OK, the T-shirt is now available

From CafePress, a slightly modified version of the T-shirt I designed this morning:

$17.49.

UPDATE: If I made a similar shirt substituting "Gays" for "Palestinians" would anyone buy it? It would be great for those anti-Israel gay group rallies.

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Between $250M and $600M of PA budget seems to go to Hamas terrorists

In Time magazine, a telling paragraph:

And there is a third security force that Gazans fear: Hamas' highly secretive Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the movement's armed resistance wing, which carries out violent attacks on Israel and whose members have a reputation for being some of Hamas' most steadfast adherents. Referring to both the uniformed police and the plainclothes Internal Security, one civilian says, "They're all Qassam." The government does little to deny it. "Many of the Qassam operate within both the Qassam brigades and the Internal Security," Interior Ministry spokesman Ehab al-Ghossain tells TIME. "In our laws, we do not prevent any resistance fighter from joining the police or a security service, provided that he is committed to the rules and regulations of the department he belongs to ... We make sure that their activities, outside of their official jobs, remain separate."

The research team that I put together last year (with Suzanne, t34zakat and PTwatch) had already determined that some 75% of the policemen killed in Gaza during Cast Lead were also members of terror groups, so this is hardly surprising to readers of this blog.

However, it made me wonder: who pays the salaries of the security forces in Gaza?

At first blush, one would be certain that Hamas pays them all. However, a little number crunching indicates that between at least a $269M is paid out of the PA budget to security in Gaza annually, and perhaps as much as $630 million!

I am no accountant, and by all means, I invite anyone to do the math themselves. But here is how I came up with these figures, based on the 2008 budget of the PA.

Two major pieces of information lead one to this conclusion. One is the detailed breakdown of the PA budget published by the World Bank for 2008. You will have to click to enlarge it.

The second important fact is that, in 2008, the PA spent at least 58% of its budget in Gaza, a number that has been confirmed in 2009 as well.

If you put those two together, some interesting numbers shake out.

The total PA budget was $2.4 billion. The amount that went to Gaza waa $1.4 billion, and the remaining billion spent in the West Bank.

The security budget was $803 million. If the entire security budget was spent in the West Bank, that would mean that a mere $221 million out of the $2.43billion budget would have gone to non-security needs in the West Bank.

That is impossible. The reason is that some of the itemized budget items must have been spent almost completely in the West Bank. These include:

* $120 million in Central Administration which include the President's Office, PLO institutions and other departments which, outside the Personnel Department, are clearly spent in the WB.

* Most of the $414M spent for Financial Affairs, like the Ministry of Finance and the Religious Affairs Ministry. Some of the Retirees Pension and Development Expenditures could have been spent in Gaza.

* The entire $33M Foreign Affairs budget.

* The bulk of the $35M Cultural and Information Services budget, which include PA TV, the PA news agency, and various ministries that probably have little to no representation in Gaza.

Adding that up, then the total amount spent in the WB would be around $490M (my estimate based on likely deductions listed) - far more than the $221 million that would be left over if the PA spent 100% of the security budget on the West Bank.

Which means that at least $269 million was spent on security in Gaza by the PA - mainly for the salaries of police who moonlight as terrorists (by far the largest expenditure for security goes to salaries.)

This is a very low estimate. If you assume that a mere 25% of the Economic Development, Social Services and Transport/Communications budget was spent in the West Bank, this means that the amount that the PA must have spent on security in Gaza is as much as $527 million. That number would be as high as $630M if the PA spent, say 35% of those budgets in the West Bank. (Keep in mind that there are about 2.5 million people in the WB and 1.5 million in Gaza, so even 35% spent in the West Bank would be far less per capita for West Bankers than Gazans.)

These numbers can be adjusted somewhat lower if the salaries are going to former policemen who are being paid to do nothing. But on the surface, this is part of the security budget, and any way you slice it, hundreds of millions of dollars of the PA security budget is being spent in Gaza, ostensibly for security.


This may be why Hamas maintains a legal fiction between the al-Qassam Brigades and the police - because they are being paid out of different pockets, and this way Hamas terrorists can draw a second salary, courtesy of the world's nations.


If my assumptions are correct, then the World Bank may even be complicit in this scheme. They do not break down how much of the budget is being spent in Gaza versus the West Bank, and this is a critical question that all international donors should be asking.

Please, check my numbers or question my assumptions. I will happily correct any mistakes. At the very least, however, this looks like an incredible waste of donor dollars to the PA; at worst, it is actively funding terror.

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Modified Free Gaza T-shirt

The Free Gaza freaks have a T-shirt that they are selling:

It's a nice T-shirt but it is incomplete. 

