Trafficking in Syrian girls reaches Lebanon - and cyberspace

We knew it happens in Jordan.

Now it is happening in Lebanon as well.

Some people make a business out of trafficking women for rich foreigners, says Ayman Hariri, a Syrian activist who settled in Akkar in 2011 when he had to flee Daraa fearing arrest. He used to run an NGO that provided aid for Syrian refugees, but he decided to close it down. Trying to provide aid is difficult, with some aid organizations using their small NGOs to sell 16-year-old girls to their Gulf sponsors in exchange for money.

“I can tell you about someone I know, I met him in person and he offered to bribe me. He posed as a sheikh with a Saudi benefactor. People soon found out his organization was actually what you call a whorehouse: He was getting girls for the Saudi sheikh. If he liked the girl, he would offer $10,000, he would marry her for a week, and then she would go back home with $1,000. The rest was given to the so-called Lebanese sheikh, who now owns a building and has several cars,” Hariri explains.

He says that Akkar is not like the Zaatari camp in Jordan, and the arranged marriages and cloaked prostitution aren’t nearly as frequent. “Jordan is closer to the Gulf, where girl-brides and early marriage are more common. Lebanon is farther away.”

But international organizations and NGOs in Lebanon say early marriage happens among the Syrian refugees as well as host communities. Stopping it is almost impossible, because Lebanese law allows child marriage, sociologist Rafif Rida Sidawi told NOW. “The Lebanese family code allows marriage for girls as young as 13-14. In some confessions, even as young as 9.” (Lebanon has 15 different family codes, almost one for each sect. Many of them allow child marriage.)

A Lebanese sheikh who requested to remain anonymous told NOW that he would never marry a girl under 13, although the law tells him that the minimum age is 9. “I need to see the girl, to see if she’s ready. I also need a medical certificate, and the father’s permission,” he explained.

But the Internet is also allowing rich Arab perverts to find and "marry" Syrian girls:

It is common to see on Arabic online forums requests by men "seeking marriage from Syrian girls". At a price ranging from 500 to 1,000 Saudi riyals (Dh490 to Dh980), girls are reportedly being taken from refugee camps in Jordan. Saudi Arabia is most often named as the destination, but a similar trend is reported in other countries including Iraq and Turkey.

The Saudi columnist Mohammed Al Osaimi, who first highlighted the online posts, wrote that parents feel compelled to marry their daughters off to strangers because they see that as a better option than staying in a refugee camp.

The trend was also triggered by clerics such as Sheikh Adnan Arour, a hardline Syrian cleric, who has issued fatwas to encourage men to marry victims of sexual assault and "cover their shame" through marriage. But the fatwas ironically have led to further sexual exploitation.

In these classified ads, men post brief requests on different websites, often leaving only their first names and email addresses. "I am looking for a Syrian wife," a man identifying himself as Asa'ad wrote on a website. "I am a man of means and I fear God. My Syrian sisters are decent and honourable."

Many other comments are far more demeaning. A man, who identified himself only as "Jordanian", sardonically wrote "no woman deserves sympathy these days", in reference to dishonesty. Another man who called himself Abdulsamad wrote a longer post explaining that his desire to marry a Syrian woman had preceded the conflict, apparently to present a better case.

Another man wrote: "This is not a question of exploitation. It is a question of supply and demand." He suggested a reduction in dowries to 100 dinars [Dh520] because of the increasing number of refugees.

Maher Abu Tair, a Jordanian columnist, wrote: "All we hear these days is talk about a Syrian wife who can be bought with 100 dinars. One could go to any of the areas of Al Mafraq, Amman, Ramtha, Irbid or Karak to pick for himself a Levantine houriya." (A Levantine houriya, or virgin, is a reference to women from the Levant known in Arab cultures for their beauty). He added that people are encouraged by the speedy, cheap and conditions-free marriages.

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'Zionist Imperialists' to the Rescue in Syria

From International Business Times:

Historically bitter relations between Syria and Israel have been bypassed by the civil conflict as a wave of injured Syrians get urgent medical help from Israelis.

The two countries remain technically at war (Israel is frequently demonised as "Zionist Imperialism" by the Ba'ath Party rejectionists of the Assad regime) but that has not stopped more than 500 victims of the bloody civil conflict in Syria seeking life-saving treatment at three field hospitals especially constructed on the Golan Heights - occupied by Israel after Syria's defeat in the 1967 Six Day War.

