Comparative reporting

A child was killed in Gaza yesterday. How does the media report it?

Comparing the spin that the stories get, and the relative placement of various details, is a very valuable way to see how each media outlet is biased.

AP:

Palestinian Abdullah Buhar, 8-years-old, ...was killed Sunday by shrapnel during clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants on the border line that separates the Gaza Strip from Israel. It was not immediately clear whether he was killed by Israeli forces firing into Gaza, or by a misfired mortar launched by Palestinian militants.

AFP:

Abdullah Bhar ...was shot dead by Israeli tank fire in the central Gaza Strip today, Palestinian medical sources have said.

Reuters:

[A] 5-year-old Palestinian boy, Abdullah Bhar, ... was killed during fighting between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Sunday, medical workers and militant groups said.

CNN:

Israeli forces in central Gaza exchanged fire with Palestinian militants Sunday, killing a child and wounding four of the child's family members, according to Palestinian security sources.

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed Israeli forces were operating near al-Bureij refugee camp and that they came under fire from armed militants inside a home.

The spokeswoman said she had no details on casualties.

...[paragraph 7] - The Israeli military said the shot was fired by Palestinians in Gaza.

YNet:

Palestinian medical sources in the Strip reported that the children were hit by shrapnel from Israeli shells fired at their house during the clashes. The IDF launched an investigation into the Palestinian claims.

AKI:

A five-year old Palestinian child was killed on Sunday, as Israeli forces clashed with militants returning fire in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

The incident took place in the al-Bureij refugee camp and medics say that the boy, Abdullah Bhar, died of shrapnel wounds from an Israeli tank shell.

Militants claimed they responded by firing anti-tank missiles at Israeli forces.

The Palestinian branch of the Defence for Children International, a Geneva based rights group, claims that 49 children have been killed in the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces since the beginning of 2008.

Iran's Press TV:

A five-year-old Palestinian boy has been killed and another wounded in an explosion in the central Gaza Strip, medical officials say.

The dead child, Abdullah Buhar, was hit by shrapnel in his head and chest near al-Bureij refugee camp, the officials said on Sunday.

The Israeli army confirmed there was fighting in the area, saying its forces opened fire but it was unaware of anyone being hurt.

Xinhua:

A 5-year-old Palestinian child was killed and two injured on Sunday in an Israeli artillery shelling on central Gaza Strip, medics and witnesses said.

Al Alam (Iran):

An 8-year-old Palestinian boy has been martyred by an Israeli mortar shell in the central Gaza Strip, medical officials said.

The boy, Abdullah Buhar, was hit by shrapnel to his head and chest, the officials said on Sunday.

Television footages showed emotional scenes as Buhar's mother mourned over her son's body.

Arutz-7:

In reponse to Arab claims that a 5-year-old boy was amongst the dead, the IDF spokesman said that soldiers had not seen civilians near the scene of the battle. The IDF spokesman did not rule out the possibility that the child was accidentally killed by terrorists, and may have fallen victim to a misfired mortar shell.

Jerusalem Post:

Earlier Sunday, Palestinian doctors reported that a young boy had been killed in the Gaza Strip. The officials said the boy was hit by shrapnel to his head and chest; however it was not clear whether he was killed by Israeli forces operating in the area or by Palestinian gunmen who may have misfired a mortar shell.

Ha'aretz:

A 5-year-old Palestinian boy was killed on Sunday when an Israel Defense Forces shell exploded near his home in the al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said.

Medical workers and militant groups said the boy, Abdullah Buhar, was killed during fighting between IDF soldiers and Palestinian militants in the Hamas-controlled Strip.

The medical workers, who examined the boy's body in a Gaza hospital, said he was killed by a shrapnel fragment from an IDF tank shell.

The militant groups said they fired anti-tank missiles and mortar bombs at IDF troops during the fighting near the refugee camp.

An IDF spokeswoman confirmed troops exchanged fire in the area with armed
Palestinians but said they were unaware of casualties.

Uruknet:

Palestinian boy Abdullah Bhar ...was shot dead by Israeli tank fire in the central Gaza Strip today.

Daily Star (Lebanon):

A Palestinian boy was shot dead by Israeli tank fire in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Sunday, Palestinian medical sources said. Abdullah Buhar, whose age was given as either five years or eight,was hit by shrapnel to his head and chest, the officials said.

Doctors said a 16-year-old boy also was wounded in the same incident between the border with Israel and the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, the sources said.

The Israeli military confirmed that there was fighting in the area, saying its forces opened fire at a group of militants who attacked them. But it said it was unaware of anyone being hurt.

Ma'an:

Shrapnel from an Israeli tank shell killed a five-year-old Palestinian child and injured two others in Al-Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Sunday afternoon, witnesses and medics said.

Palestinian medical sources identified the deceased child as Abdullah Bhar.

On Saturday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a 35-year-old Palestinian farmer in the northern Gaza Strip. [EoZ - Ma'an has had a full 36 hours to correct this lie.]

