Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, June 05, 2011

How to fight the Scottish boycott of Israeli books

In 2009, the West Dumbartonshire Council passed a motion boycotting Israel. The motion reads in relevant part:

"Officers should immediately cease the purchase of any goods we currently source, which were made or grown in Israel. Officers should also ensure we procure no new goods or produce from Israel until this boycott is formally lifted by WDC."

Publicity of the boycott recently came to light after the Daily Express reported that Scottish National Party led West Dunbartonshire Council ordered that its libraries ban any new volumes by Israeli authors, printed or published in the Jewish state. In a failed attempt to deflect criticism, West Dunbartonshire Council claimed the ban didn't apply to all Israeli books just those printed in Israel and transported to the UK while maintaining that a boycott of Israeli products is in effect.

As media attention to this grew, activists began complaining to the council members over the boycott and a number of the council members responded exposing the bigotry underlying the boycott. In a series of emails, as reported by Ynet, CiF Watch exposed that Councillor Jim Bollan, the proposer of the motion, wrote that he viewedHamas as "freedom fighters". With pressure mounting, Councillor Jonathan McColl has been at the forefront of defending the boycott and even posted a rambling videoblog which was a display of rank ignorance and victim playing unbecoming of a political figure.

Since then, the Jewish Chronicle has reported that West Dunbartonshire Council library recently purchased a copy of the antisemitic forgery, Protocols of the Elder of Ziyon [sic - LOL], a decision that the council defended in the interest of freedom of speech.

With West Dunbartonshire having the dubious honor of being the top unemployment blackspot in the UK, the motivation behind singling out Israel, and only Israel, for boycott out of all nations of the world is clear. In Australia similar moves to boycott Israel by a local Sydney councilended up in failure after mass publicity of the planned boycott.

Together with your help, we can reverse the motion and send a message to other Scottish councils that are considering the same that such moves are immoral and racist.

CiFWatch gives all the details needed to email, tweet or otherwise get the message across to the council that their actions are not acceptable.

Lebanese protester admits Hezbollah paid him to get shot by the IDF

How did The Guardian allow this nugget of truth to pass through their eagle-eyed editors? Agreed, it is published four weeks too late, but still...

The village of Maroun al-Ras was the scene of widespread violence on 15 May when up to 10 demonstrators were shot dead as they rallied near the fence that separates Lebanon and Israel. Up to 1,000 demonstrators arrived at the area in buses to mark "Nakba day", the Palestinian name for the day Israel was formed in 1948.

One demonstrator who was wounded that day told the Guardian the Lebanese militia Hezbollah had given him $50 to turn up at the border and $900 to have his gunshot wounds treated by physicians. He said he had been planning to return to Maroun al-Ras yesterday until the rally was cancelled.

Why has the media been so reluctant to report on the theatre behind these demonstrations, and the incentive given by Arab leaders to injure or kill demonstrators that they hand-picked? Today's Syrian border demonstration was broadcast, live, on multiple Israeli TV channels, and the inflated and fake casualties were obvious to all - except, apparently, every single non-Israeli reporter in the area.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

Murderer "proud" of slaughtering the Fogel family

From YNet:

"I'm proud of what I did," so declared Amjad Mahmad Awad, 19, on Sunday just moments before an indictment against him and his partner Hakim Awad was filed before the Judea and Samaria Sector Military Court, over the murders of five members of the Fogel family two and a half months ago.

"I don't regret what I did, even if it means I'm sentenced to death," Amjad said ahead of the indictment hearing.

Five members of the Fogel family were butchered in the March 11 terror attack in Itamar. Husband and wife Udi and Ruthie Fogel and three of their children: Yoav (11) Elad (4) and baby Hadas (four months).

I wonder if the Mondoweiss people still think that some Thai workers, or Jewish neighbors, murdered the family? They sure seem silent on the arrests and confessions - except to talk about how awful Israel treated the people of Awarta who protected the murderers.

Syrian "news" agency now claiming 14 killed (UPDATE x3: Now 22!)

SANA is now reporting that 14 "youths" were killed at 225 injured at the Syrian border today.

They claim that all of them were shot.

They also claim that the IDF fired directly at ambulances.

Furthermore, they are claiming that the IDF fired "phosphorus bombs."

Needless to say, the story does not show a single picture of a "martyr", of bullet holes in an ambulance, or of any life-threatening injuries.

All of this is highly suspect, but watch to see Western news agencies starting to quote it as if it is true, without qualifications. Or, more likely, the wire services will quote the "death toll" without mentioning the more outrageous claims that make the death count look suspect.

