Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, June 30, 2011

My brief Twitter exchange with a flotidiot reporter

While the Dutch reporters acted ethically in rejecting the flotilla attempts to hide facts about Hamss ties and funding, other "reporters" are happily drinking the flotilla Kool-Aid.

I mentioned yesterday that one of the cheerleaders who styles herself a reporter is Mya Guanieri, who comes out with daily rah-rah dispatches and whose Twitter feed makes no secret of her full support for the flotilla.

When she published the photo of the old ladies in the flotilla, with her sarcastic remark that these "people really look like they're baying for blood, don't they?" I responded back with my post putting context on why Israel wants to ban the "little old ladies."

She replied with two tweets:

@elderofziyon hey, quick question. if you're an elder of "zion" why do you live in the USA? ;) that's pretty funny.

@elderofziyon you see, i LIVE in israel. israeli policy actually effects me.

My response:

@myaguarnieri I respect that. Are you therefore against J-Street, Am/Peace Now, and other groups that try to influence policy from without?

For some reason, she never answered. Pity.

I actually do respect the fact that she lives in Israel, but for her to use that as a reason to quash criticism from outside Israel is a bit hypocritical. After all, she is supporting an action, meant to change Israeli policy, that is conceived and led by non-Israelis!

PA to ban Israeli watermelons - boycott or protectionism?

Starting tomorrow, the PA will prohibit the import of Israeli watermelons.

Existing agreements between Israel and the PA prohibit any boycott of Israeli goods. The PA is always careful to emphasize that they boycott goods made by Jews in Judea and Samaria but not from within the Green Line.

They are not positioning this as a boycott, but rather as a means to protect local farmers who they say have higher costs and cannot compete with the Israeli product.

However, it is possible that this is a tentative step in the direction of actually boycotting Israel itself.

As usual, Palestinian Arabs (besides farmers) will be the losers, as they will have to fork over more money for their produce.

Right now, some 76% of PA imports are from Israel, and 91% of its exports are to Israel. If they want to start a boycott, they have a lot more to lose than Israel does.

Another natural gas field off Israel's coast - and possibly oil, too

From Globes:

The Myra and Sarah licensees today announced that the fields have potential reserves of 6.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to an analysis of the 3D survey by Netherland Sewell & Associates Ltd. (NSAI). The discovery is the third largest gas discovery offshore from Israel, after the 8.6 trillion cubic feet at Tamar and 16 trillion cubic feet at Leviathan. Myra and Sarah are located in deep water northwest of Netanya, and southeast of Leviathan, and are part of the Levant Basin, which the US Geological Survey estimates has 122 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

At today's press conference, Israel Land Development Company Energy Ltd. (TASE: IE) CEO Ohad Marani said, "Today is a celebration. We are going to be the next big thing in Israel."

NSAI estimates the gross mean resources at Myra at 4.5 trillion cubic feet with a 58% probability of geological success and 1.9 trillion cubic feet at Sarah with a 43% probability of geological success. The average probability of geological success for both licenses is 54%, compared with 35% for Tamar.

NSAI also estimates that Myra and Sarah could have 150.7 million barrels of oil, with an 18% probability of geological success. Myra has gross mean resources of 113.4 million barrels of oil with an 18% probability of geological success, and Sarah has 37.3 million barrels of oil with a 23% probability of geological success.

Bloomberg adds an important point:

“Its always exciting to find natural resources,” said David Kaplan, a Tel Aviv-based energy analyst at Barclays Plc. “The government has shown concern about having an effective monopoly on natural gas and none of the partners in Sara and Myra are partners in Tamar.”

US to engage with Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood

From Reuters:

The United States has decided to resume formal contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday, in a step that reflects the Islamist group's growing political weight but that is almost certain to upset Israel and its U.S. backers.

"The political landscape in Egypt has changed, and is changing," said the senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It is in our interests to engage with all of the parties that are competing for parliament or the presidency."

