Sunday, June 29, 2008

  • Sunday, June 29, 2008
  • Elder of Ziyon
Firas Press reports on a Turkish TV drama that stars a handsome character named Muhannad (when dubbed into Arabic.) Apparently, he is so good looking that he is now responsible for 6 divorces in the Arab world.

The most recent case was ion Saudi Arabia, where a woman complained that her husband didn't show emotion the way her dreamy Muhannad does. This caused the husband to get upset and he divorced her on the spot.

In Jordan, a man divorced his wife after seeing that she put a picture of the Muhannad character on her cell phone.

Four cases occured in Syria, including one where a man overheard his wife jokingly say that she just wanted to spend one night with "Muhannad" and then she could die.

If my research is correct, the actor playing that part is a former "Best Model of the World" named Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ. The name of the show is Noor, which is the name of Muhannad's wife in the Arabic version (translated as "Light" in the Firas autotranslated article.)

Saturday, June 28, 2008

  • Saturday, June 28, 2008
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Ma'an:
Akram Abu al-A'atayah, 60, was killed by a relative Saturday afternoon in what appears to be a family fued.

Sources close to the family said that Abu al- A'tayah, a resident of the al- Sheja'iyah neighborhood east of the Gaza city, was stabbed with a knife by a family member and was killed instantly.

Tulkarem – Ma'an - Security sources in Tulkarem said that a local man had burned his uncle during a family clash Saturday.

The police in Tulkarem arrested the attacker following an initial investigation. According to the police, the man poured petrol over his uncle during a family clash. The Thabet Thabet Hospital reported that the man has third degree burns all over his body.

The police have opened a file for continued investigation into the incident.
Our 2008 PalArab self-death count rises to 101.

Friday, June 27, 2008

PalPress reports on a 57-year old man who was arrested six days ago by Hamas, and whose family was informed by Hamas today that he had unfortunately died in custody.

He was in good health before this sudden, coincidental deterioration that just happened to occur while he was under Hamas' benevolent control.

The 2008 PalArab self-death count now hits the grim milestone of 100.

UPDATE: Firas Press says the man was 72.
  • Friday, June 27, 2008
  • Elder of Ziyon
YNet: 3 female paramedics save lives in Gaza

MEMRI: Liberal Syrian Journalist Abi Hassan: My Day in Haifa

PalPress (autotranslated): Attempted bombing at Islamic University in Gaza

Israel eNews: Israeli Musician Idan Raichel Stars On Al-Jazeera
  • Friday, June 27, 2008
  • Elder of Ziyon
A small but illuminating brouhaha erupted over the past two days.

Fatah's Al Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility for yesterday's rocket attack, but then another statement was released denying those claims and saying that the person who made them, Abu Qusay, were wrong and he was banned from the Brigades.

Then this morning the Brigades reclaimed responsibility and denied the denial.

Beyond the amusement at watching bumbling terrorists try to figure out how to best manage their PR, some of Al-Aqsa's statements are worth examining. Al Aqsa has been criticizing Hamas for the truce, saying that it should have included the West Bank (an indeed they claimed that their rocket attacks have been in retaliation for Israeli raids in the WB.) Even so, in response to an appeal by Mahmoud Abbas, Al Aqsa now say they will respect the "calm."

Fatah and Hamas can't stand each other. This does not in any way imply that one of them hates Israel any less. When it is convenient, Fatah will take an even harder line than Hamas against Israel, even though Western journalists are loathe to mention it. Similarly, any conciliatory gestures towards Israel are also based on convenience, nothing else. And when that "peaceful" Holocaust-denying Fatah leader wants to exercise authority over this "rogue" organization, he can - which means that when they do terror attacks, they have his tacit agreement.

It is a major mistake to think that one of these competing organizations is any more peaceful than the other. One could credibly argue that Hamas' current "calm," as flawed as it is, is more effective than anything Fatah ever accomplished since 2000. The fact that Fatah and Hamas compete with each other has essentially no bearing on whether one or the other is more pro-Israel - that term is completely foreign to both organizations, and both still share the goal of eradicating Israel even if their tactics differ.
  • Friday, June 27, 2008
  • Elder of Ziyon
Reuters reports:
Israel's Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) group accused Israeli doctors on Thursday of ignoring what it described as the torture of Palestinian detainees during interrogations.

The PHR said its findings were based on testimony from two Palestinians who developed trauma-related symptoms, such as weak hearing, panic attacks and incontinence during and after their detention.

Israel said those findings were "fraught with mistakes, groundless claims and inaccuracies".

Palestinian prisoners undergo medical examinations before, during and after their interrogation, but doctors in detention facilities fail to report such symptoms, making them complicit in "prisoner torture", the PHR said in a statement.

