Another Israeli TV show being retooled for the US

From Deadline Hollywood:

The CW has bought Danny Hollywood, an hourlong project based on the successful Israeli half-hour series of the same name. Easy A writer Bert V Royal is writing the adaptation and is executive producing with Mark Harmon, Eric & Kim Tannenbaum and Martha Haight for CBS TV Studios. In the time travel fantasy-musical, a young documentary filmmaker travels back in time in order to prevent the death of her ’90s musical idol Danny Hollywood, and finds that the story is even more complicated than she thought. In the original, created and produced by Tmira Yardeni and Ori Gross, the 21st century documentary filmmaker travels back to 1968. The series aired 200 episodes on Yes Stars channel, more than tripping the channel’s average viewership over its run and garnering a 12% market share — six times the channel average — for its finale.

This is the third broadcast project based on an Israeli format this development season, joining CBS’ Life Isn’t Everything, a comedy based on the successful Israeli sitcom of the same name; and NBC’s adaptation of mystery drama Timrot Ashan, aka Pillars Of Smoke.

Here's a trailer created after season 1 in Israel. It looks like a fun show.


Wow, the Zionists really are taking over Hollywood. (Although the American adaptation of Traffic Light [Ramzor] was pretty bad and was mercifully canceled very quickly.)

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UC Davis Jewish Studies Dept. hosts an academic fraud (updated)

A very disturbing article by Gail Rubin, co-chair of the Davis Chapter of StandWithUs,  at BlueTruth:

Some UC Jewish Studies programs seem to be part of the growing problem of anti-Israel and anti-Zionist bias on UC campuses. Consider the lecture sponsored by the UC Davis [UCD] Jewish Studies Program on October 21st.

The lecturer was University of London professor Gilbert Achcar, author of the controversial book, “The Arabs and the Holocaust: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives.” He was introduced by Diane Wolf, current chair of the UCD program, Professor Susan Miller, and founding chair, David Biale. Professor Miller praised Achcar and called his scholarship “courageous.”

Achcar may have been courageous in acknowledging the Holocaust was a uniquely horrifying event directed at Jews and that Palestinian leader Haj Amin al-Husseini’s anti-Semitism and collaboration with Hitler were deplorable. But after these observations, he careened into anti-Zionist, anti-Israel charges and distortions. Despite ample evidence to the contrary, he argued that the Mufti’s Jew-hatred had little influence on Palestinian and Arab hostility to Israel. He dismissed evidence about the cross-fertilization of Muslim anti-Semitism and Nazi-inspired anti-Semitism as hyperbole and charged that Israel exploits the Holocaust and exaggerates the Mufti’s influence only for propaganda purposes.

More disturbingly, he has argued that the rise of Zionism in 1920, not prejudice, spawned Arab Jew-hatred, essentially accusing Jews of causing anti-Semitism. Indeed, in his book, he excuses the current popularity of the Czarist anti-Semitic forgery, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” in the Arab world, arguing it must be read from an anti-Zionist, not an anti-Semitic, perspective.

Achcar minimized pogroms against and expulsions of Jews in the Arab world after World War II and after Israel’s reestablishment, equating their expulsion with the American internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. He repeated anti-Israel clichés, denying Israel’s right to exist and referring to it as a “settler colonial project” built on “Arab land,” accusing Zionists of "ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians", and downplaying any suggestion of Pan-Arab racism toward the Jewish people.

Despite these tendentious charges, challenging questions were not welcomed during the Q & A. I was abruptly censored while attempting to establish facts to challenge Mr. Achcar’s skewed conclusion that the Grand Mufti’s anti-Semitism had only a minimal impact on both Jews and Arabs. Professors Miller and Biale angrily told me the questions were insulting and to either stop or leave the room. So much for free speech and scholarly discourse in academia.

She has more about the more general issue of problems at UC Davis' Jewish Studies that is worth reading, but I would like to concentrate on Achcar.

In July 2010, I looked a little at Achcar's book. Immediately I saw that his claim that Arab anti-semitism was a reaction to alleged Zionist expulsion of Palestinian Arab farmers, or as Rubin describes him at UCD saying that it only started after 1920, is laughable.

The first Arab attack on Jews in Palestine was in 1886 in Petah Tikva, a community built on swampland that did not displace any Arab.

A quote from an 1874 travelogue says ""Men in Palestine call their fellows 'Jew,' as the very lowest of all possible words of abuse."

From the Saturday Magazine, 1840:

The most distressed position in which the Algerine Jews have been placed, was when the country was under the military despotism of the Janissaries. Often when the Janissaries met them in the streets, they would beat and otherwise ill-treat them, without their daring to offer the least resistance; and their only resource was, to run away if they could. If any one among them dared to complain, the Cadi would ask the offending Turk why he had struck the Jew. "Because he spoke ill of our holy religion," would be the reply. This sealed the poor Jew's doom; he was immediately put to death, and his property confiscated to the State. When a Jew went to a fountain, he was obliged to wait until every Mahometan had left it, before he presumed to take a drop of water. A Jew passing before a mosque was often butchered by the populace, if he chanced to turn his head towards the sacred building. The Jews were excluded from all public places frequented by the Mahometans, with the occasional exception of the bazaars. When a Jew met a Turk in the street, he was obliged to salute him by bowing his head almost to the ground. The Turk would enter a Jew's house, eat, drink, insult the family, and take away anything he had a fancy to, without the master of the house daring to offer any remonstrance.

This dreadful state of persecution was somewhat mitigated under subsequent governments; but still Jews have always been treated at Algiers with the contempt which they so generally meet with in Mahometan nations.

Another book from 1857, talking about Jews in Sanaa:

These poor people are awfully oppressed. The Jew is the object of continued insult and oppression. If he passes through the streets, the very beggars may knock him down, and he dare not venture to resent the insult. He is even not allowed to call a Mohammedan by his true name, but in addressing him must give him the title, "My Lord."

While Arab anti-semitism was and still is far different from Christian anti-semitism, it was real and obvious to many observers who came through Arab areas in the 19th century. It is also worth noting, however, that Palestinian Christians imbibed in traditional Christian anti-semitism and in no small part influenced their Muslim neighbors in the decades that followed.

But Achcar is far worse than just being selective in his history. As I proved in my earlier post, he actually frequents anti-semitic websites and used at least one quote in this book that was directly lifted from neo-Nazi literature - the proof being that he misspelled the name of the source in the same way that countless neo-Nazi sites do.

And his interest in insulting anyone who asks hard questions did not start at UC Davis; he acted in a similar way at a talk he gave with another fraud of a historian, Shlomo Sand, at SOAS.

Why would UC Davis Jewish Studies Department give any respect for a quasi-historian who gives no respect to his adversaries or even to the truth itself?

UPDATE: A long critique of Achcar's book and his response can be seen here. (h/t Alice)

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PLO admits it will lose the UN vote

From AP:

The Palestinian foreign minister admits for the first time there is not enough support in the U.N. Security Council for recognition of a Palestinian state,

This comes as the Security Council receives a report saying there's no consensus among the 15 members. Nine votes would be needed for approval, and any of the five permanent members could cast a veto.

The U.S. and Israel insist that a Palestinian state must result from negotiations.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki told The Associated Press Tuesday, "It is clear now, with the U.S. counter effort and intervention, that we are not going to have these nine votes." They can still apply to the General Assembly.

According to the current thinking, here is how the voting would go:

	Yes	No	Abstain
Bosnia			x
Brazil	x
China	x
Colombia			x
France			x
Gabon	x
Germany			x
India	x
Lebanon	x
Nigeria	x
Portugal			x
Russia	x
South Africa	x
UK			x
USA		x

Which leaves the PLO one vote short of its goal of embarrassing the US.

The next question is - what is their Plan B? Dismantling the PA? Another threat by Abbas to quit? Swallowing their pride and going to the General Assembly?

Because one thing is for sure. They have no plans to return to serious negotiations that would necessitate their compromising in order to get a state that even Israel would vote for. No, their need for independence is not that pressing.

They prefer stunts to peace.

Speaking of....what's going to happen to that symbolic chair that went on  a world tour? Or, for that matter,  that giant UN chair shown off in Ramallah?

I hope they end up on eBay.

(h/t CHA)

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Syrian Mufti threatens West - but says it nicely

From Gulf News:

The influential Grand Mufti of Syria, Shaikh Ahmad Hassoun, was quoted as saying on Monday that President Bashar Al Assad may return to practising ophthalmology after he implements promised reforms.

"There is no such thing as president for life," the cleric, a close confidant of the president, told the German magazine Der Spiegel.

