Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Judaism's holiest shrine is not the Western Wall

"Earlier Sunday, Mrs. Bush placed a note in the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest shrine..." (Guardian)
" The stamp depicts the pontiff's stop at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site..." (CBC)
"Laura Bush placed a note in the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest shrine..." (ABC News/AP)
"Laura Bush spent a few moments of silence in the women's section at Judaism's holiest shrine..."(Times of India)
Mrs Bush headed to the Western Wall, Jerusalem’s holiest shrine. (Ireland OnLine)
The Wailing Wall, the last remnant of the Second Temple which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, is the holiest site in Judaism and backs onto the mosque compound, which is the third most sacred spot in Islam. (IOL - South Africa/AFP)
Laura Bush spent a few moments of silence in the women's section at Judaism's holiest shrine, the Western Wall...(ABC Australia/AFP)

The holiest site in Judaism is the site of the Kodesh K'dashim, the "Holy of Holies," where the Aron (Ark) stood in the two Temples. This is on part of the Temple Mount. It is so holy that many rabbis say that Jews cannot visit there, and others allow visits only to specific areas and under certain circumstances.

It is not a hard concept to understand, but for some reason most of the media doesn't seem to get it, or want to get it. Probably because it could open up a can of worms - in an era where Muslims kill each other over a false report of a single desecration of a printed book, of which many hundreds of millions have been printed, the very existence of the Dome of the Rock is a daily desecration of Judaism's holiest site. And when it is admitted that the Temple Mount isthe holiest site on the planet, then people will start wondering how the Muslims decided it became their third-holiest site. And these questions may show other uncomfortable truths about Islam, and where exactly Islam got the idea of the Temple Mount being the third holiest site to begin with. (I do not believe all the statements in the link I just posted about the Muslim claim that Jerusalem is its third holiest site only started in the 1930s; I found a Palestine Post article from 1939 that states the holy status of Jerusalem to Islam matter-of-factly, but even so, the pictures speak for themselves that the Muslim world did not place too much importance on Jerusalem before the Jews came.)

So in general, it is easier for the world media to pretend that the Western Wall (or "so-called Western Wall", as Al-Jazeera.com terms it) is Judaism's holiest site, because the truth just is too messy to think about.

(To their credit, the London Telegraph and the BBC more accurately portrayed the Temple Mount as Judaism's holiest site.)

Has the Elder reached the big time?

This blog has been mentioned (in passing) yet again in this weeks Hevel Havelim and it is getting to my head so much that I'm starting to refer to myself in third person. What can I say...all is vanity.

As it is, the article referenced has already become by far the most read and discussed thing I have written, with links from Israellycool, a Little Green Footballs message, and Zibbiboisgood. (Of course, while getting 85 unique visitors in one day may be a big deal for me, it is background noise for the more popular blogs. )

But I would be remiss if I didn't thank my visitors, thank SoccerDad for suggesting that I self-nominate, and ask RACHack my usual HH host question: shouldn't הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים be pronounced "Havel Havalim"? I expect a proper scholarly answer!

I also fully expect to fade back into semi-obscurity by the time the next issue comes out.

PA promised to stop incitement in February

This Jerusalem Post article, published in March, says:

The Palestinian Authority has decided to impose restrictions on preachers who deliver Friday sermons in West Bank and Gaza Strip mosques, a senior PA security official told The Jerusalem Post Tuesday.

Under the new restrictions, preachers would not be able to deliver sermons that have not been authorized by the PA, he said.

This will be the first time that since the establishment of the PA that preachers will be unable to deliver their own Friday sermons. The move is seen as an attempt by the PA leadership to stop incitement against Israel and the US in mosques.

"From now on, the preachers will be given speeches prepared in advance by the PA authorities," the official said. "Anyone who does not abide by the text will be fired."

Guess who's speech they were pretending to respond to?

The PA's decision to impose censorship on preachers follows protests from Israeli and the US officials over a recent sermon in the Gaza Strip, in which the khatib, or preacher, called for the liberation of all of Palestine.

On February 4, Ibrahim Mudiris, a prominent PA preacher, said in a sermon broadcast live on the PA-owned television station and translated by The Middle East Media Research Institute: "We do not love any land more than the land of Palestine. Had the Jews not expelled us from it with their planes, their tanks, their weapons, their treachery around us, we would never leave you, O Palestine.

