Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Overnight links

From Ian:

Into the Fray: The alchemy of Palestinian nationhood By MARTIN SHERMAN

Poof! Suddenly Jordanian nationals were transformed into a ‘Palestinian nation, Jordanian territory into a ‘Palestinian homeland'.
“Palestine is where the Jews are:
On May 27, 1967, barely a week before the outbreak of the Six Day War, Ahmed Shukairy, Yasser Arafat’s predecessor as chairman of the PLO, bellowed: “D-Day is approaching. The Arabs have waited 19 years for this and will not flinch from the war of liberation.”
On June 1, he crowed: “This is a fight for the homeland – it is either us or the Israelis. There is no middle road. The Jews of Palestine will have to leave... We shall destroy Israel and its inhabitants and as for the survivors – if there are any – the boats are ready to deport them.”

'Hamas fostering terror, damaging ties with Egypt' By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Former PA security chief Dahlan says Gaza "not under siege", residents "not lacking anything."

Morsi tours Israel-Egypt border, breaks fast with troops, promises new terror crackdown

Egypt claims to have killed 60 Sinai terrorists since Sunday’s attack at Kerem Shalom, in which 16 Egyptian security officers were slain

Hamas asks Cairo to close smuggling tunnels near Israel

Islamist terrorist organization also proposes military cooperation with Egypt to guard
border
“In an unprecedented move, Hamas asked Cairo to shut smuggling tunnels along a section of the Gaza-Egypt border near the site of Sunday’s attack on the Kerem Shalom crossing and suggested a joint border protection force, Lebanese media reported on Saturday.”

Former Lebanese minister arrested for planning attacks for Syria's Assad

Michel Samaha, a former Lebanese minister, reportedly confessed to helping plan attacks on Sunni targets in Lebanon. If true, it illustrates how far Syria's Assad regime can reach into Lebanon.

UN Agency Embraces Terror Group

“Now, there’s nothing wrong with supporting women’s health but there are many charities out there to choose from, most of which are not tainted by involvement in terrorism. Given that money is fungible, and the Iranians use the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee for surveillance and to provide cover to terror operatives, it is shameful that the United Nations would embrace the group.”

Rwanda's Genocide and Lessons America Hasn't Learned for Syria by Shmuley Boteach

“...if America were to take action to stop the slaughter in Syria, North Korea, and other nations where innocent people are being crushed by evil governments, it would give us in the West far great credibility when speaking to our allies abroad about human rights and the infinite value of every human life.”

Indian Shia and Sunni Unite in Hating Israel

“Although Shia and Sunnis do not pray together, as both sects have the same goal – hostility to Israel – the Shia cleric, to set a precedent, recently asked the Sunni Imam to lead a prayer service attended by both congregations.”

Dershowitz - NJDC’s David Harris Must Go

Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz told Breitbart News that David Harris, head of the National Jewish Democratic Council, must step down.
“David Harris and the National Jewish Democratic Council are a bunch of liars. I, Alan Dershowitz, a Democrat, am calling for David Harris to step down in the interests of the Democratic Party. He’s going to turn Jewish voters away from the Democratic Party. They’re going to vote for the Republicans because of what David Harris and the National Jewish Democratic Council are doing.”

Top 10 Non-Jews Positively Influencing the Jewish Future 2012

Jewish groups denounce Islamic 'hate' rally

TORONTO -- Jewish groups are calling out Ontario Liberals for permitting an "anti-Semitic hate rally" to be held at Queen's Park by an Islamic group labelling Jewish nationalists in Israel as "oppressors and criminals."
An Islamic group marking International Al-Quds Day -- started in 1979 by Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini to mark the last Friday of Ramadan -- has been approved by sergeant-at-arms Dennis Clark to gather outside the Ontario legislature on Aug. 18, as they did last year and years before that.

Saudi Arabia to Build All-Women City

Also, see Daphne Anson demolishing a NYT op-ed.

Avi Bell says "Don't fear the Levy report."

Claire Belinski on questions about that downed Turkish plane.

Egyptian TV host says pro-Israel statements in "Candid Camera" show

Remember the Egyptian "Candid Camera" show where celebrities were told they were on a German TV station and they became violent when they were told it was really an Israeli interview show? And how the hosts of the show would compliment them on their "patriotism?"

Well, one victim of the prank acted in a decidedly different way, and Egypt is in an uproar.

