Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Islamic Jihad al-Quds Brigades endorses Goldstone

The Sayara.ps al-Quds Brigades website praises the Goldstone Report and "the great efforts undertaken by the legal institutions and human rights organizations in rallying support" for the report.

Terrorists really seem to be enamored of this report and of the "human rights" organizations that have pushed it.

In the same website today is another article that stresses that terrorism ("resistance") is the only way to defeat Israel.

Islamic Jihad website brags about prisoner getting masters degree

Saraya.ps, the Islamic Jihad al-Quds Brigades website, has an article about PIJ leader Abd al- Rahman Rabia Shihab, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Hadarim prison Israel.

While in prison, Shihab received a bachelor's and master's degree in sociology.

The article talks about how the Israeli authorities supposedly tried to stop him from taking these courses, but how he prevailed anyway. Which is really weird, because he received his degrees from Israel's Open University and clearly he was allowed to take these classes by the Israeli prison authorities.

But, everyone knows that Palestinian Arab prisoners are routinely tortured, so perhaps the torture was scheduled while he was doing his homework.

Saudi rumors that H1N1 vaccine causes infertility

Al Arabiya reports that rumors are speeding through Saudi Arabia that the swine flu is a conspiracy and that the vaccine causes infertility in 80% of those who take it. This rumor is spreading just as the vaccine is being readied to be given to the population.

The conspiracy theory did not originate in the Middle East. Here's one version of it on YouTube.

Unlike Al Arabiya's last article quoting an Arab doctor about how H1N1 is a conspiracy, this article actually interviews real doctors and also attempts to uncover the origins of the conspiracy theory.

Morning tweet links

Media Backspin's tweets this morning include:

The 3-minute video that may prove Iran's nuclear intentions (Ha'aretz)

The video depicted a room made of stone. At the center stood a Perspex mock-up - equipped with a flashing red light - of a ball-shaped bomb resting in the metallic, gold-plated cone of a missile warhead. In the most important scene in the film, the computer simulation shows the launched warhead reentering the atmosphere and exploding 600 meters above the earth's surface. According to experts, this is the ideal altitude for detonating a nuclear bomb in order to generate the maximum degree of destruction on the ground.

Historical revisionism on the Temple Mount (HuffPo)

The Waqf Authority -- the Islamic land trust that has administered the Temple Mount since the 12th century -- has used bulldozers to destroy Judeo-Christian ruins beneath the Mount. I toured the rubble firsthand and saw the crushed Herodian-era glass, Temple pottery, and smashed Templar crosses. The Israeli archaeologists sifted through the piles like medics surveying a battlefield with no survivors.

HRW founder joins its critics (NYT)

At Human Rights Watch, we always recognized that open, democratic societies have faults and commit abuses. But we saw that they have the ability to correct them — through vigorous public debate, an adversarial press and many other mechanisms that encourage reform.
That is why we sought to draw a sharp line between the democratic and nondemocratic worlds, in an effort to create clarity in human rights. We wanted to prevent the Soviet Union and its followers from playing a moral equivalence game with the West and to encourage liberalization by drawing attention to dissidents like Andrei Sakharov, Natan Sharansky and those in the Soviet gulag — and the millions in China’s laogai, or labor camps.
When I stepped aside in 1998, Human Rights Watch was active in 70 countries, most of them closed societies. Now the organization, with increasing frequency, casts aside its important distinction between open and closed societies.

And one more link, The Bedouin who Serve in Israel's Army (BBC):

The traditional view of the Arab-Israeli conflict is of Jews fighting Muslims. But that image does not always reflect the truth.

In fact, there are thousands of Muslim Bedouin who serve in the Israeli army, or IDF, and even bear arms against their fellow Muslims in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

They do so although it is not compulsory for them to serve in the Israeli military, as it is for most Israeli Jews, and sometimes military service comes with a price tag.

"I will do whatever is required from me to do the job with the full faith in the service of the Israeli state," asserts Maj Fehd Fallah, a Bedouin from the village of Saad in the Israeli occupied Golan.

He is happy to perform his duty, whoever he may have to fight against.

