Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Reports: Iran cut funding to Hamas

Iran has cut back or even stopped its funding of Hamas after the Islamist movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, failed to show public support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, diplomats said on Sunday.

Hamas has denied that it is in financial crisis but says it faces liquidity problems stemming from inconsistent revenues from tax collection in the Gaza Strip and foreign aid.

The movement is spurned by the West over its refusal to recognize Israel and renounce violence. It receives undisclosed sums of cash from Iran, which has acknowledged providing financial and political support to Hamas.

One diplomat, who asked not to be identified, said intelligence reports showed that Iran had reduced funding for Hamas.

Other diplomatic sources, also relying on intelligence assessments, said the payments had stopped over the past two months.

The diplomats cited Iran's displeasure over Hamas' refusal to hold rallies in support of Tehran's ally, Assad, in Palestinian refugee camps in Syria after an uprising against his rule. Hamas' leadership outside the Gaza Strip is headquartered in Damascus.

Hamas is also widely believed to receive money from the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most popular and organized political force. Diplomats said those payments also may have been reduced because the Brotherhood has diverted funds to support the so-called Arab Spring revolts.

In a sign of a cash crunch, the Hamas government in Gaza has failed to pay the July salaries of its 40,000 employees in the civil service and security forces. Hamas leaders promised full payments in August, but not all employees received their wages as scheduled on Sunday.

If this is true, it is a very nice and unexpected bonus from the Syrian uprising. Syria's regime is left with only two friends, Iran and the Hezbollah-dominated Lebanese government. If Syria should fall it would be a big blow to Iran.

There have been rumors that Hamas is looking to relocate its headquarters to another Arab country (although, as one commenter here noted, isn't it interesting that they aren't trying to relocate to Gaza?)

(h/t Dan)

"Obama" was encoded in yesterday's Haftarah

I was wondering about Artscroll's translation of Isaiah 50:11 זִיקוֹת as "fireworks" since, obviously, there were no such thing as fireworks in Isaiah's day. JTS 1917 translates it as "firebrands."

As I was looking this up, I saw a Christian site note that in that same verse, the word "Obama" (or perhaps Ubama) comes out as the first letter of successive words:

הֵן כֻּלְּכֶם קֹדְחֵי אֵשׁ, מְאַזְּרֵי זִיקוֹת; לְכוּ בְּאוּר אֶשְׁכֶם, וּבְזִיקוֹת בִּעַרְתֶּם--מִיָּדִי הָיְתָה-זֹּאת לָכֶם, לְמַעֲצֵבָה תִּשְׁכָּבוּן.

Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that gird yourselves with firebrands, begone in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of My hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.

I can't see any significance in this, and I don't place much importance to such "codes" (especially in Navi) but it was interesting.

Why isn't Israel demanding apologies?

Egypt demanded an apology for Israel's accidental killing of Egyptian soldiers as they were chasing the Eilat terrorists.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak then did apologize, but the Egyptians responded that it was "insufficient."

Yet yesterday, Egyptian security allowed an Egyptian man to climb on the roof of the Israeli embassy, burn the Israeli flag and replace it with an Egyptian flag. The man is being hailed as a hero in Egyptian media.

An embassy is officially the territory of the nation it represents, so this was an explicit breach of Israel's sovereignty that has been cheered by the entire nation of Egypt.

So why doesn't Israel demand an apology from Egypt?

Why isn't Israel demanding an Egyptian investigation of how the terrorists managed to get Egyptian army uniforms, or how they managed to infiltrate into Israel from right next to an Egyptian army post?

Why doesn't Israel take the diplomatic offensive?

Similarly, there has been a lot of news lately about how Turkey is demanding an apology from Israel for the Mavi Marmara incident ahead of the release of the Palmer report. But, according to a number of reports:

The coming Palmer report, investigating the tragic events of the 2010 Gaza flotilla, is expected to harshly criticize Turkey's handling of the sail and its ties to the IHH, but according to Ynet's source, Jerusalem does not intend to propel the report's conclusions into an international media campaign that would "vindicate" Israel.

