Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, September 05, 2009

More Starving Gazans

Palestine Today gives us another photo essay of Gaza. Notice again how close to starvation everyone appears, just like they did two weeks ago.

Those hanging objects sure look like meat to me....

Hamas tonight announced the death of Sameh Al-Bitar, who they said was martyred while doing a "special jihad mission" in Gaza City.

This always means that either the guy blew himself up or was accidentally (or purposefully) killed by one of his comrades.

Either way, it is time to hand out the candy!

In other peaceful PalArab news, two brothers were shot and killed in a camp near Ramallah, and two others injured.

Since Ramadan began two weeks ago, there have been no less than 80 family fights that required police to intervene in the PalArab territories.

The 2009 PalArab self-death count is now at 182.

UPDATE: A Gazan man stabbed his cousin to death. 183.

Now, we have Zionist Attack Snakes to add to the zoo

We've already seen Arabs blaming Israel for attacks done by dogs, pigs, wolves, lions, rats and sheep. We've seen the terror of Zionist cows.

Today, we can add another member to the Zionist Attack Zoo: Snakes.

yewitnesses said a snake at least one meter long bit a woman on farmland near Salfit. The woman was transferred to the National Hospital in Nablus for anti-venom treatment.

Locals, who have often accused Ariel settlers of releasing wild boars into villages and farmland, said the snake was likely released from the nearby settlement, noting it escaped after the attack toward the confiscated land.

As in previous cases, the venomous Zionists managed to train snakes to distinguish between Jew and Arab, a very useful skill.

And you thought that snake charming was only done in India!

Solana hated Mohammed cartoons, no problem with antisemitism

A comment from Brad prompted me to look up, after Javier Solana's passionate defense of freedom of the press and freedom of expression in context of bald-faced slanderous lies by Aftonbladet, what he thought after the Mohammed cartoon kerfuffle.

As could be expected, freedom of expression was the furthest thing from his mind then, much to the consternation of the Dutch:

The Netherlands has sharply criticised EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana for the allegedly apologetic tone he has used when facing Muslim countries in the row over Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed.

Dutch foreign minister Bernard Bot has put in a protest to Mr Solana objecting to remarks he made last week during his tour around Muslim countries, a Dutch spokesman confirmed.

Among other things, the EU's top foreign policy official said after meeting the leader of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIS), Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu "I expressed our sincere regret that religious feelings have been hurt", vowing "to reach out...to make sure that people’s hearts and minds are not hurt again."

Dutch daily De Telegraaf quotes the Dutch state secretary for European Affairs Atzo Nicolai as characterising the tone used by Mr Solana as "shocking."

Speaking at a political debate on Monday (20 February) Mr Nicolai said "He has toured around in order to offer apologies. On behalf of whom, I ask. You and me? We haven't drawn those cartoons."

The Netherlands is also deeply unhappy with a joint statement issued on 7 February by Mr Solana on behalf of the EU together with the OIS leader and UN secretary-general Kofi Annan.

One passage of the statement says that "The anguish in the Muslim world at the publication of these offensive caricatures is shared by all individuals and communities who recognise the sensitivity of deeply held religious belief."

I'm trying to find some consistency in Solana's positions.

Does he believe that satire is more hurtful than a straight-out fabrication that recalls the worst anti-semitism of the past five centuries?

Or does his care about people's feelings only extend to their religious feelings, as somehow being more fragile than other types of feelings?

Perhaps he considers crudely drawn cartoons inherently more offensive than a two-page photo spread screaming that Jews like to kill people to profit from their organs?

Or, possibly he knows that no Jews threaten anyone's lives when they are slandered, while Muslims will murder people for the slightest provocation, thus proving that Muslims must be pandered to at all costs - even at the cost of the freedom of expression that Solana pretends to care so much about?

Hmmm...tough choice.

Hezbollah loses money from a "Lebanese Madoff"

From YNet:

Three senior Hezbollah operatives are among those who invested and lost funds with Lebanese businessman Salah Ezzadine, who has been nicknamed the 'Lebanese Madoff' after being accused of losing over a billion dollars of his clients' money.

