Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Hamas exposes other terrorist fauxtography

As I briefly mentioned earlier, the ""Galilee Freedom Batallions" published a picture of the Mercaz HaRav mass murderer in combat fatigues to bolster evidence that they were behind the attack.

The Hamas Al-Qassam website published an animation showing that this picture was Photoshopped:

And, of course, they are blaming the Zionists for faking this photo, even though the people who issued it never claimed that he was a member of Hamas.

UPDATE: (Welcome to the nascent LGF-lizardoids and throbbing GIF fans! Feel free to browse around the site.)

"Cease fire" report: Mortars on Kerem Shalom

From Xinhua:

The Popular Resistance Committee, a group loyal to Hamas, on Wednesday said its fighters have fired three mortar shells on an Israeli commercial crossing point in southeast Gaza Strip.
In a statement sent to the media, the al-Nasser Saladin Brigades, the armed wing of the PRC, said the shells hit Kerem Shalom crossing on the point where Gaza, Egypt and Israel borders meet.
"The Zionist entity admitted the missiles landed on the crossing and claimed they caused no casualties," the statement said.

Kerem Shalom re-opened to ship humanitarian aid into Gaza a bit over a week ago.

Conclusions:

* The "cease-fire" is a sham.
* Hamas will hide behind the PRC to keep rockets and mortars going so they can simultaneously claim to the West that they aren't shooting any rockets while they tell their own people that they never accepted any agreement.
* "Humanitarian aid" is a terrorist target by Hamas and other groups in Gaza, because it is in their best interests to keep the people of Gaza miserable. Miserable PalArabs are better than bullets.

"Galilee Freedom Batallions" and the 1974 PLO "phased plan"

The previously unknown group that claimed responsibility for the Mercaz HaRav massacre calls itself the "Galilee Freedom Battalions-the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh." Many people commented on the second half of their title, wondering if it was a front group for Hezbollah.

We should be more concerned about the first half.

In 1974, the PLO established the "phased plan" to destroy Israel. Even then, the goal was not an independent Palestinian state, but to destroy Israel in stages - to grab whatever territory it can by any means, using it as a platform to grab more - with an independent Palestinian Arab state just a temporary step on the way towards a pan-Arab state:

2. The Palestine Liberation Organization will employ all means, and first and foremost armed struggle, to liberate Palestinian territory and to establish the independent combatant national authority for the people over every part of Palestinian territory that is liberated. This will require further changes being effected in the balance of power in favor of our people and their struggle.

3. The Liberation Organization will struggle against any proposal for a Palestinian entity the price of which is recognition, peace, secure frontiers, renunciation of national rights, and the deprival of our people of their right to return and their right to self-determination on the soil of their homeland.

4. Any step taken towards liberation is a step towards the realization of the Liberation Organization’s strategy of establishing the democratic Palestinian State specified in the resolutions of the previous Palestinian National Councils.

8. Once it is established, the Palestinian national authority will strive to achieve a union of the confrontation countries, with the aim of completing the liberation of all Palestinian territory, and as a step along the road to comprehensive Arab unity.

And immediately after Arafat signed the Oslo Accords in 1993, he told a radio station that the accords

...will be a basis for an independent Palestinian state in accordance with the Palestine National Council resolution issued in 1974... The PNC resolution issued in 1974 calls for the establishment of a national authority on any part of Palestinian soil from which Israel withdraws or which is liberated.

Arafat habitually referred to the 1974 plan during Oslo. This is the basis for the "good cop, bad cop" routine we are seeing between Abbas and Hamas - one trying to grab territory by ostensibly peaceful means, one by war, both with the same ultimate goal that was codified in Cairo in 1974.

Seen in this context, it makes perfect sense that while the PLO now has all Western countries pressuring Israel to withdraw to the Green Line, that the next stage start to be prepared now.

Which brings us back to the "Galilee Freedom Batallions."

Since the Galilee has a large Arab population, it is the logical place to start the next stage of the Phased Plan. They will start agitating for the Galilee to be a part of Arab Palestine. It sounds absurd now but after a decade or so of inciting Galilee Arabs plus terror attacks together with left-wing Israelis who are scared to death of a perceived "demographic" threat it will seem much more reasonable in years to come.

This group just released a picture of the murderer in military fatigues, strengthening the claim that they really exist (according to Palestine Today, they claim to admire Hezbollah but not to be associated with it). The point, however, is not whether this group exists or not; it is that all of the terror groups and quasi-governmental bodies work for the same goal using the same methods outlined in 1974.

CAMERA: BBC caught fabricating a story

CAMERA points out that the BBC showed footage of a home being bulldozed and claimed it was the home of the mass murderer of Mercaz HaRav's family.

