Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Intrafada: Hamas youths attack Ramallah police station (video)

Rock throwing, Molotov cocktails and police firing in response against civilians.

But this is after the IDF withdrew troops from Ramallah.

A Fatah spokesman blamed Hamas for instigating these riots,saying "Hamas is seeking to create chaos in the West Bank in order to pave the way for a coup."

No Jews involved, so it isn't news:

PCUSA passes resolution that includes "the map that lies"

Perhaps the most problematic resolution passed by the Presbyterian Church USA was not the divestment resolution that has received all the headlines, but this one that calls for for the church to revisit whether they support a two-state solution at all.

Part of its rationale:

B. The Two-State Solution Then and Now

[See Map 1 and Map 2 under “Additional Resources.”]

These maps clearly delineate the present status of the so-called “two-states” of Israel and Palestine. Map 1 shows the erosion of the Palestinian territory, over six decades, which was to provide for a viable state. In the panel outlining the U.N. Partition Plan in 1947, as well as the panel showing a significant loss of territory from 1949–1967, a two-state solution still appeared viable. As can be seen in the panel showing the present state of Palestine since 2005, it is hard to look at this portion of the map and think that a two-state solution can ever be achieved. It is important to remember that all the white space in what once was a contiguous West Bank (named because it is west of the Jordan River) represents land now controlled by the Israeli military. The green splotches (often referred to as Bantustans or cantons) are separated by thirty foot concrete walls, electrified and barbed wire fencing systems, and checkpoints managed by the Israeli military through which all Palestinians, as well as others (tourists, for instance), must pass to travel between Palestinian cantons or into Israel proper. Tourists pass through easily, of course, as they go to visit holy sites on the Palestinian side of the walls (Bethlehem, for instance). Palestinians do not. They are prevented from visiting friends and family in other regions, conducting business, receiving adequate medical care, pursuing an education, or even getting to their olive groves for planting and harvest. As it presently stands, the “Palestinian state” has no contiguity and the matrix of Israeli occupation prevents free movement among Palestinians.

Here is PCUSA's version of "the map that lies":

As I've discussed in much greater detail in the past, the first three maps are complete lies.

The white sections in Map 1 were privately owned Jewish land but the green portions were not Arab-owned land by any definition; most of it was state land.

Map 2 shows the UN partition plan, though of course the UN didn't refer to the green areas as "Palestinian land" but as "Arab." Either way, the Jews accepted it, the Arabs didn't, and it has no importance except for what could have been if Jews had been accepted as a nation that deserves self-determination.

Map 3 shows no "Palestinian" land since the green areas were either annexed by Jordan or taken over by Egypt. At the time, virtually no Palestinian Arabs demanded an independent state in those territories - but they did demand that Israel be destroyed, as the majority do today.

So what does it mean when a resolution is based on lies?

It means that PCUSA cares as little for the truth as they do about Jewish national rights - something that this resolution will try to undermine even further.

PCUSA considered replacing "Israel" in prayers and hymns - too inflammatory

There was another resolution that was considered by the Presbyterian Church USA that did not pass, but the comments to that resolution show that they took it very seriously:

The Presbytery of Chicago overtures the 221st General Assembly (2014) of the Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.), to

1. distinguish between the biblical terms that refer to the ancient land of Israel and the modern political State of Israel;

2. develop educational materials, with the help of our Presbyterian seminaries, for clergy, church musicians, worship leaders, and Christian educators regarding the “ancient Israel/modern Israel” distinction; and

3. inform our ecumenical partners of this action, nationally and globally—particularly within Israel and Palestine.

Rationale
This overture was prompted by the publication of the beautiful new publication of Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal, 2013, which has a section of hymns under the unfortunate heading: “God’s covenant with Israel.”

