Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Iran literally covering up evidence of nuclear testing

Remember the Parchin site in Iran, suspected of nuclear explosive testing? Where last year they started covering up the buildings in pink tarp to make it harder for satellites to see what was going on?

In espionage (and police work,) evidence of covering up a crime is often more obvious than the crime itself. Unfortunately, no one has easy access to these sites, so while we have secondary evidence, Iran is covering up the primary evidence.

And, at Parchin, they are doing it again.

From ISIS:

Recent commercial satellite imagery of the Parchin site in Iran shows the extent of new paving as well as the extent of other alternations undertaken at the site over the past year and a half starting in February 2012. Iran appears to be in the final stages of modifying the suspected high explosive test site at the Parchin complex, having recently asphalted large sections of the site. As noted in several of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA’s) quarterly Iran safeguards reports and in numerous ISIS satellite imagery reports on Parchin, asphalting and the other documented activities have significantly changed the site and impacted the ability of IAEA inspectors to collect environmental samples and other evidence that it could use to determine whether nuclear weapons-related activities once took place there. Asphalting an entire area in this manner would make it very hard to take soil samples and likely be effective at covering up environmental evidence of nuclear weaponization-related experiments. Iran in 2003 and 2004 conducted similar concealment activities at Lavisan-Shian, razing and rebuilding the entire site in an effort suspected to be aimed at concealing alleged, undeclared military nuclear efforts.

The Parchin site remains of interest to the IAEA due to evidence of pre-2004 activities related to the development of nuclear weapons. Iran is alleged by the IAEA, the United States, and at least three European governments to have had a well-structured nuclear weapons program aimed at building a warhead small enough to fit on the Shahab 3 ballistic missile.

Iran is banking on the West discounting secondary evidence. And the scheme works well.

"Hey, IAEA, look over there for a minute, will you? I have to, um, take out the trash."

Weekend administrivia plus a poster idea

I have never been too good in using tags on my posts, and I don't have time to go through over 17,000 posts to categorize them, but lately I've been making an attempt to place tags on at least most newer posts.

I have a new automatically generated page, called a Table of Contents, that organizes my posts from recent months by category. It isn't perfect (the lower-case tags after the upper-case ones, for example) but you might find it a useful way to browse posts you might have missed. (Some also got miscategorized, through a weird Blogger bug, apologies.)

Let me know if it is useful.

Also, this week I was inspired by Bar Refaeli's response to Roger Waters' call for boycotting Israel. I've been playing with this idea for a poster series welcoming BDSers to boycott certain Israeli products, starting with supermodels. In this case I chose Esti Ginzberg, who also served in the IDF. But it can aply to computer chips, pharmaceuticals, software...(Click to enlarge.)

Have a great weekend!

8/23 Links Part 2: Netanyahu: We'll Hurt Whoever Hurts Us, Realism on Egypt, Saudi War on Witchcraft

From Ian:

Netanyahu: We'll Hurt Whoever Hurts Us

"We are operating on all fronts, in the north and south, in order to protect the citizens of Israel from these attacks,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Thursday in the aftermath of a Katyusha rocket salvo fired at northwestern Israel.
"We are using a variety of measures – of both defense and prevention – and we are operating in a responsible manner. Our policy is clear: to protect and also to prevent.
"Anyone who hurts us, and anyone who tries to hurt us, must know that we will hit him.”

Analysis: Dragging Israel into conflict

It’s not unreasonable to assume that those who fired the rockets would be pleased to create the conditions that would suck the IDF into a conflict with Hezbollah. Their calculation could be that the IDF’s immense firepower will weaken the Shi’ite organization, which rules southern Lebanon and is involved neck-deep in the war against Sunni rebels in Syria.
A weakened Hezbollah would in turn cripple the murderous Assad regime, and might shift the balance in favor of the Sunni rebels in Syria.

When all else fails, target Israel

Finally, in the age of active defense, Israel’s intelligence capacities, as Thursday’s rocket fire illustrates, are less opaque. Three weeks ago, an Iron Dome battery was moved to the Eilat region; one week later, for the first time, it intercepted a rocket over the southern resort city. On Wednesday, also for the first time, an Iron Dome battery was rotated to the Sharon region, north of Tel Aviv. The rocket intercepted over the Acre-Nahariya area may have been shot down by the Iron Dome battery further to the north, in Haifa, but clearly in an age of multiple threats, with varying and shifting degrees of urgency, Israel’s intelligence community was not caught by surprise by the fire from Lebanon.

Palestinian-Lebanese group promises retaliation for IAF strikes

A Palestinian terror group in Lebanon, which was apparently the target of IAF strikes early Friday morning in response to rocket fire in northern Israel Thursday, expressed surprise at the raid, given that a Sunni, al-Qaeda-inspired group claimed responsibility for the rocket attack.
A spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) promised retaliation against Israel. “The Zionist enemy will not drag us into responding. It will come at the right time, in the right place.”

Twin blasts kill 20 in Lebanese city of Tripoli

Lebanon’s health minister said at least 20 people were killed, and over 213 were wounded in twin bombing attacks in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli Friday afternoon.
According to the Lebanese Future TV, the bodies were being transported to a hospital in the city. Security sources said the death toll is expected to rise sharply.
The blasts occurred outside two mosques as Friday prayers ended. The Lebanese Daily Star newspaper reported that the attacks occurred minutes apart.

U.S. Sanctions Four Members of Hezbollah

Cohen, who oversees terrorism and financial intelligence issues, described the four as either high-ranking Hezbollah operatives or those directly tasked with carrying out operations.
“Hezbollah is determined to spread instability, plan terrorist attacks and operate well beyond Lebanon’s boundaries,” he told reporters, according to AP. “And we have seen the violence and misery that comes along with Hezbollah’s influence, particularly in places like Syria and Iraq.”

