Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Hindustan Times calls on India to go public with Israel ties

India and Israel is the bilateral relationship that dare not speak its name. If one were to go by New Delhi's official rhetoric, nothing has changed between the two countries. India continues to casually denounce Israel on the Palestinian issue, keeps mum when Iran or others promise to destroy the Jewish State, and still tends to vote against Israel in the United Nations or other multilateral fora. If one were to go by substance - security, trade and technology - there are few bilateral relations to match it in the world. Israel can be counted on to be the first or second largest provider of arms to India every year. Bilateral trade and investment runs into several billions of dollars on the civilian side. Israel, one of the great tech hubs of the world, is a close partner of India in software, pharmaceuticals and renewable energy. It says something about the trust that exists between the two countries that their closest links are in the most sensitive of areas: intelligence, counterterrorism, defence technology and even nuclear weaponry.

Bringing the public and private relationship with Israel in sync has been a particularly tortuous business with the UPA government. The government's first term was hostage to the ideological demands of the leftwing parties - the political formation most hostile to Israel. Half of its second term had to pass before New Delhi sent the foreign minister on a State visit. A prime ministerial or presidential visit, in either direction, continues to be the stuff of dreams - and solely because New Delhi has political nightmares at the thought. This is unbecoming of India: a constant and running act of hypocrisy by a country that sees itself as deserving of global influence and emulation. Israel has repeatedly stepped up to the plate when India is under threat, most notably during the Kargil crisis.

Some will shrug that this is the reality of India. But the evidence says this 'reality' is actually a bouquet of illusions. The most common claim is that a more public relationship will cause an eruption among the Muslim population. The truth is that an Indian Muslim is as pragmatic as the next one and has better things to worry about than the historical conflicts of the Levant. When politicians have raised the Israel-Palestine issue, they have come up empty-handed. The other claim is that India will lose standing with the Arab world. The opposite has proven to be the case: countries like Saudi Arabia sought to strengthen relations with India in part because the latter normalised relations with Israel. India's relations with Israel are spreading into other areas of existential importance to the country. Israel is a key partner in agriculture, and being the world's most-efficient liquid recycler, in water as well. If Israel becomes a major natural gas exporter in a few years, there will almost no missing links in the relationship. And the present official stance will lose any semblance of pragmatism and be merely a veil of the absurd.

I had asked Danny Ayalon about Israel's relations with India last month; he said they were "very good" but unfortunately didn't elaborate.

(h/t P)

The Egyptian army's strangehold on Egypt's economy

Two weeks ago I posted a very well researched article that revealed the depth of the Egyptian army's land and business holdings in Egypt, and the corruption that results.

The Media Line looks at the issue as well, not so much from the perspective of corruption but to show that the army is not likely to give up power any time soon:

Concrete information on the extent and holdings of the army’s business operations is difficult to come by. The armed forces are secretive but have portrayed themselves and the government generally as poor and hemorrhaging money. In the case of the government, that is certainly the case, but in the case of the army that is less evident.

In one of the most unusual intra-government transactions of the year, the military loaned the central bank $1 billion to help support the sagging Egyptian pound last month. The transaction not only pointed up the relative wealth of the two institutions but also the extent to which the army has access to money beyond the reach of the civilian authorities to whom it is supposed to be reporting.

Amr Hamzawy, a political analyst and newly elected member of parliament, estimates that the military controls as much as a third of Egypt’s economy. Paul Sullivan, a U.S. National Defense University professor and expert on Egypt’s military, told Time magazine last year that the military accounts for some 10% to 15% of the economy.

Mohamed Kadry Said, a retired general and a military analyst for the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, puts the figure at 8% of gross domestic product, a seemingly small percentage but, in Egypt’s $180 billion economy, one that puts the annual turnover of Egyptian Army Inc. at more than $14 billion.

