Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, August 22, 2011

PRC spokesman: No truce, but we'll stop rockets

Although there were about 12 rockets overnight after a supposed cease-fire deadline at 9:00 PM, it looks like a shaky truce has started.

Originally the PRC had stated they would not adhere to the cease-fire but after a few parting shots they seem to have changed their mind. From their website:

Abu Ataya, spokesperson of the Nasser Saladin Brigades, military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, said that there is no room to talk about a truce with the enemy killing our children....Our account with them is over the soil of all of Palestine.

The Nasser Saladin Brigades Mujahid was able by the grace of Allah Almighty to pound Zionist occupation settlements with rockets that have killed and wounded dozens of Zionists, and which also led to the creation of a state of terror and paralysis of the movement in the south of occupied Palestine that continues.

The military spokesman for Al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades said the Brigades announced a temporary halt in rocket fire for the interest of the Palestinian people.

It is important that Westerners see the actual words that these people speak publicly. By the time it gets to the Western media the above statement, if mentioned at all, becomes "The Popular Resistance Committees military wing announced Monday they would adhere to the ceasefire." The seething hate always gets cut out, and over time well-meaning (and not so well-meaning) leftists start to believe that these people are reasonable and can be persuaded to eventually accept Israel's existence.

But isn't it great that the spokesperson for the group talks about how brave they are but refuses to show his face?

UN withholding the Mavi Marmara report again

Oh, come on:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon informed Israel Sunday that he was postponing – yet again – the publication of the Palmer Commission report on the Mavi Marmara incident last year, to give both sides additional time to reach an agreement that would obviate the need to release the report.

As was the case the two previous times, the postponement was, according to Israeli officials, requested by Turkey.

The Palmer Commission report, which has already been written, is widely believed to uphold the legality of Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, and its right to intercept vessels trying to break the blockade.

The paper also reportedly takes Israel to task for using disproportionate force in stopping the ship, but does not call on it to apologize for the incident.

Turkey is demanding that Israel apologize for the incident, pay compensation to the families of the nine people killed and lift the blockade of Gaza.

Has the UN ever delayed releasing any other reports at the request of one of the countries that gets blamed within?

As Ha'aretz reported after the report was written in early July:

According to a political source in Jerusalem, the final findings of the Palmer Report show that the Israeli naval blockade on Gaza is legal and is in accordance with international law.

The report also sharply criticizes the Turkish government's behavior in its dealings with the committee. Palmer, an expert on international maritime law, added in the report that Israel’s Turkel commission that investigated the events was professional, independent and unbiased.

His findings on the Turkish committee were less favorable, with Palmer concluding that the Turkish investigation was politically influenced and its work was not professional or independent.

The Palmer Committee also criticizes the IHH organization that organized the Gaza flotilla as well as its ties to the Turkish government, suggesting Turkey did not do enough to stop the flotilla.

On the other hand, the Turkish Hurriyet newspaper has suggested that the report will say that the IDF had "intent to kill" people on the ship and that Israel had requested one of the delays of releasing the report.

"It's over, frizz-head" - Details of Qaddafi's fall

Al Arabiya has some details on the dramatic events in Libya:

Jubilant crowds of Libyans gathered in Tripoli’s central Green Square Monday to celebrate a hard-fought victory over the forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, reportedly staying in the Tajura-Cardiac hospital, east of Tripoli.

Rebels and Tripoli residents waving opposition flags and firing into air swept into the square, a symbolic showcase the government had until recently used for mass demonstrations in support of the now embattled Qaddafi. Rebels immediately began calling it Martyrs Square.

The armed brigades of Colonel Qaddafi quickly melted away as rebel forces from the western mountains entered the capital on Sunday to join local rebel groups who rose up against Qaddafi a day earlier.

The whereabouts of Colonel Qaddafi were not immediately known, but a reporter from Tripoli told Al Arabiya TV that he was being treated in the Tajura-Cardiac hospital, east of Tripoli. There were no reports on whether Colonel Qaddafi was undergoing treatment in the hospital or simply taking refuge the facility.

