Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Hamas' little Hitler

From MEMRI:
Look at the mannerisms of this kid as he rails against the usual suspects - Zionists, America, Balfour. It's a midget Adolf without the mustache. (I cannot embed the video here, go to the MEMRI site to see it.)

And don't miss the girl who casually mentions genocide.

Transcript:

Boy: My beloved brothers, as you know, today the Al-Aqsa Mosque is crying out: "Where is the people of the frontline, the Palestinian people?" Yes, my dear brothers, that is the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The subject of our lesson today is Jerusalem, to where your Prophet made his nocturnal journey – the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Yes, my beloved brothers, as you know today, and as you have known yesterday and the day before, the Al-Aqsa Mosque has fallen into oppressing and malicious hands, the hands of those who know nothing but injustice. But let me tell you how the Al-Aqsa Mosque will be returned, how we shall rescue it from the shackles of the occupation, from the shackles of the Zionist entity. Will it be through conferences? No, not through conferences, but by means of force, because the Zionist entity, your enemy, the enemy of Allah, the enemy of Islam, knows nothing but injustice and the killing of Palestinians, the persevering people on the frontline. Indeed, the [mosque] will be returned only by means of force. In 1917, the Balfour Declaration was issued. Balfour decided on the cleansing of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. But look what the Zionist enemy has done, look what Israel and America have done. Look what the allies of Israel and America have done. They have dug tunnels underneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque, but the sheiks and mujahideen of the Al-Aqsa Mosque have exposed these tunnels and called upon the Palestinian people: "Look what has happened, look what has happened." These calls have gone unheeded, my beloved brothers. But is it too late? No, it is not too late. If we all unite, the Al-Aqsa Mosque will not remain in the hands of the Zionist enemy, it will not remain in the hands of your enemy, despite all their conspiracies against the Palestinian people.
[...]
Girl: To Al-Aqsa, to Al-Aqsa – we shall unite our ranks. We will wipe out the people of Zion, and will not leave a single one of them.

(h/t LGF)

Palestinian Police Phunnies XXIX

The Jerusalem Post reveals:

PA Civil Police commander Gen. Kamal al-Sheikh revealed that more than 600 Fatah-affiliated policemen helped Hamas take control of the Gaza Strip last June.
"Out of 13,000 policemen in the Gaza Strip, only 612 participated in the Hamas coup against the Palestinian Authority," Sheikh said during a tour of Bethlehem.
Downplaying the significance of the move, he noted that this constituted only 1.8 percent of the entire police force.

And the other 98.2% twiddled their thumbs - and drew their salaries.

This is the first time that a senior PA security official has spoken about the involvement of Fatah-affiliated policemen in the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip. Sheikh did not say what kind of role the rebellious policemen played during the coup, but pointed out that the PA leadership had dismissed them and was no longer paying them.
The PA, which is hoping to raise $5.6 billion over the next three years at Monday's donors conference, still hasn't made enough progress in imposing law and order in the West Bank, the PA officials conceded.

They told The Jerusalem Post that despite the lack of progress, they expected the 90 countries that were scheduled to participate in the conference to approve the PA's request.
According to the officials, the PA's US-backed security plan, which was launched in the last few weeks in Nablus and Tulkarm, had failed to achieve most of its goals, largely due to the incompetence of the PA security forces.
"The security operation has not been a big success," one official said. "We arrested many wanted criminals and members of the Islamic Hizb al-Tahrir party, but we weren't able to lay our hands on many weapons."
Another official said the security operation did not target militiamen belonging to Fatah's armed groups. "These gunmen are continuing to operate freely in the refugee camps near Nablus and Tulkarm," he told the Post. "We arrested citizens who stole olive oil three years ago or fired into the air during weddings two years ago."
In addition, the PA's efforts to reform the Fatah-controlled security forces in the West Bank continued to face major obstacles, the official said, citing a lack of discipline among the ranks of the Palestinian policemen.
"We still have many officers who are involved in various crimes and corruption," he said. "We are still far from talking about real reforms in the security establishment. In the coming days we will launch a similar security operation in Bethlehem. But the real test will be in Hebron and Jenin, as well as in the refugee camps, where Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah militiamen call the shots."
The PA has also failed to make good on its pledge to cut by half the number of policemen serving in the various branches of its security forces, a number estimated at over 70,000. The PA is reluctant to fire large numbers of policemen for fear of driving them into the open arms of Hamas and other radical groups.