Al Assad is a UK-trained ophthalmologist. He left the profession to assume the presidency following the death of his father Hafez Al Assad in 2000.

Why, he sounds so moderate!

But then...

The Grand Mufti also warned against NATO intervention in Syria saying it "could lead to disaster and suicide bombings in western countries".

Hmmm. And who would be responsible for such a terror spree?

For that, we must go back an entire month:

Syria's top Sunni Muslim cleric has warned Western countries against military intervention, threatening to retaliate with suicide bombings in the United States and Europe if his country comes under attack.

Grand Mufti Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun gave a speech and told the U.S. and Europe that "we will prepare suicide bombers who are already in your countries if you bomb Syria or Lebanon."

The state-appointed cleric and loyalist of Syria's embattled President Bashar al-Assad spoke to a delegation of Lebanese women who came to offer their condolences for his son's death earlier this month at the hands of unknown gunmen.

To the Western media, he uses a passive voice ("could lead to...") but to Muslim women he makes it clear who would make the decision to fight with terrorism ("we will prepare suicide bombers....")

If I didn't know that Islam was the religion of peace, I would have thought that this Grand Mufti was threatening the West with terrorism against innocent civilians.

Notice also that Hassoun clearly considers Lebanon to be just a part of Syria.

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The IAEA report on Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions is released

The IAEA report on Iran's nuclear program has been released.

It details evidence, both direct and indirect, that Iran is actively working on all stages of a nuclear weapons program.

The summary:

52. While the Agency continues to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material at the nuclear facilities and LOFs declared by Iran under its Safeguards Agreement, as Iran is not providing the necessary cooperation, including by not implementing its Additional Protocol, the Agency is unable to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and therefore to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities.

53. The Agency has serious concerns regarding possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear programme. After assessing carefully and critically the extensive information available to it, the Agency finds the information to be, overall, credible. The information indicates that Iran has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device. The information also indicates that prior to the end of 2003, these activities took place under a structured programme, and that some activities may still be ongoing.

The specifics are found in the annexes, which go through much detail on what is necessary to create nuclear weapons and specific evidence of how Iran is shown to be engaged in every one of those activities:

• Programme management structure
• Procurement activities
• Nuclear material acquisition
• Nuclear components for an explosive device
• Detonator development
• Initiation of high explosives and associated experiments
• Hydrodynamic experiments
• Modelling and calculations
• Neutron initiator
• Conducting a test
• Integration into a missile delivery vehicle
• Fuzing, arming and firing system

Intriguingly, the report alludes to some information that seems to have been obtained via espionage:

A Member State provided the Agency experts with access to a collection of electronic files from seized computers belonging to key members of the network at different locations. That collection included documents seen in Libya, along with more recent versions of those documents, including an up-dated electronic version of the uranium metal document.

Altogether, the IAEA has pieced together a very convincing - if sometimes irritatingly circumstantial - argument that Iran has been, and still is, actively working to develop nuclear weapons.

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Iran: "Western 'soft war' uses media, narcotics, sex"

From Iran's PressTV via MEMRI. No translation needed!

Reporter: The hidden invasion - the term refers to a new type of war with very different weapons, weapons that are not made to kill, but are made to create doubts, plant ideas, and change ideologies. The Hidden Invasion exhibition was inaugurated on Wednesday in Tehran, with one aim.

Ali Gholami, Iran Aerospace Industries: The aim of this exhibition is to familiarize our people with the soft warfare that is taking place as we speak in the country and its tools.
...

Major-General Hassan Firoozabadi, Joint Chief of Staff Iranian Armed Forces: Our definition of soft warfare is using means to, first of all, separate man from his rationality, and control him through his animal instincts and feelings, and stimulants, such as narcotics and sex.

They use many means to put their plan into action. They use satellite TV, radio, magazines, pictures, Hollywood movies, and fashion, especially for the young, and articles that one gets attached to, like ornaments or signs on their backs, clothes, and other belongings.

This system, as a whole, tries to change a revolutionary Iranian, and separate him from his school of thought.

Military experts say that Orange Revolution, Ukraine, is a good example of soft warfare and how it works.

Reporter: Military officials here say that soft war is the base for any successful hard war, and without a soft war campaign, the occupying forces will face resistance by the people, and will be defeated sooner or later. 

So if I am reading this correctly, Iran's leaders consider their own message so weak that a TV show can counter decades of propaganda.

And who is behind Hollywood and the media again?

