Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Arab press quoting bizarre plan for Israel to annex Iraq

I recently mentioned a bizarre article by a nutty American writer (and "truther") named Wayne Madsen that Israel was working with Kurdistan to annex parts of Iraq.

At the time, the question was whether the Arab world would embrace this crazy conspiracy theory.

A data point just came in: Palestine Press Agency has just quoted essentially the entire article.

The Police Clown of Dubai does it again

This is great:

Dubai Police have warned spies operating in the Gulf to leave the region within one week or face consequences.
"Those spies that are currently present in the Gulf must leave the region within one week — if not, then we will cross that bridge when we come to it," Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim told Gulf News.

The statement comes following the January 19 assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud Al Mabhouh, which Dahi has blamed on Israel.

The ultimatum indicates that Dubai Police are aware of the identities of spies operating in the UAE and the Gulf region and appears to be a warning of exposure if they do not comply.
Asked if the alleged spies are holders of European passports, the police chief said: "Europeans and others", but he did not respond when asked if he was also referring to spies holding Arab passports.

It is unclear if Dahi was referring to spies working for European governments or those who use European passports to spy for others.

Dahi also accused Israel of "vast falsification" of Western passports. "We discover false passports on a daily basis," he said.

Is Khalfan the Clown saying that he is allowing espionage to occur freely over the next week in the UAE? If he knows the identity of the spies, why not arrest them today before they cause any more damage?

Or is he busily planning his umpteenth press conference next week to announce the names of the "spies" that got away - a selection of Europeans who just left the country?

Khalfan - the Keystone Kop of the Gulf.

The religious leader of Egypt's Al Azhar University, Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy, died of a heart attack in Saudi Arabia.

Compared to other sheikhs, he was a moderate. He recently got into trouble not only for shaking Shimon Peres' hand but also for banning the burqa at Al Azhar.

Of course, like most Arab Muslim religious "moderates," he also supported suicide bombing against Jews in Israel.

Holocaust denial and Jew-hatred in Jordanian newspaper

The Translating Jihad blog, which I just discovered via Jihad Watch, has accurate translation of Arabic articles that are somewhat less than moderate.

Here's his latest, from the Jordanian As Sabeel newspaper:

The Jews are experts at exercising power over others by invading their thought, culture, and education, and controlling their views and thoughts. Thus the Jews convert others into their supporters by subjecting them to their lies. They succeed greatly in this Satanic mission because of the ignorance of the Gentiles and the ability of the Jews to plant their agents of thought, culture, media, politics, government, finance, and art, and convert them into soldiers. These soldiers then undertake to "normalize" every Gentile and make them slaves, followers of the Jews. Everyone who takes an honest look at the conditions of the modern world and the Jews' dealings in it realizes this truth. Among the clearest examples of this is the Holocaust.

The Jews succeeded in converted the The Holocaust, a malignant term, into dogma. Every man throughout all the world must have faith in and profess this creed, for woe unto he who denies or doubts it.

The meaning of this Jewish creed is thus: the Jews were slaughtered in Nazi prisons in the days of the second world war, in which they claimed that Hitler and his regime executed and burned more than 5 million Jews in gas ovens in Germany and elsewhere!! The Jews blackmailed Germany, calling for her to pay financially for the crimes of the Nazis and recompense the Jews for the sacrifices of the Holocaust. They took billions upon billions from Germany and the rest of Europe, and still continue to blackmail and milk the Europeans!!

If any Western thinkers attempt to doubt the numbers of Jews killed in the Holocaust, they are branded anti-semites who must be tried, convicted, and punished, as happened with Jarudi.

The Jewish devils direct UNESCO, the international cultural organization under the umbrella of the United Nations, exploiting the stupid Gentiles and using them to issue international resolutions which require every nation in the world, including those in our Arab and Islamic world, to consider the Holocaust a worldwide tragedy. UNESCO has obligated every nation in the world to teach its people "the history of the suffering of the Jews in the Nazi Holocaust"! Through different means they have defined, directed, and taught this doctrine in various educational programs, media foundations, and cultural organizations. Every center and foundation in every nation of the world is required to imprint this definition of the suffering of the Jews in the prefaces of their consitutions and convince their people to believe in the same.

This Satanic Jewish plan is alarming, as it strives to exploit United Nations foundations, principally UNESCO, and employ them to subjugate Arabs and Muslims and force them into cultural and thought normalization.