So just to make things crystal clear: The PA is asking for $5.6 billion, much of which is to to continue paying "policemen" (and now they are adding policewomen, because clearly they don't have enough) who:

- don't actually do anything, or

- they are actively involved in terror,

- after they promised they would reform the security forces,

- after they fooled the US into giving them $1.3 million based on the "success" of the Nablus "crackdown,"

- after they pledged at Oslo that the number of policemen would never exceed 30,000.

And they fully expect the world to bow to their demands and throw more billions their way, because that's what the world always does.

Responsibility is apparently not a word that is in the PA's vocabulary. And why should it be? They get routinely rewarded by the Western world for inciting hate, supporting terror, lying, and breaking written agreements. Two generations of Palestinian Arabs now have no concept that there are any repercussions for acting like spoiled brats who think that the world owes them everything.

PalArab UN rep compares Jews to Nazis

Anne Bayefsky notes:

For those wondering whether the UN is going to continue to serve as a global platform for anti-Semitism—webcast around the world, free for all Internet users, and archived so that it may be accessed for a long, long time—the mystery is over. The UN Human Rights Council today broadcast uninterrupted hate speech—in the name of “human rights.” Palestinian UN representative Muhammad Abu-Koash had this to say on December 12, 2007 in the middle of the Council’s current session:

From Eye on the UN:

"The Israeli creeping geography has been countered...as the victims of Aryan purity have been transformed into the proponents of Jewish purity...

I will revert to poetry to deliver the message clearly to the Ambassador of Israel

Mr. Jail Man, do you not understand
Scars of concentration camps mark your hand
Negotiations commence today I understand
Leave our mountains, valleys,sea, air and land
Draw your lesson from France and Deutschland
Our will is strong, cease drawing lines in the sand
Washington, Mandela and Arafat stand so grand
Though called terrorists by occupiers in command
Mr. Jail man, you do not want to understand
You gave occupation new attire with Semitic brand.

Those who suffered in Europe, those who came from concentration camps, those who came from the ghettos, they should not act as our masters. They should know the meaning of suffering."

Just for some context of who this guy is, a few months ago he said: "Arafat, Castro, [Che] Guevara stand tall. . . in their worldwide influence, stature, and inspiration."

Also:

“The one who has monopoly on the violation of human rights is Israel... the darling of the High Commissioner.” — Palestinian Ambassador Mohammad Abu-Koash, Dec. 1, 2006, mocking Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who dared to cite Palestinian obligations to stop terrorism in addition to her regular criticisms of Israel.

And one year ago:

“The Holocaust is going on, and it is an Israeli holocaust against the Palestinian people.” Palestine Ambassador Mohammad Abu-Koash, Dec. 12, 2006.

He also referred to Qassam rockets as "Christmas firecrackers" on the very day that they killed an Israeli and injured two more.

Yup, Mr. Abu-Koash is a perfect representative of the Palestinian Arab people. He mocks human rights, loves dictators, pretends that everything wrong on the planet is Israel's fault and exhibits pure hate in the halls of the UN.

Palestinian Arabs celebrate Festivus

From the Jerusalem Post:

One Israeli diplomatic official, describing the atmosphere at the meeting in Jerusalem of the Israeli-Palestinian Steering Committee as "tense," said the sides came to the meeting with widely different ideas of what it was meant to accomplish.

The officials said that while Israel saw the meeting as "a festive resumption of the peace process" that would deal with procedural issues about how to move the process forward, the Palestinians saw it as a forum for airing their grievances.

Can't wait to see if they also do the Feats of Strength and the Festivus Pole.

The Eids crisis

OK, not really a crisis, but...

