ISRAFAX_288 2016-03-28 9:35 PM Page 1 CANADIAN INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH L’I NSTITUT CANADIEN DE RECHERCHES SUR LE JUDAÏSME ISRAFAXApril 22, 2016 14 Nisan 5776 Volume XXVII, Number 288 IBESYORNDA THEE LBL UIEN ( & W SHIPTE )A HOCRIEZO:N TECHNOLOGY, ECONOMY, SECURITY P.O. Box 175, Station H, Montreal, Quebec H3G 2K7 Tel: (514) 486-5544 Fax: (514) 486-8284 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.isranet.org ISRAFAX_288 2016-03-28 9:35 PM Page 2 Editorial Passover Thoughts 5776 Israel and the World: Baruch Cohen Contemporary Issues In Loving Memory of Malca z’’l Frederick Krantz “And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abun - dantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the The Jewish State of Israel, proclaimed May, 1948, and soon be land was filled with them.” ( Passover Haggadah , [Exodus 1.7]) 68 years old, is one of the greatest, and most successful, post-1945 “Even the poorest Jew, a recipient of charity, must, on the experiments in nation-building. Now with a growing population of eve of Passover, eat only in a reclining position, as a mark of ca. eight million, 75% of which is Jewish; then, marginal, the Yishuv freedom…” ( Mishna, Pesahim 10.1) with 600,000 post-Holocaust souls, facing destruction by five invad - The key idea expressed in Passover is the certainty of free - ing Arab armies. Today Israel is the regional hegemon, its nuclear- dom. With the Exodus a new age dawned for humanity: redemp - armed IDF one of world’s most advanced and powerful armed tion from oppression and misery. If the Exodus had not taken forces. place, humanity would have been destined to follow another Then, economically marginal; today, its dynamic and innovative course. high-tech sector among the world’s most advanced, with an out - During the night of Passover the Jew says, that if not for Ex - standing space exploration program ( NB : to be celebrated at CIJR’s odus, “Neither my fathers, nor I, nor my children would be free, 2016 28th Anniversary Gala, “Israel in Space”, April 12 in Toronto, we would still remain slaves.” April 14 in Montreal). Passover respects the universal, indivisible greatness of free - All of this despite constant warfare and terrorism since 1948, and dom and liberty. The Passover holiday calls us from the most successful achievement of the immense task of integrating succes - abject misery to the mizrah by which human dignity is restored. sive waves of refugees (Holocaust survivors, Sephardim expelled The night of the Seder forces man to face, and to fight for, him - from Arab lands, Ethiopians, Russians). And today a growing tide self. The Haggadah call becomes quite clear: it summons every from renewed antisemitism in the West European countries. Jew to join his brothers and sisters in the building of Jerusalem, Yet today, despite continuing tensions, Israel’s regional situation of Judaism and in the strengthening of the State of Israel. is in fact relatively stable. Formal peace treaties with Egypt and Jor - AM YISRAEL CHAI! dan, and a de facto peace with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, have “The People of Israel Live!” been sustained. Indeed, Israel, with one exception, is enjoying the best general (Baruch Cohen is Research Chairman of CIJR, and a socio-political, and diplomatic, circumstances since its founding, member of the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Center) and this despite tensions with the U.S., the superpower that became, after 1967, its closest ally and supporter (more on this later). The key exception here is, of course, Iran. A former U.S.-Israel ISRAFAX EDITORIAL BOARD ally under the Shah (overthrown with U.S. President Carter’s acqui - Editor .............................. Frederick Krantz Publications Chairman ..... Rob Coles escence), Obama’s Iranian nuclear deal has reinforced terrorist-sup - Associate Editors ............. Julien Bauer Assistant Editor ................ Machla Abramovitz porting Iran’s spread across the Middle East into Lebanon, Syria, ......................................... Ira Robinson Archivist: ......................... Roberto Lima and Yemen, this despite Israeli, Saudi (and U.S. Congressional) op - ......................................... Harold M. Waller Layout & Design .............. France Normandeau position. Obama’s effective withdrawal from Syria, with Russia’s Research Chairman .......... Baruch Cohen Executive Assistant .......... Yunna Shapira intervention there, has saved the vicious Assad regime. Despite the first shaky cease-fire there, in five years, with 300,000 already dead ISRAFAX is the research publication of the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research , an independent and non-partisan non-profit educational and 11 million refugees, internal/external, Syria remains a poten - foundation devoted to the study of Israel, the Middle East and the Jew - tially explosive powder-keg. ish world. It provides CIJR members with key data and a digest of in - A quick