Showing posts sorted by relevance for query egypt explosives. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query egypt explosives. Sort by date Show all posts

Friday, July 12, 2013

  • Friday, July 12, 2013
From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Egypt Punishes the Palestinians
In the past, the Palestinians paid a very heavy price for meddling in the internal affairs of Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and other Arab countries, but this price has not deterred them.
That meddling is also the reason most Arab countries have long despised the Palestinians, subjecting them to Apartheid laws and other punitive measures, including travel bans and deprivation of financial aid.
For earning the enmity and contempt of their Arab brethren, the Palestinians have only themselves to blame: they shoot themselves in the foot and then blame others for their misery. They would be better served if instead they would start directing their energies toward solving their own problems and improving their living conditions -- exactly what the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas governments are not doing.
UK Politician Sir Bob Russell Equates ‘Life of Palestinians’ to Holocaust (VIDEO)
Colchester MP Sir Bob Russell was speaking during a debate on the national curriculum in the House of Commons on Monday, when he posed a question to Education Secretary Michael Gove about the status of world history lessons, saying: “On the assumption that the 20th century will include the Holocaust, will he give me an assurance that the life of Palestinians since 1948 will be given equal attention?”
“These remarks are a shocking piece of Holocaust denigration,” said Jewish Leadership Council chief executive Jeremy Newmark. “There is simply no comparison between the two situations. It is worrying that so soon after the David Ward affair another MP thinks it is acceptable to play fast and loose with the language of the Holocaust in this context.”
Raheem Kassam: Call Israel what you like, but don't diminish the Holocaust
When you start invoking blood libels, ancient conspiracy theories, diminish the extermination of 6 million Jews or claim that people who happen to be Jewish run the world, well, that does make you an anti-Semite. It really does. No really, it does. You should embrace it. Now march yourself down to the annals of history and stay there, because the 21st century has no place for race baiters and bigots. And nor should the British Parliament.
Glenn Greenwald’s Anti-Semitism Exposed
The following are quotes from Glenn Greenwald, ‘Comment is Free’ correspondent for the Guardian. (Greenwald joined the Guardian in 2012 after several years of blogging at Salon.com and a personal blog titled ‘Unclaimed Territory‘.)
Experts criticize ‘irresponsible’ Al Jazeera investigation of anti-Morsi activists’ ties to U.S.
Stephen McInerney, Executive Director at the Project on Middle East Democracy, said the article had a “conspiratorial bent,” since there is no evidence the U.S. funded the main anti-Morsi movement called “Tamaroud,” meaning “rebel.” McInerney also noted that both sides in Egypt have accused each other of being backed by the United States.
Congressional Letter to Call on Qatar to Take Another Look at its Hamas Funding
The letter, circulated by Reps. Peter Roskam (R-IL) and John Barrow (D-GA), comes at a time when Qatar is scrambling to maneuver around the removal from power of former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. Doha had strongly supported Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood movement, with documents being published this week showing six-figure payments from Qatar to top Brotherhood officials.
Palestinian lies like water
It comes back again and again: The canard that Israel is denying West Bank Palestinians water rights negotiated under the Oslo Accords.
You have to read the fine print to discover that illegal Palestinian tapping into Israel’s water lines and massive Palestinian water wastage are the causes of the problem. You have to study the issue in depth to discover that it is not Israeli “occupation policy” but Palestinian political resistance against joint water management and cooperation that is responsible for the slow development of the Palestinian water sector. The PA considers water and waste as weapons against Israel, not as areas of cooperation with Israel.
Female Arab Soldiers: Zoabi Should Go to Gaza
Two Arab Christian female Israelis who enlisted in the army this week have criticized MK Hanin Zoabi for her strong opposition to having Arabs join the IDF.
The two told Channel 10 News that MK Zoabi, who has in the past told Arutz Sheva that Israel should “prepare the prisons” if a law requiring Arab Israelis to enlist in the army is passed, does not represent them nor, in fact, does she represent many other Israeli Arabs who want to serve in the army.
So who’s blockading Gaza now?
The main point here is that in the wake of Morsi's removal the Egyptian army has closed off her border with Gaza completely, to the dismay of tunnel-traders, terrorists, Hamas and ordinary people trying to get in or out of Gaza. Doubtless the border will remain sealed until Egypt is confident that no more threats to her own security will come from the Hamas-controlled area.
It is now Egypt who is blockading Gaza more than Israel ever has, causing major pain and disruption to trade, construction, fuel and power supplies and travel, but I guess we won't hear that from the Israel-delegitimisers.
US sharpens criticism of Egyptian arrests
While the administration has determined it is not in US national security interests to make any immediate changes to its aid program, officials said the continuing arrests of members of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and political party are troubling. The criticism is some of the most severe of Egypt’s new leadership since Morsi was toppled last week and came a day after arrest warrants were issued for the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader and nine other Islamists accused of inciting violence.
Syria: Al-Qaeda Linked Rebels Kill Free Syrian Army Officer
The Syrian rebels are continuing to turn on one another. Syrian rebels linked to Al-Qaeda killed a senior figure in the Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) on Thursday, an FSA source told Reuters.
Kamal Hamami, a member of the Free Syrian Army's Supreme Military Council, known by his nom de guerre Abu Bassel al-Ladkani, was meeting with members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the port city of Latakia when they killed him, Qassem Saadeddine, a Free Syrian Army spokesman, told the news agency.
Hezbollah fears attacks from al-Qaeda-linked groups
Fearing suicide attacks against Shi’ite targets in Lebanon, Hezbollah is adopting special security measures. According to Lebanese media reports, the Shi’ite organization has set up both fixed and mobile checkpoints in the heart of Baalbek, a Lebanese city known as a Shi’ite stronghold.
The unusual measures stem from concern about the possibility of bombings, similar to Tuesday’s incident in the Beir el-Abed neighborhood in Beirut’s Dahiyeh quarter during which 53 people were injured when an explosives-laden car exploded.
Irwin Cotler: The Iran-Hezbollah terror connection: What must be done
Simply put, the recent wave of terrorist attacks must serve as a wake-up call for the international community, which must act to combat this culture of incitement, terror and impunity. History teaches us that a sustained and coordinated international response is required to combat such grave threats to international peace and security. We must act now to hold Iran and Hezbollah to account, lest more lives be lost.
Iran: 75 hangings in 22 days
With the execution of 11 inmates in the northwestern city of Arbabil and western city of Qazin from July 6 thru July 8,, the total number of executions following the election of Hassan Rouhani on June 14 has reached 75. One of victims was 15 at the time of his arrest. Six were women.
Hezbollah Spying on Golan Heights from Syria
The IDF is forming a new division to operate in the Golan Heights, which faces a new threat of Hezbollah terrorists and weapons that had been limited to the Lebanese border before Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah sent his army to fight with Assad loyalists against Syrian rebels.
The new Golan division reflects the new situation in the Golan Heights, which now is on the border of clashes between Assad’s army and rebels and has been subject to frequent rifle fire and mortar shelling, usually accidental and sometimes intentional.
IDF Launches New Media Weapon in Information War against Hezbollah
The IDF has launched new interaction media websites on the Hezbollah terrorist network in a pre-emptive strike to expose the rapidly expanding empire for what it is.
The vastly researched sites provide media outlets and, more importantly, the general public with a wealth of information that is designed to help Israel overcome the worldwide media bias in favor its enemies, Operation Cast Lead in Gaza four years ago and the war in Lebanon proved how much foreign media were hell-bent to serve up reportage with a strongly pro-Hezbollah and pro-Hamas viewpoint.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

From Ian:

UN Audit Shows “Black Hole” in Supervision of Gaza Construction Prior to War
Fox News reported yesterday that an internal United Nations audit of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Gaza found that UNDP “allowed at least five non-staff contract employees to handle ‘core’ procurement processes that only staffers are supposed to handle, including those for ordering up ‘significant’ civil construction activities.”
The report notes a number of other irregularities that that the audit turned up, included charges for construction projects “at far less than … full value,” allowing the projects to avoid scrutiny, as well as failure to track receipts and expenditures properly.
"Taken together, the findings in the carefully manicured audit report — which was vetted by UNDP management at the affected office — point to a possible black hole in the supervision of civil construction, and perhaps other programs in Gaza and the other Palestinian territories for at least a year before the current explosion of terrorism."
The upshot of all of these irregularities, according to Fox, is that they lend “credibility to Israeli accusations that internationally-managed relief supplies to Gaza were diverted into construction of the elaborate and highly-engineered tunnels under the territory that were used by Hamas terrorists to launch and coordinate rocket attacks and incursions into Israel that dramatically escalated in March.”
Senators want UNRWA investigated over 'troubling' Gaza role
Accusing UNRWA of maintaining active and extensive ties with Hamas— and of supporting its activities throughout the month-long war— Senate Foreign Relations Committee members Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) wrote a letter this week to US Secretary of State John Kerry accusing the UN agency of bias and characterizing its role in the conflict as "troubling."
UNRWA, an ostensibly neutral agency tasked with administering aid to Palestinian refugees throughout the region, adopted a political role in the heat of the conflict, during which at least four of its facilities were badly damaged and many of their inhabitants killed. During the deadliest days of the war, UNRWA officials went on record accusing the Israeli government of violating international humanitarian law.
UNRWA also publicly declared the discovery of three caches of rockets stored in Gaza schools during the July battle. The organization did not identify a responsible party for the crime, however, noting that the schools used as weapons depots were "mothballed" for the summer months.
Dershowitz Asks: Does Jimmy Carter's Support for Hamas Constitute a Criminal Offense?
While Jimmy Carter was busy accusing Israel of war crimes and encouraging greater international support for the terrorist group Hamas, a noted legal expert and civil rights advocate claims the former American president may have committed several criminal felonies that ban the provision of material support to terrorist organizations.
Recently retired Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz told J.D. Hayworth at Newsmax TV that Carter’s recent article in London’s Guardian Newspaper, urging international recognition for Hamas, may have constituted recruitment for an organization classified as ‘terrorist’ under US law.
Dershowitz accused Jimmy Carter of being "an all-out supporter of Hamas," warning that if his advocacy turns into material support for the terrorist Hamas, Carter will be committing a felony.
"Jimmy Carter wants the United States and the European community to legitimize Hamas," said Dershowitz. “It's against the law in the United States, even if you're a former president, it's against the law to provide material support to a listed terrorist organization."
Dershowitz claims that Carter’s call for the recognition of Hamas as an equal with Israel “defies logic. But leave it to Jimmy Carter,” said Dershowitz to defy logic. “It's as if one would want to recognize and legitimate the Mafia or al-Qaida or the Taliban," he said.
David Horovitz: When the history of this war is written
It will not reflect well on Britain, journalism, and the struggle against anti-Semitism
Britain abandoned Israel.
The principled initial position of Prime Minister David Cameron in support of Israel was gradually eroded to the point where, on August 12, the British ministry of trade announced that if Hamas attacked Israel again, it would halt some of its arms sales to Israel. No, you did not misread that. If the terrorist government of Gaza, sworn to destroy Israel, initiated new violence against Israel, Britain will stop selling Israel some of the arms it needs to keep its people safe.
It goes without saying that the UN mustered all of its skewed forums to harm Israel, and that most of the Arab world piled on energetically too — even those countries who know to their own bloody cost the sheer inhumanity of Islamist terrorist organizations. The hostility demonstrated elsewhere in the international arena was shocking, but not surprising either. But Britain, central to the revival of the Jewish homeland in the last century, took a step that, were it not for Israel’s own capabilities and other alliances, would begin the process of rendering Israel helpless in the face of those who seek to annihilate it. And that is beyond reprehensible. It is a moral failure of the first order. It should shame all those who played a part in producing such a move. And quite apart from the impact on Israel, it must profoundly trouble all those of us who love and appreciate Britain and who care for Britain’s future.
British government threatens Israel with arms halt
What’s most astonishing here is that the suspension is not conditioned on which party breaks a ceasefire. If Hamas starts firing rockets at Israel again, it seems, the UK’s position is that Israel should not respond, lest this lead to “a resumption of significant hostilities.”
Even as an outsider, I could see something like this coming from the moment the Tory-Lib Dem coalition came into office.
By contrast, and despite the well-publicized tensions between Obama and Netanyahu, military cooperation between the US and Israel remains strong, and continued military aid to Israel is one of the few matters on which most Democrats and Republicans in Congress, as well as Obama, agree.

Friday, May 03, 2013

  • Friday, May 03, 2013
From Ian:

UN sponsors "terrorist tournament"
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has sponsored an event named after a Palestinian terrorist who was responsible for the deaths of 125 people.
The event, a football tournament, was financially supported by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and sponsored by the United Nations agency. Palestinian news outlets reported, "The draw for the 19th Prince of Martyrs Khalil Al-Wazir Abu Jihad Football Tournament for youth born in 1996, took place in the Al-Ansar Club offices in Jerusalem. The tournament is organized by the Ansar Al-Quds Club, sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme and funded by the Islamic Development Bank."
PMW: Abu Jihad glorified for planning "operations" that killed dozens of Israelis - on PA TV



Arab March to Jerusalem Planned in Cairo
A Global March to Jerusalem was planned last year as well. Counter-terror experts found that Iran was backing the event.
The march drew only a few thousand people, far from the two million supporters organizers had hoped for.
Analysis: Egypt, Iran in power struggle over Gaza
Egypt and Iran are locked in a power struggle over their influence and conflicting aims in the Gaza Strip, and Egypt appears to have the upper hand.
While Tehran is dissatisfied with the relative durability of the cease-fire between Hamas and Israel, and is pushing Palestinian armed factions to violate the truce, Cairo is doing its utmost to reinforce the calm, which it views as serving Egypt’s national interest.
Iran Brings Back Stoning As “Islamic Punishment”
The controversial “Islamic Punishment” law that was rejected by the Guardians Council returned and eventually was passed last week. To the disappointment of human rights activists and the promises of some Majlis representatives, not only stoning is not negated in the law, it is in fact emphasized.
Kenya Finds Iranians Guilty of Plotting Attacks Against Israelis
Two Iranians were found guilty by a Kenyan court Thursday for possessing explosives allegedly for use in bomb attacks.
Erdogan: There's No Doubt Assad Used Chemical Weapons
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that there is no doubt that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has used chemical weapons against rebels.
Erdogan added that he would discuss the issue with U.S. President Barack Obama during his upcoming visit to Washington.
Federal Agents Raid Saudi Diplomatic Compound, Free Slaves
Saudi Arabia officially abolished slavery, but its labor practices are largely indistinguishable from slavery. High-ranking Saudis in America have been charged with slavery before.
But now a Saudi diplomatic compound in Virginia has run afoul of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Pakistanis remember bin Laden as 'Islamic hero'
Al-Qaida supporters gather in Pakistan, chanting, carrying photos of 9/11 mastermind bin Laden on 2nd anniversary of his death.
UK Political Candidate Making ‘Nazi Salute’ Claims He Was Just Reaching For Phone
However, to their detractors the group’s anti-EU drive comes not from economic sensibility but from nationalism, xenophobia, and even outright racism.
Case in point: this week 22-year-old UKIP candidate Alex Wood was suspended after a Facebook photo that appeared to show him making a “Nazi salute” was published by left wing tabloid the Daily Mirror.
Neo-Nazi trial highlights latent racism in Germany
Surviving member of National Socialist Underground to be tried for complicity in murder of 8 Turks and a Greek
Dutch Turk Volunteer Harassed for Opposing Holocaust Supporters
He said, “The Sahin Affair, even if it concerns a single victim, well illustrates three major negative aspects of contemporary Dutch society. The first issue is, as Sahin relates, the immoral attitudes held by significant parts of Dutch Turkish society. The second aspect is the failure of the Dutch major media which only started to give substantial publicity to the scandal of the young Hitler admirers on mainstream TV after several weeks had passed, when the Simon Wiesenthal Center wrote a protest letter to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
The third more recent failure is that of the Dutch police and prosecution. The net result of the death threats and hatred against Sahin coming out of the Turkish community is that one of the youths receives some superficial “educational training,” while the victim is warned that he will be brought before a court if he insults his aggressors again.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

  • Sunday, January 20, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Hamas' Al Qassam site:
Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights stated that 232 Palestinians have died while 597 others have been injured due to the working accidents in the tunnels at the Palestinian-Egyptian borders in Rafah, since 2006.

