Wednesday, December 07, 2011

  • Wednesday, December 07, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Al Masry al Youm:

Horrific accounts of torture, rape and organ theft are continuing to emerge from Egypt’s Sinai desert, seven rights organizations said last week in a press statement.

Human trafficking networks operating in northern Sinai detain migrants and hold them in what the rights organizations describe as “torture camps” until relatives pay a ransom.

The statement says that despite the “chilling evidence of horrors” inflicted on refugees — mostly fleeing Eritrea and Sudan — in detention, little has been done to rescue them.

Smuggling networks are “still up and running and hundreds of refugee hostages are being tortured by human traffickers in Sinai,” with the objective of obtaining tens of thousands of dollars in random money for their release.

Authorities have struggled to maintain control of North Sinai since Egypt's revolution began in January and the security vacuum has been exploited both by radical Islamists who have taken up arms, and some Bedouins who are cashing in on a lucrative human trafficking trade, smuggling migrants across the border to Israel.

The statement provides grim details of refugees’ experiences while being held hostage in Sinai. These details have emerged while refugees are still in detention, via satellite phones provided by their captors to call relatives and demand ransom money.

Five groups of hostages are currently being held.

One group of 165 Eritrean refugees is under the control of a group of eight traffickers led by an individual known as Abu Musa. This group is not in Sinai but the Delta governorate of Mansoura, and has been held for several months in a bunker, according to the report.

One refugee told the Hotline for Migrant Workers, one of the groups behind the statement, that smugglers beat and electroshock their victims in order to raise ransom money — set at US$30,000. He added that the group has not left the bunker since they arrived, but that the women are taken out every night and raped.

Five prisoners died as a result of electrocution in one week, the statement says.

Members of another group of 59 people told the Italian Agenzia Habeshia, another of the seven rights groups, that two of their members are in late-term pregnancy, and one, who is seven-months pregnant and was kidnapped from Sudan, has been raped “many times.”

When she was unable to pay the smugglers in Sudan the $3,000 they were demanding for her release she was sold to other smugglers.

“The current smugglers are demanding $23,000 and have made it clear that if she does not come up with the money by the time of her delivery, she will be forced to pay an additional $23,000 for the infant,” the statement says.

Several details are known about members of the smuggling operation, it says, including the names of several prominent members whose names are often repeated by victims.

One member, Abu Musa, is believed to work with the assistance of an Eritrean living in Israel, while another, Abu Abdalla, works closely with an Eritrean man known as Cornell, who is “responsible for collecting ransom money sent to Egypt by hostages’ relatives and for managing a network of collaborators in Israel,” the statement says.

In Khartoum, an Eritrean man called Angosom has kidnapped hundreds of Eritreans from refugee camps in Sudan and Ethiopia and sold them to human traffickers in Egypt.

The Arabic edition of Al-Masry Al-Youm reported last month an even more sinister dimension to Sinai’s human trafficking industry. Traffickers are stealing the organs of the refugees they kidnap, it reported, adding that there were violent confrontations in central Sinai as the Tayaha tribe accused members of the Nakhalwa tribe of stealing organs.
I had been reading on Twitter that an article by rabid Israel hater and serial liar Max Blumenthal contained a blockbuster quote that could not be verified - and now Jeffrey Goldberg has proven it:
A couple of Goldblog readers alerted me to a Max Blumenthal story in which Karen Greenberg, the director of the Fordham School of Law's Center on National Security, is quoted accusing Israel of teaching American interrogators the dark art of torture:
"After 9/11 we reached out to the Israelis on many fronts and one of those fronts was torture," Greenberg told me. "The training in Iraq and Afghanistan on torture was Israeli training. There's been a huge downside to taking our cue from the Israelis and now we're going to spread that into the fabric of everyday American life? It's counter-terrorism creep. And it's exactly what you could have predicted would have happened."
I was surprised to read this, because, though I don't know Karen Greenberg personally, I do know of her reputation for seriousness, and I was surprised she would make such an explosive charge without offering evidence that Israel was involved in such training.

Well, I called Greenberg, and it turns out that she, too, was surprised, because she said she never told Max Blumenthal any such thing. Here's what she told me: "I never made such a statement. I've never seen any proof of this. I told him I had heard a story out there about this issue, but that he should look into it and see if he could find evidence, because I have no proof of this charge. You have to be particularly careful when it comes to torture, you have to be careful not to overreach. He was looking for corroboration but I told him I didn't have any."
The Greenberg quote was the linchpin of the entire article - the necessary missing piece Max needed to make his circumstantial case blaming Israel for US police actions at Occupy protests - and Blumenthal just made it up.


