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Publisher HarperCollins Apologizes for Middle East Atlas that Wiped Israel off the Map

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Photo Credit: Algemeiner

Photo Credit: Algemeiner

HarperCollins, one of the world’s leading publishing companies, has apologized for removing Israel from its Middle East Atlas, which is sold to English-speaking schools in the Arab Gulf, after receiving angry criticism from Jewish and Christian leaders.

“Shame on HarperCollins,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, told The Algemeiner, prior to the release of a statement from the publisher which announced that the atlas “has now been removed from sale in all territories and all remaining stock will be pulped. HarperCollins sincerely apologises for this omission and for any offence caused.”

As the British Christian newspaper The Tablet reported on Wednesday, the atlases “depict Jordan and Syria extending all the way to the Mediterranean Sea.” A spokesman for Collins Bartholomew, the subsidiary of HarperCollins that specializes in maps, told the paper that including Israel would have been “unacceptable” to their customers in the Gulf and the amendment incorporated “local preferences.” The Tablet also reported that a customs officer in one Gulf nation would only permit the atlases to reach their intended recipient “only once Israel had been struck out by hand.”

Bishop Declan Lang, the chairman of the Department of International Affairs Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, told The Tablet that the deliberate omitting of Israel from the map would harm peace efforts on the Middle East. (Read more about publisher HarperCollins apologizes for map taking Israel off HERE)

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ISIS is Setting Sites on Israel (+video)

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Photo Credit: ISIS video

Photo Credit: ISIS video

By WND. A new video issued by ISIS contradicts the oft-repeated claim that the Islamic movement now controlling large portions of Iraq and Syria has no interest in the Palestinian jihad against Israel.

ISIS, which now calls itself the Islamic State after declaring the creation of a new caliphate, vows in the video: “Allah willing, we will continue to fight against the Israelis and their allies.”

Islam researcher Robert Spencer, editor of Jihad Watch, notes, for example, Jay Michaelson claimed in the Jewish Daily Forward that “the Islamic State is a Salafist jihadist/fundamentalist movement that regards Hamas as impure and the Israel/Palestinian conflict as largely irrelevant.” (Read more on how ISIS is setting sites on Israel HERE)

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Islamic State Releases Interview with Captured Jordan Pilot

By Newsmax. The hardline Islamic State group has released what it said was an interview with a Jordanian pilot captured last week after his plane crashed during U.S.-led coalition bombing in eastern Syria.

It was not possible to independently verify the interview published in the group’s English-language online magazine Dabiq in which First Lieutenant Muath al Kasaesbeh was quoted as saying his F-16 fighter was “struck by a heat seeking missile”.

“I heard and felt its hit. The other Jordanian pilot in the mission contacted me from a participating jet and told me that I was struck and that fire was coming out of the rear nozzle of my engine,” Kasaesbeh said.

He made brief comments about life at his base, sharing meals with hundreds of U.S. personnel.

“The Americans sometimes have dinner with us and eat mansaf (a traditional Arab dish) which they like alot. Their talk does not include details about operations because of matters of secrecy and security.” (Read more from this story HERE)
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ISIS Complains About Media Treatment of Australian Hostage-Taker

By Patrick Goodenough. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on Monday praised the man responsible for a 17-hour siege at a café in Sydney, Australia this month, saying he had “added his name to the list of Muslims who answered the Khilafah’s [caliphate’s] call to strike those waging war against the Islamic State wherever they may be.”

In the latest edition of its propaganda publication Dabiq, ISIS lashed out at media for highlighting the fact that at the time of the “daring raid,” the hostage-taker, Man Haron Monis, was awaiting trial on several criminal charges.

It said any past transgressions had been wiped away by his act of martyrdom. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Israel Erased from Map by Biggest Children’s Book Publisher

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Times of Israel

Times of Israel

Arab textbooks are not the only ones erasing Israel from their maps. Scholastic, the world’s largest publisher of children’s books, has also eliminated the Jewish state in a book.

“Thea Stilton and the Blue Scarab Hunt,” part of the popular Geronimo Stilton children’s series translated from Italian and published by Scholastic in 2012, tells the story of a group of investigative journalists involved in a treasure hunt in Egypt.

The story commences with a map of modern Egypt and its neighboring countries. While Sudan, Libya and Saudi Arabia appear clearly on the map, the territory of Israel is completely covered by Jordan, painted red. A line indicating the Israeli border with the Sinai Peninsula does appear in the book.

Adina Golombek, a Jerusalem resident who emigrated to Israel from Canada last year, said she was shocked to discover Israel’s absence while reading the book with her 7-year-old son.

Read more from this story HERE.

U of California Event: “Bringing Down Israel Will Benefit Everyone in the World”

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Photo Credit: via Zombietime

Photo Credit: via Zombietime

Won’t someone please think of the murderous terrorists?

A November 12 panel discussion on the University of California’s flagship Berkeley campus was billed as an opportunity to learn about events 7,000 miles away in Israel – and about a Dec. 4 graduate student vote to join the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Instead, attendees were exhorted to bring down the Jewish State.

Hosted by UAW 2865, a union of over 13,000 student-workers across the University of California system, the union’s BDS Caucus brought in guest speakers to “discuss the role of organized labor in the Palestine solidarity movement.”

Panelist Lara Kiswani, executive director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC), dominated the conversation.

“Bringing down Israel will really benefit everyone in the world and everyone in society, particularly workers,” she said later.

Read more from this story HERE.