...Al-Mezan Center demanded the government in Gaza to search into the feasibility of continuing working in the tunnels in light of the continuation of human losses and the decline of its contribution to the Palestinian economy in the Gaza Strip.
You mean, the tunnels aren't the lifeline for the economy of Gaza any more? Gaza is getting its needs met from imports from the Israeli side? The media seems to have missed that story.

Of course, closing down the tunnels means closing down the arms trade to Hamas and other terror groups. So it isn't going to happen anytime soon until Hamas finds an alternative method of smuggling in weapons.

Another story they missed:
Terrorist organization Hamas is preventing the importation of goods into the Gaza Strip, as part the group`s policy seeking to reduce the importation of goods both from Israel and other external markets, without taking into consideration the needs and desires of the local population of the Gaza Strip.

The Ministry of Economy of Hamas announced its decision to prohibit the importation of several types of goods into the Gaza Strip, via the the Israeli crossings. The list of goods includes: Office furniture, various types of food, hygienic products, gas pipes, plastic bags, plastic, and clothing.

The local population in the Gaza Strip has voiced discontent over this decision, mainly due to the fact that the Israeli goods brought into the Gaza Strip are regarded as high quality and much more durable and resistant products than the merchandise smuggled into the Gaza Strip via the smuggling tunnels in the Rafah region.
Since Hamas charges high taxes from the smuggled tunnel goods it is obvious that tax revenue is more important to them than the lives of mere tunnel workers. Too bad Al Mezan didn't notice that.

Here's another Gaza tunnel story that the media is missing:
Egyptian authorities seized over 50 tons of explosives and weapons in the Sinai that were to be smuggled in those same tunnels.

Meanwhile, exports from Gaza to Europe continue to increase, with over 300 tons of strawberries and 52,000 flowers exported only last Thursday. Last Tuesday, three buses were imported to Gaza and five trucks of strawberries were exported today.

And one more Gaza tunnel story you won't see in the mainstream media today:
A Sinai security chief said Sunday that Egypt had detained ten Palestinians entering illegally from Gaza in the past three days, and would act to round up all Palestinians without permission to enter the country.

Maj. Gen. Sameeh Bashadi told Ma'an a list of names and descriptions of Palestinians who had entered Egypt through the tunnels had been distributed to all security bureaus.

He said Palestinians on the list were involved in issues related to Egypt's national security, without elaborating.
While Egypt pretends to be Hamas' best pal, the Egyptians themselves - including their security services - look at Gazans as being dangerous.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

  • Tuesday, February 28, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Israel's Foreign Ministry:
Israeli Ambassador Yaacov Amitai on Monday, 27 February 2012, presented his credentials to Field Marshal Mohammad Hussein Tantawi, Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces. At the official ceremony, during which other ambassadors also presented their credentials, the Israeli anthem was played, along with other national anthems, as is customary.

The presentation of credentials was held in a cordial atmosphere. Speaking at the ceremony, Ambassador Amitai and Field Marshal Tantawi emphasized the importance of the peace agreement and cooperation for both countries.

Ambassador Amitai said: "I will do everything I can to enhance understanding and to foster cooperation between Israel and Egypt."

Amitai has been demanding better security from Egypt, especially in wake of the bombings and attempted bombings of diplomats in India, Georgia and Thailand. On Sunday he refused to leave Cairo's airport until his car was checked for explosives.

Of course, Amitai is utterly dependent on Egypt's security, since the Israel embassy was closed due to some peace-loving riots and he has to do all his work out of his apartment.


Tuesday, March 15, 2011

  • Tuesday, March 15, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
It is nice to know that Egypt seems to still be adhering to its security policies:
Egyptian security officials said Tuesday that Egypt's armed forces have seized five vehicles carrying weapons into the country from Sudan, apparently headed for Gaza.

The officials say the vehicles were intercepted inside Egypt Sunday near the border with Sudan, following a shootout during which the truck drivers fled. They said the trucks were carrying large quantities of mortars, rocket propelled grenades, rifles and explosives.

They said they were headed to Hamas-ruled Gaza through smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border.

The officials spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity under government regulations.

Israeli intelligence officials say Sudan is a major route for Hamas weapons.

Monday, August 30, 2010

  • Monday, August 30, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
Over the weekend, Egyptian security forces discovered five separate caches of weapons, explosives and ammunition that were on their way to Gaza.

110 anti-aircraft missiles were found in one area, and 60 more in another. A third contained 100 kg of explosives. The others had ammunition, more explosives and weapons.

Friday, January 05, 2007

  • Friday, January 05, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
From an analysis by the Jerusalem Post's Khaled Abu Toameh:
Mubarak's biggest fear is that the Gaza Strip, which is entirely under the control of armed militias, could turn into a major base for global jihad and other terrorist groups.

Reports about al-Qaida terrorists who have infiltrated the Strip through the border with Egypt have left Mubarak and his top security officials extremely worried. These terrorists, who apparently work in cooperation with elements in Egypt's banned but powerful Muslim Brotherhood, are said to be very active among the Beduin population in Sinai.

Mubarak's merciless crackdown on al-Qaida cells in Sinai has forced some of the terrorists to flee to Gaza, where they have been welcome to use the training camps established on the ruins of some former settlements. The Egyptians fear that these terrorists will eventually return to Egypt to carry out attacks.

The absence of IDF troops along the Philadelphi Corridor, the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, has put Mubarak's regime at risk. The weapons smuggling industry that has flourished there in the aftermath of disengagement poses a serious threat, not only to Mubarak's regime but also to that of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

Some PA security commanders are convinced the Egyptians are not doing enough to combat the smuggling. According to these commanders, the main reason for this is Mubarak's fear that the weapons, including tons of explosives, could end up in Cairo if they don't make their way to the Gaza Strip.

Notice the throwaway phrase "training camps established on the ruins of some former settlements."

The entire world never ceases to describe Israeli settlements as "obstacles to peace." Yet those horrendous Gaza settlements plus the Israeli investment in the industrial zone in Gaza gave thousands of Palestinian Arabs money and jobs.

Their being replaced by terrorist training camps is not the fodder of the thousands of pundits, politicians and reporters who could not bear the existence of Jews in Gaza. No one is coming forward and saying that perhaps the Palestinian Arabs' lives were better when the Jews were there. No one is describing the replacement of beautiful communities with grenades and rockets as a step backwards. There may be some tsk, tsking at what a shame it is that PalArabs can't get their act together but no one will admit that Israel's presence in Gaza was the golden age for average Palestinian Arabs there.

No, these know-it-alls learn nothing from the disintegration of Gaza and still insist that Israel must leave the West Bank as well.

For whose benefit? Certainly not for the average Arab there. Because Gaza today is what the West Bank will become if Israel leaves. Yet the only Arab voices that are being heard are the politicians and the terrorists. For a regular Arab who just wants to provide for his family to say otherwise makes him a "collaborator" subject to instant deadly "justice."

True peace can only come from a complete overhaul of Palestinian Arab society, from the corrupt and terrorist government through the inciteful media and the hate taught in schools, a complete change from the culture of death that celebrates mayhem and murder. The idea that Israeli concessions will bring peace while the society is so thoroughly screwed up is a joke.

But the West likes to solve problems quickly, and this penchant together with the virulent Jew-hatred endemic throughout Arab societies combine to create pressure on the only entity whose presence stabilizes the situation. This is, as can be seen in Gaza, a recipe for disaster, far worse than the "evil" of Jews living their lives in territories that Jews have held sacred for millenia.

Who in the West is willing to admit it?

