Egypt: Shalit in "good condition." How do they know?

From AFP:

An Israeli soldier held by Gaza militants for more than 15 months is in good condition, Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman was quoted as telling an Israeli minister today.

"Gilad Shalit is in good condition. He feels well and has even gained some weight because he does not do any exercise," Suleiman told Trade and Industry Minister Eli Yishai who held one-day talks in Cairo yesterday, one of his senior aides said.

Since the Red Cross is not permitted to visit Shalit, the only ways that Suleiman can know this is:

- He believes what Hamas says, showing that Egypt is hardly an honest broker.

- Shalit is in Egypt and Egypt is complicit.

- Suleiman has gone to Gaza to see him.

In any of these cases it seems to indicate that Egypt tilts more towards Hamas terrorists than to Israel.

Read More

Aspen TV station considering airing Holocaust denial video

From the October 6 Aspen Times:

ASPEN — A controversial Holocaust denial film is raising questions about free speech at GrassRoots TV, the Aspen community-access station.

Steve Campbell, founder of Citizens for 9/11 Truth, asked the station to air “Judea Declares War on Germany: A Critical Look at World War II” on Monday, but GrassRoots TV board members stopped the screening.

The one-hour program features Dr. Frederick Töben, an Australian national and member of the Adelaide Institute, an organization that denies that the Holocaust ever happened.

“This film is offensive not only to Jews in the world, but to any sensible person,” said GrassRoots TV Executive Director John Masters.

But the question of airing the film he called “like an homage to [Joseph] Goebbels” has stirred a “healthy debate” at the station, Masters said.

The newspaper itself is firmly on the side of the oxy-moronic "truthers":

Our local television station, GrassRoots TV, this week faces a tough question of whether to air a video that’s offensive to many of its board members and viewers. The video takes a “critical view” of the Holocaust and goes so far as to suggest that Hitler’s Germany was under attack by an “international Zionist elite,” and not the other way around.

We urge GrassRoots to run the video, “Judea Declares War on Germany: A Critical Look at World War II” — not because we agree with it but because Aspen shouldn’t be frightened of a dissenting viewpoint.

The GrassRoots board meets Thursday to discuss not only what to do about this video, but what to do with other questionable material. We hope the management and the board choose a path of openness rather than censorship; it’s in keeping with democracy and the spirit of public access television....

This video shows the Holocaust deniers for the crackpots that they are. If viewers wish to see it, then let them. Suppressing this stuff only gives it power.

This has nothing to do with free speech.

TV stations, and newspapers, (and university daises for that matter) have limitations on what I'll call "bandwidth." By choosing to allow hate to be broadcast, printed or otherwise spewed, no matter what the context, they give it legitimacy. Choosing what to allow in bandwidth-limited media is not censorship, it is editing, and it necessarily happens all the time.

The only media that has no limitations on bandwidth is the Internet. As a result, people who want to see this video are free to do so. Nobody's free speech is limited in the least.

Would the enlightened editors at the Aspen Times allow the publication of an op-ed that argues for the re-establishment of slavery?

Read More

Another Google "News" source with explicit anti-semitism

For some bizarre reason, Google started indexing as "news" a site called ProgressiveU.org which appears to be a bunch of drunk college students blogging random thoughts.

An example of pure anti-semitic drivel can be seen here. It is so over the top that I was convinced it was a joke ("Alot of people have known about the criminology of these Jews and since they own everything they are able to supress the victims from talking. well, not this victim. ReAD! Remember, the Nazi's were never found. Only a couple of scap goats were prosecuted. And they never found Hitlers body. I found out he was living with the British Monarchy up until his death in 2005. I met his son, in 1988. He was in his late teens back then. There has been a hugh cover up and it is time we did something to do about it! READ!") but then the author appended a long, more serious Jew-hating article.

There are other articles that are equally bad, all indexed by Google News.

Once again, if you want to complain to Google the URL is here.

Read More

Misoziony

While the irrational hatred of Israel and Zionism is often a good indicator of a hatred of Jews as well, use of "anti-semitism" is often a distraction from the argument being made, and overuse of that term waters it down over time.

Misoziony , although I'm not sure how it is pronounced, is a word that may solve this problem. Miso- is a prefix, based on the Greek misos, that means "hatred." Misoziony - the hatred of Israel and Zionism - is a fundamentally irrational loathing that is just as disgusting as anti-semitism but without the baggage.

Misozionists like to say, for example, that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not anti-semitic because he allows a number of Jews to live in relative peace in Iran, as long as they keep in their place. Arguing that this is but a more subtle form of anti-semitism - which it is - takes away from the prime argument that Ahmadinejad singlemindedly wants to see the Israel utterly destroyed. Arab and Islamic anti-semitism is generally more subtle nowadays than their naked misoziony.

Hating Israel in grossly disproportionate ways compared to the behavior of any other nation is a sickness that is closely related to anti-semitism but it is not identical. Misoziony shows itself to be no less reprehensible than pure anti-semitism, because the desire to see the destruction of Israel is as disgusting as any bigotry.

