Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The Facebook controversy

The story of photos of IDF soldiers posing with Palestinian Arab prisoners is exploding.

It started yesterday when images of a former soldier surfaced. She had placed the pictures on her Facebook page with her smiling in front of prisoners. These photos were nowhere near what we saw at Abu Ghraib, yet the anti-Israel crowd came out in force.

The IDF released what can only be considered an extraordinary video denunciation of the incident:

An argument can be made that this was overblown even by the IDF. The girl in the pictures was not doing anything to demean the prisoners; the fact is that nowadays, 19-year olds will put up everything on Facebook - here I am at the beach, here I am in my kitchen, here I am at work. Her job might have been extraordinary but it is normal human psychology to get used to the circumstances you are in and regard it as routine.

But now, Breaking the Silence has released other photos that are much worse. There is simply no justification and no excuse for these photos and for treating Arab prisoners this way, no matter what they had done. This is not how a professional army should act, ever, and it must be condemned in the strongest terms and the people involved should be punished.

Even though this is a despicable story, and one that might very well get worse, I am still struck at the hypocrisy from the supposedly outraged Arabs and their supporters.

The initial set of relatively innocuous photos were described as "despicable," "shameful" and "repulsive" by the IDF.

Can you imagine any act that any Arab could do against any Israeli that would be so reprehensible that a Palestinian Arab leader would use those words to describe it?

If a tiny Islamist terror group would pop up and systematically rape Israeli infants before ripping them limb from limb on video, would we ever hear a condemnation from any Arab leader that would approach the IDF's reaction to pictures of a girl smiling in front of prisoners? On the contrary - they would close ranks, and the worst possible condemnation would be (as it always has been after the most horrific terror attacks) that such actions "hurt the Palestinian cause."

As far as I know, no Palestinian Arab leader has ever condemned any terror attack because it was immoral. Kids blown up in ice cream parlors, pizza shops or at school were perfunctorily and emotionlessly "condemned" in order to appease the Americans. But never did Arafat or Abbas or Fayyad or Erekat or anyone else say that a terror attack was wrong for any other reason than that it made their side look bad. Quite the opposite - the terrorists are lionized, their schemes considered heroic, and schools and camps and streets are named after them.

The photos we are seeing seem to show something severely lacking in how the IDF teaches its code of conduct. They cannot be excused. The incidents need to be taken seriously and the people behind them need to be punished.

However, these incidents show us once again the enormity of the gap between the morality of the IDF and of her enemies, as well as the light-years between how the world expects Israelis to act and how Arabs are expected to act.

Epidemic of mosque shoe thieves in Ramallah

Firas Press reports that there has been a rash of thefts of shoes from mosques in Ramallah.

Muslims remove their shoes in an outer room and then pray inside. While they are in prayer, others have been going in and taking their shoes.

Some worshippers have resorted to splitting up their shoes, placing each one in a different corner of the room, so that the thieves would more likely be caught as they try to find the matching shoe.

When the worshippers return and find their shoes missing, they are forced to walk barefoot to a nearby store to buy some more shoes.

Which makes one wonder if perhaps the shoe store owners are involved....

Justice served for Islamic Jihad terrorist

Yesterday, the IDF killed a man who was planting explosive devices near the fence in Gaza.

It turns out that he was involved in the fatal ambush last March, where Maj. Eliraz Peretz and St.-Sgt. Ilan Sviatkovsky were killed as they also went to confront Gazans planting explosives near the fence.

Islamic Jihad was very proud of that operation, which they had called "Operation Luring Idiots." PIJ is claiming that the Gazan killed was the architect of that March attack while the IDF says that he took part.

Ma'an in Arabic, usually upheld as the most moderate of Palestinian Arab news outlets, calls the terrorist a "martyr."

Update on the "Mariam"

Yesterday I wondered whatever happened to the "Mariam" or "Virgin Mary" or "St. Mary" ship that supposedly had left Lebanon two weekends ago.

Today, Palestine Press Agency quotes the leader of the ship, Samar Haj, as saying that they hope to obtain permission within the next few hours to sail, and then be able to leave in the next few days.

BBC Panorama special on the Mavi Marmara - plus

Here's the BBC program on the Mavi Marmara.

And here is a MEMRI report on the MM, where interviewees use the word "captive" to describe how they were holding the IDF soldiers and also describing the IHH "peace activists" as the "resistance."

(Also, how unfortunate that they weren't tortured in Israel!)

(h/t Middle East News Watch)

PA minister brags of building 90 mosques in a year

Hamas said some disparaging things about the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Endowments (the Waqf) which is in charge of all Muslim institutions in the territories.