UPDATE: See TCSDaily for a similar point.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

From Ian:

MEMRI: With Publication Of High School Finals Results, Palestinian Authority Press Notes Deaths Of Students Who Carried Out Stabbing Attacks, Stresses: 'Dying As A Martyr Is The Path Of Excellence And Superiority'
The July 11, 2016 release of high school seniors' final exam results by the Palestinian Authority (PA) Ministry of Education is being widely covered in the Palestinian media. As part of this coverage, on July 12, PA dailies published articles on high school seniors who had been killed during the school year carrying out, or attempting to carry out, stabbing attacks against Israelis, and who thus would never graduate. The articles praised the teenagers' martyrdom, playing with the Arabic word shahada, which means both "diploma" and "martyrdom." The lead article in the PA official daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida listed 16 Palestinian students whom, it stated, had not been able to take their final exams, but had "passed the difficult [test] of dying as martyrs for the sake of the homeland" with flying colors. It added, "Dying as a martyr is the path of excellence and superiority."
The list included 16-year-old Ahmad Abu Al-Rab, who participated in the February 3 shooting and stabbing attack at Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem in which a female Israeli Border Guard was killed, and Labib 'Aazem and Muhammad Zaghlawan, both 17, who carried out the March 2 stabbing attack at Har Bracha, wounding two Israeli soldiers.
PMW: PA Monument for Murder
Next week, the Palestinian Authority and the PLO will be dedicating a monument to Abu Sukkar, a terrorist who murdered 15 by filling a refrigerator with explosives and detonating it on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem in 1975.
The PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs posted an invitation to the event on Facebook, which stated that it is being held “under the auspices of the [PLO] Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, the Ramallah and El-Bireh district, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, the Turmus Ayya municipality, and the Supreme Council for Monitoring Prisoners’ Affairs.” It also encouraged people to attend, stating that their presence would be “a sign of loyalty to the Martyrs and the prisoners”:
“We are honored to invite you to participate in the dedication of the monument to the Martyr (Shahid) fighter Ahmad Jabarah ‘Abu Sukkar’
On Sunday, July 17, 2016, at 5:00 p.m. at the village of Turmus Ayya
Your presence is a sign of loyalty to the Martyrs and the prisoners”
[Facebook page of the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, July 13, 2016]
The Director of the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Karake and District Governor of Ramallah and El-Bireh Laila Ghannam have honored this murderer before. Last year, Palestinian Media Watch documented that the two officials called the murderer of 15 “a great fighter,” promised to “follow his path,” and praised him as “setting an example.”

Israel and European allies working to stop UNESCO from ignoring Jewish ties to Temple Mount
Israel has enlisted the help of three European countries — the United Kingdom, France and Germany — to sway UNESCO against passing a resolution that ignores Jewish ties to the Temple Mount.
“There is an intense diplomatic effort on behalf of Israel to counter this text,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon.
He spoke in response to a push by Jordan and Palestine to sway the 21-members of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee to approve a resolution that speaks of the Temple Mount solely as how it is referred to in Islam, al-Haram al-Sharif.
The Committee is meeting in Istanbul from July 10 to 20 to vote on new sites for its World Heritage List. On Tuesday and Wednesday it will also be affirming and adding new sites to its endangered list.
Jerusalem and its Old City Walls, which were first inscribed on the World Heritage List by Jordan in 1981, is also on the endangered list. Palestine, which is accepted as a UNESCO member state, placed the Church of the Nativity on that list in 2012, and the ancient terraces of Battir in 2014.
On Tuesday the committee reaffirmed their placements on the endangered list. A Jerusalem resolution was not discussed at that point or even mentioned.

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

From Ian:

PMW: PMW Exclusive: PA publishes new budget; continues to defy US and Europe by rewarding terror
- 7.47% of the PA's operational budget is for salaries to terrorist prisoners, released terrorists, and payments to families of "Martyrs" and wounded

- The PA has 2 budget categories rewarding terror; together they equal 44% of anticipated foreign aid

- New in 2018 Budget: For the first time since 2014, the PA is directly paying the Commission of Prisoners, which pays the salaries to terrorist prisoners; as a result, the PA now fits Israel's criteria to be declared a terror organization

Total PA 2018 operational budget: 16.559 billion shekels ($4.76 billion)
Salaries to terrorist prisoners: 550 million shekels ($158 million)
Payments to families of "Martyrs" and wounded: 687 million shekels ($197 million)
Total expenditure in budget categories rewarding terror = 1.237 billion shekels ($355 million)
For comparison: PA Ministry of Health which serves the entire population of 5 million has a budget of 1.787 billion shekels, a mere 44% more than 1.237 billion shekels serving the recipients in the two budget categories rewarding terror

In the same week that the United States passed the Taylor Force Act, which cuts off nearly all US aid to the Palestinian Authority if it continues paying salaries to terrorist prisoners and allowances to families of terrorist "Martyrs," the PA publicized the main parts of its 2018 budget. In open defiance of the US, other donor countries, and Israel, the PA's new budget shows it is continuing to reward terror. The amount the PA has budgeted to spend on the two categories that reward terror (salaries to prisoners and allowances to families of "Martyrs" and wounded) is 7.47% of the total operational budget. The amount equals 44% of the funding the PA hopes to receive in foreign aid in 2018, which is 2.79 billion shekels according to the budget.
Murder of 11 at Savoy hotel in 1975 was “greatest and most wonderful quality operation,” says Fatah


Congress threatens to cut UN funding for voting against Israel
United Nations agencies that single out Israel may soon be on the hook to lose a certain portion of US funding.

According to a little-noticed provision in the massive government spending bill that President Donald Trump signed into law last week, UN agencies and entities that act against the United States or its allies, including Israel, could lose 5% of their US contribution.

The new law requires the secretary of state to consult with the US ambassador to the UN to determine if an “agency or entity has taken an official action that is against the national security interest of the United States or an ally of the United States, including Israel.” Israel is the only US ally that is explicitly named in both the bill’s text and its accompanying report language.

In an effort to sway UN policy, the law stipulates that the UN agency must take steps to change the policy in question before receiving the withheld funds. Otherwise, the funds are subject to reprogramming for other international organizations.

Josh Reubner, the policy director for the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, a coalition of groups supporting Palestinian statehood, denounced the new law as “yet another example of how the United States bends over backward to shield Israel from valid criticism at the UN.”

“It also shows how the Republican-led Congress is closely coordinating with the Trump administration to make good on its threat to punish the UN for criticizing Israel’s separate-and-unequal policies toward Palestinians,” added Reubner.

But US lawmakers and successive US administrations have long held that the UN singles Israel out for unfairly harsh treatment relative to other countries. Nonetheless, the Trump administration is considering options to make the UN more favorable to Israel.
'There's a tendency in Israel to demonize Sweden' (not satire)
Sweden’s ambassador to Israel on Tuesday claimed there was a tendency in Israel to “demonize” his country and in particular foreign minister Margot Wallstrom.

In an interview with i24news, the ambassador, Magnus Hellgren, also insisted he doesn’t see the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement as anti-Semitic.

Relations between Israel and Sweden have been tense in recent years. Wallstrom in particular has come under fire for her harsh anti-Israel comments.

In 2014, then-Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman denounced Sweden’s decision to recognize the Palestinian Authority (PA) as "the State of Palestine", saying that “relations in the Middle East are a lot more complex than the self-assembly furniture of IKEA”.

Wallstrom later replied and said she would be “happy” to send Liberman some IKEA furniture “and he will also see that what you need to put that together is, first of all, a partner.”

Following that incident, Wallstrom accused Israel of being “extremely aggressive” and accused the Jewish state of “irritating its allies”.

