Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, October 10, 2013

The best high school in Israel is - Druze! (updated)

A little way past Carmiel, in the central Galilee, you turn northward at the Rama intersection and continue straight for several kilometers until the right turn to Beit Jann. On the edge of Mount Meron, 150 kilometers from Tel Aviv, you will find Beit Jann High School, the best secondary school in Israel. Best, that is, at least according to the conventional standard of percentage of students who graduate with a bagrut ‏(matriculation‏) certificate. The school was at the center of much media hoopla earlier this month after it emerged that the Druze town of some 11,000 residents had ranked third in the nationwide rate of high school seniors eligible for a bagrut in the 2011-12 school year.

To achieve that, the school, Beit Jann’s only high school ‏(though some young people from the town attend school elsewhere‏), underwent a veritable revolution: According to data recently received by the school, their graduating seniors in June 2013 had a bagrut eligibility rate of 100 percent. In this, it bested schools from far more well-to-do communities in the Sharon and other central regions − including private schools that have admission requirements and charge high tuition fees.

Beit Jann, one of the poorest towns in Israel, whose residents are ranked in the second-lowest decile in terms of socio-economic level by the Central Bureau of Statistics, will again be declared one of the communities offering the best education.

As recently as 1999, the bagrut eligibility rate for Beit Jann’s high school graduates was a mere 13 percent − among the country’s lowest at the time. Since then it has gone up gradually every year. Although one can graduate high school without earning a bagrut certificate, this state-awarded certification is required if a student wants to apply for university. In the 2011-12 academic year, the bagrut eligibility rate at Druze schools reached 54.8 percent, higher than the nationwide average of 49.8 percent and similar to the eligibility rate at Jewish schools ‏(55.3 percent‏).

This sea change at Druze schools was generated by the veteran teachers, who were not replaced and received no outside reinforcements. The student populations, too, were in some cases made up of the same young people who had been attending these schools for years, and who had even failed in the past. The dropout rate also fell.

It is an amazing story, worth reading in full.

Over the past few years, Israel has increased its funding of Arab and Druze schools a great deal. But in the end the most important factor in a school's success is when the administration and the community demand excellence.

The whiners are the ones who will always be left behind. And they are the ones who prefer to blame Israel for everything rather than try to solve the problem.

(h/t Yoel)

UPDATE: The Wondering Israeli points out a followup Mida article about the school. It points out that the success was not from cheating on exams, as some assumed - because the school admins discovered cheating in the late 1990s, the bagrut percentages plunged from 50% to 12% when they cracked down, and that's when the school administration decided to start the innovative program to bring the scores up.

It also points out that Beit Jann High School cannot be considered one of the top schools based only on the percentage of students passing the bagrut, because that is a minimum standard - other Israeli schools have much more advanced programs, even if they have lower bagrut scores.

10/10 Links Pt1: Wishful thinking is not a strategy, Fatah Still Refuses to Recognize Jewish State

From Ian:

Douglas Murray: New Extremist Foxes Welcomed into U.S. Chicken Coop

And say hello again to two of the most appallingly over-promoted and sinister figures involved with the current U.S. government: Mohamed Elibiary and Dalia Mogahed.
Of course, you may not want to: as the terror goes on worldwide, and the situation around the globe slips continuously in the Islamists' general direction, there is a growing and terrific ennui among much of the West. Among much of the Western world, terrorists' marauding is another case of, "Oh, just that Islamism again." You say a person is not good? Well, we can't be bothered to find out. The very condition that so few people can raise themselves to be bothered is part of the problem: "The trouble with all the nice people I knew in Germany," the British author Stephen Spender wrote in his Berlin diary in the 1930s, "is that they were either tired or weak."
Thankfully there are a number of people who can still rouse themselves to point out how outrageous Western governments' hiring policies are these days -- as when Mohamed Elibiary was promoted to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Advisory Council. Yet despite these heroic individuals pointing out Elibiary's track record of support for Islamists worldwide, the appointment held -- and so it was that the U.S. government welcomed another fox into its chicken coop.

Wishful thinking is not a strategy

A fundamental principle of foreign policy is that if you will an end, you must will the means to that end. To achieve a "big turn in foreign policy" requires more than wishful thinking, it requires a strategy. In this case, it might begin with the recognition that, throughout recorded history, there have been nations committed to acquiring power over others. Iran today is self-evidently such a nation. Is there a way to persuade Iran's rulers to constrain their ambitions?
Those who study Iran disagree on many points, but there is broad consensus on this: Consistent with Khomeini's teaching and practice, the regime has no higher priority than its own survival -- because without revolutionary leaders no "revolutionary dreams" can be realized.

Poll: Majority of Israelis believe US projecting weakness on Syria, Iran

Asked whether the US was projecting weakness on Iran, affirmative answers were given by 60% of Israelis, including 64% of Jewish respondents and 40% of Arab respondents. Only 22% of Israelis said the US was projecting power, including 20% of the Jewish respondents and 31% of the Arab respondents.
When asked the same question about Syria, the results were similar. Sixty three percent of Israelis said the US was projecting weakness. Among Jews, 66% answered affirmatively and 49% of Arab respondents said yes. Twenty three percent said the US was projecting power, including 22% of Jewish respondents and 28% of the Arabs surveyed.

IDF strikes Syrian target in response to shelling

The IDF fired a Tammuz missile Wednesday at a Syrian target across the northern border, in response to mortar shells from Syrian territory landing near an army position in the Golan Heights and injuring two soldiers.
According to the IDF, the target in Syria took a direct hit. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties on the Syrian side.

Knesset Members Thwart Anti-Israel Move at Geneva Meeting

Members of Knesset Meir Sheetrit (Hatnuah) and Aliza Lavie (Yesh Atid) were able to thwart an anti-Israel initiative promoted by Palestinian representatives at a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva this week.
The Palestinians tried to insert an “emergency motion” into the agenda that called for all parliaments to boycott Israel and condemned settlement construction, Israel Hayom reported.

