Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, May 04, 2012

Latest Latma

Very "inside" this week.

Death penalty for those who mock God, Koran, prophets in Kuwait

Kuwait’s parliament on Thursday passed a bill stipulating the death penalty for Muslims who curse or mock God, the Muslim holy book, all prophets and the wives of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed.

The same punishment is applied to those who “describe themselves as new prophets or messengers from God,” the Kuwaiti state news agency KUNA reported.

“But if the accused is a non-Muslim, the punishment would be lowered to jail for no more than 10 years,” the report added, according to the bill.

Forty MPs, including cabinet ministers, voted for the bill in the second and final round of voting, against six opponents who included all five Shi’ite MPs present and liberal MP Mohammad al-Sager.

The bill introduces two new articles to the Gulf state’s penal code specifically to stiffen penalties for such offences.

Defendants who repent in court will be spared capital punishment but will get a jail sentence for five years and a fine of $36,000 or one of them, while repentance by those who repeat the crime is not acceptable, the bill says.

“We do not want to execute people with opinions or thought because Islam respects these people... But we need this legislation because incidents of cursing God have increased. We need to deter them,” opposition MP Ali al-Deqbasi said during the debate.

Nothing says "respect" like threatening to kill someone.

Oh, and the reason that the Shi'ite MPs opposed the law?

Shiite MPs also demanded that the bill impose the death penalty on anyone who curses their sect’s 12 revered Imams, but the Sunni-dominated parliament rejected their request.

But once their amendment was defeated, then they became advocates of freedom of expression:

Shiite MP Abdulhameed Dashti said the bill breaches the Kuwaiti constitution and the principles of Islam.

“Why are we trying to show Islam as a religion of death and blood when it is actually the opposite of that,” Dashti said.

Hamas cynically celebrates World Press Freedom Day

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh held a ceremony yesterday to celebrate World Press Freedom Day.

Hamas routinely attacks Gaza journalists and who disagree with its policies. Right now, there is no freedom of the press in Gaza and reporters self-censor out of fear for their lives. They have beaten journalists who try to cover anti-Hamas demonstrations, they have banned Fatah newspapers from Gaza, and they have even attacked documentary filmmakers.

Haniyeh cynically praised the journalists who follow Hamas' propaganda goals, saying that Palestinian Arab journalists are "in the trenches" in the battle with Israel.

Journalists who spoke at the event were naturally careful to blame all their problems on the "occupation."

Meanwhile, in the West Bank, activists protested against the US Consulate holding an event in Ramallah to celebrate World Press Freedom Day. Palestinian Arab journalist unions demanded their members boycott the event. Because, after all, that's what press freedom is all about in the territories. (PalPress claims that the entire event was foiled because of the protests; however Ma'an quotes the Consul General as speaking at the event to at least some journalists.)

(h/t CHA)

Biotechnology milestone as Israeli drug gains FDA approval

From Bloomberg:

Protalix BioTherapeutics Inc. (PLX) soared in Tel Aviv trading after the biopharmaceutical company’s first product won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Protalix surged 14 percent to 29.14 shekels at the 4:30 p.m. close in Tel Aviv. The stock gained 13 percent in New York trading, the biggest single-day advance in more than six months. The company developed the drug, Elelyso, with Pfizer Inc. (PFE) to treat the most common form of Gaucher disease, a rare genetic disorder.

The approval may help Protalix cement agreements with drugmakers for its medicines in development, Chief Executive Officer David Aviezer said.

“This is a validation of our technology,” Aviezer said in an interview in Tel Aviv. “The approval could be a harbinger for additional agreements with other companies for some of our other drugs in the near future.”

Elelyso is based on breakthrough research by Dr. Yoseph Shaaltiel, the company's chief scientist. He generated medicinal proteins from genetically modified carrot cells, rather than the more expensive and bacterial-infection prone mammalian cells generally used for biotech drugs.