The use of the phrase “God’s covenant with Israel,” is open to interpretation by the reader/singer. Is this “biblical Israel”? Is it the “modern State of Israel”? As one Palestinian American Presbyterian who is a ruling elder said in a letter to those responsible for the publication of the new hymnal:

“Because I am a Palestinian Christian, I am uneasy with the word “Israel” in “God’s Covenant with Israel”—I am always told, however, that what is meant by “Israel” is Biblical Israel and not today’s Israel; but do all Christians know this? With the prevalence of Christian Zionism, which the G.A. repudiated in 2004, I highly doubt it. Even if not intentional, this language is inflammatory, misleading, and hurtful” (Open Letter, October 2, 2013).

One response would be to rephrase it as “God’s Covenant with Ancient Israel,” or, as Thomas Are, retired Presbyterian minister, said in a recent blog, “God’s covenant with the Poor, or even “Our Covenant with the Oppressed” [11.26.13; http://thomas-l-are.blogspot.com/2013_11_01_archive.html], but there are other examples of the problem. In Advent, we sing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel. …” Does that justify the modern political State of Israel? At the least, it is confusing and unclear. Our Christian Palestinian brothers and sisters call us to make this distinction clearly.

Mitri Raheb, pastor of Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, says: “The establishment of the State of Israel created … an intended confusion. … Huge efforts were put by the State of Israel and Jewish organizations in branding the new State of Israel as a “biblical entity” (The Invention of History: A century of interplay between theology and politics in Palestine, Mitri Raheb, editor, 2011; Diyar Consortium, pp. 18–19).

While it was rejected, the underlying theme was considered a major issue:

The Advisory Committee advises that this overture be answered with the following action:

“The 221st General Assembly (2014) instructs the Office of Theology and Worship of the Presbyterian Mission Agency to develop a short insert or sticker for publications used in congregational worship and study with wording similar in meaning to the following:

“‘Please note in using these texts that the biblical and liturgical “land of Israel” is not the same as the State of Israel established in 1948, which is a contemporary nation state. The Bible contains differing descriptions of the parameters of Israel. Promises of land generally come with obligations to God for justice to be practiced with all inhabitants. Later in Scripture, the Gospel is to be preached to ‘all nations’; in Jesus Christ all peoples are included in God’s promise. Similarly, ‘Zion’ is frequently used in the Bible as a reference to the city of Jerusalem, but in Christian tradition this does not refer primarily to a specific geographical location or political entity but to ‘the city of God’ found throughout history and to the completion of God’s purpose in the age to come. Presbyterian General Assemblies have affirmed the principle that the current physical Jerusalem be shared by Jews, Christians, and Muslims, both Palestinians and Israelis, living in peace with justice.”

“Further, the General Assembly directs that the Office of Theology and Worship and the Office of the General Assembly share the insert language with an explanatory letter encouraging its use within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and among our church partners internationally, particularly in Israel and Palestine, noting where fuller treatment of the concern may be found.”

(h/t Irene)

06/21 Links: Mother of missing teen appeals for world help; In memory of Col. Ramon

From Ian:

Mother of missing teen appeals for world help

The anguished mother of one of the missing Israeli teens believed kidnapped by Hamas on June 12 spoke to CNN Friday, appealing to the world for assistance in bringing the three home.
Rachel Frankel told the American news channel that anyone who’s listening should do anything they can to bring the teens back home. “They are boys, they should be brought back to their families,” she said.
She called on “anybody in the world that’s listening… to do anything they can to get our children back home. We just want them back in our homes.”
“Any decent person would do anything they can to get them back,” she said.

Chloé Valdary: Hashtag Diplomacy, Or: How We Learned to Stop Worrying And Love Apartheid

Usually, when a foreign government engages in corrupt, pernicious activity — like embezzling billions of dollars per month, promoting racism in its official news media outlets, teaching children that they were born superior to those different from them and denying basic civil liberties to the inhabitants they’re governing — the West responds with, at the very least, righteous indignation.
Yet, in the Middle East, the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) and Hamas, two genocidal racist regimes that preach a doctrine of Arab and Islamic supremacism to their people, are both allowed to perpetuate this same vitriolic racism without consequence. Indeed, the USA in particular has given its approval — in the form of billions of dollars and military training — to the Palestinian Authority, which just recently signed a unity deal with Hamas. This makes the two organizations one and the same.