So why isn't Israel demanding an apology from Turkey for allowing its IHH partner, a terrorist supporting organization, to sail to Gaza and spark a deadly incident?

A demand for an apology always puts the other party on the defensive. So why doesn't Israel play the same game?

Maybe Israel is trying to be sensitive to Arab "honor." Yet somehow Egyptians are not overly upset at the attacks being directed at their own army and police by the Sinai terrorist groups. Their "honor" seems to be very selective - only against those who seem sensitive to it.

It's time that Israel plays Middle East politics by Middle East rules.

10 of the 13 Gazans killed since Thursday were terrorists (updated)

In retaliation for Thursday's terror attack near Eilat, Israel has struck Gaza hard with airstrikes. Yet despite the pro-Hamas and leftist Tweeters claiming that Israel's airstrikes are aimed at Gaza infrastructure and civilians, even according to Arab sources most of them were clearly aimed at terrorists or terrorist infrastructure.

Fully 10 of the 13 killed since Friday were terrorists. From Thursday:

1- Kamal 'Awadh Mohammed al-Nairab (Abu 'Awadh), 43, PRC Secretary General;
2- 'Emad 'Abdul Karim 'Abdul Khaliq Hammad, 40, the leader of Nasser Saladin Brigades;
3- 'Emad al-Din Na'im Sayed Nasser, 46, a member of Nasser Saladin Brigades;
4- Khaled Ibrahim Salman al-Masri, 26, a member of Nasser Saladin Brigades;
5- Khaled Hamad Sha'at, 32, the leader of manufacturing unit of Nasser Saladin Brigades

A child who was with the above targets was killed as well.

From Friday:

6- Mohammed Fayez Mahmoud 'Enaya, 22, from the PRC, on a motorcycle
7- Samed 'Abdul Mo'ti 'Aabed, 25, "activist of the Palestinian resistance" on a motorcycle
8- Anwar Hassan Saleem, 23 and
9- 'Emad Fareed Abu 'Aabda, 23, "activists of the Palestinian resistance" both on a motorcycle (Islamic Jihad)
10- Mo'taz Bassem Quraiqe', 29, a leader of al-Quds Brigades (the armed wing of Islamic Jihad)

That last attack also killed Quraiqe's 2 year old son and a physician - who were on the same motorcycle or car with him.

Every single fatality in Gaza has been from airstrikes aimed at terrorists.

No one was killed on Saturday or so far on Sunday in Gaza.

All of this comes from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (Thursday and Friday details).

Ma'an claims 14 have been killed; PCHR has no information on any other deaths though. (Ma'an's editor says that may have been a mistake.)

UPDATE: The 14th victim is seemingly a Hamas terrorist, making it 11 out of 14. Also a 13 year old boy killed that some Palestinian Arab media claim was killed by Israel was in fact killed by a Grad rocket that fell short.

UPDATE 2: A 15th death, from Tuesday night, also an Islamic Jihad terrorist. 12/15.

UPDATE 3: An Islamic Jihad terrorist was killed Wednesday. There were claims of a 65-year old man who was killed by artillery in a field; no witnesses but his body was found in pieces. The IDF said they did not fire any artillery and that all airstrikes on Wednesday registered hits to rocket cells, so I'm not sure how to count him. So for now the tally is: 13 terrorists, 3 human shields, 1 unclear.

Why has no one taken responsibility for Eilat attacks? (updated)

One of the unanswered questions in the Eilat attacks last week is why no one has officially taken responsibility for them?

Israeli intelligence has stated in no uncertain terms that the attacks came from Gaza, and PM Benyamin Netanyahu said that the terrorists who were behind the attack were killed in the retaliatory attack against the Popular Resistance Committees. It seems likely that the IDF shared some of their evidence with Israeli reporters off the record, as a Ha'aretz reporter says all of his sources show that the PRC was responsible.

Yet the PRC has denied that they were responsible. It is somewhat unusual for terrorist organizations not to race to take responsibility - on the contrary in the past we've seen multiple organizations claim responsibility for attacks even when they weren't involved.

The Israeli government would not make an explicit and specific statement without some proof. It is likely that the terrorists that were killed during the Eilat attack carried documentation that showed who they were or what group they were from, evidence that cannot be made public without compromising security.