"We tell you, Palestine, we shall return to you, by Allah's will. We shall return to every village, every town and every grain of earth which was quenched by the blood of our grandparents and the sweat of our fathers and mothers. We shall return, we shall return. Our willingness to return to the 1967 borders does not mean that we have given up on the land of Palestine."

Yup, the same guy that called for the genocide of Jews in last Friday's televised sermon.

Somehow, AP and the other "reporters" in the media didn't notice this blatant lie by the PA. But they could easily publish that the PA promised again to stop it.

Barbara Sofer: 57 reasons I love Israel

1. At Jerusalem's Biblical Zoo the loudspeaker announces "Afternoon prayers (minha) are now being held near the lions."

2. The Biblical Zoo is kosher for Pessah. The primates eat matza, but the parrots get rice.

3. The nation mourns when a distinguished songwriter dies.

4. The prime minister invites not only survivors, but their soldier grandchildren to the March of the Living at Auschwitz

5. Thousands of free loan societies flourish. You can borrow wedding dresses and pacifiers.

6. Fourteen years after Operation Solomon, the first plane's pilot still volunteers to teach Ethiopian youth.

7. When the tsunami struck, we sent medical assistance the same day.

8. We also added flights to bring home our backpacking children.

9. The president of the US touts the book of Israel's former minister of Diaspora Affairs.

10. The president of Israel spends Shabbat in a development town, and the first lady does the cooking.

11. A week before Yom Kippur, forecasters speculate on the weather for the fast.

12. Strangers still invite you for a home-cooked Shabbat meal.

13. We entertain at home, but so many Israelis travel abroad that duty free shops advertise on municipal billboards.

14. Before Shabbat a siren marks our country hitting the brakes.

15. Municipal decorating contests feature succot, not trees.

16. Jewish soccer players for Bnei Sakhnin compete against Arab players for Maccabi Tel Aviv.

17. Volunteers pass out sandwiches at the hospitals, not for the patients, but for their families.

18. Childbirth and burial are free. Even the homeless have health insurance.

19. We have a Museum of Psalms, but at every bus stop someone is reading them, keeping the tradition alive.

20. Mrs. World is a Jewish Mother from Tel Aviv.

21. Stem cell research isn't controversial here

22. Fifty years after draining the swamps, we invented a one-pound aerial surveillance vehicle called the Mosquito.

23. Fifty years after we drained the swamps, we're considering bringing them back.

24. Desalinization is finally happening.

25. Per capita, Israel has the highest number of publications in science and Talmud.

26. Sufferers from Jerusalem Syndrome think they're King David or John the Baptist. Could be worse.

27. Disputes with Europeans notwithstanding, we've invented a urine test for mad cows.

28. You can hold an outdoor wedding all summer.

29. Designers create European fashions in real women's sizes.

30. Corner grocers know what type of hallah every family in their neighborhood eats on Shabbat.

31. At the corner grocery, you can often hear a discussion of the Torah portion.

32. We charge our food at the corner grocery, but Israelis invented the check-out technology for America's largest supermarkets

33. Everyone feels compelled to tell a parent to put a hat on the baby in a country where we wear scarves, snoods, spodiks and streimels; wimples, fedoras, berets, tarbushes, homburgs, mods, kippot and keffiyot.

34. Israeli teens like to party, but they won all the top prizes in the international robotic firefighting contest.

35. Our first Nobel Prize laureate chemists are both really doctors.

36. We invented both the chat room and the silent prayer.

37. Israelis take kids everywhere. "Please wait for the strollers to be unloaded" is a standard announcement on El Al.

38. Even the fanciest cars fly blue and white flags.

39. Fabulous boutique kosher wineries are arising on the sites of ancient wine presses.

40. Globalization means a Russian-born Israeli nurse coming in first for her age group in the "run up" the Empire State building.

41. A Beduin kiosk in the middle of the desert stocks kosher-for-Pessah snacks.

42. Our ATM machines speak many languages.

43. Everyone knows where the secret intelligence offices are.

44. Combat soldiers aren't embarrassed to phone their moms.

45. Kindergarteners stand for memorial sirens, and know what they mean.

46. You can find someone to fix small appliances and alter clothing.

47. People mark their birthdays by the Jewish holidays they're closest to.

48. We're still egalitarian: When you go for a blood test, a Knesset member or Supreme Court justice might be in line with you.