Palestinian Authority police assault CNN reporter, cameraman during pro-Hamas rally

Members of the Palestinian Authority security services assaulted a CNN reporter and his cameraman on Friday in the West Bank town of Hebron.
Ben Wedeman, the US news network’s correspondent who covers events in Israel and the Palestinian-administered territories, said that he was accosted by PA policeman who ordered that the cameraman cease filming a pro-Hamas demonstration.
Wedeman later told CNN that he came away with “a couple of bruises and a few scratches,” though there was damage to the camera.
Hamas had organized the demonstration as a show of solidarity for Palestinian prisoners languishing in Israeli jails.
“The Palestinian Authority doesn’t like press coverage of pro-Hamas protests, since these demonstrations are always aimed against the PA,” Wedeman told CNN. (h/t MtTB)

CNN reporter roughed up during protest (h/t Yenta Press)

PCUSA passes resolution that calls on ADL to stop fighting antisemitism

The Presbyterian Church USA has passed Resolution 04-09, "Resolution on Equal Rights for All Inhabitants of Israel and Palestine and on Conversations with Prophetic Voices."

Essentially calling Jews in Israel racists, the resolution cherry picks Haaretz quotes to prove its point. One of the quotes comes from Larry Derfner writing in the Forward:

In The Jewish Daily Forward, August 2013, Larry Derfner writes on racism in Israel:

The ADL [Anti-Defamation League] goes after anti-Semitism with a fist, it goes after Israeli racism with a sigh. As a matter of fact, the ADL and the entire American Jewish establishment should suspend their campaigns against anti-Semitism indefinitely and take a look at what’s going on in Israel. http://forward.com/articles/182171/israels-everyday-racism-and-how-american-jews-tu/#ixzz2xdzNqUEV

Yup...that passed, including that section.

(h/t Will Spotts)

06/20 Links Pt2: With Iran, my enemy’s enemy is still my enemy; Israel Launches Nano-Satellite

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: As I See It: With Iran, my enemy’s enemy is still my enemy

To give Iran the edge will not produce regional stability. The more Iran is empowered, the more Saudi Arabia will fight it. The outcome will be a hugely increased likelihood of war and endemic tribal conflict engulfing the region.
In addition, both Iran and Saudi are working not just against each other but to destroy and dominate the West. As such, both should be seen as the West’s mortal enemies. The Western aim, therefore, should be to defeat or at very least box in both of them.
Iraq has turned into a catastrophe because, when the US pulled out, the Obama administration left a vacuum in which Maliki pumped up tribal conflict and paved the way for the ISIS insurgency.
Iran, the most manipulative and sophisticated geopolitical strategic player in the world, understands that Obama’s desperation to turn his back on the threats from the Islamic world has left the US weakened and exposed. Whatever its origins, the Iraq crisis offers Iran an opportunity to exploit that weakness, a threat with which the West now seems too paralyzed to deal. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

Caroline Glick: The threat is blowback

The first step the US must take to minimize the Iranian threat is to walk away from the table and renounce the talks. The next step is to take active measures to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power.
Unfortunately, the Obama administration appears prepared to do none of these things. To the contrary, its pursuit of an alliance with Iran in Iraq indicates that it is doubling down on the most dangerous aspects of its policy of empowering America’s worst enemies.
It only took the Taliban six months to move from the Bamiyan Buddhas to the World Trade Center. Al-Qaida is stronger now than ever before. And Iran is on the threshold of a nuclear arsenal.

In 2002, during Ramadan, Arab TV stations broadcast a 41-part miniseries called "Knight Without a Horse" that was based on proving that the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" is legitimate.

One of the driving forces behind it was actor/comedian Mohamed Sobhi, who starred in the series.

Today, he is telling Egyptian media how important that series was.

He told Youm7 that the success of the series "Knight Without a Horse" is not in the number of people who watched it, but in the fact that (he claims) the series caused two million Egyptian citizens to purchase copies of the book "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," to see for themselves whether Sobhi's thesis - that Jews have already succeeded in 19 of the 24 protocols, and the rest are being implemented at this very moment - is true.

