Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Just remember, it is all Israel's - and the Joooz' - fault

I haven't been spending too much time lately looking for absurd misozionistic and anti-semitic rants, but that is not a reflection of any sort of moderation in the Arab and Islamic world - these rants are still printed daily in Arab and Muslim media.

Two examples from today, the first from the ever-reliable Iranian IRNA:

Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel said here Wednesday that Palestine is the main problem of the world of Islam.
"It is for 60 years that criminal West has imposed Israel on the world of Islam like a dagger and occupied the first Qibla of Muslims," said Haddad-Adel in an address to a group of parliamentarians.
He said today, Muslim world has been awakened and Muslims have regained their identity.
He added that Americans too intend to deceive public opinion by their lies, which are broadcast by the media run by the Zionists.

Our second comes from that moderate ally of ours, the UAE:

ONE of the basic principles of war is that one must have a plan. One of the even more basic principles is that in order to win the war, one must know the enemy's plan!

This is impossible, unless one has first identified the enemy and has taken whatever measures are necessary to know him as well as he can possibly be known. This leads to an old, probably Chinese, injunction; "To succeed, keep your friends close; but your enemies even closer!"

If you are going to fight for the Palestinian, the Middle East, the Arabic, the Islamic, the Pakistani, the Lebanese, the Iraqi, the Iranian cause, or any of the many causes of "the people" in the Middle east, or even understand the conflicts in the region, it is imperative that you not only know all about the enemy, and his plans, but first that you recognise and acknowledge exactly who the enemy actually is!

I am not sure this has been done, for I see little mention of him in the media which seems to be flowing out of the region. ...

No one seems to want to address this major issue, which for years has been behind the Balkanisation of so many countries in the region, and the establishment, installation, stabilisation and solidification of one great foreign and aggravating element, Zionist Israel!

To know the enemy is half the victory. No victory or defence can be devised or pursued without knowing whom one is fighting. Since the "enemy" in this case is right there on the home grounds of the people he is invading and attacking, it should be obvious who he is.

I ask, of the people who live in the region, the Press who write about it, and Muslims particularly, what would the Prophet have done faced with such a scenario? What are you doing?

Read a rare and refreshingly clear voice of startling and exceptionally clear vision on this “unmentionable topic,” by an American. He, and what he has to say on the matter, may be a good platform from which to search for the truth of the enemy, and get an ID on him.

Scott Ritter is not only a clear-sighted and perceptive visionary, he is a brave man who writes exceptionally well. Worth reading!

“Israel at present can have no friends, because Israel does not know how to be a friend. Driven by xenophobic paranoia and historical grievances, Israel is embarked on a path that can only lead to death and destruction. ...” writes Ritter.

America's inability to resolve the question of Palestine is one of the gravest tragedies of our times. This is primarily because the US administration and the US Congress have succumbed to the demands of the Zionists and the Zionist regime. This is a lethal ailment that afflicts the US. The American politicians have fallen captive to the Zionist network. Even though Jews only make up 2.9 per cent of the country's population, an astounding 56 per cent of Clinton's appointees were Jews. Let me assure you the situation was the same in the Bush administration. A coincidence? I don't think so. You have to ask yourselves what motivates American Jews to gain such political power. Is it a genuine care for American interests?

The proportion of 56 per cent in the administration, compared to 2.9 per cent in the populations, says it all without going into the specific numbers. Surely fair-minded Americans the likes of Scott Ritter prefer US-inspired policies to those perpetrated by the Zionists. Regretably little is being done to cure this fatal disease.

Hamas mimicking Arafat

Yasir Arafat was infamous for directing terror attacks while denying any responsibility as he used other front organizations to do the work. (And Arafat was copying his mentor, Haj Amin al-Husseini, who instigated anti-Jewish pogroms in the 1920s and '30s while denying any responsibility to the British.)

The events of the past two days shows that Hamas is following the same game plan.

