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Like Armenian Genocide Israel Deny Yazidi Genocide Bill Voted Down In Israel’s Knesset?

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Israel deny Yazidi Genocide

A tweet from MK Svetlova showing the vote

MK Svetlova: Israel was created from the ashes of the Holocaust, we are obligated to acknowledge the suffering of others

In a preliminary vote in the Knesset a bill to recognize the Yazidi genocide was voted down 58-38 on Wednesday. Ksenia Svetlova of Zionist Union, who introduced the bill said she was disappointed the recognition would not move forward. “As Jewish people who suffered persecution and sought a safe haven, we are obligated to acknowledge the suffering of others.”

In 2014 the Islamic State attacked the Yazidi minority in Iraq, systematically murdering thousands of men and elderly women and selling younger women and children into slavery. Around 3,000 Yazidis are still missing and more than 30 mass graves have been found in Iraq. The attack on the Yazidis mobilized international support in the fight against ISIS and led to US President Barack Obama ordering airstrikes against ISIS and food drops for stranded Yazidis. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe accused ISIS of genocide in 2016. A UN commission of inquiry in 2016 also said that ISIS had committed genocide. Nadia Murad, a Yazidi survivor who recently won the Nobel Prize, visited the Knesset in 2017 and urged recognition of the crimes.

Opposition parties such as Meretz and Zionist Union supported the bill, while the government opposed it. It comes at a sensitive time for the government which enjoys only a 61 seat coalition in the Knesset. Svetlova said that when she had initially introduced the bill it had received more support from across the political spectrum, but that there were concerns it might create a precedent in which pressure would be brought to support a bill recognizing the Armenian genocide and other persecutions.

Svetlova wrote on Twitter that the bill had been opposed by MK Tzipi Hotovely among others and that bizarrely the government gave as one reason, the fact that the UN had not recognized the genocide and assigned a day of commemoration. Usually Israel condemns the UN for its positions on Israel, but suddenly, Svetlova wondered, why does Israel care so much about the UN? The MK said that she initially received support from politicians across the political spectrum, including Yehuda Glick

“The government parties opposed it because the ministerial commission for legislation decided that on Sunday. When I submitted the bill Ayalet Shaked had been sympathetic. There is no reason not to support it, we are not stepping on anyone’s feet,” said Svetlova.

She also says she spoke to the foreign ministry about it and got the sense the ministry is worried about moving to fast on this issue. She said that while some states are moving towards recognition, Israel has a unique responsibility due to the Holocaust and Jewish history.

But the Knesset’s government majority decided it would be best to bury the bill. “They don’t want to make any precedent, which is an immoral position,” she said. If the bill had proceeded, Israel would have become the first country to recognize the genocide. “Israel was created from the ashes of the Holocaust, we should be pioneers in this regard.” Svetlova says she will reintroduce the bill next year depending on when elections are held.

Dr. Seth J. Frantzman is researcher and journalist based in Jerusalem. He has a PhD from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is the Oped Editor of The Jerusalem Post.

Pew poll: Israel most hated country in Turkey. Is there country Turks like?

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86% of responders have an unfavorable opinion of Israel, while only 2% view it positively;

Responders were asked whether they have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of a selection of states (US, China, Brazil, Russia, Iran, Israel) and entities (such as the European Union and Nation).

Israel was found the most disliked country of the offered options, with 86 percent of responders saying they have an unfavorable opinion of Israel and only 2 percent seeing Israel in a positive light.

There is of course no reason to be surprised of the negative view Turks have of Israel. A diplomatic rift was opened between the two countries during the 2008-9 Operation Cast Lead. At the height of the still-ongoing conflict was the Israeli commando raid of the Turkish “Mavi Marmara” ship that was attempting to break the blockade on Gaza. The incident left 10 Turkish citizens dead.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan often attacks Israel, publicly accusing it of “genocide” of the Palestinians.

Still, it’s interesting to learn just how much the Turkish public dislikes Israel.

Other than having a favorable opinion of their own country (78 percent, according to a 2012 poll), the Turks don’t think highly of any of the countries or entities asked about.

The Turks have a lot opinion of the European Union (66 percent unfavorable opinion, 25 percent favorable), China (68 percent negative views, 21 percent positive), the United States (73 percent negative views and 19 percent positive), Russia (73 percent negative, 16 positive), Brazil (65 percent negative, 20 percent positive) and Iran (75 percent negative, 14 percent positive).