Blumenthal has written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Independent and other major news sites. They should definitely think twice before accepting anything from him again.

And, of course, Al Akhbar should fire him according to their own editorial policies which demand "high standards of factual accuracy, source accountability, and proper accreditation."

UPDATE: Mother Jones also spoke to Greenberg who similarly denied having said that. The article finds other mischaracterizations in the Blumenthal piece.

Blumenthal, meanwhile, stands by his quote of Greenberg, even after her denial. He assumes that the mighty Zionist forces have forced her to retract, I guess by threatening Israeli torture techniques.

Blumenthal claims that the Greenberg quote was peripheral to his piece. Of course, that is not true. No one denies that Israelis have been training a number of police departments in the US in counter-terrorism techniques; that is well known. Blumenthal's most sensational accusation was that Israel taught US police torture techniques - based on the fabricated quote from Karen Greenberg - and his broad implication, with zero proof, that local US cops were using methods they learned from Israel in the crackdown on the "occupy" protesters.

Even in the unlikely case that Blumenthal quoted her correctly, it is clearly out of context and her denial carries far more weight than Blumenthal's original quote. The fact that he refuses to correct it, or even to modify it to include her clarifying remarks, shows how unimportant the truth is to Blumenthal. He had a great quote and he will stand by it, even if he has no proof of it.

He also implies that Urban Shield is where Israelis teach their techniques to the police. But according to their website, it is where Israelis are learning their techniques - along with teams from Bahrain, Jordan, Singapore, Canada, Croatia, Qatar and the UAE.

  • Wednesday, December 07, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From PCHR:
The Ministry of Health in Ramallah issued a decision decreasing transfers of patients to Israeli hospitals starting from 02 November 2011, and the Department of External Treatment in Gaza has been committed to this decision. The decision is attributed, according to sources of the Ministry, to the high costs of treatment in Israeli hospitals. These sources pointed out that this decision had been studied and discussed in the Ministry of Health for years, but it was delayed due the need of some patients, especially those suffering from serious or incurable diseases in need of treatment in advanced health facilities, and because Israeli hospitals are closer to the Gaza Strip than Egypt and Jordan.

This decision has led to stopping dozens of transfers of patients who suffer from serious diseases, 90% of them cancer patients, whose treatment is not available in the Gaza Strip. It has also endangered the lives of dozens of patients who are in critical conditions and whose transfer to Egyptian hospitals is not possible due to the long distance. Furthermore, not all medical treatment for their diseases is available in hospitals in Jerusalem or the West Bank. Two children died as they urgently needed advanced medical treatment, but the Ministry of Health transferred them to hospitals that cannot treat their diseases. Those hospitals apologized for not admitting them, and the Ministry of Health did not transfer them to Israeli Hospitals.
The PA manages to find money to pay families of terrorist "martyrs" and prisoners, and for TV shows filled with incitement against Jews and Israel, but money for patients with life-threatening diseases just dries up.

Although PCHR doesn't say this, there is very possibly another reason why the Palestinian Authority doesn't want patients in Israeli hospitals: because it provides good PR for Israel, and that is anathema.

Arab leaders - including the current PA leaders - have been treating Palestinian Arabs as stateless pawns for years just to make Israel look bad. Why would it surprise anyone that they might choose to let a few of their people die to avoid having their lives saved by the hated Zionists?

(h/t David G)
  • Wednesday, December 07, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Bikya Masr:
An Islamic cleric residing in Europe said that women should not be close to bananas or cucumbers, in order to avoid any “sexual thoughts.”

The unnamed sheikh, who was featured in an article on el-Senousa news, was quoted saying that if women wish to eat these food items, a third party, preferably a male related to them such as their a father or husband, should cut the items into small pieces and serve.
He said that these fruits and vegetables “resemble the male penis” and hence could arouse women or “make them think of sex.”

He also added carrots and zucchini to the list of forbidden foods for women.

The sheikh was asked how to “control” women when they are out shopping for groceries and if holding these items at the market would be bad for them. The cleric answered saying this matter is between them and God.

Answering another question about what to do if women in the family like these foods, the sheikh advised the interviewer to take the food and cut it for them in a hidden place so they cannot see it.

The opinion has stirred a storm of irony and denouncement among Muslims online, with hundreds of comments mocking the cleric.

One reader said that these religious “leaders” give Islam “a bad name” and another commented said that he is a “retarded” person and he must quit his post immediately.
No word on whether men may touch cantaloupes or watermelons.

Then again, perhaps Muslim  men shouldn't be handling guns either.

