Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, January 09, 2015

01/09 Links Pt2: Leila Khaled to star at SA BDS hate fest; Hamas, PA Step Up Human Rights Violations

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Hamas, Palestinian Authority Step Up Human Rights Violations

It would be a good idea if the international community and media stopped turning a blind eye to the suffering of Palestinians at the hands of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority [PA].
Abbas wants the world to support the creation of a dictatorship where people are arrested and intimidated for expressing their views in public. He is also asking the world to support a Palestinian state where Hamas is torturing Palestinians.
While the PA is accusing Hamas of human rights violations, its security forces in the West Bank continue to crack down on freedom of expression. In recent weeks, Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank have arrested more than 25 university students on charges of criticizing Palestinian leaders in Ramallah.
"You can still see the bruises on their bodies. They were subjected to harsh torture." — Hisham Sakallah, Palestinian writer, on Hamas interrogators beating Fatah officials with plastic hoses.

Countering punch-drunk Palestinians

The Palestinians have come to believe that they can demand the sky and conduct diplomatic war against Israel with impunity. It’s time to disabuse them of these notions through determined Israeli action. And it’s time to reeducate Palestinian leaders and the global community as to the terms to a negotiated settlement that Israel can live with.
You see, the Palestinians long ago took a decision to reject the two-state solution as Israelis and most Western policy-makers envision it.
The Palestinian state that Israelis might be able to support in Judea, Samaria and Gaza cannot threaten Israel’s security – meaning that it must be truly demilitarized, cannot form hostile foreign alliances, will dismantle the Hamas army and hand over its weaponry, agree to Israeli monitors on all its external borders, and accept a permanent Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley to prevent the emergence of another radical Islamic bastion on Israel’s eastern border. (Sinai-stan, Hama-stan, Hezbollah- stan and Syria-stan are already more than enough for Israel to handle.) The Palestinian state that Israelis might be able to support in Judea, Samaria and Gaza must be a reasonable neighbor and willing to compromise – meaning that will not contain any large Israeli settlement blocs, cannot control and destroy Jerusalem, and must share its airspace, natural resources, and historical and religious sites with Israel.
The Palestinian state that Israelis can envision, if at all, in Judea, Samaria and Gaza has to agree to a permanent end to the conflict and all claims on Israel – meaning that it renounces the right of return, inculcates reconciliation and not anti-Semitism on its airwaves and in its schools, recognizes Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish People, and does not seek to criminalize Israeli leaders in international forums.
BUT TODAY’S punch-drunk Palestinian leadership does not want the constricted West Bank state that Israel can countenance.

Notorious Palestinian plane hijacker to promote BDS in South Africa

Infamous Palestinian plane hijacker Leila Khaled will be visiting South Africa next month as a guest of the local chapter of the international Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions movement and Muslim organizations.
BDS South Africa is known for its high-profile, anti-Israel stunts. Last November, It was prevented by court order from protesting outside branches of the Woolworths department store chain. In one of the protests, activists from the Congress of South African Students placed a pig's head in the kosher section of a Cape Town branch.
Born in Haifa in 1944, Khaled joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine at a young age and shot to global prominence with a series of hijackings in 1969 and 1970. (h/t Alexi)

The “Nonviolence” of the BDS Movement

However that may be, Khaled reveals to anyone who cares to listen exactly how she understands the role of BDS. BDS “of course, on the international level [is] very effective. But it doesn’t liberate, it doesn’t liberate land. If there’s BDS all over the world, and the people are not resisting, there will be no change.” In apartheid South Africa, she claims, boycotts “helped the people who were holding arms. But if they were not holding arms it may have affected them politically, but it would not have liberated, not on the ground.” BDS is a way of supporting an armed resistance. As Khaled sees it, BDS is the propaganda arm of groups like her own PFLP.
Rather than distancing themselves from Khaled and the terrorist organization for which she continues to labor, the purportedly nonviolent BDS-South Africa celebrates what they plainly regard as her praiseworthy legacy. Rather than denying that they happily march arm in arm with the likes of PFLP, they quote approvingly an unnamed source that calls Khaled the “poster girl of the Palestinian struggle,” and invite us to dine with her.
You might almost think that they are auditioning for the role—of propagandists to ease the way for the people with guns—Khaled has assigned them.