Israel-bashers like to claim that Zionists use the term "anti-semitism" as a club to crush all criticism of Israel. The problem is, of course, that the same crowd uses the claim of Zionist use of anti-semitism as a means to avoid discussing real issues. The word misoziony can neatly solve that problem and can help re-focus the arguments back on their fundamentally untenable bases. Pointing out misoziony can help to sharpen the debate and point out the basic irrationality of the Israel-bashers.

It is also a much more convenient term when talking about the Jimmy Carters or Walt/Mearsheimers of the world. While they claim that they are not against the existence of Israel, there is no doubt that they suffer from misoziony, uniquely blaming Israel for a large number of world problems and simultaneously absolving everyone else. It is probably not accurate to call them anti-semites but they are firmly in the misozionist camp.

What do you think?

Read More

Egypt allows 30 Islamic Jihad terrorists into Gaza

Ma'an reports:

The Egyptian authorities on Tuesday morning permitted the entry of around thirty Palestinians into the Gaza Strip through the Rafah Crossing, between Egypt and Gaza.

The majority of returning Palestinians were members of the Islamic Jihad movement.

Sources from Islamic Jihad reported that the majority were members of the military wing of the movement, the Al-Quds Brigades, and one was a Hamas loyalist.

Egypt, which denied that it released some 75 Hamas terrorists in late September, is breaking all of its agreements with Israel.

The EU Rafah "observers," still on the EU payroll, are sitting idly by.

Israel remains silent.

And Gazans now have more terror to look forward to.

Read More

Morning links

Front Page: Arab-Israeli Fatalities Rank 49th

Augean Stables: Insights into Honor-Shame Culture: Reflections of an American-born Israeli Officer among Bedouin Soldiers

Hot Air: Jimmy Carter on Darfur: What genocide?

Slate: Hitchens on The Price of Freedom

(h/t Omri, Backspin, LGF)

Read More

Israel's terrible Internet hasbara

Last July I quoted an Omedia article highly critical of the IDF's information policies. At least by judging from the website, it appears to be even worse nowadays - and the IDF is not alone in its horrendous record of hasbara, and the Israeli government's web efforts highlight these shortcomings all too well.

The IDF web site's English section is a joke. There is nothing about current operations, no press releases, no substantive articles describing its philosophy - almost nothing. And there is an empty video section. In the era of YouTube, this is unforgivable. Even the photograph section is impossible to navigate in Firefox and woefully out of date.

It's Hebrew section seems marginally better - at least there are some videos - but in general it is just as hard to navigate, and the world audience is not conversant in Hebrew.

The IDF is not the only Israeli organization that is failing in its obligation to tell the world its story. Even the Foreign Ministry website - better than the IDF's, to be sure - has stories on its front page that are months old. Its video section is sparse as well, with no indication of even what year the videos were created.

Even the IsRealli blog, which was launched with much fanfare a year or so ago by the Israel Consulate in New York, is being updated only once or twice a week.

Compare these with the Israel Insider website, the video site Israel Up Close, the excellent Israel21c site and its associated blog Israelity. These are professional, attractive and updated sites that do what Israel's official websites do not - inform the world about what is really going on and show a side of Israel that is never seen on the news.

The talent exists for Israel to do a better job in Internet hasbara. The poor track record needs to be improved, and quickly.

UPDATE: Two commenters mentioned Israelplug.com and it looks like a very good and entertaining site.

Read More

This week's marriage fatwas

MEMRI uncovered two interesting fatwas today:

A sheikh from Al-Azhar, Farahat Al-Manji, decreed that a marriage ceremony acted out by two actors for a film or a television show is valid and binding.

According to the fatwa, if the woman is already married, the second marriage is considered bigamous.

Source: Islamonline.net, October 2, 2007

Egypt's Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs has decreed that misyar marriages – "pleasure marriages" in which the woman gives up some of the rights granted her by Islam, such as the right to housing and financial support from her husband – are permissible in Islam.

The council, which is the major fatwa-issuing body in Egypt, added that the marriages are allowed as long as all provisions specified by shari'a have been met, and as long as they are not banned by the state.

Source: Alarabiya.net, October 2 2007.

Misyar marriages, of course, are pretty much Muslim-sanctioned prostitution for Sunnis. Muslims will go on business trips and "marry" a local girl just for sex. (A similar type of temporary marriage for Shias is called Mut'ah and it is a marriage for a pre-determined set amount of time - Shiites and Sunnis each strongly feel that the other type of marriage is forbidden.)

These two fatwas show that Muslims have watered down the definition of marriage and divorce so much that the terms are almost meaningless, and any social safeguards that the "decadent" West has for monogamy and respect for women are not only non-existent in Islam, but the concomitant disrespect for women is religiously sanctioned.

