Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, March 04, 2013

Report: Hamas taking over Kerem Shalom crossing

Hamas will take control over one of the most important crossings connecting Israel and the Gaza Strip:

The organization's government in Gaza has notified Nahed Shuhaiber, the concessionaire who operates the Kerem Shalom crossing from the Palestinian side, that his responsibilities are being rescinded and that starting Monday morning, the new concessionaire will be Muhisan Sharafi. Monday morning, 70 trucks stood at the crossing waiting to bring goods into the Strip.

Because Shuhaiber operated the crossing on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and for this reason, Israel agreed for years to cooperate but Israel has also made a fundamental decision that the government and the defense establishment do not work opposite any Hamas-related entity.

In the past six days, the Kerem Shalom crossing has been closed for the entrance of goods to the Gaza Strip as a response to the rocket that fell on Ashkelon last week and the shots fired on the car of the Gaza Division's Northern Brigade from the Strip on Friday.

Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Major-General Eitan Dangot announced on Sunday that the crossing will be opened on Monday morning, but it seems that Hamas is planning on disrupting the resumption of activity there.

It is estimated that the PA's disagreement with the Hamas government in Gaza's unilateral decision, will cause the crossing to remain closed since there will be no trucks or contractors at the site to receive the goods from the Israeli side.

Palestinians estimate that 400 trucks full of goods will reach the crossing on Monday morning, a larger quantity than usual because of the fact that it has been closed over the past few days.

The Palestinian crossings administration updated Dangot regarding Hamas' decision and clarified in talks with senior PA officials, that Israel sees this move as an upset of the security-related status quo at the crossing, causing a situation in which Hamas and not the PA, is operating the crossing.

Dagnot explained to officials in the PA that working with a new concessionaire without coordination constitutes a security risk.

In light of the conflict, Egyptian officials placed heavy pressure on the Palestinians so that activities resume on Monday morning at the crossing.

Hamas made this decision in light of their new demand that the concessionaire pay a toll of NIS 170 (about $46) for every truck that enters the Strip. The reason for this toll stems from the loss of profits from taxation from the smuggling tunnels which were mostly destroyed over the past few weeks as a result of intensive Egyptian activity.

Palestinian sources in Rafah told Ynet that Egypt is not only destroying the tunnels intended for weapons smuggling, but also tunnels intended for the smuggling of goods and fuel – which prompted a rise in costs for various products in the Strip on the one hand, and to a significant reduction of income for the government in Gaza on the other.

The Fatah-leaning Palestine Press Agency reports this more as an excuse for Hamas to increase profits at the crossing, and not as a takeover by Hamas. It quotes Hamas official Ziad Zaza as saying that this is merely an attempt to open up the Kerem Shalom concession to competition, and Hamas has no plans to take it over; moreover, that Hamas isn't interested in directly controlling a crossing that Israel is involved with, presumably because Hamas doesn't want to appear to publicly speak to Israelis. Then again, if the previous concessionaire was considered to be working for the PA from Israel's perspective then this may still disrupt the operations there.

We will see in the coming hours whether the trucks make it through the crossing.

Meanwhile, after months of promises, several trucks of building materials have been starting to enter Gaza from Egypt via the Rafah crossing.

Muslims attacking Copts in Egypt over false rumor

From Al Ahram:

A rumour has spread in the Upper Egyptian city of Kom Ombo that a divorced Muslim woman in her mid-30s has been kidnapped by the Coptic Church and converted to Christianity. In an area socially divided across tribal loyalties and religion, the story managed to fuel violence against the area's Christian minority.

The city's most central and largest church, Mar Girgis, has been under attack for the past three days from what residents described as "unknown assailants." Mostly in their teens, hundreds of young boys and men have been surrounding the church, showering it with rocks and Molotov cocktails.

With Central Security Forces (CSF) trucks and soldiers fighting the assailants with teargas grenades, the church was relatively protected, although Molotov cocktails and rocks managed to reach its roofs and its open central courtyard.

A field hospital was set up in one of the corners of the courtyard while many of the injured sat inside the church resting, others praying. One young man in the church had obviously burned skin on his arms and back, which he said he suffered from one of the Molotov cocktails thrown at the church.

"The missing woman is not in this church as you can see … Her family never claimed she was," Priest Abanob Wahid of the Mari Girgis Church of Kom Ombo told Ahram Online.

The violence is not only limited to the church. Seventeen-year-old Copt Abanob, whose arm was covered with medical bandages, explained he was attacked by a young man also in his teens who had first asked him whether or not he was Christian.

