Tuesday, December 30, 2014

  • Tuesday, December 30, 2014
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Gulf News:
Foreigners who practice the Jewish faith are allowed to work in Saudi Arabia, a labour ministry source said.

“The ministry does not mind issuing employment visas to Jews as it deals with nationalities, and not with religions,” the source said, quoted by local daily Al Watan on Tuesday.

“Saudi Arabia does not oppose dealing with any religion and this is clearly demonstrated in the King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue.”

The centre, located in the Austrian capital Vienna, was founded to enable, empower and encourage dialogue among followers of different religions and cultures around the world. It introduces itself on its site as “an independent and autonomous international organisation, free of political or economic influence.”

“For example, if a worker has the Yemeni nationality and the Jewish faith, he is allowed to work in the kingdom because the ministry does not look at religions, but at nationalities,” the source said.

The ministry’s website lists Judaism among the 10 religions whose practitioners can fill in working applications.

Shura Council Member Sadaqa Bin Yahya Fadhel said that the labour ministry’s decision to allow Jewish workers was “correct.”

“We Muslims do not have a problem with Jews or Christians,” he said. Our major issue is with the Zionist Movement which exploits the Jewish faith to promote and serve its own agenda.”

He added the distinction between Jews and Zionists should always be made clear.

“We can deal with anyone from any religion, and the ministry is right as long as it does not deal with Israelis. As a kingdom, we do welcome all religions, but we cannot accept Israelis because they are linked to Zionism, a colonialist movement that uses and takes advantage of the Jewish faith. Judaism has nothing to do with this movement,” he told the Saudi daily.
This story is getting a lot of play in Arabic media.

In 2004, a Saudi tourism website listed the categories of people who could not visit, including Israeli passport holders or those with a passport containing an Israeli stamp; "those who don't abide by the Saudi traditions concerning appearance and behaviours"; "those under the influence of alcohol"; and "Jewish people". That last part was quickly deleted after an outcry.

Joshua Muravchik actually visited Saudi Arabia in 2007, and he wrote that he was Jewish in his visa application. He sneaked in a Jewish prayer book but his luggage was not inspected. People say being caught with any religious items will cause one to be banned on entry.

On the other hand, earlier this year a Jewish American journalist for the Jerusalem Post, who does not hold Israeli citizenship, was denied a visa by Saudi Arabia even after some While House arm-twisting. (Saudi Arabia no longer issues tourist visas.)

It is interesting that this is being publicized now. I wonder if Saudi Arabia is trying to engage in some PR.


  • Tuesday, December 30, 2014
  • Elder of Ziyon
  • ,
Here is a scan of a page from the New York Times Magazine this past weekend, using a Gaza child named Tala Akram al-Atawi ,who was killed over the summer, to symbolize all children killed in war:


From looking at this page, one would get the impression that except for South Sudan, more children were killed in Gaza than in any other conflict this year, and that over 20% of all child deaths - the very large-font  2,500 - were caused by Israel.

When you look a little closer, you see that the Times didn't bother to even estimate the number of children killed in Syria or Pakistan. Which is very interesting, given that this article was published soon after 132 children were brutally murdered in a Pakistan school in a single day. They weren't killed accidentally, not as part of a larger operation: they were targeted for death.

But none of those children merit having the New York Times write about the anguish of their families or their doctors.

The Syria Observatory for Human Rights counted 251 children killed in Syria - in October alone. Another 152 in November. From April through July, over 1000 children were killed. It seems a reasonable estimate of over 2500 children killed in Syria this year alone, making the "2500" graphic a joke. It is well over double that number just including Pakistan and Syria, and publishing even a low estimate would have made the story much more effective - if the goal of the story was to show how widespread children's deaths were.

UPDATE: The SOHR says that 3501 children were killed in Syria alone in 2014. (h/t Conormel)

While the 538 killed in Gaza is probably accurate and may even be high (there were some 17 year olds killed who were voluntary militants,) , the other numbers are ridiculously low. In South Sudan, between 50,000 and 100,000 people were killed this year - so chances are very good that far, far more than 600 children were killed. it is not out of the realm of possibility that closer to 6000 were killed.

In Iraq, some 16,000 civilians were killed this year. Historically, children have been about 9% of the civilian casualties. So it is reasonable to estimate that closer to 1500 children were killed this year in Iraq, instead of "416."

The NYTimes could have provided estimates, or even a low estimate, if the goal was to highlight how horrible the problem of children in war zones is.

It gets worse. Because the NYT only chose certain conflicts to bother to mention. The UN lists over 20 nations that have seen children killed or recruited as soldiers over the past couple of years - as opposed to the NYT's 8 nations.


So why would the New York Times put up this gigantic graphic of the number "2,500" when the actual number of children killed this year from war is probably closer to (and possibly much higher than) 10,000?

Here's a guess.

Anne Barnard had a great, tear-jerker of a story about a Gaza girl. She didn't want to highlight it in the end of year issue without any context because CAMERA would start a letter writing campaign about their anti-Israel bias. So the Times decided to do a half-assed job of pretending that Tala al-Atawi is somehow representative of the children who have been beheaded in Iraq and Syria, raped, and slaughtered in so many other countries.

No one, outside of Hamas and its supporters, is happy that Tala Akram al-Atawi was killed, She was not a target and Israelis don't celebrate her death.. If you are going to write a story about the horrors of war for children, in a world where children are being recruited as soldiers and targeted by crazed Islamists, she is a very poor example.

But if the real goal is to demonize Israel - and to make a half hearted attempt to hide that demonization from behind a flurry of artificially low casualty numbers from other conflicts - then the New York Times succeeded quite well.

(h/t DM and EBoZ)

  • Tuesday, December 30, 2014
  • Elder of Ziyon
Saudi anchor
From Arab News:

The Shoura Council is expected to discuss amendments to the audiovisual law on Tuesday that would impose a mandatory dress code for TV presenters on Saudi-funded private channels, including an abaya and scarf for women news readers and anchors.

Noura Al-Odwan, a woman member of the Shoura, has reportedly convinced the culture and media affairs committee to present the controversial proposal at the consultative council for discussion.

The new move comes a few weeks after Al-Odwan criticized the appearance of some presenters, saying they used too much makeup, drawing flak from the male Shoura members and female anchors.

