Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, December 14, 2012

Weekend links

Don't ingest them all at once; they are best taken slowly.

From Ian:

LATMA: Up to date Hanukah celebrations and a glimpse at European shock - VIDEO

The ICRC and ‘the occupied territories’

The ICRC’s bias against Israel disgraces its humanitarian mission and its claims of impartiality.
"Using its exclusive position, it turned GC IV – which was intended to ensure the protection of civilians threatened by war and other conflicts – into a political sledgehammer against Israel.The ICRC contrived the term OPT, promoted it in every forum and unilaterally designated what is at best a disputed area as (1) illegally occupied by Israel, (2) belonging to Palestinian Arabs and (3) an unnamed and undefined territory without a history."

Oren: Israel must prepare for ICC action
Ambassador to US says Israel cannot discount possibility that Palestinians, empowered at UN, will take action at int'l court.

"Oren expressed disappointment not only with the Palestinians for going to the UN, but with the European countries who didn’t oppose their move, and said that was particularly because the Palestinian step violated the Oslo Accords to which the Europeans were witnesses."

The Unbearable Silence about the Jewish Refugees by Michael Curtis

"The status of those Jews as refugees has been found to be in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees. The UNHCR announced on two occasions, in February 1957 and in July 1967, that Jews who fled from Arab countries "may be considered prima facie within the mandate of this office," thus regarding them, according to international law, as bona fide refugees."

OpEd: Leunig, your provocative use of Nazi analogies is so tiresome

THERE is a classic joke that tells of two elderly Jews sitting in a Berlin park during the 1930s. Isaac is reading the virulently anti-Jewish Nazi weekly, Der Sturmer, laughing to himself. ''Isaac!'' his Yiddish newspaper-reading friend Simon exclaims. ''How can you read that trash?''
''I used to read the Yiddish press, but all it talked about was Jews getting beaten, expelled from their homes and having their businesses burnt down,'' Isaac responds. ''It made me feel miserable. But here in Der Sturmer I read that Jews are powerful and in control of the world, and it makes me feel great.''

BBC Watch: RTS Chief Exec flags up “culture of denial” at BBC News

"In a speech at his retirement dinner, the outgoing chief executive of the Royal Television Society, Simon Albury, reportedly stated that “the BBC’s news and current affairs departments are beset by a “culture of denial” in which editors are unwilling to “address things that are manifestly wrong”.”

BBC turns Palestinian attacker into passive victim

"The reader is therefore left with a distorted impression of events which implies trigger-happy Israelis needlessly shooting Palestinians. And just in case the reader failed to get the ‘proper’ message, the article reinforces it by ending with the context-free words"

Anti-Semitic cartoons in Toronto-area muslim newspaper - VIDEO

CAMERA: Where's the Coverage? Construction in Truly Occupied Territory

"What about other media coverage of Chinese construction in Tibet? Virtual silence. Although Reuters reported that thousands took to the streets of New York City protesting Chinese occupation of Tibet, there was not a word about the construction.
How much construction is there? More than the 3,000 housing units contemplated for E-1? You betcha."

New Photos of Zoabi with Marmara Terrorists
MK Danon says new pictures of MK Hanin Zoabi with Turkish terrorists could be her downfall.

"A video already released shows Zoabi knew in advance that Turkish men aboard the ship Mavi Marmara, which attempted to forcibly break the IDF naval blockade on Hamas, were planning to attack soldiers. Danon said that in addition to that, there are new photos “that the public has not seen” that he hopes will be revealed in court."

Poll: Only 28% Still Believe in ‘Palestinian Partner’
Only 28.2% of Israelis think Israel has someone to negotiate with. 75% see Netanyahu winning the elections.

Abbas mulls forming confederation with Jordan By Khaled Abu Toameh

PA officials say a confederation would only take place after the creation of a Palestinian state within the pre-1967 lines.
Abbas’s rapprochement with Jordan is the result of a Saudi-Qatari-Turkish alliance that backs Hamas and ignores the PA, the politicians noted.

