Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, July 02, 2011

Flotilla follies continue!

Things keep getting funnier in Flotilla Funland.

Greece arrested the captain of the "Audacity of Hope" for endangering the lives of the passengers by going out without permission.

Remember how the flotidiots accused Israel of sabotaging the Irish boat in the harbor in Turkey? This accusation even made it into the Huffington Post as a headline story. Well, it turns out that there was no sabotage, as Turkey's Hurriyet reported.

Here's an unintentionally hilarious video that shows the ridiculous self-righteousness of the flotidiots as they try to convince the world that their Cause is so Righteous that any Laws that stop them are Immoral.

Hamas is exercising all the political muscle that any terror group can muster:

The Hamas movement on Friday denounced Greece after its coastguard intercepted a US vessel which tried to sail to Gaza to break Israel's blockade of the coastal strip.

In a statement issued by its political leadership in Damascus, the group described the action as "inhumane" and said Greece had played into Israeli hands.

"This is inhumane action, is contrary to international regulations and norms," said the statement by Hamas, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

"Barring this aid from reaching the Gaza Strip is done as a result of pressure imposed by the Zionist occupiers," referring to Israel.

Hamas also called on the EU parliament and human rights organizations "to put pressure on the Greek government" to allow a planned flotilla of aid boats to set sail from Greece to Gaza.

Well, both the Israel haters from the West and those from the Islamic world agree that there is nothing more important than having a half dozen ships deliver letters that have already been emailed to Gazans. Who can disagree?

(h/t Israel Muse, Palmer, ehwhy)

Flotilla follies!

Lots of fun happening in Greece today!

HuffPo is reasonably up to date:

Greece on Friday banned ships heading to the Gaza Strip from leaving Greek ports, and a vessel carrying several dozen American protesters which left port without permission was ordered to return.

A flotilla of nine Greek and foreign-flagged vessels and several hundred activists have said they want to break Israel's sea blockade and deliver aid to the Palestinian territory.

Greece's Civil Protection Ministry said coast guard authorities had been ordered to take "all appropriate measures" to implement the ban. It also said the "broader maritime area of the eastern Mediterranean will be continuously monitored by electronic means for tracking, where applicable, the movements of the ships allegedly participating" in the flotilla.

Protest organizers said one of the boats, dubbed the Audacity of Hope and carrying several dozen Americans, had left the port of Perama near Athens Friday afternoon, but had been intercepted by coast guards on inflatable speedboats about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) out at sea.

"We're not moving because they put one of the (boats) in front of us, so we are stationary," vessel spokesperson Jane Hirschmann told reporters in Athens.

The Merchant Marine Ministry refused to give any details of the incident, saying only that the protest boat had not left the "general port area."

Head protest organizer Vangelis Pissias angrily condemned the ban and argued Greece had no legal grounds to block a privately leased ship from leaving one of its ports.

"We condemn the policy of the Greek government and its last actions ... The efforts to sail will continue," Pissias said.

A Greek government official said the boat had set sail without the permission required of all boats to leave port, and that the Coast Guard had asked it to return. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the situation was still evolving.

The tweets from the flotidiots are priceless, as they pretend to be heroic by singing "We Shall Overcome" towards the Greek authorities (who, they never fail to point out, are armed!)

Their righteous indignation at being stopped from breaking maritime law is amusing, to say the least. For people who love to talk about "international law" they sure seem to be enamored of breaking laws themselves.

But, of course, they are pure and good and moral, so they are allowed to.

I tweeted to them a suggestion - perhaps they should sail from Syria next time, so as not to worry about pesky Westerners stopping their party. It would be considered an act of war, but that's a minor point - they want to destroy Israel anyway.

Sky News first Western outlet to film Syrian violence in protests (video)

Sometimes, one can find real reporting among the news sites:

Also they quote opposition claims:

These are more details the organisation have given us about the repression they face in their effort to bring about change in Syria.

They claim to have the names of 1450 dead civilians, among them 91 children, 41 women, and 193 soldiers who they claim were killed for refusing to obey orders to open fire on protestors.

They claim between 5000 and 16000 have been detained and ‘tens were returned dead with torture marks on their bodies to their families, many are missing and we have no idea if they are alive or dead.’