The only problem is that the house still stands. The BBC showed footage of a house demolition and lied about what it was showing.

This goes way beyond media bias. Read (and watch) the whole thing.

Work accident!

Ma'an says that "25-year-old Ayman Mansour died after being seriously wounded on Tuesday evening while preparing a bomb that exploded in his hands."

I am convinced that some of the Palestinian Arab deaths reported as being from Israeli bombings are in fact from work accidents like these, or internal clashes. Hamas transports the dead bodies to where the airstrikes are and then say it was Israel. (The Palestine Press Agency has accused Hamas of doing exactly that at least once.) Since Israel didn't have any airstrikes yesterday, they couldn't blame the IDF.

Of course, "preparing bombs" is exactly what everyone knows Hamas will be doing in this current "lull" - licking its wounds from last week and ramping up for next time.

The 2008 PalArab self-death count is at 32.

UPDATE: PCHR mentions that a Gaza policeman "mistakenly" killed a 75-year old woman last week. So the count is 33, with 13 of them women or children.

UPDATE 2: PCHR has removed the link to the section of its website that reports deaths from infighting and "misuse of weapons." Making it even harder to report how many Palestinian Arabs are killing each other. And proving that it cares little about PalArab "human rights" and only about making Israel look bad.

UPDATE 3: Tunnel collapse:

An underground tunnel collapsed early Wednesday near Egypt's border with the Gaza strip, burying alive one smuggler and injuring another, a security official said.
Palestinian smuggler Mohammed el-Bashiti and five others had nearly finished expanding the 600 meter (yard) tunnel from Gaza into Egypt located 10 meters beneath the ground, when the ceiling gave way, said the official. (AP)

34.

Video of Grad rocket explosion in Ashkelon neighborhood

Grads are much more powerful and deadly than Qassams, and "reinforced rooms" do not protect against Grads, as is obvious from watching this video from Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs website:

PalArabs hold "animal protest"

At least it is original:

Gaza – Ma'an – Dozens of horses, camels, sheep, goats and donkeys rallied in front of the UN headquarters in Gaza City on Tuesday in protest of Israel's crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian activists fitted the animals with signs in various languages reading, "Where is the world's conscience?" Save the children of Gaza", "Gaza is dying; end the siege," "Is the UN an international lie?" and "The UN has to end the siege of Gaza."

Sami Akila, the spokesperson of the Sunna' Al-Hayat society and the organizers of the rally said if the animals' messages reach the international community, Gazans will try sign language in an attempt to make their appeals understood.

"We know that animals in the world are fed to glut, while the children of Gaza suffer from hunger and anemia and most of them go to sleep without having supper. You are concerned about dogs more than your concern about us contradicting your own human values and the treaties you signed and failed to implement," Akila said, addressing the UN.

That's funny, because Palestinian Arab concern over their own people is likewise somewhat lower than Western concern over our pets.

And don't even talk about how they treat their own animals:

* In the Gaza Strip in June 2001, a Palestinian drove a donkey cart laden with explosives toward a group of Israelis. At the last minute he jumped off the cart and detonated the bombs that exploded only partially. The cart had been loaded with four gas canisters, two mines, a bag of oil, and a bag of nails.
* In January 2001, terrorists left a donkey cart laden with explosives unattended near the Netzarim junction. Israeli soldiers fired at the cart, detonating the large amount of explosives and killing the donkey.

* In June 1995, a Palestinian suicide bomber detonated a donkey-led cart rigged with explosives near an IDF base near Khan Yunis. No soldiers were wounded in the blast, but the Palestinian and the donkey were killed.

So perhaps the symbolism of a donkey representing Palestinian Arab children is more apt than the organizers ever considered.

Arab in Israel brags about "honor killing" his sister

From YNet:

Police investigators noted that the attempted murder was meticulously planned. The youth had informed his family members that he was going to murder his sister early Tuesday morning, and then set off to do just that. He headed to the entrance of the village in a vehicle which he had borrowed from his brother, and awaited his sister’s arrival.

The youth then shot his sister, who was startled to see him and proceeded to kick her repeatedly in order to ensure that she was no longer alive. Chief Superintendent of the Afula Police Department, Orli Malka, stated that “the young woman was clever enough to play dead so that her brother would stop kicking her.” The shooter than called MDA medics and phone the police emergency hotline. "I just shot my sister,” he said, all the while keeping vigil over what he assumed was his sister’s lifeless corpse.

The young man then informed his family that he had shot his sister and was warmly greeted, hugged and congratulated by his brother and other family members.

