Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, November 27, 2014

How's that "International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People" going?

On January 16, the UN launched the "International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People." Because clearly the annual International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, plus the many UN committees and groups and organizations dedicated exclusively to "Palestine," were not enough to bring peace.

Here is how the UN described their hopes for this year:

“The coming year will be crucial to achieving the two-State solution,” Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said in his remarks to the UN General Assembly’s Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

“The Secretary-General and I urge all in the international community to work together to translate the solidarity and desire for peace expressed on this occasion into positive action for security and for justice.”

Last November, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming 2014 as the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, and requested the Committee to organize activities around the observance.

General Assembly President John Ashe told today’s meeting that he hoped the Year leads to “robust” support for the people of Palestine. “I am sure I speak for many when I say that I hope the Year helps foster an atmosphere of dialogue and mutual understanding between the two sides of this decades-long conflict,” he said.

“We live in an international context that requires cooperation among all parties, entities and beings to find solutions to the challenges facing the human family. There are no exceptions; Israel and Palestine must find agreement on the conditions in which they can live side by side in peace and security.”

UN officials, including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, have noted that 2014 could be a an important year in the Middle East peace process, if both sides are willing to take bold steps and refrain from actions that undermine progress in the peace talks that resumed last year.

Well, by these criteria, the year has been an utter failure. And, as sure as night follows day, the UN had a session blaming Israel.

No one at the UN seems to have realized that the UN's a priori declaring that one side is right and the other side is wrong, as the International Year implies, is a major factor working against peace.

Notice how in January the UN officials were saying they wanted both sides to work together and to make compromises for peace. But when the most important international organization puts so many resources behind supporting the PLO terror group and demonizing Israel, their actions belie their words. The PLO has no incentive to make any sort of compromise with Israel when they are spending all their time attending the numerous meetings and gala dinners celebrating how much the world supports them during this year.

The PLO did make one compromise this year - with Hamas, by inviting the terror group to join their own Fatah terror group into an ill-fated "unity" government. That is the major accomplishment of the "International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People": the Palestinians refused to talk peace with Israel and instead swore solidarity with an internationally recognized terror group.

As recently as this week, official Palestinian media supported terror attacks against Jewish civilians while worshipping, another result of the international community's refusal to hold them accountable for anything, ever.

The PLO knows quite well that the UN will not say a word against them no matter what they do. They are basking in being the object of adoration for an entire year. The calculus is clear: they would rather wait for the world to force Israel to give in to their threats and terror rather than make a single compromise for peace.

And we can thank the UN for this result.

"Jews Control Everything"

A couple of years ago I saw some guy during the Occupy Wall Street protests holding this sign in downtown Manhattan:

Earlier this month, I saw him (or someone very like him) outside Madison Square Garden with a new yet very similar sign, saying Jews Control Everything and inviting people to Google it:

Well, we cannot disappoint the gentleman.

Google's algorithm happens to really like me, because, well, I'm the freaking Elder of Ziyon and of course I control Google (which is, of course, dominated by my good Jewish billionaire friends.).

Anyway, I'm hoping that within a few minutes of me posting this, when people Google "Jews Control Everything" this post will be on the first page; if I'm lucky it will be the first hit.

The current leader is of course a nutty conspiracy theorist with pretty boring arguments about Jews and the media, banking and so forth in America. He doesn't even mention the Talmud! Slacker.

So my goal is to be #1, which should make this person with huge amounts of free time very happy. After all, the only thing better than proving that the Jews control everything is to find out that a single Jew controls everything!

I just have to write "Jews control everything" a couple more times to help my SEO.

UPDATE: With the quotes around the phrase "Jews Control Everything,", on Google US, my searches have me coming up 3rd less than 15 minutes after I posted. Without the quotes I'm not yet on the front page.

UPDATE 2: After 75 minutes, with quotes this post is #1 on Google and without it is #5. And no one is surprised - because Jews control everything. And I'm not ashamed to say it out loud: Yes, we Jews control everything! Jews control America! Jews control the banks! Jews control the media! And behind all the Jews controlling everything, is ...me!

I must add a "bwa-ha-ha-ha!"

UPDATE 3: Damn - back down to #2. Must have violated an SEO manipulation rule.

11/26 Links Pt2: SJP plans illegal activity against Jewish students and Israel

From Ian:

Leaked: SJP plans illegal activity against Jewish students and Israel

A recently uncovered internal document of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Binghamton University SUNY sheds new light on the anti-Semitic bigotry of SJP groups across the country, as well as SJP’s ties to international campaigns to harm the Jewish state and the Jewish people.
Entitled “Declaration of Principles and Strategies,” the document specifically outlines strategies for targeting, ostracizing, harassing, and silencing students on campus who oppose the boycott of Israel or who simply attend a pro-Israel event. In a lengthy section on “Tactics and Strategies Used to Counter Zionist Normalization,” the document gives detailed instructions for when and how to disrupt “Zionist” events and activities on campus. Disrupting an event is a direct violation of others’ right to freedom of expression and assembly, and a blatant violation of New York law.
The internal Binghamton-SJP Declaration is a window into “anti-Zionist normalization” campaigns being waged by SJP groups across the country, whose explicit purpose is to delegitimize all pro-Israel perspectives and actively suppress their expression on college campuses. These campaigns have resulted in dozens of Jewish and pro-Israel students’ events being disrupted, and Jewish and pro-Israel students feeling harassed, intimidated, and stripped of their constitutionally-protected freedom of expression and association.