"'Yes, I am a Christian! What's your problem?' I exclaimed before he followed me accompanied by a friend of his and took out a pocket knife. He aimed for my face but cut my arm instead, which I quickly raised to cover my face in an attempt to protect myself," Abanob told Ahram Online.

...Despite denials made by the family, church figures, and influential men of both religions that the woman had been kidnapped by the church, violence continues against Kom Ombo's Copts for a third day.

Since the missing woman disappeared a week ago, rumours have continued to spread and change without their sources ever being confirmed.

The latest widespread belief was that the room of the missing woman, who is also a well known school teacher in the area, was left full of crosses and Christian texts. Some say her ex-husband has kidnapped her; others claim she escaped with her Coptic lover and converted in a place far from Kom Ombo.

In recent years, Egypt had witnessed several attacks on churches, especially in Upper Egypt where sectarian tensions are more commonplace.

Clashes over alleged forced religious conversions have also been common in recent years. Most alleged instances centred on Christian women converting to Islam and believed held captive by the Coptic Church. The best known case was that of Camelia Shehata, the wife of a Coptic priest who was allegedly detained by the Church after she converted to Islam.

Copts have frequently complained that young Coptic women have been kidnapped by Muslim men and forced to convert for the purposes of marriage.

While conversion from Christianity to Islam is legally recognised, the opposite is not.

Sunday Links Part 2

From Ian:

Rand Paul: It's not Our Business Where Israelis Build
The senator spoke at The Iron Dome Congressional Tribute, a celebration of the U.S.-Israel alliance.

Several hundred Jewish leaders from across the U.S. journeyed to the capital to offer their gratitude to members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives for their staunch support of the U.S.-Israel relationship. Nearly two dozen Members of Congress, ranging from ultra-conservative to extremely liberal in their political ideologies, put partisanship aside and participated in this special program in order to stand united with the State of Israel.
Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, spoke about his trip to Israel and how much he enjoyed being there. He told the crowd how he sang Hebrew songs together with a group of rabbis at the Western Wall, even though he had no idea what the words meant. However, the statement that received thunderous applause was, “It is not our job to tell Israelis where they can or cannot build."

Kerry Commended for Defending 'Bedrock' of Jewish People
Simon Wiesenthal Center commends Sec. of State Kerry for directly confronting Turkish PM Erdogan's slanderous accusation against Zionism.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center commended U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday for directly confronting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's slanderous accusation in which he called Zionism a “crime against humanity”.
“Secretary Kerry is to be commended for publically objecting to Erdogan’s outrageous attack against Zionism, the bedrock of the Jewish people's historic narrative,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the leading Jewish human rights organization. “If our Turkish NATO ally wants to contribute to peace the first step would be for the Turkish prime minister to stop his verbal assaults against the Jewish state and her supporters around the world.”

UN Watch:

Germany Condemns Turkish PM Erdogan for “Hurtful and Unacceptable” Remarks
Full Transcript: Kerry calls Erodgan remark “objectionable”
World Leaders Condemn Turkey’s Erdogan over Zionism Slur

No way out
For Muslims, there is no escape from anti-Semitism

Muslim anti-Semitism has become historically genetic. It is fed into them with their mother’s milk.
It is inculcated at all levels, family, religious, cultural and political. It demands a high level of personal resolve and courage for an individual Muslim to break out of this festering prison of Jew-hatred. Yet to do so leaves that individual open to ridicule, hatred and retribution if he or she remains in that environment. This is the worrying swamp which, for many, there is no escape.

MEMRI: Inspire X "Open Source Jihad" Calls To Assassinate Top U.S., British, And French Heads Of State And Politicians

"If you think you are unable, then you have easy targets like [G.W.] Bush, Bill Clinton, Colin Powell, or Condoleezza Rice. Of course, you can also kill Sarkozy and Tony Blair. It is now easy to reach these guys, especially [now] that they aren't in office anymore."

Sanctioned sex club events and Israeli Apartheid Week have some university students angry over what their money funds

“It was one of those clear examples of crossing that line from legitimate criticism of Israel into hate and anti-Semitism,” says Mr. Gilboord. “Am I gonna cry at night? … No, but I think on campus we’re supposed to have a more academic atmosphere.”
Mr. Gilboord said one of the speakers quipped that Israeli Defence Forces kill Gazans six days a week out of seven. “I guess they take the Sabbath off,” said the speaker, according to Mr. Gilboord. When he and a handful of other pro-Israel students in attendance left near the end of the event, their departure was cheered by others in the crowd. All of this despite the equity statement commonly read at student meetings about ensuring a safe, inclusive space free from intolerance.

