Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, January 05, 2012

Jewish TV tries to make its mark (JTA)

From JTA:

It is a strange irony: Jews have been successful in the television business -- but Jewish TV, not so much.

It’s not for lack of trying. Right now, no fewer than three Jewish-focused national cable channels are trying to carve out a viable niche within the already small niche for Jewish TV.

It’s a road others have taken in the past, only to reach a dead end.

Jay Sanderson, who served for 21 years as CEO of the Jewish Television Network, knows better than most.

“There’s been dozens of attempts and dozens of failures,” said Sanderson, now the president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. “It’s a cycle that’s been happening for 30-plus years. People want it to happen.”

The current Jewish television channels -- The Jewish Channel, Shalom TV and Jewish Life Television -- have scored some successes. They all launched in the past five years.

I just went to the webpages of each of the three networks mentioned in the JTA piece - TJC, Jewish Life Television and Shalom TV.

To me, the programming is almost universally boring.

Rabbis talking around a table. Re-runs of old Dinah Shore shows and Jack Benny. I mean, come on!

There are some bright spots, especially dubbing/subtitling Israeli TV shows and movies. A couple of original programs might have promise. But altogether, there is very little I can imagine anyone under 50 wanting to see.

Hire me as program director, guys. If I can keep a blog interesting by myself and without any money, imagine what I could do with a budget:

Cooking show: "Tastes like Treif" - how to cook classic non-kosher dishes while making them kosher and delicious

Syndicated Ahmed and Salim

A Jewish Mystery Science Theatre 3000

If I was going to show old dusty sit-coms, I would dub them with new dialogue.

I could come up with ideas all day.

Gamesmanship over Iran continues

From BBC:

EU member states have agreed in principle to ban imports of Iranian crude oil to put pressure on the country over its nuclear programme.

The move is expected to be announced formally at an EU foreign ministers' meeting at the end of January.

The US, which recently imposed fresh sanctions on Iran, welcomed the news.

From Sky News:

The UK would respond militarily if Iran carries out its threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, the Defence Secretary has warned.

Philip Hammond used a speech in Washington DC to warn Iran that any attempt to close the key Gulf trade route would be "unsuccessful" and could be stopped in part by the Royal Navy.

"Any attempt by Iran to do this would be illegal and unsuccessful," he said in a speech at the Atlantic Council.

"Our joint naval presence in the Arabian Gulf, something our regional partners appreciate, is key to keeping the Strait of Hormuz open for international trade.

"It is in all our interests that the arteries of global trade are kept free, open and running. Disruption to the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz would threaten regional and global economic growth."

Iran has threatened to block the 34-mile wide strait in retaliation for a planned EU trade embargo on Iranian oil.

From Christian Science Monitor:

If Iran is hoping that China will buy more of its oil to make up the exports it is slated to lose because of a European embargo on Tehran’s crude it will be disappointed, Chinese analysts here predict.

Beijing “will not take the risk for Iran’s benefit” of angering the United States and becoming too dependent on one source of oil, says Ma Xiaolin, a commentator on Middle East affairs and head of the Beijing-based BLSHE economic consultancy.

From NYT:

If Iran were to follow through with its threat to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, a vital transit route for almost one-fifth of the oil traded globally, the impact would be immediate: Energy analysts say the price of oil would start to soar and could rise 50 percent or more within days.

(h/t Ian)

Islamic Jihad more powerful than Hamas?

Islamic Jihad may have the edge on Hamas in weaponry in Gaza, according to Israeli military intelligence sources quoted by Israel's Channel 10.

According to the article, Islamic Jihad rocket have a range of 74 km.

Sources say that Iran is supplying the group with sophisticated weapons and with training through Hezbollah, who have a presence in Gaza. They add that Islamic Jihad is surpassing Hamas' weaponry both in quality and quantity.

If Hamas loses control of Islamic Jihad, it could inflame the entire area and lead to another war.

It is a sad state of affairs when the anti-semitic, relentlessly terrorist and philosophically genocidal Hamas is considered the most reliable and peaceful group in an area.

A rocket with a 74 km range which would easily reach Tel Aviv - and even Jerusalem. In fact, if the targeting is accurate, they could conceivably attack Jewish communities in parts of Judea, such as Efrat.

