Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, January 20, 2008

MSM lies, Israel still supplies Gaza with electricity

The headlines from around the web:

Israel cuts off Gaza's electricity
Gazans reel under power shutdown
Gaza City Goes Dark After Power Cut
Gaza in power cut as blockade bites
Gaza Residents Plunged Into Darkness

Sure sounds like Israel has cut all electricity to Gaza, doesn't it?

And, as happens too often, the MSM is lying, sometimes explicitly and sometimes by broad implication.

The truth?

The Israeli Electric Company (IEC) is supplying nearly 70% of electricity to the Gaza Strip despite Palestinians' claims of a power shortage in Gaza, said Miko Zarfati, the chairman of the workers' committee at the power company.

"This is Palestinian spin. No one has stopped the supply of electricity to the Strip," Zarfati told Ynet. He claimed that his employees worked day and night in a power plant in Ashkelon while putting themselves in danger of being hit by Qassam rockets falling in the area.

The Gaza power plant only produces 30% of the electricity consumed in the Strip while Israel supplies the rest.

"It is simply offensive and arrogant for them to claim that there is shortage," Zarfati said.

The IEC employee was upset that Israel continues to supply electricity to Gaza while the Qassam rockets continue to land in the western Negev.

"The situation is totally absurd. We're continuing to supply them electricity despite the (demand) overload for electricity in Israel and despite the fact that Israeli residents and Electric Company workers that are being sent to Gaza Vicinity communities are under threat from Qassam rockets," Zarfati railed.

"The Electric Company sends people to fix power outages that are caused from the Qassam barrages everyday in Sderot and the Gaza vicinity and more than one worker has already been injured in these rocket attacks."

According to Zarafti, the workers have been pressuring him to cut off the flow of electricity to the Strip: "I am being pressured to disconnect the electricity, but I am of course a law-abiding man and I cannot do this.

The decision to disconnect the electricity to Gaza is a decision which can only be made by the Israeli government and I understand the consideration sagainst shutting off the power."

The workers' committee chairman has been thinking of ways to improve the lives of the employees on the front line. "I explode with anger and feel hopeless in the face of the workers' situation and in the face of the whole situation in the Gaza vicinity and in Ashkelon," Zarfati continued.

"I appealed to the Finance Ministry and asked them to approve a plan to reward these employees in some way, a few cents for everything they're going through. Unfortunately, I received a negative response."

The Treasury responded saying "no precedents will be created with regards to salary bonuses for workers living in dangerous areas."

Not only is Israel still supplying Gaza with 70% of its electricity directly - it forces its electric utility employees to endanger their own lives, under Qassam and Katyusha fire, to keep that electricity supply up and running.

This is an astonishing bit of dishonesty from the mainstream media in spinning the story the way they are.

We already knew that Gazan terrorists have been shooting rockets not only at Israel but at the border crossings as well, limiting their own ability to get humanitarian aid, for months. But the MSM doesn't mention it.

We already knew that even though Israel is under no obligation to provide food, fuel or medicine to Gaza, it still accepts dozens of medical patients daily (70 on Sunday alone.) But the MSM barely addresses this.

And now, we learn that Israel puts its own citizens in danger in order to keep the electricity flowing to Gaza. And the MSM happily accepts the Palestinian lies as gospel as it hammers Israel for creating a crisis that doesn't exist.

UPDATE: Honest Reporting covers this well.

Another example of "no coercion in Islam"

From Al-Arabiya:

Egypt's top religious body has called for tough penalties on people who convert to Islam for personal reasons, only to re-convert to their old religion, Quds Press news agency reported on Saturday.

The religious ruling, issued by the fatwa committee at Al Azhar, affects mostly Coptic Christians, who often convert to Islam in order to get a divorce, to remarry, or to marry a Muslim. They then convert back to Christianity once they have achieved the desired result.

According to the fatwa, the practice of re-converting after converting to Islam is "a grave crime that cannot be met with leniency."

It says offenders should be penalized according to Sharia (Islamic law), but did not specify the penalty.

Some scholars say there is no specific punishment for apostasy in Islam, while others claim it is an offense punishable by death.

