Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, May 25, 2008

One more for the count

I just saw that one of the people injured in a "work accident" last month succumbed to his wounds a few days later.

So our 2008 PalArab self-death count is at 72.

Palestinian Arab site links to anti-Hamas censorship software

On May 15th, Hamas started blocking pornographic sites from sections of Gaza. It can be reasonably assumed that if Hamas is making deals with the Internet service providers in Gaza, that they are also watching where people are surfing to use against them later.

In response, the anti-Hamas Firas Press site put up a link to software that can get around the Hamas censorship and can also anonymize Web surfing. I don't know how good that software is,but apparently it was written to get around Chinese censorship of the Web.

(Two days ago, Firas was hacked, possibly by Hamas sympathizers.)

Firas just did more for freedom for Gaza citizens in one day than any number of "human-rights" groups have done in years.

Another Qassam falls short, injuring PalArabs

Firas Press and Palestine Press Agency both report:

A number of citizens were injured after the fall of a rudimentary domestically manufactured missile on a Palestinian house in the Al-Shojaeya neighborhood east of Gaza City.

Eyewitnesses said, "The 'missile' missed its target and landed on a house, which led to the injury of a number of citizens."

Earlier in the day Ma'an reported that Israel had shot artillery shells at a Qassam cell in that same neighborhood, injuring some people; chances are that this was the real incident.

Something to remember when Hamas claims that Qassams are meant to "defend" Palestinian Arabs....

May 21, 1948 Arab leader: "War is peace"

One of the best examples of 1984-style doublespeak comes courtesy of Arab League Secretary General Azzam Pasha, whose comments have to be seen to be believed:

How many lies and absurdities can be fit in such a short article?

War is peace, Jews will invade all Arab countries, Jews would never offer citizenship to Arabs and would never treat them as well as Arabs treat Jews, and many more.

And yet we see the exact same lies being given, with an equally straight face, by Azzam Pasha's spiritual heirs.

Another PalArabic news site hacked

Yesterday, Firas Press published an article saying that they had suffered cyber-attacks before and were not going to cower in the face of such activities.

Last night the site went down and has not recovered since.

A few weeks ago the Palestine Press Agency site was hacked and was down for a while. They have a similar anti-Hamas orientation as Firas.

It looks like the Hamas script kiddies are restless.

Anti-semitism disguised as "Palestinian Unity" in Anaheim

Recently, Anaheim hosted the Sixth International Al-Awda Convention, where Palestinian Arabs worldwide converged to talk about their "right of return" and the "ethnic cleansing" that was inflicted on them.

It is striking how much Jew-hatred can occur without the single mentioning of the word "Jew." It is also interesting to contrast how Palestinian Arabs speak to each other, how Palestinian Arab Muslims speak to each other and how they speak to the Western world.

For example:

The highlight of the Al-Awda convention was the evening banquet featuring Bishop Atallah Hanna and Chief Justice Sheikh Taiseer Al-Tamimi.

"Palestine is and will be Arab until the Day of Judgement," said Sheikh Taiseer. "Occupations come and go but Palestine persevered and maintained its Arab-ness. Palestinian cities will remain forever Arab."

This is an interesting assertion. "Palestinians" often claim to the West that they are the original habitants of the land, descended from the Canaanites. The Canaanites were not Arab, and Palestine was invaded by Arabs in the wake of the dawning of Islam.

But in a room full of Arabs, that narrative disappears.

Bishop Atallah echoed Sheikh Taiseer's words, underlining that Palestinians -- both Christian and Muslim -- are "one nation, one people". "Today we emphasise that the right of return is as holy as Jerusalem. It is inalienable, non- negotiable, and sacred," said Bishop Atallah. "The occupation failed at killing the resistance and the evidence is you," he added.

When they talk to a Western audience they take pains to say that the Jews who lived in Palestine continuously since the days of the Second Temple are also "Palestinian" and would have the same rights to the land as they do. But in a room full of Arab Christians and Muslims, the Jews' rights to this land literally disappear.