As Egypt moves on its rocky road toward democracy, observers say the army’s efforts to preserve its business interests are likely to be a major barrier. More democracy will almost certainly entail more accountability and perhaps a direct assault by the country’s civilian politicians and economic reformers on the military’s economic power and privileges.

Many doubt that the generals will relinquish power so quickly. Among those is Mohamed ElBaradei. who announced over the weekend that he had dropped out of the presidential race, saying he saw no hope that the election due by the end of June would bring a real end to the military's rule.

“They use their businesses to maintain their power now more than ever. They own restaurants and tourism companies, so for the leadership today, stability and crushing the opposition to their rule is paramount to maintaining their wealth,” Ahmed, a former general who asked that his name not be used, told The Media Line.

...As an institution, the armed forces own and run much of the food industry, including plants manufacturing olive oil, milk. bread and bottled water – all of which are subsidized by the very government they are in charge of.

They also run a number of cement factories, gas stations and refineries, clothing and kitchen facilities, vehicle production – one local newspaper reported the military is in partnership with Jeep to produce Cherokees and Wranglers – as well as resorts and hotels.

Since February last year, the role of the military and business has become more visible and controversial. All these industries, says economic analyst Gamal Abdel-Salam of CS Securities in Cairo, lead to a conflict of interest.

“The military runs all these companies, factories and tourist destination spots, and now is in charge of the government, so it means they are giving money out and supporting industry that in essence they are already in charge of,” he says.

Topping it off, military businesses are free from government oversight and are not required to pay taxes, which Abdel-Salam says means that as the government gets poorer, “the military and its leaders are getting wealthier, so why would they want to leave power if they are winning on all sides?”

Abdel-Salam contends that the generals “see an opportunity to push forward without fear of government oversight, because they are the oversight and that is why they are silent on their role in the economy.”

....Overcoming wealth and power in Egypt may be difficult to achieve, even if a new constitution – which the military wants to ensure contains no oversight over its budget and income – is established in the next few months. Indeed, for the former general the revolution that toppled Mubarak is starting to look like the one that toppled King Farouk in 1952 and inaugurated nearly six decades of military rule.

“What we are seeing,” he says, “is Egypt’s military taking a very Soviet-style approach to things and one we have seen before, in the 1950s with Nasser and look how that turned out for the country.”

(h/t Ian)

Hamas really wants unity - with Islamic Jihad

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh today called for in-depth talks between Hamas and Islamic Jihad with an eye towards unifying the two terrorist movements.

Daoud Shihab, a spokesman for Islamic Jihad, confirmed that Hamas and Islamic Jihad actually begun in-depth dialogue at home and abroad, in order to achieve unity.

He said, "The unity of our movement with Hamas will form the nucleus of the unity of the Islamic movement in the world", indicating that the meetings "are at home and abroad, in Israeli prisons and are also conducted at the highest levels of leadership" of the two groups.

No doubt this is more evidence of Hamas' peace-loving and pragmatic ways that so many Western experts believe in.

Fatah is moving towards the positions of Hamas, and Hamas is embracing Islamic Jihad. All this is being studiously ignored by the wishful thinkers of the mainstream media who love to hang onto their memes of a pragmatic, compromising Hamas and a moderate, peace loving Palestinian Authority.

Gaza human rights advocate stabbed after article critical of Hamas

A few weeks ago, a Gaza human rights advocate wrote an article where he said "It is safe to assume that neither the government nor the resistance is willing to step in to protect people who dare to criticize them."

It was a self-fulfilling prophecy.

A human rights advocate was stabbed by unknown assailants in Gaza City after receiving threats over his authorship of an article critical of Palestinian resistance movements.

Mahmoud Abu Rahma, international relations director at Gaza-based Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, was attacked by masked men and stabbed multiple times while walking back from his brother's house on Friday night, he told Ma'an on Tuesday.

He received 12 stitches in a Gaza hospital and is recovering from his wounds.

Since publishing an article calling for greater accountability of resistance groups to Palestinian citizens on Dec. 31, Abu Rahma received texts and phone calls threatening him because of his views.

