Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, June 07, 2010

Is this a gun?

I just again looked at the 9 minute Al Jazeera Mavi Marmara video and saw something I never noticed before:

Doesn't that look like a gun that the IHH is firing at the helicopter? Or is it something else - a camera, a mic?

UPDATE: The LGFers pretty much all think it is a camera. I'm intrigued by the possibility that it was one of the initial kidnapped IDF officer paintball guns.

Proof that Gaza is too crowded

From PCHR:

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 6:00, on Sunday 6 June 2010, an unknown object exploded in a land that had been used for training by resistance groups in al-Mawasi area in the west of Rafah. As a result, Mohammed Fayez Dehleez, 15, was seriously wounded, due to which his legs and right hand were cut (amputated.)

The Palestinian police sources stated that they opened an investigation into the reasons of the explosion occurred in the training area, at a time when there was no training at all for any resistance group. The police added that the said site had no clear boundaries and many groups were using it.

You see, because Gaza is so small, we have a tragic situation where the large open areas used for terrorism training must be shared among multiple terror groups. Because of the Israeli siege, proper fencing cannot be built around these vast areas - each of which could comfortably house tens of thousands of people.

So until Israel cedes more of its occupied land in the Negev to Hamas, poor Gaza children will continue to be exposed to the danger of left-over munitions from militant training.The human rights of the terror groups to each have their own, separate, well -protected training areas is being seriously violated.

It is just this sort of human rights abuse that makes Westerners so upset that they must organize flotillas to aid those children in danger of being blown up. All because of Israeli intransigence.

Observation on the Reuters-cropped knives

The IDF came under some derision from skeptics who said that their publication of weapons found on the Mavi Marmara ship were of equipment that one would normally find on a ship, such as ordinary kitchen knives.

The two knives that Reuters originally cropped out do not look like any of the knives in this picture, though.

This is not a kitchen knife nor a utility pocket knife - it is a combat knife, somewhat similar in intended function (sharp point, serrated edge that only reaches to the beginning of the curved part) to this one:

Since we see evidence that combat knives were on the ship, and that they were not apparently found by the Israelis, it corroborates the testimony that the IHH thugs threw their own weapons overboard (and not just IDF weapons, as most of those on the ship have been claiming.)

A good question

Soccer Dad asks:

I was unaware of the story behind Helen Thomas's outburst against Jews.
But I wonder what was wrong about what she said.

As he points out, Thomas' comments - that the Jews should get out of "Palestine" because, presumably, they have no legitimate history there - is the exact same position held by Palestinian "moderates." They still refuse to consider Israel a Jewish state (as opposed to the old days in 1948, when they made a bit more explicit their feelings that their entire problem with Israel was that it was a Jewish state.)

Thomas' feelings are widespread in the Arab world. No one in the West expresses disgust, or even astonishment, when Palestinian Arabs say that the Temples never existed or that the Western Wall was built by the Umayyad Muslim dynasty and is a part of the Waqf. The strong reaction to Thomas' statements could not be because those who are now so offended find the statements themselves offensive. It must be something else:

Helen Thomas, then, didn't say anything offensive. The belief she espoused isn't the problem, it's that she's a Westerner who did. For some arbitrary reason, denying Jewish history is offensive for her to do; had she been a Palestinian politician there'd have been nothing wrong with her statement.

Joe Klein, (via memeorandum) who now tells Helen Thomas to go to the back of the room, regularly vilifies Israel and those defenders of Israel, who - for good reason - are skeptical about the intents of the Palestinians.

The question isn't really what was offensive about Helen Thomas's remarks, but what's innocuous about similar remarks made by Palestinian leadership? If it's wrong for an individual to say that Jews don't belong in Israel, aren't you courting disaster by creating a neighboring state founded on that very principle?

It's more than courting disaster - it is effectively legitimizing the very offensive principle, in this case, by saying that Jews have no historic ties nor religious rights to the holy places and the heartland of ancient Jewish kingdoms.

Why is denying history and historic rights offensive for Thomas and accepted for Israel's ersatz, "moderate," "peace partners?"

Egypt seizes landmines, mortars headed to Gaza

Firas Press reports that Egypt has intercepted a shipment of 100 landmines and 10 mortar shells that were being smuggled to Gaza.

This is just the latest of a long line of such seizures ever since Egypt started increased monitoring of Rafah tunnel crossings in the wake of Hamas' refusal to reconcile with Fatah.

Sheikh Tamimi sacked in corruption scandal

Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi was forced out of his job as the "Palestinian Chief Justice and Supreme Judge" yesterday.

Not because he is singlehandedly responsible for many riots. Not because of his anti-semitism or daily incitement against Jews. Not because of the lies that he habitually hurls about supposed Jewish plans to destroy the Al Aqsa mosque.

No, he is being forced out by Abbas because of an unspecified corruption investigation sparked by the whistle-blower Fahmi Shabana who went on Israeli TV to expose endemic corruption that the PA was trying to cover up.

But don't worry - Tamimi will still enjoy a full pension from the PA, with funds that come from the West to prop up the Abbas regime. And he will be free to incite and lie all he wants.

(As I wrote a few weeks ago, Tamimi has stated in the past that there is no Jewish connection to Jerusalem, that Jews are exporting AIDS to PalArabs, there were never any Temples in Jerusalem, that Jews are planning to massacre Muslims on the Temple Mount and that Jews were planning to demolish Al Aqsa last March. He's also the guy who interrupted the Pope to make a speech about Israeli genocide against Arabs.)

Hamas loves Helen Thomas!

From the Al Qassam Brigades English website (photo from their site as well):

Al Qassam website-June 6, 2010-White house correspondent Helen Thomas told Jews to get out of Palestine. In an interview with her, Jewish man named as David, asked Helen for her comment on Israel, she responded by saying: "Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine."

Turning her attention to the Palestinians, she said, "Remember, these people are occupied. And it's their land," adding the Jews should "go home" to Poland and Germany.

No doubt that Thomas Helen has told the truth that everybody in the world knows, but as American in a very important position , she was attacked by Zionists who went mad from the reality she mentioned in front of all people.

A document released yesterday on You tube, shows Thomas Helen while addressing Jews as " get out of Palestine because it does not belong toyou".

Thomas Helen directly accused by Jews and pro-Israel masses as anti-Semite Nazi.

Israelis ignore the reality, that they never belong in Palestine but belong in some other countries they know better.

Thomas when she asked by David , where Jews should go ? she replied him: "They should go home, German , Poland, America and anywhere else".

She also mentioned that "remember these people are occupied and it is their land , not German and not Poland".

This statement by Thomas Helen reflects the opinion of American majority in USA and all masses who support justice and peace in Palestine an whole world.

Moreover, her statement serves peace process in -Middle East- as they like to call it, to a very great extent.

Peace process will be successful, only when Israel get out of Arab Areas ,Golan and occupied Palestine, then we can say that peace is happily achieved, other wise, and as long Israel occupies Palestine and some Arab lands, peace will never be achieved and more headache will be brought to the world by state of terror-Israel .

Hamas also proudly reproduced the video on Hamas' Almoltaqa message forums.

The last paragraph should be read by every diplomat in the world who thinks that Israeli giving up more land will somehow cause Palestinian Arab claims - and Arab terrorism - to be minimized.

In reality, it would cause such terror to escalate.

Terror did not stop because of Oslo - it increased. Only a short time after Israel withdrew from Area A, giving full day-to-day autonomy to Palestinian Arabs there (well over 95% of them in the West Bank,) the terrorism increased markedly. It took a belated, tough Israeli response to the decade of terror attacks since Oslo to prompt the Palestinian Arabs (temporarily, in the timeframes in which they think) to reduce their attacks.