Here's one that tells the complete story:

I can make the real thing if people are interested (probably smaller text, though.) I had forgotten that I once made an Elder of Ziyon CafePress store. 

UPDATE: Added it.

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"Islamophobia" in Holland down; Jew-hatred up (updated)

From JPost:

According to Dutch police statistics, the 48% increase represented 209 reported anti-Semitic incidents in 2009.

The mushrooming number of anti-Semitic incidents in in the Netherlands in 2009 – a 48 percent increase over 2008 – may be “just the tip of the iceberg,” Ronny Naftaniel, the head of The Hague-based Center for Information and Documentation on Israel, said on Thursday.

That accounted for 9.4% of discrimination- based incidents in the Netherlands, although Jews constitute only 0.3% of the country’s 16.6 million people.

Many anti-Semitic incidents are not reported, Naftaniel said in a statement.

Dutch observers say that the Netherlands’ 1 million Muslims (about 5% of the population), largely from Morocco, coupled with anti-Israel leftists have contributed to a hostile climate for Jews in the Netherlands.

The actual police report is even more interesting.

At the same time that the number of anti-semitic incidents ballooned by 48%, the number of anti-Muslim incidents in 2009 went down by 17%, from 116 to 96.

This means that the average Jew in Holland is more than 450 times likely to be the victim of a hate crime than the average Muslim there.


UPDATE: A number of Dutch-speaking readers who read the report point out that the number of anti-semitic attacks did not really go up significantly, just crimes that had been classified in a more general category are now being properly listed as anti-semitism.

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Peace partners push their people to "Pull the Trigger"

Palestiniian Media Watch finds another humdrum, everyday piece of incitement to killing Israelis on moderate Palestinian Authority TV:

Band member recites a poem:
"Fight, brother, the flag will never be lowered,
the torches will never die out."
On [Mt.] Carmel (in Israel) and in the [Jordan] Valley,
we are rocks and streams.
In Lod (Israeli city) we are poems, and in Ramle (Israeli city) - grenades.
We, my brother, shall remain the revolution of the fighting nation."

Vocalist sings:
"The Zionists went out from [their] homelands,
compounding damage and enmity.
But the Palestinian revolution awaits [them].
The orchard called us to the [armed] struggle.
We replaced bracelets with weapons.
We attacked the despicable [Zionists].
This invading enemy is on the battlefield.
This is the day of consolation of Jihad.
Pull the trigger.
We shall redeem Jerusalem, Nablus and the country."

It was broadcast two days before the latest round of "peace" talks.

Just as a brief reminder, here is a list of the incitement by the PA that I posted from PMW in just the past month:

Moderate PA honors architect of Olympic massacre

PA kids TV teach all Israeli cities are "occupied" 

Mother of 4 terrorists honored by "moderate" PA 

PalArab TV: Praying Jews are "sin and filth"

(h/t The Muqata)

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Abbas does what he does best - he threatens to quit. Again.

From JPost:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is once again threatening to resign – this time if the direct peace talks fail, a senior PA official said over the weekend.

Thanks to a list I got last year from Daled Amos, this is at least the 15th time Abbas has threatened to quit since he took office:

November 6, 2009

Palestinian Leader Abbas Threatens to Quit

March 18, 2008
Exclusive: Abbas threatens to quit peace talks, revive Fatah terror
(OK, Abbas is not threatening to resign--but we're just getting warmed up...)

Jan 17, 2008
Abbas threatens to quit if 'escalation' continues

June 12, 2007
Fatah movement threatens to quit Hamas-led unity gov't

February 26, 2006
Abbas threatens to quit over Hamas
(Feb 28, 2006 Abbas: I did not threaten to quit)

30 January 2006
Abbas to resign if Hamas fails to work with foreign powers

January 25, 2006
Palestinians Vote in First Legislative Elections in a Decade
Abbas is "a touchy man of dark moods, who often threatens to quit, as he quit as prime minister after four months in 2003 when Mr. Arafat did not allow him enough power."

Jan 17, 2006
PA head Abbas threatens to quit

December 16, 2005
Palestinian Chief Threatens to Quit Over Rival Fatah Slate

March 30, 2005
Palestinian Abbas threatens to quit unless Fatah groups cooperate.

Wed 09 Sep 2003
Abbas threatens to quit unless he gets more authority

Thursday, September 4, 2003
Abbas threatens to quit over leadership

Aug. 21, 2003
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas threatens to resign unless Yasser Arafat approves a crackdown on Hamas

July 9, 2003
U.S. Supports Abbas After Palestinian Leader Threatens to Quit

April 08, 2003
Moderate Palestinian PM threatens to quit as Arafat hinders change.

Now, that's what I call a leader!

