Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, May 16, 2009

#6000

This is my 6000th post published on this blog.

Cool!

Some more about Gaza deaths

Isaac's Dad brings up some very good points in the comments, and while they have been said in passing, they are important to mention explicitly:

1. Excuse me if I missed it, but can you put a permalink to the PCHR study in a prominent place on your sidebar?

I was thinking about doing something similar to the self-death count. When I find some time....

2. With regards to that study, it struck me that the IDF's explanation for the discrepancy on the total number dead (natural deaths) was insufficient, leading to some further questions:

a. How does the PCHR treat "friendly fire" deaths? It strikes me as odd that I have not seen any reporting on how many Palestinians were killed by Hamas fire during the conflict.

We of course have no evidence either way. The PCHR's methods are to interview families of the dead. The families have incentive to say that their loved ones were "martyred" by Israel because the dead become heroes and the families get money from Palestinian Arab leaders for the rest of their lives. The PCHR also has incentive to demonize Israel. Without being there, we cannot prove that there were friendly fire incidents, but it seems certain that such incidents occurred.

b. How does the PCHR treat casualties as a result of "secondary explosions." We know that Hamas, and other factions, hid reams of explosive material that were targeted by the IDF and have seen the secondary explosions. I assume the IDF does not count deaths as a result of secondary explosions (intentional and unintentional) as their responsibility, and rightly so.

We've mentioned that as well, and it is equally certain that there were deaths from such explosions (not to mention Hamas booby traps that were accidentally tripped by Gazan civilians.) Unfortunately, we don't have anything to prove it. The PCHR says it uses "customary humanitarian law" to determine human rights violations and I don't think secondary explosions are mentioned. Most human rights organizations would lay the blame on the people who caused the initial explosion, not distinguishing between bombing a weapons depot and a fuel depot when assigning blame for deaths. Of course, the weapons depot is a legitimate target but HR activists would probably say that the expected civilian damage has to be proportionate to the miliitary advantage of the attack. It is one of the grey areas that need to be clarified.

3. With regards to Rayyan and his family, I understand that they are counted as civilian casualties by PCHR and that you and the IDF have said Rayyan was a legitimate target (I agree), but the argument should not end there. It was acknowledged in the Palestinian press that Rayyan and his family were aware his compound was to be bombed and had time to leave. It was alleged, and has not been denied by the Palestinians, that his compound was used to store weapons and explosives. Consequently, his home, and those that would protect it were combatatants, but, more importantly, even if his home was mistakenly targeted, Rayyan, and his family members who chose to remain, are responsible for their own deaths, because they chose to stay. In essence they performed a suicide mission by staying, with the media as the target. It should be noted on this point that, unlike many Palestinians in camps who may have had some difficulty finding a place to stay, the Rayyan family is a very large clan with multiple homes, and at least one family member stayed away.

To me, the Rayyan case was a classic case of human shields. Israel dropped leaflets and "knocked" on the roof, and Rayyan pretty much forced his wives and children to stay with him. If we ever get to phase 2 of the analysis of the PCHR figures, we would try to identify human shield cases by comparing last names of militants and last names of women and children killed at the same place on the same day. It would be interesting to know how the IDF classified Rayyan's family, however.

Egypt to check Obama delegation for swine flu

I couldn't find the original story, but Palestine Today quotes an Egyptian newspaper saying that President Obama and his delegation will be "checked" for swine flu upon entering Egypt.

The report by «Egypt Today» Wednesday quoted an anonymous Egyptian official saying that Obama, and the accompanying delegation, which is estimated about one thousand people, would be subject to the procedures established by the Presidency of the Republic. The newspaper did not mention the nature of the checks, but it quoted an Egyptian expert that they will pose questions regarding the extent of the seriousness of the visit and the entry of the virus causing «swine flu» to Egypt as the United States as the top of the list of countries hit by the virus.

UPDATE: Here's the story (h/t A.L.)

