Sunday, March 25, 2012

From PCHR:

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 21:00 on Thursday, 22 March 2012, K. K., 22, from Khan Yunis refugee camp, was admitted into Nasser Hospital in a very critical condition because of having had a poisonous material, allegedly when she attempted suicide. She was placed in the intensive care unit and her condition relatively improved. At approximately 01:30 on Friday, 23 March 2012, a relative of her arrived at the intensive care unit. The doctor on duty informed him that her condition improved. The relative pointed a pistol attempting to kill her. When the doctor and a nurse attempted to stop him, he threatened to shoot them. Soon after, he shot the woman in the head, and she immediately died. The murderer turned himself in to the police.

According to police sources, the suspect and one of the victim’s brothers, have been detained, and investigations are ongoing.
There is a backstory here, but chances are no one will ever find out what it is.
From Ha'aretz:
Donations by U.S. Jews to Israeli nonprofits have doubled during the past 12 years, according to a first-of-its-kind study conducted by professors at Brandeis University.

The study, scheduled to be completed in late April, disproves the widely held view by many Israelis that philanthropic donations from the United States have dropped over time due to economic and political reasons. In fact, the study - previewed last week during a hearing by the Knesset Subcommittee for the Relations of Israel with World Jewish Communities - suggests quite the opposite.

In 2007, various Israeli organizations received $2.1 billion from U.S. donors through the Jewish Agency and various "friendship" associations, according to findings by professors Theodore Sasson and Eric Fleisch, of the Cohen Center of Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. This is double what U.S. donors contributed 12 years earlier, when only $1.08 billion was raised in the United States for Israeli organizations.

"Most of the income of the leading organizations in Israel increased also when adjusted for inflation," Professor Sasson said in an interview with Haaretz. There has also been an increase in the number of U.S. organizations supporting Israel, he said, with the emergence of some 150 new pro-Israel groups in the United States in the 1990s, and some 280 emerging during the past decade.

While the research indicates that there was a 10-25 percent drop in donations during 2008 and 2009 - during the period of severe economic crisis in the United States - it suggests there was a substantial rise in donations in 2010, when the crisis began to subside.

Because of a drop in contributions to the Jewish Agency in recent years, "It was thought that Jews care less about Israel, but the situation suggests that U.S. Jewry is deeply committed to Israel," he said.
One of Peter Beinart's major points is that US Jews are not as engaged with Israel as they used to be, especially young people. The proliferation of pro-Israel groups in America suggests the opposite.

Incongruously, Ha'aretz writes:
Sasson says the main reason for the increase in contributions is not necessarily linked with a rise in Zionism, but to the increase in the number of donor collectors and their improved professionalism over the years.
You can almost imagine how the Ha'aretz reporter asked that question in order to elicit that answer. While it is possible that professionalism increased the amount of donations, all charities in the US have become more professional at the same time. Unless one can prove that the amount given in donations doubled across the board, it is hard to interpret this in any way besides saying that American Jews are more engaged with, and emotionally connected with, Israel than they were in the past - the exact opposite of the conventional wisdom.
  • Sunday, March 25, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Al Arabiya:
Salafist candidate for Egypt’s presidential election, Sheikh Hazim Salah Abu Ismail, has spoken against the practice of taking taxes from casinos and night clubs and shown his support for art and cinema at a time when fears loom of Islamists suppressing the arts if they come to power.

Israel has banned taxing gambling because it is against Judaism, while Egypt makes money from belly dancers entertaining drunk men,” Abu Ismail told Al Arabiya.

Ismail said if he wins the presidency, he will make economic leaps without resorting to such tactics, adding that he will use Israel as an example.

“I have seen cities in the United States where its people try to raise money to buy casinos which they convert to other businesses in a bid to keep their cities gambling-free and to make Las Vegas as the only American city for such activities to occur,” he said, adding “conservative Americans do not accept such activities in their cities.”

“If we want to just go after money, then we should allow prostitution, right?” he said. “We should honor Egyptians’ dignity… no Egyptian should be humiliated, and this won’t make the country poor but it will increase its income, and God is above all.”

Tourism in Egypt in considered to be one of the most important sectors to the country’s economy. The sector also employs about 12 percent of Egypt’s workforce.

Early indications show that Ismail is a serious contender for the upcoming elections which has over 100 people vying for the presidency.
Israel has no casinos, although there are four casino cruise ships based in Eilat. I don't know their tax status.

And, of course, there are many places in America that one can legally gamble, not just Las Vegas.

Given that there are so many presidential candidates in Egypt, a Salafist candidate can easily win if the other parties split their votes across several candidates. And Ismail has appealed to Copts and others for being relatively moderate, for an Islamist.
  • Sunday, March 25, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
GANSO released its report for the first half of the month, which includes most of the rocket fire and Israeli airstrikes from earlier this month. Here are some highlights:

  • 16 of the Qassams fell short or exploded prematurely. 
  • 4 rockets from Gaza fell on and damaged homes in Gaza. 2 were injured.
  • There was an increase in rockets being fired from urban, civilian areas compared to previous flare-ups.
  • The increased number of Grads means that they can be fired from areas of Gaza that had not seen rocket launches before.
  • They counted 105 Grads, 152 Qassam-type rockets, and 42 mortars being shot from Gaza. They also counted 50 Israeli airstrikes.
  • "A number of the Grads were fired from in and around Gaza City itself, including the Rimal and beachfront areas, where many NGOs have offices and residences."
  • "3 civilians were killed, including 1 child, as a result of bullets fired during funeral processions."

