Newest "flotilla" a non-story (update)

A new flotilla is attempting to make headlines by pretending that it will be "breaking the siege on Gaza." As the Viva Palestina website says,

Viva Palestina is launching "Viva Palestina 5 - a global lifeline to Gaza", a gigantic land convoy leaving London on Saturday, 18th September in conjunction with convoys leaving from Casablanca and Doha and timed to coordinate with a larger and even more international flotilla aiming to reach Gaza by sea at the same time as the land convoys reach by land.

Is there really another flotilla aiming at Gaza? Not really. As CNN mentions, they are headed to Egypt's El Arish:

Unlike the flotilla in May, the convoy aims to enter Gaza by land, through the Rafa border crossing with Egypt. When the three convoys meet in Syria, they plan to be shipped past the point at which the Mavi Marmara was attacked and down to the Egyptian port of Al Arish before going to Rafah.

Egypt generally has been forcing large quantities of goods to go through Kerem Shalom because Rafah cannot handle large shipments. So the major party that will be pressured throughout this upcoming incident will be Egypt, not Israel. Egypt does not care nearly as much about PR as Israel does.

The Viva Palestina land convoy may have some problems as well. As we mentioned, Egypt had banned such convoys last January, and today Algeria refused permission for the Moroccan land contingent to go through its territory.

UPDATE: More proof that the new "flotillas" aren't going to Gaza: The Free Gaza movement, which is against sending any aid through Egypt or Israel, is ignoring them.

Read More

Where's this Time magazine cover?

After Time magazine wrote its ridiculous cover story saying that Israel doesn't care about peace, Soccer Dad wrote a series of articles (the original, part ii, part iii, part iv and part v, part vi) showing how Palestinian Arabs are the ones who are not interested in peace.

(I contributed the cover art.)

Well, I just read something that could be part 7.

A new poll of Palestinian Arabs show that more than half of them are not even following the current negotiations in the news.

Now, Time's main evidence for saying that Israelis don't care about peace was a poll from last March:

Asked in a March poll to name the "most urgent problem" facing Israel, just 8% of Israeli Jews cited the conflict with Palestinians, putting it fifth behind education, crime, national security and poverty. 

This is playing with numbers, of course. Local issues always outpoll international issues for every country - to use it as evidence of not wanting peace is the worst kind of twisting of data.

One could also argue that the Palestinian Arab poll I am quoting does not indicate that PalArabs don't care about peace, just that they are skeptical about the chances for a breakthrough. However, Israelis didn't get any benefit of the doubt by Time, and they will never put out a similar story about Palestinian Arabs as they did about Israeli Jews given evidence that is at least as compelling as that which they used two weeks ago.

Read More

G'mar chatima tovah 5771 - גמר חתימה טובה

Coming up to Yom Kippur, I would like to ask forgiveness for anything I may have done to upset any of my readers. I also unconditionally forgive anyone who might have done anything against me.

The Muqata has a good list of possible blogosphere sins that I am slightly expanding:

If you sent me email and I didn't reply, or didn't get back to you in a timely fashion -- I apologize.


If you sent me a story and I didn't publish it or worse, didn't acknowledge that you had sent me the story -- I'm sorry.


If you requested help from me and I wasn't able to provide it -- I'm sorry.


I apologize if I posted without the proper attribution, with the wrong attribution, or without attribution at all.


I'm sorry if any of my posts offended you personally.

I wish all of my Jewish readers a meaningful and easy fast.

May all of us be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life.

Read More

World Bank: PA ready to become a (welfare) state

From Bloomberg:

The Palestinian Authority is “well-positioned” to establish a state, though it remains donor dependent and economic growth is unsustainable, the World Bank said.

“If the Palestinian Authority maintains its current performance in institution-building and delivery of public services, it is well-positioned for the establishment of a state,” the World Bank said in a report to donor countries. “Sustainable economic growth in the West Bank and Gaza, however, remains absent.”

