Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Egypt finds huge explosives and weapons cache

Al-Ahram reports that Egyptian forces discovered a large cache of weapons and explosives in the Sinai, 60 kilometers from Gaza.

Found with the help of local Bedouin, it included 1250 kg (nearly 1.4 tons) of explosives, 24 anti-tank mines, and assault rifles.

I believe that this is the largest find of its kind - over the past couple of months Egypt has found caches of 100 kg, 250 kg (in a cemetery) and 500 kg as well as some smaller finds.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reports on how serious Hamas is on upping its military capabilities:

According to a report by the Shin Bet internal security services quoted in the study, Hamas has smuggled at least 80 tons of explosives into Gaza since last summer. That smuggling accounts for more than half the amount moved into Gaza since Israel’s withdrawal, evidence of the intensification, the study asserts.
The study also says Hamas has obtained advanced anti-tank devices like those used by Hezbollah against Israel in its war in 2006, as well as powerful roadside bombs for use in border areas where Israeli vehicles might be expected to pass in pursuit of rocket launchers. It added that hundreds of fighters had been trained in Iran, Lebanon and Syria. The study cites few sources other than several media reports, but Israel is known to be engaged in intelligence collection in Palestinian areas.
Some Israeli analysts say that is what Israel should do. The study, however, asserts that any kind of truce would allow Hamas to build its military structure further, although it also says Hamas’s big worry is that Israel will reinvade Gaza. Such a concern is one motivation for the buildup, the study says.

Of course, such an increase in explosives also means more Palestinian Arabs will end up dead, as this AP photo from yesterday shows:

A Palestinian militant sets up an improvised explosive device at a street corner in Gaza City, near the Nahal Oz crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel Wednesday, April 9, 2008 in case Israeli troops enter the area.

What AP fails to notice is that the children right next to this IED, being placed in a crowded city, are far more likely to be killed by it than any Israeli soldiers.

Hamas' fake martyr operation

Palestine Press Agency reports that one of the "martyrs" that Hamas claimed to have been killed during Wednesday morning's murder of an IDF soldier was in fact killed in internal Fatah/Hamas clashes, and Hamas brought his body to the area to claim that Israel killed him: (autotranslated):

[Hamas'] Qassam Brigades announced in a press conference Wednesday in Khan Yunis in the martyrdom of Mohamed Fayed Chamie said that one of its leaders were killed during clashes with Israeli special forces and enable the sniper and killed an Israeli soldier east of Khan Younis...

Local sources in the Gaza Strip said that Mohamed Fayed Chamie not in the place in which it was killed, pointing out that while his body was transported to the hospital and his funeral emerged as a refreshing! There is a new death, which implies that he was killed in the internal events of the Gaza Strip and his body was thrown in the Israeli operation to his funeral and announcing that he martyrs killed during clashes with the occupation.

Chamie a resident of neighborhood Khan Younis many accuse him of being behind the murder and assault on Fatah and the security services and is one of the hired killers in the ranks of Hamas and the militias participated in the bloody coup in the Gaza Strip ", according to the sources said.

Citizens in the Gaza Strip, eyewitnesses told Palestine Press News "that Hamas has always followed this method during the events preceding or following an internal liquidation operations in the ranks of the militia hide them and no disturbances in the ranks of its members and the number of dead in concealing internal bloody events."

This is not the first time that Hamas has been accused of faking martyrs, either.

Since PalPress gives details on the person's name and circumstances, I am counting this as a 2008 self-death, putting the number at 57. And if this practice is as prevalent as it sounds, I am sorely undercounting - and the counts by various agencies of Palestinian Arab deaths from Israeli fire have been inflated as well.

Whitewashing what Muslims think

Martin Kramer looks at a book we've mentioned a couple of times, and now makes me almost regret ordering it:

Professor John L. Esposito runs a slick operation at Georgetown with $20 million of funding from Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. The shared agenda of these two is to make us all feel guilty for having wondered, after 9/11, about Saudis, Muslims, and the contemporary teaching of Islam. Esposito now has a new book (with co-author Dalia Mogahed, who runs something called the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies), bearing the pretentious title Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think. It's based on gleanings from the Gallup World Poll.

The core argument of the book is that only 7 percent of Muslims are "politically radicalized," and that "about 9 in 10 Muslims are moderate." On what does this factoid rest? The authors explain (pp. 69-70):
According to the Gallup Poll, 7% of respondents think that the 9/11 attacks were "completely" justified and view the United States unfavorably.... the 7%, whom we'll call "the politically radicalized" because of their radical political orientation... are a potential source for recruitment or support for terrorist groups.
So an essential precondition for being "politically radicalized" is to believe that 9/11 was "completely" justified. The pool of support is only 7%. Don't you feel relieved?

