Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Terrorists win Palestinian Arab popularity contest

The Israel Project commissioned a poll in the West Bank and Gaza last month surveying Palestinian Arab opinions about various topics.

The results are most enlightening.

This post is about one specific question:

Now, I'd like you to rate your feelings toward some people, countries, and organizations, with one hundred meaning a VERY WARM, FAVORABLE feeling; zero meaning a VERY COLD, UNFAVORABLE feeling; and fifty meaning not particularly warm or cold. You can use any number from zero to one hundred, the higher the number the more favorable your feelings are toward that person, country, or organization.

Here are the results, sorted from lowest score (coldest feelings) to the highest (warmest feelings), along with their respective mean scores:


	Israelis	3.3
	Israel	4
	Benjamin Netanyahu	4.4
	American Jews	7.8
	Tony Blair	9.2
	Barack Obama	10.7
	The United States	14.5
	Hillary Clinton	15.2
	A one-state solution	28.7
	Two-state solution with an independent Palestinian state and Israel as a Jewish state	30.2
	Mahmoud Ahmadinejad	40
	Iran	40.4
	Two-state solution	41.3
	Hamas	42.6
	The peace process	42.6
	Ismail Haniyeh	44.1
	Hezbollah	44.6
	Palestinian Authority	54.2
	Salam Fayyad	54.5
	Mahmoud Abbas	57


	Fatah	57.6
	Marwan Bargouti	64.5
	Khalil Ibrahim al-Wazir ("Abu Jihad")	71.2
	Dalal Mughrabi	74.5

By far, the winners of the popularity context (at least that were named) were three terrorists, and the top one could not credibly be called anything but a terrorist (the other two at least had some political activities outside of terrorism.)

And for some reason Barack Obama, the most pro-Palestinian Arab president in history, hasn't seemed to have gained much for his efforts at least in this part of the Arab world. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad trounces him in popularity among the moderate, pragmatic, peace-loving Palestinian Arabs.

More analysis form this poll to come.

(h/t JoeSettler)

Photo of an oppressed West Bank Arab woman

Veet sent me this picture he took at the Rami Levy supermarket in Gush Etzion, in the dreaded territories.

The Arab woman looks so oppressed as she is forced to find bargains while standing next to an evil, colonialist, land-grabbing, imperialist, Jewish settler.

The very idea of Jews and Arabs living together in Judea and Samaria is self-evidently abhorrent. After all, every human rights activist on the planet thinks that this store shouldn't exist, that this woman should not be subjected to shopping with Jews, and segregation - not coexistence - between Jews and Arabs is the very definition of peace.

And it is easy to see why, when pictures like this of melancholy Arabs get published.

Meanwhile, in the parking lot, peace-loving Palestinian Authority spies are taking pictures of the cars at the store with PA license plates, so they can be subjected to, I am sure, proper professional therapy for their harrowing experience at being subjugated and humiliated by Jews.

Latest Latma (11/19/10)

Pretty good one: the dire consequences of not implementing the freeze, a new episode of the Jihad boys, and a NIF moonbat trying to befriend a Palestinian Arab.

Is Dmitry Medvedev Jewish?

When Dmitry Medvedev was first hand-picked to be president of Russia in 2008, there were a number of rumors that he was Jewish.

The rumors are based in part on the fact that his maternal grandfather's first name was Veniamin - similar to the Hebrew Binyamin (Benjamin) - while his family name, Shaposhnikov, is sometimes a Jewish name. But beyond that, accusing an electoral rival of being Jewish is a tactic that nationalist parties have employed in the past, both in Russia and in other former communist countries.

Even though he was baptized at 23, the rumors continued.

NRO translated (badly) a Dutch source from 2009:

A Russian journalist to RIA Novosti asked Russian President Dmitry Medvedev if he has Jewish ancestry?

