Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Egyptian "researcher" claims Israel using chemicals to destroy Al Aqsa mosque

Yesterday I noted a report that an Egyptian "researcher" Dr. Rahim Rihan determined that there were no Jewish Temples in Jerusalem, using evidence that shows otherwise.

It looks like this bogus "expert" is making other stuff up, too.

Last Friday, Rihan - who from all appearances has never stepped foot in Jerusalem - said that Israel was in its final stages of destroying the Al Aqsa mosque.

He says that in order to accelerate the demolition of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Israel is placing corrosive chemicals in the foundations of the mosque to achieve rapid erosion of rocks and columns.

This is not the first time the Arabs have charged Israel with using nifty chemicals that can corrode rocks to destroy the Mosque. They did it in 2009, claiming that Israel was using the chemicals to create an "artificial earthquake," and again last year, more than once.

While these Arabs (and the Mondoweiss crowd that repeats the claims) are clearly delusional, the purpose of these rumors is simply to incite Arabs against Jews.

Not that you will know this from reading the Western media.

When Arab media is fairer to the IDF than Ha'aretz

From Ha'aretz, January 15th, posted 20:16:

Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man in the Gaza Strip. Israel had no immediate comment Monday on the reported shooting of the man, who the Islamist Hamas-run Health Ministry said was a farmer, in the Gaza town of Beit Lahiya on the frontier with Israel.

Palestinian officials said a gunshot to the head had critically wounded 21-year-old Mustafa Abu Jarad. Doctors in the hospital at Shifa where he was treated said he had died of his injuries.

From Ma'an, posted 13:14 - seven full hours earlier:

Mustafa Abu Jarad, believed to be a farmer, was shot in the head in the town of Beit Lahiya on the border with Israel, Gaza's health ministry said earlier Monday.

The 21-year-old was taken to Shifa hospital but died later, said doctors.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said officials had checked "and apparently the incident is not related to the Israeli army".

A source speaking on condition of anonymity said Israel suspected the man was shot by a fellow Palestinian.

Either the Palestinian Arab Ma'an has better IDF sources than Ha'aretz does, or it cares more about giving the benefit of the doubt to Israel than Ha'aretz does.

Egyptian mom, kids sentenced to prison for converting to Christianity

From AsiaNews.it:

The criminal court of Beni Suef (115 km south of Cairo) has sentenced an entire family to prison for converting to Christianity. Nadia Mohamed Ali and her children Mohab, Maged, Sherif, Amira, Amir, and Nancy Ahmed Mohamed abdel-Wahab will spend 15 years in prison. Seven other people involved in the case were sentenced to five years in prison.

The case of the family of Nadia Ali Mohamed began in 2004 when, after the conversion, she and her children decided to replace their Muslim names on their identity cards with their Christian names and city of residence change. To do this she was aided by seven Registry office employees. Born Christian, she had changed her religion to marry her husband Mustafa Mohamed Abdel-Wahab. After the man's death in 1991, Nadia decided to return to her religion of origins and to push her seven children to convert. In 2006, one of the boys was arrested by police in an information center in the city of Beni Suef. Suspicious of the young man from the documents he as carrying, where he had changed its name to Bishoy Malak Abdel-Massih, police agents interrogated him for hours until he confessed his conversion to Christianity as desired by the mother. The judges then decide to stop not only the woman, but all of her children and seven clerks from the registration office, responsible for changing the documents.

An individuals religious faith is listed in Egyptian identity cards. Christians, converted to Islam for various reasons that attempt to return to the religion to which they belong have enormous difficulty in correcting their names on the documents. This leads many people to forge them, risking prison. The reverse process, ie the transition from Christianity to Islam is not hindered, and in many cases is favored by the very Registry officials.

German human rights organization IGFM has been publicizing this case. It appears to be a rare human-rights group that actually concentrates on closed nations that are real violators of rights.

(h/t Ian)

Tuesday links

From Ian:

Palestinians: Fatah's Armed Gangs Are Back by Khaled Abu Toameh

"Unless the Palestinian Authority leadership takes immediate action to stop the Fatah gunmen, scenes of anarchy, lawlessness and violence could soon return to the West Bank. The Aqsa Martyrs Brigades was responsible for hundreds of armed attacks against Israelis during the second intifada.
The US and EU, which have been funding and training the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank, need to bang on the table -- now -- and demand that Abbas rein Fatah militiamen, most of whom receive their salaries from the Palestinian Authority government."