The official sought to portray the shift as a subtle evolution rather than a dramatic change in Washington's stance toward the Brotherhood, a group founded in 1928 that seeks to promote its conservative vision of Islam in society.

Under the previous policy, U.S. diplomats were allowed to deal with Brotherhood members of parliament who had won seats as independents -- a diplomatic fiction that allowed them to keep lines of communication open.

Where U.S. diplomats previously dealt only with group members in their role as parliamentarians, a policy the official said had been in place since 2006, they will now deal directly with low-level Brotherhood party officials.

There is no U.S. legal prohibition against dealing with the Muslim Brotherhood itself, which long ago renounced violence as a means to achieve political change in Egypt and which is not regarded by Washington as a foreign terrorist organization.

But other sympathetic groups, such as Hamas, which identifies the Brotherhood as its spiritual guide, have not disavowed violence against the state of Israel.

The result has been a dilemma for the Obama administration. Former officials and analysts said it has little choice but to engage the Brotherhood directly, given its political prominence after the February 11 downfall of former President Hosni Mubarak.

...Elliott Abrams, a deputy national security adviser handling Middle East affairs under former President George W. Bush, said he favored dropping the ban on formal contacts -- but approaching any actual dealings with great caution.

Abrams said positions espoused by some Brotherhood members -- such as favoring religious tests for public office, questioning the rights of women and limiting freedom of religion or speech -- were "anathema" to the United States.

The group says it wants a civil state based on Islamic principles, but talk by some members of an "Islamic state" or "Islamic government" have raised concerns that their goal is a state where full Islamic sharia law is implemented. The group says such comments have been taken out of context.

"It's critical ... that we make it very, very clear to Egyptians, if we are going to do a meeting, that we are no less opposed to the ideas they represent," Abrams said, noting that there are splits among Brotherhood members.

"We have to think about whether we can use meetings to deepen those splits and to help, quietly, those who are trying to moderate the positions of the Brotherhood," he added, saying the United States should choose its interlocutors with care and that the talks need not be conducted by the U.S. ambassador.

The U.S. official who declined to be identified said U.S. diplomats "will continue to emphasize the importance of support for democratic principles and a commitment to nonviolence, and respect for minority and women's rights in conversations with all groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood."

This is far from a simple question, and Elliott Abrams' caveats are important.

From reading Wikileaks memos, I have much more respect for the State Department than I had before. They generate a lot of good analysis, and the only way for their analysis to be accurate is if they meet with relevant people. Meeting with MB leaders does not necessarily mean approving of their philosophy, and if it is done right, it can help matters in Egypt.

It all depends on having clear ground rules ahead of time and having diplomats who are experienced enough to know when they are being played. The current US ambassador to Syria has been shown to be an incompetent idiot that Assad's regime has fooled and manipulated to great advantage. But that does not have to be the case when you have diplomats who know what they are doing.

I can see how it can even benefit Israel to have back channels to talk to the MB, in matters such as Gilad Shalit or to get subtle messages to Hamas.

If the State Department is careful on how to engage with the MB, and checks the information being told to its diplomats with other sources, this can be valuable. A blanket "don't talk" policy is not always wise.

(h/t O, Joel)

Every Dutch reporter has now quit the [Hamas] flotilla

I quoted a Radio Netherlands reporter Eric Beauchemin describing why he could not go on the flotilla voyage, as the Dutch leaders of the voyage refused to answer questions.

Now every Dutch reporter on the flotilla has bailed out for the same reasons. And they are also upset over how the flotilla is hiding the involvement of at least one known Hamas leader.

From De Telegraaf:

Enraged at the paranoia, the dictatorial atmosphere, mutual distrust and outright opposition on board, all Dutch journalists to leave the ship which the Dutch activists seek confrontation with Israeli marines in the Gaza Strip.

According to the four reporters who left, they were censored by the activists, who did not respond to any critical questions, such as the financing of the ship. The money was scraped together by collections in Dutch mosques, as this newspaper revealed earlier.

