Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Moroccan girl commits suicide after being forced to marry her rapist

Morocco’s internet activists mobilized on Wednesday in outrage over the suicide of a 16-year-old rape victim who killed herself after she was forced to marry her rapist.

An online petition, a facebook page and countless tweets expressed horror of the case of Amina Filali, who swallowed rat poison on Saturday to protest her five months of marriage to the man who raped her a year earlier.

Article 475 of the Moroccan penal code allows for the “kidnapper” of a minor to marry his victim to escape prosecution, and it has been used to justify a traditional practice of making a rapist marry his victim to preserve the family’s honor.

“Amina, 16, was triply violated, by her rapist, by tradition and by article 475 of the Moroccan law,” tweeted activist Abadila Maaelaynine.

The victim’s father said in an interview with an online Moroccan newspaper that the court pushed the marriage on her.

“The prosecutor advised my daughter to marry, he said ‘go and make the marriage contract,’” said Lahcen Filali in an interview that appeared on goud.ma Tuesday night.

In many societies, the loss of a woman’s virginity outside of wedlock is a huge stain of honor on the family. In many Middle East societies, there is a tradition whereby a rapist can escape prosecution if he marries his victim, thereby restoring her honor. There is a similar injunction in the Old Testament’s Book of Deuteronomy.

I hope no one thinks that the Washington Post is an authority on Deuteronomy. Jewish law is explicit: the woman may never be forced to marry against her will.

Guess who is encouraging foreign investment in the Pal territories?

Israel's Defense Ministry is.

The Defense Ministry's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories just instituted new procedures meant to streamline the process for foreign investors to be able to visit and evaluate investment opportunities in the Palestinian Arab territories.

The document is entitled "Encouraging Foreign Investment in the Palestinian Territories" and its stated purpose is "Presenting a process for dealing with foreign investors, with the goal of encouraging the development of the Palestinian economy."

At the same time that the PA and its official media are doing everything they can to demonize Israel, and even as they refuse to even speak with Israel to bring a lasting peace to the region, Israel continues to work towards cooperation and peace. At the same time that Palestinian Arabs are trying to cripple Israel's economy by boycotts and sanctions, Israel is trying to help the Palestinian Arab economy by encouraging foreign investment.

It is just one more proof that there is only one side that is truly interested in peace and co-existence.

Azerbaijan detains 22 suspected Iranian spies aiming at Jewish, Israeli, US targets

From Journal of Turkish Weekly:

Azerbaijan’s National Security Ministry has detained 22 people accused of spying for Iran and other crimes, the ministry said on Wednesday.

They had been secretly cooperating with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), “collecting and passing information that could harm Azerbaijan’s security,” and recruiting people for Iranian intelligence services.

They were charged with high treason and illegal acquisition and storage of firearms and ammunition.

The ministry did not say when they were detained.
Azerbaijan announced on February 22 it had uncovered a terrorist group with links to Iran’s IRGC and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. The group, led by an IRGC officer called Hamid and Hezbollah operative Hadji Abbas, was planning to stage attacks against the Israeli embassy and a Jewish cultural center in the Azeri capital Baku.

AFP adds the US embassy to the list of targets.

(h/t Philtheman)

How many missiles did Israel shoot? I'll tell you!

Ali Abuminah of Electronic Intifada asks what he thinks is a damning question:

Whenever you hear Israel’s tired hasbara refrain about rockets, rockets, rockets, remember to ask the question Yousef Munayyer recently asked: Why don’t Israel’s spokespeople ever tell us how many rockets, missiles and bullets Israel has fired on Gaza?

Of course the answer is because it is by orders of magnitude greater in both number and explosive power than anything Palestinian armed groups have or ever could muster against Israel.

Well, luckily for Abuninah, we can know how many missiles Israel shot into Gaza over the past few days - because PCHR counts every report of a missile, even those that cause no injuries or damage, and even some that never happened.

So using the numbers provided by a biased, lying anti-Israel organization that cannot even call the IDF by its name, we can count:

11 missiles fired on Friday and Saturday,
10 missiles fired on Sunday, and
8 missiles fired on Monday.

That's a whopping maximum of 29 missiles the PCHR claims (including at least one that was fictional) that Israel's dreaded war machine shot at Gaza over four days.

Not exactly carpet bombing, is it?

In comparison, Gaza terror groups shot about 250-300 rockets at Israel in the same time period. Meaning they shot ten times as many projectiles at Israeli towns as Israel shot at specific terrorist targets.

