Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, April 13, 2009

Saudis go nuts over - sewing machines

Rumors that Singer sewing machines contain the so-called “red mercury” substance has sent prices skyrocketing around the Kingdom, with individuals flocking to markets to pay up to SR200,000 [$53,000] for a single machine.

The rumors, which first started circulating a few days ago via the Internet and then the word of mouth, led to a rush for sewing machines that could previously have been bought for as little as SR200.

Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, described the rumors, which have gathered momentum around the Kingdom, “as false and deceptive.”

Believers of the rumors say that the presence of a drop of red mercury in the machine’s needle can be verified with a mobile telephone. If the line cuts off when the telephone is placed close to the needle, they say, that proves the existence of the substance.

In Madina, trading in the sewing machines was intense in many places. Potential buyers were seen using their mobile telephones to check the machines for the level of its red mercury content.

While crowds have also thronged car boot sales and other market areas in search of the sewing machines, others have resorted to theft, with two female tailoring shops broken into in Dhulum and their sewing machines taken.

So what is "red mercury?"

It is a mythical substance, rumored to be used to build nuclear weapons, that supposedly is worth a fortune.

Those Singer folks are brilliant to start such a rumor!

Triple "honor killing" plus Gaza kids killed by Hamas bomb

From PCHR:

On Thursday, 9 April 2009, three members of the ‘Olaiwa family – including a child – were murdered in Gaza City. The police found three bodies belonging to Sufian ‘Arafat 'Olaiwa, 45, his wife, Miriam al-Majdoub (‘Olaiwa), 30, and his son, Jawhar Sufian ‘Olaiwa, 5, in their houses in al-Shoja’eya neighborhood in the east of Gaza City. The victims were shot by several bullets to different parts of their bodies. On the same day, the police arrested three members of the ‘Olaiwa family for questioning. Yousef Abdul Wahab, Chief of the Police Criminal Investigation Bureau in Gaza, told PCHR that the crimes were related to ‘family honor’.

This is not a clan clash - this is members of a family killing other members of the same family for "honor." I'm not sure what heinous crime 5-year old Jawhar did, but it must have been a doozy.

Also, two weeks ago two Gaza boys were killed while playing with a "suspicious object" which exploded. The original stories concerning this made it sound like they were leftover Israeli ordnance, but PCHR says:

Palestinian police sources informed PCHR that they had opened an investigation into the incident, but they have not yet obtained any data about the suspicious object.

This is the Hamas police, of course, and if they are not blaming Israel immediately this means that the kids found one of the hundreds of booby traps that Hamas had seeded urban areas of Gaza with.

The 2009 PalArab self-death count is now at 66.

Chol HaMoed Open Thread

Since I am not able to do any real blogging until later tonight, it is time for the highly anticipated and always unpredictable Open Thread, where various and sundry topics get discussed in entertaining ways.

Lotsa Matzoh

I was just reading the back of a Manischewitz matzoh box, where they are celebrating their 120th anniversary, and I wondered - did they invent the machine matzoh?

A brief Google search brought me to an article from Time magazine last week that answered that and many other matzoh questions:

For thousands of years, the story of matzo remained relatively unchanged. For one week during Passover, observant Jews refrained from any leavened bread product (meaning, anything made from dough that is able to rise), replacing it with irregularly shaped discs of handmade matzo. Orthodox Jews went a step further, eating only shmurah, or "guarded" matzo made from grains that had been watched by a Jewish official from the moment of harvest to ensure that they never came into contact with a liquid that would lead to accidental leavening. According to rabbinic law, once the flour is combined with water, matzo dough must be kneaded, rolled and baked within 18 minutes — otherwise it will begin to rise.

In 1838, a Frenchman named Isaac Singer invented a matzo-dough-rolling machine that cut down on the dough's prep time and made mass production possible. But changes to 3,000-year-old religious traditions never go smoothly, and Singer's invention became a hot-button issue for 19th century Jewish authorities. In 1959, a well-known Ukrainian rabbi named Solomon Kluger published an angry manifesto against machine-made matzo, while his brother-in-law, Rabbi Joseph Saul Nathanson, published a defense. Jewish communities around the world weighed in on the issue — arguing that handmade matzo provided kneading jobs for the poor; that the machine made matzo cheap enough that poor people could afford it; that the mitzvah, or good deed, of eating matzo was ruined if a machine was used; that the machine made it easier to abide by the 18-minute rule. These discussions were not resolved quickly — and in some Orthodox communities, not at all.

In 1888, a Lithuanian immigrant named Dov Behr opened the first matzo-making factory in Cincinnati, Ohio. Behr adopted the name Manischewitz, named his factory the B. Manischewitz Company and developed an entirely automated method of matzo production. In advertisements, Manischewitz boasted that "no human hand touches these matzos!" By 1920, he was the world's largest matzo producer — at 1.25 million rectangular, sheetlike matzos a day — but he always adhered to the original kosher rules. As Manischewitz's popularity grew, so did the general perception of matzo. Gone were the lumps and bumps of homemade mazo; machine-made mazo was uniform in size, shape, taste and texture. Manischewitz endured some controversy for his use of machines, but after he spent 13 years studying the Talmud in Jerusalem, even the most hardened traditionalists eventually considered him an acceptable authority on matzo. The Manischewitz family sold the company in 1990 for $42.5 million; the brand is still the most popular type of matzo in the world.
Matzo Facts:

1. A matzo bakery was invited to the 1938 New York World's Fair, but for unknown reasons never appeared.

2. In 1973, Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan shouted, "Man, oh, Manischewitz," the matzo company's slogan, in the middle of his moonwalk.

3. In 2008, competitive-eating champion Joey Chestnut ate 78 matzo balls in eight minutes for a $1,500 prize.

But Time magazine in 2009 is not the only mainstream media to be interested in matzoh. Here's a typically inaccurate but fascinating article from the New York Times, April 4, 1871 (click to enlarge):

Roger Cohen unveils his "appease Iran" plan

What can you say about someone who is so consistently wrongheaded and stubborn as to keep digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole of insanity?

Today, Roger Cohen, the self-appointed guru of realpolitik, unveils his Grand Plan for Peace, Sunshine and Unicorns!

Iran ceases military support for Hamas and Hezbollah; adopts a “Malaysian” approach to Israel (nonrecognition and noninterference); agrees to work for stability in Iraq and Afghanistan; accepts intrusive International Atomic Energy Agency verification of a limited nuclear program for peaceful ends only; promises to fight Qaeda terrorism; commits to improving its human rights record.
The United States commits itself to the Islamic Republic’s security and endorses its pivotal regional role; accepts Iran’s right to operate a limited enrichment facility with several hundred centrifuges for research purposes; agrees to Iran’s acquiring a new nuclear power reactor from the French; promises to back Iran’s entry into the World Trade Organization; returns seized Iranian assets; lifts all sanctions; and notes past Iranian statements that it will endorse a two-state solution acceptable to the Palestinians.

There is a fundamental flaw when trying to apply realpolitik to the Muslim world.

Realpolitik by definition is not ideological - and Islam by definition is.

The vapid assumption that ideologically motivated Muslims such as the Iranian leadership can violate their core principles for practical considerations is breathtakingly wrongheaded. The Islamic Republic of Iran styles itself as being based on moral and religious principles, and in reality they are not subject to compromise unless they are backed into a corner, when the principles may be downplayed but never changed.

Cohen's plan is fundamentally flawed in another way as well. It assumes that Iran's leaders are not only practical, but that they are trustworthy. For someone who thinks of himself as an expert on Iran, this betrays an unparalleled amount of self-deception on Cohen's part. In the past few years, how many times have we seen Iran flout the IAEA and UN? How many times have we seen them promise that they were only working towards a peaceful nuclear program, only to find out later about secret military nuclear programs that the IAEA has been banned from inspecting? Even Cohen agrees that Iran is working towards a "virtual nuclear power status" - even as Iran denies that today! If Cohen agrees that Iran is lying today about its aims, why on earth would he believe them if they would "agree" under his plan to stop funding and arming Hezbollah and Hamas? They are doing it covertly now!

Iran, however, would love this plan. It can easily lie and bifurcate about its "commitments" all the while happily accepting its increased prestige and power that would be given to it. To take an example, Iran would - and does - insist that it carefully respects the human rights of all its citizens even as it persecutes dissidents and executes minors.

