Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Real Liberals Love Israel #8: More trees, less desert

Entire poster series here.

(h/t Sshender)

Wikileaks: How the Muslims took over the UNHRC

A series of memos released by WikiLeaks exposes how the Organization of the Islamic Conference took over the then-new UN Human Rights Council in 2008. For those who are fans of the arcane world of negotiations, here is how the OIC managed to outmaneuver Western states on one resolution:

AN OIC TRIUMPH
--------------

OIC efforts to amend -- and in effect subvert -- the Freedom of Expression resolution had been a dominant subtext throughout the Council's seventh regular session. With support from the U.S., the EU and others, Canada, as chief sponsor, had sought to fend off an OIC amendment that would instruct the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression to report on "instances in which the abuse of the right of freedom of expression constitutes an act of racial or religious discrimination." The OIC, taking advantage of its internal discipline, had held firm throughout. China, apparently angered by criticism during the Council's March 25 meeting of its behavior in Tibet, floated its own killer amendments two days before the vote. Canada rejected these as having been raised too late in the game.

The decisive action on the freedom of expression resolution and its amendments came on the session's last day. We had joined Canada and others in efforts to sway moderate OIC members, but these had fallen short. Meanwhile, Canada had sought to find compromise language that would avoid the OIC amendment. When those efforts failed, and with the session having been extended beyond its scheduled 6pm closing time, the OIC called for a vote on its amendment, which passed (27-17-3). The U.S., Canada, the EU and others dropped their co-sponsorship. With the momentum clearly favoring the OIC and its allies, Cuba then pulled an unexpected move, proposing an oral amendment underscoring "the importance for all forms of media to report and to deliver information in a fair and impartial manner." That amendment passed (29-15-3). Canada and the EU failed in last minute procedural efforts to head off the fully amended resolution, which then passed (32-0-15).

The Ambassador's April 2 meeting with like-minded ambassadors to take stock of the session provided additional insights into the dynamics behind the last-minute maneuvering. Canada's ambassador expressed frustration at the African Group's solidarity with the OIC. Madagascar and Angola, for instance, had expressed discomfort with the amendment in conversations with the Canadians but had eventually been pressured into voting for it. The OIC had also exerted immense pressure on others during the end game, he reported; Bosnia and Herzegovina, for instance, had been pressed hard, although it had ended up voting against the amendment. Both the Canadian and Danish ambassadors expressed particular resentment toward China: though the Chinese had ostensibly kept their promise, made on the session's last day, not to put forth an oral amendment, they had clearly struck a deal for Cuba to do so.

In an April 1 extension of the seventh session to allow for closing statements, several OIC members defended the newly amended resolution. Pakistan argued that the OIC amendment had done nothing beyond providing an "add-on" that made the resolution more "comprehensive and holistic," in order to protect the stability of multicultural societies. Sri Lanka echoed that theme and expressed hope that the decisions on the freedom of expression mandate would not leave the Council as a "house divided." The U.S. was among several delegations that sharply criticized the amendments.

The OIC had scored an earlier victory with adoption of a resolution on defamation of religions (21-10-14). It also succeeded in rescheduling the Item 7 discussion of the Occupied Palestinian Territories to early in the Council session in order more quickly to condemn Israel's response to rocket attacks from Gaza. In addition to the resolution passed on that occasion, the Council also passed three other anti-Israel resolutions. One of these, on Israeli settlements, passed 46-1-0, with only Canada voting against it.

Another memo ends off with the observation that the EU has given up and decided to support the OIC:

The prevailing political and negotiating dynamics at the Human Rights Council must be broken if that body, which is still taking shape, is to address human rights problems in a serious and substantive way. Instead of seeking the support of the U.S. and other sympathetic delegations in its efforts to hold violators to their international human rights obligations, the instinct of the EU appears to be to bend over backwards to accommodate the concerns of the violators and their supporters. The result is not pretty. South Africa, which serves as the driving force behind the Durban process and has a tunnel-vision interest on issues of racial equality, appears to have made common cause with the OIC and its parallel tunnel-vision interest in ensuring the alleged rights of the collective in Muslim societies. This vision is fundamentally incompatible with the interests of Western democracies. Until the EU can be made to see that its paramount goal of ensuring its internal unity, with its predictable lowest-common-denominator results, will rarely hold anyone accountable for anything, our efforts to see the HRC evolve into an effective and respectable human rights mechanism are likely to go unrewarded. The U.S. made a greater effort in this short session to influence events, but this level and manner of engagement simply were not enough to have a significant impact.

