Meretz convinces Adidas to threaten Israel

From The Jerusalem Post, December 7:

Three Jerusalem City Council members from the opposition sent a warning letter last week to sports apparel company Adidas, one of the major sponsors of the International Jerusalem Marathon, calling on the company to withdraw its sponsorship of the race if the municipality did not remove east Jerusalem segments from the route.

“There’s no reason why it needs to go through the eastern part of the city,” said City Councilman Pepe Alalu (Meretz), who heads the opposition. “A marathon does not bring Jews and Arabs together. This is just an aggressive move.”

The letter was co-signed by Laura Wharton and Meir Margalit, both of Meretz.

The current route of the marathon, which will be held on March 25, starts at the Knesset and takes runners all the way out to Pisgat Ze’ev, before circling Hebrew University, entering the Old City at the Zion Gate, wending its way through the hills of Rehavia and Talpiyot to the promenade, and finally doubling back to the Knesset.

“As members of the Jerusalem City Council, we feel it is our duty to inform you that this year, the path of the marathon is due to run through parts of east Jerusalem that are considered occupied territory by the international community and by us,” the Meretz letter to Adidas stated.

“For that reason, we object to the marathon as it is now planned and believe it is important that you realize that a significant portion of the Israeli population as well as an overwhelming majority of the general population abroad will doubtless express their opposition once the details of the marathon are made public,” it continued.

I don't know if Adidas would have caved so easily had the letter come from BDS leaders, but since it came from people who pretend to represent Jerusalem, they did. From Ma'an:

Sportswear company Adidas forced the Jerusalem Municipality to reroute a planned marathon to avoid occupied Palestinian neighborhoods, Israeli media reported Sunday.

Hebrew-language daily Ma'ariv said Adidas threatened to withdraw sponsorship from the event after the company was lobbied by human rights organizations.

The newspaper reported that several organizations threatened to boycott the company over the issue.

The report said the March race would be held within the Green Line, in what Ma'ariv described as a submission to Adidas.

It is simply outrageous for members of a city council to lobby an outside company to threaten their own city.

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Wikileaks: The beginning of Turkey's change

From a Wikileaks cable dated October 13, 2009:

IRAN:
Turkey understands and partially shares U.S. and international concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions, but is hesitant to use harsh language in public statements, in part due to its dependence on Iran as an energy supplier and as a trade route to Central Asian markets. PM Erdogan himself is a particularly vocal skeptic of the U.S. position. Turkey believes international pressure against Iran only helps to strengthen Ahmadinejad and the hard-liners. However, it continues to press Iran quietly to accept the P5 plus 1 offer. The GOT is a strong partner in our non-proliferation efforts, with several significant results. Politically,Turkey will try to position itself on Iran between wherever we are and where Russia is. In a pinch or if pressed, the Turks will slant to us.

ISRAEL:
While the Foreign Ministry and the Turkish General Staff agree with us that a strong Turkey-Israel relationship is essential for regional stability, PM Erdogan has sought to shore up his domestic right political flank at the expense of this relationship. His outburst at Davos was the first in a series of events the results of which we and his staff have sought to contain. The latest of these was Exercise Anatolian Eagle. Erdogan canceled Israel's participation hours before the exercise was to begin. With an Israeli strike - across Turkish airspace - against targets in Iran a possibility, Erdogan decided he could not afford the political risk of being accused of training the forces which would carry out such a raid. Through some remarkable work with Allies and with the inter-agency, we engineered a public "postponement" of the international portion of the exercise, but the relationship has begun to sour.

At the time, the State Department seemed to regard Erdogan's anti-Israel stance as more political than strategic, and that his opinions were not in concert with his foreign ministry and general staff.

It would be interesting to know if the State Department still believes this.

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The Zionist heavy metal rocker from Disturbed

From JPost:

With his bald plate, ominous double labret vertical chin piercings and chic, black, embroidered T-shirt and pants, David Draiman doesn’t look like anyone else in the David Citadel Hotel business lounge. Not that the 37- year-old native of Chicago looks much like anyone you might see anywhere else in Jerusalem either. Let’s just say, he’s got a style all his own that sets him apart from the normal street scenery of the Holy City.

But one of the many ironies surrounding Draiman is that he can move around Israel in relative anonymity.

People look at him and can’t help but immediately comprehend that he must be someone famous. But unless they’re under 25 or a fan of American hard rock bands, they won’t pick up on the fact that the muscular, confident tourist is the vocalist for Disturbed, a heavy metal band that has sold over 11 million albums world-wide since its 2000 debut. Each of their subsequent four albums has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 list, a testament to the rabidity of Disturbed’s fans and the apparent chemistry its explosive music creates.