The Holocaust will enter into the training and education curriculum in our schools, colleges, and universities; in our centers of guidance, thought, and planning; in our scientific, literary, and cultural activities; and in our seminars, lectures, newspapers, magazines, novels, films, and stories. Jewish cultural normalization will enter into every foundation, center, school and university, even into every house and home!! ... All of this and the Holocaust is a Jewish myth, legend, and lie.

Latest from the Police Clown of Dubai

From AFP:

Dubai's police chief accused Israel on Tuesday of "vast falsification" of travel documents, noting that dozens of false passports were uncovered following a Hamas leader's murder in the emirate.
"I ring alarm bells. Israel is falsifying Western passports on a large scale. We discover forged passports on a daily basis," Dahi Khalfan told AFP.
"The world must stop an operation of vast falsification of official documents (that) a formal body (Israel's spy agency Mossad) is carrying out," he added.
"It is shameful for the European countries that a country which claims to be a state of law is falsifying their passports," he said.

So Dubai has been finding dozens of fake passports since the Mabhouh hit, and is blaming the Mossad for all of them!

Khalfan the Clown must believe that the "Israelis" invented forgery in ancient Egypt, and the vast worldwide Jewish conspiracy has the market cornered on forged documents today.

Synagogue controversy in Egypt

I reported yesterday about the Maimonides (Rambam) synagogue being rededicated in Cairo, and quoted the World Jewish Congress website as saying:

Egyptian officials were absent from the ceremony, and Culture Minister Faruk Hosni said Sunday's opening was a purely religious ceremony. Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt’s Antiquities Department, said that a more formal opening next Sunday would be attended by Egyptian officials.

This is being reported differently in Egypt.

The Al-Shorouq newspaper is quoting others as saying that the Egyptian government was outraged that the tiny Jewish community of Cairo invited Israeli representatives to the opening ceremonies. This was considered "inappropriate and unacceptable" to Egyptian officials, who felt that they could not attend if Israelis were there for the ceremony.

The second re-dedication ceremony that was mentioned as being scheduled for March 14th is up in the air as well, as Egyptian officials are now saying that the restoration is not complete yet and will have to wait until the synagogue is completely ready.

Lebanese "defense strategy" talks center on Hezbollah

Today, various Lebanese groups are meeting to discuss "defense strategy" - and there is great disagreement over what that means:

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said that the mere fact that dialogue will resume is a "positive sign."
"The mere fact that the key parties are meeting even if they don't reach quick results is also a good sign," Geagea said in remarks published Monday by the daily An-Nahar.

Politicians from rival parties are due to meet Tuesday for a new session on defense strategy under President Michel Suleiman at Baabda Palace.

National dialogue was launched in March 2006, before the devastating summer war between Hizbullah and Israel, to determine the fate of the weapons held by the group.

But it has been delayed several times because of the country's successive political crises.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri's government has failed to resolve the thorny issue of Hizbullah arms since its formation in November, when it defeated the Hizbullah-led March 8 coalition.

Hizbullah has refused to disarm since the end of the 1975-1990 Civil War and insists that its weapons are necessary to defend Lebanon against Israeli aggression.

He noted that the "only" item which remains for discussion on the dialogue table was Hizbullah weapons.

"So, there is no room for argument," Geagea said. "The topic has already been determined and Hizbullah arms fall under the defense strategy."

"We look at the matter from this angle," he added.

Hezbollah and its allies disagree:

While the majority March 14 alliance holds on to defense strategy as a single item for discussion, the Hizbullah-led opposition argues the possibility of raising additional issues on the agenda, including the "economic-water security."

The major controversy, however, revolves around Hizbullah arms.

While Hizbullah insists that the group's weapons are not up for discussion at the table, March 14 demand that Hizbullah arms be debated.

Hizbullah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem on Monday noted that "there is no discussion topic at the dialogue table dubbed 'weapons,' because those weapons are the outcome of the defense strategy and not its source."
"Furthermore, there is no attempt at the dialogue table to undermine the strength of Lebanon, but to discuss the defense strategy," Qassem added at a ceremony to commemorate the birth of Prophet Mohammed in Beirut Southern Suburbs.

Qassem said that "Lebanon's strength" may require coordination and means "to enhance the capabilities of the Mujahedeen of the resistance and the army … to reach a real defense capacity that frightens Israel and obliges it to know its limits."

