Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, August 03, 2012

LA Times: Don't worry, "experts" assure us Iran isn't going nuclear soon

I love how "experts" are willing to bet every single Israeli life that they are correct:

Nonproliferation experts and Middle East analysts are skeptical of Israeli claims that the Tehran regime is so close to building a nuclear weapon that time is running out for a peaceful resolution of the decades-long standoff.

OK, let's hear them:

"This is a window that has been closing for 15 years now, and it's always imminently about to close," said Jamal Abdi, policy director for the National Iranian American Council. He sees the sudden flurry of diplomacy between Jerusalem and Washington as an outgrowth of the U.S. presidential campaign and Israeli interest in ensuring that the United States continues to hold a hard line against Iran.

Hmmm... an advocate for Iran in America is the first "expert" the LA Times quotes. Sounds a little like an agenda, doesn't it?
Who's next?

Alon Ben-Meir, a professor of international relations at New York University's Center for Global Affairs, said Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak used the American visits to send a message to Tehran that Israel won't hesitate to take unilateral action.

Ben-Meir cautions U.S. and other officials against seeing the Israeli threats as mere posturing, pointing out the profound national security concerns that shape Israeli defense policy and the country's unshakable faith that Washington will come to its rescue if a strike against Iran triggers retaliation by Tehran or its well-armed allies in the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militia.

"I don’t think Israel is bluffing entirely. There is an element of exaggerating its readiness to act and likelihood of winning. But many advisors to Prime Minister Netanyahu are saying that if he waits six or eight months, they may end up unable to do anything significant in terms of damage" to nuclear facilities that Iran has been moving underground to protect them from airstrikes, Ben-Meir said.

This seems pretty accurate - of course Israeli public statements are meant to send a message, but at least he acknowledges that time is running short.

Next expert?

Threats of military action against Iran are spurred by Israel's frustration with the paltry progress being made at recently resumed negotiations between Iran and six major powers. The talks are aimed at ensuring that Iranian programs are limited to peaceful purposes like energy production and medical research, said Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova, a nonproliferation scholar at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

"I don’t see any particular breakthroughs in the Iranian program. It's been on a pretty steady course," she said, adding that, as far as preemptive air strikes were concerned, "there is technically no urgency to do this."

Except that Iran's nuclear weapons program is on a pretty steady course. Hmmm.

And finally....

Still, those pressures are mounting on Iran and raising the cost -- both financially and politically -- of the regime's nuclear pursuits, said Alireza Nader, senior policy analyst on Iran for Rand Corp. He pointed to reports of Iranian demonstrations against rising food prices and shortages, along with demands, even from Iranian elites, that the government give priority to social needs over nuclear investments.

"According to the U.S. intelligence community, the Iranian leadership hasn't even made the decision to weaponize their program," Nader said. "They've been creating the technical know-how and the infrastructure, but they haven't made that decision, and there is much more time than the Israelis portray there to be. I don't think an Iranian nuclear weapons capability is inevitable or imminent."

Here's a classic example of how some academics can't think.

Nader doesn't think that anything bad will happen, and while Iran is doing everything besides publicly announcing it is building nuclear bombs, they haven't officially decided to do it. Iran has merely decided just to get to the point where they can build a bomb within 15 minutes if they choose to.

That's OK, isn't it? I mean, there will still be 15 minutes to act, right?

Now, I wonder if these "experts" would be so lackadaisical and pushing their "probablies" and "I thinks" if the warheads were aimed squarely at them?

Morsi will not attend Tehran NAM conference - but Abbas will

From Egypt Independent:

The London-based Al-Hayat newspaper said Friday that President Mohamed Morsy will not attend the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran at the end of August, where Egypt is scheduled to hand over chairmanship of the movement to Iran.

A source close to the presidency said either Prime Minister Hesham Qandil or Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr would likely represent Egypt at the summit. The source added that Morsy decided not to attend after being advised that he should not visit Tehran. The source did not reveal from whom the president received this advice.

Morsy was told that he could face public criticism for visiting Iran because of Tehran’s support for the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, the source explained.