Another irony surrounding Draiman is that when he wants to jump off the album/rehearsal/tour merry-go-round – or recuperate from the rigors of rock & roll life which include a throat infection which caused part of a tour to be canceled – he doesn’t opt for a secluded Caribbean beach or a French Riviera resort. He returns to Israel.

“I love it here! I come every year or two,” said Draiman last week. He claims to have close to 200 relatives in the country, including his brother Ben, also a musician, and his grandmother. However, that isn’t what keeps him coming back repeatedly since he made his first trip with his parents when he was six years old. It’s because Israel and Judaism are part of his being, and though they aren’t as dominant in his life as they were, Draiman remains one of the few high-profile hard rock singers who are defiantly Jewish – imagine a young Ozzy Osbourne as the spokesman for the Jewish Defense League.

And in what is perhaps the greatest irony in the Draiman saga, the same voice heard belting out the angst-ridden, menacing vocals that characterize Disturbed’s music used to regularly inspire teenage yeshiva students as the shaliach tzibur for Shaharit, Maariv and High Holy Day services.

When did your relationship with Israel start?

I came here many times as a kid with my family. I think the first time I was six. I used to come here for summer camp a couple times in my childhood, and I spent the year after high school here studying at Neve Zion yeshiva [in Telz Stone]. I was one of those guys you used to see getting into trouble or hanging out on Kikar Zion in Jerusalem.

Playing heavy metal, you must run into fans occasionally who espouse anti-Semitic or neo-Nazi sentiments.

I’m incredibly defiant against neo-Nazis and skinheads.

In fact, here’s a true story that occurred in the band’s infancy when we were playing Southside Chicago clubs.

One of the guys who would come to see us was a skinhead, he had a swastika tattoo, the whole nine yards.

After he became a die-hard fan, the band was sitting down having drinks after a show and he comes in and starts going on about niggers and Jews, and I interrupted him and said, “Dude, I don’t know if you realize this but I’m Jewish.”

He responded, “You’re Jewish! This completely changes my whole idea of what a Jew is supposed to be.” And soon after that, he had his swastika removed, and denounced the skinhead culture.

I’ve always been very proud of my heritage and where I come from, and I’ve defended it to the extent of being bloodied on many occasions. In fact, most of the fights I’ve been in my life – and there have been many – have been because I was defending my family or my faith. And I don’t apologize for it.

There’s still anti-Semitism everywhere, and unfortunately, what has happened with our people no longer being the underdogs in this region, peoples’ perception of Israel has changed dramatically. I find myself more and more having to defend us, and I will continue to do so.

I wrote a song on our latest album Asylum called “Never Again” about the Holocaust and the people who deny it, like Ahmadinejad, that piece of shit. And part of our live show includes a video presentation depicting him as the new Hitler. Believe you me, I’ve always been direct about hits, I never pull any punches and I will never apologize for who I am or where I come from.

The lyrics for Never Again:

Never again, never again

They have a frightening desire for genocide
They wouldn’t stop til what what was left of my family died
Hell-bent on taking over the world
You couldn’t hide in the shout of conformity
We can’t forget how we were devastated by the beast
And now we pleaded with the captors for release
We were hunted for no reason at all
One of the darkest times in our history
All that I have left inside is
A soul that’s filled with pride
I tell you never again
In a brave society
Didn’t end up killing me
Scream with me, never again
Not again

A generation that was persecuted endlessly
Exterminated by the Nazi war machine
We will remember, let the story be told
To realize how we lost our humanity
You dare to tell me that there never was a Holocaust
You think that history will leave the memory lost
Another Hitler using fear to control
You’re gonna fail this time for the world to see

All that I have left inside is
A soul that’s filled with pride
I tell you never again
In a brave society
Didn’t end up, killing me
Scream with me, never again
Not again

All that I have left inside is
A soul that’s filled with pride
I tell you never again
In a brave society
Didn’t End up killing me
Scream with me, never again

For the countless souls who died
Their voices fill this night
Sing with me, never again
They aren’t lost, you see
The truth will live in me
Believe me, never again

And if you want to listen to it, go here.

(h/t Greg)

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Iran's PressTV says Zionists behind church bombing

I mentioned that Islamic Jihad blamed "Zionists' for the deadly Egyptian church bombing.

Now Iran's official media is doing the same.

From PressTV:

Although, at first glance, the finger is pointed at extremist Wahabi or Salafi groups, it goes without saying that no Muslim, whatever their political leanings may be, will ever commit such an inhumane act.

Attacks on churches in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and Tunisia can be analyzed in the context of a Zionist scenario aimed at driving a wedge between Muslims and Arab Christians.

Since the emergence of Islam, Muslims and Christians in the East have always coexisted peacefully as Islam pays due respect to the freedom of divine faiths -- especially Christianity.

In Egypt, too, Muslims and Christians are living in peace and harmony. Never, ever have the Christians in Egypt complained of any problems keeping them from carrying out their religious duties.