Jewish Students at Cornell Respond to Anti-Israel Defacement of Flyers on Campus

More than 20 posters that showed a defaced promotion for a Cornell Hillel event that brought Israeli soldiers to speak on campus were left scattered in a university rec center last week . The posters, which were marked up with red ink, denounced the “exclusively Jewish” soldiers — asserting that they engaged in “war-crime[s],” not “combat,” and served in “massacres,” not “missions.”
The Cornell Daily Sun reported that on Sunday Students for Justice in Palestine, an organization that describes itself as being dedicated to “raising awareness of the Palestinian experience,” took credit for making the posters. SJP claimed it produced the posters to “condemn the nature of Hillel’s event.”

Finnish police find ‘Jew list’ at neo-Nazi’s home
Man arrested for stabbing had compiled information about Jewish teens

JTA — Finnish police have informed several members of the country’s Jewish community that a neo-Nazi activist has been gathering information about them.
Police sent a letter to an undisclosed number of individuals after finding details about Finnish Jews on a USB stick in the possession of a man arrested two months ago, according a report Friday in the Israeli daily Ma’ariv.

Google opens Campus Tel Aviv startup space
The newest pin on the Google-Israel map aims to contribute toward future Israeli tech innovation.

Google opened its Tel Aviv offices in 2006. Currently, 270 developers work in this creatively designed eight-floor headquarters in the 45-story Electra Tower.
Another 80 employees churn out new products and technologies at Google’s Haifa R&D lab. “We also have a business operation here working with advertisers in Israel, Europe and Africa to build online businesses,” says Solomon.

EoZNews: Interview with Alex Safian of CAMERA

When I was in Israel I had the opportunity to meet with many of the people working for CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle east Reporting in America, as well as representatives of their sponsored blogs CiFWatch and BBCWatch. We had a good discussion of media bias and strategy. (Yes, conspiracy theorists, I will discuss strategy with fellow pro-Israel advocates. Scary, isn't it?)

Here is an exclusive EoZNews interview with Alex Safian, Associate Director of CAMERA, about media bias, the "apartheid land policy" claim that got him involved in the field, and other topics.

Sunday Links Part 1

From Ian:

Syrian Rebels Hang 'Palestinian Refugees' who Aided Assad
Syrian rebels hanged two Arabs registered as “Palestinian refugees” on suspicion of aiding the Assad, says a rights watchdog.

"Rebels in the Yarmouk camp executed two men accused of cooperating with the regime by identifying targets that were bombed last week," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"They were hanged from trees in the camp," added the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists and medics on the ground to collect information. It provided a picture illustrating the hangings, reported AFP.

Assad accuses UK of bullying, vows to hit back at Israel
Speaking to Sunday Times, Syrian president blasts London for trying to send arms to rebels, says Damascus always retaliates against Israel

Speaking about a reported Israeli airstrike in January on Syrian soil, which had allegedly damaged a chemical weapons site, Assad vowed to hit back as he said his country always had, though he said it might not be an overt counterattack.
“We retaliated in our own way, and only the Israelis know what we mean. Retaliation does not mean missile for missile or bullet for bullet. Our own way does not have to be announced,” he said.

Three Syrian Mortar Shells Strike Golan Heights

Three mortar shells exploded Saturday afternoon in the southern Golan Heights, near Ramot Magshimim. No one was hurt and no damage was caused.
The defense establishment believes that the shells were stray ones, which were fired in the course of the civil war in Syria, on the other side of the border.

Israel to renew apple exports to Syria

Thousands of tons of Israeli apples will be exported to Syria later this week in a renewal of an arrangement that was halted last year due to the civil war across the border.
The apples, grown by Druze farmers on the Golan Heights, are transferred between the two countries with the coordination of the United Nations and the International Red Cross.
This year is set to be the largest ever export since the arrangement began several years ago. Some 18,000 tons of apples will pass through the border crossing at Quneitra over the next three months.

Plague of locusts afflicts Egypt
Swarm of Biblical proportions surprises local authorities and blankets the ground near Giza

An enormous swarm of locusts is plaguing Egypt in a development that agricultural authorities admitted they failed to predict.
Egyptian Agricultural Minister Salah Abad Almoman said the swarm, comprising an estimated 30 million insects, descended on Giza, near southern Cairo, where it is causing great damage, Maariv reported on Sunday.
“The armed forces and the Egyptian border units are trying to battle the swarm with various means at their disposal,” Almoman said, but the report did not detail what action was taken. The minister appealed to local residents to refrain from attempting to deal with the ravenous horde themselves.

