Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, January 05, 2014

01/05 Links: The end of dhimmitude, London 'Peace' Festival Organized by Terrorism Advocates

From Ian:

We are now witnessing one of the most dramatic developments in the historic configuration of relations among Jews, Christians and Muslims. Christians in Israel’s Galilee are courageously promoting their pre-Islamic non-Arab identity as an old-new collective Aramean/Aramaic-speaking Oriental narrative. This is a cultural and political game-changer with revolutionary significance, for Israel, the Middle East and the global scene.
Under the leadership of Father Gabriel Nadaf, an Orthodox priest from Yafia near Nazareth, and Shadi Khalloul, a Maronite activist and army reserve officer from Gush Halav, the Christian Recruitment Forum has been established. While all non-Jews in Israel, excepting the Druse and Circassians, are exempt from the military draft, a new promotional effort has been undertaken to further encourage Christian youth to voluntarily enlist. This initiative expresses both a desire to serve the state and integrate into Israeli society, conveying that Christians are committed to the security and welfare of the Jewish state of Israel.

London "Peace" Festival Organized by Terrorism Advocates

Interpal was an inaugural member of the Union of Good, a coalition of charities that manages the financial support required by Hamas for its terrorist activities.
These links, which have been comprehensively detailed before, include recent Palestinian news footage showing Interpal's primary trustee, Essam Mustafa, attending a press conference hosted by Hamas to honor Interpal's work.
Interpal's other trustee, Ibrahim Hewitt, has referred to the "so-called Holocaust." In a pamphlet written by Hewitt, 'What Does Islam Say,' he advocates the killing of apostates and adulterers, and demanded that homosexuals suffer "severe punishments" for their "great sin."

Richard Millett: Israel’s “beautiful resistance” to suicide bombers: A response to Lucy Winkett

Moreover, St James’s Church’s Bethlehem Unwrapped festival has attracted antisemites, Holocaust deniers, those campaigning for the destruction of Israel and those who condone violence to that end.
This may not have been St James’s Church’s intention but this is what has happened and for this Rector Winkett should apologise to Britain’s Jewish community which is bearing the main brunt of the backlash.
The biggest irony is that St James’s Church itself is protected by a security fence; a tall metal fence that contains a locked door. When the door is unlocked it is heavily guarded. Some may call this a checkpoint.

Roger Cohen sort of compliments me

After my latest takedown of the NYT's Roger Cohen was published on Algmeiner, he sent out two tweets. One linked to Mondoweiss attacking him from the crazy Left:

One take: Roger Cohen (who doesn't live there) explains the need for 'my Jewish state' http://t.co/EHJbPS7Nou
— Roger Cohen (@NYTimesCohen) January 3, 2014

And the next linked to mine:

Another take (involving a huge amount of research on "Palestinian Arabs") http://t.co/GzGA6C1YUG
— Roger Cohen (@NYTimesCohen) January 3, 2014

He obviously doesn't understand why I say "Palestinian Arabs" instead of "Palestinians," which is something Menachem Begin used to be particular about. And I didn't do any real research for the piece beyond what I had already done for years. Which means that, in effect, Cohen is admitting that I posted stuff he was unaware of - as I wrote in the piece.

Also, by putting my post and Mondoweiss' next to each other, Cohen is being self-congratulatory that since he is being attacked from both sides the truth must be in the middle where he thinks he is, which is a rather poor assumption.

(h/t DE)

Another EU program to take land away from Jews

The EU continues to ignore the Oslo Accords and to actively work to grab as much land in Area C as possible and give it to Palestinian Arabs without coordinating with Israel.

Here's a new initiative.

Innocuously called the "Land and Water Development Programme," here are its objectives:

The global objective of this Call for Proposals is to promote social and economical development in the 'Area C' of the West Bank through supporting agriculture growth and profitability.

The specific objective of this Call for Proposals is to enhance the access to and the utilization of land and water.