Israel's withdrawal from Gaza also did not stop rockets towards Israel - rather, after a brief relative lull, they increased. Only another tough Israeli response forced Hamas to (again temporarily) work to rein in the attacks (while claiming victory.)

Israeli concessions do not help peace at all - they embolden terror. The only serious deterrent to terrorism is a tough and consistent response that makes the terrorists realize that they have something to lose by their continued attacks. Westerners who pressure Israel alone to make concessions are giving the Palestinian Arab side precious little incentive to make any compromises for peace.

As this article shows, even the terrorist group the Al Qassam Brigades has taken the language and terminology of the "peace process" to be a weapon for them to achieve their goals to destroying Israel. Just as the Fatah terror group is now tactically repeating to the West via the PA that there will be no peace until Israel leaves 100% the "occupied territories, " the Hamas terror group is saying the same thing - just their explicit definition of the "occupied territories" is all of Israel.

If Israel would give away 100% of the land gained in a defensive war against Jordan in 1967, the next step would be people demanding the Arab areas of the Galillee. Then Jaffa. Then would come demands for the land that Israel "occupied" in the 1948 war over the UN partition boundaries (not to mention the return of millions of descendants of refugees to their nonexistent homes and fields in Israel.) If Israel gave those back, then they would demand the rest of "historic Palestine" (and an apology from Britain for the Balfour Declaration.)

The pattern is clear and it can be seen in this article. It is not only Hamas - ordinary Palestinian Arabs also believe, deep down, that Israel will be defeated sooner or later.

I had mentioned in a post a few months back about visiting a friendly Arab pottery shop in Hebron, where I was invited to drink coffee and Mrs. Elder was given an opportunity to use the potters' wheel. A great deal of their business is from Jewish tourists to the Tomb of the Patriarchs across the street.

Commenter viiit wrote:

I went to the same pottery shop in January.

The same friendly Arab/Muslim has treated me to some coffee.

I asked him about the plate he hand hanging on the wall. On it there was the map of "Palestine" without Tel Aviv. (Jaffo was there.)

He explained to me that all of Palestine was Arab and that they will get it back. It was only a matter of time, maybe 2 years, maybe 10 years, maybe a little longer, but with NO DOUBT it will come back to the Arabs. He assured me with all sincerity.

I asked him what will happen to the Jews, he said that they will be asked to leave, and if they don't wish to leave voluntarily they will be made to leave.

I then told him that I was a Jew. Then suddenly he told me with equal conviction that he is a man of peace, and that he only wants peace, and that Jews and Arabs can learn to co-exist. Of course he would wish that Jews would leave on their own, but if they don't then he is prepared to live with them together.

He also told me that his grandfather had 2 wifes and 21 children and by now he has 140 grand children and more are coming.

I was astounded by his ability to express two contradictory stands , without even noticing that there was any contradiction. He was a well educated and quite wealthy man. I think that this quality of speaking out of two sides of ones moth is part of Arab and Muslim culture.

I instinctively distrust Arabs and Muslims.

This is not a lone example. Arabs have even told their leftist Israeli friends the same thing (shocking many of them.) Whether one wants to generalize from this encounter to all Arabs and Muslims aside, it does illustrate that the Arab hatred for Jews (or at the very least the conviction that Jews should be at best a tolerated minority with limited rights) is far more than just political - it is cultural. But this is not something that you will see in op-eds by Arabs in the Washington Post or even in the Al Qassam website. They will happily use the language of the "peace process" to get the West to pressure Israel to help achieve their goals.

Nothing but continued and consistent Israeli strength can push that desire into the background. (It will never disappear, any more than the Muslim desire for Andalusia will never disappear.) The tactics may differ, and some may be more pragmatic than others about the possibilities of achieving the goal of a Palestine replacing Israel, but the goal has not changed one iota.

Helen Thomas has emboldened some to attempt to achieve it sooner rather than later, with the help of the US and clueless Europeans.

Believing otherwise is nothing more than wishful thinking, and too many in the West impose that wishful thinking on Israelis' daily lives.