Islamic Cleric Charges: Morsi is a 'Zionist'
An Islamic cleric who opposes the Muslim Brotherhood described Egyptian President as a “Zionist” who shares security interests with Israel.

An Islamic cleric who opposes the Muslim Brotherhood described Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi on Friday as a “Zionist” who shares security interests with Israel, Al Arabiya reports.
Speaking to protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah Nasr, leader of the Front “Ozharyoun with civil state,” said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was coming to Egypt to support “Morsi the Zionist.”

Egypt, two Coptic Orthodox children aged 9 and 10 risk jail on blasphemy charges

Yet another case of violence and abuse against Coptic Christians. On 26 February, the Court of Bani Suef (Upper Egypt) dismissed the appeal of the families of the two children Rzik Nagy, aged 10, and Mina Farag, 9, accused of desecrating the Koran. They have been detained in a juvenile prison since April 2012. The case has attracted a lot of criticism in the country. Many claim the trial was illegal and devoid of any logic.

100 Copts Arrested In Libya

Voice of the Copts strongly condemns the round-up, detention and presumed torture of Egyptian Copts in Benghazi, Libya being held for allegedly proselytizing Christianity which is illegal in that country. Evidence of such offense is yet unsubstantiated as facts cited by the arresting body keep changing. Furthermore, the charges are highly suspect given they follow recent attacks on a Coptic church.

Seized Chinese Weapons Raise Concerns on Iran

Among the items aboard the dhow, according to a review of factory markings on weapons and their packing crates, were 10 Chinese heat-seeking antiaircraft missiles, most of them manufactured in 2005.
The missiles were labeled QW-1M and bore stencils suggesting that they had been assembled at a factory represented by the state-owned China National Precision Machinery Import and Export Corporation, sanctioned by the United States for transfers of missile technology to Pakistan and Iran.

Comedy Central: Jon Stewart Letter Backing Anti-War Protest Group is Counterfeit
Code Pink published a letter "from" Stewart backing their anti-drone campaign; Comedy Central says the note is bogus.

Code Pink, the organization known for screaming and streaking during their public protests, published and sent to its email list a letter purported to be from The Daily Show host on Wednesday; it claimed his support for the group's request that the senate releases documents about the drone campaign.
However, a representative from Comedy Central has confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the letter was not sent by Stewart or anyone at the network.

Accuweather says the Jewish Quarter is in "Palestine"

Last year, CiFWatch noted that the Israeli town of Modi'in is considered to be part of "Palestine" by Accuweather, even though it is within the Green Line. Tweeter "AntiIsrael Douchebag" noticed the same in his mobile app:

Not surprisingly, many Jewish communities in the territories are also considered to be within "Palestine" as well by Accuweather, although Jerusalem is still in Israel at the moment...

Pisgat Ze'ev, a part of Jerusalem, is also in "Palestine" according to Accuweather. (Interestingly, Har Nof is considered Israeli, and so is Maale Adumim.) Canada Park, owned by the Jewish National Fund, is considered in "Palestine."

Here's a full list of "Palestine" cities.

As absurd as this is, nothing beats this one I stumbled onto:

"Jewich Quarter"?

It is a good thing that peace plans aren't drawn up by clueless webmasters at weather sites.

Far more camps/ghettoes in Holocaust than previously thought

From NYT:

Thirteen years ago, researchers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum began the grim task of documenting all the ghettos, slave labor sites, concentration camps and killing factories that the Nazis set up throughout Europe.

The researchers have cataloged some 42,500 Nazi ghettos and camps throughout Europe, spanning German-controlled areas from France to Russia and Germany itself, during Hitler’s reign of brutality from 1933 to 1945.

The figure is so staggering that even fellow Holocaust scholars had to make sure they had heard it correctly when the lead researchers previewed their findings at an academic forum in late January at the German Historical Institute in Washington.

“The numbers are so much higher than what we originally thought,” Hartmut Berghoff, director of the institute, said in an interview after learning of the new data.

“We knew before how horrible life in the camps and ghettos was,” he said, “but the numbers are unbelievable.”

