Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, February 05, 2010

Horrible teenage honor murder in Turkey for "befriending boys"

A 16-year-old girl was buried alive by relatives in southeast Turkey in a gruesome honor killing just because she reportedly befriended boys, the Anatolia news agency reported Thursday.

Acting on a tip-off, police discovered Medine Memi's body in a sitting position with her hands tied, in a two-meter-deep hole in a chicken pen outside her house in Kahta town, Adiyaman province, 40 days after she went missing, the agency said.

A subsequent post mortem revealed that she had a significant amount of soil in her lungs and stomach, meaning that she was buried alive, forensic experts told the agency.

"The autopsy result is blood-curdling. According to our findings, the girl, who had no bruises on her body and no sign of narcotics or poison in her blood, was alive and fully conscious when she was buried," one anonymous expert said.

Medine's father and grandfather have been formally arrested and jailed pending trial over her killing, the agency said.

The father is reported to have said in his testimony that the family was unhappy she had male friends.

In honor killings, most prevalent in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, a so-called family council names a member to murder a female relative considered to have sullied the family honor, usually by engaging in an extra-marital affair.

But the practice has gone so far as to kill rape victims or women who simply talked to strange men.

This Kurdish murder shows that "honor killings" are not only an Arab problem.

30 Gaza high school students visit the US; Islamists fume

30 ordinary kids managed to escape the "world's largest open-air prison:"

The U.S. Department of State sponsored a two-week visit to the U.S. focused on human rights and democracy for a group of 30 high school students from Gaza. Two separate groups of 15 girls and 15 boys were selected because of their outstanding performance in their human rights classes at UNRWA schools in Gaza. Along with their teachers, the students visited Atlanta; Washington, D.C.; and New York City.

While in Atlanta, the students met with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, visited the Martin Luther King Center, and participated in discussions on conflict resolution, human rights, and democracy. In Washington, D.C., the students received a tour of the White House and Capitol Hill, saw a concert at the Kennedy Center, and had dinner with American high school students and their families. In New York City, the students met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and saw a Broadway musical.

U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem Daniel Rubinstein met with the group upon their return to discuss their impressions of the United States. Consul General Rubinstein congratulated them, saying, “I hope your experience in the United States will help you as you become the future leaders of an independent Palestinian state.”

Hizb ut-Tahrir leaders in Gaza are furious. They warned that the US was trying to "brainwash" Gaza students, and said that this trip is meant to "water down the concepts of Islam and sacrifice in the hearts of the children through the dissemination of the infidel West toxins through the likes of these visits. [It is] an attempt to distort perceptions and introduce them to Western lifestyles and deceptive, abnormal manifestations of civil rights."

They also complained that the trip would make Western culture seem desirable to the students, which is completely unacceptable.

Gaza fuel update

Last week, a total shutdown of Gaza's main power station was averted at the last minute by the PA agreeing to pay for the fuel, after the EU decided not to pay for Gaza fuel any more.

That fuel supply has run out, but today Israel is sending industrial fuel through the Kerem Shalom crossing. It is unclear who is paying for it.

PCHR, in an investigation, notes that the company that owns the power plant - one third owned by an American company - is making lots of money.

Goldstone and TAWTHEQ

I have previously mentioned the disturbing fact that the Goldstone Report relied in a large part on a Hamas organization called TAWTHEQ as a source on basic facts in Operation Cast Lead. The organization's entire purpose is to document alleged Israeli "war crimes."

Jonathan Dahoah Halevi has revealed that Hamas' legal defense of its actions during the war were written by the exact same people who head TAWTHEQ. Their legal arguments rest on assumptions such as Hamas has the legal right to shoot rockets to Israel; that all of Israel is "occupied territory;" that Israel has no legal right to defend itself; that Hamas rockets were not aimed at civilians; that Sderot and other towns near Gaza are "occupied" because it was supposed to be part of the Arab state in the 1947 partition that Arabs rejected; and that there are legally no legitimate targets in Gaza.

As Halevi concludes,

A declared terrorist organization, which adheres to the Islamic law (sharia) as the only source of legitimacy and promotes ideology of genocide, receives legal support from human rights organizations and internationally respected jurists in its lawfare waged against a democratic state. Even more peculiar is Judge Richard Goldstone’s decision to rely without reservations on Tawtheeq and its experts in preparing its report, while they publicly make a travesty of the international law and argue that Israel violated the Palestinians’ rights to kill Israelis in the armed struggle for the liberation of the land of Palestine and to destroy Israel.

Let's look into more detail as to what TAWTHEQ data Goldstone relied upon or quoted uncritically:

- The number of fatalities and the number of women and children killed (TAWTHEQ's numbers are higher than PCHR and Al Mezan; Goldstone gives them equal weight. Also, TAWTHEQ does not even attempt to distinguish between militant and civilian in its list of victims.)

- The number of "police stations" targeted by Israel (would TAWTHEQ define Al Qassam Brigades buildings as "police stations?)

