Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Today's Google Doodle in Israel

Previous Google Doodles for Yom Ha'atzmaut can be seen here.

Arab states lead the Syria deadbeat parade

I mentioned last week that rich Gulf states were big on pledging money to Syria, but not so great at following through.

The Washington Post yesterday posted this graphic showing how much aid different countries have promised, and delivered, to help Syrians:

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

Haters disrupt South Africa Yom Ha'Atzmaut concert - no news coverage

Last night, there was a concert in Gold Reef City, Johannesburg to celebrate Yom Ha'Atzmaut:

The counter-tenor Yaniv D'Or describes what happened on his Facebook page:

Dear Friends,

Tonight I felt the venom of hatred. During a performance in Johannesburg a group or protestors stormed the Lyric Theatre and shouted some strong pro palestinians slogans as I was singing the wonderful melody of Eli Eli which is written by Hannah Senesh at the time of the holocaust.

They hated me for the wrong reasons. I am a proud Israeli and British citizen and very much supporting freedom for Palestine...

I continued singing as if nothing happened in hope it was a one off incident. I was so wrong. After the break without any particular reason another protestor (female) stormed the stage as I was singing and started shouting again pro palestinian slogans, this time also exploding stinky bombs on stage.

In a state of shock and this time also anger, I found myself hugging her, lifting her on my side while accompanying her back stage before handing her to security. She could have very easily stub me but my impulse was stronger than me and I couldn't feel fear at that point.

Everyone have the right to voice their opinion but interrupting a concert just because of religious or nationality hatred is too much for me. There are other means one should express disagreement. Not like this.

Sad times.

One responder in Facebook named Sarah Wainer verified the event:

I was at the concert last night. Yaniv gave an incredible performance, what a beautiful voice! How he managed to throw the lady off the stage and continue to sing at the same time, was also amazing!!! :) Thank you Yaniv!

I cannot find a single news story about the interruption. SABC briefly mentions the protesters outside, but nothing about the concert itself being interrupted:

Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) South Africa held a protest outside Gold Reef City in Johannesburg last night, where supporters of Israel were attending a music concert to celebrate Israeli Independence.

It seems likely that the stink-bomb attack was well planned by BDS South Africa, because the hashtag in Twitter for the protest is "IsraelApartheidStinks." According to one anti-Israel tweeter, there were two women arrested - but they were released.

Is the South African community so inured to these obnoxious haters that no one even thinks people throwing stink-bombs in the middle of a performance is even worth mentioning?

(h/t Steven Z)

Video: Hamas giving military training to children

I noted in January that Hamas started a military training program for teens in Gaza.

Al Jazeera has video:

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

Monday Links Part 2

From Ian:

Israel at 65: Success still plagued by uncertainty

In 65 years, Israel has surpassed the dreams of its founders, emerging as the Middle East’s strongest military force, a global high-tech powerhouse and a prosperous homeland for the Jewish people.
Yet it remains a divided society, and its most intractable problem — peace with its Arab neighbors — has yet to be resolved.
On the eve of the 65th anniversary of its creation, the Jewish renaissance in the Holy Land remains a work in progress.

‘We will not give in or surrender,’ PM says as nation remembers fallen

A two-minute siren brought the country to a halt at 11 a.m. Monday, as Israel continued its Memorial Day events in remembrance of 25,578 war and terror victims.
Speaking at the official state ceremony for Israel’s fallen, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who lost his brother Yoni in the 1976 Entebbe raid, said he had been asked how to cope by children he met recently who had lost parents in wars or terror attacks.

Torch lighters to illuminate start of Independence Day

When Memorial Day draws to an end on Monday evening, 12 torches will be lit by Israelis during an annual ceremony at the Mount Herzl military cemetery to mark the beginning of Israel’s 65th Independence Day.

Druse participate in Israel's joy and sorrow

Three hundred and ninety two Israeli Druse have been killed while serving in the IDF; have served in all of country's wars.

