Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, August 26, 2012

SA newspaper chooses anti-semitic illustration for story

SABC is a South African broadcast network whose stated mission is "Restoration of human dignity and Building a common future."

They have an article today about Israeli moves to stop illegal immigration:

Just a few months ago, Israel was in the midst of a nationwide uproar over the tens of thousands of African migrants who have poured into the Jewish state. Today, that influx has slowed dramatically, following a series of measures meant to halt the new arrivals.

The quick results are testament to a get-tough approach that has included the rapid construction of a soon-to-be-completed fence along the border with Egypt's Sinai peninsula, and a new policy of detaining Africans upon arrival.

But the strategy has come with a price: Advocacy groups accuse Israel of violating international refugee law by cooperating with Egyptian security personnel to round up migrants on the border. They also say more than a thousand Africans are now languishing in mass detention centers set up to hold them.

Israeli military spokesperson Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich said she had no immediate information on whether Israeli and Egyptian forces were cooperating in rounding up migrants. Government spokesman Mark Regev had no comment when asked if Israel was carrying out this practice.

This slanted coverage - taking charges of anti-Israel "advocacy groups" as gospel - is par for the course and would barely be worth mentioning.

But how did SABC choose to illustrate an article about Israeli moves to protect her borders?

With this:

The poster has nothing at all to do with the story. It was taken during an anti-Israel demonstration in Malaysia in 2010. And if you look a little closer, you can see that this sign - which was carried by hundreds - has a caricature of a religious Jew transformed into a monkey:

Now, why should a picture of a sign showing a stereotypical Jew with black hat and peyos transformed into a monkey, saying that Israel is a terrorist state, be used to illustrate a story about Israel trying to stop people from illegally entering the country?

Is this an example of the "human dignity" that SABC espouses?

Coincidentally, as I was writing this, JudgeDan tweeted me with this illustration from an Islamic Malaysian newspaper article (about Israeli plans to have an arts festival in Beersheva on the lawn of a museum next to a no-longer used mosque):

This, of course, is meant to echo the Islamic claim that Jews are descended from monkeys and pigs.

Well, at least we see that racism is still alive and well - and wholly acceptable in some media, at least when the targets are Jews.

(h/t Meryl Yourish)

Iran literally covering up Parchin nuclear test site

ISIS has been doing a stellar job in documenting, using satellite imagery, that Iran has been hiding suspected nuclear testing activity at Parchin. For example, here are images showing Iran's destruction of some buildings in the complex last May:

And then evidence that Iran was hiding the traces of those buildings:

But the large building on the site remains - the building suspected of housing a high-explosive testing chamber.

Apparently that building is too important to demolish right now, but also too much activity is taking place there that Iran doesn't want prying eyes to see.

So they are literally covering the building area with lots of pink tarp:

In an August 1, 2012 report, ISIS assessed that apparent cleanup activities at the Parchin site in Iran were complete because imagery showed what appeared to be the final result of considerable sanitization and earth displacement activity. A new GeoEye image dated August 15, 2012 shows that additional suspicious activity may be occurring at the building suspected of housing high explosive experiments related to the development of nuclear weapons and at an adjacent, northern building that may have also hosted suspect activities (figure 1). The new image shows what appears to be pink tent-like material over the two buildings. A Reuters article concurrently reported that “diplomatic sources said the building believed to be housing an explosives chamber - if it is still there - had been ‘wrapped’ with scaffolding and tarpaulin, hiding any sanitization or other activity there from satellite cameras.”

The latest satellite imagery clearly shows the suspected high explosive test building covered in a pink-colored material. A comparison with previous satellite images of the building shows that the size of the now covered building has visibly increased, especially in its height. In consultation with experts ISIS believes that the covering tarp is supported underneath by scaffolding which would account for the increase in size as well as for the horizontal lines appearing under the tarp (figure 1).

Similar activities appear to be taking place at the northernmost building at the site. Currently only part of the roof appears covered by the pink-colored tarp; however, similarly colored material is visible on the ground next to the building suggesting that it may soon be covered.

Nothing to hide?