The head of the Fatwa Committee, Sheikh Abdul-Hamid Al-Atrash, said people are never forced to convert to Islam, but once they do, it has to be out of absolute belief in the religion and total conviction of its principles.

Therefore, he said the decision to convert should not be retractable.

The fatwa says offenders will first be given the chance to "repent," and if they insist on leaving Islam, they should be penalized.

In April 2007, Egypt's Administrative Court ruled that people re-converting to Christianity will not be allowed new identification documents, a decision that infuriated Copts.

"This is an inhuman decision that violates the right of citizenship granted to all Egyptians according to Article 1 of the constitution," said Coptic secularist activist Kamal Zakher.

So many converts to Islam are not altogether sincere. Rather than annulling their conversions - because of this lack of sincerity - the fatwa is saying that they need to be punished as full Muslims when they revert to their original religion.

Of course, they are being forced to pretend to convert to begin with because of sharia-flavored legal systems to begin with.

And we all know the time-honored penalty for apostasy is death.

Apparently the oft-quoted Muslim maxim that "there is no compulsion in religion" is a bit more limited than those words imply.

'We want to offer sharia law to Britain'

From the Telegraph (UK):

[Sharia judge] Dr [Suhaib] Hasan, who is also a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain on issues of sharia law, says there is great misunderstanding of the issue in the West.
"Whenever people associate the word 'sharia' with Muslims, they think it is flogging and stoning to death and cutting off the hand," he says with a smile.
He makes the distinction between the aspects of law that sharia covers: worship, penal law, and personal law. Muslim leaders in Britain are interested only in integrating personal law, he says.
"Penal law is the duty of the Muslim state - it is not in the hands of any public institution like us to handle it. Only a Muslim government that believes in Islam is going to implement it. So there is no question of asking for penal law to be introduced here in the UK - that is out of the question."
Despite this, Dr Hasan is open in supporting the severe punishments meted out in countries where sharia law governs the country.
"Even though cutting off the hands and feet, or flogging the drunkard and fornicator, seem to be very abhorrent, once they are implemented, they become a deterrent for the whole society.
"This is why in Saudi Arabia, for example, where these measures are implemented, the crime rate is very, very, low," he told The Sunday Telegraph.
In a documentary to be screened on Channel 4 next month, entitled Divorce: Sharia Style, Dr Hasan goes further, advocating a sharia system for Britain. "If sharia law is implemented, then you can turn this country into a haven of peace because once a thief's hand is cut off nobody is going to steal," he says.
"Once, just only once, if an adulterer is stoned nobody is going to commit this crime at all.
"We want to offer it to the British society. If they accept it, it is for their good and if they don't accept it they'll need more and more prisons."
...
"The introduction of sharia law in Britain raises complex questions, as some of its basic tenets are incompatible with the fundamental principles of our liberal democracy and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," says Baroness Cox, a leading human rights campaigner.
"There is no equality before the law between men and women and between Muslims and non-Muslims; and there is no freedom to choose and change religion."
Ibrahim Mogra, chairman of the Muslim Council of Britain's inter-faith committee, admits that to non-Muslims some laws may seem harsh on women. Those who are married to a man with a number of wives can be treated badly, for instance. But he insists that sharia is an equitable system.
"It may mean that a woman married under Islamic law has no legal rights, but the husband is required to pay for everything in marriage and in the case of a divorce all the woman's belongings are hers to keep."
In fact, Sheikh Mogra argues that sharia in Britain would give rights to women. "A Muslim man can take a second wife under sharia law and treat her as he wants, knowing that she has no legal rights in Britain. It means that she is regarded as no more than a mistress and he can walk out on her when he wants."
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Critics warn, however, that in giving even parts of sharia law official status, Britain would be associating itself with a system that in many ways was intolerable according to Western values.
Professor John Marks, author of The West, Islam and Islamism, points out that apostates from Islam can suffer severe punishment, even honour killings.
"There are more violent cases that are being related to people who choose to convert from Islam," he says.
A survey by Policy Exchange found that 36 per cent of young British Muslims believed that a Muslim who converted to another religion should be "punished by death".
"This clearly goes against the laws of our country. If they come to live in this country they should live by our laws," says Prof Marks.