Unfortunately, I found nothing from the BBC, Sky News or the New York Times.

Read More

Yemenite Jews' homes ransacked

Last year I wrote a couple of posts highlighting the plight of the tiny Yemen Jewish community in Sa'ada, who were forced to flee their homes by Shi'ite rebels and are being protected by the Yemen government.

This weekend, the homes of the Jews from al-Salem were plundered by the Shi'ites:

The Al Houthi rebels in north of Yemen on Sunday attacked Al Salem village, plundered properties of Jews staying there, witnesses said.

The Jews were not in the village at the time of attack. They have been living in a residential complex in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on the expense of the government since they were forced out of their village by rebels early last year.

The group of Jews number about 50, according to sources in their residence here in Sanaa.

The witnesses in Al Salem where battles are going on between the Al Houthi rebels and tribesmen loyal to the government, said they saw the rebels entering the houses and taking everything with them.

I am not sure if these are the same Jews from last year or a different group.

Read More

Deadly Egyptian bread lines

In January we learned about a bogus bread shortage in Gaza, artificially orchestrated by Hamas.

In February, we saw that Saudi Arabia had a real bread crisis, not a fake one like the Gazans.

And now, Egypt has a problem with bread - and people are being killed because of it:

CAIRO – Abdel Nabi Salim’s main job in life is queuing for bread.

The graying 65-year-old retired administrator stands under Egypt’s glaring noon sun, waiting in a queue that snakes out to the street to buy 20 loaves of steaming subsidized pocket bread from a barred window for 1 Egyptian pound ($0.18).

Egypt has for decades provided cheap bread for the poor as an expensive but essential component of its economic policy because it enables millions to survive on low salaries and wards off political discontent. But bread lines have lengthened in recent months as costs of other non-subsidized Egyptian staples soared, forcing more reliance on a subsidy regime that depends heavily on costly imported wheat and is also strained by a thriving black market.

The current crunch means that once Salim buys his first batch of bread, he will return to the back of the line to wait, again, for the additional 10 loaves he needs to keep his extended family from going hungry.

“This is a rotten system,” he said, a half-hour into a daily wait for bread that can last several hours. “I come here every day. I have no work, so this is my job. Waiting for bread.” What is happening in Egypt illustrates some of the risks and trade-offs of subsidies, just as more countries worldwide are looking at such measures to try to ease the burden of spiraling global food prices on the poor.

Excruciating lines have prompted media headlines of a bread “crisis” in the most populous Arab country, where cuts in bread subsidies led to riots in 1977 that killed scores and forced the government to back down.

Egypt has allocated over $2.5 billion for bread subsidies for this fiscal year, but said that may rise due to soaring wheat costs. Yet the pressure over bread remains. Observers say sustained problems in the subsidy system could lead to a repeat of the 1977 crisis, if not quickly contained.
“It may be something far more reaching and much more violent, I’m afraid, because people are increasingly feeling that their faces are to the wall,” said Gouda Abdel Khalek, a Cairo University economist.

Already, at least 11 people have died in bread lines since early February, including a heart attack victim and a woman hit by a car while standing in a queue that stretched into the street, security sources said.

One person was shot dead and three wounded after a fight broke out in a queue in one Cairo suburb. Elsewhere, an argument between two boys over their place in line escalated to a brawl in which four people were hurt.

Top Egyptian officials have vowed speedy intervention to restore easy access to subsidized bread, which provides daily nutrition to 50 million Egyptians – or over two-thirds of the population, according to UN statistics.

Read More

Peaceful PalArab weekend

Someone broke a woman's skull and set her body on fire north of Hebron, killing her. UPDATE: It was he victim's daughter-in-law.

A Qassam rocket meant to kill Jews fell short and that innocent "firecracker" killed a Palestinian man instead. (Ma'an blames Israel, although AP and Reuters both interviewed residents who confirmed it was a Qassam, as does Palestine Press Agency, proving again that Ma'an has turned into a Hamas newspaper.)

A 21-year old Hamas member was killed in Gaza; Hamas says that it was either an accident or suicide while his family sdays it was murder because of an intra-Hamas disagreement.

Our 2008 Palestinian Arab self-death count is now at 55.

Read More

Quick book review: The Israel-Arab Reader

Professor Barry Rubin, of the GLORIA Center, offered many bloggers a free copy of this book in exchange for a link to Amazon or a review. As a sucker for free stuff, I took him up on the offer, and received the book yesterday.

This is the seventh edition of The Israel-Arab Reader - A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict, and it is an invaluable reference guide. Going in chronological order, editors Rubin and Walter Laqueur have unearthed a large number of important primary documents, from the Bilu Group Manifesto (predating Herzl's The Jewish State by 14 years) up to the Annapolis Conference.