Vara editor Hasna El Maroudi decided to leave because the organization does not want to say that there were other participants: "I was not surprised by the presence of figures or organizations that I want nothing to do with. Also it remained unclear how the financing of the boat was done. I have repeatedly asked, but the answer was hidden in a web of vague foundations and umbrella organizations." Hasna El Maroudi is a former columnist for NRC.

Now it appears that the infamous Dutch Hamas leader Amin Abou Rashed was also present in recent days in the training of the crew in Greece. El Maroudi: "Amin was present on the day the Dutch delegation, part of the non-violence training followed. Wilfred van de Poll, journalist for de Trouw, just spoke with Amin about his presence and his role within the organization. "The brain behind the fleet" had arranged the purchase of the boat. He also provided a lion's share of funding."

El Maroudi: "During the dinner Anne de Jong (one of the driving forces behind the fleet, ed) raved that it is all lies and that Amin was a terribly nice man, who with incredible love and commitment to the Palestinians. Perhaps in her blue eyes she believes this, but I can not, simply because his involvement in the fleet been kept secret until his arrival in Greece. Not only from the outside world, but also from the passengers. "

Trouw reporter Wilfred van de Poll also withdrew from sailing because he no longer trusted the organization. He said that the organization suffers from utter paranoia, especially about possible leaks to The Guardian. The de Trouw journalist speaks of "childish insinuations" and an "atmosphere of suspicion" that the journalists received.

[Radio Netherlands] Worldwide reporter Eric Beauchemin also noted: "After one week in Greece, I lost all confidence in the responsible Foundation Netherlands Gaza. At our first meeting on the island of Corfu it was all wrong. One of the organizers was furious because Dutch journalist information was leaked to The Guardian. I've worked 25 years as a journalist, but I've never seen such a closed organization. I wanted a video report of the mandatory two-day training, to show how the activists were being prepared. But the organization banned the access to many parts of this training. "

Prior to the trip, he attended mandatory meetings in the Netherlands and was screened. "When the organizers me I was 'chosen', I felt obliged to be happy. In retrospect it seems all deception: there was no select group, and no Dutch celebrities. Instead of 32 Dutch participants, the organization has barely ten. "

Bud Wichers, a freelance reporter, also dropped out, as he reported to EénVandaag: "The facts were always at odds with what we had promised. The breach of trust was at some point irreversible. "

Martijn Dekker, spokesman for the Gaza-Netherlands Foundation, is deeply embarrassed at the collective departure of the journalists. Dekker, a PhD in Political Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam, says the feud between activists and reporters was "shocking": "Four journalists who consistently tell the same story, you can not ignore. That closeness, that is the opposite of what we claim to be, namely open and transparent."

Dekker: "We can quite open about eg the origin of the money that paid for the boat. We can see the books of the donating foundation Israa. It shows that all donations come from Dutch individuals, not from a shadowy sheik from abroad." Foundation Netherlands Gaza says the list of passengers to leave until after release, as still being pushed by the ship crew. The Dutch action ship left yesterday and arrived today at an agreed rendezvous site, which has three other ships awaiting action.

Amin Abou Rashed (left) with Yusuf Qaradawi

The foundation was forced to admit that Rashed was present in Greece, because of his involvement in the purchase of the ship. But the organization denies his involvement in training, selection and briefings.

Now emerges a unique picture, when the Dutch Hamas leader Sheikh Amin Abou Rashed supports Yusuf al Qaradawi, spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. This Al Qaradawi is hoping to transform Egypt into a fundamentalist dictatorship. The Sheikh, a fierce anti-Semite and notorious for his inflammatory speeches, lived in exile in Qatar. After the revolt against Egyptian President Mubarak returned to Cairo. Al Qaradawi wants to stone gays and adulterers, would "dismantle" Israel, encourages suicide attacks inside Israel and believes that men should strike "rebellious" women.

Amin Rashed was on last year's flotilla and has been linked with Hamas and the Holy Land Foundation.

