July 13th

Christian Zionism's Own Reality Check ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Matthew Duss - (Opinion) July 13, 2012 - 12:00am Growing up in the evangelical church, support for Israel was simply part of the culture. It was just accepted that the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 was a fulfillment of biblical prophecy, heralding the Last Days and the return of Jesus to the earth. In Sunday school we performed plays from the Old Testament. This history was part of our own history, and the miracle of the modern State of Israel was seen as proof that God continued to work in the world. » Read more

Municipality ‘hiding’ house demolitions in e. J'lem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Melanie Lidman - July 13, 2012 - 12:00am The Jerusalem Municipality has manipulated the statistics of housing demolitions in east Jerusalem to make it look like fewer are taking place, The Jerusalem Post has learned. The policy of not including “self-demolitions” – where Arab families are threatened with staggering fines if they do not demolish their own houses – in the official count, has allowed Jerusalem to present a picture of a dramatic decrease in demolitions during Mayor Nir Barkat’s term. » Read more

Report Seeks To Erase Occupation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) July 13, 2012 - 12:00am Benjamin Netanyahu has a bad habit of pretending he’s Houdini — sticking his head in a noose, scaring everyone half to death, then wiggling free at the last minute. The difference is that Houdini’s viewers got to watch from their seats, while Netanyahu’s audience is stuck inside the noose with him. And the noose gets a little tighter every time. » Read more

In exclusive interview, neo-Nazi recounts aiding Palestinians in Munich massacre ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Ofer Aderet - July 12, 2012 - 12:00am A popular German detective novelist accused of being directly involved in the 1972 Munich massacre apologized for his involvement in the attack and denied being a neo-Nazi in an interview with Haaretz earlier this week. Willi Voss, who was revealed to be an accomplice to the massacre by a report compiled by the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, and was made public at the request of Der Spiegel, told Haaretz that he “is not a neo-Nazi and has never been.” » Read more

Should the Church of England remain silent on Israel-Palestine? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Giles Fraser - (Opinion) July 12, 2012 - 12:00am The General Synod of the Church of England has used the time freed up by the postponement of the debate on female bishops this week to enter into the politics of Israel-Palestine. I want to joke that it's only the C of E that, unable to sort out the simple question of whether women should be bishops, decides to tackle the problems of the Middle East. » Read more

Israel's immigration police granted power to deport foreign activists from West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chaim Levinson - July 13, 2012 - 12:00am The Israel Defense Forces issued a new order last week allowing inspectors from the Interior Ministry's enforcement unit to remove any foreigners who are found to be in the West Bank without a permit. The step, which represents a further step in the military's actions against foreign activists, was struck down in the past by the High Court of Justice, on the grounds that the Interior Ministry inspectors do not have authority in the West Bank. » Read more

Postscript: OK, you’ve won; now what? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Hirsh Goodman - (Opinion) July 12, 2012 - 12:00am Now that we have the findings of the government-appointed advisory committee on the legality of Israeli “outposts” in the West Bank, a three-person handpicked by the prime minister which, not unsurprisingly, found that all settlement in the West Bank is legal. » Read more

Britain's MI6 chief: Iran two years away from becoming nuclear power ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Anshel Pfeffer - July 13, 2012 - 12:00am In an unusually frank briefing to senior British civil servants, Sir John Sawers, the chief of MI6, Britain's foreign intelligence service said that British agents have been active against Iran's nuclear program since 2008. Despite their efforts though, Sawers said that Iran would likely achieve nuclear capability by 2014. » Read more

Attacks on Palestinians continue, but police only arrest leftist activists ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - (Opinion) July 13, 2012 - 12:00am Graffiti in Hebrew reading "death to Arabs" and "revenge" were found Wednesday night painted on a water tank in the eastern part of the Palestinian village of Susya in the southern Hebron Hills, not far from the settlement of Susya. Similar slogans had been painted 10 days earlier on crumbling limestone along the road. » Read more

30 Palestinians wounded in fireworks explosion near Ramallah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua July 13, 2012 - 12:00am At least 30 Palestinians were wounded early Friday by an explosion of fireworks when they were celebrating a wedding ceremony in a small town near the West Bank city of Ramallah, witnesses and medics said. Medics at a Ramallah hospital said 30 people were brought to the hospital with various injuries, adding that four of them were in serious conditions. Witnesses said the explosion occurred suddenly while some relatives and families were celebrating and dancing during the wedding ceremony in a wedding hall in the town of Termes'aya, north of Ramallah. » Read more