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Apparently, the US does not accept the Green Line

From AP yesterday:

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments in a Jerusalem-born boy's challenge to U.S. State Department policy that prevents him from having his passport show he was born in Israel.

Middle Eastern politics and the battle between Congress and the president over foreign policy are at play in the case being argued at the high court Monday. The boy, Menachem Zivotofsky, and his parents, Naomi and Ari, flew in from Israel to attend Monday's Supreme Court arguments.

The Obama administration, like its Republican and Democratic predecessors, says it does not want to stir up anger in the Arab world by appearing to take a position on the ultimate fate of Jerusalem. Longstanding U.S. policy says the status of the city that is important to Jews, Muslims and Christians should be resolved in negotiations.

But lawyers for 9-year-old Menachem argue that the foreign policy concerns are trivial. Thirty-nine lawmakers from both parties are siding with the boy and his parents, defending a provision in a 2002 law that allows Israel to be listed as the birthplace for Americans born in Jerusalem.

President George W. Bush signed the much larger law, but said the provision on Jerusalem interfered with his power over foreign affairs, including the authority to recognize foreign states. Bush issued a signing statement at the time in which he said that "U.S. policy regarding Jerusalem has not changed."

Israel has proclaimed the once-divided city as its capital; the U.S. and most nations do not recognize Jerusalem as the capital.

Had Menachem been born in Tel Aviv, the State Department would have issued a passport listing his place of birth as Israel. The regular practice for recording the birth of a U.S. citizen abroad is to list the country where it occurred.

But the department's guide tells consular officials, "For a person born in Jerusalem, write Jerusalem as the place of birth in the passport."

In late 2002, Naomi Zivotofsky, Menachem's mother, showed up at the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv to get her baby a U.S. passport, one that listed Israel as his birthplace. After State Department officials refused her request, the family sued.

While the case is very interesting on a number of legal and political levels, there is one important aspect that is being downplayed.

Menachem Zivotofsky was born on the western side of the Green Line.

Whenever you hear anyone claim that the Green Line represents "internationally recognized boundaries" - which it never did - ask yourself why exactly the world does not recognize the parts of Jerusalem under Israeli control since 1948 to be officially part of Israel.

Whenever you hear that American leaders follow their "Zionist masters," ask yourself why both the current and previous administrations were so dead-set against recognizing any part of Jerusalem as being in Israel.

People who insist that Israel withdraw to "pre-1967 lines" seem to be selective in recognizing Israel's claim to the western side of that same line.

Either the Green Line is a fiction or it isn't. Saying that even the western part of Jerusalem is not part of Israel  - the official White House position for the past two administrations - is a fundamentally inconsistent position with stated US policy, and it makes one wonder how much Israel should trust its best friend.

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Anti-semitic Iranian film is a hit

From Walla:

An Iranian film with anti-Semitic insinuations is recently gaining much publicity in Iran. "Saturday's Hunter", a film originally screened at a film festival in Tehran, is featured in many publications, local television networks and social networks.

The plot centers around Zionist Rabbi Hanan, an Orthodox Jew wearing a skullcap with long side curls, who takes on his grandson Benjamin to teach him to create a war machine to destroy all the nations. Little Benjamin completes the transformation that his grandfather wanted to make him into a fearless warrior. "You should not kill people," the grandson says and his grandfather answers: "Only Jews you can not kill."

Menashe Amir, Israel Radio commentator on Iranian affairs, said that prominent Jewish community leaders [in Iran] sent letters of protest to the government in response to the movie, but got no answer. The director of the film, however, sent them a strong response, arguing that "Judaism is a symbol of evil" and that "these films will continue and will be filmed in the future."

Here are two Farsi-language trailers:



(h/t Yoel)

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Miniature Christian prayer box found in Jerusalem

From Ha'aretz:

Walk through the Christian quarter of Jerusalem's Old City and you'll see souvenir shops selling assorted varieties of small plastic Christian prayer boxes displaying miniature icons, usually Mary and Jesus, surrounded by a gold halo. Not far from those shops, Israeli archaeologists have discovered what may be the oldest miniature Byzantine prayer box to date, archaeologist Yana Tchekhanovets announced last week.

The discovery - made by Tchekhanovets and fellow archaeologist Doron Ben-Ami about a year ago during an Israel Antiquities Authority excavation in the Givati parking lot across from the City of David - sheds light on art in ritual in Byzantine-era Jerusalem.