Shock in Samaria: Israeli Leftists at Anti-Semitic Rally

Israeli leaders in Samaria were horrified to learn this week that Israeli leftists with the Yesh Din organization took part in an Arab celebration on the ruins of the Jewish community of Homesh.
During the celebration Jewish symbols at the site were replaced with PLO flags, and a banner was waved that depicted a man in religious Jewish garb with a spear through his mouth.

BBC Watch: Makeover by BBC’s Knell produces ‘conservative’ northern Islamic Movement

Knell’s efforts to persuade readers that the northern Islamic branch has a policy of confining itself to “the struggle for Palestinian independence at home” also seem distinctly bizarre in the context of the recent demonstrations the movement held in support of its parent movement in Egypt.
But it is Knell’s euphemistic description of the Islamic Movement as “conservative” and her failure to inform readers of its ideology, its activities and its Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood links which stand out most in this article. Her ‘makeover’ actively prevents BBC audiences from gaining any information or insight which might “[e]nhance UK audiences’ awareness and understanding of international issues” as defined in the BBC’s ‘Public Purposes’.

Fatah Spokesman Reiterates Refusal to Recognize Israel as Jewish State

The Sharjah-based Al Khaleej newspaper reported on Tuesday that the Fatah party of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas reiterated its rejection of the position of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that any peace deal must include the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state by the Palestinian Authority.
“This is the language of acquiescence and we won’t recognize Israel as a Jewish state,” Fatah spokesman Ahmed Assaf was quoted as saying. “Let Israel go to the United Nations and demand changing its name into the Jewish state.” If the objective behind Netanyahu’s speech is to ask the Palestinians to give up their rights, he added, “then we all refuse to give up our rights.”

Khaled Abu Toameh: PLO official: Palestinians 'seriously considering' declaring failure of peace talks

Hanna Amireh, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, said that this was one of the scenarios that were discussed during the last meeting of the Palestinian leadership.
Amireh accused Israel of seeking to “win time” and blame the Palestinians for the failure of the US-sponsored talks.

Mashaal: Stop Peace Talks, Start Armed Struggle

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal has called for an end to Palestinian Authority peace talks with Israel and for an armed struggle to “liberate Jerusalem”.
The Maariv daily newspaper quoted on Wednesday the comments that Mashaal made during a visit to Turkey.
"Hamas's military power is the only way to liberate Jerusalem," the head of the group’s political bureau was quoted as having said.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Hamas calls for meeting with Fatah to counter Israel’s ‘schemes’ on Jerusalem

Mashaal said in his speech that no Palestinian or Arab or Muslim leader is authorized or has a mandate to sign an agreement that “harms” Jerusalem and the holy sites.
“Protecting Jerusalem and the Aksa Mosque against Judaization, demolition and division should be a shared national goal,” he said.
Mashaal called for a decisive Palestinian, Arab and Islamic stance toward Jerusalem that rejects any concessions in the city.

We Gave Iran an Antique as a Token of Goodwill. Only Problem? It’s Fake

Not only is it a fake, it’s a bad fake. The saga of the griffin, from its production to its much-touted return to Iranian President Rouhani during his recent visit to New York, demonstrates how fakers of ancient art fool the gullible wealthy with the connivance of museums and scholars. More profoundly, it shows how ancient (or not so ancient) artifacts are made to carry cultural and diplomatic weight, in this case for a deeply problematic opening in relations between the United States and Iran.

Iranian Speaker: We Have a Surplus of Uranium

Iran's parliament denied on Wednesday remarks made by its speaker, according to which the country has a surplus of enriched uranium and plans to use this as a bargaining tool at nuclear talks.
The speaker, Ali Larijani, told The Associated Press in an interview the surplus uranium would be discussed with Western powers in the context of whether Iran will halt its enrichment of uranium to 20 percent.

US cuts hundreds of millions in aid to Egypt

While the State Department did not provide a dollar amount of what was being withheld, most of it is linked to military aid. In all, the US provides $1.5 billion in aid each year to Egypt.
Officials said the aid being withheld included 10 Apache helicopters at a cost of more than $500 million, M1A1 tank kits and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. The US also is withholding $260 million in cash assistance to the government until “credible progress” is made toward an inclusive government set up through free and fair elections. The US had already suspended the delivery of four F-16 fighter jets and canceled biennial US-Egyptian military exercises.

Egypt: US Aid Threats Won't Stop Us from 'Fighting Terror'

Egypt, government officials said Thursday, will “not be pressured” by the United States into changing its policies on how to deal with Islamist radicals. “Egypt will not submit to American pressure,” a government spokesperson said in the wake of an announcement by Washington that it would withhold some military assistance.

JPost Editorial: Egypt, US aid and Israel

Hundreds of billions of dollars have not cinched for the US the loyalty of Nouri al-Maliki’s regime in Iraq or Hamid Karzai’s regime in Afghanistan.
Money and aid and networking, it appears, do not buy influence.
Therefore, Israel should not be overly concerned with the prospect of the US cutting aid to Egypt.
As long as Cairo has an interest in maintaining good relations with Israel it will do so, regardless of US aid. If on the other hand for whatever reason Egypt’s leaders cease to see peace as important, the $1.5b. in aid will do little to stop the slide.

‘Arab Spring’ to Cost $800 Billion

The Arab Spring will cost Arab countries roughly $800 million, according to a report by Dubai-based economists with the banking giant HSBC.
Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Syria, where the Arab Spring uprisings led to leaders’ depositions or civil war, were, unsurprisingly, among the hardest-hit countries. Jordan, Lebanon and Bahrain were also estimated to have suffered serious financial losses due to political turmoil.

Libyan prime minister released after brief abduction

Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zidan was freed from captivity just hours after gunmen abducted him Thursday at dawn from the hotel where he resides in the capital, Tripoli, according to the state news agency.
The brazen abduction — apparently in retaliation for the US special forces’ raid over the weekend that seized a Libyan al-Qaida suspect from the streets of Tripoli — reflected the deep chaos and lawlessness gripping Libya.

