Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, September 10, 2012

Those evil Israelis helping Gaza farmers again

From COGAT, part of the IDF:

On Tuesday, the Gaza District Coordination and Liaison held a day-long preparatory seminar in anticipation of the export season. Starting in November, strawberries will be exported from the Gaza Strip to European markets. The seminar was planned and coordinated by the Coordination and Liaison Administration's agricultural coordinator, Mr. Ori Madar.

The seminar opened with a meeting between the heads of Palestinian farmers' associations and representatives from the Israeli company that will export the crops from Gaza to Europe. The meeting's objective was for the two sides to reach an agreement, and indeed during the meeting the Palestinian farmers signed a marketing contract. In addition, they shared with Mr. Madar their expectations and needs for the upcoming export season, and he will address them in order for the export to go as comfortably and smoothly as possible

Later in the day, 40 Palestinian farmers heard a lecture delivered by Mr. Nabil Ganaim, a world expert in growing strawberries. His lecture provided the farmers with knowledge about growing and exporting strawberries, with the goal of helping them produce crops that adhere to the standards of the European market.

In anticipation of the conference, Mr. Madar organized and coordinated all aspects of the day, including permits for the farmers who attended the seminar at the District Coordination and Liaison offices. At the beginning of the day, Khatib Mansour, commander of the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration, greeted and welcomed the Palestinian farmers. He emphasized that Israeli support for exporting crops is strong and will continue.

Strawberries are not the only crop being exported: the Coordination and Liaison Administration is preparing more conferences in the upcoming weeks, in order to prepare the Administration and Palestinian farmers for exporting more vegetables and spices.

Naturally, this meeting didn't make it into the Arab press.

I wonder if Gaza farmers who export their goods via Israel are "collaborators"?

IAEA "frustrated" by Iranian coverup of nuke work

From Radio Netherlands:

The head of the UN atomic agency hit out Monday at Iran's refusal to address allegations of nuclear weapons research and called on Tehran to allow access to a suspect military site "without further delay".

"Despite the intensified dialogue between the Agency and Iran since January 2012, no concrete results have been achieved so far," Yukiya Amano said at the start of an International Atomic Energy Agency board meeting.

"This is frustrating because, without Iran's full engagement, we will not be able to start the process to resolve all outstanding issues, including those involving possible military dimensions to its nuclear programme.

"We consider it essential for Iran to engage with us without further delay on the substance of our concerns," Amano said, according to the text of his speech released by the Vienna-based IAEA.

Amano also said that activities at the Parchin military base near Tehran, where Iran is accused of having carried out weapons research and of removing evidence in recent months, "will have an adverse impact on our ability to undertake effective verification there".

Activities spotted at Parchin by satellite "further strengthen our assessment that it is necessary to have access to the location at Parchin without further delay in order to obtain the required clarifications," Amano said.

So what's the level of "frustration" that constitutes a red line? A mushroom cloud?

Muslims freak over "Judaizing" Christian concert south of Temple Mount

The Aqsa Foundation has released another seething press release that has been copied verbatim throughout the Arabic media world about the latest Israeli crimes.

And today's crime was a concert held last night by the southern wall of the Temple Mount.

The Foundation says that this concert, attracting foreign tourists, in the days before Rosh Hashanah, is another manifestation of Judaizing Jerusalem.

The Foundation complained that the sound of the music could be heard at the Al Aqsa Mosque and "confused" worshipers, which apparently is a human rights violation. They also really disliked the fact that there were dancers.

The photos of the concert provided in the article show that the singers and the audience were anything but Jewish:

Hmmm... that last photo makes it very hard to argue that the concerts were meant to "Judaize" Jerusalem!

The Al Aqsa Foundation also noted that Jews have been flocking to the Kotel at midnight and early morning to perform the Selichot services done every year before Rosh Hashanah and up until Yom Kippur. They declared that these concerts and prayers will never destroy the Islamic character of Jerusalem.

Notably, when it is in their interest, the Muslim leaders will cooperate with Christian dhimmi leaders of Jerusalem to complain about "Judaization" of the city, but when they are by themselves they will not admit any Christian history in Jerusalem either.

PalArabs protest fuel prices; West Bank paralyzed (update)

Public transport workers in the PA called a general strike today, paralyzing life throughout the West Bank.

People who rely on public transportation were unable to go to work or school.

