Tuesday, September 29, 2009

"Death penalty for women who fake virginity"

I've mentioned a number of times about how some women in the Arab world are forced to go through hymen-restoration surgery before marriage in order to ensure that they won't get murdered by their new loving husbands upon the discovery that their hymens are not intact. Most recently, a Saudi fatwa seemed to allow such surgery, although hundreds of Jordanian women are forced to have their "virginity" examined before marriage by prospective in-laws.

Now, Chinese technology has upped the ante.

From the BBC (h/t Soccer Dad via email):

A leading Egyptian scholar has demanded that people caught importing a female virginity-faking device into the country should face the death penalty.
Abdul Mouti Bayoumi said supplying the item was akin to spreading vice in society, a crime punishable by death in Islamic Sharia law.
The device is said to release liquid imitating blood, allowing a female to feign virginity on her wedding night.
There is a stigma about pre-marital sex in conservative Arab societies.
The contraption is seen as a cheap and simple alternative to hymen repair surgery, which is carried out in secret by some clinics in the Middle East.
It is produced in China and has already become available in other parts of the Arab world.
The device is reported to be on sale in Syria for $15.
Professor Bayoumi, a scholar at the prestigious al-Azhar University, said it undermined the moral deterrent of fornication, which he described as a crime and one of the cardinal sins in Islam.
Members of parliament in Egypt have also called for banning import of the item.

At Al Azhar, a women's virginity is apparently valued higher than their very lives.

Egyptian editor in trouble for talking to Israeli

More from that model of Israel-Arab peace:

The board of state-owned Al-Ahram Organization referred Al-Ahram’s Democracy Review editor-in-chief Hala Mustafa to the legal affairs department to be questioned over inviting Israeli ambassador Shalhom Cohen to her office.
This comes after the Journalists’ Syndicate also opened an investigation into the same incident, which is seen as violating the general assembly’s ban on any form of cooperation with Israel.
Nearly two weeks ago, Cohen paid a visit to Al-Ahram headquarters, leaving security officials confused since they were not given prior notice.
The ambassador allegedly wanted to discuss a proposal to hold lectures organized by Mustafa’s periodical.
Mustafa hosted him in her office, triggering controversy within the state-owned foundation, with calls to fire her from Al-Ahram and expel her from the syndicate.
Al-Ahram’s board issued four decrees during their last meeting; referring Mustafa to legal affairs, banning any Israeli from entering the organization’s premises, banning any joint studies, meetings and conferences with researchers with Zionist ideas, and distancing Abdel Moneim Saeed’s personal political views from his position as chairman of Al-Ahram’s board.
Saeed is known for being an advocate of normalization with Israel, meeting with officials and traveled to the country, according to Ahmed El-Naggar, member of Al-Ahram’s board of directors.

An Al-Quds article relates Al-Ahram's ban on Israelis as a direct reaction by Egypt blaming Zionists and Jews for Farouk Hosny's failure to become UNESCO's director.

"Moderate" PA praises those who attack Jews

Yesterday, Ma'an described the event on the Temple Mount like this (the story has since been radically changed online:)

Confrontations erupted after groups of Israelis broke into the compound, reportedly under the guard of Israeli police. Palestinians hurled stones, chairs, and shoes at the Israelis, while police tried to disperse the Palestinians by force, injuring nine people right away, and four more throughout the morning.

The newer version of the story says this:

According to witnesses, clashes broke out after a group of about 150 Israeli settlers entered the Al-Aqsa compound on Sunday morning, reportedly under the guard of local authorities who also escorted the group away from the area when worshipers began to protest.

By all accounts, the Jews (or perhaps French tourists) who toured the Mount did nothing provocative. They didn't interrupt prayers, they didn't shout, they didn't riot, they didn't cause any disruptions at all by their actions. And when the worshippers protested the fact that they were doing nothing, they even left without a fuss.

All they did was walk around, something tourists do every day.

Since they were presumably Jews, however, the Arabs freaked out and started doing what they do best - rioting. They threw rocks and chairs at the people they identified as being guilty of the crime of being Jewish.

Today, the PA - those moderate darlings of progressive peace-pushers worldwide - praised the rioters:

The Fatah-backed Palestinian Authority in Ramallah has condemned Sunday’s Israeli infringement on the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound in Jerusalem and hailed Palestinians who rushed to defend the holy site.