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev replied that the rumors about his Jewish ancestry are inaccurate. He added that his ancestors are from Adana (Western Armenia in Turkey now) but he was born in Russia. He added in “I want everyone to be clear that I am Armenian, surname of my mother was Naxshikyan what the word Naxshik comes oudarmeens. The surname of my father was Bagratyan. This name is also purely Armenian. I was forced to change name to be head of Russian secret service (KGB) in France to work the cold war times. Since France had large Armenian community should not Arms Irish secret service agent working in France. That I have an Armenian surname changed to Russian. I am 100% Armenian.” Finally the Russian President says he is proud of his Armenian parents and ancestors.

Armenians, who had heard that claim earlier, weren't buying it:

The story has little, if any, credence. Medvedev who was born in 1965, lived and studied in Russia for most of his life. He received his Law Degree in 1987 from Leningrad State University. Three years later, he received his Ph.D. from the same university… and then the Cold War was over. Published biographies of Medvedev do not make any reference to his Armenian ancestry either.

Now, more fuel is being added to the fire.

Victor Shikhman, who is a talented blogger, writes almost as an aside in a recent post:

As a sidenote, Medvedev's [planned] visit [to Israel] is all the more interesting given that he is a Jew, the son of a Jewish mother and the first Jew to become President of Russia, much less enter the Kremlin in any capacity besides the following: doctor, scientist, military hero, foreigner.

I've personally confirmed Medvedev's Jewish identity with former Muscovites, who say that Medvedev's mother regularly attended the main synagogue in Moscow. The subject has not been broached much in Russian media, as Medvedev is Putin's man, and, well, Russian journalists know what's good for them, or they have an accident - there is freedom of choice in Russia. I wonder if anyone's bothered to tell the Arabs.

Ooooh...I will! I will!

It is mind-blowing that the president of one of the most anti-semitic nations in history could be a halachic Jew.

(h/t Silke)

Turkey arrests 25 Palestinian Arabs!

Turkey is such a friend to Palestinian Arabs, trying to help them improve their lives, sending aid ships, and so forth. Right?

Turkish authorities announced they arrested 25 Palestinian immigrants in northwestern Turkey who were trying to sneak into European countries in search of a better life.

The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet today reports that the Turkish security forces managed to arrest these illegal immigrants from Palestine while conducting inspections on the roads leading into the province of Edirne in north-west Turkey.

The paper said the investigation of the illegal immigrants who were detained is still ongoing.

The thousands of illegal immigrants each year pass through Turkey on their way to Greece and other European countries.

Why doesn't Turkey open its doors to all Palestinian Arabs, their fellow Muslims, who want to immigrate?

It seems Turkey's sympathy for the poor, oppressed Palestinian Arabs disappears when it is at Turkey's expense.

I wonder if they were they really from "Palestine" or from Lebanon. If Arabs from under PA rule are so desperate to leave their homeland when they are already living under PA autonomy, that would explode the myth of how Palestinian Arabs prefer unity over their own interests - the myth that has guided official Arab policy towards Palestinian Arabs for decades.

Israelis helping abandoned Bedouin women

Another example of heartless, bigoted Israelis, daring to empower Muslim women.

(h/t Israel Matzav)

York University threatens rabbi for wanting to protest Galloway

From Richard Cravatts in Pajamas Media:

York University in Toronto, which has gained for itself the dubious distinction of being Canada’s epicenter of campus anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism, is displaying once again the moral inversion that seems to have infected its student body and administration when the issues of the Middle East are discussed.

The issue at hand is a November 16th visit to the York campus by British MP George Galloway, as the invited guest of the York Federation of Students. In 2009, Mr. Galloway had been barred from entering Canada due to his public support of and donations to Hamas, a group designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the U.S. State Department, Canada, and the EU, but a court has since overturned that decision and given Galloway access to Canada once again.

