Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Arabs freak out over video of IDF soldiers dancing at Druze wedding (UPDATE - Hebron party?) (X3)

A rumor was started (apparently on Facebook) that this video shows IDF soldiers dancing at a wedding near Hebron with Palestinian Arabs:

In fact, the YouTube caption says that this was a Druze wedding inside the Green Line. The Druze, of course, join the IDF so these may have been Jewish or Druze soldiers. (It doesn't appear to be a Muslim wedding at all.)

But the rumors are out there that this was a Palestinian Arab event, with comments from the Arab world that "Arabs are killing each other and here Jews and Palestinians are dancing."

(h/t eliyahud)

UPDATE: Times of Israel reports that it really was a party in Hebron, and it gets worse:

The IDF may punish a group of soldiers for joining a Palestinian party in Hebron after a video emerged of the infantrymen in full gear dancing to PSY’s Gangnam Style with their Palestinian hosts.

While on patrol in the city, according to a Channel 2 report aired Wednesday night, the Givati Brigade soldiers — armed and in uniform — entered the party and were greeted festively, even being hoisted on the shoulders of the party-goers as they all danced.

The party was attended by members of the Jaabari clan, whose male members are known to members of the terror group Hamas, according to the report.

“This is an incident of utmost severity,” the IDF said in a statement. “The soldiers have been called in for questioning, and the commanders of the brigade and the battalion are investigating. The soldiers [in question] will be dealt with appropriately.”

JPost has the story as well. Not sure where the YouTube caption saying these were Druze came from.

This is too bizarre. If this report is true and not a mangled version of reality, it is incomprehensibly stupid for IDF soldiers to expose themselves in a situation like that, and equally incomprehensible that an entire room full of young Arab men would cheer IDF soldiers under any circumstance.

There must be more to this story. At least, there had better be.

If true, the Arab reaction is still funny.

(h/t Brian)

UPDATE 2: Gidon reminds me that the Jabari family in Hebron is known as being very pro-Israel and the Jews of Hebron know and respect the clan's leader. See this story. So the association with Hamas might be inaccurate, and (while this would still be a break of military protocol) this might actually be a decent expression of co-existence.

UPDATE 3: David Ha'Ivri, who lives in the territories, writes in the comments:

I know for a fact that Sheikh Jabari is considering suing channel 2 for defaming his clan as Hamas supporters. They do not support PLO or Hamas.

8/28 Links Pt2: PA Violates Oslo Accords, PA Lying About Cancelled Talks, Raising Nemo in the Desert

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: The Palestinian Authority's "Israeli Affairs Committee"

Instead of preparing Palestinians for peace with Israel, the Palestinian Authority leadership has decided to focus its efforts on winning the support of the Israeli public for a peaceful settlement based on the two-state solution.
In the context of its efforts to "convince" Israelis to accept the two-state solution, the Palestinian Authority recently established a special "Israeli Affairs Committee" with the goal of promoting the idea among the Israeli public.
The committee's main task, in fact, is to scare Israelis that failure to accept all Palestinian demands would plunge the region into another cycle of violence and bloodshed. The Palestinian Authority is hoping that to avoid another intifada, intimidated Israelis would put pressure on their government to comply with Palestinian demands.

Opposition To 'Abbas Emerging Within Palestinian Authority

Senior Fatah Members Criticize Government For Anti-Democratic Methods, Corruption
Recently, several senior Fatah members have sharply and openly criticized the nature of the Palestinian Authority (PA) government, headed by President Mahmoud 'Abbas. Essentially, they accused 'Abbas of concentrating in his hands a great number of functions and powers; this, they say, constitutes an infringement of democratic rule. They also alleged that there is corruption in the PA and its security apparatuses, and that they are exceeding their authority and suppressing freedom of expression by intimidating anyone who dares to speak out against 'Abbas.

PA official Rajoub calls Israelis "bullies" and "you Nazis"

Prosor: Peace Depends on Next Generation Wanting Peace

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, said on Tuesday that peace in the Middle East would only be possible if the Palestinian Authority stops educating its children towards hatred of Israel and towards jihad against Jews.
In a post on his Facebook page, Prosor mentioned the UNRWA-sponsored children's camps which educate young PA Arab children to wage war against Israel.
“The next peace agreement depends on the next generation wanting peace,” he wrote.
“This summer, Palestinian children as young as 5 attended camps where they were taught to hate Jews, glorify suicide bombers and fight a 'holy war' against the State of Israel,” added Prosor.

Israeli Minister Tells Norway That Palestinians Are Violating Oslo Accords

Elkin asked the foreign minister of the country where the 1993 Oslo Accords were signed to discourage the Palestinian Authority from taking unilateral steps that violate the agreement.
“If the Oslo agreement said specifically that the Palestinian Authority will not take unilateral steps to establish an independent state, and after about 20 years it goes to the U.N. and asks for recognition of a Palestinian state, who will ensure that if we sign an agreement they will uphold its conditions?” Elkin said, according to Israel Hayom.

Palestinian Authority Accused of 'Lying' as Talks Continue

On Monday, a senior PA spokesperson declared that the talks had been cancelled, in response to events in Kalandia.
"The meeting that was to take place in Jericho... today was cancelled because of the Israeli crime committed in Kalandiya.
"What happened today in Kalandiya shows the real intentions of the Israeli government," said PA Chairman president Mahmoud Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeina.