Beyond that, other protesters have been burning tires to block roads, in Ramallah and Jenin.

Rising fuel prices sparked the protests last week.

Panicked citizens have been buying up bread as they fear that bakery owners will join the strike. The bakers say that they won't, but people are worried about supply lines to the bakeries or that tomorrow they won't be able to even reach the bakeries altogether.

Yesterday, protesters demanded the resignation of Mahmoud Abbas. Up untl now, prime minister Salam Fayyad had been the focus of the protests. The main road between the northern and southern West Bank was blocked yesterday by protesters.

Abbas had a major press conference on Saturday, but as far as I can tell he again did not say a word of support for Fayyad. (UPDATE: He does defend Fayyad to the West here, h/t David G.)

Seeing the writing on the wall, Hamas announced that they would reduce the price of fuel in Gaza, lowering the cost of fuel by 20 agorot a liter.

UPDATE: Protests getting violent in Hebron, according to tweeters.

Hamas to build terror museum with Iranian help

The Hamas-based Palestine Times reports that a new museum is being planned in Gaza to commemorate the "resistance," i.e., terrorism.

The Hamas minister of Culture, Youth and Sports signed an agreement with his Iranian counterpart on a number of cultural initiatives, including the terror museum in Gaza.

Minister Mohammed al-Madhoun visited Tehran and met with Iranian President Ahmadinejad and Mohammad Hosseini, his culture minister, along with other Iranian officials. After more than five days of talks the Hamas minister signed a memorandum of cultural cooperation with Iran. They agreed to exchange delegations and have Iran offer training courses in various fields, especially film, for Gazans. One of the major promises was cooperation to build a museum to commemorate the "resistance."

It seems likely that the museum will be patterned after a similar museum in southern Lebanon that Hezbollah uses to indoctrinate youngsters into lives of terrorism.

Egyptian newspaper: How Jews control the world

From Egypt's El Balad, one of the types of articles that seem to be multiplying under the Muslim Brotherhood-controlled Egypt.

It goes into great detail into how Jews are taking over the world:

The close intellectual and spiritual cooperation between the Jews and the British shows their desire to capture the world, and then this cooperation extended to include the United States.

Here are their steps and protocols to achieve this control:

1 - the destruction of any community authority for the benefit of state power
2 - reducing the power of States to increase the authority of the United Nations
3 - put the United Nations authority in the hands of the five permanent members of the Security Council and to have Jews achieve control of the governments of these countries

Here are their steps to destroy the authority of society:

1 - a culture of equality between men and women, so men lose their sense of ownership of the family
2 - fight and destroy the marriage relationship and family authority and make the man and women as a means of producing children to be taken over by state care so the identity of the individual is only as determined by the state.
3 - to justify adultery.
4 - laws on child protection to reduce the power of family and inciting children to disrespect authority of the father or the mother or the family and freedom from any community limitations.
5 - insulting the clergy and ridicule them and show them that they are hypocrites, and incite young people not to obey them.
6 - to prevent beatings or any means of punishment of children in schools so teachers lose their prestige and their ability to control them, and the children are brought up to disrespect anyone.
7 - stripping tribal elders of their material and moral powers
8 - Revolution on popular fashion "folk"; new forms of clothing fashion so citizens lose values of cultural identity.
9 - looting ancient cultures from the minds of the people and replace them with stories and Western films.
10 - rewrite history to guide peoples' cultures, including the historic Islamic stories of our Ancestors and sayings of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
11 - the establishment of parties and political groups that are pro-religious Jews and America, and support for access to the rule, which in turn works to achieve indirect occupation by Jews of America.

I'm not sure whether El-Balad is a state-run newspaper, but its been a while since I saw such raw anti-semitism so explicit in an Egyptian media outlet outside of religious sermons.

The dreaded open thread

Here. Now.

Jordanian protesters arrested for "lèse majesté"

From Ammon News:

Jordanian security forces on Saturday arrested nine Pro-reform activists who belong to the Free Tafileh Movement after tense protests that took place Friday in both the southern governorate of Tafileh, and the Tafileh neighborhood in eastern Amman.

The protests turned violent after pro-reform activists reportedly chanted slogans against the Jordanian regime and insulted King Abdullah II and the Royal Court. Security forces fired tear gas at the protesters and went on a campaign to arrest the activists.

