Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, February 02, 2014

Nutty Arab rumor of the day: Kerry threatened to poison Abbas "just like Arafat"

British Arabic newspaper Al Rai reports on contentious negotiations between John Kerry and Mahmoud Abbas, with Abbas resisting Kerry's insistence on a limited "right of return" and larger land swaps than he wants.

A source claimed that Abbas left the meeting angry and saying that Kerry told him that if he does not accept the framework proposals, his fate will be no less than that of Arafat.

Palestine Today runs with that, saying that Arafat was murdered by the Israeli prime minister and defense minister coordinated with the US after he refused to sign a peace agreement under the Clinton parameters.

The story has already hit Al Watan Voice, JordanZad, and Palestine News Network, who attributed the claim to member of the Central Committee of the Fatah Jamal al-Muheisen.

Al-Muheisen added that the PLO should go to the International Criminal Court to prosecute Kerry for his threats, and that this threat proves that the US gave Israel the green light to kill Arafat.

Let's flesh out the rumor a little more:

Erekat's latest lie: "My family was in Palestine for 9000 years". They are really from Arabia.

From the Times of Israel:

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator over the weekend again ruled out the notion of Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Speaking at a Munich conference, on a panel with his Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni, Erekat said the demand was unacceptable: “When you say ‘accept Israel as a Jewish state’ you are asking me to change my narrative,” he claimed, asserting that his ancestors lived in the region “5,500 years before Joshua Bin-Nun came and burned my hometown Jericho.”

Joshua lived about 3,300 years ago, so Erekat is claiming that his family was in the region for nearly 9000 years.

Is this true?

Not even close.

Erekat was born in Abu Dis, near Jerusalem. I found an interview with another Erekat who was born in Abu Dis, named Hussein Mohamed Erekat. He says that his family actually comes from the Huwaitat region of the northwestern Arabian Peninsula.

Indeed, this article about the dialects and clans of Saudi Arabia confirms the existence of the Erekat (sometimes spelled Areikat or Ariqat) families in Huwaitat, and they are one of seven clans that ended up in Palestine.

Is Saeb a member of this clan? Yes, he is.

This Facebook page of the Erekat family traces the Erekat family history, and this article confirms that the family came from the Huwaitat region, and it also mentions prominent Erekats - including Saeb.

That article also says that before Huwaitat, their ancestors emigrated from Medina.

All of the Erekats are related. Most of their most prominent members have held positions in Jordan's government or armed forces, but three PLO diplomats are from the family, including Saeb, the US representative of the PLO Maen Rashid Areikat, and the PLO's delegate to the Ukraine Khaled Erekat.

(Saeb is also implying that he was born in Jericho, but he wasn't.)

Saeb Erekat is, once again, lying. Just as we caught him lying many, many times before.

And after all these years of documented lies, no one in the media has had the guts to confront him. Because, you see, he may be a liar, but he is a moderate liar, and therefore deserves everyone's uncritical support.

And why should Israel have a problem signing a peace agreement with liars?

UPDATE: Erekat actually said "I am the proud son of the Canaanites who were there 5,500 years before Joshua bin Nun burned down the town of Jericho."

Antisemitic "Khaybar" miniseries to be distributed to more Arab channels

An actor in last Ramadan's antisemitic "Khaybar" miniseries says that it is being distributed to many more Arab satellite channels in coming months.

Helmy Fouda said it is important for people to watch the series because it helps them understand how conspiratorial Jews are and helps viewers know how to think about Jews.

Although the miniseries did not do well in the ratings, it won an award for Best Historical Film and he hopes that it will attract many more viewers.

When it first aired, I was involved in creating and delivering a petition for Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to condemn a clear example of antisemitic incitement.

Although they claim to be against antisemitism, both of them refused to acknowledge the petition, and to this day they have never said a word against Arab antisemitism.

02/01 Links: "Pro-Palestinians” Vs. Real Palestinians; Philly City condemns academic boycott

From Ian:

“Pro-Palestinians” Versus Real Palestinians

Birnbaum [SodaStream CEO] is concerned about real live Palestinians whose families need to eat. That’s a concern noticeably absent among the usual “pro-Palestinian” types, who couldn’t care less about ordinary Palestinians’ welfare unless it happens to serve their primary goal of attacking Israel: See, for instance, the shocking indifference by “pro-Palestinian” groups to the literal starvation of Palestinians in Syria (since Israel can’t be blamed for it), or the Dutch and German governments’ efforts to halt sewage treatment and landfill projects that would primarily benefit Palestinians because Jewish settlers would also benefit. But it’s a concern ardently shared by ordinary Palestinians themselves, as a 2010 poll showed: By an overwhelming majority of 60 percent to 38 percent, Palestinians opposed the idea that they themselves should refuse to work in the settlements. Real Palestinians care about feeding their families, and they don’t want to be barred from jobs that enable them to do so.