One Syrian refugee gave birth to a baby boy in the field hospital, helped by an Israeli medical team.

Syrians are fleeing into the arms of their government's sworn enemy because medical facilities at home have been destroyed by the bloody civil war.

October saw an all-time high of 120 patients treated at the field hospitals. Among the wave of injured people are likely to be fighters from both sides. The number is unknown because the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) does not ask a patient's identity.

Despite the antagonism of Arabic neighbours, public opinion in Israel is behind the field hospitals, said one political expert in Jerusalem.

The director of Bicom's Israel department, Richard Pater, told IBTimes UK: "Israel's been at war with Syria for four decades but following the start of this crisis Israel felt duty-bound to help these people.

"People went to help them and are very concerned about what's happening across the border. There is obviously concern because the Syrians are suffering. There has not been a negative public reaction to the field hospitals."

The risk of a patient waking up and being alarmed about being in enemy territory is real for doctors and nurses in the field hospitals. Steps were taken to soften the shock for one man who came round after he was taken into the hospital unconscious. Staff had a fellow Syrian at his bedside in a bid to ease the alarm.

The extremely sensitive nature of relations between Israel and Syria means that the authorities are circumspect about details of the operation and how patients are returned to Syria.

Pater said: "We don't know how the transportation is done. They [the IDF] want to protect them because they would face a very dangerous situation if the regime knew about it. There is no coordination between the Israelis and what passes for the government in Syria.

"There's no cooperation with the Syrian government. It puts them in an uncomfortable position of seeing Israel help their people while they do nothing. The sad truth is that Syrians are faced with a choice of bad or worse."

Syrians who risk crossing the border into Israel undergo an assessment of their injuries. The most seriously hurt are taken to permanent hospitals, the rest go to one of the field hospitals or are turned away. Around 70% of patients present with torso or extremity wounds, while 15% suffering from head injuries.

There are hopes that this example of soft power may pay a dividend in one of the world's most troubled hot spots.

Pater said: "Slowly, word got out that Israel was not the evil enemy they had been led to believe. Israelis hope that the civil war ends as quickly as possible and nothing would make Israelis happier than having a friendly neighbour to fulfil the old dream of eating houmus in Damascus."

Well, Jews used to be able to live and eat hummus in Damascus. I wonder what happened to them all?

Sorry for the cynicism, but when given the multiple examples of pure Jew-hatred in the mainstream Arabic media every day, I don't think that Israelis are helping Syrians with any hope that it will change any minds.

They do it because it is the right thing to do.

The Financial Times has a nice video on the same topic:



(h/t O)

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Al Qaeda in Syria: "Killing you apostates comes before killing Jews and Christians"

This is an apparently authentic video showing a walkie-talkie conversation between fighters from al-Qaeda and the Free Syrian Army. Turn on closed captioning to see the translation:

ISIS talking: "You are (FSA) infidel, You're infidel"
ISIS: "You, Creature, you don't know Allah nor the Prophet and are corrupted person and we will kill and chop you"
ISIS [Describing how they would kill and chop FSA]
ISIS: "You claim to be a Muslim you are not a Muslim because you kill and rape women and men"
FSA: "If you think you are a man go fight Israel not us, why did you come to Syria"
ISIS: "You are apostate and fighting you (FSA) is a priority to us more than usual infidel"
ISIS: "You (Syrians) curse god and the prophet you are apostate infidel"
ISIS: "killing you apostates is a must and comes before killing Jews and Christians"
FSA: "Fuck you bastard and your masters in Qaeda"
FSA: "We're Jihadist against regime..." [cut..]
ISIS: "You're jihad (fighting) is in the sake of FSA, Syrian Coalition, Democracy and a Civil State??"
ISIS: "You deny Sharia and you're fighting us... we had better to kill you rather the original infidels."
FSA: "Bastard, pig, god damn you..." [Cursing Qaeda and its Leaders]
ISIS: "You, you who hear me, you know you're not Muslim you're infidel hate god and the prophet."
ISIS: "You're corrupted you don't pray and against Islam you're not Muslims"
FSA: "You're the corrupted and infidel you are god enemies and our enemies..." [inaudible]

(h/t Bjorn)

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White House leaks that Israel bombed Latakia base

CNN is reporting that a White House official has confirmed that Israeli warplanes struck a military base near
the Syrian city of Latakia this morning.

Israeli officials have refused to comment.