49. In Jerusalem, the person offering tefillin shares space with the person selling red strings.

50. Take-out food is called "take-away" in Hebrew, and you can get kosher kubeh, sushi and tiramisu.

51. On Saturday night the radio summarizes news for all those who don't listen on Shabbat.

52. A popular TV contest this year sought someone to explain the case for Israel. A popular movie was Ushpizin, the ancient Aramaic for "sukka visitors."

53. A municipal pool in Tel Aviv is crowded at 4:30 am.

54. Throughout four years of war, we refused to give up essentials like outdoor book fairs.

55. After four years of war, we still feel safest here.

56. "Shalom" means hello or goodbye, and it can be a first name or a last name, but it's primarily our elusive dream.

57. In this ancient land, there's always something new to love.

Analysis: Al-Qaeda in Gaza

I'm a little cynical....

A new Muslim terrorist group linked to al-Qaida has started operating in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Authority security officials told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

Jundallah, or 'Allah's Brigades,' consists mostly of scores of former Hamas and Islamic Jihad members, the officials disclosed. They said Jundallah gunmen launched their first attack on IDF soldiers near Rafah earlier this week.

The IDF said four soldiers were lightly wounded in the attack.

Jundallah is a radical Muslim group that has close ties with al-Qaida in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, said one official. 'We know for sure that the group is especially active in the southern Gaza Strip,' he added.

Another official said that, according to intelligence gathered by the PA security forces, Jundallah consists largely of Hamas and Islamic Jihad dissidents who were unhappy with their groups' ostensible pragmatism.

'They believe that Hamas and Islamic Jihad have become too moderate,' the official said, referring to the two groups' agreement to temporarily suspend terror attacks on Israel.

Call me crazy, but historically, every time any Muslim terrorist group shows the slightest wisp of pretense of being a little bit less murderous, a more murderous group emerges. This can be explained in two ways:

Either the terrorists are truly upset at the fact that they can't murder at quite the same rate they like to murder, or
The more "moderate" terror groups gain something by the existence of a more "extreme" group.

What can Hamas gain from the existence of a proported al-Qaeda group in Gaza? The answer is simple - just look what the PA gains by the existence of Hamas:

Hamas now will look more "moderate" to the world and in comparison increases its chances of being accepted politically by Europe.
Any time an agreement with Israel is breached, Hamas can claim, "Hey, it wasn't us peaceful terrorists - it was the evil Al-Qaeda guys!"

It is a way for them to continue terror campaigns unabated while fooling the gullible Western press into thinking that they have become more "pragmatic."

It is a page out of Yassir Arafat's playbook, and why not? It worked beautifully for him and for Abbas.

It is of course entirely possible that Al-Qaeda has interest in making a token effort fighting Jews to regain some "street-cred" in the Arab world; after all, nothing makes you more popular than killing Jews in that part of the world. But I am tending to think that this is not a rival group but a partner.

See this for a different take.

Council on Foreign Relations: Muslim focus group shows Jews own America!

The CFR conducted focus groups to find out about the Muslim world's attitude towards America to see if it could be improved. Among the findings - no surprise here - are the ridiculous ideas that the focus group members had about Jews in America.

By the way, these findings were consistent even among those considered well- educated.