Netanyahu: Syria chemical attack a ‘grievous crime’

The alleged use of chemical weapons against Syrian civilians on Wednesday “proves yet again that we cannot permit the world’s most dangerous regimes to acquire the world’s most dangerous weapons,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.

"They Don't Care About Syria, They Won't Care About Us"

On his Facebook page, Rabbi Ronsky wrote that the hundreds killed by the Syrian army in a chemical weapons attack Wednesday sent a grim message to Israelis. Hundreds die, he said, “and the world remains silent. Hundreds of people – supposedly born in the image of G-d – die before us from chemical poisoning, and the world remains silent.”
One day soon, he said, those chemical weapons could be aimed at Israel, too. “And the world will remain silent – very silent – when those weapons are aimed at us,” he wrote.

Obama: Syria chemical attack an event of ‘grave concern’

President Barack Obama on Friday called the possible chemical weapons attack Wednesday in Syria a “big event of grave concern.”
The president said the US was still seeking conclusive evidence that chemical weapons were used this week. But he said such actions were “very troublesome” and are going to “require America’s attention."

Galloway: Israel gave chemical arms to al-Qaida in Syria attack

The Respect Party MP for Bradford West, who is a longstanding supporter of Hezbollah and Hamas, stated: "If there has been use of chemical weapons, it was al-Qaida," asking, "Who gave al-Qaida chemical weapons?"
Staring determined into the camera, Galloway stated: "Here's my theory. Israel gave them the chemical weapons."

UN says Syrian child refugees top 1 million mark

740,000 are under the age of 11; 7,000 children killed so far in the country’s bloody two-year civil war

Syria-based al Qaeda group issues threat to Western aid workers

Al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria - the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham, or ISIS - warned Western aid workers that they are at risk of kidnapping or death if they enter Syria. The directive from the terror group now officially makes many U.S.-funded organizations targets.

Clifford May: Realism on Egypt

Final point: A great and historic upheaval is taking place not just in Egypt but throughout the Muslim world. It should by now be evident that there never was an "Arab Spring" — the blossoming of a new season of freedom. Nor is there an "Arab Awakening" — a widespread recognition that peace, prosperity, and dignity can be achieved through the establishment of liberal-democratic governance. What are we looking at instead? Anger, frustration, and ambition within societies that have become frighteningly dysfunctional, and in which poisonous ideologies based on dreams of conquest and glory — blended with nostalgia for an imagined past — have taken root.
Both America's expectations and its policies require adjustment. If Egypt's generals can be persuaded to see their immediate mission as pacifying the country, beginning the process of economic recovery, protecting minorities, and guaranteeing basic rights even while countering the militant, supremacist, and anti-democratic Islamists — a delicate balance, to be sure — it will be in our interest to assist them.

Egyptians Bewildered Over Support for Muslim Brotherhood

What many Egyptians cannot understand is: Why is the U.S. Administration siding with the forces of oppression in their country and assisting with its transformation into a failed state under the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood? These conditions all run contrary to American interests.
In the Middle East, a strong economy, military, and police are the cornerstones of stability. Egypt was the first Arab nation to choose the path of peace with Israel. Egypt is the nerve system of the Arab and the Islamic world. The U.S. has a strong interest in a stable, modern, and prosperous Egypt. It simply cannot be allowed to become another Somalia or Afghanistan, controlled by its own version of the Taliban.

Christians United for Israel Condemns Attacks on Egypt’s Churches

Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the largest pro-Israel organization in the U.S., condemned the recent attacks on Christianity in Egypt and urged the U.S. government to do more to aid Christians there.
“Events in Egypt this week highlight yet again the tragedy facing the Christians of the Middle East. Once again, Christians are being targeted for murder. Once again Christian schools, businesses and churches are being attacked. And once again, the world is largely silent,” David Brog, executive director of CUFI, said in a statement.

No More Kosher Food from Egypt

The latest violence in Egypt has finally put an end to kosher food exports from the country. Several Egyptian factories that marketed reliably kosher food to Israel will no longer be able to do so.
Over the past two and a half years, kosher certification companies in Israel have continued to send their workers (mashgihim) to Egypt despite political unrest as first Hosni Mubarak and then Mohamed Morsi was ousted from power.

New Images Show Major Alterations at Iran Nuclear Site

The most recent imagery from satellite company Digital Globe is from August 13 and was seen by The Associated Press ahead of publication by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS).
The images show what ISIS says is progressive asphalting of a part of the Parchin complex that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says was possibly used to test conventional explosive triggers for a nuclear blast.

Saudi Arabia's War on Witchcraft

Belief in magic is so widespread that it is often invoked as a defense in Sharia courts. "If there's an employer dispute -- say the migrant domestic worker claims she wasn't paid her wages or her conditions are unlivable -- a lot of times what happens unfortunately is the defendant makes counterclaims against the domestic worker," Coogle said. "And a lot of times they'll make counterclaims of sorcery, witchcraft, and that sort of thing."
Domestic workers, many of whom who are not fluent in Arabic, face significant challenges in defending themselves against these charges, according to Coogle.

That "dismantled" terror group keeps making appearances

Back in January 2008:

A dozen Palestinian gunmen surrendered to Palestinian forces on Tuesday, and the top Palestinian security official said this means a violent West Bank militia, is now defunct. However, Israeli officials are skeptical of such claims, and say gunmen still pose a threat to Israel.

The gunmen who gave themselves up Tuesday are from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a violent offshoot of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement.

Al Aqsa was formed at the start of the Palestinian uprising in 2000, and at its height had hundreds of members who carried out scores of shooting attacks against Israelis. Most recently, Al Aqsa was involved in the killing of two off-duty Israel Defense Forces soldiers in the West Bank last month.