Saudi Arabia, however, another Sunni state, is the most liked of the countries asked about, but even then, only 26 percent of Turks have a favorable opinion of it, while 53 percent have an unfavorable opinion of it).

The Turks also have a very negative view of terror organizations, including al-Qaeda (85 percent negative), Hezbollah (85 percent) and Hamas (80 percent).

Iranian Commander: ‘Islamic Army’ Near Golan Heights Ready to Destroy Israel

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The senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps commander’s remarks come amid increased tensions between Tehran and Tel Aviv over the situation in Syria.

In a recent speech, IRGC deputy commander Hossein Salami boasted of the creation of an “Islamic army” near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which he warned threatened to “end” Israel.

“Today, an international Islamic army has been formed in Syria, and the voices of the Muslims are heard near the Golan,” Salami said, as quoted by the Times of Israel.

“Orders are awaited, so that…the eradication of the evil [Israeli] regime will land and the life of this regime will be ended for good. The life of the Zionist regime was never in [so much] danger as it is now,” the officer added.

According to Salami, Israel “constitutes a threat…to the entire Islamic world. That is the philosophy of the establishment of this regime.”

The IRGC officer also warned that Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, which is participating in the war in Syria against Islamist militants, has some 100,000 missiles aimed at Israel. “We are creating might in Lebanon because we want to fight our enemy from there with all our strength,” Salami said.

“Hezbollah today has tremendous might on the ground that can on its own break the Zionist regime. The Zionist regime has no strategic-depth,” he added.

On Sunday night, Syrian air defenses thwarted a missile attack on the T4 airbase in Homs province launched from south of the US-coalition controlled at-Tanf region in southern Syria. A source in the Syrian military has told media that the attack was perpetrated by Israel, although the IDF has yet to comment on the claims.

Separately, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, diplomat and senior foreign affairs advisor to the Iranian parliament’s speaker, stressed that Iranian advisers would remain in Syria “notwithstanding aggressive Israeli attacks,” Al-Watan reported. Iran, the adviser said, would “not allow Syria to become an arena for the activities of terrorist groups.”Israel boosted its operations in Syria this spring, killing at least 4 Iranian military advisers at the T4 airbase in a strike in April. On May 10, the Israeli Air Force hit dozens of suspected Iranian targets in Syria following a rocket attack on IDF positions in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Damascus slammed the move, saying it was a violation of international law. Iran called the attack “Israeli aggression” and vowed to respond.

Tel Aviv has accused Tehran of building up a military presence in Syria as a springboard for attacks on Israel. Damascus rejected the claim, stressing that Tehran’s presence in Syria was limited to military advisers assisting the Syrian army in its fight against Islamist militants.

Source: https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201807091066183920-irgc-commander-anti-israel-remarks/?utm_source=https://t.co/HIDXK9uSm6&utm_medium=short_url&utm_content=hYDG&utm_campaign=URL_shortening

Opinion Israel Must Stop Playing Political Games With the Armenian Genocide

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Mourners at the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Museum in Yerevan, Armenia in 2015.\ REUTERS

Israel should ignore the noisy, serial threats Turkey throws at states recognizing the Armenian genocide. The Jewish state has a particular responsibility to oppose those who would deny genocide.

Under pressure from Israel’s government, the Knesset has again postponed the debate on the bill to recognize the Armenian genocide until after the Turkish elections on June 24. Meanwhile, prominent figures in the fight against genocide denial have been doing their own lobbying and are strengthening appeal to Israel to recognize the genocide against the Armenians.

It is high time Israel join numerous other nations in recognizing the Armenian genocide. Such a move would restate Israel’s fundamental values, and would reinforce the international coalition against genocide denial.

Despite Turkey’s official denial, the Armenian genocide is a historical reality. A roundup of Armenian intellectuals in Constantinople on April 24, 1915 was followed by the planned and thorough extermination of 1.5 million people – killed because they were Armenian. These killings occurred under the supervision of the Committee of Union and Progress led by the de facto leaders of the Ottoman Empire at the time: the triumvirate of Talaat Pacha, Enver Pacha and Djemal Pacha.

This mass killing was a genocide.

This truth is acknowledged in all its simplicity by historians around the world as well as by brave Turkish activists and intellectuals, who have commemorated the genocide for several years, especially in Istanbul.

The geopolitical alliance between Turkey and Israel has been a key element keeping the latter from recognizing the Armenian genocide.

But Israel should not worry about Turkey’s diplomatic threats against countries that dare to recognize the genocide. Take, for example, what happened in the wake of the international wave of recognition in 2015 that marked the centenary of the genocide.