Mahmoud Habbash, minister of the Waqf, said that his organization has built over 90 mosques and has had over 250 people memorize the Quran in just one year.

Furthermore, in response to Hamas insults, he said, "They accuse us that we are fighting Islam?! We are... training imams in the arts of rhetoric and reading of the Koran, and we have not bombed mosques and we did not kill the elderly and children in mosques because they have different views," implicitly accusing Hamas of doing exactly that.

Hamas had also accused the Waqf of acceding to a request by the Jews of the territories to turn down the volume on mosque loudspeakers during Ramadan. Habbash was incensed at the very thought that his organization would be accused of being considerate to non-Muslims' feelings. "How can anyone accuse us of working to reduce the call to prayer to not disturb the settlers?!" Habbash went on to say that anyone who makes such an accusation is obviously in bed with the Zionist settler terrorist state.

Furthermore, Habbash said that accusations that the Waqf had fired members of Hamas were untrue; that they employed Hamas members as long as they adhere to ministry requirements and don't politicize mosques.

So from this article we can learn that 90 mosques were built by the cash-strapped PA this year, almost certainly using money from the EU and the US. In these mosques, as MEMRI has shown numerous times, come the worst kinds of incitement against Israel and, often, Jews.

It appears that the West is funding PA anti-semitism, not only by funding the TV station but also by funding the mosques.

PA kids say Jews killed Jesus and poisoned Arafat

Palestinian Media Watch unearths a little garden-variety anti-semitism from official Palestinian Authority TV:

Earlier this summer, in a dramatic performance at a PLO cultural festival, two young Palestinian boys lamented Arafat's death, and compared his death at the hands of the Jews to the death of Jesus:

Boy 1 [addressing Arafat]: "Father, father the Elder [Arafat]. Why did it happen this way? Why did it happen this way? Death chose you, and you did not complete the path."

Boy 2: "Do not ask why it happened this way. Yesterday they crucified Jesus; today they poisoned the father, the Elder [Arafat]."

[PA TV (Fatah), June 4, 2010]

The PA Minister of Culture was present at this performance.

They are calling Arafat "Elder"?

Now, it's personal.

Tip jar is live

OK, I'm placing a tip jar on the right hand sidebar (it is slightly wider than the column, making it a little ugly, but this was the easiest and smallest widget I could find, sorry.)

It uses Google Checkout, which allowed me to be somewhat more anonymous than PayPal or GPal. For existing users of Google Checkout, it is very easy to choose an amount to donate, click and it is done. Otherwise, you would have to sign up for that service (I think.)

I have not tested it thoroughly, but if anyone wants to throw me a buck or two, it would be very much appreciated.

Meanwhile, I got rid of the sidebar ads.

I'll try to keep the begging to a minimum!

Thanks so much for all the compliments in the previous post's comments. I do appreciate it.

UPDATE: I fixed the "out of stock" problem.

Blogoversary/open thread

Yesterday was the sixth anniversary of Elder of Ziyon.

Looking back at the first posts in August 2004, they were pretty much just links to articles I found interesting. I don't think that the blog really started getting started until January 2005, when I started posting original pieces like this and this (almost seminal) article.

I now have over 1.7 million page hits, of which some 800,000 came since my last blogoversary.

I am posting at a much faster pace than I was a year ago. Last year I was averaging four posts a day, now I am doing closer to ten; I have published an unreal 2200 posts in the past year. This is sort of crazy, and chances are I will have to cut back to a more manageable pace.

Another astonishing thing (to me at least) is that this blog is really up in the top tier of most-read Zionist blogs. My current Alexa ranking is at around 172,500, which is higher than practically every other blog that is in this space. I don't know how accurate Alexa is, but it is very interesting to see.

Yet, so far today, I have earned exactly six cents from my foray into ads. Sigh.

Also in the past year I added Suzanne as a guest poster, and Zvi as an unofficial guest poster. They are both great and have added a lot to the blog. I would love to have more people posting here; there is a lot of talent out there.

As far as my choices of topics, my main criterion is to be original. If a topic is being covered by other blogs, I have less interest in talking about it as well unless I think I have a different perspective (or I have writers' block.)

I wish I had time to do other projects. Part of me still wants to write a book or two; also I like doing videos because they generally get more attention. (My Gaza Mall video was the biggest hit that I have made - 69,000 views so far. Not Justin Bieber, but not bad.) But it is not easy since I still have a day job, a part-time home business and a family.If any organization wants to hire me to do this sort of thing full time, I would be happy to consider it!

