Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Egyptian TV host says pro-Israel statements in "Candid Camera" show

Remember the Egyptian "Candid Camera" show where celebrities were told they were on a German TV station and they became violent when they were told it was really an Israeli interview show? And how the hosts of the show would compliment them on their "patriotism?"

Well, one victim of the prank acted in a decidedly different way, and Egypt is in an uproar.

Tawfiq Okasha, who has an anti-government satellite TV station (which was closed last week by the government) was ambushed on this show as well, but when he was asked about his opinions of Israel, his answers were quite different from the usual victims.

As the fake interview questions went to the topic of Israel, Okasha said that he has visited Israel four times.He said that Jews have the right to live in Israel, including Jerusalem - and that those rights are given in the Koran. He said he is friends with a number of "Arab Jews" living in Israel. He said that he is in favor of Egypt exporting natural gas to Israel.

He also said that the Koran borrowed heavily from the Torah and the New Testament.

When told that the TV station is really "Israeli" and not German, instead of being angry he answered that he did not mind at all and that he hoped his opinions would reach all Israelis.

It does not appear that the episode of the ambush show ever aired, but it was shown Friday on Egyptian channel 25 - together with dramatic repetitions of his most pro-Israel statements - and the Egyptians are freaking out. There are multiple news stories about this and the YouTube video already has hundreds of thousands of views.

The talkbacks are universally angry at Okasha, saying he must be jailed or worse.

I don't know whether Egypt's channel 25 is a government TV station; if so it seems entirely possible that this was aired to provide cover for Egypt's closing of his TV station last week.

I'm sure MEMRI will have a translation of this interview very soon. But as far as I can tell, Okasha wasn't praised at the end of this show the way the other victims who showed such hatred towards Jews and Israel were.

Freedom of the press, MB Egyptian style

Hot on the heels of the Egyptian government appointing new Islamist editors for its state-run newspapers and shutting down a satellite TV station it disagreed with, comes the latest in new Egyptian freedom:

The privately owned daily newspaper Al-Dostour is being investigated on charges of insulting President Mohamed Morsy, state-run MENA reported on Saturday.

Al-Dostour's website reported that early morning Saturday, security forces came to the paper's offices to confiscate some of its issues.

MENA reported that investigations into the newspaper had been opened after people accused the newspaper of "fueling sedition," and "harming the president through phrases and wording punishable by law."

Gamal Fahmy, a member of the journalists' syndicate, told Al-Dostour that the investigation was part of a Muslim Brotherhood scheme to limit press freedoms

Other press freedom advocates also condemned the raid, saying the Brotherhood was moving to silence its critics.

"What happened this morning is a new attempt to impose hegemony, domination and exclusion on those in conflict with the group," said Saeed Ziauddin Garhi, legal advisor for the Justice Center for Freedoms.

Spring!

Weekend open thread

Shabbat Shalom!

Artwork by Laura Bolter Design

Israel's historical nuclear ambiguity and the lessons for Iran

It is well-known that for a long time, Israel's public position about whether it had a nuclear arsenal was the very ambiguous statement that "Israel will not be the first area state to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East."

I found a State Department memo from 1969 that shows an attempt to pin down exactly what that means. .Here are some excerpts:

No one can blame the State Department from trying to parse the Israelis' words, wondering if that means that the weapons might be manufactured but not tested, or perhaps manufactured except for the very final screw being attached.

This is relevant today now that a new NIE (or similar intelligence assessment) has leaked that Iran is moving quickly to build nuclear weapons. Anti-Israel activists and Iran supporters have been using the 2007 NIE and other estimates as a talisman to deflect charges that Iran even has a nuclear weapons program, even as everyone could see for years that the Iranians were doing everything consistent with such a program short of actually announcing it - from enrichment beyond what is necessary for nuclear power to building nuclear-capable ballistic missiles to building huge underground nuclear facilities to hiding evidence of testing facilities.

The US skepticism of Israel's announcements in the 1960s was well-founded, and Israel's refusal to clarify was equally understandable. At the time, though, no one seriously believed that Israel did not have the ability to deploy a nuclear bomb in minutes if it felt it was necessary.

