Tuesday, January 11, 2011

  • Tuesday, January 11, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
Last week, the IDF shot and killed two men who were trying to climb the Gaza border fence.

Palestine Press Agency notes that these men have still not been identified.

Initially, Hamas has claimed that they were Egyptians who independently went into Gaza in order to "join the resistance" but that story has fallen apart, because Hamas did not hand any bodies over to the Egyptian authorities.

Similarly, the usual terror groups in Gaza did not claim these men as their "martyrs."

The rumors are that a number of Yemenis associated with Al Qaeda are going to Gaza, and that these were two of them. When Hamas attacked the Jund an Ansar Salafist group in August 2009, three of the dead were never identified but it was considered general knowledge that there are Al Qaeda Yemenis in Gaza and those men were assumed to be members.
  • Tuesday, January 11, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
I don't know who made this, but it is fun to watch:


(h/t Israeligirl)
  • Tuesday, January 11, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
A group of Gaza journalists protested Hamas' imprisonment of one of their colleagues yesterday.

Public protests against the Hamas government are very rare in Gaza. Usually, Hamas shuts down any protests under the pretext of the organizers not having the proper permits.


I cannot find the name of the journalist. Reporters Without Borders has not seemed to update its "Palestine" section in over a year.

UPDATE: An email correspondent who knows Arabic looked at the photos are figured out that these are Hamas "journalists" who are protesting the PA imprisoning their colleagues in the West Bank!

One of the signs they were holding was the Hamas Al Aqsa TV logo:
So this is not an anti-Hamas protest - it is a pro-Hamas protest.

Never mind!
From the Society of Professional Journalists:
The Executive Committee of the Society of Professional Journalists voted Saturday to recommend that the organization retire the Helen Thomas Award for Lifetime Achievement. The recommendation, which will be sent to the full board of directors within the next 10 days for a vote, states that the award will be retired with Thomas’ name attached.

The recommendation by the executive committee is to retire the Helen Thomas Award for Lifetime Achievement, meaning no lifetime achievement award will be given. The recommendation is not to rename it or to remove Thomas’ name.

The retirement will not take effect unless the board votes to accept the recommendation.

“This is a complex issue, and the executive committee considered comments and letters from both sides. Because of the importance of this decision, it is appropriate to put this before the full board,” SPJ President Hagit Limor said.

The executive committee said the following in making its recommendation: “While we support Helen Thomas’ right to speak her opinion, we condemn her statements in December as offensive and inappropriate.”
They published this absurd argument against rescinding the award from a self-proclaimed Jew and Zionist, Lloyd Weston, condemning Wayne State University from pulling their Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity Award:
The reasoning behind WSU’s decision to no longer offer the Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity in the Media award sends a mixed message to its students – especially journalism students – that the values instilled in them over four years of education are both flexible and expendable; that freedom of speech and of the press is not a foundation, set in stone, upon which life in America is based, but rather merely a suggestion to be taken if it suits you, or left behind when it becomes inconvenient or embarrassing.

I have urged officials of WSU to reconsider what they have done, and to apologize to Helen Thomas, of course, but, more importantly, to the Wayne State University students and alumni who expected better of them.
Weston of course does not explain how getting rid of an award whose very name has turned into an embarrassment is a threat to freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is important, but it does not run roughshod over other freedoms - such as the freedom of Wayne State University and the SPJ from not wanting their names associated with a bigot.

(h/t Backspin)

Monday, January 10, 2011

  • Monday, January 10, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
It is well known that Israel is the cause of all strife in the Arab world (not to mention the world at large.)

Here are some recent examples:

In Egypt, some video of peaceful Egyptian police beating Coptic rioters with billy-clubs, January 3, 2011.

In Sudan, January 10.
Arab tribesmen accompanied by a Khartoum-backed militia killed 20 policemen in Sudan's disputed region of Abyei, a southern military spokesman said Monday, raising concerns of violence as the south carries out a weeklong independence referendum.
In Jordan, January 5:
Jordanian security authorities detained at least 20 on Wednesday in connection with two days of tribal riots that left three persons dead in the southern town of Maan, a senior official said.

