Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, May 16, 2011

Abbas sort of removes leniencies for "honor-killers"

President Mahmoud Abbas signed into law two articles by presidential decree eliminating laws allowing leniency for civilians found guilty of assault or murder "in defense of family honor."

The move, welcomed by women's rights activists, came in the wake of the grisly discovery of a Hebron woman drowned by her uncle because he disagreed with her choice of fiancee.

Until Sunday evening, personal status laws in the West Bank were those of the 1957 Jordan Penal Code, which operated in the area from 1948, when Jordan administered the area. Under international law, statutes and legal codes remain in place when a territory is occupied by a foreign power, and remain in place until new legislation is created to replace them.

The bad news? First of all, that this took so long.

Secondly, the exact nature of the amended law:

The amendment adds "this does not include the killing of women for issues of family honor," to Article 240 of the Jordanian penal code mandates that leniency in sentencing is available to those who beat or kill their wives, mothers, sisters or women within the family if they commit adultery or other acts of sexual impropriety.

He didn't remove the law altogether, he just added that there shouldn't be leniency if the killing was made for "honor" reasons. Which means that as long as people who do "honor" killing claim that they killed their victims for some other reason, or if they beat them to within inches of death for honor reasons, then they still can get lenient sentences.

He could have removed this leniency law altogether, and didn't. Why the hell not?

Video of Syrians breaching border; evidence that Assad ordered it

And not an Israeli soldier to be found.

YNet adds:

Meanwhile many residents of the Druze village said they were pleasantly surprised by the IDF's ability to maintain restraint in the face of violence directed against soldiers Sunday.

"Though the soldiers were pelted by stones from both sides at once, and despite there being a number of injuries among them, I heard a commander ordering them to refrain from firing at protesters at all costs," Ali, a Majdal Shams resident, told Ynet after witnessing the events.

He added that the soldiers fired into the air at first and then, only when the rioters began closing in on all sides, did they begin to fire at their feet. "The restraint shown by the IDF today brought peace this evening. It could have ended very differently," he said.

Suleiman, who owns a candy store in the village, also claimed the army behaved wisely. "The IDF was very smart in not making things worse and being tolerant," he said. Suleiman says he closed up shop to witness the events on the border live. "I saw just ten soldiers and thousands of protesters," he recalled.

It is an amazing demonstration of restraint if the soldiers were that outnumbered - but the question is, why were so few there to begin with? At the IDF briefing yesterday they said that there were demonstrations every year at the border, but they never tried to break down the fence - yet on a year where there were thousands of Arabs online swearing to march into Israel, shouldn't that have been considered?

There is also some indirect evidence that the entire episode was arranged by Assad himself. As Jeffrey Goldberg writes,

Syria is one of the least-free nations on the planet. Demonstrations are not allowed to take place unless the government orders them to take place. Such is the situation on the Golan Heights today.

A Facebook page notes an Arabic talkback (not sure from where) that says that the people were bussed into the area by Syrian security forces who organized Syrian security forces arranged all the transportation and even recruited unemployed men and ex-cons to come to the border.

(h/t Marianne, Joel, David G)

Malaysian ship intercepted as it tries to reach Gaza

From AFP:

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – Israeli naval forces fired warning shots Monday at a ship carrying aid to Gaza as it approached the shore, forcing it to withdraw to Egyptian waters, the vessel's Malaysian organiser told AFP.

"The MV Finch, carrying sewage pipes to Gaza, had warning shots fired at it by Israeli forces in the Palestinian security zone this morning at 0654 Jordan time (0354 GMT)," said Shamsul Azhar from the Perdana Global Peace Foundation.

"The vessel was in the Palestinian security zone, about 400 metres from the Gaza shoreline, when they were intercepted by Israeli naval forces," he told AFP, adding it was now anchored 30 nautical miles away in Egyptian territory.

The Perdana Foundation is helmed by former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad, an 85-year-old firebrand who was a strident critic of the West and Israel over the Palestinian issue during his two decades in power.