(The conspiracy theorists can harp about how the GOI and IDF always lie and how this was an excuse to attack Gaza, but from watching their statements over the years the number of statements that they made that ended up not being true is quite small, and as far as I can tell, always a result of being pressured to make a statement before all the facts are in. And, yes, I saw the IDF spokesperson's incompetent interview.)

So why didn't the PRC claim responsibility?

The PRC has worked in the past with Hamas on terror attacks, but its main patron is Iran via Hezbollah. Its logo is even consciously based on the Hezbollah logo.

IDF sources have stated that the attacks seem to have not been meant just to kill Israelis, but to kidnap an IDF soldier.

It seems likely that this is the case. Among the terror groups in Gaza, straight terror attacks against civilians has gone out of fashion due to embarrassment as these attacks go not get any sympathy from the world anymore. Since the beginning of Cast Lead, Hamas has been disingenuously claiming to only target soldiers, and the massacre of the Fogels in Itamar in March was not widely praised even by Palestinian Arabs.

In other words, the operation in Eilat was a failure.

It would have been worth it if they had managed to kidnap a soldier as they planned, because that success would have boosted the PRC stock a great deal. That success would even outweigh the chances that Israel would invade Gaza, because in the end - to them - a prisoner is worth a thousand terrorists in Israeli jails.

It seems likely that Hezbollah would have had a hand in planning and facilitating this operation. After all, although people don't remember this, months before the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers that sparked the 2006 Lebanon war Hassan Nasrallah had promised that "We are working on making this year the year to free our brothers in Israeli detention, Samir Kantar and his friends..." The kidnapping of Eldad regev and Ehud Goldwasser was planned for months specifically to engineer a release of Kntar and others. And Hezbollah planned to do more such kidnappings. This is Hezbollah's way of thinking, and from its perspective, it has worked beautifully.

The reason that the PRC refuses to admit responsibility is because it has nothing to gain by bragging about a failed operation that would end up alienating the PRC from among other Gaza terror groups who know they will pay the price of any Israeli retaliation. But if they had succeeded in kidnapping a soldier, they would be heroes, and Hamas would be the first to praise - and protect - them.

UPDATE: Zvi in the comments makes another good point: The terrorists killed a number of Egyptian soldiers, and that screw-up is worse than failing to kidnap IDF soldiers. If they take credit for the operation then they risk the wrath of the entire nation of Egypt. Read his whole analysis.

Hezbollah releases statement praising terrorist attack

From Al Manar:

Hezbollah “greets the heroic operation carried out by fighters in the Palestinian region of Om Rashrash (Eilat), which resulted in scores of casualties among the Zionist enemy soldiers and settlers.”

In a statement issued Friday, Hezbollah “expressed pride for the hero fighters who accomplished the operation, regardless of the party they belong to,” while considering what they did as the sole means “through which the enemy can understand that this land is ours and it cannot occupy it forever.”

“This operation is in the framework of the resistant actions which achieve the Arab and Islamic will; the will that considers the whole of Palestine – from sea to river – as a sacred land which belongs to its real owners, and none of its parts can be relinquished to the usurped Zionist enemy,” the statement added.

Just in case you were unclear on how some Arabs define "occupation."

It's also interesting that Hezbollah - which has very few Palestinian members - considers all of Israel to be "theirs." Does this mean that Hezbollah subscribes to the idea of Greater Syria?

It's Friday - time for another Syrian massacre

From Al Arabiya:

Syrian forces shot dead at least 14 people when they opened fire to break up anti-regime demonstrations that flared across the country after the weekly prayers, activists told AFP.

Ten people, including two children, were killed in separate shootings on protesters in the southern province of Daraa, while three were killed in the central city of Homs and one in a Damascus suburb, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The shootings come a day after President Bashar Al Assad told the UN chief Ban Ki-moon that his security forces ended operations against civilians.

The number of dead is now at 22.

Lebanese Palestinians don't care about statehood - they want their rights

Now Lebanon interviews Palestinian Arabs about the September UN statehood stunt:

In Lebanon, at least among the Palestinian populations living in Sabra, Shatila and Ain al-Hilweh, the potentially historic moment does not appear to have caused much of a stir.

