Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, September 06, 2007

PalArabs looking at everything through a lens of violence

The IDF foiled a major attack in Gaza today by Fatah and Islamic Jihad:

IDF forces killed five Palestinian gunmen en route to carry out an attack near Israel's border with central Gaza on Thursday afternoon.

Military sources said that the gunmen were advancing towards the Kissufim crossing in two cars when the IAF targeted their vehicles, thwarting the attack. Ground forces also fired on the gunmen.

The army said it was investigating the possibility that one of the vehicles had been rigged with explosives to serve as a car bomb.

The army said no soldiers were wounded and no damage was reported.

The Islamic Jihad and Fatah-allied Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.

A spokesman for Islamic Jihad, Abu Ahmed, said a pickup truck crashed through the fence in central Gaza first, allowing an armored jeep to drive through.

The truck blew up inside the Israeli base (according to PIJ - EoZ) and militants inside the jeep began attacking soldiers with light arms and hand grenades, and an Israeli watchtower was blown up.

As usual, take the Islamic Jihad claims with a large grain of salt. But they do indicate that the intent of the operation was fairly sophisticated and large-scale. Thank God they were unsuccessful.

Because of this failure, it is unlikely that Western wire services will mention this story except in the context of "Israel kills 5 Palestinians."

It is notable that Islamic Jihad and Fatah consider this operation a success, because they claim that they managed to enter an IDF base. The fact that this is considered a success to them shows how much they have redefined "success" in order to assuage their extraordinarily low self-esteem.

It is also notable how the Palestinian Arab press is reporting on the Israeli Supreme Court ruling modifying the security barrier route around Bil'in. They are regarding this as a great victory, but not as a victory for non-violence or of the rule of law - they are regarding it as a victory for the "resistance." In other words, everything that PalArabs do is filtered through the prism of violence and even when something happens that is clearly not because of violence - on the contrary, if there was more violence in Bil'in chances are that the court would have ruled otherwise - even then, they celebrate it as a military victory.

The Arab psyche requires that their victories are seen as military, not diplomatic. Israeli concessions for peace are framed as being a result of successful military (i.e., terrorist) operations. In short, they define themselves as warriors, not as peacemakers.

Any peace agreement, from the Arab perspective, must be seen as being forcefully imposed by the Arab victors upon the hapless, weak Jewish victims. Anything less than that - any concessions on issues that they have held fast to for six decades - would be considered weakness and at odds with their own pretense of being proud warriors.

Which is yet another reason why a true peace is highly unlikely.

Shops on London's Edgware Road now "off-limits" to women

From Jewish Comment, by Carol Gould:

Recently I went into a well-known coffee chain in Edgware Road near Marble Arch. As I waited to be served I noticed the café was crowded but that I was the only female customer. Men in various permutations of Middle Eastern garb, including several in full head-to-toe keffiyah and robe, stared at me.

When I sat down and opened my bottle of apple juice I noticed it was fizzing. I called the server over and told her that the juice had fermented. ‘No -- English’ she said, throwing her arms up in despair. Another server came over and asked me what the problem seemed to be. I told her the juice had fermented and that they needed to check their fridge. She looked at the other woman and they shrugged.

I have to confess I have a short fuse about non-English people populating what seems to be 99% of every job in London and the Home Counties. I am spoilt because in recent years I have been to the USA several times and marvel at the stupendous service provided by young college students and other Americans who possess perfect English and are obliging beyond anyone’s expectations.

So, I became exasperated and said ‘Is there no-one working here who speaks English? This is Paddington - this is still a London neighbourhood.’

A well-dressed man came over and said ‘I speak English.’ I thought he was going to intervene on my behalf but instead came out with this astonishing observation:

‘You are a racist! You are a racist ape! Look at you-- you are an ape!’

I was dumbfounded. I came to London thirty-two years ago to soak up the culture of Dr Johnson and Chaucer and Milton, and in the autumn of my life am called an ape by a man from, well, perhaps Egypt, perhaps Palestine, perhaps Saudi Arabia..