(h/t Israel HaYom)

Egypt refuses to inspect Iranian weapons ship at Suez

From Ha'aretz:

Egypt has recently turned down a U.S. request to stop an Iranian ship carrying weapons to Syria, according to a report in Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper.

According to the report, quoted in Israel Radio on Sunday, Lieutenant General Mohab Mamish, Suez Canal Authority chairman, said Egypt's navy refused to stop the ship and inspect its cargo as it was passing through the canal.

Egypt Independent adds:

The former SCAF member said that he is primarily responsible for the management of the Suez Canal. All the decisions concerning the canal, he said, whether political or technical, are up to him.

He assured that it is impossible for any state to engage in military operations in the Suez Canal because it is a very narrow waterway. He said the Egyptian Navy secures the waterway with great efficiency.

Mamish was appointed Suez Canal Authority chairman by President Mohamed Morsy, in a surprise reshuffling of military leadership

.
As Egypt's president Mohamed Morsy visits Iran and signals a closer relationship with that regime, his new appointee refuses to listen to a request from the US. Apparently, giving arms to Syria that could be used to kill many more civilians is not a problem for Egypt's new government.

Possibly related:

A convoy of US navy warships have passed through the Suez Canal in Egypt on their way to the Mediterranean Sea.

The convoy, which included the destroyer the USS James Williams and the attack submarine the USS Toledo, will bolster forces in the Mediterranean.

It is not clear whether the vessels were bound for the coast of Syria, but both Russia and the US have periodically increased their military footprint in the region as the bloody civil war in Syria continues.

Anti-Israel activists discover apartheid against Palestinians - in Jordan

There is another little-noticed "flytilla" this weekend.

In this case, some anti-Israel activists flew to Amman, Jordan, and they plan to cross into the West Bank today from there. Whether they are allowed to cross the Allenby Bridge or not, they will continue their anti-Israel agenda, as they try to divert public attention from the upheavals in Syria, Egypt and elsewhere.

One of the groups making up this protest, EuroPalestine, reports that the activists visited the Jerash "refugee" camp on Saturday. And they noticed that Jordan is not such a wonderful place to be for some Palestinian Arabs. In fact, you might even call how Jordan treats the residents of Jerash as - apartheid.

A hundred men, women and children, from the mission WELCOME TO PALESTINE went Saturday to the Palestinian refugee camp of JERASH, Jordan, near Amman.

They were warmly welcomed by officials and residents of this camp which includes more than 35,000 Palestinians from all of the Gaza Strip.

These people have a special place in the tragedy of the Palestinian people and in fact arrived in Jordan after the 1967 war, not during the Nakba of 1948, and have a status of "displaced" and not "refugees".

Grouped in an area of 75 hectares, the 3000 Jerash families have no nationality and no longer receive any benefits since 2010 from UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees.

Indeed. In 1967 there was no threat to the residents of Gaza from Israel, but tens of thousands of them streamed out of Gaza towards Jordan anyway (through Israel!) because they simply did not want to live under Jewish rule. There were no expulsions, no massacres, no threats from Israel. This was a completely voluntary flight, as the Gazans assumed that they would be able to become citizens of Jordan just like the Palestinian Arabs who fled there in 1948 and that life there would be better than under Israeli or Egyptian rule.

But they were wrong.

Jordan never gave citizenship to Gazans. And the Gazans remain, stateless and discriminated against, in Jordan.

How much discrimination do they suffer? EuroPalestine goes on:

The only camp school is obliged to accommodate 6400 pupils, part-time only, in overcrowded classrooms as we imagine. The camp has indeed no right to construct new buildings and expand on the land leased by UNRWA for a period of 99 years.

Even after graduation, students who have received scholarships to go to the Dalhousie University in Jordan can not engage in employment in the public and remain stateless for life.

Yes, an Arab from Yemen or Egypt can become a citizen of Jordan, but one from Gaza cannot. Sounds like apartheid to me.

But for some strangre reason, the "Welcome to Palestine" people cannot quite use that word even when they report on the explicit discrimination against many Palestinian Arabs in Jordan.