Pfizer, the world’s largest drugmaker, paid Protalix $60 million for an exclusive agreement to sell the drug globally except for in Israel, according to the company’s annual report. Pfizer also agreed to pay Protalix $55 million for meeting certain regulatory requirements. The U.S. company will get 60 percent of Elelyso sales while Protalix will keep 40 percent.

Gaucher disease can cause fat to build up in the liver, spleen, bone marrow and nervous system. About 1 in 14 individuals of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry carries the mutated gene that can cause the illness, and as many as 1 in 500 present a form of the disorder.

This time those Zionists are selfish. Gaucher disease mostly affects Jews.

CIA report predicting that Israel won't survive, 1947

Israel Matzav found a neat CIA document that discusses what they think would happen if the UN votes to allow partition of Palestine in 1947. It was written on the eve of the UN vote.

The experts get a lot wrong; for example the report says that it is unlikely that Arab nations would attack the Jewish state directly in opposition to the UN. Yeah.

Here are its conclusions, which were not rosy for the future of Israel.

CONCLUSIONS.
If the UNGA accepts partition as the best solution of the Palestine problem, it is almost certain that armed hostilities will result in Palestine; that the social, economic, and political stability of the Arab world will be seriously disturbed; and that US commercial and strategic interests in the Near East will be dangerously jeopardized. Although the UNGA Ad Hoc Committee on Palestine is now considering establishing a Commission responsible to the Security Council to oversee the implementation of partition, it is unlikely that any sizable international police force will initially be available to the Commission. It is highly probable, therefore, that Jewish and Arab forces will clash over the attempt of the Jews to establish a Jewish state.

Into this struggle between the Jews and Arabs of Palestine, the people of the Arab states will inevitably be drawn. Although most of the Arab governments will be reluctant to act in opposition to a UNGA decision and against the wishes of the major powers, nationalist, religious, and tribal pressures will compel them to support unofficially the Palestine Arabs. Inevitably the extremists, the chauvinists, will increase their inﬂuence at the expense of those statesmen in the Arab world who believe that the development of their countries depends on the maintenance of close ties with the US and the UK. While irresponsible tribesmen and fanatic Moslems are haphazardly blowing up parts of the pipelines and attacking occasional Americans, it is possible that the responsible governments will refuse to sign pipeline conventions, oil concessions, civil air agreements, and trade pacts The various projects which are necessary to raise the standard of living cannot be carried through without US assistance and guidance. With the US committed to partition, such developments will be shelved indefinitely. The poverty, unrest, and hopelessness upon which Communist propaganda thrives will increase throughout the Arab world, and Soviet agents (already being smuggled into Palestine as Jewish DP’s) will scatter into the other Arab states and there attempt to organize so-called “democratic movements” such as the one existing today in Greece.

In the meantime, the war in Palestine, barring international armed intervention, will increase in intensity. The Jewish forces will initially have the advantage. However, as the Arabs gradually coordinate their war effort, the Jews will be forced to withdraw from isolated positions, and having been drawn into a war of attrition, will gradually be defeated. Unless they are able to obtain signiﬁcant outside aid in terms of manpower and material, the Jews will be able to hold out no longer than two years.

The UN, having recommended partition, would have to consider the serious threat to the peace resulting from the recommendation. It would, in effect, be compelled to take steps to enforce partition, with the major powers acting as the instruments of enforcement. The dangerous potentialities of such a development to US-Arab and US-USSR relations need no emphasis.

They weren't the last to predict Israel's destruction. Somehow, Israel survived despite all the expert opinions.

Here is the entire report.
CIA Report on Partition of Palestine

(h/t Norman)

Afternoon open thread Zowie!

Gotta keep things exciting!

Pilgrimage to Djerba starts despite warning

From Magharebia:

Thousands of Jews from around the world will soon make their first pilgrimage to Tunisia's Ghriba synagogue since the country's Arab Spring revolution.

