Tuesday, August 28, 2012

  • Tuesday, August 28, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Ya Libnan:
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gave his direct orders to executing terrorist attacks in Lebanon, details of an investigation with former Lebanese information minister Michel Samaha, detained for alleged involvement in the plot, revealed on Monday.

Lebanese daily newspaper al-Jumhourya reported that Samaha had admitted to investigators that he was working for the Syrian regime trying to execute a plan to blow up explosives in the northern Lebanese city of Akkar.

Samaha admitted to having collaborated with General Ai al-Mamlouk, head of the Syrian national security bureau, whom Samaha said is now holding a senior position within the Syrian regime.

Samaha was arrested on Aug. 10 and was accused of planning to detonate bombs prepared by the Syrians with the aim of “inciting sectarian fighting” in Lebanon.
And as I have mentioned, Jordan has uncovered Syrian spy cells among the refugees.

Looks like Assad is planning to take everyone down with him.

  • Tuesday, August 28, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
CiFWatch points out that the ISM is responsible for Rachel Corrie's death - but no one is blaming them for their cavalir attitude towards the deaths of "activists:"

In a 2002 article, ISM co-founders Adam Shapiro and Huwaida Arraf wrote, “The Palestinian resistance must take on a variety of characteristics, both non-violent and violent,” adding that “[i]n actuality, nonviolence is not enough…Yes, people will get killed and injured.”

Shapiro and Arraf lauded such deaths as “no less noble than carrying out a suicide operation. And we are certain that if these men were killed during such an action, they would be considered shaheed Allah.”

ISM activists and organizers have time and again justified terrorism and associated with terrorists.

In 2003 alone, for example, ISM activist Susan Barclay admitted in an interview that she worked with representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jidhad; terrorists originating from UK who had attacked the Mike’s Place bar in Tel Aviv, murdering three people, had, according to an Israeli report, ”forg[ed] links with foreign left-wing activists and members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM)”; and senior Islamic Jihad terrorist Shadi Sukiya was arrested while he was hiding in ISM’s Jenin office and being assisted by two ISM activists.

...Corrie’s ISM colleague and handler, Joseph Smith eulogized Corrie, chillingly justifying the sacrifice of human life for the cause, stating:

“The spirit that she died for is worth a life. This idea of resistance, this spirit of resisting this brutal occupying force, is worth anything. And many, many, many Palestinians give their lives for it all the time. So the life of one international, I feel, is more than worth the spirit of resisting oppression.”
Commentary notes that Rachel Corrie was no peace activist.

The ISM themselves wrote back in 2002 that they actively encouraged their volunteers to put themselves in danger:
Without a doubt the level of risk dramatically increased in this latest ISM campaign with internationals on the receiving end of shrapnel, live fire over their heads, tear-gassing, rubber bullets, sound bombs, beatings, interrogations, arrests and deportations. Without sounding crass, the benefits were many and obvious.

In an astonishing example of admitted conflict of interest, Time's Karl Vick notes (after saying that Israeli justice is hopelessly biased) that his wife had volunteered to assist the Corries in the court case. In fact, his wife Stacy Sullivan is the press contact for the Corries! Time apparently thinks that such an egregious conflict of interest is AOK as long as it is parenthetically mentioned in a long screed against Israel.

By the way, Vick quotes Corrie's sister as saying "I can say without a doubt that I believe my sister was seen as that bulldozer approached her." Here's what an Israeli D9 armored bulldozer looks like:


It doesn't look like the driver has a very clear view at all.

I have still not seen anyone actually point out where the Israeli judge says anything that is less than truthful.

And the Philadelphi Corridor that Israel was clearing was, under international law, legally controlled by Israel. As Wikipedia notes:
Under the provisions of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty of 1979, the buffer zone was controlled and patrolled by Israeli forces. After the 1995 Oslo Accords, Israel was allowed to retain the security corridor along the border.
And this classic 2005 piece on The Forgotten Rachels is important to recall as well.

PJMedia had a nice article worth reading from 2010.

And if you are in a very politically incorrect mood, you can always re-watch my 2008 Rachel Corrie music video. 

(h/t EG, CHA, Anne)
  • Tuesday, August 28, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Adalah last week:

On 9 August 2012, Adalah sent a legal letter to the Israeli Attorney General, the Minister of Culture and Sports, and the Municipality of Beer el-Sabe (Beer Sheva) demanding that they intervene and cancel the 6th Annual “Salut Wine and Beer Festival” due to take place in the courtyard of the Big Mosque in Beer el-Sabe. Adalah requested that all activity that violates the sanctity of the mosque, as well as the dignity of the thousands of Muslims who live in Beer el-Sabe and the tens of thousands who come to the city daily, be stopped immediately. Adalah Attorney Aram Mahameed sent the letter.

The letter pointed out that it was recently announced that the Wine Festival will take place 5-6 September 2012. The festival will feature alcoholic beverages from about 30 breweries and wineries from around the country, in addition to imports. It will also include a number of musical performances.

“This is a sensitive issue that endangers the interests of all Arab citizens of the state,” Attorney Mahameed emphasized in the letter. “The use of the courtyard of the Mosque for drinking alcohol is a red line banned in Islam, and is completely incompatible with the mosque’s intended use for prayer.”
Many sites are claiming that the festival is being held inside the mosque!

Here are the facts:

There have been no prayers in the mosque since 1948.

The "courtyard" of the mosque is also the grounds of the Negev Museum of Art, which is the official venue.

The wine festival has been going on in the exact same spot for years, and no one complained about it before.

The entire "outrage" is simply orchestrated to get people upset. It has zero basis in fact. But then again, when are facts important to the anti-Israel crowd?

Here's what it looked like last year.


  • Tuesday, August 28, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Ian:

Clueless in Seattle: Richard Silverstein’s ‘fantasy’ source
"The point is that, given conflicting reports, it’s too soon to make definitive statements. But Silverstein doesn’t even mention alternatives. He just goes on his ideologically tinged rampage. Anyone who cares about the truth and relies on Silverstein is going to be disappointed. That’s for sure."

The "Pro-Palestinians"
"Once again, it has been exposed that Americans and Europeans who claim to be pro-Palestinian are actually just Israel-haters. For them, the Palestinian issue is just a vehicle for vomiting their hatred for Israel, and most likely all Jews. They are closer to Hamas and Islamic Jihad than to moderate Arabs and Muslims. The Palestinians need support from people who promote democracy, moderation, accountability and co-existence with Israel."

How Leftist Jews Make Terror Kosher
Lenin joked that capitalists would sell him the rope by which he would hang them, and Muslim terrorists may be making the same joke about Jews whom they target.

Israel Pushing for UN Summit on Jewish Refugees
"The summit’s main goal would be to address the issue of Jewish property rights, according to a report in Yedioth Ahronoth. The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that between 1948 and 1951 about 850,000 Jews were expelled or forced out of Arab nations, losing an estimated $700 million in property ($6 billion today). Most of these refugees were absorbed by Israel, where today they comprise over half the population."