Today is World Water Day.

All the "Real Liberals" series can be seen using the Real Liberals tag..

Rock star calls BDSers "fools"

From AP:

Kiss' Israeli-born singer-musician Gene Simmons is shouting out loud at the string of musicians who refuse to perform in his homeland.

The legendary bassist says "they're fools." He spoke to The Associated Press in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

He says artists who avoid Israel — such as Elvis Costello, the Pixies and Roger Waters, who joined the movement after appearing in Israel in 2006 — would be better served directing their anger at Arab dictators.

Simmons is making his first return to Israel since he left the country as a child more than 50 years ago. He described the visit as an emotional "homecoming."

(h/t David G tweet)

"Zionists use heavy metal music to corrupt Muslims, take over the world" (UPDATED)

A great one from The Jakarta Post:

The hard-line Muslim group Islam Defenders Front (FPI) is now setting its eyes on underground music, which its members believe carry messages that would lead young Muslims astray.

In a public lecture at the FPI headquarters in Petamburan, Central Jakarta, senior FPI member and purported Islamic music “expert” Farid Budi Fahri alleged there had been concerted efforts to turn young people away from Islamic teachings through a variety of underground music.

“There has been a conspiracy. A war launched by the underground community [against mainstream Islamic teaching],” he told FPI members who came to the talk last week.

Farid traced the roots of the underground music to a Zionist movement.

He said that a group of people adhering to Zionist ideology has used the medium to conceal their objectives of world domination.

“At the end of the day, it will sow conflict among Muslims themselves,” Farid said.

He went on to speculate that the underground music community, which initially developed as a resistance towards the mainstream industry by independently producing and distributing music, has been subverted by the Zionist movement to spread ideas that would contradict Islam.

“Are these musicians carrying out a Zionist mission? I would say no. The conspiracy is within the music, the lyrics which carry messages and the ideology which would create a lifestyle and counter culture in the end,” Farid said.

He cited the lyrics of John Lennon’s song Imagine as Zionist music, although Lennon was not Jewish and was not considered an idol of the underground music community.

“People keep singing his songs without realizing the meaning behind it,” he said.

He suspected that the song — about a hypothetical state of the world where religion, state and ideology did not exist — carry a pure Zionist message.

Farid also said some underground musical outfits had promoted Satanic messages. He said bands like Sepultura, Metallica and Lamb of God were satanic bands that could turn young Muslim fans away from religion.

In fact, the original name of Metallica was "Zionist Metallica" but they shortened it to make their world-domination goals a little less obvious.

(h/t Weasel Zippers)

UPDATE: Daughter of Ziyon used her scary skillz to create the real deal:

And now you can buy T-shirts and other products with this logo at The Elder of Ziyon Store!

Afternoon links

Commentary's J.E. Dyer: Responsibility to Protect, Obligation to Shoot

Arab News: What if Arabs had recognized the State of Israel in 1948?

WSJ: The Shaky House of Assad

Khaled Abu Toameh: Are the Palestinians ready for statehood?

IsraeliGirl: Revolution and Antisemitism in the Arab world - Reflections by Dr. Webman

AP: Hamas protests plan to teach Holocaust in Gaza End of story:

Yet even if the U.N. moves ahead with the plan this year, it could face another obstacle: its own schoolteachers.

In about a dozen interviews, they said they did not want to teach the materials and warned of rebellion.

"The agency will open the gates of hell with this step," said one schoolteacher, Sami. "This will not work."

Israel21C: Big buyouts of Israeli companies

CiFWatch on the first IDF paramedic at the scene of the Fogel massacre.

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar, Vicious Babushka, Solomon)

Entire poster series here.

Iranian weapons intercepted by Turkey

From YNet:

Weapons were found on an Iranian cargo plane forced to land in southeast Turkey on Saturday, Turkish media reported Tuesday.

According to reports, the arms plane left Tehran with military ammunition for Syria. Several crates containing weapons and ammunition were removed from the aircraft.

Turkish media reported that the plane was forced to land in a military airfield at the United Nations' request following information indicating it was carrying nuclear materials. It was further reported that rocket launchers, mortars, rifles and explosive materials were found in one of the main cabinets on the plane.

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar)

Iranian machinations in Bahrain

From Iran's FARS News Agency:

The Iranian Red Crescent Society announced that it is ready to send relief workers to Bahrain to provide people with medical assistance after Bahraini security forces, assisted by Saudi troops, killed and injured scores of peaceful protesters on the tiny Persian Gulf island.