PHR Executive Director Hadas Ziv told Reuters her organization's findings were also based on reports by other Israeli human rights groups.

Last year, two groups, B'Tselem and HaMoked, said they had found Israeli security interrogators routinely mistreat and sometimes physically torture Palestinian detainees.

The PHR urged the Health Ministry in a letter to forbid doctors from participating in interrogations carried out by Israel's internal security service, the Shin Bet.
I found the original PHR Israel report, strangely only as a link to a Word document on their home page.

One would be generous to say that their arguments are flimsy. Here, in brief, is their proof that physicians are complicit in torture:

1) We hear that torture exists. Not from any physicians, mind you, but from a couple of alleged victims and other "human rights" groups who also get their information from the same alleged victims.

2) We know that physicians are employed by the Israel Prison Service and that others have seen these patients in emergency rooms.

3) None of them corroborate any of these allegations of torture.

4) Therefore, the allegations must be true and the hundreds of physicians who don't say a word must be afraid of losing their jobs, or guilty of racism, or supportive of torture.

There is not an iota of proof, or even logic, behind this report. It is purely an attempt to try to add relevance to the PHR organization itself. It is an absurd conspiracy theory that lacks even the shreds of evidence that most such theories use.

Ironically, it also indicates that most Israeli physicians consider IHR a joke, as the IHR cannot even find a single left wing doctor one with first-hand knowledge to support their theory.

Reuters, of course, is only too happy to parrot their claims.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

  • Thursday, June 26, 2008
  • Elder of Ziyon
The acronym WTF has rarely been more appropriate. From Arutz-7:
The Prime Minister's office has admitted, in a letter to the Shurat Hadin Israel Law Center, that it is enabling the transfer of huge amounts of shekels into Hamas-run Gaza.

Asked about this issue by Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of human rights organization Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center, the PM's office replied, "The transfer of funds to the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip takes place with the knowledge of the Israeli government, for diplomatic reasons."

Notably, the letter states that the money is transferred to the PA, when in actuality, Hamas - not the PA - runs Gaza.

The PM's Bureau letter continues, "The money transfer takes place after consultations on the matter with the relevant elements, in which are taken into consideration various possibilities and ramifications of the stoppage of the transfers. At this stage, in light of the conclusion that was reached that it was an Israeli interest that the money transfers continue, it was decided to continue to transfer certain sums to Gaza."

Law Centers Demands Stop to Money Transfers

Shurat HaDin, an organization representing hundreds of terror victims in ongoing global battles against terror funding, had sent letters to the Prime Minister, the Bank of Israel and the Israel Postal Bank, demanding an immediate cessation to the transfer of funds to Hamas.

Israel Launders Hamas Money
A Law Center representative explained that the funds are transferred in two ways: "For one thing, trucks from Arab banks in Judea and Samaria bring new banknotes and shekels issued by the Bank of Israel to the Gaza crossings, where the money is exchanged for dollars and euros smuggled into Hamas under the Philadelphi Corridor from Iran and elsewhere. This means that Israel is essentially laundering Hamas's smuggled money."

Replacing Old With New

"In addition, the Bank of Israel sends Brinks trucks to the Gaza crossings to replace old, unusable shekel banknotes. It replaces the old ones with shiny new ones - and last November, just days after such an exchange took place, the whole world saw pictures of Hamas terrorists holding their Kalachnikov rifles kissing Israeli banknotes with pictures of Yitzchak Ben-Tzvi and Shmuel Yosef Agnon that they had just received as their salaries; they had not been paid in months, and the Hamas government appeared to be on the verge of collapse, when Israel stepped in with this delivery."

"Without these criminal acts," the Law Center writes, "Hamas' financial hold on the Strip would collapse, and thus these measures are directly responsible for shoring up the Hamas control over Gaza and its continued terrorist activity launched from the region."

Shurat HaDin director Darshan-Leitner had sharp words for the government of Israel, saying it "cannot fight against the Hamas terrorist organization with one hand, and continue to secretly finance it with the other. Hypocritically, the Prime Minister demands that governments around the world isolate and and embargo the Hamas terrorists in Gaza, and stop transferring funds to them, while at the same time he authorizes the transfer of Israeli currency into the hands of the enemy. "

"There can be no doubt," Darshan-Leitner said, "that the Israeli government's policy of transferring shekels is assisting the Hamas terrorists with their missile attacks on the Negev communities. If the Prime Minister does not immediately halt the currency transfers to Gaza, Shurat HaDin will take all legal means available against the government to bring this terror financing to a close."
I knew that the PA was giving the lion's share of its money to Gaza but I didn't realize that Israel was the source as well as the conduit.