Donkey love

From RIA Novosti:

A newly-married husband in northwest Syria divorced his wife at their wedding reception after his new bride insulted him with a 'donkey' song, the Al Watan newspaper said on Friday.

The incident happened in the Syrian city of Latakia after the bride had chosen the Arab song, "I love you, my little donkey," for their first wedding dance.

Singing the song, the woman went on to call her new husband a donkey numerous times, admitting however that she would be angry if anyone else did so.

Meanwhile, the husband did not find his wife's joke amusing and asked the DJ to change the record. The DJ refused to do so, saying that the bride had requested the song.

The furious husband then grabbed the DJ's microphone and cried out "talaq" three times.

Under Sunni Islamic Law, a husband may claim a divorce by saying 'talaq' - which means "I divorce you" - three times. The divorce comes into effect as soon as the words are pronounced.

h/t Israelity

Clan clash!

Palestine Today (Arabic) reports:

Palestinian medical sources said that 2citizens were killed and eight others injured in a family quarrel took place today, Tuesday, the Shajaiyeh neighborhood in the east of Gaza City.

Medical sources said Subhi Mohammed Hassanein, "53 years", Ahmed Khamis Abu meal "35 years" were killed and eight others injured from both families, including two described their serious in a fight between both families signed today east of Gaza City.

Our very undercounted 2008 PalArab self-death count is now at 31.

Terror alert in Jerusalem

All I know so far is that the beautiful and talented Daughter of Ziyon has informed me that there is a terror alert. I saw nothing yet in the usual Israeli English websites.

I advised her to stay away from terrorists today; she replied "Darn, that means that my date with the really hot Hamas guy is off."

The Qassams that fall short

Palestine Press Agency reports (autotranslated):

A locally manufactured rocket landed late in the night yesterday, Monday, at the southern entrance to the town of Beit Hanoun, north of the Gaza Strip, which led to a cut in the electricity supply to the large areas north of the sector.

Eyewitnesses told the official news agency "that the rocket landed at the southern entrance to Beit Hanoun and caused major damage to an electrical transformer; it plunged large parts of the northern sector in the dark."

It should be noted that this incident is not the first, as previously many locally manufactured missiles aimed at Israeli communities fell on Palestinian homes and factories especially in the northern region of the sector and causing substantial material damage not to mention the human losses in many cases.

This small fact is severely underreported.

Also, it shows that while they have slowed down, there are still rockets being shot at Israel daily - just not all of them make it.

Moderate Jordan's religious tolerance

From Middle East Online:

AMMAN - Jordanian Christians are up in arms over the activities of foreign missionaries in the Muslim conservative kingdom which is rich in biblical sites, including the spot where Jesus was baptised.

The row erupted after the government announced last month that it had deported an unspecified number of expatriates for carrying out Christian missionary activities under the guise of charity work.

The move was welcomed by several Christian figures, with many voicing concern that foreign missionaries were seeking to upset the traditionally stable ties between Muslims and Christians in Jordan.

"Missionary groups have hidden agendas and are close to Christian Zionists," asserted former MP Odeh Kawwas, a Greek Orthodox.

Fellow Christian Fahd Kheitan, an outspoken columnist at Al-Arab Al-Yawm newspaper, said the majority of Christians are "very suspicious and worried".

"The (missionaries) target the strong beliefs of traditional churches in Jordan and try to create religious links with the Zionist movement, which is extremely dangerous," said Kheitan.

Some Christian supporters of Israel, notably a segment in the United States, believe the return of Jews to the Holy Land and the 1948 creation of the Jewish state are in line with biblical prophecy.

In February, acting Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told parliament that "some foreign groups have come to Jordan under the cover of doing charity, but they broke the law and did missionary activities". He did not give figures.

Converting from Islam to Christianity is strictly prohibited in Jordan and foreign missionary groups are banned from seeking converts, although they can run schools, charitable organisations, hospitals and orphanages.

"For years we have been urging the government to close such Christian shops that have nothing to do with Christianity and tolerance," said Kawwas, referring to missionaries who convert Muslims in violation of the law.

"It is an old problem. They create sensitivities and provoke discord among Jordanian Christians, not to mention their threat to Muslim-Christian coexistence," the former lawmaker said.

"These groups don't belong to any church, but they try to hunt followers of other churches and trick some of our Muslim brothers to convert them," he added.

Christians represent around four percent of Jordan's population of nearly six million, including Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian and Latin rites.

They are well integrated in the kingdom, where one Christian holds a ministerial post while eight percent control seats in the 110-member lower house of parliament.

In January, the first spark of controversy was lit by a Christian news agency, Compass Direct News, in a report accusing Jordan of cracking down on expatriate Christians by deporting them or denying them residency permit.

