Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, January 13, 2013

PalArabs lie, claim Peres admits Israel assassinated Arafat

Hamas demanded the judicial prosecution of Israel, after President Shimon Peres implicitly admitted that the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was assassinated. "Hamas" spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a press statement, Saturday, 12/1/2013, that "Peres' remarks in which he said that the assassination of Arafat was a mistake was the first recognition of the Israeli assassination, which puts an end to the clamor about this issue and holds the occupation responsible for the assassination."

Mr Peres said in an interview published in the "New York Times" that "Yasser Arafat should not have been murdered, I think it could have been dealt with, and without it, the situation was more difficult and more complex."

The IMEMC makes a similar mistranslation, in English, with the headline "Peres: 'Arafat Should Not Have Been Assassinated'". Naturally, Iran's media does the same thing, as did the Fatah-oriented Al Quds.

And what did Peres actually say?

The NYT asked him: "You didn’t think that Arafat should be assassinated."

He answered:

No. I thought it was possible to do business with him. Without him, it was much more complicated. With who else could we have closed the Oslo deal? With who else could we have reached the Hebron agreement? On the other hand, I tried to explain to him, for hours on end, a complete educational course: how to be a true leader. We sat together, with me eating from his hand. It took courage. I told him he must be like Lincoln, like Ben-Gurion: one nation, one gun, not innumerable armed forces with each firing in a different direction. At first, Arafat refused, he said, “La, la, la” [Peres does a fairly convincing imitation of Arafat saying “no” in Arabic], but later he said, “O.K.” He lied right to my face, without any problem [regarding promises to fight Palestinian militias and insurgencies].

So Peres never even implied that Israel assassinated Arafat; that wording was from the interviewer, not Peres.

Egyptian border police flirt with female IDF troops

From Reuters:

Breaking cover from a lookout point disguised as a dune, four soldiers storm into the open, ploughing through the sand with rifles aloft.

Their battle cries are like seagull calls, and from under their helmets, ponytails flap.

Team Mor is a spotter unit on Israel’s fenced-off border with Egypt, deployed at night to intercept would-be infiltrators from the lawless Sinai desert. Like dozens of others along the tense divide, it is all-female.

For illustration purposes only

“We make a real contribution to protecting the country,” team commander Lieutenant Mor Dafna said during training drills at Sayarim field intelligence headquarters, marching distance from the frontier.

...Israel’s female troops are allowed to wear their hair long and pulled back in pony tails, clearly identifying them as women and making for an unusual ensemble with combat gear and war paint.

“When we’re not concealed, and they (the Egyptian personnel) can see that we are girls, they’ll sometimes try to get our attention with messages - like one time when they lined up rocks in the sand to form a heart,” said the Team Mor sergeant.

Egypt intercepts tons of explosives for Hamas

From Ma'an:

Egyptian authorities on Saturday seized 2.5 tonnes of explosives hidden in three trucks en-route to the Sinai Peninsula.

The trucks contained different types of explosive materials and mortar devices, Egyptian sources said, which were hidden in tires within the vehicles.

On Friday, an Egyptian army officer was shot dead by snipers in the city of El-Arish, while earlier this week Egyptian military forces foiled an attempted car-bombing near a Sinai military base.

There may be quiet on the Gaza front now, but Hamas is sure gearing up for the next round...

Saturday night links

From Ian:

What's behind Abbas' new tone? By Dore Gold

"What happened to Mahmoud Abbas? Hasn't he been regarded by Israeli leaders for the last twenty years as a moderate who was interested in reaching a peace agreement? What is important is not the vapid debate over whether Abbas can still be regarded as a partner for peacemaking, but rather understanding the hard fact that conditions have changed influencing the declared intentions of leaders."

Palestinians occupy E1 area of Jerusalem
Palestinians have begun to occupy areas of the disputed E1 zone - a move which should bring as much condemnation as the Israeli plans - but likely won't

"Over 200 Palestinians, reportedly backed by foreign activists, have occupied an area of the disputed E1 zone. The action began in the early hours of Friday morning, as reported by Ynet."