The proposal demands adding an article on the dress code to the country’s audiovisual media law.

Al-Odwan insisted that the appearance of some female anchors on official channels, where she said they are showing off their beauty, would have a negative impact on the Kingdom’s international reputation.
When the idea was first floated, Saudi women anchors were mixed in their reactions:
Several Saudi female TV anchors have reacted angrily to a recent statement by a Shoura Council member in which she criticized the anchors as being too “extravagant and wearing too much makeup.”

They said Nora Al-Adwan’s criticism is unacceptable and degrades the work these women are doing for their country. “Those who criticize Saudi media only want to put down the accomplishments of Saudi women and destroy the image of our country,” said presenter Afaf Al-Mohsin in response to the remarks.

She added that the colorful, yet modest, jilbabs and abayas worn by them are no different from others as long as they both cover the body and are conservative.

Afrah Jaafar, also a presenter, agreed, arguing that “all the clothing choices made by female Saudi presenters are very modest, since Saudi television represents the country as an Islamic state and so they are keen not to cross any red lines.”

Presenter Arafat Al-Majid said she is in favor of setting uniform standards, such as the abaya, for Saudi presenters, because varied outfits may create jealousy and problems between presenters.

“I agree that some presenters go overboard with the makeup, but there are many others who do not,” she said. “Makeup is required for the camera and lighting.”
In August, a female anchor who went on Saudi TV with her hair uncovered caused a huge backlash which may be what prompted Noura al-Odwan to begin her crusade.

Monday, December 29, 2014

From Ian:

Wiesenthal Center top 10 list: Worst global anti-Semitic/anti-Israel incidents of 2014
The Simon Wiesenthal Center has ranked the 10 worst outbreaks of anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism in 2014. Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the human rights organization, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that this year’s list seeks to show how anti-Semitic “rhetoric at the top has filtered down to average people.”
Hier said the center deliberately chose not to include principal Arab leaders and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan because the ranking system reveals the spread of hate on a grassroots level.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the center’s associate dean, told the Post that Europe dominated the list of incidents of Israel hatred and anti-Semitic violence, with six mentions.
The No. 1 slot went to a doctor in Belgium who refused to provide medical care to a 90-year-old Jewish woman with a fractured rib. He told her son, who had requested the care: “Send her to Gaza for a few hours, then she will get rid of the pain. I’m not coming,” and hung up.
The tale of 2014, told in 14 Times of Israel stories
The year began with hopes that 2014 would see peace talks with the Palestinians bear fruit, lawmakers broker deals to manage the economy, Syria end its civil war, Europe remain a safe place for Jews, the Arab world open up to us and Iran’s nuclear plans get thwarted. A year later, little has been resolved and many new tears have been opened in the fabric of Israeli and Jewish society, not to mention around the world.
Yet even in the darkest times, there was light and there was humanity. Grassroots efforts to spread understanding and heal rifts were ubiquitous, even in unexpected places, like the West Bank junction where three teens were kidnapped or the mourning tent of a Palestinian boy killed in revenge. The deaths of lone soldiers in Gaza brought out the best in tens of thousands, who escorted those they never knew on their final journeys. A Jewish man, in prison for years in Cuba, was freed amid a historic détente.
Through it all, The Times of Israel has attempted to bring a deeper understanding of Israel, the Jewish world and the wider universe to our readers. Looking back, these 14 stories, culled from some 20,000 published over the year, paint a picture of our year, the good, the bad, the parts we’d rather forget and those we will cherish as we move into the maw of 2015’s great unknown.
Alan Dershowitz: A Brandeis student refuses to show sympathy for assassinated policemen – and her critic is attacked
As I watched, with tears in my eyes, the funeral of police officer Rafael Ramos who was ambushed along with fellow officer, Wenjian Liu, in revenge for the deaths of two black young men who were killed by policemen, I could not help thinking of the following horrible words tweeted by a bigoted young woman named Khadijah Lynch, on the day the police officers were murdered in cold blood:
“I have no sympathy for the NYPD officers who were murdered today. IMAO, all I just really don’t have sympathy for the cops who were shot. I hate this racist, f…ing country.”
Khadijah Lynch is a Brandeis University junior who at the time she wrote the tweet was the undergraduate representative in the Brandeis African and Afro-American studies department.
Nor was this her first bigoted tweet. She has apparently described her college as “a social themed institution grounded in Zionism. Word. That a f…ing fanny dooly.” And she cannot understand why “black people have not burned this country down….” She describes herself as “in riot mode. F… this f…ing country.” She has apparently said that she would like to get a gun and has called for an intifada: “Amerikkka needs an intifada. Enough is enough. “ “What the f… even IS ‘non-violence’. “
Ms. Lynch is certainly entitled to express such despicable views- either in public or in private - just as Nazis, Klansmen and other bigots are entitled to express theirs. But when another Brandeis student, named Daniel Mael, decided to post her public tweets on a website, Lynch threatened to sue him for “slander”. Republishing someone’s own published words could not possibly constitute slander, libel or any other form of defamation, because you can’t be slandered, by your own words. You can, of course, be embarrassed, condemned, ostracized or “unfriended” by your own words, as Donald Sterling, the former owner of the LA Clippers, was. But Sterling’s bigoted words were never intended to be public, whereas Lynch’s tweets were publically circulated.

  • Monday, December 29, 2014
  • Elder of Ziyon
The ever hilarious PressTV reports:(video story begins about 1:00)



Saudi Arabia and Western governments have for decades remained silent on the occupation of Saudi islands by Israel, Press TV reports.

Tiran and Sanafir islands, with respective areas of 80 and 33 sq kilometers, are located at the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba, east of the Saudi territory.

They belonged to Saudi Arabia until 1967 when King Faisal gave control of the islands to Egypt to prevent Israel from sending its ships to Eilat station during the Six-Day war. The islands were then occupied by Israel.
Actually, Saudi Arabia gave control of the islands to Egypt in 1949, specifically to allow Egypt to blockade Israel.

