Obama-Linked PR Firm Runs Anti-Israel Campaign

by Maayana Miskin
A top United States public relations firm has taken on a new job: Making Israel look bad on behalf of Qatar. Fenton Communications is working with Qatar on the Al Fakhoora project - an Internet campaign dedicated to breaking Israel's blockade of Hamas in Gaza.

Fenton Communications will be paid almost $400,000 for the project, which describes Israel's insistence on controlling naval access to Gaza as "brutal and inhumane" and "crippling." It has registered under America's Foreign Agent Registration Act.

The PR group works on behalf of a variety of clients, many of them politically liberal. Among its more well-known clients is MoveOn.org, an American group dedicated to ending the war in Iraq. It endorsed U.S. President Barack Obama in the last presidential elections and raised millions of dollars for his campaign.

Fenton also represents the American Medical Association, Human Rights Watch, and various United Nations-linked groups.

The Fakhoora project ostensibly aims to assist Arab students in Gaza, Judea and Samaria. However, its top call to action is a "call for a complete and final end to the blockade on Gaza," and its website is filled primarily with stories accusing Israel of human rights violations for preventing foreign ships from reaching Gaza.

The Al Fakhoora site currently features an interview with Farooq Burney, a Fakhoora worker who was aboard a Turkish ship that attempted to defy the naval blockade of Gaza. Burney accuses Israel of attacking innocent activists, and fails to mention that Turkish activists bearing weapons attacked Israeli soldiers. A second testimony on the site refers to the Turkish ship incident as a "Zionist massacre."

Qatar is one of the top donors to Gaza, and sends millions of dollars a month to the area. Individual Hamas supporters living in Qatar have sent millions of dollars to the terrorist group; among them is Sheikh Yusef al-Qaradawi, who has given Hamas $21 million to buy buildings in Jerusalem.

The few student stories included on the Al Fakhoora project website focus on blaming Israel for allegedly making it difficult to obtain a university education in Gaza. Israel is blamed for everything from a shortage of pens to cuts in electricity - despite the fact that current electric outages are due to an internal struggle between Fatah and Hamas.

In cases where there are no physical impediments to education, Israel is accused of making it psychologically difficult for students to learn. "Whenever I think about the siege, I become exhausted, which impacts my studies," one female student complains.

Al Fakhoora is named after a United Nations school in Gaza which Israel was accused of shelling during the counterterrorism battle Operation Cast Lead in early 2009. Though it was revealed in early 2009 that Israel had not hit the school, the Fakhoora project continues to refer to the school as " a United Nations school in Gaza's Jabaliya refugee camp that was the scene of an attack by Israeli tank shells."
(IsraelNationalNews.com)
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Lieberman: No apology to Turkey
By JPOST.COM STAFF
07/05/2010 15:59

FM responds to Ankara's threat to break diplomatic ties with Israel.
Israel has "no intention of apologizing to Turkey "over the IDF's interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla last month, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Monday.

Speaking during a visit to Lithuania, Lieberman said that, "The opposite was true."

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Lieberman's remarks came after a warning from Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu that Turkey would cut ties with Israel unless a formal apology was issued for the deaths of nine Turkish citizens aboard the Mavi Marmara during Israel's raid of the ship.

The Turkish foreign minister reportedly said "relations will be broken" if Jerusalem does not issue an apology or agree to the establishment of an international commission of inquiry into the deadly clash between its navy commandos and the activists on board the aid ship aiming to break the blockade on the Strip.

Davutoglu was quoted as saying that Turkey would not permit Israeli military flights in its airspace. He conceded that in the event that an Israeli committee investigated the incident rather than an international one, as Jerusalem demands, Turkey would be content with an admission "that the raid was unjust."

Last week, reports surfaced that Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer had conducted a secret meeting with Davutoglu in Zurich, causing tensions to rise between the foreign minister and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

"The foreign minister views very gravely the fact that this was done without informing the Foreign Ministry," said a statement put out by Lieberman's office.

The Prime Minister's Office issued a statement of its own, saying that the failure to inform Lieberman of the meeting was due to "technical" reasons.