During the prisoner swap Wafik Safa became known in Israel for refusing to reveal the status of the two captured soldiers until the very last minute, just before their bodies were brought out in coffins.

Al-Arabiya reported that the other two men were the leader of Hezbollah's parliament bloc, Mohammad Raad, and a member of the bloc, Amin Sherri. The report did not say whether they had lost their own private funds or those of the organization.

Earlier this week the Lebanese a-Safir reported that Ezzadine, a prominent Lebanese businessman, is accused of leading a giant Ponzi scheme and that he was arrested by Hezbollah in Beirut while attempting to flee the country.

Naharnet adds that Ezzedine was close with Hezbollah and his bankruptcy is making thousands of Lebanese, presumably also Hezbollah supporters or members, jobless.

Al Quds is reporting that Hezbollah fears that when Ezzedine talks, he might reveal the illegal sources of income that Hezbollah uses, like drug trafficking.

Awwwww.

Javier Solana rapes little boys every night

In an interview in Al Arabiya today, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana refused to condemn the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet's blood libel against Israel, saying that what the paper did falls under freedom of expression and one is free to agree or disagree with it.

He seemed to denounce Israel's attacks on the newspaper, asking Al Arabiya's readers to defend freedom of the press even when one disagrees with what is written.

I am glad to hear Solana say that, because there are unsourced reports that Solana rapes little boys every night to help him go to sleep. Of course, Solana must butcher them in the morning to ensure that they don't talk about it. I believe that this news needs to be publicized as widely as possible so that a proper investigation can occur after everyone reads about it. And if he is upset about such accusations, he does not have the right to attack any newspaper (or blog) that publishes this story, because of the sanctity of freedom of expression.

From the Asia Times:

For the first time on Arabic television, a dramatic production airing this Ramadan, the holy Muslim month, depicts the life of Egyptian Jews during the 1920s and 1930s, showing them in favorable light as ordinary citizens, no different from Egyptian Muslims and Christians.

The series is as controversial as the life of its heroine, Egyptian diva Layla Murad - a Jewish singer and actress who rocketed to fame in the inter-war years before her life was marred with controversy after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

Currently showing on 14 Arabic channels, Ana Albi Dalili (My Heart is my Guide), is among the most widely watched works among 60 productions made by Egyptian and Syrian artists in 2009. Apart from covering the life of Layla, the work goes to great lengths to promote tolerance and co-existence, shattering long-held stereotypes against Arab Jews, showing how integrated and proactive they were within Egyptian society.

Layla Murad, with a powerful legacy of 27 black and white classics in Egyptian cinema and 1,200 songs, was one of the most popular, talented and beautiful Arab artists of the 20th century. She compared in fame only to the Egyptian Um Kalthoum and the Syrian diva Asmahan - together, they were the three women who competed for supremacy on Arab charts in the 1930s.

Born to a Moroccan Jewish father named Ibrahim Zaki Murad in February 1918, Layla's mother was a Polish Jew named Gamila. ....

Matters took an unpleasant turn in 1948, when Israel was created, prompting many of her audience to become suspicious of her Jewish origins. Vicious rumors spread throughout Egypt and the Arab world - probably started by her competitors - saying that Murad had visited Tel Aviv and donated 50,000 Egyptian pounds to the newly created Israeli Defense Forces.

The Damascus bureau of the popular Egyptian daily al-Ahram originally reported that rumor. Murad categorically challenged the rumors, but with little luck. The damage had already been done. Syrian Radio, previously one of the most powerful promoters of her works, boycotted her songs and she was banned from entering Syria in the early 1950s.

Murad converted to Islam after marrying Egyptian director Anwar Wajdi, and often told reporters, "I am now an Egyptian Muslim!" President Gamal Abdul Nasser intervened on her behalf when Syria and Egypt merged into the United Arab Republic in 1958, lifting the ban on Syrian Radio. An official communique was released by Egyptian authorities clearing her name from all charges, including that which accused her of having visited Israel in 1948.

Rumors, however, rocked her life in the 10 years after 1948. Some said she died in a car accident in Paris. Others said she was married in secret to King Farouk I. Nothing, however, compared with the stories of her connections to Zionism, resulting in Murad's retirement from music and descent into complete obscurity until her death at the age of 77 in 1995.

