Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Arabs destroy Tu B'Shevat trees

Tu B'Shevat, on the Hebrew calendar, marks the New Year for trees. Although this has various Jewish legal ramifications, in modern Israel it means that this was the traditional time to plant new trees.

From Arutz Sheva:

An American-born leftist and liberal rabbi led Arabs and foreign activists in an effort to prevent thousands of school children in the B'nai Akiva movement from planting trees in honor of Tu B'Shevat, the Jewish New Year for Trees.

The children this past week began to hike up a hill at the industrial area of the southern Hevron Hills, between Be'er Sheva and Hevron, in order to plant more than 5,000 pine and cedar trees.

Liberal rabbi Arik Ascherman, a few other left wing activists and several Arabs, stood in their path.

The police, fearing a confrontation, told the children not to continue until authorities from the Civil Lands Administration arrived and showed Ascherman documents and permits proving that the land belongs to the regional council. Regional council official Akiva London said permits were obtained for the event.

As Ascherman left the area, children overheard him say, "There is day and there is night." Two nights later, vandals uprooted approximately half of the 5,000 cedar and pine trees that the children had planted. Footprints leading to nearby Arab shacks indicated the source of the damage.

"How do you explain to children that Arabs uprooted trees they planted with their own hands?" asked Akiva London, an official of the southern Hevron Hills.

...The regional council is carrying out re-planting of the trees that survived the vandalism and plans to build a fence and install a surveillance camera in the area to prevent future more uprootings.

This is another great opportunity to point out Elder's First Rule of Arab (and Muslim) Projection: Arabs will project their own crimes and worldviews on everyone else. In this case, Arabs are far more guilty of destroying Jewish-owned trees than Jews are of Arab-owned trees. Yet you will never see the mainstream media mention that fact.

Saudi price to build hotel - in Tel Aviv

From YNet:

Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is in negotiations to build a hotel on Tel Aviv's coastline.

Two architects have already started working on the project. The one is Bin Talal's private architect, who had worked with him on oriental hotels across the world, Basel al-Beiti. The other is former Tel Aviv Chief City Engineer, Yisrael Gudovich.

The planned project is a joint venture with the Abulafya family, which owns a structure on a 1-acre plot on Herbert Samuel Street.

According to the blueprints submitted to the Tel Aviv Municipality, an eight-story, 150-room hotel is planned to be built on the site.

Bin Talal is the nephew of the late Saudi King Faisal, and is believed to be worth $26.4 billion.

Mughrabi Gate webcam up and running

It can be seen here at the Israel Antiquities Authority website. (The site works best with Internet Explorer.)

There are no further digs until Sunday morning. It looks like it is raining in Jerusalem at the moment.

Already some amazing things have been found, like a Byzantine mosaic.

Will the webcam convince any nutty Muslims who are just itching to riot that Israel has no intentions of harming the Al Aqsa mosque? Of course not, but at least Western liberals who still have half a brain will be able to see that Israel has nothing to hide.

UPDATE: AP confirms my suspicions:

However, angry Muslims said they were not satisfied with the cameras.
"This procedure is not enough," said Ismail Radwan, a spokesman for the militant Palestinian group Hamas. "The Zionist enemy is engaging in trickery and continuing its digging. We don't trust these procedures."

Public domain English Talmud translations

Just messing around in Google Books, and I discovered:

Rodkinson's translation of Rosh Hashanah (Rabbi J. Leonard Levy, 1895)
Rodkinson's translation of Shabbath (Rodkinson and Isaac Wise, 1896)
Rodkinson's Shekalim and Rosh Hashanah (1901)
A Christian translation of Chagigah (Annesley William Streane, 1891)

Rodkinson usually only translated an abridged form of each mesechta, ignoring aggadata and what he considered irrelevant segues.

I didn't look too closely at the Streane Chagigah but just its existence is interesting. There were a number of Christian books about the Talmud in the late 19th century, all seemingly in the wake of a book about the Talmud written by Emanuel Deutsch in 1874. One interesting one was "The Criminal Code of the Jews: According to the Talmud Massecheth Synhedrin" by one Philip Berger Benny, who originally wrote it as a series of columns for a British newspaper!