Shocked, I glared at him, but he had to finish things off : ‘You want them to speak Hebrew, don’t you?’

I got up from my seat and went over to him and at the top of my voice said I would be proud to speak Hebrew if I could, it being the language of the Torah and of an ancient culture going back six-thousand years.

He then embarked on a tirade at me about the ‘five million Indians’ slaughtered in genocide in America. Meanwhile, the men in the café were in various states of laughter at me, and exhibiting great admiration for him.

Believe it or not, the server had in the meantime brought me a fresh juice which I calmly drank with my very un-Hebrew ham and cheese sandwich, and then I left. I wandered over to the flower shop and found myself commiserating with what seemed to be two Englishwomen who lived in a permanent state of fear in a neighbourhood they had called their own for generations. They told me I must have been mad going into that shop, as ‘all the establishments in Edgware Road are off-limits to us now.’

Read the whole thing.

Israel saving the world - again

From MSNBC:

SDE BOKER, Israel - Reflective dishes may be the answer to make solar energy competitive with conventional sources of power, Israeli scientists say.

A global race is on to find energy alternatives as subsidies tip the balance in favor of renewable sources of power, which answer security and climate change concerns about fossil fuels.

New-found demand for one such renewable source, solar energy, has hoovered up supply of the silicon raw material, prompting a search for alternatives.

A team at Israel’s Ben Gurion University believe they have found just that, in a far less known material that is more expensive than silicon but also more efficient when used with a reflective dish.

“The dish could be put in a sunny backyard and generate most of the home’s utility needs,” said David Faiman, a professor of physics at Ben Gurion University who has studied solar energy for 31 years in Israel’s Negev desert.

“The costs per watt are comparable to that of a conventional power plant, but without fuel,” Faiman added.

No pollution and no money to terror-supporting states. It doesn't get any better than that.

Who's demolishing Arab houses?

Why, it's Egypt! (H/T Solomonia via Backspin)

ISMAILIA, Egypt, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Sinai Bedouin blocked the road north from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh with burning tyres on Tuesday in protest at the demolition of 20 houses, police and Bedouin sources said.

Police earlier fired about 20 teargas canisters at Bedouin families who refused to evacuate their houses, which the authorities say were built without licences, they added....

They said a total of 1,500 unlicensed buildings were scheduled for demolition in the Sharm el-Sheikh area and not all of them belonged to Bedouin.

As Backspin points out, it has taken nearly seven years for Israel to demolish 1900 homes, and NGOs have been fixated on this issue. Where's the outrage when Arabs plan to demolish a roughly equivalent number of Arab homes in a much shorter timeframe?

One must conclude yet again that the "human rights" organizations are not nearly as interested in Arab human rights as they are in demonizing Israel. Which means that they are more bigoted (or, to use their term, "racist") than they accuse Israel of being.

Google fun in Arabic

I don't know Arabic, but Google Translate has provided me and this blog with much interesting information.

A few minutes ago I figured out that the Arabic word for Jews is written اليهود , and I started Googling that word - and auto-translating the resulting pages.

Not surprisingly, one sees a mirror of the worst anti-semitism that one can imagine, complete with links to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, fake anti-Jewish quotes from Benjamin Franklin and all the other stuff one would see in sites like Jew Watch. It is quite obvious that when Arabs say that they are only against Zionism and not against Jews, they are not quite telling the truth.

Some cool tidbits:

Jews are the greatest enemies of the nation! The hostility towards Islam and Muslims has been and remains and will remain as long as Muslims and Jews on this land issue concluded spent from the years of what was, what is and what will organism God says (to find Strongest among men in enmity to the believers ... the Jews) - verse 82 Surat Al - Maida Faadaoh Jews continuing to Muslims become permanent certificate from the Koran and Albdehat established in the hearts and minds and conscience of every Muslim believes in this book and this belief witted can not Eglglh shaking him or anything in the world, hence the (ironic) and (students) from each Alaithiat are occurring under the pretext of peace with the Jews ... which will be! !