Al Arabiya also reports the story, citing "exclusive sources":

Israel was behind a series of explosions that rocked a Syrian air base in the northern Latakia province, Al Arabiya television reported on Thursday, quoting exclusive sources.

The bombing targeted a shipment of surface-to-air missiles (SAM) that was headed for Hezbollah in Lebanon, the sources said.

Initial rumors claim that the target was Russian SA-8 missiles en route to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Naharnet says:

Another security official said that the attack occurred in the port city of Latakia and that the target was Russian-made SA-125 missiles.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the attack.

There is a good reason Israel stays mum on events like this - because acknowledging them opens up the possibility of widening the conflict in Syria.

For an administration that prides itself on extricating itself from wars, it sure looks like it likes to try to start them as well.

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Syrian war keeps expanding into Lebanon

From Ya Libnan:

Clashes between gunmen of rival Lebanese sects in the northern city of Tripoli have killed seven people since clashes flared earlier this week, security officials said Thursday.

The latest round of fighting that began four days ago in Lebanon’s second largest city has wounded another 50 people, officials said. That comes as disputes from neighboring Syria’s civil war frequently inflame sectarian grievances in Tripoli.

The clashes pit gunmen from two impoverished Tripoli neighborhoods against each other, areas that are home to opponents and supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The Bab Tabbaneh district is largely Sunni Muslim, like Syria’s rebels. The other neighborhood, Jabal Mohsen, mostly has residents of Assad’s Alawite sect, a Shiite Islam offshoot.

The latest bout of fighting began building after Oct. 14, when a Lebanese military prosecutor pressed charges against earlier this month against seven men, at least one whom from Jabal Mohsen, for their involvement in twin bomb blasts near two Sunni mosques in Tripoli on Aug. 23 that killed 47 people.

Judging from the ICRC paper about the laws of occupation, I think a serious argument can be made that Lebanon is occupied, today, by Syria/Iran under international law.

The definition of occupation in that paper allowed occupation by proxy, if the group that runs the occupied territory is a puppet for the occupier. Since Syria did occupy Lebanon from 1976 to 2005, and now Hezbollah (which is an arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards) effectively controls large parts of Lebanon as well as much of the government, that means that Lebanon is still occupied today, notwithstanding a few years when it was ostensibly free.

Syria of course does what Iran wants it to.

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Forget chemical weapons: Syria is also starving people to death

From Now Lebanon's Michael Weiss :

Children in Syria are now eating leaves for nutrition. Residents of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp are baking flatbreads made from “stale lentils.” A group of Muslim clerics has issued an Eid al-Adha fatwa allowing the hungry to consume cats, dogs and donkeys to survive. In Moadamiyah, one of the suburbs south of Damascus known as western Ghouta, gassed with sarin by the regime on August 21, residents subsist on a meager diet of olives, mint, grapevine leaves and figs. This is Assad’s terror-famine. It’s getting worse every day.

According to Qusai Zakarya, a rebel spokesman in the town, the regime cut all humanitarian supplies to Moadamiyah ten or eleventh months ago, and local stores ran out in March. So the people have had to rely mainly on the largesse of Syrians living in the countryside who ran basic staples into the town – and by “ran,” I mean they drove by it on the Damascus-Quneitra highway and tossed grocery bags from their moving cars in the general direction of Moadamiyah, which then had to be retrieved by the inhabitants, sometimes at great risk. “This was rice, olives and makdous [cured eggplants], which lasts one to two years,” Zakarya told me via Skype, with clear sounds of artillery fire in the background. “But three months ago, all this food ran out too.”  Water pipes into Moadamiyah, he said, had also been “blocked” or destroyed by the regime, leaving residents to rely on a single unreliable source of hydration.  “Within the  past month, we lost over 11 women and children from malnutrition. There are about 100 more suffering from malnutrition.” Images and videos of starving children in the Damascus region, collected, verified, and mapped by my colleague James Miller, show a proliferation of tiny and emaciated corpses, starting in August and continuing to today.

And it gets worse from there.

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"Jewish UN wants to destroy Syria to fulfill Isaiah prophecy, take over world"

Here's a new twist on the usual Arab antisemitic conspiracy theories.

The official Syrian RTV agency says that Syria is the last obstacle for Jews to finally take over the world.

All you need to do is read the Bible, the Talmud, and (of course) the Protocols of the elders of Zion, and it all makes perfect sense.

The pre-war on Syria, and the current war on Syria, is World War III. We live the war and pay for it and most of us do not know the reasons for it. ...The real reasons for war are written in the folds of old yellowing books.

