Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Tuesday links - two sets for the price of one!

From Ian:

No Future in France: Dire Times for French Jews

The Toulouse massacre did not bring French anti-Semitism to a halt. It actually increased.
“Any time young people approach me in order to get married, I ask them various questions about their future. Eighty percent of them say they do not envision any future in France.” This is what one rabbi in Paris told me last week. I heard similar statements from other French rabbis and lay Jewish leaders: “We have a feeling the words are on the wall now,” one leader in the Lyons area confided to me. “It is not just our situation in this country deteriorating; it is also that the process is much quicker than expected.”

Honest Reporting Op Ed Righting a capital offense

“When HonestReporting filed a complaint with the UK’s Press Complaints Commission in response to The Guardian’s labeling of Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital, we did so expecting accuracy and common sense to prevail.
Outrageously, the PCC not only ruled in favor of The Guardian but actually went as far as to unilaterally declare that Tel Aviv was Israel’s legitimate capital, based mainly on the fact that many foreign embassies are located there.”

Hezbollah Leader: Our Rockets Can Hit All of Israel

Speaking in Lebanon on Monday ahead of “Quds Day”, Sheikh Nabil Kaouk said Hezbollah will continue its attempts to free “Palestine”, rid Israel from its presence in Jerusalem, and that the group’s missiles can reach anywhere in Israel.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Accuses Israel of Ruling World by Proxy

Fars: Senior Cleric: Regional Revolutionary Nations Able to Annihilate Zionist Regime

TEHRAN (FNA)- Tehran's provisional Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami underlined the importance of this year's International Qods Day rallies, and said the revolutionary nations of the region are able to annihilate the Zionist regime.

Security services record Islamist exodus to Egypt

German security services have recorded a leap in the number of radical Islamists traveling to Egypt, according to a report due to be published in Monday's Der Spiegel magazine.

Captured Syrian pilot calls on Assad forces to defect

Video posted of pilot who rebels claim they shot down during bombing run

Catholic Church picks Bahrain as Gulf HQ

In February, it was reported that a Kuwaiti parliamentarian was set to submit a draft law banning the construction of churches and non-Islamic places of worship in the Gulf state.

Jewish groups protest ‘revisionist plaque’ at Babi Yar

Victims, formerly identified as Jews, now referred to as ‘peaceful citizens and Soviet prisoners of war’

Canada to release Raoul Wallenberg stamp

Israeli Innovation: Helping to Solve Global Water Issues

“The Israeli desalination company, IDE Technologies, which has been in operation for more than 40 years, has made many advances in desalination technology, installing over 400 desalination plants in 40 countries, including the Caribbean Islands and United States. In recent years, IDE won major contracts with Cyprus, India, Australia, and China.”

HIV peptide packs a punch for cancer treatment

Hebrew U. medical researchers find a tiny peptide encoded by the HIV virus could hold the key to making cancer therapies more successful.

Israel Trail named one of world’s best

National Geographic compliments the 620-miles stretch for its combination of ancient and modern history, Middle East wilderness

From Zvi:

Israel Home to Former Olympic Legend

"Agnes Keleti, 91 now, won 10 Olympic medals in gymnastics, including five golds, for Hungary in the 1950s before defecting and emigrating to Israel."

Danger to Israel-Egypt Ties

"The dramatic development also caught Israel by surprise. Several Egyptian officials who were "retired" by Morsi had close working relations with their Israeli counterparts over a period of many years. The personnel changes may have an adverse effect on the diplomatic and security relations between the neighboring countries."

Israel and Uganda Remember Entebbe

"Ayalon will today inaugurate a new trauma center and emergency Ward at Mulago hospital, funded and constructed through MASHAV – Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation."

India-Israel Free Trade Talks

"In an important step that will scale up their economic ties, India and Israel will hold the fifth round of negotiations over a free trade area (FTA) agreement in New Delhi from Tuesday.The negotiations, to be held Aug 14-16, will be led by D.S. Dhesi, joint secretary in the Indian commerce ministry and Ohad Cohen, deputy director general of the Israeli ministry of industry and trade."

South Africa is boycotting Israel

"The sources said a call by South Africa’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ebrahim Ismael Ebrahim on Sunday to his countrymen to refrain from visiting Israel “let the cat out of the bag,” and demonstrated the hollowness of South African government protestations that it was against boycotts, and that the recent move to label items from the settlements was just trying to “promote transparency.”"

