May 2013 ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Friday, May 31, 2013

Editors admit Arab media has no journalistic standards

From Al Arabiya: The editor of the world’s biggest pan-Arab newspaper has hit out against Middle Eastern journalists, saying they lack objectivity and are “more politicized than you would ever imagine”. Adel al-Toraifi, the editor-in-chief of the London-based Asharq al-Awsat, slammed media standards in the Arab world, claiming that many journalists let their personal views get in the way of the story. “Journalists in the Middle East are...

Friday Links Part 2

From Ian: Latma: Europe responds to its random violence and Shimon's World of Fun! Israel ‘the most threatened state in the world,’ says PM Facing the threat of thousands of enemy rockets, Israel’s home front is more vulnerable than ever, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday at a meeting concluding this week’s home front drill, which tested the country’s readiness for chemical and conventional rocket attacks. “We are deep in the era...

This is not much of an exaggeration. Hamas "Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Ghazi Hamad, spoke at an event today to mark the third anniversary of Israel's raid on a Gaza flotilla. He seemed to be very happy that nine IHH members were killed. Hamad said that as a result of the incident, Turkish relations with Hamas are the best they have ever been. he...

New movie pits IDF against....zombies.

Warning: Graphic violence in this trailer. It's unclear which side Hezbollah is on. (h/t Table...

Friday Links Part 1

From Ian: Palestinians Threaten Their Own Businessmen by Khaled Abu Toameh Many of those responsible for the "anti-normalization" campaign are, in fact, affiliated with Mahmoud Abbas's ruling Fatah faction. The campaign of intimidation against Palestinian businessmen will not only foil Kerry's plan to boost the Palestinian economy, but also scare away potential investors from launching badly needed projects in the West Bank. The campaign has already...

Mass graves in Jaffa - but who killed them?

Over the past couple of days the Arab media have been reporting on the discovery of mass graves of Arabs in Jaffa. The Al Aqsa Foundation made the discovery and naturally they want the world to assume that these Arabs were killed by Jews: Six mass grave sites dating back to the 1936 Palestinian uprising and the 1948 Nakba were discovered around the Jaffa cemetery, the al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage reported Wednesday, revealing...

Iranian liberalism: Judges can choose other death penalty for adultery than stoning

They are so progressive! Iran has amended its internationally condemned law on stoning convicted adulterers to death to allow judges to impose a different form of execution, according to the revision seen by AFP on Thursday. The controversial practice, in which stones are thrown at the partially buried offender, has provoked outcries from human rights organisations, international bodies and Western countries urging Iran to abandon it. An article...

US counterterrorism report is not bad, but downplays problems in PA-controlled areas

The 2012 Counterterrorism Report from the US State Department is a very good resource to see the big picture of what the state of world terrorism is. Here are some highlights from the specific country sections. Iran is clearly recognized as a state sponsor of terror, and Hizballah's terror operations have accelerated: In 2012, there was a clear resurgence of Iran’s state sponsorship of terrorism, through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods...

Nigeria catches Hizballah terrorists

From BBC: An armoury belonging to the Lebanese group Hezbollah has been discovered in northern Nigeria, the West African nation's army and spy agency has said. Three Lebanese nationals have been arrested, an army spokesman, Brig Gen Ilyasu Isa Abba, said. The cache, including rifles, anti-tank weapons and an RPG, were found in a warehouse in the city of Kano, he said. Nigeria's...

Thursday Links Part 2

From Ian: Elad Daniel Pereg: Message to Iran In 2010 Daniel walked in front of an anti-Israel mob in LA with an Israeli flag. WSJ: Curious IRS Timing Why the special scrutiny for pro-Israel groups? A New York Times article in July 2010 provided a clue: Tax-exempt groups were donating to West Bank settlers, and State Department officials wanted the settlers out. "As the American government seeks to end the four-decade Jewish settlement enterprise...

Video of Ramallah kids playing with enormous snake

Or, perhaps, a snake playing with its food.... This video is going around...I see it in some Arabic sites and now was picked up in Walla: (h/t Gidon Shaviv...