Crazed antisemitic rant on Kuwait TV

Everywhere you look, there are Joooooz!

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Kuwaiti scholar Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna, which aired on Al-Rai TV on September 30, 2013:

Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna: First of all, as a Muslim, I believe that [the Jews] are evil. It is not that evil is in their genes, but their cultural education is based upon the Talmud, which derides the goyim, or "the others." For them, even God is racist. Yahweh is the god of the Israelites alone. The word Elohim is barely mentioned, and Yahweh belongs to the Jews alone. Racism became part and parcel of this religion, or this people. The Jews became a separate people with its own religion. Incidentally, it is the only religion that does not proselytize.

Interviewer: Because they consider all the others to be Gentiles...

Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna: Right, they think the others will defile them if they join their religion. I am not saying that the Jews have evil in their genes. But it is remarkable that at least a quarter of the stories in the Koran are about the Israelites, or the Jews. Everything Allah warned us about through the story of Moses – how they slayed the prophets, and so on...

Interviewer: All contemporary studies deal with religious Jews, and not with the secular Jews who assimilated in Europe.

Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna: What is remarkable is that, secular or not, the Jews are racist. The founders of the so-called "Israel" – Weizmann and Ben-Gurion – were atheists. But if they had truly dissociated themselves from the religion, how come they were the most zealous about gathering the Jews, under Zionism? If you are truly an atheist, you should assimilate in your country – in Poland, Russia, or America. After all, religion does not interest you... The most zealous Jews are the atheists. This proves that it is a lie that they are atheist, even if they say they are.

Interviewer: As you said, even if they are secular, their racism and their upbringing shape their view of people.

Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna: I have written extensively about The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and about the writings of the late Dr. Abd Al-Wahhab Al-Massiri. I have seen the evidence provided by those who deny that The Protocols is genuine, and those who affirm that it is. If you compare the evidence of the deniers, like Dr. Abd Al-Wahhab Al-Massiri, with the evidence of the affirmers, the latter is stronger.

What is incredible is that those who deride the affirmers for believing that everything is a conspiracy and that the Jews are behind everything are themselves accusing Czarist Russia's secret services of a conspiracy.

Interviewer: They accuse the Russians of forging that book.

Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna: That's right.

[...]

I'm not saying that evil is in their genes. Allah created them with the same disposition as any other human being. However, the education that they impart to their children – based upon the Talmudic notions of contempt for others, killing others, practicing usury, and considering themselves superior – is what turned them into a people with hatred for the others.

[...]

You could say that the Jews are a group with a certain function. That is why then ran secret organizations and secret parties, and why they practiced prostitution, usury, and so on.

Interviewer: It is said that they are a closed group, forced to sink so low in Europe.

Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna: Take a look at the Armenians. They do not have organized prostitution. How come they did not form secret parties, like the Freemasons or the Illuminati?

Interviewer: Even though the Armenians were a persecuted minority...

Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna: The Armenians were not persecuted by the Ottomans. That's a lie. On the contrary, it was the Armenians who persecuted the Muslims of the Ottoman state. We should be talking about the Armenian massacre of the Muslims, not vide versa. I could talk for an entire show about that, backing it up with documents, and with the testimony of people sent by the League of Nations.

[...]

Who is not familiar with Charlie Chaplin? Mamduh 'Udwan mentions in his book that Charlie Chaplin is a Jew.

Interviewer: The book is titled The Judaization of Knowledge.

Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna: Yes. Sarah Bernhardt, the greatest actress in the history of France and Europe, was Jewish. Why is Madame Curie from Poland more famous than her husband? She became famous because she was Jewish, while her husband, who invented radium and uranium with her, was not. But Madam Curie, who was Jewish, became famous.

Interviewer: Philosopher Abd Al-Rahman Badawi in Vol. 3 of his encyclopedia of philosophy, sharply criticized Einstein, saying that the Jews had turned him into a legend. True, he was a scientist, but there was also an accumulated legacy.

Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna: Take, for example, Oppenheimer, who invented the nuclear bomb. A Bengali Muslim invented it along with him, but he didn't become famous. Everybody knows Oppenheimer as the "Father of the Nuclear Bomb."

When you check the writings of writers and journalists, you always see the Jews, because the media is controlled by Jewish companies, such as Rupert Murdoch, the owner of CNN. He is a Jew. Even Reuters... Do you know what Reuters'' full name was? Israel Reuters. That is Reuters – the most famous news agency in the world.

Interviewer: Do you think that Hitler, in his book Mein Kampf, was being unfair to the Jews when he wrote, in an entire chapter: "Wherever they are, the Jews are loyal only to their own groups, and they segregate themselves from the country where they live"?

Muhanna Hamad Al-Muhanna: That's true.

[...]

Off-the-wall crazy and obsessed with Jews.

But he doesn't think that Jewish traits are inherited. That makes him a moderate!

Jews visiting the Temple Mount this morning

Today, Jordan called on Israel to prevent Jews from ascending to the Temple Mount..

The Minister of State for Media Affairs and government spokesman Mohammad Al-Momani said that "the insistence of the Israeli occupation authorities to allow Jewish extremists to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque is a stirring of religious conflict and a flagrant challenge to the feelings of all Muslims."

He called for Israel to "prevent the entry of Jewish extremists to the Al-Aqsa Mosque to avoid provoking violence."

Momani also called on "the great powers and international organizations to move to take a firm stance against the schemes and practices of the Israeli occupation against the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy places."

"Israel's practices towards the holy places is rejected and condemned and contrary to international conventions and treaties," he added, saying calling for "Israel to stop its continuous violations of the holy city."

I have yet to find a single "human rights" organization that is willing to say that Jews have the right to peacefully visit their own holy places. HRW, Amnesty, Oxfam - nothing.

They talk about freedom of religion, but that doesn't seem to apply to everyone.

Probably because they don't want to be firebombed by the peaceful people who demand that Jewish holy places be Judenrein.

Meanwhile, the official news agency of Israel's "peace partner" complained that "Israeli fanatics along with members of the ruling Likud party Thursday carried out several provocative tours of Al-Aqsa Mosque, an Islamic holy place in Jerusalem’s Old City."