The fresh plot by terrorists to target churches is an organized Zionist scenario aimed at creating a rift between Muslims and Christians.

How's that for an airtight argument? But it gets better:

Suicide attacks on churches in Egypt and the killing of Christians are part of the psychological warfare launched by the US, the UK and Israel to divide Christians and Muslims.

...All the existing evidence proves that the Alexandria church explosion, though appearing to have been carried out by extremist groups, is the handiwork of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad.

Needless to say, the author does not mention a single shred of this evidence.

A wonderful example of Islamic logic.

UPDATE: A Lebanese Muslim politician has added his voice to the nutcases as well.

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Just a little anti-semitism on Palestinian Arab TV

From Palestinian Media Watch:

Jordanian academic Arafat Hijazi:

“150 years ago, when there were no Jews in Palestine, the Jews were in Europe, in Eastern Europe, but the Jews suffered from persecution by the European nations.

The reason was that they would harm the people of the lands in which they lived.

They had a problem: Wherever they went, they were expelled, and were imprisoned.”

Jordanian academic Muhammad Dohal:

“The Jews are hated in every society in which they have lived, because of their behavior relating to their great love of money.

Their behavior led to [Shakespeare's] famous story, the story of Shylock about money lending, which clings to the Jews. This is how they harmed the societies that embraced them.”

(The interview was in October but I just saw the tweet from PMW.)

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Moshe Dayan, in Life magazine, after the Six Day War

One of the points I make in my Hasbara 2.0 seminar is that there is inherent value in digitizing the historical writings of Israeli leaders and putting them up online. What they have written  - articles and books - should be searchable and easily accessible. Nothing fights the lies better than having the actual words of these people, in context.

Here is an article I found in Life magazine, September 29, 1967, by Moshe Dayan. I digitized the text myself (page capture to paint program to OCR program for three pages) so might still be some mistakes but it should be reasonably accurate.

In this case, we see how hard Israel wanted to make the lives of the Arabs under their control as easy as possible, and some unexpected benefits that they received from the war.

 War has a dynamic of its own. So has peace. The six-day war between Israel and her Arab neighbors, Egypt, Syria and Jordan, was an outright military conquest. On the seventh day, with the retreat of the defeated armies, almost one million Arab civilians found themselves in the conquered territories (or. as we Israelis prefer to call them, "held areas"]. Their soldiers had fled across the Suez Canal and the River Jordan, and through the smoke of smoldering fragments from shattered aircraft, tanks and guns loomed a new reality,frightening and implacable,the reality of their world destroyed.

Their first reaction was one of shock and panic. Streams of Jordanian civilians in flight poured across the river from the west bank. held by Israel. Now, three months after the fighting, shock and panic have passed, but confusion and lack of confidence remain. Back across the Jericho Bridge to the west bank have come thousands of returnees who now say il was a mistake for them 10 leave their homes. However, at the site of the Damia Bridge, 30 kilometers north of Jericho. Jordanian families continue to flee in the other direction-eastward. They explain that. though they have seen Israel does not treat her Arabs harshly. they prefer to leave and dwell under an Arab regime -in Jordan,. in Kuwait or in Saudi Arabia-"for who knows what may happen tomorrow?" Better, thev say, o pack up their belongings now. gather up what little money they have and get away from this fickle stage called Palestine.

The six day war brought revolutionary changes in all the Israeli held regions which were formerly under Arab rule. But such changes differ basically from territory to territory-Syrian, Egyptian,Jordanian.

Of the 50,000 inhabitants of Syria's Golan Heights, for example. only about 7.000 have remained in this Israeli-held area. These are Druses. living at the foot of Mt. Hermon. a community which does not look to the Syrian government for its leadership. (When I last visited them, their representatives asked that every "man of valor" -all males from 15 to 50-be given a rifle. "for after all. the Syrian government and army are our foes, and we must be able to defend ourselves.")

The departure of the 70,000 or so Syrians from the area occurred during the war and was part of it. Here the operations were frontal and the Israeli breakthrough was carried out along the entire front, from the Jordanian to the Lebanese border. to a depth of 20 kilometers. This area, apart from the seven Druse villages, is now empty. As the Syrian troops retreated through the chain of villages, the civilian population took their famllies and their herds and fled eastward. afraid of being caught in the cross-fire between the lines or becoming targets of bombing and shelling.

After the war. the Red Cross did approach us about enabling the inhabitants to return to their villages, but the Syrian government did not back this request at least not firmly. Small wonder. The Syrian is the most extrerne of the Arab governments. and her leaders keep pressing Egypt and Jordan to continue guerrilla warfare against Israel "until her annihilation." The policy is inconsistent with any appeal to Israel's goodwill. It is equally out of keeping with an approach which sees the war as the breaking of a crisis and the restoration of normal civilian life as the necessary next step.

On the Syrian front, therefore, what is happening is what frequently follows an extremist policy of "all or nothing." The "all" is unobtainable. What is left is "nothing." The Syrian government concerns and occupies itself only with a renewal of the war against Israel. To the evacuees of Golan it says that "in the meantime." until Israel is destroyed, they must join their relatives in distant villages or enter a refugee camp and get fed by UNRWA.

If the Syrian heights suffer a severe winter, it is doubtful whether many of the abandoned villages will remain standing. Some were damaged and partly destroyed in the fighting. and the bituminous mud shacks will collapse if they are not plastered and shored up as they usually are each year before the rains. There will be nothing for the refugees to return to.

The problem of the Arab population in the conquered territories worries Egypt very much less than it does Jordan or even Syria. The areas captured by Israel from the Egyptian army are made up of two distinct parts-the Sinai peninsula. which is almost empty desert. and the narrow, fruitful coastal strip of Gaza. at the eastern edge of the Sinai. Gaza is tightly packed with some 400.000 people. most of them Palestinian Arabs who have been living in refugee camps for 20 years. Of pressing concern to Nasser are the problems of the larger Sinai peninsula - lsrael's new command of the Suez Canal and the Straits of Tiran. The Gaza Strip and its inhabitants do not interest him much. Egypt has never regarded Gaza as an integral part of her land. and in the two decades she was in control its population was never granted Egyptian citizenship. The Palestinian Arabs were looked upon by Cairo, as they are at present. only as instruments useful for military intelligence and for harming Israel.

To the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip. the first signs of the new, postwar reality appeared when they were permitted by Israeli authorities to travel freely and visit relatives in Jerusalem or Hebron in the area on the west bank of the Jordan that was under Jordanian control. Only now that all the territories of former Palestine are in Israel's control can the Arabs renew contact with their kinsmen, who were separated from them by the arbitrary boundaries created after the 1948 war.

The process of uniting Palestinian groups is being encouraged in two ways, One is external. governmental: the Israel government is providing a single currency. a single set of laws. common newspapers and radio programs, and above all-free contact between Arabs in the Gaza Strip and those in the occupied area of Jordan west of the river Israel has no interest in establishing two Arab "states" under her control and prefers to consider the Strip and the west bank as parts of a single unit. The second way is internal, innate: the Palestinian Arabs are becoming, again. if not a united nation at least a homogeneous group of people. sharing a common past and faced by a common reality.

To sum up. then, in the south the territory of interest to Egypt, Sinai is empty of people; and the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip look not westward, to Egypt, but eastward, to the vine-covered hills of Hebron and Bethlehem. to their kinsmen, the Palestinians.

The heaviest concentration of Arabs in the "held areas" is to be found in the occupied area of Jordan on the west bank. There are more than 500,000 Palestinians living in and around Jerusalem in Nablus, Jenin and Hebron-city dwellers, farmers. Bedouins. This population, to whom must be added their 400,000 brother-nationals in the Gaza Strip. are at the very focus of the political and social problems that exist between Israel. and the Arabs in the conquered territories.

The west bank Arabs have spent the last 20 years under Jordanian control. King Hussein may not have been the knight of all their dreams, but he was their monarch. They held Jordanian citizenship and their representatives sat in parliament at Amman. These Palestinians not only enjoyed equal rights with the Jordanians but, by virtue of the education and experience gained under the British mandatory administration, they were entrusted with key functions and gained positions of influence in the "Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan." The crushing debacle of the six day war did not weaken their- -or their leader –bond with the Jordanian and the other Arab states. Indeed. the first reaction was to strengthen it. Their immediate mood was: "Together we went to war, together we suffered defeat. United we shall remain in our hour of trouble."

We Israelis sought to negotiate with them on the political future of the west bank. Our attempts failed. "Go to Hussein.t'they said. "He is our king and we are faithful subjects. He alone is authorized to speak in our name."

But after a little while it became evident that this phraseology of idealistic patriotism did not reflect-' the total political truth. When. for example, the rumors flew that Hussein might favor peace talks with Israel, the Palestinian leaders hastened to send signals to the king warning him that Palestinian Arab loyalty was to the general Arab front. If Hussein sought a separate peace, they told him. he could not count on the Palestinians. In such a case, they might consider their own interests and reach their own arrangernents with lsrael, even without him.

Then came the Jordanian call for revolt. From its radio station in Amman the government of Jordan instructed the west bank inhabitants not to cooperate with the Israeli authorities. An edict was issued prohibiting prayer in the Mosque of Omar since it was now in an area under Israeli control. Shopkeepers were ordered to go on strike and close their stores. Teachers and pupils were told to boycott the schools and cease their studies.