In Tunisia this week:
Nineteen demonstrators protesting high unemployment and poor living conditions have been killed during the past two days in riots that broke out in two Tunisian cities near its border with Algeria, a government official said Monday.

The incidents occurred in the cities of Thala and Kasserine, said Minister of Information Samir Abidi. All of the dead were demonstrators; more than 30 police were injured, he said.
Amnesty International said at least 23 people died in protests over the weekend, and it had received reports of more deaths on Monday.

Citing "information gathered by Amnesty International," it said security forces fired tear gas and live ammunition to disperse demonstrators in the cities of Thala, Kasserine and Regueb in central Tunisia.

In Algeria this week:
At least three people have been killed and 300 others injured in riots that erupted across Algeria amid rising food prices and a housing crisis, according to state-run media.

If only Israel wasn't there, none of these incidents would have happened and the Arab world would be peaceful and unified.

Obviously.
  • Monday, January 10, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
A must read from Barry Rubin:
When one crazed or ideologically obsessed gunman starts shooting in Arizona, people condemn him and start bemoaning their society. How about a place with ten million people like that who are treated as heroes?

America this week is awash in a huge and passionate debate over whether angry political disagreements and harsh criticisms of certain views or groups inspired the attack on an American congresswoman (Jewish and a strong supporter of Israel, by the way). I’m not going to enter into that argument right now but I want to point out the Middle Eastern ramifications of what's going on here.

Every day for more than a half century, Arabs and Muslims have been inundated every day with hatred for Israel, America, the West, Jews, and often Christians. You can read transcripts of Syrian broadcasts or Palestinian speeches from 50 years ago that sound just like what was said in the same places yesterday by powerful and/or respectable figures and institutions.

Let’s say that the proportion of lies, slanders, and incitement in the American discourse is one-tenth of one percent of all the words spoken on controversial issues. The equivalent figure for the Middle East is well over 95 percent.

In addition to that tone, there is not only a total lack of balance but an absence of the other side altogether.

And in addition to those two points, the level of factual accuracy has a huge gap separating it from reality. (Though, admittedly, that gap has been narrowing in recent years as Western standards decline).

And in addition to those three points, while extremists tend to be marginal in the United States, they are in control--either politically or at least rhetorically--throughout most of the Arabic-speaking and Muslim-majority worlds.
Read the whole thing.
  • Monday, January 10, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
His writings might meander, but they never fail to inform. A small sample:

God only knows how Hezbollah trains its fighters, but I have a pretty good idea what the Israelis are up to because Abe Lapson, an IDF director of combat engineering, hosted me at the urban warfare training center in the northern Negev near the border with Gaza.
They built a scale model city out there in the desert where Israeli soldiers engage in sophisticated combat exercises. They fight each other in these exercises, so it’s always a challenge. Trained Israeli soldiers are far more dangerous than any army—even Hezbollah—the modern Arab world has yet produced.
I saw the skyline of the “city” as we approached on a road through desert, and from a distance it almost looks real. Up close it’s different.
“It almost looks like a set for a video game,” I said.
Lapson chuckled and said, “But it’s real.”
I could see everything from the control tower. The buildings are smaller and farther apart on the outskirts than they are in the center, just like a real village or town in the West Bank, Gaza, or Lebanon. And I have to say they did a pretty good job with the realism. Pyrotechnic teams set off explosions. Vehicles emit different colors of smoke depending on what kind of damage they’ve supposedly taken. Walls have simulated blast holes because doors and windows are often booby-trapped, forcing soldiers to create alternate entrances.
I’ve never been to a Hezbollah training camp, although I did ask Hezbollah officials if I could see one before they blacklisted me for “writing against the party.” They refused. Still, I’m certain they don’t have dummies representing civilians who aren’t to be touched.

The Israelis do, though. They place mannequins on the grounds dressed in the clothes of civilians and peacekeepers as well as enemy soldiers and terrorists.
“The other side includes both hostiles and civilians,” Lapson said, “and the hostiles will often embed themselves among the civilians. We go over a large number of what-if scenarios. We imbue an ethical and moral backbone in all our soldiers from the very beginning, and we have humanitarian officers with our infantry troops. We take extra precautions, even when it puts our own troops in danger.”
Read the whole thing.