Hamas digging out explosion victims - with Caterpillar equipment

Yesterday, an explosion in a Hamas bunker (or possibly a kidnapping tunnel) killed 5 terrorists and a rescue worker.

Hamas is still digging out the bodies, as this photo from Felesteen shows.

Yes, that is Caterpillar equipment that Hamas is using.

Should we call to divest from Caterpillar because a terror organization uses its equipment (and in all likelihood, used it to help build the tunnels to begin with)?

It would confuse the hell out of the hypocritical Israel-haters.

06/20 Links Pt1: Col. Kemp: Europe's and U.S. Complicity in Kidnapping and Violence

From Ian:

Col. Richard Kemp: Europe's and U.S. Complicity in Kidnapping and Violence

Just the day before the three boys were kidnapped, the EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, welcomed Hamas into the Palestinian Authority government while lambasting Israel for detaining terrorists and taking action to prevent Hamas terrorist attacks from Gaza and the West Bank. Ashton, though never slow to condemn Israel, took five days to denounce this kidnapping. Both her words and her actions have legitimized and encouraged Hamas.
Both the U.S. and the EU have paid the salaries of Palestinian terrorists by means of grants to the PA; they also fund this propaganda and incitement.
Like every government, Israel has an absolute duty to protect its citizens, and undermining this terrorist threat is an essential part of that responsibility.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Has Abbas Lost His Credibility?

Another senior Fatah official, Jibril Rajoub, who regards himself as a successor to Abbas, decided to take advantage of the anti-Abbas fervor by defending the abduction of Israeli soldiers to force Israel to release prisoners. Rajoub, in an interview with a Ramallah-based news website, said that while he was opposed to the kidnapping of civilians, he supported the abduction of soldiers "because this is the only language that Israel understands."
Rajoub's remarks are seen by Palestinians as a direct challenge to the embattled Abbas, who has repeatedly affirmed his opposition to "all forms of violence" against Israel.
Some Palestinians see Rajoub's remarks as the "first shot" in his campaign to succeed Abbas. Rajoub, a former Fatah security commander in the West Bank, knows that statements supporting the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers would turn him into a popular figure and improve his chances of becoming the next Palestinian Authority president. Given the widespread support and jubilation among Palestinians over the kidnapping of the three Israeli youths, Rajoub is not wrong in believing that he could replace Abbas one day.
The anti-Abbas campaign provides additional evidence that Palestinians have been radicalized to a point where it has become dangerous to denounce the kidnapping of Israelis or even refer to them as human beings.

Mahmoud Abbas has made a pact with devil: kidnaps are but one outcome

Peace is not merely the absence of conflict, but also requires the presence of goodwill. By siding with Hamas, Abbas has made a pact with the devil, and must now face the consequences. While Israel regrets the President’s decision to choose an alliance with terror over negotiation, the world community must hold the Palestinian Authority and Abbas responsible for any attacks that emanate from Palestinian-controlled territory.
I applaud the efforts of so many to bring our boys back, and hope and pray that they will be found quickly and safely. But our hopes must not stop there. We must instead strive to vigorously pursue the promise of peace that is possible only if we reject Hamas. The Palestinians deserve a government that will represent their needs and aspirations, and this is not a one with Hamas as a core element.
As an Israeli, parent and diplomat my personal aspirations and professional goals are identical: lasting peace. If Abbas can rejoin the international community consensus on the dangers of Hamas, he will find a willing partner for peace in Israel. I hope and pray that this will happen before another tragedy.
*Shmuel Ben-Shmuel is Israel’s ambassador to Australia.

Iranians at World Cup love Israel (video)

Maariv quotes Iranian media as saying that MP Hussein Azin has gone to Brazil to ensure that Iranians visiting the World Cup don't behave in ways contrary to the morals and ideals of the Islamic Republic.

He is apparently not having much luck in keeping the women properly covered up.

But the news is even worse than that, as you can see from this video from Israel's Channel 2:

(h/t/ Yenta, Israelftw, Yoel)

Labeling goods isn't good enough for haters like Stephen Sizer

Stephen Sizer is a prominent Israeli-hating minister in England.

