Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Israel to give tax revenue to Jihadist Palestinian Authority

From UPI:

Israel, following the intervention of U.S. officials, will transfer about $89 million in tax revenue to the Palestinian Authority, Israeli officials said.

The unnamed officials said the funds would be transferred next week, Haaretz reported Monday.

On Sunday, senior U.S. officials sought clarification of Israel's plans to temporarily suspend the transfer of funds to the P.A.

The officials sought the clarification after Army Radio reported Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz had decided to halt the transfer of the tax revenues to the P.A. in response to the Fatah-Hamas unity, the newspaper said.

The American officials met with members of the Treasury Department and the prime minister's office to discuss the issue and demanded a meeting between Israeli and Palestinian officials to arrange the transfer, Haaretz said.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office denied a decision had been made to stop the transfer of funds, the newspaper said.

Israel should absolutely freeze handing money over to an entity that includes Hamas in its government, just as it did in the past.

It is more than troubling that the US is pressuring Israel to do otherwise.

In 2006, when Israel imposed a similar freeze, it was with the full knowledge and cooperation of the US (and probably the Quartet.) So what has changed?

A tweet from Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt exposes, in this case, how insanely anti-Israel some European diplomats are:

Worried by reports that Israel government will steal tax money from Palestinian Authority. Unacceptable.

He is calling a freeze on the funds, where they will not be touched, "stealing." One would expect that a diplomat would be more circumspect in his language, but sometimes hate trumps acting like an adult.

(h/t Marcus)

"Moderate" Fatah, Jerusalem Arabs honor Bin Laden

From YNet:

Dozens of Arab residents held a rally in support of assassinated al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in east Jerusalem's Silwan neighborhood Monday evening.

Some of the participants at the site hurled stones at Israel Police forces deployed in the area. Police officers responded with crowd dispersal means.

I haven't yet seen a statement by Mahmoud Abbas on the assassination. But he is a peace-seeking moderate, as we are constantly told, so no doubt this is merely an oversight. He's probably been too busy to issue a statement. Let's just assume that he is really happy and not ask him to actually commit to saying it.

After all, it might upset his natural constituency - members of the Fatah organization he leads.

Ma'an reports:

The Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Brigades mourned Tuesday the death of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, following his assassination Sunday by American troops in Pakistan.

His death, a statement said, "won't stop our Jihad mission against injustice and occupation," adding doubt over the veracity of claims that the fundamentalist had indeed been killed.

In a statement received by Ma'an the brigades said: "The Islamic nation was shocked with the news that bin Laden had been killed by the non-believers."

He left a generation who follows the education he gave in Jihad, the statement continued.

"The fighters in Palestine and around the world who have lost their leaders did not stop their mission and will continue in the tutelage of their masters."

Concluding, the statement said "we tell the Israeli and the American occupiers that we have leaders who have changed history with their Jihad and their steadfastness. We are ready to sacrifice our lives to bring back peace."

See? They want peace!

So the scorecard is: Some Fatah members are on the record as supporting Bin Laden, Hamas and Islamic Jihad concur, Abbas refuses to denounce him, and the only person who said anything positive about the assassination is Salam Fayyad who is probably on his way out in the new unity government.

And the world overwhelmingly demands that this group of terror supporters and enablers should have their own independent state.

(h/t Joel)

UPDATE: A different Al Aqsa spokesman denies the remarks above.

Egypt: "No comment" on Bin Laden's death

From Al Moslim, translated by Translating Jihad:

The Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil 'Arabi said that he "had no comment" on the killing of al-Qa'ida leader Osama bin Laden at the hands of American forces in Pakistan. He sufficed himself with stressing that his country was opposed to "all forms of violence."

Al-'Arabi said to reporters right after meeting with his British counterpart William Hague in Cairo: "Concerning the announcement of the death of bin Laden, Egypt is against all forms of violence, and the Egyptian government has no comment." ...

Being an "ally" ain't what it used to be.

(h/t Silke)

Real satellite image of Bin Laden's compound

It turns out that the satellite image that some thought yesterday was OBL's compound was wrong. Here it is: (Google Maps link):

And here is its proximity to the Pakistan Military Academy:

JSSNews notes something interesting about the shape of the compound: it resembles British Mandate Palestine, with the headquarters where Jerusalem would be!

