Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, June 11, 2012

Arabs and Muslims are really obsessed with Tom and Jerry

Remember back in 2006, when an Iranian cultural advisor to the Iranian Education Ministry was shown on TV to describe the terrible Tom and Jerry conspiracy?

There is a cartoon that children like. They like it very much, and so do adults - Tom and Jerry.
[...]
Some say that this creation by Walt Disney will be remembered forever. The Jewish Walt Disney Company gained international fame with this cartoon. It is still shown throughout the world. This cartoon maintains its status because of the cute antics of the cat and mouse – especially the mouse.

Some say that the main reason for making this very appealing cartoon was to erase a certain derogatory term that was prevalent in Europe.
[...]
If you study European history, you will see who was the main power to hoard money and wealth, in the 19th century. In most cases, it is the Jews. Perhaps that was one of the reasons which caused Hitler to begin the anti-Semitic trend, and then the extensive propaganda about the crematoria began... Some of this is true. We do not deny all of it.

Watch Schindler's List. Every Jew was forced to wear a yellow star on his clothing. The Jews were degraded and termed "dirty mice." Tom and Jerry was made in order to change the Europeans' perception of mice. One of terms used was "dirty mice."

I'd like to tell you that... It should be noted that mice are very cunning...and dirty.
[...]
No ethnic group or people operates in such a clandestine manner as the Jews.
[...]
Read the history of the Jews in Europe. This ultimately led to Hitler's hatred and resentment. As it turns out, Hitler had behind-the-scene connections with the Protocols [of the Elders of Zion].

Tom and Jerry was made in order to display the exact opposite image. If you happen to watch this cartoon tomorrow, bear in mind the points I have just raised, and watch it from this perspective. The mouse is very clever and smart. Everything he does is so cute. He kicks the poor cat's ass. Yet this cruelty does not make you despise the mouse. He looks so nice, and he is so clever... This is exactly why some say it was meant to erase this image of mice from the minds of European children, and to show that the mouse is not dirty and has these traits.

Well, now an Arab academic based out of the US is saying the same thing on Saudi TV:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Muhammad Waqi’ullah, a US-based Sudanese professor of political science, which aired on Al-Majd TV on June 4, 2012. Waqi’ullah received his Ph.D. from the University of Mississipi, and worked for the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences in America in Fairfax, Virginia.

Muhammad Waqi’ullah: The neocon movement was established at US universities, especially at the University of Chicago. It was established by a group of Jewish professors, who fled Nazism. They wanted to fortify Western civilization against the leftist, secular, Nazi, and Fascist invasion.

Ultimately, they wanted to protect the Israelites, or the Jews, from annihilation by Western civilization. They infiltrated Western ideology, and specifically, American ideology, until the circumstances, under Bush Jr., enabled them to gain control over the country’s centers of power and to implement their ideas.

This led to the invasions with which they destroyed Islam and the Islamic world.

....The Muslim fights for the sake of good, while the infidel fights for the sake of evil. It is a war of values, not of material interests or personal or national ambitions. It is a war of civilizations, a war of values. Islamic civilization defends the good.

...Some films look the epitome of innocent, purity, and reliability. They look like nice harmless films, like the Superman movies or Tom and Jerry. People don’t sense the danger of these films, but these films instill Western philosophy, the theory of Thomas Hobbes [sic], which we discussed.

That damn Jewish mouse again!

But then again, Tom and Jerry had a very prominent Arab fan.

Yasir Arafat.

Then again, Arafat was instrumental in creating a new people to be seen as the new Jews who are oppressed by the Nazi like Zionists, so perhaps this is not that surprising.

Gaza's kindergarten jihadist wannabes

Islamic Jihad's website Saraya has a photo essay on Gaza kindergarten graduation ceremonies:

But don't worry - some of the kindergarteners played Jews too:

The article goes on to say that they are "infusing the culture of resistance in the hearts and minds of the children in the Gaza Strip" and that "their lives are continuously in the role of resistance in all areas, hoping to be volunteers in the future."

A teacher at the school said "In every year's kindergarten graduation ceremonies we focus on the children to represent the role of struggling and resistance in the way of Allah, in order to establish this path, and grow up to love the resistance, and for it to have a prominent role in their lives to serve the cause of Palestine and Holy Jihad, as well as to make them leaders and fighters to defend the holy soil of Palestine."