His most recent blog post accuses UK supermarket Tesco of lying in its labeling of goods from Israel and the territories. The labels on some of their Medjool dates say "Produce of Israel, Packed in the West Bank (Israeli settlement.)"

He writes:

Without saying so explicitly, Tesco is admitting the dates are packed in Palestine. So where are they grown? In Israel and then shipped to an illegal Israeli settlement in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank? Unlikely. More likely, they are grown and packed on the settlement, which makes them Palestinian dates. If so, Tesco is not only mis-labelling the dates but supplying stolen goods.

Now where did he get his images of the packaging from? They came from a November 2013 post in the Boycott Israel UK website.

On that same website they show the labeling from other Tesco products. For example, these dates are labeled as being grown and packed in the West Bank:

These are also grown in Judea and Samaria:

These dates, however, were grown and packed within the arbitrary 1949 armistice lines:

We can see that Tesco has been labeling produce grown in Judea and Samaria since at least 2009:

It is obvious that Tesco is being accurate in its characterization of the produce Sizer is so upset about. And all this information is on the website that Sizer apparently reads.

So from this little episode we can learn a few things:

Clearly Tesco has been consistent about labeling its goods and has done so for over five years. When it says that the goods were grown in Israel and packed in Judea and Samaria, they are telling the truth.
Sizer is a liar in his accusations of Tesco. This was in all probability a conscious lie, since he seems to have taken the photos from a site that shows his accusations to be lies.
Sizer's regard for the truth is nil.
Even after five years of labeling, Tesco still sells goods grown by Jews in Judea and Samaria. None of the boycotts and efforts by haters like Sizer has caused the supermarket to abandon selling these goods.
Sizer is frustrated that the labeling isn't having the desired effect, because he really wants a full boycott of Israel - something that British consumers clearly don't desire.

Readers of this blog know that Arabs have long been floating rumors that Tzipi Livni has had sex with Arab leaders for the purpose of blackmailing them when she was with the Mossad. (Livni had said the opposite, that she never slept with the enemy as an agent.)

Soon the rumor morphed into Livni sleeping with Saeb Erekat and other Palestinian Arab negotiators, with the Mossad threatening them with revealing their sweaty naked bodies on YouTube.

A couple of months ago, George Galloway renewed and upped the rumor, now claiming that Livni bragged about sleeping with hundreds of men while with the Mossad to blackmail them.

Now, a Palestinian Arab newspaper has figured out why Israel can broadcast the World Cup for free - causing an estimated 10 million Arabs to watch the Hebrew version rather than paying for the Al Jazeera version. And Livni's supposed voracious sexual habits are a part of it.

According to Shfa News, the only way that Israel can afford to broadcast the tournament is because Israel cut a deal with Qatar, which owns Al Jazeera, which owns NBN, which is the exclusive provider of the video feed for the Arab world.

The story is that Israel is getting the rights to broadcast the World Cup directly from Al Jazeera for free, because Tamim bin Hamad, the leader of Qatar, wants to humiliate the Arab world into watching the Hebrew broadcast instead of paying Al Jazeera.

And why is Qatar providing the feed to Israel for free? Because Tzipi Livni used to sleep with the former Foreign Minister and Prime Minister of Qatar, Hamad bin Jassim al Thani, and he instructed Al Jazeera to do so!

An "informed source" confirmed that Al-Jazeera has decided to give Israel the right to broadcast World Cup matches on the IBA channel for free to be beamed from the Amos satellite.

Ah, but you may ask, if Al Jazeera is providing the feed to Israel, then where is its logo? The answer is that the Qatar leaders are so eager to humiliate Arabs, that they are sending a "clean feed" without their logo, so Israeli networks can put their own logo on instead!

While Doha is giving the feed to Israel for free, the source says, it refused huge sums of payment from Arab countries for them to broadcast it to their citizens gratis. Egypt offered 20 million Egyptian pounds, and was turned down, this source says.

Obviously, this is all because of Livni's blackmail of her former lover al-Thani.

It is all so clear!