A7News: Poland pulls out of Jerusalem summit

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Monday, Feb. 18 '19, י"ג באדר תשע"ט





HEADLINES:
1. POLAND PULLS OUT OF JERUSALEM SUMMIT
2. IDF SOLDIER INJURED IN BOMB ATTACK - AMERICAN IMMIGRANT FROM LA
3. OREN HAZAN TO RUN FOR KNESSET WITH THE TZOMET PARTY
4. THE INCREDIBLE HYPOCRISY OF JEFF BEZOS
5. GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER OF RAV ELYASHIV PASSES AWAY
6. 'I'M WILLING TO GIVE HALF A MILLION ARABS CITIZENSHIP'
7. CHABAD SYNAGOGUE VANDALIZED IN BROOKLYN
8. IRAN REVEALS NEW CRUISE MISSILE SUBMARINE


1. POLAND PULLS OUT OF JERUSALEM SUMMIT
by David Rosenberg

Poland has pulled out of this week's Visegrad Group (V4) summit in Jerusalem, as diplomatic tensions between Israel and Poland continue to worsen.

On Monday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that his country would not send a delegation to the V4 summit in Jerusalem, in protest of comments by Israel's newly appointed Foreign Minister on anti-Semitism in Poland.

"The words of the Israeli foreign minister are racist and unacceptable," said Morawiecki on Monday. "Tt is clear that our foreign minister Czaputowicz will not be travelling to the summit."

Prime Minister Morawiecki had originally been slated to attend the V4, which opens this Tuesday, but cancelled his appearance over the weekend following a diplomatic row with Israel over his country's Holocaust censorship law. On Sunday Poland said the country's foreign minister would be taking Morawiecki's place.

The spat began last Thursday after Israeli Premier Binyamin Netanyahu flouted Poland's controversial Holocaust censorship law during the Warsaw Conference.

The law, which was passed last year, prohibits use of the term "Polish death camps", and bars discussion of collaboration by Poles with the Nazi occupation force in Poland during World War II. Violators could be punished by up to three years in prison. The law drew international criticism, with critics calling the law an attempt to whitewash history.

Netanyahu publicly defied the law during his trip last week, noting that some Poles did collaborate with the German occupation force.

"Poles collaborated with the Nazis," said Netanyahu in Warsaw Thursday. "See, I'm saying it. It is a fact. And I don't know a single person who was ever sued because of it."

After Poland responded to Netanyahu's comments by downgrading its delegation to the V4 summit, newly-appointed Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) spoke out on anti-Semitism in Poland, quoting comments by former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir.

"Poles suckle anti-Semitism from their mother's milk," Katz said, quoting Shamir.

The comments quickly drew rebuke from Poland's ambassador to Israel, who accused Katz of racism.

It is amazing to see how the newly appointed foreign minister expresses himself in a racist and shameful way," said Ambassador Marek Magierowski.


2. IDF SOLDIER INJURED IN BOMB ATTACK - AMERICAN IMMIGRANT FROM LA
by Arutz Sheva Staff

The IDF soldier who was injured by a bomb thrown by Arab rioters in the Gaza Strip Sunday has been identified as Yoadd Zaguri, an American immigrant and lone soldier.

Hundreds of Arab rioters gathered on the Gaza-Israel border Sunday evening, hurling rocks and explosive devices at Israeli soldiers while rolling burning tires at the security fence.

An explosive device thrown at a group of soldiers exploded near Zaguri, injuring him.

Doctors say Zaguri suffered an injury to the esophagus, and had to undergo surgery to treat his injuries.

Hezi Levy, director at the Barzilai hospital in Ashkelon, said the surgery had been successful.

"The soldier underwent a long surgery, and we treated injuries to his esophagus. Thankfully, his trachea and surrounding blood vessels were not harmed. Right now he is unconscious and on assisted breathing."

Zaguri, who grew up in Los Angeles, immigrated to Israel to serve in the IDF. He currently lives in the northern coastal city of Haifa.


3. OREN HAZAN TO RUN FOR KNESSET WITH THE TZOMET PARTY
by David Rosenberg

Likud MK Oren Hazan has joined the defunct Tzomet party, just days before the deadline for Knesset list submissions for the upcoming legislative election.

Hazan, a controversial figure within the Likud, won the 30th spot on the party's list for the 2015 election, winning a seat that year when the Likud received 30 mandates.