Hamas prevents "Nakba" rallies

In a little-reported story even among the Palestinian Arabic press, Hamas has prevented groups from holding rallies to mark "Nakba day" in Gaza.

The Popular Struggle Front put out a statement saying

Such practices by the security forces of the Hamas movement of preventing the national marches to commemorate the Nakba show the state of division in the Palestinian street, which has overshadowed the work on national unity.

The decision is blow to all efforts to end the division and reconciliation and the restoration of unity.

Leftists across the world denounced Hamas' anti-democratic and anti-freedom actions.

And if you believe that one...

Jay Leno joke

Saudi Arabia held its first beauty pageant over the weekend and already they're embroiled in their own scandal.

Topless photos of Miss Saudi Arabia have surfaced ... you can see her entire forehead.

(from Giglish)

Go for it.

The heinous criminals have been arrested

From Iran's PressTV:

Iran has arrested individuals behind a scheme to 'smear the government' through importing alleged Israeli oranges into the country.

"We are absolutely certain that the oranges were not imported from Israel and that the stickers were fabricated," Iran's Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

"It is obvious that the move was aimed to smear the government and overshadow its anti-racism activities," he explained.

"[In addition to those detained,] some people have been summoned or invited for further study of the case, the result of which will be announced accordingly," the minister went on to say.

The oranges which were allegedly imported from Israel sparked controversy in Iran, as Tehran bans any sort of dealings with Tel Aviv.

The oranges had stickers with a sign that read Jaffa Sweetie Israel PO. However, they were distributed in boxes bearing 'made in China' imprints.

I like the "anti-racism" line.

(Actually, the Jaffa Sweetie is not an orange, but a pomelit.)

Small victories in publicizing PCHR lies

NGO Monitor has linked to our results along with other researchers. The Backspin blog of Honest Reporting had also linked to our research. Someone had posted many of my articles about the PCHR at Cleveland Indymedia. Richard Landes at The Augean Stables republished my Casualties of Truth article. Now I have to find the time to learn a content management system so I can create a nice looking website to show our research....and while I am computer literate, even the simple ones take hours to learn and configure.

Hamas terrorist killed "on special Jihad mission"

Ma'an Arabic reports:

The Al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas, on Thursday morning, announced the death of 20-year-old Khaled Ghalban of Khan Younis during his "mission of jihad in particular."

The announcement said Qassam Ghalbanwas killed in the performance of his duty of jihad, particularly in the task, without giving any details.

That means either he blew himself up or another Hamas member killed him. There have been recent reports of Hamas infighting.

The 2009 PalArab self-death count is now at 76.

Hamas leader: "I hate all weapons"

Hamas' PR machine chugs along, with credulous Westerners believing any old lie as long as it gives them hope. Here's a particularly laughable example:

GAZA CITY, May 14 (IPS) - A founding member of Hamas says he hates all weapons and insists that his organisation is not anti-Jewish.

In an interview with IPS, Sayed Abu Musameh described frequent claims in the European and U.S. press that Hamas's charter is based on enmity towards Jews as a "big lie".

"In our culture, we respect every foreigner, especially Jews and Christians," he said. "But we are against Zionists, not as nationalists but as fascists and racists."

Musameh also contended that Hamas has long been ready to agree a truce - known in Arabic as a hudna - with Israel but that Israel had refused all offers and imposed a crippling economic blockade on Gaza. The firing of Qassam rockets on the Israeli cities of Ashkelon and Sderot was designed "not to destroy Israel or to destroy Israeli people" but to "make them notice our siege."

"I hate all kinds of weapons," said Musameh. "I dream of seeing every weapon from the atomic bomb to small guns banned everywhere."

The Hamas Charter includes such loving statements towards Jews as:

...our struggle against the Jews is extremely wide-ranging and grave...

The prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said: "The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him! This will not apply to the Gharqad, which is a Jewish tree (cited by Bukhari and Muslim)."

The Nazism of the Jews does not skip women and children, it scares everyone.