The strangest thing is to find that there are some who take Islam as a religion they believe in the necessity of achieving peace with the Jews, and Jews are not friends and allies want us good IT! .. But now America is the mother Habibet Arabs are justified fears that the sons of enemies wants peace and progress for the Arabs, while Iraq and bin Laden are the enemies of this nation said Amr Moussa said Amr Moussa, and soldiers Hezbollah terrorists are killers! !
But these madmen knows that the Jews are murderers prophets and messengers to God? IT! Not know these fools that the Jews of Palestine raped and plan to demolish the Al-Aqsa Mosque and annexation of Jerusalem the eternal capital them? ? ? IT

Here's a Flash movie that starts with a burning cross and goes on to celebrate American deaths in Iraq.

Jewish religious teachings that do not hesitate to describe the Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him, as "crazy man"

Here's a manifesto that justifies the elimination of all Jews - from the Palestine Info site (I don't think the English translation is there.)

Here's a nice Arabic Jews in Hollywood page.

More fun:

They called pornography and corruption with deceive hide under the slogans such as freedom, equality, humanity and brotherhood, deaths Muslim youth, women and Egronh vices, persecuted women, and working hard to get a generation of Muslims emptiness, not a doctrine, not principles, and ethics and added, pollute the minds of emerging Petheij instincts and gratification, sometimes video, and other Balfdayat, the envy of Muslim women screened and says, and let the strength and values of decomposition, and writers are similar in their women treated decently and, for the Ihrvoha Vtartha, writers for young people and women lusts, sheds for everyone's religion and values, remains a hostage of appetites and impulses , God said about them: The SEEK amok and Allah loveth not spoilers

You can join the fun by clicking on the Google search link for Jews in Arabic.

Hamas may allow Red Cross to visit Gilad Shalit

I don't know the original source for this story, published a few minutes ago by the Combined Jewish Philanthropies, but Palestine Press Agency had effectively the identical story in Arabic:

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday that the Palestinian kidnappers of an Israeli soldier may permit representatives of the organization to visit him.
Angelo Gnaedinger made the statement after meeting with the Hamas leader of the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyeh.
"We asked for access to him and the possibility for him to communicate through us with his family," Gnaedinger told reporters after the meeting. "We have been told that this is under consideration and that everybody is working on a positive solution for this case and that the humanitarian aspects are being take care of."

UPDATE: I scooped YNet by about 3 hours.

Civil war watch

As the countdown to Friday's prayer/demonstration continues, a Hamas man was shot and killed in Gaza City this morning.

5 Fatah men were hospitalized after being kidnapped and tortured for two days.

5 more PalArabs were injured by Hamas in Rafah as Hamas attempted to arrest one of them.

Hamas arrested a sheikh who is also a Fatah member.

For its part, Hamas claimed that they have suffered 1000 attacks by Fatah in the last 80 days, mostly in the West Bank.

The number of Palestinian Arabs violently killed this year by their own people is now at 517.

UPDATE: A PalArab policeman was shot and killed in Jenin by Islamic Jihad. 518.

UPDATE 2: A Hamas member died of his wounds suffered a couple of days ago during a fight between Hamas and a family in Gaza. 519.

UPDATE 3: Palestine Press Agency reports on a Fatah member killed by Hamas in Gaza City, and hios brother wounded. 520.

Freedom of the press, PalArab-style (X)

The series continues...

In this edition, it is Fatah who threatened journalists. From Ma'an (Arabic, autotranslated):

A journalist bloc said that three Palestinian journalists received death threats from groups Fatah movement, believing that these threats represent bankruptcy nationally and morally.

It accused the Bloc of them said, "Samih Asa'ad groups" to send each of these threats Chief Editor of "Palestine" local journalist Mustafa Sawaf, director of the Office of the Press home, and board member of the bloc, the Palestinian journalist Imad Abdel-Quds newspaper correspondent and local journalist Ahmad Muchehrawi.