Pamela Geller: Dangerously rewriting history

Today we are at a point where history and facts must be “erased” and rewritten, because truth is racist-Islamophobic-anti-Muslim bigotry. Historical revisionism has taken on a new life, as history is scrubbed and manufactured Muslim myths are presented as fact.
Pioneering historian Bat Ye’or recently visited the British Museum and found that “Palestinian propaganda and its cohorts of EU bowdlerizing troops have also visited the Museum – which is why all the information notes pertaining to the artifacts that mention the history of the Kingdoms of Judea and Israel now also mention the word “Palestine” – even 3,000 years B.C. – while the name was only given to the land in 135 A.D. by Roman Emperor Hadrian when he incorporated it into the Roman Empire.”

Bieber wishes Anne Frank were a fan

Teenage pop star Justin Bieber faced a barrage of derision on Sunday when news broke that he had visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and wrote in the visitors’ book at that he hoped the young Jewish author, who died in the Holocaust at 15, would have been a fan had she survived World War II.
“Truly inspiring to be able to come here,” Bieber, 19, wrote on Friday after touring the iconic building where Frank and six others spent two years hiding out from the Nazis. “Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a Belieber.”

Jewish Actress Emmy Rossum Slams Justin Bieber for Anne Frank Remark

Emmy Rossum, a Jewish actress and singer, tweeted: “Anne Frank suffered WW2 and Justin Bieber hopes she would have been a fan? I have no words.”

Israel’s first flyboys soar again in celluloid

Some 65 years after a band of foreign volunteers took to the skies to ensure Israel’s birth and survival, filmmakers are racing to bring their exploits to the screen before the last of the breed passes away.

Original 1917 Balfour Declaration to be displayed in Israel

The original document setting out Lord Arthur James Balfour’s 1917 declaration, stating Britain’s support for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine, will be placed on display at the Independence House in Tel Aviv for a limited period in two years’ time. The document, which is nearly one hundred years old, currently resides at the British National Library and has never left British soil.

Child terrorist wannabes on Hamas TV

More child abuse, lovingly captured on a kids' show in Gaza. From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from a children's show on Umm Nidal Farhat, which aired on Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV on March 29, 2013:

Child presenter: Iman, you are the daughter of the martyr Nidal. What did your father do to help liberate Jerusalem?
Iman, who is sitting alongside other grandchildren of Umm Nidal Farhat: He produced missiles.
Child presenter: He produced the first missile, and it was called "Qassam," right? When he was making missiles, was your grandmother there with him?
Iman: No.

Child presenter: Did she encourage him to do so?
Iman: Yes, of course.
Child presenter: Iman, are you proud to have Umm Nidal Farhat as your grandmother?
Iman: Yes.
Child presenter: Are you proud that your father is a martyr?
Iman: Yes.
Child presenter:Would you like to follow in their footsteps?

Iman: Yes.
[...]
Veiled child presenter: Jinan, you told me that the great mother, Umm Nidal Farhat, saw her sons in a dream before she died, right? Tell us that story.
Janin: When she was in Egypt, she was already ill.
Veiled child presenter: She was in Egypt before she came here, right?
Janin: Yes. Allah be praised, she got a little better before she died, and she saw her martyred sons in a dream, coming to her and wanting to take her. They missed her a lot, just like she missed them. Imad 'Aqel, Allah's mercy upon him, also came to her in a dream. It was a day before she returned to Gaza. He wanted her to go with them. He wanted her to meet them in Paradise.
Veiled child presenter: She understood that she was going to them, right?
Janin: Yes. She said to my uncle: I want to go to Gaza.
Veiled child presenter: She didn't want to die in Egypt. She wanted to die on her land. She insisted on departing from this life in her own bed, right?
Janin: Yes.