In December of 2015, she attacked Israel again, claiming during a debate in parliament that Israel was “executing” without trial terrorists who carried out stabbing attacks in Israel.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

From Ian:

IDF Blog: Cleared for Publication: Three Hamas-Affiliated Suspects Arrested in Smuggling Attempt
Last month, a joint ISA-IDF operation uncovered tons worth of materials being smuggled on a vessel off the coast of Gaza. The materials, originating from the Sinai Peninsula, were meant for Hamas in the Gaza Strip and led to the arrest of three suspects.
On January 19, IDF forces identified a suspicious boat making its way towards the Gaza Strip. The navy, in conjunction with the Israel Security Agency (ISA), intercepted the vessel after requesting that the passengers stop the boat.
The craft was disguised as a fishing boat, but underneath the fishing gear liquid fiberglass was concealed. The liquid fiberglass was intended for Hamas and meant to be used in the manufacturing of rockets and mortars.
“The Dvora-class ships and our Shaldag-class knew to seize the vessel quietly and discreetly after following it for hours, patiently, from the moment it crossed the southern border,” asserted Lt. Col. Liav Ziberman, commander of the navy’s 916th Company, located in Ashdod. “Thwarting smuggling attempts like this happens almost every week,” he said.
Israel Navy Intercepts Hamas Smuggling Vessel


Michael Lumish: Arab Terrorists Attack Jewish Kindergarten in Jerusalem.
It looks as if attacking kindergarteners is a new Arab terrorist fad because this is not the first time this has happened in Jerusalem and according to the article just two weeks ago about a dozen masked Arab terrorists attacked a kindergarten in the town of Lod, setting it ablaze.
It clearly speaks to the character of these people that they would choose to go after children. It is sick. It is twisted. And Israel needs to crack down on anyone throwing rocks or explosive devices at people. Throwing rocks, not to mention fireworks, is attempted murder and the police and the IDF need to use the force required to meaningfully reflect this truth.
One thing, however, that I find interesting is that the enemies of the Jewish people over many centuries, through until today, constantly accused the Jews of killing children. It is the blood-libel and in the classic medieval form the claim was that Jewish people kill Christian babies so that the blood might be used (somehow) in the making of matzoh. This claim, consciously or not, was meant to stir up violence against the Jewish people. Today the blood-libel takes the form of accusing the IDF of intentionally targeting Arab children or youngsters and it has the identical effect. It creates hatred in people toward Jews, incites them to violence against us, and provides a profound justification for that violence.
The U.S. Let Iran Take Over Iraq. Are Nukes Next?
It now seems clear that, on the issue of nuclear weapons, Iran has the U.S. where it wants it. Put simply, Iran wants a favorable deal and thinks it can get one. Mainly because it knows that the U.S. fears that any further demands will sabotage a deal, and therefore will not do a thing to jeopardize Iran’s “strategic patience” on the issue.
But the U.S. is not only stumbling toward Iran on the issue of nuclear weapons. It is doing the same in Iraq, where the U.S. is acquiescing to Iranian influence and accepting Iranian dominance over the Iraqi government and many of the armed militias active in the country.
After so many years of American investment in trying to build a stable Iraq, the United States has effectively enabled an Iranian takeover of the country. I know, because I was there and saw it with my own eyes. That the Obama administration is not opposing the rising influence of Iran, as the White House prepares a historic deal to leave Iran with nuclear weapons just beyond its fingertips, is especially alarming, and a recipe for increasing regional conflict.
In part, this U.S. elevation of Iran’s regional role due to the rise of ISIS, which has pushed Iraq and Iran together. This is not an unnatural alliance. ISIS is a threat to both nations, which share a border and a sectarian interest—Shia Islam. From Iran’s perspective, why shouldn’t it ensure that its proxies in Iraq are fighting the ISIS threat and, while they’re at it, undermining the power of Iraq’s Sunni minority?

Monday, July 17, 2017

  • Monday, July 17, 2017
  • Elder of Ziyon
Guest post from Zvi:
_______________

The Waqf officials are hypocrites, liars and rabble-rousers. Their purpose is to create bloodshed and cause conflict and murder. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan should be pressured to remove these psychopaths and replace them with sane, responsible adults. Otherwise, the responsibility for the actions of these lunatics, and the lunatics who follow them, rests with the Hashemite Kingdom. If Jordan is going to sponsor the Waqf, then it is responsible for the mistakes and the outright evil of its subordinates. The Waqf officials are a key part o f the problem in the Levant. They make it worse. Always. Jordan needs to get rid of them.
I have, for a long time, respected the Hashemite Kingdom and praised its relatively good relationship with Israel. I have generally supported King Abdullah II. But there is a limit to my support, and Jordan's absolutely atrocious response to the terror attack at the Temple Mount crosses a red line.
Waqf officials, who oversee the religious management of the temple, instigated a protest outside the entrance. Dozens of worshipers instead conducted their afternoon prayers next to the gate. "This is a severe violation of the status quo," said Shikh Omar al-Qiswani, the director of the al-Aksa Mosque, said in a statement. The Waqf officials were not required to pass through the detectors.
Metal detectors are a VERY, VERY MILD RESPONSE when terrorists stash guns in y our site and use them to murder innocent policemen in cold blood. Every other government on earth would have done the same thing, and probably much, much more. And only the Waqf, Israel's Arab "leaders" and the rest of the anti-Semitic Israel-hating crowd are just plain hateful enough to portray this VERY, VERY MILD RESPONSE as some kind of "attack" on Muslims.
Terrorist attacks have consequences. Grow up.
Those entering the Western Wall Plaza and Western Wall, beneath the Temple Mount compound, for many years have been required to go through metal detectors.< /i>
Jews and Christians pass through metal detectors around the Temple Mount all the time, and have done so for years. No protests. No threats of violence by Israeli leaders.
There are metal detectors at large football stadia, government buildings, airports, concert venues, etc. all over the world. There are metal detectors at synagogues in Rome and at Coptic churches in Egypt.
In light of all the recent terrorism against the Coptic Church in our homeland, Pope Tawadrous II has approved a Metal Detector Project that includes installing a metal detector at the main entrance of every church in Egypt. They are fundraising in order to make it happen.
No protest there!
Ahead of Eid al-Fitr, church-goers were told that due to “ongoing security concerns”, several new rules would be in place, including closing the gated parking area inside the complex, introducing metal detectors and upping the number of security personnel. The the Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church first introduced the measures at the end of June, while congregants at the Epiphany Church and Anglican Center were informed of the changes in mid-July, following a directive issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Malls and stores such as Landmark, Hyatt Plaza, Gulf Mull and Dar Al Salaam also increased their security arrangements after receiving a government directive before the holiday. They began employing more personnel and introducing checks with mirrors on the underside of cars entering the basement parking lots as well as looking in the trunks of vehicles. Newly installed metal detector at Marriott Marquis Doha. Meanwhile, hotels also stepped up their security arrangements, with some installing metal security arches in their lobbies and service entrances and paying extra attention to cars on the premises.
There are no protests about these security measures!
Explosives detectors are to be installed at the entrances to the Holy Mosque in Mecca
Around 180 people work on a shift pattern to man the gates leading to the Masjid al-Haram, which surrounds the Ka'aba, the black granite cube that Muslims turn to when praying.
But there are no other measures in place to screen pilgrims for weapons, explosive devices or other banned items, although there are more than 700 cameras tracking them for possible theft, pickpocketing and other criminal or immoral activity.
Lieutenant Colonel Fawaz al-Sahafi, who heads the security team at the mosque, to ld the Saudi Gazette plans to fit "sophisticated metal and explosive detectors" at the multiple gates were under way.
He also said there were proposals to monitor pilgrims' movements and have plain-clothes officers mingling with worshippers to stop them from carrying unauthorised foodstuffs into the mosque.
Another security official, Lieutenant General Saeed Bin Abdullah al-Qahtani, said cameras at pilgrims' residential buildings, traffic initiatives and crowd management plans would improve safety inside and outside the Grand Mosque.
There is a ban on private cars carrying pilgrims entering Mecca, and there will be greater intervention from guards to ease congestion and jostling.