Finally, I have to thank you guys for coming here. The community in the comments section continues to grow (often a hundred comments a day, and about 3000 comment views a day.) The tips that you send make my life much easier, and I remain amazed that people like to come here as much as they do.

Egyptian scientist spends three months in Israel. And he likes it!

From SPME (h/t Israel Matzav):

In 2008, I was invited to spend a summer conducting neuroscience research at both the Hebrew University (Jerusalem) and Al Quds Palestinian University (East Jerusalem /West Bank).

As an Egyptian, I had grown up very cautious about interacting with Israelis; it had never occurred to me to visit Israel. Many other Egyptians and probably many people in other Arab states feel the same way.

Some of my friends in Egypt advised me not to embark on such an “unethical” trip. For many in Egypt, setting foot in Israel is unthinkable, regardless of the purpose of the visit. But the Palestinian professors whom I consulted did not voice such criticism; they encouraged me to visit Israel. My friends in the United States did not make such criticisms either, and I realized that many Americans and Europeans who visit Israel hold different views on Israeli politics, yet they discuss their opinions openly with Israelis.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that regardless of the views my friends and I might have about Israeli politics, the opportunity to gain scientific experience at a good research institution was a separate issue, and nearly at the deadline for making the decision, I decided to accept the invitation to visit Israel.

...My social life in Israel and the West Bank was ...rewarding and educational. I visited many parts of Israel with my Arab neighbors in Jerusalem, many of whom were students at the Hebrew University. I was also repeatedly invited to professors’ homes for shabbat dinner and social gatherings, and I was always warmly welcomed. At many of these occasions, I felt more welcomed than people visiting from European countries, perhaps because of my Egyptian background.

Israeli universities produce scientific research comparable to that seen in Western countries. Israeli science institutions are constantly expanding. For example, the Hebrew University is currently building a new multi-million-dollar brain science research center, and plan to recruit top-notch scientists from around the globe. World-class scientists from Italy, the United States, Germany, Canada, Japan, and many other countries are constantly visiting and lecturing at Israeli universities. Israel holds many annual science meetings that researchers from various countries attend. Students from many European countries conduct their graduate work in Israel. Many Israeli universities have shown advancement in fields ranging from biomedical research to agriculture to engineering.

It is sad that neighboring countries do not participate in these activities. There is no doubt that Israeli science institutions and Israeli researchers would welcome having Arab researchers visit and collaborate with them. It is an overall a win-win game for both sides, if not more beneficial for Arab researchers. Arab countries need more scientific interaction with the outside world, including Israel.

After gaining science and research experience at world-class Israeli universities, Arab researchers could definitely be great assets to their home countries.

It is also beneficial to invite Israeli scientists and researchers to attend conferences and to lecture in Arab countries. Israeli scientists are frequently invited to lecture at large universitıes ın Europe and the United States; and even, in recognition of their scientific achievements, to give keynote lectures at annual conferences. Israeli scientists do, however, face difficulties attending conferences in Arab states. Should not we benefit from these minds as well? The Israeli experiment in science advancement is a good example for neighboring nations to follow, given the geographical and environmental similarities.

For many in the Arab world, the word Israel elicits political thoughts only. However, it is important to appreciate Israel’s advanced science infrastructure and to recognize that, whatever one’s political views, scientific collaboration with Israel is not only possible but also potentially beneficial for Egypt and other Arab countries.

It is funny that this is the first time I have seen an Arab actually use the term "win-win." Usually, the mentality is that if Israel thinks it is good, then by definition it is bad.

The sad part about this article is that it is so anomalous.

White House denies threatening Turkey

So much for this story....

From Politico:

The White House denied a report Monday that the U.S. has threatened Turkey with potentially withholding future arms sales because of its tougher stance towards Israel and vote against U.N. Iran sanctions.

Obama “emphatically denied” a Financial Times story saying the president had told Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that future arms sales would be contingent on softening his anti-Israel talk, White House pool reporter Jonathan Weisman of The Wall Street Journal writes.

Earlier today, the Financial Times cited an Obama administration official who said that the U.S. had warned Turkey that its harder posture on Israel and vote against U.N. Iran sanctions would make it harder to get arms sales to Ankara through Congress. The Pentagon notified Congress earlier this month of its intended arms sales.

“The president and Erdogan did speak about 10 days ago, and they talked about Iran and the flotilla and other issues related to that,” White House spokesman Bill Burton told the press aboard Air Force One Monday. “We obviously have an ongoing dialogue with them. But no such [arms] ultimatum was issued.”

“There’s no ultimatum,” Burton added.