But for people who want to believe the Iranian denials, they have no such skepticism.

Today's Mossad plot

The Islamic Jihad newspaper Palestine Today reports that Gaza authorities have foiled the latest Mossad plot to subjugate them to Zionist whims.

What did they do?

They discovered a stash of Tramadol, which appears to be the drug of choice for Gaza smugglers.

According to these officials, the Mossad smuggles Tramadol into Gaza via organized crime rings. The Mossad works together with Sinai Bedouin to bring the drugs into Gaza via smuggling tunnels.

I would compliment them on their imagination, but when every story ends with "The Israelis did it!," it gets a little boring after a while.

Friday links

From Ian:

LATMA Palestinian heritage sites and rifts among the social justice protesters

Stop Iran at all costs by Prof. Benny Morris

“Israel's reasons for a future strike on Iran's nuclear facilities are logical and clear: Iran armed with nuclear weapons threatens Israel's existence; the weapons can fall into the hands of terrorists; and it will undoubtedly ignite an arms race in the Middle East that could end in nuclear war. In light of these threats an Israeli government that chooses to sit by and do nothing will have betrayed its public.”

Tom Friedman — mistaken or misleading?

"Consumed by wishful-thinking, Friedman assumed that Assad could liberalize Syria, attract international investors, normalize relations with Israel and end the Arab rejection of the Jewish state — thus demolishing the Iran-Syria axis and ending Iran’s involvement in Lebanon."

Under Olympic cover, Russian cargo ship approaches Syria

"The voyage of the Alaed shows the irresponsibility of the Russian government to allow a transfer of weapons to a regime that is responsible for the brutal slaughter of its own citizens"

In Egypt, Anti-Semitism Is Back in Fashion

"As Walter Russell Mead has written on his blog, countries “where vicious anti-Semitism is rife are almost always backward and poor.” They aren’t backward and poor because the Elders of Zion conspire against them. They’re backward and poor because, Mead argues, they lack the ability to “see the world clearly and discern cause and effect relations in complex social settings.” He calls anti-Semitism the “sociology of the befuddled.”

Attacks on Christians Sharpen with Government Collusion by Khaled Abu Toameh

“While the number of Christians in the Arab world continues to decline, Israel remains the only country in the Middle East where they feel safe and comfortable. That explains why Christians living in Israel have been appealing to Israel to open its borders to absorb their brothers who are fleeing from the Gaza Strip, Bethlehem, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt and Sudan.”

United Church of Canada leaders team up with 9-11 conspiracy nuts to demonize Israel

"As one might expect, Ms Ralph is not the only 9-11 conspiracy theorist in the organization she co-founded. Her co-Chair and fellow Independent Jewish Voices founder Sid Shiniad shares her views and the organization of fringe radicals is liberally peppered with adherents to a movement that proposes the attack by Muslim terrorists on the World Trade Center and Pentagon was actually the work of "neo-cons and Zionists."
"If the United Church's leaders think they can shield themselves from being perceived as anti-Semitic by playing footsie with a small group of fringe Jews whose actions and statements could easily be interpreted to suggest serious, unresolved psychiatric issues, they will find themselves sorely mistaken."

HuffPost front-page headline: Romney chased by "pack of Jews"

Swiss group suspends 'anti-Semitic' Norway scholar

Researcher Johan Galtung suspended form Swiss World Peace Academy after he remarks that Jews control the American media.

London won’t pull bus ad campaign for Iran-linked anti-Israel march

Iran court upholds practicing Christianity sentence

Nepal women banned from Middle East over exploitation

Nepal has banned women under the age of 30 from going to work in Middle Eastern countries amid growing concerns that they are being exploited.

Officials fear wave of fires may be new kind of terror attack

PMW Ramallah municipality to build mausoleum to honor terrorist murderers

“The Ramallah municipality voted this week to build a mausoleum in honor of PLO terrorists responsible for the deaths of 11 Israelis in the 1975 Savoy Hotel attack. Ramallah is the Palestinian Authority’s seat of government.”

