Did Jews rule Jerusalem in 614 CE?

One of the reasons given for today's Lag B'Omer celebrations is to commemorate the Bar Kochba revolt of 132-136 CE. Most Jews believe that this was the last time of Jewish sovereignty over the land of Israel before the 1948 War of Independence.

However, there may have been another brief period of Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem, many centuries later.

In "A History of the Jewish People" by Haim Hillel be-Sasson, we learn:

In the last days of Byzantine rule over the Land of Israel the Jews made an attempt to exploit the rivalry between the powers ruling the orient - Persia, Byzantium and Rome - in order to regain their political independence. For hundreds of years they had repeatedly hoped that the redemption of the Jewish people would come with the conquest of Palestine by Persia; and now the time seemed to have arrived. At the beginning of the seventh century, the Persians set out on their conquests in the East, and in the year 614 they reached the borders of Palestine. Their approach set off a powerful messianic fermentation, which is reflected in several works written at the time whose theme is the Redemption. The Armenian historian Sebeos reported (Chapter XXIV): 'As the Persians approached Palestine, the remnants of the Jewish nation rose against the Christians, joined the Persians and made common cause with them.' The Jews assisted the invaders materially in their conquest of Galilee. From there the invading army turned to Caesarea and continued its conquests down to Apollonia, then eastwards to Lydda and from there to Jerusalem, which was captured in May 614. Jewish forces also took part in the conquest of Jerusalem. Sophronius, a contemporary monk who lived near Bethlehem, wrote in a poem: 'God-seeking strangers and citizens of the city [Jerusalem]; . When they faced the Persians and their Hebrew friends/Hastened to close the city gates.'

The Persians handed Jerusalem over to Jewish settlers, who proceeded with the expulsion of the Christians and the removal of their churches. At the head of Jerusalem stood a leader whom we know only by his messianic name: Nehemiah ben Hushiel ben Ephraim ben Joseph. The sacrificial cult may even have been resumed. Jewish rule in Jerusalem lasted three years. In 617 there was a reversal of Persian policy. For reasons that are not sufficiently clear, the Persians made peace with the Christians. The Jews, on the other hand, did not, and the Persian authorities were forced to fight them: 'And they waged war against the saints and brought down many of them. and Shiroi [the king of Persia] stabbed Nehemiah ben Hushiel. and sixteen of the just were killed together with him (Book of Zerubabel, page 101).

There are other accounts of this episode as well.

The Jews saw another opportunity to take back Jerusalem in the early seventh century, just before the rise of Islam. The Persians conquered what had been Judea from the Byzantine Empire, capturing Jerusalem in 614 CE. The Armenian historian Sebeos described the Jews' reaction to the Persian campaign: "As the Persians approached Palestine, the remnants of the Jewish nation rose against the Christians, joined the Persians and made common cause with them." The Persians even installed a Jew, Nehemiah ben Hushiel ben Ephraim ben Joseph, to rule the city.

But this regime was short-lived. Hoping to accommodate their Roman Christian subjects, the Persians apparently withdrew their support for any Jewish self-government. Moreover, in 629 CE the Byzantine emperor Heraclius reconquered Jerusalem, where the former anti-Jewish edicts were again renewed. The city's new rulers banned public recital of Judaism's core prayer, the Shema, and executed many Jews or evicted them to neighboring countries. Five years later, the Byzantines required all the empire's Jews to become baptized. This harsh regime did not last long, however, for in 638 CE Muslim armies from Arabia conquered Jerusalem, thus opening a whole new chapter in the Holy City's history.

Thirteen hundred years would pass between the last Jewish self-government in Jerusalem in 614 and the establishment of a Jewish national home under the British that would later become the State of Israel. During that time, Jerusalem would remain the center of Jewish national aspirations as well as religious ritual. But the quest to return to Jerusalem was not left as an eschatological task for the distant future. Jews returned to Jerusalem whenever the bans on Jewish settlement were lifted; thus many Jews came back to the Holy City after the second caliph of Islam defeated the Byzantines, establishing a new Jewish Quarter that was populated until the First Crusade. Jerusalem's main Jewish synagogue in the first decades of Islamic rule, known as "the Cave," was located under the Temple Mount, at the point along the Western MA closest to the Holy of Holies.