Britain may have suppressed "masterpiece" 1945 Holocaust film so as not to help Zionists

From The Guardian:

“In the spring of 1945,” says the narrator, over bucolic springtime shots of the German countryside, “the allies advancing into the heart of Germany came to Bergen-Belsen. Neat and tidy orchards, well-stocked farms lined the wayside, and the British soldier did not fail to admire the place and its inhabitants. At least, until he began to feel a smell …”

So begins a British film about the Holocaust that was abandoned and shelved for 70 years because it was deemed too politically sensitive. The smell came from the dead, their bodies burned or rotting; or from malnourished, often disease-ridden prisoners in the concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen, near all those thriving German farms.

As allied troops liberated such camps across what had been German-occupied Europe, the British Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (who later founded Granada Television) was commissioned to make a documentary that would provide incontrovertible evidence of the Nazis’ crimes.

Bernstein assembled a remarkable team, including the future Labour cabinet minister Richard Crossman, who wrote the film’s lyrical script, and Alfred Hitchcock, who flew in from Hollywood to advise Bernstein on its structure. They set to work on a documentary entitled German Concentration Camps Factual Survey. As they worked, reels of film kept arriving, sent by British, American and Soviet combat and newsreel cameramen from 11 camps, including Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Dachau and Bergen-Belsen. As well as the dead, the footage showed starved survivors and human remains in ovens.

...Now, 70 years on, director and anthropologist André Singer has made a documentary called Night Will Fall, to be screened on Channel 4 later this month, telling the extraordinary story of filming the camps and the fate of Bernstein’s project.

...Singer also interviews another illustrious Holocaust survivor, a Croatian named Branko Lustig. He was a child in Belsen, so sick at the time of liberation that when he heard a strange noise he thought he’d arrived in heaven to a chorus of angels’ trumpets. In reality, they were the bagpipes played by Scottish soldiers.

Many years later, Steven Spielberg chose Lustig, by then a film-maker, to be a producer for Schindler’s List. Lustig has a theory about why British authorities suppressed Bernstein’s film. “At this time, the Brits had enough problems with the Jews.” By that, no doubt, he means that Britain was dealing with Zionists agitating for a Jewish homeland in the British mandate of Palestine – and seeing the full extent of Jewish suffering would only inflame them.

Singer says he’s already had flak for including Lustig’s theory. “Why the film was scuppered is not very well documented,” he says. “But Branko may well have a point.” Singer points out that in 1945, the incoming Labour government’s foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, was anti-Zionist and unsympathetic to the foundation of a Jewish state. But he concedes there is no strong proof. “The only documentary evidence we have is a memo from the Foreign Office saying that screening such an ‘atrocity film’ would not be a good idea.”

Lustig's theory, if it could be proven, would be a bombshell.

Britain suppressing a hugely important Holocaust documentary because it didn't want to help the Jews who were trying to rebuild their nation after the Holocaust? Sadly, the idea is not far-fetched.

01/09 Links Pt1: 4 hostages killed in kosher grocery; Charlie Hebdo terrorists also killed

From Ian:

Times of Israel Live Blog: Four hostages said killed in Paris kosher grocery, gunman dead; Charlie Hebdo terrorist brothers also killed

France is facing a terrorist onslaught. Two days after gunmen killed 12 in an assault at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the suspects were shot dead by French security forces on Friday afternoon and the hostage they were holding was freed. Security forces almost simultaneously stormed the kosher grocery where another gunmen was holding hostages. Initial reports said he was also killed; the fate of the hostages was not immediately clear. The Times of Israel is liveblogging developments:
18:58 At least 4 hostages dead at kosher market in Paris
At least four hostages at the Kosher supermarket siege in northeastern Paris are dead, a police source tells Reuters.
18:45 ‘Charlie Hebdo suspects came out firing on security forces’
The Kouachi brothers, suspected in the Charlie Hebdo attack that killed 12 people, came out of the printing shop north-east of Paris where they were holding one hostage, guns blazing, a source tells AFP.
French commandos killed the two as they stormed the shop.
18:36 Gunman at kosher market killed in police assault
The gunman at the kosher grocery store in Paris is said to have been killed in a police assault to free the hostages, according to Le Monde.
18:34 Charlie Hebdo terrorist brothers dead, hostage freed
A French police official confirms the two suspects in the Charlie Hebdo massacre have been killed.
The hostage they were holding has been freed, the police also say.
The two brothers, Said and Cherif Kouachi, killed 12 people in an assault on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine on Wednesday, and a massive manhunt had been mounted to catch them.
They were holed up in a building in the Dammartin-en-Goele, north-east of Paris.