One of the vagaries of the Muslim lunar calendar is that the declarations of a new month (when the crescent moon is visible) often differ in different areas. So Islamic holidays sometimes are declared to be on different days by different Islamic leaders.

This month is unusual, though, in that there are three separate declarations. This is important because the tenth of the current lunar month, Dhu al-Hijjah, is the beginning of the Eid al-Adha festival, which celebrates Abraham's "sacrifice" of his son.

This year, Eid al-Adha begins next Wednesday according to Saudi Arabia, Thursday in Lebanon and Friday in Iran.

By the way, the Koran never says explicitly that Abraham sacrificed Ishmael, only that he sacrificed his son. The entire chapter never mentions Ishmael's name. It implies that Isaac was born afterwards but it is not clear. For those interested in the topic, check out Sura 37:99-113 and especially compare translations.

One last piece of trivia: Chanukah, in Arabic, is Eid al-Anwar (The Festival of Lights.)

Israel allows 8th electricity generator in Gaza this year

Another story about the "hostile entity" that you won't read in the MSM:

A new electricity generator is to be sent to the Gaza Strip, the Israeli liaison and coordination department for the Gaza Strip said in a statement on Wednesday.

The generator will enhance power capabilities for the coastal region. It will be added to seven others which have been allowed into the Gaza Strip this year in coordination with the Palestinian power authorities in Ramallah.

The Israeli liaison department has also facilitated the entry of 13 Egyptian engineers and technicians into Gaza, who will install the generator during the coming weeks.

These boots are made for walking - except in Iran

From AFP:

...The [Iranian] police last week launched what was termed a "winter" crackdown on unIslamic dressing, to follow an unusually vigorous summer drive against women whose clothing was deemed overly flimsy.
Tehran police chief Ahmad Reza Radan said women who wear high boots with their trousers tucked-in would be targeted by the moral police, as well as those who sport hats instead of headscarves and short tight winter coats.
Radan had described such fashions as an example of "Tabarroj", an Islamic term which means revealing one's beauty and bodily contours to unrelated men.
In the past years, it has become fashionable for liberal Iranian women to wear high boots over their trousers during the cold winter months.

"Wearing boots over trousers, according to Sharia (Islamic law), is tabarroj and an example of bad dressing, which will be confronted," Radan said, cited by the ISNA news agency.

The drive has been criticised by some moderates but the police have insisted the crackdown is popular with the public and necessary to improve security in society.

"I am sorry that you are concerned about the boots of a few rich women," was the response of hardline femmale MP Eshrat Shaegh, referring to the media interest in the ban.

"I am worried about women who do not have meat on their tables and no clothes on their children," she said.

AKI adds:

"If boots are not covered by pants that fall to the ankles, they show the female shape and that is therefore in contradiction with Islamic dress code," said Radan.

Iranian women can no longer leave home with their pants pushed inside their boots and they can no longer wear hats without a veil.

"A hat is not an adequate substitute for a veil or a hijab," he said. " If someone really wants to wear a hat, they can put it on the veil."

Generale Radan said decision to apply the Islamic code had come from a committee composed of the Revolutionary Guard, the judiciary, police and officials from the intelligence ministry and the ministry of culture and Islamic orientation.

That's a lot of men to spend their time discussing women's boots. Sounds like an episode of Queer Eye.

Arabs abstain on Israel-sponsored "Puppies are cute" UN resolution

After decades of being treated as a pariah, Israel finally managed to get a resolution approved by the UN:

The resolution encourages able nations of the world to develop farming technology for developing countries.

The resolution was passed by the UN General Assembly's Second Committee, dealing with development issues. There were 118 votes in favor and 29 abstentions, with no opposing votes. The resolution will be brought before the full General Assembly next week.

"For Israel, this is a very dramatic development, and an historic day at the UN," Ambassador Dan Gillerman told reporters. "It is the very first time that Israel initiates and authors and submits a resolution which has nothing to do with the conflict. It is not easy for Israel to have its resolutions and its points of view adopted," he added. "This makes Israel a much more normal and acceptable member of the UN. One of our main aims is to not be a one issue country and to bring awareness of Israel's excellence to the world."