Ben-Dror Yemini: Evil spirit taking over Middle Eastern studies

One of the main reasons for imposing a boycott on Israel is the "oppression of higher education" among the Palestinians. That's an interesting reason. In practice, when Israel entered the territories there were zero – zero! – higher education institutions there. This isn't Zionist propaganda. It's what Birzeit University President Gabi Baramki said.
In recent years, following the horrible oppression, the Palestinians have ranked first in the percentage of people with higher education in the Arab world. Again, this is the conclusion of a joint research conducted by two people, an anti-Zionist Jew and a Palestinian researcher. World Bank data reflect the same conclusion.
These are the facts. Of course they won't confuse the big experts on Middle Eastern studies. They will continue to blame Israel for almost every crime in the world. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

Hero’s Welcome for Hater of Israel at MESA

So Steven Salaita isn’t a critic of Israel. Tom Friedman is a critic of Israel. Steven Salaita is a hater of Israel, it’s a title he’s proud to claim, and that hatred runs like a thread through all he writes and says.
Now if you aren’t a hater of Israel, you still might think that Steven Salaita deserves your support—not because of his hatred of Israel, but despite it. Academic life, once famous for its guarantees of job security, isn’t what it used to be, and the way Salaita was “de-hired” by the University of Illinois is the sum of every academic’s fears. If that’s you, and Steven Salaita enters the hall, you might offer up some polite (“civil”) applause, as a gesture of labor solidarity. But if Steven Salaita enters the room, and you rise to your feet in an enthusiastic standing ovation reserved for a true hero, that’s not a gesture of support. It’s an outpouring of adulation, because Salaita has been brash enough to say what you think: what exactly is wrong with hating Israel?
So at this year’s Middle East Studies Association (MESA) conference, on the very first day, I found myself in a standing-room-only audience of Israel-haters wearing MESA badges, who received Steven Salaita with a standing ovation. When I last attended MESA, in 1998, Edward Said got just such an ovation. Said was larger than life. Salaita is smaller than life—an indifferent speaker whose every other sentence ends in “right?”—but he is the anti-Israel, and in the yawning void left by the passing of Said, even a Salaita will do.

All Palestinians Wish To Become Martyrs - Well, Those Not In Office (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

All Palestinians Wish To Become Martyrs - Well, Those Not In Office

By Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian President

I have said it before and I shall say it again: all Palestinians desire to become holy martyrs in the struggle for our land. Well, all Palestinians except us, the ones in power. Let's be honest here.

The fight for justice and our dignity is our national goal, and everyone with a Palestinian heart is willing to sacrifice his very life in pursuit of that goal, unless that Palestinian heart beats inside an official or politician, because, you know, power. Somebody has to sit in these comfortable chairs, in luxuriously appointed offices, making big decisions. We do it for your sake, O noble Palestine!

There is nothing more admirable than giving up one's life in dramatic, violent fashion while striking a blow against the Crusader oppressor , which is why I encourage all of our youth to take up arms, or whatever is available, and become a shaheed in the epic war. While you do so, we unfortunate officials with access to tremendous amounts of cash, influence, amenities, and decadence will have to settle for an administrative role in the conflict. Please do not feel sorry for us. We accept this set of responsibilities, and everything that entails, with open eyes.

O, to be a shaheed! The thought of every noble Palestinian turns toward the fulfillment of the national dream! We must each consider how we might transform our lives into vehicles for national liberation, and if it results in our deaths, Palestine is the richer for it! And so am I, considering the funds that those of us in charge divert for our personal interests. But you pay no mind; it is the price we pay for serving the public.

Remember noble Abu Amar, who died a heroic death of old age and infirmity. How many times did he express his deepest desire to become a martyr for Al Aqsa, but for his duties as a wealthy international playboy? And what of our brethren in Qatar, who operate with the very real risk of being wined and dined at Doha's finest hotels? Do it for them! Me, I'm busy with this redecorating project we have going on at the Muqata right now.

Let the blood that courses through your veins also flow into the sacred streets of our land in the struggle to oust the Zionist interloper - that is, if you actually spend time on the streets like some prole. Those of who walk the halls of power have other obligations, and, well, duty calls.

This is a stamp from British Mandate Palestine. It says "Palestine" in Hebrew, Arabic and English, but in Hebrew it adds the initials א.י.(E.Y.), for Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel, which is what Jews have always called the area.

In 1925, Arab leaders in Palestine were very upset over those two letters, so they went to court.

From the Palestine Bulletin, October 13, 1925:

As already reported, the Chief Justice, Sir Thomas Haycraft, and Mr. Justice Corrie, heard on Saturday last the complaint preferred by Mr. Jamal Husseini against the Palestine Government. The plaintiff demanded that the Court should oblige the Government to remove on "stamps" and other official documents the Hebrew letters "E-I" (being the initials for the Hebrew word, "Eretz-Israel," leaving only the word "Palestine" in Hebrew.