Tawfiq Okasha, who has an anti-government satellite TV station (which was closed last week by the government) was ambushed on this show as well, but when he was asked about his opinions of Israel, his answers were quite different from the usual victims.

As the fake interview questions went to the topic of Israel, Okasha said that he has visited Israel four times.He said that Jews have the right to live in Israel, including Jerusalem - and that those rights are given in the Koran. He said he is friends with a number of "Arab Jews" living in Israel. He said that he is in favor of Egypt exporting natural gas to Israel.

He also said that the Koran borrowed heavily from the Torah and the New Testament.

When told that the TV station is really "Israeli" and not German, instead of being angry he answered that he did not mind at all and that he hoped his opinions would reach all Israelis.

It does not appear that the episode of the ambush show ever aired, but it was shown Friday on Egyptian channel 25 - together with dramatic repetitions of his most pro-Israel statements - and the Egyptians are freaking out. There are multiple news stories about this and the YouTube video already has hundreds of thousands of views.

The talkbacks are universally angry at Okasha, saying he must be jailed or worse.

I don't know whether Egypt's channel 25 is a government TV station; if so it seems entirely possible that this was aired to provide cover for Egypt's closing of his TV station last week.

I'm sure MEMRI will have a translation of this interview very soon. But as far as I can tell, Okasha wasn't praised at the end of this show the way the other victims who showed such hatred towards Jews and Israel were.

Freedom of the press, MB Egyptian style

Hot on the heels of the Egyptian government appointing new Islamist editors for its state-run newspapers and shutting down a satellite TV station it disagreed with, comes the latest in new Egyptian freedom:

The privately owned daily newspaper Al-Dostour is being investigated on charges of insulting President Mohamed Morsy, state-run MENA reported on Saturday.

Al-Dostour's website reported that early morning Saturday, security forces came to the paper's offices to confiscate some of its issues.

MENA reported that investigations into the newspaper had been opened after people accused the newspaper of "fueling sedition," and "harming the president through phrases and wording punishable by law."

Gamal Fahmy, a member of the journalists' syndicate, told Al-Dostour that the investigation was part of a Muslim Brotherhood scheme to limit press freedoms

Other press freedom advocates also condemned the raid, saying the Brotherhood was moving to silence its critics.

"What happened this morning is a new attempt to impose hegemony, domination and exclusion on those in conflict with the group," said Saeed Ziauddin Garhi, legal advisor for the Justice Center for Freedoms.

Spring!

Weekend open thread

Shabbat Shalom!

Artwork by Laura Bolter Design

Israel's historical nuclear ambiguity and the lessons for Iran

It is well-known that for a long time, Israel's public position about whether it had a nuclear arsenal was the very ambiguous statement that "Israel will not be the first area state to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East."

I found a State Department memo from 1969 that shows an attempt to pin down exactly what that means. .Here are some excerpts:

No one can blame the State Department from trying to parse the Israelis' words, wondering if that means that the weapons might be manufactured but not tested, or perhaps manufactured except for the very final screw being attached.

This is relevant today now that a new NIE (or similar intelligence assessment) has leaked that Iran is moving quickly to build nuclear weapons. Anti-Israel activists and Iran supporters have been using the 2007 NIE and other estimates as a talisman to deflect charges that Iran even has a nuclear weapons program, even as everyone could see for years that the Iranians were doing everything consistent with such a program short of actually announcing it - from enrichment beyond what is necessary for nuclear power to building nuclear-capable ballistic missiles to building huge underground nuclear facilities to hiding evidence of testing facilities.

The US skepticism of Israel's announcements in the 1960s was well-founded, and Israel's refusal to clarify was equally understandable. At the time, though, no one seriously believed that Israel did not have the ability to deploy a nuclear bomb in minutes if it felt it was necessary.

But for people who want to believe the Iranian denials, they have no such skepticism.

Today's Mossad plot

The Islamic Jihad newspaper Palestine Today reports that Gaza authorities have foiled the latest Mossad plot to subjugate them to Zionist whims.

What did they do?

They discovered a stash of Tramadol, which appears to be the drug of choice for Gaza smugglers.

According to these officials, the Mossad smuggles Tramadol into Gaza via organized crime rings. The Mossad works together with Sinai Bedouin to bring the drugs into Gaza via smuggling tunnels.

I would compliment them on their imagination, but when every story ends with "The Israelis did it!," it gets a little boring after a while.