Video allegedly of Hezbollah killing wounded Syrians sparking outrage

From the Daily Star Lebanon:

A YouTube video purporting to show Hezbollah fighters shooting to death several wounded Syrians has sparked outrage on social media sites.

A spokesman said Hezbollah was preparing to issue a response to the video, but it had yet to do so when The Daily Star went to press.

The video, which is 1 minute and 40 seconds long, shows several men dressed in camouflage fatigues and sporting yellow ribbons on their shoulders. After they pull what appear to be several severely wounded men out of a van, they shoot them to death at point blank range. Some of the fighters use foul language as they execute the men, who are dressed in civilian clothing.

Speaking with a Lebanese accent, their commander then scolds his fighters for their comments, reminding them that their actions are religiously sanctioned and that they are killing the men “for the sake of God.”

The Daily Star was unable to independently confirm the authenticity of the video.

Opposition sources were divided over whether the incident took place recently in rural Damascus, or immediately after the fall of the town of Qusair in Homs province in June.

Here it is (warning: graphic)

Arab boys still desecrating Temple Mount with soccer games

Last month I noted that Israel's Public Security Minister had promised to have the police enforce a ban on Arabs playing soccer on Judaism's holiest site, the Temple Mount.

I guess it was too good to be true, as this new short video shows:

Remember: Jews respectfully walking around their holiest place is "desecration" and "incitement." Arabs playing soccer, throwing stones and firebombs are fine.

These are the rules that the world somehow swallows without question.

(h/t YMedad)

Latest member of the Zionist Attack Zoo: Rock hyraxes!

The Gulf News has the details:

A small mammal at risk of extinction might seem an unusual source of stress for humans, but an influx of rock hyrax on Palestinian farms near the Israeli segregation wall is creating an added burden for famers in the area.

The uncharacteristically wide and dense spread of this omnivorous animal has caused farmers heavy losses as the animals eat all available vegetation.

Palestinian farmers have alleged that Israeli colonists have released a large numbers of rock hyrax behind the Israeli wall with the aim of harming Palestinian land.

The affected farmers claim it has taken them great efforts to learn the animal’s name and that they have been unable to handle the influx.

Hassan Zaid, a Palestinian farmer, said that the animal locally named “Al Wabar Al Sakhri” eats both green and dried grass and trees leaving the farmers with serious losses.

“The animal does not leave anything thing behind and our lands have been destroyed.”

Zaid said that the animal lives between rocks and has taken to using holes in the Palestinian side of the Israeli wall as shelter.

That last part may be true; rock hyraxes like to live in small holes or cracks of walls and cliffs. It even says so in Proverbs 30:26: The rock-badgers are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the crags

Gulf News didn't bother to see if the animal (which does not appear to be endangered) is bothering Jews as well. Not surprisingly, it is:

Israel's hyraxes are cute, furry and have a characteristic chirping song. But they are becoming a serious pest.

The animals, also known as rock rabbits, have moved into residential areas of Galilee and have been destroying people's gardens.

Scientists have now discovered why: hyraxes love to make their homes in the debris from building sites.

Researchers from the University of Haifa published these findings in the journal Wildlife Research.

"They're coming into the villages and eating everything they can find," said Mr Kershenbaum.

To find out more about their behaviour, he and his colleagues observed the movements of groups of the animals. They also attached radio collars to a group of hyraxes in order to track and follow them.

"It turns out that it's the piles of boulders [created by clearing sites for building] that attract the hyraxes," said Mr Kershenbaum.

They make their homes in the underground caverns and crevices created by these man-made rubble piles.

Once on the topic, Gulf News must mention the Zionist pigs as well:

Palestinians, farmers and officials have also been accusing the Israelis, mainly the colonists, of releasing a large number of wild pigs into the Palestinian territories to destroy the farms.

The release of those animals has caused the deaths of at least three Palestinian farmers and injury to several others after wild pigs attacked people in their farms. The wild pigs also cause major destruction of cultivated lands.

(h/t the fantastic Hadar Sela of BBCWatch)

10/09 Links Part 2: Prosor - Where Is the Flotilla for Syria?, 2 Israeli Prof. Share Nobel for Chemistry

From Ian:

Ron Prosor: Where Is the Flotilla for Syria?

Today much of the international human-rights arena resembles a masquerade ball, where the most extreme views can be easily masked beneath the empty utterance of words like "democracy" and "human rights." Norwegian scholar Johan Galtung, the leader of the Scandinavian ship to Gaza, was recently suspended from the Swiss World Peace Academy for a series of anti-Semitic rants. He recommended that all university students read "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," the infamous piece of 19th-century propaganda used in Nazi classrooms.
Far from criticizing the tyrants of the Middle East, the flotilla crowd often joins hands with them. Just this May, the British activist group Viva Palestina enjoyed the hospitality of Bashar Assad, making a pit stop in Syria on its way to trying to enter Gaza. Around the same time that Assad's thugs were gearing up for their massacre of children in Houla, members of Viva Palestina were proudly tweeting their whereabouts and posting photos on Facebook of themselves next to the regime's representatives.
Instead of dancing with dictators and tangoing with tyrants, what if the flotilla crowd actually set sail in the direction where aid is so desperately needed?

Prosor: Appointing Iran to UN disarmament c'tee like making drug lord CEO of pharmaceutical company

Prosor compared Iran serving on the UN’s leading disarmament committee to “appointing a drug lord CEO of a pharmaceutical company.”
The envoy argued that “Iran’s appointment erodes the UN’s legitimacy and its ability to promote arms control and disarmament as well as, preserve global peace and security.” He added, that “rather than provide a global stage for Iran’s defiance and deception, the UN should shine a spotlight on the regime’s ongoing pursuit of nuclear weapons and its support for terrorism across the globe.”