By necessity, it cannot be comprehensive. I would have loved to see some of the British reports on Arab riots from the 1920s and 1930s, for example, even though they are quite large. While much source material is available online, it is often very difficult to find, and an on-line or CD-ROM version of this book would be fantastic.

Even so, there are many documents here that are new to me or that I have been unable to find. For example, a record of a conversation between Hitler and Haj Amin al-Husayni is fascinating, and I had been looking all over for the original 1964 PLO Constitution as opposed to the 1968 revised Palestinian National Charter, both of which are in this book.

The documents are a little more oriented towards more recent times. Fully one third of the book deals exclusively with post-Oslo documents, speeches and interviews.

For anyone interested in Middle East history from primary sources, the Israel-Arab reader is an invaluable reference guide. It will be available for general purchase on April 29.

Read More

Al Qaeda criticizes Hamas for killing innocents!

The transcript of the Q&A with Al-Qaeda's #2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, includes this interesting answer about Hamas:

I think I have responded to the sister I’laamiyyah’s first question previously. But in turn, I ask her: and what is HAMAS’s justification for killing those whose killing is not permitted from the children in the Israeli colonies with the blessed Qassam rockets which don’t differentiate between a child and an adult, and moreover, perhaps [don’t differentiate] between the Jews and the Arabs and Muslims working in those colonies or in the streets and markets of Occupied Palestine, even though the Shari’ah forbids their killing.

Wow - Al-Qaeda cares more about Jewish civilians than Hamas and Fatah and Islamic Jihad?

Well, maybe not. In another section where he is challenged as to why Al-Qaeda doesn't attack Israel, he answers:

As for the statement of the questioner, “I challenge you and your organization to do that in Tel Aviv,” I don’t know – hasn’t the questioner heard that Qaida al-Jihad struck the Jews in Jerba, Tunisia, and struck the Israeli tourists in Mombasa, Kenya, in their hotel, then fired two missiles at the El-Al airliner carrying a number of them? Hasn’t the questioner heard what Shaykh Usama bin Ladin (may Allah protect him) mentioned in his latest speech, that the battalions of the Mujahideen, after expelling the occupier from Iraq, shall make their way towards Jerusalem? Hasn’t the questioner heard that Allah (the Glorious) has honored us with the dealing of blows to America – the head of international unbelief – and its allies – like England, Spain, Australia and France – in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen, and Algeria? And those are Israel’s fathers, creators, guardians and protectors.

And then why does the questioner focus on how al-Qaida in particular must strike in Israel, while he didn’t request – for example – the Jihadist organizations in Palestine to come to the aid of their brothers in Chechnya, Afghanistan and Iraq? If this is become of his good opinion of al-Qaida and that it must strike Islam’s enemies everywhere, then we thank him for his good opinion, and we promise our Muslim brothers that we will strive as much as we can to deal blows to the Jews inside Israel and outside it, with Allah’s help.

I'm trying to find a consistent pattern here....got it!

Civilian deaths are only OK when Al Qaeda is behind the terror attack!

Read More

New widget

Just for fun, I just published a new widget on the left sidebar, called "Browse ZioBlogs." Although it is a little hard to read, especially postings that include lots of blockquotes, it looked like an interesting way to survey lots of Zionist blogs in one place.

I am afraid it might be slowing down my page even more, though.

If you prefer, you can bookmark this posting and read it in wide format here. Be sure to change the "View" to your taste.

Let me know what you think!

Read More

Friday morning links

How EU money goes towards political pro-terror NGOs from NGO Monitor

BBC Letters from Gaza and Sderot (h/t Suzanne)

As usual, the Israeli tried hard to empathize with the Palestinian Arabs and gets no such empathy in return. Also notice the contradiction between Mona (clearly less than 60 years old)'s first letter:

I would like to tell you that I am originally from what is now the Israeli city of Ashkelon.

My family left with thousands of others after 1948 and my grandfather was one of many killed in fighting the Israelis.

and her second:

I don't care where my great-great-great grandparents came from, or when. History is full of migration and the movement of peoples, including yours.

The Tale of the Tape and the Talmud (h/t My Right Word)

NYT on a religious Jewish boxing champion.

Arab poll: 55% say that offensive words of behaviors justify violence (h/t LGF)

A small fact buried in the middle of the article.

Ha'aretz: Marching toward total ruin

An Al Aqsa Brigades member is interviewed; he claims the group really is disbanded and that the PalArabs will overthrow the PA if there is no agreement by the end of the year.

Read More

"Jews are such creepy people"

My story yesterday about the new 120 mm Iranian mortars that threaten Israelis in the Negev was greeted at an "anti-war" site in the UK called "War Without End" with cheers.

Americafree: THANK YOU RABBI ?GOOD NEWS ,,,MORE TO COME,, STAY TUNED:lol:

Ponce: Hurrayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy thanks Cowboy, about time the Palestinians started to get some real weapons.