One other point that Cohen makes that comes out of Neverland: the idea that Iran has endorsed a two-state solution "acceptable to the Palestinians." The only thing I can think of was an incident from last year where Iran's flag was placed on an advertisement by the PLO pushing the Arab peace plan. Iran's reaction was pretty explicit:

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."

How moderate! How practical!

Cohen is another of a long line of people who think that if they just shut their eyes tightly enough and believe, that when they can see again the world will be magically aligned with their fantasies.

Honor killings!

A 28-year old woman was dragged from her home to a field and smothered to death with a waterlogged towel in Deir al-Balah in Gaza.

According to the Mezan Center for Human Rights, this is the third "honor killing" in less than two months. This is one of them, and here are some details on the other one, from March 26th:

The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, based in Gaza, reported on Wednesday that a 31-year old woman was stabbed to death on Tuesday at night. The woman gave birth to a child boy less than two weeks ago.

The Center added that on Tuesday approximately at 21:15, four young men came to the house of Ola Hasan Safi, 31, and then the neighbors heard screams coming from her house.

The police was called to the scene and found Safi repeatedly stabbed in her neck and back. Forensic examination showed several bruises on her back in addition to stab marks on her back, chest, abdomen, and neck.

The Al Mezan Center said that Safi gave birth to a healthy child less than two weeks ago, and that she was staying at her father’s home due to a conflict with her husband.

Remember, violence against women in Gaza is completely normal and should only be blamed on barbaric Israeli practices.

The 2009 PalArab self-death count is at 61.

Gaza "fishing boat" explodes in botched attack

From YNet:

A Palestinian fishing boat exploded as it neared the Israeli coast from the direction of Gaza.

IDF sources estimated that the booby-trapped boat was activated by remote control and meant to explode near an Israeli Navy vessel or a coastal community.

A naval patrol followed the boat for about an hour and spotted no people on board. As it was several hundred meters off the Gaza shore and heading north the boat exploded.

None of the soldiers was injured and no damage was reported.

IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi said that the boat was loaded with a large amount of explosives.

The "Free Gaza" movement has been obsessing over Israel's patrols off the Gaza shore to ensure no weapons being smuggled into Gaza as well as to stop "fishing boats" like these from steering into Israeli ports. Not surprisingly, they have been silent about this incident.

The algorithm of Palestinian Arab claims

There is a very simple algorithm to determine if Palestinian Arabs claim that something belongs to them.

Step 1. Determine if Israel claims it.

Done!

Jewish shrines? Every single one is claimed to be a Muslim shrine, belonging to Palestinian Arabs.

Jewish-built cities? Every single one is claimed to have been built on some Palestinian Arab village.

Zionist advances in science, medicine, arts, literature? All wouldn't have been possible without the Zionists "stealing land," therefore it belongs to Palestinian Arabs.

Eastern Palestine? No, Jews aren't claiming it, so Jordan can keep it.

The Sinai? No, Jews gave that up, and Egypt wants to make sure that no Palestinian Arabs could possibly own land there. Maybe some of them considered it Palestinian Arab land before Camp David, but certainly not now.

And now the Palestinian Arabs are claiming - the Dead Sea Scrolls!

From Ma'an:

The Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities called on Canada to cancel an exhibition of Dead Sea Scrolls, which an official said were stolen by Israel from the West Bank, AFP reported on Sunday.

"The exhibition would entail exhibiting or displaying artifacts removed from the Palestinian territories," said Hamdan Taha of the ministry's archaeological department, according to the Toronto Star Newspaper.

Taha called on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harmer to cancel the exhibition, which is scheduled to open at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto in June.

Other senior Palestinian officials signed the letter to Canada's prime minister, the AFP reported, insisting that the texts were taken illegally after Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1967.

Isn't it interesting that they say that the Scrolls were taken in 1967? I wonder what Palestinian Arab had them in his possession before that, and who exactly stole them from him. Especially since they were being studied throughout the 1950s and 60s. And most of them were purchased in the 1950s by David Samuel Gottesman and given as a gift to the State of Israel, where the Shrine of the Book that houses many of them was built in 1965.

Apparently, since the Palestinian Arabs have so little to show for their past sixty years of whining, they think it is much more efficient to claim everything Israeli as really being theirs. It sure saves effort, and they know from experience that the world will believe them, no matter how outlandish their claims are.

