Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

The Rhythm of Israel (video)

Another excellent video that just came out.

(h/t Shmuel)

The first Israeli humanitarian rescue mission - in 1953

A fascinating article in Israel Hayom:

In 1953, the first Israeli navy flotilla sailed to the Aegean Sea for a month-long exercise. Just as they were about to return, a terrible earthquake hit the Greek islands and the Israelis, as inexperienced and under-trained as they were, rushed to help.

...The soldiers began unloading anything that could be used in assisting the wounded. They set up a triage station on the port’s main pier. The highest-ranking physician on the flotilla, Dr. Ashkenazi, together with a younger physician, Dr. Seelenfreud, were in charge of treating the wounded. They decided who would receive immediate treatment and who would have to wait, and performed emergency surgeries. Here a fractured pelvis, there a brain injury, a premature labor, broken bones that needed setting and hemorrhages that had to be stopped.

Although the two Israeli physicians tried to set things in order, they were surrounded by countless wounded people, panic and despair. Chaos reigned.

...The small motor boats that set out to locate the wounded had brought many back for first aid treatment. The Israeli vessel K-28, known as the Mivtah, which was under the command of Arie Brosh, was converted into a maritime hospital, a kind of giant ambulance that ferried the wounded to hospitals on the Greek mainland, a day’s sail away.

Each time, about a hundred victims who had received first aid on the island were brought aboard the K-28. They were later taken to the city of Patras, five hours away. The ship would then turn around, go back to Cephalonia for more wounded, bring them to Patras and its hospitals, and return for another round of evacuation. Some 400 critically wounded people were evacuated aboard the Mivtah.

For three full days, the Israeli officers and sailors labored “with endless dedication and immense devotion,” as Shlomo Erel recalls. The Israeli flotilla was the first to set up aid stations on the beach in Cephalonia. Later, they had assistance from the British. By the end, the soldiers had treated thousands. They used up nearly all of their supplies, food, medicine, water and fuel. They gave everything they had to help the people of Cephalonia.

...When they left the bay, all the other fleets blew their foghorns simultaneously to salute the Israeli flotilla, Erel recalls with pride. The king also came to say goodbye and thank the Israeli sailors. When the Israeli ships entered the port of Piraeus, Greek Prime Minister Marshal Alexandros Papagos came to thank the officers and soldiers and ordered that the vessels be loaded with “the best of everything.” Erel recalls that the Greek press, and even newspapers in other countries, reported on the rescue mission on their front pages.

Read the whole thing.

I found a brief mention of Israel's involvement in this newspaper article written a week after the quake:

(h/t Yoel)

I will be in a panel discussion on Israel Advocacy in NYC 5/21

From the American Zionist Movement:

Now,I just have to find an appropriate disguise....

Hope to see many of you there!

Foot and mouth disease hits Gaza; Hamas says "don't worry"

AP reports:

A U.N. agency says Egypt’s outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease has reached neighboring Gaza Strip and could soon spread across the Middle East.

The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization said Wednesday the disease was detected in Gaza’s southern border town of Rafah on April 19.

Juan Lubroth, FAO’s chief veterinary officer, says vaccines are in short supply and animal movement must be limited. He says the disease risks spreading to the Gulf, southern and eastern Europe and further.

But the Hamas government in Gaza says, relax!

An official in Gaza's ministry of agriculture said farmers had received 20,000 doses of vaccine to fight the disease and played down the seriousness of the outbreak.

"The problem surfaced at one farm in Rafah and we isolated the farm and stopped the movement of animals across Gaza," Adel Attalah told Reuters.

"We received the 20,000 vaccines a week ago and ... I can say that most of the animals were given the vaccine," he said, adding that his ministry had now lifted restrictions on the movement of animals. "The situation is not worrying," he said.

What he doesn't say is that those vaccines - and probably the diagnosis - came from Israel, which has taken this very seriously starting two weeks ago:

Today (4/22) a meeting was held between veterinarians from Israel and Gaza at the Gaza DCL due to a concern that the foot and mouth disease might have begun spreading in Rafah, which is in the Gaza Strip.

During the meeting the participants discussed the issue of handling the disease and stopping it from spreading to the rest of the Gaza Strip.As a first step 20,000 doses against the disease were delivered through the Erez Crossing this last Thursday(19\4).

Israel began to handle the spreading of the disease starting on April 13th during the Passover holiday, when the Agriculture Coordinator at the DCL was urgently called to Erez Crossing in order to receive samples of the disease from his Palestinian colleagues.

These samples were transferred to the laboratory of the veterinary services in order to examine the disease and ways to deal with it.

And this is a new, rare strain of FMD:

With vaccines in short supply the Food and Agriculture Association of the United Nations warn that animals should not be moved around Gaza to stop the spread of a new strain of foot and mouth disease. The UN body says international efforts need to step in to stop the virus from spreading further in the Middle East and North Africa.

Following outbreaks of the SAT2 strain of the virus in Egypt and Libya in February, fears that it might jump to neighboring areas were confirmed on 19 April when sick animals were detected in Rafah, a town in the Gaza Strip bordering Egypt. The SAT2 variant is new to the region, meaning that animals do not have any acquired resistance to it.

“Diseases simply do not respect international boundaries, and if FMD SAT2 reaches deeper into the Middle East it could spread throughout vast areas, threatening the Gulf countries – even southern and eastern Europe, and perhaps beyond” said Juan Lubroth, FAO’s Chief Veterinary Officer and head of the organization’s Animal Health Service.

With vaccines against the SAT2 virus still in short supply, the priority at the moment is to limit animal movements to prevent its further spread, he said. Heightened surveillance of animal populations to quickly detect and respond to new outbreaks is also critical.

Right now Israel is the firewall between this disease and the center of the Arab world, not to mention Europe.

At this point is sounds like Hamas doesn't give a damn.

PA glorifies a terrorist and his terrorism

From Palestinian Media Watch:

During the week of the anniversary of the death of PLO arch-terrorist Abu Jihad, the Palestinian Authority held events and broadcast TV programs celebrating him and his terror attacks. One of the striking components of the Abu Jihad festivities was the presentation of the 125 Israeli civilians and soldiers killed in terror attacks he planned and directed, as a positive achievement. Six sporting events were also held in his honor.

"Abu Jihad was killed by the Israeli Mossad in Tunisia on April 16, 1988... and was crowned the Prince of the Martyrs of Palestine... Among the military operations planned by Abu Jihad: the explosion at the Zohar reservoir in 1955; the operation to blow up the Israeli National Water Carrier in 1965; the operation at the Savoy Hotel in Tel Aviv, which killed 10 Israelis, in 1975; the blowing up of a truck bomb in Jerusalem in 1975; the killing of Albert Levi, the senior sapper, and his assistant, in Nablus in 1976; the Dalal Mughrabi operation, in which more than 37 Israelis were killed, in 1978; the shelling of the Eilat Port in 1979; the Katyusha fire on the northern settlements [in Israel] in 1981 and the capture of 8 Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, and their exchange for 5,000 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners and 100 of the detainees from occupied territory in 1982. He planned the infiltration and bombing of the headquarters of the Israeli military governor in Tyre, leading to the deaths of 76 officers and soldiers, including 12 senior officers, in 1982; he led the war of attrition during the years 1982-1984 in southern Lebanon, and planned the Dimona Reactor operation in 1988, which was the principle reason for his assassination." -[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 16, 2012]

Here's one video shown on PA TV:

Abu Jihad: "After we strike the [Israeli] headquarters, Allah willing, we will close off the streets [of Tel Aviv]. On one street, for example, we will hold 500 people [hostage]. 500 people at once. Can anyone bargain over them? No one, without exception, is allowed to go there unless he sets up the fuse and the explosives. At any moment, he can blow up everyone. Blow up their building, or the whole thing, no matter how many people are there. Our dagger will be a poisoned dagger in our enemy's heart, and we will take down as many as possible. We want to land on enemy territory (Israel) and to be like a single fortress. When we get there, Allah willing, we will begin to fire, to fire on our enemy. We will dig in his throat and heart with the massacres that we spoke about. We want to turn the Tel Aviv day black. We want to turn the Tel Aviv day into destruction, Allah willing. We will turn the Tel Aviv day so it will be remembered in the history of Tel Aviv as black Saturday, black Sunday. Tel Aviv will be closed that whole day with blood and destruction."

Narrator: "It occurred to Abu Jihad to publish a Fatah journal named The Call of Life - Palestine. The first issue, published in October 1959, called for an armed revolution to uproot the Zionist entity. [Abu Jihad] was the mastermind of the armed struggle against Israel. He is a symbol of Palestinian armed struggle. Abu Jihad fell as a Martyr, and symbolized the generation of the fighting commanders who adopted the path of resistance as the first and last solution for the nation's cause. He was known as a tough fighter and an extraordinary commander who was always in a state of war and never lost his way."
[PA TV (Fatah), April 16, 2012]

And another:

Narrator: "The Palestinian revolution was at its peak, and many times Fatah carried out 60 special operations a day. Among the leading operations of the Prince of Martyrs (Abu Jihad): the explosion of the Zohar reservoir in 1955, the explosion of the Israeli National Water Carrier in 1965, the 1975 Savoy Hotel operation in Tel Aviv, in which 10 Israelis were killed, the Dalal Mughrabi operation in 1978, in which more than 37 Israelis were killed, the shelling of the Eilat Port in 1979, and the Dimona Reactor operation in 1988 (bus hijacking and killing of 3 civilians), which was the principle reason for his assassination on April 16, 1988."
[PA TV (Fatah), April 16, 2012

I have seen people argue that when the PA honors Abu Jihad it is no different than Israel honoring political leaders who were active as underground militants from the pre-1948 Irgun. Abu Jihad was also a political figure, they say. But these articles and videos prove that the glorification of Abu Jihad is precisely because of his terror actions, not for any political activities.

Indeed, this list of attacks credited to him shows that he was an active terrorist up until the end of his life - and those attacks are praised.

By the way, I had never heard of an attack at a "Zohar reservoir" in 1955. There were some fedayeen attacks from Gaza around then, but it is unclear if Abu Jihad had anything to do with them; Wikipedia says he received military training in 1956 a few months after being released from Egyptian prison for being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, so the claim seems exaggerated at the least.

"Iran biggest cyber threat to US"

From Government Computer News:

Iran has demonstrated a willingness to attack the United States and the intent to develop a cyber war capability, eclipsing Russia and China as a threat to the nation, a panel of policy and technical experts told House lawmakers.

“Iran appears to be moving from defensive to offensive in the way it thinks about cyberspace,” said Ilan Berman, vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council, in an April 26 hearing before joint subcommittees of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Berman called an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States, uncovered in October, credible and said it is an example of the country’s willingness to carry out attacks on U.S. soil. He said it would be unreasonable to expect Iran could balk at a cyberattack against U.S. critical infrastructure.

“Iran is not at the top of the list” of cyber adversaries, said Frank Cilluffo, director of the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University. Those spots usually are given to Russia and China. “But what it lacks in capability, it makes up for in intent.”

Iran also is investing heavily in developing a cyber war capability, having established an Iranian Cyber Army that has taken credit for attacking the online services of the U.S. Voice of America last year. “Intent and cash will take you a long way,” Cilluffo said.

The joint hearing of the Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies, and Counterterrorism and Intelligence subcommittees, was called to assess the threat posed by Iran in cyberspace.

In an April 24 hearing before the Homeland Security Committee's Oversight, Investigations and Management Subcommittee, James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said he was not worried about cyber war with Russia and China, with whom the United States has stable diplomatic relationships. “They aren’t going to start a war just for fun. I don’t know if we can say that for Iran and North Korea,” Lewis said.

Iran has not yet shown any serious expertise in cyberwar capabilities, certainly not on par with Russian or Chinese hackers. However, the time it takes to ramp up that ability can be measured in months, not years.

Not to mention that there are plenty of relatively easy targets that could still severely impact the infrastructure of the US, or any country, if taken down. Denial-of-service attacks are easy to do and hard to defend against.

(h/t Yossi)

Handicapped rowing champion sings Hatikva at medal ceremony

When Moran Samuel won the gold medal at a pre-Paralympic international competition in Italy, the organizers did not have a recording of Israel's national anthem Hatikvah to play at the medals ceremony.

They started playing some other anthem, and Samuel indicated that they were playing the wrong song.

So she asked for a microphone - and sang it herself.

The inspiring athlete, who became disabled when she was 24 because of a rare spinal stroke, summed up her reasons for doing what she did:

"If you see an obstacle as a barrier, it might defeat you. If you see it as a challenge - then do your best to overcome it."

Hebrew article here.

(h/t O)

UPDATE: Commenter Jack notes that the song being played really is a version of Hatikvah, with a very long introduction. See here.

Israel: Small but outstanding (video)

Some nice hasbara that will make the haters' heads explode:

Galloway trying to prop up Assad with Gaza convoy

Honest Reporting notes an article in The Times of London:

The Gaza aid convoy spearheaded by George Galloway is splitting apart because the overland route passes through Syria. The Times of London (paywall) reports:

In February, leaked e-mails between Mr Galloway and President Assad’s media adviser were published in which he referred to the Syrian President as “His Excellency” and the Baathist state as “the last bastion of Arab dignity”.

The Syrian Government has responded brutally to a popular uprising in the country, leaving more than 9,000 dead and leading to widespread diplomatic condemnation. Opponents say that the Viva Palestina mission will lend credence to the regime.

The move has caused a rift with other groups due to take part in the convoy, two of which have pulled out in protest at the “sudden and unilateral decision” by the UK group’s sister charity Viva Palestinia Arabia to travel via Syria . . . .

Abdul Wahab el-Sayed Omar, of British Solidarity for Syria, said: “They could easily go through Egypt instead. The only explanation I can see is that this is a propaganda move aimed at helping the Syrian regime.”

More details from TheJC:

Pro-Palestinian activists Viva Palestina are to send a convoy of trucks through Syria to Gaza – despite protests and withdrawals from their own members.

The charity, co-founded by Respect MP George Galloway, launched the convoy which departed last Sunday from the UK.

But the New Zealand and Malaysian affiliated branches of the organisation have withdrawn from the convoy after raising “strong objections with the convoy’s leadership in England.” The groups have withdrawn a total of nine vehicles and 19 volunteers from the convoy.

A statement on Kia Ora Gaza’s website said: “Right from the outset, Kia Ora Gaza insisted that the convoy avoid crossing Syria, where the Assad regime has killed, jailed and tortured tens of thousands of democracy advocates since March 2011.

“Given the Syrian dictator’s inhuman behaviour towards his own citizens, we don’t want the Assad regime making political capital from any humanitarian mission to Gaza.

“Second, given the devious plots of the Assad regime, the state of Israel and other imperial powers operating in the region, the risk to convoyers crossing Syria would be unacceptably high. However, our objections were overruled, leaving Kia Ora Gaza with no option except to withdraw.”

The convoy was originally intended to go by ferry from Turkey to Egypt, bypassing Syria, but the change of plan was described by Kia Ora Gaza as a “sudden, and unilateral, decision by [organising branch] leaders of Viva Palestina Arabia”.

Imagine that - using an "aid" mission to advance a political goal. Isn't that awful?

Oh, wait....

Work accident!

From YNet:

Popular Resistance Committees member Abdullah Tawfik al-Tawil was killed Tuesday, Palestinian sources in the Gaza Strip report.

The circumstances of al-Tawil's death were unclear, although according to reports he died during a mission in the Nusirat refugee camp. The IDF said it had not taken any action in Gaza on Tuesday evening.

The PRC website says the 33 year old was "a prominent leader of the Saladin Brigades." It begs Allah to let him into Paradise, presumably because his martyrdom credentials are iffy, and the PRC feels that Allah can be persuaded to do the bidding of a bunch of murderous thugs.

(h/t Dan)

Saudi Grand Mufti: "Girls ready to marry at age 10"

Progress!

What's he daydreaming about?

The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia has reportedly voiced his support for the marriage of under-age females in the kingdom, while condemning those who seek to raise the legal marriage age.

A girl is ready to marry at 10 or 12 years of age according to Islam, London-based Al Hayat reported Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al Sheikh as saying, adding that Islamic law is not repressive to women.

"Those who call for raising the age of marriage to 25 are absolutely mistaken,"Al Sheikh said in a lecture at the faculty of Imam Mohamed bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh.

He added: "Our mothers and grandmothers got married when they were barely 12. Good upbringing makes a girl ready to perform all marital duties at that age."

The Grand Mufti’s statement came following discussions by the Justice Ministry to set a minimum age for marriage.

The conservative Kingdom is facing strong pressure to raise the minimum age for marriage, following international criticism of cases involving children forced into wedlock with older men.

In 2010, for instance, the Saudi Human Rights Commission, a government affiliated group, hired a lawyer to help a 12-year old girl divorce her 80-year old husband.

Preparing a child for being repeatedly raped is "good upbringing."

Abbas and Fayyad's secret condolences to Netanyahu

From JPost:

In an unusual gesture Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Tuesday sent separate condolence letters to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who is sitting in mourning for his father in Jerusalem.

Direct communication between Palestinian and Israeli leaders has been scant since Netanyahu took office in March 2009.

This is a very nice gesture, and I am sure that both Bibi Netanyahu and the people of Israel appreciate it.

The PA's official WAFA news agency notes every single diplomatic move that Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad. do - every meeting, every letter, every phone call, especially with politicians from other countries.

But it didn't mention a word about these condolence letters.

Are they afraid that their people would riot if they publicize a simple act of humanity towards an Israeli leader? Are they concerned that it would make them look weak? Do they think they would be accused of being "Zionist"? Are they trying to make sure that Hamas doesn't use this as a weapon against them?

Again, it is commendable that they took the time to do the right thing. But the fact that there was clearly a decision made not to publicize these letters in Arabic says a lot about how the Palestinian Arab leaders think about their own people.

There are only two alternatives: either they know that releasing such information would create a backlash, or they mistakenly think that.