What is happening today is not caused by the desire to establish democracy or freedom, or concern for the interests of the Syrian people. Control of the oil resources is the economic engine of the war prior to the final declaration of victory for Israel over the world and the establishment of a global state, which is the United Nations and its Supreme Council and the International Court of Justice, which brings together presidents and leaders to establish this state. To those who think this is just a conspiracy theory I invite them to read the Torah and the Talmud and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and specifically to read the policies included in the book of Isaiah 16: [sic - it is 17:]

1. The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
2. The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
3. The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Aram shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts.

(Apparently, Aroer is similar sounding to another Syrian city.)

The article goes on to claim that other prophecies say that every Jew will have 2300 non-Jewish slaves, and all of the wars in the world are meant to fulfill that promise to enslave a good part of the planet.

The reason America went to war in Iraq? Well, there is another [Koranic?] prophecy that Iraq would destroy Israel, so the Zionist puppets in the US moved to destroy Iraq before that could happen.

But America is also $15 trillion in debt, and that is how the Zionists plan to take over the US, that is already under their control. Or something like that.

In the end, the Jews were behind the destruction of the Soviet Union, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Syria is the last piece of the massive puzzle before Jews can exert total global domination.

Again, this is in official Syrian government media.

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PalArab death toll in Syria: 1597. Plus, reports Syria now using fuel-air bombs.

According to the Action Group of Palestinians of Syria, the number of Palestinian Arabs killed in Syria so far is 1597.

Eight were killed last week.

Here is a video from yesterday of the aftermath of an airstrike at the Yarmouk camp, where most Palestinian Syrians live.



So called "pro-Palestinian" groups are about as silent as they usually are. Instead, they are protesting outside Israeli stores in England and Australia. An Israeli company selling  environmentally friendly products is clearly a bigger threat to world peace than Syrians directly bombing civilians to these oh-so-moral anti-Israel protesters.

Meanwhile, now that Syria is saying they won't use chemical weapons any more, the world doesn't have to be concerned over this new weapon, according to HRW:

A Syrian government airstrike using fuel-air explosive bombs hit outside a secondary school in the opposition-held city of Raqqa on September 29, 2013, killing at least 14 civilians. At least 12 of those killed were students attending their first day of classes.

A Raqqa resident who went to the school immediately after the attack told Human Rights Watch that he saw 14 bodies, including some without limbs. A doctor from National Hospital in Raqqa said he saw 12 dead bodies, most of them students, and the hospital treated 25 wounded.

The blast wounds and flash burns visible on victims in videos and photographs, coupled with the body positions and few shrapnel wounds, indicates the use of fuel-air explosives (FAE), also known as “vacuum bombs,” Human Rights Watch said. More powerful than conventional high-explosive munitions of comparable size, fuel-air explosivesinflict extensive damage over a wide area, and are therefore prone to indiscriminate impact in populated areas.

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Syrian media upset that Rouhani acknowledged the Holocaust

Syria's "General Organization of Radio and TV" has an op-ed by Dr. Ibrahim Alwash attacking Iran's president Hassan Rouhani for saying that the Holocaust occurred.

The article mostly accuses Rouhani and Iran of selling out, including the Rosh Hashanah greeting to Jews by its foreign minister Zarif, noting that his greeting by definition must have also included Jews who "occupy Palestine!"

Alwash says that Iran is trying to ingratiate itself with the US and is of course using the Jews to help bring this about.

But he is most upset about the Holocaust statement, saying that Jews use the event to justify the existence of Israel, which is of course an unpardonable crime.

While Alwash does not explicitly deny the Holocaust in this article, according to his Wikipedia and Facebook page he is a "researcher" on the topic and he does consider the Holocaust to be a myth. Here is how he illustrates his latest Facebook entry:

Alwash is not a Syrian although he is a staunch defender of the Assad regime. He is a Jordanian of Palestinian origin.

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Syria uses Shakespeare to identify as - a Jew?

From City AM:

The Syrian parliament appears to have dropped a reference to Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" in a letter to UK MPs.

In the second paragraph of a document obtained by Sky News, Mohammad Jihad al-Laham, speaker of the people's assembly of Syria, writes:

We write to you as fathers and mothers, as members of families and communities really not so different to yours. We write to you as fellow human beings for, if you bomb us, shall we not bleed?