Counsel for the plaintiff based his prosecution on Article 22 of the British Mandate for Palestine that states that anything inscribed in one of the official languages must be transcribed into the other two languages. The initials "E-I" (Eretz Israel) were inscribed in Hebrew only, in contravention to the provisions of the Mandate. The Chief Justice asked Counsel whether he would agree that the initials "E-I" be also inscribed in Arabic and English. Counsel replied in the negative. Their Honours then pointed out that the initials "E-I" was the translation of Palestine. Counsel contended that "E-I" was not the right translation of "Palestine" their meaning being "The Land of the Jews." He said that "Palestina" was already inscribed, and that the affixing of the initials "E-I" was tautological. He was of opinion that their addition constituted a political point to prove that the land was that of the Jews. The Philistines and the Jews were two separate nations, existing at separate times, and the meaning of one did not apply to the other. He requested the Court therefore that: it should order the deletion of the initials "E-I" from stamps and other official documents in Palestine - or alternatively, to order the inscription of the words "Suria El Jenobia" (Southern Syria), Palestine's Arabic cognomen.

That last sentence says volumes.

Jamal Husseini, who was one of the architects of the 1929 massacres of Jews and remained a major Arab leader in Palestine through the 1940s, felt that in order to keep things equal, Arabs should be able to officially use their own name for Palestine just as the Jews were using Eretz Yisrael.

And what name is that? Southern Syria!

This is already several years after Arab leadership officially abandoned their desire to integrate Palestine into Syria, but it shows that Arab masses clearly still considered Palestine to be a mere district of a larger Arab nation, not a nation of its own.

Notice also that Husseini regarded the Arabs of Palestine at the time to have been descended from the Philistines, not the Canaanites, as today's Arab leaders pretend.

Also, Jamal Husseini admitted that the Jewish people are a nation - something strenuously denied by Palestinian Arab leaders today.

Today, Palestinian Arabs point to the stamp their leaders denounced as evidence that they were once an Arab political entity - and they erase the Hebrew altogether in school textbooks. They use the stamp as a tool to try to eliminate Jewish nationalism.

This little episode shows that Palestinian nationalism is a fiction. It only exists as a means to destroy Jewish nationalism, and if it wasn't for Zionism there would never have been any desire on the part of Arabs to have an independent Palestinian state.

It shows that Palestinian Arabs have changed their supposed history as a people in reaction to whatever the contemporary political climate allows.

There is one more lesson from this episode as well.

The Palestine Bulletin article was reproduced in the Macquarie University law school archives. But their version engaged in a little political correctness replacing the word "Philistines" with "Palestinians" and "Palestina" with "Palestine." Because it is not fashionable for modern Westerners to acknowledge that there were no "Palestinian" nation, ever. The idea that a law school would silently change the text of a 1925 newspaper article in order to align it with today's zeitgeist is but a tiny indication of how history itself has been distorted by today's universities for political purposes.

You can learn a lot from a stamp, if you are willing to keep your mind open.

(h/t Joe)

11/26 Links Pt1: Why UNRWA Perpetuates the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

From Ian:

Why UNRWA Perpetuates the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Part of the coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is pretending to hold actors and institutions involved to a higher set of expectations than experience would dictate. Over the course of last summer’s war between Hamas in Gaza and the Israel Defense Forces, this meant propagating the idea that it was in any way shocking when the terrorist organization’s weapons–stockpiled for the express purpose of killing Jews in a maniacal, genocidal campaign–turned up, repeatedly, at schools run by UNRWA: the UN agency dedicated to keeping Palestinians living like refugees in perpetuity.
So now it’s unclear precisely how to react to a raft of stories demonstrating the reason it wasn’t surprising to find Hamas weapons in UNRWA schools: because UNRWA teachers and principles share Hamas’s violently anti-Semitic ideology. Yet in fact this is newsworthy, for an important reason beyond the obvious. First, though, it’s instructive to see just what American taxpayers are getting for their UNRWA money.
On November 20, after the Har Nof massacre in which Palestinian terrorists murdered four rabbis in a Jerusalem synagogue, the Algemeiner reported:

Popular Jewish blogger Elder of Ziyon has amassed evidence of UNRWA employees lauding the Jerusalem attack, among them Maha al Mosa, an UNRWA teacher in Syria who prayed for the two terrorists to be accepted in “paradise” as “martyrs,” Ibrahim Hajjar, another teacher based in Hebron, who published a poem praising the terrorists, and another Syrian-based teacher who, using a pseudonym, posted a celebratory picture of Adolf Hitler on his Facebook page.

Bernard-Henri Lévy: Israel, Palestine, and the French Legislature: ‘He Who Would Act the Angel, Acts the Brute’

For nearly half a century I have favored the two-state solution. But I believe that the “unilateral recognition” of Palestine under consideration in the French parliament is a bad idea for three reasons.
1. Hamas.
Its charter and its agenda.
The fact that, for the time being at least, Hamas administers one of the two territories that make up the state that supposedly must be recognized immediately and with great fanfare. The fact that Hamas’s doctrine is that Israel must be destroyed.
One does not recognize, even symbolically, a state in which half of the government denies another state’s right to exist.
One does not recognize, especially not symbolically, a government in which half of the ministers dream of annihilating that state.