North African Jews originated in biblical-era Israel, DNA analysis shows

"North Africa’s Jews originated in biblical-era Israel and are more closely related to Jews from other parts of the world than they are to non-Jewish North Africans, according to a new genetics study. The study “strengthens the case for a biological basis for Jewishness,” said medical geneticist Harry Ostrer of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, who led the study.However, his research also found that Ethiopian Jews are so distantly related to other Jews that their community must have been founded by only a few itinerants, who converted local people to Judaism.The latest research builds on an earlier study that found significant genetic similarity between European and Middle Eastern Jews. Among the new findings: Jews from Morocco and Algeria are more closely related to Jews from Europe, while Jews from Tunisia and Libya are more closely related to those in the Middle East.That DNA evidence lends credence to accounts that in 312 B.C., Egypt’s king settled Jews in what is now Tunisia. The traditional belief, now bolstered, is that after the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70, 30,000 Jews were deported to Carthage, in what is now Tunisia.One surprising finding: Georgian Jews are closely related to those of the Middle East, including those in Iraq and Iran."

Also, at CiFWatch:Islamic Human Rights Commission & Al Quds Day: Tip of the UK’s Iranian support network iceberg

Plus: Neo-Nazi flash mobs strike German cities, aim to become 'immortal' on YouTube (h/t O)

And at Palwatch: PA TV music video honors killer of 13

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It's been a fun ride so far!

PalArab "civil society" isn't very civil

I've noted before that anti-Israel BDSers claim that they are supported by "Palestinian civil society" - which is really a collection of mostly tiny organizations, many of which are not even based in the areas of British Mandate Palestine.

Here's another example of how this "Palestinian civil society" is anything but civil, as they attack a true Palestinian Arab success story who (quixotically) wants a two-state solution:

The Palestinian billionaire Munib Al-Masri, a former Palestinian Authority minister, has become the latest target of a boycott drive aimed at ending normalization efforts between Israelis and Palestinians.

Masri has been singled out by the Boycott National Committee (BNC) for discussing the Arab League’s 2002 Peace Initiative with Israeli businessman Rami Levy, at a meeting at one of Levy’s supermarkets in the West Bank, as part of an effort to persuade Israelis to take the initiative seriously.

Masri told the Palestinian Ma’an news agency on August 1 that a group of independent Palestinians has launched an effort to revive the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, a peace plan outline adopted by the Arab League but largely disregarded by Israeli decision makers. Masri said the Palestinians intended to reintroduce the plan to members of Israeli civil society “across the political spectrum.”

“In order to make sure that this initiative is taken seriously on the Israeli side, we are trying to present it to various Israeli elements, especially from outside the peace camp,” Masri told Ma’an. “The peace camp is a traditional supporter of the initiative, but these days it does not influence Israeli public opinion or developments inside Israel.”

Masri’s search for an unlikely Israeli partner led him to supermarket mogul Rami Levy. But since a number of Levy’s supermarkets are located in the West Bank, the entire chain has been branded by BNC as supporting the settlement enterprise.

In a statement published on Bethlehem Radio 2000 on Saturday, BNC lambasted Masri for meeting with Rami Levy — a meeting reported by Israeli daily Haaretz on July 24 – at the Etzion Bloc supermarket branch.

“The warm relationship revealed recently between a segment of Palestinian capital and Israeli capital is among the worst kinds of normalization,” the BNC statement read. “It gives the occupation-state a fig leaf with which to cover its continued occupation, ethnic cleansing, and racism.”

The statement asserted that the Arab Peace Initiative had been rejected by Palestinians, since it ignored the rights of Arab Israelis and attempted to eliminate the “right of return” of Palestinian refugees by calling for “an agreed upon solution” to their plight through negotiations with Israel.

The statement ended by demanding that the PLO put an end to the meetings between Masri and Levy.

Actually, about two-thirds of Palestinian Arabs supported the Arab peace initiative when it came out, and even today most continue to support it. (Israelis, for very good reasons, continue to reject it.)

Nevertheless, it is clear that al-Masri represents the feelings of most Palestinian Arabs far more than his Israel-bashing detractors.

When the BDSers tell credulous Westerners that they represent Palestinian Arab opinion - they are lying. And they know it.

Most ME Muslims believe in Mahdi's imminent return. And in Jinn.

