August 2012 ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Friday, August 31, 2012

BDS: Cultural graffiti

Starting last night, the Batsheva Dance Company is performing in Edinburgh, Scotland. Naturally, the Israel-haters are out in force, both noisily protesting outside and - last night - interrupting the performance three times from inside the theatre. A number of Israelis refer to the BDS actions against Israeli artists as "cultural terror." I think that is an overstatement, and it also gives them too much credit. In reality, what they do is cultural...

The complete text of Ayatollah Khamanei's speech to the NAM summit is online, and it has some doozies: The UN Security Council has an illogical, unjust and completely undemocratic structure and mechanism. This is a flagrant form of dictatorship, which is antiquated and obsolete and whose expiry date has passed. It is through abusing this improper mechanism that America...

From Ian: IDF Blog Palestinian Terrorist Group Graduates Its First Class from New Academy "The PRC, along with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, tries to enlist and train as many terrorists as they can in order to be able to fire rockets into Israel and fight the Israel Defense Forces. The PRC has established the Shahid Imad Hamad Academy of Military Training for this purpose. This...

Robot gives science lesson at Israeli school

From Digital Journal: Technology is making a bigger and bigger impact in the classroom and this summer, RoboThespian, a robotic actor, got a summer job as a guest science teacher for a group of grade 5 and 6 students in Israel. Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology, describes RoboThespian as a robot that gestures, has facial expressions and multiple vocal effects. It was purchased by Israel’s National Museum of Science, Technology and...

Will Arab/Iranian Paralympians refuse to compete against Israel?

While the idea of countries refusing to compete against Israel in international sport is reprehensible enough, it will be interesting to see if they also refuse to compete in the Paralympics,which are going on now. So far, I've only found one competition where an Israeli and Arab were together, the second heat of the men's 100m backstroke that was held yesterday. Israeli swimmer Yoav Valinsky competed in the lane right next to Iraqi Jawad Kadhim...

Report: Gaza vegetables being smuggled to Saudi Arabia

Palestine Press Agency reports that vegetable prices have risen dramatically in Gaza recently, while the prices of fruit have declined. According to a dealer interviewed, the reason for the rise in prices is that Gazans have been smuggling their vegetables through Rafah tunnels to sell them to Saudi Arabia, which pays better than the local market. The produce smuggled out include tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant. Earlier this month, a shipment...

From Ma'an: Egyptian security officials said Thursday that three Bedouin men from the Sinai are suspected of involvement in the killing of an Islamist militant earlier this week. Two of them fled to Israel on Wednesday, while another was captured by a Jihadi group, the officials said. Egyptian intelligence reports also accused Israel's security service Mossad of being involved...

Is this even considered news anymore?: The Color Red alert was sounded twice in Sderot and the surrounding area in the early hours of Friday morning. A short time later a rocket exploded in Sderot, hitting a home but miraculously – no one was injured... Security forces arrived at the scene to remove the Qassam rocket, which failed to explode completely when it hit the house. An...

$40K grant to Ontario hatefest showing fake Gaza kids artwork

Notice how the people are drawn in a single-line outline - no child does that. Festivals and Events Ontario supports and gives grants to various public festivals in Ontario, Canada. This year they gave $40,000 to MuslimFest, which takes place this weekend. Normally, there would be nothing wrong with that. But in this case, MuslimFest is a hatefest. It is showing an exhibition...

Rachel Corrie DID get college credit for joining ISM

Yesterday, I asked whether Rachel Corrie received college credit for joining the ISM in Gaza. I based this on a 2003 article that said that all Evergreen students in Rafah were getting independent study credit. It looks like Corrie had set up her trip to Gaza as an independent study course at Evergreen. A lengthy 2003 article in Mother Jones tracing Corrie's journey says: In the fall of her senior year a friend returned from ﬁve months in Gaza...

Ma'an reports: A previously unknown militant group claimed responsibility Wednesday for an attack on the Israeli city of Ashkelon with five Grad missiles the previous evening. "The Mujahadeen consultative council in Jerusalem and its environs" said it would continue its attacks targeting Israeli areas near Gaza in response to its crimes against Palestinians. Israeli...

Thursday links

From Ian: Prosor: Roar of Gaza rockets fall on deaf ears to UN Israeli Ambassador to the UN pens letter to UNSC president in response to report stating that Gaza won't be "livable" by 2020. "A group of researchers on the moon could have produced a more accurate and balanced report on Gaza than the one the UN produced this week, Israel’s ambassador Ron Prosor wrote Wednesday in a blistering letter to Security Council President Gerard Araud." How...

From the Point of No return blog: For the first time in 2,000 years, this year there will be no Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services at the Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue in Alexandria. The synagogue was the last 'working' synagogue in Egypt. A synagogue has stood on this site since Hellenistic times, although the current building dates back to the 19th century. The Egyptian...