(h/t OG)

Reuters tries to minimize photo deceptions (updated)

Yesterday, new Eldress Suzanne noticed (Kilgore Trout at LGF posted his findings 5 minutes before Suzanne did) that Reuters has cropped a photo taken from the Turkish Hurriyet newspaper showing the likely Turkish mercenaries aboard the Mavi Marmara holding down an IDF hostage they had stabbed and snatched during their attack on Israeli soldiers.

The original photo that shows a Turkish man with a knife in the lower-right, and a stabbed Israeli:

Reuters' cropped version:

One of my commenters, Frankie, emailed Reuters about the deception. They responded (after asking who the hell he was, anyway) that they released both photos to their clients.

The problem is that they only released the uncropped, original photo hours after Suzanne and others had noticed and complained about the deception!

There is no question that someone at Reuters purposefully decided to crop out the key detail.

Reuters also did not update the caption to mention that the soldier was stabbed, implying that his blood-stained pants might have just been a pre-existing condition, I guess.

And, of course, this photo was not the only one. As LGF noticed, Reuters published this picture:

When the original picture at the peaceful humanitarian organization IHH's website looked like this:

By sheer coincidence, I'm sure, Reuters cropped out the serrated knife, the pool of blood and part of another injured IDF soldier on the top of the IHH picture!

Via the Philosémitisme blog, here's the part that Reuters felt was not newsworthy:

Nah, that would just detract from the story.

And does no one think it is odd that a supposed humanitarian organization is publishing photos celebrating the violence that its members perpetrate?

UPDATE: Again, after the complaints, Reuters re-released the photo with the incriminating parts and is pretending that there is no problem.

Tear-jerking scenes from "world's largest prison"

Palestinians enjoy the beach in Gaza City, Sunday, June 6, 2010

Palestinians enjoy a boat ride in Gaza City, Sunday, June 6, 2010

A Turkish flag flies on a mast, as Palestinians enjoy the beach in Gaza City, Sunday, June 6, 2010

A Palestinian boy stands next to food cans outside a store in Shatie refugee camp, in Gaza City, Sunday June 6,2010. (Hebrew letters on cans of tomatoes and beans. - EoZ) .

Palestinian boys, one holding a kite with the colors of the national flag, enjoy a bicycle ride in Gaza City, Sunday June 6, 2010.

Sorry if these pictures will give you nightmares about the intolerable conditions that these Gazans are forced to endure by Israel.

(h/t The Vicious Babushka)

Free Gaza rejected offer of delivering cement to Gaza via NGO

If anyone still thought that the Free Gaza movement had any interest in helping out the people of Gaza, this audio recording of a conversation between the Israeli and Free Gaza ships yesterday should dispel that:

The flotilla team repeatedly had said that the reason the refuse to go to Ashdod is because Israel would not allow some of their cargo to go to Gaza. Here. we hear that Israel not only offered to transfer the cement that would have been brought on the ship to Gaza, but also that it would allow a third party NGO to bring it into Gaza.

Although their final response is not on this audio recording, Free Gaza evidently refused, although they were quite polite about it. They even helped the IDF soldiers get onto the ship. Maybe they have been reading the articles about international law and the breaking of blockades.

(I suppose it is possible that there was an unofficial deal, where FG was allowed to publicly say they refused to go to Ashdod but privately accepted the conditions.)

The false choice

The New York Times has an article about how more and more people are talking about Israel as a strategic liability for the US. The number of problems with the article are numerous.

Among other things, it includes the false use of the term "Arab East Jerusalem" - which include neighborhoods that are wholly Jewish, neighborhoods that are not in the eastern part of Jerusalem, and implies that "East Jerusalem" is a different city than "West Jerusalem," as if the aberration of 19 years of a divided city, which ended 43 years ago, where the eastern part was Judenrein is the status quo ante that must be adhered to forever.