But if you are really interested in such things, look at the English Hebraica blog.

Another horrible example of Israeli apartheid

Since this is Israeli Apartheid Week, I would be remiss not to contribute a small example from the Palestinian Arab Ma'an News (English):

Bethlehem - Ma'an - Issa Al-Zananiri, 25, is an engineering graduate of Birzeit University near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Originally from the Jerusalem suburb of Beit Hanina, Al-Zananiri applied after completing his undergraduate degree to study a Masters in Engineering at the Israeli 'Technion' Institute of Technology in Haifa.

At Technion, Al-Zananiri found himself under the supervision of a professor who had lost his father in an armed operation against an Israeli bus in Egypt in 1990. Issa only discovered the truth about the supervisor, Yoram Shifton, while preparing for his interview for acceptance on Tecnhion's higher education program.

Issa told the Israeli newspaper 'Yedioth Ahranoth', "I arrived at the interview with many fears interacting inside me but I only found in my supervisor cooperation and help, far from any aggressive atmosphere."

When Zananiri arrived at the "Technion" institute, he did not know Hebrew and so he began studying it from home, making use of dictionaries, the internet and television.

As Zananiri's family home is on the West Bank side of the wall that runs through the suburb of Beit Hanina, Issa also greatly relied on the help of his supervisor to obtain the necessary permit to enter Israel for his Masters. Shifton stood by him until he graduated and then helped him obtain a job in the company "BGL1", which specializes in public transportation planning and is responsible for the planning of the proposed light railway in Tel Aviv in Israel.

Issa said, "They accepted me to work with them without hesitation because of the recommendation of my higher studies' supervising professor".

Issa describes himself as a Palestinian who, during his studies at Birzeit University, opposed the bombing operations and even the throwing of stones at Israeli cars. He said that he is grateful for being absorbed into the Israeli community. He currently lives in an apartment with his brother in Haifa and works in Tel Aviv in the planning team of the city's trains.

So the terrible apartheid state of Israel allows a Palestinian Arab who opposes terror to work on its public transportation system that has been attacked and bombed numerous times by other Palestinian Arabs.

A professor whose father was murdered by other Arabs is his main champion.

Yup - this sounds exactly like the Israel that is being described by the idiots behind "Israel Apartheid Week."

Bonus question: where is it safer for Zananiri to live, among the racist Jews in Haifa or among the patriotic PalArabs of Beit Hanina, especially after this interview where he stated that he was against "even" stone-throwing at Israeli cars?

Guess who Iran blames for the Lebanon bus bombings?

The question is rhetorical.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini on Tuesday condemned bombings in Bikfaya in Lebonan.

"These explosions are suspicious activities which are in the service of the Zionist regime," he said in a statement.

Hosseini also said the bombings were carried out "to target Lebanese people and their solidarity and resistance against the plots of the Zionist regime".

Aid to PA skyrockets: rich get richer, poor get poorer, Hamas gets more powerful

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics just released an interesting report:

The president of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Luay Shabaneh, has revealed that the rich in the occupied Palestinian territories became richer and the poor became poorer over 2006, in spite of the international community aid which amounted to some US $816 million in 2006, compared with $ 352 million in 2005.

Speaking in a forum organized by the ministry of information in Nablus in the north of the occupied West Bank, Shabaneh added that the rich and the poor accounted for 10 percent each of the national income in 2005, but in 2006 the rich people accounted for 36 percent of the national income and the poor were only accounting for 3 percent.

I've seen other numbers showing how aid has increased to the PalArabs under the "boycott":

The European Union in 2006 gave 27 percent more aid to the Palestinians than in 2005, about €700 million, or $910 million, through a mechanism designed to aid individuals but formally bypass the Hamas-led government.

Even according to the PCBS, the amount of international aid skyrocketed in 2006 despite the "international boycott." This aid was meant specifically for the poorest of the PalArabs and supposedly bypassed the Hamas-run PA. Yet somehow, the rich Palestinian Arabs managed to get much richer and the poor seem to have received very little of this aid, all under the watchful eyes of the non-corrupt Hamas-led PA. (The report itself is not yet available on their webpage.)

The corruption in the PA is endemic, widespread and staggering.