The Khalil Gibran school curriculum

Since there are more questions than answers about the Arabic-language public school opening in Brooklyn, here is where to find the details, with links so you can form your own conclusions.

The only subject that has a new curriculum is Arabic language. All the other subjects - math, history (humanities), science, reading - are typical 6th grade public school topics. The high-level curriculum can be seen here.

The Arabic curriculum is described this way:

All students will take a basic introductory Arabic language course that meets 3
times a week and is supplemented by small group instruction 2 additional
periods a week.

This is an introductory course designed primarily for non-native speakers and
differentiated based on student experience with Arabic and other language
study. It will begin with alphabet, phonetics, basic introduction to the language
framework, and will continue to include reading, writing, speaking and listening
in Arabic.

There is no NYC 6th grade curriculum for the introduction to Arabic.
Teachers who were trained at STARTALK, a federally funded
professional development program at Michigan State University, are
designing the curriculum.

In the initial phase, materials will be created by curriculum teachers
based on samples and resources provided by the Arabic Language
Instruction Professional Development Program at Michigan State
University. As students develop proficiency, they will begin to use the
Scholastic My Arabic Library

(http://www.scholastic.com/aboutscholastic/worldwide/mepi/english.htm).
The library is a set of translations of English language stories into
Arabic.

http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/lote/ (NYS Learning Standards for
Modern Languages other than English)

On first glance, the Scholastic Arabic program seems to be fine - the My Arabic library is described as "a set of translations of English language stories into Arabic." If this is true, then there should be no worries about indoctrination or glorifying any problematic parts of Arabic culture.

The Scholastic Arabic site describing My Arabic Library adds a couple of details that one will not find in the English sites:(autotranslated)

It "class library" prepared for the first year until the sixth basic education.

The library includes one thirty to forty interesting titles and five copies of each title, as well as the teacher guide and posters.

These books have been chosen by Arab educators and specialists and translated in the Arab world and ratified by the ministries of education in each of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Lebanon and the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Kingdom of Morocco.

The list of books in the library seems innocuous enough, including The Cat in the Hat, biographies of Amelia Earhart and Louis Braille, a book about volcanoes and a "Mystery at the Museum" - pretty much the same kind of thing that American classroom reading classes have been using for decades.

From looking at this, assuming that the stated curriculum is adhered to, I cannot see anything dangerous about the school at this time. The school seems to be appropriately transparent in its studies and as long as it stays that way - and as long as it does not become a substitute for private Arabic schools - it should not be any more problematic than Spanish or Chinese charter schools. But because the potential downside is so large, it should certainly be observed carefully.

There are still many unanswered questions. While the curriculum does not talk about Arab culture, the Executive Summary of the school emphasizes the cultural aspect of the school. That is the part that we have not heard enough about. It appears that the school will stray into political topics in the ninth grade, and this has the potential of being a disaster.

Another question is what the orientation of the Arab American Family Support Center might be (it is the "Lead Partner" for the school), as they are the initial Arabic-language instructors since there are not enough teachers who know Arabic in the New York public school system yet.

Look for the Hamas/Fatah civil war to re-ignite Friday

For the past few weeks, Fatah has held "prayer gatherings" in Gaza as a protest against Hamas. Last week's ended up with 11 Fatah members injured.

This week, Hamas has issued a fatwa against these outdoor prayers:

The de facto Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip has decided to ban what they call "political prayer" on Fridays in public squares. The head of the union of Palestinian religious intellectuals in the Gaza Strip, Marwan Abu Ras, on Monday issued a fatwa declaring participation in such prayers a sin.

"The open-air prayers go beyond simply worship and are being used to create chaos and terrorism," the spokesperson of the deposed Ministry of the Interior, Eyhab Al-Ghussein told Ma'an. He pledged that the security services would impose security and order in Gaza Strip by any means necessary.

Abu Ras, who issued the fatwa, explained that during last Friday prayers last week, some worshippers were smoking, wearing golden chains, and even selling food and drink – activities that are not in keeping with the sacredness of Friday prayers. "The purpose behind that prayer was absolutely something beyond worship, " he said.