Are any "human rights" organizations commenting on how Gaza terror groups are putting the lives of civilians in danger?
  • Sunday, March 25, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Iran's ABNA:
"Tel Aviv in the Heart of Beirut Arab University (BAU)"; this is how a "saiddatv.tv report" commenced. The report added that the news is not a joke, but it "gives BAU students an opportunity to work in the Zionist entity's capital Tel Aviv."

On this level, the video report indicated that "by the university principal's office, and on all floors of all faculties, a colorful poster is hung, listing the names of many capitals including Prague, New York, Geneva, Singapore, Moscow, and Tel Aviv."

This poster calls on students to apply for jobs in the Zionist entity, which was established on the ruins of Palestine and the displacements of its people, the report added.

"The university's students resented the poster, saying that their university was established by former Egyptian Leader Jamal Abdel Nasser, who refused to negotiate, hold peace, or acknowledge [the existence of] "Israel"," the saidatv.tv report asserted.

Also, the report iterated that the BAU violated the law to boycott "Israel", although it was one of the victims of the "Israeli" invasion of Beirut in 1982.

"However, has the BAU become a center for normalization in light of the political tremors in Egypt?" the report further wondered.
Here's the video, from Lebanese Saida TV, complete with footage of Israeli jets attacking Lebanon during wartime:



You can see that this poster is for the Bloomberg Assessment Test, a standardized test meant to measure students' knowledge and aptitude in finance. Here's the full poster:



It is obviously not calling on students to work in Tel Aviv; it is recommending that they take the BAT and therefore have all their options open because employers presumably will value a high test score.

But mere facts won't stop idiotic anti-Israel bigotry.

So all we can do is laugh at it.
  • Sunday, March 25, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
This morning the power plant in Gaza shut down after the Friday fuel shipment from Israel ran out. THere seem to be no plans to ask Israel to keep shipping the fuel, even though the IDF expedited the shipment on Friday, a day that Kerem Shalom is normally closed.

The PA sent a delegation to Egypt to help solve the crisis, but Hamas reportedly boycotted the meeting.

For its part, Hamas says that Egypt has plenty of fuel and is not suffering a shortage, and its media quotes an Egyptian official as claiming that someone is spilling fuel into the desert to create an artificial crisis to overthrow the state.

An agreement has apparently been made to have Egypt ship natural gas to Gaza to power the electric plant, a scheme that would take six months.

OCHA published a map of the electricity situation in Gaza. I didn't realize that Israel is supplying electricity to the area over 12 separate feeders distributed throughout the sector.


  • Sunday, March 25, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
Which sounds more likely?

From Ma'an:

A Palestinian man was shot and injured Saturday during clashes with Israeli settlers who attacked his village in the central West Bank, medical officials said.

Hassan Muatan, 40, was shot in the abdomen after armed settlers stormed the Burqa village east of Ramallah and attempted to vandalize property, witnesses said.

Muatan was evacuated to the Palestine Medical Compound. His wounds were described as moderate.

According to residents of the village, locals confronted the settlers who then opened fire. Security forces also intervened and themselves fired at the villagers, they said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said the army was aware of the incident but uninvolved.
From Arutz-7:
A Palestinian Authority attack on Samaria Jews ended with a PA man’s injury on the Sabbath. The incident took place between the Jewish village of Givat Assaf and the PA town of Kfar Burqa, both in the Binyamin region.

A group of Jews from Givat Assaf were walking in the hills near their town when they were attacked by PA Arabs from Burqa. The PA group lobbed heavy stones at the Jewish hikers.

One of the men from Givat Assaf responded by pulling out his gun and shooting an attacker. The man later told police that he had felt his life was in danger.

The PA man he hit was lightly wounded. He was treated in a PA hospital in Ramallah.

Police and IDF soldiers arrived at the scene and separated the two groups. The incident is under investigation.
Given that religious Jews are unlikely to go out of their way to vandalize property on the Sabbath, the very small possibility that the IDF would open fire in a situation like that, and the notorious unreliability of Palestinian "eyewitnesses,"  the Arutz-7 version of the story seems to be closer to the truth.

Walla seems to confirm the Arutz-7 version of the story - nothing about vandalism, nothing about the IDF shooting, both of which seem highly unlikely. But it says that the shooter, a 19 year old, was detained by police.


Saturday, March 24, 2012

  • Saturday, March 24, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Ya Libnan quoting SANA:
Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour stressed that Lebanon distances itself from decisions taken by the Arab league against Syria because they pose a threat to its stability and security. He said “the relationship between Lebanon and Syria is very special and unmatchable in the world and we can’t take any hostile or biased attitude [towards Syria]“.

The Lebanese Minister said in an interview with Lebanese As-Safir Newspaper published on Saturday that the Syrian crisis will not be solved through the military solution or violence, pointing out to “the importance of abstaining from imposing economic sanctions if we want to help Syria implement reforms because such sanctions cause sufferings to the Syrians”, he added.