One child, Hamza, wearing the uniform of the Al Quds Brigades of Islamic Jihad and carrying a wooden weapon, said "I love the resistance and the martyrs and Palestine, and I want to blow up he most Zionists in a process of martyrdom and kill them."

In other news, Hamas summer camps are starting, but they are downplaying the paramilitary parts in their publicity photos.

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar)

EU-funded NGO teaches anti-semitism

Palestinian Media Watch notes that a Palestinian Arab youth NGO called Pyalara has been praising suicide terrorists in their TV programs, saying that they are "role models."

"Unfortunately, we couldn't part from them (i.e., the terrorists) or even embrace them, but were satisfied standing before their bodies, standing up before their sanctified message: The homeland won't die, but we will die for it. These [Martyrs] are more honored than all of us... They are the greatest role models for us, not only because they fought and struggled for the homeland, but also because they went beyond the sacrifice [of] strain and effort, to the stage where they actually sacrificed their lives for the homeland."

As PalWatch notes, Pyalara is funded by the EU and Western NGOs:

But Pyalara goes beyond glorifying terrorists and teaches its children actual anti-semitism.

On their website they have issues of their Youth Times magazine. The February 2011 issue discusses topics such as the difficulty that the terrorists released in the Gilad Shalit deal have in re-adjusting to normal life, but even more troubling is this article:

The article is about Freemasons, and it ties the Freemasons to Judaism and Kabbalah, as well as devil-worship. It then goes on to say

Kabbalah is one of the most important tools of Freemasonry, and its first goal to control the minds of the people through the media. Over time, those ideas have become the mainstream.It is not surprising that they have worked to distort the image of Arabs for over a hundred years, which highlighted the Arab as backward and subhuman, and therefore people they are able to control as they see fit, even including death and destruction, in order to implement their projects without objection.

So while they are careful not to say that Judaism (a divine religion) is directly at fault, they are using usual anti-semitic canards and emphasizing ties to Judaism and Jews in their description of Freemansonry as an evil society hell bent on destroying the Arab world ever since the Crusades.

This is what the EU and Western NGOs are funding.

PalArab kids told to replace cigarettes with machine guns - in UN funded program

From Palestinian Media Watch:

Puppet 1: "I wanted to stand before the audience and sing to Jerusalem, which is being kept from us. Jerusalem, whose youth are being killed by the Jews. To sing and to say: Jerusalem, we are coming, Jerusalem, the time of death has arrived. Jerusalem, we will not surrender to the enemies or be humiliated."

Puppet 2: "What am I doing to myself [by smoking]? I, and many other youth like me, think that through cigarettes we will be adults and men. Jerusalem doesn't need youth who hold cigarettes. It needs men who hold machine guns, not cigarettes."

Note: According to the Burj Luq Luq Center's website where the puppet show was held, they are funded and have ties to the French Consulate, the Swiss Development Agency, the Italian Institutions' Union, the UNFPA, the [PA] Ministry of Youth and Sports, UNICEF and UNESCO.

This puppet show is on their main webpage.

Here's part of their "Sources of Funding" partners webpage:

And while they are not listed, they have an entire section dedicated to the American Friends Service Committee, the "non-violent" anti-Israel Quaker group.

"Saudis Got Talent" show - no women, no music

From The Telegraph:

A Saudi city known for its ultraconservatism has created its own version of the "Arabs Got Talent" television reality show, but with no music and women banned from taking part.

Instead, competitors will be permitted to perform religious chants, recite poems and engage in sports events.

The contest is being held north of the capital in the city of Buraydah, known as a centre for Wahhabism – a strict interpretation of Islam that is followed in the desert kingdom.

"Buraydah's Got Talent" is the title of the contest which will abide by the strict rules of segregation between the sexes, meaning it is not open to women.

Music, singing and dancing are strict no-nos, despite being staples in "Britain's Got Talent" and similar talent competitions that have become a global viewing phenomenon with national versions televised in 32 countries.

The Saudi version, organised by the internet Buraydah Forum, will take place in the open air before a jury comprising a poet, a television producer and TV presenters, Al-Hayat newspaper reported, quoting forum supervisor Jalawi al-Shukair.