As I have previously noted, most members of NAM have wavered on sending their leaders to the conference in Iran, instead sending lower-level representatives.

But Mahmoud Abbas eagerly accepted the invitation.

So what does it say about the PA's "moderate" leadership when it is more accommodating to Iran than practically every other country?

UAE photo competition open to all - except, of course, Israel

From the website of the Emirates Photo Competition:

Under the patronage of International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP) the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) is organizing the Seventh Session of the Emirates Photography Competition (EPC) 2012.

...The EPC believes in the inclusive nature of art and its timeless ability to unite the interests and creativity of human beings everywhere, as well as the ability of photography to facilitate interaction and communication amongst people. Therefore the EPC’s Seventh Edition will be open to all photographers from around the world.

Sounds great! Let's register!

Uh-oh:

It's a bit difficult for Israelis to register for this competition that is "open to all photographers worldwide, amateur or professional" when their country and nationality is not listed in the registration form.

If this was only a typical daily example of Arab hypocrisy and hatred of Israel, perhaps it could be laughed off. But this competition is under the patronage of the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP) which states clearly on its website:

All considerations of political, ideological or racial order are absolutely banned from the activities of FIAP.

So why is it sponsoring a photo contest that violates its own rules?

I am told that FIAP has already been contacted and is aware of the issue, but has not yet decided to do the right thing.

The president of FIAP is Mr. Emile Wanderscheid and his email is e.wanderscheid@fiap.net. You might want to contact him and ask about why FIAP is ignoring its own stated standards and is acceding to blatant discrimination against a FIAP-member country.

UPDATE: See my follow-up post here.

BREAKING: 20 Palestinians killed by artillery

8 Palestinian Arab civilians were killed as a barrage of artillery shells were fired on the Yarmouk camp. (UPDATE: The death toll is now 20!)

Two children who were killed were apparently brothers, Anas Ahmad Tlozi and Ibrahim Ali Tlozi.

Several shells exploded on Ja'una Street in the camp, which also injured 25 civilians. Many of them are in serious condition at a nearby hospital.

Residents of the camp appealed to the UN to help protect them from the withering fire of the enemy.

This terrible event will no doubt generate endless op-eds and condemnations from Palestinian sympathizers.

Hold on....I just received an update: The Yarmouk camp is in Syria, not Gaza.

Oh, forget it then. No one cares about dead Palestinians when they are killed by Arabs!

Today's nutty Al Aqsa rumor: Jews dissolving foundation with chemicals

Palestine Today reports that Jamal Amr, who is responsible for architecture affairs for the Al Aqsa Mosque, charges that he found traces of chemicals that the Israelis are using to dissolve the foundations of the mosque.

Who knows, maybe they are dissolving the entire Temple Mount.

Amr said in a speech that Israeli experts are deploying the solvents during the night and removing them during the day to hide their nefarious plans. This is the biggest attack against Al Aqsa in three years, he said.

Yes, the Israelis can use this wonder chemical to dig tunnels, or safely take down buildings, but they choose to use it to weaken the Al Aqsa Mosque. Because that's how they roll, apparently.

By the way, this story was also reported back in February. And Mondoweiss swallowed it, naturally. Because republishing absurd anti-Jewish conspiracy theories is how they roll, in reality.

And more links

Diana Muir Appelbaum uncovers a 1958 Turkish blood libel against Jews that still has echoes today in Turkish society.

Lebanese authorities arrest 36 men at gay cinema

According to a report on the Gay Star News website on Monday, “an unknown number” of the 36 had been released after an unnamed doctor administered the anal exam – a procedure meant to detect sperm.

PalWatch: The Muslim Brotherhood's Patient Jihad

The Economist has a large special report on Jews and Judaism today

JUDAISM IS FLOURISHING, both in Israel, where 43% of the world’s Jews now live, and throughout the Jewish diaspora. The Jews as a nation are flourishing too. Israelis, for all their problems, are the 14th-happiest people in the world, happier than the British or the French, according to a recent global happiness report commissioned by the UN. In the diaspora Jewish life has never been so free, so prosperous, so unthreatened.