“We are hopeful,” said Nawad, a nurse at a clinic near the entrance to the Shatila camp on the outskirts of Beirut. “But I don’t hear the issue discussed around the camp.”

Indeed, around a quarter of respondents were unaware of the bid or knew only the scantest of details.

Among those familiar with the plan, their greatest concern was over the effect recognition of the State of Palestine would have on their status as refugees in Lebanon.

“I hope the law will give us the right to work and to buy property in Lebanon like other nationalities,” said Nawad.

“I have business in Syria but have to return to Lebanon every seven days with the pass I have. Will [UN membership] help with the bureaucratic hassle?” asked 34-year-old Sabra resident Saleh.

As I have documented many times, Lebanese Palestinians' main concern is that the state-sanctioned discrimination that is directed at them specifically be ended. This is something that Mahmoud Abbas is fighting against.

These were the only normal Palestinian Arabs that were interviewed. Among the self-appointed "leaders," their concerns were way out of sync with what their people care about:

According to Mounir Maqdah, a Fatah official in Ain al-Hilweh, Abbas’ diplomatic course undermines the Palestinian cause. After criticizing the bid for failing to tackle the issue of Israeli settlements and for not accounting for the territory occupied by Israel, he told NOW Lebanon that Palestinians should remain united and “regain our power by choosing once again the path of resistance. Only a military solution will be considered as a credible one and put fear in the hearts of Israelis.”

Hajj Maher Oueid, head of Ansar Allah, an Islamic faction close to Hezbollah, is more measured in his criticism. He believes the bid lacks in ambition and will probably remain fruitless, as it only calls for the recognition of the Palestinian state along the 1967 borders. “The bid does not tackle the real underlying problem of the right of return of Palestinian refugees, amounting today to some six million around the world,” he told NOW Lebanon. “A fair solution is one that is comprehensive and benefits all Palestinian refugees. This one is not.

Isn't it interesting that the leaders' concerns are centered on destroying Israel while the actual Palestinian Arabs in Lebanon just want to live their lives without being discriminated against?

German far right party implies it wants to gas Jews in campaign posters

From Expatica:

A German far-right party is stirring controversy in Berlin with posters, put up ahead of next month's regional election, which some see as a provocative reminder of the Holocaust.

The poster depicts the leading candidate for the extremist NPD-DVU, Udo Voigt, on his motorbike, wearing a black leather jacket, with the motto "Gas geben" (Step on It) or literally "give gas" in what some see as a reference to gas chambers where millions of Jews perished in Nazi extermination camps.

The signs have been put up around the city including just across from the capital's Jewish Museum and reportedly opposite the lakeside villa where the Nazis signed off on the "final solution" for Europe's Jews in 1942.

The mayor of the district where the Jewish Museum is located, Franz Schulz of the Green party, called the campaign a "provocation". Museum officials declined to comment.

The National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD), which recently merged with the small far-right German People's Union (DVU), was set up in 1964 by former Nazis. In 2009 it had between 6,000 and 7,000 members.

It has never won seats in the country's federal parliament, but has gained representation in several regional parliaments, most recently in the eastern states of Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

Voigt, who is also a district councillor in Berlin, was found guilty in 2004 of promoting Nazism after he called Hitler "a great man".

There have been repeated calls to ban the NPD on the grounds of racism and anti-Semitism.

A Der Spiegel article describes other provocative ads that the party has made, which make it clear that this was deliberate.

(h/t Silke)

Five of the terror victims

From YNet:

Just 50 meters separated between Danny Gez and his brother, Moshe, when the latter was killed by terrorists together with his wife and another couple. Helpless, he was forced to watch his brother being shot dead.

Sisters Flora Gez and Shula Karlinsky and their husbands, Moshe Gez and Dov Karlinsky, were on their way to Eilat for the weekend when they were killed by the cell which terrorized the area on Thursday.

The friends chose to travel to the southern resort city on Highway 12, instead of the on the more popular HaArva Highway.