I wonder if they allow beheadings. It takes talent, after all.

PLO says Jerusalem Festival of Light is "Judaization"

The PLO has slammed the Jerusalem Festival of Lights, currently being held, as evidence that Israel is trying to "Judaize" Jerusalem.

In a statement, they said that this is "an escalation of the Judaization of the Holy City and to change its Arab and Islamic countries through a series of violations and the Israeli practices in the holy city and against its inhabitants, and we call on the international community to assume full responsibility for these practices. The "festival of lights" organized by Israel is currently celebrating the occupation of Palestinian and Arab territories and East Jerusalem, 1967, and these celebrations are held at the gates ofthe Al Aqsa Mosque as the Israelis dance on the blood and Palestinian rights violated by the Israeli occupation."

There is little about the Jerusalem Festival of Lights that is religious. Here's a video from 2010:

So when the PLO speaks in Arabic, they regard all Israeli actions in Jerusalem as "Judaization," not so much as "occupation." Because they know that their audience hates Jews; it is more effective as propaganda to repeat the charge of "Judaization" even when the actions of the Jerusalem municipality have nothing to do with Judaism.

PalArabs slam Abbas' indication of possible talks with Israel

From Ma'an:

President Mahmoud Abbas' offer to talk to Israel if it freed prisoners and allows more arms to Palestinian security forces represents a retreat from his previous demand for a settlement freeze, Palestinian political analysts told Ma'an.

On Friday, Abbas said he had informed Israeli envoys he would open a dialogue with Israel in exchange for arms allowances and released detainees, but stressed it wouldn't amount to full negotiations, reiterating his insistence on a total freeze on settlements.

But Chair of the Al-Quds University Humanitarian Department Imad Abu Kishik said the president's formulation was the wrong way round.

It is more important to agree the principle of establishing a Palestinian state on pre-1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, while other details, such as arms and releasing prisoners, will follow from this, he told Ma'an.

"Negotiations will be pointless if there is no agreement on the main principle," he said.

Abu Kishik said he believes Abbas is trying to meet international pressure to find a glimmer of hope for negotiations with Israel.

Palestinian analyst Talal Ukal said Abbas' stance "represented a retreat" in the Palestinian Authority's long-standing position that talks cannot resume without a settlement freeze.

It seems likely that the bizarre unilateral release of the bodies of scores of terrorists by Israel, touted as a "confidence building measure," was tied to this.

Meanwhile, Saeb Erekat is taking pains to say that even when the PLO talks to Israel they should never be considered "negotiations."

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sunday that while he has held secret talks with Israeli envoys, any return to full negotiations will depend on a full settlement freeze.

Erekat said he had discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's adviser Yitzhak Molcho while he delivered a letter from President Mahmoud Abbas to Netanyahu on April 17.

He described another meeting on May 7 when he went to receive Netanyahu's reply. Officially, Molcho delivered his premier's response to Abbas and Erekat in Ramallah on May 12. Meanwhile, Erekat suffered a mild heart attack on May 8 and said he was thus unable to hold more talks.

Israeli daily Haaretz reported Sunday that the envoys had held six or seven meetings in the last two months, prior to Erekat's heart attack, on the exchange of communiques, and Palestinian requests for goodwill gestures from Israel.

Erekat told Ma'an the Palestinian position remains based on a full settlement freeze and recognition of a Palestinian state on 1967 borders as the basis of full negotiations.

"Otherwise, we will end up repeating the previous rounds of negotiations," he said.

Sounds like the PLO is trying to have it both ways - telling the West that they are willing to "talk" while telling their own people that they will never "negotiate" without the preconditions they added around 2008 or 2009 and additional ones since then.

And note that even this limited, symbolic "talking" is being slammed by mainstream Palestinian Arab analysts as caving to international pressure.

Which side wants peace again?

Muslim clerics set their sights on conquering Spain - and the Vatican

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Lebanese cleric Amin Al-Kurdi, which aired on Al-Quds TV on June 3, 2012.

Interviewer: Some people in our Arab countries do not feel as optimistic as the people in Gaza. Somebody from Gaza told you that Jerusalem has become within reach.

