Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Swiss supermarket joins anti-Israel boycott

Swiss-Jewish organizations sharply criticized last week a full-page advertisement in the Swiss paper Neue Zürcher Zeitung promoting the Migros supermarket’s decision to boycott products from Israeli settlements.

A Swiss Protestant aid organization sponsored the ad and urged readers to support the boycott.

In a letter to Claude Ruey, the president of the Zurich-based aid organization of the Protestant Churches of Switzerland (HEKS), Swiss-Jewish leaders wrote, “We protest this discrimination against the State of Israel and are disappointed that the HEKS as a recognized aid organization fosters anti-Israel sentiments, which have a direct effect on us Jews in Switzerland.”

The letter to Ruey was signed by Dr. Herbert Winter, Nicole Poëll and Gabrielle Rosenstein.

The Jewish leaders added that the decision is “purely political,” singling out Israel and not boycotting goods sold in Migros from other countries where human rights violations are taking place.

The Berlin-based office of the American Jewish Committee said in a statement last week, that the “AJC has raised concern about the European relationship to Israel, given the growing number of boycott and BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions] campaigns targeting Israel in Europe. In recent days, the large Swiss supermarket co-op Migros began labeling products originating in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, while the German branch of the church-based peace organisation Pax Christi launched its ‘Occupation Tastes Bitter’ boycott campaign against Israeli products.”

Since the boycott only affects Jewish-sourced products (Arab Israelis can manufacture anything they want over the Green Line and no one would boycott them) I figured this story needs an illustration:

UN report on children being tortured, murdered in Syria

From the UN in a report on Children and Armed Conflict, 2011:

The United Nations has received reports of grave violations against children in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011 and throughout the reporting period, continuing into 2012. In response to the need for United Nations verified information, my Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict sent a technical mission to the region to conduct interviews with victims and witnesses in refugee camps, villages and hospitals in the region in March 2012. In almost all recorded cases, children were among the victims of military operations by Government forces, including the Syrian Armed Forces, the intelligence forces and the Shabbiha militia, in their ongoing conflict with the opposition, including the Free Syrian Army (FSA). Children as young as 9 years of age were victims of killing and maiming, arbitrary arrest, detention, torture and ill- treatment, including sexual violence, and use as human shields. Schools have been regularly raided and used as military bases and detention centres. Information obtained by the technical mission is in line with the findings of the independent international commission of inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic.

Interviews with former members of the Syrian Armed Forces and the intelligence forces indicated that civilians, including children, were targeted by Government forces if they were residing in villages where members of FSA or other armed opposition groups were believed to be present or where deserters were hiding, or if they were seen fleeing the country seeking refuge. In one instance, a former member of the Syrian Armed Forces stated that, during protests in Tall Kalakh in December 2011, he was given an order by his commander to shoot without distinction, although the soldiers were aware that there were women and children among the protesters. During the armed break-up of the demonstrations, the witness saw three girls between approximately 10 and 13 years of age who had been killed by the Syrian Armed Forces. In another similar incident in Aleppo in the fourth quarter of 2011, a former member of the intelligence forces witnessed the killing of five children in a secondary school during demonstrations.

The grave violations continued into 2012 and although this is beyond the reporting period, the gravity of the incidents requires their inclusion in the report. Witness accounts described a particularly grave incident in the village of Ayn l’Arouz in the Jabal Azzawiyah in Idlib province. On 9 March 2012, Syrian Armed Forces, together with the intelligence forces and the Shabbiha militia, surrounded the village for an attack that lasted over a period of four days. Government forces entered the village on the first day and killed 11 civilians, including three boys aged between 15 and 17 years. Thirty-four persons, including two boys aged 14 and 16 years, and one 9-year-old girl, were arrested for interrogation about the suspected presence of deserters. Eventually, the village was reportedly left burned and 4 out of the 34 detainees were shot and burned, including the two boys aged 14 and 16 years.

There is no evidence of Government forces formally conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 18 years. However, the Syrian Armed Forces and its associated Shabbiha militia used children as young as 8 years on at least three separate occasions within the reporting period. In the incident mentioned above in the village of Ayn l’Arouz in March 2012, a witness stated that several dozen children, boys and girls ranging between the ages of 8 and 13 years, were forcibly taken from their homes. These children were subsequently reportedly used by soldiers and militia members as human shields, placing them in front of the windows of buses carrying military personnel into the raid on the village.