Yesterday's demonstration by women at Rafah was orchestrated by Hamas, as they bussed hundreds of women from all over Gaza. The goal was to embarrass Egypt into allowing Rafah to open.

Then, this morning, 17 simultaneous explosions by "masked gunmen" took down the Rafah border wall with Egypt - and Hamas denied responsibility.

But Hamas immediately "took control" of the border, and even allowed a Caterpillar tractor to clear the debris so cars can pass through. This "control" has been what they have been demanding for months.

The denial is telling. It shows that, while Hamas used to be unusually honest about its actions and goals before it took over Gaza, it has now started subscribing to using other terror groups to do actions that might be considered distasteful to the international community and to Arab countries.

Yesterday's barrage of 20 rockets - which Hamas did not take credit for - indicates the same thing.

Arab countries sick of Hamas

Despite the manufactured "humanitarian crisis" in Gaza and (perhaps because of) extensive al-Jazeera coverage, Arab countries have been muted in their support for Gazan Arabs - and Hamas is frustrated, as Iranian al-Aram reports:

A senior member of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas has criticized Arab and Islamic states' stance towards Gaza blockade by the Israeli occupying regime.

Speaking to Alalam TV Tuesday, Hamas representative at the Palestinian Legislative Assembly, Ahmed Abu Halbiyeh lashed out at Arab countries, asking them to rise and save the Palestinian people as soon and effectively as possible.

"Hamas movement calls on the leaders of all Arab and Islamic countries, parliaments, political parties, and people to help save the Palestinian nation," Hamas official said.

"Unfortunately, Arab and Islamic countries have not so far given a positive response to our calls, and there has been only little talk for putting pressure on the Zionist regime or for encouraging the Palestinian groups to resume internal negotiations and find a resolution to the Zionists' blockade", Abu Halbiyeh said.

He further noted that "it seems the Palestinian blood is not important for the Arab and Islamic countries".

Hamas legislator said that the Palestinian nation would fulfill their duties concering resistance against occupation by every possible means, and "criticism goes to those countries which make no effort to help the Palestinian people".

Sounds like a spoiled teenager screaming to his parents "You don't love me!"

Politically incorrect Porky Pig

From 1940, "Ali Baba Bound":

Check out the suicide bomber - and the protester.

Great moments in Iranian media's due diligence

A particularly funny article from Iran's Al-Alam:

Al-Yamani Group Linked With Israel

BASRA, Iraq, Jan 22--A security official in Iraq city of Basra says the so-called al-Yamani cult might have been linked with foreign countries and the Zionist regime of Israel.

Bassem al-Moussavi told Alalam, "The so-called al-Yamani cult wants to turn holy cities and southern parts of Iraq insecure and assassinate the country's clergymen, security and political officials as well as attacking mourners of Imam Hossein (AS), the third Imam of Shiites."

He said the group also planned desecrating sanctities of Iraq, murdering the innocent people and attacking the security forces.

He added, "Studies show possible link of the group with the internal and external powers, including the Zionist regime of Israel. One can not however raise any comment on the issue before completion of due research."

Al-Moussavi said some regional and international sources say the cultists might have been lined with the Zionist Regime of Israel, announcing that the Regime might have extended financial, training and military aid to them.

Is the Iranian media all of a sudden afraid of lawsuits?

Gazans reject fuel

From Ma'an:

The Federation of Gaza Oil and Fuel Companies denounced Israel's decision on Monday night to allow bare minimum quantities of diesel fuel and natural into the Gaza Strip.

The General owners, oil and gas companies in Gaza today, Tuesday, rejected receiving mere quantities of diesel allocated to the humanitarian needs of the Agency for relief and received only diesel for electricity and natural gas for cooking.

Mahmoud Al-Khaznadar, the vice president of the Federation said: "The occupation allocated only 45,000 liters of diesel … for humanitarian purposes to hospitals and UNRWA and so on, except for quantities power station, which received 250,000 liters, except for the receipt of 200 tons of natural gas for cooking."

Al-Khaznadar said that 45,000 liters of dieselis not enough for civilian life in Gaza Strip.