Amin Al-Kurdi: They are now talking about the liberation of Andalusia, because they consider the liberation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and of Jerusalem to be a done deal, Allah willing. They now have their sights set on Andalusia, which the Muslims lost. They are convinced, because of their faith in Allah – and we are with them – that the liberation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is a done deal. It will be liberated, and Jerusalem and Palestine in its entirety will be in the possession of the Muslims.

He may be referring to this earlier interview a couple of weeks ago:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Dr. Subhi Al-Yaziji, dean of Koranic studies at the Islamic University of Gaza, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on May 25, 2012:

Subhi Al-Yaziji: The conquest of Andalusia is an old dream, something Muslims proudly hope for and will continue to hope for in the future.

[...]

We place our hopes in Allah and trust that the day will come when our triumph will not be restricted to Palestine. Our hopes go beyond that – to raise the banner of the Caliphate over the Vatican, the "Rome" of today, in accordance with the hadith of the Prophet Muhammad: "Constantinople shall be conquered and then Rome."

"First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people."

Arab cartoons of the Six Day War (VIDEO)

My post about Arab cartoons on the eve of and during the Six Day War received thousands of hits, so I made it into a video:

Links!

Last month:

TÁNAISTE EAMON Gilmore has said Ireland may push for the EU to ban goods from Israeli settlements if Israel does not quickly change its settlements policy in Palestinian territories.

Mr Gilmore has also said the Government may seek to have certain extremist settlers banned from the EU if they do not stop their violence in settlement areas.

Mr Gilmore said he spoke for the Government on these points. Asked if he thought Ireland’s presidency of the EU next year would provide a platform to advance the Government’s case, he said: “I do, yes.” ‘

You can sign a petition against the EU banning Israeli goods from over an arbitrary 1949 armistice line here.

From Ian:
A must read article from Dore Gold
Why the Six-Day War still matters

“These details still matter forty-five years later. When the rights of the parties that claimed Jerusalem were debated after the Six-Day War, it became necessary to look into the circumstances of how each came to possess the city. Jordan's capture of Jerusalem in 1948 resulted from what had been described at the time by the U.N. secretary-general, Trygve Lie, as the first case of "armed aggression" since the Second World War. This stood in contrast to how Israel entered the eastern portions Jerusalem in 1967, that came about through what was plainly a war of self-defense. This distinction became glaringly apparent when the Soviet Union failed in its repeated efforts to have Israel branded as "the aggressor" in the Six-Day War first in the Security Council, in June 1967, and then a month later in the General Assembly.”
“The great American legal scholar, Stephen Schwebel, who would become the President of the International Court of Justice in the Hague, was cognizant of this comparison for he wrote in 1970: "when the prior holder of territory had seized that territory unlawfully, the state which subsequently takes that territory in the lawful exercise of self-defense has, against the prior holder, better title." Israel had historical rights to Jerusalem that had been embedded in the British Mandate, but that was not part of the international discourse after 1967. Basing himself on the events of the Six-Day War, Schwebel concluded that Israel's claim to "the whole of Jerusalem" was stronger than that of Jordan's. His analysis was echoed at the time by his contemporaries like the British expert on international law, Elihu Lauterpacht and the Australian, Julius Stone.”

Recipe for War: Unilateral Withdrawal from West Bank by Khaled Abu Toameh

“The case of Jenin, a city in the West Bank, is a good example of the weakness of the Palestinian Authority security forces, especially with regard to imposing law and order: Palestinian Authority officials have admitted that Jenin has been controlled over the past two years by Fatah militiamen and thugs who worked closely with many top Palestinian security officers, imposing a reign of terror and intimidation on the city's residents.”

Syrian Rebels are using Hamas/ISM tactics aka get friendly Westerners killed for publicity.
UK journalist Syria rebels led me into death trap

In nod to Israel, Olympic committee says athletes thinking of discriminating should stay at home

Refusing to compete against an athlete because of nationality or religion would be a ‘serious breach’ of the Olympic code of ethics.