The United Nations collected dozens of accounts of eyewitnesses of both children as young as 14 years of age who were tortured while in detention, as well as former members of the Syrian Armed Forces who themselves were forced to torture or witness torture. The Shabbiha militia was also involved in the detention and torture of children, especially during military operations and often in makeshift detention cells in schools. Most child victims of torture described being beaten, blindfolded, subjected to stress positions, whipped with heavy electrical cables, scarred by cigarette burns and, in one recorded case, subjected to electrical shock to the genitals. At least one witness said that he had seen a young boy of approximately 15 years of age succumb to his repeated beatings. Children were detained and tortured because their siblings or parents were assumed to be members of the opposition or FSA, or they themselves were suspected of being associated with FSA. On one occasion, in May 2011, a 15-year-old boy was taken into custody by intelligence forces in the municipal building in Jisr Ash-Shughur and repeatedly beaten with heavy electrical cables during interrogation. The boy stated that there were at least 20 other children his age or younger held in detention.

The United Nations has received some credible allegations of the recruitment and use of children by armed opposition, including FSA and other armed groups, although FSA has a stated policy of not recruiting any child under 17 years of age. Various sources reported on young children association with FSA carrying guns and wearing camouflage uniforms. My Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict reminded all parties of their obligations under human rights and international humanitarian law.

(h/t JPD)

The EoZ Pinkwashing Poster

Last year I made a series of posters called Real Liberals Love Israel.

Here's a worthy addition to that series.

Photo courtesy of the IDF.

One of the Facebook comments on the photo:

Aharon Cohen Mohliver: Just to clarify to all the skeptics: this picture was taken during gay pride in israel. It's not "just two men holding hands" and it is absolutely reflective of how the Israeli army treats gays. I'm gay. I served in the IDF as an openly gay soldier in combat units. This is a clear example that sexual orientation has nothing to do with how well one can perform any task, including serving in the field with other (straight) men.

UPDATE: YNet has an article about this photo:

The Foreign Ministry, as well as Israeli missions worldwide, has been known to use the IDF's acceptance of gay soldiers into its ranks as a symbol for Israel's progressive nature; but this is the first time the military has publically embraced the gay community on one of its social media platforms.

The IDF's Facebook initiative struck a chord: Within hours of posting the photo online, it garnered 4,621 "Shares" and over 6,500 "Likes," as well as hundreds of supportive comments.

(h/t Yoel)

Happy Falafel day!

Today is International Falafel Day!

According to the organizers, here is how to participate.

If you don't eat falafel today, you might have to answer to...Falafel Man!

A real comic book, in Hebrew, by Dorit Maya-Gur.

Besides the fact that falafels are awesome (although finding a good one outside Israel is a challenge,) another reason to celebrate is because it drives anti-Zionists crazy.

BTW, it looks like Falafel Day was made up by an 18-year old kid.

PalArabs start a forest fire. NGOs, media silent.

A "breaking news" item from YNet that was never expanded into an article:

A forest fire broke out Sunday evening in the Anatot forest near the security fence as a result of Molotov cocktails thrown from the Shufat refugee camp north of Jerusalem.

Four firefighting teams were working to extinguish the blaze, under security since more Molotov cocktails were being thrown from the camp in an attempt to fan the flames.

You know how Palestinian Arabs consider trees to be sacred? How they issue press releases every weekend claiming that Jews cut down their trees, whether it really happened or not?

Well, maybe some trees aren't really that sacred.

After all, these darlings of the Left continued to throw Molotov cocktails while the firefighters were trying to extinguish the flames!

This news is all but invisible in the media. One of the few places that reported it was Qudsmedia, where they happily reported that "young Jerusalemites" from the Shu'fat camp started the blaze.

Every week we see stories blaring in the media and from NGOs, most of them fictional, about how evil Zionists are destroying trees in the territories. But when the supposed tree-lovers actually do real damage to trees - the media turns silent.

Maybe some trees are more important than others. Yeah, that must be it.

Yemeni Muslim says what he REALLY thinks

So refreshing to read a Muslim who writes what the others only hint at.

