Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

BBC just can't resist taking a dig at Israel

The BBC has a welcome story about the plight of Palestinian Arabs in Lebanon. But it cannot even consider writing a story about Palestinian Arab suffering without taking a shot at Israel. The story starts with:

It is sometimes controversially said that Palestinian refugees in Lebanon live in worse conditions than those during the Israeli occupation in Gaza.

Is that idea "controversial"? Let's see.

	Gaza	Lebanon
Are there restrictions on the jobs they can have?	No	Yes
Are there any restrictions on where they can live?	No	Yes
Are they systematically discriminated against by their government?	No	Yes
Are they forced to live in camps?	No	Yes
So where exactly is the "controversy"? More from Just Journalism.

Time magazine cements its anti-Israel reputation

Time's Karl Vick does another hatchet job on Israel. He spends most of his time saying that Israel's government is racist and paranoid, but even his asides drip with bias:

Last week, after a Palestinian woman died after inhaling tear gas that was fired by Israeli troops, army spokesmen mounted a whisper campaign suggesting that she had died of natural causes. The unlikely, anonymous explanation was played prominently by Israeli newspapers. Those who said otherwise stood accused of trying to delegitimize the Israel Defense Forces.

I commented:

While the entire article is laughably biased, let's just look at one small part:

"The unlikely, anonymous explanation..."

I have been poring over scientific journals for the past week, and I have yet to find a single case of a healthy person who was killed outdoors by CS tear gas, let alone from over a hundred meters away. By assuming a one-in-a-billion chance that the woman was the single exception to that rule, we see that Karl Vick's interest in the truth is far lower than his interest in demonizing Israel.

If you want to see much more substantive criticisms of Vick's screed, check out Jennifer Rubin, Alana Goodman and CAMERA.

Arafat poison story hits English-language media

The supposedly new evidence about Arafat's death that I posted on Sunday has hit the English-language Arab media. From Al Arabiya:

Bassam Abu Sharif, former senior advisor to Yasser Arafat announced Monday the results of the tests conducted to identify the kind of poison that killed the late Palestinian president.

According to Abu Sharif, the tests were conducted by “the most prominent forensic toxicology expert in the UK” yet he neither revealed his identity nor mentioned the name of the institution that carried out the research.

The tests, Abu Sharif explained, revealed that the poison used to kill Arafat is called “thallium,” a rare chemical substance whose effects are very hard to detect.

“This fatal substance is extracted from sea weed and comes in the form of a liquid that is colorless, tasteless, and odorless,” Abu Sharif said Monday in a statement of which Quds Press obtained a copy.

One of the characteristics of that chemical compound, Abu Sharif added, is that when it is added to any food or drink, it doesn't make any difference in taste, color, or smell. It can also be injected into the veins.

“Yet the report explained that the most effective way is when the poison reaches the body through the tongue, so it could be added to water, tea, and coffee or to fruits and vegetables and even medicine.”

Abu Sharif said that British and European toxicology experts are not familiar with this poison and that only the forensic toxicology expert was able to identify it.

“According to the expert, this poison is highly effective and no antidote can stop its effect if five hours pass after injection or addition to food or drink.”

Amazing that in five minutes on Wikipedia I am a bigger expert on thallium than the "the most prominent forensic toxicology expert in the UK." And I even found a cure!

He also added that he had warned current Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of the possibility of facing the same fate.

“I told Abbas he has to be very cautious because there might be similar Israeli plans to get rid of him and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Israel wants Palestinian leadership positions vacant.”

Abu Sharif said that he also warned Arafat a few months before he was poisoned.

“I specifically told him that poison is Israel’s main weapon.”

What a hero he is!

I cannot resist repeating a comment made when I first broke the story. When one commenter asked, as a perfect straight man, if "thallium poisoning" is another name for AIDS, Empress Trudy answered, "No, that would be called Phallium poisoning."

Zionist Attack Dogs return!

The Zionist Attack Zoo has added a number of new members recently, like vultures, sharks and jellyfish. But the old standbys are still out there too, prepared to harass and terrorize Arabs where ever they find them.

The Attack Dogs of Zion have returned!

We last saw them in 2009, when Palestinian Arabs in Jericho said that retired IDF dogs were being re-trained to attack Arabs and then come back home to their Jewish hosts.

Now, according to Palestine Today, they are near Bethlehem, attacking shepherds and livestock, deliberately being released by the surrounding Jewish towns.

Smarter than an F-15! More deadly than tear gas! Able to easily distinguish between Arab and Jew! The Attack Dogs of Zion are Israel's newest, most secret weapon yet!

Now you can be a subscriber to EoZ! And other administrivia.

A few weeks ago, I quietly added an option to subscribe to Elder of Ziyon via email on the left-hand sidebar. Subscribers get a daily digest of all my posts. About 30 people have done it so far, which isn't bad considering I never mentioned it.

I also added a widget to keep track of how many people read the blog via RSS - in other words, readers that do not read it through the website, but using tools like Google Reader or My Yahoo. That number is over 1300 at the moment, which means that close to half of my daily readers are using RSS.

Speaking of subscriptions, for those who want to support the blog financially (and help justify my many hours of work on the blog to Mrs. Elder), I added a PayPal method where you can be automatically be charged a dollar or two (or five or ten) a month. If you think that this blog is worth that much to you, please consider donating or subscribing via the PayPal buttons on the upper right side. I thank those who already did!

So far today I have either posted or queued 16 articles, which is high even for me. Some of them are what would be considered scoops by any newspaper.

The blog does take a lot of time and effort, but I hope that I provide you with information - and entertainment -that is worthwhile and valuable.

If your life has been enriched by the articles you've read here, please donate what you think it is worth or set up an automatic monthly payment.

Thanks again!

Taglit Birthright holds mega event with thousands of visiting Jews

From the IDF website:

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)