Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, January 06, 2011

A minor correction on a previous tear gas posting

In my update to my posting about Physicians for Human Rights and tear gas, I wrote:

Some blogs are saying "The U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine warns that at a concentration of 2mg per cubic meter, CS gas 'is immediately dangerous to life [and health]…'

The document does say that - and it is a typo.

It turns out it was not a typo - but it doesn't mean what it sounds like.

The phrase "immediately dangerous to life and health," IDLH, is a specific technical term that is defined by OSHA as "an atmosphere that poses an immediate threat to life, would cause irreversible adverse health effects, or would impair an individual's ability to escape from a dangerous atmosphere." The word "impair" is the key word here, meaning it makes it more difficult to leave but does not prevent the individual from doing so.

For those keeping score, there are three important acronyms when dealing with tear gas: IDLH, as defined above, ICt50, which is the concentration that is intolerable to 50% of the exposed population for 1 minute, and LCt50, which is the concentration that is lethal to 50% of the exposed population for one minute.

For CS tear gas, the numbers are

Odor threshold value - 0.004 mg/m3 (concentration that can be smelled)
IDLH - 2 mg/m3
ICt50 - 3.6 mg/m3 (depending on which study; some humans can learn to tolerate up to 6.6 mg/m3)
LCt50 - 61,000 mg/m3

So while it seems counterintuitive that IDLH would be lower than ICt50, the OSHA definition makes it make sense.

The huge difference between ICt50 and LCt50 is what makes CS such a perfect tool for crowd control. The amount needed to get someone to run away is far, far less than the amount necessary to kill someone.

Lying about tear gas deaths: Lisa Goldman and Joseph Dana (updated)

I stumbled across a tweet from self-described journalist Lisa Goldman, where she says "Amnesty Int'l documented 40 deaths in one year from the tear gas that killed Jawaher Abu Rahmah."

Her source? The rabidly anti-Israel lobby group, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. In 1992 they wrote:

Amnesty International has reported 40 deaths from CS tear gas inhalation alone from December 1987 to June 1988.

Notice this: Lisa did not try to look for the original Amnesty International report that supposedly says this. She linked to WRMEA; uncritically believing that they were quoting Amnesty. This is not how a journalist is supposed to act.

This piece of information of the supposed 40 deaths in seven months has now been rocketing around the Twittersphere and blogosphere and even some left wing websites. But no one has tried to find the actual report. Except for one person: Joseph Dana, of the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee - who may have started this rumor - says that Amnesty wrote it in their report "Israel and the Occupied Territories: Amnesty International’s concerns in 1988."

Amnesty's 1988 report is not online. But their response to Israel's criticisms regarding that report is. And here is how they defend their methodology:

The manufacturers of CS tear-gas used by Israeli forces stress that such agent can be lethal if misused -- for example, by using it in confined spaces from which vulnerable individuals cannot readily exit. It is particularly dangerous when used in massive quantities in heavily built-up and populated areas, as has been the case with the refugee camps in the Occupied Territories, or when launched directly into homes or other buildings. Infants and elderly people or others who cannot rapidly move away, as well as people with respiratory problems, are particularly vulnerable.

Amnesty International finds such background sufficient to warrant the reporting of deaths following alleged misuse of tear-gas, and to call for adequate investigation of this issue, even in the absence of conclusive medical evidence to prove or disprove the extent to which these deaths were caused by tear-gas inhalation. In June 1988 it issued a report outlining its concerns on the matter.

These paragraphs prove that Amnesty either didn't explicitly charge that the deaths came from tear gas in the 1988 report, or they backtracked from that assertion. It also proves that Amnesty was only talking about misuse of tear gas in confined areas - which the IDF admits had happened on occasion during the first intifada. And Amnesty notes that Israel has changed its guidelines for tear gas use in 1988 to stop using it in confined spaces.

In other words, the Amnesty report repeating assertions from Arabs in 1988 - admittedly without proof - that 40 of them were killed by misuse of tear gas has absolutely no relevance to the death of a single supposedly healthy person in 2010 who died, outdoors, quite a distance from any tear gas.