Yet a year and a half ago, Esposito and Mogahed used a different definition of "radical," in interpreting respondents' answers to Gallup's 9/11 question. In November 2006, they gave this definition:
Respondents who said 9/11 was unjustified (1 or 2 on a 5-point scale, where 1 is totally unjustified and 5 is completely justified) are classified as moderates. Respondents who said 9/11 was justified (4 or 5 on the same scale) are classified as radicals.
Wait a minute.... In 2006, then, these same authors defined "radicals" not only as Muslims who thought 9/11 was "completely justified" (5 on their scale), but those who thought it was largely justified (4 on their scale).

So for their new book, they've drastically narrowed their own definition of "radical," to get to that 7% figure. And they've also spread the impression in the media that the other 93% are "moderates." In 2006, their "moderates" included only Muslims who thought 9/11 was "totally" or largely unjustified (who answered 1 or 2 on a 5-point scale, where 1 is "totally unjustified"). But what about Muslims who answered with 3 or 4? Well, they weren't "moderates" by 2006 standards. The 3's were neither "moderates" nor "radicals," and the 4's were "radicals." But this year, they've all been upgraded to "moderate" class, because they didn't "completely justify" 9/11. Whether they largely justified it, or half-justified it, they're all "moderates" now.

...
Because there's no hard data in their book, just these percentages, the authors are directly responsible for the confusion they've created.

Kramer makes the same point that I made in the initial press release for this book.

The entire reason I ordered the book was to get the raw numbers of the poll, and to see how many Muslims considered 9/11 somewhat justified - a much more important number! I suspected that the authors - both quite sympathetic to Muslims - were cooking the numbers, and I have already shown that they are dishonest in how they present the findings that they published before the book was released.

When the book shows up I'm sure I will have other things to write about.

Proof of Hamas' involvement in Nahal Oz attack

The gullible Western press happily reprints claims of responsibility for terror attacks, like this example from Reuters:

Fighters from three factions -- not including Hamas -- infiltrated the terminal.

The stories go on to say that Israel holds Hamas responsible, but the impression one gets from these stories is that there is no evidence behind that accusation, and that Israel is trying to gain political points.

However, there is clear proof that Hamas was directly involved in the attack. And even the Reuters article mentions it a couple of paragraphs later:

Hamas said it pounded the area with mortar bombs and machine guns during the operation, which one of the groups involved, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), dubbed "Breaking Zionist Arrogance."

Before and during the attack, Nahal Oz was bombarded with the worst mortar attacks in memory. And Hamas happily takes credit for the barrage in Arabic on its Al Qassam website (autotranslated):

Qassam Brigades resume bombing site "Nahal Oz" Zionist Qassam rocket (2008-04-09)

Qassam Brigades Tguens Zionist soldier near "Nahal Oz" The Zionist enemy recognizes affect it (2008-04-09)

Bomb-Qassam Brigades, a gathering of the mechanisms at the gate "Nahal deficiency" Qassam rocket (2008-04-09)

Bomb site Qassam Brigades "Nahal Oz" Zionist fired Qassam (2008-04-09)

A major part of the terror attack was the cover provided by this huge escalation in mortar fire. Which means that Hamas is just as involved in this terror attack as Islamic Jihad, Fatah and the PRC.

It also shows, yet again, that these "competing" groups work together quite well, so much so that some will take credit in order to take the political heat off of Hamas.

When Israel says that they hold Hamas responsible, they know how these groups work together, and they know who is calling the shots.

Iran's Mehrnews is concerned for the welfare of Jewish children

Iran's "news" agencies provide a never-ending source of amusement. Here's an op-ed that shows real concern for the welfare of young, impressionable Jewish children:

Apartheid walls go up, apartheid walls come down, but the walls in people’s heads are harder to dismantle.

Israel is currently constructing an apartheid wall in Palestine and the United States is currently constructing an apartheid wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. The effect of these walls on the people being kept out is clear, but there has been little reflection on the effect of these walls on the citizens of the countries building them.

...Indeed, what will happen to the souls of Israel and the United States?

The apartheid wall in Palestine is being built because most Israelis have apartheid walls in their minds.

This line of thinking is actually destroying the minds of Jewish children in Israel and the rest of the world.

