Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

PA media praises Tel-Aviv bomber

The Western media got it wrong. Again.

One of the most striking – and effective – strategies of the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat was its policy of presenting one message in English to the mainstream media while delivering a separate, often contradictory, message to the Palestinian people in Arabic.

In the aftermath of Friday night's terror attack on a beachfront Tel Aviv night club – the first since the tenure of Mahmoud Abbas began – it is clear that the Palestinian media under Abbas's control is continuing Arafat's standard policies.

While the foreign media accept at face value the PA's official condemnation of Friday's suicide bombing, the PA-controlled media are glorifying the bomber as a shahid (martyr who died for Allah) – the highest level of human achievement for a Muslim. By granting shahid status to the murderer, the PA media are portraying bombing as a positive religious act.

Within this context the official condemnations need to be understood not as deploring the act, but its consequences – damaging the Palestinian cause.

Sunday's front-page coverage of the story in the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda features a giant color photo of the terrorist at the top of the page, with the caption: "The executor of the Tel Aviv operation, the shahid Abdullah Badran." Another photograph shows his mother holding a picture of her son, and is captioned: "The mother of the Shahid."

The daily newspaper Al-Ayyam refers to "the family of the Shahid."

Al-Quds refers to "the family of the shahid Abdullah," and to the arrest of "the shahid's two brothers" and to a "mourning tent in memory of the shahid."

An earlier story in Al-Ayyam refers to the bomber as Istish-hadi – a shahid who actively sought death for Allah and succeeded. To get a sense of the status the Palestinian media is granting Friday's terrorist by defining him as a shahid, here are the rewards awaiting the shahid, as described earlier by a Palestinian religious leader on Palestinian TV:

"When the Shahid meets his Maker, all his sins are forgiven from the first gush of blood, and he is exempted from the torments of the grave. He sees his place in Paradise. He is shielded from the Great Shock and marries 72 Dark-Eyed [Maidens]. He is a heavenly advocate for 70 members of his family. On his head is placed a crown of honor, one stone of which is worth more than all there is in this world." (Dr. Isma'il al-Raduan, PATV, August 17, 2001)

Accordingly, the use of the terms "shahid" and "Istish-hadi" for the terrorist leaves no question about the message the Palestinian media is sending its people about this terror attack: This murder and death for Allah, like those in recent years, is the supreme positive act for a Muslim.

Given this ultimate veneration of the act of murder, condemnations of the suicide attack within the Palestinian-controlled media have focused on the "poor timing" and the fact that the attack was a violation of the agreement between Abbas and Hamas to stop killing civilians during the cease-fire. The killings were detrimental to PA policy – nothing more. As in the Arafat years, the act itself was not portrayed as immoral or wrong.

On Monday, Hassan Asfour, a member of the PA parliament, put it this way on Palestinian TV: "This is the first action that no one is happy about. Everyone felt that the timing is not [right] and there is absolutely no need for it... It is not because the resistance against the occupation is a mistake, but because the nature, location and timing of the action are a mistake."

In his condemnation too, Abbas was careful not to criticize the action itself but the damage to the Palestinians:

"President Mahmoud Abbas described the operation... as a condemned sabotage attack, blaming a third party for the execution in order to jeopardize the peace process and to damage the reputation or the Palestinian people."

"Presidential adviser Nabil Abu Rudeineh [said the PA] 'condemns this operation especially coming after the hudna and the calming, which were achieved with the factions... the Authority opposes any action, which targets civilians. This is a part of the hudna which was declared in Sharm e-Sheikh. We oppose any violation of this hudna.' He also clarified that this sort of action harms the supreme national interests of the Palestinian people."

Under the new leadership of Mahmoud Abbas, the message to Palestinian society remains essentially unchanged from that of the Arafat era. PA leaders condemn the timing and potentially negative ramifications of a terror attack, but not the act itself.

Give the terrorists billions - but be a little more careful this time!

At least they are paying lip service to the idea of the money not going to terror.

Top U.S. and European officials will meet with the new Palestinian leadership in London today to consider $4.5 billion or more in new aid that they hope will bolster the Palestinian government, boost the economy and strengthen the drive toward peace in the Middle East.

Pledging money may prove to be the easy part. The larger challenge will be avoiding the corruption that drained the life out of aid programs during the long tenure of Yasser Arafat, who died in November.

Newly elected Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and others have begun cleaning house. Reformers in parliament last week forced a purge of nearly all corruption-tainted officials from the new Cabinet.