Richard Beinart and Peter Goldstone – Part II

Avram Grant accompanies England players visiting Auschwitz ahead of Euro 2012

State Dept Looks Other Way on Christian Slaughter in Middle East

“The bottom line: the State Department’s Human Rights report fails to report Human Rights violations that are religious in nature, and that’s either because reporting the deaths of Christians would shine a bad on the Islamists who are now in charge or because it would shine a bad light on the State Department that helped put them in charge (or both).”

Gallup Obama’s 10 points off his 2008 pace with Jewish voters

Zawahiri's better half "I advise you to raise your children in the cult of jihad and martyrdom and to instil in them a love for religion and death"

Latest Latma

The English version was not posted until after Shabbat:

Latest BDS joke

Let's say an international security company operates in such human-rights abusing states as Pakistan, China, Yemen, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.

Would you be upset if that company provides security for the London Olympics?

Apparently not. No one has said a word about that.

But if that same company does work in Israel, then it must be boycotted!

From Al Arabiya:

In the upcoming next week session of the British parliament, the government will be grilled over its decision to allow a firm suspected of human rights abuses in Palestinian territories to provide security services for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

G4S, chosen as “official provider of security and cash services for the Olympics,” also operates in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The company, which describes itself as the “world’s leading international security solutions group” and as the “official provider of security and cash services for the Olympics,” has already taken on 10,400 new employees for the 2012 Games, the Independent reported on Thursday.

The parliament, however, will be quizzed by prominent businessman and Labor peer Lord Hollick, after he files a written question on Monday, on the steps the parliament has taken to ensure that G4S is not providing security services in illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Because Israel is uniquely horrid among all the states G4S operate in!

How much more proof do you need to see that BDS is motivated by anti-semitism, pure and simple? Only the Jewish state gets singled out as being the reason to attack this huge multinational security company that does work in scores of nations worldwide. G4S also does work with the EU, most Scandinavian states, the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Belgium, and pretty much every major nation. And pretty much every Arab state as well, none of whom are boycotting it!

BDSers pretended to have gained a victory when the EU decided to change security companies at its parliament last year away fro G4S, in a move that was not in any way prompted by BDSers.

Best EoZ posts of the past week

Here's a rundown of my best posts for last week, in no particular order:

Arab political cartoons on the eve of war, 1967
"The people of Jordan do not accept Jews entering their homeland"
Hilarious boycott of Israeli goods by tiny cafe in Olympia (updated)
Debunking the "Bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man" myth
Arabs are very nice to their refugees - unless they happen to be Palestinian
The Guardian publishes Hamas lies
A Palestinian Arab myth disproven yet again
Gaza power plant shuts down again, and no one can explain why
How things were when we had those wonderful "1967 lines"

Short story for the weekend: Shtetl Days

Last week I posted a delightful science fiction story with a Jewish theme.

This week, quite by accident, I stumbled onto another - really, a dystopian alternate history - called Shtetl Days, by Harry Turtledove.

It is too long to post the entire story - 34 pages printed - but here is part of it:

Jakub Shlayfer opened the door and walked outside to go to work. Before he could shut it again, his wife called after him: “Alevai it should be a good day! We really need the gelt!”

“Alevai, Bertha. Omayn,” Jakub agreed. The door was already shut by then, but what difference did that make? It wasn’t as if he didn’t know they were poor. His lean frame, the rough edge on the brim of his broad, black hat, his threadbare long, black coat, and the many patches on his boot soles all told the same story.

But then, how many Jews in Wawolnice weren’t poor? The only one Jakub could think of was Shmuel Grynszpan, the undertaker. His business was as solid and certain as the laws of God. Everybody else’s? Groszy and zlotych always came in too slowly and went out too fast.

He stumped down the unpaved street, skirting puddles. Not all the boot patches were everything they might have been. He didn’t want to get his feet wet. He could have complained to Mottel Cohen, but what was the use? Mottel did what Mottel could do. And it wasn’t as if Wawolnice had—or needed—two cobblers. It you listened to Mottel’s kvetching, the village didn’t need one cobbler often enough.

The watery spring morning promised more than the day was likely to deliver. The sun was out, but clouds to the west warned it was liable to rain some more. Well, it wouldn’t snow again till fall. That was something. Jakub skidded on mud and almost fell. It might be something, but it wasn’t enough.