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been invited to the May 9th event as a guest of honour.

"Tunisia, a country of tolerance and openness, welcomes the visit of Jewish pilgrims to the Ghriba site in Djerba, as they were accustomed to for decades," Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali said at an April 16th World Tourism Organisation conference.

Last year, for the first time in two decades, the annual pilgrimage to Ghriba synagogue on the Tunisian island was cancelled over security concerns. The synagogue, the oldest in Africa, was also the site of a 2002 al-Qaeda terrorist attack that left 21 people dead.

Organisers of the Djerba pilgrimage decided to resume the event after the Tunisian government pledged to provide security for the visitors.

"The government will ensure through its democratic security apparatus to limit some phenomena and curtail some behaviours so as to provide favourable conditions for tourists to visit Tunisia," Jebali added.

But Israel warned against visiting there:

The Prime Minister’s Office issued a travel warning Thursday advising Israelis to avoid Tunisia.

The warning, released the PMO’s Counter Terrorism Bureau, followed an updated situation evaluation and stressed credible threats of terror attacks against Jews and Israelis.

The bureau emphasized threats to people congregating in the city of Djerba on and around the upcoming Lag B’omer holiday on Thursday and Friday next week.

Djerba, noted for it’s 2.500 year-old Jewish community, was the site of a synagogue bombing in April 2002 that killed 21 and wounded 30 more.

The advisory was given a threat assessment level of three out of four, with a “specific-high” rating.

The advisory seems well-advised. Islamists in Tunisia are warning against the "Judaization" of the island. Some are claiming that Jews buying land on the island with the intent of purchasing the entire island, something denied by the government; others called for a demonstration against the pilgrims in front of the historic synagogue. While the government is admirably saying it will provide security, there seem to be a whole lot of people who are against a Jewish pilgrimage to Djerba.

Shareholders sue Egypt over canceled gas deal with Israel

From Egypt Independent:

International shareholders in East Mediterranean Gas (EMG), the company that oversaw the now defunct Egyptian-Israeli natural gas deal, said on Thursday they were suing the government of Egypt for violating three bilateral investment treaties.

The decision to take legal action against the Egyptian government under treaties with the United States, Poland and Germany is the strongest move so far by the group, ensuring the dispute is handled diplomatically and not just commercially.

Egyptian state-owned oil and gas companies announced on 22 April the termination of gas sales to Israel, which were part of a 20-year deal, following a year of sabotage and pipeline attacks that had already disrupted supplies.

Thursday's announcement came after months of unsuccessful attempts to resolve the issue through negotiation, one of the shareholders, Ampal-American Israel Corp, said.

Egypt's Foreign Ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.

The investors, who include Thai energy giant PTT, US businessman Sam Zell and Israel's Merhav, are also suing the Egyptian oil and gas companies. Together they are seeking up to US$8 billion in damages.

"The investors' disputes with Egypt arise out of a series of acts and failures by the government of Egypt that have seriously undermined the value of the investors' investments in EMG," Ampal said in a statement.

The underwater pipeline, which EMG spent about $500 million on building, had been targeted by militants in Egypt's unruly Sinai peninsula numerous times, halting the flow of gas for most of the past year.

In 2010, prior to the attacks, EMG provided 2.5 billion cubic meters (BCM) of gas to Israeli customers. But that number was expected to more than double throughout the 20-year deal.

This should be interesting.

The 140 character pitch for Judaism and the Jewish state

In last night's much heralded debate between Daniel Gordis and Peter Beinart, there was an intriguing question asked at 56:36.

The question was that both of them had written about the tragedy of young American Jews who do not identify with Judaism or with the Jewish state. If they had two minutes to make a pitch for one of them to re-engage with Judaism and Zionism, stuck in the proverbial elevator, what would they say?