[...]
Granddaughter of Nidal Farhat: I call upon all Muslim mothers, daughters, and sisters – Al-Aqsa Mosque expects us to be the next generation to march toward it. Do not spare us the commanders, the soldiers, and the martyrdom lovers. Al-Aqsa Mosque expects us to be the next generation to march toward it. Do not hesitate [to sacrifice] commanders, soldiers, and martyrdom-lovers. The mothers send their sons to victory or to Paradise, Allah willing.
The children in the studio sing in unison: Jihad bestows pride and glory upon you when you become a martyrdom-seeker.
Jihad bestows pride and glory upon you when you become a martyrdom-seeker.
Oh explosive device of glory – with her blood she created freedom.
Oh explosive device of glory – with her blood she created freedom.
Ask [suicide bomber] Fatima Al-Najjar how one should live a life of pride.
Ask [suicide bomber] Fatima Al-Najjar how one should live a life of pride.

Presenter in chicken costume: Let's have a round of applause.
[...]
Veiled child presenter: We should sacrifice our lives for the sake of the homeland, so we can please God and liberate Palestine and Jerusalem. What we learn from her example is that we should follow in her footsteps.
Child presenter: She raised her children from an early age on love of martyrdom for the sake of Allah, as well as on love of the homeland and its defense. We should learn from them. We should wage Jihad and persevere, in order to liberate this land. When one of us is martyred, we say that his life is precious, yet it is a cheap price to pay for the liberation and defense of the homeland.
Veiled child presenter: The lives of all the martyrs are precious, but no price is too high when it is paid for the sake of the homeland.

So why are Israelis so damn happy, anyway?

Tiffanie Wen at Open Zion is perplexed:

By now everyone in Israel has read the results of the study published earlier this month that showed Israelis ranked among the happiest people among the Western nations, despite an extensive laundry list of problems in their country.

Israel ranked low in terms of income, housing, education and security for example—all things we would typical associate with contentment. As an Asian-American who hails from San Francisco, I could add a few of my own complaints to the list: lack of ethnic food, the outrageous cost of imported goods, the raging summer heat, the marginalization of minorities and refugees, and the famous Israeli frankness that has me constantly fielding questions about why I pay so much for my apartment and my (ever so subtle) fluctuation in weight (Up or down? Eating cakes or working out?), chief among them.  

So then why—if they probably can't find a job or afford the apartment that they live in—are Israelis so damn happy?

War has quite a bit to do with it. The fact is that Israel has been in a perpetual state of war—or under the threat of war—since David Ben-Gurion declared independence in May 1948, the only Western country in the world in which this is the case.  

Even during periods of "peace," there still seems to exist, at a minimum, a potential intifada brewing in the West Bank, or chemical weapons making their way into the hands of Hezbollah, or rockets being lobbed into the country from Gaza.

And this has created a fascinating psychological paradox, one that has been studied extensively by Professor Zahava Solomon of Tel Aviv University. On one hand, as she told me in a recent phone interview, the culture of conflict has made Israelis constantly aware of their potential demise; on the other it has made them virtually fearless. Think about it.  How would you act if you woke up every morning thinking that this day could be your last? Or at least took a moment to imagine how you would be eulogized at your funeral? (An exercise that Stephen Covey recommended in his wildly popular “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” although admittedly “live in a war zone” did not make the list.) 

The point is this: you'd enjoy the day you had.  And if you continued to survive until the next morning, this daily exercise might develop into a mantra for how you lived your life. And you might bother to take that beach day, or spend more time with your family. You might grow a pair and launch that startup you've been thinking about (Boom: Silicon Wadi) or stop a beautiful woman on the street and insist that she have lunch with you, or park on the sidewalk if there was no other parking within a five-block radius. You might climb a mountain, or go scuba diving or backpack in South America for a year. All things that Israelis do in droves, and that, in my opinion, probably lead to a more fulfilling existence.  

If constant war or threat of war makes people happy, then people in Iraq and Lebanon must be ecstatic!

Ms. Wen and her TAU professor) is completely clueless.

Haaretz was even more flummoxed:

It’s not clear why Israelis are so happy, despite a relatively poor showing on measures such as housing, income, job security, community support and education. It could be that what makes the average Norwegian happy doesn’t do the trick in Israel. Or maybe Israelis try to appear happy even when they’re not and respond to pollsters accordingly.

Yeah, they are just pretending to be happy to pollsters!

The answer is not such a mystery, and it sheds more light that you might expect.