From Yemeni site Al Tagheer, by Fatah Amri:

We are Soldiers of God, and we do not want to live in this life; it is just a corridor towards the Hereafter....we did not get ahead because of the infidel West, and dignity for us is only by the sword; the computers that come from the West, America and China , is a conspiracy and deception, you want to spend our future, and spread immorality, God forbid; these computers are infidel...

...We are the best people, we are God's Soldiers, we want access to power, and cutting people's hands and feet, in application of the law, and will not fail to do so, technology is will help us, electric saws, for cutting people's hands and legs, steadiness steadiness ..

Democracy is Kufr, secular atheism, a liberal trap; freedom lies, the technology lies, and all this said evidence 1400 years ago

Right now we go along with the infidel democracy, but this is temporary, and we use it only to reach power, and you will see how the law of God will prevail, and the infidels will know it will be overturned, and Israel will die, and during the resurrection, we will enter Paradise in crowds... ..

I couldn't translate it all but it looks like there were plenty more juicy parts, including about women and why Japan had an earthquake (because they didn't wash themselves before praying five times a day.)

Links!

From Ian:
Hungarians don ‘Jude’ stars to protest anti-Semitic attacks

On June 7, four days after an attack on a Jewish cemetery near Budapest, some 120 Hungarians lined up in protest on the bank of the Danube in downtown Budapest wearing the German word for “Jew.” During the Nazi era, Jews were forced to wear the yellow-colored stars as a means of identification.

Go to Monash University for another lecture on the enemies of Allah

Tareq Al Suwaidan said his foremost cause is that of Palestine and Jerusalem. “The most dangerous thing facing the Muslims is not the (Arab) dictatorships. The absolutely most dangerous thing is the Jews. They are the greatest enemy.”

I doubt Al Suwaidan realises that Monash University is named after General Sir John Monash born in Victoria, on 27 June 1865, the son of Louis Monash and his wife Bertha, née Manasse. Both parents were Jews from Germany (the family name was originally spelt Monasch).

US Ousts Israel From Counterterrorism Forum

“The US blocked Israel's participation in the Global Counterterrorism Forum's, due to fierce objections from Turkey.”

[Israel's foreign ministry denied this story - EoZ]

The Cyberwar
Oh No You Didn't Mossad Agents Claim Obama Lying About Stuxnet
Leaking Cyberwar Secrets The White House wants credit for successes but blames Israel for failures, a New York Times expose shows

Vatican Christians expelled from war-torn Syrian town

"Some mosques in the city have relaunched the message, announcing from the minarets: 'Christians must leave Quasir,' " read the report from the Vatican agency, which has sought to document the parlous plight of Syria’s ancient Christian community.

Iran, PFLP leaders tout anti-Israel 'resistance'

IDF brass warns of Syria’s chemical weapon threat

Also:
My Right Word discovers that the Irgun once tried to bomb British soldiers - with a camel bomb

Harry's Place shows us that the Guardian is publishing an op-ed from someone who really likes terrorism.

The New Yorker plays fast and loose with Mavi Marmara history

How the media conditions people to be anti-Israel

(h/t Elias, Yosef H))

More financial woes for the PA

From Ma'an:

The head of the Palestine Monetary Authority said Sunday that the Palestinian Authority government has reached the maximum limit of borrowing from Palestinian banks.

Jihad Al-Wazir said in a statement that banks in Palestine increased lending to the government by over $300 million in the last two months, and cannot lend more unless repayments from donor countries come through.

The Authority has set supervisory measures to bolster the banking sector in the face of any political or economic shocks, al-Wazir added.

They maintain a financial leverage ratio of 12 percent, higher than many European banks and put aside 15 percent of profits into a special account, Wazir said earlier.

PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said in January that his government owes $1.1 billion in bank loans, as well as $400 million in unpaid revenues to private sector contractors.

Remember when Fayyad declared that the PA would be financially independent by the end of 2013? Good times.

Women protesting sexual harassment in Egypt get sexually harassed

I noted last week that there has been an increase in the already high amount of sexual harassment in Egypt against women, especially during protests.

Women got fed up and held their own protest on Friday in Tahrir Square.

Guess what happened to them?

