Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, April 26, 2010

Today's PalArab news (4/26/10) - updated

The PA uncovered the largest Hamas weapons cache yet found in the West Bank, with hundreds of kilograms of weapons and explosives. It appears that Hamas was planning large scale terror attacks in the West Bank and in Israel.

The IDF killed a senior Hamas terrorist in a shootout in Hebron. Even though he had a history of being behind shooting attacks, the AP describes him as an "activist." (Ap has since changed the story; I found the original at the Times of India site showing that the original story had AP repeatedly referring to him as an "activist.")

Fatah accused Hamas of arresting 11 more Fatah members in Gaza.

A Fatah spokesman mocked Hamas, saying that even though it talks tough it really accepts a two-state solution. This is yet another of many cases where Fatah's criticism of Hamas is not against its terrorism but against its seeming peacefulness.

A student at Gaza's Al Azhar University was found with a hand grenade.

A supposedly 117 year old woman died in Qalqiliya in the West Bank, leaving behind her 115-year old husband. If she really had been that old, she would have held the record for world's oldest person; if her husband is really that old, he would succeed her as the world's oldest person. The claims seem dubious at best.

Kuwait did not allow Palestinian Arab disabled athletes to travel to Kuwait for the West Asia paralympic competition. Apparently, Kuwait doesn't recognize "Palestinian" passports.

Pictures from the "world's largest prison"

Yesterday was "Family Day" in Gaza, and here are some pictures of the celebrations:

If you think that "Family Day" is a time-honored Palestinian Arab tradition, you would be wrong. Their holidays on which they hold celebrations and rallies are centered around being victims as well as important terror anniversaries.

Rather, this celebration was sponsored by UNRWA.

Fayyad the faker

If there is any Palestinian Arab politician who is regarded as untouchable by the Western media, it is PA prime minister Salim Fayyad. Article after article praises him as an economic reformer who is untouched by terror and who is tirelessly working towards an independent Palestinian Arab state using Western and Gandhi-type methods.

Avi Trengo in YNet bursts the Fayyad balloon, in a two-part article:

Fayyad is not a military leader. He is building himself up as a political leader, yet there is no better way to judge his actions than to examine his deeds on the economic front, thereby exposing the immense gap between his words and intentions.

Had his intention indeed been to be the Palestinian Ben-Gurion, he would have been acting for the sake of economic independence and the building of an infrastructure for the state in process. Instead, Fayyad dedicated the huge funds he’s been receiving from the world to paying salaries, in a bid to boost his support. He remembers well that the party he established years ago won less than 2% of the vote in the elections. Just like any politician, this is what truly interests him: building a support base.

Recently, he started rewarding not only the 150,000 employees of the Palestinian Authority and its security arms. Fayyad established a fund (seemingly for development purposes) that hands over funds directly from donor states to salaries in more than 500 city halls and local councils established in the PA. In the past 16 years, these grew fivefold.

The Palestinian prime minister boasts of being an economic reformer, yet in practice the growth we have seen under his leadership originates in greater international aid, which has been growing as result of a promise he has not delivered on: Minimizing Palestinian government bureaucracy.

He also wants us to continue serving as his excuse for not investing the funds at his disposal in development – each report he submits to the World Bank is replete with excuses as to why the development funds had not been fully used. Would you like to guess who he blames?

Had Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad possessed real plans for independence, he would already be starting to prepare an infrastructure for independent Palestinian currency. A state that wants to develop a private sector and the ability to reward exports cannot do it by a clinging to the shekel – the currency of a modern and highly developed economy like Israel’s.

As an economist who worked for the International Monetary Fund, Fayyad knows well that the ability to carry out currency depreciation is the most important capacity demanded by the IMF from any independent state, yet this is apparently unfit for “Palestine.”

