Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, December 24, 2010

PA TV: "Jesus was a Palestinian"

One of the ways the Palestinian Authority attempts to create a Palestinian history is to deny the Judean/Jewish nationality of Jesus, and misrepresent him as a "Palestinian."

Palestinian Media Watch has documented this ongoing Palestinian Authority historical revision. Recently on PA TV, the author Samih Ghanadreh from Nazareth was interviewed about his book "Christianity and Its Connection to Islam."

The following is the transcript of the discussion describing Jesus as a Palestinian:

Religious program on PA TV: This is our religion
Author: "The Shahid (Martyr) President Yasser Arafat used to say: "Jesus was the first Palestinian Shahid (Martyr)." I heard him say that sentence many times."
PA TV Host: “He [Jesus] was a Palestinian; no one denies that.”
Author: "He [Jesus] was the first Palestinian Shahid (Martyr). He (Arafat) attributed this Martyrdom to Palestine, as well."
[PA TV (Fatah), Dec. 3, 2010]

Fatah proud of "Palestinian" Virgin Mary
Earlier this year the Fatah Communications and Education Authority issued as statement on the official Fatah website claiming the Virgin Mary was "of the nation of Palestine":
"If we are proud of the holiness of our land, then we are proud and pride ourselves that the first and most important holy woman among the nations and peoples is from the holy land: The Virgin Mary - the woman of love and peace - is of the nation of Palestine..." [palvoice.com/index.php?id=23043]

Jesus and Mary were Palestinians par excellence
The Palestinian Authority religious leader, the Mufti Muhammad Hussein:
"Jesus was born in this land; he took his first steps in this land and spread his teachings [of Islam] in this land. He and his mother [Mary], we may say, were Palestinians par excellence." [PA TV (Fatah), May 12, 2009]

Brother of Syrian nuclear scientist vanishes

Hmmm...

The brother of Marah Ahmed al-Homsy, a scientist working for the Syrian Atomic Energy Commission, has been reported missing in Cairo.

According to al-Homsy, her brother had accompanied her to Cairo where she was scheduled to attend a conference organized by the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority on 17 December. The two had been staying at a well-known hotel in Cairo's Dokki neighborhood.

“My brother abruptly disappeared on Tuesday and his phone remains switched off,” al-Homsy said.

Before her brother's disappearance, al-Homsy said she thought "there had been a car following us from time to time.”

She went on to say that her brother, Mohamed, 27, did not know anyone in Egypt, nor was he known to have any enemies.

“We checked with all the police stations and hospitals but found no trace of him,” said al-Homsy's lawyer, Mazen Shikho.

A security source said that hotel personnel had seen Mohamed exit the hotel, leaving all his belongings in the room, on the day of his disappearance.

Loophole allows US to sell goods worth billions to Iran

From the New York Times:

Despite sanctions and trade embargoes, over the past decade the United States government has allowed American companies to do billions of dollars in business with Iran and other countries blacklisted as state sponsors of terrorism, an examination by The New York Times has found.

At the behest of a host of companies — from Kraft Food and Pepsi to some of the nation’s largest banks — a little-known office of the Treasury Department has granted nearly 10,000 licenses for deals involving countries that have been cast into economic purgatory, beyond the reach of American business.

Most of the licenses were approved under a decade-old law mandating that agricultural and medical humanitarian aid be exempted from sanctions. But the law, pushed by the farm lobby and other industry groups, was written so broadly that allowable humanitarian aid has included cigarettes, Wrigley’s gum, Louisiana hot sauce, weight-loss remedies, body-building supplements and sports rehabilitation equipment sold to the institute that trains Iran’s Olympic athletes.

Hundreds of other licenses were approved because they passed a litmus test: They were deemed to serve American foreign policy goals. And many clearly do, among them deals to provide famine relief in North Korea or to improve Internet connections — and nurture democracy — in Iran. But the examination also found cases in which the foreign-policy benefits were considerably less clear.

In one instance, an American company was permitted to bid on a pipeline job that would have helped Iran sell natural gas to Europe, even though the United States opposes such projects. Several other American businesses were permitted to deal with foreign companies believed to be involved in terrorism or weapons proliferation. In one such case, involving equipment bought by a medical waste disposal plant in Hawaii, the government was preparing to deny the license until an influential politician intervened.

The article does go on to say that the loophole is not quite as big as it initially claimed.

Jordanians aghast at school teaching about Anne Frank

From YNet:

A private school in Jordan stirred the anger of many in the Hashemite Kingdom after it was revealed that one of its English textbooks includes a chapter about the Holocaust and even quotes excerpts of Anne Frank's diary.

The "sensational affair" was uncovered by local newspaper Al-Dustour and led the Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Dr. Khalid Karaki to order the establishment of a commission of inquiry that will "examine and write a report about the implications of the incident."

Following the initial report, the Education Ministry issued an official response in which it said it "prohibits the inclusion of additional study materials, unless they have received an official approval. The ministry will look into other schools that have used similar materials, and has instructed the school to stop using the textbook," it read.

Here's one of the al-Dustour articles that says that these are "misleading Zionist curricula which seeks to penetrate the minds of students and future generations."

This is the textbook that they were using; it uses the text of the play based on Anne Franks's diary rather than the diary itself.

"This Week in the Middle East"

The Guardian's Brian Whitaker started a new weekly feature:

This is the start of a regular weekly look at the Middle East, focusing on some of the issues and stories that you may have missed. If there's something you would like to see included, send an email to brian.whitaker@guardian.co.uk

So since he is gracious enough to make such a request, I'm emailing him about these stories that I posted about this week that he "may have missed" himself:

* Palestinian Arab family sends their mentally handicapped son to be killed by Israel
* One of the Guardian's competing newspapers interviewed a former Iranian diplomat who confirms that the country has an active nuclear weapons program
* Gazans prefer Israeli goods over goods smuggled from Arab countries
* Iran faces an economic crisis
* An explosion in a crowded Gaza neighborhood was apparently a secret stash of Hamas munitions
* Wikileaks: No one is guarding Yemen's nuclear materials
* Syria's President Assad bizarrely ignores Middle East history and blames all problems on "occupation"
* Hamas beat and arrested Gazan children for raising a Fatah banner
* Arabs burying their dead in Israeli-controlled Area C as a land grab
* A Gaza Salafi leader calls for an end to rocket attacks on Israeli civilians
* Plus a couple of animal stories

I ask my readers to feel free to email him whenever I or another blogger posts something the Guardian may have missed.

You're welcome, Brian!

(h/t Yerushalimey)

BREAKING: Seattle pulls anti-Israel bus ads

I just received this press release from one of the activists working this issue:

News Release

Date: December 23, 2010

Citing potential for disruption to transit service, Executive implements interim Metro policy restricting new non-commercial advertising on buses
Escalation of global interest in ad critical of Israel raises risk of service disruption; Metro rejects ad and response ads
Citing the potential for disruption to transit service, King County Executive Dow Constantine today approved an interim policy from Metro Transit that calls for a halt to the acceptance of any new non-commercial advertising on King County buses. Under provisions of the previous policy, Metro officials today also rejected a proposed ad from the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign and the proposed response ads from two other groups.
"The escalation of this issue from one of 12 local bus placards to a widespread and often vitriolic international debate introduces new and significant security concerns that compel reassessment," said Executive Constantine.
"My job is to deliver essential services to the people of King County, including transit service," he added. "I have consulted with federal and local law enforcement authorities who have expressed concern, in the context of this international debate, that our public transportation system could be vulnerable to disruption.
"Metro sells advertising to raise revenues to provide transit service. Metro's existing policy restricts advertising that can be reasonably foreseen to result in harm to, disruption of, or interference with the transportation system. Given the dramatic escalation of debate in the past few days over these proposed ads, and the submission of inflammatory response ads, there is now an unacceptable risk of harm to or disruption of service to our customers should these ads run."
In light of the recent escalation of events, Metro Transit General Manager Kevin Desmond today asked his advertising consultant to notify the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign that Metro is rejecting its proposed ad, and for the consultant to notify the David Horowitz Freedom Center and the American Freedom Defense Initiative that Metro will not accept their proposed ads, as posing an unacceptable risk of harm to, disruption of, or interference with bus service, as defined under current policies.
In response to the Executive's directive on Monday to review current policies, Desmond today also recommended an interim transit advertising policy that adds non-commercial ads to the list of current restrictions, with an exception for governmental entities that advance specific government purposes. Non-commercial ads that met the previous policy and for which contracts have already been signed are not affected, and ads already in place will remain.
"We cannot and would not favor one point of view over another, so the entire category of non-commercial advertising will be eliminated until a permanent policy can be completed that I can propose to the King County Council for adoption," said the Executive. "Further work during the coming weeks will help determine what constitutionally-valid policy is best for the safety and well-being of the transit-riding public, our drivers and personnel, and the community at large.
"I thank everyone who has reached out to us to express their interests on this matter."
Metro expects to complete work on a permanent transit advertising policy by the end of January, for the Executive to transmit to the County Council for adoption.

Nice work!

More details here (h/t Challah)

Sneak preview of tomorrow's Latma: Jihad Bells

They didn't create the English subtitles yet, but the music video is in English already - and it is a good one:

(h/t Ruchie)

Hasbara 2.0 - a taxonomy of effective communication

Towards the end of my Hasbara 2.0 lecture, I (too quickly) went over this slide:

The higher you go up the pyramid, the bigger the emotional pay-off. Things like videos, songs, and plays reach people on a visceral level and are far more effective than text or verbal communication alone.

Take data that you or others discover, and push it up the pyramid. Convert raw data into a chart, convert a static chart into a Flash animation with voice-over. The higher up you can bring it, the more that people get emotionally involved. Text rarely goes viral, but videos do. If you can move things up the scale you can make the message far more effective.

The Gaza Mall is a perfect example. Reading about it is interesting, but seeing it in photos has a greater impact. Watching a video of people actually shopping there raises it up a notch - and making people laugh while watching it is even better.

That is my point - effective hasbara is not simply repeating information, but transforming it into a form that will get into people's hearts as well as minds. Most people make their judgments in their hearts before their minds. The information must be 100% accurate, of course, but it needs to be presented in a way that penetrates people's psyches on all levels.

The posters and comics and videos I've made recently have been intended as a way of taking my own advice, and it definitely works. My posters are getting more hits than my regular posts, and they spread much faster, especially via Facebook and Twitter. But they are not meant to stop here, or to merely get copied - they are meant to be used. My part in the hasbara universe is to generate data and tools; others are free to use them. While of course I would prefer to know how they are being used, and I would prefer that people keep my website name on the graphics, they are meant to be used, not just to entertain my readers. Print them, turn them into posters, make them into postcards, forward them, place them on social bookmarking sites or message boards, email them, convert them into balloons if you want. But to me, hasbara should not be done by organizations in a vacuum - everyone should share their creations and their ideas, and let the good ones rise to the top. If some Zionist organization wants to use my posters, comics or videos, or - better yet - it can improve them, go for it!

Arab diplomat accuses Israel of "illegal occupation" - in 1959

If you think that Arabs consider Israel's "illegal occupation" to be only east of the Green Line, here is what a major Arab diplomat said in 1959 in response to a speech by a rabbi:

And that was hardly the only time. Here's an article from 1966:

Notice that in neither of these articles are Arabs from Palestine referred to as "Palestinians."

Time for the annual Camel Beauty Contest!