The Lebanese FM stressed that Lebanon will never participate in the so-called “Friends of Syria” conference which is to be held in Istanbul next month, highlighting that Lebanon will not recognize this council. It recognizes of the Syrian state and Lebanon is tied with the Syrian state through distinguished historical relations, being a brotherly state, adding “we do not abandon the brotherly country and we should help it get out of the crisis.”

In other Lebanon news, a safe has been discovered that some people think belonged to Arafat:
A safe believed to belong to late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was found in southern Lebanon on Saturday, a Lebanese TV channel reported.

The locked container was discovered by a Lebanese man near the site of a former Fatah military base when Arafat lived in the country, Al-Jadeed TV said.

The one-meter wide, 2-meter long safe weighs seven and a half tons, and was transferred from the site in Al-Raml Al-Ali for inspection by a security committee with representatives from Hizbullah and Amal movements, the TV report said.

Spokesman of the Palestinian embassy in Beirut Hassan Ashanina told Ma'an the discovery was not near Arafat's former residence, and questioned the media linking the safe to the late leader and president.

Lebanese authorities will issue a statement on Monday regarding the safe, he added.
  • Saturday, March 24, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
Ma'an reports;

People in the Gaza Strip mostly blame the Hamas government for the ongoing fuel crisis in the coastal enclave, according to a poll released on Saturday.

In Gaza, 48 percent hold Hamas responsible for the cutoff in fuel supplies that plunged the strip into widespread blackouts, the study by the Arab World for Research & Development said.

Just 21 percent charge Israel with responsibility, the PA at 12 percent, and the government of Egypt at 10 percent, according to the poll.
The poll was taken two weeks ago, so the numbers of Gazans who blame Hamas probably have gone up significantly since then.

Hamas is meanwhile rejects the idea of fuel being pumped from Israel, which started on Friday with PA help. They say that the reason is because they are protecting Gaza consumers from paying too much for fuel. No news on the black-market price of fuel in Gaza today.

YNet has something interesting:
Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip have instructed gas station owners to stop selling petrol and diesel fuel in order to enrage the local Palestinians and encourage them to riot against the Egyptian government. The terror organization wishes to pressure Egypt to supply Gaza with fuel without preconditions, reported Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper on Saturday.

Hamas officials, such as Mahmoud Askoul, Palestinian Authority's Secretary General, and Yossef Raska, advisor to Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh, have publically criticized Egypt for besieging the Gaza Strip and intentionally preventing the transfer of fuel and diesel oil, in order to bring Hamas' leadership to its knees.

Sources stated that Hamas' long-term goal is to solely relay on fuel and commodities from Egypt. The same sources claimed Egypt recently informed Hamas' leaders and the Palestinian Energy Authority that Israel has denied any intent to hinder its fuel supply to Gaza. The Egyptians have made it clear that any fuel shipments will only pass though Israel's crossings, but Hamas insists on receiving their supplies only through Rafah crossing.

Egyptian officials have tried time and time again to convince the Hamas government that Israel is obligated by international law to supply Gaza with fuel, but the terror group keeps insisting on dismissing Israel from such commitments.

Some 450,000 liters of diesel fuel was transferred on Friday from Israel to Gaza. The fuel which was purchased from Dor Alon and which is designated for Gaza's private sector was ordered by private companies in Gaza.
I don't know if I believe Al Ahram in the first paragraph; it is close to Egypt's government and it seems to be more of a pushback for Hamas' very real attempts to pressure Egypt - for example, organizing rallies on Friday to protest Egypt's not sending fuel to Gaza directly.

Egypt is hardly in a position to freely provide Hamas with cheap fuel:
Egypt is asking for assistance from certain Arab countries to help ease the fuel crisis it has been facing for over three months now, MENA reported on Saturday.

The state-run news service quoted a high-level military official as saying that Egypt thought of seeking help from Arab countries when the fuel crisis started.

The nationwide gas and fuel crisis has continued in Cairo and other governorates this month, with demand increasing as buyers fear further shortages.

Protesters demanded that the government take action in various governorates, and cars queued for several kilometers outside petrol stations in some regions.

The Islamist-dominated parliament blamed the government for failing to respond to the crisis, saying that such a failure is a reason to remove the cabinet.
It looks like Hamas has badly miscalculated in its creation of, and handling of, the fuel crisis in Gaza. Egypt is not bending on its insistence on fuel coming through Israel and Gazans aren't believing Hamas' lies. Even so, Hamas TV announced that a child died in a hospital when its ventilator shut down, apparently still gambling that Gazans will be angry at Egypt.

(h/t @challahhuakbar)
  • Saturday, March 24, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
The story I broke (thanks to a tip from Gurhan) of a Turkish cosmetics company using video of Hitler to sell shampoo has gotten serious press. It is in The Times of Israel, the Jewish Chronicle, MEMRI, the ADL, YNet Hebrew, Israel's Channel 2 and all over the Turkish press.

