Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Sunday Links

From Ian:

Howard Jacobson: It’s official: thanks to Stephen Hawking's Israel boycott, anti-Semitism is no more

Why is Israel alone of all offending countries to be boycotted? Perhaps because it's that offending country which also just happens to be Jewish?

And now, with Stephen Hawking announcing, by means of an Israeli-made device, that he no longer wants to talk to the scientists who invented it, or to Israeli scientists who invented or might invent anything else, or indeed to Israeli historians, critics, biologists, physicists of any complexion, no matter what their relations to Palestinian scholars whom he does want to talk to, we are reminded that the cultural boycott with which he has suddenly decided to throw in his lot is entirely unJew-related, which is more good news. “Peace”, that is all Professor Hawking seeks, a word that was left out of his statement as reproduced on the Palestine Solidarity Campaign website, presumably on the grounds that everyone already knows that peace is all the PSC has ever wanted too. (h/t Yerushalimey)

Naqba — Commemorating a Self-Inflicted Tragedy

As Israel’s UN ambassador Abba Eban was to put it, “Once you determine the responsibility for that war, you have determined the responsibility for the refugee problem. Nothing in the history of our generation is clearer or less controversial than the initiative of Arab governments for the conflict out of which the refugee tragedy emerged.”
However, the Palestinians do not mourn today the ill-conceived choice of going to war to abort Israel. They mourn only that they failed.

Erasing Sykes-Picot

Much has been written about whether the instability in Iraq, the warfare in Syria and the crises this causes for Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan, the Kurdish drive for autonomy (at least) in Iraq and Turkey, will at some point combine to unravel the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement between France and England. Put another way, the question is whether the borders established in the context of the First World War will stick.

Beyond the BBC mantra on ‘international law’

Of course that simplistic, politicised statement glosses over a multitude of differing opinions and factors, many of which are touched upon in this video from Shalom TV in which Professor Eugene Kontorovich of Northwestern University provides interesting food for thought. (1hr video)

Jews harassed in Malmö, May 2013 German TV

Security Chief: IDF Taking Off the Silk Gloves

The IDF is ending its ‘silk glove treatment’ of Arabs who attack Israeli towns with rocks and firebombs, security chief says.

Babies Narrowly Escape Rock Attack

Arab gang hits father-of-three, babies in back seat have narrow escape.

Netanyahu: Israel Acting to Deny Hizbullah Syrian Arms

Israel preventing Syrian weapons from reaching Hizbullah and will continue to do so, Netanyahu says.

Report: Syrian Army Aiming Missiles at Tel Aviv

The Syrian army has begun deploying advanced surface-to-surface missiles and has aimed them at Tel Aviv, the British Sunday Times reports.

Congress set to tighten economic noose on Iran

The US House and Senate are set to advance two bills that would significantly expand US sanctions on Iran beyond the financial and energy sectors and offer support for Israel in case of a confrontation with Tehran.

Spike in Threats to US Embassies in Sunni Middle East

The Wall Street Journal – The U.S. is seeing a spike in al Qaeda-related terror plots and threats against its embassies in Libya, Yemen and Egypt, say current and former U.S. officials citing domestic and foreign intelligence reports.

Israel, Turkey and gas
It is becoming evident that a veiled agenda underpinned the recent Turkish willingness to consider a rapprochement with Israel.

Turkey grows increasingly dependent on Russia for its gas supplies. This hardly instills joy in Turkish hearts, especially considering the fact that Moscow and Ankara are at direct loggerheads over Syria. Israel, having repeatedly proven itself both reliable and exceedingly pliable, is now regarded as a safer bet for Turkish gas supplies – certainly safer than such alternatives to Russia as Iran. Moreover, Israeli gas could be had at a significantly lower cost.

Pango puts you in a parking spot in NYC

The Israeli app takes the headaches out of finding a place to put your car in the Big Apple and other US cities, with more to come.

Researchers Stumble Upon The Heart’s Self-Healing Ability

Sometimes accidents lead to the greatest discoveries. In a recent study conducted at Israeli medical center Hadassah, researchers stumbled on a key mechanism in the heart’s regenerative capabilities.

New wave of blasphemy charges - and hypocrisy - in Egypt

From AP:

The pale, young Christian woman sat handcuffed in the courtroom, accused of insulting Islam while teaching history of religions to fourth-graders. A team of Islamist lawyers with long beards sang in unison, “All except the Prophet Muhammad.”

