Israelis eating hummus is now a war crime, according to Electronic Intifada

Ha'aretz has a food column called Modern Manna. This week it scored an interview withe the White House chef, asking him if he makes any foods that could be considered Jewish or Israeli, presumably because that critical information would help President Obama get more Jewish votes.

The entire column is written from Ha'aretz' viewpoint, even saying in a tongue-in-cheek fashion:

So, if Obama loves hummus it must mean he loves us Israelis too! Israelis, self-acclaimed hummus connoisseurs, prefer their hummus with fresh pita bread, but even they have learned to accept the American usage of hummus as a dip for veggies.

Enter Ali Abumineh, famous Israel-hater and blogger at Electronic Intifada. Apparently, the very mention of Obama together with hummus in an utterly vacuous Haaretz article is enough to make him foam at the mouth:

Notice how Israelis are positioned as the “connoisseurs” and arbiters of how hummus should and should not be correctly consumed.

There is absolutely no mention of the Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian or other indigenous Arab origins of these foods in the interview, where hummus, its key ingredient tahini, and the flat bread Palestinians typically eat with them are easily subsumed into “Jewish foods” used to celebrate Zionist occasions...

Is this 2000 year old olive press "Palestinian"?

He then rails against how he thinks Israelis have stolen "Palestinian" foods and culture, and how the Obama White House is complicit in that awful activity of Israelis stealing foods that are all generically Middle Eastern.

Keep in mind that the chef didn't say a word about how these foods were Israeli. Only the Ha'aretz writer did.


Abuminah links back to this equally ridiculous posting where he claims that these foods are "Palestinian" - they aren't  - and that Israelis are stealing olive oil cultivation from Palestinian Arabs as well, even though Jews were cultivating olive oil in that exact spot way thousands of years before any "Palestinians" existed.

To wrap it all up, Abuninah tweeted his magnum opus about a stupid Haaretz columnist saying that White  House hummus is somehow Israeli this way:

Yes - Israeli pride in their Middle Eastern food is a war crime!

The mystery isn't that Israel-haters are this stupendously idiotic. The mystery is why so many people in the real world seem to regard them as anything less than stupendously idiotic.

Jordan increasingly nervous about jihadists

From UPI:

Jihadists are becoming increasingly active in Jordan, already gripped by political crisis and buffeted by a growing spillover from the 19-month-old civil war in neighboring Syria that could threaten the Hashemite throne.

On Oct. 20, the kingdom's General Intelligence Directorate reportedly arrested 11 men, all Jordanians, it said were part of a plot by a cell linked to al-Qaida to bomb shopping malls in Amman and assassinate Western diplomats.

At least two major malls were targeted, Information Minister Samih al-Maaytah said. Another target was the upscale Abdoun quarter in the city where many foreign embassies and diplomats' homes are located.

Officials said the group called itself "11-9 the Second," after the last major jihadist attack in Amman on Nov. 9, 2005, in which suicide bombers hit three top Amman hotels, killing 63 people.

The new plot included suicide bombers, whom the group was seeking to recruit, and car bombings against hotels, nightclubs and other public places, security sources reported.

Had the attacks taken place, hundreds of people would have killed, officials said.
...


Although there's skepticism about the latest jihadist plot, there's little doubt the kingdom faces a threat from Islamic militants, one magnified by the bloodletting in Syria.

"This kind of threat could have happened with or without Syria," a Western diplomat in Amman observed.

"But if you've got a worsening situation in Syria, structures continuing to breakdown and extremists going around with more and more weapons, of course it's a worry."

Some 300 Jordanians are reported to have gone to Syria to jihadists fighting the Assad regime.

Two of Zarqawi's cousins were arrested this month when they returned to Jordan from five months of combat in Syria.

"If the regime falls in Syria and radical Islamist groups become influential there, it'll be easier for these extremist groups to work in Jordan to destabilize the country," warned former lawmaker Hazem al-Awran.

Qaradawi hospitalized

Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, one of the most prominent Islamic leaders who supports suicide bombings but it considered a "moderate," is in a hospital in Jeddah for undisclosed reasons.

His aide asked that his followers pray for him.

Qaradawi, 86, is the president of the World Federation of Muslim Scholars and his Friday speeches are televised to tens of millions of Muslims. He has called to "cleanse Palestine" from Jews.

One of his most famous fatwas was this one:

Question: I would like to ask about the ruling of Palestinian women carrying out martyr operations. Fulfilling this mission may demand that they travel alone, without a mahram,[5] and they may need to take off their hijab, the matter which may expose part of their 'awrah.[6] Would you please comment on this? I'd prefer Dr. Qaradawi to answer this urgent question, if you please.

Dr. Qaradawi answers: The martyr operation is the greatest of all sorts of jihad in the cause of Allah. A martyr operation is carried out by a person who sacrifices himself, deeming his life [of] less value than striving in the cause of Allah, in the cause of restoring the land and preserving the dignity. To such a valorous attitude applies the following Qur'anic verse: "And of mankind is he who would sell himself, seeking the pleasure of Allah; and Allah hath compassion on (His) bondmen." (Qur'an, 2: 207)

...Martyrdom is a heroic act of choosing to suffer death in the cause of Allah, and that's why it's considered by most Muslim scholars as one of the greatest forms of jihad.

When jihad becomes an individual duty, as when the enemy seizes the Muslim territory, a woman becomes entitled to take part in it alongside men. ...A woman should go out even without the consent of her husband, a son can go too without the permission of his parent, a slave without the approval of his master, and the employee without the leave of his employer....I believe a woman can participate in this form of jihad according to her own means and condition. Also, the organizers of these martyr operations can benefit from some, believing women as they may do, in some cases, what is impossible for men to do.

As for the point that carrying out this operation may involve woman's travel from [one] place to another without a mahram, we say that a woman can travel to perform Hajj [pilgrimage to Mecca] in the company of other trustworthy women and without the presence of any mahram as long as the road is safe and secured.

Concerning the point on hijab, a woman can put on a hat or anything else to cover her hair. Even when necessary, she may take off her hijab in order to carry out the operation, for she is going to die in the cause of Allah and not to show off her beauty or uncover her hair. I don't see any problem in her taking off hijab in this case.

To conclude, I think the committed Muslim women in Palestine have the right to participate and have their own role in jihad and to attain martyrdom.

Hamas sent out women suicide bombers after this fatwa.

So prayers might indeed be in order - to finally rid the world of this evil man.

Administrivia and Wednesday links

Power has returned to the Elder Manor, but not phone/internet/cable. As a result, I am surfing and blogging with a very, very slow connection through a cell phone, so blogging will remain lighter than usual - especially since I need to do my regular day job through that same slow connection.

Here's one tree that fell nearby. There seem to be at least one or two trees toppled on every block.



Meanwhile, here are today's links from Ian:

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Israeli strike on Iran would be a relief to the Middle East, Netanyahu tells French paper

Prime minister in France to discuss Iranian nuclear threat, attend memorial ceremony for Toulouse shooting victims
“Iran is not popular in the Arab world, far from it, and some governments in the region, as well as their citizens, have understood that a nuclear-armed Iran would be dangerous for them, not just for Israel,” he said.

The storm that united a nation by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

We are capable of being positive and unified, even while we contest some of the great political issues of our day. We can be one people while we entertain vastly different opinions. And we can have one heart even when we are of a different mind.
May G-d watch over America always, and may those who have suffered in Hurricane Sandy find solace and a blessing.

Meanwhile: Hurricane Sandy a ‘divine slap on the face of U.S. arrogance,’ Toronto Islamist website declares
'Heroic' Iran, 'resistive' Syria behind Sandy, pro-Assad group claims

Washington’s Failure to Rein in UNRWA

General Assembly resolution 194 of December 11, 1948, offers two options, repatriation and resettlement, to achieve the reintegration of the Palestinian Arab refugees “into the economic life of the Near East.” Yet, U.S. Department of State documents from 1949 through the early 1950s reveal that despite the lip service paid to repatriation, Washington and its allies effectively equated reintegration with the resettlement of the refugees in the neighboring Arab states.

Ha'aretz Poll roundup:
The Haaretz Poll Travesty, NIF Funding, and the Durban Strategy
Journalistic Sham: Haaretz Acknowledges Misleading ‘Apartheid’ Survey Report
Haaretz changes tack on major story that alleged widespread ‘apartheid’ attitudes in Israel

The case for President Obama’s reelection By Alan Dershowitz
The Obama administration has strongly supported Israel’s security by helping to construct the Iron Dome, by backing Israel’s responses to rocket attacks from Gaza and by coordinating closely with its military.