Several dozens of kilometers north of Eilat, where Highway 12 runs the closest to the Egyptian border, they were ambushed by terrorists. The ensuing hail of bullets left no survivors in the Karlinsky and Gez car.

"I saw the terrorists come up to the driver's side, Dovik's side (i.e: Dov Karlinsky), and shoot him, and afterwards shoot the rest," Danny recounted in an interview with Ynet.

"The murder took place before my eyes and I couldn't do anything. They shot them from zero range and even confirmed their deaths."

Gez also narrowly escaped being shot. He recounted seeing two people dressed in camouflage standing on the road, and ordered the driver of his vehicle to stop, and reverse.

Seeing their victims flee, the terrorists fired at the car, hitting its front as well as its tires. "I called out to the other passengers, 'We're being shot at, lie down'," Gez said. He and the other passengers were saved.

Devastated family and friends told Ynet that the two sisters were close friends and that both were educators held in high esteem by their colleagues, parents and young students.

"They were devoted educators. This is a horrific loss," one of Flora's colleagues told Ynet.

Both couples lived in Kfar Saba, where they will be laid to rest on Sunday.

The four's car was the second to be ambushed on Thursday.

Shortly beforehand, the terrorists ambushed another car: Esther and Joseph Levy were on their way back from Eilat to Holon on Thursday, heading north on the Mitzpe Ramon Highway, when they were caught in the fray.

They were ambushed by a terrorist who rained bullets on their vehicle, causing it to skid to a halt and flip over.

Joseph was killed and Esther suffered a gunshot wound to the chest. Lucky, she was able to stay conscious.

"It's a miracle she survived," her cousin, Raffi Mauda, told Ynet. "She told us that she saw the terrorist and prayed he wouldn’t confirm the kill. She essentially played dead for 90 minutes. She was then able to call us and tell us what happened."

From her hospital bed, Esther relived the horrific moments which followed the attack: "The radio was still on after the car flipped over… I heard the one o'clock news, about the other incidents. I just kept praying that he stops shooting at us. The radio was playing and I could hear the fire exchange between the terrorists and IDF soldiers.

"I didn’t move. I was so scared that he would shoot at us again. There was blood everywhere and I heard my husband wheezing. I could see his shirt, it was blood-soaked."

Joseph Levy was a veteran employee of Elbit Systems. "He was such a good man. The salt of the earth. This is a tremendous loss," Mauda said.

Levy is survived by his wife and three children. His funeral will be held in Holon on Friday afternoon.

(h/t Dan)

Peaceful Abbas supports war against Israel - if all Arabs joined in (updated)

From Ma'an:

Abbas said the Arab League had discussed allowing armed resistance to Israel's occupation if the bid for full membership of the UN failed, and that some countries supported the idea.

But the president said Palestinians did not want armed resistance "unless you all take a decision to launch war."

He added: "I cannot fire one single bullet at Israel because all I have is a policeman with a Kalashnikov and minimum ammunition."

It isn't like Abbas has an ethical problem against killing Israeli civilians - it's just that he is afraid of losing!

After all, what did he do to stop the second intifada? Since Arafat's death, when he took over as leader of Fatah in late 2004, there have been multiple deadly terrorist attacks that Fatah claimed credit for.

This is in line with what Abbas said in 2008 to a Jordanian newspaper:

At this present juncture, I am opposed to the armed struggle because we can't succeed in it, but maybe in the future things will be different.

He also said something similar last year:

"I have said more than once that if the Arabs want war - we are with them....We do not wish to turn to armed struggle, because our [lack of] capabilities and the international atmosphere do not allow for it.
...
"I turned to the Arab States and I said: 'If you want war, and if all of you will fight Israel, we are in favor. But the Palestinians will not fight alone because they don't have the ability to do it.' "

(h/t Mike)

I cannot find any indication that Abbas condemned yesterday's attack near Eilat. He used to mouth meaningless "condemnations" after his people massacred Israelis, but even then his words always betrayed that he didn't have any moral qualms about those attacks. He would say that the attacks "worked against Palestinian interests" or were ill-timed but he would never show any indication that he was truly offended by them.

People like Abbas who mouth words of "peace" as a tactic are far from peaceful.