Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Elder of Ziyon
Wednesday, March 30, 2011Elder of Ziyon
Tuesday, March 29, 2011Elder of ZiyonI had eagerly gone to every new Indiana Jones movie, but had never longed to venture on an archaeological dig. Nor had I been to Israel. So when my wife and I were invited by a friend to tag along for a week last summer, we more or less leaped at the opportunity. (Any lingering doubts were dispelled when we were told that the hotel room reserved for us in Ashkelon faced north, which meant that it was less likely to incur a direct hit by errant missiles occasionally fired from Gaza, about a dozen miles to the south.)Errant? You mean, Hamas and Islamic Jihad aren't aiming these missiles at people, but they just occasionally fire them accidentally towards civilian targets?
Tuesday, March 29, 2011Elder of ZiyonAt approximately 02:30 on Tuesday, 29 March 2011, a projectile exploded in a house belonging to Ahmed Kheir al-Batsh, 62, in al-Salam neighborhood in Jabalia, northern the Gaza Strip. Hanin Khalil al-Batsh, 22, sustained shrapnel wounds throughout her body. Her baby Ashour al-Batsh, seven months old, also sustained shrapnel wounds in the back, neck and head. A neighbor, Raed Johar al-Batsh, 35, sustained shrapnel wounds to the head as a result of the glass windows in his house shattering from the blast. The projectile penetrated the window in a room located in the western part of the second floor in the house. It exploded in the northern wall of the room causing a hole. The house was heavily damaged and the glass of the windows in three of the neighboring houses shattered. It should be noted that a site used by members of one of the Palestinian factions is located to the southwest of al-Batsh's house.PCHR's recommendations are unintentionally funny:
Earlier, at approximately 01:30 on Saturday, 26 March, a homemade projectile exploded in a soft drinks factory belonging to Murtaja Company used to make Soft Drinks and Juices in al-Zaytoon neighborhood in the east of Gaza City. A store, covering approximately five dunums, which is used to keep plastic materials was also totally destroyed as a result. Several pieces of equipment in the factory were damaged as well. No casualties were reported.
In a third incident that took place at approximately 12:00 on Thursday, 24 March 2011, a homemade projectile exploded in a wood factory owned by Bseiso and Alami Industry and Trade Company in al-Zaytoon neighborhood in the east of Gaza City. Three workers were wounded as a result, one of them seriously. The wounded are: 1. Khaled Mazen Hamada, 25, who sustained serious shrapnel wounds to the head; 2. Adel Ibrahim al-Nemnem, 46, who sustained shrapnel wounds to the head; and 3. Zaher Zuheir Tafesh, 33, who sustained shrapnel wounds in his right hand. The explosion also caused heavy damage to the factory and to a Mercedes belonging to the factory owner.
In view of the above, PCHR:Somehow, PCHR didn't consider calling on members of the "resistance" to stop firing Qassams at Israel in the first place! Instead, they are just berating them for storing their explosives near Arab civilians; just move them to other area where you can shoot at Jewish civilians as much as you want.
1. Calls upon the government in Gaza to open serious investigations into the circumstances of the three reported incidents and to take measures necessary to protect Palestinians and their property.
2. Notes that members of the Palestinian resistance continue to store explosives or to treat such explosives in locations close to populated areas. This poses a major threat to the lives of the Palestinian civilians and constitutes a violation of both International Human Rights Law and the International Humanitarian Law. These actions must be brought to an end because they become more dangerous in view of the public and continued threats imposed by the Israeli occupation forces.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011Elder of ZiyonDon't be scared if you hear sirens in Washington Square Park today; there's no need to find shelter.Metro reports:
"The Bomb Shelter" is a "media installation" exhibit that will periodically sound sirens for 15 seconds. Those who choose to participate will have 15 seconds to get to a makeshift shelter. This demonstration is to raise awareness for the rocket attacks in Israel, where citizens only have 15 seconds to escape to safety — and it's not a drill.
Participants will also hear the sounds of explosions as they rush to make it to the shelter. This, the organizers say, will give people firsthand knowledge of what Israelis face.
A group of artists intentionally caused terror and confusion in Washington Square park yesterday — by simulating a terrorist attack.No permit? Well, what's art without a little anarchy?
The group Artists for Israel, aided by Birthright Israel, set up a full-size Israeli bomb shelter in the middle of the park yesterday. They blasted sirens and simulated the boom of rockets hitting earth. Participants were given 15 seconds to run for shelter.
“There were people running,” said Arief Hussain, 34, a hot dog vendor in the park. “I didn’t know what was going on.”