"They said I am a collaborator and I should wait for my punishment, saying I must revoke what I said or else," he told Ma'an.

Abu Rahma was also assaulted by masked men on Jan. 3 in the building where he lives, but he escaped without injuries.

The article, published on Ma'an and other outlets, called for legal redress for victims of misfiring and other operational mistakes by resistance groups and violations by Palestinian governments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"Who will protect citizens from the mighty resistance and the powerful government when one, or both, of them harm them?," he wrote.

His article was critical of Fatah and the "resistance groups" as well, but clearly his focus in Gaza was on Hamas, even though he did not mention it by name once.

More Hamas/Fatah "unity" problems

Ma'an reports:

A senior Hamas official has told Ma'an that ongoing talks to implement the party's reconciliation agreement with Fatah are undermined by low confidence between the factions.

Both parties want to achieve national unity but the reconciliation deal, signed in Cairo last May, is plagued by a lack of trust, the Hamas official told Ma'an on Monday on condition of anonymity.

The deal aimed to end four years of divided government by forming a joint administration that would pave the way for elections. When the parties failed to agree on a candidate to lead the unity cabinet, they decided to proceed to elections without joining the governments.

The Hamas leader told Ma'an the failure to form a joint administration has made implementing terms of the agreement difficult.

A united government would have been a turning point in the division, the Hamas official said.

Talks between the parties and the work of the reconciliation committees are mismanaged and lack follow-up, the Hamas official told Ma'an.

The official said Hamas would not offer a candidate for the presidential elections because of the ongoing occupation, the situation in the West Bank and the party's tense relations with the international community.

Despite the recent success of Islamist parties in some Arab countries, the situation is different in Palestine and Hamas is not in a position to run in presidential elections, he said. He said Hamas and Fatah would agree on a candidate for the presidency.

Asked about upcoming internal elections in the Hamas movement, the official said politburo chief Khalid Mashaal would step down and probably be replaced by his deputy Mousa Abu Marzouq.

Mashaal cannot run again to head the politburo as he has served the party's limit of two terms in office.

In other news, the Palestinian Authority strongly criticized Ismail Haniyeh's statements yesterday that the Hamas security apparatus in Gaza would remain in place even after "unity" is achieved. The PA says that there are only three security organizations - National Security, Homeland Security and General Intelligence - and there would not be any more.

Also, Fatah accused Hamas of attempting to take over the entire territory not through elections but by bidding to control the PLO, which would make elections moot since the PA reports to the PLO.

Meanwhile, Hamas released a list of its members arrested in the West Bank by the PA, even after the "unity" discussions started. Political arrests was one of the major areas that were supposed to be solved between the two parties months ago.

Although I cannot find the link now, yesterday Hamas also denied that the PA had fixed the passport situation, one of the easiest problems to be solved over the past eight months of "unity."

The Western media is still clueless about all of these issues that I have been documenting daily.

The next milestone was supposed to be the announcement of a temporary unified government in the next two weeks; I have not read anything about that lately.

Turkey warming up to Israel again?

Al-Manar Jerusalem is reporting that Turkey and Israel recently formed a committee to help repair their relations and resolve outstanding problems, and to get back on the path of enhancing coordination and cooperation in various fields. Diplomatic sources told Al Manar that this committee would attempt to tackle all issues between Turkey and Israel, including Turkey waiving legal action against Israelis involved in the Mavi Marmara raid, and the resumption of military cooperation and the sale of Israeli arms shipments to Turkey, as well as to discuss other developments in the region.

The sources claimed that a high-level Israeli official will visit Turkey in the near future to help resolve differences between Ankara and Tel Aviv, and also claims that Turkey recently allowed Israeli security officials to visit a refugee camp in Turkey for Syrians fleeing their country.