The latest Pew survey of worldwide Muslims show a great deal of superstition in the Middle East:

People talk about Jewish and Christian messianism as a great stumbling block to peace, making the assumption that zealots would purposefully provoke a cataclysmic war in order to bring about end times. But these results indicate that we should be much more afraid that Muslims would act in accordance with their own superstitious beliefs.

Think about it: hundreds of millions of Muslims are expecting the Mahdi not just to come - but to come in the very near future. Combine that with the amount of other supernatural beliefs and we have an explosion just waiting to happen.

It is also stunning that Mahdiism is not only a Shi'a belief, as it is usually portrayed in the West - the poll makes clear that a significant number of Sunnis believe in his arrival as well.

This is very scary stuff.

(h/t @WarpedMirrorPMB)

Lebanon, Jordan worried about Syrian terror cells

The Daily Star Lebanon reports on the latest uproar in that country:

A military judge begins investigations Monday into former Minister Michel Samaha, who along with a high-ranking Syrian military official, was formally charged in a terror plot aimed at destabilizing Lebanon.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Sunday that the results of the investigation would determine the stance to be taken in order to defend the country’s sovereignty.

The charges against Samaha, a longtime ally and friend of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and the chief of Syrian National Security Bureau Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk, threaten to further strain the already tense relations between Lebanon and Syria following a series of deadly incidents on the shared border between the two countries.

Samaha’s reported confessions to his involvement in the terror plot sparked calls by some March 14 politicians for Lebanon to sever ties with the Assad regime.

Samaha, a former MP and two-time information minister, was charged Saturday by Lebanon’s Military Tribunal with plotting to assassinate political and religious figures in the country and planning terrorist attacks.

In an unprecedented move, Mamlouk and a Syrian brigadier general, who was identified as Brig. Gen. Adnan, were also included in the indictment.

Jordan is alarmed:

Jordanian officials in Amman are openly expressing concern over the possible existence of a "Jordanian Michel Samaha" on their land, noting that they have repeatedly arrested "Syrian sleeper cells" in a number of Jordanian cities which are hosting large number of Syrian refugees.

The Lebanese authorities' accusations leveled against former minister and MP Michel Samaha, including his alleged involvement in plots to carry out bombings in various areas under the guidance of the Syrian regime, has seemingly had a significant effect on Jordan. This has prompted some elements within the Jordanian government to sound the alarm and call for greater caution. Some Jordanian newspapers even rushed to openly express their concern over "the presence of a Michel Samaha among Jordanian supporters of the Syrian regime.”

Jordanian security services have declared a state of security alert since the beginning of the popular uprising in their northern neighbor. Subsequently, security services have also formed a so-called "strategic security cell," which includes senior officials from state institutions, especially the General Intelligence Directorate.

According to statements made by a prominent Jordanian minister to Al-Hayat, in only a short period of time, this cell managed to "monitor Syrian cells hidden in northern areas," Besides monitoring individuals who presented themselves as defectors from the Syrian army but turned out to be Syrian security elements entering into Jordan to spy. Furthermore, the Security Directorate of Jordan previously confirmed that the relevant apparatuses had foiled arms smuggling operations from Syria.

It seems likely that Iran is behind this. They make no secret that they want the Jordanian regime to fall, as their media approvingly quotes Islamic Jihad:

Representative of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement in Tehran Abu Sharif stressed that the recent popular uprisings in the region have harmed the interests of Israel and are breaking the security chain around the Zionist regime.

"These developments (popular uprisings) in the region are in the interest of the regional nations and against the interests of the Zionist regime and have disturbed the power balance between the supporters and opponents of the Zionist regime," Abu Sharif said.

He pointed to the blows struck at the Zionist regime since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and stated, "30 years ago, the Islamic Revolution in Iran inflicted great damage on Israel. The deterioration of relations between Turkey and Israel was the second blow at the regime and (Hosni) Mubarak's fall in Egypt was another blow."

"If the regional changes reach Jordan, the Israeli regime will lose the last part of its security chain."

Morsi appoints Islamist VP, breaking election promise

The Guardian reported in June:

Mohamed Morsi's first appointments as president-elect of Egypt will be a woman and a Coptic Christian, his spokesman has told the Guardian, as he moves to allay fears of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Sameh el-Essawy said that although the names of the two choices had not been finalised, they would be Morsi's two vice-presidents.