MK Tibi: Mob Attack on Soldiers was ‘Legitimate Self-Defense'

MK Ahmed Tibi, who is no stranger to controversy, may have outdone himself with a new Facebook post justifying a violent attack on IDF soldiers – and calling the soldiers war criminals.
“Throwing rocks at a military jeep full of armed soldiers who came to kill in a refugee camp (Kalandia this time, Jenin two weeks ago) is legitimate and is a form of self-defense,” Tibi wrote.

Foreign Ministry slams UNRWA for 'jumping to conclusions' in Kalandiya incident

In an unusually blunt attack on the United Nation’s Relief and Works Agency, the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday called on the organization to “return to its original humanitarian agenda” and refrain from “one-sided political advocacy.”
Only in this way, the statement said, could UNRWA “hope to be taken seriously – both by Israel and the international donor community.”
The Foreign Ministry was responding to a press release the organization issued Monday condemning Israel for the death of UN worker Rubin Zayed, a 34-year-old father of four. The agency said this occurred during the IDF operation Monday in Kalandiya where three Palestinians were killed after security forces came under attack while carrying out an arrest.

The ‘hate fest’ of the year coming to a university near you!!

On Wednesday 11th September and Thursday 12th September, our National University in Canberra is hosting a conference for “Human rights in Palestine”.
This conference/hate fest is associated with a project on ‘Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories’ funded by the British Academy and the Australian National University. The British Academy has provided funding for the project with the aim of encouraging debate and understanding.

The Australian: Peace body promotes conflict

One of the many benefits of the rule of law is that everybody is entitled to their day in court. Faced with a complaint of breaching the Race Discrimination Act, two Sydney academics have decided to stage a protest rally instead.
It means that peaceful, law-abiding scholars at the University of Sydney will have their day disrupted by another arrogant display by the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. Sydney Peace Foundation director Stuart Rees and Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies director Jake Lynch would do better to start preparing their defence for the Australian Human Rights Commission hearing they are due to face this week. The Tel Aviv-based Israel Law Centre, Shurat HaDin, has lodged a complaint that the academics' support for the BDS movement breaches race discrimination laws.

BDS groups protest Israel Philharmonic in Buenos Aires

Pro-Palestinian groups held an anti-Israel demonstration outside a Buenos Aires theater during a charity concert by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
Some 50 demonstrators outside the Colon Theatre on Monday called for a boycott, disinvestment and sanctions against Israel.
A statement from the Federation of Palestine-Argentinian institutions and the Association for Human Rights in Palestine — the groups that organized the protest — said Israel “kills one Palestinian child every three days” and that Israel is carrying out a policy of “ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.”

Indy legitimises ludicrous charge that Israel is ‘ethnically cleansing’ Jerusalem

As you can see, whatever your views on Israel’s decision to build homes in communities in “east” Jerusalem (parts of the city previously controlled by Jordan), the charge that such construction, on lands which are currently uninhabited, constitutes the “ethnic cleansing” of either Muslims or Arabs is nothing but a lie.
If the toxic influence of pro-Palestinian propaganda wasn’t so severe, the charge that Israelis are engaged in anything resembling the ethnic cleansing of Muslims or Arabs would be regarded with the suspicion and contempt that typically greets other discredited anti-Zionist and antisemitic conspiracy theories.

BBC R2 promotes and mainstreams anti-Israel Greenbelt Festival

Near the beginning of the programme Clare Balding remarks on the “lovely feel” to the festival and her interviewee, the festival’s creative director Paul Northup, describes the event as “inclusive” and engaging”. However, any stray Israelis who happened to stumble upon it would probably find the event decidedly less than inclusive.
Balding makes no mention of the fact that one of the festival’s ‘attractions’ was a “giant interactive floor game for all ages” titled “Occupation”.

The Truth about the Siege of Gaza Strip

The Gaza Strip is under a cruel siege which takes no account of the basic needs of the population, Yet the world is silent. Already under the role of now-deposed President Morsi, the Egyptian Army began an operation to destroy and flood the smuggling tunnels. Now, in addition to the fishing areas, the border has been sealed, with no indication of plans to re-open it. At the other end, the State of Israel allows the transfer of people and goods to the Gaza Strip, providing both electricity and water to a territory it itself defines as a “hostile entity”

US student says racist campus postings a ‘joke’

A college student acknowledged posting anti-Islam fliers and racist cards around the campus of the historically liberal Oberlin College earlier this year, saying he meant them as a “joke” to provoke a reaction, according to statements he made after being detained by campus security. The student also took credit for the display of a large Nazi flag, which he also said he meant as a joke, and posting the face of Oberlin’s president onto a picture of Adolf Hitler, according to the statements contained in an Oberlin city police report.

Adjudicator Rules Against BDS-Infected Academia

An Israeli student won a significant victory against Britain’s BDS-infected academia.
The background: Smadar Bakovic had repeatedly complained to Warwick University that she wasn’t comfortable with pro-BDS professor Nicola Pratt supervising her Master’s degree dissertation on Israeli Arab identity. Eventually, Pratt gave a low mark to Bakovic’s dissertation, Bakovic had it re-evaluated on appeal, and received a substantially better mark.

Man charged with threatening Fargo synagogue

A man is facing federal civil rights and threats charges after officials at the Department of Justice said he called the synagogue here and left a message suggesting he was affiliated with Hamas and claiming Islamic Jihad against the head of the synagogue.
Dominique Jason Flanigan, 41, of Fargo, also known as Kadafi Al Sadar, was arraigned Monday on two counts of transmitting threatening communications and one count of interference with a federally protected activity, the highest count of which is a felony, according to court documents.