But the flotilla organizers are insisting that he is a wonderful, loving peace activist.

(h/t Gideon)

The laws of blockades (JPost)

The Jerusalem Post put together a nice summary of the laws of blockades. It destroys a lot of the nonsense that the flotidiots like to spout.

A maritime blockade is a tool countries can employ during an armed conflict to stop the passage of weapons and other goods to a country or entity. Israel has imposed one on Gaza since January 3, 2009, during Operation Cast Lead.

One of the main arguments raised against the boarding of the six ships associated with May 2010’s flotilla was that the action reportedly took place 70 nautical miles (130 kilometers) from the coast, inside international waters.

Immediately following the raid, in which nine activists on the Mavi Marmara were killed, Turkey drafted a resolution at the UN Security Council that described the boarding of the ship as a violation of international maritime law.

Under the San Remo Manual, a 1994 legally recognized but nonbinding document from the International Institute of Humanitarian Law dealing with blockades and armed conflicts – widely held to be the international standard for blockades – countries can intercept a vessel that is trying to breach the blockade as soon as it leaves its port of origin if the vessel is clear in its purpose to illegally enter waters, a legal adviser to the Foreign Ministry who is an expert in maritime law explained.

The official added that blockades are always imposed in international waters, and ships trying to breach the blockade are intercepted even further out, to give the military enough time to intercept it before it reaches land.

There are a number of conditions that a blockade must satisfy to be a “legal blockade” under the San Remo Manual. Countries imposing a blockade must give prior notice, and inform shipping companies and other countries where and when the blockade is being enacted, with ample time for vessels to alter their routes. Countries must also enforce the blockade in a nondiscriminatory manner, meaning that no ship, peaceful, commercial or otherwise, can enter the area of the blockade for any reason.

...[C]ountries cannot use a blockade to deny the civilian population items essential to their survival.

Flotilla organizers seized on this last point to explain their reasons for trying to breach the blockade.

Gaza has no territorial waters, as it is not a country. Israel has sovereignty over the area up to 12 nautical miles from its coast. The Gaza blockade extends 20 nautical miles from the coast, or approximately 37 km.

A set of NGOs, including Amnesty, declared the blockade "illegal" in a report issued last year, but at no point do they describe why. Given that Gazans somehow manage to build water parks, shopping malls, amusement parks, museums, luxury hotels and restaurants, it seems that the argument that the blockade is denying the population essential goods is baseless.

So why is Israel afraid of little old ladies?

"Journalist" Mya Guernieri, who has been cheerleading the flotilla in various publications, sent out a Twitpic showing ladies of the flotilla with the caption

yes, these #freedomflotilla2 people really look like they're baying for blood, don't they? #sarcasm

So since people think that this is a convincing argument, I created a little graphic:

The Free Gaza article I am referring to is here. The entire paragraph, in context, says:

Even immoral and self-defeating acts of violence against Israeli civilians (such as some suicide bombings are) cannot be equated with the daily humiliations, terror, and death that Israel inflicts on Palestinians by deliberate policy. Contrary to its presentation in the mainstream media, this conflict is neither a righteous war against evil Arab terrorists, nor a religious or ethnic dispute between two opposing and equally self-justified groups of people. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is the struggle of two irreconcilable and unequal causes: the struggle of an oppressed people for freedom, justice, and self-determination against their oppressors’ struggle to maintain (and even expand) their domination. Under these circumstances resistance is not only a right - it's a moral imperative.

The author is not talking about "non-violent resistance" in this segment.

The second photo is part of the cargo captured from the Francop ship which contained 320 tons of Iranian weapons.

(h/t Margie for the pic)

"Millions of naked tourists visiting mosques in Turkey"

Saudi Arabia's MBC channel quotes a Turkish sheikh as complaining about the fact that large Turkish mosques are now tourist attractions, and millions of half-naked women (the headline says "naked") are now descending to the holy places.