No Arab university ranked in top 400

From AFP:

Harvard topped a ranking of world universities published Friday by a Shanghai college for the eighth year running -- a list dominated by US institutions and sharply criticised in Europe.

The University of California at Berkeley was second, followed by Stanford, according to the list of 500 institutions compiled by Jiaotong University's Centre for World-Class Universities, available at www.arwu.org.

The ARWU website is down as of this writing, but Ma'an (Arabic) notes that the top two Arab universities, both in Saudi Arabia, were ranked between 400 and 500, while four Israeli universities are ranked in the top 150.

Hezbollah opens "resistance" theme park

From The Independent (UK):

If you have an urge to inspect mangled Israeli tanks, toy with a rocket launcher, or explore a genuine rock-cut guerrilla bunker, Hezbollah's multi-media theme park in south Lebanon is just the place.

The Shia Muslim group, which fought Israel to a stalemate four years ago and has been preparing for the next war ever since, has applied its creative flair to a "resistance tourist landmark" at Mleeta, a strategic hilltop bastion on what was once a front line with an Israeli-occupied "security zone".

Here, on the resort's oak-sheathed slopes, the nitty-gritty reality of life as a Hezbollah guerrilla is on display, replete with themes of patriotism and martyrdom, plus a dose of bombast. More than 500,000 people have flocked to Mleeta, 37 miles south-east of Beirut, since it opened in May.

Ali, 40, a part-time guide whose day job is in an Islamic bank in the nearby town of Nabatiyeh, said the sprawling resort had cost $4m (£3.2m) so far. Future plans envisage a five-star hotel, a camp site, swimming pools, sports clubs and eventually a cable car. The guides generally preach to the converted – the crowds are mainly Lebanese Shias, with a sprinkling of foreigners. "You believe in Hezbollah, you believe in your country, you believe you are strong," chirped Sara Nasser, from the southern village of Haris, saying the exhibit had filled her with pride.

The Mleeta tour starts in a theatre showing a seven-minute video history of Hezbollah, with ear-splitting martial music. Then comes a museum displaying captured Israeli guns and gear. Wall panels offer a detailed anatomy of Israel's military machine and show satellite pictures – and map co-ordinates – of potential Hezbollah targets in the Jewish state.

Outside is a round sunken arena featuring wrecked Israeli tanks and artillery. A Merkava tank's gun has been artfully knotted. Large Hebrew letters spell out "The Abyss" and "The Swamp" in stone at the centre of the circle – taunts meant to be seen and photographed by Israeli spy planes, drones and satellites.

A trail, passing rockets hidden in the forest and life-sized models of Hezbollah fighters, leads to the mouth of an elaborate tunnel with a kitchen, prayer hall, operations room and living space for up to 30 men. The 300ft rocky passage, which emerges near a lookout point high above villages set in rolling hills, took three years to hack out of the limestone, Abu Abdullah, another guide, said.

Children played with an anti-aircraft gun, swivelling it up and down. Their father, Said Issa, a Palestinian from Lebanon's Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, spoke admiringly of Hezbollah. "When we come here and see the resistance, and our brothers in Gaza and Nablus, we see them on the same path," he said.

In Mleeta, the path ends in "Liberation Square", a garden surrounded by Hezbollah guns and missiles. Stone steps climb up to an esplanade dedicated to the organisation's "martyrs".

Notice how the article is neutral about Hezbollah's aims and methods. But since this is The Independent, you know they have to say something to make Israel sound as bad as possible:

It seems a safe bet that the Israeli air force will flatten this place early in the next war, just as in 2006 it destroyed a museum in the village of Khiam where Israel's old allies in the South Lebanon Army had once run a prison and torture chamber.

The museum/park website can be seen here.

Here is an evocative display of IDF soldier boots at the museum. The reporter apparently wasn't stuck by exactly what such a display evokes.

Similarly, the Independent didn't mention one of the potential Hezbollah targets illustrated - the Dimona nuclear plant in the Negev, a fact pointed out in the Reuters version of this same article.

Jeffrey Goldberg looks at Israel and a nuclear Iran

In the September issue of the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg looks at all facets of the Iranian nuclear issue. It is worth your while to read the whole thing.

Here are some parts on the danger of Iranian nuclear weapons, even if they are not deployed:

Israeli policy makers do not necessarily believe that Iran, should it acquire a nuclear device, would immediately launch it by missile at Tel Aviv. “On the one hand, they would like to see the Jews wiped out,” one Israeli defense official told me. “On the other hand, they know that Israel has unlimited reprisal capability”—this is an Israeli euphemism for the country’s second-strike nuclear arsenal—“and despite what Rafsanjani and others say, we think they know that they are putting Persian civilization at risk.”