Two-story houses with steep, wood-shingled roofs crowded the street from both sides and caused it to twist here and turn there. They made it hard for the sun to get down to the street and dry up the mud. More Jews came out of the houses to go to their jobs. The men dressed pretty much like Jakub. Some of the younger ones wore cloth caps instead of broad-brimmed hats. Chasidim, by contrast, had fancy shtreimels, with the brims made from mink.

...

He closed up and locked the door. He’d done some tinkering with the lock. He didn’t think anybody not a locksmith could quietly pick it. Enough brute force, on the other hand . . . Jews in Poland understood all they needed to about brute force, and about who had enough of it. Jakub Shlayfer’s mobile mouth twisted. Polish Jews didn’t, never had, and never would.

He walked home through the gathering gloom. “Stinking Yid!” The shrei in Polish pursued him. His shoulders wanted to sag under its weight, and the weight of a million more like it. He didn’t, he wouldn’t, let them. If the mamzrim saw they’d hurt you, they won. As long as a rock didn’t follow, he was all right. And if one did, he could duck or dodge. He hoped.

No rocks tonight. Candles and kerosene lamps sent dim but warm glows out into the darkness. If you looked at the papers, electricity would come to the village soon. Then again, if you looked at the papers and believed everything you read in them, you were too dumb to live.

Bertha met him at the door. Sheitel, head scarf over it, long black dress . . . She still looked good to him. She greeted him with, “So what were you and Reb Eliezer going on about today?”

“Serpents,” Jakub answered.

“Pilpul.” His wife’s sigh said she’d hoped for better, even if she hadn’t expected it. “I don’t suppose he had any paying business.”

“He didn’t, no,” the grinder admitted.

...

Jakub walked over to the closet door. That the cramped space had room for a closet seemed something not far from miraculous. He wasn’t inclined to complain, though. Oh, no—on the contrary. Neither was Bertha, who came up smiling to stand beside him as he opened the door.

Then they walked into the closet. They could do that now. The day was over. Jakub shoved coats and dresses out of the way. They smelled of wool and old sweat. Bertha flicked a switch as she closed the closet door. A ceiling light came on.

“Thanks, sweetie,” Jakub said. “That helps.”

In back of the clothes stood another door, this one painted battleship gray. In German, large, neatly stenciled black letters on the hidden doorway warned AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. Being an authorized person, Jakub hit the numbers that opened that door. It showed a concrete stairway leading down. The walls to the descending corridor were also pale gray. Blue-tinged light from fluorescent tubes in ceiling fixtures streamed into the closet.

Jakub started down the stairs. Bertha was an authorized person, too. She followed him, pausing only to close the hidden door behind them. A click announced it had locked automatically, as it was designed to do. The grinder and his wife left Wawolnice behind.

Men and women in grimy Jewish costumes and about an equal number dressed as Poles from the time between the War of Humiliation and the triumphant War of Retribution ambled along an underground hallway. They chatted and chattered and laughed, as people who’ve worked together for a long time will at the end of a day.

Arrows on the walls guided them toward their next destination. Explaining the arrows were large words beside them: TO THE SHOWERS. The explanation was about as necessary as a second head, but Germans had a habit of overdesigning things.

Veit Harlan shook himself like a dog that had just scrambled out of a muddy creek. That was how he felt, too. Like any actor worth his salt, he immersed himself in the roles he played. When the curtain came down on another day, he always needed a little while to remember he wasn’t Jakub Shlayfer, a hungry Jew in a Polish village that had vanished from the map more than a hundred years ago.

He wasn’t the only one, either. He would have been amazed if he had been. People heading for the showers to clean up after their latest shift in Wawolnice went right on throwing around the front vowels and extra-harsh gutturals of Yiddish. Only little by little did they start using honest German again.

When they did, the fellow who played Reb Eliezer—his real name was Ferdinand Marian—and a pimply yeshiva-bukher (well, the pimply performer impersonating a young yeshiva-bukher) went right on with whatever disputation Eliezer had found after leaving Jakub’s shop. They went right on throwing Hebrew and Aramaic around, too. And the reb and the kid with zits both kept up a virtuoso display of finger-wagging.

“They’d better watch that,” Veit murmured to the woman who had been Bertha a moment before.