In recent months, Abbas' security forces have tried to assert control in the West Bank, particularly in Nablus, the West Bank's second largest city and a former militia stronghold.

As part of the campaign, they have urged Al Aqsa gunmen to surrender their weapons, in exchange for a promise of amnesty from Israel and the prospect of jobs in the security services. Hundreds have so far taken up the offer, but holdouts have remained.

In Nablus, a small Al Aqsa splinter group, which called itself The Knights of the Night, was the last to surrender, Palestinian Interior Minister Abdel Razak Yehiyeh said Tuesday.

This is the last military group of Al Aqsa to hand over its weapons, Yehiyeh told The Associated Press. The Al Aqsa Brigades have been dismantled.

Five and a half years later, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades still maintains its webpage, and you can see its latest activities.

For example, they greeted one of their old comrades when he was one of those released by Israel as a "goodwill gesture."

You can almost read their minds: "Israel made a goodwill gesture, maybe we should reciprocate and send a hail of bullets back to those swell guys."

A couple of weeks before, as the new round of negotiations were just getting underway, this group - as proud members of Fatah,whose leader is Mahmoud Abbas -showed off their arsenal of weapons that inexplicably managed to make their way through the much-praised PA security forces and declared, "Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine, we will continue developing our own weapons to crush the enemy, wherever he is."

There are only two alternatives: either Mahmoud Abbas approves of a terror group under his own command, or he is too weak to stop them.

The US is pressuring Israel to sign a "peace agreement" with someone who either supports this terror group, or who is too weak to control his own political party, let alone his political opponents.

It doesn't really matter which it is.

8/23 Links Part 1: Resetting US foreign policy, Egypt’s Polish syndrome, Latma - We will be back

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Resetting US foreign policy

Aside from the carnage in Benghazi, the most enduring image from Hillary Clinton’s tenure as US secretary of state was the fake remote control she brought with her to Moscow in 2009 with the word “Reset” in misspelled Russian embossed on it.
Clinton’s gimmick was meant to show that under President Barack Obama, American foreign policy would be fundamentally transformed. Since Obama and Clinton blamed much of the world’s troubles on the misdeeds of their country, under their stewardship of US foreign policy, the US would reset everything.
Around the globe, all bets were off.
Five years later we realize that Clinton’s embarrassing gesture was not a gimmick, but a dead serious pledge. Throughout the world, the Obama administration has radically altered America’s policies.
And disaster has followed. Never since America’s establishment has the US appeared so untrustworthy, destructive, irrelevant and impotent. (h/t Jewess)

Sarah Honig: Egypt’s Polish syndrome

Jewish culpability always was – and apparently still remains – a key element in lending moral authority to any contentious cause. Jews have known this for millennia but the dispiriting fact of our existence is that it still goes on, unabated, in the 21st century and that it motivates not only declared and implacable enemies but also forces of supposed enlightenment and liberality in the West.
As it was from time immemorial – it’s just not a marketable story without that eminently salient Jewish connection.
The blood-soaked internecine turmoil convulsing the Arab realm – from the Maghreb to Mesopotamia – has nothing to do with Jews, with Zionism, the Jewish national liberation movement or with Israel, the Jewish state. The carnage is spawned by internal Arab ethnic, religious, clannish and political conflicts. Each side reinforces its case by recruiting throngs of volatile and violent demonstrators. This rent-a-mob fest is palmed off to clueless foreigners as democracy-in-action. (h/t NormanF)

Do Abbas and the PA Really Want Peace?

The Palestinian Authority, despite billions in aid over the years, does not appear ready to run a state for whose success or failure it would be held accountable. Better to drag out the process and drama of negotiations by which—for merely for showing up—they succeed in forcing more unilateral concessions from Israel. Why sweat the details when there are broad hints from Washington and the EU that nine months down the road Israel will be forced to capitulate even without a mutual agreement?
A month from now, Mr. Abbas will once again address the UN General Assembly. He will doubtless denounce a “Judaized Jerusalem” and “illegal Settlements” as the main obstacles to peace. But the truth is that the real stumbling block is the failure of President Abbas to tell his people in Arabic, once and for all, that the Jewish state of Israel is here to stay. Instead he retains the map and hope of a Palestine from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River, while his PA continues to present terrorists as role models for their youth.
Unless and until such a mindset is deconstructed, all the American and European arm-twisting of Israel alone won’t bring peace to either people, only hasten more needless violence and suffering in a region already on the brink of a total meltdown.

The PLO Charter Still Calls for Israel’s Destruction

Contrary to belief in some quarters, the Charter has never been amended and in fact, fealty to “armed struggle” (i.e., terrorism) was reasserted as late as 2011. In pursuit of its goals, Palestinian terrorism has killed more than 5,000 Israelis since 1949. Airplane hijackings; sniper shootings (including an infant in her father’s arms), bombings on buses, in cafes and in restaurants; little boys bludgeoned to death; children murdered in their homes in front of their parents. Raw anti-Semitism pours today from Voice of Palestine Radio. School children learn that Israel is only a temporary impediment to Palestinian aspirations and that killing and dying is the highest good.
This would seem to preclude peaceful coexistence with the State of Israel.

Abbas: We’ll renounce claims to Jaffa, Haifa for peace

If offered a just agreement, the Palestinian Authority would agree to a final end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and “will not demand in the future to return to Jaffa, Acre or Haifa,” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told a group of left-wing MKs who visited his Ramallah office on Thursday.
The statement appeared to signal a disavowal of the long-held Palestinian demand for a right of return to Israel for refugees of the 1948 war and their descendants. bbas expressed similar sentiments in an interview with Channel 2 in November. He later played down those comments.