Tahir Nono, a spokesperson of the deposed government confirmed that his government decided to ban public gatherings on Fridays which he said were held in the guise of Friday prayers.

Of course, Fatah has its own imams who are more than thrilled to create their own opposing fatwas allowing prayer outside mosques:(autotranslated from PalPress):

Presse decreed Samaha Dr. Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi, Chief Judge of Palestine Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council legitimate passport prayers outside mosques in the open and public squares, stressing that the official is authorized to issue advisory opinions are only Shariah courts or Dar Al-Fatwa.

His eminence pointed out that the fatwa inadmissibility Friday prayers in the open is not based on the text or forensic evidence, stressing that the Koran anecdotes and actual expressly stipulated passport prayer anywhere, he said peace be upon him (and made me land mosques and purifying فايما man farce hammer prayer فليصل) Tellers Bukhari, the Prophet peace be upon him lead prayers holidays and edema and funeral outside Nabawi Mosque in Medina Chapel, located in the open door at the east.

Now that Fatah and Hamas have enlisted both politics and religion into their positions, we can be sure that Friday's prayers will be a blast.

Olmert discouraging aliyah

This is unbelievable:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told olim who arrived in Israel from North America that Israel "is not an easy country to live in as it has security problems in addition to bureaucratic problems."
Olmert said he was proud and happy that the olim wanted to settle in Israel.

Now, who could possibly be responsible for the security problems?

Maybe the person who told Sderot rocket victims to stop whining about living in a real-life shooting gallery.

Video of Hamas throwing Fatah officer off building

Palestine Press Agency has a downloadable video that it claims shows the death of of Mohammed Sweirki, a Fatah officer, by being thrown off the top of a 15-story building in Gaza while handcuffed last June.

I put it on LiveLeak but could not figure out how to embed it here. Thanks to The Jawa Report, I am now able to show it here (warning - graphic violence, as the body actually bounces off the ground.)

(I was going to put it on YouTube but figured that they would censor it anyway...)

And for those who love funny autotranslations, the name of the Hamas spokesman in Gaza is autotranslated on PalPress as "Sami Abu Venereal."

UPDATE: Israeli names can get auto-translated in amusing ways too. Here's Tzipi Livni:

Delegate at Brussels conference blames Israel for global warming

The frothing-at-the-mouth Israel-bashing crowd is literally beyond parody:

There was Clare Short, a member of the British Parliament and Secretary for International Development under Prime Minister Tony Blair until she resigned in 2003 over the Iraq war. Claiming that Israel is actually "much worse than the original apartheid state" and accusing it of "killing (Palestinian) political leaders," Ms. Short charged the Jewish state with the ultimate crime: Israel "undermines the international community's reaction to global warming." According to Ms. Short, the Middle East conflict distracts the world from the real problem: man-made climate change. If extreme weather will lead to the "end of the human race," as Ms. Short warned it could, add this to the list of the crimes of Israel.

Can blaming Israel for earthquakes and tsunamis be far behind?

Second Temple wall possibly destroyed by Waqf (photo)

A bit more news about the Waqf's desecration of Judaism's holiest site:

Portions of what appear to be a carved wall have been seen in the rubble left by the Islamic Waqf as they continue to use heavy machinery to destroy priceless and holy antiquities:

I'm no archaeologist, but this is man-made.

The Waqf is engaging in a crime against Judaism, history and archaeology, and Ehud Olmert is complicit in this crime by allowing it to happen:

Leading Temple Mount archaeologists, including Mazar and Gavriel Barkai, petitioned the Israeli government to immediately halt the dig and allow experts to inspect the emerging wall.

But Mazar and other archaeologists say they are being blocked by the Israeli government.

"The Antiquities Authority tells us to coordinate with the police. The police send us back to the Antiquities Authority," said Mazar, who is a professor of Hebrew University and member of the Public Committee for Prevention of the Destruction of Antiquities on Temple Mount.