Turkey railed against it, protested, recalled ambassadors, suspended diplomatic relations, uttered threats and then the course of relations between nations and states resumed its normal course, that is to say sometimes chaotic, but built mainly upon well-known interests and alliances.Since then, Germany has gone on working with Turkey, for example spearheading an agreement between the European countries and Ankara on refugees, while France, which is at the forefront of the recognition movement, has never halted its commercial ties with Turkey. No one should be swayed by loud threats which haven’t been followed by action.

Israel’s recognition of the Armenian genocide will contribute to preventing mass atrocities in the future. Theodor Herzl launched Zionism when he understood the existential threat facing Jews. Since its creation, Israel has been the refuge of Shoah survivors and of every Jew threatened around the world.

It is often foolhardy to imagine how history might have been different, but it is not absurd to think that if international recognition and denunciation of the Armenian genocide had taken place at the time, the genocide against the Jews, as well as those against the Roma, the Tutsis in Rwanda, and others, may have been avoided.

Thus, Israel has a particular responsibility. Recognizing the Armenian genocide will not change the past, but it will contribute to shaping the future and help protect those who are threatened with extermination, today and tomorrow.

On August 22 1939, on the eve of the invasion of Poland, Hitler told his generals in his infamous Obersalzberg speech: “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?” When the Knesset does finally discuss the bill, all MKs, whatever their political sensibilities and backgrounds, should have this comment in mind.

What is at stake goes well beyond ephemeral geopolitical alliances and minor political games; it is about historical truth and our shared humanity. Israel must remember the Armenian extermination, and recognize the Armenian genocide.

Benjamin Abtan is the president of the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement – EGAM and the Coordinator of the Elie Wiesel Network of Parliamentarians of Europe. He is the former political advisor of French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner 

Beate, Serge and Arno Klarsfeld are world-known Nazi hunters and activists against genocide denial. They are the leaders of the Association of Daughters and Sons of Jewish Deportees from France

Report Israel ‘selling nuclear information’ to Saudi: Israeli expert

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Israel is selling Saudi Arabia information that would allow the kingdom to develop nuclear weapons, a senior Israeli nuclear expert has revealed.

Ami Dor-On, a senior nuclear commentator with the Israeli military organization iHLS, said the cooperation has been made possible in the wake of the widening ties between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and is indicative of an emerging nuclear arms race in the region.

“This information should shock us as we see the world is changing for the worse, following the race for the possession of nuclear weapons that pass right over our heads in the Middle East,” the Middle East Monitor quoted the expert as saying on Thursday, citing a report by Arabi21.

According to the Israeli writer, the Tel Aviv regime is aware that Saudis would eventually make the move for developing nuclear weapons and want to make sure they would not go to other regional players such as Pakistan to obtain the know-how.

“It can be assumed that Israel may take the initiative to develop Saudi Arabia’s efforts to acquire nuclear weapons and not leave it solely to Pakistan, given the growing Saudi-Israeli relations,” the expert added.

Dor-On claimed that Pakistan has already signaled its willingness to transfer the expertise to Saudi Arabia “within a month” should the arms race intensify.

Saudi Arabia has already asked the US for permission to expand its nuclear program to include uranium enrichment, a move that experts warn is not to be taken lightly considering the Riyadh regime’s never-ending thirst for political and military dominance in the region.

The kingdom is widely viewed as the financier of Pakistan’s nuclear program. Ironically, Saudi royals took the first steps in the 1970s after finding out that Israel and India had already taken major steps towards developing nuclear weapons.

A few years after jump-starting Pakistan’s weapons program, Saudis followed their own nuclear ambitions by secretly procuring Chinese ballistic missiles already capable of delivering nuclear payloads.

The trend continued to the point that the kingdom designated the Royal Saudi Strategic Missile Force as one of the five branches of the Royal Saudi Arabian Armed Forces.

Experts have called on the international community to prevent Saudi Arabia from acquiring nuclear weapons, as Riyadh faces an uncertain future amid ongoing power clashes, the poor judgment of Saudi leaders and their promotion of extremist ideologies.

Source: http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/05/31/563499/Israel-Saudi-Arabia-Ami-DorOn-iHLS-Pakistan

Israel warns Damascus not to use air defenses against Israeli jets inside Syria

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“We are flying the F-35 fifth-gen stealth fighter all over the Middle East and have already attacked twice on two different fronts,” Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin was quoted as saying by Israeli media.