Reports: Obama Mulling Sanctions on Israel

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The Obama administration is refusing to discuss reports that emerged early Thursday claiming that the White House is considering imposing sanctions on Israel for continuing construction on Jewish homes in Jerusalem.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf dodged several questions on Thursday when confronted with reports that the administration had held secret internal meetings to discuss taking action against Israel for its ongoing building in East Jerusalem.

The classified meetings were reportedly held several weeks ago and included officials from both the State Department and White House, according to the Israeli daily Ha’aretz, which first reported on the meetings.

The possibility of sanctioning Israel for its ongoing construction sends a signal that the Obama administration is willing to go further in its denunciations of Israel then any previous White House.

At the same time, the White House is vigorously pushing Congress against passing new sanctions on Iran.

Read more from this story HERE.

Palestinian Leader Says White House Insult of Netanyahu Reflects Obama's 'Sincere' Feelings

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Photo Credit: WNDIn a radio interview set to air Sunday, a senior leader of Hamas asserts the anonymous White House officials referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “chickensh-t” reflect the Obama administration’s “sincere” feelings.

The interview with Salah Bardawil, senior Hamas leader and member of the Palestinian Parliament, airs Sunday night on “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio” on New York’s AM 970 The Answer.

A recording of the interview was obtained by WND.

Asked for his thoughts on the “chichensh*t” comments, the Hamas strongman told Klein, “It’s not a secret that Obama felt many times disappointed from Mr. Netanyahu. And it’s not a secret that Benjamin Netanyahu’s policy was not acceptable by the administration.”

Continued Bardawil: “The problem is that Obama, in spite of the fact that we feel that these feelings are sincere and true vis-à-vis Netanyahu, he ever translated these emotions against Netanyahu to actions on the ground in order to change the situation … which shows the decision making center is not exclusively in the hands of the president but in the hands of the whole American establishment that judges that Israel is in the strategic interests of the United States. This is why these declarations of the sources in the administration were not translated into changing the situation on the ground into pushing the situation forward but keeping the situation as it is.”

Read more from this story HERE.

5 Takeaways From Top Obama Official Calling Netanyahu ‘A Chickens**t’

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Photo Credit: Daily CallerIt’s probably safe to say that U.S.-Israel relations aren’t exactly at a high point.

In an article published Tuesday at The Atlantic by Jeffrey Goldberg, the Obama administration’s preferred conduit for all things Israel-related, an unnamed senior Obama administration official called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a chickensh*t.”

“The thing about Bibi is, he’s a chickensh*t,” the official told Goldberg.

“The good thing about Netanyahu is that he’s scared to launch wars,” he continued. ““The bad thing about him is that he won’t do anything to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians or with the Sunni Arab states. The only thing he’s interested in is protecting himself from political defeat. He’s not [Yitzhak] Rabin, he’s not [Ariel] Sharon, he’s certainly no [Menachem] Begin. He’s got no guts.”

Read more from this story HERE.

U.S. Pledges $212 Million in Gaza Aid

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Photo Credit: AP / Adel HanaThe United States on Sunday promised $212 million in immediate aid to help rebuild Gaza Strip infrastructure devastated by recent fighting between Hamas and Israel.

The pledge came during an international conference in Cairo, where nations worldwide committed $5.4 billion for the Palestinian-controlled enclave that borders Egypt and Israel.

“The people of Gaza do need our help desperately — not tomorrow, not next week, but they need it now,” said Secretary of State John Kerry while attending the conference.

Much of the territory’s infrastructure, including at least 100,000 homes, were damaged during a 50-day conflict between Israel and Hamas. A ceasefire took hold in August.

Kerry said the money will help the Palestinian Authority meet its budgetary needs for “relief and reconstruction” efforts, including the immediate distribution of food and medicine, repairing the region’s water and sanitation system, and rebuilding homes before winter.

Read more from this story HERE.

Huckabee: It's an Urgent Time to Stand with Israel (+video)

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Photo Credit: Gage SkidmoreOn Sunday, October 5, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee joins Concerned Women for America for a rally in support of Israel in Washington, D.C.

“I have been to Israel nearly 30 times over the past 41 years and have never seen the nation under such threat,” Huckabee said. “Israel is our closest ally and friend in the Middle East, and they are suffering due to the weak policies of the Obama administration.”

“God has protected this tiny but increasingly powerful nation, and it’s time for the United States to do the same,” he said.

Read more from this story HERE.

WATCH: Israel Shoots Down Syrian Jet Over Golan Heights

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The timing of this incident is rather curious, to say the least. Israel announced today that a single Syrian Su-24 fighter jet crossed over into Israeli airspace over the contested Golan Heights, prompting the IDF to shoot it down with a Patriot battery. This apparently took place while the US and its Arab partners launched air strikes elsewhere in Syria:

The Israeli military shot down a Syrian fighter jet that infiltrated its airspace over the Golan Heights on Tuesday morning — the first such downing in decades, heightening tensions in the volatile plateau.

The military said a “Syrian aircraft infiltrated into Israeli air space” in the morning hours and that the military “intercepted the aircraft in mid-flight, using the Patriot air defense system.”

The military would not say what type of aircraft was downed and said the circumstances of the incident were “unclear.”

A defense official identified the downed aircraft as a Sukhoi Su-24 Russian fighter plane. Previously, it was reported to have been a MiG aircraft. He said the Syrian jet penetrated 2,600 feet into Israeli air space and tried to return to Syria after the Patriot missile was fired.

Read more from this story HERE.