Yet international aid organizations are ready to blame everyone but the Palestinian Arabs themselves. Oxfam just came out with a report showing that millions of euros are wasted in bank charges and therefore recommends giving money directly to the terrorists again - but completely ignores that even with this waste, Palestinian Arabs are getting far more aid than the previous year.

Interestingly, the EU aid mechanism and the US and Olmert's attempts to bypass Hamas and support Abbas has ended up supporting Hamas itself, by relieving the pressure on Hamas to provide basic services. As a Palestinian Arab wrote in the Yemen Observer last week:

The US, European countries, and Fatah leaders pledged that Hamas would not stay in power for more than three of four months due to Palestinian public pressure after discovering that Hamas will not be able to run a government isolated politically and financially. But observers see that Hamas will not make any concessions or leave governance without a pressure from the Palestinian street. With a Palestinian people taking salaries and grants from international community and Israel via Abbas, there is no need to change the Hamas Government.

It is ironic, but not surprising, that the methods meant to bolster the "moderate" PalArab terrorists have ended up strengthening the "extreme" PalArab terrorists.

Time for some good news

The Tel Aviv stock exchange hit record highs today.

Investors are rarely philanthropic. They are out to make money, and as such, a stock market is usually a pretty good indicator of the thinking of the smartest financial minds in the world (there are exceptions, of course, when a herd mentality or fad takes over.)

It is remarkable that - even with the threats facing Israel every day - it is considered a very good place to invest.

Who's afraid of the truth?

As I've mentioned before, the major problem that Arabs have with any digs in Jerusalem has nothing to do with mosques, holy places or weakening foundations. Their major concern is that they don't want anything Jewish to be found by archaeologists, because they want to keep their myths alive that Jerusalem has no Jewish history.

Another proof that the issue is "Judaizing" and not anything else comes from the Palestine Center for Human Rights press release concerning the digs, with the headline "As the International Community Remains Silent, Israeli Occupation Authorities Continue the Judaization of Occupied Arab Jerusalem."

Again applying Elder's First Rule of Arab Projection, let's look at the Palestinian National Commission for Education, Culture and Science webpage and specifically its page about Jerusalem.

Almost nothing is mentioned about any Jewish rule or influence in Jerusalem's history. No David, no Solomon, and the Second Temple is only mentioned as possibly existing for less than a century. Here's the only section (out of 30) that acknowledges any Jewish claims on the area, and interestingly it is the only section that does not include a picture:

23. Al-Buraq (The Western Wall, Wailing Wall)

One of the Islamic holy places, this wall is part of the western wall of the Haram al-Sharif. It is named after al-Buraq (the elevation) that carried the prophet Mohammad (Peace be upon him) on his journey from Mecca to Jerusalem. Moslems believe that it was tied up at this site.

The Jews called it the Wailing Wall. They claim it as part of the wall around their Temple that was built by Herod the Great in 18 BC and was destroyed by Titus in 70 AD. It is a holy place for them and they used to weep whenever they visited it, thence the name Wailing Wall.

The site is an endowment of the Algerian family Abu Midain. In the reign of Muhammad Ali Basha Jews used to obtain permits to visit the site in return for 300 pounds a year. During the British Mandate some Jews broke the “status quo” by bringing seats, lamps and curtains and claiming it as their property. The result was a revolt, called the al-Buraq revolt, of August 1929. More than 116 martyrs fell, 232 people were injured, 1000 were imprisoned and three were executed, namely Ata al-Zear, Muhammad Jamjaum and Fu’ad Hijazi.

The decision was taken in 1930 that the Moslems are the sole owners of the wall, but Jews were given the right to pray there under the conditions stipulated by the committee.

The simple fact is that Jews, by digging in Jerusalem, are not afraid of what will be found. Jerusalem archaeology is replete with finds from not only Jewish periods of history but also Byzantine, Roman, Islamic and Jebusite. This is not considered a threat, as the truth is not something to be feared.

But even a cursory look at this one entry in the Palestinian Arab "educational" site shows that the truth is the furthest thing from the minds of those who create the PalArab educational curriculum - it is nothing short of brainwashing. To mention the 1929 riots purely in terms of numbers of Arabs killed (by the British, not Jews) and to ignore the massacres against Jews in Hebron, Tzfat and Jerusalem is astonishing.