But once the sirens started wailing, the NYPD and the Parks Department teamed up to shut down the event at 1:30, just half an hour after it began. “They didn’t have a permit,” said Detective James Alberici of the 6th Precinct.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011Elder of ZiyonThe Center for Security Policy today released a revised edition of their groundbreaking longitudinal study, Religious Bias Crimes 2000-2009: Muslim, Jewish and Christian Victims - Debunking the Myth of a Growing Trend in Muslim Victimization, based on FBI statistics reported annually in the Uniform Crime Reporting Program. The Center's study contradicts the assertions that religious bias crimes against Muslims have increased, and that the alleged cause is widespread “Islamophobia” in America. In fact, the study shows that religious bias crimes - also known as hate crimes - against Muslim Americans, measured by the categories of incidents, offenses or victims, have remained relatively low with a downward trend since 2001, and are significantly less than the numbers of bias crimes against Jewish victims.
The Center's study also contradicts the assumption of increased hate crimes against Muslims which has been asserted by Senator Richard Durbin's (D-IL) Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution, and is the topic of hearings being held today. Printed copies of the study were delivered to each member of the U.S. Senate early this morning.
According to the Center's analysis, in 2009, Jewish victims of hate crimes outnumbered Muslim victims by more than 8 to 1 (1,132 Jewish victims to 132 Muslim victims). From 2000 through 2009, for every one hate crime incident against a Muslim, there were six hate crime incidents against Jewish victims (1,580 Muslim incidents versus 9,692 Jewish incidents). Even in 2001 when religious bias crimes against Muslims increased briefly for a nine-week period, total anti-Muslim incidents, offenses and victims remained approximately half of the corresponding anti-Jewish totals.
The study provides hard data that disproves the counterfactual statements made by a small number of highly vocal Muslim lobbying groups, many linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as leftwing activists. Citing these false assumptions concerning America’s alleged “Islamophobia” and a supposed rising trend in hate crimes against Muslim Americans, these organizations argued against holding the March 10, 2011 House Committee on Homeland Security hearings on Muslim American radicalization, and have argued for today's hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution. The study shows that these arguments against the March 10 hearings, and for today's March 29 hearings, are not based on facts but rather on a political agenda.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011Elder of Ziyon
Tuesday, March 29, 2011Elder of ZiyonThe deputy mayor of Awarta and two of his brothers were detained along with dozens of others Tuesday morning by Israeli forces. Officials say the detained men are being given DNA tests and questioned by soldiers.As my interview with the mayor of Itamar showed:
The detentions come as the investigation into the murders of five Israeli settlers - including two children and an infant - enters its third week. More than 40 have been detained from the village in the course of the investigation, and foreign workers in the settlement were said to have been questioned.
Awarta, the closest Palestinian village to the illegal Israeli settlement of Itamar, where the murders occurred, has been the center of the investigation, and was placed under military curfew twice, the first time for five days.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011Elder of ZiyonOnce again it has happened. At a demonstration in front of the Berlin Hauptbahnhof on 27 March 2011, that called for a boycott against Israel, police took two men into custody because they refused to cease their peaceful expression of solidarity with Israel by displaying an Israeli flag.The entire post is worth reading, even in autotranslation, as the author is indignant with the direction that Germany is going.
On March 27 2011 there was a demonstration at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof exhibition. The State of Israel was accused of apartheid (an almost racist comparison) and a boycott of Israeli products was demanded. The brutal terrorist acts against Israel, however, have been omitted, downplayed or justified.
At some point two people at the exhibition held up an Israeli flag. That's all they did! They did not interfere, they didn't scream, nor did they riot. Neither did they chant anti-Palestinian slogans, nor did they display any signs with anti-Palestinian views. They only peacefully showed the Israeli flag, to ensure that Israel is not looked upon as the devil, as the Palestinian Hamas claimed, but a lovely country with good and bad sides.
They were thus not so pro-Israel, because to display a flag purely shows that the country has a right to exist, can not really proven to be sign as a special affection. There is no special sign of affection, To say that defense of Israel's right to exist is "pro-Israeli" is as absurd as to assert that one is pro-Jewish by being against Auschwitz and the extermination of Jews. The condemnation of the Holocaust is, of course, not pro-Jewish, but simply pro-human, like the condemnation of the desire for the destruction of Israel nor pro-Israeli but simply is pro-human.
This humanity, however, provoked the pro-Palestinian demonstrators. They went off to the two people. The mere existence of the Israeli flag was already a thorn in their eye,as with Hamas, the mere existence of the State of Israel and Jews is a problem to be solved at all.