Philadelphia City Council condemns anti-Israel academic boycott

A Resolution passed yesterday by the Philadelphia City Council is a good reflection of how deeply the pushback against the American Studies Association academic boycott of Israel has reached in American civil and political society.

Condemning the American Studies Association’s academic boycott against Israeli academic institutions and urging the Department of Education, the State System of Higher Education and all colleges and universities in Pennsylvania to reject the academic boycott.
This is not the first time the City Council has weighed in on the boycott of Israel. It did so in 1965 as well

Stand With Us: Thank You to Scarlett Johansson for Standing up to Bigotry!

Please write a quick thank you note to Scarlett Johansson.
The boycott movement against Israel (BDS) has failed to place pressure on Scarlett to boycott Israeli goods. She will be on during half time, for the Sodastream commercial.
Read the StandWithUs statement here, issued yesterday (1/30/14).
The Creative Community for Peace (CCFP) has been in touch with Scarlett's representatives and CCFP is telling us that Scarlett would like to hear from us!

I've been keeping a tally of articles about Arab SodaStream workers, and two more have appeared.

Both of them again find that the workers are happy and against any boycott, utterly demolishing the lies of Electronic Intifada and Reuters' Noah Browning.

From The Telegraph:

“We have no problems working here”, said one Palestinian employee, as others nodded in agreement. “The relations with the others are good, the pay is fine. But the way home is sometimes very long”.

One outside contractor who regularly visited the plant added: “It’s rare to see a company like this. Everyone sits together, works together. If you ask me, there should be a thousand SodaStreams in this area.”

Several of the SodaStream employees interviewed point to the schism between politics and their everyday lives in terms of relations between Israelis and Palestinians.
“It’s only segregated at the top level, between the Israeli and the Palestinian governments”, says an Arab cook from East Jerusalem working at the SodaStream canteen.

“The politicians, they make all kinds of a mess between Jews and Arabs. But the people here, the Palestinians and Israelis, they are working together, they talk to each other, there’s no problem. But at the political level, there are many issues.”

A Palestinian worker from East Jerusalem is waiting at the bus stop, talking into his mobile phone. “I like working here. The relations between people are good, what can I say?”

From Gawker:

In a Huffington Post blog post last week defending her association with SodaStream, Johansson said she's "proud of the...quality of their product and work environment," and said the factory places Israelis and Palestinians together side-by-side in cooperation. That frankly sounds too kumbaya to be true, but a similar sentiment was actually volunteered without prompting by the Palestinian workers here.

"Hell yeah, I'm happy. We're like family. We have fun,'' said Mohammed Yousef, 22, from the Palestinian village of Jaba. "We are Jews and Muslims here. We are here peacefully. We have no problems. Everyone is complaining about settlements here and everywhere, but SodaStream is different.''

The workers here say they take home about $1,200 monthly–anywhere from double to triple common wages in the territories. The company also provides pensions and some medical insurance.

Truth be told, the SodaStream workers and local Palestinians were downright peeved when asked about the efforts of solidarity activists and their own government to boycott SodaStream. That could cost the hundreds of Palestinians wage earners salaries that are significantly higher than what they would make at home.

"Prostitutes are better than politics. Politics doesn't bring me bread,'' said one 34-year-old packaging worker who declined to give his name. "Leave me alone with the Palestinian state. If they close the plant, where will I go?''

Siam, who eventually checked out the Johansson commercial on YouTube, told me he liked it, especially the dig at Coke and Pepsi. "That was so cool.'' That said, Siam said he understood the objections of the pro-Palesitnian activists who denounced his company's ambassador.

"I talk a lot to friends abroad. They say, 'You are an Arab. How can you work there?'" he said. "Nobody knows there are 1,000 people and their lives will be turned upside down by the [boycott]. You are killing them, so stop it.''

Right now, 6 independent news articles find SodaStream workers are satisfied with their jobs and how they are treated, with only two disagreeing - and those two happen to have been written by those with known extreme anti-Israel bias, Electronic Intifada and Reuters' Noah Browning. It is more and more obvious that those two cherry picked interviews to agree with their biases.