The priority-components of the Action/project that will stem from this Call for Proposals are:

land reclamation of non-utilized agricultural lands (including rangeland reclamation).The activities related to land reclamation under this Call for Proposals, will be of the kind of 'heavy reclamation works', such as land levelling, building or rehabilitating of retaining walls, etc. The 'light reclamation works’, such as ploughing, fencing, planting seedlings or intercropping, etc., will be the responsibility of the farmers and/or of their associations or cooperatives;

rehabilitation of agriculture roads to facilitate access to markets, inputs, equipment and services.The rehabilitation of agriculture roads will be carried out with the purpose of improving productivity and competitiveness;

increase water availability for agricultural purposes (rehabilitation or construction of rainwater harvesting cisterns, community-reservoirs, small dams, steel water tanks, rehabilitation of wells and springs, water conveyance systems, etc.) and,

capacity development to farmers' associations/cooperatives to strengthening their management skills, including women's empowerment initiatives, and improving agriculture practices, in particular, the development and adoption of good practices in water demand management.

Besides pre-determining the outcome of negotiations, the EU is also ignoring its own positions. If Israel is the legal occupier of Area C, then it is the party responsible for governmental functions like land registration, digging wells, building roads and so forth. By the EU ignoring Israeli responsibilities for the area, it is - ironically - not recognizing Israel as the occupier under international law.

The EU, quoting the PA's "Agriculture Sector Strategy 2011-2013," says this initiative is meant to "Promote farmers' perseverance and attachment to their land and retention of their occupations - Palestinian farmers’ adherence and attachment to their land is one of the most important components of resisting the occupation and settlement activity."

Expert: "Palestinians may have used Czech Rep for arms transit"

From Ceske Noviny. as a followup to the story of the Palestinian Arab envoy to Prague being killed by an explosion:

Palestinians may have used the Czech Republic for weapons transit, former Czech chief-of-staff Jiri Sedivy has told server Aktualne.cz, reacting to the unregistered weapons the police uncovered at Palestine´s embassy in Prague where a safe explosion killed the ambassador on Wednesday.

The safe exploded in the brand-new building that is to become the embassy´s new seat.

"Maybe the affair in question involves a well organised weapons and explosives distribution network, including the weapons´ further recipients," said Sedivy, who now heads the security studies section at Prague´s CEVRO Institut university.

He said he was not speaking of terrorism but of the gathering and distribution of military equipment that could be used in an action if need were.

"This is the worst of the variants I´m thinking about," Sedivy said.

According to available information, 70 firearms, unregistered by Czech authorities, have been found in the future embassy building in Prague 6-Suchdol.

The Palestinians have not explained the weapons´ presence in the building.

"I´m horrified. This is not only a blatant violation of diplomatic norms and habits but also of security rules related to keeping such an arsenal, that also implies the tragic death of ambassador Jamal al Jamal," said Sedivy.

He said he is afraid that apart from Prague, similar arms arsenals may also be secretly kept at other Palestinian embassies in Europe and overseas.

"I my opinion this is very probable. The [Prague] blast, which occurred by sheer coincidence, may have uncovered something incredible...on the verge of monstrosity," Sedivy said.

He said Palestinian representatives have "played theatre" within the investigation into the case so far.

Their possible explanation that the weapons were to help defend the embassy is unacceptable. No one jeopardised Palestinians in Prague, Sedivy said.

"From the beginning it has not been a mere minor local scandal that would be soon over...but an incident of international dimensions," Sedivy said.

He said the find of the weapons at the future Palestinian embassy is a far more complex issue than how official places have presented it.

Sedivy also said he does not trust the version about the exploding safe that killed the ambassador.

"This is utter nonsense...In my opinion he died as a result of improper manipulation of an explosive," Sedivy said, adding that the ambassador probably did not respect safety rules for handling an explosive.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Czech anti-terrorism official pointed out the possibility that the Palestinian embassy in Prague served as a transit point to freely ship firearms to any of the 26 Schengen Area countries (European countries that do not have passport or immigration controls.)