A security source told Ammon News that the slogans chanted during the protest went against Jordanian norms and standards of decency, in addition to defamation, slander, and distorting reputation of top figures in Jordan.

Ammon News learned that the nine activists will be facing five major charges, including breaching security and order, Lese-Majeste, slander and defamation, violating public decency, and opposing the existing regime.

I had wondered why previous protests stayed away from saying anything bad about the king - it is because to protest against the king violates more laws!

I'm not sure if these protesters were Islamist, but there is an Islamist protest scheduled today as well.

Sunday links

From Ian:

Abbas attacks Israel, Hamas over PA economic woes By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

PA president clarifies no date set for UN application; protesters surround PA Prime Minister Fayyad's car, calling on him to resign.
“He also said that he would go the UN General Assembly on September 27 “to consult with friends” about upgrading the status of a Palestinian state in the international agency to non-member.
However, Abbas did not say that he would submit a request to the General Assembly in this regard. No date has been set for filing the application to the UN, he clarified."

Canada’s moral leadership

Canada’s bold words and actions give us Israelis hope that there are indeed many decent people, some of them in positions of power, who will not bow to demonization or to the Orwellian twisting of history and language that often pertains to Israel these days. And they will stand in defense of Israel.

PM: World must follow Canada's example, cut ties with Iran

Netanyahu praises Canada's decision to sever ties with Tehran, says int'l community needs to set down this type of "red line" which sends message "dark regime" mustn't obtain nuclear weapons.

Facebook Fails Review

OHPI (Online Hate Prevention Institute) recently reported a number of antisemitic images to Facebook using the regular reporting facility available to all users. Every one of our reports was swiftly reviewed and swiftly rejected.
Facebook is making a serious effort to respond faster to complaints, but this is meaningless if the response is to invariably reject the complaints. There is also no appeal and we have no details of any internal review process – if there is one, Facebook is welcome to share details to reassure us.

MEMRI Clerics and Experts on Yemeni Houthi TV Indulge in Multiple, Antisemitic 9/11 Conspiracies

'Kill the Jews' Spray-painted in New Jersey

Residents of a neighborhood in Monmouth Heights, NJ, awoke on Thursday to find swastikas and hate-filled slogans.

Arsonists burn Jewish eatery; 2nd attack at Hollywood plaza

A strip mall where arson destroyed a Judaica store last year became the site of a second fiery attack Friday, when two masked arsonists in hoodies broke into a kosher restaurant and splashed flammable liquid all over the kitchen to make it go up in flames.

Jihadists join Aleppo fight, eye Islamic state, surgeon says

The foreign jihadists included young Frenchmen who said they were inspired by Mohammed Merah, a self-styled Islamist militant from Toulouse, who killed seven people in March in the name of al-Qaeda.

Syrian troops storm Palestinian refugee area

Latest act of brute force comes as Syrian Observatory for Human Rights raises estimated death toll in uprising to over 23,000.

Brother of Al-Qaeda leader justifies 9/11 attacks, says group would strike at Israel if it could

‘We consider anyone hostile towards the Muslims to be an enemy, but all in good time,’ says Muhammad Al-Zawahiri, brother of bin Laden’s successor

Iran releases persecuted Christian pastor

Iran’s judiciary issued orders to hang the dissident Christian, arrested in 2009 for seeking to register a home-based church.

Israeli actress wins big at Venice festival

Hadas Yaron takes best actress award for portrayal of a young Hassidic bride in 'Fill the Void.'

Israel: Where US vets come to heal

The unique Heroes to Heroes Journey to Israel gives America’s disabled veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan a spiritual and physical new start.

Mahmoud Abbas' Lies of the Day

From AFP:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday he will make a bid on Sept. 27 to obtain non-member status at the United Nations.

“We will go to the U.N. General Assembly for consultations with our friends on the draft resolution calling for the upgrade of Palestine (to non-member status)” in the United Nations, Abbas said in a televised address.

“We are going to the U.N. to say that we are a state which applies the fourth Geneva convention (on the protection of civilians in time of war). There are 133 countries that recognize us as a state with east Jerusalem as its capital and where we have embassies hoisting the Palestinian flag.”

Given that it has been years since Abbas has condemned rocket attacks against Israeli civilians from Gaza, which he considers part of his territory, the idea that the PA adheres to the Fourth Geneva Convention is laughable. (Not to mention that Abbas' own Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades celebrate rockets fired at Israeli houses.)