(h/t DoZ)

UPDATE: Some have been doubting the story, saying they couldn't find the original Arabic news story. Bikya Masr updated the post with the link to As Sawsana where the article was. The cleric is still unnamed, so it is still a little dubious, but it is funny.
  • Wednesday, December 07, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From YNet:
Israeli aircraft attacked terror cells in two separate locations in north Gaza overnight Wednesday. Palestinian sources said one of the cells, which belonged to Islamic Jihad's armed wing, was holed up in a building in Gaza City's Zeitun neighborhood, not far from the border fence separating Israel from the Hamas-ruled territory.

According to the sources, one cell member was killed and two others were wounded – one of them seriously – in the strike.

The IDF Spokesperson's Office said the terror cells were preparing to launch rockets towards Israeli army forces. The office said IDF forces who took part in the strike identified hits and thwarted the rocket fire.
In case you were worried that the victim was an innocent civilian, the Islamic Jihad newspaper Palestine Today helpfully provides us with a photo and video of the dead man, Aeraar Ismail, 22:


The EXIF information for the photo shows it was created by a Nikon D90 DSLR camera. Sounds like the impoverished terrorists in Gaza spare no expense for good camera equipment.

And it looks like the dead man is indeed him:


Here's the video, hilariously looped:



According to the YouTube caption, this video was taken in the former Jewish community of Nahal Oz.
  • Wednesday, December 07, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
This morning, ABC will air an exclusive interview with Bashir Assad.

Syria allowed Barbara Walters to interview the dictator.

Why Walters? Because she already has a Vogue-ish track record. And she is the go-to interviewer to help celebrities rehabilitate their reputations, since she will never embarrass her guests.

For example, in March, Walters gushed about how great the Assads are on her TV show The View:



According to YNet, in this interview Assad tries to duck responsibility for the thousands of murders committed in recent months by the Syrian security forces:
Syrian President Bashar Assad has denied responsibility for the killing of thousands of anti-government protesters. In an interview with ABC News, to be aired Wednesday, Assad said he does not control the forces implementing his country's brutal crackdown.

During the interview, the Syrian ruler said that although he is president he does not “own the country, so they're not my forces.”

In his first interview with an American news outlet since the violent crackdown began in March, Assad said there was “a big difference” between having “a policy to crack down and having mistakes committed by some officials.”
There's a leader for you - blaming his army and saying that he cannot control them.

Maybe Syria hired a PR firm for this interview as well. The timing of Walters' March interview was suspiciously close to the infamous Vogue article, which makes one wonder whether a paid PR firm got ABC News to create a puff piece for the ruthless dictator last spring - and whether ABC is doing the same today.
  • Wednesday, December 07, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Eric Trager at TNR:

At one of my polling place visits, a van full of women that had been brought to vote for Nour called me over to extol the Nour Party’s virtues. “They are good people and serve the community,” said Nour al-Hoda Desouki, excitedly holding a Nour party sample ballot. “We are a conservative people but we’ll talk to you.” But her good deed couldn’t go unpunished. A Nour representative swiftly approached my translator and told us to stop talking to women.

Still, I humored the Salafists. If they were truly “open to anything,” would they support allowing Egyptian hotels to continue serving alcohol to tourists? “In my opinion, no,” said Mehdi, the Nour activist handing out party programs by the polling station. “Because it’s forbidden.”

“But the people who drink aren’t Muslims,” my translator, himself a committed Muslim, interjected.

“They have to respect the country,” Mehdi replied. “Like in Germany, people respect the country and have to speak German. You have to respect the country you’re in, even if you disagree.”

Well, what would be your policy towards Christians? Would you force them to pay the jizya – the special tax that Muslim rulers historically imposed on non-Muslim minorities to pay for Islamic wars? “They already pay it through their taxes,” Sherif, another local Nour coordinator, said. “Each society has its own revenue sources—in Islam, it’s zakat for Muslims and jizya for non-Muslims. Even they have to serve in the community, whether they’re Christians or Jews. They pay jizya because we offer security.”

Finally, I turned to foreign policy. What is your view of Camp David, I asked. “I heard about Camp David when I was a kid and I heard from people and our scholars that it is unjust for us,” Sherif said. “But I never read it. I don’t want war with Israel. So Israel must leave the part that it took from me.” Which part? “Israel should withdraw from all of Palestine—not just the West Bank or Gaza.” I gave him a confused look. “I never denied that some Jews lived there before.” On that note, I said goodbye.