[I think I made my thinking clear! - EoZ]

Lévy: Jews of Diaspora and Israel are under attack
Prominent French-Jewish intellectual says the Jewish people are facing a twin threat of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.

UK Jews complain to Church of England over ‘anti-Semitic’ vicar

"Reverend Stephen Sizer is “an avid reader and publicizer of websites that are openly and virulently anti-Semitic, and Rev. Sizer has himself descended into making anti-Semitic statements,” according to the complaint, lodged by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the community’s main representative organization."

CIF Watch: Glenn Greenwald admits that “anti-Semitism plays a role in some hostility toward Israel”.

PMW: PA TV visits family of terrorist prisoner Ibrahim Hamed, responsible for murder of 46

'PLO leader backs Jordan annexation of W. Bank'
New proposal suggests establishment of a Palestinian-Jordanian confederation, Kaddoumi tells 'Al-Quds Al-Arabi.'
A repeat of 1985? The Hussein-Arafat Accord, 11 February 1985

Gaza Rocket Attacks Close Beersheba Schools for a Day

Economist reporter: GAZA economy fastest growing in the world
For example in 2011 the Gazan economy grew by a whopping 27 % , that makes it the fastest growing economy in the world.

Senior Bahrain official to visit Gaza, open new schools
Royal Charity Organization head Mustafa al-Sayed to lead delegation to Strip this week; visit follows Qatari emirate’s visit last week

End of the Line for HLF
The United States Supreme Court has decided not to accept appeals from the five Holy Land Foundation officials convicted of illegally funneling more than $12 million to Hamas, essentially concluding the case.

Syria Rebels 'Clash with Army, Palestinian Fighters'
Fierce clashes broke out before dawn Tuesday in a major Palestinian refugee camp south of Syria's capital, pitting rebels against troops backed by pro-regime Palestinian fighters, activists and a watchdog said.

Egyptian court dismisses suit against president to amend peace accord with Israel
Complainants had claimed Egypt’s revolution obligates leaders to review all previously signed agreements
Three members of Egypt’s revolutionary youth movement filed a lawsuit Monday against President Mohammed Morsi, Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, and foreign minister Muhammad Kamel Amr, demanding the leaders amend the Camp David Peace accords with Israel. But the case was swiftly dismissed in an Egyptian court on Tuesday.

Women's council demands authorities find girl 'kidnapped' in Matrouh
Egypt's National Council for Women calls on Interior Ministry and security forces to locate missing 13-year-old who was allegedly married off; denounces child marriages

Somali comedian shot dead after poking fun at al Shabaab
Gunmen assassinated a well-known comedian and musician who poked fun at al Qaeda-linked Shabaab insurgents in the Somali capital Mogadishu, police and colleagues said Tuesday.

Rome provincial council calls to ban websites promoting Jew-hatred
Move, in cooperation with Jewish community, follows anti-Semitic attacks on neo-Nazi website

‘Forward’ Cartoon Mocks Zionism Through Anne Frank DNA Experiment

Dutch soccer fans to be punished for anti-Semitic songs
FC Utrecht director says racism will not be tolerated; ADO Den Haag banned eight fans banned in April for ‘Hamas, Jews to the gas’ chants

A would-be new leader of Israel’s Arabs urges full integration with Israel
Bedouin politician Aatef Karinaoui launches a Knesset bid, slamming Arab MKs and calling for an ‘Arab Spring’ to provide a fresh direction for his community
It is hard to envisage an Arab Knesset member declaring that “if something were to happen to Israel, this democracy that protects everyone, the whole Middle East would be doomed.”

Israel's Technion, iCreate to jointly incubate start-ups
Having signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), Israeli university Technion and the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology (iCreate) of India are now set to jointly incubate few start-ups from both the countries.

High-tech diplomacy puts Israel and UK on the same page
The UK is very keen to promote relationships between Israeli start-ups and British entrepreneurs, ignoring the politics that usually frame the relationship between the two countries

Guns don't kill people. Electric cables shot down by guns at Saudi weddings kill people.

From Reuters:

Celebratory gunfire at a wedding party in eastern Saudi Arabia on Tuesday night brought down an electric cable, killing 23 people, a local civil defense official said.

"At the wedding, the cable fell on a metal door and the 23 people who died were all electrocuted," Eastern Province official Abdullah Khashman said by phone.

A photograph of the aftermath of the accident, published on local newspapers' websites showed a large courtyard strewn with fallen chairs and a pole in the middle supporting cables carrying lightbulbs.

All those killed were from the same tribe, Khashman said. Thirty others were injured in the incident near Abqaiq, a center of the Saudi energy industry.

Saudi Arabia banned the shooting of firearms at weddings, a popular tradition in tribal areas of the conservative Islamic kingdom, last month.

Guns only kill one or two people at a time at Arab weddings, so they are clearly not the problem. Non-bulletproof electric wiring is obviously the real danger to people at weddings.

(h/t Ian, Ronald)

Today's anti-semitism in Jordanian media

Addustour, a mainstream Jordanian newspaper, has an op-ed today that accepts the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as an established fact and states that Israel is following it to achieve world domination.

Rashid Hassan writes:

I spent the holiday [Eid al Adha] reading "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" edited by the Arab thinker Ajaj Noueihed, for the second time, to discover that without exaggeration, what is happening in occupied Palestine and in the world at the hands of the Zionists are pronounced by these Protocols. The Jews control the financial markets and banks and media, etc., and they seem to exert control over many of the decision-making centers in America and European countries and others.

The [Jews] "create a spirit of intrusion and revenge, and this means blood and sword, destruction and bodies of confidentiality etc., hence terrorism carried out by Zionist gangs during World War II and onwards, starting from the massacre of Deir Yassin through massacres Qibya and Dawayima and Kafr Kassem .. etc, following through on the doctrine of [Protocols author] Ginzberg" (pp. 56.) In this regard, we find a clear difference in the proposals of Herzl, founder of Zionism and Ginzberg, who created the idea of assembly and intrusion, which led to the crystallization proposed in the idea of "return to Palestine" as a place to gather and receive incoming Jews from all over the world, which means waging wars of genocide and a holocaust and the massacres against the Palestinian people, and for over a hundred years.

Still this Zionist ideology is dominant on the Zionist mind, which led to the massacres, and which is embodied today in the trinity of terrorism "Netanyahu, Barak, Lieberman" as an embodiment of theses protocols of Zionism by Ginzberg. The main idea of the protocols is based on the Jews controlling the world from behind the scenes, and this will only happen through sex and money, and hitting at the system of morals and values, and distorting Islam and Christianity. A review of the suffering of the Islamic religion today through smear campaigns confirms what we have referred to, and confirms that the Zionists are behind the constant campaigns of incitement and hatred that are against Islam and the Prophet of Islam Muhammad peace be upon him.

The book shows that the protocols were written at the end of the nineteenth century, and describe the evils of Zionism, as shown by the Talmud, and presented to the First Zionist Congress in 1897, and during the conference Russian secret police attacked the venue, and seized all the documents including these protocols, where they were translated into many languages ​​then, to publicize to the world the Jewish conspiracy, and the seriousness of what is happening in the invisible world.

We call the Arab reader to read this book, It answers a lot of heretofore unanswered questions.

As much as the West likes to sweep it under the rug, Jew-hatred is mainstream in the Arab world, and ridiculous articles like this can be published without even a hint of dissent from other newspapers, politicians or pundits.

(h/t Lachlan)

Arabs don't care about the horrible lives of the Gazans in Jordan

From Ma'an:

The Gaza camp in Jordan, near the northwestern historical ruins of Jerrash where the Greco Roman Empire once flourished, was set up by the UN as an emergency measure in 1968.

During the 1967 Arab-Israeli War war, about 12,000 refugees fled from Gaza to this area. It now has a population of about 30,000 Gazans.

Hidden in the outskirts of Jerrash, connected to the rest of civilization by a single neglected dirt road, most tourists have no idea about the camp. Locals are known to respond to visitors' inquiries with a suspicious: "Why do you want to go there?!"

Some tourists wonder if Jerrash municipality wants to keep foreigners out, to hide the dilapidated squalor that is so close to a bustling tourist attraction and well kept city.

Living conditions at the Gaza camp have been described as the worst in Jordan.

