Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Egyptians against Jewish pilgimage to holy man's grave

An interesting article in Palestine Today that shows the real hatred that Egyptians have for Jews:

With the advent of the month of December each year comes the renewed desire of Jews to converge on the village of Dmitoh, in a province north of the lake Egypt, to the grave of "Abu Hatezira". Israelis and Jews come from Europe and the United States to commemorate the birth of the Jewish rabbi, blessed him and asking for miraculous cures.

The cause of headaches suffered by the people of the village is the strict security measures by the security forces to protect the Jewish revelers that anger the villagers, who doubt the existence of the Jewish Rabbi Abuhatzeira altogether, describing it as "another foothold of Jews in Egypt", as described, as well complaints about practices of the Jewish revelers from the "slaughter of pigs and drinking, dance and exercising unethical behavior," according to reports.

Politicians and activists and MPs are trying to collect one million signatures to demand a halt to the celebration of the birth of Abuhatzeira, to be held in the twenty-fifth month of January next year. A number of lawmakers involved in the campaign, their intention to progress a memo of protest to Dr. Ahmed Fathy Sorour, President of the People's Assembly, to stop this ceremony.

A number of bloggers, for the second consecutive year, also launched an online campaign against the celebration of the birth of Abuhatzeira,

The bloggers who are demanding to prevent celebrations by the Jews in Egypt said that the tomb of Abuhatezira had no visitors for a hundred years. A court ruling five years ago to abolish this celebration has still not been implemented.

A second group , in which the young owners of the Egyptians refused to establish a "birth of the alleged Abu Hasira," rejected "the Zionist set foot on Egyptian soil to the orgy," according to the expression.

Has announced a number of lawyers who succeeded in obtaining judicial rulings preventing stop-born Jews from the assembly; their intention to renew their jurisdiction to compel the government to implement judicial decisions, and to prevent "this harassment and moral pollution" caused by the Israelis and the Jews of Europe to the people of the village.

According to Jewish sources; Abuhatzeira is a Jewish cleric named Jacob Aharon, was born in Morocco in 1807 who came to Egypt and lived there, and died in 1880, which has the respect and appreciation of many sectors of the Jews.

But Mustafa Raslan, a lawyer and a son of the village of Dmitoh, filed a lawsuit in which he called for cessation of Jewish celebrations on the ground of his home town, which claims that Abuhatzeira was not Jewish, but a Muslim who lived in Marrakech, Morocco named Mohammed bin Yousef bin Yacob, who was a cobbler of shoes for the Egyptians, and completed seven of the Kaaba Hjat supervisor, according to his assertions.

But only since 1978, following the signing of the "Camp David", have the religious Israelis been seeking to formally organize trips to the village to celebrate the birth of Abuhatzeira that they allege to be "a man of blessings", sometime between December and February evey year.

The number of visitors has increased from a few dozen to a few hundreds and then thousands, arriving each year from occupied Palestine and the West and other countries, despite protests by Egyptian people about the unwanted visitors, which turned the lives of peasants in this village to "hell" because of the security measures that turn the village into a closed area involving searching every car.

And often start the celebration on 25 December get out of hand, where there is an auction for who will enter his tomb first [guess at translation - EoZ], followed by alcoholic operations spilled over the cemetery, and then the slaughter of sacrifices that are often sheep or pigs, roasting meat, and dancing. Celebrants then hysterically sing Jewish melodies as they become almost naked, and then say some prayers, entreaties and tears to the tomb, burning, beating their heads in the Wailing Wall and asked for their needs, according to witnesses.

The cemetery has seen some expansion with the increasing number of arrivals, and the covering of marble shrine, Jewish and fees, especially at the entrance to the tomb. Then he started annexation of some land and build a fence around it, and then the facilities like Balastrahat, a room equipped, and expanded the cemetery from 350 square meters to 8400 square meters. The Jewish parties also sought to purchase five acres adjacent to the cemetery, in order to build a hotel for the visitors to sleep during the celebration.

Observers believe that the Israeli government is keen via its embassy in Egypt to amplify and expand the size of the celebration, with the participation of diplomats, is bringing special planes carrying a large delegation of rabbis, as well as requests for financial aid to the Egyptian government to establish a bridge linking the village, where the shrine by Alawi access to the nearby city of Damanhour, so that the Jews access to it, and fired on the bridge also the name of Abu Hasira.

