Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Egyptian fatwa: Kill all Israelis in Egypt

An Egyptian cleric issued a fatwa to kill any Israeli who resides within the Egyptian territory, in response to the killing of an officer and two soldiers from the army near the Egyptian border with Israel.

Dr. Salah Sultan, professor of Islamic law at Cairo University and Chairman of the World Federation of Muslim Scholars, told El Chorouk that Egyptians have the right to kill any Zionist attacking him, after Israel ended the Camp David accords by killing Egyptian army soldiers from a military aircraft yesterday.

The newspaper quoted Sultan during a protest outside the Israeli Embassy in Cairo as saying that "the Egyptian people will not differentiate anymore between the Egyptian and Palestinian blood."

Do you think he is including the Israeli Arabs who have continued to vacation in Sharm el-Sheikh?

Because if not, then he should clarify his statement and say he only means Jews.

A Jihadist doctor dies in Gaza

From Ma'an:

A Gaza doctor died on Wednesday night after suffering from an electric shock, a spokesman from the emergency services said.

Maher Dalloul, 36, was electrocuted while turning on an electric generator in his house in Gaza City.

Dalloul had worked as a surgeon at Ash-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip, emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya said.

Just another tragic story from Gaza.

Except for the fact that he was a member of Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades.

From the English Al Qassam website:

Al Qassam Brigades mourns the death of Maher Dalul

As Al Aqsa Intifada against the occupation assault on the Gaza Strip continues, Ezzeddeen Al-Qassam Brigades has its best men to be in the playground of death to defend their people from any attack by the enemy ... Today, Al-Qassam Brigades mourn the death of the Mujahed: Maher Said Dalul [38 years old]

The Mujahed martyred of electric shock on 18-08-2011. He was martyred after a long bright path of jihad, hard work, struggle and sacrifice.

Al Qassam Brigades mourn the death of the Mujahed, reaffirms the commitment and determination to continue the resistance against the belligerent occupation forces.

Finally, may Allah (swt) accept him and his blessed efforts for the path of Jihad and may Allah grant his family patience and solace for his lose.

Dalul even had a nom de guerre, Abu Anas.

Being a doctor doesn't mean you are not a terrorist or terrorist supporter.

Lebanon thwarts UNSC condemnation of Eilat attacks

From Ya Libnan (Saturday):

Lebanon blocked the U.N. Security Council on Friday from condemning a series of terrorist attacks in Israel.

The United States had circulated a draft press statement to the Security Council that would have condemned the attacks by gunmen who crossed into southern Israel from Egypt on Thursday and killed eight Israelis. Israel blamed an armed Palestinian group from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and launched retaliatory airstrikes.

During a closed council meeting, diplomats said Lebanon refused to sign on to the statement, which requires the support of all 15 council nations.

The U.S. deputy ambassador, Rosemary DiCarlo, told reporters afterward that the statement used “standard language on terrorist acts,” which the council has adopted many times.

“We think the council needs to speak out on this issue,” she said. “We find it regrettable that because of one delegation we couldn’t issue that in a timely way.”

Israeli U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor called the Security Council’s actions “outrageous,” calling it a “sad reminder that the United Nations is too often deaf and blind when it comes to acts of terror committed against the people of Israel.”

And what was the official reason that Lebanon refused to denounce a terror attack?

Kuwait News Agency tells us:

Lebanon and other Non-Aligned members on the Council, diplomats said, did not accept the use of "terrorist attacks" because the gunmen were after a military target - soldiers.

Hey, why should the truth enter into any UN decisions? It just gets in the way of its main job of condemning Israel.

And isn't it comforting to know that Hezbollah has full veto power at the UN Security Council?

(h/t Israel HaYom)

UN report proves Gazans lie to media

In my last post, I wrote that Ma'an credulously quoted a Gaza doctor who said that Israel was using new, advanced weapons that incinerated Gaza victims in a much more horrific fashion than in previous raids. As "proof," the doctor said "Israeli weapons made no distinction between women, children and the elderly, pointing out that a two-year-old toddler and a 13-year-old boy were among those killed in the latest escalation."

A UN report from OCHA shows that this 13 year old boy was killed by a Grad terror rocket that fell short, not Israeli fire:

Between Friday, 19 August and Sunday, 21 August, initial reports indicate that the Israeli Air Force carried out approximately 30 air strikes on the Gaza Strip, resulting in the killing of seven Palestinians, and the injury of approximately 30 additional Palestinians. Tank fire from Israel forces stationed along the border and at sea was also reported, without casualty or damage. During the same period, tens of rockets and mortars fired by Palestinian armed groups towards cities in southern Israel resulted in the death of one Israeli civilian and the injury of six, including a baby and a nine-yearold child. One Palestinian child, 13-years-old, was also killed, and six others injured, when a GRAD rocket fired by Palestinian armed groups fell short.

We've seen in the past that Palestinian Arab "eyewitnesses" will knowingly lie to the media, and this is yet another example. The question is why the media continues to report their lies with no skepticism at all.

Another recent example is Al Jazeera publishing an op-ed by a Gazan "eyewitness" who wrote:

On Thursday, and after a rough night full of Israeli air attacks on different locations in the Gaza Strip, we woke up to another hot Ramadan day which was interrupted by news about a shooting operation in Eilat, whereby five Israeli soldiers were killed and 36 others were injured.

The first obvious lie is that the Eilat attacks didn't kill 5 Israeli soldiers, but rather killed 6 Israeli civilians and two soldiers.

Far worse, though, is that this Gaza "eyewitness" is claiming that there were Israeli airstrikes over Wednesday night in Gaza preceding the terror attack - and there were none! Al Jazeera and other Arab media publish these lies without the slightest bit of embarrassment or interest in setting the record straight.

One other fact that becomes clear from reading the UN report: Israel's reaction to the terror attack was very limited. In fact, while Gaza terrorists shot some 100 Grad and Qassam rockets at Israeli civilians, Israel's response included only 30 airstrikes. Which means that by the bizarre definitions of the world human rights community, Gaza terror groups are guilty of using disproportionate force.

(h/t IsReal1948, Dan)

New, improved, deadlier Israeli weapons! Must be true - Gazans say so!

Ma'an shills a bit:

The head of an emergency ward in a Gaza City hospital said Monday that Israeli forces were using new, more brutal weapons against residents of the Gaza Strip.

On Thursday, Israeli forces began a four-day bombarded the coastal enclave killing 14 Palestinians and wounding dozens more in a series of airstrikes and drone attacks.

Dr Ayman As-Sahbani said patients were admitted with horrific injuries and that some bodies delivered to Al-Shifa Hospital were so badly burned they were unrecognizable.

He said Israeli weapons made no distinction between women, children and the elderly, pointing out that a two-year-old toddler and a 13-year-old boy were among those killed in the latest escalation.

Does this mean previous Israeli weapons did distinguish between women, children and the elderly?

This is simply a conspiracy theory dressed up in a doctor's clothes. Given that some 11 of the 14 killed in Gaza were in fact terrorists, and the others were human shields, the only point that can be made about Israeli weapons is that they surpassed their previous already-stellar record of avoiding civilians.

We've seen "car swarms" for years, and the bodies were pretty much toast in those cases as well. This doctor is just playing the usual game of trying to blame Israel for war crimes when, in fact, Israel's brief gaz operation was proportional, limited and deadly accurate.

See also this important followup.

YNet: Unknown group "Jihadi Resistance" claims Eilat attacks

From YNet:

An unfamiliar organization calling itself the "Jihadi Resistance" claimed responsibility for the terror attack in south Israel last Thursday, in which eight people were killed.

The organization's spokesperson claimed the operation's aim was to assassinate Defense Minister Ehud Barak, adding that the organization will release a video of the attack in the upcoming days. The report could not be verified.

I could not find any Arabic site mentioning this unless they were quoting Yediot, so I don't know where this original announcement can be found online.

So did this organization call YNet directly?

It would make life much easier if the media sites would give links the way bloggers do. They still act as if they hold a monopoly on information - and how to interpret it.