The latest from Digital Journal:

In keeping with the adage that there's no such thing as a bad advertisement, an Istanbul ad agency created a truly striking shampoo commercial with the "endorsement" of an historical figure: Adolf Hitler, who was cast as a symbol of virility.
Reaction over the use of an Adolf Hitler speech in a Turkish shampoo commercial grew as Turkey's Jewish Community made an announcement to condemn the act. The TV commercial was prepared for a new "men's shampoo", which claims that the product is effective against dandruff and stimulates growth of hair. Part of a Hitler speech was dubbed where he declares: "If you don't wear women's clothes then don't use a women's shampoo. Now there's a hundred percent men's shampoo Biomen. If you're a man you use Biomen."
The Jewish Community announcement said "We are reminding once more, with emphasis , that it is unacceptable to use, in a commercial and in the name of creating a difference in advertisement, Hitler who represents the perverse mentality that has caused the brutal deaths of millions of people. We are condemning this mentality and stressing once again the necessity of apologising to the public in order to repair the injury inflicted on humanity's conscience."
Turkish media also blasted the commercial and the company that has so far refused to withdraw it, saying it's socially irresponsible and in bad taste. Fatih Cekirge, a columnist, criticised the cosmetics industry for demeaning women and casting Hitler as a symbol of virility. He asked "Who's going to clean up the anger created by this advertisement?" The commercial has been aired on most TV stations across the country.

My YouTube edit of the commercial has 17,000 hits so far.
(UPDATE: Over 67,000 as of 3/26.)

Friday, March 23, 2012

  • Friday, March 23, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
Nutty Syrian conspiracy theory of the day: Soccer star sending secret signals to Syrian smugglers

No Islamists Here: Media Buries Motive on Toulouse by David Gerstman at PJMedia

On the same topic, Removing All Traces of Islamist Terror from Toulouse Shootings at Commentary

Plus, Mohammed Merah in a photo-op with French politicians.

Lebanon's Shi'ite Amal party says it detects Zionist hands in Syrian and Iraqi car bombs. Of course it does.

Some Moroccan MPs are very upset that this weekend's Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly in Rabat will host some Zionists. They say it is "heinous."

Paintballing with Hezbollah. Really.
At the very end of the evening, things take a chilling turn. The Boss walks over and takes Ben’s gun away from him while criticizing his marksmanship. In an exemplary display, the Boss takes careful aim at a rope hanging on the other side of the arena and fires shot after shot, squarely hitting the rope each time while chanting Yahoud (“Jew”) on each pull of the trigger. He seems to think it’s funny, but no one else laughs.

International Incident of the Day

Egypt MP calls for end to women’s right to divorce

And, of course, Israel saving the world again - with a potential cure for pancreatic and prostate cancer.

Have a great weekend and Chodesh Tov!

(h/t @cetypeestfou, @ZNovetsky, @ChallahHuAkbar)
  • Friday, March 23, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
At the same conference that Catherine Ashton made such an idiot of herself, an almost equally stupid statement - but really more of an outright lie - was given by UNRWA Commissioner General Filippo Grandi. UNRWA was the conference organizer.

Our introductory speakers - representing their governments and institutions, but also through their own personal commitment - are an impressive cross section of all those who support Palestine refugees, and are thus UNRWA’s key stakeholders: the European Union, our largest collective donor; the Government of Belgium, whose support to Palestine refugees dates back to 1949; the Government of Jordan, host to the largest single Palestine refugee population; the League of Arab States, the refugees’ main global and regional ally and advocate; and Foreign Minister Malki of the Palestinian Authority, who will speak today on behalf of President Abbas. The Palestinian Liberation Organization, I remind you, is UNRWA’s key partner and counterpart in its role of representing all Palestinians and through its efforts to find a solution to the question of refugees.

UNRWA has not done a single thing to help find a solution to the "refugees" since they really were refugees, in the mid 1950s. Since then UNRWA has gone from being part of the solution into being part of the problem. While in the early 1950s, they tried to build works projects to rehabilitate the refugees and allow them to ease into the economies of their host countries, the completely gave up on that part of their mandate by 1960. Since then they have been following whatever Palestinian Arabs want them to do, mostly because 99% of their employees are Palestinian - who don't want to solve the problem that gives them a livelihood.

One small but telling episode occurred in 1958. On the occasion of United Nations Day, October 24th, UN posters were distributed in all the refugee camps. The posters showed the flags of all the world’s nations – including Israel.

Jordan protested the inclusion of the flag of Israel on these posters. So UNRWA personnel were sent to all the camps to erase Israel’s flag from each and every poster.

And to praise the PLO as wanting to solve the refugee problem is to praise the PLO for wanting to destroy Israel, because that is exactly how they intend to solve the problem - by misreading UNGA 194 as if it means that Israel must accept millions of artificially-defined "refugees." It doesn't.

UNRWA could help solve the problem by putting their definition of "refugee" in line with that of UNHCR. Because then some 80% of the so-called "refugees' would disappear immediately even if you still believe that descendants of refugees are refugees themselves.

But they won't do that - because they don't want to solve the problem at all.
  • Friday, March 23, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
A pretty good one:

  • Friday, March 23, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
An 8,000 word article in The Guardian about legendary football referee Abraham Klein:

Abraham Klein had his hands in his pockets. He was 36 years old and about to referee his first World Cup game. To one side stood Pele, Carlos Alberto, Rivelino and Jairzinho; to the other Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton, Geoff Hurst and Gordon Banks. This was the grandest game, between the favourites Brazil and the holders England; the final before the final. The referee was an unknown Israeli. One report said that appointing him was "like sending a boy scout to Vietnam".