What increased the anger of the people of the village, a decision by the Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, was No. 75 of 2001, to incorporate the cemetery Abu Hasira to the Egyptian Antiquities Authority, which make the disposal or transfer as demanded by the people of the village difficult.

The lawyers opposed this decision in the courts, rendering the Administrative Judicial Court in Alexandria, the lake, on 9 December 2001 ruling to stop the Culture Minister's decision as the tomb of Abu Hasira and cemeteries around the village Dmitoh and stop the annual celebrations of the birth of Abu Hasira.

I cannot tell how exaggerated this article is; I could find very few references to pilgrimages to visit that grave and the numbers of people were far smaller. And slaughtering pigs?

From Arutz-7 in 2002:

Seventy Jews, attempting to pray at the graveside of the renowned Rabbi Yaakov Abuhatzeira in Alexandria, Egypt, have been denied permission by the Egyptian authorities.

It is Jewish custom to visit the gravesite of a righteous man on the anniversary of his death. In years past, Islamic groups in Egypt insisted that the government prohibit Jews from visiting the grave. They claimed that the Jews behave in unbecoming ways and corrupt the local Muslims. Abuhatzeira is the father of the "Baba Sali" -- Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira -- who was a renowned kabbalist revered by millions in Israel and around the world.

And from the Jerusalem Post in 2007:

Hundreds of Israeli pilgrims motored in police-escorted convoys across the Nile Delta on Tuesday to pray at a 19th century Jewish holy man's tomb, where people received them with curious stares and a little resentment.

Egypt laid on exceptional security. Police special force troops with automatic rifles guarded the convoys of luxury coaches. The Israelis were not allowed to mingle with the residents of this western Delta town, 170 kilometers northwest of Cairo, but were confined to a cordoned-off parking area next to the shrine.

State Security officers refused to admit The Associated Press, and the government press office in Cairo, reached by cell phone, endorsed the refusal.

The pilgrims, some singing and clapping, made the two-hour drive from Cairo to see the tomb of Yaakov Abuhatzeira, a Moroccan rabbi who earned a reputation for healing people and died in 1880. His grandson, called "Baba Sali," is better known and his tomb in Netivot is a popular pilgrimage site.

Residents gawked from their windows and balconies as the big coaches slowly wound their way along the muddy road to the shrine. The authorities had just widened the road, leaving piles of rubble and freshly turned earth on the side, and had created a parking area in what had been a field of lush clover. A steamroller was leveling it as the first coaches arrived.

"I don't want to see them here," tire-repairman Mohammed Sharqawi said of the Israelis. "I watch television and I see what is happening in Palestine."

But, two stores along the main road, Ali Mohammed Tanani said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was one thing, the pilgrims were another.

"We have our sacred places. If they think it's a sacred place, they have the right to visit. They are our guests," said Tanani, who runs a small grocery shop.

Egypt guards the stone tomb, which stands in a small chamber, and allows visitors only for the January anniversary of Abuhatzeira's death. The pilgrims do not walk around Nekraha; they go to the shrine and leave.

But in 2003 a small group of pilgrims stopped at Tanani's shop and, using their interpreter, bought fizzy drinks and chocolates. "They were polite," Tanani recalled.

Abbas compares Hamas to infidels in Mecca speech

From Palestine Press Agency (Arabic):

President Mahmoud Abbas delivered a strongly-worded attack on the Islamic Resistance Movement 'Hamas', likening them infidels and heretics, in a speech from Mecca today, Tuesday.

President Abbas, in his Eid al-Adha speech, accused Hamas of preventing pilgrims from the Gaza Strip to go to the performance of their religious duty, saying that 'Hamas is responsible for those [Gazans] not coming to the Hajj.'

Mahmoud Abbas said in his speech 'Of course everyone here is in pain, and we know that it hurts everybody that these pilgrims cannot come to Mecca and Medina.'

The Palestinian President noted 'that Israel never stopped the pilgrims to come to the pilgrimage for a single day, but this was done by Hamas. Just as in the past when the Quraish infidels denied the Prophet, peace be upon him, to come to Mecca, as well as Alaqramtp , Who prevented the pilgrims for many years to come here, 'he said.

The Palestinian Authority President accused Hamas for being responsible for the siege, saying, 'We know that the siege of our people who live there is due to the Israeli government and Hamas'.

But what does he know? He's a "collaborator!"

Maybe if he gets on his knees

From Reuters:

Leaders of the Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah have turned down a request to meet former U.S. President Jimmy Carter during a visit to Lebanon that began on Tuesday, a Carter spokesman said.

Carter had requested a meeting with the Iran-backed political and military movement, which is listed as a terrorist group by Washington, as part of a visit to assess whether his Carter Center will monitor a legislative election next year.

"I understand that some of the leaders of Hezbollah have said they were not going to meet with any president or former presidents of the United States," Carter said upon his arrival at Beirut airport, adding that he would meet other leaders.

A Carter spokesman confirmed a meeting had been requested with Hezbollah, whose guerrilla army fought a 34-day war with U.S. ally Israel in 2006. "They said they were not able to meet," Carter spokesman Rick Jafculca said.

Compared to Carter, it appears that Hezbollah actually has principles.

Iran getting on Egypt's nerves

From Xinhua:

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned Iranian diplomatic representative in Cairo in protest against recent anti-Egypt demonstrations in Iran.
In a statement issued Tuesday by the Foreign Ministry, Egypt voiced its complaints on the demonstrations staged from time to time outside the office of the Egyptian diplomatic mission in Tehran.
The Egyptian ministry also criticized some Iranian newspapers that have repeatedly insulted Egyptian policies and leadership recently, said the statement, without elaborating.
In a similar incident, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry summoned Iranian envoy in Cairo this July over an Iranian film on the assassination of late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, which Egypt said "insults the relations between the two countries."

Freedom of the press, PA-style

A story I had been meaning to blog:

The Palestinian Authority has decided to ban a number of journalists from entering the presidential Mukata compound in Ramallah.

The decision is aimed at punishing the journalists because of their criticism of the PA leadership or for reporting about the activities of Hamas leaders.

Al-Jazeera reporters and TV crews are among those who now appear on the PA's blacklist. They have been denied access to the Mukata for the past two weeks.

Other journalists working for Arab and Western media outlets have also been told that they are no longer welcome to visit the compound.

The decision to ban Al-Jazeera came after the popular TV station failed to carry a live broadcast of a speech given by PA President Mahmoud Abbas in front of the PLO Central Council in Ramallah.

Instead, the station broadcast live from Damascus, where Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was addressing a conference of radical groups.

Al-Jazeera has thus far refrained from reporting about the PA's decision to boycott the station. A source in the station said that the decision not to report about the ban was taken after the PA warned Al-Jazeera that publicizing the issue would only cause more damage to its reporters.

PA officials accused Al-Jazeera of being biased in favor of Hamas, noting that this was not the first time that the station had served as a platform for Hamas and other radical Islamic groups.

Some PA officials even went as far as demanding the closure of the Al-Jazeera offices in the West Bank. The homes and vehicles of some Al-Jazeera reporters have been either torched or stoned by Fatah activists in the West Bank in the past two years.

Earlier this week, the largest Palestinian news agency, Ramattan, decided to suspend its work in the West Bank after the PA leadership also banned its reporters from entering the Mukata.

The agency also accused the PA security forces of raiding its Ramallah offices, arresting its workers and confiscating a mobile broadcast truck.

Another journalist who has been denied access to the Mukata is Nael Nakhleh, a resident of Al-Bireh who writes from newspapers in the Gulf. Nakhleh was arrested by the PA's General Intelligence for allegedly publishing reports that reflect negatively on the PA leaders.

The PA has, over the past few years, become less tolerant toward "unfriendly" journalists, especially Palestinian newsmen who report about financial corruption and abuse of human rights in PA-controlled areas.

Seven Palestinian reporters have been arrested by Abbas's security forces in the past few months for allegedly expressing sympathy with Hamas. Most were released after being warned against publishing material that reflects negatively on Abbas and the PA leadership.

This is exactly how things were under Arafat.

As far as I can tell, Al Jazeerah has still not reported on its being blacklisted, thus buckling under to the PA's demands.

By the way, here is a picture of an al-Jazeera reporter - reporting from Jaffa in a typically anti-Israel article. He doesn't seem to have been kicked out.

Lull?

From AP:

Israel has reopened its crossings with Gaza to shipments of humanitarian aid and fuel. International journalists are also being allowed in.

The Israeli military says 45 trucks of food and medical supplies are to pass through on Tuesday, along with shipments of cooking gas and fuel for Gaza's power plant.

The military says cargo and passenger crossings were reopened because of a lull Monday in attacks by Gaza militants on Israel.

The reopening of the crossings also means international journalists can again enter Gaza. This is just the second time reporters have been allowed in since fighting erupted on Nov. 5. The violence has left a 6-month-old truce in doubt.

Actually, yesterday Gazan terrorists did shoot a rocket towards Israel, but it landed short.

I suppose that deserves an award.

All Hamas has to do is shoot dozens of rockets at Israel whenever they want, as they did this past weekend, and then slow down for a day to get their "humanitarian aid."

Husband defects to the West? Blame Zionists!

From Infolive.tv:

The wife of Iran's former deputy defense minister Ali Reza Asghari protested in front of the Turkish embassy in Tehran on Monday, claiming her husband was kidnapped by Israelis while in Turkey two years ago, Iranian news agency Faras reported. Asghari denied rumors that her husband had defected to the west and claimed that he "was in the Zionist prison." She vowed to protest again next year.

Of course, Asghari did defect, and may have even provided intelligence to Israel about the secret Syrian nuclear reactor that Israel bombed.

Doesn't look like he misses his wife too much, either.

Respect for women!

Morocco’s Rajaa Houlla, 29, reacts after discovering that she had been divorced by her Saudi husband. She only learnt of the divorce when police came to her house to deport her in Jeddah on Friday.

I guess the husband doesn't have to worry about lengthy court proceedings - he just got his local police to get rid of his wife, literally.

Don't move the embassy - yet

JTA has an op-ed by the orthodox Union's Steven Savitsky imploring the incoming US administration to move the United States embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

I cannot argue with his goal:

At this crucial time for Jews throughout the world, the Orthodox Union proclaims loud and clear that Jerusalem must be off the table. Any peace negotiations must be predicated upon the fact that Jerusalem will remain Israel’s undivided capital. We pray for it, yearn for it, fast because of its destruction, and remember it at our most joyous times under the chupah.

And the article makes it clear that the entire purpose of moving the embassy is to be a part of a declaration by the US that Jerusalem is Israel's undivided capital.

Last night, I heard Israel's former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau speak. He mentioned that in 1987 he spoke with a high-ranking US official, who told him that the reason that the United States didn't bother bringing up the question of Jerusalem because everyone knew that the Knesset was against dividing Jerusalem by roughly 116-4 seats. Against such a consensus, the US wouldn't bother wasting its time to pressure Israel to make concessions.

However, if there is a cleavage in Israeli society, the US will be happy to use leverage to exact concessions from the state.

Rabbi Lau went on to say that in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, all Israelis - religious or not - stood together as one. The unity is there in the face of terror, but not so much at any other time lately. And it is this lack of unity that gives the world a toehold into trying to shrink Israel.

The US is not going to be more Zionist than Israel itself is. The most left-wing Israeli governments will continue to move their "red lines" back while negotiating away Israel's strategic interests, and as soon as something new is on the table, it is difficult to remove it.

In this environment, if American Zionists insist on making the embassy a slogan, it is entirely conceivable that a US administration will say that they will be happy to move the embassy to western Jerusalem but insist that Jerusalem be divided as part of the deal. Emphasizing the embassy - a purely symbolic gesture - could end up facilitating the loss of much of Jerusalem on the ground.

The embassy is not the issue. Jerusalem as a unified capital of the Jewish state is the real issue. This is far more important than the symbolism - and likely resultant pressure - that would accompany any US move of its embassy.

Israel's iniquitous Koranic plots

Firas Press breathlessly reports on the latest nefarious Israeli plot to debase and twist the Holy Koran:

A report of the Monitoring Committee of the Islamic Research Academy in Egypt warned that Israel is expanding in the perversion of the Koran and issued editions distributed to many African countries including Kenya and Niger.

The recent report says that 'The Israelis were distorting the Koran and deleted verses that talk about Jews and signs calling for Jihad'.

Brilliant! All the miscreant Jews need to do to solve the problems of Islamic terror is to change the Koran itself!

That's not the only thing that Israelis are doing with the Koran. They are now making money from it:

For Muslims who just can't fit the five-times-a-day Salah prayer routine into their busy schedules, an Israeli mobile phone provider has a new solution: Mobile Koran.

Pelephone has begun offering a Koran text service that enables users to tap into verses of choice from the Muslim Holy Book at will.

For the modest sum of $1.50 per month, subscribers can download what appears onscreen as an actual book of Koran, and scroll through chapter and verse.

"We are providing something to subscribers who want to be connected to these texts any time and any place," said Pelephone Product Content Director Moti Cohen. "So naturally we are targeting a population that would use this type of service. Our Arab sector customers are very enthusiastic."

And we mustn't forget the other Israeli Koran project, Quranet, which has just gone on-line although all of its features are not available yet.

A new Web site launched by an Israeli university professor and his Bedouin students aims to address life's everyday quandaries from the perspective of an ancient sacred text: the Quran.

Organizers of the site, Quranet.net, say they hope it will serve as a "bridge between Islam and the West" by applying the wisdom of Islam's holiest book to modern-day problems.

"We try to transform the Quran into a modern and useful tool, so that every person can find a Quranic answer to modern psychological and educational queries," said Ofer Grosbard, professor at the Academic Arab College for Education, affiliated with Haifa University.

Quranet divides chapters of the Quran into topics such as "Loss, Illness and Tragedy," and provides answers to such questions as, "Is loss an excuse for aggression?" and "What can we say to someone who refuses to accept a gesture of peace?"

The questions are answered with a relevant Quranic verse, followed by an educational-psychological explanation of the issue.

Quranet seeks to illustrate "the beauty of the Quran," said Grosbard, who believes the book's positive messages have been overshadowed by Islamic fundamentalists who've manipulated the text as a justification for terrorism.

We spoke about Quranet a few months ago, with many Muslims freaking out that Israelis could dare publicly claim that he Koran teaches love and respect.

Obviously, Israel is trying to destroy the Holy Quran/Koran with a multi-pronged attack.

What chutzpah!

Qatar should call Israel's bluff

From Dion Nissenbaum of McClatchy Newspapers:

Israel is taking unusual new steps to discourage Arab and Muslim nations from challenging its prolonged economic siege of the Hamas-led Gaza Strip by sending aid ships to ease the desperate circumstances of the 1.5 million Gaza Palestinians.
In recent days, Israel prodded Qatar, a friendly Persian Gulf nation, into calling off a delegation preparing to transport aid from Cyprus to Gaza, according to officials briefed on what they said were high-level talks.
Hours before a Qatar aid group was scheduled to board a boat Thursday with $2 million in cancer medication, they abruptly canceled the trip.
The Qatar charity would have been the first such Arab aid group to challenge Israel's ban on international boats traveling to Gaza.
Instead, Israel urged Qatar officials to send any Gaza-bound aid via Israel, Israeli government officials said.
"The message was delivered, not only to them, but to anybody else that wanted to transfer aid to Gaza, that there is a mechanism on how to do it," said Andy David, a spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry. "We will not change our policy, which gives us the option on how to do it, while not allowing unauthorized boats to reach Gaza."

If everyone really cared about helping Palestinian Arabs in Gaza, here's what would happen:

Qatar would avail themselves of Israel's offer. They would transfer their aid, perhaps through Jordan, with the following conditions:

* Israel has the right to inspect the aid and stop anything that could be dangerous to Israeli citizens

* A small Qatari delegation would travel with the aid convoy to ensure that it gets distributed directly to qualified aid agencies and not to terrorists

Here, everyone wins: Israel can maintain its security; Qatar can become a bigger player in helping Palestinian Arabs, Israeli relations improves with the Arab world, and Gazans get the aid they need. (Tzipi Livni visited Qatar earlier this year, there is no reason that Qataris cannot go through Israel to reach Gaza.)