It's is of course a coincidence: here is what the area looked like in 2001 (via Google Earth.) The outline was already there. But it is a little eerie!

Palestinian Arabs are Al Qaeda's most loyal supporters

From Pew Global Research:

In the months leading up to Osama bin Laden’s death, a survey of Muslim publics around the world found little support for the al Qaeda leader. Among the six predominantly Muslim nations recently surveyed by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, bin Laden received his highest level of support among Muslims in the Palestinian territories – although even there only 34% said they had confidence in the terrorist leader to do the right thing in world affairs. Minorities of Muslims in Indonesia (26%), Egypt (22%) and Jordan (13%) expressed confidence in bin Laden, while he has almost no support among Turkish (3%) or Lebanese Muslims (1%).

Al Qaeda also received largely negative ratings among Muslim publics in the 2011 survey. Only 2% of Muslims in Lebanon and 5% in Turkey expressed favorable views of al Qaeda. In Jordan, 15% had a positive opinion of al Qaeda, while about one-in-five in Indonesia (22%) and Egypt (21%) shared this view. Palestinian Muslims offered somewhat more positive opinions (28% favorable), but about two-thirds (68%) viewed bin Laden’s organization unfavorably.

It is true that Bin Laden's popularity has waned dramatically in the Arab world, and among the Palestinian Arabs as well. But you will be hard pressed to find a Western media outlet pointing out that over a quarter of Palestinian Arabs still view Al Qaeda favorably or that over one third had confidence that Osama Bin Laden was a good Arab leader.

I know - let's reward Bin Laden's biggest fans with a state - one that is ethnically cleansed of Jews!

(h/t Ha'aretz)

Must See Iraqi TV (MEMRI)

Now, that's entertainment!

I think Jerry Springer might be able to resurrect his career in Iraq!

(h/t John Podhoretz - and Ian)

Will Abu Amr replace Fayyad as PA prime minister?

Al Manar is reporting that Dr. Ziad Abu Amr, who lives in Gaza, is a frontrunner to replace Salam Fayyad in the new "unified" PA government.

Abu Amr is a former foreign minister for the PA. He is said to have good relations with both Hamas and Fatah as well as other terror groups. In fact, he wrote a book called "Islamic fundamentalism in the West Bank and Gaza: Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic Jihad" which looks, at first glance, to be fairly well done.

He received his masters' degree and doctorate from Georgetown.

Abbas never responded to Olmert's peace offer in 2008

An important document analyzes the Palestine Papers and shows, once again, that the Palestinian Authority has never had any serious interest in peace.

Here's the executive summary:

Earlier this year Al Jazeera released the “Palestine Papers” -- nearly 1,700 files of documents authored by Palestinian negotiators and advisors, memorializing a decade of Israeli/Palestinian peace talks. Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East has carefully reviewed the Palestine Papers,including those documents concerning the comprehensive peace offer Israeli Prime Minister (“PM”)Ehud Olmert made in 2008.

There has been a good deal of “hype” and sensationalism surrounding the media coverage of the Palestine Papers. Therefore, it is important for the public to read the documents for themselves when making any assessment of the course of the actual negotiations.

Some news reports and articles about the Palestine Papers have “fail[ed] to differentiate between official positions and explorations or polemical rhetoric during the course of negotiations . . .” as former chief Palestinian negotiator Dr. Saeb Erekat wrote in a recent article. In the words of Dr. Erekat, the “‘Palestine papers’ have not revealed a single official agreement or document that offers concessions.” (Id.) We agree.

In spite of claims by some commentators that there were “far reaching proposals” on each side, the Palestine Papers indicate that Palestinian Authority (“P.A.”) President Mahmoud Abbas did not make a counter-offer to Olmert’s “package offer” and so ultimately the possibility of a final status agreement in 2008 was allowed to die.

(h/t Noah)

Islamists in Jordan handing out sweets for OBL's "martyrdom"

Jordan's Ammon News reports that Jordan's Islamists are celebrating "the martyrdom of Sheikh Osama Bin Laden," saying that he left the world the way he wanted to.