Klein trusted his ability; so did Fifa. But anybody with an anima would have been nervous. He had refereed international games before. Only five of them, though, none anywhere near this stratosphere. This was a football opera, and his hands were trembling like a violin string. It gave a whole new meaning to the pre-match handshake. "I was very nervous," he says. "My hands were shaking, so I put them in my pockets. I did not want the players to see how my hands were moving. Then I took them out and I decided to be strong in my body and in my hand." He met both captains with an unyielding handshake, looked left and right and blew the whistle for the start of the match. His life had just taken an almighty fork in the road.

....Timisoara is often described as the most beautiful city in Romania. A piece in this paper spoke of its "bold, age-worn architecture", "handsome, cracked grandeur" and "wealth of genuinely grand Habsburg buildings". This gallery shows that your retinas could do a lot worse. Yet sometimes beauty is in the mind's eye of the beholder. There is no beauty for Abraham Klein. Timisoara is where he was born and spent his first 13 years, six of them during the second world war. "My memories from that city are so bad that when I was in Romania as a Uefa observer two or three times they ask me if I want to go to Timosara to see my city," he says. "I told them, 'I don't want to go'. What I remember, I don't want to remember again."

Klein eventually escaped Timisoara, one of 500 children who were put on a train to Holland. "My mother was still alive," he says. "Many of my family were killed in Auschwitz, in the concentration camps. My father was lucky that he left Romania in 1937 before the war starts. When the war starts it was impossible to leave the country with my mother. For five years it was very difficult for us. My mother had six sisters; we lived with them and the parents in two rooms. The situation was not the best." It's so far beyond our comprehension that there's no point even trying to empathise.

The article describes the superhuman efforts Klein would use to prepare for his games - learning the local language, scouting the teams, getting newspaper clippings, even mountain climbing to get used to the altitude before a game in Mexico City.
Abraham Klein arrived in Guadalajara in late May 1970. For the next two weeks, he ignored the not inconsiderable temptations of a fascinating city, and concentrated on his usual preparation. "I didn't leave my hotel for two weeks, even for one day, to see the city," he says. "I didn't see the city at all, only the hotel and the stadium. I want to concentrate only on the game. I know that I cannot have a bad game. It was very important for me because I know that, coming from a small country, I have a big responsibility to the Fifa members who appointed me to the game. Later I ask Sir Stanley Rous or Ken Aston (the Fifa president and chairman of the referees' committee, respectively) why they chose me. I was a very young referee with no experience, only five international games. Aston always told me: we trust you, you are honest, you make good impression and you are in good physical condition."

Klein wasn't plucked out of thin air; he was picked because he could cope with thin air. He had shown that during the Mexico Olympics in 1968, and Fifa knew he was fit enough to cope with Mexico's oppressive heat. England's Terry Cooper would lose 12 pounds in the match. For Klein it was squeaky-bum time in more ways than one. He still had the problem of being perceived as the boy scout in 'Nam. The players of Brazil and England did not know who he was. "In the first moment, they look me: 'Who is standing here in the middle of the field?' They knew nothing about me. I try from the first moment to respect the players; I look their eyes. A little later during the game they understood that they must also respect my refereeing."

He controlled the game calmly from the first whistle. It flowed gracefully from end to end, a festival of goodwill and mutual respect, and is still one of the World Cup's iconic contests. "A referee is feeling during the game and after the game, how is he refereeing, how is his performance. If you make a mistake, you alone know immediately. You feel it: you feel it because of the behaviour of the player, you feel it when you watch the coach. I'm not talking about [José] Mourinho; he always protests against the referees. You have some coaches who you respect. If they wave their hands once every 10 years you think about it. But I feel very good in that Brazil/England game."

...The letter cut straight to the point. It was written in 1995 by Ken Aston, the former chairman of the Fifa Referees' Committee, and addressed to Klein.

"Thanks you for your book … It is a great shame that you made a great mistake in your refereeing career. A very serious mistake which you could never recover, and one which everyone connected with the appointment of referees at international level remembered. And what you ask was this great and serious mistake? Simply that you were an Israeli. I must tell you that had I still been chairman of the Fifa Referees' Committee in 1982, you would without any doubt have been carrying the whistle and not the flag. I was happy to have been able to support you throughout your career simply because you deserve such support."
Politics cost Klein the World Cup final in 1978 (and perhaps 1982), a place in the 1974 tournament, and permeated his career. There was, at first, a mistrust of a referee from a small league, although that kind of prejudice was the least of Klein's worries. In 1981, when he went to French Guiana as part of the Fifa Coca-Cola Project, he was originally refused admission because Israelis were not allowed. When the rest of the Fifa party said they would get on the first return flight unless Klein was allowed in, the authorities relented. Far more damagingly, the Munich massacre of 1972, in which members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and killed, meant it was not safe for Klein to go to West Germany for the World Cup two years later.