'But things haven't changed as much as they need to change, and it is going to be very difficult,' said Danielle Pletka of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, who monitored Palestinian aid programs during a decade as a senior staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Government officials and financial experts in the United States and other donor countries agree. They predict that the struggle over corruption and spending will set off political battles that could last for years.

Many officials also fear that cracking down hard could strain the fragile Palestinian leadership and endanger the whole peace process. (So give the terrorists money for peace!) Time after time, the officials say, such concerns have led donors to turn a blind eye to corruption.

The Palestinian Authority has received billions of dollars for schools, hospitals, roads and other basic needs in the last decade, one of the most expensive development programs ever on a per-capita basis. But millions of dollars disappeared and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict raged for much of that time, leaving little to show for the money. (Um, show me a single hospital built during the "peace process." It isn't that a percentage was used for terror - ALL of it was!)

The husband and mother of judge whom a white supremacist tried to have killed shot to death

The husband and mother of a judge whom a white supremacist tried to have killed were shot to death.

Investigators in Chicago said it is too early to say who committed Monday’s slayings of the husband and mother of Judge Joan Lefkow. Matthew Hale has been convicted of trying to have Lefkow killed in 2003 after she found him in contempt of court. Hale, the founder of the anti-Semitic World Church of the Creator, is scheduled to be sentenced for that murder solicitation conviction next month.

Hale’s group first came to prominence in 1999, when a former member went on a weekend shooting spree against minorities.

The Myth of the "Arab Street"

Slate has an article about how refreshing it is that no one is talking about the "Arab street" nowadays. You know the mythical Arab street - where hundreds of thousands of enraged Arabs are always feared to rise up and cause havoc, usually in context of "Don't make them mad! You don't want to piss off the Arab Street!"

But to anyone who has followed the recent history of the Street, it is obvious that it never existed.

Things may have been changing a bit lately, especially with recent examples in Lebanon and Egypt. But in the Palestinian areas, the myth lives on, just now it has taken on a new, peaceful side - the myth that the Palestinian street is all of a sudden aghast at the thought of terror attacks in Israel. As AP reported,

Palestinians expressed anger Saturday at an overnight suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that killed four Israelis and threatened a fragile truce, a departure from former times when they welcomed attacks on their Israeli foes.

Look at this - the Street all of a sudden is sympathetic to Israel! It all fits in the new script that Abbas is a miracle worker and he is going to bring peace to the Middle East!

Once again, the press is buying into an illusion. First of all, because there indeed was public support for the terror bombing in Tel Aviv:



A masked supporter of the Islamic Jihad movement, which claimed responsibility for last Frday's suicide bomb attack that killed five Israelis in Tel Aviv, holds a knife and a copy of the Quran, Islam's holy book, during a demonstration in the university of the West Bank town of Hebron Monday Feb. 28, 2005. The rally was the first major expression of support for Friday's bombing. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

But the more important fact that is always overlooked is that the Arab Street should be called the Arab Sheep: they do whatever the government-controlled press tells them to do. Right now, the Palestinian Authority has decided that terror bombings are counterproductive to the Palestinian cause (they've never said they were immoral or wrong), so the PA-controlled press and broadcasts didn't celebrate the bombing and the people took their cues of how they should react.

A similar thing happened back in the 70s, when Sadat made his dramatic trip to Jerusalem. The Egyptian "street" all of a sudden loved Israel! It was amazing - after decades of rallies against the Zionist enterprise, in a few minutes the entire Egyptian populace wholeheartedly supported peace with Israel!

And within a few hours of the last grains of sand of the Sinai being handed over to Egypt, guess what happened? Yes indeed, the "Egyptian" street started hating Israel again.

Now there are indications that the Arab world is starting to think for itself. With the Internet and satellite TV, it is much harder for the governments to control their people's thoughts and actions as it had been. But for the moment, the power of the Arab street is still predominantly with the leaders of the Arab world, who still use their people as pawns to try to scare the West.

And of course, there is a willing Western press more than happy to buy the whole package of the myth as long as the story fits in with what these reporters already think they know beforehand.

Anti-semitism at Hunter college

This sign has been known to behanging inside the Palestinian Club of Hunter College for 3 months, and apparently it has been there for 10 years! During all of this time, there have been "negotiations" on how and when the sign should be taken down.

Not surprisingly, the Palestinians who support terror have been coming up with excuse after excuse to avoid taking it down.
Check out here and here for details.

The cabinet has approved the establishment of a special unit to combat incitement and public disruptions in protest of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan.

The unit is the idea of Justice Minister Tzippy Livni, who wants to ensure that the process of prosecuting protesters is streamlined ahead of the mass opposition to the implementation of the withdrawal from Gaza and the northern Shomron and the forced removal of the Jewish residents living there.