YNet adds:

IDF sources said that some four landmines exploded inside Syrian territory, several hundred meters from the border. The blasts near the Quneitra crossing were caused after protestors hurled Molotov cocktails which started a fire. The fire detonated the landmines and left some protestors wounded.

UPDATE:

From the Reform Party of Syria:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington DC, June 5, 2011. The Reform Party of Syria has learned today, from intelligence sources close to the Assad regime in Lebanon, that Syrians storming through the Golan Height next to the Quneitra crossing are Syrian farmers who have migrated in recent years from the drought-stricken northeast Syria to the south. Estimates put the number at 250,000 impoverished migrants.

Information received cite the regime has paid hundreds of these farmers $1,000 each to show-up and $10,000 to their families should any of them succumb to Israeli fire. In Syria, an average salary is about $200 a month and to these impoverished farmers, such a one-time sum can keep them economically afloat for six months.

Such tactic was used in the past by another defunct Ba'ath Party in Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, to pay Intifada-driven Palestinians the sum of $25,000 to their next-of-kin should they die throwing stones. That measure had a worldwide impact and it seems the Assad regime is using the same play from a twin playbook.

It is obvious, with this action, Assad wants to divert the attention of the world away from his own massacres and brutality that resulted in some 70 deaths yesterday and about 30 today in Jisr al-Shoghour. RPS expects, on the basis of today's success, for these operations of incursions to multiply in scope in the near future for two reasons: 1) Divert the attention away from Assad's barbarism and savageries, and 2) Stand tall again in the eyes of the regime's supporters whose morale has taken quite a beating the last 3 months because of the violence perpetrated by Assad against unarmed civilians.

On this day of Naksa, RPS strongly believes in ownership and title of its Golan Heights. But unlike a regime bred on the use of violence, the Syrian people, demonstrating how peaceful they are as they endure one massacre after another, believe in peaceful negotiations to repatriate our lands. If Assad really wanted the Golan Heights, he would walk the same peaceful path Anwar Sadat walked long before him. But then, if he does, how can he justify his own existence as the "Commandant de la Résistance". For Assad, winning through peace means also losing the war against his own people.

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar and Silke)

Update x2: Need I note that there are squads of reporters at that spot, on both sides, and none have yet corroborated a single death?

UPDATE x3: Now Syria is claiming 22 dead. They even have photos now!

Oh, and they also are saying that Israel hurled grenades towards them.

The Western media is eating up the death figures and ignoring the other parts that are obviously nonsense. Yet they choose to believe part of the same nonsense.

Cartoon shows the purpose of "right of return"

Sometimes, a picture really is worth a thousand words.

From Palestine Times:

Arab League remains silent on Syria

From Now Lebanon:

As people in the Arab world continue to voice opposition to dictatorial regimes, their leaders remain mostly silent. Though formerly quiet members of the international community have spoken out against the violence in Syria, the latest country to witness a significant anti-regime uprising and subsequent security crackdown, the Arab League has remained silent.

Turkey is positioning itself as a mediator between the Syrian government and the protesters, hosting opposition activists for The Conference for Change in Syria this week, and the EU and US have passed sanctions against the Syrian leadership. Many however, are left wondering why the Arab states, which condemned the government crackdown against dissenters in Libya and kicked the country out of the Arab League, are keeping mum on the Assad regime.

According to Dr. Hilal Khashan, professor of Political Studies at the American University of Beirut, the Arab League is not an autonomous entity, and thus never acts on its own. “It intervened on Libya because of Western pressure, because NATO and the US needed to legitimatize their intervention against [Colonel Muammar] Qaddafi,” he said. But the West doesn’t seem very keen on repeating the action, he added, especially not in Syria.

To Egyptian activist and executive director of Cairo-based Arab Forum for Alternatives Mohammad Agati, the question isn’t about Arab silence, but rather its intervention in Libya in the first place. “A typical Arab League does not take any stances,” he said. “If anything, they usually bolster regimes.”

Most experts NOW Lebanon spoke with confirmed that view. Because the majority of the region’s regimes are autocracies, few leaders want to see any of their counterparts get toppled.

“In addition to [their fear of a] domino effect, Syria is regarded as an anchor state and microcosm of the entire Arab East,” explained Khashan. “An authoritarian leadership, a business class, a divisive society, as well as religious and ethnic divisions; if Syria goes down, the entire region will be affected… No one in the Arab League is willing to see Assad go,” he said. When asked whether the Arab states are hoping the Assad regime will tame the protests, no matter how many people are killed, he said, “I hate to agree, but that is the case.”