The case against Dimyana Abdel-Nour in southern Egypt’s ancient city of Luxor began when parents of three of her pupils claimed that their children, aged 10, complained their teacher showed disgust when she spoke of Islam in class. According to the parents, Abdel-Nour, 24, told the children that Pope Shenouda, who led the Egyptian Coptic Church until his death last year, was better than the Prophet Muhammad.

Blasphemy charges were not uncommon in Egypt under the now-ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak’s regime, but there has been a surge in such cases in recent months, according to rights activists. The trend is widely seen as a reflection of the growing power and confidence of Islamists, particularly the ultraconservative Salafis.

“Salafis are the engineers of these stories,” said Abdel-Hamid Hassan, a Muslim and the head of the parents’ council at the primary school where Abdel-Nour teaches. Hassan’s daughter was among several students who denied any wrongdoing by Abdel-Nour.

Criminalizing blasphemy was enshrined in the country’s Islamist-backed constitution that was adopted in December.

Writers, activists and even a famous television comedian have been accused of blasphemy since then. But Christians seem to be the favorite target of Islamist prosecutors. Their fragile cases - the main basis of the case against Abdel-Nour’s case the testimony of children - are greeted with sympathy from courtroom judges with their own religious bias or who fear the wrath of Islamists, according to activists.

The result is a growing number of Egyptians, including many Christians, who have been convicted and sent to prison for blasphemy.

...
Another rights group, the EIPR, said it chronicled at least 36 blasphemy cases in 2011 and 2012, including more than 10 convictions, and that Christian school teachers were frequent targets.

“Teachers are an easy target,” said Gibrael. “Any two students can say anything about their teachers. Islamist teachers collect signatures, and quickly Islamists move a case, then terrorize the court by holding protests and besieging the court building until the judge issues a verdict. I have seen it all,” he said.

The end of the article is more interesting than the beginning:

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood likes to project itself as a more moderate Islamist group when compared to the ultraconservative Salafis, but they still play a role in the blasphemy cases.

The top Brotherhood leader in Luxor, Abdel-Hamid el-Senoussi, is a lawmaker and the head of the legal team representing the families whose children testified against Abdel-Nour.

He acknowledged that two investigations by the school found no justification for the children’s claims, but said he does not trust those findings.

“They just want to avoid discord. But we prefer to get to the bottom of it,” he said. “Even if the court clears the teacher and rules that she is innocent, she must be fired from the school.”

“There are people who want to mess up with the ship of the nation and this teacher is one of them,” he said.

For him, the penalty for contempt of religion is not harsh enough. “I prefer 10 years imprisonment and, in case the judge clears the defendant, a fine that goes toward the upkeep of places of worship.”

“Anyone who insults religions must be punished to deter further assaults,” he said.

Given the huge amount of antisemitism coming out of Egypt, that last sentence is a real howler.

Poor Gazans suffering from a glut of consumer goods (photos)

Last night I noted that the price for construction materials in Gaza have gone way down, mostly from increased imports through Kerem Shalom.

Now, we are learning that pretty much everything else in Gaza is cheap as well.

Goods that are selling at a discount in Gaza now include chocolate, nuts, beans, meat and both Feta and Bulgarian(!) cheeses.

The reason seems to be because the Egyptian pound has lost so much value so smuggled goods have become cheaper.

Keep in mind, though, that these price discounts are even after the recent Egyptian crackdown on smuggling tunnels.

Here are recent photos, all from this year, of the Saka supermarket in Gaza:

In other "siege" news, recently Israel allowed Gaza factories to export furniture to Egypt via Kerem Shalom.

And Egypt closed their border to Gaza for the third consecutive day.

Palestinian Media Watch translates a May 6th article from the official PA daily, Al Hayat al Jadida:

Easter... is not a holiday for Christian Palestinians only but a holiday for Palestinian nationalism, because Jesus, may he rest in peace, is a Canaanite Palestinian. His resurrection, three days after being crucified and killed by the Jews - as reported in the New Testament - reflects the Palestinian narrative, which struggles against the descendants of modern Zionist Judaism, in its new colonialist form, that conspires with the Western capitalists who claim to belong to Christianity.

Jesus, may he rest in peace, the virtuous patriotic Palestinian forefather, who renewed the Old Testament, split away from its followers, brought forth his New Testament and spread it among mankind - which led the Jews to persecute him until they caught him, crucified him and murdered him. Afterwards, he rose from the dead like the phoenix and set out to spread his teachings that still exist and will exist as long as mankind exists.