Palestinian Authority still waiting on emergency funds promised by Arab states
Arab League official says no date has been set for transfer of $100 million to Ramallah

Jordan prince scorned for attending Jewish event
Anti-normalization groups up in arms over British fundraiser held less than a week after the end of Operation Pillar of Defense.

Despite Controversial Israel Policy, Chuck Hagel Is Frontrunner for Defense Secretary Position
“He is one of the most hostile critics of Israel that has ever been in the Senate,” Morton Klein, President of the Zionist Organization of America told The Algemeiner bluntly.

Swedish gallery pulls art made of Holocaust victims’ ashes

Painting with burned remains from Majdanek death camp removed following protests
“I think pulling the exhibition was the right decision,” said Shimon Samuels, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s director of international relations. “I would further insist the painting be returned to Majdanek for burial there.”

Public menorah vandalized in Sicily
Incident marks second year in a row that assailants have destroyed Hanukkah symbol

“Taking this all together, it’s clear that we are dealing with an anti-Semitic act of intolerance,” Benito Triolo, president of the Jewish cultural association B’nai Isaac, told the local Catania news website CTzen it. B’nai Isaac organized the menorah lightings, which were staged for the first time four years ago.”

Israel Launches Public Diplomacy Department in Arabic

"Israel’s Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Ministry has opened a Public Diplomacy Department in Arabic. A statement released by the Ministry states that the department “will be responsible for conducting public diplomacy activities for the media and public opinion on a global level in general and among Arab countries and the Middle East in particular.”

For better or worse, cybersecurity a growth industry for Israel
No one is happy about the greatly increased need for cyberdefense. But some Israeli start-ups may keep hacks at bay

"Years after Israel established itself as a leader in computer security — with companies like Checkpoint introducing the information technology world to concepts such as firewalls — new companies like Cyvera, Lacoon Security, and Zimperium will provide new solutions to the more advanced cyber threats challenging today’s businesses, governments, and individual computer owners."

Also:
Funny fake BDS page spoofing one of their main websites

Barry Rubin - Why Islamists always win in their societies

Jonathan Schanzer in Foreign Policy - After Abbas...Hamas.

Israel winning in Europe

Sure, the Jewish state may have liked a few more 'no' votes in their camp, but given the choice, Israel would take tangible results over symbolic victories at the UN any day.

Regrettably, when commentators lament how Israel has 'lost' Europe, they overlook the impressive list of achievements by this government in the past four years.

Ben Dror Yemini - Ethiopian integration into Israeli society going faster than any other group (Hebrew, h/t Yoel)

Americans continue to sympathize far more with Israel

From Pew Research:

For decades, the public has sympathized with Israel over the Palestinians and that remains the case today. Overall, 50% say they sympathize more with Israel, compared with just 10% who say they sympathize more with the Palestinians; almost a quarter (23%) do not offer an opinion while 13% volunteer that they sympathize with neither side, and 4% say both.

Attitudes on this question have been stable over the past six years, after showing more volatility in the middle of the last decade.

There continue to be stark partisan differences in Middle East sympathies. Conservative Republicans maintain strong support for Israel with fully 75% saying they sympathize with Israel compared with just 2% who sympathize with the Palestinians. By contrast, liberal Democrats are much more divided: 33% sympathize more with Israel, 22% with the Palestinians. Independents sympathize more with Israel by a 47% to 13% margin.

Among religious groups, white evangelical Protestants remain strongly supportive of Israel. Two-thirds (67%) say they sympathize more with Israel; only 5% say they sympathize more with the Palestinians. Opinion among other religious groups is more mixed. Catholics, for example, offer more sympathy for Israel than the Palestinians by a 44% to 11% margin.