Oh, one other thing: Israel cannot stop Jerash residents from moving back to Gaza if they want to. They can easily travel to Egypt and then enter Gaza via Rafah. No, the only people who prevent that from happening are the Jordanians, the Egyptians and the current leaders of Gaza!

See also JSSNews, which discovered this article.

Overnight links

From Ian:

Lieberman was right: With Abbas in charge there will be no peace

"With either Fatah or Hamas at the helm of the Palestinian people there is absolutely no possibility for long term peace in the region
"Where Lieberman was wrong in his characterization of Abbas is when he stated: “In recent years, we have seen that Mr. Abbas speaks with a moderate and pleasant voice to the international community, but in fact, has been personally acting to undermine attempts to renew the peace process.”
He is wrong because Abbas and Fatah have not been trying to “undermine” the peace process "in recent years,” they have never actually engaged in a serious discussion about peace. Since Oslo, the Palestinian Authority has been offered and declined final status agreements no less than three times, each with a portion of Jerusalem as its capital.
Fatah and Abbas are not a “roadblock” to peace, because a roadblock implies something temporary. With either Fatah or Hamas at the helm of the Palestinian people there is absolutely no possibility for long term peace in the region."

Caroline Glick Israel faces the cynical world

The UN’s appeasement of Iran is a symbol of its decline and decay

"It is time for the United States to hold the UN to account by significantly reducing funding for the organisation, and increasing the level of Congressional oversight. American taxpayers deserve value for money from the UN, and an expectation that their contributions will be used to advance the cause of freedom rather than undermine it."

NYT: Signs Suggest Iran Is Speeding Up Work on Nuclear Program

"International nuclear inspectors will soon report that Iran has installed hundreds of new centrifuges in recent months and may also be speeding up production of nuclear fuel while negotiations with the United States and its allies have ground to a near halt, according to diplomats and experts briefed on the findings."

‘No circumstance whatsoever’ in which Israel can tolerate a nuclear Iran, says foreign minister

We should have attacked in 2001, says Avigdor Liberman, and all the talk and inaction today are weakening Israel’s deterrent capability

Obama’s Warning to Syria Comes Amid Iranian Directives to Transfer Chemical Weapons to Hezbollah

"Information gathered by U.S. intelligence officials that Iran’s leadership has pressed Bashar al-Assad in Syria to move stockpiles of his chemical weaponry to Hezbollah led to President Obama’s remarks earlier this week that any deployment of Syrian chemical weapons would be a “red line” for the U.S., according to the Maariv Newspaper in Israel."

Guardian caves in to bullying on Josh Trevino

"One doubts very much that the majority of the Guardian’s already drastically dwindling print readership will be content with the knowledge that freedom of speech in their newspaper of choice is dictated by a tiny cult of extremist cranks. Not only has Ali Abunimah succeeded in exposing the sad truth that comment is anything but free, he has in addition proved that facts are far from sacred.
He has also exposed himself and his fellow travellers for the crude bullies that they are. Had Josh Trevino tweeted anti-Semitic comparisons between Israel and the Nazi regime, support for a proscribed terror organisation or the annihilation of a certain sovereign state, he would have kept his job and inevitably become a darling of the anti-Israel crowd."

Member Of Leading Al-Qaeda-Affiliated Online Forum Posts Photo Of Navy SEAL

Who Participated In Bin Laden Raid And Calls For 'Allah To Kill' Him

Al-Quds Day Toronto 2012: Gay Israel Supporter Told "You Shall Be Stoned To Death"

Turkey: Minister halts military band to allow Islamic chant
We now have the chance to turn all schools into religious schools, says AKP deputy

Analysis: Brotherhood taking total control of Egypt

With rise of Morsy, a new dictatorship may be replacing the old while world persists in looking for signs of pragmatism.

Saved in Shanghai — a young girl’s story highlights a rare WWII place of refuge

20,000 Jews were protected from the Holocaust in the Japanese-occupied city. Nina Admoni, whose husband would later head the Mossad, was one of them

Israeli Women Ahead in Science Poised to Lead in Biotech

"Metallo-Therapy Ltd., which is developing a new method for cancer diagnosis by delivering nano-liposomes to tumor cells, recently received a $4 million investment from Moshe Arkin, former CEO of Agis Industries Ltd. and Perrigo Co. (PRGO)’s vice chairman. Amal Ayoub, Metallo-Therapy’s founder and CEO, says she thinks one reason is that she’s female -- and Arab.
‘‘Being an Arab woman was actually an advantage,” says Ayoub, who has a doctorate in biomedical engineering form Ben Gurion University. “It got Arkin’s attention.”

PLO accuses Iran of being Zionist. Too funny.

From Saudi Gazette:

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Saturday harshly criticized Iran for inviting Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to attend the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran later this month. “Iran joined the Israeli choir which aims to undermine the Palestinian political system and its elected legitimacies,” the PLO Executive Committee said in a press statement, a copy of which was obtained by Saudi Gazette.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will not go to the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Iran if his rival Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas also attends, a minister said Saturday.
“President Abbas will not take part in the Non-Aligned summit if Haniyeh is present, no matter what form his attendance takes,” Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki said in Ramallah, headquarters of the Palestinian Authority.

A Hamas spokesman earlier on Saturday said Haniyeh would attend the Aug. 30-31 conference in Tehran “in accordance with the invitation from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.”

The PLO said it “will not allow any power or regime to bypass the Palestinian people’s institutions and its legitimate representatives.”

Ma'an alludes to a small fact that is simply never explained to Western audiences:

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Saturday urged his counterpart in Gaza not to attend, after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad invited Haniyeh to join the summit of 120 non-aligned nations.

The premier's position is that the Palestine Liberation Organization is legally the sole representative of the Palestinian people, and it has given the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority the task of governing Palestine.

Indeed, the PA does not report to the people - it reports to the PLO, which a decidedly non-democratic organization. The PLO is recognized by the UN as the "sole representative of the Palestinian people" and it derives its legitimacy from that, not from elections.

Which means that even if (and when) the people voted for Hamas, the PLO has effective veto power since the PA reports to the PLO.

And Hamas' rival Fatah, of course, dominates the PLO.

Fayyad himself was never elected prime minister - he was appointed to that position by Mahmoud Abbas. it is unclear if he was acting in his capacity as president of the PA or head of the PLO when he did that.

When Westerners think of the PA they think it is democratic because a couple of elections were held there. Nothing could be further from the truth. The PLO is the dominant organization and it is anything but democratic; it is dominated by a political party that also includes the Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigades, a terror group.

"Gas heating - flexible, convenient, and efficient" is the caption

An Estonian natural gas company placed the above image and caption on its homepage, causing an uproar, according to Lenta.ru .

The Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Nazism and Stalinism, celebrated in Estonia on 23 August, was marked by scandal. On the website of the local gas company GasTerm was a photograph of the Auschwitz concentration camp, together with a description of the benefits of gas central heating. The photo was later removed (the site issued a brief comment with apologies)...

How long the scandalous picture was on the site is unknown.

The photo of the gate to Auschwitz with the inscription "Arbeit macht frei" ("Work makes you free") was on the home page of the site The caption reads (translated from Estonian): "Gas heating - versatile, comfortable and efficient."

After the story hit the media, the picture has been removed. It was replaced by a conventional gas burner picture. The site added a short comment: "If the photo is posted here previously caused anyone discomfort, we sincerely apologize."

The story, however, does not end there. Journalists contacted the executive director of GasTerm, Sven Linrosom. From his comments the absurd sense of what is happening only intensified.

Normally, a company would probably try something hush up the scandal. They would declare, for example, the appearance of a controversial photograph was a mistake by the site administrator.

However, the executive director of GasTerm's comments to journalists only added fuel to the fire. First, he admitted that the picture was taken in person when he visited Auschwitz. Also confirmed that the company deliberately placed the photograph on the site (i.e,, the appearance of a controversial photo was not random).

Explaining the purpose for which it was made, Linros, reportedly referred to the fact that "the gas heating is often associated with the events of the Holocaust." "We often hear the joke about the fact that Hitler killed himself because he had received a bill for the gas," he added.

The Jewish communinty in Estonia condemned the company for its actions.

(h/t Vandoren)

Weekend links

From Ian:

Israel Welcomes Palestinians without Permits by Khaled Abu Toameh

"For years, the Palestinian Authority has been demanding that Israel lift travel restrictions imposed on West Bank Palestinians. But now that Israel has permitted tens of thousands of Muslims to visit its beaches and malls, Israel is being denounced for trying to damage the Palestinian economy.
What is clear is that neither the Palestinian Authority nor Hamas wants to see Palestinians living a good life. Improving the living standards of Palestinians is something that these two parties are not interested in. They would rather see Palestinians direct all their anger and frustration only toward Israel.
Otherwise, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority fear, Palestinians may vent their anger against their own leaders."

Richard Millett Anti-Israel activist Antony Loewenstein: “Six Million Should Die.”

"But, during the Q&A Jonathan Hoffman asked Loewenstein how many people Loewenstein thinks should die for this one-state solution, that Loewenstein wants so much, to come into existence. The idea being that Israelis are not going to vote themselves out of existence, so presumably such a state could come about only by force involving more bloodshed.
As Loewenstein wasn’t quite answering the question he was pressed further by Hoffman as to how many people Loewenstein thinks should die. First, Frank Barat, the Chairman, answered “200,000″ (here is more on Barat). Then Loewenstein answered “Six million. That’s my answer. Write that down.“

Toulouse Killer Made Calls to Israel, May Not Have Acted Alone

"Using a cell phone registered to his mother, Merah contacted nearly 180 people in 20 different countries, including Israel, between September 2010 and February of 2011. The Israeli Defense Ministry confirmed in March that Merah had been questioned during a trip to Israel in 2010, while on his way to Afghanistan."

Kotel rabbi slams Abbas for comments on J'lem

"Rabinowitz, who is responsible for general oversight of the Western Wall plaza and complex, condemned “the words of the Palestinian leadership that denies reality and in so doing distances the chances for peace.”
“Those who wish to return Jerusalem to the cycle of denial and bloodshed, and to erase its Jewish past for the sake of a political struggle should be condemned,” the rabbi said.
“Jerusalem will no longer be built on hate,” he continued.
“The future of Jerusalem will not be written on the destruction of its past. Shame on any leaders who seek to erase the eternal story of Jerusalem.”

IDF Blog: Direct Missile Alarm — Straight to Your Phone

"Developed for the IDF’s Home Front Command by eVigilo and Ericsson, the alert system will deliver location-specific warnings based on the trajectory of a rocket or missile. The text messages are intended to supplement the air raid signals that have been in place across the country for decades and will operate in conjunction with the IDF’s Iron Dome defense system."

Barak and Egyptian counterpart reportedly come to terms over Sinai offensive

New Egyptian defense minister el-Sissi reassures Israeli counterpart over military buildup in peninsula

Groups to Obama: Denounce ‘radical’ rabbi support

Two conservatives groups call on US president to reject those "Rabbis for Obama" associated with Jewish Voice for Peace.

UN nuke agency forms special ‘action team’ to investigate Iran’s nuclear program

IAEA officials expected to press for access to Parchin site, where Iranians allegedly carries out nuclear weapons-linked experiments

Australian FM tells Tehran delegates to leave in event of anti-Semitic rhetoric

Country’s Jewish leadership remains unhappy that Australia sending representatives to Non-Aligned Movement conference

Egypt arrests man after nail bomb attack on German embassy

The man acted out of anger after reading an Egyptian newspaper report on Friday which described a protest by German right-wing activists who had paraded caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in front of a German mosque, they said.

French councillor beaten by Tunisian extremists over family's dress

Jamel Gharbi, a councillor in the north-western city of Le Mans, said that he and his family were strolling around the northern coastal Tunisian town of Bizerte August 16 when they came across a group of men with the long beards and tunics of ultra-conservative Salafi Muslims.

Sequoia raises $200m Israel VC fund

Sequoia Capital, is a veteran venture capital fund based in Silicon Valley currently celebrating its 40th anniversary. Over the years, it has backed some of the biggest names in the technology industry including Apple Inc., Yahoo! Inc., Google Inc., LinkedIn and Cisco Systems.
The new Israeli venture capital fund is one of three new funds being raised by Sequoia. The others will focus on the US and China and the total of the three funds will be $975 million.

Also:
Israeli driver vs. Arab carjacker via Sultan Knish (skip to about 0:50)

Sniffer mice!

(h/t YS, EuroGirl)

Another 120 killed in Syria - and Lebanon death toll up to 13

From Al Arabiya:

More than 100 people, including at least 20 children have been killed by Syrian regime forces on Friday in heavy shelling of opposition held areas in the Damascus suburbs several districts of Aleppo and Deir Ezzour, the activist Local Coordination Committees (LCC) reported.

The group reported that at least 40 were killed in what it said was a “massacre” in Deir Ezzour. The town’s local LCC branch said the massacre was cause army helicopter shelling.

Activists reported heavy shelling by Syrian forces on several districts of Aleppo, scene of the fiercest fighting since the conflict first entangled the commercial and manufacturing hub a month ago.

The spillover to Lebanon is continuing:

A young Sunni sheikh was killed on Friday in Syria-related clashes between two rival neighborhoods in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, denting a tenuous truce that was agreed earlier by local leaders.

The clashes breached a truce earlier agreed by local political leaders hours earlier in a bid to halt fighting fuelled by tensions in neighboring Syria.

The sectarian clashes began after gunmen in a nearby Sunni area shot dead an Alawite man. Nine others were wounded in the subsequent fighting.

At least 13 people have died and more than a hundred have been wounded in fighting this week between Lebanese Sunni Muslims and Alawites, reflecting the sectarian faultlines that have emerged in Syria's conflict.

Refugees from Syria are still pouring over the borders:

More than 200,000 Syrians have poured into neighboring countries during the conflict, surpassing the 185,000 the U.N. refugee agency had expected to flee by the end of the year.

The total reflects an increase of some 30,000 in the past week alone to Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan, but also takes into account a change in the way the agency counts those in Jordan, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said.

"There has been a dramatic increase in the number of (Syrian) refugees in the region during August, we're now at over 200,000 refugees in the region, that's over and above our planning figure for all 2012 of 185,000 refugees," spokesman Adrian Edwards told Reuters Television in Geneva on Friday.

More than 3,500 people fleeing violence in Syria have entered Turkey over the past 24 hours, Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate said on Friday, one of the highest daily refugee flows since the start of the uprising last year.

"In Jordan, a record 2,200 people crossed the border overnight and were received at Za'atri camp in the north," Edwards told a news briefing.

Iraq is home to nearly 16,000 Syrian refugees, UNHCR said.

Anti-semitic cartoon in PA newspaper

From Palestinian Media Watch:

The official Palestinian Authority daily published a cartoon yesterday that depicts Israel as a demonized religious Jew holding a knife dripping with blood.

I found the original cartoon in the UAE paper that first published it and added English captions based on PMW's translation. You really need to see it in color to appreciate how disgusting it is:

Perhaps this is the PA's idea of a "goodwill gesture."

Journalistic "ethics" from Ha'aretz and The Guardian (update)

A few days ago I noted that the Mostly Kosher blog proved that Ha'aretz was wrong in its assertion that the US State Department initiated a new policy of referring to Jewish terror attacks.

The lie was repeated by Harriet Sherwood at The Guardian, even though any modicum of research would have proven that it was false.

I contacted the Guardian to see if they would issue a correction. So far, they haven't.

The author of the Mostly Kosher blog revisited the Ha'aretz article today, though, and it has magically and silently been corrected- both in Hebrew and English!

No correction that can be found (certainly not on the page that matters), no admission of a major error - just a silent correction on a story that practically no one is going to read anymore.

Even though the original mistake was copied, not only in the Guardian but in many other media.

So this is how the media admits mistakes - not by admitting them, but by rewriting history as if they got it right the first time.

UPDATE: Apparently, Ha'aretz published a correction on Friday in page 5 of their print edition. Still nothing from The Guardian.

Erekat the liar strikes again

Saeb Erekat, the PA's official liar-in-chief, continues on his proud tradition in his comments on the letter written by Israel's foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman:

PLO official Saeb Erekat said Thursday that he had written to the US and Israel asking for clarification of a missive by the Israeli foreign minister slamming the president and calling for a new Palestinian leadership.

Erekat told Lebanese satellite channel Mayadeen that he intends to send more letters to international bodies to warn that President Mahmoud Abbas is in danger.

Israeli FM Avigdor Lieberman's letter to US, EU, Russian and UN leaders called for Palestinian elections to usher in new leaders.

"Due to Abbas' weak standing and his policy of not renewing the (peace) negotiations, which is an obstacle to peace, the time has come to consider a creative solution, to think 'outside the box,' in order to strengthen the Palestinian leadership," the controversial minister wrote.

Erekat said the letter entails incitement to kill Abbas.

The letter calls for new elections. In no way, shape or form does it call for his death. Luckily, I reproduced the entire letter a few days ago, so we can see yet again that Erekat lies as easily as he breathes.

Time to bring up my 2010 Erekat the Liar video:

Other posts proving his lies since then: Fisking an op-ed, his lie about Israel's being accepted to the UN, his bizarre charge that Qatar invests in Jewish settlements, his lies about the video I spoofed above, and his admitting that he lies all over the world.

And not once - literally never - does the media call him out on his lies. He is still a featured guest on CNN and elsewhere, where his constant lies are not questioned in the least.

Isn't that supposed to be the media's job? Well, yes - unless they agree with the agenda of the liar.

More on the absurd claims that science proves the Koran

My article on the Muslim claim about a Jewish embryologist who supposedly converted to Islam based on his scientific research is receiving a lot of attention - from Muslim countries.

Many of my hits today are from people Googling "Robert Gilham Islam", "Robert Gilham embryologist", "Robert Gillham Einstein" and similar queries indicating that people who read the many articles in Arabic about this supposed story are researching it themselves to corroborate it.

And these queries are coming from Kuwait, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Jordan, Pakistan and other Muslim countries.

What I hadn't noticed before is that the source of the story, Dr. Abdel Basset Mohamed al-Sayed, is the same person who recently claimed that NASA was hiding proof of the Koran discovered by their scientists - another of whom supposedly converted to Islam!

In this article from August 11th, we see al-Sayed making both of these claims as well as some others that supposedly show scientists around the world proving the Koran.

For example, al-Sayed claims that a "Professor Keith Moore" proved that a fetus' gender gets determined at exactly 42 days of gestation - not 41 and a half, but exactly 42 - every single time, "proving" a Koranic verse.

Apparently, that one interview spawned both of these uncorroborated and unprovable stories.

The good news is that Arabic talkbacks in some of the articles about "Robert Gilham" are also showing skepticism. The many Google searches indicate also that many Muslims are trying to verify the story on their own. While most comments swallow the story whole, a distinct minority indicates that they do not believe it.

And at least one forum has much skepticism about the story, quoting my article.

But at the same time that some Muslims are questioning the story -Arabic Russia Today republished it!

UPDATE: Followup post here on the background of Islamic misuse of science. It is a well-organized and well-funded bit of propaganda.

Now, THIS is an "honor killing!"

From Ma'an:

Unidentified gunmen killed a 43-year-old man in Gaza days after his release from jail, local sources said Thursday.

The man was jailed after confessing to raping his 16-year-old daughter. Police had launched an investigation after the man's daughter gave birth to a daughter.

He was in jail awaiting a trial, but was released on Aug. 16 along with 98 other prisoners as a gesture by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to celebrate the Muslim festival Eid al-Fitr.

Days later, a group of gunmen dragged him from his home in the Nuseirat refugee camp and killed him on the outskirts of the camp, local sources told Ma'an.

The assailants then called the police who took the body for burial, the sources said.

Arabic media says that the father took advantage of his naive daughter and repeatedly raped her whenever his wife was away from the house. When she became pregnant, he did not let her go to a doctor; only when she was in labor did her mother take her to the hospital and find out the truth.

While this is hardly indicative of a functioning justice system in Gaza, at least in this "honor killing" it is the rapist who was killed, not the victim.

Friday morning snippets (Zvi)

From Zvi:

This year, Israel issued 200,000 entry permits to Palestinians for Eid al-Fitr and Ramadan

"Israeli authorities issued 130,000 entry permits to Palestinians to observe the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. Even young men, whom Israelis normally regard with suspicion as potential militants, were permitted entry....Tallied with entry permits issued during Ramadan, the number of permits reached 200,000."

This figure is interesting. 200,000 entry permits constitutes roughly 10% of the entire Arab population of the West Bank.

[AP says that "Israel has allowed the entry of over 1 million Palestinians from the occupied West Bank since the beginning of Ramadan due to improved security." It sounds like Palestinian Arabs used their permits multiple times. - EoZ]

Add this to your list of Israeli goodwill gestures that the PA will throw back in Israel's face, and which will be completely ignored by most of the world's media.

Apparently, a lot of the visiting Arabs made straight for the beach. I hope that they had fun.

The move was initiated by Israel's Defense Ministry, which Israel-haters and various western news media consistently paint in terms that recall the Nazis.

The world is a very different place from the world as portrayed by the BBC or Human Rights Watch... .

Israel saving the world again... .

"Taking the idea of solar thermal hot water heaters to the next level is Tigi Solar, a new Israeli company that was inspired by the busy bee.The inside of Tigi's solar energy collector looks like a honeycomb. This unique shape helps collect more sun power more efficiently than regular solar collectors -- so efficiently that boiling hot water made from the sun can even be piped in to heat homes."

Israel and Germany team up to help Kenya

"Israelis, Germans and Kenyans have teamed up to increase the tilapia (St. Peter’s fish) population and improve wastewater treatment in Lake Victoria.Last week, high-level representatives from the three parties signed a trilateral agreement in Kenya for a project that has been in the works for roughly a year, to upgrade commercial fishery and wastewater purification systems in Africa’s largest lake, officials from the Foreign Ministry told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday... .If successful, the team may carry out similar projects in Uganda and Tanzania, both of which also rely on the lake, and representatives have already started talks with Ugandans about the idea."

Israel and the US are Natural Allies

Just what it says!

"An honest American broker would no longer ignore blatant Palestinian myopia. Just this week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared Jerusalem a Muslim and Christian city, insisting that there will be no peace until the Jewish occupiers depart. The Jews, he said, wish to “destroy the Al Aqsa mosque and build the alleged Jewish temple.”"

Eyesight for Israel's Blind

In this column, a person who has internalized a bogus caricature of Israel is surprised to find that the scene in an Israeli hospital demolishes that caricature - but then fails to draw the obvious conclusion and crawls back inside his shuttered world-view. What a shame... .

Warning - the column demonstrates in many places that the author simply doesn't "get" Israel or the local Arabs.

"This distrustful ignorance of the other can be found everywhere in Israel. Or almost everywhere, for there is a place that escapes this reality: the hospital. Because of an urgent eye problem upon my arrival in Israel in late June, I had to spend seven hours in the ophthalmology department of the Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem, which is the main centre of treatment, teaching, and research in Jerusalem.What I saw during those hours were, despite my personal condition, the most comforting and hopeful signs that I have encountered in the entire region in many years. Arab citizens of Israel – that is, Palestinian doctors and nurses – were treating Jewish and Arab patients. Israeli doctors and nurses attended to Arabs' needs. I even saw some inter-action among patients themselves. Old Israelis who had clearly come from eastern Europe before the Second World War were playing with very young Palestinian children. There was an atmosphere of reassuring tolerance of the other....What I encountered that day in Ein Kerem was the best of Israel – and a direct rebuttal to the frequent accusation that Israel is an ‘apartheid state'. "

The author is wrong to think that this scene is unique; there are scenes in many places in Israel - and not only in medical settings - where cooperation and tolerance are the rule. But he is right that Israel's doctors represent [some of] the best of Israel and that the scene at the hospital blows out of the water the ludicrous claims about "apartheid." The story also reminds me a bit of Yaakov Lozowick's blog post about a hospital emergency room.