That line is curiously similar to one delivered by the Jewish money lender Shylock in Shakespeare's classic:

I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, arms, legs, senses, affections, desires? Are we not fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?

If the intention was to draw a comparison between Syria and Shylock, it may not be taken as a very wise one, for in the play Shylock is a cruel character.

Of course, Shylock was also a Jew.

The idea that Syria is trying to paint itself as a persecuted (and despised) Jew is strange, to say the least!

It also shows an interesting and sharp divergence between Syria's strident tone in the media and how it talks to diplomats.

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Jordan treats Palestinian Syrian refugees "worse than dogs"

From Amnesty:

Cyber City is an unusual camp beside a desolate crossroads outside Irbid, in northern Jordan. Hidden behind a wall and some pine trees, a dreary six-floor block looks out over rusting machinery and a dry plain. Formerly for migrant workers, it now hosts around 500 refugees from Syria.

After passing security checks I bump into Abu Alaa, a dignified 60-year-old refugee whose two sons are missing in Syria. “No news still,” he sighs, holding my hand warmly. “I was just calling again.” His phone shows repeated unanswered calls to numbers back home. He says his two grown-up sons had tried following him into Jordan but were refused entry due to their Palestinian origin. On separate occasions over the coming months, each appears to have been detained by the Syrian security forces and Abu Alaa fears they may not be alive.

Palestinians have been heavily affected by the violence in Syria. Almost half of the 500,000 or so Palestinian refugees in Syria have been displaced. Refugee camps and other areas in which they live, including Dera’a Camp, and Yarmouk and Sayida Zaynab in Damascus, have witnessed heavy fighting. Some 6,000 residents were forced out of Ein al-Tal Camp in Aleppo in April 2013. Sbeineh Camp in Damascus was reportedly hit by a ground-to-ground missile in May 2013, killing at least five people. Two children and two women were among at least five others killed by mortar shells fired into Khan Eshieh Camp near Damascus in June 2013.

Yet Abu Alaa’s sons are among hundreds if not thousands of Palestinian refugees fleeing the violence in Syria who are believed to have been turned away at the Jordanian border, in violation of international law. While Jordan is hosting around half a million people from Syria, it is generally not allowing access to Palestinian or Iraqi refugees...

Of some 7,000 or more Palestinians who did manage to enter Jordan, either before the country denied all access to them early last year or as a result of using false documents, some were later forced back to the border, also in violation of international law.

Bilal, who entered Jordan ahead of other family members, tells me his father and brothers were detained in Amman and escorted to the border in December 2012. “One night my elder brother rang and told me they had been taken there at gunpoint. My younger brother had been pulled by his hair and forced into the security vehicle that took them there. They waited three days just 100 metres beyond the Jordan border post, with fighting nearby, hoping to be allowed back, until my elder brother was injured and they realized the only option was to seek aid inside Syria.”

A worse fate befell Mahmud Merjan, who Cyber City residents say was killed on a Syrian street in late 2012, three weeks after being forced to sign a “voluntary” paper that he would go back to Syria. “It wasn’t an arbitrary killing,” says one man who knew him well. “He was known and wanted by the regime.”

All those in Cyber City have fled from Syria. But while the Palestinians from Syria used to be the majority, I am told, their numbers have dwindled as many got fed up with conditions and returned to the conflict zone. “I prefer to go back and die in Syria with some dignity rather than live without it here,” many say.

Complaints about the conditions here are many. Palestinians are not officially permitted to leave Cyber City. Now and again informal permission is granted to visit relatives in Irbid and Amman and so on, but mostly they are confined to the building and the immediate vicinity. Such conditions amount to arbitrary detention. “I’m sorry, but a dog can come and go more easily than we can,” says a very frustrated Ali, who has been here for more than a year.

The closed border to Palestinians and the arbitrary detention of Palestinians is further dividing families, whose identities reflect decades of turmoil and flight. Sena, a Syrian woman, is here with her children while her Palestinian husband is unable to enter Jordan. Ziad is in Cyber City while his Syrian wife and children are in a Jordanian town. Elderly Abu Khaled has to stay here while family members holding Jordanian nationality do not.

While Syrians and Palestinians from Syria appreciate being in safety in Jordan, they struggle to make ends meet. Individuals are entitled to a monthly coupon worth 24 Jordanian dinars (about US$34) which they exchange for food in a small shop next to Cyber City. This works out as a mere 0.80 dinars per day, it is repeatedly pointed out. A 160g tin of tuna on the shop’s shelves costs more than that.