In a statement issued on Monday evening, the cabinet of caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad also urged Arab and Muslim countries to mobilize in defense of Al-Aqsa.

The government “congratulated the Palestinian masses when they rushed to defend Al-Aqsa Mosque and foiled the attempt of settlers and extremists to storm the Mosque.”

This isn't even Abbas - this is the uber-Western friendly prime minister Salim Fayyad praising rioters.

Of course, from their perspective, the "settlers" were being "provocative." Reacting to the provocation of "existing" with rocks and thrown chairs, as well as more rioting that carried over into today, is apparently a praiseworthy action according to the peaceful and moderate Palestinian Authority.

UPDATE: Here are some pictures of the poor provoked "worshippers," courtesy of Palestine Today:

Praiseworthy!

Goldstone Report inaccuracies, part 16

The Goldstone Report includes these pieces of information:

397. While it appears that all the policemen killed in this location were taking part in a training course, there is conflicting information on the details. Most reports by NGOs are to the effect that these were police “cadets” in the midst of a graduation ceremony. The Gaza police spokesperson, however, told the Mission that they were serving policemen, who had been taking a three-week course and who were, at the time of the strike, doing “morning sport exercise”.255

400. A second police training course targeted was reportedly attended by around 50
policemen. Twenty-eight of them were killed in the strike. According to the police spokesperson, the training course was designed to instruct police officers on how to deal with police officers who abused their power as well as on cultural and economic issues relevant to police work.258

414. On 1 January 2009, during the Israeli military operations in Gaza, the police spokesperson, Mr. Islam Shahwan, informed the media that the police commanders had managed to hold three meetings at secret locations since the beginning of the armed operations. He added that “an action plan has been put forward, and we have conducted an assessment of the situation and a general alert has been declared by the police and among the security forces in case of any emergency or a ground invasion. Police officers received clear orders from the leadership to face the enemy, if the Gaza Strip were to be invaded.”278 Confirming to the Mission that he had been correctly quoted, Mr. Shahwan stated that the instructions given at that meeting were to the effect that in the event of a ground invasion, and particularly if the Israeli armed forces were to enter urban settlements in Gaza, the police was to continue its work of ensuring that basic food stuffs reached the population, of directing the population to safe places, and of upholding public order in the face of the invasion. Mr. Shahwan further stated that not a single policeman had been killed in combat during the armed operations, proving that the instructions had been strictly obeyed by the policemen.

All three paragraphs have something in common - they all rely on the testimony of Gaza police spokesman Islam Shahwan. There is no indication of any skepticism in Shahwan's testimony to the Goldstone Commission.

But this past summer, right around the same time that Shahwan was being listened to by the sober representatives of the United Nations Human Rights Council, he was making headlines for another reason: he was accusing Israel of distributing chewing gum that increases one's sex drive:

A Hamas police spokesman in the Gaza Strip Islam Shahwan claimed Monday that Israeli intelligence operatives are attempting to "destroy" the young generation by distributing such materials in the coastal enclave.

Shahwan said that the police got their hands on gum that increases sexual desire that, according to him, reaches merchants in the Strip by way of the border crossings. According to him, a Palestinian drug dealer admitted that he sold products that increase sex drive. The dealer said that he received the materials from Israeli sources by way of the Karni crossing.

A number of suspects have been arrested.

The affair was exposed when a Palestinian filed a complaint that his daughter chewed the aforementioned gum and experienced the dubious side effects.

Shahwan even claimed that Israeli intelligence operatives encourage dealers in Gaza to distribute the gum for free.

"The Israelis seek to destroy the Palestinians' social infrastructure with these products and to hurt the young generation by distributing drugs and sex stimulants," said Shahwan.

Now, there's a reliable witness!
(h/t Shira)

G'mar chatima tovah 5770 - גמר חתימה טובה

I would like to take this opportunity to ask forgiveness from anyone who I may have wronged this year; even if I use a pseudonym the feelings I may have hurt are no less real. I unconditionally forgive anyone who may have wronged me.