Edithann: Yeah it's great news...I'm always amused when Israel complains about Hezbollah and Palestinians being rearmed...like that shouldn't be allowed..No enemy of Israel should be allowed any arms...

I'm only hopeful that we will now see some real Israeli pain...civilian pain like women and children..and not just 'shock'...
IDF are just jokes..I want to see the same shit come down on Israel as they did in Lebanon and of course what continually rains down on GAZA every day and night...

Jews are such creepy people...

Interestingly, the site takes pains to inform users that they cannot "incite to racial hatred" according to UK laws. Equally interesting is that no one upbraided any of the commenters for advocating the potential death of civilians.

I guess that they are only against some wars.

Read More

Arab nations stingy with their pledges to PA

An AP story I missed last week:

Arab countries only provided about half the US$660 million a year in aid they pledged to President Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority in 2007, an Arab League report said Friday. Still, they were preparing to renew the promises this weekend.

Arab countries promised in 2001 to give the Palestinian Authority US$55 million a month in aid, and the pledge has been renewed at every annual Arab summit since.

But a document prepared by Moussa for this year's summit and obtained by the AP showed that a total of only US$368 million was transferred to the Palestinians through the Arab League in 2007.

Majdi al-Khaldi, an adviser to Abbas, told the AP that Arab countries have paid less than 40 percent of their pledges since 2002.

At last year's summit in Riyadh, Arab leaders also promised an additional US$150 million for 2007 alone to go to Palestinian reconstruction. It is not clear if any of that money was paid.

According to the document, Moussa has written to Arab governments urging them to send the pledged money.

But while their Arab brethren are reticent about putting even a tiny percentage of their windfall billions ($225 billion revenue surplus in 2007) into the Palestinian Arab black hole, Western governments are rushing to throw their money away.

Norway has announced that it would give $44 million to the Palestinian Authority to be spent this month alone.

The UK just announced it would provide an additional $63 million to PalArabs putting its contribution in one year to $126 million.

It appears that the Palestinian Arabs are being disproportionately propped up by the West, while their Arab brethren really don't care about them anymore.

Read More

Hamas hiding weapons under UNRWA schools, and other Peaceful Gaza News

Palestine Press Agency is reporting that Hamas is building tunnels underneath a UNRWA school in the Alktatoh camp in Khan Younis, Gaza, for storing weapons. The people living in the camp complained when Hamas accidentally severed a water pipe while doing their digging.

A cemetery for British World War One soldiers was bombed in Gaza last Thursday.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights announced that their workers as well as two Reuters reporters were attacked by Hamas police while they were interviewing a guard for the cemetery, and their media was confiscated. It seems that Reuters never reported on their own reporters getting attacked by Hamas.

A missile meant to murder Jews fell short in the town of Beit Lahia in Gaza, damaging a number of buildings.

Hamas police expelled a (presumably Fatah) intelligence chief from his office today in Northern Gaza.

Read More

Three more stories about Jerusalem's Jews in the 19th century

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

We conclude our look at the chapter about Jerusalem Jews in James Finn's "Stirring Times: Or, Records from Jerusalem Consular Chronicles of 1853 to 1856" with three interesting stories.

The first is that the Jews in Jerusalem had their own currency:

The articles are small squares of brass-foil, stamped with the Hebrew words "Bikur Cholim" -' Visiting the Sick.' The practice seems to have originated in adopting a fictitious currency, on temporary occasions, as a means of almsgiving, in anticipation of real money coming to hand. In the Jewish bazaar these pieces are current for all purposes of trade, and are sometimes accepted and passed among other inhabitants of the city as paras, though inferior in value to even that small coin. The Turks disapprove of the practice, and now and then take the trouble to prohibit it. The Jews, however, are proud of their show of independent royalty, and even if willing to discontinue it, would find it difficult to call in these tokens, so long as then- heavy debt remains, for they do actually represent a certain amount of metallic value.

The Sephardim had their own ceremony to bless the incoming sultans:

The other custom is that of getting possession of the great keys of the city gates on the decease of each Sultan of Constantinople, and after a religious service of prayer, and anointing them with a mysterious preparation of oil and spices, allowing them to be returned to the civic authorities on behalf of the new monarch. For the exercise of this traditional custom they make heavy presents to the local governors, who allow of a harmless practice that has prescription to show on its behalf. It is a matter of ' baksheesh ' to them, and there is always a class of superstitious people to be found in Palestine who think that the benediction of the ancient 'children of Israel' is worth having; the Jewish feelings are gratified, for their expectation of the future is refreshed, and the Jerusalem Rabbis are enabled to boast all the world over among their people that they suffer the Sultan of Turkey to keep possession of the Holy City.

The Moslems imagine the ceremonial to be the benediction of the incoming reign, but for my part I should like to know what words are used in this consecration of the keys with the ' anointing oil,' and how many of these words have cabalistic or ' Rashe Tevoth ' interpretations and double meanings, for it would be vain to expect to find the formula in any printed books. I am told that in the Sephardi Synagogue are preserved small phials of the 'anointing oil,' remaining from over these ceremonials of many past Sultans ; but at the time we are now considering (1853), the Jews had not for some years performed the ceremony, having had no opportunity of doing so.