“It is 100 per cent worse for Palestinians here than for the Syrians,” says Ziad. “One, they are allowed to leave this place while we are not and, two, when they go out they can visit charitable organizations, show their UN refugee agency card” – which Palestinians do not have as they fall under the mandate of [the UN Relief and Works Agency] instead, although they should receive the same services – “and collect further relief.”

“Every day here is the same,” Bilal continues. “Eat, sleep, eat, sleep.” With others, he counts off the names of families who have decided to risk their lives to go back into Syria. “Yes, this is what the Jordanian government wants, for us to go back. But what is the alternative? We live without purpose here. This is not life.”

A friend of the deceased Mahmud Merjan summed up the despair: “It was one of our life’s dreams to visit Jordan, but we came and encountered such hate. Let’s hope there are no more refugee camps for Palestinians in heaven.”

Even Lebanon, which has anti-Palestinian laws and severe restrictions on what Palestinians are allowed to do, allows refugees from Syria of Palestinian ancestry to go to overcrowded UNRWA camps there to get services. Jordan isn't even allowing that, preferring to send them to their possible deaths in Syria.

Here we have systemic and institutionalized discrimination against Palestinians by their fellow Arabs, far worse than anything Israel does, and the world media is silent. I cannot find a single English language media outlet to report this story from Amnesty even though it was published on Monday.

Just yesterday, five more Palestinians in Syria were killed, including two children. The media silence is deafening.

Similarly, so-called "pro-Palestinian" groups say nothing.

The reason is because so-called "pro-Palestinian activists" who are brilliant at getting press coverage for anti-Israel stunts don't really give a damn about real Palestinians - when their suffering cannot be blamed on Israel. The media similarly doesn't consider Arab hate for Palestinians to be newsworthy.

The double standards applied to Israel are crystal clear.

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Syrian newspaper asks Palestinians for support - since Palestine is southern Syria

Syria-News, which I believe is in opposition to the government, has an article that is concerned that the West will end up dividing Syria along sectarian lines, as it did with Greater Syria in the early 20th century.

So the author is appealing to Palestinian Arabs, who they regard as fellow victims of the Sykes Picot agreement, to help fight against that eventuality - as fellow Syrians!

The author reproduces a letter written by a group of Palestine Arabs in 1919 to the British asking to remain united with Syria. (I think this is the same letter referred to by Daniel Pipes here as being written by Amin Husayni, future mufti of Jerusalem, on behalf of the Arab Club.)

While I couldn't find the full text of this letter online in English, the Arabic translation includes some standard anti-Zionist rhetoric. Interestingly, one of the arguments they give is that Jews act as if they are their own nation and their own people, separate from others, which would cause problems in living with the Arab population. Of course, nowadays the ideological descendants of the Mufti claim  that Jews are not a people.

If someone can find the full text of the original letter, let me know. This version has seven main points arguing against a separate Jewish state.

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Middle East casualty reality check

Every once in a while we see videos of anti-Israel rallies talking about how Israel is killing Palestinian Arabs (or Arab children) every day.

In early July, an Arab was killed after repeated warnings as he was apparently climbing onto an IDF vehicle (it was unclear if he was run over or shot.)

This was the only Palestinian Arab killed since the beginning of May by the IDF.

There were dozens killed in Lebanon as well but I couldn't find a good estimate.

Also, there are Palestinian Arab children being killed nearly every day - in Syria.

You know how people like to refer to the "cycle of violence"? Well, look at this: when Israelis aren't being killed, neither are Palestinian Arabs.

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Report: Syria gassed Palestinian Arabs in Yarmouk, killing 22. "Pro-Palestinian" groups silent.

From JPost:

Syrian opposition activists say that the military has used chemical weapons against the Al Yarmouk district of Damascus, an area of the city comprised predominantly of Palestinian refugees, Israel Radio reported.

Palestinian sources said that 22 people have been killed in the area, most from inhalation of poisonous gases.

The Syrian Coalition press release says:

According to video footage uploaded by activists inside the capital of Damascus, Assad’s forces are using chemical and toxic gas bombs to shell the Yarmouk Palestinian Camp. The strategic, systematic use of chemical weapons in order to achieve military gains only proves the desperate state that Assad’s regime has reached.

Arabic media also indicates 22 victims.

Here is a news report that supposedly shows victims of the attacks:



As usual, the "pro-Palestinian" crowd is utterly silent about this potential war crime against the people they pretend to love. Use the phrase "white phosphorus" and they are up in arms, but actual poison gas doesn't cause a ripple in their moral compasses.