Of course, this only works if we assume that the Arab world really cares about helping Gazans.

Odds and ends

Christians detained and beaten in Muslim Indian Ocean nations

This year's gruesome Eid al Adha photos from Gaza. Let's play in the blood!

Desertification conference - Israel saving the world again:

This is a crisis that has actually been defined by the United Nations and World Bank "Millennium Assessment" as the environmental problem which affects more people than any other worldwide.

Israel's climate is of course largely a desiccated one. Indeed 93 percent of its lands are defined as drylands. In 1948, the country's soils showed dramatic deterioration, and conditions were growing worse quickly. The causes involved overgrazing, deforestation and agriculture that was not sustainable. The notion of a 'desolate,' 'neglected' homeland - was not just Zionist propaganda. It was born out by aerial photographs and reports by international soil scientists.

Since that time, however, a combination of grazing regulations, agricultural innovations, ambitious water management projects, aggressive afforestation efforts and a national commitment to making the Negev a productive region produced impressive results. Entire regions have been transformed and for the better.

Swing your partner ‘round and ‘round,

And turn your corner upside down.

And turn your corner like swingin’ on a gate,

And meet your partner for a grand chain eight,

And hurry up boys and don’t be late.

Chew your tobacco and rub your snuff,

And meet your honey and strut your stuff.

Right foot up and a left foot down,

And make that big foot jar the ground,

And promenade your partner around.

Perhaps this was one of the contestants in the latest Saudi beauty pageant?

Egypt afraid that Gaza will expand into the Sinai

From Palestine Today:

MPs from the Egyptian Shura Council warned of the seriousness of Israel to harm the Egyptian national security, pointing out that Israel still has ambitions in Sinai with the displacement of Palestinians to Sinai from Gaza.

Isn't it interesting that Palestinian Arabs are considered a national security threat to their fellow Arabs, but the world expects Israel not to treat them as such?

A tiny admission: Amira Hass mentions weapons smuggling

Amira Hass, Ha'aretz' Arab affairs reporter, went into Gaza with the last "Free Gaza" moonbat boat and stayed for three weeks. Today, she spoke to her friends in Ramallah about her experience in Gaza.

Although she predictably slams Israel at every possible opportunity, a couple of salient facts manage to sneak out during her tirade:

On entering Gaza Hass said she was accompanied by Hamas-appointed security personnel at all hours, and was prevented from entering any of the Strip’s refugee camps. She said she had been warned by the security men that there was a chance that she would be abducted by extremists during her time in Gaza. After three weeks, she said, the security officials told her they got wind of a plan by one of the factions to kidnap her, which she called a pretext, and forced her to leave the area.

So this independent journalist happily filed reports that were effectively censored by Hamas, which only allowed her to enter certain parts of Gaza. Hass eagerly accepted the role of propagandist.

During her time in Gaza Hass visited the southern town of Rafah where the hundreds of tunnels to Egypt snake below the earth, and described the full markets and influx of people that the new industry had spurred in the area. Hass described seeing many goods, even weapons, available in the Rafah souq, and remarked at the change in what she called a ‘once very poor town.’

From a quick Google search, I could not find a single Hass report for Ha'aretz where she mentioned seeing weapons in Rafah. In fact, out of the many reports that talk about the goods that get smuggled into Rafah through tunnels, the most obvious - weapons - is not mentioned anywhere. TVs, motorcycles, cattle, zoo animals, candy, shoes - we see them all from Western reports, but never a mention of weapons.

The only way to know that weapons are still being smuggled is because Egypt regularly intercepts weapons and explosives caches on their way to Rafah. Gaza reporters, however, cannot bring themselves to mention that fact.

Hass mentions it here - but to a Palestinian Arab audience, and not as a reporter but as an advocate.

Isn't the presence of weapons for sale in Rafah an important fact? Apparently, not to the Western reporters who love filing tunnel stories, and apparently not to Amira Hass herself.

The MSM meme of starving Gazans is too important. If reporters would mention that weapons are getting smuggled into Gaza and sold (as well as given to terror groups), some stupid readers might start thinking that perhaps food is not the most important thing to Gazans - and we can't have that, can we?