Friday links

From Ian:

LATMA Palestinian heritage sites and rifts among the social justice protesters

Stop Iran at all costs by Prof. Benny Morris

“Israel's reasons for a future strike on Iran's nuclear facilities are logical and clear: Iran armed with nuclear weapons threatens Israel's existence; the weapons can fall into the hands of terrorists; and it will undoubtedly ignite an arms race in the Middle East that could end in nuclear war. In light of these threats an Israeli government that chooses to sit by and do nothing will have betrayed its public.”

Tom Friedman — mistaken or misleading?

"Consumed by wishful-thinking, Friedman assumed that Assad could liberalize Syria, attract international investors, normalize relations with Israel and end the Arab rejection of the Jewish state — thus demolishing the Iran-Syria axis and ending Iran’s involvement in Lebanon."

Under Olympic cover, Russian cargo ship approaches Syria

"The voyage of the Alaed shows the irresponsibility of the Russian government to allow a transfer of weapons to a regime that is responsible for the brutal slaughter of its own citizens"

In Egypt, Anti-Semitism Is Back in Fashion

"As Walter Russell Mead has written on his blog, countries “where vicious anti-Semitism is rife are almost always backward and poor.” They aren’t backward and poor because the Elders of Zion conspire against them. They’re backward and poor because, Mead argues, they lack the ability to “see the world clearly and discern cause and effect relations in complex social settings.” He calls anti-Semitism the “sociology of the befuddled.”

Attacks on Christians Sharpen with Government Collusion by Khaled Abu Toameh

“While the number of Christians in the Arab world continues to decline, Israel remains the only country in the Middle East where they feel safe and comfortable. That explains why Christians living in Israel have been appealing to Israel to open its borders to absorb their brothers who are fleeing from the Gaza Strip, Bethlehem, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt and Sudan.”

United Church of Canada leaders team up with 9-11 conspiracy nuts to demonize Israel

"As one might expect, Ms Ralph is not the only 9-11 conspiracy theorist in the organization she co-founded. Her co-Chair and fellow Independent Jewish Voices founder Sid Shiniad shares her views and the organization of fringe radicals is liberally peppered with adherents to a movement that proposes the attack by Muslim terrorists on the World Trade Center and Pentagon was actually the work of "neo-cons and Zionists."
"If the United Church's leaders think they can shield themselves from being perceived as anti-Semitic by playing footsie with a small group of fringe Jews whose actions and statements could easily be interpreted to suggest serious, unresolved psychiatric issues, they will find themselves sorely mistaken."

HuffPost front-page headline: Romney chased by "pack of Jews"

Swiss group suspends 'anti-Semitic' Norway scholar

Researcher Johan Galtung suspended form Swiss World Peace Academy after he remarks that Jews control the American media.

London won’t pull bus ad campaign for Iran-linked anti-Israel march

Iran court upholds practicing Christianity sentence

Nepal women banned from Middle East over exploitation

Nepal has banned women under the age of 30 from going to work in Middle Eastern countries amid growing concerns that they are being exploited.

Officials fear wave of fires may be new kind of terror attack

PMW Ramallah municipality to build mausoleum to honor terrorist murderers

“The Ramallah municipality voted this week to build a mausoleum in honor of PLO terrorists responsible for the deaths of 11 Israelis in the 1975 Savoy Hotel attack. Ramallah is the Palestinian Authority’s seat of government.”

Iranian festival accepts Israeli movie, invites filmmaker to attend

"David Shadi submitted his short comedy ‘GentleDog’ around the world; a new Iranian international festival said yes and sent him a visa form"

Ali’s daughter visits Israeli hospital

"Rasheda Ali tours Hadassah-University Hospital-Ein Kerem to see how they combat diseases like Parkinson’s, which afflicts her father"

Chinese 'very impressed' with Israeli economy

"Major Beijing university to offer courses on Israel's high-tech, business culture; another school teaches Hebrew language, culture"

Israel Daily Picture: The 'Kotel' Exposed with the Advent of Photography

Old/New Photos of the Kotel Now Online in Great Detail -- With Thanks to the Library of Congress Archives

Al Arabiya "news:" "Abraham built the Kaaba"

No disclaimers here:

The shrine of the Prophet Abraham was adjacent to the Kaaaba, next to its gate, in the same condition he had left it. It had been there since the building of the Kaaba and until the time of second Caliph Omar Ibn Kattab who moved to the east, an action that only someone as strong and pious as him would be capable of doing.

