Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Daily Goldstone 11/4

Richard Landes at Augean Stables takes a deeper look at the "36 incidents" that Richard Goldstone has alternatively characterized as "illustrative" and as to "appear to represent situations where there was little or no military justification for what happened." Those two characterizations are contradictory, to say the least.

What’s missing here, of course, is any investigation into the extensive evidence that Hamas used the civilian population as a shield, that they deliberately fired from the midst of civilian neighborhoods in order to provoke attacks, that they dressed as civilians, commandeered ambulances, stole food supplied by Israel to the Gazan population… in short that they did everything they could to maximize their own civilians’ casualties. All these matters are, of course, critical to assessing the behavior of Israeli troops. And yet, Goldstone explicitly refused to look into this material.... We didn’t want to investigate situations where we would be called upon to second-guess decisions made by Israeli Defense Force leaders or soldiers, in what’s called the “fog of battle”. It’s really unfair to do that, especially without hearing the other side. So we tried to concentrate on issues which seem to be less likely to be justifiable by applying those standards.

In other words, we didn’t look specifically into incidents of Hamas using human shields, didn’t listen to witnesses who, taking that information into account, found the IDF took remarkable risks to avoid hitting civilians. Instead, they chose 36 incidents to investigate which “appear to represent situations where there was little or no military justification for what happened,” and nonethess, found Israel guilty of targeting civilians. ...

Indeed, the FFM, even as it only tangentially considered evidence of Hamas’ military strategy of human shields, consistently dismissed any evidence to the contrary. The trope “The Mission found no evidence… did not find any evidence… for illegitimate behavior by Hamas and other Palestinian combatants runs through the report like a scarlet thread...
If you seek not, how will you find?

Read the whole thing.

Saudi TV show has hosts covered head to toe

From Arab News:

JEDDAH: A new TV show that discusses issues concerning teenage girls and female university students was recently broadcast with Saudi presenters dressed in black from head to toe.
The show — named Asrar Al-Banat (The Secrets of Girls) — is broadcast on Awtan TV, a Saudi religious channel that was first aired in August 2008 and has women broadcasters who are covered in the all-enveloping abaya and niqab.
Presenting Asrar Al-Banat is Sawsan Salah Al-Deen, a 26-year-old Saudi BA graduate in Media and Guidance.
Sawsan, who is appearing on TV for the first time, said she was initially anxious. Her family has, however, been supportive, particularly since “people will not see me” and the program reaches out to young women.
Something that has also appealed to her family is the fact that her work environment is women-only; male technical assistants do not enter the studio while women are inside and carry out their duties from outside.
Answering a question about some opposing religious views that regard the voice of women as Awrah (something that cannot be revealed in the presence of men), Sawsan said that scholars deem women’s voices as Awrah only if they are speaking softly or on immoral topics.
Commenting on whether her appearance on TV would now lead to women appearing on cooking and children programs, she said, “When it comes to cooking, men can present them. However, there are some issues relating to women which men cannot handle in the way we can.”
Asrar Al-Banat, which discusses different issues relating to teenage girls, has so far broadcast four episodes. It is aired from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. every Friday and receives live phone calls from members of the public.

I've seen this sort of show before. It was called "radio."

Congress denounces Goldstone report

From the Washington Independent:

As expected, the House approved Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s (R-Fla.) resolution condemning South African judge Richard Goldstone’s inquiry for the United Nations into war crimes committed last year in Gaza by Israel and Hamas. The lopsided final vote was 344 in favor to 36 opposed, with 22 “present” votes.

The Palestinian side seems to want to put the unfortunate experience behind it. Asked to comment on the impact that the Obama administration’s decision to press Palestinian President Abbas to shunt the Goldstone report aside — it basically devastated his political standing — Maen Areikat, the Palestinian representative in Washington, said through a spokesman that this was “history” and “we’re happy to have it behind us.” Hussein Ibish, a fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, said that the Palestinians basically know that Congress is going to take these sorts of stances on Israel issues. “I don’t think it will have much of an impact,” Ibish said in an email. “The administration handles diplomacy and has to take responsibility for national security. Everyone here and abroad knows that.”

Norwegian university considers academic boycott of Israel

From Al Arabiya:

A group of professors in Norway have called for a boycott of Israeli academics because of "systematic" discrimination against Palestinian students and for altering history to develop the Zionist ideology, the professors said in their proposal sent to Al Arabiya on Tuesday.

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), where the professors work, is set to decide next week whether to boycott Israel after it received the proposal from 30 of its professors who said their aim was to put "pressure" on Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian land.

"We, who have signed this letter, believe that it is time that academic institutions contributed to an international pressure against Israel so that real negotiations between Israel, democratically elected Palestinian authorities and the international society can begin," the open letter said.

The group accused Israeli universities and institutions of higher education of playing "a key role in the policy of oppression" and said "historians and archaeologists are important in the development of the Zionist ideology and renouncement of Palestinian history and identity."

These people are not only calling for a boycott; they are accusing Israeli universities of altering history and archaeological research for political purposes!

So, of course, they are advocating politicizing academic research in response to this fantasy of theirs.

Pot, meet kettle.

From looking at NTNU's website, one can see that the entire university is not populated by hypocrites. NTNU already has a joint program with the Betzalel Academy in Jerusalem.

Also, another set of at least 22 NTNU professors immediately came up with a counter-petition, autotranslated here:

A group of employees at NTNU and HiST have in an open letter earlier this year asked their respective boards of a cultural and academic boycott of Israel. We who write in this letter are also employees of these institutions. We are generally positive to the factual and objective discussions on Palestine-Israel conflict within the NTNU / Violation, but said it is very unfortunate if the institutions unilaterally give its unconditional support to one of the parties in conflict. In our view, speaks the following arguments for the boycott proposal should be rejected:
- NTNU / HiST's primary role to engage in research and education, not to bring their own foreign policy. Choosing side in difficult political issues will give the impression that we are less objective and factual. This cuts across the university's role as a gathering place for a wide spectrum of different thoughts and ideas.
- To be associated with a controversial stance in such a difficult conflict will have negative consequences for the NTNU / Violation internationally. Do we really want to be known as the first Western universities who are in favor of an academic boycott of Israel?
- Also within the NTNU / HiST there are different opinions about this conflict, and a boycott decision would therefore seem divisive and non-inclusive. Even we who write under this petition has different views on how the conflict should be resolved.
- It is unclear whether the NTNU / HiST have considered all the legal issues that may result from a possible boycott decision. What funds are institutions willing to apply to scientists who defy the boycott? Will they be able to move from pay or be dismissed?
- We do not believe that such a decision will contribute to a peaceful solution to the conflict, but rather to more polarization.
. - NTNU will only lose by cutting off from the scientific contacts and cooperation with various international outstanding academic environments that exist in Israel.
- If the NTNU / Violation boycotting Israel, it is also very difficult to bring rational arguments for why we do not also boycott other nations that violate human rights in far worse ways. It follows that the institutions that need a continuous process where they use a boycott to highlight the position in other conflicts.
We request, therefore the boards at NTNU and HiST to reject the proposal for a boycott of Israel. Individuals at our universities must of course be able to engage in international conflicts, but it is unwise of the institutions as such to take sides. Our universities will lose more than we win on such a decision.

Over 1600 professors worldwide have also signed a petition against this proposal to boycott Israel at Scholars for Peace in the Middle East.

It will be interesting to see whether the Norwegian haters have enough support to push through their anti-freedom agenda.

Today's PalArab news (11/3)

Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar was quoted in a Kuwaiti newspaper as saying that accusations of Hamas collusion with Iran are just an attempt to lump Hamas together with America's enemies, adding that Hamas gets support from European Christians. (Iranian aid is a touchy subject for Hamas as Fatah regularly refers to Hamas derogatorily as "Shi'ites.")

Hamas sentenced another "collaborator" to death.

Two more cafes were firebombed in Gaza, presumably by Islamic extremists.

Egypt is arranging for Gaza pilgrims to get flights from El Arish to "the Holy Land" for Hajj. (Of course, the Holy Land is - Saudi Arabia. ) The planes will be from the "Palestinian National Airlines" and will have a Palestinian Arab flag. Some 4500 pilgrims will travel that way, and it is being done in cooperation with the PA.

A Gaza family is forced to live in a cave by the beach in Khan Younis. They've been there since 1966. Somehow, Israel is being blamed.

Hamas preventing children from getting treated in Egypt

Palestine Press Agency reports that the Palestinian Ministry of Health has condemned Hamas for not allowing injured Gaza children to travel to Egypt for medical treatment.

This is not the first time that Hamas refused allowing sick people from going to Egypt. Hamas has previously stopped patients from traveling to Israel for treatment. They also prevented patients from going to an Israeli field hospital after Cast Lead.

Interestingly, the Palestinian Ministry of Health still maintains a list of "martyrs" who died in Gaza from medical conditions as a result of the "Israeli blockade." Even when they admit that Hamas stops patients from getting treated, and that Egypt only rarely opens the Rafah crossing for patients, for the purposes of the body count they only blame Israel.

UNRWA responds, halfheartedly

In response to my inquiries about the UNRWA strike and the UNRWA teacher murdered in Ramallah, none of which is mentioned on UNRWA's website, I received this email from UNRWA:

On the strike. This is what we, as UNRWA, have to say:

“ UNRWA regrets the Staff Union's decision to suspend services in a staggered fashion to protest the alleged failure to meet a promise to improve end of service benefits for staff. In addition, the Staff Union are opting for disruption of much needed services to Palestinian refugees demanding an increase in salaries and other work benefits. UNRWA believes that these work stoppages are counter-productive, disruptive and sends all the wrong messages to refugees, donors and to the staff themselves. Staff Union demands come at a period the Agency is in dire financial straits struggling to meet the basic needs of the refugees with dwindling resources and a widening budget deficit. All indicators at hand clearly show that the salaries of its 30000 staff are well above the average salaries of the host countries' employees (the Agency's official comparators). UNRWA's comprehensive health insurance to staff, the generous provident fund and end of service benefits plus an annual salary increase is considered to be one of the most competitive in the region amongst the public sector employers. This costs huge amounts of money and the remainder goes to support the actual delivery of vital services to refugees. UNRWA calls on its staff to maintain dialogue with the Agency and not to deny refugees access to services.”

-----------------

- John’s letter to staff is not out as far as I could tell. UNRWA will issue an official letter to its 30,000 staff in the five fields soon.

- On the staff member killed: No official statement. Do not know the details of his killing but it was not UNRWA related.

The statement on the strike mirrors much of what I had translated from the John Ging letter although it was not as detailed (and pointedly didn't mention the Arab countries' refusal to pay their pledges to UNRWA, a very significant admission.) It is not visible on the UNRWA website.

The response about the UNRWA teacher that was murdered is interesting. Although the murder is not UNRWA related, somehow I doubt that UNRWA would be silent if he was murdered by a random Israeli Jewish criminal.

Both of these incidents show that UNRWA will do whatever it can to downplay anything that makes the agency, or Palestinian Arabs, look less than perfect.

Goldstone widget

Daled Amos wrote a widget to keep up with all the blogs that have Goldstone-related posts. You can view it on my right-hand sidebar.

Daily Goldstone 11/2

As I mentioned this morning, Richard Goldstone wrote a letter to Howard Berman and the other sponsor of US HR Res 867 saying that the resolution has what he perceived as some mistakes.

Berman has written his own response to the response. Interestingly, his response seems to be to the letter that may have been written by Morton Halperin, advisor for J Street. Here's only a small part of his response, which is really a fisking:

[Goldstone:] “9. Paragraph 13:This is the first suggestion that I have come across to the effect that we should have investigated the provenance of the rockets. It was simply not on the agenda, and in any event, we would not have had the facilities or capability of investigating these allegations. If the Government of Israel has requested us to investigate that issue I have no doubt that we have done our best to do so.”

Response: As noted, Justice Goldstone’s Report went beyond its mandate in several respects; looking at the roles of Iran and Syria in assisting Hamas certainly would have provided critical context to the Report. Iran and Syria enable Hamas’ terrorism. The assistance Hamas receives from outside actors allows the Hamas terrorist organization to attack Israel incessantly, certain in the knowledge that its arsenals will be replenished.

Hamas’ support by state actors makes it a formidable foe. The report should have considered that geopolitical context.

[Goldstone:] “10. Paragraph 14: This is a sweeping and unfair characterization of the Report. I hope that the Report will be read by those tasked with considering the resolution.”

Response: The Report uncritically attributes numerous statements to “Gaza Authorities” (meaning, Hamas), while often casting doubt on information derived from the international and Israeli press and from non-government-affiliated Israelis.

For example, the Report criticizes the fact that an Israeli Government web-post cites a Newsweek article reporting on Hamas depredations against its own population and casts doubt on the accuracy of the article. According to the Report, the citing of the Newsweek article, far from being an effort to invoke a neutral source, is merely evidence that Israel itself finds the Newsweek report unconvincing, since Israel does not adduce evidence from its own internal sources (p.143 paragraphs 612-614). This is an odd criticism, since intelligence information, no matter how compelling, is only rarely disclosed to the public.