Israel’s jihad is mine

"Israel’s eight-day operation “Pillar of Defense” sought to dismantle the Hamas apparatus from within Gaza. The predictably seamless alignment of the Muslim world against Israel was even more breathtaking than usual in the face of Syria’s 22 months of systematic genocide, one which has consistently failed to trigger unanimous Muslim protest. What does this say about us as Muslims?
We are hypocrites."

Kerry comments on Assad may draw scrutiny
Secretary of state candidate’s alleged ‘bromance’ with Syrian dictator could come up in confirmation hearings

"Conservative websites have mocked the relationship as a Kerry-Assad “bromance,” seizing on comments the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman has made in speeches and during his six visits to Syria."

Hate-Crime Stats Deflate ‘Islamophobia’ Myth

"Many Americans take a critical view of Islam, but virtually all restrict their negative sentiments to the domain of words and ideas, as civilized human beings should. People are free to have opinions, including anti-Islamic ones, regardless of how Islamists long to muzzle them. Islamists, in turn, are entitled to their own opinions about life in America. But they are not entitled to their own facts."

BBC Watch: Stop press! BBC uses word ‘terrorist’!

"No need to get excited, though: this is about Europe, where apparently – unlike the Middle East – people convicted of terrorism in a court of law can be described by the BBC as terrorists rather than ‘militants’ and their actions described as terrorism rather than ‘resistance’. "

885 Palestinians killed in Syria civil war
Beirut-based 'Daily Star' also reports that at least 20,000 Palestinian refugees from Syria remain trapped in Lebanon.

UN nuclear chief not optimistic on Iran negotiations
Regarding attempts to gain access to Iran's Parchin facility, IAEA's Amano says talks with Iran go "1 step forward, 3 steps back."

Spain seizes materials bound for Iran nuke program
Truck carrying highly corrosion-resistant valves seized by Spanish police; company used false companies in UAE for deliveries.

A Trail of Bullet Casings Leads From Africa’s Wars Back to Iran

“In terms of prescription, if it was clear that there were repeated violations by Iran, I think we could come down more strongly about it,” he said. “But a good portion of this, and in perhaps the majority of these cases, the ammunition was transferred around Africa by African states.”
He added that while the original source of the ammunitions was now clear, many questions remained unanswered, including who organized the delivery to regions under embargo or enmeshed in ethnic conflicts."

Scientific American magazine satirized claims in a Turkish children's book that Charles Darwin was Jewish.

"The Jan. 8 article was written in response to reports in October about a series of books aimed at Turkish schoolchildren which describe Darwin as a hook-nosed Jew who kept the company of monkies."

Plan to free Lebanon terrorist sparks US concern

French appeals court grants conditional release to terrorist who killed Israeli diplomat, American in Paris; US objects decision.
"The United States objected on Friday to a French court's planned release of a Lebanese leftist terrorist, saying he may still be a threat after he was convicted of killing an American and an Israeli diplomat in 1982.”

Hungarian Jews speak up for Roma
Community leadership condemns op-ed by politician likening another minority to ‘animals’

MEMRI: Fatwa By Saudi Sheikh: Soccer Players Are Infidels

On December 23, 2012, in response to a question posed by a Saudi youth, Al-'Alwan said that soccer was a form of heresy: "Soccer is a Masonic game meant to distance Muslims from their religion and faith, and most of the public that follows [soccer games] is loyal to the infidels."
Al-'Alwan called soccer players criminals and infidels: "[When] a man watches a [soccer] game, God forbid, he is watching deviant criminals and sinful infidels, even if they are Muslims." He added: "There is a serious problem with [soccer] games, which is the refereeing, which follows manmade laws, not Allah's laws."