(h/t Yoel)

Kotel Photoshop kerfuffle causes Ha'aretz to incite Muslims

From Ha'aretz:

IDF rabbinate edits out Dome of the Rock from picture of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount

Israel’s military rabbinate released an educational document ahead of the holiday of Hanukkah last month, featuring a photo of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount without the Dome of the Rock, Haaretz learned on Thursday.

The photo was featured in a packet prepared by the Military Rabbinate issued to Israel Defense Forces bases ahead of Hanukkah, under the section titled “The Festival of Jewish Heroism,” which included an article and a quiz on the Jewish struggle against Hellenistic rule.

One reserves officer talking with Haaretz said that when he “received the materials from the battalion rabbi something seemed strange about that picture.”

“We get material from the rabbinate every week and it’s mostly positive things,” the IDF officer said, adding that the edited picture was part of an “official release, which is why it’s problematic the army is distributing it.”

The IDF Spokesman’s Office said in the response that Haaretz’s description was “absurd and biased, a fact which we can only regret,” adding that the educational packet included a photo meant to illustrate Jerusalem during the period of the Second Temple.

“As was explained to the reporter, the Dome of the Rock did not exist at that time, so there was no need for it to appear in the picture,” the IDF said.

Based on the photo in the story, I tracked down the original.

It was definitely Photoshopped, as the base of the Dome of the Rock is still there.

The original photographer/artist is Mikhail Levit, who apparently did the editing. I've seen the photo on websites as far back as 2008.

So obviously the IDF rabbinate did not edit the photo. It was a nice picture, the people behind the pamphlet found it somewhere online, and put it on the pamphlet. (The IDF's explanation that it represents the time of the Second Temple is silly as well - where is the Temple? Moreover, notice that the photograph still includes the Al Aqsa Mosque on the far right side!)

This does not look deliberate. It is easy enough to take or find a photo of the Kotel where the Dome of the Rock isn't visible - without editing. Here's one I took a couple of years ago:

Or a painting of the Temple could have been used.

The graphic designer probably just Googled "kotel" and picked the nicest photo he or she could find. This is not a huge story about IDF hate for Islam.

But the officer who brought it to the attention of Ha'aretz, and Ha'aretz itself by quoting him approvingly, show more than a little hypocrisy:

Speaking with Haaretz, the reserves officer said he expected “the Military Rabbinate to be more alert about the educational messages it passes on, especially considering the Temple Mount’s history,” adding: “A world war could break if someone would try to do something about that place, and I think they should be more cautious when approaching the subject.”

“It’s infuriating that the rabbinate isn’t more being more responsible about this,” the officer added.

He's infuriated that the rabbinate wasn't more careful? Because it is so incendiary?

Let's see. Chanukah ended weeks ago.

No one noticed this photo. No Arab riots, no angry op-eds in Al Jazeera, nothing.

Now, this incensed officer is so angry about how dangerous this pamphlet cover photo is that he brings it to Ha'aretz weeks later, which splashes the story prominently in its online edition. Where everyone can see it!

The story got picked up by Islamic Jihad (top story), Hamas and Fatah websites, and probably around the Arabic press worldwide. Tens of millions of easily excited Muslims will see the story and potentially be incited to violence.

Thanks to Ha'aretz for bringing this story to their attention!

Because it is responsible journalism to publicize something silly the IDF rabbinate did with little intent and twist it into a story that could incite millions of people to believe that it is an attack directly on their souls. And to pretend that you are doing it because of potential problems that didn't occur!

Ha'aretz, by pretending to position this story as a warning against incitement, has done far more to incite hate against the IDF than the rabbinate did.

But Ha'aretz doesn't have to follow the same rules it insists the IDF does.

Fishy story: Turkey claims they almost shot down Israeli UAV

From Today's Zaman:

An Israeli Heron unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was observed spying above the 14th Hawk B. Brigade Command in Hatay’s Kırıkhan district for four hours, the Taraf daily claimed on Tuesday.

The aerial vehicle was hovering over the brigade command post in order to capture pictures of missile batteries and radar equipment.

