Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, August 05, 2011

New poster series: Boycott Arab States!

Here's my latest poster series, pointing out the hypocrisy of those who want to boycott Israel because of how it supposedly treats Palestinian Arabs. I'll probably be adding more to this post over time.

This week's Latma TV

Tent protests political? Perish the thought!

"Liberal" Saif Qaddafi now embracing Islamists

I've mentioned a couple of times how the New York Times fawned over Saif al-Islam al-Qaddafi, Mouammar's son, in the past. One of their more memorable quotes was "Mr. Qaddafi is, experts say, clearly an emerging force for liberalization."

Clearly!

The NYT today is trying to make up for its very poor judgment - and choice of "experts."

After six months battling a rebellion that his family portrayed as an Islamist conspiracy, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s son and one-time heir apparent said Wednesday that he was reversing course to forge a behind-the-scenes alliance with radical Islamist elements among the Libyan rebels to drive out their more liberal-minded confederates.

“The liberals will escape or be killed,” the son, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, vowed in an hourlong interview that stretched past midnight. “We will do it together,” he added, wearing a newly grown beard and fingering Islamic prayer beads as he reclined on a love seat in a spare office tucked in a nearly deserted downtown hotel. “Libya will look like Saudi Arabia, like Iran. So what?”

Do you think that the paper will learn from its mistakes when it credulously quotes other Arab leaders who are mouthing words of liberalism, democracy and reform?

There are reports that this bloodthirsty former liberal just lost his brother in an airstrike.

Swastika, "Islam will rule" vandalism of Toronto synagogue

From CTV:

A synagogue in the city's northeast end was the target of anti-Semitic graffiti.

Staff members of Beth Tikvah Synagogue on Thursday found the words "Islam will rule" and a swastika spray-painted on the exterior of their building.

According to a press release published by the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy, police have been contacted and measures were taken to increase the security at the synagogue.

Shimon Fogel, CEO of the Canadian Jewish organization said in a statement that the primary concern is the safety of the staff and its congregants.

"We will remain vigilant in the wake of this disturbing and offensive event."

It is interesting that a pre-made stencil was used to make the swastika. It appears that the vandals are planning to do this more often.

(h/t jzaik)

Nonsense in a book review in WaPo

Sari Nusseibeh reviews Jeremy Ben-Ami's book in the Washington Post. (Don't bother buying the book. You can read some excerpts at Israel Matzav, get the gist of the book and save yourself the money.)

I just wanted to point out a laughable part of the review - or it would be laughable if so many people didn't actually believe it:

Given the recent rapprochement between Fatah and Hamas, and the radical changes in the Arab world, there has never been a moment in the history of the conflict when the Arab side has been more ready for a settlement — and the Israelis less willing to agree to one.

Say what?

Fatah and Hamas didn't agree on anything. Hamas still controls Gaza completely. And if they did unify, that would make peace even less likely. Or does Nusseibeh really believe that Hamas has moderated in its daily demands for Israel to be destroyed? Perhaps he should read what Hamas was saying just last week.
How exactly are the changes in the Arab world helping peace? Perhaps in a decade or so, if democracy and freedom really takes hold, we can think about the Arab world accepting Israel. But in case Nusseibeh hasn't noticed, the demonstrators are even less willing to accept Israel than their old leaders.
A settlement involves compromise. The Arab world has not offered any concrete compromises to Israel, and neither has the PLO. If they are so "ready for a settlement" then why are they acting so intransigently?
Israel's position under Netanyahu is pretty much the same as it was under Olmert and under Barak. Netanyahu may be more adamant about some specifics but the outline has not changed much, and that outline has been continuously rejected out of hand by Palestinian Arab leaders.

That's a lot of nonsense packed into a single sentence.

Syria killed 109 more people in Hama today. Syria says all is well.

From Now Lebanon:

CNN said on Thursday that Avaaz, a global activist group, said that at least 109 people died in and around the Syrian city of Hama today, adding that Avaaz cited a medical source.

"The brutality continues in Hama on the fourth day of Ramadan. Communication with the city and surrounding area is very difficult as the electricity supply has been cut off," Avaaz said.

"However, Avaaz has been in touch with a medical source who confirms that 109 people have been killed since the early hours of the morning. Avaaz has been told that more have been injured and bodies are lying in the streets as ambulances and private vehicles are unable to get through."

One resident who spoke to CNN by satellite phone said injured people have died in hospitals because there is no electricity in the facilities.

Residents reported a breakdown and cutoff in communications and electricity accompanying the siege, and said the military was bombing the city.

The resident said entrances of the city are blocked, with no one getting in or out, adding that snipers are deployed across the city.