Conspiracy Thinking and Anti-Semitic Stereotypes Feed Anti-Americanism
Unfamiliarity with American politics, combined with hostility to U.S. policy as they saw it, left many focus group participants open to conspiratorial images of U.S. policymaking toward Israel and the Muslim world. The most prominent of these flowed from stereotypes about Jewish influence in America, which were pervasive among the focus group participants in all three countries despite their high levels of education. Many saw the United States and Israel as synonymous. When they gave their associations with the United States, “Zionism” was often near the top of the list. When they were asked what proportion of Americans are Jewish, wildly inaccurate estimates were common, anywhere from 10 percent up to 85 percent. (The real number is 2 percent.)
Americans are mostly Jews. (older Indonesian man)
The real Americans are the Indians, but those who immigrated to the U.S. are Jewish. (older Moroccan woman)
Even those with more realistic ideas of Jews’ numbers vastly exaggerated their influence:
About 10 percent [of Americans] are [Jews] but in the parliament 80 percent of them are Jews. (young Indonesian man)
Jews control 90 percent of the American media. (older Egyptian man)
(In fact, only 6 percent of members of the House of Representatives and only 10 percent of senators are Jewish. Just one of America’s five leading newspapers is controlled by a Jewish family.)
These anti-Semitic myths promote conspiracy theories involving America and suspicion of U.S. activities in the Muslim world. Several participants mentioned “theories” that the September 11 attacks were masterminded not by al-Qaeda, but by Jews:
They said that bin Laden hit the twin towers, why him? Maybe the Jews did it. (young Egyptian man)
Bin Laden is an Arabic name invented by the U.S. and Jews and used in connection with the killings and terrorist acts in order to worsen the image of Arabs and of Islam. (older Moroccan woman)23
23 These canards flow from a broadcast on al-Manar, the Hezbollah television station in Lebanon, on September 17, 2001, which falsely stated that four thousand Jews did not show up for work at the World Trade Center on 9/11.

Since some participants believe Jews run America and hate Muslims, they think this explains why U.S. policy is hostile to Islam and supportive of Israel.
The government [in the United States is] Jewish. All Jews hate Muslims [and] they want to destroy Islam. (young Egyptian woman)
The U.S. arms Israel, because the U.S. is mostly Jews. (older Indonesian man)
Others saw Jews behind American initiatives for democracy and reform in Muslim lands. A young Indonesian man said, “Sometimes behind democratization is Zionism.” Such myths pose obvious problems for efforts to explain U.S. policies in the Muslim world.

AP spins PA anti-semitism

I find this AP story very interesting.

When the PA TV station broadcast its anti-semitic vitriol, the AP didn't think it was worth reporting. When the PA promises to stop such broadcasts, only then is this newsworthy.

In other words, AP only wants to emphasize the PA making "positive" (if hollow) steps towards "peace", but it only emphasizes Israel's actions as "adding to tensions" and "straining the cease-fire." I have yet to see a story about a mortar attack by Palestinians being looked at as something that "endangers the cease fire" - it is always Israel's reactions. And conversely, any empty words by a Palestinian spokesperson is regarded as an encouraging sign, as in this article.

Taking its strongest stand yet against anti-Semitic incitement, the Palestinian Authority has decided to ban incendiary sermons from state-run TV, just days after a televised Gaza mosque preacher likened Jews to the AIDS virus.

( "We will also act vigorously against incitement and violence and hatred, whatever their form or forum may be. We will take measures to ensure that there is no incitement - from Palestinian institutions. We must also reactivate and invigorate the U.S.-Palestinian-Israeli Anti-Incitement Committee. We will continue our work to establish the rule of law and to consolidate government authority in accountable Palestinian institutions. We seek to build the kind of democratic state that will be a qualitative addition to the international community." - Mahmoud Abbas, July 2003.)

Information Minister Nabil Shaath, whose ministry is in charge of Palestinian TV, said Wednesday he would no longer permit the broadcast of sermons that incite against other faiths. Shaath harshly criticized cleric Ibrahim Mdaires, who, in a sermon Friday, also accused Jews of inflating the dimensions of the Holocaust.

(He also called for the genocide of all Jews, a minor point that AP decides is not newsworthy.)

Other Palestinian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they expected the Gaza cleric to be banned from delivering sermons.

Several months ago, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas pledged to lower the incitement level on Palestinian television and radio. Palestine Liberation Organization fighting songs, for example, have been taken off the air.

(The incitement has been very high for the past few weeks, not just this broadcast. The broadcasts for the "naqba" were especially sick, and nowhere does PA TV acknowledge Israel's right to exist in maps.)

But action has been gradual, and Israel continues to protest that the Authority is not doing enough to counter anti-Jewish themes and displays.

An official Palestinian website had carried a notorious anti-Semitic tract, the 'Protocols of the
Learned Elders of Zion,' until Wednesday - removing it only after a Jewish group protested. The 19th-century forgery purports to spell out a Jewish plot to take control of world finance.

Suicide attacks declared un-Islamic. (Well, only those against Muslims.)

I'm very glad that they cleared this up once and for all.