Surrounded by an empty desert, its streets are filled with children playing near sewage and trash. The pathways are cluttered with discarded food, old recyclables and other materials, which are burned frequently because garbage collection is unreliable.

It is a wonder that children playing football across sewage drains do not seem to notice the offensive smell.

The solution is expensive. Residents pay exorbitant fees in comparison to other Jordanian cities to have this sewage intermittently dumped outside of the city.

Water for bathing and drinking is also sporadically available every two weeks, and sometimes mixes sewage and drinking water as a result of the scarcity of functioning modern pipes.

Further, the living quarters are squalid, antiquated with cracks in the concrete walls, and teeming with residents. Sometimes 10 people can be found in a room of a windowless metal-roofed apartment. There are known cases of 25 residents living in one house.

Others live in roofless apartments or outside in tents where they are exposed to the challenges of the extremely cold seasonal weather. The infrastructure also lacks recreational areas like parks for children and a functioning road system.

Most camp residents possess neither an ID nor passport. Like visible ghosts, after five decades of living and giving birth in Jordan, their families are not recognized. They cannot work, receive government benefits, have full access to education, own a car, nor travel freely. Unemployment tops at 50 percent, school dropout rates are high and life expectancy is much lower than regional averages.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has tried to remedy these conditions. It provides education at four schools up to the 10th grade, as well as a food distribution center. Some of these displaced Gazans receive financial assistance from the United Nations.

The health conditions of the residents is horrifying. Volunteers report the presence of many diseases that are easily preventable with access to Western medicine. There are instances of diabetes, nervous disorders, cancers, high blood pressure and others, which go untreated.

Amid the huge flow of curious guests looking for enlightenment at Jerash's ancient ruins, the Gazan refugees living next door feel forgotten.

The article doesn't mention some crucial facts.

Israel did not drive anyone out of Gaza in 1967. Tens of thousands of Gazans (and many more West Bankers) chose to flee to Jordan voluntarily because they did not want to live under Jewish rule. They are not refugees according to any definition, even UNRWA's.

Jordan used to automatically give citizenship to any Palestinian Arab, but they did not do so for Gazans who fled in 1967. So they are the victims of a deliberate Jordanian policy of discrimination.

This discrimination includes barring Gazans from many jobs. As in Lebanon camps, it is illegal for Jerash residents to build new buildings.

In other words, ordan is practicing apartheid against Arabs born in Gaza as opposed to citizens of any Arab country.

Many of them would like to return to Gaza, and were hoping to do so after Israel's withdrawal. Even though Arab governments and the PA and Hamas all insist that the "right to return" is sacred, not a single one is lifting a finger to insist that these Gazans in Jordan return to Gaza!

There is nothing stopping Jerash residents from deciding to travel via Egypt to Gaza. Except the laws in Jordan, Egypt and Gaza!

So the residents of Jerash teach us that the "right of return" is not anything Arabs really care about - when the "return" is not to territory that Jews live in. It is a facade for the eventual destruction of Israel disguised as a "right." G

Gazans in Jordan can rot away - the Arabs don't care because they cannot contribute to the relentless campaign to delegitimize Israel.

"Tunisian security busts kidnap ring targeting Jews" (updated)

UPI Arabic quotes Tunisian media sources as reporting yesterday that Tunisian security authorities managed to break up what was described as a 'dangerous terrorist cell that was aimed at kidnapping Jews in the city of Zarzis in the extreme south-east of Tunisia.

The weekly newspaper Al Hassan reported that they learned and confirmed from sources that units of the Tunisian Guard managed to dismantle this terrorist network. Sit said that their aim was to kidnap of Tunisian Jewish nationals living in the city of Zarzis to demand ransom and to force the Jews or Zarzis to leave Tunisia.

The Tunisian mastermind of this plot is works as a security guard for Tunisian Jews in the south of Tunisia, where he recruited some young people to do the job. He acquired a car and weapon to get the plan going before he was caught.

The plot was to kidnap Jews as they take their weekly stroll on a seaside promenade every Friday night.

Members of the Jewish community in Tunisia have been concerned with the growing Salafist influence there who have been known to chant "kill Jews."

I have not yet seen this reported anywhere in English.

(Slight update with promenade details 10/31)

Hurricane update and Tuesday links

I am still without power and without my T Mobile hotspot on my phone that would allow me to blog on a laptop. Blogging on an iPhone, as I am doing now, is painful.

And I can't easily get to my job.

So it looks like this blog will be on a hiatus with only occasional updates.

So for now, here is the Tuesday link dump, unformatted, from Ian:

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IDF Blog: Hamas Terrorists Firing Rockets on Israel from Houses in Gaza
"The terror group Hamas benefits from using its own people as human shields. When the IDF refrains from firing into densely populated areas, such as neighborhoods or suburbs, the terror organization becomes less vulnerable by default. Most of Hamas' military infrastructure is purposely placed in the middle of Gaza City and scattered throughout crowded refugee camps, further putting civilians in the direct line of fire."

UK academic union faces claims of ‘institutional anti-Semitism’
Severe anti-Israel bias ‘makes Jews feel uncomfortable and unwelcome,’ lecturer charges in landmark tribunal
"The UK’s trade union for academics, the University and College Union, is “institutionally anti-Semitic,” a London employment tribunal heard Monday.
The claim was made on the opening day of a potentially landmark case, which partially revolves around UCU’s resolutions concerning an academic boycott of Israel."

CIF Watch: Six more Palestinian ‘building inspectors’. Again, no context.
“The caption failed to mention the attack against Israel which precipitated the IDF operation – a grad rocket launched from Gaza that morning which destroyed a house in Netivot and injured several Israelis – nor that the building in Nuseirat was reportedly a weapons manufacturing facility.”

Seumas Milne, antisemitism and “the usual internet suspects”.
“Milne wasn’t condemning Holocaust revisionism. He was merely defending Stalinist revisionism.
Those of us among “the usual internet suspects” need not offer an ounce of gratitude to those who cynically champion the cause of dead Jews but seemingly remain indifferent to the aspirations of living Jews.”

BBC Watch: BBC report on Jews in Tunisia tainted by agenda-driven addition
"So, despite numerous examples, including the massacre of Jews in Baghdad in 1828, mass forced conversions in the Persian city of Meshed in 1839, the Damascus blood libel in 1840, the pogroms in Morocco in 1905, the 1929 Hebron massacre and the Farhud in 1941, the BBC once more returns to the simplistic narrative of contextualising prejudice and violence against Jews from Arab lands solely as a reaction to Israel and Zionism."

PMW: PA TV teaches children paradise is reward for martyrdom
“PA TV music video featuring Muhammad Al-Dura, the boy who was killed in a televised crossfire (apparently by Palestinians). Al-Dura calls other children to follow him to joyous child-Martyr Paradise. Al-Dura is shown frolicking joyously on the beach, with his kite, and even going to an amusement park.”

IDF busts Hamas cell in Ramallah, arrests 30 members
Suspects allegedly sought to rebuild Islamist terror cells in Hebron and Bethlehem

Jewish Leaders Blame Hillary Clinton For 'Legitimizing' Ukraine's Neo-Nazi Party
"Israel has expressed “deep concern” at a political breakthrough by an extremist party in Ukraine that is well known for its attacks on Jews and foreigners, and which managed to win a large number of parliamentary seats for the first time on Sunday thanks to an election pact with controversial opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko’s Fatherland Party. The opposition was also boosted by the tacit support of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton."

Sherrod Brown's Controversial Comments on Obamacare, Iran, Israel
"The senator refused to affirm Jerusalem as capital of Israel, merely stating the following:
I understand the symbolism of it, I’ve been to Jerusalem a number of times. I understand the importance of it, I understand the volatility of it. The Dome of the Rock is the center in many ways of three religions, at least three religions say that. So I understand all that."

Anti-harassment activist “depressed”
In Cairo, at least 87 harassers were arrested; most of them in Downtown where many people go to cinemas, restaurants and other public places to celebrate Eid, which represents the peak season for harassment.

Angry mob bars church goers in Beni Suef (Egypt)

Iranian warships dock in Sudan, days after alleged Israeli airstrike
Naval commanders of two states to meet, as Tehran conveys ‘message of peace and friendship’

Anti-Semitic flyers distributed in French town
Notices call on locals to ‘drive out the Jews’ from small town near Lyon

Their brother's keepers, Schalit and unit tour US schools
“On the one-year anniversary of his release, Gilad Schalit embarked on a speaking tour in New York City and Connecticut, accompanied by 17 soldiers from his old unit. The unit as a whole was affected psychologically by the abduction. Many still suffer from forms of post-traumatic stress disorder, survivor's guilt, insomnia, anxiety attacks, and anger. “

Israeli tech firms raise $488 mln in Q3 from VCs
Israeli high-tech firms raised $488 million in venture capital in the third quarter, up 8 percent from the second quarter, the Israel Venture Capital (IVC) Research Center said on Tuesday.

