sentiment to get along with other countries.

Taking a swipe at Canada’s own historical stands on Middle East issues, Mr. Baird, who has been Foreign Minister for eight months, said “it would be easier to pretend that engaging in anti-Israeli rhetoric is being somehow even-handed and to excuse it under the false pretence of being an ‘honest broker.’”

“But Canada will not ‘go along to get along,’” he said.

With a report from Campbell Clark in Ottawa

Opinion: The new defenders

Vanguard Leadership Group (VLG), is a vigorous defender of the Jewish state. Last year, for example, VLG took out full-page ads in campus newspapers to counter the accusation that Israel is an apartheid state.

http://www.jewishjournal.com/ david_suissa/article/the_new_defenders_20120125/

David Suissa, Jewishjournal.com

How can you defend Israel without being accused of being a tribal loyalist? You know, the type who thinks Israel is unfairly maligned by most of the world, so they’re always pushing “the other side of the story,” which includes — surprise, surprise — a lot of positive items about the Jewish state.

If you exclude Christian evangelists, who defend Israel for religious reasons, most activists who defend Israel are Jews. This makes sense, of course. Why not defend your family if you think it is being unfairly attacked?

But Jarrod Jordan, an African-American activist from Atlanta, Ga., is neither a Christian evangelist nor a Jew. He didn’t study Zionism growing up and has no relatives in Israel.

And yet his organization, Vanguard Leadership Group (VLG), is a vigorous defender of the Jewish state. Last year, for example, VLG took out full-page ads in campus newspapers to counter the accusation that Israel is an apartheid state.

In an open letter to Students for Justice in Palestine, the group behind Israel Apartheid Week, VLG issued a scathing rebuttal:

“The use of the word ‘apartheid’ by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) in its characterization of Israel is patently false and deeply offensive to all who feel a connection to the state of Israel. Your organization’s campaign against Israel is spreading misinformation about its policies, fostering bias in the media, and jeopardizing prospects for a timely resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“Such irresponsibility is a blemish on your efforts.

“Playing the ‘apartheid card’ is a calculated attempt to conjure up images associated with the racist South African regimes of the 20th century. The strategy is as transparent as it is base. Beyond that, it is highly objectionable to those who know the truth about the Israelis’ record on human rights and how it so clearly contrasts with South Africa’s.

“Under apartheid, black South Africans could not vote and had no rights in a country in which they were the overwhelming majority of the population. SJP has chosen to manipulate rather than inform with this illegitimate analogy. Therefore, we request that you immediately stop referring to Israel as an apartheid society …”

The letter goes on, but you get the idea. This was no soft and nuanced analysis of the “apartheid” accusation. This was vigorous defense: You hit me, I hit you back.

The ad caused a buzz in our community, because it didn’t come from the usual suspects: StandWithUs, the Zionist Organization of America, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), etc. In this case, it was not easy to dismiss VLG as “tribal loyalists who believe Israel can do no wrong.”

So, why did they do it?

“We just wanted to protect the truth,” Jordan told me last week over breakfast at Jerry’s Deli. “Our group deals with plenty of other issues, but this one struck a nerve.”

In fact, the group was founded as an honor society to nurture future leaders in the black community. It attracts top students at the nation’s historically black colleges and universities, who get involved with humanitarian and other worthy causes around the United States and the world. It has won many prizes and has a long list of prominent endorsers and successful alumni.

When Jordan visited Israel a few years ago as part of an AIPAC trip, he saw what he calls “the other side of the story.” That gave him and VLG the idea of countering the apartheid accusation with the campus ads. Since then, his group has attracted interest from several Jewish organizations. While he has no formal association with any of them, a few Jewish groups have used him as a speaker.

This is where I see an opportunity for the Jewish community to do…nothing.

Frankly, I think it’s better for Israel if we allow groups like VLG to do their own thing without too much involvement from the Jewish community. Let’s face it, they have a lot more credibility than we do.

Yes, let’s encourage gays, women, progressives and other minorities to visit Israel and see for themselves what is true and what isn’t. If they visit Israel and decide that it is an apartheid state, it’s our loss. But if they decide that the world has unfairly maligned the Jewish state, as Jarrod Jordan and VLG did, then it’s our win.

The truth is, there’s nothing wrong with fighting back when attacked. Groups who malign Israel during Israel Apartheid Week do not deserve nuance or even-handed engagement. They deserve a sharp rebuttal. 

But it’s a lot more effective when the rebuttal comes from a group who has no skin in the game, and can’t be accused of being tribal loyalists or a front for Jewish Zionist organizations.

Jordan told me he’s planning to bring one of America’s most popular black radio DJ’s to Israel, and, eventually, to bring other prominent members of the African-American community there as well. Let’s cheer him on quietly from the sidelines, and wish him well.

This might be a case where staying away from the Jews is good for the Jews.

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Film shows Palestinians, Jews saving lives

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Jerusalem Post, 27/01/2012

Film shows cooperation between Jewish and Palestinian volunteer paramedics in United Hatzalah.

No one believed it could happen, but it has: An Israeli living in England has made a politics-free film about cooperation between Jewish and Palestinian volunteer paramedics for the Orthodox Jerusalem organization United Hatzalah, who save lives together in the capital’s western and eastern neighborhoods.
The 25-minute program has been broadcast four times this month by the global Arab TV network Al Jazeera in English, which has also put it online for all to see.
It is an unusual sight: Arabs wearing orange vests printed with the red Star of David team up with haredi (ultra- Orthodox) Jews wearing black kippot, their sidecurls and tzitzit (ritual fringes) blowing in the wind. And the partners have only praise for each other.
“I don’t care which person I’m saving. I even go to [the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of] Mea She’arim on Shabbat,” says Fadi, one of 100 Arabs currently volunteering for UH.
“Saving lives is a religious act for me. Forget all the politics and the mess. People need to live.”
“The Arabs are so devoted,” says a haredi paramedic.
“Their chest compressions are incredible. They respect Jewish sensitivities, especially on Shabbat.”
Eli Beer, the haredi founder and head of the lifesaving rescue organization, commented Thursday, “It’s amazing to see how well we all get along together, without conflict.
Everybody knows and respects each other.”
In a phone interview from London on Thursday, the filmmaker, Keren Ghitis, told The Jerusalem Post how the piece came together.