A further article in Aktualne has a columnist asking other military experts and diplomats if they agree with General Sedivy, and most of them agreed, although some preferred to remain anonymous.

The former head of Czech foreign intelligence service Karel Randák said bluntly: "What did you expect?! Sure General Sedivy is right. This is without a doubt! I'm bot surprised at all.

"If this scandal of a collection of weapons and explosives cannot be plausibly explained by the Palestinians, the Czech authorities should terminate that mission without pardon. Diplomats who violate every conceivable principle have no business being in the Czech Republic," he said. "But I can not think how they can explain this. It's Inexplicable and indefensible, so that - at least in my opinion - we have no choice but to expel the Palestinians. Let's start with the new Palestinian diplomats on a green field - for me, there's no other way."

The story also recalled the discovery in 2003 of an entire arsenal, including an anti-tank weapon, in the Iraqi embassy in Prague. The intended target was found to be Radio Free Europe.

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

St. James Church won't let supporters of Israel in

Last week when one of the people behind the "Bethlehem Unplugged" anti-Israel stunt wrote in The Guardian:

When we have been challenged about "taking sides" and "politicising the church" – which is a fair discussion to have – we are clear that we are not "pro" one side or another but we are instead campaigning for equal human rights for all people regardless of ethnicity or background.

Well, that isn't true.

From Sussex Friends of Israel:

Historic Lebanese Christian library torched by angry Muslims

From RT:

Two-thirds of a historic collection of 80,000 books have gone up in smoke after a library was torched in the Lebanese city of Tripoli amid sectarian tensions. The blaze was started after a pamphlet insulting Islam was reportedly found inside a book.

Firefighters struggled to subdue the flames as the decades-old Al-Saeh library went up in smoke on Friday in the Serail neighborhood of Tripoli. Despite firefighters’ best efforts, little of the trove of historic books and manuscripts was recovered from the wreckage.

“Two thirds of some 80,000 books and manuscripts housed there,” a security source told Agence France Press, referring to the items destroyed. The source added that the blaze was started after a manuscript insulting the Prophet Mohammed was found hidden in the pages of one of the library books.

A demonstration had been planned in Tripoli after the pamphlet was found but was reportedly called off after the library’s Greek Orthodox owner spoke with Muslim leaders. Lebanese news outlet Naharnet also reported that one of the library workers was shot and wounded Thursday night.

“The library owner, Father Ebrahim Surouj, met with Islamic leaders in Tripoli. It became clear the priest had nothing to do with the pamphlet, and a demonstration that had been planned in protest over the incident was called off,” the source said.

However, Ashraf Rifi, former head of the Internal Security Forces, told AP the attack had nothing to do with a pamphlet and was, in fact, triggered by speculation that Father Surouj had written a study on the internet that insulted Islam.

"This criminal act poses several questions [about] the party behind it that aims at damaging coexistence in the city and ruining its reputation,” Rifi told AFP. The Lebanese police have launched an investigation into the incident.

Naharnet says that the protest was because of rumors that "claimed the father had published a book deemed insulting to Islam."

[T]he Greek Orthodox priest forgave those responsible for the attack, in a statement aired on television on Saturday.

The contrast between how Muslims and Christians act could not be starker.

01/04 Links: Prague Mayor: kick out Palestinian 'embassy', Let there be more Stephen Harpers

From Ian:

Douglas Murray: Absolute moral squalor on display at a London church

It is utterly disgraceful that St James’ church has presented this partial view of Israel while ignoring the plight of their co-religionists. Here are some festivals we are very unlikely to see taking place at St. James’s Piccadilly anytime soon.
A festival set up to highlight the victims of suicide-bombings which murder Christians while leaving church in Pakistan.
An installation — ‘Borno Unwrapped’ — commemorating the 12 people killed last weekend (whilst ‘Bethlehem Unwrapped’ was going on) in two Christian villages in northeast Nigeria, including the eight Christians murdered by Islamists at a wedding reception in Tashan-Alede village.
A small event organised to condemn the savagery which led Islamists in Iraq to plant three bombs at churches and other Christian areas in Iraq on Christmas Day, and which murdered 37 people as they were celebrating the birth of Jesus

Where Are the Other Replica Security Walls?

