Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Egyptians like Osama more than Obama

An opinion poll has shown that Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri’s popularity almost equals that of President Barack Obama among Egyptians.

The poll, which came a few months before scheduled presidential and parliamentary elections in Egypt, was conducted by the New York-based Institute for International Peace.

It looked at the popularity of various leaders and found presidential hopeful Amr Moussa to be the most popular among respondents. Prime Minister Essam Sharaf came in second and Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, chief of Egypt’s ruling military council, came in third.

According to the poll, Obama is viewed favorably among 12 percent of Egyptians, whereas Zawahiri is viewed favorably by 11 percent. Zawahiri, who is Egyptian, was appointed head of Al-Qaeda last week.

This article doesn't mention that the poll, conducted in early June, also shows that 21% of Egyptians have a favorable impression of bin Laden - far more than Obama.

But the news isn't all bad for the President. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's popularity lags behind even Obama's at 5%. (In 2008, Ahmadinejad's popularity was at 21%, compared to 25% for Obama.)

The poll also shows that the most popular presidential candidates are Essam Sharaf, Amr Moussa and Mohammed Tantawi, in that order, although interestingly more would vote today for Moussa than Sharaf.

Rumor: One of Hezbollah's "Israeli spies" helped kill Mugniyeh

From Now Lebanon:

One of the Hezbollah members reportedly arrested for collaborating with Israel might be involved in the 2008 assassination of Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh, an unidentified source told NOW Lebanon.

An unnamed Hezbollah source told NOW Lebanon on Saturday that a “group of Hezbollah members were detained in the past few days for collaborating with Israel.”

Although this story has zero corroboration, it is being picked up in the Arabic media.

(h/t Joel)

Hamas, Fatah still arguing over prime minister

Here's the latest in the Hamas/Fatah soap opera on forming a "unity" government:

From Ma'an on Monday:

Disagreement over who should be the next Palestinian premier is holding up the creation of a unity government agreed last month between old rivals Fatah and Hamas, Palestinian officials said on Monday.

A meeting in Cairo on Tuesday between President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads Fatah, and Hamas chief Khalid Mash'al has been postponed due to Hamas opposition to the reappointment of Western-backed economist Salam Fayyad, they said.

"The real reason for the delay in the forming and convening of the government is disagreement over Fayyad," an official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"President Abbas insists on nominating Salam Fayyad, whose appointment Hamas categorically rejects," he added. "That has led the two sides to postpone the meeting rather than announce the collapse of the reconciliation."

"Fayyad is not wanted because his name is linked to Palestinian division, the debt-ridden Palestinian economy and operations by the [Palestinian Authority] security services against the resistance," Gaza Hamas leader Ismail Radwan said, referring to the group's armed campaign against Israel.

Ma'an also quoted "sources" as saying Fayyad would refuse the post if offered in the interests of unity, but that is unclear. We'll see later today as Palestine Today reports that Fayyad will officially withdraw his name from consideration as PM.

Last night, Mahmoud Abbas gave a speech where he said that he is the president of the PA and as president he can choose whomever he wants to be PM - and he chooses Fayyad.

A Hamas spokesman rejected Abbas' words and said that his statement was harmful to national reconciliation.

Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar also commented saying that "It is a government of national consensus and not the government of Abu Mazen, therefore, the name of head of government must be agreed upon by the two movements."

The planned meeting this week in Cairo has been postponed indefinitely. Zahar claims that this is due to pressure from Western governments on Abbas not to follow through on reconciliation with Hamas.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Arabs prefer Fayyad to remain as PM, according to a new poll.

Palestinian Arab family killed - by NATO. Where are the condemnations?

From Ma'an:

A Palestinian family of four was killed in a NATO airstrike Monday on the Libyan capital of Tripoli, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The ministry explained in a statement published Tuesday on the government news agency Wafa, that the International Red Crescent Association had relayed the news.

The family, according to Wafa’s report, had lived in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, before moving to Tripoli.