Facebook 'censors' Palestinian writer posting anti-corruption articles

"Khaled Abu Toameh has had his Facebook account suspended after a flurry of threats, seemingly simply for posting anti-corruption articles implicating the Palestinian Authority
Toameh also told The Commentator that over the past few days, he has been the subject of much online abuse, as well as threats and an apparently concerted smear campaign against him.
This recently culminated in the posting of an article on the ‘Sabbah biz’ website, accusing Toameh of being an ‘Israeli Hasbara agent’ and showing a picture of him with the Star of David on his head. The website is run by ‘Haitham Sabbah’, who is based out of Tulkarm in the West Bank."

Canada: Flyer for Vaughan protest linked slew of deadly bombings in Pakistan to an alleged ‘Zionist Plot’

"A flyer promoting a Monday-night protest at the Pakistan Consulate in Vaughan linked deaths of Shia muslims in Pakistan to an alleged “Zionist Plot.”
The flyer, entitled “Massacre of Shia Muslims,” is emblazoned in large red letters and features blood dripping over the top of the image. Below are pictures of suffering victims and beneath an imaginary blood smear appear the words “Down with Zionist Plots.”

Ban: Jewish Outposts Bad, Arab Outposts Good
Arabs have the right to set up outposts in E1, or anywhere else - unlike Jews, who don't, said the UN Secretary-General

"In a statement, Ban said that the PA group had “the right to stage peaceful protests that must be fully respected." The statement added that Ban is “following with concern developments around the E1 area,” noting that Israeli construction in the area is “Illegal under international law,” and that “any such settlement plans for E1 must be rescinded.”

Fed up, Obama reportedly says Israel doesn’t know own interests
US president, unhappy over continued settlement building, says he has come to expect such behavior from Netanyahu

"According to a report by Bloomberg columnist Jeffrey Goldberg published Tuesday morning, Obama last month began repeating the mantra that “Israel doesn’t know what its own best interests are.”

Netanyahu: No Negotiations with He Who Embraces Hamas

"If Abbas comes to the negotiating table without preconditions, he'll find me on the other side," Netanyahu says in a TV interview.

Judge Orders Destruction of Memo Linking Palestinian Authority to Suicide Attack

"Court papers say the memo links Sadeq Hafez, an operative for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group, to Raed Nazal, “who was both a salaried officer in the PA’s security services and a leader of the PFLP cell in Qalqilya,” a Palestinian Arab city in the West Bank.
On Feb. 16, 2002, Hafez blew himself up in a packed pizzeria in the Israeli settlement of Karnei Shomron, killing three teens, including Keren Shatsky, 15, and Rachel Thaler, 16."

Lieberman 'Defiled' Cave of Patriarchs, Claims Hamas

Hamas condemns former Foreign Minister Lieberman's visit to the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron, saying his visit "defiled" the compound.

CAMERA: More Aritsts Call Out BDS Bullying
Addressing the BDS activists, Deghelt wrote:

"Your activism and your intolerance are abominable. Phony Facebook "fans" have posted messages expressly asking our musicians not play in Israel. This is sheer harassment. Moreover, it's really quite surprising because these fans purporting to sway the artists are not fans at all, but simply your army of little soldiers polluting the calm and positive spaces of our artists' Facebook pages. ...
What bothers me the most about your effort...is your hatred of Israel, a pathological hatred, blind and most assuredly hidden behind a veil of "political correctness." Your actions don't demonstrate a love or defense of Palestinians but rather a hatred for Israelis.

PMW: PA: "The Western Wall... no person besides Muslims ever used it as a place of worship, throughout all of history"

"The Palestinian Authority Minister of Religious Affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, said recently that all of Jerusalem and the Western Wall are "the sole right of Palestinians." To back this up, he falsely claimed that "no person besides Muslims ever used it [the Western Wall] as a place of worship, throughout all of history, until the ominous Balfour Declaration was issued in 1917."

Walid Shoebat: Muslim Brotherhood official in Egypt inadvertently admits Apartheid part of country’s history; reaction shows willingness to continue it

"One of the reasons that leftists and Islamists are so effective at projection is that they are so good at enunciating their own weaknesses and diabolical desires. They’re very good at mis-applying those weaknesses and desires to those who don’t have them. In Biblical parlance, it’s called bearing false witness… on steroids."