Who can argue with helping poor countries farm?

A look at the countries that abstained from this vote is instructive:

Included in the 29 abstentions were South Africa and [all the] 19 Arab states present – though not including Muslim Afghanistan and Pakistan, who voted in favor. Iran did not take part in the vote. The abstentions came from Algeria, Bahrain, Brunei, Darussalam, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

So what do the Arab nations have against helping third-world farmers?

Palestinian Authority United Nations representative Riyad Mansour criticized the move, telling Reuters that Israel was "trying to score political points" and had rejected a move that would have obscured the Jewish state as the author of the resolution in favor of its presentation as a “consensus resolution.”

OK, so it is not that the Arab nations - even the ones supposedly at peace with Israel - have anything against the resolution.

They just cannot stand to agree with anything Israel says, no matter how innocuous. It is easier to abstain than to even give the appearance of being on the same side as the hated Zionists on any issue.

This is beyond politics - this is just a seething hatred for anything that Israel does; this is misoziony. The very idea of agreeing with the Jewish state on anything sticks in the throats of the Arab world. For them, emotion trumps logic, and visceral hate makes real peace impossible.

UPDATE: It's Almost Supernatural exhaustively analyzes South Africa's abstention.

Tunnel collapses in Rafah, one more terrorist dead

From PalPress (Arabic, autotranslated):

Palestinian medical sources announced today, Wednesday, killing appeared citizen Mahmoud Abdel-Hamid alive "23 years" of the inhabitants of the city of Rafah following the collapse of a tunnel on the Palestinian-Egyptian border.

The number of Palestinian Arabs who have been violently killed by their own actions this year is now at 591.

UPDATE: A child-killer named Rami Khalifa has died "in mysterious circumstances" in prison in Gaza. 592.

UPDATE 2: On Tuesday,

at approximately 10:30, several farmers found a dead body under an olive tree on the side of an agricultural road between Far’a refugee camp and the village of Sireen southeast of Jenin. The farmers saw gunshot marks as well as marks of violence on the body. A Palestinian civilian vehicle was near the body. The farmers called the Palestinian police, who examined the body. The dead body was identified as that of Mohammad Nayef El-Shaf’i (37) from Fa’ra refugee camp. He was the owner of the vehicle. The body was transferred to the forensic laboratory in Abu Dis for examination; and the police are investigating the incident.

593.

Morning links (updated twice)

Britain's Lessons in Cultural Suicide

The perfect car for a trip to Mecca

Jews' subway hero a Muslim

My return to Kever Yosef

Testimony at the House Committee on Foreign Affairs by David Wurmsler (h/t Israel Matzav)

Audit finds U.S. funded university linked to terrorism (h/t Anti-Racist Blog)

Canada Praised For What Israel Should Have Done

Saudis give big to US colleges (h/t Smooth Stone)

The Middle East needs a lot, but not more weapons (Lebanon Daily Star)

I just saw this picture on World Photos, but it is not clear if it was taken recently. Still, it is classic:

Tony Blair declares Bethlehem safe - what about Sderot?

Tony Blair stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel in Bethlehem last night, to show that Bethlehem was a safe place for Christians to visit and to jumpstart the Palestinian Arab economy:

Palestine is a “safe destination” for tourists to visit, envoy to the Quartet Tony Blair said on Tuesday evening.

Speaking to journalists at a joint press conference with the Palestinian minister for tourism, Khouloud Daibes, in the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, Blair said, “Bethlehem is a safe and good place to come.”

Citing Bethlehem as the litmus test for Israeli commitment to peace, he told reporters, “The real test of the sincerity of the Israeli side is if we really get change here in Bethlehem.”

“I know the Palestinian Authority is prepared to do everything it can to meet any legitimate security concerns but really there is no reason why tourists can not come here safely,” he added.

I don't expect Blair to visit Sderot any time soon, to stay there overnight and to declare how safe it is. I don't expect him to refer to it as a "litmus test" on Palestinian Arab commitment to peace. I don't expect him to praise the PA over how well they are helping stop their own Fatah-based Al-Aqsa Brigades from firing rockets at Israel.