The Zionist connection badly affected her health, both physically and psychologically, sending her into spells of severe depression. At one point, she was humiliatingly requested to show all her financial records to the authorities to prove that she had never made any illegal donations to Israel.

The one-time "Lady of Egyptian Cinema" - out of business and fame for more than 40 years - faced a severe financial crisis towards the end of her life before dying in complete bankruptcy.

The new series, which carries the name of one of her most memorable songs Ana Albi Dalili, has raised more than a stir in Arab media since it began airing in late August. One scene shows Layla's father Zaki Murad (played by the Egyptian star Izzat Abu al-Ouf) at a cafe with friends who clearly, from their names, are all Muslims.

Collectively they decide, both Muslims and Jew, to take part in an anti-British demonstration, in 1919. Majdi Saber, the scriptwriter, clearly tries to demonstrate that Egyptian Jews suffered no discrimination in the Arab world prior to the creation of Israel in 1948. Another scene shows a Jew raising funds for Jewish immigrants fleeing from Europe during World War II and lobbying with Egyptian Jews to emigrate to Palestine to increase its Jewish population.

Layla's father Zaki naturally refuses, patriotically holding on to his Arab origins. The Jew then tries convincing him to "purchase" a different nationality, in case tension arises between Egyptian Jews and Muslims. Once again, Zaki refuses. Zaki's home in the film is free from any Jewish symbols or Hebrew script.

Layla's 1945 conversion to Islam is set to appear in the 17th episode of the series. The series shows that she converted out of conviction, after marrying Anwar Wejdi, and not out of political intimidation due to rising tension between Jews and Arabs in Palestine. We are yet to see how her life is portrayed once it is scarred by rumors after 1948.

Works like these are important in the Arab world because they shed light on the life of leading figures who, for political reasons, were grossly maltreated during the second half of the 20th century and have been forgotten by a young generation of Arab audiences. Those young people are, however, avid TV watchers during the annual feast of special programs every Ramadan.

The "controversial" part seems to be the fact that Layla's father actually was friends with Muslims.

While this appears to be a step in the right direction, notice how Arab TV takes pains to eliminate any vestiges of Judaism from this "good" example of a Jew (who of course converted, they say, for love of Islam.) Layla's father was in fact a chazzan/cantor, and the idea that there were no Jewish symbols in his house is laughable.

Apparently, to Arabs watching this groundbreaking series today, the only good Jew is a Jew stripped of all Judaism (not to mention attachment to Israel.)

The inhabitants of Palestine, 1851

I just found this survey of Palestine's inhabitants by Geroge Henry Taylor in a geography textbook published in 1851. It has the usual bigotry of Christian-written books of the period, but it is still interesting, especially in terms of how Jews were treated under Muslim rule (contrary to the propaganda spouted nowadays of how well Muslims and Jews lived together before Zionism):

I wish now to give you some notion of the modern inhabitants of Palestine. If you look at the table attentively you will soon perceive that Palestine has been conquered and possessed by many different nations, and, consequently, you may expect to find the results of these conquests in a strange mixture of various nations in the inhabitants. The following list will comprise all the more important classes and races of men who now inhabit Palestine :

1. Turks. 4. Maronites.

2. Greek Christians. 5. Arabs.

3. Druses. 6. Jews.

1. Turks. First, of the Turks. These are the last conquerors of the country and are, consequently, the most numerous. All the towns of greatest importance are occupied by them. The Turks are all followers of Mahommed, and the Koran is their Bible. Under their rule Palestine must ever remain a poor and miserable country. Extortion prevails everywhere. The poor Arab is ground to the dust. All agriculture languishes. Hundreds of acres at this moment lie barren and uncultivated. None like to risk their labour and their money in such pursuits; for when the crops are ripe the tax-gatherer comes and seizes just as much as the pasha requires, taking sometimes nearly the whole of the produce. In consequence of this extortion many of the inhabitants of Palestine prefer to drag out a miserable existence in the towns. Hence poverty, idleness, dirt, want, and disease are common all over the country.

2. Greek Christians. The Greek Christians are numerous, and are to be found in all the large towns, where they possess one or more convents. At present they enjoy an ample share of toleration, and by their activity in trade have increased in numbers and wealth.