I have no idea if Al Manar Jerusalem is a reliable paper, but certainly Turkey has become increasingly diplomatically and economically isolated in the past year - as illustrated in a biting article in Hurriyet Daily News today. A bold move for rapprochement with Israel would be a huge signal to Europe and the US that Turkey wants to change direction back towards the West.

(Last week, YNet reported that Turkey dropped all lawsuits against Israel regarding the Mavi Marmara, h/t Yoel.)

Hamas bans singing competition TV show

From Ma'an:

The Hamas government in Gaza has banned residents of the coastal enclave from participating in the national reality singing show "New Star."

The first episode of "New Star," which follows the same format as popular US shows "American Idol" and "The X-Factor," was recorded in Gaza City via video link in December, and around 120 people turned up to audition.

But the successful contestants will not be able to continue in the competition as the Gaza government media office has since banned the talent show, which is produced by Ma'an TV network and broadcast on Ma'an-Mix satellite channel.

Hasan Abu Hashish, who heads the media office in the Hamas-run government, told Ma'an's public relations director Ala al-Abed that the program was "indecent."

The singing contest contradicts the customs and traditions of the Gaza community, Abu Hashish said, adding that singing was the passion of a few and not in the interests of the majority of the community.

Hamas doesn't like singing? Come on...they love to sing some songs:

Hasbara - Egyptian style

From Al Masry Al Youm:

Egypt’s military leader Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi has ordered the formation of a committee of high-ranking army generals tasked with ensuring the Egyptian armed forces are given positive media coverage.

The new body — to be called “The National Military Media Committee" — will be comprised of 11 generals, and will be responsible for providing information about the military to journalists to counteract what the armed forces considers “biased coverage.”

Sources told Al-Masry Al-Youm that part of the role of the committee will be to give the military's account of any future events that take the media spotlight, particularly those that involve armed forces personnel.

Since anti-Zionists are so aghast at Israeli hasbara, I wonder what they think about Egyptian propaganda being pushed at the highest level of the military.

Or do they only object in one specific case?

(h/t Missing Peace)

An open letter to 17-year old Jesse Lieberfeld

Carnegie Mellon University held an essay contest for Martin Luther King day, and chose two "searingly honest essays" as winners.

One of them is by 17-year old Jesse Lieberfeld, a high-school junior, who wrote about his experience trying to understand Judaism and Zionism - and failing.

Excerpts:

I once belonged to a wonderful religion. I belonged to a religion that allows those of us who believe in it to feel that we are the greatest people in the world -- and feel sorry for ourselves at the same time. Once, I thought that I truly belonged in this world of security, self-pity, self-proclaimed intelligence and perfect moral aesthetic. I thought myself to be somewhat privileged early on. It was soon revealed to me, however, that my fellow believers and I were not part of anything so flattering.

Although I was fortunate enough to have parents who did not try to force me into any one set of beliefs, being Jewish was in no way possible to escape growing up. It was constantly reinforced at every holiday, every service and every encounter with the rest of my relatives. I was forever reminded how intelligent my family was, how important it was to remember where we had come from, and to be proud of all the suffering our people had overcome in order to finally achieve their dream in the perfect society of Israel.

This last mandatory belief was one which I never fully understood, but I always kept the doubts I had about Israel's spotless reputation to the back of my mind. "Our people" were fighting a war, one I did not fully comprehend, but I naturally assumed that it must be justified. We would never be so amoral as to fight an unjust war.

Yet as I came to learn more about our so-called "conflict" with the Palestinians, I grew more concerned. I routinely heard about unexplained mass killings, attacks on medical bases and other alarmingly violent actions for which I could see no possible reason. "Genocide" almost seemed the more appropriate term, yet no one I knew would have ever dreamed of portraying the war in that manner; they always described the situation in shockingly neutral terms. Whenever I brought up the subject, I was always given the answer that there were faults on both sides, that no one was really to blame, or simply that it was a "difficult situation."