Actually, the Arab League was pretty early in its condemnation of Libya, before NATO airstrikes. I think it was that at the time, right after Egypt and Tunisia, it appeared that by choosing the Libyan protesters they felt they were backing the strong horse.

In Syria, since it is not clear at all that the protesters will win, the Arab League doesn't want to get involved without making itself look even more irrelevant.

Rafah border closed - first by Egypt and then by Hamas

From Ma'an:

Palestinian officials closed the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on Sunday, the terminal's director Ayyoub Abu Sha'ar said.

Abu Sha'ar said the crossing was closed because the Egyptian authority's mechanism at the terminal was unclear, and because Egypt closed the crossing on Saturday without coordinating with Palestinian officials.

Egypt opened the terminal several hours later than scheduled Saturday without informing Palestinian officials. Several buses of Palestinians were left waiting at the Egyptian gate, and dozens of Palestinians tried to storm the border.

Abu Sha'ar said consultations were ongoing between Gaza's foreign ministry and the Egyptian government to resolve technical and administrative problems at the terminal. He said the crossing would reopen as soon as the issues were fixed.

Al Arabiya reported that the Egyptian action came after Egyptian security forces found weapons in a car driven by Palestinian Arabs in Alexandria.

Gruesome video of Syrian soldiers mocking dead Syrian civilians

From Now Lebanon:

WARNING (Viewer discretion advised): Extremely graphic video shows members of the Syrian army surrounding bodies of civilian protestors they killed, allegedly on top of the Karak Mosque in Daraa. The soldiers are seen equipping the bodies with weapons and ammunition to make it look like the protestors were armed. They are also laughing at the dead men and calling some of them “dogs” and “despicable.”

Unconfirmed reports of Syrians killed in state-sponsored "Naksa" protests (updated x3)

From YNet:

Despite reports suggesting the mass rallies planned in Syria and Lebanon to mark "Naksa Day" – the 44th anniversary of the Arab "downfall" in the Six Day War – were cancelled, some 500 people gathered Sunday on the Syrian side of the northern border.

According to reports, around 12pm, about 150 protesters made their way to the international border fence, began stoning IDF troops and attempted to cut through the fence.

IDF forces called on the demonstrators to cease their progress, before firing warning shots in mid-air. Once those were ignored as well, the troops fired at the lower extremities of several major dissidents inflaming the crowds.

Unconfirmed reports by Syrian media suggest three people were killed and 10 others injured, allegedly from IDF sniper fire. Red Cross Ambulances evacuated the injured.

The IDF has not confirmed any information about casualties.

Reuters confirms that the Syrians stoned soldiers and that the IDF warned them against approaching.

Syrian TV is now saying 4 were killed, a number not confirmed by any independent observers.

Even though there were reports on Saturday that Syria would stop any protesters from approaching the border, the Syrian SANA news agency reported yesterday of one group that was preparing to go - and from the article, it is obvious that this was a Syrian-sponsored incursion:

Popular Commission for the Liberation of Golan on Saturday stressed determination to return and continue the liberation process.

In a statement marking the 44th anniversary of "al-Naksa Day", the Commission added "the conspiracy against Syria targets undermining its stability and security in an attempt to separate Syria from the Arab resistance through preoccupying with an internal affair."

The statement indicated to the Zionist entity and its inhuman practices of forcing the people of Golan to leave their lands and destroying towns and farms which stress Israel's racism and inhumanity.

The Commission stressed the Golan people's support to the reform program under the leadership of President Bahar al-Assad, expressing faith in Syria's resistant policy and the certainty of victory.

The statement pointed out that the Naksa Day anniversary should be a motive for exerting more effort to continue the struggle to end the Zionist project and return to Golan.

The Commission saluted people in the Occupied Golan and the captives in the occupation jails.

Notice that this group is not calling for "return" of Palestinian Arabs to Israel, but of Syria re-occupying the Golan. In fact, this press release is exactly congruent with Syrian government propaganda, which shows that this group that approached the border was only acting under the orders - and assistance - of the Syrian government itself.

I am not believing any reports of fatalities, since the Syrian regime has so much to gain by lying, and no one will be able to verify or contradict any Syria reports of deaths.

UPDATE: I see at least as many Syrian flags than Palestinian Arab flags on the live Israeli TV coverage of the Syrian border:

Also a PFLP flag is there.