The Jewish Encyclopedia does not mention this, however.

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There aren't any pro-Western rebels in Syria. None.

From the NYT:

CAIRO — In Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, rebels aligned with Al Qaeda control the power plant, run the bakeries and head a court that applies Islamic law. Elsewhere, they have seized government oil fields, put employees back to work and now profit from the crude they produce.

Across Syria, rebel-held areas are dotted with Islamic courts staffed by lawyers and clerics, and by fighting brigades led by extremists. Even the Supreme Military Council, the umbrella rebel organization whose formation the West had hoped would sideline radical groups, is stocked with commanders who want to infuse Islamic law into a future Syrian government.

Nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of.

Syrian officials recognize that the United States is worried that it has few natural allies in the armed opposition and have tried to exploit that with a public campaign to convince, or frighten, Washington into staying out of the fight. At every turn they promote the notion that the alternative to Mr. Assad is an extremist Islamic state.

The Islamist character of the opposition reflects the main constituency of the rebellion, which has been led since its start by Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority, mostly in conservative, marginalized areas. The descent into brutal civil war has hardened sectarian differences, and the failure of more mainstream rebel groups to secure regular arms supplies has allowed Islamists to fill the void and win supporters.

The religious agenda of the combatants sets them apart from many civilian activists, protesters and aid workers who had hoped the uprising would create a civil, democratic Syria.

When the armed rebellion began, defectors from the government’s staunchly secular army formed the vanguard. The rebel movement has since grown to include fighters with a wide range of views, including Qaeda-aligned jihadis seeking to establish an Islamic emirate, political Islamists inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood and others who want an Islamic-influenced legal code like that found in many Arab states.

“My sense is that there are no seculars,” said Elizabeth O’Bagy, of the Institute for the Study of War, who has made numerous trips to Syria in recent months to interview rebel commanders.

So much for the idea that Syria could possibly turn out OK in the foreseeable future. Either Assad will win - or radical Islamists. People still hoping for a secular, pro-Western state have been living in a fantasy world.

Seculars or those with a more pragmatic bent are going to get the hell out of the war zone, leaving nobody left but people who thrive on violence.

There are now 1.4 million refugees from Syria.

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Fatah leader: "Jews do not follow any moral standard of conduct"

Classic antisemitism from our moderate Fatah friends:



Following are excerpts from an interview with Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, which aired on Al-Mayadeen TV on April 10, 2013:

Abbas Zaki: Many institutions have determined that Israel, in its stupidity, attacked the U.S. administration and was responsible for 9/11, and was greatly involved in it. In Europe, there are attacks on Jews these days. In 2011, there were 522 attacks. In 2012, there were 686 attacks. In other words, they caused an increase.

They do not abide by the law, they do not belong to the international community, and they do not follow any moral standard of conduct. So where does the strength of the Jews and Israel lie? Why does Obama want to change the constitution, and establish a Jewish state for all the Jews in the world? They exploit the weakness of the Arabs. The Arabs are non-existent. Therefore, we should negotiate on the basis of non-surrender, and rise to the challenge...

Abbas Zaki's cellphone rings

Interviewer: Saved by your cellphone...

Notice how Zaki uses the old excuse for antisemitism, that if people hate the Jews it must be because the Jews deserve it.

Zaki often speaks the truth about how "moderate" Palestinian Arabs think but he is too old to know how to censor himself (like substituting "Zionists" for "Jews.")

In the past, he has stated that forcing Israel to abandon Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria would be the first step in Israel's destruction:

With the two-state solution, in my opinion, Israel will collapse, because if they get out of Jerusalem, what will become of all the talk about the Promised Land and the Chosen People? What will become of all the sacrifices they made – just to be told to leave? They consider Jerusalem to have a spiritual status. The Jews consider Judea and Samaria to be their historic dream. If the Jews leave those places, the Zionist idea will begin to collapse. It will regress of its own accord. Then we will move forward...

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Egyptian gunmen stop construction materials to Gaza

Arabic media are reporting that unidentified gunmen cut off the road between El Arish and Rafah to prevent the passage of vehicles filled with construction materials destined for the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing.