Video 'shows' terrorists training for border attack
Clip released by jihadist group shows operatives shooting firearms, details plan for attack that claimed life of Israeli soldier on border with Egypt

Report: Bashar al-Assad Living on a Warship in Mediterranean, Being Provided Security by Russia
Assad has lost confidence in his own security detail and lands at secret locations inside Syria from where he is transported to the presidential palace under heavy guard, the sources said.

French Jews fear anti-Semitism will destroy community
Ultra-secularism, racism cited by Jewish umbrella group in claim that Jews of France in danger

"In the first eight months of 2012, SPCJ, the security unit of French Jewish communities, counted 386 of what it called “anti-Semitic acts,” representing a 45-percent increase compared to the corresponding period in 2011, when SPCJ counted 266 such incidents. SPCJ said the figures correlated to official data by French authorities."

Youngest ‘Schindler’s List’ survivor dies at 83
Leon Leyson worked at German industrialist’s factory during the Holocaust, was so short he stood on a box to operate machinery

"Leyson rarely spoke of his experiences until the 1993 movie “Schindler’s List” sparked renewed interest. He then embarked on a public speaking career to share his story."

Time and Space: Decade After Fatal Mission, Film Covers Israeli Astronaut’s Legacy

"Israel sent one of its best on NASA’s fatal Columbia mission: Israel Air Force (IAF) Colonel Ramon was 46, an engineer (electronics and computers), a pilot, married and a father of four. As a combat pilot, he was an integral part of the 1981 raid on the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak. He trained for Columbia at Houston’s Johnson Space Center. Officially designated as a payload specialist, Ramon was described by Commander Mike Anderson as “fully integrated with the crew.”

For Dutch teens, ‘Jew’ the new ‘cool’
Netherlands high school students found by linguist to be using moniker ‘jood’ as synonym for ‘awesome’

This water expert from Israel is on a mission to save the Noyyal

"Nano-filtration is a proven success in Israel. Here also it is possible to make dry cubes of separated effluents which can be disposed off in safe places. It is up to the government to ensure such a facility to dispose off the dry wastes. In Israel, the government has demarcated the dump yard and this has helped restore several water bodies,'' he said.

White House condemns Morsi's anti-semitic statements

From JPost:

The White House on Tuesday strongly condemned comments that Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was reported to have made in 2010 when he was a Muslim Brotherhood leader and which were widely regarded as anti-Semitic in nature.

White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters that the language Morsi had used was "deeply offensive" and that US officials raised concerns with the Egyptian government on the matter.

Nearly three years ago, Morsi, as an Islamist political leader, delivered a speech urging Egyptians to "nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred" for Jews and Zionists. In a television interview months later, he described Zionists as "these bloodsuckers who attack the Palestinians, these warmongers, the descendants of apes and pigs."

Carney noted, however, that Morsi, as president, had helped broker an Israeli-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza and had promised to uphold Egypt's peace treaty with Israel.

The president also labeled Israeli-Palestinian negotiations as "a waste of time and opportunities" as Arabs and Muslims get nothing out of engagement with "the descendants of apes and pigs."

The comments were discovered in translated interviews published earlier in the month by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

In the first interview, aired on Lebanon's Al-Quds TV on September 23, 2010, Morsi denounced the Palestinian Authority as a creation of "the Zionist and American enemies for the sole purpose of opposing the will of the Palestinian people." Therefore, he stressed, "No reasonable person can expect any progress on this track."

"Either [you accept] the Zionists and everything they want, or else it is war," Morsi said, "This is what these occupiers of the land of Palestine know – these blood-suckers, who attack the Palestinians, these warmongers, the descendants of apes and pigs."

In the result, according to MEMRI, Morsi called on Arabs and Muslims worldwide to "employ all forms of resistance against...those criminal Zionists, who attack Palestine and the Palestinians."

"Pressure should be exerted upon them," Morsi continued, so that Jews should "not be given any opportunity [to] stand on any Arab or Islamic land."

In a separate interview translated by MEMRI, aired on the same network on March 20, 2010, Morsi affirmed that "The Zionists have no right to the land of Palestine.... What they took before 1947-8 constitutes plundering, and what they are doing now is a continuation of this plundering. By no means do we recognize their Green Line. The land of Palestine belongs to the Palestinians, not to the Zionists."

Morsi concluded that the Arab-Islamic world "want[s] a country for the Palestinians on the entire land of Palestine...[and] all the talk about a two-state solution and about peace is nothing but an illusion." The Jews, he said, "have been fanning the flames of civil strife wherever they were throughout history. They are hostile by nature.... The Zionists understood nothing but the language of force."

