Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, February 04, 2008

Once a terrorist...

Hamas made a deal with Egypt to close the Rafah border, and now Hamas is relishing its role as a respected international player.

But it is a bit harder to remove that terrorist mindset....Check out these bland captions for the somewhat more violent pictures:

Palestinian armed members of the Hamas forces arrest an Egyptian man who tried to cross the now-sealed breached part of the border wall between Egypt and Gaza, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008.
(This was from AP, but Reuters used essentially the same caption for essentially the same picture.)

A member of the Hamas security forces, right, threatens to hit a Palestinian man with his gun butt as he tries to keep him away from the border between Gaza and Egypt, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008.

Try to imagine the airplay that similar pictures with Israeli soldiers would get.

Joseph's Tomb shows that there are no negotiations, only capitulations

Today Ehud Olmert - reacting to pressure from Knesset - plans to politely ask that the PA repair Joseph's Tomb, destroyed by them in 2000.

IRIS blog reminds us:

Arguably the most humiliating incident in the Palestinian/Israeli peace accords has been Joseph's Tomb and the yeshiva that was housed on the site. The Oslo Accords placed the site under Israeli control, but Ehud Barak unilaterally withdrew after securing a Palestinian agreement to defend the site and insure freedom of access and Jewish worship. Instead, as the IDF was withdrawing from the site, Palestinian forces opened fire and one Israeli border policemen bled to death as IDF commanders fruitlessly negotiated with Palestinian security for an extended period to permit Israel to return to gather its wounded.

Later a Palestinian mob engaged in an orgy of destruction of the site, accompanied by Palestinian security forces. Multiple desecrations of the site ensued, and finally the Palestinian Authority turned the site into a mosque, as is traditional in the Muslim World regarding captured holy sites.

Minister Natan Sharansky was aptly quoted at the time, fruitlessly attempting to lobby Israel's Foreign Ministry to simply publish the photos of the atrocity:
If we would have razed the gravesite of one of the founders of Islam, billions of Muslims would have taken to the streets. It's inconceivable that the world should not know about this travesty.

And how will the PA react?

So far, the only Palestinian Arab reaction is from the mayor of Nablus, but it foreshadows what we can expect from the PA: (autotranslated from Ma'an)

[Mayor] Mhasin [said] that the decision is aimed at straining the security situation between the two sides, stressing that it would affect the application of a security plan by the Palestinian security services in Nablus, as it does to the ongoing process of negotiations between the two sides.

What could be a rare goodwill gesture on the part of the PA is going to turn into another snub, as they will ensure that they do not give in on even a tiny symbolic move like this. And what should be an uncompromising demand on the part of Israel is reduced to Olmert (reluctantly) begging the PA to act like human beings, and no doubt his easy acquiescence to the adamant refusal that is forthcoming.

Jewish leaders today called for calm in anticipation of the release of the new All Mighty laundry detergent.

Extremist Jewish groups threatened Unilever, makers of the detergent.

Rabbi Youssef Goldstein, leader of the "Defending G-d Brigades," called for the death of all Unilever employees as well as those of any supermarkets, stores and advertising agencies associated with the "blasphemous" product. "It is obvious that these sons of pigs intend to trivialize our sacred beliefs with this scandalous piece of filth," he said in an exclusive statement to EoZ News.

"Naming a detergent after the A-lm-ght-, a product that is used to clean diapers and other disgusting unclean items, is beyond the pale. It shows just how trivial our belief system is being held by the so-called enlightened world."

Other Jewish leaders called for calm in the face of expected protests.

"While this is clearly a provocation, I urge all Jews to remain calm and protest peacefully," said the head of the Orthodox Society of Traditional Jews. "There is no need for deadly riots and calls for murder at this time. It all depends on how Unilever reacts to our pain and suffering."

The more liberal Union of Reform Jews and Others was more conciliatory.

"The URJO calls on Unilever to work to reduce the obvious provocations against our heartfelt belief system. On the other hand, we don't think that death threats are productive."

Officials from Unilever expressed surprise.

"The official name is 'All Small and Mighty,' and it didn't enter our minds that this could be offensive," said company spkesperson John Generic.

Goldstein wasn't impressed.

"Just look at the bottle!" he said. "From now on, we demand that Jewish representatives be consulted before any product launch by any company in America or worldwide, to protect our Al-M-gh- G-d from possible hurt feelings."

Peaceful PalArab weekend

There was a probable Clan Clash drive-by shooting, killing one and injuring 4, in Nablus.

Two children were injured in an "ambiguous explosion" in Rafah.