The documented camps include not only “killing centers” but also thousands of forced labor camps, where prisoners manufactured war supplies; prisoner-of-war camps; sites euphemistically named “care” centers, where pregnant women were forced to have abortions or their babies were killed after birth; and brothels, where women were coerced into having sex with German military personnel.

...When the research began in 2000, Dr. Megargee said he expected to find perhaps 7,000 Nazi camps and ghettos, based on postwar estimates. But the numbers kept climbing — first to 11,500, then 20,000, then 30,000, and now 42,500.

The numbers astound: 30,000 slave labor camps; 1,150 Jewish ghettos; 980 concentration camps; 1,000 prisoner-of-war camps; 500 brothels filled with sex slaves; and thousands of other camps used for euthanizing the elderly and infirm, performing forced abortions, “Germanizing” prisoners or transporting victims to killing centers.

In Berlin alone, researchers have documented some 3,000 camps and so-called Jew houses, while Hamburg held 1,300 sites.

Dr. Dean, a co-researcher, said the findings left no doubt in his mind that many German citizens, despite the frequent claims of ignorance after the war, must have known about the widespread existence of the Nazi camps at the time.

“You literally could not go anywhere in Germany without running into forced labor camps, P.O.W. camps, concentration camps,” he said. “They were everywhere.”

Egyptian protesters torch police station

From Al Arabiya:

Egyptian protesters torched a police station in Port Said on Saturday, as police used tear gas to disperse crowds in the province of al-Mansura, reported Al Arabiya.

Residents said protesters set a light the police station after a security vehicle ran over demonstrators taking part in a peaceful march, leaving five people wounded.

About 500 protesters threw stones and petrol bombs and then blocked fire engines from approaching the blaze, said the interior ministry.

In Mansura, Egyptian protesters also stormed a police building, amid renewed clashes after a demonstrator's death overnight, the official MENA news agency reported.

They attacked a building that formerly housed the now-relocated regional police headquarters, but where police still have offices.

A security source told AFP police were able to repel them with tear gas.

Six officers were also reportedly injured in Port Said as demonstrators attempted to free detainees held inside the car by hurling stones at the vehicle which was on its way to Port Said’s courthouse.

Here's a video of the smoldering police station:

Things are not looking good in Egypt.

Great picture from Jerusalem Marathon

(h/t Joel)

Saturday Links

From Ian:

Into the Fray: Surrendering sovereignty – again
Israeli leaders need to realize that the litmus test of good diplomacy is not to get the world to applaud your compliancy and capitulation, but to accept your pursuit of national interests and imperatives.

Talkbackers get what government doesn’t...
And finally, NormanF: “The Israeli government’s default mode is to surrender to Arab blackmail, threats and intimidation. It can’t say “no” and uphold Jewish sovereignty... Any other country on earth would never accept for themselves the “international observer” nonsense Aharonovitch peddled before the Knesset. It would reject outright all attempts to compromise its independence. What his statement proved again in the face of escalating global anti-Semitism, is that its easy to take the Jew out of the ghetto but its very difficult to take the ghetto out of the Jew!”

Elliott Abrams: Kerry wrong to push for a permanent accord
Senior official in George W. Bush administration also says Israel should not have opposed Palestinians’ UN gambit, and that Olmert’s claim he was close to a peace deal is a ‘mirage’

“Israel’s opposition to it was so strong that it actually built up the importance of the resolution,” he said, adding that the Palestinians’ non-member state status changes very little on the ground. It would have been smarter for Netanyahu to openly declare that Palestine will not become a state through UN resolutions, but it was a “mistake” to fight the UN bid so vehemently.

Full Transcript: Ambassador Prosor’s Speech on Incitement to Terror and Violence at UN Conference

Below is the full text of the speech delivered by Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, on February 28th 2013 on the subject of Incitement to Terror and Violence, at a United Nations Conference.

Far left Australian newspaper "The Age" and the odious flotidiot Paul McGeough, shill for Hamas terrorists.
Leader waits in shifting sands of Middle East

First comes one projectile, then another. Both are in full flight, moving quickly.
Launched by Khalid Mishal in the early hours of the morning, they could be rockets over Gaza. But he is in Doha, deftly quartering apples and guavas, then hurling pieces the length of the room, to a colleague at the other end of a long, leather-inlaid conference table.

More:
Hamas chief evokes Arab Spring in push to lead all Palestinians
Khalid Mishal: terrorist or rebel with a cause?

