July 2013 ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

PA caretaker PM Hamdallah denies report of apologizing to Abbas

A couple of days ago there was a report in Al Quds al Arabi saying that short-term PA prime minister Rami Hamdallah apologized for resigning and embarrassing Mahmoud Abbas. Today, Hamdallah denies this completely and says he has no plans to remain prime minister. The current, temporary prime minister's term was only meant to be for five weeks. The expiration date should have been last Sunday by my calculations....

Jordan refuses potato shipment from Gaza

On Sunday, two truckloads of potatoes were shipped out of Gaza through Israel en route to Jordan as another massive hole was exploited in the supposed "siege" of Gaza. Today, Jordan refused the shipment. The reason? Gaza isn't on Jordan's list of approved countries for potato imports. The Gaza potato farmers did everything necessary to ensure that Israel would be comfortable with the export going through its territory. They must have had a paying...

I almost feel bad for the Muslim Brotherhood

Sure, they were building a theocracy in Egypt. Yes, they were actively shutting down press freedoms. Of course, they were supporting Hamas terrorism. Certainly, they threw opponents off of roofs at times. Absolutely they incited against Copts and other minorities. But the people replacing the MB are just as crazy and certainly just as willing to make up lies about the Muslim Brotherhood as the MB was when it was in power. I noted a couple of weeks...

7/31 Links Part 2: HRW Ken Roth's Israel Obsession, Richard Landes Terrorist Chic in France

From Ian: UN Watch: Why does Ken Roth keep blaming Egyptian abuses on Israel? Weird that when Egypt's generals perpetrate abuses, Human Rights Watch's Ken Roth has the habit of injecting Israel into the discussion, attempting to implicate it by association. To restore democracy in Egypt, says Roth, we must "not let Israel concerns stand in way." Yet the linked Washington Post editorial spoke of "peace with Israel." Roth changes the language to preserve...

Turkey upsets new Egyptian government

The changing political landscape in the Middle East from the Egyptian coup/revolution is nothing if not fascinating. From Hurriyet Daily News: Turkey’s ambassador to Cairo was again summoned by Egypt’s Foreign Ministry on July 30 due to remarks made Turkish officials on the military ouster of President Mohamed Morsi, which Egyptian diplomats describe as a “‘clear intervention’ in their internal affairs.” Ambassador Hüseyin Avni Botsalı was previously...

7/31 Links Part 1: Peace Talks Begin, More PA TV Incitement and Europe's "Moral Values"

From Ian: Jpost Editorial: Peace imperative The true obstacle to peace is the intransigence of Palestinian political leadership. While Israel agreed this week to the painful and highly unpopular move of releasing 104 terrorists from the pre-Oslo era, many of them responsible for the deaths of innocent men, women and children, Palestinian leaders remain strongly opposed to negotiations. Obviously, Hamas, an anti-Semitic terrorist organization that...

The Catch-22 that the media frames Israel in (Richard Landes/Avi Bell)

From The Augean Stables: My friend Avi Bell sent me the following. While exaggerated for effect, it’s a recognizable Catch 22 for Israel and a “get-out-of-responsibility-free card” for the Palestinians. Heads we lose, tails, they win. If Israel refuses to negotiate, that proves Israel is not interested in peace, because it refuses to negotiate. If the Palestinians refuse to negotiate, that proves Israel is not interested in peace, because the...

PA minister of religious affairs issues fatwa to revolt against Hamas in Gaza

The Palestinian Minister of Religious Affairs, Dr. Mahmoud al-Habash, issued a fatwa obliging revolt against Hamas to end its rule in Gaza if it does not relinquish control of the territory. Arabic media reports that he wrote on his Facebook page: Ending the division [between Hamas and Fatah] is a duty. If ending the division does not end the coup, then ending the coup is a duty, and if an end to the coup means ending the Hamas takeover of Gaza,...

While Mahmoud Abbas sends one team to Washington to pretend to want a negotiated solution, his Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigades (Nedal Division) of Fatah is giving a very different message. Both groups report to, and are paid salaries by, Mahmoud Abbas. At the same time that Abbas speaks of his desire for peace to Westerners, his "armed wing" is saying the opposite. Besides saying...

Lebanese man videos wife's suicide as he pleads with her not to jump

In a dramatic video that has shocked the Lebanese society, Amena Ismail is seen sitting on the balcony ledge of her eighth floor apartment before jumping to her death as her husband desperately tries to convince her not to commit suicide. “Your mother does not deserve this … you can forget about me if you're not happy with me ,” the husband, Kifah Fairouz Ahmed, tells his wife in a weeping tone moments before she throws herself from the building...

You know those Dutch supermarkets supposedly boycotting settlements? Well, they aren't.

Last week the Times of Israel quoted the Dutch newspaper Trouw as saying that Dutch supermarkets Aldi and Hoogvliet were boycotting any Israeli products that originated in the settlements. BDSers celebrated the news. Only one problem: Trouw was not being accurate. A Dutch food distribution news site quotes Hoogvliet officials as being irritated by the Trouw story. Apparently, the reporter asked them if they currently sell any products from the...

Sheikh complains that Saudi stewardess is too "flirty"

From Al Arabiya: While you may have often heard of passengers getting into trouble for flirting with the hostess, the tables may have turned this time. Two Saudi male passengers were escorted off a plane, set to travel from Riyadh to Jeddah last Tuesday, after confronting a “flirty” air hostess who reportedly showed little respect for “traditional customs.” Speaking out this week, Khaled bin Abdulrahman al-Mahyzaa, who is said to be a Muslim cleric,...

Very interesting: Members of Hashomer, a Jewish security organization dedicated to protecting pioneering Zionist settlements, pose with their rifles October 1, 1900 in the community of Rehovot during the Ottoman rule of Palestine in what would later become the State of Israel. (Photo by GPO via Getty Images) Members of Hashomer, a Jewish security organization dedicated...

7/30 Links Part 2: Israeli Harness Saves SA Miners, A Camera for the Blind and Peace Through Profits

From Ian: Israeli Instant Harness used in miners’ rescue Israeli rescue equipment helped workers save the lives of at least eight trapped miners in South Africa on July 28, after a nightmarish three-day ordeal underground that left three dead, allegedly at the hands of an armed rival illegal mining crew. The Agilite Instant Harness was used by Riga Rescue volunteer Graham Holmquist to lower a South African police interpreter down into the shaft to...

7/30 Links Part 1: Peace Talks Begin, Indyk’s Doubts, Prisoner Release Reactions

From Ian: Israel-Palestine: Nine months of talks, but will there be a baby? Mr Obama needs to realise that he won't carve his niche in history by solving the unsolvable. The Israelis and Palestinians remain as far apart as ever on the core final status issues. Borders, refugees, Jerusalem and security are the four eternal and unresolvable agenda items and the distance between today's negotiators is as wide as it has ever been. The Palestinians (and...

Malcolm Lowe at Gatestone has a thought-provoking essay that argues that the EU is a lot more pro-Israel than it seems, and things will only get better: It is a longstanding complaint that Israel is unfairly harassed in those international forums that deal with human rights. On the other hand, countries that are too big to harass, such as Russian and China, or that are oil...

The elephants in the room, 2013

Now that US has successfully pressured Israel and the PA to attend talks, it seems to be a good time to revisit the list of "elephants in the room" that are still being mostly ignored. The list, sadly, has not changed much since I last did this in 2010. Elephant 1: Hamas controls GazaEvery peace plan includes Gaza in a Palestinian Arab state, and none of them has any provision on how to handle the fact that Gaza is a terrorist haven, in much worse...