This is clear proof that he does not intend to promote real independence. He wants to continue relying on us and remain in an undefined state of half-occupation and half “independence” until demography plays its part. What Hamas is trying to do militarily, and what Arafat attempted to do diplomatically, Fayyad seeks to do economically.

Read the whole thing.

The Elders make an appearance in Iran

Iran's English radio website has an 8-part article makes every major anti-semitic claim in one convenient package.

It starts with the Zionist Jewish aims to take over the world, specifically Europe. It goes on to state that Zionism's goal is a state from the Nile to the Euphrates, that Ashkenazi Jews are all really Khazars, that Jews conspired with Nazis to facilitate immigration to Palestine, that there were no gas chambers, no crematoria and that the Holocaust is a myth altogether, that Jews ("Zionists") are trying to destroy Christianity as well as Islam.

Finally, in chapter 8, we learn where the Islamic Republic got these ideas from: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which are then quoted!

But Iran will keep telling you that they are only anti-Zionist, not anti-semitic.

(h/t Judeopundit)

Hamas shuts down hip-hop concert

Either they really hate hip-hop or we have more evidence that Hamas is an autocratic, repressive, extremist theocracy:

Hamas police have broken up the Gaza Strip's first major hip-hop concert.

The B Boy Gaza group had just started a lively dance set late on Saturday in a crowded auditorium when police from the Islamist Hamas group that rules the Gaza Strip ended the performance with shouts of "the show is over", witnesses said.

"I told one of the policemen that rap meant respect for all people, but he didn't seem to be listening. He said it was an immoral dance," one of the dancers said.

PCHR adds:

The policemen cancelled the show, expelled the audience, and arrested six of the show's organizers. The detainees were taken to al-Abbas police station in the center of Gaza City. The policemen confiscated the videotapes and cameras that were used in the show. According to the testimony of one of the organizers, the police forced two of the arrested ones to sign a pledge not to organize shows without obtaining permits from the Palestinian police.

What the Obama White House has condemned

One of the strongest terms in the diplomatic arsenal is the word "condemn." It is used sparingly, to show extreme displeasure, usually for heinous acts of terror and mass murder.

Elder Brother of Ziyon asked me what international incidents the Obama White House has condemned since taking office.

Here's what I could find:

Terrorist bombings on the Moscow Metro
May 2009 fatal terror attacks in Iran
Murder of three employees of US Consulate in Mexico
Violence against civilians in Iran
Terrorist bombings in Iraq
Terrorist bombings in Jakarta
Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest in Burma
Al Qaeda attack on Saudi Arabia’s Assistant Minister of Interior
Brutal murders and rapes in Guinea
Iran's executions of pro-democracy advocates
North Korean nuclear test

and, of course...

Israel's announcing plans to build houses for ordinary citizens in its own capital

Both Robert Gibbs and Joe Biden used the term "condemn" in terms of Israeli building within Jerusalem.

As far as I can tell, the current administration has never condemned Hamas nor the PA. Not for fatal rocket attacks, not for constant incitement for terror, not for the lionization of terrorists.

The Palestinian Arab narrative is that, somehow, Jews building houses in a land that Jews have identified with for millennia is a crime that is on par with mass murder. This meme has only one, very bigoted purpose - to make the Middle East free of any non-Arab control.

Yet its repetition over the decades has turned this lie, founded on other lies and supported by a myriad of further lies, into accepted truth by most of the world.

And this lie, based on pure bigotry, is now accepted as a fact in the mind of the world's most powerful person.

Anti-semitism at University of California

From the Daily Californian:

Three swastikas have been found drawn on hallway walls of residence halls at the Clark Kerr Campus since Wednesday evening, alarming administrators but provoking little visible reaction from students.
The first swastika--measuring 6 by 6 inches--was drawn in pen on a wall in Building 2 between 5:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Wednesday night, while the second and third--each measuring about 3 by 3 inches--were drawn in Building 3 between 1 a.m. and 8 a.m. Saturday morning, according to Marty Takimoto, spokesperson for Residential and Student Service Programs. All the drawings have since been painted over.
Though campus officials have condemned the drawings, classifying them as "hate incidents," the drawings have elicited little student response.
No students attended a community meeting hosted Thursday evening to open a dialogue about the incident, according to Takimoto.

The reason that there was little student response may be because, as one student wrote in response:

I was absolutely disturbed when I heard that a swastika was found in a residence hall Wednesday night. I wanted to notify other people...but a news report never came out from ANYONE to substantiate these events until now. I was hesitant in telling others because I had heard about the swastika through multiple people, but no one who directly witnessed it.

Had I known there was going to be a meeting to discuss the swastikas, I definitely would have been there and I'm sure my Jewish friends would have been there too. Unfortunately, the university wants to brush this under the rug like other anti-Semitic actions on campus.

In other words, the university never confirmed that the incident happened, it didn't seem to publicize the community meeting about it, and now it seems to use that as evidence that it was no big deal!

Meanwhile, only a couple of days earlier, in nearby Oakland:

Within the span of a few days, windows were shattered at two Jewish food establishments in Oakland’s Grand Lake district.

Police are investigating the broken windows — one at Holy Land Restaurant reported on April 16, the other at Grand Bakery two days later — as vandalism, according to Lt. Kenneth Parris, the Jewish community liaison officer with the Oakland Police Department. As of press time April 21, there were no leads and no one had claimed responsibility for the acts, Parris said.
He added that there was no immediate evidence indicating the vandalism was motivated by hate. Yet given its timing, there is some cause for concern, he said.
“Because of the proximity of Yom Ha’Atzmaut [Israel Independence Day], and the fact that Adolf Hitler’s birthday and Israeli Independence Day came together this year, I am concerned about the potential that it might be anti-Semitic activity,” Parris said. “Two of the three Jewish businesses in the Grand Lake area were hit, and there were no reports of anybody else having this experience.”

BBC bias in report on Gaza girl

I mentioned earlier today that Israel quickly acceded to a Hamas minister's request to help save his daughter's life.

The BBC tries mightily to spin it negatively towards Israel. Here is its background material for the story:

Israel imposed a blockade on the coastal enclave when it came under control of the Islamist Hamas in 2007.
Its 1.5m inhabitants are rarely allowed to leave.
The UN and a number of international humanitarian groups warned in January that the blockade was putting residents' health at risk.

The last sentence is seemingly meant to imply that the girl's illness - the nature of which has not been publicized - is Israel's fault!

Now, why wouldn't the BBC have written these facts as background information?

- Israel regularly allows Gazans to be treated at Israeli hospitals.
- In 2009, Israel allowed over 10,000 Gazans to come to Israel for medical purposes.
- Another 10,000 Gazans exited the Strip for other reasons.
- An Israeli medical clinic that was built specifically for Gazans injured in Operation Cast Lead was closed down when Hamas refused to allow any residents to get treated there.
- Hamas has methodically taken over all the medical associations in Gaza since seizing power, replacing doctors if their political views weren't deemed to be pro-Hamas enough.
- Hamas has used Gaza hospitals and ambulances to transport and protect its own militants

It seems that the BBC has a narrative about Gaza and it will only mention the facts that it deems relevant to pushing that narrative. It just so happens that this narrative has nothing bad to say about Hamas and everything bad to say about Israel.

(h/t "Guest")

Islamic Jihad shows part of its terror tunnel network

Islamic Jihad has published images showing its "mujahadeen," as it often does through Palestine Today.

Some of them show how they use tunnels to hide and to move from place to place:

Hamas upset at Reuters for publishing a Shalit ad

10million.org, an Austrian-based organization that offers a $10 million award to anyone who provides accurate information leading to the freeing of Israeli prisoners, placed an ad in the Arabic Reuters news service web page asking for information on the whereabouts of Gilad Shalit.

This greatly upset Hamas, which blamed Reuters for being "pro-Israel" and says that the wire service loses credibility by publishing such an ad.

Hamas also announced that the ad undermines their "national" security, and since Reuters is based in Britain, it proves that the British are Zionist and have been since the Balfour Declaration.

Hamas' interior minister's sick daughter airlifted by Israel to Jordan

Israel immediately acceded to a Hamas request to help the sick daughter of their interior minister.

Fathi Hammad's youngest daughter took ill over the weekend. In response to an urgent request, she was rushed via ambulance to a hospital in Ashkelon, where she was briefly treated and then airlifted to Jordan via a Jordanian helicopter.

The child went with her mother, one of Fathi Hammad's four wives.

Hamas has attempted to shut down any mention of this incident in the Gaza media, but Islamic Jihad's organ Palestine Today wrote it up.

Saudi starts spoof news program on Web

A new weekly spoof news show for Saudi audiences has started on the web.

Called "A Quarter to Nine," it so far just features a news reader with only a couple of images and no obvious visual jokes. At least three episodes have aired so far.

The person behind it says that he has already received offers from satellite stations to broadcast the parody news show, but that it is not quite yet ready for prime time.

This looks to be good news all around. A prerequisite for change is the ability to look at yourself from a different perspective, and that's what satire does.

Hamas uses Shalit's image in propaganda video

Hamas has released an animated video that is aimed at the Israeli public to pressure Israel to give in to Hamas demands on a prisoner swap.

The video shows Noam Shalit walking the empty streets of an Israeli city, looking at billboards calling for Shalit's release, and ultimately the aged father pictures him coming home in a coffin.

The Al Qassam Brigades, in releasing the video, explicitly threatens that Shalit's fate will end up like Ron Arad's. Yet Hamas is presenting the video as showing a humanitarian message, saying that they understand Noam Shalit's pain and that the Arab parents of prisoners suffer similar pain.

The video is being broadcast Sunday.

This video seems to violate the current normative understanding of Article 13 of the Third Geneva Convention that says that POWs cannot be subject to "insults and public curiosity."

Hamas to decrease "Zionist" immorality in Gaza colleges

Palestine Today reports that Hamas has started a new program to stop immorality in Gaza's colleges.

Lt. Col. Emad Deeb is heading the initiative to "stop and prevent the spread of moral corruption among students." The immorality is, of course, due to the "occupation" and those who support the Zionist occupiers - meaning Fatah.

Deeb said that "we recovered a set of documents that prove the involvement of Fatah in spreading corruption and immorality among university students, especially the Islamic University in Gaza."

These include evidence of pornography video clips being transferred via Bluetooth. (This indicates to me that Hamas is already watching all Internet traffic at Gaza colleges, as Bluetooth messages cannot be as easily intercepted.)

Deeb also said that "the policy of the Zionist occupation is aimed at destroying the infrastructure of Palestinian education, including the spread of ignorance of students and moral and social corruption through the deployment of its agents among the students," adding that the Zionists "helped to fuel partisan strife and violence among students and create problems that lead them to wreak havoc inside and outside the campus with the support of the occupation and its agents of power fleeing to the West [Bank.]"

Finally, he addressed the students directly, saying, "You have to study and keep away from the temptations of this world and the temptations of the devil so that you can complete your studies and your life, and we invite you to go to the offices of university Security Police in case you encounter a particular problem. We guarantee your confidentiality and non-disclosure of your problem."

Sounds a lot like Soviet-style secret police to me.

Hamas claims 2 million people in Gaza now

Palestine Press Agency reports that Hamas has announced that the population of the Gaza Strip is at nearly 2 million people.

This is some half a million higher than the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics' number, which was less than 1.4 million in 2007.

Demographic inflation is nothing new in the territories. It is a little ironic that the people who scream "genocide" the loudest are the same ones whose demographic claims contradict that epithet the most.