The sheikh of the mosque of Suleiman the Magnificent said that some mosques are starting to enforce dress codes, including veils, to stop this problem.

He also says that Turkish women are eager to wear the veil in the streets, even as they are banned from wearing it in parliament.

The sheikh, who is a member of Erdogan's political party, also said that Turkey under Erdogan has regained its prestige and standing in the Arab and Muslim world. He said that its leadership was behind the Mavi Marmara, and made martyrs for the Palestinian cause, and for Islamic Jerusalem.

Flotidiots already planning rally in New York for any "emergencies"

The people behind the "Audacity of Hope" boat have already set up a Facebook event page anticipating a violent confrontation at sea.

IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ: Time still TBD, dates above are *not* definite.

** Depending on the time we hear about the emergency, we have developed the following schedule for everyone to turn out **

If there is an emergency with the U.S. Boat to Gaza and/or the Freedom Flotilla, we call on people of conscience to gather at 47th Street in Times Square.

At 5:00 pm if word goes out before 12 noon.

At 5:00 pm the next day if word goes out after 12 noon.

At 1:00 pm on Saturday if word goes out after noon on Friday or in the morning of Saturday.

At 1:00 pm on Sunday if word goes out after noon on Saturday or in the morning of Sunday.

From Times Square, we will march to the Israeli Consulate at 42nd Street and Second Avenue. Depending on particular events, we may make stops at consulates or UN missions of other countries involved in the flotilla, as well as the offices of our congressional representatives and theU.S. State Department.

Anticipating violence - or planning to provoke it?

New "Day of Rage" in Egypt

From Al Ahram:

Clashes erupted in front of the Ministry of Interior last night, as well as the Balloon Theatre in Agouza, between the martyrs’ families and police forces. The clashes soon turned violent as police forces assaulted the protestors with tear gas in front of the ministry.

Police forces continued their tear gas salvo in a bid to break the demonstrations up until 7:30 in the morning, when they withdrew from Mohamed Mahmoud Street, where most of last night’s and today’s violence occurred.

Egypt’s ministry of interior had issued an official statement earlier yesterday denying any violence in their crackdown on the demonstration.

Though there are no confirmed reports of any fatalities at this stage, there are dozens injured, including Amr Osama, who was treated in one of the many ambulances made available in Tahrir Square and has now been released.

According to official medical sources, one hospital has 52 injured, 46 of which are police, and another hospital has 8 injured.

It all started Tuesday night, with clashes between families of martyrs and state security forces, some say at the Balloon Theatre. Hundreds of demonstrators also threw stones at the interior ministry of Egypt today in downtown Cairo and accused the police of “killing their sons.”

Security forces cordoned the area and according to eyewitnesses fired tear gas bombs and shots into the air to disperse protesters.

Police chased protesters towards Tahrir square and fired tear gas bombs at thousands of protesters.

A statement released by the interior ministry of Egypt denied that police attacked protesters and claimed they were thugs.

However, Egyptian TV channels Al Hayat and On TV aired live footage of the clashes. Tahrir Square and surrounding downtown streets looked like a battlefield covered with a smoky cloud of tear gas all night through.

Ambulances could be seen rushing into Tahrir Square, as well as volunteer doctors to support the injured in the square.

Thousands of demonstrators rushed in solidarity with protesters in Tahrir Square as violence escalated and chants could be heard "People want the regime to fall," "People want Field Marshal Tantawi out," and "Down with the interior ministry."

The famous, central square, which had witnessed Egypt’s 18-day historic revolution, is currently not open for traffic. Some 2,000 angry demonstrations shouting slogans against the regime, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and brigadier Tantawi himself are in the square. “People want the brigadier to step down,” is the most heard chant in Tahrir Square this morning.

Meanwhile, a prominent Egyptian cleric has declared that the people killed in the Egyptian protests earlier this year are not martyrs.

Sheikh Osman said the rebels were demanding democratic rule and that this is not a religious issue. They were against injustice and deprivation, but that has nothing to do with Islam. "We ask God to forgive them."