Asharq al-Awsat quotes the Lebanese Defense Forces as saying that they will resist Israel if attacked, and that Hezbollah's weapons are illegal.

UPDATE: As I was writing this, two hours into the meeting, the meeting was adjourned until April 15th. One can take a good guess as to what happened.

Hamas ready to implode?

The not-always-reliable Kuwaiti press is reporting that Hamas is losing its grip on power in Gaza.

Firas Press reports of a Kuwaiti newspaper that quotes unnamed sources as saying that Hamas is in serious trouble, both from a security and an economic perspective, in Gaza, and it might prompt them to ignite fighting in the West Bank.

The sources said that the recent riots in Jerusalem helped divert attention from Hamas' internal problems, mentioning recent explosions against Hamas officials which are being blamed on unpaid workers protesting. It quotes rumors, that Hamas has denied, that Hamas' minister of the interior Fathi Hammad is being fired from his job.

The sources also point to well-known differences of opinion between Hamas leadership in Gaza and its leaders in Damascus.

Iranians caught with stolen Israeli passports

Ma'ariv reports that three Iranians were caught at an airport in Seychelles trying to use stolen Israeli passports. The Iranians were sent back on a flight to Nairobi, Kenya, from where they came.

Seychelles authorities passed the information to Israeli authorities, who found that the passports were stolen from Israelis who traveled to Thailand last year.

Israeli authorities fear that this was the precursor to a terror attack in the archipelago, which has been advertising heavily to attract Israelis on Passover vacation this year. Charter airlines now go directly to Seychelles from Israel.

Palestinian Authority considers Richard Falk to be too pro-Hamas?

Richard Falk, the UN's "special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories," says he has been asked to resign by the Palestinian Authority - because he is too pro-terror even for them:

Richard Falk, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, said on Monday the Palestinian Authority (PA) urged him to step down after he criticized the PA’s treatment of a UN war crimes report.

Falk confirmed reports that the joint PA-PLO mission to the UN in Geneva also delayed consideration in the UN Human Rights Council of his most recent report detailing Israeli abuses of Palestinians’ rights.

Arabic-language news reports of the delay surfaced last week.

He said PA officials formally approached him in February asking him to resign, arguing that he is unable to carry out his responsibilities since Israel detained him at Ben Gurion International Airport and deported him in late 2008.

But, he stressed in an interview, "what they [the PA] say formally and what they say informally are quite different."

"Informally they say different things, things that are essentially untrue, that my health doesn’t me allow to do the job or that I’m a partisan of Hamas," Falk added.

Falk’s mandate is narrowly defined to include only the human rights record of the occupying power, Israel, in the occupied West Bank and Gaza – he does not report to the UN on the actions of the PA or the Hamas government in Gaza.

But Falk did raise hackles in Ramallah when he publicly criticized the PA for delaying UN action on judge Richard Goldstone’s report that accused Israel and Palestinian militias of committing war crimes during the 2008-2009 Gaza war. Goldstone’s UN-mandated report dealt with the three-week attack that left some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.

President Mahmoud Abbas’ decision, under US pressure, to delay a vote in the UN Human Rights Council on Goldstone’s report provoked a political crisis, including calls for Abbas to step down, and for the dissolution of the PA. Rights groups slammed Abbas for harming their efforts to bring accused war criminals to justice.

Now Falk says Abbas’ men have done the same to his own report. He says the PA-appointed ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Ibrahim Khreishah, put forward a resolution in a recent plenary session of the Human Rights Council which delayed a discussion of his own report on Israeli rights violations from March until June. The resolution passed unanimously.

Falk, a Princeton international law expert, said he is "not happy" about the PA’s actions, but has no plans to resign. "I feel that it’s very important not to succumb to this pressure."

The delay of Falk’s report also caught the attention of Hamas leaders in Gaza. On Monday, The justice minister in the Hamas-controlled government in Gaza, Muhammad Faraj Al-Ghoul, held a news conference denouncing the delay as an effort to "kill the report and give Israel a cover for its crimes."

It is entirely possible that Falk is making this entire thing up. He has an exaggerated sense of self-worth and he has lied multiple times before.

Even so, it highlights that UN officials are more closely aligned with how Hamas views the Middle East than how the US does.

Mahmoud Zahar the deadbeat

Palestine Press Agency quotes Fatah member Jamal Nazzal as claiming that Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar did not pay the electric bill for his large house in 2006 and 2007, owing several thousand shekels.