Fatwa declares suicide attacks un-Islamic

58 Ulema’s decree does not apply to Palestine, Kashmir, Iraq; minister hails edict

LAHORE: A group of 58 religious scholars representing all schools of thought have issued a Fatwa (edict) stating that Islam strictly forbids suicide attacks on Muslims and those committing such acts at places of worship and public congregations cease to be Muslims.

However, the Ulema led by chairman Tanzimul Madaris Pakistan and chairman Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Mufti Munibur Rehman, clarified that the Fatwa applies only to conditions in Pakistan and those running freedom movements in places like Palestine, Iraq and Kashmir are out of its scope.

The Fatwa was pronounced at a hurriedly-called press conference at Jamia Islamia Lahore on Tuesday afternoon. Head of Jamia Islamia Mufti Muhammad Khan Qadri, MMA MNA Maulana Abdul Maalik and some other clerics were also present on the occasion. Invitations for the press conference were issued by PID just one hour before the press conference.

The Fatwa holds that killing of innocent human beings is Haram (forbidden) in Islam and carries death penalty, Qisas and compensation, etc. Killing a fellow Muslim without Islamic and legal reasons is even a bigger crime, it said.

The Fatwa said killing any non-Muslim citizen or foreigner visiting the country is also forbidden in Islam since those people are under protection of the Pakistan government. The Ulema said they had issued the Fatwa in the perspective of Pakistan’s situation where, during the past few years, suicide attacks were carried out at places of worship and some elements had been propagating that the bombers were brainwashed by religious organisations into carrying out such attacks that would lead them to paradise. Such propaganda, the Ulema said, was bringing a bad name to Islam that different clerics were involved in provoking religious or sectarian killings.

Now that we know that killing innocent Jews and Hindus is OK, I'm sure that Islam will no longer have a bad name!

UPDATE: AbbaGav points out that Zarqawi has added some nuance of his own, all in the name of Islam.

Official PA web site links to Protocols of Elders of Zion; show picture of Jewish prayerbook dripping blood

There is nothing surprising about this. But once again one marvels at the sickness of these creatures who engage in lying and bigotry as a daily pastime, yet they whine loudly at any perceived "affront" to their people or "history".

This is apparently from the PA website. The book shown is a Jewish prayerbook, which means that it appears that the official PA government website shows a desecrated Jewish holy book.

Wonder when the riots will begin?

TEL AVIV - Top American-Jewish group the Anti-Defamation League demanded on Wednesday that Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas remove a link on a Palestinian government Web site to an anti-Semitic forgery that details a false Jewish plan to take over the world .

An Arabic translation of “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion” can be found in a section titled “The History of Zionism” on the Arabic version of the Web site of the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Information.

UPDATE: It has been taken down:
One of the most infamous anti-Semitic forgeries was removed from a Palestinian internet site Wednesday after a Jewish group complained about it.

The "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion," a 19th-century forgery purporting to spell out the Jewish plot to take control of the finances of the world, appeared on the State Information Service Web site, affiliated with the Palestinian Authority. The link to the document was found on a page with a list of legitimate historical sources about Zionism.

The Uzbek Dilemma (Tech Central Station)

This guy is good. He spells out the fundamental tension between wanting democratic states and wanting states that aren't Islamist, and how the US needs to choose one way or the other.

As I've said before, democracy isn't the magic formula that makes nations behave in a civilized manner - freedom is. Having elections in a society that doesn't accept Western-style freedoms means that the elections are not truly free. Sharansky gets it, but it is not clear that Bush does, yet.

This is an excerpt, the article is worth reading in full.

Herein lies the brutal choice that the Bush administration currently faces in Uzbekistan, and which it will have to face in other regions throughout the Muslim world in the coming months and years. It is a choice between two principles that, taken together, constitute the foundation of Bush's policy toward the Muslim world. First, the administration is committed to fighting Islamic terrorists and militants. Second, it is committed to promoting popular democratic government in the Muslim world.

For over two years now the Bush administration has insisted that there was no conflict between these two principles. Indeed, the essence of Bush's policy toward the Islamic world has been that the way to end terrorism was by making Muslim societies more democratic, and thus more responsive to popular sentiment. Yet if Muslim popular sentiment turns out to be violent anti-American and virulently pro-terrorist, then what?