And while he mentions that it looks like a video game, that is one great idea that someone could do - a video-game that shows the difficulty of fighting the IDF way, trying to avoid civilians while hitting terrorists pretending to be civilian. While, at the same time, worried that the rockets you are targeting don't end up hitting your own family.
  • Monday, January 10, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From RT.com:

The West Bank city of Ramallah is naming its streets to mark its 100th anniversary, but some of the choices are causing controversy as they honor people involved in planning terrorist acts.
This naming is part of a regeneration scheme started two years ago, but it is already being seen by some as a sign of growing extremism.

Before the scheme was launched, there were no street names, street signs or house numbers that could help people navigate around the city.

Janet Mikhail, Mayor of Ramallah, says it is “a human right for citizens to know where they are.”

Thus Yasser Arafat gets a square. And a street is called after the neighbourhood Al-Nuzha that used to exist in Arab Jaffa in the 1930s. Another street called Al-Awdeh, meaning ‘return’, is a call for Palestinian refugees to return to Israel.

The criteria for choosing a name are simple: heroes, places, and ideas supported by the Palestinian people.

“We don’t differentiate between Hamas or Fatah,” explains Janet Mikhail.

If anything, the opposite, as members of both organizations fighting for liberation are glorified. Which might surprise those who think the modern city of Ramallah would shy away from praising stalwarts of Hamas, an organization considered by many world powers as terrorist.

One of the thoroughfares is named after chief Hamas bomb maker – Yahya Ayyash, dubbed “the engineer”. For three years he was Israel’s most wanted man for masterminding suicide bombings that killed 90 Israelis, until he himself was killed.

As political analyst Khalil Shaheen explains, “anyone who was killed by the Israelis, even in a car accident, is considered a martyr”.

Yahya Ayyash was killed by the Israeli internal security service after they tricked a friend of his into giving him a cell phone that was booby trapped. Fourteen years on his family is as proud as ever.

“I’m very pleased they’ve named roads and streets after him,” says Yahya Ayyash’s mother, Aisha. “My son is in my heart and I miss him. He’s the hero of Palestine.”

Surprisingly, not all the streets names are Palestinian. One street is called after Rachel Corrie, an American activist who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer during a demonstration in Gaza in 2003. Rachel was part of the International Solidarity Movement, a group that, as Israelis charge, aids Hamas and other Palestinian extremist groups.

The decision to name a busy street in Ramallah after her was anonymous.

Such attention, even to extremist groups, may be explained by the growing desire among Palestinians to change the current course of events.

”People in the West Bank are fed up with the way they have been ruled during the past 15 years and they’re eager to try something else,” believes Khalil Shaheen.

Polls show Hamas growing in popularity in the West Bank, while talks between rival Palestinian faction Fatah and Israel deadlock.

“Hamas is changing, Hamas is trying to speak in the language the West understands,” argues Shaheen.

And as the new street signs go up in the city, it is becoming more and more clear that Hamas is also speaking in a language Ramallah Palestinians understand.
  • Monday, January 10, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
Palestine Today reports that the mayor of Jabalia met with a Turkish man, Hanafy Osama Sinan, who had been on the Mavi Marmara.

Sinan traveled to Gaza with an aid convoy.

The mayor said that he would establish a park on 6 dunums west of the city in memory of the terrorists who were killed on the ship, as well as naming streets after them.

Amazing how they find land when they want to!
  • Monday, January 10, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
I saw a number of Arabic newspapers report breathlessly that the US is using 250,000 bullets for every insurgent they kill in Iraq, and they are forced to import more from Israel because of a bullet shortage.

I traced the story back to this article, printed today, in the Belfast Telegraph.

Interestingly, that same article was published in The Independent - in September 2005.

Maybe I shouldn't be so harsh. Instead, I should just recycle some of my own blog posts from September 2005 that could have been written today:

More words of peace from the PA


And, completely off topic:
  • Monday, January 10, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
Egyptian newspaper Al-Mesryoon has an exclusive report that tries to implicate Israel in the deadly Coptic church bombing.