And here is a new, backhanded argument for making some form of sharia law official in Britain:

Perhaps the strongest argument in favour of some form of recognition of sharia in Britain is that it would help to regulate a system that operates beyond the law.
The Government has expressed concern about imams who may be using the Koran to justify fatwas that clash with British law.
Leaders of four major British Muslim groups published a government-backed report in 2006 that accepted that many imams were not qualified to give guidance to alienated young people.
They agreed to set up a watchdog aimed at tackling extremism and monitoring mosques, but Yunes Teinaz, a former adviser to the London Central Mosque, warns that one of the greatest problems is the imams who arrive in Britain unable to speak English, and with no regard for British law.
"The absence of anyone regulating the mosques and sharia courts means that they can act as a law unto themselves, issuing fatwas that breach people's human rights because they have no knowledge of the law," he says. "They can take people's money despite having no proper qualifications, but worse they can harm the communities that they are in."
Zareen Roohi Ahmed, the chief executive of the British Muslim Forum - one of the four groups on the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Body - concedes that sharia courts in Britain are still poorly organised.
"They need development - the government should be supporting them to deliver their service more effectively," she says.

Who would have thought that Muslims, in their zeal to spread sharia in a secular system, would mirror the arguments of those who want to legalize marijuana?

As Melanie Phillips notes:

It is very important that people realise the crucial difference between allowing a minority the right to practise its own precepts while fitting in with the law of the land, and allowing members of a minority to force the law of the land to fit in with them. It is very important that people understand that the pressure to sharia-ise Britain is far more dangerous even than terrorism because – see the government’s embrace of ‘sharia finance’ – its implications simply aren’t understood and it is likely therefore to be accepted. Salami-slice by salami slice, this is how British society will be dismembered.

Hamas' circle of death

Here's how it goes - a portent of things to come in the Palestinian Arabic media:

* Hamas proudly shoots some 160-odd rockets to Israel since Tuesday, and some 100 mortar shells not only at Israel but also towards Gaza crossing points where humanitarian aid enters.

* Israel decides that allowing these terrorists to continue to receive supplies via Israel, and endangering those who try to supply Gaza with supplies, is somewhat problematic.

* Hamas seizes fuel meant for hospitals (from PalPress):

One of the owners of petrol stations in the Gaza Strip this evening said to our correspondent that Hamas beyond the law in the Gaza Strip by the seizure of a large quantity of fuel had entered the Gaza Strip.

The source confirmed "one of the fuel stations", who asked not to be identified: "These quantities seized by Hamas was necessary to cover the needs of hospitals, where Hamas [is taking them and using them for] putting them in camps in the Gaza Strip for use in Hamas leadership lighting and ceiling space, and houses of Hamas leaders and security headquarters only."

* And now Hamas is anxiously awaiting people dying in Gaza hospitals whose deaths they can blame on Israel.

By the way, even though there were reports that Hamas had stopped firing rockets this weekend, it took credit for one of the rockets Saturday night.

Saudi Arabia anti-semitic? Naaaaah.

From EJP:

An international organization fighting to defend press freedom has denounced Saudi Arabia’s refusal to issue a visa to a Jewish journalist who was to accompany French President Nicolas Sarkozy during his trip to the country earlier this week.

’’The discrimination practiced by Saudi Arabia with respect to Israeli journalists is unacceptable,’’ the Paris-based “Reporters Sans Frontières” (Reporters Without Borders), said.

French-Israeli journalist Gideon Kouts, who is a Paris correspondent for the second Israeli tv channel and writes for Jewish magazine ‘L’Arche’ presented his French passport but the Saudis refused on January 10 to grant him a visa because he writes about Israel.

Of course it isn't because he is Jewish - it is because he writes about Israel!

In the interest of furthering Saudi consistency on banning journalists who write about Israel, here is a link to 9427 articles that mention Israel in the Saudi-based Arab News English edition. I fully expect them to expel Mohammed Mar’i, Abdul Jalil Mustafa, Tariq A. Al-Maeena, Hisham Abu Taha, Walid M. Awad, Sarah Abdullah, and the many other reporters who dare mention Israel's name on the hallowed pages of Arab media.

Bloggers' block Sunday links, plus

It's bad enough not finding interesting, original stories to blog about.

But it's worse when I see others managing to find them!