The reporter said rebels had taken control of most of Tripoli neighborhoods. He added Qaddafi loyalists could not be seen in the city.

Opposition fighters captured his son and one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, who along with his father faces charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands. Another son, Mohammad, was under house arrest.

“It’s over, frizz-head,” chanted hundreds of jubilant men and women massed in Green Square, using a mocking nickname of the curly-haired Colonel Qaddafi. The revelers fired shots in the air, clapped and waved the rebels’ tricolor flag. Some set fire to the green flag of Mr. Qaddafi’s regime and shot holes in a poster with the leader’s image.

The startling rebel breakthrough, after a long deadlock in Libya’s 6-month-old civil war, was the culmination of a closely coordinated plan by rebels, NATO and anti-Qaddafi residents inside Tripoli, rebel leaders said. Rebel fighters from the west swept over 20 miles over a matter of hours Sunday, taking town after town and overwhelming a major military base as residents poured out to cheer them. At the same time, Tripoli residents secretly armed by rebels rose up.

When rebels reached the gates of Tripoli, the special battalion entrusted by Mr. Qaddafi with guarding the capital promptly surrendered. The reason: Its commander, whose brother had been executed by Colonel Qaddafi years ago, was secretly loyal to the rebellion, a senior rebel official Fathi Al-Baja told The Associated Press.

Mr. Fathi al-Baja, the head of the rebels’ political committee, said the rebels’ National Transitional Council had been working on the offensive for the past three months, coordinating with NATO and rebels within Tripoli. Sleeper cells were set up in the capital, armed by rebel smugglers. On Thursday and Friday, NATO intensified strikes inside the capital, and on Saturday, the sleeper cells began to rise up.
...
The day’s first breakthrough came when hundreds of rebels fought their way into a major symbol of the Qaddafi regime - the base of the elite 32nd Brigade commanded by Qaddafi’s son, Khamis. Fighters said they met with little resistance. They were 16 miles from the big prize, Tripoli.

Hundreds of rebels cheered wildly and danced as they took over the compound filled with eucalyptus trees, raising their tricolor from the front gate and tearing down a large billboard of Qaddafi. From a huge warehouse, they loaded their trucks with hundreds of crates of rockets, artillery shells and large-caliber ammunition.

One group started up a tank, drove it out of the gate, crushing the median of the main highway and driving off toward Tripoli.

The rebels also freed more than 300 prisoners from a regime lockup, most of them arrested during the heavy crackdown on the uprising in towns west of Tripoli. The fighters and the prisoners - many looking weak and dazed and showing scars and bruises from beatings - embraced and wept with joy.

“We were sitting in our cells when all of a sudden we heard lots of gunfire and people yelling ‘God is great.’ We didn’t know what was happening, and then we saw rebels running in and saying ‘We’re on your side.’ And they let us out,” said 23-year-old Majid al-Hodeiri. He said he was captured four months ago by Qaddafi’s forces crushing the uprising in his home city of Zawiya. He said he was beaten and tortured while under detention.

From the military base, the convoy sped toward the capital.

Official Palestinian Arab news agency rewrites even recent history

WAFA, the official PA news agency, is known for rewriting history - for example, it has said multiple times that there was never a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

But this symbol of the "moderate" Palestinian Authority has no compunctions with lying about recent history either.

Sunday was the anniversary of the attempted firebombing of the Al Aqsa Mosque by a deranged Austrialian Christian named Denis Michael Rohan.

Yet WAFA, in its article about the anniversary, says that Rohan was Jewish. Three times.

When the official news media of the Palestinian Authority has such reckless disregard for the truth, why should anyone believe anything the PA ever says?

Syrian forces cleaning up blood from Latakia camp ahead of UN visit

From Ma'an:

Syrian forces scrambled Saturday to destroy evidence of last week's bloody crackdown in Latakia that killed dozens and sent Palestinian refugees fleeing, activists said as UN investigators arrived in Damascus.