It was not until eighth grade that I fully understood what I was on the side of. One afternoon, after a fresh round of killings was announced on our bus ride home, I asked two of my friends who actively supported Israel what they thought. "We need to defend our race," they told me. "It's our right."

"We need to defend our race."

Where had I heard that before? Wasn't it the same excuse our own country had used to justify its abuses of African-Americans 60 years ago?

...I decided to make one last appeal to my religion. If it could not answer my misgivings, no one could.

The next time I attended a service, there was an open question-and-answer session about any point of our religion. I wanted to place my dilemma in as clear and simple terms as I knew how. I thought out my exact question over the course of the 17-minute cello solo that was routinely played during service. Previously, I had always accepted this solo as just another part of the program, yet now it seemed to capture the whole essence of our religion: intelligent and well-crafted on paper, yet completely oblivious to the outside world (the soloist did not have the faintest idea of how masterfully he was putting us all to sleep).

When I was finally given the chance to ask a question, I asked: "I want to support Israel. But how can I when it lets its army commit so many killings?" I was met with a few angry glares from some of the older men, but the rabbi answered me.

"It is a terrible thing, isn't it?" he said. "But there's nothing we can do. It's just a fact of life."

I knew, of course, that the war was no simple matter and that we did not by any means commit murder for its own sake, but to portray our killings as a "fact of life" was simply too much for me to accept. I thanked him and walked out shortly afterward. I never went back.

I thought about what I could do. If nothing else, I could at least try to free myself from the burden of being saddled with a belief I could not hold with a clear conscience. I could not live the rest of my life as one of the pathetic moderates whom King had rightfully portrayed as the worst part of the problem. I did not intend to go on being one of the Self-Chosen People, identifying myself as part of a group to which I did not belong.

Dear Jesse:

I am a bit older than you, but I remember well what it was like being seventeen. I remember having questions that could not be answered by adults and people who I thought should know. I remember asking about things that seemed self-evident to everyone around me.

I don't blame you for being uncomfortable with what you were hearing and reading about Israel and Judaism. It shows intelligence and assertiveness. It shows that you are a moral person. You are absolutely right to bring up issues that disturb you.

And I can also empathize about how you think that your questions cannot be answered. You confided in your peers, you asked your parents, and you confronted your rabbi. You did everything that you should do.

There is only one problem.

Not to put a fine point on it, but your eighth grade peers were ignorant fools. (There is no Jewish race.) And your rabbi, the person you trusted to know the answers, the person who is is just as ignorant as your childhood friends were.

I am not going to spend my time here defending Israel. I cannot defend it adequately without knowing what you think you know. But I can say, without any doubt, that you did not ask the right people to get the answers to your very valid questions.

If all I knew about Israel is from what the newspapers say and the TV images I saw, I would be upset too. You are reacting to the reality you are subjected to. And, sorry to say, most Jews are not all that knowledgeable about the Jewish state, and are ill-equipped to answer any questions that go beyond the surface.

Their ignorance is not proof that Israel is in the wrong.

Jesse, you are now famous. Your essay is in the paper. Well known people are praising you. All because of your opinion and your bravery.

And you were indeed brave for what you did.

But I'm going to ask you to do something even harder and even braver.

You see, Jesse, once people become famous for their opinions, it is nearly impossible for them to keep an open mind. They get fans who praise them. They get lots of positive reinforcement for their words. They don't want to disappoint all their new, like-minded friends.

But based on your description of the idiots who support Israel that you know, I can say with certainty that you never heard the true Zionist side of the story. Not once.

The question you need to answer for yourself, honestly, is whether you want to even listen to pro-Israel people who aren't as thoroughly clueless as your family rabbi. Can you give the other side an honest hearing with an open mind?

Most people could not.

If you think you are one of the few who could - if you are interested in truly understanding both sides of the conflict - if you can actually see the possibility that Israel is not a one-dimensionally monstrous regime - I will be happy to answer any questions you have.

In public. On this blog.