Arab leaders call for Jihad over Jerusalem. Again.

Over the past 150 years, Muslims have learned that the threat of Jihad scares Westerners. The concern that hordes of half-crazed third-world Mohammedan zealots would go nuts is a consistent motif throughout contemporary newspapers of a century ago no less than it is today, just today it is less politically correct to think in terms of half-crazed third-world Mohammedan zealot.

From the March 2, 1899 Otago Witness:

From the Evening Independent, February 7, 1913:

From the Timaru Herald, September 27, 1876:

Over the years, Muslim leaders have learned that the very idea of a religious war strikes fear in Western hearts, because Westerners tend to be afraid of naked fanaticism. The thought that religion is enough reason to wage war seems primitive to modern ears, and being confronted with people who are fundamentally irrational is a scary thought.

Arab and Muslim leaders have cultivated this fear over the decades, to the extent that Westerners now censor their own speech to avoid any chance of offending the irrational Muslim hordes and spark a Jihad, or at the very least a murder spree.

I have called this mindset "the diplomacy of fear." These leaders have learned that their very threats can get the Western world to bend to their bidding, and the fear is based on the concept that Muslims cannot be trusted to act rationally. Leftists embrace this soft bigotry and the Muslim and especially Arab leadership exploit it.

In that context, it is telling that a conference in Cairo over the weekend called on all Muslims worldwide to initiate a religious war in defense of Jerusalem as a reaction to Israel daring to consider the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb to be "Jewish." The intent is not so much a show of strength by rioting Muslims - whose actual jihads have invariably fallen far short of the threats - as it is to frighten the West into pressuring Israel not to tick off the crazy, irrational "Mussulmans."

Rambam synagogue and school rededicated in Cairo

From CNN-I:

[A] small group of Jews from around the world gathered in Egypt's capital on Sunday afternoon to celebrate the rededication of a 12th-century religious school once used by one of Judaism's most revered figures, and a neighboring 19th-century synagogue built in his honor.
The $2 million, 18-month restoration project of the Rav Moshe synagogue, in an area of Cairo once called "the neighborhood of the Jews," was financed by the Egyptian government.
The school attached to the synagogue was the study of Rabbi Moses ben Maimon -- better known as Maimonides -- a 12th century religious scholar and medical doctor who led the Mediterranean Jewish world and whose patients included Saladin, the Muslim ruler of Egypt and Syria.
The Egyptian government has kept largely quiet about its synagogue restoration campaign. There were no public officials on hand for the rededication of the Rav Moshe synagogue on Sunday, and Egyptian security forces prevented some journalists from entering the building.

Al Masry al-Youm describes it a bit differently:

Newly-appointed Israeli ambassador to Egypt Yitzhak Levanon attended the celebration, along with the US and Canadian ambassadors and French embassy officials. Officials from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), however, which funded the restoration operation, did not attend.

Festivities took place amid a heavy security presence, with police cordoning off a 500-meter area around the synagogue. Local residents were banned from leaving their homes during the event and were ordered to keep their windows tightly closed. All shops in the district were shut for the duration of the event.

In advance of the celebration, Cairo Provincial Authority workers had cleaned the area, paved the sidewalks and painted nearby building facades.

Israeli embassy security personnel, in charge of security inside the synagogue, barred Egyptian journalists from entering the building to cover the event. A Jewish reporter from Israeli daily Haaretz was also denied entry for lacking an official permit.

As to why Egyptian officials didn't attend:

Egyptian officials were absent from the ceremony, and Culture Minister Faruk Hosni said Sunday's opening was a purely religious ceremony. Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt’s Antiquities Department, said that a more formal opening next Sunday would be attended by Egyptian officials.

Iran's new short-range cruise missile

From AP:

Iran announced Sunday that it has started a new production line of highly accurate, short range cruise missiles, which would add a new element to the country's already imposing arsenal.

Gen. Ahmad Vahidi told Iranian state TV that the cruise missile, called Nasr 1, would be capable of destroying targets up to 3,000 tons in size.

For some reason, Google's autotranslate of the rocket name mentioned in Al Asharq al-Awsat calls it "Nasrallah-1."

"Nasr" means "victory," and I thought perhaps Iran intended a pun on the name of their Hezbollah leader friend in Lebanon. But it looks more like an auto-translate bug than anything else.