Palestinian ambassador to Libya Atif Udah told Ma'an radio the family was in a three-story building targeted by a NATO air attack. He identified the victims as Abdullah Muhammad Ash-Shihab, his wife Karima and his 6-month-old twins Khalid and Jumanah.

Some 19 civilians were claimed to have been killed in that airstrike, which came only a day after another errant airstrike from NATO killed 9 civilians.

NATO insists that they hit a military target on Monday.

While the increasing number of civilian deaths at the hands of NATO in both Libya and Afghanistan does get some news coverage, the amount and emotional content of that coverage pales next to news coverage of Palestinian Arab deaths from Israeli actions - and the vitriol that accompanies Israeli actions is virtually nonexistent when discussing Western killings of civilians.

It is telling that NATO didn't manage to kill its target in the Monday strike.

There is simply no comparison between the sanitized news coverage and lack of world reaction of these NATO attacks with that of Israel's attack in July 2002 that killed Hamas master terrorist Salah Shehadeh - and some 14 civilians who were in the same building.

No wailing relatives in Libya. No Arab leaders calling it a "horrible act." No condemnation by the White House and UN. No statements from Sweden calling it a war crime and calling into question NATO's democratic values.

Why the double standard?

Charlotte Bloomberg, 102

From JPost:

Charlotte R. Bloomberg, mother of NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg – and a strong Israel advocate – died at the age of 102 on Sunday in Massachusetts.

A staunch Zionist, her son and her daughter, Marjorie Tiven, have previously honored her and their father, William, with two major health-related projects in Jerusalem.

“Mrs. Bloomberg was a remarkable woman, dedicated to Israel and devoted to Hadassah,” said Hadassah Medical Organization Director- General Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, who was present at her son’s dedication of the two-story Charlotte R. Bloomberg Mother and Child Center at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem in 2003. Charlotte Bloomberg had flown to Israel with her family for the ceremony.

“Her connection to Hadassah goes back to her early days in Young Judaea, and culminated in our Mother and Child Center bearing her name. We are honored and proud of the Bloomberg family’s commitment to Hadassah and send our deep condolences to Mayor Bloomberg and the entire family,” Mor-Yosef said.

“The center is a living testament to this great woman for generations to come.”

Baruch Dayan ha-Emet. May her memory be a blessing.

Linkdump, part 3

The myth of the Stoned Dog; see also Honest Reporting's take

What if the Jews had followed the Palestinian path? at WSJ

Meet with Israel? PalArabs can't meet with themselves! by Jonathan Tobin

The Syrian Occupation at Sky News

Anti-semitism at U. of Toronto at The Forward

Jonathan Pollard could not attend the funeral of his father

Bashir Assad's speech didn't seem to make Syrian protesters too happy

Barry Rubin on the power of the mass media to distort reality

Jennifer Rubin on American Jewish leaders who shill for Obama

Also, check out the "Elder of Ziyon Daily" newspaper that is auto-generated once a day by Paper.li from articles here as well as from people I follow on Twitter. It is a nice paper with stories I would have missed, in a pretty attractive format. Wish I could edit it, though!

(h/t Israel Muse, David F)

Linkdump, part 2

Understanding Hamas by Barry Rubin

The Palestinians of 1967 by Michael Totten

Amnesty International is losing its way (NGO Monitor/JPost)

PalArabs starting to consider Oslo as bad as 1948 and 1967 (PMW)

New blog: Moving Up to the East Side, with "EU Doesn't Oppose Palestinian Statehood"

Why is Obama tougher on Israel than on Syria? by Jackson Diehl, WaPo

Will Israel recognize the Armenia genocide?

Is Jordan's king losing control of the Bedouin? by Mudar Zahran

The Moroccan king seems to have figured out how not to be a victim of the Arab uprisings

Palestine Sucks!

