Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, April 07, 2008

The blue and white mosque

From JTA :

Residents of an Israeli-Arab village painted their mosque blue and white in honor of the Jewish state's 60th anniversary.
Breaking with many Israeli Arabs who have declared they will boycott next month's celebrations, residents of A-Taibe in the Gilboa region have painted the dome of their mosque in the national colors.

"We are citizens of the State of Israel," village elder Hisham Zouabi, explained to the daily newspaper Ma'ariv. "For us religion encourages us to bring nations together. The goal is simple: coexistence. A Jew who comes here should not feel that the place is hostile but like home."

A-Taibe has approximately 2,000 residents and reports excellent relations with nearby Jewish communities.

There are some 100, mostly Arab, organizations that have publicly said that they would boycott Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations. Most of them appear to have more words in their names than members.

What would they consider an Arab village in Israel that is proud to be a part of Israel? Are they traitors? "Collaborators"? Deserving of death? Because that is generally the message that these Arab organizations give to their people, where the highest insult is to call someone a "collaborator" with the Jews.

It has been that way for many decades, from pre-state days, that a sizable minority of Arabs were not only willing to work together with the Jews but felt that the Jewish return to the Land of Israel would be a blessing for them. And for those who felt that way, for the most part, it was.

But those voices have been drowned out by the Arabs who consider those people traitors, the ones who have no desire for coexistence or peace as long as it involves Jews holding any positions of power. And the entire Arab nation has suffered as a result of this intransigence and bigotry.

And even today, those who choose to truly work together with Israel are the Arabs who are the envy of their brethren, even if they won't admit it.

Bizarro world: Hamas pretends not to target children

In one of the more bizarre sideshows ever seen in the Middle East, last week Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Zawahiri scolded Hamas for shooting at Israel "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."

Now, Hamas had to defend itself against Al-Qaeda's charges of wanton terror (and breaking Sharia law), and it came out with an even crazier statement:

Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Saturday denied it aims at killing Israeli children and women by the rocket it fires from Gaza Strip.
"Hamas doesn't mean to kill children by its rockets," spokesman Ismail Radwan told reporters in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. His remarks were in response to al-Qaida's No. 2 leader Aymanal-Zawahiri who said Hamas' random rockets kill Jews women and children in violation of Islam law.
But Radwan added that "the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians may involve some killings of children," blaming the Israeli army on "deliberately killing children, women and destroying houses and mosques."

Yes, Hamas with a straight face is claiming that their Qassam rockets are not aimed at random women and children of Sderot and other Negev communities. They just have really, really, really bad aim. All those kindergartens and schools that got hit must have caused great anguish among the leaders of Hamas.

Saudi minister: Human rights protected under our Sharia law

The Arab News reports:

Interior Minister Prince Naif said yesterday that human rights are protected in the Kingdom thanks to the implementation of Shariah.
"Different executive and supervisory government agencies implement regulations that take care of the rights of the accused at the time of arrest, investigation, trial and execution of punishment," the Saudi Press Agency quoted the minister saying.

Elsewhere in Arab News:

In 2007, Arab News reported on a number of maids who had been beaten to death, raped and abused by their employers. A Saudi teenager was accused of raping an Indonesian maid and impregnating her. However, the General Investigation and Prosecution Board has closed the case claiming “lack of evidence” after the youth denied the allegations.
A vicious attack in August 2007 on four maids working for the same employer in Aflaj in the Riyadh region resulted in the death of Siti Tarwiyah Salmet, 32, and Susmiyati Abdul Fulan, 28. Tari and Rumainih were left severely injured in the incident. Another case involved an Indonesian maid who died after being abused by her sponsor who admitted torturing her. The woman had broken ribs, a broken wrist and burns all over her body.

And MEMRI Blog mentions:

The Girls' Education Authority in Riyadh has taken punitive action against a headmistress of a girl's school who permitted her pupils to don trousers and to wear their veils around their shoulders instead of over their faces. The authority has frozen the headmistress' wages for a full year.

Not to mention our recent post showing that many Saudi women are in jail indefinitely because they are never charged.

Exactly how one would expect a nation with human rights and the rule of law to act.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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."