Security forces were seen scrubbing blood off the streets and walls of al-Ramel refugee camp ahead of the cross-agency mission’s anticipated arrival in the port city.

The delegation was dispatched from Geneva in response to a damning report to the Security Council on Syrian leader Bashar Assad's "apparent shoot-to-kill" policy.

More than 60 civilians, mostly Palestinians, have died in Latakia since forces launched an offensive last Sunday, activists say.

On Saturday, regime officials brought television crews to one section of Latakia which had been opened to inspection, rights activists told Ma'an.

Prior to filming, security forces scrubbed off dried, days-old blood from the streets and planted flowers in a bid to present the area as a regular public space.

Assad's "killing machine can wash the blood off the streets but not off its hands," said the diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of concern for colleagues in Syria.

"The evidence ... is overwhelming and undeniable," he said.

[T]he UN's delegation is not authorized to investigate allegations of war crimes and other serious abuses.

Its mandate is to evaluate humanitarian conditions and draw up plans for resuming public services in the coastal town and six more of the hardest-hit areas across Syria.

In Latakia, meanwhile, UN officials say about 7,500 residents of the refugee camp have not returned due to fears of new attacks. The UN refugee agency has tracked down 6,000 Palestinians who fled.

Many of those who remain missing have been locked into a sprawling stadium complex known as Latakia Sports City, activists say. As many as 4,000 people, mostly Palestinians, are believed to be held there.

Syrian rights advocate Ammar Abdulhamid says he is waiting to see if the prisoners will be moved from the stadium when the UN delegation arrives "because, right now, it is still full."

Sunny afternoon open thread

I'll be traveling for the next few hours, so here's an open thread featuring a prehistoric (1966) video from The Kinks:

A backhanded expression of support for Israel from SF

The San Francisco Jewish Federation put out a press release about the Eilat attacks, that ended up being a subtle insult at the very state they claim to support:

We mourn the loss of life and injuries in Israel in the wake of a series of terrorist attacks this morning. It is reported that Palestinian gunmen attacked an Israeli bus traveling near Eilat – the first in a series of attacks that reportedly have left seven Israelis dead and dozens injured. Palestinian infiltrators from Gaza struck the Egged bus just after noon today, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Two additional attacks occurred in the same area shortly after the first – roadside bombs detonated as a vehicle drove past and another on Israeli troops, according to Lt.-Col Avital Leibovitch, the IDF’s chief spokesman for the foreign press. Crossfire between IDF forces and a cell of seven terrorists continued three hours after the initial attack, and some injuries have been reported, according to the IDF.

Our hearts go out to our Israeli family, as the Federation remains committed to helping Israel to build a just, civil and inclusive democracy, and stands with the people of Israel at all times.

Does this mean that the SF Federation does not believe that Israel is already a "just, civil and inclusive democracy"? Does this mean that the Federation believes that Israel needs the help of enlightened San Franciscans to teach them about justice, civility and inclusion?

This phrase has a whiff of smugness that does not belong in a statement of unconditional support.

(h/t Ishai)

Iran's ambassador to Syria quits

Very interesting:

Iran has appointed a new ambassador to Syria to replace Ahmad Mousavi, who decided to quit his post amid growing popular protests against President Bashar Al Assad and his rule.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Saturday named Mohammadreza Raouf Sheybani to replace Mr. Mousavi. Mr. Sheybani was the former deputy at the Foreign Ministry’s Islamic Republic Middle East department.

Mr. Moussavi was Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s vice president for legal affairs and a member of the Iranian parliament from the Arab-majority Ahwaz province.

The Kaleme opposition website last week reported that Mr. Mousavi was planning to leave Damascus, amid growing opposition protests against President Assad and his Baathist regime. Syrian authorities were very critical of the ambassador’s decision, Kaleme reported.