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar, Joel, Simi, Israellycool, Israel Muse)

Linkdump, part 1

Ghosts of a Jewish past in Libya

Fayyad was no savior (Foreign Policy)

85% of Israelis want to keep Jerusalem undivided under Israeli sovreignty within the framework of a peace agreement; 77% against 1949 armistice lines even if Arab states declared an end to the conflict, 84% wantto keep Jordan Valley in any peace agreement, and more (Hebrew - JCPA)

"Moderate" Malaysia loves Hamas

Why don't liberals discuss Arab anti-semitism? (CiFWatch)

Syrian detainees forced to praise Assad in order to get water

Stuxnet: Anatomy of a computer virus

(h/t Sophie, Noah David Simon, T34, Joel, jzaik, Lesley)

The Arab Spring Nakba

Ha'aretz has an op-ed by an Arab:

[I]n Syria, another Arab Nakba is taking place before our eyes. This Nakba is the lot of the Syrian people. But this time, those behind the Nakba are not Zionists. They aren't Jews or French or godless British or Americans. Neither the Little Zionist Satan nor the Great American Satan is behind this Nakba. This time, the Satan is Arab, flesh of our flesh.

When thousands of Arab citizens - men, women and children - are massacred, when many others flee an Arab country because they fear an Arab regime with pretensions to waving the flag of Arab nationalism, then this so-called nationalism becomes dubious and ought to raise questions.

This is all the more the case when non-Arab Turkey is the country to which people are fleeing. Yes, the same Turkey that is regularly mentioned in Arab national discourse as the height of defilement and the source of all Arab ills. And all because of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled over the Arabs for hundreds of years and to which Arab nationalists have long attributed all the falterings of the Arab world.

A mirror "Nakba" is taking place in North Africa. From Newsweek:

No one knows how many people have died trying to make it from North Africa to Europe. Human traffickers don’t keep passenger lists, and authorities can only guess at the numbers of migrants based on the size of the capsized ships. But this much is clear: this is one of the deadliest years on record. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that in the past two months alone at least 1,600 people have died at sea as they fled their countries for European shores.

Lampedusa’s coastline is marred by the carcasses of capsized boats; the port is filled with shipwrecks, some with blankets, children’s toys, and jackets still on board. Deaths in these Mediterranean waters are now so common that fishermen routinely snag corpses in their nets. But to avoid the lengthy bureaucracy that goes with reporting the morbid catch, they often throw the bodies back in the water. “I can’t afford to have my boat sequestered for the season,” says one fisherman who didn’t want to give his name. “They won’t get any better burial on land if we bring them in.”

...When NATO bombardments against Libya began, Gaddafi vowed to “unleash an unprecedented wave of illegal immigration” on Europe. And the ships have been arriving from Libya since.

In the first five months of 2011, more than 45,000 people made their way to Lampedusa—more than 10 times the total number of last year. Thousands of others have arrived on nearby Pelagian islands, as well as Sicily and Sardinia. One boatload of Tunisians made it all the way to the Italian mainland, docking about 50 kilometers south of Rome. If the war in Libya continues, hundreds of thousands more are expected to make the perilous journey in the coming months.

Some refugees come for economic opportunity, having made it to Libya from other poor North African countries or sub-Saharan Africa. Others are fleeing war and unrest in Libya and beyond. But perhaps most disturbingly, human-rights groups report that soldiers loyal to Gaddafi are rounding up people and forcing them onto boats at gunpoint.

Thousands killed, tens of thousands becoming refugees. Yet it is only considered a real Nakba if it fulfills these two conditions:

1) You can blame Jews for causing the mass flight.
2) The flight is to Arab countries who don't want to help the refugees, even though they are fellow Arabs.

Since the two conditions don't apply, this is merely standard operating procedure.

Fear of Islamists: Belly-dance festival canceled in Egypt

An oriental dance festival (belly dancing) that has been held for the past ten years in Egypt has been canceled, reportedly out of fear of Islamist reaction.