Finally, for those who think that Hebrew as a colloquial language was wholly resurrected by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda later in the 19th century comes this information:

With regard to pure Hebrew, the learned world in Europe is greatly mistaken in designating this a dead language. In Jerusalem it is a living tongue of everyday utility — necessarily so, for in what else could Jewish strangers from the opposite ends of the earth converse together? In our Consular office Hebrew was often heard spoken — on one occasion by a Jew from Cabool, who had to enter into explanations with one from California : of course in Hebrew. That language was a medium of transacting business in the English Consulate.

UPDATE: Finn's wife, Elizabeth Anne, also wrote memoirs of her time in Jerusalem, and discusses the issue of Hebrew in a conversation she quotes with a Jewish resident:

"The Sephardim look upon themselves as belonging to the
royal tribe of Judah, who took refuge in Spain, and
some in Italy, at the dispersion, and who returned here
in large numbers when Ferdinand and Isabella exiled
them from Spain. They utterly despise the Askenazim . —
above all, they despise their corrupt accent in reading.
The Spanish is certainly the most musical and
pure. All the men speak, read, and write Hebrew —
but the women, being uneducated, cannot speak it;
therefore they have, besides, a family language used at
home. Among the Sephardim this is Spanish; among
the Askenazim, very corrupt German ; among the
Mograbees, African-Arabic. The common language is
Hebrew, and it is used for religious purposes, as well
as literature and ordinary intercourse of letter-writing,
conversation, &c., &c., so that in the family language,
all principal words are still Hebrew, though the rest
may be Spanish, German, or Arabic."

"Then Hebrew ought not to be called a dead language ? "

"By no means. It is never called a dead language
here. All receipts, leases of houses, marriage contracts,
&c., &c., are made out in Hebrew ; and it is
spoken all day long in the Jewish quarter."

Read More

How Jerusalem Jews collected charity in the mid-19th century

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

We continue our look at Jewish life in Jerusalem in the mid-1800s, from James Finn's "Stirring Times: Or, Records from Jerusalem Consular Chronicles of 1853 to 1856".

The section on how Jerusalem Jews collected money worldwide - and the disadvantages of that system - sound very familiar!

Not that I approved of the system called ' Shilichuth,' but that notwithstanding all its abuses, there seemed to be at that time no other means for alleviating the abounding misery among the Jews.

This system of ' Schilichuth ' deserves to be explained. A ' Shiliach' is a messenger. The committee in Jerusalem for collection of charity, namely, the Chief Rabbi ('First in Zion '), and his Council, partition the world into districts over which they send ' Shilichim ' to collect funds on their behalf by visitation, by Synagogue preaching, by sale of objects having religious value, or by any other means that may suggest themselves to the intelligence of these messengers. They are furnished with magnificent documents in beautiful handwriting in the Holy Language, and of fine oriental composition, to which ore appended numerous large seals giving to such documents due authority.

A Deed of Agreement is likewise drawn up between the bearer (the Shiliach), and the committee of congregational officers by whom he is sent, allowing him, besides travelling expenses, a large percentage upon all that he can collect. That percentage varies according to the countries to which he is commissioned, generally in proportion to the expected difficulties or dangers that he may have to encounter, or the distance to be traversed. Thus the allowance for a journey to India or Barbary would mount higher than that for repairing to France or Germany, and if the business be methodically managed, the bearer has to bring back with him a book in which each Synagogue that contributes has specified its own amount of contribution in detail, and has attested that statement by its own official seal. In some instances the Shiliach will be absent for two or three years, and sometimes, fresh fields are visited, as, for instance, California, or Australia, with New Zealand.

The deputed messenger is usually, or was formerly, entertained wherever he goes, with honours considered only due to one who has breathed the air of the Holy Land, who has prayed at the remnant of the Western wall of the Temple enclosure, or has been in Hebron, in the same city with the Sepulchres of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Leah, and Rebekah. His benediction is eagerly sought for and is repaid by hospitality and high place in the Synagogue. These honours have, however, been much diminished since the facilities for travelling, afforded by steamboats and railways, have altered the condition of things, and have done away with not only the actual hardships to be endured by the way, but also have tended to diminish the marvels and the wonders which in former days gathered round the facts which the Shiluchim had to report.

Who are the persons benefited by the funds raised as thus described, and brought to Jerusalem by the Shilichim ? The money is contributed chiefly with the idea of supporting perpetually a pious and learned population in the holy cities, and the donors believe that, inasmuch as all these are poor, the proceeds are divided impartially among all ; that the numbers being counted, the distribution is made accordingly to every head of a family. But as has been shown above, interest on loans, has first to be paid to the public creditors (not Jews). Then come next the official administrators for the large share allotted to them. These dues are known by the name of Kadeemah. Next come those persons who, for some reason or other previously existing, have a right of priority as to a settled pension or annuity (these last have mostly deposited monies in the fund and draw the interest). After all these deductions the residue forms the fund for division, which is then under its Hebrew name of Chaluka (apportioning) distributed among heads of houses, including those who have already received a share under the preceding classes.