Iran & Hezbollah: Axis of Terror

IDF Blog: Hackers Beware - The IDF’s Digital Battleground

Since 1948, the IDF has fought on three battlegrounds: land, sea and air. Now, in 2013, cyberspace has become the newest battlefield as hackers try to hurt Israel virtually.
A revolution is taking place in the IDF, but it’s probably not one you’ve heard about in the news. The IDF is transforming into a military that is prepared to defend itself from enemies on the newest battlefield: cyberspace. The IDF’s Teleprocessing Corps is at the center of this revolution, fortifying the military’s cyber defense against the threats of enemy hackers, while developing technologies that will make it easier to defend the country on the ground.

The Cyber-War Against Iran Is a Real War, and a Rehearsal for Future Conflicts

The United States and Israel are taking advantage of the newly globalized system that ties together all the world’s economies as well as its production of knowledge, a system whose commanding heights—banking, the Internet, and information technology—the United States and its allies now dominate. While some have seen the information war between the West and Iran as a prelude to a shooting war with bombs, air raids, naval maneuvers, and possibly large troop movements, the reality is that, taken all together, these campaigns are warfare.

David Mamet Tells the Left to Go Screw

David Mamet is right to reject the western-left, because the western-left is no friend to the Jewish people and has betrayed its own values.
If the western-left ever actually stood for social justice and human rights, it does so no longer.
Until we wrap our brains around this particular fact, we will have nothing to say, just as most progressive-left Jews who favor Israel basically have nothing to say.
They are mutes who shrug their shoulders, hold up their palms, and wish for the best – that is, when they are not attacking “right-wing” Jews, also known as those of us willing to stand the hell up.

Solution to BDS Movement May Come from China

“While academics around the world are attempting to damage Israel’s economy with calls for boycotts and divestment, it is the Chinese who see the inherent value in Israeli ingenuity, innovation and education,” Carice Witte, executive director of Sino-Israel Global Network and Academic Leadership (SIGNAL), an institute working to advance Israel-China relations, told JNS.org.
“Economic stability is one of China’s main goals. They view this collaboration as an investment in their own future,” Witte said.

The intolerant crusade against circumcision

I am not sure what my father would make of the current intolerant crusade against circumcision. It is difficult to make sense of the strong views held by campaigners and policymakers who seek to criminalise and pathologise the circumcision of Jewish and Muslim boys. Last Tuesday, a resolution passed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe condemned male circumcision as a ‘violation of the physical integrity of children’. Unlike Antiochus IV, these parliamentarians did not use the narrative of a civilisational mission against barbarism to justify their assault on people’s way of life; instead they used the apparently neutral language of health and child protection to legitimise their crusade. The Council’s resolution called on governments to ‘clearly define the medical, sanitary and other conditions to be ensured for practices such as the non-medically justified circumcision of young boys’.

Eldad: Circumcision – That’s the Threat

"The Council of Europe has found at last the greatest threat to kids in the world,” Eldad said declared. “No, it’s not Assad and his chemical weapons. It’s not Khamenei and his nuclear weapons. They are already considered to be ‘the good guys’ and must’ve already been invited for a party at Catherine Ashton’s place.”
“It’s not even settlements this week,” he continued. “Now what is in their sites – unabashedly – are the foreskins of the Jews in Europe, who insist on circumcising their sons.”

When it comes to criticizing Netanyahu, hard to tell Iran and NY Times apart

A reading of the speech shows that it was quite skilled. Netanyahu explained how Iran is ruled by a regime that is currently destabilizing the Middle East and exporting terror globally. He also explained how, in the past, Iran used the illusion of moderation and negotiations to advance its nuclear program. (This is something that then candidate Hassan Rouhani boasted about in a recently reported video.)
But Netanyahu wasn’t arguing to attack Iran. He was arguing to keep sanctions in place, and strengthen them if necessary, to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. (In fact the public statements of the Obama administration don’t sound that different from what Netanyahu said about sanctions.) The threat of military force was meant as a last resort.

Guardian publishes letter by Jenny Tonge on the issue of antisemitism

Tonge has clearly demonstrated a malign obsession with Jews and the alleged power of the ‘Israel lobby’, and the decision by the Guardian to provide her a forum to weigh on the extremely serious issue anti-Jewish racism is, in a word, “deplorable”.

BBC repeats misrepresentation of Bar Noar shooting

Unfortunately, as can be seen in this version of the filmed programme (also available on iPlayer for a limited period of time for those in the UK), the Bar Noar shootings are still being misrepresented as an anti-gay hate crime and the political associations of Professor Aeyal Gross are still not being made clear to BBC audiences, in clear breach of editorial guidelines.

BBC parrots Ha’aretz editorial bemoaning demise of Israeli democracy

Obviously not, so consider this line (which, like much of the rest of the piece, appears to have been taken from an AP article by Tia Goldenberg) from an October 4th report titled “Jerusalem court rejects Israel nationality petition” which appeared on the Middle East page of the BBC News website:
“Jewish religious holidays are also national holidays in Israel.”
That, of course, is an undisputed fact and indeed one would not expect otherwise in the world’s only Jewish state, just as one would not expect Christian festivals not to be national holidays in predominantly Christian countries or Islamic festivals not to be national holidays in mainly Muslim states.

Report: Ukrainian police tortured, urinated on Jewish man

Investigators in Lviv are looking into claims that two policemen assaulted and urinated on a Jewish man as part of an anti-Semitic attack, Ukrainian media reported.
The alleged victim, Dmitry Flekman, 28, told the Ukrainian newspaper Segondiya that two men, who identified themselves as police but did not give their names, assaulted him in the western Ukrainian city on Oct. 1 inside a police station and tried to extort money from him.

Israel Approves High-Speed Train Route to Eilat

An Israeli government committee has approved plans for Israel’s most expensive transportation project ever, a high-speed rail line from central Israel to southern port city of Eilat on the Red Sea.
The 217-mile track to Eilat will run along the eastern flank of the Negev, allowing it to avoid rocket fire from Gaza or the Sinai. The train is expected to reach speeds up to 155 miles per hour, which will cut travel down to two hours from the four-to-five-hour trip by car or bus. An estimated 5 million passengers a year are expected to ride the train, Haaretz reported.