Either way, if the leaders of a wannabe nation think so little of their own people that they cannot defend a simple condolence gesture, how can anyone expect that there would ever be real peace? If they feel that their positions are so tenuous that publicizing a tiny gesture of humanity is considered dangerous to themselves, how can anyone expect them to make the truly difficult decisions necessary for peace?

(h/t @BibiReport and @ChallahHuAkbar)

Today's BDS fail: Finland to buy Israeli drones

Finnish media are reporting that Finland is going to purchase Israeli Orbiter UAVs with a value of 23.6 million euros ($31 million.) They are part of a plan to put up a new line of defense to replace land mines banned in the Ottawa treaty.

This might be the same UAV tender that many Israel-haters fought tooth and nail against last year.

So this isn't just a BDS fail - but one where the BDSers spent months to try to derail. All for nought.

(h/t Dan)

St Andrews student who defaced Israeli flag loses appeal

Last year I reported about Chanan Reitblat, the St. Andrews University student who was victimized by Paul Donnachie, when Donnachie fondled his own genitals and then wiped his hands on Reitblat's Israeli flag in his own dorm room.

In August, Donnachie was found guilty of racism. He was expelled from the school.

The convicted racist appealed the verdict - and yesterday, he lost his appeal.

A man who called a Jewish student a terrorist has lost his appeal to have his conviction for racially aggravated behaviour quashed.

Paul Donnachie, 19, was given 150 hours for putting his hands down his trousers before rubbing them on Jewish student Chanan Reitblat's Israeli flag.

Lawyers acting for Donnachie were told by appeal court judges a sheriff did not make a mistake when sentencing him.

The 19-year-old from Blackpool, Lancs, was convicted at Cupar Sheriff Court in September last year of defiling a flag that hung on the wall of American student Mr Reitblat's room.

He also called Mr Reitblat, from New York, a terrorist during the incident.

Sheriff Charles Macnair QC also ordered Donnachie to pay £300 compensation towards his victim, who studies at Yeshiva University, also in New York.

However, Donnachie's legal team believed Sheriff Macnair committed a miscarriage of justice when he did not allow members of a Palestinian Solidarity Campaign group to give evidence during proceedings against Donnachie.

The protesters were expected to tell the court about the political situation in Israel - something which solicitors acting for Donnachie thought was relevant to his defence.

On Tuesday, three judges at the Court of Appeal in Edinburgh refused to grant Donnachie's appeal to have his conviction overturned.

In proceedings that lasted less than a minute, Mr Donnachie's lawyers were told that the appeal had failed.

In a written judgement, The Lord Justice Clerk, Lord Gill, said that Sheriff Macnair had acted correctly when dealing with Donnachie.

He wrote: "There was therefore no substantive miscarriage of justice nor was there an appearance of injustice."

His fellow judges, Lord Mackay of Drumadoon and Lord Bonomy, also refused to overturn Donnachie's conviction.

Donnachie was thrown out of St Andrews University after being found guilty of racially abusing Mr Reitblat following the two day trial at Cupar Sheriff Court.

It looks like Donnachie's defense was to try to convince the judge that Israel was so evil that Donnachie should be allowed to do whatever crimes he feels like.

And that is not necessarily a bad strategy in some British courtrooms.

Luckily, this wasn't one of them.

Just a little Egyptian hypocrisy on free speech (updated)

Bikya Masr has an article decrying Israel's "Nakba law":

The Nakba Law, upheld in a constitutional court in January of 2012, symbolizes a major setback for the proponents of free speech. The absurd idea that historical perception can be regulated by the state is self-defeating: time and time again such efforts have strengthened the very forces they aimed at eliminating.

For the proponents of such a bizarre and reactionary law, the danger lies not merely in emboldening the opposition, but also in setting a dubious precedent that almost certainly will one day work against them. “Every time you violate– or propose to violate –the right to free speech of someone else,” the late Christopher Hitchens said, “you in potentia are making a rod for your own back.”

Of course, the law doesn't inhibit free speech; it says that the state of Israel does not need to fund "alternative narratives" that are meant to call into question its very right to exist. But it will not stop anyone else from saying or publishing whatever they want.

So yesterday I wrote a comment to the article pointing that out.

Then I added a small experiment. I asked if the author could please point me to anywhere an Egyptian discusses the end of the Yom Kippur War, where the Egyptian Third Army was surrounded by Israeli forces and on the verge of being destroyed before Egypt begged for a cease fire.

Of course, Egypt regards that war as a complete military victory - and never talks about the end of the war.

Take a guess as to whether Bikya Masr published my comment.

Which tells you all you need to know about free speech in Egypt.

UPDATE: After I wrote this, they did put my comment up. (h/t sshender)