“I started teaching people how to make videos in Latin America and Africa so they could tell their own stories. I made this video as part of the Ir Amim Initiative, which solicited ideas for films from Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers.
We were asked to tell things that usually do not get attention,” she said.
She submitted it to Al Jazeera, which, she said, was very interested in broadcasting it. Nothing was censored or dictated to toe any line. The first showing was on January 16 at prime time.
“The comments from around the world, including the Arab world, have been very positive. There has also been a lot of mention of it on Facebook. A Palestinian community in the US even asked us for permission to use it for educational purposes,” she said, adding, “It broke a lot of stereotypes.”
The Al Jazeera Network has more than 65 bureaus around the world, with a staff of 3,000 – including more than 400 journalists from more than 60 countries. There is a bureau that hires Israeli Jews and Arabs. The English station has more than 1,000 experienced staffers of more than 50 nationalities and broadcasts to some 220 million households in more than 100 countries.
“I wanted to reach people and see more collaboration between Arabs and Jews,” Ghitis explained when asked why she chose the subject. “More support is needed for medical services in east Jerusalem.”
The UH-trained Palestinian paramedics note in the film that there are often delays in Magen David Adom reaching the sick and wounded in east Jerusalem because no ambulance can get there without being accompanied by a police or military escort. UH Arabs and Jews often get there first on their ambucycles. In addition, many streets are unnamed, and houses have no identifying numbers.
Beer said Al Jazeera had set no conditions for the broadcast.
Speaking to the Post from Davos, he said he had just met Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh, who received the Nobel Prize.
“He was amazed,” he said.
“He and lots of people from all over the world tell me that the fact that I am a proud Jew and Israeli makes Israel look very good.”
Beer wants to have Arabs all over the country working hand-in-hand with haredi, religious and secular Jews for his rescue organization. “I want about 3,000 volunteers, about 15 percent of of them Christian and Muslims.”
Jews and Muslims do not oppose working together, he says, despite the invisible boundaries and suspicions that separate their communities.
“In the beginning, I met a few who were surprised about working together, but after they saw that they are great people and really professional, they all like it,” said Beer.
The Jews also work on Shabbat and festivals in an emergency, and the Muslims on Fridays and Ramadan.
The film follows volunteers like Hezi – a former yeshiva student who works in a fishmonger’s shop and has volunteered with UH for 15 years – and Fadi, a security guard at Al-Aksa Mosque.
Fadi, presented as a loving father hugging his young children at home, has been an assistant to the Jewish owner of a Mea She’arim hardware store since the age of 14. His family encourages him to go any time he gets an emergency call, as does Shlomo, the shop owner. “He is like a son to me,” says the Mea Shearim retailer.
Hezi is not worried when dispatched to the Damascus Gate in east Jerusalem, and works with Red Crescent medics.
“Since they started working together in 2010, hundreds of lives have been saved,” Ghitis concluded.

GOP Florida debate sees rare agreement between presidential hopefuls Romney, Gingrich on reasons Israeli-Palestinian peace process is stalling

“My goal for the Palestinian people would be to live in peace, to live in prosperity, to have the dignity of a state, to have freedom, and they can achieve it any morning they are prepared to say: Israel has a right to exist, we give up the right to return, and we recognize that we’re going to live side by side. Now let’s work together to create mutual prosperity. And you could in five years dramatically improve the quality of life of every Palestinian.”

Yitzhak Benhorin, January 27, 2012

WASHINGTON – The Republican Party held yet another stormy presidential debate Thursday, with all four presidential hopefuls vying for the votes of their Florida constitutes.

Banters and political sparring aside, the debate was also the scene of a rare agreement between former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, as both strongly sided with Israel when asked why they believed the Israeli-Palestinian peace process was failing.

Romney blamed President Obama and Gingrich blamed the Palestinians for the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

“I think he threw Israel under the bus with regards to defining the ’67 borders as a starting point of negotiations,” Romney said.

Asked about the peace process, Romney said: “Well, the reason that there’s not peace between the Palestinians and Israel is because… in the leadership of the Palestinian people are Hamas and others who think like Hamas, who have as their intent the elimination of Israel.” 

“It’s the Palestinians who don’t want a two-state solution,” he continued, “They want to eliminate the state of Israel.

“The best way to have peace in the Middle East is not for us to vacillate and to appease, but is to say we stand with our friend Israel; we are committed to a Jewish state in Israel; we will not have an inch of difference between ourselves and our ally Israel.”

Gingrich then surprised the audience: “Governor Romney is exactly right,” he said, adding that in his opinion, the Palestinians were to blame for the prolonged stalemate in the peace process.

“The leadership in Hamas says not a single Jew will remain. Well, you’re not having a peace negotiation, then. This is war by another form,” he said.

“My goal for the Palestinian people would be to live in peace, to live in prosperity, to have the dignity of a state, to have freedom, and they can achieve it any morning they are prepared to say: Israel has a right to exist, we give up the right to return, and we recognize that we’re going to live side by side. Now let’s work together to create mutual prosperity. And you could in five years dramatically improve the quality of life of every Palestinian.

“But the political leadership would never tolerate that,” Gingrich continued, “and that’s why we are in a continuous state of war, where Obama undermines the Israelis.”

