Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, March 08, 2013

Playboy goes to Gaza. Really.

This seems appropriate for International Women's Day.

Playboy has a report on how the Islamist surge in North Africa has affected sexual mores.

It provides a few insights into the underground club scene in Tunisia and elsewhere, but it ends in Gaza:

1.7 million people live under the rugged rule of Hamas, the Islamist movement that won power through a combination of ballots and bullets in 2006 and 2007. It has clung to power religiously ever since, and despite being pummeled by Israeli sieges, incursions and most recently a bombardment waged from land, sea and air, Hamas succeeded in forming and preserving the first Islamist government on the Mediterranean. Initially, God squads scoured the beaches, searching for female skin. Vigilantes interrupted lovers and hauled them into court. “When a man and a woman are together, their first thoughts are of fornication, so we have to take care,” explains a guard outside rows of beach chalets where, he claims, Hamas’s corrupt secular predecessors—Yasir Arafat’s security guards—had swapped wives by locking them in their chalets, dropping the keys in a bucket and playing lucky dip.

And yet once ensconced, the Islamists slowly relaxed. Despite the frowns of the religious affairs minister, Gaza clothes shops fill their windows with scarlet dresses and heart-shaped cushions to celebrate Valentine’s Day, or as Palestinians call it, the Love Fest. Gazans call Hamas women “two jays” because they wear jeans beneath their jilbabs. Long bereft of cinemas and bars, Gaza at night bubbles with the honks of wedding parties touring the streets; the beaches where a few Gaza girls once dared to wear bikinis are now lined with resorts that celebrate mass weddings. Most curious of all, I discovered that what claims to be the Mediterranean’s largest polygamous dating agency is government-subsidized—it sports a photograph on its walls of Gaza’s Islamist prime minister, Ismail Haniya, handing over a $100,000 check. The agency’s owner, Fahmi al-Atiri, cites Hamas’s stocky interior minister, who was reputed to have found at least one of his six wives through the agency (to keep within Islam’s statutory limits, he divorced two). Having put me in a sufficiently sympathetic frame of mind, al-Atiri gives me a guided tour of his “marriage-facilitation charity,” proudly plying me with albums of the women on offer. He suggests I assuage my wife’s doubts by letting her choose the second, in the name of equal opportunity. It had worked for him, he says, noting with relief that his wife had selected a pretty divorcée 12 years his junior.

Friday Links Part 1

From Ian:

Palestinians Plan "Warm" Welcome for Obama by Khaled Abu Toameh

One plan being discussed among Palestinian activists includes staging anti-US demonstrations in Palestinian cities, particularly outside the place Obama is scheduled to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Activists in Ramallah said they would try to block the roads leading to the location of the Obama-Abbas meeting to protest against US "bias in favor of Israel."
Some activists have even prepared American flags and portraits of Obama that would be set on fire in front of TV crews covering the visit.
Palestinian activists say they are also hoping to humiliate Obama when and if he decides to visit the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Many Palestinians have already called on Obama to refrain from visiting the holy site, especially if he would be escorted by Israeli policemen and security officials.

NYT OpEd: End the Arab Boycott of Israel By Ed Husain

I abandoned Muslim groupthink and went to Israel because there is a new momentum in the region. Egypt’s former grand mufti, Ali Gomaa, and the prominent scholar Habib Ali al-Jifri, broke ranks with Qaradawi and went to Jerusalem last April. They justified their visit on scriptural grounds, citing the Prophet Muhammad’s encouragement for believers to visit the Holy Land. Their trip was facilitated by Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan, the principal religious adviser to King Abdullah II.
Muslim leaders in Jerusalem welcomed both men and Palestinian imams called for the end of the Arab boycott on Al Jazeera Arabic and other media outlets. This was a direct challenge to radicals like Qaradawi and his supporters in the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo and the Islamist party Ennahda in Tunis. Why do they want to continue the boycott?

CIF Watch: The inevitable CiF essay using nixed Gaza marathon as fodder to demonize Israel

So, evidently, Ramdani’s primary concern is that Hamas made a tactical mistake by forcing the cancellation of a charity marathon (raising money for Gaza’s children) which would have had the effect of exposing Israeli oppression. Note also that Ramdani falsely characterizes Israel’s blockade as illegal when, in fact, the UN Palmer Report definitively concluded that the blockade was indeed legal under international law.
Further in the essay, Ramdani even manages to implicitly blame Israel for Hamas’s misogynistic and repressive policies against its own citizens.

Israel prepares for next war with Hezbollah
While tensions along Israel’s northern border run high, the army is down south, simulating battles with its Lebanese arch-foe

As the Syrian civil war intensifies, military planners are growing increasingly jittery that the fighting could spill over into Israel, potentially dragging the Islamic militant group that is allied with President Bashar Assad into the fray. After battling Hezbollah to a stalemate in 2006, the Israeli military says it has learned key lessons and is prepared to inflict heavy damage on the group if fighting begins again.