When the appointments go through, they will constitute the first time in Egypt's history that either a woman or a Coptic Christian has occupied such an elevated position in the executive branch.

The Muslim Brotherhood is at pains to calm fears of what an Islamist president might mean for Egypt and the region at large. Appointing both a woman and a Coptic Christian is an attempt at a show of unity, and a rule by consensus.

The story was also reported by CNN and earlier by Egyptian media.

Well...there goes another election promise:

As part of a number of sweeping reshuffles and appointments made within the government and armed forces on Sunday, a new vice president, Mahmoud Mekki, was appointed.

... Mekki was suggested as a possible candidate to be fielded by the Muslim Brotherhood in the 2012 presidential elections. The nomination, however, was given to Brotherhood leader Khairat El-Shater, and then Mohamed Morsi, following El-Shater's disqualification from the presidential race.

The Mekkis are considered to be affiliated with the Brotherhood due to their Islamist leanings, although they are not official members of the organisation.

Remember all those articles about how the world needn't fear an Islamist leadership in Egypt?

So far, Morsi is doing exactly what critics of the "Arab Spring" predicted an Islamist leader would do.

Did Morsi fire Tantawi over Rafah crossing?

Yesterday, Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi replaced the leadership of the Egyptian army, including Defense Minister Mohammed Hussein Tantawi who was the leader of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

Arabic media today is reporting that Morsi and Tantawi had a sharp argument in the hours before the dismissal.

According to multiple articles, Tantawi said that he had evidence that the militants who were attacking Egyptian soldiers and others in the Sinai came from Gaza, and he insisted that the Rafah crossing be closed once and for all because of the magnitude of the threat to Egyptian national security.

Morsi, who had made promises to Hamas to enlarge the Rafah crossing, responded that Palestinian Arabs would never accept such a closure.

Tantawi said that this was a military decision, and the SCAF is the party that should make this decision. Morsi cut him off, saying "I am the Supreme Commander of the armed forces."

Tantawi and other military leaders were replaced within hours, according to these reports.

Tunisia draft constitution forbids normalization with "Zionism"

From the draft Tunisian constitution:

Chapter 27: All forms of normalization with Zionism and the Zionist entity a crime punishable by law.

This makes it sound as if it is not only illegal for the state to ever establish relations with Israel - a strange enough clause to include in a constitution - but that any Tunisian cannot have anything to do with Israelis or Israeli products.

It might be a fun idea for Israelis to start emailing Tunisian officials, or tweeting them, trying to get them to respond....

Egypt now censoring history

From Al Ahram:

The Egyptian Print Censorship Authority has banned the import of A History of the Modern Middle East by eminent academics William L Cleveland and Martin Bunton, now in its 12th edition.

Khaled Fahmy, chair of history at the American University in Cairo (AUC), said that he received an email from the university informing him that the book he had requested for his modern Arab history course had been banned from entering the country. The short email did not give any reasons for the ban.

The author of All the Pasha's Men said that he has no idea of why the book was banned especially it does not contain anything that is particularly contentious. Fahmy thinks "it's an excellent simple book for the freshmen students of the modern history of the Mideast. I've been using this book for almost 10 years, for its simple smooth presentation of the modern Arab history."

Fahmy expressed dismay at the ban."It's strange how we as a society give the responsibility of the Egyptian National Security to some clerks in the Print Censorship Authority, who prove everyday that they lack the basic knowledge of the priorities of scientific research, as well as their disregard of national security too."

Books that relate in particular to Egyptian military affairs since the 1950s are more likely to be banned than others. Fahmy asserted that the best way to protect national security is by making books available, not banning them.

The Egyptian Print Censorship Authority could not be reached for comment.

So far we have print media, broadcast media and academia being censored under the new Egypt. What's next?

Israel electric company threatens to pull plug on West Bank

From Ma'an:

An Israeli electricity company has threatened to cut off supplies to the West Bank over unpaid debts, a Palestinian electricity company official said Monday.

The Jerusalem Electricity Company received an official warning from the Israeli Electric Corporation that it would cut off electricity due to unpaid debts amounting to 424 million shekels ($105 million), Hasan Muslih, a member of the JEC's board of directors, told Ma'an.

A major reason for the accumulation of debt is that refugee camps in the West Bank refuse to pay their bills, Muslih said. There is also a disparity in the buying and selling tariff of electricity, he added.