Yes, Arab nations hated Israel so much that they would willingly give up their own territory to hurt Israel, just as Syria no longer asserts claims to the Shebaa Farms in order to allow Lebanon to continue to claim that Israel occupies its territory and give Hezbollah pretexts to attack,
Following the war, when Egypt’s Anwar Sadat signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1978, he refused to mention the status of the islands as part of the agreement, saying they belonged to Saudi Arabia. But interestingly, Riyadh has not commented on the status of the islands since.

Some say the islands are just too small for Saudi Arabia to raise a claim on, but some argue that it is not the case as Saudis have fought with Yemen over the control of Hanish Islands that are approximately the same size.

The islands of Tiran and Sanafir are strategically very important as the control over them effectively means the control over the entrance to Gulf of Aqaba and this is Israel’s only way to the Red Sea.
Isn't it heartwarming that Iran cares so much about Saudi Arabia to let them know that they seem to have misplaced some islands?

So what's the truth?

In 1951, Egypt declared that it would allow sea traffic of "friendly countries" through the straits and it would seize "enemy" vessels.

In 1955 Israel announced that it was completing the port of Eilat and that it intended to use the Straits in order to access the Indian Ocean, and it will do whatever is necessary to ensure safe passage. In response, Egypt tightened the rules of who could pass, and gave the sole authority for allowing ships to pass to the - get this - "Regional Boycotting Office for Israel."

During the 1956 Sinai campaign, Israel occupied the islands, and gave control over to UNEF in 1957. Nasser, of course, expelled UNEF in May 1967 and took over the islands again.

Israel did occupy the two islands in 1967 - but they gave control over to the Multinational Force (meant to keep the peace between Israel and Egypt, mostly in the Sinai) in 1982. They control the islands today.

From Global Security:
Observation Post 3-11 is located on Tiran Island, five miles off Sinai's coast in the Gulf of Aqaba. OP 3-11 is manned by U.S. troops who monitor Israeli and Egyptian naval and maritime activities in the strategically vital area where the Gulf meets the Red Sea. Tiran Island now belongs to Saudi Arabia and is leased by Egypt so that the observation post can be operated there. The actual OP is located on the island's western edge, more than 800 feet tip a cliff wall overlooking heavily mined beaches. The island is accessible from the water in a few locations, but the OP's location and the treacherous slopes leading up to it make resupply by any combination of sea and ground transport almost impossible. The OP 3-11 troops therefore rely on the slingload missions flown on Thursday and Sunday mornings by UH-1's of the South Camp Aviation Platoon for their transportation to and from work, as well as for food, water, mail, fuel and just about everything else.

Observation Point 3-11 is about as big as Paradise Shoppette. It contains everything a Soldier needs, plus a few luxuries -- hot showers, full service kitchen and a day room. While on watch, Soldiers worked in three-man teams. The teams consisted of one noncommissioned officer, and two junior enlisted Soldiers. They rotated between three different shifts, pulling the same shift for two days, then rotating to another shift for two days. Once the Soldiers completed the third shift, they had a day off from guard watch.
One of those slingload missions can be seen on YouTube along with a slideshow of the island:



PressTV didn't even think up of this lie on their own. This entire report, including the "Google search" part on the video, was in this 2010 article from the equally unreliable Middle East Monitor.

(h/t Lawrence)


  • Monday, December 29, 2014
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Egypt Independent:
The Alexandria Administrative Court has banned the celebration of the Abu Hasira [Abuhatzeira]  festival saying it violates public orders.

“The Jews have not had any particular impact on the Egyptian civilization. They did not contribute to the human knowledge of history of the civilization,” the court said.

According to the verdict, the court canceled the culture minister's 2001 decision considering the mausoleum, the surrounding Jewish tombs and the hill in the village of Damtu, outside Damanhour, among other Islamic and Coptic monuments.

It also ordered the minister in charge of monuments affairs to remove the mausoleum from Islamic and Coptic monuments records as it does not enjoy all of the archaeological characteristics and informing the UNESCO’s international heritage committee to remove it from the records.

The verdict also rejected the Israeli request to the UNESCO requesting the transfer of the mortal remains to Jerusalem, saying that Islam refuses to dig up the graves and that Jerusalem is occupied by Israel, which means that existence of such mausoleum on the Arab land of Palestine would add legitimacy of the Israel.

The festival, scheduled for 9 to 10 January, is held on the annual anniversary of the death of a 19th-century Jewish rabbi Abu Hasira, who was born in Egypt and traveled to Morocco, according to the Jewish folklore.
So because they respect graves so much they will remove the site from any international cultural protection so the residents of the village, who are overwhelmingly antisemitic, can do what they want to the shrine.

Now, that's respect.

More from Reuters:
The court said its decision was due to "moral offences" committed in previous years at the three-day festival celebrating the birth of Rabbi Jacob Abu Hasira. It did not elaborate on what the offences were.

Jews, mostly from outside Egypt, have congregated every year at the 19th century tomb around Jan. 1 even though the festival was canceled for security reasons after the 2011 uprising that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak.

Monday's ruling would make the ban permanent unless a higher court overturns it on appeal.
What were these "moral offenses?"

Egyptians have been making ludicrous claims about the celebrants for years. For example, in 2008:
[Jews] often start the celebration that get out of hand, where there is an auction for who will enter his tomb first , followed by alcoholic operations spilled over the cemetery, and then the slaughter of sacrifices that are often sheep or pigs, roasting meat, and dancing. Celebrants then hysterically sing Jewish melodies as they become almost naked, and then say some prayers, entreaties and tears to the tomb, burning, beating their heads in the Wailing Wall and asked for their needs, according to witnesses.
In 2011:
A female residents said that the Jews drink alcohol, which is forbidden in Islam, to be blessed as part of their veneration of the rabbi.

"The Jewish visitors usually get drunk and engage in obscene dancing during the celebrations," the woman, who asked not to be identified, said, demanding that the Abu Hasira festival should be cancelled after the revolution and the deposing of Mubarak, whom she dismissed as Israel's friend.
2013:
The Jewish men and women dance together while listening to jazz music.

Afterwards, the tourists make lots of noise and would bring sheep and goats. They slaughter them from the top of the neck, "contrary to Islamic law." (Kosher slaughter is not done that way.)

The meat is eaten together with "all kinds of imported wines next to a cocktail of cigarettes stuffed full of drugs."

The, naturally, the Jews turn off the lights and have an orgy, with sex being freely practiced in the tomb itself.
Those wild Jews!