Earlier this month, however, the 37-year-old Ariel resident failed to receive a realistic spot on the Likud's list for this April's election, prompting Hazan to seek an alternative path to the Knesset.

Days after he failed to receive a realistic spot on the Likud list, Hazan reached out to the Otzma Yehudit party, hoping for a place on the right-wing faction's list.

Later, however, Hazan vowed to form a new faction and run at its helm.

On Sunday, Hazan live-streamed an address to supporters on his Facebook page, calling for backers to help him choose the name of his new faction.

With less than four days left to submit party lists, Hazan said he remained open to the possibility of running on a joint ticket with another faction, but said he was prepared for an independent run with his new party.

On Monday, however, aides to Hazan said the lawmaker would run at the helm of the defunct 'Tzomet' (Junction) party.

Founded by former IDF Chief of Staff Rafael 'Rafi' Eitan in 1983, Tzomet was a secular right-wing party which ran on a joint list with the Tehiya party in 1984. In 1988, Tzomet ran independent of Tehiya, winning two mandates. The party surged to eight seats in 1992, but later split when three MKs bolted to form the Yiud party, allowing them to join the new Rabin government.

The party went into decline following the split, and by 1996 was forced to run on a joint ticket with the Likud. Tzomet failed to win representation in the 1999 elections, but continued to run through the 2009 elections.


4. THE INCREDIBLE HYPOCRISY OF JEFF BEZOS
by Daniel Greenfield

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos did not pay $250 million for the Washington Post because it was a good deal. In his own words, "It is the newspaper in the capital city of the most important country in the world. The Washington Post has an incredibly important role to play in this democracy."

Clear away the PR euphemisms and the world's richest man was saying that he bought the Post because it sets the agenda in Washington D.C. and helps determine the outcome of elections.

Bezos isn't the first tycoon to buy influence by buying an influential paper. The power he wields with the Washington Post is a pale shadow of the Hearst empire. Dot com billionaires keep buying up media white elephants. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is buying Time. The Atlantic is in the hands of Steve Jobs' widow. The New Republic is being run into the ground by Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes.

But the media also changed. What used to be straightforward bias and agendas has become a shadowy underworld of fixers, brokers, leakers and hackers that has more in common with the spy world.

Bezos paid $250 million for the Post, but it may end up costing him as much as $68 billion.

At least if you listen to Bezos, who claimed, at first in a series of trial balloons through intermediaries, and then more openly in a Medium post, that his affair had been made public in retaliation for his ownership of the Washington Post. Bezos suggested that the Saudis and Trump might be at fault. Others of the billionaire's intermediaries, including the Post, have blamed his mistress' pro-Trump brother.

The two conspiracy theories, one involving Saudi hackers and the other his mistress' brother, leaking intimate texts and photos, are contradictory. But conspiracy theories usually are. The insistence of the Amazon boss that a foreign government and Trump supporters are responsible for his private messages leaking online is really no different than the Clinton conspiracy theory about Russia and Trump.

Hillary Clinton tried to shift the blame to Trump and the Russians after wasting $1.2 billion on her failed campaign. A divorce may cost Bezos as much as $68 billion and undermine confidence in Amazon and his leadership. Blaming Trump, Russia and the Saudis redeems acts of otherwise unforgivable stupidity. It transforms abusers like Hillary Clinton and Bezos into victims by blaming their folly on a conspiracy.

But if the Saudis did hack Bezos, it would be because his ownership of the Washington Post had put him at the nexus of a shadowy underworld of information operations. The first shot was fired when the Post gave Qatari lobbyist, Jamal Khashoggi, a former terrorist propagandist and old friend of Osama bin Laden, column space. The Qataris, beyond backing Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Iran, also sought regime change in Saudi Arabia by mobilizing an effort to overthrow its current monarch.

While Bezos had paid top dollar for the Post, the Qataris and other interests were also using the Post for their own agenda. And the Amazon CEO either did not understand what was going on or approved of it. The Washington Post is a clearinghouse for special interests looking to set the agenda in Washington D.C. Many of those interests, like the Qataris are foreign, malicious and extremely ruthless.

Bezos and the Washington Post had no objection when Qatari hackers passed on the emails of Elliott Broidy, a deputy finance chairman for the Republican National Committee, to reporters revealing his own private life. Instead the Post gleefully featured some of these hacked emails. When Bezos demands sympathy as the innocent victim of foreign hackers, he is guilty of the worst sort of entitled hypocrisy.