The former speaker also defended his controversial statement about the Palestinian people being “invented“: “It was technically an invention of the late 1970s. And it was clearly, it was clearly so. Prior to that they were Arabs. Many of them were either Syrian, Lebanese or Egyptian or Jordanian,” he said.

As for the peace process, Gingrich said: “There were 11 rockets fired into Israel in November. Now, imagine in Duvall County (in Florida) that 11 rockets hit from your neighbor. How many of you would be for a peace process and how many of you would say, you know, that looks like an act of war?” Gingrich asked the audience.

He also reiterated his pledge to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem: “On the first day that I’m president, if I do become president, I will sign an executive order directing the State Department to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to send the signal we’re with Israel,” Gingrich said.

Four Jewish pilgrims from the US who sought access to Joseph’s Tomb were arrested at gunpoint by PA police in Shechem.

Gavriel Queenann, January 27, 2012

Four Jewish pilgrims from the United States were arrested before dawn on Friday in Shechem as they sought to pray at Joseph’s Tomb.

The four, associated with the Bratslav Hassidic group were confronted at gunpoint by Palestinian Authority police and taken into custody before reaching the grave site.

They were handed over to Israeli police and taken to the Ariel police station.

“Americans are allowed to stay in Nablus and their summary arrest is a violation of international law,” a friend of the four detainees said.

David Ha’ivri of the Shomron Liaison Office who has been directly involved in efforts to allow access for Jews to Joseph’s tomb also decried the arrest.

“This arrest show the irony of the false claims that Israel is apartheid. While Arabs have free access to all areas in Israel, Jewish people are denied access to holy places that are in PA areas administrated by the PLO,” Ha’Ivri said.

“It is outrageous that this discrimination and harassment is going on while the PA is supported through funding of the American and EU governments. Joseph’s tomb must be reopened for full free access for all Jewish people regardless to their citizenship,” he added. 

Israel ceded security and administrative control of Shechem to the Palestinian Authority on 2 October 2000 under the auspices of then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

Upon handing the site over to the PA it was pillaged and extensively vandalized by local Arabs.

The next morning the bullet-riddled body of Rabbi Hillel Lieberman, a US citizen who immigrated to Israel and resided in Elon Moreh, was found on the outskirts of Shechem, where he had gone to survery the damage done to the tomb

After these events Barak’s government restricted Israeli access to the site.

Israelis did not return to Joseph’s Tomb until after Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, after which Israelis were allowed access to the site only with an IDF escort.

However, security coordination between IDF and PA forces has been sporadic and the size and frequency of Israeli visits has been limited.

Under this situation, many frustrated Bratslav Hassidim have sought to covertly visit Joseph’s Tomb under the cover of darkness.

Vandalism by local Arabs is routinely reported by Jewish worshipers who reach the site. In late 2009, a group of Jewish worshipers found the headstone smashed and swastikas painted on the walls, as well as boot prints on the grave itself.

Reaching the gravesite without an IDF escort has proved a dangerous undertaking for Jews.

On 24 April 2011, Israeli Ben Yosef Livnat was gunned down in cold blood by a PA security officer in the pre-dawn hours as he sought to reach the tomb. Four of his companions were wounded.

The PA inquiry into the incident found that the men who shot at Livnat acted in “breach of the protocol” for opening fire.

However, the commander of the IDF’s Samaria Brigade said in closed conversations that Livnat was murdered and that the PA police officer who opened fire intended to kill Jews.

Livnat, the son of US immigrants to Israel and nephew of Minister Limor Livnat, was declared a victim of terror by current defense minister Ehud Barak.

www.israelnationalnews.com

By Dexter Van Zile, Algemeiner

January 25, 2012

It’s time for journalists, human rights activists and church leaders in the U.S. to confront the prospect of Christianity’s destruction in the region of its birth.

That’s the message that came out of a one-day conference that took place in Framingham, Massachusetts on Jan. 21, 2012. The conference, titled The Persecuted church: Christian Believers in Peril in the Middle East was sponsored by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), which is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2012.
Andrea Levin, CAMERA’s executive director said the goal of the conference was to draw attention to the plight of Christians in the Middle East.

“If the media shines a light consistently and clearly on the persecution of Middle Eastern Christians, that can make a crucial difference in restraining potential violence,” she sa“Silence on the other hand may do the opposite.”

Walid Phares, a Maronite Christian from Lebanon and author of The Coming Revolution: The Fight for Freedom in the Middle East said Christians and other minorities have been the victims of violence for decades. “I lived through it in the 20th century. Now we’re all living it, trying to witness for it,” he said. “We have crossed the threshold of a new century and yet it’s still happening.”

Attendees of the conference heard testimony from Juliana Taimoorazy, founder of the Iraqi Christian relief council and Egyptian human rights activists Cynthia Farahat. Taimoorazy, who reported on the plight of Assyrians in Israq stated that since June 2004, churches in Iraq have been bombed more than 80 times. Sometimes, multiple churches would be bombed at the same time as part of a coordinated attack.

“Most of these attacks happened on Fridays, marking the day of Islamic prayer,” she said. Clergy have been routinely kidnapped and killed on a regular basis. Even children have been killed by Islamists, Taimoorazy reported.

“In October of 2006 – in the 21st century – a 14-year-old boy was crucified in Basra, in the center of the city,” she said.

Farahat reported that Copts are second-class citizens in their homeland

“But for me, as a woman and a Copt, I am a fourth-class citizen,” she said. “The first class citizen is the Egyptian Sunni Muslim male, the second class is the Sunni female. The third is the Christian male. The fourth is the Christian female. I’m a fourth-class Egyptian citizen with absolutely no legal rights.”

