Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Beach bias at the WaPo

The Washington Post has a column called World Opinion Roundup, ostensibly to show other sides of news stories from other countries.

But when the reporter, Jefferson Morley, discusses the Gaza beach bombings, he introduces the discussion with a comment from an American blog.

Juan Cole's blog, to be precise.

Not surprisingly, he goes on to show how seemingly everyone in his universe believes that Israel bombed a family on the beach, and only the IDF seems to believe that Israel is not responsible. (He mentions the Sueddeutshce Zeitung as well.)He quotes the British newspaper triumvirate of Israel-bashers, he quotes Mark Garlasco (misspelled in his column) - as if HRW is a media outlet - and he quotes a slew of Arab newspapers calling it a cold-blooded crime.

Somehow, he doesn't manage to mention any reasons why Israel's account is far more believable than the critics'. He has no problem mentioning critics' not believing the timeframes, for example, but not a word about the shrapnel Israel found in the victims' bodies showing it was not from Israeli artillery.

Yet another example of bias in an "even-handed" report.

Dead Arab score: Palestinians 3, Israel 0

So far there has apparently not been a single casualty from the Israeli return to Gaza.

However, at least 3 Palestinian Arabs have been killed by "work accidents":

Palestinians reported that two people were killed, including a young girl, in an explosion in a Khan Yunis home on Wednesday afternoon.
The explosion was apparently the result of a work accident.

An activist from Hamas' armed wing was killed yesterday in an explosion in Gaza City. No one took responsibility for the explosion of the vehicle in which he was traveling and Israeli sources said they believed it was a "work accident."

Kidnapping Israelis is official Hamas policy

The elected government of Hamastan has enshrined as policy the kidnap of Israelis. As such, arresting the leaders seems to be quite appropriate, if perhaps too mild a reaction.

Palestinian Media Watch put together some quotes:

Mahmud Al-Zahar, Hamas, Foreign Minister
"The Head of Hamas party in the Palestinian Legislative Council, [and current Foreign Minister-ed] Dr. Mahmud Al-Zahar, said that his movement would not hesitate to kidnap soldiers of the occupation in order to exchange them for [Palestinian] prisoners, should the opportunity arise."
[Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, March 7, 2006]

Saed Siam, PA Interior Minister (now charged with locating the hostage)
"In the past Hamas succeeded in kidnapping many Zionist soldiers…
There are thousands of prisoners of our forces, they have to think how to free these prisoners.
And I believe that it is inevitable to kidnap soldiers to exchange for them.
In the past Hamas kidnapped 10 soldiers…
There is nothing the resistance cannot do. And when there is a goal and a good plan, the goal can be achieved, especially about the prisoner issue, [which] is top priority.
During the PA administration, Hamas succeeded in kidnapping and hiding bodies, but unfortunately, two bodies were handed over for nothing. When there is a kidnapping, and it is secured, each case in its own time, has its own negotiations."
[Undated video clip from Abu Dhabi TV - before Hamas came into power]

Click here to view Minister Siam explaining policy of Kidnapping

Fathi Hamad, Member Palestinian Legislative Council, Hamas
"The Islamic resistance movement “Hamas” yesterday threatened to carry out kidnapping operations of soldiers in the Israeli army, in order to release Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. The threat was announced by Hamas Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Fathi Hamad."
[Al-Ayyam, March 16, 2006]

Sheik Halid Al-Batash, Islamic Jihad
"[Palestinian Authority] Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah emphasized the importance of forming a mechanism for the release of our heroic prisoners who are held in the jails of the occupation, without making concessions...
Prominent Islamic Jihad movement leader, Sheik Halid Al-Batash... called for seeking different mechanisms for the release of our heroic prisoners… He emphasized that among the mechanisms is the kidnapping of Zionists to exchange for the release of the [Palestinian] prisoners."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadidah, April, 17 2006]
Sheik Halid Al-Batash, Islamic Jihad
"The Islamic Jihad [Movement] says: kidnapping of Israeli soldiers – the fastest way for the release of the prisoners. Islamic Jihad movement senior official [Halid Al-Batash] called on the factions of the resistance to kidnap Israeli soldiers in order to exchange them for Palestinian prisoners, who Israel holds and refuses to release."
[Al-Ayyam, May 9, 2006]

More on the "women and children" prisoners

A followup on my posting of the specific terror acts done by Palestinian Arab women in Israeli jails:

This is from a Canadian newspaper, and the only example I could find of any news outlet worldwide trying to show the truth about these terrorists.

JERUSALEM -- Ahlam Tamimi was sentenced by an Israeli military court to 16 life sentences: one for each person killed in an attack on a restaurant in August of 2001. Ms. Tamimi brought the bomb in a guitar case to a suicide bomber who blew himself up in the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem. Sixteen people were killed in the attack, including five members of the same family.

Ms. Tamimi is one of 109 Palestinian women and 313 Palestinian children under the age of 18 who are sitting in Israeli prisons as security prisoners, the Israeli prison authority said yesterday.

Palestinian militants from the military wings of the Popular Resistance Committees and Hamas yesterday demanded the prisoners' release in exchange for an Israeli soldier they abducted Sunday.

The women are accused of acts such as planning suicide bombings, aiding suicide bombers, preparing suicide-bomb belts, attacking Israeli soldiers with knives and being members of a terrorist organization.

"Sixty-four of the women and 91 of the youth have blood on their hands," prison authority spokeswoman Orit Stelster said.

While Hamas is the most infamous Palestinian organization, known for its attacks on civilians and its unwillingness to recognize Israel, most of the Palestinian women in Israeli jails are from Fatah, an organization that recognizes Israel's right to exist, to which Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas belongs and with which Israel is willing to negotiate.

"About 35 per cent of [the women prisoners] are from Fatah, about 20 per cent are from the Islamic Jihad and about 20 per cent are from Hamas," Ms. Stelster said. "The rest are from smaller terrorist groups."

Palestinian children in Israeli jails are boys ranging in age from 13 to 18. Most of them were jailed for carrying knives at Israeli military checkpoints or throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli military jeeps in the West Bank.

Recently it was revealed that boys are deliberately trying to get arrested by Israeli forces by carrying knives or simple bombs. The youths are poor and living under great duress, some in cities such as Nablus that are under siege for extended periods.

Notice how a Palestinian 18-year old in jail is considered a "child", yet a murdered 18-year old Jew is considered a "settler" by the media.

Booby-trapped donkey bravado

In an effort to strike fear into he hearts of the IDF:

An al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades Member, Abu Ahmed, told Ynet that despite the threats being heard, local organizations are preparing for the IDF incursion. "In previous invasions the Israeli side absorbed heavy losses in armored personnel carriers and jeeps that blew up, but this time we promise that the losses on the Israeli side will be much larger. We are preparing suicide bombers, car bombs, tunnels, and booby trapped donkeys. Everything that the Israelis encounter could turn out to be a deathtrap," he said.

Uh-oh. The Pals better watch out for PETA.

The bloodless war

Here we are, over 24 hours into the "massive" Israeli push into Gaza, and what's missing?

That's right - not one confirmed report of any deaths that I could find.

Check out Islam Online's coverage of the "invasion":

Trying to escape the large-scale Israeli military operation in Gaza which started early Wednesday, fearful Palestinian men, women and children- entire families- decided to pack and leave their homes in Gaza, seeking a safer place, stated an article on News24.
Thousands of Palestinians fled to the nearby town of Rafah, near the Gaza-Israel-Egypt border.
At 2 p.m. Wednesday, Israeli jets started firing missiles at the northern section of the city.

Armored personnel carriers were stationed outside northern Gaza to move in later in the day.

Challenging Israeli media reports, which claimed that the incursion into Gaza was met with weak resistance, Palestinian media reported that resistance fighters started building barricades and were preparing hideouts and ambush positions.

Palestinian television reported that the barbarous Israeli army was indiscriminately bombing the city.

In the north, Israeli warplanes hit a power station, sending clouds of black smoke into the sky. Correspondents reported that deafening explosions were heard as three bridges and a road were also targeted in a series of air raids carried out by the IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces).

Earlier in the day, the IOF took control of the abandoned airport in Dahaniyeh, which represents a strategic control and observation point over the area of Rafah and the southern Gaza Strip, and the town of Shuka in southern Gaza, in a move aimed at strengthening its positions in areas east of Rafah.

Amidst the horrific sound of fire from combat helicopters, horse-drawn carts loaded with fearful Palestinians leaving East Gaza, veiled mothers carrying their children walked along roads dimly lit by streetlamps, heading for family and friends’ houses in safer areas.

Ali Mussa, the director of Rafah hospital, told AFP that the hospital started preparing to receive any casualties caused by the unjustified and barbarous Israeli raid.

"We brought extra quantities of medicines and drugs. We are fully stocked with blood thanks to people donating in the last two days since we heard that Israeli forces were going to attack," the doctor said.

"We have increased the workload for our emergency teams. We cancelled all elective surgery. Our operating room has been ready for two days now only for emergencies," Mussa added.

Palestinian resistance organisations are warning the Israelis of unrelenting battles using significantly more firepower than in the past.

“The Israelis will pay a huge price,” Abu al-Majed, a spokesperson for the Palestinian President’s Fatah faction, once the ruling party, was quoted as saying.

“They will be entering a hornet's nest if they come again.”

An entire article about how awful Israel is...and they can't find a single Palestinian Arab with even a scratch to make news out of.

Operation Summer Rains livebloggers

Vital Perspective
Israellycool

Both doing an excellent job of keeping the world up to date.

Muslim opinions on Jews

The Pew Research Center conducted a poll showing (among other things) the attitudes of Muslims in various countries towards many issues. Here is one finding:

Their opinion towards Jews (not Zionists!) was unfavorable in these amounts:
Great Britain 47%
France 28%
Germany 44%
Spain 60%
Egypt 97%
Turkey 65%
Indonesia 72%
Jordan 98%

Another interesting finding is that in practically every country, Muslims did not believe that Muslims were behind 9/11.

No-op

In computer programming, a no-op is defined as

a computer instruction that takes up a small amount of space but specifies no operation. The computer processor simply moves to the next sequential instruction.

In hacker lingo it means someone who contributes nothing, who pretty much just takes up space.

Mahmoud Abbas is a quintessential no-op.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel on Wednesday of carrying out "crimes against humanity" with its incursion into Gaza Strip.

As usual, rather than leading and doing, Abbas is reduced to whining to any reporter who still hangs out around him. I'm surprised he hasn't yet characterized the operation as "genocide," "ethnic cleansing" and a "Holocaust." But it is only day one...he still has time.

He also seems to be implying that his people are humans, which seems to be a harder and harder assumption to make with each passing day.

Today's GoozNews: Israel assassinating thousands of scientists!

Iranian "news" once again scoops the world!

TEHRAN, June 27 (MNA) -- Reports published by the Arab media indicate that death squads connected with the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad have assassinated more than 2500 Iraqi scientists over the past three years.

Most of these scientists were specialists in the field of nuclear physics.

In addition, since the downfall of Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein, 3000 scientists, university professors, and engineers have been compelled to leave their country due to insecurity.

According to documents compiled by the Iraqi Human Rights Committee, after the U.S. occupation of Iraq, elements from the Mossad entered the country posing as technical and service company employees, and as a first step, started to collect information about young Iraqi physicists.

With the help of remnants of the former Baath regime, these Mossad agents then set ambushes and assassinated the scientists.

Israel has named this operation “curettage” because through these assassinations it wants to prevent the Iraqi government from making use of these scientists to regain its scientific status, rebuild its nuclear installations, and develop nuclear technology.

The Zionist regime is also threatening other academic figures in Iraq to convince them to leave their homeland, and there is a daily increase in the number of Iraqi scientists fleeing the country.

Naturally, over the past few years, various Iraqi government officials have informed the United States of their concerns about the assassination of the country’s scientific figures, but, unfortunately, these activities are continuing.

An unusual aspect of these assassinations is the fact that the Mossad agents usually choose targets from a particular religious group so as to also foment sectarian strife while physically eliminating the scientists.

The Mossad’s assassination strategy is not limited to Iraq but also targets prominent figures throughout the Islamic world.

Yeah, Israel seems really worried about the Iraqi nuclear program.

(Definition of GoozNews here.)

Arabs burying bombs in populated areas

Remember when Israel first mentioned the possibility that the Gaza family had been killed by a Hamas bomb buried on the beach? Pro-terror Hamas supporters scoffed that Hamas would never do something like that - bury explosives in areas that Palestinian Arab children might play.

Thanks to the AP photographers/terrorist groupies, we see that perhaps they would:

Palestinian militants set up an explosive device into a mount of sand in preparation for a possible Israeli army ground operation at the Jebaliy refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip Tuesday June 27, 2006.

By the way, why are there still refugee camps in Gaza? I thought it was the Israeli government that kept Palestinian Arabs in camps....

"Prisoner's Plan" too peaceful for Hamas

Surfing the news about the agreement between Fatah and Hamas shows in a very real way how poor the mainstream media is at real reporting:

New Hamas-Fatah Plan Recognizes Israel
Helena Independent Record, MT - 35 minutes ago
By IBRAHIM BARZAK. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The rival Hamas and Fatah movements agreed on a plan implicitly recognizing Israel, a ...
No recognition of Israel - Hamas
BBC Bulgaria, Bulgaria - 36 minutes ago
Rival Palestinian political factions Fatah and Hamas have reached agreement on a common political strategy to try to end a damaging power struggle....

Obviously getting real details about this plan is impossible from the likes of AP's Ibrahim Barzak.

What we do know is that the original "prisoner's plan" is not in any way, shape or form a recognition of Israel. We also know that Hamas has made clear many times, including today, that they will never recognize Israel, and that the AP is just lying.

What is not being reported is this little tidbit about how Hamas managed to change the plan so they would agree to it. Thanks to Islam Online, we can get a little closer to the truth:

The senior lawmaker told IOL the agreement came after changes introduced by the ruling Hamas movement to the original text.

The most important change is a phrase introduced in the preamble which stipulates that "rights are not written off by the passage of time."

Hamas believes this phrase will block any agreement that makes concessions on inalienable Palestinian rights.

The 18-point national reconciliation document also calls for "focusing" resistance attacks against Israeli forces in areas occupied in 1967.

The original text restricted resistance operations to areas occupied in 1967.

The amended text also calls for "working" to form a national unity government instead of the earlier call to form such a government.

So in the end, Hamas deleted the one part of the document that was remotely approaching anything that could be called partially moderate - the idea of not attacking Jewish grandmothers inside the "green line" - and changed it to allow that if they feel it is necessary.

It is a non-story, a joke that if anything proves Abbas' impotence.

Oh, and the logic that makes idiots like AP reporters believe that it accepts Israel? The document calls for establishing a state in the territories only to begin with, and by some perverted mind- twisting and squinting these people think that this means an acceptance of Israel.

Yeah, right.

Latest poll of peaceful Palestinian Arabs

Once again, that "tiny minority" of Palestinian Arabs who support terror continues to grow.

In the latest poll by the Palestine Center of Policy and Survey Research, taken in mid-June, it was found that 56% support terror attacks against civilians inside Israel. Even more amazing, when asked if they support the suicide terror attack that killed 11 Israelis in Tel Aviv in April, 69% supported it and 27% opposed it.

It seems that the tiny minority is now twice as big as the peaceful majority.

Good luck finding these results mentioned in the media.

(H/T: Jewish Current Issues)

Some joo humor

I've been unbelievably busy so instead of an original post, I might as well recycle some old material I just dredged up from around the web:

How to Spot a Joo

The Joo is such a danger, yet the average White Patriot
is not trained to spot them. The following guide will help:

You can tell a Joo because of their low intellectual level evidenced
by their complete animal like stupidity combined with their secret
plans which through careful organization over the last thousand years
have almost given them ultimate domination by control of the media,
educational, political, medical, and financial organizations of the world.

They have a total lack of even simple morals evidenced by their
evil documents such as the Ten Commandments.

Their low character and complete inability to devise even simple
original thought has forced them to make up for this by such
primitive actions such as the invention of the atomic bomb, cure
for polio, devlopment of physics theory, etc.

Their filthy ways, esp in food preparation are always a give away.

They were able to trick and then force the hapless innocent Romans
into killing Christ. How much more about love and forgiveness could
he have tought us if those animals had not killed him?

These people must be feared. Only through the White Christian
traits of generous love and faith can we send these animals to
the painful end they and their kind so richly deserve.
(Andrew Carol)

Local Jew Feels Left Out Of Worldwide Jewish Conspiracy

April 30, 1997 | Issue 31•16

SOUTHFIELD, MI—It is an hour past sunset on a brisk Thursday night, and, like their brethren around the globe, the Jews of this affluent Detroit suburb are gathered in synagogues, busily hatching plots for world domination through financial chicanery and media influence. But for Seth Nussbaum, it will be just another lonely evening.

Local Jew Feels Left Out Of Worldwide Jewish Conspiracy

Nussbaum

"For some reason, they've decided to leave me out of the worldwide Jewish conspiracy," said Nussbaum, a 34-year-old computer programmer. "And I can't say it doesn't hurt."

While his fellow Jews are controlling the flow of billions of dollars of international currency and brokering multi million-dollar entertainment deals, on this quiet night Nussbaum is making himself a frozen pizza and watching ER, far removed from any money beyond the $28,000 annual salary he receives from his job at Cyntech Industries.

"Who's to say I wouldn't enjoy hoarding a little gold every now and then?" he said, his voice tinged with bitterness. "Believe me, I'd love to be able to sneak around behind the scenes like the Elders of Zion, pulling the strings and holding the real power in society. But I guess when it comes to working the Jerusalem-New York-L.A. triangle, I just wasn't one of the chosen people."

Unlike millions of other Jews around the world, Nussbaum holds no sway over the media, has no powerful friends within the Wall Street banking community or the Trilateral Commission, and has never run a major Hollywood studio.

Enlarge Image Local Jew Feels Left Out Of Worldwide Jewish Conspiracy jump

Though its influence stretches to all corners of the globe, the worldwide Jewish conspiracy has, for mysterious reasons, neglected to include Southfield, MI, computer programmer Seth Nussbaum.

In fact, Nussbaum doesn't even own so much as his own production company. "Spielberg, Geffen, Ovitz, Eisner, Katzenberg—those are the Jews who control Hollywood," Nussbaum said. "And there's countless other Jews calling the shots at every level of the entertainment industry, from agents to producers to directors. But me? I probably couldn't even get the studio backing for a $15 to $20 million romantic comedy with a mid-level star like Matthew Broderick."

And despite being a regular subscriber to The New York Times for seven years, Nussbaum has no powerful connections among the Jews who own that and every other newspaper in the United States.

"As a left-leaning Jew, I should enjoy vast influence over the press. I should be able use the papers and television stations I own to forward my biased, liberal Jewish agenda and get Israel-supporting Democratic candidates elected to Congress," said Nussbaum, sitting on the old futon he uses as a couch. "But somehow, that's just not the case."

Spurned by his own kind, Nussbaum has not even been able to gain admittance into a secondary world-domination conspiracy like the Masons. "They turned down my application," he said, sighing deeply, "when they found out I was Jewish. I guess for now I'll just have to resign myself to being Seth Nussbaum, computer programmer and powerless Jew."

Hostages

Some background info:

International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages
ARTICLE 1

1. Any person who seizes or detains and threatens to kill, to injure or to continue to detain another person (hereinafter referred to as the "hostage") in order to compel a third party, namely, a State, an international intergovernmental organization, a natural or juridical person, or a group of persons, to do or abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the hostage commits the offence of taking of hostages ("hostage-taking") within the meaning of this Convention.
2. Any person who:
1. attempts to commit an act of hostage-taking, or
2. participates as an accomplice of anyone who commits or attempts to commit an act of hostage-taking likewise commits an offence for the purposes of this Convention.

Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, 8 June 1977.Protocol I, Art. 75

2. The following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever, whether committed by civilian or by military agents: (a) violence to the life, health, or physical or mental well-being of persons, in particular: (i) murder; (ii) torture of all kinds, whether physical or mental; (iii) corporal punishment; and (iv) mutilation;

(b) outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment, enforced prostitution and any form or indecent assault; (c) the taking of hostages; (d) collective punishments; and (e) threats to commit any of the foregoing acts.
Convention IV, Art. 147
Art. 147. Grave breaches to which the preceding Article relates shall be those involving any of the following acts, if committed against persons or property protected by the present Convention: wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement of a protected person, compelling a protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power, or wilfully depriving a protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial prescribed in the present Convention, taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.