Fatah: “Without blood Palestine will not return”

Fatah's official Facebook page continues to promote and glorify violence and terror for children. In one post, young Palestinian boys are shown holding rifles with the text:
"The children of Palestine - this is how they celebrated their holiday."
In another post, a masked man is holding a rifle with these words beside the picture:
"Machine gun, wake up the sleeping and tell them that without blood Palestine will not return"

Kerry’s Peace Talks Could Lead to New Terror Attacks

Until today, terror has helped the Palestinian Authority gain the trappings of an emergent nation state. So as long as violence continues to produce favorable outcomes for the Palestinians, the PA leadership is likely to perceive this as the better option.
Moreover, by receiving a virtual get-out-of-jail-free card from Mr. Kerry, the chances the PA will negotiate in good faith on final status issues, such as the so-called right of return for the 1948 Palestinian refugees and the fate of Jerusalem, are probably slim to none.
Bearing that in mind, it’s possible PA leader Mahmoud Abbas will intentionally torpedo peace talks with Israel, and instead pursue the more favorable methods of incitement, violence and terror, as the PA has consistently done in the past.

Piron: Our Grandchildren May Know Peace

Education Minister Shai Piron has expressed pessimism about the odds of true peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Piron told Maariv that he wants peace and thinks Israel should sacrifice for peace. “If I knew that we could end the conflict and make peace with our neighbors by establishing two states for two peoples, and paying the price by giving up communities in Judea and Samaria, I would support that,” he explained.
However, he continued, as Education Minister, he gets reports about the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish incitement in the PA school system.

BBC describes known terror finance man as ‘activist’

The BBC’s choice of the term “activist” gives audiences no insight into the type of pursuits engaged in by Bassam Saadi (also a-Saadi or al Saadi) – which, contrary to the impression readers might receive, are not limited to folding flyers or licking envelopes.
Bassam Saadi is a senior figure in the Jenin branch of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad who has been imprisoned due to his involvement in terrorist activity in the past. Palestinian Authority documents seized during ‘Operation Defensive Shield’ in 2002 named Saadi as part of the PIJ’s terror financing network.

Abraham Foxman: An Open Letter to Roger Waters From the ADL: ‘Your Animosity Towards Israel is Colored by Anti-Semitism’

Your single-minded obsession with trying to convince others to boycott the Jewish state, while ignoring the world’s true human rights violators, must be driven by something other than a guilty conscience. Taking all this into account, one must conclude that your views on Israel are in fact colored by offensive and dangerous undercurrents of anti-Jewish sentiment.

Rental Agency Apologizes for Map

Israeli customers of the global car rental agency "SixT" earlier expressed their surprise and anger at the company's decision to unilaterally erase Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights from its maps of Israel.
Information gathered by Arutz Sheva revealed that the company's European branches made the decision to take the politically-charged step, which effectively takes sides in the as-yet unresolved dispute between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

eBay to Cooperate With Israeli Exporters for First Time

For three months, the online retail giant will assist 10 Israeli exporters with small businesses in the field of consumer goods by exporting their products through eBay’s online commerce platform.
This is just the first stage in the planned cooperation. “We see this support as a top value and hope to make it permanent in the future,” said the head of eBay’s business activity in Israel, Elad Goldenberg, according to Yedioth Achronoth.

How Israel has Rebranded Amid a Volatile Geopolitical Backdrop

Mr. Aharoni launched "Brand Israel" in 2005 when he was serving as consul for media and public affairs at the Israel Consulate in New York. The campaign is meant to "rebrand" Israel, emphasizing its relevance and modernity. Mr. Aharoni, who joined the Israel foreign service in 1991, calls his specialty "country positioning." In short, he's worked to define what makes Israel attractive for tourism, foreign investment and export, and then used those advantages to promote his country to relevant audiences.
At Ad Age's CMO Strategy Summit in San Francisco on Oct. 16, Mr. Aharoni will share how he's worked to define Israel's brand and discuss how he deals with the obstacles Israel faces, given its difficult geopolitical situation.

A Glimpse into United Hatzalah Israeli Rescue Squad

Arutz Sheva visited United Hatzalah of Israel’s main center in Jerusalem, where over 2,000 people volunteer and answer hundreds of phone calls a day in order to save lives.
The center responds to over 650 calls daily from dozens of locations across the country. The 24/7 rescue team uses the “best” and most advanced technology, called the Moskowitz Life Compass. The team also uses the Israeli mobile navigation, Waze, in order for respondents to arrive as fast as possible.

Israel’s ‘green’ house cleans up in world contest

Israel’s entry, an 85-meter modular house built of locally-produced materials, came in first in the “energy balance” category for homes that produce more energy than they consume. It also won the hot water production category, and was second in the architecture category and fourth in the market appeal category.
The results were announced last week in Datong, China, where the contest took place. Two Chinese teams — from the University of Wollongong and the South China University of Technology — came in first and second overall, while Team Sweden came in third.

Caroline Glick: We will be back

The Israeli media is impossibly post-Zionist. The Tribal Update is without a doubt the best satire show ever produced in this country. And the fact that we cannot get a television contract for our show -- which by all accounts would receive massive rating -- shows the inherent and all-encompassing bias and hatred driving the media elites in this country -- and the cowardice and fecklessness of Likud apparatchiks in the face of this situation.
I will have more to say about our experience once the dust clears, and our plans are set.

British Christian cultural festival indoctrinates children against Israel

This weekend:

This year, Greenbelt celebrates 40 years as a Christian arts, faith and justice festival. The festival organizers have chosen the theme ‘Life begins’, and we will be using our presence there to remember those for whom life is permanently on hold.

Our installation in the Centaur foyer aims to give a glimpse of the challenges faced by ordinary Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. There'll be a giant, interactive floor game - Occupation! - for all ages. Roll the dice and make your way through checkpoints and challenges, permit denials and poverty. On your journey, you’ll learn about the issues affecting the West Bank and Gaza and find out how you can help Embrace the Middle East to make a positive difference to the lives of marginalised people.