The plight of religious and ethnic minorities in Muslim and Arab majority countries in the Middle East has largely been ignored because of an obsession with the Arab-Israeli conflict, Phares said during his keynote address. Phares first witnessed this after immigrating to the U.S. from Lebanon in the 1990s.

“In the 1990s, if there as an incident in the West Bank, the son-in-law, the mom, the uncle of both sides would be interviewed and the psychologists would come in and talk about the deep roots of the conflict,” Phares said. “At the same time, two villages were burned in Egypt or the Kurds would be gassed. Zero [coverage] in the New York Times.”

Franck Salameh, assistant professor of Near Eastern Studies at Boston College, echoed Phares’ complaint.

“There’s clearly a prevailing hierarchy in the media’s treatment of Middle Eastern violence,” he said. “Some victims get airtime on prime time, all the time. Others simply don’t. Middle Eastern Christians are not a top priority. Those uncouth, cross-wearing primitives are not cause for curiosity. They are too Christian in a world plagued by political correctness, cultural relativism and a false conception fo the Middle East as an Arab Muslim preserve.”

Documenting attacks on Near Eastern minorities is not fashionable, Salameh said, because it is viewed as being anti-Arab and anti-Muslim and part of a Western attempt to divide a cultural and linguistic monolith. If this thinking were applied to North America, no one would talk about the plight or fate of Native Americans because it would be regarded as subversive to the Anglo-European paradigm.

“Middle Eastern minorities, Christians and Jews, are the native Americans of the Middle East,” Salameh said. “The dominant Arab-Muslim culture is indeed the colonizing intruder culture here.”

Richard Landes, associate professor of history at Boston University and author of Heaven on Earth: The Varieties of Millenial Experience reported that Islamists have worked assiduously to disarm Westerners by engaging in cognitive warfare against democracies. This cognitive warfare is pursued, Landes explained, by using self-criticism and concern for the other to undermine the ability of democracies to defend themselves. “The purpose of cognitive warfare is to turn your own people into patriots and your enemies into pacifists,” Landes said.

This strategy has had “staggering success” over the past few years, he said. The success is due to “an unholy marriage between pre-modern sadism and post modern masochism,” Landes said.

“The pre-moderns accuse us of the most vicious things in the world and we say, ‘You’re right, I’m sorry,” Landes joked.

Posted by Ted Belman, January 25, 2012

Amb Ron Prosor addresses UN Security Council on the situation in the Middle East

24 Jan 2012

As we gather in this chamber, an alarm bell is ringing. Never has it been so clear that Iran is seeking to build a nuclear weapon.

UN Security Council convenes on the situation in the Middle East (UN Photo/Evan Schneider)

Text:

As this is the first time that I have addressed the Security Council in the New Year, let me congratulate the five new Council members on their election. I wish each of you the best of luck in navigating the sometimes stormy debates of this hall.

As we gather in this chamber, an alarm bell is ringing. Never has it been so clear that Iran is seeking to build a nuclear weapon. This is the single greatest threat to the security of the entire world.

Now is the time to act. Tomorrow is too late. The stakes are too high. The price of inaction is too great.

The latest IAEA reports prove beyond any doubt that Iran has a nuclear weapons program, which is advancing rapidly. Iran recently announced that it will enrich uranium to a 20 percent-level at its nuclear facility in Qom. There is no plausible civilian justification for this action. It blatantly violates numerous resolutions of this Council – and will bring Iran significantly closer to producing weapons-grade, highly enriched uranium.

Each and every member of the United Nations – and particularly this Council – should lie awake at night thinking about what would happen if the regime in Tehran gets ahold of the most dangerous weapon on earth.

Only the pressure of a united international community can stop Iran from continuing its march toward nuclear weapons. The political and economic price that Iran will pay must be clear. Israel commends the recent steps taken by the U.S, the EU, and others in this regard. Although these are important steps, we all must judge them based on their results. It is time for the rest of the international community – and this Council – to join these efforts.

Mr. President,

We come together today after a year of turmoil in the Middle East. Great challenges stand on the horizon. People are demanding dignity and seeking liberty after generations of oppression. Extremism threatens fragile societies. Human rights continue to be trampled. Unrest has shaken the foundation of the political order from the straits of Gibraltar to the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea.

And what issue has this Council deemed the most pressing in its monthly debate on the Middle East? Surprise, surprise… the status of municipal building applications in the West Bank.

Israeli settlements have been discussed in this chamber time and again – but the time that this Council dedicates to candid debate about the basic challenges facing the Middle East remains scarce. In the last two monthly briefings by the Secretariat, barely a square inch of Jerusalem or the West Bank was left unexamined. Yet, entire Middle Eastern countries where people are being killed, repressed and tortured daily continue to go without mention.

This is logic turned on its head.

Let me be clear: resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is important on its own merits – so that Israelis and Palestinians alike can lead peaceful, secure and prosperous lives. But the misallocation of the Security Council’s time, energy and resources erodes its credibility.

How many times have members of this Council – and many others – repeated this statement: the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict is the central conflict in the Middle East. If you solve that conflict, you solve all the other conflicts in the region.

Today one would ridicule that statement. It is obvious that Yemen, Syria, Egypt, Bahrain, and many other conflicts in the Middle East have nothing to do with Israel. The constant repetition of the statement does not make it true. 

And how many times have members of this Council – and many others – repeated: settlements are the primary obstacle to peace. The repetition of the statement also does not make it true.

The primary obstacle to peace is not settlements. The primary obstacle to peace is the so-called “claim of return.” Let me repeat that: the major hurdle to peace is the Palestinian’s insistence on the so-called “claim of return”.

You will never hear Palestinian leaders say “two states for two peoples”. If you ever hear them say “two states for two peoples”, please phone my office immediately. Call me “collect” in the event of such an unprecedented occurrence.