The new Egypt wonders whether bikinis will be allowed on beaches

Al Masry al Youm reports that nervous Egyptian tourism officials met with members of the Muslim Brotherhood about their plans to encourage tourism should they gain power.

Specifically, they were asking their positions on allowing tourists to drink liquor or wear bikinis on the beach.

Muslim Brotherhood Secretary Dr. Saad Katatni dodged the question about liquor, but he stated that "Egypt is a religious country and wearing bikinis should not be allowed in the public beaches."

However, he said that "there could be an alternative to this kind of question, and perhaps one can wear bathing suits in private beaches."

The tourism officials replied that without wine and bathing suits, there would be no tourism altogether in Egypt.

A follow-up meeting is planned.

It is interesting that the tourism representatives are worried enough about a Muslim Brotherhood takeover of Egypt to initiate such a meeting to begin with.

Israel is Xanax for the Arabs (Now Lebanon)

An editorial in Now Lebanon:

The reaction to the investigation into the February 2005 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in general, and in particular the indictments handed down to the four alleged Hezbollah members accused of carrying out the crime, is arguably the most exquisite distillation of the Arab obsession with the conspiracy.

Had there been video footage of Nasrallah and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad jointly flicking the detonator switch as Hariri’s motorcade sped past the St. Georges Hotel on that fateful day, we would still believe they were Israeli lookalikes. Israel is our security blanket, our Xanax—call it what you will. We are a people who don’t want to consider any alternative to a safe but ultimately stunting worldview that casts Tel Aviv as the villain. Buying into Israel as the bogeyman is the drug we take to assure ourselves all is well.

When the March 14 coalition demands that Hezbollah surrender its weapons because it wants to move forward and build a country in which the state controls all arms, at best it is accused of hiding behind a clearly naïve argument—one that connects Lebanese security from Israeli attack to the deterrence created by the party’s armed wing—and at worst of being a key pawn in a fiendish Western stratagem to destroy the Resistance.

Anti-Western conspiracy theorists will say that the million Lebanese who took to the streets on March 14, 2005 did not force the Syrian army out of their country; the Americans did. It couldn’t have happened without them. And yet they will have no truck with an argument that suggests that Hezbollah would not be the party it is without Iran. Both are true to a greater or lesser degree, but the latter is perceived as morally stronger because it has Israel in its sights.

The Resistance is a pure, noble and brave institution, committed to Lebanon’s national integrity, ready to defend its southern border from foreign—read: Israeli—infection. The party and its supporters will laugh off suggestions that it is first and foremost a powerful asset in Iran’s regional standoff with Israel and the West. This is nonsense, we are told. It is a theory the West would have us believe, a conspiracy within a conspiracy, if you will. As one NOW Lebanon reader commented last week in defense of Nasrallah and his party, “Hezbollah is our pride, our Honor, and our [sic] Lebanon’s Liberators.” It is a mantra that tells part of the story.

Who needs the rest? Who cares about the decades of Arab authoritarianism, corruption and repression? This is explained away as our chronic condition, our lot in life, one that is somehow easier to deal with if the ever-present specter of Israel hovering in the wings is ready to rush on stage like a pantomime villain. To look inside ourselves would be too painful.

Hamas rips me off!

A few months ago, after Bin Laden was killed, I made a poster:

Now I see that a similar billboard is being put up in Gaza!

A recently erected martyrdom poster honouring Osama Bin Laden and Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin adorns a main street in Rafah near to the Egyptian border on August 21, 2011 in Rafah, Gaza

How dare Hamas take my idea equating two of the most prominent terrorist organizations!

Even worse, how dare they spit in the face of all those oh-so-educated Western Middle East experts who know without a doubt that Hamas is pragmatic and potentially peaceful with Al Qaeda is intransigent and incorrigible!

One more dead terrorist

I have noted and listed the names showing that, according to the PCHR, 10 out of the 13 people killed by the IDF in Gaza since Thursday were terrorists, and the other 3 were human shields who were right with them when they were killed.