Israelis Develop New Pesticide From Strawberry Leaves

Yissum Research Development Company, Hebrew University’s Technology Transfer Arm, and Israeli crop-protection company Makhteshim Agan partnered to develop and market a non-toxic and environmentally-friendly bio-control method for protecting plants based on a yeast isolated from strawberry leaves.

US TV Stars Meet Terror Victims, Dexter’s CS Lee Says Israel Inspiring

The first visit of C.S. Lee – popularly known as Vince Masuka from the American TV show Dexter – to Israel, was an inspiring one for the Korean-American actor. In an exclusive interview, Lee told Tazpit News Agency that there were many moving points during the trip to the Holy Land. “The visit to Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial was particularly special,” recalled Lee during his last evening in the country.

Magen David Adom Raises $3.8 Million at Star-Studded LA Event

American Friends of Magen David Adom said the Oct. 6 event produced the highest amount it has ever raised for MDA, an organization that is mandated by the Israeli government but not funded by it, instead relying on private donors.
Funds raised at the gala—which included performances by comedian Jackie Mason and singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka, and expressions of support for MDA by celebrities such as former Destiny’s Child member Michelle Williams—will benefit emergency medical services and the building of a new National Blood Center in Israel.

3 Jewish professors — two of them Israeli — share 2013 Nobel Prize in chemistry

Kibbutz-born Arieh Warshel fought in ’67 and ’73 wars; Pretoria-born Michael Levitt taught at the Weizmann Institute for most of the 1980s, took Israeli citizenship; Martin Karplus fled as a child to the US from Nazi-occupied Austria. Prestigious prize awarded ‘for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems’

Two rockets shot from Gaza last night

YNet reports:

A rocket fired from Gaza landed in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council overnight. A Color Red siren sounded and a blast was heard. No injuries or damage reported

The Gaza NGO Safety Office site reports that terrorists actually fired two rockets, but one of them fell short in Gaza.

Even though there is a "cease fire," rocket attacks like this are barely reported even in Israeli media, and certainly not noticed by the international media.

To NPR, Egypt's 1973 attack was just diplomacy and "nuanced"

War (against Israel) is peace - if you listen to NPR:

SIEGEL: Each side calls the war by the holiday it fell on in 1973. To Arabs, it was the Ramadan War. To Israelis, it was Yom Kippur War. Both Egypt and Israel suffered heavy casualties and both achieved battlefield victories. And the result was sufficiently ambiguous. Neither side had suffered a humiliating defeat that a few years later, Egypt and Israel could make peace, and Egypt could regain the Sinai Peninsula.

With 40 years of hindsight and research, our sense of the October 1973 war continues to evolve. And today, we're going to hear an Israeli perspective. Ehud Yaari is a commentator for Israel's Channel Two television. He's also a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in Washington. And he joins us from Jerusalem. And, first, Ehud Yaari, how do recently declassified documents alter your view of what happened in the Yom Kippur War?

EHUD YAARI: Well, I think we have a series of documents published and some still to be published, especially from Dr. Henry Kissinger's personal archive, which shed light on the fact that the Egyptians were trying to get the Israelis to move toward some sort of an arrangement over the reopening of the Suez Canal. The Israeli government, at the time led by Mrs. Golda Meir, was preoccupied by the coming elections in Israel, and President Sadat of Egypt felt that he couldn't afford to wait and launched the war.

Basically, the situation was that there was an Egyptian offer on the table. There was a recommendation by Dr. Kissinger to go for it. There was an Israeli response that let's wait after - until after the elections, and Sadat felt that he could not afford to wait that long.

SIEGEL: But you're describing a war that seems, with hindsight, more of an avoidable war than it might have seemed at the time.

YAARI: Absolutely. President Sadat launched the war together with Hafez Assad, the president of Syria at the time, in order to break the diplomatic deadlock, not in order to capture the Sinai Peninsula or invade Israel itself. He saw the war as a tool of diplomacy rather than as an ending itself. And indeed, it took four years between the launching of the October war '73 and Sadat's historic visit to Jerusalem in November '77. That was his intention from the start. I'm telling you this as the proud man who had the privilege of being the first Israeli passport allowed into Egypt. That was the story. He launched the war in order to get a peace process going.

...SIEGEL: Of course, one observation that's been made over the years is that President Sadat's motives, Egypt's motives in going to war in 1973 were sufficiently nuanced or sophisticated that they weren't understood well by Israeli intelligence.

15,000 killed - but it was for a good purpose! It was for peace!

Those Israelis were too stupid to recognize the "nuance" of their sons were being killed by the hundreds.

And this was the "Israeli" perspective. Today, NPR will bring us Egypt's perspective!

(I'm sure that Yaari said more than just the two minutes heard here, but NPR cherry picked his comments to make Egypt as blameless as possible for starting a war.)

One set of documents that has received next to no attention from these self-styled "experts" were recently released by Israel's National Archives. As Times of Israel described it:

Several months before the 1973 Yom Kippur War, then-Israeli prime minister Golda Meir used West German diplomatic channels to offer Egypt most of the Sinai Peninsula in exchange for peace, according to documents released Sunday by the state archives.

During a series of meetings with West German chancellor Willy Brandt, who was making a historic visit to Israel in early June 1973, Meir offered ”to meet with them (the Egyptians) for the first personal contact, anywhere, any time and at any level” and asked Brandt to convey to the Egyptians her desire to meet as well as Israel’s willingness to cede most of the Sinai in a peace treaty with Egypt.

Israel captured the peninsula from Egypt in the 1967 Six Day War. According to the records, Meir was not willing to return completely to the 1967 lines in the event of a handover.

“He can tell Sadat that he, Brandt, is convinced that we truly want peace. That we don’t want all of Sinai, or half of Sinai, or the major part of Sinai. Brandt can make it clear to Sadat that we do not request that he begin negotiations in public, and that we are prepared to begin secret negotiations, etc.,” Meir said in a later meeting.