Not everyone was thrilled with the prospect of having Galloway, who, according to wry commentator Christopher Hitchens is “100 percent consistent in support for thugs and criminals,” arriving on the York campus to spew forth his rabid fulminations against Zionism, Israel, and the West. In particular, Toronto-based Rabbi Ahron Hoch took it upon himself to post an announcement on his Aish web site in which he urged readers to proactively protest Galloway’s appearance, and to take specific steps to inform the greater community about the noxious speaker, including emailing York’s president, calling the dean’s office to lodge a formal complaint, and participating in a rally to be held on the York campus.

Feeling that the Galloway visit was one more contribution to the cesspool of anti-Semitic, pro-Palestinian activism that has punctuated the York campus for years now, Rabbi Hoch took York’s president, Mamdouh Shoukri, to task for allowing Galloway to speak “under the pretext of freedom of speech,” even though it “was never meant to be used as a vehicle to spread support for terror, murder and genocide.”

And more relevant to Rabbi Hoch was that York’s president had again failed to take a strong stand to rid his campus of anti-Israelism that frequently has morphed into anti-Semitism. “Mr. Shoukri has again showed his amazing tolerance for anti-Semitism and lack of vigilance regarding the feeling of safety for Jewish students on campus,” Hoch wrote.

Rabbi Hoch did receive a response from the university, but not the one he had probably hoped for. In fact, what he received was a formal letter from Harriet Lewis, York’s general counsel, who ordered the rabbi, in no uncertain terms, to remove the announcement “from [his] web site and to direct [his] supporters to cease and desist” any further distribution of the online poster. Why was the university demanding these steps? Because it believed that Hoch’s comment about President Shoukri was “untrue, harmful to [him] and his reputation, and to that of the university.” More ominously, the university considered the rabbi’s words “actionable,”( read: criminal), and expected “a retraction and apology forthwith.”

The letter also warned Hoch that his request for individuals to come to the York campus to protest Galloway’s appearance “might disturb and provoke others to disturb the peace” and “that this too is actionable and may constitute criminal behavior.”

The article goes on to detail specific, abhorrent incidents at York where misozionistic speech is allowed and pro-Israel speakers are protested and stopped from speaking by the Israel-hating mob.

I managed to find a cached copy of the entire message posted by Rabbi Hoch. See if you think it is beyond the pale, compared to the vitriol and protests that York allows against pro-Israel speakers:

Urgent Message! George Galloway at York University
It has been brought to my attention that the York Federation of Students is presenting George Galloway at York University, Tuesday, November 16 • 7:00pm - 9:00pm.

George Galloway is a known supporter of Hamas and an activist for terrorist organizations.

Using the language of a humanitarian and an anti-war activist, he openly supports Hamas and Hezbollah, who are utterly committed to the destruction of Israel. They are movements who target civilians, have no compunction to commit atrocities for the sake of their cause, and to whom life is cheap!

Mamdouh Shoukri, President of York, defends the decision to allow him to speak under the pretext of Freedom of Speech. The concept of Freedom of Speech was never meant to be used as a vehicle to spread support for terror, murder and genocide.

Mr. Shoukri has again showed his amazing tolerance for anti-Semitism and lack of vigilance regarding the feeling of safety for Jewish students on campus. This needs to be strongly protested.

Here are some things we can do:

1) Write to the Mamdouh Shoukri, office of the President and Vice-Chancellor, York University Research Tower, Room 1050, 74 York Blvd, ON, M3J 1P3 or email mshoukri@yorku.ca.

2) Call the Dean’s office and make an official complaint - 416 736 5200.

3) Attend the rally against the event. This will take place on the York campus

Tuesday Nov 16 6:30-9:00pm
Outside the Price Family Cinema, Accolade East 102

4) Get 10 of your friends to do one of the above.
It is important that not only students but members of the general public take part in protesting this outrage.

In the words of Prime Minister Stephen Harper "we are morally obligated to take a stand [against anti-Semitism and the forces that want to see Israel destroyed]. Demonization, double standards, delegitimization [of Israel], the 3 D’s, it is a responsibility, to stand up to them."

Rabbi Ahron Hoch

York University is a cesspool.