Perhaps most tellingly, the Report appears only to cite Israeli statements when it finds such statements a useful basis for criticizing Israel. For example:

Section 41 – “The Mission examined the mortar shelling of al-Fakhura junction in Jabaliyah next to a UNRWA school, which, at the time, was sheltering more than 1,300 people (chap. X). The Israeli armed forces launched at least four mortar shells. One landed in the courtyard of a family home, killing 11 people assembled there. Three other shells landed on al-Fakhura Street, killing at least a further 24 people and injuring as many as 40. The Mission examined in detail statements by Israeli Government representatives alleging that the attack was launched in response to a mortar attack from an armed Palestinian group. While the Mission does not exclude that this may have been the case, it considers the credibility of Israel’s position damaged by the series of inconsistencies, contradictions and factual inaccuracies in the statements justifying the attack.”

Section 702 – “The Mission views as being unreliable the versions given by the Israeli authorities. The confusion as to what was hit, the erroneous allegations of who was specifically hit and where the armed groups were firing from, the indication that Israeli surveillance watched the scene but nonetheless could not detect where the strikes occurred, all combine to give the impression of either profound confusion or obfuscation.”

By contrast, the Report is far more forgiving when discussing contradictions in Palestinian evidence:

Section 1092 – “There are some minor inconsistencies, which are not, in the opinion of the Mission, sufficiently weighty to cast doubt on the general reliability of Majdi Abd Rabbo. There are also, not surprisingly, some elements of the long account which appear in some versions and not in others. The Mission finds that these inconsistencies do not undermine the credibility of Majdi Abd Rabbo’s account.”

Read the whole thing.

(h./t Israel Matzav)

UNRWA workers in Gaza on strike

Palestine Press Agency is reporting that UNRWA workers in Gaza are striking for higher salaries. A letter from John Ging, director of UNRWA operations, to the strikers is reproduced there.

Ging expresses sadness that services to Gazans are being disrupted by the strike.

Among other things, he claims that UNRWA workers get paid far more than their Palestinian Authority counterparts doing similar jobs. For example, UNRWA teachers with 20 years experience get 30% more than similar PA teachers, a school deputy directors get nearly double the salaries of PA workers doing the same thing.

If I am reading it correctly, Ging is also saying that UNRWA workers in Gaza can get up to $200,000 in a retirement fund.

Interestingly, Ging says that he understands their concerns, but mentions that between the global economic crisis and the fact that Arab countries have not fulfilled their pledges to UNRWA, he cannot address all of their concerns.

I emailed UNRWA (a different person than Chris Gunness, who seems to not be answering emails) to clarify these facts and to follow up on my earlier questions about the reported murder of a UNRWA teacher.

Goldstone/J-Street/Soros connection?

OK, I'm not a big fan of conspiracy theories, but this is really interesting.

There is a House Resolution 867 that should be voted on tomorrow:

Calling on the President and the Secretary of State to oppose unequivocally any endorsement or further consideration of the "Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict" in multilateral fora.

According to Michael Goldfarb at the Weekly Standard, Goldstone responded to the resolution with a memo detailing what he considered to be mistakes in the facts. Goldfarb gives a link to a Word document that he says is circulating around Capitol Hill that starts off this way:

FROM: RICHARD GOLDSTONE
TO: INTERESTED PERSONS
RE: HR 867

Here are some comments on this resolution in an effort to correct factual errors:

Here's where it gets interesting.

The Microsoft Word document properties do not show Richard Goldstone as the author, but rather "Morton H. Halperin." As Goldfarb notes, Morton Halperin "serves on the J Street advisory council and is a senior adviser at George Soros's Open Society Institute.

Is Goldstone working with J Street and Soros in defending his report? More importantly, is J Street really discreetly backing the report while it says publicly that it is not opposing the congressional resolution?

Right now, the only source for this Word document is Goldfarb's column. I found a different letter written from Goldstone to the sponsors of the resolution, dated two days later, that also addresses perceived mistakes in the text, but not as a Word document. I presume that Goldfarb received his memo from a congressional aide, but we don't know his source.

Either way, it is worth finding out whether there is any connection between Goldstone and Halperin.

(h/t EBoZ)

Blood libeler Bostrom not sorry, lies to Ha'aretz

Swedish "reporter" Donald Bostrom, who claimed that the IDF kills Palestinian Arabs and harvests their organs, is in Israel. He chose the most insanely left-wing journalist he could find, Gideon Levy, to interview him. (Even Levy calls Bostrom's article "problematic.")

Are you sorry about anything?