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Israel loses Turkey, gains Greece as strategic partner
DEBKAfile DEBKA-Net-Weekly July 4, 2010, 11:09 PM (GMT+02:00)

Greek FM George Panadreou shows interest
Israel has finally moved on from its fractured relationship with Turkey - notwithstanding the impression conveyed by some US and Israeli circles that the damage is not beyond repair. This week, the Israeli Minister of Trade and Labor Minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer made last-ditch bid to save the relationship by initiating a meeting in Zurich with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutolu. It went badly and was hotly debated at the Israeli cabinet meeting Sunday, July 4. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said he thought it was worth a try, but most ministers said that given Ankara's harsh hostility, it should never have taken place.
Meanwhile, as Western and Turkish media outlets harped on Israel's loss of its only Muslim ally in the Middle East, Jerusalem was busy acquiring a new strategic partner: Greece, a NATO member like Turkey with plenty of Middle East interests, has shown interest in stepping into Turkey's shoes and investing in stronger military and intelligence ties.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly 450 reported on June 25 from sources in Athens and Jerusalem that this development was not so much planned in Jerusalem as initiated by Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, who boasts many Jewish and Israeli friends and business contacts, some of whom hold high political and intelligence positions in Israel. He saw Athens' chance to slot into Ankara's place in Jerusalem and transform their present diplomatic, economic, military and intelligence ties into a thriving strategic alliance, that would carry the same advantages to both sides as did Israel's former relations with Turkey.
According to some sources, Papandreou also hopes this alliance will help ease some of his country's financial woes. But most of all, he is looking to Israel for help in speeding the upgrade of his armed forces and helping transform them into the Christian mainstay of NATO in the Balkans and southern Europe - in place of the Muslim Turkish army.

This notion was not the direct outcome of Israel's break with Turkey or the clash aboard the Turkish Mavi Marmara on May 31 between Israeli commandos and pro-Palestinian Turkish activists. It has been evolving for some time, first broached in the summer of 2008 when Papandreou allowed 100 Israeli F-15 and F-16 fighter-bombers to pass through Greek Mediterranean air space for practicing long flights and in-flight fueling.

The distance between Israel and Greece there and back is 1,900 kilometers, identical to the distance between Israel and Iran.

The Greek prime minister went out of his way to be of assistance, making available to the Israeli Air Force the crews and advanced S-300 PMU1interceptor missile batteries Athens purchased from Russia back in 2000. They were allowed to practice bombing sorties against these batteries, in case Moscow decided to sell them to Iran and Syria.

The severe financial crisis besetting Greece this year enhanced the friendly ties between Athens and Jerusalem. While European Union countries spent long months discussing whether to bail Greece out and save it from collapse (eventually granting a €110 billion package), Papandreou turned to Jewish financial titans in Europe and the United States for help to keep the Greek economy afloat.

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Turkey maintains hostility toward Israel
While much of the rest of the international community has moved past the confrontation between Israeli naval forces enforcing the Gaza maritime blockade and a ship full of violent "peace" activists on the May 31, the government of Turkey is determined to keep the issue on the front burner until the Jewish state is either punished or begs forgiveness.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters on Monday that "relations will be broken" unless Jerusalem announces "that the raid was unjust."

Turkey has led the charge for an international commission of inquiry into the incident, during which nine activists who brutally attacked and took hostage a number of Israeli commandos were eventually killed. Most of the casualties were Turks associated with the Turkish IHH, a terrorist-supported network with ties to Al Qaeda.

Davutoglu insisted that the current Israeli commission of inquiry, which most international powers have accepted, is not acceptable, unless it reaches the conclusion that Israel was wrong to intercept the blockade-busting flotilla.

Over the past few weeks Turkey has banned Israeli military aircraft from using its airspace, and has pulled out of joint military exercises with Israel and the US. Israelis have responded by refusing to vacation in Turkey, which is a very popular summer vacation spot for Israelis. The boycott will cost the Turkish hospitality industry some $400 million this summer.

A group of Turkish leaders last month appealed to vacationers from the Muslim world to choose Turkey over Europe and the US this year to offset the loss of Israeli visitors.

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Galilee Fires May Be Result of Arson Terrorism

by Maayana Miskin

Two major fires that raged in Galilee forests Sunday were apparently caused by arson, Jewish National Fund head Effie Stenzler said. A fire in Bar'am burned more than 500 dunams of forest, and the other fire, in Biriya, burned another 100 dunams.

Over the past three months, fires have scorched an estimated 20,000 dunams of land, causing tens of millions of shekels in damage.

The JNF spends more than 20 million shekels each year fighting forest fires, according to Stenzler.

