Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Video of Arafat accepting Israel as a Jewish state

Last month I mentioned Haaretz had an interview of Arafat where he accepted Israel as a Jewish state.

It turns out that Arafat said it on video as well. In English.

)

Unfortunately I don't know when or where this was taken, but combined with the Haaretz report, it is undeniable.

So who will be the one to ask Abbas about this?

(h/t IPT via MargieinTelAviv)

Terror rocket update: Iran's fingerprints, Hamas' ambivalence, Fatah's support, video of rockets shot from populated areas

Where is Islamic Jihad's leader while his group is shooting scores of rockets to Israel?

Iran.

Ramadan Shallah was already in Iran discussing ways to strengthen Islamic Jihad's ties with the regime. Interestingly, there were reports before this escalation that Hamas leader Khaled Meshal was snubbed in his attempt to meet Iranian leaders while Shallah was already there and being feted. (The article was in the anti-Hamas Palestine Press Agency, and I cannot find it today.)

From all indications, IDF responses to the rocket attacks have been aimed exclusively at Islamic Jihad, not at Hamas targets. Even so, Hamas leaders have abandoned their headquarters.

But what is remarkable is Hamas' ambivalent response to the Israeli attacks.In Palestine Times, one of their media outlets, they do a "survey" of Gazans' reactions to the Islamic Jihad rocket barrage, and they find that some people think that a military response at this time is unwise! Moreover, at the Qassam Brigades website, a Hamas MP is quoted as saying that a "limited resistance does not mean weakness."

In the past, Hamas and Islamic Jihad worked hard to paper over their differences and when one decided to shoot rockets at Israel the other would join in. This is the first time I have seen such a large split between the two, although no one has started insulting the other one yet. It is also the first time I have ever seen Hamas publicly speaking against "resistance" while Israel is targeting sites in Gaza.

It is clear that Iran is fomenting this split, trying to increase Islamic Jihad's importance in Gaza at the expense of Hamas. It also proves that even those (like the EU) who pretend that Hamas will ever unite with Fatah don't have a plan for how to handle other terror groups in Gaza dedicated to destroying Israel, especially state-backed terror groups like Islamic Jihad.

Three other groups have decided to join with Islamic Jihad, including Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah. The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades announced that they shot 8 rockets towards Israel, and they were joined by the National Resistance Brigades of the DFLP and the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades. Fatah's joining shows yet again that Fatah is not the "moderate" party that Westerners pretend it is. For years, Abbas has refused to dismantle that group, and yet clueless Wetsern diplomats still consider Abbas a moderate.

Finally, all those people who pretend to care about "international law" when discussing Israel never seem to want to apply that standard to Israel's sworn enemies.

Which shows that they never cared about international law to begin with.

Transcript of David Cameron's speech in the Knesset

Here is the transcript for the speech that David Cameron, UK Prime Minister, gave in the Knesset on Wednesday.

So far I haven't been able to locate a full video, but here is a small part:

Shalom le-kulam [Hello everyone]

Mr President, Prime Minister, Mr Speaker, Members of the Knesset, ladies and gentlemen. It is a great honour to address this historic Parliament – for sixty-five years the heart of the State of Israel and a beacon of democracy to the region – and to the world.

When I was last here in Jerusalem, I came as Leader of the Opposition and I remember being quite bemused as I sat listening to Israeli politicians telling me all about the challenges of coalition politics. They told me about building a coalition, keeping it together, balancing the demands of different parties, sorting out the disputes and I just didn’t understand this strange system of government. But after nearly four years as Prime Minister of my own coalition all I can say is: ach-shav ani mevin [now I get it].

What I have always understood is the extraordinary journey of the Jewish people. Thousands of years of history in this holy land. Thousands of years of persecution. And even today, some people despicably questioning your right to exist. My Jewish ancestry is relatively limited but I do feel just some sense of connection. From the lexicon of my great, great grandfather Emile Levita, a Jewish man who came from Germany to Britain 150 years ago to the story of my forefather Elijah Levita who wrote what is thought to have been the first ever Yiddish novel.

But more importantly I have learnt to understand something of Jewish values and character and I have grown to appreciate the extraordinary contribution of the Jewish people to my country and to the world. That sense of understanding has shaped my determination to remember the past, my commitment to Israel in the present and my hopes for Israel’s future.

And I would like to say something about each of these today.

First, remembering the past.

03/12 Links Pt2: The Perils of Parachute journalism in the Middle East; Israel’s Super Cows

From Ian:

Why Shouldn’t We Defund the Boycotters?