Here, then, is an instructive question: why is there no art installation decrying the EU's 'apartheid' security barriers on the Spain-Morocco border? What about the human rights of impoverished Moroccan and sub-Saharan African illegals, who surely deserve a temporary monument in a major capital city (and an accompanying festival) at least as much as jihadis determined to infiltrate Israel and murder innocent men, women and children, deserve one? Perhaps such a project will be next on the agenda for the baleful coterie of trendy British priests and fading, 'socially conscious' media figures currently assembled at St. James's Church.
A list of security walls, barriers and fences around the world: (h/t Bob Knot)

Human Rights Watch Should Rescind Reports

What is truly reprehensible, however, is that given the questions now surfacing with regard to al-Karama, Human Rights Watch has not rescinded the reports in whose development it had partnered with al-Karama. Take the case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which last year successfully busted a coup plot by al-Islah, the local affiliation of the Muslim Brotherhood. Human Rights Watch condemned the UAE and accused it of torture in a study that it conducted in conjunction with al-Karama. Now it seems that its partner’s leader was committed not only in rhetoric but also fact to advancing al-Qaeda’s goals. Can HRW really, in hindsight, take seriously the group’s work which castigated a government which has cracked down on al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood? Frankly, it seems plausible that al-Karama’s leadership wanted to use HRW’s mantle to castigate those it saw as ideological enemies.

NYT again downplaying Palestinian Arab rejectionism and embrace of terrorists

The New York Times has an editorial about the current negotiations, and as usual it places the blame for poisoning the atmosphere primarily on Israel.

Signs of failure are everywhere. On Thursday, standing beside Mr. Kerry, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a harsh assessment of his Palestinian counterpart, President Mahmoud Abbas, and, implicitly, the prospect of a Middle East peace agreement. Days earlier, Israel let it be known that it would build more settlements in the West Bank, further poisoning the political atmosphere while shrinking the territorial space for a deal. Hard-liners in Mr. Netanyahu’s government are pushing a bill that would annex settlements in the Jordan Valley area of the West Bank, where about 6,000 Israeli settlers and 10 times as many Palestinians live.

There are questions about the Palestinian commitment as well. Palestinian leaders have said that any new settlement activity could lead them to seek membership in the International Criminal Court and sue Israel there, a move they had promised not to take when peace talks started in the summer. An official close to Mr. Abbas has dismissed Mr. Kerry’s push for a "framework agreement" as biased toward Israel.

In his remarks on Thursday Mr. Netanyahu claimed that members of the Palestinian security force were involved in a recent attack against Israelis. Mr. Abbas should investigate the claim and, if it is true, bring those responsible to justice. He also needs to crack down on the incitement of hatred against Israel in Palestinian schools, textbooks and government-controlled media.

To its credit, the NYT at least mentions incitement, an issue that it has been all but silent on in its news pages. Even so, the bulk of the complaints are against Israel.

It is silent about the daily insistence by the PLO leadership of their "red lines." As I wrote yesterday, here is one recent list given by Saeb Erekat:

First we can not accept Israel as a Jewish state. Secondly we can not accept any Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, without Jerusalem. Thirdly we can not accept any Israeli on Palestinian territory, sea or air, after the completion of the gradual withdrawal. Fourth we can not accept any solution without the exercise of the refugees' right of return according to Resolution 194, the right of return and compensation, and (fifth) the release of all prisoners at the signing of the agreement. This is the Palestinian position.