This may be the same Sheikh Osman who declared two years ago that Egypt can slaughter millions of pigs to head off a swine flu scare - because all pigs were just Jews cursed by Allah.

Bibi starts Arabic-subtitled YouTube channel to answer questions

From the Israeli Prime Minister YouTube channel:

I especially invite people from the Arab countries to send questions. I'd like to hear what you have to say, and I'd like to hear what you have to say in response.

I can't wait for Erdogan, Gaddafi, Nasrallah and Assad to follow suit.

" 'Right-wing EoZ' has co-opted 'Nothing' "

A site called Lavie Tidhar issued a "press release" because of my post about Nothing:

A WAR OVER NOTHING?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
28 June 2011
TEL AVIV –
An Android phone application continues to cause fierce debate in the Middle East.
“How many times have you paid nothing and got something back? Now we offer you a unique opportunity: pay something and get Nothing back! This application does absolutely Nothing. By purchasing it you will help us prove that Nothing is indeed worth Something!”
Nothing – which retails for $0.99 – was developed by Israeli programmer, musician and author Nir Yaniv. In the few days still its release it has already sold in the double figures and was featured on prominent Israeli news site Ynet. One customer described it as “the best App I ever got. It does exactly what it promised to do! Nothing!”
Nothing Pro, retailing for $9.00 and described as “lighter in size, easier on both the memory and the CPU, and it does Nothing way more smoothly and efficiently than the regular consumer version,” has since been released.
Now the tongue-in-cheek application – described by Ynet readers as, variously, “the stupidest thing I have ever seen” and “pure genius” – and resembling British artist Martin Creed’s controversial, Turner Prize-winning piece Work 227: The lights going on and off – has been co-opted in the Middle East’s always-bitter political conflict.
Right-wing blog The Elder of Ziyon has used the application to attack Palestinian politics, writing, in part, “I think that we can expand on this concept. for example, a deluxe edition of Nothing that shows: Every Palestinian Arab concession since 1988; Every example of Mahmoud Abbas’ “moderation”; Every Palestinian Arab “human rights group” that calls for an unconditional release of Gilad Shalit; Every benefit that a Palestinian Arab state would bring to the world,” and continuing further in that vein.
When reached for comment, a bemused Mr. Yaniv said, “I never dreamed that anyone would use the app for political purposes. In retrospect, given the nature of the internet, I should have known better.”

The developer himself wrote about my post:

Nothing serves, somehow, to deliver right-wing propaganda. This, was not of my doing!

LOL!

Report: Jordan opposed to unilateral declaration of "Palestine" (updated)

Palestine Today and many other Arab media are reporting that Jordan has announced that it is against the PLO going to the UN in September to be declared a state.

A government source confirmed that Jordan will oppose the Palestinian decision to go to the General Assembly of the United Nations to declare a Palestinian state unilaterally in September.

The source added that Jordan's national interest would be hurt if the Palestinian National Authority declared a state, particularly with regard to issues of refugees, water, Jerusalem and borders.

The source said that the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state is in the Israeli interest because Israel is interested in the establishment of a Palestinian state "within the boundaries of the separation wall" and this means there is a limit to the Palestinian state with Jordan, which was rejected by Jordan in the final.

I think that the last paragraph means that if Israel closes off the border with "Palestine" then it will become Jordan's problem to give them jobs, currency and so forth, a responsibility that Jordan does not want.

UPDATE: YNet has it in English with more details.

Egyptian security looking for Palestinian Arab terrorists

Palestine Press Agency quotes Egyptian newspaper "Seventh Day" as saying that Egyptian security forces are on the lookout for four Palestinian Arabs who sneaked into Egypt.

The four are members of the "Soldiers of Allah" group.

An Egyptian security official said "The Palestinians who entered Egypt photographed natural ga plants, the pyramids and tourist areas in the provinces of Giza, Luxor, Aswan and Hurghada They also threatened to execute a number of prominent politicians and businessmen who are perceived as being anti-Islam."