I am looking forward to seeing the reaction in the Arabic media to this.

Work accident!

Islamic Jihad proudly announces the death of Ibrahim Jamil Harazin:

Harazin, 23, of the Shijaia district, was "one of the most prominent Gaza Brigade Mujahadeen" who was "elevated" to be a martyr Tuesday evening during a "jihadist mission."

His brother Majid was also an Islamic Jihad member who was "martyred" in 2007.

Islamic Jihad's military statement said "We in the Al-Quds Brigades gladly accept the martyrdom of this Mujahid, to emphasize that the blood of the martyrs will remain a lamp illuminating the Mujahideen towards the path of honor and dignity, and to move forward in the approach of resistance until the liberation of all of beloved Palestine."

I would like to add my own support for many, many more such martyrs who reach paradise without managing to kill anyone but themselves.

Return of the Terrorist Wookies

Islamic Jihad just held some public relations exercises for its Al Quds Brigades, and that means they are breaking out the Wookies!

They blend in so well with their surroundings.

Here is the famous Islamic Jihad synchronized urination ceremony

Previous Wookie photos here.

Why the Arabs fear a right-wing Israeli government (Mordechai Kedar)

An absolute must-read from Arab expert Mordechai Kedar:

The elections are approaching in Israel, and polls are predicting what the Arab media calls, with great dread, "the meteoric rise of the radical right in Israel". Every article about the Israeli political map has the latest polls, showing the obvious trend that all of us here are aware of. In recent days this writer's telephone has been ringing constantly, with a representative of one Arab media outlet or another on the other end, all of whom are absorbed by one great concern: the strengthening of the Jewish spirit in Israel. The radio stations in the Palestinian Authority, where - I must admit - I am often interviewed, express the most apprehension.

The question is: Why is the Arab world so concerned and what are they worried about?

The reasons for the concern stem from the cultural mindset of the region. An Israel that has a strong character and is confident of itself and the justice of its cause, might stop behaving like a dishrag, as it has done in the past, more than once, under the irresponsible leadership of the bleeding hearts who are the "Pursuers of Peace", and might adopt a pattern of behavior typical to the Middle East.

In the embattled region where Israel is situated, the weak individual gets beaten up: he is shot at, missiles rain down upon him, his buses are blown up, he is de-legitimized, marginalized diplomatically, sued in international courts, states are established on his back that threaten him and declare their violent struggle against him again and again, and he - the weak one - must take all of this garbage that is rained down upon him and say, "It's only words". Sometimes he issues a warning but few take him seriously because he is weak and obsequious; he "seeks peace".

In contrast, only the strong and self-confident, he who can pose a threat, who does not restrain himself at all from utilizing full force, who will not surrender anything due to him, will have peace and tranquility. Everyone else will leave him be because they fear him, and this is the only peace that is recognized in the Middle East.

The Arab world fears an Israel that after the elections might be - good heavens - more Jewish, because then the world might remember that the Jews, not the Israelis, were expelled from here 1942 years ago, and now the Jews have returned to their historic land - Judea. A more Jewish Israel might be a "bad" example to Europe, where a sense of national identity is in continual decline and where they watch with indifference the alien invasion that is threatening the character of Europe. The strengthening of the Israeli Right might therefore encourage the European Right to put an end to the great immigration of the masses who expect to turn Europe into their land.
...

A Jewish Israel will present a solid wall of defense against Islamic radicalization and tribalism in the Arab world, and will prove that only a people who clings to its identity and is faithful to its heritage can stand strong against the tidal wave of radicalization and violence that engulfs the Middle East, and this is exactly what frightens our neighbors: those who hoped that with the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, Israel would be paralyzed with fear and would flee from all of its assets, discover that, contrary to their theory, Israel is the state of the Jewish Brotherhood, and will not flee from an enemy. A Jewish state such as this will prove to those near and far that the Jews have returned to their historical and eternal homeland and will remain there forever and ever, and only this way will Israel win peace from her neighbors. It will not be a peace of hugs and kisses, because there is no such thing in the Middle East, but rather it will be a peace that stems from our neighbors' recognition of the reality that the Almighty has imposed upon them, and the realization that they have no choice but to accept it as it is. Within Islamic tradition, there is a way to give peace to infidels who are invincible; temporary peace that continues as long as the enemy is invincible. This is the peace that Israel can win from her neighbors, and it will continue forever, but only if Israel is invincible forever.