Many residents of the Sinai object to the introduction of building materials and other goods to the Gaza Strip worth millions of dollars, while the people of Sinai do not benefit from any aid themselves.

This especially rankled Egyptians in the Sinai because, in general, people living in the Sinai have a worse standard of living than Gazans do.

Egypt started allowing construction material to go through the Rafah crossing in recent months, a project bankrolled by Qatar to the tune of $400 million.

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Rocket fire from Gaza steadily increasing

Tonight, as Israelis started their outdoor Lag B'Omer celebrations, a rocket from Gaza exploded in the Sdot Negev regional council.

After a two-month lull following Operation Pillar of Defense, the terror rocket attacks have been steadily increasing:

The 14 so far this month include 10 rockets and 4 mortars.

This does not include the Grad rockets from the Sinai to Eilat on April 17, or mortars that fell short in Gaza. Nor does it include the sporadic but also increasing fire from Syria.

By the way, tonight's rocket was described in the Fatah-leaning Palestine Press Agency as landing in "the settlement of Netivot in the south of the occupied Palestinian territories." Of course, this is within the Green line, showing that even the "moderate" Palestinian Arabs consider all of Israel to be "occupied."

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Saturday Links

From Ian:

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Sarah Honig: Another Tack: The lesson of April 26

It was less than three weeks before David Ben-Gurion would proclaim Israel independent but the Arabs were already plotting their invasion of the yet-to-be-born state. On that April 26 Transjordan’s King Abdullah announced belligerently that “The only way left for us is war. I will have the pleasure and honor to save Palestine.”

Barry Rubin: How Much Did U.S. Policymakers Learn about the Middle East in Forty Years? Some Proof

“Israeli pessimism seems largely if not entirely unwarranted. It seems based on an extraordinary lack of understanding of what happened in the Arab world in the last year and a half. Rather than girding their loins for the fifth, sixth, seventh Israeli-Arab wars. The Israelis might examine more carefully than they seem to have done so far the alternative of a peaceful accommodation with the Arabs."
This is not a reference to the "Arab Spring." No, it's from a dispatch sent from the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia, January 9, 1975. It concluded that the lack of peace in the Arab-Israeli conflict was Israel’s fault. That dispatch could be published—as we will see in a moment—word for word today, 38 years later, with just as little accuracy.

BDS – Belligerent, Disruptive and Silly

It is summertime in Israel and apart from expecting the influx of tourists who visit us every year, we are gearing up to welcome a plethora of famous faces that includes Depeche Mode, Cliff Richard, Alicia Keys, Rihanna and another lady you may have heard of (and in my opinion Jewish royalty) Ms Barbra Streisand. We are the start up nation – a natural investment haven for major technology brands like Apple, Google, Microsoft and others who see this as a R&D haven. But don’t take my word for it – ask Warren Buffett or Stephen Hawking…
Perhaps one of our fabulous start ups will invent some technology that will allow BDS activists to hear the anguished cries of our neighbours who wonder why nobody is paying attention to how their autocratic governments are trampling on their human rights…
Their failure to do so and their singling out of Israel for opprobrium just enforces the fact that they are belligerent, disruptive and downright silly!

Islamic Extremists vs. White Supremacists
We rightly condemn the KKK but fail to extend the judgment.

We do not hesitate to condemn utterly the behavior and the beliefs of the Ku Klux Klan (the perpetrators of this bombing and others) and their white-supremacist fellow travelers. We do not worry that reviling white supremacists and their grotesque deeds will somehow taint all white people. (Though some on the left won’t mind if you generalize about white people.)
But when it comes to other groups and other motives for the same kind of terrorism — we lose our moral focus. Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, and Kathy Boudin have become honored members of the faculties at leading universities. Ayers is even a friend of the president of the United States. Regarding his own record of setting bombs that kill and dismember innocent people, Ayers told the New York Times on the ironic date of September 11, 2001, that “I feel we didn’t do enough. . . . [There’s] a certain eloquence to bombs, a poetry and a pattern from a safe distance.” So says a retired “distinguished professor” at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Canada’s train terror plot raises deportation questions

Raed Jaser, a Palestinian arrested over alleged al-Qaeda-backed scheme, had been spared deportation in 2004 after his arrest

Bulgaria conducts reenactment of Burgas bombing

Bulgarian authorities conducted a reenactment of the Burgas bus bombing which claimed the lives of five Israelis and a Bulgarian bus driver last July, Bulgaria's state radio reported Friday. The two suspects, Hezbollah operatives, are still at large.