And so it comes to pass that there are some rich men who receive their Chaluka, unshamed by others and unblushing for themselves. At the period to which the history refers there were but very few rich men among the thousands of Jerusalem Jews : but it was felt by enlightened Jews from Europe to be a scandal that men of comparative wealth, and even one or two successful traders, should be receiving any share of the alms needed for the relief of the poor, at a time when there was so great an amount of distress that both Jews and Christians were seeking aid from Europe for the succour of the starving multitude.

This method of procuring alms for the support of the Jews in Jerusalem is liable to abuses, and some of these have been partly exposed in such books as Dr. Frankel's ' Nach Jerusalem,' and the London ' Jewish Chronicle ; ' but not to the extent of dealing with all the evils that have come under my observation. Sometimes the Shiliach Licence was sold by the bearer to another man for profit, without the former having left Jerusalem at all.

Sometimes the Colel (i.e. the Corporation for management of the common fund) granted licences, with attestations that the bearer was well known for learning and sanctity of life, to persons of immoral character. Occasionally, members of the Colel (which is always a close corporation of a few Rabbis, sometimes related by marriage) themselves become Shilichim, bearing attestations of piety, etc., etc. Sometimes the messengers, on their return from abroad, rendered but small proceeds of money, refusing to give any account to the congregation, on the ground that their sacred office of Rabbi placed them above suspicion. It is grievous to go back in memory, and to review transactions such as these ; but the very foundation on which the system rests is pernicious, and other and better measures for obtaining revenue should be substituted. The system of collecting alms for the Holy Land is very ancient — we read of it in Roman history, and I am told it is referred to in the Talmud. Nay, even the primitive Christians, in times of temporary pressure, sent contributions to the poor saints which were in Jerusalem, and St. Paul himself was once a bearer of such benevolence. The custom is derived from good instincts of religious conscience ; but the practical benefit of it, even where properly applied, must depend upon righteous administration to those in need.

The present system involves, as has been explained, the doubtful advantage of the employment of the ' Shelichim ' (messengers). Of late this agency is prohibited in Russia, and a Shiliach practising there becomes amenable by law to imprisonment or other penalties — the object of the law being to retain the property of the Empire within its own bounds — and other nations have formerly objected to wealth being drained away from themselves for the benefit of foreigners, who produce nothing in return, not even in the way of trade. For my own part, without attempting to check the stream of charity, I took every opportunity that was convenient of recommending that contributions for the Holy Land should be transmitted by means of the usual professional bankers. This, if generally done, would obviate any waste of the funds between giver and receiver, as well as dishonesty.

Of late years the Austrian synagogues send their remittances, together with a public notification of the amount, to their Consulate in Jerusalem. The Consul receives a commission on the same for his trouble ; but even this method of transmission has disadvantages.

Read More

1849: England grants protection to Russian Jews in Palestine

(Part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here.)

We continue our look at excerpts from James Finn's "Stirring Times: Or, Records from Jerusalem Consular Chronicles of 1853 to 1856".

In consequence of this and some other circumstances taking place in Jerusalem [referring to the persecution of Jews by Muslims and Christians described in parts 1 and 2 - EoZ], another instruction was issued by the Foreign Office, to the effect that whenever any Austrian, French, or other European Jew should be suffering under persecution or injustice, and should be repudiated by his own Consul, the English Consul might take up his case, unless the repudiating Consul, when applied to, should assign some strong and sufficient reason for objecting to that action. The spirit herein contained, notwithstanding the establishment since of other Consulates, was in conformity with the rule in 1839 'to afford protection to Jews generally.' The Russian Jews had of late increased considerably in number among us — notwithstanding the stringent laws of that empire for keeping its population at home. Even for leaving the country for brief periods, vexatious formalities and fees had to be submitted to by all classes of Russian subjects, and sureties were required to answer for the reappearance of the travellers in order to satisfy the requisitions of taxes and military conscription, at the date written on the passport ; and besides all these conditions when fulfilled, the license to travel abroad was discountenanced rather than encouraged.

All this was felt more keenly by Jews than by other classes of the Russian population, for they entertained a peculiar horror of the Russian conscription, which entailed violations of their laws for Sabbath and diet, with compulsory attendance at church image-worship. Still, when the wit and determination of a Jew have only to grapple with the venality or obtuseness of Russian officials, obstacles often displace themselves. Jews were smuggled over the frontier, and the numbers repairing to Jerusalem for the inestimable privilege of being buried there became alarming. At length the Imperial Government resolved upon assuming fresh vigour of action within its dominions, and to get rid of the troublesome responsibility involved in looking after people who never meant to return, and whose sureties had no sufficient means for paying up the arrears of the home-taxes ; this trouble was all the greater since there was no Russian Consul at Jerusalem.