After rocket fire, IAF strikes Gaza munition depots
Palestinian hospital reports 2 wounded in strike; IDF says attack is response to rocket fire toward Israel, strikes were accurate.

Reinforced school protects Israeli kids from Gazan rockets
$27.5 million facility takes protection to the next level; ‘You can finally teach without worrying,’ principal says

The Attacks on Israelis You Won’t Read About Anywhere Else, August 22-26

Before First Grade Starts, Child Survivor of Mumbai Attack Gets Call From Netanyahu

South African BDS – or Just BS?
"If the South African government is referring to the U.N. Partition Plan of 1947, it is those lines in which the State of Israel declared itself independent in May 1948. However, none of the Arab states accepted Israel inside those lines, and they immediately went to war to eradicate the lines and thus eradicate Israel. Why the South African government would stake its position on the basis of borders rejected by every Arab government is unclear."

Petition Rallies Support for Findings on Anti-Israel Bias at California State Schools

Alarm as hundreds of children under age of 10 married in Iran

How Nazi persecution of a Jewish doctor led to Paralympics — and a revolution in treating spinal injury
As the London games begin on Wednesday, Ludwig Guttman is being rightly remembered as the ‘father of the Paralympics.’ But he was a lot more besides

Neil Armstrong Walks on Jerusalem
Armstrong then asked if these were the original steps, and Ben-Dov confirmed that they were.
“So Jesus stepped right here?” asked Armstrong.
“That’s right,” answered Ben-Dov.
“I have to tell you,” Armstrong said to the Israeli archaeologist, “I am more excited stepping on these stones than I was stepping on the moon.”

Also:
Resurrected: The Rachel Corrie Libel

Michael Totten: The Anti-Imperialism of Fools 

An speaking of Butler, this is hilarious.
  • Tuesday, August 28, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
Egypt's rapprochement with Iran continues:

An Egyptian official has said that Cairo will raise the level of its diplomatic representation in Tehran soon.

Yousry Abu Sahdy, a member at the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, told Iranian news agency IRNA that Egypt will soon open an embassy in Iran, and added that President Mohamed Morsy and Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr's participation in the Non-Aligned Movement's summit in Tehran, which is scheduled for 30 and 31 August, will strengthen diplomatic and economic ties between both countries.

It is significant that Egypt is choosing to get closer to Iran at the very moment that the West is isolating it and when most Arab countries are upset over Iran's stance towards Syria.

Which makes me think that Iran is danging some serious petrodollars to bring cash-starved Egypt into its orbit - and to surround Israel with its proxies. Combined with the Islamic Brotherhood's desire for a new caliphate throughout the Middle East, we have a very toxic mix.
  • Tuesday, August 28, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
I received this via email:

Summary of the Verdict (T.A. 371/05) Estate of the Late Rachel Corrie, etc.v. The State of Israel – Ministry of Defense

1.     The decedent, Rachel Corrie, was born on April 10, 1979.  She was an American citizen, residing in Olympia, Washington.  On March 16, 2003, the decedent was killed during an incident which is the focus of this lawsuit.  She was 24 years old.

The decedent was an activist in the International Solidarity Movement (hereafter: "the Organization" or "the ISM").

2.     In this lawsuit (T.A. 371/05) the plaintiffs, the estate of the late Rachel Corrie (hereafter: "the decedent"), the decedent's parents, brother and sister, are petitioning to direct the defendant, the State of Israel, to pay them compensation for special damages and general damages inflicted on them, they claim, as a result of the death of the decedent during the incident that is the focus of this trial.  In addition to the aforementioned, the plaintiffs have petitioned to direct the defendant to pay "punitive damages".

3.     The plaintiffs claimed in their lawsuit that on March 16, 2003, the decedent, together with other activists in the ISM, arrived at the "Philadelphi Corridor" in the Rafiah area of the Gaza Strip where two bulldozers and an IDF tank were observed conducting operational activities in the area.  The plaintiffs claimed that the bulldozers were about to demolish a house in the area and that the decedent and her fellow members of the ISM stood in the path of the bulldozers in order to prevent them from implementing their plan.

In Article 8.5 of the Statement of Claim, the plaintiffs claimed as follows:

           "At 17:00 or thereabouts, the decedent stood near the house of Dr. Samir Nasrallah, which was designated for demolition, and one of the bulldozers was 10 to 15 meters from her.  The bulldozers approached the decedent and pulled dirt from under her feet.  The decedent fell and the blade of the bulldozer ran over her leg and later the bulldozer ran over her body.  When the bulldozer backed up the decedent was gravely injured and was bleeding extensively, although she was still breathing.

The decedent was evacuated to the Al-Najer Hospital in Rafiah, where her death was declared after 20 minutes".

4.     The plaintiffs claimed that the bulldozer intentionally caused the death of the decedent.  The plaintiffs based their claim on the following three grounds: assault, negligence and legal grounds.

5.     After hearing many witnesses from both sides, including expert witnesses, and studying the extensive summations from representatives of both sides, I hereby determine as follows:

a.    During the relevant period of time, the "Philadelphi Corridor" was the site of daily warfare, i.e. daily gunfire by snipers, missile fire and IED explosions directed at the IDF forces.  During this period, unceasing efforts were made to kidnap IDF soldiers.  Only soldiers who were in combat units fought in the region.

According to the notes made in the IDF records, from September 2000 to the date of the incident that is the focus of this lawsuit (March 16, 2003), nearly 6,000 grenades had been thrown at IDF forces in the Corridor; there had been approximately 1,400 incidents of gunfire; and there were more than 40 occurrences of mortar fire.  These aforementioned events led to the injury and death of many Israelis.

The United States government issued a travel warning on March 16, 2003 to warn American citizens against visiting the Gaza Strip area or the West Bank.

b.    During the period pertinent to this case, there was a military directive in force declaring the "Philadelphi Corridor" a "closed military area" and forbidding the entry of civilians.

c.    The ISM assigned itself the task of working alongside the Palestinians against the "Israeli occupation" by using what it called "non-violent protest activities".  However, the evidence presented to me shows a significant gap between the Organization's statements and the true character of its activities and actions.  The actions taken by the members of the organization, in practice, do not match its statements.  In fact, the Organization exploits the dialogue regarding human rights and morality to blur the severity of its actions, which are, in fact, expressed through violence.