A senior Israeli Air Force officer has said that his country’s military aircraft will continue to operate in Syrian airspace for as long as is deemed necessary.

“We’re not doing this because we’re aggressive, but because we constantly have to be actively defending the state of Israel,” the senior officer said, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity on Wednesday.

“This is the only thing preventing offensive measures by Iran,” he added.

The officer also warned Syria not to use its air defenses against Israeli warplanes. “All batteries that fire on Israeli aircraft will be destroyed. All batteries that do not fire on us will not be destroyed,” he said, noting that “this policy will continue.”

On Tuesday, the commander of the Israeli Air Force declared that Israel had become the first country in the world to use its US-made F-35 fifth-gen stealth fighter in combat.

“We are flying the F-35 all over the Middle East and have already attacked twice on two different fronts,” Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin was quoted as saying by Israeli media.

Syrian-Israeli relations were brought to a boiling point earlier this month after the Israeli Air Force hit what it said were Iranian targets in Syria, following an alleged rocket attack against Israeli military positions in the occupied Golan Heights.

Earlier this year, Israeli jets repeatedly struck Syria’s T-4 air base, which Tel Aviv claimed contained “Iranian bases in Syria.”

On Wednesday, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad told Sputnik that the possibility of withdrawing Iranian military advisers and Hezbollah militia was “not even on the agenda of discussion, since it concerns the sovereignty of Syria.”

The Israeli Air Force has regularly violated Syrian airspace throughout the course of the Syrian civil war. Damascus has called these incursions acts of aggression and vowed to continue to “repel any aggression against Syria, regardless where it will take place.”

Source: Sputnik

The two conquerer of Middle east, Israel and Turkey ramp up tension with tit-for-tat diplomat dismissals

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Israel and Turkey have continued tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats over violence in Gaza that has killed at least 60 Palestinians. It comes ahead of a meeting of Arab foreign ministers to discuss “Israeli aggression.”

Turkey has ordered the Israeli consul general in Istanbul, Yosef Lefi-Sfari, to temporarily leave the country, in the latest development of an ongoing spat between the two countries, Turkish state media reported Wednesday.

The move comes after Israel’s Foreign Ministry summoned a top Turkish diplomat to be reprimanded for his country’s “harsh” treatment of Israel’s ambassador in Ankara, Eitan Naeh, who Turkey temporarily expelled on Tuesday.

Also on Wednesday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said Umut Deniz, the Turkish charge d’affaires in Tel Aviv, was being summoned because of the “inappropriate treatment” of Naeh.

The spat between the two countries has seen Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan exchange heated words on Twitter.

Erdogan tweeted that Netanyahu “has the blood of Palestinians on his hands.”

Netanyahu hit back on Twitter, saying “Erdogan is among Hamas’s biggest supporters and there is no doubt that he well understands terrorism and slaughter. I suggest that he not preach morality to us.”

Arab foreign ministers to hold talks 

Arab foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting at the Arab League on Thursday to “confront the Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people,” state media reported Tuesday.At least 60 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since protests amplified on Monday following the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem and the Nakba commemoration of Israel’s founding.

Egypt’s state news agency MENA quoted an Arab diplomatic source as saying the meeting was also “to confront the illegal decision taken by the United States to move its embassy to occupied Jerusalem.”

The source also said the Arab League was due to hold a preparatory meeting on Wednesday at the level of permanent representatives.

Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia released a brief statement of condemnation and reaffirmed its support for “the Palestinian brotherly people” and their “legitimate rights.”

Guatemala first to follow US

Despite condemnation from much of the world on the US embassy decision, Guatemala also moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on Wednesday, making it the first country to follow in the footsteps of the US.

“This is an important moment for the future of our peoples,” Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said at the embassy inauguration ceremony.

“It is not a coincidence that Guatemala is opening its embassy in Jerusalem right among the first, you were always among the first. You were the second country to recognize Israel,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Paraguay is next in line to move its embassy to Jerusalem later this month.

Early this month while visiting Venezuela, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for Latin American countries not to move their embassies to Jerusalem, saying East Jerusalem was “the capital of the Palestinian state.”

EAEU holds negotiations with Israel, Serbia and Singapore – Egypt and India waiting for their turn

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YEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. The Eurasian Economic Union successfully develops partnership with other countries and unions, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced during the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council session.

“FTA with Vietnam operates successfully. A trade and economic agreement with China is planned to be signed this week in Astana, as well as a temporary agreement with Iran on creating free trade zone. Talks with Israel, Serbia and Singapore on privileged agreements are underway. In the future similar negotiations are scheduled with Egypt and India”, ARMENPRESS reports the Russian President as saying.