The challenges posed by a nuclear Iran are more subtle than a direct attack, Netanyahu told me. “Several bad results would emanate from this single development. First, Iran’s militant proxies would be able to fire rockets and engage in other terror activities while enjoying a nuclear umbrella. This raises the stakes of any confrontation that they’d force on Israel. Instead of being a local event, however painful, it becomes a global one. Second, this development would embolden Islamic militants far and wide, on many continents, who would believe that this is a providential sign, that this fanaticism is on the ultimate road to triumph.

“You’d create a great sea change in the balance of power in our area,” he went on. An Iran with nuclear weapons would also attempt to persuade Arab countries to avoid making peace with Israel, and it would spark a regional nuclear-arms race. “The Middle East is incendiary enough, but with a nuclear-arms race, it will become a tinderbox,” he said.

Other Israeli leaders believe that the mere threat of a nuclear attack by Iran—combined with the chronic menacing of Israel’s cities by the rocket forces of Hamas and Hezbollah—will progressively undermine the country’s ability to retain its most creative and productive citizens. Ehud Barak, the defense minister, told me that this is his great fear for Israel’s future.

“The real threat to Zionism is the dilution of quality,” he said. “Jews know that they can land on their feet in any corner of the world. The real test for us is to make Israel such an attractive place, such a cutting-edge place in human society, education, culture, science, quality of life, that even American Jewish young people want to come here.” This vision is threatened by Iran and its proxies, Barak said. “Our young people can consciously decide to go other places,” if they dislike living under the threat of nuclear attack. “Our best youngsters could stay out of here by choice.”

Patriotism in Israel runs very high, according to numerous polls, and it seemed unlikely to me that mere fear of Iran could drive Israel’s Jews to seek shelter elsewhere. But one leading proponent of an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Ephraim Sneh, a former general and former deputy defense minister, is convinced that if Iran crossed the nuclear threshold, the very idea of Israel would be endangered. “These people are good citizens, and brave citizens, but the dynamics of life are such that if someone has a scholarship for two years at an American university and the university offers him a third year, the parents will say, ‘Go ahead, remain there,’” Sneh told me when I met with him in his office outside of Tel Aviv not long ago. “If someone finishes a Ph.D. and they are offered a job in America, they might stay there. It will not be that people are running to the airport, but slowly, slowly, the decision-making on the family level will be in favor of staying abroad. The bottom line is that we would have an accelerated brain drain. And an Israel that is not based on entrepreneurship, that is not based on excellence, will not be the Israel of today.”

Most critically, Sneh said, if Israel is no longer understood by its 6 million Jewish citizens, and by the roughly 7 million Jews who live outside of Israel, to be a “natural safe haven,” then its raison d’être will have been subverted. He directed my attention to a framed photograph on his wall of three Israeli air force F-15s flying over Auschwitz, in Poland. The Israelis had been invited in 2003 by the Polish air force to make this highly symbolic flight. The photograph was not new to me; I had seen it before on a dozen office walls in the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. “You see those planes?” Sneh asked me. “That’s the picture I look at all the time. When someone says that they will wipe out the Jews, we have to deny him the tools. The problem with the photograph is that we were too late.”

...A few weeks ago, in uncommonly direct remarks, the ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United States, Yousef al-Otaiba, told me—in a public forum at the Aspen Ideas Festival—that his country would support a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. He also said that if America allowed Iran to cross the nuclear threshold, the small Arab countries of the Gulf would have no choice but to leave the American orbit and ally themselves with Iran, out of self-protection. “There are many countries in the region who, if they lack the assurance the U.S. is willing to confront Iran, they will start running for cover towards Iran,” he said. “Small, rich, vulnerable countries in the region do not want to be the ones who stick their finger in the big bully’s eye, if nobody’s going to come to their support.”

(h/t Joel)

So what happened to the Mariam ship?

Two weeks ago, news outlets were anxious to tell us about the imminent departure of the much-heralded women's only ship, the Mariam, from Lebanon to Gaza. (At least one of them called a single ship a "flotilla." )

Last we heard, they were going to head to Cyprus.

Since then, I have not seen any news about them actually sailing from Lebanon. In fact, I have not seen anything.

The leader of the "Free Palestine Movement" that was behind this ship as well as one other ship, Yasser Kashlak, had a website for the movement - but its domain has just expired. (Anyone want it?)

Kashlek's personal homepage domain likewise recently expired.

A high-profile Lebanese singer who was supposed to be on the ship doesn't mention anything about it on her website.

Was the entire episode a scam meant to grab headlines? There has been very little real reporting about this ship.