The Saudi authorities have revamped a key element of the Hajj to minimise the potential for stampedes and expedite the evacuation of worshippers, but similar initiatives have yet to materialise at other sites in Mecca.
Islam's holiest city has not experienced terrorist activity since 1979, when hundreds of people died following an armed takeover of the Grand Mosque, with overcrowding proving to be more of a threat in recent years.
At any one time, almost 1 million pilgrims can fit into the Grand Mosque. It covers almost one-third of a square kilometre but, in the coming days, King Abdullah will lay a foundation stone marking an expansion project to accommodate more believers.
Around 4 million Muslims visit Mecca to perform the Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage, while millions more go there throughout the year.
Sophisticated explosives detectors, cameras, car bans, etc. installed in Mecca, where no terrorists murdered policemen. No protests.
That's because everybody recognizes that metal detectors are there to reduce the chance that weapons will be smuggled in. This reduces the likelihood that terrorists will gun down worshippers, spectators, concertgoers, passengers... or policemen.
Any sane person would support their installation.





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Tuesday, October 15, 2013

From Ian:

NGO Monitor: Terror Tunnels Undermine NGO Gaza Campaigns
Since the discovery of these tunnels, however, no NGOs issued condemnations of Hamas or called for them to stop their attacks on Israeli civilians. Instead, they resumed the false claims of collective punishment. Gisha, for instance, alleged that Israel’s “decision to stop the transfer of construction materials was a response to the discovery of a tunnel…raises the specter of a punitive act.” HRW’s Ken Roth re-tweeted a tweet by Juan Cole, “Israelis again impose Collective punishment on Palestinians of Gaza.”
The NGOs responses continue to demonstrate their immoral advocacy. Instead of focusing on Israel, these NGOs should denounce Palestinian terrorism and the diversion of supplies for vital civilian projects to terrorist objectives.
IDF conducts controlled explosion of Hamas tunnel from Gaza to Israel
The tunnel was found by the IDF before Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012, and does not represent a new finding, a senior army source stressed.
"The tunnel was blown up to destroy an additional Hamas terrorist infrastructure," the IDF said in a statement. "The IDF will continue to operate as is necessary to protect the residents of Israel," it added.
BBC not sure cross-border tunnel intended for terror?
On countless occasions BBC audiences have repeatedly read or heard permutations of the following message, with the implication being that Israeli concerns regarding the misuse of construction materials entering Gaza are in fact much ado about nothing.
Palestinians pay dearly for Hamas ‘resistance tunnels’
Further, per the post by Akus, you can conclude from the enormous resources (in time, money and manpower) that went into the Gaza terror tunnels that the rosy scenarios for peace and prosperity in another independent Palestinian polity are, at best, quite questionable.
When pro-Israel commentators criticize the Palestinian culture of incitement and terror, they aren’t engaging in ‘Zionist talking points’ but, rather, are expressing sincere concerns that the greatest peace treaty ever written can’t engender a Palestinian culture of peace, education and self-sufficiency. Though most Israelis support in principle ‘two states for two peoples’, Israelis accurately extrapolate from the consequences of recent territorial concessions that withdrawing from land alone won’t necessarily bring peace if Palestinian leaders don’t cease in inculcating their citizenry with the values of belligerence, hate and violence.
PM: No accord without Palestinians recognizing Jewish Israel
In a bitter passage of a lengthy address at the opening of the 19th Knesset’s winter session, Netanyahu said Israel did not need that recognition from the Palestinians. Rather, he said, the Palestinians had to come to terms with Israel’s Jewish legitimacy and abandon their “nationalistic demands” on Israel.
Specifically, he said, the Palestinians would have to “abandon the demand for what is called ‘the right of return’” for millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to Israel, otherwise there could be no “end of conflict” accord. Without this shift, and without the abandoning of “other nationalistic demands on the land and sovereignty of Israel,” he said, there simply could be no genuine peace.
The Hatred that the New York Times Dares Not Report
The New York Times on Sunday featured an article, Behind Flurry of Killing, Potency of Hate, which focuses on how dehumanizing an enemy makes it easier to kill. The article focuses on a convicted, jailed and released IRA terrorist and how he could be conditioned to kill.
The article also mentions how Nazis could be brought to slaughter Jews (and describes the murderers in oddly sympathetic terms!). But it left out the most systematic delegitimization campaign going on now: the one by Palestinians that targets Israel.
Guardian misleads in tale of ‘heroic’ Palestinian sperm smuggling
It not only took Sherwood eight paragraphs before briefly noting (in roughly ten words out of an 875 word story) that Tamer al-Za’anin is a convicted terrorist, but she characteristically downplayed his terrorist record.
According to Israeli court records (Hebrew), al-Za’anin not only belonged to a terror organization, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but volunteered for their military wing (Al-Quds Brigades), a group which has carried out numerous attacks against Israelis, including deadly suicide bombings. Further, court records show that he was imprisoned after pleading guilty to four counts of being an accessory to attempted murder, a plea bargain in which he admitted his active participation within terror cells that on one occasion laid an explosive (IED) and fired two missiles at an IDF vehicle, and on three other occasions fired rockets at civilians in Sderot.
PA TV: Murderer of two is “the great female fighter, who shines”
Official Palestinian Authority TV interviewed and honored a female terrorist who killed two Israelis, calling her "the great female fighter, who shines" and "a giant of the struggle."
The terrorist, Aisha Odeh, murdered two Israelis in 1969, by placing two bombs in a supermarket in Jerusalem. She was sentenced to two life sentences but was released in a prisoner exchange in 1979.


Song misrepresents Israel as "Palestine" - PA show about Palestinians in Denmark


No new findings over Arafat's death: official
Tawfi Al-Tirawi, head of a Palestinian committee investigating Arafat's death, told Xinhua that the journal "brought nothing new," noting it based its study on a 2012 investigative report by the pan-Arab news network Al-Jazeera.
"There are no leaks from the results and we are still waiting for the official test findings," said Al-Tirawi, adding there is no official time set for receiving the results.
Netanyahu makes a case for a preemptive strike
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a thinly veiled defense of a possible Israeli preemptive strike on Iran during a Knesset commemoration Tuesday of the 40th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War.
In a speech to MKs about the war, in which Israel was surprised by a coordinated Arab invasion on the northern and southern fronts, Netanyahu explained that IDF soldiers who fought in the bitter battles of that war “saved us from paying the price of complacency.”
“In the end we won a great victory, but the lessons of the war have stayed with us these 40 years,” Netanyahu said.
Israeli PM Netanyahu Says Relaxing Pressure on Iran Now Would be ‘Historic Mistake’
“There can be no giving in at this time and the pressure must be continued. It must be remembered that it is international pressure which has led to internal change in Iran, which has led the Iranians to any concessions at all and to the negotiating table, and which can bring them to make tangible concessions on their military nuclear program,” Netanyahu said. “I will tell you something that goes against the accepted view – easing the pressure will not strengthen moderate trends in Iran. On the contrary, it will strengthen the uncompromising views of the real ruler of Iran, the Ayatollah Khamenei, and will be seen as a significant victory by him.”
Report: US mulls letting Iran keep uranium enrichment facilities in nuclear deal
The Wall Street Journal quoted a senior US official as saying that Washington was willing to talk to Iran "about what President Obama said in his address at the UN General Assembly, and that is that he respects the rights of the Iranian people to access a peaceful nuclear program." The official stated that what this entails is exactly the matter that is up for discussion.
Israel's security cabinet released a statement prior to the start of talks on Tuesday, saying that Jerusalem "does not oppose Iran having a peaceful nuclear energy program. But as has been demonstrated in many countries, from Canada to Indonesia, peaceful programs do not require uranium enrichment or plutonium production. Iran's nuclear weapons program does."
UN Watch: UN hide carving of naked man ahead of Iran nuclear talks, “kowtowing to fundamentalist regime”
“This is a very dangerous and slippery slope,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based watchdog group. Today the UN is covering up the artistic heritage of its most famous building, Geneva’s historic Palais des Nations, to appease the intolerance of a fundamentalist regime that subjugates women, executes gays, and persecutes Bahais; what will the UN hide tomorrow?”,
Assad: Nobel Peace Prize ‘should have been mine’
The Syrian president had local reporters in stitches on Monday, after one asked a question about the recent award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). “The prize should have been mine,” Assad “quipped,” according to the Lebanese al-Akhbar newspaper.
The ironic wisecrack shows Assad is careful to maintain a sense of perspective, and not take the deaths of at least 115,000 fellow Syrians too seriously.
Other knee-slappers by the president include his claim that “we don’t kill our own people.”
Assad: Hamas Has Betrayed Us Repeatedly, But…
Estrangement between Hamas and the Syrian regime ensued. Assad holds that Hamas ultimately decided to abandon resistance and to fully merge with the Muslim Brotherhood. He adds, “This was not the first time they had betrayed us. It happened before in 2007 and 2009. Their history is one of treachery and betrayal.” Assad then wished “someone would persuade them to return to being a resistance movement,” but says that he doubts this will happen. “Hamas has sided against Syria from day one. They have made their choice,” he adds.
Islamist militants destroy Sufi shrine in eastern Syria: activists
A Sufi Muslim shrine was blown up in eastern Syria on Sunday, opposition activists said, blaming al Qaeda-affiliated militants who have joined in the increasingly sectarian civil war.
Militants placed explosives at the shrine of Sheikh Eissa Abdelqader al-Rifaiy in the rebel-held town of Busaira, 45 km (30 miles) east of the provincial capital of Deir al-Zor, and detonated them on Sunday morning, they said.
Bomb found in Lebanon's Hezbollah stronghold on eve of Muslim holiday
Lebanese security forces defused a car bomb on Monday in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of the Shi'ite Muslim militia group Hezbollah.
The discovery of a bomb happened on the first night of the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha and two months after a car bomb killed 20 people in the area, and looked like the latest sign of growing sectarian tensions in Lebanon exacerbated by the war in neighboring Syria.
Amnesty International: Egyptian Christians Not Protected by Authorities
“It is deeply disturbing that the Christian community across Egypt was singled out for revenge attacks over the events in Cairo by some supporters of the deposed president, Mohamed Morsi,” Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa said in a statement.
The report details how Egyptian security forces failed to prevent angry mobs from attacking Christian churches, schools, homes and charities in the days following the August 14 raid. At least four Christians were also killed in the sectarian violence.
Egypt Closes Rafah Crossing for Muslim Festival
Egypt has announced that its border crossing with the Gaza Strip will be closed for the week because of the Muslim festival of Eid Al-Adha, but gave no specific reason for the measure, state news agency MENA reported.
Egypt’s Al Ahram Group Displays Hate Literature at Frankfurt Book Fair
Egypt’s Al Ahram Publishing Center was the highest profile purveyor of hate literature at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world’s largest, which has been inspected annually by Jewish human rights group the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
In a statement, SWC said its dubious “Worst Offender 2013” prize was awarded to Egypt, led by Al Ahram (Hall 5.0 D132), which also publishes the widely-read Egyptian daily, and The Arab Publishers Association (Hall 50 E109.)