The government decision stipulates that the unit will be responsible for, “legal proceedings against incidents of incitement to violence, rebellion and protest activities, including blocking roads, holding unauthorized demonstrations and threats against public servants in the context of the struggle against the disengagement.”

Shabak (General Security Services) chief Avi Dichter told the cabinet that he does not believe the time for using administrative detention (jailing without trial for up to six months) against anti-withdrawal activists has arrived yet.

The Land of Israel Action Committee responded to Dichters statements saying, “The Shabak head’s examples of right-wing incitement all originate from provocations created by the Shabak and police.” The movement’s head, Aviad Vissouly, called upon the attorney general to put all the heads of right-wing groups on trial for incitement. Vissouly argued that the courts must set, once and for all, explicit guidelines as to where the borders of freedom of expression lie.

The Yesha (Judea, Samaria and Gaza) Council criticized the establishment of the new unit, which it termed, "the thought police.” “The new unit's purpose is to shut the mouths of those who are opposed to the expulsion plan and to brand them inciters," the council said. "[Its purpose is to] forbid us to think differently than the government. The democratic right to protest is slowly disappearing in face of the ‘sanctified’ disengagement plan."

The new unit will combat anti-disengagement protests and demonstrations, and will work in coordination with the Shabak to deter activists from engaging mass civil disobedience.

Activist Barch Marzel, who heads the newly-founded Jewish National Front suggested sarcastically that Deputy State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan – appointed head of the legal team for the new unit – ask for the death penalty when punishing anti-government activists. "When in a dictatorship, act like you are in a dictatorship," Marzel said. “If someone can have a police investigation opened against him for calling Sharon a dictator, then it is possible for punishments like that to eventually be meted out in the same manner.”

Website of the week - Jews in Green

There is a lot of great information on this site, both historical as well as ideas of how you can help Jewish servicemen today.

What is "Jews in Green"?
It is a website devoted to Jewish servicemembers: past, present, and future.

Jews in Green (JIG) is an idea I have had for a few years now. After enlisting in the Marine Corps at 18, serving for 9+ years and then making the transition to the officer ranks, I've come to realize that being a Jew in the service presents some unique challenges. My hope is that by creating this website, other Jews serving in our armed forces can learn what resources are available for them, share their experiences with one another, and offer support when needed.

Trust America or Trust G-d?

A more religious-oriented post than normal:

It seems to me that Israel has done the best for herself, historically, when she didn't rely on outside people or countries or institutions to help her out. 1948 and 1967 were miracles when Israelis felt most threatened; in 1956 Israel relied on France. In 1973 Israel thought she was secure and relied on her own reputation from 1967; during Oslo Israel relied on empty promises and words.

Although I appreciate President Bush's clear commitment to Israel, it is possible that it is the worst thing ever to happen to her. Israel is now in a position where she is putting all of her security marbles in a basket of American promises (and wished-for promises) as well as in the "good faith" of people who were referred to as terrorists only a few months ago.

In my view, whenever Israel loses sight of who she is and of her dependence on the Almighty, G-d repays the favor by treating her like other nations. And when that is the game being played, Israel is not going to win.

Pointing Fingers to Avoid the Subject

So now we are back to 1994, when Arabs bombed Israel and killed hundreds of Jews, but Israel didn't respond because of a "peace process." But this time, there is a twist.

In the 90's, they blamed all the bombs on Hamas and Islamic Jihad, so the PA would be "off the hook" and world leaders could credibly lie that Arafat couldn't control the "militants." After all, the PA was a peace partner - they wouldn't sanction a bombing, right?

Four years of the Oslo war, of PA "policemen" turning into suicide bombers, of the PA-paid Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade later.....

And now suddenly Hamas and the (Gaza) Islamic Jihad is in the clear too..they are now also "peace partners"...and therefore suspicion cannot fall on them! Now we must find a new bogeyman, and he is right across the border in Syria.

Israel discounts Hizbollah's denial and Syria's denial, and accepts Hamas' and Islamic Jihad's denials. Why is this? Because of evidence and intelligence - or because of politics? Because hardly anyone ever blamed Hizbollah or Syria for the hundreds of terror attacks during the Oslo war - and now, magically, Hamas is clean and Syria is the culprit?

How blind can Israel's leadership be? When have Hamas, Fatah, IJ and Hezbollah NOT acted in concert? They might differ in their instruments but they are playing the same notes. And the symphony of "Destroy Israel" has not changed in 56 years.