Gantz: Rocket fired at Ashkelon Tuesday aimed for power plant
Chief of staff says he does not see third intifada unfolding; shots fired from Gaza Friday hit IDF officer’s vehicle

Syrian troops destroy ancient synagogue

One of the oldest synagogues in the world was partially destroyed by Syrian government shelling, according to a video posted to YouTube overnight Friday.
The Jobar Synagogue, located in a suburb of Damascus, is approximately 2,000 years old, and is said to have been built on top of a cave where the prophet Elijah concealed himself from persecution.

Police confiscate US consulate building plans in Istanbul

Security forces have confiscated explosives along with a series of building plans of the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, a synagogue and a church, in a recent operation against al-Qaeda in several cities, Doğan news agency reported today.
Police departments of the Western province of Tekirdağ and Istanbul cooperated in an operation that detained 11 people and seized 25 kilograms of A-4 type plastic explosives, five rifles, five guns, several USB flash disks, CDS and remote-controlled explosive mechanisms.

Jews, Armenians Exposed to Most Hate Speech in Turkey

A study by Turkey’s Hrant Dink Foundation has found that Jews have become the main object of hate speech in the country, followed by Armenians, Christians, and Greeks.

This is over': Libya closes file on Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 despite U.S. and British pleas to re-open inquiry

Officials from new regime reject calls to hunt down remaining suspects
Authorities fear new investigation could prompt demand for compensation
Britain tonight insisted investigation into 1988 atrocity remains open

Two NJ men indicted in series of synagogue bombings

Childhood friends could face life in prison if convicted of all 30 charges
Two men were formally charged Friday in a series of firebomb attacks on synagogues in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
A grand jury handed up a 30-count indictment against Aakash Dalal and Anthony M. Graziano, Prosecutor John Molinelli said.

Irish channel must apologize for show calling Israel ‘cancer’
National broadcasting regulator rejects claim that comments were anti-Semitic, but says host failed to meet standards of fairness

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland upheld a complaint against prominent broadcaster Vincent Browne on Thursday for referring to Israel as “the cancer in foreign affairs” on his late-night TV3 show.

Israeli start-up brings gesture tech to iPhones
PointGrab’s new CamMe app shows off a future in which users will be able to interact more easily with their iDevices

With gesture technology gaining traction as an important interaction method between man and machine, it was only a matter of time before it showed up on smartphones and tablets. Now, Israeli 2D gesture technology company Pointgrab has become one of the first to bring it to smartphones, specifically Apple’s iOS platform.

New Poll: 31% of Americans Favor Israelis Over Palestinians

The first question was whether the United States should support the Israelis more than the Palestinians, support the Palestinians more than the Israelis or should the U.S. treat both the same? To this question 55% of respondents answered that they should be treated both the same, while 31% said Israelis should be favored vs. just 4% in favor of the Palestinians.

Two more "Apartheid?" posters

Since the two-month long "Israel 'Apartheid' Week" has begun, I added a couple of posters to my most popular series ever:

All of the posters can be seen here.

I received over a thousand hits just last month for that poster page. Tens of thousands of people have read that page and at least that many have seen the posters being sent in email chains, on other webpages, and at counter-protests.

Another Palestinian Arab dies in custody - but there will be no riots

From Ma'an:

A prisoner being held in a Palestinian Authority jail in Jericho died on Friday, a senior Palestinian official said.

Ayman Mohammad Sharif Samara, 40, died while being detained on charges of assault, Palestinian Authority attorney general Muhammad Abdul-Ghani al-Uweiwi told Ma'an.

He was arrested on Friday and transferred to a nearby hospital, where he passed away, al-Uweiwi said.

The PA attorney general denied that the prisoner was tortured or beaten during interrogations and said that an autopsy would be performed and the results made public once completed.

An investigation into his death has already begun, al-Uweiwi added.

Why no demand for an international investigation? Why no riots about the uncanny coincidence of a prisoner dying the day of his arrest? Why no uproar?

Ah, it is another application of the Middle East version of the Inverse Square Law:

The amount of outrage over an Arab death is inversely proportional to the square of the possibility that the death can be blamed on Jews.