Here is a radio interview with Rabbi Hoch.

"Muslims Project Islam's Worst Traits onto Israel and the Jews"

A couple of years ago I came up with Elder's First Rule of Arab Projection which states that "Whenever Arabs accuse Israel of doing some crime, they are doing that exact crime, usually on a far grander scale than their accusations."

Raymond Ibrahim, writing in Hudson-NY, extends that rule onto Muslims as well:

...On September 7, Egyptian cleric Abdallah Samak made the following remarks on Al Rahma TV: "The Jews are known for their merciless, murderous, and bloodthirsty nature… The number one characteristic of the Jews – which appears in the Bible – is that they are always prepared for combat. They believe that it is their fate and destiny to be in a state of perpetual war. This is not what we want. We are seekers of peace and security. We seek to spread love. But we are dealing with a people, a society, that believes that its destiny is linked to war. The number one characteristic of the Jews is that they are a people that believes that its destiny is linked to war. They cannot live without war. They can only live if they attack others. They can only live through annihilation, revenge, and mercilessness."

The notion of "perpetual war," in fact, is straight out of Muslim doctrine and history — best recognized by the word "jihad"— and has no corollary in Judaism or any other religion. Even temporary truces are permissible only when Muslims are weak and incapable of going on the offensive: according to sharia, once Muslims are strong enough and have proper leadership (e.g., a caliph), they are obligated to expand the realm of Islam through offensive jihad until, in the words of the Koran, "all religion belongs to Allah" (8:39). History unequivocally attests to this approach. Moreover, while the Old Testament certainly contains many allusions to violence, these are of a historical, as opposed to doctrinal, nature. Conversely, Koranic verses dealing with violence have been codified in sharia law, and thus have a juridical and perpetual quality (note the word "until" in the most violent passages of the Koran, e.g., 9:5 and 9:29; see here for more on the differences between Judeo-Christian and Muslim violence). Finally, by quickly adding that Muslims "do not want" perpetual war, but instead seek "to spread love," Samak belies the fact that Muslims naturally came to his mind immediately after he evoked "perpetual war," evincing a rather telling train of thought.

...On October 10, Egyptian cleric Galal Al-Khatib, while comparing the Shi'as to the Jews, made the following comments on Al-Rahma TV: "Jews accuse all their enemies of being infidels… The Jews believe that all non-Jews will end up in the Hellfire for all eternity… Both the Jews and the Shiites sanction the killing of those who disagree with them. Like the Jews, the Shiites employ treachery and deception to kill those who disagree with them. They use the same methods to get rid of their opponents. The Jews allow the plundering of their opponents' property…"

First, few religions are as keen on dividing the world between believers and infidels as Islam is, which divides the world into the Abode of Islam (where sharia is enforced) and the Abode of War (where it is not), holding that the armies of the former must wage war upon the latter — as we have seen, whenever they can. Moreover, through the doctrine of "loyalty and enmity," Muslims are commanded to disassociate themselves from non-Muslims. As for the Jews "employ[ing] treachery and deception to kill those who disagree with them," as mentioned, this is straight out of Muslim doctrine: Muhammad himself ordered the assassination of several poets for simply offending him; more to the point, he permitted the assassins to lie to their victims -- in order to win their trust and get close enough to them to murder them. Finally, Islam unequivocally legitimizes plundering the infidel — a longtime source of motivation for the soldiers of Islam.

Read the whole thing.

(h/t Serious Black)

Fatah firefight - in Egypt

Who knew that our favorite moderate Arabs were also being peaceful in Egypt?

A number of Palestinian officers affiliated to Fatah movement living in the Egyptian town of El-Arish clashed with Egyptian citizens from the Al-Fawakhriyeh tribe in a northern Sinai brawl Thursday night.

The severity of the clash led to a closure of the road between the city and Rafah, the border town split between Egypt and Gaza, for more than two hours overnight. Police said several cars were damaged and one man injured before police and security forces arrived on the scene.