Inter alia, ISM activities included "defending" Palestinian families, even ones that were engaged in terror activities.  The Organization's activists "specialized" in sabotaging the IDF's operational actions.  ISM activities included, inter alia: stationing activists to serve as "human shields" for terrorists wanted by Israeli security forces; financial, logistical and moral assistance to Palestinians, including terrorists and their families; interrupting demolition activities or the sealing off of houses belonging to terrorists who conducted suicide attacks with multiple casualties.

d.    The mission of the IDF force on the day of the incident was solely to clear the ground.  This clearing and leveling included leveling the ground and clearing it of brush in order to expose hiding places used by terrorists, who would sneak out from these areas and place explosive devices with the intent of harming IDF soldiers.  There was an urgency to carrying out this mission so that IDF look-outs could observe the area and locate terrorists thereby preventing explosive devices from being buried.  The mission did not include, in any way, the demolition of homes.  The action conducted by the IDF forces was done at real risk to the lives of the soldiers.  Less than one hour before the incident that is the focus of this lawsuit, a live hand-grenade was thrown at the IDF forces.

e.    I hereby determine that, on the day of the incident, the two bulldozers and the armored personnel carrier were occupied with the clear military operational task of clearing the land in a dangerous area which posed a significant risk.  The force's action was designed to prevent acts of terror and hostility, i.e. to eliminate the danger of terrorists hiding between the creases of land and in the brush, and to expose explosive devices hidden therein, both of which were intended to kill IDF soldiers.  During each act of exposure, the lives of the IDF fighters were at risk from Palestinians terrorists.  As aforementioned, less than an hour before the incident that is the focus of this lawsuit, a live hand-grenade was thrown at the IDF force.

For this reason, I hereby determine that the act of clearing the land with which the IDF force was occupied during the event was "a war-related action" as defined in The Civil Wrongs Ordinance.

f.     On March 16, 2003, the decedent and her fellow ISM activists arrived at the location where the IDF force was working to clear the land.   They did so, they claim, in order to prevent the IDF force from demolishing Palestinian houses.  They did so illegally and in contradiction of the military directive declaring the area a "closed military area".  They held signs, stood in front of the bulldozers and did not allow them to carry out their mission.  The IDF soldiers informed the activists that they had to distance themselves from the area, threw stun grenades towards them, fired warning shots towards them and used methods to disperse demonstrations.  All without avail.

The IDF force was very careful not to harm the Organization's activists.  Because of the activists' interference, the force repeatedly relocated to continue carrying out their mission.

g.    Based on the evidence presented to me, including the testimony of the expert for the prosecution, Mr. Osben, I hereby determine that at approximately 17:00, the decedent stood roughly 15 to 20 meters from the relevant bulldozer and knelt down.  The bulldozer to which I refer was a large, clumsy and shielded vehicle of the DR9 model.  The field of view the bulldozer's operator had inside the bulldozer was limited.  At a certain point, the bulldozer turned and moved toward the decedent.  The bulldozer pushed a tall pile of dirt.  With regard to the field of view that the bulldozer's operator had, the decedent was in the "blind spot".  The decedent was behind the bulldozer's blade and behind a pile of dirt and therefore the bulldozer's operator could not  have seen her.

The bulldozer moved very slowly, at a speed of one kilometer per hour.

When the decedent saw the pile of dirt moving towards her, she did not move, as any reasonable person would have.  She began to climb the pile of dirt.  Therefore, both because the pile of dirt continued to move as a result of the pushing of the bulldozer, and because the dirt was loose, the decedent was trapped in the pile of dirt and fell.

At this stage, the decedent's legs were buried in the pile of dirt, and when her colleagues saw from where they stood that the decedent was trapped in the pile of dirt, they ran towards the bulldozer and gestured towards its operator and yelled at him to stop.  By the time the bulldozer's operator and his commander noticed the decedent's colleagues and stopped the bulldozer, a significant portion of the decedent's body was already covered in dirt.

The decedent's entire body was not covered in dirt.  In fact, when the bulldozer backed up, the decedent's body was seen to free itself from the pile of dirt and the decedent was still alive.

The decedent was evacuated to the hospital and after 20 minutes, her death was declared.

I hereby determine unequivocally that there is no foundation to the plaintiffs' claim that the bulldozer struck the decedent intentionally.  This was a very unfortunate accident and was not intentional.  No one wished to harm the decedent.  I was convinced that the bulldozer's operator would not have continued to work if he had seen the decedent standing in front of the bulldozer, as he and his colleagues acted in similar circumstances earlier that day, when they moved from location to location because of the disturbances caused by the members of the Organization.

h.    Because I find, as aforementioned, that the decedent was accidentally killed in the framework of a "war-related activity" as defined in The Civil Wrongs Ordinance, and in light of the instructions laid out in Article 5 of the aforementioned ordinance, the State bears no responsibility for the damages inflicted on the plaintiffs resulting from a war-related action.

This makes superfluous the need to discuss the cause of action made by the plaintiffs because legally their demand should be rejected.

Nevertheless, above and beyond what is necessary, I have also decided to discuss the cause of action filed by the plaintiffs as well as their other claims.

i.      The plaintiffs claimed that evidentiary damage was done in two areas: first, they claim that the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) investigation carried out after the event was sloppy and unprofessional and led to evidentiary damage for the plaintiffs; the second area, which refers to the responsibility of the Institute for Forensic Medicine for evidentiary damage caused to the plaintiffs as a result of the violation of the judicial order and the destruction of the recording documenting the decedent's autopsy.

It could be expected that, in light of the claim made above, the plaintiffs' representative would submit to the court the file of the investigation conducted by the CID so that I could form my own opinion regarding the investigatory actions carried out and the manner in which the investigation was carried out, and to learn if the actions taken by the CID were sufficient or not.  However, it was the plaintiffs that objected to submitting the full file of the investigation as evidence, even though the defendant agreed to do so.  Thus did the plaintiffs, by their own actions, introduce circumstances in which an extremely important tool to examine their claims was denied to the court.

After examining the evidentiary material and studying the claims made by representatives of both sides, I reached the conclusion that the CID investigation was conducted appropriately and without fault.

j.      With regard to the claims made regarding evidentiary damages relating to the Institute of Forensic Medicine:

Investigators from the CID concluded that in order to advance the investigation, an autopsy would have to be performed on the decedent.  As a result, they approached the District Court in Rishon LeZion and asked for a court order that would allow for such an autopsy.  The court order "…that the body be autopsied at the Abu Kabir Institute for Forensic Medicine by a doctor who is not in the military and in the presence of a representative of the American State Department" (Exhibit 6/T).

Professor Hiss testified that since the American Consulate saw no need to send a representative to be present at the autopsy, the autopsy was conducted, with the family's agreement, without a consular representative.  He also testified that the Consulate sent a fax confirming that the autopsy could be conducted without a representative from the family (Exhibit 11/T).

After examining the evidentiary material and studying the claims made by representatives of both sides, I reached the conclusion that the plaintiffs' claim of evidentiary damage by the Institute for Forensic Medicine seems strange.  This is because the decedent's father himself testified that, from the outset, the family had no intention of conducting an autopsy and that their intention was to pursue the matter diplomatically in order to clarify what happened to the decedent.  Moreover: it appears that the decedent's family had no interest regarding the identity of the Consular representative that was to be present during the autopsy, nor in the type of professional training they had had.  The family wanted a Consular representative to be present even if a secretary or typist had been sent!

Professor Hiss explained in his testimony that the aforementioned fax was sent to him after he telephoned the United States Embassy and asked that they send an American doctor to be present at the autopsy.  He claims that the embassy did not find a need to do so.  Professor Hiss asked to receive approval from the decedent's family and he then received the fax 11/T in which it is specifically stated that the decedent's family agreed to the autopsy and that no other faxes would be sent.

I believe that under these circumstances, Professor Hiss was well within his rights to conclude that, ultimately, the decedent's family conceded its demand for a representative to be present during the autopsy.  The family's desire was to receive the decedent's body as soon as possible.  Indeed, the family did not conduct any additional examinations after receiving the decedent's body and it was cremated: see Mr. Craig Corrie's testimony.

I am aware of the fact that, according to the language of the District Court's decision regarding the autopsy of the decedent's body, there should have been a representative of the US Embassy present during the autopsy.  However, under the circumstances, when it was explained that the embassy saw no reason to send a representative, as Professor Hiss testified, and because the fax sent to Professor Hiss (11/T) stated that the family agreed to the autopsy, we can understand why Professor Hiss believed that there was nothing preventing him from conducting the autopsy without an embassy representative being present.  There is no doubt that the proper course of action would have been to return to the District Court so that, in light of the change in circumstances, the court could amend its decision and remove the condition regarding the presence of an embassy representative.  However, given the circumstances and in light of the aforementioned, it is not clear what evidentiary damage was made to the plaintiffs' case because of the conduct of the Institute of Forensic Medicine.

With regard to the plaintiffs' claim regarding the recording documenting the autopsy, I found no grounds to accept it.  It is an audio recording (as opposed to a video recording) which served as a draft for Professor Hiss when preparing his report.  Recordings like this are made because, during an autopsy, the doctor's hands are holding scalpels and covered in blood, and therefore notes cannot be taken.  Apparently, the aforementioned audio recording simply does not exist anymore because, due to budgetary problems, the Institute of Forensic Medicine recycles tapes (see the testimony given by Professor Hiss).  Under these circumstances, it is not clear what evidentiary damage was caused to the plaintiffs as a result of the aforementioned draft having been erased due to recycling.

In summation, with regard to evidentiary damages, I hereby determine that the two cumulative conditions necessary as laid out in the precedent determined by the Supreme Court were not upheld.  They did not prove that evidentiary damage was caused which harmed their ability to prove their claims, nor did they prove that the defendant, through negligence, caused the claimed evidentiary damage.

k.    With regard to grounds for assault I hereby determine that there is no foundation for such claims because there is no component of "malice".  As I have determined that the decedent was killed accidentally and not intentionally, legally the claim regarding grounds for assault must be rejected.

l.      With regard to grounds for negligence:  I am convinced that, given the circumstances created at the location of the incident, the actions taken by the force were without fault.  Indeed, the field of vision of the bulldozer's operator was limited.  However, the decedent's field of vision while she stood in front of the bulldozer and knelt down was open and without any limitation.  The decedent could have distanced herself from any danger without any difficulty.  However, she chose to take the risk described above, and that eventually led to her death.

Given these circumstances, I have reached the conclusion that it was not negligence on the part of the defendant or any of its representatives that caused the decedent's death.  Therefore it can be understood that I reject the claim that there is any foundation for the grounds of negligence in this case.

m.   The defendant claims a "willing endangerment" defense, in accordance with Article 5(A) of the Civil Wrongs ordinance.  I reached the conclusion that the foundation for this defense, as determined by the Supreme Court, has not been proven in this case, and therefore I hereby determine that the aforementioned defense does not exist with regard to this lawsuit.

However, even though I have determined that it was not negligence on the part of the defendant or its representatives that led to the death of the decedent, and although the aforementioned defense does not exist with regard to this lawsuit, it is not enough to change the result of rejecting this claim.

n.    With regard to legal grounds:  It is true that the decedent was killed during the incident that is the focus of this lawsuit.  However, in this case the defendant did not violate the decedent's right to life.  The decedent put herself in a dangerous situation.  She stood in front of a large bulldozer in a location where the bulldozer's operator could not see her.  Even when she saw the pile of dirt moving towards her and endangering her, she did not remove herself from the situation, as any reasonable person would have.  The decedent began to climb the pile of dirt, got tangled up in it, fell and eventually died.

The decedent's death was the result of an accident that the decedent caused.  This occurred despite the efforts of the IDF force to distance her and her colleagues from the area.

I believe that, under these circumstances, there is no justification to obligate the State to pay compensation for damages that the decedent could have prevented, but preferred not to, thereby choosing to risk her life as she did.

Therefore, I reject the request to obligate the State to pay compensation on legal grounds.

6.     Because of this and in light of the aforementioned, I reject the lawsuit.

Because of the circumstance surrounding the decedent's death, I will not make the plaintiffs' pay the legal expenses and each side will bear its own costs.
  • Tuesday, August 28, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
From AFP:
The number of Syrians fleeing to the Al Zaatri refugee camp in Jordan has doubled in recent days, with more than 10,000 taking shelter there, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday.

"The pace of arrivals from the Syrian border to the Zaatri camp in north Jordan has doubled in the past week," Melissa Flemming, a spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency UNHCR, told a press conference.

She said that 10,200 people had poured into the camp in the week ending on August 27, compared with 4,500 the week before. More than 22,000 Syrians have taken shelter at the Al Zaatri camp since it opened on July 30.

"Refugees say many thousands more are waiting to cross amid violence aroung Daraa and we believe this could be the start of a much larger influx".

An increasing number of refugees were unaccompanied minors, she said.

"We have received in the camp over the past week an increased number of unaccompanied children," she said. "Some children report that their parents have died, or are staying behind."
And Jordan is expected to open another camp to handle the influx.

But not all the people leaving Syria are refugees.

Yesterday, Jordanian media reported that authorities arrested nine Syrian "sleeper cells" in the refugee camp.
Palestine Press Agency reports that "Hundreds of settlers stormed at dawn Tuesday, the 'shrine of Joseph' east of Nablus under guard by the Israeli occupation army, as clashes broke out in the vicinity of the Balata refugee camp."

Surprisingly, Ma'an's coverage this time is reasonable, and contradicts claims of clashes:
Hundreds of settlers visited Joseph's Tomb in Nablus overnight Monday, local sources told Ma'an.

More than 20 buses carrying the settlers were seen by the tomb amid a heavy Israeli military presence, locals said.

Settlers performed prayers until the early morning hours before leaving the area. No incidents were reported.

Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, the site was to remain under Israeli control. But the Israeli army evacuated the premises in October 2000 shortly after the start of the second intifada, or uprising, and it was immediately destroyed and burnt by the Palestinians.

The restoration of the tomb was completed recently, and following improved security cooperation with the Palestinian Authority, the army allows Jewish worshipers to make monthly nocturnal pilgrimages to the site.
Meanwhile, Hamas' Palestine Times says that "usurpers" had "stormed" the Temple Mount, what they call the Al Aqsa Mosque. Significantly, it also complained about "foreign tourists" on the Mount, indicating that they are almost as upset over any non-Muslim on the Mount as they are about Jews.
  • Tuesday, August 28, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
From JPost:
The Haifa District Court on Tuesday ruled against the family of Rachel Corrie, the American pro-Palestinian activist struck and killed by a bulldozer in Gaza.

In the verdict, Judge Oded Gershon invoked the principle of the combatant activities exception, noting that IDF forces had been attacked in the same area Corrie was killed just hours earlier.

Reading a summary of his 62-page decision, the judge described Israel's investigation into the incident as appropriate and said it had no mistakes.
YNet adds:
Corrie in front of a different bulldozer
In a ruling read out to the court, Judge Oded Gershon called Corrie's death a "regrettable accident", but said the state was not responsible because the incident had occurred during what he termed a war-time situation.

At the time of her death, during a Palestinian uprising, Corrie was protesting against Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

"I reject the suit," the judge said. "There is no justification to demand the state pay any damages."

He added that the soldiers had done their utmost to keep people away from the site. "She (Corrie) did not distance herself from the area, as any thinking person would have done."

He rejected a claim of negligence explaining that the bulldozer's driver had limited vision unlike Corrie. "She consciously put herself in harm's way," Gershon said. The accident had been self inflicted, he added.

Judge Gershon pointed to three entry bans and noted that the Philadelphi route had effectively been a war zone formally declared a closed military zone at the time of the accident. He mentioned that the US had issued an Israel travel advisory warning its citizens to avoid Gaza and the West Bank.

The judge added that the organization where Corrie worked "abuses the human rights discourse to blur its actions which are de facto violence. He claimed that it specialized in disrupting IDF activity. "This included an army of activists serving as 'human shields' for terrorists wanted by Israeli security forces, financial and logistical aid to Palestinians including terrorists and their families, and disruption of the sealing of suicide bombers' houses."

Judge Gershon also rejected the Corrie family's claims that Military Police had not done its best to investigate the incident.
Israel haters didn't even wait for the verdict before revealing their game plan: to disparage Israel's legal system, ignore the voluminous decision's contents, and to rally around a single sound-bite the same way that they organize Twitter hashtags to gain trending topics.

In this case, the keyword they decided upon was "impunity." And they chose that word before the verdict was even read.

Yesterday, the anti-semitic and Israel-bashing Mondoweiss site started the campaign with a pre-emptive article called "Verdict in Corrie trial another test of Israeli impunity."

Ben White in Al Jazeera simultaneously wrote "Whatever the judge's decision, this case has shed light on Israel's grave breaches of human rights and the impunity enjoyed by its military."

Since then, that keyword has been used all over.

The Corrie's lawyer said "While not surprising, this verdict is yet another example of where impunity has prevailed over accountability and fairness."

Cindy Corrie: "From the beginning it was clear that there is a system to protect soldiers and provide them with impunity at the cost of civilians. Now we know that the protection for soldiers extends to the court."

The anti-Israel pundit crowd came aboard next in this campaign:

Mya Guarnieri tweeted: "Not surprised that Israeli judge has ruled Rachel Corrie's death an accident... it is part of the Israseli army's culture of impunity. Better said, the Rachel Corrie verdict points to the state of Israel's culture of impunity."

Joseph Dana: "Israel might want to consider changing its name to 'impunity' after this verdict in the Rachel Corrie case."

Max Blumenthal: "Further confirmation of army impunity & occupation law in Israel's justice system."

In other words, not a single one of these critics- respected in the mainstream media - have read the actual verdict, nor has a single one given any proof that the judge here is ignoring facts or twisting the legal system, or that Israel's legal system is inherently biased. They are just asserting it because they have determined Israel's guilt ahead of time. Their comments reflect their hate, not any actual facts. And in this case, it appears that they are acting in concert as a semi-organized campaign, not even doing original analysis, and using the same playbook to maximize their campaign's effectiveness.

(We can expect HRW and Amnesty to come out with similar statements any hour now, as they are known to give their opinions disparaging the Israeli justice system before even reading their actual words. It will be very interesting to see if they also use the word "impunity.")

You can bet that not a single one of Israel's critics will do an exhaustive, credible critique and analysis of the 62-page legal opinion.

Because they are not after the truth.

They are after Israel.

UPDATE: the verdict (in Hebrew) is online (h/t Yenta)

Monday, August 27, 2012

From JPost:
The city of Frankfurt is slated to present the prestigious Theodor Adorno Prize, which comes with a 50,000 euro award, to a US professor who advocates a sweeping boycott of ties with Israel’s cultural and academic establishment and has defended Hezbollah and Hamas as progressive organizations.
The prize recipient, Dr. Judith Butler, a professor in the rhetoric and comparative literature departments at the University of California, Berkeley, has courted intense criticism in Germany, Israel and the US ahead of the September 11 ceremony.

Thomas von der Osten-Sacken, a Frankfurt-based Middle East expert, told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday that by presenting the Adorno Prize to Butler, the city of Frankfurt is legitimizing a “de facto boycott of its partner city Tel Aviv’s academic and cultural institutions,” because Butler supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign targeting the Jewish state.

Von der Osten-Sacken sparked the effort to rescind the award to Butler in a widely read early June article on the website of the Berlin weekly Jungle World titled “Adorno prize for Hamas fan.”
Judith Butler defended herself in Mondoweiss and denied describing Hezbollah and Hamas as progressive:
My remarks on Hamas and Hezbollah have been taken out of context and badly distort my established and continuing views.... I was asked by a member of an academic audience a few years ago whether I thought Hamas and Hezbollah belonged to “the global left" and I replied with two points. My first point was merely descriptive: those political organizations define themselves as anti-imperialist, and anti-imperialism is one characteristic of the global left, so on that basis one could describe them as part of the global left.
Really? Let's look at the video:


Butler says:

 I think, yes, understanding Hamas/Hezbollah as social movements that are progressive that are on the left; that are part of a global Left is extremely important....Again, a critical and important engagement, I mean I certainly think it should be entered into the conversation on the Left."

While she goes on to say in Mondoweiss that she is personally against violence (in the video she is slightly more equivocal, only saying that some on the left might oppose violence or encourage other non-violent options), the fact remains that she adamantly described Hamas and Hezbollah as being on the left - and insistied that describing them as such is "extremely important."

She is clearly lying in the Mondoweiss article. She was giving her own opinion as to where in the political spectrum Hamas and Hezbollah fall, not explaining how they describe themselves.

But besides the lie, her stated opinion in the video is nothing short of amazing. A celebrated academic who is unabashedly left-wing goes out of her way to describe Islamist groups - groups that are anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-human rights and really totally opposed to everything that progressives say they hold dear - as part of the fabric of the Left, her Left, the political philosophy that she is proudly part of.

And there is only one possible reason why she can describe these regressive Islamist groups as part of her Left: because they are anti-Israel. 

Butler's views are so twisted that she believes that hating Israel is really the only criterion one needs to be considered progressive! 

Giving such a person a major academic award is indeed outrageous.

  • Monday, August 27, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
A very cool find by Yisrael Medad:

The Jerusalem exhibit was one of the [1904] St. Louis Fair’s most expensive and ambitious undertakings. “Gigantic in its conception” and “gigantic in its execution,” as its planners described, it was an enormous replica of the Old City of Jerusalem on a 1:1 scale. The largest model of Jerusalem ever built, it stretched over more than 10 acres and consisted of around three hundred structures (including astonishingly realistic copies of the Dome of the Rock, the Wailing Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and the Tower of David). The structures were interconnected by twenty-two winding streets and alleys, and were girded by a faithful reproduction of the walls of Jerusalem. Once inside the model, the fair’s visitors could take part in dozens of activities. They could take a tour of the holy sites with a turbaned guide, follow “in the footsteps of Jesus” along the Via Dolorosa, and view a diorama of the scene of the Crucifixion. They could take a bumpy camel or donkey ride and shop for Holy Land souvenirs in an oriental bazaar. They could also mingle with the hundreds of Jerusalem natives—Moslems, Christians, and Jews— who were imported to St. Louis for the duration of the fair, and who could be seen walking around in oriental garb conducting religious ceremonies or working in their artisan workshops and booths.
Here are some photos:






At one point, part of the exhibit caught fire:

Believe it or not, this is not my first post about the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.
  • Monday, August 27, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
I have been receiving thousands of hits, many from Muslim countries, trying to research the recent Arabic newspaper articles about supposed scientists who converted to Islam after realizing the "truth" of the Koran through their studies.

In 2002, the Wall Street Journal wrote about this phenomenon, and that article explains much of what we are seeing today. One of their schemes was to invite scientists, along with honorariums and other perks, to answer questions about their fields and try to manipulate them into saying that the Koran's descriptions match what they say.

Oh, and one of the founders of this initiative happened to be good friends with Osama bin Laden.

Joe Leigh Simpson, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, is a church-going Presbyterian.

But thanks to a few conferences he attended back in the 1980s, he is known in parts of the Muslim world as a champion of the doctrine that the Quran, Islam's holy book, is historically and scientifically correct in every detail. Dr. Simpson now says he made some comments that sound "silly and embarrassing" taken out of context, but no matter: Mideast television shows, Muslim books and Web sites still quote him as saying the Quran must have been "derived from God," because it foresaw modern discoveries in embryology and genetics.

Dr. Simpson is just one of several non-Muslim scientists who have found themselves caught up in the publicity machine of a fast-growing branch of Islamic fundamentalism.

Dubbed "Bucailleism," after the French surgeon Maurice Bucaille, who articulated it in an influential 1976 book, the doctrine is in some ways the Muslim counterpart to Christian creationism. But while creationism rejects much of modern science, Bucailleism embraces it. It holds that the Quran prophesied the Big Bang theory, space travel and other contemporary scientific breakthroughs. By the same token, it argues, the Bible makes lots of scientific errors, and so is less reliable as the word of God. Muslims believe the Quran to be God's revelations to the prophet Muhammad, as told to him by an angel.

Before the planets and stars, modern science has largely concluded, the universe was probably a cloud of dust and gas. The Quran presaged that conclusion in the seventh century, Bucailleists argue, in a text saying Allah "comprehended in his design the sky, and it had been as smoke." The discovery of black holes in space? Foreseen in the passage, "Heaven is opened and becomes as gates."

While disdained by most mainstream scholars, Bucailleism has had an important role in attracting converts to Islam and in keeping young, Western-leaning adherents faithful. Widely taught in Islamic secondary schools, the doctrine fosters pride in Muslim heritage, and reconciles conflicts that students may feel between their religious beliefs and secular careers in engineering or computers.

Says Zaghloul El-Naggar, an Egyptian geologist who touts the doctrine on a popular weekly television program shown in the Arab world: "One of the main convincing evidences to people to accept Islam is the large number of scientific facts in the Quran."

Bucailleism has been propelled by a well-funded campaign led by Prof. El-Naggar's onetime protege, Sheikh Abdul Majeed Zindani, a charismatic Yemeni academic and politician. Founder and former secretary-general of the Commission on Scientific Signs in the Quran and Sunnah, based in Saudi Arabia, Mr. Zindani organized conferences where Dr. Simpson and other scientists appeared and were videotaped.

Mr. Zindani also is a friend and mentor to another Bucailleism devotee of Yemeni descent: Osama bin Laden. The world's most wanted man has regularly sought Mr. Zindani's guidance on whether planned terrorist actions are in accord with Islam, says Yossef Bodansky, biographer of Mr. bin Laden and staff director of a U.S. congressional task force on terrorism. "Zindani is one of the people closest to bin Laden," says Mr. Bodansky, who attributes the book's findings to interviews with various intelligence agencies, current and former terrorists and others.

Bucailleism began gaining momentum around 1980, when Mr. Zindani became director of a team at King Abdulaziz University that sought out Western scientists visiting Saudi Arabia. His breakthrough came when one of his assistants, Mustafa Abdul Basit Ahmed, presented a leech to Keith Moore, a University of Toronto professor and author of a widely used embryology textbook.

Mr. Ahmed wanted to show that a verse from the Quran, which states that God made man as a leech, was an apt simile to describe early human gestation as seen under a microscope. Mr. Ahmed says Prof. Moore was bowled over by the resemblance between the leech and the early embryo. Since the Quran predated microscopes, Prof. Moore, son of a Protestant clergyman, concluded that God had revealed the Quran to Muhammad. Prof. Moore has disseminated this view not only on Mr. Zindani's videos but in many lectures, panel discussions and articles.

Prof. Moore sanctioned a special 1983 edition of his textbook, "The Developing Human," for the Islamic world, that was co-written by Mr. Zindani. It alternates chapters of standard science with Mr. Zindani's "Islamic additions" on the Quran. In its acknowledgments, among "distinguished scholars" who gave "full support in their personal and official capacities," Mr. Zindani lists Sheikh Osama bin Laden, alongside Dr. Simpson and other Western scientists. Prof. El-Naggar, the Egyptian geology professor who taught Mr. Zindani, says Mr. bin Laden became intrigued by Bucailleism in his college days after hearing Mr. Zindani lecture, and helped pay for the book's publication.

Now a professor emeritus, Prof. Moore declined to be interviewed. Reached in Toronto, he said he was busy revising his textbook and that "it's been 10 or 11 years since I was involved in the Quran."

In 1984, after being denied a permanent position at King Abdulaziz, Mr. Zindani turned to the Muslim World League, a nonprofit organization primarily funded by the Saudi government. The World League provided financial support to establish the Commission on Scientific Signs. Mr. Ahmed, who moved to Chicago in 1983, was put on its payroll at $3,000 a month, and traveled from coast to coast cultivating U.S. and Canadian scientists.

The commission drew the scientists to its conferences with first-class plane tickets for them and their wives, rooms at the best hotels, $1,000 honoraria, and banquets with Muslim leaders -- such as a palace dinner in Islamabad with Pakistani President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq shortly before he was killed in a plane crash. Mr. Ahmed also gave at least one scientist a crystal clock.

Mr. Ahmed, who left the commission in 1996 and now operates an Islamic elementary school in Pennsylvania, says he reassured the scientists that the commission was "completely neutral" and welcomed information contradicting the Quran. The scientists soon learned differently. Each one was given a verse from the Quran to examine in light of his expertise. Then Mr. Zindani would interview him on videotape, pushing him to concede divine inspiration.

Marine scientist William Hay, then at the University of Colorado, was assigned a passage likening the minds of unbelievers to "the darkness in a deep sea ... covered by waves, above which are waves." As the videotape rolled, Mr. Zindani pressed Prof. Hay to admit that Muhammad couldn't have known about internal waves caused by varying densities in ocean depths. When Prof. Hay suggested Muhammad could have learned about the phenomenon from sailors, Mr. Zindani insisted that the prophet never visited a seaport.

Prof. Hay, a Methodist, says he then raised other hypotheses that Mr. Zindani also dismissed. Finally, Prof. Hay conceded that the inspiration for the reference to internal waves "must be the divine being," a statement now trumpeted on Islamic Web sites.

"I fell into that trap and then warned other people to watch out for it," says Prof. Hay, now at a German marine institute.

Similar prodding failed to sway geologist Allison "Pete" Palmer, who was working for the Geological Society of America. He stuck to his position that Muhammad could have gleaned his science from Middle Eastern oral history, not revelation. On one video, Mr. Zindani acknowledges that Mr. Palmer still needs "someone to point the truth out to him," but contends that the geologist was "astonished" by the accuracy of the Quran. Mr. Palmer says that's an overstatement. Still, he has fond memories of Mr. Zindani, whom he calls "just a lovely guy." He and the other American scientists say they had no idea of Mr. Zindani's ties to Mr. bin Laden. And in any case the U.S. didn't regard Mr. bin Laden as an outlaw at that time.

...University of Pennsylvania historian S. Nomanul Haq, a leading critic of Bucailleism, says the notion of inheriting traits from ancestors was commonplace in Muhammad's time. He attributes the rise of Bucailleism to a "deep, deep inferiority complex" among Muslims humiliated by colonialism and bidding to recapture faded glories of Islamic science.

According to its current secretary general, Hassan A.A. Bahafzallah, ...the commission raises about $250,000 a year from individuals and businesses, besides its subsidy from the Muslim World League. It has operated five conferences since 1986, most recently in Beirut in 2000, each costing about $100,000.

The legacy of those conferences lives on. Among other products, the commission distributes a videotape, "This is the Truth," which intersperses Mr. Zindani's interviews with non-Muslim scientists and his commentary -- including the prophecy that unbelievers "will be exposed to a fire in which every time their skin is burnt, we will replace them with new skins."
At the risk of making this post way too long, it is worthwhile to read this critique of the aforementioned Keith Moore's use of the Koran by PZ Myers:

I’ve run into this particular phenomenon many times: the True Believer in some musty ancient mythology tells me that his superstition is true, because it accurately described some relatively modern discovery in science long before secular scientists worked it out. It’s always some appallingly stupid interpretation of a vaguely useless piece of text that wouldn’t have made any sense until it was retrofitted to modern science. My particular field of developmental biology has been particularly afflicted with this nonsense, thanks to one man, Dr. Keith L. Moore, of the University of Toronto. He’s the author or co-author on several widely used textbooks in anatomy and embryology — and they are good and useful books! — but he’s also an idiot. He has published ridiculous claims that the Qur’an contains inexplicably detailed descriptions of the stages of human development, implying some sort of divine source of information.

I’ve mentioned this before. For instance, the old book claims that at one point the embryo looks like a piece of chewed gum, or mudghah, and Moore announces, “by golly, it does, sorta”, throwing away all the knowledge we have about the structure and appearance of the actual embryo, which is not a chewed lump. I’ve actually seen these kooks show pictures of a piece of gum and an embryo and declare that they are similar. It’s insane. It’s pareidolia run amuck and swamping out actual scientific information for the sake of propping up useless superstitions.

You may not have heard of him before, but I regularly get email from Muslims telling me that as a developmental biologist, I ought to follow Islam because of its insights into embryology, which don’t exist. Thanks, Dr Moore, you dumbass.

Well, now the Muslim cranks have another coup, having persuaded some other dumbasses to publish an appallingly bad paper in the International Journal of Cardiology, a credible peer-reviewed journal. Or, at least, formerly credible.

The paper is disgracefully bad. It’s basically a compendium of an assortment of references to anatomy and health from the Qur’an, endorsing them as accurate sources of information. For instance, the Qur’an prescribes three techniques for healing, “honey, cupping, and cauterization,” and gosh, we now know that “Honey contains the therapeutic contents sugars, vitamins, anti-microbials, among other things”!

Are you impressed yet?

Since this is a cardiology journal, the article also finds it necessary to waste the readers’ time with blather about blood and arteries. Here’s an example of the Prophet’s profound knowledge of the circulatory system.

Another great vessel mentioned in the Qur’an is the Al-Aatín or aorta “We would certainly have seized his right hand and cut off his Al-Watín,” [20]. Al-Watín has been translated into different, yet similar words, including “aorta”, “life-artery”, and simply “artery”. This verse is taken to mean that if the Prophet Mohammed was lying about the teachings of God, then God would have grabbed the Prophet Mohammad’s arm and cut a vital artery, certainly killing Mohammad. This verse confirms that 1. Blood was indeed viewed as a vehicle for life and 2. The artery directly leading from the heart is vital to survival. By analyzing the different translations and exegesis of Al-Watín, it can be safely assumed that it is the aorta that the author of the Qur’an is referring to in this verse.

Hmmm. So a warlike society that had many soldiers running about chopping into people with swords was aware that cutting major arteries would lead to rapid blood loss and death. I have no idea how they could have figured that out without an omniscient god whispering the explanation into the ears of priests.

The holy book also talks about heart disease, something else a readership of cardiologists would find interesting. Does this sound like well-informed medicine to you?

The Qur’an shares with the Hadeeth a metaphorical description of the heart as a possessor of emotional faculties, thus giving the heart many characteristics that modern science attributes to the brain. As is popularly stated in Islamic culture, every action is dependent upon intentions, and “…what counts is [to God] the intention of your hearts…”. These actions, whether “good” or “bad” determine the health of the heart, namely if it is a sound or diseased heart. A diseased heart is one filled with qualities such as doubt, hypocrisy, and ignorance among many others. Possessors of such qualities have a “hardened,” diseased heart. Other malaise qualities contributing to a diseased heart includes blasphemy, rejection of truth, deviation, sin, corruption, aggressiveness, negligence, fear, anger, and jealousy, among others.

The authors of the Qur’an and of this paper seem to have confused poetic metaphor with science.
Finally, read this compendium of scientific responses to the article in the cardiology journal.

  • Monday, August 27, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Ian:


Why Sunni Islamism is the world’s greatest threat
To understand al-Qaida, which of course goes under many names and regional local groups, is simple. It has one strategy: kill!
“One step forward, one step back; tell the Western reporters and politicians what they want to hear. Pretend to be moderate in English while screaming death curses in Arabic.
These are the people who are coming to power. They hate their Shia counterparts generally and will kill them, too, at times. They will drag down their countries’ economies.
Ironically, they will succeed in making Israel relatively stronger as they beat and burn and tear down, as they set back their countries’ economic advancement, as they kick half the population (the female half) down the stairs.”

BBC spends a third of £1 million concealing Middle East 'Balen Report'
A Freedom of Information request released by The Commentator shows how desperate the BBC is to hide the Balen Report

Violence in a Christian residential complex in Jerusalem
This occurred on Monday, August 20, from 8:00 p.m. to midnight when a group of fifty boys attacked the residential complex for 79 families which is part of a project of the Franciscans of the Holy Land. Following a brawl between young people of the Christian area and some neighbors, friends were called and they all attacked the complex, yelling, throwing stones, smashing cars and windows of houses.
A number of residents were injured and one had to be hospitalized for treatment. ”They do so because they know that we will not respond with violence!” protested David Josef, a father of five children, as he emphasized: “This is the third time this happened to us in two years …”

MEMRI:
Syrian-French Writer Adnan Azzam Links Syria Conflict to Zionism and Napoleon



When the new Germany lost its innocence
In almost every East German town you will see people wearing neo-Nazi emblems or slogans on their clothes or on their cars. Even more important is the grass-roots work of that party and similar organizations. They organize community festivals, sport events, concerts and youth centers. Thereby, they establish structures independent of the state and succeed in presenting themselves as the real alternative to the traditional political parties in Germany.

IAEA Evidence Shows Israel, Not Obama, Talking Sense About Iran
"Time is running out not only on the countdown to the day when Iran will be able to quickly assemble a bomb but until the point where it will no longer be possible to use force to prevent them from doing so. Four years of Obama policies toward Iran have shown the administration to be willing to do nothing but talk about the need to avert this danger. The latest information from the IAEA is more proof that despite the media campaign orchestrated from the White House intended to undermine Israel’s appeals, it is Jerusalem, and not Washington, that is talking sense about Iran."

'Isolated' Iran boasts kings, PMs at NAM summit
Tehran opens conference with diatribe against Israel, exhibits cars of nuclear scientists "killed by Zionist regime elements."
Bulgaria hosts ceremonies for Burgas terror attack victims
The three-day visit to include a meeting with the Bulgarian president, prime minister and minister of tourism, as well as Israeli Ambassador to Bulgaria Shaul Kamisa One family not able attend due to inability to pay the $700 ticket to Bulgaria.

Palestinian Attorney General Resigns, Known for Suppressing Opposition

Egypt: 76 convicted for attack on Israeli Embassy
Seventy-five of the defendants received suspended one-year sentences Sunday, while one defendant tried in absentia was given a five-year prison term.

Galliano stripped of Legion of Honor

At the Tower of David, a glimpse into a citadel touched by everyone but the legendary king
Likely built by Maccabees about a millennium after King David’s death, the site contains traces of everyone from Herod to the Jordanians

Arab-Israeli solar company wins EUREKA grant
Yafa Energy could be a bridge over which Arab-Israeli technology finds its way to industries in the Arab world seeking renewable energy solutions.
“Eureka! Yafa Energy has become the first Arab-Israeli company to win a prestigious European Union EUREKA (Exceptional, Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration) grant. Awarded through Israel’s Prime Minister’s office, Yafa was named as the best technological initiative from an Israeli minority community.”

Also:
Iraqi Political Analyst Haidar Said: We Iraqis Do Not Possess the Courage to Criticize Our Violent Past (MEMRI)


HuffPo Hearts Hamas

Signs Suggest Iran Is Speeding Up Work on Nuclear Program (NYT)

Scandinavia - The Liberal Anti-semitic sanctuary

(h/t O)
  • Monday, August 27, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
From MEMRI:


Following are excerpts from an interview with Professor Gamal Zahran, head of the political science department at Port Said University, which aired on Al-Alam TV on August 17, 2012.

Gamal Zahran: Jerusalem is at the heart of the Palestinian cause, and the Palestinian cause is the cause of all Arabs and Muslims. Therefore, the elimination of the Zionist entity is beyond debate, and the only question has to do with the circumstances.

I believe that the Arab revolutions, which broke out in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen – as well as in Bahrain and elsewhere – generate the peoples' hope that one day, Jerusalem and Palestine will return to them.

Interviewer: Why keep it only as a hope? Why not act on it?

[...]

Gamal Zahran: The reason is that so far, the revolutions have not reached the throne of power. It is difficult to transform this hope into reality until these revolutions come to the forefront.

[...]

We are constantly keeping the memory alive among the younger generations, so that they will realize that the Palestinian cause is an essential one. The hope and the memory will later turn into action. By next year, Allah willing, Israel will be annihilated.

[...]
The cynicism of the highlighted text is well known to readers of this blog, but it is rarely expressed so explicitly.

If the "Palestinian cause" is so essential, it wouldn't need constant indoctrination. If it was so essential, then Egypt and Jordan would have encouraged an independent Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza between 1948 and 1967. If it was so essential, then Egypt would give citizenship to any Palestinian Arabs who seek it.

All that is really "essential" to the Arab world is Israel's annihilation, not the "Palestinian cause." They would prefer that the entire area of British Mandate Palestine be turned into an uninhabitable radioactive wasteland than have even a tiny Jewish state existing anywhere in the area.

Also, a bonus MEMRI clip showing some mainstream Muslim antisemitism (no transcript available as of this writing):

  • Monday, August 27, 2012
  • Elder of Ziyon
Ma'an reports:
A truckload of eggs produced in the West Bank was exported to Jordan via King Hussein Bridge on Sunday, turning a new page in commercial relations between Jordan and Palestine.

The eggs were collected from farmers in Qalqiliya in the northern West Bank, who welcomed the step as a vital alternative to the Israeli market.

“This is a remarkable Palestinian accomplishment which enables Palestinian farmers to sell their products to our Jordanian brothers,” said Adnan Zaid, a farmer from Qalqiliya.
Who could be against Palestinian Arabs exporting their eggs to Jordan?

Apparently, Jordanian farmers.

A story in Ad-Dustour says that a shipment of "Israeli" eggs were shipped to Jordan - also on Sunday, also over the Sheikh Hussein Bridge.

The article quotes the head of a Jordanian farmers union complaining about these eggs supposedly imported from Israel, saying that their prices undercut those of Jordanian egg farmers. Not only that, but he alleges that Israeli chickens have diseases that Jordanian chickens do not, and their eggs can make consumers sick. Moreover, Jordanian egg farmers produce enough eggs to satisfy the entire country.

It seems likely that the union leader is lying, and is really referring to these eggs from Palestinian Arab farmers that could lower prices for Jordanians. So he uses the oldest trick in the Arab book - calling his enemy "Zionist" and pretending that the PalArab eggs are really Israeli.

Which must be eggsapserating for the Palestinian Arabs who want to expand their market. (Sorry.)

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