Sunday, February 23, 2020

From Ian:

Seth Frantzman: A secret Mossad Qatar trip, Hamas outreach to Egypt and Iran’s threat
In Saudi Arabia, Al-Arabiya is very interested in what a previously unknown “Mossad trip to Qatar” means for the region. “Egypt and Qatar are angry with Hamas, and they intended to cut ties with it,” the network reported, while noting that the recent Israeli discussions with Doha about continuing to fund Gaza are noteworthy. Hamas also thinks they are noteworthy, bragging over the weekend that it met with Qatar’s envoy Mohammed al-Emadi and $15 million was distributed in Gaza.

In Israel, the Mossad-Qatar-Hamas story was revealed by Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman over the weekend and was reported locally. The story goes that Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and IDF Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Herzi Halevi met with top Qatari officials. Halevi was in the news before, in January, when he commented on the killing of IRGC general Qasem Soleimani. “We must look at the assassination as part of a fight between Iran and the US over Iraq’s character.” Halevi is known for his achievements in a three-year term running Military Intelligence. He has spoken about using deterrence in a way that does not escalate a situation and of the importance of information supremacy over Israel’s enemies, according to an article at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies in 2018. This is a key to Israel’s “campaign between the wars” in which Israel must prepare for future struggle with Iran and its allies.

Israel now has a dedicated headquarters for the “third circle” threat of Iran in light of the IDF’s new Momentum plan. It is worth understanding this larger picture to understand some of what Hamas is up to in Gaza. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad both are supported by Iran. PIJ is an Iranian proxy whereas Hamas is more an ally. But Hamas has been isolated over the years and also failed to achieve results in confrontation with Israel. Over 2,600 rockets fired over the last two years achieved little, and its “Great March of Return,” launched in 2018, also failed. In March 2018, two years ago, Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah survived an assassination attempt in Gaza. Today, Hamas is bragging about opposing the US “Deal of the Century.”

It is important to consider the calculus to see the larger picture of Qatar’s role in Gaza. Qatar has supported Gaza for more than a decade. The Emir of Qatar even visited Gaza in 2012. In January 2019, the third $15 million payment via Israel and Hamas to Gaza was made by Qatar as part of a deal in 2018. Mohammed al-Emadi has been Doha’s point man throughout. He has visited Israel more than two dozen times, according to a Reuters interview in 2018. He also cited talks between Israel and Hamas in that year. Qatar has said its aid to Gaza helps prevent a conflict. Emadi has ruffled feathers in Gaza sometimes due to his outspokenness.
Netanyahu promises sovereignty over Hebron's Tomb of the Patriarchs
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to apply Israeli sovereignty to the Tomb of the Patriarchs and to the Jewish community of Hebron.

He spoke during a visit to the nearby West Bank Kiryat Arba settlement, where he also stated that he was authorizing the elevator project for the tomb, that would allow those with disabilities to visit the cave.

All West Bank settlements are slated to become part of sovereign Israel under US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, but according to the map, the status of Jewish Hebron is unclear.

Prior to Netanyahu's speech at a celebratory event to mark the inauguration of a new neighborhood in Kiryat Arba on Sunday, Defense Minister Naftali Bennett, who heads the Yamina Party, addressed the crowd. Bennett spoke of the need to clarify with the Trump administration that the Tomb and Hebron's Jewish community would be part of sovereign Israel under the "Deal of the Century."

Bennett said that a Jewish state without the Tomb of the Patriarchs is like Washington without the Lincoln Memorial. He also spoke against the portion of the Trump plan that calls for the creation of a Palestinian state.

The defense minister noted that "the plan speaks 159 times of a Palestinian state and references Israeli sovereignty" only 13 times.


UK left activists attended events with far right antisemites
Former Labour party members have regularly met elements of the far right to discuss and propagate antisemitic conspiracy theories, an undercover investigation has found.

Infiltration of the conspiracy theorist group Keep Talking found that Jeremy Corbyn supporters and confidantes of former Labour MPs have attended meetings addressed by Holocaust deniers.

During one gathering in London last year, suspended Labour supporters heard James Thring, an infamous antisemite linked to the former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke, speak openly and unchallenged about Holocaust denial.

A covert recording of Thring at the meeting captured him claiming that no deaths were recorded at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp, where 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were systematically murdered.

“The archives from the listening posts show no evidence that they heard anything about deaths in Auschwitz; we didn’t know that this was going on … because it wasn’t,” Thring can be heard saying.

Nick Lowles, chief executive of Hope Not Hate, which along with the Jewish charity Community Security Trust monitored Keep Talking over three years, said: “Our investigation shows what the politics of some of the far left and the far right have in common – antisemitism. It’s important that these groups are not just seen as eccentric or harmless; they give conspiracies a space to survive and grow and they encourage people to keep disseminating falsehoods.” (h/t Zvi)

Monday, September 25, 2017

From Ian:

PMW: Fatah: Munich Olympic massacre was “excellent operation”
Fatah: "The Munich operation... will continue to be remembered and recorded in history"

45 years after the massacre of the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, Abbas' Fatah Movement still sees the attack as "the excellent operation" and the attackers as "the heroes of the Munich operation"

45 years after the massacre at the Munich Olympics, Abbas' Fatah Movement is still honoring the planners of the murders of the 11 Israeli athletes and celebrating the terror attack.