3. Druses. Of the Druses I have spoken to you before. They reside chiefly in the mountainous district of Lebanon, and are a very peculiar sect, seeming to regard all kinds of religious worship with equal indifference. They are, however, a brave and hardy people, remarkable for their love of independence and unbounded generosity. Their number is estimated at 120,000, and though the greater portion resides at Libanus individuals are found scattered all over the country.

4. Maronites. Of the Maronites I have also spoken before. They are in connexion with the Romish Church, though they have some peculiar rites and ceremonies of their own. Their patriarch dwells at Carobin, in Syria. According to all accounts they are a frugal, economical, and industrious people. They inhabit the mountains of Syria, though numbers of them are found in Palestine.

5. Arabs. Now we come to the Arabs. The Bedouin Arabs wander in considerable numbers over the plains of Palestine. They have no fixed place of abode, and live, as of old, by pillage and violence. Throughout the deserts the Arabs reign supreme, and life and property are maintained only by the sword. The dress of the Arabs is very simple, consisting of a long, blue, cotton shirt, which reaches down to the knees. Their legs and feet are sometimes naked, and sometimes covered either with buskins or sandals. " A small turban, or rather a dirty rag, is bound across their temples, one corner of which, sometimes fringed with strings in knots, is allowed to hang down." The Arab women seem to delight in making themselves look ugly. " Their faces, heads, and arms are tattooed and covered with hideous scars ; their eye-lashes and eyes are always painted with some dingy black or blue powder; their lips of a deep and dusky blue; their teeth jet black; their nails and fingers brick red ; and their wrists as well as their ankles laden with large metal cinctures studded with sharp knobs and bits of glass. A small button studded with pearl, or a piece of glass, or any other glittering substance, is fastened by a plug and thrust through the cartilage of the nose." According to our notions of beauty this must make the Arabian women very ugly indeed, but I have no doubt that they think such ornaments very great improvements. The mountains and deserts of Syria, Arabia, and northern Africa, are the haunts of the wandering Arabs. Here, uncorrupted by foreign influences, they retain their primitive manners. A true Arab disdains to cultivate the soil. His must be a life of unrestrained freedom. To be an expert robber is an object of ambition. Mounted on their beautiful horses with the speed of the wind they fly through the desert pillaging caravans, and sometimes taking prisoners, for whose release they require a large ransom. The presence of this peculiar people contributes no little to the insecurity of life and property in Palestine. The cultivator of the soil may see in a moment all his fair prospects blighted by an incursion of mounted Arabs, who will strip a field in the twinkling of an eye, and scamper off with the same expedition to their homes in the desert.

6. Jews. We now come to the Jews. Latterly they have increased in numbers in the ancient city of Jerusalem ; but everywhere throughout the Turkish dominions they are a despised, degraded, and a persecuted race. Denied all civil privileges, tyrannized over and trampled upon, their character is just what such treatment is calculated to make it. Of all the inhabitants of Palestine none are so poor and so wretched-looking as the Jews. Those who possess wealth are obliged to keep it secret lest the persecuting Turks should render their exactions more oppressive. It is not uncommon for the traveller to find the outside of a Jew's house dirty and miserable-looking, and the inside well- furnished with all that contributes to comfort and happiness. Jerusalem is still the Holy City of the Jews ; and when wandering far away in the various countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and struggling against a common persecution and oppression they feel the bitterness of their servitude, thitherward they cast their eyes, and a transient gleam of hope that a brighter day will yet dawn upon Israel, affords a momentary but delusive gladness.

PCHR's Other Lies

We've already demonstrated conclusively that literally hundreds of people that the PCHR called "civilian" casualties of Operation Cast Lead were, in fact, terrorists. (And the incredible team of t34zakat, PTWatch and Suzanne are still finding more.)

The problem is not only that PCHR was unaware of these people's affiliations. PCHR's weekly reports during Cast Lead detail a number of specific incidents that show that the organization knew quite well that the dead were terrorists - and chose to categorize them as "civilian" anyway.