Defunding those who aid boycotts is both legal and morally correct.
Both the federal government and states routinely put all sorts of conditions on any entity that takes their money. Some of those terms involve bureaucratic or legal obligations. But some are rooted in the basic concept that the state is under no obligation to fund activities that are immoral or discriminatory. Aiding BDS groups and those, like the ASA, who put endorse and actively support Israel boycotts, fall into that latter category. Simply put, it is outrageous for schools or any institution to expect the taxpayers to stand by and let them use their hard-earned dollars to support activities that are inherently discriminatory.

At the heart of this question is some confusion about the nature of the BDS movement. Reasonable people can differ on many issues including many of the elements of the Middle East conflict including borders, settlements and refugees. But the question of whether the one Jewish state in the world should be singled out for discriminatory treatment and marked for extinction is not just one more academic debate. It’s a matter of life and death as well as whether Jew-hatred should be treated as a matter of opinion. (h/t Norman F)

Parachute journalism leads to poor Middle Eastern reporting

Kalman’s primary point of discussion, and his main complaint with the world of journalism, is a phenomenon that Kalman refers to as “Parachute Journalism.” Parachute journalism is an unspoken practice among journalists, in which they enter a Middle Eastern country, report on information that they know little about, take pictures of what appear to be war-torn locations with people who appear to be terrorists and then hop on a plane back to their homes, having reported inaccurately and with a sensationalized edge.
He prefaced this definition with an illustration of the news media in 2010 around the time that the “Arab Spring” began.
“If you go back to the newspapers, media, social media, video, web, etc.., in 2010, you’ll find thousands of words of analysts and commentators and people predicting and explaining what as going to happen in the Middle East in the next years,” Kalman said. “And go back to 2010 and see how many that actually correctly predicted the Arab spring. The answer is zero; nobody saw it coming at all.”

FDR to Stalin: “I Would Give Saudi King 6 Million Jews”

The mystery deepened two days later, when the Washington Post published an editorial criticizing the deletions as “pernicious” and an attempt to “doctor history.” It noted that among the deletions were “some remarks by President Roosevelt about the Jews,” although it did not spell them out. “In historical perspective, President Roosevelt will have to be judged as a whole man, indiscretions and all,” the Post argued.
Three days later, the text of FDR’s censored statement was published, by U.S. News and World Report. It reported that when Roosevelt mentioned he would soon be seeing Saudi Arabian leader Ibn Saud, Stalin asked if he intended to make any concessions to the king; “The President replied that there was only one concession he thought he might offer and that was to give him the six million Jews in the United States.”

Cruise line drops Tunisia for refusing to let in Israelis

Norwegian Cruise Lines dropped Tunisia from its itineraries after the country refused to allow Israeli citizens to disembark in the Port of Tunis.
About 20 Israelis were quietly told before disembarking from the Norwegian Jade over the weekend that they were not welcome per the Tunisian government.
The cruise line’s decision to drop Tunisia was first reported by Cruise Critic, an online cruise information site.
“We want to send a strong message to Tunisia and ports around the world that we will not tolerate such random acts of discrimination against our guests,” Kevin Sheehan, Norwegian Cruise Line’s CEO, said in a statement Tuesday. (h/t billposer)

Man shot dead at Gaza wedding

From PCHR:

At approximately 14:00 on Thursday, 06 March 2014, Mos’aad Mousa Abu Samrah (22) from Deir al-Balah was shot in the neck when an armed person fired in celebration of one of his relatives’ wedding party. The injured was immediately taken to al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah to receive medical treatment. He was then transferred to Shifa hospital in Gaza City because of the seriousness of his injury. However, medical sources at the hospital declared his death an hour after his arrival at the hospital.

PCHR strongly condemns the killing of Abu Samrah as a result of the use of weapons in special occasions and parties, which is part of the state of misuse of weapons and attack on the rule of law plaguing the OPT. PCHR also demands the government in Gaza to take necessary measures to ensure the non-recurrence of such incidents.

Hey, shooting weapons wildly at a public event is a human right. I think there is a UN resolution supporting it. How dare anyone criticize a crucial part of Palestinian Arab culture and history?

PCHR is obviously Zionist.

Islamic Jihad pretends Manhattan explosion is from their rockets

Islamic Jihad's Palestine Today website is covering the rocket barrage being sent by that group to Israel. Of course, they are monitoring Israeli TV and websites to grab photos of any damage their rockets are causing.

Naturally, they have lots of photos like this:

But some of their photos show what looks like much greater damage:

Does that look like Sderot or Ashkelon to you?

No, it's Harlem, where there was a massive explosion today.

Terror inflation!

By the way, guess what Islamic Jihad is calling this operation, which as of this writing they claim includes some 130 rockets and mortars?

