Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, September 06, 2012

Lots of yummy, fat-free Thursday links

From Ian:

JPost Editorial The PA’s electricity tab

The government cannot keep playing nice to avoid damaging the national image at the expense of the economy.
To then expect that state to keep footing PA bills is akin to accepting extortion. The punishment with which Israel is threatened is another campaign of vilification if it dares refuse to bankroll Ramallah.
But the PA needs to be taught that it cannot be the international community’s whining child who expects everything but isn’t duty bound to behave in a minimally honorable fashion.

Democratic Convention disasters prove Obama’s party cannot lead on Middle East peace process

The DNC controversy has proved it cannot be trusted on matters concerning Israel and the Middle East peace process
"Following the decision, the convention floor echoed with boos and jeers, a reflection that in reality, the Democratic Party is unable to decide either way as to whether it remains a strong ally of Israel that believes in Jerusalem as its capital – or whether they are hedging their bets to placate a large number of Democratic Party voters who are either pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel, or simply unsympathetic to the Jewish state."

Terra Incognita: The re-Islamification of Beersheba

The manufactured controversy over a wine festival is part of increasingly chauvinistic power politics sweeping the Negev’s Beduin community.

Israel seeks to counterbalance Palestinian claims with refugee stories of its own

Advocacy project ostensibly aims at winning recompense for Jews who fled Arab rule at time Israel was established.

[This has been getting lots of angry attention in Arabic media - EoZ]

Hamas: Israeli Jews should return to their Arab countries of origin

Islamists blast Foreign Ministry initiative to win recompense for Jews who fled Arab rule when Israel was established.

US, Egypt Conducting Joint Military Exercises

U.S. planes landed in Egypt Tuesday for a joint exercise, the first since the fall of Hosni Mubarak.

The End of US-Israel Strategic Cooperation?

Mark 2012, however, as the year the Obama administration took its most overt steps yet to tell the Arab and Muslim World the the US was severable from Israel. How much of what the US and Israel developed over the years was shared with countries overtly hostile to Israel?

IDF fires at terrorists attempting to place bomb on Gaza border fence

Palestinian health official reports three dead; three members of Gaza rocket-launch cell killed overnight.

Iran, Hezbollah establish training base in Nicaragua

Trainees reportedly planning retaliatory attacks against US, Israeli targets in event of military strike on Iran.

Germany marks 40 years since Munich massacre

Bavarian state government held memorial services in Munich to remember the murder of 11
Israelis at 1972 Olympics.

German intelligence agency bars pro-Israel event

The authorities have "criminalized de facto engagement for Israel," journalist says after university disallows event.
"According to a statement on the website of the German-Israeli friendship group at the University of Rostock, a range of student and labor union groups joined in the German- Israel Friendship Society protest, including the main student organization, AStA Rostock, the GEW teachers’ union at the university, and the young socialists of the SPD (Jusos), as well as the Green Party student group, the liberal group and the university Pirate Party organization.
The pro-Israel lecture was later held at an off-campus location without any disturbances."

Stand With Us:

Once in a Lifetime HD selects and invites major Instagram users on an extraordinary journey across Israel this September. They will be introduced to our small country's tremendous variety of landscapes, cuisine and nightlife, as well as its multicultural society and culture.

Israel to aid Bihar's development bid

Throwing light on Indo-Israeli relations, Ushpiz said, "We are celebrating the 20th anniversary of our rich and historic relations (since the opening of Israeli embassy in India), which is not only based on values but on sharing. When we had come here in 1992, the volume of trade was about $200 million which has now increased to more than $5 billion. We also focus on research and development and have government to government channel with regard to many activities."

Cistern dated to First Temple period found in Jerusalem

Discovery of large man-made reservoir next to the Temple Mount shows city did not solely rely on the Gihon Spring for its water 2,500 years ago.

