Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, November 28, 2008

PalArab press politicizing Mumbai

Ma'an published a condemnation of the Mumbai attacks from its editor, and tries to twist it as if Palestinian Arabs are like the Indians:

Palestinians follow what is happening hour by hour in Mumbai; the results of the bombings, shots fired at tourists, at hotel workers. Palestinians watch with painful understanding the death of innocent people and police officers in a country not their own.

As opposed to the celebrations with which they greet the deaths of innocent people in Israel.

We are sorry for those difficult moments experienced by India.

Regardless who claims the attacks in India, which group has planned and rallied to shake the country’s stability and security, it has become clear that our neighbor Israel will try to turn the tragedy into a case against the Islamic nation.

As a response to reports condemning Islam along with atrocities committed in its name we in Palestine announce our pain and solidarity with the Indian nation and emphasize the following:

First: The Indian nation was and will remain loyal and friendly to Palestinians since the days of Mahatma Gandhi's revolutionary period. The great man’s daughter Indira Gandhi then her son the President Rajiv Gandhi and even to this very moment the Palestinian people have felt the support of India. We will not forget Indian strength as Palestine stands up against Israel.

The generous aid to the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and the many scholarships offered to Palestinian students from India has endeared to us a nation whose history is not so different than our own. Palestine is a nation suffering from a siege, an occupation and constant aggression and we stand alongside India as forces act against the safety of its people.

Secondly: Regardless of who carried out the attacks in Mumbai we as Palestinians announce our condemnation of such an act against our Indian friends.

Thirdly: We must assert that the taking of Israeli hostages by the Mumbai attackers in no way indicates Palestinian involvement. Attempts have been made to link the violence in India with Palestinian groups, but these efforts will be unsuccessful.

Fourth: Palestine is a friend to India, and we are a nation who remembers our friends in their time of need. We watch the news closely, and feel the pain of the bleeding in Mumbai.

We Palestinians, as tired and frustrated as we are with the endless Israeli attacks against civilians send hope and encouragement to India and the residents of Mumbai. In your time of need, sorrow and uncertainty India, we send our support.

Glory to God, peace to earth and love to people.

Here we have a nation that was born some sixty years ago via a partition initiated by Britain, along with the concommitant transfer of populations between the two areas, that has been the victim of countless terror attacks by Muslims ever since. Who does that sound like?

As usual, the Palestinian Arabs are noticing only too well the parallels between the terror attacks against India and the terror attacks that they engineer and celebrate against Israel. And they want to publicly distance themselves from the international terror that, in many ways, they pioneered in the 1970s, and even try to score political points from it.

A couple of Iranian news stories

Here's another statement by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that will be ignored by the West:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that the Islamic Revolution of Iran is not limited to specific geographic or national borders.

"The Islamic Revolution is a deep and decisive move for all human beings," said the president during a ceremony to honor Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Hassan Firouzabadi.

And Iran's Press TV found a 9/11 "Truther", who worked for the CIA decades ago, to blame the Mumbai terror attacks on US policy:

Bill Christison, a former CIA official says the recent Mumbai incident indicates that the Muslim world is retaliating against US polices in the region.

In an exclusive interview with Press TV, Christison a former adviser to the CIA says that targeting UK and US citizen's in the latest attack in Mumbai indicates a frustration that is developing in the Muslim world caused by US polices in Central Asia and the Middle East in the past eight years.

The former CIA adviser said that the US partnership with Israel and the occupation of Iraq are all examples of wrong US polices in the region and warned of similar attacks as in Mumbai if US polices continue on the same road.

Iran freaks over Arab "Peace Plan" ads

As we have mentioned, the PLO has been placing advertisements promoting the so-called Arab Peace Initiative in various newspapers in Arab countries, Israel and the West.

The advertisement features the flags of all the member countries of the Organization of Islamic Conference.

And Iran happens to be a member of the OIC.

The very idea of Iran's beautiful flag being on the same page as an ugly, racist, ZionistIsraeli flag seems to have blown the mullahs' collective gasket, and they are strongly condemning the advertisement and the newspapers that have published it; singling out the Guardian (UK).

As Iran's Press TV writes:

Iran has condemned the publication of advertisements associating Tehran with an initiative that would lead to the recognition of Israel.

Arabic-language news outlets along with the Guardian have taken advantage of the backing of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) for the Arab Peace Initiative, publishing a picture of the Iranian flag among the flags of certain Muslim countries as a sign of Tehran's support for the initiative.

The Iranian Embassy in London on Thursday responded to the distortions in separate letters of protest to the newspapers and demanded that they publish articles in their next editions to remove any doubt that may have been caused on the issue, IRNA reported.