Happiness comes from many sources, but a critical one is a sense of belonging.

Israelis don't just think of themselves as citizens of a state, of a random set of people with nothing in common except an accident of where they were born. They think of themselves as a family. (This mostly applies to Jews, but not exclusively.)

This is why they can be rude to each other - because there is a knowledge that, just like in your family underneath that rudeness is love. That's why bumping into someone in the store is a lot less likely to escalate into a gunfight. You can yell and threaten and curse - but deep down you know that you are all one people.

There is a second criteria for happiness, especially obvious in the workplace. It is that one must has a sense of accomplishment, of doing something important, and of fulfilling one's responsibility.

Here, again, Israeli Jews share that idea. Just by living in Israel they are making a statement to the world that they are in their home. By sharing the burden of serving in the IDF they know they are defending their people from those who want to kill them. They aren't just anonymous citizens of a state. Everyone is important, because everyone depends on each other.

This is why Ms. Wen doesn't get it. She lives in Israel but only as an outside observer, not as an Israeli. She cannot fathom the sense of fulfillment that comes from these twin senses of belonging and of accomplishment at fulfilling your responsibilities towards those you love.

Ha'aretz, the TAU professor and many of those who live in the Tel Aviv "bubble" are also clueless - because to them Israel is just an abstraction, a land to be analyzed and criticized but not one to be viscerally involved with. To them, the emotional ties of Jews to the land of their forefathers is a silly superstitious myth - and they cannot fathom how it is the source of Israeli happiness and contentment.

This survey, unwittingly, reveals more about Israel's critics than it does about the subjects of the survey itself.

(h/t Ian)

Monday Links Part 1

From Ian:

The ‘Disabled’ Terrorist Stood Up to Attack IDF

There is some other information that Maan did not report. For example, he was arrested in a hideout, not in his home.
And the “handicapped” man “threw at the soldiers everything he could get his hands on,” such as hammers, said a military spokeswoman. “I won’t say he does not have a disability, but he can walk,” a spokesman added.
For a man who supposedly cannot walk on his own, he must have had an angel helping him because he walked down the stairs from the second floor, where soldiers nabbed him, and then tried to grab a soldier’s rifle.

Special Report: Canada's University of Manitoba Students' Union becomes first in North America to ban IAW

The University of Manitoba Students Union (UMSU) has become the first in North America to vote to ban Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) on campus and strip the group Students Against Israel Apartheid (SAIA) of official student group status.

Investigation: Jewish Students Were Unjustly Evicted from Brooklyn College BDS Event

After a two month investigation into the circumstances surrounding the expulsion of four Jewish students from a BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) event aimed at Israel at Brooklyn College in February, a report has been issued that states that a “plausible inference can be drawn that the removal of the four students was motivated by their political viewpoint.”
The event featured anti-Israel activists Judith Butler and Omar Barghouti, and gained considerable attention in the press when it was discovered that the school’s Political Science Department was a sponsor.

Lawsuit Threatened if Major Equities Fund Goes Through With Boycott of Israel

The Israel Law Center (Shurat HaDin) is threatening legal action against the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF) if it chooses to adopt a resolution boycotting Israeli firms and investments.

PMW: "To war that will... destroy the Zionist's soul" - Girl recites poem on PA TV
"To war that will... destroy the Zionist's soul" - Girl #2 recites poem on PA TV
Abbas to appoint PM or head gov't himself By Khaled Abu Toameh

He added that none of the candidates on the short list to replace Fayyad were viable reformers. “Whether Mohammad Mustafa, [former PA public works and housing minister] Azzam al- Ahmed or even Rami Hamdallah, it is significantly less likely that the new prime minister challenges Abbas on matters of transparency and reform,” he said.

German event with Iran envoy ‘legitimizes evil’

A German government ministry and an evangelical church academy provoked outrage in the US and Germany by inviting the Iranian ambassador – allegedly involved in the massacre of Kurds – to speak at a conference slated for this week in Lower Saxony state.

Father of Israeli Hi-Tech, Efi Arazi, Dies at 76

Arazi began his career in the United States. While he was a student at MIT in 1969, he built the camera the Apollo 11 crew used to broadcast the first pictures of the moon. NASA continued to use his camera until 1995.

Report: Germany Prefers Israeli Over US Drones

Germany is in talks with Israel to buy weaponized drones for its military that are seen as more technologically advanced than US ones

The Israeli medical device Steve Jobs would have liked

For the first time, an Israeli company has been accepted into a prestigious program run by GE Healthcare, one of the biggest health-tech companies in the world. Oxitone, located in Ashkelon, was selected for GE Healthcare’s Start-Up Health Academy Entrepreneurship Program, a three-year arrangement where start-ups enter as fledgling businesses and emerge ready for prime time.

Guess who's upset at Erdogan?

Azzam Al-Ahmad, member of the Fatah Central Committee, criticized the announcement by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he intends to visit the Gaza Strip, and said that this further divides the Palestinian Arabs.

Ahmad told the official "Voice of Palestine" radio that Mahmoud Abbas will visit Ankara within days to discourage Erdogan from the planned visit.

He added: "Any official visit to the Gaza Strip without coordination of the legitimate Palestinian leadership supports and deepens the divide between the West Bank and Gaza."

It is indeed noteworthy, but not surprising, that Erdogan is publicly siding with the Hamas terrorists.

Al Qassam members "escape" from Hamas prison

Palestinian Arabic media are reporting that three members of the Al Qassam Brigades escaped from a prison in Gaza last night.

All three had been convicted of murder.

Given that the majority of police and security services in Gaza also moonlight for the Al Qassam Brigades, and both organizations ultimately report to the same people, I have a feeling that this prison break didn't involve any tunneling or dramatic hiding in the laundry truck. It was probably more like, "Hey, Guard Ahmed, we're going to leave tonight, OK?"

"Okey-dokey!"

Hamas damages ancient harbor for terrorist training

From Al Monitor:

Earlier last month, amid overwhelming criticism from public figures and nongovernmental organizations, the military wing of the Islamic movement of Hamas, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, bulldozed a part of the ancient Anthedon Harbor in northern Gaza along the Mediterranean Sea. The Brigades damaged the harbor in order to expand its military training zone, which was initially opened on the location in 2002, according to Ejla.

The Anthedon seaport, which dates back over 3,000 years to the Mycenaean era, is considered one of the most important sites in the Middle East and is the oldest harbor in Gaza. It was designated an international heritage site by UNESCO in 2012. The location was discovered in 1997 on the space of 180,000 square meters. It contains mosaic floors with historical pillars from the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic ages.

In a press statement, the Hamas-run Ministry of Tourism said that it is the only responsible authority over the location, and it would not permit harm to the monuments.

“Due to rising population in the region, the ministry appreciates the urgent need for using new pieces of land. This is why the ministry has agreed with the different responsible parties on using a limited part of the location temporarily in a way that won’t harm the underground monuments there in any way,” the statement read.

But Deputy Minister of Tourism in Gaza Muhammad Khela told Al-Monitor that the location was taken for military use and not demographic purposes.

“We can’t stand as an obstacle in the way of Palestinian resistance; we are all a part of a resistance project, yet we promise that the location will be limitedly used without harming it at all,” Khela explained.

UNESCO describes the harbor as a tentative World Heritage site, and it says that it qualifies because "Anthedon exhibits an important interchange of human values, over important periods of time that relate to the main trade route crossing the Holy Land from Egypt to the Fertile Crescent and linking Africa and the Middle East to Europe."

UNESCO has not issued any statements condemning Hamas' destruction of this site.

That description was submitted by the PA, in part of its effort to flood UNESCO with heritage sites. Indeed, it appears to be an important archaeological site - yet today much of it is under the "Beach refugee camp" which was set up by - the UN!

Adjoining to the site is another important archaeological site, Blakhiyya, unearthed by the French between 1995 and 2005, but since then Hamas has built a police station, a parking lot and other structures directly on top.

Most telling, however, is that the deputy tourism minister of Hamas admits that terrorism is more important to the government than tourism!

