Excerpts: Israel to open dialogue with ICC. Palestinians reject anti-Semitic
text. U.S.,UAE re fighting Daesh propaganda July 09, 2015

+++SOURCE:Al Arabiya News 9 July ’15: “Israel reverses policy, decides to
open dialogue with ICC:, by Staff Writer

SUBJECT:Israel to open dialogue with ICC

QUOTE: “the purpose of the contact with an ICC prosecutor in The Hague is
only to make its position clear to the court”

FULL TEXT:Israel has decided to reverse its policy and open dialogue with
International Criminal Court (ICC) over a preliminary examination into
Palestinian complaints regarding last summer’s war on Gaza, a senior Israeli
official said.

The official told the local Haaretz in an interview published Thursday]9
July] that the purpose of the contact with an ICC prosecutor in The Hague is
only to make its position clear to the court. He also said ICC does not have
any authority to hear Palestinian war-crimes complaints.

In May, the ICC warned Israel over its lack of cooperation with an initial
probe into possible breaches of international law in the occupied
Palestinian territories and that it may go for a full-fledged investigation
without its input.

Although the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has not initiated a formal
complaint, the court’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda’s office is
investigating potential crimes on its own initiative, including incidents
from last summer’s war in Gaza

+++SOURCE:Al Arabiya News 9 July ’15:”Palestinians summon ambassador for
citing anti-Semitic text: The Associated Press ,Occupied Jerusalem
SUBJECT: Palestinians reject anti-Semitic text

QUOTE:”It is rare for a Palestinian ambassador to be summoned for remarks
made against Jews. Palestinian envoys often make statements against Israel’s
policies”

The Palestinians have summoned their ambassador to Chile over a speech in
which the diplomat cited from a notorious anti-Semitic text.

The Foreign Ministry in the West Bank said Thursday[9 July] that Ambassador
Imad Nabil Ghadaa will have to "clarify" his remarks at a conference in
Santiago, Chile in May.

In a video of the speech broadcast in Israeli media, Ghadaa cites from "The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion," and says the creation of the state of
Israel was a pretext meant to protect plans for "world domination."

It is rare for a Palestinian ambassador to be summoned over remarks aimed
against Jews. Palestinian envoys often make statements against Israel's
policies.

Ghadaa has served as ambassador to the South American country since March
2014.



+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 9 July ’15:”US,UAE launch center to counter Daesh
propaganda” , by Agencies

SUBJECT:U.S.,UAE re fighting Daesh propaganda

QUOTE:”The U.S. and Emirati governments…new digital communications center
focused on using social media to counter the Daesh(the so-called IS)group’s
active online propaganda efforts”

FULL TEXT:DUBAI — The U.S. and Emirati governments say they have launched a
new digital communications center focused on using social media to counter
the Daesh (the so-called IS) group’s active online propaganda efforts.

The new Sawab Center that became operational Wednesday[8 July] is based in
Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, a key American ally in
the Middle East and a member of the US-led coalition against the terrorist
group.

The center released YouTube videos and Twitter messages in Arabic and
English announcing its launch, and expects to launch a website and Facebook
presence soon. The countries say the aim is to support coalition efforts,
challenge Daesh propaganda and “amplify moderate and tolerant voices from
across the region.”

“The center, named after the Arabic word for ‘the right and spiritual path’,
will use direct online engagement to counter the terrorist messaging that is
used to recruit foreign fighters, raise funds, and terrorize local
populations,” the US state department said in a statement.

The new center will monitor Daesh content in order to help the coalition
generate more research based messaging to deal with the terror group, the
local daily The National reported. The center will also develop real time
content in response to events on the ground in Syria and Iraq to back the
coalition’s actions, the report said.

The Sawab Centre’s launch comes as the US President Barack Obama
acknowledged in a recent briefing that the coalition needs to address Daesh’s
“hateful propaganda” in addition to airstrikes.

“No amount of military force will end the terror that is ISIL (Daesh) unless
it’s matched by a broader effort, political and economic, that addresses the
underlying conditions that have allowed ISIL to gain traction,” he said.

The US-led coalition has been bombing Daesh targets in Iraq and Syria for a
year but the radical group has managed to trump the coalition’s efforts as
it continues to attract a steady stream of foreign fighters to its cause.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries and their European peers have taken a
number of measures including criminalizing travel to areas such as Syria and
Iraq.

The US had previously established centers to counter Daesh in the online
medium but analysts say that such steps were largely ineffective.

According to a recent UN report, more than 25,000 foreign fighters from 100
countries have joined terrorist groups such as Daesh and Al-Qaeda. The
number of people drawn to such groups saw a sudden surge within the last
year, the report added. — Agencies
=================
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA