Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Four years

Four years, 4668 published posts, 317,000 visitors, 390,000 page loads, 5,441 comments.

Blogging is certainly an interesting pastime. As readership goes up, my sense of responsibility increases as well, leading - mostly - to less and less sleep.

The blog has changed over the years, and if there is any real pattern I think it is that I dislike doing what other bloggers are doing. More than anything I want to be original, to find stories that others miss or to find an angle on a story that others might have overlooked. I don't expect people to only read this blog; there are plenty of other excellent Zionist blogs that cover many other topics and I encourage everyone to read as many as they can. I will ignore some good stories because I see that they have been covered very well elsewhere, so I hope you are also reading elsewhere.

My major frustration has been the inability for many of my newsworthy "scoops" to ever make it to the media. I am not a natural at self-promotion and I need to get into the habit of sending some of my postings to superstar bloggers or to cultivate contacts in the MSM. Unfortunately, even after four years I cannot figure out which posts would strike a chord and become very popular and which will drop unnoticed.

I would like to thank those bloggers who link to me. To me, there is no greater compliment than to know that I am a resource that other bloggers use, including the foreign-language bloggers who spend the time translating some of my posts.

Thank you all for visiting, especially the regulars, both the commenters and the lurkers. I cannot say how gratifying it is to know that apparently a few hundred people make a daily habit out of reading what I have to say.

I hope I can keep you interested.

Women pictured on pharmaceuticals: Haraam!

The Saudi Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice has a website, so we can see every day what they consider newly forbidden for all Saudi citizens.

Today's evil? It appears that some pharmaceutical companies try to make their packaging attractive, and some will put pictures of people on the packages. Of course there is nothing wrong with that, as long as the people pictures aren't - shhh! - women.

Eastern Conference [of the Muttawa?] demanded that the Ministry of Health needs to blur the images of Saudi girls on packages of medicines in circulation in the Saudi markets, according to an order issued by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

Issued by the Abdullah Al-Qahtani, resulting Assistant Secretary General for Economic Affairs in the Eastern Conference, addressed to the Saudi Minister of Health, the need to develop [means to cover up] outrageous photos on packages of medicine.

Attributing the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice of Saudi Chambers of resolution after noting the spread of the phenomenon of using pictures of girls in the pharmaceutical packaging principles that degrades the image of women of their dignity, pointing out that this matter is contrary to the provisions of the Standing Committee for Scientific Research and Ifta Saudi Arabia in the sixth paragraph of the Committee Legality of the controls.

He says «that the presentation of semi-nude pictures of women in the form of drug posters is an affront to women, not to mention it being a taboo with dignity, and participates in the men living, why make cheap commodity is traded and become designed this way, legitimate and consistent with our tradition to respect the feelings of people frequent and obscure Photo against morality and religion ».
The ads prompted major global pharmaceutical companies infuriated the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which called urgently to take the necessary precautions, and tighten control over the medical products offering semi-nude pictures of girls in indecent assault and public morals.

It sounds like they may be also upset over ads for drugs, not just packaging.

Those Jordanian "refugees"

Reuters decided to send this picture out over the wires:

A young Palestinian refugee walks near her school wall at al-Baqaa Refugees camp, outside of Amman, May 15, 2008. The graffiti reads 'I will not stay as a refugee forever'.(Muhammad Hamed/Reuters)

We have discussed many times in the past how the definition of "refugee" is completely different for Palestinian Arabs than for any other group in the world, and how UNRWA operationally defines the descendants of Palestinian Arab refugees to be refugees themselves forever. This misuse of the word is so ingrained that wire services routinely refer to anyone with Palestinian Arab ancestry as "refugees."

What about American or Canadian citizens of PalArab origin? Are they "refugees" too? Of course not, because they have a nationality. Everyone recognizes inherently that those who gain citizenship in another country are no longer refugees - they are immigrants. (UNRWA's definition is operational, purely for the purpose of deciding who it should help; the rest of the world adapted that as a real definition for Palestinian Arabs alone.)

Jordan gave citizenship status to Palestinian Arab refugees when Jordan annexed the West Bank. According to this 1997 study, 95% of the Palestinian "refugees and displaced" who live in Jordan today are Jordanian citizens. Some 13% of Jordanian "Palestinian refugees" still live in "refugee camps" even though they don't have to - unlike those in Lebanon, Jordanian PalArabs have every right to move to real houses or apartments elsewhere in Jordan. They choose not to leave because they are getting free housing, schooling and medical care from UNRWA. The less-lazy majority got jobs, moved out of the camps, bought houses and became more self-sufficient.

So it is more than a bit ironic that some young Palestinian Arab graffiti artist who lives in a "refugee" camp, who is not a real refugee by any reasonable definition, and who could choose to leave the camp and raise a family in honor if he would just decide to get a job, would say that he "will not stay as a refugee forever." He in fact chooses to be considered a "refugee" and to live off the largesse of the UN - and to bitterly blame the rest of the world for his choice.

Nokia endorses Islam

From Trade Arabia (the press release is on a number of other sites as well):

Nokia said it has launched of a range of mobile applications and content for the holy month of Ramadan.
It said the new solutions are free and come preloaded in select Nokia devices or as downloadable applications.

’The overwhelming response and feedback that we received from last year’s offering allowed us to improve and expand this year’s application, making it a complete solution that gives Nokia users a single and easy access to many of the cherished experiences that Muslims like to be close to during the Holy Month,’ said Chris Braam, vice president, sales, Nokia Middle East and North Africa.

The 2008 Ramadan offering from Nokia includes the Holy Quran, which allows users to read, search, bookmark and listen to Quran recitation.

Other elements include Emsakya, Ramadaniat and Mozzaker.

Developed by ASGATech, the only Forum Nokia Premium Partner in the Middle East, all content of the Ramadan applications has been reviewed and approved by Al Azhar Al Shareef.

Building on Nokia’s existing Maps platform, the new mobile services also feature locations of major mosques in KSA, UAE, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, and Pakistan, which can be navigated to using the Nokia Maps service.

’As the number one mobile device company in the world, we are now expanding into offering services and software that empower and enable Nokia device owners to fully realise the benefits of mobility, and the Ramadan applications come as part of this strategy.

’In 2007, 14 per cent of Nokia’s global net sales came from the Middle East and Africa, so this is a region that is greatly important to us and we have committed to ensuring that we are tailoring solutions that meet the local needs,’ added Braam.

Current users of the [supported devices] will be able to download the Ramadan applications, content and services, regardless of their location, through www.nokia.com/ramadan, which is available in English, Arabic and French.

The English Nokia Ramadan site is here.

This is not a third party Islamic site offering software for phones. This is Nokia specifically pushing a religion, advertising downloads of the Quran including "Audio Narrated by Sheikh Ali Al Hudhaify."

As far as I know, Nokia doesn't offer anything similar for Christians or Buddhists (although third parties do.) This is simply a multinational company choosing to endorse a single religion.

Jordanian contacts with Hamas continue during the marriage of Khaled Meshaal's son in Damascus.

Islamic Jihad released photos of their use of the "calm".

Egypt found another cache of ammunition and explosives in the Sinai to be smuggled into Gaza.

Egypt denied reports that Israel is opening up the Kerem Shalom crossing on Sunday.

Memorization versus understanding (expanded)

A ten year old boy, son of one of the terrorists who used the Church of the Nativity as a place to shoot from (as well as a toilet), has memorized the entire Quran in two months during summer camp.

While it is undeniably impressive, it is striking that Islam emphasizes the mindless memorization of the Quran while Christians and Jews emphasize study and understanding of their religious texts. To other religions, debate by ordinary people about the interpretation of a passage is praiseworthy; to Islam, it is seen as a threat.

Compare Quran memorization with Israel's annual International Bible Contest (not the best Wiki article...) The questions in the Bible contest are meant to test understanding, not mere memorization.

While Islam has taken a lot of its philosophy from Talmudic-era Judaism, here is one place where they crucially differ. The Talmud not only contains passionate discussions of how to interpret various Biblical verses; it also shows that these sorts of arguments are crucial for a belief system to grow and adapt.

This fundamental difference between Judaism and Islam can be seen in the Jewish concept of "chiddush." A chiddush is a novel interpretation or insight into source materials, consistent with basic principals, that had (seemingly) not been thought of before. The very word "chiddush" has the same root as "new." A student or rabbi is applauded for coming up with daring chiddushim.

The Muslim world does not seem to have anything analogous. The Muslims not only canonize the Quran but they shut the door for any new interpretations. Rather than emphasizing creativity and interpretation, Islam emphasizes rote and memorization.

Many of the problems the Western world faces from the Muslim world today can be traced to this mindset. Not only does Islam resist interpretation (which is necessary for modernization) but it set up a situation where those who even try to do so are ostracized or worse. Reform becomes impossible as the reformers are, almost by definition, deserving of death.

A photographic memory is a useful tool but it does not indicate wisdom. To praise memorization for its own sake is the same as trying to create a generation of unthinking robots. As the child himself said:

Asked how he feels about sitting inside and learning the Qu'ran while others are outside playing, he answered "I prefer learning the words of God instead of playing in the parks."

It isn't an either-or proposition, unless one has a peculiarly sick upbringing.

UPDATE: Reader L. King points out: "Islam does have a tradition called "itjihad" which appears to serve this role. One might be critical that this tradition has atrophied in general use but it is not entirely absent."

And fellow blogger Daled Amos adds a lot, with the upshot being that not only do Muslims memorize by rote but that most don't even understand what they are saying because essentially no one speaks classical Arabic nowadays. (I did just read about a parent who decided to speak to his son only in classical Arabic.) This is as opposed to modern Israel - while modern Hebrew is different from biblical Hebrew, modern Israelis can read the Dead Sea Scrolls today (those written in ktav Ashurit) and understand it.

Zionist Muslim editor on trial in Bangladesh

I have not yet blogged about the trial of Shoaib Choudhury, the pro-Israel editor of The Weekly Blitz, whose Zionist views may get him executed.

Details of the trial have not been forthcoming out of Bangladesh but I encourage you to read this article that nicely summarizes his precarious situation. Excerpts:

There lives in Dhaka one of the elusive souls for whom most of the world, or at least most Western politicians, have been searching: a true Islam-loving moderate Muslim who believes in brotherhood among all religions and respect for all nations by all nations. Unfortunately, it is possible that this priceless and endangered species may soon become extinct. At least since September 11, 2001, world and communal leaders have been touting the virtues of the "moderate Muslims." The express or implicit message is always that Islam has been hijacked by aberrant radicals but if we look to, nurture and promote the moderate Muslims, all will be well with the world. I've found a moderate Muslim, one who loves his religion and sincerely believes and steadfastly writes about his dreams for respect and understanding amongst all the great religions of the world. His name is Sallah Udin Shoaib Choudhury. He may well be executed for those beliefs soon. This Bangladeshi Muslim journalist dares to defy the party line of hatred towards Israel and contempt for all religions other than Islam. Not only does he write about the need for communication and understanding among Muslims, Christians and Jews in his newspaper The Weekly Blitz, but he dared to accept an invitation to attend and speak at a writers' conference in Israel. The topic of the conference was "Education Towards a Culture of Peace." On November 29, 2003, as he was about to board the plane in Dhaka on his way to that conference, Shoaib was dragged from the tarmac and arrested. His crime? He violated Bangladesh's Passport Act which forbids citizens from visiting countries such as Israel, with which it has no diplomatic relations. That law typically carries a fine of $8. What he found out the next day, however, when the magistrate announced it in court, was that he was accused of being a "spy for Israel."

...On September 18, 2006, the Bangladesh government ordered Shoaib to stand trial for sedition. The charges, as read to Shoaib by Judge Md. Momin Ullah on November 13, 2006, informed him that he "made offensive comments on [the] Muslim world, Islam and Muslims in Bangladesh and commented about the existence of al Qaeda and other Islamist militant groups, by which you have tarnished the image of Bangladesh in the outside world." Such sedition is punishable by death.

Finally, after years of delay coupled with repeated government-backed episodes of intimidation, brutal attacks and the repeated ransacking of his newspaper's offices, the case against Shoaib Choudhury began on August 6, 2008.

...for a glimpse into the rarified soul of Shoaib Choudhury, hear what I heard when he answered two very obvious questions he fields wherever he goes.

The first question is -- why he doesn't seek political asylum and get out of Bangladesh as soon as possible? His answer -- I heard it with my own ears -- is that if he were to leave, what kind of message would that send to his many silent supporters who want him to succeed, who want greater freedom and broader understanding, but who fear speaking out themselves. He says he won't abandon those people and leave them without any hope.

The second question I not only heard with my own ears, but felt right through my heart. When asked whether he was afraid that he was going to get killed, he said: "Look, everyone is going to die. The only issue is what you do while you are alive." And what he is doing is trumpeting his message, educating toward a world culture of peace. Imagine a world in which people like this were lionized instead of victimized, if they became world-renowned and lauded instead of being threatened and hounded.

Whether Shoaib Choudhury will be given a forum in which to speak and educate all citizens of his sublime worldview remains a question. The Islamic fundamentalists who, in Shoaib's conception of the universe pervert their religion and use it as a tool to oppress and even murder all those who disagree with their worldview, have imprisoned him, tortured him, threatened his children and threaten to kill him. If they remain steadfast in their position, Shoiab will be silenced forever.

Open thread II

Just in case people feel chatty....

Outraged Saudis spring into action!

Last week I mentioned a report that a delegation of Arab students, as part of a young leadership program sponsored by the US government, went to the Israel embassy for a briefing and had their pictures taken with the Israeli spokesperson.

The Saudi government, outraged, went to the original Yediot Aharonot article and examined the pictures closely. Today it triumphantly announced that none of the students that showed up were Saudi:

Officials, immediately upon receiving the news of the visit acted quickly to check the visiting dignitaries in the picture shown by the Israeli newspaper which published the news.

After careful scrutiny it was shown that there is no one who appeared in the newspaper picture that were Saudis, according to all the files of students studying the United States.

I'm just picturing a bunch of Saudi officials hunched over an Israeli newspaper with a magnifying glass, spending days carefully comparing the pictures there with those of hundreds or thousands of known Saudi students in America to ensure that no holy Saudi hands were dirtied by being shaken by an Israeli.

I wonder if they requested a copy of all the photos from the Israeli embassy to make sure that there weren't some pictures that Yediot didn't publish that might have shown otherwise.

No swimsuits in Kuwaiti Olympic coverage - Zionists next?

The MEMRI blog reports that Kuwait is censoring some Olympics competition because of the way the women dress.

It also mentions two Salafist MPs who were upset not only at the immodest dress but also wanted to make sure that no Israeli athletes pollute pure Kuwaiti airwaves.

The original article states:

The [MP] Al Omeir, who called the Information Ministry to reconsider the policy of transferring Games held in Beijing, pointed out that some sports are in violation of the law, ethics and public taste.

Al Omeir and wondered about the usefulness of the broadcast of such games "exercising clothes are a violation of taste and decency," stressing that "the best way to solve this is not to broadcast some games".

Al Omeir and warned that some sports involving Israel, where they raise the flag, which was raised as Muslims and Arabs reject normalization with the Israeli entity, calling on the TV station to take caution and attention to prevent the broadcast of any games involving Israel "so as not to contribute to promoting the participation of the enemy during which normalization with him ".

Jordan admits its citizens hate Jews

YNet reports that Jordanian authorities have been confiscating Jewish prayer books and tefillin from tourists. The reason given is that this "Jewish paraphernalia" could risk the lives of the tourists.

Jordan insists that this is not anti-semitism, just that it is a prudent move because these objects identify the people as being Jewish and therefore it puts them in danger. Even though Jews would generally pray in private when in Jordan, the Jordanian authorities still believe that this is the best way to ensure the tourists' security.

Of course, this means that religious Jews are effectively banned from travel to Jordan. And Jordan has a number of interesting Biblical and historic sites that appeal to religious Jewish tourists.

What is more interesting, though, is the underlying thinking. Jordan is admitting that the "terrorists" and their sympathizers aren't anti-Israel (after all, plenty of non-religious Israeli tourists visit Jordan) nearly as much as they are, in fact, anti-semitic. The targets aren't Jews, they are religious Jews. (I guess it goes without saying that wearing a kippah in Jordan is putting your life into your own hands, just as it is in most of the West Bank.)

For people who follow the conflict, this unadulterated anti-semitism that Jordan exhibits should not be a surprise. In 2006, a Pew Global Attitudes Survey put Jordan dead last in its question whether its citizens had a favorable attitude towards Jews (only 1% said "yes," 98% said "no.")

It is also notable that Jordan isn't offering to protect the tourists, but rather telling the tourists to either throw away their religion or not bother coming. This is one of the "moderate" Arab countries we hear so much about. The Jew-hatred in Jordan is so accepted as fact that it is not even worth trying to solve the problem.

A humorous example can be seen in this story from 1998, where a Jordanian newspaper claimed that Jews were trying to turn Jordan into a Jewish land; attempting to buy sites near Biblical landmarks and secretly burying Jewish coins and artifacts to be "rediscovered". Of course, patriotic Jordanians were seeing right through those evil Jewish schemes.

Compare to my previous story about how Bahrain is actively seeking Jews to move back into that country, and one can see that Jordan is not simply "anti-Zionist" but actively anti-semitic.

Today's PalArab press

A Fatah member who was tortured in Hamas prisons writes to Firas Press, saying that Hamas torture was even worse than Israel's. "We stood, blindfolded, even during prayers, flogging, humiliation and insults, without pity or mercy, without water or food or medicine, and complained he will get one of us following the strike in the same place him in pain..."

An Arab analysis of why Jordan started talking to Hamas concludes that Jordan wants more influence with the Palestinian Arabs in bringing about a truce between Fatah and Hamas as well as Jordan wanting to influence Hamas to dissuade the Muslim Brotherhood from acting against Jordanian interests. Meanwhile, Hamas is nervous about a Syrian peace treaty with Israel that might force it out of Syria and wants to re-open its office in Amman.

Bahrain's king, in London, called on Jews who left Bahrain to return either as citizens, investors or tourists. Bahrain's Jewish community is tiny but enjoys good relations with Bahrain's Arabs, and Bahrain is the only Gulf country with a synagogue.

A week ago Egypt opened up the Rafah crossing for a VIP - Sheikh Yassin's son. Yesterday, it opened it up for another VIP: Mahmoud Zahhar's son. Meanwhile, there are reports that Gaza still has hundreds of Egyptians who cannot cross Rafah into Egypt.

Mahmoud Zahhar himself rejected any dialogue with Fatah, claiming that Abbas is under the "robe of America" and that any dialogue is useless until Bush, Olmert and Abbas are out of office. (Hamas has previously said that it will not recognize Abbas' presidency after this year, citing the PA's own laws.)

On the "goodwill gesture" front, Israel decided to re-open the Kerem Shalom crossing for the first time in four months after a deadly terror attack there. Also, Israel decided to allow some prisoners with "blood on their hands" to be released. Goodwill gestures on the Palestinian Arab side includes a 16-year old boy with bombs who tried to go through the Huwara checkpoint.

Saudi Vice, episode 19: Sacrilegious sister

The lives of the prestigious members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice are not easy. All day they have to be on the alert, patrolling the streets of Saudi Arabia with an eagle eyes, tuned in the slightest hint of impropriety among the thankful Saudi populace.

But sometimes, the whiff of vice hits too close to home, and the results can be tragic.

In this case, one of our heroes, an upstanding member of the Muttawa, found out a terrible secret that his sister had been keeping from him:

She had converted to Christianity.

The woman, named Fatma Al-Matairi, confided in her brother about her terrible secret, secure in the knowledge that he would be understanding and supportive.

Little did the 26-year old know that her brother, as a member of the Commission, has a much higher moral code than just brotherhood and support. Converting to Christianity is blasphemy, and is punishable by death.

So he killed her.

Now, Saudi Arabia has one less blasphemer, and our hero can sleep well knowing he did the right thing.

UPDATE: It appears that it was her father that was a member of the Muttawa, and he cut out her tongue before burning her to death.

Quotable Quntar

Samir Kuntar, that child-murderer and hero of all Palestinian Arabs and Lebanese, just gave forth some more of his wisdom.

According to Aafaq.org, a relatively liberal Arab website based in Washington, DC, he said "Sadat's assassination was an excellent job and I hope to see more similar assassinations."

Calling for the assassination of Arab leaders may sour those leaders on him a little bit.

Open thread

The comment boards have been active lately but often the topic strays from the original post, so here is a place for people to discuss whatever is on their minds. I will ask my commenters to stick to the topic when commenting on posts, and use open threads otherwise.

Thanks!