Occupation! is just a game, and you can walk freely away whenever you want, but the message behind it is a serious one. In the West Bank and Gaza, injustice continues to weave through the fabric of Palestinian life. Join us as we embrace the work of our Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters in their determination to be agents of change.

Not that Greenbelt is only indoctrinating children:

One of our Greenbelt highlights will be the official launch of Kairos Britain: A Time for Action, the new booklet from British Church leaders responding the 2009 Kairos Palestine Call, challenging British Churches and Christians to take action and stand with our Christian brothers and sisters in Palestine against Israel’s 46-year occupation of their land in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. The launch will be at 12.30pm on Sunday. We’re hosting a reception after the launch, so do stay and take the opportunity to talk some more.

While the Greenbelt site has many, many articles about how evil Israel is, there is not a single posting there about how Coptic Christians are being attacked, today, in Egypt. In case the social justice people at Greenbelt missed it, here are the latest stats:

47 churches attacked, of which 25 were burned, seven looted and destroyed, five partly damaged, and 10 attacked without sustaining heavy damage. Nor how Christians are fleeing Lebanon.

Nor does Greenbelt discuss how Muslims have pushed Christians out of Bethlehem. They used to be a majority, including under Israeli rule; now under the PA they are almost gone. And it isn't because of Israel. It is systemic Muslim discrimination and therefore a topic that must not be discussed.

Christians in Gaza? Not a topic that Greenbelt wants to discuss. Wouldn't want to upset Hamas, would we?

Not a word about how the Middle East is turning into a Christian-free zone, everywhere -except Israel.

And only a single article about Syrian Christians becoming refugees. In the past two years, Syria has become the only Arab country that one is allowed to criticize without worrying about losing your lefty credentials. It is still nowhere as monstrous as Israel, of course, based on the amount of attention it gets at fun, family festivals like Greenbelt. They'd have to gas at least a half million more people to death and etch crosses in their faces to start getting the same attention Israel get from good, moral, justice-seeking Christians like the ones at Greenbelt.

See also the Archbishop Cramner site. H/t to Alex for WSJ link, a very worthwhile article.

Earthquake-washing - in 1953

You know how Israel-haters claim that anything humanitarian that Israel ever does does not reflect the true attitude of Israelis, but are only meant to cover over their supposed crimes?

I'd love to hear how they explain this:

In August 1953, Israel had just concluded celebrations of the country's fifth anniversary. The festivities weren't joyful: An economic recession and military threats were causing no end of anxiety to the country's leadership. The country was also preoccupied with the task of absorbing waves of immigrants, who had come from Arab lands and post-Holocaust Europe. Israel's international position was also precarious: On the one hand many countries had recognized the newly founded state, but on the other hand their leaders refrained from paying official visits because of the Arab boycott. A number of European countries had not yet recognized Israel, among them Germany, Austria, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and Greece.

The Israeli Navy was in the process of building its force, having at its disposal only a small number of old frigate-class warships, which had been renovated and put into service, along with a mixed assemblage of young soldiers lacking experience or naval training. On Aug. 12, 1953 the navy flotilla was on its way back to Israeli shores, after four weeks of intense training in the Aegean Sea, aimed at creating a professional naval force. Suddenly S.O.S alerts were sounded off the Greek shores: A series of deadly earthquakes, measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale, had struck the area of the Greek islands, Kefalonia, Zante, and Ithaca. The commander of the Israeli flotilla reported back to naval headquarters in Haifa and requested permission to turn back and offer aid. The Israeli response was immediate: "Enter and provide assistance."

The Israeli fleet, 15 hours away from the site of the disaster, doubled back and sailed past the American and British fleets, which could not access the areas on the islands that had been hit, due to the immense size of their warships.

In his blog "Seven days - notes from the Great Blue", Yiftah Kozik vividly describes the sights encountered by the Israeli naval personnel arriving at the devastated islands:

"huge clods of earth were falling into the water at tremendous speeds, the summit of Mount Ainos on the island of Kefalonia looks as though it were split in two, pillars of smoke rising from cracks could be seen throughout the town, and fierce fires had broken out in the olive oils storerooms and were burning all that remained...in most of the island's village not a building remained standing, and thousands were wounded in critical condition, among them pregnant women, old and young, people with amputated and crushed limbs, and all were in need of immediate help....the casualty clearing station was located on a wharf of the island's central port, the flotilla's senior physician, Dr. Ashkenazi, along with his younger colleague, Dr. Seelenfreud, were in charge of medical treatment, distributing the limited medical resources, and performing triage. The Israeli teams performed emergency surgeries: a broken pelvis, skull fractures, premature births, complex fractures, hemorrhages, panic attacks, despair, and havoc everywhere..."

According to the Law of the Sea of that time, the first rescue force to arrive on the scene takes command of the operation, and since the Israeli navy was the first to land on the shores of Kefalonia it took charge and also directed the rescue operations of the American and British fleets. For three days and nights the 450 Israeli naval men struggled side by side with the Americans and the British to provide relief to the residents of the Greek islands, saving hundreds from a sure death, transporting 400 seriously wounded casualties to the mainland, and providing medical assistance to 16,000 local residents. Although at the time the Greek government had not yet recognized the state of Israel, and official recognition would arrive only 37 years later, the Greek people expressed their gratitude. The king of Greece came personally to greet the Navy soldiers to convey a message of thanks to David Ben Gurion, Israel's Prime Minister, and to award badges of merit to the commanders of the operation, Shlomo Harel and Yizhak Dviri. In an act of appreciation for the Israeli navy, the Greek press called it "the fleet of love and hope," and "the Israeli sailors of salvation."

