Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Taglit Birthright holds mega event with thousands of visiting Jews

It's hard to describe Taglit-Birthright Israel's Mega Event to those who haven’t been there. It’s almost a phenomenon. People-sized balloons and balloon-sized excitement. Music blaring, disco balls and night club lighting. Most remarkable are the 3,000 bodies jumping in ecstatic thrill, full of motivation and bursting with joy. And most surprising is that even in the midst of this, the words said don’t get lost.

"My friend Yossi Beilin had an idea," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the opening of his speech. "We have to bring young Jews from all over the world to Israel. It's not simple, you know, because someone has to pay for it. And then the crazy idea met Michael and Judy Steinhardt, crazy, yet very good Jews from the United States, who shared the same feelings."

"The outcome of all this is you," he continued. "From Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, Poland, Russia, Great Britain, the US (“and Canada!” shouted the audience). Nowadays, you need not know each other's languages. You all speak Facebook. You all speak Youtube. You are all able to say what you want to say in 140 characters or less. Use these tools. Tell the world the truth."

There ‘s really nothing else to say. It is contagious. Even people wearing suits and people in their seventies danced here this evening. Where does all this happiness come from? "It's just too big to explain in words," answers Rosa from Venezuela. "This idea is too great to express. Hundreds of thousands of Jews from all over the world, different but exactly the same, who meet each other in the homeland that belongs to all of us."

Behind the scenes, Taglit-Birthright Israel CEO, Gidi Mark, wanders around, finalizing last details yet still grinning from ear to ear. He says to IDF Website, "There is a reason why we are here in these first days of January. It's an event opening the new year, announcing what is to follow. This event opens the door to the 50,000 people who will come to Israel by next January." When asked how exciting it has been to take part in the Mega Event for 11 years, he answers, "It’s as exciting as the first time every time. This place, here, is the strongest young Jewish energy in the world."

The 300,000 people from 54 countries, who visited Israel since the establishment of the Taglit-Birthright Israel program, got to meet, among others, many Israeli soldiers. Eight join every delegation that comes. One of the thousands who did so is Corp. Sivan Peleg, a military writer. Sivan does not lack stories in her bevy military experiences. Despite this, she says, "It’s unbelievable. You see things here that Israelis never get to see. Like that they discover that there are others Jews in the world, that they are not alone – ‘they are just like me’. There are people here who’ve never met another Jew, and suddenly they are in a bus full of Jews in the State of the Jews. You are told about Taglit-Birthright, but nothing can really prepare you for the experience. As a soldier, it's an opportunity to take days off from the army and still be Israeli."

"For many years, the State of Israel has received money from the Jewish community," recalls Netanyahu. "Today, we are giving back. In the near future, the State of Israel will invest over 100 million dollars in the Taglit-Birthright program. If it's up to me, it will not stop. Every Jew wishing to come to Israel can come to Israel. I believe that a strong international Jewish identity is essential for ensuring our future. We must remember that Israel is not only a 63-year miracle. It is a miracle at the top of a history of 4,000 years."

Do you think that the so-called "pro-Israel, pro-peace" crowd reads this and feels happiness, or dread?

Abbas consolidates his power even more

While Mahmoud Abbas likes to give the impression to the West that he is politically weak and does not have the power to make concessions to Israel, in fact he has been quietly building his political power base within the PLO and Fatah.

Today, he appointed one of his own, Sa'id Abu Amara, to be head of a new PLO political department headquartered in Ramallah.

The reason this is significant? Because his last major critic from within the PLO, Farouk Kaddoumi, who has been the official head of the PLO's political department in Tunisia, was not even consulted. Observers believe that whatever vestiges of power that remained in Tunisia under Kaddoumi will now be effectively transferred to Ramallah, under Abbas' watchful eye.

Almost exactly a year ago, Abbas had begun to marginalize Kaddoumi.

In August 2009, Abbas managed to strengthen his hold of Fatah, meaning that he is now the unquestioned leader of Fatah, the PLO and the PA.

So when Abbas says he cannot negotiate, or he is unwilling to compromise, it is his decision alone.

Spanish government sponsors ad to boycott all Israeli goods (updated)

From Palestinian Media Watch:

A boy enters a store and overhears a conversation.
Customer to shopkeeper: “Do you see them? They’re plastering the city with advertisements about boycotting Israeli goods.”
Shopkeeper: “I can’t not bring in [Israeli products], because people ask for them.”
Customer: “Israeli products are better than the local products.”
Shopkeeper to the boy: “What do you want?”
Boy, after looking at Israeli products: “I want Israeli chips.”
He takes the chips, walks to the door, and hears gunfire. He looks around, drops the chips on the floor, returns to the shopkeeper and says: “I don’t want the Israeli product, I want the Palestinian product.”