Jesus' story is his [Palestinian] people's story; the Zionist movement - tool of the capitalist West - wanted to falsify historical facts, to exile and crucify the Palestinian Arab nation and then murder it by means of ethnic cleansing... But the Palestinians, Jesus' descendants, rose from the ashes, like the phoenix, from the ruins of the Nakba (i.e., "the catastrophe," the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) and the Naksa (i.e., "the setback," Palestinian term for Israel's victory in the Six Day War.) They dressed their wounds and raised the flag of nationality again by founding parties and factions...

Easter is a distinct [Palestinian] national holiday which doesn't concern only Christians but rather all Palestinians believing in the different religions - Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

"Siege " news: Cement prices in Gaza plummet

Gaza tunnel owners are complaining that the price of cement has plummeted, because of Israel allowing far more construction materials into Gaza in recent months.

The price per ton of cement has gone down to 370 shekels (roughly $103.) This is about the same price that cement costs in the US.

Israel has allowed organizations like UNRWA to import construction materials for projects in Gaza, in an attempt to ensure that Hamas doesn't use it to build weapons bunkers and tunnels to kidnap Israelis. As a result, there are more apartments available and the demand for homes and cement has gone down.

A tunnel owner said that the amount of cement he was smuggling dropped from 1500 tons a day to 500 tons a day over the past several weeks. He said that tunnel jobs were disappearing.

Meanwhile, Egyptian police continue their very real siege of Gaza:

Hundreds of Palestinian travelers were stranded at Rafah crossing on Gaza's border on Saturday as Egyptian police refused to open the terminal, in protest over the kidnapping of their colleagues.

Meanwhile, Egyptian security forces closed the airport and seaport in el-Arish on Saturday, also in protest over the kidnapping of seven Egyptian police and soldiers on Thursday in Sinai.

Maher Abu Sabha, the general director of crossings and borders, said 800 Palestinians were stranded on the Egyptian side of the crossing on Saturday morning.

The number was expected to reach 1,000 by the end of the day. Most travelers are waiting for the crossing to reopen in hotels in el-Arish. They include sick people who had received medical treatment abroad, pilgrims and students who study abroad.

Egyptian police closed the gates of Rafah crossing on Friday after gunmen kidnapped seven Egyptian servicemen in an ambush in Sinai's Wadi al-Akhdar early Thursday.

Four of the captured men worked at Rafah crossing, sources at the terminal said.

Egyptian forces stepped up a campaign to close tunnels along the border amid concerns the captured servicemen would be smuggled into the Gaza Strip.

I still have yet to read any article describing this as a "siege" or "collective punishment" of Gazans.

UPDATE: Hamas is also blocking anyone from traveling through the tunnels under Rafah.

Saturday Links

From Ian:

Honest Reporting: Maybe Israel Isn’t Behind the Middle East’s Despair

The just resolution of the Israeli-Arab conflict is impeded by a decades-old intolerance of the Jewish presence in the Middle East. Because rejecting the right to self-determination is unpalatable to a western mindset, this intolerance is disguised through inversions. It is a conflict that is passed off as territorial, but is existential. It masquerades as a concern for “human rights” but ignores true injustice. It heaps selective opprobrium on Israel alone for an impasse in peace talks but overlooks official Palestinian Authority glorification of terrorism and jihad which makes peace anathema.

Sarah Honig: While we keep kvetching

Camp David eventually flopped, according to Ben-Ami, because “the Palestinians refused to give us any inkling about where their demands would terminate. Our impression was that they constantly sought to drag us into a black hole of another concession and another, without there being anything like a discernible finish-line.”
Ben-Ami’s unavoidable conclusion was that “more than the Palestinians want their own state they want to condemn ours… They always leave loose ends… to keep viable the option that at some future point someone would pull these ends and unravel the Jewish state.”

Kerry to visit Israel, Palestinian territories next week

Secretary of state to make third trip to the region in as many months since taking the post

Stand With Us: Palestinian History of Violence

Barry Rubin: Who’s More Dangerous: Sunni or Shia Islamists?

In short, while one can make the case for Shia Islamism being the more dangerous—at least as long as Iran might get nuclear weapons—one must very carefully examine the implications of that judgment in every specific case. Promoting Sunni Islam is no panacea but rather substitutes longer-term for shorter-term threats.

From Al Jazeera to Columbia University: Joseph Massad’s obsession with Israel

Whether the resulting ideas are articulated in a Columbia University classroom or on Al Jazeera or Stormfront makes little difference as far as their substance is concerned. I tried to illustrate this point in my recent post on Massad with some quotes (I have added here two more) that are either from Massad or from Stormfront – see if you can tell them apart:

The Interfaith Racket: Passport to Credibility

Could anyone get anything more wrong? People wanted to "knock [Ahmed] down" because he was the first Muslim peer? Because Ahmed was the first Muslim peer, most people were eager to do anything they could to cover for him, forgive him, reinstate him time and again – and even now, as the rabbi has just shown, are not able to believe the words that came from his mouth in Pakistan because they so differed from the words that came from his mouth at interfaith meetings in London.