UN lists Iranian human rights violations; media ignores it

A few days ago, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon issued a report on the state of human rights in Iran. It is only 18 pages long, and Moon bends over backwards to find positive things to say about some trends, but on the whole it is a pretty damning document in its details. Some excerpts:

The year also saw, however, an increase in human rights violations targeting women, university students, teachers, workers and other activist groups, particularly in the aftermath of the elections.

The death penalty continued to be widely applied, including in some cases involving juveniles. There were at least some cases of stoning and public execution, despite moves by the authorities to curb such practices. Cases of torture, amputation and flogging and suspicious deaths and suicides of prisoners while in custody were also reported.

On 19 June 2009, five independent United Nations experts in a press statement voiced grave concern about the use of excessive police force, arbitrary arrests and killings. They noted that, while the protests had largely been peaceful, violent clashes with security forces had resulted in the death, injury and arrest of numerous individuals.

The Special Rapporteur ... cited a number of different torture methods, including sleep deprivation, beatings, stress positions and lack of access to health care. The individuals allegedly subjected to such treatment included members of student groups, religious groups, journalists, human rights defenders, union campaigners, social activists, individuals who had committed crimes as juveniles and individuals associated with various minority groups, including the Baha’i, Azerbaijani and Kurdish segments of the Iranian population.

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, the death penalty is imposed for certain hudud
crimes, including adultery, incest, rape, fornication for the fourth time by an
unmarried person, drinking alcohol for the third time, sodomy, sexual conduct
between men without penetration for the fourth time, lesbianism for the fourth time,
fornication by a non-Muslim man with a Muslim woman and false accusation of
adultery or sodomy for a fourth time. Furthermore, the death penalty can be applied
for the crimes of enmity with God (mohareb) and corruption on earth (mofsed fil
arz) as one of four possible punishments. Under the category of ta’zir crimes, the
death penalty can be imposed for “cursing the Prophet” (article 513 of the Penal
Code). The death penalty can also be applied to such crimes as the smuggling or
trafficking of drugs, murder, espionage and crimes against national security.

According to Amnesty International, eight juvenile offenders were executed in 2008, and to date three have reportedly been executed in 2009.

OHCHR continues to receive reports of human rights abuses against minorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran. While it is impossible to verify all the information received, a pattern of concern arises with respect to the protection of minorities, including the Baha’i community, the Arab minority in Khuzestan, the Nematollahi Sufi Muslim community, the Kurdish community, the Sunni community, the Baluchi community and the Azeri-Turk community.

As highlighted in the previous report of the Secretary-General, serious restrictions remain on the right to freedom of opinion and expression in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression issued a number of urgent appeal letters expressing serious concerns over allegations received that groups such as journalists, students, poets and human rights defenders had been arrested and imprisoned.

Don't expect to see anything about this report in the New York Times, or the BBC. It has received practically no publicity from the media outside the Baha'i community. (Al Arabiya mentioned it because it was the first time the UN acknowledged Iranian persecution of their Arab minority in Khuzestan.)

Notable

Asharq al-Awsat has an interesting story of a brewing battle over Gaza's mosques between hamas and Islamic Jihad:

The Islamic Jihad members are also pursued because of the ongoing war to control a number of mosques.
Sources within the Islamic Jihad told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Al-Quds Brigades declared a large-scale state of alert, a move that almost led to clashes between the two sides after a member of the Al-Quds Brigades fired shots at government personnel who tried to arrest him before he escaped.
The sources said that Hamas security agencies stormed homes of the Al-Quds Brigades personnel in an improper way in Khan Yunus, southern Gaza Strip, late at night without respect for the privacy of homes.
The sources added: "Twenty of our personnel are still being pursued."
Moreover, more serious incidents took place in Al-Shujaiyah, where large altercations and skirmishes took place between Hamas and Jihad members after Hamas was accused of attempting to control the Al-Rahman and Al-Quran Mosques.

(h/t Judeopundit via Mustafa)

The Daily Australian slams the UNHRC.

Tom Gross points out that the word "terrorism" is being used pretty freely - not for Israeli citizens but for Iranian Revolutionary Guard thugs.