Judeopundit, who comments here often, finds a wacky left-wing article that claims that Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar has saved countless Israeli lives.

He also found a wonderful English Q&A at the Hamas website with its spokesman.

And for a hat trick he discovers exactly why Al-Jazeera maintains contacts with Israel. Hint: It isn't for "even-handedness."

Israel Matzav notices a British watchdog group who finds that - believe it or not - British taxpayer money is being used to fund Palestinian Arab incitement against Israel. What a shock!

Backspin digs up a real, honest to goodness news story about Israel that describes....Israel.

Israellycool continues his liveblogging of what's going on in Israel and Gaza (with a smattering of Nasrallah for extra-special disgusting flavor.)

Daled Amos reports on a story I should have blogged last week on Yasir Arafat's famous blood donation for victims of 9/11 being a hoax - the great champion of terror evidently hated needles.

What can I add to such great stuff? Not much. We have the moderate leader of the Fatah-flavor PA condemning Israel for killing a terrorist that belongs to a Fatah group that the PA denies existing anymore while planning a non-existent terror attack.

An interesting article on Yiddish curses.

And the anti-Hamas Palestine Press Agency reports that Hamas has decided to stop shooting rockets at Sderot for now. I cannot find any other sources for this, although rocket fire has cooled down over the weekend to "only" five yesterday and two so far today. As has been the Palestinian Arab habit for decades, they are trying to find just the right amount of damage they can do without risking massive retaliation.

That's about it. I'll keep updating my Qassam calendar and I'll check back later to see if I can find any other interesting stories...

Good news Friday

Mack Ness, a Jewish farmer and recluse, who lived his life in deprived circumstances in Watchung, New Jersey, willed a fortune to Israel when he died in January 2004. As a result, Ness is helping to make the Negev bloom posthumously.

Mack Ness lived as a poor farmer in central New Jersey, yet when he died in 2004 he left $15 million to Israel.

The Ness Loan Fund for the Negev has disbursed more than 85 business loans, mostly to people who were unable to get loans from a bank.

Virtual world "Second Life" opened a virtual Israeli community for its "Residents" on Sunday, allowing over 11 million users worldwide to teleport into a vibrant 3-dimensional Internet version of the country. "The purpose of Second Life Israel is to present Israel to a global audience beyond traditional media," said SL Israel founder Chaim Landau. "This is a concept of Israel as a fun, entertaining, thriving and diverse community for Jews and non-Jews, and a home for Israelis on Second Life."
As a Legacy Heritage Fellow at the European Union of Jewish Students in 2007, Landau initiated the Second Life Israel island with Beth Brown, a building and design manager. Users can walk through the Old City in Jerusalem, visiting the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Dome of the Rock as easily as they can venture down the promenade in Tel Aviv and weave through the Mahaneh Yehuda marketplace in Jerusalem.

Israel, with fewer than 7 million people, has become a Goliath in the world of technology and medicine. It is third only to America and Canada in the number of companies listed on the Nasdaq, ahead of economic powerhouses like Germany, England and China. Bruce Aust, executive vice president of Nasdaq , said 75 Israeli companies worth a total of $60 billion are listed.
American troops use Israeli portable digital x-ray machines in Iraq and Afghanistan that don't require film for developing and are used in battlefield situations. "The quality of their post-doctorates in medicine, nanotechnology and software development is rather incredible," said Marc Stanley, a technology official at the U.S. Department of Commerce who is involved with fostering collaboration between American and Israeli technology companies. Experts attribute the nation's success to a confluence of cultural and systemic factors, such as Israel's highly educated and motivated immigrant population.

Established in 1983, the Golan Heights Winery is credited with remaking the Israeli wine industry and slowly transforming Israel's reputation as a producer of world-class, award-winning wines that appeal to sophisticated international consumers. Its three labels, Yarden, Gamla, and Golan, produce some 17 different varieties and are the most widely exported Israeli wines in the world. In 2007 the winery's 1,600 acres of vineyards produced 430,000 cases, up from 420,000 in 2006, and generated sales of $30 million. Today, says the head winemaker, California-born Victor Schoenfeld, "We have wine shortages. Our demand outstrips our supply."