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Newest "flotilla" a non-story (update)

A new flotilla is attempting to make headlines by pretending that it will be "breaking the siege on Gaza." As the Viva Palestina website says,

Viva Palestina is launching "Viva Palestina 5 - a global lifeline to Gaza", a gigantic land convoy leaving London on Saturday, 18th September in conjunction with convoys leaving from Casablanca and Doha and timed to coordinate with a larger and even more international flotilla aiming to reach Gaza by sea at the same time as the land convoys reach by land.

Is there really another flotilla aiming at Gaza? Not really. As CNN mentions, they are headed to Egypt's El Arish:

Unlike the flotilla in May, the convoy aims to enter Gaza by land, through the Rafa border crossing with Egypt. When the three convoys meet in Syria, they plan to be shipped past the point at which the Mavi Marmara was attacked and down to the Egyptian port of Al Arish before going to Rafah.

Egypt generally has been forcing large quantities of goods to go through Kerem Shalom because Rafah cannot handle large shipments. So the major party that will be pressured throughout this upcoming incident will be Egypt, not Israel. Egypt does not care nearly as much about PR as Israel does.

The Viva Palestina land convoy may have some problems as well. As we mentioned, Egypt had banned such convoys last January, and today Algeria refused permission for the Moroccan land contingent to go through its territory.

UPDATE: More proof that the new "flotillas" aren't going to Gaza: The Free Gaza movement, which is against sending any aid through Egypt or Israel, is ignoring them.

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Where's this Time magazine cover?

After Time magazine wrote its ridiculous cover story saying that Israel doesn't care about peace, Soccer Dad wrote a series of articles (the original, part ii, part iii, part iv and part v, part vi) showing how Palestinian Arabs are the ones who are not interested in peace.

(I contributed the cover art.)

Well, I just read something that could be part 7.

A new poll of Palestinian Arabs show that more than half of them are not even following the current negotiations in the news.

Now, Time's main evidence for saying that Israelis don't care about peace was a poll from last March:

Asked in a March poll to name the "most urgent problem" facing Israel, just 8% of Israeli Jews cited the conflict with Palestinians, putting it fifth behind education, crime, national security and poverty. 

This is playing with numbers, of course. Local issues always outpoll international issues for every country - to use it as evidence of not wanting peace is the worst kind of twisting of data.

One could also argue that the Palestinian Arab poll I am quoting does not indicate that PalArabs don't care about peace, just that they are skeptical about the chances for a breakthrough. However, Israelis didn't get any benefit of the doubt by Time, and they will never put out a similar story about Palestinian Arabs as they did about Israeli Jews given evidence that is at least as compelling as that which they used two weeks ago.

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G'mar chatima tovah 5771 - גמר חתימה טובה

Coming up to Yom Kippur, I would like to ask forgiveness for anything I may have done to upset any of my readers. I also unconditionally forgive anyone who might have done anything against me.

The Muqata has a good list of possible blogosphere sins that I am slightly expanding:

If you sent me email and I didn't reply, or didn't get back to you in a timely fashion -- I apologize.


If you sent me a story and I didn't publish it or worse, didn't acknowledge that you had sent me the story -- I'm sorry.


If you requested help from me and I wasn't able to provide it -- I'm sorry.


I apologize if I posted without the proper attribution, with the wrong attribution, or without attribution at all.


I'm sorry if any of my posts offended you personally.

I wish all of my Jewish readers a meaningful and easy fast.

May all of us be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life.

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World Bank: PA ready to become a (welfare) state

From Bloomberg:

The Palestinian Authority is “well-positioned” to establish a state, though it remains donor dependent and economic growth is unsustainable, the World Bank said.

“If the Palestinian Authority maintains its current performance in institution-building and delivery of public services, it is well-positioned for the establishment of a state,” the World Bank said in a report to donor countries. “Sustainable economic growth in the West Bank and Gaza, however, remains absent.”

The West Bank and Gaza economies are heading for 8 percent growth this year, up from 7.2 percent in the West Bank in 2009 and 5.4 percent in Gaza, Oussama Kanaan, the head of the International Monetary Fund’s mission to the area said on Sept. 14. While some of the growth is due to improved investor confidence and the partial easing of restrictions by Israel, the main driver remains foreign donations, the World Bank said in its report.

“Unless action is taken in the near future to address the remaining obstacles to private sector development and sustainable growth, the Palestinian Authority will remain donor dependent and its institutions, no matter how robust, will not be able to underpin a viable state,” the bank said.

The news report is parroting the actual World Bank report in headlining that the PA is in good shape to establish a state, and then only many paragraphs later admitting that this state would remain completely dependent on foreign aid for the foreseeable future and that the state will not be viable. 