Arabs are very nice to their refugees - unless they happen to be Palestinian

From Al Jazeera:

Hundreds of Syrians approach the agency daily to register for its services and protection, pushing the total number of registered Syrian refugees in Jordan to over 22,000, the UNHCR in Amman has said.

Andrew Harper, the UN refugee agency's country representative, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that 7,800 Syrian refugees had been registered in May 2012, marking the highest number of registrations in a single month since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government began 14 months ago.

Jordan now has more registered Syrian refugees than Turkey, Harper said.

The UNHCR expects this upward trend to continue with the agency's increased outreach efforts and recent dispatch of a mobile office to the border city of Ramtha.

Harper said that the number of registered refugees is unrepresentative of the total number of Syrians in need, which the government places at 120,000.

According to the UNHCR, around half of the registered refugees come from Homs, which has been pounded by the Syrian government, and just over a fourth originate from Deraa.

Harper maintains that the Jordanian government and people have been exemplary in opening their borders and communities to Syrians.

The UNHCR is trying to mobilise resources from the international community and Gulf Arab countries because it feels Syrians will be staying in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon for some time.

Local communities have absorbed the bulk of the burden and challenges that hosting Syrians poses for Jordan.

Syrians and Jordanians have connections and family ties and that is why community-based efforts to assist Syrians in Jordan have been extraordinary.

Sheikh Omar al-Zoubi, a Jordanian from the border town of Ramtha, has taken it upon himself to collect donations to fund the treatment of injured Syrian refugees who cross over.

He says people’s contributions have been exemplary. He mentions that he once managed to collect $17,000 in one day to pay a hospital bill for one Syrian patient.

Zoubi, a devout Muslim, says the volunteers and donors he works with do not belong to a certain group or political party, but are rather helping Syrians out of a religious motive.

He said “we collect donations to rent homes for them and treat them and we ask Allah to bring them victory and to get rid of their country’s tyrant".

Zoubi says Saudi and Qatari individuals have been approaching him to donate money to Syrians in Jordan.

Arabs are known for their hospitality and taking care of their own. The commendable efforts being made to take care of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees are not anomalous - Syria alone absorbed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees during the Gulf War. There have been other major population movements within the Arab world during times of war.

Although not an exact analogy, the difference between how Arabs are treating Syrian refugees in 2012 and how they have treated Palestinian Arab refugees from 1948 through today is striking.

Just like today's Syrians, most of the 1948 Palestinian Arabs fled the fighting our of fear. Just like today's Syrians, one reason they left their homes was because they felt that life would be better for them in a friendly neighboring Arab country.

But Palestinian Arab refugees are treated differently.

One reason is because Israel's victory in 1948 shamed the Arabs so much that they didn't want to be reminded of their military loss to the weak Jews, and every Palestinian Arab was an human symbol of Arab defeat.

Another was that the Arabs blamed the West for Israel's existence and for the refugee plight. An oft-repeated Arab saying at the time was that the refugees were created by the UN with its partition resolution, so the UN should take care of them. They didn't want to take responsibility so they refused, and the West had no option but to step in or risk the deaths of thousands. Arabs didn't care. This is why the amount of money given to UNRWA from Arab states remains a mere pittance even today.

A third reason could be seen from another recent refugee population. During the Gulf war, Syria and other Arab nations were happy to accept Iraqi refugees - except for those of Palestinian lineage. They kept those thousands of Iraqi Palestinian refugees in horrible camps on the border between Syria and Iraq, and it took a couple of years for UNHCR to find them countries to move to, mostly in the West. Not only that, but Arabs publicly and bitterly complained at UNHCR's efforts to find them new homes and to make them lose their refugee status! They felt that for every refugee to be resettled in the West, that was one less who might identify as "Palestinian" and one less who would eventually help destroy Israel.

The Arabs might be charitable towards their own, but their desire to destroy Israel is much, much stronger. And every single "refugee" is worth more in the additional pressure he or she seems to add to eventually achieving that goal.

And if you don't believe this - then explain why Jordan wantis to segregate Syrian Palestinian refugees from other Syrian refugees, and stop them from coming into Jordan proper?

It is heartwarming to see extensive Arab efforts to help Syrian refugees, but it also shows by contrast how awful the Arab world continues to treat Palestinians.

(h/t Yoel)