Just back from India. We saw minimal news about the world outside of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Headlines included Oprah's visit to Mumbai and Salman Rushdie's potential appearance at the Jaipur Literature Festival. Satanic Versus is still banned in India. There were concerns about Islamic based terrorism and threats from the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

 

The New York Times Collaborates with Hamas Front Group to Suppress the Truth  - Steven Emerson (IPT News)

CAIR's Manipulation Tactics in Tampa  (IPT News)

Tariq Ramadan-Supporter Diana Eck Leads the Charge Against Fired ‘Islamophobic’ Professor - Phyllis Chessler (PJ Media) 

Understanding the BDS Movement - Avishai D. Don  (Harvard Crimson) Next weekend, the University of Pennsylvania will host the second national BDS conference, an event that will advocate for the "growing global campaign to boycott, divest from and sanction (BDS) the State of Israel." But the BDS movement hides its ultimate goal of dismantling the Jewish state behind its public rhetoric. Although some members of the movement might actually support the Jewish state's continued existence, the Palestinian BDS National Committee - the "reference and guiding force for the global BDS movement" - cannot do so under any circumstances.     If you support the BDS movement, you are supporting an organization that is actively working to undermine the Jewish state. Utilizing the vocabulary of international norms, the movement actually systematically attempts to undermine the international consensus that recognizes Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. And if you support this right - regardless of your politics and your feelings towards the current Israeli government - then there is only one moral option. Boycott the BDS movement.  

Anti-Semitism in Chile, Jews Accused of Plotting to Take Over Patagonia - Anna Mahjar-Barducci (Stonegate Institute) As long as it was not known that the alleged perpetrator of the fire was a Jew, the Chileans were complaining about the government that did not act in time to stop the ecological catastrophe; however, once there was the alleged involvement of a Jew from Israel, the demonization immediately started. 

Russia to Sell Warplanes to Syria- Fred Weir (Christian Science Monitor)

Syria's Russian Jet Order (Defense Industry Daily)

A Hezbollah Threat in Thailand? - Ben West (Stratfor)

Footage: Palestinians in Lebanon Shown Saluting Nazi/Hizbullah Style (MEMRI)

Op-Ed: Tale of 2 Women: Pakistani Terrorist & Somali-Dutch MP - Phyllis Chessler (Israel National News)

Iranian General Confirms that South Lebanon Is Under Iran's Influence (Daily Star-Lebanon) 

Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Force Planning Attack on U.S. in Turkey - Bayram Kaya (Zaman-Turkey) 

Good News

Turkish State TV Airs Holocaust Documentary  (AP-Washington Post)  Turkey has marked international Holocaust Remembrance Day by airing French filmmaker Claude Lanzmann's "Shoah." The filmmaker said this is the first time the film was broadcast on state television in a Muslim country. 

Film Shows Palestinians, Jews Saving Lives - Judy Siegel-Itzkovich (Jerusalem Post) View the Video - Witness: Jerusalem SOS(YouTube-Al Jazeera) 

Just click the blue links to see the full stories. The next Middle East Update will be January 27th. Wishing you all well in 2012.

New Jihadi Media Groups - (IPT News) 

Not a Parody: Head of Arab League Monitors in Syria Led Darfur Genocide - Jonathan S. Tobin (Commentary)

The Mutating Al-Qaeda Threat - Mitchell D. Silber (Washington Times)

Belgian Newspaper Replaces Israel with PA on Mideast Map (European Jewish Press) 

Hundreds of North Korean Nuclear and Missile Experts Working in Iran (Korea Times)

Iran and the Saudi Shiites - Abdullah Al-Otaibi  (Asharq Al-Awsat-UK)
Iran is behind the Shiite violence directed against Saudi Arabia. Similar events have taken place in the Gulf, including the attempt to assassinate Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah in Kuwait, the hijacking of a plane to Jabriya, as well as the recent attempts to interfere in Kuwait and spread violence in Bahrain.
    Iran is still mobilizing its agents whenever it senses an opportunity, and whenever it wants, whether in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria or Yemen, or in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. Iranian subversion directed against Saudi Arabia and the Gulf is a genuine threat. 

Hizballah Fundraising and Operations in the US and Latin America - (IPT News)

Hamas leader Haniyeh: Goal is destruction of Israel in stages -  Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik (PMW)

Palestinians Fire Mortar Shells Containing Phosphorous at Israel - Yaakov Lappin (Jerusalem Post) 

Hamas Says Gaza "Not Occupied," UN Disagrees - Hillel C. Neuer (UN Watch) 

Financial Times Hamas Shocker – “We Don’t Feel a Correction Was Warranted” - Simon Plosker (Honest Reporting)

UNESCO Funds Palestinian Magazine Glorifying Hitler - Jordana Horn (Jerusalem Post) 

Red Sea Electronic Fence to Foil Sinai Terror Attacks - Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post) 

Egypt's Winds of Change Give Way to Dark Clouds - (IPT News)

Yohanna Qulta, Deputy Patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church in Egypt: If the Salafis Come to Power and Instate the Jizya Poll Tax, We Will Oppose This to the Point of Martyrdom - (MEMRI) This MEMRI link is also interesting for what the Patriarch says about American actions in the region. For a definition of "Jizya Tax" click here and here;