Yet Another Jewish Org Poised to Honor a BDS Enthusiast

American Friends of Soroka Medical Center are giving an award at their gala to Mandy Patinkin, an American Jewish celebrity who supports economic warfare against Jews living and working in Judea and Samaria.

Sinai Bedouin Hint: We Were Better Off Under Israel

Bedouin tribes in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula implied on Thursday that they were better off living under Israeli rule and that they have been suffering since Israel withdrew from the region as part of the peace agreement with Egypt.

One dead, dozens wounded in sectarian clashes in Egypt

One person died and dozens were wounded during clashes between Muslims and Christians late Friday night outside a Coptic church in Egypt's second city, state newspaper al-Ahram reported, in the latest violent sectarian row in the Muslim-majority country.

Assad's Government Tortured Citizens, Says HRW

Syrians were arbitrarily detained and tortured by government forces in security buildings in northern Syria, says Human Rights Watch.

Syrian rebels: Dozens hurt in chemical weapons attack in Damascus

Forces loyal to President Bashar Assad used chemical weapons-laced mortars in a Damascus neighborhood Saturday, injuring dozens, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed.

Unmoved by Israel, Russia will send top air-defense system to Assad

Moscow says it must honor its deal with Damascus, even though Netanyahu warned Putin that delivery of S-300 missiles could plunge the region into war

Moroccan jailed for plotting to bomb Milan synagogue

A 22-year-old Moroccan man has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for planning terrorist attacks on Milan’s main synagogue and Jewish school.

Gush Halav: Home to the Maronites

Khalloul explained that like Father Abraham, the Maronites originated in Aram (an enormous area stretching from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean Sea). Over time, they dispersed throughout the Middle East. When the Arabs swooped into the region early in the 7th century, they tried to force Islam on the Aramaen population in general and the Maronites in particular. Yet despite immense pressure, the Maronites, like the Jews, refused to abandon their faith. Since then, Aramaen Maronites have been continually persecuted by the Arabs. Most of the area’s Maronites eventually moved for safety into the Lebanese mountains, where they tilled the rocky hills. Thousands were killed in a bloodbath that took place in the mountains in 1860.

The Farhud – the riots against the Jews of Iraq

During Shavuot, Iraqi Jews will commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the “Farhud” – the riots that took place on Shavuot, June 1-2, 1941. In the riots reminiscent of Kristallnacht in Germany, 179 Jews were murdered, hundreds more wounded and much Jewish property looted.
The memory of the riots remains fresh in the minds of Iraqi Jews.
Similar attacks occurred against almost all Jewish communities in Arab countries, for thousands of years. The Jews did not declare war on their hosts.

Arab suggests helping Palestinians; other Arabs attack him

There was an educational exchange on Twitter recently that encapsulates the real problem in the Middle East.

Ed Husain, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), tweeted:

Arab govts can help Palestinians in their midst by granting citizenship. How much longer will this great people languish in refugee camps?
— Ed Husain (@Ed_Husain) May 15, 2013

Lebanese journalist Alex Rowell responded:

.@ed_husain This ignores fact that many if not most refugees would refuse the offer if it meant giving up right of return
— Alex Rowell (@disgraceofgod) May 15, 2013

Besides the fact that experience in Lebanon itself shows this to be false, Husain answers:

Ed Husain ‏@Ed_Husain15 May

@disgraceofgod So don't make it conditional. Give them hope of eventual "dual citizenship" -- in the meantime, build up their lives again.

Details
Alex Rowell ‏@disgraceofgod15 May

.@Ed_Husain Possible. But in any case they oughtn't have to jump through such hoops when Israel is obliged by law to let them return

Details

Again, Rowell is wrong; there is no international law obliging Israel to allow Palestinian Arabs who fled in 1948 and their descendants to return.

One person responded to Rowell's earlier false claim that Palestinian Arabs would refuse citizenship:

TheNatSecRoundtable ‏@nsroundtable15 May

@ziadachkar @disgraceofgod @Ed_Husain Once agn, Pals missing oppty 2 achieve somthg: Rejecting ctiznshp for somethg they'll never get.
Details
Alex Rowell ‏@disgraceofgod15 May

@nsroundtable @ziadachkar @Ed_Husain It's a question of principle. You might see things their way yourself if you were a refugee.