Another day, another bomb factory in a mosque

Ma'an Arabic reports:

The Palestinian Interior Ministry on Sunday revealed that their security forces seized a cache of explosives inside a mosque in the city of Qalqilya.

The ministry said in a statement to Ma'an that the explosives seized by the security forces have been manufactured inside the mosque, which it seized, in addition to find the quantities of materials used in the manufacture of these explosives.

Arutz-7 fills in the details:

Hamas terrorists in Kalkilya built a large supply of bombs and stored them in a local mosque without raising suspicion from local Palestinian Authority armed forces who represent the rival Fatah faction. However, the terrorists were out of luck on Wednesday, Passover eve, when a simple electric shortage gave away their plans.

The shortage caused a small fire in the mosque, bringing PA forces to the building, where they found bombs ready for use and large cannisters of bomb-making materials. The mosque was closed down, and PA sappers removed the explosives.

The bombs were then turned over to the IDF, which sent experts to detonate the weapons in a controlled explosion.

A captain in the PA forces told Israeli journalists that the mosque had been used to both produce and store the bombs. “It was a huge weapons lab,” he said.

Four people have been arrested in connection to the incident, he said, two of them members of Hamas and two “everyday citizens.”

If you listen very carefully, you can almost hear the complete absence of any outrage on the part of Muslims that one of their holy sites was used to manufacture weapons of death. Could it be that they think that the murder of human beings is completely consistent with the Religion of Peace?

"Settlers" "storming" Temple Mount

Ma'an reports:

Israeli police allowed 50 right-wing settlers to tour the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Sunday afternoon without a police escort.

Ma’an’s correspondent in Jerusalem reports that the settlers entered the compound during a time slot reserved for foreign tourists.

Palestinians who were in the compound at the time said that they found the settlers’ tour “provocative.” They said that Israeli police stationed at the entrance refused to remove the settlers when this was requested by Palestinians.

Amazing how Ma'an can tell that these people are all "settlers."

Palestine Press Agency says that the Israelis "stormed" the Al Aqsa compound, as did Palestine Today.

Of course, the big concern is not that they would riot, or shoot, or throw stones at Muslim worshipers. No, the big concern is that they might start to - gasp - pray! Prayer scares the Palestinian Arabs far more than tanks.

It is a good sign that the Israeli police didn't discriminate against religious visitors to the Temple Mount today, as they always do. Yet that behavior is rarely reported as discriminatory, even as thousands of visitors stream to the Temple Mount daily and only the religious Jews are stopped and severely limited in what they can do.

Sharia court allows divorce via SMS

From Arab News:

JEDDAH: A Shariah court here has approved the divorce of a young Saudi woman in her 20s whose husband sent her an SMS text from Iraq saying he had divorced her.
The husband, who is in Iraq to participate in what he described as “jihad,” also telephoned two of his friends who witnessed his marriage and told them that he had divorced his wife.

Who says that Islam hasn't embraced modernity?

This is not the first time that particular Islamic legal ruling has come up.

Saudi judge upholds pedophilia

From CNN (h/t Global Freezing):

A Saudi mother is expected to appeal a judge's ruling after he once again refused to let her 8-year-old daughter divorce a 47-year-old man, a relative said.

Sheikh Habib Al-Habib made the ruling Saturday in the Saudi city of Onaiza. Late last year, he rejected a petition to annul the marriage.

The case, which has drawn criticism from local and international rights groups, came to light in December when Al-Habib declined to annul the marriage on a legal technicality. His dismissal of the mother's petition sparked outrage and made headlines around the world.

The judge said the mother, who is separated from the girl's father, was not the legal guardian and therefore could not represent her daughter, the mother's lawyer, Abdullah al-Jutaili, said at the time.

The girl's husband pledged not to consummate the marriage until the girl reaches puberty, according to al-Jutaili, who added that the girl's father arranged the marriage to settle his debts with the man, who is considered "a close friend."

In March, an appeals court in the Saudi capital of Riyadh declined to certify the original ruling, in essence rejecting al-Habib's verdict, and sent the case back to al-Habib for reconsideration.

Under the Saudi legal process, the appeals court ruling meant that the marriage was still in effect, but that a challenge to the marriage was still ongoing.

The relative, who said the girl's mother will continue to pursue a divorce, told CNN the judge "stuck by his earlier verdict and insisted that the girl could petition the court for a divorce once she reached puberty."

