Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, August 26, 2011

Derfner apologizes - but what does he really think?

Larry Derfner, columnist for the Jerusalem Post, has come under a lot of criticism for the vile article he wrote on his blog recently justifying Palestinian Arab terror and saying it was a "right."

He has now apologized in what is clearly an attempt for him to keep his job:

I have an apology to make for “The awful, necessary truth about Palestinian terror,” which I posted here and on Facebook on Sunday. I didn’t mean to say anything “good” about Palestinian terror against Israelis – I see nothing good in it whatsoever, and I thought I made that clear, but I see now that I didn’t.

I wrote that because of the occupation, Palestinians are “justified” in attacking, even killing Israelis, that they have the “right” to do so. Later on I stressed that I didn’t want them to kill my countrymen, and that I would do anything necessary to stop it. I meant those two points to show that I wasn’t “for” terrorism, that while I thought the occupation justified it, that didn’t mean I supported it. But I see now that the distance from “justified” to “support” is way, way too short – and I am as far away as anybody can be from supporting attacks on Israel and Israelis.

Writing that the killing of Israelis was justified and a matter of right took a vile image and attached words of seeming approval to it. This, I’m afraid, produced an “obscene” effect, as one critic wrote. I don’t want to write obscenity about Israel. I didn’t mean to, and I deeply regret it.

These three paragraphs are emphasizing that he does not approve of terrorism. But he did make that clear in his original disgusting article. The offensive part was that he said very clearly that terrorism was a "right" and it was "justified" - even if he personally disapproves.

Then he backtracks completely:

My intention was to shock people into recognition, but I ended up shocking many of them into revulsion, and twisting what I wanted to say into something I didn’t and don’t mean at all.

What I mean is this: The occupation does not justify Palestinian terror. It does, however, provoke it. Palestinians do not have the right to attack or kill Israelis. They, do, however, have the incentive to, and part, though not all, of that incentive is provided them by the occupation.

This is the exact opposite of what he wrote before:

If those who oppose the occupation acknowledged publicly that it justifies Palestinian terrorism, then those who support the occupation would have to explain why it doesn’t.

Palestinians have the right to resist [the occupation] – to use violence against Israelis, even to kill Israelis....But while I think the Palestinians have the right to use terrorism against us, I don’t want them to use it....Whoever the Palestinians were who killed the eight Israelis near Eilat last week, however vile their ideology was, they were justified to attack.

His attempt to reconcile the two makes it clear that his apology might be sincere in that he didn't mean to upset people so much, but he has not really changed his opinion. He's just suppressing it.

And one day in a couple of years he'll write an article complaining about how the horrible Israeli system forces people to self-censor their true feelings.

One can be sure that his compatriots in the anti-Zionist Left will not look at this apology critically at all. In fact, they are breathing a sigh of relief at being off the hook from having to publicly say whether they agreed with his original article or not.

(I'm not even going to bother to expand on the racist assumption that Palestinian Arabs have no free will to decide whether to attack Jewish civilians or not, that somehow Israeli actions "force" them to murder. Well, a small percentage of them. For some unexplained reason 100% of PalArabs aren't attacking Jews every day, as racists like Derfner expect them to.)

(h/t Noah Pollak)

"Egyptians plan to destroy all Gaza tunnels"

From Palestine Press Agency:

Egyptian sources in El Arish report that in the coming days we will witness a huge Egyptian military campaign for the destruction of all smuggling tunnels in the border area with Gaza.

Major-General Mohamed Farid Khamis, Hejazi, commander of the Second Field Army, said during a meeting with sheikhs and tribal leaders in northern Sinai that the Egyptian armed forces have taken an irreversible decision to destroy all tunnels.

The move aims to prevent the infiltration of extremist groups through the tunnels to Sinai to carry out terrorist operations.

Egypt has been very concerned over Gaza groups' influence on fomenting terror in the Sinai. I have my doubts over what percentage of tunnels they will actually find and shut down, but even destroying 50% would have an impact.

The amount of goods and people that can cross through the official Rafah crossing is still quite small. Inevitably, this will affect the amount of goods available in Gaza, especially construction materials.