Book Sounds Alarm on Modern Anti-Israelism and Anti-Semitism (REVIEW)

Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld sounds the alarm. His new book, “Demonizing Israel and the Jews,” consults a diverse selection of prominent authors, bloggers, politicians, psychiatrists, historians and other expert professionals, gauging the current climate.
This survey is extensive, and it is important. By highlighting his colleagues’ research, Gerstenfeld examines the roots of persistent old-world anti-Semitism and demonstrates how new, hate-fueled, uncompromising, and even genocidal ideologies propagate rapidly.

Israel and China agreement takes direct flights to new heights

Under new deal, Israel and China can operate 14 regular weekly flights and seven cargo flights between the two countries • Until now, El Al has operated just three weekly flights from Tel Aviv to Beijing, while Air China does not operate any.

PrePex chosen to circumcise 20 million men in Africa

Fourteen African nations with high rates of new HIV infections are hoping an Israeli medical device for non-surgical voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) can curb the epidemic and save lives. The World Health Organization (WHO) has prequalified the PrePax method as part of its widespread HIV prevention programs on the continent.
PrePex is the only adult circumcision method, other than conventional surgery, to gain WHO accreditation. The method requires no sutures, no injected anesthesia and sees no blood. Moreover, PrePex can be used by both trained physicians and mid-level providers, such as nurses.

Raising Nemo in the desert

Desert fishing seems like an absurd notion. Yet the lucrative tropical fish-growing industry in Israel’s Negev desert is one of the best, and most environmentally friendly, in the world.
Click on the video to see Arava Research and Development Center Director Alon Gadiel explain why this arid region has become a world leader in the fancy fish industry.

Growing fish in Israel's desert

Vancouver transit ads show "the map that lies"

From The Province:

Jewish groups in Vancouver say they are considering suing Trans-Link for accepting controversial political advertisements showing the "disappearance of Palestine due to Israeli occupation over the past 66 years."

On Tuesday, a group called the Palestine Awareness Coalition announced the launch of 15 bus posters and a large mural in a central Vancouver SkyTrain station, that depict the territory of Palestine steadily shrinking into the state of Israel in a succession of dated maps.

Marty Roth - a 79-year-old member of the coalition group behind the ad campaign - said they have already won a victory over groups that tried to "suppress" the ads.

"This will be controversial with a number of traditional Jewish organizations that have tried to suppress the ads," Roth claimed. "But Trans-Link has refused to agree with them,

because these are educational ads that are well within national advertising guidelines and the Canadian Charter (of Rights and Freedoms)."

Roth said, as a Canadian Jewish man, he believes Israel is unjustly oppressing the people of Palestine and his group wants to educate the Canadian public about the conflict.

But Jewish leaders including Mitchell Gropper, chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, called the ads a provocative attack on Jewish people that will incite hatred. "This is of grave concern to our community at large, because the ads make the use of the buses unwelcome and unsafe," Gropper said, noting that terrorist attacks in Israel often target buses.

"I don't think I've ever seen ads on our TransLink system that attack a section of our society. If the transit system will be used to attack Israel and the Jewish people, who is next?" Gropper, a Vancouver lawyer, said his group went to the "highest levels" of TransLink and argued that the Palestine ads should be rejected, but they were told TransLink must accept the ads for legal reasons.

The Province sought interviews with TransLink officials but were referred to a prepared statement, which says TransLink sought a "third-party legal opinion" which said the Supreme Court of Canada decided TransLink must run ads such as "Disappearing Palestine" under the Canadian Charter.

The ads are even less accurate than the popular four-panel maps that I have shown in the past to be absolute lies.

Here is a photo of the full ad, plus a close-up:

The first panel is is a lie. The entire area was called "Palestine" including the white parts (that symbolize private Jewish ownership.) As I have explained, most of the land was owned by the British Mandate, and was not privately owned by either Jew or Arab.

The second panel is a lie. The UN partition plan, which the Arabs rejected, called the two states simply "The Jewish state" and "The Arab state." At no time was there any attempt by Arabs to allow a Palestinian Arab state to be created.

The third panel is a lie. During that time period, no one was calling for a Palestinian Arab state in the territories occupied by Jordan and Egypt - least of all, Jordan and Egypt, but Palestinian Arab leaders didn't demand one either. The PLO, founded in 1964, explicitly excluded the green areas from its desired state in its charter!

The fourth panel is a lie. Israel has not annexed all the white areas and has offered far more than the green areas for any future peace plan.

However, I am not sure if the Vancouver Jewish community's arguments, based on the ads making Jews feel insecure and unwelcome as they use the transit system, are the correct arguments to make.

I value free speech and those arguments make me uncomfortable. Seeing a message I passionately disagree with is not automatically an attack on me.

However, there is a very good reason why the ads should be taken down. The problem isn't offensiveness - it is truth in advertising.

According to the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards:

(a) Advertisements must not contain inaccurate, deceptive or otherwise misleading claims, statements, illustrations or representations, either direct or implied, with regard to any identified or identifiable product(s) or service(s).

(b) Advertisements must not omit relevant information in a manner that, in the result, is deceptive.
[...]

(e) Both in principle and practice, all advertising claims and representations must be supportable.

This ad clearly and provably fails each of these clauses.

This is why the ads must be pulled, and the people who place such lying and deceptive ads must be exposed not as advocates, but as liars and haters to whom truth is less important than demonizing the Jewish state.

I hope that the Zionist community in Vancouver goes after the ads on that basis. It should be a slam-dunk. Here is the webpage where one can file a complaint with Canadian Advertising Standards.

