Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Young PalArabs aren't excited over the UN stunt, plan to skip rallies

Recent college graduate Reem Qadan is exactly the kind of young, energetic West Bank resident the Palestinian Authority hopes will hit the streets this week when it makes its historic case for U.N. membership and statehood recognition.

But rather than use her Facebook page to coordinate plans with friends to join the rallies, the 21-year-old is posting critical messages dismissing the United Nations bid as a “tale of collective mismanagement” by Palestinian leaders. Many of her Facebook friends echoed the sentiments and said they planned to skip the rallies.

In stark contrast with the flurry of diplomacy and international attention being focused on the U.N. campaign, the mood so far on the streets of the West Bank is surprisingly apathetic and sometimes even a little hostile.

“People simply don’t care,” Qadan said.

Critics said it was unrealistic to expect Palestinians — who have been disappointed by failed peace initiatives many times — to suddenly embrace the U.N. bid. But that hasn’t stopped the Palestinian Authority from launching an aggressive campaign to change that.

The authority recently distributed thousands of Palestinian flags and urged everyone to put them on their homes and cars as a sign of support. So far, only a few can be seen in the streets of Ramallah. Even government vehicles are not flying the flags.

Giant rallies have been scheduled for Wednesday and Friday.

To ensure a good turnout, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has called upon members of his Fatah movement, the largest political faction in the West Bank, to attend. About 80,000 government workers will be given time off, and some schools will closed. Thousands of Palestinians are expected to take part in the rallies.

So when we see the Western media breathlessly report about huge rallies in the territories this week, remember that all public employees and many schools are taking holiday just to inflate the numbers. Popular support is tepid at best, even in the Fatah stronghold of Ramallah!

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar)

"Islamophobia" news - ban on Paris street prayers, Dutch burqas

From The Telegraph:

Praying in the streets of Paris is against the law starting Friday, after the interior minister warned that police will use force if Muslims, and those of any other faith, disobey the new rule to keep the French capital's public spaces secular.

Claude Guéant said that ban could later be extended to the rest of France, in particular to the Mediterranean cities of Nice and Marseilles, where "the problem persists".

He promised the new legislation would be followed to the letter as it "hurts the sensitivities of many of our fellow citizens".

"My vigilance will be unflinching for the law to be applied. Praying in the street is not dignified for religious practice and violates the principles of secularism, the minister told Le Figaro newspaper.

The French did negotiate, however:

The ban came into effect after announcing an agreement to offer Muslim worshippers the use of a disused fire brigade barracks instead.

The agreement was made with two local mosques for the state to rent out the disused barracks on Boulevard Ney with floor space of 2,000 sq m (yds) for three years.

To encourage believers to use the new space, prayers would not be held inside the existing mosques for the first few weeks.

"We could go as far as using force if necessary (to impose the ban), but it's a scenario I don't believe will happen, as dialogue (with local religious leaders) has born fruit,” Guéant said.

"All Muslim leaders are in agreement."

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands:

The Dutch government said Friday that it would ban face-covering veils worn by some Muslim women because the garments flout the Dutch way of life and culture.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte also announced tougher rules for immigrants and asylum-seekers who want to pursue Dutch nationality; in the future, he said, they will have to show that they have income and that they have not received financial assistance or benefits for at least three years.

The country’s reputation as relatively tolerant and open to immigration has changed over the last decade, reflecting voters’ concerns over a large influx of Muslim immigrants.

“The government believes the wearing of clothing that completely or almost entirely covers the face is fundamentally at odds with public life, where people are recognized by their faces,” the government said in a statement.

Want to get Lebanese in trouble? Tweet them from Israel!

From Now Lebanon:

What happens if, while abroad, you make a friend who happens to be Israeli? What if you are attending an event with participants from the Jewish State and shake an Israeli representative’s hand? What if you bought a magazine that was printed in Tel Aviv and wanted to bring it back home?

These questions may seem superfluous to non-Lebanese, but for natives of the Land of the Cedars, engaging in any activity with an Israeli, physically or not, can land you in hot water.

That is because relations between Israelis and Lebanese are governed by two half-century-old laws: the 1943 Lebanese Criminal Code and the 1955 Lebanese Anti-Israeli Boycott Law, the former of which forbids any interaction with nationals of enemy states, and the latter of which specifies Israelis.

To boot, because in the laws’ eyes Lebanese nationality takes primacy over any other, a Lebanese who has dual citizenship and is involved in an exchange with an Israeli anywhere in the world can be legally prosecuted in a Lebanese court.