How will the Egyptian government spin this action in a way that doesn't make them look like Zionist stooges?

Will they demonize the Gaza terror groups and describe them as enemies of Egypt? Will Hamas react angrily and start insulting the "new" Egypt? Which side will Egyptian media support?

Things might get very interesting.

Israeli ambassador to US holds Ramadan Iftar meal

From CNN:

The Israeli ambassador to the United States is hosting a dinner celebrating the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Thursday, marking the first time an ambassador from the Jewish state has hosted such a dinner in the United States, the embassy said.

Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren is hosting the dinner at his residence, with about 60 guests expected, including imams, rabbis and officials from the White House, Congress and the State Department, according to Israeli Embassy spokesman Lior Weintraub.

Oren told CNN that the unusual dinner is fitting at a time when the future of the Middle East is uncertain, as the Arab Spring has unseated regimes in Tunisia and Egypt and as Libya appears poised on the brink of a revolution.

“We’re in the middle of a huge transition in the Middle East and we see risks, but we also see opportunities there,” he said. “We want to be able to tell people in the Middle East what those opportunities are.”

“There’s a lot of misinformation about Israel and we want to show we’re open to dialogue and reconciliation,” he said. “We can begin to build bridges on an interpersonal level.”

Thursday’s Ramadan dinner, called an Iftar, will feature a call to prayer, during which the dining room at the ambassador’s residence will be turned into a Muslim prayer space, the embassy said.

All food served at the meal will be halal, meaning it has been prepared according to certain Muslim customs. The meal was prepared under the direction of a Muslim chef, the embassy said.

Oren said he hopes the meal at the Israeli ambassador’s residence becomes an annual tradition.

“Israel has a very large and vibrant Muslim population, with Muslim members of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) and in science and academics and I’m their ambassador as well,” Oren said. “This is very much a state function for us, not just about reaching out.”

This is a great idea, and it should have happened long ago.

(I hope that the food is kosher as well!)

More from HuffPo:

The evening's 65 guests include prominent Muslims and Jews, such as Akbar Ahmed, chair of Islamic Studies at American University; Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and the founding rabbi of the Hampton Synagogue in Westhampton Beach, N.Y., and the New York Synagogue in Manhattan; and Abdullah Antepli, the Muslim chaplain at Duke University. A representative from the ambassador's office said it would release a full list of attendees after the dinner.

"My job is to reach out to different communities, including communities that have been connected with Israel and those who have not," Oren said in an interview Thursday. "Israel is a country with a large and respected Muslim minority. I just got back from Jerusalem two days ago and it's all decorated for Ramadan. They're an important part of our society."

The ambassdor, who has a Ph.D. in near eastern studies from Princeton University, also said he has a "personal interest" in Islam and the religion's traditions.

"I have a large background in Islamic philosophy and theology. I spent an entire year reading the Quran in Arabic," he said, adding that there is "a lot of disinformation" about the religion in the United States and Europe today, such as "when people talk about Shariah," or Islamic law, or about women who wear veils.

"Israel doesn't have mineret bans, doesn't have veil bans, doesn't have burka bans. We have Muslim members of the Knesset. They are an integral part of our society," Oren said.

Egyptian media: Israel ambassador fled home in fear of riots

Egypt's El Fagr newspaper reports that Israel's ambassador to Egypt, Yitzchak Levanon, has gone into hiding in fear of tomorrows demonstrations that might have been planned outside his home.

What the paper didn't mention was that there was a fatwa issued to kill every Israeli in Egypt, which might contribute to his fear if this is true.

Within the past week there has been a violent demonstration outside the Israel embassy, and the Muslim Brotherhood has demanded that Ambassador Levanon be expelled from Egypt.

Blogoversary open thread

I completely missed my seventh blogoversary on August 15th.