8/28 Links Pt1: Syria- ‘A pity they both can’t lose’, Bernard-Henri Levy- 'Erdogan is out of his mind'

From Ian:

‘A pity they both can’t lose’

The US is in a similar situation. It needs to rush, while the outrage over Assad’s alleged chemical attack remains fresh, but it needs time to assemble itself. Once the obligatory moves to the UN have been made and the machinery of war is in place, the US should offer Bashar Assad an ultimatum. It could even be sugar-coated. Everyone detests the usage of chemical weapons, President Barack Obama could say. They are a heinous weapon. You claim the rebels have used them against your forces. We have evidence of your forces using them against civilians. In the interest of world security we offer you three days to surrender all chemical weapons materials to a UN team. So that they do not fall into the wrong hands. So that the weapons are safe. If you do not comply, we will be left with no alternative but to strike.

Iran’s role

As a US-led strike on Syria appears increasingly likely, Israel will be watching closely too. Not wanting to become embroiled in the conflict of its hostile northern neighbor, Israel can only hope that the international community punishes Assad for ordering the use of chemical weapons against his own people, and stops him from using them again.
Only swift action will send a clear message, not only to Syria, but also to Iran. Perhaps just as important is the moral message the civilized world is sending itself.
It is bad enough that the international community has been silent for so long about the civil war in Syria, which has claimed the lives of well over 100,000 people.

Syria strikes imminent, and right

The reason why this effectively guarantees military action, and why military action is right, is that the West simply cannot allow a precedent to be set in which the use of chemical weapons is brushed over and ignored. This does not, and must not, mean boots on the ground. Ultimately, the Arab world should sort this out, not us.
But we can do something. Extensive cruise missile strikes against Assad's military infrastructure (plus a nice little one on his presidential palace) should be sufficient to make a very necessary point.

Analysis: Syria should not be equated with Libya nor Iraq

Samore says that Kosovo, not Libya or Iraq, provides the best template for comparison to the Syrian crisis. And indeed, the US administration has been studying NATO’s 1999 intervention in the Yugoslav conflict closely in recent days.
“The big differences with Libya and Iraq are the facts on the ground,” Samore said. “But it’s based fundamentally on the principle that outside actors can intervene in a local conflict against a government, if that government has failed to protect its people.”

Syria said to clear out security installations ahead of attack

According to activists quoted in a report in the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya media channel, Syria was abandoning command centers and government security offices — sites that it suspects will be targeted in a possible Western strike. New facilities were being set up in secret locations, some of which were reportedly within walking distance of the former centers, and in alternative sites, such as in schools. Trucks were deployed to vacate some of the regime’s main security centers.

Report: Assad is in Iran

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and members of his family are in Tehran, after they arrived at Homeini Airport in the presidential plane Tuesday night, sources in Iran's foreign ministry told the website of Lebanese newsaper a-Nahar. The news did not receive confirmation from other official sources.

Arab League: Syrian Government Responsible for Chemical Attack

In a statement issued after a meeting in Cairo, the 22-member organization said it held the Syrian government, led by President Bashar Al-Assad, fully responsible for last week's gas attack in which hundreds were killed.
The League said it "demands that all the perpetrators of this heinous crime be presented for international trials,” reported Reuters.

Syria: Was Chemical Weapons Massacre a Mistake?

“It’s quite likely that there was a kind of operational mistake here,” the unnamed senior Israeli source told the New York Times. “I don’t think they wanted to kill so many people, especially so many children. Maybe they were trying to hit one place or to get one effect and they got a much greater effect than they thought.”
Israeli experts who were briefed on the attack reportedly said they believe the chemical used was a “cocktail” that included sarin gas. The mix of several components may have been far more deadly than Assad’s troops realized.

Netanyahu: Israel Will ‘Respond in Strength’ to Any Attack

“The State of Israel is ready for any scenario,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “We are not part of the civil war in Syria but if we identify any attempt whatsoever to harm us, we will respond and we will respond in strength.”

Jittery Israelis overrun gas mask distribution points

Thousands of Israelis failed in their attempts to obtain gas masks on Wednesday as growing numbers of citizens flooded post offices and IDF Home Front Command distribution centers ahead of an expected US strike on Syria.

Human Rights Lawyer: Syrian Atrocities Due to Cuddling [sic - JPress meant "coddling"]

International attorney Richard D. Heideman said that massacres in Syria, including the recent use of deadly gas by the government against its own citizens, are a result of the constant and consistent protection from responsibility which the Syrian regime has enjoyed in the international community.
“The Syrian state violence, not just of recent days, but stretching back two years, are the direct result and byproduct of the ongoing impunity enjoyed by the Syrian Arab republic while conducting terrorist activities stretching back decades,” said Heideman, the lead counsel on behalf of American victims of Syrian terrorism, who has received on behalf of his clients the highest judgments awarded by US Federal Courts against the Syrian Arab Republic as a state sponsor of terror. “The world didn’t care when it assisted in the hijacking of planes, when it helped and assisted terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and acted as a conduit for Iran to smuggle weapons to Lebanon to be used against Israel, and it still doesn’t seem to care when it kills 100,000 of its own people.”

NGO Monitor: HRW Hedges on Syrian Atrocities; Accuses Israel of War Crimes

In each of these four examples, HRW accuses Israel conclusively of “war crimes” without any qualifications or disclaimers. And, in each of these four examples, as well as dozens of others over the past decade, HRW levels the harsh accusations despite lacking factual and evidentiary basis for its claims, and without the expertise necessary to draw its speculative conclusions. In fact, later research by NGO Monitor and others showed that, in each of these examples and in almost every case, HRW was wrong about the facts, about the technology and science, and about the legal interpretations.