According to him, the priority issues of the integration structure are increasing the efficiency of the single markets, the harmonization of national legislations in different spheres, the elimination of restrictions on the free movement of goods, services, capital, labor, creating more favorable conditions for the development of entrepreneurial activity.

“In general, the Eurasian Economic Union develops rather dynamically. GDP in member states rose by 1.8%, industrial products by 1.7%, agricultural products by 2.5% in 2017, while the average price rise has declined by 3.1% in the member states. Internal and external trade has also improved. Exports to the 3rd countries have increased by 24.5%, and trade turnover has increased by 26.1%”, the Russian president said.

The Supreme Eurasian Economic Council session took place on May 14 with the participation of the Heads of State of all the member states. Moldova participated in the expanded format session as an EAEU observer state. Armenian PM held meetings with the Presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan in the sidelines of the summit.

Greece, Cyprus and Israel together in Washington

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While the leaders of Greece, Cyprus and Israel confirmed once again in Nicosia their strategic choice to follow a common course on a number of issues and to promote cooperation in a series of sectors – leading with energy – diaspora organizations from the three countries organized a joint conference in Washington, during which they worked on joint actions aimed at securing the support of the United States.

These include efforts to better inform the Trump administration and especially Congress, the branch of the US government where sales of military equipment are approved or rejected.

Cooperation between the diasporas preceded cooperation between the three countries, since members of the Greek-American community, of both Greek and Cypriot origin, have for decades maintained channels of communication with the Jewish community. Now, with the rapid upgrading and deepening of relations at a state level, their cooperation has gained even greater momentum and substance.

Discussions with members of the Jewish community in Washington, on the sidelines of the conference co-hosted by the Hellenic American Leadership Council and the American Jewish Committee, confirmed that the tripartite cooperation is not only important for Greece and Cyprus, but also for Israel.

For a country surrounded by enemies and opponents, long-term strategic relationships that acquire the characteristics of an alliance are extremely useful and important, almost irreplaceable, as, apart from cooperation in the areas of security and counterterrorism, Greece and Cyprus have lately also been acting as a political and economic bridge between Israel and the European Union.

In the past five years, the Congressional Hellenic Israel Alliance (CHIA) caucus has been formed in the United States, and already includes 40 Congressmen led by one Republican, Greek-American Gus Bilirakis, and one Democrat, Ted Deutch, who is Jewish.

Currently, the CHIA is promoting an end to the arms embargo on Cyprus, as well as efforts to freeze the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.

David Harris, the head of the American Jewish Committee, noted eloquently how the course of this particular relationship is progressing, at the country level but also in the diaspora: “Relations between Israel, Cyprus and Greece are an example of cooperation in a world desperately needing such examples.”

The activities of the Greek-American community in the decision-making centers of the superpower should be and are extremely useful and supportive of Greece and its interests, which more often than not seem to coincide with those of the US.

Israel, Iran move closer to open war after exchanging missile barrages

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Israel, Iran move closer to open war

By By Seth J. Frantzman and Carlo Munoz — The Washington Times

U.S., European powers back Israel’s right to self-defense, U.N., Russia seek restraint

JERUSALEM — Massively retaliating for what it said was an Iranian military strike across the Golan Heights, Israeli forces unleashed a heavy bombardment against Iranian military positions across Syria on Thursday, in a significant escalation that has brought the two long-hostile Middle East heavyweights to the brink of open war.

The U.S. and a number of European powers quickly endorsed what they said was Israel’s right to self-defense, while the Russian government and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged both sides to pull back. But Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and his aides vowed to strike back hard at what they say are increasing encroachments by Iran and its proxies across the border in Syria.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman told reporters here that the Israeli missile and airstrikes had hit “nearly all” of Iran’s significant infrastructure sites in Syria. Iran and Tehran-allied militias have been active in Syria supporting the government of ally President Bashar Assad in the country’s seven-year civil war. The heavy Israeli strikes were in response to approximately 20 missiles fired from inside Syria at Israeli targets in the Golan Heights.

“If it rains on us it will be a flood on them,” Mr. Lieberman said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s military action was intended to send a “clear message” to Tehran to back down, and hinted there may be more to come.

Israel is in “a continuous campaign,” the conservative prime minister said, adding, “Whoever attacks us, we will attack them sevenfold, and whoever prepares to attack us, we will act against them first.”