Salafi jihadist Abu Qutaybah Majali recalled that Bin Laden was "anathema to the Americans and Jews and their allies."

Majali accompanied Bin Laden in Afghanistan from 1986 to 1991.

He vowed to "continue the jihad until the Day of Resurrection."

Salafists in Maan, an Islamist stronghold 250 km south of Amman, handed out sweets to celebrate his "martyrdom." That is usually done there where relatives of community members get killed in Iraq.

A town west of Amman had some shops close and raise black flags in a sign of mourning.

A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, Jamil Abu Bakr told Al Jazeera "Osama bin Laden, may God have mercy on him, chose this path knowing the cost of confrontation and resistance to America and its allies the dictators in the region."

He continued, "Although we disagree with bin Laden in his approach, he stuck to his principles until the last moment, and stood in the face of the most powerful global force for ten years and did not appear in any waiver of his beliefs."

"We believe that as long as there is injustice and aggression, there will be resistance with multiple approaches to this resistance."

Political analyst and expert on Islamic groups, Dr. Muhammad Abu Rumman, said Osama bin Laden is more popular in the Jordanian street than his second in command, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is from Jordan.

He told Al Jazeera that polls showed bin Laden's popularity even after the Amman bombings claimed by al-Zarqawi in 2005 and stated that this is because Bin laden didn't criticize Jordan and his focus was instead on Americans and Jews and the Western powers.

Terrorist convention in Cairo this week

It is not only Hamas and Fatah delegations traveling to Cairo to sign their latest temporary "unification" agreement.

They are being joined by some equally illustrious partners who will participate in this great event (although they are not signing anything):

A Gaza Strip-based delegation with members of the Fatah party, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Islamic Jihad sit on a bus at the Rafah border terminal in the southern Gaza Strip on May 02, 2011 before crossing to Egypt, as Palestinian factions will ink a reconciliation deal in Cairo intended to repair ties between Hamas and Fatah and end a bitter divide between the West Bank and Gaza.

How wonderful that all the terrorist groups, including Fatah, are acting so inclusively with each other! (The Hamas leadership traveled last night.)

Video of interior of Bin Laden's compound

From ABC News via Weasel Zippers:

(h/t jzaik)

The Auschwitz photo album

From Yad Vashem:

The Auschwitz Album is the only surviving visual evidence of the process of mass murder at Auschwitz-Birkenau. It is a unique document and was donated to Yad Vashem by Lilly Jacob-Zelmanovic Meier.

The photos were taken at the end of May or beginning of June 1944, either by Ernst Hofmann or by Bernhard Walter, two SS men whose task was to take ID photos and fingerprints of the inmates (not of the Jews who were sent directly to the gas chambers). The photos show the arrival of Hungarian Jews from Carpatho-Ruthenia. Many of them came from the Berehovo Ghetto, which itself was a collecting point for Jews from several other small towns.

Early summer 1944 was the apex of the deportation of Hungarian Jewry. For this purpose a special rail line was extended from the railway station outside the camp to a ramp inside Auschwitz. Many of the photos in the album were taken on the ramp. The Jews then went through a selection process, carried out by SS doctors and wardens. Those considered fit for work were sent into the camp, where they were registered, deloused and distributed to the barracks. The rest were sent to the gas chambers. They were gassed under the guise of a harmless shower, their bodies were cremated and the ashes were strewn in a nearby swamp. The Nazis not only ruthlessly exploited the labor of those they did not kill immediately, they also looted the belongings the Jews brought with them. Even gold fillings were extracted from the mouths of the dead by a special detachment of inmates. The personal effects the Jews brought with them were sorted by inmates and stored in an area referred to by the inmates as "Canada": the ultimate land of plenty.

The photos in the album show the entire process except for the killing itself

Women and children being taken to Crematoria IV and V by way of the BII sector of the camp. The elderly and the young children were almost always sent immediately to the gas chambers as they were deemed "unfit for work".

Jews "unfit for work" and selected for death, shortly before being sent to the gas chambers.

(h/t Daily Alert)

Arab American welcomes Bin Laden death - because he was a Zionist!