Some stats:

1.4 million page loads in the past year (1.1 million in 2011 already)
1 million unique visits in the past year
Nearly 3000 posts in the past year (!); approaching 12,000 total posts
Alexa rank at about 125,000 - about 50,000 higher than last year
Technorati ranking #7 in World Politics, #56 in Politics for all blogs worldwide

Most popular post: EoZ Posters for Apartheid Week, 17,000 hits

I have never been good at marketing myself, so the following numbers are all pretty much from word of mouth:

1866 RSS subscribers
478 e-mail subscribers
9721 Tweets
1445 Twitter followers
95th percentile in Twitter influence

In the past year I started putting in ads. Every time you see a post you like, consider clicking on the any ads you are interested in! It's like micropayments where you don't have to pay, and some ad clicks are worth up to a dollar.

So here's an open blogoversary thread!

Pure terrorism

Sometimes, one will see reports in the Israeli and Western media that large numbers of Palestinian Arabs are suffering from psychological issues due to Israeli actions. The point of these articles is to gain sympathy for innocents caught up in a war situation.

But when similar articles are published in the Arabic media, the intent is quite different.

Saraya.ps, the website of Islamic Jihad, has an article today quoting a magazine saying that hundreds of "Zionists" within rocket range are seeking psychological help due to the Grads and Qassams, including many parents seeking to help their children. The tone of the article is anything but concerned - it is celebratory.

This is not the first time that Arabic media publishes such information. The terrorists and their supporters crave the idea that their actions cause fear. They love to publish pictures of Israeli funerals, damage to Israeli vehicles and buildings, and Israelis running to rocket shelters.

The terrorists and their supporters are interested in terrorizing Israelis - the purest form of terror. Killing civilians something to be celebrated as well, of course, but what makes them feel powerful and relevant is that they have the ability to cause fear in hundreds of thousands of people.

That is the definition of terrorism.

Finally, a course to teach how to fight black magic!

From Minivan News (Maldives):

The Islamic Foundation of the Maldives (IFM) has said that it will commence a certificate level course on incantations, teaching the participants “spiritual healing” and how to cure diseases using “incantation”.

“Incantations consist of words said or written in the form of dud or Dhikr for the purpose of protection or cure. It is sometimes accompanied by other actions, such as blowing or wiping over the thing to which it is applied,’’ the Foundation explained on its website.

President of the Islamic Foundation, Ibrahim Fauzee, told Minivan News that the main reason why the organisation had decided to conduct courses on spiritual healing was that many people in the islands had become victims of black magic performed by their enemies.

“Sometimes people have lost their lives [to black magic], and sometimes people perform the black arts to ruin the life or family of others. Many do not know how to cure this,’’ Fauzee said.

“Many people have requested that we teach them this, so we decided to open a course for the public and we are receiving huge support for it.’’

The one month course, beginning September 15, costs Rf 350 (US$23). Fauzee said seats for the class had been limited to 30 students, and it had already sold out.

During the course, students will learn incantations, ayahs, “extracted from the Quran which were taught by the Prophet (PBUH) during the old days, which people have always delivered to the next generation.”

Practitioners of black arts, he explained, spoke with djinns and used them to harm others.

“The Prophet’s (PBUH) Sunnah as well as the Quran reveals many things about the existence of djinns,” Fauzee said.

“Djinns often cause trouble and disturbances to humans, so we know that they are there. The Quran and the Prophet (PBUH) has taught us ways to cure [these disturbances],’’ he said.

Fauzee said the course would teach participants basic cures, and would involve both theoretical and practical work.

The Islamic Foundation explained that the practical component would involve the students accompanying tutors to treat people victimised by djinns, during which they would be taught how to use incantations.

This shows how more enlightened the Maldives is compared to Saudi Arabia. In the Kingdom, only professionals from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice can counter the wizards, witches and warlocks. Those skills need to be democratized!

Full destruction of Israel is "the only red line"

A cartoon in the official PA daily newspaper Al Hayat al Jadida:

As PMW writes:

The Palestinian Authority is telling its people that peace with Israel is not a goal. Instead, the PA says that all of Israel is "Palestine," and that no compromise is acceptable because this principle is "the only red line." This message was expressed by the regular cartoonist, Muhammad Sabaaneh, in the official PA daily.

Nothing gets printed in Al Hayat al Jadida if it is not approved by the PLO and its subsidiary the Palestinian Authority. And the PLO logo has a very similar map:

Which gives an indication of what they mean when they say they want "peace."