You won’t hear them say “two states for two peoples” because today the Palestinian leadership is calling for an independent Palestinian state, but insists that its people return to the Jewish state. This would mean the destruction of Israel.

The idea that Israel will be flooded with millions of Palestinians will never be accepted. The international community knows it. The Palestinian leadership knows it. But the Palestinian people aren’t hearing it. In a poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion last November, 90% of Palestinians said that they would not give up the “claim of return.” This gap between their perception and reality is – and will remain – the major obstacle to peace.

Since the Palestinian leadership refuses to tell the Palestinian people the truth, the international community has the responsibility to tell them the truth. You have a responsibility to stand up and say that the so-called “claim of return” is a non-starter.  

Yet, many around this table who never miss an opportunity to tell Israel what it has to do for peace – mumble, stutter and conveniently lose their voices when it comes time to tell the Palestinian people about the basic compromises they will have to make for peace.

Mr. President,  

The Palestinians’ refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state goes hand-in-hand with a culture of incitement in mosques, schools and media. Day after day, children are taught to pursue violence – and to hate, vilify, and dehumanize Israelis and Jews.

Let me be clear. I am not only talking about Hamas in Gaza – but also about the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, where you can’t turn a corner without seeing terrorists and terrorism glorified.

This month – on January 9th – Palestinian Authority television broadcast the proceedings of an event celebrating Fatah’s 47th anniversary. It featured a sermon by the PA’s most senior religious leader – Mufti Muhammad Hussein – who presented the killing of Jews as a sacred goal for all Muslims.

His comments were deeply disturbing. But what was even more disturbing is that no one from the Palestinian Leadership stood up and condemned his comments, denounced his actions or dissociated themselves from his message. Their silence speaks volumes.

Mr. President,

The path to peace is clear. The international community must tell the Palestinians unequivocally that unilateralism is a dead-end – and that direct negotiations are the only way forward. Recent talks in Amman are a positive step in this regard – and I would like to take this opportunity to thank King Abdullah for helping to facilitate these meetings.

Now Israelis and Palestinians must take the next step toward peace together. It’s time to stop negotiating about negotiating. It’s time to stop meeting about meeting. It’s time to stop talking about talking.

Yet, instead taking steps toward peace with Israel, President Abbas continues to flirt with the dangers of unity with Hamas. The Quartet has long applied three principles that Hamas must adopt to become a legitimate actor in the peace process.  It must renounce violence, recognize Israel and abide by prior Palestinian agreements.

The bar could not be set any lower. Yet, at no point has Hamas satisfied these conditions – or indicated any intention to do so. It says no to negotiation. It says no to recognition of Israel. And it continues to carry out violence against Israel, day after day.

Any who suggest that Hamas is a partner for peace should take a trip to the Gaza Strip. The area remains a launching ground for constant rocket attacks targeting Israeli cities and civilians. Last year, some 700 rockets were fired into Israel. That’s an average of almost two rockets fired every single day.

Let me state clearly what I have said in numerous letters to the Security Council and in previous debates: the situation in Gaza is very serious. One spark could ignite a dangerous escalation. The Security Council has an obligation to act boldly and immediately. Yet, this Council still has not found the time or the will to utter a single syllable of condemnation against these attacks. The silence is deafening.

No people should be expected to live under such terror. No government should be expected to stand idle in the face of such violence.

Later this month, the Secretary-General will visit Israel – and see the threats we face with his own eyes. Let’s hope that his trip brings a bit of new perspective to this organization about the real obstacles to peace and security – and the real issues of extremism, terrorism and incitement in our region.

Mr. President,

The challenges facing the Middle East are growing every day. They stand clearly before this Council. They threaten all of us. And it is on your shoulders to confront them with courage and with leadership. Tired rhetoric and misplaced focus has too often characterized this debate. It will no longer suffice. As Iran inches closer to a nuclear weapon, as extremists spread terrorism and hate, as the enemies of peace test the resolve of the international community, silence is not an option.

Confronting these fundamental threats will not be easy. It will require struggle and sacrifice. As Winston Churchill once said, “We must be united, we must be undaunted, we must be inflexible.” At this critical moment, for the sake of our children and our common future, the world has no other choice. 

Israelis of all colors and races must join Ethiopian community’s war on racism

Yoel Esteron,  January 22, 2012

Mazi Tazazo was born in Sudan en route to Ethiopians in Israel. Just remember that it’s only a matter of time until they get used to the new color and the most important solution lies in your hands – fit in, don’t look the easy way out and get an education – that’s the tool with which you’ll prevail.”

Mazi did as her parents instructed; she joined the military and served as an observation post commander in Rafah. When she finished her military service, she got a degree in law and business administration from the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya and went on to work for a well-known law firm.

Recently, Mazi decided to focus on real estate development and together with another young attorney, Efrat Hinitz, established Eitanut – a joint venture for the management of projects in the National Outline Plan 38 for building reinforcement.

I first met Mazi Tazazo when she was a student and had the great pleasure of following her sweet, Hollywood-like success story. However, Mazi Tazazo is not resting on her laurels; last week, she visited the reportedly racism-ridden community of Kiryat Malachi and was appalled by attempts on the part of several neighborhood committees to get flat owners in the city to avoid the selling or renting of flats to people who look like her.

She was also dismayed to see that most of the protestors at the demonstration held in response were people who looked like her. Mazi wants Israelis of all colors and races to fight racism. She hopes the demonstration scheduled for next week in Tel Aviv will have a massive turnout.