And most of the rockets fired by the Gaza terrorists were not the small "homemade" Qassams, but professional 122 mm Grad rockets, probably of Chinese or Russian manufacture, often with a payload of about 20 kg of explosives. They are not firecrackers.

Needless to say, when Israel shoots a missile, it generally hits the exact target intended. When Islamic Jihad fired a rocket, it aims at the general direction of where ever it thinks it can kill the most civilians. For moral midgets like Abuminah to pretend that somehow Israel's actions are worse than those of terror groups in Gaza is simply an attempt to justify terrorism.

Yes, Israel has far more firepower, but in no possible universe can you say that Israeli fire was disproportionate to the rockets that came out of Gaza.

You're welcome, Ali.

AFP ignores its own report; blames Israel for two child deaths from fictional airstrike (UPDATE)

From AFP:

A Gazan child died on Wednesday from wounds sustained in four days of Israeli-Palestinian violence, but a truce deal appeared to be holding, despite more rocket fire and two Israeli raids.

Gaza emergency services spokesperson Adham Abu Selmiya said Baraka al-Mughrabi, aged 7, died from severe injuries sustained during an Israeli bombing raid on Gaza City on Saturday.

The boy's death, which raised to 26 the number of Palestinians killed in four days of bloodshed, came 24 hours after Israel and militant groups in Gaza agreed to observe a ceasefire deal in a bid to end the confrontation, which saw more than 200 rockets fired at Israel.

Yet Mughrabi was injured not on Saturday, but in the same Monday morning incident that killed teenager Nayif Qarmout.

Which an AFP reporter (and photographic evidence) confirmed was not an Israeli airstrike.

AFP described the incident where Qarmout and now Mughrabi were killed as a kind of "work accident" where an explosive device carried by 15-year old Qarmout went off. The IDF denied any strike in the area and AFP confirmed that.

It is no surprise that "Gaza medical officials" will lie and blame Israel for the deaths, but AFP reporters should presumably know what they themselves reported.

The number of victims from the airstrikes is 24, not 26, of whom 20 were terrorists (and at least one, a farmer, was effectively a human shield as Islamic Jihad terrorists were injured in the same strike.)

Sloppiness or bias?

UPDATE: Ma'an was wrong; Mughrabi was not one of the kids with Qarmout. He was killed by a terrorist bullet. From AP:

A Palestinian boy accidentally struck by a bullet when militants fired in the air during a funeral died of his injuries Wednesday, family members and witnesses said.

Palestinian health official Adham Abu Salmia initially said that 8-year-old Barka al-Mugrahbi died of wounds sustained in an Israeli airstrike on Monday.

However, Israel's military said it did not carry out a strike in the area at the time.

The boy's relatives and witnesses later said the boy was marching in the funeral procession for a Gaza militant Monday when he was struck in the head by an errant bullet.

At the time, gunmen were firing in the air, they said.

But did AP go back to Adham Abu Salmia and ask him why he lied? Will AP and other wire services keep quoting him even though they know he is a liar?

Delhi police confirm Iran behind embassy attack

From Economic Times of India:

The Delhi Police has cracked the Israeli embassy car blast case and traced the conspiracy to Iranian secret agents. According to sources privy to the investigation, it has now been 'conclusively established' that Syed Mohammad Kazmi, the freelance journalist recently arrested in the case, was in touch with an Iranian intelligence officer and had even visited Iran as part of the conspiracy.

Sources in the security establishment told ET that the breakthrough in the February 13 blast on an Israel diplomat's car, will be announced by the Delhi Police in a "day or two." They added that another couple of detentions have been made in the case.

The questioning of these two persons is underway and their arrests will follow soon. A senior official of the security establishment claimed that the Delhi Police had identified the bomber.

Even before the details of the investigation are placed in the public domain, India made it a point to share them with Israel. On Monday, home minister P Chidambaram is said to have briefed the visiting Israeli national security adviser Yaakov Amidror on the alleged breakthrough in the case.

Putting its weight behind the Delhi Police, the MHA on Monday said it completely backs their line of investigation. "Wait for the announcement from the Delhi Police, which will unravel the entire conspiracy and the role of each individual and agency in the attack," a senior home ministry official told ET.

The outcome of the blast probe confirms Israel's assessment soon after the blast. Israel had claimed that the blast was carried out by Iran or its protege Hezbollah, given Israel's stiff opposition to its nuclear ambitions.