It was, therefore, determined to set adrift all the Russian Jews then found in Palestine, furnishing them with papers of dismissal, which also allowed them to resort for protection to any European representatives they might think proper to select, but recommending the English Consulate. These papers were written in French and Arabic, and delivered by the Russian Vice-Consul in Jaffa. This was in 1848, at a period of ' entente cordiale ' between England and Russia, and when no cloud had appeared in the sky intimating peril to Turkey.

Only those who have ever known the sentiments of Jews within the Russian dominions can adequately imagine the joy of these emancipated people — they were 'As those that dream,' and they flocked in large numbers to the English Consulate for protection, though some, on account of family connections or transactions of business, took Austrian or other protection. A register of names, dates, etc., of these prottgis was duly kept in the consulate, the business of which was consequently much augmented.

As one of the many tokens of gratitude, from the people so benefited, will be found in the Appendix the translation of an address in Hebrew to Her Majesty the Queen, received in Jerusalem in July, 1849. It was a beautiful specimen of penmanship on parchment. The translation, although exact, affords but a feeble idea of the gracefulness of the composition with its Oriental peculiarities.

Translated Extract from an Address of Russian Jews in Safed on their coming under English protection, 1849, After compliments to the Consul in Jerusalem to the people of Israel and to succour them with every kind of aid, for great and small, and to defend them from those who rise up against them:

With a perfect heart
Of mercy and loving kindness ;
And with the tips of the wings of Mercy
And the grace of her Righteousness
She has extended and caused to shine upon us,
Who dwell in our own land,
The holy (be it established in our days),
Us, who are burdened with troubles —
Sinking into distress,
Poverty and calamity,
But loving the land of our Fathers,
The place of our honour.
We here are those
Who are the sons of the provinces of Russia,
And this is the day we have looked for :
We have found it, we have seen it —
For she has bent down her pity to receive us
Under the shade of her wings of compassion,
And to comfort us with shade of her mighty rule,
For a name, for a praise, and for glory !
Yea, our souls within us are bound
To implore Him, who is fearful in mighty acts,
With praises and prayers,
That He may prolong her days
In rest and satisfaction ;
That the Lord may hedge her in,
And all that are hers :
The princes around her,
With her nobles,
And all those comforted in her shadow.
May they rise on wings of elevation, of prosperity,
In fulness of joy ;
And may her kingdom be established
Until the coming of Messiah !
May the Lord bless their lives and their substance,
And increase their honour,
And crown their praise !
Amen, so be Thy will !

Finn noticed, outside of this poem, the feelings that Jews had to the Land of Israel:

The intense attachment of a believing Israelite to the Holy Land can be but faintly appreciated by others. In proportion to the bitterness of soul and to the sufferings attendant on the exile, so is the affection, the yearning of heart towards the beautiful Land of Promise where sleep the fathers of the people. ' I long to return there as a child to its mother,' are literally the words used by a Jew who had visited Jerusalem. The miracles which attended the deliverance from Egypt, the giving of the law, the forty years in the desert, the entrance into and possession of the Land ; the splendour of David's kingdom, and the culminating glory of the Divine Presence in the Holy House : all these are for ever present to the mind of a pious Israelite, kept fresh and vivid by the constant recital of their Liturgies, by the never-ceasing study of the sacred writings, the law, the prophets, the psalms. What wonder that in far distant lands the living messengers from the ruins cf the Holy City and Temple should be looked upon with veneration, that willing hearts are moved to give liberally for the support of brethren who, for love of God and their nation, have been ready to go and suffer among ' the heathen,' in order that they may offer supplications where alone they believe they can be completely effectual — at the Sanctuary itself — for the termination of the long tribulation, for the fulfilment of all the glorious promises of restoration that have during centuries past nerved the people of Israel to eudure, and to look forward through present agonies — undespairing, uncrushed — to the coming glory, the final bliss that are to outshine all the past by a splendour scarcely to be conceived!

Read More

Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews in Palestine in the 1850s

(Part 1 here, part 2 here.)

Some other fascinating details are uncovered in James Finn's "Stirring Times: Or, Records from Jerusalem Consular Chronicles of 1853 to 1856".

Here is an overview of the Sephardic and Ashkenanic Jews, and their relations:

At the period of this history (1853-6), there were about 10,000 Jews in Jerusalem. The modern Jews within their ancient land cannot fail to present an interesting field for contemplation.

In 1853 the Hebrew population was, as now, almost entirely congregated within their four holy cities : — Jerusalem, sacred to them on account of the Temple and its sacrifices ; Hebron, on account of Machpelah, in which are laid the three Patriarchs and their wives, excepting Rachel ; Tiberias and Safed, as cradles of the Talmud and homes of venerated Rabbis of ancient generations.