Some 1200 dancers were expected to arrive, and it was estimated that the festival would boost the Egyptian economy by some $3 million.

A majority of commenters at Al Wafd support the ban on this immoral activity, but some are protesting how the Islamists are curtailing their lives.

Innovative lawfare: US man sues to take possession of flotilla

From JPost:

Dr. Alan Bauer, an American- Israeli victim of a Palestinian terrorist attack, on Thursday filed a first of its kind lawsuit in an effort to seize ships to be used by Islamic and anti-Israel organizations to try to breach the blockade of the Gaza Strip later this month.

The suit, Bauer v. The Mavi Marmara, was filed in Manhattan federal court, seeking to confiscate 14 ships, which are scheduled to participate in the upcoming flotilla and which were outfitted with funds Bauer says were unlawfully raised in the United States by anti-Israel groups, including The Free Gaza Movement. Over the weekend, however, the Turkish IHH organization said the Mavi Marmara was still too damaged to sail for Gaza.

The plaintiff, a biologist from the Chicago area, and his son Jonathan, then aged seven, were seriously wounded when Palestinian suicide bomber detonated a bomb, packed with metal spikes and nails, in the center of a crowd of shoppers on King George Street in Jerusalem on March 21, 2002.

Three people were killed and 85 other people were also wounded.

Bauer alleges that The Free Gaza Movement and other American-based anti-Israel organizations have raised funds in the United States to outfit the Gaza flotilla ships. The lawsuit contends that furnishing and outfitting the ships, which are being used for hostilities against a US ally, violates American law.

The plaintiff rests his claim upon the rarely used 18th-century “informant” statute (18 USC Section 962) that allows a plaintiff (called an “informer”) to privately seize ships outfitted in the United States for use against a US ally.

The stature states: “Whoever, within the United States, furnishes, fits out, arms, or attempts to furnish, fit out or arm, any vessel, with intent that such vessel shall be employed in the service of any foreign prince, or state, or of any colony, district, or people, to cruise, or commit hostilities against the subjects, citizens, or property of any foreign prince or state, or of any colony, district, or people with whom the United States is at peace; or Whoever issues or delivers a commission within the United State for any vessel, to the intent that she may be so employed – Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

“Every such vessel, her tackle, apparel, and furniture, together with all materials, arms, ammunition, and stores which may have been procured for the building and equipment thereof, shall be forfeited, one half to the use of the informer and the other half to the use of the United States.”

The plaintiff is represented by attorneys Robert J. Tolchin of New York, and by Nitsana Darshan- Leitner of Israel, founder of Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center.

This is the first lawsuit brought to seize the Gaza Flotilla ships.

“We intend to seize the Gaza flotilla ships and turn them over to a victim of Palestinian terrorism.

You can see an interview with Nitsana Darshan-Leitner of Shurat HaDin about this lawsuit and other flotilla news on PJTV.

A copy of the lawsuit can be seen here.

Gaza says they'll allow Fatah members to return. But they might arrest them.

In 2007, some 70 Fatah members fled Gaza in the wake of the violent Hamas takeover of the sector, and they went to Egypt.

Egypt is now planning to ship them back, and Hamas interior minister says that whoever wants to return to Gaza is welcome to do so.

But, of course, if Hamas determines that they were involved in any criminal activities, they'll be put into prison, he added.

Interestingly, he didn't say that Hamas would welcome back the residents of Jordan's Jerash "Gaza" camp, who actually lived in Gaza and would love to return.

Cooking gas shortage in Egypt - because it is all being smuggled to Gaza

Palestine Press Agency reports that there is a severe shortage of cooking gas in El Arish and the Sinai - because smugglers are sending the gas over to Gaza for a profit.

Bakeries are having trouble staying open because of the shortages.

Meanwhile, residents of the Sinai are also alarmed at the huge amount of smuggling of other items into Gaza, including building materials that are being taken from their area. Residents report seeing many trucks filled with gravel and other materials going to Rafah to be smuggled into Gaza, and last week some 150 Libyan cars were smuggled into Gaza in one shot through a Rafah tunnel.