The convention also attracted its usual non-Arab supporters:

Richard Becker, a founder of the ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition expressed his "full solidarity" with the Palestinian people. Becker told the audience, "No empire built on oppression is stable", adding, "No empire lasts forever."
"We stand in solidarity, we stand in awe of you, we are inspired by you," said John Parker of the New York-based International Action Centre. "From the river to the sea, we will not stop until all of us are free."

The convention featured a number of prominent speakers including Ilan Pappe, a leading historian on the Middle East. Pappe called "Zionist ideology" the motivating force behind the Nakba, adding that now, unlike in 1948, "we know what Zionism is all about, we understand the strategy of Israel." He described the Nakba as ethnic cleansing.

And here's a nice piece of doublespeak:

Saree Makdisi, professor of English and comparative literature at the University of California, Los Angeles, spoke about achieving a democratic, secular, multicultural state that gives equal rights to all its citizens. "Zionism represents exclusionist claims and separations. We must keep repeating to people that Israel is not a secular state and does not treat its citizens equally," said Makdisi.

No one seriously believes that a Palestine would be any more secular and inclusive than any other Arab state, and the other speakers (as well as the "Palestinian constitution") make clear that this state would be "Arab," and even Muslim, not multi-cultural.

Yet, as Makdisi points out, the point is not a reflection of the reality of how yet another Arab State, but rather a talking point to "keep repeating to people."

Salman Abu Sitta called the Nakba the "largest, longest operation of planned ethnic cleansing in history". He called it the 90th year of the longest war against a single people. Abu Sitta described Zionist objectives as threefold: conquering, eliminating and destroying Palestinian history. Abu Sitta said that today Palestinians number seven times more than they were in 1948. "In this open conflict, we haven't surrendered," he said. He called Gaza the biggest concentration camp in the world. "I call it the new Auschwitz," said Abu Sitta.

Among friends, it is easy to be inconsistent ("ethnic cleansing" vs. the Palestinian Arab population explosion) as well as clearly anti-semitic in equating Gaza to Auschwitz.

And, standing in the United States, what are the means that need to be used to overthrow the Zionist regime?

Asad Abu Khalil, professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus, and author of The Angry Arab blog, spoke about new dangers in the Arab world, including how Zionism has won allies among nearly all Arab regimes. "After 60 years, we should be aware how Zionism has its tentacles throughout Arab media and government," said Abu Khalil. He said the battle against Zionism could only succeed if launched against Arab regimes in their alliance with the US.

Despite the successes of Zionism, Abu Khalil added, there are signs of its failures. "The 2006 war on Lebanon revealed a path of struggle against Israel that can be mounted if joined by Arabs -- not regimes -- of different countries."

So use politics to weaken US influence and use war to eradicate Jews from the Middle East.

Bishop Atallah said that what makes Jerusalem a unique city is its religious diversity. Muslims go to mosques and Christians go to churches, he said, praying for one God and "asking Him to relieve their oppression and to give them freedom."

Bishop Atallah travelled to the US from Palestine to attend the Al-Awda convention along with Chief Justice Sheikh Taiseer Al-Tamimi. Both religious leaders came to address the importance of the right of return and to emphasise strong unity among Palestinian Christians and Muslims.

"My presence with Sheikh Taiseer is a focus on our unity," said Bishop Atallah. "Our religions can never divide us. We are proud of both Christians and Muslims."

What word is missing here? Yes, the good archbishop does not foresee Palestine nor Jerusalem as including any members of a certain third religion, let alone any others.

This is the Palestinian Arab definition of "diversity" - one that includes only Arabs.

And when Muslims get together, any mention of Christians similarly disappear, as they emphasize the Islamic aspects of Palestine.

All of the pretenses of equal rights, of desiring peace, of multiculturalism, of negotiations - they all get stripped away when Palestinian Arabs speak amongst themselves. To them, Israel is just a temporal anomaly, and better that their people should suffer for centuries hence than to accept the existence of any non-Arabs - and especially Jews - on what they consider Arab lands.

Hamas losing its mojo?

Palestine Press Agency reports on internal Hamas fears of its collapse.