“Ahmad Mousavi has made excuses, such as raising the possibility that he may run in Iran's parliamentary election, to explain his sudden departure from Damascus,” the opposition website reported, adding that Mr. Mousavi’s departure was a sign the political situation in Syria was critical.

Keleme quoted an unnamed Syrian diplomat saying that Iranian embassy staff have vacated their homes in Damascus and sent their families back to Iran in fear of the regime’s imminent collapse.

Iran’s support for the crackdown on protesters in Syria has triggered anger against Iranians living in Syria, the diplomat said.

Mr. Mousavi might not want to return to Tehran so quickly.

Reports: Iran cut funding to Hamas

Reuters reports:

Iran has cut back or even stopped its funding of Hamas after the Islamist movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, failed to show public support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, diplomats said on Sunday.

Hamas has denied that it is in financial crisis but says it faces liquidity problems stemming from inconsistent revenues from tax collection in the Gaza Strip and foreign aid.

The movement is spurned by the West over its refusal to recognize Israel and renounce violence. It receives undisclosed sums of cash from Iran, which has acknowledged providing financial and political support to Hamas.

One diplomat, who asked not to be identified, said intelligence reports showed that Iran had reduced funding for Hamas.

Other diplomatic sources, also relying on intelligence assessments, said the payments had stopped over the past two months.

The diplomats cited Iran's displeasure over Hamas' refusal to hold rallies in support of Tehran's ally, Assad, in Palestinian refugee camps in Syria after an uprising against his rule. Hamas' leadership outside the Gaza Strip is headquartered in Damascus.

Hamas is also widely believed to receive money from the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most popular and organized political force. Diplomats said those payments also may have been reduced because the Brotherhood has diverted funds to support the so-called Arab Spring revolts.

In a sign of a cash crunch, the Hamas government in Gaza has failed to pay the July salaries of its 40,000 employees in the civil service and security forces. Hamas leaders promised full payments in August, but not all employees received their wages as scheduled on Sunday.

If this is true, it is a very nice and unexpected bonus from the Syrian uprising. Syria's regime is left with only two friends, Iran and the Hezbollah-dominated Lebanese government. If Syria should fall it would be a big blow to Iran.

There have been rumors that Hamas is looking to relocate its headquarters to another Arab country (although, as one commenter here noted, isn't it interesting that they aren't trying to relocate to Gaza?)

(h/t Dan)

"Obama" was encoded in yesterday's Haftarah

I was wondering about Artscroll's translation of Isaiah 50:11 זִיקוֹת as "fireworks" since, obviously, there were no such thing as fireworks in Isaiah's day. JTS 1917 translates it as "firebrands."

As I was looking this up, I saw a Christian site note that in that same verse, the word "Obama" (or perhaps Ubama) comes out as the first letter of successive words:

הֵן כֻּלְּכֶם קֹדְחֵי אֵשׁ, מְאַזְּרֵי זִיקוֹת; לְכוּ בְּאוּר אֶשְׁכֶם, וּבְזִיקוֹת בִּעַרְתֶּם--מִיָּדִי הָיְתָה-זֹּאת לָכֶם, לְמַעֲצֵבָה תִּשְׁכָּבוּן.

Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that gird yourselves with firebrands, begone in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of My hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.

I can't see any significance in this, and I don't place much importance to such "codes" (especially in Navi) but it was interesting.

Why isn't Israel demanding apologies?

Egypt demanded an apology for Israel's accidental killing of Egyptian soldiers as they were chasing the Eilat terrorists.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak then did apologize, but the Egyptians responded that it was "insufficient."

Yet yesterday, Egyptian security allowed an Egyptian man to climb on the roof of the Israeli embassy, burn the Israeli flag and replace it with an Egyptian flag. The man is being hailed as a hero in Egyptian media.

An embassy is officially the territory of the nation it represents, so this was an explicit breach of Israel's sovereignty that has been cheered by the entire nation of Egypt.

So why doesn't Israel demand an apology from Egypt?