Fires broke out last week as well, and spread quickly due to a severe heat wave Tuesday, which was coupled with winds. A massive fire raged near the city of Beit Shemesh on Tuesday. Firefighting crews fought for hours to contain the blaze, and four firefighters were injured from smoke inhalation.

The fire was eventually put out, but consumed an estimated 3,000 dunams of land and damaged five homes. Firefighters suspect arson in that case as well.

A second fire broke out Tuesday near the Galilee town of Karmiel. Several firefighting crews worked together to extinguish the blaze. Crews suspect that the Karmiel blaze was also the result of arson.

JNF workers assisted firefighters in both cases.

Police have yet to detain suspects in either case. Past such attacks have been revealed as cases of "arson terrorism," in which Arab nationalist groups set fires in order to cause harm to the Jewish state.

Arson has been used as a means of terrorism for several decades. Many dozens of fires have been attributed to terrorist arsonists in recent years, including dozens of forest fires set last year, a fire in an Akko yeshiva, fires that damaged Kever Yosef (Joseph's Tomb) near Shechem, a blaze that destroyed homes in the town of Havat Gilad, and several fires at the Yad Yair synagogue in Binyamin.
(IsraelNationalNews.com)

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Germany, UK, UAE: No Iran refueling
By JPOST.COM STAFF
07/05/2010 15:50

Kuwait reportedly also restricts rights to top up planes' gas.
Iranian aircraft will not be permitted to refuel in Germany, the UK and the United Arab Emirates, AFP reported Monday, citing an ISNA report.

Commercial airliners setting out to Teheran will reportedly be prohibited from stopping at airports in certain countries following sanctions recently approved by Congress. According to the official Iranian news agency, Kuwait will also forbid Iranian planes from disembarking on its soil.

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"Since last week, after the passing of the unilateral law by America and the sanctions against Iran, airports in England, Germany, and the UAE have refused to give fuel to Iranian planes," ISNA quoted Iranian Airlines Union official Mehdi Aliyari as saying.

Aliyari's words referred to passenger aircraft belonging to national airline Iran Air and the privately-owned, Teheran-based Mahan Air.

On Saturday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the latest US sanctions passed against the Islamic Republic "pathetic," according to a Reuters report. On Thursday night, US President Barack Obama officially signed a bill turning sweeping new Iran sanctions into law after years of congressional efforts.

Hilary Leila Krieger in Washington contributed to this report.

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Borders for PA: Abbas Relies on Clinton, Obama Ignores Bush

by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is relying on former U.S. President Bill Clinton's initiative as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu flies to Washington. White House officials refuse to comment on former President George W. Bush's written promises to Israel.

Abbas told the Jordan news service Ammon.net that negotiations with Israel over a proposed new Arab state within Israel's current borders must be based on Clinton's initiative with former PA chairman Yasser Arafat and former Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin.

Under the initiative, Israel would surrender 97 percent of the land restored to the Jewish State in the Six-Day War in 1967, including most of post-1967 Jerusalem, with the remainder of the land to be negotiated.

Abbas also hardened his demand that Israel allow the immigration of millions of foreign Arabs claiming Israeli ancestry. He previously has stated that he knows it is not realistic for Israel to accept more than few thousand foreign Arabs. Buoyed by the Obama administration's support for his other demands, Abbas told the Jordanian news site, "There are around six million Palestinian refugees in different countries, I do not expect all of them to return, but there is a crucial need to agree on solutions that ensure the return of a large number of them."

As U.S. President Barack Obama prepares for the visit of Prime Minister Netanyahu later this week, his National Security Council's senior director for the Middle East declined to comment whether the Obama administration accepts former President Bush's written promise in 2004 that heavily Jewish populated areas in Judea and Samaria would remain under Israeli control.

"I don't think … we'll have a comment on these kinds of … private discussions that we're having with the parties. We have a very good understanding with our Israeli partners about the foundations of this relationship and this effort to move toward our shared goal of comprehensive peace and two states," Dan Shapiro said, as quoted by the Washington Times.

The Bush letter to former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is the basis for Israel's demand that the city Maaleh Adumim (pictured), east of Jerusalem, and the Gush Etzion bloc, south of the capital, remain outside a future PA state. Abbas has used the Israeli demand as a lever for demanding an equal amount of Israel land that would give the PA a direct link between Gaza and Judea and Samaria.

The April 14, 2004 letter states that a final agreement on a new Arab state should reflect "new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli population centers. It adds, "It is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949."