Abraham’s shrine contains a stone that preserves the footprints of the Prophet Abraham. This was the stone on which he used to stand on when he built the Kaaba’s upper walls. In Islam, the shrine is sacred and is used for prayer. It also bears witness to a miracle because it shows how stone softened under Abraham’s feet.

972mag says Egypt attack is really Israel's fault

The zeal to blame Israel for everything would be comical if so many on the left didn't actually believe it.

The summary of Roi Maor's article in 972mag tells you the latest in 972's absurd anti-Israel "logic":

Lethal Sinai attack is connected to the Gaza blockade

The lethal attack on an Egyptian military outpost, in an attempted incursion into Israel, is another reminder of the terrorist infrastructure in the Sinai Peninsula. This infrastructure was built in part on the basis of the Gaza-Egypt-Israel smuggling industry, which is fueled by the massive restrictions on movement and trade imposed on the Strip by Israel and Egypt.

Wow, how brilliant!

But 972 doesn't go far enough.

In fact, much of the smuggling industry in the Sinai is also from smuggling Africans to Israel. If Israel didn't have Western values and prosperity, then the Africans wouldn't come, there would be less smuggling traffic and Sinai would be safer. Israel should really stop being so damned successful! It's all Israel's fault!

But wait, there's more: if Israel never signed an agreement with Egypt limiting Egypt's army activities in the Sinai, then Egypt could have done more to stop the smugglers and terrorists in the Sinai. Israel should not have insisted in a 1979 peace agreement that their former implacable foe should stay away from the border. They should have allowed the Egyptian army to stay right up against the border to stop the future infiltration of Islamists, which should have been foreseen. It is all Israel's fault!

In fact, if Israel wouldn't have signed a peace agreement with Egypt altogether, then the Sinai would still be under Israeli control and the smugglers and Islamists would never have even come close to Gaza or Israel. How dare Israel sign a peace treaty that inevitably end up killing so many Egyptians in the Sinai. Without Camp David, there wouldn't be any Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai! It is all Israel's fault!

But, of course, you must then go back to the original sin of Israel's creation....

Incidentally, it is interesting that 972 regards an attack on Egyptian soldiers to be a terrorist attack. ("On Sunday evening, terrorists attacked an Egyptian military outpost in the Sinai Peninsula.") Maybe someone can go through the site to see if they ever refer to Arabs who attack Israeli soldiers to be terrorists, without scare quotes.

New Gaza "flotilla" planned; because the world is too obsessed with Syria

A new Gaza "flotilla" that will probably go nowhere is being planned:

Ship to Gaza, a European activist organization, announced that they are in the process of organizing a new flotilla in solidarity with the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip.

The boat is set to sail on a roughly 5,000 kilometer journey, which is estimated to span between two and three months. Beginning in northern Sweden, it will dock in several countries en route to Gaza, holding events to raise awareness about the Israeli blockade.

“Estelle, our beautiful ship, is going to play a key role in Ship to Gaza’s renewed attempt to break the blockade on Gaza,” reads the organization’s website. “At each stop, there will be speakers, concerts, and public festivals providing information about the situation in Gaza.”

So it isn't a flotilla, it is a boat.

The website doesn't even bother to list what aid it is bringing to Gaza; it just says it is bringing a "cargo of necessities."

The article goes on:

Many detractors claim that the blockade is not the problem, and that the activists are merely staging a publicity stunt.

...Supporters of the flotilla, however, argue that such opponents miss the point.

“The point is publicity. Of course, it’s for publicity. We want the whole world to know how people’s lives are being treated contemptuously in Gaza, in all of Palestine,” said Ghassan, a university student from Ramallah.

“The whole world is talking about Syria now and how evil Assad is, but no one has anything to say about the bombings and killings in Gaza,” he added.

Palestinian Arabs who have built their entire culture on the idea of being victims are jealous of those Syrians who have the audacity to be murdered by the thousands, therefore depriving PalArabs of their rightful place in the headlines!

Iran's PressTV still obsessed with "Zionist" Olympic logo

I thought after they won some medals they had dropped this, but apparently not.

This latest illustration at PressTV sets new Olympic records for stupidity:

ZOIN! (Or, right to left, ONZI!)

So if the games are so Zionist, why does Iran have 8 medals so far and the Zionist state - zero?

Is it because we Zionists are trying to brainwash Iranians with all those medals with the Zionist Nazi logo? Is it to make them complacent so we can attack their nuclear facilities without them noticing?

I'm sure there is an explanation just as logical as this graphic.

(Last chance to buy my Zionist Olympics T-Shirt!)