Ma'ariv reports that it was discovered yesterday that Israeli taxpayers are subsidizing the PA's electricity bills to the tune of nearly half a billion shekels a year. During a Finance Committee meeting, it was disclosed that when Israel deducts debts every month from the money owed to the PA in tax revenues under existing agreements, it has been only deducting 60% or so...

Morsi makes his play for pan-Islam leadership at NAM

While Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi's presence at the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran is troubling for the political legitimacy it gives Iran, he did not shy away from confronting his hosts in his speech. For one thing, Morsi emphasized Syria, a topic that Iran's leaders have avoided at the conference. There are reports that Syrian delegates walked out during his speech. But there was a lot that he said that was interesting, as he seems...

I couldn't help myself. Photo in today's Palestine Times. Note also the kid on the left eating an Israeli snack as well. Because, you know, he is forced to. (h/t Elizabeth...

MB official: Peace with Israel gives Egyptians cancer

From MEMRI: Following are excerpts from an address by Ahmad Sabi', media advisor for the Freedom and Justice Party in Egypt, which aired on Al-Alam TV on August 22, 2012. Ahmad Sabi': [I support] amending the [Camp David] agreement, which is a mark of shame upon the Egyptian people. This agreement has been a heavy burden upon the Egyptian people, undermining Egypt's sovereignty. It has even undermined projects for the development of the Sinai....

Jordan, Lebanon, Syria discriminating against Palestinian Syrians

From IRIN: In Jordan and Lebanon, the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has registered nearly 5,000 Palestinian refugees from the 17-month conflict in Syria. As both countries are already home to large Palestinian refugee populations, the newly arrived have become a political issue - with Palestinians feeling they are treated unfairly. "It has been quite bad living like a prisoner, especially when you see other people come and go but you...

Assad now blames Turkey for violence

You mean, it isn't the Zionist regime? Looking dorkier every day Syrian President Bashar al-Assad blamed Turkey for violence in a 17-month-old uprising in the country, in which thousands have died. “Turkey bears direct responsibility for the blood being shed in Syria,” Assad told the pro-regime local television channel Ad-Dounia in an interview aired Wednesday. Assad...

From Courthouse News Service: A U.S. magistrate judge sent an official letter to the State of Israel seeking judicial assistance in a terrorism lawsuit involving the PLO and the Palestinian Authority. The family of Esther Klieman sued the PLO and Palestinian Authority in District of Columbia Federal Court. They claim Klieman was machine-gunned to death by a group affiliated...

Who's the extremist again?

Yesterday, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman invited Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi to visit Israel. "Those who speak of peace and stability must realize that it cannot be a hypothetical peace," Lieberman said Tuesday during an Israel Bar Association conference. "We certainly hope to see Morsi hosting official Israeli representatives soon; we want to see him giving interviews to Israeli media; we want to see him in Jerusalem as President...

From the Times of Israel Hebrew press roundup yesterday: Yedioth reports that the slopes of the northern mountain have become inundated with sheep, disturbing soldiers trying to operate there and turning Israel’s toughest Rambos into veritable shepherds. The army believes the sheep are sent across the border by Lebanese and Syrians looking to cause trouble. “It’s reasonable...

Midweek links

From Ian: After 40 years, State Archives releases Munich papers 45 documents chronicling 1972 Munich massacre, in which 11 Israeli Olympians were killed, made public for first time; then Mossad chief Zamir complained that German police "didn't make even a minimal effort to save human lives." Palestinian academics act against Israel ties By Khaled Abu Toameh Al-Quds University President Dr. Sari Nusseibeh once again under attack for cooperating...

Earlier this week I posted about an anti-semitic photo that accompanied a story in South Africa's SABC - an image that had nothing to do with the story. The poster depicted a stereotypical Orthodox Jew as a monkey. One of my readers emailed it to the South Africa Jewish Board of Deputies, who complained to the general manager at SABC. SABC responded: The SABC...

Islamic rules for wife-beating (video)

From MEMRI: Following are excerpts from a lecture delivered by Egyptian cleric Abd Al-Rahman Mansour, which aired on Al-Nas TV on August 17-18, 2012. Abd Al-Rahman Mansour: Islam instructs a man to beat his wife as a last resort before divorce, so that she will mend her ways, treat him with kindness and respect, and know that her husband has a higher status than her. I say to every husband: Do not rush to beat her whenever a problem arises....

Did Rachel Corrie get college credit for joining the ISM? (updated)

There is an interesting detail in this 2003 article from a local Olympia, Washington newspaper that profiles a number of Evergreen College students who traveled to Rafah along with Rachel Corrie: Rafah is one of the most dangerous places in the Gaza Strip--"a combat zone," according to Captain Jacob Dallal, the Israeli army spokesperson. ...My Jewish ass has been to Israel several times, but never to Gaza, and I am a bit scared. I have been told...