Thursday, February 15, 2007

  • Thursday, February 15, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
From YNet:
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is in negotiations to build a hotel on Tel Aviv's coastline.

Two architects have already started working on the project. The one is Bin Talal's private architect, who had worked with him on oriental hotels across the world, Basel al-Beiti. The other is former Tel Aviv Chief City Engineer, Yisrael Gudovich.

The planned project is a joint venture with the Abulafya family, which owns a structure on a 1-acre plot on Herbert Samuel Street.

According to the blueprints submitted to the Tel Aviv Municipality, an eight-story, 150-room hotel is planned to be built on the site.

Bin Talal is the nephew of the late Saudi King Faisal, and is believed to be worth $26.4 billion.

See also Time for some good news.
  • Thursday, February 15, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
It can be seen here at the Israel Antiquities Authority website. (The site works best with Internet Explorer.)

There are no further digs until Sunday morning. It looks like it is raining in Jerusalem at the moment.

Already some amazing things have been found, like a Byzantine mosaic.

Will the webcam convince any nutty Muslims who are just itching to riot that Israel has no intentions of harming the Al Aqsa mosque? Of course not, but at least Western liberals who still have half a brain will be able to see that Israel has nothing to hide.

UPDATE: AP confirms my suspicions:
However, angry Muslims said they were not satisfied with the cameras.

"This procedure is not enough," said Ismail Radwan, a spokesman for the militant Palestinian group Hamas. "The Zionist enemy is engaging in trickery and continuing its digging. We don't trust these procedures."

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

  • Wednesday, February 14, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
Just messing around in Google Books, and I discovered:

Rodkinson's translation of Rosh Hashanah (Rabbi J. Leonard Levy, 1895)
Rodkinson's translation of Shabbath (Rodkinson and Isaac Wise, 1896)
Rodkinson's Shekalim and Rosh Hashanah (1901)
A Christian translation of Chagigah (Annesley William Streane, 1891)

Rodkinson usually only translated an abridged form of each mesechta, ignoring aggadata and what he considered irrelevant segues.

I didn't look too closely at the Streane Chagigah but just its existence is interesting. There were a number of Christian books about the Talmud in the late 19th century, all seemingly in the wake of a book about the Talmud written by Emanuel Deutsch in 1874. One interesting one was "The Criminal Code of the Jews: According to the Talmud Massecheth Synhedrin" by one Philip Berger Benny, who originally wrote it as a series of columns for a British newspaper!

But if you are really interested in such things, look at the English Hebraica blog.
  • Wednesday, February 14, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
Since this is Israeli Apartheid Week, I would be remiss not to contribute a small example from the Palestinian Arab Ma'an News (English):
Bethlehem - Ma'an - Issa Al-Zananiri, 25, is an engineering graduate of Birzeit University near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Originally from the Jerusalem suburb of Beit Hanina, Al-Zananiri applied after completing his undergraduate degree to study a Masters in Engineering at the Israeli 'Technion' Institute of Technology in Haifa.

At Technion, Al-Zananiri found himself under the supervision of a professor who had lost his father in an armed operation against an Israeli bus in Egypt in 1990. Issa only discovered the truth about the supervisor, Yoram Shifton, while preparing for his interview for acceptance on Tecnhion's higher education program.

Issa told the Israeli newspaper 'Yedioth Ahranoth', "I arrived at the interview with many fears interacting inside me but I only found in my supervisor cooperation and help, far from any aggressive atmosphere."

When Zananiri arrived at the "Technion" institute, he did not know Hebrew and so he began studying it from home, making use of dictionaries, the internet and television.

As Zananiri's family home is on the West Bank side of the wall that runs through the suburb of Beit Hanina, Issa also greatly relied on the help of his supervisor to obtain the necessary permit to enter Israel for his Masters. Shifton stood by him until he graduated and then helped him obtain a job in the company "BGL1", which specializes in public transportation planning and is responsible for the planning of the proposed light railway in Tel Aviv in Israel.

Issa said, "They accepted me to work with them without hesitation because of the recommendation of my higher studies' supervising professor".

Issa describes himself as a Palestinian who, during his studies at Birzeit University, opposed the bombing operations and even the throwing of stones at Israeli cars. He said that he is grateful for being absorbed into the Israeli community. He currently lives in an apartment with his brother in Haifa and works in Tel Aviv in the planning team of the city's trains.
So the terrible apartheid state of Israel allows a Palestinian Arab who opposes terror to work on its public transportation system that has been attacked and bombed numerous times by other Palestinian Arabs.

A professor whose father was murdered by other Arabs is his main champion.

Yup - this sounds exactly like the Israel that is being described by the idiots behind "Israel Apartheid Week."