Because their concern isn't for the victims, but in the religion of the attackers.

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Great: Pakistan Taliban join rebels in Syria

From Reuters:

The Pakistani Taliban have set up camps and sent hundreds of men to Syria to fight alongside rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad, militants said on Sunday, in a strategy aimed at cementing ties with al Qaeda's central leadership.

More than two years since the start of the anti-Assad rebellion, Syria has become a magnet for foreign Sunni fighters who have flocked to the Middle Eastern nation to join what they see as a holy war against Shi'ite oppressors.

Operating alongside militant groups such as the al Nusra Front, described by the United States as a branch of al Qaeda, they mainly come from nearby countries such as Libya and Tunisia riven by similar conflict as a result of the Arab Spring.

On Sunday, Taliban commanders in Pakistan said they had also decided to join the cause, saying hundreds of fighters had gone to Syria to fight alongside their "Mujahedeen friends".

"When our brothers needed our help, we sent hundreds of fighters along with our Arab friends," one senior commander told Reuters, adding that the group would soon issue videos of what he described as their victories in Syria.

The announcement further complicates the picture on the ground in Syria, where rivalries have already been on the boil between the Free Syrian Army and the Islamists.

Islamists operate a smaller, more effective force which now controls most of the rebel-held parts of northern Syria. Tensions erupted again on Thursday when an al-Qaeda linked militant group assassinated one of Free Syrian Army's top commanders after a dispute in the port city of Latakia.

Look at the bright side. Soon every crazed Shiite and Sunni in the world will be in the same place killing each other.

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PA says Jews are stealing "rich soil"

They aren't happy enough with stealing land - now they are stealing dirt, too!

From the official PA WAFA news agency:

Israelis from the settlement of Susiya stole rich soil from Palestinian land and took it to their settlement, a local activist said Wednesday.

Rateb Jbour, from the Committee against the Wall and Settlements, told WAFA that the settlers razed a large area of privately owned agricultural land near the settlement and stole the fertile soil.

He said this act has destroyed the farm land.

I wonder how many trucks and how much time it takes to steal enough soil to destroy a farm.

From this source, we can see that one acre of topsoil weighs a million pounds (450,000 kg.) It would take 40 dump trucks to move only that amount. A single truck could take only about a 10x10 meter square of soil.

I have no idea how long it takes to fill a dump truck with soil, but you would need some heavy equipment to do it in a reasonable timeframe.

Yet, as usual, there are no photos of this extensive operation to steal - soil.

But you know those Jews will do anything to torture their neighbors, no matter how expensive,  time consuming and pointless it is.

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"Khaybar" actors, writer describe its incitement against Jews (VIDEO) (updated with transcript)

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from statements made by actors in the anti-Semitic Arab TV series "Khaybar," which were aired on various Egyptian TV channels and posted on the Internet on March 14-17 and May 13, 2013.

Akhbar Al-Youm, posted March 14

Actor Ahmad Abd Al-Halim: I play one of the Jewish characters, who demonstrates the behavior of the Jewish human being. All he thinks about is accumulating money.
Actor Ahmad Maher: History has shown that the Jews are a people with no moral values, who do not honor their agreements.
Screenwriter Yusri Al-Gindi: This series is more historical and political than religious. We have a problem with these people. This problem has continued for a long time, and it still exists. This justifies addressing it all the time. The idea that we wish to convey is that these people have not changed one bit. Their conduct in Medina when the Prophet was trying to build his state there… He allowed them to live there as citizens and extended his hand in cooperation, but this was met by treachery and conspiracies. The only language they understood was the language of force, and hence, they were banished from the Arabian Peninsula.

Rotana Misriyya TV, posted March 17
Ahmad Maher: Al-Gindi created a historical document showing how these people are oppressors, who do not honor their agreements. History shows that they are the people who disputed Allah. They are the slayers of prophets.
Actor Farouq Flux: The “Khaybar” series takes place back in the early days of Islam. It shows the major role the Jews played in fighting Islam, and in the attempt to fight and deceive the Prophet Muhammad. This series shows the truth about the Jews, and about making agreements with them.
[…]

Dream 1 TV, May 13, 2013

Ahmad Maher: I play the character of Hareth Ibn Al-Awf. Through this character, we enter a Jewish home, and we learn how they raise their children, how they immerse their children in these odd modes of behavior, and how they teach them to live their lives in a vile, treacherous, depraved, and Machiavellian manner. They teach them that in order to achieve their aims, all means are justified and all values may be disregarded.
[…]
Actor Mustafa Hashish: I play one of the most prominent Jews, who hatches plots and schemes. He is, of course, very miserly-the purely typical Jew. He is called Abu Khallad. He is killed by his son. So this gives you an idea what the Jews are made of.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty have adamantly refused to condemn this miniseries even after numerous emails and tweets.