Also:

Orly

The bizarre story of Seif Gaddafi's Israeli former girlfriend and her appeal to Tony Blair

High school Israel advocates to train at SDSU, Stanford

BlueStar, a San Francisco-based Israel Advocacy organization, has scheduled College Stay three-day retreats for high school students. The weekend-long program was developed to help transform Jewish teens into powerful pro-Israel advocates, spokespeople and opinion leaders - before they encounter anti-Israel challenges at college. Teens will spend the weekend with current college students and get an inside look at Jewish life on campus at San Diego State University (October 12-14, 2012), and Stanford University (October 26-28, 2012).

Anti-semitism alive and well in Romania

Dan Sova, a 39 year old Romanian lawyer and Social Democrat, who has been a Senator in the Parliament since 2008, was promoted to the position of Minister for Parliamentary Relations by the Prime Minister Victor Ponta on August 6 after saying on a television broadcast on March 5, that "no Jew suffered on Romanian territory (during the Holocaust) thanks to Marshal Antonescu." Two days later Sova was removed "temporarily" from office as speaker of his political party. He has also said that "only 24 Jews were killed during the Iasi pogrom (of June 28-29, 1941) by the German army."

The actions of the Romanian regime in the Holocaust led to the deaths, not of 24 Jews, but a number estimated to be between 280,000 and 380,000 Romanian Jews -- most likely the larger number.

(h/t Yoel, Ellen)

Hanan Ashrawi's lies about Jewish refugees in HuffPo

Hanan Ashrawi in the Huffington Post is furiously trying to spin Israel's initiative to highlight Jewish refugees from Arab countries. as usual, she is not above lying:

In an Arabic-language article published last week, I argued that Israel's new campaign to artificially equate Palestinian refugees and Jews who either immigrated or fled to Israel from Arab states relies on a forced and false analogy. Zionist ideology contradicts the notion that these Israeli Jews are refugees, and six decades of Israeli policy demonstrate Israel's complete disregard for Palestinian refugee rights. Israel's manipulative strategy is part of a public relations campaign that is both cynical and hypocritical.

At the very core of Zionist ideology is the idea that Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people. If this is the case, and Jews living in Israel are citizens of their singular national homeland, then the state cannot consider them refugees -- they cannot be returnees to Israel and refugees from another homeland at the same time. Demanding that the international community treat Jewish immigrants as refugees is therefore an act of "dezionization." If, however, they are refugees and Israel is not their homeland, then their primary right is the right to return.

This is unadulterated garbage.

The definition of "refugee" is quite clear, and comes from the Refugee Convention:

The 1951 Refugee Convention establishing UNHCR spells out that a refugee is someone who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country."

Of course Jews who fled Arab countries are refugees - because they fit the legal definition. And of course they do not want to return, because of their quite well-founded fear of persecution, not to mention that they came to a country that welcomed them.

Ashrawi's defining refugees' primary right to "return" is her pathetic attempt to fit all refugees under the umbrella of the bizarre, unique definition that Palestinian Arabs give themselves. This is a definition that is quite at odds with the Refugee Convention definition, although it added what it thought was a temporary exclusion for Palestinian Arabs when it was written. Thanks to people like Ashrawi, who will do everything possible to keep the Palestinian Arabs in the category of "refugees" forever - including lobbying against their becoming citizens of the countries that they are born in - that exception is still there.

And she calls Israel's definition of "refugee" - the same one the UN uses - "cynical!"

(Plus, if you think that Ashrawi really cares about "dezionization," I have a "refugee camp" for sale at a good price....)

UPDATE: While HuffPo bans me - I'm really not sure why - someone else pasted my post as a talkback to the article, thanks.

So this is what Arabs are surfing for....

When an older post of mine gets a steady number of hits every day, I get curious as to why.

Usually my posts get a few hundred views and then quickly drop off within a couple of days. But ever since I posted it in June, my video of "Arab cartoons of the Six Day War (VIDEO)" has been continuously getting 15-20 hits a day, mostly from Arab countries. A little research shows that they are finding it from search engines.