Parliament said the report was aimed at "damaging Muslim-Christian relations in Jordan". It also insisted that Jordan's Christians "are an integral part of society, living in peace and harmony with their Muslim brothers".

The church also voiced its concern.

Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem and Jordan said recently that some foreign missionaries "have undeclared political positions and we do not want the image of Christianity to be distorted."

Translating this into English, this means that Christians in Jordan - the same types of Latin and Greek Orthodox Christians who are often quoted in Gaza and the West Bank as feeling secure and happy even as their co-religionists abandon their homes in droves because of Islamist pressure - happily embrace their dhimmi, second-class status. The very idea that they might believe that their religion is superior to Islam has been stricken from their thoughts.

As the article makes clear, Jordan systematically discriminates against its Christian population, as Muslims are free to proselytize but Christians are not.

A better idea of how Christians in Jordan fare come from this article:

WE MEET ONE MORE Christian on our pilgrimage--a Catholic shopkeeper in Madaba, a historically Christian town in which Christians are still a significant minority (30 percent). ...
I ask him if Christianity will still exist in Jordan in 50 years. He pauses, frowns and begins shaking his head. "My [Muslim] neighbor has two wives and 10 children. My children and nieces and nephews are gone." He lets us do the math.

We ask whether evangelicals would be welcome in Madaba. He frowns again. "They seem strange to us," he says--clearly he has more in common culturally with his Muslim neighbors, though more in common socioeconomically with Westerners. It is a complex identity. "It is very hard for Christians here." Then, as if just realizing he is talking with reporters, he insists: "But don't write that. Write that the government is very good for Christians here. That's important to say."

Israeli researchers help Arab kids learn classical Arabic

From Ha'aretz:

How do you say "I want" in Arabic? How do you say "now"? And "he started"? Every Arab child no doubt knows how to answer those questions, yet the answer is not simple.

During their first years in school, Arab students face what is known as "diglossia," sharply divergent formal and informal variations of the language. At home and with friends, the pupils speak spoken Arabic, but in their textbooks, they encounter literary Arabic, which has different structures and vocabulary.

Diglossia is present in all the Arabic-speaking countries and communities in the world, as well as other communities.

Israeli Arab educators blame diglossia for Arab students' particularly low scores on reading tests. This is true around the Arab world, as well as in Israel, where Arab Israelis score significantly lower in reading than their Hebrew-speaking peers.

The Center for Educational Technology sponsored a study on the connection between the spoken language, Palestinian Arabic, which preschoolers speak fluently, and the literary language they learn in school. The researchers tried to facilitate learning the literary language by using the spoken vocabulary.

In the 2006 study, some 100 preschoolers from Nahaf, Nazareth, Kafr Kara and Rahat were recorded speaking for two hours. The researchers then recorded their speech, building a vocabulary list of thousands of words. In addition, they noted the different pronunciations in the different communities - the letter "qoof," for example, can be pronounced as a gutteral "q," an "a" or a "g."

In parallel, the researchers examined the most commonly used Arabic language textbook, "Al-Raid," and selected some 700 words that first-graders found difficult. These words, including "I want," "now," and "he started," will serve as the basis for a dictionary between spoken and literary Arabic. Unlike all existing Arabic dictionaries, this one will be arranged by alphabetical order, and not based on word roots, in order to help the children find words.

The study found that the children's spoken vocabulary is richer than that in "Al-Raid." However, the researchers note that to date, there have been hardly any studies on the spoken language, which is considered inferior to its holy "big sister." One of the central reasons for this is the belief that the language of the Quran - literary Arabic - is perfect and cannot be emulated.

Dr. Elinor Saig-Hadad, a lecturer in the linguistics and English literature departments at Bar-Ilan University, headed the study. She says that nowhere in the Arab world has someone tried to bridge the gap between the spoken and the literary language.

"It is impossible to pretend the spoken language does not exist," she says. "There is a gap between the spoken language and the written language in every dialect of Arabic."

Hawala Sa'adi, who is in charge of the project at the Center for Educational Technology, says the dictionary will help children learn the written language. "To this day, people have ignored what the children bring with them from home. The new study materials will help the children close the gap, while getting to know their language," she says.

Dr. Michal Shleifer, the language department head at the educational technology center, says one of the aims of the study is to improve children's written language ability through educational materials, rather than having it pushed aside by the spoken language.

"We do not want to interfere with the status of the written language, but rather to help the children acquire it," she says. "The question is how to do that, and that is the importance of the research."

Imagine that - Israeli Jews working to be in the forefront of children's Arabic language education.