Europol: Hezbollah linked to 2012 Bulgaria bombing

The European Union’s police body, Europol, said in a report that “indications suggest possible links” between Hezbollah and a deadly terrorist attack in Bulgaria last year.
The statement, published Friday by the news site EuObserver, suggests Europol has adopted the findings of a six-month-long investigation by Bulgarian security services into the July 19, 2012 bombing of a bus of Israeli tourists in Burgas that left five Israelis and a Bulgarian dead and dozens wounded. In February, a Bulgarian minister said the attack was carried out by agents of Hezbollah’s military wing with funding provided by the Shiite group.

Would-be NY Synagogue Bomber Gets 5 Years

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus said during the hearing, "The conduct contemplated is well beyond what can possibly be tolerated in a civilized society… That's especially apparent in light of recent arrests."

If Obama’s Syria Promises Mean Nothing, How Can We Trust Him on Iran?

With even ardent Obama supporters like Jeffrey Goldberg reminding the president he has made it crystal clear that chemical weapons use would be a red line that would trigger a strong U.S. response, what follows will not only tell us whether that promise would be kept. It will also illustrate just how seriously to take other pledges the administration has made, specifically its vow never to allow Iran to go nuclear. With the White House desperately trying to buy time before making a decision on Syria, it’s fair to ask why anyone should regard American rhetoric on Iran as anything more than an elaborate bluff if Obama won’t keep his word about Assad’s behavior.

Douglas Murray: Memo to Iran’s apologists: President Ahmadinejad has denied the Holocaust

Has President Ahmadinejad ever denied the Holocaust? David Morrison, co-author with Peter Oborne of a new apologia on the Iranian ‘government’, appears to think that he has not. In a bizarre and disgraceful interview with the Telegraph, alongside his co-author, Morrison recites the main claim of their book – which is that the Iranian regime is not pursuing nuclear weapons. Oborne’s Telegraph colleague Con Coughlin too kindly skewers that claim as ‘delusional’.

Parson Students Launch Petition Against Galliano Hire

The petition asks: “This is a person who was fired from Dior for his anti-semitic remarks, who Natalie Portman refused to work with because of his remarks, so why is Parsons The New School for Design hiring him?”

Azerbaijani FM: Negotiations underway to open embassy in Israel

Negotiations are under way on the opening of the Azerbaijani embassy in Israel, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said at a press conference on Friday.
"Azerbaijan will continue to develop relations with Israel and Palestine," Mammadyarov said commenting on the results of his recent official visit to the Middle East. (h/t Zvi)

Turkey honors Israeli company

Turkey's industry minister has awarded an Israeli company with a prize for an innovative project during a technological parks convention in Istanbul.
The company, Adam Elktronik, is based in the GOSB Teknopark – an industrial park built by Israeli businessman and philanthropist Stef Wertheimer in Turkey. (h/t Zvi)

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Friday Links Part 2

From Ian:

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LATMA: An interview with GOC Central Command Leitzan Balloon and the FBI fights terror



Scottish hotel cancels Jewish event after "threats"

Student from St Andrews University have reportedly been stopped from holding a charity event due to threats sent to the venue - the St Andrews Golf Hotel.
Jewish students were due to hold a black tie Matzah Ball at the prestigious location with almost 100 expected to attend from around the UK. Money raised was to be sent to seven Israeli charities supported including the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and Friends of the Israel Defence Forces (FIDF).
But following pressure from the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC), as reported by the Jewish Telegraph, hotel manager Niall Thompson cancelled the booking.

ZOA Criticizes Dustin Hoffman For Being Special Guest At Radical, Anti-Israel Muslim Public Affairs Council Gala

MPAC is headed by Salam al-Marayati, who has called for Israel’s destruction, and has said that Israel may be responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Even left-wing Los Angeles rabbis have ceased to speak to him. The following is a small sampling of his record of Islamist extremism.