Throughout the siege, Hamas managed to hang on to power, and now we understand why - there was no siege. It has been known for months that Hamas has taken over the PA institutions in Gaza and that any money that goes to PA/Fatah elements there really go to Hamas.

As a result, Hamas' prestige and power increased during Israel's closing the Gaza border, rather than the stated opposite goal by this same Israeli government.

And this Kadima government is staying in power. Unbelievable.

See also Israel Insider and Seraphic Secret. As of yet, nothing in the mainstream Israeli news media.
  • Thursday, June 26, 2008
  • Elder of Ziyon
From the Al Qassam Brigades website of Hamas, a smiling child learning hate and murder from his now-dead father.

The Hamas website published a letter written by Gilad Shalit to his parents. I do not think this is the same letter as the one delivered earlier this month - that one was undated and this one says "June '08."

The Hamas Al Qassam website is using this letter as supposed proof of its humanity, although Shalit does say that he is suffering both physically and psychologically. Of course, the Red Cross has not been allowed to see Shalit.

In the letter, he also calls for negotiations for his release.



Translation by Annie:
Dear Mum and Dad, my dear family, I send to you my many homesick feelings. Two long hard years have passed for me since I left you and have been forced to live in prison conditions.

I continue to suffer from health and emotional difficulties and depressions that exist in this kind of life.

Like in my previous letters, I very much hope that your health and emotional situation has not been harmed since you began to live without me.

I still continue to think and dream of the day when I will be released and meet you again, and I still have the hope that this day is close, although I know it is not dependent on me or on you.

I turn to the government that it should not neglect the negotiations for my release, and it should aim its efforts only at releasing the soldiers in Lebanon.

Missing you,
Gilad
June 2008

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

  • Wednesday, June 25, 2008
  • Elder of Ziyon
The PHRMG has a poorly organized and belated count of various deaths in the PA territories, and I just saw this one where a man in Nablus was beaten to death on February 22 that I had not counted before.

So the 2008 PalArab self-death count is at 99.

Also, a hat tip to Eric from The Israel Situation who has placed my self-death count pseudo-widget on his blog.
  • Wednesday, June 25, 2008
  • Elder of Ziyon
AP reports:
An international conference aimed at strengthening the Palestinian police force and judicial system has secured commitments of US$242 million for specific projects, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Tuesday.

The outcome of the one-day conference, which brought together representatives from more than 40 countries, including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, "exceeded our expectations," Steinmeier said.
"The result, I must say, is that a clear signal of support for the building of a Palestinian state was sent from here today," Steinmeier said.
This is very interesting. The Palestinian Arabs had a judicial system before the 2000 intifada that had been functioning - with severe problems but functioning - for a number of years since Oslo. The money the put that in place and kept it going has certainly not disappeared; in fact the amount that donor countries have given the PA has increased since then. And there have been no shortage of other funded security initiatives, such as training a special force of officers in Jordan. So why do they need a special conference just to get even more money for "security" when there are already more police per capita in the PA than anywhere else in the world?

PA prime minister Fayyad has managed to pare down the security forces somewhat - from 83,000 to 60,000 according to some - which is still a huge number and included PA police in Gaza who are either doing nothing or working for Hamas. More pointedly, the way he has done so was not a way that would impact the payroll - he has offered thousands of police to "retire" on full-salary pensions. Why would he not try to find real work for these people? Why is he telling international conferences that he needs even more policemen? And what is he doing to ensure that the newly idle "police" don't take their free money and join that other Fatah organization known as the Al Aqsa Brigades?

Once again, Palestinian Arabs are soaking the world for more money but they are unwilling to make the hard decisions that would allow them to save money on their own. So the world can kiss another quarter of a billion dollars goodbye, to chase the billions already wasted into trying to convince Palestinian Arab leaders to act responsibly.
  • Wednesday, June 25, 2008
  • Elder of Ziyon
Ma'an reports that a 3 1/2 year old Gaza child was killed by his uncle. Apparently the killer was insulted by his brother so he decided to take revenge by drowning the child in the bathroom.

Although this happened on the 14th, I did not see it mentioned in any PalArab newspaper until now.

The 2008 PalArab self-death count is now at 98, of which 17 have been children.

Printfriendly

EoZTV Podcast

Podcast URL

Subscribe in podnovaSubscribe with FeedlyAdd to netvibes
addtomyyahoo4Subscribe with SubToMe

search eoz

comments

Speaking

Follow by Email

translate

E-Book

For $18 donation








Sample Text

EoZ's Most Popular Posts in recent years

Hasbys!