“People who try to leave the city are being shot,” he also said, adding that “he was told there was ‘genocide’ in one particular area of the city.”

This is in addition to the 30 killed Wednesday.

But don't worry - Syria's "news" agency assures us that "Syrian Arab Army units are working to restore security, stability and normal life to Hama."

Syria hired PR firm to set up Vogue article on the Assads

Remember the absurd Vogue article in February that praised Bashir Assad's family and called Asma al-assad "A Rose in the Desert"?

Now we know a little more about how that article was placed.

From The Hill:

The Syrian government hired an international public-relations firm to help coordinate a Vogue magazine profile for Asma al-Assad, Syria’s first lady.

Brown Lloyd James agreed to a $5,000-per-month contract with the presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic in November 2010 to help with the interview and photo shoot for a glowing profile of al-Assad by the high-profile fashion magazine.

The piece has been criticized heavily due to its publication in Vogue’s March issue, which coincided with the Syrian government’s crackdown on anti-regime protesters.
The firm “liaised between the Office of the First Lady and the Vogue editorial team on the scheduling of interviews and photo shoots,” according to Department of Justice records. Brown Lloyd James also agreed to an extension of the contract for another $25,000, but its work for Syria has since ended, according to the firm.

“We look forward to an enduring and mutually beneficial relationship,” the firm wrote in its contract with the Syrian government.

The PR firm’s work for Syria was successful, as Vogue published a profile of al-Assad under the title “Asma al-Assad: A Rose in the Desert,” along with a full-page photo of the Syrian first lady.

Links to the profile of al-Assad on the Vogue website have since gone dead, sending readers to an error page. A spokeswoman for the magazine did not return messages from The Hill asking for comment on the profile.

Brown Lloyd James said in its statement that its work on behalf of Syria came at a time when the country’s relationship with the United States was changing for the better.

“Our project in Syria, for example, hewed with U.S. efforts at rapprochement and normalization of relations, which were a major strategic priority to the U.S. at the time,” the firm said. “During the time of our activity, the U.S. was engaged in a thaw in relations, highlighted by the appointment of a U.S. ambassador to the country. By complementing the efforts of traditional diplomacy, our approach seeks to establish a deeper reservoir of good will and a strengthening of international relationships. We aim to start dialogues and exchanges and develop constituencies for normalization in each country.”

It's funny that "hasbara" is considered a dirty word by anti-Israel leftists but no one seems to have a problem with Bahrainis and Libyans and Syrians hiring PR firms to burnish their images.

(h/t Folderol)

Think the UN is obsessed with Palestine?

Online you can find the UN's document "Annotated preliminary list of items to be included in the provisional agenda of the sixty-sixth regular session of the General Assembly" which is due to convene in September.

The document is 215 pages long and covers pretty much everything that the UN is planning to discuss in the upcoming session.

Here is a chart showing how often various countries/entities are mentioned in this document:

It's a big world out there, and the UN is obsessed with a real tiny part of it.

The imaginary state (Foreign Policy)

A very good article in Foreign Policy that demolishes the idea of recognizing a Palestinian Arab state in the desired borders:

In a few weeks, an overwhelming majority in the United Nations General Assembly will likely vote for collective recognition of a Palestinian state. But which Palestinian state? Of the three Palestinian states the assembly could recognize, two are real and arguably could meet the requirements for statehood. But it is the third, purely imaginary one that the assembly will endorse, one that neither has a functioning government nor meets the requirements of international law.

According to the prevailing legal standard, the 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, a "state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: a) a permanent population; b) a defined territory; c) government; and d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states." Both the Hamas-controlled Palestinian entity in Gaza and the rival Fatah-governed Palestinian entity in the West Bank can be said to meet all four of these criteria of the law of statehood. The one on which the United Nations will vote does not.

In Gaza, Hamas controls a permanent population in a defined territory (i.e., Gaza within the armistice lines of 1949). Gaza has a functioning, if odious, government. And Hamas-controlled Gaza already conducts international relations with a large number of states. From a narrowly legal point of view, the Hamas Gaza entity could become a state, another miserable addition to a very imperfect world.

...The Fatah Palestinian entity in the West Bank also could meet the legal requirements for statehood, and it would have more international support. It has a functioning government in the Palestinian Authority (PA), a permanent population, and international relations with a very large number of states. It also controls a defined territory, which comprises what are called areas A and B as defined under the Oslo II agreement of September 1995, plus additional territory subsequently transferred by Israel in agreed further redeployments. (Area A is the zone of full civil and security control by the Palestinian Authority, and Area B is a zone of Palestinian civil control and joint Israeli-Palestinian security control.) The Fatah West Bank entity within these lines also could be recognized as a state under international law.