West German diplomatic personnel later met in Cairo with Hafiz Ismail, a close adviser to Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, and relayed the Israeli proposal, which Ismail reportedly rejected bluntly.

As long as Israel was not willing to return completely to the 1967 lines, there was no point in negotiations, he reportedly said, adding that there would be no “talks about talks.” Ismail, during the meeting, held forth about world indifference to the situation in the Arab world and said that ”from now on, the Arabs’ fate is in their own hands.”

At NPR, Israeli diplomatic efforts for peace are ignored but a sneak attack that killed thousands is praised - as being necessary for "peace."

And to push this decidedly illiberal narrative, NPR just uses the oldest trick in the book - to find an Israeli that seems to blame Israel for Egypt's decision to start a war.

In retrospect, it is obvious that Egypt would not have accepted any peace offer from Israel, because the point of the war wasn't "peace." As with so much else in the Arab world, the driving motivation was honor. Egypt needed to feel like a victor before it could discuss any negotiations. This is clear from the statement made by Egypt's president Adly Mansour on the anniversary:

I talk to you today on the occasion marking the 40th anniversary of the great victory. That day has been and will remain a landmark sign for the dignity of Egypt and the whole Arab nation. It is the day of October 6th, 1973.

These great days come to remind us that October 6th was not only a watershed day in the Egyptian and Arab modern history but also a crowning for the path of struggle and a pride for our achievement together people and State on which the great Egyptian people rejected to bargain over their homeland or dignity even if they would sacrifice their own daily source of living or their blood.

The values of October 6th remind us of the march of struggle through which we restored our usurped soil when we devoted all ourselves to the nation and shouldered our responsibility at a time when all personal aspirations were melted down into one aspiration and one dream for one homeland.

...The October victory has created a new reality and opened the road to peace after it managed to turn over the pages of defeat and setback and after it restored to Egypt its dignity and to the Egyptian military institution its pride.

You don't need to be an "expert" to understand this. You don't need secret archives or records to figure it out. Egypt says it explicitly.

(h/t Irene)

Last summer, the French Consulate in Jerusalem held an event to mark the publication of a book.

On the occasion of the recent publication of the book Leila Khaled, an icon of Palestinian liberation, the author Sarah Irving and researcher Diana Butto, we will draw a portrait of this extraordinary woman.

Khaled is of course a notorious PFLP terrorist, involved in two airplane hijackings and hijack attempts. Now, apparently, the French consider her a heroine.

More details at JSSNews (French).

10/09 Links Part 1: Terrorist Shooting Victim Heads Home, Guardianistas Vote Rouhani for Nobel

From Ian:

Psagot Victim Heads Home

Four days after a terrorist shot her in the neck at close range, nine-year-old Noam Glick has returned home.
Her friends from Psagot met her with flowers and balloons.
Noam suffered serious injuries in the shooting, which took place as she played on the balcony of her family’s home in Psagot, north of Jerusalem. However, after an emergency surgery, her condition was upgraded to “good,” and she has made a speedy recovery.

IDF Officials Pay Visit to Nine-Year-Old Terror Victim

The IDF's Head of Central Command, Nitzan Alon, and the head of the Binyamin Brigade, Yosef Pinto, paid a visit to the Glick family of the Binyamin community of Psagot.

JPost Editorial: Omitting the flag

Lustick and other experts on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict see Israelis, even those who immigrated to Israel from Muslim countries in the region, as a “European fragment society” no different from the British in India or Kenya, the Belgians in the Congo, the Afrikaners in South Africa.
As long as the Palestinians view Zionists as just another colonialist white settler movement, there is little chance of reaching a two-state solution in which both sides recognize the legitimacy of the other to live here in peace and security.
The omission of the Israeli flag this week in the Mukata is just a symptom of a much deeper problem.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Is Abbas Losing Control Over Fatah?

The latest dispute began when bodyguards escorting Jibril Rajoub, a former security commander, beat Fatah legislator Jamal Abu al-Rub.
The incident took place during a heated debate over the responsibility of Fatah thugs and gunmen for scenes of anarchy and lawlessness in Jenin.
Abu al-Rub, who is a Fatah leader from Jenin, is nicknamed "Hitler" because of his ruthless and violent attacks on Palestinians suspected of "collaboration" with Israel.
After al-Rub was beaten, Fatah gunmen issued a leaflet warning Rajoub against entering Jenin. Now Abbas is busy trying to achieve a sulha [reconciliation] between the two senior Fatah leaders-warlords.

Make Barghouti your deputy, Fatah leaders urge Abbas

The issue of succession — Abbas is 78 years old — was raised at the end of September during a meeting in Ramallah of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council and the party’s Central Committee, the two most influential bodies in the hierarchy of Fatah, Abbas’s dominant faction of the PLO.
At the meeting, committee member Tawfiq Tirawi, an adviser to Abbas, took the floor to propose that Abbas appoint a vice president, and recommended Fatah Tanzim leader Barghouti (who was once a political rival of Tirawi’s) as the man for the job. Tirawi argued that Barghouti’s appointment would pave the way for his release from Israeli incarceration.

Abbas’ Idea for Israeli Security: No IDF Arrests of Terrorists

Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who has vowed that a new Arab state within Israel’s borders will keep Israel secure, demands that the IDF stop entering Arab-controlled cities.
Israeli soldiers do not visit Shechem and Jenin to buy cheap vegetables. They enter to arrest terrorists, while the PA security forces give out parking tickets, try to catch criminals and occasionally search for rival terrorists from Islamic Jihad and Hamas. The Palestinian Authority almost never arrests terrorists belonging to the ”military branch” of the ruling Fatah party.

Top PLO official dubs Netanyahu ‘number one extremist’

Speaking to Palestinian radio on Monday, Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary of the PLO and one of only two Palestinian officials authorized to comment on negotiations with Israel, predicted that the recently revived talks would collapse due to Netanyahu’s entrenched positions.
“Netanyahu is the number one extremist in Israel. He hides behind [Economics Minister Naftali] Bennett and [former foreign minister Avigdor] Liberman. He is the symbol of extremism and resorts to a policy that seeks no solution,” Abed Rabbo said, adding that the Palestinian leadership refuses to recognize “historic Palestine” as the “homeland of the Jewish people.”