Oppostion groups claim the regime returns the mutilated bodies of dead and tortured teenagers to instil fear in their opponents. A number of chilling videos of the bodies of dead children and youths have been posted on YouTube in recent months corroborating these claims.
And they have shocking claims about the injured.

‘Most of them don't get proper medical care , because they're afraid of being arrested or mishandled by security forces in hospitals, some of the injured who went to public hospitals were killed there.’

Video: Illegal construction of a mosque by ancient Jewish cemetery

This past week I mentioned that Jewish graves at the Mount of Olives were vandalized by Arabs.

JTA also reported in that link, "At the same time, local Arabs began illegally expanding a mosque to within 15 feet of the grave of Menachem Begin."

Here is video of that mosque being built as the Arab workers ignoring the court order to stop:

The mainstream Israeli English language media is not reporting on this outrage; only Arutz-7.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

New posters: "Progressive," "Liberal" and "Humanitarian"

Commenter Don gave the idea for the first, thanks to another comment by Challah Hu Akbar, and I ran with it:

Egyptian woman lodges complaint over "virginity test"

From Al Masry al Youm:

Three months after news surfaced that military police conducted virginity tests on female prostesters, Samira Ibrahim, one of the victims, has lodged an official complaint with the military prosecution.

Following her complaint, Ibrahim was brought in on Tuesday by the military prosecution to give a detailed account of her experience. She shared some of her story with Al-Masry Al-Youm.

Seventeen girls were among the 173 protesters arrested on 9 March as the military police forcibly cleared protesters from Tahrir Square. Many detainees reported being tortured, but some women, who were released four days later, announced in the media that they were forced to undergo virginity tests during their incarceration.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), Egypt’s de-facto rulers since the president resigned in February, denied the allegations, but a CNN report in May quoted a senior general, speaking on condition of anonymity, as admitting to the practice.

The general said that the tests aimed at protecting the military from rape accusations by the girls later by proving that they were not virgins when they were first brought in. “None of them were virgins,” he added, according to CNN’s report.

Infuriated by the claim, Ibrahim and many of the other girls who shared her ordeal say that they are willing to take another virginity test to prove the general wrong.

After being arrested in Tahrir Square, Ibrahim was taken to the Egyptian museum with other captured protesters.

“As they arrested us, they were saying that we are accused of prostitution, and when I tried to object I was electrocuted,” Ibrahim told Al-Masry Al-Youm.

The women say that they were verbally abused by the military as they were held in the Egyptian museum for six hours. Military police insulted them and accused them of sexual activity inside Tahrir Square, the women say, though they say that the men arrested with them were tortured more severely.

The men were also electrocuted in “sensitive areas”, according to Ibrahim.

Mohamed Adel, one of those arrested on 9 March, says that the girls were sexually harassed by officers in the military prosecution.

After hours of abuse, the virginity tests started.

Ibrahim’s story goes like this. The girls were asked to separate into two rows: one for the virgins and one for the non-virgins. The girls who said they were virgins were then taken to a room one by one. All the windows and the doors of the room were open and there were officers watching inside and outside the room as a male, whom they suspect was a non-medical officer, conducted the virginity tests.

“When I asked for a female to conduct the test and for the other males in the room to leave, I was electrocuted,” says Ibrahim.

Many of the girls say that they still haven’t completely recovered from the emotional damage of the experience. They were then transferred to a center for military prosecution and most were released four days later.

“When I came out of prison, I was completely destroyed. I had to go see a psychiatrist,” says Ibrahim.

Since her release, Ibrahim has kept the virginity test a secret from her friends and family, fearing that they might not believe her or that they would stop her engaging in political activity. However, she says that she was not afraid to issue the complaint, and is not afraid that her family will notice if she talks to the media.

“The worst that can happen already has,” she says.

Ibrahim says that she has been receiving threatening phone calls since she made the complaint, telling her that if she goes through with it she will serve her suspended one-year sentence, which she received before her release in March.

The military government will investigate the military police. Sounds real encouraging.But you have to give her props; she's got guts.

After proving it is worthless, UNDOF mandate extended

From YNet:

The Security Council on Thursday extended the mandate of the United Nations force monitoring the ceasefire in the Golan Heights between Israel and Syria for another six months.