At least 6 people held captive at kosher market in Paris

Fresh shooting broke out in eastern Paris on Friday, as an armed man took at least six people hostage at a kosher grocery store, among them women and children.
The gunman has threatened to kill the hostage if French authorities launch an assault on the Charlie Hebdo killers, who were holding at least one person hostage near Paris, police said Friday.
French lawmaker Meyer Habib told Army Radio Friday that the hostages at the grocery store include “a family with kids, there shopping for Shabbat.”
Some reports in the local media indicated earlier that two people were killed in the attack on Hypercacher Alimentation Générale in Paris’s Porte de Vincennes area, but authorities did not confirm the deaths.

Paris shooting: The 12 victims

The 12 people killed in the terrorist attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo included a prominent economist and some of France’s leading cartoonists. These are the victims:
Stephane Charbonnier, 47, known professionally as Charb
Bernard Maris, 68
Jean Cabut, 76
Georges Wolinski, 80
Cartoonist Bernard Verlhac
Phillipe Honore, or Honore, 73
Michel Renaud, a former journalist who was visiting the office as a guest of Cabut.
Mustapha Ourrad, a copy editor at the magazine.
Elsa Cayat, an analyst and columnist at the magazine.
Frederic Boisseau, a building maintenance worker.
Franck Brinsolaro, a 49-year-old policeman who was head of Charb’s security detail.
Merabet Ahmad, a 42-year-old police officer and French Muslim.

Some tweets about the Paris kosher grocery hostage situation

In case you haven't been watching the news:

At least two people have been killed in a shooting at a kosher grocery in Porte de Vincennes, eastern Paris according to a police officer at the scene who spoke to the BBC.

However, there were conflicting reports and Bernard Cazeneuve, the French interior minister, has denied that there are any casualties at this stage.

France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor earlier confirmed that an armed man had taken at least five people hostage in the grocery, which is called Hyper Cacher. Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that police have blocked off the roads near the shop, and have surrounded the building. Nearby schools have been put into lockdown.

I'm not going to liveblog the horrible events going on in Paris at this moment. But here are some tweets I wrote, or retweeted, or responded to that have been getting attention:

Google streetview of Hypercacher supermarket pic.twitter.com/CntRl17Qx0
— ElderOfZiyon (@elderofziyon) January 9, 2015

. @KenRoth and @HRW call to "guard against backlash against French Muslims." When will they demand protection for French Jews?
— ElderOfZiyon (@elderofziyon) January 9, 2015

I hope the media doesn't publish photos of kosher food to further inflame the situation @JeffreyGoldberg
— ElderOfZiyon (@elderofziyon) January 9, 2015

For the security and safety of customers and employees, supermarkets must stop selling kosher food #MediaLogic h/t @TheAnorak
— ElderOfZiyon (@elderofziyon) January 9, 2015

Will @AliAbunimah say that kugel and challah may have driven Muslims to murder? pic.twitter.com/09ZaA56igz
— ElderOfZiyon (@elderofziyon) January 9, 2015

@elderofziyon @Yair_Rosenberg:Jews existing and keeping kosher offends the terrorists' sensibilities. They should have been less provocative
— Diana Muir Appelbaum (@DMAppelbaum) January 9, 2015

No, @clancycnn thinks that all news coverage of the hostage situation is "hasbara" @CygnusA81 @TheAnorak
— ElderOfZiyon (@elderofziyon) January 9, 2015

Also see this from MEMRI:

UPDATE: From early reports, it looks like both hostage situations ended as well as could be hoped.

Official PA news believes the "exploding toothpaste" story

The official PA Wafa news agency "reports":

At least 135 Palestinian prisoners, held in Israeli jails, have been killed since 1967 due to torture or live fire shooting, according to a report published by the Prisoners' Center for Studies, a local group concerned with the issue of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.