...Argentina needed to beat Italy to stay in Buenos Aires for the second group stage. In his History of the World Cup, Cris Freddi said that Argentina's "excesses were kept in check by the best referee in the world". Italy won 1-0. "The crowd were very upset. I had no problem with the players; they respect me. The crowd, you know, they pay and when they pay they can tell you whatever they think about you and your mother."

Klein turned down a couple of penalty appeals just before the break, which led to vicious abuse either side of half-time. This time his hands were not in his pockets. He strode off the pitch knowing he had made the right decisions, a proud monument of conviction and moral courage. "When I'm on the pitch, only two things are important to me: being fair to both teams and making my decisions bravely," he told Simon Kuper in Ajax, The Dutch, The War. "I think all referees are fair, but not all of them are brave, probably."

He looked the beast in the eye and did not blink. "There was nothing more impressive in this World Cup," wrote Brian Glanville, "than the way he stood between his linesmen at half-time in the Argentina-Italy game, scorning the banshee whistling of the incensed crowd."

This is not to say Klein was entirely unaffected by the abuse. He is human and he needs not to be hated. "The feeling is very bad," he says of his reaction at half-time. To avert a similar reception, he decided to delay his return on to the field. Instead of leading the players out, he let the Argentina players go first; his return was lost in the hero worship. It was an ingenious and highly successful manoeuvre.

"I felt stronger in the second half because I know all my decisions were correct. I feel very good with this. Even after the game, they told me, 'don't go out, the crowd is waiting for you'. I told them, 'I'm not afraid'. I was never afraid in my career. I know that the crowd will do nothing after the game. I was not afraid to do what a referee must do in the game. There was no problem."
...There is no arrogance, just pride and still, perhaps, a hint of incredulity at this unbelievable life. He does not need the validation of being called the best referee of all time. He gets validation every time he looks in his museum, or every time he flies to a different part of the world and is introduced as the man who refereed England v Brazil in 1970. It's enough to say that Klein was one of the greatest referees of all time. And that he has lived a life like no other.
I don't know much about soccer, but if you are a fan, print it out and read it at your leisure.
(h/t Raanana Gamer)
  • Friday, March 23, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Egypt Independent:

The government is taking steps to completely block internet pornography in Egypt, according to Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology Mohamed Salem.

Salem announced Thursday that the National Telecommunications Regulation Authority will form a committee to lay out the technical methods for the control of adult websites, which he estimated to number in the millions. The censorship was also recently discussed in Parliament.

“Parliament will be represented in the committee. The issue is becoming persistent and worrying to families,” said Salem in a briefing on the sidelines of a conference for people with special needs.
This seems to be in response from a call from both Islamist and liberal MPs last month.

If Egypt can block pornography on a national level, it can block anything it deems offensive. So this is not a morality issue - it is a censorship and freedom issue. It is expensive to install the proper equipment to block portions of the Internet to the entire country, and Egypt is strapped for cash.

Last January, Egypt shut down the Internet altogether for a few days in response to the revolution.

  • Friday, March 23, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
In 2009:
The U.N. Human Rights Council, since its inception in 2006, has called for restrictions on free speech and ignored blatant human rights abuses in a host of countries. It has passed five separate resolutions condemning Israel -- more resolutions than the total number it passed against all of the other 191 U.N. member states combined.

It counts among its members consistent human rights violators as China, Cuba, Egypt, Libya and Saudi Arabia.

And now the United States wants to become one of the organization's 47 members.

The Obama administration claims it can reform the "rights" body from the inside out. In a statement Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said the administration will join the council to help make it more effective as part of President Obama's desire to create a "new era of engagement" with the international community.

"Human rights are an essential element of American global foreign policy," Clinton said. "With others, we will engage in the work of improving the U.N. human rights system to advance the vision of the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights."

Susan Rice that year said that the US would join the HRC to battle "the anti-Israel crap."

So from 2006 to 2009, the UNHRC passed five resolutions condemning Israel. How has it done since the US has chosen to reform it from within?

Last year it passed six anti-Israel resolutions This year it passed five more.

It doesn't look like this administration's plan to reform the UNHRC is working too well, does it?

From CNSNews:
The Obama administration should walk away from the U.N. Human Rights Council, House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) said Thursday after the body adopted a fresh batch of resolutions critical of Israel.
Wrapping up a month-long session in Geneva, the U.N.’s top human rights body passed one resolution condemning North Korea, two condemning Syria – and five condemning Israel. (Another resolution, relating to Burma, contained mildly critical elements.)

“Instead of running for re-election to the council, the U.S. should finally leave that rogues’ gallery and seek credible alternative forums to advance human rights,” Ros-Lehtinen said Thursday, after the HRC adopted the five Israel-related resolutions.

The council remained “as anti-Israel as ever,” she said.

“Any limited, tactical gains made by U.S. engagement at the council are outweighed by the harm done through granting legitimacy to the fundamentally illegitimate body,” Ros-Lehtinen argued. “The fact is that, with or without the U.S., the UNHRC remains dominated by rogue regimes who protect human rights abusers and target free democracies like Israel.”
  • Friday, March 23, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
Ahmed, in his happy place
Hamas' "Brigades of the Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam" announced the death of the young Alqitarawi Ahmed Ali, 24, during a "jihad mission." He was killed Thursday night, and the statement said that his death "came after a great and honorable career in jihad, after hard work and sacrifice and Jihad."