According to the story, the explosive used in the church was ten times more powerful than TNT and it is used by some of the countries in the region, particularly including Israel. They claim that this is the same explosive used by Israel to blow up some cars that had Hamas members.

They deny that it was a suicide bomber, saying instead that it was a remotely controlled device, either through a timer or a mobile phone.

This report is spreading pretty quickly through the Arabic media.
  • Monday, January 10, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
I just saw the actual document that Ha'aretz was referring to in my previous post.

It proves beyond any doubt that EU diplomats are clueless about Arab goals. They are so caught up in their diplomatic bubble that they are willfully ignorant of how Arabs really feel, and they can therefore publish complete rubbish.

For example:

Developments at the Haram al-Sharif, or Temple Mount, are significant in several respects - they are a cause of tension locally between the various communities, but also receive attention globally,such as the large demonstrations by Muslims whenever they perceive the Muslim position in Jerusalem to be undercut. For this reason, this site is one of the most sensitive in Jerusalem and therefore, any event happening on it or around it is likely to have serious repercussions.
In 2010, the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount area continued to see heightened tension and inflammatory actions which led to riots and demonstrations in Palestinian neighbourhoods. Repeated provocative visits of the Haram area by Jewish radical political and religious groups, which continue to occur during 2010, are highly problematic. On several occasions Israeli forces entered Al Aqsa Mosque and confronted stone-throwing Muslims. The perceived threat to religious places promotes rumours which in turn can lead to violent encounters between the various groups.
This is a great example of subconscious liberal racism towards Arabs. Every Israeli action is "provocative" and every Arab riot is an understandable result of Israeli actions. As is always the case, Arab violence is justified and even inevitable, while Israeli and Jewish actions are designed purely to anger Arabs. Only the Jews have the ability to be responsible for their actions - terrible, awful actions like wanting to peacefully visit their own holiest place, or to support archaeological digs that show the Jewish history in the holiest city on Earth. How provocative! From the EU diplomats' perspectives, violent Arab reaction to such events is inevitable and Arabs are not responsible.
The disputes regarding various construction projects (e.g.“archeological tunnels”, recent plans to alter of the Western Wall plaza) serve as examples of a lack of consensus-building by Israel around those projects in sensitive areas of the city.
Do they honestly think that the Islamic religious leadership would allow Israel to do anything at all that tacitly accepts that Jews have the right to live in Jerusalem? How clueless can you be?
Work on the Mughrabi Gate has proven a particular example of this in 2010. The Waqf, the Islamic body responsible for the Haram al-Sharif compound, has expressed concern regarding the construction by the Israeli Authorities, without their agreement, of a new bridge to replace the collapsed ramp leading to the Mugrabi Gate. Work on the Mugrabi Gate, the passageway between the Wailing Wall Plaza and the Temple Mount / Haram al Sharif, started again in September after the Jerusalem District Court's decision to authorize the work. The Waqf believe that the damage caused to the ramp is negligible and could be fixed without replacing the whole structure. They suspect this may be used as an opportunity to undertake new excavations under the ramp or as seemed to be originally planned (prior to the Court’s ruling against it) to expand the area of the Wailing Wall Plaza. A new plan for the Mughrabi Gate, revealed in November this year, seems to be less far-reaching in the sense that it does not include any expansion of the Plaza. The Waqf, however, was again not consulted in the process.
The rocket scientists of the EU diplomatic corps want to give veto power to the Waqf - an organization that is as extremist and anti-semitic as possible - over everything that the municipality of Jerusalem undertakes for the good of the city. Strengthening extremism against moderation - what a great diplomatic initiative!

Did the EU, even once, say anything against the criminal bulldozing of priceless archaeological treasures by the Waqf on the Temple Mount? Or is the Waqf allowed to act unilaterally, while only Jewish decisions can be vetoed by the Arabs?

If it was up to the Waqf, the Western Wall and the Old City would be Judenrein. But the EU wants Israel to consult a racist hate organization before doing anything.

Unbelievable.

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