Iranian festival accepts Israeli movie, invites filmmaker to attend

"David Shadi submitted his short comedy ‘GentleDog’ around the world; a new Iranian international festival said yes and sent him a visa form"

Ali’s daughter visits Israeli hospital

"Rasheda Ali tours Hadassah-University Hospital-Ein Kerem to see how they combat diseases like Parkinson’s, which afflicts her father"

Chinese 'very impressed' with Israeli economy

"Major Beijing university to offer courses on Israel's high-tech, business culture; another school teaches Hebrew language, culture"

Israel Daily Picture: The 'Kotel' Exposed with the Advent of Photography

Old/New Photos of the Kotel Now Online in Great Detail -- With Thanks to the Library of Congress Archives

Al Arabiya "news:" "Abraham built the Kaaba"

No disclaimers here:

The shrine of the Prophet Abraham was adjacent to the Kaaaba, next to its gate, in the same condition he had left it. It had been there since the building of the Kaaba and until the time of second Caliph Omar Ibn Kattab who moved to the east, an action that only someone as strong and pious as him would be capable of doing.

Abraham’s shrine contains a stone that preserves the footprints of the Prophet Abraham. This was the stone on which he used to stand on when he built the Kaaba’s upper walls. In Islam, the shrine is sacred and is used for prayer. It also bears witness to a miracle because it shows how stone softened under Abraham’s feet.

972mag says Egypt attack is really Israel's fault

The zeal to blame Israel for everything would be comical if so many on the left didn't actually believe it.

The summary of Roi Maor's article in 972mag tells you the latest in 972's absurd anti-Israel "logic":

Lethal Sinai attack is connected to the Gaza blockade

The lethal attack on an Egyptian military outpost, in an attempted incursion into Israel, is another reminder of the terrorist infrastructure in the Sinai Peninsula. This infrastructure was built in part on the basis of the Gaza-Egypt-Israel smuggling industry, which is fueled by the massive restrictions on movement and trade imposed on the Strip by Israel and Egypt.

Wow, how brilliant!

But 972 doesn't go far enough.

In fact, much of the smuggling industry in the Sinai is also from smuggling Africans to Israel. If Israel didn't have Western values and prosperity, then the Africans wouldn't come, there would be less smuggling traffic and Sinai would be safer. Israel should really stop being so damned successful! It's all Israel's fault!

But wait, there's more: if Israel never signed an agreement with Egypt limiting Egypt's army activities in the Sinai, then Egypt could have done more to stop the smugglers and terrorists in the Sinai. Israel should not have insisted in a 1979 peace agreement that their former implacable foe should stay away from the border. They should have allowed the Egyptian army to stay right up against the border to stop the future infiltration of Islamists, which should have been foreseen. It is all Israel's fault!

In fact, if Israel wouldn't have signed a peace agreement with Egypt altogether, then the Sinai would still be under Israeli control and the smugglers and Islamists would never have even come close to Gaza or Israel. How dare Israel sign a peace treaty that inevitably end up killing so many Egyptians in the Sinai. Without Camp David, there wouldn't be any Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai! It is all Israel's fault!

But, of course, you must then go back to the original sin of Israel's creation....

Incidentally, it is interesting that 972 regards an attack on Egyptian soldiers to be a terrorist attack. ("On Sunday evening, terrorists attacked an Egyptian military outpost in the Sinai Peninsula.") Maybe someone can go through the site to see if they ever refer to Arabs who attack Israeli soldiers to be terrorists, without scare quotes.

New Gaza "flotilla" planned; because the world is too obsessed with Syria

A new Gaza "flotilla" that will probably go nowhere is being planned:

Ship to Gaza, a European activist organization, announced that they are in the process of organizing a new flotilla in solidarity with the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip.

The boat is set to sail on a roughly 5,000 kilometer journey, which is estimated to span between two and three months. Beginning in northern Sweden, it will dock in several countries en route to Gaza, holding events to raise awareness about the Israeli blockade.

“Estelle, our beautiful ship, is going to play a key role in Ship to Gaza’s renewed attempt to break the blockade on Gaza,” reads the organization’s website. “At each stop, there will be speakers, concerts, and public festivals providing information about the situation in Gaza.”

So it isn't a flotilla, it is a boat.

The website doesn't even bother to list what aid it is bringing to Gaza; it just says it is bringing a "cargo of necessities."

The article goes on:

Many detractors claim that the blockade is not the problem, and that the activists are merely staging a publicity stunt.

...Supporters of the flotilla, however, argue that such opponents miss the point.

“The point is publicity. Of course, it’s for publicity. We want the whole world to know how people’s lives are being treated contemptuously in Gaza, in all of Palestine,” said Ghassan, a university student from Ramallah.

“The whole world is talking about Syria now and how evil Assad is, but no one has anything to say about the bombings and killings in Gaza,” he added.

Palestinian Arabs who have built their entire culture on the idea of being victims are jealous of those Syrians who have the audacity to be murdered by the thousands, therefore depriving PalArabs of their rightful place in the headlines!

Iran's PressTV still obsessed with "Zionist" Olympic logo

I thought after they won some medals they had dropped this, but apparently not.

This latest illustration at PressTV sets new Olympic records for stupidity:

ZOIN! (Or, right to left, ONZI!)

So if the games are so Zionist, why does Iran have 8 medals so far and the Zionist state - zero?

Is it because we Zionists are trying to brainwash Iranians with all those medals with the Zionist Nazi logo? Is it to make them complacent so we can attack their nuclear facilities without them noticing?

I'm sure there is an explanation just as logical as this graphic.

(Last chance to buy my Zionist Olympics T-Shirt!)

Another Palestinian Arab killed during Ramadan

This time - in Iraq.

Qudsnet reports that unknown gunmen killed 31 year old Ahmed Mustafa Naji in a hail of bullets outside his home in Baghdad.

The article goes on to say that Iraqi authorities have raided the Palestinian section of the town three times during Ramadan.

The number of Palestinian Arabs in Iraq has gone down from 35,000 to about 7,000 since the Gulf war, as Iraqis have been targeting Palestinians who were felt to be collaborators with Saddam Hussein.

Sounds like apartheid, doesn't it?

Thursday links

Palestinian “President” Nears Record

"Next week, Mahmoud Abbas will enter the 92nd month of his 48-month term, and now has Yasser Arafat’s record in sight. Arafat was elected president of the Palestinian Authority in 1996, running essentially unopposed (his opponent was a 72-year old woman with no political party). In 2004, in the ninth year of his four-year term, he left office on account of death. His second-in-command was elected president less than two months later, running essentially unopposed (Hamas boycotted the election). Abbas is now midway through the eighth year of his own four-year term, almost certain to break Arafat’s record if he can just stay healthy."

Iran pledges support as Syria battles rebels

“Iran will continue to back the Syrian government, which acts as a pillar of an Iran-led regional alliance, a high-level Iranian diplomat has told President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.”

Turkey's nightmares coming true in Syria

US expert says most troubling scenario for Turkey may also be the most likely one: protracted chaos and sectarian conflict, leaving a security vacuum across the border

New US intelligence report shows Iran moving closer to nuclear weapon

Haaretz reports that official estimate, which pulls back 2007 claim that Iran had halted weaponization program, brings Washington in line with Israel
“The report is a 180 degree turn from the last NIE on Iran, in 2007, which reported that Iran had given up on its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and had not returned to it.”

Saudi Arabia says it would ‘intercept Israeli planes en route to Iran’

Message reportedly received via Washington seen as warning against unilateral strike
“Defense Minister Ehud Barak said later Thursday he had received no such message.”

Desert Reconnaissance Battalion commander: “We were prepared in advance”

“This is the decorated IDF hero that led the battalion that successfully protected Israel against the massive attack launched from Egypt on Sunday. And yeh he’s a black muslim. He Doesn’t sound like the product of an “apartheid regime”, spoils the BDS narrative.”

IDF article about him here.

Cairo Tightens Egypt’s Blockade of Gaza After Sinai Terrorist Attack

“The Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement (BDS) has been conspicuously silent about the ramped up Egyptian blockade of Gaza. In the past, the BDS movement’s well-oiled social media and petition campaign has pretended that the Gaza blockade existed only on the Israeli side when, in fact, Egypt, Gaza’s main partner, has enforced its own air-sea-land blockade for the past half-decade. In fact, Egypt maintains an embassy in Gaza. The Muslim Brotherhood, which won big in recent Egyptian elections, considers Hamas to be its Palestinian chapter. However, on the ground, Egypt has long blockaded Gaza out of dire security concerns. Those concerns were ignited as never before by the brazen assault on Egyptian soldiers.”

Jewish radicals and anti-Semitism

“Robert Wistrich, Hebrew University professor of European and Jewish history and director of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of anti-Semitism, has just published his 29th book,"From Ambivalence to Betrayal: The Left, the Jews and Israel."

Groups Blast Carter’s Role at Convention

“When it comes to Israel and the Middle East, President Carter has unfortunately embarrassed himself — as his analysis and commentary has been stubbornly wrong, harmful to the peace process, and getting worse all the time,” said Harris. “I’m confident that he won’t be speaking to the Party about Middle East policy.”

MEMRI: Hizbullah MP Ret. General Walid Sakariya: Iranian Nuclear Weapon "to Finish Off the Zionist Entity"
From Ian:

Tourism to Israel continues record-breaking pace in July

Last month saw nearly 700,000 visitors, 10% of whom came from America; more than 2 million tourists have arrived this year

Golden Raisman honors slain Israelis

US Jewish gymnast says she would have supported moment of silence for Munich 1972 victims
"Jewish American Olympian Aly Raisman honored the memory of slain Israeli athletes after she took gold in the women’s floor exercise Tuesday. Raisman, whose routine was set to the music of Hava Nagilah, said she would have supported a decision to observe a moment of silence in honor of the Israeli athletes murdered by Palestinian terrorists during the 1972 Munich games."

Study: Different Jews Are Genetically Alike

“While it’s easy to be flip about studies on the similarities of Jews in far-flung places, a study recently released by a consortium of colleges in the United States, Israel, France, and Spain, did yield some interesting results:”

Israel confronts world hunger with a solar-powered desert oasis

"The best of Israel’s agri-tech and clean-tech innovation is combined in a new oasis system that could help feed millions of desert-dwellers."

Also...

I published a wrap-up of the Emirates Photo Competition and FIAP at The Algemeiner

Jewish Ideas Daily on two opposing viewpoints about The Levy Report. I like the second one better...

Time for the EU to ban Hezbollah (TheJC)

IDF begins draft of haredim without problems (JTA)

The Atlantic on Orthodox Jewish migration to the suburbs, and why it is unlikely that they will return to live in cities.

(h/t Zach N.)

Funniest Arabic headline of the day

From Firas Press:

[Hamas official] Ghazi Hamad: "We will not allow terrorist groups to grow in the Gaza Strip"

Egyptian video says Israelis are celebrating soldier deaths

From MEMRI:

Following is an excerpt from an Egypt TV video about the Sinai massacre of Egyptian soldiers, which aired on Channel 1 on August 7, 2012.

Voice: Who do you raise your weapons against?
Wake up! Awaken!
Arise from your slumber.
You are slaughtering one another, while the others sleep in the bosom of fornication.
Who do you raise your weapons against?
Against those who persevere, steadfast on our borders?
Or against those who drove us from our homes years ago?
Who do you raise your weapons against?
Israel celebrates today, and the news of our dead causes them joy, as long as our newborns are being orphaned, and we are being slaughtered from vein to vein.
Forgive us, oh the wounded!
You have been wounded for something that causes shame.
Or maybe you cannot be ashamed anymore?!
Who do you raise your weapons against?
Who do you raise your weapons against?
Title: "Those who do not deserve death were killed by those who do not deserve life."

Even when they know that extremists are murdering them, they want to redirect all the hate towards Israel.

Because hating Israel is pretty much the only thing Arabs can agree upon.