Sderot is not on the radar of the "peace" plan. Sderot cannot be found on the roadmap. The 20 rockets that were shot today towards Sderot are not considered an obstacle to peace. It is way too inconvenient to mention Sderot when talking about the sacred "peace process."

No, Sderot and its residents are not important to Tony Blair and the Quartet. Because if they are forced to think about Sderot, they would be forced to reconsider whether real peace is possible. They would have to recall that the peaceful Palestinian Arabs freely elected a terrorist government in their most recent elections. They would be compelled to remember that the Western-trained PA "security forces" folded immediately in their first real test.

No, the "process" is too important to be derailed by inconvenient facts. Blair knows he is safe from Israeli actions in Bethlehem, but he knows just as well that he is in danger from those peaceful PalArabs should he visit Sderot.

So he won't.

One last video for the eighth night

Happy Chanukah from the NBA Stars!

"Humanitarian crisis" meme - since 1993

Did you ever get the feeling of déjà vu when reading news accounts about a "looming humanitarian crisis" in Gaza?

You are not imagining it:

November 17, 1993:

...the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza continues to grow.

December 6, 2000:

...impoverishing families across The West Bank and Gaza Strip and risking a humanitarian crisis, according to international economists and aid workers...

June 15, 2001:

The United Nations has warned of a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip due to a shortage of medical supplies there.

November 19, 2002:

The humanitarian crisis in the West Bank and Gaza is a crisis of access and mobility; it is further compounded by an economic downturn that severely limits the ability of the civilian population to purchase and access basic needs.

February 27, 2003:

Humanitarian crisis: The cumulative impact of damage to civilian infrastructure, curfews and closures, and ongoing violence led the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to describe the humanitarian situation as "the most dire since 1967."

October 7, 2004:

The United Nations has warned in a special report of an impending humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

August 19, 2005:

Thousands of Palestinians in Gaza are suffering from a chronic humanitarian crisis that is deepening during the disengagement period.

March 19, 2006:

Gaza facing humanitarian crisis

May 18, 2006:

As the representatives of donor governments made fresh vows to rapidly establish a flow of aid to Palestinians on Monday, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues.

July 9, 2006:

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has demanded that Israel take urgent action to prevent a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip.

August 16, 2006:

Humanitarian Disaster in Gaza: "People are crying, hungry, thirsty, and desperate"

November 20, 2006:

Gaza: UN appeals for $2.5 million to ease 'humanitarian disaster'

July 20, 2007:

U.N. Official: Humanitarian Crisis Looms in Gaza

December 8, 2007:

The World Health Organisation warned against a humanitarian crisis erupting in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip due to Israeli travel restrictions

One would have thought that after 14 years of this "crisis" the Gaza population would be decimated by now. Reading these stories you'd expect Gaza to be like sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, somehow, the brave Gazans still manage to get weapons, ammunition, fuel, food, medicine and hundreds of millions of dollars in Western aid, managing to stave off the starvation forecasted by "human rights" experts year after year.

It appears that there is an entire cottage industry of "human rights" organizations that are dedicated to sounding the alarm about Gaza every few months so they can keep their jobs and keep blaming Israel for every self-inflicted problem that the PalArabs have created in their Gaza homeland.

Bethlehem, 2007

Michael Gove in the Times (UK) mentions:

There’s one invariable sign that Christmas is almost upon us – a story about how Bethlehem is suffering at the hands of wicked Israel.
This year we’ve already had our first exercise in demonising Israel for its treatment of Bethlehem with the graffiti artist Banksy enjoying extensive coverage for his trip to decorate the security barrier near the town with his work. The message of Banksy’s work and the coverage it has generated is the same: oppressive Israel has snuffed the life out of the town where the Prince of Peace was born. Herod’s spirit lives on, even as the spirit of Christmas is struggling to survive.
The truth is very different. The parlous position of Palestinian Christians, indeed the difficult position of most Christians across the Arab world, is a consequence not of Israeli aggression but of growing Islamist influence. Israel goes out of its way to honour sites and traditions sacred to other faiths while the radicals who are driving Palestinian politics seek to create an Islamist state in which other faiths, if they survive at all, do so with the explicit subject status of dhimmis. But when it comes to Israel’s position in these matters it’s still a case of O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see them lie.