UPDATE 2: Watching the Channel 2 coverage shows periodic, and obviously staged, shows of people in stretchers being taken away from the fence. Accompanied by lots of people who want to be in the wire-service photos.

UPDATE 3: Syria's "news" agency says that the IDF set fires along the border - when the TV shows clearly that it was the Arabs who set the fires along the Syrian side of the border. Which makes their claims of casualties seem all the more nebulous.

Iran's supreme leader calls for ethnically cleansing Jews from "Palestine"

From AFP:

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday that Iran backs "the undivided country of Palestine which belongs to the Palestinians," adding that "Palestine will return to the arms of Islam, without any doubt."

"We believe that the country of Palestine belongs in its entirety to the Palestinians."

As usual, it loses something in the translation.

From Palestine Today:

Ayatollah Khamenei reiterated that the only solution to settle the Palestinian issue is "to allow Palestinians to decide for themselves their next government through a referendum" and "to allow this government to decide what to do Zionists who came from abroad."

This of course means any Israeli Jew whose ancestors lived anywhere else before 1917, or 1880, would be force to leave their homes.

Why does the Western media downplay the racist statements of Iranian leaders?

PalArabs happy about Obama's Jerusalem decision

From JPost:

The Palestinian Authority on Saturday welcomed as “encouraging” US President Barack Obama’s decision not to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Obama on Friday invoked US national security interests to notify Congress that he will not move the embassy to Jerusalem.

Obama’s notification did not include a commitment to moving the embassy at some point in the future, unlike his predecessors, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who did suggest that this may be a possibility.

Nabil Abu Rudaineh, spokesman for the PA, said that Obama’s decision affirms that the world and the US don’t recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Abu Rudaineh added that the decision indicates that the world recognizes that east Jerusalem has been occupied since 1967 and that the city would be the capital of Palestine “in the context of a two-state solution.”

Indeed, by breaking with the (symbolic, but still important) declarations of previous presidents, Obama is in fact giving the message that Jerusalem will be a capital of only one state - and that state is not Israel.

Are you anti-semitic?

From Talking Squid:

(h/t Eamonn via Facebook)

Anti-semitic comic book: "Foreskin Man" (updated)

This is un-freaking-believable - a comic book where the villain is a bloodthirsty rabbi called Monster Mohel who wants to circumcise boys, and is stopped by the heroic Foreskin Man. Here are a few panels:

Yes, the heroes kidnap the baby so he can be brought up in the correct, non-Jewish way.

Which just goes to show that many of the"anti-circ" fanatic are motivated by good old fashioned Jew-hatred, and not out of any concern about innocent babies.

(I'm not posting the link here, but it is easy enough to find.)

(h/t Levi)

UPDATE: The Jewish Journal talks about it in today's issue.

The backers of a ballot initiative in San Francisco aiming to ban circumcision in that city have consistently maintained that their efforts are not anti-Semitic.

But the “Foreskin Man” comic book, which was written and edited in 2010 by the founder of a San Diego group supporting efforts to ban circumcision in San Francisco and Santa Monica, gives further credence to the accusation that so-called intactivists are in fact motivated by anti-Semitism.

“The imagery in ‘Foreskin Man’ is functionally Anti-Semitic,” Abby Michelson Porth, associate director of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), said. “The motives of the proponents of this ban are questionable given their direct connection with “Foreskin Man.”

The story told in the second issue of “Foreskin Man,” which is available on its website, centers on the story of Sarah and Jethro Glick and their newborn son. Sarah thought that she and her husband had agreed not to circumcise their son, but Jethro had other plans. He secretly invited the villain, “Monster Mohel,” to circumcise “little Glick.”

On the website foreskinman.com, Monster Mohel, a bearded man with a black hat on his head and a tallis around his neck, is described this way: “Nothing excites Monster Mohel more than cutting into the penile flesh of an eight-day-old infant boy.”

(h/t DWM)

Hezbollah: Solving Mideast problems is predicated on destroying Israel

From Now Lebanon:

Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said on Friday that “there cannot be any solutions [in the Middle East] before resolving the problem of Israel’s existence.”

“We are convinced that unless we resolve the problem of Israel’s existence in the region, there cannot be any solutions,” Qassem said according to a statement issued by Hezbollah.

He said that “the Resistance cannot back down,” adding that “those who are calling to abolish it are calling for abolishing Lebanon.”

He also said that Israel “is the enemy of the Arabs and the Muslims…and is the source of every crisis in the region and in our country.”

Qassem added that the “oppressive rulers” in the Middle East “are the creation of Israel.”

Doesn't Hezbollah sound a lot like those Arab dictators everyone is now against who blame all their problems on Israel?

IDF video of 2010 flotilla timeline

The IDF put this out a couple of weeks ago:

From the YouTube description:

The film, based on findings by the Eiland Team of Experts, breaks down the events of the flotilla using a timeline that alternates between 3D models and footage captured throughout the incident.

The events leading up to and throughout the flotilla incident are recounted in the video, as presented by the team of experts led by Maj. Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland in the IDF's internal inquiry.

The first phase of the operation: The IDF relayed the message that the flotilla ships were in an area of a maritime closure, and offered the ships to transfer their cargo from the Ashdod Port to the Gaza Strip. The Sofia ship did not respond at all, while the other ships responded with refusal and/or profanity.

The IDF forces were divided and each group boarded a different ship. The soldiers arrived at the Mavi Marmara at 4:28 AM, but could not board the ship due to metal objects being thrown at them. After an unsuccessful attempt to board the ship by smaller boats, a helicopter arrived at 4:30 AM with 15 IDF soldiers. The first rope dropped by the helicopters was tied by the demonstrators to the deck of the ship in order to prevent the soldiers' descent.

Soldiers that descended down the second rope were met by 2-4 demonstrators each who wielded knives, axes, and metal poles. The second soldier to descend was shot in the stomach by a demonstrator. The soldiers who were in danger of their lives were forced to use their live weapons. Five soldiers were injured by stabbing, blows and live fire by the demonstrators. Within seconds of boarding the ships, three soldiers were thrown off the deck by demonstrators. The injured were dragged to the hull of the ship.

A reinforcement of soldiers arrived from a second helicopter, which was also attacked by demonstrators, and the soldiers are met with violence when they attempt to access the lower deck of the ship.

At 4:46 AM a third helicopter arrives to the Mavi Marmara, and the two groups of soldiers combine forces on the ship roof and descend to the other parts of the ship, where they are also met with lethal violence, and thus respond with live fire.

Many of the demonstrators enter inside of the ship as the smaller boats arrive at the side of the ship, however some still violently attack the incoming boats and the soldiers respond with live fire.

The Commander of the Special Navy Forces boards the ship, and while evaluating the forces, it is discovered that three soldiers are missing. The missing and injured soldiers are discovered to have been abducted by a number of violent demonstrators, who abandon the soldiers and run back into the ship when fired at.

Two of the injured soldiers jump off the ship so that they can be picked up by the IDF boats. The third injured soldier is on the bow of the boat and slipping out of consciousness. IDF soldiers remaining on the boat come to his aid.

At 5:17 AM the situation is evaluated and some of the findings: live fire was used by demonstrators towards IDF soldiers who were on the ship, including one soldier who descended down the rope and was shot in the abdomen. Live fire by the demonstrators was also aimed at the soldiers on the small Israeli Navy boats next to the Marmara. The first occurence of live fire was that used by the demonstrators. In addition, a gun with emptied magazines was found in the hull of the ship.

IDF forces had boarded the other ships without incident. Treatment and evacuation was carried out for the injured soldiers and demonstrators alike. 38 injured were airlifted, 7 of them soldiers.

The three soldiers who had been attempted to be kidnapped and were taken to the hull of the ship were witness to an argument between the violent demonstrators, and other passengers of the Marmara who asked the violent demonstrators to cease their violent activity.

24 of the injured passengers were diagnosed at the Ashdod Port and treated in hospitals in Israel.

After the operation ended, the ships arrived at the Ashdod Port accompanied by Israeli Naval forces. An intelligence investigation following the flotilla incident found that 40 of the IHH activists previously boarded the Marmara ship from Istanbul before joining the others.

The 8 of the 9 demonstrators killed were members of the IHH or other allied groups. Around half of those killed had declared in front of their families their aspiration to die as martyrs ("shahids"). Footage on the Marmara shows that the violence had been prepared: metal poles and chains were prepared, slingshots, buzzsaws, gas masks, tear gas, bulletproof vests, knives, and more. A briefing had taken place before the IDF had boarded the ship, with the leader of the violent demonstrators telling the group to attack the IDF soldiers at any cost.

The exchange of messages between the IDF and the Mavi Marmara starting at around 7:00 is especially illuminating, as the "peace activists" reply back with "Shut the f**k up", "Go back to Auschwitz" and "We're helping Arabs go against the US; don't forget 9/11, guys."