A Pallywood Hijacking

The photo above appears in the Facebook group “I acknowledge Apartheid Exists”
So why am I posting it? Because it’s typical Palestinian lies and nonsense.
They hijacked a photo from 2005, which had the original caption:
Title: "Religious Jews Protest Against The Desecration Of Ancient Graves"

Birthday Party for Adelle at Hospital: 'May She be a Miracle'

Adelle Biton's family celebrated her third birthday Thursday at the Schneider Children's Hospital, where she is still unconscious after an Arab rock ambush last month.
Adelle's mother, Adva, exuded optimism and unshakable faith at the celebration.

Dutch Newspaper Utilizes Nazi Imagery to Defame Israel

“I referred to the respected Ebert Foundation poll that showed over 38% of Dutch respondents said that Israel is exterminating Palestinians the way the Germans exterminated the Jews! Shocking? Perhaps not, considering decisions like your paper's to publish a cartoon depicting Israel as the lying hooked-nosed religious Hassidic Jew commiserating with a North Korean counterpart over their nuclear capabilities,” said Rabbi Cooper, referring to the abhorrent cartoon.

‘Amazon Jews’ on Their Way to Israel

Hundreds of descendants of Peruvian Jews are planning to make aliyah (immigrate) to Israel, the Jewish Agency reports.

Why U.S. Companies Are Drooling Over Israel’s Amazing Startup Scene

U.S. companies and investors are falling over themselves to get a piece of Israel’s startup action these days.
There are at least two dozen accelerator programs in the Tel Aviv area, including some run by Microsoft and Google.
It seems like every U.S. VC has at least one Israeli startup in its portfolio. Some even have full offices here, like Battery Ventures, Benchmark, Bessemer, Sequoia, according to the Mapped In Israel startup map.

Israeli firm named Bloomberg New Energy Pioneer

The Israeli “smart water” network and software management firm Whitewater was named a 2013 Bloomberg New Energy Pioneer at a ceremony in New York earlier this week.
Whitewater received the award at the sixth annual Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit, along with what Bloomberg describes as nine other “game-changing companies in the field of clean energy technology and innovation.”

Revealing secrets

His most recent publication is a book in Hebrew on Israel’s major military operations, coauthored by Nissim Mishal.
“It looks at the IDF’s 30 greatest operations, such as the Entebbe raid [in 1976], Sabena [the flight 571 hijacking in 1972], up until Pillar of Cloud [last November] which was the last one. There is even a last chapter about the operation that has not been carried out; about the attack on Iran, with a detailed description of how we shall try to do it.”

Menachem Begin: A Life, by Avi Shilon (REVIEW)

Indeed, Shilon positions Begin as the most Jewish of Israeli leaders. Although he never ducks from documenting Begin’s flaws, he ultimately presents a fine man and a loving leader. Begin was a humble man and a loyal husband. Such qualities were rare enough among the politicians of his era, nowadays they are rarer still. If only there were more of his calibre in politics now.

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Tunisia riled up over Taekwondo match with Israel (update)

From Middle East Monitor:

The Tunisian public was surprised to hear the news that its national Taekwondo team would participate in a match against the Israeli national team, which is considered a form of normalisation with Israel. This participation has caused the issue of normalisation with Israel to resurface in Tunisia.

Once the news of the match spread, the Tunisian Ministry of Youth and Sports immediately expressed its condemnation of the national Tunisian Taekwondo team's participation in the international championship with Israel and described the participation as "a mockery."

In a statement aired by the official Tunisian radio station on Sunday, the Tunisian ministry said that it opened an immediate investigation of the "participation of members of the national Taekwondo team in an international championship in Belgium who are competing against Israel without prior discussion with the Supervising Authority."

It also explained in its statement that this investigation "aims to find out reasons for this participation" described as a "mockery."

The Tunisian Taekwondo Federation called for "immediate discontinuation of the activities of those causing this mockery - including the technical and administrative members accompanying the Tunisian delegation - until the investigation is over and accountability is established."

The Tunisian Taekwondo team has participated in the Belgian Open with Israel in the past, where some members of the Tunisian team competed against Israelis, which angered former coach of the Tunisian national Taekwondo team, Murad Al-Souli, who spoke out against what he considered "normalisation with Israel."