The organisation was also involved in the first "Freedom Flotilla", a 2010 attempt to break the Israeli embargo on Gaza which ended in disaster when naval commandos raided the aid ships, killing nine Turks on board one of them.

Perdana Foundation officials said the MV Finch left the Port of Piraeus in Greece on May 11 for Gaza, carrying plastic pipes to help restore the "devastated" sewage system in Gaza.

Alang Bendahara, a Malaysian journalist on board, told AFP that in a dramatic encounter, Israeli naval ships stopped the vessel with a volley of gunfire as it approached the shore.

"The Israeli naval vessel fired a warning shot at us upon approaching and asked us to leave the waters but the ship's captain refused and the Israelis fired again, circling the MV Finch before firing twice more," he said.

"At that point they threatened the ship's captain that they would board the vessel and we were forced to turn back, it was lucky that no one was injured," he added.

Alang said the ship's propellers then got stuck in fishing nets but that it managed to move away shortly after.

"Two Egyptian naval vessels were monitoring us and they escorted us once we were in Egyptian waters," he said.

"They have now boarded our vessel and are inspecting our cargo to make sure there is nothing illegal onboard. They will be escorting us to the port of Al-Arish because they say they will detain the ship."

The journalist said there were 12 people on board the vessel -- seven Malaysians, two Irish, two Indians and a Canadian -- including anti-war activists and journalists.

Foundation officials said the MV Finch is not part of an international aid flotilla which plans to set sail for the Gaza Strip in June.

Bernama.com adds some reporting from a dubiously objective reporter who was on the ship:

All 12 passengers and crew onboard are now safe after Egyptian naval vessels came to their rescue and escorted the "MV Finch" to Al-Arish Port in Egypt, according to Bernama journalist, Mohd Faizal Hassan, who is also on board the ship.

Of the 12 people onboard the ship, seven were Malaysians, while the other five comprised two crewmen from India, humanitarian activists Derek and Jenny Graham from Ireland and Julie Levesque from Canada.

Faizal said the Israelis violated international law by blocking their ship and firing the shots.

"They were using anti-aircraft .50mm shells," he said.

Faizal also said New Straits Times (NST) journalist Alang Bendahara managed to capture a video recording of Israel's cruel action towards them.

According to Faizal, after the Israeli navy fired the first shot, the ship's Captain Jalil Mansor was heard telling the Israelis through radio: "This is a violation of law against unarmed civilians".

The following exchange then took place.

Israeli army: "This is a warning shot. Turn around."

Captain Jalil Mansor: "We are unarmed civilians on a humanitarian mission to Gaza".

Israeli army: "This is a closed military zone. It's a violation. Turn around."

Captain Jalil Mansor: "We will continue (the mission)".

The Israelis then headed to the back of the aid vessel and released a second warning shot into the air.

Derek Graham: "This is a violation (of international law). We are on a peaceful mission and unarmed."

Israeli army: "Turn around. We will fire again".

Derek Graham: "You are firing towards unarmed civilians".

Israeli army: "We didn't fire towards unarmed civilians".

Derek Graham: "Looks like firing towards us".

Israeli army: "We didn't fire towards you. That is only a warning shot".

Following that conversation, the Israeli army fired two more shots and threatened: "Next time, we will land on your ship".

Then the Egyptian navy was heard telling the Israelis on the radio: "Stop firing. They are in the Egyptian waters".

Upon realising the presence of Egyptian naval forces, the Israelis departed.

This ship really slipped under the radar! The activists on board either did a very bad job publicizing it or they were hoping for a bloodbath.

(h/t Mike)

How many lies can Seattle's Israel haters push in a day?

Anti-Israel activists held a "Nakba Day" today in a square in Seattle. The exhibit included many placards with half-truths and lies.

How many people who are walking along think that the posters they are seeing have willful lies?

Here's one: An "occupation board game" included this scenario:

When was the last time Israel declared a curfew on a Gaza beach? Let alone fired on innocent people from a battleship?