In some west bank cities, a number of shops and schools did indeed close. The reaction of Israeli authorities to this 'revolt' was not as Amman had hoped, for we took no drastic steps. No blood flowed in the streets. Our military governors simply shrugged their shoulders and explained to the local Arab mayors that the government of Israel is ready to maintain,at its expense ,the educational network in the west bank; but if the Arabs prefer not to open their schools, the Israeli taxpayer will be only too happy to be freed of the need to pay the salaries of the Arab teachers.

Our regime was not shaken; and the Palestinians began asking" themselves: What can this "revolt" accomplish? And where does it lead? Will closing stores and boycotting school classes rout the Israeli army? Moreover, why should Hussein, who asked for a ceasefire with Israel and laid down his arms, demand of them that they launch a war of rebellion? What right has he to plow with their heifer?

It is now only three months since the war and the new reality has not yet taken final shape. It would therefore be rash to prophesy.1 would only point out that today in the west bank the shops are open as usual and so are the classes in most of the schools. Not only this, but Hussein has deemed it proper in an interview with the official Jordanian news agency to attack the Arab raiders, the/Fedayeen. He called h an "unparalleled crime" to undertake terrorism and sabotage against Israel, for this "will serve the lsraelis with a pretext for acts of revenge and will lead to the break-up of the Arab revolt in the conquered territories."

It would, however, be most misleading to think of the current relations between the Palestinians and lsrael as wholly black. The general picture is almost the opposite. The abortive attempts at "revolt" and the incidents of noncooperation are isolated episodes. In the west bank. life is normal. ordered and peaceful; there is no tension. All the Arab mayors elected under the Jordanian regime continue to hold office and carry out their functions in close cooperation with the Israeli military governors. The people walk the streets of Nablus, Hebron and East Jerusalem without encountering road blocks, barbed wire, army patrols or permit checks. There is no need for us to take tough military measures to ensure order. The Arab shops are full of lsraeli visitors buying whatever is at hand. and the shopkeepers sit there raking in the cash -c-except that now they do it in two currencies. Israeli pounds and Jordanian dinars. Money is money. The municipal and state services-hospitals, public transport, sanitation, street-cleaning, water and electric power-cooperate normally, though perhaps with less bureaucracy and with fewer forms to fill in.

Nor are the relations between Israel and Jordan quite those of continuing belligerency: "Thc vegetable market of Damia." as Israeli border troops call it, is not only a piquant scene in itself but is symptomatic of the new contact between the two states. Day by day, more than 100 trucks roll through the subdued. low waters of the River Jordan north of Damill, traveling from the west bank into the Kingdom of Jordan. (The Damia Bridge was blown up during the war and is impassible to vehicles.) The trucks. laden high with farm produce- -watermelons, grapes, tomatoes and cucumbers--offload in Amman and return empty (except of course for the dinars) to Israeli territory.

These convoys of lorries crossing the river up to their axles in water offer a dramatic spectacle. It is as if one were watching a band of smugglers-or perhaps a mechanized edition of the ox-wagon caravans in old Wild West films. But of principal interest is the political side. All this is done with the joint agreement of the government of Israel and the government of Jordan. Both permit this "free trade' because it is desirable and helpful to the Arab inhabitants of the west bank and does not especially harm the economic interests of either. Both governments seek the welfare of the west bank Arabs, and-more to the point both seek their goodwill.

Israel,with official responsibility for the region, is of course eager that the people of the west bank should recognize that it is a progressive regime which worries about finding work for their unemployed and markets for their farmers. Jordan's approach is more pretentious. She is anxious to retain her ties with the Palestinians. even though she no longer controls their territory. More important. she wants them to look up to her as their patron-a patron who is cut off from them at the moment. but who may be reunited with them in the future and who is ready in the meantime to do all she can to help them.

This attitude of Jordan toward the west bank inhabitants thus obliges her at times to coordinate joint operations with the Israeli government, even though such co-operation is prompted by conflicting motives.

East Jerusalem constitutes a special problem. Israel now considers the area part of her state, and this of course has far-reaching political, social and legal implications. The Arab inhabitants of Jerusalem woke one morning to find themselves Israeli subjects. They are free to drive to Tel Aviv. They may work in Haifa. They can buy a house in Nazareth. But they must also conform to Israeli laws, pay the same heavy income tax as Israclis, adopt the same curriculurn in their schools as is followed by the Arab community which had resided in Israel all along. (In the west bank, which is not an integral part of Israel but which has the status of a conquered territory, Jordanian law prevails, and its inhabitants are not permitted to enter Israel. except to visit the Holy Places.)

The uniting of Jerusalem (under a Jewish mayor who is responsible for both parts of the city), its attachment to the state of lsrael and the granting of Israeli citizenship to its inhabitants have given the city's Arabs economic advantages and benefits in day-to-day living. but these developments have also deepened the conflict between them and Israel. Jerusalem contains the most sacred sites in Islam, after Mecca, and is the seat of the religious and national leaders of the Palestinian Arabs.