Also, according to the official PLO UN page, there are PLO embassies in 80 countries, not 133. More may have opened since that page was updated in January 2011, but 53 seems unlikely.

Peaceful PalArabs rampage, murder, riot. Let's give them a state!

Besides the Grad rockets from Gaza overnight, the Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank were also busy being violent this weekend.

The worst incident was the murder of a Jew:

A 50-year-old man was killed in a suspected hit-and-run accident Sunday morning on Road 505 between the Jewish settlements of Oranit and Elkana.

The man, a security guard who lives in one of the area's communities, was apparently trying to document the entry of illegal Palestinian workers into Israel when he was hit by a car and critically injured.

Police are searching for the driver, who fled the scene of the incident.

Judea and Samaria District Police Commander Amos Yaakov said that "the security guard arrived to document the entry of an illegal resident and tried to stop the vehicle, which kept going at high speed, hit and killed him. It was an intentional hit. We are currently investigating all leads."

There was also an attempted pogrom against a Jewish village:

Hundreds of Palestinian Authority Arabs have been assaulting a Jewish village in the Binyamin region since Saturday afternoon, Tatzpit reports.

Residents of the Jewish village of Esh Kodesh reported that the assault began when three men from the community were walking in one of the town’s vineyards on Saturday afternoon, during the Jewish Sabbath.

The men were attacked by a large Arab mob armed with clubs and sticks, residents said. The attackers apparently came from the nearby PA town of Kotzra.

A security team from Esh Kodesh was called to the scene, as were nearby IDF units. The responders encountered hundreds of PA men armed with rocks and other makeshift weapons, and were unable to stop the assault.

“Children in the village are crying,” community spokesman Aharon Katzuf told Tatzpit. “They can’t sleep because of the screams of ‘Yitbach al Yahud’ [Slaughter the Jews – ed.] and ‘Allahu Akbar.’”

As of Saturday night clashes continued. An IDF spokesperson said, “Security forces are at the scene, and the circumstances are being investigated.”

Palestinian Arab media, not surprisingly, only reports about the security forces' response and nothing about the rampage. Oh, and they also claim that the religious settlers destroyed olive trees and wells on the Sabbath.

There was a similar attack against Esh Kodesh a year ago.

But the violence was not only against Jews. Riots against the PA intensified, as protesters burned vehicles and blocked roads.

Dozens of protesters blocked the main road connecting the south and north West Bank on Sunday morning, witnesses told Ma'an.

The Wadi al-Nar road was jammed with burning tires and rocks, they said, as protests against economic hardship continue across the West Bank.

Several students told Ma'an they were not able to travel to schools and universities because of the protest.

A northern West Bank governor was injured on Saturday night after a protester threw rocks at him during a protest against rising living costs.

Governor of Tubas Marwan Al-Tubasi suffered a moderate head wound when he was hit by a rock in Fara village, he told Ma'an. The governor said he went to the village to appeal to people not to shut down roads and damage property.

Sounds like they are ready for a state, doesn't it?

Rockets from Gaza increase; Netivot house destroyed

From YNet:

Two Grad rockets were fired Saturday night at southern Israel. One of the rockets hit a street in the town of Netivot, while the second one exploded in an open area in Beersheba.

Two houses were badly damaged in Netivot, but luckily there were no injuries in the attack. One of the residents whose house was hit escaped injury by running into the bathroom. "The entire house collapsed on me," he said later.

Only two days ago, on Friday morning, two rockets hit open fields in the Netivot area. There were no injuries. The rocket fire was resumed over the weekend after the Israel Defense Forces increased its attacks in Gaza and assassinated a series of terrorist cells.

Lately, only Salafist groups have been taking responsibility for rockets fired into Israel.

But Grad rockets are smuggled into Gaza, not built there. And Hamas controls every weapons tunnel. Which means that Hamas knowingly allows supposed rogue groups to acquire them.

The only conclusion is that even though Hamas pretends it is suppressing rocket fire, the truth is the opposite. Hamas tacitly encourages these groups to fire rockets but maintains its plausible deniability.

That way, Hamas can look "moderate," while its own media gloats over the damage done to the "Zionist usurpers" in Israeli towns they consider "occupied."