Company Whose Cranes Were Used for Public Hangings Withdraws From Iran

After the revelation that its cranes were being used for executions in Iran, Austrian company Palfinger has communicated to United Against a Nuclear Iran (UANI) that it is no longer doing business in the country.
In fact, the company hadn’t been doing business in Iran for some time. In a letter sent by Palfinger’s CEO, Herbert Ortner, to UANI in response to its February appeal that the company withdraw from Iran, Ortner made it clear that Palfinger had made attempts to cut ties with Iran since 2011.

Syria releases photos of alleged Israeli spy devices
Equipment designed to photograph, register and transfer data, state TV claims

Syrian state-run TV released pictures on Thursday of the Israeli espionage equipment Damascus claimed to have found on Wednesday.
Authorities near the country’s coast were said to have found Israeli devices designed to photograph, register and transfer data, according to a brief report in the regime-run Syrian Arab News Agency.

Wiesenthal Centre Urges Investigation after Report Shows Anti-Semitic Hungarian Political Party Moves Closer to Iran

After a three-day visit to the country by officials, the Simon Wiesenthal Center is urging the Hungarian government–as well as the European Parliament– to investigate reports of a growing relationship between Iran and the anti-Semitic Jobbik Hungarian political party.
“Hungarian leaders we met confirmed that the Jobbik party and the Iranian regime share a hatred for Jews, Israel, the European Union and the United States,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper associate Dean and Dr. Shimon Samuels Director of International Relations of the Centre reported, adding that “a Socialist Party MP told them that Jobbik’s increasingly anti-Semitic and anti-Israel attacks can be linked in part to the growing connection.”

Ohio buys $42 million of Israel Bonds
CJN EXCLUSIVE: Treasurer Mandel makes largest such purchase in United States history

“We believe this is a sound investment for the taxpayers of Ohio and consistent with our strategy of investing in safe and strong securities,” Mandel said in a telephone interview March 4.

SingTel opens tech center in Israel
Singapore giant’s partnership with Amdocs to help local startups get footing in Asia market.

“We have been extremely satisfied with the wealth of talent in Israel. We experienced this through our recently acquired global mobile advertising company Amobee which has a technology center in Israel, as well as through our venture capital investments in two Israeli companies in the mobile Internet business. This has propelled us to open this new development center to scout for new growth engines for SingTel,” said Allen Lew, Chief Executive Officer of Group Digital L!fe, SingTel.

Source

For many Muslims, the "one state solution" is the Caliphate

Virtually wandering around some Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem on Google Street View, I came across this graffitum in Silwan/Kfar HaShiloach:

The flag is effectively the Saudi flag, with its Muslim declaration of faith.

Underneath, the Arabic writing says "We pray to Allah that next year's hajj will be under the shadow of the Caliphate."

The end game for Islamists isn't a one-state solution in "Palestine" - that is merely a stage, and they are happy to recruit people who pretend to love democracy and human rights and the rule of law to get to that stage. Their goal - as stated explicitly in the Hamas charter - is to establish a single Muslim state in the entire Middle East.

What believing Muslim would publicly disagree?

(h/t Al Gharqad for translation)

Jordanian newspaper wraps up series of antisemitic articles

Ad-Dustour "The Constitution," a major Jordanian newspaper publishing since 1967, has just finished a three-part series that is pure antisemitism.

The point of the series is to show that Zionism is simply an extension of traditional Jewish racism dating back to Biblical times.

Written by a "researcher in religious studies," the series seems almost entirely lifted off of neo-Nazi sites like Stormfront.

The author, Ahmed Ashkar, claims that there are six themes in Judaism that run through Zionism as well:

1. The divine promise and colonizing the country
2. Messianism
3. Expulsion and displacement and the destruction of villages and cities
4. The purity of Jewish race
5. Seizing the property and lives of the "goyim"
6. Religious-sanctioned violence

Part 3, just published, climaxes with a long series of fake Talmud quotes purportedly allowing Jews to kill and steal from non-Jews with impunity. (Answers to these can be found here.)

Again, Ad-Dustour is a respected, mainstream, independent Jordanian newspaper. Ashkar has been writing on this topic for years.

Needless to say, one would be hard-pressed to find a single word of protest against this series or indeed against any anti-semitic article in Arab media.

This is yet another example of how entrenched anti-semitism is in Arab society, even among "moderate" states. Samira Ibrahim is not the exception - she is the rule.

Samira Ibrahim responds to award being postponed with another anti-Jewish tweet

From the WaPo:

The Obama administration is postponing an award for an Egyptian activist who rallied worldwide attention against forced “virginity tests” on female protesters because of anti-American and anti-Semitic comments discovered on her Twitter account.