The Broidy hack was one of a series of Qatari operations targeting Americans seen as being allied with the Saudis and the UAE. The media mandarins cheering Bezos showed no sympathy for those victims.

If the Saudis had struck back at Bezos, it's hard to see him as anything more than fair game. And the media outlets fulminating at the National Enquirer should be asked how it was any different when Qatari lobbyists were carefully feeding them the private emails of Broidy and their other victims.

The only answer is that it's okay when Qatar hacks Republicans, but it's out of line when the Saudis hack Democrats. There's no comparing the New York Times or the Associated Press gleefully airing the prurient details of Broidy's sex life with the Enquirer airing the prurient details of Bezos' sex life.

That's not journalism. It's the calculated hypocrisy of political informational warfare.

The Washington Post weaponized allegations of sexual misconduct in political warfare. Bezos whines that his affair, which did happen, was wrongly made public. Meanwhile the Post falsely accused Justice Kavanaugh (among other Republicans) of sexual misconduct that never happened. And it did cover up rape allegations against Justin Fairfax, the Democrat Lt. Governor, which appear to have happened.

This was the "incredibly important role" that the Washington Post played "in this democracy." And these were the rules by which it played it. Republicans were accused of sexual assault and child abuse, and Republican officials had their private affairs revealed and private emails published. Meanwhile Democrats had their rape accusations buried deep down in the Washington Post's deepest basement.

This was how the Washington Post played its political influence game. And Bezos had no problem with that because it helped him achieve his political goals, defeating Republicans and electing Democrats.

The media is singing the Amazon CEO's tune and bemoaning his misfortune. But the only reason the Qataris, the Russians, the Saudis and the North Koreans began hacking and leaking emails is because of media collusion. When the son of a Democrat official hacked into Sarah Palin's email, the media gleefully searched through her inbox for any damaging material without caring about the ethics of it.

When Sony was preparing to release The Interview, a comedy about the assassination of Kim Jong-un, North Korean hackers leaked the emails of Sony employees. Instead of boycotting the hackers, the media republished many of the stolen emails, and destroyed the career of studio head, Amy Pascal.

The media claims that foreign governments hacking into the emails of Americans and then leaking them to the media represents a "democratic emergency". But there would be no "emergency" if the media just stopped reporting on and publishing stolen emails. Instead the media calls for all sorts of emergency measures, for a crisis it claims is worse than Pearl Harbor, but won't stop running the stolen emails.

Bezos may just be collateral damage in the complete lack of ethics shown by his media investment.

The Democrats backed the Qatari Islamic terror state as part of their alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood. The red-green alliance manifested as the Washington Post was allowing Qatar to use its pages to promote the overthrow of the Saudi regime. And the Post's dirty deal may have backfired on Bezos as the shadowy underworld of internet information operations bit the biggest internet billionaire around.

This doesn't make Bezos a victim.

Victims don't own papers that gleefully publish other people's hacked emails and affairs, but whine when it happens to them. Bezos didn't just betray his wife, he betrayed every basic principle of ethics. His Medium post and his spin doctors claim the ultimate privilege, that of the abuser from retaliation.

Jeff Bezos thought that the Washington Post's collusion with Qatar, that the hacks and smears of Republicans, served his economic interests. His greed and megalomania may have cost him $68 billion.
Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.


5. GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER OF RAV ELYASHIV PASSES AWAY
by Sponsored Content

Seven children from Bnei Brak were hurled headfirst into chaos recently after the untimely passing of their mother.

The mother was reportedly a close relative of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, and a great-granddaughter of Rav Elyashiv zt"l. The widower is unable to single-handedly tend to the needs of his children and simultaneously support them, and the family is now living at dangerous levels of poverty.

Rav Kanievsky issued an urgent appeal to the public on behalf of the family:

"Our hearts are broken and ours eyes darkened by the passing of my relative, the wife of the avrech shlit"a. It is surely a great mitzvah to help her seven orphans.

"Each person who helps these orphans … his prayers and all his requests will be answered from Heaven."

The grieving widow and children and their loved ones hope that the appeal and bracha from the Gadol will help them to gain the attention and compassion of the Jewish People. If they are not successful in fundraising, they are in danger of homelessness.