For those who read Hebrew, here's something I wasn't aware of - a comparison between the text of Avinu Malkeinu and the weekday Shmoneh Esrei, from here:

הקבלה לשמונה עשרה
אבינו מלכנו מקביל לשמונה עשרה ברכות העמידה ביום חול:
"אבינו מלכנו חננו ועננו" כנגד "חונן הדעת";
"אבינו מלכנו החזירנו בתשובה" כנגד "הרוצה בתשובה";
"אבינו מלכנו סלח ומחל" כנגד "סלח לנו";
"אבינו מלכנו כתבנו בספר גאולה" כנגד "גואל ישראל";
"אבינו מלכנו שלח רפואה" כנגד "רפאנו";
"אבינו מלכנו חודש עלינו שנה טובה" כנגד "ברך עלינו";
"אבינו מלכנו הרם קרן ישראל" כנגד "תקע בשופר";
"אבינו מלכנו בטל מעלינו" כנגד "השיבה שופטנו וכו' והסר ממנו יגון ואנחה":
"אבינו מלכנו כלה כל צר" כנגד "ולמלשינים וכו' שובר אויבים";
"אבינו מלכנו מחוק ברחמיך הרבים" כנגד "על הצדיקים וכו' יהמו נא רחמיך";
"אבינו מלכנו הרם קרן משיחך" כנגד "את צמח דוד וכו' וקרנו תרים";
"אבינו מלכנו הצמח לנו ישועה" כנגד "מצמיח קרן ישועה";
"אבינו מלכנו שמע קולנו" כנגד "שמע קולנו וכו' "שומע תפילה";
(מנהגי מהר"י טירנא, ראש השנה; לבוש סי' תקפ"ד א).

I would like to wish my Jewish readers an easy fast, and may we all be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life. May this be a year of peace and prosperity.

Hamas KidTV: "Slaughter the Jews"

Nassur the Bear, the latest mascot from the Hamas kiddie TV show "Pioneers of Tomorrow," here calls for the slaughter of all Jews in Israel:

Nassur: “There won't be any Jews or Zionists, if Allah wills. They'll be erased.”
Saraa: “Chased away.”
Nassur: “And just like we will visit the Qaaba [in Mecca]... everyone will visit Jerusalem.”
[Seven-year old Palestinian child on phone tells how his father, a member of the Hamas Al-Qassam Brigades, “died as a Shahid (Martyr).”]
Nassur to child on phone: “What do you want to do to the Jews who shot your father?”
Child on phone: “I want to kill them.”
Saraa: “We don't want to do anything to them, just expel them from our land.”
Nassur: “We want to slaughter (Nidbah-hom) them, so they will be expelled from our land, right?”
Saraa: “Yes. That's right. We will expel them from our land using all means.”
Nassur: “And if they don't want [to go] peacefully, by words or talking, we’ll have to [do it] by slaughter.

The Nassur death watch continues. Any new ideas on how he will kick the bucket? I'm thinking he'll get attacked by Zionist pigs.

Jordanian father defends Dallas terrorist

From the Jordan Times:

Maher Smadi accused the FBI of “entrapping” his son, provoking him to follow through on actions he would not have taken without the encouragement of the undercover agents.

“Instead of encouraging my son to become a terrorist, the FBI should have focused on changing his thoughts and putting him on the right track again. All they did was to add a new name to the list of terrorists,” he said.

Entrapping a man to want to kill hundreds of people? It's not exactly the same as prostitution...

Let's read the younger Smadi's words that indicate how much the FBI made him want to kill innocent people (from Scribd, h/t Jihad Watch for the transcription)

"I truly say it that my dream is to be among God's soldiers, first for the support of Islam and my beloved Sheik Usama, may God give him long life. I don't know what is in me, but I love him as I love my father. I don't want to add to this.

Now, my brother, the point is that thousands of Muslims have been killed at the hand of Jews -- the dogs -- and the silent disloyal backsliders. Those are the Arab kings and, God willing, their end will be the hanging rope and hell.

Their silence and fight against the Sheik mean that they are backsiders along with the enemy in a world plan to destroy Islam, Muslims, and to seize their lands for the benefit of the Jews and for the love of infidelity.

By God who created me, there will not be a retreat at all, even if they take me to Guantanamo for the rest of my life. I will never forget Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, or any land where the call of, 'there is no God but God, Muhammad is God's Messenger' is raised.

Who will assist the brothers, the infants, the women who became widows and their orphan children? Who would return these lands before religion and blessing disappear? Who would cause these tyrants to fall?