JERUSALEM Feb 26, 2005 — Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on Saturday blamed Syria and a Palestinian militant group based there for a suicide bombing that killed four Israelis outside a Tel Aviv nightclub and shattered an informal truce, prompting him to freeze plans to hand over security responsibilities in the West Bank. Syria denied the charges.

Abbas angrily accused a "third party" of orchestrating Friday's attack to sabotage the Mideast peace process, and his security officials said the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, was involved.

In Beirut, Hezbollah, denied the accusations, and Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group with members in Lebanon and Syria, claimed responsibility from the Lebanese capital, reversing initial denials by its members in the Palestinian territories.

If the bombing had been planned and inspired by militants in the Palestinian territory, Abbas would be under tremendous pressure to crack down. But since it looked as if the bombing was linked to Islamic Jihad in Syria, and perhaps inspired by Hezbollah, Israel was likely to give him more leeway.

from another article...
Meanwhile, Fatah and Islamic Jihad members fired shots in the air in celebration following the attack.

Sometimes one can get ill from deja vu.

PA offers smoke and mirrors, Israel praises them

Aaaaargh! How blind can Sharon's government be??? Optimism is a great thing, but to base a country's security policy on nothing more substantial than wishful thinking is foolhardy at best, gross negligence at worst.

It is deja vu - not too long ago, before the Oslo war, Arafat would institute cosmetic half-measures, just enough to get the international community off his back but nothing to change the status quo. Now we are treated to Abbas creating a temporary, artificial hudna that there is no real indication will stay in place one second longer than necessary to extract concessions from Israel.

And Israel's current government is believing him, based on his stellar record as a Holocaust-denier, I suppose.

The Palestinian security services have recently located and sealed 12 arms-smuggling tunnels along the Philadelphi route, on the Gazan-Egyptian border, security sources say.
The Israel Defense Forces are pleased with the Palestinian efforts, which were ordered by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. At the same time, however, the Palestinian successes have strengthened the long-standing opinion in the defense establishment that the arms-smuggling tunnels depend for their existence on the PA's tacit cooperation.
...
The Egyptians could have posted similar successes against the tunnels on their side of the border, defense sources say, but in practice, their activity against the tunnels has been negligible. Israel and Egypt are still at odds over Cairo's proposal to man its side of the Gazan border with Border Police units, which are considered higher quality than the regular police forces stationed there now.

The Palestinians apparently stepped up their efforts against the smuggling tunnels in order to convince both Israel and the United States that the IDF should leave the Philadelphi route when it leaves the rest of Gaza. (In other words, as soon as Israel is gone, Gaza becomes a gigantic arms warehouse. -EoZ) Currently, the IDF is slated to remain on Philadelphi even after the disengagement from Gaza, to prevent arms smuggling into the Strip. The government has no objection to leaving Philadelphi if an end to the arms smuggling could be assured; the problem is that the current cease-fire is fragile, and should it collapse, the PA is liable to permit large-scale smuggling to resume.

In that case, moreover, the smugglers would probably to try to bring in more sophisticated weaponry, such as Katyusha rockets or shoulder-launched antiaircraft missiles, which could change the nature of the war.

Since the intifada began, the IDF has destroyed more than 100 arms-smuggling tunnels around Philadelphi. In the course of these operations, it also destroyed some 1,400 Palestinian houses and suffered many casualties.

While the army praises the PA's achievements on the smuggling tunnels, it says that the PA has been only partially successful in other areas. On one hand, it is trying to prevent Qassam rockets and mortars from being fired into Israel, and recently, there have been several reports of PA troops opening fire on Qassam-launching cells that refused orders to leave the launch zones.

In some cases, PA troops have even arrested cell members, who come mainly from Hamas. These moves are widely supported by the Palestinian public, which is sick of the fighting, and there have even been cases of Palestinian civilians calling the PA security services to report on Qassam cells in their area.

Hamas, understanding the public's desire for calm, has also significantly reduced its activity. The combination of Hamas' restraint and the PA's more aggressive measures has caused the number of attacks on Israeli targets in Gaza to drop by about 85 percent over the last two weeks from the former level of some 100 attacks a week.

Abbas has also ordered his troops to maintain internal law and order. Palestinian policemen have therefore destroyed many illegal buildings in Gaza recently; they have also started issuing traffic tickets.

Nevertheless, due to the PA's desire to refrain from open clashes with the terrorist organizations, it has not confiscated their weapons or taken any action against their other military activities. The organizations are therefore continuing to manufacture Qassam rockets undisturbed, and are also building more rocket and mortar manufactories. In addition, they are giving their members intensive military training.