- The size of material damage in various strikes, in dollar amounts;

- Most damningly, a large amount of "evidence" that supported the flawed testimony of witnesses to the commission, often the only corroborating evidence Goldstone cites (para. 788, 823)

Goldstone did not show the least amount of skepticism in reviewing the information given to him by an organization whose entire existence is based on bias and not on researching the truth.

And now, we see that Goldstone accepted "evidence" from people who believe, a priori, that Hamas can do no wrong and Israel is inherently evil.

Pakistani diplomat's name too suggestive for Arabs

From the Salem News:

A high level Pakistani diplomat has been rejected as Ambassador of Saudi Arabia because his name, Akbar Zib, equates to "Biggest Dick" in Arabic. Saudi officials, apparently overwhelmed by the idea of the name, put their foot down and gave the idea of his being posted there, the kibosh.

Foreign Policy Blog adds:

According to this Arabic-language article in the Arab Times, Pakistan had previously floated Zeb's name as ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, only to have him rejected for the same reason. One can only assume that submitting Zeb's name to a number of Arabic-speaking countries is some unique form of punishment designed by the Pakistani Foreign Ministry -- or the result of a particularly egregious cockup.

The autotranslation of the Arab Times article is priceless, and while humor doesn't translate well, it appears that the author was having a good time with the story - all the while claiming that no one knows why the diplomat was rejected:

Diplomatic sources familiar with United Arab Emirates told the Arab Times that the current tensions between Pakistan and GCC can not be considered an extension of the tension between Pakistan and the United States, but one cause of tension made Pakistan reject the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council of accepting the credentials of (the biggest cock) a new Pakistani ambassador to several States of the Cooperation Council, without giving reasons ... .. The Pakistani government has decided to appoint (the biggest cock) ambassador in the UAE, but its request was turned down .. I tried to set in Bahrain, which was rejected request and receive instructions sent to Saudi Arabia in the possible appointment as ambassador to the Saud's rejection, such as Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates and Bahrain is not an excuse did not explain the reasons prompting the Pakistani government to Alaatqald that there is U.S. pressure to prevent the appointment of (the biggest cock) Ambassador to the Council states GCC.

There was still no statement from the GCC countries on the reason for refusing to accept the appointment (the biggest cock) ambassador to Pakistan. The Arab Times was not able to know the reason too, but after research and investigation shows that the Pakistani diplomat (the biggest dick) is one of the biggest specialists in the Pak-US economic relations and has held an important post in successive Pakistani governments will be responsible for US-Pakistan Economic Relations.

But the GCC do not want (the biggest cock) and object to the appointment and refused to give his reasons . But a fellow of the Arab Times said that acceptance of the appointment of Abu Dhabi, for example the biggest cock ambassador requires dissemination of news from the Emirates News Agency says: His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed today received the President of Pakistan's new ambassador to the State's largest cock ... Who presented his credentials to His Highness Sheikh Khalifa ... And His Excellency (the biggest dick) was pleased to meet His Highness Sheikh who carried (the biggest cock) presents his compliments to the people of Pakistan.

What do you think is the reason for the refusal to accept the largest dick in the GCC?

h/t Richard Landes via email

Buy from Costco!

There has been a few mentions in the JBlogosphere about a campaign to get Costco to stop carrying Israeli clementines.

From what I can tell, it isn't much of a campaign; an email that has been circulated for a few weeks doesn't seem to have gotten much traction. I see lots more pro-Israel postings about the campaign than anti-Israel postings.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't buy Israeli goods from Costco!

Last Sunday, before I heard about this campaign, I bought Jaffa Sweeties and also saw Carmel peppers being sold. And I wasn't even looking.

So, tonight, drop by a Costco, buy some Israeli goods and let the store manager know you are doing it.

h/t LGF

A Jewish Brooklyn website is advertising "the first ever Israeli Keffiyeh!"

Here is the rationale from Shemspeed's founder, Erez Safar:

My family originates from Yemen, where my ancestors had lived for close to 2,000 years. Nearly 100 years ago, my Grandmother’s side of the family decided to move to Adis Ababa, Ethiopia and then to Israel, in 1933 (Southern Syria/Mandate Palestine at the time). On my Grandfather’s side, our family emigrated to Israel in 1924. Jews indigenous to the Middle East, such as my family is, have worn some variation of the “kefyah” (cap/kippah) and keffiyah (head/neck scarves) for thousands of years. The original purpose of the scarves, was to provide protection from the sun and sand. We have had some Arab friends take offense to our new scarf-remix. In response to such, I thought it was essential to release this statement in order to clarify the historical facts on the ground and, to provide some context. I as a Jew am not offended by the Pope who wears a “kippah” and in the same respect, I don’t feel there is any reason for anyone taking offense to a Jewish person wearing a version of the Keffiyah which they identify with; especially considering the significance of this article of clothing in both of all of our histories. There are numerous variations of the Keffiyah today; the red and white Keffiyah is associated with Jordan and worn throughout the Middle East and Somalia and have been worn by Bedouins for centuries. The black and white Keffiyah, idolized in the 1960s by Yasser Arafat, has become the symbol of the Palestinian resistance movement. The way that symbols are politicized and used to divide people, rather than as common ground for discussion and dialogue is exactly the kind of thought-provoking topic that we at Shemspeed explore with our music, as well as our programming. Our Israeli remix of the Keffiyeh, available through Shemspeed, is just one more interpretation of a scarf worn by our brothers for thousands of years. We hope you enjoy them.