The State Department announced earlier this week that Samira Ibrahim would be among 10 recipients of the International Women of Courage award presented by Secretary of State John Kerry and first lady Michelle Obama on Friday.

But State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Thursday the U.S. would hold off on awarding Ibrahim while officials investigate the tweets, which include support for attacks against U.S. diplomatic installations and praise for a terrorist assault against Israeli citizens in Bulgaria.

Ibrahim, who has already arrived in the U.S, says her account was hacked, though the comments stretch back several months.

The Weekly Standard broke the story, and detailed the offensive tweets:

On Twitter, Ibrahim is quite blunt regarding her views. On July 18 of last year, after five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver were killed a suicide bombing attack, Ibrahim jubilantly tweeted: “An explosion on a bus carrying Israelis in Burgas airport in Bulgaria on the Black Sea. Today is a very sweet day with a lot of very sweet news.”

Ibrahim frequently uses Twitter to air her anti-Semitic views. Last August 4, commenting on demonstrations in Saudi Arabia, she described the ruling Al Saud family as “dirtier than the Jews.” Seventeen days later she tweeted in reference to Adolf Hitler: “I have discovered with the passage of days, that no act contrary to morality, no crime against society, takes place, except with the Jews having a hand in it. Hitler.”

Ibrahim holds other repellent views as well. As a mob was attacking the United States embassy in Cairo on the eleventh anniversary of 9/11, pulling down the American flag and raising the flag of Al Qaeda, Ibrahim wrote on twitter: “Today is the anniversary of 9/11. May every year come with America burning.” Possibly fearing the consequences of her tweet, she deleted it a couple of hours later, but not before a screen shot was saved by an Egyptian activist.

Just today, apparently after having been warned that her vicious tweets might cause her trouble during her visit to the U.S., she has written on twitter: “My account has been previously stolen and any tweet on racism and hatred is not me.” However, in the past she never made any mention of her account being “stolen.” The record of her anti-Semitic tweets is still available online.

The idea that her Twitter account was hacked is, frankly, ludicrous.

Tonight, her first reaction to the award being postponed was this:

رفضت الاعتذار للوبى الصهيونى فى امريكا عن تصريحات سابقة معادية للصهيونية تحت ضغوط من الحكومة الامريكية فتم سحب الجائزة #سميرة_ابراهيم

I refuse to apologize to the Zionist lobby in America under pressure from the U.S. government for previous statements hostile to Zionism

Ah, you see, she's not anti-semitic! She is merely a victim of the Jewish - er, Zionist Lobby!

Seriously, anti-semitism in Egypt is so endemic, that this sort of thing is inevitable. But the West usually sweeps Arab anti-semitism under the rug, so the times that it gets mainstream exposure causes a collective gasp - and then gets ignored again until the next time.

Don't hold your breath waiting for Arab intellectuals or pundits to criticize Ibrahim in any Arabic-language media. On the contrary, the "Zionist Lobby" excuse is far more likely.

"Israel planning to demolish Al Aqsa before Obama visit"

The nutty rumors continue in the Arabic press.

This one, in both Islamic Jihad's Palestine Today and Hamas' Felesteen, says that "the occupation is accelerating efforts to demolish Al-Aqsa Mosque with U.S. blessing" before President Obama's planned visit to Israel on March 20.

Adnan Husseini, head of the Waqf, says that Israel plans to replace the mosque with the Third Temple. Moreover, he charges that there is a seven-step plan to destroy the mosque, and Israel has already implemented six of them, including clearing the Kotel plaza, building synagogues in the Old City and archaeological digs that are presumably meant to weaken the foundations of the mosque.

Of course, the idea that this is being planned is ludicrous.

But now that I had my tour of the area and see that the Al Aqsa Mosque is built completely on part of the Temple Mount that was expanded by Herod, and not near the "Holy of Holies," the idea of building a synagogue on one of the large open spaces on the southern part of the Mount doesn't bother me at all.

It is a sad fact that the idea of equal rights between Jews and Muslims on the Temple Mount is considered a crazy radical right-wing idea.

Thursday Links Part 2

From Ian:

Jewish Harvard Students Receive Mock Eviction Notices
Jewish students at Harvard University receive mock eviction notices in light of “Israel Apartheid Week.”

In Harvard University’s latest attempt to promote the delegitimization of the state of Israel, Jewish students in freshman and upper class dormitories received mock eviction notices in light of “Israel Apartheid Week”, which is currently being organized on college and university campuses worldwide.
The campaign, organized by the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee, distributed notices at the beginning of March which read, “We regret to inform you that your suite is scheduled for demolition in the next three days”, a reference to the group’s views regarding Israel’s treatment of the Arab population.
The Anti Defamation League (ADL) expressed outrage over the prestigious university’s latest attempts to daunt Jewish students and demonize the state of Israel saying, “This tactic is designed to silence and intimidate pro-Israel advocates at Harvard and campuses around the country.”

Former German FM: “The Bright Hope of a New Middle East Has Vanished”

Joschka Fischer writes: “Given Syria’s bloody civil war, the rise to power of Islamist forces through free elections, the ever-deepening political and economic crises in Egypt and Tunisia, increasing instability in Iraq, uncertainty about the future of Jordan and Lebanon, and the threat of war over Iran’s nuclear program, the bright hope of a new Middle East has vanished.”

Romanian historian publicly denies Holocaust
Vladimir Iliescu acknowledges ‘persecution’ took place in Romania, but says real atrocities took place elsewhere

Romania, an ally of Nazi Germany from 1940 to 1944, had a Jewish population of about 757,000 before World War II, when “extreme anti-Semitic tendencies escalated,” according to Yad Vashem. The Israeli Holocaust museum’s website says that Romanian and German troops murdered 380,000-400,000 Jews in areas controlled by Romania during the rule of Ion Antonescu.
The Romanian Academy has issued a statement distancing itself from Iliescu’s statement, which it said was not planned.

Mother says Toulouse killer was ‘good and kind’
French TV airs controversial documentary on Mohammed Merah after unsuccessful attempt by victims’ family to quash film

Mohammed Merah’s mother said in a first interview with French media that she did not understand what made her son kill three French soldiers and four Jews in Toulouse last year.
“I don’t understand any of it, he was a good and kind kid,” Zoulika Aziri said in an interview broadcast Wednesday on France 3 TV. “Then he changed all at once, I don’t know why. He’s dead and took many people with him.” She said her son “never mentioned jihad.” Aziri also denied reports by other relatives that “there was talk of jihad” in the family.

With Chavez gone, where to for Venezuelan Jews?
Most of the community emigrated during the late president’s term. Now, the country’s problems are compounded by political turmoil

For now, it’s unclear whether or for how long the anti-Jewish atmosphere Chavez allowed to take root in Venezuela will survive him.
But after 14 years of policies that prompted more than half of Venezuela’s Jews to pick up and leave — and with Venezuela’s economic and security problems now compounded by political turmoil — it’s hard to imagine very many of the Jewish emigres are hurrying back.

In Poland, a ‘breakthrough’ on Holocaust compensation
Warsaw, for first time, said willing to seriously discuss restitution

An official Israeli delegation to Poland believes it achieved a “breakthrough” in talks with Warsaw about possible compensation for private assets that belonged to Jews before the Holocaust, The Times of Israel has learned.
The five-member delegation, which included a former Israeli minister and was accompanied by a senior Israeli diplomat stationed in Warsaw, failed to reach an agreement with the Polish government. However, the Israelis said the Poles for the first time signaled readiness to engage seriously in a discussion about compensation and agreed on the need for further bilateral consultations.

Two runners disappear in marathon mystery
The Ethiopian women began Friday’s race but did not reach the finish line, police say, and haven’t been seen since

He said police were looking for them in both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and were considering various reasons for the disappearance. But it seemed likely the two runners used the sporting event as an opportunity to flee poverty in their home country and to stay in Israel, home to a large community of African migrants.

Qoros debuts new sedan with more in the pipeline

Qoros Auto Co Ltd, the new independent carmaker from China, made its public debut on Tuesday at the Geneva Motor Show by unveiling the first in a series of new models aimed at discerning young buyers in China and Europe.
The 50-50 joint venture established in 2007 by Chery Automobile, China's biggest automaker by sales, and Israel Corp, the largest holding company in its namesake country, is the only Chinese automaker at the show, after China's battery and car maker BYD Co Ltd exhibited its models at the event in 2010 and 2011.

Israeli Company Targeted by Boycotters Reports Huge Sales Increase

It has been a break out year for SodaStream, a fact that can be reflected in a 51% increase in full year revenue, to 436.3 million, reported by the company last month. The numbers were positive all-around in fact: fourth-quarter revenue increased 55% to $132.9 million, and the company sees 2013 revenue and adjusted net income improving by 25 percent, with half of the sales growth coming from the U.S.

Oren to Colbert: “No Country Has a Greater Interest Than Israel in Resolving the Iranian Nuclear Threat by Diplomatic Means”

Perhaps the most humorous moment came with the trademark Colbert non-sequitur moment when he asked out of the blue “So when are you going to bomb Iran?’ to which Oren replied, “No country has a greater interest than Israel in resolving the Iranian nuclear threat by diplomatic means.” Colbert responded that if Israel does decide to attack Iran that “the Colbert Nation is behind Israel on this one and if you do bomb Iran we are right behind you with just as many nuclear weapons as you admit to having.”