Iran Threatens War That Will “Engulf the Whole Region” if Syria Attacked

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Abbas Araqchi, indicated it was equally resolved to defend Assad.
“We want to strongly warn against any military attack in Syria. There will definitely be perilous consequences for the region,” Araqchi told a news conference. “These complications and consequences will not be restricted to Syria. It will engulf the whole region.”

UN, Iran agree to restart talks in September

Iran and the UN nuclear agency have agreed to restart talks focused on the agency’s attempts to probe suspicions that Tehran worked on atomic weapons, diplomats said Wednesday, in the first such meeting since Iran’s hard-line president was replaced by a more moderate successor.
The diplomats told The Associated Press that the negotiations will resume September 27, with the main focus on gaining access to a section of a military site that the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency has long tried to access.

Hezbollah Places Beirut Stronghold Under Security Lockdown

Following two major bombings in Hezbollah’s largest stronghold in Beirut in less than two months, the group has decided to place the area under security lockdown, Al-Monitor reported Tuesday.
According to the report, the group has set up checkpoints, with explosives detection devices and bomb-sniffing dogs at all entrances linking it to Beirut.
Under these procedures, an unnamed correspondent in Beirut reported, every car entering the southern suburbs has to spend nearly two hours before being able to cross the checkpoints set up by Hezbollah.

Five Hamas members arrested over Egyptian police massacre

Five members of Hamas were arrested in northern Sinai recently for involvement in the killing of 25 Egyptian policemen, Arab media reported on Wednesday.
Quoting “a knowledgeable source” in the city of El-Arish, the Saudi-owned daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat reported that 11 suspects were arrested four days ago near the border city of Rafah. Three of the suspect are local residents, three carry foreign passports, and five are Hamas members, the daily claimed.

Don’t count on Turkey

Considering Turkey’s interest in seeing an end to the violence in Syria, its membership in NATO, and the reported friendship between Obama and Erdogan, it seems logical to expect that Turkey will play a major role in the coming operation. The American-built Incirlik Air Base on Turkey’s southern coast was designed for a moment like this.
But there are number of reasons why Erdogan’s fervent saber rattling will not likely not be matched by his country’s participation:

Israel-Turkey relations sink to new low

The breakdown in once-close military ties could be critical if the international community, led by the US, decides to attack in response to the alleged Syrian use of chemical weapons last week. A US strike could trigger a retaliatory response by Syria against either of its neighbors, both close US allies.
But officials in both countries confirm that political and military contacts are now limited. They say reconciliation talks meant to repair diplomatic ties have collapsed quietly, and military ties, once the centerpiece of the alliance, are minimal at best. The dire state of affairs was reflected last week when Turkey’s Islamist prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, claimed that Israel was behind the recent military coup in Egypt, prompting condemnations from Israel and the US.

Bernard-Henri Lévy: My Response to the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Why do you think that Erdogan mentioned you by name and held you responsible for the overthrow of the government in Egypt?
He's out of his mind. He's come unhinged, flipped out. Sorry, but in France, in the United States, people can't stop laughing.

Idiot's Guide to the Middle East (chart) (updated)

A couple of days ago, Egyptian blogger Big Pharaoh had a fantastic idea to graphically explain the Middle East:

I loved the idea but wasn't happy with the execution. I thought maybe I could make it easier to follow, streamlined and even add more detail. I admire good graphic design and it seemed like it was do-able.

Well, I don't think I succeeded in making it simpler.

Adding a few more vertices and nodes made it even more spectacularly complicated than before.

Maybe we can turn it into a board game.

My original intent was to add Copts, Kurds and (Lebanese) Druze to the chart, but things would have really gotten out of hand.

UPDATE: Some fixes; I put the wrong color for Turkey-Assad and added PA-Israel, some other stuff as people mention it. Continuously updating...

UPDATE 2: Yoel found a simplified guide, which Nevet translated:

(h/t Gidon)

"Rightist" "settlers" "break in" to Temple Mount - according to Ma'an English

Ma'an, whose English edition pretends to adhere to basic journalistic standards, writes:

Jews visiting Mount on Monday

Settlers escorted into Aqsa mosque compound

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) – Dozens of Israeli rightists broke into al-Aqsa Mosque compound through the Old City’s Moroccan Gate Wednesday morning heavily escorted with Israeli police officers, Palestinian officials said.

Officials in the Palestinian ministry of endowments told Ma’an that more than 60 settlers entered the compound in groups and toured its squares.

Once again:

There is nothing "rightist" about wanting to pray in your faith's holiest site.
Walking through a door that thousands pass through every month is not "breaking in."
Jews who visit the Temple Mount are not necessarily "settlers."

Then again, perhaps Ma'an is adhering to today's journalistic standards, since Reuters has the exact same bias in its reporting.

Notice also that the source for this absurd report is not the Al Aqsa Foundation that usually feeds lies to the Arab media to be parroted, but the PA's own Ministry of Awqaf. The official PA government that receives hundreds of millions of Western dollars is once again promulgating lies, and no one really calls them on it.

The Arabic statement from the Awqaf also says that the "settlers "engaged in "provocative Talmudic rituals." Maybe Ma'an will include that line next time.

Report that Hamas arrested PFLP terrorists who shot mortars

Palestine Press Agency reports that Hamas arrested five members of the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, after they fired mortar shells at Israeli communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip.

Sources told the agency that Hamas security arrested a number of PFLP members in northern Gaza in their homes after they fired shells to commemorate the twelfth anniversary of "martyrdom" of Abu Ali Mustafa, PFLP secretary general who was killed by the IDF on August 27, 2001.

