Friday, July 11, 2008
Elder of Ziyon
self-death, work accident
Friday, July 11, 2008Elder of ZiyonMr. Mohammed Omer al-Mughaier (hereinafter "the Complainant") arrived at the Allenby Crossing on Thursday, 26 July 2008. Due to suspicion that he had been in contact with hostile elements and had been asked by them to deliver items to Judea and Samaria, both he and his baggage were searched. In contradiction to his claims, at no time was the Complainant subjected to either physical or mental violence.Omer didn't claim to have stood up for 12 hours in Pilger's report; but he did say:
The investigation revealed that the search of his baggage was conducted in the presence of four people and not eight, as he noted. The search was conducted, according to regulations, in a public place and in the view and presence of the Complainant.
The body search, which took several minutes, took place in the presence of two security personnel (a policeman and an ISA official) and was conducted according to the relevant regulations. The Complainant's claims to the effect that he was threatened at gunpoint are baseless.
Regarding the Complainant's collapse, as it were, it should be noted that the paramedic who attended to him found no evidence of a physical cause of collapse. The Complainant's behaviour raises doubts as to the sincerity of the situation. In any event, the Complainant was sent to an infirmary and an ambulance was ordered for him.
As to the Complainant's allegation that he was compelled to stand on his feet for twelve hours, we point out that according to our records, the Complainant arrived at the Allenby Crossing at approximately 11:00, and the entire incident ended at approximately 14:00. Thus, this claim is also baseless.
We should point out that there are numerous additional contradictions in the Complainant's allegations. For example, in the media he reported that he was humiliated, stripped and that a gun was held to his head. And yet, in his complaint filed with the IDF Spokesperson, the Complainant claimed that two uniformed personnel sprayed his face [and nothing about a gun - EoZ]
In conclusion, the Complainant's grievances were investigated and found to be without foundation. At no time was the Complainant subjected to either physical or mental violence; he was treated fairly. We can only regret that his allegations received publicity and a platform without being properly investigated.
I had now been without food and water and the toilet for 12 hours, and having been made to stand, my legs buckled. I vomited and passed out. All I remember is one of them gouging, scraping and clawing with his nails at the tender flesh beneath my eyes. He scooped my head and dug his fingers in near the auditory nerves between my head and eardrum. The pain became sharper as he dug in two fingers at a time. Another man had his combat boot on my neck, pressing into the hard floor. I lay there for over an hour. The room became a menagerie of pain, sound and terror."This is not a description of facts; this is a fantasy of a fanatic Israel-basher tailored to an audience of those who will believe anything evil about Israel.
As in many previous cases (see HonestReporting's "The Big Lies" interactive presentation for some of the most infamous), a Palestinian claim has been taken at face value by a media keen to fit the story to a preconceived narrative that portrays Israel as a serial human rights abuser.Soccer Dad notes that calling Omer a "journalist" is stretching it; he is a propagandist who will vilify Israel on the flimsiest testimony.
Thursday, July 10, 2008Elder of ZiyonIsraeli soldiers kill unarmed Palestinian ladMa'an says:
A 17-year-old boy who crossed into Israel in search of work was killed by Israeli troops yesterday.
The Israeli army killed a Palestinian on Thursday near the Kissufim crossing southeast of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.Al Jazeera is the most accurate of the Arab news sources:
Medical sources from Al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza named the dead man as 18 year-old Salim Jum'a Hamidi from the village of Az-Zawaydeh in the central Gaza Strip.
Local sources in the Gaza Strip believe he was attempting to cross the border into Israel to look for work, and maintain that he was a civilian.
Israeli troops have shot dead an unarmed Palestinian man in the Gaza Strip, marking the first fatality there since a truce between Israel and Palestinian armed groups took effect three weeks ago.So now we know an 18-year old member of a recognized terror group attempted to infiltrate Israel, and Israel stopped him after warning him. The only truce violation here is from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades who seem to have cynically used the young man as live bait to force an Israeli reaction. It is not a breach of the truce for Israel to kill someone who is attempting to break into Israel, apparently for violent purposes, at 3 AM.