Most of these English-challenged people are doing a Google search for "Arab six videos."

Too bad; they are just looking for some "six" - and end up here.

Decent report on Rafah tunnels in Al Ahram

Al Ahram (Egypt) has a wide-ranging article about the tunnels on the Egypt-Gaza border that has some interesting tidbits:

"Bedouins have secret escape routes via the tunnels, which are built to strategically avoid checkpoints," suggested Arish resident Mohamed Sabry.

"There are around 1,200 tunnels in which all types of illegal activities occur. Government officials from all sides are involved: Israeli, Egyptian and Palestinian," asserted Political sociologist Said Sadek.

"The tunnels, of which around 300 are functioning, have enabled Bedouin and government officials on all sides to accrue fortunes. Many own an abundance of luxury items," Ahmed Abu Deraa, a local Bedouin journalist from Sheikh Zuweid, told Ahram Online.

His statement was visibly confirmed by the luxury cars and villas displayed in the north Sinai towns and in the distant Gaza landscape.

Sinai expert Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, who has visited the tunnels, describes how Bedouins often form an alliance, collecting funds to build tunnels that can cost around $100,000 each. Such expenses are soon returned, according to Fahmy, given the high returns on smuggling various materials.

"Bedouin sources suggest human trafficking is worth around $50 per person; olives cost about $100 per carton. Animals, such as a tiger or small elephant for the Gaza zoo, cost as much as $20,000," he stated, while acknowledging that the Bedouins he liaised with refuse to permit hostages or suicide bombers through the tunnels. Nonetheless, sending marijuana to Israel, which sells at double the price, is common practice.

"Tunnel owners told me Hamas gets $1,000 tax on each car that goes through the tunnels. The buyer pays me $5,000 a car, or around $8,000 for a big truck, as tunnel rent money, in addition to the car's price," claimed Fahmy.

Arms are one of the most lucrative commodities traded in the clandestine desert veins, associated with events such as the Palestinian intifada in 2000.

The deadly trade was subsequently revived following the Arab uprisings. Sheikh Zuweid is known as a hub for exporting weapons to Gaza, and Al-Hasna and Nakhl are markets for local weapons, where tribes buy and compete.

Many Sinai locals blame Mubarak-era security forces for introducing tribes to the lucrative arms trade, which has led to dwindling security.

"They were the first to introduce the Bedouins to arms trafficking," stressed young activist Islam Qwedar, who, alongside Mohamed Ibrahim Hamad, the son of a tribal leader in Bir Al-Abd. He underlines their preoccupation with the recent influx of weapons from Libya and the resultant effects on national and regional security.

Experts maintain missiles being traded in Sinai's tunnels and subsequently hoarded are more advanced than SAM, Fateh and Grad missiles, which can be used for large-scale operations. In response, Israel's Begin-Sadat Centre drafted a plan for the partial reoccupation of the border zone and intervention in Sinai, which has been ruled out – for the time being – by the right-wing Netanyahu government.

...Observers suggest the tunnels vary in size and quality, often ranging between 100 metres in length to a few kilometres. Some, termed "five star tunnels," allow travellers to travel by car.

"I can organise a trip for you to Gaza by car in the finest tunnel; you will be there within minutes," said El-Nahal, describing superior tunnels as "well lit and ventilated" with some even permitting mobile phone use.

Read the whole thing.

Those "Talmudic rituals" again

From Kuwait's KUNA news agency:

Groups of Jewish extremists stormed the Al Aqsa Mosque today in occupied Jerusalem and performed Talmudic rituals.

Local radio stations today said that "Likud party member Moshe Feiglin stormed the Al Aqsa Mosque this morning, accompanied by a group of settlers."

The groups stormed the mosque amid tight security from the police and the occupation forces explaining that they had tried to perform some Talmudic rituals.