Racism did not abate

Mazi fears that her parents might have been wrong after all. Racism did not abate as time went by; rather, it changed its face. Mazi is indignant with the “Unscrupulous, ignorant and cowardly people who insisted that my friend, who has a prefect Israeli accent, come for a job interview because she seemed perfectly qualified for the job but they saw the ‘horrifying sight’ in the office lobby, sent her home in the pretext that the interviewer is busy and they don’t have vacancies at the moment because the position has already been filled and that they apologize for the inconvenience.”

She has already planned what she is going to say to you, to us, at the demonstration in Tel Aviv: “I hope there will be those who stand shoulder to shoulder with me, and at times instead of me, to put in their place all those racist and heartless people who reduced me to tears while callously judging me by the color of my skin and separated me from my friends as I they banned me from entering a night club.”

There are 120,000 Ethiopians living in Israel today, a third of which were born here. There are more than a few organizations that have been supporting the Ethiopian community for years. There are well-intentioned people who occasionally speak up against racism. But it seems that new winds are blowing in the community; determined, talented and fearless youngsters the likes of Mazi Tazazo and Molet Araro – the student from the “United Ethiopians’” movement who has begun his march last week from his Kiryat Malachi home to the demonstration site at the Knesset in Jerusalem and who is calling on his friends to join the large political parties – have come to realize that they will have to stand at the forefront of change.

They believe in themselves. Let’s give them a hand.

The article was originally published by Calcalist:

http://www.calcalist.co.il/local/articles/0,7340,L-3559253,00.html

See Also:

Ethiopian Community

Jerusalem: Thousands protest against racism  / Yoav Malka

Some 5,000 rally in Independence Park after march to protest discrimination against members of Ethiopian community

Full story

January 21, 2012, The Daily Star

Lebanese lawmaker Antoine Zahra speaks during an interview with The Daily Star in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009. (Mahmoud Kheir/The Daily Star)

BEIRUT: Politicians from the opposition March 14 coalition lashed out Friday at the head of Iran’s elite Al-Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards Corp, Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, saying his remarks that south Lebanon fell under Iran’s influence have confirmed Hezbollah’s subservience to Iran. They demanded that Hezbollah clarify his statement. Suleimani, speaking in a conference on youth and the “Islamic Awakening” in Tehran Wednesday, said: “In reality, in south Lebanon and Iraq, the people are under the effect of the Islamic Republic’s way of practice and thinking.” But Suleimani’s remarks, which were carried by Iran’s official news agency IRNA Friday, were mistranslated by Arabic media and interpreted by March 14 politicians to mean that south Lebanon was under Iran’s influence.

Batroun MP Antoine Zahra, a Lebanese Forces official, said he was not surprised by Suleimani’s statement about Iran’s influence in south Lebanon and Iraq. “But we were surprised by this frank declaration which involved embarrassment, especially for Hezbollah, which claims that it is putting Lebanon’s interest above its regional links and its ideological loyalty,” Zahra said in a statement.

He asked whether the government, which is dominated by Hezbollah and its March 8 allies, was aware of this situation in south Lebanon.

“If it [government] is aware, what are the measures it plans to take at least to save its face when it claims that it is a government that is exercising sovereignty over all Lebanese territories,” Zahra said.

Fares Soueid, coordinator of March 14 General Secretariat said the remarks violated Lebanon’s sovereignty and demanded that Hezbollah clarify them.

“The remarks by the commander of Al-Quds force have unmasked Hezbollah when he said that south Lebanon falls under Iran’s influence, while the party is seeking through its political activity to convince the Lebanese and the world that it is a Lebanese party that is working to achieve Lebanese goals,” Soueid said.

“Suleimani’s remarks are rejected because they clearly violate Lebanon’s sovereignty on the one hand, and put the residents of the south in great danger, turning them into a mailbox between Iran and America, on the other,” Soueid added.

Mustafa Alloush, a former MP and Future Movement official, said Suleimani’s remarks have confirmed Hezbollah’s subservience to Iran.

Suleimani’s stance “has confirmed what we have been saying over the past years that Hezbollah is part of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard,” Alloush said.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on January 21, 2012, on page 2.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Jan-21/160604-iran-generals-remarks-on-south-lebanon-draw-march-14-ire.ashx#ixzz1kHsR77Ot
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

There’s a good chance that Iran’s computer systems, the electricity in Indonesian PM’s office and the body armor protecting Saudi soldiers came from Israel.

By Shuki Sadeh

Haaretz, January 19, 2012

Motti (not his real name ), a businessman with connections in Arab countries, was stunned several months ago when representatives of a well-known Israeli food company asked him to check the possibility of exporting to Iran. They told him an Iranian company had approached them through contacts abroad.

Motti refused. He didn’t want to violate the embargo. But since then, he says, he’s discovered that quite a few local companies and businessmen trade indirectly with Israel’s number one enemy. So he wasn’t shocked by a Bloomberg News story three weeks ago about Allot Communications selling Internet surveillance and monitoring equipment to Iran over five years through a Danish distributor.

According to the article, Allot sent the equipment to Denmark where workers removed the labels and repackaged it to hide its Israeli origin. It was then passed along to an intermediary who sold it to Iran. Three former Allot employees told Bloomberg that the equipment’s Iranian destination was an open secret, but the company denied giving its approval or having any knowledge of its products winding up there.

"Trade with Iran is an ancient story," says Prof. Uri Bialer of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, an expert in international relations who has researched ties between Israel and Iran. "Money has no smell. Iranians always try to do business, and there have always been Israelis with an eye for making money."

Nachum Shiloh, an expert on Iran and owner of GMI – Gulf Markets Intelligence – says that for some Iranian businessmen it makes sense to import from Israel. "Here we view Iran as the enemy, a demon," he explains, "but not every Iranian gets up every morning thinking of ways to destroy Israel. Iran has a large segment of businessmen who are not fanatics, people who want to make money and further their businesses – if they could only trade, even indirectly, with businesspeople and companies from Israel."