Ma'an newspaper sues Hamas leader for slander

A few years ago, Ma'an was the only reasonably objective Palestinian Arab news outlet. Every other paper was clearly aligned with with a political party except for Ma'an. It was the only PalArab paper that openly criticized both Fatah and Hamas.

Then, when Hamas took over Gaza and started threatening journalists, Ma'an turned into Hamas' puppy dog. Since then, Ma'an has almost completely stopped its criticism of Hamas, waiting until someone else criticizes the terrorists and then quoting it (usually along with Hamas denials.)

Today, however, Ma'an is taking legal action against a Hamas politician...because he accused the agency of not being pro-Hamas enough.

For the first time in its five year history, Ma’an News Agency is pursuing legal channels against a political figure who verbally attacked the agency.

The controversy concerns remarks by Gaza-based Hamas lawmaker Mushir Al-Masri, who sought to discredit a Ma’an news report that Hamas plans eventually to sign on to the Egyptian-backed Palestinian unity initiative. The report stated that Hamas will sign the deal as soon as the head of Hamas’ Political Bureau, Khalid Mash’al, returns from consultations with a foreign country not named by the source.

Al-Masri slammed the report on a Gazan website, saying, “What was posted on Ma’an was just an anecdote … Ma’an is a Fatah mouthpiece whose cheap dealings and publishing of lies bolster the Zionist movement.”

Ma’an’s attorney, Shawki Issa said that Al-Masri’s accusations were harmful. “We are a media institution founded on the principle of civilized debate. We are shocked at this bizarre and rude criticism.”

How dare Hamas accuse Ma'an of being against Hamas! Ma'an must defend its honor as being as pro-terror as any other news agency!

Hamas taking over Gaza Dental Association

Hamas seems to have become emboldened in recent days to seize control over various independent institutions. Last year it took over the doctors and teachers unions, expelling anyone who it felt would be a threat; earlier today Hamas raided a charity.

This afternoon Hamas seized documents and equipment belonging to the Gaza Dental Association, and it setting up a committee to take over the dentists' union, much to the consternation of Gaza dentists.

These sorts of stories were prevalent up until a couple of months ago and then they died down. It seems likely that in the wake of the one-sided UNHRC condemnation of Israel on Friday that Hamas has proof that its own human rights violations will be ignored by the world, and it is acting accordingly.

Goldstone report problems, part 21

Paragraph 1515 of the Goldstone report says:

1515. At the public hearing in Geneva on 6 July 2009, Mr. Shawan Jabarin of Al-Haq reported that tens of thousands of Palestinians today are subject to a travel ban imposed by Israel, preventing them from travelling abroad. Mr. Jabarin, whom the Mission heard in Geneva by way of videoconference, had been subject to such a travel ban since he became the director of Al-Haq, the West Bank’s oldest human rights organization. Mr Jabarin challenged his travel ban in the Israeli High Court after he was prevented from travelling to the Netherlands to receive a human rights prize, but the ban was upheld on the basis of ‘secret evidence’.864 Mr. Jabarin believed that the ban was imposed as punishment.

Footnote 864 says:

For the Israeli High Court decision of 10 March 2009 (Al-Haq translation), see www.alhaq.org/pdfs/Shawanabarin-v.pdf;

So since Goldstone used the testimony of Shawan Jabirin, and since the commission quotes from one of Al Haq's documents that translates an Israeli Supreme Court decision, let's look at what the document actually says:

1. The petitioner, a resident of the West Bank, requests to be permitted to leave for abroad – according to the petition – in order to participate in the award ceremony of a prestigious award for “human rights defenders”.

The state objects to the request due to the objections of security officials. In the public response submitted by the state, it is said that the petitioner is a senior activist in a terrorist organisation, and that his leaving for abroad may serve for the advancement of the terrorist organisation’s activity in the West Bank.

2. This is not the first time that the petitioner has submitted a petition regarding his desire to leave the country. In the framework of the previous petitions, the Supreme Court has reviewed secret material, presented ex parte, of behalf of the security authorities, and we have done the same today. The petitions were all rejected in the past. Thus, in its verdict of 20 June 2007, the Court found that:

“this petitioner is apparently active as a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, in part of his hours of activity he is the director of a human rights organisation, and in another part he is an activist in a terrorist organisation which does not shy away from acts of murder and attempted murder, which have nothing to do with rights, and, on the contrary, deny the most basic right of all, the most fundamental of fundamental rights, without which there are no other rights – the right to life.”