The advertisement ends by displaying the text: “Don’t prolong the occupation’s life upon our land,” with the logo of the Palestinian NGO Health Work Committees, followed by the logos of the ad’s sponsors:
The Spanish government,
the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
AECID (Spanish governmental humanitarian aid development),
ACSUR (a Spanish non-profit organization),
Canaan Joint Development Project for Jerusalem (Palestinian).

UPDATE: The Spanish government denies being behind the ads.

But I thought Israel stole all the water!

The Murad Resort, in the Palestinian Arab territories:

And it features an indoor pool for women, too:

Iran's new university dress code

From Reuters:

Iran has enforced a stricter Islamic dress code at a number of universities including a ban on female students wearing long nails, bright clothes and tattoos, a local news agency reported on Monday.

The semi-official Fars news agency published a list of universities around Iran that were given a note outlining the code but did not say on what basis they were selected.

The new rules ban women from "wearing caps or hats without scarves, tight and short jeans, and body piercing", except earrings, Fars said.

It said tattoos, long nails, tooth gems, tight overcoats, and bright clothes were also banned.

The new code also bans male students from dying their hair, plucking eyebrows, wearing tight clothes, shirts with "very short sleeves" and jewellery, Fars said.

I couldn't find the link in the Fars website, but last month the news agency was clearly telegraphing that these rules were coming. It published a series of articles about the dress codes at Western universities in its Persian edition, and used that as proof that there was nothing extremist about enforcing Islamic dress codes in Iran.

For example, it published the dress code at St. Louis University, claiming that it was for students - but it was for employees.

Missouri State University's code says "brief shorts, trank tops, tube tops, torn jeans, bare feet are not acceptable. Wearing of pierced jewelry should be confined to ears only. Tattoos should be covered."

They also are happy to see that Brigham Young University has a strict dress code, without mentioning that it is a Mormon school.

Yemeni Al Qaeda infiltrating Gaza?

Last week, the IDF shot and killed two men who were trying to climb the Gaza border fence.

Palestine Press Agency notes that these men have still not been identified.

Initially, Hamas has claimed that they were Egyptians who independently went into Gaza in order to "join the resistance" but that story has fallen apart, because Hamas did not hand any bodies over to the Egyptian authorities.

Similarly, the usual terror groups in Gaza did not claim these men as their "martyrs."

The rumors are that a number of Yemenis associated with Al Qaeda are going to Gaza, and that these were two of them. When Hamas attacked the Jund an Ansar Salafist group in August 2009, three of the dead were never identified but it was considered general knowledge that there are Al Qaeda Yemenis in Gaza and those men were assumed to be members.

Visit Gaza 2011!

I don't know who made this, but it is fun to watch:

(h/t Israeligirl)

A rare protest against Hamas in Gaza (UPDATE - um, no.)

A group of Gaza journalists protested Hamas' imprisonment of one of their colleagues yesterday.

Public protests against the Hamas government are very rare in Gaza. Usually, Hamas shuts down any protests under the pretext of the organizers not having the proper permits.

I cannot find the name of the journalist. Reporters Without Borders has not seemed to update its "Palestine" section in over a year.

UPDATE: An email correspondent who knows Arabic looked at the photos are figured out that these are Hamas "journalists" who are protesting the PA imprisoning their colleagues in the West Bank!

One of the signs they were holding was the Hamas Al Aqsa TV logo:

So this is not an anti-Hamas protest - it is a pro-Hamas protest.

Never mind!

SPJ Helen Thomas award about to be scrapped

From the Society of Professional Journalists:

The Executive Committee of the Society of Professional Journalists voted Saturday to recommend that the organization retire the Helen Thomas Award for Lifetime Achievement. The recommendation, which will be sent to the full board of directors within the next 10 days for a vote, states that the award will be retired with Thomas’ name attached.

The recommendation by the executive committee is to retire the Helen Thomas Award for Lifetime Achievement, meaning no lifetime achievement award will be given. The recommendation is not to rename it or to remove Thomas’ name.

The retirement will not take effect unless the board votes to accept the recommendation.

“This is a complex issue, and the executive committee considered comments and letters from both sides. Because of the importance of this decision, it is appropriate to put this before the full board,” SPJ President Hagit Limor said.

The executive committee said the following in making its recommendation: “While we support Helen Thomas’ right to speak her opinion, we condemn her statements in December as offensive and inappropriate.”