Mazar also is the discoverer and lead archaeologist of Israel's City of David, believed to be the palace of the biblical King David, the second leader of a united Kingdom of Israel, who ruled from around 1005 to 965 B.C.

"It's crucial this wall is inspected. The Temple Mount ground level is only slightly above the original Temple Mount platform, meaning anything found is likely from the Temple itself," the archaeologist said.

Fed up, Mazar and other top archaeologists last week ascended the Mount to hold a news conference and inspect the site without government permission, but they were blocked from the trench by the Israeli police.

"It is unconscionable that the Israeli government is permitting the Waqf to use heavy equipment to chop away at the most important archeological site in the country without supervision," Mazar told WND.

"The Israeli government is actively blocking us from inspecting the site and what may be a monumental find and is doing nothing while the Waqf destroys artifacts at Judaism's holiest site," she said.

Rabbi Chaim Rechman, director of the international department at Israel's Temple Institute, was among those on the Mount last week with Mazar. He told WND he attempted to take pictures of the damage the bulldozers are allegedly wrecking on the wall, but his digital camera was confiscated by Israeli police at the direction of Waqf officials.

"If Israel was building a shopping mall and they found what may be an ancient Buddhist structure, the government would stop the construction and have archaeologists go over the area with a fine tooth comb. Here, the holiest site in Judaism is being damaged, a Temple wall was found, and Israel is actively blocking experts from inspecting the site while allowing the destruction to continue," Rechman said.

Rechman charged the Waqf was "trying to erase Jewish vestiges from the Temple Mount."

The last time the Waqf conducted a large dig on the Temple Mount – during construction 10 years ago of a massive mosque at an area referred to as Solomon's Stables – the Wafq reportedly disposed truckloads of dirt containing Jewish artifacts from the First and Second Temple periods.

After the media reported on the disposals, Israeli authorities froze the construction permit given to the Wafq, and the dirt was transferred to Israeli archeologists for analysis. The Israeli authorities found scores of Jewish Temple relics in the nearly disposed dirt, including coins with Hebrew writing referencing the Temple, part of a Hasmonean lamp, several other Second Temple lamps, Temple period pottery with Jewish markings, a marble pillar shaft and other Temple period artifacts. The Waqf was widely accused of attempting to hide evidence of the existence of the Jewish Temples.

The civilized world must write and call the Prime Minister's office and have him stop this crime immediately.

You can email him through the Prime Minister office website, or his office can be called at 011-972-3-610-9898 .

New Statesman (UK) equates IDF with terrorists

In a most reprehensible example of journalistic bias, a column today in the New Statesman looks at Israeli IDF camps aimed at foreigners and compares them to Hamas camps that indoctrinate campers in terror:

The British children who train to fight in Israel

How each year scores of British teenagers go to the Middle East to learn about soldiering and defending Israel

Matthew Holehouse
In 2001 shocking reports surfaced from Gaza of summer schools being organised by Islamic Jihad, which were teaching Palestinian adolescents to become suicide bombers. The Israeli government denounced the camps as evidence that a new generation was being brought up to hate and to kill.
What went unreported was that at a purpose-built barracks in the Negev desert, every summer hundreds of Jewish teenagers from Europe, Mexico and America pay to spend nine weeks saluting, marching, firing guns and otherwise pretending to be soldiers.