Lebanese op-ed against Hezbollah "resistance"

Interesting use of Hezbollah's logic against it at Now Lebanon:

Hezbollah anoints itself as “the Resistance” and unilaterally grants itself the right to be armed on the pretext that Israel is still occupying parts of Lebanon’s territory and is violating Lebanon’s airspace.

Therefore, if foreign occupation and violation of border integrity justify the right to bear arms, to be organized in an armed resistance movement and to be entitled to decide without consideration for anyone how, when and where to make use of these weapons, by the same logic, other groups may or should organize themselves into “resistances” to defend Lebanon from the attacks by the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Furthermore, maybe resistance organizations should be necessary to liberate Lebanon from Iranian occupation.

For indeed, Lebanon is under Iranian occupation. Hezbollah’s doctrine and its leaders’ statements identify the party as being part of “The Nation” rather than Lebanon. Also, Hezbollah does not hide the fact that it is an integral part of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Furthermore, the party is financed and armed by Iran, and unequivocally and unashamedly proclaims that it takes its orders from Iran’s Supreme leader of the Islamic Revolution. Moreover, the Lebanese state has no free access to the zone occupied by the Iranian militia, and the Lebanese air force is barred from flying in the area under the threat of being shot down. Hezbollah does not act as a Lebanese entity but as an Iranian militia staffed by Lebanese nationals.


Accordingly, considering Iran’s occupation of parts of Lebanon and the attacks of Bashar al-Assad’s army, and based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Taif Accord and the ministerial statements ratified by all parties to parliament which puts the army and the Resistance on the same level of the Lebanese people, every Lebanese—or group of Lebanese—is entitled to form a “resistance” of their own, to carry weapons and to decide when and how to use these weapons to defend Lebanon. Hezbollah is not the Resistance; at best it can be a resistance or the “Islamic Resistance,” but more realistically it should be named ex-resistance as it has stopped acting in such a capacity since the Israeli army left Lebanon.

When it comes to the occupation of one’s country and facing military aggression, there can be no double standard. Similar threats are entitled to similar responses. However, given the danger associated with the proliferation of resistance movements, it would be better for the army to effectively defend all borders against any and all aggression, for the Internal Security Forces to effectively be in charge of security within all of the Lebanese territory, and for the Iranian militia—Hezbollah—to be disarmed and its occupied zone returned to Lebanese sovereignty.

UN to censure Israel for splinters, stubbed toes

From Mightier Than The Pen:

This finger is widely considered the one Iran has on the button.

Geneva, Switzerland (AP) – Arab nations have brought a resolution to the United Nations Security Council that denounces Israel for perpetrating stubbed toes and splinter injuries throughout the Middle East, in violation of international law.

With the Palestinian Authority seeking yet again to establish itself as a non-member observer state some time during the coming year, Draft Resolution 4761 adds tension to an already volatile Arab-Israeli dynamic, which saw accusations fly earlier this year over the origins of body odor and ingrown hairs. Those resolutions were defeated by vetoes in Security Council voting, as both China and Russia did not want to encourage other nations to look into the national origins of lice and pimples.

In the proposed resolution’s current language, the Council “condemns Israel for continued victimization of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and in neighboring countries through the nefarious use of splinters and stubbed toes. The United Nations calls upon Israel to meet its obligations under international law and previous UN resolutions, and to cease causing injury to the innocent toes and fingers of oppressed minorities.”

Although Russia and China are expected not to veto this resolution, the U.S. State Department has expressed unease about its language, and most experts believe an American veto is inevitable, given profligate use of splinter and stubbed toe technology by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Israeli officials have remained largely silent on the matter, but a Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the Jewish state would expend little effort in lobbying its few allies on the Council to defeat the resolution, explaining that the country does not wish to call even more attention to its minor-foot-injury weaponry. It is widely believed in the intelligence community that Israel possesses wart and corn generators, and unconfirmed reports have surfaced in the last six months that the country has also developed a potent paper-cut-and-lemon-juice arsenal....

As usual, by the time the accusers of Israel figure out how to move a pawn, they've already been checkmated.

Israeli technology has gone way past the splinter and paper-cut stages. They've already patented special ringing-in-the-ear technology, for example.

Perhaps the most subversive invention, created less than a hundred years ago, was to create the hangover. It never existed before the "Free Soviet Jews" movement of the sixties, and was deliberately designed to enslave those behind the Iron Curtain.

But even as we speak, the Zionist fiends have gone way beyond physical irritation to invade the psyches of their enemies.

Yes, the very idea that a mere cartoon can insult a prophet - and that ordinary people must riot to defend their dead leader - is a completely Jewish invention.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

Fatah members proud that Arafat intended to fool the world with Oslo

I was going through a Fatah Facebook page and saw someone posted a video that they said was "very important."

It was a slightly edited version of a video that Palestinian Media Watch had posted long ago from a 1995 PA TV broadcast.

Arafat: "When the Prophet made the peace of Hudaybiya, [Muhammad's followers] Omar Ibn al Khattab and Ali Ibn Abi Talib said: "How can we accept an agreement like that?" "How can we accept such humiliation of our religion, Oh, Messenger of Allah?" And when we signed the agreement in Oslo if anyone has an objection to that agreement, I have a hundred."

Note: Arafat compares the Oslo Accords with the Hudaybiya Pact, which the Prophet Muhammad signed with the Quraish tribe with the intention of breaking it later.

So not only do many Arabs know that Arafat was lying at Oslo and that the Palestinian Arab leadership had no intention of making real peace with Israel - they are proud of it!

Morning after Sandy open thread

It was an eventful night with high winds and lots of transformer explosions, but not much rain. Power will be out for a while, maybe days.

I have a few posts queued up since yesterday for this afternoon but I don't see much new blogging until things sort themselves out.

So here is a post-hurricane open thread!

The liberation of a Jew-hater into a Zionist

From the Calgary Herald:

Kasim Hafeez grew up hating Jews and hating Israel. Now the 28-year-old British Muslim of Pakistani origin travels the world explaining how and why he has gone from a hater to a lover of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.

His personal journey of going from chanting “Death to Israel” in London’s Trafalgar Square to speaking about how he became a proud Zionist kept the Herald editorial board enraptured for much longer than our allotted hour on Thursday.

“To put it very bluntly, I was an anti-Semite,” the 28-year-old Nottingham-based university administrator said.
[...]
In 2000, Hafeez travelled to Pakistan and got swept up in radical Islam in a big way, believing that Muslims had to rise up and fight the “evil Jews and help his oppressed Muslim brothers and sisters.”

Upon returning to the U.K., Hafeez said he got further radicalized. He pulled out his iPad and showed photos of books, CDs and DVDs — including ones put out by the terrorist group al-Qaeda — that he bought openly at South Asian shops all over the U.K.

But his radicalization really ramped up upon attending university, where he studied political science, and with the help of his professors, turned virtually every class discussion towards how the Jews stole Muslim Palestinian land and were the root of all evil in the world.

After 9/11, Hafeez and his radical friends started attending “Stop the War” protests, which would “instantly turn into Israel hatefests.”

He and his Muslim friends made a point of befriending “middle-class white kids from Oxford” for their PR value. “We didn’t really see them as friends because we abhorred everything they stood for,” he admitted.

Eventually, all of his activism didn’t seem enough and Hafeez started saving money, hoping to return to Pakistan to attend a jihadi training camp. “Thankfully, it didn’t pan out that way,” he said, with a chuckle.

Hafeez’s plans were scuttled by reading The Case for Israel, by Alan Dershowitz. He read the book with the intent to “prove it all wrong.”

What he ultimately found out instead was that he knew virtually nothing about the region — that Jews, for instance, had lived in Israel for thousands of years and that a Palestinian state never actually existed. As he tried to prove the book wrong, the opposite started to happen:

“In hindsight, I never actually gave a real damn about Palestine, I was just obsessed with hating Israel.”

Starting to suspect the cause he was prepared to die for was a colossal lie, Hafeez fell into a depression. When he got better, he decided to travel to Israel to see for himself in 2007.