Kazmi has been charged with helping the bomber conduct reconnaissance of the Israeli embassy several times and keeping tab on the movement of Israeli diplomats. He allegedly helped terrorist who planted the magnet bomb on the diplomat's car.

Kazmi, a freelance journalist, is said to be running a feature news agency, Media Star, besides being a part-time worker with an Iranian broadcaster and also a columnist with Persian newspapers in Iran.

It is worth mentioning that an article in Al Jazeera by an "investigative journalist" that claimed this was an Israeli "false flag" operation was given credence by anti-Israel journalists.

Which proves yet again that for most Israel haters, there is no journalistic integrity - skepticism simply does not exist for the most moronic claims.

(h/t Yoel)

Rabid Israel-haters say Gilad Atzmon is too Zionist for them

A group of people whose single-minded aim is to take away the Jewish right of self-determination has decided that Gilad Atzmon's nutty anti-semitic rantings is too crazy - even for them.

From the "US Palestinian Community Network," quoted in Electronic Intifada:

For many years now, Gilad Atzmon, a musician born in Israel and currently living in the United Kingdom, has taken on the self-appointed task of defining for the Palestinian movement the nature of our struggle, and the philosophy underpinning it. He has done so through his various blogs and Internet outlets, in speeches, and in articles. He is currently on tour in the United States promoting his most recent book, entitled, The Wandering Who.

With this letter, we call for the disavowal of Atzmon by fellow Palestinian organizers, as well as Palestine solidarity activists, and allies of the Palestinian people, and note the dangers of supporting Atzmon’s political work and writings and providing any platforms for their dissemination. We do so as Palestinian organizers and activists, working across continents, campaigns, and ideological positions.

Atzmon’s politics rest on one main overriding assertion that serves as springboard for vicious attacks on anyone who disagrees with his obsession with “Jewishness”. He claims that all Jewish politics is “tribal,” and essentially, Zionist. Zionism, to Atzmon, is not a settler-colonial project, but a trans-historical “Jewish” one, part and parcel of defining one’s self as a Jew. Therefore, he claims, one cannot self-describe as a Jew and also do work in solidarity with Palestine, because to identify as a Jew is to be a Zionist. We could not disagree more. Indeed, we believe Atzmon’s argument is itself Zionist because it agrees with the ideology of Zionism and Israel that the only way to be a Jew is to be a Zionist.

Palestinians have faced two centuries of orientalist, colonialist and imperialist domination of our native lands. And so as Palestinians, we see such language as immoral and completely outside the core foundations of humanism, equality and justice, on which the struggle for Palestine and its national movement rests. As countless Palestinian activists and organizers, their parties, associations and campaigns, have attested throughout the last century, our struggle was never, and will never be, with Jews, or Judaism, no matter how much Zionism insists that our enemies are the Jews. Rather, our struggle is with Zionism, a modern European settler colonial movement, similar to movements in many other parts of the world that aim to displace indigenous people and build new European societies on their lands.

...Indeed, we regard any attempt to link and adopt antisemitic or racist language, even if it is within a self-described anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist politics, as reaffirming and legitimizing Zionism.

...As Palestinians, it is our collective responsibility, whether we are in Palestine or in exile, to assert our guidance of our grassroots liberation struggle. We must protect the integrity of our movement, and to do so we must continue to remain vigilant that those for whom we provide platforms actually speak to its principles.

When the Palestinian people call for self-determination and decolonization of our homeland, we do so in the promise and hope of a community founded on justice, where all are free, all are equal and all are welcome.

Until liberation and return.

I don't know if it is worth fisking the absolute stupidity and purposeful lies seen here - for example, the ridiculous idea that Zionism is colonialism, or the myth that Palestinian Arab nationalism would accept Jews as equals, or even the sheer hypocrisy of stating that "Palestinians," who have enjoyed peoplehood for a few decades at most, have a greater claim for self-determination than the 3000 year old Jewish nation (which these signatories deny even exists.)

The people who signed this are attempting to put on a "moderate" facade on their sheer hate by distancing themselves from a Holocaust denier and anti-semite, but their excuses are hardly more moral than Atzmon's sickening rhetoric. It is equally anti-semitic to deny Jewish peoplehood and Jewish self-determination.

And who signed it? A score of Arab academics and thinkers, whose signatures to this letter show that there is no relationship between being an intellectual and being a moral human being. They include Ali Abunimah, Joseph Massad, Omar Barghouti and a host of prominent Palestinian Arab professors and activists who cloak their hate in big words and lofty-sounding concepts - that only apply to their own people.