"I'm sorry there are so many lies about me. Like for example that they say I wrote that the soldiers hunted for youths so as to take their organs. It's obvious that's a lie. Even the Palestinians don't make a claim like that. And the other side attributes anti-Semitism to me. I'm sorry about that. I'm sorry I've become a political tool. I'm sorry the article caused damage to the struggle for human rights here. And above all, I'm sorry that no one took the article seriously and that they did not examine the suspicions. In Sweden too they didn't take it seriously."

In other words, he's not sorry at all that he wrote an article that indicates that Jewish Israelis are bloodthirsty, greedy, cold blooded killers. He's just sorry that they were offended by it.

Would you write it differently now?

"If I were writing it again, I would stress that the IDF liquidates so many youths without a trial and that they take bodies and conduct autopsies on them without the permission of the families. My article created confusion and was incorrectly interpreted. I admire your democratic courage to invite me to explain myself here."

Do you think the IDF killed people to get body organs?

"I don't think soldiers behaved like that. I don't think they killed in order to gather organs. The truth is that they kill them without a trial and their bodies are taken to Abu Kabir. We don't know whether they take out the organs. That has still to be further investigated. No one opened up the bodies after they were returned and only one man knows the truth, Prof. Yehuda Hiss, the director of the forensic institute.

Some Swedish children go missing every year in the very same country that he eats his meals. I don't know whether Bostrom butchers and eats small children for breakfast. He might be eating them. He might not. I'm just pointing out that children are missing, Bostrom eats every day, some people are cannibals and accusations have been made. No one witnesses his eating habits. It has to be further investigated. There are a lot of question marks.

So why did you publish baseless accusations?

"I think the article led to good things and bad things, but now it is on the table. Israeli journalists must investigate. You have done good things in the past. Haaretz gives better coverage of the conflict than the Swedish papers, so go on investigating this. There are a lot of question marks."

What Bostrom doesn't address (and Levy is too solicitous to ask) are his public statements quoted by the Algerian Press Service that over a thousand organs have been harvested by Israel, that Israel also takes organs from other foreigners killed in Israel and that the organ harvesting began in 1960. He made these additional claims as he accepted a $5000 award from Algeria and was feted by Algerian officials for this article.

Even if the APS misquoted him, it was obvious that the only reason he received this $5000 award was because his Algerian hosts understood his article as proof that Israel does kill Palestinian Arabs specifically to steal their organs. Bostrom certainly didn't say anything while he accepted his award to clarify his position or deny those claims; indeed he expanded on them.

He's clearly not sorry about anything except for the fact that he has been exposed as a sham journalist and a libeler.

Mohammed film to be made - without the title character

From Al Arabiya:

A film about the Prophet Mohammad backed by the producer of "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Matrix" is under discussion, a Qatar media firm said on Sunday, with the aim of creating an English-language blockbuster for the world's 1.5 billion Muslims.

Filming of the $150 million movie is set to start in 2011, with Barrie Osborne as its producer, Alnoor Holdings said.
Alnoor said the film - in which the Prophet would not be depicted, in accordance with Islamic strictures - was in development and talks were being held with studios, talent agencies and distributors in the United States and Britain.

Maybe Mohammed will be treated the way adults were in old Peanuts cartoons: (this is the best video I could find to illustrate it)

In honor of the World Series

Nem mikh mit tsu der ball geym,
Tsum oylem lomir dokh geyn
Koyf mir di nislekh un krekerjek
Vil ikh keyn mol fun dort nit avek
Git zey mut, mut, mut, di ballshpiller
Es past nit az men farshpilt
Vayl s'iz eyns, tsvey, dray strikes, un oys
Bay der beysball shpil

The original "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" was written by Harry Von Tilzer, who was born Aaron Gumbinsky.

Scenes from a Gaza rally

Islamic Jihad continues to celebrate the death of its founder. Here are some more pictures from the rally:

I don't know if this is an inflatable replica of an Islamic Jihad rocket or the real thing, but it is interesting that they print "Jerusalem" on the rocket - in Hebrew. Imagine the rioting that would ensue if anyone put the word "Mecca" on a rocket aimed at Muslims.

OK, Gaza is under siege, right? So do they import Israeli flags through Rafah tunnels or do they make these flags themselves? Because the market for Israeli flags may be more lucrative in Gaza than in Israel itself.

And what rally wouldn't be complete without the heartwarming photo of a child cradling a real weapon? (Can someone identify this for me? Looks like an AK-47 but I'm not sure what is on the barrel.)