Overall, however, Israel believes that the trend is positive and hopes that Abbas will expand his troops' operations and impose a genuine cease-fire. Therefore, the army is trying not to respond to any incidences of Palestinian violence, in order to give Abbas time to develop the PA's ability to impose law and order.

Iraqi students protest long weekend as Zionist plot

Too funny! Someone ought to tell them that Hummous is kosher!

HUNDREDS of Iraqi students have demonstrated to protest a government decision to extend the weekend to include Saturday, denouncing the scheme as a "Zionist plot".

Irate high school students marched through Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, denouncing outgoing Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's decision to extend the weekend from the traditional Islamic holy day of Friday to include Saturday.

"We don't want Saturday as it is a Jewish holiday," the crowd chanted.

The Neturei Karta continues to support the murders of Jews

Sorry, I can't even quote the article, it is so sickening. The mamzerim of Neturei Karta held a press conference in Lebanon with Hizbollah.

Just keep in mind - the terrorists that the NK's support also did this, in a neighborhood that has no real Zionists - just Jews who look the same as NK.

Every single major Orthodox group, even the anti-Zionist ones, have condemned Neturei Karta.

The New York Sun editorial - hold Abbas accountable

Last week the New York Times headlined an interview: "Abbas Declares War With Israel Effectively Over." What Abbas actually said was that the war with Israel would be over "when the Israelis declare that they will comply with the agreement I made in Sharm el-Sheik." In other words, at best it was a conditional termination of hostilities. Declaring the "end of conflict" is a Palestinian concession that they are keeping up their sleeves for permanent status negotiations.

The Roadmap for Peace, to which the Bush administration has committed itself, is explicit in demanding that the Palestinians offer an "unconditional" cease-fire - and not a truce that is dependent on how they interpret Israel's response. In Arabic, the truce Abbas is declaring is not even called a cease-fire but rather a "calm."

According to the road map, moreover, the Palestinian Authority is supposed to begin to "dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism." The Palestinian leadership has made clear that it is not intending to go this far. But for a Palestinian cease-fire offer to be more than just words, this minimal road map standard still needs to be met.

Everyone hopes that Abbas is able to lead to a new era of relations with Israel. But this will happen only if the world holds him to his agreements to implement what he still has to do and doesn't prematurely feed him with a public relations advantage that he does not deserve.

Palestinian blood really is cheaper

The value of a human life is infinite, but any objective analysis would show that Palestinians regard the lives of their own people as quite cheap.

Dozens of examples are easy to find, but just in today's news:

A gunman celebrating the release of prisoners in the Jenin area accidentally shot and killed one person. Omar Saleh, 34, from Ejja village near Jenin, was killed when a local man fired into the air to celebrate the release of a prisoner from Israeli jail.

According to a preliminary investigation conducted by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, the incident occurred when Eyad Tawfiq, 30, arrived at his house in the village after he had been released from jail.

His brother-in-law, 28-year-old Haibat Taha, welcomed him by firing into the air from his M16 rifle. When he put the rifle back on his shoulder, a number of live bullets hit four men standing nearby. One of them, Salah, was killed by a live bullet in the abdomen.

This is not the first time things like this have happened. But have you ever heard a Palestinian call for the elimination of "celebratory" gun firings? It is laughable to even think about it.

Look at the lopsided prisoner swaps that Israel does periodically. Look at the measures Israel uses to protect its citizens versus the Palestinian propensity to put its children in harm's way. Look at the entire idea of suicide bombing, or "martyrdom." Look at the idea of naming streets and schools after murderers. One culture celebrates death and the other celebrates life.

Israel seems to care more about Palestinian lives than Palestinians do. If this is true, the inescapable conclusion is that Palestinian blood really is much cheaper than Jewish blood, by the Palestinians' own standards.

Perhaps when they act in such a way that they truly value human life as much as Israel does there could be a possibility of peace. Until then, it appears foolhardy to trust as a "peace" partner a people who belong to a cult of death.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad using "calm" to plan attacks

Terror organizations are planning strategic attacks if the cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian Authority breaks down, Military Intelligence research chief Brigadier-General Yossi Kuperwasser warned the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee yesterday.
Kuperwasser said he believed that some attacks have already been planned down to the finest of details, and the groups are capable of launching the attacks almost immediately.

He also told the Knesset members that the organizations are continuing to build an infrastructure to carry out attacks, particularly in the Gaza Strip, despite the cease-fire and recent lull in violence. The panel heard that the militants are continuing to produce rockets and mortar shells, and are continuing to experiment with Qassam rockets and other weapons.

Also see " Militants hold key to Mideast peace"