As the Israeli fleet departed from the Kefalonia bay to make its way back to Israeli shores, the other ships that took part in the rescue operations sounded their horns in a prolonged cheer, in a spontaneous show of professional homage.

Obviously, the Israelis were trying to whitewash the future "occupation."

PalArab gets arrested for selling "Morsi" perfume

When you want to smell like an Islamist....

Palestinian security services have arrested an Islamist sympathizer in the West Bank for selling perfume named in honor of Egypt’s ousted President Mohammad Mursi, family members said on Thursday.

Islambuli Badir, a 36-year-old member of Islamist movement Hamas, was arrested during a raid on his perfume shop in the town of Tulkarem, his brother Abdel Fattah Badir told AFP.

“Men from the security services on Tuesday raided my brother’s shop and confiscated all the perfume bottles that were labeled ‘Mursi,’ then arrested Islambuli and also seized his laptop,” said Abdel Fattah.

“The day after the arrest, my younger brother Qassam, 24, put a sign up on the shop door saying: An apology to customers -- our Mohammad Mursi perfume has been seized by the authorities.”

Arab media report that the perfume was created after the Egyptian coup, and it was a best seller in the West Bank.

I'm not sure if the target market is women or men.

Hamas terrorists hold a pathetic parade in Rafah

This parade/motorcade occurred yesterday, in Rafah, by Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades:

It appears that there were ten vehicles, filmed over and over, with masked terrorists triumphantly holding their weapons to the utter indifference of passers-by.

They are holding up four fingers to symbolize Cairo's Fourth Square where hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members were killed.

If Hamas is trying to give the impression that it is not involved in Egyptian terrorism, this isn't the best way to get that message across.

"Jews violating the sanctity of Al Aqsa" (video)

Al Wattan TV has a video of what they describe as "Dozens of Jewish settlers, on Thursday, wandered in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque and and violated its sanctity."

They have video of the horrible desecration:

Clearly, the Jews were desecrating it by not screaming slogans and acting like a mob.

Threats, insults and intimidation must reflect the sanctity of the Al Aqsa Mosque much better than peacefully walking around.

"How to Survive as a Jew in Sweden" (Mosaic)

From Mosaic Magazine, an excerpt from a letter to a writer who discussed Jewish life in Europe today:

On April 26 of this year, I was on a train with my five-year-old son Charlie. We were on our way to spend shabbat with friends in the city. You see, our town, significant in the history of Swedish Jewry, shut its synagogue in the late 90s. All that remains now is a plaque stating that there was once Jewish life here, while we are left with an hour-long train ride every weekend to attend services.

My son was wearing his kippah as we got on the train. He loves his kippah. He is not yet old enough to know the dangers entailed in wearing it, for this is a fact from which I have tried to protect him. But April 26 would change all that.

There was a gentleman sitting in our reserved seat. An Arab, maybe fifty years old, listening to music. Apologizing for the inconvenience, I asked him politely for our seat. He got up, inspected my son, and then leaned over me, saying: You people always take what you want. You need to learn.

He then walked straight into my son, causing him to fall over, and took the seat behind us.

We sat. Hiding my trembling hands from my son’s sight, I picked up Shabbes for Kids and started to review the week’s Torah portion with him. We hadn’t progressed as far as a page before the man stood up and screamed: Quiet! I don’t want to hear that! You take what you want and never think of others! Shut up!

He stamped his feet, grunting and glaring at my son. Fighting tears of rage, I assured Charlie that the man was just grumpy and tried to turned the episode into a game, one that required us to remain super quiet for as long as possible. I even managed to coax a conspiratorial smile out of him.

But even this failed to appease our tormentor, who spent the rest of the trip repeatedly kicking the back of my son’s seat. At one point I glanced around our compartment: there were four other people there, four adults witnessing a single mother and her five-year-old child being attacked by a grown man. They did nothing. I tried forcing them to meet my gaze; but they just turned away, put on their headphones, stared at their screens, ignored what was happening in front of them.

I did not summon the railway police. I did not scream back at the man. I know better. I know that the only way to survive as a Jew in my country is not to be seen as one. Not to be exposed but to shut up and fade into the woodwork. I’ve known this for quite some time. Unfortunately, my son knows it now, too.

In your fascinating and informative article you mention that ritual slaughter, kosher as well as hallal, is under threat in Europe. Well, in Sweden kosher butchering was outlawed in 1937 and has been illegal ever since. The threat is not a threat but a reality—for me as, on a much graver scale, it had been for my grandparents, forced into hiding in a Sweden silently collaborating with the Nazis throughout the world war. The next threat on the horizon is a ban on even importing kosher products, compelling me and many of my friends to smuggle kosher meat from Israel on our return trips from that land.

By contrast, hallal slaughter is not banned in Sweden. My government, when asked about the disparity, replies that the methods of slaughter in Judaism are uniquely barbaric.

...In your essay you mention that Jewish religious and cultural activities in Western Europe are everywhere on the rise. This, too, is not my reality. What I see is that the Holocaust wing at the Jewish Museum is crowded with visitors, while the synagogues are empty. I see cute Woody Allen-ish activities being promoted, and actual Jewish life being banned. The dead, suffering Jew is glorified; the healthy, active Jew is vilified.

...What frightens me most is that my government is proscribing Jewish life. Yes, by outlawing circumcision, banning kosher slaughter, and telling us forthrightly that the only way to avoid being harassed in the streets is to distance ourselves from Israel, they are reinventing the conditions of the Eastern Europe past that brought our community to this country in the first place. This is what is driving us out: one by one, bill by bill.

Of course, mere survival isn't living. From this description, it looks like Jewish life in the real sense of the word is already dead in Sweden.