Given how eager Palestinian Arabs have been to embrace citizenship in Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, Rowell is justifying his own desire to discriminate against them. Palestinian Arabs may tell journalists how steadfast they are in these "principles" but their actions tell a very different story.

Another subthread that is revealing, as an Egyptian responds to Husain:

.@ed_husain I completely disagree. This renders right of return null and void.
— مو Mo (@MohHKamel) May 15, 2013

Ed Husain ‏@Ed_Husain15 May

@MohHKamel We agree to disagree, my friend. This helps give Palestinians a life today, not jam tomorrow. Dual citizenship also an option.
Details

Banakee ‏@Banakee15 May

@Ed_Husain @mohhkamel no pah-lease. We can barely stand them now.

Details

مو Mo ‏@MohHKamel15 May

.@Ed_Husain The Palestenian can have a life without citizenship. Here in Egypt they do. If they have citizenship, what's their plight?

Details

murat s. erguvan ‏@muratserguvan15 May

@MohHKamel @Ed_Husain why should they be lower than Egyptians? Why can't they have the right to vote and take part in social life?

Details

مو Mo ‏@MohHKamel16 May

@muratserguvan @Ed_Husain Egyptians themselves r not that eager abt their right 2 vote. Again, if they have citizenship,what's their plight?

You see? Their plight is what must be kept alive at all costs! Alleviating their plight by treating them as human beings is considered self-evidently undesirable!

This isn't the first time we've seen this depraved Arab logic to keep Palestinian Arabs in misery, but it shows that little has changed over the decades.

(h/t Elias)

Friday Links Part 2

From Ian:

Latma: Channel 10's amazing scoop

Video: Jewish Girl Gets in the Face of Nakba Protesters

A young Jewish woman, Dovrat Malul, was driving through Yafo (Jaffa) Wednesday when she encountered a protest against Israel's establishment, on what Arabs call "Nakba Day."
Her response was to put a new song by Eyal Golan – simply called "Israel" – on her car stereo, and pump up the volume.

Canada PM slams world leaders for not supporting Israel

Canada’s prime minister Stephen Harper expressed dismay Thursday at the growing lack of support for Israel across the world and criticized international leaders for failing to back the Jewish state.
“There’s nothing more shortsighted in Western capitals in our time than the softening of support we’ve seen for Israel around the globe,” he said, calling the country “the one stable, democratic ally in this part of the world.”

U of Toronto professor claims Canadian Jews support Stephen Harper to maintain their place in "the racial order"

The name Sheryl Nestel may sound familiar. She is an academic, but if you recognize her name, it's not for any noteworthy academic accomplishment. Nestel is a teacher at OISE who was at the center of a controversy at the end of 2010, when a thesis of which she was the academic adviser was denounced by a provincial Minister and others in the Ontario legislature for being anti-Semitic.

Scottish Universities Hotbeds of Anti-Jewish Sentiment

The greatest problem to tackling anti-Jewish incitement is the denial that there is any such problem. The facts, as we have seen, tell a rather different story.

Chelsea FC calls in police over abuse of Israeli player

Managers of an English soccer club contacted police to investigate online anti-Semitic abuse of an Israeli player.
After Yossi Benayoun revealed last week of the abuse on Twitter, the Chelsea Football Club contacted police, The Guardian daily reported.

Bulgarian 'Ataka' Party Follows Neo-Nazi Global Trends

A Bulgarian far-right party has emerged victorious following the country’s parliamentary elections last Sunday, securing 7% of the popular vote.

Woman becomes Ireland’s first Righteous among Nations

A non-Jewish woman from Cork who risked her life to save Jewish children from the Nazis has become Ireland’s first Righteous among the Nations.
Mary Elms, who died in 2002, helped “a large number of Jewish children” escape the Rivesaltes detention camp in France in August-September of 1942, according to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial authority in Israel.

Polish couple posthumous ‘Righteous Gentiles’

Ludwika and Zygmunt Szostak, an elderly Polish couple who hid and protected a Jewish mother and her young daughter from the Nazis during World War II, were posthumously honored as Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem on Monday.

Tel Aviv to be the world’s first ‘digitalized’ city

If you’re planning a beach day in Tel Aviv this coming summer, bring your laptop along – the wifi will be free for the taking. It’s part of what Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai is portraying as “a digital revolution” that the Big Orange will be undergoing in the coming months.

Israelis developing ‘Google Glass’ for the blind

About one in 4,000 people in the United States suffers from retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a genetic disease of the retina that causes light-sensing cells to degenerate and eventually leads to vision impairment. Symptoms might start as night blindness.