According to the daily’s report, the Israeli drone was first noticed by a military lieutenant, who saw a white light flashing in the sky. Later he asked an air defense senior sergeant to verify what he had seen, who confirmed that a drone was hovering over the command post.

All the military personnel then left the post in preparation for a possible attack.

Radar followed the Israeli drone as military officials waited for the order to shoot it down. Higher ranked military officials did not reply to the radar center’s call before the drone moved out of range.

At the same time as the events in Hatay, the Diyarbakır 2nd Air Force Command Strike Center was also tracking the drone. Upon an insistent request of the Hatay command, the Diyarbakır command center sent two F-16 fighter jets to the region, where they tracked and followed the drones, and eventually returned to their base in Diyarbakır.

In a related story, Turkey purchased 10 Herons from Israel in a 2004 arms deal at a cost of about $183 million. Turkey has been using Israeli-made Heron drones in its fight against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). But the Herons purchased by Turkey were not able to reach the altitudes indicated in the contract, and five of the Herons had engine-related problems. These five and at least two others that had other problems were sent to Israel for repair.

There were significant delays in the return of the drones, prompting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to publicly complain in September. This, intelligence sources say, sped up the delivery process, and Israel recently returned all of the Herons. Israeli technical personnel in charge of renovating the crafts left Turkey due to security reasons, following a diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Israel in September 2011.

I am not a military expert, but as far as I can tell:

Herons probably do not have flashing lights
Herons don't hover
Herons don't carry missiles
The story first talks about one drone, and then "drones"
The second part of the story with the F-16s tracking the "drones" seems inconsistent with the first part. It seems strange that Hatay command could "insist" that Diyabakir send jets to the area without going through a normal military chain of command.

Also, there are other countries besides Israel that use Herons (if they were positively identified as such) and, of course, other surveillance drones.

It seems that if this was true there would be an official complaint, although I suppose that pride might play a part here.

Hatay juts out of Turkey and borders Syria as well as the Mediterranean. It would be interesting to know which direction the drone supposedly left Turkish airspace.

(h/t Yoel)

Apartheid?

Time to start on the 2012 series of posters to counter "Israel Apartheid Week."

All of my "Apartheid?" posters can be seen here.

(h/t M)

Iranian Revolutionary Guards caught in Syria?

From Albawaba:

IRGC logo. Looks a lot like Hezbollah's.

Syrian rebels insist that Iranian mercenaries are trying to help the Syrian regime in the suppression of the uprising. A brigade of the "Free Army" had taken five Iranian hostage, said Colonel Abd al-Razaq Tlass, one of the commanders of the rebels in the city of Homs.

The rebels have shown a German reporter the Iranian passports and identity cards. They were dressed as civilians, but were taken up in a combat zone, said Tlass. According to him, the five were also appear in images wearing military uniforms. The Syrian rebels claim these five Iranians are actually officers in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

The Iranian embassy in Damascus announced last month that the five Iranians were technicians working in a power plant in Syria. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast on Wednesday called for their release, saying "according to the latest information we have…they are in good health."

On Tuesday, an unknown group calling itself "The Movement against Shiite tide in Syria" claimed responsibility for kidnapping the five Iranians, adding "we take upon ourselves the task of detecting and hit all the forms of support provided by both Iran and Hizbullah to the offender." The statement said that the kidnapping is a "first warning to Iran and Hizbullah for their continued support of the Syrian regime in suppressing the revolt."

Its very hard to know what is really going on, and without any reporters there the Free Syria Army has just as much incentive to lie as the Assad regime does.

But the story is quite believable. Iran does not want to lose its major ally it has in Syria.

(h/t Yoel)

EoZ being reported to Facebook as "spammy"

When people try to post a link to my homepage on Facebook, they are now receiving this message:

Similarly, when they try to click on some of my links in my Facebook page, including my homepage, they are seeing this:

The first message gives a link where one can report that this is not an abusive page, so for the people who are seeing this pop up on Facebook, please go to that link and fill out the form.

Apparently there are people out there who are uncomfortable with the things I write, and prefer to silence me by pretending that my blog is abusive or unsafe or spam.

Even though this blog is probably one of the least incendiary websites out there on the Middle East, from either side.