The box, discovered in the Byzantine strata (324-838 C.E.) in the plaster between two floor tiles, is approximately half the size of a matchbox: 2.2 centimeters by 1.6 centimeters, and a few millimeters high. The inside contains delicate and partially erased drawings of Christian icons. With a little effort it is possible to discern a blurred feminine face and, on the bottom, a clearer male face. The colors used to make the icons have survived and shades of red, blue, brown and white are detectable, all against a delicate gold background.

"Never before have we held such an object in hand," said Tchekhanovets, who announced the discovery at an archaeology conference held at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in conjunction with the Israel Antiquities Authority. "It's very exciting that we uncovered it," she said.

The big question revolves around the identity of the two icons in the prayer box. The likely answer, says Tchekhanovets, is that they are Jesus and Mary, but it is certainly possible that they could be other local saints who flourished in that era. Like the prayer boxes sold today in souvenir shops, its Byzantine predecessor was used as a personal ritual object that could be taken anywhere. When worshipers wanted to pray, they would open the box and pray before the icons, and it would function as a miniature church.

Of course, this object - from the 6th century CE - predates Islam.

And isn't it interesting that it was found in the City of David archaeological dig? Anti-Zionists like to charge that Israel's archaeology, and City of David in particular, is politically-motivated and meant only to find Jewish objects. Yet these hateful Zionists seem quite proud to have discovered a Christian relic.

And those Zionist archaeologists find and publicize Islamic-era finds all the time as well.

(h/t Dan)

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Journalists agree to not embarrass Sarkozy, Obama over Netanyahu quotes

From YNet:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy reportedly told US President Barack Obama that he could not "stand" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that he thinks the Israeli premier "is a liar."

According to a Monday report in the French website "Arret sur Images," after facing reporters for a G20 press conference on Thursday, the two presidents retired to a private room, to further discuss the matters of the day.

The conversation then drifted to Netanyahu, at which time Sarkozy declared: "I cannot stand him. He is a liar." According to the report, Obama replied: "You're fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day!"

The remark was naturally meant to be said in confidence, but the two leaders' microphones were accidently left on, making the would-be private comment embarrassingly public.

The communication faux pas went unnoticed for several minutes, during which the conversation between the two heads of state – which quickly reverted to other matters – was all but open to members the press, who were still in possession of headsets provided by the Elysée for the sake of simultaneous translation during the G20 press conference.

"By the time the (media) services at the Elysée realize it, it was on for at least three minutes," one journalist told the website.

This is a big story, and others are all over it. But there is another troubling aspect to the story that is being overlooked.

The conversation happened on November 3rd. The story was only reported yesterday, November 7th, and then only because a French media watchdog website broke the story.

Which means that none of the journalists who were there reported about this explosive story.

Why not?

The surprising lack of coverage may be explained by a report alleging that journalists present at the event were requested to sign an agreement to keep mum on the embarrassing comments. A Reuters reporter was among the journalists present and can confirm the veracity of the comments.

A member of the media confirmed Monday that "there were discussions between journalists and they agreed not to publish the comments due to the sensitivity of the issue."

He added that while it was annoying to have to refrain from publishing the information, the journalists are subject to precise rules of conduct.

Ah, so it was an ethical thing. Because of "sensitivity."

While I cannot find anything in the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics to preclude reporting on a story like this, I guess we should trust their judgment that some open mic stories are fair game and others are way over the line. (There was another time that Obama kept his mic open and journalists reported on what he said, but he didn't say anything embarrassing.)

Under the same circumstances, these ethical journalists would no doubt have kept quiet about similarly indiscreet comments from, say, George W. Bush or Dick Cheney, and they would have happily signed an agreement muzzling them from reporting them.

And there would have been no news reports about how outrageous it is for world leaders to demand that something embarrassing to them be kept quiet.

(h/t amiyena for Bush link)

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Guardian travel writer says Zionists colluded with Hitler

CiFWatch uncovers a tweet from Guardian travel writer Gail Simmons that explains a lot about the world view - and journalistic standards - of the anti-Israel Left.

The link takes you to the Neturei Karta "Jews Against Zionism" website. It seems curious that a writer for a major British publication would uncritically link to a heavily-footnoted article by a set of seemingly ultra-religious Jews who have generally never stepped foot in a library in their lives.