Bar-Ilan University Program Improves Lives of Children of AIDS Patients

The program, developed by Israel Prize-winning Prof. Pnina Klein, Director of Bar-Ilan University's Edward I. and Fannie Baker Center for the Study of Development Disorders in Infants and Young Children, is based on a study funded by the National Institute of Health, conducted in Uganda, where about one million children have lost at least one parent to AIDS.

French Company Continues to Invest in Israeli Mobile Industry

Golan Telecom’s co-owner is wealthy French businessman Niel Xavier, who also said that he strongly believes in the Israeli economy and that’s why he chose to invest in the Jewish State.
“I love Israel very much, it’s a very dynamic country,” he said. “There are many entrepreneurs that open companies here. Young people with much motivation and a hunger for success. I myself invested in a number of Israeli start-ups and I still have the will to invest here because this is a country which wants to bring a change.”

Ebay to Set Up Start-Up Incubator in Israel

International online retail giant eBay is setting up a startup incubator in Israel. The incubator will focus on startups dealing with ecommerce, social networks and big data, and will be located at eBay’s Israeli headquarters in Netanya.

Israel Daily Picture: Introducing the "Cigarbox Collection"

The antique wood cigarbox was beautifully crafted, bound like a book and entitled "Gourmet's Delight" and "Grown in California." Opening the box in Efrat, Israel, I discovered it was filled with a stack of pictures from Palestine 90-100 years ago.

"Down with Jews" chanted in Egypt

Today, protesters thronged to Simon Bolivar Square in Cairo.

During speeches by Sheikh Mazhar Shaheen after prayers at the nearby Omar Makram mosque, and from politician and professor Gamal Zahran, the crowd shouted "Down with Israel!", "Down with Jews!" and "Khybar, Khybar, o Jews," a threat to annihilate all Jews.

Just another day of Egyptian incitement of genocide against Jews. Nothing to worry about, and certainly nothing that concerns Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International.

From BBC:

Egyptian police have sealed off the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip in protest at the
abduction of seven security personnel in Sinai.

Reports say police locked the gates and placed barbed wire at the entrance.

Rafah is the only regular exit from Gaza for 1.6m Palestinians living there. Other crossings into Israel are allowed only in exceptional cases.

The three policemen and four soldiers were captured while travelling in the peninsula, east of El Arish.

Four of the men worked at the Rafah crossing, reports said.

An Egyptian security official said the Rafah crossing will remain closed until the group is released, the Associated Press news agency reported.

The Palestinian Maan news agency said Gaza's Interior Ministry declared a state of alert along its border with Egypt and large numbers of Egyptian soldiers have been in the area.

The BBC's Rushdie Abu Alouf, who is among some 150 Palestinians stuck on the Egyptian side, says people including the sick and elderly have been sitting on the ground under the heat of the sun since early morning waiting to cross.

He says there is a long queue of people in front of an Egyptian tank which has closed the road outside the Egyptian gate of the crossing.

One of them, 72-year-old Abu Mohammed, called for the captives' release, saying: "We have to pay the price of an internal Egyptian problem. We did not kidnap the solders."

I cannot find a single call for an emergency session at the UN.

Nor any criticism from the Arab world.

Nor any criticism from any Gaza groups.

Nor any condemnations from "human rights" organizations.

Funny, isn't it?

Friday Links Part 1

From Ian:

UNRWA rejects PMW report exposing map erasing Israel

Earlier this week, Palestinian Media Watch reported that the Director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon, Ann Dismorr, posed with a map that erases the State of Israel and presents all of it as "Palestine," at an UNRWA event in Lebanon.
These pictures were broadcast on Palestinian Authority TV and on the Palestinian news site pn-news net, corroborating PMW's report.
UNRWA spokesperson Christopher Gunness, responding on UNRWA's website, rejected PMW's report. He claimed that the map in question was not intended to reflect the present, but reflected the period before Israel was established

UPDATE (EoZ): Palestinian Media Watch disputes UNRWA's claims:

UNRWA spokesperson Gunness' justification that the map "depict[s] a pre-1948 map" is baseless, as the map includes the PLO-PA flag and not a British flag. That exact map erasing Israel, especially when accompanied by the PA flag, is one of the many ways the PA expresses its rejection of Israel's existence and right to exist.
In addition, Gunness' statement that the UNRWA official "stood next to a map which does not show Israel" is also misleading, as it indicates a passive non-involvement. In fact, the UNRWA official is shown holding the map and the map was the central focus of the picture.