In the name of God, the Gracious and Merciful, this is my vow to you, my brother, that I am ready. And if you were a lover of Jihad as I am, then, by God, I am ready for the Jihadi life. What you will see of me will please you and your commander.

The reign is only for the living and powerful God. I ask Him that he would be our Caliph and Ruler."

[...]

"My brother in God, God and His angels are with us. With the permission of the Almighty Lord of the Worlds, we will have victory and allies from God Almighty. He is the powerful and helpful. Victory is coming, is coming to defeat the Romans [i.e., Christians] and for the destruction of the Jews. God is Most Great. We shall attack them in their very homes. Brother, by God, we shall attack them in a manner that hurts, an attack that shakes the world. Oh Brother, let the backsliders know that the time for their destruction has come."

PalArabs use peaceful stones against violent meditators

Ha'aretz reports:

Four people were wounded in clashes between police and Palestinian protesters early Sunday at the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said some 150 Palestinians threw stones at a group of Jews visiting the site. Police dispersed the rioters using stun grenades, and two policemen were lightly wounded.

In other words, Palestinian Arabs decided to turn their "third holiest site" into a place for rioting and attacking peaceful Jews.

But look how the Arab media reports it:

At least 13 Palestinians were injured as fierce clahes broke out at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem on Sunday morning after Israeli police permitted settlers to break into the area, witnesses said.

Two of the injured Palestinians reportedly sustained serious injuries to the eye and head. Israeli police said two officers were also hurt.

On Thursday, the Al-Aqsa Foundation had warned of an impending incursion. Officials in Jerusalem said extremists were preparing to break into the holy Muslim area, and accurately predicted that the break-in would occur on Sunday under the pretext of celebrating a religious holiday.

Confrontations erupted after groups of Israelis broke into the compound, reportedly under the guard of Israeli police. Palestinians hurled stones, chairs, and shoes at the Israelis, while police tried to disperse the Palestinians by force, injuring nine people right away, and four more throughout the morning.

They have an interesting definition of "breaking in." Yet even the Arabs cannot find anything that the so-called "settlers" did to upset the sanctity of the holy site - besides the obvious crime of being Jewish.

Even the Arab press admits that the only people who started the rioting were Muslims and that there was no provocation, as Jews have been quietly and respectfully visiting the Temple Mount for years. (And the only reason the police needed to accompany them is because of Thursday's threats made by the peaceful Muslims against Jews visiting the area.)

"Goldstone" on Latma

Very funny and very politically incorrect humor from an Israeli comedy show.

Other Goldstone reactions

There have been a number of excellent rejoinders to Goldstone. Here are a couple of recent ones:

Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ma'ariv's Ben-Dror Yemini

(h/t t34zakat)

Goldstone Report inaccuracies, part 15 (updated)

The Goldstone Report pretends to investigate whether Hamas used Gazans as human shields. As it does so, it bends over backwards to give the impression that Hamas is innocent even as the evidence it brings shows the opposite.

Goldstone starts off with the issue with allegations that Hamas forced civilians to act as human shields. Paragraph 473 states, not surprisingly, that none of the Gaza witnesses they called to testify claimed that Hamas forced them to stay in areas from where Hamas was attacking. Para. 474 mentions a 2007 incident where Hamas calls on civilians to voluntarily protect an area that israel was planning to bomb, but notes that this didn't occur during the war. Para. 475 mentions a video on YouTube where Hamas brags that Gazan women, children and the elderly act to protect areas from Israeli attack.

The report calls this "morally repugnant" but says it does not show that Hamas forced civilians to act as shields. (Interestingly, even though the video is crystal clear, Goldstone writes that "Mr. Hammad reportedly stated that...", the qualifier an indication of how the Goldstone report consistently valued evidence against Israel more than evidence against Hamas.)

At this point the impression that one gets from Goldstone is that the definition of human shields is where a group of civilians are forced to act to protect a military objective, and the report writes (accurately) that based on what they had seen, there was no evidence that this occurred. Of course, there is at least one video that indicates that Hamas did try to force civilians to act as human shields, but it is not clear that Goldstone was aware of it:

In addition, there are the published reports in Arab media from January that Goldstone should have been aware of, saying that Hamas did force the Abd Rabbo family to stay where they were so that rockets could be fired from their neighborhood:

The Abd Rabbo family kept quiet while Hamas fighters turned their farm in the Gaza strip into a fortress. Right now they are waiting for the aid promised by the [Hamas] movement after Israel bombed the farm and turned it into ruins...
The hill on which the Abd Rabbo family lives overlooks the Israeli town Sderot, a fact that turned it into an ideal military position for the Palestinian fighters, from which they have launched hundreds of rockets into southern Israel during the last few years. Several of the Abd Rabbo family members described how the fighters dug tunnels under their houses, stored arms in the fields and launched rockets from the yard of their farm during the nights.
The Abd Rabbo family members emphasize that they are not [Hamas] activists and that they are still loyal to the Fatah movement, but that they were unable to prevent the armed squads from entering their neighborhood at night. One family member, Hadi (age 22) said: "You can't say anything to the resistance [fighters], or they will accuse you of collaborating [with Israel] and shoot you in the legs."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 27, 2009]

The next section of Goldstone talks about militants mingling with the civilian population in order to shield them from attack. Incredibly, Goldstone writes (para. 477) that "only one of the incidents it investigated clearly involved the presence of Palestinian combatants" - because that was the only incident where the Palestinian Arab combatants were wearing fatigues! Goldstone goes on to admit that there are reports that militants did abandon wearing military uniforms, but goes on to quote an NGO that "there is no evidence that they did so with the intent of shielding themselves" (para. 478.)

What other explanation could there be? Goldstone doesn't even hazard a guess.

Goldstone continues in his attempt to find ways to explain clear Hamas actions in ways that exonerate the group:

480. On the basis of the information it gathered, the Mission finds that there are indications that Palestinian armed groups launched rockets from urban areas. The Mission has not been able to obtain any direct evidence that this was done with the specific intent of shielding the rocket launchers from counterstrokes by the Israeli armed forces. The Mission also notes, however, that Palestinian armed groups do not appear to have given Gaza residents sufficient warning of their intention to launch rockets from their neighbourhoods to allow them to leave and protect themselves against Israeli strikes at the rocket launching sites. The Mission notes that, in any event, given the densely populated character of the northern half of the Gaza Strip, once Israeli forces gained control of the more open or outlying areas during the first days of the ground invasion, most -- if not all -- locations still accessible to Palestinian armed groups were in urban areas.

The bar that Goldstone creates of determining "specific intent" is much higher for Hamas than for the IDF, which it declares multiple times "deliberately" targeted civilians.

And notice how Goldstone excuses Hamas' using civilian neighborhoods, claiming that Hamas had no choice - as if there were no rocket attacks from civilian neighborhoods before the Israeli ground invasion. Again, Goldstone is doing everything possible to exonerate Hamas from war crimes.

The same logic continues on in para. 481:

While reports reviewed by the Mission credibly indicate that members of Palestinian armed groups were not always dressed in a way that distinguished them from civilians, the Mission found no evidence that Palestinian combatants mingled with the civilian population with the intention of shielding themselves from attack.

Finally, ten paragraphs later, Goldstone talks about the legal definition of human shields:

491. The Mission finds it useful to clarify what is meant, from a legal perspective, by using civilians or a civilian population as a human shield. Parties to a conflict are not permitted to use a civilian population or individual civilians in order to render certain points or areas immune from military operations. It is not in dispute that both Palestinian armed groups and Israeli forces were fighting within an area populated by civilians. Fighting within civilian areas is not, by itself, sufficient for a finding that a party is using the civilian population living in the area of the fighting as a human shield. As the words of article 57 (1) show (“shall not be used to render”, “in order to attempt to shield”), an intention to use the civilian population in order to shield an area from military attack is required.

Even though Goldstone started off the discussion as to whether Hamas forced civilians to stay in areas of fighting, at this point - 18 paragraphs later - he mentions that the legal requirement has nothing to do with someone being forced to act that way. The video of Hamas' "Mr. Hammad" that says explicitly that Gaza civilians were used to shield militants from attack is very relevant now, but Goldstone dismissed it above in context of whether civilians were forced to act that way - which is irrelevant for the purposes of this law.

In fact, there is video evidence that backs up Hammad's claims:

In other words, Goldstone organized the report structure itself in a way to make Hamas look as innocent as possible. Had he started off with the legal definition of human shield and then referred to the video above, the evidence is overwhelming that Hamas encourages this blatantly illegal action.

Yet in the very next paragraph, Goldstone goes back to his implied initial definition: 492. From the information available to it, the Mission found no evidence to suggest that Palestinian armed groups either directed civilians to areas where attacks were being launched or forced civilians to remain within the vicinity of the attacks.But there is abundant evidence that they located their rockets in civilian areas to shield themselves from retaliation, which is the legal standard!

As to the bigger question of whether Goldstone had material available to it which would have indicated that Hamas purposefully located rockets and mortars from residential neighborhoods, this video from ITN shown on CNN makes that very clear:

Not to mention published reports in Arab media of Hamas using people as human shields.

On this topic, where the truth is as clear as can be based on hard evidence, Goldstone twists the facts to try to make Hamas seem as innocent as he can. The difference between what he considers compelling evidence to accuse Hamas of war crimes and what he accepts vis a vis Israel's alleged war crimes could not be starker.

(UPDATE: Made some things a little clearer and added links to the Abed Rabbo human shield story.)

Glow-in-the-dark gefilte fish!

From TheJC (h/t Vicious Babushka):

Student Jessica Taylor was shocked to see her late-night gefilte fish snack light up the kitchen of her north London family home by glowing bright green and yellow. Her mother had bought the Hoffman’s product the previous day at Moshe’s Deli in Temple Fortune.

Joff Taylor, Jessica’s father, said: “My daughter came home at two or three in the morning and was starving. She did not put on the kitchen light, took out the fish and closed the fridge.

“The fish was glowing very brightly so she took it out of the pack and held it in her hands. When she put it down, her hands were glowing.”

Suspicious of Jessica’s claim, Mr Taylor and his wife asked her to recreate the scene the following evening. “We turned off the lights and she brought the fish out. We all stood there amazed. It was brighter than a glow-stick.”

The Taylors opted not to eat the fluorescent fish, which was not beyond its use-by date, and threw it away.

A Moshe’s spokesman said: “Sometimes the fish eat some phosphorus and it glows. It’s good for you. We’re not the manufacturer, we just sell it.” Geeta Cohli, a consultant to Hoffman’s Foods, said the company had received no complaints from customers. “The family should have kept the fish as evidence. We would have done some tests. I’m a qualified micro-biologist and I have never heard of this. I think it was an act of God.”

A Food Standards Agency spokeswoman attributed the glowing fish to luminescent bacteria which occur naturally in sea water. “Most luminescent bacteria are harmless but their presence may indicate that other, harmful bacteria are also present through cross-contamination with other uncooked products. We would advise that the fish should not be consumed.”

This of course helps fulfill the Biblical verse in Esther 8:16:

ליהודים היתה אורה

Today's PalArab news (9/25/09)

The Al Aqsa Heritage Foundation has put out this week's warnings about Jewish plans to "storm" the Temple Mount, saying that Israeli explosives experts visited the site on Thursday, that Jews are planning to "storm" the Mount on Sunday ahead of Yom Kippur, that 130 have "stormed" it this week, that Jews are having lectures about the Third Temple, and that Jews are praying for the destruction of the "Al-Aqsa" mosque. They claim that this is all on the website of the Temple Mount Faithful movement, although it hasn't been updated in months.

Al Quds reports about a book written last year by Nina Burleigh about people who fake biblical archaeological artifacts in Israel. Al Quds is claiming that this proves that every archaeological find that indicates that there was ever a Temple in Israel is fake. (I wonder who faked the Kotel?)

One more killed in a smuggling tunnel collapse.

86 PalArab kids were injured, some 24 seriously, during 'Eid celebrations by firecrackers and BB guns they received for the holiday.

A conspiracy theorist called Jane Burgermeister has a bunch of theories about how the world's bankers have concocted swine flu in order to get everyone under their control. Although she doesn't say it explicitly, Arab media (starting in Algeria) is interpreting this as proof that Jews are behind the flu pandemic.

In the "well, this was inevitable" department, every birth defect in Gaza over the past nine months is being blamed on Israeli weaponry during Operation Cast Lead.

A Saudi fatwa allows girls to restore their hymens in order to save themselves from possible "honor killings" right after they are married.