In fact, the article is clearly filled with bogus quotes that were liberally taken from neo-Nazi websites, quotes we have seen before (one example here where the source is badly misspelled so we can trace its origins back to a book by a notorious Holocaust-denier.)

Now, why would a journalist - even a travel writer - uncritically believe an article on a fringe website? Is she so bereft of critical thinking skills that she cannot distinguish between scholarship and hate propaganda? Does she really think that the existence of footnotes automatically proves the worthiness of an article written by a madman? Is she that stupid?

No, the answer is that Gail Simmons already had made up her mind that Zionism and Nazism are equivalent. Her seething hate precedes her interest in the truth. So since she already "knew" the truth, all she has to do is do a quick web search for "Nazi Zionism" and choose the very first hit that confirms her preconceived bigotry!

The Israel-haters have no real facts to back themselves up, but there are plenty of similarly heavily-footnoted  pieces they can find at anti-semitic, ultra-right and ultra-left websites written by crazed haters.

Why use critical thought when someone else already seems to have done the job for you?

(h/t jzaik)

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Jordan warming relations with Hamas

Ammon News reports that Jordanian officials are floating the idea of increasing their relations with Hamas, twelve years after Hamas offices were closed in Amman.

Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh stated on Monday that the Hamas departure from Jordan was a "political and constitutional mistake."

Former PM Abdel Raouf al-Rawabdeh said that if his government's decision to deport the political bureau of the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement (Hamas) from Jordan in 1999 was a political and constitutional mistake then the new prime minister should correct it.

Hamas political leader Khalid Meshal had called Jordan's new Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh to congratulate him on the appointment and formation of a new government, and Hamas leader Muhammad Nazzal visited Khasawneh in his home last week.

It looks like Jordan is hedging its bets on who will end up leading the Palestinian Arabs in coming years. After all, the Islamist axis will not stop in northern Africa but will likely go through the PA/Hamas territories to Lebanon and Syria. Jordan cannot afford to isolate itself from the coming Islamic winter.

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Jewish blood libel in Syrian opposition paper

From MEMRI:

In an article titled "Syrian Blood for Matzas," posted on Sooryoon.net, which is close to Syrian Islamic opposition circles, Dr. Osama Al-Malouhi claimed that a public opinion poll conducted in Israel shows that 80% of Israelis support Bashar Al-Assad's remaining in power, and adds that Israel's support of Assad is the reason the world does not act against him. He goes on to state that this poll brings to mind the Jewish ritual murder to obtain blood for Passover matzas, recalls the 1840 Damascus blood libel, and says, "It may be that the Jews are reviving their heritage and religious rituals, and are taking pleasure in watching Syrian blood being spilled. Perhaps the murderer [Assad] will [even] bring it to them for [their] matza."

The following are excerpts from the article:[1]

"The clear truth is that Bashar Al-Assad is the most popular [leader] among Israelis. [They] want Bashar the murderer to stay [in power]. A few days ago, a public opinion poll was published in Israeli papers, according to which 80% of Israelis support Bashar remaining in power. [Another] poll published in Israeli papers several days ago showed that [Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu's popularity rose following the Shalit deal, exceeding 50% for the first time. This means that Bashar receives more popular support among Israelis than Netanyahu at his best times.

"What is the reason for the Israelis' indirect, unlimited support for the murderer Bashar? Do they really fear the [Islamist] extremists that the [Syrian] regime claims exist? How can the Israelis believe this, when the regime also claims that these extremists have ties to Israel, and that they were found to possess Israeli weapons? Does Israel view every Syrian who does not support Assad as a hostile extremist who must be killed? Why, after seven months of slaughter, does the Israelis' support for Assad's remaining [in power] exceed [their support] for any Israeli prime minister since the [Zionist] entity was established in 1948? Is it conceivable that, after it became clear to the entire world, and especially to the Israelis, how much Syrian blood he has spilled, they still support him and want him to remain?...

"They want that sucker of Syrian blood to remain and continue to prey and suck blood. They not only want their security, but also to enjoy the sight of Syrian blood being spilled, and possibly [to enjoy] its taste it in [their] matza. Asking myself why Jewish support of Bashar increased [even] after they saw the rivers of Syrian blood this mass-murderer spilled in Syrian towns, an old image leapt to my mind, of Jews bleeding people and using their blood to prepare matzas. Logic does not accept this, but the facts prove it.