For example:

#1294 in PCHR's casualty list, Naser Yusif Abdul Hadi al-Siefi, was listed in the weekly PCHR report as follows:

At approximately 17:00, the IOF artillery fired at a number of Palestinians, including a resistance activist, in the east of al-Zaytoun neighborhood. As a result, a civilian and a resistance activist were killed:

1. Hashem Rabah al-Hatu, 45, a civilian; and

2. Nasser al-Saifi, 38, a resistance activist.

Not only does this show that it is likely that al-Saifi was engaged in hostilities at the time, it also indicates that the civilian killed was probably unavoidable.

In the same report, PCHR writes:

In the evening, medical crews found the bodies of two activists of the Palestinian resistance in Tal al-Hawa neighborhood in the south of Gaza City. They were killed during the IOF incursion into the area. The two were identified as:

1. Mohammed Nawaf Na'im, 24; and

2. 'Abdullah Nawaf Na'im, 19.

Two known terrorists' bodies were found, no civilians with them.

Keep in mind that the actual number of members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terror groups were about 20,000, in a population of some 1.5 million. That means that one in every 75 Gazans were terrorists. If Israel was shooting at random groups of people, we would expect that only about 1/75 of the dead would be terrorists, or only about 19 of them (rather than the 654 terrorists and police we've identified.)

The odds are extraordinarily low (about one in 5625) that Israel bombed Gaza randomly and killed two people who happened to be terrorists with no other casualties. Yet PCHR, who spent lots of time "researching" the circumstances of the deaths of everyone in their list, referred to both of these people as "civilians" (#1216 and #1317)

Another example:

During IOF ground incursion into Tal al-Hawa neighborhood that continued until 07:00 on Friday, 16 January 2009, ten members of the Palestinian resistance were killed. The dead are: Hamdi Ibrahim al-Banna, 23; Medhat 'Abed Ali Bannar, 24; Na'im Khader Hamada, 20; Mahmoud Khader Abu Salem, 19; 'Ammar Maher Farawana, 18; Farid Hejazi al-Hilu, 23; Mu'taz Abdul Muttaleb Dahman, 21; Hussam Hassan al-'AmaSsi, 35; Rebhi Shuhaibar, 25; and Tamer Faza'a, 20.

For some reason, PCHR called Bannar a "civilian" in their casualty list (#1213) while the rest of them were "militants." Yet Al-Mezan and the Palestinian Ministry of Health also categorized Bannar as a "militant."

Even more curious is this case:

At approximately 17:10, an IOF drone fired a missile at a motorcycle in Bani Suhaila village. Ra'fat Khalil Hamdan Abu al-'Ola, 47, who was riding the motorcycle, was killed. The al-Quds Brigades of Islamic Jihad stated that Abu al-'Ola is one of their members.

And Abu al-'Ola is also listed as a "civilian" on the PCHR casualty list (#1290.)

We are going through all the PCHR reports now and will list all of the people that the PCHR had already previously identified as "resistance activists" who they later called civilian. But these examples are enough to prove that the PCHR not only was being disingenuous by claiming that they had no evidence that these people were militants, but that they were outright lying.

(h/t PTWatch who did most of this research)

Question of the day

If a Moslem dies of swine flu, is he still allowed to enter Paradise?

(h/t Yeruslalimey iin the comments)

Today's Palestinian Arab news (9/3/09)

Now that UNRWA has proven itself to be a useful puppet of Hamas, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry is accusing UNRWA of seizing medicines and participating in the blockade against Gaza. Hey, UNRWA clearly will accede to any Hamas demands, so why not just turn UNRWA into another Hamas agency? The UN won't protest.

The moderate PA is creating a tripartate commission, with their ministers of health, interior and foreign affairs, to investigate whether Israel stole organs from Palestinian Arabs, as alleged by a Swedish newspaper. This commission will, no doubt, be as fair and honest as the commission to determine exactly how Israel murdered Arafat. (Major pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Alawsat already takes the accusations as simple fact.)

A US Army delegation paid a surprise visit to the hospital in El Arish, Egypt. Many speculated that this might mean that the US is planning to deploy troops at the Rafah border as part of a peace deal between Israel and the PA.

Hamas took credit for shooting four 80mm mortars at IDF forces, possibly in Gaza itself. As far as I can tell, this is the first time since Cast Lead that Hamas has admitted any involvement in shooting at Israeli troops.

Russia admitted selling MIG-31E aircraft to Syria.

Hamas told a surgeon in the shifa Hospital to leave the premises. When he refused, they literally threw him out on the street. (Palestinian Ministry of Health webpage mentions thi sas well, but it cannot be linked to.)

Egypt has confiscated nearly three tons of explosives on their way to Gaza in two separate seizures in the past couple of days.

Firas Press, in their regular feature of pictures of cute Palestinian Arab kids, brings us this lovely photo of a child wrapped in a Fatah-logo blanket, complete with chic "resistance" keffiyeh. He can remain warm at night snuggling with the rifle, submachine gun, and hand grenade helping his sweet dreams of destroying Israel (represented on the flag as well.)

A whopping Palestinian Arab lie

One of the testimonies to the Goldstone commission came from Sahar Francis, director of the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association. In her statement she said that

from the beginning of the Israeli occupation until now, there have been approximately 750,000 Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel. At the moment there are 8,100 detainees, including 60 women. She said these statistics are based mostly on the Israel Prison Authority’s own figures, published on a monthly basis.

The idea that there have been 750,000 Palestinian Arab prisoners since 1967 is simply absurd.

That would mean that there were, on the average, over 23,000 new prisoners a year since 1967, or 500 a week. Looking at the IPA website on how many of what they call "political prisoners" were in prison during the past few years, we see:

Even during the height of the intifada, the number of these prisoners never reached 10,000. (These figures are for what IPA refers to as political prisoners, meaning Palestinian Arab terror suspects, and not common criminals, so there are some more Arab prisoners than indicated here, but since the figure of 8,100 current prisoners is consistent between what the IPA says and what Adameer says it is reasonable to assume that Adameer is referring only to IPA's "political prisoners." In no way are they to be considered political prisoners in the Western sense of the term.)

Almost certainly the past eight years have seen the largest number of PalArab prisoners in Israeli prison history because of the intifada. Yet even if you assume that each prisoner is detained for only a single year and only arrested once, these past eight years add up to less than 50,000 prisoners; extrapolated to 1967 it would add up to under 200,000.

Even those assumptions are ridiculous. The IPA says that over 60% of prisoners have been arrested previously.

Addameer's own figures show they are lying. This testimony was given in July. Exactly one year earlier, Adameer submitted to the UN figures that Israel had detained over 700,000 prisoners since 1967. Did Israel arrest and jail 50,000 people in the past year?

In order for the 750,000 number to be accurate, it would mean roughly 500 arrests a week every week since 1967. In order for 50,000 new prisoners to appear this year, it would mean around a thousand arrests a week.

The PCHR keeps track of the number of Palestinian Arabs arrested every week. Taking the past two months as examples, we see the date of the weekly report and the number of arrests:

8/26 16
8/19 28
8/12 17
8/5 25
7/29 14
7/22 21
7/15 10
7/8 18
7/1 28

This doesn't quite add up to tens of thousands of arrests a year.

Addameer is lying, and lying on a huge scale. It is simply making up these numbers out of thin air.

The problem is, people believe them.

UN Special Rapporteur John Dugard has testified to these numbers in his reports to the UN.

Jimmy Carter has quoted these numbers as well.

Time magazine uncritically quoted Addameer's earlier figure of 650,000 prisoners this year.

And, as we have seen, Addameer testifies to these lies in front of any commission that is willing to listen to them.

These fake numbers are all over the Internet, usually with the addition (as Carter added) that this means that supposedly 24% of the Palestinian Arab population has been arrested at some point of their lives (again making the false assumption of one arrest per person, layering lies upon lies.)

It will be interesting to see if the Goldstone group repeats the lie in their report.

It is not hard to disprove these numbers bandied about as facts. Yet hardly anyone bothers to do so, while the lies multiply on their own.

UNRWA defends not teaching Holocaust to PalArabs

We had already seen that the UNRWA denied that they were planning to teach or even mention the Holocaust to students in UNRWA schools in light of Hamas accusations.

Today, UNRWA chief John Ging went further, saying that it would be inappropriate to educate Palestinian Arab children about the Holocaust!

An article in Palestine Today (Arabic) quotes Ging as saying "It is not acceptable that Palestinians student are taught the about the Holocaust at a time when Israel is writing off everything related to Palestine in the school curriculum for Palestinian students in Israel."

He stressed that "there is no intention to integrate materials and topics that are inconsistent with the desire of Palestinian society."

Ging said that not a "single word" about the Holocaust is mentioned in the UNRWA Palestinian Arab curricula. He regretted that UNRWA was being attacked by Arabs at a time when (this is a quote from the article, but not a direct quote from Ging) "the Zionist lobby is trying to persuade the U.S. Congress to adopt a resolution to close the Agency and to liquidate its offices in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territories."

He was answering questions asked by te leader of a PalArab human rights organization, who was happy that UNRWA wouldn't teach such an awful topic.

How much of a stretch is it to characterize this as saying that the UNRWA has no problem with widespread Holocaust denial among Arabs? After all, it is not like they are being taught about it in schools to begin with....

Is a Shalit deal in the works?

I have purposefully stayed away from the many stories in both the Israeli and Arab press claiming that a deal for Gilad Shalit is imminent, mostly because we've heard that song before.

But today, Ma'an reports that Israel is releasing nine Hamas leaders from prison. There are still some 23 others in prison.

Israel arrested many Hamas West Bank leaders immediately after Shalit's kidnapping, specifically to pressure Hamas to release him. more were arrested earlier this year for the same reason.

I see no reason why Israel would release Hamas leaders if there wasn't other stuff going on.

This doesn't mean that Shalit is close to being released, but it seems to indicate that things are moving.

UPDATE: "Rape of death-row virgins..." story wrong

UPDATE: This following post is not true. Apparently a satirical Farsi-language website wrote it as a joke and Israel National News took it seriously.

I didn't think the story of Iranians raping virgins in prison before execution could get worse.

I was wrong.

Last month, Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, a close spiritual adviser to Ahmadinejad, answered questions from followers.

"Can an interrogator rape the prisoner in order to obtain a confession?" was [one] question posed to the Islamic cleric.

Mesbah-Yazdi answered: "The necessary precaution is for the interrogator to perform a ritual washing first and say prayers while raping the prisoner. If the prisoner is female, it is permissible to rape through the vagina or anus. It is better not to have a witness present. If it is a male prisoner, then it's acceptable for someone else to watch while the rape is committed."

This reply, and reports of the rape of teen male prisoners in Iranian jails, may have prompted the following question: "Is the rape of men and young boys considered sodomy?"

Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi: "No, because it is not consensual. Of course, if the prisoner is aroused and enjoys the rape, then caution must be taken not to repeat the rape."

A related issue, in the eyes of the questioners, was the rape of virgin female prisoners. In this instance, Mesbah-Yazdi went beyond the permissibility issue and described the Allah-sanctioned rewards accorded the rapist-in-the-name-of-Islam:

"If the judgment for the [female] prisoner is execution, then rape before execution brings the interrogator a spiritual reward equivalent to making the mandated Haj pilgrimage [to Mecca], but if there is no execution decreed, then the reward would be equivalent to making a pilgrimage to [the Shi'ite holy city of] Karbala."

One aspect of these permitted rapes troubled certain questioners: "What if the female prisoner gets pregnant? Is the child considered illegitimate?"

Mesbah-Yazdi answered: "The child borne to any weakling [a denigrating term for women - ed.] who is against the Supreme Leader is considered illegitimate, be it a result of rape by her interrogator or through intercourse with her husband, according to the written word in the Koran. However, if the child is raised by the jailer, then the child is considered a legitimate Shi'a Muslim."

These quotes are from Iranian dissidents, but they do not seem inconsistent with what Mesbah-Yazdi has said in the past. He is considered the most extreme major cleric in Iran today, and has sanctioned the use of atomic weapons as well as the death penalty against anyone who criticizes Islam. In addition he has called to eliminate elections in Iran, calling the people "ignorant sheep," and he says that if Iran has a war against the infidels he would want the Iranians to take civilians as slaves and convert them to Islam.