Whereas 72 prisoners were killed as a result of extreme torture, 74 others were deliberately shot dead by Israeli live fire after their apprehension, the report uncovered. Seven other prisoners, however, were killed after being treated with excessive force by the Israeli authorities.

Recent reports indicated that the Israel Prison Service had attempted to get rid of two prisoners, identified as Bashir Hroub and Haitham Salhia, by infusing poison into the Hroub's own toothpaste and into a cup of coffee for Salhia.

The center's chairman, Rafat Hamdona, said such attempts, as well as the killing of prisoners, is in contradiction with Article 85 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which stipulates that prisoners' lives are to be protected.

While this article in English says that the toothpaste was poisoned, in Arabic it says "explosive toothpaste." I reported on that accusation earlier this week.

Since the Prisoners' Center believes that Israel tries (and fails) at assassinating prisoners under its full control with James Bond-type methods - and they said that explicitly in their report - it becomes clear that the methodology of these "prisoners rights" organizations are, to put it mildly, subpar.

And they are only one of the many such organizations that encourage prisoners to make wild accusations so they can write up reports using thee lies and attract more funding. Addameer and the Palestinian Ministry of Detainee Affairs and other organizations regularly pop up and issue bogus statistics. But even Addameer never said anything close to what this Al Arsa organization claims. Instead of saying that they were killed by gunshots, Addameer says that many were killed by "medical neglect." That organization apparently counts every death from illness or natural causes as "medical neglect."

I once compared the mortality rates for Palestinian Arab prisoners since 1967 with those of the larger Palestinian population, and found that Palestinians are far less likely to die in Israeli custody than if they were free.

It is one thing for a random NGO to pop up and issue fake statistics. But when the PA publicizes them, then we see that the government itself has no compunction about making the most insane accusations.

Yet the Western media will never report on the pattern of lies and the complete untrustworthiness of Palestinian Arab officials. Instead, they will put them on TV and not even ask about their history of incitement and falsehoods.

(h/t Bob Knot)

From Ma'an:

Top PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat has called the ongoing expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank "terrorism," even making comparisons between Israel and the Islamic State militant group in Iraq and Syria.

"There is no difference between the terrorism practiced by the group led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Israel's terrorism," he said, referencing the leader of the IS group during a speech at a festival celebrating the Prophet Muhammad's birthday in Jericho on Monday.

He added that "ending settlement activities is a prerequisite for eliminating terrorism."

Funny. I don't think there is any difference between Saeb Erekat and Joseph Goebbels.

There has been nearly zero physical expansion of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria in over 25 years. Moreover, when the argument suits him, Saeb Erekat himself admits that the settlements take up only 1.1% of the areas Palestinians want for a state.

Hebron man swims in ice water to express "solidarity" with suffering Syrians, Gazans

61-year old Ishaq Ayesh Abu Mayala decided to show his solidarity with Gazans and Syrians who are without shelter this winter by taking a swim in a small pool of ice water.

Reading a bit further into the reporting, we find out that Abu Mayala does this for fun all the time. But this particular swim was in solidarity with the poor Arabs of Gaza and Syria.

One other thing about this wonderful example of solidarity: None of the news stories I have read about it mentions the name of any charity that he is asking people to give money to. Nor do the stories say that he got sponsors for this event, a stunt that he would have done anyway.

This stunt was perhaps more symbolic than Abu Mayala intended.

Because he acted the way that Palestinian leaders act - valuing symbol over substance, preferring stunts over useful actions.

Just like his leaders, he did not help a single person - but he got a lot of publicity, which is all that really matters when you value symbols over substance..

01/08 Links Pt2: Official PA paper: Attempted murder is Palestinian “pride”; BDS is a failure

From Ian:

PMW: Attempted murder is Palestinian “pride,”‎ according to PA daily

On Dec. 25, 2014 a Palestinian terrorist stabbed two Israeli soldiers who were on a routine patrol in the Old City of Jerusalem, causing them light injuries. The stabbing was caught on a security video and was posted on the internet.
The bi-weekly supplement to the official Palestinian Authority daily, Al-Asima, published an article that glorified the terrorist who attempted the murder and expressed hope that this will be a precedent for future attacks against “the Zionists”:
"These kinds of confrontations which frighten the enemy are excellent Palestinian examples of willpower and determination to win... The video of the Palestinian storming and stabbing of Zionists serves as a school... Now, every Palestinian raises his hand holding a knife together with this young Palestinian, and stabs the Zionists."