Countering the Global Media Assault on Israel

Organized by Truth be Told (TbT), a new grassroots organization committed to proactively articulating Israel’s narrative to the outside world, the evening commenced with five Ethiopian-Israeli students from the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, who reported on their successful mission to Cape Town in March during Israel Apartheid Week.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Fatah's Drive Against "Normalization"

The Fatah activists who are threatening Palestinian teenagers for talking to Israelis and playing football with them are the same people who claim, at least in public, that they support the peace process with Israel. But how can there ever be a peace process when anyone who meets with an Israeli is immediately denounced as a traitor? It is worth noting that most of these denunciations are coming form the "moderate" Fatah, and not from Hamas.

Congressmen urge Abbas to fire terrorist glorifier

A bipartisan group of congressmen condemned comments made by a Palestinian Fatah official in support of the murderer of an Israeli father of five.
The letter sent to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday strongly condemned Fatah’s Sultan Abu Al-Einein following his “open support for the murderer of Evyatar Borovsky,” and called for him to be removed from office.

‘Yasser Arafat Street’ – Soon in Israel?

City officials in Sakhnin are planning to name a street for deceased Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, “a mass murderer and terrorist,” she said. A second street is to be named for Gamel Abdel Nasser, “The Egyptian President who took a hawkish stance against Israel, called to destroy it, closed the Suez Canal and began the Six Day War.”

Article Alleges Hamas Money Laundering

Hamas has several business fronts operating in Saudi Arabia and Sudan which launder money for the terrorist group, the Arab News claimed in a report Wednesday.
The report claims "high-level Gulf sources" confirmed a previous story in Kuwait's al Seyassah about the illicit activity. The Gulf Cooperation Council is expected "to put an end to the illegitimate financial activity Hamas is carrying out, without excluding these authorities arresting and prosecuting the movement's leadership cadres," an IPT translation of the Arab News report said.

BBC’s Davies describes new Golan fence as ‘controversial’

What exactly Davies thinks is “spectacular” or “controversial” about replacing a forty year-old rusty fence with a new one in light of the appearance of armed Al Qaeda-affiliated groups on its other side is – to this writer at least – something of a mystery.

Media industry recognises BBC Gaza correspondent’s creativity

“Creativity” is certainly one way of describing the passing off a photograph taken in Syria as having been shot in Gaza. Even more “creative” and “outstanding” was Donnison’s portrayal of the death of the child of a BBC colleague as the result of Israeli actions without any proof of that assertion and when in fact the tragic incident was later shown to have been caused by a terrorist missile fired from inside Gaza itself.

Beyond Hezbollah: Proscribe Iran's Revolutionary Guard

Even Brussels, it seems, could not continue to ignore the facts. The final straws were Bulgaria’s sensible conclusion on the Burgas bus bombing and the Cypriot trial of a confessed Hezbollah operative nabbed before he could do any explosive damage. In parallel with this compromise proscription of Hezbollah, the EU must now turn its guns on Hezbollah’s biggest material supporters, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRG) and similarly condemn it as a terrorist organisation.

Iran recruits online for militants to fight Israel

Will the West install a political framework which secures peace and development in Syria, or will its people continue to suffer, much to the benefit of Iran's paranoid leadership?

Erdoğan to Bring Father of Flotilla Participant to White House

It is actually quite amazing: Erdoğan has endorsed an Al Qaeda financier, embraced not only Hamas but the most militant faction within that terrorist organization, defended the Sudanese leader against charges of genocide, and has been the largest leak in multilateral efforts to sanction Iran. And yet, Obama will not only welcome him to the White House with the highest honors, but help fulfill the Turkish premier’s blatant desire to use the White House as the backdrop to follow through on his pledge to bash Israel at every opportunity.

'Marmara victims' ICC referral an abuse of process'

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the preliminary investigation will determine whether the ICC has jurisdiction over the case, and – if it does – whether it has already been heard by other competent legal bodies.

Egyptian police shut the door on Gaza after abductions

Egyptian police have shut the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza in protest at the abduction of their colleagues earlier this week

Egypt: Terrorists Planned to Bomb Cairo Embassies

Terrorists arrested in Egypt over the weekend were planning to attack the U.S. and French embassies, officials said.

Russia sends at least 12 warships to Syria

Deployment presumably a warning to Israeli and Western officials regarding military intervention against Assad

Russian Official: Missile Systems Sale ‘A Message to America’

Russia’s decision to send S-300 missile systems to Syria is, in part, a message to the United States, according to the head of the Russian parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Alexei Pushkov.