It was not only the orders of Amman but the prompting of their own will which led the Jerusalem Arab leaders to announce that they would not recognize the inclusion of Arab Jerusalem in lsrael, would not follow her laws, and would not cooperate with the Israeli authorities.

Ruhi EI-Khatib, the former Arab mayor, refused to join the municipal council. Anwar El-Khatib, former governor-general of the west bank under the government of Amman, sent a memorandum of protest. And the chief kadi, Sheikh Sai'akh, announced that the Shariah. the Moslem high court, would continue to give judgment in accordance with the laws of Jordan---even though it was located in Jerusalem.

The Israeli authorities carried out a few arrests and deportations, but this was not the main hindrance to the rebels.··Their decisive problem was, and is, their in· ability to interrupt. to confound the normal processes of life. Jerusalem is not Aden. The Israelis are not foreigners. and we do not rule by bayonets. In United Jerusalem, the majority of the population are Jews, and the closing of shops or the strike of a bus line does not paralyze the city. Jewish shops and public transport with Jewish drivers continue to operate.

Moreover, it is difficult to start a revolution unless the conditions are appropriate, The atmosphere and circumstances in Jerusalem arc far indeed from favoring rebellion. The voice of the Amman government sounds distant, confused, vanquished. The economy flourishes. And Israeli authority shows no inclination to be tyrannical or despotic: its chief desire seems to be to grant services.

This is the situation today. War, conquest. revolution, change of regime --these can be accomplished in six days, but the process of up-building is inevitably slow. Immediately after the fighting, the Arabs were in a state of shock. Then they hoped for a miracle-something that would restore the situation to what it was before; the wave of some magic wand-the Security Council. the U.N. General Assembly. the Khartoum Conference. But no miracle occurred. The genie did not pop out of the lamp of Aladdin. King Hussein wanders from capital to capital. Word comes that Egyptian army chief Abdel Hakim Amer has committed suicide. Nasser talks of "solutions." And in the west bank the government of Israel is in control. Representatives of Israel's ministry of agriculture talk over matters with the farmers, plan next season's crops and the mayor of NabIus recommends the construction of a concrete bridge at Damia so that farm produce can continue to be sent to Amman even in winter. 

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What's the PA trying to hide in protester death? (UPDATED)

From JPost:

The Palestinian Authority on Saturday rejected an IDF offer to jointly investigate the death of a Palestinian woman who had participated in a rally against the security barrier in her West Bank village of Bil’in. Security forces at the scene lobbed tear gas at a crowd in which Jawaher Abu Rahma, 36, stood on Friday.

Rahma died on Saturday morning, allegedly due to complications after inhaling tear gas. Her body was wrapped in a Palestinian flag, held aloft on a gurney and carried by chanting mourners to the Bil’in cemetery.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas called the Rahma family to express his condolences.

He said, “This new Israeli crime comes as part of a series of crimes carried out by the army of the occupation against our helpless nation.”

PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said the killing of Abu Rahma was a “war crime.”

“We condemn this shocking crime committed by the Israeli army against participants in a peaceful protest,” said Erekat.

the PA rejected an IDF request to receive Abu Rahma’s medical file so that it could determine the cause of death. It also rejected an IDF request to establish a joint commission of inquiry with the PA, which it has done in the past after similar incidents.

“This raises suspicions about what really happened,” one source said.

Central Command sources said that after the protest was dispersed, the IDF received a report from the Palestinians that two activists were treated for inhaling tear gas. The sources said that the IDF fired the tear gas to disperse a violent protest.

On Friday night, the IDF learned that the two Palestinians had been released to their homes and then on Saturday morning they received a report that one of them died.

Now, let's talk about the veracity of someone who claims to know that she really died from tear-gas:

But Jonathan Pollak, a spokesman for the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee, said that Rahma was taken from the protest to a hospital in Ramallah, where doctors worked to save her life.

She was unconscious when she arrived and she never regained consciousness, Pollak said. Rahma suffered from severe asphyxiation caused by the tear gas, he said. She had poison in her body that was the same active ingredient in the tear gas, he added.

Why exactly would a spokesman for the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee have seen Rahma's medical file, when the IDF can't?

Pollak said that Friday’s demonstration was especially large because it was the last one of the year. PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad addressed the protesters at the start of the rally but then left Bil’in.

After his departure, the IDF shot an “unusual amount of tear gas” at the demonstration, Pollak said. “They did it to disperse the demonstration,” which was “completely peaceful,” he said.

Here's a photo of that "completely peaceful" demonstration:

So now we know that Pollak is a liar and possibly trying to hide something.

The question is, what?