The secretary general of the Iranian Red Crescent Society said the organization is ready to help the Red Crescent deal with the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Bahrain.

"If we are given permission, we are ready to send our relief forces to help the Bahraini people with medical and health supplies," Zaher Rostami told Press TV.

Wikileaks revealed that Iran had previously sent agents, missiles and other weapons to Hezbollah - disguised as medical aid.

Odds are, this is what they have in mind for Bahrain as well, as they want the mostly Shiite protesters to ultimately make Bahrain an Iranian satellite - or part of Iran.

(h/t Folderol)

EoZ makes it into London Jewish Chronicle

From page 4 of the print edition of the current London Jewish Chronicle, as a sidebar to an article about Israel activism on campus:

Now, why would they have chosen that one?

Thanks to Jeremy for setting this up!

Group encouraging Arab couples to get married at al-Aqsa mosque

From Al Arabiya:

A Palestinian heritage association launched a project to encourage Arab-Israelis to hold their marriage ceremonies in Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque as part of its plan to fight perceived Israeli attempts at erasing the identity of its Arab citizens.

“This project aims at ensuring that al-Aqsa is always full of worshippers in order to assert the importance of the mosque and to counter Israeli violations and occupation,” association chairman Hekmat Naamna told AlArabiya.net.

Naamna explained that since marriage is one of the most important events in anyone’s life, holding the ceremony in al-Aqsa would highlight the importance of the mosque and help bring a sense of blessing to one’s life.

“The Aqsa Mosque is a holy place with a special importance in the entire Muslim world and couples will be blessed if they hold their marriage ceremony in it. It is a source of pride for them.”

The association, Naamna added, encourages couples to marry in al-Aqsa through offering a variety of facilities for the bride and groom as well as the invitees.

“For each ceremony, we make available two buses that take the couple and the guests to the mosque, we coordinate with the marriage registrar, and handle photographs and media coverage.”

The association also gives each couple a gift and a trophy and invites public figures to the ceremony.

Ahmed Abul-Houf, from the village of Deir Hanna in Galilee in northern Israel, was one of the first youths to respond to the association’s project and marry in al-Aqsa mosque.

“I wanted my love for al-Aqsa and my solidarity with its cause to turn from words into action,” he told AlArabiya. “I married there to take part in protecting the mosque.”

It's funny; I never saw any Jewish groups that needed to pay for the cost of the many bar mitzvahs at the Kotel. Somehow, people want to do it on their own without being bribed.

This is just more proof that the supposed holiness of the Al Aqsa mosque is derived more from politics than religion. One can be certain that there were few if any, marriage ceremonies there from 1948 to 1967.

Two unlikely stories

From YNet:

Alber Halul, who was stabbed Saturday night by a group of masked men he claims are haredim, recounted the attack Sunday. "They threatened to shoot us if we resisted and stabbed me 10 times – in my head, my leg, and my neck," he told Ynet.

Halul, a 22-year old Christian Arab from the Galilee town of Gush Halav, was assaulted while with a group of friends at Ein Zeitim forest, near Safed.

"At around 12:30 five masked drove up in a Nissan jeep and began driving in circles near us. Then they left and came back with another vehicle, and came closer," he recalled from his hospital bed.

"They threw stun grenades and fired in the air. Then eight masked men got out of the car and began to attack us. The guys I was with ran away but I stayed to protect a girl who was with us. They stabbed me 10 times in my head, my leg, and my neck until they hit me hard and I fell to the ground."

Halul says he knows the men were ultra-Orthodox Jews although they wore masks. "While they were attacking us one of the said that if we dared to resist they'll shoot us and we knew from their accent and their clothes that they were ultra-Orthodox," he said.

It wasn't the first time the 22-year old was attacked due to his race. "I won't return to the forest again. The Jews' hatred and racism against us has reached a point of real violence that threatens our lives," he said.

So let's see what a man who was stabbed ten times looks like:

Yeah.

Also, Palestine Today says that Arab guards on the Temple Mount stopped a Jewish man with a gun from entering the compound via the Mughrabi gate.

Of course, there are Israeli guards there, and no one can bring a gun into the area to begin with because the entire Western Wall perimeter has metal detectors.

The only part of the story that might be true is that the Israeli guards declared the would-be intruder to be drunk - because it happened on Purim.