It doesn't exactly sound like the PA is preparing its people for any compromises whatsoever. The hawkish, absolutist position of the PLO has not changed in over 25 years. Yet the NYT doesn't bother to mention that, as it never does.

Here, though, is where the NYT again shows that it is willing to give Abbas the benefit of the doubt, no matter what he does:

As part of the negotiating process, Mr. Netanyahu agreed to release 104 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails over nine months rather than halt settlement construction. But when Mr. Abbas welcomed the latest group to the West Bank this week, Mr. Netanyahu accused him of embracing terrorists, even though Mr. Abbas never condoned the prisoners’ crimes.

He never condoned their crimes? He called them heroes, multiple times! It's not like he was hiding it - Abbas was there, in the middle of the night, to greet them and embrace them personally, one by one, to kiss them and then to speak out about how they were heroic!

It takes a special kind of wishful thinking to look at that scene and then try to minimize it by saying that Abbas didn't condone their murders. The PA is offering these murderers free jobs for life, paid for by Western funding.

But the NYT, like other mainstream media, has its narrative of a "hawkish" Israeli leadership and a "moderate" Palestinian Arab leadership and it will do everything it can to protect that narrative. Thsi op-ed is a prime example.

(h/t Herb)

01/03 Links Pt2: Five Years Later Goldstone Revisited, First Chinese-Israeli Car Sold!

From Ian:

Five Years Later: Operation Cast Lead and the Goldstone Report, Revisited

The Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center report: “Hamas and the Terrorist Threat from the Gaza Strip: The Main Findings of the Goldstone Report Versus the Factual Findings” published in March 2010 (pp.82-83), found that the decision by Hamas to violate the lull/ceasefire long predated the November 4 tunnel incident:

“Hamas’ unilateral decision to the end lull and the escalation it initiated played a major role in the events which ultimately led to Operation Cast Lead. On September 18, the Hamas leadership met to discuss whether or not to extend it. Opinions in the Gaza Strip leadership of Hamas were divided, while the Damascus leadership, headed by Khaled Mashaal, chief of the political bureau in Damascus, decided to bring it to an end in an attempt to achieve a new lull with better conditions for Hamas. The decision was made knowing that it would lead to an escalation. The leadership, however, assumed Hamas would be able to control and contain it. Hamas was joined it its decision to end the lull by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the other Palestinian terrorist organizations.

CAMERA Prompts NY Times Correction on Gaza Shortages, "Palestinian" Cities
The newspaper commendably published the following correction on Dec. 31:

"An article on Dec. 19 about Mohammed Assaf, a Palestinian singer from Gaza who has become a star in the Arab world after winning the “Arab Idol” competition, referred incorrectly to cities in Israel Mr. Assaf sings about. While they had largely Arab populations before Israel became a state in 1948, they were not “Palestinian” in the sense of being part of a Palestinian political entity. The article also referred incorrectly to shortages of water, gas and electricity in Gaza. While Israel places restrictions on some goods coming into Gaza, and many Palestinians blame Israel for shortages, they were worsened by Egypt’s closing of smuggling tunnels and by a tax dispute between the militant Hamas faction, which governs Gaza, and the Palestinian Authority."

BBC Watch: As Sharon’s health deteriorates, BBC updates profile claiming he sparked second intifada

As can be seen in the screenshot above, that article also links to the newly updated profile of Ariel Sharon which – despite its recent amendment – features repetition of the long-promoted BBC myth that the second Intifada began because of Sharon’s pre-coordinated thirty-four minute visit to Temple Mount in September 2000.
That BBC myth has been previously addressed on these pages and readily available statements by numerous Palestinian figures relating to the fact that the intifada was pre-planned have been presented.

Terrorists care about the strength of the shekel

The fact that Palestinian Arabs use the shekel as their currency means that Arabic terrorist media will regularly publish the exchange rates of the shekel against other world currencies.

This means that we have a situation where Islamic Jihad media closely follows the strength of the shekel against the dollar, euro, Egyptian pound and Jordanian dinar.