(By the way, if you want to have an idea of how "unbiased" Browning is, his Twitter handle is "@SheikhNB". Can you imagine a wire service reporter with the handle @RabbiX ever being taken seriously?)

(h/t Josh K and Gidon Shaviv)

UPDATE: One more. Score is 7-2.

"Those who seek to help the Palestinians end up hurting us," said Nabil Bashrat, 40, resident of Ramallah who works at the factory.

"(The factory) provides income to hundreds of families, entire villages. Peace is what happens here inside, and not outside. Those who are abroad don't understand the relations and actually sabotage the process. The factory draws us closer. Even in times of instability, as was during the war in Gaza, everything was as usual here."

UPDATE 2: 8-2.

“I’ve been working for a long time alongside the Jews and Palestinians,” one department manager, a Palestinian, tells me. “Everyone does everything together, we eat together, we come to work together. Everyone is treated equally, there’s no difference. I see it as a small contribution [to peace].” Should foreign companies operate factories in the West Bank? I ask. “Yes, of course,” he says. “There’s valuable opportunities here because the Palestinian Authority can’t create enough jobs.”

01/31 Links Pt2: SodaStream plans to bring Johansson to Israel; Barghouti’s blood libel

From Ian:

Why you should be proud Zionists

Zionism’s astounding success in building a stable democracy makes it a symbol for democracy, not only in the Middle East, but all around the world.
What do you oppose when opposing Zionism? There are many more values for which Zionism serves as an ambassador. However, these small examples can help give a clear message: Those who support the BDS movement and oppose Zionism should know that when opposing Zionism, they are in fact opposing the principles of justice, freedom and democracy.
Their fight against Israel’s right to exist is a fight for a world without these great values.
Those of us who believe in these values should join together and defend Israel against this new strategic threat.

Academic extremism threatens democratic values

It is the obligation of all academics everywhere to recognize and challenge claims that have no basis in fact or logic. Instead of ignoring historical revisionism or common sense gone awry, they should respond vocally and forcefully. Not only can offensive speech and conduct be constitutionally confronted and condemned, but responsible administrators, faculty and students have a moral imperative to do so.
Meanwhile, we must continue to confront those seeking to draw a distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.
As Martin Luther King famously wrote: "What is anti-Zionist? It is the denial to the Jewish people of a fundamental right that we justly claim for the people of Africa and freely accord all other nations of the globe. It is discrimination against the Jews … because they are Jews. In short, it is anti-Semitism. The times have made it unpopular in the west to proclaim openly a hatred of the Jews. This being the case, the anti-Semite must constantly seek new form and forums for his poison. How he must revel in the new masquerade. He does not hate the Jews, he is just 'anti-Zionist!'"

Barghouti’s blood libel

Indeed, it is favorite trope of the Arabs and their supporters to say that Israel deliberately targets civilians and especially children, although careful research based on mortality data [2002] shows that the exact opposite is true.
The lie that Israel targets children is a specialty of anti-Israel ‘journalists’ like Gideon Levy and Amira Hass of Ha’aretz and anti-Zionists like Alison Weir. It has particular resonance in the West, whose emotional buttons it pushes.
But like most of what comes from the mouths and keyboards of Barghouti, Levy, Hass and Weir, it is a vicious lie. (h/t Bob Knot)

Tweets and administrivia

Sometimes I tweet things that people like, but I don't blog them. Which makes me feel guilty.

Yesterday, I saw posted on CUWI Facebook page an old, great cartoon that I cleaned up and tweeted - and it quickly became very popular:

My SodaStream poster, which The Forward mentioned was going viral, made it to the UK:

My #SodaStream poster makes it to the UK http://t.co/GsBAKOvJ0V pic.twitter.com/iFtj3ayfn3
— ElderOfZiyon (@elderofziyon) January 29, 2014

The Forward said it was inaccurate, and I answer them in the update to that post.

Today, I retweeted a 2011 post of mine that is relevant again, as the BDSers keep saying that "Palestinian civil society" overwhelmingly supports BDS. It turns out that "Palestinian civil society" doesn't representvery many Palestinians at all.

Yesterday I tweeted this:

Scarlett Johansson's #SodaStream commercial already has 5 million YouTube views: http://t.co/Lwewcavzxg BDSers heads explode
— ElderOfZiyon (@elderofziyon) January 30, 2014

Well, now it has about 7 million and counting, much more than the previous SodaStream commercial that was censored in the 2012 Super Bowl.

Meanwhile, the most popular post of mine for past several weeks has not been a recent one, but my "Apartheid?" poster page. Over 1000 hits yesterday alone! I haven't been publicizing them yet this year.