Syria: the view from Israel in The Guardian

Israel's position with regard to the Syrian crisis has been misrepresented by two myths. One, propagated by the Assad regime itself, has argued from the outset that this is not a genuine domestic rebellion, but a conspiracy hatched by the US and Israel. The other holds that Israel favours the survival of Assad's regime ("the devil we know" theory) and has exerted its influence in Washington in order to dissuade the Obama administration from serious humanitarian intervention in Syria.

'If I were an Iranian, I would be fearful in coming weeks'

Good news! Iran's Parchin nuclear site seems to have been properly cleansed and is now (presumably) ready for inspection!

An anti-tank missile shot from Gaza gets intercepted

In Iran, anti-semitic outbursts are increasing under Ahmadinejad

Dr. Ruth visits haredim in Israel and sees that things are not as bleak as we are hearing

(h/t Yoel, Yerushalimey, Menachem)

Surprise! Henry Clifford fakes Zionist quotes as well

Henry Clifford, the man who paid to put copies of The Map The Lies on LIRR train stations and who refused to answer the many proofs that they were deceptive, is now adding more deception to his already tattered reputation.

He wrote an article in the LoHud.com paper where he takes alleged Zionist quotes that he claims shows that early Zionists were hell-bent on ethnically cleansing the land.

In a must-read article, CAMERA traces back the history of these quotes and shows how they are distorted, out of context or simply not credible.

I'll only add one point. Henry writes:

Richman and Grossman tell us that in 1967, “the Arab world threatened Israel with destruction.” Here’s what then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin said in 1982: “In June 1967, we had a choice. The Egyptian army concentration in the Sinai approaches did not prove that Nasser was really about to attack us. We must be honest with ourselves. We decided to attack him.”

The Arabs did not initiate the war, Israel did.

No one says that Nasser fired the first shot. But the threat to Israel was real, both in extreme Arab rhetoric and in fact (by his closing off he Straits of Tiran, for example.)

But Clifford pretends to be concerned primarily with the West Bank. And every historian would agree that Jordan fired the first shot there, after Israel warned them not to get involved.

If Jordan had decided not to join the war, the Palestinian Arabs would still be under Jordanian occupation. They certainlywouldn't have an independent state! Also, they would still be doing all they could to destroy Israel within the Green Line, as they did before 1967.

So Clifford is again being knowingly deceptive.

And his choice of quotes also shows very clearly that he has no ability to think for himself, and that his entire knowledge of the Middle East comes from anti-Israel websites that he simply copies and pastes from without doing even the slightest fact checking.

Ian's Thursday links

From Ian:

Stand with Us: Danny Ayalon Israel Palestinian Conflict: The Truth About the Peace Process (video)

Hamas blasts Palestinian official’s Auschwitz trip
"Islamist group’s spokesman says Holocaust ‘is a big lie,’ and visit by Abbas adviser was against public opinion" See also MEMRI

BDS movement forcing Brits to pay more for medicines?

"The European Union – Israel Agreement on Conformity, Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (ACAA) was approved by the European Council of Ministers in March 2010 and then sent on to the European Parliament for ratification. The European Parliament has delayed that process for over two years – supposedly as a reaction to the May 2010 flotilla incident in which nine Turkish political activists were killed after having attacked Israeli soldiers."

Why Abbas Wants to Go Back to the UN in September by Khaled Abu Toameh

"Abbas's decision to return to the UN is not only a ploy to avoid internal problems at home, it is also a way of trying to extort the Americans and Europeans into channeling more funds into his coffers. Abbas's threat: Give me more money or I will misbehave and file another request with the UN."

Islam at the Olympics "Rid the Streets of Evil" by Shiraz Maher

"With East London hosting the world during the Olympics, a group of Islamists associated with Anjem Choudary and his group, Islam4UK, have taken the law into their own hands.
Over recent weeks the group has launched a vigilante campaign in Waltham Forest, close to the main Olympics venues, to target "Pimps and Prostitutes," part of a wider campaign by Choudary's associates to launch their own vigilante campaigns, based on a narrow interpretation of Shariah law. Last year, the group put up stickers around parts of East London declaring it a 'Shariah Zone.' It warned women to observe strict dress codes, and local residents against drinking alcohol. Homosexuals were also threatened."

The Palestinian Culture of Slapping Israel

“PFD (Palestinians for Dignity), which was instrumental in the protests against Mahmoud Abbas and PA corruption earlier in the summer, is now protesting the European Union’s decision to upgrade a variety of trade and other ties with Israel.
The EU is the largest provider of economic assistance to the Palestinian Authority — so the willingness to antagonize it should be put in the context of what the PFD is willing to sacrifice — not for the benefit of the Palestinian people, but to demand that Israel be slapped:”

IDFBlog: IDF Roundup – What Happened In July 2012
20 Years of Saving Lives Abroad
Delhi Police Charge Muslim Journalist in Attack Against Israelis

“Nearly five months after an Israeli diplomat's car was bombed in New Delhi, the Delhi Police on Tuesday indicted Indian journalist Syed Mohammad Kazmi of conspiring with foreign elements [i.e., Iran] and others for the terror strike.”

German Center on Anti-Semitism Appoints Edward Said Wannabe, Achim Rohde

“Opponents of Dr. Rohde claim that his work is aimed at belittling anti-Semitism by confounding it with Professor Said’s Orientalism philosophy, which Dr. Rohde is now pushing hard as a sort of replacement theology: their confused thinking equates anti-Semitism with Orientalism and portrays Muslims as victims of Nazism and the Holocaust.”

Hungarian Politican Resigns From Anti-Semitic Party After Jewish Roots Become Public

YouTube, Google and Apple Take Steps Towards Combating Online Anti-Semitism

Countering Clifford and His Anti-Israel Maps

House considering Jewish refugees bill

“Bill would also recognize other displaced populations, including Christians from countries in the Middle East, North Africa and the Persian Gulf”

Members of Congress file brief to support Jerusalem passport case

Have a safe flight, thanks to Israel’s XSight

Runway debris costs about $14 billion in damages yearly. That’s why the FAA likes an Israeli system to detect birds and metal fragments 24/7.

Israeli Daily Picture: Rishon LeZion Celebrates Its 130th Anniversary This Week

Al Azhar cleric says suicide bombings are a religious duty

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from a program featuring Egyptian cleric Hashem Islam Ali Islam, a member of the Fatwa Committee of Al-Azhar, which aired on Al Aqsa TV on July 12, 2012.

I say to people who object to martyrdom operations that martyrdom operations are among the deeds most pleasing to Allah.

They constitute a religious duty in this day and age, in order to strike at the Zionist enemy.

In Egypt, Al Azhar is considered to represent moderate, mainstream Islam.

But it is possible that the quote is out of context. After all, he only mentions "the Zionist enemy," so perhaps he is only justifying blowing up Jewish women and children.

Which isn't really controversial at all, is it?

Arab women protest brutal murder of wife in Bethlehem

From AP:

The brutal killing of a battered wife in front of horrified witnesses in an open-air Bethlehem market prompted angry accusations Wednesday that Palestinian police and courts ignore violence against women.

Nancy Zaboun, a 27-year-old mother of three, had her throat slashed Monday after seeking a divorce from her abusive husband of 10 years. The husband was arrested at the scene and is the prime suspect, West Bank officials said.

The case reverberated across Palestinian society because of the brutality of the attack. However, violence against women continues to be tolerated—similar to attitudes in other parts of the Arab world—and women's rights activists say abusive husbands are rarely punished.

Zaboun was regularly beaten by her husband, 32-year-old Shadi Abedallah, at times so severely that she had to be hospitalized, said Khaula al-Azraq, who runs a West Bank counseling center where Zaboun sought help.

Even so, Abedallah was never arrested. Police only made him sign pledges he would stop hitting his wife, said al-Azraq, adding that Abedallah himself is a former police officer.

Zaboun was killed after attending a hearing in her divorce case. She was walking on the steep paths of an open-air market—not far from the Church of the Nativity, marking the traditional birthplace of Jesus—when she was fatally slashed.

On Wednesday, several dozen women staged a memorial for Zaboun in the Bethlehem market alley where she was killed, holding signs and chanting, "No to violence against women." One sign read, "Shame on us Palestinians for killing our women."

Women have scored some breakthroughs in traditional Palestinian society in recent years, including gaining a greater role in public life. However, tribal laws still remain strong, and violence against women is generally viewed by police as an internal family matter.

Honest Reporting notes that this came only a day after The Guardian published an absurd piece where Israel was blamed for Palestinian men beating their wives.

By the way, Arab media disgustingly published graphic photos of the murdered woman. (And in the first link, the moral editor tastefully edited out the inch of exposed skin between her shirt and jeans, while allowing his readers to see her slashed throat.)

93,000 Jews

I went to the Siyum HaShas at MetLife Stadium last night, along with some 93,000 other people celebrating the end (and beginning) of another Daf Yomi cycle.

My phone has a "panorama" mode, but the software cannot seem to handle such a complicated scene as well as I had hoped. Nevertheless, this photo (click on it to see it full screen) gives you the impression of what it looks like to have so many Jews together at once.

And while a quick glance at the image seems to show mostly, yeshiva/"black hat" and Chassidic Jews, in fact all types were there. For example, at the end of the "official" singing to celebrate the Siyum, a group of "kipa sruga" Israelis kept singing for another five minutes, much to the consternation of the organizers.

Virtually every speaker stressed the idea of Jewish unity at this event organized by the right-wing Agudath Israel of America.

Rabbi Yitzchok Alderstein writes a very nice op-ed about the phenomenon at the Los Angeles Times. The New York Times, in contrast, spends more than half of its own Daf Yomi coverage on how women are discouraged from studying Talmud in right-wing circles.

Gaza takes 45% of PA expenses, only 2% of revenue

PA Finance Minister Nabeel Kassis today said the decline in foreign aid for the authority led to a major financial crisis, mostly due to the pledges of many Arab donor countries that were not fulfilled.

At a meeting at the headquarters of the Legislative Council in Ramallah he said that the 2012 budget 2012 has a deficit exceeding one billion dollars.

He also noted that while the PA spends some 45% of its budget in Gaza, it receives less than 2% of its revenue from the sector.

I have noted in the past that the PA spends a huge chunk of its budget on paying employees in Gaza not to work, as Hamas has taken over most of the high-profile governmental functions using Iranian money but Fatah doesn't want to make it look like it has abandoned the sector. Much of the Gaza infrastructure is still being quietly run by the PA, which therefore indirectly subsidizes Hamas, allowing the terror group to spend more of its money on weapons, bunkers, smuggling tunnels and the like.

Hamas collects virtually all the taxes in Gaza but practically none of those go back to the PA, as Kassis noted, even as the PA spends more that twice on Gazans compared to the West Bank Arabs on a per-capita basis.

For some reason, though, the Westerners who fund the PA don't demand oversight on how the money is being spent in Gaza, nor do they express concern that their donations are indirectly supporting Hamas terror.

Moreover, the Western donors don't demand that their money not go towards paying the families of "martyrs" and terrorist prisoners who get handsome monthly stipends in reward for their efforts to kill Jews.

A'jad: "Zionists have been ruling the world for 400 years"

This is even crazier than his usual stuff:

Ahmadinejad [said,] “It has now been some 400 years that a horrendous Zionist clan has been ruling the major world affairs, and behind the scenes of the major power circles, in political, media, monetary, and banking organizations in the world, they have been the decision makers, to an extent that a big power with a huge economy and over 300 million population, the presidential election hopefuls must go kiss the feet of the Zionists to ensure their victory in the elections.”

Ahmadinejad said that Israel is the symbol of the globally ruling Zionism in the world, reiterating, “Among the western governments and politicians there are great differences of tastes and the political competitions are tough, but is supporting the Zionist regime, they are all united.”

The president pointed out that in order to evolutionize the status of the world decision making is needed, the forces must get united, and their ultimate objective must be the annihilation of the Zionist regime, emphasizing, “The Zionist regime is both the symbol of the hegemony of the Zionism over the world and the means in the hand of the oppressor powers for expansion of their hegemony in the region and in the world.”

Ahmadinejad added, “Zionism is the modern times plight of the human society and when we meet the European politicians they say speak transparently about everything, but they refrain from talking about the Zionist regime, which proves that Israel is the axis of unity of the world hegemonic powers.”

He added, “It is the self declared leaders and hegemonic powers that are at odds with each other and the enemies of one another, and are now trying to transfer that enmity and antagonist feeling to the other parts of the world, while the Muslim nations all move in the same direction towards worshiping God, and the apparent disputes among them are imposed by the Zionists.”

But he's not anti-semitic. You see, he's talking about the famous "Zionist" bankers and media moguls and politicians who have ruled the world since the 1600s.

Not, Allah forbid, the Jews, whom he respects and loves.

(h/t Judeopundit)

Christians are leaving Palestinian lands because of...Jewish graffiti?

This has to be one of the most stupid articles every written about the Middle East, by Ali Khaled in The National.

After a bunch of wholly inconsequential prose, we get to the point of the piece:

Palestinian Christians have shared their Muslim compatriots' pain in the past 64 years, increasingly marginalised in a land they have inhabited for over 2,000 years. Across the region, dwindling Christian communities are often blamed on the rise of Islamists but this is an oversimplification and, in Occupied Palestine, almost wholly a mistake.

Certainly some Islamist groups, heavy on ideology and light on political nous, have been their own worst enemies. Hamas is not blameless in its treatment of Gaza's Christian minority. ...

In truth, however, Hamas has neither the desire inside Gaza, nor the influence outside of it, to truly marginalise Palestinian Christians. The Christian Palestinian population has suffered, less visibly, just as Muslims have. Christians now account for only 4 per cent of the West Bank population and less than 10 per cent of Palestinians in Israel.

Over the last year in particular, attacks by Israeli extremists on Christians have increased. A Christian cemetery on Mount Zion has been desecrated and two churches vandalised (one of them, Jerusalem Baptist Church, had already suffered arson twice since 1982). "Death to Christianity", "We will crucify you" and "Jesus son of Mary the whore" graffiti stain the walls. That defilement would cause outrage in almost any country, but not in Israel.

It is in Bethlehem, birthplace of Christ, where the exodus has been most pronounced, with more than 10 per cent of Christians leaving just in the past decade.

Vandalism against churches is reprehensible. But is it enough to cause an entire population to disappear?

In the mind of author, perhaps. But there are a few little things that the author is ignoring.

Like how the exodus of Christians from Bethlehem have accelerated since 1995 - when the city came under PA control.

Like in 2005, when Muslims were seizing Christian lands in the West Bank. When the two teenage Amr sisters were raped and murdered. When Christian women near Hebron were sending their daughters abroad so as to avoid them being harassed daily by Muslim. When 17 year old Rawan William Mansour was raped by members of Fatah who were never prosecuted.

In September, 2006, seven churches in the West Bank and Gaza were firebombed after Pope Benedict made remarks about Mohammed that offended Muslims.

In 2007, attacks by Muslims to the Christian community in the territories increased. Christians were afraid to complain because of fear of being labeled "collaborators" with Israel. So they left. Christians were beaten by Muslims, their land fenced off by Muslims.

Christians are so afraid of their Muslim neighbors in the PA territories that they are more likely to blame publicly Israel for their troubles.

Even today, the tolerant and peaceful PA is arresting Christians who are eating in public during Ramadan, with a Muslim cleric saying, quite clearly, that "our streets are Islamic."

But lets see more idiotic articles that say that Christians aren't leaving because of documented cases of Muslim attacks, firebombs, rapes, murders and threats. No, the reason must be because of Jewish graffiti.

(h/t Clark)

Racist Jews finding hi-tech jobs for Arabs

Another disgusting case of tech-washing:

Obviously, they are helping Arabs to fool the world into thinking that they want to help the Arabs. Very, very sly, these Jews.

(h/t Yoel)