To compare the two is similar to saying that Jawaher Abu Rahma had died of an overdose of saccharine because she had two packets of artificial sweetener earlier that day. After all, there are scientific studies that a huge quantity of saccharine can kill humans if ingested very quickly!

The facts are clear. No one can find a single documented case in scientific literature of anyone dying from CS tear gas outdoors, ever. (I've been looking.)There are very, very few documented cases of CS tear gas killing people even indoors, at concentrations and over time periods that are hundreds of times more potent than any possible outdoor scenario.

Anyone bringing studies of isolated tear gas-related deaths of people were stuck indoors with high concentrations for long time periods as some type of proof that Abu Rahma was killed by tear gas in fresh air is, knowingly, lying.

UPDATE: Balfour St. finds that Goldman makes mistakes in her article on the subject, misreading a BMJ article on tear gas to falsely claim that CS is more dangerous than CN (it is less dangerous) and mistakenly claiming that CS is banned in the UK (it isn't.) The BMJ article also does not mention any cases of CS killing anyone outdoors. Even its mentioning that CS might have killed some of the Branch Davidians in Waco in 1993 is far from definitive: this report on the matter says that the only way they could have died is if they were unable to leave the rooms with the CS.

This is what is called "news" in Gaza

I mentioned earlier today that Western news agencies are ignoring Hamas' daily abuses against Arabs in Gaza.

So what are all of those reporters, photographers and stringers doing there?

Here's a clue:

Cameramen and photographers surround two Palestinians participating in a reenactment of an Israeli strike during a performance organized by Hamas, marking the second anniversary of theIsrael-Gaza war, in Jebaliya, northern Gaza strip, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2010.

Snapped Shot counted 21 photographers in this photo that is literally staged by Hamas.

There is no doubt that a great number of so-called "journalists" in Gaza are simply shills for Hamas, ready to jump and photograph anything Hamas asks and happy to avoid all areas that Hamas tells them to stay away from (a very common occurrence, especially after "unexplained" explosions.)

The web infrastructure of the PA government is a joke

Even though PA prime minister Salam Fayyad has been telling every Western reporter that he is building the infrastructure for a state in the Palestinian Authority, a look at the websites of the PA government shows a mess that might reflect the reality more than any official statements.

The sites are filled with broken links, incomplete pages, and many have not been updated in years. The quality of the websites looks more like how the web looked in 1996 than 2011.

Here is a survey of the PA web pages I could find:

The State Information Service page, which is supposed to be the main portal, is not even up. This made it a bit difficult to find the other pages.

The Ministry of Planning homepage returns an error code.

The Ministry of Education site is a bit better, last updated in May of 2010. It includes, of course, a section on how "occupation" is affecting education.

The Prime Minister's Office site isn't terrible and is reasonably up to date, although it points to a webmail page that does not have a trusted certificate for its encryption.

The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs site has not been updated since 2001.

The Ministry of Finance page is only a couple of weeks out of date. For some reason it includes a collection of "Nakba" photos, as well as photos of places like Haifa.

The Ministry of the National Economy (English) is a horrendous site , barely updated ever (some news items from 2004 and 2009), filled with broken links. Its Arabic site is a little better, and has been updated more recently, but has the same broken links.

The National Plan of Action for Palestinian Children still refers to President Yasir Arafat. It is pretty much a shell of a site, set up once a long time ago and long forgotten.

The Palestinian Legislative Council's homepage is filled with photos of their meetings - in the same conference room, around the same table, from the same camera angle. Wow.

The Commission of Human Rights page has not been updated since 2004.

The Ministry of Environmental Affairs starts with an awful Flash animation, and then shows pretty much nothing. It does not appear to have been updated since 2001. Not surprisingly, two of its three publications blame Israel for every environmental issue.

Perhaps the most symbolic of the broken pages is the government website dedicated to a European/Mediterranean Information Society initiative, to connect the PA to other countries in a large network. That page has not been updated since 2001.