He said Israeli Prime Minister Olmert's decision to provide just 2 million liters of diesel to the Gaza Strip's power plant is a circumvention of international law, treaties and conventions governing the treatment of a population under occupation.

When a people say explicitly that they'd rather die than compromise, whose fault is it when they die?

Video of Israel TV crew under fire from Gaza

Giyus links to a video showing an Israeli news crew, covering the fatal shooting of an Ecuadoran kibbutz volunteer by Hamas last week, getting shot at themselves by sniper bullets and mortars:

I follow the news fairly closely and didn't see any mention of Israeli reporters being shot at from Hamas. Needless to say, there was no condemnation of Hamas by any human rights or reporters' rights organizations. And, of course, the Israeli news correspondents were not in "occupied" territory at the time.

Shooting at Israelis is apparently quite acceptable to the world.

Part of the blame must go to Israeli news organizations themselves for not making a big deal over this. Every violation of the Geneva Conventions by Israel's enemies should be publicized, cataloged and placed in easily accessible databases.

Even though these violations occur numerous times a day.

Hamas' goal: open the Rafah crossing

Israel Matzav reported yesterday on a Debka article (no longer available) that Hamas is trying to use this manufactured "crisis" in Gaza in order to pressure Egypt to open the Rafah crossing.

Today, there is some evidence that Debka is correct. Palestine Press reports that Hamas has sent hundreds of women to Rafah to provoke and embarrass the Egyptians at the border (autotranslated):

Clashes erupted this afternoon between anti-riot forces stationed on the Egyptian crossing point of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and between women from Hamas demonstrating and picketing in front of the crossing and creating anarchy at the border in order to embarrass the Egyptian leadership and incite public opinion.

Eyewitnesses said at the border women were brought in buses belonging to the Hamas movement after appeals sent them yesterday in mosques.

Hamas used women as a way to reach the goals that mostly lead to the destruction and loss of the Palestinian people oppressed under this provision unjust in Gaza and to embarrass the Egyptian leadership to the public opinion and Arab public.

Eyewitnesses said, "Ambulances rushed to the area of the crossing after the injury of a number of female supporters of Hamas were injured and were transported to the congestion of Rafah hospital to receive treatment."

The Hamas movement called for a demonstration of supporters of women's wives and female relatives of troops and Islamic bloc in the universities and schools near the Rafah crossing this morning, after Jmathn in buses from different areas of the Gaza Strip and they went to the crossing to demonstrate against the Egyptian authorities and demand to open the crossing closed since the Hamas coup in the Gaza Strip seven months ago.

The Egyptian police announced yesterday on the strengthening of security presence on the border of the Gaza Strip to 300 anti-riot forces in preparation to deal with Hamas demonstrations in the light of threats to use non-peaceful means to open the crossing in the event of the Egyptian authorities refused to adhere to their demands.

Ma'an adds that the Egyptians used batons and water cannons against the women as they shouted "Allah Akbar."

Baking a crisis

I mentioned yesterday Palestinian Arab press reports that Hamas forced the bakeries of Gaza to be closed even though they had a month of supplies. I wrote on Sunday about similar reports that Hamas was stealing fuel meant for hospitals.

Today, a PA official confirmed these stories:

A top PA official in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that Hamas was "holding more than 1.5 million Palestinians hostage" in an attempt to rally the Arab and Muslim masses against the PA and Israel.
"Of course, we strongly condemn the Israeli measures against the residents of the Gaza Strip, but Hamas is also responsible for what's happening there," he said. "Unfortunately, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are paying a heavy price for Hamas's irresponsible actions."
The official also accused Hamas of ordering owners of bakeries to keep their businesses closed for the second day running to create a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. "Hamas is preventing people from buying bread," he said. "They want to deepen the crisis so as to serve their own interests."
The official said that contrary to Hamas's claims, there is enough fuel and flour to keep the bakeries in the Gaza Strip operating for another two months. "Hamas members have stolen most of the fuel in the Gaza Strip to fill their vehicles," he said.