The 2008 PalArab self-death count is up to 14.

Lex talionis and the Reverend George Bush

A year ago I blogged about Reverend George Bush and his 1859 commentary on the Hebrew Bible.

Since this week was Parashat Mishpatim, I thought it would be fun to relate his interpretation of " עין תחת עין" :

Nor does it appear that even in this form it was ever a compulsory mode of retribution. Although sanctioned as a general rule by which the decisions of magistrates were to be governed, yet it is probable that a pecuniary satisfaction might be made by the offender in cases of this nature provided the injured party would consent to it.

When it is said, Numb. 35. 31, 'Ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer,' the inference is that for minor offences satisfaction might be taken. This is confirmed by the testimony of Josephus, who says, that the law allowed him who was injured to estimate his own damage, and to accept of a pecuniary compensation, unless he had a mind to be reckoned severe or cruel. Selden, a modern authority of great weight, says, ' This doth not mean, that if I put out another man's eye, therefore I must lose my own, (for what is he better for that?) though this be commonly received ; but it means, I shall give him what satisfaction an eye shall be judged to be worth.'

This is perhaps the most correct view of the lex talionis in its actual operation, as we find no instance on record where the law was literally carried into effect. The spirit of it might be, that the injuring party should in justice receive a punishment similar to the injury he had inflicted, but was allowed to redeem his eye, tooth, hand, &c., by a suitable payment to the injured person.

His use of the text in Numbers to prove that "eye for an eye" should not be taken literally closely mirrors one of the Talmudic proofs of the same idea in Bava Kamma 83b.

Not bad, Rev. Bush!

Nutty left-wing site blames the Joooos for Mideast cable cut

From The Daily Scare complete with its own links to more nutty articles, some of which were written by the same author:

A third undersea cable has been cut, effectively eliminating the Internet in the Middle East. But according to CNN that cable outage does not extend to Israel, Lebanon and Iraq. Is it a coincidence that these three countries, who represent the next phase of the war on terrorism, were spared in the communications blackout that is affecting the rest of the Middle East? With the reemergence of the shadowy Fatah Al Islam organization, which has been linked to Saudi Prince Bandar, Saad Al-Hariri, the Mossad and neocon Elliot Abrams, it becomes clear that the pre-invasion of Lebanon scenario from last summer has nearly been reset. Bush laid claim to Lebanon with his recent executive order criminalizing criticism of US/Israeli actions in Lebanon, just as he did with the previous one on Iraq. These two orders claimed that the entire war of terror hinged on these sideshows, declaring that failure in either represents “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”

...

The news of the multiple acts of cable sabotage are clear proof that a hostile force is doing its best to isolate the greater Middle East region (all the way to India) from the rest of the world. With the Internet down, it will be impossible for anyone to transmit video evidence out of the visually-embargoed zone, except for those who have satellite uplinks, like the major news networks, who are already under Zionist control. The depth of these cables means that they can only be reached by submarine or deep submersibles, means that it could not have been done by al Qaida the “toilet,” which doesn’t have a navy, or a submarine. The cable cutting had to have been the work of state terrorists.
...
Since Israel still has Internet, wouldn't the editors of the major newspapers there normally do their best to get such a news scoop? Neither the Jerusalem Post nor Haaretz has anything at all to say about the sabotaged cables on their sites. A search for undersea cables on both sites reveals nothing. Something very bad is in the air. Normally the Israeli press is the favored medium for taunting the Arabs’ misfortune. Both papers, which were used to disseminate the disinformation about the recent air attack upon Syria, are eerily silent about what is now going down.
...
The campaign to pump-up war fever on the home front started building to a crescendo in the Jerusalem Post, on Jan 29, when they ran this article, “IDF beefs up forces to thwart terror cells which left Gaza.” The article brought into the cold light of day the ancient Zionist plan to violently colonize all of “Greater Israel”, intending to justify an assault into the Sinai, where, it is claimed:

“as many as 20 cells may be trying to organize in the Sinai to use it as what one officer in the security services described as a platform to launch significant attacks on targets in Israel...In recent days the IDF has reinforced its troops along the Egyptian border. Last Thursday, Route 10, which runs along the border from Ovda to Kerem Shalom, was closed to civilian traffic and Israelis were warned to return immediately from resorts in the Sinai Peninsula. One day later the IDF decided to temporarily close tourist areas near the border.”

This article was an offhand admission that Israel has an immediate intention is to finish Gaza, under the continuing ruse of “fighting terrorism,”...
The final solution – here we go again.