NOW Lebanon asked Salim El Meouchi, senior partner and chairman of the Beirut-based law firm Badri and Salim El Meouchi, just how far the laws extend.

Can a Lebanese citizen who Is physically In Lebanon, or can any resident of Lebanon, engage in a conversation with an Israeli citizen who is physically in Israel? What if the Lebanese has dual citizenship?

No in both cases, and the same applies if the person the Lebanese is talking to is Arab-Israeli. However, a Lebanese can legally call the Occupied Territories. Israelis can also call Lebanon, though engaging in a phone conversation should be avoided and would be considered illegal.

Can a Lebanese citizen who is in Lebanon engage in a conversation with an Israeli citisen who is outside of Israel?

No, not even through an intermediary or institution, though “If you are discussing non-threatening issues such as social small talk, and if you happen to be in another city, the case could, in principle, be defended," said El Meouchi.

Can a Lebanese citizen who is outside of Lebanon engage in a conversation with an Israeli who is outside of Israel?

No, though "In the case of spontaneity, tortuity and the discussion of non~threatening issues, it could be defended," noted El Meouchi.

Can a Lebanese who only holds a Lebanese passport marry an Israeli citizen, dual or not, outside of Lebanon and some back to Lebanon?

No. Article 1 of the Anti-Israeli Boycott Law prohibits any type of relation with Israelis, though it basically has to do with commercial and business transactions. As such, it could he argued that marriage is not a commercial or business transaction, said El Meouchi, However, such an argument may not convince the Lebanese government.

Can a Lebanese man marry an Israeli woman who gives up her nationality and transfer his Lebanese citizenship to her?

Yes. In principle this is possible, though the Lebanese government could take a negative position on a case-by-case basis, the lawyer said.

Can a Lebanese citizen do business from abroad with an Israeli who Is In Israel?

No.

Can a Lebanese buy an Israeli publication or product abroad and bring it back to Lebanon?

No.

Can a Lebanese citizen participate in a conference, festival or sporting event where an Israeli citizen is also a participant?

Yes, as long as they are not in direct communication.

Can a Lebanese publish in a journal in which an Israeli also published?

Yes, as long as the publication is not Israeli, does not publish from Israel, does not belong to an Israeli or a person residing in Israel, and as long as the Lebanese and Israeli did not communicate directly on the published work.

Can a Lebanese Iriend an Israeli on Facebook?

No, because technically speaking, any Facebook activity with an Israeli would still be considered a violation of Article I of the Anti-Israel Boycott Law.

As far as the question on sports competitions, the answer seems to be that Lebanese cannot even compete against Israelis - and must forfeit their matches, the way Iran does.

Sixteen-year-old Christopher Finan’s Tae Kwon Do coach has very high hopes for him. The teenager, who trains in Champville, north of Beirut, started to learn the Korean martial art when he was 10 and has rarely lost a match. Competing in the 2010 World Junior Championships in Tijuana, Mexico last month was a dream-come-true for the Lebanese junior champion. He paid for his own training and even bought his own ticket – which cost over $1,000 – to reach Mexico, but he was in for an ugly surprise.

Finan’s first opponent at the championship was Gil Haimovitz, an Israeli teenager. Finan had to forfeit the match, for as a Lebanese, he is not allowed to not touch, speak to, deal with or compete against an Israeli citizen, even if that citizen is just a 15-year-old boy.

According to that older article, Lebanon has the most restrictive anti-Israel laws of any country - including Iran!

No other Arab countries that take part in international competitions have national laws stipulating boycott with Israel in sports competitions, while Iran allows players to boycott as an individual decision.

It would be a real shame if Israelis should start conversations on, say, Sayed Nasrallah's YouTube page or on the talkbacks at his Al Manar channel. No matter what insult they hurl at him and his Lebanese Shi'ite buddies, they couldn't legally answer without breaking the law.

There's a lot of potential here....

E-Book: Israel’s Rights as a Nation-State in International Diplomacy (updated)

JCPA came out with an e-book entitled Israel’s Rights as a Nation-State in International Diplomacy.