Iran again calls to destroy Israel

And the world yawns:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran was determined to eradicate Israel, ISNA news agency reported Thursday.

'Iran believes that whoever is for humanity should also be for eradicating the Zionist regime [Israel] as symbol of suppression and discrimination,' Ahmadinejad said in an interview with a Lebanese television network, carried by ISNA.

'Iran follows this issue [the eradication of Israel] with determination and decisiveness and will never ever withdraw from this standpoint and policy,' the Iranian president added in the interview with the Al-Manar network.

The remarks by Ahmadinejad came one day before the annual anti-Israeli rallies named Qods (Jerusalem) Day, which are held nationwide in Iran on the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Ahmadinejad on Monday said that Iranians and Muslim nations worldwide should hold Qods rallies and show their willingness to dispose of this 'infectious tumour and this regime full of rascality.'

Along similar lines:

The Commander of the Iranian "Basij" Resistance Force Mohammad Reza Naghdi expressed hope that the Olympic Games 2020 will take place in liberated Palestine, İRNA state news agency reports.

"We hope that the celebration of the liberation of Palestine will coincide with a grand event such as the Olympic Games in this country," said Naghdi.

Also, the foreign ministry said that the US is the biggest sponsor of terror in the world.

More purposeful dishonesty from the anti-Zionist Left

Twitter can be a waste of time, but it can also expose the incredible dishonesty of the anti-Israel Left as they are not as careful with their tweets as they might be with their written and edited pieces.

One example comes from +972 writer (and United Arab Emirates National newspaper contributor) Joseph Dana, who tweeted about a new Wikileaks memo:

SUBJECT: RIGHT-WING LIEBERMAN UNABASHEDLY ADVOCATES TRANSFER OF ISRAELI ARABS

The 2006 memo he links to says this:

Right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman told the Ambassador January 31 that separation of Israeli Jews from Israeli Arabs is necessary in order to promote Israeli security and maintain Israel's Jewish identity. To accomplish this, Lieberman proposes that Israel redraw its border with the West Bank through negotiations to place some Israeli-Arab population centers that are close to the Green Line within Palestinian territory, and to include some Israeli settlement blocs within Israel.

...In response to the Ambassador's query, Lieberman said that the actual border would be the result of negotiations with Egypt, Jordan, and the PA. He said that the plan would also require the endorsement of the U.S. and at least one other member of the Quartet. His proposal would "not be a unilateral move," but one negotiated with "several partners." He added that Egypt should also be a part of the solution by providing some of its territory to Gaza, which Lieberman described as too densely populated.

The word "transfer" evokes a unilateral uprooting of Arabs from their homes and expelling them to another country. Lieberman was saying to negotiate with the PA and others to draw the borders between Israel and a Palestinian Arab state so that some of the Arabs who already identify as "Palestinian" can become citizens. That is quite different, and Dana knows it.

In fact, The Guardian made the same accusation about Tzipi Livni by purposefully misreading The Palestine Papers earlier this year, when she floated the idea of taking towns now divided by the Line and choosing to put them entirely in one state or the other.

The dishonesty was pointed out to Dana and, rather than correcting himself, he ignored it. Which is par for the course as well. (He later tweeted that he was quoting the State Department title for the report.)

A similar case comes from The Electronic Intifada's founder Ali Abuminah, a well respected figure among the Israeli far left, who wrote that Israel killed a 13-year old boy in Gaza. The link he used was to a PCHR report. Yet if one reads that report, there is no mention of any 13-year old boy. And no wonder - he was killed by a Grad rocket. This is a pure lie, and Abuminah is secure in the knowledge that his fans will not bother to read the report he links to which exposes him as a liar. (The same report shows that the other two civilians he mentions were being used as human shields.)

This was pointed out to him, and he also ignored the correction and refused to edit the piece.

Dana and Abuminah style themselves as journalists, but they show no desire to adhere to even the most basic journalistic standards. To them, the overriding imperative of demonizing Israel is much more important than mere formalities like telling the truth.