An intriguing rumor, so far with no evidence, from My Right Word quoting an unnamed source:

Very unconfirmed reports that Jawaher Abu Rahma of Bil'in was actually killed in an honor killing because she was pregnant (stabbed in the back)

No confirmation details yet. But there may be more to this story than the already contradictory Palestinian reports that can't decide where she died (at home or in the hospital).

I have no idea if there is any truth to that, but it would explain why the PA refuses to undertake a joint investigation with the IDF - something they have happily done in the past. The fact that they are using Rahma's death to score propaganda points so quickly is another red flag, as is the inconsistent stories given by the PA. (Israel Matzav has a video that shows an injured female protester, still conscious.)

Rahma's brother had been killed at a similar protest in Bil'in a couple of years ago and if she was in fact pregnant it would have been a huge embarrassment for her, as a symbol of resistance, to be found to have done something shameful.

While this is uncomfortably close to a conspiracy theory for my tastes, more information is needed, and the PA is clamming up. One can only wonder why.

UPDATE: Another version of the story, given by Abu Rahma's cousin on Facebook Hamde Abu:

The death of Jawaher Abu Rahma was reported in the afternoon in 1/1/11, the first day of the new year. The primary cause of death was suffocation from tear gas chemicals mixed ...with phosphorus (shot by Israeli Defense Forces at protestors, in a peaceful Friday weekly demonstration) according to the doctor that attended her. Jawaher was not present at the demonstration. She was in her home, approximately 500 meters away from where the gas canisters landed, when she suffered the effects of gas that was carried over the village by wind. The chemicals caused poisoning in her lungs, which caused suffocation and the stopping of the heart, leading to her death after fighting for her life overnight at Ramallah Hospital.

She wasn't even at the protest, and the tear gas (mixed with phosphorus, naturally!) managed to kill her from 500 meters away while no one else was hurt????

Curiouser and curiouser!

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The second Palestine orchestra

From BBC:

The first Palestinian orchestra of professional classical musicians since 1948 is due to perform its debut concert in Ramallah in the West Bank.

The Palestinian National Orchestra will play a mix of Palestinian classical compositions, as well as some classics such as Mozart and Beethoven.

They will also hold concerts on 1 January in Haifa and Jerusalem.

All of the musicians are of Palestinian origin, and many have played with orchestras around the world.

Note the "since 1948" part. Because, of course, there was the Palestine Symphony Orchestra, which also had at least a few native born Palestinians - Jews, but Palestinians. And it toured in Egypt as well!

As a full Palestine moon rode one evening last week over Tel Aviv, exclusively Jewish city, the Hebrew Sabbath ended and thousands of Jews began to move toward the Levant Fair Grounds. There they packed the Italian Pavilion to capacity to hear great Arturo Toscanini lead Palestine's first civic orchestra through its first performance. Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope, the British High Commissioner, brought with him a party of notables. Open-shirted German immigrants gathered in rowboats on the adjacent Yarkon River. A few Arab fishermen paddled quietly toward shore, listened respectfully outside the pavilion walls which are still pitted by Arab bullets. 

Inside those walls Arturo Toscanini was proving again his art, and allaying the fears of those who had heard the orchestra rehearse. A week prior it had been ragged, particularly in winds & strings. But the great master made the Brahms Second come out so clear and controlled. Schubert's Unfinished Symphony sing with such freshness that the audience could forget the flocks of frightened sparrows which swooped and twittered above their heads. There was no raggedness when, partly as a taunt to Nazi Germany, he led them through a scherzo by Jewish Felix Mendelssohn.

The Palestine symphony was grateful to Toscanini for coming all the way to make its debut a success. But all Tel Aviv knew and did not forget that Violinist Bronislaw Huberman was the man who made its debut a possibility. Touring Palestine in December 1935. Huberman, a Polish Jew, was impressed by the attendance and enthusiasm of natives & exiles who came to hear his violin concerts. He determined to build for them an orchestra at Tel Aviv, their brave new cultural capital, and resigned his Vienna teaching post to do so. Already in Palestine, or easily available all over Europe, were scores of refugee Jewish musicians. It was easy to get, as permanent administrators of the new orchestra's trust fund, such influential Jews as Financier Israel Sieff of London, Belgian Industrialist Dannie Heineman. Palestine's Lieut. Col. Frederick Hermann Kisch. Palestine's top-notch lawyer, Solomon Horowitz. Dr. Albert Einstein took the honorary presidency of the U. S. branch of the organization.

The Palestine Symphony Orchestra now numbers 72. Germans make up about half the number, the rest are Poles and Russians. Six are natives of Palestine which has several competent music schools but welcomes the new orchestra as its only permanent symphony. So many first-desk musicians are playing in it that critics expect the Palestine Symphony to rank soon among the first four orchestras in the world. Impresario Huberman is proud to have engaged for the forthcoming season such guest artists as Violinist Adolf Busch and Cellist Pablo Casals. After Toscanini takes the orchestra to Jerusalem, Haifa, Cairo and Alexandria this season, Issay Dobrowen, former conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, Hans Wilhelm Steinberg, onetime director of the Frankfort Opera, and Michael Taube, former leader of famed German ensembles, will replace him on Jewry's proudest podium.