Middle East tour d’horizon demonstrates Israel’s relative ternational analysis and opinion on relevant issues. security: We welcome your letters, comments and materials, which can be Egypt : Gen. el-Sissi, having overthrown with popular backing the faxed or e-mailed (see cover.) Islamist Muslim Brotherhood regime of Morsi, is close to Israel (they cooperate against IS in Sinai, and against Hamas in Gaza). Egypt remains unstable, exposed to external and internal terrorism, and a still stand-offish Obama Administration: as a possible collapse THIS ISSUE of Cairo would make the Syrian situation look like child’s play, Is - P. 2 EDITORIAL rael (and Saudi) support for Egypt remains central. P. 2 PASSOVER THOUGHTS 5776 Turkey : Another earlier Israel ally, which after the rise of Islamist P. 3 WEEKLY QUOTES & SHORT TAKES Erdogan broke with the Jewish state (the Mavi Marmara incident, P. 4 BDS & ANTI-ISRAEL DELEGITIMATION etc.) but now seeks a rapprochement. Turkey is increasingly alone, P. 5 ISRAEL: IN U.S. ELECTION, & IN SPACE isolated, its “neo-Ottoman” policy a failure, the Turkish Kurds (pro - P. 6 ARABS: STATE VS. TRIBE voked by Erdogan for electoral purposes) rebelling, with terrorist P. 6 ISRAEL IN SPACE: TO MOON, AND MARS! explosions in Istanbul and Ankara. Traditional Turkish enemies Rus - P. 9 ISRAELI CHRISTIANS TO IDF; YAZIDIS GET HELP sia and Greece, on Tehran’s doorstep, are negotiating with Israel. P. 10 TURKS ENMESHED IN CONFLICT; ISRAEL RESCUES YEMENIS" Hence Erdogan, cozying up to Israel, evidently seeks resumed rela - P. 11 CIJR REVIEW OF BOOKS tions. P. 12 EXTRA! EXTRA! Saudi Arabia : Given Obama’s de facto ISSN # 1193-7246 Continued on page 8 2 – April 22, 2016 – ISRAFAX ISRAFAX_288 2016-03-28 9:35 PM Page 3 WEEKLY QUOTES SHORT TAKES “(Islamic State) have really an unprecedented level of financial RUSSIA COULD REDEPLOY TO SYRIA IN HOURS, and military means available to them.” — General Gratien Maire, PUTIN SAYS (Moscow) — Russia could rebuild its military pres - France’s Vice Chief of Defense. Maire said the I.S. threat posed to ence in Syria in a matter of hours and will maintain air defenses Europe is more dangerous than in the past because the terrorist or - in the country for the foreseeable future, President Vladimir Putin ganization has territory, weaponry and support that provide impor - said. Putin portrayed the combat operation as a success that cost tant advantages to returning foreign fighters. I.S. affiliated terrorists Russia little and demonstrated the country’s “indisputable leader - struck March 22 in Brussels, killing at least 34 people and wounding ship, will and responsibility” in fighting terrorism. ( Washington scores of others in bombings of the airport and subway. ( Bloomberg , Post , Mar. 17, 2016) Mar. 22, 2016) U.N. CONDEMNS YEMEN AIRSTRIKES THAT KILLED “Most westerners, including almost all Canadians, still have not 106 (Sana) — A UN human rights official condemned the Saudi- begun to understand that they and their way of life are under led coalition fighting in Yemen, citing repeated attacks on civilian attack by a lethal army of kamikazes who are convinced they targets, including an attack in March that killed 106 people, in - are doing God’s work and that they will soon have a hallowed cluding 24 children. The Saudis are backing the contested govern - place in paradise…One need ment of President Hadi against only to have listened to Prime rebels, known as the Houthis, Minister Justin Trudeau’s who are aligned with former tepid response to the multiple President Saleh. The Saudis are terrorist attacks carried out in pressuring the U.S. for support, Paris late last year and his de - saying that Iran is backing the cision to withdraw Canada’s Houthis. ( New York Times , Mar. thin combat contribution to the 18, 2016) war against ISIL to understand FUTURE OF LEGAL BAT - that he does not regard Cana - TLE AGAINST BDS MEETS dians as being in danger.” — IN ISRAEL (Jerusalem) — An Matthew Fisher. ( National Post , eight-day seminar, bringing 45 Mar. 22, 2016) lawyers, scholars, and judges “President [Barack] Obama… from all over the world to aid Is - may be the worst thing that rael in fighting BDS, started last ever happened to Israel, believe month in Israel. The goal of the me…What…Obama gets seminar, organized by Israeli wrong about dealmaking…is Photo: Ketevan Kardava—Georgian Public Broadcaster/AP NGO Shurat HaDin, is to help its participants learn about the secu - that he constantly applies pres - Two women are wounded in a terrorist attack sure to our friends, and re - at Brussels Airport in Belgium, March 22, 2016. rity threats facing Israel and how wards our enemies…When the the country is fighting for its de - United States stands with Israel, the chances for peace really fense and international image. Israeli legal experts will give lec - rise, and rise exponentially.” — Presidential primary front-runner tures to the visiting jurists, and security officials will provide Donald Trump (R), at the AIPAC conference in Washington.