In 2010, Jews visiting the grave were greeted with signs from local residents, in Hebrew, saying "Death to the Jews." So we know they will treat the shrine with all the respect that they can muster.

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: What the Palestinian Authority Did Not Tell the UN Security Council
Last week, Jordan submitted to the Security Council a Palestinian-drafted resolution calling for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories by the end of 2017 and a peace deal within a year.
But what the Palestinians did not tell the Security Council is that the state they seek to establish is one that does not respect public freedoms, first and foremost freedom of expression.
This would be a state where people are detained and intimidated for using social media to express their views. It will also be a state where the president or any of his senior officials could order the arrest of anyone who dares to speak out against lack of democracy and reforms.
The draft resolution that was submitted to the Security Council fails to mention the fact that the Palestinian Authority is harassing and persecuting political opponents and critics, including Facebook users.
Moreover, the PA does not want the Security Council and the rest of the international community to know that, in the future Palestinian state, female journalists, writers and political activists can be detained for interrogation and threatened because of their work.
Two east Jerusalem brothers indicted for planning terrorist attack in capital
The Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office on Monday filed an indictment against two east Jerusalem brothers for working with Hamas to carry out a major terrorist attack in the capital.
According to the indictment, the brothers, aged 28 and 23, were recruited by a Hamas operative in the Gaza Strip to form a terror cell in Jerusalem to carry out the unspecified attack at a public venue.
While the details of the planned attack and the investigation into it remain unclear, the brothers have been charged with joining a terrorist organization, conspiracy, theft and other offenses.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said security personnel continue to investigate potential accomplices of the suspects.
PA minister legitimizes murdering Israelis
Ali Sa’ada, a terrorist prisoner who murdered a father and his one-year-old baby, was fined 3.5 million shekels by Israel. That fine is “delegitimizing ‎the [Palestinian] national resistance,” says Prisoners’ Affairs Authority Director ‎and PA Parliament Member Issa Karake. According to Karake, who holds the rank of ‎minister, the killing of one-year-old Israelis is legitimate “resistance.”‎
In his capacity as Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs, Issa Karake has a long history of glorifying terrorist murderers, as documented by Palestinian Media Watch.
Karake defines being a victim of Palestinian terror as “being exposed to resistance by Palestinians”:
“[Israeli] courts have been... passing sentences on prisoners that force them to pay large sums in financial compensation to Israelis who have been exposed to resistance by Palestinians.” [WAFA (the official Palestinian news agency), Dec. 16, 2014]

  • Monday, December 29, 2014
  • Elder of Ziyon
Gisha is an Israel-based NGO that calls itself the "legal center for freedom of movement" concentrating on the rights of Gazans and goods to go in and out of Gaza.

While it has a website, a blog and a Twitter account, somehow it missed this widely reported story:
A group of 37 orphans from Gaza Strip were prevented from crossing into Israel Sunday after Hamas backtracked from a deal reached to allow the kids to tour the Jewish state, saying the tour was an attempt to "brainwash" the kids. The indicent took place amid claims of clashes along the border between the IDF and Palestinians.

The group, comprised of children aged 5 to 12 whose fathers were killed in the 50-day summer war between Hamas and Israel, were all ready to go at the border crossing with Israel when Hamas rescinded its initial agreement to the visit.
Wouldn't this be right up Gisha's alley - Gazans being denied the right to freely travel? Not to mention that they are orphans! How could Gisha miss this?

A look through their archives finds that it missed some other stories as well: my story earlier today of Hamas blocking certain Israeli items from being imported, Hamas not allowing sick Gaza children from traveling to Egypt, Hamas stopping human rights workers from leaving Gaza, Hamas banning Fatah politicians from going to the West Bank, and others - all that involve daily violations of the rights of movement by Hamas against Gazans that are even more restrictive than Israeli regulations. 

Gisha will talk about Egyptian closures of the Rafah crossing. But as far as I can tell, this Israeli NGO cannot find a negative thing to say about Hamas actions hurting the freedom of movement of people and goods from and to Gaza!

Gisha has a budget of about a million dollars a year, and is funded by donors such as the European Commission, United Kingdom, Oxfam GB, Trocaire, Oxfam Novib (the Netherlands), Irish Aid, Norway, UNDP, Broederlijk Delen, and NDC (joint funding from Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands).

Isn't it interesting that such a lavishly funded NGO will not say anything against a terror group that violates every aspect of freedom of movement in Gaza that Gisha supposedly monitors?

Gisha claims to be non-partisan - yet it cannot find anything wrong with Hamas actions in Gaza against its people. That is a pretty large blind spot for a "non-partisan" organization.

UPDATE: I guess I embarrassed them. Two days after I wrote this post, and four days after Hamas denied the children from exiting, Gisha reported on the story, saying "it’s unfortunate that Hamas officials also obstruct travel for political reasons."
  • Monday, December 29, 2014
  • Elder of Ziyon
The most recent report of the Commissioner-General of UNRWA to the UN, covering 2013, includes this head-scratcher of a line:

"The situation also affected the 1.9 million registered Palestine refugees in the State of Palestine."

So on one hand the UN and UNRWA recognize the "State of Palestine." On the other hand, they consider citizens of this state to be refugees from that same state!

A week ago, I had a brief Twitter discussion with Rex Brynen, an UNRWA apologist professor at McGill University, who claimed that UNHCR and UNRWA definitions for "refugees" were virtually identical.

UPDATE: As Brynen points out in a response, since he admits that Jordanian citizens wouldn't be considered refugees, it is not accurate for me to characterize his views of the definitions as "virtually identical." He did, in this Twitter discussion before he disappeared, seem to try hard to equate the two and to defend UNRWA's indefensible definition.

He said that all of todays' UNRWA refugees would be considered "derivative refugees" under UNHCR rules, pointing out a tiny minority of third-generation refugees under UNHCR auspices in Afghanistan (I believe there are some in Somalia as well.)

When I asked why he considers those in the West Bank and Gaza to be refugees even though they live in  "Palestine," he replied that they were stateless.


(He never answered that, nor my many follow-up questions about UNRWA.and his fawning article supporting the Chris Gunness article I thoroughly fisked.)