Apparently the author is better at coming up with loony conspiracy theories than with using search engines. The Jerusalem Post had at least two articles about the cable cut, and Ha'aretz had at least one.

And of course his equating Joooz and Nazis is always a nice, if de rigueur, touch.

Recent keywords that end up at the Elder

Here's a representative group of recent keywords that people type into search engines that end up finding me. I highlighted the ones that are especially interesting:

mahmoud al-khaznadar, the vice president of the federa
sumaya al khashab xxx (from Saudi Arabia, he looked at this and this)
blow up doll video (I get a lot of these)
damascus 1860
damascus massacre 1860
qatar religious conflict
palestinians female idf std
falaka
kill the jews (always a classic, this time from England)
chumash quotes star of david
elder porn (I get lots of these too)
un estimates of gaza egypt spending
un vehicles
pictures of terrorists
gaza ma'an school
bene israelis love india
the elder of ziyon
gaza greenhouses
porn arabs (from Australia)
elders egypt killed biblical
teen slave in eu
moderate israeli arabs
subliminal rapper
rabin salem proctologist
life in saudi arabia
september 11 arab celebration middle east conspiracy
bin laden's hate for the jews
the story about the fish and the shark by gilad schalit
duty free zone, cairo
arab comedian (this is also a favorite, but people are disappointed in what they find here)
child deaths in israel
82 year old blind man hits hole in one
more arabian porn
daily life in saudi arabia
rambam chador
what is bin laden's haplogroup?

Watch out for those bunnies

Pearls Before Swine:

Arab women's liberation news

In Saudi Arabia, they are considering creating women-only hospitals:

Would having hospitals run exclusively by women — from doctors to janitors — be a better environment for women? This is a proposition that the Ministry of Health is currently studying.
Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, recently proposed the establishment of women-only hospitals during a symposium in Riyadh entitled “Applying religion in medical issues.” Describing intermingling of sexes at hospitals as a “disaster” that infringes upon the modesty of Muslim societies, the mufti said medical professionals should only treat patients of the same gender except in time of emergencies.
Dr. Khaled Mirghalani, official spokesman for the Ministry of Health, said the ministry was considering the establishment of such hospitals, but he added that the move has nothing to do with the mufti’s recommendation.
“The ministry has been considering women-only hospitals for a long time. Such hospitals would be for specialties related to women, such as gynecology and obstetrics, but would have male staff. However, women employees will have preference,” he said.
Mirghalani said the Kingdom was not self-sufficient in terms of the number of Saudi doctors it needs. Only 20 percent of total doctors in the Kingdom are Saudi. “Having women-only hospitals is still being studied. More girls might consider going to medical schools when they are guaranteed that they can work in a women-only environment. But this is not a necessity now as there are already a large number of girls enrolling in medical schools, especially at the King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah. Medicine is after all a humane job and it must be thought of in that way,” he added.
The idea of having single-gender hospitals has attracted mixed reactions from women. Some women feel such hospitals would be convenient, while others are against them.
Amani Henaidi said she would prefer using a women’s only hospital. “It would be more practical and easier. Since it is possible, then why not?” she said. “Of course it would be more private, because I don’t have to worry about hijab while I’m in pain and all of those things,” she said.
Fatima said such hospitals would “only serve those conservative close-minded people who would leave their wives to die because there is no woman doctor on the night shift.”
Samia asks whether other women-only establishments have been successful. She said that women-only shopping centers in Jeddah have been unsuccessful in attracting women. The idea of employing saleswomen in lingerie shops has also been unsuccessful. “Hospitals include maintenance team, engineers, and other staff other than doctors and nurses. How would the minister of health tour women-only hospitals? How could that be possible? What would the situation in case of a fire or other emergencies when the interference of men is necessary?” she asked.

One field where women are gaining prestige in the Arab world was highlighted today as twin suicide bombings in Iraq were both done by women.

Perhaps the reason that women are underrepresented in medical professions, and gaining in non-technical pursuits such as suicide bombings, is because they are illiterate:

Nearly one in three people in the Arab world is illiterate, including nearly half of all women in the region, the Tunis-based Arab League Educational Cultural and Scientific Organisation said Monday. Three-quarters of the 100 million people unable to read or write in the 21 Arab countries are aged between 15 and 45 years old, the Arab League group, known by its acronym ALECSO, said in a statement, cited by AFP.

The first phrase of that article proves the point nicely!

The Great Jordanian Shoe Caper

Jordanian newspapers are reporting a daring case of theft.