According to a UN press release, the resolution extending UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) mandate was adopted unanimously. The statement said the UN Security Council was "deeply concerned that recent events have put the long-held ceasefire in jeopardy."

UNDOF did nothing to stop Syria from sending their people to the Israeli border on May 15 and June 5, pretending that they were "Palestinians."

To their credit, the US and Germany noted this. From the UN press release:

Speaking in explanation of position after the vote, Council members noted that the renewal deviated from previous practice, with several stressing that the events of 15 May and 5 June were the most serious since UNDOF’s creation and could not go unremarked. Representatives of the United States and Germany, among others, expressed concern that the Syrian Government had played a role in those demonstrations, and suggested that it seemed willing to risk an international conflict to divert attention from its own domestic demonstrations.

The UN being the UN, of course, those concerns were buried by Russia and China:

A number of speakers highlighted the Secretary-General’s recent call for the Council to express itself on Syria, suggesting that such expression was long overdue. Stressing that the situation in Syria was not sustainable, the representative of the United Kingdom said delegation would continue to press for a resolution on the situation in Syria. However, the representative of the Russian Federation pointed out that Syria was not on the Council’s agenda, while China’s delegate said the Syria question was an internal affair and should be left to the parties concerned.

Ron Prosor, the new Israeli ambassador to the UN, spoke:

RON PROSOR ( Israel) stressed that the international community must continue to support UNDOF’s mandate, underlining the need for all parties fully to respect the disengagement line. Indeed, given the regional instability, the need for doing so had never been clearer. As for recent events, he recalled that on 15 May a large organized group of protesters had torn through the defence wall and engaged with the Israel Defence Force near Majal Chams. On 5 June, hundreds had sought to breach the disengagement line with Israel, trying to break through the fence, he said, adding that they had also thrown Molotov cocktails and used other modes of violence.

Noting that the Syrian regime had not prevented demonstrators from reaching the line nor stopped their attempt to breach the defence walls, he said its actions were a blatant attempt to distract attention from its own internal actions. Indeed, the regime’s fingerprints “are all over this process”, he said, adding that one need not be a forensic detective to see them. He said Bashar al-Assad was the only ophthalmologist he knew who was incapable of ensuring the vision of his own people, adding that the Syrian regime should not be allowed to behave in such a way just because it did not want the cries of its own citizens to be heard.

The week in the "world's largest prison"

Gazans enjoyed a weekend at the beach:

Nearly 8000 Gazans traveled between Gaza and Egypt.

342 Gazans (mostly patients and families) went into Israel.

Nearly 30,000 tons of goods were unloaded in Gaza from Israel.

UNRWA continued the "Summer Games" activities for children, which included bouncy castles, pools and trampolines:

(h/t Khaled Abu Toameh for top set of photos, read his article.)

Quick review of previous voyages to Gaza

You know how the flotilla organizers are claiming that they would give their aid directly to the people of Gaza and not go through Hamas?

It is a little hard to believe.

August, 2008: A British citizen who arrived on a Free Gaza boat gets a "Palestinian passport" from Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud Zahar.

August 2008: Hamas leader Haniyeh shakes hands with Free Gaza representative Paul Larudee as other boat passengers look on.

August 2008: Hamas' Ismail Haniyeh presents medals of honor to the members of the Free Gaza Movement that arrived in Gaza. In his home.

October, 2008: Free Gaza passenger - and Nobel Peace Prize winner - Mairead McGuire accepts a gift from Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

October 2009: Veterans for Peace members meet with Ismail Haniyeh

Date Unknown: Vittorio Arrigoni, of the Free Gaza movement, having a laugh with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Date Unknown: Viva Palestina leader George Galloway meets with Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.

Hedy Epstein - a disgrace (A Soldier's Mother)

A very well-written post from A Soldier's Mother:

My message to Hedy Epstein as she sails to Gaza:

Your participation, in the flotilla brings shame to you and worse is a betrayal of your family, those that died in Auschwitz. It is hard to comprehend how distorted your view of life, of Judaism, and of Israel must be to bring you to the point that you sail against your own people. Yes, you’ll say you sail for human rights, for humanity and some such nonsense but last year’s flotilla – and very likely this one, displayed the worst of humanity.

There is no humanitarian crisis – so says the Red Cross just two months ago. What arrogance you have to think you know better. You, who make your life in America, dare to tell us how we should live in this land, in this area.