There also are age differences in Mideast sympathies. About four-in-ten (38%) people younger than 30 sympathize more with Israel than the Palestinians. That is only slightly lower than the percentage of 30-49 year olds who sympathize with Israel (46%). However, more than half of those 50 and older (58%) sympathize with Israel more than the Palestinians. Age differences were more modest in 2011 and 2010.

Note that even the one group that was least sympathetic to Israel, liberal Democrats, shows that they are 50% more likely to sympathize with Israel than with the Palestinian Arabs.

And moderate Democrats were more sympathetic to Israel by nearly a 6-1 margin. Not the 37-1 of conservatives, but still very pro-Israel.

This must drive the haters completely bananas. Their shrillness gives the impression that they are mainstream, but they don't represent US liberals any more than Neturei Karta represent Jews.

I would love to see how J-Street members would answer the questions.

Egyptian preacher says Jews behind anti-Morsy protests

From Egypt's Youm7 today:

The preacher in the Al-Madina Al-Munawara mosque in the Faysal quarter of the city of Suez vehemently attacked all those demonstrating against Muhammad Mursi and the constitution, describing them as "saboteurs", and that they are like the Jews, destroying Egypt, and that Israel and the Jews are training them to do that. These words raised the ire of a large number of the people who prayed there.

Ashraf Muhsin, a leader in the "Suez Youth Bloc" movement told the "Yawm Al-Sabi'" [newspaper] that after the prayers he spoke to the preacher asking for proof about the Jews training the demonstrators. The preacher refused and a verbal confrontation and a brawl broke out.

(Muhsin) said, "Some of the sheikhs and the preacher tried to drive me out of the mosque and accused me of deception. They said that the Islamic media said that the (anti-Mursi/constitution) demonstrators are agents working for the Jews, this is the truth, and they (the sheikhs and the preacher) believe this."

Note that the people were not upset at the sheikh's anti-semitism - but at the idea that the Egyptian opposition could be in cahoots with Jews.

(h/t al-Gharqad for translation help)

Facebook comments vs. Hamas (video)

A nice video From StandWithUs:

Jewish War Heroes #1 (1944 comic book)

I stumbled across this gem, released by the Canadian Jewish Congress in 1944.

There were three issues in total. Here is the first; I will publish the other two over the next two Fridays.

Jewish War Heroes 1

Understanding the Settlements: A Primer (The David Project)

From The David Project, a fair and accurate backgrounder about the Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria.

(h/t Ruchie)

Egypt bans "romantic" songs on state TV

From Al Arabiya:

The broadcasting of any “romantic” songs or music videos on Egyptian state television channels has been banned, a state-run newspaper announced on Thursday, adding that only “patriotic” tunes will be allowed to be aired.

Nationalistic tunes “that are worth broadcasting” will be allowed on the country’s 23 state-owned channels, the al-Ahram news website reported.

Meanwhile, sarcastic songs mocking public figures will be also banned because of the “sensitiveness of the political situation,” it said.

Maybe it is time for someone to make a romantic song about Morsi.

PalArabs violently protest UNRWA

The culture of entitlement continues:

Refugees continued to protest UNRWA cuts in West Bank camps on Thursday, burning tires and forcing staff from their offices.

Demonstrators shut down the UN agency's offices across the West Bank for the second day in protest over the dismissal of 130 employees and cuts to services.

In Bethlehem, dozens of protesters forced staff from the UNRWA center and burned tires, carrying signs condemning the decision to fire workers.

Sameer Attallah, popular committee member in Aida camp, said demonstrations sent a message to UNRWA's administration and that protests would escalate. He said the cuts were the first stage in withdrawing services to Palestinian refugees.

UNRWA is heavily dependent on voluntary contributions, which it says have not kept pace with the increasing needs of a growing refugee population.

Of course the budget of UNRWA cannot keep pace with the "growing refugee population" - because UNRWA refuses to come up with a definition of "refugee" that is remotely in sync with the rest of the world.