Given this unattractive choice, there are only two solutions. The Bush administration can continue to insist on more democracy, even if this ultimately means the Talibanization of the entire Muslim world, and the dissemination of virulent anti-Americanism from one end of the region to the other. Or else the administration can do a complete about-face on democracy: discourage the spread of popular government in Islamic societies, and be prepared to back authoritarian governments that are willing to use brutal means to check popular uprisings whenever these uprisings, however popular, threaten to overturn pro-American governments and to replace them with hostile anti-American Taliban-like regimes.

Of course, there is always a third alternative, which is simply to pretend that there is a third alternative, when in fact there isn't. Regrettably, this is the course that the Bush administration appears to be following at the moment. How long it can continue to be guided by the this noble delusion, before dismal reality shatters it beyond repair -- that is the sixty four thousand dollar question. Tragically, it may be that the Bush administration is too committed to its delusions to make the choices that we must make if we are to survive. If so, the blame will lie as much in those liberal critics of Bush who have chosen to focus on trifling and petty issues, such as "Did he lie," instead of concentrating on the one thing needful, namely, how to meet the challenge posed by an enemy who has made it clear, over and over, that he does not like us, and will never like us, and that he will use any opportunity given to it to embarrass us, to attack us, and to kill us.

If America, and the West, has slept, it has been because its pundits and wise men, both on the left and on the right, have made no serious effort to wake it up, preoccupied as they have been, by and large, with tweaking each other's noses and scoring debating points. They have permitted the United States to pursue a policy that could be entertained only by an intelligentsia that has lost touch with the springs of the human heart, out of a sincere, noble, but profoundly misguided attempt to convert into friends those who have no desire to share even the same planet with us.

Lee Harris is the author of Civilization and Its Enemies.

Another Fatwa question for the Imam

Q: Salaam aleikum. When a Muslim soldier on a mission to kill the hated Jewish virus gets killed by his own bomb going off prematurely, does he still get his 70 virgins in Heaven?

A: Of course. Allah Ta'ala Knows Best.

GAZA - A Hamas terrorist who was killed overnight in the southern Gaza town of Rafah died from bomb shrapnel and not from gunfire, Palestinian sources said, contradicting earlier reports that said soldiers had shot the man.

According to the sources, the killed Palestinian is 22-year-old Ahmed Marchum. Eyewitnesses said Marchum stood at the edge of the Rafah refugee camp when a blast was heard, apparently an explosive device that went off, followed by shooting from the direction of IDF forces.

A Hamas source said Marchum was on a “Jihad mission” at the time of the incident."

It's the thought that counts.

My email to mainstream media

I just emailed this to MSNBC, CNN, ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the NYT, Reuters, AP and the Washington Post:

To the editor:

I am astonished that the story that can be found in http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP90805 has not been picked up by a single mainstream media outlet. Here we have the TV station run by the Palestinian Authority, whose head was appointed by Mahmoud Abbas himself, broadcasting the most vile Jew-hatred and anti-Americanism, the most extreme kind of Muslim fundamentalism, and we are proposing sending these people millions of our tax dollars? Here the PA is explicitly breaking its agreement to halt incitement against Israel, and not a word of it in the media, when Israel gets headlines by suggesting it will build some houses.

The double standard is long-standing but here, in wake of the Newsweek debacle, it is worse - it is as if everyone expects Muslims to act this way and it is not "news" that Muslims call for the genocide of Jews on TV. But recent history has shown that when these things are exposed in the Western media the incitement stops - for example, when MEMRI translated the Saudi Arabian newspaper publishing a blood-libel against Jews.

So the fact that this has not been covered yet is not only a failing of the mainstream media to report real news, it borders on irresponsibility - this time a crime of omission, not commission as in the Newsweek story.

The fact is that, as opposed to the impression one would get from reading the news, incitement against Israel and Jews on Palestinian broadcasts is now worse than it was under Arafat, yet Abbas is invariably referred to as a "moderate" leader - without any evidence beyond the fact that he wears a suit.

This is news. Please report it.

Thank you.
-------------------
As of noon today, a Google News search does not come up with a single story about this outside MEMRI, IMRI, and PMW.

Three thoughts on the Koran Kerfuffle

How much should religion be respected?

As a hopefully religious person myself, I can sympathize with those who are offended by the desecration of their religious symbols. I would not purposefully do anything to disrespect any religion, and I think it is reasonable to expect others to do the same.

But three things strike me about the discredited Newsweek story saying that US soldiers flushed the Koran down the toilet, causing deadly riots in Afghanistan.

One is that the level of respect that Muslims demand of the Koran cross the line from reasonable requests into bigotry. Check out what US policy really is in Guantanamo on how to handle a Koran:

The three-page memorandum, dated Jan. 19, 2003, says that only Muslim chaplains and Muslim interpreters can handle the holy book, and only after putting on clean gloves in full view of detainees.

The detailed rules require U.S. Muslim personnel to use both hands when touching the Koran to signal "respect and reverence," and specify that the right hand be the primary one used to manipulate any part of the book "due to cultural associations with the left hand." The Koran should be treated like a "fragile piece of delicate art," it says.

The memo, written a year after the first detainees were brought to Guantanamo from Afghanistan, reflects what U.S. officials said was a specific policy on handling the Koran, one of the most sensitive issues to Muslims. The Pentagon does not have a similar policy regarding any other major religious book and takes "extra precautions" on the Muslim holy book, officials said.

The Pentagon memo, among other directives, barred military police from touching the Koran. If a copy of the book was to be moved from a cell, the memo said, it must be placed on a "clean, dry detainee towel" and then wrapped without turning it over at any time. Muslim chaplains must then ensure that it is not placed in any offensive area while transported.

Sorry, but while these rules may make sense in a Muslim country, they seem way excessive for detainees. It would be more reasonable to ban the Koran altogether from Guantanamo than to force the US to act with such dhimmitude. And beyond that is the explicit bigotry that no non-Muslim can even touch a Koran - what is that about? Would Islamic law say that my hands be cut off if I pick one up in a bookstore of library? It appears to me that Muslims are using Western sensitivities to assert their own superiority over the West, when things like this are demanded.

The second thing that is glaringly missing from this story is how much Newsweek is being blamed, and how little Afghani Muslims are being blamed, for the deaths in the riots. It appears that personal responsibility does not apply to the Arab world, and this is hardly the first time this has happened. It echoes the many news stories blaming Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount for the outbreak of the intifada - do Muslims and Arabs not have any ability to choose right and wrong for themselves? Are they animals who only act by instinct, and therefore the blame goes to the person who got them angry? The willingness to overlook actual acts of terror and murder by the left-leaning media and indeed the rest of the world is, in my opinion, one of the leading factors in the spread of terror itself.

The third point that is the jaw-dropping hypocrisy of the Muslim world, the absolute lack of symmetry between how they expect and demand to be treated and how they treat other religions. Is there any other religion that has such a varied history of desecrating other religion's holy places and symbols more than Islam? Look at the Buddha statues, the many Hindu temples destroyed, the destruction of Joseph's Tomb and Second Temple artifacts, the Church of the Nativity - the list is endless.

It seems to me that a religion that has no concept of how to respect other religions is in no way, shape or form in a position to "demand" that their own religion be respected to such an absurd extent.

The historical Palestinians: A very simple test

I don't think that anyone can seriously doubt that today there are a people who could accurately be described as "Palestinian."

But there is an incredible hue and cry whenever people say, accurately, that there were no such people that could be distinguished from the rest of the Arab world until relatively recently.

There is a very simple test that can prove which claim is more accurate, whether the Palestinian people have existed as such historically or not. The test is to look at newspaper archives from before the establishment of Israel and see how they used the word "Palestinian."

Unfortunately, there are not too many free newspaper archives on the Internet that go back that far. One of the best is the Palestine Post, in which Tel Aviv University has done an incredible job of showing articles from the time before Israel was founded in context (ads, too) and one can learn far more from reading these articles about how day to day life was in British Palestine than from any books.

Here is a sampling of articles that show up when doing a search for "Palestinian":

As is clear, at least in Palestine, the word "Palestinian" usually referred to Jews, not Arabs.

But perhaps you would argue that the Palestine Post (now the Jerusalem Post) is a biased source. Despite the fact that the above articles also quote British sources as using the word "Palestinian" to refer to Jews, but we can also look at other sources.

The Washington Post has its archives online as well, although you have to pay to see the full article. But even the abstracts can show interesting results:

Products of Palestinian Art Will Be Shown at Jewish Center; Novel 10-Bay Exhibit of Sculptured and Other Work by the Late Boris Schatz Will Open Tomorrow at 1529 Sixteenth Street.
The Washington Post (1877-1954). Washington, D.C.: Apr 3, 1938. pg. TT5, 1 pgs

Abstract (Document Summary)
Products of the new Palestine art will be displayed in a novel ten-day exhibit, opening at the Jewish Community Center, 1529 Sixteenth street, tomorrow at 8:30 p.m. A number of pieces of sculpture work m relief, bronze, hand-hammered brass, ivory carvings and others of the late Boris Schnatz, founder of the new school of modern Palestinian art, will be exhibited by his son and daughter, ...

Or check this article out, perhaps for a better picture:
Palestinians in France
The Washington Post (1877-1954). Washington, D.C.: Feb 29, 1940. pg. 5, 1 pgs

Abstract (Document Summary)

Somewhere in France, Feb. 28. -- Their past differences forgotten in the common effort, a force of 700 Palestinian soldiers, about three-quarters of them Jews and the rest Arabs, arrived at a French port today to join the British expeditionary force.

Even though this article includes Arabs as being Palestinian, it is the exception that proves the rule: there is nothing inherently Arab about Palestinians, and more often than not, Palestinians when referred to as such were Jews.

So how were the Arabs who lived in the area referred to? Usually just "Arabs", sometimes "Bedouins", and sometimes even "Arab nationalists:"

British Troops To Palestine.
The Washington Post (1877-1954). Washington, D.C.: Sep 6, 1936. pg. B6, 1 pgs

Abstract (Document Summary)

The seriousness at the Palestinian situation is at last being recognized by the British government. No longer are the authorities at London taking the complacent view that the fires lit in the Holy Land by Arab Nationalists some months ago, when they ordered a general strike in protest against further Jewish immigration, would soon burn themselves out.

Note that nowhere are these Arabs referred to as "Palestinians."

This is just scratching the surface. Reading old newspaper archives is fascinating and fun, and little details emerge that show that things were just as messy then as they are now, along with the occasional ad in the Jewish-oriented Palestine Post that may strike you as strange:

So don't take my word for it. Do the research and you will find out that when people claim that there have never been a historic Palestinian people separate from other Arabs, they know what they are talking about.

UPDATE: The New York Times has a similar summary archive service. Check out this article:
PALESTINIAN COUPLE ENROLLS AT FORDHAM
New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Nov 1, 1947. pg. 5, 1 pgs

Abstract (Document Summary)

Fordham University enrolled yesterday as students a young Palestinian Jew and his wife who hope to make American culture and its techniques play a more dynamic role in the culture of their homeland.

But the New York Times for the most part seems to have been very specific in referring to Palestinian Jews and Palestinian Arabs, usually not "Palestinians."

The first time I am able to find a reference to Palestinian Arabs as Palestinians by default in the NYT is arguably this article from 1959 , a somewhat better reference is here although it can be argued that Jordanian Palestinians are of course Arab by default. The first I am able to find the word used unequivocally to mean Palestinian Arabs is here:
U.A.R. Plans to Draft A 'Palestinian Army'Special to The New York Times. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Nov 3, 1963. pg. 5, 1 pgs

So while the word Palestinian as referring to Arabs who lived in the area does seem to predate the 1964 establishment of the PLO, it is not by much - and it seems pretty clear that the impetus towards the establishment of the PLO came from Egypt and other Arab states, not from the Palestinian Arabs themselves.

PA TV ups the ante in Jew-hatred and incitement

Ah, the moderate Mahmoud Abbas!

The current chief of Palestinian TV was personally appointed by the PA's "president." This is the man who is hailed worldwide as a "moderate", as a "realist", as someone seeking "peace."

Oh, and one of the Palestinian commitments of the "roadmap" is to stop incitement.

Oh, and Abbas himself very eloquently promised that the PA would stop incitement. In 2003.

But I guess that liars are considered moderates in the Palestinian universe.

'The Jews are the cancer spreading all over the world...the Jews are responsible for all wars and conflicts,' Sheikh Ibrahim Mudairis said Friday during a sermon from his Gaza Mosque in the presence of uniformed Palestinian police.

'Do not ask what Germany did to the Jews, but what the Jews did to Germany,' he went on to say. 'True the Germans killed and burnt Jews, but the Jews exaggerate the numbers to gain propaganda advantages and sympathy.'