Amb. Prosor addresses UNGA debate on the Question of Palestine (h/t Irene)

Daily Beast and IBTimes lie in report about abuse of Palestinian child prisoners

From The Daily Beast, in an article written by Creede Newton:

Israeli jails are known to be brutal and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club, a group that campaigns for Palestinians arrested inside Israel, recently released a report saying that 40 percent of Palestinian children detained in Jerusalem have been sexually abused.

His link for the report goes to an article in International Business Times by Tabatha Kinder:

A justice group for Palestinians arrested in Israel has released an explosive report claiming that 40% of children detained by Israeli authorities in Jerusalem have been subjected to sexual abuse at the hands of Israeli police.

Around 600 Palestinian children have been arrested in Jerusalem since June 2013, the International Middle East Media Centre news agency reports. This means approximately 240 minors could have been abused during their arrest or investigation by Israeli authorities, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club (PCC).

That report links to Muslim News UK, which copied word for word an article from the rabidly anti-Israel IMEMC website.

The IMEMC made this up.

Even though the Palestinian Prisoners Club is run by convicted terrorists, and even though it is known to have made up plenty of lies about conditions in Israeli prisons, in this case the IMEMC completely misreported what the PPC had said.

Although I cannot find the original PPC report online - their webpage has been down for a while - their Facebook page has a summary of the report, and it was widely reproduced in Arabic media last week.

According to the actual report, 600 youths between 14-17 have been arrested by Israeli authorities since June 2013 - which are 40% of the total number of people arrested. The report further claims that the "bulk" of them were physically abused during arrest or interrogation.

Abuse!!!!!!

Nothing at all was said about sexual abuse. And even the allegations of physical abuse are probably based on asking them leading questions for which they know what answer the interviewer wants to hear. Any physical contact when detaining them becomes "abuse " according to these "rights groups." It would be crazy to expect reporters to actually check out the trustworthiness of a group of convicted terrorists when they release a paper, right? NGOs are sacred, they wouldn't lie! (In this case, the PPC is hardly even an NGO; its former head is now the Minister of Prisoner Affairs for the PA and they make joint announcements.)

In this case, IMEMC lied, as it often does. And lazy, stupid reporters like Creede Newton and Tabatha Kinder repeated the lies of an anti-Israel propaganda outlet without spending five minutes to check the facts independently.

So we have Western reporters outdoing an already suspect "rights group" in libeling Israel because they cannot do the most basic things reporters are supposed to do. One would expect that a true reporter would at the very least check out who the Palestinian Prisoners' Club is to begin with, and look up their actual report, rather than mindlessly parrot the lies of IMEMC.

But then that assumes that reporters have a modicum of interest in the truth.

(h/t Adam)

UNRWA teacher accidentally advocates the murder of an anti-Zionist Jew

Mohammed Abu Shehda is a teacher at a UNRWA school in Gaza.

He likes violence. A lot.

He wrote as a caption to this photo, "What is taken by force can only be restored by force." I don't think he is interested in a negotiated two-state solution.

When three teenage Israeli boys were kidnapped, he wrote a congratulatory message along with this poster.

Shehda is also a Jew-hater, as he posted this cartoon during the current rash of terror attacks that illustrated the hadith that says that stones and trees will call out to Muslims where the Jews are hiding so they can be properly murdered. This tree is saying "Oh, Muslim, Oh, Servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him."

In this cartoon, Shehda celebrates the murders of religious Jewish worshippers in Jerusalem by showing a cartoon Palestinian burying a cleaver in the bloodied head of a religious Jew.

You know how Palestinian Arabs claim that they aren't antisemitic and only anti-Zionist?

Well, the "rabbi": in this photo is Yisroel Dovid Weiss, a leader of the rabidly anti-Israel Neturei Karta group!

And this anti-Zionist is the person who is being illustrated as a target for being brutally murdered!

Shehda just wants to kill Jews, not Israelis. He looks for photos of Jews to illustrate his desire to see them killed, even when the Jews hate Israel as much as he does!

Apparently, desiring to bury axes in the heads of every identifiable Jews is a perfect qualification to be an UNRWA teacher. UNRWA has certainly not lifted a finger to distance themselves from any of this virulent hate in their classrooms and the social media of their teachers since I started identifying it in 2012.

(h/t Bob Knot)

Israel Hayom (Hebrew) reports that Israel has filed official complaints with NATO about Turkey's ties to Hamas terror.

It is unacceptable for a NATO country to maintain ties with a terrorist organization, according to the messages sent to NATO.

According to senior political sources in Jerusalem, Hamas runs the political and military headquarters from Istanbul from Damascus following the fighting in Syria.

One person working from this office is arch-terrorist Salah al-Arouri. Israel listed a long series of attacks for which Arouri is responsible, including an attempt to stage a coup against the Palestinian Authority that was foiled in August with the arrest of 93 Hamas members in the West Bank.