Apparently, a lot of people are preparing for this year's "Apartheid Weeks" on college campuses and they are finding my posters through search engines. It is by far my most popular post ever, with about 50,000 views on this blog alone, and countless others via emails and from people who are taking the posters (often taking off my name!) and posting them to Facebook.

Partially as a result of that (plus a couple of very popular articles this month, not to mention the online Hasby Awards) this is the biggest month for EoZ since Operation Pillar of Defense.

Shabbat Shalom!

01/31 Links Pt1: Kerry, the Palestinians and the Vietnam model; Fatah honors 2 suicide terrorists

From Ian:

Kerry, the Palestinians and the Vietnam model

After Yasser Arafat took over the PLO’s leadership in 1969, he went to North Vietnam to study the strategy and tactics of guerrilla warfare waged by Ho Chi Minh. This is also when the PLO started translating the writings of North Vietnam’s General Nguyen Giap into Arabic. Arafat was particularly impressed by Ho Chi Minh’s success in mobilizing sympathizers in Europe and in the United States. Giap explained to Arafat that in order to succeed, he, too, had to conceal his real goal and should use the right vocabulary: “Stop talking about annihilating Israel and instead turn your terror war into a struggle for human rights,” Giap told Arafat. “Then you will have the American people eating out of your hand.”
What Giap taught Arafat is that, in asymmetric struggles, the militarily weaker side can win thanks to what became an integral part of warfare in the 20th century: the media. Ultimately, Vietnam defeated both France and the United States because Giap knew how to brilliantly manipulate the media in order to convince the French and the Americans that they were sacrificing their sons for an unjust and hopeless war. This is how Giap summarized his strategy: “In 1968 I realized that I could not defeat 500,000 American troops who were deployed in Vietnam. I could not defeat the 7th Fleet, with its hundreds of aircraft, but I could bring pictures home to the Americans which would cause them to want to stop the war.” It worked.

Caoline Glick: Trying to scare Israel

Kerry is waiting for Netanyahu to agree to his framework. Until he does, Kerry, his allies and agents will escalate their threats and subversion.
So far, Netanyahu, Bennett and Ya’alon have competently exposed the lies behind the threats.
And they must continue on this course.
As we learned from Oslo and Gaza, nothing good comes from surrendering our rights and our land. And with Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem hanging in the balance, the stakes have never been higher.

American Framework 'A Step in the Right Direction'

Chairman of the Committee for Jewish Refugees from Arab Lands, MK Shimon Ohayon (Yisrael Beytenu), welcomed one issue addressed in the American framework presented by US envoy Martin Indyk. The framework includes a clause granting compensation for the refugees - something Ohayon and other advocates have been waiting for.
"The issue of Jews expelled from Arab lands was never brought to the table [until now] and has been neglected for many years," Ohayon explained to Arutz Sheva Friday. "This is a historical injustice that needs to be fixed."
"I don't know what the agreement says, but I welcome anything that pays attention to the Jewish refugee issue, of course," Ohayon added.

Special Achievement Hasby Award for outstanding grassroots activism

This is a Special Achievement Hasby Award, given outside the normal nominations process, since I didn't have a category for this - and I should have.

The Special Achievement Hasby Award for grassroots activism goes to....

Arab SodaStream workers say they are against BDS

From the Christian Science Monitor:

[T]hose most familiar with the factory – Palestinians who work there – largely side with Ms. Johansson.

“Before boycotting, they should think of the workers who are going to suffer,” says a young man shivering in the pre-dawn darkness in Azzariah, a West Bank town cut off from work opportunities in Jerusalem by the concrete Israeli separation wall. Previously, he earned 20 shekels ($6) a day plucking and cleaning chickens; now he makes nearly 10 times that at SodaStream, which also provides transportation, breakfast, and lunch.

As a few dozen men in hoodies and work coats trickle out of the alleys to the makeshift bus stop where they wait for their ride to the factory, another adds, “If SodaStream closes, we would be sitting in the streets doing nothing.”

Speaking anonymously on a largely deserted street, with no Israeli SodaStream employees present, all but one of those interviewed said they opposed the boycott, given the lack of alternative job opportunities in the West Bank. That underscores Israeli claims that a boycott would be counterproductive, undermining the cooperation and prosperity that could boost peace prospects in the region.

Omar Jibarat of Azzariah, the father of a newborn, is one of those who works in Israel, leaving home well before 6 a.m. for a construction job in Tel Aviv. Though he makes good money, he spends four hours in transit every day and would rather work at the SodaStream factory 15 minutes away.