The West Bank and Gaza economies are heading for 8 percent growth this year, up from 7.2 percent in the West Bank in 2009 and 5.4 percent in Gaza, Oussama Kanaan, the head of the International Monetary Fund’s mission to the area said on Sept. 14. While some of the growth is due to improved investor confidence and the partial easing of restrictions by Israel, the main driver remains foreign donations, the World Bank said in its report.

“Unless action is taken in the near future to address the remaining obstacles to private sector development and sustainable growth, the Palestinian Authority will remain donor dependent and its institutions, no matter how robust, will not be able to underpin a viable state,” the bank said.

The news report is parroting the actual World Bank report in headlining that the PA is in good shape to establish a state, and then only many paragraphs later admitting that this state would remain completely dependent on foreign aid for the foreseeable future and that the state will not be viable. 


If fact, the entire theme of the report is to play up the successes and play down the intractable problems.

So we have headlines around the world claiming that the World Bank is saying that the PA is positioned to become a state, and only keen readers will notice that the type of state that they are envisioning is one that will be almost wholly dependent on outside money. They are pushing the establishment of a state that is, in their own terms, not viable.

Read More

Arab League rejects "Jewish state"

From Ma'an:

Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo on Thursday decided to reject a demand made by Israel, asking Palestinian negotiators recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

In a statement issued after the meeting, the Arab League supported President Mahmoud Abbas' refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Palestinian negotiators have recognized Israel’s right to exist, but not as a Jewish state, which officials say would prejudice the right of return for refugees and violate the rights of Israel's non-Jewish residents.

If recognizing Israel as a Jewish state would violate the rights of non-Jews in Israel, then defining "Palestine" as Arab would likewise violate the rights of non-Arabs, and defining it is Islamic would - by their definition - mean that non-Muslims will be discriminated against.

Here are parts of the "Constitution of Palestine" that mentions the word "Arab" or "Islam":

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

In addition, in five instances, the constitution refers specifically to the "Palestinian Arab people" or the "Arab Palestinian people." For example,

ARTICLE 116
Laws shall be promulgated in the name of the Palestinian Arab People, and shall be published immediately in the official gazette. These laws shall come into force 30 days from the date of their publication unless the laws state otherwise.

It sounds like non-Arabs cannot become "Palestinian" and that any non-Arabs who happen to live in Palestine would be, by definition, in a lower class.

Equal rights only apply to Palestinian Arabs:

ARTICLE 9
All Palestinians are equal under the law and judiciary without discrimination because of race, sex, color, religion, political views, or disability.

Since all Palestinians are Arabs by their definition, this means that there would be discrimination against non-Arabs.

Furthermore, since the constitution says that "Respect and sanctity of all other heavenly religions shall be maintained," that means that the Constitution of Palestine is enshrining discrimination against other religions that are not considered "heavenly" by Islam. In other words, Hindus and Buddhists can expect to be treated in a bigoted way should they want to visit or live in any Palestinian Arab state.

Of course, every Arab state's constitution says things that are similar.

The hypocrisy behind the outrage at calling Israel "Jewish" cannot be more blatant.

Read More

Latest Latma

Some cute parts....

Read More

When Jews were optimistic about the UN

I just found this cartoon commercial created by the American Jewish Committee in the 1950s, promoting the UN:

We needn't have the world in pieces

Cause the world's best hope for peace is

The UN plus U, the UN plus U

...We'll fight aggression

Lick diseases

Stand for peace but not appeasers

The UN plus U, the UN plus U

Read More

Report: Egypt arrests senior Hamas official in Cairo

Palestine Press Agency and PalVoice, both Fatah mouthpieces, are quoting Egyptian security forces that Egypt has arrested a senior Hamas official at Cairo International Airport.

The Hamas member is Mohamed Debabeche, known as "Abu Radwan", the commander of the General Security Service who reports to Hamas interior minister Fathi Mohammed.

The sources linked his arrest with the recent discovery of large shipments of secure radio equipment that were being smuggled to Hamas in Gaza. The equipment was worth millions of dollars.