Bonus question: where is it safer for Zananiri to live, among the racist Jews in Haifa or among the patriotic PalArabs of Beit Hanina, especially after this interview where he stated that he was against "even" stone-throwing at Israeli cars?
  • Wednesday, February 14, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
The question is rhetorical.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini on Tuesday condemned bombings in Bikfaya in Lebonan.

"These explosions are suspicious activities which are in the service of the Zionist regime," he said in a statement.

Hosseini also said the bombings were carried out "to target Lebanese people and their solidarity and resistance against the plots of the Zionist regime".
  • Wednesday, February 14, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics just released an interesting report:
The president of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Luay Shabaneh, has revealed that the rich in the occupied Palestinian territories became richer and the poor became poorer over 2006, in spite of the international community aid which amounted to some US $816 million in 2006, compared with $ 352 million in 2005.

Speaking in a forum organized by the ministry of information in Nablus in the north of the occupied West Bank, Shabaneh added that the rich and the poor accounted for 10 percent each of the national income in 2005, but in 2006 the rich people accounted for 36 percent of the national income and the poor were only accounting for 3 percent.
I've seen other numbers showing how aid has increased to the PalArabs under the "boycott":
The European Union in 2006 gave 27 percent more aid to the Palestinians than in 2005, about €700 million, or $910 million, through a mechanism designed to aid individuals but formally bypass the Hamas-led government.
Even according to the PCBS, the amount of international aid skyrocketed in 2006 despite the "international boycott." This aid was meant specifically for the poorest of the PalArabs and supposedly bypassed the Hamas-run PA. Yet somehow, the rich Palestinian Arabs managed to get much richer and the poor seem to have received very little of this aid, all under the watchful eyes of the non-corrupt Hamas-led PA. (The report itself is not yet available on their webpage.)

The corruption in the PA is endemic, widespread and staggering.

Yet international aid organizations are ready to blame everyone but the Palestinian Arabs themselves. Oxfam just came out with a report showing that millions of euros are wasted in bank charges and therefore recommends giving money directly to the terrorists again - but completely ignores that even with this waste, Palestinian Arabs are getting far more aid than the previous year.

Interestingly, the EU aid mechanism and the US and Olmert's attempts to bypass Hamas and support Abbas has ended up supporting Hamas itself, by relieving the pressure on Hamas to provide basic services. As a Palestinian Arab wrote in the Yemen Observer last week:
The US, European countries, and Fatah leaders pledged that Hamas would not stay in power for more than three of four months due to Palestinian public pressure after discovering that Hamas will not be able to run a government isolated politically and financially. But observers see that Hamas will not make any concessions or leave governance without a pressure from the Palestinian street. With a Palestinian people taking salaries and grants from international community and Israel via Abbas, there is no need to change the Hamas Government.
It is ironic, but not surprising, that the methods meant to bolster the "moderate" PalArab terrorists have ended up strengthening the "extreme" PalArab terrorists.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

  • Tuesday, February 13, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
The Tel Aviv stock exchange hit record highs today.

Investors are rarely philanthropic. They are out to make money, and as such, a stock market is usually a pretty good indicator of the thinking of the smartest financial minds in the world (there are exceptions, of course, when a herd mentality or fad takes over.)

It is remarkable that - even with the threats facing Israel every day - it is considered a very good place to invest.
As I've mentioned before, the major problem that Arabs have with any digs in Jerusalem has nothing to do with mosques, holy places or weakening foundations. Their major concern is that they don't want anything Jewish to be found by archaeologists, because they want to keep their myths alive that Jerusalem has no Jewish history.

Another proof that the issue is "Judaizing" and not anything else comes from the Palestine Center for Human Rights press release concerning the digs, with the headline "As the International Community Remains Silent, Israeli Occupation Authorities Continue the Judaization of Occupied Arab Jerusalem."

Again applying Elder's First Rule of Arab Projection, let's look at the Palestinian National Commission for Education, Culture and Science webpage and specifically its page about Jerusalem.

Almost nothing is mentioned about any Jewish rule or influence in Jerusalem's history. No David, no Solomon, and the Second Temple is only mentioned as possibly existing for less than a century. Here's the only section (out of 30) that acknowledges any Jewish claims on the area, and interestingly it is the only section that does not include a picture:
23. Al-Buraq (The Western Wall, Wailing Wall)

One of the Islamic holy places, this wall is part of the western wall of the Haram al-Sharif. It is named after al-Buraq (the elevation) that carried the prophet Mohammad (Peace be upon him) on his journey from Mecca to Jerusalem. Moslems believe that it was tied up at this site.

The Jews called it the Wailing Wall. They claim it as part of the wall around their Temple that was built by Herod the Great in 18 BC and was destroyed by Titus in 70 AD. It is a holy place for them and they used to weep whenever they visited it, thence the name Wailing Wall.