Also:
US postpones award to honor Egyptian woman activist in light of anti-US, anti-Semitic tweets (h/t O)

The Obama administration is postponing an award for an Egyptian activist who rallied worldwide attention against forced “virginity tests” on female protesters because of anti-American and anti-Semitic comments discovered on her Twitter account.

The State Department announced earlier this week that Samira Ibrahim would be among 10 recipients of the International Women of Courage award presented by Secretary of State John Kerry and first lady Michelle Obama on Friday.

But State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Thursday the U.S. would hold off on awarding Ibrahim while officials investigate the tweets, which include support for attacks against U.S. diplomatic installations and praise for a terrorist assault against Israeli citizens in Bulgaria.

UN verifies that BBC reporter's son was killed by Hamas (updated)

The UN Human Rights Council released an advanced version of its report on Operation Pillar of Defense.

The report appears to be remarkably fair, especially for the notoriously anti-Israel UN Human Rights Council. When it discusses Gaza civilians that died, it is willing to entertain the possibility that there was a legitimate target in the area for most cases, something we had not seen before. It properly places caveats around its findings of alleged violations by Israel of international law:

In some cases, more information would be required to make a more specific assessment. Based on the information available to OHCHR, the IDF did not consistently uphold the basic principles of conduct of hostilities, namely, the principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions. Further, the effectiveness, sufficiency and adequacy of precautions taken remains questionable in several cases.

No such doubt exists for Hamas' violations:

Palestinian armed groups continuously violated international humanitarian law, by launching indiscriminate attacks on Israel and by attacking civilians, thereby disregarding the principle of distinction. The armed groups failed to take all feasible precautions in attacks, in particular by launching rockets from populated areas, which put the population at grave risk. Furthermore, several Palestinians were killed by rockets launched by the armed groups that fell short and landed in the Gaza Strip...

This is pretty astonishing.

One example given is notable.

The report states is that Omar Mishrawi, the son of BBC reporter Jihad Mishrawi, was apparently killed by a Hamas rocket, as I reported at the time. (I was the first to have noticed this, to the best of my knowledge.)

The UNHRC report says:

On 14 November, a woman, her 11-month-old infant, and an 18-year-old adult in Al-Zaitoun were killed by what appeared to be a Palestinian rocket that fell short of Israel.⁶⁹ In addition, OHCHR received reports related to an incident in which two civilians, including a child, were killed, and five persons, including three children, were injured, as a result of what appeared to be a Palestinian rocket that fell short and hit a house in Al-Quds Street, near Khilla Gas Station, Jabalya, on 16 November.

The first incident is the Mishrawi case; the second one is talking about Mahmoud Sadallah, which I also had reported at the time.

The footnote (69) says simply that the Misharawi case was monitored by the UN OHCHR, meaning that the UN itself investigated this case and believes that the attack came from a Hamas rocket, not Israel, contrary to how the BBC reported it (as well as the PCHR, HRW, the Daily Mail and pretty much everyone else.)

Remember, the BBC had a long follow-up report where Jon Donnison pretended to address the inconsistencies I had brought up, and he dismissed them with "Most likely is that Omar died in one of the twenty bombings that the Israeli military says made up its initial wave of attacks. Omar was not a terrorist."

While I would like to know the specific evidence that the OHCHR had that indicated that a Hamas rocket killed the baby Omar, the BBC's assumption that Israel must be guilty by default was clearly incorrect.

Will Jon Donnison and the BBC report this?

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

UPDATE: Some people are pointing out inconsistencies between the UN report and the Mishrawi case. The UN is wrong in saying that the child's mother died; it was actually his aunt (Jihad's sister in law.) And another relative died from injuries about ten days later as Ma'an reported. There were no incidences in Beit Zaytoun that day that were even close to this (according to PCHR), so this is the same incident.

Thursday Links Part 1

From Ian:

Barry Rubin: Who Is the "Imperialist Tool" in the Middle East?

Of course, the debate today is so structured as to leave out the fact that local countries can also be imperialistic in that they seek to take over the entire region or most of it. The modern history of the Middle East has been characterized by a battle between Egyptian, Syrian, and Iraqi imperialism seeking to gobble up Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinians, the Gulf monarchies, and each other. Today, the nationalist motives have simply been replaced by an Islamist-driven drive to gain hegemony in the region with Iran and Turkey added to the mix. There's a long-term dream of reestablishing a caliphate. But the more realistic goal is that of old-fashioned imperialism, hegemony, and creating a sphere of influence for the country and regime involved.

Greece to probe threats to turn immigrants ‘into soap’
Greek police are investigating the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party after some of its members were filmed threatening to turn immigrants “into soap” and put them in “ovens.”