From Hamas' viewpoint, it is all worth it as long as they can get their stooges at AP and Reuters to file pictures such as these:

Palestinians queue to buy bread from a bakery in Gaza City, Monday, Jan. 21, 2008.

And credulous reporters from major newspapers shamelessly parrot Hamas propaganda as they look for that "human angle":

Four days into an Israeli blockade that has cut off food and fuel to the Gaza Strip, residents of the strip contemplated Monday how long it would be until disaster hit. One family of 13, shivering in the cold, counted its eight remaining candles. A bakery that normally feeds thousands had three days' worth of flour.

Hospital generators with enough fuel for three days and no spare parts powered incubators in which twin boys born 2 1/2 months prematurely were being kept alive, their thin chests heaving convulsively.

Because, after all, if reporters have a nice juicy story of cute babies in imminent danger that can be conveniently blamed on Israel, or they have to dig a little to find what is really going on, which story will they choose?

As the Jerusalem Post's Khaled Abu Toameh reports, Hamas has convincingly won a PR victory with staged photos and stories such as these.

January Qassam calendar

As usual, this is far from complete, and it is more to show how ignored the Qassam issue is rather than to show how many are being fired. Many Qassams never make it in the news, and the rare times that the IDF publishes statistics shows that I am usually undercounting by about 50%. Also, these are Qassams that make it to Israel; many that are fired explode in Gaza itself.

This list does not include mortars being shot from Gaza, which are usually much more numerous on any given day. It also does not count the occasional rocket from Lebanon.

262 this month

Previous calendars:

December 2007
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February

MSM can't resist pictures of cute terrorists in training

In Beirut:

A Palestinian child carries a rifle as he joins a demonstration at Shatila refugee camp in Beirut January 21, 2008, to protest against the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Sstrip.
REUTERS/ Jamal Saidi (LEBANON)

In Syria, via AP:

A Palestinian boy holding the Muslims holy book the Quran in one hand and a replica rifle in the other, during a protest against Israeli tactics in the Gaza Strip in al-Yarmouk refugee camp a major refugee camp some 10 km (6 miles) south of Damascus Monday Jan. 21, 2008. Some 1,500 people headed by Hamas deputy leader Mousa Abou Marzouk and members of other Damascusbased Palestinian factions took part in the rally.
(AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)

And because Reuters couldn't stand to see AP have an exclusive on that kid:

A Palestinian child holds the Koran and a toy gun during a rally against a fuel blockade which led to power cuts in Gazaat al-Yarmouk Camp near to Damascus January 21, 2008.
REUTERS/Khaled al-Hariri (SYRIA)

You just have to wonder if any Muslims look at the last picture and get really upset over the imagery of a Koran in one hand and a rifle in the other. They spend so much time arguing that Islam means peace - what do they think when they see this picture? Is it a manifestation of Islamic justice or is it a mockery of Islamic beliefs?

And if they get upset, is it because they disagree with the symbolism or only with it being seen publicly?

Malaysian Muslims allow a corpse to be buried after 18 days

Today's Sharia news. from Compass Direct:

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, January 21 (Compass Direct News) – After 18 harrowing days of battling with Islamic religious authorities, Ngiam Tee Kong on Friday (January 18) finally won the right to bury his wife, who died last December 30, according to Christian rites.

High Court Judge Lau Bee Lan made the decision to allow the Christian burial of Wong Sau Lan after Islamic religious authorities from the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP) dropped the claim to her body, saying that her alleged conversion to Islam was not in accordance with sharia (Islamic law).

Zulkifli Che Yong, who represented MAIWP, told the Sun newspaper that the Council decided to drop the claim after taking into account the views of the mufti (Muslim clergy) and testimony from traditional healer Siti Aishah Ismail, from whom Wong had sought treatment.

Ngiam’s tussle with Islamic religious authorities began when his wife died of kidney failure at the Malaysian National University Hospital (Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia).