What he noticed was, even though he was held for eight hours at Ben Gurion Airport for questioning, he was treated with great courtesy and decency by the Israeli guards, who apologized to him repeatedly and who were the first Jews he had ever actually talked to.

The contrast to how he was treated in Saudi Arabia in 2002 when he went on a religious pilgrimage, shocked him. At the Saudi airport, while waiting in line for passport control, he was sent to the back of the line five times to make way for Arab Muslims, who are considered superior to South Asian Muslims: “I’ve never experienced the level of racism like I did in Saudi Arabia.”

By contrast, in Israel, while expecting to find apartheid signs directing Muslims to wait for one bus or another, what Hafeez saw instead were Muslims, Jews and Christians all going about their lives in harmony.

“Here’s a state that’s constantly called an enemy of Islam, yet Muslims have more rights in Israel than they have anywhere else in the Middle East,” he said.

In Jerusalem, Hafeez visited the Muslim mosque — the Dome of the Rock, where no Jews are allowed — the Christian Church of the Holy Sepulchre and then also visited the most holy site in the world for Jews, the Western Wall. With his Saudi experience still fresh in his mind, he assumed Muslims would be barred, but he was welcomed.

As he stood among Orthodox Jewish men and others praying, Hafeez said when he reached out and touched the wall, he “burst into tears.”

A rabbi asked him if he was OK. Hafeez said that he was. The rabbi asked him if he was Jewish. Hafeez said no. The rabbi then said, “That’s OK, this is Jerusalem, it’s everybody’s home.”

Years of hatred and animosity toward Jews and Israel melted away at that moment and Hafeez became a free man — like the people of Israel.

“Being so full of hate is just not healthy,” said Hafeez, who visited 10 Canadian cities on this tour. “Life is just so much better when you’re not so angry and full of hate.”

In many respects, the costs have been great for speaking the truth. Hafeez has received death threats, and his father would rather continue to invest his life into hating Jews and Israel, than loving his son, whom he refuses to see.

Ultimately, Hafeez said he seeks to warn the West of the incompatibility of radicalized Islam with a liberal democracy.

“Radical Islam has been brilliant at using this term ‘Islamaphobia’ to stifle any debate about the negative influence of radical Islam on western society,” he said.

“Radical Islamists are using freedom of expression rights to limit our freedom of expression,” he warned. “We must stop this now.”

There have been other articles about Hafeez, for example here.

Egypt asserts its masculinity; bars American woman for "insult"

From Bikya Masr:

After allegedly insulting an Egyptian customs officer at the Aqaba port, an American woman was barred from entering Egypt, the ministry of interior said Tuesday.

The woman, who was trying to cross into Egypt from the eastern port of Aqaba, allegedly “verbally attacked” the customs officer over visa-related issues and when the ministry was made aware of the incident, the decision to forbid the women from entering the country was put into action.

Amr Roshdy, the spokesman for the ministry of foreign affairs said that the necessary legal steps were made against the banned visitor.

The rest of this article shows what is obvious to anyone who actually observes the region, and it is missed by those who refuse to see the truth:

Reports mentioning the incident were cheered by online commentators.

One man said it was “a step in the right direction to regain Egypt’s dignity” while another said that “this action puts us on the same level with the US.”

Egypt’s decreasing regional role and US dominance across parts of the region has made Egyptians yearn for action that proves Egypt’s power and asserts its place internationally.

This is the honor/shame mentality that is the key to understanding the Arabic-speaking world.

Arabs will act in ways that are at odds with how Westerners would act - because they think differently.

The idea of such pride at banning a woman is ridiculous on its face, but once you put it in the proper context of an honor/shame society, it makes perfect sense.

And the last paragraph proves that it isn't Israel that the Arabs resent - it is Western power, viewed as being at the expense of Arab masculinity.

It might be a throwaway article, but if you don't understand it, you don't understand the Middle East.

Monday links/Sandy administrivia

I continue to await the full force of Hurricane Sandy, headed pretty much directly at stately Elder Manor, and things will start to get really interesting this afternoon. I'm going on the assumption that my power will go out at one point between now and tomorrow morning.

So I'm queuing up as many posts as I can for tomorrow as the winds increase.

Oddly, my Google Nexus Galaxy phone has a built-in barometer. I don't understand why that would be considered a feature for a phone, even a smartphone, but I have been watching the numbers go down...and down....and down since yesterday. It was around 1000 mBar last night, but at 10:30 AM it was at 985, at 2:00 PM it is down to 972, at 3:45 it fell below 967. (I'm not adjusting for height above sea level.) (963 at 4:45.)

There is a neat map of US barometric pressure here.

Meanwhile, here are some links from Ian:

---

Peace Calling No Answer (video)

Concerned that U.S. policies toward Israel and Palestinians are hampering, not helping the peace process, an organization of Rabbis and peace advocates turn to Hollywood for a new script...a trilogy of satirical videos of which this is the third. Real Peace Middle East

via Daphne Anson

Douglas Murray: Palestinian Terrorists on the Payroll

British taxpayers are helping to pay the salaries of jailed bomb makers.
"Many British taxpayers, struggling to pay their family's way through a recession, might rightly wonder why their money is going to pay as much as £2,000 a month to people serving the longest sentences—those who have targeted Israeli buses and other civilian targets with suicide bombers, for instance. That is higher than the average wage in nearly all of Britain. You might be forgiven for wondering, if you were a struggling teaching assistant in the North of England, why failing to tick "suicide bomber" on your careers form should have left you so much worse off than a terrorist in the Middle East."

The Region: A friend who acts like an enemy is an enemy By Barry Rubin

"Here’s the issue: A number of supposed allies of the United States don’t act as friends. In fact, they are major headaches, often subverting US goals and interests. But to avoid conflict and, for Obama, to look successful to the domestic audience, Washington pretends that everything is fine."

From under the bus: A response to Efraim Halevy

"Halevy’s airbrushed “history” leaves out Republican then-president Nixon’s extraordinary backing of Israel in the Yom Kippur War, and Ronald Reagan’s formalization of strategic cooperation with Israel, which created the web of ties between the Pentagon and IDF and the progressive strengthening of Israel’s military capability still in effect today. He omits Republican presidents who fought bitterly against the United Nations’ “Zionism is Racism” resolution — and finally got that resolution repealed — and ignores then-president George W. Bush’s diplomatic cover for the Second Lebanon War."

Palestinian Elections: Which Fatah Won? by Khaled Abu Toameh

"Abbas's term in office expired in January 2009, but this has not stopped him from continuing to cling to power. In wake of the results of the local elections, it has become obvious that Abbas does not have a mandate -- even from his Fatah faction -- to embark on any significant political move, such as signing a peace treaty with Israel or applying for membership for a Palestinian state in the UN.
Instead of going to New York next month to ask for Palestinian membership, Abbas should stay in Ramallah and work toward reuniting and reforming Fatah before his political rivals drive him and his veteran loyalists out of office."

Egyptian authorities reportedly seize 1.7 million documents proving Jewish ownership of assets in Cairo

"Elaph, a Saudi-owned news site, reported that Egyptian police received notice that the packages were being held at a shipping company in the Nasser City district of Cairo. Upon arriving at the scene, police found over 1.7 million documents dating back to the 19th century, dealing with Jewish ownership of assets in Cairo. The documents, according to the security source speaking to the Saudi site, weighed over two tons."

Covered on EoZ over a week ago: Egyptian police: Attempt to smuggle Jewish property papers out of Egypt

The Strike on Sudan: A Lesson for Iran?

"A weekend paper showed two maps - a map marking the distance from Israel to Khartoum, and a map showing the distance from Israel to Iran. Significantly, the distance to Khartoum is quite a bit further and so, in this airstrike, Israel is sending another message to Iran."

Iran, Argentina set to meet in Geneva over 1994 Jewish center bombing
Buenos Aires demands the extradition of 8 terror suspects, including Iranian defense minister and former president

Historian slams Germany for ignoring anti-semitism
German-Jew Dr. Julius H. Schoeps accuses the Bundestag of shelving report documenting Jew-hatred in the country.

Honest Reporting: TV Host Refuses to Back Down After Calling Israel a “Cancer”
On Tuesday 23 October, Irish broadcaster Vincent Browne referred to Israel as a “cancer” during his live show on TV3 channel’s Tonight With Vincent Brown.