The radio stations said that other groups were able to storm the mosque across Dung Gate protected by Israeli police and wandered in the mosque and led Talmudic rituals.

Sources indicated that the occupation is trying by imposing its presence almost daily in Al Aqsa and attempt to impose a division of the Al Aqsa Mosque between Muslims and Jews.

Counting the headline, that's four mentions of "Talmudic rituals" in a single article - a new record!

King Abdullah views Israel as Jordan's "key regional ally"

From the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (Canada):

On Sunday, September 2, 2012, the national leadership of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs met with King Abdullah of Jordan as well as his Foreign Minister, Nasser Judeh.

The initiative stemmed from a direct invitation from the Jordanian monarch, and was supported by both Canadian and Israeli political leadership.

King Abdullah engaged in a very open discussion about the challenges in the region – and in particular, those faced by Jordan. He noted that Jordan was carrying the economic brunt of the conflict in Syria. In particular, Jordan has been overwhelmed with almost 200,000 refugees, with an additional 100,000 expected. The cost – housing, food, school and medical care – is enormous and burdens an economy already strapped for cash, energy and water. We were asked to convey the message that Jordan requires immediate and increased foreign aid and investment in order to meet this challenge.

Of particular note was the King’s acknowledgment that Israel – which he views as Jordan’s key regional ally – has been highly responsive to his requests in the context of efforts to bring about a resumption of direct talks between Israel and the PA. King Abdullah further expressed the belief that achieving peace on the Israel-Palestinian front will make immeasurably easier the task of confronting other – even existential – challenges facing the region, including the ability to garner support from other Arab nations in relation to the Iranian nuclear threat.

Jordanian media and Arutz-7 briefly reported on the meeting, but none mentioned how Abdullah characterized Israel as Jordan's key regional ally. It is almost certainly true, especially with Islamists taking over Middle East/North African nations, but it is very surprising that he would say it out loud.

It is also interesting that Abdullah asks a Jewish group to help him get money for the Syrian refugees.

(h/t Josh)

Terrorist supporters endorse hypocritical UN "Right to Peace" resolution

From UN Watch:

The U.N. Human Rights Council's recent 20th session saw the police state of Communist Cuba, a key backer of the Assad regime, successfully introduce a resolution for “the Right to Peace.”

Endorsed by such peace-loving states as Sudan, Belarus, China, Sri Lanka, Iran, North Korea—even Syria — the resolution, according to journalist Joel Brinkley, offers “pointless blather” that “will beguile you so you won’t notice on page six that they also want the U.N. to endorse the idea that ‘all peoples and individuals have the right to resist and oppose oppressive colonial, foreign occupation.’ ”

In other words, the U.N. legitimized the terminology used by Middle East terrorists to kill Americans and Israelis. The political culture of the council is such that the U.S. was the only one of 47 nations to vote no.

UN Watch took the floor during the meeting to expose the council's Orwellian actions and language.

The draft resolution that includes the language of terrorists to justify attacking civilians is here.

Article 7 indeed states "All peoples and individuals have the right to resist and oppose oppressive colonial, foreign occupation." The first clause of course means that shooting rockets at Israeli civilians or blowing up buses is OK, making the entire resolution a farce. (Especially since the UN officially says that Gaza is still "occupied." against all reason and contradicting its own definitions elsewhere.)

Which means it was a typical, hypocritical day at the UN.

Abbas hanging Fayyad out to dry?

I noted yesterday that the protests that have been spreading throughout the West Bank all week have been directed at PA prime minister Fayyad.

Mahmoud Abbas decided to adopt survival tactics and yesterday said that he supports the protesters and their goals:

President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that the "Palestinian Spring" had begun, as Palestinians took to the streets across the West Bank in protest over rising prices.

"The Palestinian spring has begun, and we are in line with what the people say and what they want," Abbas said, addressing a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo.

The president said the protesters' demands to reduce costs of basic goods and for regular payment of salaries were "right and fair."

"Hunger is disloyal," Abbas said, quoting a Palestinian proverb reflecting that hungry people thought only of their need for food. "We are trying to do what we can do to reduce prices."

One reason he is jumping on this bandwagon can be inferred from this:

"We are here to say to the government enough is enough … We want a government which lives just as its people live eating what the people eat," Khalid, a protester, told Ma'an.

There was a recent report that Abbas owns some $8 million worth of land and property in Jordan.

In Abbas' full speech to the Arab League meeting, he spoke about a lot of topics with his usual lies - blaming Israel for the absence of negotiations, and claiming that Hamas has embraced non-violent resistance, for example.

But in his entire speech, he never said a word about supporting his handpicked prime minister!

It appears that Abbas is trying to distance himself from Fayyad, as Fayyad scrambles to survive himself. Fayyad even agreed to a debate with one of the leaders of the protests, which is about as close to desperate as one can get.

Fayyad, who is not a Fatah member, has been under attack from the start from both Hamas and Fatah. To survive, he has been forced to make Fatah-style outlandish statements (such as "Jesus was a Palestinian.") . Up until now Abbas has shielded him, mostly because the West likes Fayyad and he represents the only chance for the PA to act like a responsible government rather than a whining welfare quasi-state.

This time, though, it looks like Fayyad does not have any support at all.

Too bad, Tom Friedman. You are wrong again.

PalArab "experts" no better than Western pundits

Palestine Today interviews "experts" on Israeli affairs about Avigdor Lieberman's recent letter to the Quartet saying that Mahmoud Abbas is an obstacle to peace.

Nasser Lahham, one of these so-called "experts," said that Lieberman's remarks are serious, and may be a prelude to get rid of President Abbas in any way, "as happened with the late President Yasser Arafat." His brilliant analysis suggests that since Lieberman's party is important to Netanyahu's coalition, then Netanyahu will do anything to keep him in the government - presumably, including assassinating Abbas.

Samih Shabib, another of the "experts," says that Lieberman's position reflects that of the government. He says Israel is working to undermine Oslo and when Israel increases the number of permits for Palestinian Arabs to work in Israel, it is trying to convince the Arabs that they aren't so evil - and hoping that they get addicted to Israeli salaries so they wouldn't want a state which would mean borders and no more work.

Insidious!

Akram Atallah, yet another supposed expert on Israel, notes that Lieberman has floated his own unilateral withdrawal plan from the territories, and that his plan is consistent with demonizing Abbas. He also says that Abbas might be assassinated the way all Arabs are convinced Arafat was disposed of.

But before making fun of the cluelessness of these "experts," keep in mind that most Western pundits are just as clueless. In both cases, we see psychological projection at play.

The Palestinian Arab pundits project their own violent tendencies onto Israel, assuming that Israelis think the way they do - in this case, telegraphing their desire to kill leaders who are distasteful.

Similarly, Western "experts" project their own mostly-leftist values and attitudes onto the Arabs (and Iranian leaders), assuming that since they themselves want peace so badly and love negotiations, so must everyone else. And their analyses of Israeli attitudes are just as ill-informed.

For example, compare Tony Karon today with Chemi Shalev last week, and see which one understands Israelis and which is a blowhard.

When it comes down to it, at least nine out of ten of the so-called experts on either side are just riffing: trying to get paid for their quasi-expertise and hoping like hell that no one notices that they are frauds.

Yet as long as newspapers and cable networks need to fill up space and time, pseudo-experts will continue to dump their garbage into the minds of their consumers.

How's that Hamas/Fatah unity going?

We are now at 16 months since Fatah and Hamas signed their, um, historic unity agreement, and things couldn't be better!

Hamas has begun a training program for diplomats in the Gaza Strip where it rules, a senior official of the Islamist group said, raising the specter of divisions in the Palestinian national movement spreading to its representation abroad.

Hamas seized Gaza in a 2007 civil war with the Western-backed Fatah party that long dominated Palestinian politics and now rules parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. But Hamas has hitherto not challenged the PLO, dominated by Fatah and recognized by the United Nations as the Palestinians' sole representative abroad for almost 40 years.

It may be time to end that diplomatic monopoly, Hamas deputy foreign minister Ghazi Hamad suggested Wednesday.

"We have relations with some countries and we need to prepare our cadres and develop the diplomatic skills of staff to deal with those countries on joint projects," he told Reuters.

"The aim of such a step and training is to develop relations with world countries when time and conditions permit," said Hamad.

Hamas looks like it is preparing for the State of Gaza - or even to represent itself as the real government of Palestine!

Then again, this had been tried before - way back in 1948, in an episode of history that the Palestinian Arabs would like to forget.

Tourists jump on Temple Mount, upsetting Muslims

The latest outrage: A group of (apparently Christian) foreign tourists jumped and danced on the Temple Mount.

This was enough to elicit a press release from the Al Aqsa Heritage Foundation, where they condemned "the reprehensible repeated recent actions by foreign tourists who were encouraged and under the protection of the occupying forces. The tourists played games and performed disgraceful acrobatic movements and dances in the Al Aqsa Mosque, along with accompanying obscene words and resounding voices."

Apparently, dancing is disrespectful, but soccer and volleyball are OK. As long as the players aren't, you know, non-Muslim.

For good measure, they also complained about Jews defiling the Jewish holy spot.

This time they didn't mention Talmudic rituals, but the foundation did say that the Jewish visitors would bring with them posters that were biblical and Talmudic. Also that the Israeli government is trying to turn it into a public square.
This photo of a tour guide - again, probably Christian - really got under their skin:

Wednesday links

From Ian:

Where Is the Flotilla for Syria?

Assad's war has claimed four times as many victims in 20 months as have been killed in the Israel-Palestine conflict in the last 20 years.
"Far from criticizing the tyrants of the Middle East, the flotilla crowd often joins hands with them. Just this May, the British activist group Viva Palestina enjoyed the hospitality of Bashar Assad, making a pit stop in Syria on its way to trying to enter Gaza. Around the same time that Assad's thugs were gearing up for their massacre of children in Houla, members of Viva Palestina were proudly tweeting their whereabouts and posting photos on Facebook of themselves next to the regime's representatives.
Instead of dancing with dictators and tangoing with tyrants, what if the flotilla crowd actually set sail in the direction where aid is so desperately needed?"

"Pro-Palestinians" don't seem to be "pro-anyone"

"Had they truly been pro-Palestinian, one would have thought that they would have taken some of this 'unexpected' spare time in Jordan to visit Palestinians refugee camps and meet with some actual Palestinians. They might have learnt about the harsh living conditions the Jordanians impose on the 'refugees' (refugees in a country 60 percent Palestinian); they might have attempted to discuss with Jordanian officials the country's recent decision to revoke the citizenship of many thousands of Palestinians, as well as other Jordanian discrimination against Palestinians that has caused a lot of criticism in the country. They did not do any of these things, they simply went home."

[Actually, they did visit a camp beforehand - EoZ]

Study: Gap grows between Israeli Arabs, Palestinians

60 percent of Israeli Arabs say they would not want their daughter to marry someone from the West Bank in new survey.
“We asked Arabs of ’48 about their narrative, which is that they were loyal to their land when they didn’t desert it and stayed. The ’67 people look at the same issue, and they say the ’48 Arabs stayed on their land because they gave up and succumbed to the occupation without any resistance,” Sagy said."

Hanan Ashrawi’s war on history

The paramount object of Palestinian politics remains the nullification of Jewish statehood.
“SO WHY has Ashrawi chosen to risk looking petulant, dishonest and stone-hearted in refusing to speak the truth about the Jewish refugees? Because the paramount object of Palestinian politics remains the nullification of Jewish statehood. Since World War II, the plight of refugees the world over has been alleviated by resettlement rather than repatriation.”

Who are the Jewish refugees?

"She (Ashrawi) is obviously not aware of, or has chosen to ignore the fact, that on two occasions, in 1957 and again in 1967, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) determined that Jews fleeing from Arab countries were legally refugees who fell within the mandate of the UNHCR."

PMW Conflicting views in the PA about increased Israeli entry permits for Palestinians

"Israel's decision to allow 180,000 Palestinians to enter Israel for the Muslim holiday of Eid El-Fitr has drawn different responses in the Palestinian Authority. While the official PA daily newspaper said that the move was intended to hurt the Palestinian economy, the independent Al-Quds argued that more contact should be encouraged."

Richard Millett: Israel’s Batsheva dances on in Edinburgh despite PSC invasions.

IDF Blog: Israel Defense Forces: August 2012
IDF Veterans on the 2012 Israeli Paralympic Team
IDF Stories: Louis Miller, Paratrooper

Iran: Zionists spread homosexuality to control world

“This is especially ridiculous as in the Middle East, Israel is the only state where the gay community is safe and protected,” she (Saba Farzan) continued. “The Islamic Republic shows with this uncivilized world view how desperate it actually is.”

MEMRI Iranian News Website Fars Publishes Antisemitic, Anti-U.S. Cartoons On Non-Aligned Movement Conference In Tehran

Berlin police probing second anti-Semitic incident in a week

Berlin police said Monday that 13 girls from the Chabad Or Avner primary school were verbally abused with anti-Semitic slogans by four teenage girls fom the neighboring public school before their physical education class was to begin, according to the German news agency dpa. The Jewish school shares the gym with the secular school.

Tashlich on the Brooklyn Bridge, 1919

Antisemitism Alive and Well in Romania Or How the Holocaust Never Happened by Michael Curtis

Cytometric technique could eliminate need for blood samples

Andor Newton camera powers non-invasive probe capable of providing cell concentration and morphological data.

Israel Daily Picture Special Rosh Hashanna feature:

Israelis keep agreement on Cave of Patriarchs; Muslims complain

Ever since 1996, under the Wye River memorandum, Israel and the PA agreed to divide access to the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.

For most of the year, the Muslims have exclusive access to 81% of the site; the Jews have the other 19%.

For ten days a year, though Jews have exclusive access and for ten days the Muslims have exclusive access. (Jews cannot visit the cenotaphs to Isaac and Rebecca except for those ten days.)

So, naturally, when the Jews have access, the Muslims complain.

For Rosh Hashanah,Yom Kippur and the first days of Chol HaMoed Sukkot, Jews will be able to visit the entire site. This is apparently big news to Egypt's Youm7 site, which has a screaming headline about Israel "closing" the site.

Not only that, but they interview Zaid Jabari, an official in Hebron, who says that "the Ibrahimi Mosque mosque is purely Islamic in its entire area; none of it has any relation to the Jews at all, and all actions taken against it are false. This closure is not the first for the Ibrahimi, but comes within the series of attacks continuing against it. The occupation seeks to impose Israeli hegemony on the Ibrahimi Mosque by force of arms, and turning it into a synagogue."

He urged the international community to pressure Israel to give the entire shrine to Muslims.

It's really funny how a shrine that predates Islam and that is the resting place of the founders of the Jewish people is considered Islamic by Muslims.

And not a single Muslim would ever publicly disagree.

Keep in mind that under Muslim rule, non-Muslims were not allowed to enter the shrine at all. And even between 1967 and 1996, Jews who visited were often attacked by Muslims:

In 1968, a special arrangement was made to accommodate Jewish services on the Jewish New Year and Day of Atonement. This led to a hand-grenade being thrown on the stairway leading to the tomb on October 9 in which 47 Israelis were injured, 8 seriously. On November 4, a large explosion went off near the gate to the compound and 6 people, Jews and Arabs, were wounded. On Yom Kippur eve, October 3, 1976, an Arab mob destroyed several Torah scrolls and prayer books at the tomb. In May 1980, an attack on Jewish worshippers returning from prayers at the tomb left 6 dead and 17 wounded.

Sanctions starting to hurt Iran - but is it enough?

The good news:

An apparent classified Iranian intelligence report that has been leaked online warns of an imminent financial crisis in the country that would cause nation-wide upheaval.

Excerpts of the report, posted this week on several Iranian websites, revealed that the government might not be able to pay the full salaries of its employees in the coming three months, which threatens the eruption of massive popular protests across the country.

Large portions of the population might suffer from starvation, the report said, adding that riots are expected to take place in border cities where living conditions are rapidly deteriorating.

According to the report, Iran’s reserve of foreign currency might run out within the coming six month owing to extreme budget deficiency.

Other official reports have stated that Iranian factories are working on only half their capacity, and that a large number of them have declared bankruptcy.

Under international sanctions, inflation in the country has reached 33 percent and prices of meat, chicken, and milk saw an unprecedented hike that reached 80 percent last year.

The European embargo on the purchase of Iranian oil is costing the country an estimated $133 million in daily revenues, and the Iranian riyal has also witnessed an unprecedented drop.

The governor of the Iranian Central Bank, Mahmoud Bahmani, has announced a raising the official rate of the riyal against the dollar over the next 10 days in order to deal with the “international developments.”

But according to Iranian bankers, the official rate – 12,260 riyals to the dollar -- was only a reference. There was a wide gap between the official and actual rates, which reportedly increased the prevalence of corruption within the Iranian government, since purchasing dollars with the official rates has become extremely profitable.

Also, Ahmadinejad admits that Iran is having problems selling some of its oil.

On the other hand, China is trying to buy all the oil it can from Iran, although limits on transportation because of Europe refusing to insure oil tankers is causing delays.

But even if there are riots in the streets of Iran, the one thing that Westerners don't seem to be factoring in is the pride of the mullahs. They have stated that Iran stands tall despite the sanctions and they have instructed their media to relay that message. That obstinacy cannot stop the pressure from mounting but it can delay, for a very long time, any practical change to their nuclear program.

Just look at how tenaciously Assad is holding on in Syria. That is how much Iran will prioritize their nuclear program, no matter what. It is a symbol of Iranian power, and symbolism is a lot more important in the Middle East than in the West.

I hope I'm wrong, and that the Iranian leadership gives in.

But optimistic pundits don't have a great track record in the region.

Photos: Burning Fayyad in effigy

I mentioned the anti-PA economic protests yesterday in Hebron (and there were some in Ramallah as well.)

Here are photos of the protesters burning an image of prime minister Salam Fayyad in effigy.

These aren't Islamists - these are secular Palestinian Arabs (the good guys, according to the media.)

The protesters don't blame Fatah's corruption for their economic woes. They don't blame their Arab brethren for reneging on their pledges for hundreds of millions of dollars. They aren't protesting the split between Hamas and Fatah.

No, they are directing their anger at the one politician who is truly moderate, who untainted by terror, who has a real background in economics and who knows that there is no way for the PA to survive unless it stops acting like a welfare state and the people start acting responsibly.

This is the problem: the Palestinian Arabs have been literally raised on the concept that the world owes them everything and that they have no responsibility for their actions. They are on a psychological par with typical four year olds who have not yet learned that they must brush their teeth before bed. Most would rather fantasize about their culture's superheroes - people like Samir Kuntar and Dalal Mughrabi and Yasir Arafat - than decide to so the work necessary to build a nation. They choose stunts and symbolism over reality, and indeed cannot distinguish between the two. When offered real, long term gains for compromising, they instead choose delusions.

Fayyad isn't the problem. His people are.