I cannot find a single PDF file with all of the book, but here links to the individual chapters:

Overview
Amb. Alan Baker

The National Rights of Jews
Prof. Ruth Gavison

“An Overwhelmingly Jewish State” - From the Balfour Declaration to the Palestine Mandate
Sir Martin Gilbert

Self-Determination and Israel’s Declaration of Independence
Prof. Shlomo Avineri

The United Nations and Middle East Refugees: The Differential Treatment of Arabs and Jews
Dr. Stanley A. Urman

Israel’s Rights Regarding Territories and the Settlements in the Eyes of the International Community
Amb. Alan Baker

The Historical and Legal Contexts of Israel’s Borders
Prof. Nicholas Rostow

The Misleading Interpretation of Security Council Resolution 242 (1967)
Prof. Ruth Lapidoth

Defending Israel’s Legal Rights to Jerusalem
Amb. Dore Gold

Palestinian Unilateralism and Israel’s Rights in Arab-Israeli Diplomacy
Dan Diker

Is the Gaza Strip Occupied by Israel?
Col. (ret.) Pnina Sharvit-Baruch

The Violation of Israel’s Right to Sovereign Equality in the United Nations
Amb. Alan Baker

Countering Challenges to Israel’s Legitimacy
Prof. Alan M. Dershowitz

UPDATE: Commenter Donkeyrock put them all together in one e-book, and I uploaded it to Scribd so you can read it or download it in one file here: Israel's Rights as a Nation-State in International Diplomacy

Turkey threatens the EU!

From Reuters:

EU-candidate Turkey will freeze relations with the European Union if Cyprus is given the EU presidency in 2012, Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay was quoted as saying by state-run news agency Anatolian late on Saturday.

The comments were the strongest yet by Ankara over its opposition to the Cyprus presidency and could mark the start of a new low point in ties between the European Union and Turkey which began accession talks to the bloc in 2005.

The comments also come at a time of heightened tension in the eastern Mediterranean where Turkey is locked in a row with Cyprus over potential offshore gas deposits. Turkey's relations with one-time ally Israel are also at a low.

"If the peace negotiations there (Cyprus) are not conclusive, and the EU gives its rotating presidency to southern Cyprus, the real crisis will be between Turkey and the EU," Anatolian quoted Atalay as telling Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio and TV at the end of a trip to northern Cyprus.

"Because we will then freeze our relations with the EU. We have made this announcement, as a government we have made this decision. Our relations with the EU will come to a sudden halt."

The internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot government is due to take on the six-month rotating EU presidency in July 2012.

When are we going to see hysterical op-eds that insist that the EU must apologize to Turkey? After all, as everyone knows, without an apology the EU will become increasingly isolated in the world community!

Report: Egyptian millionaire bankrolled embassy riot

Al Ahram reports that 150 core members of the mob that stormed the Israeli embassy in Cairo on September 9 were paid by an Egyptian millionaire.

According to the report, Egyptian authorities are piecing together the plan based on interviews with those arrested during the riot.

The millionaire gathered them in separate groups on Thursday night before the riot and gave them instructions, Al Ahram says. They were told they must take revenge for the killing of Egyptian soldiers on the border.

The article further says that each of the young men were treated to a lavish meal with exotic foods and handed envelopes containing between 5000 and 11,000 Egyptian pounds ($850-$1850) . They were bused into the embassy in three separate buses that picked them up in different areas of Cairo.

The name of the patron was not revealed.

I know that the idea of breaking down the new wall around the embassy area was on Facebook a few days beforehand. The article does not say whether this rich man was behind the social media aspect as well.

(h/t Kramerica)

Mahmoud Abbas is...The Rejectionist (poster)

Moderate, shmoderate.

See also my last post, this one from last week, and this one from two weeks ago.

That's a lot of intransigence for a supposed "moderate."

Video of Mahmoud Abbas' intransigence

Does this look like someone who desperately seeks peace in the region and is willing to do what it takes to enable his people to live in independence and dignity?

Keep in mind that the three things he rejects out of hand - Israel being characterized as the Jewish state, Israel keeping of large settlement blocs in any final agreement, and that the "refugee" issue cannot be solved within Israel - are all US positions.

All three of these issues are accepted as obvious by every major American pundit, certainly every major liberal Jewish commentator on Israel. Ask Jeffrey Goldberg, or Tom Friedman, or even Roger Cohen and Nick Kristoff, and they will tell you (with some variation) that these are three issues that the Palestinian Arabs must compromise on if they want their state (certainly the last two.) They have plenty of demands on Israel but these are considered the bare minimum that is expected from the Palestinian Arab side.

But they refuse to believe what Abbas has said explicitly for years. This may be a recent video but Abbas has been hammering at these points since he succeeded Arafat.

Is there anything that Abbas can do or say to convince them that he is not a peace partner? Probably not. They will continue to cling to their wishful thinking that it is possible to make peace with a recalcitrant, intransigent and inflexible proponent of Greater Palestine. (Make no mistake - the insistence that Israel not be considered the Jewish state and that millions of Arabs must flood into Israel as part of any final agreement means exactly that.)