Had there been an Israel when your family was taken to Auschwitz, Israel would have saved them – as we have saved Jews all over the world. No, we are not going to be victims ever again, nor are we interested in making the Palestinians victims.

Read the whole thing.

(h/t Israel Matzav)

Anti-semitic French "comedian" releases "Holocaust comedy"

From Philosemitism:

The film poster shows French comic actor Dieudonné, dressed in military uniform and hilarious, feeding a tiny portion of food [is it food?] to a hungry man dressed as a concentration camp prisoner begging for something to eat. The subtitle of the film refers to "the first popular comedy about the Holocaust". According to the poster, the film has been preemptively banned from cinemas and video outlets in France. It will be sold through Dieudonné's website.

Dieudonné ran for the presidential elections 2009 under the label of the "anti-Zionist party".
According to L'Express magazine, the comedian, who is still very popular in France, claimed in a press conference that the goal of the film is to highlight the role of Zionism in slavery in Europe.

STL hands down indictments of Hezbollah members - one a US citizen

From Gulf News:

The UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) probing the assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri on Thursday issued its long-awaited indictment and accused four Hezbollah members of the murder, Lebanese officials and media said on Thursday.

"I will now examine the indictment and the warrants to take the appropriate measures," Lebanese prosecutor Saeed Mirza was quoted as telling reporters following a meeting with a three-member delegation from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

The Daily Star lists them:

Following are profiles of Lebanese reportedly mentioned in the indictment by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. An STL delegation met with Lebanon's state prosecutor Thursday, reportedly handing him a copy of the Lebanon portion of the indictment which includes four names.

Mustafa Badreddine

Mustafa Badreddine, the brother in-law of assassinated Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, is the prime suspect in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14, 2005. Badreddine replaced Mughniyeh as Hezbollah’s chief operations officer after he was killed in a mysterious explosion in Syria on Feb. 12, 2008. The 50-year old is a member of the Hezbollah Shura Council. He was arrested in Kuwait in 1990, broke out of prison and escaped to the Iranian Embassy in Kuwait, and Iran’s revolutionary guard escorted him to Lebanon.

Badreddine, also known as Elias Saab, who is a little older then Mughniyeh, was prior to the 1982 war with Israel in Lebanon an officer in the Palestinian Fatah elite “Force 17” in Beirut. He was the trainer of Mughniyeh in “Force 17” in sabotage and bombs construction. After Fatah was expelled from Beirut, in October of 1982, they joined together the newly formed Shiite militia - the “Oppressed on Earth” supported by Iran, which became soon the base for the Hezbollah.

Salim Ayyash

Salim Ayyash, 48, is accused of leading the cell which executed the assassination of Hariri. He holds a U.S. passport and is a volunteer with the Lebanon’s Civil Defense.

Asad Sabra

No information is available at this time

Hasan Ainessi

No information is available at this time

Ya Libnan adds:

Salim al-Ayyash , also known as “Abu Salim,” is one of the four suspects named by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in its indictment of Hezbollah members in the murder of Lebanon’s former PM Rafik hariri who was assassinated on feb 14, 2005 in Beirut

Ayyash 48, is reportedly a dual citizen . He was born in south Lebanon but also acquired a U.S. passport. Confirmed details of how he acquired US citizenship were not available .

Ayyash, is also a member of Hezbollah which the United States considers terrorist organization.

In addition to Ayyash 3 other Hezbollah members were indicted : Mustafa Badreddine, Hasan Aineysseh and Assad Sabra .

While Badreddine appears to be the prime suspect for masterminding the assassination of Hariri , Ayyash is reportedly accused of leading the cell which executed the assassination. Ayyash was reportedly helped by Hassan Aineysseh and Assad Sabra in Hariri’s murder.

Ayyash is considered a hero in Hezbollah party circles for his role in the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, when he was among the leaders who helped repel the Israeli advance across southern Lebanon.

Will Ilan Grapel be released?

Arabic paper Palestine Times quotes Yediot Aharonot as saying that Egypt will release purported "spy" Ilan Grapel in the next two days.

Anonymous sources claimed that there has been fruitful communications between Israel and Egypt on the matter.

The US has also been involved in the negotiations.

Official sources would not confirm the story.