"The killing of [Christian priest] Father Thomas in Damascus in 1840 by Jews in order to obtain Christian blood for the Passover matza is a terrible event that startled and engaged the world.[2] It may be that the Jews are reviving their heritage and religious rituals, and are taking pleasure in watching Syrian blood being spilled. Perhaps the murderer [Assad] will [even] bring it to them for [their] matza. We must face this clear truth. The world's silence continues because Israel wants the murderer [to remain in power] and pressures everyone to allow this. And [Assad] knows this..."

Needless to say, there has been no poll showing that 80% of Israelis support Assad. And it is indeed disheartening to know that the Syrian opposition is just as bigoted and hateful as the government is - perhaps more so.


(h/t Yoel)

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Juan Cole isn't very "informed" about Gaza

I stumbled across this piece of stupidity by Juan Cole where he takes already suspect statistics from HRW and elsewhere - and twists them even more:

Truckloads of goods per year allowed by Israel into Gaza today: 1,000

Truckloads of goods per year allowed by Israel into Gaza in 2005: 2,500

Exports from Gaza to the rest of the world allowed by Israel: 0

HRW's numbers are per week, not per year. One would think that a celebrated academic would know the difference.

Beyond that, the number of truckloads to Gaza is now about 1250 a week - 25% higher than Cole says. And a few events happened between 2005 and now, which Cole and HRW don't address, that make security an issue.

Israel allows exports of strawberries and flowers from Gaza, and did this year as well. Growing season ended in May. HRW says this, Cole ignores it. Cole is lying when he says that the amount of exports from Gaza are "zero."

Moreover, Israel requested a one-time export of tens of thousands of palm fronds in September, which was refused by Hamas. Does Cole approve?

Percentage of Palestinian children in Gaza who are stunted from malnutrition: 15%

In fact, the latest Lancet study showed:

6% of 1883 children who were assessed were stunted (8% of 930 boys vs 3% of 950 girls, p=0·01), less than 1% had wasting, 2% were underweight, 11% were anaemic (7% of boys vs 14% of girls), and 15% were overweight and obese (11% of boys vs 20% of girls; 11% were overweight, and 4% were obese).

Moreover, a higher 11.5% stunting rate was considered a fantastic achievement in a recent World Bank report, and the stunting rate in Gaza is small compared to many other Arab countries!

Number of key medicines which have gone out of stock in Gaza because of the blockade and consequent money problems: 163

There are no restrictions on importing medicine into Gaza. None. Any shortage of medicines is because of the PA (not Hamas) not paying for them. The blockade has nothing - nothing at all - to do with this.

Poor Juan, so blinded by hate that he is forced to bend statistics and believe unreliable sources to push his agenda.

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Al Akhbar charges Israel with stealing Syrian (Jewish) culture

Last month I mentioned a fascinating story about how Israel managed to smuggle out priceless Jewish biblical manuscripts that belonged to the Jewish community in Syria.

Al Akhbar English has a different spin on the story:

Israel's Manuscript Theft: Appropriating Jewish Arab History

Ancient Jewish manuscripts have been stolen and smuggled from Arab countries including ones briefly displayed in Jerusalem earlier this month. The consistent Israeli practice is an attempt to undermine the existence of Jewish presence outside of Israel.

The ‘Damascus Crowns’ are Bible manuscripts between 700 to 1,000 years old originating from Damascus’s Jewish community. The manuscripts were smuggled to Israel and were stealthily displayed earlier this month for a few hours in Israel’s National Library in Jerusalem. This was the second time Israel claimed possession of the documents.

Syrian Jews were renowned for being ‘rich in books.’ The 11 manuscripts that form the ‘Damascus Crowns’ were guarded in some of Syria’s 24 synagogues. None were written in Syria, but arrived there with Jewish migration and held in the Jewish community’s libraries. In the 1970s, with the smuggling of Syrian Jews to Israel via Turkey, the manuscripts were quietly spirited away.These human and manuscript smuggling operations received financial backing from Israeli authorities.

Somehow, according to this article, manuscripts that were not written in Syria "originated" in...Syria!

The author uses a UNESCO convention, which Israel did not sign, as proof that the manuscripts belong to Syria. However, the intent of the Convention makes it clear that it should not apply here: From Article II:

The States Parties to this Convention recognize that the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property is one of the main causes of the impoverishment of the cultural heritage of the countries of origin of such property and that international co-operation constitutes one of the most efficient means of protecting each country's cultural property against all the dangers resulting there from.