These stories never get old:

Nearly 20,000 camels from the UAE and other Gulf Arab countries have converged on Abu Dhabi’s western region for one of the world’s biggest camel beauty contests involving prizes worth nearly Dh35 million ($9.5 million).

The camels have been brought from various parts of the UAE as well as neighbouring Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and other Gulf nations for the week-long beauty competition in the western town of Dhafra.

The contest, which started on Thursday, will stretch until next Friday and officials described it as one of the largest camel beauty pageant in the world in terms of the value of prizes and number of camels.

More than 800 camel owners from the UAE and other regional nations are participating in the event, which is sponsored by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi’s crown prince and deputy supreme commander of the UAE armed forces. It is organised by the Culture and Heritage Authority.

Do the camels always look this happy or are they coached how to smile for the judges?

PalArab news roundup

The PA claims to have stopped a Hamas cel in Ramallah that was planning to attack PalArab forces.

Firas Press reports that Israel will allow some 50,000 mobile phones to be imported into Gaza.

They also quote Bashir Assad as saying that Syria does not support Hamas, but supports its cause. Which is very interesting since Hamas' political headquarters is in Damascus, and nothing happens in Damascus without the Syrian regime's approval.

Palestine Times reports that Egypt is considering limiting where Israeli tourists can go in the country, in the wake of espionage allegations. They are concerned about the upcoming January pilgrimage of some Jews to the grave of Rabbi Yaakov Abuhatzeira.

Another Palestine Times article claims that the Mossad has infiltrated the highest levels of Fatah. This explains Arafat's "assassination." (PalTimes is a Hamas newspaper.)

Al Ahram quotes the BBC as saying that Israeli police arrested a man who was planning to blow up the Al Aqsa mosque.The Peninsula mentioned this a couple of days ago.

UPDATE: Upon request, I added a few pictures (Himmler, Brezhnev, Castro.) Not sure if it adds or detracts, but it's here if someone prefers it:

Wikileaks: Pope deliberately chose harsh words about Islam

A new Wikileaks cables shows an interesting American analysis of Pope Benedict's controversial statement about Islam in September 2006:

Following a bit of personal reminiscence about his own university days, the pope embarked on the lecture with the following passage:

"I was reminded of all this recently, when I read the edition by Professor Theodore Khoury (Munster) of part of the dialogue carried on -- perhaps in 1391 in the winter barracks near Ankara -- by the erudite Byuzantiine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam, and the truth of both....

[T]he emperor touches on the theme of the jihad (holy war). the emperor must have known that surah 2, 256 reads: There is no compulsion in religion. It is one of the suras of the early
period, when Mohammed was still powerless and under threat. But naturally the emperor also know the instructions, devloped later and recorded in the Qur'an, concerning holy war. Without
descending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the "Book" and the "infidels", heturns to his interlocutor somewhat brusquely with the central
question on the relationship between religion and violence in general, in these words: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and
inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." The emperor goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something
unreasonable.

...It taxes the imagination in today's world to suppose that a reference -- by the pope! -- to the Prophet Mohammed's innovations as "evil and inhuman" would pass unnoticed. Nor is it likely that the particular quotation is accidental. Benedict is known for his meticulous ways, and also for his distinctly cooler (compared to John Paul II) approach toward Islam and interreligious dialogue. The pope is preparing for an important visit to Istanbul in November. His invocation of Manuel, an emperor whose life was defined in combat with the Ottomans who destroyed his empire a few decades later, must have been deliberate. So, too, the decision to quote the precise words of Manuel -- rather than a milder paraphrase -- is significant in a pope known for his belief that one must neither compromise with the truth, nor back down from defending the faith.

...Our view is that Benedict very likely chose his words carefully and was not averse to having them interpreted as a sign of his skepticism about Islam; his earlier actions, such as the transfer of Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald last spring, made this attitude clear enough. However, he surely did not intend for them to lead to violence or a worsening of tensions between Christians and Muslims.