The Guardian's bias in covering Sheikh Raed Salah

From The Guardian:

Sheikh Raed Salah, a leading Palestinian activist, has been detained in London after he entered the UK while banned from the country.

Salah, the leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, was detained on Tuesday night by police.

The home secretary, Theresa May, said officials from the UK Border Agency were taking steps to remove Salah from the country. She said an investigation had been launched into how he managed to get into the UK.

...Sarah Colborne, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), insisted that Salah was the leader of a legitimate political organisation. He rejected all forms of racism, including anti-semitism, she said.

"Sheikh Raed Salah is the leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, the largest movement for Palestinians in Israel," Colborne said.

"This is a legitimate organisation which Israel has never moved to ban.

"Raed Saleh regularly speaks at venues across Israel where he has considerable support amongst the Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up a fifth of the population.

"Sheikh Raed has been elected as mayor of his home town, Um al-Fahm, three times. He has never been convicted of anti-semitism in Israel.

"Before coming to Britain, he faced horrific allegations of anti-semitism, which he completely refuted."

This article is a perfect example of media bias.

The entire article is 13 paragraphs long - and of those 13, fully 6 are given to someone defending Raed Salah.

There is nothing in the article that mentions any possible reason why Salah might be considered undesirable. It doesn't mention why he has been arrested and imprisoned in Israel, or his ties to Hamas, or his regular incitement against Jews (every week or so he confidently declares that Israel plans to demolish the Al Aqsa Mosque, trying as hard as he can to inflame Muslim passions and start a new intifada.) To the Guardian, he is simply a "Palestinian activist."

Even worse, the Guardian allows an apologist for Salah to assert that he is not anti-semitic.

Just one problem:

He is.

And it doesn't take too much effort to prove that.

From Ha'aretz, January 29, 2008:

The head of the Islamic Movement in Israel's Northern Branch, Ra'ad Salah, was charged Tuesday in Jerusalem Magistrate's Court with incitement to violence and racism, over a fiery speech he gave a year ago in which he invoked the blood libel.

During the speech at the February 16, 2007 protest in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi Joz, Salah accused Jews of using children's blood to bake bread.

"We have never allowed ourselves to knead [the dough for] the bread that breaks the fast in the holy month of Ramadan with children's blood," he said. "Whoever wants a more thorough explanation, let him ask what used to happen to some children in Europe, whose blood was mixed in with the dough of the [Jewish] holy bread."

"Great God, is this a religion?" he asked. "Is this what God would want? God will deal with you yet for what you are doing."

The rally was called to protest the planned Mughrabi bridge construction in Jerusalem's Old City. Addressing the 1,000-strong crowd and assembled press, Salah accused Israel of attempting to rebuild the Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount while drenched in Arab blood.

"Whoever wants to build a house of God should not do so while our blood is still on his clothes, on his doorposts, in his food, in his drink, being passed along from one terrorist general to the next terrorist general," he said.

Following the speech and Friday prayers, the crowd began rioting and throwing stones at police. According to the prosecution, Salah's speech constituted a "call to commit acts of violence and encouragement of acts of violence, which given the content and context, there was a real possibility that it could lead to acts of violence."

The prosecution said Salah made the remarks "with the objective of inciting racism."

In an interview with Ashams radio, Salah said in response that, "I am willing to repeat before the court all the things I said at the Friday sermon in Wadi Joz or any other meeting with journalists."

"Our statements are the products of conviction, and I will not recant," he continued.

Salah was released from prison in 2005 after serving some two years for having contact with a foreign agent, as well as financial crimes related to the Islamic Movement.

This is not only a problem with the Guardian. No other newspaper coverage of Salah regularly mentions his blood libel, which is a piece of information that should be attached to his name every single time it is mentioned in a news report.

But The Guardian deserves to be singled out here for an article that is completely void of context and that is nearly 50% apologetics for a terrorist supporter, regular inciter to violence and an unabashed anti-semite.