Gilad Schalit's children's story

From MSNBC:

JERUSALEM - Years before he was a soldier seized by Palestinian militants, 11-year-old Gilad Schalit penned a simple parable about how enemies can get along.

His story, "When the Shark and the Fish First Met," has now been published as a children's book that teaches tolerance — while its author, now 21, spends his 19th month captive in the Gaza Strip.

The tank crewman was seized in June 2006 by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip in a cross-border raid into Israel. Two of his comrades were killed in the attack. Secret negotiations on a prisoner swap deal have stalled.

The story Schalit wrote as a fifth-grader in 1997 was published Saturday with its 64 pages illustrated by 29 Israeli artists. The project is also on display in a gallery in Nahariya, the Mediterranean coastal town where Schalit was born.

In the story, a shark is about to eat a little fish, but the fish persuades the shark to let him live. Instead, the two play hide-and-seek underwater and become friends.

But their mothers disapprove. "The fish is an animal we eat. Don't play with it!" the shark's mother tells him.

"The shark is the animal that devoured your father and brother — don't play with that animal!" the fish's mother tells him.

After avoiding each other for a year, the two meet again. The shark says, "You're my enemy, but shall we make up?"

The fish agrees, and eventually the two announce their friendship to their mothers.

"Since that day, the sharks and the fish have lived in peace," wrote Schalit.

His message: 'Even enemies can live together'

One of Schalit's teachers found the story while doing spring cleaning last year and brought it to his family, said Noam Schalit, Gilad's father.

"This is a message from an 11-year-old kid who believes that even enemies can live together in the end," Schalit told The Associated Press. "It's amazing how relevant that is to his situation today."

Mazal Gabai, Gilad Schalit's fifth-grade teacher, said he wrote the story after she taught the class about parables.

"I believe that the prophecy will come true, and the two will live together," she told Israel Radio on Sunday. "The message is clear — nothing can happen without dialogue. Even if the other side is extremely difficult, we'll find a way to bridge the gaps."

All of the illustrators who took part in the project volunteered their work, said Lee Rimon, the artist who came up with the idea of turning Schalit's story into a book. The illustrations are on exhibit at The Edge, the gallery she runs with her husband in Nahariya, and will begin touring Israel this week.

"When we heard about this story, we knew we had to do something," she said.

The story is online, including Schalit's original illustrations.

Palestinian Press modifies UN remarks

The UN released a statement yesterday:

Deeply concerned at the escalation of violence in Gaza, the West Bank and southern Israel, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for an immediate halt to Palestinian sniper and rocket attacks, as well as maximum restraint by the Israeli Defence Forces.

But when Palestinian Press Agency reported on it, something was missing:

United Nations Secretary-General expressed concern about the Israeli escalation

Ban Ki-moon stressed the Secretary General of the United Nations, deeply concerned about the current escalation in the killings in Gaza and the West Bank.

In a press statement issued at dawn today, deeply regretted the bloodshed and the killing and wounding of civilians in the Palestinian territories, warning of the likelihood of further victims in the case are not calm the situation in the region.

Notice that this "news" agency somehow managed to overlook Ki-Moon's call for an "immediate halt" to Palestinian Arab rockets and shootings?

Once again, the PalArabs show no ability to comprehend that they have any responsibilities at all - to the point that they will censor any news stories that indicate that they are responsible for their actions. Everything, and I mean everything, is 100% Israel's fault.

Always.

"Dismantled" Fatah group says it is ending its "cease-fire"

From Ma'an:

The general commander of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, the military wing of Fatah, in the West Bank announced an end to their three-month ceasefire on Friday.

Abu Uday said in a statement that the ceasefire was now over and that the Brigades will respond to the recent Israeli assassinations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

"We will not stand idly by while witnessing massacres of our people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We will respond to these massacres and we give the green light to all our brigades. Thus we will calm the hearts of the martyrs' families," he said.

But I thought that the Al Aqsa Brigades were dismantled by the PA! And then ten days later it was disbanded again!

And that after they were dismantled they were still taking credit for attacks from the West Bank! And the last one occurred only yesterday!

And I could have sworn that Al-Aqsa in Gaza has been sending daily rockets towards Israel!