Al-Souli expressed his anger over this participation, pointing out that the Tunisian team has never participated in any match with Israel. He held the Tunisian Taekwondo Federation responsible for this, as well as the head of the Tunisian delegation participating in this championship.

In addition to this, activists on social media networks launched a campaign against the temporary Tunisian government, accusing it of normalisation with Israel. This explains the statement mentioned earlier by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, an effort to tone down this anger.

One coach, trying to avoid being lynched upon his return, claimed that one of the athletes didn't know he was competing against an Israeli.

UPDATE: Zvi adds:

It is time for global sporting federations to stop treating this disgusting behavior as normal behavior and to start censuring and expelling member organizations that refuse to participate in international competition against other countries.

The US and the USSR had no problem with competing against each other in sports for decades, even when they were aiming massive arsenals of nuclear weapons against each other and attempting to destroy each other through overt and covert means.

The behavior of the Arab sporting federations with regard to Israel is disgusting, the kind of behavior in which poor losers and small-minded bigots engage.

Israel, on the other hand, is happy to participate in sporting events anywhere and to compete against other countries - even ones that seek to destroy it - because international sporting and culture are supposed to be above politics in our global athletics system. Israel's stance is the stance that the nations of the world have embraced - all but a few regimes run by small-minded bigots.

Israel embodies the ideal of all sporting federations. Her enemies embody the antithesis of these ideals. This should be highlighted EVERY time one of these stories arises.

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This week's Egyptian Muslim attack on a church

Seems to happen a lot, doesn't it?

Ahram Arabic website reported that clashes broke out between protesters and security forces at Saint George's Church in Beni Suef, with eight people injured and 11 arrested.

Angry Muslim protesters attempted to storm Saint George’s Church in Al-Wasata city in the governorate of Beni Suef on Friday.

Tensions erupted in the city recently after reports that a 21-year-old Muslim girl had disappeared, with her family accusing a Christian family in the city of forcing her to convert to Christianity and facilitating her travel to Turkey with a Coptic Christian man.

Local Islamist groups had given the Christian family a deadline to return the girl, which expired on Friday, reported Ahram's Arabic language website.

Security forces fired teargas grenades at angry protesters, who attempted to storm the church following the Friday Muslim prayer, and arrested five people for throwing Molotov cocktails at the church.

Security vehicles and forces are reportedly surrounding churches in the city.

A number of traders have already closed their shops, particularly Christian jewelers who fear they will be targets.

It's remarkable that so many Copts haven't fled yet.

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Iranian terrorist in Bangkok claims he was "stunned" to find bombs in his cupboard

Remember the three Iranian men found last year to be targeting Israeli diplomats using identical magnetic devices as the New Delhi attack?

One of them - who actually threw one of the bombs at police - claims it is all just a huge, huge misunderstanding:

An Iranian man whose legs were blown off during an alleged botched bomb plot last year against Israeli diplomats in Bangkok said Friday he found the explosives and was trying to dispose of them safely when they detonated.

Saeid Moradi, 29, told a Bangkok court that he was about to leave Thailand when he found four bombs hidden inside radios in a cupboard at a rented house in the city.

Two of the devices exploded as he ran into the street to throw them into a nearby canal -- the second tearing off his legs, he said.

Moradi and Mohammad Khazaei, 42, are among five Iranians suspected of involvement in the February 2012 blasts that followed attacks in India and Georgia and saw Tehran accused by Israel of a terror campaign.

Giving his evidence first, the younger defendant said he accidentally triggered one of the bombs when he opened a cupboard in the apartment.

“I was stunned and threw it into the corner, believing it was a smoke bomb,” the wheelchair-bound suspect said via a translator, adding he grabbed two other bombs and ran outside to throw them into a nearby canal.

He did not refer to the fourth device.

Prosecutors accuse Moradi of hurling one bomb at a taxi and a second at two police officers as they approached him on the street, but it instead detonated near the suspect.

The defendant gave a different version of events saying he dropped one of the devices near the taxi by mistake, and tried to throw the other away as the policemen approached fearing it would detonate and hurt them.

“I knew if the police stopped me I’d have to drop the bomb which may have endangered them and people nearby.