"Killing Osama Bin Laden is the right thing. Period." is the title of a piece in Palestine Note written by PalArab American Sami Jamil Jadallah.

It starts off this way:

I celebrate and congratulate the American Special Operation unit that killed Osama Bin Laden. I congratulate both America and the Muslim world for this great success. No man and no organization in recent memory, perhaps in the last 500 years had done more damage to Islam and the Arabs than Osama and his Islamist Jihadists including Alqaeda, Taliban’s and other small fringe group of killers and murderers.

But don't be fooled into thinking that Jadallah, who says he is a US Army veteran, hated Bin Laden because he was against America. On the contrary:

To most people in the Arab and Muslim world, they tend to forget that Osama Bin Laden was the creation and invention of the American CIA and the American Zionist NeoCons, and he was their partner not only in Afghanistan when he was fighting the Soviet Union, but I believe he was their partner and ally during the September 11th attack on America. No one can convince me or hundreds of millions like me in the US and around the world that a group of 18 people can do what they did without key assistance from the inside.

Osama Bin Laden was a bonanza, a windfall for the world Zionists and NeoCons, and the September 11th attack was what was needed by these Zionist NeoCons to have their new world order and to take charge of both US domestic and foreign policy and to have their imprint on US “anti-terrorism” agenda. An agenda that has created animosity for America around the world not only in the Muslim world, and is driving America to the verge of bankruptcy while creating a windfall for Israel as the primary beneficiary of US war on terror. The war on terror has served Israel very well, it served it agenda in the American Knesset, and it served Israel well with its industry and intelligence services and the ability to have its Fifth Column in the US by invitation.

Another moderate Arab American that we hear so much about.

Some real world Arab reaction to OBL death

Found on the comments section of Palestine Press Agency:

From Afghanistan:
Bin Laden is alive and will shortly appear on a YouTube video. And bin Laden will appear and talk about the latest news of Libya, will talk about the death of Qaddafi's son Seif al-Arab so as not to say that the video was done beforehand.

From Gaza:
Revenge from Al Qaeda of the people of monkeys and pigs!

From Gaza:
It is a Jihad Jihad, victory or martyrdomGod bless Sheikh Mujahid Osama bin Laden ....Oh God, bring him into His paradise, O Lord of the Worlds ....We as Muslims, we say a response is coming, God willing, the Almighty

From Gaza:
The doctrine of jihad and martyrdom has the love of the afterlife of eternal life and not a fake mortal life.Thus are men like Osama bin Laden.

From Gaza:
There will be reprisal for the spirit of the martyr Sheikh Osama bin; we will not forget you for what Sheikh sacrificed for the people, but you, O our sheikh and we will take revenge for you, O our sheikh

From Mesopatamia:
So long, master of martyrs.

What makes this especially interesting is that Palestine Press Agency is a pro-Fatah newspaper. This doesn't mean the readers are all Fatah supporters, of course, but it is interesting that not one Fatah supporter has commented that Bin Laden was anything but a saint.

Hamas leader calls on the PLO to withdraw recognition of Israel, increase terror

Hamas' al Qassam website reports that Hamas "prime minister" Ismail Haniyeh is calling on the PLO to withdraw its recognition of "the Zionist entity" and to emphasize terrorism ("resistance.")

Again I quote Jimmy Carter from last Friday:

The Carter Center commends the representatives of Fatah and Hamas for having the vision to begin the process of reunifying the Palestinian people. Mediated by the Government of Egypt, the agreement provides a framework for resolving long-standing issues regarding reform of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Palestinian governance, elections, human rights abuses, and the security sector. ...

President Carter said, "This agreement, and the promise of elections in the next twelve months, has the potential to arrest the spiral of intra-Palestinian human rights violations and preserve Palestinian democracy. It can also lead to a leadership representing all Palestinians capable of negotiating peace with Israel. Based on my years of contacts with Fatah and Hamas, I am confident that, if handled creatively and flexibly by the international community, Hamas' return to unified Palestinian governance can increase the likelihood of a two-state solution and a peaceful outcome. I encourage the international community to respect this decision by the Palestinian leadership and to view it as part of the larger democratic trend sweeping the region."