A more Jewish Israel will ensure peace among all of the citizens and will oblige her neighbors to leave her in peace, and this is the reason that her neighbors fear a more Jewish Israel.

Read the whole thing.

(h/t Yoel)

AFP bias as PalArabs seethe over Lieberman visit to Hebron

From AFP:

The Palestinian Authority on Monday slammed a pre-election visit by hardline Israeli nationalist leader Avigdor Lieberman to a West Bank mosque as a "provocation" and "completely unacceptable."

"This visit is a provocation to Palestinian feeling," government spokeswoman Nour Odeh told AFP. "Especially by Lieberman, who has declared his aggression against the Palestinian people and who supports settlement."

Lieberman visited a mosque? Really?

Only in next to last paragraph do we learn:

During his visit to the city Lieberman called at the flashpoint religious site known as the Cave of the Patriarchs to Jews and the Ibrahimi Mosque to Muslims.

Oh, so he visited the second holiest Jewish shrine that predates Islam by 2000 years - and AFP calls it a "mosque."

Now, Jews are allowed to visit the Cave of the Patriarchs by agreement with the PLO in the Wye River Accords. There is nothing remotely untoward about Lieberman visiting there.

But Palestinian Arabs have learned that if they seethe publicly about anything, the world media will take them seriously. AFP is too lazy to note that the PLO is cynically attempting to equate this visit with Sharon's equally legal visit to the Temple Mount in 2001 that was used as a transparent excuse to start a terror war.

The inciters in the PLO routinely manufacture outrage in the hope that it will translate into pressure on Israel. The media, way too often, enables them, without a modicum of fact checking.

Terror tunnel discovered from Gaza to Israel

From YNet:

IDF forces discovered an entrance to a tunnel near the Gaza border, in Israeli territory. According to the army, the tunnel has "aggressive purposes."

The IDF spokesperson stated that "This attempt to carry out terrorist attacks against citizens and security forces in Israeli territory is viewed in very serious terms by the army."

Large army forces were rushed Monday to an open terrain to investigate a ground collapse close to the Nir Oz community, located not far from the border fence.

Apparently the collapse wasn't due to an explosion, and bomb experts and Engineering Corps soldiers examined the terrain and discovered the tunnel entrance. An investigation into the tunnel's origin and construction date in ongoing.

Apparently, the heavy rains from last week collapsed the tunnel.
the likely purpose of this tunnel was to kidnap Israelis or to perform a major terror attack within Israel.

Which brings up the question of how many other such tunnels there are under the Gaza border towards Israel, today?

US sending F-16s to Muslim Brotherhood

From Al Ahram:

A consignment of F-16 jet fighters to Cairo from Washington during the next few weeks has stirred up yet another hornet's nest in Egypt's fraught political atmosphere. In the opinion of many observers, the controversy over the deal is a thoroughly political one, as the additional fighter planes will do little to alter strategic balances of power in the region. It is unlikely that similar arms deals during the Mubarak era would have aroused such an altercation. The new factor, of course, is the Muslim Brotherhood's rise to power, which has worried political circles in both capitals.

While Israel will still hold a qualitative edge in air power, this upgrade of Egypt's air force by the US at a time when Egypt's leadership is still oscillating between acting responsibly and extremist Islamism seems very premature. It is effectively a US endorsement of Morsi, a man who only two years ago was shouting anti-semitic slogans.

The $213 million gift also includes 200 Abrams tanks, perfect for use at Tahrir Square.

Here is an (Arabic) video just made by an Egyptian contrasting Morsi's seeming liberalism when talking to CNN and his anti-semitism when speaking in Arabic, saying that "we must teach our children to hate the Jews" (no translation yet, sorry):

Ironically, this decision by the US to trust Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood comes right after the US-trained troops in Mali defected to Al Qaeda with their US-supplied guns and other equipment.

Another example of PalArab "nationalism" fueled by Arab abuse

Egypt Independent has an interesting piece of history about the "Canada Camp" in the Sinai.

It starts off talking about how Egyptians simply do not want Palestinian Arabs to live amongst them:

Back in November, daily newspaper and staunch critic of the Brotherhood Al-Watan [announced] its “Sinai is for Egyptians” campaign.

While presenting a common pan-Arab rhetoric supporting the Palestinian cause, the two-page spread was filled with the xenophobic, “not in my backyard” panic typical of tabloids everywhere in their treatment of foreigners on home soil. In the particular case of Palestine, that discourse is reminiscent of the era following the peace accords, when the Hosni Mubarak ruling regime — much like other regimes in the region — engineered and promoted the “Egypt first” line.

The Al-Watan campaign is premised on reports from tribal chiefs in Sinai, who report that they were approached by the army and asked for their opinion about the establishment of camps in North Sinai to receive Palestinian refugees.

“We will prevent Gazans from populating our land, even if blood has to be shed,” the chiefs declare in one headline. The army has denied these rumors, but the media campaign targeting Palestinians continued.

The author says that there is no reason for Egyptians to worry:

What seems to have escaped popular memory is that a Palestinian refugee camp existed in Sinai for 30 years, and that when there was a choice, the Palestinians opted to return back home.

Really? Let's see the details:

Canada Camp came into existence when Israel demolished the homes of residents in Rafah in the early 1970s and relocated them to a former Canadian contingent camp in Sinai, under Israeli occupation at the time.

When Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David Accords and Israel withdrew from Sinai in 1982, the nearly 500 families living in the camp found themselves refugees once again.

Meaning, Egypt refused to naturalize people who lived in the Sinai simply because they have Palestinian Arab ancestry.

Unable to work legally in Egypt, camp residents relied on United Nations aid and income from manual labor. University students had to pay tuition fees in dollars or pounds sterling.

The situation worsened after the 1990 Gulf crisis, when thousands of Palestinians employed in the Gulf — some of whom had supported families in Canada Camp — lost their jobs.

Wilkinson says an anomaly caused by the large number of men who left the camp to work or study or were deported by the Egyptian authorities left many women unable to find marriage partners, providing another reason for why they were impatient to return to Gaza.

So from all evidence, the entire reason that the residents of Canada Camp were so anxious to return to Gaza had nothing to do with how much they love Gaza or "Palestine,", but it was entirely because they were abused by their Arab brethren in Egypt!

This, in a nutshell, is the root of Palestinian Arab nationalism today. The PalArabs have no real ties to the land, and if they were given a choice to be naturalized in other Arab countries they would do so in a minute. But the Arab nations - who pretend to support the cause so very much - purposefully keep them in misery so that they have no choice but to remain a separate people, purely by the accident of their grandparents having lived within certain borders drawn by Europeans less than a hundred years ago.

Monday linkdump

From Ian:

Intellectual savages?
Ferocious Palestinian anti-Semites have been sanitized by the Western public opinion which calls them “militants,” as The New York Times did last week.

"The Palestinian hatred has not been deciphered by our writers and intellectuals. It’s because we have been told that “they hate us” is the language of xenophobes, the illiberal, the intolerant; that genocidal anti-Semitism was buried in the ashes of Auschwitz; that we have to be polite and self-critical.
A seductive combination of post-colonial white guilt mixed with liberal condescension has dulled our moral senses and made us blind to an Islamism that conveys unleashed hatred, contempt, physical aggression, the desire to expel, to destroy and to eliminate the Jews."

On Army Radio, Erekat Again Accuses Israel of Arafat's Death
The results of an investigation into Arafat's death are not due for a few months, yet Erekat continues to hope Israel will be to blame.

"In an interview Sunday morning with Army Radio, Erekat again made conspiratorial accusations in regards to the death of Arafat, saying he was sure the former PLO Chairman did not die naturally but was killed, all the while implying that Israel was behind it. Erekat added that the November exhumation of Arafat's body will certainly lead to this conclusion."

BBC Watch: Accuracy issues in BBC report on death of Gaza ‘farmer’

"Interestingly, BBC chooses to omit completely from its report the fact that Anwar al Mamlouk was given a Fatah funeral, with his body wrapped in the Fatah flag, attendees carrying Fatah flags and an official Fatah poster made in his honour. "

CIF Watch: How big is E-1? The geographic reality of an alleged “impediment to peace”

"Is the world-wide fuss over an area between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim, less than four times the size of Central Park, and a fraction of the size of Manhattan, that the Palestinians know will be included in the area of Israel if an agreement is ever reached, really worth making?"

Peter Beinart vs. the American Jewish community

"Contrary to Beinart’s claims, the research indicates that American Jewish opinion is solidly in alignment with Israeli Jewish opinion on the most important issues regarding peace and security for the Jewish state."

The Daily Beast: passing off fiction as truth

"Here we go again: Open Zion, Peter Beinart's blog at the Daily Beast has posted another article denying the existence of Jewish refugees from Arab countries, offensively putting the word 'refugee' in quote marks. The author, an MSc Politics student at SOAS, Zachary Smith, gets into a semantic tangle about the terms 'Sephardi' and 'Mizrahi' - irritatingly plumping for 'Arab Jews' - as if a common language or culture was ever a barrier to persecution and murder of Jews. As for the rest of his shopworn arguments, we have heard them all before."

Beinart, Pro-Hagel Bloggers Lie About Hoenlein's 'Jewish Lobby

"That has not stopped Hagel's defenders from twisting Hoenlein's words to make it seem as though he had made the term "Jewish lobby" kosher. The latest to do so was Daily Beast columnist (and frequent Israel critic) Peter Beinart, during a debate with Wall Street Journal columnist Bret Stephens on CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS. Beinart said he agreed that that the term "Jewish lobby" was inaccurate, but that it "also happens to have been used by Malcolm Hoenlein, the head of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations last December."

Chuck Hagel Joins the Palestine Firsters

"Chuck Hagel established himself as a Palestine Firster on October 27, 2009, speaking at J Street’s first national conference: “The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is central, not peripheral, to US vital security interests in combating terrorism, preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon, stability in the Middle East and US and global energy security.”

Really?!"

Only 0.6% of world’s Christians live in Middle East
Pew study finds fewer than 13 million Christians, out of 2.2 billion adherents worldwide, still in the region where faith was born

"According to Pew’s newly released December 2012 “Global Religious Landscape Study,” just 0.6 percent of the world’s 2.2 billion Christians now live in the Middle East and North Africa. Christians make up only 4% of the region’s inhabitants, drastically down from 20% a century ago and marking the smallest regional Christian minority in the world."

Egypt's Coptic Christians fleeing country after Islamist takeover
Tens of thousands of Egyptian Christians are leaving the country in the wake of the Egyptian revolution and subsequent Islamist takeover of politics, priests and community leaders say.

Egypt’s Nour Party to Run Against Muslim Brotherhood in Election
"The ultraconservative Salafist Nour Party will compete with the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party in parliamentary elections, signaling a rift between the country’s two largest Islamist movements."

Iran spying on Israel from Syria, says Pentagon
Signals intelligence stations, including one in the Golan, are meant to supply information to Hezbollah

"Signals intelligence stations are reportedly being set up by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) throughout the Middle East, and the US believes they are meant to supply information on Israel to the Lebanese-based terrorist group Hezbollah."

Modern, moderate, Turkey: Muslim protesters burn flag, demand expulsion of U.S. troops from Turkey over rumor of Qur'an desecration

Scandal as rapper posts anti-Israel map
"German rap star Bushido (Anis Mohamed Youssef Ferchichi) caused outrage over the weekend when he posted on his Twitter profile a map of the Middle East next to the words “Free Palestine,” on which Israel was nowhere to be seen."

Mali is France’s Gaza

"France is now going to war in Mali because it says “we cannot have a terrorist state at the door of Europe,” but when Israel launches a defensive operation to protect its citizens from missile attacks from terrorists in Gaza, all the French newspapers and television commentators scream about Israeli aggression."

Clean fuels made in NJ with Israeli talent and financing
Primus Green Energy, soon to make alternative jet and auto fuels, is backed by the renewable energy arm of the Israel Corporation.

"George Boyajian, VP for business development, tells ISRAEL21c that the company is about to close a deal with “a major global airline.”
Though the company’s proprietary process can use a variety of feedstocks, including pelletized wood waste or energy crops, Primus is focusing for now on cheaply obtained natural gas."

Are any civilians being killed in Mali? Who cares?

Isn't it interesting that the concern for civilian casualties that the world exhibits when Israel targets terrorists in Gaza is almost non-existent when France targets terrorists in Mali?

You have to dig to find any articles that even address the issue:

The abrupt French intervention, without waiting for the planned West African ground force, is a risky gamble. It means that the operation will depend largely on air strikes – and civilians could pay a heavy price.

The United States is providing satellite intelligence and logistical help to the French operation, while Britain is providing two military transport planes.

The civilian toll is mounting. At least 11 civilians have been killed and many others injured in Konna, a town in central Mali that has faced a heavy bombardment by French warplanes since Friday. The town was captured on Thursday by Islamist fighters who inflicted heavy casualties on Malian troops.

Reports from other towns are hazy so far, but there could be significant casualties. In one town under aerial attack, Douentza in central Mali, injured civilians can’t even reach the hospital, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).

“Because of the bombardments and fighting, nobody is moving in the streets of Douentza and patients are not making it through to the hospital,” said a statement by MSF emergency response co-ordinator Rosa Crestani. “We are worried about the people living close to the combat zones.”

It's double standards day again, as it is every other day of the week.

Egyptian researcher claims there were no Temples

Al Ahram reports that Egyptian researcher Dr. Rahim Rihan, a supposed expert in Sinai and maritime archaeology, has determined that there have never been any Jewish Temples in Jerusalem.

Part of his evidence is the League of Nations report of December 1930 that determined that the Western Wall belongs to Muslims. (Part of that conclusion came because the rabbis that testified said that it belongs to no one but God, while the Muslims claimed it as their real estate.)

However, if you look at that very same report, the League of Nations makes it crystal clear that the Jewish Temples were on the Temple Mount:

The Wailing Wall forms an integral part of the western exterior shell of the Harem-esh-Sherif which itself is the site of the ancient Jewish temples, at the present day supplanted by Moslem Mosques....The very large blocks of stone at the base of the Wall, more especially the six courses of drafted stones, are dated by most archaeologists to the times of the Temple of Herod (i.e., the second, reconstructed Temple). Many of the stones bear inscriptions in Hebrew on their faces, some of them painted, others engraved. Above these stones there are three courses of undrafted masonry; these are probably Roman work (dating from the rebuilding of the city as a Roman colony by the Emperor Hadrian). The upper strata again are of much later date, belonging probably to the period about 1500 A.D. Recent researches go to show that the boundaries of the Wall coincide with those of the platform of the Temple of Solomon, of which courses of stones are supposed to still remain beneath the surface.

...It was Solomon who built the first Temple of Jerusalem, the grandeur and beauty of which have become widely renowned, thanks to the holy books and the historians. The Temple was situated on Mount Moriah on the platform, now known as the Harem-esh-Sherif area.

...About 720 B.C., the Assyrians destroyed the Kingdom of Israel and carried the inhabitants away as captives. About 600 B.C., Nebuchadnesar, King of Babylon, attacked the Kingdom of Judah. He destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon in the year 587 B.C. Most of the inhabitants were conveyed into captivity and were unable to return to their country until about 50 years later, after Cyrus, King of Persia, had conquered Babylon.

According to the Prophet Jeremiah the Jews who remained in the Holy Island during that period of expatriation had already developed the habit of going to worship on the ruins of the Temple. After the Jews returned to Palestine, the Temple was rebuilt on its ancient site, about the years 520-515 B.C. During the ensuing century a set form of ritual was established by Ezrah and Nehemiah.

In 332 B.C. the Jews came under the domination of the Macedonians. King Antiochus IV treated the Jews severely and, after the revolt they set on foot about 170 B.C. had been quelled, the second Jewish Temple was destroyed. Then there followed a period of independence, to a certain extent, which lasted until the country was conquered by the Romans, Pompey entering Jerusalem in the year 63 B.C. According to tradition - Bavli, Makkoth 24 - the Jews also during this period, i.e., after the destruction of the second Temple, were accustomed to go to the ruins of their holy site.

In the year 40 B.C., with the support of the Romans, Herod, surnamed the Great, became King of Judea and during his reign the Judean Kingdom regained some of its ancient splendour. Herod reconstructed the Temple for the second time.

This last Temple was not destined to attain the same length of life even as its predecessors, for in the year 70 A.D., Titus, who afterwards became Roman Emperor, conquered Jerusalem and, like Nebuchadnesar six and a half centuries earlier, destroyed the whole city of Jerusalem and also the Temple, a part of the Western Wall being the only remnant left of the building.

In the book edited by the Dominican Fathers, Vincent and Abel, Jérusalem nouvelle, Paris 1922-26, we are told that, during the first period after the destruction of the Temple of Herod, the Jews continued to go and weep at the ruins of it. According to tradition, the Jews' wailing-place at that time seems to have been the stone on Mount Moriah where the Mosque of Omar now stands.

...There are several Jewish authors of the 10th and 11th centuries, e.g., Ben Meir, Rabbi Samuel ben Paltiel, Solomon ben Judah, and others, who write about the Jews repairing to the Wailing Wall for devotional purposes, also under the Arab domination. A nameless Christian Pilgrim of the 11th century testifies to a continuance of the practice of the Jews coming to Jerusalem annually.

What kind of a liar does it take to cite a document as proof of your position when it actually says the opposite?