Sign the petition and join the Facebook campaign to condemn this imminent mass incitement against Jews that will be broadcast to  hundreds of millions of Arabs in the next few days.

Keep in mind that it will not only be shown in the Arab world, but certainly copies will be distributed to Muslims in Europe and the Americas so they can learn to hate their Jewish neighbors as well.

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Girls on PA TV: Jews are "most evil among creations, barbaric monkeys, wretched pigs"

From Palestinian Media Watch:

PA TV reporter: "Let's meet these girls who want to recite a short poem."
Girl 1: "I do not fear the rifle because your throngs are in delusion and ignorant herds.
Jerusalem is my land, Jerusalem is my honor
Jerusalem is my days and my wildest dreams.
Oh, you who murdered Allah's pious prophets (i.e., Jews in Islamic tradition)
Oh, you who were brought up on spilling blood
You have been condemned to humiliation and hardship.
Oh Sons of Zion, oh most evil among creations
Oh barbaric monkeys, wretched pigs
Girl 2: Jerusalem is not your den
Jerusalem opposes your throngs
Jerusalem vomits from within it your impurity
Because Jerusalem, you impure ones, is pious, immaculate
And Jerusalem, you who are filth, is clean and pure.
I do not fear barbarity.
As long as my heart is my Quran and my city
As long as I have my arm and my stones
As long as I am free and do not barter my cause
I will not fear your throngs
I will not fear the rifle."
[Official Palestinian Authority TV, July 3, 2013]

But don't say that the PA teaches antisemitism. They respect Jews, except (1) the ones who are Zionist, (2) the ones who believe in their religion, and (3) the ones that the Koran called "sons of apes and pigs."

All the others are just fine!

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Did you know the Jews control Swedish media too?

Radio Islam has an extraordinarily long article in Swedish that seems to list every Jew who ever worked at, or appeared in, any Swedish TV or radio station, or any Jewish-themed TV show to ever air, over several decades, in its zest to prove that the Jews own the media.

It uses the exact same methods as those used by antisemitic sites in the US and Europe, ferreting out Jews or people with Jewish-sounding names in obsessive detail.

I noticed it because "Iraq4AllNews," an Arabic Danish site indexed by Google News, is translating it as a series of articles, so Arabic speakers can know about the incredible Jewish conspiracy to take over the huge Swedish television and radio market.

A quick glance at Radio Islam itself shows that it is pretty much an Arabic translation of Jewwatch or any of dozens of other virulently antisemitic websites. Here is only a small section of the psychotically obsessed homepage:

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Writer of "Khaybar" says the series reveals Jews' evil throughout the ages

Note the photo behind him

On Al Jazeera, the screenwriter of the "Khaybar" miniseries that will be aired this month in many Arab countries described its antisemitic motifs in detail.

Yusri al-Jindi tells the network that "Khaybar" raises two issues.

The first is that the Mohammed set up a state with equality between citizens, including Jews.  The Islamic state is the finest with respect to equal rights and, what he would say, is "democracy," in ways that modern man can learn lessons from.

The second issue is that despite these civil rights, the Jews didn't respond with equal goodwill. Instead, the Jews greeted the benign Muslim rule with with treachery and intrigue, and outright treason.

Al-Jindi notes that the series emphasizes that Jews are Jews, still practicing their treasonous nature throughout the centuries, and they have wrought havoc in every society they have lived. They were the first to fight against this "civil Islamic state", and stand now against the restoration of the Umma for its civilization and glory.

The Jews have been consistent with this opposition to their hosts, such as in Babylon, with the Romans in the Levant, in Tsarist Russia, in Arab states and in Hitler's Germany.

The current crisis experienced by the Arab world is, he says, the best witness to this fact, and here the series takes its modern meaning.

Once again, it is clear that "Khaybar" is meant to incite Arabs against Jews today.

Please "like" our "Condemn Khaybar" Facebook page and sign the petition urging Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to condemn this series before it goes on the air.

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