The people are to be classed as :

1. The Orientals, called ' Sephardim,' who are almost exclusively subjects of Turkey, and speak Spanish in their family intercourse, being mainly descendants of the refugees from Spain and Portugal, when banished thence in the fifteenth century : their very dialect of the Spanish language is antique in its peculiarities. These people are but few in Safed and Tiberias ; but in Jerusalem and Hebron are more numerous. In Jerusalem they more than double the number of other Jews, and are regarded by the Turkish authorities as the Jews par excellence. Their representative to the government is styled the ' Chacham Bashi ' in Turkish, but among his own people he enjoys the honoured appellation of ' First in Zion.' His secretary is also recognised as a public officer, having a seat in the Common Council of the city. This Chief Rabbi administered civil and religious law under penalties of fine, imprisonment, and bastinado, to the extent allowed by the Pentateuch. He is assisted by a council of seven Rabbis, called the ' Seven Seals,' each of whom is a judge in an inferior court of his own. Besides these, there are officials in sufficient variety among themselves, superintending different departments of administration.

The Chief Rabbi and his council affect the outward forms of supremacy in dealing with Rabbis or synagogues of foreign countries, based on the text of Isaiah ii. 3 : ' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem ; ' but in the present state of the Hebrew nation, the Rabbis of other lands concede to him no pre-eminence in authority. The chief at Amsterdam or Wilna considers himself no more bound to submit to the chief at Jerusalem than he would be to the chief of Paris or London, notwithstanding that a certain degree of sanctity and deference would anywhere be attributed to the ruler of the people in the Holy City — at least such was the case till of late years.

In times gone by these native Jews had their full share of suffering from the general tyrannical conduct of the Moslems, and, having no resources for maintenance in the Holy Land, they were sustained, though barely, by contributions from synagogues all over the world. This mode of supply being understood by the Moslems, they were subjected to exactions and plunder on its account from generation to generation (individuals among them, however, holding occasionally lucrative offices for a tune). This oppression proved one of the causes which have entailed on the community a frightful incubus of debt, the payment of interest on which is a heavy charge upon the income derived from abroad.

In Jerusalem their synagogues are four, and all collected under one roof, so that they may pass from each into the others, and they are but meanly furnished. They are named— 1. The Great; 2. The Medium; 3. The Talmud Torah ; 4. The Stambouli. The people believe the first of these to have remained undisturbed since the fall of the second Temple.

Such is the outward framework of their society. The small community of Arabic-speaking Morocco Jews of similar origin with these are subject to the Sultan.

2. There is a distinct community of Jews called the 'Ashkenazim,' who are an aggregate of various religious sections. They are mostly natives of Germany, Bussia, and the Danubian principalities ; their common language is in substance German, but modified by Russiau, Polish, or Wallachian, according to their native places. As subjects of European Powers, they are, equally with Christians from the same respective countries, placed uuder consular protection and magistrature, according to the capitulations with the Porte. Their children, though born in Palestine, retain the nationality of the parents. These, however, are not numerous, and the Ashkenaz population is kept up by fresh arrivals from abroad of persons in old age, who come for the privilege of dying and being buried in holy ground. Each sect of the Ashkcuazira ( Perushim, Ghabad, Anshe Hod, &c.) is independent of the rest, and has its separate ' House of Judgment ' and synagogue. The Chorbah synagogue of the Perushim, recently restored from a ruin of ancient date, is believed to have existed from the days of Rabbi Judah han-Nasi, the compiler of the Talmud Mishnah.

Upon the internal government of both divisions of Judaism, in the Holy Land, with all its abuses of irresponsible Rabbinical domination, the observations that might be made do not seem to belong to the character of this work. They are well understood — alas ! too well — in the country itself; and the Israelites of Europe, who are aware of the same, while despairing of a remedy, have little desire to see the evils divulged, as they are fearful of the foundations of Rabbinism itself becoming consequently undermined.

Until the English Consulate was established in Jerusalem, there was, of course, no other jurisprudence in the country than that of the old-fashioned corruption and self-will of the Mohammedans, and for many ages but • very few (often none) of the European Jews ventured to make an abode in Palestine. A man is now l living, who, as a child, was brought there by his father on a venture, as there was then no Ashkenaz congregation in Jerusalem — the father just made up the minyan, or number of ten, required by Jewish canon law to form a congregation for public worship. According to our ideas it is scarcely praiseworthy, in the ' Sephardim,' that they have always placed obstacles in the way of European Jews forming settlements together with them in the Holy Land, declaring to the Turkish authorities that there are difficulties in the way of recognising these people as genuine Israelites, and much of that feeling still remains, as I have reason to know ; indeed, it is upon this ground that the ' Sephardim ' hold their monopoly from the government for legal slaughtering of animals for food to be used by all the Jews in Jerusalem.

Read More