8/22 Links Part 2: The Only Place Where Muslims Can Speak Freely in the ME, Regime Change in Jordan

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Where Muslims Can Speak Freely in the Middle East

While Muslim Brotherhood leaders have been thrown into prison in Egypt, Raed Salah and Kamal al-Khatib, the leaders of the Islamic Movement in Israel, continue to lead normal lives and organize various political activities around the country.
One of them, Islambuli Badir from Tulkarem, was detained for manufacturing and marketing a perfume named after Morsi. The second, Mahmoud Ayyad, a poet from Bethlehem, was taken into custody for wearing a shirt with a portrait of Morsi.
Last week, Palestinian Authority policemen used force to break up a pro-Morsi rally in Hebron. Two local journalists, Akram al-Natsha and Mahmoud Abu Ghania, complained that the policemen threatened and insulted them during the confrontation.
Today it has become evident that leaders and members of the Islamic Movement in Israel enjoy more freedom and rights than the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Jordan and even -- under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank -- Hamas.

Israel’s Heroic Restraint

Israel routinely gets crucified by its enemies, not least for the behavior of the Israeli military. The Jewish state’s reckless soldiers eagerly spill Arab blood, as if for sport. Or so the story goes.
Kuwaiti officials accuse the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of “intentional killing, intentional destruction of civilian objects, intentional scorched-earth policy.” Pakistani authorities complain that the “horrors of Israeli occupation continue to haunt the international community’s conscience.”
“The IDF faces a challenge,” according to Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan and an outside expert on the IDF’s strategy and tactics. “It is the automatic, Pavlovian presumption by many in the international media, and international human rights groups, that the IDF are in the wrong, that they are abusing human rights.”
If Israel’s critics would calm down and face facts, they would be astonished by the IDF’s efforts to reduce or eliminate civilian casualties through its policy of military restraint.

BBC documentary on Tel Aviv gay pride fails to keep up with the news

The trouble with that statement is of course that a suspect in the Bar Noar shootings has been caught (in fact he was arrested during the time that Samuels was in Tel Aviv making the programme) and was charged with two counts of murder and attempted murder on July 8th 2013. The implication that the shootings were purely an anti-gay hate crime is also problematic given the information which emerged after the arrests. That means that whoever wrote that synopsis has either not bothered to keep up with the facts of the case – and hence misleads audiences by making inaccurate statements – or that the facts of the case do not tailor themselves to the message he or she is trying to get across. Clearly, that synopsis needs to be corrected.

‘All the News That’s Fit to Print’ Really?

The Times is entitled to its fantasy that land for peace will seal the deal between Israelis and Palestinians. But Palestinians have rejected every international recommendation for the partition of land west of the Jordan. All or nothing has its cost, but readers should not hold their breath in anticipation of Times recognition that it has been Palestinian recalcitrance, not Jewish settlements, that have proven to be the overriding obstacle to peace.
Two weeks ago the Times reported the discovery in Jerusalem by a prominent archeologist of a fragment of King David’s palace. Jerusalem bureau chief Steven Erlanger made sure to insert his own doubts about its veracity, equating historic Jewish claims to Jerusalem with Yasir Arafat’s absurd denial of any Jewish connection there. But several days later, when the print media overflowed with accounts of the discovery of a juglet with a 3,000 year-old text from King David’s time, pre-dating the earliest known Hebrew inscription from the 8th century BCE, the Times ignored the story.

Palestinian official threatens to go to UN over settlements

If the US is unable to halt Israeli construction on war-won lands, deemed illegal by most of the international community, the Palestinians may have to seek redress elsewhere, said Hanan Ashrawi, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization.
“We are saying very clearly that if Israel does not stop, then we have to move,” Ashrawi said during a tour of Israeli neighborhoods in east Jerusalem where hundreds of new apartments are planned.
Ashrawi said she was expressing the official Palestinian position, though it was not clear if her warning was a sign of frustration or actual intent. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas might be reluctant to disrupt recently relaunched negotiations with such a step, for fear of incurring US anger.

PLO official: Israel asked US out of negotiating room

A PLO official accused Israel on Thursday of undermining negotiations by demanding the removal of the Americans from the negotiation room in a bid “to exploit their power over the Palestinians.”
“We had an agreement on three-way negotiations. The Americans from the beginning were supposed to be there. I don’t see why the Israelis don’t want the Americans there, as witnesses,” Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, told The Times of Israel. “These are not two-way negotiations,” she added.

Peter Beinart’s Open Zion feels the pain of pre-Oslo murderers and their loved ones

An Aug. 20 essay by Maysoon Zayid at Peter Beinart’s blog Open Zion, titled ‘Palestinian Prisoners Are Released and No One Cares‘, mostly stands out in the way in which Arab murderers are characterized sympathetically while the victims of their brutal crimes are all but ignored.
Indeed, we’ve been posting frequently on the sympathetic portrayal, by some in the media, of the the 104 pre-Oslo prisoners who Israel has agreed to release – all of whom were convicted of murder, attempted murder, or being an accessory to murder, and the dearth of information about the victims and their families. And, in fact, Zayid spends most of the space allotted to her commenting on the pain felt by the recently released murderers – in “the middle of the night”!, we are reminded – and the ‘feelings’ of their families.
In addition to the moral inversion typical in the far-left’s coverage of the prisoner release story, here are a few of the smears and falsehoods in Zayid’s Open Zion essay.

Israel, the un-apartheid state – a comparison with Australia

The anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions Movement justifies its racist persecution of Jewish Israeli businesses in Australia, the UK, Europe and North America with the accusation that Israel is an apartheid state.
They like to imagine that their campaign of aggressive protests around tiny retail cosmetics stands and chocolate shops is comparable to the mass protests against the Springbok rugby team that characterized the campaign against South African apartheid in the 1970s and ‘80s.
But the analogy between Israel and apartheid South Africa is false on every level. A comparison of Israel with Australia, a country generally admired for its freedom and successful multiculturalism, reveals this clearly.