Take the worst things that these ever-so-wise pundits say about Lieberman and Netanyahu and Sharon before that, and you can see that they apply far more to Abbas than to any of them. This video proves that as explicitly as possible.

Unfortunately, the liberal Jewish crowd are so wedded to their narrative of a "moderate Abbas" and a "hawkish Likud" that they will continue to close their eyes and ears and escape to their comfortable fantasy world that they themselves have constructed.

If these pundits can see this video and somehow explain it away as being only rhetoric, they are proving that their own ability for self-deception far outweighs their ability to admit they were wrong - very, very wrong - for so many years.

Eight devil worshipers arrested in Lebanon for blasphemy

From Naharnet:

Eight people, including several girls, were arrested on Friday on suspicion of blasphemy and drug possession in Mount Lebanon.

The National News Agency said the suspects are devil worshippers and are self-harming.

Military Examining Magistrate Saqr Saqr is expected to charge the eight on Saturday, NNA said.

Lebanese law prohibits blasphemy and immoral conduct.

I believe the penalty in Lebanon for blasphemy is a few years in jail. In Saudi Arabia, it's death. (h/t Dan)

The PLO hired a PR firm that specializes in repressive Arab dictatorships

This slipped under the radar.

From The Holmes Report, August 26 (later mentioned in TheJC and The Algemeiner):

Bell Pottinger has begun providing public relations counsel to the organization that represents the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the US.

According to documents filed earlier this month with the US Department of Justice, Bell Pottinger USA has been contracted to provide “advice on strategic communications, public relations, media relations and congressional affairs” to the General Delegation of the PLO to the United States.

The appointment of the agency comes ahead of a critical UN vote on Palestinian statehood next month. However, Bell Pottinger USA president David Sowells declined to comment on whether his agency’s work would involve this issue.

According to the DoJ filing, Bell Pottinger is reporting to Maen Rashid Areikat, chief representative of the PLO in the US. Areikat serves an ambassadorial function to the US, with a particular focus on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Bell Pottinger is no stranger to controversial Middle East assignments. The Holmes Report revealed earlier this year that the firm’s work for the Bahrain government had been suspended in light of the conflict in that country. The agency has also handled public sector work for Yemen and Qatar.

So (as I had mentioned in an update to this story) when Areikat got in trouble for saying that Jews could not live in Palestine, almost certainly it was Bell Pottinger that swooped in to do the damage control - and Politico fell for it.

Hey, if they have experience doing PR for the wonderful leaders of Bahrain and Yemen, how hard can it be to make the Palestinian Arab mess look good?

(h/t David G)

Latest Latma

And Mazel Tov to Ronit on her new baby girl!

Abbas accuses Jews of releasing Zionist pigs against his people! (updated)

The PA's official Wafa news agency has an article talking about Mahmoud Abbas' much heralded speech this evening where he declared that he would go to the Security Council in his bid for recognition.

But while it quotes or paraphrases a large percentage of his speech, there is one part that they left out.

According to a number of people tweeting the speech live, Abbas accused settlers of releasing trained dogs and wild hogs to attack Palestinian Arabs!

Yes, the putative leader of a quasi-state, in a much anticipated and important speech, used this opportunity to push absurd conspiracy theories.

It was so ridiculous that even his own official news agency seems to be too embarrassed to publish it (update: they did publish the transcript but ignored that part in the main article about the speech.)

If you want to see the ultimate list of Zionist conspiracy theories involving animals, here it is. Maybe next time he'll mention the sharks or jellyfish.

UPDATE: The text of the speech is out; I found this version at PNN. Here's the autotranslation of what he said:

What we want is to end the occupation and tend legitimacy for, occupation and practices is the nightmare that is holding our hearts, as reflected these practices continued raids and arrests and the building of walls and demolition of houses, and the intensification of settlement activities, and attacks the settlers of Bakla trees and burning of mosques and the latest training dogs to attack us and send the wild pigs to wreak land corrupt, three things which the settlers will confront us: When any person Siatdon find it, well its streets and dogs, and pigs for the uprooting of trees, in addition of course to the tanks.

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar)

"Jews welcome" in Palestinian state? Who believes this? (updated)

From Politico:

Palestinian officials are rolling out the welcome mat for Jews to come to a new Palestinian state.

Trying to tamp down a controversy over whether a Palestinian state would be Jew-free, Mahmoud Habbash, the Palestinian minister of religious affairs, said a future state would be open to people of all religions, including Jews.