This entire mess seems to be the responsibility of the Government Computer Center, which sets up websites for other government organizations.

It may not be a coincidence that the most up-to-date sites - the Prime Minister, Economy and Finance - are all sites that are of special interest to Prime Minister Fayyad. While this is hardly evidence, it gives the impression that the entire PA infrastructure is a shell, intended to fool the West into thinking that there is something solid there when it is completely rotten underneath. What journalist is going to bother to spend the half hour it takes to find this mess?

Keep in mind that there are literally billions of dollars being poured into building an infrastructure for the PA. Most Palestinian Arabs do have connections to the Internet so there is a possibility for a lot of value - and money savings - in an effective Web presence. There is no evidence that any effort is being put into the cyber-infrastructure of the PA.

If the state-building that is supposedly being done in the Palestinian Authority is being reflected in their websites, then there won't be a Palestinian Arab state for a very, very long time.

Some child abuse, discovered by Palestinian Media Watch:

A glimpse of the world of education in Sur Baher in East Jerusalem was recently made available by Hamas TV. A broadcast showed how the Jerusalem children in the Islamic Riyad (Gardens of) Al-Aqsa School were taught to sing about desiring death: "May our blood be shed."

They also sang the following in front of the cameras:
"How strong is the army of Al-Aqsa.
I am a soldier, defending its protected area.
How precious is the land of Al-Aqsa.
I shall give up my life for its sake."

"Zionists broadcast pornography to child prisoners"

Palestinian Arabs are accusing Israel of showing pornography to its Arab prisoners under the age of 18.

Palestine Today reports that Mohammed Khalaf was recently released from the children's section of the Megiddo prison. He is quoted as saying that "the prison administration is running several channels of pornography in the section for those who are under 18 years old."

This is an outrage! My cable company charges extra for adult films, and Israel's prisons provide several channels for free?

This ridiculous story is already spreading quickly throughout the online Arabic media sites.

Pro-Israel Blog-Off contest (updated)

Israellycool is sponsoring the first annual Pro Israel Blog-off Contest. The details are:

Bloggers are invited to submit one ”pro-Israel” entry, whether it be a blog post, podcast, or video no older than 1 month. Then each week, I will pit submissions against each other. The winner, decided by a combination of reader votes and panel-determined score, moves to the next round, where they will submit a new entry to compete against another first round winner.

The process continues until we get to two finalists competing for an Apple iPad.

I have around 300 blog posts in the last month, and if I want to enter, I have to choose one.

I have no idea.

One of my posters? One of my ElderToons? Or simply one of my regular posts?

I'm thinking perhaps my "Enemies" poster, my Christmas poster, my Abbas intransigence ElderToon, my Apartheid ElderToon, or my Abu Rahma ElderToon. Or my video version of Nothing's Changed. Or my post on How to Defame Israel, NPR Edition. Or

Any suggestions or votes would be appreciated!

UPDATE: I made an executive decision, to submit my Apartheid ElderToon. I figure that Yaakov Kirschen, the cartoonist behind Dry Bones and one of the judges, might lean towards that, and no one else is likely to submit a cartoon so it makes my entry stand out.

Morning links

Elliot Abrams now has a blog that might be interesting.

Excellent Michael Young post on Syria: " What we see is Syria simultaneously being an arsonist and a fireman." (h/t Silke)

Rob Miller on why Israel is losing the information war, and Israel Matzav's comments.

Michael Totten on Arab conspiracy theories. (h/t Silke)

On a related note, the Heplev blog brings us this:

UPDATE: One more, from last month, on Jordanian oppression of Palestinian Arabs.

You need Arab media to find out the truth in Gaza

It is ironic that the Western media is not as critical of Hamas as some of the Arabic media are.

The latest example is an article in Dar Al Hayat (London), quoted in Palestine Press Agency and many other places in Arabic.

On Saturday, a Beit Lahiya resident named Ghassan Abu Nasr asked Hamas police why they were arresting his neighbor, Shadi Diab.