Hamas' Al Qassam website claims that 15 were killed by Israel. And they list one Hamas member who was killed, who was not on the PCHR list:

Ashraf Azzam, 31, killed Friday.

So it is possible that the IDF was even more impressive in its accuracy of killing terrorists - 11 out of 14, or 78%, an almost unbelievable number for urban warfare. (If there was a 15th, I cannot find any mention of it.)

Terrorists count up their rocket tallies

The PRC says it shot 101 rockets and mortars towards Israel since Thursday.

Islamic Jihad says it shot 17 Grad rockets, and 9 "107" missiles and 22 mortars to Israel.

Hamas, after initially claiming to have shot a few missiles, reversed itself and now is not claiming any.

The PFLP says it shot 13 rockets and 12 mortars on Saturday and Sunday.

Terror groups have always been proud of their rocket totals.

I'm not certain if the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades from Fatah fired any.

It looks as if the tallies aren't final yet....two new rockets were fired Monday evening.

When masked jihadists talk - people listen

A photo from Islamic Jihad's press conference yesterday:

Surprise! PA postpones elections again!

PA president-for-life Mahmoud Abbas has just announced that the local elections that were planned for October 22 are being postponed indefinitely.

The reasons? Here's the doubletalk:

To contribute to efforts to end the division and achieve national reconciliation and unity, and support of national and Arab efforts to end the division and achieve reconciliation and unity which are national goals, and provide the atmosphere to achieve this, and to give opportunity to the Central Election Commission to complete readiness for elections in all provinces of the country, and on the powers conferred upon us, and upon the necessities of the higher interest and the public interest.

See? It is in the public interest to delay elections as long as possible. Because, after all, why should the public have a say in who is going to govern them?

And these are only the local elections. Elections to decide the actual leaders of the PA are not even on the drawing board.

Iranian sponsored anti-Israel march in London (updated)

From Iran's PressTV:

Hundreds of British nationals, including Muslims, civil and anti-war activists, and anti-Zionist Jews have taken part in the annual Al-Quds Day demonstration in London.

The demonstrators gathered at Portland Place, outside BBC Radio theatre, to protest against the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Afterwards, demonstrators marched through central London to Trafalgar Square where they listened to speeches addressing the Palestinian issue.

Demonstrators carried Palestinian and Hezbollah flags and various anti-Zionist placards reading “Zionism is racism”, “freedom for Palestine”, “end occupation”, “end the killing”, “end the Israeli Apartheid”, “stop funding genocide”, “right vs. might”, “63 years of occupation must end”, “silence is complicity” and “boycott Israel”.

Moreover, the Pro-Palestinian demonstrators chanted: “we are all Hezbollah”, “end the occupation now”, “Zionism terrorism”, “we are all Palestinians”.

There are a few videos on YouTube showing the event; here are a couple of screen shots:

Notice the sign above?

I guess MJ Rosenberg is right - they're not trying to delegitimize Israel. They're just trying to destroy it.

(Al Quds Day is an Iranian holiday created by Ayatollah Khomeini. It takes place this coming Friday, the last Friday of Ramadan.)

UPDATE: More from Richard Millett who was there:

Report: Egypt identified three of the Eilat terrorists

From Al Masry al Youm:

Egyptian authorities have identified three of the people responsible for carrying out a terrorist attack in Israel, just north of Eilat, on Thursday, in which seven Israelis were killed, according to an Egyptian security source.

The same source added that one of the men identified is a leader of terrorist cells in Sinai, while another is a fugitive who owns an ammunition factory.

It is unclear whether "identified" means "caught."

Also:

The source also gave details of an attack by Israeli security forces that left three Egyptians dead on Thursday. One army officer and two police officers were killed when an Israeli helicopter crossed the Egyptian border at mark no. 79, fired two missiles and then hovered over the Egyptian checkpoint, firing its machine guns, said the source.

I've seen reports saying that the IDF accidentally killed between 3 and 5 Egyptians.

I have not seen their names. I have not seen any news about their funerals.