According to the article, Hamas commissioned its own investigation into its current problems in Gaza. It appears that Hamas has lost much of its popularity, and can no longer create huge "spontaneous" rallies and protests as it used to, as the people of Gaza are not cooperating any more (autotranslated, cleaned up):

The Palestine Press News Agency received a special document prepared by the leadership of Hamas several weeks ago which confirmed an investigation regarding the failure of the movement to mobilize the masses to participate in organized events, having witnessed the last months the case of absolute failure of many of the events especially marches that were advocated by the movement at the sector level, not only failure by the leadership of the call at rallies, but was at the level of participation in the funerals of martyrs and events to protest at the blockade organized by Hamas movement.

The results of the investigation included: --

Internal reasons: --

* Large numbers of Hamas members are primarily concerned with their positions in the government official article [local?], which led to concern about participation and interest in national action.

* Retreat of the role of mosques in the polarization of the elements and lack of accountability about the reason for absenteeism.

* Widespread frustration among the elements of Hamas and the feeling of the majority of discrimination in jobs and government appointments, which led to a sense of injustice and unfairness.

External causes: --

* Movement of the situation facing subside away from the masses, which led to considerable decline in traffic relationship with the Palestinian street in the sector.

* Movement lost the broad categories of public [relations?] as a result of the negative elements.

* The Palestinian people now feel that they are the only victims of the siege and those who belonged to Hamas members not affected by this blockade on the Palestinian people in terms of salaries and financial support and provide them with food by the movement in the late hours of the night at their party affiliation.

* Fuel crisis in light of Hamas members and leaders driving luxury cars, thus provoking massive citizen anger, who suffers from severe fuel crisis.

* Citizens no longer believe in slogans brought by the movement before the military coup, such as "Reform and Justice," security and movement became the worst conduct exercises the authority of Fatah.

PalPress is a fervently anti-Hamas news source, and it reports rumor as fact (although it has been remarkably accurate about many stories.) It is possible that this report was purposefully "leaked" by Fatah.

But it is possible; parts do ring true and we have not seen any massive pro-Hamas rallies in a while. It doesn't look like Hamas is losing its grip on power, though; on the contrary it is consolidating power throughout Gaza and eliminating competition.

Still, I was getting very skeptical about the efficacy of Israel's reduction of basic services to Gaza, and the chances that it would turn ordinary Palestinian Arabs against Hamas. This indicates that maybe, but only maybe, it is having an effect.

The first victim of the Gaza fuel crisis

Firas Press reports that a man stabbed his brother to death in a fight over a container of cooking fuel.

The 2008 PalArab self-death count is now at 71.

The "Peace Index" - Moonbattery masquerading as statistics

Yesterday a group called the "Economist Intelligence Unit" came out with a ranking of world countries based on how "peaceful" they are (h/t Michael Fridman for the link.) The US came in 97th out of 140 countries, and Israel came in 136th. It was heavily covered in newspapers worldwide.

They have a very elaborate methodology, taking into account many different factors. The factors themselves seem to be the product of an interesting mindset.

First, they try to make it sound like it is entirely the result of rigorous statistics:

Twenty-four indicators of the existence or absence of peace were chosen by the panel, which are divided into three key thematic categories. Many of the indicators have been "banded" on a scale of 1-5; qualitative indicators in the index have been scored by the Economist Intelligence Unit's extensive team of country analysts, and gaps in the quantitative data have been filled by estimates. Indicators of quantitative data such as military expenditure or jailed population have been normalised on the basis of:

x = (x-Min(x)) / (Max (x) - Min (x))

Where Min (x) and Max (x) are respectively the lowest and highest values in the 140 countries for any given indicator. The normalised value is then transformed from a 0-1 value to a 1-5 score to make it comparable with the other indicators.