But Fatah, the PA, and the broader PLO do not seek statehood for this West Bank entity that arguably could meet the legal requirements. Their minimum demand is a state that includes Gaza along with the West Bank, the eastern part of Jerusalem, and all the other parts of mandatory Palestine that were under Jordanian and Egyptian control before 1967. Fatah, the PA, and the PLO are demanding title to lands and authority over populations they do not control, being as they are under the rule of Hamas and Israel.

Unlike the two Palestinian entities that already exist, either of which could be recognized as a Palestinian state because they seem to fulfill the legal requirements, the Palestinian entity that a General Assembly majority will recognize as a state this September does not actually exist on Earth. It is imaginary and aspirational, not real. And it does not meet the legal requirements.

...So there you have it. The General Assembly will make a remarkable decision about all this in the next few weeks. Instead of recognizing either of the two state-like entities that already exist, each having many of the attributes of statehood required by international law, the General Assembly will create an imaginary state that has two incompatible presidents, two rival prime ministers, a constitution whose most central provisions are violated by both sides, no functioning legislature, no ability to hold elections, a population mostly not under its control, borders that would annex territory under the control of other powers, and no clear path to resolve any of these conflicts. It is a resolution that plants the seeds for civil and international wars, not one that advances peace.

Read the whole thing; it does a great job documenting how dysfunctional the proposed state government would be. And this is without even going into the financial issues.

(h/t Folderol)

Administrivia: Advertorials

Advertorials are advertisements that look like normal editorial content. Newspapers and TV stations have been running advertorials for many years, and it is an accepted part of the media as long as it is made clear that the content is in fact an advertisement.

I'm going to test out advertorials at EoZ.

I do not want to just publish press releases. That would not be fair to my readers. So here are the rules for EoZ advertorials:

I must approve of the item being advertised. If I don't believe in the product or service, I won't pretend I do.
The product or service must be relevant to EoZ readers.
I write the article, in my style, as honestly as I can.
Obviously it will not be critical towards the item being advertised, but I will not write anything I do not believe. I will treat it as a blog post; use my own angle on the product or service, and do my own research if needed.
The article will be approved by the advertiser.
The article will be clearly labeled in the title and within the post as being an advertisement.

I think that this is fair; it allows me to make a little money but it should not detract from the blog experience. If you don't want to read an ad, you can skip it, but if you do read it the post will hopefully be as educational and entertaining as any other blog post.

The first one will probably be posted in the next couple of days.

If you have a relevant product or service you would like to have me write about, just contact me.

UNIFIL confirms that IDF did not cross Lebanese border

The Daily Star (Lebanon) buries the lede:

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams warned Tuesday that a war could erupt between Lebanon and Israel as a result of this week’s minor exchange of gunfire on the tense border.

In the meantime, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Lebanon was determined to defend its rights and protect its sovereignty by all legitimate means against Israeli threats.

In response to the Wazzani incident, Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said: “Lebanon will file a complaint against Israel through its mission at the United Nations tomorrow for its violation of [U.N.] Resolution 1701 and the infiltration of its soldiers into Lebanese territory in the Wazzani area yesterday.”

Twelve paragraphs later:

Meanwhile, a UNIFIL official denied reports that Israeli forces violated Lebanese sovereignty near the Lebanese border village of Mais al-Jabal Tuesday.

“Israeli troops were carrying out routine maintenance work on the Israeli technical fence near the village of Mais al Jabal. There was no violation of the Blue Line. A UNIFIL patrol was sent to the area. The situation is quiet,” UNIFIL spokesperson Neeraj Singh told The Daily Star.

Of course, this information is still not available on the UNIFIL website.

Al-Qaeda group claims responsibility for two rockets

From YNet:

Two Grad rockets were fired from Gaza late Wednesday evening after a period of relative calm in the south.

The first rocket exploded at around 10:30 pm in an open area between Sderot and Kiryat Gat, near a town in the Lakhish Region. The second exploded some two hours later at the entrance to the southern city of Ashkelon. No injuries or damage were reported in either case.

Palestine Press Agency says that the Abdullah Azzam Brigades took responsibility for these attacks.

The same group took responsibility for a Grad attack in April. They are affiliated with Al Qaeda.

It is pretty much impossible to smuggle Grad rockets into Gaza without Hamas' knowledge and permission, so the "good cop, bad cop" routine that Hamas has been playing with the Islamist groups is mostly theatre. No doubt they have their differences but Hamas is well aware of their possession of, and use of, Grad rockets.