“So I threw it about a metre in front of me,” he said, adding he blacked out and woke up at hospital later to find his legs had been torn off in the blast.

He just innocently tried to dispose of the four bombs, that mysteriously popped up in his apartment for no apparent reason, in three different spots.

Of course, finding four bombs in your apartment is not a reason to run outside and call the police.

He was instead being a hero, trying to save lives, by disposing the bombs himself - throwing one towards, but not of course at, the police.

I can't wait for the testimony of his roommates. What are the odds that they blame the Mossad for planting the bombs?

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Friday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian Journalists Declare War On Israeli Colleagues

If Palestinian journalists have been so radicalized that some are even willing to resort to threats and violence against colleagues, what must one say about the rest of the Palestinians who, for the past two decades, have also been exposed to messages of hate by their leaders?
How can anyone talk about resuming the peace process when Palestinians are being told by their leaders, on a daily basis, how bad and evil Israel is? If Israel is so bad and evil, then how can any leader go to his people and say that he is negotiating with them?

Imagine: a Boston bombing every week

I genuinely empathize with the victims of the Boston bombing. They were killed, maimed, injured, and/or forever traumatized only because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. As they gathered to compete in or watch the marathon underway, they were – like all terrorism victims – the epitome of innocent.
But imagine if this happened again next week, at a pizzeria, killing 15 diners. And again, a week later, on a bus, killing 19 passengers. Then, at a discotheque, killing 21 teens. Then, at a church, killing 11 worshipers. And so on, with a new bombing terrorizing us almost every week.

Boston or Jerusalem, terrorism is terrorism

It is important to understand that terrorism is terrorism. It is simply never justifiable. Whether committed by al-Qaeda, Hamas, Fatah, Hezbollah or Ansar al Islam, once someone starts talking about "understanding the root cause," it provides them with a rationale and opens the door for more of these heinous acts against free people, anywhere around the globe.

Playing the Nihilists

“Public intellectual” seems a needlessly complicated term. Isn’t “intellectual” already enough of a slur without “public” adding the suggestion of filthy municipal toilets and inefficient mass transport?
Then again, that’s the role of your modern intellectual: to take something reasonably straightforward and render it incomprehensible. Here’s public intellectual Juan Cole, for example, on the simple matter of two stupid Boston bombers:

Hamas Slams PA for Postponing Anti-Israel Resolutions

Gaza’s Hamas terrorist rulers condemned on Thursday a decision by the Palestinian Authority to postpone five UNESCO resolutions against Israel.
"This step is like a reward to the occupation for its crimes and violations," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement quoted by the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency.

EU Parliament Iran Visit Under Fire For Not Including Meeting with Human Rights Winners

By removing the requirement to meet with the winners, the European Parliament is “completely undermining the powerful human rights message that the award sent to Iran’s oppressive, internationally isolated leadership,” Schwammenthal added.

IDF shoots down drone near Haifa; Hezbollah denies involvement

Israeli officials maintain UAV likely sent by Lebanese terror group; ‘attempt to violate our border’ is grave, says Netanyahu, whose helicopter was forced to make emergency landing during incident

Analysis: Hezbollah drone a publicity stunt

Hezbollah’s attempt – likely Iranian-backed – to fly a drone into Israeli air space on Thursday is a dangerous publicity stunt designed to distract attention from its large-scale and bloody involvement in the Syrian civil war.

Lebanese Youth Sign Up for 'Jihad' Against Hizbullah

Lebanese youth have begun to sign up for “armed Jihad in Syria” against Hizbullah terrorists helping Assad.

‘Jordan king may be next casualty of Syrian war’

On eve of Abdullah II’s talks with Obama, Senator Lindsey Graham says monarch may fall unless conflict on his northern border is contained

NY Judge Rules: Jordanian Bank Can Face Trial Over Terrorism

The victims claim in their lawsuit that the Amman-based Arab Bank “knowingly and purposefully supported” foreign terrorist organizations from 1995 to 2004 by providing financial support to terrorists, including administering payments to the families of Palestinian Authority Arab suicide bombers.