He is right, of course. Christians have been abandoning Bethlehem for decades, and the intifada has only accelerated their exodus:

In Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, the Christian exodus has been most acute. In 1990, 60 percent of the population there was Christian. Today, some estimates say 20 percent or less of the city's population is Christian.

Tens of thousands of Arab Christians have fled the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the years. An estimated one thousand Christians have left Bethlehem each year for the last seven years -- a period covering the Palestinian uprising. There are between 10,000 and 13,000 Christians remaining in the city.

Today, only 1.5 percent of the population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is Christian.

This doesn't stop Bethlehem's Christian mayor from blaming Israel:

"The cradle of our Lord Jesus Christ has turned into a big prison," the mayor said.

"This discriminating wall, besides isolating our town from the outside world and depriving Bethlehem from any future growth, snakes its way deep inside our municipal borders... closing the historic and main entrance of Bethlehem."

The barrier has devastated Palestinian farmers, the mayor said, confiscating 7,000 dunums (about 700 acres or 280 hectares) of arable land, making the lives of Palestinians "almost impossible" and putting them in "ghettos".

Yet amazingly, Bethlehem's population continues to grow even as the Christians flee:

Locality Name	Mid-Year Population in
	2004	2005	2006

Bethlehem (Beit Lahm)

28,111

29,019

29,927

Somehow, according to Israel's critics, the horrible separation barrier is only effective in forcing Christians to leave Bethlehem but it causes Muslims to increase.

See also previous post: Guess who's stealing land?

Meryl also weighs in on the issue.

The PA's officlal car theft ring

From YNet, published on December 8:

In a report earlier this week, a senior Palestinian police officer boasted that following their new deployment, Palestinian police were able to confiscate a total of 180 stolen Israeli vehicles. An Israeli reading this report would think: Look at that, Mahmoud Abbas is starting to put the house in order.

But let’s wait a moment. What do they mean by “confiscated?” What would a Swiss police officer do if his people seized vehicles stolen in Italy? We can assume he would call his counterparts in the Italian police force and hand over the vehicles to them. However, Palestinian police “confiscated” the vehicles.

In other words, the Palestinian police force is short on vehicles, so it confiscates stolen vehicles to meet its own needs. Up until yesterday, a vehicle would be used by the person who stole it, or by the person who bought it from the thief. As of today, this vehicle is being used by a Palestinian police officer.

If the Palestinian police force was able to find 180 vehicles fitting for confiscation within a week, it means there are thousands of stolen Israeli cars out there that have not been taken apart.

Even in Nablus or Jenin one cannot drive around without a license plate, and in order to receive a vehicle permit anywhere in the world you need to arrive at some government office, present the documents of the new vehicle, and explain how you got it. So what does the Palestinian car thief say when he comes to the Palestinian government official and asks for a permit for a stolen Israeli vehicle?

My guess is that he tells the truth. Hello, I have a vehicle that was stolen from the Jews, how much do I need to pay in order to register it as a Palestinian vehicle? The official then offers his congratulations. Now fill out this form and pay the fees. Please fill in the thief’s name, date of theft, type of vehicle, and date of last emissions test in Israel. Please go over to the police now and fill out another form. We must have order here. The police officer may ask you to pay another fee. Good luck.

I’m certain there is an official procedure for this, with orderly registration. In fact, when an amateurish thief stole the vehicle of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef by mistake, a call was made to a senior Palestinian official and the car was returned within a few hours. How did they know where to find it? That’s very simple. The stolen vehicles are registered over there. The thieves pay fees. Everything is orderly.

UPDATE: Soccer Dad, who has a tremendously prodigious memory, recalls this article from 2001 that shows that things really don't change.