The Zionists, who are so quick to condemn anyone who criticizes Israel as an anti-Semite, should try to determine who is the real anti-Semite. Since their racist ideology is destroying the minds of Jewish children, it is clear that the Zionists are the worst anti-Semites.

The Palestinians, all the rest of the Muslims, and all of the other anti-Zionist elements are not attacking the minds of Jewish children.

Nope. Only their bodies.

Racism produces a mindset that dehumanizes other races and ethnic groups and which is one of the worst things for the mental health of children.

It is said that the Berlin Wall was built so that its inevitable collapse would bring about the collapse of the Soviet bloc. Likewise, the apartheid wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and the apartheid wall in Palestine are being constructed so their collapse will bring about the collapse of the United States and Israel.

The New World Order will be built on the ashes of the United States, Israel, and the European Union.

The utter lack of unintended irony in this article is priceless. And that little implied threat at the end is just the icing on the cake.

Terror attack in Nahal Oz - what are the motives?

From YNet:

Two Israeli men in their 30s were killed Wednesday afternoon in exchanges of fire that erupted near the Nahal Oz terminal in the central Gaza Strip, the Magen David Adom emergency services reported. Medical teams were making their way to the scene of the incident.

Three Palestinians were killed in an ensuing Israel Air Force strike in Gaza City, sources in the Strip said.

The IDF reported that an army aircraft struck and hit a vehicle carrying gunmen who were involved in the shooting attack in Nahal Oz.
...
"This a cynical attack," an official added. "On the one hand, Hamas complains of the blockade on Gaza, and on the other hand it is responsible for the attack on the fuel terminal, which provides gas and fuel to the residents of the Strip," he stated.

Ha'aretz adds:

Channel 2 TV said the infiltrators set fuel depots afire.

The extent of damage to the facility was unclear, but the attack threatened to exacerbate Gaza's already delicate humanitarian situation . Plumes of smoke billowed up from the depot, the sole conduit of fuel to Gaza's 1.4 million residents.

People try to find logic in the targets that Palestinian Arab terrorists hit, but they miss the point:

The terrorists hit wherever they can. Certainly they might try to abduct rather than kill Israelis, but for the most part they will kill any Israeli in the Middle East that they can. Thanks to Israeli defenses, they don't have the luxury of choosing targets based on perceived symbolic value; they will choose the weakest point they can find and kill whomever they can, not caring if the victims are women, children, Arabs or Jews, and cause all the damage and panic they can.

In this case, the fact that they set Gaza's main fuel depot on fire shows that their bloodlust and intense desire to feel powerful is more important than prosaic concerns like the humanitarian situation in Gaza. (Not to discount the fact that they have a great interest in maintaining a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but that wasn't the goal.)

These are crimes of opportunity, plain and simple.

April 9, 1948: The end of Palestinian Arab military leadership

The 1948 war was striking in the paucity of Palestinian Arab military leaders. Almost all of the major leaders in the war against the Jewish state were from neighboring Arab countries, rushing in to destroy Israel before it started.

There were a couple of exceptions, but the effective end of Palestinian Arab war leaders occurred on April 8, 1948 (reported in the April 9 Palestine Post:)

It turns out that Salameh (who had parachuted into Palestine in 1944 along with Nazi paratroopers) did return to Lydda later in April, and was killed in June. (And, as noted there, his son was one of the architects of the Munich Olympic massacre, assassinated by the Mossad in 1979.)

Another use for a burqa

Firas Press (Arabic) reports a story about an Egyptian man who was not allowed to marry the woman he loved, presumably due to family objections.

His sweetheart agreed to marry another man, and this Egyptian decided he wanted to secretly attend the wedding.

So he covered himself in a burqa and went in drag.

Unfortunately, he made a mistake - he didn't change his shoes.

The women immediately recognized that he was an impostor and his plan was foiled.

Yes, the kid was killed by a Palestinian Arab mortar

Yesterday I posted a large number of articles about a child killed in Gaza and compared how these "news" sources reported Palestinian Arab claims that the child was killed by an Israeli tank shell. Some of them took the Palestinian claims at face value, and the ones that noted Israel's denials buried that information much lower in the article.