The appeals court in Riyadh will take up the case again and a hearing is scheduled for next month, according to the relative.

PCHR lies about "civilians" and agrees with IDF about Jabalya

PCHR finally came out with the English translation of their list of victims of the Gaza operation, and already a number of things merit attention.

PTWatch, in the comments, quickly looked at Hamas' list of "martyrs" from Gaza on its Al Qassam website and immediately found four people who Hamas happily claimed as members of their terrorist group - and who PCHR called "civilians."

#576 Ayman Mohammed Mohammed ‘Afana
PCHR -> civilian
AlQassam -> martyr & fighter

#959 Amir Yousif Mahmoud al-Mansi
PCHR -> civilian
AlQassam -> martyr & fighter

#406 Ali Zuheir Mahmoud al-Houbi
PCHR -> civilian
AlQassam -> martyr & fighter

#133 Mohammed Salah Hassan al-Sawaf
PCHR -> civilian
AlQassam -> martyr & fighter

To this list you can add #257, Ayman Fou’ad Eid al-Nahhal, whom PCHR identifies as a "policeman/civilian."

And Hamas clearly isn't publicizing the names of all of its members. These are just the ones on their website that they admit were killed. Both parties are lying.

There are other terrorists listed as "civilians," such as #864, Tareq Mohammed Nemer Abu ‘Amsha, who CAMERA noted that Ma'an listed as a member of Islamic Jihad al-Quds Brigades.

Intriguingly, some of the terrorists that CAMERA mentioned, who were listed in the weekly PCHR casualty reports, are mysteriously missing from the final report. Is PCHR protecting itself from listing too many dead terrorists? Were they never killed to begin with? It is something that people should be asking PCHR.

One other relevant part of the report: PCHR lists people who were killed "near" and "opposite" the al-Fakhoura School in the Jabalya camp on January 6th. You may recall that the UNRWA told me explicitly that they stood by the casualty figures of 30-50 dead at the school even after the IDF claimed that only 12 were killed. The PCHR itself claimed at the time that 27 civilians were killed instantly at the school.

Well, the PCHR counts of who died near the school are very interesting. Once you do not count the Deeb family - who PCHR says died "opposite" the school, who do appear to have been victims of an errant shell, and who were not counted as casualties from the school by PCHR in January - we are left with 12 dead! The IDF figures are found to be exactly right! The PCHR now says the Deebs were "opposite" the school, whatever that means, while the remaining 12 victims (11 from January 6, 1 from January 7) were "near" the school.

So now we know that not only is the PCHR lying as to who is a "civilian," and not only is Hamas lying as to the number of their own terrorists who were killed, but the UNRWA is also lying in claiming that many dozens were killed at the school - even according to the lying PCHR.

UPDATE: More names of terrorists described as "civilians" by PCHR, and terrorists not listed:

#1314 Ashraf Rebhi al-‘Abed Banar PFLP terrorist described as "Fallen in Battle" by PFLP, civilian by PCHR

# 908 Jamal Ahmed Hussein Nashwan PFLP terrorist "was a leader of the PFLP in the eastern area of Beit Hanoun"

#412 Nizar Abdul Kader Mohammed Rayan prominent Hamas leader

Hamas military leader Abu Zakariyya Al-Jamal not listed

# 468 Mahmoud ‘Adnan Mahmoud Abu Ma’arouf - Hamas member listed as Mahmoud Arif in Ma'an

# 747 Mohammed ‘Ayesh Mansour Abu Naser "affiliated to the Ayman Juda faction, an offshoot of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah."

#1185 Hamdi Saleh Mohammed Hamada "Al Aqsa fighter"

# 1054 Sa’ad Mohammed Abdullah Hassan "fighter"

# 1047 Ahmed Ibrahim Mohammed Abu Jazar Islamic Jihad "martyr"

Haggadah correction

I found a couple of mistakes in my downloadable Haggadah, plus I made some last minute additions before Yom Tov, so here is a link to the latest version.

In the end the EoZ Haggadah had over 750 downloads.

If I made it into a much more serious, expanded and better-designed Haggadah for next year, in full color with a hard-cover, would you pay $25 or so for it? I don't think I could self-publish it for any less. I know I could do a much better job, I just don't know if it is worth it.