Then they go into the specific indicators, which sound sort of reasonable until you dig in a little bit. They measure things like:

Number of external and internal conflicts fought: 2001-06
Estimated number of deaths from organised conflict (external)
Number of deaths from organised conflict (internal)
Level of organised conflict (internal)
Relations with neighbouring countries
Level of distrust in other citizens
Number of displaced people as a percentage of the population
Political instability
Level of disrespect for human rights (Political Terror Scale)
Potential for terrorist acts
Number of homicides per 100,000 people
Level of violent crime
Likelihood of violent demonstrations
Number of jailed population per 100,000 people
Number of internal security officers and police per 100,000 people
Military expenditure as a percentage of GDP
Number of armed services personnel per 100,000 people
Volume of transfers (imports) of major conventional weapons per 100,000 people
Volume of transfers (exports) of major conventional weapons per 100,000 people
UN Deployments 2007-08 (percentage of total armed forces)
Non-UN Deployments 2007-08 (percentage of total armed forces)
Aggregate number of heavy weapons per 100,000 people
Ease of access to small arms and light weapons
Military capability/sophistication

Then they weight it according to various factors.

The problem is that many of these "indicators" are purely subjective, and when subjective criteria are used to come up with objective data, the results are anything but objective.

In the case of Israel, their breakdown shows exactly where they go wrong. For example, here are some rankings where Israel did poorly according to the EIU:

Level of distrust in other citizens
Qualitative assessment of level of distrust in other citizens. Ranked 1-5 (very low-very high) by EIU analysts

Israel got a 4, on a purely subjective guess based on little knowledge.

Similarly:

Ease of access to weapons of minor destruction
Qualitative assessment of the ease of access to small arms and light weapons. Ranked 1-5 (very low-very high) by EIU analysts.

Israel got a 3 (out of 5). Unmentioned are any controls around the access to these weapons or training in their use, as Israel's handgun deaths are quite low.

Level of organised conflict (internal) - 4
Qualitative assessment of the intensity of conflicts within the country. Ranked 1-5 (very low-very high) by EIU analysts

Respect for human rights - 4
A qualitative measure of the level of political terror through an analysis of Amnesty International's Yearbook.

Potential for terriorist acts - 4
Qualitative assessment of the potential for terrorist acts. Ranked 1-5 (very low-very high) by EIU analysts

Any time it says "qualitative assessment" it is using a fancy word for "guesses based on reading newspapers and Amnesty International reports."

Number of armed services personnel per 100,000 people - 5
Active armed services personnel comprises all servicemen and women on full-time duty in the army, navy, air force and joint forces (including conscripts and long-term assignments from the Reserves)

Aggregate number of heavy weapons per 100,000 people - 5
Source: Bonn International Centre for Conversion (BICC)

Military capability/sophistication - 5
Qualitative assessment of the grade of sophistication and the extent of military research and development (R&D) Ranked 1-5 (very low-very high) by EIU analysts

See the problem here? Thius august group makes an assumption that any country that has a large and sophisticated military must be, inherently, non-peaceful. The logical fallacy of these assumptions are staggering, yet escape this think-tank.

The basic thinking of this group is that armies are inherently evil. This is breathtakingly stupid.

But there is a patina of objectivity around this extraordinarily flawed, and simply wrongheaded, analysis. The media is quick to lap these sorts of things up as if they have any real value.

Even more ironically, the EIU says that one of the biggest reasons for having such an index is to help businesses decide where to set up shop:

Business benefits greatly from an environment of peace. Understanding the attributes of peace allows governments to better understand what they can do to improve the business environment This knowledge allows business to make more confident investment decisions on the basis of actual and predicted stability in a community or nation.

They are pretty clearly saying that companies that choose to do business in Israel are idiots, because of their pseudo-scientific rankings.

Now, who do you trust more to make business decisions: a group that includes Google, IBM, Motorola, Microsoft and Warren Buffet, or the EIU?

The EIU has been doing this sham for a few years now, and one would think that they would adjust their sacred methodology to account for what is obviously a ridiculous conclusion, that Israel is less peaceful than most African nations where tens of thousands die monthly. But they get lots of press, and no one calls them on their basic methodological flaws, so why not keep it going?

Hamas digging weapons tunnels underneath schools

Palestine Press Agency reports that Hamas is furiously digging tunnels in anticipation of an Israeli invasion of Gaza.

The tunnels serve two purposes: to hide caches of weapons and explosives, and to provide an escape route for Hamas leaders through Rafah.

The source quoted mentions that no matter what happens during any Israeli activity, Hamas plans to declare themselves "victorious conquerors" as soon as the IDF leaves by claiming that they "repelled the aggression in Gaza."