Friday Links Part 2

From Ian:

John Kerry: Kyrzakhstan and Palestine

So, “East Jerusalem” is Jerusalem’s Old City and its surrounding neighborhoods. The original and oldest parts of Jerusalem are in this “East Jerusalem”.
There has never been in history an independent municipal entity known as “East Jerusalem” just as there has never been an independent national entity known as Palestine just as there has never been a Kyrzakhstan.
When anti-Israel extremists created the term “East Jerusalem” it was for one reason. They wanted to rip Israel’s capital apart in order to defeat Israel. This effort tragically gained full force with the Oslo Accords. This was fully explained in the B’tzedek Online Journal on December 30, 1996 in an editorial titled The War Has Just Begun:

NSF leaders refuse to meet Kerry in protest against US pro-Morsy stance

Hamdeen Sabbahi and Mohamed ElBaradei of the National Salvation Front (NSF) will not meet US Secretary of State John Kerry during his visit to Egypt, said Heba Yassin of the Popular Current Party.
The United States insists on painting a positive image of President Mohamed Morsy, despite the criticisms and demands of the opposition, the political figures claim.

'Erdogan Uses Denigration of Israel to Walk Islamist Street'
"Erdogan has chosen to use the denigration of Israel to establish his credentials with the Islamist street,” said leading Jewish group.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center decried UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon’s silence at a UN conclave in Vienna as Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan charged that Zionism is "a crime against humanity," lumping it together with racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

Erdogan's hypocrisy
Erdogan? ‘Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism are crimes against humanity.’ Oom Shmum? ‘We’re keeping shtum’

So who’s going to take Erdogan on and expose him for the bullying humbug that he is? Certainly not Ban Ki Moon and the other insidious officials at the UN. Perhaps US Secretary of State John Kerry might slip him a hushed scolding on his upcoming visit to Turkey?
I, for one, am not holding my breath.

UN slams Erdogan's Zionism remark, 'if rightly interpreted'

The UN issued a formal apology on behalf of Erdogan, "if the comment about Zionism was interpreted correctly," a UN spokesperson clarified in the statement.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon heard Erdogan's speech through an interpreter, and said in a statement that if the comments were translated properly, they were "wrong" and "hurtful."

White House slams Erdogan's Zionism remark

We reject Prime Minister Erdogan's characterization of Zionism as a crime against humanity, which is offensive and wrong," White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement.
"We encourage people of all faiths, cultures, and ideas to denounce hateful actions and to overcome the differences of our times," he said.

EXPOSÉ: Italy's New Leader: Here is What He Says on Israel
New popularist politician's remarks on Israel - among other topics - raise concerns over antisemitism...

Mr. Grillo even defended Mel Gibson's rant on the Jews: "Israel is scary, her behavior is irresponsible", the politician said. "I said it. And I'm not drunk. I'm just scared for my children. Israel is behind the United States or the United States is behind Israel, which is the cause and which the effect?".
Mr. Grillo has attacked "the Holocaust industry". During a show in Rome, Grillo invited Iraq's Saddam Hussein to point his rockets on a precise point on the map which was then Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's house near Milan.

IDF Blog: 24h With IDF Soldiers Chapter 2: Judea and Samaria

This is where the Kfir Brigade is stationed. The IDF decided to establish the brigade in 2005 to provide an effective response to Palestinian terrorism in Judea and Samaria and to urban guerrilla warfare.

IDF Blows Up Sand in Hunt for Safe Windows
Near a southern airport, IDF workers are bombing a fake building. The goal – to find the world’s safest windows.

A group of IDF workers has spent a large part of the last several weeks in the desert in southern Israel, setting off bombs. Their goal: to find the safest windows in the world.
Major Benny Brosh, head of the research and development unit, explained the process to Arutz Sheva.
The army is responsible for testing the windows, along with similar devices developed by civilian firms that are now seeking high levels of safety certification, he said. The military runs tests that include controlled explosions to see if the windows can stand up to shock waves, shrapnel, and even poison gases.

JPost Editorial: Arrow sharp

Arrow 3 underscores Israel’s ongoing technological superiority in the region and it can buy us time. But it and accompanying lower-tier interceptors unfortunately cannot hermetically seal our skies, nor can they replace traditional offensive measures to destroy weapons of mass destruction arsenals across the lines.
There are no neat, deluxe fixes, but Arrow 3 means better protection by far than that which is currently available, at higher altitudes and at significantly greater distances from our narrow borders. For a tiny, densely populated state such as Israel that is very reassuring news.

Paid NYT obituary takes shot at NYT

Priceless:

(h/t Jeffrey Goldberg)

Friday Links Part 1

From Ian:

LATMA: What is academic courage, and the blessed approach of the 3rd Intifada

Palestinians to Hagel Report: "We Don't Need U.S. Troops Here" by Khaled Abu Toameh

There is also no guarantee that Egypt, Jordan or any Arab country would be prepared to join a US-led force in wake of the current events in the Arab world.
Many Arabs and Muslims continue to view the US as an enemy, especially because of Washington's support for Israel. Any Arab leader who agrees to join a U.S. or NATO force will be denounced by his people as a traitor and puppet in the hands of Americans and Zionists.
Besides, who said that the Arab countries are keen on sending troops to patrol the streets of Palestinian cities?
Does anyone seriously think that Jordan's King Abdullah would ever send Jordanian soldiers to Palestinian cities? Hasn't Jordan's policy over the past two decades been to distance itself as much as possible from the Palestinians?