“The future Palestinian state will be open to all its citizens, regardless of their religion,” Habbash said, according to USA Today. “We want a civil state, which in it live all the faiths, Muslim, Christian and Jews also if they agree, (and) accept to be Palestinian citizens.”

Maen Areikat, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s ambassador to the United States, told POLITICO that his comments earlier this week which some interpreted as meaning Jews would not be welcome were misconstrued.

“In no way was there a suggestion that Jews cannot enter Palestine or be in Palestinian state in the future,” Areikat said.

Proof that Jews could never have equal rights in "Palestine":

1) Areikat's own words last year.

2) The Palestinian Constitution, Chapter 1, article 1:

Palestine is part of the large Arab World, and the Palestinian people are part of the Arab Nation. Arab Unity is an objective which the Palestinian People shall work to achieve.

Meaning that non-Arabs are not treated as equals with Arabs. it may also mean that non-Arabs cannot become citizens.

3) Article 4 of that same constitution:

Islam is the official religion in Palestine. Respect and sanctity of all other heavenly religions shall be maintained.

The principles of Islamic Shari’a shall be the main source of legislation.

Jews do make it to dhimmi status, as their religion is one of the "heavenly" ones. But if you are Hindu or Buddhist, watch out.

4) The Palestinian Declaration of Independence refers to the "Palestinian Arab people" no less than 15 times, implying that if you are not Arab, you cannot be a Palestinian. (Almost certainly this was done to imply that there were no such thing as Palestinian Jews.)

5) Hamas is nominally part of the government, and it certainly rules over parts of "Palestine," and it has never changed its anti-semitic charter ("For our struggle against the Jews is extremely wide-ranging and grave...The Nazism of the Jews does not skip women and children...")

6) Do you think that Jews would have equal rights to visit the Temple Mount that Muslims do?

UPDATE: David G notes that this attempt at damage control looks like it was done by the Palestinian Arabs' new PR firm in the US - one that was hired by none other that Maen Areikat himself!

Free speech "expert" defends shutting down Israelis' free speech

From the LA Times:

A UC Irvine professor overstepped his boundaries when he told students that no disruptions were allowed during the Israeli ambassador's visit on campus last year, according to testimony given Wednesday in the so-called Irvine 11 trial in Santa Ana.

UC Irvine professor Rei Terada, an expert on the history and guidelines of free speech, told the Superior Court jury that fellow professor Mark Petracca, the event's emcee, had no authority to set stringent ground rules.

Before bringing Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren to the stage on Feb. 8, 2010, Petracca told the audience that he expected the highest civility.

"This is, after all, not a street corner; it is a university," Petracca said in a video of the event shown in court. "It is not the British Parliament; it is a university. And it is not even a joint session of Congress hearing the president of the United States. It is a university."

Terada said that in her 20-year career she had never seen someone attempt to impose such rules during a politically charged event on a university campus, especially one that had been expected to attract protests.

Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Wagner challenged Terada, pointing out that what Petracca said echoed statements from UCI Chancellor Michael Drake. Terada, however, said neither Drake nor Petracca had the authority to set that standard. "They were saying what they wanted to happen," she testified.

The 10 defendants, seven of them UC Irvine students and three from UC Riverside, are charged with a misdemeanor for allegedly conspiring to disrupt Oren's speech and a misdemeanor for allegedly disrupting his speech.

Professor Terada's thesis is that, apparently, anyone has the right to stop anyone else from speaking in the name of "free speech."

Her ideas are very skewed, to say the least.

Allowing Oren to talk is free speech. Supporting people to conspire to stop his speech is against free speech. The Muslim Students Union is free to invite whomever they want to speak, and he or she should be allowed to speak - with any protests properly being outside the door or challenging questions during the Q&A.

In an ironic twist, the first interrupter claimed explicitly that Oren does not have the right to free speech, yelling "Michael Oren, propagating murder is not an expression of free speech."

Yet Terada said that these anti-speech thugs "bring honor to the University of California." (at 1:27 mark.)

Perhaps Terada would cheer if students - and even non-students - barge into her lectures in comparative literature and obscenely insult her for the entire class period.

Their right to free speech is obviously more important than anything she might have to say, according to her own words.

(h/t Silke)

The Egyptian embassy "love protest" in Tel Aviv (video)

I mentioned yesterday that Israeli youth planned to counter the violent Egyptian mob that attacked the Israeli embassy in Cairo last Friday with what would be, effectively, a party that celebrates peace and love outside the Egyptian embassy in Tev Aviv.

Here are videos.

Releasing balloons with the colors of Egypt's and Israel's flags:

Party atmosphere:

Another video at Israel's Channel 2.