The investigation, announced Wednesday, was prompted by the broadcast Tuesday of a program on Britain’s Channel 4 News that followed Golden Dawn candidates during last year’s elections. In the program, one of the candidates, Alexandros Plomeratis, makes clear Holocaust references in threatening the many immigrants who live in Athens. “We are ready to turn on the ovens,” he says. “We will turn them into soap but we may get a rash.” Plomaritis, who was not elected to parliament, also threatened to “make lamps from their skins.”

Filipino peacekeepers nabbed by Syrian rebels near Israel border
Gunmen demand that regime remove all its soldiers from Syrian Golan Heights; accuse Assad, UN of ‘collaboration with Israel’

A video clip released by the rebels shows a number of gunmen standing alongside the UN vehicles, while their apparent leader announced his demands. Some of the United Nations employees can be seen inside the vehicles.
In a second video, the same rebel spokesman is seen accusing the UN, the Assad regime and Europe of “collaborating with Israel.”
“The Free Syrian army will remain here until we banish Bashar and his oppression,” one rebel is seen saying.

Norwegian MP concerned over Norway's "indirect" funding of Palestinian terrorism
A Norwegian MP has expressed his concern with Norway's "indirect" funding of Palestinian terrorism and called for a Parliamentary Scrutiny Committee

Gitmark went on to criticise former Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre -- for defending Norway's contributions to the PA's budget and stating that the PA payments were social welfare to the families and not salaries -- before calling for a Parliamentary Scrutiny Committee to look into the affair:

Palestinians will face ‘consequences’ if they pursue Israel at the ICC, says Baird

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has told a powerful pro-Israel lobby that Palestinians will feel “consequences” from Canada if they pursue the Jewish state at the International Criminal Court.
Baird issued the warning just as the federal government considers whether to end hundreds of millions of dollars in Canadian humanitarian aid to the Palestinians when it expires at the end of this month.

PA Moves Ahead with Plans to Register Sites with UNESCO
PA forms a committee to prepare applications to register sites on UNESCO's world heritage list, including the Dead Sea.

Each ministry has been asked to cooperate with the UNESCO committee, and will prepare the files, he said.
"For example, the Ministry of Culture will present the Palestinian narrative to register it as intangible cultural heritage," while a different department would be charged to register the Dead Sea as a body of water, he said.

Fatah assails Hamas misogyny in aborted marathon

Gaza rulers’ refusal to allow women to participate in UN-organized race is unjust and un-Palestinian, PM Fayyad charges

US envoy walks out of nuke talks over Iran remark

The US ambassador to the United Nations nuclear watchdog stormed out of an agency meeting on Wednesday in protest when Iran's representative accused Israel of "genocide," diplomats said
Officials from Canada and Australia also left the closed-door meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) 35-nation governing board when Iran's Ali Asghar Soltanieh made his statement during a debate on Syria, they said.

'Shi'ite terror network targeting Israelis overseas'

Counterterrorism bureau warns ahead of Passover holiday that Iranian Quds Force, Hezbollah network plotting attacks.

Egyptian Court Orders Cancellation of Parliamentary Elections

Egypt's administrative court on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of controversial parliamentary elections scheduled for April 22, throwing the country deeper into political crisis.
AFP reported that President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood both issued statements saying they would respect the court's decision, although it was not immediately clear whether the president would appeal.

Brains Behind Israel’s Iron Dome ‘Not Putting All the Eggs in One System’

Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted nearly 400 Gaza rockets last November alone, with an 85 percent success rate, amid the Israel Defense Forces’ Operation Pillar of Defense. But the brains behind the system isn’t resting on his laurels.
“I’m realistic, so I’m not putting all the eggs in one system, [even though] it had much success,” IDF Brig. Gen. Dr. Danny Gold, who had the initial idea for the Iron Dome, said in an interview with JNS.org at the 2013 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference. “I did my job, I developed many other systems. So [the Iron Dome] helped Israel to probably prevent a massive ground operation and war, but it’s not alone.”

Reuters misses some context in boilerplate Gaza tunnel story

Reuters goes right for the "poor Gazan" meme:

Business was booming for Gaza brick-maker Yasser Qreqea, until neighboring Egypt shut down smuggling tunnels across its border that were funneling arms to militants in the territory and cement and other basic goods to everyone else.

Overnight the price of building materials soared in the Gaza Strip, hitting Qreqea's key customers and, industry sources said, slowing the construction of apartments, roads and houses across the enclave run by Hamas.

"Business is dead and we are the ones losing out," the businessman told Reuters in his factory in the densely-populated Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City.

Egypt said it started flooding and sealing the network of tunnels in February to cut a two-way flow of smuggled weapons that was destabilizing its border area in the Sinai peninsula, where separate groups of militants operate.

Cairo's decision also cut a lifeline to around 1.7 million Palestinians in Gaza, hit by a blockade on a wide range of goods imposed by Israel in 2007 after Hamas took power.