They published this absurd argument against rescinding the award from a self-proclaimed Jew and Zionist, Lloyd Weston, condemning Wayne State University from pulling their Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity Award:

The reasoning behind WSU’s decision to no longer offer the Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity in the Media award sends a mixed message to its students – especially journalism students – that the values instilled in them over four years of education are both flexible and expendable; that freedom of speech and of the press is not a foundation, set in stone, upon which life in America is based, but rather merely a suggestion to be taken if it suits you, or left behind when it becomes inconvenient or embarrassing.

I have urged officials of WSU to reconsider what they have done, and to apologize to Helen Thomas, of course, but, more importantly, to the Wayne State University students and alumni who expected better of them.

Weston of course does not explain how getting rid of an award whose very name has turned into an embarrassment is a threat to freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is important, but it does not run roughshod over other freedoms - such as the freedom of Wayne State University and the SPJ from not wanting their names associated with a bigot.

(h/t Backspin)

It's all Israel's fault!

It is well known that Israel is the cause of all strife in the Arab world (not to mention the world at large.)

Here are some recent examples:

In Egypt, some video of peaceful Egyptian police beating Coptic rioters with billy-clubs, January 3, 2011.

In Sudan, January 10.

Arab tribesmen accompanied by a Khartoum-backed militia killed 20 policemen in Sudan's disputed region of Abyei, a southern military spokesman said Monday, raising concerns of violence as the south carries out a weeklong independence referendum.

In Jordan, January 5:

Jordanian security authorities detained at least 20 on Wednesday in connection with two days of tribal riots that left three persons dead in the southern town of Maan, a senior official said.

In Tunisia this week:

Nineteen demonstrators protesting high unemployment and poor living conditions have been killed during the past two days in riots that broke out in two Tunisian cities near its border with Algeria, a government official said Monday.

The incidents occurred in the cities of Thala and Kasserine, said Minister of Information Samir Abidi. All of the dead were demonstrators; more than 30 police were injured, he said.
Amnesty International said at least 23 people died in protests over the weekend, and it had received reports of more deaths on Monday.

Citing "information gathered by Amnesty International," it said security forces fired tear gas and live ammunition to disperse demonstrators in the cities of Thala, Kasserine and Regueb in central Tunisia.

In Algeria this week:

At least three people have been killed and 300 others injured in riots that erupted across Algeria amid rising food prices and a housing crisis, according to state-run media.

If only Israel wasn't there, none of these incidents would have happened and the Arab world would be peaceful and unified.

Obviously.

Ten million Loughners (Barry Rubin)

A must read from Barry Rubin:

When one crazed or ideologically obsessed gunman starts shooting in Arizona, people condemn him and start bemoaning their society. How about a place with ten million people like that who are treated as heroes?

America this week is awash in a huge and passionate debate over whether angry political disagreements and harsh criticisms of certain views or groups inspired the attack on an American congresswoman (Jewish and a strong supporter of Israel, by the way). I’m not going to enter into that argument right now but I want to point out the Middle Eastern ramifications of what's going on here.

Every day for more than a half century, Arabs and Muslims have been inundated every day with hatred for Israel, America, the West, Jews, and often Christians. You can read transcripts of Syrian broadcasts or Palestinian speeches from 50 years ago that sound just like what was said in the same places yesterday by powerful and/or respectable figures and institutions.

Let’s say that the proportion of lies, slanders, and incitement in the American discourse is one-tenth of one percent of all the words spoken on controversial issues. The equivalent figure for the Middle East is well over 95 percent.

In addition to that tone, there is not only a total lack of balance but an absence of the other side altogether.

And in addition to those two points, the level of factual accuracy has a huge gap separating it from reality. (Though, admittedly, that gap has been narrowing in recent years as Western standards decline).

And in addition to those three points, while extremists tend to be marginal in the United States, they are in control--either politically or at least rhetorically--throughout most of the Arabic-speaking and Muslim-majority worlds.

Read the whole thing.

The Israeli Way of War (Totten)

His writings might meander, but they never fail to inform. A small sample:

God only knows how Hezbollah trains its fighters, but I have a pretty good idea what the Israelis are up to because Abe Lapson, an IDF director of combat engineering, hosted me at the urban warfare training center in the northern Negev near the border with Gaza.

They built a scale model city out there in the desert where Israeli soldiers engage in sophisticated combat exercises. They fight each other in these exercises, so it’s always a challenge. Trained Israeli soldiers are far more dangerous than any army—even Hezbollah—the modern Arab world has yet produced.

I saw the skyline of the “city” as we approached on a road through desert, and from a distance it almost looks real. Up close it’s different.

“It almost looks like a set for a video game,” I said.

