ALL OF ISRAEL IS ‘THE OCCUPATION!’

ABBAS LETS SLIP: “ALL OF ISRAEL IS ‘THE OCCUPATION!’ By Ari Soffer (ArutzShevaNews) Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas continued his diplomatic offensive against Israel last week at the United Nations General Assembly, leveling a wide range of accusations against the Jewish state and calling for an international “protection regime” for Palestinians. But amidst all the usual bluster, many observers missed a subtle, yet crucial, theme within Abbas’s speech: That far from the “moderate” image he has cultivated, he views all of Israel as “occupied” and illegitimate, and aspires to the destruction of the country in its entirety. At one point, in comments broadcast live on PA TV and highlighted by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), Abbas referred to Israel’s “67-year occupation” – referring not to the “West Bank” (Judea and Samaria), but to the very founding of the State of Israel in 1948. “Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, haven’t you wondered: For how long will this protracted Israeli occupation of our land last? After 67 years (i.e., Israel’s creation), how long? Do you think it can last, and that it benefits the Palestinian people?” Abbas asked. Later on in his address, Abbas returned to that theme, speaking of “[The] holy sites which have been desecrated every other second again and again for seven decades [emphasis added] now under an occupation that does not quit killing, torturing, looting and imprisoning…” Interestingly, PMW revealed that the PA’s official Wafa news agency attempted to airbrush Abbas’s initial statement, mistranslating it as: “Ladies and gentlemen, haven’t you wondered; for how long will this protracted Israeli occupation of our land last?” Official PA organs regularly re-write officials’ speeches after the event to cover up gaffs or incriminating statements. Most recently, the official website of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) – the body which runs the PA – retroactively re-wrote a televised address given by Abbas in which he erroneously claimed that Israel had “executed” a teenage terrorist, who was later revealed as being alive and well in an Israeli hospital. Abbas’s Freudian slip will not be surprising to observers who follow statements by the PA, PLO or Fatah party in Arabic, however. Far from the “moderate” image often portrayed in the west, Palestinian officials regularly make clear that they view any “two-state solution” as merely “the first stage” in annihilating Israel entirely. As highlighted by PMW, the PA’s own “National Security Force” regularly portrays places in “pre-67 Israel” as parts of the occupied territory. “In the last week alone, the PA Security Forces presented Israeli cities Ashkelon, Haifa and Acre as ‘occupied,'” as well as multiple maps of “Palestine” which feature the entire map of Israel, it noted. ……………………………………………………… IRAN BEGINS BLOCKADE OF US IMPORTS by Ari Yashar (Arutz\Sheva News) US President Barack Obama just two weeks ago began lifting sanctions on Iran in the wake of the nuclear deal, and in response Iran has initiated an economic step of its own – a blockade of US imports. Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade announced on Saturday via the official PressTV that it has begun acting on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s orders issued in a letter last month, and is implementing the blockade. Minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, who is tasked with the ministry, said in the announcement, “we will implement the blockade on imports of American goods in a directive.” That directive was issued by Khamanei in a letter in late October to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Nematzadeh noted the letter included an outline for creating an “economy of resistance” and blockading US goods to be economically independent as part of Khamenei’s conditional approval of the nuclear deal. Khamenei ordered the Iranian government to avoid “unbridled imports,” and fastidiously monitor US imports.   In response, Rouhani wrote back that he would follow Khamenei’s orders. However, there appears to be at least two major American companies that won’t be affected by the blockade – Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Both “have local bottlers and distributors in Iran, but they say they have nothing to do with the American brands,” according to the Iranian state press. “Death to America” continues! A US State Department official was asked on Monday to comment on the blockade, but responded, “We’re not going to comment on every remark attributed to the Supreme Leader,” reports the Washington Free Beacon. The dismissal would seem to indicate that the US government intends to ignore Iran’s continued open hostility. That hostility was put on display again on Monday, when the Iranian parliament voted to continue “Death to America” rallies held nationwide on Fridays.   At least 192 out of 290 voting Iranian parliamentarians voted for the rallies. “The martyr-nurturing nation of Iran is not at all prepared to abandon the slogan of ‘Death to America’ under the pretext of a nuclear agreement,” said a group of the parliamentarians in a statement. The nuclear deal was in fact sealed in July just days after “Death to Israel” day in Iran, during which American flags were also burned by millions in cities throughout the Islamic regime amid chants of “Death to America.”