His nom de guerre was "Abu Muslim."

Alas, the announcement didn't give the details of his death - an explosion? Another jihadist shooting him? Hamas killing him because he watched porn?

We can only speculate and hope that many more such shining lights of jihad meet a similar fate in the near future.

(There was an explosion in the al-Maghazi camp yesterday that Israel denied having anything to do with, so that might be related [h/t T34] )
  • Friday, March 23, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
Fuel is now being pumped from Israel to Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing, and it is coming from an Israeli company Dor Alon and being paid for by the PA. This is being done despite strenuous efforts by Hamas over the past six weeks to not accept any fuel that comes via Israel.

Egyptian sources, however, say that the 450,000 liters being pumped today is being provided by Egypt, through Kerem Shalom. COGAT confirms that it is from Dor Alon, though.

Either way, the Gaza fuel crisis was entirely because of Hamas' refusal to accept fuel from Israel.

But now that the fuel is being pumped in exact opposition to the way Hamas tried to get it (via Rafah from Egypt without PA involvement), Hamas is taking full credit.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said "The contacts and meetings between the SPLM and the government continued with Egyptian officials on a daily basis around the clock, On this basis, it has informed us that our brothers the Egyptians will be pumping fuel to run the power plant, already today. Hamas praised the role of government officials, led by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, Dr. Mousa Abu Marzouk, who played a special role with our brothers the Egyptians in this matter, stressing the movement continued efforts to provide a radical solution to the fuel crisis."

Even more cynically, Hamas is arranging for rallies by Gazans this afternoon to protest the fuel crisis, presumably so they direct their anger at the PA, Egypt, Israel or anyone else besides Hamas.

It cannot be stressed enough: Hamas caused this crisis, deliberately, in order to get Egypt to pump fuel through Rafah and to provide cheaper fuel that Hamas could tax and enrich its terror operations. All the suffering that Hamas residents went through was for Hamas political reasons.

There is one other lesson here. As soon as Gazans started being vocal about their displeasure with Hamas, Hamas caved. Even though Hamas pretends to be on the side of the "Arab Spring," the terror organization is just as frightened of a "Gaza Spring" as any Arab country, and Gaza residents have the power to scare the hell out of the Islamist terror dictators that run the Strip.



  • Friday, March 23, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Ma'an:
With shortages of electricity, water, fuel, cooking gas and medicine, a lack of economy and no infrastructure, patience with the Hamas-led government in Gaza is running low.

The chronic fuel shortages have added to the despair of Gaza's 1.6 million people, many of whom blame the government for its failure to resolve the endless crises.

The fuel shortages have had a catastrophic effect on daily life. Gazans are enduring daily power cuts of up to 18 hours, hundreds of factories have shut down and even elevators are not working.

Gas station owners say they cannot obtain even a liter of fuel and people are using cooking oil to drive. Others wait in the streets for transport they are lucky to find. Even three-wheel motorbikes are in demand.

The noisy sound of generators can be heard throughout Gaza, day and night, causing several casualties through fires and by their lethal fumes.

At a press conference Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Mohammad Awad said the crisis was politically motivated by external forces that sought to tighten the siege.

But many Gazans are not satisfied by the government's response, and Hamas' ongoing attempts to blame others for the crisis have only angered people further.

"They only blame the Israeli siege, but what has the government done to solve the problem?" a 32-year-old asked.

"It's the lack of management. It's corruption. If they cannot rule then they should leave office. Sometimes they blame the PA and sometimes the EU and now Egypt," another said.

Sameh, a 23-year-old student, said the government could not expect people's support when it failed to provide for its citizens.

"How do they expect the people's support when they are not providing us with means of steadfastness under Israeli occupation and siege in Gaza?"

"People are not asking for surrender under the siege that is a form of collective punishment but again people's fate is with the hands of the government," said Abu Nidal, an unemployed man.

A recent graduate, also unemployed, said: "Life is unbearable in Gaza. Patience has run out."

"For God's sake, they should know that the people are the source of power and authority. People are not happy under the bad circumstances we are going through, so they should do something or step aside and let someone else rule," said a taxi driver who could not find gas.

A 52-year-old restaurant owner who was forced to close his business said Hamas had disappointed voters who hoped the party would bring reform.

"A lot of Fatah supporters voted for Hamas for reform and change but after six years in power, what happens? Tunnel owners including some Hamas members have became very rich, prices of land and apartments and cars have skyrocketed and they even impose taxes and want to share everything we have."

Discrimination against non-Hamas supporters has reached an unprecedented level, as anyone outside the party finds when applying for a government job, and aid sent to the Palestinian people through convoys is not fairly distributed.
Supposedly, fuel was scheduled go to Gaza Friday through Kerem Shalom:
Nathmi Mhanna, a Palestinian Authority border official, said Thursday that 450,000 liters of Israeli diesel would be pumped through the Kerem Shalom crossing on Friday.

The fuel will be used to power the sole electricity plant, Mhanna told Ma'an.