PMW: PA TV honors terrorists who killed 22 children and 4 adults for the second year in a row
Other terror attacks by DFLP also honored

The Ma'alot massacre was done by the DFLP in 1974. Terrorists took school children as hostages.
22 of them were murdered along with four adults.
The PA TV tribute also honored terrorists who were described as "the heroes of Beit Shean, the pride of the Palestinian revolution."
These were three PFLP terrorists who killed four civilians in the Israeli city of Beit Shean.

CIF Watch: A glimpse into how the Guardian reported Palestinian terrorism in 1974

Though the snapshot from the video is blurry, the story appears to open with the words, “Sixteen Israeli schoolchildren were killed tonight and 70 wounded by Arab terrorists…”. The focus is on the victims. The perpetrators were not described, per the author, Eric Silver, as “militants” (or some other euphemism), but, rather, “terrorists”.
The terrorists are referred to as “Arab”, not “Palestinian”.
Finally, though the strap line lurches towards something suggesting sympathy for the terrorists – by characterizing them as “trapped” – the headline aptly describes the event as a “massacre”.
It’s inconceivable that such terrorist savagery would be reported similarly today.
It’s difficult, short of scouring the Guardian Archives, to say for sure when the Guardian – a truly liberal and Zionist paper under the leadership, and subsequent legacy, of former owner C.P. Scott – began to first turn on the Jewish state. However, in 1974 (based on their coverage of the Ma’alot Massacre) they were still willing to unambiguously inform their readers that cold-blooded fanatics had murdered innocent Jewish children.

BBC Watch: Where can terrorism be named as such by the BBC?

One can be fairly confident that the BBC will not be setting up an interview between the police spokesman and Mishal Husein so that she can ask him how many residents of Northern Ireland were actually killed by “home-made contraptions”.
Notably, the BBC does not suggest any kind of linkage (implying extenuating circumstances) between the discovery of the weapons and the actions of Protestants in Northern Ireland or the policies of the British government.
In this case, the BBC has managed to report the story for what it is: the illegal possession of military-grade weapons by a terrorist group which threatens civilian lives.
It is a pity that the BBC is so often unable to apply the same standards of reporting to certain parts of the Middle East.

Accessories in Fogel Murder Sentenced
Three PA Arabs have been sentenced to prison for aiding the murderers of the Fogel family

Over two years after the vicious murders of five members of the Fogel family of Itamar, four PA Arabs have been sentenced to between two and seven years in prison for the assistance they rendered to the two Arab terrorists who carried out the attack.

Egypt confiscates missiles smuggled from Libya

An Egyptian security official says authorities have confiscated two pick-up trucks carrying 60 anti-tank missiles smuggled across the border from Libya.
The official says two truck drivers were arrested and the weapons seized just south of Cairo on Wednesday morning.

Hezbollah in a Slump
Arab sources openly denounce the organization as a subsidiary of Iran. Hanin Ghaddar, of the Lebanese web site, NOW, recently wrote:

Hezbollah is not, as it claims to its supporters, a Lebanese party whose mission is to protect Lebanese people and territories. It is a militia which uses Lebanon as a geographical base from which to launch attacks against Iran’s enemies no matter where or who they are.

Report: “Independent” Campaign Against Iranian Sanctions and Military Intervention Has Numerous Links to Regime

The Campaign Against Sanctions & Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII) was founded by Abbas Edalat in 2005. CASMII claims to be an advocate of Iranians everywhere as well as “independent of all political groups and governments, including the Iranian government.” But a recent report released by the Germany-based Stop the Bomb, a nonpartisan initiative aimed at stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, appears to counter these claims. According to the report, many of the people associated with the campaign have close ties to the Iranian regime, or have publicly supported it.

Ethiopian Israeli Stars on the Rise
A new pop singer and a new Miss Israel hit the mainstream

In what might be construed as either a coincidence, a rising trend, or a cultural rebuke against Israeli immigration policies, Ethopian stars seem to be making some serious headway in the Israeli cultural landscape.