Arouri is also suspected of being behind a string of terror attacks in Israel, including the kidnapping and murder of three teenage boys.

An Israeli official said yesterday that there is no doubt that the activity in Hamas' headquarters in Turkey takes place with the approval and supervision of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He openly supports the the Muslim Brotherhood and was responsible for the Mavi Marmara incident.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon recently delivered a similar message during his visit to the United States, in a conversation with Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. "Turkey is playing a cynical game," said Yaalon to Hagel. "Hamas is supported by Turkey and Qatar, and Turkey is a NATO member. We cannot have a terrorist organization with two headquarters: one in Gaza and another in Istanbul."

An article by Jonathan Schanzer in Foreign Policy last year says that under US law, Turkey may be considered a state sponsor of terrorism for hosting Arouri, who was already known then to be the leader of Hamas terrorism in the West Bank.

"If Arouri is behind the funding, recruiting, or planning of any of these Hamas operations in the West Bank, it will have grave consequences for Turkey, "Schanzer writes. "To the letter of the law, Turkey could meet criteria as a state sponsor of terrorism. Strange friends for a nation that views itself part of the Western alliance."

EoZ research reaches The Hague in Shurat HaDin vs. Mahmoud Abbas

Two weeks ago, Shurat HaDin brought a war crimes complaint against Mahmoud Abbas to the International Criminal Court.

The complaint starts this way:

THE COMPLAINANT submits to the Prosecutor this communication concerning Abbas’s criminality in actively promoting indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli civilian locations. Abbas is a citizen of Jordan. In addition to being President of the Palestinian National Authority and Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Abbas is Chairman of the Central Committee of Fatah, a Palestinian militant faction. Al-Aksa Martyrs’ Brigade (hereinafter AAMB) is a military group within Fatah. Abbas thereforeis in de jure and de facto control of Fatah and of AAMB. He is responsible for the war crimes of those groups, in violation of Articles 8 (2) (c) (i) and 28 (2) of the Rome Statute.

When it gets to the details, the complaint says:

Members of Fatah and AAMB have directed rocket attacks in the 2014 conflict with Israel. In July and August, 2014, Fatah and AAMB fired rockets from Gaza into Israeli cities. AAMB’s rocket fire was so prolific, sustained, and saturating that AAMB exhausted its supply of rockets and is using the current ceasefire to re-arm. Constituent elements of Fatah fired over 2,000 rockets at Israeli civilian targets during the 2014 conflict. AAMB fired 620 rockets over the days of the war, the Abu Nidal Brigades shot 532 rockets and mortars at “the Zionist enemy,” and the Abdul Kader Husseini Brigades fired 864 rockets and mortars at Israel.

The highlighted part is footnoted to this Algemeiner article, which in turn referred to my research here.

In a small way, I personally helped build a case against the war criminal Mahmoud Abbas.

(h/t Irene)

11/25 Links Pt2: Prosor says 'J'accuse' to UN, slamming the body's hypocrisy

From Ian:

Eugene Kontorovich: A Palestinian ICC gambit would reach far beyond parties to the conflict

An ICC investigation into Hamas will place both Qatar and Turkey in the international spotlight, and will lead to intense international pressure on their senior leaders, including the Emir and increasingly belligerent and paranoid President Erdogan, to assist in the ICC’s investigation and deliver wanted persons to the ICC. These countries will doubtless react with hostility to such efforts, leading to diplomatic tension between them and the ICC’s Western supporters.
In other words, an ICC investigation could pull in much of the Middle East, in a way that is likely to be obnoxious and destabilizing, and will pit Western interests in diplomatic quiet with their commitment to justice.
Moreover, Israel sees a Palestinian turn to the ICC as the ultimate betrayal of the diplomatic process that created the Palestinian government itself. It may react by spreading the love. Thus it would have little to lose by joining the ICC itself, and forcing an investigation of Turkish settlements in Cyprus, and, if the Court allows for retroactive jurisdiction, perhaps Lebanese rocketing of Israel. It could also perhaps refer Iran for its incitement to genocide, which as I explain, could be understood as relating to the territory of Israel.
In other words, not only would a Palestinian turn to the ICC not be limited to Israel and the Palestinians – it would also sweep in much of the Middle East.

Coverage of Israel should be accurate and impartial, but it's not

One cannot argue that the recent mistakes and misinformation are simply the result of the information age, the social networking sites, and the pressure to release reports about rolling events as quickly as possible. We've witnessed them before, when there was no Internet, too, and they occur in one direction only – Israel's.
For quite some time now, the Western media's coverage of Israel has suffered from mistaken reporting, exaggerations, double standards, the unbalanced use of sources, baseless associations, ridiculous analogies, selective and tendentious interviews and significant omissions.
The shortcomings stem from a sense of solidarity with the "underdog," the adoption of the Palestinian-victim narrative, intimidation and threats on the part of the Palestinians, the widespread conflicting and critical voices within Israel, and anti-Semitism. From the perspective of the Western media, Israel alone is to blame for the absence of a solution and the violence.
This puts Israel in a very difficult spot; but its spokespersons must make more of an effort to demand a higher level of professionalism and responsibility from the journalists, and to denounce and shame them when they slip up. The Western media's consumers expect accurate, reliable and impartial reporting. They need to be shown that when it comes to reports they are fed about Israel, this is often not the case.