ISIS identifies likely secret Iranian nuclear site

From ISIS Online:

ISIS has identified in commercial satellite imagery a building on the Parchin site in Iran that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) wants to visit because it contains, or used to contain, a high-explosive test chamber (see figure 1). The building is located on a relatively small and isolated compound within the Parchin military site and has its own perimeter security wall or fencing. A berm can be seen between this building and a neighboring one, which is consistent with a description of the compound in the November 8, 2011 IAEA Safeguards Report. The compound is located more than four kilometers away from high-explosive related facilities also at the Parchin site which the IAEA visited in 2005 (see figure 2). 1

The IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano recently noted that the IAEA has “information that that some activity is ongoing” at the Parchin site.2 When asked if he was concerned that Iran was cleansing the site, Amano said that the “possibility is not excluded…” and that “we have to go there.” If Iran is engaging in clean up work to hide evidence at the Parchin site then it could be occurring inside this building as well. Thus, the IAEA deserves international support to visit this site without delay to inspect the inside of this building and other locations in Parchin as well.

In the November 8, 2011 Safeguards Report , the IAEA described evidence, including satellite imagery, indicating that Iran built the large explosive test chamber at the Parchin site and used it to conduct hydrodynamic experiments in the early 2000s, possibly related to the development of nuclear weapons. The IAEA has evidence that test chamber was placed at Parchin in 2000 and that a building was subsequently constructed around it.

The Associated Press has reported that satellite imagery in early November 2011 and satellite imagery from more recently shows increased activity at the Parchin site.4 It is not clear if this reported activity is occurring specifically at this compound, or at other areas at the Parchin site.

Hat tip to Challah Hu Akbar, who keeps getting better and better. He found this location on Google Maps so you can pan and zoom. It is a pretty remote area.

View Larger Map

See also CNN and Atlantic Wire.

Don't look at Juan Cole, though, because he's convinced that secret nuclear activity in military zones in Iran are completely innocuous. Iran's Supreme Leader said so himself - at least this decade.

Zahar: Hamas will accept fuel through Israel via UNRWA

From Hamas' Palestine Times newspaper:

Leader of the Political Bureau of Hamas Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar denied the report published by some Arab and Zionist media of a deal between Hamas and Egypt to accept the truce contingent on the introduction of fuel into the Gaza Strip, and said: "This is not true at all and has no basis in truth" .

Al-Zahar confirmed that there is nothing new on the subject of electricity, and expressed the approval of Hamas on the introduction of fuel for the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing by "UNRWA" for the power plant in the Gaza Strip.

So it looks like Hamas is going to allow fuel to reach Gaza via Israel after all, and is using UNRWA to make sure it does not receive the fuel directly, in a bizarre way to save face after depriving Gazans of fuel and power for well over a month now because of their refusal to do exactly that.

No confirmation yet from COGAT or UNRWA.

It is possible that by using this mechanism of going through UNRWA, Hamas will avoid giving taxes to the PA and will be able to tax it themselves. It will be interesting to find out how much Egypt (the presumed supplier) will be charging for the fuel.

Does this mean that UNRWA is going to be complicit in Hamas collecting taxes on fuel, and therefore in strengthening Hamas?

Crazy rumor that Netanyahu said he would destroy Lebanon

A bizarre rumor has been floating around. Here is the most embellished version I could find, from a Malaysian blog, but parts of it are all over the web:

At a news conference in Switzerland, on the occasion of the building an Israeli railway there, the German newspaper Die Zeit interviewed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:

“Congratulations Mr. Netanyahu, my first question is that does the beginning of the large train line’s construction confirm the announcement of the dissident Syrian Intelligence Office that you will strike Lebanon?”

In reply, Netanyahu stated:

“Yes, and it is not a secret that it will happen with U.S-Gulf support and that is why they have been warned, but before you ask, you have a look at the new map of the world and see that there is no nation with this name.” Given that the UN Security Council has listed 388 Israeli airspace violations by Israel against Lebanon, there is no doubt what Israel is planning regarding Lebanon.

President Michel Suleiman condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent statements on Lebanon, saying that its existence will not be affected by his remarks.

"Lebanon is the only country to have defeated Israel militarily and the Jewish state is still recovering from it.” Indeed, the only thing that stopped Israel in 2006 from wiping Lebanon off the map was the defense against them provided by Hezbollah, who sent them crying with their tails between their legs.

...
Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon are on high alert in anticipation of an Israeli attack on Lebanon, the London-based A-Sharq al-Awsat daily reported recently. According to the report, Hezbollah has been monitoring with caution the reinforcement of IDF troops along the Lebanon border.