It invokes the tired and absurd idea of "linkage" where supposedly Israeli actions are behind the worldwide Muslim and Arab anger at the West, an idea that is equally ridiculous, easily rebutted and yet well-entrenched in the current administration.

It ends off with a quote from Daniel Levy, director of the Middle East Task Force at the New America Foundation and a member of J Street - a representative of the liberal, anti-Israel stream of Jews emboldened by Obama's policies of conciliation with those who hate us.

He says,

America has three choices. Either say, it’s politically too hot a potato to touch, and just pay the consequences in the rest of the world. Or try to force through a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians, so that the Palestinian grievance issue is no longer a driving force or problem.” The third choice, he said, “is for America to say, we can’t solve it, but we can’t pay the consequences, so we will distance ourselves from Israel. That way America would no longer be seen, as it has been this week, as the enabler of excesses of Israeli misbehavior.

From his perspective, these are indeed the only choices America has. That is because the most obvious and effective choice has been all but shouted down by the left and center-leaning media.

The real option is none of the above.

America is the only superpower and as such it must be the leader, not the follower. To appease those whose philosophies are against American values is not to lead but to be held hostage to extremists. Anyone who makes enough noise now has veto power over US decisions, because the desire to be loved is outweighing the mandate to do what is right.

Levy makes a fatal assumption: that if a peace deal is forced through, the "the Palestinian grievance issue" would go away or be greatly reduced. History shows that the exact opposite is the case, and making that assumption is wishful thinking replacing real thought.

Israel withdrew from Lebanon, completely. Hezbollah was not weakened by that move - on the contrary, it has stayed at least as radical as ever, and based on its rhetoric, maybe more so.

Israel withdrew from Gaza. The vacuum was not replaced by an America-loving moderate Arab government, but by an Iranian-leaning radical terror organization. It did not reduce friction - it increased it, although it made Westerners very happy.

Today's Pearls Before Swine comic strip helps show the absurdity of the new realism that demands real compromises from only one side, in the name of "peace". (Whether Stephen Pastis' use of the name "Potus" was an intentional dig at Obama or not is open to question.)

It is too bad that so many, including so many Jews, cannot see the obvious truths and replace it with their hopes and dreams - disregarding the dangers of their wishful thinking.

Reuters crops out knife in picture of wounded soldier

Earlier today I mentioned that in the Turkish press pictures of wounded and captured Israeli soldiers were published. I added a picture on which a knife can be clearly seen:

Reuters decided to do some cropping on this one:

and also decided not to mention that the soldier is injured:

Pro-Palestinian activists hold down an Israeli commando on the Gaza-bound Turkish ship Mavi Marmara in the international waters of Mediterranean sea early May 31, 2010. Israeli marines stormed the Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza on Monday and nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed, triggering a diplomatic crisis and an emergency session of theU.N. Security Council. Picture taken May 31, 2010.

(I blurred the face on both pictures)

Arabs upset at "We Con the World"

The Palestinian Arab Firas Press angrily notes how popular the "We Con the World" video is on YouTube (over 890,000 views so far.)

But it also embeds it in the article!

Act of piracy?

The accusations that what Israel did could be defined either as piracy or as an illegal act of war are spread all over the internet.

The piracy-accusation bases itself on the pirate act of attacking civilian ships in international waters. (but pirates do not not operate under the auspices of a government)

And then there is this Craig Murray who is being quoted all over the place. He argues that it is illegal to attack a foreign flagged vessel in international waters and the event should be regarded as an act of illegal warfare. (Oddly, he seems terrified at the idea that all those damn zionists are visiting his blog)

Based on the above accusations I can only conclude that the Dutch:

The Dutch navy seized 1.32 tonnes of cocaine from a ship off the Dutch Antilles islands, the defence ministry said Saturday, a day after France announced a record bust in the region. The Dutch frigate Van Speijk discovered the cocaine wrapped in 66 individual bags on board a Panamanian-flagged commercial vessel on May 24, some 56 kilometres (35 miles) from the island of Aruba. The navy arrested the five crew Honduran crew and with Panama's permission sent them to the United States where the fight against drug trafficking in the region is being centralised, a navy spokesperson told AFP.