Argentine National Library cancels anti-Israel event
The Argentine National Library has canceled its program “The Ethical Trial of the Israeli Occupation and Colonization of Palestine,” The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.

New Warsaw museum preserves 1,000 years of Jewish life
Museum of the History of Polish Jews aims to join the ranks of Yad Vashem and the US Holocaust museum, but does not focus only on tragedy

Remaining Jews in Gondar to be brought to Israel
By next September, all remaining eligible Ethiopian Jews in the Jewish Agency camp in Gondar, Ethiopia, will be brought to Israel and the camp will be closed • The Jewish Agency is preparing them for life in Israel.

BrightSource gets $80 million more for California solar plant
The Ivanpah solar power plant, being built using technology developed in Israel, will be the largest in the world

Palestinian Arab mother proudly places suicide belt on her son

From Palestinian Media Watch:

The Facebook page for Fatah in Lebanon has posted this picture of a mother dressing her young son with a suicide belt. This picture was posted on the Fatah site together with an imaginary conversation between the son who is being sent to his death and the mother encouraging it.

"My mother dressed me in a strange belt (i.e., a suicide belt).
I asked her: 'What is this, mother?'
She said: 'I will put it on you and you will go to your death!'
I said to her: 'Mother, what have I done that you want me to die?'
She shed a tear that hurt my heart and said: 'The homeland needs you, son. Go and blow up the sons of Zion.'
I said to her: 'Why me and not you?'
She said: 'I will stay in order to give birth to more children for the sake of Palestine.'
I kissed her hand and said to her: 'Keep it up, mother, for you and for Palestine I will kill the impure and the damned.'"

[Fatah-Lebanon's Facebook page,

posted Sept. 3, 2012, accessed Oct. 28, 2012]

That photo has been going around the Internet for a couple of years; not sure where it originally came from.

PMW gives lots of other examples of encouraging children to kill themselves for the cause.

Egyptian Shiites upset over belly dancing to religious song

From Al Arabiya:

A belly dancer stirred a wave of anger among Shiites in Egypt as she appeared in an Egyptian movie raving to a song praising Fatima, the daughter of Prophet Muhammad and the wife of Imam Ali, highly venerated in Shiite Islam, who called for banning the movie to screen in theaters.

Baha Anwar Mohammed, spokesman of Egyptian Shiites, has condemned belly dancer Dina for her performance in the film “Abdo Mouta” to be offensive and highly disrespectful to the People of the House (Ahl al-Bayt), the family of Prophet Muhammad, particularly important to Shia Muslims.

Baha was quoted by Egypt’s al-Sabah newspaper as saying that the country’s Shiites will file a complaint to the general prosecutor against the film demanding to ban it from screening as it insults prominent Islamic figures.

Shiites believe Imam Ali and the rest of Ahl al-Bayt as prophet’s successors. Baha called on Egypt’s Al-Azhar Islamic School and its Grand Mufti to condemn “such abuse” to the prophet’s family.

Dina, the belly dancer, denied her performance in the movie was meant to offend Islamic prominent figures.

She responded, "I am a Muslim and no one can say that I abused the people of the Prophet, God forbid. It's just a song, and the dance was not tacky at all"

Although the song “Virtuous Mother of Hasan and Husain” praises Fatima, the fact that a belly dancer dances to it was seen as highly inappropriate.

Here is Dina performing. May be NSFW.

Egyptian child preacher robotically chants for destruction of Israel

From MEMRI:

Oh Islamic nation, oh all Muslims...martyrdom on the path of Allah is a religious duty incumbent upon you, oh believers. It is your path for salvation in the eyes of the Lord. Oh Islamic nation, oh all Muslims. (repeated twice)

Pray: "Oh Allah, destroy Israel" (Amen) Oh Allah, destroy Israel. [inaudible] the accursed Sharon, Bush and Obama. 

The kid looks, literally, brainwashed. He shows no comprehension of his words, and he appears more like a distracted singer who knows the lyrics by heart than someone who understands the hate he is mindlessly chanting.

Ironically, this brainwashed kid is being used in turn to brainwash thousands more watching him on TV.

Don't worry, though - he might have no idea what he is saying now, but in a few years he might turn into this teenage preacher.

Joke: Ha'aretz issues a correction for "apartheid" libel (UPDATE)

From CAMERA:

Five days after the publication of a distorted headline which was picked up by numerous international media outlets, Ha'aretz today published a clarification. In the last several days, numerous critics, including CAMERA, have weighed in about Ha'aretz's coverage of the Dialog poll, including the false headlines. The English online version was "Survey: Most Israeli Jews support apartheid regime in Israel," and the print edition was likewise wrong and damaging: "Survey: Most Israeli Jews advocate discrimination against Arab citizens."

Today, this clarification appears in the Hebrew print edition:

It states (CAMERA's translation):

The wording of the front-page headline, "The majority of Israelis support apartheid in Israel" (Ha'aretz, Oct. 23), did not accurately reflect the findings of the Dialog poll. The question to which most respondents answered in the negative did not relate to the current situation, but to a hypothetical situation in the future: "If Israel annexes territories in Judea and Samaria, in your opinion, should 2.5 million Palestinians be given the right to vote for the Knesset?"

...A small correction buried on page five about a highly visible front-page headline does not do justice to the problem. Levy's articles about the poll continue to inflict damage on Israel's international image. The clarification, though important, does not begin to put out the fire. It's reasonable to assume that most of those who celebrated the initial erroneous reports have no clue that a clarification was printed.

Read the whole thing, including how this is a pattern at Ha'aretz.

I can say with certainty that the original "apartheid" article was instantly reproduced throughout the Arab media, and is still being reported as fact today.

This was the second false "apartheid" headline in less than two weeks; the first one was also clarified after the fact. And that false story - that the Israeli government officially admits that Jews are a minority ruling a majority hostile Arab population - was also instantly flashed across the world in Arabic, as well as in the West.

The amount of damage that Ha'aretz is knowingly causing the State of Israel is immense. They are so eager to paint their country as a horrid, racist entity that their vitriol often exceeds that of Arab publications themselves. The joke that Ha'aretz is Israel's Hebrew-language Arab newspaper is not far off from the truth.

Journalists must be cognizant of the impact of their words. In the cases of many Ha'aretz writers, like Gideon Levy, Akiva Eldar and Amira Hass, it appears that they are in fact quite aware of that impact - and that is exactly why they lie. Imagine the boost to their egos, knowing that the most absurd charges against Israel get immediately picked up as fact by newspapers worldwide!

As CAMERA notes, Ha'aretz' editors need to be held accountable for this sickening habit of twisting facts to fit a pre-existing agenda hostile to the state and people of Israel.  Israelis know this - that is why Ha'aretz' circulation is a fraction of those of the top three Israeli papers, and its website is ranked a dismal 7th among Israeli news sites.

However, news media worldwide that rely on Ha'aretz as a reliable news source must be made aware of what Israelis know - that Ha'aretz is acting more like a propaganda rag than a respectable newspaper.

UPDATE: A longer correction, written by Levy, ridiculously claims that the lies "were not made intentionally, but as a result of neglect due to time pressure." He then goes on to defend his bias and his conclusions.

Keep in mind that the poll was done over five weeks before the story was published.

IDF drops leaflets on Gaza warning residents to stay away from border, terrorists

Arabic media is reporting that the IDF has been dropping leaflets onto southern Gaza Monday morning warning residents to stay safe.

The flyers, spread from Rafah to Deir al Balah, tell Gazans to stay at least 300 meters away from the border with Israel. It also urges them to stay away from rocket launchers and terrorists. The leaflets say that the terror groups pose a threat to people's lives, their families, their children and their property. The papers further said that that terrorists are firing rockets from populated areas into Israel, saying it will pursue the launchers.

Pro-terror media outlets warned other Arab newspapers in the area - and even in Egypt - not to publish the text or images of the flyers, so as not to play into the hands of the IDF and to avoid having Gazans read the "lies" of the enemy.

Similarly, Hamas has been gathering up the warnings and burning them as fast as they can, ostensibly to reduce "confusion."

And, incidentally, the entire concept of human shields doesn't work as well when the shields refuse to play along.

Leaked videotape shows Tunisia's "moderate" president re-assuring Salafists

From allAfrica, in a story that got picked up by Die Welt today:

Some Tunisians are accusing Ennahda's leader of pursuing a hidden agenda with salafists.

A leaked video featuring Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi strategising with young salafist leaders is causing controversy in Tunisia.