A mob of hundreds of men have assaulted women holding a march demanding an end to sexual harassment, with the attackers overwhelming the male guardians and groping and molesting several of the female marchers in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

The attack follows smaller scale assaults on women this week in Tahrir, the epicenter of the uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak to step down last year. Thousands have been gathering in the square this week in protests over a variety of issues — mainly over worries that presidential elections this month will secure the continued rule by elements of Mubarak's regime backed by the ruling military.

Friday's march was called to demand an end to sexual assaults. Around 50 women participated, surrounded by a larger group of male supporters who joined hands to form a protective ring around them. The protesters carried posters saying, "The people want to cut the hand of the sexual harasser," and chanted, "The Egyptian girl says it loudly, harassment is barbaric."

After the marchers entered a crowded corner of the square, a group of men waded into the group of women, heckling them and groping them. The male supporters tried to fend them off, and it turned into a melee involving a mob of hundreds.

The marchers tried to flee while the attackers chased them and male supporters tried to protect them. But the attackers persisted, cornering several women against a metal sidewalk railing, including an Associated Press reporter, shoving their hands down their clothes and trying to grab their bags. The male supporters fought back, swinging belts and fists and throwing water.
Eventually, the women were able to reach refuge in a nearby building with the mob still outside until they finally got out to safety.

"After what I saw and heard today. I am furious at so many things. Why beat a girl and strip her off? Why?" wrote Sally Zohney, one of the organisers of the event on Twitter.

The persistence of the attack raised the belief of many that it was intentional, though who orchestrated it was unclear.

Amnesty called for an investigation.

“These women stood up to demand an end to sexual harassment. What they got was intimidation and sexual assault,” said Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, in a statement.

“In last year’s protests, Tahrir Square was a place where women stood on an equal footing with men to demand their freedom. Now it has become a place where women are singled out for sexual harassment.

“These attacks need to be investigated immediately and those found responsible held to account. An investigation would serve as a deterrent against sexual harassment and will help protect women protesters who are exercising their right to peacefully express their views.”

Notably, the protest was organized by 20 Egyptian women's groups - yet only 50 women showed up, which might indicate that most Egyptian women knew something like this would occur.

Remember back in 2006, when an Iranian cultural advisor to the Iranian Education Ministry was shown on TV to describe the terrible Tom and Jerry conspiracy?

There is a cartoon that children like. They like it very much, and so do adults - Tom and Jerry.
[...]
Some say that this creation by Walt Disney will be remembered forever. The Jewish Walt Disney Company gained international fame with this cartoon. It is still shown throughout the world. This cartoon maintains its status because of the cute antics of the cat and mouse – especially the mouse.

Some say that the main reason for making this very appealing cartoon was to erase a certain derogatory term that was prevalent in Europe.
[...]
If you study European history, you will see who was the main power to hoard money and wealth, in the 19th century. In most cases, it is the Jews. Perhaps that was one of the reasons which caused Hitler to begin the anti-Semitic trend, and then the extensive propaganda about the crematoria began... Some of this is true. We do not deny all of it.

Watch Schindler's List. Every Jew was forced to wear a yellow star on his clothing. The Jews were degraded and termed "dirty mice." Tom and Jerry was made in order to change the Europeans' perception of mice. One of terms used was "dirty mice."

I'd like to tell you that... It should be noted that mice are very cunning...and dirty.
[...]
No ethnic group or people operates in such a clandestine manner as the Jews.
[...]
Read the history of the Jews in Europe. This ultimately led to Hitler's hatred and resentment. As it turns out, Hitler had behind-the-scene connections with the Protocols [of the Elders of Zion].

Tom and Jerry was made in order to display the exact opposite image. If you happen to watch this cartoon tomorrow, bear in mind the points I have just raised, and watch it from this perspective. The mouse is very clever and smart. Everything he does is so cute. He kicks the poor cat's ass. Yet this cruelty does not make you despise the mouse. He looks so nice, and he is so clever... This is exactly why some say it was meant to erase this image of mice from the minds of European children, and to show that the mouse is not dirty and has these traits.

Well, now an Arab academic based out of the US is saying the same thing on Saudi TV:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Muhammad Waqi’ullah, a US-based Sudanese professor of political science, which aired on Al-Majd TV on June 4, 2012. Waqi’ullah received his Ph.D. from the University of Mississipi, and worked for the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences in America in Fairfax, Virginia.