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.

Donate!

Donate to fight for Israel!

Monthly subscription:
Payment options


One time donation:

subscribe via email

Follow EoZ on Twitter!

Interesting Blogs

Categories

#PayForSlay Abbas liar Academic fraud administrivia al-Qaeda algeria Alice Walker American Jews AmericanZionism Amnesty analysis anti-semitism anti-Zionism antisemitism apartheid Arab antisemitism arab refugees Arafat archaeology Ari Fuld art Ashrawi ASHREI B'tselem bahrain Balfour bbc BDS BDSFail Bedouin Beitunia beoz Bernie Sanders Biden history Birthright book review Brant Rosen breaking the silence Campus antisemitism Cardozo cartoon of the day Chakindas Chanukah Christians circumcision Clark Kent coexistence Community Standards conspiracy theories COVID-19 Cyprus Daled Amos Daphne Anson David Applebaum Davis report DCI-P Divest This double standards Egypt Elder gets results ElderToons Electronic Intifada Embassy EoZ Trump symposium eoz-symposium EoZNews eoztv Erekat Erekat lung transplant EU Euro-Mid Observer European antisemitism Facebook Facebook jail Fake Civilians 2014 Fake Civilians 2019 Farrakhan Fatah featured Features fisking flotilla Forest Rain Forward free gaza freedom of press palestinian style future martyr Gary Spedding gaza Gaza Platform George Galloway George Soros German Jewry Ghassan Daghlas gideon levy gilad shalit gisha Goldstone Report Good news Grapel Guardian guest post gunness Haaretz Hadassah hamas Hamas war crimes Hananya Naftali hasbara Hasby 2014 Hasby 2016 Hasby 2018 hate speech Hebron helen thomas hezbollah history Hizballah Holocaust Holocaust denial honor killing HRW Human Rights Humanitarian crisis humor huor Hypocrisy ICRC IDF IfNotNow Ilan Pappe Ilhan Omar impossible peace incitement indigenous Indonesia international law interview intransigence iran Iraq Islamic Judeophobia Islamism Israel Loves America Israeli culture Israeli high-tech J Street jabalya James Zogby jeremy bowen Jerusalem jewish fiction Jewish Voice for Peace jihad jimmy carter Joe Biden John Kerry jokes jonathan cook Jordan Joseph Massad Juan Cole Judaism Judea-Samaria Judean Rose Judith Butler Kairos Karl Vick Keith Ellison ken roth khalid amayreh Khaybar Know How to Answer Lebanon leftists Linda Sarsour Linkdump lumish mahmoud zahar Mairav Zonszein Malaysia Marc Lamont Hill Marjorie Taylor Greene max blumenthal Mazen Adi McGraw-Hill media bias Methodist Michael Lynk Michael Ross Miftah Missionaries moderate Islam Mohammed Assaf Mondoweiss moonbats Morocco Mudar Zahran music Muslim Brotherhood Naftali Bennett Nakba Nan Greer Nation of Islam Natural gas Nazi Netanyahu News nftp NGO Nick Cannon NIF Noah Phillips norpac NSU Matrix NYT Occupation offbeat olive oil Omar Barghouti Only in Israel Opinion Opinon oxfam PA corruption PalArab lies Palestine Papers pallywood pchr PCUSA Peace Now Peter Beinart Petra MB philosophy poetry Poland poll Poster Preoccupied Prisoners propaganda Proud to be Zionist Puar Purim purimshpiel Putin Qaradawi Qassam calendar Quora Rafah Ray Hanania real liberals RealJerusalemStreets reference Reuters Richard Falk Richard Landes Richard Silverstein Right of return Rivkah Lambert Adler Robert Werdine rogel alpher roger cohen roger waters Rutgers Saeb Erekat Sarah Schulman Saudi Arabia saudi vice self-death self-death palestinians Seth Rogen settlements sex crimes SFSU shechita sheikh tamimi Shelly Yachimovich Shujaiyeh Simchat Torah Simona Sharoni SodaStream South Africa Sovereignty Speech stamps Superman Syria Tarabin Temple Mount Terrorism This is Zionism Thomas Friedman TOI Tomer Ilan Trump Trump Lame Duck Test Tunisia Turkey UAE Accord UCI UK UN UNDP unesco unhrc UNICEF United Arab Emirates Unity unrwa UNRWA hate unrwa reports UNRWA-USA unwra Varda Vic Rosenthal Washington wikileaks work accident X-washing Y. Ben-David Yemen YMikarov zahran Ziesel zionist attack zoo Zionophobia Ziophobia Zvi

Blog Archive