Well, today the Palestinian Center for Human Rights came out with their investigation of the issue, and, sure enough, the kid was killed by his peaceful Gazan neighbors:

On Sunday evening, 6 April 2008, ‘Abdullah Mohammed Bahar, 4, was killed and his brother, ‘Abdul Jawad, 8, was wounded when a mortar shell fell near their house in al-Boreij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 15:00 on Sunday, a mortar shell fell near a house belonging to Mohammed Suleiman Bahar, 51, in the east of al-Boreij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. As a result, two of the owner’s children were wounded when they were playing near the house: ‘Abullah, 4, wounded by shrapnel to the head and the chest; and ‘Abdul Jawad, 8, wounded by shrapnel to the head. The two children were evacuated to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah town, but ‘Abdullah died shortly after arriving at the hospital.

Will we be seeing any corrections from the many media that - as always - reported the lying Palestinian "witnesses" and "medical sources" without skepticism and gave them more credence than Israeli claims that are almost inevitably vindicated?

Previous examples of Palestinian Arabs blaming Israel for deaths they committed themselves here, here, here, here and here, just to list a few.

The 2008 Palestinian Arab Self-Death count is now at 56, with 11 children. Which, in PalArab terms, is roughly half a "holocaust."

Jimmy the Dhimmi wants to legitimize Hamas again

From Ma'an (h/t Israellycool):

A plan is coalescing to arrange a meeting between exiled senior Hamas leader Khalid Mash'al and former US President Jimmy Carter in Damascus on 18 April, Palestinian sources told the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat on Tuesday.

According to Al-Hayat, Carter's aides will arrive in Syria soon to make arrangements for the meeting.

If the meeting is held, Carter will become the highest-ranking American official ever to publicly meet with Hamas leaders. Hamas officials did meet with representatives of President Bill Clinton's administration in the 1990s.

During the proposed meeting, Carter will be presented as the chair of the Carter Center, rather than as a former US president. A Hamas official said that that the meeting would show that Hamas is a power that can't be ignored in addressing the Palestinian question.

Jimmy's prophetic powers of a peaceful Hamas are bearing fruit, and he is ready to act on them. After all, the rockets are down to only 3 a day now. If that ain't peaceful what is?

Chile welcomes the Arabs that Arabs hate

AFP reports:

Chile on Sunday greeted 39 Palestinians from a refugee camp in Syria for permanent resettlement, and local residents turned out to give them a rousing welcome.
"Leave your suffering in the past and let Chile be the fountain of your newfound happiness," deputy Interior Secretary Felipe Harboe told the tired newcomers, who spent 40 hours traveling to this farming community north of Santiago.
The Palestinians, 23 of them children, were greeted by an official welcoming committee and many cheering locals who waved Palestinian flags and signs recalling their own Middle Eastern descent from immigrants who arrived when La Calera was founded in the late 19th century.
"Through you we relive the adventure of being an immigrant," La Calera Mayor Roberto Chahuan, the grandchild of Palestinians, told the exhausted refugees who were to be settled in apartment buildings in the town.
After the ceremony, the Palestinian families were escorted to their apartments. Local authorities will provide education, health care and Spanish classes.
The 39 Palestinians are the first of a group of 117 Chile has accepted to resettle under a 2007 program it agreed to with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
The remaining refugees accepted in Chile will arrive in two groups in the coming weeks for resettlement in San Felipe, north of Santiago, and two neighborhoods in the capital.

We discussed a couple of weeks ago how despised the Palestinian Iraqis are in the Arab world and how every Arab nation refuses to let them in.

But one of the details in this story also explains why even Palestinian Arabs are less than thrilled with countries like Chile, Canada and Brazil taking them in.

Notice how the mayor is described as a "grandchild of Palestinians," not as a "Palestinian." He may be proud of his heritage but he has no intention of "returning" to the Middle East because his family has built up a real life and identity outside of the "Palestinian" construct.

The entire cornerstone of Palestinian identity is the idea of statelessness and oppression. Take that away, and Palestinian identity will fade - as will the utility of using a large group of Arabs as political pawns to pressure the existence of Israel.

So we see the anomaly of an article that refers to the mayor of La Calera is a "grandchild of Palestinians" yet the Arabs who immigrated, who have not been in Palestine for two generations either, are still called "Palestinian." When they are stuck in the Arab world they are forced to be considered victims - but useful victims. When they move elsewhere and build real lives, their usefulness disappears.

This is why Arab nations will never allow Palestinian Arabs to become citizens. Suffering PalArabs are much more useful.

Ya gotta love the Kos kids

Someone on a Daily Kos comment thread pointed out my Weeds post, saying it was interesting.

Immediately a person responded by branding this blog "a really racist website" and followed up by calling it a "hate site."

Not that this person bothered to refute anything I said, of course. In the far-left universe that the Kos denizens reside in, you can win any argument by just call someone a racist.

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.