The threatened cut to supplies would affect areas in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Jericho, Muslih said, adding that power cuts in the West Bank could become as frequent as in the Gaza Strip.

The Jerusalem Electricity Company has organized a campaign to collect unpaid bills.

The "refugee" camps aren't paying their bills...I wonder if UNRWA usually takes care of that or not.

Of course, if IEC does cut off electricity, the world will blame Israel. Because free electricity is a human right, at least for a small percentage of humans.

Monday links

From Ian:

Former PA minister and billionaire slammed by Palestinian boycott group for discussing peace with supermarket mogul

“The Palestinian billionaire Munib Al-Masri, a former Palestinian Authority minister, has become the latest target of a boycott drive aimed at ending normalization efforts between Israelis and Palestinians.”
Masri has been singled out by the Boycott National Committee (BNC) for discussing the Arab League’s 2002 Peace Initiative with Israeli businessman Rami Levy, at a meeting at one of Levy’s supermarkets in the West Bank, as part of an effort to persuade Israelis to take the initiative seriously.
“The statement asserted that the Arab Peace Initiative had been rejected by Palestinians, since it ignored the rights of Arab Israelis and attempted to eliminate the “right of return” of Palestinian refugees by calling for “an agreed upon solution” to their plight through negotiations with Israel.
The statement ended by demanding that the PLO put an end to the meetings between Masri and Levy.”

Sinai: New Islamic Terror Emirate? by Khaled Abu Toameh

"The Egyptians were the first to condemn Israel each time it fired back at terrorists who launched rockets and missiles at Israeli cities and communities. The Egyptians are finally learning that terrorism is a double-edged sword, and that those who approve of terror activities will one day find themselves targeted by the same terrorists."

'Incitement Index' shows PA facilitates demonization of Israel

Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon presents "Index of Incitement" to Knesset Index finds that Palestinian Authority is actively working against normalization with Israel on all levels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Palestinian Authority is incapable of adopting a dialogue of peace.

Khamenei's Sacred Word: Destroy Israel by Clifford May

“There's nothing wrong with negotiating with your enemies. There is something wrong if you don't know that those sitting across the table from you are your enemies. Too many Americans, Europeans and even Israelis still don't grasp that Iran's rulers—not average Iranians, but those who wield power—believe it is their sacred obligation to destroy us. This is not some misunderstanding that can be resolved through outreach, diplomacy, engagement and "confidence-building measures." It is at the core of their ideology and theology. We know this because they tell us, clearly and repeatedly. More Americans should understand this—and keep it in mind as the debate goes forward.”
“In his presentation in Jerusalem, Aznar recalled another meeting, this one with Vladimir Putin, in which he advised the Russian president against selling missiles to Iran. "Don't worry—I, you, we can sell them everything, even if we are worried by an Iranian nuclear bomb," Aznar quoted Putin as saying. "Because at the end of the day, Israel will take care of it."”

US didn’t foresee 9/11, officials in Jerusalem say, after White House claims it would know if Iran was about to get the bomb

Withering response from anonymous sources in Israel to Obama spokesman’s attempt at reassurance

Turkey: Gender-based violence leading cause of death for women aged 15-44

More Turk Bias Against Greeks, Armenians

“Armenians, for example, need not apply. They are by law unable to own housing or businesses in Turkey. Greeks have it better. They are merely banned from purchasing houses or stores in Istanbul and coastal provinces. Such discrimination is rooted in Turkish historical animus.”

Widow of murdered Yemenite Jew immigrates to Israel

Luiza Nahari, a Yemenite Jew whose husband, Moshe, was murdered in their hometown of Raydah in December 2008, immigrated to Israel on Sunday morning with four of her children.

The birth of a new games: How one inspirational man escaped the Nazis and created the modern day Paralympics

“A pioneering neurologist who fled Nazi Germany for a safer life in Britain could never have dreamed that a low-key archery contest for war veterans with horrific injuries would one day become the London 2012 Paralympic Games.”
“Dr Guttmann's story has now been transformed into an upcoming BBC2 (Best of Men) drama with Eddie Marsan as the German doctor and Rob Brydon as one of his patients, to be screened on Thursday August 14.”

Israel helps India clean up the Ganges river

Israel Daily Picture: The Jerusalem Windmill Will Soon Turn and Mill Again.