Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Freedom of the press, Jordanian style

Jordan's Information Minister Taher Adwan said on Tuesday he has resigned because of laws he deemed "restrictive for freedom of expression."

"I submitted my resignation today to Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit in protest at a government decision" to debate new press and publication laws in parliament that he opposed, Adwan told AFP.

"In addition, MPs will debate proposed anti-corruption and penal laws. I consider these laws restrictive for freedom of expression."

King Abdullah II on Monday ordered parliament to convene in an extraordinary session from Wednesday to discuss a series of temporary laws.

Describing the proposed legislation as a "blow to the reform drive" and "martial laws," Adwan, who joined the government in February, condemned "the repeated attacks on journalists who are doing their professional duties."

"Such attacks completely contradict political reform efforts, which cannot be achieved without a democratic climate of press freedom," Adwan said in a statement to AFP.

Adwan has condemned an attack on AFP in which 10 men broke into its Amman offices on Wednesday and destroyed furniture and equipment, after the news agency was among several foreign media to report that part of the king's motorcade had been stoned during a visit to a southern city.

The reports were vigorously denied by the palace, government officials and MPs from the city.

"Violence against journalists and their offices cannot be justified, under the pretext of loyalty and nationalism," said Adwan, a veteran journalist who was the editor of Al-Arab Al-Yawm independent daily.

Here are details on last week's attack:

Ten men broke into AFP's offices in Jordan's capital on Wednesday and destroyed furniture, two days after the news agency was among several foreign media to report King Abdullah II's motorcade had been stoned.

"Ten men armed with sticks broke into the office and started to destroy everything in their way, the furniture and the equipment," said AFP journalist Kamal Taha who was alone in the office when the attack took place.

He said he managed to escape through a back door, before neighbours called the police who arrived after the attackers fled.

The attack came a few hours after AFP bureau chief Randa Habib received a threatening telephone call saying: "I will make you pay dearly," and accusing her of "undermining the security of Jordan."

You mean, in Jordan, government thugs threaten journalists and break into media offices and destroy stuff when they don't like the news stories?

No way! This is moderate Jordan we are talking about here!

Afternoon linkdump

NGOs are just as corrupt in Cambodia as in the Palestinian Arab territories.

Video of Syria shooting villagers trying to flee to Turkey.

Germany's Left party facing charges of anti-semitism

"Third Intifada" iPad app

Robin Shepherd on a theme I explored earlier today

Reports that extremist groups in Lebanon are planning Katyusha attacks on Israel to drag Lebanon into a war now that there is a new Hezbollah government.

The Love Boat from Iran

Ingrid and Jorgen go to Gaza

CiFWatch: Flotilla, staying pointless

O/T: Graffiti from Pompeii

Daniel Pipes on the JNF

Inciting in plain sight in Bethlehem

Israel approves building materials for 2 housing projects in southern Gaza

(h/t Zach N., Joel, Silke, Honest Reporting, Israel Matzav, Iowahawk, CHA)

Koran saves 10-year old Saudi girl from rape

From Arab News:

The latest victim of a serial rapist said reciting the Qur’an stopped her attacker from sexually assaulting her, Al-Madinah newspaper reported Monday.

The 10-year-old told the newspaper that she was able to protect herself against his evil deeds by reciting five chapters of the holy book that she had learned by heart.

“Every time he came closer to me, I started reciting Qur'an and he would withdraw,” she said.

The girl, identified by her initials M.M.S., said the rapist would ask her to stop reciting the Qur'an but when she refused to listen to him, he hit her hard on the face. “Because of my recitations, he was reluctant to touch me,” she said.

This is the best use of the Koran I've ever seen.

Saudi Arabia only last week arrested a schoolteacher accused of raping 13 girls in Jeddah. This girl lives in Jeddah as well, so either they have the wrong guy or there is a copycat.

The first Hebrew Bible concordance, in Google Books

I could spend all day browsing around Google Books.