Amb. Alan Baker: UN Approves PA for ICC

There is no doubt that the 2012 UN General Assembly Palestinian upgrade resolution was nothing more than a political expression of opinion by those states voting in favor. It was not a legal determination and could not create a Palestinian state, nor could it serve as a legal basis for determining that the Palestinians are a state, or for a depositary’s accepting them as such.
The same goes for the ICC prosecutor. Since the previous 2012 refusal by the former prosecutor to accept the 2009 Palestinian attempt to join the court, nothing has changed legally and therefore the court should not accept the Palestinians now only on the strength of the political upgrade resolution.
In view of the above, the acceptance by the Secretary General of the Palestinian request is legally flawed and was determined under false pretenses – “false” because there exists no sovereign Palestinian state, and “pretenses” because of the pretension by the Secretary General as if such a state exists when he is fully aware that there is no legal basis for this.
In light of the above, the Secretary General must revoke his communication and respond to the Palestinian request that after due examination, since they are not a sovereign state, they cannot, pursuant to the provisions of Art. 126(2) of the ICC statute, accede thereto.

US says Palestinians ineligible to join ICC

The spokesperson for the US State Department said Wednesday that the Obama administration does not consider the Palestinians eligible to join the International Criminal Court, as Palestine is not a sovereign state.
In a press briefing, Jen Psaki clarified the Washington’s position on Palestinian moves for membership in the ICC.
“The United States does not believe that the state of Palestine qualifies as a sovereign state and does not recognize it as such and does not believe that it is eligible to accede to the Rome Statute,” Psaki said. She noted that there are “legal aspects” to the issue that needed to be looked at.

Israeli group tells ICC that PA prime minister tortures his own people

Shurat HaDin filed complaints to the ICC against Palestinian Authority prime minister Rami Hamdallah, and against the PA's intelligence chief Majid Faraj, accusing them of crimes against humanity.

But the complaints do not accuse them of doing anything bad to Israeli citizens. Rather, the complaints are about how they are responsible for torture in PA prisons!

THE COMPLAINTANT submits to the Prosecutor this communication concerning the criminal activities of Hamdallah, a citizen of Jordan who is simultaneously Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior of the Palestinian Authority.

Hamdallah has engaged in conduct in violation of Articles 7 (1) f) and 28 (2) of the Rome Statute. Hamdallah is criminally liable for the rampant torture undertaken by the Protective Security Service of the Ministry of the Interior because he is the superior official in overall charge of the Ministry of the Interior and of the Protective Security Service.

So Shurat HaDin is accusing them of crimes against fellow Arabs, not against Israelis!

A third complaint, against Jibril Rajoub, indeed accuses him of crimes against humanity for being responsible for rocket fire against Israelis.

I admit that this part surprised me:

The Court has jurisdiction ratione personæ because Hamdallah is a citizen of Jordan. The Court may exercise its jurisdiction over all acts committed by the citizen of a state party to the court, wherever those acts are committed.4 Jordan is a member state of the Court.5

Hamdallah is a citizen of Jordan because he was born in Anabta, in the Tulkarem District, in the West Bank, on August 10, 1958. Jordan controlled the West Bank at that time. Hamdallah is a Jordanian citizen under Jordanian law because he was born in an area under Jordanian control and is not Jewish.8 In 1954, the Jordanian Parliament extended citizenship to all non-Jews born or resident in all areas then under Jordanian control, including the West Bank. 9,10 The Jordanian Parliament has never repealed these statutes.11

The Court thus has jurisdiction ratione personæ over Hamdallah.

I know that many prominent West Bank Palestinians managed to retain their Jordanian citizenship after 1988 when Jordan disengaged from the area, but my impression was that most of them lost their citizenship then - or lost it by default as they no longer had national numbers, with which Jordanian citizens obtain services. Its footnote points to an HRW paper that shows that the legal basis for Jordan's actions are murky at best. The legal validity of Jordan seeming to remove nationality from all West Bank Jordanians is an interesting topic in itself.