Israeli Soccer Star Target of Antisemitic Attacks
Israeli soccer star Tal Ben Haim, who joined the Queens Park Rangers of the English Premier League last week, was the recent target of antisemitic attacks on the club’s Facebook page.

New Film About Hannah Arendt Explores Controversy Surrounding Her “Banality of Evil” Theory

"In refusing to demonize Eichmann, many people felt that Arendt was trivializing his heinous crimes. She answered her critics as a philosopher, a thinker, as she had been all her life. Her position was highly controversial. Even old friends and followers distanced themselves from her."

#BDSFail as Gaza farmers visit Israel

From YNet:

Some 30 Gaza farmers participated in an agricultural expo held in the Eshkol Regional Council last week, despite the hostile relations between Israel and the Strip's government, run by Hamas.

"Agriculture knows no borders," said Uri Madar, of the agriculture department in the District Coordination Office (DCO). "There are various parasites that can 'jump the border' so there is a clear mutual interest here. If things are calm on the security front, there is no reason not to boost agricultural and economical ties."

"Gaza exports produce to Europe every day," Ahmed Shafi, head of the Gaza City Agricultural Association told Ynet. "We export peppers, strawberries, flowers, cherry tomatoes and spices."

Since Operation Pillar of Defense came to its end, Gaza has exported over 200 tons of strawberries, 130 tons of tomatoes, 5 tons of herbs and spices and a million tons of flowers.

The Strip's farmers say they have no problem doing business with their Israeli colleagues. "We want to keep coordinating exports with Israel and even export to Israel," one of the farmers who visited the expo told Ynet.

"We don't look at this from a political point of view. We – and you – look at it from a business point of view."

Another farmer said that Hamas' government leaves the farmers to decide on their own who to do business with. "There's no coordinating with Hamas – only with Israel and the Palestinian Authority."

The goal, others said, is to reach the agricultural export levels noted prior to Hamas' takeover of Gaza, and to export produce to Israel and the West Bank as well.

Israel used to be Gaza's best and biggest market. The Palestinian farmers said that even if Egypt opens the Rafah crossing to exports from Gaza, they would still prefer to export their goods through Israel, because they trust Israel's facilities more.

"We were able to do good business here," a Gaza farmer told Ynet after the expo, adding that there is more to Gaza than militants and rockets. "We make a living and create jobs. And when the economy is good, people are happy and there are no political problems."

This validates Netanyahu's emphasis on an "economic peace" with the PalArabs.

The BDSers are absolutely livid when Palestinian Arabs cooperate with the hated Israelis - for their own self-interest. They have written bizarre articles arguing that these sort of initiatives that directly benefit Palestinian Arabs are terrible. Of course, the real reason they fear economic peace is because it disproves their entire argument that they are "pro-Palestinian" and shows them to be nothing but hypocrites.

In order to justify their hypocrisy, the BDSers will trot out fake "agricultural associations" that they say are against cooperating with Israel.

Palestinian agricultural organisations and the Palestinian BDS National Committee call for the launching of worldwide campaigns on February 9 against Israeli agricultural export corporations in light of their deep complicity in Israel’s ongoing violations of international law and Palestinian human rights.

Endorsed by:

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee
General Union of Palestinian Peasants and Cooperatives
Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees
Palestinian Farmers Union
Popular Struggle Coordination Committee
Stop the Wall
Union of Agricultural Work Committees
Union of Palestinian Agriculture Engineers

A look at the "Palestinian Farmers Union" webpage shows virtually nothing about farming - practically every article is denouncing Israel. They never even explained their vision and mission, because it would have exposed their real agenda, of being a front for an anti-Israel group.

Similarly, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees has an explicitly anti-Israel political agenda as part of its strategy.

The Union of Agricultural Work Committees was created as an anti-Israel group, and their logo shows this pretty explicitly.

These "agricultural organizations" do not do a thing to help Palestinian Arab farmers, and are political fronts to make it appear that there is a broad-based opposition to economic cooperation with Israel. They don't represent anyone.

In reality, Palestinian Arab farmers will happily work with Israel to succeed - and the BDSers try mightily to hide that simple fact.

Friday links

From Ian:

Latma: Yuval Diskin tells all and the Left's game of trust

Jews from Arab lands: Turning back the wheels of history

"Until quite recently, the issue of Jews from Arab lands was all but absent from the public agenda and in the Israeli media. Few remember the terrible tragedies suffered by Jews in Arab countries — Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Yemen and Iraq. Their disaster has been nearly forgotten. It is not taught properly in schools, not discussed enough in the media, not commemorated by any official state mechanism and, until recently, was not mentioned in any international contexts.
Arab propaganda was able to conceal the population exchanges between Israel and Arab countries during the 1948 War of Independence from international discourse. Arab propaganda argues the validity of the right of return for Palestinians who fought against Israel, some of whom fled for their lives for fear of what might happen had they stayed. It has managed to instil in the public's perception, on a global level, that the Palestinian Nakba was the only tragedy that took place at the time of the state's establishment."

"Democracy is Forbidden in Islam" by Khaled Abu Toameh

"It now remains to be seen whether the Salafi Jihadists will resort to violence to prevent or foil the parliamentary election. Jordanian security officials have expressed deep concern over the radical movement's involvement in the civil war in Syria. Dozens of Jordanian Salafis have crossed the border to join various Islamist terror groups waging Jihad [holy war] against Syrian dictator Bashar Assad's regime.
The Jordanians' biggest fear is that when the Salafis are done with Syria, they will intensify their efforts to turn the kingdom into an Islamic state."

PLO Office in DC Open Despite Legislation Deeming it Illegal
US State Dept. has decided to keep PLO office in Washington open for another six months, despite legislation deeming it illegal.

Terrorists Restocking Arsenal to Pre-Operation “Pillar of Defense” Levels, Officials Say

“Organizations in Gaza are working hard to restock their weapons arsenal through generous assistance from Iran,” a senior officer in the Southern Command told Channel 2 according to a translation.
“Through the tunnels of the Sinai border of Gaza come rockets, anti-tank missiles, mortars and everything you can think of. More than that they are trying to get new weapons in what they call the surprise of the next round. We’re talking about anti-tank missiles, anti-aircraft missiles and long-range rockets.”

Heavy Rains Destroy Dozens of Smuggling Tunnels Along Egypt-Gaza Border

“The source said that the tunnels had collapsed after they were flooded, injuring dozens inside and damaging goods in transit.”
“According to the Egyptian Independent, the Gaza-based Al Mezan Center for Human Rights estimates that 197 people were killed from 2006 to 2011 in the tunnels, including 10 children.”

Route on Egypt border closed to civilian traffic
IDF chief of staff cites security reasons for closure as violence in the Sinai Peninsula intensifies

"The Israel Defense Forces on Thursday closed a stretch of Route 10, the highway running parallel to the Egyptian border, to civilian traffic.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz cited security concerns in arriving at the decision, which, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, will be in place for a year."

Tunisian Islamists Attack Offices of 'Zionist' Rights Group
A Tunisian NGO that campaigns against anti-Semitism accused a controversial militia close to ruling Islamists of attacking its office.

"A Tunisian non-governmental organization (NGO) that defends minorities and campaigns, among other issues, against anti-Semitism, has accused a controversial militia close to the ruling Islamists of attacking its offices."

Petition demands university breaks ties with Technion

"An online petition has been created demanding that the University of Sydney cuts ties with the Technion in Israel.
University-of-SydneyThe invitation to sign the petition has been made by “Ailin” and “Adam” on behalf of Students for Justice in Palestine (USyd) and contains the words ” Support Dr Jake Lynch’s Academic Boycott of Israel and End Collaboration with the criminal Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.”

Austrian court finds 3 guilty of glorifying Nazism
Website administrators sentenced to up to 9 years in prison

"An Austrian court has convicted a leading neo-Nazi and two accomplices of glorifying Nazism through a website and sentenced them to prison terms of up to nine years."

Czech ‘Joe Lieberman’ could be Europe’s first Jewish president
The son of an Auschwitz survivor, Jan Fischer compensates for his lack of charisma simply by being ‘ordinary’

Dutch city begins restoring ancient mikveh
Ritual bath disproves earlier theories that Jews only arrived in Holland after Spanish Inquisition

IDF Blog IDF Captain Saves Palestinians Trapped in Floodwater

"What made you want to risk your life in the middle of a storm?
Our role in the region is not easy. Believe me when I say that I understand we are in a complicated situation with the Palestinians. But at the end of the day, we’re all human beings. The commander of our regional brigade has repeatedly emphasized to those under his command that helping the Palestinian civilian population is a vital part of our role as IDF soldiers in the area.
I didn’t even think twice about it. People’s lives were in danger. I was ready to take the chance.
After this incident, my soldiers and I continued to rescue stranded Palestinians in the area throughout the night, but this story was undoubtedly the most memorable."

Also:
Israel’s jihad is mine (TOI h/t Josh)

The Next Chernobyl? (NYT, h/t Ian)

Why does the world go along with the Palestinians’ inventions of history? (Legal Insurrection, h/t Huffwatcher)

Take Iran to the ICC for war crimes against Israelis and Palestinians (Max Samarov)

Hamas accuses Israel of flooding Gaza - during winter storm

The Al Qassam Brigades of Hamas tweeted this on Thursday:

Alas, over a day later I cannot find the news story that documents this amazing event of Israel opening up a dam in the Negev to flood Gaza.

However, Gazans did accuse Israel of an identical crime - using the identical fictitious dam - exactly three years ago.

(I found one of the fake "dams" a short while later.)

Another moderate Fatah terror group forms

From YNet:

A group of Fatah gunmen from the Balata refugee in Nablus camp have announced the establishment of "the army of free fighters" on Wednesday.

The group members celebrated the occasion by holding a march at the camp during which they fired in the air.

Palestinian security forces have been engaged in a large-scale mission to confiscate illegal weapons in the Jenin and Balata refugee camps in recent months.

The raids often involved fire exchanges with the gunmen, some of whom are former members of Fatah's military wing the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

The gunmen now appear to be reasserting their authority in the West Bank. At a press conference the group said, "We call on President Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) to form a commission of inquiry to investigate the security forces' operation that targeted hundreds of Fatah men in the West Bank."

They claimed that the arrests had humiliated them and left them with the choice of either living with dignity or dying with dignity.

The group stressed that they support Abbas as the Palestinian people's only president and will turn their weapons only against the enemies of the president and Fatah.

But in this video one of them says they are against Hamas and not against Israel.

Perhaps they just love to fire weapons.

(h/t CHA)

Jordan tells Syrian Palestinians to drop dead. No one cares.

From Times of Israel earlier this week:

Jordan has turned away dozens of Palestinian refugees on the Syrian border fleeing regime bombardment of the Yarmouk refugee camp south of Damascus.

Palestinian refugees living in the Yarmouk refugee camp south of Damascus have tried to enter Jordan through the Jaber border crossing after their camp was bombarded by Assad regime forces in previous weeks. They told Al-Jazeera earlier this week that while Palestinian refugees carrying Jordanian IDs were allowed to enter Jordan, children of Jordanian women who were not citizens are being refused.

Jordan has absorbed some 126,000 Syrian refugees, but Palestinians fleeing Syria are placed in a separate refugee camp at the Cyber City compound, under stricter conditions, and are banned from entering Jordanian cities. The Jordanian government fears that an influx of Palestinian refugees may tilt the demographic balance in Jordan even more towards the Palestinians, who are already believed to comprise a large majority of the population.

“Jordan is not obligated to pay a political price for the Syrian crisis,” Jordanian government spokesman Samih Maaytah told Al-Jazeera when asked why the Palestinians were not being let in.

UAE to build housing for Gaza terrorists

From Ma'an:

Gaza's housing minister said Thursday that the United Arab Emirates has donated $50 million to build a housing project for Palestinians released from Israeli jails.

The "prisoners city," which will be located in central Gaza, will be named after the UAE leader Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, minister of public works and housing Yousef Subhi Al-Ghariz said.

Why exactly should former prisoners - most of whom were convicted on terrorism charges - need special housing?

The fact that the "moderate" UAE is prioritizing this project in Gaza shows that the larger Arab world still supports and rewards terrorism.

UPDATE: Elder of Lobby half-jokes: "Having lived in Israeli prisons they got used to higher living standards than those available in Gaza."

More Palestinian Arab terror snow sculptures

Besides the Hamas rocket model built out of snow yesterday on the Temple Mount, here are some other Palestinian Arab snow sculptures:

Today's paranoid ramblings from a PressTV columnist

I enjoyed this one:

Prior to the establishment of what we know today as Israel, there were several attempts made to establish a homeland for Jewish people in other places throughout the world.

What appears to be the most successful attempt to establish the Jews in a homeland of their own is found approximately 5,000 miles east of Moscow close to the Chinese/Russian border in a town called Birobidzahn. Birobidzahn is the capital of the Jewish Autonomous Region (JAR). This region was established by Joseph Stalin in 1928 as the first official Jewish homeland.

...According to the JAR official website, the Jewish settlers were given land, farm equipment and money donated by the various Jewish organizations and some sympathetic countries. This being the case, we are left to ask ourselves why an additional Jewish homeland was required and why in Palestine? Why weren’t the Jews who were evacuated from Germany and other parts of Europe after the Holocaust in Germany, not taken to their Jewish homeland in Russia, a homeland that by then was well established and at peace, the new settlers living peacefully among the people who were native to the region?

The answer is obvious. The Jewish homeland in Russia was not Zionist, it was Jewish.

What they apparently wanted was the land of Palestine, at least to start.

[Herzl] was looking for a base of operation from which a colony of militant extremist Zionist terrorists would be equipped with weapons by their Western sponsors.

In gratitude, these extremists would serve the British Crown and other Western powers as a military outpost. This outpost would serve as a launch pad for a series of wars and revolutions in the region that would culminate in the Zionist domination of the Muslim world. ...It was to conquer and to hold Jerusalem (al-Quds) and from Jerusalem (al-Quds) to dominate the entire Muslim world. It is quite possible that the grand Faustian deal struck between Herzl and the British Crown, resulting in the very unpopular Balfour Declaration was perhaps an agreement to allow Zionists to settle Palestine for that purpose.

Could it be that Herzl imagined that once Zionists had conquered Palestine, they would expand throughout the Muslim world through a series of revolutions? Is it possible that Herzl felt that anti-Semitism, would suffice to get Zionists into Palestine, but revolutions would be required for Zionism to spread and to dominate the Muslim world and to create Eretz Israel? Does this explain what we see today in Syria and the UK’s and France’s insistence that Israel be aided by NATO and the Western powers in its attempts at regime change and expansion into Syria? Does Herzl’s plan explain what happened in Libya and why Qaddafi was first driven from power and then seemingly killed?

There is little doubt that such ideas will be dismissed as mere conspiracy theory. Even so, we can say for certain, that no other theory suits so perfectly, the events in Palestine since 1948, including the 1967 war leading up to today’s headlines.

Why else could Jews have been interested in living in Jerusalem and the rest of Israel except to run roughshod over a billion Muslims? It all makes so much sense!

Hundreds of Muslims demonstrate in Egypt to retake Andalusia

From WebIslam (Spanish):

Hundreds of Egyptians demonstrated on Wednesday Jan. 2 in Safenex Square in Cairo to commemorate the 521st anniversary of the fall of Granada.

The demonstration was called by The Free Movement (Harakat Ahrar).

The protesters organized a human chain around the square and held signs that said: "Obligatory return","We have not forgotten Al Andalus" and "Of course we will return" ...

MEMRI has video:

Hey, in a decade they might get the UN to declare Andalusia to be "occupied Moorish territory" and in twenty years Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the enlightened Western media will agree.

Abbas' lie of the day: "Jews were not expelled from Egypt"

Mahmoud Abbas said in Cairo last night that Jews were not expelled from Egypt, but that they all left voluntarily.

As usual, he is lying.

From Wikipedia:

In the immediate aftermath of trilateral invasion during the Suez Crisis of 1956, on November 23 by Britain France and Israel, a proclamation was issued stating that 'all Jews are Zionists and enemies of the state', and it promised that they would be soon expelled. Some 25,000 Jews, almost half of the Jewish community left, mainly for Israel, Europe, the United States and South America, after being forced to sign declarations that they were leaving voluntarily, and agreed with the confiscation of their assets. Some 1,000 more Jews were imprisoned. Similar measures were enacted against British and French nationals in retaliation for the invasion. In Joel Beinin's summary: "Between 1919 and 1956, the entire Egyptian Jewish community, like the Cicurel firm, was transformed from a national asset into a fifth column." ...

After the Six-Day War in 1967, more confiscations took place. Rami Mangoubi, who lived in Cairo at the time, states that nearly all Egyptian Jewish men between the ages of 17 and 60 were either thrown out of the country immediately, or taken to the detention centers of Abou Za'abal and Tura, where they were incarcerated and tortured for more than three years. The eventual result was the almost complete disappearance of the Jewish community in Egypt...

Thursday links

From Ian:

Elliott Abrams: The “State of Palestine” and the PLO Office in Washington

"In addition to the PLO’s historic baggage and its offensive Charter, a third reason to stop dealing with the PLO is that it is a non-democratic body. The PNA is theoretically a democratic one whose leadership is chosen through popular elections. Of course that’s highly theoretical, because the last national elections were held in 2006 and the terms of the entire parliament and of President Abbas expired long ago. Still, isn’t accepting the hypocrisy of the PNA about democracy preferable to honoring the unreformed, hopelessly compromised PLO, in whose Charter the word “democracy” does not even appear?"

[It is a good article about the contradictions between the functions of the PLO and the PA, but he doesn't mention that the PA answers to the nondemocratic PLO.- EoZ]

Will Jordan Be the First Arab Monarchy to Fall?

"...the monarchy red line will not last forever, and Washington will face a series of new strategic challenges when and if this threshold is crossed. The end of the monarchy in Jordan would constitute a particularly serious blow to U.S. interests. Should the regime fall, Washington would lose its best remaining Arab ally, and Israel would lose its last reliable peace partner."

As Fatah, Hamas meet, PM vows not to cede land
Netanyahu slams Abbas for meeting "terrorists trying to annihilate Israel," asserts Hamas would seize any territory Israel evacuates.

"We see the dangers clearly," Netanyahu said. "Today Abu Mazen (Abbas) is in Cairo together with the head of Hamas. They are looking into a possible unity deal between Fatah and the terrorists who have been trying to annihilate the state of Israel, and who have fired rockets at our cities."

Poll: Half of Israelis Say Ignore US Pressure, 67% Expect Peace Process Deadlock

"Additionally, according to the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University December 2012 Peace Index poll, two-thirds (67 percent) of Jewish Israelis agree that, no matter which parties prevail, the peace process with the Palestinians will remain at a standstill for reasons not connected to Israel."

Soldiers Nab Terrorists who Nearly Murdered Woman

"Security forces have arrested five young Palestinian Authority Arab men responsible for multiple terrorist attacks, including an attack on a female driver that left a 60-year-old woman fighting for her life.
The arrests were carried out in November, but were revealed only Wednesday with the removal of a gag order."

Douglas Murray: The Ralph Miliband lectures remind us how stupid ‘clever’ people can be

"But best of all is to recall the 2010 lecture given by LSE alumnus Saif Gaddafi. People really should watch Professor David Held’s introduction. I had forgotten how funny it is.
Whilst Ghaddafi Junior grins and waves away at lackeys in the audience, Professor Held says by way of introduction:
‘Saif is committed to resolving contentious international and domestic issues through dialogue, debate and peaceful negotiations.’ ‘Saif is committed to resolving contentious international and domestic issues through dialogue, debate and peaceful negotiations.’Obviously this was the year before Saif began massacring everybody and promised to ‘fight until the last man, the last woman, the last bullet’."

CIF Watch: Guardian’s anti-Zionist propagandist, Chris McGreal, responds to CiF Watch.

"In short, McGreal pieced together a few unrelated incidents of Palestinians killed or injured during a myriad of different circumstances over several years, omitted any evidence contradicting his desired narrative, and completely erased the context of Palestinian terrorism to impute unimaginable malevolence to Israeli soldiers.
As we wrote in our earlier post, what Chris McGreal engages in is not journalism. McGreal is an ideologue drawn to extreme left agitprop who trades in crude anti-Zionist propaganda."

UN group urges Cuba to release Alan Gross
Imprisonment watchdog calls jailed American’s 15-year sentence ‘arbitrary’

"The Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said in an opinion released Tuesday to Gross’ lawyer that Cuba’s lack of an independent judiciary, the imprecise nature of the alleged crime and the failure to grant bail to Gross rendered his 15-year sentence “arbitrary.”

Egyptian minister said sacked for opposing Iranian influence
Ahmed Gamal El-Din’s reportedly criticized meeting between Morsi adviser and top Revolutionary Guard official

"The ouster of Egypt’s interior minister earlier this week was due to his opposition to a secret meeting between an adviser to President Mohammed Morsi and a high-ranking commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, the Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm reported Wednesday."

No penalties for hate crimes in Malmo, despite record attacks
Rising anti-Semitism in widely criticized Swedish city leads to zero indictments

"The local daily Sydsvenskan on Jan. 7 reported that in 2010 and 2011, the Swedish court system did not convict anyone of hate crimes despite a record-number of 480 complaints about such incidents reported in those years."

Vatican rejects sect leader’s calling Jews ‘enemies of the church’
Such a description is ‘impossible,’ says representative of Pope Benedict XVI

"Lombardi called Bishop Bernard Fellay’s remarks “meaningless” and “unacceptable.”
Lombardi was responding to comments made by Fellay, superior of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, during a Dec. 28 address at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy in New Hamburg, Ontario."

Maserati, Lamborghini Withdraw Business From Iran

"Both Maserati and Lamborghini will no longer do business in Iran The Algemeiner has learned. The announcement comes following a campaign by United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) aimed at pressuring the two car makers into halting their activities in the country."

Israel Daily Picture: It's Snowing in Jerusalem Today
-- A Reminder of Snows in Jerusalem almost 100 Years Ago
We present here old pictures of snow in Jerusalem from the Library of Congress collection.

Also:

"Beethoven was a Zionist": A Memoir From Israel on the Eve of its Creation

“Today I saw The Land for the first time, and it was beautiful.”

With those simple but moving words, veteran American Zionist activist Harold Manson began his remarkable diary of the visit he made to the Holy Land 65 years ago this month, shortly before the establishment of the State of Israel. It was a journey filled with surprises for Manson—but much of what he found could have been taken from our own headlines today.

“It seems that the sons of Allah are using the minaret of a mosque for sniping purposes,” he wrote. “They seldom hit anybody, but it’s damned irritating to know that Haganah retaliation would be denounced as an attack on a holy place and could precipitate ‘holy warfare’ [jihad].”