Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Open thread!

Lots of cool comments lately, but no obvious place to put them. Let's put them here!

To start things off, commenter Brad points to a State Department blog where they ask for ideas on how to have Israelis and Palestinian (Arab)s reach an agreement.

Here is also a good place for people to post their bitter partisan post-election bashing.

Pre-pubescent abayas in Saudi Arabia

Normally, Islam asks women to cover themselves when they reach puberty.

But who says that Muslims don't innovate in sharia?

In the southern province of Asir, school regulations stipulate that pre-pubescent girls should dress in such a way that no part of their body, including head and face, is visible.

A child who dares to violate the new dress code faces severe punishment, including a public scolding and deductions from her marks.

This has put parents in a real dilemma. On the one hand, this new dress code is being imposed; on the other, they find it difficult to convince their young daughters that it is necessary for them to be completely veiled.

In addition, the parents have not been able to convince school authorities that little girls are not required to dress as adult women. Though Islam has strict dress regulations for women, they are only applied after girls reach puberty.

Must be that some Asir male teachers were starting to get turned on at the sight of eight year old girls. So they are simply "protecting" them, out of immense honor and respect.

Gaza taking all of Egypt's fuel

Palestine Press Agency reports (autotranslated):

The Egyptian cities near the border with the Gaza Strip are suffering through a severe fuel crisis, because of increased smuggling of gasoline and diesel to Gaza through tunnels stretching across the border, especially after the closure of Gaza's crossings with Israel since the beginning of this week.

There has been increased smuggling of fuel from the cities of El Arish and Rafah and Sheikh near the northern coast of the Strip in special containers, where they are transferred to Gaza through the tunnels to be sold exorbitant prices. This led to the disappearance of gasoline and diesel at fuel stations in the northern Sinai.

It is like the city of Arish residents have to stand for hours in front of gas stations in order to obtain only some of liters, which affected the traffic on the streets, leading to the disappearance of taxis and small buses transport.

The North Sinai Governorate authorities are trying hard to control the smuggling of fuel to Gaza. Governor Major General Mohammed Shusha has ordered the confiscation of any quantities of petrol and diesel packaged and ready for smuggling, dealing with the prohibition of fuel stations to sell fuel in such containers.

Your taxes paying for terrorist life insurance

From Ma'an:

he Palestinian foundation for sponsoring families of “martyrs” and wounded will offer the so-called presidential “noble grant” to 500 families whose members were killed during the Al-Aqsa Intifada (uprising), says Intisar Al-Wazir, the chair of the foundation.

The Director General of the foundation, Khalid Al-Jabareen explained that the payments will affect families of those killed in 2001 and 2002 and have not received that “noble grant” yet. Efforts will continue to pay that grant to all families who have not received it yet. Payment, according to Al-Jabareen will start next week.

The “noble grant” was approved by late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat. The grant is worth Six thousand Israeli Shekels, or 1,500 US dollars.

Of course, this "noble" money goes to pay for families of suicide bombers.

Just like the money Saddam Hussien used to pay to Palestinian Arab terrorists.

And where exactly does the PA get these funds to disburse to terror families? Do you even have to ask?

Abbas pledges to follow the path of terrorism

From YNet:

"The Palestinian leadership will continue to follow Yasser Arafat's path until a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital is established," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday during a memorial service marking the fourth anniversary of the iconic Palestinian leader's death.

During the memorial, held at Abbas' Mukataa compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the Palestinian president said, "The path of the shahids - Arafat, George Habash (founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) and (assassinated Hamas spiritual leader) Sheikh Ahmed Yassin - is the path that we cherish; it is aimed at upholding the Palestinians' nationalist and sovereign resolutions."

What great heroes this moderate voice for peace has!

Then again, what do you expect?

This round goes to Hamas

For over four months, Israel managed to maintain a "calm" of sorts with Gaza, with the tacit agreement that there will be no attacks from either side. Although in many ways the original agreement was ignored by Hamas - they continued to smuggle in weapons, they continued to build a huge underground terror infrastructure with the cement Israel allowed in under the agreement, and Gilad Shalit turned from an important part of the agreement to someone completely peripheral - Israel did benefit by having residents of Sderot and other Negev communities being able to live relatively normal lives.

There were violations of the calm by Hamas and other Gaza terror groups, but Israel consistently applied a single rule: for every rocket or mortar shot, Israel would shut off the border for at least a day. The response was immediate and, most importantly, consistent. Hamas arrested Islamic Jihad rocket cells and worked to keep at least part of the deal.

Now, Israel is starting to allow supplies to go into Gaza even while under attack.

Bowing to the ever-present international pressure, where moral midgets like the UNHCR's John Ging will continue to insist that Israel open its borders at the very moment that Qassams are falling on Israeli communities, Israel is poised to resume fuel shipments - despite the fact that Hamas is well positioned to get all the fuel it needs from the elaborate network of tunnels under Rafah that provides cooking oil and gasoline at half the price of Israeli fuel.

Today, Hamas tried to send four well-armed terrorists into Israel - but Israel has let them change the rules of the game where such attacks are going to be considered normal, while Israel continues to provide supplies to an entity determined to destroy it.

The status quo has changed and it was not a change in Israel's favor.

THE place for Jewish singles in Dubai!

A friend of mine just told me he is speaking at an upcoming conference in Dubai, and he said that this is the first time he will ever remove his yarmulka for a talk.

I imagine that this is a good move, given that Dubai's Al-Arabiyah TV is advocating the molestation of Israeli Jewish women, but even so I was curious as to how Jews in general do in that booming, multicultural city.

Imagine my surprise when I saw a place for Dubai singles to look for Jewish partners!

Scrappleface on Arafat in 2004

Four years ago I copied this funny piece from Scrappleface. Alas, the link to the original is gone:

Coroner: Arafat Died of Tilex Poisoning

(2004-11-11) -- The coroner for the Palestinian Authority today announced that former Chairman Yassir Arafat died from 'acute Tilex poisoning,' and blamed the CIA and Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service.

'Infidel agents infiltrated Chairman Arafat's personal quarters and sprayed his bathtub with Tilex, a deadly toxin to certain lifeforms,' said an unnamed spokesman for the coroner. 'We believe the bathtub was poisoned up to two years ago, but Chairman Arafat's exposure came only recently, due to his personal hygiene schedule.'

The coroner said his report 'ensures Mr. Arafat's status as a martyr, which helps to overcome his shameful legacy as the man who signed a peace accord with Israel.'

Happy Death-day, Arafat!

Today is the fourth anniversary of the death of the Egyptian-born lifelong terrorist known as Yasir Arafat.

Palestinian Arabs are mourning the sickening mass murderer. Firas Press has no fewer that 12 articles commemorating his overdue passing.

For a more honest and annotated history of this low-life syphilitic scum, see Honest Reporting's biography.

Hamas aide claims talks with Obama's advisors

I do not have any corroboration for this story, but the Palestine Press Agency is quoting Al Hayat of London as saying that a Hamas aide held talks with Obama's team during the presidential campaign:

Yusuf Ahmed Haniyeh, adviser in the Hamas government, claimed that there was a secret meeting between the leaders of Hamas and advisors to U.S. President-elect Barack Obama in the Gaza Strip.

Yusuf said in an interview broadcast on «London al-Hayat» the "contacts between us and some of his advisers (Obama) came via the Internet and we met some of them in Gaza, but we were cautioned not make any comments about this meeting so as not to negatively affect the electoral campaign, or have the meetings exploited by his Republican rival," John McCain.

He pointed out that "there is still a continuing relationship with Obama advisors," pointing out that he had enjoyed with «fellowship and friendship relationship» with each other when he was resident in the United States. He said that Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh would send a congratulatory message on the occasion of the Obama's victory in the elections.

One of Obama's advisors did meet with Hamas in what he said was as a member of a think tank and having nothing to do with Obama, and he got (temporarily) fired by the Obama team last May for those contacts.

I never heard the name Yusuf Ahmed Haniyeh before and cannot find the original Al Hayat story, so this should be taken a little skeptically. Such a lie could certainly be politically expedient for Hamas.

UPDATE: I misunderstood the autotranslation; the name of the aide is Ahmad Yousef (YNet has the story now.)

Al-Arabiya suggests all Israeli women deserve to be raped

A female Egyptian lawyer argues, on Al-Arabiya TV, that Arab men should sexually harass Israeli women, and suggests that all Israeli women deserve to be raped. From MEMRI, h/t Atlas):

Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian lawyer Nagla Al-Imam, which aired on Al-Arabiya TV on October 31, 2008.

Interviewer: Egyptian lawyer Nagla Al-Imam has proposed that young Arab men should sexually harass Israeli girls wherever they may be and using any possible method, as a new means in the resistance against Israel.

[...]

Interviewer: We have with us the lawyer Nagla Al-Imam from Cairo. Welcome. What is the purpose of this proposal of yours?

Nagla Al-Imam: This is a form of resistance. In my opinion, they are fair game for all Arabs, and there is nothing wrong with...

Interviewer: On what grounds?

Nagla Al-Imam: First of all, they violate our rights, and they "rape" the land. Few things are as grave as the rape of land. In my view, this is a new form of resistance.

Interviewer: As a lawyer, don't you think this might expose Arab youth to punishment for violating laws against sexual harassment?

Nagla Al-Imam: Most Arab countries... With the exception of three or four Arab countries, which I don’t think allow Israeli women to enter anyway, most Arab countries do not have sexual harassment laws. Therefore, if [Arab women] are fair game for Arab men, there is nothing wrong with Israeli women being fair game as well.

Interviewer: Does this also include rape?

Nagla Al-Imam: No. Sexual harassment... In my view, the [Israeli women] do not have any right to respond. The resistance fighters would not initiate such a thing, because their moral values are much loftier than that. However if such a thing did happen to them, the [Israeli women] have no right to make any demands, because this would put us on equal terms – leave the land so we won't rape you. These two things are equal.

[...]

I don’t want young Arab men to be interrogated. I want these Zionist girls with Israeli citizenship to be expelled from our Arab countries. This is a form of resistance, and a way of rejecting their presence.

So this Egyptian woman is pretty much telling her countrymen and fellow Arabs to rape any visiting Israeli women.

Just to emphasize: this is an opinion that was aired on the Al-Arabiya channel, based out of "moderate" Dubai, showing the opinion of a lawyer from "moderate" Egypt, essentially condoning the rape of Israeli women.

And they call Jews savages!

Hamas' latest blackout stunt

Since the tahdiya agreement in June, every violation of the "calm" has resulted in Israel stopping food and fuel delivery to Gaza for a day or so.

The daily rocket barrage that started last week likewise resulted in Israel's stopping fuel deliveries since they started, for six days now.

Hamas is using this opportunity to stage blackouts in Gaza, just like they did last year. They claim that they suffer from a shortage of industrial diesel to run their Gaza City power plant. Just like last time, they already staged a candlelight protest to coincide with their first night of sporadic outages!

What they don't say is that 75% of Gaza's electricity is provided by Israel and Egypt directly and that this supply has not been interrupted.

What they are also not saying is that the many tunnels under Rafah now supply more fuel to Gaza than Israel did before the latest attacks - 150,000 liters a day, compared to the 120,000 that Israel was providing.

Not only that, but the Egyptian diesel is cheaper than Israel's, allowing Gazans to purchase fuel at half the price that Israelis pay! Hamas has already informed Israel that they will not need diesel for their fleet of cars, as they are getting that from Egypt.

Even so, Israel is considering resuming shipments of fuel while rockets continue to be shot at Israel. Thankfully, today it decided not to.

While it is probably true that the Egyptian diesel is not suitable for Gaza's power plant, almost certainly Hamas could get its hands on proper industrial diesel to keep the plant going, but it prefers to stage blackouts to gain world sympathy - and cause its citizens to suffer.

Gaza freak, keffiyeh chic

Some of the Hamas-friendly freaks who arrived on the latest Free Gaza boat, members of various world parliaments, decided that terror-chic clothing were de rigueur:

Saudi marries off 12-year old over mother's objections

A new twist in Saudi child abuse:

A Saudi mother filed a complaint with the Jizan police against her ex-husband for marrying off their 12-year-old daughter without the mother’s knowledge.
The woman who has the custody of her daughter claims that her child is too young to get married and the father did not inform her of his plans to marry the girl.
Maj. Ahmed Al-Wada’ani, official spokesman for Jizan police, told Arab News that after the woman filed the complaint police brought in the girl’s father for questioning.
“The man simply asked his daughter whether she wanted to get married to a certain person or not, and he claims that she completely approved her marriage,” said Al-Wada’ani. However, the case is being transferred to the Shariah court for a decision.

Legal custody clearly is meaningless when it goes up against sharia law that holds women in such high esteem.

Why exactly are they bulletproof again?

Ma'an has an ominous-sounding article about Rachel's Tomb:

Dozens of armored buses brought hundreds of ultra-orthodox Jewish worshippers to pray at Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem on Saturday and Sunday evenings.

Tour buses lined the streets on the western side of the seperation wall, and roads were blocked off from Tantur to the Beit Jala (Gilo) checkpoint as hundreds of worshipers in black coats and hats gathered in the area.

The mass prayer gatherings were organized by the Mosdos Kever Rachel (Rachel's Tomb Institute) around the date believed to be the anniversary of Rachel's death. The official date set by the group is 9 November, but worshipers overwhelmed the area on Saturday evening as well.

The Institute runs a Jewish religious school at the tomb, and funds a daily bullet-proof bus service that brings Jewish worshippers from Jerusalem to the tomb.

The biblical Rachel is revered as one of the four matriarchs of the Jewish people, and Jewish tradition holds that she was buried by her husband Jacob in Bethlehem. The tomb is also a holy site for Muslims and Christians, and the location of the Bilal Ibn Rabah mosque, which is now inaccessible to West Bank Palestinians.

Ma'an doesn't bother to explain that as little as ten years ago the buses that went to Bethlehem weren't bulletproof. In fact, ordinary cars could travel there and people could even walk there!

What could possibly have happened that would cause these threatening, black-clad ultra-religious fanatical Jews to be forced to use armored buses to travel to the third holiest site in Judaism?

And is there any Jewish holy place that Muslims don't also claim as their own?

It's a real mystery....