(h/t Mustafa)

UNRWA decries the crisis it perpetuates

Unreal:

No current world refugee crisis has gone unresolved longer than the Palestinian exodus, said the UN Relief and Works Agency's commissioner-general, Karen Abu Zayd, in New York on Thursday.

"The Palestinians make up the world's largest refugee group, and their plight has gone on longer than any other," the AP quoted Abu Zayd as saying during an event marking 60 years since UNRWA was established.

The UN's relief agency for Palestine refugees was founded in 1949, although its original mandate was temporary. Now deeply interwoven within Palestinian society itself, it still provides essential services to millions of refugees in camps throughout the Middle East.

"The protracted exile of Palestine refugees and the dire conditions they endure, particularly in the occupied Palestinian territory, cannot be reconciled with state obligations under the UN charter," Abu Zayd added at the UN General Assembly meeting.

What Abu Zayd didn't bother mentioning is some other salient facts about Palestinian Arab "refugees" that make them so unique.

Like, for example, they are the only "refugees" in the history of the planet whose children and grandchildren are also considered refugees, in perpetuity.

They are the only "refugee" group whose numbers continue to go up year after year.

They are the only "refugee" group that is guaranteed to continue to grow forever.

And they are the only "refugee" group to have a UN agency dedicated only to them. All the other world refugees have to share a different UN agency.

All of these facts, ensuring that Palestinian Arab "refugees" remain stateless until Israel is destroyed, have their source in the very agency that is now crying about their endless plight. It is UNRWA which uniquely defines all descendants of Palestinian Arab refugees as being refugees themselves. All other children of refugees become citizens of the countries they are born in, but not so for Palestinian arab refugees. No, they remain stateless, in a limbo enforced by law in the Arab world where every Arab can become a naturalized citizen of any other Arab country - except for Palestinian Arabs.

UNRWA doesn't try to fix this problem, of course. As the article states, UNRWA is now a part of Palestinian Arab culture, providing them with free schools and housing that surpass those of other Arab states. And generations of Arabs whose ancestors happened to live in Palestine in 1947 now feel that these benefits are rightfully theirs. UNRWA has raised generations of whining welfare cases, who grow up to hate not the Arabs who leave them in misery, not UNRWA which perpetuates it, but...Israel.

Notice also how Abu Zayd says that Palestinian Arab "refugees" in the territories somehow have worse lives than those who live in Arab nations. This is an absolute lie. The ones in Lebanon are in much worse shape, both because of governmental discrimination that limits their ability to take certain jobs and own land, as well as because of the fact that these UNRWA camps have turned into terrorist training camps (witness the mini-war that happened last year at Nahr el-Bared, displacing 27,000 people.) Even UNRWA says on their website that "The Lebanon Field has the highest percentage of Palestine refugees who are living in abject poverty and who are registered with the Agency's 'special hardship' programme" ...but you will never hear Karen Abu Zayd say that to the press!

There is another important fact about UNRWA camps that Abu Zayd will never tell the media. In the aftermath of the 1948 war, Israel ended up with some 48,000 refugees, of whom 31,000 were Arab. UNRWA helped the young state with its Arab refugees, but by 1952, Israel informed UNRWA that their services would no longer be needed, and that Israel considered the idea taking handouts for its Jewish and Arab citizens to be "repugnant," as the UN described it.

Today, those 31,000 refugees would have been considered hundreds of thousands of "refugees" by UNRWA's definition. Instead, they are citizens of Israel. Their "brethren," in contrast, are not citizens of any country, because the Arab nations refused to naturalize them (with the exception of Jordan and a very small amount in Lebanon.) The stark contrast between how Arabs treat their refugees and how the Jews treat theirs in more recent times can be seen here.

These facts are not things that UNRWA proudly mentions in their history. Neither does UNRWA mention what happened back in the 1950s, when it actually tried to resettle PalArabs in Arab lands and was rebuffed by the Arab League. UNRWA doesn't mention when Israel tried to build permanent housing for Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza to get them out of the miserable camps - and the UN castigated Israel for such a horrendous act:

No, these facts are not being mentioned in UNRWA's celebrations of 60 years of prolonging the misery of millions of people. Only the ones that they claim make Israel look bad.

A fantastic article that I reproduced about UNRWA in the early days of the blog, by Arlene Kushner, can be seen here.