Muslim worshippers who went to their prayers in an Amman mosque were surprised upon leaving to find that their shoes had all been stolen.

To add insult to injury, the thief chose to do his caper on the day of a freak snowstorm - forcing the worshippers to walk home, barefoot, in the snow.

The worshippers expressed revulsion at the brazen act.

Colonization vs. colonialism - the Jewish Colonization Association

In November I wrote a posting discussing why Zionism is not colonialist - and in fact it is anti-colonialism, as it is a national liberation movement.

Another way to look at this would be to understand the difference between colonialism and colonization. Nowhere is this illustrated better than with a look back at a prominent organization founded in 1891 called the Jewish Colonization Association.

The JCA was founded by Baron de Hirsch in 1891 and was headquartered for most of its existence in Paris. Its purpose, according to its charter, was:

"To assist and promote the emigration of Jews from any parts of Europe or Asia, and principally from countries in which they may for the time being be subjected to any special taxes or political or other disabilities, to any other parts of the world, and to form and establish colonies in various parts of North and South America and other countries for agricultural, commercial, and other purposes." "To establish and maintain or contribute to the establishment and maintenance in any part of the world of educational and training institutions, model farms, loan-banks, industries, factories, and any other institutions or associations which in the judgment of the council may be calculated to fit Jews for emigration and assist their settlement in various parts of the world, except in Europe, with power to contribute to the funds of any association or society already existing or hereafter formed and having objects which in the opinion of the council may assist or promote the carrying out of the objects of the association."

Some of these colonies were in Palestine, but most weren't. They were all over - in Turkey, Cyprus, Canada, the US, Brazil and above all in Argentina.

The impetus behind this organization was roughly the same as early political Zionism - to find places where oppressed Jews could live in freedom. At its height there were thousands of Jews who lived in these colonies established on land purchased by the JCA worldwide.

There were other organizations with roughly the same goals, for example the
Alliance Israélite Universelle founded in 1860, which received land as a gift from the Ottoman emperor in 1870 and started the first modern Jewish agricultural settlement in Palestine. But the AIU also donated money to Jewish schools and other organizations worldwide.

The intent for these early ventures was colonization, not colonialism. The means and goals were strikingly the same as for classic modern Zionism, to buy land for Jews to live in freedom.

The fact that the JCA didn't distinguish between its Palestine colonies and its Argentine and Canadian colonies shows that the accusations of "colonialism" from those who purchased land in Palestine are groundless. And as the pogroms in Europe continued through the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the prescience of these organizations and their founders is nothing less than amazing.

Gaza/Egypt update

Palestine Press quotes Israel Radio as saying that Egypt arrested 15 Hamas terrorists in its territory.

Al-Ahram (Arabic) says that Egypt is prepared to seal the border with new, sophisticated equipment. It estimates that Gazans spent 1.2 billion Egyptian pounds (roughly $210 million) and sums up the week this way (autotranslated):

Under the rule of the spirit of the market was the sale of corrupt goods and the use of counterfeit dollars, and the banks suffered a severe shortage of liquidity, and Egyptian traders responded to the request of the closure of their shops business, the inability of citizens to obtain their living conditions, and suffered economic life for the people of Rafah into something like complete paralysis, Some were enriched, while others have gone bankrupt.

This was the first confirmation I've seen of my earlier report of counterfeit currency.

200K

Today this blog received its 200,000th visitor.

It has been ten months since number 100,000 and the number of average daily visits has been climbing steadily since I started this in 2004. The last few days saw a huge influx of visitors thanks to a link from Little Green Footballs - roughly 5000 readers of just that story.

The average reader visits about 1.4 pages; so far I have some 273,000 page hits total.

Number 200,000 apparently lives in Toronto; he or she came from Bell Canada on a wide-screen monitor running Internet Explorer. This visitor has been here at least 32 times before.

Thanks to number 200K and to all my readers for coming by!

Qassams resume after lull - Gazans injured

After a break of four days without Qassams, two were fired into Israel today, with no injuries.

A third rocket fell short and hit a house in Beit Hanoun, Gaza, injuring a woman and child, according to the Palestine Press Agency.

January 31, 1948: Jewish woman killed by mosque sniper

People forget what life was like for the Jews in Palestine in the months that followed the UN partition vote. Until the Haganah took the offensive, Jews were sitting ducks for Palestinian Arab terror attacks, which occurred all the time.

The following story was on page 3 of the four-page Palestine Post for February 1, 1948. At that point these types of attacks were so routine that they were no longer front page news. Notice how many of the victims were women (click to enlarge):