Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

NYT reports fairly on yesterday's accident

The New York Times' coverage of yesterday's accidental deaths of four Gaza civilians, writeen by Fares Akram, is actually fair to Israel:

An Israeli attempt to hit Palestinian militants who had fired rockets at Israel went horribly wrong on Tuesday, with mortar shells killing three youths playing soccer and a 60-year-old grandfather leaving his house.

After rockets were fired from a citrus grove behind houses in eastern Gaza City on Tuesday afternoon, the Israelis fired mortar rounds at the source. Three shells landed on a sandy street in front of a home about half a mile from the border, killing three members of the Helou family and a neighbor.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, expressed regret at the deaths of civilians, adding, “It is regrettable that Hamas continues to intentionally rain down dozens of rockets on Israeli civilians even as it uses civilians as human shields.”

The Israeli military also said it regretted the loss of civilian life and placed the blame on Hamas. “We do not target civilians,” Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich, a military spokeswoman, said by telephone. “This was not our initiative. It was reactive.”

Relatives and neighbors were unusually open about the fact that the Israeli mortar attack was an attempt to hit militants firing rockets from the nearby grove.

“We heard the sound of four mortars being fired by militants from a grove just beyond our house,” said Hassan, the older brother of Mohammed Harrara. “A few minutes later, the Israeli shells landed in the area.”

But the Washington Post simply repeats Hamas lies:

Tahar al-Nounou, a spokesman for Hamas's government in Gaza, said that no one had fired rockets from the area targeted by Israel on Tuesday. "The Palestinian government condemns strongly the awful crime that was committed by the Zionist occupation this afternoon,'' he said in Gaza.

See also Meryl Yourish's excellent comparison of AP's reporting of this incident versus the Fogel massacre.

(h/t David G)

Reports that Gaza terrorists used anti-aircraft missiles

Palestine Press reports:

Media and witnesses in Gaza said that resistance fighters this morning fired a surface to air missile targeting an Israeli Apache [helicopter] over the central region [of Gaza.]

Witnesses said out that the helicopter left Gaza and went back to the Israeli border without being hit. Israeli sources did not confirm this news.

Syria kills 12 people - in a mosque

From Haaretz:

Syrian forces killed 12 people on Wednesday in an attack on a mosque in the southern city of Daraa, site of unprecedented protests challenging President Bashar Assad's Baathist rule, residents said.

Those killed included Ali Ghassab al-Mahamid, a doctor from a prominent Daraa family who went to the Omari mosque in the city's old quarter to help victims of the attack, which occurred just after midnight, said the residents, declining to be named.

Before the attack, electricity was cut off in the area and telephone services were severed. Cries of "Allahu Akbar [God is the greatest]" erupted across neighborhoods in Daraa when the shooting began.

Can't wait for the UN to condemn this.

Oh, I'm sure that Iran and Hezbollah will be on the condemnation bandwagon as well since they have been so outspoken about Arab government repression lately.

(updated with latest numbers, h/t Challah Hu Akbar)

Back on the floor: An amazing Israeli success story in Haiti

Meet George, a professional dancer whose left leg was severely injured in Haiti - and whose right leg was amputated.

Thanks to an Israeli rehabilitation team in Haiti, he is dancing again.

(h/t Israpundit via Cher)

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.