And this aversion to truth, and stubborn adherence to clear lies, is endemic even among the Arab intelligentsia. Look at this article that has been spread widely among Arab and far left website in the past day by "journalist" Nicola Nasser:

The eye of the present storm is Bab al-Magharibah, located in the southern section of al-Haram al-Sharif's western wall, which connects Al Aqsa Mosque compound with Jerusalem's southern neighborhoods; it was used by the residents of the Magharibah Quarter which was demolished by Israeli bulldozers in June 1967 to build the “Jewish Quarter” in its place. On 28 September, 2000, the comatose former Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, used Bab al- Magharibah as his entry point to “visit” the Haram al-Sharif, igniting a firestorm of protest and sparking the Al Aqsa Intifada (uprising), which brought the peace process to a deadlock until now. In August of 1929, the same site sparked an uprising known in Palestinian political literature as the “Al-Buraq Revolt.”

Al-buraq is the Arab-Islamic name of Al Aqsa compound’s western wall, which the Jews called the “Wailing Wall” before changing it to the “Western Wall (of the Temple Mount, a widely-spread knowledge that has yet to be vindicated by historical fact or archeological findings) after the creation of Israel in 1948. The Israeli Occupying power after its overwhelming victory in 1967 confiscated by force the keys to Bab al-Magharibah from the Islamic Waqf to make them ever since Israel’s “Achilles’ heel” or “Joha's nail” to claim its imposed “partnership” on the Haram al-Sharif, later using that self-proclaimed “partnership” at the Camp David negotiations in 2000 to demand joint sovereignty over the mosque area.

How many lies can you find in this article? But these lies are the currency of discourse among Arabs, and their greatest fear is the existence of hundreds of Jewish buildings, ritual baths, coins, pottery shards, Hebrew inscriptions and other evidence of how Jerusalem has been the center of the Jewish universe since King David.

Finding this evidence - uncovering the truth - is the greatest fear of the Arabs.

It's time again to play: Who's Telling the Truth?

Palestinian Arab news:

Gaza – Ma'an - Palestinian security sources said that 20 year old, Mohammad Shakir Sa'eedi, a member of the Al Aqsa Brigades, the main military wing of Fatah, was killed by Israeli forces, east of Gaza City on Tuesday morning.

Medical sources said that an ambulance that was transporting two injured Palestinians, including Sa'eedi, was targeted by the Israeli forces, Sa'eedi died and the other sustained serious wounds.

Eyewitnesses said that Sa'eedi was injured along with another man in an armed clash with the Israeli forces, near the border fence east of the Gaza Strip, medical sources confirmed the injury of two Palestinians on Tuesday morning, and told Ma'an that the Israeli forces shot at the ambulance while transporting the two men at 8 am.

Israeli news:

A Palestinian man was killed during a gun battle between an armed cell belonging to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Fatah, and IDF forces near the Karni crossing in northern Gaza.

The cell was carrying an explosive device, which detonated during the exchange of fire, killing one of the gunmen.

The Karni goods crossing has been a frequent target of attacks in the past. (Hanan Greenberg and Ali Waked).

Which one passes the smell test?

Wafa and IMEMC Palestinian Arab sources don't mention a thing about them being in an ambulance.

UPDATE: YNet adds much more detail now:

A Palestinian was killed Tuesday morning in exchanges of fire which erupted near the Karni crossing between Israel Defense Forces soldiers and gunmen of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Fatah's military wing.

During the exchanges of fire, an explosive device belonging to the gunmen exploded, killing one of them. Kalashnikov rifles were found in the area.

Shortly before 9 a.m., IDF soldiers spotted two gunmen attempting to plant an explosive device on the border fence near the Karni crossing. Soldiers from the Givati Brigade arrived at the area and exchanges of fire erupted between the troops and the gunmen.

During the exchanges of fire, the gunmen's explosive device exploded, killing one of them. The soldiers searched for the other gunman.

IDF officials estimated that the two planned to carry out a terror attack, as rifles and weapons were found in the area.

Palestinian sources reported that the man killed in the incident was Muhammad Saidi, 20, a member of the al-Aqsa Brigades.