Muhammad Waqi’ullah: The neocon movement was established at US universities, especially at the University of Chicago. It was established by a group of Jewish professors, who fled Nazism. They wanted to fortify Western civilization against the leftist, secular, Nazi, and Fascist invasion.

Ultimately, they wanted to protect the Israelites, or the Jews, from annihilation by Western civilization. They infiltrated Western ideology, and specifically, American ideology, until the circumstances, under Bush Jr., enabled them to gain control over the country’s centers of power and to implement their ideas.

This led to the invasions with which they destroyed Islam and the Islamic world.

....The Muslim fights for the sake of good, while the infidel fights for the sake of evil. It is a war of values, not of material interests or personal or national ambitions. It is a war of civilizations, a war of values. Islamic civilization defends the good.

...Some films look the epitome of innocent, purity, and reliability. They look like nice harmless films, like the Superman movies or Tom and Jerry. People don’t sense the danger of these films, but these films instill Western philosophy, the theory of Thomas Hobbes [sic], which we discussed.

That damn Jewish mouse again!

But then again, Tom and Jerry had a very prominent Arab fan.

Yasir Arafat.

Then again, Arafat was instrumental in creating a new people to be seen as the new Jews who are oppressed by the Nazi like Zionists, so perhaps this is not that surprising.

Gaza's kindergarten jihadist wannabes

Islamic Jihad's website Saraya has a photo essay on Gaza kindergarten graduation ceremonies:

But don't worry - some of the kindergarteners played Jews too:

The article goes on to say that they are "infusing the culture of resistance in the hearts and minds of the children in the Gaza Strip" and that "their lives are continuously in the role of resistance in all areas, hoping to be volunteers in the future."

A teacher at the school said "In every year's kindergarten graduation ceremonies we focus on the children to represent the role of struggling and resistance in the way of Allah, in order to establish this path, and grow up to love the resistance, and for it to have a prominent role in their lives to serve the cause of Palestine and Holy Jihad, as well as to make them leaders and fighters to defend the holy soil of Palestine."

One child, Hamza, wearing the uniform of the Al Quds Brigades of Islamic Jihad and carrying a wooden weapon, said "I love the resistance and the martyrs and Palestine, and I want to blow up he most Zionists in a process of martyrdom and kill them."

In other news, Hamas summer camps are starting, but they are downplaying the paramilitary parts in their publicity photos.

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar)

EU-funded NGO teaches anti-semitism

Palestinian Media Watch notes that a Palestinian Arab youth NGO called Pyalara has been praising suicide terrorists in their TV programs, saying that they are "role models."

"Unfortunately, we couldn't part from them (i.e., the terrorists) or even embrace them, but were satisfied standing before their bodies, standing up before their sanctified message: The homeland won't die, but we will die for it. These [Martyrs] are more honored than all of us... They are the greatest role models for us, not only because they fought and struggled for the homeland, but also because they went beyond the sacrifice [of] strain and effort, to the stage where they actually sacrificed their lives for the homeland."

As PalWatch notes, Pyalara is funded by the EU and Western NGOs:

But Pyalara goes beyond glorifying terrorists and teaches its children actual anti-semitism.

On their website they have issues of their Youth Times magazine. The February 2011 issue discusses topics such as the difficulty that the terrorists released in the Gilad Shalit deal have in re-adjusting to normal life, but even more troubling is this article:

The article is about Freemasons, and it ties the Freemasons to Judaism and Kabbalah, as well as devil-worship. It then goes on to say

Kabbalah is one of the most important tools of Freemasonry, and its first goal to control the minds of the people through the media. Over time, those ideas have become the mainstream.It is not surprising that they have worked to distort the image of Arabs for over a hundred years, which highlighted the Arab as backward and subhuman, and therefore people they are able to control as they see fit, even including death and destruction, in order to implement their projects without objection.

So while they are careful not to say that Judaism (a divine religion) is directly at fault, they are using usual anti-semitic canards and emphasizing ties to Judaism and Jews in their description of Freemansonry as an evil society hell bent on destroying the Arab world ever since the Crusades.

This is what the EU and Western NGOs are funding.