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Hamas beats women protesters

Palestine Press Agency says that Hamas arrested and beat a group of women holding a protest at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in central Gaza City on Saturday.

The women were celebrating the 46th anniversary of Fatah's first terror attack.

"Witnesses said that members of Hamas attacked the women with batons, tore up their flags and took the women to a detention center, shouting curses and insults."

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Hamas plot to attack soccer stadium with a missile

From YNet:

Two Hamas members from east Jerusalem were indicted Sunday on suspicion of planning to fire a missile at Jerusalem's Teddy Stadium during an Israeli premier league soccer match. Their remand was extended by two weeks.

According to a Shin Bet investigation, the two men – Moussa Hamada of Sur Baher and Bassam Omri of Beit Safafa – began planning the terrorist activity after the Israeli operation in Gaza. One of their plans was to fire at missile at the stadium during a soccer match.

The two visited a hill overlooking the stadium in order to locate the best place for the attack and collected information on the area. However their plan did not materialize into action.

The investigation revealed that the two – who were also active in the Muslim Brotherhood movement – purchased a number of guns and attempted to buy rifles and explosive devices. Moussa's cousins, Mahmoud and Amer Hamada, were involved in the weapons' purchase and in attempts to hide them.

If Israel is pressured to move to the 1949 armistice lines, Teddy Stadium (as well as countless other sites in Jerusalem) is in easy range of any Arab who wants to build a Qassam:

(h/t Islamo-nazism blog)

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Palestinian Arabs celebrate terror anniversary

As I mentioned on Friday, January 1 marked the 46th anniversary of Fatah's first terror attack. Not the founding of Fatah, but of Fatah's first act of terrorism.

Reuters and the other wire services all got the basic facts wrong, saying it was the 46th anniversary of Fatah's creation - even though Fatah was founded around 1957.

And the Palestinian Arabs have been celebrating the terror anniversary all over.

In Tyre:

In Nahr al-Barad:

And other Lebanese camps celebrated as well (Shatila, Daouk, Mar Elias, Burj al-Barajneh.)

In Toura:

Not to mention, of course, Ramallah:

In Ramallah, Fatah Central Committee member Mahmoud Aloul 'Odona said

Today we light the torch to launch the activities commemorating the anniversary of the revolution, of dignity, and of the Palestinian armed struggle.

Remember the anniversary of the launch of the Revolution-makers who have sacrificed their blood and their lives to gain the rights of the Palestinian people, and all those who are here today are students of those leaders.

We will fight with all we have, to realize the dreams of our martyrs establishing an independent Palestinian state

The Palestinian embassy in Romania put up this fairly boring video on their site:


They sure seem peaceful, don't they?

Oh, and while I was looking for these I found this image of Arafat - the kind that you won't see ever since the West started rehabilitating him as a peacemaker:

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Well, that didn't take long

Today there was a bombing at a church in Egypt, killing at least 24 Christians.

Islamic Jihad in Gaza condemned the attack, saying that "this attack aims to foment sedition and sectarian strife in Egypt, and is the interest of the Zionist enemy."

An Al Qaeda allied organization took responsibility for the attack.

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New hate crimes report for New York State: Islamophobia?

Anti-Islam hate crimes in New York State increased by a whopping 37.5% in 2009 compared to 2008, according to a new hate crimes report released by New York State.

This was more than double the increase of anti-Semitic crimes, which went up by only 15%.
-------------------------------------------
Of course, one needs a little context.

The number of anti-Muslim hate crimes increased from 8 to 11.

The number of anti-semitic hate crimes increased from 219 to 251.

So, in the state that witnessed the death of nearly 3000 people at the hand of Muslim terrorists, there are nearly 23 times as many crimes against Jews compared to Muslims.

As we have pointed out in the past....the idea that America is Islamophobic is a myth that is pushed by people with a very specific agenda.

(h/t Zach)

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What do UCLA students know about the Middle East?

An eye-opening video from StandWithUs:


(h/t Yerushalimey)

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Happy New Year!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year (and a Shabbat Shalom :) )

Let's hope for a great 2011!

I want to thank the people who generously gave me donations through my new PayPal button on the right, as well as those who managed to donate through the old Google Checkout button in the few hours before Google pulled it. I also want to thank those who viewed the Hasbara 2.0 video I made (also available on the right sidebar), those who bought items from my Printfection and CafePress stores and those who bought their Amazon items through the sidebar item as well.  I really do appreciate it!

See you next year!

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