UPDATE: The news of Debabeche's arrest is prompting some Egyptian groups to re-open the investigation into the killing of an Egyptian guard Ahmed Shaaban by a Hamas sniper last January during demonstrations to support George Galloway's Viva Palestina convoy. Debabeche had blocked attempts by Egypt to extradite the killer.

Read More

When inner Jihad and outer Jihad meet

From YNet:

A member of the one of the Palestinian militant groups in Gaza admitted to Ynet on Thursday that the phosphorus used in the rockets fired on Israel Wednesday contained material gathered from shells Israel itself fired on Gaza during Operation Cast Lead.

"The phosphorus was taken from bombs Israel fired, that didn’t explode," he said.

The source said that the Gaza groups were continuing their quest to enhance their offensive capabilities, especially regarding rocket range and explosive capabilities.

"This has nothing to do with the peace talks, but with our desire to improve ourselves."

And, as we have been told countless times, Jihad is all about self-improvement!

By the way, Islamic Jihad called the claim that missiles with phosphorus were fired into Israel a "fabrication."

Read More

The self-hating Jews of 1893

From the New York Times, September 21, 1893:

Reminds me of these guys.

Read More

Spanish "Mecca" nightclub caves

Remember the nightclub in Spain called "Mecca" that got Muslims so upset? So much so that Moroccan hackers broke into the site?

Well, the owners caved to the demands of the eternal seethers. From the Daily Mail (via Jihad Watch):

A popular Spanish nightclub has been forced to change its name from Mecca after sparking a furious reaction around the Islamic world.

Intelligence chiefs warned owners they were being targeted by extremists who claim the disco is insulting to their religion.

Hackers broke into the nightclub's website and posted a video threatening 'a great war between Spain and the people of Islam' if the venue did not change its name.

Today the owners, said to include former Real Madrid goalkeeper Santiago Canizares, agreed to change the club's name after meeting with local Muslim leaders.

La Meca (Spanish for Mecca), was the most popular disco in the coastal city of Aguila, in Murcia, southeastern Spain, in the 1980s and 90s before it closed down a decade ago.

It re-opened on June 18 with the same name, sparking the current controversy.
Last week Spain's intelligence agency, the National Intelligence Centre (CNI), alerted the owners to threats being made online.

Moderate Spanish Muslims also called for the name to be changed.

Please be tolerant of Muslim feelings. Or else they very well might kill you.

That will teach you tolerance!

Read More

A victim of real Islamophobia

The term "Islamophobia" was never accurate because it was meant to convey the hatred of Islam, not the fear of Islam.

But now we have a real victim of Islamophobia, or perhaps more accurately Muslimophobia - a young woman who is forced to go into hiding to save her life from Muslim death threats.

In the United States.

From the Seattle Weekly News, via Jihad Watch:

You may have noticed that Molly Norris' comic is not in the paper this week. That's because there is no more Molly.

The gifted artist is alive and well, thankfully. But on the insistence of top security specialists at the FBI, she is, as they put it, "going ghost": moving, changing her name, and essentially wiping away her identity. She will no longer be publishing cartoons in our paper or in City Arts magazine, where she has been a regular contributor. She is, in effect, being put into a witness-protection program—except, as she notes, without the government picking up the tab. It's all because of the appalling fatwa issued against her this summer, following her infamous "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" cartoon.

Norris views the situation with her customary sense of the world's complexity, and absurdity. When FBI agents, on a recent visit, instructed her to always keep watch for anyone following her, she responded, "Well, at least it'll keep me from being so self-involved!" It was, she says, the first time the agents managed a smile. She likens the situation to cancer—it might basically be nothing, it might be urgent and serious, it might go away and never return, or it might pop up again when she least expects it.

We're hoping the religious bigots go into full and immediate remission, and we wish her the best.

Here is that horribly offensive cartoon that Molly drew:

Another nail in the coffin of freedom of speech, brought to you by radical Islam.

Read More