Israel might become an exporter - of water!

A very important story that I had missed from a month ago (YNet only published it last week):

Israel's national water company signed a financing agreement to build a desalination plant, which officials said could allow drought-ridden Israel to export water to its neighbors upon completion in 2013.

Israel's ADL, a subsidiary of state-owned Mekorot, will build and operate the plant in the coastal city of Ashdod for 25 years, supplying 100 million cubic meters of desalinated water annually, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Israel is two-thirds arid and to avoid further depleting its fresh water sources it has become a world leader in desalination and wastewater recycling. The new Ashdod plant will join four other desalination facilities that to provide, by the end of 2013, 85% of the country's household water consumption.

"In the coming years we will be able to return water to nature and even sell water to our neighbors," said Energy and Water Minister Uzi Landau.

The Finance Ministry had previously put a $400 million price tag on the plant, which will use reverse-osmosis to desalinate seawater from the Mediterranean.

Israel produces about 2 billion cubic meters of water annually. I think that the idea of export is quite a few years away.

Even so, this is big news.

Israeli company teaching kids math and science with Lego

From Israel21C:

Sometimes the best ideas are born of misfortune.

"The project started when I was injured in an accident during my military service and was forced to spend seven months at home, on crutches," says Amir Asor, who went on to conceive uniquely innovative programs that teach children the intricacies of engineering as they play with Lego.

From a diversion, internalizing the thought process behind lego model-building became a mission for Asor during that period. "I had the time and frame of mind to explore the possibilities, and built dozens of prototypes of each idea," he tells ISRAEL21c.

Still only 26, he now heads the Decade Group, a rapidly growing business that conducts extracurricular programs for schoolchildren around Israel, and has just won the prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year prize from Britain's Youth Business International non-profit organization.

The video really picks up around the 3:30 mark when you see kids building his team's designs on their own.

I want that!

"Infidel Santa" murdered

From Russia Today:

A young man dressed up as Father Frost, the Russian counterpart of Santa Claus, has been brutally killed in Tajikistan. The assailants reportedly shouted “infidel” as they stabbed him to death.

The tragedy unfolded in the capital, Dushanbe, on Sunday night. Parviz Davlatbekov put on a traditional Father Frost costume to visit his friends and celebrate New Year with them. But before reaching his destination, the 24-year-old encountered a group of youths who beat him up and stabbed him. He died in hospital shortly after.

According to some local media and reports on social networks, the attackers were Muslim radicals who had targeted Davlatbekov for wearing a Father Frost outfit. They are said to have called their victim an infidel during the attack. Reports say some 30 people participated in the killing.

However, the religious motive is being denied by the police, who say they are treating the killing as an ordinary, secular crime. Three people have been detained for their role in the assault, all of whom are university students.

That's funny. I was sure that Santa was always targeted by Zionists, not Muslims. At least that's what leftist darling cartoonist Carlos Latuff - an anti-semite who has been praised by the BBC, the Guardian and Reuters - tells his many fans:

It almost looks like the murderers used Latuff's cartoon as a model.

(h/t Serious Black)

First Temple-period bulla found

From Bible History Daily and The Temple Mount Sifting Project:

Jerusalem archaeologist Gabriel Barkay announced this week that the Temple Mount Sifting Project has discovered a fragment of a seventh-century B.C.E. clay bulla impressed with the ancient Hebrew inscription [g]b’n lmlk, or “Gibeon, for the king.” According to Barkay, the bulla is evidence for royal taxation of different Judahite cities, in this case the town of Gibeon. More than 50 other such “fiscal bullae” are already known, but most lack contextual information. “All the fiscal bullae known until now come from the antiquities market, and our bulla is the first one to come from a controlled archaeological project,” wrote Barkay on the project’s Web site. “This bulla enables us to fully illuminate and discuss the entire phenomenon of the fiscal bullae.”

The bulla originates from the eastern slope of the Temple Mount, descending into the Kidron Valley.