Following her death, MAIWP directed the hospital through the police not to release her body to her husband unless he admitted that she had converted to Islam on December 24, 2007. The Islamic religious authority claimed that Wong had converted to Islam by reciting Arabic verses during a session with a traditional healer a week earlier.

Ngiam, who is a Buddhist, challenged the claim and decided to take the matter to court. Ngiam maintained that his wife was a Christian and was baptized in November 2007.

Following the court decision, Ngiam’s lawyer, Karpal Singh, told reporters outside the courtroom that the body would be cremated according to Christian rites after a two-day wake.
...
In the last few years, there have been at least two other cases in which families of the deceased have had to battle Islamic religious authorities in court over the right to bury their loved ones.

In December 2006, the widow of Rayappan Anthony was involved in a nine-day dispute with Islamic religious authorities over whether her husband was a Muslim at the point of death before she was granted the right to bury him as a Christian.

In 2005, the widow of Mount Everest climber Moorthy Maniam lost the legal battle to bury her husband as a Hindu when the civil court ruled that it had no jurisdiction over decisions made by the sharia court. Islamic religious authorities gave her husband a Muslim burial.

Testing new feature: ratings

Haloscan just added the ability to rate individual post ratings on a scale of one to five. It looks like it is worth trying out, as the only feedback I get is through comments and only a small percentage of my readers ever comment. It would be nice to know which of my postings resonate with people and which ones don't.

So if you get a chance, please rate any of the posts here you see with the star system on the bottom of each post.

It looks like it makes the site slower than it already was, so I don't know how long I'll keep this feature, but we'll give it a shot...and any feedback you can give is appreciated as well.

Strike - no spares

One would think that Palestinian Arabs would know by now that their oft-declared "general strikes" hurts no one but themselves.

I have referred a number of times to the strike of 1946-47 when an Arab boycott of Jewish goods ended up hurting many Arab shopkeepers - while the Jews increased their marketing to other countries, ending up making more money and being less dependent on the Arabs.

The 1936 strike, which Arab historians generally consider to be the high point of Palestinian Arab unity and resolve, resulted in the Jews building a port in Tel Aviv to work around the Jaffa port that was closed by the strike. The consequences for the Arab economy were severe.

A two-hour strike in 1947 to protest the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration resulted in Jewish shops and cafes being busier than ever, serving Arab customers.

And yet these strikes continue as a major rallying factor by the so-called Arab "leaders." Each strike throughout history was roundly ignored by many of the people whose lives were directly affected by these calls. And each time - in the 1936-39 "Great Revolt", in the 1946-47 strike, in the December 1947 strike in response to the partition plan - self-appointed, self-righteous Arabs would decide to "enforce" the strike, if necessary by murdering the people who choose not to participate.

Today, nothing much has changed:

Jerusalem police on Monday detained four Arab residents of the city suspected of threatening east Jerusalem shopkeepers to take part in a solidarity strike in support of the Palestinians in Gaza, police said.

I would venture that the reason that PalArabs continue to go down the same self-destructive path that has proven disastrous for decades is because they don't learn any sort of objective history. One would be hard-pressed to find any Palestinian Arab who considers the 1936-9 "Great Revolt" to be anything but an historic victory, when in fact its consequences directly translated to their "naqba" in 1948, not to mention infighting that killed hundreds of them at the time.

Some people never learn.

Clan clash!

From PCHR:

On Sunday evening, 20 January, Marwan Awad El-Gharabli from Sheja’eya Quarter in Gaza City was killed and two others were injured in an armed clan clash between members of El-Gharabli and Abu Amr clans.

I did not see this in any Palestinian Arabic news site, and since the Gaza takeover I'm sure I am missing many murders and Hamas torture-deaths (no word on the fate of some "collaborators" found a couple of weeks ago, for example.)

But from the ones I can check, the 2008 PalArab self-death count rises to 11.

I am also not counting a man who was killed on the Egyptian side of a Gaza tunnel yesterday.