Tens of thousands of Gazans applying to become Egyptian citizens

A few months ago, a group of Egyptian women who are married to Palestinian Arabs protested in Tahrir Square to allow their children to be considered Egyptian citizens.

A 2004 Egyptian law allowed children of Egyptian mothers to become citizens, with the exception of those married to Palestinians.

In 2006, an Egyptian court ruled that the law must apply to Palestinian Arabs as well, but the ruling was ignored by the Mubarak regime.

After the protest, Egypt started enforcing this ruling, and now children of Egyptian mothers and Palestinian Arab fathers can become Egyptian citizens.

And now the floodgates have opened.

Tens of thousands of Gazans are now applying to become Egyptian citizens.

Sharif Rafik Fares, who owns a shoe store in Gaza, said that such nationality is as valuable as gold.

The original goal of stopping Palestinian Arabs from gaining citizenship in other countries was pushed by none other than Yasir Arafat.

Dr. Mohamed Shihab, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, told Al Arabiya, "in the wake of the Nakba and the Naqsa and what happened from the diaspora and oppression of the Palestinian people, there was an Arab resolution adopted by the Arab League, and supported by the Palestine Liberation Organization [to disallow citizenship for Palestinian Arabs in other countries.] But the passage of time and the continued suffering of the Palestinian people, proved that such decisions was a noble goal, but it came at the expense of many segments of the Palestinian people and increased their suffering in the diaspora, which exacerbated their suffering. "

The Arab League decision pushed by the PLO not to give the Palestinians living in Arab countries citizenship was to prevent melting of the Palestinian people in the Arab world, and thus to forget their cause, as well as to keep the Palestinian refugee camps in the Diaspora, as a political symbol to remind all of that the Nakba and the displacement, and these camps remained undeveloped.

Political writer Mohammad Hafiz Abdullah is against this move .He said: 'Although there are conditions of oppression and siege against the Palestinians, there is no reason to have thousands of Palestinians accept the other nationalities, so they can at any moment decide to migrate to different countries'.

Abdullah says that granting citizenship to Palestinians is not in the supreme national interest. He said, 'This is an abandonment of the state of the national struggle in which the Palestinians have sacrificed with their blood and their lives over the decades of occupation for their independence."

The hypocrisy of the Palestinian Arab leadership is once again laid bare. For decades, they have insisted that their people do not want citizenship, and the got UNRWA and even Human Rights Watch to support their decision to perpetuate misery among Palestinian Arabs. However, no one actually asked the Palestinian Arabs what they wanted, and every time they had a chance to become naturalized elsewhere they jumped at the opportunity, first in Jordan, then in Lebanon and now in Egypt.

"Miles of Smiles" exposes the lies of the flotilla

From Bikya Masr (Egypt):

An aid convoy heading to the Gaza Strip was allowed to cross into the embattled Mediterranean enclave on Sunday evening, Palestinian officials confirmed on Monday morning to Bikya Masr.

The vessel, Miles of Smiles, is carrying aid and some 60 activists, most Europeans, a few South Africans, Tunisian and Lebanese nationals, had docked at the northern Sinai town of al-Arish on Saturday before making the 45 kilometer journey to the Gaza border.

The activists are also carrying ambulances, medicine and medical equipment for the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, which has been suffering from an Israeli-Egyptian led blockade on the area.

To summarize:

Miles of Smiles	Flotilla
Brings real aid, including ambulances	Pretends to bring aid, but the aid it brings is useless
Works modestly without huge publicity; doesn't even have a website	Publicity whores
Has not acted violently	Justifies violent actions of IHH in May 2010 flotilla; supports terrorism
Adheres to international law	Violates international law in trying to break legal blockade
Brings aid through Egypt	Has come out publicly against humanitarian aid delivered legally
Doesn't lie to the media	Always lies to the media