During the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, the Palestinian terror organization Black September, a branch of Fatah, took the members of the Israeli Olympic team hostage and murdered 11 of them.

On the anniversary of the murders this month, two branches of the Fatah Movement posted photos of the terrorist murderers and comments glorifying the attack on Facebook.

Fatah's Bethlehem branch wrote a short post about "the excellent operation in Munich," posting photos of some of the terrorists:

Posted text: "Sept. 5, 1972 - Sept. 5, 2017 - the 45th anniversary of the excellent operation in Munich. On this date the Black September organization, one of the Fatah Movement's military bodies, kidnapped the Zionist Olympic delegation and took its members hostage in order to release Palestinian prisoners in the Zionist prisons."
[Facebook page of the Fatah Movement - Bethlehem Branch, Sept. 5, 2017]
In Syria: How Israel Overtly—And Covertly—Protects Its ‘Red Lines’
Israel is clearly committed to upholding its red lines in Syria, which includes prevention of the establishment of a permanent Iranian military presence in the Golan, which would allow Tehran and its proxies to open up another front against the Jewish state during future hostilities. Israel has repeatedly conducted missile strikes in Syria to prevent the transfer of “game-changing” weaponry to Hizbullah as it arrives by air and then travels overland to the Lebanon-based terrorists.

Speaking to The Media Line, Maj. Gen. (ret.) Giora Eiland, a former head of Israel’s National Security Council, said he was unaware of any such coordination with Syrian rebel groups and stressed that “those operating in the Syrian Golan [which at intervals has included offshoots of the Islamic State and Al Qaeda] are not supportive of Israel.”

As such, he views Moualem’s comments foremost as a justification for Syrian and Iranian-backed military operations near the border.

By contrast, Eiland explained that Israeli military intervention in Syria is prompted by three intersecting circumstances; first, a response to errant fire that enters its territory by targeting Assad regime assets; second, when Hizbullah offensives are identified along the border; and third, if there is an attempt to transfer advanced weapons—precision missiles, in particular—to Iran’s Lebanese Shiite underling.

In this respect, the IDF last week reportedly for a second time this year attacked an arms depot next to Damascus International Airport; this, following a purported Israeli strike on the Scientific Studies and Researchers Center in the central Syrian city of Masyaf, where chemical arms were allegedly being manufactured in contravention to a previous U.S.-Russia-brokered deal to completely rid the Syrian regime of WMDs.

According to Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen, who commanded IDF troops along the Syrian border, while Israel’s direct involvement on the ground is restricted, its overriding goal is to ensure “stability and security along the frontier, [thereby avoiding] the creation of another area from which a war of attrition [can be initiated].

“Israel may not be able to stop this,” he acknowledged to The Media Line, “but can nevertheless influence the process. Jerusalem must emphasize that it is part of the game and that it is willing to take risks to achieve its objectives. Moreover, the Israelis need to make clear that any solution in Syria must take into account its considerations.”
UN Watch: U.N. Clash: Son of Hamas Chief Calls PA ‘Enemy of the Palestinian People’
A Hamas member turned humanitarian addressed the U.N. human rights council today and called the Palestinian Authority the “greatest enemy of the Palestinian people.” See full speech below.

“If Israel did not exist, you would have no one to blame; take responsibility for the outcome of your own actions,” said Mosab Hassan Yousef, whose father was a founding member of Hamas.

As recounted in the film The Green Prince, Yousef emerged as one of Israel’s prized informants, who disrupted lethal attacks and uncovered terror cells.

Yousef spoke today on behalf of UN Watch, a Geneva-based human rights organization, taking the floor in a meeting on alleged Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights. By contrast, the council has no special agenda item on Syria, Sudan, Iran, North Korea, or any other region.

“For good reason, Western democracies once again boycotted today’s debate,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer.

“In the dystopian universe of George Orwell’s 1984, everyone was forced to undergo a daily ‘Two Minute of Hate’. In the dystopian universe of the UN Human Rights Council—where Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Cuba and Venezuela are members—the built-in schedule of every session includes one day dedicated solely to spewing hate against the Jewish state.”

Sunday, July 27, 2014

From Ian:

Don’t Cry for Us Israelis
I prefer that you – writers of these lies and libels - hate me and my country, if it means that you can save your tears for other peoples’ dead. We aren’t greedy for sympathy. After all, we got so much after the Holocaust, we prefer other people to have their share now. These days, we prefer to live, rather than have people cry over us and the injustices done to us.
So by all means, cry for the Palestinian people – men women and children – whose duly elected leadership has callously left them without protection from just retribution for their terrorist crimes. The leaders who took their people’s aid money and are living in Qatar in five star hotels building shopping centers for themselves. Who built terrorist tunnels under their homes, mosques, hospitals and schools, and recruited their sons to die for Allah, while they sit in bunkers waiting for the U.N. to rescue them.
Don’t cry for us, or our families, or our children, or grandchildren. Not this time. Not ever. Not if we can help it. Because this time, thank God, we have a country. We are armed. This time, with God’s help, we know how to protect ourselves from Nazis and their high-minded media cheerleaders.
I would like to end this with an expletive and a hand gesture towards the people I’m addressing. Please choose one you think would be fitting. I can think of many.
Times of Israel Live Blog: PM: Hamas has breached the truce it claims to be asking for, PA slams Kerry for attending ‘friends of Hamas’ ceasefire talks
Israel rejects Gaza offer for 24-hour timeout as rocket fire persists; IDF death toll rises to 43; Israel, PA fume at Kerry for his ceasefire terms; Gaza death toll said to climb above 1,000, including hundreds of gunmen
Isi Leibler: Obama abandons Israel
The Netanyahu government is fully aware that Israel cannot accept a long-term cease-fire that ‎would enable Hamas to again attack Israel with missiles or renew their building of terrorist ‎tunnels into Israel.‎
The U.S. will also be committing another blunder if it seeks to recycle Palestinian Authority ‎President Mahmoud Abbas to resolve the impasse. While initially he had backed the Egyptian ‎cease-fire and was happy to see his "partner" Hamas under pressure, he has now decided to ‎throw his lot with Hamas and the radical jihadists. Israel can no longer contemplate ‎negotiations with the PA so long as it remains associated with Hamas. ‎
Defensible borders are now an absolute must. With the collapse of the artificial Arab nation ‎states created by the Sykes-Picot treaty in the aftermath of World War I, no borders are ‎sacrosanct, certainly not armistice lines that have never been formally recognized as ‎international borders. Under no circumstances can we contemplate returning to the ‎indefensible 1949 armistice lines. It is now also clear that should a Palestinian state emerge, it ‎must be totally demilitarized, with the IDF retaining security control. ‎
We should also cautiously seek to engage with Egypt and other pragmatic Arab countries that ‎are opposed to the jihadists and Muslim Brotherhood.‎
David Horovitz: John Kerry: The betrayal
When The Times of Israel’s Avi Issacharoff first reported the content of John Kerry’s ceasefire proposal on Friday afternoon, I wondered if something had gotten lost in translation. It seemed inconceivable that the American secretary of state would have drafted an initiative that, as a priority, did not require the dismantling of Hamas’s rocket arsenal and network of tunnels dug under the Israeli border. Yet the reported text did not address these issues at all, nor call for the demilitarization of Gaza.
It seemed inconceivable that the secretary’s initiative would specify the need to address Hamas’s demands for a lifting of the siege of Gaza, as though Hamas were a legitimate injured party acting in the interests of the people of Gaza — rather than the terror group that violently seized control of the Strip in 2007, diverted Gaza’s resources to its war effort against Israel, and could be relied upon to exploit any lifting of the “siege” in order to import yet more devastating weaponry with which to kill Israelis.
Israel and the US are meant to be allies; the US is meant to be committed to the protection of Israel in this most ruthless of neighborhoods; together, the US and Israel are meant to be trying to marginalize the murderous Islamic extremism that threatens the free world. Yet here was the top US diplomat appearing to accommodate a vicious terrorist organization bent on Israel’s destruction, with a formula that would leave Hamas better equipped to achieve that goal.

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Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 14 years and 30,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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