In its decision of 7 July 2008, the Court found that:

“we are dealing with reliable information according to which the petitioner is among the senior activists of the terrorist organisation, The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.”

(h/t NGO Monitor)

Goldstone relied on testimony from someone who, if the commission read their own footnotes, was proven by the Israeli Supreme Court to be a senior member of the terrorist group PFLP!

And notice that the director of Al Haq, the "West Bank’s oldest human rights organization," is a PFLP terrorist - something that, as far as I can tell, Jabarin does not deny. In fact, in 2003, Israel allowed Jabarin to travel to Jordan - and Jordan refused to accept him presumably because of his terror links!

Hamas steals aid, attacks wedding

Palestine Press Agency reports on two incidents in Gaza.

This morning, dozens of Hamas militants attacked a charity, Cooperative Housing Foundation International (CHF), arrested its workers, and confiscated aid meant for needy families. (CHF indeed feeds thousands of Gazans. Its website is silent on this matter.)

And on Saturday night, Hamas members attacked a wedding, arresting some guests and breaking chairs and sound equipment. [h/t Yerushalimey for spelling]

(PalPress is very anti-Hamas and has articles that none of the news agencies in Gaza would dare report, but its track record has been pretty good.)

PalArab anthem parody causes freak-out

I finally found an English article about the controversy over the Palestinian Arab national anthem being played in a "distorted" way by Al Jazeera.

What happened is that a parody of the unofficial Palestinian Arab anthem had been going around various Arab websites over the past month, and Al Jazeera played part of it for guests belonging to Hamas and Fatah to ask their opinion. It was not Biladi, the official vengeful national anthem, but Mawtini, which was written in 1936 (and has more recently become the national anthem - of Iraq!)

Someone who was clearly sick and tired of how Palestinian Arab leaders act (of course, he wants them to embrace their terror roots far more) made fun of Mawtini, and the PalArabs directed their anger at Al Jazeera for playing it. Here are the parody lyrics that were played on the air and the original English translations:

My homeland, My homeland
Curse and perversity, Plague and hypocrisy
Are in your hills, Are in your hills
Tyrants and oppressors, Cunning not fidelity
Are in your sanctuary, Are in your sanctuary
Will I see you? Nothing else

Original:

My homeland, My homeland
Glory and beauty, Sublimity and splendor
Are in your hills, Are in your hills
Life and deliverance, Pleasure and hope
Are in your air, Are in your Air
Will I see you? Will I see you?

The original parody had more scathing lines:

My homeland, My homeland / My homeland, My homeland
The youth will not tire, 'till your independence / Agreement will never emerge
Or they die / No, its star will not appear
We will drink from death / Again
And will not be to our enemies / All kinds of parties have appeared
Like slaves, Like slaves / With one worry in mind
We do not want, We do not want / Which is to enslaved to our enemies
An eternal humiliation / And that you perish, you perish
Nor a miserable life / They don’t want, they don’t want
We do not want / Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock
But we will bring back / Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock
Our storied glory, Our storied glory / Instead, they want, instead, they want
My homeland, My homeland / To live like slaves
The sword and the pen / Which is certain shame for us
Not the talk nor the quarrel / My homeland, My homeland

The video of the parody, showing various PalArab leaders who are considered traitors, can be seen here. It already has about 50,000 views on YouTube.

The Resurrection of ZOG!

One might think that in the wake of Walt/Mearsheimer, Obama's seeming pandering towards "moderate" Arabs, the growth of "J Street" and other issues, that the storied Zionist Occupied Government controlled by a secret cabal of Joos was on the ropes.

But the enemies of the Elders never counted on...Astro Boy!

According to the movie synopsis,

ZOG (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) - Most of the old robots that are dropped to the Surface from Metro City are in pretty bad shape. Astro Boy manages to resurrect Zog and gain a powerful ally who is bigger and stronger than any other robot on the Surface.

We're back, baby! And the Nazis at Stormfront are nervous! (http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php?t=646266)