Because of that, the police took Abu Nasr and his neighbor, drove them to an empty area, beat them with a baton, then brought them to Hamas police station where they continued to beat them with rifle butts and batons.

Abu Nasr's knee and right hand were broken. Abu Diab fell into a coma and is now being hospitalized.

Al Hayat goes on to report that Gaza citizens are afraid of the endemic abuses of Gaza police. Even though Hamas claims that they are working to improve the situation, with training police on how to act and punishing those who abuse people, it is not working and Gazans still live in fear. There are many similar stories, including against journalists.

This article has been reproduced widely in the Arab media. Yet Western media remains silent.

Why are Arabs more critical of Hamas than the media of the free world?

Poster for counterprotests - 10

I think I'm addicted to doing these....

(Photo h/t CiFWatch via Jed)

Spoofing the pro-Hamas rally poster (9th in the series)

The anti-Israel rally that is scheduled to take place in New York on Sunday is being co-sponsored by Al Awda, an organization that is rather explicit in its support of terror and desire to destroy Israel.

Here is their flyer:

So I spent a good 15 minutes to come up with this:

If anyone in New York wants to attend the counter-protest this Sunday where you can have fun plastering my posters all over Herald Square, let me know and I'll hook you up with the organizer.

UPDATE: Information on the Stand With Us counter-protest here. But it appears they are only going to be at the destination of the march, not dealing with the march itself.

A little wordy for my tastes, but the quote is so great...

Iran buying land from Lebanese Christians

From Al Arabiya:

The recent rise in Iranian purchases of property owned by Christians stirred controversy in Lebanon as the Islamic republic is accused of dividing the country along sectarian lines and embarking on a Shiite infiltration scheme.

The Shiite purchase of Christian land in Lebanon drove Lebanese Labor Minister Botros Harb to submit to the cabinet a draft law that prohibits the sale of land across religions.
Harb’s proposal mirror Lebanese fears of a scheme that enables Iran of exercising growing economic influence in Lebanon through Shiite businessmen who buy lands and houses owned by Christians and take advantage of Lebanon’s free market economy.

According to the draft [law], those who violate this law whether by sale, purchase, or mediation will face five to 10 years in jail and fined double the price of the sold property.

The main purpose of the draft law is sounding alarm bells over an organized scheme of appropriating Christian land, said Labor Minister Botros Harb.

“These purchases aim at undermining Lebanon’s religious diversity and national unity,” he told AlArabiya.net.

Although Iran is reportedly the “foreign party” behind those purchases, Harb refused to name the parties or countries involved.

According to Lebanese economic expert Dr. Ghazi Wazni,..."“The possibility of approving this law or putting it on the cabinet’s agenda is zero percent.”

Isn't that interesting?

Reaching out to Arabs in Hebron. But where's the other side?

From Israel21C:

I cannot bring myself to be as ecstatic about these sorts of initiatives as the well-meaning organizers are. All I can think is - where are the people creating similar initiatives on the Arab side? Why are all of these types of programs created by Israeli Jews?

A few other things bother me about this video.

For the past 10 years, it has been officially forbidden for Israeli citizens to visit the Palestinian West Bank city of Hebron.

Really? I saw the houses of a few hundred Israeli citizens in Hebron, and their friends in Kiryat Arba visit them all the time!

You can refer to it as a "majority Arab city" or whatever, but calling it a "Palestinian city" is an insult to those who believe that Hebron is Jewish, and it was Jewish way before any Arabs were around.

Also, note that even the organizer himself is afraid to walk around the Arab section of Hebron with a yarmulka on his head. Are Arabs afraid to walk around Israel with keffiyehs?

Moreover, note that Jew cannot visit the Muslim part of the Tomb of the Patriarchs. However, I witnessed Arabs visiting the Jewish side when I was there.

And mentioning only that it is the burial ground for Abraham, while ignoring the five or more prominent Biblical figures who are there as well, plays to the Muslim narrative of the second-holiest place in Judaism.

Altogether, I like Israel21C, but their desire to be politically correct in this case ends up insulting Jews more than they intended.