(h/t Vicious Babushka via Zvi)

Report: Syria importing Hezbollah to quash protests

Israel HaYom (Hebrew) is quoting Syrian opposition groups, saying that Syria is bringing in Hezbollah to help stop the protests spreading throughout the country.

According to the reports, thousands of Hezbollah members have been brought into the epicenter of protests in Daraa, which is now under curfew.

Syria's Al Watan blamed the protests on "Palestinian extremists and members of radical Islamic organizations from the refugee camps in southern Syria."

The Daraa protesters have shattered a statue of former Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad.

There are also reports that the Kurdish minority is starting to protest as well in the northern town of Kamishli.

UPDATE: The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria is supporting the uprising.

Who wouldn't pay to see the MB fight Hezbollah - for many years? (h/t Silke)

Latest Richard Falk slander: "IDF sexually abuses PalArab kids"

Richard Falk has outdone himself again in his never ending quest to demonize Israel.

His latest report to the UN Human Rights Council includes this passage:

The continued reports of inhumane and degrading treatment, including sexual assault, of children in detention is further deplorable....In the Ariel settlement in the occupied West Bank, children reported that they had been given electric shocks by Israeli interrogators in the settlement. The children, one as young as 14 years of age, were each accused of throwing stones at a settler bypass road in the occupied West Bank. Following the electric shocks, the boys provided their interrogators with confessions, although they maintained their innocence. In May 2010, a 14-year-old boy reported that his interrogator in the Israeli settlement block of Gush Etzion, in the occupied West Bank, attached car battery jump leads to the boy’s genitals and threatened to electrify the cable. After further abuse, the boy confessed to throwing stones, although he maintains his innocence.

The footnotes for these accusations come from DCI-International Palestine where they simply ask children who were detained by Israeli authorities whether they were abused, and the kids happily answer with what the Israel-haters want to hear.

The accusations are so ridiculously lurid and absurd that only people who are already convinced of Israel's pre-determined guilt could possibly believe them.

Hence, Richard Falk quotes them approvingly.

DCI-PS counted some 40 more children killed in Cast Lead than PCHR did. Invariably, any of the children who were known to have been killed while fighting (and even those that PCHR admitted were combatants) their deaths were described by DCI-PS this way: “Despite DCI-Palestine’s best endeavours to collect affidavits from eyewitnesses to [the child’s] death, no reliable evidence could be gathered.”

More evidence of DCI-PS's disregard for the truth comes from their descriptions of the fictional "massacre" in Jenin in 2002, from April 12th and 16th, the second being copied in a separate report to the UN on the 19th after it was already becoming obvious that there was no massacre:

Reports emanating from residents of the Jenin refugee camp indicate hundreds of dead, a significant percentage undoubtedly children, as well as mass destruction of homes, businesses, and vital infrastructure.

With a limited number of journalists finally allowed entry into Jenin refugee camp, the picture of the massacre that occurred there has become increasingly clear. Testimony from survivors of this massacre present a harrowing picture of a bloody military offensive designed to destroy a civilian population and raze Jenin refugee camp to the ground. Survivors estimate that 1/3 of the camp has been completely destroyed. Moreover, eyewitnesses from the camp describe how Israeli soldiers dug mass graves for those killed in an attempt to hide evidence of the massacre. Thousands of residents have been made homeless and are now seeking refuge in neigbouring villages while desperately trying to seek missing family members.

It is estimated that several hundred residents of the camp were killed during the Israeli attack, including a large proportion of children. Video documentation and photographs from the camp are images of horror that no words can ever describe. They overwhelming illustrate the mass destruction wreaked on the camp and its residents. Journalists in the camp are describing that the air is filled with a noxious stench of rotting bodies that remain lying in the street or buried under rubble. There are also reports of summary executions carried out by Israeli soldiers in the centre of the camp.

As far as I can see, DCI-PS never retracted their lurid claims of a massacre in Jenin that killed possibly hundreds of children. And this report also shows how DCI will happily swallow any lies being given to them by "eyewitnesses" who make up stories.

Just like the kids who claimed to be given electric shocks by Israel.

In other words, the group has no compunction about lying, and they certainly would have no hesitation to ask kids released by Israel leading questions to indicate abuse when there was none. It is no surprise that they support BDS and that they do not say a word about Hamas' abuse of children and use of child soldiers.

So DCS-PS is a really great fit for Richard Falk, for whom facts that contradict his beliefs are ignored and for whom absurd rumors that confirm his beliefs are God-given truth.