The article is unusually specific as to exactly where these tunnels are:

1. Hamas has been digging a tunnel under the house of one of their Qassam Brigades commanders named "Ismail Astal", leading to the ground under Khalid Hassan Secondary School for Boys in Khan Younis and a branch to a school for boys in Bani Suheila, another branch To the house of a Qassam leader Omar Al-Astal, this tunnel will continue to the house of another named Abdel Hamid Al-Astal. All these tunnels under the ground connected with each other.

2. The Hamas militia dug a tunnel in the house of another person named Ashraf Fahmi Al-Astal, an executive officer of the Hamas, and branches go to the Farhana School for Girls near the police station in Khan Younis and then to Haifa prep school for girls will go to the house in charge of internal security of Hamas in the south Ahmed "duck" (autotranslation.] Also, these tunnels have other ramifications associated with each other and continuous network under the ground.

3. The Qassam Brigades militia group is digging tunnels inside Gaza City and other provinces, including: a tunnel carved in the city of Arafat's police "Passport" to lead the Islamic University and another tunnel from the seat of government house in Gaza did not know its destination yet.

We have seen before that Hamas has dug bunkers and tunnels under even UNRWA schools, and they have fired rockets from schools as well, so this is more than plausible.

The dangers of "peace" with Syria

As I mentioned yesterday, during the NORPAC trip to Washington a congressman asked my group what we thought of the news about the negotiations between Israel and Syria.

My answer, after stressing that this was not NORPAC's position, was that I was extremely skeptical about the sincerity of Syria in wanting peace. I pointed out that the Syrian border was the quietest of all Israel's borders and the borders where Israel made compromises for "peace" were the ones where there was the least peace. I mentioned the possibility that Iran is really behind this "peace" offer, and if Syria could gain the Golan through negotiations then it effectively puts Iran's troops at Israel's doorstep, giving them a huge advantage in conventional warfare, let alone speaking about their unconventional warfare aspirations.

My brother EBoZ added that with Iran sponsoring Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas, this would surround Israel with its most implacable foe.

Another member of my group pointed out that Arabs look at Israel as an aberration in the Middle East, and that they are very patient because in their view Israel will simply not exist in the long term. Indeed, I added, the internal Arabic press considers the sixty years of Israel's existence to be similar to the Crusades, when the Muslims ultimately regained control of Jerusalem and other areas.

The congressman seemed a little surprised but had no other comments.

Soccer Dad pointed out to me a YNet article saying that there is no way that the two sides will agree and to "relax." While he says that he thought the article was too optimistic, he recalls how previous negotiations over Syria (especially under Netanyahu) have broken down in the past over Syria's intransigence.

Perhaps. But the most uncomfortable part of yesterday's events in Washington came when former Knesset member and minister Dan Meridor, in the midst of a rousing Zionist speech and after hearing many senators and congressmen talking about their support of new versions of the Syria Accountability Act, stated as fact that Israel would have to make painful concessions to Syria (without mentioning it by name.)

This was greeted with complete silence and at least two "boos."

Jordanian media against freedom of speech

From Arab News:

A coalition of Jordanian media outlets, professional syndicates and political parties plan to launch a national campaign on June 10 for the boycott of Danish and Dutch products to protest anti-Islam moves in the two European countries, organizers said yesterday.

The campaign, entitled “The Messenger Unites Us,” came into existence after a dozen of Danish papers reprinted blasphemous cartoons in February.

The controversial pictures were originally printed by the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005, sparking a spate of protests across the Arab and Islamic worlds. Dutch products were recently added to a list of blacklisted Danish goods after Dutch MP Geert Wilders released a short anti-Islam film on the Internet in March.

...
He pointed out that the campaign would include highway billboards, posters, printed T-shirts, bumper stickers and the like “to inform consumers not only to boycott foods but anything associated with Denmark and the Netherlands such as airlines and shipping agencies.”

Campaign organizers also decided to institute legal action against those involved in “demeaning the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him),” arguing that their behavior violated the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and several articles of the Jordanian Penal Code.