When the demonstrators turned to the police, the police did not defend right of two people to hold the flag of a peaceful democratic country, but instead they took down the flag of Israel and took the two people in custody.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011Elder of ZiyonPalestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is willing to give up hundreds of millions of dollars of US aid if that is what is necessary to forge a reconciliation deal with Hamas, the Associated Press quoted his adviser as saying on Monday.What Ahmed is saying is that the Palestinian Authority would not be pretending to be moderate if it wasn't for American money - they would happily go publicly closer towards Hamas' extremism in the interests of "unity."
Azzam Ahmed stated that "the Palestinians need American money, but if they use it as a way of pressuring us, we are ready to relinquish that aid."
Tuesday, March 29, 2011Elder of Ziyon
Tuesday, March 29, 2011Elder of ZiyonIsrael boycotters have declared a "victory" after organisers of an Israeli music conference assured them that the event would have no Israeli government funding.In this case, it is a big victory for the BDSers. They forced weak-willed British Jews to distance themselves from Israel, as if taking money from Israel would impugn an Israeli music conference.
Campaigners from British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP), Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (J-BIG) and the Boycott Israel Network (BIN) threatened to picket "Arts Music of Israel" which is being organised by the Jewish Music Institute at SOAS next week.
Organisers turned down a grant from the British Israeli Arts Training Scheme, after deciding they did not want political connections with the conference. JMI director Geraldine Auerbach said no money had been received from the Israeli government, and a £1,500 grant from BI-ARTS had been turned down.
This week, BRICUP published the correspondence it had with Ms Auerbach, which said: "I confirm that there is no funding directly or indirectly from the Israeli government or institutions." BRICUP also claim Ms Auerbach told them that the event would no longer be promoted via the Israeli embassy.
A trustee of the Jewish Music Institute has expressed his anger and frustration that the organisation turned down Israeli funding for a conference under pressure from boycotters.
David Mencer, a former director of the Labour Friends of Israel, attacked the "appalling lack of judgment and moral character in [the JMI's] distancing itself from Israel."
He said the trustees had not been consulted by JMI director Geraldine Auerbach over the decision. Mr Mencer said he believed the organization had "submitted to blackmail and given the Israel boycotters and Israel haters an unnecessary victory.
"JMI have refused to accept a donation from the representatives of the democratically elected government of the State of Israel for an event about the music of Israel.
"We have made it even more difficult for other organisations trying hard to promote UK - Israel ties by setting this precedent.
"I am sure that I am not alone in wanting to distance myself from this decision. Perhaps most importantly of all, this decision will also have mortally damaged any future attempt to fundraise from the Jewish community, thus jeopardising the future of the organisation."
Campaigners say they still plan to hand out leaflets outside the conference, claiming it would be "impossible" to hold a conference on Palestinian music.
For a musicology researcher, the book is a treasure trove. The appendices alone (about one-quarter of the large book) contain transcripts and classifications of 28 songs, representing the repertoire of the region, including musical notation, Arabic text, transliteration and translation. For fans of the mathematical analysis of maqam tetrachords, this is a must-read. Discussed genres include shruqi, zajal, mijana, ‘ataba, mu’anna, haddadi, dabke and mhorabe. The authors have beautifully catalogued rhythmic and modal organizations. Famous documented performers include Hikmat Shaheen (father of Arab-American composer Simon Shaheen), Muhammad Abd al-Qader and Yousef Majadeli. When available, the authors even added an update of where the artists had settled decades after the initial research was conducted.
The book’s stated objective is to document the vocal music of a specific, defined group – the Palestinian Arabs in Israel. Although a worthy dissertation topic, the research was conducted at a time when the target group was still the first generation and had not developed as a defined group or even considered themselves as such. They had lived under the Ottoman Empire and a brief British Mandate during which they traveled, traded and exchanged culture with their fellow Arabs in Greater Syria and Egypt. It was not until a few decades later that there was a group defined by political isolation from its brethren.Notice the bolded parts. The Arab book reviewer is stating what is obvious to even the Arab world: there was no Palestinian people until recently, and they were defined by the "political isolation" from their "brethren." In other words, they are essentially an artificial construct that was created by the Arab world, not an inherently cohesive and historic group.
Monday, March 28, 2011Elder of Ziyon
Monday, March 28, 2011Elder of Ziyon
Monday, March 28, 2011Elder of Ziyon
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RECLAIMING THE COVENANT: America's Remarkable 250 Years and Assuring it Continues
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