The [full collection of] bullae include names of 19 different cities of Judah, and dates of the reign of one of the Judean kings, usually in hieratic numerals, as well as the particle “lmlk“, “for the king”. ...The fiscal bullae represent a taxation system from the different Judean cities, based on yearly taxes, which probably replaced the previous one, reflected in the royal Judean jars and their seal impressions, from the time of King Hezekiah. The discussion includes the characteristic details of the taxation systems of the Samaria Ostraca and the “lmlk” jars, in comparison to the fiscal bullae. A detailed discussion of 13 different arguments is brought to suggest the dating of the fiscal bullae to the time of King Manasseh, Hezekiah’s son (698-642 BCE). The mentioning of Lachish in some of the bullae is directly connected to the question of the date of the reconstruction of that city’s level II. The city is mentioned to pay its taxes in the 19th and 21st regnal years, which could not be in the reign of Hezekiah as the city was destroyed by Sennacherib in 701 BCE, which was Hezekiah’s 14th regnal year. According to our suggestion, Lachish was restored after being in ruins for about 16 years, by King Manasseh, rather than Josiah, as previously suggested.

The discovery of the fiscal bulla with the name of Gibeon from the slope of the Temple Mount, authenticates all the other fiscal bullae, and enables us to study a variety of subjects connected to the history of Judah in the 7th century BCE.

Those Jews, always pretending to have been in Israel for more than 63 years.

(h/t Dan)

Arab League "observers" in Syria not observing anything wrong

From Global Arab Network:

Syrian Democracy activists on denounced as "unprofessional" an Arab League observer mission in Syria, after the bloc's chief admitted snipers were still active in the country despite their presence.

The mission has been mired in controversy since the first observers arrived on December 26, with activists accusing Syria's regime of keeping the monitors on a short leash as it presses on with its lethal crackdown on dissent.

Meanwhile, as unrelenting violence continued, French President Nicolas Sarkozy demanded his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad step down for overseeing "disgusting" massacres against his own people.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said security forces killed three civilians in the central city of Homs, even as state television reported observers were in the Homs region.

The group also reported two more civilian deaths in Hama, and said 18 members of the security services died during clashes with army deserters in the southern city of Daraa.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi, in his first remarks since the observers arrived, defended the mission, saying it had secured the release of political prisoners and the withdrawal of tanks from cities.

However, "there are still snipers and gunfire. There must be a total halt to the gunfire," he told reporters on Monday.

There have actually been dozens of murders since the observers arrived. 29 were killed Tuesday alone.

Political cartoonists have been noticing this:

(h/t gidon)

Abbas' demands violate Oslo (Yitzhak)

From commenter Yitzhak:

There is an interesting aspect of Abbas' demand that there be a 'halt' to what he terms the construction of 'settlements'. The word 'settlement' itself is carefully chosen to convey the sense of illegality and illegitimacy which Abbas desires to associate with Jewish presence in a land that has quite literally been Jewish for millenia, and which was Arab for nineteen years - and even then, only because of a crime against international law committed by the Jordanians in 1948.

Much more insidious, however, is Abbas's demand that Israel not build in these areas. The very act of making such a demand constitutes a violation of the Oslo Accords, or more precisely of the Interim Agreements between the Israelis and the Arabs, signed and witnessed by the European Union, Egypt, Jordan, Russia, and Norway, and of course by the United States, on 28 September 1995 (see Article XVII, para. 1). See inter alia annex to UN document A/48/486-S/26560 dated 11 October 1993.

If you consult the above documentation, in particular Article 27 of Annex III (Civil Affairs Annex), you will note that full rights for construction powers are granted to the respective authorities (in this case, the Israeli Government, and the 'PA' or 'Palestinian Authority'). Judea & Samaria were split into three zones: A, B and C. In Zone A, all control (including security) was handed over to the PA. In Zone B, all control except security, was handed over to the PA. Only in Zone C - which includes Israeli villages and Israeli military installations, was full control retained by the Israeli authorities. In all of these zones (including C), the situation was agreed upon by the Israelis, the 'Palestinians', and was given official sanction in the aforementioned UN documents (supra).

So in fact, it is legal and moral nonsense, to refer to Israel as 'the occupying power' in any of the above zones, or to assert that Israel must 'halt construction' in Zone C. During the discussions which led to the Interim Agreement of 1995, the PA had requested the addition of a 'side letter' which would restrict construction in Zone C. This request was ultimately withdrawn.