The sources further said that the Hamas security forces raided about 12 houses belonging to Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades members.

The Mustafa Brigades web page confirms the raids.

The Gaza NGO Safety Office reports "27 AUG: Overnight, Pal. ops. fired 2 rockets from GC and MA toward the Green Line; 1 rocket exploded prematurely."

Adam Kredo at the Washington Free Beacon has followed up on my scoops from this year and last about how Pepsi's Gaza bottler is using the Pepsi name and logo to sponsor Hamas-approved soccer games and to make anti-Israel political statements in Pepsi's name.

Excerpts:

A controversy is brewing in the Gaza Strip over the Pepsi Company’s controversial ties to Palestinian sports teams and a stadium that likely doubled as a launching pad for terrorist rockets.

...Bottling company Yazegi told the Washington Free Beacon that PepsiCo has no problem with its sponsorship of Al Yarmouk and the Beit Lahiya stadium where Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has been seen playing soccer with Pepsi-backed players.

...While Yazegi claims that it holds no political views, the group has written about the so-called “Israeli occupation” on its Facebook page.

In a July 13 post on its Facebook page, Yazegi discussed the Pepsi advertisements displayed at Yarmouk, which was recently rebuilt by Hamas after Israeli airstrikes caused widespread damage.

“With this creative manner from the advertisement department in PepsiCo, the company was able to defy the Israeli occupation by embellishing the field which the occupation had destroyed with beautifully placed Pepsi advertisements on all sides of Al Yarmouk playground,” Yazegi wrote, according to a translation of the post.

PepsiCo spokesman Jeff Dahncke said Yazegi is given latitude in its promotional activities.

“PepsiCo does not sponsor any soccer teams in Gaza,” Dahncke told the Free Beacon when asked about Hamas’ Haniyeh playing soccer with players sporting a Pepsi logo.

“The photos depict a soccer league involving local community teams, and the local independent bottler producing Pepsi has a relationship with the league that allows for promotional activities to take place at the soccer venues,” Dahncke said. “Soccer is a global marketing platform for Pepsi and the brand is associated with the sport around the world.”

When asked if Pepsi objected to the use of its logo in a stadium where official Hamas activities are taking place, Dahncke did not respond.

Middle East experts and some on Capitol Hill have questioned Pepsi’s hands-off approach, warning that even the perception of sponsorship and use of the soda company’s logo harms its reputation.

“This is really outrageous,” said one senior Senate aide. “Pepsi should take immediate steps to disavow any further connection with Hamas.

“Can you imagine the next Coke-Pepsi challenge?” the source asked. “Hmmm, that one tastes like terror rocket fumes so that must be the Pepsi.”

Jonathan Schanzer, a former terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Treasury Department, said, “It sounds like Pepsi needs to clarify its relationship with the local Gaza bottler.”

A senior House GOP aide also expressed alarm.

“The fact that the Pepsi logo is at this facility is clearly concerning,” said the aide.

Read the whole thing.

Pnina Tamano-Shata, Ethiopian MK, tells her story (video)

From IBSI - Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel:

(h/t Max)

Another day, another anti-Israel conference

Yesterday was the conclusion of the "Conference on Supervisors of Palestinian Refugees Affairs in Arab Host Countries," held in Cairo.

It was the 90th such conference.

The conference, which was held at the Headquarters of the Arab League, discussed the condition of the Palestinian refugees, the financial crisis facing the UNRWA as well as recommendations of the previous conference.

The five-day conference was attended by representatives from Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Palestine, in addition to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The conference concluded with a number of statements, calling for support of so-called "refugees" in Syria and Lebanon, calling to support UNRWA (which gets practically nothing from the countries at the conference,) and of course a litany of condemnations of Israel - including supposedly planning to build a synagogue on the Temple Mount, for supposedly ethnically cleansing Arabs from the north of Jerusalem (speaking here of Bedouin,)

From what I can tell, this conference is staged twice a year.

Isn't it great when Arab countries who, without exception, discriminate against Palestinian Arabs in refugee camps, come together to complain about how Israel is acting?

Even better is this photo that accompanies Al Ahram's coverage, subtitled "Palestinian Refugees":

Look at the tents. They don't say UNRWA, but UNHCR. These aren't Palestinian Arabs (who have not been in tents for decades) but Iraqi refugees!

8/27 Links Part 2: Palestinian State in Jordan 'Inevitable', Falk Keynote Speaker at Aust. Hatefest

From Ian:

An Open Letter From the AJC to Ban Ki-Moon

In fact, you yourself have acknowledged, publicly and privately in the past, that there is discrimination against Israel at the UN. And it is in violation of the noble UN Charter, which assures the equal rights of all member states, big and small.
Mr. Secretary-General, as an organization whose link to the UN began at the founding conference in San Francisco in 1945, we count on your voice, and your moral authority, to be heard in condemning the systemic singling out and unfair treatment of Israel, a UN member state in good standing since 1949.

Back to the future

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have resumed – but over time it will, once again, become clear that a full resolution to the conflict, including Palestinian statehood, is not in the cards. The reasons are plentiful and self-evident; not only is the very concept of separate Palestinian nationhood, (as historians of the Palestinian national movement themselves have admitted) largely contrived and recent Palestinian Arabs are a fundamentally tribal and clannish society whose separate parts often have closer ties with Arab societies and families in other countries than with their supposed compatriots.
Nor has the record since the Oslo agreements 20 years ago relating to Palestinian governance been very encouraging. To be fair, the Palestinian Authority has faced numerous, not easily surmountable obstacles – both from the outside and self-made – but on the whole, it is hard to be very sanguine about the chances of such an artificial, demographically challenged, economically, politically and territorially constrained entity to become anything but another failed Middle East state (especially if it will have to absorb hundreds of thousands of “returning” refugees).