So (at least according to Brynen) the reason that 1.9 million people in the "State of Palestine" are refugees is because they are stateless - at the very same time that UNRWA claims that they are citizens of a state called Palestine!

As far as I can tell, there is no official definition of "citizen" under PA law. Their Basic Law, article 7, just says "Palestinian citizenship shall be regulated by law" without defining what it is. A 1995 draft law for defining citizenship is noteworthy: someone is considered a citizen if he/she "(1) was a holder of Palestinian citizenship (other than Jews) before 15 May 1948; (2) was born to a Palestinian father; (3) was born in Palestine to a Palestinian mother even if the citizenship of the father is not known; (4) was born in Palestine to unknown parents; and (5) was born outside of Palestine to a Palestinian mother and to a father whose nationality was not known – provided that this person opts for Palestinian citizenship within one year after reaching maturity, that he notifies the minister of interior of his intention to become a Palestinian citizen, that he becomes habitually a resident of Palestine, and that the minister does not object to this applicant within one year from the time he receives the notice from the applicant."

At any rate, it seems clear that the PA considers all residents to be citizens of a UN-recognized state. To say that 1.9 million of them are "refugees" is the height of absurdity.

And one that UNRWA is happy to say publicly.

(We're not even talking about the 1.8 million or so with Jordanian citizenship, which even Brynen admits are clearly not refugees - so about 75% of the 5 million so-called UNRWA registered "refugees" have UN-recognized citizenship.)


  • Monday, December 29, 2014
  • Elder of Ziyon
Palestine Press reports that Hamas has banned the import of various electric and electronic devices from Israel, including batteries, refrigerators, washing machines, computer monitors and CRTs.

The reason given is because of the environmental impact of disposing of them.

And another reason: because they are not energy-efficient.

An additional reason was given: "The import fees benefit only the Israeli treasury without any returns on the Palestinian national economy."

There is an old rule of thumb that when someone gives multiple reasons for doing something, chances are that none of them are true. If I had to guess, I'd think that Hamas is worried about Israel inserting spy equipment in electronic devices.

The impact to Gazans for this new rule?

Oh, since when does Hamas care about the people it rules?

Sunday, December 28, 2014

  • Sunday, December 28, 2014
  • Elder of Ziyon
This one I posted on Twitter a few days ago:


And this one is in response to the story today about Hamas not allowing kids to leave Gaza to meet Israelis:


  • Sunday, December 28, 2014
  • Elder of Ziyon
I reported that a Jordanian sheikh, Yassin Al-'Ajlouni, who had called on Jordanian authorities to allow Jews to build a synagogue on the Temple Mount, in the spirit of Islamic religious tolerance.

In response, the Jordanian Iftaa Department issued their own fatwa against Sheikh Yassin Al-'Ajlouni, calling him "ignorant" and having "no legitimacy."

Now, Yassin Al-'Ajlouni has repented of his Jew-loving ways, with a new video (now translated) where he retreats from his earlier opinion:



Also, he published a poem on his Facebook page calling on Jews to abandon any plans to destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque and to convert to Islam, saying that Islam will be victorious over the Jews so there is time to switch sides before it is too late.

Sort of like how he switched sides in the face of threats.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)


  • Sunday, December 28, 2014
  • Elder of Ziyon
Some of my videos from this year:

(December 2013 but close enough)



















If you like what you see, why not give a donation to EoZ?

  • Sunday, December 28, 2014
  • Elder of Ziyon
Last Thursday, I scooped all English-language media with the news that Egypt and Morocco were banning the Ridley Scott biblical epic "Exodus: Gods and Kings" because it implied that Jews built the Pyramids and that the splitting of the sea was done by an earthquake. Later Egypt also said that the movie was "Zionist."

A day or two later, the story had been picked up by major news services - first the Egyptian ban and then the ban in Morocco.

Now, the supposedly moderate and modern UAE has decided to ban the movie as well.

Juma Obaid Al Leem, the media content director at the National Media Council of the United Arab Emirates, announced they will prevent the screening of the film in theaters in the UAE because of the "religious mistakes" in the film, not only Islam related, but also inaccuracies for other religions.

You read it here first. As usual.

(If  getting the most accurate news first is important to you, then please consider donating to EoZ. I do stuff like this all the time without usually bragging that I scooped the world. I'd rather not put up obnoxious pop-ups asking for money like other sites do at the end of the year, so if you think this is valuable, look at the right-hand sidebar to donate.)


From Ian:

US senator Graham threatens to defund UN over Palestine bid
Visiting US Senator Lindsey Graham threatened Saturday to withhold US funding from the UN, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the Palestinian Authority, a day after a senior Palestinian official said the PA will push for a UN vote on the Palestinian statehood bid by Monday.
“This is the same PA that joins hands with Hamas, incites constantly against Israel, the same PA is going to try to bring to the UN Security Council a resolution that seeks to impose on us conditions that will undermine our security,” the prime minister charged on Saturday at a press conference in Jerusalem with the Republican senator from South Carolina.
“We will stand firmly and reject such a diktat,” Netanyahu said.
Graham, a staunch pro-Israel senator, expressed support for the PM’s position, declaring that Congress would not “sit back and allow the United Nations to take over the peace process.”
Graham went so far as to say that “any effort by the French, the Jordanians or anyone to avoid direct negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians over the peace process, anyone who tries to take this to the UN Security Council” will be met with “a violent backlash by the Congress that could include suspending funding to the United Nations. We will not sit back and allow the United Nations to take over the peace process.”
The Palestinians' Real Enemy: Europe
Listening, in both English and Arabic, to the latest speeches of Palestinian Authority [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas and his fellow Fatah Central Committee members, we get the uncomfortable feeling that the Palestinian State, now being promoted in Europe, will not only be a threat to the stability of the entire region, but to us who have to keep living here, as well to those countries in Europe who promote it.
As Palestinians discuss among themselves -- far from the diplomats in their five-star hotels -- rather than accept this "gift" that Europe seems determined to push down our throats, many people increasingly see no choice but to launch a "Palestinian Spring" revolution. It would not be, as you might think, to rid them of Israel but finally to rid us of our wretched leadership and corrupt system of government -- and to stop the European counties that are imposing this brutal system on us by financing it.
We have been fortunate enough to see from Israel how a democracy works. So although a Palestinian Spring revolution might cause chaos in the region and elsewhere for a while, its chances of success are far more assured than in the other places in the Middle East, where it has been tried but has not always succeeded.
We do not want to do this, of course, but if we are forced by Europe to have this corrupt dictatorship called Palestine, terrorist groups such as Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, and ISIS will flood the West Bank in less than week, and our lives will be even worse than what we have now. We simply do not know what else to do to defend ourselves from these "Goodists" of Europe.
Palestinians create instructional video on stabbing
Palestinians have uploaded an instructional video on the internet that shows would-be attackers the most lethal ways to stab somebody.
The step-by-step video, titled “How to stab correctly,” was circulated on YouTube and its links were shared with the Facebook and Twitter groups of Palestinian organizations and activists in East Jerusalem, the Hebrew news site NRG reported Saturday.
The 72-second clip comes in the wake of a number of stabbing attacks throughout Israel and the West Bank. Most recently, two border policemen were injured when an assailant attacked them in the Old City of Jerusalem Friday morning.
"Palestinian" How to stab someone video