The Nazi Romance With Islam Has Some Lessons for the United States

Both Hitler and Himmler had a soft spot for Islam. Hitler several times fantasized that, if the Saracens had not been stopped at the Battle of Tours, Islam would have spread through the European continent—and that would have been a good thing, since “Jewish Christianity” wouldn’t have gone on to poison Europe. Christianity doted on weakness and suffering, while Islam extolled strength, Hitler believed. Himmler in a January 1944 speech called Islam “a practical and attractive religion for soldiers,” with its promise of paradise and beautiful women for brave martyrs after their death. “This is the kind of language a soldier understands,” Himmler gushed.
Surely, the Nazi leaders thought, Muslims would see that the Germans were their blood brothers: loyal, iron-willed, and most important, convinced that Jews were the evil that most plagued the world. “Do you recognize him, the fat, curly-haired Jew who deceives and rules the whole world and who steals the land of the Arabs?” demanded one of the Nazi pamphlets dropped over North Africa (a million copies of it were printed). “The Jew,” the pamphlet explained, was the evil King Dajjal from Islamic tradition, who in the world’s final days was supposed to lead 70,000 Jews from Isfahan in apocalyptic battle against Isa—often identified with Jesus, but according to the Reich Propaganda Ministry none other than Hitler himself. Germany produced reams of leaflets like this one, often quoting the Quran on the subject of Jewish treachery. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

Rafah crossing closed for 30th day while 400 trucks enter Gaza from Israel

Today is the 30th consecutive day that the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been completely closed, stranding thousands of people on both sides of the border.

The Rafah crossing has been closed for 230 days this year so far.

Egypt indicated that they might allow Gazans who are in Egypt to return one day this week, but will not allow any Gazans to leave.

Meanwhile, 400 trucks of goods are entering Gaza from Israel today through Kerem Shalom, including 28 truckloads of cement "to the private sector."

(There has been a kerfuffle over Gaza exports of vegetables to the West Bank; after allowing them for a short time Israel stopped them because of some problems with inspection.)

Arabs have been unanimous in rejecting the idea of Israel being a "Jewish state." Their reasons are that, by definition, a Jewish state would be discriminatory against Arabs and Muslims.

If you define "Jewish" in purely religious terms, that would mean that any state that defines itself as "Islamic" is, by definition, equally guilty of this discrimination. If you define "Jewish" in ethnic or national terms, then any state that defines itself as "Arab" would be equally guilty of the racism that Israel is being accused of.

Time to check out the official hypocrisy of Israel's critics, and note the deafening silence towards this supposed Arab and Islamic racism - by their definition.

Jordan's constitution:

Article 1
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is an independent sovereign Arab State. It is indivisible and inalienable and no part of it may be ceded. The people of Jordan form a part of the Arab Nation, and its system of government is parliamentary with a hereditary monarchy.
Article 2
Islam is the religion of the State and Arabic is its official language.

Egypt's constitution:

With its unique location and history, Egypt is the Arab heart of the world.
Article 1:The Arab Republic of Egypt is a sovereign, united, indivisible State, where no part may be given up, having a democraticrepublican system that is based on citizenship and rule of law.

The Egyptian people are part of the Arab nation seeking to enhance its integration and unity.

Article 2:
Islam is the religion of the State and Arabic is its official language. The principles of Islamic
Sharia are the main source of legislation.

Libya's constitution:

Article 1 [Principles]
Libya is an Arab, democratic, and free republic in which sovereignty is vested in the people.The Libyan people are part of the Arab nation. Their goal is total Arab unity. The Libyan territory is a part of Africa. The name of the country is the Libyan Arab Republic.

Article 2 [State Religion, Language]
Islam is the religion of the State and Arabic is its official Language. The state protects religious freedom in accordance with established customs.

Morocco's constitution:

Preamble
The Kingdom of Morocco, a Muslim Sovereign State whose official language is Arabic, constitutes a part of the Great Arab Maghreb.
Article 6 [State Religion]
Islam is the religion of the State which guarantees to all freedom of worship.

Yemen's constitution:

Article (1) The Republic of Yemen is an Arab, Islamic and independent sovereign state whose integrity is inviolable, and no part of which may be ceded. The people of Yemen are part of the Arab and Islamic nation.

Article (2) Islam is the religion of the state, and Arabic is its official language.

Article (3) Islamic Shari'ah is the source of all legislation.

Syria's constitution:

Article 1 [Arab Nation, Socialist Republic]

(1) The Syrian Arab Republic is a democratic, popular, socialist, and sovereign state. No part of its territory can be ceded. Syria is a member of the Union of the Arab Republics.
(2) The Syrian Arab region is a part of the Arab homeland.
(3) The people in the Syrian Arab region are a part of the Arab nation. They work and struggle to achieve the Arab nation's comprehensive unity.

Article 3 [Islam]

(1) The religion of the President of the Republic has to be Islam.
(2) Islamic jurisprudence is a main source of legislation.