According to the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masri, a Palestinian officer renting an apartment from one of the sons of the tribe in El-Arish got into a fight with his landlord, and was told to get out of the apartment immediately.

During the ensuing clash, which fellow Fatah-affiliates living in the region soon joined, the two sides exchanged gunfire, injuring one man from the Al-Fawakhriyeh tribe, who was evacuated to hospital for treatment, officers told Ma'an.

The life of a "Palestinian refugee"

Last June, during "World Refugee Day," Al Jazeera commemorated the occasion with an interview with what they called a "Palestinian refugee."

Here's the video:

A woman who lived her whole life under the generous rule of Saddam Hussein lost her protector. Her neighbors chased her out of the country where she lived comfortably - Iraq. Finally, she got the opportunity to move to the US where she hopes to become a citizen.

And she is referred to as a "Palestinian refugee."

Blood libel of the day

From Ha'aretz:

Dutch media this month published articles accusing Ariel Sharon of murdering Palestinian children in Lebanon. Former officials who worked with Sharon said the publications were false. The Israeli foreign ministry called the claim "a modern blood libel."

The claim first appeared in the Volkskrant, the third largest paper in the Netherlands, in an interview with the well-known Dutch-Jewish director George Sluizer. According to Sluizer, 78, he witnessed Sharon killing two Palestinian toddlers with a pistol in 1982 near the refugee camp Sabra-Shatilla while filming a documentary there.

“I met Sharon and saw him kill two children before my eyes,” said Sluizer, who lives in Amsterdam.

Sluizer repeated the accusation in an interview for Vrij Nederland, an intellectual magazine, published on November 13 ahead of a screening of his film at the prestigious International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. “Sharon shot two children like you shoot rabbits, in front of my eyes,” he said.

The children, according to Sluizer, “were toddlers, two or three years old. He shot them from a distance of 10 meters with a pistol that he carried. I was very close to him.” Sluizer added he thought this happened in November, when Sharon was Israel’s minister of defense, but he was not sure of the month.

His account was published in a special Volkskrant supplement for the film festival, which opened on Wednesday. The festival featured Sluizer’s fourth and most recent film about Israel, in which he is filmed telling a Sharon effigy that he wished Sharon would have died at Auschwitz.

Ariel Sharon, of course, was born in what is now central Israel, not Europe. He is more Palestinian than Yasir Arafat or Ezzedeen Al-Qassam were.

Now, imagine a prominent film director coming forward in, say, 1965, saying that they witnessed Adolf Hitler personally shoot two Jewish toddlers at point blank range in public.

That claim would have met with a lot more skepticism than this one was by the Dutch press.

Luckily, Ha'aretz actually spent the time to show he is a liar:

Sharon’s successor as defense minister, Moshe Arens, said Sluizer’s account was “a lie.” According to Arens, “Sharon would never shoot a child and he was not in Lebanon in November of 1982. Thirdly, protocol prohibits ministers from wearing weapons. As civilians they are not allowed to carry firearms.”

In an interview for Haaretz, Sluizer said his cameraman Fred van Kuyk, who died a few years ago, also witnessed the shooting. Sluizer also said he had personally filed two complaints against Sharon in 1983, with the International Court of Justice in the Hague and the European Court of Human Right in Strasbourg.

Mr. Andrey Poskakukhin, head of the ICJ’s information department, said the court had no registration of a complaint by Sluizer. An administrator for the court in Strasbourg said his institution had no record of such a complaint either.

“By the time my complaints arrived at their destination and should have been processed, minister of defense Sharon had become prime minister and therefore he was free of prosecution,” Sluizer said. Sharon became prime minister in 2001, 18 years after Sluizer said he filed his complaints.

He added he began thinking more about the shooting after surviving a near-fatal aneurysm in 2007.

The most charitable explanation is that his hatred for Sharon caused him to create a false memory, or that his aneurysm messed up his brain. More likely - he is just a liar.

(h/t Elder of Lobby and Joel)