As I have shown, far less than 1% of those receiving free UNRWA services are true "refugees." And even if you include descendants of refugees in your definition, only about 20% of those receiving UNRWA services are deserving (the remainder are either Jordanian citizens or already live in "Palestine.")

But as this article shows, UNRWA is not the only party to blame. The "refugees" themselves in the camps that scandalously remain operational even within Areas A and B - under PA rule and in Gaza under Hamas - are not interested in becoming productive citizens of their own communities, but instead they demand more and more free services. These hypocrites close down the very UNRWA offices that they demand services from and deny those very same services to their neighbors.

They have been raised in UNRWA schools to learn that violence is the only way to get anything accomplished.

Instead of the UN looking at ways to slowly eliminate the "refugee" problem, countries continue to enable it. Only this week millions were donated to UNRWA from Japan, Malaysia. and Switzerland. And no one has the guts to say that this is not a sustainable model. The UN shoudl create a plan to close the "refugee" camps and integrate the residents into their host countries, with UNRWA funds being given directly to governments to offset the cost of integration over the next decade.

It will never happen, though, because these people are being kept in misery for one single reason: to continuously blame Israel.

Chanukah video night 6: Chanukah Time (Josh & the Jamtones)

Thursday links

From Ian:

Radical and Moderate Palestinians Who Is More Popular? by Khaled Abu Toameh

"Erekat and the rest of the Palestinian Authority leadership do not see Hamas's ambition of destroying Israel is an obstacle to peace -- nor do they see that the real threat to the two-state solution is Hamas and the unwillingness of many Palestinians to accept Israel's right to exist.
Abbas, Erekat and other relatively moderate Palestinian leaders represent a dwindling minority of Palestinians that still believes in the two-state solution and peace with Israel. As demonstrated by last week's Hamas celebrations, an increased number of Palestinians have still not come to terms with Israel's right to exist."

Abbas condemns Hamas head’s statements; Likud doesn’t buy it
Hatnua chair Livni congratulates PA president for taking stand against calls for Israel’s destruction; she’s ‘burying her head in the sand,’ PM’s party says

PMW: Fatah glorifies Hamas' rockets from Gaza against Israel and supports armed conflict

"The Palestinian Authority and Fatah condemned Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense that aimed at destroying Hamas’ terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. It never once condemned Hamas’ rocket attacks on Israel during the 8-day conflict.
Instead, senior PA and Fatah leaders “bless Hamas,” “praise and salute” the launching of rockets against Israel, and even advocate “armed struggle.”
Five Fatah Central Committee members have recently lauded Hamas and Islamic Jihad for their rocket attacks against Israel and/or promoted the use of armed struggle."

Ehud Olmert’s Peace Delusion

"It seems that the Palestinian strategy for peace is this: Force the Israelis to give up land for “peace,” then use terror attacks and international pressure to force them to give up more. Repeat until Israel is no longer recognizable or defendable. This being the case, how can Israel be expected to trust in Abbas that he doesn’t share Hamas’ view on Israel’s right to exist?"

Israeli Envoy Sees Radicals Risk Preferable to Assad

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren said the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would be a boon to Israel and the Mideast, even if radical Islamists try to fill the vacuum left by his departure.
“There’s the possibility that you’ll have Sunni extremist elements who will try to come to the fore,” Oren said yesterday in Washington. “Our opinion is that any situation would be better than the current situation” in which the Syrian regime has a strategic alliance with Iran and the Lebanese Shiite Muslim terrorist group Hezbollah, he said.

Barkat: E1 building will strengthen Jerusalem
In Wall Street Journal op-ed, J'lem Mayor denounces global condemnation of E1 construction plans, says building will strengthen city.

"In this respect, he said that the push to divide "the united...capital of the state of Israel" is misguided, as "no divided city in history has ever succeeded."
"Isn't it ironic," Barkat continued, "that many in Europe who recently celebrated 25 years of the reunification of Berlin are at the same time calling for the division of another capital on another continent?"