As for the 'settlements' themselves, the usual rationale for 'illegality' is that their existence is a violation of the IV Geneva Convention. This is not the case, because Article II of the aforementioned Convention deals with 'partial or total occupation' of the territory of a High Contracting Party. As Jordan's seizure and subsequent annexation of Judea & Samaria came about following a war of aggression, Jordan does not enjoy this status. (International Law, Malcolm N. Shaw, Fifth Edition, Cambridge University Press 2003, pp. 1061-1063. See also Article XLII, Hague Regulations 1907 and A. Gerson, Israel, the West Bank and International Law). To accord the status of 'High Contracting Party' to Jordan from 1948 onwards would be to legitimize a posteriori armed aggression and land theft. [Obviously, the PLO is not a "high contracting party" either. - EoZ]

The second reason the Convention does not apply can be found in Paragraph 6 of Article XLIX, which states: 'The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies'. To quote Prof. Eugene V. Rostow, former dean of Yale Law School and US Under Secretary of State, 'The Jewish settlers in the West Bank are most emphatically volunteers. They have not been “deported” or “transferred” to the area by the Government of Israel, and their movement involves none of the atrocious purposes or harmful effects on the existing population it is the goal of the Geneva Convention to prevent'.

Also, to cite Professor Julius Stone (former Challis Professor of Jurisprudence and International Law at the University of Sydney and visiting Professor of Law at the University of New South Wales), 'Irony would...be pushed to the absurdity of claiming that Article 49(6), designed to prevent repetition of Nazi-type genocidal policies of rendering Nazi metropolitan territories judenrein, has now come to mean that...the West Bank...must be made judenrein and must be so maintained, if necessary by the use of force by the government of Israel against its own inhabitants. Common sense as well as correct historical and functional context excludes so tyrannical a reading of Article 49(6)'.

I repeat: there is no legal impediment whatsoever to Israeli construction in Zone C, and this is where the currently disputed 'settlements' are located. By demanding that construction be halted, Mahommed Abbas is committing yet another violation of the Oslo Accords (as he did when he went to the UN in September of 2011), and showing that neither he nor his 'Palestinian Authority' can be trusted.

I would add that the PLO leaders regularly say that Israel, by continuing to build in the areas of existing communities, are violating "signed agreements." They seem to be referring to the Roadmap of 2003. But Israel made clear at the time that it did not accept certain parts of the roadmap, and spelled them out.

Singer satirizes PA, so Ramallah police stop his show

From (of all places) The Electronic Intifada:

At the Palestinian New Year’s festival at Arafat Square in Ramallah, musician Basel Zayed and his group Turab were prevented from completing their music concert by the Palestinian police because the group sang “El-Doleh” ; a satirical song about the Palestinian promised state. The police issued a statement regarding preventing Basel Zayed’s group from continuing their concert, the statement says that the police reacted in order to maintain security because the song has provoked the feelings of the audience. Basel Zayed has strictly denied that his song has provoked anyone’s feelings; rather he said that the audience were happy and large crowds were enjoying the concert.

Basel Zayed’s group, along with many other Palestinian artists, musicians, and dance troupes, were part of the Palestinian public New Year’s festival held in Ramallah. This festival was entirely organized on a short notice by Palestinian youth as a response to some New Year’s parties hosting Israeli singers and performers in Ramallah.

Refuting the official statement issued by the police, Basel said that audience were happy and unprovoked at all by his song, he is used to sing this song at many concerts and no one has ever had any issue with it.

The song “Doleh”, as Basel puts it, is a sarcastic commentary about the state promised for the Palestinian people. It is also a message to the Palestinian leadership and the world that Palestinians don’t want half states and half solutions anymore. He continues to say that the song also raises the issues of freedom of speech and questions the kind of a state that is being negotiated on the Palestinians’ behalf by people who do not officially represent the Palestinian people.

Notice that the article has no problem with the same police stopping a concert by an Israeli Druse singer - because he was Israeli.

Like all hypocrites, Electronic Intifada is all for freedom of expression - but only for those they agree with.

Al Arabiya covers both events as well.