It is also interesting to note that the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, admitted that the Israeli train line is funded by Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia. Asked if he was not afraid of his people, he affirmed the close friendly relations between the two countries. Qatar, the one that has had a vested interest in formenting terrorism and and ‘regime change” in Libya, Syria and elsewhere.

As Victor Ivrii writes:

This quotation has been broadcasted all over anti-Israel websites and blogs despite being obviously bogus. Those who invented it were smoking pretty mighty stuff or had a great albeit pervert sense of humour. They only failed to mention that Netanyahu made this announcement on the board of the Israeli submarine—aircraft carrier on the Geneva lake

Israel possesses an expertise in many areas but railway building is not among them and many foreign companies are building railways and light rails in Israel. On the contrary, Swiss are experts here. And even if Israel was building a railway in Switzerland how could this construction be used to strike Lebanon?

Ivrii speculates that the quote originated in this Pravda article, but in fact it was created out of whole cloth a week earlier.

From a website called The Islam Times, February 22:

Qatar (Islam Times) – The Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani confirmed that Israel is a friendly country and considered that using Qatar for the military operation in Libya is a Qatari mandate.

At a news conference in Switzerland, on the occasion of building the first and largest Israeli railway, the German newspaper “Die Zeit” asked the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Congratulations Mr. Netanyahu, my first question is that does the beginning of the large train line’s construction confirm the announcement of the dissident Syrian Intelligent Office that you will strike Lebanon?

Netanyahu replied: Yes, and it is not a secret that it will happen with U.S.-Gulf support and that is why they have been warned, but before you ask you have look at the new map of the world and see that there is no nation with this name.

The German journalist directed a question at the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani and said: The Israeli train line is funded by Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia, are you not afraid of your people.

The Emir of Qatar answered: Israel is a friendly country and there is no fear of our people.

When this completely bogus quote was reported to Lebanon's president, he indeed responded as if it was true. From Naharnet, February 23:

President Michel Suleiman condemned on Thursday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent statements on Lebanon, saying that its existence will not be affected by his remarks.

He added in a statement: “Lebanon is the only country to have defeated Israel militarily and the Jewish state is still recovering from it.”

Netanyahu had said on Wednesday that an Israeli strike against Lebanon would be supported by the United States and countries of the Arab Gulf.

In addition, he remarked that there is no such thing as Lebanon on the world map.

He made his statements at a press conference during a trip to Switzerland.

This is just one way how a stupid, easily provable lie can get repeated across the world, and even be believed by Arab leaders and ostensibly respected newspapers without the slightest bit of skepticism.

But if you disagree and believe this idiotic nonsense, all you need to do is find me the article in Die Zeit.

(h/t Samson2)

Arab Insult News

From Al Arabiya:

The Arab League chief, Nabil al-Araby, has said comments made by a Muslim Brotherhood spokesperson in Egypt against the United Arab Emirates were “hostile,” in a statement issued by his office on Monday.

The Brotherhood spokesman, Mahmoud Ghozlan, had threatened action against the UAE if the Gulf country would attempt to capture and prosecute prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.

The Sheikh had sparked a heated row between the UAE and his Brotherhood supporters when he criticized the Gulf state for reportedly revoking the visas of Syrians who protested against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad outside of the Syrian consulate in Dubai.

Qaradawi’s comments provoked a heated response from the Dubai police chief, Dhahi Khalfan, who threatened to arrest the Sheikh.

“We are going to issue an arrest warrant against Sheikh Qaradawi” Khalfan wrote on his Twitter account earlier this week.

“If he insults the UAE will we leave him? ...Whoever insults the state or the government of the UAE, I will pursue him,” the police chief added.

In response to the Muslim Brotherhood’s retaliated threat of action against the UAE, Egyptian media cited Araby as saying on Monday: “I call on all political forces to resort to wisdom and prudence and to avoid hostile attitudes and irresponsible statements that can be detrimental to relations between Arab countries, and that cause dissension and division.”

The Arab League chief added: “We are about to prepare for the coming Arab summit in Baghdad, which we hope would restore the spirit of Arab solidarity and unify Arab positions on the challenges and major variables facing the region.”

And, yes, insulting the government can land you in jail, even in "moderate" Arab states:

Jordanian military prosecutors have charged six activists with insulting King Abdullah II during a demonstration in the southern city of Tafileh last week, a judicial official said on Tuesday.