In the video, which was first broadcast last April and re-broadcast October 9th, Ghannouchi said, "The secularists are still controlling the media, economy and administration. Therefore, controlling them would require more time." He added that "the police and army's support for Islamists is not guaranteed, and controlling them would also require more time."

"I tell our young salafists to be patient... Why hurry? Take your time to consolidate what you have gained," Ghannouchi said before advising them to "create television channels, radio stations, schools and universities" to push their agenda.

The Ennahda leader said, "We've met with Hizb ut-Tahrir, and the salafists, including Sheikh Abou Iyadh and Sheikh al-Idrissi."

Abou Iyadh, also known as Seif Allah Ben Hassine, is currently wanted by Tunisian police in connection with the September 14th attack on the US embassy.

In the video, Ghannouchi said he was "not afraid" to include an article in the new constitution on Sharia law. He went on to mock secularists who accept Islam and fear Sharia. "They are like those who accepted content but rejected the name itself," he said.

He also told the salafists about achievements that were made for them after Ennahda came to office. "The government is now at the hands of Islamists, the mosques are ours now, and we've become the most important entity in the country," he said.

"The Islamists must fill the country with associations, establish Qur'anic schools everywhere, and invite religious preachers because people are still ignorant of Islam," Ghannouchi continued.

In his first reaction to the leaking of video, Ghannouchi said that his words were "taken out of context", adding that the secularism he denounced was "the radical and extreme secularism".

King of Bahrain reportedly coming to Gaza - is UNRWA legitimizing Hamas rule?

This story comes from Islamic Jihad's Palestine Today, which is generally a pretty good news source considering it is run by terrorists and their supporters.

Informed sources in the northern Sinai said that notice has been given to plan for Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain, to visit the Gaza Strip, this coming week.

The sources confirmed the King will fly from Bahrain in Arish Airport International, and then transfer via helicopter to the city of Rafah, 40 kilometers from the airport, and then will cross into the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing amid heavy Egyptian and Bahraini security forces.

The sources pointed out that it is expected that the king of Bahrain to provide some financial aid and grants to the Gaza Strip, during his visit.

The visit was arranged by UNRWA and Khalifa is scheduled to meet the Prime Minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh.

If UNRWA is facilitating a visit between a head of state and the head of Hamas, that means that the UN is officially recognizing Hamas - a terror group that just today asserted that there is no room for Israel in the Middle East - as the official political leadership of Gaza, and it would be a slap in the face of the PA.

An Egyptian paper verifies that the king is arriving, but doesn't mention UNRWA.

We'll find out this week if the UNRWA story is true.

Sunday links

From Ian:

---

The European Left and Its Trouble With Jews

"Today, a sizable section of the European left has been reluctant to take a clear stand when anti-Zionism spills over into anti-Semitism. Beginning in the 1990s, many on the European left began to view the growing Muslim minorities in their countries as a new proletariat and the Palestinian cause as a recruiting mechanism. The issue of Palestine was particularly seductive for the children of immigrants, marooned between identities."

Malice, media bias, and the Cape Times

One of the strange paradoxes of our age is the unholy alliance between many self-designated Western social progressives and assorted tyrants, homophobes, xenophobes and anti-Semites in the Middle East.
"Three atrocities were examined: the Bulgarian bomb attack, the Toulouse shootings and the Fogel family murders (which took place in 2011). In brief, only the Bulgarian bomb attack was actually reported by the Cape Times while the other two were essentially ignored. Nevertheless, the paper did find space to present other either irrelevant or anti-Israel articles at the time these atrocities took place."

‘Whining’ About ‘Pathetic’ Rockets

“For instance, between 2006 and 2011, 44 Israelis were killed and 1,687 injured by Gaza rockets. These figures include many children, as terrorists often fire rockets when Israeli children are walking to school. More than one million Israelis live in range of rocket attack from Gaza.
What do Israel’s critics have to say about this?
Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow describes the rockets thusly: “pretty pathetic things – nobody gets injured”. The Electronic Intifada’s Ali Abunimah complained only yesterday about Israelis “whining about rockets”. Other opponents of Israel have dismissed the rockets as mere “fireworks”, and sneered that their only effect is to unsettle the pets of a handful of Israeli families.”

CIF Watch: Ben White dreams that, by the “bloodshed and sweat of martyrs”, Palestine will be free!

BBC Watch: The BBC, History and Politics

Another object which appears on the website is a Canaanite bottle from around 2,000 BCE. It is described as coming from “Jericho, Palestine”, but of course the term Palestine did not come into use for a further two millennia until it was introduced by Hadrian in 135 CE.

Hezbollah crosses Syrian border with bloody assault on Assad's enemies
Shia fighters coming to the regime's aid have tipped the balance of power. Loveday Morris meets beleaguered rebels taking sanctuary a few kilometres from the border

Syrian rebels find Iranian cash in the wallets of Assad’s militiamen

Saudi authorities disperse anti-Assad protest in Mecca

Iran cancels parliamentary visit over EU demands to meet Sakharov Prize recipients
Official in Tehran says his country does not accept any preconditions

Iran Installs 3,000 Centrifuges, Works to Trade Oil With Asia to Circumvent Sanctions

"International intelligence officials say that Iran has installed nearly 3,000 centrifuges at a nuclear site called Fordo, located under a mountain and inside a military base near the holy city of Qum, the Washington Post reported."

Lebanon arrests two Malaysian suspected suicide bombers

On Thursday, Lebanon's Al-Joumhouria newspaper, quoting security sources, said the Malaysians were detained by army intelligence on charges of being al-Qaeda members.
Investigations revealed they were recruited into al-Qaeda by another Malaysian before being taken to Yemen where they met other members of the organisation.
Al-Joumhouria said that about two months ago, the two Malaysians had tried to enter Syria via Turkey on a jihadist mission to carry out suicide attacks.

Indonesia Arrests 11 People Suspected of Planning Terror Attack Against U.S. Embassy

Saudi Textbooks Incite Hate, Say Leaders in American Publishing

"A ninth-grade textbook published by the Ministry of Education states, “The Jews and the Christians are enemies of the believers, and they cannot approve of Muslims.” An eighth-grade textbook says, “The Apes are the people of the Sabbath, the Jews; and the Swine are the infidels of the communion of Jesus, the Christians.” These are just two examples of a long list of hate-filled passages."

'Hate content against religious minorities rampant in school textbooks across Pakistan'
Textbooks used in Pakistan's schools include factual errors and hate content, which fuels the increasing levels of intolerance and extremism in the society, according to education experts.

Israeli 5-in-1 tool for rescuers creates design buzz
An industrial design student’s nifty invention for disaster scenes garnered lots of attention at Milan Design Week.

Israel Daily Picture: Jerusalem Commemorates the Visit of the German Emperor 114 Years Ago
The Kaiser Arrives, and the Rabbis Turn Out. How Jerusalem's Jews Greeted the German Emperor in 1898

The Allah Goat. Buy and slaughter it today!

From the Daily Mail:

A prized goat has been put up for sale in India with a whopping £128,000 price tag.

Islam Bhati, 37, from Rajasthan in India, is trying to sell his finest goat for 11 million rupees to a Muslim family celebrating the Eid al-Adha festival.

The two-year-old animal is organic and has the word 'Allah' in Arabic emblazoned on one side of his fur. He also has a crescent and star on the other side.

Mr Bhati said: ‘It’s a miracle animal and I feel blessed to own him. We have looked after this goat like our child and he’s the best goat around. We can easily charge 11 million for such a divine animal, it's pretty reasonable.’

Mr Bhati, who run's the family's marble business, bought the goat from a nearby farm two years' ago.

He said: ‘I noticed the inscriptions soon after I bought him. I knew it was sacred. Since we took him into our home we have cared for him and fed him pulses, fresh tree leaves and dry fruit. His meat will be very good.’

Mr Bhati has been offered huge sums for the goat since he posted an advert on the Internet last week. However, no one has stepped forward and paid the asking price yet.

You might think this is a unique, once in a lifetime occurrence. After all, how many goats have spots that can be interpreted by idiotic Muslims as Allah?

Well, the same thing happened in 2007, also in India:



And in 2008:



But this goat did them all one better, because it had both Allah and Mohammed on it!



Allah must really love goats to reveal himself in so many of them.

Then again, he also seems to like to show up in people's ears, on honeycombs, clouds and tsunamis.

Not to mention ice-cream logos and sneakers, but since those were Western creations, they were abominations and not miracles.