"Operation Breaking the Silence."

In other Gaza terror news, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades - a subsidiary of Fatah - took credit for 4 of the rockets fired today from Gaza, at 6:20 PM. In their communique, they called the Zionists "sons of apes and pigs," by which they of course are referring to Jews.

The leader of Fatah is, of course, Mahmoud Abbas.

(h/t Yenta P)

The shortlist of candidates to become Abbas' vice president

Al Quds al Arabi (via PalToday) reports that the Fatah Revolutionary Committee will decide on a vice president for Mahmoud Abbas by the end of its current session.

According to the article, here is the shortlist of candidates:

Saeb Erekat, serial liar and spinner of bizarre tales
Jibril Rajoub, who openly says Fatah still embraces violence
Mohammed Shtayyeh, who makes it very clear that Israel should be destroyed
Nasser Al-Kidwa, former "foreign minister" who couldn't control his own ambassadors and Arafat's nephew obsessed with proving he was poisoned by Israel
Nabil Abu Rdainah, who said during the Oslo process ""If [Palestinians] do not regain their full rights and an independent state, we will not let any one in the region live in peace and security"
Marwan Barghouti, convicted murderer and terrorist leader, still in prison.

Of course, whoever is chosen will become the heir apparent for Mahmoud Abbas.

Notice that the prime ministers who have been carefully chosen to appeal to the West, Salam Fayyad and Rami Hamdallah, who have no terror connections, are not even being considered. The reason is that they are not Fatah members.

And Fatah is still today a terrorist group with a "military wing," just like Hamas. In fact, just today the Fatah terror group Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades announced that "armed resistance" remains an option "until the liberation of the whole of Palestine." You don't have to think too hard about what they mean when they say that. But never has Abbas or any other Fatah leader distanced themselves from anything the Brigades say.

This tells you all you need to know about the Palestinian Arab leaders' "moderation."

And their method to choose the next president tells you all you need to know about their interest in democracy.

03/12 Links Pt1: The Apartheid Canard; Iran ‘Our hands are on the trigger’ to destroy Israel

From Ian:

Obama, Tibi and the Apartheid Canard

Then there are all the other Arabs in prominent positions – college presidents, hospital directors, ambassadors, army officers, Supreme Court justices and more. The Elder of Ziyon blog has a must-see poster collection featuring these and many other examples that are the very antithesis of apartheid. But hey, who you gonna believe: Haaretz’s Gideon Levy or your lying eyes?
Indeed, on the issue that seems to concern Obama most – freedom of movement, which he highlighted in the rhetorical question immediately preceding the one on Arab Israelis – Arab citizens and permanent residents arguably have greater rights than Israeli Jews: For instance, they can freely visit the Temple Mount, which Israeli Jews can’t; they can also visit the Palestinian Authority, which Israeli law bars Jews from doing. In fact, their freedom of movement is precisely why terrorist organizations consider them prize recruits. It’s a sad day when Palestinian terrorists have a better grasp of Israel’s true nature than the U.S. president.
Obama, of course, is just a symptom of a much larger problem: Too many Western liberals willfully close their eyes to the truth when it comes to Israel, preferring to parrot the current bon ton. But for an administration that explicitly pledged to pursue “evidence-based policy,” a little more attention to the evidence on Israel would be a nice place to start.

The Questions No One Asks

The Palestinians aspire to control all the holy sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, not only those holy to Islam, but those holy to Christianity and Judaism as well.
They understand that [in a peace agreement] they would have to declare the end of the conflict. That is not a situation the Palestinians are ripe for yet.
The next Palestinian leader will simply say that any agreement was Abbas's, not his, and does not commit them or the Palestinian people. Both Palestinian society and public policy are based on the rejection of peace with Israel, and the Palestinian street is bombarded daily with propaganda from the Palestinian establishment advocating war, the return of refugees and the destruction of Israel.

Behind The Lines: Kurdistan emerges

Aydar also made some fascinating and far-reaching comments about Israel and its place in the region. His tone was one common among Kurds, yet probably without parallel elsewhere in the region.
“There is an Islamic approach toward Israel in the Middle East,” he said. “Before that, there was a leftist point of view. But both of these were based on Arab nationalism. This view was saying that Israel has no place in the Middle East, and Jews have no rights in the Middle East.
“The other nations in the Middle East – Arabs, Turks, Iranians, Kurds – have to accept the existence of Israel in the Mideast. They have to recognize that these people are from the region, and are indigenous people of the region. And whatever rights Arabs have, Israel also has. This nation has the right to live on its own soil.”
Aydar went on to call for “breaking the walls between Kurds and Israelis, and getting to know each other. If we can continue our friendship, both sides will benefit from it. The region needs the Israeli experience.