Lapson chuckled and said, “But it’s real.”

I could see everything from the control tower. The buildings are smaller and farther apart on the outskirts than they are in the center, just like a real village or town in the West Bank, Gaza, or Lebanon. And I have to say they did a pretty good job with the realism. Pyrotechnic teams set off explosions. Vehicles emit different colors of smoke depending on what kind of damage they’ve supposedly taken. Walls have simulated blast holes because doors and windows are often booby-trapped, forcing soldiers to create alternate entrances.

I’ve never been to a Hezbollah training camp, although I did ask Hezbollah officials if I could see one before they blacklisted me for “writing against the party.” They refused. Still, I’m certain they don’t have dummies representing civilians who aren’t to be touched.

The Israelis do, though. They place mannequins on the grounds dressed in the clothes of civilians and peacekeepers as well as enemy soldiers and terrorists.

“The other side includes both hostiles and civilians,” Lapson said, “and the hostiles will often embed themselves among the civilians. We go over a large number of what-if scenarios. We imbue an ethical and moral backbone in all our soldiers from the very beginning, and we have humanitarian officers with our infantry troops. We take extra precautions, even when it puts our own troops in danger.”

Read the whole thing.

And while he mentions that it looks like a video game, that is one great idea that someone could do - a video-game that shows the difficulty of fighting the IDF way, trying to avoid civilians while hitting terrorists pretending to be civilian. While, at the same time, worried that the rockets you are targeting don't end up hitting your own family.

Ramallah naming more streets after terrorists

From RT.com:

The West Bank city of Ramallah is naming its streets to mark its 100th anniversary, but some of the choices are causing controversy as they honor people involved in planning terrorist acts.
This naming is part of a regeneration scheme started two years ago, but it is already being seen by some as a sign of growing extremism.

Before the scheme was launched, there were no street names, street signs or house numbers that could help people navigate around the city.

Janet Mikhail, Mayor of Ramallah, says it is “a human right for citizens to know where they are.”

Thus Yasser Arafat gets a square. And a street is called after the neighbourhood Al-Nuzha that used to exist in Arab Jaffa in the 1930s. Another street called Al-Awdeh, meaning ‘return’, is a call for Palestinian refugees to return to Israel.

The criteria for choosing a name are simple: heroes, places, and ideas supported by the Palestinian people.

“We don’t differentiate between Hamas or Fatah,” explains Janet Mikhail.

If anything, the opposite, as members of both organizations fighting for liberation are glorified. Which might surprise those who think the modern city of Ramallah would shy away from praising stalwarts of Hamas, an organization considered by many world powers as terrorist.

One of the thoroughfares is named after chief Hamas bomb maker – Yahya Ayyash, dubbed “the engineer”. For three years he was Israel’s most wanted man for masterminding suicide bombings that killed 90 Israelis, until he himself was killed.

As political analyst Khalil Shaheen explains, “anyone who was killed by the Israelis, even in a car accident, is considered a martyr”.

Yahya Ayyash was killed by the Israeli internal security service after they tricked a friend of his into giving him a cell phone that was booby trapped. Fourteen years on his family is as proud as ever.

“I’m very pleased they’ve named roads and streets after him,” says Yahya Ayyash’s mother, Aisha. “My son is in my heart and I miss him. He’s the hero of Palestine.”

Surprisingly, not all the streets names are Palestinian. One street is called after Rachel Corrie, an American activist who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer during a demonstration in Gaza in 2003. Rachel was part of the International Solidarity Movement, a group that, as Israelis charge, aids Hamas and other Palestinian extremist groups.

The decision to name a busy street in Ramallah after her was anonymous.

Such attention, even to extremist groups, may be explained by the growing desire among Palestinians to change the current course of events.

”People in the West Bank are fed up with the way they have been ruled during the past 15 years and they’re eager to try something else,” believes Khalil Shaheen.

Polls show Hamas growing in popularity in the West Bank, while talks between rival Palestinian faction Fatah and Israel deadlock.

“Hamas is changing, Hamas is trying to speak in the language the West understands,” argues Shaheen.

And as the new street signs go up in the city, it is becoming more and more clear that Hamas is also speaking in a language Ramallah Palestinians understand.

Gaza town to create "Mavi Marmara" park

Palestine Today reports that the mayor of Jabalia met with a Turkish man, Hanafy Osama Sinan, who had been on the Mavi Marmara.

Sinan traveled to Gaza with an aid convoy.

The mayor said that he would establish a park on 6 dunums west of the city in memory of the terrorists who were killed on the ship, as well as naming streets after them.

Amazing how they find land when they want to!