The site is an endowment of the Algerian family Abu Midain. In the reign of Muhammad Ali Basha Jews used to obtain permits to visit the site in return for 300 pounds a year. During the British Mandate some Jews broke the “status quo” by bringing seats, lamps and curtains and claiming it as their property. The result was a revolt, called the al-Buraq revolt, of August 1929. More than 116 martyrs fell, 232 people were injured, 1000 were imprisoned and three were executed, namely Ata al-Zear, Muhammad Jamjaum and Fu’ad Hijazi.

The decision was taken in 1930 that the Moslems are the sole owners of the wall, but Jews were given the right to pray there under the conditions stipulated by the committee.
The simple fact is that Jews, by digging in Jerusalem, are not afraid of what will be found. Jerusalem archaeology is replete with finds from not only Jewish periods of history but also Byzantine, Roman, Islamic and Jebusite. This is not considered a threat, as the truth is not something to be feared.

But even a cursory look at this one entry in the Palestinian Arab "educational" site shows that the truth is the furthest thing from the minds of those who create the PalArab educational curriculum - it is nothing short of brainwashing. To mention the 1929 riots purely in terms of numbers of Arabs killed (by the British, not Jews) and to ignore the massacres against Jews in Hebron, Tzfat and Jerusalem is astonishing.

And this aversion to truth, and stubborn adherence to clear lies, is endemic even among the Arab intelligentsia. Look at this article that has been spread widely among Arab and far left website in the past day by "journalist" Nicola Nasser:

The eye of the present storm is Bab al-Magharibah, located in the southern section of al-Haram al-Sharif's western wall, which connects Al Aqsa Mosque compound with Jerusalem's southern neighborhoods; it was used by the residents of the Magharibah Quarter which was demolished by Israeli bulldozers in June 1967 to build the “Jewish Quarter” in its place. On 28 September, 2000, the comatose former Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, used Bab al- Magharibah as his entry point to “visit” the Haram al-Sharif, igniting a firestorm of protest and sparking the Al Aqsa Intifada (uprising), which brought the peace process to a deadlock until now. In August of 1929, the same site sparked an uprising known in Palestinian political literature as the “Al-Buraq Revolt.”

Al-buraq is the Arab-Islamic name of Al Aqsa compound’s western wall, which the Jews called the “Wailing Wall” before changing it to the “Western Wall (of the Temple Mount, a widely-spread knowledge that has yet to be vindicated by historical fact or archeological findings) after the creation of Israel in 1948. The Israeli Occupying power after its overwhelming victory in 1967 confiscated by force the keys to Bab al-Magharibah from the Islamic Waqf to make them ever since Israel’s “Achilles’ heel” or “Joha's nail” to claim its imposed “partnership” on the Haram al-Sharif, later using that self-proclaimed “partnership” at the Camp David negotiations in 2000 to demand joint sovereignty over the mosque area.
How many lies can you find in this article? But these lies are the currency of discourse among Arabs, and their greatest fear is the existence of hundreds of Jewish buildings, ritual baths, coins, pottery shards, Hebrew inscriptions and other evidence of how Jerusalem has been the center of the Jewish universe since King David.

Finding this evidence - uncovering the truth - is the greatest fear of the Arabs.
  • Tuesday, February 13, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
Palestinian Arab news:
Gaza – Ma'an - Palestinian security sources said that 20 year old, Mohammad Shakir Sa'eedi, a member of the Al Aqsa Brigades, the main military wing of Fatah, was killed by Israeli forces, east of Gaza City on Tuesday morning.

Medical sources said that an ambulance that was transporting two injured Palestinians, including Sa'eedi, was targeted by the Israeli forces, Sa'eedi died and the other sustained serious wounds.

Eyewitnesses said that Sa'eedi was injured along with another man in an armed clash with the Israeli forces, near the border fence east of the Gaza Strip, medical sources confirmed the injury of two Palestinians on Tuesday morning, and told Ma'an that the Israeli forces shot at the ambulance while transporting the two men at 8 am.
Israeli news:
A Palestinian man was killed during a gun battle between an armed cell belonging to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Fatah, and IDF forces near the Karni crossing in northern Gaza.

The cell was carrying an explosive device, which detonated during the exchange of fire, killing one of the gunmen.

The Karni goods crossing has been a frequent target of attacks in the past. (Hanan Greenberg and Ali Waked).
Which one passes the smell test?

Wafa and IMEMC Palestinian Arab sources don't mention a thing about them being in an ambulance.

UPDATE: YNet adds much more detail now:
A Palestinian was killed Tuesday morning in exchanges of fire which erupted near the Karni crossing between Israel Defense Forces soldiers and gunmen of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Fatah's military wing.

During the exchanges of fire, an explosive device belonging to the gunmen exploded, killing one of them. Kalashnikov rifles were found in the area.