Syria was not the "country of origin."

While the Convention does seem to say that any "cultural property found within the national territory" of a country belongs to that country it does not seem to address private property nor property belonging to communities. And that is not a clear cut topic; the issue of Jewish cultural artifacts in Lithuania has been discussed in law literature with many arguments being made that it should properly belong to the Jewish community, not to Lithuania. Most of the same arguments apply here:

While the Lithuanian Government currently claims ownership of the Jewish cultural artifacts, both legal and moral arguments can be made that the objects should be returned to the community that created them. The Jewish community can claim that the cultural property was not taken lawfully by Lithuania. Additionally, it can argue that the Vilnius Judaica collection [*156] is "property for grouphood" n58 and, like other property belonging to pre-World War II Jewish communities, should be returned.

The Lithuanian Constitution preserves the inviolability of property, which can only be seized by the State for "the needs of society" and with adequate compensation. n59 The Law on Protection of Movable Cultural Properties likewise provides that cultural property can only be taken from an owner for failure to observe regulations and mismanagement, again subject to compensation. n60 The Jewish community can argue that neither of these conditions has been met. In fact, if any party could be accused of mismanagement, it would be Lithuania, for almost fifty years of neglect.

Lithuanian law also provides that where an owner of cultural property cannot be established or where the owner has lost the right to ownership, the property can be transferred to the State. n61 While it is true that some of the objects do not bear identification marks, many in fact do. According to the United Nations, rightful owners should have a right of action for recovery of lost items of cultural property. n62 Moreover, the Jewish community can argue that it did not "lose" its rights of ownership. The United Nations has recognized that the "transfer of ownership of cultural property under compulsion arising directly or indirectly from the occupation of a country by a foreign power shall be regarded as illicit." n63 The "abandonment" of the property in Lithuania can be seen as resulting from the hostile environment created by the occupation of either the Nazis or the Soviets.

In addition to possible legal arguments, heirs to cultural patrimony "have strong equitable claims to their ancestral property." n64 In determining whether certain property should be held inalienable, the theory of "property for personhood" was developed. The theory posits that some property is so [*157] bound up with a person's identity that it should not be transferred through the market. In fact, personhood property "has a stronger moral claim than other property." n65 Recently, the ideas behind property for personhood have been analogized into the group context, providing that groups have certain rights in cultural property. n66

The new classification of "property for grouphood" that has been proposed would address the tension between cultural identity and the rigid classifications of property ownership. n67 The use of this category of property in the area of cultural property is particularly useful, as "cultural objects nourish a sense of community." n68 "The notion that groups have intrinsic rights to exist, develop, flourish, and perpetuate themselves, and that these rights often are intertwined with groups' relations to history and objects justifies both creating a category of property which promotes grouphood and distinguishing between that property and merely fungible property." n69

To determine if certain objects should be designated property for grouphood, the fundamental question is whether the property is substantially "bound up" with the group identity. n70 In the case of the Jewish objects in Lithuania, the cultural property is "bound up" with the Jewish identity in the sense that it links the members of the group to past and future generations. The Lithuanian Government itself recognizes the connection between cultural property and "cultural continuity." n71 The books, manuscripts, and other materials give the group identity and symbolize its shared values. n72 Furthermore, many of the objects date back hundreds of years and tell of the glorious era of Jewish Enlightenment in Eastern Europe. "Groups have legitimate rights to 'foster, strengthen, and enrich their members' sense of community' by preserving and providing access to a common cultural heritage." n73 The goal of developing the group, in this case the Jewish community, [*158] would be furthered by group control over the collections. n74 If one accepts the classification of the Judaica collection as property for grouphood, then the next step would be the return of the property to the group that created it and that would be strengthened by it today.

Whether Syria likes it or not, Israel represents the Jewish community. Moreover, it represents the Jewish nation, which might not have owned territory in the centuries before 1948 but which never relinquished its nationhood.

Furthermore, it is insulting that the nation that for decades oppressed their Jewish community, and which did not lift a finger to protect priceless Jewish cultural treasures while the community was still there, should now claim that these same treasures are part of the culture that it successfully destroyed within its borders. It is the height of hypocrisy to claim to love the products of a community when at the same time the community itself was ethnically cleansed.

Syria marginalized and destroyed Jewish culture and history in its borders. It cannot now claim that this same culture is part of its own.

(h/t Zach N for Lithuania article)

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