Iran condemns "any move taken by some Arab countries to push the recognition of the occupying Zionist regime in any manner, including in Islamic conferences," Guardian quoted the Embassy as saying in its letter.

According to the Iranian Embassy, the publication of the Iranian flag in articles that associate the country to the initiative is "illegal".

It appears as if Iran is claiming copyright infringement, due to misuse of their flag.

Which is pretty funny coming from a country that regularly encourages its citizens to burn the American and Israeli flags.

So, for your viewing pleasure, is my animation of the Iranian flag on fire. If having their flag published in an ad drives them nuts, maybe this will give the mullahs a stroke:

Arab League leader: Mumbai part of "cycle of violence"

The Secretary General of the League of Arab States gave his statement condemning the terror attack in Mumbai, but he did it in a curious way:

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak condemned the attacks and said his country "stands by the side of New Delhi in countering terrorism," state news agency MENA reported.
Amr Mussa, who heads the 22-member Arab League, said such "criminal and terrorist acts aggravate the vicious circle of violence and counter-violence," the agency reported.

By stating it in those terms, Mussa is diluting the blame towards Islamist radicals and making it partially the fault of the victims of Islamic terror.

After all, the Indian army killed some terrorists today in Mumbai. Clearly, they were engaging in escalating the "cycle of violence," and practically begging for the next round of terror.

Northern Sinai situation alarming Egypt

From Daily News Egypt:

The current situation in North Sinai constitutes a threat to national security along the border with Israel, warned the defense and national security committee of the People's Assembly.
At the end of a three-day visit to the area, the committee said that tunnel smuggling across the border and widespread possession of weapons in North Sinai amounted to an explosive situation.
Sinai has recently been the site of trouble between Bedouins and security forces, as clashes two weeks ago resulted in the death of four Bedouins.
A spat ensued between [Head of the North Sinai branch of the Tagammu party Ashraf] El-Hefny and North Sinai Governor Mohammed Abdel-Fadel Shoosha at the committee's conference after he demanded an apology from the senior official for recent claims that the Bedouin were in cahoots with Israel.
"How can the government accuse us of disloyalty when they are exporting gas to Israel despite an administrative court order to cease? They are even appealing the verdict, it is the government that is unpatriotic," El-Hefny said.

This enmity between Egypt and the Bedouin resulted in a death fatwa a few days ago:

Bedouin tribes in Sinai have issued a death fatwa on famed television presenter Amr Adib for comments he made about them after recent clashes in Sinai between them and security forces.
The decision was reached at a meeting of the popular campaign for citizen rights in North Sinai last Wednesday, where a council of various tribes issued a fatwa on Adib after the comments he made on his show, North Sinai Tagammu party member Hussein El Qayem told Daily News Egypt.
It was decreed that the blood of anyone who accuses the residents of North Sinai of disloyalty was forfeit.
Adib, who hosts the popular Al-Qahira Al-Youm talk show on Orbit satellite network, is alleged to have insinuated that the Bedouins of Sinai were more partial to an “enemy” country, meaning Israel, than Egypt.
He is also meant to have accused the Bedouins of wanting to secede from Egypt, and warned them that if they didn’t like their circumstances, they could go live in that “enemy” country.

At least there is something they can agree on - that there is no greater insult than saying that someone is friendly towards Israel.

Arab sites almost silent on Mumbai

The top news story in the world is essentially invisible to the Arab press.

The Palestinian Arabic newspapers Firas Press and Palestine Press Agency don't mention the terror attacks in Mumbai. Ya Libnan has nothing, and neither does the Lebanon Daily Star or the Jordan Times. The Daily News Egypt is similarly silent.

The Saudi Arab News did have a story in today's edition, though.

And the Islamic Jihad mouthpiece Palestine Today has a brief article, talking only about their taking Israelis hostage in the Chabad House in Mumbai and nothing about the hundred people killed so far. (The autotranslation said "According to Indian media reported four gunmen holding hostage in 6 Israelis built the Bad Religion of the Jews" and it repeated the word "Bad" three times, which sounded unusually anti-semitic for that newspaper until I realized that this was how "Chabad" was being translated from Arabic to English.)

Is it that Muslims killing a hundred people is simply not too interesting to them? Or does their latent sympathy for terrorism - and hatred of Indian infidels - make them embarrassed to mention it, so they'd rather ignore the story rather than figure out how to report it?

"Hamas version of Google"

Firas Press reports on a "Hamas Google" page hosted in Turkey, that is just like Google but decorated with Hamas pictures (the link is http://www.googlehamas.tk/, try it at your own risk):

You will notice that it keeps the name "Google," changing the O's into Hamas logos.

The article goes on to praise the website, saying how fast the search engine is, how hundreds of people have already used it and how secure it is against Zionist hackers.

Unfortunately, the site no longer works. And the reason is obvious from the error message:

Google
Error

Forbidden
Your client does not have permission to get URL /custom?sa=%26%231576%3B%26%231581%3B%26%231579%3B&q=test&...... from this server.

This is a real Google error message, and this "Hamas Google" site is simply a shell around the real Google site.

Google caught wind of this illegal use of their name and logo and pulled the plug on all requests from this Turkish server.

Not quite as impressive a technical achievement as the Arabic press thought it was!

November 24, 1948: Egypt threatens to quit UN

The Palestine Post of November 24, 1948 has an illuminating article about Egypt's opposition to Israel's becoming a member of the United Nations:

Adly Andaros Bey, of Egypt, hinted today that the Arab countries would walk out of the UN if Israel were admitted to membership.

The Egyptian said Israel did not fulfil any of the requirements of the Charter for membership. Israel was not peace-loving, but expansionist, and she was not even a State because she had "no territorial basis and no known frontiers."

Do these arguments apply to "Palestine"?

But his next talking point is most interesting - an argument for natural, self-evident anti-semitism:

"In certain American clubs, houses, hotels and other places, Jews are not admitted." Nevertheless, the U.S. would, in a few days introduce a resolution supporting the admission of Israel to the U.N.

"When this happens in a club, Sirs, the only thing to do for those who do not like the new member is to walk out. That is the only way that remains for us."

"One thing is certain," he said. "We would never sit at the same table with the Jews."

This was not bombast; this was the actual way of thinking.

And there is little evidence that things have changed in the past sixty years.

Taking advantage of ignorance of Hebrew

Last week, wire services reported on Jewish graffiti on a mosque in Hebron, saying that the "settlers" scrawled "bad words" with spray paint.The story claimed that the Jews wrote “Mohammed is a pig” and “Death to the Arabs”.

As Israellycool pointed out, while desecrating a mosque is certainly not to be condoned, the words that were written, at least in the wire service photo, were not racist or inflammatory - they were Biblical verses. It is possible that there were other things written, but we have no pictures showing that.

It appears that the Palestinian Arabs have picked up on the inability of most people to read Hebrew, because Ma'an now makes a similar claim:

Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian ambulances in the West Bank village of Dier Esteyah on Wednesday, according to witnesses.

Red Crescent ambulances were parked in the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday when settlers wrote provocative slogans, such as "Death to Arabs" and others, according to the Red Crescent.

The graffitum on the picture merely says "Hebron."

This is of course not proof that no settlers wrote more inflammatory things elsewhere, but it is curious that twice in a row the only pictures that we can see do not support the stories.

Ma'an reporters clearly know how to read Hebrew, so they must be considered complicit in trying to demonize "settlers" as racists or at the very least misleading readers into thinking that the graffiti here is racist.

UPDATE: Aussie Dave points out that there is a Ha'aretz video report that briefly shows the words "Mohammed pig" in Hebrew.

Hypocritical journalists

Media Backspin quotes Soccer Dad about reporters who are upset that Israel has not allowed them into Gaza for the last two weeks:

This week, after filing a letter of protest, the Foreign Press Association (of which McClatchy Newspapers is a part) took the matter to Israel's Supreme Court and asked the judges to overturn the ban.

"This blackout of the Gaza Strip is hurting Israel's image in the eyes of the world and undermines its standing as the only democracy in the Middle East," the FPA argues in the petition.

Soccer Dad's reaction hits the nail on the head:

I understand that there are reasons for Israel to open Gaza to reporters, but this false concern for Israel's image from a press association strikes me as utter hypocrisy.

This isn't the only hypocrisy that reporters are showing.

Here are a series of stories reported in the Palestinian Arab press about press freedom in the West Bank and Gaza since August:

Hamas to sue media outlets for "biased coverage"

Union of Public Service workers demand a ban on Al Jazeera in Gaza

PA arrests journalist, held in military prison

Call for PA to release four journalists from jail for Eid

Hamas detains three journalists, confiscates their materials

Group calls on PA and Hamas to release 10 journalists

Journalist arrested in West Bank

Gaza journalist threatened, detained and beaten by Hamas

The Foreign Press Association and Reporters Without Frontiers have been utterly silent concerning all of these issues.

Only when Israel - rightly or wrongly - stops them from entering Gaza (from Israel - they have gone into Gaza by boat) do they suddenly pipe up about "press freedom." (And they do not say a word about whether they are allowed to enter Gaza from Egypt.)

Even though these stories have been essentially ignored not only by these journalist associations but by journalists themselves, it is a bit ironic when they claim in their letter to Olmert:

“In fact, a foreign media presence is all the more indispensible as its reporters represent an independent source of information. The mounting threats to Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip since Hamas seized power in June 2007 force them to censor themselves. But that is not the case with foreign journalists, who can talk about the Hamas government without fear.”

Ever hear of Alan Johnston? They censor themselves more than the Gaza reporters who live there! After all, who reported on the stories I listed above? Certainly not the foreign media!

Today's PalArab news

In addition to the Jordanian newspaper yesterday, a UAE newspaper has also rejected a PLO ad which includes the flag of Israel, while another one published it.

Even though there was a Qassam and (reportedly) four mortars yesterday shot indiscriminately at Jews, Israel has agreed to send more fuel and food to Gaza today.

Fresh Hamas/Fatah clashes yesterday at Al Aqsa University in Gaza injured 100 students and caused the school to shut down.

There are reports of "secret prisons" in Gaza created by Hamas specifically for Fatah members.

Egypt arrested a blogger yesterday who criticized the government and supported Hamas. His blog can be seen here.

Gaza is again suffering from a shortage of shekels. Where do they all go?

American girl, Arab man get jail and 100 lashes

From the Saudi Gazette:

The Summary Court in Jeddah has sentenced a 23-year-old Arab national and an 18-year-old American girl to one year in prison and 100 lashes each after they were convicted of adultery.

The father of the girl reported the relationship to the authorities after his daughter became pregnant.

The father accused the Arab man of intentionally doing so in order to force her parents into letting them get married.

The parents of the girl had previously refused to let their daughter marry the man.

The Commission for Investigation and General Prosecution (CIP) summoned the Arab man as part of its investigations.

The Summary Court issued its verdict after hearing evidence from the girl and examining a medical report.

The verdict has become final since no party raised an objection and no appeal would be made.

One hundred lashes is the punishment for unmarried adulterers.

This is proof positive that Islam respects women. They honor them so much that they will beat them half to death if they do anything that they shouldn't!

And someone should really tell the Saudis that they have no idea what "adultery" means.

Jordanian newspaper rejects PLO ad - with Israeli flag

From AFP:

An independent Jordanian newspaper said on Tuesday it has refused to publish a Palestinian advertisement promoting an Arab peace initiative with Israel because it contains the Jewish state's flag.
"We refused to publish the paid advertisement because the source, the Palestine Libration Organisation's negotiations department, refused to remove the Israeli flag," a senior editor at the Arabic-language Al-Arab Al-Yawm told AFP.

Ah, yes, Jordan. Israel's neighbor that signed a peace treaty in 1994. That well-known "moderate" kingdom, where 98% of its citizens admit that they really don't like Jews too much.

And apparently the PLO likes Israel more than Jordanians do.

Libya reported to send a boat to Gaza

A very interesting development. Will Israel check it for weapons?

From Africa On-Line:

A Libyan ship loaded with more than 3,000 tons of food aid and medicines leave the Libyan port of Zouara, 120 km west of Tripoli, on Tuesday for the Gaza Strip in Palestine.

The donation being made by the Libyan Fund for Aid and Development in Africa is made up of 500 tons of oil; 750 tons of milk; 1,207 tons of rice; 500 tons of wheat flour and 100 tonnes of various drugs.

In a statement to PANA, the Chief Executive Officer of the Fund Lakhdouri Abdelhamid said the shipment would arrive in the Gaza Strip in one week.

He said the aid was only the beginning and marked the solidarity of the Libyan people with the Palestinians, "who are victims of an unjust embargo imposed upon them by Israel".

In addition, dozens of scouts from the city of Zouara would travel aboard the boat with flags and banners bearing inscriptions expressing solidarity with Palestinians and condemning the embargo imposed on the population.

Obama letter to Peres on unified Jerusalem?

The Arabic media is reporting on a Kuwaiti newspaper claim that Barack Obama sent Shimon Peres a letter that assures him that Jerusalem will not be under negotiations during the Obama administration and that it will remain the undivided capital of Israel. Also that Obama promised to visit Israel and the settlements.

What the Arab press is not mentioning is that this Kuwaiti newspaper has a history of making up stories. On at least two other recent occassions, the newspaper reported bizarre claims that would then be proven false or extremely exaggerated. It almost seems that the newspaper is trying to form the news in forcing denials from officials, thereby inflating its own importance.