The Allot story is also surprising because over the past 30 years – since the Iranian Revolution and severing of ties with Israel – several trade scandals have provoked tremendous fallout, most recently an affair linked to the Ofer family’s businesses.

Sanctions threatened by Israel and the United States are also intended to deter companies from considering ties, even indirectly, with Iran. But in today’s reality, with crisis weighing on western markets, there are companies ogling the third world – with some finding markets in countries hostile to Israel. These countries also have many adoring fans of Israel’s technology and products but, because of political sensitivities, everything must be done on the QT. Stickers and packaging saying "Made in Israel" must be removed and a bill of lading must be produced from an intermediary country – Turkey or somewhere in Europe.

"It’s forbidden to talk about these things," says Dan Catarivas, director of the Foreign Trade and International Relations Division of the Manufacturers Association of Israel. "Israeli industrialists want to stay as far out of the spotlight as possible in this respect. Companies sometimes approach us asking how to obscure their product’s Israeli identity. We refer them to experts in this field – usually shipment, transport and logistics companies."

"Operating surreptitiously is inconvenient and involves hard work and investment, but sometimes there’s no choice," explains a senior official at a well-known Israeli high-tech company. "Our foreign competitors deal freely with Arab countries, so they can lower their prices in Europe – and this is really annoying. It’s worth entering these markets to narrow the gap even slightly."

Israeli business quietly thrives in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and in far-off countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, too. Company owners on both sides do all they can to avoid harmful publicity. Contacts are made at international conferences overseas, through European and U.S. companies familiar with both sides, and directly over the Internet.

"Technology, particularly the Internet, is making the world smaller," explains Eliran Malul at Arab Markets, which brokers deals in Arab countries. "Arab entrepreneurs are interested in Israeli technologies and search them out through the Internet and social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn."

Fuzzy rules

Israeli law bans trading with Lebanon, Syria and Iran, directly and indirectly. Some businesspeople complain that rules are too fuzzy, especially when it comes to products showing up in unwanted destinations. "Sometimes Israeli companies don’t know who they’re selling to," says a high-ranking source at the Manufacturers Association. "Let’s say you’re fighting for the business of a new international customer. What can you tell him as you close the deal?: ‘You won’t sell the product to Iran, right?’ Would it help? How would you know if he’s lying?"

Some people believe Israeli companies play dumb regarding the final destination of their products. A high-tech source claims many international technology companies, including Israel-based companies, use local and regional distributors to market their products in broadly defined territories. Iran, for example, is frequently included in the Europe/Middle East/Africa distribution territory, allowing them to turn a blind eye to the product’s final destination.

"Companies need to show growth and meet investors’ expectations, and managers want to continue receiving bonuses," says the Manufacturers Association source, adding that they don’t want to invest resources in investigating where their products end up.

Israel also uses businessmen and trade networks for political and commercial purposes. The state monitors activities of businessmen from Arab countries and enlists the help of Israeli businessmen in carrying out diplomatic missions and serving as intermediaries in clandestine intrigues. After it was revealed that ships belonging to the Ofer Group docked in Iran, foreign publications claimed the Ofer family’s ships had for years assisted Israeli agents in infiltrating Iran. Sources close to the Ofer family hinted in the media at the same time that the Ofer Group claimed it had long played a part in the country’s security.

Apart from this, throughout its existence Israel has used economic transactions for political ends. In the 1950s, for example, Israel secretly sold minerals from the Dead Sea Works to Romania – despite an embargo on communist bloc countries – to persuade Romanian authorities to let Jews there leave for Israel.

Until the rise of Islamic extremists in the late 1970s, Israel secretly bought oil from Iran – part of its tight relations with the Shah’s regime – despite Iran’s official participation in the Arab oil embargo on Israel.

Offices in Indonesia

Relations with Muslim countries extend far beyond the Middle East. In the late 1990s the Foreign Ministry tried establishing trade with Indonesia and Malaysia, Muslim countries with strong economic potential but without diplomatic relations with Israel. It was the heyday of the Oslo Accords and many believed Israel’s economic ties to Muslim and Arab countries would become much more open and productive. Several years earlier Koor Trade had opened an office in Indonesia and began establishing low-profile trading relations there.

"Indonesia and Malaysia were a big story and we dedicated huge efforts to developing economic relations with them," recalls Alon Liel, the Foreign Ministry’s director general at that time. "We reached all sorts of understandings on trade through a nearby embassy. We published a newspaper ad to interest Israeli businesspeople in investing there, but right afterward Indonesia and Malaysia abrogated all the understandings. The trade went underground. For the Foreign Ministry there was no point to it because it had no diplomatic value."

Trade continues covertly with Indonesia at the lowest possible profile and without diplomatic relations. Singapore serves as a base for businessmen trying to penetrate there. In 2007 a subsidiary of Ormat Industries signed a $200-million contract to supply electricity for 30 years. Ormat is part of a consortium on this project, with a Japanese bank providing most of the funding.

An Indonesia-Israel trade bureau was opened two years ago in a bid to make it easier for Israeli businesspeople to enter the country. Currently they can only get in by invitation from a local source sponsoring the visit. If none is available, the Israeli Embassy in Singapore assists by providing a local consultant who can serve as a sponsor in a pinch. Occasionally, however, the authorities turn down requests, depending on the country’s political mood.

Indonesia is one of the world’s fastest growing markets, with great potential in the field of communications because of its vast population – more than 200 million. Clandestine trade is also carried out in the opposite direction, according to Catarivas. Indonesian business delegations visit Israel, too, but this is kept from the general public. Israel imports eight times as much as it exports in its trade with Indonesia.