If you are interested, just email me. At the very least I can guarantee that you will learn something.

Sincerely,

Elder

Pure anti-semitism in Iranian "news" sites

From the state-run Tehran Times, which Google indexes as a "news" site, as well as IRIB, the Iranian radio website:

Jonathan Azaziah is an Iraqi-U.S. Muslim poet, activist, analyst, writer and journalist from Brooklyn, New York. He is currently residing in Florida. His articles, poems and music deal with the subject of international Zionism. He is also a staff writer for Pakistan's premier alternative media outlet, Opinion Maker, a regular contributor to Veterans Today journal and a frequent guest and co-host of the Crescent and Cross Solidarity Movement's Ugly Truth radio broadcast.

The nucleus of the Zionist mindset, the energy source that drives those who think in this manner to behave like the inhuman monsters that they are, is Jewish supremacism; the need to destroy all that it is not Jewish, the goyim, in order for “the Jewish people” to survive. The developer of the neutron bomb, Samuel T. Cohen, was a Zionist with a strong Talmudic-Jewish upbringing, as was Robert J. Oppenheimer, the creator of the atom bomb. The supremacist-need to destroy all non-Jewish peoples and cultures was close to the blackened hearts of the early leaders of the usurping Zionist entity, hence why Ben-Gurion, Dayan, Eshkol and Peres collectively came up with the “Samson Option,” the military plan to unleash ‘Israeli’ nukes upon the world if any nation or every nation attempted to confront Zionist power. The polar opposite of this thuggish outlook on existence, is the Islamic Revolutionary Republic of Iran, a nation whose Persian history is rooted in the very essence of creation. The finest poets, artists, mathematicians, scientists and theologians that the world has ever known originate from this great land.

The Zionist entity, in its twisted collective mind, must destroy Iran because the Islamic Republic represents everything that it is not: tolerant, beautiful, non-destructive, non-aggressive and most importantly, God wary. Iran does not bow down to the feet of the Zionists and their rabbinical overlords, it only bows before Almighty God and for this, it has drawn the ire of the Zionists and their imperial conduit puppets. From the geopolitical perspective, the Zionist entity must not allow any Islamic nation to acquire nuclear weapons because that would neutralize its domination of the region...

The true goal of Zionism is to wipe out all non-Jewish peoples in vast parts of Egypt, including most of its north, all of Sinai and Cairo, all of Jordan, all of Kuwait, a gargantuan portion of Saudi Arabia, all of Lebanon, all of Syria, all of Cyprus, an elephantine part of Turkey up to Lake Van and finally, part of Iraq south of the Euphrates River. The expulsion and/or mass murder of these peoples would lead to the creation of the Zionist dream known as Greater Israel. So branding this usurping dragon of an entity simply as an “apartheid state” is not only incomplete, it is deceptive. And this disingenuous injection of language into the vocabularies of Palestine’s supporters is also meant to deflect the attention from the root cause of this 63-year occupation: the age-old Talmudic ideology that gave birth to Zionism, which is an amalgamation of terrorism, racism, barbarism, supremacism, expansionism and imperialism.

All persons who represent this entity, all of its occupiers and squatters, must be thrown out immediately so the 8 million Palestinian refugees worldwide can finally return to their homes. Its sayanim across the Western world must be prosecuted for treason. We will not make peace with this usurping Jewish supremacist beast. We will never recognize this filthy entity. We will not share our lands with thieves and thugs, killers and degenerates. There will not be ‘equal rights’ for oppressed and oppressed.

It must also be noted that Apartheid South Africa did not own and control global mass media; Zionism does. Apartheid South Africa did not control global commerce; international Jewry does. Apartheid South Africa didn’t have a worldwide Afrikaner lobby network that dominated governments into submission; the Zionist entity does. And Apartheid South Africa didn’t have a foreign intelligence directorate committing false flag attacks all over the world in order to further its geopolitical objectives; ‘Israel’ does, with its Mossad. International Zionism is strangling the world because its agents think that their “chosen-ness” gives them a free pass to do so.