(h/t Irene)

01/08 Links Pt1: Charlie Hebdo stood alone. What does that say about our ‘free’ press?

From Ian:

Netanyahu: Israel is standing by Europe, Europe must stand by Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende on Thursday, saying that the same forces that are attacking Europe are attacking Israel.
Speaking a day after gunmen killed 12 people in a terror attack in Paris, Netanyahu said, "Israel is standing by Europe. Europe must stand by Israel." The comment also came on the backdrop of a number of European parliaments voting on resolutions in support of recognizing a Palestinian state in recent months.
Netanyahu said that while Israel and the West cherish freedom and tolerance, radical Islam worships tyranny and terror. "They seek to impose a new dark age on humanity."
The prime minister condemned the "butchery" of the Paris attack and expressed sympathy with the government and people of France.

David Horovitz: The first step toward defeating Islamist terrorism

Speaking to Israeli television from Paris on Wednesday night, hours after gunmen shouting “Allahu Akbar” had shot dead 12 people at the offices of the “Charlie Hebdo” satirical magazine, the French-Jewish parliamentarian Meyer Habib called the massacre France’s 9/11.
When Islamist killers targeted Jews in Toulouse in 2012 and Brussels last year, Habib recalled, “we warned that this would come to all of France. And to our sorrow it came…. We are in a fight,” he elaborated, “against jihadism, against this darkness.”
After four British-raised Muslims killed 52 civilians and injured 700 in coordinated bombings in London on July 7, 2005, numerous commentators and analysts likened that assault, too, to the Al-Qaeda attacks on America in 2001. But if that was Britain’s 9/11, it didn’t bring sufficient clarity of thought to the struggle against Islamist terrorism. It didn’t open enough eyes. Too many Britons, including too many leaders and policymakers, preferred a mixture of stoicism and denial to the imperative of rigorously confronting Islamic extremism. Too many preferred to blame prime minister Tony Blair for ostensibly inviting that day’s murders, including through his purportedly over-cozy relationship with the reviled George W. Bush and his backing of Israel. That was all far more convenient than acknowledging that Britain had a colossal problem with homegrown Islamic extremism, whipped up by British-based Islamic spiritual (mis)leaders. Almost a decade later, Britain has still failed to adequately tackle the rise of Islamist extremism at home, with a consequent stream of plots and attacks, and a flow of misguided young Muslims joining the ranks of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
The question is whether France, Britain and the rest of Europe, in the aftermath of Wednesday’s assault — a more calculated and specific attack than the indiscriminate murders in London — will now muster a more energetic, coordinated and effective response.

Douglas Murray: Charlie Hebdo stood alone. What does that say about our ‘free’ press?

And the left-wing Charlie Hebdo will be abandoned now even more than the right-wing Jyllands Posten was back then. People will come up with various excuses, but in truth they won’t publish because they are afraid. The remaining staff of Charlie Hebdo could hardly be more alone.
There is only one way in which this couldn’t remain the case: if tomorrow, or some day this week every newspaper and magazine in Europe, the front-page of the BBC and Channel 4 News websites and every other major news site simultaneously published a set of Charlie Hebdo’s depictions of Mohammed among others. I put this suggestion to the BBC today during an interview and was told by the presenter that ‘in fairness’ to the BBC they had earlier retweeted Charlie Hebdo’s recent cartoon of ISIS’s leader al-Baghdadi. Which, of course, isn’t quite the same thing. Some readers may recall that during the Danish cartoon affair Channel 4 ran a live programme on freedom of speech which included a live vote as to whether or not Channel 4 should show the cartoons. The public voted that they should. And then Channel 4 unilaterally decided to ignore the public’s wishes and would not show the cartoons.
It was around the same time that Ayaan Hirsi Ali put it best. She suggested in the wake of the Danish cartoons affair that ‘we have to spread the risk.’ But the free press didn’t spread it around then. And I very much doubt that they will now. I know all the arguments. I know the fears – that someone from the typing pool or on the front desk will be the target. I’ve heard every possible argument over the years.
And that is why I can safely say that the free press will fail this latest test too. For all its historic traditions, its self back-slapping for its alleged ‘bravery’ and so on, there are only a couple of tiny outcrops of freedom. The rest of the vast, powerful, fearless, outspoken tradition that is the Western press is too intimidated to publish a single cartoon that might conveivably provoke a Muslim.
This is what it looks like to lose a freedom. Not many people will care today. But they will tomorrow, or another day in the future.