As we headed back to the cab, our driver—who had sat in for that last part—nodded approvingly. “They’re really good people,” he said. Though he’s not an Islamist himself, he had voted for Nour earlier in the week. Why? “They’re honest.”
Translating Jihad quotes El Fagr:
A candidate for the salafi Nour Party, Ahmad 'Umran, expressed his surprise at being asked, "Who are you, and what is your role in politics?" He responded by saying, "They act as if we came from Mars and just landed here."

He added, "The Copts should not forget that we were the ones who freed them from the hands of the Romans, and that jizya is only half a dinar, which is taken from the rich and given to their poor." This came during the Friday sermon at the Mosque of the Court in the city center of Abnub.

(h/t Anna Ekstrom, jzaik)

  • Wednesday, December 07, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
Palestine Today reports that car dealers in Gaza are suffering - because they have too many cars available.

Between the dozens of cars that enter via Kerem Shalom each week and the cars that arrive through the smuggling tunnels, the profit margins are plummeting. In some cases they have had to reduce car prices by as much as $8000.

Car dealers are also complaining that the PA imposes a 50% tax on all cars imported to the territories, further squeezing dealer margins.

Hamas had imposed an additional 25% tariff but that was suspended after an outcry from the dealers who refused to take delivery last summer.

Life in the Gaza open-air prison keeps getting more desperate. I think they need a couple more flotillas.

(h/t CHA)

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

  • Tuesday, December 06, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
The Italo-Turkish war was fought from September 1911 through October 1912 in what is now Libya.

The American Jewish Yearbook roundup of the year's events has a number of entries that shows that the Jews of Palestine solidly supported the Ottoman war effort.

October 15, 1911:


The Anglo-Palestine Bank is the forerunner of the current Bank Leumi.

November 11 and 13:


December 1:


And here is the really interesting entry, from December 8, 1911:


That's right - the very first Magen David Adom was organized for the purpose of helping mostly Muslim soldiers! (There were some Jewish soldiers in the Ottoman army, and in March the first Jewish officer graduated from the Imperial Military Academy.)


The MDA website says that the first Magen Dovid Adom was set up in 1918 in order to help soldiers of the Jewish Legion and was disbanded after the war. But apparently the first organization to use that name was set up seven years earlier.


While on the subject of the Yearbook, the September 23rd entry is notable:


Also, Arabs killed three Jews and wounded seven on February 3. 1912, showing once again that Arabs attacked Jews way before the fatal events of 1920, 1921 and 1929.
  • Tuesday, December 06, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
Swedish public radio's correspondent in the Middle East, Cecilia Uddén, did some heavy-hitting investigative journalism to get to the bottom of what the newsly powerful Salafists in Egypt think.

She spoke to one of their female spokespersons, Sarry Gamal Ahmed. Ahmed complained that the West only concentrates on Islamic punishments like cutting off hands for theft.

She emphasized that the most important thing is not to cram Sharia down Egyptians' throats. Maybe in five year they will be ready for it, but not now.

Of course, Ahmed added, the Salafists support stoning for adultery.

The reporter was so impressed with what she heard that she posed with her newfound friends Ahmed and her friend Lamia Selim:


And that is the photo on the website illustrating the story.

This is journalism? 

(By the way, the newspaper did not identify which young woman was Sarry Ahmed and which was Lamia Selim. I wonder why?) 



Robinson's Arch
A couple of weeks ago, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced an astonishing find of coins underneath the paved street near Robinson's Arch that showed that parts of the western supporting walls of the Temple Mount has been built after Herod's death. I noted at the time that the Palestinian Arabic press was saying that this was somehow proof that there was no Temple there.

Now, a hastily-convened pseudo-scientific press conference has made this Temple denial official.

A Palestinian Arab academic named Jamal Amr said that the discovery has caused much frustration to Zionist archaeologists and blew up their claims about the "legend of the temple." This distinguished expert then went on to claim that all the discoveries that have been found in the city of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount came from the Arab and Islamic Umayyad and Abbasid periods up to the Ottoman period!

I'm not sure, but he might be saying that the Herodian Temple was built hundreds of years later.

Dr. Amr seems to be a professor at Bir Zeit University. As far as I can tell, he has no specific expertise in archaeology - but rather in architecture.

But when you want to dig up an pretend archaeology expert, he's the man!

Note that no Israeli media outlet expressed any misgivings about the discovery. It is well known that Herod didn't build the Second Temple but rather he expanded it some five centuries after it was built. Temple rituals were not stopped during the construction. In no way does the discovery of the coins contradict the existence of the Temple - which has lots of archaeological evidence, and more discovered every few months.



  • Tuesday, December 06, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
A funny Aish Chanukah video...too good to wait:



(h/t Yerushalimey)

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