the Spanish and English:

In 2006, the Spanish and the British navies operating in international waters seized a record volume of cocaine departing from African ports, with a total of 9,852 kg seized on 5 ships, compared to 3,700 kg on one ship in 2005 (+ 166%). All seizures took place in international waters close to the Western African coasts, as shown on the map on the next page. [.pdf!]

and the French are pirates or war criminals as well:

A barrage of naval gunfire in the Atlantic, authorised by the French and Cambodian prime ministers, may have finally sunk one of the most controversial maritime developments of recent years - the "super flags of convenience" shipping registers run by tiny states in return for hard cash.

The Winner, a 32-year-old merchant ship flying the Cambodian flag, is due to arrive under military guard in the port of Brest tomorrow after being seized by the French navy, reportedly with two tonnes of cocaine on board.

But where is the outrage?

Must-read op-ed in Arabic blasts flotilla, Hamas

A Palestinian Arab newspaper asks about the motives of the Free Gaza flotilla.

The op-ed, by Fouad Sobhi, says

The Arab and Muslim world is very angry after the fall of some of victims when the Turks tried to sail some small boats carrying aid to break the siege imposed on Gaza and access to the Gaza Strip by sea. Demonstrations went out as usual to the streets of some Arab and Islamic slogans condemning what happened and demand an international trial of Israel and its leaders and the expulsion of ambassadors in Cairo and Jordan ... At the same time called the Muslim Brotherhood called upon the Egyptian government to open the crossings between Egypt and Gaza Strip - not to send food or fuel for the necessary needs of the Palestinians, but to send fighters to Israel to punish them for their response to vessels seeking to break the embargo on Hamas.

Many of the angry protesters don't know that it had been possible to avoid the victims and wounded at sea if the organizers of these vessels accepted the offer of Egypt and Israel to give such assistance to the Egyptian authorities to convey the aid to residents of the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing. This offer was rejected completely, because the scenario that was written and planned carefully by Hamas and the Turks was to create a clash with the Israeli navy and to provoke the soldiers of the Israeli army and engage with them to the degree that they will not escape, only shoot to defend themselves and then [Hamas can] exploit the incident, a major world media event to show Israel as a monster predator perpetrating aggressions against the innocent unarmed civilians who were seeking to achieve a noble humanitarian goal is to help the Palestinians.

My question here is why did the the organizers of the vessels refuse to accept the Egyptian offer to transfer their aid through the Egyptian border?? Why did they insist on moving towards Gaza despite the dozens of warnings issued to them by the Israeli and Egyptian authorities?? Is there a relationship between what has happened in the Mediterranean Sea and conflicts and internal disputes in Turkey between Prime Minister on the one hand, the army and the opposition on the other?? Did the system in Turkey want to dismiss what is happening inside with their internal conflicts and divisions by playing the religious feelings of Muslims and Arabs and criticism of Israel with guns and try to become the Savior of the Palestinian cause??

There is no doubt that I sympathize with all my senses and my heart with the good Palestinian people in Gaza and I hope to lift their siege the day before tomorrow, and I hope with all my heart for an immediate end to their suffering and the inhumane conditions, but at the same time, we must say that I find an excuse and justification for Israel and Egypt to continue this ban in the presence of the current leaders of the extremist Hamas who impose - Hamas themselves - the maximum blockade and more cruelty and viciousness, hundreds of times worse than the Egyptian and Israeli blockade.

I think it is appropriate to condemn the world's first siege of the extremist Hamas leadership of the Palestinian people in Gaza, religiously, socially, intellectually, politically, morally and economically .. But must also be strong demand to dismiss the Hamas leadership, extreme power and the rule of the sector and bring it back to the rule of the legitimate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abu Abbas to unify the Palestinians again.