Egyptian MP would rather see Al-Aqsa destroyed than Israeli dig

From Reuters:

'That cursed Israel is trying to destroy al-Aqsa mosque,' Mohamed el-Katatny of President Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party (NDP) told a heated parliament session held to discuss the Israeli digging.

'Nothing will work with Israel except for a nuclear bomb that wipes it out of existence,' he said.

Is there any clearer indicator of Arab intentions towards Israel?

Is there any clearer indicator of how little importance the "Noble Sanctuary" has in Arab thought, to say that it is preferable for it to be blown to bits than to have Jews have any control over it?

PalArab self-death count update

Two Arab alleged "collaborators" were murdered today near Ramallah - including a man who murdered his own brother.

Our counts of Palestinian Arabs violently murdered by other PalArabs has now risen to 318 killed since Operation Summer Rains and 113 killed just this year.

UPDATE: A corpse was found in a Gaza cemetery, shot dead. 319 and 114.

UPDATE 2: The brother of the general whose house was torched by Hamas in January has died from his wounds in that attack. 320 and 115.

UPDATE 3: A man near Jericho tried to kill his pregnant wife in an apparent honor killing and stabbed his 14-month old daughter to death. 321 and 116.

GAZA, February 12, 2007 (WAFA) - Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) condemned Monday the diggings near Al-Aqsa mosque, warning of the ramifications of agitating Muslims' feelings.

In a press release, GCMHP expressed its full condemnation for this dangerous act that harms holy places and highly inflames Muslims feelings.

"The diggings and destruction to the Mosque is considered a clear provocation to Muslims worldwide and a blatant violation of the principles of the international law, particularly, the fourth Geneva Convention that prohibits the destruction of civilian properties - especially holy places," according to the press release.

"Such acts bring memories back to what Al-Aqsa was previously exposed to of incidents that violated its sacredness and led to eruption of violence in the region."

GCMHP stressed that Al-Aqsa Mosque represents a significant part of Palestinian and all Muslims' identity all over the world. As a result, says GCMHP, any damage to the mosque is considered a direct harm to the identity of all Muslims, which may result in eruption of instability in many parts of the world.

GCMHP added it views this provocative act, politically supported and covered by the Israeli government yesterday, as a way of igniting feelings of anger and congestion of all Muslims, and lead to reactions that may convert the whole region and the international community into a vicious cycle of violence and counter-violence and clashes between religions and civilizations in a manner that endangers the world peace and stability.

It called upon the world governments, the UN agencies, and legal and cultural organizations to take their legal and humanitarian responsibilities and immediately intervene to stop such dangerous practices, warning of the negative repercussions of the continuation of exposure to the holy places.

There you have it. The pre-eminent mental health professionals in Gaza have said that Muslims worldwide have no ability to control themselves; that it is quite natural that they would react violently to any preceived slight, no matter what the reality is; and that Israel decided to do the construction purely to inflame Muslims' delicate and sensitive feelings.

The psychosis that says that Muslims are not responsible for their actions is apparently officially regarded as normal by this organization, and if any Muslim acts violently it is Israel's fault.

To put it another way: the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme cannot see any psychological distinction between Muslims and animals.

Looking at the GCMHP website one can see that they consistently condemn intra-Palestinian Arab violence as well as any attacks on European interests in Gaza. Not once can I find a condemnation of any attacks on Israeli civilians. Apparently, Israeli civilians are legitimate targets.

To their credit, they do recommend "non-violent" methods of protest. On the downside, they regard stone throwing as "non-violent" in the same way that Gandhi and MLK were non-violent. Their description of the first intifada reveals volumes about the mental health of these mental health "professionals:

Nonviolence has proven throughout history that it can achieve liberation against occupation, apartheid, and colonization. The first Palestinian Intifada is a good example in changing stereotypical images of Palestinian people from being terrorists to victims of occupation and suppression. It opened the eyes of the world that Palestinians are struggling for their basic human rights and freedom for their country in a peaceful manner. The images of children confronting Israeli soldiers and being killed won the hearts of the international community and justice loving world.

In the end, even the most liberal Palestinian Arab supporters cheer when their own children die. And that is the biggest psychosis of all.