BDS-linked professor to chair California university anti-Semitism task force

“Manzar Foroohar, a professor connected to the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, has been selected to chair a committee aimed at combating anti-Semitism in the California State University (CSU) system."

CAMERA: FBI Figures: Still No ‘Wave of Islamophobia’

“Nearly half of hate crimes reported in 2011 were racially motivated,” The Baltimore Sun noted (“U.S. hate crimes decline,” December 11). Religious bias accounted for nearly one-fifth of the total. “Thirteen percent of the 936 religious bias crimes were anti-Islamic, but the large majority [63.2] were anti-Semitic in nature.”

Proposed Army manual tells G.I.s not to insult Taliban, speak up for women

The draft handbook offers a list of "taboo conversation topics" that soldiers should avoid, including "making derogatory comments about the Taliban," "advocating women's rights,"
"any criticism of pedophilia," "any criticism of pedophilia," "directing any criticism toward Afghans," "mentioning homosexuality and homosexual conduct" or "anything related to Islam," according to the Journal.

UN Watch: Human Rights Day Marred by Election of Slave-holding Mauritania as VP of UN Human Rights Council

"According to a recent report by the Guardian, "up to 800,000 people in a nation of 3.5 million remain chattels," with power and wealth overwhelmingly concentrated among lighter-skinned Moors, "leaving slave-descended darker-skinned Moors and black Africans on the edges of society."Despite having murdered tens of thousands of its own people, the Bashar al-Assad regime remains a full member of UNESCO's human rights committee, "and no one at UNESCO seems to care the slighest bit," said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer.

A war-wary terrorist
By all indications, these days Nasrallah is sweating bullets under his turban.

"First, the decapitation of Hamas with the targeted killing of its military chief Ahmed Jabari, which opened the operation, affirms that Israel’s policy of targeted killings has been further perfected. The seamless synergy between precise real-time intelligence, hair trigger reaction and pinpoint accuracy responsible for he hit on Jabari amounts to a tactical breakthough which surely did not escape Nasrallah’s attention. It was as if the IDF was “roof knocking” (a tactic where occupants are warned by the Israeli military to escape just ahead of bombing a terrorist target) on his bunker. Moreover, Nasrallah must now suspect he would be the first target of any future Hezbollah-Israeli conflict."

Israelis and Palestinians to meet in Jordan in February, King Abdullah says

Jordanian monarch bashes Egypt for harming kingdom economically and marginalizing it diplomatically, Arab paper reports Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev refused to comment on the report, and a Palestinian government spokesman was not available for comment.

US denies holding backchannel talks with Hamas

State Department urges Israel to reconsider withholding PA tax revenues; Ashton reportedly ‘shocked’ by Liberman statement comparing Europe’s stance on Mashaal speech to Holocaust era inaction

Four EU states reportedly tried to foil condemnation of Mashaal hate speech

"According to an Israel Radio report Wednesday, Denmark, Finland, Portugal and Ireland pressured European foreign ministers to condemn Israel solely for its E1 settlement construction plan at a meeting of the body’s foreign council Monday.
In the end, the statement included a brief rebuke of Hamas’s call for Israel’s destruction, after an 11th-hour intervention by Germany and the Czech Republic, Israel Radio reported."

Congress seeks to double US funding of anti-missile cooperation with Israel
In wake of Pillar of Defense success, Iron Dome spending may balloon from $210 million to $680 million

"A letter sent Wednesday by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.) to the top senators on the Armed Services Committee urges them to agree to the higher House increase in the bicameral conference talks that finalize the act."

India Expresses Desire for Iron Dome System

"India wants the Iron Dome defense system. Defense News reports that India and Israel are cooperating on the development of weapons systems and that India’s main wish is to acquire the Iron Dome on a “buy and build” basis. This means India wants to acquire it and obtain a license from Israel for its manufacture."