Why isn't Israel demanding an Egyptian investigation of how the terrorists managed to get Egyptian army uniforms, or how they managed to infiltrate into Israel from right next to an Egyptian army post?

Why doesn't Israel take the diplomatic offensive?

Similarly, there has been a lot of news lately about how Turkey is demanding an apology from Israel for the Mavi Marmara incident ahead of the release of the Palmer report. But, according to a number of reports:

The coming Palmer report, investigating the tragic events of the 2010 Gaza flotilla, is expected to harshly criticize Turkey's handling of the sail and its ties to the IHH, but according to Ynet's source, Jerusalem does not intend to propel the report's conclusions into an international media campaign that would "vindicate" Israel.

So why isn't Israel demanding an apology from Turkey for allowing its IHH partner, a terrorist supporting organization, to sail to Gaza and spark a deadly incident?

A demand for an apology always puts the other party on the defensive. So why doesn't Israel play the same game?

Maybe Israel is trying to be sensitive to Arab "honor." Yet somehow Egyptians are not overly upset at the attacks being directed at their own army and police by the Sinai terrorist groups. Their "honor" seems to be very selective - only against those who seem sensitive to it.

It's time that Israel plays Middle East politics by Middle East rules.

10 of the 13 Gazans killed since Thursday were terrorists (updated)

In retaliation for Thursday's terror attack near Eilat, Israel has struck Gaza hard with airstrikes. Yet despite the pro-Hamas and leftist Tweeters claiming that Israel's airstrikes are aimed at Gaza infrastructure and civilians, even according to Arab sources most of them were clearly aimed at terrorists or terrorist infrastructure.

Fully 10 of the 13 killed since Friday were terrorists. From Thursday:

1- Kamal 'Awadh Mohammed al-Nairab (Abu 'Awadh), 43, PRC Secretary General;
2- 'Emad 'Abdul Karim 'Abdul Khaliq Hammad, 40, the leader of Nasser Saladin Brigades;
3- 'Emad al-Din Na'im Sayed Nasser, 46, a member of Nasser Saladin Brigades;
4- Khaled Ibrahim Salman al-Masri, 26, a member of Nasser Saladin Brigades;
5- Khaled Hamad Sha'at, 32, the leader of manufacturing unit of Nasser Saladin Brigades

A child who was with the above targets was killed as well.

From Friday:

6- Mohammed Fayez Mahmoud 'Enaya, 22, from the PRC, on a motorcycle
7- Samed 'Abdul Mo'ti 'Aabed, 25, "activist of the Palestinian resistance" on a motorcycle
8- Anwar Hassan Saleem, 23 and
9- 'Emad Fareed Abu 'Aabda, 23, "activists of the Palestinian resistance" both on a motorcycle (Islamic Jihad)
10- Mo'taz Bassem Quraiqe', 29, a leader of al-Quds Brigades (the armed wing of Islamic Jihad)

That last attack also killed Quraiqe's 2 year old son and a physician - who were on the same motorcycle or car with him.

Every single fatality in Gaza has been from airstrikes aimed at terrorists.

No one was killed on Saturday or so far on Sunday in Gaza.

All of this comes from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (Thursday and Friday details).

Ma'an claims 14 have been killed; PCHR has no information on any other deaths though. (Ma'an's editor says that may have been a mistake.)

UPDATE: The 14th victim is seemingly a Hamas terrorist, making it 11 out of 14. Also a 13 year old boy killed that some Palestinian Arab media claim was killed by Israel was in fact killed by a Grad rocket that fell short.

UPDATE 2: A 15th death, from Tuesday night, also an Islamic Jihad terrorist. 12/15.

UPDATE 3: An Islamic Jihad terrorist was killed Wednesday. There were claims of a 65-year old man who was killed by artillery in a field; no witnesses but his body was found in pieces. The IDF said they did not fire any artillery and that all airstrikes on Wednesday registered hits to rocket cells, so I'm not sure how to count him. So for now the tally is: 13 terrorists, 3 human shields, 1 unclear.