Qassam rocket fire continues. Has Olmert given up?

It has been over a month since Olmert said that he was modifying the unilateral cease-fire in Gaza to allow shooting at Qassam rocket crews as they are setting up. Since then, as far as I can tell, Israel has not fired on anybody launching Qassam rockets, and the only attack I can recall in Gaza was towards a tunnel in late January. At that time, in the wake of the suicide attack in Eilat, Olmert said that he is still "upholding the truce."

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Arabs continue their rocket fire:
4 rockets this morning
At least one Sunday
At least one Friday
10 on Thursday
4 on Wednesday
6 on Tuesday

Multiple, daily attacks almost every day.

It appears that Olmert has pretty much conceded that the southern and western Negev will be under attack for at least a couple of years, until Israel manages to deploy an anti-missile system. True to form, he has no plan to defend his people, no clue on how he would if he wanted to, and he seems to believe that it is acceptable for residents of Sderot and other communities to be bombarded daily.

His incompetence seems to be increasing with time.

Where are the Muslims who can distinguish facts from fiction?

There are a number of parallels between the Danish cartoon riots and the Mughrabi Gate riots. Perhaps the most important one, and the one with the most relevance, is that the Muslim world seems completely incapable of distinguishing truth from lies and fact from opinion.

In both cases, in the topsy-turvy world of Islam, a completely unfounded and unsupportable opinion becomes the driving force behind irrational actions. In both cases, a paranoid worldview where the West is hellbent on destroying Islam is the only accepted "fact" and any shreds of "evidence" that support this absurd viewpoint are promoted beyond all rational belief.

Conversely, the 99% of things the West does that explicitly support Islam as a religion and its adherents as being worthy of respect and equal rights is given no weight whatsoever.

It is a world where, simply stated, paranoia is the basis for all actions and reactions, and facts are utterly ignored.

When viewed in this light, anything the West does to dissipate the paranoia is doomed. Israel can broadcast the Mughrabi Gate dig in high-def from 20 different angles and not one Arab or Muslim leader will be swayed to admit that their assertions of long-standing Jewish plans to destroy Al-Aqsa are inaccurate.

What causes such extreme paranoia among mainstream Muslims?

The answer can be summed up as Elder's First Rule of Muslim Projection: Muslims will project their own crimes and worldviews on everyone else.

It cannot be denied that Islam, along with many other religions, holds a supremacist worldview. This is natural - everyone believes that their belief system is superior to others. But what is little discussed in the West is how extreme Islam's brand of supremacy truly is.

I cannot claim to be an Islamic scholar but it is very hard to find Islamic leaders saying that they do not subscribe to the idea that Islam is meant to literally rule the world, by any means possible - by proselytizing, by demography, by war. The thinking is simple and explicit: dhimmis live as second-class citizens, infidels do not live.

When one grows up with this viewpoint, one assumes that his enemies also grow up with their own versions of the same viewpoint. So for Muslims to say that non-Muslims are determined to destroy Islam is a natural and foregone conclusion, and that is where fantasy becomes Muslim reality.

In other words, Muslims view the West - and Jews in particular - as if they think like Muslims do. Just as Jordan destroyed every synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City in a matter of days after gaining control in 1948, and this was considered natural, the Muslims assume that Jews have been planning the destruction of all mosques in Jerusalem since 1967 (the oft-repeated "Judaizing" meme.)

Every fact that supports their predetermined "truth" is promoted incessantly as evidence, every fact to the contrary is ignored or dismissed as being part of some much larger, nefarious Zionist plot to achieve the same goal. So you will find Muslim websites that prominently highlight and embellish supposed Zionist aggression against Al-Aqsa and none that mention that Israel itself voluntarily gave the Muslim Waqf control over the entire Temple Mount in 1967, nor that Israel has had the ability to destroy the mosque thousands of times over the past 30 years and has scrupulously protected the rights of Muslims to worship there as well as in many other Muslim sites that were themselves built on top of ancient Jewish holy places.

The next question then becomes, how can Israel or the West as a whole negotiate with a people who cannot distinguish between reality and their own paranoia?

UPDATE: Shrinkwrapped links here and has a much more detailed and frightening description of paranoia and projection.