Shortly before 9 a.m., IDF soldiers spotted two gunmen attempting to plant an explosive device on the border fence near the Karni crossing. Soldiers from the Givati Brigade arrived at the area and exchanges of fire erupted between the troops and the gunmen.

During the exchanges of fire, the gunmen's explosive device exploded, killing one of them. The soldiers searched for the other gunman.

IDF officials estimated that the two planned to carry out a terror attack, as rifles and weapons were found in the area.

Palestinian sources reported that the man killed in the incident was Muhammad Saidi, 20, a member of the al-Aqsa Brigades.

Monday, February 12, 2007

  • Monday, February 12, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Reuters:
'That cursed Israel is trying to destroy al-Aqsa mosque,' Mohamed el-Katatny of President Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party (NDP) told a heated parliament session held to discuss the Israeli digging.

'Nothing will work with Israel except for a nuclear bomb that wipes it out of existence,' he said.
Is there any clearer indicator of Arab intentions towards Israel?

Is there any clearer indicator of how little importance the "Noble Sanctuary" has in Arab thought, to say that it is preferable for it to be blown to bits than to have Jews have any control over it?
  • Monday, February 12, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
Two Arab alleged "collaborators" were murdered today near Ramallah - including a man who murdered his own brother.

Our counts of Palestinian Arabs violently murdered by other PalArabs has now risen to 318 killed since Operation Summer Rains and 113 killed just this year.

UPDATE: A corpse was found in a Gaza cemetery, shot dead. 319 and 114.

UPDATE 2: The brother of the general whose house was torched by Hamas in January has died from his wounds in that attack. 320 and 115.

UPDATE 3: A man near Jericho tried to kill his pregnant wife in an apparent honor killing and stabbed his 14-month old daughter to death. 321 and 116.
  • Monday, February 12, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
GAZA, February 12, 2007 (WAFA) - Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) condemned Monday the diggings near Al-Aqsa mosque, warning of the ramifications of agitating Muslims' feelings.

In a press release, GCMHP expressed its full condemnation for this dangerous act that harms holy places and highly inflames Muslims feelings.

"The diggings and destruction to the Mosque is considered a clear provocation to Muslims worldwide and a blatant violation of the principles of the international law, particularly, the fourth Geneva Convention that prohibits the destruction of civilian properties - especially holy places," according to the press release.

"Such acts bring memories back to what Al-Aqsa was previously exposed to of incidents that violated its sacredness and led to eruption of violence in the region."

GCMHP stressed that Al-Aqsa Mosque represents a significant part of Palestinian and all Muslims' identity all over the world. As a result, says GCMHP, any damage to the mosque is considered a direct harm to the identity of all Muslims, which may result in eruption of instability in many parts of the world.

GCMHP added it views this provocative act, politically supported and covered by the Israeli government yesterday, as a way of igniting feelings of anger and congestion of all Muslims, and lead to reactions that may convert the whole region and the international community into a vicious cycle of violence and counter-violence and clashes between religions and civilizations in a manner that endangers the world peace and stability.

It called upon the world governments, the UN agencies, and legal and cultural organizations to take their legal and humanitarian responsibilities and immediately intervene to stop such dangerous practices, warning of the negative repercussions of the continuation of exposure to the holy places.
There you have it. The pre-eminent mental health professionals in Gaza have said that Muslims worldwide have no ability to control themselves; that it is quite natural that they would react violently to any preceived slight, no matter what the reality is; and that Israel decided to do the construction purely to inflame Muslims' delicate and sensitive feelings.

The psychosis that says that Muslims are not responsible for their actions is apparently officially regarded as normal by this organization, and if any Muslim acts violently it is Israel's fault.

To put it another way: the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme cannot see any psychological distinction between Muslims and animals.

Looking at the GCMHP website one can see that they consistently condemn intra-Palestinian Arab violence as well as any attacks on European interests in Gaza. Not once can I find a condemnation of any attacks on Israeli civilians. Apparently, Israeli civilians are legitimate targets.

To their credit, they do recommend "non-violent" methods of protest. On the downside, they regard stone throwing as "non-violent" in the same way that Gandhi and MLK were non-violent. Their description of the first intifada reveals volumes about the mental health of these mental health "professionals:
Nonviolence has proven throughout history that it can achieve liberation against occupation, apartheid, and colonization. The first Palestinian Intifada is a good example in changing stereotypical images of Palestinian people from being terrorists to victims of occupation and suppression. It opened the eyes of the world that Palestinians are struggling for their basic human rights and freedom for their country in a peaceful manner. The images of children confronting Israeli soldiers and being killed won the hearts of the international community and justice loving world.

In the end, even the most liberal Palestinian Arab supporters cheer when their own children die. And that is the biggest psychosis of all.

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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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