There is no doubt that the United States, the ‘golem’ of the international Zionist Power Configuration and Jewish banking interests, is the world leader in terrorism. The US is in no moral position to condemn any government or group in the world until it fesses up to its own blood-soaked history. 100 million Native Americans exterminated. 150 million Africans, many of them Muslims, murdered in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, which was dominated by Spanish Jews like Aaron Lopez who had an entire fleet of slaveships and financing from the Rothschild family; these Jews, who were of the extremist and now dominant Talmudic-Kabbalistic school of thought, also introduced the Curse of Ham to their Gentile slave-trading brothers, a horrific, racist story concocted and developed by the rabbis in their Talmud which lowered the rank of our brothers and sisters of beautiful black skin to animals. This Talmudic drivel was used to justify the dehumanization of millions of others and in the greater geopolitical sense, it is now being exercised to justify more Zionist aggression on the African continent.

Guess who else picked up on this interview? Intifada-Palestine, also indexed as a "news" site by Google!

But they are of course not anti-semitic. Perish the thought. They are just uncomfortable with Zionism, nothing else. This can in no way be considered incitement to genocide against all Jews, no way.

"Moderate" Fatah: "Our war is against the descendants of apes and pigs"

From Palestinian Media Watch:

The following is an excerpt from the Fatah ceremony broadcast on PA TV:

Moderator at Fatah ceremony:

"Our war with the descendants of the apes and pigs (i.e., Jews)
is a war of religion and faith.
Long Live Fatah! [I invite you,] our honorable Sheikh."
PA Mufti Muhammad Hussein comes to the podium and says:

"47 years ago the [Fatah] revolution started. Which revolution? The modern revolution of the Palestinian people's history. In fact, Palestine in its entirety is a revolution, since [Caliph] Umar came [to conquer Jerusalem, 637 CE], and continuing today, and until the End of Days. The reliable Hadith (tradition attributed to Muhammad), [found] in the two reliable collections, Bukhari and Muslim, says:
"The Hour [of Resurrection] will not come until you fight the Jews.
The Jew will hide behind stones or trees.
Then the stones or trees will call:
'Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.'
Except the Gharqad tree [which will keep silent]."
Therefore it is no wonder that you see Gharqad [trees]
surrounding the [Israeli] settlements and colonies.."
[PA TV (Fatah), Jan. 9, 2012]

Unfortunately, the video has been taken down from YouTube. I found one at MRCTV:

If there are any female singing trios out there, I'd love to write lyrics for "Don't Sit Under the Gharqad Tree"...

Arab "expert:" Abbas afraid of assassination

The Director of the Center of Palestine Studies in the UAE, Aldrawi Ibrahim Masri, has figured out the reason why Mahmoud Abbas agreed to participate in the sham Quartet negotiations in Amman.

He is afraid that if he doesn't, he will be assassinated - just like Arafat was.

How can you argue with logic like that?

I wonder if Abbas has been feeling the effects of those long-distance, high technology, poisoning Joo-Rays?

I'd love to be a Director of Palestine Studies in some Gulf state. Getting a salary for making stuff up is a pretty sweet gig. I hope they'd let me telecommute.

Lebanese terror suspect charged in Thailand; may have targeted synagogue

From The Local (Sweden):

A man carrying a Swedish passport who was arrested on terror suspicions in Thailand last week was indicted on Monday after leading police to a massive stash of bomb-making materials.

According to reports in the Swedish and international press, the man is 47-year-old Hussein Atris, a former Lebanese-born barber who lived for many years in western Sweden before moving back to Lebanon seven years ago.

Atris took Swedish citizenship after marrying a Swedish woman in 1996, Israeli news site Ynet reported.

Atris , who has alleged ties to Hezbollah, was arrested in Thailand last week following a warning from United States about a threat against tourists in the kingdom.

