Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Carnival!

A post of mine made it into Dr. Sanity's weekly "Carnival of the Insanities."

The same post also made it into the weekly Haveil Havalim #168.

Check them out!

Popular lies

Ma'an reports, with little fear of contradiction:

Israeli forces violently broke up a peaceful demonstration against the construction of the Israeli separation wall in the West Bank village of Nil'in, near Ramallah, on Sunday, shooting a foreign cameraman with a rubber-coated metal bullet.

Three protesters were injured. The coordinator of Ni'lin's popular committee against the wall, Salah Al-Khawaja identified the arrestees as 'Ahid Al-Khawaja, Ibrahim 'Amira and an unnamed foreign solidarity activist.

Al-Khawaja explained that his committee organized the rally in attempt to stop work on the wall. Farmers from the town lied on the ground in their fields to stop Israeli bulldozers from digging up the fields and erecting the wall. According to Al-Khawaja, the farmers succeeded to stop the work for one hour. He said bulldozers have uprooted 90 trees in the village in just three days.

He added that the foreign and Israeli solidarity activists participated in the rally along with local residents using mirrors to reflect sunlight at the Israeli soldiers who in return fired rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas canisters at the protestors.

This vision of heartless Israelis building an "apartheid wall" and uprooting hundreds of olive trees while Palestinian Arabs protest peacefully has turned into a news cliche, a meme that has entered the world's consciousness as accepted fact.

Yet if one digs a little, one can see that things in Nilin are not quite as reported.

Here is a photo from today's demonstration:

A Palestinian demonstrator uses a sling shot to hurl stones as tear gas fired by Israeli troops can be seen during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Nilin, near Modin, Sunday, June 8, 2008

So much for the "peaceful demonstrator" part.

As far as the "bulldozing olive trees" part, guess what the IDF is doing in Nilin?

The Israel Defense Forces and the Civil Administration have decided to relocate some 440 olive trees belonging to Naalin residents to a nearby area, due to the construction of the separation fence in the area.
The Palestinians have protested this decision, claiming that it would badly harm their livelihood.

The IDF plans to relocate the olive trees under the supervision of a Civil Administration officer, but Naalin's residents do not intend to cooperate with the move, as they reject any act related to the construction of the fence.

Security sources told Ynet that the separation fence was being built according to law and that the State was doing all it could to minimize the damage caused to the Palestinian life fabric. The defense establishment is coordinating the entire construction process with the local population, they stated.

"There are always those who will not approve of the State's decisions, including Israeli citizens, and will do all in their power to break the law and stop the fence construction," a security official said.

"The handling of the olive trees, for example, shows how things could be done differently," the source added. "The proof is that the defense establishment, on all levels, knows how to collect all the trees in a professional manner and move them somewhere else, in a way that will not harm the Palestinian farmers."

Israel is spending untold amounts of time and money in order to minimize any damage done to the tree and Palestinian Arabs' livelihoods while still maintaining security. This is hardly what one would expect from the brutal IDF than is being portrayed day in and day out by both the Arabs and the major media who are only too happy to echo the lies.

Israeli Arabs claim to have built their own rockets

This video from Ma'an shows what is supposed to be a rocket built by an Israeli Arab terror organization, the Ahrar Al-Jalil Brigades, who have claimed a number of attacks internally in Israel - some of which seem to have never occurred, others are dubious.

The video could easily be of a painted cardboard tube, but it is still something to be aware of.

The brigades said in a statement that accompanied the video that is "the first time in the history of the 1948 Arabs that they have produced a homemade projectile which is now set up in the Al-Jalil hills (Galilee) and is ready to be launched."

In the statement the brigades sent a message to the Israeli leadership that if the Al-Aqsa mosque is attacked, the brigades will attack the Israeli defense ministry in Tel Aviv.

Arabs accuse Jews of poisoning the wells

Blood libels never get old in the Ummah!

The Iranian Alalam "news" states:

The Popular Committee to Oppose the Siege on Thursday warned against the Israeli regime's plans to spread lethal diseases in the Gaza Strip.

The Committee said with closure of Gaza City's Treatment Plant, the region was the target of environmental crisis.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) in its latest report has accused the Israel of dumping wastes and sewage into Gaza Sea.

Director of Water Resources in the Gaza Strip, Monther Shoblak, told Alalam Thursday that Israel dumps 70 percent of its wastes into Gaza Sea, affecting tourism industry and the marine lives in the region.