Marva, run by the Educational and Youth Corps of the Israel Defence Force and conducted entirely in Hebrew, simulates the basic training of Israeli conscripts for 18-28 year old members of the Diaspora. Dressed in boots and olive fatigues, and obliged to carry an M16 assault rifle at all times, school leavers on gap years do push ups in the dust, perform night marches with laden stretchers, maintain civil defence shelters, fire machine guns at paper figures and simulate military manoeuvres, as well as taking classes in Jewish identity and the history and values of the IDF. Karaoke and dance-offs also feature.
With the security situation improving, increasing numbers of British Jews, through youth groups such as RSY Netzer and Federation of Zionist Youth, are signing up to one of the four 120-strong sessions held every year. One half are girls, and large numbers come from public schools in Manchester and North London.
Blogs written by participants revel in the camouflage-induced machismo. "By the end of the first week we were beginning to look like soldiers" writes American Joseph Fisher. "Strict discipline is enforced by our mefakdim (commanders). There is a great atmosphere of camaraderie."
Participants deny that the course was overtly anti-Palestinian. "I never heard that sort of comment from an official source – although there were some very right wing individuals taking part," says Mark Fitch, a Manchester student who took the course last year. "There was a lot of debate about the IDF, and whilst obviously by going on Marva they implicitly endorsed the army, a lot of people said that they were torn about using guns and running about."
Since the start of the Second Intifada some aspects of the course have been reconsidered. Sessions on house-to-house fighting have been dropped, as have re-enactments of the Battle of Ammunition Hill, one of the bloodiest engagements of the Six Day War, has been cut. "They're very aware of looking politically correct," says Fitch. "When discussing the Middle East they really do try to present both sides of the story and the overriding message is of striving for peace.

Most recently, British 16 and 17 year olds have been able to take part in Gadna, the week-long course taken by Israeli schoolchildren in preparation for military service and which has recently come under fire for becoming increasingly militaristic. "Shooting an M16 gun… physically lying on the land of Israel, learning how to defend it, gave me an immense sense of pride" writes a breathless Aimee Riese, a London schoolgirl and recent participant, in the Jewish Chronicle.

And this, really, is the objective.

...There's not much to be won in games of moral equivalence and assertions as to which side's indiscriminate attacks on civilians are the more reprehensible. But ask yourself this question: If these were British Muslim 19 year-olds firing machine guns and running assault courses in Pakistan or Yemen, would we not have them all arrested at the airport?

Now, let's take a short look at the Islamic Jihad camp that was reported on in the summer of 2001, and see if you can spot any differences - because apparently Mr. Holehouse cannot:

The Islamic Jihad is running a summer school - to teach boys the benefits of becoming suicide bombers.

A new generation of children, Palestinian boys aged between 12 and 15 years old, is growing up amid conflict and violence.

The boys are told not only that it is good to kill, but also that it is good to die.

They learn that suicide bomb attacks have proved the most deadly way to hit the Israelis.

Mohammed, a 14-year-old boy, draws himself with explosives strapped to his body, ready to blow himself to pieces if it means killing Jews.

"Yes," he says, when asked if he wants to be a suicide bomber. "I want to liberate Palestine and be part of the revolution."

The boys are shown pictures of those who have already died in the conflict with Israel.

They are taught that to give their lives is to be guaranteed a place in heaven.

And to be a suicide bomber is one of the highest forms of martyrdom.

They will be greeted in paradise by 70 virgins.

"We are teaching the children that suicide bombing is the only thing that make the Israeli people very frightened. Furthermore, we are teaching them that we have the right to do it," said Islamic Jihad member Mohammed el Hattab, one of the teachers on the programme.

"We are teaching them that after the suicide attacks, the man who makes it goes to the highest state in paradise," he said.

So this moral midget Holehouse is comparing a program that indoctrinates 12-15 year olds into killing Jewish civilians with one that mimics basic training for adults (plus a very short course for 16-18 year olds that he didn't bother mentioning very much.) He finds it supremely offensive that Israel might want to instill pride in Jews worldwide. He implies that the IDF is based on a hatred of Palestinian Arabs even as he quotes denials, while the Jihad camp is clearly based on hating Jews. The IDF course stresses peace and the Islamic Jihad course stresses death -but Holehouse cannot be trusted to report that small inconvenient fact.

And finally he explicitly equates training with the IDF, probably the most moral army in the world, with terrorist training camps.

(Oh, and Hamas camps teach children to fire weapons at the age of 8.)

Obviously Holehouse knows the facts - clearly he read the articles in 2001 about Islamic Jihad - so his specious comparisons are not done out of ignorance but out of pure hatred for Israel and for Jews who identify with Israel.