Lebanon report roundup: Hizbollah ejecting Hamas from Lebanon; Hizb on Gulf terror list?,

From Ya Libnan: Lebanese Hezbollah militant group has ordered its former ally the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas out of Lebanon effective immediately and within hours , the Middle East Online news agency reported on Thursday. The move, the report says, is due to Hamas support for the opposition forces fighting to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad. Both Hezbollah and Syria are allies of Iran, which provides the two with financial and military...

Thursday Links Part 1

From Ian: Ya'alon, let IDF win In light of his past and his principles, it is hard to believe Ya'alon will continue to favor the State of Israel's photogenic and diplomatic needs over the need for deterrence. This deterrence is eroding at a frightening pace. The restraint policy of the past few months has not convinced the Palestinians to stop. It convinced them to carry on. Stone-throwing incidents have steadily increased, and on YouTube more...

As you are no doubt aware by now, the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet published an obscenely anti-semitic cartoon to protest circumcision. Here is my translation: As JPost describes it: It showed police officers looking on as a bearded man wearing a black hat and black coat sticks a three-tooth pitchfork into the head of a blood-soaked baby while holding a book. Another...

PA leaders rejecting coexistence, Kerry's economic boost. It's almost as if they'd rather destroy Israel.

Time reported at the World Economic Forum a few days ago: If politicians remain in their corners, business leaders are stepping up — both to pressure elected leaders to re-engage in talks and to help invigorate a West Bank economy currently overwhelmingly dependent on foreign aid, perhaps in hopes of buying time for the political process. A group of 300 Israeli and Palestinian business leaders announced a “Breaking the impasse” public-relations...

A number of Arab newspapers are reporting that members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan are buying large plots of land in the Jordan Valley, acting as middlemen for Hamas ownership of the land. Is Hamas preparing for a possible fall of Jordan's government, so they could be positioned to attack Israel with rockets from the east? Or are they trying to have another front...

From Al Masry al Youm: Salafi MPs made controversial statements during a Shura Council session Tuesday. The Shura Council is currently the sole legislative body in Egypt after the dissolution of the People’s Assembly in June. An MP of the Salafi-oriented Nour Party called for banning ballet in Egypt, describing it as “the art of nudes,” while another MP from the Salafi-oriented...

The dreaded threaded open thread

It's been a while since I had an open thread, and I'm too busy today to post much more, so....here it is. If it would be covered in batter and cut into tiny pieces, it could be a shredded threaded breaded dreaded thread....

Wednesday Links Part 2

From Ian: Another scandalous session of the UNHRC By Anne Bayefsky It is opening week of another session of the UN’s top human rights body, the UN Human Rights Council, and anti-Semitism will once again be promoted around the globe via an organization built on the ashes of the Jewish people and sworn to hatred’s eradication. Fighting anti-Semitism with subtlety - and vision Analyzing this soft anti-Semitism, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the former...

Iran's PressTV finds pro-Assad protesters in Tunisia

I found this report from Iran's PressTV to be amusing: Tunisians have held a demonstration in the capital, Tunis, in protest against the presence of foreign-backed militants in Syria, Press TV reports. Politicians, students and human rights activists as well as the family members of young men recruited by foreign-sponsored armed groups in Syria gathered in front of the foreign affairs ministry building to voice support for Damascus. The protesters...

Assabeel and other Arabic media are reporting that a wealthy Saudi businessman has offered $10 million to anyone who killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Abdullah Mohammed Al Anzi, who is a supporter and financier of the Syrian rebels, has already reportedly donated some 30 million Saudi rials to the rebels. The reports say that Anzi offered the bounty...

Wednesday Links Part 1

From Ian: Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The Problem of Muslim Leadership I've seen this before. A Muslim terrorist slays a non-Muslim citizen in the West, and representatives of the Muslim community rush to dissociate themselves and their faith from the horror. After British soldier Lee Rigby was hacked to death last week in Woolwich in south London, Julie Siddiqi, representing the Islamic Society of Britain, quickly stepped before the microphones to attest that...