Hurricane open thread

Jewish weather control stations had a minor glitch late last week, and as a result a small meteorological disturbance is headed directly towards La maison Elder which may entail some emergency measures at EoZ Central.

So today I need to make some preparations.

It is entirely possible that power will go out around here, probably sometime Monday, and that would make blogging a little bit more difficult.

So here's an open thread while I batten down the hatches.

And I try to get this stupid song out of my mind:



Not to mention this:

LA Times: More Jews praying on Temple Mount (updated)

Not a bad report - with the glaring exception of the media believing Muslim lies without checking:

A simple, ancient ritual is threatening the delicate security balance atop Jerusalem's most sacred plaza: Jews are praying.

On most days, dozens — sometimes hundreds — of Jewish worshipers ascend to the disputed 36-acre platform that Muslims venerate as Al Aqsa mosque and Jews revere as the Temple Mount with an Israeli police escort to protect them and a Muslim security guard to monitor their movements.

Then, they recite a quick prayer, sometimes quietly to themselves, other times out loud.

Jewish activists call the prayers harmless acts of faith. Police and Muslim officials see them as dangerous provocations, especially given the deep religious sensitivities of the site and its history of violence. Twelve years ago, the presence of Jews on the plaza was so controversial that a brief tour by Israeli politician Ariel Sharon helped trigger a Palestinian uprising that lasted more than four years. [Lie #1]

But today Jewish worshipers are commonplace, coming in greater numbers than at any time since Israel's founding and perhaps, some scholars say, as far back as half a millennium ago. Their goal? To challenge the Israeli government's tacit acceptance and enforcement of a ban on Jews praying there by the Islamic trust that has continued to administer the site even after Israel captured the Old City in 1967.

Jewish visits to the plaza are expected to surpass 12,000 this year, up 30% from 2011, according to estimates by Jewish worshiper groups.

"What is provocative about a person wanting to pray?" Rabbi Chaim Richman asked after defying mainstream rabbinical religious rulings and risking arrest by praying on a recent morning near the golden Dome of the Rock. The world's oldest surviving Islamic monument, it's built atop the site where Jews believe their first temple held the Ten Commandments.

"It's the most basic human right," said Richman, international director of the Temple Institute. "I'm not asking to build a temple. I'm just asking to move my lips."

His group and others that advocate the rebuilding of a Jewish temple have often been dismissed by other Israelis and the international community as extremists and zealots who seek to destroy the Dome and the nearby Al Aqsa mosque. Now they are betting this prayer campaign will give their cause more mainstream support, portraying it as a matter of religious equality and free speech.

How can it be, they ask, that in the state of Israel, Jews and Christians are banned from praying at Judaism's holiest site, while Muslims can worship freely? Even the U.S. State Department has cited Israel's ban on non-Muslim prayer on the plaza in its annual report on religious freedom, they note.

The groups want the Israeli government to implement a time-sharing plan that would set aside certain hours for Jewish worship, similar to one used to divide Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs, a holy site for Muslims and Jews.

Palestinians and Muslim leaders call the prayer campaign the latest ruse designed to instigate clashes so that Israel can justify putting the plaza under military control.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas this month accused Israel of launching a "fierce assault" on the mosque after soldiers broke up a Muslim riot triggered by a group of Jewish worshipers. [Lie #2]

Jordan, which has maintained day-to-day supervision of the plaza through an Islamic trust called the Waqf, is asking the U.N.'s cultural body, UNESCO, to condemn Israel for permitting an increase in Jewish prayers.

"The Israeli strategy is to take it over," said Mahdi Abdul Hadi, chairman of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs, a Jerusalem think tank. "We don't want to share, not because we don't accept them, but because we don't trust them." He said the Hebron agreement was supposed to result in sharing, but it led to bloody clashes between Jews and Muslims, and finally a military takeover. [Lie #3]

Hadi also noted that temple-rebuilding extremists set fire to Al Aqsa mosque in 1969 and plotted to bomb the Dome of the Rock in the 1980s. [Lie #4]

Jewish prayer at the Jerusalem holy site is certainly not new, but it has been rarely seen during the last 2,000 years. After the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70, a Jewish presence on the plaza was mostly banned or severely limited during Christian and Islamic rule.

Under the Ottoman Empire, Jews were given access to the Western Wall — believed to be a remnant of the Second Temple compound — but banned from the plaza above, which was reserved for Muslims only, according to Israeli historian F.M. Loewenberg.

Even after Israel took control of East Jerusalem in 1967, most Jews stayed away because of rabbinical prohibitions that warned them against visiting the site lest they inadvertently step on hallowed ground.

In recent years, however, a small but growing number of rabbis have softened that position. At the same time, national religious groups have argued that Israel should exert greater control over what is considered Judaism's holiest site.

In 2000, Jewish visitors were allowed onto the plaza only in groups of two or three at a time and even moving lips in silent prayer might led to arrest, Jewish activists say. Today Jewish groups as large as 150 are allowed to roam the plaza, sometimes drawing nothing more than cold stares and quiet curses from Muslims.

But instead of furtive prayers when police aren't looking, more worshipers are sometimes singing and lying on the ground in keeping with Jewish traditions. Such overt prayer often sparks clashes with Muslims, as occurred this month during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot when a right-wing Israeli politician was arrested for praying.

Police officials say they oppose any attempt to allow non-Muslim prayer on the plaza.

"As soon as that takes place, it causes a response from Israeli Arabs, and the Israeli police have to respond and separate them," said Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. "Our aim is to keep the status quo and make sure the different religions can use and respect the site."

Right-wing Israeli lawmaker Arieh Eldad, who recently drafted a bill to impose a time-sharing plan that would allow Jews to pray at specified times, accused Palestinians of using the threat of violence to keep the plaza to themselves.

"Muslims are blackmailing the West, saying they will burn, riot and murder if we practice our right of freedom of speech," he said.

Temple group activists say their strategy is to keep praying and getting arrested, hoping Israeli courts will force the government to drop the ban.

Israel's Supreme Court upheld the right of Jews to pray on the plaza, but gave police broad latitude to restrict access in the name of security. Muslim males younger than 45 are also sometimes banned from the holy site for security reasons.

"We're focusing on prayer for the next year," said Aviad Visuli, a Haifa attorney who represents Jewish activists. "It's something nobody can object to."

Waqf leaders in Jerusalem declined to speak publicly, citing the sensitivity of the issue. But one Waqf official warned that Palestinian and Arab Israeli worshipers are increasingly uneasy over the prospect of sharing the plaza.

"This is a Muslim site," the official said. "If the police don't stop this, the people will. For Muslims, this is a red line."

Arab lie #1:
At least the authors wrote Sharon's visit "helped trigger" instead of "triggered" the second intifada, but the fact is that the riots were planned for months before Sharon's visit. From a December 2000 speech to the UN by the Israeli ambassador:

It now seems as if the leading role that the Palestinian leadership has played in the current spate of violence is finally being admitted. The Palestinian semi-official daily Al Ayyam reported on 6 December that Palestinian Minister of Communications, Imad Al Falouji, confirmed that the Palestinian Authority had begun preparations for the outbreak of the current intifada from the moment the Camp David talks concluded, this in accordance with instructions given by Chairman Arafat himself. Mr. Falouji went on to state that Arafat launched this intifada as the culminating stage of "Palestinian steadfastness" in the negotiations, and not merely as a protest of Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount (Al-Ayyam, 6 December 2000)

Arab lie #2:
From reading the Arab media, while they complain about "Talmudic rituals" on the Temple Mount, it is the mere presence of Jews there that cause them to protest - not the prayers. They will fill their newspapers with photos of "Jewish desecrators" who are merely walking around.

Arab lie #3:
The massacre at the Cave of the Patriarchs [1994] preceded the Hebron agreement in the Wye River Accords [1996.] It wasn't that the agreement caused the massacre.

However, there were plenty of horrid terror attacks by Arabs against the Jews of Hebron after the Accords. For example, the 1998 murders of Rabbi Shlomo Ra'anan (stabbed in his bedroom) and Danny Vargas, or the 2001 murder of 10-month old Shalhevet Pass.

The idea that Wye River was an Arab gesture of wanting to live peacefully with Jews is an outrageous lie.

Arab lie #4:
While there was a Jewish plot to bomb the Al Aqsa mosque in the 1980s, the 1969 attack was done by an unhinged Christian, not Jews, as implied here.

UPDATE: CAMERA found some other problems with the article, including - most egregiously - the headline.