A strong shekel means that they can buy weapons for a better price.

The terrorists know quite well that if a Palestinian Arab currency would be created, as some urge, it would be a disaster. Staying with the Israeli currency is good business for terrorists.

01/03 Links Pt1: Kerry vs. Rabin on Israel’s security, IHH Smuggling Weapons into Syria.

From Ian:

Kerry versus Rabin on Israel’s security

Given his warm praise of Rabin and Rabin’s perspectives on the parameters of a genuine, durable peace, one would expect any blueprint from the Secretary of State to incorporate what Rabin defined as areas vital for Israel’s defense.
Rabin, like the authors of UN Security Council Resolution 242 – still the foundation stone of Israeli-Arab peace negotiations – recognized that Israel’s pre-1967 armistice lines left the nation too vulnerable to future aggression. He insisted Israel must hold onto a significant portion of the West Bank to block traditional invasion routes and to protect both Jerusalem and the low-lying coastal plain, the latter home to some 70% of the nation’s population. In his last speech in the Knesset before his assassination, Rabin declared:

The Israel-Palestinian Negotiation and the American mediation: The Jerusalem case

Now John Kerry tries again with the clumsiness of an elephant in a porcelain shop to bring the parties to conclude an agreement, while the issues raised for the “solution” are not the real issues. The US continues to see the subject matter with its wrong mistaken mirror image, as if the “occupation” of the 1967 territories, and the Palestinian refugee issue of 1948, and the Issue of Jerusalem as the capital of the newborn Palestinian state, are the main obstacles to conclude the peace agreement. The US continues to stumble as if she has the formula that brings the parties not only to the negotiation table, not only to a peace agreement, but to peace relations between Israel and the Palestinians. Moreover, the US continues to believe that by reaching this end, most of the issues in the Middle East are solved, and harmony and tranquility reigns over the region.

Language and Lenses: “West Bank” versus “Judaea and Samaria”

Until the Arab-Muslim world gives up its Koranically-based hatred and disdain for the Jewish people, it will be impossible to have any faith that a “Palestinian” state on historically Jewish land will be anything other than a terrorist state devoted to the annihilation of the Jewish state, if not the Jewish people.
Whatever the eventual outcome of this long-standing Arab-Muslim war against the Jews of the Middle East, it should be obvious to Jewish people that denying our own history in that region cannot be a benefit to our people.
It is one thing to give away Jewish land, but it is another thing entirely to give away Jewish history. The former, in my view, might be acceptable if the recipients were kindly disposed toward their Jewish neighbors in acceptance.
The latter is an abomination. (h/t Bob Knot)

EU-funded TV show demonizes Jews

From Palestinian Media Watch:

EU-funded NGO for youth dehumanizes Jews as "crows"

PA TV narrator: “Sometimes we are reluctant to raise our heads in the streets of Jerusalem, because the sight above the walls disturbs us (i.e., of the Israeli flag). Its blue color has nothing to do with the sky or the sea. Its white color is not the color of peace but the color of a rag dipped in our blood. The Star [of David] in its center does not light our way... We may wake up to locked gates and expropriated houses in Jerusalem. The crows pass by and caw (visual of religious Jews) and the rats are armed (visual of Israeli soldiers). But we know that the gates will smile only when we enter them... Jerusalem will never accept any language other than Arabic and any nationality other than Palestinian, no matter how much the flags of the foreigners fly in its sky.”

Note: The Palestinian Youth Association (PYALARA), the producer of this program, is funded by NDC. NDC's international donors include: the European Union, the World Bank, the French government’s Agence Française de Développement, a donor consortium of Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden, the Islamic Development Bank, the United Palestinian Appeal, and the Palestinian private organization the Welfare Association. [NDC website, accessed December 2013]

NDC is a Palestinian Arab NGO.

PYALARA is also funded by the Olof Palme International Center, the umbrella organization for the Swedish labor movement.

(h/t Ian)