“Manchester Guardian Demands an Independent Jewish State in Palestine”

Remarkably, given the ideological bent of the institution today, there was a time when the Guardian was genuinely concerned over the possibility that ‘only’ a truncated Jewish state would emerge – one which would represent a mere fraction of the original territory legally assigned to it under the Mandate for Palestine.
My, how their moral sympathies have shifted.

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BDS Condolence Cards

A few months ago, I created a series of "condolence cards" for BDS advocates for the many times Israel shows how utterly ineffective they are. They have been popular on Twitter.

I can't believe I never posted them here before....

UPDATE: It seems I did post the first two in context of different stories.

This is what happens when you approach being 2,000 years old.

In order to make up for it, here is a new one I just created:

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Worries of Salafi attack at annual Jewish pilgrimage to Tunisia synagogue

From ANSAmed:

A Jewish pilgrimage this weekend to the most ancient synagogue in Africa will take place under huge police presence amidst fears of a Salafist attack. A little under 1000 Jews are arriving at the so called "island of dreams" on Djerba ahead of the pilgrimage on 26 - 28th April to the El Ghriba synagogue, Tunisia's most ancient Jewish site, and the scene of a 2002 suicide attack by Al Qaeda in which 21 people were killed when a bus full of explosives detonated against its walls. The synagogue, which is located in the Jewish village of Hara Seghira, or 'Er-Riadh', dates back to 586 BC and is revered for the chanting of the Torah which resonates from its walls. This peaceful and meditative place is a symbol to Tunisia's Jewish community, who, until yesterday, had been fully tolerated and fully integrated into Tunisian society. But today's pilgrims will make the visit under a shadow of fear as the threat of attack from certain Salafist elements threatens to cancel out what until now has been a peaceful co-existence.

Hundreds of armed officers are lining the entrance to the island as well as in the traditional sites where pilgrims gather for prayers. Most of the 2000 strong Jewish community - the biggest in the country, lives in Arryadh, where the synagogue is located, and the Tunisian government is determined not to be caught off guard by any potential Salafist trouble.

At a demonstration on January 14 last year to mark Ben Ali's escape, Salafist groups shouted at their Jewish neighbours, and threatened to attack them in their homes. Tunisian Salafists make no distinction between Jews and Zionists and Jewish community leaders are hard pressed to drive home the idea that they are first and foremost Tunisians - by many generations, and only second Israelites. In a bid to cut risk security forces have carried out a "clean sweep", arresting nearly 500 people in the last few weeks.

Hezbollah's Al Manar points to the security measures as proof that Arabs are only against Zionism. not Jews. They don't quite mention how the Al Qaeda attack against the synagogue fits in with that alleged tolerance.

Or how this Hassan Nasrallah's quote fits in with that tolerance as well:

If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew. Notice, I do not say the Israeli. (New Yorker, Oct. 14, 2002)

Or how Hezbollah's deadly attack on the Jewish center in Buenos Aries fits in with that famous Muslim tolerance.

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1944 Jewish Agency letter to Britain describing death camps in detail

The Guardian has an article about newly released archives describing how the British predicted in 1948 the Jews would win any war, and many other details.

Being the Guardian, it is spinning things to make the Jews look as evil as possible, and I cannot compare the Guardian's reporting with the actual documents yet because they do not seem to be available on the British National Archives website.

But while I was looking, I came across this:

As we all know, the British did nothing with this information to save the remainder of Europe's Jews.

That antipathy seems to have spilled over into the more recently released archives, based on the new report.

Hopefully we will be able to check it out soon rather than trust a newspaper that can be relied upon to always put on an anti-Zionist spin on history.

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Absolut Tel Aviv

From YNet:

Tel Aviv is becoming part of the desired list of cities who have got their own special Absolut Vodka bottle.

The Absolut Tel Aviv bottle is being released as part of the Absolut Blank series designed by artist Nir Peled, who uses the professional name Pilpeled.

Pilpeled joins a long and distinguished list of artists from all over the world who have designed posters and other items for the Swedish vodka brand, including Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and others.

The bottle, which is being released in a limited edition of 150,000 units, commemorates Tel Aviv's ficus tree boulevards. It serves as a tribute to nights filled with vodka and alcohol in the city, which is associated - internationally as well – with the club and nightlife culture.

Here's a detail of the bottle design.

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