Abbas stuns Arab and Jewish audiences

(Another Purim post.)

PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas stunned the Fatah Revolutionary Council on Wednesday, telling the group that he is against armed resistance and has no intention to enforce the "right of return." He also said that he is willing to share access to Jerusalem's holy sites with the Jews and that he is against any sort of boycott of Israel. Furthermore, he hinted that he might be able to accept a compromise formula on accepting Israel as a Jewish state.

As his audience gaped at him in horror, the leader strode briskly out of the room saying that he had another important meeting to attend.

But when he arrived in the Ramallah hotel where Israeli liberals eagerly gathered to hear his words, Abbas struck a more hostile tone. He shouted that "Palestinian martyrs" were the heroes of his people and that Jerusalem has always been an Islamic city since the time of the Muslim King Solomon. He said that the Mufti of Jerusalem in the 1920s and 1930s was a shining example for all Palestinian Arabs and that the Holocaust that he helped engineer was exaggerated.

Abbas then went on to describe his meeting a few years back with Samir Kuntar, the child killer who now lives in Lebanon, and how warm a man he is. He then said that he won't rest until every Palestinian Arab goes back to their homes in Israel and that he would never, under any circumstances, accept Israel as a Jewish state. Abu Mazen, as he is known to Palestinians, then went on to say that Jews have no rights to live anywhere in Palestine except as second-class citizens under benevolent Muslim rule.

The audience became more uncomfortable as Mahmoud Abbas started to speak about his admiration of famous terrorist Dalal Mughrabi and how the Jewish Temples were a myth. However, Gideon Levy, covering the event for Haaretz, couldn't stop himself from cheering throughout the speech, often shouting "You GO, Mahmoud!"

Twenty minutes into his speech, the 79-year old Abbas looked up from his prepared text and paused. He slowly took off his glasses, cleaned them, put them back on, peered around the room and turned slightly pale. The PLO leader then quietly folded up the paper he was reading from, retrieved a different sheet of paper from another pocket, and then read the words that he had spoken earlier in the day at the Fatah Revolutionary Council meeting.

When Abbas was done talking about his love for peace and compromise, the Israeli liberals broke out in wild applause, giving him a standing ovation for his wisdom and moderation.

Gaza rockets still being shot, but most are landing in Gaza

JPost reports:

A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip exploded in an open area in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council on Tuesday night.

The projectile triggered a Color Red rocket alert across the area, before falling in an uninhabited area. It failed to cause injuries or damages.

Yes, even though they don't make news unless they cause damage or deaths, they are still being fired.

The latest Gaza NGO Safety Office report, covering the period from February 20-March 5, shows that (beside test firings) Gazans fired seven rockets towards Israel in that timeframe.

However, out of those seven, six of them landed in Gaza!

That is an astonishing 83% failure rate for rockets, by far the worst I have ever seen. Normally it is in the 30-40% range.

Together with the "work accidents" that we have been seeing, it can mean a few things:

1) All a coincidence.
2) More amateurs are trying to get involved in terrorism.
3) Raw materials for explosives and rockets are becoming mysteriously unstable.

It shouldn't be too hard to start a rumor that someone sabotaged the bomb-making materials in Gaza. Could be fun!

UPDATE: Over 60 rockets today did make it to Israel.

Northeastern U suspends anti-Israel group

From Max Blumenthal, writing in one of the few media outlets that still bother to publish him, Mondoweiss:

On March 7, members of Northeastern University’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) were informed by the school’s Center for Student Involvement that their chapter had been suspended for at least a year.

In a letter sent to the SJP chapter and provided to me by Max Geller, a second year Northeastern University School of Law student who actively campaigns with SJP, the school’s Director of the Center for Student Involvement, Jason Campbell-Foster, offered a litany of charges against the students. At the top of the list was the SJP’s February 24 distribution of notices across Northeastern campuses that mocked the sort of eviction notices slapped on Palestinian homes slated for Israeli demolition – an awareness-raising tactic increasing in popularity among SJP chapters nationwide.

“You have not shown a concerted effort to improve your practices and educate your members on how to properly operate your organization within the boundaries of university policy,” Northeastern’s Campbell-Foster wrote.

According to Campbell-Foster’s letter, all current members of Northeastern SJP’s current executive board are permanently banned from serving on any future board in the organization. Further, SJP members must undergo a strict regimen of trainings led by university administrators as a condition for reinstatement.