And not everyone is amused. After the UAE National newspaper picked up on the story from the Jerusalem Post, the Kipp Report whines:

Safar knows exactly what he’s doing. The ‘Israeli’ keffiyeh has not been created to keep off the notoriously hot sun or blinding sandstorms that hit Brooklyn at this time of year. It’s an attempt to make a mockery of this symbol of Palestinian nationalism.

As The National points out today, the likely row over a ‘Jewish’ keffiyeh will be the latest in a series of clashes over cultural symbols in the Middle East. In 2008, for example, a group of Lebanese businessmen announced plans to sue Israel to stop it from marketing hummus and tabouleh as ‘Israeli’.

But the creation of the ‘Israeli’ keffiyeh has somewhat raised the stakes. Safar has taken direct aim at this instantly-recognizable Arab symbol, and personal trademark of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Are these “young, hip US Jews” simply deluded, or are they being consciously antagonistic?

There is some deja vu here. A British company has been marketing the Keffiyeh Israelit (pictured, right) for years - and the Arabs have been complaining about it for just as long. (The British manufacturer used to visit and comment here.)

And the reason that Palestinian Arabs don't like Jews co-opting their keffiyeh? Because it symbolizes PalArab "resistance" - terrorism!

Meanwhile, in Nablus, the PalArabs are trying to set a new Guinness world record by creating the world's largest keffiyeh, 500 meters long. The Friends of Palestine group, which is sponsoring it, plans to complete the project in March and then will bring the scarf to refugee camps to cheer people up.

Egyptian editors punished for talking with Israelis

From the Huffington Post:

Two senior Egyptian editors – one a member of the country's ruling party and the other an expert on Jewish affairs – have been punished by Egypt's Journalists Union for violating its ban on contacts with Israel, in a case that underlines the country's ambivalent policies toward its neighbor.
Egypt in 1979 became the first Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with Israel, but relations have remained cool since, with government-to-government contacts dominating links between the two nations.

Cultural exchanges and travel to Israel are officially discouraged by the government, while popular sentiments remain mostly hostile toward Israel because of its perceived oppression of the Palestinians.

Egypt's Journalists Union issued the ban on contacts with Israel in 1985. Yet, many Egyptian journalists have traveled to Israel since and escaped punishment.

On Tuesday, however, the union reprimanded Hala Mustafa, editor in chief of the state-run weekly Democratiya, or Democracy, for meeting with Israel's ambassador in Egypt. Hussein Serag, the expert on Jewish affairs and deputy editor of the weekly magazine October, was suspended from writing for three months.

Asharq Alawsat adds:

The committee "took into account" that Mustafa had "given assurances she was not familiar with the details of this ruling on normalisation. She thought it only applied to travelling to Israel."
He added that Mustafa had agreed to respect the 1981 ruling, something she would neither confirm nor deny.
However, she said she "totally" rejected the warning, telling AFP she might even turn to the courts for redress of what she said was a "moral injury."
"It goes against freedom of expression ... which the union should protect," she added.

Thursday links

Pajamas Media: Anti-Israel Bias Infects Medical Journals

Jawa Report: Daughter of top CAIR official met with HAMAS leaders with father's support and approval

Media Backspin: Fishermen's Tales at the BBC

Potential convergence

Hamas says it has sent a "barrage" of floating bombs into the Mediterranean with the hope that it would hit Israeli targets and explode.

The Free Gaza movement is planning to send a flotilla of 10 boats to Gaza this spring.

Hmmm.

Gazans don't think they benefit from tunnels

A new poll of Gazans by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion shows a number of interesting trends.According to this poll, oOrdinary Gazans tend to be more pragmatic and less extremist than Hamas, and in general they support Fatah more than Hamas.

One answer was intriguing: when asked who benefits most from the smuggling tunnels, 49.7% said "Hamas" and only 26.4% said "the people." Sounds like the "human rights" organizations that keep calling the tunnels a "lifeline" are out of step with what ordinary Gazans think.

According to the poll, Gazans also overwhelmingly support a "one-state solution," probably because of how the question was phrased. (A different poll from another organization found overwhelming support for the opposite.)

And 40% of Gazans would jump at the chance to emigrate to a Western country if they had the chance.

Unlike others, this poll did not ask whether Gazans support terror attacks against Israeli civilians. That number seems to have gone down slightly in the most recent PCPO poll: it is now "merely" 43%, with 57.4% of Gazans supporting terror.