If fact, the entire theme of the report is to play up the successes and play down the intractable problems.

So we have headlines around the world claiming that the World Bank is saying that the PA is positioned to become a state, and only keen readers will notice that the type of state that they are envisioning is one that will be almost wholly dependent on outside money. They are pushing the establishment of a state that is, in their own terms, not viable.

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Arab League rejects "Jewish state"

From Ma'an:

Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo on Thursday decided to reject a demand made by Israel, asking Palestinian negotiators recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

In a statement issued after the meeting, the Arab League supported President Mahmoud Abbas' refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Palestinian negotiators have recognized Israel’s right to exist, but not as a Jewish state, which officials say would prejudice the right of return for refugees and violate the rights of Israel's non-Jewish residents.

If recognizing Israel as a Jewish state would violate the rights of non-Jews in Israel, then defining "Palestine" as Arab would likewise violate the rights of non-Arabs, and defining it is Islamic would - by their definition - mean that non-Muslims will be discriminated against.

Here are parts of the "Constitution of Palestine" that mentions the word "Arab" or "Islam":

ARTICLE 1
Palestine is part of the large Arab World, and the Palestinian people are part of the Arab Nation. Arab Unity is an objective which the Palestinian People shall work to achieve.

ARTICLE 4
Islam is the official religion in Palestine. Respect and sanctity of all other heavenly religions shall be maintained.
The principles of Islamic Shari’a shall be the main source of legislation.
Arabic shall be the official language.

In addition, in five instances, the constitution refers specifically to the "Palestinian Arab people" or the "Arab Palestinian people." For example,

ARTICLE 116
Laws shall be promulgated in the name of the Palestinian Arab People, and shall be published immediately in the official gazette. These laws shall come into force 30 days from the date of their publication unless the laws state otherwise.

It sounds like non-Arabs cannot become "Palestinian" and that any non-Arabs who happen to live in Palestine would be, by definition, in a lower class.

Equal rights only apply to Palestinian Arabs:

ARTICLE 9
All Palestinians are equal under the law and judiciary without discrimination because of race, sex, color, religion, political views, or disability.

Since all Palestinians are Arabs by their definition, this means that there would be discrimination against non-Arabs.

Furthermore, since the constitution says that "Respect and sanctity of all other heavenly religions shall be maintained," that means that the Constitution of Palestine is enshrining discrimination against other religions that are not considered "heavenly" by Islam. In other words, Hindus and Buddhists can expect to be treated in a bigoted way should they want to visit or live in any Palestinian Arab state.

Of course, every Arab state's constitution says things that are similar.

The hypocrisy behind the outrage at calling Israel "Jewish" cannot be more blatant.

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Latest Latma

Some cute parts....

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When Jews were optimistic about the UN

I just found this cartoon commercial created by the American Jewish Committee in the 1950s, promoting the UN:

We needn't have the world in pieces

Cause the world's best hope for peace is

The UN plus U, the UN plus U

...We'll fight aggression

Lick diseases

Stand for peace but not appeasers

The UN plus U, the UN plus U

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Report: Egypt arrests senior Hamas official in Cairo

Palestine Press Agency and PalVoice, both Fatah mouthpieces, are quoting Egyptian security forces that Egypt has arrested a senior Hamas official at Cairo International Airport.

The Hamas member is Mohamed Debabeche, known as "Abu Radwan", the commander of the General Security Service who reports to Hamas interior minister Fathi Mohammed.

The sources linked his arrest with the recent discovery of large shipments of secure radio equipment that were being smuggled to Hamas in Gaza. The equipment was worth millions of dollars.

UPDATE: The news of Debabeche's arrest is prompting some Egyptian groups to re-open the investigation into the killing of an Egyptian guard Ahmed Shaaban by a Hamas sniper last January during demonstrations to support George Galloway's Viva Palestina convoy. Debabeche had blocked attempts by Egypt to extradite the killer.

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When inner Jihad and outer Jihad meet

From YNet:

A member of the one of the Palestinian militant groups in Gaza admitted to Ynet on Thursday that the phosphorus used in the rockets fired on Israel Wednesday contained material gathered from shells Israel itself fired on Gaza during Operation Cast Lead.

"The phosphorus was taken from bombs Israel fired, that didn’t explode," he said.

The source said that the Gaza groups were continuing their quest to enhance their offensive capabilities, especially regarding rocket range and explosive capabilities.

"This has nothing to do with the peace talks, but with our desire to improve ourselves."

And, as we have been told countless times, Jihad is all about self-improvement!

By the way, Islamic Jihad called the claim that missiles with phosphorus were fired into Israel a "fabrication."

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