Saudi Arabia's constitution:

Article 1
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a sovereign Arab Islamic state with Islam as its religion; God's Book and the Sunnah of His Prophet, God's prayers and peace be upon him, are its constitution, Arabic is its language and Riyadh is its capital.

Kuwait's constitution:

Article 1

Kuwait is an independent sovereign Arab State. Neither its sovereignty nor any part of its territory may be relinquished.

The people of Kuwait is a part of the Arab Nation.

Article 2

The religion of the State is Islam, and the Islamic Sharia shall be a main source of legislation.

Algeria's constitution:

Article 1 [Democracy, Republic]
Algeria is a People's Democratic Republic. It is one and indivisible.

Article 2 [State Religion]
Islam is the religion of the State.

Bahrain's constitution:

Article 1 [Sovereignty, Constitutional Monarchy]
a. The Kingdom of Bahrain is a fully sovereign, independent Islamic Arab State whosepopulation is part of the Arab nation and whose territory is part of the great Arab homeland. Its sovereignty may not be assigned or any of its territory abandoned.
Article 2 [State Religion, Shari'a, Official Language]
The religion of the State is Islam. The Islamic Shari'a is a principal source for legislation. The official language is Arabic.

Oman's constitution:

Article 1 [Sovereignty]
The Sultanate of Oman is an independent, Arab, Islamic, fully sovereign state with Muscat as its capital.

Article 2 [Religion]
The religion of the State is Islam and the Islamic Shariah is the basis of legislation.

Tunisia's constitution:

Article 5
The Republic of Tunisia is part of the Arab Maghreb and shall work to achieve its unity and take all measures to ensure its realisation

Mauritania's constitution:

Preamble:...Conscious of the necessity of strengthening its ties with brother peoples, the Mauritanian people, a Muslim, African, and Arab people, proclaims that it will work for the achievement of the unity of the Greater Maghreb of the Arab Nation and of Africa and for the consolidation of peace in the world.

Title I General Provisions, Fundamental Principles

Article 1 [State Integrity, Equal Protection]

(1) Mauritania is an indivisible, democratic, and social Islamic Republic.

Iran's constitution:

Article 1 [Form of Government]
The form of government of Iran is that of an Islamic Republic, endorsed by the people of Iran on the basis of their longstanding belief in the sovereignty of truth and Koranic justice,...
Article 2 [Foundational Principles]
The Islamic Republic is a system based on belief in:
1) the One God (as stated in the phrase "There is no god except Allah"), His exclusive sovereignty and right to legislate, and the necessity of submission to His commands; 2) Divine revelation and its fundamental role in setting forth the laws;
3) the return to God in the Hereafter, and the constructive role of this belief in the course of man's ascent towards God;
4) the justice of God in creation and legislation;
5) continuous leadership and perpetual guidance, and its fundamental role in ensuring the uninterrupted process of the revolution of Islam; 6) the exalted dignity and value of man, and his freedom coupled with responsibility before God; in which equity, justice, political, economic, social, and cultural independence, and national solidarity are secured by recourse to: a) continuous leadership of the holy persons, possessing necessary qualifications, exercised on the basis of the Koran and the Sunnah, upon all of whom be peace;
b) sciences and arts and the most advanced results of human experience, together with the effort to advance them further;
c) negation of all forms of oppression, both the infliction of and the submission to it, and of dominance, both its imposition and its acceptance.

"Palestine"'s constitution:

ARTICLE 1

Palestine is part of the large Arab World, and the Palestinian people are part of the Arab Nation. Arab Unity is an objective which the Palestinian People shall work to achieve.

ARTICLE 4

1. Islam is the official religion in Palestine. Respect and sanctity of all other heavenly religions shall be maintained.
2. The principles of Islamic Shari’a shall be the main source of legislation.

So why, exactly, is a Jewish state (whose record of equal rights far surpasses those of any of the Arab nations) morally worse than the large number of Arab and Islamic states?

(This is an update to a 2007 post to reflect new constitutions in Egypt and Tunisia.)

11/25 Links Pt1: PA and Fatah continue promoting violence; Son of Hamas; Destroy Hamas in Gaza now

From Ian:

Islamists: "Destruction is a Matter of Time"

What makes negotiations with Iran, ISIS, Hamas or any other Islamist group impossible is that their leaders believe they are acting according to the immutable word of God. America, Israel, other Muslims with whom they disagree, cannot do anything to satisfy them except "submit" (the Arabic word "Islam" means "submission"). As Egyptian cleric Muhammad Hussein Ya'qub said in a televised sermon in 2009, "If the Jews left Palestine to us, would we start loving them? Of course not. The Jews are infidels not because I say so but because Allah does... They aren't our enemies because they occupy Palestine; they would be our enemies even if they had not occupied anything."
Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and other terror groups do not conceal their intentions. The Hamas covenant explicitly calls for Israel's destruction and does not distinguish between Israelis and Jews:
"Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious... It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine... It is one of the links in the chain of the struggle against the Zionist invaders...
The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: "The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say, 'O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him'".... There is no solution for the Palestine question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. Palestine is an Islamic land."
Regrettably, this is why "solving the conflict with the Palestinians," or even recognizing a Palestinian State, will not bring peace and tranquility to the Middle East.