Here they say that Hamas would accept Israel if it ended the "occupation" and withdrew to the 1949 armistice lines.

This is, of course, a baldfaced lie.

Even worse, here was one placard among many:

Only one problem: It never happened. An Israeli student wrote a masters thesis that made claimed a massacre at Tantura and it was found to be fraudulent.

It doesn't look like too many people actually looked at the exhibit, so chances are that these lies didn't make too much headway. But it is a lot easier to make up lies than it is to debunk them, and there are a lot more haters out there willing to lie than people willing to tell the truth.

The person who sent this to me went there and documented all this while waving a large Israeli flag!

An Israeli soldier fires tear gas canisters during clashes with Palestinian stone throwers at the Israeli manned Qalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and and the West Bank city if Ramallah

The two mothers have no problem walking with their children right next to the armed, supposedly genocidal Israel soldiers.

Aren't they afraid that the soldiers will turn around and shoot them? After all, isn't that what IDF soldiers do? Isn't that what Goldstone and his cohorts accused Israel of? Isn't that what HRW routinely says Israel is guilty of? Don't they know that IDF soldiers wantonly and maliciously target and shoot civilians even when there is zero military reason to do so? Haven't they seen the lists of women and children killed by the IDF circulated by PCHR?

Or do they know something that the "experts" at the human rights organizations don't?

Another Naqba celebration

From YNet:

Two police officers suffered mild injuries in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber.

The two were in the process of checking the papers of Palestinian suspects when a car ran them over. Two Palestinians were also lightly injured. Police forces are canvassing the area for the car and driver.

I guess if you can't hijack a plane, you just use trucks or cars to try to murder people. Same concept, essentially.

Syria rejects Kuwaiti aid convoy to besieged Daraa

Al Masry al Youm reports that Syria rejected the idea of humanitarian aid being sent to the besieged city of Daraa.

Kuwaiti organizations had been organizing a convoy to be sent to Syria to help the citizens of Daraa, which has been under siege without access to basic food and medicine for weeks by Syrian security.

The Syrian embassy in Kuwait issued a statement saying that "the convoy has nothing to do with any humanitarian situation, but has a special-purpose, and those who stand behind that purpose are well-known....The convoy is unjustified, because the food and other materials are available to all citizens, including residents of Daraa."

No one seems to be noting the irony.

IDF briefing on "Naqba day" riots (updated)

I was just on a brief conference call with the IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Avital Leibovitch, where she gave an update on the day's events.

On the Syrian border, a few thousand people - including women and children - gathered at the border around noon. This was not unusual for annual May 15th protests. This time, though, many of them stormed the fence, breaking it. The Syrian army was there and did nothing to stop them. They met up with villagers on the israeli side from the Drize village of Majdal al Shams, who participated in riots with them. The IDF used selective fire to disperse the crowds and discourage more from coming.

On the Lebanese border, there were two separate incidents. In one (Metula), the Lebanese army fired quite forcefully to stop the protesters from storming the fence; in the other, Maroun al-Ras, they did not and the IDF opened fire.

The IDF believes that Hezbollah and Syria organized and helped out in the clashes up north.

In Gaza, the IDF says that its fire stopped the rioters from breaking through the fence.

In Qalandiya, the rioters used somewhat different methods than in the past. They also threw Molotov cocktails at the soldiers and hid themselves behind ambulances. (UPDATE: Photo via Peter Lerner Twitter:)

The IDF could not confirm any casualties. Ma'an says 6 dead up north, 1 killed in Gaza, and many dozens injured in the incidents. The IDF says ten soldiers were lightly wounded.

More from the IDF Spokesperson blog.

Video: Veiled woman describes being raped by Syrian forces

This video is being circulated by Syrian activists. It was uploaded to YouTube on May 12:

The woman in the video calls herself "Mother of Abdullah." She is holding a Koran to emphasize that her words are true. According to the video, she is a widow who went to attend a funeral of her cousin in Syria. She heard gunshots and ran to her house for cover, locking herself and her son in a room.