The other Arab and Islamic states are required, at the very least, to facilitate the movement of the Jihad fighters from and to them. We cannot fail to remind every Muslim that when the Jews occupied Holy Jerusalem in 1967 and stood at the doorstep of the Blessed Aqsa Mosque, they shouted with joy: "Muhammad is dead, he left daughters behind." Israel, by virtue of its being Jewish and of having a Jewish population, defies Islam and the Muslims.

...more steps need to be taken by the Arab and Islamic peoples and Islamic associations throughout the Arab and Islamic world in order to make possible the next round with the Jews, the merchants of war.

As far as that "hudna" that Hamas has offered, it had a few small preconditions - like Israel surrendering Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria first.

Hamas' respect for Christians is so all-embracing that the few remaining Christians in Gaza live in fear of attacks and often choose to prostrate themselves to Hamas in the vain hopes of being left alone. And Hamas members are not shy about their naked hate of Jews and Christians.

As far as Hamas' aversion to all weapons, well...

Iowahawk: "I Guess You Had To Be There"

Iowahawk brings us the celebrity roast to end all celebrity roasts.

This brilliant piece is the most biting, trenchant and witty criticism of the current administration imaginable.

PLO: Two state solution will lead to Israel's collapse

MEMRI does it again:

Following are excerpts from an interview with PLO Ambassador to Lebanon Abbas Zaki, which aired on ANB TV on May 7, 2009:
Abbas Zaki: What is needed is a settlement, not a hudna [truce]. After 45 years of struggle, we have the right to reach a conclusion to this conflict, rather than extending the hudna, enabling Israel to expand on a daily basis.

My advice is: we should not give Israel a hudna, because whenever Israel is given a hudna, it consolidates its position and becomes more deeply rooted. What hudna? If they do not withdraw from the 1967 lands – what hudna? Israel will become a fact on the ground, and we will end up as small enclaves, and should be driven out with time.

Therefore, it is high time that we found a final, comprehensive solution. The Arabs talk about a comprehensive solution and present initiatives, and the world talks about a solution, yet we say: Let's stick to the hudna. No, my friend. I personally joined Fatah somewhat belatedly, in 1962. Work out how many years that is. Should I keep on extending the hudnas? Impossible. We want a solution now.

They talk about a two state solution, and when that is achieved...even Ahmadinejad, the leader of the rejectionists throughout the region, said he supports a two-state solution. Nobody fools anybody.

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.

And he is exactly right.

This is the real reason that Arabs insist on Jerusalem - not because of their love of the city that they ignored for a thousand years, but because they know that the Jewish connection to the city is so strong and so powerful.

As a result, the Arabs aren't scared of secular Israelis, socialist kibbutzim, Israeli robotic jeeps, drones or even the IDF altogether. They believe that all of those can be defeated by appealing to liberal sensibilities of the West and slowly chipping away at the resolve of the Zionists who desperately want peace more than anything else.

What they are scared of are Jews who are unapologetically proud of their Judaism and of their deep, emotional ties to the Land of Israel.

While they consider everyone else a pushover - they are patient, and will wait decades to wear them down - the Jews who have a pure, emotional, and especially religious connection to the Land are the ones that they know they cannot defeat. Because deep down they know that their own connection to the land is derivative, a mere shadow of the Jews' deep love of Israel.

They know that the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque were close to being ruins before the Jews started returning to the Land of Israel in large numbers. They know that they showed almost no interest in Palestine before the 20th century.

They know that if the Jews had not started moving back to Palestine, their own mythology would never have started.

This is why their goal is Jerusalem. This is why they raise a stink at every new building built or purchased by Jews, at every synagogue, at the slightest hint of Jewish permanence in the city that Jews have been praying towards and crying over for millenia.

And this is why Jews - even the ones who, for whatever tragic reason, don't feel the same connection that their ancestors did - cannot compromise on Jerusalem.

(h/t Vicious Babushka)