Palestinian State in Jordan 'Inevitable'

Zahran did not pull any punches Sunday afternoon, speaking at a conference entitled "Two States for Two People, on Two Sides of the Jordan River." Deriding the Jordanian ruling elite as "Armani-wearing, English-speaking autocrats" he called on all parties to consider a radically different track to the current peace initiatives based off of a "Two State Solution" which would see a Palestinian Authority-run state in Judea and Samaria.
The conference was held at Jerusalem's Menachem Begin Heritage Center, and organized by Professors for a Strong Israel, with the goal of fostering debate over alternatives to the "Two State Solution" which is currently on the table.
Zahran was the sole Palestinian Arab representative, but claimed to represent the "secular Palestinian majority" in Jordan, where between 60-80% identify as Palestinian, and which he believes hold the key to ending his people's conflict with Israel.

Palestinians don’t care if ‘soldiers felt threatened’

The sense that one gets from this, and from the official denial by the State Department that negotiations were canceled, is that somebody on the Palestinian side wanted to create the impression that the PA called off a session of negotiations that never existed. However, both sides were extremely careful not to divulge any information as to when the next round of talks would take place, while acknowledging that negotiations would, in fact, continue.
The real issue isn’t whether or not the talks will continue. The real issue is that there has been a Palestinian reawakening “on the ground.” The number of current terror alerts from the West Bank attests to this — the figures have recently risen dramatically, after a period of relative quiet. On the one hand, the IDF and Shin Bet have stepped up their efforts to prevent terror attacks from being carried out; on the other hand, it should be noted that when operations take place in areas such as the refugee camps, there is significant risk of a larger-than-usual flare-up.

The Real West Bank Terror War

The prevailing narrative of the incidents alluded to in the preceding paragraph follow this line in which the presence of Israeli forces in Palestinian areas is not merely a provocation but a standing argument for the need to force the Jewish state to pull back to the 1967 lines. But the problem with this narrative is that it is based on a lie. Incidents like the one that occurred today in Qalandia that resulted in three Palestinian deaths and last week’s confrontation in Jenin do illustrate the problem with the peace process, but it is not the one that the liberal mainstream media and the international press think it is. The idea that Israel is staging these attacks to undermine the talks is false. The fact that the IDF is forced to enter built-up areas in order to track down terrorist suspects shows just how unreliable the Palestinian Authority is as a peace partner. Moreover, the willingness of mobs in these towns to rally to defend suspects and attack the IDF with gunfire and rocks is testimony to how deeply rooted support for terror operations is in a Palestinian population that we are told is ready for an end to the conflict.

IDF Backs Soldiers in Kalandiya Incident

The IDF said Monday evening that it was backing the soldiers who were involved in an incident in Kalandiya, north of Jerusalem, on Monday morning, in which three Palestinian Authority Arabs were shot dead.
An investigation into the incident found that during the late night hours on Sunday night, a Border Police force entered Kalanidya for the purpose of arresting a wanted Tanzim terrorist who deals with weapons trading.

Kalandia Rioter Previously Released in Shalit Deal

Yunis Jahjouh, 22, was killed along with Rubeen Abed Fares and Jihad Aslan. He was 19 at the time of the "Shalit Deal," which saw more than 1,000 terrorists released from Israeli prisons.
Border Police had entered Kalandia to an individual for suspected terrorist activities. Over a thousand Palestinian Arabs started rioting, and throwing rocks and stones at the Israeli personnel.

UNWRA reports worker, Rubin Zayed, was one of three Palestinians killed in Kalandiya clashes

It reported that a second UNRWA state member, a sanitation laborer, was shot in the leg during the clashes.

Rioters attack Israeli security forces, BBC reports ‘confrontation’

That “large crowd” apparently numbered around fifteen hundred rioters - as was noted in earlier versions of the BBC report but omitted in later ones. Some idea of the type of “rocks” used to attack the Border Policemen who – as BBC readers only learn in the eighth paragraph – were in the process of trying to arrest a terror suspect, can be gained from this video apparently filmed by onlookers.

The banality of Lisa Goldman’s Israel-bashing

Peter Beinart’s Open Zion website claims to “foster an open and unafraid conversation about Israel, Palestine, and the Jewish future.” The “unafraid” apparently reflects the popular canard that it is somehow dangerous to criticize Israel, but the site’s offerings tend to prove that most Open Zion contributors – among them avowed anti-Zionists like Yousef Munayyer – are indeed “unafraid” to depict the Jewish state in the worst possible light.
There is no doubt that Open Zion’s incoming senior editor Lisa Goldman also qualifies as absolutely “unafraid.” Indeed, her writings prove that she is not only “unafraid” to make a living by criticizing Israel, but that she is also completely “unafraid” to openly promote glaring double standards.

Daphne Anson: Falk Down Under: A Stern Warning

The Israel-bashing crowd Down Under are evidently delighted at the prospect of having the notorious Israel-demonising Richard Falk among them.
As this page shows, Professor Falk is coming to Canberra as a keynote speaker at the "Human Rights in Palestine" conference scheduled for 11-12 September, which is sponsored by the Australian National University and the British Academy.
Also set to address the conference are Professors Hanan Ashrawi and Jeff Halper, and Dr Sara Roy. Master of ceremoniies will be Sydney Morning Herald journalist Paul McGeogh,

British Academy Supporting Racist Lecturer Condemned by UK

Sept. 11 Canberra conference to feature top 9/11 conspiracy theorist, UN Watch urges British Academy to pull support for Richard Falk's Australia event.