Gordis, who is a Conservative rabbi, answered that he wouldn't engage in the conversation at all. Bringing up the famous story of the person who demanded that rabbis Shammai and Hillel teach him the entire Torah while he stands on one foot, Gordis said that he would side with Shammai and refuse to answer - it is a dismissive, loaded question, and one cannot teach the big questions of life in two minutes.

Gordis railed against today's culture where people think that big ideas can be adequately expressed in a text message. He said that if one is serious to know the answer, he'll be happy to spend the months and years necessary to answer the question.

Unfortunately, this is the wrong answer. We do live in a time where people are thinking in soundbites and text messages and tweets, and we have to adapt to it. Arguments for Judaism and Jewish nationalism must work on all levels.

And I felt it was an intriguing question, as there was nothing in the question that presupposed that the young Jew in the elevator was hostile, but rather that he or she was clueless, as most - unfortunately - are.

I feel that Hillel's answer was good as well - because he ended it off with "go and learn." The response, both then and now, should not be a real answer - but it must be a hook to get people to want to find out the real answers for themselves

So I took it upon myself to respond to that question. But since I like a challenge, I didn't want to use a rather expansive two minutes, but I wanted to craft a response limited to the 140 character limit on Twitter.

Here it is:

Learning about other peoples and cultures is wonderful, but learning and internalizing about your own people and history is a prerequisite.

Tunisian TV executive fined over showing "blasphemous" film

Last year I reported about how a Tunisian TV director was stand trial for screening an "offensive" cartoon, called Persepolis, which shows how an Iranian girl conceives of God. Days of violent riots followed, including the firebombing of the director's house.

The director has been fined:

A Tunisian court on Thursday imposed a 2,400-dinar ($1,550) fine on a television boss over blasphemy charges after a trial that deepened the division between Islamists and secularists.

The director of Nessma television is accused of insulting sacred values by screening the film “Persepolis,” which showed depictions of God.

Nabil Karoui was charged over the decision by his Nessma television station to broadcast the award-winning animated film that includes a scene depicting Allah, which is forbidden in Islam.

“Persepolis” is a cartoon film directed by comic book writer Marjane Satrapi that tells the story of the Iranian revolution and the Islamic regime of Ayotollah Ruhollah Khomeiny through the eyes of a precocious young girl.

Nessma’s head, Nabil Karoui had earlier said in January at the opening of his hearing: “I am sorry to be here today, this is a political trial.

It’s the trial of 10 million Tunisians who dreamed of having a democratic country.”

While he could have been jailed, the penalty is still a serious setback for human rights in post-revolution Tunisia.

EoZ is an "extremist hate site!"

My well-received essay pointing out the hypocrisy of Israel haters, and the fundamental moral difference between Zionists and anti-Zionists, was quoted by Jonathan Hoffman in The Jewish Chronicle.

The very first comment, by "Mary in Brighton," was:

Jonathan why do you keep linking us to extremist hate sites ?

Another says that my post is a "far right whitewash."

I see similar comments when my posts are linked to on Reddit.

It's always amusing to see how people who have no ability to counter arguments choose instead to resort to name calling and an attempt to de-legitimize their opponents.

And if this is an "extremist hate site," then are there even words to describe the many sites to the right of EoZ?

(h/t istrue)

Sham Hamas/Fatah "unity" continues

From AFP:

A Cairo meeting between Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal and an official of the rival Fatah movement made no headway on the formation of a Palestinian national unity government, an official said on Thursday.

Two hours of talks Wednesday night in the Egyptian capital produced “nothing new,” the Palestinian official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Meshaal and his deputy Mussa Abu Marzuk discussed with senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmed “the possibility of advancing the reconciliation process, in particular a government of national unity, but the meeting produced nothing new,” the official said.

It's actually worse than this. Hamas denies that there was any formal meeting at all, with a spokesman claiming that at best there was an ad-hoc, unplanned meeting.

Hamas also accused Fatah of arresting six of its members in Bethlehem and further accused them of torturing Hamas prisoners.

We are now in May - the month that was supposed to be when the "unity" elections would be held.

The entire "unity" sham came about as a reaction to a series of rallies last year in Gaza and the West Bank that spooked Hamas and Fatah into thinking that an Egyptian-style revolution to topple them was imminent. They held lots of meaningless meetings pretending to unify, and it seems that their delaying tactics have been successful: even though everyone realizes by now that there has been no real movement to unify the two sides, there has also been no repetition of the demonstrations.

Meanwhile, Fatah is buckling down on freedom of expression and is acting, along with Hamas, just like the other Arab dictatorships.

(h/t CHA)

When a charge of racism proves the bigotry of the accuser

I saw this tweet from anti-Zionist Joseph Dana:

Perhaps, the most racist article that you will read in the Israeli press today. Courtesy of the Israeli Onion, Ynet.

And what did this "racist" article, written by Giulio Meotti, say?

World-renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman, afflicted with polio as a child, just attended the 60th anniversary celebration of the Israeli Foundation for Handicapped Children. While in the Arab world disabled people have been called “the invisibles,” because they are segregated and hidden from the public eye, Israel’s work with illness and disabilities would merit a book in itself.

Then, after eight paragraphs on Israel's accomplishments in promoting the rights of the disabled, the author writes:

In Palestinian society, the most famous disabled was Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin. In Iraq, terrorists used many disabled women for suicide attacks. In Israel, Down syndrome youth can ask to be inducted into the army. This is the story of the Middle East conflict: death cult vs. Israel’s right to life.

The focus of the article is Israel's accomplishments, not Arab attitudes, concerning the disabled. Yet Dana, like all those who self-righteously obsess over supposed Israeli crimes, seizes upon this as a sterling example of Israel's "racism" against Arabs.

According to Dana, noting that Arab society shuns handicapped people is racist.

However, the Arab Human Development Report said:

In many Arab countries, vulnerable groups are subjected not only to institutional discrimination but also to the prejudices of the population at large. Such vulnerability is not confined to women; it extends to other marginalized groups such as minorities, the elderly, youth, children, disabled persons, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees. The neglect and marginalization of these vulnerable groups is a blemish on the human rights records of Arab countries, which must be removed without prevarication or delay.

The Guardian's Comment is Free quotes a disability advocate in Egypt as saying:

"The idea that children with cerebral palsy could be self-dependent and integrated with Egyptian society is completely alien; most people think they'd be better off dead."

In The National, a UAE paper that Dana writes for, it was reported:

With her six-year stint as the UN's special rapporteur on disability drawing to a close, Sheikha Hissa Khalifa Al Thani questions whether handicapped people in the Arab world will ever get a fair deal....The UN's outgoing disability watchdog describes the Arab region as lagging behind the rest of the world. "Disabled people are more marginalised and more isolated than other people. But specifically in the Arab region, they are invisible, because of negative social attitudes and the lack of a human rights culture," Sheikha Hissa said.

Does Dana consider all these experts on disability in the Arab world to be racist?

Of course not. That toxic word, according to self-righteous moralizers like Dana, only applies to Zionists and Israelis.

If an Italian quotes Arabs about Arabs in an Israeli newspaper, Dana thinks that this proves that Israelis are racist.

Which means that the only bigot here is Dana himself.

UPDATE: Here are some of those Zionist racists and their disability-washing (including helping Arab families with disabled children - h/t Raizel.) It is a very worthwhile video to watch.

On the Middle East reaction to foot and mouth disease in Gaza (Zvi)

Comment from Zvi on this posting about how Hamas seems blasé about a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Gaza, and how Israel is doing everything it can to help stop its spread:

"the Agriculture Coordinator at the DCL was urgently called to Erez Crossing in order to receive samples of the disease from his Palestinian colleagues."

There was no assistance from Iran in this hour of need; in mid-April, Iran was busy threatening the US. There was no assistance from Syria, which in mid-April was busy faking a truce and shelling its own civilians using tanks. There was no assistance from Egypt, where the disease originated; there was not even an attempt to cut off the smuggling tunnels from the Egyptian side in order to prevent the smuggling of disease-carrying animals. There was not even a breath of assistance from the Bigotry/Double Standards movement, which in mid-April was busy preparing to swarm-attack Ben Gurion International Airport. There was not a whiff of assistance from the Salafists, who in mid-April were busy calling for the annihilation of Israel.

When the crisis hit, the country that mobilized its own resources to help... was Israel.

You can say that Israel has self-interest in the matter. And it does. So does every other country in the region - the same ones that spend put so much effort into trying to destroy Israel, and the ones where only a simple majority of the population obsesses about doing so.

Well, it's a good thing for the region that there is ONE country in the middle east that has advanced capabilities. It's a good thing that there is SOMEONE in the region who cares about win-win solutions, rather than obsessing about repulsive vendettas.

When really bad, dangerous things happen, there is no substitute for being responsible adults.

Did Al Akhbar get punk'd?

From Al Akhbar, later picked up by Hezbollah's Al Manar newspaper and many others:

The Lebanese government has said it will look into the legality of a “Lebanese society” at an American university hosting a joint event with an Israeli one.

The Lebanese Social Club (LSC) at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) is organizing a charity fundraiser with the Israeli Leadership Council “for the disenfranchised children of Israel and Lebanon.”

The group is part of the Lebanese Collegiate Network (LCN), which Al-Akhbar revealed earlier this month is heavily sponsored by the CIA, leading to claims that it was little more than a recruitment center for the American spy network.

The tagline for the “Night of the Arts” event, scheduled for May 6 in the Ackerman Student Union at UCLA, says it “will be a grand celebration of the culture, passion, and ethos of the Israeli and Lebanese peoples.”

It adds “all profits will be divided equally 50/50 among orphanages in Israel and Lebanon,” without mentioning the thousands of Lebanese and Palestinians killed by Israel in recent decades.

Adnan Mansour, Lebanese foreign minister, said the government was to look into whether the event was legal under Lebanese law.

“We will investigate whether the Lebanese Social Club consists of Lebanese citizens or Lebanese Americans,” he said.

Lebanon and Israel are in a state of war and according to Lebanese law it is illegal to communicate with any person from an enemy state.

Al Manar even has a copy of the poster for this event.

Only one problem: I cannot find any mention of this event anywhere besides Arab websites.

The UCLA Lebanese Social Club website is down, although the group certainly exists and has a national presence.

The Israeli Leadership Council has a webpage with listings of many events - but not a word about this one.

The poster looks like a typical college poster, complete with the logos of both these organizations. But it doesn't mention the names of the charities, for example.

This is very fishy.

Was there a planned event that was canceled? If so, there would still be traces of it on the web.

Was this a hoax played against Arab newspapers? The article quotes a real person, who does go to UCLA:

Event co-organizer Patrick Malkoun, from the university's Lebanese Social Club, said he had not been aware of any legal issues concerning Lebanese citizens having dealings with Israelis.

"We are all here as college students to prove our worth in this world, what we can do in the business world. If we can put on events, if we can put on charity fundraisers, if we can contact people to show off communication skills and business skills," he said.

If this was true, I would imagine that Zionist organizations would be making a big deal out of cooperation between Arabs and Jews for charity. (Zionists seem to like things like that. Go figure.)

So I have a hard time believing that this was ever a real event, and while I also have a hard time thinking that some students set out to play a practical joke on Al Akhbar, that seems like a more likely explanation at this time.

The Arab and anti-Israeli blogosphere, for their part, are playing their roles to the hilt - each one of them aghast at the very idea that Lebanese and Israeli American students could possibly cooperate for charity. This story is all over the place.

Except for UCLA.