I have also not seen the Egyptian press mention any soldier being killed by the terrorists themselves, including by suicide belts, something the Israeli media reported on.

Al Masry al Youm also has an interesting detailed report on the situation in the Sinai:

Ayoub and his followers believe that the security apparatus unwittingly created the threat of Islamists in Sinai, and that it was the same Islamists who suffered under these unlawful and harsh detentions who attacked the police station on 29 July.

While his Salafi group is peaceful, Ayoub says there are others that believe in violence, such as Al-Takfeer wal-Hijra.

When asked about their level of armament, he says, “They are armed, like everywhere else in Egypt, especially after the revolution started.” Ayoub told the media over a week ago that his group was ready to arm 6000 people in Sinai to protect the territory. Many in Sinai view themselves as the guardians of Egypt’s borders from potential Israeli threats.

Khaled Saad, a businessman and secular political activist in Arish, may not have much sympathy for the militant Islamists, but he still doubts that they are tightly organized groups with deep-rooted ideologies. The level of their threat, he says, is somewhat exaggerated.

“There has been a lot of anger at the security practices of the toppled regime, so it became easy for some sheikhs to gather outlaws and smugglers around them so that they become a militia,” Saad says, echoing Ayoub in suggesting that the recent attacks on state institutions are the continuation of a battle that began with the oppression of locals by Mubrak’s security apparatus.

Infiltrations from the Gaza Strip have also raised concerns about a rising Islamist insurgency in Sinai. Palestinian factions competing with Hamas’ control of Gaza are chased out and driven into Sinai by way of tunnels that bypass the tightly controlled border.

“Both Hamas and the military intelligence here in Arish have full information about all groups infiltrating into Egypt from Gaza. No one can expand and form a whole armed movement here, because they are well-tracked,” says a Palestinian living in Arish who requested anonymity.

..Egyptian tanks and armored personnel carriers are currently present at military checkpoints between Arish, Rafah, and the nearby town of Sheikh Zowayed.

The military show of force is part of the Egyptian armed forces’ “Operation Eagle,” a troop mobilization that began on 12 August. The deployment, which is ostensibly in response to terrorism threats, needed to be authorized by Israel, as it technically breaches the peace accords, according to reports in the Israeli daily Haaretz.

The mobilization came a week after a statement from a group advocating for an Islamic emirate in the peninsula and calling itself Al-Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula went viral in the Egyptian media. In response, the military said it would “purge” the peninsula. Many people in Sinai voiced their support for the operation, but others raised concerns.

Before the attacks in Israel on 18 August, Egyptian security forces were quick to call the Sinai operation a success. Deputy Interior Minister Ahmed Gamal Eddin said at a press conference last week that the campaign has so far managed to arrest members of Al-Takfeer wal-Hijra and collect arms and illegally-acquired military uniforms. The assailants in the 18 August attack in Israel were reportedly wearing Egyptian army uniforms.

Security sources have also told local media that Palestinian members of the militant group Islamic Jihad were among those were arrested, some of whom were previously detained in Egyptian prisons and fled during the chaos of last winter’s uprising.

Local media have also reported on coordination between Hamas and the Egyptian military to monitor the movement of potential infiltrators to Sinai from Gaza through the tunnels, particularly from the Army of Islam and a little-known group Jaljalat. Both claim ties to Al-Qaeda.

Some experts on Islamist movements, such as Khaled al-Berry, suggest that the Army of Islam has loose ties to the Syrian regime, which is currently facing massive protests calling for its downfall.

Berry, who classifies groups like the Army of Islam as not strictly ideologically-motivated and easily employed by political players, warns of possible chaos in Sinai being sponsored by an embattled Syrian regime trying to prove its strategic importance to the region.

But in the end, it appears that the threat came from none of those groups. The attack on southern Israel on Thursday that killed eight people was, according to Israel, perpetrated by insurgents from Palestinian Resistance Committees based in Gaza who infiltrated Sinai through tunnels.

YNet has a report about the Sinai situation as well, but it does not seem to be nearly as in depth as this one.

See also the previous post by Suzanne.

(h/t Yoel)