Following a tip from Atris, Thai police on Monday morning carried out a raid at a warehouse where they discovered more than 4,000 kilogrammes of fertilizer and several litres of liquid ammonium nitrate at a warehouse, the Associated Press (AP) news agency reported, citing Thai media reports.

Citing anonymous sources, the AP reported that Atris told police he had rented the warehouse last year along with three other accomplices.

Later on Monday, Atris was charged with illegal possession of explosives material, the AP reported.

According to his wife, Atris was in Thailand on business at the time of his arrest.

A senior Thai intelligence officer who did not want to be named told AFP that the kingdom had been informed before the New Year by Israel of a possible threat.

The New York Times reported on Friday:

Amid public warnings from the United States and Israel of a possible terrorist attack, Thai officials said Friday that they had arrested a Lebanese man believed to be a member of Hezbollah in connection with a plot to strike tourists in Bangkok.

The country’s defense minister, Gen. Yuthasak Sasiprapha, said the plot may have involved using car bombs at tourist sites, synagogues and the Israeli Embassy. He said Israel intelligence agents first informed the authorities in Thailand on Dec. 22 that two or three men were suspected of plotting an attack in Bangkok, the Thai capital.

There is a Chabad House in Bangkok, making one wonder if this was meant to be a Mumbai-type attack (which is Debka's conjecture, h/t Yoel)

Unity! Haniyeh insists that Gaza security forces will remain

At a graduation ceremony of "police" in Gaza yesterday, Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh insisted that the security forces that the Hamas security forces in Gaza will remain in place no matter what. Which means that he is against any consolidation of security forces with the PA - the acid test for any real unity between Hamas and Fatah.

He also said that the "police" were "a fortress for the Palestinian people and resistance."

Here is a photo of these "police" carrying weapons and marching in ways that make them look a lot more like soldiers than policemen.

I don't know what he was supposed to have said here, but Google auto-translates part of his speech as saying

"What we have built we will not destroy, because the Palestinian people felt the fruit of construction, particularly by ending the security chaos, and the presence of police work for the home clean hands, tongue, vagina, grew up on the table the Koran."

That is some kinky stuff right there.

Abbas' alleged Israeli travel permit (photo)

AP reports:

Israel has stripped Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of VIP status and given him a watered-down travel permit that is valid for just two months, Palestinian officials charged Sunday.

The officials said that Abbas complained about the permit at an internal meeting of his Fatah Party last week.

In a speech, Abbas said the new permit, similar to those required for Palestinian laborers entering Israel, was a reflection of Israel's continued control over the Palestinians, and suggested that Israel was trying to punish him for applying for Palestinian membership in the United Nations.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday because they were not allowed to brief reporters.

Maj. Guy Inbar, a spokesman for the Israeli agency that issues travel documents to Palestinians, said there has been no change in policy. He said the permit was the result of a technical glitch that should be resolved soon.

"Freedom of movement ... remains exactly the same as it was," Inbar said. "I deny all claims of changes in travel passes of Palestinian officials," he said. "There is no change in position or policy regarding the travel passes of Palestinian officials."

The VIP permit allowed Abbas to travel whenever and wherever he wanted. Palestinian officials acknowledged the new permit has not prevented Abbas, a frequent traveler to world capitals, from moving in and out of the West Bank. On Sunday, Abbas flew to London for talks with British leaders.

Dozens of local Facebook users spread what appeared to be a copy of Abbas' travel permit, in many cases with sarcastic comments about Abbas' weakness. "See you at the checkpoint," wrote one user, identified as Nidal Ahmed.

This photo is circulating on PalArab social media sites:

It supposedly shows Mahmoud Reda Abbas' temporary travel permit card. It says he can stay overnight in the West Bank and Gaza Strip only, and is allowed to enter Israel except for Eilat, and is not allowed to drive a car in Israel, and a handwritten note "valid despite security prevention."

It is valid for two months.