Today I came upon a 1581 edition of the very first Hebrew concordance, Meir Netiv, written by Yitzchak Natan (Isaac Nathan) ben Kalonymous in 1447.

It is interesting because of why he wrote it.

He was heavily involved in arguing against Christian missionaries to the Jews and Jewish apostates. They would quote chapter and verse for their arguments, but Jews couldn't easily answer them - because the division into chapters and verses were a Christian innovation!

Isaac Nathan therefore wrote the first Hebrew concordance of Tanach to aid Jews in arguing back (and exposing fake quotes that Christians at the time would use.) This was one of the first Jewish publications that used the Christian chapter and verse system.

Another innovation was that this concordance alphabetized the Hebrew words by their root word, so it was easier to find a specific word.

If you want to find all Torah commentaries in Google Books written before 1600, click here.

Early synagogues discovered in Israel

From Biblical Archaeology Review:

It seems like almost everywhere archaeologists dig in the eastern Galilee these days, they are coming up with ancient synagogues.

In 2007, a third–fourth-century C.E. synagogue with beautifully decorated mosaic floors depicting Biblical episodes was discovered at the site of Khirbet Wadi Hamam outside Tiberias; just last summer, European archaeologists digging only 4 miles away, at Horvat Kur, announced that they, too, had found a synagogue, probably dating at least a century later.

Perhaps the most exciting recent synagogue discovery in Israel was in Magdala, reputedly the home of Mary Magdalene. (Was this the synagogue she regularly attended?) On the shore of the Sea of Galilee, the newly discovered Magdala synagogue, excavated by archaeologists with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), is one of only seven uncovered in Israel that was in use during the first century C.E., when the Jerusalem Temple still stood. The others include Masada, Herodium and Gamla, with which BAR readers are familiar. Other possible examples have been excavated at Herodian Jericho, Qiryat Sefer and Modi’in.

The Magdala synagogue from this time is richly decorated with frescoes of colored panels. Mosaics with geometric designs covered the floor. Impressive columns supported the roof. And a strange, nearly 3-foot-long stone block found in the center of the synagogue is elaborately carved on the side and the flat top. Among other reliefs, it features one of the earliest depictions of a seven-branched menorah.

Dina Avshalom-Gorni, the Israeli archaeologist who excavated the site for the IAA, believes the artist who carved the menorah may have modeled his depiction after the actual seven-branched menorah that stood in the Temple, making it a rare representation of the candelabra before the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E. Flanking the menorah is a pair of large, long-handled amphorae, as well as a pair of what appear to be fluted columns. Decorating the top of the stone are various heart-shaped and floral motifs, as well as two palm trees that flank a large rosette with a circumscribed petal design. Although the precise function of the stone remains uncertain, it may have been used as a table on which Torah scrolls were rolled out and read or it may have been a stand for an actual menorah used during the service.

There's lots more. Read the whole thing.

(h/t My Right Word)

Time to re-open investigation against Interpal charity?

The "Miles of Smiles" convoy that entered Gaza yesterday (which I compared favorably to the flotillas) includes a large contingent from a British charity called Interpal, or the Palestinian Relief and Development Fund.

This Wikipedia page lists a number of separate allegations over the past 15 years that Interpal has ties to, and raised funds for, Hamas. The page claims that none of the allegations have been proven.

However, the Hamas-leaning newspaper Palestine Times shows images of (unnamed) members of the convoy meeting with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza.

I don't know if any Interpal members are in these photos but it is worth looking further into.

There are two other things that indicate that Interpal is not quite apolitical as it claims.

One is that its logo includes a map of all of Israel:

And another is that on its webpage, for no apparent reason, they have a section about the "Al Aqsa Mosque" that claims that it is not a building but the entire Temple Mount, seemingly including the Western Wall.

Egyptians like Osama more than Obama

From Al Masry al-Youm:

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.