"This is an economic relationship with tremendous potential," says Emanuel Shahaf, chairman of the Israel-Indonesia Chamber of Commerce. "Businesspeople operating in Indonesia keep their cards close to their chests. Business is good and they don’t want to share it with anyone. The Indonesians also maintain secrecy because of the political sensitivity."

Shahaf says neighboring Malaysia also has great potential but there it’s even more difficult doing business. "They are more radical Muslims. While Indonesians shut their eyes occasionally, a Malaysian company needs a special permit from a government ministry to do business with an Israeli firm."

One of the most interesting countries for duality of relations with Israel, if not the entire Arab world, is Saudi Arabia. On the one hand it has produced some of the world’s most heinous terrorists, most notably Osama bin Laden. On the other hand the country is considered a relatively moderate Arab state – in 2002 it proposed the "Saudi initiative" for peace between Israel and the Arab countries, an initiative disregarded by Israel. Saudi Arabia is at odds with Iran and enjoys excellent diplomatic and economic relations with the United States.

Quite a number of Israeli companies export products to Saudi Arabia, including technological goods. This is sometimes done through their U.S.-registered subsidiaries, thanks to the strong relations between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Israeli companies, such as body armor manufacturer Rabintex Industries, have also provided equipment to U.S. forces stationed in Saudi Arabia. (Rabintex entered receivership last week.)

Another interesting field is trade in plastics. Israel receives raw materials for its plastics industry – polyethylene and polypropylene deriving from petroleum production – from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. These materials are sent in a roundabout way but Israeli authorities are aware of their source. Israel’s plastics industry, in turn, exports greenhouse sheeting, irrigation drippers, house and garden products, disposable utensils and food packaging to Saudi Arabia. Some of these products are made by Turkish factories established by Israeli companies.

According to Liel, who once served as Israel’s ambassador to Turkey, this inflates trade statistics with Turkey. "I assume the high trade figures with Turkey are biased to some degree because they include shipments to countries with which Israel has no relations."

Israeli guards in the Gulf

The wealthy Gulf countries are, without doubt, the most attractive places for Israeli business. As Dubai was building the Palm Islands – a megalomaniac real estate project delayed by the global economic crisis – Israelis had a hand in providing some of the shingles through an Italian roofing tile company.

A fair number of Israeli high-tech companies operate in the Gulf states. One field in which they are active is internal security, a particularly thriving activity before the assassination in Dubai of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh two years ago today. When the story broke there were media claims that photographic and security equipment used by Dubai police resembled Israeli technology. It was never confirmed that Mossad agents (according to foreign reports ) were caught through the use of Israeli technology, but it is known that quite a few companies in the Gulf states rely on sophisticated Israeli technology for security purposes. And not just technology – an Israeli-owned security firm protecting oil fields in one of the Gulf countries also brings in Israelis to guard them.

Israel also exports medical, agricultural and water technologies to the Gulf states. Trade depends on the regional political situation, like with the Mabhouh affair. "In such cases you simply keep your head down and wait until it all blows over," says Naava Mashiah, who lives in Geneva and brokers deals in the Middle East. "You need to be sensitive to the situation. You simply stop, not even sending emails, until the tide turns. Israelis have already gone back to doing business in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar."

Mashiah, who visits the Gulf twice a year, is part of a small group of Israelis who have turned the complicated occupation of business mediation between Israelis and Arabs into a livelihood. Some do it not just for the handsome financial reward but also in the belief that it could bring long-desired peace a step closer. Mashiah belongs to Israeli Peace Initiative, a movement formed by Idan Ofer whose membership, which includes prominent personalities in Israel’s business elite, wants to establish an alternative to the political deadlock in the region.

In dealings in Arab countries it’s impossible to separate the political and business aspects, says Mashiah. "The Saudi initiative didn’t get a response from Israel, and the Arab world sees this as an insult. The Israeli Peace Initiative, in a way, provides an answer to the standstill because it shows there are serious Israelis aware of the political situation and working to change it. Israel is becoming increasingly isolated in the world, and our group is trying to break this isolation. One way is by creating business ties with Arab countries."

A mysterious note slipped to the MK

Of the several scandals involving Israeli-Iranian trade with political and security overtones, the most momentous was the Iran-Contra affair in the 1980s when Israel mediated the U.S. sale of weapons to Iran, transferring the proceeds to the Nicaraguan Contra rebels. One of the key figures tied to the affair was Amiram Nir, the first husband of socialite Judy Shalom Nir-Mozes and the prime minister’s adviser on terrorism at that time. He was killed in a mysterious plane crash in Mexico in 1988.

Businessman Nahum Manbar was at the center of another episode. Manbar, who traded with Iran for several years before being caught, was convicted in 1998 for selling it chemical weapons. Several months ago he was released from prison.

The most recent flap, dubbed Ofergate, broke out last May when the U.S. State Department disclosed that the Ofer Group had sold an oil tanker to Iran’s national shipping company in violation of international trade sanctions. The ship was reportedly sold by Tanker Pacific, an Ofer Holdings Group subsidiary, for about $8.5 million through a third party. The State Department consequently blacklisted the Ofer Group, impeding its U.S. business activities and ability to obtain credit from U.S. banks. It was revealed by TheMarker that Tanker Pacific ships had docked in Iranian ports on a number of occasions over the last decade.

A debate on the affair by the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee was abruptly cut short when a mysterious note was slipped to committee chairman Carmel Shama-Hacohen. The contents of the note have never been revealed. Several months later the U.S. announced it was removing the Ofer Group from the blacklist following discussions with group representatives. Tanker Pacific, however, was left on the list. Following that scandal the Finance Ministry is setting up an operations center to coordinate international economic sanctions.

This story is by: Shuki Sadeh, Haaretz