I didn't know there even was a "Gaza Sea."

How dare Israel do anything to harm the thriving Gaza tourism industry. All those poor tourists, sunbathing on the beaches of the Gaza Sea, being forced to stay out of the water because of Zionist fecal matter. I can see why they'd be upset.

Four dead in Gaza "drug raid"

Ma'an reports:

A member of the de facto government's police force was killed and eight others were injured when the drug squad stormed a suspected drug den in the Ash-Shuja’iyya neighborhood of eastern Gaza City on Friday morning.

Spokesperson of the de-facto affiliated police Islam Shahwan told Ma’an that Captain Jamal Abu Al-Qumsan was killed when the force stormed the den and clashed with the gang they suspect have been dealing drugs.

Shahwan announced that two of the alleged drug dealers were killed in the clashes. He named the dead man as Nawwaf and Marwan Hassanein. Six others were arrested and large quantities of drugs were confiscated.

Palestine Today updates the number of dead to 4.

Given Hamas' control of the press in Gaza, it is entirely possible that these killings had nothing to do with drugs. Either way, by my definition, these are still self-deaths so the 2008 count of Palestinian Arabs violently killed by each other is now at 83.

Egyptian man murders his bride

Firas Press reports on a horrific crime in Egypt, but its reporting indicates something even worse in Arab society.

In December, an Egyptian man from Zagazig named Hassan Mustafa Mohamed Hussein murdered his new bride, Abdullah Ahmad Bahgat, on their wedding night.

The reason? Because he thought that she wasn't a virgin.

He was just sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder.

Up until now, the story might be considered to be just another criminal story, similar to murders that happen daily throughout the world and reported as "strange but true" by wire services all the time.

The more sickening part is that the prosecutor waited for 45 days before charging Mr. Hussein in order to gather more relevant information.

The first important thing that he needed to determine was whether the groom was insane.

But the second part was to see if the bride was really a virgin. And, indeed, the forensics team determined that she was.

Clearly, if she had been found to have been a non-virgin, his sentence would have been much reduced.

Obviously no judge in Egypt would blame the murderer nearly as much in that case. Neither would the prosecutor.

"Honor killing" in Rafah

A 32-tear old woman was murdered in Rafah as an "honor killing."

Her 54-year old father admitted to police that his family members beat her to death because of her "immoral" behavior.

The 2008 PalArab self-death count is now at 79.

Clan clashes!

Two incidents of fatal clan clashes in Hebron in the past few days:

On Tuesday evening, a man was killed and 5 of his relatives were wounded when a number of gunmen opened fire at them in the context of a dispute between two clans living in the southeast of Hebron. In the same context, a child was killed on Wednesday evening during an exchange of fire between the two clans.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 17:00 on Tuesday, 3 June 2008, 5 gunmen opened fire at a number of members of the al-‘Ajlouni clan, who were near a grocery shop belonging to ‘Aayed al-‘Ajlouni in Jabal Jouha neighborhood in the southeast of Hebron. As a result, Mahmoud Sameeh al-‘Ajlouni, 31, was killed by several gunshots, and 5 of his relatives were lightly injured by shrapnel from gunshots.

At approximately 13:30 on Wednesday, 4 June 2008, Safawt Mohammed al-Salaima, 13, was seriously wounded by a gunshot to the head during an exchange of fire between the two disputing clans. Al-Salaima was with his father in al-Sahla car park in the southeast of Hebron. He was evacuated to the hospital, but medical efforts to save his life failed.

The 2008 PalArab self-death count is now at 78.

Palestinian Arabs not happy with Obama's AIPAC speech

Barack Obama's strongly pro-Israel speech at the AIPAC conference did not win him any fans in the Arab world. Here's Palestine Press Agency's cartoon reaction:

Israeli killed in mortar attack

From YNet:

One person was killed Thursday morning when a mortar shell fired from northern Gaza landed in Kibbutz Nir Oz, located within Eshkol Regional Council limits in the Negev. Hamas' Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades have claimed responsibility for the fire.

Two other people were seriously wounded in the attack, two more suffered shrapnel wounds and mild injuries and several others suffered shock.

All were taken to the Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba by Magen David Adom emergency services. No details were available on their condition.