Read More

PA willingly cedes control of Jerusalem - to Jordan

From YNet:

Israel and the Palestinians have agreed that the Temple Mount as well as other parts of the Old City in Jerusalem will be under Jordanian control as part of a future peace deal, a Palestinian daily reported on Monday.

The London-based al-Quds al-Arabi reported that President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reached the agreement during recent talks in Jerusalem. Under the arrangement, the Old City's Arab residents will be granted Jordanian citizenship.

The newspaper did not say whether Israel would keep control of Jewish holy sites and neighborhoods in the Old City.

The arrangement will make the Jordanian monarchy a guardian of holy Muslim shrines in Jerusalem.

Forgetting the utter stupidity and breathtaking shortsightedness of Kadima allowing Jerusalem to be divided again:

If Jerusalem is so important to Palestinian Arabs and has been so important for so many centuries, why would they willingly give up control to another nation? Why is Jordan a preferable custodian of holy sites in Jerusalem than Israel from a PalArab perspective?

The reason is, of course, because Palestinian Arabs do not want control of these lands! They do not want the headaches of running a real state and solving real problems. Their attachment to "Al-Quds" is a farce, and the numerous photos of the Dome of the Rock that grace every Palestinian Arab website and TV broadcast are only for show. Their entire existence as a people is due to their leaders deliberately separating them from their Arab brothers for the past sixty years, for the singular purpose of using them as cannon fodder to help destroy Israel.

A real people, proud of their heritage and proud of Jerusalem, would never accede to giving their holiest and most important site to a completely different nation. The only goal here is to take away land from the Jews rather than to own and cherish it themselves. As long as Arabs own it, it matters little to them who controls it - just as long as they are not Jews. The entire idea of Palestinian Arab nationalism is shown to be a farce by this agreement.

(I am well aware of the irony of the first sentence of the last paragraph, as it shows that the Israeli Left is equally dismissive of their own religious and cultural heritage. If something is not done soon, we will in a couple of years witness Israeli policemen forcibly dragging Jews away from the Old City in the name of "peace" - proving that the blind pursuit of an illusory "peace process" is more irrational than most religions are.)

Read More

EU "observers" still silent on Hamas terrorists crossing Rafah

As I mentioned last week, Egypt allowed some 85 Hamas terrorists to enter Gaza through the Rafah border crossing late last month.

Today, the EU BAM Rafah website still has not acknowledged that it was complicit in this event by allowing it to happen. Their last press release is from July 7, saying that even though Hamas had taken over Gaza they still plan to maintain their presence.

Now, that's a cushy job! Live in Israel, stay on the EU payroll and don't lift a finger to stop terrorists and weapons from freely entering Gaza.

Read More

Fatah spokesman in Arabic: Negotiations with Israel just another form of "resistance"

The Palestine Press Agency reports in Arabic (autotranslated):

(Ahmed) Abdul Rahman (senior advisor to Mahmoud Abbas) confirmed that the negotiations are a form of work for the Palestinian resistance option and Palestinian ending the oppressive Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

Abdul Rahman added, "If the Israelis Mtandin negotiator with the Palestinian side does not mean that despair, but we will continue to work through all possible means to us, explaining that one of the forms of struggle that is the international conference called for by President Bush, especially since many of the officials said that the hour is hours of an independent Palestinian state and an end to Israeli occupation....

Abdul Rahman stressed that the issue of concessions is not included final and the Palestinian side had nothing to give him, but we have what we want to Nabdeh to end the Israeli occupation.

The word "struggle" is a code word for "terror", so Abbas' senior advisor is mollifying the bloodthirsty Palestinian Arab population by saying that negotiations are just another form of "resistance" aimed at getting everything from Israel without any compromise on the Palestinian Arab side. He also makes very clear that terror is still a very viable option for Fatah as a means to extract more from Israel - even after successful negotiations.

You will not find any Western media translating this interview.

Read More

Qods Day postscript

Qods Day has come and gone, but it is worth mentioning that this day that is meant to fake Islamic ties to Jerusalem was created by the late Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran in 1979.

Khomeini also was responsible for another novel legal ruling (warning - this is mind-bogglingly disgusting):

"A man can marry a girl younger than nine years of age, even if the girl is still a baby being breastfed. A man, however is prohibited from having intercourse with a girl younger than nine, while other sexual acts such as foreplay, rubbing, and kissing are allowed. A man having intercourse with a girl younger than nine years of age has not committed a crime, but only an infraction, if the girl is not permanently damaged. If the girl, however, is permanently damaged, the man must provide for her all her life. But this girl will not count as one of the man's four permanent wives. He also is not permitted to marry the girl's sister."^[34][35]

Khomeini specifically described an act known as thighing that allowed an adult male to simulate sex with a female child without penetration:

"Thighing is a means for an adult male to enjoy a young girl who is still in the age of weaning; meaning to place his penis between her thighs, and to kiss her."^[36]

With such a prestigious pedigree, it is no wonder that Qods Day has gained popularity among many Shi'a Muslims!

Read More