Could it be - just maybe - that murderous terrorists and their "moderate" Fatah leaders aren't the most honest people in the world?

Saudi teacher beaten up; police refuse to enter girls school to save her

From the Arab News:

Angry Man Barges Into Girls’ School

A man and his wife and one of his daughters busted into a girl’s secondary school here and beat up a teacher inside, the daily Al-Watan reported yesterday.
According to the report, the family was upset at the teacher because she wouldn’t allow one of the daughters out of school at the end of the day for some unknown reason.

OK, so the guy (and his wife and daughter) have some anger issues. An interesting "oddly enough"-type story that is similar to many that happen in the West.

But what happened afterwards is far more newsworthy than the headline:

The building superintendent, upon hearing the ruckus inside, refused to enter the building due to the social restrictions on men entering women-only areas such as girl’s high schools.
Even the police didn’t go in after they were called; they waited until the man came out and arrested him.

Men who were in a position to save a female teacher from being beaten up by three angry people - who, for all they knew, was being murdered inside - refused to help her out because she was a woman, and surrounded by girls! Police, whose very job should be to protect innocent people in exactly these sorts of circumstances, refuse to do so because of the bizarre Saudi social construct of separating men and women.

One can only imagine the scene as men stand outside the girls' school, listening to a teacher's screams as she is being beaten, calmly waiting for the assaulter to exit so they can apprehend him - without being forced to look at high school girls.

And the Saudi-based Arab News thinks that the main story is the beating, not the gross negligence on the part of the men.

Let's talk about "jihad"

WND reports:

An Islamic "jihad" is an effort by Muslims to convince "others to take up worthy causes, such as funding medical research," according to a middle school textbook used in California and other states.

And even at its most violent, "jihad" simply is Muslims fighting "to protect themselves from those who would do them harm," says the "History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond" book published by Teachers' Curriculum Institute.
...The textbook council, an independent national research group set up in 1989 to review history and social studies texts in public schools, quoted directly from the book to provide evidence of its bias.
The word jihad means "to strive." Jihad represents the human struggle to overcome difficulties and do things that would be pleasing to God. Muslims strive to respond positively to personal difficulties as well as worldly challenges. For instance, they might work to become better people, reform society, or correct injustice.

Jihad has always been an important Islamic concept. One hadith, or account of Muhammad, tells about the prophet's return from a battle. He declared that he and his men had carried out the "lesser jihad," the external struggle against oppression. The "greater jihad," he said, was the fight against evil within oneself. Examples of the greater jihad include working hard for a goal, giving up a bad habit, getting an education, or obeying your parents when you may not want to.

Another hadith says that Muslims should fulfill jihad with the heart, tongue, and hand. Muslims use the heart in their struggle to resist evil. The tongue may convince others to take up worthy causes, such as funding medical research. Hands may perform good works and correct wrongs.

Sometimes, however, jihad becomes a physical struggle. The Quran tells Muslims to fight to protect themselves from those who would do them harm or to right a terrible wrong. Early Muslims considered their efforts to protect their territory and extend their rule over other regions to be a form of jihad. However, the Quran forbade Muslims to force others to convert to Islam. So, non-Muslims who came under Muslim rule were allowed to practice their faiths.

Besides the falsehoods - especially the last sentence, which certainly doesn't apply to Hindus and any other non-dhimmis - this is consciously parroting Islamist talking points as opposed to how the word "jihad" is used, and understood, in daily Arabic. (The fact that there are a number of "Islamic Jihad" terror groups proves the point quite well.)

In addition, many - or most - Muslims themselves do not believe that the hadith that introduced the topics of "lesser Jihad" and "greater Jihad" are authentic. See this thread in a British Muslim message board, where the first poster sniffs:

I jus thought i would make this post and make it clear that a major hadith which has desperately slipped into mainstream society of the so-called "greater" and "lesser" jihad is fabricated.