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

NC professor illustrates Deir Yassin with Nazi concentration camp photo

A blog entry by Omid Safi, a professor of Islamic Studies at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, talks about the "massacre" of Deir Yassin in the 1948 war.

He quotes an article about the event from Counterpunch that is filled with lies - even Safi admits that the article he quotes is probably wrong when it says that 250 people were killed, but he shows no skepticism about the rest of the article, such as saying many of the bodies were stuffed down wells, or that the Jews threatened another massacre in Jaffa with loudspeakers when in fact the Arab leaders at the time led the flight from Jaffa...there are dozens of such lies. And that article was also written by a professor.

But as bad as it is for academics to engage in flat-out lies, Safi goes further. He illustrates the "massacre" with a photo of victims of the Nazis!

In fact, this photo is of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, part of the Buchenwald complex, and the dead bodies were victims of a Royal Air Force bombing raid in April 1945.

The Religion News Service, which sponsors this blog, claims:

RNS strives to meet the highest standards of public service journalism. Through our work, we report, write, compile, record and post news, features, photos and video.

Our goal is to promote civic engagement and discourse on religion. We strive to inform and challenge our readers, out of a conviction that religious literacy is a necessary component of effective citizenship.

I didn't know that outright lies were considered "highest standards" of journalism.

Hat tip to Tundra Tabloids, who has more. A much more accurate description of what happened in Deir Yassin, and how both Jewish and Arab leaders used exaggerations and lies about the event to further their own aims, can be seen here.

UPDATE: Safi removed the photo.

UPDATE 2: But he replaced it with this:

EoZ reader Irene looked at this and noticed the plastic bags - were plastic bags widely available in 1948?

In fact, this image is associated on the Internet more with the Sabra and Shatila massacres done by Christian Phalangists against Muslims than with Deir Yassin.

Yes, the esteemed professor Safi cannot even do a decent job in basic research skills. He saw the photo at an anti-Israel site a sbeing "Deir Yassin" and believed it wholeheartedly.

Religion News Service must be so proud to host this person who, apparently, adheres to the "highest standards of public service journalism."

"Created in Israel" video - Happy Yom Ha'atzmaut!

What's not to love?

(h/t Yaacov Lozowick)

Jordanian family threatens to kill 10 Israeli tourists in "revenge"

From Arabs Today, April 7:

Last week policeman Ibrahim al-Jarrah, aged 27, had been accompanying Israeli tourists to the Ma’in hot springs, close to the Dead Sea, shortly before he was found dead at the site.

Al-Jarrah’s brother, Joseph, told Arabstoday: “We want a full explanation of the death of our brother, who remained in sulphuric water for 40 hours.”
Relatives have claimed al-Jarrah was killed by criminals.

Security sources have meanwhile denied reports of foul play circulating on social networking sites, amid claims al-Jarrah was killed after receiving a blow to the head while escorting 21 Israeli tourists to Ma’in.

“There is no criminal suspicion here,” sources told Arabstoday.

Video of Harrah's body being recovered makes it appear likely that he simply slipped and hit his head in the rocky spring.

But if Jews were around, naturally the Arabs will want to blame them.

Angry Jordanians burned an Israeli flag on Friday to protest what they are convinced is Jewish involvement in Jarrah's death.

On Thursday, Jarrah's brother Yusuf Mohammed threatened to kill or kidnap up to ten Israeli tourists who enter Jordan as of this past Saturday until an investigation is completed to the family's satisfaction.

An op-ed in allofjo.net written by a Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman lashes out against the very idea that Jarrah was accompanying the hated Jews to begin with calling them brothers of monkeys and saying that Jarrah's blood wa smade worthless in order to stay away from blaming the Jews. Moreover, the op-ed describes the murderer of seven Israeli schoolgirls as a hero, and is disgusted that Jordan's King Hussein apologized to mere Jews for their deaths, calling it a disgrace to Jordan's armed forces. He wails that Jordanians are serving the Jews, enemies of Allah.

This hasn't hit the media yet, but Israeli tourists to Jordan should be extra careful.