  • Sunday, December 28, 2014
  • Elder of Ziyon


There is no more rational defender of Israel against the racist BDS movement than Jon Haber.

In fact, I am a tad pissed-off that none of Jon's writings were included in Nelson and Brahm's The Case Against Academic Boycotts of Israel.  The reason for this is academic snobbery.  There is no one making a better, more consistent, and academically rational case against BDS than Jon Haber at divestthis!

Haber has been fighting a lonely fight against BDS for years and he is one of those bloggers that should not need to be brought from the shadows.  This is a gentleman that any university would do well to stand up before students in order to talk about political social media and discourse around the Arab-Israel conflict.

This does not mean, however, that we are entirely in agreement.

We most certainly are not.

Jon and I are having a conversation over the role of the western-left in the ongoing persecution of the Jews in the Middle East.

My argument is that the Obama administration has done a terrible disservice to both the Jewish people and the American people through accepting political Islam within the realm of rational political actors.  When I voted for Obama in 2008 the last thing that occurred to me was that he would legitimize religious hatred against Jews.

But, hopefully each of us learn from experience and from the rousting of our own political naiveté.

For reasons that are somewhat unclear to me Haber remains in defense of the Obama administration.

What I have primarily argued is that because the Obama administration supported the Muslim Brotherhood, and the rise of political Islam via the so-called "Arab Spring," that his administration never deserved the popularity of Jewish Americans, if those Jewish Americans support the well-being of the Jewish State of Israel.

It is really as simple as that.

No politician, including the President of the United States, can support the enemies of the Jewish people and still expect the support of the Jewish people.

In Jon's latest retort he stands behind three essential premises.

The first is that a single example of Obama administration stupidity in briefly supporting the Brotherhood is not sufficient to condemn the administration.

The second is to excuse the Obama administration as simply following the line as put down by the Carter administration in terms of financial support for Egypt as a bribe to not kill Jews.

The third is to suggest that my criticisms are largely partisan.

Let me briefly take these in reverse order.  First off, the charge of partisanship is entirely without merit, nor can it be substantiated.  Although I have been a Democrat throughout the great majority of my adulthood, I am currently without political party.  I am thus not a partisan and I do not support the Republican Party... not yet, in any case.

However, the idea that the Obama administration is simply following American foreign policy as put forth by the Camp David Accords is not a fair criticism.  The point was never that the Obama administration merely provided financial and military aid to the Islamist government in Cairo, but that the administration went out of its way to assist that government in a variety of manners, not the least of which was the UN speech suggesting that the rise of political Islam was something akin to the Spirit of '76 and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

The main point, however, that I want to address in Jon's argument is his first.

He claims that one single example of administration stupidity is simply not enough to condemn it.

He writes:

genuine understanding can only come from focusing on more than one fact
I absolutely agree and would make two suggestions.

The first is that the single fact is very interesting because it demonstrates the central contradiction at the heart of Obama's foreign policy.  I am relieved that the Egyptian people had the basic decent common sense to get rid of the Brotherhood and am entirely horrified that Barack Obama supported that gang of racist thugs to begin with.

My reasons are not limited to the mere fact that Obama supported a short-lived anti-American and anti-Jewish regime in Cairo, but that it shows the central incoherence of the administration's foreign policy viz-a-viz political Islam.

The Muslim Brotherhood is the parent organization of both Qaeda and Hamas.  Obama tried to square a circle by supporting the Brotherhood while opposing Qaeda and remaining indifferent toward Hamas.

It simply does not work that way, Jon.  If one opposes Qaeda because one opposes political Islam as a rising movement throughout the world, than one must oppose the Brotherhood and all factions of this misogynistic, homophobic, anti-Semitic, and head-chopping authoritarian movement arising within the Middle East.

That is my first point.

My second point is that criticisms of Obama administration Middle East policy are hardly limited to his support of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Another highly significant criticism would be the administration's insistence that Jews building housing for themselves in Judea is somehow a crime against peace.  If there was any chance at a peaceful resolution of the conflict under Obama's watch it was not going to come from demanding that Jews be allowed to live in one place, but not another.

Finally, there is the question of history.

In Jon's conclusion he references his admiration for the writings of Harvard professor of Yiddish literature, Ruth Wisse, and Hebrew University historian, Robert Wistrich.  I, too, have considerable admiration for both, because both understand that the conflict cannot be meaningfully discussed without the proper context.

Our understanding of the context of the conflict needs to be expanded both geographically and in time.  From a geographic standpoint the conflict is between the Jewish people of the Middle East and the greater Arab-Muslim world.  It is not a matter of a Jewish Goliath versus a "Palestinian" David.  It is, rather, a conflict between around 400 million Arabs who, for the most part, oppose 6 million Jews seeking to maintain their freedom and autonomy.

Furthermore, this conflict did not begin in 1948 with the Arab attack on the Jewish people, but has been ongoing since the time of Muhammad.  This is a war fundamentally grounded in Arab-Muslim theocratic bigotry against Jews.  The local Arabs do not want a state for themselves in peace next to Israel.  If that is what they wanted they could have had it many times over by now, but they have rejected any such accommodation.  What they want is what they always tell us that they want.