The hadith that is used is:

"When the prophet was returning from battle he said 'we have returned from the lesser jihad to the greater jihad'"

this hadith is used to say that the physical jihad is lesser than the actual jihad an nafs. [against oneself.]

sheikh ul islam ibn taymiyyah said that you will not find this hadith in any of the six books and that you can not trace the isnad. he also says that the killing of the mushrikeen in jihad is the greatest of actions. [Mushrikeen are polytheists - EoZ]

This is a corruption of jihad so people dont have to go and fight and would rather stay back and say "i am perfecting myself"

for now

wasalam

For fun, I decided to look up old books in Google and see how "Jehad" was explained by the earliest English-language chroniclers of Islamic history. In these texts, consistently, "Jehad" is translated as "religious war", "holy war" or something similar.

The earliest mention I could find is from the 1708 book "The Conquest of Syria, Persia, and AEgypt, by the Saracens" where Jehad is translated as "Bellum Sacrum - Battles of the Lord."

By no means were all of these books biased against Islam, many are describing Muslim wars in India as factually as possible. It just means that the definition of Jihad as "inner struggle" is at worst a recent fiction and at best an obscure usage that is being trotted out to counter the consistent Islamic use of the word to describe violent actions and atrocities.

Video of Sderot damage

Here's video from YNet showing the extensive damage that Qassam rockets are wreaking on Sderot. Remember, these rockets were called "Christmas firecrackers" by the moderate Palestinian Authority.

Seeing how Qassams rip through the walls of houses, one wonders what "taking cover" means for the terrified residents of Sderot - where exactly can they run in the 15 seconds' warning they sometimes have? It is an absolute miracle that more haven't been killed from the thousands of Qassams that have rained down.
(YNet's version only works for Internet Explorer, I uploaded it to YouTube so more people could see it. Too many Israeli multimedia news sites rely on IE and as a result they limit their audience.)

Woman and child killed in Gaza - but not by Israel

From Ma'an:

Palestinian police affiliated to the Hamas-run government announced on Thursday morning the death two teenagers in two separate incidents of weapons misuse in Gaza City.

Sources in the Gazan police said that Hamza Al-Arqan was killed and his brother was injured when gunmen were shooting into the air during a wedding party in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood in Gaza City.

Separately, nineteen-year-old Nawal As-Sarhi from the Zeitoun neighborhood was killed when a gunshot slipped mistakenly while she was playing with her father's pistol, police said.

A nineteen year old woman "playing" with a pistol? From past news items plus the fact that Hamas released this information, an honor killing sounds more likely.

Ma'an Arabic refers to the boy as a "child".

The 2008 PalArab self-death count is now at 9.

UPDATE: A corpse was found near Rafah from some sort of infighting. Grim milestone time: 10.

First Temple-era family seal found in Jerusalem

From JPost:

A stone seal bearing the name of one of the families who acted as servants in the First Temple and then returned to Jerusalem after being exiled to Babylonia has been uncovered in an archeological excavation in Jerusalem's City of David, a prominent Israeli archeologist said Wednesday.

The 2,500-year-old black stone seal, which has the name "Temech" engraved on it, was found earlier this week amid stratified debris in the excavation under way just outside the Old City walls near the Dung Gate, said archeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar, who is leading the dig.

According to the Book of Nehemiah, the Temech family were servants of the First Temple and were sent into exile to Babylon following its destruction by the Babylonians in 586 BCE.

The family was among those who later returned to Jerusalem, the Bible recounts.

The seal, which was bought in Babylon and dates to 538-445 BCE, portrays a common and popular cultic scene, Mazar said.

The 2.1 x 1.8-cm. elliptical seal is engraved with two bearded priests standing on either side of an incense altar with their hands raised forward in a position of worship.

A crescent moon, the symbol of the chief Babylonian god Sin, appears on the top of the altar.

Under this scene are three Hebrew letters spelling Temech, Mazar said.

The Bible refers to the Temech family: "These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city." [Nehemiah 7:6]... "The Nethinim [7:46]"... The children of Temech." [7:55].

The fact that this cultic scene relates to the Babylonian chief god seemed not to have disturbed the Jews who used it on their own seal, she added.

The seal of one of the members of the Temech family was discovered just dozens of meters away from the Opel area, where the servants of the Temple, or "Nethinim," lived in the time of Nehemiah, Mazar said.

"The seal of the Temech family gives us a direct connection between archeology and the biblical sources and serves as actual evidence of a family mentioned in the Bible," she said. "One cannot help being astonished by the credibility of the biblical source as seen by the archaeological find."