After a few minutes she heard a door open and she thought it was her parents. Instead, it was five Syrian security officers, dressed in black. They asked if there were any weapons in the home, and searched the house without finding any.

Then, according to the video, they took off her veil and clothes and took turns raping her, threatening to slaughter her son if she screamed.

Videos of rioting in Qalandia

From Russia Today:

Such peaceful protesters! (DougPologe tells me that the above video was taken in Qalandia.)

And this is from the IDF, on riots in Qalandiya this morning:

Naqba day: Reports of violence on Gaza, Lebanese, Syrian borders

In Gaza, Palestinian Arabic media and Israeli media are reporting that people were injured at the Erez crossing during a demonstration there as the IDF allegedly fired at the demonstrators. One of the injured was photojournalist Mohamed Osman.

In the Golan Heights, reports say that 4 were killed and 20-30 injured when apparently Syrians overran the border fence near the village of Majdal al Shams. Some of the injured were Israelis, so this wasn't one of those "peaceful" demonstrations we hear so much about.

There is a sketchy report of firing at the Lebanese border, near Maroun al-Ras, towards demonstrators who were bussed there to commemorate the "naqba."

The Israeli bloggers are more up to date than I am, so follow Israel Matzav and The Muqata for the latest.

Terror in Tel Aviv; Arabs hail "beginning of third intifada"

This morning:

One man died and 17 people were injured in what police suspect was a terror attack in Tel Aviv on Sunday. A truck driving along Bar-Lev street hit and ran over several vehicles but continued to drive on.

Magen David Adom units were dispatched to the site. One person, a man in his 40s, died of his wounds.

The driver, a 22-year-old man from Kfar Kassem, was arrested and brought in for questioning.

During a preliminary investigation, the driver told police his tire had exploded causing him to lose control of the vehicle. However police doubted his version.

Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld speaking at the scene of the truck rampage, said "Based on the level of destruction, and the number of people who have been injured and one person killed, it looks as if this was deliberate, but the investigation is still ongoing."

Palestine Press Agency adds that the driver continued to try to run over pedestrians even after police arrived, and then he fled the scene and police gave chase and caught him.

The first commenter at that Fatah-aligned site thanked the truck driver for starting the third intifada, adding "We will not stop, O Israel."

Firas Press readers also hailed the operation.

Next IHH ship will not attempt to break the Gaza blockade

From IHH:

The IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation is to send a new aid ship with a capacity of 1000 tons to Gaza. The ship will be taking construction materials, textile products and medicine to Gaza and will set sail on May 31, the 1st anniversary of an Israeli attack on the “Freedom Flotilla,” which killed nine peaceful activists.

The ship will have been sent to Gaza before the departure of the 2nd “Freedom Flotilla” and will dock at Egypt’s Arish Port. Aid supplies will be loaded to trucks here which will then be transported to Gaza through the Rafah Border Crossing which was opened to Gazans after the public revolution in Egypt.

Note that they say the ship has a capacity of 1000 tons, not that they will fill it!

(h/t Kramerica)

Video exposes Gaza's horrors and deprivation

Look at the starvation, the squalor, the humanitarian crisis that is Gaza!

The part about how Christians are respected and cherished is especially fun to watch.
(h/t Tundra Tabloids)

Weekend open thread/administrivia

Blogger had a really bad outage after a planned upgrade to the software went very, very wrong. During the outage I blogged on a alternate location I set up, but had no easy way to get the word out so only a few people saw it. I re-posted most of this morning's stuff here so all that is missing at the moment are the posts from Wednesday and Thursday; if Blogger doesn't recover them I can repost them.

On Monday, May 23rd, people in central New Jersey have a chance to see me give a talk on the topic "How to be a media savvy advocate for Israel." If you want to attend, email me and I can get you the details.

Have a great weekend!