They want Israel gone and the Jews dead.

And, yet, for some reason Barack Obama honestly thinks that the real problem is that Jews are living where neither he, nor Mahmoud Abbas, want them to live.  And that, my friends, is not only wrong-headed and counterproductive, but entirely racist, as well.


Michael Lumish is a blogger at the Israel Thrives blog as well as a regular contributor/blogger at Times of Israel and Jews Down Under.

  • Sunday, December 28, 2014
  • Elder of Ziyon


Earlier this year, a video was publicized in Arabic media of a fatwa by Sheikh Osama Qusi, saying that a man is allowed to surreptitiously watch his potential wife bathing in order to make sure that she is attractive enough for him. (no translation)



It is being highlighted in some end-of-year collections of outlandish fatwas.

“If you were really honest and wanted to marry that woman, and you were able to hide and watch her in secret, see the things that she wouldn’t usually let you see before marrying her, then it is acceptable as long as your intentions are pure.” Qusi said.

“One of the Prophet’s companions did that. Some disapproved and told him: ‘How do you do that when you’re one of the Prophet’s companions?’ The Prophet answered: ‘If you can see something that would make you want to marry her then go ahead and do it.’”

It was immediately slammed by many Arabs. The Egyptian Minister of Religious Endowments, Mohammad Mukhta, responded, “Where is the glory and masculinity in watching a woman shower? Would you allow this to happen to your daughter?"

The fatwa seems to be contradicted by a hadith that says "If any person peeps at you without your permission and you poke him with a stick and injure his eye, you will not be blamed." But maybe that allowance is only for men.


  • Sunday, December 28, 2014
  • Elder of Ziyon
Ma'an writes:
Palestinians around the world on Saturday commemorated the sixth anniversary of the beginning of Israel's 22-day offensive on the Gaza Strip in 2008-9 that left more than 1,400 dead.

The offensive, known by its Israeli moniker "Cast Lead," began on Dec. 27, 2008 around 11:30 a.m., when Israeli warplanes launched more than 100 airstrikes on Gaza simultaneously.

Israel launched the attack at the conclusion of a six-month ceasefire with Hamas that it repeatedly violated, despite Hamas' general adherence.
Let's take you back to Ma'an, December 25, 2008:
The military wing affiliated to Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades released a statement on Thursday morning briefing the group's military activities over the first twenty four hours of an operation they called "Oil Stain" which started Wednesday morning.

According to the statement, a total of 87 shells have been fired at Israeli targets bordering the Gaza Strip including 54 mortar shells, 31 homemade projectiles which Hamas calls "Qassam", and two Soviet-made Grad missiles.

Al-Qassa Brigades threatened to enlarge the "Oil Stain" to get more thousands of Israelis "under fire". The group asserted that its fighters are "far greater than surrendering to Israeli threats and that they became much more prepared to counter Israeli aggression and to defend themselves than in the past."
Hamas started what later became known as "Cast Lead" three days before Israel retaliated. They kept the name of the operation "Oil Stain" for a week into the war. (Here's an example of its use on December 30 by a Hamas newspaper. Hamas Al Qassam website used the term many times. )

I've noted in the past how Hamas soon abandoned the narrative of heroically starting the war and changed it to being the victim of Zionist aggression - a lie that was repeated by Amnesty, HRW, Goldstone and many other supposedly "objective" observers.

(h/t Bob K)

Saturday, December 27, 2014

  • Saturday, December 27, 2014
  • Elder of Ziyon


Chris Hedges, a former New York Times correspondent in Israel, writes in TruthDig:

I had been invited to talk next April 3 at the University of Pennsylvania at a peace conference sponsored by the International Affairs Association, but last week after Truthdig published my column “ISIS—the New Israel” the lecture agency that set up the event received this email from Zachary Michael Belnavis, who is part of the student group:

We’re sorry to inform you that we don’t think that Chris Hedges would be a suitable fit for our upcoming peace conference. We’re saying this in light of a recent article he’s written in which he compares the organization ISIS to Israel (here’s the article in question). In light of this comparison we don’t believe he would be suitable to a co-existence speaker based on this stance he’s taken.

Being banned from speaking about the conflict between Israel and Palestine, especially at universities, is familiar to anyone who attempts to challenge the narrative of the Israel lobby. This is not the first time one of my speaking offers has been revoked and it will not be the last. However, the charge of Belnavis and the International Affairs Association that I do not believe in coexistence between the Palestinians and Israel is false. I oppose violence by either party. I have condemned Hamas rocket attacks as war crimes. And I support Israel’s right to exist within the pre-1967 borders. The charge that I oppose coexistence cannot be substantiated by anything I have said or written. And those of us who call on Israel to withdraw to the pre-1967 borders are, after all, only demanding what is required by international law and numerous U.N. resolutions.

But truth, along with an open and fair debate, is the last thing the Israel lobby and its lackeys seek. The goal is to silence students, faculty members and outside speakers who do not read from the approved script.
Of course, he is not being asked not to speak because of his supposed desire to see Israel withdraw to the 1967 "borders." he is being asked not to speak because he is a liar who disgustingly compares Israel to throat-slitting jihadists of ISIS.

And the "truth" which he so sanctimoniously pretends to support is exactly the opposite of what Chris Hedges is about.

Here is what he wrote that caused his being disinvited:

ISIS, ironically, is perhaps the only example of successful nation-building in the contemporary Middle East, despite the billions of dollars we have squandered in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its quest for an ethnically pure Sunni state mirrors the quest for a Jewish state eventually carved out of Palestine in 1948. Its tactics are much like those of the Jewish guerrillas who used violence, terrorism, foreign fighters, clandestine arms shipments and foreign money, along with horrific ethnic cleansing and the massacre of hundreds of Arab civilians, to create Israel....It holds up the ancient Caliphate—which united Muslims throughout the Middle East in the seventh century and whose time is considered the golden age of Islam—as an ideal, much as Jews held up the biblical kingdoms chronicled in the Hebrew Bible.....Terror, as was true for the Jewish fighters in Palestine in the late 1940s, is an effective tool to intimidate opponents and accelerate ethnic cleansing.
Hedges' version of Israeli history is, to put it bluntly, idiotic and slanderous. Even the most extreme Jewish groups in the 1940s were not fueled by religious ideology, and the mainstream Zionists condemned them constantly. The people who rebuilt Israel in 1948 were by and large secular and most were socialist - just like Chris Hedges says he is.