The official said President Mahmoud Abbas and his prime minister, Salam Fayyad, coordinated with Egypt before deciding to route the fuel through Kerem Shalom to ease the crisis.
But Nathmi Mhanna now says that Israeli fuel companies weren't ready to transfer the fuel so it will be delayed. YNet says it will happen Friday.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

  • Thursday, March 22, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
It is very nice that Salam Fayyad and the PLO issued condemnations of the Toulouse massacre.

But it would mean a lot more if they and other Arabs would show the least bit of regret for the many times Arab terrorists deliberately targeted  Jewish schools themselves.

1970:
The Avivim school bus massacre was a terrorist attack on an Israeli school bus on May 8, 1970 in which 12 Israeli civilians were killed, nine of them children, and 25 were wounded. Two bazooka shells were fired at the bus. Early in the morning, the bus departed from Avivim heading with its passengers to two local schools. This route had been scouted by the militants, believed to have infiltrated from Lebanon, and an ambush was set up. As the bus passed by, ten minutes after leaving Avivim, it was attacked by heavy gunfire from both sides of the road. The driver was amongst those hit in the initial barrage,[3] as were the two other adults on board. The three were killed as the bus crashed into an embankment as the attackers continued firing into the vehicle.

1974:
The first target of the Kiryat Shmona massacre was a school, which was luckily closed for Passover. The terrorists went for plan B, killing 18 people at a nearby building.

The Ma'alot massacre was a terrorist attack which included a two-day hostage-taking of 115 people which ended in the deaths of over 25 hostages. It began when three armed Palestinian terrorists of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine[2] entered Israel from Lebanon. Soon afterwards they attacked a van, killing two Israeli Arab women and entered an apartment building in the town of Ma'alot, where they killed a couple and their four-year-old son.[3] From there, they headed for the Netiv Meir elementary school, where they took more than 115 people (including 105 children) hostage on 15 May 1974, in Ma'alot. The hostage-takers soon issued demands for the release of 23 Palestinian militants from Israeli prisons, or else they would kill the students. On the second day of the standoff, a unit of the Golani Brigade stormed the building. During the takeover, the hostage-takers killed the children with grenades and automatic weapons. Ultimately, 25 hostages, including 22 children, were killed and 68 more were injured.

1997:
The Island of Peace massacre was a mass murder attack that occurred at the Island of Peace site in Naharayim on March 13, 1997 in which a Jordanian soldier opened fire at a large group of Israeli schoolgirls from the AMIT Fuerst School in Beit Shemesh who were on a class field trip, killing seven of them and injuring six others. (Jordan's King Hussein did apologize for this massacre, begging for forgiveness in person from the victims' families. This is in stark contrast with all the Palestinian Arab attacks listed here.)

2002:
The Yeshivat Beit Yisrael massacre was a suicide bombing which occurred on 2 March 2002 at the entrance of the ultra-Orthodox Yeshiva "Beit Yisrael" located in downtown Jerusalem. Eleven Israeli civilians were killed in the attack, including two infants and three children. Fatah claimed responsibility.
May 28: Three high school students were killed and two others wounded in a school in Itamar when a Palestinian gunman opened fire, before he was shot dead by a security guard. Fatah claimed responsibility.
5 students were killed and 23 people were injured, four seriously, when a Palestinian gunman penetrated a highschool that combines religious studies and military training in the Gush Katif settlement of Atzmona on March 7. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

2008:
The Mercaz HaRav massacre, also called the Mercaz HaRav shooting, was an attack that occurred on 6 March 2008, in which a lone Palestinian gunman shot multiple students at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva, a religious school in Jerusalem, Israel, after which the gunman himself was shot dead. Eight students and the perpetrator were killed. Eleven more were wounded, five of them placed in serious to critical condition. The massacre was praised by Hamas and, according to a subsequent poll, was supported by 84 percent of the Palestinian population.
Two terrorists entered the Mekor Hayim High School Yeshiva in Kfar Etzion, south of Jerusalem, and stabbed two students. The terrorists were killed by two of the counselors in the room. The Izaddin al-Kassam's Martyrs Brigades, the Hamas military wing, claimed responsibility for the attack.

2011:
The Hamas school bus attack was a 7 April 2011 incident in which Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a Kornet laser-guided anti-tank missile over the border at an Israeli school bus. Hamas militants claimed responsibility. The missile hit the bus after all but one of the children had been dropped off at the kibbutz where they lived, and the bus had traveled just 50 metres beyond its that last stop there.[6] The only remaining passenger, a 16-year-old boy named Daniel Viflic, was critically injured with shrapnel wounds to the head and died from his injuries on 17 April.

And I am not even counting other attacks deliberately aimed at children (such as the Bat Mitzvah suicide bomb, the Misgav Am hostage crisis, or the attack on an ice cream shop in Petah Tikva)  nor the many rockets that "happened" to hit schools (a 4 year old was killed in a 2004 Qassam attack that hit near a nursery.) Nor the attacks on colleges and yeshivas that hosted students over 18 like the 2002 Hebrew University massacre or the 1929 Hebron riots, both of which included many American student victims.

So, to Fayyad and other Palestinian Arab leaders who condemned a man targeting children at a Jewish school - let's hear you apologize for these incidents. Only then can anyone believe that your condemnations now are anything more than window dressing.

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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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