“I would love to work for SodaStream. They’re quite privileged. People look up to them,” Mr. Jibarat says. “It’s not the people who want to boycott, it’s the officials.”

That’s a common refrain among the SodaStream workers who show up after Jibarat catches his ride.

Leaning up against the cement half-walls of the bus stop, jackets pulled up over their cold hands and faces and cigarette butts glowing in the dark, they blame the PA for failing to create jobs while taking a political stand against Israeli business that do.

“The PA can say anything it wants and no one will listen because it’s not providing an alternative,” says one man, a 2006 political science graduate of Al Quds University bundled in a jacket bearing the SodaStream logo. As for reports that the company doesn’t honor labor rights, that’s “propaganda,” he says. “Daniel [Birnbaum, the CEO of SodaStream,] is a peacemaker.”

The writer did find one disgruntled employee, bolstering my thesis of the interview bias employed by Reuters' Noah Browning and Electronic Intifada's "reporter" who found possibly that same disgruntled employee (his statement sounds a lot like what EI's employee said):

One of the workers waiting for the SodaStream bus this morning says he hates the fact that he’s working in an Israeli settlement, and lies to people when they inquire about his work.

“I’m ashamed I’m working there,” he says. “I feel this is our land, there should be no [Israeli] factory on this land.”

He feels like a “slave,” working 12 hours a day assembling parts – drilling in 12,000 screws a day, he adds.

The Christian Science Monitor is hardly pro-settlement, and plenty of the article explains the viewpoint of the Israel-haters, which gives this account far more credibility.

My update to my previous post about this showed that NPR also found employees at the plant were happy. Which means that JTA, NPR, CSM and The Forward all agree that workers at SodaStream are happy, and the only ones who disagree are Reuters' Noah Browning and EI - both of which have records of, frankly, lying.

Again we see the difference between how real journalists work and how dishonest, advocacy "journalists" work. Electronic Intifada and Reuters' Noah Browning should not be trusted as being honest about anything in the Middle East.

(h/t Benny)

Israel returning bodies of suicide bombers to its "peace partner" (updated)

Over the past few days, Israel has been returning the remains of terrorists, including suicide bombers, to their Arab families.

Here's how Ma'an reported the latest announcement:

Israeli authorities will return next Sunday the remains of a young Palestinian woman held in a “numbered graves” cemetery for twelve years, Palestinian officials said Wednesday.

A committee tasked with retrieving “martyrs’ bodies” confirmed Wednesday that remains of Ayat Muhammad Lutfi al-Akhras from Duheisha refugee camp near Bethlehem will be delivered to her family at Tarqumia checkpoint to the southwest of Hebron on Sunday evening.

Six bodies have been returned recently out of 36 Israel pledged it would return.

According to the committee, freeing al-Akhras’ body brings the overall number of dead Palestinians retrieved from Israel to 100. On the other hand, remains of 281 Palestinians killed in confrontations with the Israeli forces are still held in “numbered graves” in Israel, the committee believes.

In addition, 65 others are considered missing.

Al-Akhras was killed on March 29, 2002 after she detonated an explosive belt in west Jerusalem killing two Israelis. She was 18 years old.

Why is Israel returning the bodies?

It appears that an Israeli "human rights" organization took the case to the Supreme Court - and won:

Salim Khillah, a spokesman for a committee to retrieve Palestinian remains from Israeli custody, told Ma'an on Jan. 17 that Israeli authorities had decided to return the remains of 36 Palestinians held in Israeli "numbered graves."

Khallah said Israel had agreed to return the remains as a gesture to encourage the PLO to continue with peace negotiations.

But a spokesman for an Israeli human rights group told Ma'an Thursday that the delivery of the remains was the result of a Supreme Court decision.

A spokesman for HaMoked said that the decision came in response to the organization's demands for the release of the remains of every Palestinian currently held in Israel's custody.

Reuters also says that this was a Supreme Court decision. However, commenter Yenta Press points out that there has been no such decision. Apparently, the Israeli government just decided to give the bodies back, and it is unclear if they received anything in return.

This is not how things are done in the Middle East.

Dead people don't have human rights, so presumably HaMoked sued to return the bodies to help eliminate the anguish of the relatives of the terrorists. This way they can get the honor and glory for the terror acts all over again, as is traditional.

The human rights of the relatives of the Israelis blown up by terrorists, who have to relive the attacks, don't seem to be on HaMoked's radar.

(UPDATE: Blue text.)