Poland's ban on religious slaughter hurting its economy

From AP:

Until January, slaughterhouses across Poland — a deeply Catholic nation — were the unlikely venues for the Islamic and Jewish slaughter of animals, which in both religions involves a swift cut to the throat of a conscious animal and death by bleeding.

Millions of euros were being made exporting the halal and kosher meat to countries like Egypt, Iran and Israel, as well as to Muslim and Jewish markets inside Europe.

In a victory for a growing animal rights movement, activists succeeded in getting a ban on such religious slaughter. But with economic decline deepening and exports seen as a possible salvation, the government faces pressure to get the practice reinstated legally — and is scrambling to do so.

Though Poland's own cuisine is heavy in pork, a meat banned by Jewish and Islamic laws, the country has cut out this niche business for itself in one example of the economic savvy Poland has shown since joining the European Union in 2004. Kosher and halal meat exports have grown between 20 and 30 percent per year in recent years as the largely agricultural country has capitalized on its low labor costs and a reputation for healthy farm animals.
...
The kosher and halal business had boomed until January, when the ban took effect following a ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal. Though the actual slaughter was carried out by specially trained Muslim and Jewish officials, the industry also created thousands of supporting jobs for others.

Animal rights activists argue that killing animals without stunning them first causes unnecessary suffering to the animals. Jewish and Muslim leaders strongly disagree, and insist that their method is actually more humane, in part became it causes the animals to lose consciousness very fast. They argue that standard industrial slaughter involves pre-stunning that is sometimes not effective, leading to even greater suffering.

Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, says Jewish tradition has always been concerned with the welfare of animals, noting, for instance, that it bans hunting and any senseless suffering.

"For close to 3,000 years, Jewish slaughter practices have been followed that minimize pain to the animal," Schudrich said.

Mufti Tomasz Miskiewicz, the top Muslim leader in Poland...says there is a degree of unfairness in banning Jewish and Islamic slaughter when so many Polish Catholics follow a similar practice themselves at Christmas, when carp are slaughtered in homes across the nation without any pre-stunning.

I found a description of this central European Catholic practice:

Chef Václav Fríč, who specializes in traditional Czech cooking, has this advice. "To kill it, you first have to hit it hard in the head, then I cut the gills and the tail so the fish stops flapping about," he says.

Can anyone imagine that the Polish would pass a law against that tradition?

I recently discovered that the Swiss law that bans ritual slaughter was widely recognized at the time of its passing, in 1894, to be the result of an antisemitic campaign:

In France an outbreak of hostility to Israelites in January, 1893, was led by the Marquisde Mores, in connection with the Panama Canal scandals. He charged them with corrupting French honesty and despising principles of honor. The police were required to disperse his disorderly assemblies. The same year, in Switzerland, the Anti-Semites, chiefly Protestants, carried a law prohibiting as cruel the Jewish method of slaughtering animals for food. In Rumania it was enacted that, from the opening of 1893, Jewish children should be excluded from state schools, and in some districts Jewish families, resident therein for generations, were forcibly expelled.

In fact, the Committee of the Geneva Society for the Protection of Animals urged Swiss citizens to vote against a ban on kosher slaughter in a referendum partly due to its antisemitic origins:

Dear fellow-citizens,—You will have to pronounce upon the law which has been requested concerning the way of slaughtering animals intended for food.

This law, which specially aims at our Hebrew fellow citizens, may, by its nature, seriously damage our Federal Constitution, which grants the liberty of worship.

The Geneva Society for the Protection of Animals recommends you to vote:

NO.

1st. Because the Society thinks that this law has not so much in view the protection due to animals, as the wish of making an anti-Semitic manifestation, and that it would be a first step towards religious persecution.

2nd. Because there has existed in Geneva, since 1886, a method of slaughtering called mitigated, proposed by our Society, with a humane purpose, accepted by the Great Council and approved by the Chief Rabbi, a method which reconciles what is due to religious freedom with what is duo to the protection of animals.

The law submitted to your vote is also bad as far as our commerce is concerned; our commerce has already suffered heavily. If the law is passed, what will happen? Our Hebrew fellow-citizens will import their meat from the neighbouring countries, who, more liberal than we are, will be the only ones to benefit by their tolerance.

Dear fellow-citizens,—For these motives, and in the name of liberty, justice, and equitv, we recommend you to vote: '"'NO.

Long live Geneva! Long live the Confederation!

Signed.

The Committee of the Geneva Society for the Protection of Animals.
The Secretary General, E. De Bude.
The President, J. Cuenoud.
The Vice-President, J. L'huillier.