There are a couple of important facts that Reuters ignores or downplays.

First of all, that the tunnels are used to smuggle weapons. That's sort of important, isn't it?

Secondly, Egypt has promised to open Rafah for building materials so they can be transferred legally and (literally) above ground. There was actually one such shipment earlier this week. Too bad that Reuters' Gaza reporter doesn't seem to know this.

What seems to have happened is that Hamas is taxing the imports at exorbitant rates and that is one of the reasons construction prices have risen, not only the tunnel closures.

One other salient fact: The prices for building materials in Egypt itself have also gone up significantly in recent weeks. Perhaps one of the reasons Egypt wanted to close the tunnels was to protect its own market for cement and fuel?

I don't know, but that is one of the things a real reporter should be finding out, instead of phoning in a generic story about poor illegal smugglers who have become rich from their illicit trade in goods and weapons.

One other part of the article that shows Reuters' bias:

The tunnels had been used to bypass the blockade and smuggle in all kinds of merchandise, including cars, livestock and fuel -- around 30 percent of all goods that reached the enclave, according to some estimates.

Today's TOI says:

The government in the Gaza Strip has decided that there are too many cars being imported into the Palestinian territory, and on Wednesday announced it had reduced the number of vehicles due to oversupply.

In February, “we imported 63 cars from Egypt and 242 from Israel, and that’s a small number,” Basel Deeb, head of imports at the Gazan transportation ministry, told the Palestinian news agency Ma’an. In previous months the number of vehicles transferred into the Strip was larger, he said.

People in Gaza were not ordering cars in an indication that there was no lack of private vehicles, Deeb said.

The poor car smugglers, left without a market!

(h/t Adam)

"Visualizing Palestine" lies, claims Arabs banned from Israeli buses

Over the past few months, there has been an initiative - called "Visualizing Palestine" - to push the Palestinian Arab narrative graphically.

Not surprisingly, these infographics can lie.

The lies in the graphics are harder to counter than lies in speeches and essays, because the nature of graphics is that they are visceral and engage the subconscious. As a result, it is very important to emphasize that these guys are, to put it bluntly, liars.

The latest example from them:

The truth is that Palestinian Arabs are not banned from any Israeli bus, period. Here is a press release from the State of Israel regarding this issue:

The Minister of Transport, National Infrastructures and Road Safety, Israel Katz, instructed the Ministry's Director General, Uzi Itzhaki, to ensure that Palestinians entering Israel are able to travel on all public transport in Israel, including all lines operating in Judea and Samaria.

The Minister of Transport directed the Ministry's Director General to ensure that all announcements regarding the new lines that began operations today, will be posted in both Hebrew and Arabic, and to ensure that the service will be unrestricted and equal for all populations. Itzhaki has also been instructed to closely follow operation of the new service and to take into account any changes that need to be made for improving the service for all public transport users.

The story was irresponsibly reported and then spread. And the haters at Visualizing Palestine jumped on board with their own lies, even though the initial stories made it clear that nobody was being banned, and, indeed, couldn't be under the law. As Haaretz noted in its own "segregated bus lines" story:

In response to the report, the Transportation Ministry said it "has not issued any instruction or prohibition that prevents Palestinian workers from riding the public bus lines in Israel or in Judea and Samaria. Furthermore, the Transportation Ministry is not authorized to prevent any passangers from riding those lines."

"The two new lines that will be run as of tomorrow (Monday) are intended to improve the services to Palestinian workers that enter Israel via the Eyal Crossing," the ministry's statement continued, adding that the new lines will replace the "pirate" driving services who have been transporting Palestinian workers "at exorbitant prices and in an irregular fashion."

Others have debunked the story more thoroughly; see for example CiFWatch. But there is no indication that VP will ever pull down that lying graphic.

Some lies are more pernicious than others, and lies that appear as professional graphics are among the worst lies of all.

EoZ interviewed by Israel web magazine Mida

Mida, a fast-growing Hebrew Israeli web magazine, interviewed me when I was in Israel last month.

Its extensive story about me has been published today - as their top story!

Here's the introduction:

Revenge of the Elder of Ziyon: Interview with the combative blogger

He believes that American liberals cannot understand Israel; but working tirelessly he explains it to them; every day he reveals the high levels of hatred and anti-Semitism prevalent in the Arab world, but he believes that - by exposure to these critical stories - it is possible to "save the world". Interview with influential pro-Israeli blogger Elder of Ziyon

Posting an average of 10 items a day and with an impressive list of readers, the "Elder of Ziyon" is one of the most influential pro-Israeli bloggers in the world. Those who follow him see the systematic coverage of events that pass under the radar of Western media, as well as analytical skills and critical depth. When this is seasoned with a satirical sense and good old-fashioned Jewish pride, it creates a unique topical product. Elder visited two weeks ago (his full name is jealously guarded) in order to collect video footage on his blog and he also found time to chat with the Mida team.