Richard Falk: Egyptians supporting Sisi are Islamophobes, may even be thinking genocide

Now even Muslims can be Islamphobes!

Israel backers hit by web ‘witch hunt’

Antisemitic abuse aimed at Israel advocates should receive the same level of public scrutiny as high-profile Twitter incidents, experts and victims have said.
The use of email and social media sites to propagate abuse has become so severe that pro-Israel campaigners have feared for their safety and been forced to call police.
One victim this week likened the campaign against pro-Israel voices to a “McCarthyite witch hunt” and said a “network of abusers” operated on social media.
A spokesman for the Community Security Trust, which monitors antisemitism, compared the abuse to the threats to rape and bomb women on Twitter last month. He confirmed that CST had provided a number of victims with specific protection measures and safety advice.

New Oil Field Could Yield Rich Returns for Israel

A newly discovered field off Israel's coast may have a significant amount of light crude oil – the kind of oil that international producers use to make most of the world's gasoline. The Shemen company informed the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Monday that the Yam 3 field, where drilling has been going on for several months, shows signs of light crude under the sea bed, at a depth of about 5,500 meters.

Israel’s ‘Irreversible’ acquired by ABC

The pilot episode will be developed by series co-creator Segahl Avin, a co-executive producer of the US series, along with Peter Tolan, according to the Deadline Hollywood website. The cast has yet to be announced. “Bilti Hafich,” which has been on since January, was renewed for a second season.
It is about a young couple and the changes that occur after the birth of their first daughter.

IDF Blog: How the IDF Prepares Israeli Schools for Emergencies

The Home Front Command prepares schools and businesses across the country from all of Israel’s communities for emergency situations
Cpl. Nestia Golubovsky finds herself in a different part of Israel every week. This Civil Emergency Instructor travels around the country to teach schoolchildren how to prepare for an emergency, and how to stay safe if they find themselves in an emergency situation. Today, she’s at a local elementary school in Kfar Qara, an Israeli Arab village in the north.

Israeli designer creates 'bomb-proof' backpack for kids

The backpack, according to the Daily Mail, has been designed to act as a basic personal shelter in the event of an emergency or terror strike.
One simply has to pull the side straps and yellow strings from the hood if they hear an air raid siren, and lie flat on the floor.
The backpack, which costs around £300 (1,683 shekels), is then supposed to fully protect the brain, heart, liver and kidneys from the impact and fallout of an explosion, with 19-layer Kevlar fabric at its core.

Promise of psoriasis cure on the horizon

About four million Americans suffer from psoriasis, a chronic autoimmune skin disease that causes patches of inflamed, silvery-white scabs. There is no cure for the condition, but Israeli researchers believe they may be on the road to formulating a groundbreaking drug candidate that could finally do the job.
As described in the journal Chemistry and Biology by the team from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), their study in collaboration with Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries showed that inhibiting the immune system protein Interleukin 17 (IL-17) could be the key to controlling the skin disease.

Israel ranks 4th globally in health care efficiency

In a new ranking of countries with the most efficient health care, Israel came in fourth, while the US ranked — behind Iran — in 46th position.
The data was compiled by Bloomberg, and countries were ranked based on three criteria: life expectancy; relative per capita cost of health care (percentage of GDP per capita); and the absolute per capita cost of health care.

Syria's wounded treated in Israel

PA kills bystander in Nablus during arrest (updated)

Ma'an reported this morning:

The Palestinian Authority on Monday called for the formation of an international committee to investigate the killing of three Palestinians in Qalandia refugee camp.

PA spokesman Ihab Bsaiso told Ma'an that the international community has to put more pressure on Israel to stop violating the rights of the Palestinian people.

"The international community should not stay silent about the Israeli crimes against our people, and an inquiry committee should be formatted to investigate what happened in Qalandia refugee camp," the PA official said.

The Israeli government acts in a reckless manner without accountability, and the international community must take a strict position to stop these violations, Bsaiso said.

If killing in a police action warrants an international inquiry, then I suppose the PA will be happy to volunteer for such an inquiry itself:

Palestinian security forces killed a man in a Nablus-area refugee camp late Tuesday, officials and witnesses said.

Amjad Odeh, 37, died in what Palestinian officials described as an exchange of fire between the security forces and a wanted man in Askar refugee camp.

Odeh was taken to Rafidia hospital were he was pronounced dead. There were reports of other injuries.

Witnesses told Ma’an that dozens of Palestinians attacked security forces with rocks after the incident.

In Al-Fara refugee camp, angry residents managed to shut off the main street connecting Nablus and Tubas and set tires on fire to protest the shooting.

Sounds like they acted in a "reckless manner without accountability," doesn't it?

But the PA - the same PA that says Israel acts irresponsibly - claims that they entered the camp to arrest Odeh on suspicion of having illegal arms. They were surprised when they were fired upon, and when stones were thrown at them. They say that they fired shots in the air to disperse the crowd. And they said that they were surprised that anyone was killed by their bullets.

Which means they are saying pretty much what the Israeli Border Police said yesterday - except that they weren't attacked by hundreds of people with Molotov cocktails and 50 lb. boulders being dropped from the roofs nearby.

Residents in Nablus are no happier with the PA than they were with Israel, though.

Here's video of the man after he was fatally shot (warning: graphic)

Here are angry Arabs destroying what is evidently a PA security car:

And here are some fires set by Nablus residents tonight:

UPDATE: I assumed the man killed was the man who was wanted; he wasn't. Headline changed.