Those who wish to join Rav Chaim Kanievsky in saving a devastated family from poverty, and to receive his bracha in return, can do so here for a limited time.

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6. 'I'M WILLING TO GIVE HALF A MILLION ARABS CITIZENSHIP'
by Arutz Sheva Staff

"If we apply Israeli law to Area C, I'll live peacefully with the fact that we gave 400-500,000 Palestinians Israeli citizenship and allow them to vote in the Knesset's elections," Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (New Right) told Israel Hayom.
Area C, which makes up roughly 60% of Judea and Samaria, is under full Israeli control, as opposed to A, which is under Palestinian Authority (PA) security and civil administration, and Area B, under PA civil administration and Israeli security control.

All Jewish settlements are in Area C, but PA Arabs live in all three areas. Israelis are not allowed to enter Areas A and B, due to the danger involved.

Regarding US President Donald Trump's peace plan, Shaked said, "The choice to hold elections is a choice between a strong right and a weak left. After elections and before the coalition is created, Trump is supposed to publish his peace plan, which will bring [Benny] Gantz on a silver platter to the government. Therefore, we - and not Gantz - need to be the ones who are the Likud's central partners."

"Likud's ideology is influenced by its coalition partners. Our goal is to be the next-largest party, second to the Likud. Until we came, people voted right and received left. Thanks to us, we have a right-wing government. For this to continue, we need to be a party with a double-digit number of seats, and in the future, we will lead the government.

"We are in favor of applying Israeli law to Area C, where 100,000 Palestinians live. They will be able to choose to become citizens or residents, whichever they prefer."

When asked whether 400,000 residents of Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods would also receive full Israeli citizenship and the right to vote in Israel's elections, Shaked said, "Jerusalem's residents choose to receive residency, not citizenship. But if we apply Israeli law to Area C, I'll live peacefully with having 400-500,000 Palestinians becoming Israeli citizens. And they can vote in the Knesset's elections. I'm not worried. Their birthrate is identical to our birthrate."


7. CHABAD SYNAGOGUE VANDALIZED IN BROOKLYN
by Marcy Oster, JTA

A large plate glass window was shattered in the front of a Chabad synagogue in Brooklyn as a family sat around their Shabbat table.

The window was smashed on Friday night. The Chabad rabbi, Menachem Heller, his wife, and nine children were in the Chabad of Bushwick at the time of the attack. The family stays in the building over Shabbat.

The rabbi walked across the street and asked some people to call 911 since they do not use their phones on the Jewish Sabbath, NBC New York reported. He eventually flagged down a police car.

The family saw two people walking away from the front of the building right after the window was smashed, according to the report.

"We face this unfortunate experience not with discouragement, but with solid determination: to continue celebrating our faith, sharing our rich heritage, and offering our culture in an inclusive and warm environment," Heller wrote Saturday night in a post on Facebook. "At the same time, we acknowledge the disturbing and increasingly frequent incidents of hate and prejudice in our New York community and its destructive and divisive effects, especially on young people. We encourage each other and the public to stand up against it, whenever it occurs, whatever form it takes, and towards whomever it is directed. An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us."

Police investigated 42 hate crimes through Feb. 4, compared with 19 at the same date last year. Most of those were anti-Semitic hate crimes, according to NBC NY.

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/259176


8. IRAN REVEALS NEW CRUISE MISSILE SUBMARINE
by Arutz Sheva Staff

The Iranian military revealed its newest naval vessel over the weekend – a Fateh class submarine.

First announced in 2011, the Fateh, or 'Conqueror', is one of two submarines from the Fateh class. The boat was reportedly completed in December 2013, the Iranian military said, but underwent extensive testing, beginning in 2014.

The Fateh is Iran's first semi-heavy submarine, Mehr reported, weighing just under 600 tons.

The new boat will be able to remain submerged at below 200 meters underwater for five weeks.

According to Iran's Tasnim outlet, the Fateh is equipped with a guided-missile system for launching cruise missiles and is armed with four torpedoes, two reserve torpedoes, and eight mines.

Aside from the Fateh, Iran's military is also working on two new submarines, both significantly larger than the Fateh class. One boat is estimated at 1,300 tones, the second at 3,200, Tasnim reported.

Maysam Bizar, an Iranian political commentator, called the unveiling of the Fateh a message intended to create a "deterrent factor" against the US.

"There are definitely messages, which are being conveyed to Washington," Bizar told Al Jazeera.