Ironically, I didn't record my part of the interview I don't have the time now to translate it back! (Anyone who wants to take on that job is welcome.) But it is a wide-ranging interview, and, I think, a pretty good one.

In late January, Ha'aretz reported (from my post):

A government official has for the first time acknowledged the practice of injecting women of Ethiopian origin with the long-acting contraceptive Depo-Provera.

Health Ministry Director General Prof. Ron Gamzu has instructed the four health maintenance organizations to stop the practice as a matter of course.

The ministry and other state agencies had previously denied knowledge or responsibility for the practice, which was first reported five years ago.

Gamzu’s letter instructs all gynecologists in the HMOs "not to renew prescriptions for Depo-Provera for women of Ethiopian origin if for any reason there is concern that they might not understand the ramifications of the treatment.”

Today, Ha'aretz issued a correction, and rewrote the article:

This article, which was updated on March 6, 2013, reported on Health Ministry director-general Prof. Roni Gamzu's instruction to gynecologists not to renew prescriptions for Depo-Provera if there is any doubt that recipients did not understand the implications of the treatment. The original version failed to state that this instruction was issued "without taking a stand or determining facts about allegations that had been made," and referred to all women and not just women of Ethiopian origin.

My post, and others, had shown that Ha'aretz had twisted the facts in reporting the story originally. CAMERA/Presspectiva in particular pointed out the errors to Ha'aretz and is responsible for the correction.

I showed that it is likely that the Ethiopian women actually wanted the Depo-Provera, and it is a popular contraceptive in Ethiopia itself becuase it allows women to have control over their bodies without their husbands knowing. I also pointed out that it is unlikely that any woman who took it would admit that she did so voluntarily in an Israeli newspaper.

But this correction shows that things were worse - Ha'aretz purposefully misquoted and ignored a key part of the memo itself, that it used as its smoking gun!

Instead of the memo stating, as Ha'aretz originally wrote:

not to renew prescriptions for Depo-Provera for women of Ethiopian origin if for any reason there is concern that they might not understand the ramifications of the treatment.

it really said:

Without taking a stand or determining facts about allegations that were made, I would like to instruct, from now on, all gynecologists in the HMOs not to renew prescriptions for Depo-Provera for women of Ethiopian – or any other – origin, if there is the slightest doubt that they have not understood the implications of the treatment.

Ha'aretz properly re-wrote the article, but the damage has been done by their blood libel - just as it was for their previous libels, notably that the Israeli Finance Ministry admits "a situation of apartheid exists" in Israel, and that a poll showed that "Most Israeli Jews support an apartheid regime in Israel."

Perhaps Ha'aretz has a better correction policy than other newspapers, but its policies on reporting the news initially are nothing short of reprehensible. No fact checking, no editing, and virulently anti-Israel reporters are allowed to lie and purposefully twist facts with impunity. The pattern is unmistakable.

Each of these libels spread far and wide immediately in the mainstream media, not to mention the Arabic media. The corrections will never reach even a tiny fraction of the world audience that read, believed and internalized the initial lies.

One can only hope that the editors of major media outlets are taking notice and understand that any Ha'aretz article that makes anti-Israel claims is automatically suspect, and needs to be verified before it is repeated.

I am not optimistic, though.

(h/t CAMERA)

Egypt making a power play to screw Israel in the Mediterranean?

There was a somewhat cryptic article in Egypt Independent today:

The Shura Council's legislative committee approved a draft law submitted Wednesday cancelling current maritime borders of an economic zone between Egypt and Cyprus.

The proposed bill was submitted by MP Khaled Abdel Qader Ouda, who said the agreement was signed by Cyprus and Israel in February 2003.

He said this invalidates the deal since Egypt had the right to be present at the signing, according to international agreements.

Ouda argues that the renegotiation could mean billions of dollars for Egypt.

The draft law calls for the creation of new borders surrounding the economic zone in the presence of Turkey as a third party.

Apparently, Ouda is referring to the Egypt/Cyprus EEZ agreement of 2003, which states:

If either of the two Parties is engaged in negotiations aimed at the delimitation of its exclusive economic zone with another State, that Party, before reaching a final agreement with the other State, shall notify and consult the other Party, if such delimitation is in connection with coordinates 1 or 8.

Egypt apparently is claiming that the 2010 Israel/Cyprus EEZ agreement is subject to Egypt's approval, and Egypt is (retroactively?) disapproving it.

Coordinate 8 in the Egypt/Cyprus agreement happens to be coordinate 12 in the Israel/Cyprus agreement,32º 53' 20" latitude and 32º 58' 20" longitude, seen here: