Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Arabs love Ben Franklin - they can't stop printing his picture

I blogged last month about my theory that some of the $20 million that Zahar's "fundraising tour" raised may have in fact been counterfeit US currency. I had no evidence besides the fact that pristine $100 bills are not found in large quantities in the countries he visited.

Now, NBC news accidentally seems to have found another source for mint-condition US currency in the Middle East: (video from LGF, story from OpinionJournal):

(Video player requires Flash Player 8.)

As James Taranto notes:

A reader noticed something curious in a video from last night’s “NBC Nightly News.” Richard Engel, the network’s Beirut bureau chief, is reporting from southern Lebanon, and at 1:07 in the video, as he’s saying, “In Sidon, we found part of the financial district flattened,” you briefly see an image of what look like uncut sheets of U.S. hundred-dollar bills.
Now, it’s possible to buy uncut sheets from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, at premiums ranging from 12.5% to 275% over face value—but apparently only in denominations of up to $50. Anyhow, somehow we doubt these were collectibles.

A Treasury Department press release dated June 10, 2004, reports that Hezbollah has been involved in counterfeiting American money:
One of the most prominent and influential members of the Hizballah terrorist organization, along with two of his companies, was designated by the Treasury Department today under Executive Order 13224. Assad Ahmad Barakat has close ties with Hizballah leadership and has worked closely with numerous Islamic extremists and suspected Hizballah associates in South America’s tri-border area (TBA), made up of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. . . .
Barakat has also been involved in a counterfeiting ring that distributes fake U.S. dollars and generates cash to fund Hizballah operations. As of early 2001, Barakat was one of two individuals reportedly in charge of distribution and sale of the counterfeit currency in the TBA.
Was this funny money in Engel’s report from Sidon? We don’t know, but it’d be a good question for him to investigate.

It is a fair bet that much of the cash that made it to Gaza also originated in the "Sidon financial district."

UPDATE: An LGF reader pointed out that these look more like photocopies for the serial numbers rather than counterfeit currency.

Islamist newspaper cheering, exaggerating Israeli civilian deaths

A very good look into the mind of a depraved people can be found at kavkazcenter.com, a Chechen "news" website that is far enough away from the Middle East as to not be concerned about saying things that are politically correct. In other words, it is a rare unvarnished look at Islamic depravity in English (although much of the news comes from an Iranian "news" agency.)

For example, here's a bit of wishful thinking about the number of innocent civilians murdered in Haifa:

Hezbollah Rockets Kill Dozens of Zionists in Haifa, Scores Wounded
In retaliation to the unabated brutalities of the illegal Zionist entity, a rocket barrage by the Hezbollah defenders of Lebanon on Haifa in the northern part of the usurper state of "Israel" reportedly killed two Zionists and wounded 14 others on Sunday.
The actual fatality of Sunday's defensive missile barrage on Haifa is, however, believed to be in several dozens including the wounded. Because of tight censorship by Israel the exact casualty figures in the Zionist entity has been ignored by the Western media.

In a similar vein:

More Than 40 Zionists Killed, 90 Wounded on Sunday

In retaliation to the unabated atrocities of the Zionist entity against the civilians of Lebanon, the Hezbollah movement fired a barrage of 170 missiles on Sunday on mostly military and industrial sites in the northern part of Occupied Palestine inflicting considerable damage and resulting in the death of over 40 Zionists and injury to over 90 others.

It's hard not to see the pride that the Islamists feel at the mythical murder of dozens of civilians, even though in the next breath they castigate Israel for doing exactly that.

The amount of time they spend trying to spin shooting rockets into Haifa as "defensive" is pretty funny, too.

A short BBC note

From Stephen Pollard:

If you watched yesterday’s Andrew Marr programme on BBC1, you would have seen a British TV landmark. To judge from its contents, the programme was the first to have been edited by the leader of Hezbollah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.

Most of it was, rightly, given over to the events in the Middle East. But of the four guests interviewed, not one had anything but bile to pour over Israel. Up first was Glenys Kinnock MEP, remarking how “heartening” it is that the Middle East minister, Kim Howells, has begun “a shifting of ground away from defence of Israel”. Alongside her was Matthew Parris, who repeated the hostile views he has already made clear to Times readers. A Lebanese minister followed. Then Sir Menzies Campbell, a man whose entire career has been spent attacking Israeli policy, whatever it happens to be.

All were treated with deference by Andrew Marr, as he invited them to honour us with their sagacity.
Not that we should be surprised. The BBC’s coverage has been overwhelmingly one-sided, with presenters and reporters editorialising against what they universally refer to as “Israeli attacks on Lebanon”.

Right at the beginning it was clear how the BBC would cover the operation, when a film on Newsnight concluded with the reporter, Peter Marshall, remarking across a picture of a blown-up bridge: “All this destruction. And still more threatened” — as if the Israelis are on some kind of wilful destruction spree, dropping bombs for the sheer hell of it, rather than taking action to destroy Hezbollah’s capacity to murder any more Israelis.

On Saturday the BBC’s website helpfully carried full details of the assembly points for that day’s anti-Israel march. Nowhere did it give the same detail for yesterday’s rally in support of Israel.

See also this response from a BBC secret Zionist.

Outrageous bias at AFP

A Palestinian boy stands on the rubble of his apartment destroyed overnight by Israeli air attack in Gaza City. The US government views the conflict in Lebanon through the "war on terror" context, ignoring any nationalist goals of Hezbollah and Hamas, which could re-emerge strengthened by the crisis.(AFP/Hrvoje Polan)

The first thing that AFP didn't bother telling the readers is that the apartment building had a missile factory and that Israel dropped leaflets to tell residents to leave.

But the second sentence is astonishing. Hezbollah sends thousands of rockets towards civilians in Israel and AFP is castigating the US for not seeing the big picture, that Hezbollah only wants a state - that just happens to be in exactly the same place that Israel is?

The US has consistently called for a two-state solution, so to say that it ignores "nationalist goals" of terror groups means that AFP supports the destruction of Israel.

Because those are the nationalist goals of Hamas and Hezbollah.

And the comment that the terror groups "could re-emerge strengthened by the crisis" sounds like nothing less than wishful thinking.

Israel's 9/11 moment?

After reading this article, I can't help but think that the Hizbollah attacks against Israel is doing to the Israeli Left what 9/11 did to the American Left - make them look like fools.

In every other terror attack the Israeli Left (which is as wacky as anything the Americans or Europeans can come up with) would always find some reason to justify the attack - and almost always it was the magic word "occupation," the mantra that could be repeated over and over without any thought, the reason to end all reasons. The poor Palestinian Arabs who had to live under such brutal conditions lost their very free will - they had no choice but to enter ice cream shops and pizza parlors and blow themselves up!

The argument is idiotic but that's not the point - it was an accepted fact among the Left and it neatly justified any level of depravity the Palestinian Arabs could come up with. I often thought that if they would turn their own children into human Molotov Cocktails, tossing them at Israeli civilians, the Left would still write articles about how the "occupation" is so horrendous that they had no choice.

The Right would point out that radical Islam aims to take over the world, that it is not occupation that rankles Arabs as much as the very existence of Israel, that ordinary Arabs fared far better under the "occupation" than they ever did under Arab rule - and would be dismissed as crackpots, lacking in nuance.

In the wake of 9/11 there was born a new generation of "9/11 Republicans" - people who are still liberal on topics such as abortion and women's rights and other social issues, but who became hawkish when it came down to defending the lives of Americans. They realized that no American policy brought about 9/11, but the responsibility belongs wholly to the jihadists. They realized that in the end, people are responsible for their own actions and some people really are evil and malicious.

Now, the Left at large can be divided into two parts - those who actually think and those who embrace the movement out of ulterior motives, usually self-hate. A large percentage of the Left's thinkers broke ranks with the airhead, Vanity Fair-reading, Hollywood worshipping, vacuous twits who blame America for every perceived evil in the world and congratulate themselves on having the guts to criticize America in a free society.

It very well may be that Hizbollah's attacks on Israel, without the fig leaf of "occupation" as a motive, is doing the very same to Israel's Left. Here Israel played by the liberal playbook to the letter - withdrawing from Lebanon, behind UN-drawn lines. By the rules of the game written by the Left themselves, that should have been that - Hizbollah would become a gardening club and Lebanon will be able to build a strong state. The Left was convinced that Hizbollah had no more motive to attack Israel, and the Hizbollah charter that calls for Israel to be destroyed is just so much exaggerated rhetoric that the cute Arabs like to engage in, a cute cultural habit like bargaining at the souk.

The current terror war shows that such thinking was not just naive, but it was deadly. And as a result, Israel may see the same kind of schism that the US sees - a fringe, unrepentant Left who gets more and more loony and deluded, and a new center-right that just woke up and will be re-examining the wisdom of surrendering land when the vacumms created are invariably filled with the most foul, immoral terrorists that exist.

This sums it up

Hat tip to commenter jhrhv for pointing me to this excellent graphic (origin unknown):

Today's wire service bias

Yesterday, there was an anti-Israel demonstration in London, attended by thousands of people.

Today, there was a pro-Israel demonstration in London, attended by thousands of people.

So one would think that the media coverage of both demonstrations would be roughly similar?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Compare for yourself:
Yahoo photos with keywords "israel london"
Google news with keywords "israel london demonstration"

There is some coverage of the demonstration for Israel - in British news sources and in Israel. Very few other sources could be found.

But the coverage of the pro-terror, pro-Hizbollah rallies in London are plentiful - almost invariably called "peace" rallies. For example, a few paragraphs into this Australian news story "Global protests held for peace" comes this telling detail:

"Stop the killing, stop to the bombs. Israel out of Lebanon," shouted the peaceful protesters, many draped in Lebanese or Palestinian flags, while others yelled: "Hizbollah is here to stay. Zionism go away."

Calling that a "peace" rally is something only news editors can do with a straight face.

Elder Tzedakah challenge expanded - 6 more charities for matching contributions

First of all, thank to my readers. As you can see in the sidebar, we have already raised over $360 for Israel and I have matched each amount donated.

Thanks to Backspin, I have a list of a few more worthy organizations that need our help. Here are the ones that had easy-to-access web forms and can take credit cards:

One Family Fund - directly helps victims of terror and their families.
JNF Operation Security Blanket - send kids from the North to summer camps in central Israel for a few days at a time
WIZO Emergency Fund - provides shelters and food for displaced families
Meir Panim - feeds many poor Israelis; providing emergency food and medical equipment to victims
Israel Free Loan Association - helps families get back on their feet with dignity
Kids 4 Kids - program for kids worldwide to help Israeli child victims of terror

These are in addition to the five charities I listed before that you can see on the sidebar. Go to their websites, give generously, and email me at elderchallenge-at-gmail.com and I will match it until we hit our limit (currently $1000.)

Israelis leaving their homes in the north to avoid rockets being referred to as "refugees."
Any call for international aid to repair damage to Israeli cities from thousands of Hezbollah rockets.
"We support the goal of removing Hezbollah from Lebanon."

One Israeli's View (Bob Rosenschein)

Buried in the Washington Post's blog is this great posting: (H/T Rishon Rishon)

The great Yogi Berra once said, "In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is."

I am not a columnist - just an ordinary American citizen living in Israel - but I have gained some insight into both cultures, some might say mentalities. Here is what many Israelis are feeling nowadays.

The first point concerns some unwritten American values I grew up with:

* Problems are solvable.
* Good will is returned in kind.
* In general, favor the underdog over the top dog (unless you're the top dog).
* If two sides are fighting, they must both have some justification.
* Be reasonable; split the difference.

But what if you are living in a neighborhood where they are not quite as reasonable as you? Where your attempts to reason and split the difference backfire? Or worse, where concession is laughed at as weakness.

The second point concerns Israel in particular. We are 6.6 million people, toughened but pragmatic. At 8,020 square miles, we have an area 25% smaller than Maryland. The difference is that, unlike America's vast power, with oceans and peaceful neighbors on all sides, the Jewish state is surrounded on several sides with people who actually want to kill us. Not subdue us - destroy our country.

It would be convenient to think that this must be because of something we did. But Hamas and Hezbollah say it out loud and crystal clear. The "occupation" is the whole works. Their final solution is the total destruction of Israel. Iran, a member state of the UN, holds conferences called "A World Without Israel."

This is the backdrop against which most civilized countries would have us turn the other cheek. As social writer Eric Hoffer once said, "We really do expect the Jews to be the only good Christians in the world."

To put things in perspective, imagine, if you can, that Arlington lobbed 1,000 shells at Georgetown. Or sent suicide bombers. How exactly would you react? Imagine that Mexico was calling for the destruction of the United States, backing it up with cross-border raids and missiles.

The third point is that Israel already withdrew from every last inch of southern Lebanon and Gaza, as the international community demanded. But the provocations and terror - violence aimed intentionally against civilian targets - continued. This is why we entered this conflict. Enough is enough.

This is a horrible situation to be in, fighting Hezbollah behind its human shields. But before bombing southern Lebanon and the Hezbollah neighborhoods of Beirut, Israel dropped leaflets encouraging evacuation. Confronted with terrible choices, we are trying to fight while minimizing civilian casualties.

It was wishful thinking to hope that joining the government would make Hamas and Hezbollah more responsible. Sometimes putting the bully in charge of the playground works, and sometimes it doesn't.

The operative emotion in Israel right now is sadness, sadness for what is being done to us, sadness for what we must do to defend ourselves. The missiles shot at Haifa landed a few miles from the research labs of Intel, IBM, Microsoft and Google. Israelis would much rather continue working on desalination, stroke treatment, and alternative fuels (see www.israel21c.org). We would rather that our adversaries developed their own economies pragmatically.

We hate this conflict, but we will not commit suicide. As Golda Meir said, "We will have peace when our enemies love their children more than they hate ours."

My father was a survivor of Auschwitz and Buchenwald, was the most optimistic person I ever knew, but he once taught me, "Above all else, when someone threatens to kill you or your loved ones - just believe him!"

The lesson for America is simple. Do not hide from international responsibility. Do not assume the oceans offer protection. Iran is behind Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria, and, of course, the insurgents in Iraq. If Iran gets nuclear bombs, do you want to bet they won't sponsor a radical Islamic group to eradicate American cities?

You want to know what Israelis are thinking? Theory and practice are intertwined. We are on the front line, but we will show patience and strength. That's why 89% of Israelis, Left, Right and Center, support the army right now. A mere 61 years and 10 weeks after V-E day, we know that evil and blind hatred exist. And that they can be beaten.

-- Bob Rosenschein is CEO of Answers.com (NASD:ANSW); he can be reached at rrosenschein at gmail.com; this piece reflects his own views

HH LXXIX is out!

Life-of-Rubin hosts this weeks' Haveil Havalim 79, best of the JBlogosphere. Lots of links including many to postings about the current "matzav."

He links to my fundraising campaign for Israel where I will match your donations this week to 5 Israeli charities, up to $1000. The running total of donations is on my sidebar.

It's a great round-up, so check it out!

Mosques used to store weapons. But don't touch the Korans!

From Arutz Sheva:

The Meron A-Ras area of southern Lebanon has been taken by IDF ground troops. The Hizbullah bunkers in, around and below the village have all been raided and the IDF has now stationed troops in the village. Security forces in the area report scores of Katyusha shells, missile storage areas and missile-launchers, which were concealed in the village's mosque.

From YNet:

“We searched through the village carefully, we went house to house, and we found three sites where Hizbullah operatives had been hiding out. We could tell by the flak jackets, helmets, and even the cups of coffee still sitting on the table – but the Hizbullah men apparently fled when we entered. We also found a lot of ammunitions, including weapons, Lau rocket launchers in the yard of a mosque, binoculars, and various rockets,” said battalion commander Lt. Col. Wajadee.

Wajadee said the terrorists used sites in the village to survey and collect information on Israeli communities across the border. An 80-year-old Lebanese man, who remained nearly alone in the town, told soldiers that residents did not cooperate with Hizbullah, but Hizbullah forced themselves on the village and used the residents in operations against Israel.

Just waiting for the massive worldwide Muslim protests in Pakistan and Indonesia that people actually use mosques for storing deadly weapons.

Just waiting for the freedom-loving protesters in Canada and Europe to show outrage over Hezbollah taking an entire town hostage.

I'm sure the protests are being organized right now. Any minute we will be seeing lots of photos and news coverage. Right?

Elder Tzedakah Challenge extended!

I only received one reply to my Tzedakah Challenge, so my ego from the thousands of page hits I got in the past ten days has been properly deflated.

Nevertheless, I am serious about wanting to match $1000 in contributions given to the Israeli charities listed by any readers. Other bloggers, feel free to repost the modified posting below:
-----------------------------------------

Between now and July 28, for any money that you donate to one of the Israeli charities listed below, I will match it, up until we get to a total of $1000.

After you donate, copy your receipt and email it to elderchallenge-at-gmail.com (you should XXX out the credit card number.) Or we can use the honor system if you are paranoid; just let me know. Afterwards, I will match your contributions to the charity or charities you chose. I will try to keep updated blog entries throughout the week showing a running total.

At this time, the total is only $50, so let's please get moving!

Here are the organizations you can donate to, all via the web:

BurgerIDF.org and PizzaIDF.org delivers great food and morale to the brave soldiers defending their land.

Zaka is the world famous organization that offers first response service to terror attacks.

American Friends of Magen David Adom.

Yad Sarah is bringing medical equipment to the northern communities that are under attack.

Friends of the IDF provides equipment and morale-boosting for the soldiers.

Special note to readers who claim to be anti-Zionist but not anti-Jewish: you should have no problem contributing to Zaka, Yad Sarah and MDA. Let's see you put your money where your mouth is!

תזכו למצוות

(The email address will be disabled after the challenge is over.)

A stomach-turning post

The sickening face of the mass-murderer Nasrallah is popping up all over the world. He has no shortage of people who love him and his genocidal plans.

In Berlin...

Pakistan...

Switzerland...

Ramallah....

Iraq....

Syria...

Tehran...

Bahrain...

Caracas....

Sudan...

Egypt....

San Francisco seemed to avoid showing pictures of Nasrallah, but their sentiments were clear as well...

But sometimes I don't mind seeing his picture. Like this one, found in the ruins of a building in Beirut hit by Israeli warplanes:

International peacekeepers?

As the UN and the EU call for international peacekeepers in Lebanon, a simple fact seem to have been forgotten:

They are already there.

Since 1978, the UN has had UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) set up. And since 1978, they have not lifted a single finger to stop rocket attacks towards Israel.

Since then, they have not lifted a finger to stop Hizbollah from building a full army under their noses.

Since then, they have not lifted a finger when Hizbollah built military posts right next to UNIFIL posts.

Since then, they have been sipping tea with Hizbollah, they witnessed the fatal kidnapping of Israeli soldiers in 2000 and refused to even help in the investigation, and they have failed miserably to live up to their mandate:

* Confirm the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon;
* Restore international peace and security;
* Assist the Government of Lebanon in ensuring the return of its effective authority in the area.

In other words, they have been firm supporters of the terrorist Hizbollah organization and firm enemies of Israel (as well as Lebanon.) But Lebanon found them useful as well, because as long as they were in Southern Lebanon the Lebanese army could pretend that Hizbollah was not their problem.

Combine this with the fact that the UN refuses to declare Hizbollah a terrorist organization (perhaps they are a origami club?) and you have a completely immoral organization lecturing Israel about morality.

H/T Atlas Shrugs

As Jed Babbin writes:

The U.N.'s years-long record on the Israel-Lebanon border makes mockery of the term "peacekeeping." On page 155 of my book, "Inside the Asylum," is a picture of a U.N. outpost on that border. The U.N. flag and the Hezbollah flag fly side by side. Observers told me the U.N. and Hezbollah personnel share water and telephones, and that the U.N. presence serves as a shield against Israeli strikes against the terrorists.