So if the Jordanian media themselves support persecuting people exercising freedom of speech, how much can you trust what they publish as being the truth?

Today we really had a "Zionist-Occupied Government"

Today, I am attending the annual NORPAC mission to Washington. Some 900 committed Zionists came down to speak to virtually every Senate and Congress office, sometimes to the congress members themselves and sometimes to their aides.

Before and after the meetings we are hearing speeches from some of Israel's best friends on the Hill. Most of them sound more pro-Israel than Kadima.

My group had three meetings. The first two were with aides, who politely listen and take notes about the specific legislation we are asking them to support.

The third meeting was with a Representative of a western state who was very friendly. His first question to us was to ask my opinion of the Syrian/Israeli talks reported this morning.

It is a very empowering feeling to be able to have a conversation with a member of the US House of Representatives about a topic you feel strongly about.

The halls of Congress were filled with yarmulka-wearing advocates for Israel today. The leaders just announced that because of our visits today the sponsor of one of the bills we are backing got many phone calls from people we met asking to co-sponsor the bill (one to make it harder for Iran to get foreign investments.)

It has been a long day but it is a rewarding experience, knowing that we can make a difference.

When detente is better than "peace"

Israel and Syria have started "peace" talks in Turkey.

At the moment, Syria's stance against Israel is entirely passive-aggressive. Everything that it has been doing - arming Hezbollah, building a nuclear weapons site, hosting terror groups - has a veneer of deniability, no matter how implausible. Which means that any agreement to stop those activities is essentially unenforceable, because they cannot be officially monitored.

On the other hand, the Syrian/Israel border has been Israel's quietest border since 1973. Israel's annexation of the Golan was perhaps the best move Israel has ever done for its own security, and military experts are unanimous as to the huge strategic importance of the Golan to Israel.

In other words, Israel's "illegal occupation" of the Golan has created more real peace than any number of compromises that Israel has made for what the world calls "peace."

Any embarkation of negotiations - or indeed, and change of a status quo - needs to be preceded by a calculation of the upside versus the downside. There is no way that Syria will agree to a peace agreement without getting the Golan back, placing much of Israel's population - not to mention its water supply - at great risk.

What's the upside? Is there any realistic chance that Syria would ditch its Iranian sponsor, abandon Hezbollah, stop incitement against Israel and become friends with the US?

If Syria wanted to get into the US orbit, it could do it without the Golan, and Syria has no threats from Israel as long as it doesn't make any aggressive moves. Today's detente is better than any other realistic scenario.

This is yet another folly where the pursuit of a "peace process" is antithetical to real peace.

Palestinian Arab news roundup

Lots of stuff going on in the Palestinian Arab press tonight...

Mostly from Firas Press:

There are rumors that Hamas was planning to hold a demonstration, shoot a Qasssam rocket into the crowd, blame Israel and use the situation to open Rafah. The Popular Committees nixed the idea.

An AP report is elaborated on where Palestinian Arabs are reluctant to embrace Bin Laden's support. Hamas considers Al-Qaeda "too extreme" for them, which is funny because recently Al Qaeda criticized Hamas for being too extreme as well. Either way, even Hamas realizes that making Bin Laden a hero is bad PR.

Also in Gaza,Fatah's terror arm, the Al Aqsa Brigades, claim to have found an Israeli spy device (with American parts) meant to video, and possibly remotely explode, terrorists. It looks a bit crude to me.

Speaking of spies, Islamic Jihad claims to have broken up a major spy ring, arresting many "collaborators." The self-death count may rise yet again. They used this opportunity to appeal to the ones they haven't yet found to repent or else, Allah forbid, they would be punished in this world and the next.

Hamas is planning a mass demonstration - and possibly an attempt to break down the fence - at the Karni crossing on Thursday. It is possible that this is the demonstration that they considered shooting a Qassam at.

Also, Ma'an reports that a Fatah-linked group claimed responsibility for the bombing attempt that happened yesterday at the Huwara checkpoint where a 16-year old was shot when he was found to have explosives strapped on. The other Palestinian Arab media don't believe the story altogether, preferring to tell themselves that Israel just shoots teenagers at checkpoints for no reason.