PMW: Fatah: Suicide bombers are “Palestine’s illustrious women”

Two female suicide bombers who together killed 3 and wounded more than 130 are being presented by Fatah as great role models worthy of admiration.
Recently, the administrator of one of Fatah's official Facebook pages posted a picture of terrorist Wafa Idris with the words, "Palestine's illustrious women."
A few days later, the same Fatah page glorified female suicide bomber Zainab Abu Salem as "the 18 year-old heroic female Martyrdom-seeker."

Arch-terrorist Ahmed Yassin is "exalted Palestinian figure" - PA Minister of Religious Affairs

Isolated Hamas faces money crisis in Gaza Strip

Hamas is struggling to meet its payroll in the Gaza Strip, where income from taxes has been badly hit since neighboring Egypt started destroying a network of tunnels used to smuggle food, fuel and weapons into the Islamist-run enclave.
The crisis means that Gaza's thousands of civil servants may not receive their full salaries in time for an important Muslim holiday next week.

Turkish PM Erdogan hosts increasingly isolated Hamas leader Mashaal in Ankara

Increasingly isolated since the loss of a key ally in deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal traveled Tuesday to one of the few world leaders still willing to embrace him: Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
One Israeli official said that Hamas today was experiencing “a period of unprecedented isolation” because of its terrorism and extremism.

Erdan: Hezbollah Has 200,000 New Rockets, and the Same Goal

Israel’s enemies are taking a new approach to warfare, and Israel must be ready, Minister of Home Front Defense Gilad Erdan said Tuesday, speaking at a conference at Bar Ilan University.
“Our enemies have abandoned the idea of conquering territory in the land of Israel. What remains is their desire to defeat Israel by threatening the homefront,” he explained.

US official: Washington plans to halt military aid to Egypt

A US official on Tuesday said the United States was leaning toward withholding most military aid to Egypt except to promote counterterrorism, security in the Sinai Peninsula and other such priorities.
The official said US President Barack Obama had not made a final decision on the issue, which has vexed US officials as they balance a desire to be seen promoting democracy and rights with a desire to keep up some cooperation with Egypt's military.
The White House denied that any change had been made in its policy on aid to Egypt.

Jonathan Kay: Canadian activists are finally learning that Israel isn’t the Middle East’s true villain

Egyptian military authorities have been co-operating with Israel in controlling the flow of weapons and militants to and from Gaza for years. But till now, Western pro-Palestinian activists generally have preferred to play down this fact. The case against Israel works best when it is presented as a simple morality play about indigenous Arabs battling neo-colonialist Jews. And so the fact that many Arab leaders in the region (including not only those in Egypt, but also Lebanon and Jordan) share Israel’s fear of Palestinian militancy is seen as an embarrassment to the conceit of anti-Zionist solidarity.

Canada’s ‘Gay Batman and Robin’ Freed From Egyptian Prison

So Greyson and Loubani ponced off to Egypt to “raise awareness” about something or other, when they were captured in possession of two hobby-sized helicopters fitted with GoPro cameras.
Almost like, you know, spy drones or something.
The pair insisted these devices were actually going to be used for, in their own words, “the testing of the transportation of medical samples.”
Uh huh.
The two were duly tossed into a Cairo prison. They went on a juice fast hunger strike. Gullible liberals back home campaigned for their return.

Netanyahu’s silent Middle East majority

While optimistic western elites bristle at Netanyahu’s rejection of Rouhani’s “smile and conquer diplomacy,” The Middle East’s silent Sunni majority backs Netanyahu’s “distrust, dismantle, and verify” approach towards neighboring Iranian regime’s nuclear program and race for regional supremacy.
Led by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states and supported by the region’s many minorities including Kurds, Christians, Druse, Sufis, Baluchees and others, several hundred million Sunnis across the Middle East are quietly banking on Netanyahu’s making good on his declaration before the UN General Assembly that, “Israel will not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons,” and “If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.”

Britain working to reopen embassy in Iran

The British embassy in Tehran was closed in late 2011 after a mob overran the building as tensions over a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities ran high. Iran also closed its embassy in London. Relations have remained tense since then, but the recent election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has raised hopes of a thaw between Iran and the West — and of a possible nuclear deal.

Iran rejects US precondition for participating in Syria peace conference

The US State Department said on Monday Washington would be more open to Iran taking part in a "Geneva 2" conference seeking an end to the war if Iran publicly supported a 2012 statement calling for a transitional authority to rule Syria.
But Iran rejected any conditions being placed on it to participate in diplomatic efforts on Syria, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said on Tuesday evening.

Guardian poll - Nobel Prize for Rouhani

Online readers of the Guardian newspaper have voted Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as most deserving to be awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. In a poll posted Monday, the Islamic Republic leader had by Tuesday night raked in 69 percent of the online voters, more than four times the number of votes raked in by the second most popular nominee, Pakistani political and social activist Malala Yousafza.

Kenya identifies mall attackers, including American

A spokesman for the Kenya Defense Forces has identified four terrorists who took part in the deadly Nairobi mall attack last month.
They are: Khattab al-Kene, an American Somali; Abu Baara al-Sudani, from Sudan; Omar Nabhan, from Kenya; and a man identified only as Umayr.
It was not clear what Khattab al-Kene's name may have been in the United States.

‘Revealing’ outfit gets Turkish TV host fired

AKP party spokesman Huseyin Celik criticized Gözde Kansu’s outfit, saying “We don’t intervene against anyone, but this is too much. It is unacceptable,” the Hurriyet Daily News reported on Tuesday.
Since the Islamist AKP came to power in the general elections in 2002, it has been working to slowly Islamize Turkey. But now that the party is more firmly in power, it has become more aggressive in enforcing its views on the public.