"At around 3 o'clock an army force identified a suspicious person crossing the fence from Gaza into Israel near Kissufim," an Israeli army spokesman said on Thursday.
"The force called on him to stop and fired warning shots but he did not stop and the soldiers fired at him and killed him. When they approached his body they saw he was unarmed," the spokesman said.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, which is linked to the Fatah party of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, said the man was one of its members.
Muawiya Hassanin, head of Gaza's emergency services, said the man was Salim Jumaa al-Hamedi, aged 18.
Thursday, July 10, 2008Elder of ZiyonRichard Landes
Thursday, July 10, 2008Elder of Ziyonself-deathA Palestinian health official said two Palestinians have been killed Thursday in the collapse of a smuggling tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt border.Isn't it strange that while Hamas brags that it is still smuggling weapons and explosives into Gaza, every specific tunnel mentioned in the Western press is supposedly only for food or fuel?
Health Ministry official Moawiya Hassanain said that five people were pulled out of the tunnel alive.
Local residents say the tunnel was used for smuggling drugs and fuel into Gaza.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008Elder of ZiyonQ: Another very hot topic around town is the Jordan Festival and the fact that a company called PUBLICIS is organizing the event. Some are saying that PUBLICIS has close ties with Israel. The minister of tourism and antiquities has denied that. Many are still calling for a boycott. It is important that we hear directly from you what the truth is.This was a good answer, but it reveals a bit more than Abdullah intended.
A: I recently discussed this issue with the prime minister; PUBLICIS is not the company that is organizing the Jordan Festival. It is another company called Visiteurs Du Soir.
Today, Arab artists are contemplating canceling their performances and Arab tourists who were planning on visiting Jordan are canceling their trips. The government is now wasting its valuable time and resources trying to do damage control. All this because some so-called journalists are too careless and incompetent to do their basic work; it is shameful. This is a case study on how to shoot yourself in the foot, on how to be irresponsible, on how to do a massive disservice to your country and your people and on how to stop our development. Indeed, our worst enemies lie within. Should Jordan's future be held hostage to rumors and gossip? And should false information be the reference for our Jordanian press? Should we remain silent until the truth becomes the victim of irresponsible journalism?
Let us assume for a moment that it is in fact PUBLICIS that is helping to organize the event. In fact, I cannot think of a major company that does not do business with Israel. If all these companies are off-limits then we are in deep trouble. For example, Intel whose chips power 80 per cent of computers around the world has billions of dollars of investments in Israel; its closest competitor AMD also has large investments in Israel. Does that mean we should throw our computers away? This is nonsense. If we follow this line of thought, then we will be doing the best service to Israel. All it has to do is use the best technology and best talent in the world and automatically it would be off-limits to us.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008Elder of ZiyonPrime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev told Israel National News Saturday night, "The understandings with the Egyptians specifically state that there will be no hostile fire from any group into Israel, and there will be an end to the arms smuggling and the arms buildup.June 24:
"Anyone who says otherwise is either unfamiliar with the understandings or deliberately trying to undermine them," he said.
"This is a blatant violation of the calm, and we will weigh options," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said after the rockets struck.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday warned that his country will make forceful response if Palestinian militants continue to violate the Gaza Strip ceasefire.Israel has shown some patience with the ceasefire violations, while this should not be perceived as weakness, local daily Yedioth Ahronoth quoted him as saying at a conference.
"Should the lull not be maintained, we will respond with full force," he was quoted as saying. "Nobody will shy away from the need to retaliate harshly."
July 8:Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said recently that a truce "cannot be enforced in full immediately, and therefore Israel has and will show patience; but that patience should not be misconstrued as weakness. If the ceasefire is violated, we will know how to react."
Wednesday, July 09, 2008Elder of Ziyon
Tuesday, July 08, 2008Elder of Ziyon"Islam will defeat terrorism" was the title of an international conference that organised in Moscow last week by the “Fund for Support of Islamic Culture, Science and Education”.Whew, that's a relief. Let's look at the details:
The final statement of the conference, issued at the end of two days of intensive, but cordial, deliberations by participants representing Islamic cultural and interfaith institutions and organisations from all over the world, affirmed the need to emphasise the sanctity of all people’s dignity, their life and their property, warning that any violation of these rights constitutes a grave religious sin, as well as a heinous human crime.Translated into terms the Western audience might understand:
The statement confirmed other significant principles, such as: 1) “peace and justice are basic standards for governing relations between individuals and societies, and war according to Islam is a state dictated only by the occurrence of aggression or injustice, and should cease with the disappearance of such causes”;This means that the definition of "justice" and "injustice" is purely Islamic, and Islam will refuse to accept anyone else's definitions. Again, the result can easily be the support of what any sane person would call terrorism. The word "justice" is the most-used keyword against everything Israel does, because all actions are viewed through a lens that cannot accept - on an ideological level - the existence of a Jewish state on what is perceived as Islamic lands. Israel's very existence, in Islamic terms, is pure "injustice." It is not only a short journey from there to terror against Israeli civilians - it is a logical next step.
2) “Islam is a religion of life, peace, healthy environment, development and coexistence amongst all people”;As we have seen in the past, Islamic conceptions of "coexistence" is usually "Islam will dominate, dhimmi religions will be tolerated as second class, infidels will be erased from the planet."
3) Islam does, in clear and absolute terms, reject and condemn terrorism, those who finance and support it and those who tend to exploit its horrifying consequences for their purposes and interests.And as the article goes on to say:
In fact, many participants’ statements rightly included condemnation of terror, as well as virtuous calls for eliminating such evil from our world. They described terror as the pestilence of the time or as a barbaric human epidemic. But most were referring to terror as an abstract phenomenon, with the ambiguity allowing unrestricted opportunity for anyone to apply the condemnation to his own “terrorist enemies”.Unfortunately, the conference attendees' final statements could be used exactly for such justification.But defining terrorism has never been an easy matter, and therefore it would be unrealistic to expect the Moscow meeting to accomplish what others for decades have failed to achieve. And despite the vagueness, the underlying objective was to distance a modern version of Islam not only from terror, but also from providing advocates of violence and terror with religious justification for their evil actions.
Until Muslims realize the inherent contradictions between their stated stand against terror and the details that can be used to justify it, they will continue to be rightly blamed for not doing enough to fight true terror from a purely Islamic ideological/religious perspective.
OBL's justifications for his fatwa against the United States that led to 9/11 fit exactly into the statements that came out of this conference that supposedly preaches moderation. He felt that since US troops were on sacred Saudi territory and that the US was not treating Muslims with proper dignity.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008Elder of ZiyonIn a dispatch posted at 6:55pm Baghdad time Saturday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that 55 "Israeli" companies were now working in Iraq under assumed names.So the Mossad is in the banking industry and those wily Jews are buying sacred Arab land, which means (in Arabspeak) that they are stealing it.
Yaqen reported that the Zionist firms operate in a variety of fields, including infrastructure and marketing. The Zionist Mossad secret police agency had established the Kurdish Lending Bank with its headquarters in as-Sulaymaniyah in the US-founded Kurdish separatist enclave in northern Iraq.
The report indicated that the Kurdish Lending Bank had a secret mission of purchasing vast tracts of agricultural land, oil fields, and residential areas in the vicinity of the cities of al-Mawsil and Kirkuk, both oil-rich cities in northern Iraq. The massive land purchases facilitate the effort by the US-backed Kurdish separatist Peshmergah militia to expel Arab and Turkoman residents of northern Iraq so that the oil-rich area can be annexed to the Kurdish separatist state under US and Zionist hegemony.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008Elder of ZiyonA news website in Saudi Arabia reported this week that “angry reactions hit the Saudi streets at the new extra charge under the name the Sept. 11 Security Charge” being imposed by British Midland International (BMI) on Saudi tourists traveling to London.Isn't it interesting that all of British Midland's customers worldwide saw the surcharge, but only the Saudis assumed that it was directed at them alone?
“This is downright humiliation as the increase in the price of air tickets is only imposed on Saudi citizens,” the website quoted a number of Saudis as saying. It added that the move “has serious implications and that it destroys all the roads being built to maintain links with these people after 9/11.”
The website, sabq.com, said that some observers in the Kingdom believed that the charge might have been imposed for reasons other than those announced, namely to counter the steady increase in oil prices. “If this is the reason, it is also meant to punish Saudis since Saudi Arabia is the largest oil exporting country.”
Robert Lickley, commercial development manager for BMI in Saudi Arabia, explained to Arab News yesterday the exact cause of the problem. It too involved a website — this time BMI’s own booking page. “It is a requirement by law that notification of a 9/11 surcharge is put on the ticket of every Internet booking made for flights originating from the United States,” he said, adding that in updating their website, the information concerning the 9/11 surcharge had been carried across to the BMI site that included information and booking forms for the rest of the airline’s network.
“It was a simple clerical error, and when we discovered it, we corrected it immediately,” Lickley said. “However, the error was online for sufficient time that a number of observant Saudis saw it.”
What they were unaware of was that the 9/11 surcharge information is on every Internet ticket for every airline flight originating in the US, he said.
“There are absolutely no special surcharges for flights to or from Saudi Arabia,” Lickley said.
Security surcharges have been a fact of life on all airlines and therefore on ticket prices for several years. They are not specific to any group or nation and help meet the cost of tightened security for airlines since 9/11.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008Elder of ZiyonOn the first day of class at a new kosher cooking school in Brooklyn, 22-year-old Erica Zimmerman carefully slices raw potatoes into a stainless steel bowl.
Zimmerman, a student at New York University, says she’s always been interested in cooking, but as an observant Jew only wanted a kosher school. Why learn to cook food she'd never be able to eat?
That limited her options.
“The only kosher cooking school is in Israel, and I can’t take off a year to go,” she says. “Then I heard about this new school on Facebook, and I jumped at the opportunity.”
On Monday, the Center for Kosher Culinary Arts opened in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Flatbush.
The six-week, $4,500 intensive course, run in cooperation with the continuing education department of Kingsborough Community College, is the only professional kosher cooking school in North America.
According to director Jesse Blondel and founder Elka Pinson, it is the only one in the world besides the Jerusalem Culinary Institute, a 5-year-old school in Israel.
Pinson, whose husband runs a housewares store on Coney Island Avenue, the main shopping street in the neighborhood, has been dreaming of establishing such a school for years. Last year she took over the top floor of the shop and advertised for a chef/teacher on craigslist.
Blondel, a 26-year-old Brooklyn native, responded. The kitchen manager at the Culinary Center of New York, he was seeking a new position. Organizing and directing a new cooking school seemed just the ticket.
“I realized there isn’t any other kosher cooking school, I’m Jewish, and I grew up not far from here,” he says.
Pinson and Blondel opened negotiations with Kingsborough, and ironed out the details in May. That left little more than a month to set up the room, build the curriculum and advertise for students.
Thirteen people showed up this week for class. On the first day, they sit around a large steel table intently watching chef Mark D’Alessandro, the school’s main teacher, demonstrate the finer techniques of chopping vegetables.
Holding up half an onion, D'Alessandro shows how to place it on the cutting board and dice it finely by making several horizontal slices before chopping vertically with his chef’s knife.
“There’s no machine that can do that for you?” one student asks anxiously.
D’Alessandro looks at her balefully.
“That’s the second time my heart has been broken,” he says to muffled laughter.
All of the students keep kosher to one degree or another. The class is about evenly split by gender, and range from a 16-year-old boy to a grandmother in her 60s.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008Elder of Ziyon
Tuesday, July 08, 2008Elder of Ziyon
A Syrian sheikh just issued a fatwa against T-shirts that show pictures of the stars of the phenomenally popular TV show "Noor."
Buy EoZ's book, PROTOCOLS: EXPOSING MODERN ANTISEMITISM