On the morning of February 25, two days after Northeastern SJP members distributed mock eviction notices throughout campus dormitories, all Northeastern students received an email from Robert Jose, Northeastern’s Associate Dean for Cultural and Residential Life. “We do not condone any behavior that causes members of our community to feel targeted and/or intimidated,” Jose wrote.

Jose urged students to express “how this has impacted [them]” by contacting school administrators and the Hillel House of Northeastern, an explicitly pro-Israel Jewish communal organization committed to countering SJP-related activism.

A letter that appeared almost simultaneously on Northeastern’s Hillel’s website announced, “Rather than seeking to prompt dialogue, the fake eviction notices alarmed and intimidated students in their homes, in clear violation of Northeastern policy. We are in communication with Student Affairs regarding this incident, who have been quick to respond to student concerns. The administration is working with the Northeastern University Police Department to conduct a thorough investigation.”

At 10 AM that same day, members of Northeastern SJP received phone calls and visits from campus police officers. “All of the sudden the school was accusing us of an act of criminality for simply [an] act of leafleting,” remarked Geller. “A special investigation was launched for what the university claimed was a petty handbook violation and NYPD-style tactics were used against students. It was so disproportionate to what happened and a complete misappropriation of university funds.”

Yeah, that's what is upsetting them. University funds.

The SJP Northeastern website's description of what happened is hysterical in its attempt to be treated as the victims in this incident, as they wildly spray accusations of racism and discrimination at their university:

With profound disappointment and righteous indignation Northeastern University Students for Justice in Palestine announces it has been suspended as an organization. SJP is disappointed because Northeastern’s claims of creating a diverse learning environment that encourages the free exchange of ideas and promotes Academic Freedom are impossible to reconcile with the university’s decision to suppress our speech and suspend our political group. As if banning our activities from campus and denying us all use of campus resources wasn’t outrageous enough, the university is pursuing expulsion-level sanctions for two students—all for participation in a mock eviction action. SJP is furious to report the only individuals to face our school’s opaque disciplinary process are two young women of color; none of the white or male participants have faced any charges. This unprecedented ban and appalling prosecutions are the latest attempt by the university to suppress pro-Palestine speech, and continues the university’s disturbing history of enacting injustice.

...The university claims to value academic freedom while suspending SJP, but its hypocrisy is nothing new. Consider how its actions have impacted others. Was the university fair to Roxbury residents, whose families –particularly families of color—have been displaced by student gentrification? When students from around the world are invited to gather on-campus, can they truly feel “welcomed” in the Raytheon amphitheater, named for a U.S. corporate war profiteer? Can the university claim to value all students’ health, when the student health plan explicitly discriminates against trans students? Is the university committed to just working conditions and wages, while it seeks to thwart the 800 adjunct professors who aspire to unionize? The university often promises fairness and impartiality, but its actions reflect truly disturbing values. Northeastern University consistently supports the interests of the dominant and powerful, at the expense of the marginalized—and rather than extend academic freedom to students who criticize these interests, SJP has been criminalized and censored.

Notice how they do everything possible to ignore or minimize the actual disgusting act that they did - putting out threatening leaflets, a gimmick that has already been widely denounced in other universities. Instead they try mightily to pretend that the university is a racist institution for protecting its students.

This has not been a good year for anti-Israel forces on campus. All indications are that this year's "apartheid week" events have been poorly attended and barely reported.

The haters are now on the defensive, and revealing themselves as whiny crybabies rather than serious critics of Israel. Thanks to reactions like the SJP's above, this trend will only accelerate.

It is obvious that the Palestinian Arab habits of playing the victim, blaming everything on others and refusing to take responsibility for their own actions is attractive to a tiny minority of people who would join their bandwagon rather than actually working to bring a solution. Only the most unstable student would ever consider joining a group that releases such a statement as the screed SJP-NE released.

(h/t Jaime)

Major Sephardic rabbi permits Jews ascending to Temple Mount

Rabbi Meir Mazuz, a major Sephardic leader, has issued a ruling that under certain circumstance Jews would be allowed to visit the Temple Mount.

He is the first major rabbi from outside the religious-Zionist circle that has allowed this.

The Kipa website quotes that he answered a question about the issue last week, saying that it is allowed halachically, although there are practical issues with knowing the exact parts of the Mount that one is allowed to visit, and one needs expert advice on the matter.

He also said that Jews should not bow down towards the site of the Holy of Holies when on the Mount because it would appear as if they are bowing to the mosque at the Dome of the Rock.

Mazuz was close with former chief rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who had prohibited Jews from visiting the Temple Mount.

While this story did not get very much coverage in Israel, Arabic websites are fuming with multiple stories on the topic. It was denounced by a Christian and Muslim Arab association, saying this gives permission for Jews to "storm" the site.