Douglas Murray - Charlie Hebdo Attack [BBC London]

On cartoons and censorship

An argument that we see, even now, from Muslims arguing for censorship of offensive cartoons is that since Europe has laws against things like Holocaust denial, which are meant to protect the feeling of Jews, then there should be similar laws to protect the feelings of Muslims.

There is a huge difference, though.

Laws against hate speech, whether you agree with them or not, are meant to stop incitement against the the objects of the speech. There is a fairly short line between Holocaust denial and publicly calling for a new Holocaust.

The offensive Mohammed cartoons, though, create little danger for Muslims. The only people in danger are those who create and distribute the offensive essays or speeches or cartoons.

Censorship of antisemitism protects Jews from being killed. Censorship of "Islamophobia" is meant to protect the censors from being killed. That is a huge difference.

It has been most comically illustrated in 2012 by the New York Daily News.

In 2012, the New York Daily News illustrated a background story on the Charlie Hebdo story of the "Mohammed" issue with this censored image:

Here's the original:

The man in the wheelchair is not Mohammed; he is a Muslim saying "must not mock" in a reference to the movie "Intouchables" where a rich quadriplegic is taken care of by an unconventional Algerian man.

The cover is not offensive by even any Muslim yardstick. It does not show any prophets or anything that may not be depicted in Islam. It just shows a stereotypical religious Jew and Muslim. If it is offensive, it is equally offensive to Muslims and Jews.

Then why did the New York Daily News decide to censor only the Muslim character? Why would Muslims be more offended at this cartoon than Jews?

The reason is obvious. The newspaper then, just as now, is afraid of what extremist Muslims might do to them - but they are not afraid of what extremist Jews might do. Since crazy Jews aren't nearly as dangerous as crazy Muslims.

Censorship to protect the lives of an innocent group may or may not be proper in different circumstances, but there is a moral component to it. Self-censorship by news media of the news itself to avoid being the target of attack is inherently immoral because it means that news coverage is being colored by self-preservation.

It means that the terrorists in Paris, just like those in Gaza last summer and Lebanon in 2006 and Syria/Iraq today, have free rein on deciding what may not get reported.

Any news organization that continues to censor the Charlie Hebdo images is exhibiting cowardice - and is suspect as to how objective the rest of their coverage is.

(h/t AH)

Egypt to move entire town to create buffer zone

From Ma'an:

The Egyptian authorities have decided to remove the city of Rafah on the borders with the Gaza Strip completely, says the governor of North Sinai district Abd al-Fattah Harhour.

In a news conference Wednesday, Harhour said it would be necessary to remove Rafah city completely in order to create a buffer zone on the borders with the Gaza Strip.

“A new Rafah city is being established with residential zones appropriate to the nature and traditions of the residents of Rafah.”

He confirmed that engineering units have already been asked to start work on the new city.

The governor’s remarks came ahead of the second stage of evacuation of Rafah houses in preparation to create a buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza. According to the original plan, 1,220 houses were slated for evacuation.

Some 2,044 families live in those houses.

I couldn't find this story on major Egyptian sites, although it was in BBC Arabic.

I couldn't find out the population of Rafah altogether; from looking at Google maps and comparing it to Rafah in Gaza I would guess about 10,000 people live there. Here's part of it showing that already there is a lot of empty space on the border with Gaza.

I haven't yet heard from the Egyptian Committee Against House Demolitions. Perhaps because it doesn't exist.

I also haven't seen any starry-eyed university students volunteering to be human shields to stand between bulldozers and the houses.

On a more serious note, I had been a little skeptical about Egypt's claims of massive support of Sinai jihadists from Gaza jihadists and Hamas. After all, the weapons have been smuggled through Sinai to Gaza, it seems odd that they would be smuggled back, unless Egypt has made great progress in stopping weapons smuggling routes from Libya and Sudan.

However, it seems less likely that Egypt would move an entire town for show.