Using historical revisionism in order to demonize Jewish Zionists and make the Arab terrorists of the 1940s into saints is not exactly what one thinks of when one is pursuing real peace.

In true leftist fashion, however, Hedges is describing his being disinvited to a conference as being akin to being blackballed, and he is even saying - get this - that college campuses have become mere "echo chambers" for those evil Zionists that he claims he wants to see Arabs co-exist with:
Our universities, like our corporate-controlled airwaves, are little more than echo chambers for the elites and the powerful. The bigger and more prestigious the university the more it seems determined to get its students and faculty to chant in unison to please its Zionist donors.
Wow! Who knew that there was no criticism of Israel on campus?

Hedges amazingly claims that the University of Pennsylvania is singlemindedly pro-Israel, noting that Hillel has invited people like Daniel Pipes and Nonie Darwish to speak, and that Alan Dershowitz has spoken there. Of course, this "journalist" ignores the many counterexamples that prove his thesis wrong - like hosting a BDS conference where one of its own professors explained to other academics how to shoe-horn anti-Israel propaganda into any liberal arts course. Also, notoriously anti-Israel professor Ian Lustick teaches at Penn.
I spent seven years in the Middle East as a foreign correspondent, five of them as the Middle East bureau chief for The New York Times. I speak Arabic. I was frequently in Gaza and lived for two years in Jerusalem. What frightens the Israel lobby is not my critique, but my expertise. ... What the Israel lobby fears most are facts.
Hedges claims that he is only speaking facts. I just proved that he is a liar. His history of 1948 is so false and so outrageous that anything he says about Israel must be regarded to be equally slanted, if not equally false. His description of the University of Pennsylvania as somehow a hotbed of Zionism where dissent is not tolerated is equally false.

And he piles on the lies:

Israeli leaders, and their supporters in the United States, speak now with naked, unvarnished hatred and racism that are alienating all but the most demented religious fanatics and protofascist Zionists, those who seek to build a nation based on a uniformity of bloodline and religious faith. The old Israel, the one that strove, however imperfectly, to be liberal and democratic, is gone. The new Israel increasingly mirrors the religious extremism of fundamentalist Muslims....

Even Israeli Jews no longer have democratic rights. There is mounting state repression against human rights advocates, journalists and dissidents. Racist language against Arabs has poisoned public discourse—crowds chant “Death to Arabs” at Israeli soccer matches. Right-wing thugs belonging to groups such as Im Tirtzu beat up dissidents, Palestinians, Israeli Arabs and impoverished African immigrants who live in the slums around Tel Aviv. Israeli Jews who denounce the racist cant and condemn the indiscriminate violence the state routinely employs against Palestinians are labeled terrorists or collaborators with terrorists. The settlers, as the newspaper Haaretz pointed out, are the real government of Israel.
I am unaware of Im Tirtzu advocating violence against Arabs, and that is truly slanderous.Any attacks against Arabs have been vilified across the Israeli political spectrum.  I haven't seen any "naked, unvarnished hatred and racism" being spoken by Israeli leaders. This is a litany of anti-Israel and borderline antisemitic lies.

Which means that the IAA has acted quite appropriately to disinvite a proven liar.

I see no evidence of any pressure on the IAA from any Jewish or Zionist organizations. I don't see any Jewish names on their executive board. From what I could tell, they read his inflammatory and false piece and realized that he is not interested in peace, but in demonizing one side.

But in today's world, choosing who is allowed to speak at a conference is akin to censorship (only when it is the socialist-Left who is supposedly being "censored.")

(h/t David)
From Ian:

Ayala Shapira still in life-threatening condition after firebomb attack
Ayala Shapira, the 11-year-old Israeli girl who was seriously hurt in a firebomb attack in the West Bank on Thursday evening, was still in life-threatening condition in the hospital on Saturday evening.
However Shapira, who suffered third-degree burns over much of her body and face in the attack, has successfully undergone the first of a series of operations, said doctors at Sheba Medical Center, where she is being treated in the intensive care unit.
Security forces on Friday arrested two Palestinians in connection to the firebomb attack. One is suspected of having thrown the Molotov cocktail. The other is suspected of assisting him. Another 10 Palestinians from the Palestinian village Azzun, near the site of the incident, were detained in the sweep.
The New Anti-Semitism in 2014: A Year in Review!
When it comes to chronicling the “Oldest Hatred”, stories abound. 2014 was no different, and in a sense, was even more heavily loaded with statements, events, tragedies and even death, than the previous year. All seems to indicate that Anti-Semitism is on the rise globally AND exponentially, in frequency AND intensity. A review of the main anti-Semitic acts that punctuated this last year will suffice to make your Judeo/Christian hair rise on your head.
Partners in protest: The anti-Israel, cop-bash link
One of the great under-told stories of the anti-police turmoil after the Michael Brown and Eric Garner grand-jury decisions is the instigating role played by anti-Israel activists.
What, you ask, does anti-Israel activism have to do with the reaction to the Ferguson and New York City decisions?
Well, to understand that, you first need to understand the pathology behind the anti-Israel movement — particularly the Boycott Divest and Sanctions crowd.
This movement has a problem: Despite decades of anti-Israel propaganda, particularly on campuses, Israel remains more popular than ever in the US as a whole
But there are pockets of American society where anti-Israel rhetoric, which frequently borders on or crosses into anti-Semitism, has a receptive audience. One such place is among radical racial-grievance activists.
Racial divisions are fomented and exploited by the BDS movement, with phrases such as “settler colonialism” and “brown bodies” thrown around to give superficial intellectual cover.
IDF saves Palestinian baby after he suffers heart attack
A Palestinian baby’s life was saved after he collapsed at a Jordanian border crossing and was evacuated by IDF helicopter to a Jerusalem hospital.
The six-month-old infant was believed to have suffered a heart attack on Saturday morning while traveling with his family from their home in the West Bank to receive medial treatment in the Hashemite Kingdom, according to a Ynet report.
His condition prompted medics on the Allenby Bridge to request a medical air evacuation by the IDF.

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