"Twenty-one have been arrested following the demonstration. State security court prosecutors have charged all of them with rioting and six of insulting the king," the official told AFP.

If convicted, the six suspects face three years in prison each.

You see, that's why we need the Arab Spring. Instead of getting thrown in jail for three years for insulting the king, you can face the death penalty for insulting Mohammed. It's so much less barbaric.

Speaking of, it looks like the Saudi who tweeted messages meant to treat Mohammed like a human being - and who was charged with apostasy as a result - may get a light sentence, due to pressure from human rights activists and an abject, groveling apology he made in court:

An apostate Saudi journalist who is believed to be facing execution for insulting Prophet Mohammed PBUH (Peace Be Upon Him) has repented at court and this means reduced sentence.

According to the Arabic language daily Sharq, Hamza Kashgari declared his repentance before the judge at the court in Riyadh.

“Kashgari declared his repentance and expressed regret for offending the Prophet (PBUH)….this means he will face a light sentence,” the paper said, citing Kashgari relatives.

The 23-year-old man, who works for Albilad Arabic language daily, fled to Malaysia last month after King Abdullah ordered his arrest on charges of apostasy in an article he wrote on Twitter. A few days later, he was deported to the Kingdom and arrested on arrival.

Speculation mounted after his arrest that Kashgari could be executed following statements by a senior Saudi Muslim cleric that the writer would be sentenced to death for apostasy.

Sheikh Saleh bin Fowzan Al Fowzan, a member of the 7-man supreme committee of scholars in Saudi Arabia, said it has been established in Islam that any one who insults God or the Prophet should be killed.

“Repenting will not work…any man who insults God or our Prophet (PBUH) should be killed,” he said. “But we should first verify that this man (Kashgari) did insult Prophet Mohammed in his article on Twitter…if verified, then he must be killed……many scholars and people are now demanding his execution.”

In an official statement, Kashghari announced that he had repented and asked for forgiveness. "I admit that my ideas and words were deviant. Some doubts had affected my thinking and drove me away from the correct path," he said.

He said he had completely abandoned all his wrong ideas and the tweets he wrote, saying he was depressed at the time.

Kashghari thanked family, relatives, friends and scholars who supported him and tried to guide him to the correct religious path.

Just so you know the rule: make sure you never, ever insult Islam, orArab leaders, or any sheikhs, or Mohammed, or any other prophets, or the Quran, or Allah. Judaism and Christianity and "non-divine religions" and Western leaders are fair game, though.

Those ancient "Palestinian shekels"

From PMW:

A Judean Shekel coin from the year 66 CE, the first year of the Jewish rebellion against Rome, was sold for $1.1 million this past week at an auction in New York. The words in Hebrew "Shekel of Israel [Year] 1" are printed on the front of the coin, and "Jerusalem the holy" appears on the back. [New York Post, March 10, 2012]

The official Palestinian Authority daily in writing about the auction described the Hebrew coin from the Second Temple period as an "ancient Palestinian coin" and as being part of the "Palestinian cultural tradition."

The article adds that the Jews' "political agenda" takes advantage of the sale of ancient Hebrew coins. The PA, which does not recognize Israel's right to exist, and only at times acknowledges that the state does exist, categorizes any archeological evidence of Israel's ancient past in the land as a "political agenda":

"It [the sale] is an opportunity for Jewish and Western scholars to use the Jewish revolt against the Romans in Palestine for a political agenda, and to connect this local revolt with the establishment of the Israeli occupation state."

Yeah, why would Jews be interested in an ancient Jewish coin from Judea that documents a Jewish revolt at the time that Jews had their own nation? Obviously, it is political!

Which brings up the question: if the coin is such a beautiful example of Palestinian heritage, why are no Palestinians bidding for it?

In a similar vein, a Jordanian named Gasser Anani gave a lecture last week about the supposed Judaization of Jerusalem, and he also talked about shekels, saying that they were realy an ancient Palestinian currency called "Shakla" and Israel "stole" them.

Of course, there is no such thing as an "ancient Palestinian currency." There would have had to be a Palestine for that to have been created. The first Palestinian currency was created by the British in 1927, and it had Hebrew on it.

In fact, the shekel is a unit of weight that was around since the Akkadian Empire and that morphed into a currency as it was usually used for silver. Jews never claimed that it was a Jewish invention; it is mentioned in the Bible as an already existing standard weight of silver in Abraham's time (Genesis 23) when he paid 400 shekels for what was to become the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

(h/t Stan)