Caroline Glick: Iran's no China

The problem is that in all cases, his use of US power has helped Iran more than it has helped US allies. And in the case of Libya, US power has directly threatened US allies and empowered al-Qaida and it associates.
With the rise of China today, some US analysts question the wisdom of Nixon’s opening to Beijing.
But there is little argument that his China gambit caused strategic damage to the Soviet Union and contributed to the US victory in the Cold War.
Not only will Obama’s Iran opening not redound to the US’s benefit in the short term. Its inevitable result will be a decade or more of major and minor regional wars and chronic instability, with the nuclear-armed Iran threatening the survival of all of America’s regional allies. It will also lead to shocks in the global economy and massively expand Iran’s direct coercive power over the word as a whole.
Not only is Obama no Nixon, compared to him, Neville Chamberlain looks like a minor, almost insignificant failure.

JCPA: Hamas-Fatah Rift Is Preventing the Rehabilitation of Gaza

Meanwhile, though, Hamas has been stepping up its self-manufacture of rockets. Since the end of the Protective Edge campaign, it has also conducted several experiments involving the firing of rockets toward the sea, with an eye to increasing the range of the rockets.
The Palestinian Authority, however, believes Hamas now lacks the military capacity to resume the war against Israel, and that instead Hamas is interested in a long-term arrangement with Israel that will perpetuate its control of Gaza.
At the same time, Hamas has been intensifying its incitement of the residents of the Jerusalem and the West Bank. The aim is to stoke a “Third Intifada” against Israel that would also serve Hamas’ goal of undermining the status and stability of the Palestinian Authority.
Thus, declarations by senior Hamas officials that the movement has adopted reconciliation with Fatah as a strategy appear to be untrue. Instead, Hamas seeks to continue its absolute control of Gaza.
The strategic objective is to safeguard Gaza as a major asset for the Muslim Brotherhood which has succeeded to make it an independent stronghold acting as an “Islamic emirate” and as a stage toward the creation of the great “Islamic caliphate.”

Nigerian Muslims freak over "Jewish symbol" on new currency

Here is a press release from a Nigerian Muslim group, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC):

The Federal Government (FG) on November 12, 2014 unveiled the new design for the N100 commemorative centenary banknote which will be officially issued on December 19.new-100 naira note

However, the office of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has been inundated with calls for action on the Jewish symbol on the new one hundred naira note slated for flag-off in December. Nigerian Muslims are complaining that the Arabic writing in Hausa language (the Ajami script) that read ‘Naira Dari’ (i.e. one hundred naira) on the N100 note has been removed and replaced with the Jewish symbol, the Star of David.

As a faith-based human rights organization which believes in the dialogue option, MURIC is duty bound to articulate the demands of Nigerian Muslims particularly on matters which have to do with imbalance in governments’ (Federal or state) treatment of the adherents of the different religions.

Nigerian Muslims regard the latest action, namely, the supplanting of Arabic with Jewish symbol from the new N100 as a continuation of the campaign of elimination by substitution against Arabic language and, by implication, against Nigerian Muslims...

Furthermore, putting the Jewish symbol on the new N100 falls short of international standard as currencies worldwide are designed to suit each nation’s culture and history. Where does the Jewish symbol fit in? Which Nigerian community speaks the Jewish language? The insertion of the Jewish symbol is therefore clannish and parochial. It is tainted with undisguised religious fanaticism.

There is nothing wrong for our president to like Israel as a nation but it is another thing entirely to openly and brazenly promote Zionism at the highest office in this country when we are still struggling with the last vestiges of colonialism. ...

We are sick and tired of our president’s hatred for us. He openly confronts Muslims and goads us to challenge him.

But we will not be provoked. Neither shall we be intimidated by executive maladministration. As apostles of dialogue and advocates of peaceful coexistence, as tax-payers, voters and citizens of this country, we hereby ask President Jonathan to explain the Jewish symbol on Nigeria’s money.

We also demand to know why the presidency could not employ security experts from neutral countries like Britain or France instead of Israel which is a sworn enemy of Muslims. Mr. President may also deem it fit to tell us if there is no correlation between the Israeli security experts in Aso Rock, the Israeli caught with Nigeria’s N9.3m arms money in South Africa and the Jewish symbol on the new N100 note.

Mr. President sir, are you not gradually selling Nigeria to Israel? And are you sure this will not attract the wrath of Israel’s enemies to our dear country? Can this also be partly responsible for the viciousness of the Boko Haram phenomenon?

MURIC appeals to Muslims nationwide to await President Jonathan’s response to the above questions and to remain calm and law abiding. Islam teaches tolerance (Qur’an 3:134) and obedience to constituted authority (Qur’an 4:59).

The punch line? The supposed "Jewish symbol" has eight points - which is a Muslim symbol!

President Jonathan's media aide actually answered this stupidity, patiently explaining the difference between a six-pointed star and two overlapping squares, as well as refuting the other allegations made by MURIC about the supposed Israeli security system that the president uses.