Words Supporting Boycott of Israel Deleted From JCC in Manhattan Official’s Article

The new version of the op-ed does not include the words “and the importance of the use of boycott to get international attention towards pressuring Israel to end the occupation is unquestionable.”
In his op-ed, Zablocki opposed a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement letter asking Iranian film director Moshen Makhmalbaf to boycott the Jerusalem Film Festival. He also criticized calls for Lebanese director Ziad Doueiri to boycott the festival.
Before the language in Zablocki’s op-ed was altered, he defended the story in a comment on its Web page.

Who needs Waters when we have much finer wine

If all this coverage of one aging, has-been, rock star who once wrote some lyrics for a very fine band before destroying it, makes you think cultural boycotts of Israel are on the rise: think again.
For every idiot like Roger Waters, who’s happy to play gigs in the country which has imprisoned more reporters in the last few years than any other (Turkey) but won’t play in the only free and open democracy in the Middle East, there are dozens more who love playing in Israel.

Refaeli takes on Waters over boycott letter

Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli tweeted in Hebrew that she no longer wants to be associated with British rocker Roger Waters after his open letter calling for a boycott of Israel.
“Roger Waters, you better take my picture off of the video art at your shows. If you’re boycotting — go all the way,” Refaeli said Wednesday on Twitter.
Her image is among dozens beamed on the wall during Waters’ concerts.

The case for regime change in Jordan

The popular uprisings, in various Arab states, which were hailed by the pundits as the “Arab Spring,” were directed against despotic rulers, who invariably represented a minority, either ethnic, religious, or army juntas.
These despots established dynasties which remained in power for decades. Their unmitigated ruthlessness and kleptocratic greed kept the vast majority of the population in a state of fear and subjugation, hunger and rage. The people invariably called for regime change.
Nowhere is the rule of a minority over the majority more blatant than in Jordan.

Iranian gets life for planned attacks on Israeli targets in Thailand

A Bangkok court sentenced an Iranian man to life in prison for a botched bomb plot last year that officials believe was aimed at Israeli diplomats in the Thai capital. His accomplice, also an Iranian national, received a sentence of 15 years.
The Iranians were detained shortly after a cache of homemade explosives accidentally blew apart the villa where the men were staying in February 2012.

India and Israel’s strategic ties

At first glance, Hindumajority India, with approximately 1.2 billion people and a subcontinent, would seem to have little in common with Jewish-majority Israel, which has only about eight million people living on territory roughly 15 times the size of India’s capital city. While full diplomatic relations were established between Jerusalem and New Delhi only in 1992, the two countries actually have much in common.
Both countries are homelands for ancient peoples who gained their independence from the British in the 1940s.
Both states have gone on to create vibrant, multicultural democracies that have experienced dynamic, technology driven economic growth. India and Israel each also have a large Muslim minority population, and each faces an ongoing terrorism threat from foreign and domestic Islamic extremists; indeed, both Israelis and Indians were targeted and killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Even more serious, India and Israel each face ballistic missile threats from at least one close, hostile Muslim state.

Punjab Farmers Learn Farming Techniques in Israel

A 10-member delegation of dairy farmers from the Punjab region of India recently visited Israel to participate in a training program about modern dairy farming techniques. The unique program was especially designed for the group by the Center for International Agricultural Development Cooperation (CINDACO), part of Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Liberman hopes to turn Arad into Israel's Hollywood

Milchan, 68, said tax credits persuaded movie studios to film top movies in Romania, Hungary, and New Zealand, so he saw no reason why films cannot be made in Israel. He said thee money invested by the countries came back in jobs, hotels, restaurants, construction, and tourism.
“This could be great public relations for Israel,” Milchan said. “It is possible to build a first-class studio here in Arad. If we do and there is cooperation from all sides, there is no reason why the biggest productions won't come to Arad instead of Budapest.”

Israeli Security System to be Used in NY Housing Projects

A one-building pilot project at the 1,600-unit Knickerbocker Village has been using the SafeRise program from the Israeli-based FST21 that is now rolling out to all dozen buildings.
The company is headed by retired IDF Major General Aharon Zeevi Farkash, formerly the head of Israeli Military Intelligence. He said the system is the ultimate answer to lost ID cards and security guards who don’t really examine IDs.
“Everyone who tried the system, was, ‘Yes I want it,’” Farkash told the newspaper. “This is the best way to introduce new technology.”

Canyoning, anyone?

Canyoning is all about accessing parts of nature you can’t otherwise access. It’s not just backing off a cliff for a high-energy rappelling experience and then climbing back up to do it again. Instead, this sport is about combining rappelling (abseiling) and rope-work, climbing and scampering, jumping and swimming.
“Israelis are good at canyoning because they like to explore, they like the fear factor and they like to do extraordinary things,” Adam Sela, founder of Challenging Experience — a jeep tours and wilderness activities venture – tells ISRAEL21c.
Israel is blessed with varied topography. And that means there are dozens of places to go canyoning. Israel’s top canyoning spots are found in the desert and the Golan Heights. Most of the trails are open to everyone and no prior experience is required. Sela notes that there are also canyons reserved for the more experienced.

Palestinians, Israelis work together to clear medicines from water

The joint Palestinian-Israeli research team from Al-Quds University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology is working to assess the use of advanced membrane and bio-degradation technologies for eradicating pharmaceutical materials from treated waste-water. Organized by the Peres Center for Peace and sponsored by the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, the two-year project aims to investigate the degradation and removal processes of certain drugs found in aquatic environments that come from both domestic and industrial sources.
“In order to facilitate and progress with the research, we need the expertise of the Israeli side,” said Karaman, who is the principal researcher on the Palestinian side. “We can learn from them and they can learn from us, and this way you can do good research in Palestine.” (h/t Zvi)