The rocket hit a Nirlat Groups facility, located in Nir Oz. the council's security director and security forces swept the area, but no further injuries were reported.

As I've noted previously, far more mortars are shot at Israel than Qassams.

This is the second fatal mortar attack in a month, and the third fatal attack from Gaza in that time period.

Keep in mind that the proposed anti-missile systems Israel is working on do not protect against mortars. And that the latest mortars from Iran are deadlier and have their own propulsion, similar to rockets.

Saudi Vice, episode 16: The blasphemous barbers

A number of weeks ago a Saudi man went to a barber shop and heard something that made his skin crawl.

At least, he claims that he did. It is possible that he was in a bad mood, or that he got into an argument with the barber, or that he just didn't like his haircut.

At any rate, he knew that he had legal recourse. He immediately contacted our heroes at the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, and told them that his Turkish barber had blasphemed Mohammed (PBUH.)

The Muttawa sprang into action. They immediately went to the barber shop and arrested the suspect, named Ersin Taze.

By an amazing coincidence, some 15 months ago another Turkish barber, Sabri Bogday, was arrested in Saudi Arabia by our same heroes for exactly the same offense.

In this case, the Turkish Embassy intervened and asked the Saudi justice system to expedite the trial, and the case against Mr. Taze was dismissed for lack of evidence.

Mr. Bogday, on the other hand, remains in jail, convicted and sentenced to death, as his appeals have not all been filed yet. Bogday got into an argument with his neighbor, an Egyptian tailor, and he was arrested after the tailor told the police that he had sworn at God. While Bogday has been in prison for over a year, the Egyptian who made the allegation has disappeared.

Mr. Taze is using his newfound freedom to get out of Saudi Arabia.

Our heroes at the Muttawa have therefore managed to get one blasphemous creature off the streets and another one out of the Kingdom.

A job well done, boys!

Peace talks, Arab-style

From the Saudi-based Arab News:

JEDDAH, 4 June 2008 — A man walked in with a machine gun and opened fire on a group of people holding talks to reconcile an ongoing land dispute in Al-Sail near Taif, killing six and injuring seven others on Tuesday, police said yesterday.
The incident took place during reconciliation talks between two tribes involved in the dispute. The man was arrested shortly after the killing spree. Capt. Turki Al-Shahri, spokesman of the Taif police, yesterday declined to provide more details, citing sensitivities related to the dispute.
According to an eyewitness, the man killed three brothers and another man on the spot, while two others succumbed to gunshot wounds at King Abdul Aziz Hospital in Taif later.
Reconciliation talks are common in Saudi Arabia. They are often conducted — with the help of a government committee or nongovernmental mediators — in situations related to negotiating blood money and settling inter-tribal feuds.

If this is how intra-Arab peace talks go, imagine how they would treat non-Arabs.

Norwegian newspaper publishes new Mohammed cartoon

Although the newspaper is framing it somewhat differently:

The Adresseavisen, published in Trondheim, on Tuesday ran a cartoon of a man with a bomb-belt around his waist and a T-shirt emblazoned with the text "I am Mohammed and no one dares to publish me."

Managing editor Arne Blix said the cartoon did not depict the prophet "but was a comment on events in Islamabad," referring to the bombing Monday of the Danish embassy in Pakistan that claimed six lives, including two Pakistani nationals employed by the embassy.

Some Muslim representatives in Norway said they expected protests over the drawing while Blix said the publication was "important for the innocent victims impacted by terrorism and for freedom of speech."

Well, you can judge for yourself. Here's the original cartoon from The Adresseavisen (autotranslated page):

The bomb belt might not be as offensive to Muslims as the minute anatomical details.

At least one Arabic newspaper chooses to interpret this as an insulting caricature of Mohammed.

Biased AFP journalist assaulted by Hamas

Mahmoud al-Hams, award-winning AFP photographer, was assaulted by Hamas forces while covering a story in Gaza yesterday.

It will be recalled that Hams is an unapologetically biased journalist.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Another Qassam falls short in Gaza

Palestine Press Agency reports a Petroleum Authority officer was seriously injured after a Qassam rocket fell in a warehouse in the Al-Shojaeya neighborhood of Gaza.

That section of Gaza has seen a number of Qassam rockets hitting buildings and causing damage, injuries and sometimes deaths. I only see reports of Qassams that cause damage in Gaza; it is unclear what percentage of those fired land in Gaza without any damage.